A Dawnstrider's New Power

Just like every other time he had been to Undercity, Athrodar felt the familiar feeling of home amongst the Forsaken, only this time Thalina felt that as well, looking up at him as the two of them, along with Sylvanas and Lyana, walked towards the Mages Quarter. "You're a lot calmer in this place." She began, holding onto his arm whilst looking around the Undercity. "There's something eerily appealing about it all though." She smiled a little. "But it doesn't feel like home to me."

Athrodar chuckled, pulling her a little closer. "It's appealing to you because you're dead. The darker places will look more attractive to you now more so than before." He looked around the corridor they were walking down, quickly remembering it from the several times he had visited the Undercity in the past. "I think we're heading to the Mages Quarter."

"You would be right in thinking that." Came Sylvanas, leading them from the front. "Though it will be empty when we get things started, the Val'kyr can't have any distractions." She led them to the middle of the Mages Quarter shortly after, summoning many of her lesser Val'kyr as well as one that Athrodar recognised from his time under Arthas' control, Helga. Sylvanas turned to Lyana who stood by her side. "Gather Clea and a handful of rangers to secure this area. Make sure nobody is to enter here by any means necessary."

Lyana nodded, running off to the Dark Ranger barracks to get her Ranger-General along with several others. Athrodar watched her jog away from them, turning back around to face Sylvanas. "And what am I to do throughout all of this? Stand by and watch as she goes through what I can only imagine to be a painful process?"

The Banshee Queen glanced over to him. "I said it may be a painful process, not that it will be for certain."

Thalina watched him carefully, feeling a growing worry in the back of her head once more. I have told you, I'll be fine. She placed a hand on his face, turning his head around to her face. "Listen to me." She placed her other hand on his face. "I will be fine, okay? If it does hurt me, don't stop them." She kissed him lightly. "I need this to work."

Athrodar watched the Val'kyr create a circle in the middle of the room they were in, hovering around it and awaiting their Queen's command. He looked at Thalina as soon as she held his hand tightly. "This will be the last time I ask, do you want to go through with this? It's not too late to back down."

She smiled at him, pulling him down until he was at eye level, giving him a deep kiss before resting her head on his chest, feeling him pull her into his embrace. "This is what I want, my love. It's what is best for me if it works."

"When it works." Sylvanas added, watching her Dark Rangers walk into the Mages Quarter. When they were close enough, Sylvanas called Clea over. "I need you to set up a perimeter around this area. Stop anyone who tries to enter, we can't afford the distractions." She looked over to Athrodar and Thalina, nodding at the pair of them.

Thalina looked up at him, patting him on the chest. "If it's too much for you, you don't have to watch."

Athrodar smirked, kissing the top of her head. "Odd choice of words."

She smiled. "I know you worry about me, I can hear your thoughts, remember?" She kissed him before slowly making her way towards the middle of the Val'kyr. "I'll be fine."

He watched her stand directly in the middle of all the Val'kyr with their leader, Helga, hovering directly in front of Thalina. Sylvanas and Clea made their way to him, the Banshee Queen nodding at Helga to begin the ritual before glancing over to Athrodar. "She will be fine."

Athrodar watched Thalina turn around to face them seconds before the ritual began. "So everyone keeps saying."

Clea smirked. "Maybe if you didn't look like you were about to speak in front of all of Azeroth, they'll stop repeating it."

Athrodar flinched a little as he began to feel what Thalina was feeling, both women next to him raising their eyebrows as he held onto his head for a couple of seconds just as Thalina did. "How did you feel that?" Sylvanas asked.

"I.. I raised her." He spoke through gritted teeth, the pain being bearable but still there. "If we're close enough, I can feel what she feels. I can also hear her thoughts like she can hear mine, though I don't know the range on it."

Clea slowly nodded, looking over to Thalina then back at Athrodar, a small smile playing on her face. "The sex must feel amazing. You both feel what you normally feel, plus what your partner is feeling? One can only imagine..."

Sylvanas sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Clea, go check on our rangers, make sure they're keeping this place secure and that nobody interrupts this."

