Hey! Glad you opened this! I had a dream about traveling immortality/knowledge and came up with this, because the dream was based in WoW and I missed the world. Unfortunately, I do not play anymore, and some things are a little out of touch for me! However, one of my coworkers has answered the majority of my questions about lore and such. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask away! I am hoping to update pretty frequently, as I have one other chapter already finished, but we will see how things go.
Disclaimer: I do not own any World of Warcraft properties or characters. I am solely here to use the established world for my story. Thanks for checking me out.
Saloris loved living in Dalaran, mostly because it provided a lot of free time for her, and a lot of things to explore, especially with the city's abundance of portals and all the portal spells Saloris had learned. Even with her job in one of the many potion libraries that the Violet Citadel had to offer, she still had a lot of free time to explore and organize and read about what other mages before her had done. She loved it there, especially because she wasn't judged by where she came from or for her companion pet of Aki, a purple manta ray that oftentimes clung to her bare chest underneath her robes, or floated around her with happy little blurbs coming from his mouth.
There was access to any type of arcane knowledge all around Saloris. She had time to expand knowledge she didn't know, as well as to fight if the Kirin Tor required it. Being part of the Kirin Tor meant peacekeeping, whether it was monthly rounds as a guard in the city, or sent to one of the fighting areas where Saloris's knowledge of the arcane was needed. But, she always returned home safe and with more stories to share, at least, so far.
Beyond that, the Archmages left the majority of the undermages on their own. As long as they showed up to their shifts as a guard, as well as wrote down any findings they discovered, they were free to let their hands and minds and magic wonder - at least, to a degree. Some things, such as necromancy, were extremely against the Kirin Tor law, and resulted in punishment. Mostly expulsion from the Kirin Tor ranks and banished from Dalaran altogether, stripped of all the work you put in and starting from scratch.
However, that was not something Saloris needed to worry about, especially since she spent most of her time in the alchemy section and working with transmuting minerals, boiling and listening to the chemicals all around her. It was peaceful, especially because she made some of the best mana restoring potions that came out of the Kirin Tor's personal storage for battle and questing.
Right now, Saloris's main project was decoding where another alchemist had gone wrong with an elixir for immortality. He had a lot of different ingredients listed, but hadn't been successful. He died, obviously, meaning whatever he had taken was not the right combination, or any of the other elixirs hadn't worked. She spent hours pouring over his research journals (dusty and on a high shelf), knowing that if he had had all the elixirs he made, they didn't work.
So she started somewhere new. Or combinations the other unnamed alchemist hadn't tried yet. The main ingredient she wanted to use, but was too timid to ask the ingredient master for, was a Phoenix feather. Phoenixes represent rebirth, rejuvenating and fire. They were beautiful and everlasting. The feather checked many of the requirements that Saloris believed was essential for the potion, but it was too rare for Saloris to use for every attempt, and she didn't want to pester the other mage for too many. She would be found out if that were the case, and she liked keeping her failed attempts a secret until she came up with something glorious.
The young mage never took her Philosopher's Stone out of the cauldron, as that was one of the important catalysts for any transmuting potion, or anything involving the giving of life. The alchemist before her had already tried a few different combinations of what it took to make a potion for health, which was easily the dumbest thing he could have done. When Saloris had read that section of the notes, very close to the beginning of the journals, she scuffed aloud at his density. If it was easy as making a potion of healing with the best ingredients, this mage would have already made it.
Saloris had already tried mixing the essence and the crystallized versions of the elements, as she believed heavily in the idea the author had that immortality was linked to the elements, the base of what makes the worlds, and had believed some form of this was to be used in the alchemy process.
Phoenix feather, in theory, was related to fire. She could assume the Philosopher's Stone made up the earth category, but going with that meant omitting something such as liferoot, straight from the ground. But having more than four ingredients could have detrimental effects to Saloris's potion. She hadn't even thought about how to test if the elixir would actually work. Would she immediately feel immortal? Or would she know if she hadn't come down with an illness that was easily contracted to her? How would she know if she had gained immortality?
