My Life for My Prince

Chapter Twenty One: The war over Kael'thas, Part III

"Kael'thas… I am your brother."

For some reason that Kael'thas couldn't hope to fully understand while sleeping, he dreamed that he was in Ashenvale.

Nothing was more unsettling to a Blood Elf, to be trapped in a land laden with exactly the wrong kinds of magic. Everything was overgrown and wild, nature smelled… actually smelled. Trees had knotholes, their bark peeled with disease alongside other plants that stood proud and healthy in the muted purple twilight. This was naked, unkempt life when allowed to multiply its overabundance of imperfection, such that there existed unbridled complexity and variation. The people who walked through these trees, knowing what they did about the true power of magic but refused to tend to their world, feared to handle the slightest tendril of power like zealots, like backwards cultists… they were the true savages.

It was beautiful but in a terrifying way. Kael'thas feared that this Night Elf world would lose its temper any moment and eat him. Eversong Woods… well, even after Arthas, it lived up to its name.

He had a guide. A very tall Night Elf man with loose dark hair wore only simple hide trousers, no shoes, nor did he carry a weapon. Kael'thas felt overdressed compared to him.

"We're almost there, Kael'thas." The man said, just barely glancing over his shoulder.

Kael'thas stopped walking through the crisp undergrowth. "Illidan?"

Illidan Stormrage paused and leaned on a tree. His hands touched thick wet lichen but he didn't mind. "Yes, it is I."

"Really you… I saw all of this and could tell right away that it wasn't me imagining you. But how?"

Illidan smiled a little, though he didn't fully face his friend. "I was weak at the meeting, yes? Well, now the transformation has fluctuated in the other direction, Kael'thas. There were many things I could have done with this surge of power. I chose to share something exceptional with you, and only you. Maybe it's not the meeting in person you suggested, but I did not ask for permission to initiate this dream because—"

"Because I would have said no. That is why I didn't have a choice." Kael'thas teased him. "Well, you're wrong my friend. I would not have said no. I would have… insisted you pick someplace else, like a refined tavern in Dalaran. But who am I to judge, really?"

Illidan laughed and continued to lead them through the forest.

"I did this often when I was your age." He pleasantly reminisced. "I didn't want to mar the memory, by bringing my future self… my tortured self into this innocent past. I walked deer trails like these with my friends, with my... brother." he grimaced. "Then, after we had our falling out, I walked them alone. I didn't think that those would be the first steps I took down a very long road that only became more isolated and precarious. I never could have anticipated the kind of suffering—"

"Ugh!" Kael'thas grabbed his ankle and scowled at the bottom of his black boot. He was wearing the most casual clothing he had, a set of black slacks that were tucked into his tall boots and finely tailored shirt. It still caused him to look regal besides rustic Illidan. Kael'thas sighed with irritation and turned back to his now soiled shoe. "When you said deer trail… I didn't think you really meant… was it necessary to make Ashenvale so very realistic?" he wiped his boot clean of the deer droppings in a patch of grass.

Illidan gave up on his dramatic speech and just laughed. "No, you are not a Night Elf at all. Though I often forget."

"How could you ever." Kael'thas crossed his arms and walked beside him. As always, he only came up to his friend's shoulder.

Illidan couldn't stop smiling from then on. He stopped speaking about sad things and just started enjoying the beautiful forest. Kael'thas came to enjoy it too… not because of Ashenvale itself, which he found repulsive, but because it felt nice to just live simply for once and enjoy the company of a good friend. And Illidan Stormrage was the closest friend he had.

They climbed into the foothills of a verdant mountain along the coast. It wasn't Darkshore back then, just majestic forest hurtling toward an abrupt sandy beach. Illidan stopped them at a campsite that looked out over the deep blue-black water. Thousands of years later, Teldrassil would dominate the misty horizon. Now, only a gently yawning dark sea.

Illidan sat on a log before the blackened fire pit. He dropped some twigs he had been collecting into it and went about rubbing tinder together to start a campfire.

Kael'thas snickered and raised a hand.

"Bloodmages didn't exist back then, let alone fire mages of any sort among the Kal'dorei, so don't even think about ruining this memory in that way." Illidan smirked.

Kael'thas sat on the log opposite Illidan and looked on, truly amused as the Demon Lord struggled to make fire. "I suppose… it's good to be rustic sometimes. I feel even more powerful by just watching you break a sweat over that." He snapped his fingers, made a flame on a fingertip and then blew it out.

