Chapter 14

In Hearthglen some time later…

Jeshua's latest visitors were not like those who had first thronged the Argent Crusade town. He had lived mostly alone for some time after sending his emissaries out, and the steady stream of people coming to see him for a cure had whittled down to a trickle, but many of those already cured now came just to hear what he taught. Some came on foot, some by gryphon or riding bat, and some by portal. Many came from various regions around the northern lands, and a few came from even farther north, the Scarlet enclave at New Hearthglen in Northrend, their red vestments and sigils causing no end of consternation among those of the Argent Crusade who had sacrificed much at the hands of the renegade order. In addition, his latest visitors had not come from the northern Forsaken controlled lands or from Northrend, but from Stormwind's Cathedral District.

These latter ones had heard from their own clergy superiors Velen's report of Jeshua, what he was capable of and what he taught. They wanted to hear from the man himself and make their own judgments.

The number of people who were there that day to hear what he had to say had filled the house to the point where there was just no room for everyone even standing, and those who also came to be cured could not reach him or see him. Jeshua then, seeing the problem, left the house and, having asked one of the Crusade's guards, received permission from Lord Tyrosus to use the wide, open training yard near Mardenholde Keep that late morning because there weren't any recruits or instructors there that day, it being their own sabbatical day from training. In point of fact, there were a large number of the Argent recruits among those seeking to hear him.

The people settled, either sitting on the grassy ground, patched here and there with packed dirt from the continuous footwork of the recruits, or standing next to simple wooden training dummies scarred from continuous blows from swords, hammers, or maces. Within sight was the colossus like statue of the founder of the Argent Crusade order, Highlord Tirion Fording, wielding the almost mythical sword, Ashbringer.

The people had thinned out enough to where Jeshua could finally see everyone who had come. It was then he noticed the walking corpses who had been shoved, either intentionally or not, to the back of the crowd by the living.

He then moved first towards these few undead who had come to him to be restored, bypassing those wearing expensive tailored vestments and robes who had come to hear him. Three flashes of bright radiant light lit up the training yard as he moved to each one individually, and in their places stood two human women and a man with tearful eyes thanking him profusely. Those among the crowd who had been Forsaken had expected no less from the man they looked on with a gratitude and a kind of reverence for the change that either he had brought on them himself, or his emissaries had effected for them. Those from Northrend and from Stormwind watched with mouths agape and wide eyes, themselves having only previously heard of it, but not seen it. As always, Jeshua demanded nothing in return. No money, no promises, no oaths of allegiance to anyone, including himself. His only concern had been to restore their lives to them.

"You are free to stay as you wish, or to return home as you see fit. The Holy Light welcomes you regardless." He told them.

Without more words, all three chose to sit down and hear what he had to say.

"The Light blesses those who have nothing, because there is then nothing to cast a shadow when it shines within them." He taught. "The Light blesses those who grieve, because then it will comfort them. The Light blesses those who are gentle and humble, and it will give all of Azeroth to them as an inheritance. The Light blesses those who are starving for justice, because it will feed them until they burst."

At this last word, Jeshua glanced at those who had been healed with a tender smile, but then looked at those from New Hearthglen and Stormwind and his smile lessened into a more serious expression.

"The Light blesses those who show mercy, because the Light will show them mercy as well. The Light blesses those whose hearts are pure, because it reveals itself to them and they see it clearly. Blessed are those who make peace with their enemies, because then the Light will call them its very own children."

Jeshua looked directly at those from Stormwind and New Hearthglen when he said this. All traces of his smile vanishing for just an instant to be replaced with an almost pleading look. Their own expressions however appeared irritated and confused at the suggestion.

"The Light blesses those who are persecuted for doing what is right, because the Light's Kingdom belongs to them." He continued. "Yes. The Light blesses you when people insult you and hunt you, and say all kinds of evil things against you because you are following what it teaches through me. Be glad because those charged with spreading the Light and teaching its ways persecuted even Highlord Tirion Fordring before you," Jeshua then gestured towards the statue of the great Paladin, "when he followed the Light's will in protecting Eitrigg the Orc and keeping his promise to him. They stripped him of his title, his lands, and threw him into prison intending to execute him. They thought they could take the Light from him for their own bigoted, petty reasons. But just as he found, the Light does not abandon those who follow its will. The Light forsakes no one."

At this the crimson robed listeners from the Scarlet enclave became visibly shaken, and those clerics from Stormwind were increasingly uncomfortable. His message would not be welcome among the Alliance leadership in the current political climate they knew all too well.

