Fresh air.

A real sky.

Trees.

"Faith!"

"General Windrunner!"

"By the grace of the banshee, you're alive!"

Someone pulled Faith up from where she'd fallen and wrapped her into a strong hug.

"Nathanos?" she asked, surprised that he was showing her any kind of affection.

He released her, "When Sylvanas told us where you were, we feared the worst. How did you get out of that?"

"I wish we had time to tell you. Let's just say it was quite an interesting experience to be down there, and I've never been so happy to be outside in my life. I hadn't realized how much I loved trees until right this second."

Garia wrapped an arm around her in a rough hug, "You were an elf when you were alive, Faith. Loving trees is in your nature, is it not?"

"Very true. What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh, the warchief ordered us to stay here and wait for you. She told us that if you weren't back soon we had to go down there ourselves and get you out."

"That would have been very hard to do, Vilak. Trust me on that one." She squeezed his shoulder, "It's good to see you guys."

Nathanos made a thoughtful sound, "You brought back a gnome prisoner?"

"Not a prisoner, no," Faith told him. "A friend. No harm is to come to her, Nathanos, I mean it." She licked her lips, "She all but confirmed to us that Greymane was the one who attacked us."

"Did she, now?" asked Garia.

Faith nodded, "Tink, we'll take you back to camp with us, then we'll make you a portal to Dalaran. Please talk to the Kirin Tor about the people still trapped in Helheim. I'm sure they won't object to sending a force there to free them. We can't let her go on unchecked like this."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Tink, bowing. "That's twice now that you've saved my life. I won't forget it, and neither will my people."

The seas around the village were rough, ocean sprays washing over the fences that had been erected to keep its inhabitants from falling into the water.

Observing this, Sylvanas smiled, aware that if the villagers were busy trying to secure their homes from the storm, they'd pay very little attention to her. They hadn't yet, and it had allowed her to sneak into the settlement unnoticed.

Well, almost. She glanced down at the dead body of the female vrykul she'd been forced to kill. She felt no remorse over her action, although she knew that Faith wouldn't be happy to hear of it.

Then again, Faith would be astounded to know of what she was planning.

It's for the best, sweetheart, she thought. I can't lose you again. I don't want you hurt. Not now, not ever. You'll see eventually that it's all for you.

She moved from her spot, using her own brand of magic to effortlessly dispose of the body at her feet, then making her way to the top of the tower to keep watch over the village. She knew exactly where her objective lay, but she needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. And so she settled down in the shadows, her eyes searching.

Waiting.

"Faith, I really don't think that the warchief wants you to be here with us," Nathanos told her. "I know you want to be with her, but this is a mission that isn't for you. You should return to Undercity and lead the people in her absence."

Nathanos' voice was as close to panic as it was apt to get, and it was this that made Faith pause in her preparations and look at him. "Why doesn't she want me there? What is she planning?"

He shook his head, "She didn't tell us that, only that she wanted us to join her in Skold-Ashil once you were out of Helheim. I'm not looking to disobey that order."

"Did she explicitly tell you to keep me out of it?"

"No."

"Then I'm coming with you. I'll make it an order if I need to, Nathanos, so please don't test me."

"I'm not trying to offend you," he said. "I'm just telling you what I think the warchief wants."

"What she wants is for the two of us to be together without having to worry about the rest of the world falling on our heads. Now, you know as well as I do that if she doesn't want me somewhere, it's because she's doing something she shouldn't."

"And that makes you want to go to her even more," he muttered. "I know, it's one of the most frustrating things about you."

Faith shook her head, "I'll go there with or without you."

"Yes, you will, which is why I'll follow your lead. But when Sylvanas finds out –."

"I'll make sure to tell her that you were following my direct orders. Now, let's go."

They went down to the shore closest to their camp, where a Forsaken ship, The Dreadwake, was anchored. They boarded it, and a little over a day later, they were in the waters surrounding Skold-Ashil, keeping out of sight of the village as best they could to keep from alerting people to their presence.

"Do you see an Alliance presence there?" Nathanos asked a scout who was using goblin binoculars to scan the area.

"No, nothing. But that doesn't mean they're not there. They could be hiding, same as us. I see something else, though."

"What?"

"Demons."

"Demons?" cried Faith. She joined the scout at his post and took the binoculars he handed her. "Damn," she hissed. "They're everywhere."

"How many?" Helion asked her.

"I see at least twenty."

Helion sighed, "And where there are twenty, there are forty."

"We can't go charging in there. Sylvanas wants to be discreet about our presence there," said Nathanos.

"We can't very well let the Legion take over that place," Faith told him.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Attack the demons at the entrance to the city and make your way in. With any luck, the villagers will accept our aid, and if anybody asks anything, we can say that we were following a band of demons, which is credible enough, considering the invasion. In the meantime, I'll go in by the shore and look for Sylvanas."