Illidan just shook his head and kept laughing.

"I wish…" Illidan said after they watched the tiny fire grow, "that it could be this simple. We should be able to do things like this. But there isn't a place in Azeroth that we are welcome, is there, my friend? And everywhere in Outland, we would have to watch our backs. Out here," he swept his hand across the view of the exotic black sea, "we have nothing to fear. It truly is like the beginning of the world. This was a peaceful existence that was cruelly stolen from us!"

"It is relaxing." Kael'thas conceded. He leaned back on a tree trunk behind him and propped his boot up on a large rock. "So is this what you wanted to share with me? I was sure that something else was bothering you."

Illidan warmed his hands over the fire, even though it wasn't a cold day. Though Kael'thas waited patiently, there was threat latent in that hawklike gaze.

"Yes, I was getting to that. You see... you and I, we're a lot closer than you think, and that's why I had to go to extremes–"

"I'm not an idiot, Illidan. Stop lying to me, I know what's going on."

Illidan idly chewed the black claw on his thumb, the way Kael'thas did when he was nervous. "I… I didn't want to lie to you."

Kael'thas folded his hands over his stomach as he leaned back against the tree. "The prophecy is true, isn't it? The Shatar didn't make it up… the Skettis are brilliant with shadow magic, of course they got it right."

Illidan couldn't meet his friend's eyes while he listened.

Kael'thas leaned forward. "Did you really think I wouldn't understand? You let everyone think that you suddenly developed a cold or something like that, but Demons don't get sick, not even half-Demons like you. And of course the Shatar wouldn't invest so much time and effort in creating propaganda, in the form of a prophecy. Were you really that embarassed that they could guess your transformation date so accurately and I couldn't? You only made up that story to save face in front of your generals. And then, since I know you so well and we share a Soul Link, you added another layer to the lie, to fool me into missing the obvious. Am I right?"

Illidan just sat there. He was seeing the strength of his full Demon powers in this very moment. It was bittersweet… the perfection of his clairvoyance, his scheming, had still fooled Kael'thas. The brilliant Bloodmage saw the inconsistencies over the last few days and delved further for the truth, but was only able to find the lie within the lie. That Illidan was a full Demon now should have been obvious, but the power of the full Demon Lord's suggestion deflected the truth, like a plate shield.

Finally, Illidan stopped gnawing on his talon. "You're right, Kael'thas." He laughed lightly. "Why did I ever think that I could fool you? You're such a good friend."

Kael'thas folded his hands underneath his chin, and leaned into the firelight. It was getting dark. "It must be exceptionally horrible, for you to try and trick me into enslaving you, the pain so great that it's making you do desperate things. Fortunately, I have spells for the pain. Be honest, now, where does it hurt?"

"Well… you see—"

"I heard that you spent forever with that harem of yours… do I need to guess where it hurts?" Kael'thas grimaced. "Are you just going to let me keep talking myself into a hole? I'm getting super uncomfortable over here. Illidan?"

Illidan's mind wandered while Kael'thas kept talking anxiously about all the things that could go wrong with Demon physiology… in that, um… area, which was probably for the best. No one, not even a Demon wants to hear anything like that, and a true bookworm, Kael'thas' knowledge was excessive. Illidan was bothered by how hard it was to lie, when Kael'thas was being so nice to him.

"...But if it only itches then that's okay." Kael'thas was saying, "As long as it doesn't hang too left… Okay, that was really graphic. Nevermind. Look, just think of me as your physician right now… this is about your health, Illidan, not your demon pride. I am your warlock. So, is it something along those lines?"

Illidan started coughing again, and Kael'thas shook his head. "I hate to tell you this Illidan, because you seem to enjoy fooling me, but that is the worst fake-coughing I've ever heard in my life."

Illidan stopped doing it immediately and looked dejected. "You're a warlock… sometimes I forget you have the capacity to guess me so well." Then the Demon Lord furrowed his brow, "But there is no way we are going to pursue your current train of thought. I don't have a problem like that!"

"But you clearly have some kind of ailment in that umm... area. The transformation has affected everything else, your feelings, our Soul Link, your strength. That's the last place it hasn't hit. Why did we ever assume that it wouldn't? And that's a good reason to lie to your best friend about your health if I ever heard one. Now, out with it. It's so obvious to me that your harem, or Lady Vashj must have aggravated the condition somehow."

