Chapter 10: Xainia
Orgrimmar was a city of over sixteen thousand orcs and a scattering of the other races affiliated with the horde. The near-metropolis was built in a canyon that stretched between the red dirt of land the orcs had named Durotar and the ancient forestlands of Ashenvale and Azashara. In a certain part of the city, the canyon closed over the ground and provided permanent shade. It was this area that the orcs chose to build the majority of their living quarters in. This 'Drag' as it had been named had multiple levels cut out of the walls of the canyon. In a house on the second level of the drag, Maldelic sat around a table with two orcs that he had met recently.
"What's that thing?" an older male orc asked the warlock.
The blue crystal that Ranilok had given Maldelic was showing out of the flap of one of his bags. Maldelic removed the crystal and laid it on the table. "This? It's very strange. It's a binding crystal. They come from Northrend and I've managed to figure out from studying it that it could be used for quite evil things."
"Why keep it? Destroy it!" Another orc, this one female, spoke up from across the table.
"You didn't let me finish. I feel like I need to keep it for some reason. In this crystal is the power to establish a pure connection to a humanoid soul. It is a way to capture and either protect or ransom someone's being. I suppose it could be used for its good qualities or its evil qualities… it depends on the user."
The female orc's name was Okquina, she had been with the horde when they set sail from Lordaeron and had taken up the path of being a shaman in the five years since the third war. She was somewhat tall in stature for an orc, but having been a grunt before she was a shaman explained her athletic looks. The other orc in the room was Hasur, a shaman for a much longer time than Okquina had been. Hasur was one of the shamans that had first studied shamanism when Thrall had come to the internment camps and given hope to his people. The two orcs had been married for the better part of three years, ever since Okquina had completed her training as a shaman. The two of them had met Maldelic in the Valley of Spirits in Orgrimmar. The warlock had been sitting idly looking at the city when the spirits that the shamans served called them to notice him. That had only been the day before. Since that point, the two had coerced Maldelic for his story and let him stay there for the evening.
Looking to her husband, Okquina asked a somewhat delicate question. "You know if she's still alive?"
"Arisia you mean?" Hasur asked. "No, I can't see that far… what does that have to do with this crystal?"
"No… HER." Okquina implied.
"You mean?" Hasur looked seriously at Okquina.
"Don't keep me in suspense. Who is this and what does it have to do with me?" Maldelic looked to them.
Turning to the undead, Hasur spoke first. "You still believe in hope?"
"Well, it is hard to say. My human soul tells me that there is still hope… hope that I will see Arisia once more. The dead that surround me and the state of this world constantly try to tell me that there is no hope for the undead." Maldelic lamented.
"It has to be why the spirits showed us him… he was called here too. Didn't you say you felt called here?" Okquina asked Maldelic.
"Well not to this city… but to this land. I didn't know where to start looking so I came here. That was at least a month ago."
"We should tell him." Okquina pressured Hasur.
"Fine… fine." Hasur took a drink from a glass that he had on the table. "There is a young troll that we were associated with during the third war. She showed up mysteriously in a cave in Arathi and was picked up by a patrol. At that time, we would have killed trolls because the forest trolls who were servants of Gul'dan's horde were the only ones we knew. These trolls had green skin as we did… but this one that we found was blue."
"An ice troll in arathi?" Maldelic assumed.
"No… it was a Darkspear. We didn't know that at the time, but wanting to know that saved her life. I was ordered to take care of her; she was completely unresponsive and tortured looking." Okquina continued for Hasur. "Thrall heard of this and ordered Hasur to find out what had happened to her while we sailed west."
Awaiting more story, Maldelic pushed them on. "And? What had happened?"
Pausing to call up all of the memories, Hasur began to tell the story as he knew it. "From what I saw when I called the spirits to show me her pain, she had been a refugee among the fierce Vilebranch troll tribe. Her parents were cannibalized by them after they stopped the Vilebranch from summoning some sort of demigod. The girl barely escaped down a tunnel that her father had made for them… and then she was found by us. We took her with us after I had found out what happened to her, but even finding her own people out on their native island wasn't enough to raise her spirits. She hung around the base camps during the war, but she was still extremely reclusive. After durotar was founded she wandered out to an abandoned hut where I believe she lives to this day. She remains in sorrow for her parents, haunted by the spirits of the past. I think she feels herself somehow responsible for being defenseless to stop what happened to her parents."