"Alone?" asked Ceven.

"Yes, alone."

She filled her quiver with arrows and disembarked, her long black cloak billowing out behind her. Glancing back to make sure her orders were being carried out, she was gratified to see that Nathanos and the others were stealthily making their way to the entrance of the village.

They had arrived in Skold-Ashil from the south. Faith lounged the wall that surrounded the vrykul town, killing a couple of imps before she found a suitable foothold to climb. Once she was atop the wall, she saw the situation within the town much more clearly.

The demons were everywhere, and several vrykul shieldmaidens already lay dead or dying on the ground, having been caught completely off-guard by the attack.

Damn, she thought.

She began to fire arrows at the hellhounds who were trying to kill the few magic-wielders in the town, dispatching four creatures that way before an eredar saw her and began to fire spells at her, forcing her to execute a somersault to leap onto one of the roofs in order to avoid taking damage.

He kept going, coming closer to her. His skin was a grayish purple and covered in glowing green demonic tattoos. He wore no shirt, but ragged cloth trousers from which his hooves protruded, and there was a faint shimmer in the air around him: a magical shield that would most likely protect him from her arrows.

"The Scourge take you, Greymane," she whispered, trying to brace herself for what was to come.

It came in the form of a spell that shot at her like an arrow. Its light was a venomous green, and it looked like it was going to hurt her in unfathomable ways if it hit her.

She couldn't jump off the roof she was on, as doing so would surely cause her to shatter both of her legs, which would allow the demons plenty of time to kill her, so she did the only thing she could think of, putting her bow away quickly and raising Felo'melorn in front of her like a shield. She whispered something in ancient Thalassian that roughly translated to "Sun's light, I give myself to your protection", and waited.

The spell hit Felo'melorn like the force of an avalanche, but somehow, miraculously, she was able to hold onto it, sliding back several feet and nearly stumbling off the roof. Her eyes widened as she saw her blade flashing a fel green as it absorbed the spell, and she gave a sudden cry, forcing herself to take a step forward and thrusting the weapon towards the eredar.

Magic exploded out of her sword. The eredar's spell, just as strong as it had been when he had cast it, shot towards him so quickly it was nothing but a green blur. His barrier splintered with a sound like shattering glass and he was blasted backwards flying through the air. He hit the ground hard, his neck snapping on impact.

"What in the Sun was that?" she whispered to herself, staring at the dead eredar. The spell had hit him after breaking his barrier, splitting his skin open in several areas. As she watched, several felhounds pounced on the body, beginning to devour it, and she took the time to kill each one of them.

As she was getting down from the roof using a nearby tree that hadn't been scorched by the Legion's attack, she felt a hand on her leg, helping her down.

"I want to thank you for killing those creatures."

Faith looked behind herself to find a vrykul woman there with a bloodied face and neck, testifying to the fact that she'd been fighting hard recently. She wore the mail armor of a Valkyra aspirant, but she was young. It was probably her first year of training.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trespass into your town," she said. "But wherever the Burning Legion attacks, we follow to try and kill as many of them as possible."

"Oh, are those your people fighting at the gates?"

A nod.

"Thank you."

Faith was about to respond when several imps came at them, throwing fireballs at their faces. Using Felo'melorn again, Faith absorbed the fire, watching as her blade turned a glowing orange and red. She sent the fire back at the imps and they screeched, caught in their own flames and unable to escape them.

"I will gladly accept your thanks once we've gotten rid of the demons," she said. "For now, we need to form an organized defense."

"I will take you to our leaders, if they're not already dead."

"Let us hope they aren't," said Faith, following the woman as she ran.

Several members of the Valkyra had assembled in front of an ornate golden door and were fighting demons with everything they had in them.

Putting Felo'melorn away, Faith grabbed her bow again and began to fire at the felhounds closest to the defenders. As soon as the creatures were injured, the others leapt on them with alarming ferocity, ripping them apart.

"Glad to know they're doing our job for us," whispered Faith. She turned towards the vrykul, "Cut off the hounds' tentacles!" she called. "It'll stop them sucking out your magic!"

Immediately, the women did as she suggested, with good results. In pain, their senses dulled, the beasts fell on each other, snarling and creating enough chaos for her to join the defenders.

"You are not one of us," said one of the Valkyra, a tall woman bathed in golden light.

"No," agreed Faith. "I am not. I daresay that we would normally be hostile towards each other, but being as we currently have a common enemy to fight, please allow me to help."

"Her people are the ones fighting the demons at the gates," said the younger woman.

"I see. Well, we welcome your help. I am Ingra."

Faith inclined her head for a moment, keeping an eye on the demons, who had retreated for the time being. "My name is Faith Windrunner."

"You have experience against these demons?"

