A horrible event unfolds.
A few days had passed since Lucina returned home. After taking some time to rest up, she needed to speak to her father about something very important. She told him everything that the Prophet had told her. That the demons could come back and their lands were no longer safe to live in. And maybe they should concider leading their people to a safer place and prepare for the potential invasion... but sadly, though not unexpected, Chrom was not the least bit convinced about what Lucina had just told him. His face said it all.
"Lucina... I really hope you understand what you are saying right now" Chrom said in a very serious tone.
"Yes father, I know it sounds insane, but after everything that has happened with the undead and Arthas' drastic change. I don't think we are safe here anymore" Lucina said.
"While I admit that the undead are a problem and Arthas' sudden change is indeed concerning. There are no evidence that the demons will return. And even if there is a chance it could happen. How do you suggest we stop them?" Chrom asked.
"I don't think we can. At least not alone. We need more help... maybe mom and her people could help us" Lucina suggested.
Chrom sighed at that "Let's say I believe everything you just told me. How do we pressent this to Quel'Thalas? The High Elves are not easy to convince, even if we could convince your mother of this".
"I am aware. But please father, at least consider it" Lucina begged.
"Lucina, you heard all this out of the mouth of an stranger we know nothing about. I don't know if he can be trusted" Chrom said.
"But you trust me right? And I have seen enough to know that he might be on to something. Father... the survival of our entire people could depend on your decision" Lucina begged some more. If her father refused to act, there was no telling what could happen.
Chrom sighed "Alright... I will send a message to your mother and inform her of everything that is going on. What happens then is up to her".
Lucina smiled "Thank you father".
"I trust you Lucina. And affter everything you've been through, I can't just ignore everything you told me. If there is a chance that something worse than the undead is coming, I need to act" Chrom said with a smile on his own.
Lucina felt a wave of relief wash over her. She had a feeling things would get better now... if only she knew how wrong she was.
Not long after their talk did Chrom received troubling news.
Lordaeron is the northernmost subcontinent of the Eastern Kingdoms. The same name was used for a former human kingdom, the Kingdom of Lordaeron, which dominated most of the subcontinent up until its fall in the Third War. The name Lordaeron comes from the three main Alliance race languages: lorn that means land, daer that means people and ronae that means peaceful. Lordaeron was settled by the disenfranchised lords of Strom, capital of the nation of Arathor, who were part of a group that left Strom because they were desirous of the verdant lands to the north. The capital city served as a spiritual destination for the citizens of the human kingdoms.
And now, Chrom had received reports that Lordaeron had fallen... and the man responsible... was their own prince, Arthas. The reports said that Arthas himself had lead the Scourge in to the very lands he claimed he wanted to defend... and slaughtered the people he always wanted to protect.
"Arthas... what have you done?" Chrom asked out loud, still trying to process what he just heard.
"Father?" Chrom looked to see Lucina in the doorway "Is something wrong?".
"Lucina... I think there is more truth to what you told me than I dared to believe" Chrom answered.
Lucina looked worried "What do you mean? What happened?".
Chrom sighed, he didn't like it, but Lucina needed to know "The undead invaded Lordaeron several days ago... and they were lead by Arthas Menethil".
Lucina got wide eyes by what she just heard "What!?".
Chrom clenched his fist "I am such a fool. I should have listened to you from the start. Had I known that it was this bad I would have sent the messenger sooner".
"Sooner? When did you send the message?" Lucina asked.
Chrom looked down "This morning... and I also heard reports that the undead are moving towards Quel'Thalas".
Lucina looked ready to panic "What? No that can't be! Send me over there father!".
"No! I am not sending you to what could soon become a war zone" Chrom said firmly.
"I need to help mother! I can't just leave her to die!" Lucina argued.
"That's enough Lucina! Your mother is much stronger and smarter than any of us might believe. Besides, you will never reach Quel'Thalas in time. You need to trust your mother, if anyone can survive what's to come, it's her. I have seen what she can do first hand. Arthas can not defeat her easily" Chrom said, his tone final.