Being able to guess where this was headed, Maldelic spoke. "And you believe I have been called here to use this crystal to save her life?"
"I see no greater calling for someone, even if it involves magic such as that to accomplish it." Hasur confirmed the warlock's suspicions. "Will you try to help her?"
"I will go to see her. If I feel that is what has called me, as strange as it is, I will try to help her." Maldelic committed to trying.
"Thank you… we were unable to help her aside from bringing her here. Perhaps a power beyond us is what she needs." Okquina bid the warlock farewell.
"What is her name by the way?"
"Xainia." Hasur spoke plainly.
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A day after Maldelic had left the two shaman and they had marked his map with where they last knew, he saw a hut in the distance. "Could it really be this easy? I feel as I did in the plaguelands… this could be what has called me." The warlock asked himself as he rode towards the building.
The structure looked abandoned and dilapidated, but a small mound of ashes out front indicated that someone lived there. Realizing that the troll would most likely try to hide, Maldelic dismounted from his steed and took out a soul shard from his bags. Casting a portal with it, he altered the incantation so that it would affect his own body instead of another's. Riding past the hut on his steed, Maldelic felt the portal tugging at him and heard something move quickly to inside the hut. After riding into the distance, he let the portal take him and appeared behind the hut. The young troll that had gone to hide inside came back out and watched the sunset. Coming up quietly beside her, Maldelic took a seat next to the troll. It seemed that the troll was trying to ignore him, but she couldn't do it forever. When she finally glanced over, it must have been the first time that she had seen an undead for she quickly scampered back a few feet. Maldelic was wearing his full battle clothes along with his demonic horns, making him extra frightening.
"Do not fear me. I mean you no harm." Maldelic looked over at the very frightened troll. He spoke in orcish, which he hoped the troll understood. "Do you have a name?" The troll furnished no response, though it seemed that he had her attention. Maldelic thought of what could be troubling her so much. "You look hungry. Eat." He tried to offer her food.
Being a universal peace offering, the food was the only thing the troll responded too. Thinking again, Maldelic considered what else he could do to draw her attention. Standing for a moment, the undead removed a pink shard from a pouch on his belt and summoned his felhunter, Khuufen. Of any minion, the felhunter looked the most like a common dog. "He likes you." Maldelic tried to make conversation. "Won't you pet him?"
Cautiously, the troll reached forwards and ran her hand over the hairs on the beast's back. In response, it lay down beside her. Finally, it seemed that the troll had been moved to speak. "W…Wat is it?" She looked at the strange animal beside her.
"It is a Felhunter. This one is named Khuufen." Maldelic sat down and petted the beast also.
The next question came quickly. "Who are ya? Why ya here?" Xainia said in between eating.
"My name is of no consequence. I think the more important question is: Why are you here? I have seen this hut many times in passing and never known why a troll lives out here in the wilderness." Maldelic lied slightly to create a better reason than 'two orcs told me to come here' for his appearance.
"Ah… ah don' wan ta be a trouble." The troll replied after a while, as if she didn't want to tell.
"You mean you don't wish to impose?"
"Ya." Xainia looked back.
"You never said your name by the way." The undead questioned her again.
"Xainia." The young troll searched for something that could re-assure her.
"Now, why are you here? Not living out here in the wilderness, but here; in this world." Xainia's inquisitor continued.
Xainia sat for a while, on the verge of crying again. "Why are ya askin me dat?" she sobbed.
"I wish to know. You interest me."
"Well ah don' know." Xainia answered curtly.
"That's not much of an answer. There must be some reason you haven't starved out here. I mean, with the loss of your parents and the great journey you made… you must have endured for some reason." Maldelic drew on the knowledge that Hasur had imparted to him.
Xainia looked at the undead incredulously, her horrible memories stirred by his words. "How you know dat!" her eyes filled with tears. "Nobody know dat!"
"You know that." The undead responded quickly.
"I am nobody." Xainia sobbed.
Continuing to play off her words, the undead already had an answer. He was quite interested by the troll now, feeling that this indeed may have been why he had been called here. "I thought you were Xainia."