"This is my fourth war against the Legion." She used her blade to intercept a stray fireball from one of the imps, sending it back to it and incinerating it. "You can wield the Light, can you not?"

"Of course."

"Use it. These are demons, the Light will kill them much faster than I can. Use at least two spellcasters per demon and you'll get rid of them in a hurry. The one that's coming forward now, go on, try your strongest Light spell!"

"Eidir, Finna, now! Cast!" cried Ingra.

The aspirant Faith had met and another woman stepped forward and cast two strong spells, both of which hit the subjugator that had broken free from the advancing pack of demons.

"Again!" ordered Faith.

The second round of spells did the trick. Two flashes of Light hit the subjugator, who stopped in its tracks and emitted a horrible scream as holy magic consumed its very being.

"Perfect," she said. "Now keep that up and send these foul beasts back into the Twisting Nether where they belong!"

The vrykul heeded her command and began to attack, hitting the demons with everything they had. Terrified, felhounds scampered away, heedless of their masters' cries. Imps fell by the dozen, until finally, even subjugators and eredar backed off, retreating towards the gates of the town where the Horde waited for them.

"We surrender!" cried a female eredar.

Faith laughed, "Surrender? The Burning Legion doesn't get to surrender. You all get to die."

"Wait a minute," said Ingra. "If they're surrendering –."

Faith raised her hand, "No. We give no quarter to demons, for we will receive no mercy from them in turn, trust me." She looked at her assembled foes, "You invade our home, killing our people, our leaders and our families, and you expect us to show you compassion?" She turned her gaze towards the Horde, "Kill them."

"There is no honor in killing them!" exclaimed Ingra, outraged.

"I'm sorry, Ingra, but we cannot allow the demons to live. They show no mercy when we surrender, and when they do capture us, they torture us for eons." She turned to Nathanos, her eyebrow raised.

The members of the Horde acted swiftly, killing the demons right where they stood.

"This was wrong," said Ingra. "Demons or not, we shouldn't have killed them."

Faith looked at her, "Let me explain the Burning Legion to you," she said, not unkindly. "They are beings on a burning crusade throughout the world led by the fallen titan Sargeras. They go from planet to planet, decimating anybody who refuses to join them. They have annihilated countless worlds and races and had already invaded us twice before this last assault."

"We know this," said Ingra.

"Then you understand why keeping these demons alive makes absolutely no sense. The more demons we leave alive, the less hope we have for Azeroth. My mission in this war is to kill as many demons as possible before my injuries ultimately kill me, and I intend to succeed in it no matter how dishonorable it may seem. I will not let my home fall again."

Ingra mulled this over for a while, but finally relaxed her stance. "In any case, we owe you a debt of gratitude for helping us against this attack. We may not have survived without outside help: they took us completely by surprise, and I wonder how they managed it."

"How do you mean?" Nathanos asked her.

"I mean that it's very difficult to infiltrate Skold-Ashil under normal circumstances. How did they manage to attack us the way they did?"

"It was an inside job," said Ceven.

"An inside job!" exclaimed Eidir. "You mean to say that someone here betrayed us?"

"It wouldn't be the first time the Burning Legion had seduced someone into joining their ranks," said Faith, inclining her head. "I've seen it happen many, many times."

"But who could it be?"

"That is something you'll need to investigate on your own. You know your people far better than any of us here."

Ingra nodded, "How did you come to be here, anyway? You said you followed the demons here?"

"Some of us are currently going through the Trial of Valor, so we're roaming around Stormheim completing whatever challenges are before us. We came here because I was led to believe that there is a powerful being here who can be of help to us, but when we saw the demons, we made it our mission to eliminate them."

"You wish to speak to Eyir? I'm afraid that will not be an easy thing to do. She does not just speak to anybody."

"I understand that," said Faith gently.

"You do?"

"Of course."

"There is, however, a trial you can pass in order to enter the chamber," said Eidir.

"Helping us defeat the demons wasn't enough of a trial?" asked one of the aspirants. "I would let her in just based on that."

Several others agreed, and Faith raised her hand to calm everyone down when the conversation began to get heated.

"I am not a Valkyra Aspirant," she said. "However, if completing this challenge is what is required in order to speak to Eyir, I will gladly go through it. And if that is not enough and you would prefer us to leave, we can do that as well, of course. We want no quarrel with any of you."

Ingra looked at her for a while before she nodded, "I suppose there would be no harm in you going through the challenge. But it will not be an easy one, I promise you."

Faith smiled, "I never imagined that it would be."

"Judgment must be passed upon you, and it is a most difficult one to obtain. Come, the shrine is this way. It contains a statue that was imbued with the spirit of Ashildir, the leader of the Shieldmaidens. She will be the one to judge you and declare you an Ascendant, one worthy of going into Eyir's vault."