Clea nodded, making her way towards each of her rangers individually for updates before aiding them in keeping everyone away. Athrodar kept his eyes on Thalina, trying to push away the feeling of pain he was in whilst focusing on the elf in front of him, telling her to stay strong as this is what she wants.

The Banshee Queen glanced over to him every now and then, watching him grimace in pain exactly when Thalina did and becoming fascinated by it. "So, you two can have conversations with each other and nobody will know?"

"You want to talk about this now?" He hissed. His anger wasn't directed at her, more so the pain he was in. He glanced over to her and saw she only cared for the answer. Sighing, he looked towards Thalina. "Yes, I suppose we do." He grit his teeth when another wave of pain washed over the both of them, dropping to one knee as Thalina dropped to both, holding onto her head tightly whilst trying to stop herself from screaming out in pain. "How long... until it's.. over!?"

Sylvanas looked over to Helga who nodded back to her, stopping the spell she was channelling into Thalina, the rest of the Val'kyr stopping shortly after. She looked over at Thalina when she heard her gently crying on the floor, smiling a little. "She's stronger than I gave her credit for, I thought she would have begged for them to stop when the pain started." She glanced down at Athrodar. "You can go to her."

He didn't have to be told twice, getting up onto his feet and running over to her before dropping onto his knees once more, only this time to pick her up from the floor, Thalina resting herself on him, holding onto his tunic weakly. "Shh baby it's okay, I'm here." He whispered in her ear, pushing some hair behind it shortly after. "It's over."

She felt her strength rapidly coming back to her, holding onto him tighter and tighter with every passing second. She looked up at him, knowing he was going to ask the one question that they both needed the answer to, nodding at him slowly before he could. "I can sense the magics around this place, like I could before I died."

He held onto her tightly when she got up onto her knees. "So it worked? You're a mage again?"

Thalina smiled, nodding profusely against him before throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace, matching his. "Yes! I have my mage abilities back!" She pulled away from him for a second before sharing a kiss with him that most people would feel uncomfortable with sharing in public.

Clea coughed to get their attention several times, Athrodar finally breaking off the kiss when he heard Sylvanas do the same thing, looking over to both Rangers wanting to get their attention. "This better be good."

"It is." She nodded over to Clea, the Dark Ranger-General walking over to both of the elves on the floor, unfolding a contract that had been drawn up prior to their arrival and laying it down in front of them. "I have held up my end of the bargain, now I need you to do the same."

Athrodar held it up, reading through it contents peering over it and towards Sylvanas when something dawned on him. "I never had to sign a contract the last time I pledged myself to you."

"At the time I thought you were going to stay loyal, apparently not." She began to walk around the two of them. "And seeing as you seem to have trouble staying with one group of people, I thought I'd draw up a contract to keep you in the Horde until you're no longer needed."

"I'm not some common foot soldier, Sylvanas."

She grinned at him. "Precisely."

Liadrin was walking through the Blood Knight Halls, holding onto a letter she had received from Lor'themar, giving them any updates on the Horde and Alliance as well as Azerite locations. After reading through it the first time, her first thought was to show it to Tanadia. A week had passed since both her parents went to Undercity to get back Thalina's mage abilities in exchange for serving under Sylvanas' Forsaken and the Horde once more.

The Blood Knight Matriarch had left the priestess with several books she was tasked with studying for a few hours, so it was a surprise to her when she found Tanadia sleeping with her head down in the same book she left her with hours before. Liadrin shook her head, smiling and sitting down opposite the priestess and watching her sleep peacefully before feeling a sneeze build up, cursing to herself before letting it out, startling Tanadia out of her chair. "Sorry, allergies."

Tanadia slammed her hand on the desk, pulling herself up and looking the least bit amused by the rude awakening. "Since when do you have allergies?"

"Since you fell asleep reading the first out of many of the books I left you." She placed the letter down on the open book in front of her. "Here, this is important. It's an update on your parents."

The priestess groaned. "More reading?"

Liadrin rolled her eyes. "Just read it."

Tanadia slowly took hold of the letter, deliberately taking an age to lift it up and open it, knowing it was annoying her mentor a little, though she always knew when to stop, quickly opening up the letter and looking over it when she saw Liadrin begin to lose her patience. "Sorry, I'll read it."