Lucina clenched her fists, still wanting to argue. Her father did not know Arthas like she did and after what she saw back in Stratholme, it was clear now that Arthas would do anything it takes to win. Lucina could not take it. She could not just stand by and do nothing as Arthas massacres everyone in his path. She did nothing to stop the purging of Stratholme, and many innocent people died because of it.
"I warned you father... I told you what could happen if you refused to listen... and because of you waiting to long to act, mother will not know Arthas will attack until he's already at her doorstep. I don't think I can trust your judgment anymore" Lucina said in a sharp tone.
"Lucina..." Chrom said, sounding hurt.
Lucina felt bad but kept going anyway, she needed to say this "If you are not going to act. I will. Try to stop me if you must. But one way or the other, I am going to help mom. And nothing you say will change my mind".
Lucina turned to leave, but Chrom still had some words of his own "And what about your home?" Lucina stopped "Are you just going to abandon your home, your people? What if the undead attacks and you are not here to protect our people?".
"Are you trying to guilt me in to staying? How much lower will you go?" Lucina asked, getting really angry now.
"I am your father and I am your king. And as king, my people always comes first. If the undead, or worse, the demons, decide to attack Ylisse... I will need every warrior I can get to defend it. I am not trying to guilt you in to anything, Lucina. I just want to make sure your remember that not only are you the princess, but also the future queen of Ylisse. And your people needs you more than Sylvanas does" Chrom explained.
"But... mother..." Lucina sobbed out, tears dripping from her eyes.
Chrom looked at her for several moments before he sighed "Alright... you can go".
Lucina gasped and looked at him "Father?".
"Sorry Lucina, what I said was heartless. If you feel the need to help your mother, then I would be a real monster to stop you" Chrom said as he took out two scrolls "But you will never make it there in time if you travel the normal way. These scrolls contains a transportation spell. One of these scrolls will bring you close enough to walk the rest of the way. While the other scroll will bring you back home".
Lucina ran up and hugged him hard "Thank you father! Thank you!".
Chrom hugged her back "I love you Lucina... please make it home safe".
"I will... and if needed, I will bring mother back too" Lucina said.
They hugged for a while longer until Lucina went outside and used one of her scrolls to teleport away.
Lucina arrived at the borders of Quel'Thalas and wasted no time in rushing towards the powerful home of the elves... but by the time she got there she was horrified to see that the undead invasion had already begun. And what was worse, the elves were losing! Lucina had never seen so many undead before and the defenseless villagers were running for their life, with several elf warriors doing their best to protect them. But despite their best efforts, the undead were just to many and the poor people did not get far.
Lucina rushed in, cutting down as many undead as she could in search of her mother. This was insane! The undead had caused so much damage that Lucina could just run in to Quel'Thalas without any elves stopping her. Lucina could feel her hear pounding through her chest as she tried to fight back her rising panic. Where was her mother!? She had to find her, she had to... Lucina stopped by a river and looked over it to see... Her mother... and Arthas, standing in front of each other.
"I salute your bravery, elf, but the chase is over" Arthas said.
"Then I'll make my stand here, butcher. Anar'alah belore!" Sylvanas shouts as she gets ready to fight just for Arthas new vile blade to strike her to the ground, she's near the death "Finish it! I deserve... a clean death".
"After all you've put me through, woman, the last thing I'll give you is the peace of death" Arthas said coldly as he starts casting a spell.
"No! You wouldn't dare!" Sylvanas said in horror, fearing what was about to happen.
"MOTHER!" Both Sylvanas and Arthas looked up to see Lucina on the other side of the river. Her face a mix of horror and desperation "Arthas please! Don't do it!".
"Lucina..." Sylvanas said softly, a smile gracing her face. At least she got to see her daughter, one more time.
"You shouldn't have come here Lucina. You could have been spared having to see this. But I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from you" Arthas said as he finished casting his spell... turning Lucina's mother in to a banshee.