After sobbing for a while, Xainia looked at him. "So ya know about mah parents… mah visions. Ah'm no good. Ah shoulda died dat night wit mah parents. Even when ah don' tink about dem, tha tears just come." She openly cried in front of the undead.
"And yet, you do nothing to avenge them, young troll. Your parents died protecting you and trying to stop Hakkar. Having seen a mortal life and now this life, I have seen that dwelling on something in sadness only wastes time." The undead knew much about Xainia's past, which astounded her more.
"But… ah couldn't do anythin! Ah couldn't!" she grabbed her head and shook in some sort of trauma.
"And you still can't? Even though you now have a horde of allies who would rush to your aid to stop Hakkar and his servants, you still see nothing you can do!"
"Ah can't. Ah just need ta wait ta die and ah can be wit mah parents." Xainia was hot in the face with tears.
"That would not save you from your suffering." The undead looked at her. "Death is now only the beginning in this world."
Xainia lied back on the ground hopelessly. "Den tha visions never go away?"
"I knew of your parents, but not your visions. I could only guess that they are from your guilt."
Turning to the side and petting the felhunter again, the young troll sighed. "Ah guess dey are. Ya know mah momma was a priest? She coulda stopped da visions." Upon mentioning her mother again, Xainia teared up once more.
The undead smiled for a moment and stood up. "Then why not?"
"Not wat?" Xainia looked up at the undead.
Sitting there in silence, the undead waited for Xainia to think on what had been said. Looking uplifted for the first time in a great while, she finally spoke.
"Maybe ah could be a priest. Ah could become strong here an go back ta stop Hakkar. Ah could stop da Vilebranch too. Ah could stop mah visions mahself! Maybe ah could stop waitin an live." Xainia stood up, towering over the undead in height. Suddenly her head hung low again. "But ah don' know how ta start or how ta go."
"I could show you the way." The undead grinned. "A way to become strong without returning to the east."
"Ya could?" Xainia dried her eyes off.
"Yes, I could." Maldelic ventured forward, believing in himself.
"Wat must ah do?" Xainia came closer to him.
With a wry grin, the undead continued to speak. "You will be bound to me. I will train you and guide you in this new world that I have explored so widely. You must do this of your own free will; I will not force you into it."
"Ah am Darkspear!" Xainia embraced the will of her people as her father had. "Ah will do anythin to stop Hakkar an avenge mah parents."
Deciding to go all in, Maldelic took out the binding crystal and a piece of chalk from the pouch on his belt. "Good. Stand where you are and do not move."
Xainia stood obediently as the undead worked quickly, drawing symbols and runes around her on the ground while whispering in a demonic sounding tongue. Maldelic felt as if the crystal was guiding his actions. The spell was going by itself; it was clearly more powerful than he was used to using. The felhunter howled at the ceremony taking place as the undead stood back up and took a place a few feet away.
"Are you prepared, young Xainia?" Maldelic spoke, sounding more like the brave paladin that he had once been than he had in a long time.
"Ah am." The troll stood, finally having some hope in her life.
The undead held the stone in his hand as he weaved purple and blue symbols in the air. The night around them lit up with the energies he channeled around them both. With a sudden blast, the stone in his hand turned a deep shade of blue and energy flew outwards from the area, destroying Xainia's hut. When it cleared, Xainia was covered in twisting deep blue tattoo-like symbols. The symbols quickly faded to her normal skin color, becoming invisible.
Maldelic suddenly felt the power of the binding crystal. He could see all of Xainia's thoughts, the visions she had been having, her memories of pain and suffereing. It was too much for him to catch all at once, so he turned away from it. Suprisedly on commanding that the thoughts ceased to show themselves… he was in complete control of what he saw and what he could make her do. Realizing how dark this power was, Maldelic thought quickly and decided just to inspire her rather than control her stringently. Without speaking, the warlock thought an order to her. "Now, my pet, you will go to the Valley of Trials. The Valley of Trials is south of here and west of the Sen'jin village, occupied by your people. You will train in the ways of a shadow priest."
"Yes sah, my… Mastah." Xainia called out obediently in her mind as she turned and ran for the valley with all haste.