"Good." Liadrin stood up from her chair. "Whilst you're reading that, I need to find an alchemist. These allergies, which are real by the way, don't seem to be going away. Perhaps they have something."

The priestess watched her leave, smirking and shaking her head when she heard Liadrin sneeze again before reading through the letter in front of her. "Let's see what this says about my..." Her eyes widened upon seeing her parents names, not out of fear but because she had realised her parents were close, a lot closer than she remembered. "...parents."

Not believing she saw it correctly, she began to read through the same passage several more times before dropping the letter on the table and looking up at the ceiling, mumbling several words to the Light before Liadrin returned to her, seeing the priestess still looking up at the ceiling. "Well, that's an odd way to read."

"They're in Undercity."

"Ah, so you read it." Liadrin sat down on the chair opposite Tanadia. "It appears your father has gone crawling back to that Warchief of ours, only this time he has dragged your mother with him."

Tanadia looked down at the letter in front of her. "I want to see them. They're nearby, I will be safe."

Liadrin watched her begin to stand up, getting up off her chair as well and stopping her from leaving. "You're staying here. Tha-Your mother has left me in charge of you and has tasked me with helping you find the Light again. Isn't that what you want?"

"I mean.. Yes it is but.."

Liadrin placed a hand on the priestess' arm, slowly turning her around to face the table they were sitting at moments ago. "Then let's not think about them for now, I'm sure they will come visit soon."

Tanadia shook Liadrin's hand off her. "No, I want to go see them now. It's been too long since I last saw either one of them, Liadrin. I will be with them for a day, two at most."

Liadrin watched her walk towards the door. "Tanadia, stop!" She saw the priestess turn to face her, waiting for her to continue. "If you go to them, you're putting yourself at risk. Undercity isn't like Silvermoon, nowhere is safe from the darkness. Going there will draw the Void to you more so now than ever."

The priestess looked down at the floor, thinking about it for a few seconds before looking back at her mentor. "I don't care, I need to see them."

The Blood Knight Matriarch was beginning to lose her patience. "Tanadia, if you so much as take another step towards the door, I will no longer help you!"

Her eyes widened, looking back at her mentor. "Y-you don't mean that. I need your help with this, but I also want to see my parents."

"Then stay here and wait for them to come to you."

She shook her head. "Please don't make me choose, aunty. I just want to see them, I will be okay."

Liadrin saw the golden glow in her eyes begin to fade, knowing this was difficult for the priestess. Though she knew she couldn't let her go there. "Honey listen to me, okay? They will visit soon, I know your mother, it's killing her to be away from you for this long. Especially now that she has a lot more free time than she has had these last few years."

Tanadia shook her head again. "You don't know that. She is with papa now and has probably forgotten about me." She began to walk backwards towards the door once more.

Liadrin saw this however, extending her hand out to stop her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to see mama and papa." She looked her mentor in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Tanadia!" Liadrin yelled. Being the first time she had actually raised her voice at the priestess in front of her, it scared Tanadia into stopping. "Don't your dare leave this room!"

"But Lia-"

"No, this time you're going to listen to me." She grabbed the priestess' wrist to stop her from moving. "You're going to stay here in Silvermoon with me where it's safe from the Void instead of going to that Forsaken city. Now get away from that door!"

Tanadia slowly walked towards the paladin, tears becoming evident in her eyes as well as fear due to Liadrin's increased raise of tone towards her. Just as she felt Liadrin's grip loosen a little, she pulled her arm free, running out the room and away from her. She was heading out of Silvermoon City, though it wasn't towards the Undercity, instead she was heading home, knowing it would be the last place Liadrin would look for her.

She didn't know what she was thinking though, her head was clouded by the Void as her emotions got the better of her, being both angry and upset with her mentor at not allowing her to see her parents. She tried to ignore the whispers of the Void, but they were becoming more and more dominant in her mind, tempting her slowly to give in to the Void.

Turn away from the Light and embrace the Void, then you can visit your parents without consequence... Take hold of your destiny young elf, unlock your full potential with the help of the Void... You know the Light is failing you little one, when was the last time you heard it speak to you?

