A week after Deathwing's fall, the Alliance heads of government reconvened in Stormwind Castle's great hall, guarded heavily at all entrance points. Sokka, Katara, Zuko, Toph, Suki, and even Azula were allowed (encouraged) to attend, to give their accounts of the battle with Deathwing, what they learned of the Twilight's Hammer, and the state of their homeworld. In turn, each leader gave their own accounts of events transpiring lately, updating maps, informing one another of troop placement and other strategic information, and drafting plans and treaties together.
Sokka was pleased to see High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind again, and this time got to meet her husband Malfurion, a strange night elf sporting antlers, feathers, and claws.
"Ysera is still missing," Malfurion had said, "but I've dispatched one of the Hyjal druids, Jattook, to seek her in the Emerald Dream on my behalf."
Then came the Dwarven Council of Three Hammers, made up of Muradin Bronzebeard, Moira Thaurissan, and Falstad Wildhammer. Each at one point muttered how they only came because they couldn't trust the other two to go to an important meeting without them. With them from Ironforge came King Gelbin Mekkatorque of the gnomes, unconcerned and uninvolved with the dwarves' interpersonal trifles.
King Genn Greymane of the worgen made an appearance, remaining in his human form, dressed in black finery, and looking surly at everyone else. He grumbled something akin to, "Finally," at news of Deathwing's demise, which Anduin later said was the closest the old man would get to thanking anyone for it.
Prophet Velen of the draenei nodded sagely at the news, stroked his sagely white beard, and gave a sagely little speech about the goodness in everyone and their strength to overcome adversity when united. Everyone clapped politely; only Anduin's applause seemed genuine. Tyrande looked sour when Velen's speech mentioned the Light and the Naaru. Sokka recalled hearing about some differences of religious opinion between the two, but he knew better than to open that can of worms.
Sokka and the others learned that the Twilight's Hammer had spread much further than anyone had suspected, even on Azeroth alone. They had sizable footholds on all three major continents, although their numbers had dwindled considerably in the past few months. They would continue to pose a threat as long as they maintained their operations unhindered on Sokka's home world, however.
Then came an unexpected proposition from Jaina: to take a portal to Dalaran City and meet with others there. "The Kirin Tor and Dragon Aspects, mostly."
Gelbin seemed overjoyed at the thought, and Velen and the elves shrugged and agreed. Moira and Muradin looked offput and loudly wondered why the magical folk couldn't make it to Stormwind rather than asking everyone else to visit the flying city. Greymane said he didn't much care what the dragons had to say anyway. "The less we have to deal with them, the better," he said.
The dwarf Falstad was pleased, saying he'd be glad to see the clouds from above. Moira and Muradin changed their tune and both said they'd be glad to move the meeting. Greymane huffed and begrudgingly agreed once he was the last one left to do so.
Jaina opened a portal, and everyone filed through to an unfamiliar room. Pillars carved with swirling shapes lined the walls of the circular chamber, interspersed with windows of golden stained glass. The outer ring of the floor was earth-toned stone, and the sunken middle ring bore a plush carpet of deep purple decorated with stars and suns. Bookshelves, potted ferns, and small wooden tables decorated the room. Standing present already were several elves and a human – and a tauren, a troll, and an orc.
The Alliance leaders shouted indignantly when they noticed the Horde members.
"What are those bloody things doing here?" King Greymane snarled.
"What's the meaning of this?" Moira demanded.
"Silence!" Jaina said. "If you want me to answer, then be silent so that I can."
Everyone quieted to listen.
"Deathwing's fall is pertinent to all races," Jaina said. "But just because he died doesn't mean the Twilight's Hammer is gone. They've built a new base of operations on the home world of these humans." She gestured at Sokka and the others. "I believe it's imperative to strike them there, before they have a chance to rebuild and strike at us first."
"And we need the Horde to do this?" Tyrande said. "We are certainly more than capable without them."
"With all due respect," the troll man rumbled, "I be feeling better taking a part in protecting my own planet, with or without your approval."
Before Tyrande and the others could explode into shouting again, Sokka raised his hand. "Excuse me, but who exactly are they?"
"I be Vol'jin, Chieftain of the Darkspear," the troll said.
"I am Baine, Chief of the Bloodhoof," the tauren said.
The brown-skinned orc woman didn't look as decorated as the others, and her posture was taut and unhappy. "I am Aggra. I am – I was the mate of Thrall, or Go'el."
