Chapter 14: The Halls of Reflection

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. I make no profit from this, but I do have fun writting it!

I wasn't sure how long I had been in that small room. I wasn't even sure on how I had gotten there. I guess I'd been captured. Thal must have been too, because there's no way he wouldn't have let them take me without a fight. I looked around my surroundings again. They must have placed me in the smallest prison cell they had. It looked more like a broom closet, really. There were no windows, and the only sign that this was a prison cell was the skeleton chained to the wall next to me. I sighed. My wrists were chained to the walls and my knees touched the ground. If I tried to stand, it felt like my wrists would snap from the pressure. They were chained nice and tight, and there was no hope of escaping.

I must have fallen asleep because some time later I awoke to the sound of the door opening. The hinges were so rusty, I'm sure anyone in this place could have heard it. It didn't help that I had sharper hearing than most mortals. A man dressed in reddish robes walked in with some sort of orb in his hands. I growled at him, something that surprised even me, letting him know he wasn't welcomed. It seemed to freak him out a bit. He must have decided he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, because he started chanting some strange words in a language I couldn't recognize and the orb in his hands started to glow a dark purple, almost black, color. A cloud began to seep from the orb. The cloud turned into two dark purple hands and the slowly crept toward me. I tried to get away, but the chains wouldn't budge. The hands wrapped around my head and an immense pain shot through my skull. It was like a headache, a migraine, and a brain freeze all in one! My head felt like it was going literally going to explode or burst into flames. The last thing I saw before I fainted was a golden glow sinking into the orb. The door closed and I blacked out.

~*~*~*~*~ Here starts something totally new! ~*~*~*~*~

"You won't deny me this, Arthas! I must know... I must find out..."

"Lady Jaina, wait!"

"It's no use, Conway. The ghosts will appear any second now! Get over here!"

The paladin known as Conway ran over to the left side of the circular room. The shaman who had called to him was behind part of the wall along with the rest of their group. Just as the shaman has said, the ghosts began to attack them right when Conway got into position. After four waves of ghosts, one of Arthas' scourge commanders, Falric, became the groups next opponent He wasn't much of a challenge thanks to Anazi's Tremor Totem. After four more waves another of Arthas' scourge commanders, known as Marwin, tried to stop the group. He posed no real threat and was easily dealt with. Once the scourge commanders had been dealt with, the group took a quick break.

"Where did Jaina get to?" asked a Gnome mage.

"She ran down the hall," replied a Human rogue.

"Then let's stop sitting here and go after her!" suggested Conway.

The group took off down the hallway and soon ran into some trouble when a giant bone sentinel spotted them. It took them a few moments, and after dealing with ghosts that looked like themselves, they were ready to continue on again when the healer stopped them.

"Guys, wait," he said.

"What is it, Taylon? Do you need to take a quick mana break?" asked Conway.

"No, it's just...I feel something. Something alive."

"It's probably just Jaina," replied Jin, the human rogue.

"No, it's different. Almost...druidic."

"Are you sure?"

Taylon nodded his head firmly.

"Guys, I don't think we have time for this. We're going to have to forget it and continue on," said Anazi.

"What if it's a member of the alliance, or a prisoner? We can't just leave them!" argued Taylon.

"But Jaina's in danger! Who knows how long she can hold her own against the Lich King!" Anazi argued back.

"All life is sacred. I can't just go on knowing there's something alive in here!" Taylon took off in the direction he felt the life. Shortly after, Conway and Twixi were on his heals.

"Damn him and his 'all life is sacred' bullshit," mumbled Jin as he and Anazi took off after them.

The ran west of the remains of the bone sentinel and turned down a smaller hall, only to have it come to a dead end.

"It's right behind here! I can feel it!" shouted Taylon.

"But it's a dead end," stated Twixi.

"No it's not," said Jin. He bent down and pulled a loose tile from the floor. Then he stepped on some sort of switch, and a piece of the wall before them pushed itself open.

Taylon was the first one to see the uncontentious Night Elf. He hurried over to her and tried to budge the chains, but there was no way they were coming off without the key.

"I can't get them off," said Taylon, tugging at the chains.

"Let me see them," said Jin. He took out some sort of small tool and stuck it into the lock on the chains. After wiggling it around a bit, they unhooked and the Nigh Elf's left hand fell free. Jin did the same with her other hand and ankles. She fell free from the wall and into Taylon's arms.

"She alive?" asked Conway.

"Yeah. She doesn't seem to be too badly injured. I can't figure out why she's uncontentious."

"Maybe it's from the smell in here," remarked Anazi. "Can we go now? Jaina's still in trouble, remember?"

Taylon threw the Night Elf over his shoulder and the group made their way back through the hall and eventually found Jaina in a battle with the Lich King. By the looks of things, they had arrived just in time.

"Your allies have arrived Jaina, just as you promised. Hahahahaha...You will all become powerful agent's of the scourge."

The group ran toward an opening in the room that resembled the throne room in Lorderon. Jaina froze the Lich King in a giant block of ice and turned to follow the heros.

"He is too powerful. We must leave this place at once! My magic can hold him in place for only a short time. Come quickly heroes!"

The group began to run out on a frosty path surrounded by ice. The Lich King thawed and began to follow them. Before they could get too far, the Lich King put a giant ice wall in their way.

"There is no escape!"

"I will destroy this barrier," Jaina told the group. "You must hold the undead back!"

The Lich King sent a small force of ghouls at the group, but Jin's Fan of Knives and Twixi's Blizzard made quick work of them. He sent an scourge witchdoctor after them, but it too was destroyed fairly quick. Taylon only had one free hand to cast heals with, and since he had the uncontentious Night Elf on his shoulder, he couldn't shift into tree form. Thankfully, Conway was one of those Paladin tanks that didn't need much healing. Actually, tanks these days rarely needed healing. Jaina broke through the barrier and they continued to run.

"Feel the chill of the grave!" The Lich King put another barrier in their way and sent more undead at them.

This continued on until Jaina had broken the fourth and final barrier. They had barely survived that one. Since Taylon was handicapped, as it were, Anazi had to help him heal, therefore the Lich King had almost gotten them. They continued running only to be confronted with a dead end.

"It...it's a dead end. We have no choice but to fight. Steel yourselves, heroes, for this is our last stand!"

The Lich King laughed as he pointed Frostmourne at Jaina. "No where to run. You're mine now!"

A loud noise approached from behind them, and the group turned to look as the Skybreaker rose up.

"Fire! Fire!"

Several fireballs were launched right above the Lich King's head and the cave collapsed in on him, freeing Jaina from his grasps.

"Quickly! Climb aboard," called someone from the ship. "We mustn't terry here. There's no telling when this whole mountain side will collapse."

"Forgive me, heroes. I should have listened to Uther. I... I had to see for myself. To look into his eyes one last time. I am sorry."

Jaina followed the heroes on to the Skybreaker and opened a portal to Dalaran as the ship flew away.

"We now know what must be done. I will deliver this news to king Varian and High lord Fordring."

Twixi, Anazi, and Jin took the portal to Dalaran. Conway and Taylon stayed on the Skybreaker and told the captain about the Night Elf they had found. Since there was no real medic on the ship, they decided to take her to the Shadow Vault and seek help. Hopefully when she awoke, they could get some answers.

Lot's of talking in this chapter...Half the chapter is made of talking! Oh well. This was really just a filler chapter. I had to get Seth out of there somehow! Unfortunately, there won't be any more of Thal for another two or so chapters. Don't worry! He's not dead!...Yet..XD (No, I'm not going to kill Thal.)

Next Time: Gimbly finds out Seth is alive and Seth wonders what happened to Thal.