Illidan froze.

Kael'thas started smiling as he went on, "I knew it! So you aren't a lonely old bachelor, are you? You two had some kind of lover's spat…" he made a show of eyeing the abnormally tall Night Elf version of Illidan, "Or brawl considering your half-demon taste in women. She's cancelled all the victory parties in your honor, she's been especially harsh on Scy'thlerin, had that poor Path'raxxis the Seer beaten… ever since the night of the meeting. What in the world did you do to her, Illidan?"

Illidan cleared his throat nervously. "Nothing… we just, you know, talked."

"Ha! Come on now Illidan, it's me, Kael'thas… You've been flirting with her for years. Did the two of you finally—"

The young Illidan Stormrage flushed. "I don't really want you to know…"

Kael'thas started laughing wildly. "I'm no mind reader, but clearly I don't have to be! My intelligence assured me that she was in the Lagoon that night. You old dog… did the demon magic fluctuate on that night too, like it is now? Did you transport yourself to her room, like when you came to the Golden Shrine?"

Illidan had lived a long life in secrecy. He knew better than to give into bragging right now, especially about the conversation he had with Lady Vashj. But… that overly-long, isolated life was also the very reason that compelled Illidan to speak up now, the same reason why Illidan had accepted Kael'thas' offer to share a Soul Link in when they first met in Outland.

"No, I sort of… included her in one of my dreams." Illidan grinned a little.

"Wait…" Kael'thas thought about this for a moment. "Not like this one, right?"

Illidan laughed. "Of course not! You know what sort of thing I'm talking about, though the technique was nearly the same."

Kael'thas raised his blonde eyebrows when at last he understood. "You didn't… that's like every man's fantasy, to get the woman actually into the dream with you." He shook his head, disbelieving. "Did she, you know… like it?"

Illidan shrugged. "I don't care what she thinks. I liked it, that's all that matters."

Kael'thas frowned at what his friend's attitude implied. "Not that I want to know this much about your love life, Illidan… but your primordial-man, beginning of Azeroth sort of opinion of women is dangerously outdated. It is not alright to take a woman's choices away like that. It's no better than what Blaize did with Saturna."

"It's no better than what Malfurion did to Tyrande in the first place, by absconding off into that Emerald Dream of his." Illidan snorted as he gave a brief, mocking laugh. "Don't preach to me. I know what lines should never be crossed. I knew exactly how to fix the problem with Tyrande and I knew how to fix Lady Vashj too when she toyed with me."

Kael'thas became very still. "What you're talking about so casually Illidan, is called rape! Don't tell me that you… you didn't do that to Tyrande herself, did you? The High Priestess of Elune? And now, Lady Vashj?"

Illidan looked at Kael'thas, horrified. "I didn't do that! Did I tell you that I… I could never hurt Tyrande like that! And I certainly didn't force Lady Vashj. She could have left my dream at any time if she really wanted to… Heh. It's not my fault she couldn't figure it out fast enough. Besides it being just that, Kael'thas, a dream!"

"What in the world is wrong with you? Have you even forgotten how to treat another mortal person decently? Rape is not about… it's not sex, it's an act of violence. In Silvermoon, we have strict laws against that. Even if it was just in Lady Vashj's mind… I'm repulsed by the woman myself, but even she didn't deserve something like that."

"I'm a Demon, Kael'thas, you know that. We go about it violently, and that's the way I wanted her. Funny that you've become a moral authority all of a sudden, warlock. What happened to your being happy for me?" Illidan lowered his eyes. "Having a brainless harem is no real romantic achievement. It does nothing for the heart… Now, sweeping Tyrande off her feet after Malfurion abandoned her for years at a time in that ridiculous Emerald Dream, that's a triumph. Kael'thas, I nearly told you the other day that Tyrande and I had an affair." He got quiet, and Kael'thas raised his eyebrows. "I do have first-hand experience with extra-marital affairs. The emotional aspect is complex, and the physical part... Tyrande felt so guilty that she ended it. She made me promise never to tell anyone else, especially not Malfurion. Though I hate him!" He seethed, "I know that going to him would cause me to lose what little I have with her forever, if I break that trust. But Kael'thas, my friend... That one precious moment I shared with Tyrande was the greatest success of my life. I was never happier. And then, tragedy of tragedies, she still chose him over me!" He growled a little. "That's what I meant, Kael'thas, I won her over, heart and body, for a brief time. Not that I forced her. I would never do that to a woman."