"Can the great Garrosh not make this meeting himself?" Moira sneered. "Or has he only two leaders and one nobody to spare?"
Aggra glowered, and Vol'jin raised a hand preemptively. "Garrosh not been informed of this meeting," he said. "And he not be one for peace, as we be."
"Had Deathwing not destroyed Theramore, Garrosh would have himself," Jaina said. "It's clear to me now that we can't stay in the dark on his movements. It is the best for everyone for peace and communication to be held between those willing to -"
"Foolish nonsense," Genn snorted. "Just like the nonsense in the first war. Humans meeting orcs behind closed doors, bah! If you think any peace can be had after what the Horde has done to Gilneas, you're all fools."
"You realize I held a truce with the Horde for years?" Jaina said. "Garrosh is the problem. Without Thrall to take up the mantle of Warchief again..." She sighed. "We've discussed plans on deposing him and putting someone else in his place."
"He been treating my kind badly since he took over," Vol'jin said. "The goblins, too."
"And he killed my father," Baine said.
"Oh yes," Genn said, "I heard the same excuses the first time. 'Not all the orcs wanted this war, not all of us drank the demon's blood'. Well now one of those orcs who never drank the blood is the one leading you all."
"No one is forcing you to stay," Gelbin said. "I, for one, am quite curious to hear what they have to say. And the less threats to gnomekind, the better."
"If I'm free to take my leave, I'll do just that. I'll not be party to this," Genn said, marching back to the portal. "If Varian were still king, he would never have done this." And with that, the Gilnean king was gone.
Azula smiled to herself at their squabbling. Sokka gave her a wary look at how analytically she hung on to every word exchanged.
One of the elves, with platinum hair and glowing blue eyes – a high elf, not a night elf – sighed. "To continue with introductions, I am Vereesa Windrunner, Ranger-General of the Silver Covenant. This is my husband Rhonin, Leader of the Kirin Tor." She gestured at a redheaded human standing beside her.
A red-haired and red-skinned elven woman with horns growing out of her head spoke next. "I am Alexstrasza, Queen of the Red Dragonflight."
"Alexstrasza?" Toph said. "We heard Deathwing shouting for you. Do you know if Chromie lived?"
"Yes, she's alive and well," Alexstrasza said. "She couldn't catch up to Deathwing when he flew towards the Maelstrom. Nozdormu has already dispatched her to return the Dragon Soul to its rightful place in the past."
They sighed in relief at the news.
"I have something to ask, too," Katara said. She hesitated, taking a slow, calming breath before continuing. "You're the Aspect of Life, right? You have the most powerful healing magic in the world."
"That may be true," Alexstrasza said with a nod. "Though some say the Naaru or the Light is stronger."
"Well, what I mean is... Could you bring Aang back? I – I know he's supposed to reincarnate. But we don't have the kind of magic your world has. You can do so much here that we can't."
Alexstrasza's eyes softened sympathetically. "I am sorry. While it's true that my powers, and those of others, have brought people back from the threshold of death, it's a very rare and special occurrence."
"But you don't know it won't work, right? You have to at least try!" Katara pleaded.
"I'm sorry, I truly am. It's been too long, his soul has surely gone too far by now. And if he's supposed to reincarnate, it would go against my ethics to interfere with the natural cycle of his life. Where one life ends, another begins."
"Hey, that gives me another idea," Sokka said. "With all the magic here that can detect and find people, you can find out who's the next Avatar right? We don't have to wait sixteen years for the next one to be announced! You all can just do a searchy-findy spell on his soul right now!"
Alexstrasza looked uncomfortable. "Is that allowed in your culture?"
"It's... I don't know. I don't think any Avatar has died so young that it..." Sokka gulped. "I don't think it's ever been an issue before."
Katara put a hand on his arm. "I want to see him again too, but it won't be him. Not for a long time, at least, when the new Avatar can call upon their old memories. It's better to let them live their life for now."
A shadow moved across a door leading to a balcony outside, and in stepped another lithe elven woman clad in dark leathers and a hooded cloak. "What a sweet lie you tell these children, that their friend is gone for good," she said, her voice strangely cold and echoing.
Everyone turned toward her, most of the Alliance frowning, and even the Horde looked unhappy. The woman pushed back her hood, revealing gray, dry skin, washed-out white hair, and eyes glowing the color of blood.
"What the – Who is that?" Toph said. "I can't feel a heartbeat!"
