11 - Leylines


Vrsadra surfaced north of Southshore amid a small colony of murlocs. Stilted huts made from driftwood and kelp baked hard in the sun provided the little fish-men with shelter. They were quite the little architects really.

I liked these comical creatures for some reason. They were in effect frogs with larger than normal heads which were unmistakeably fish-like as opposed to amphibian. Their throaty-gurgle form of communication was mostly humorous to the ear, although when murlocs turned aggressive, which was a frequent happenstance, their calls became shrill and deafening.

I watched mirthfully, as suddenly bug-eyed and gurgling frantically, they slip-slapped across the sands and vanished into the sea as we moved further up onto the shore.

There was no denying when naga graced the beaches, most life forms vacated the area – fast. Although my hostess had retained some hint of beauty, she was still a daunting creature to behold. As for her guardians, they were quite simply terrifying. Furthermore if you smelled or looked like fish, you were instantly on the menu for these large sea-dwelling reptiles.

Sitting on Vrsadra's webbed hand, my bubble soon popped in the evening's warm temperature. The coastal breeze, infused with half-eaten rotten fish and steaming seaweed on the shore was a most welcome miscellany to my avian lungs after my underwater air supply. I inhaled deeply, my action being awarded a knowing grin from the lady of the sea.

There was little sound other than the sea lapping the shore and the grinding, shifting sand in the wake of three muscular, ophidian tails. I glanced behind me and saw the winding tracks left by the naga.

My eyes travelled to the murloc metropolis and I saw some of the little scaled heads bobbing on the water's surface, waiting until we were a good distance away before they returned to their tiny beach huts.

"Tell me what you sssaw, Khadgar," Vrsadra said quietly as she drew to a halt. She bent down near some roots which had protruded through the crumbled hillside next to the dunes and encouraged me to perch on one of the limbs.

Her guardians resumed their sentinel duty and stood a few yards ahead of us, their red slitted eyes scanning the beach and open sea.

I shuffled along the root then shook out my feathers, stretching my wings to rid the threat of cramp which was seeping into my muscles. I looked up at the naga.

She rested back against another root, her head tilting as she studied me. The serpentine fronds writhed around her head in a hypnotic dance and her eyes shifted between blood-red and black as she waited for me to respond. No longer unnerved in her presence, I readily told her of the place I had seen in my head.

As I voiced the details, even more came to the fore. Before I realised, I spouted everything forth explaining how we rescued the great demon hunter, and fought alongside him and his allies to bring down Sargeras.

Whether my words made sense to her or not, I was past caring, they just tumbled from my mouth in the constant torrent of memories that were flooding my mind.

Newer images were then triggered. I could not hide the jubilation that I was a father. My Sarah had bore me a beautiful son – so perfect, so innocent, so ... out of my reach, but I was going to find my way home. Wherever home was - that still remained strangely veiled.

I charged on with relating the threat of the Void and the near obliteration of all that we knew. Again I reiterated Illidan's role in it, along with Sarah's and all the heroes who joined us to fight against the destructive lords of shadow. I also recalled the spirits who saved us from Armageddon and the blessing of the naaru.

Eventually, I stopped, feeling oddly light as if a huge weight had been lifted from me. I was also feeling terribly exhausted.

I eyed Vrsadra from the side. Her scales shimmered slightly as she breathed in deeply. It was then I realised that dusk had descended, the first few stars just becoming visible in the indigo sky. "My apologies," I uttered.

Her laughter was more of the characteristic hiss of the naga than the soft sound of the elves. "For what do you apologissse, little bird-man?"

I flexed my feathers. Little bird-man? Her terminology made me inwardly smile. "For droning on for so long. I did not realise it was getting so late."

She coiled her tail around and shifted slightly against the roots that served as our seating. "I have found your tale mossst enlightening," she said. "But, there are still missing piecesss of the puzzle."

I looked askance at her. "Such as?"

"Who you are."

"I am Khadgar, I'm a mage. And I'm a father!" My contours fluffed out in pride.

Vrsadra smiled – I think. "Congratulations on your son, but, hmm, a mage? Isss that all?"

I was not sure what she was implying. I had seen myself as a mage. A good one I think and one who seemed to lead others in the construct of spells but what else she meant escaped me.

She rose to her land height, all eight feet of her as she poised on her tail. Leaning down she beckoned for me to alight on her arm. I was reluctant. I did not want to return to the depths of the Great Sea, air bubble or not.

She laughed again. "Worry not Khadgar, I merely wish to take you further north. For there is a place there which will help you unlock the last of your memories."

"You read my mind," I said, a little ashamed I had instantly thought negatively of her.

"No, merely your hesitancy." She moved towards the lapping waves, her guardians in close pursuit. "Know thisss however, once I deliver you there, the spell that makes you communicate as a man will no longer be viable. You will revert to your raven clicks."

With that news came the realisation that I was indeed still just a raven. Somehow, my human voice had made me overlook that small fact. At that moment, I felt all the jubilation of my recent recollections ebb away from me.

