The room was a polished white, with beautifully upholstered couches and a warm fire in the center. The air smelt of lavender, and looked almost innocent.

"Why is there, like, a perfect room here?" Morales asked, rubbing her armored index finger over the stitches on a couch.

"It may be a trap…" Kael'thas muttered, his fists curled just in-case.

Sylvanas clapped her hand on Kael'thas' shoulder.

"Hey, I don't even show any emotion, and even I think you should lighten up. Look at this place!" She said, her face stoic as usual but her voice almost normal, save for the echo.

"It's not very easy to 'Lighten up' when the imminent chance of somebody dying is always around the corner." He muttered, his lower lip curling in some unreadable negative emotion.

"Everyone, look at what I found!" Jaina yelled.

Everyone walked up, and saw what she had. It was a golden egg, clearly real.

Kael squinted his eyes. "That looks like- By the Sunwell!"

"What is it?" Li-Ming asked.

"It's a phoenix egg! But the only phoenixes in the Nexus are the ones I keep."

Suddenly, the portal usually summoned by Kael'thas to summon Al'ar opened, and the fire-winged bird flew through, landing on the egg and hissing at Jaina.

"Al'ar?! What's wrong, my pet?" Kael'thas said, placing a hand on the phoenix's head, an expression of worry written into his face. Al'ar bit his owner on the hand, before hissing viciously. He picked the egg up with his legs and struggled to fly away.

"Gah! What the- He never does that! What has gotten into you?!" He yelled, clasping his bleeding hand.

Al'ar landed neatly on the ground, the egg literally under his wing. He hissed and snarled at anyone that got close.

"Oh, what a shame. The adult got to the egg before I could make it into an omelette." A snide-sounding man said, emerging from a dark corner. He was wearing a green fisher hat, with a blue vest and a green t-shirt on. On his hand there was a glove, specifically used for letting birds onto your arm.

"And just who would you be?" Kael snapped, his hand on his hip.

"I'm the Birdkeeper. Keeper of the birds. And you, m'lady?"

"M-m'lady?! How dare you! I am a man! Trust me, I checked this morning."

"Oh, my apologies. I just thought you were a woman in her 40's, what with the hair and the feminine body type and the feminine pose. Besides, you did not answer my question. Who are you?"

He cleared his throat. "I am Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, last of the Sunstrider royal line, and heir to the throne of Quel'thalas!"

"Wowza. That's way more interesting that 'The Birdkeeper'. Anyways, it was fun to chit-chat, but I sort of have to kill you, sooo…"

"Wait, wha-" Kael'thas barely managed to get out before the man ran up to him and punched him square in the nose. Kael fell and landed on his back, a stream of crimson blood coming from both nostrils. The man ran to Al'ar and the egg, and kicked the egg as hard as he could. It shattered into pieces, and the still-developing bird slid on the floor in a yellow, disgusting mess. Al'ar shrieked, before the Birdkeeper slammed his beak shut using only one hand. The other hand went to the bird's neck, attempting to strangle him. Sylvanas wasted no time drawing her bow out and attempting to shoot the man in the neck. The man sidestepped, and let go of Al'ar's neck for a short time to run up to Sylvanas and elbow her in her stomach. She dropped to the ground, clutching her stomach, before the man kicked her in the ribs. Li-Ming sprinted up to the Birdkeeper, thrusting her staff onto the man's foot. The man did not let go of Al'ar, however, and with his free hand, grabbed Li-Ming's staff and smacked her in the face with it. She went flying backwards, her ponytail messed up and frizzy.

"I don't think we can beat him!" Li-Ming yelled, clutching her damaged mouth.

"Of course we can!" Lo called back, drawing her sword. She let forth a battle-cry and went for his windpipe.

"Lo?!" He yelped, and attempted to sidestep away. He was too slow for Lo, though, and was stabbed in the arm not holding Al'ar.

He screamed in agony. "I didn't want to have to do this! I really didn't!" He yelped, fighting back tears. He, as fast as his weakened legs would carry him, got within a 10-foot radius of Kael'thas. He threw Al'ar at him, and Kael'thas just barely caught him. The Birdkeeper took something box-shaped and glowing out of his pocket. He threw it on the ground near Kael'thas, and immediately a force-field surrounded Kael and Al'ar, trapping them. Kael'thas looked around in terror, clutching Al'ar close to his chest.

"Hahaha! One for the Birdkeeper, zero for the He- Grrk…" He muttured the last part as Lo impaled him with her sword, and he collapsed.

Inside the forcefield, Kael'thas whimpered in pain, and clutched his stomach. Al'ar curled up next to his owner, and rubbed his face on Kael's leg, clearly knowing something was wrong.

Sylvanas picked the Birkeeper up by his shirt. "What is that thing doing to him?"

The Birdkeeper coughed up a bit of blood, the wound in his stomach bleeding profusely. "It'll drain all the mana in him, slowly and painfully. It's mainly only used for disabling magical enemies, but once I heard that people were breaking into the castle, and that someone was mana-addicted, I couldn't help myself." He grinned, showing off his blood-stained teeth.

Sylvanas dropped him in disgust, before running to the forcefield and trying to break it with an arrow. The arrow simply shattered in response. Inside the forcefield, Kael'thas let out a pained groan.

"He has...about...fourty...minutes…" The Birdkeeper muttered, before letting out an obvious final breath and dissolving.


Skully: Haha, yeah. Chromie's a character I definitely enjoyed writing. She'll have a bigger role now.

Consort: I actually thought the dragon transformation scene was a bit lackluster. You liked it?

Don't worry! I really enjoy your OC, so nothing too awful will happen to him, at least compared to the way some other characters will go.