Kael'thas turned away. "I really don't want to talk about this anymore. It's truly none of my business."

"Fine, I'll let you change the subject like you always do when something isn't pleasant enough for the Prince of Quel'thalas to continue thinking about." Illidan baited him, but Kael'thas wouldn't budge.

"So the… nature of your problem isn't in that area. What is bothering you then, Illidan? Why did you go so far to convince me to enslave you?" He pointed a finger at him. "By the way, we haven't yet gotten to the part about how you made me relapse—twice—and then made me attack Saturna, though it's coming… Something really big must have happened over the last few days to scare you into it?"

Illidan sat back down across the fire from his friend.

"Enslave me now."

Kael'thas groaned with frustration. "Stop it! Not until you tell me what's going on, will I even consider it."

Loose strands of raven hair slipped from behind Illidan's long violet ear and fell into his face. Just like with the moss, he wasn't bothered by it. Kael'thas wondered how Illidan had ever separated himself so far the natural world he loved.

"At first I wanted the Soul Link because the transformation scared the hell out of me. And it's been a long time since I've been frightened, Kael'thas. Demons aren't supposed to feel fear, when life itself is pain. To have that sensation return to me, it felt like I was falling, all the time. When your mortal soul joined with mine, I remembered what it was like to be finite again. I never expected… that being connected to a mortal life could be so comforting, knowing that you will end is a better absolute than never knowing when the suffering will become so great that it will swallow you whole. Never knowing the exact moment when life ceases to be a gift and becomes an endless torture. I thank you for that."

Kael'thas said nothing in turn, but watched him intently. It made Illidan feel like some sort of Kirin Tor test subject. He hated that though he'd abandoned that life, his friend could still make himself appear like a critical Alliance scientist.

"But later… I came to depend on it."

"Not anymore though. That's what you are implying."

Illidan hesitated. "Yes… you've got it exactly. I feel better these days." He waited to see what Kael'thas would say to that.

He didn't say anything at all.

"Maybe I don't really need your soul anymore," Illidan said carefully, "but I still want it."

"Why? And I don't see why you are even bringing this up, it's not as if you could just give my soul back. Nor can I return yours. That's impossible."

"Kael'thas, the last time I could trust someone with my life like this… was before Malfurion and I met Tyrande." Illidan kept watching for Kael'lthas' reaction, "And… now I want to kill Malfurion. We have to do it together, it's the only way…"

Kael'thas sat up. "Alright, honestly, I don't follow you at all. This doesn't make any sense. Illidan, stop dancing around whatever it is, and just tell me."

"We should be brothers."

Kael'thas shifted weight uncomfortably where he sat on the log. "Um… alright?"

"Do you mean yes?"

"Yes to what?"

Illidan leaned further over the fire. That reminded Kael'thas that this was just a dream, because the young Illidan Stormrage most certainly had to have been afraid of fire. "It's the only way… Elune made a mistake, because of the Ysera. All of this, everything is Malfurion's fault. He's out of synch. I've been studying this for a long time, about the Bronze Dragonflight… sometimes people get displaced. There are those who tamper with time, and the Bronze Dragons try to fix it. Ysera is the queen of the Green Dragonflight, she is the one who forced the Night Elf druids to join the Emerald Dream in the first place, where Malfurion has been. And he came back out, just now… he didn't even go to Tyrande first, he came to me. But I locked him up, I figured it out before it was too late."

Kael'thas looked at Illidan like he was crazy, which was exactly how he sounded. "What… did you figure out, my friend?" he asked gently.

Illidan became enthusiastic at that slightest encouragement. The youthful guise he now wore really made his discovery seem especially childish. "Malfurion traveled back in time to raise an army of druids for the evil Dragon Queen Ysera. He'd nearly succeeded when I found him and put him in a dungeon! The Bronze Dragons don't know what's going on yet, I'm not sure if they would even help me, but they have to. Even if I have to make them." Illidan gestured with his hands, "You see, that we eventually came to share souls is not a coincidence, Kael'thas. Malfurion is a dark agent, he needed to hide in kal'dorei society somehow at the beginning of the world to start up Ysera's army… You are actually my brother—"

"Illidan, no."