How was I meant to find and tell my Sarah who I was? How could I even hope to hold my son? The tightness in my chest was becoming painful, like a frightening prelude to a spasmodic, crushing assault on my person. So that was what I had been feeling whenever I thought of the wet-eyed woman; Sarah. Heartache. A longing for what once had been. An all-consuming love which had once made me complete. And longed for now.

Understanding it made it no more easier to bear. If anything it had intensified the pain, for I knew not how to shift out of my avian form. Something which must have at one time, been an easy enough transformation for me.

As we moved swiftly in a westerly direction, at one point I did manage to find a smote of humour. I thought how odd it must have looked to any spectators who caught sight of us; a bird riding high on the shoulder of a naga, cruising over the waves. It was a brief whimsy however, for my desperate situation had hit home and was drowning me within a shroud of destitution.

Vrsadra finally turned in towards land. In the gloom I could just make out a small mountainous range rising above us. The sudden unmistakeable sensation of rippling static in my plumage informed me I was near a source of potent magic. I was strangely comforted by it. She came to a halt in a small pebbled clearing at the base of the cliffs. "Here is where I mussst leave you," she said. "You should rest now before continuing north."

"Do you know what lies beyond these mountains?" I asked.

"Yesss, I do. A power which seduces elf and human alike, Khadgar. The root of your being, so-to-speak."

"Tell me! It is not something which has made itself known to me yet."

She shook her head, "You will find out soon enough, Khadgar." She lowered herself and slithered over to an outcrop of boulders where she gently deposited me. She stared at me for a few moments before speaking again. "When you meet with Illidan again, tell him about me pleassse. Should he ever have need of more forcesss, we shall willingly lend our support."

"I wish I had your faith Lady Vrsadra, for I do not know how that will even be possible." I replied, somewhat despondant.

I jumped as she unexpectedly did what Alarii had done; stroked my chest. "You will see him again, of that I am certain," she said quietly. "You sssee, I have heard of the great Khadgar. You are ssso much more than a mere magus..."

"You know who I am? What I am?" I stammered. This revelation had me stunned.

She merely smiled in her inimitable, reptilian way and continued as if I had not even spoken. "The place north from here will unlock all the remaining mystery for you Khadgar, of that I am alssso certain."

"But how do you know such..." I started.

"I consider myself primarily a high elf, for all my appearance would suggest otherwise," she offered in way of responding to my unfinished question. "We are attuned to much of life's mysteries and her latent powers. Plusss, much news drifts through the currents of the seas."

Her red eyes watched my reaction with a degree of supremacy. "Humans, my little bird-man, are still relatively new to thisss world and although you, in particular, harnessss much power and possess a fairly efficaciousss knowledge of the most sacred magic, still you are but a novice in such matters. But, all is not lost, Khadgar."

Her last sentence struck a chord with me, although the key was still elusive.

"Rest and tomorrow, find your way. I will remain close by and keep you safe while you sssleep. Now, slumber ..."

My eyes started to close.

"Sleep. Arch ..."

I tried to focus on what she was saying, but I was rapidly slipping into the land of dreams.

" Of the Kirin ..."


A gust of wind startled me from my sleep, causing me to scamble upon the boulder as I tried to maintain my balance.

Raindrops splatted on the pebbles and rocks in front of me, their stains spreading, reaching out to each other. I looked skyward. It was going to be a dark day judging by the clouds and the increasing precipitation.

I scanned the beach and then I saw them. Vrsadra and her two guardians were just offshore. I shouted goodbye, and was greatly disappointed to hear my avian clicks and caws had replaced my human voice.

The Lady of the Sea waved her farewell and then all three dove beneath the waves. I was almost sorry to see her go.

I ruffled my feathers. The rain was light at least, but it would still drain my energy if I flew in it for too long. My best option was to find good shelter and wait it out.

I took to the wing and climbed against the rain to clear the mountains. Thankfully, the range was indeed small and the ground soon opened to green meadows and small grassy tors.

My flight was suddenly jarred as the sensation of static rippled through my feathers again. This time it was more vigorous, less intermittent.

I had no choice but to descend and hopefully find shelter soon. The uncompromising pull of this force however, was persistent.

I coasted down and glided over the countryside. My body now felt a deep thrum, it was like I was being summoned by something, and that something was ancient and steeped in power.

Then I saw it. Instantly I realised what had been drawing me. It was the site where I had spent a good deal of my youth learning the disciplines of the arcane and other magics. Now just a huge crater in the land bordering the Alterac Mountains and sitting at the edge of Lordamere Lake, it looked bleak. But this was once home to the city of Dalaran before it was uprooted to go to Northrend as an offer of aid to those brave individuals who stood against the Lich King.

The base of the crater and its edges nonetheless, were still home to the very source which made the human magi construct Dalaran there in the first place. Leylines.