Jeshua's voice became passionate as he spoke, "I am telling all of you who are listening to me today that if you don't understand love, then you don't understand the Light, because the Light is love. It is the will of the Light that you love your enemies, love and not hate. How can the person who hates another be following the will of the Light when the Light is love itself? The Light wants that you do good to those who hate you instead. Bless those who persecute you instead. Don't harm the person who harms you, but have compassion, because this is what the Light does to all who come to it. Think on it, if you only love and do good to those who love and do good to you, what good does that do you? Everyone does that! Don't judge others and you won't be judged by the Light. Don't condemn others, and the Light won't condemn you. Forgive those who have wronged you, and the Light will also forgive you. Give to others and you will be given the Light a hundred times more. Whatever measurement you use with others, the Holy Light will use with you, and whatever you do for others, the Holy Light will do for you."

He continued to speak like this for over an hour. Those who heard him could not bring themselves to stop listening. The looks on the faces of the clerics from Stormwind were pensive and soured. Those scarlet robed men from Northrend looked pale and unwell at his teaching, but they too did not leave.

After some time, an older human man with graying hair and beard who wore stained, old clothes came up to Jeshua as he was teaching. Jeshua greeted them as though he were an old, familiar friend, but there was nothing unusual about that. Jeshua greeted everyone that way.

"Captain?" The older man asked. Tears had stained his cheeks recently, and his voice was filled with emotion.

"Jim? What's wrong?" Jeshua asked. "Where's Syloren?"

"Syloren's fine, Captain, he's back at Crown Guard Tower in the Plaguelands far east of here. There was a Mage there who opened a portal for me to get back to you today." He explained.

Jeshua waited patiently for further explanation as the man took a minute to compose himself. When he spoke, his face was somewhat haunted, deep sadness and pain written on it. "We did what you asked. We saw the Light do miracles right in front of us just like you do. And then we came to this ruin of a town in the Eastern Plaguelands called Darrowshire." Jim stopped for a moment to compose himself again.

"Go on, my friend." Jeshua told him gently, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Well, the town'd looked abandoned, but we both just felt like we needed to go there. From what the tower commander'd told us, the whole town'd been wiped out by the Scourge during the third war thirty years ago. There weren't no survivors. There was pieces o' dried bones and skulls like a graveyard all over the town." He told him, and then he added, "'cept there were still people there."

Jeshua nodded, his expression serious. "We met this little girl. 'cept she wasn't Forsaken. She was just a ghost. I'd seen them before sometimes, but never one like this before, Captain. She just broke my heart when she talked to me. Her name's Pamela. This little girl, couldn't be more than seven or eight years old with pigtails and a pretty smile, just wanted me to help find her doll that she had lost somewhere. I couldn't say 'no,' so Syloren stayed with her while I went and looked. When I did, I ran into some of the other people in the town. They was also ghosts too. They seemed like such good people. I found the girl's doll and put it back together and brought it to her. She was so thankful. She wanted to introduce us to her dad, and she did. He said his name was Joseph. Longer story short, Captain, they wanted to live again too. I didn't know if I could do that, and neither did Syloren. They've been dead for a long, long time, and not like the Forsaken either. There ain't enough body to heal anywhere for anyone. But I told 'em I'd go talk to you and see if anything could be done for 'em."

"Didn't I tell you, Jim, that if you continued in my teachings, and the Light remained within you that nothing would be impossible for you? Trust me, my friend, and don't doubt." Jeshua told the man gently.

One of the clerics from Stormwind, who had overheard the sailor's story, said in no uncertain terms, "I'm sorry, but that's truly impossible, sir, even for your teacher here."

At this, Jeshua smirked. "Nothing is impossible for the Holy Light, your grace. You should know that."

"But this, Captain? I've heard of mass resurrections before, but these people have been dead and scattered all over the ground for decades. Maybe if you had gotten to them thirty years ago after it happened..." Jim said, his sorrow for what he had seen evident.

"I am resurrection, Jim, and I am life itself. The one who allows me to shine within him is alive even if his body dies." Jeshua gestured to the restored Forsaken in the crowd. "And death has no power over the living man in whom I shine. Do you trust me in this?" He asked his emissary.

It was as if a light had gone on in Jim's eyes, and a fire had been lit. "Yeah, Captain, I do." He then added with a conviction he himself hadn't realized, "I believe you are the Holy Light somehow. I don't know how, but you're like the Light decided to put skin on and show us all what it's really like."

The Priests from Stormwind were horrified by the sailor's proclamation when they heard the exchange, which had not been hidden from anyone. "What blasphemy is this? Why do you people even listen to this lunatic?!"

One of them wearing bishop's robes shouted. "No one can do this, no one!"

Then, another man in the crowd wearing ripped, torn blue robes stood up and shouted back at them in anger, "A few weeks ago, this 'lunatic' gave me a beating heart again, your grace." The irony dripped from his lips as he addressed the cleric. "Something you could never, and would never have even tried."