"Because I have none," the woman said. "I am Sylvanas, Queen of the Forsaken."
Vereesa looked exceedingly uncomfortable and held Rhonin's hand tightly. Velen regarded Sylvanas with curiosity and a touch of sadness. Tyrande and Malfurion looked affronted by her very presence.
"How did you know of this meeting?" Jaina said.
"I have eyes and ears everywhere, Lady Jaina," Sylvanas said, using the title of respect wryly. "I would find a more important question is why I wasn't invited. Is this not my world, too? Or are the Forsaken to be left out of choosing our own fates yet again?"
"Och, stop with the self-pitying dramatics," Moira snorted. "Everyone knows you've been working on your own agenda since day one. And surely you have so few friends here it was wiser to leave you out." Moira's gaze went pointedly to Vereesa.
Sylvanas just as pointedly ignored the look. "You mean Greymane? That dog's already turned tail and run off. And a funny thing to hear of 'agenda' and 'friends' coming from you, Thaurissan. Didn't you hold your own people and the fair Prince here hostage the moment your cousins let you on the triumvirate?"
"Please, Lady Sylvanas," Anduin said when mentioned, "That business has already been smoothed over, and she is just as equally -"
"I'll not be smart-mouthed by a thrice-dead monster who should've stayed down when you took a bullet in the brain!" Moira snapped.
"Thrice... dead?" Sokka said.
Sylvanas turned to scrutinize him and his friends. "They haven't told you? Very well. I am a Forsaken. We were killed once. Some more than once. Magic outside the bounds of what these people have told you brought us back."
Vol'jin side-eyed her. "What she not be telling you is that even after the Lich King that made her was defeated, she turned his magicks around and started raising her own undead. Making more Forsaken with the help of dark spirits."
"And what would you all have me do? Allow the Forsaken to waste away and disappear forever?" she said.
"If it means not tampering with what belongs to the realm of shadows, yes. You be bringing bad juju upon yourself, Banshee Queen, and that price to pay be coming up sooner than you think."
"Not to mention, necromancy is strictly forbidden by the Kirin Tor," Rhonin said.
Azula piped up. "Pardon me, but before you all fall into petty squabbling again, I would like to at least hear what she's going to say. I am, after all, an alien to this world and I'm eager to at least know what kinds of people are in it."
Sylvanas looked pleased. "At last, one with open ears. What Alexstrasza, Anduin, Tyrande and the rest don't want you to know is that this magic lacks the limitations of the Light. The Light, the Emerald Dream, all their manifestations – priests, paladins, druids – they can only serve the living. They can cure sicknesses, remove wounds, and even then, their magic is weak. And it can abandon you in a moment of need."
"Why are we listening to this?" Tyrande said with a sneer.
Sokka looked warily at his hands, where once Elune's blessings had shone. "Abandon you?"
"No, that's not true," Anduin said. "The Light never abandons its charges!" He looked to Velen for confirmation, but Sylvanas continued first.
"My once-capital Silvermoon City held the Sunwell, a great fountain of intense light and arcane magic. It sustained us, when I was a high elf. Then the Lich King marched on us. He irrevocably tainted the land, he tainted the Sunwell, and took its light from us. Our priests were useless, the light would not answer. So too does it turn its back on the Forsaken, though many were innocents slain by the paladin Arthas for the crime of infection by contagious illness."
"You tell a very twisted version of these events," Jaina said.
"You would know, wouldn't you? When he turned against his own people, you simply disappeared to let him go on. Imagine how much suffering could have been prevented if you hadn't been love-sick over him when he was putting children to the sword."
Jaina flushed darkly and looked too shocked by the words to retort in time, and again Sylvanas went on.
"The human's precious Light couldn't save their own sick people. It couldn't heal the ravaged land in the Scourge's wake. It couldn't restore our priests nor save the high elves from their addiction to magic. It even turned its back on the draenei, its stoutest worshippers." Her red eyes stared at Velen, who remained implacable.
"Sylvanas, please," Anduin said. "Now you're just taking shots at everyone. There's no need for this."
"Oh, but there is. They should all know the dangers inherent in relying on inferior magic. You see, the Light is picky. It doesn't come to those who need it most, it comes to those who scream at it the loudest. Great evils have been committed with the Light's searing touch," Sylvanas said. "But once it considers you unworthy – once you've been graced by any magic it disagrees with – that's it. You are forever in the shadows. What would you do, Anduin, if the plague had gotten to you and you stood here now without breath in your lungs or Light in your veins? What of you, Velen, if the blighting of Karabor had taken you with it and turned you into another Broken?"