"Just listen. Malfurion did it so precisely, taking your place, but the important thing is, we found each other at last! That's why our souls match so well, haven't you ever wondered? Now, the only thing we need to do is kill him together, so Malfurion will be forced to go back to his time, whenever that is. His displacing you, and stealing Tyrande from me messed up both our lives. It's the whole reason I was driven to become a Demon. Malfurion also caused you to lose your father, and your kingdom… but we can get it back. We can fix everything that ever went wrong on Azeroth. First, you use your warlock powers that were destined to match with my one weakness as a Demon to enslave me so that we can be like family again. Second, we kill Malfurion and send him back. Then, we finish taking Outland together, and—"

"You're completely serious, aren't you?"

"Don't look at me like that, like I'm crazy! This is serious…" Illidan began to mutter to himself, "I never even told anyone else about my theories before, but I only figured all of this out after our souls were linked. I felt how close we truly are and began to ask all kinds of questions. About a year ago is when I got the old tomes about the Bronze Dragonflight, and then the Green One… After I read those, I began to look back at my own life and it all started to make so much sense! I was able to put all the pieces together, as only I was meant to, since I am the only one of us Malfurion didn't tamper with. You were meant to be my brother instead. Tyrande was meant to be my wife, and we are really the ones who are supposed to be leading the Night Elf people. If that were the case, then the Highborne would have never separated from the Kal'dorei. Quel'thalas wouldn't exist, we'd be one people! One people that fearlessly wielded powerful magic and were close to nature. Don't you feel it, Kael'thas? Our soul link is excellent. We are two halves of one whole. We were separated at birth, Kael'thas! There are so many things we have in common, and we were both born in the exact same month—"

"Lots of people have that in common, Illidan." Kael'thas began to get up. He inched away from the campfire.

"But our star signs are the same! And you're a warlock, I'm a Demon, both of us love women we shouldn't have… only you were strong enough to fight Blaize, your mortal enemy—that's why I wanted you to kill him. Dammit! Kael'thas, you should have gone through with it—and all I have to do is kill Malfurion, and I can get Tyrande back. It's all so simple! Hey, where are you going?"

"To be honest, Illidan, I was sneaking away." Kael'thas said from where he stood beyond the firelight.

Illidan asked him why, and Kael'thas answered, "Because I really think that I should wake up right now. Nor do I think you should share anymore dreams with me."

Illidan started to get angry. "You think I'm crazy. Just like the others… don't give into Malfurion's lies, that I've gone mad! He told all of Outland, even the Alliance and Horde that I've lost my mind, but it's the transformation, you know that. And the transformation is all his fault too! Don't you see, that's part of his master plan, to throw me off the scent. If you enslave me then we'll be reunited again at last. And then we can end this horrible mess together! You don't even know your own mother, Kael'thas, don't you want me to tell you about her?"

This spiraled into a heartwrenching argument. Illidan kept trying to tell Kael'thas about the childhood he missed with his brother, Kael'thas kept insisting that he was an only child with a mother and father, the King and Queen of Quel'thalas. It saddened him to have to go so far back, to prove to Illidan that Anasterian was the one meant to raise him. Finally, Illidan insisted that the reason Kael'thas' father died was because he wasn't meant to live in the first place. Malfurion was trying to cover his tracks back then and he caused a ripple in events that caused Prince Arthas to become a Deathknight and destroy the Sunwell and Silvermoon City. That larger disaster drew attention away from the real goal of the attack, the assassination of King Anasterian Sunstrider. To the inevitable objections Kael'thas posed, Illidan insisted that Anasterian had figured out that Kael'thas wasn't his son, but belonged so someone else. Malfurion pulled strings with his strange druid magic from the Emerald Dream to fix that.