The Stormwind Bishop averted his eyes from the man, dismissing him with a gesture. But the man would have none of it. "Look at me!" He demanded of the cleric, and the Bishop's eyes met his own furious expression. "I stand here whole because of this lunatic and not because of you."

Many of those present nodded in agreement and spoke up in Jeshua's defense. The Priests were shouted down and silenced.

Turning to Jeshua, the robed man said, "Teacher, I am a Mage by discipline. I came from Darrowshire before the Scourge overran it, and I remember the battle there very well, as well as my own death. If there is anything you can do for them, I will be happy to open a portal there right now for you and anyone who wants to see it." These last words were directed to the offended Priests.

"Show me where they are." Jeshua then told Jim, but also addressed the Mage as well.

The Mage began chanting and moving his hands rhythmically in the air, and a sliver of blue light appeared in the middle of the air as though a tear in the fabric of reality itself. It widened slowly until it was large enough to accommodate full grown men. Then the Mage gestured for Jeshua to step through.

Jeshua went first, and then Jim, and then the Mage gestured to the Priests if they dared. To their credit, with enraged, angry expressions on their faces, they did, saying, "We'll put an end to this nonsense here and now." Then stepping through the portal.

Those in the crimson robes of the Scarlet Crusade also elected to step through, though their manner was much different. Not angry, but curious at what they would see, and shaken from Jeshua's teaching to begin with.

After they did, several more of those present who had been listening also went through, wanting to see. Finally, the Mage himself did and the portal closed.

In Darrowshire seconds later…

Jeshua stepped out of the portal and onto dry, dead ground. The very air around him was filled with a reddish orange mist that permeated everything and stank of death and decay. As he moved aside, Jim came behind him, and then the others who had entered the Mage's portal in Hearthglen.

The town of Darrowshire consisted of a smattering of buildings in various stages of decay and ruin. More than one had completely collapsed in on itself. In the center of the town was a well, though whether there was water at the bottom of it, or if it was even drinkable if there was, was highly debatable. To the east, north, west, and south, reddish hills surrounded the town and it was only accessible by a narrow cart road which ran northwards to the main highway. Some trees dotted the landscape, but they too were an unnatural orange, brown, or reddish color as if Hallow's End had come to the town and never left. On the ground, like Jim had described, could be seen human bones scatted in the dirt everywhere. Skulls and rib cages could be seen lying haphazardly out in the open. The evidence of the viciousness of the battle for Darrowshire was everywhere.

Standing near the well were a small group of people wearing the colors and tabards of the Argent Crusade along with a Night Elf in traveling clothes. They had been discussing something intently when they saw the portal open and stopped to see who was arriving.

"Shan'do!" Syloren called out upon seeing his teacher. "Thank you for coming! We didn't know..."

And then, as Jeshua and Jim began to move towards their friend, they heard the delicate voice of a little girl, "Mister Jim? You came back!"

Jim's eyes filled with tears again as he turned to see the translucent form of Pamela Redpath. She might have been a little under four feet tall. She had red hair tied up in pigtails and wore a light brown summer dress over a short sleeve frilled white blouse. Her small feet were bare.

The Priests who had come through backed away from the child, while those who had been Forsaken drew closer to hear what would be said. Looks of empathy for the little girl's ghost could be seen on their faces, but little else as they folded their hands and looked from her to the man they had followed here.

"Yeah, sweetie, I came back." Jim said, kneeling down next to her.

"Did you bring the man who could help my daddy and me?" She asked him, her child's eyes hopeful.

"Yes, I did." Jim said, a tear running down his face. "Pamela, this is Jeshua." He then told her, introducing him to her.

"Hello, Pamela," Jeshua said, kneeling down. His own eyes began to tear up when he saw her.

"Can you really make us better, Mister Jeshua?" She asked him. "I feel so cold all the time."

"Do you believe I can?" Jeshua asked her, reaching out to stroke her ghostly face with his hand.

"Well, Mister Jim thought you could, and he's a really nice man, so I think you can too. I trust Mister Jim, so I trust you too." Pamela told him.

Tears began falling freely down Jeshua's bearded cheeks as she told him that.

"This is ridiculous! That girl has been dead for thirty years!" One of the Priests then shouted at him. "That's not even her, just some after image!"

Jeshua ignored him, but when the little girl then looked confused after what the Priest had said, he told her, "Pay him no mind, little one. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Sadly, he never did."

"Okay, Mister Jeshua. If you say so." She said, looking at him with a smile.

Jeshua then looked up into the sky and shouted so everyone present could hear, "Sire! I know you hear me because you have shone on all of these through me. Now, bring your light upon these people and let everyone here know, and let there be no more doubt that you sent me and love these people!"

At this, the misty orange clouds in the sky above parted, and pure, holy Light burst upon the town, flooding it so that there were no shadows left.

