Chapter 36
I was still screaming when Anduin and Father found me.
I cradled her little body to me, whispering incantation after incantation, and I snarled at the Mist like an animal when it came near.
"My baby!" I screamed, tears burning my skin like acid, "My baby!"
"Jade, by the light my Jade," Father came to me immediately, wrapping around me like a hug, holding me as I screamed.
He knew what it was to lose a child, and now so did I.
"Teir has been spotted, Princessling. They sedated her and are returning her to Sylvanas." Anduin said quieted, and I barely heard him.
I couldn't look away from her little face. Her little eyes had paled to a near white, and her little tusks-
I sobbed, the force shaking my body, and the Mist came in a much more corporeal form this time.
"Sister, oh my sister," Thessali sounded heartbroken, and I looked at her with desperation.
"Can the Mist bring her back? Please! Please she was so little and she only wanted to help-." I broke into another sob, clutching my ward to me.
"Sister, you of all people know that death is irreversible."
"But Tier-The Val'kyr! They can bring her back! I will take her to Sylvanas-." I started to rise, but Father held me down.
"You know that is unnatural. The Child you got in return would not be yours. That breaks every law of the Mist, and you know it." Thessali said, and I crooned mournfully, clinging to my frostwolf.
"Let me take her into the Mist-I will look for her parents, let her have a sweet afterlife." Thessali coaxed, and with a whimper I pulled away from Shad, clining to Father as Thess lifted Shad's spirit from her body.
"Bye bye, Ja!" the little ball of Mist squeaked, and then they were gone.
My child.
I cried out again, pulling her body to me, and the tremors moved violently through my body.
"Write to Thrall," I croaked, "Find the Frostwolf burial rites. I want them."
I didn't want to bury her; I'd rather die there myself than bury her.
Father walked away to do as I asked, and Anduin came to me, placing two fingers on her eyelids to slide them closed, and wrapped her in his tabard.
"Now she is merely swaddled and sleeping," Anduin said quietly, and I turned into him, sobbing lowly as the pain throbbed in my chest.
"I am so sorry, Jadearra. I am so, so sorry," Anduin kept speaking softly, and I grieved amongst the ruins, my heart in the Midst with three women I loved more than myself.
"Reagent Lady, thank you for joining us."
I nodded to Vol'jin, settling into my chair and surveying the room. Leaders from every faction were called in the name of peace, to discuss the spike of fel energy that had overtaken a piece of the Broken Isles.
"It is the Tomb of Sargeras, it's been pulled from the depths of the sea," Maiev Shadowsong declared, voice slightly muffled beneath her nasty armor.
"Who knew of its location to bring it to the surface?" Genn Greymane said.
"Gul'Dan." Teir's voice was hollow, the sockets of her eyes sunken and her cheeks gaunt. She looked more decayed with every passing day.
"He was sent through a portal after Archimonde's fall, it's possible that he came here." Khadgar said, causing mutters to spring to life throughout the room.
"Jadearra, may I speak with you for a moment?"
I looked up from my lap to see Tyrande Whisperwind looking at me inquiringly, and I nodded jerkily, standing from the table and reassuring Anduin when he grabbed my hand in hesitation.
The Elf led me out of the room, and slid the chamber doors closed behind us, "I wanted to offer my deepest condolences," Tyrande said, and I felt my stony façade slip as the waterworks erupted in my chest, "I know what it is to lose a child to the demons, and wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
"Thank you, Tyrande," I croaked, my voice gruff from many, many hours of tears and tantrums.
"If you need any sort of calming draughts, or clarity elixirs especially in such a tumultuous time, I want you to have this," Tyrande pressed a small, white stone into my hand, which hummed with energy.
It gave me considerable pause, "A hearthstone?" I was confused.
"The pain never truly goes away, but it flares at…unpleasant times. If you need a place to run from it, if only for a moment, use it. My people know not to attack if you're sighted, but merely to report it to me so that I can alert your Father. He has known this loss as well."
"I…thank you," I said, startled and oddly touched by this gesture, "This means more than you know, Priestess."
Tyrande nodded, "Kenlora liked you. She thought you were strong, and that if we could get past our differences, that I would appreciate such a strength."
With that, we reentered the war room and made plans to invade the Broken Shore.
Hours of delegation, planning, and ranking passed, and I think I tuned most of it out.
Before I knew what was happening, we were moving to the docks, where fleets awaited us.
Anduin caught my elbow, pulling me to the side. "Are you sure you should be going out there? Your attention has been everywhere but on the people in that room all day."
I nodded, the motion dragging on the stiff muscles in my neck, "I need…. for Shad." I couldn't form a real reason, but my words mollified him, and he pulled me close for a moment, before going to his father.
I went to Father, who merely drew me into him as we walked, and we stood at the head of the boat, looking out over the sea.
"Today, we avenge those lost in Quel' Thalas."
There was fel fire and demons everywhere.
The smell of sufur was suffocating, and I choked on it asI claed my way through the way, the boat sinking behind us. Father had gone ahead to help spearhead the campaign with Sylvanas, and Anduin with his Father.
I went for Teir.
She yanked me onto the burnt sand of the shore, pounding on my back as I hacked up water, then helped me to my feet.
"Let's kill some demons," she looked better, her face less skull like, but it unnerved me that the light in her eyes had grown colder, more distant.
She was retreating in her mind, and it was bringing her closer to the monster in chains.
I readied my bow, nocking a couple of arrows as we moved along the shore, clinging to the rock face and the shadows it provided. It was chilly, and I was overwhelmingly aware of the stiffness in my muscles-the water was not good.
We made our way inland, in utter silence, and Teir eliminated any demon that we came across so quickly that I had no opportunity to shoot.