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"And that is how it began." Maldelic sat around a fire atop Mount Hyjal nearly a year later. He had just related his entire story to two figures that were nearby.
Across the fire from him, Xainia sat alongside a friend of hers named Zilis. Being a rogue, Zilis had received many missions in her life. The mission that had brought Zilis here was an order to assassinate a warlock, she had brought Xainia along as company. It was because of Xainia, however, that this mission had failed. Xainia could not allow her now former master to be assassinated.
"After that point, I trained you as best as I could, but I tried to keep my distance. I protected you completely until that night in the desert. I don't suppose you've ever told Zilis of it." Maldelic paused for Xainia's response.
"Nah, ah had nah reason tah mention dat. It was ah bad night." Xainia spoke in reference a night when she was in Tanaris and beset by several sandfury trolls.
"Wha he talking ahbout?" Zilis looked to Xainia and asked.
"Dah first time ah turned inta dah shadahs. It was dat night." Xainia looked a bit sad at remembering it then turned to Maldelic. "Sah what of dat night."
"After that night, the shadows you had feared before I came to help you manifested themselves in that shadowform. Your guilt manifested itself as hate, but because you were bound to me it could never fully take you over. You could not have two masters. It became so strong as you grew in strength that it became like a second will. Because you entrusted so much to me, it was easily able to associate itself with all of your shadow powers and let you use them until the time came." Maldelic tried to explain some of the past year to Xainia. "And then you met Telina. I tried to ward her away because I didn't think that she could help you… I only thought I was capable of that. I suppose she helped you and she helped me realize that it was my time to step to the side."
"Was dat all?" Xainia questioned.
"It was part of it. I also knew I could not control something that had become as powerful as you. I couldn't let you live your life under me forever. If you didn't notice, everyone was there when you were freed except me; Ranilok, Neru'Rekan, Hasur, Okquina, Telina. I couldn't be present. The crystal bound me to try to stop you from being freed… even if I wanted to free you. It was then that the shadow came out. You were confused, lost, you didn't understand why I was leaving and in that moment the shadow began to take you over. The shadow stood in as a new master for you until your friends, Zilis and Telina, were able to give you the strength and support to overcome your shadow and live."
"What about Selima?" Xainia asked, as Zilis winced at the name. Selima was the one behind the assassination attempt that had failed and led to the conversation that the three of them were having now. Also an undead warlock, Selima had wanted Maldelic dead so much that she tried to take fiercer control of Zilis that Maldelic ever had of Xainia. The warlock had tried to force Zilis to kill Maldelic and she was only stopped by Xainia blasting her from Zilis' mind.
"You know of her better than I. You are the one who met her first and you know that she saw your shadow and saw me through it. The truth about Selima is that she is a succubus trapped in that body. She detested your training because she saw you as my slave just as she was once a minion to another warlock. She would not be talked down or stopped; I suppose she felt like she was doing right or being righteous. Today, you have shown me more than that warlock will ever know. You've shown me that hope and faith can still exist in the land of the dead. You've proven that help does not go thankless and without loyalty. Here, at this fountain of magic and life, is the best place to gain hope in this existence. I had no ill intent in coming here."
"Den what about dah demons dat ya had tah face us?" Xainia asked.
"I knew that woman had sent someone. If I had put up no fight, she might have suspected that you would help me earlier than she did. Realizing such a thing might have caused her to make the two of you to fight."
Zilis sat quietly, more tears on her cheek reflected the fire before her. It filled her with sadness to know that she had been dominated in such a way and that she had nearly been forced to hurt Xainia as Xainia stopped her from harming Maldelic.
"What would you ask of me, Zilis?" Maldelic turned to her.
The rogue did not reply, she seemed lost in thought. Xainia asked a question in the interim. "Why did yah leave when yah stopped bein dah mastah?"
"I... I felt I couldn't know you any other way, Xainia. I thought my work was done and that I should step away. I am sorry that I faded so wordlessly. I suppose I may be sentimental in knowing you again now, but that is not always bad."
"Wha about dah shadah dat killed alla dah people… dah shadah dat ah saw." Zilis finally asked.