Furthermore, she continued to think on her guard duty the next day, what if the original author had, somehow, found the right combination of ingredients and was alive, now, however many centuries later? It could be a secret, like the Kirin Tor was for many many years. Would there be any confirmation if she quickly healed after battle? Would she realize, despite her lineage, that she was not aging? Elves notoriously lived for long periods of time. Could her heritage bring something different to the elixir? If the original author had been a human, they lived for short spans of times, and they did not have the stamina or the mana that the elves had. Would her blood and body bring another criteria to the table that Saloris was unaware of?
"Saloris, you're not even listening, are you?" her guard mate said, waving a hand quickly in front of her face. He was Draenei and only a head or so taller than Saloris. Muas always smiled, despite the slow moving tendrils that reached toward his burly chest. He was fun to be around, and Saloris was often happy to join him for drinks after their shifts.
"Only partly," Saloris replied, grinning back at him. While Muas hardly practiced Saloris's favored alchemy, he knew the look of thought in her bright eyes and how certain combinations irked her if she couldn't get it right.
"Is it that new mage in your library section again?" Muas joked, jostling her arm with his elbow. "I keep my mouth shut on all forms of romantic interest, unless it is better for me to speak."
"You always think it's better for you to speak."
He laughed a bellowing laugh, echoing off the streets and causing Saloris to shift uncomfortably at the eyes of city dwellers as they looked on at the large man.
"Plus, you know I don't work in the library anymore. I'm back in the research labs."
"They granted you permission again? What a thought."
"You're rude to me, Muas. You're rude as you can be."
"It's okay. I'll buy you a drink tonight so you forget all about my rudeness," Muas said, winking and nudging her suggestively.
"We're not sleeping together again. I have too much on my mind. Plus, you don't like Aki."
"He doesn't like me!" Muas said, as if Saloris had hurt his honor in some way with her comment. "He bit me last time we were alone."
"You're not nice to him, is all. Just give him some fish and he'd like you. Or you know, be a little kinder to him and me."
"I'm not mean to you!" Muas stopped speaking for a minute as a group of undead mages passed. "Wait, am I mean to you?"
"It depends on the context, but sometimes you don't know when to be gentle."
"I thought you liked it rou-"
"We're not having this conversation right now, Muas. Or ever again. Especially since you're supposed to be doing your rounds while I stand here and guard this district."
"Saloris-" The shorter mage held up her hand, quieting his attempts to defend himself.
"No, Muas. Go." Saloris was quite done with Muas's insistent desire to talk on guard duty, especially as she was preoccupied with the elixir. She never really wanted to get attached to the man anyway, or anyone in general. So Muas's constant attempts to come on to her had gotten a little annoying, especially in the light of the journal and her search for the elixir of immortality. She had wanted it because Muas was easy, in the sense that he already liked Saloris. But beyond that, she could feel his emotions radiating off him like the sun. Sex was easy. Emotions caused a lot of mental blockage that she didn't have the time for.
Saloris wasn't tired after her shift with Muas, and she didn't want to join him for drinks at the Purple Parlor. So she went back to her lab station, where a few other mages were burning the midnight oil on their own projects. They were in their own minds, and only the quiet murmuring to themselves and the rolling of their liquids was there. It was just as Saloris liked it. No one needed to ask her for a new mana potion, or to help them with something, or to bug her with idle talk.
There were a lot of things Saloris hadn't tried yet, and, so far, nothing had killed her. And nothing had outwardly changed her; inwardly, she did not know. Saloris scratched the skin on her arm, thinking and wondering what could satisfy the requirements of water and air, or if there was, really, a fifth ingredient like the other mage had thought. However, he never went beyond thinking about the fifth element, so that left a lot of room for Saloris to interpret, which is something she was very good at. Mixing ingredients and metals and roots and flowers and herbs and hoping they wouldn't kill the test subjects. Except she was her own test subject now. This was her own project. No other people included.
Saloris sat down roughly on her working stool and laid her own journal for the project down in front of her, pulling the mystery author's last book from the shelf laid into the side of her work table, and flipped to where she left off. She wrote in Thalassian, her native language, but the author had written in Common, meaning he could be literally any mage race with access to the labs of Dalaran.
Saloris's ultimate goal wasn't to find out who had written the book, but was to find the other two (or more) ingredients that could produce the immortality results. Saloris grabbed a quill and her inkwell and started to make another column, desperately thinking of the stock room's ingredients and what they were used for. Thinking water was aplenty, so should be the ingredients used for the water category, or, at least, something near water. Would the uses for the ingredients matter? Or was it the end combination that mattered?