This was where many alignments of land forms threaded their way from all across Azeroth to converge into one of the most potent sites for those with an affinity for magic. In due course it became the most prominent community of like-minded individuals and home to the Kirin Tor with its Council of Six.

I can only allegorize what happened to me after as a stone plummeting through the air at an alarming rate. My ability to fly seemed ripped from me and my body thundered down the last few yards before skidding to a halt at the base of the pulsing, humming, purple channels.

Normally, such a collision would have either rendered me unconscious or at best, stunned, but in this instance I was infused with the latent power of the leylines. I felt as though I was magnetised, pinned to the earth. My wings were spread to their full span, my tail, chest and neck flat against the ground.

The deep-bedded vibration, like a generator beneath the soil surface, intensified and in its wake, memories long since locked away in my mind tumbled to the fore.

I was a boy and I relived the moment my parents handed me over to the magi in Dalaran. It was meant to be a great honour for a child to be accepted into the clutches of these men and women of power. To a boy of six years of age however, I read it as a punishment. Quite what I had done to deserve this sentence I knew not, and for all my mother tried to reassure me it was for nothing I had done, I still felt guilty and my eyes welled up as I watched my parents turn and walk away.

That was a feeling I had locked away in the darkest reaches of my mind; I had not wanted to feel that again.

I saw my first few weeks at Dalaran unfold. I was rebellious to begin with, refusing to do as I was told, demanding they return me home. But, being one of seventeen children had basically secured my fate.

My older siblings were already making a path for themselves in the world, while I had seemed aimless, lost and those younger than me had already become a handful draining my parents resources and energy. A harsh reality check but it felt like I was surplus to requirement and so I had been brought to Dalaran to train as a mage. Soon enough the magi had me under their tutelage and abiding by their rules.

The images flicked through my mind's eye at an ever-increasing rate. Within a few short years I had become studious, focused, hungry for knowledge.

I found myself being named the Guardian Novitiate at the tender age of eleven, the immensity of such a title a prelude to the greatest responsibility of all – Guardian of Azeroth. I was being trained to succeed Medivh; the man himself having not been officially introduced to me at that point.

As time progressed I decided I did not possess the appropriate appetence for such a lofty role. I started to feel restricted in the teachings at the Kirin Tor. I was becoming disgruntled with their rules, regulations, restrictions and in my opinion their lack of vision. I left at the age of seventeen to make and find my own way in the world.

Oddly enough, it led me to Anduin Lothar and eventually the reclusive Medivh himself, during the start of the First War when the orcs invaded Azeroth.

Initially, the Guardian's apparent distaste for me was no secret and trying to glean knowledge from him was like trying to get blood from a stone.

Gradually, however, he seemed to come round and I was thrown snippets of information like a hungry dog was thrown scraps from the butcher's table. I was set the task of cleaning the extensive library and cataloguing everything within. It did, in turn, provide me with an encyclopedic knowledge of thaumaturgy - and fed a hunger in me which (still) has never been truly sated. I devoured script after script, tome after tome, making detailed notes for personal use, as I worked.

Eventually however, my relentless curiosity led me to a particular discovery. For the most part, I had considered my mentor to be somewhat eccentric. He was often mumbling to himself – not like I did when trying to work out some spell and its various elements. No, Medivh seemed to carry out regular conversations with – someone – something. Over time, I watched with growing sadness as this man, the Guardian, whom I was to be tutored by, had not simply been driven mad by his genius, or responsibility or even his loneliness; he was possessed. Dark, dark forces had claimed him from when he was in his mother's womb.

My destiny, it turned out, had been to crush the Guardian and his most unwelcome and destructive "conscience"; Sargeras. In doing so it not only my time with Medihv that was lost but also my youth. The act of murdering my mentor, my friend, aged me considerably beyond my teenage years.

I was cursed, yet with gradual acceptance of my fate, a new more voracious, determination rose within me and this led me, amongst other things, to closing the Dark Portal, blocking the doorway from Draenor to Azeroth.

An act as it turned out, to have only a temporary effect. The way was opened once more and battles ensued against orc, the new horde, the Iron Horde and the ever present threat of the Burning Legion.

My mind was torn from the reverie, and my focus shifted. It was akin to the flipping of pages, their crisp sound almost purring as they races through the decades.

The thrumming of the leylines continued. My part in the history of Azeroth moved swiftly forward, right up to "final" destruction of the Dark Portal. The last time I saw Sarah while I was still a man; when I was still - Archmage Khadgar of the Kirin Tor.

Silence. It was brutal. My head was pounding from its intensity; my ears felt near to bursting. The sudden quiet was more thunderous than the intense deep thrum of the leylines moments before. I felt nauseous.

Distantly, I heard the panicked beat of my heart breaking through the quiet.

The final pieces of the puzzle were now in place. I knew exactly who and what I was and that which would be required to make me whole once more.

I only prayed, that the clues I had left behind had been discovered and hope the one I knew who could carry out my instructions, would be willing to do so.