The shadow that Zilis referenced what Xainia's shadowform had become after she was free. The shadow had nearly completely taken over Xainia's consciousness. During the times that Xainia was asleep and it was in control, it had committed acts of unfathomable violence and depravity. When Zilis first met Xainia, the shadow tried to ward her away just as Maldelic had tried to send Telina away from Xainia. The only reason that the two trolls were friends was because the shadow consumed so much energy that it could not sustain itself without killing. The shadow failed to keep control and scare Zilis off, so she became friends with the lighter side of Xainia.
"Ah yes. I guessed that might be on your mind. The shadow is a strange thing. It made those craters out there, defaced that gorge, and twisted many creations including this dead relic above us." Maldelic pointed at the skeleton of Archimonde that hung above them. "But, you've not heard what I just said. I did show Xainia the way, and instruct her to train as a shadow priest, but I am not behind the side of her that she now has chained."
"How yah know about that?" Xainia asked in reference to the shadow in her soul. After this shadow that Maldelic has spoken about before nearly took over Xainia's consciousness, the troll had overcome it and chained it as a completely submissive power within her mind.
"You would assume that I would miss an army of hundreds going to do battle? I was there, though unrecognized." Maldelic paused, remembering the army of nearly four hundred that Xainia's shadowform had led to Jintha'Alor. The shadowy troll had raised the city and killed every single Vilebranch troll within; they were, after all, responsible for the death of her parents. "I have helped other times too. You didn't think that the Eye of Shadow for that staff that you wear so proudly came into your possession without help?"
"Dah was you who sent dat?" Xainia looked more thankfull then she could express.
"Yes, an old friend gave it to me, and I knew it would be of use to you." Maldelic answered.
"'Ou created 'dat Shadah ah 'er?" Zilis asked, wanting a direct answer before the conversation changed.
"That side of her, as I said, became her master. It tried to take full control of her… but it was you, Zilis. You got through to the side of Xainia that was not buried in the shadow. I could not have created something like that spirit, even if I had wanted to. It was all a different side of Xainia."
Xainia had realized this already to a level. "Mah regret, mah vengeance, mah hate."
"It did things I could have never forseen as a warlock. The ways that priests can use shadow with such affinity can be frightening. So to answer your question, yes, I did train Xainia in the shadow, but I did not make the shadow that tried to consume her." Maldelic said slowly.
"..." Zilis looked down. All this time, she had wanted something to blame. She could not blame this warlock for his good intentions. Zilis wanted some tangible force to take out the rage she held over the acts of pain and torment that she had witnessed the dark side of Xainia commit. She had wanted revenge for both herself and Xainia. "Ah see..." Zilis sighed and dismissed her rage, realizing that it was a part of everyone, that even she had a side that could kill, but it was not backed by the shadow in such a way.
"If you were hoping for something more glorious or exciting, some grand design, I am sorry. There is nothing more. The whole affair, a fancy of an undead to bring hope and to help someone in the best way."
"Nah..." Zilis dismissed her revenge too and denied she wished for more to Maldelic.
Kneeling down by the well of eternity beneath the world tree, Maldelic took a few handfuls of Itjahzi Crystals from his bag; he had guilted Ranilok into handing them over when the elf had shown up to help free Xainia. Dipping them into the very edge of the well, the warlock smirked; his hand returned to being human when it was within the bounds of the well's energies. With the great magic of the well, Maldelic only had to think of what he wanted of the crystals and he received. One of the handfuls of crystals turned into a beautiful crystal rose with the Itjahzi blue hue to it. The second handful transformed into a likeness of a baby dragonhawk with the same transparency and coloring. Reaching into his bag for some reason again, he took the very last of the crystal that he had and it was changed into an intricate deep blue crystal neckpiece. Removing his hands from the lake, Maldelic watched them wither into undeath again as he placed the three items into his bags. The warlock rose from the river and turned to the two trolls.
"Now I must be going. There is an affair of my own I have to attend to. The only thing left for me, with this over." The undead walked away from them, searching his bags for his hearthstone.
Xainia looked at him, remembering about Arisia. She smiled, inwardly hoping the best for him. "Mastah, Ah know yah can find ha. Yah found me in dah wilderness an ya brought me tah here. Yah be findin ha befah yah know it."
"I hope you're right, Xainia. I can only hope that the hands of the fate will change from the dismal path that they point to. It is all that I have."