I flinched everytime a ball of felfire shot overhead, dragged involuntarily back to the memory of my spire being shot down.
We made it onto the top of the rock face, and surveyed the sheer numbers of legion on the island.
"This is no invasion force. This is an army," Teir said darkly, and I nodded in grim agreement.
We had to keep moving, lest we be spotted-two elves against an army was not nice odds.
We skirted the unnerving city, coating ourselves in the brimstone on the ground to smother our scent, and took out what we could without being noticed.
Then Teir saw her.
"Ken." The word was so small and desperate, and then she was moving, shooting through the shadows like a bat out of hell, and I scrambled to keep up.
She slammed into a stop, digging in her heels, and I dug my bow into the ground to keep from crashing into her, but I felt her stoic exterior slipping, the emotions welling up within her.
Which made sense, considering that she was staring at Kenlora Whisperwind.
If it weren't for the sheer knowledge that this was her, I wouldn't recognize her. Her eyes with a sickly green shade, and the once bright green hair had turned dark and menacing. Horns sprouted from her head, arcing into the air and shimmering with some kind of texture. Tattoos were etched through her skin, glowing the same green as her eyes, and wings sprouted from her back, beating lazily as she hovered in place. Her armor was the same dark leather from the temple, torn and hanging from her in places. She was staring at Teir, head cocked to the side as though she was looking at a peculiar specimen.
"The death knight who screams my name like a prayer," Her voice was twisted, with an underlying tone of malice and something else twisting her voice.
"Kenlora," Teir's voice was so overwrought with emotion that I couldn't look away, "This is not you, my dear. Please come home."
Kenlora threw her head back and laughed. The once melodious sound now grated on my nerves, setting me on edge, and the elf in front of me beat her wings hard, soaring upward and diving, landing with a thud that kicked up brimstone around her. It startled me that her legs had changed, and now ended in hooves. She had a disturbing resemblance to Illidan Stormrage.
"Oh, poor child. This is me, don't you see? Lord Archimonde freed me and allowed me to reach my full potential!" The demon grinned, showing off fanged teeth. The sight was anything but comforting.
"Ken, you're a priest," Teir's voice broke, "You helped people and healed! You aren't-you're not this…demon," Teir was shaking now.
"And you're an abomination who should've died decades ago," Kenlora spat, and Teir flinched so hard it looked like she had been forcibly shoved, "And allowed yourself to believe that anyone could love such a hideous corpse." The demon stalked forward, a tail flicking out back and forth behind her, and I unsheathed two blades, but Teir put out a hand to stop me.
"Ken…please. I'd do anything." She said softly, and the demon stopped, cocking her head to the side.
"Anything?"
"Anything!" Teir pleaded, and I tensed. Tell me she wasn't…
"Well, little death knight, I suppose I could love you…if you joined me."
Oh Azeroth.
Teir tensed, and after a long moment, she stepped forward.
"Teir no!" I exclaimed, horrified.
She whirled on me, face twisted horribly, "Can't you see?! I'm already dying!" She snarled, and the vault in her head shook so horribly, "I am nothing without her!"
I wanted to stop her, but a shield went up, barricading me from moving forward.
Teir turned toward Kenlora the demon, and stepped closer, "Please," she whispered.
Kenlora grinned and came in close, wrapping her wings around my best friend, and I screamed.
Then Kenlora's face changed from glee to terror, and she leaned her head back and howled as green energy poured from her.
Her wings pulled away, and I felt a horrid pain in my chest as a blade poke out of Teir's back, and I fell to my knees, roaring as Teir did.
The two fell to their knees within the circle, and I saw the hilt of Teir's machete poking out of Kenlora's back.
Suddenly, the green was leaving the night elf's eyes, "Teir…?"
Teir hacked, black oil spewing from her mouth, "Only….way I could…free us…."
She was dying.
"Mieshfe ri riieb!" She cired, out, and the physical pain I felt through my torso changed to emotional as the bond was cleaved in two.
My heart stuttered, the absence of Teir's grip startling, and I screamed as the two women clung to each other, both bleeding out.
"Teir no, Teir! I can fx this I…" Kenlora tried to call on the light, but nothing happened.
She sobbed, "No! Elune! Elune! E…lune…"
They were dying so quickly, and I couldn't get through the damn barrier.
"Teir!"
She was decaying, her hair falling away, and it turned to dust before it hit the ground.
"Teir! Kenlora! No!" I pounded on the barrier, throwing the weight of my magic against it, but it wouldn't yield.
Kenlora kissed Teir suddenly, and then-
Teir fell away, until nothing was left but her tarnished arm. Kenlora slumped on the ground, curled inward around the arm, and life left the decades old elf.
The barrier fell away, and I scrambled forward screaming.
"No!" I cradled the arm and the elf, sobbing, "No no no!"
The legion took my child, my family, everything.
"No!" A shockwave of magic shot outward, and I felt it collide with hundreds of demons, and those demons fell before me.
"No!" Another.
Another.
Another.
Blood was pouring down my face, spurting from my mouth at the exertion, and I choked on it as I screamed.
Everything I loved.
Everything was dead.
It was all gone.
I opened my eyes, looking down to see the blood and tears soaking the ground around me. The dead elf in my arms, her skin tinged grey and her eyes hollow and empty. The tarnished, now bloodied arm of the other half of my soul, limp and lifeless without the rest of her body. My own skin, ripped raw from the explosions of magic. Rage boiled through me.
There is one responsible.
I lifted my head, looking to the fel stained sky, and an oath circled through my head.
I will kill the one responsible for this.
If I have to die to do it, they will fall.
I'm coming for you.
Sargeras.
Jadearra Theron Will Return.