Not by a flicker of a muscle did Faith betray the fact that she was happy about her judge being Ashildir, and she followed Ingra to the statue, passing by a black-feathered arrow that she recognized immediately.

Sylvanas was already here.

The features on the statue of Ashildir looked exactly like her spirit had, only more alive.

"She was beautiful," she commented.

"Oh, she most certainly was," said Finna, who had come with them. "She –." Finna's eyes widened suddenly, nearly popping out of her head. Her mouth opened and closed, and as they all watched, a trickle of blood began to run down from her lips down her chin.

"Finna!" cried Ingra. She rushed forward to catch the aspirant as she collapsed onto herself, revealing the massive blade in her back just between her shoulder blades. "No, no, no. Oh, Finna, no… oh, please…"

"It is not often one gets to kill one of the members of Ingra's little inner circle," came an evil-sounding voice. "And Finna, too. One of her best!"

"Get ready," said Faith through gritted teeth.

Everyone turned to face this new threat, a Valkyra aspirant Faith had seen fighting with the others in front of Eyir's vault. Her red hair was braided into one long plait, and her eyes, Faith noticed, were ringed with fel green magic.

"Eyir will be my master's own prisoner, never to leave her vault again."

She began to cast a spell, and Faith quickly got in front of everyone, wielding her blade and hoping to be able to intercept the magic.

"Don't do this, Halveig!" cried Ingra. "Please! Come back to us…"

Halveig laughed, her fingers glowing green with fel fire. "I will kill each of you one by one for what you did to my friends. The Felskorn will rule Stormheim in the name of Sargeras the Great, and you will lose."

"We will not give up without a fight," said Faith. "I promise you that, Halveig. You're the one who will lose."

There was a scream as Halveig released her spell. Faith swung Felo'melorn and caught the magic full-on, beginning to fall backwards until someone steadied her, helping her to resist. Another aspirant joined her, then another, their hands strong under her arms so that she could keep her blade steady. Together, they were able to stop Halveig's spell from hitting any of the others.

Faith thrust the spellblade forward and, just as before, the magic shot out of it, hitting a hasty spell Halveig had conjured to try to protect herself.

There was a sound like cannon fire as the spells collided together, sending fel green sparks everywhere. Some of them hit Faith and she cried out as they burned her skin like acid, but most of them hit Halveig, who screamed in a way that sounded strangely like Sylvanas' banshee wail.

Faith moved forward, and the three aspirants moved with her. Halveig was on the ground, slapping at her skin to get the fel off her and she looked up as Faith advanced, hatred in her eyes.

"You can kill me, but I promise that you will never win against the Burning Legion."

"Oh, you're going to die, that's for sure. And we may not be able to kill Sargeras, but we have repelled the Burning Legion numerous times already, and we will do so again this time. That is my promise to you." She raised her voice, "Ingra?"

Ingra walked over to them, her face stricken. "Halveig, former aspirant of the Valkyra order, you have betrayed your people and everything they stand for. You have betrayed Odin in favor of your own advancement and in favor of a hostile power. For this, I sentence you to a swift and immediate death." She looked at Faith, "Do it."

A nod. Halveig attempted to get up and run, but the three aspirants quickly subdued her, forcing her to her knees. Faith looked her directly in the eyes, right up until she cut her head clean off her shoulders, sending a spray of bright red blood arcing through the air.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

"Burn her body with the demon corpses," said Ingra without much emotion. "Then come help me with Finna."

It was a somber mood as they all gathered a few minutes later to pay their respects to the fallen. The ceremony was short but heartfelt, Ingra speaking softly about each of the aspirants who had been killed during the attack.

"Now, Faith, I understand that you wanted to go see Eyir, is that right?" she asked afterwards.

Faith nodded, "Yes, but if you'd prefer I didn't after this…"

"No. You have helped us twice now. The least we can do is help you out as well. Come, I'm sure that Ashildir will give her blessing."

They went to the statue and kneeled in front of it. Almost immediately, it began to glow from within.

"Faith Windrunner," it said, its voice washing over all of them. "The hero of Helheim who saved my soul is now one of my aspirants. I know why you are here, and I can confirm that the one you seek is in the vault, but you may not like what you find there."

"I understand," whispered Faith.

"The one you love isn't as pure of soul as you are, and yet she has earned your heart. I pray that you will be able to bring her back onto the right path, because if you both continue that way, you will be lost as well."

Inclining her head, Faith said nothing, waiting.

"I give my blessing to you, young one, in thanks for what you have done for my people. Go, daughter of darkness, and seek out your beloved."

"I thank you, Ashildir, protector of the Valkyra. I hope that one day, my wisdom will equal yours."

"It already does, child. Now, go."

Faith thanked her quietly before slowly walking down the raised path that would take her into the vault of Eyir.

Her skin hummed in anticipation.