Next, Illidan started saying that the Night Elves, the Alliance, all of Azeroth was never meant to turn against he and Kael'thas. Malfurion worked behind the scenes inside the Emerald Dream to turn all those people against them so that they would either get killed by so many of their enemies, or else never find each other. The Emerald Dream was a place where Malfurion could manipulate the natural world. Malfurion, all druids, and the Cenarion Circle were created in the first place to throw people off, to give Malfurion a cover for his twisted druid magic that he used to disrupt the flow of time. And wasn't that too much of a coincidence, that Malfurion was the first druid ever? He must have then trained all those others so that he wouldn't seem like the only one. Malfurion got the old god Cenarius in on it too, cruelly agreeing that Illidan wasn't worthy enough to become a druid… All that rejection, the thousands of years of Malfurion thwarting Illidan's plans to save Azeroth time and again, so that he had to resort to accepting the help of Demon magic from the Burning Legion, and they were all going to die unless he and Kael'thas killed Malfurion soon, in the right way, or else the Emerald Dream would consume all of Azeroth. Outland was the only safe place to raise an army…

"Enough!" Kael'thas shouted at Illidan, near to tears. "This has finally gone too far! You would refute my very existence, desecrate the memory of my own father? You twist an argument you had with your brother, thousands of years ago into this? This is madness, Illidan! Malfurion rejected you, yes, I'll give you that. Tyrande chose him over you, you lost the two most important people in your life over and over again, yes this is true, and it's horrible. But he is not out to get you. The Emerald Dream… yes that magic is tainted, the Green Dragon Queen Ysera is deeply disturbed, but she is not the head of some kind of secret plot to destroy Azeroth. Malfurion is not on a secret mission to destroy you. Many people here in Outland want to destroy you, Illidan, but it's your own fault! Not someone else's! You have to accept that about yourself."

Illidan looked at Kael'thas like he was crazy. "Don't be like them… stop saying that."

"Look at me!" Kae'thas shook Illidan by the shoulders. He was frantic. "A long time ago, you pissed off your brother. When you took that vial of water from the Well of Eternity, and competed with him over a woman, and not just any woman, Tyrande Whisperwind herself! All that created a schism among the Kal'dorei, our ancestors, that could never be healed. It is all your fault. You have to accept this, but it isn't such a bad thing. I exist today because generations later, my ancestor Dath'remar agreed with your vision and set about creating the glorious magical kingdom the Kal'dorei were too feeble-minded to take for themselves. You paid dearly for that brave choice my friend, you lost Tyrande, you lost your brother's trust. You've been trying to set things right and trying to convince everyone of your clairvoyance ever since! But you were before your time, Illidan! Tyrande and Malfurion are still of that same, beginning of the world mindset. It's just impossible to endear them to you now!"

Kael'thas looked exhausted, and began to pace. "I guess that in a way, I do wish we were brothers. Maybe that is what you sensed from me through our Soul Link. But that is the dream of every only child, and you are my greatest friend. If I could have any other siblings at all, I would have wanted it to be someone like you, who understands life and people so well, who was brave enough to abandon his family, his friends, when they could no longer understand him, when they turned against him, rejected him…"

"You see! That is what I am talking about–" Illidan interrupted.

Kael'thas raised his hand for quiet. "I'm not done yet. You and I are very similar, Illidan, and I think my being a warlock helps with that. You have been alone for a long time, and I'm sure my friendship is a great relief to you, it must seem miraculous, but really, when you were so ahead of your time, you were bound to meet up with someone who understood you eventually. You certainly lived long enough. What we have is a powerful alliance between two brilliant leaders, Demon and Warlock, man to man, a true friendship. We've put a god-like fear into the hearts of many of our enemies, haven't we?" He paused and took a deep breath, "But we are not brothers! Nor will we ever be… though times like this, when I see just how much pain you are in, how you are suffering for what's tragically befallen you, time and again… I wish for the world that we were. Maybe then, I could have prevented your being so isolated, so misunderstood for so long."

"That is exactly why you have to enslave me, Kael'thas! We have to finish healing the bond between us. I was afraid you wouldn't understand, but I can't go back in time before this conversation and un-say it, not like Malfurion can, and has done to ruin many things for us in the past. Don't you see the danger of your reasoning, Kael'thas? Malfurion is already getting to you, but when you become my master, we'll be reunited as brothers. No one can come between us ever again."