"NO!" Lucina cried out as she fell to her knees "Why... WHY!?".
"You should have stopped me when you had the chance, Lucina. But instead you turned your back on me. You may call me a monster for this. But remember this: You stood aside and let this happen" Arthas said before he leaves on his undead horse... Sylvanas being forced to follow him... but she still managed to look back at her child one more time.
Lucina was shaking before she punched the ground and let out an angry scream "GET BACK HERE YOU DAMN TRAITOR!".
Lucina sensed something behind her and turned just in time to block a strike from an ghoul, but the river bank was slippery and Lucina ended up falling in, the strong currents carrying her away. Lucina fought against it but she was forced to watch her mother's homeland burn. It took over an hour before Lucina finally made it out of the river, which had carried her far away from the battle. She sobbed and coughed that she was this useless to her mother. She came here to help her... only to watch her being robbed of her life.
Lucina walked in to the forest crying to herself, almost hoping someone would come out and kill her for her failure. She fell to her knees and silently cursed herself over and over again. She heard rustling in the bushes, causing her to glare in that direction... but what she heard next was a gasp... of a child. Lucina's face changed from angry to confused. She walked over to the bushes to check... only to be punched in the face by a small fist. It hurt but did not stagger her.
"Get away from me!" Lucina rubbed her jaw before looking to see an elf child.
"What are you doing out here on your own? Where are your parents?" Lucina asked softly.
The little girl glared at her "Is it not obvious? I am here to get away from the undead! My parents died before those freaks even showed up! Killed by a death looking man with black armor!".
"Oh... I am sorry to hear that... wasn't it any elf family to take you in?" Lucina asked. She had a feeling that the child spoke about the Death Knight Lucina faced a while back.
"No... I've been on my own ever since" The child said before looking to be in pain "And the lack of magic... really hurts...".
Lucina felt real bad for this child. She had nothing now... she had lost everything she cared about "What is your name little one?".
The child hesitated for a moment "Valeera Sanguinar".
Lucina smiled kindly "A beautiful name. Would you like to come with me, Valeera?".
"Why would a human care about an elf child?" Valeera asked, clearly suspicious.
Lucina removed her hair to reveal her pointier than normal ears "I am not a mere human. I am the daughter of Sylvanas Windrunner".
Valeera got wide eyes "Lady Sylvanas is your mother? Will she take care of us?".
Lucina closed her eyes in pain "She would... if she could...".
Valeera understood right away "No...".
Lucina gently picked Valeera up "Come now. We need to get out of this place... but I promise, you will not be alone anymore. I don't know how good I will do. But I will take care of you from now on".
"You mean... you will be my mother now?" Valeera asked innocently.
Lucina fell silent when she asked that. Not really what she meant but hearing Valeera ask something like that made her heart feel something new. Lucina then smiled "Yes... I will be your mother now... a very young mother, but if you want me to be".
Valeera answered by hugging her. Lucina smiled and carried her away, needing to find a safe place to use her return scroll... but she knew her life would never be the same after this.
.
Now I know a lot of you Warcraft fans are going to react to seeing Valeera. I looked around a lot and her past is very vague. All we really know is that her parents were killed by bandits and she had to become a thief to survive. We also know she did encounter the scourge. But they don't really tell us when all this happened or how old she was when she first met the scourge. We do know she was still a child when she was captured and forced to be a gladiator, and she must have been one for a few years since she was at least a teen by the time she met Varian, since she is still very young for a elf. And we know she got her magic addiction from drinking her mother's milk.
So I decided to make some changes to her past, by having Death Knight being the one who killed her parents. And since I really enjoy Valeera's character, I thought it would be interesting to have Lucina be her adopted mother. Even though I follow the Warcraft story, I will make some big changes here and there so that it doesn't just become the same story with a few extra characters.
I know this is a very big change that can have big effects on the future events. But what is a story without risks?
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With that out of the way, tell me what you think.