And then Jeshua shouted, "People of Darrowshire! Rise!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to burst open in several places around the town. Cracks large and small formed around them. In the distance from where they were, flashes of light could be seen coming from the town's cemetary. Around them, pieces of dried, dessecated bones flew across town to reform into humanoid forms.

"I feel… I feel..." Pamela began to say as her translucent form disappeared from in front of them.

Flesh, muscle, and blood took shape from nothing and formed around what had been skeletal remains. Living human hands began climbing out of the cracks which had formed in the ground followed by their owners who were very much alive and breathing.

Awestruck would not have conveyed what those witnessing it were feeling as the town's people rose from the dust and ashes whole, and healthy, and alive. Men and women, older as well as younger, and small children found themselves once more in the town where they had lived. In all, maybe three hundred people came to stand not far from the well where Jeshua had first met Pamela.

And then the radiant light faded once more. When it was all done, all the townspeople had expressions of confusion, shock, and even amazement at what they were seeing.

The Priests who had spoken out against Jeshua stood there dumbfounded. They couldn't reconcile their beliefs with what they had just witnessed. "What kind of necromancy is this?" They asked each other, refusing to believe their own eyes. They were certain that it was the result of dark and unholy magic. What else could it be?

In front of them, one of the men wearing the Argent Crusade's tabard, the commander of Crown Guard tower, a balding, middle aged man with a thick mustache, looked around him in utter bewilderment. "What just happened here?" He asked slowly and deliberately trying to process what he was seeing.

"Carlin? Is that you?" The commander heard a voice call out. It was one he had not heard in thirty years.

"Joseph?" Carlin Redpath turned his head to see his brother's face just as he had last seen it during the battle which had decimated the town. "Is that really you?"

A man with similar features to his own, but appearing much younger walked up to him. He had dark red hair and goatee and was wearing the clothes and brown leather vest he had the day Carlin watched him fall in battle.

"You look like an old man, Carlin, what happened?" Joseph asked him. "Where's Pamela?"

Carlin then grabbed his brother and held on tight, nearly squeezing the life out of him that had just been given. The older man cried as he held his brother. "I..." He didn't know how to answer him.

"Daddy?!" He heard a little girl's voice call out from the direction of where his home had been. He would know his Pamela's voice anywhere.

"Pamela?!" He let go of his brother and gazed in the direction of what had been their home.

"Daddy!" The little girl shouted back, doll in hand, and she ran in her bare feet across the town's dirt paths to her father's waiting arms. When she ran into him he scooped her up high into the air and then drew her back into a fierce embrace, kissing the top of her head.

Jeshua looked over the whole scene silently. Tears continuing to stream down his own face at the sight of all the reunions taking place. All of them far too long overdue. Jim stood next to him watching as well. He then put his hand on Jeshua's shoulder and said as they both watched, "Thanks for this, Captain. I mean thanks for all of this. I never would have gotten to be a part if I hadn't met you."

"And I too, Shan'do." Syloren added. "I have seen miracles beyond my wildest imagination."

"Continue in the Light's path, my friends." Jeshua told them both, "And you will see more than this."

It was then that the little girl they had first met came up to them both. "I remember you." She said. "I remember you both, Mister Jeshua and Mister Jim. And I think you were Mister Sy… Syl..."

"Syloren." The Night Elf told her.

"Yeah, that was it. You did this, didn't you? You gave my daddy back to me." She asked them.

"This was the Light's will for you, Pamela." Jeshua replied, kneeling down to face her eye to eye. "The Light doesn't want anyone to be destroyed, but for everyone to come into its embrace."

"Thank you, Mister Jeshua." Pamela told him. She then kissed his bearded cheek and threw her arms around him for a big hug, which he returned in a paternal embrace. Then backing away she said shyly with a slight curtsy, "Well, good bye!" and then ran back to her father.

At a distance from there, the Mage who had brought them there appeared to be searching for someone intently among the crowd. His eyes looked intently, a hope in them as he scanned the mass of people.

"Philip?" He then heard a young woman's voice call out. He knew the voice very well.

He spun his whole body around to see a woman of no more than twenty three. Her long, platinum blond hair was braided back and tied with a blue ribbon bow. Her blue eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

"Alicia?" He asked, his eyes watering. "I had thought… I didn't dare hope… I..." The Mage responded, not knowing what to say.

"Philip what has happened?" She asked him. "I remember there was a battle, and the Scourge came, and we were all so scared. You went out to fight them. Why are your robes like that? What happened to the town?"

But Philip couldn't answer. All he could do was grab his young wife into his arms, and kiss her more passionately than he ever had. "I've missed you so much!" Was all he could say. "I'm never going to leave you again! I swear it!" Rivulets of salt water streamed down his face as he held his wife once more.

Briefly he stole a glance at Jeshua and by some chance the young human man saw him as well. "Thank you." He managed to mouth at him.