"We would have persevered," Velen said softly, "And held on to our faith, not cast it aside."
"Your faith, perhaps. But not the Light," Sylvanas said. "The Light can take life and heal the living, but only the Shadow can bring the dead back."
"As monsters!" Tyrande said.
"As people," Sylvanas said.
"Necromancy is forbidden for a reason," Rhonin said.
"And what reason is that? To deny us all a second chance because you disagree with the how?" Sylvanas said.
"Because it's unnatural," Malfurion said.
"In your opinion, perhaps."
"Not just our opinion," Baine said. "But in the eyes of the Earthmother."
"And Bwonsamdi," Vol'jin added.
"And Elune," Tyrande said.
"Ah, yes, how could I forget Elune, the one who gave us the cursed worgen?" Sylvanas said. "She brought such wretched mongrels into the world only to abandon them."
"You know, she's making a very compelling argument," Azula said. "You all follow such different beliefs and practice so many different kinds of magic, but this one in particular is forbidden? Why? Why is it unnatural, if it can happen in the first place?"
"Because eventually, all life must end," Alexstrasza said firmly. "The Titans that shaped this world decreed it so. It pains me as the Life-Binder to say it, but it's true – life's purpose is not to continue on forever, nor to be removed from the natural order and set apart as undead. Their bodies will never rejoin the earth. They will never bear life of their own."
"Not all the living can do so either," Sylvanas said. "And the Titans tried to kill us all once. I do not take their opinion on life to heart."
"This is truly nonsense!" Muradin said. "Spouting off Shadow propaganda, hating on the Light and all our gods and spirits, now cursing the very Titans that made Azeroth what it is. Were it not for all those things you hate so much, rotter, you wouldn't be standing there blathering in the first place."
"And she not be telling you how much the curse of the Forsaken torments them," Vol'jin said. "Can't have no chats with one of the undead without hearing about how painful it is. I never once met any Forsaken who didn't want to go back to living again."
"Then you haven't been meeting very many Forsaken," Sylvanas said.
"You made your point," Jaina said firmly. "You're already crashing this meeting uninvited. Either you will quietly listen to the next items on our agenda, or you'll leave, but we are not continuing this argument. You're not turning an unwilling child into a Forsaken. We've been more than gracious to even let you suggest it."
Sylvanas did not seem upset by the dismissal at all. Instead she bowed to them all and retreated to the balcony door again. "Very well. Remember that the Shadow is waiting." She stepped out of sight once more.
Vol'jin peered out the door. "She be gone."
"A pity Greymane already left," Tyrande muttered. "I wouldn't have minded seeing him bite her head off."
Vereesa flashed her a look, and let go of Rhonin's hand to hug her own arms as if chilled.
Katara made a similar gesture. "Why did she look and sound so... strange?"
"Because she's undead," Tyrande said. "Neither dead nor alive, but a cursed, in-between state."
"Her soul is no longer even part of her body," Rhonin said. "It's been detached, lingering on the fringes of existence and glued to her animated flesh with dark magic. This magic, and the plague that created her kind, were invented by demons, and that should tell you all you need to know."
"Sylvanas spent most of her entire un-life trying to exact revenge on... on the Lich King for what he did to her, for the suffering she endured by being brought back this way," Jaina said. She sighed sadly. "It seems that now that he's gone, she's directed her energies to darker purposes."
"The one thing we can agree with Garrosh on is that she be following in the Lich King's foot steps now," Vol'jin said.
"Let's move on already," Vereesa said icily. "We've wasted enough time."
"I agree," Jaina said. "We're here to discuss a possible new High King or Queen of the Alliance, Garrosh's actions as Warchief and whether or not any side wishes to take action against him, and battle plans for defeating the Twilight's Hammer on the other planet. Let's begin this discussion in earnest."
As the conversations moved forward, Sokka's mind drifted to thoughts of Aang and the Avatar spirit. Could it even have made it back home from Azeroth? What it was stuck here just like they were? Would it – would Aang – be drifting in the Shadow Realms right now, unable to find the next host in the reincarnation cycle? Or had it chosen an Azerothian?
What if the Avatar was lost, not by a broken cycle through death, but through a disrupted cycle – by being born on the wrong world entirely?