She stopped running, looking over to the house she shares with both matriarchs of her family and thinking back on what the last whisper told her. She couldn't remember the last time the Light actually spoke to her, even with all the praying she was doing as of late, she got nothing in return. "No... it's lying, surely?" She was certain the Void was trying to seduce her into fully accepting their 'gift', but she was also unsure on what it had told her.

When she arrived at the front door to her home, having began to walk a couple of minutes after stopping. She turned the handle and entered her home, quickly become overwhelmed by the feeling of loneliness, both her parents being close but not here whilst both her grand mother's were away for hours, Illana running her tailoring shop whilst Driana worked on her Jewellery in the store next to Illana.

Making her way to her bedroom, she fell back onto her bed, hugging a pillow and gently crying, knowing nobody would bother her for hours and thinking now was the time to let it all out. As well as feeling upset, she also let out her built up anger towards everything that has happened, most of it directed at the voices in her head that was fuelling her anger more than causing it.

Several books and pillows later, she had spent most of her energy on throwing those items around her room, collapsing to the floor to catch her breath. Little did she know, the Void had broke free from where she was keeping it buried within herself, seeping out from hands at first and quickly working its way up her arms. Before she could realise it was happening and put a stop to it, it had engulfed the entire upper half of her body, Tanadia feeling a lot calmer when it eventually formed a shadowy appearance around her. "Is this..?"

You have taken to the Void little one, see how it welcomes you and eases your mind?

She inspected her hands, looking at her palms, the back of her hands then back to her palms before nodding slowly, smiling a little when she felt her energy becoming renewed by it. "It's... It's not how I imagined it would feel."

And how did you think it would feel?

"I don't know.. Painful I suppose?" She began to laugh lightly. "I don't know what Liadrin was talking about, this doesn't seem so bad."

The Light spins lies on those who seek an alternative source of power. The Void welcomes all those who are willing to take it.

Tanadia extending out her hand towards a book she had read several times, watching as the shadow that was covering her began to form around her hand before launching a purple ball of magic towards the book and consuming it fully until it turned into ash. She smiled when she saw herself in one of her mirrors and noticed she had a purple glow to herself now. "You know, this isn't a bad colour on me." What caught her attention however was the faint golden glow where her eyes were. "Strange.." She muttered. "I would have thought they'd go back to green after taking the Void like this."

Just as she was getting used to the Void, she heard the door to her bedroom slam open, the Void that had consumed her quickly dissipating, taking the air out of her lungs momentarily due to how quickly it all happened, gasping for air and falling to her knees as soon as Liadrin ran to her. "Oh you silly girl, what happened?"

Before Tanadia could reply, she felt herself become weak, falling quickly into the dark embrace of sleep. Liadrin picked her up when she went limp in her arms, placing her down in her bed whilst sitting down next to her, gently healing her hands in a way to get the Light back into her body. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I should never have yelled at you, maybe none of this would have happened." She looked over to the book Tanadia had engulfed in shadow, shaking her head in disappointment. "What am I going to do with you, huh? Nothing seems to be working the way I thought it would."

The Paladin dropped her head down, looking at the floor and sighing. "Are you really that far from the Light that you have fallen to the Void? Is your parents being shrouded in darkness all it takes for you to become this tainted as well?" She looked up at the priestess' hand in hers, kissing the top of it before looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know if you can hear me, but she's a good kid. Please forgive her for being tempted by the Void, I will do whatever it takes, just talk to her."

She looked around the room, shaking her head at the mess the priestess had made and deciding to clean it up, lifting up Tanadia's head to place the pillows back, hearing her talk in her sleep and smiling a little when she heard her own name. When she glanced over to the left of the priestess, she began to smile devilishly, deciding to climb into the same bed as Tanadia and pulling the priestess over until she was half laying on her, stroking her hair whilst pouring more Light into her. "You'll be annoyed if you find out I'm doing this, but I'm the only family you've got here kid and I'll be damned if I don't act like a mother to you when yours isn't here."

Liadrin looked towards the window. "Even though I know it's killing her to be away for this long."