Fum'baji awoke. He could tell from the lack of light that it was still night - though at what point in the night, he could not immediately tell. A loud noise had awoken him, and he quickly got up out of his bed.
"Karl?" He called out, seeing if all was well with the black dragon whelpling he had adopted. Instead of hearing Karl responding to him, he instead heard his roommate - Dikkit the Imp - yelling for him.
"Fum'baji! Help!" Dikkit cried out. Quickly opening the door and rushing into the front room, Fum'baji now beheld a K'thir that had ahold of both Karltharion and Dikkit. Noticing Fum'baji, the K'thir quickly formed a void portal and rushed through.
Without a second thought, Fum'baji dove into the portal after the K'thir. Emerging on the other side, Fum'baji saw no sign of the K'thir, nor Dikkit and Karltharion. Instead, what he saw was... his home. He was still inside it... or was he? His home's roof was now broken and crumbling, set ablaze. On the ground, patches of void covered splotches of the floor.
This was very much not right. He had just seen the inside of his home - It was not like this. Seeing large flaming planks from above falling directly in front of him, Fum'baji rushed out of the house, the door of which had already been torn apart. What he found when he exited his home unsettled him. The sky looked... dead. Dragons of void flew across the sky, and massive tentacles could be seen in the distance, flailing about.
But to Fum'baji's horror, he saw, far off ahead of him, the gates of Orgrimmar. Massive banners flew from the gate... but not that of the Horde's. Fum'baji knew this symbol: The banner of the Black Empire. Fum'baji began to piece together what was going on - He was in the grasp of madness, taken to either a vision... or another reality, where the heroes of the Horde and Alliance could not defeat the forces of N'Zoth.
He knew he had to find a way out... but first, he had to find Karltharion, and Dikkit. Against his better judgment, he began to make his way towards Orgrimmar. He saw no one and nothing along the way, walking through the canyon that led to the gates. When he reached them, still nothing greeted him. Walking into the gates, he began to hear the pained cries of many individuals, coming from the portal room. Upon entering the room, he found a large cage, with numerous members of the Horde trapped inside.
A large orb of void was channeling a beam into the cage, and those trapped within seemed to be covered in an aura, likely the result of the beam's contact with the cage. As he peered into the cage, he was able to make out a familiar face: Valynithira, a blood elven chronomancer that had long been one of Fum'baji's best friends. Panicking, Fum'baji began to try and fumble with the cage, which had no visible lock.
"Hold on, Val! I'll get joo out of dere, just hold on a minute!" He yelled out. He shook on the cage, and finally stepped back. He attempted to fire out a bolt of lightning at the orb, but to his shock, absolutely nothing happened. He tried next to toss a ball of fire at the orb, but again, nothing happened. He began to realize what was going on: In this realm, it seemed he was denied his powers. Before he could figure out his next move, he heard large, stomping footsteps coming towards him.
Turning around, he found himself face-to-face with a N'raqi. Knowing he could not fight using his magic, he drew his staff, ready to fight. The N'raqi attempted to slam one of it's two maces down on Fum'baji, but missed as the troll dove out of the way. Fum'baji slammed his staff into the side of the N'raqi, causing it to stumble to the side a bit. It turned and swiped at Fum'baji with it's other mace, slamming him against the wall.
Fum'baji quickly composed himself, and looked up as the N'raqi slowly walked towards him. Looking past the N'raqi at the cage and the orb above it, Fum'baji quickly concocted a plan. With all of his strength, he tackled the N'raqi into the cage, knocking the cage over and severing the orb's connection with it... and instead, connecting the orb's magic to the N'raqi. The eldritch beast shook and spasmed as the orb above it drained it's life. It fell to it's knees, and watched helplessly as the cage around the multitude of people faded away... and instead, materialized around it.
Restored, most of the people that had been in the cage rushed off. Fum'baji noticed Valynithira standing up, and quickly went to her. "Val!" He said. "Are you okay?"
Valynithira looked at him, bewildered. "Fum? But... you're... Get away!" She yelled, pushing Fum'baji away.
Fum'baji was very confused. "Ah don't undahstand. What's wrong?" He asked. Valynithira was treating him like he had done something wrong... but he didn't know what it was he had done.
"Get away from me! I won't let you hurt me like you hurt the others!" She yelled. Now, Fum'baji was incredibly confused.
"I- I don't undahstand. What did I do? Ah just got here. Ahm lookin' for Karl, and Dikkit." He explained.
Valynithira now looked confused. She narrowed her eyes, and looked over Fum'baji. "How did you change back? What do you mean you just got here? Explain yourself."