Kael'thas finally lost it and started yelling. "I can't take this anymore! I hardly have room to think, to breathe, to be with a woman because of you! Stop it! Stop talking like me, stop copying my mannerisms, stop listening in on my conversations, watching me while I… while I have sex! I know that you're doing it! Just… stop it! You can't blame other people for your problems, Illidan. All you can do is change your ways, that's what Saturna taught me. Furthermore, if you're so angry with your brother that you want to kill him after all this time, don't go dragging me into it! Grow some balls and do it yourself! It's going to hurt like hell to murder someone that you love–and obviously, you still love your brother Malfurion. I'm not going to enslave you just so that I can order you to do it and you won't feel guilty about it." At last, Kael'thas made an effort to control his voice. "This link between us has finally gone too far, Illidan. Yes, I am a warlock, but I'm not all-powerful because I use Demon magic. That is a mistake a novice makes. I command Demon magic deftly because I know my limits, I know when to stop, and I already explained to you that I can't enslave you, because I'd end up hurting myself."

"What are you saying, Kael'thas? I told you what is really going on here… you confessed that you wished you were my brother. Are you going to enslave me, and end the suffering of my life? And…" he hesitated, "Have you ever considered that... If maybe what you say is true, and I'm wrong–though I am certain that I'm right–Isn't that all the more reason to enslave me, Kael'thas, to control my will and then set me right? Please…"

"Stop manipulating me! Stop lying to me! You are ruining my life. No, never! I will never enslave you, if that's what you need to hear! You are crazy, a lunatic… I can't believe that I followed you… away from my people, my country… into this wasteland. And for what?" Kael'thas sat down and buried his face in his hands.

Illidan sat there quietly, staring at his friend.

Suddenly, Kael'thas got up. "I'm out of here."

The beautiful young man who was really a full Demon Lord stalked after Kael'thas in the darkness a few paces, balled fists at his sides. "Kael'thas Sunstrider… I would not do that if I were you."

Kael'thas shouted back in the darkness, "I am a brilliant Bloodmage, a once member of the Kirin Tor. I also possess the rare magical gift of the Sunstrider line… I can get out of your damned dream if I want to." then he mumbled under his breath, "Unlike poor Lady Vashj."

"You selfish, pretentious sonofabitch!" Illidan shouted back.

"Lucky for you, you wholly believe that you just insulted your own mother, so I can't truly take offense. Illidan, I am going to wake up now and get back to the sort of work I thought I was doing here in Outland, for the Sin'dorei. When you're ready to be reasonable, old friend, you know where to find me."

The peaceful night of Ashenvale breached suddenly. A lone crack split the middle of the pristine black firmament. Illidan raised his hands in the darkness, pushed his palms together against an unseen force, trying to seal the sky of his dream again. The white light of consciousness began to shine through. Illidan scowled at it. His fangs began to grow back. Large, curved horns ripped up out of his brow. He fell to his knees in agony.

Kael'thas… Illidan cried his name pitifully over and over again in Demonic and through the Soul Link, so that the warlock could not ignore his plight.

Kael'thas Sunstrider stared straight ahead as he conjured. Purple runes flowed between his fingers and finally he reached up, released the power overhead.

The perfect night shattered like thousands of shards of black glass, just like the magical ward Illidan had placed in his own room to keep his Demon soldiers out. Kael'thas now realized that it had been Illidan's trap for him, not Akama's doing. Illidan had wanted only Kael'thas to know about the danger, to perhaps panic and come alone. Or… perhaps it had been Illidan's brilliant manipulation of Akama's obvious disdainful scheming, a combination of efforts. All to sate Illidan's madness, to get Kael'thas to enslave him. Illidan used the Shatar raiders as well. He knew that they would break into the Blackened Shrine all along. Illidan created the opportunity after the ploy in the Golden Shrine had failed, and then the third and final lei line had been in the dungeon where Kael'thas encouraged Illidan to install a torture chamber years ago, because the dark magic there could help them more effectively interrogate enemy prisoners.

All of that hard work beside his friend… Kael'thas saw now that he'd only helped Illidan to build a cage for himself. Saturna was right. Illidan was obsessed with him, there never was any helping the Demon Lord through his transformation, maybe no one could help Illidan heal thousands of years of emotional and physical self-destruction. Perhaps there was only one fate for Illidan Stormrage: for the half-Demon man to lay in the bed he'd made. Kael'thas' efforts over the last two years had only exacerbated the problem. Maybe Malfurion and Tyrande had been right all along, to abandon him.

No… not you too. Please, don't think it. Don't do it!

"Fuck with my plans regarding my people or Saturna again, Illidan, and see what else happens to you." Kael'thas coldly answered as the black shards of magic shimmered and faded away. Then, the Blood Elf Prince stepped out into the light.