Nodding quickly, Fum'baji began his explanation. "Ah got woke up, middle of de night. Dikkit called out foh mah help, and ah found a K'thir holdin' him an' Karl. It made some sort ah void portal, and went through it. I jumped into it, and ended up in a different version of mah house. Was all destroyed, an' corrupted... ah think this isn't the Azeroth I'm from... but... that means you're not the Val I know."
Valynithira nodded slowly. She crossed her arms, and thought for a moment as she looked at Fum'baji. "That... would explain why you're not obviously corrupted. You... you might want to prepare yourself. I'll explain what's going on... but I promise you, you won't like it."
Nodding once more, but only a single time, Fum'baji sat down. "Tell me what's goin' on, Val. Tell me what's happenin' here."
Valynithira walked over to Fum'baji, and sat next to him.
"When the forces of N'Zoth attacked, the Horde and Alliance tried to fight back. It looked good for a while... a group even got into that old god city... I forget what it's called. They had that one champion with them, the one that had the Heart of Azeroth. Things were supposed to be going good... but then things just turned around, really quickly.
None of the people that went in there came back. It was our only chance at stopping N'Zoth... and it was just gone. We tried to hold out, but we started losing ground. First they took Tanaris... then they marched into Thousand Needles. After that it was the Barrens, and then Durotar, and then... well, you can see what's happened here.
When they got to Orgrimmar, they overwhelmed us. Dragons, and faceless, and... it wasn't good. They killed so many... I saw them kill Stoffley. I... I couldn't stop it. And then they started... picking people out. Taking people away. They took everyone we knew... including you.
Then they rounded up a bunch of us - Mostly mages and warlocks. They shoved us in that cage, and started using us as conduits to power portals... I started seeing people we knew coming through, but... wrong. Corrupted. You were one of the ones that I saw go through... you were one of them, Fum. They changed you."
Fum'baji looked astounded, and horrified. He breathed heavily, and looked to the ground. "Ah... Ahm sorry, Val. Ah... Ahm still me. De me me, not de me from dis realm. Ah don't know what dis is... ah don't know if it's anoddah reality, or just a vision ahm havin'..."
Valynithira thought for a moment. "This... this feels real to me. But... I don't know. I... I just know what I saw, what I felt, what I thought... Maybe this is just a vision? Maybe... maybe I'm just a figment of your imagination? I... I don't know."
Fum'baji frowned. He put his hand on Valynithira's shoulder, and sighed. "Ah need to find Dikkit and Karl. If dis is a vision, maybe gettin' dem back will help me get out, and end de vision."
"And what if it's not a vision? You'll just leave us all here to suffer at the hands of the faceless?" Valynithira asked, a bit angered.
Fum'baji sighed once more. "If dis isn't a vision, dere's nothing ah can do. If de old god has already taken over... ah can't fight a god, Val. Especially not if ah don't have mah powers... Ahm sorry. Ah really am."
Valynithira, in turn, sighed as well. "You're... you're right. I'm... sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. If... if this is just a vision of yours, if we can end it, then... all of us will just go away, but... we won't have to deal with this anymore. ...I'll help you find Dikkit and Karl. Just... promise me, if we see any of the others, we'll try to save them. Promise me that, Fum."
Fum'baji nodded once. "Ah promise, Val. Ah'll do what ah can."
Valynithira gave a slight smile. She stood up, and watched as Fum'baji stood up beside her. "Thank you, Fum. I... I don't know where Karl is, but I do remember seeing Dikkit... it was a day or so ago. A K'thir had him... maybe it's the same Dikkit? The same K'thir you saw?"
Fum'baji scratched his chin. "Maybe. Time and reality seem bent to fel, so it possible. Ah may have only taken a few seconds to jump through de portal after de K'thir, but it could've been longer in dis place's time. Where did you see dem go?"
Valynithira looked around at the portals, and then looked towards the hallway leading out. "It didn't go through this room... I saw it go through to the lower portal room. I think there was only one portal there. One that went to the Caverns of Time."
"Let's go to it, den." Fum'baji said. He stopped for a moment, and looked down at the N'raqi he had fought's maces. He held his staff and stared at it for a moment, and then tossed it to the side. He picked up the two maces, and looked towards Valynithira, nodding. He then began to walk towards the stairs. Valynithira hesitated for a moment, but soon followed. The two made their way into the lower portal room, and as expected, there was a portal to the Caverns of Time, stable and ready to be entered.
"Joo ready, Val? Ah don't know what we're gonna find on de oddah side, but... ahm as ready as I can be." Fum'baji said. Valynithira stared towards the portal for a few moments, and then looked at Fum'baji.
"I... I'm ready, Fum. Let's go."
Nodding, Fum'baji walked towards the portal alongside Valynithira, and the two entered.