In case it was a mixture of both, that the ingredients did matter and that the end result could still kill, the alchemist avoided the usage of scorpion poison, hellhound spit, or any of the deadly ingredients the mages had stored. Furthermore, she looked at the ingredients that grew near lakes, ponds, seas, oceans, and moved them into categories. She liked the romantic ideals that Sea Stalk used, despite not liking the ideas of romance herself. Saloris underlined this as a possible ingredient and moved forward with air. Which was hard. Was air not already it's own category? Could she just blow on the ingredients mixed together and have that as it was? Or was it like water? Saloris had decided water, in and of itself was not an ingredient, despite water being abundant. The same could be said for all the other ingredients. The base wasn't enough, especially since this had already been tested. It had to be more.
When you thought of air, what else did you think of? When you close your eyes, as Saloris did while she thought now, and the breeze ruffles your robe sleeves, rustling your black hair against your cheeks and ears, bringing the sounds and smells of the market at Silvermoon, or of the sounds of Orgrimmar and the shouts and howls of the animals you encountered in the wild, isn't that air? Doesn't that count? The very essence of living with the wind and the world and everything the breeze brought to your nose.
A thought drifted in Saloris's mind, that the elixir was based on the person that took it, that it wasn't some special formula that could make everyone immortal. She laughed aloud at her own thoughts, giggling despite the serious tone of the laboratory. Saloris stood up, looking down to avoid her lab mates, and walked to the expansive ingredient store. If she could not think of her own use for the air category, she would stand in front of the endless supply of herbs and flowers and rocks and hope one said air this is it!
That was two weeks ago. Saloris had yet to figure out anything obvious for the final element. Wun'zaz, a troll that watched over some of the harder to come by ingredients, had laughed at her countless times since Saloris had brought her stool with her. She gave him no explanation as she wrote in her notebook, and stared, constantly adrift in thoughts that would not give her the right ingredient. Saloris only glared at him, knowing she could not explain her search or what had put her in this stump.
Her mind drifted back to smells, to things that blew in the wind, rather than items that involved the essence of air and wind. This caused her to start again, her fourth time around. She only had four days time until she was to be deployed to another mission in regards to Azerite and the continued disputes over land and minerals. Saloris did not have the time for this, to think and have to leave so soon. She was frustrated, and nothing was popping out for her.
"This is dumb, Azeroth have mercy on me!" she mumbled, standing up and walking through aisles and looking at jars and packets filled with ingredients. Her mind was still running with complicated formulas and the deployment she had coming up. If Azerite was the lifeblood of the world, what was the breath? "When we smell the sweetness on the wind, the fire in the distance, the first and last breath on the air, what is it?"
Saloris halted quickly. Something she had been thinking had turned her mind, had expanded it to look at everything. Or, most likely, it was because she had stopped right in front of Starlight Rose, a sweet smelling flower that erupted into dust if not handled correctly. If the wind blew too hard, then the flower erupted into dust, and went with the wind.
"Oh," Saloris whispered, grasping the jar in front of her. "This makes a lot of sense. You can't capture air. That would be too easy. But the rose is the smell of something, is the dust in the wind, is the definition of air!" Saloris was glad that it was late and that many of the other mages had already left; her mumbling throughout the storerooms had increased, making her sound like a raving maniac. Maybe it was good that she had the mission coming up. It would allow her to take her mind off everything.
Once back at her work station, Saloris crossed out all the other options for air, and doodled a small blue rose in the bottom corner. She would go to Wun'zaz in the morning to ask for a Phoenix Feather. She had the Sea Stalk for water as well, already stored in a jar. She wouldn't have time to account for the earth category, and it would definitely have to wait until after the expedition. Saloris would bring all the ingredients, the journal, and her own notebook with her. She trusted the other mages, but this felt too big to leave in the safety of her drawer. What if she figured out the last category while away?
Aki acted nervous the entire Wyvern flight over. He kept biting Saloris's chest, making a soft screeching noise, and flying around, despite Saloris's fast pace aboard the Wyvern. They were flying in formation, as a group, towards Tiragarde Sound, and Saloris had to keep grabbing at him to keep him from being lost to the wind. Even if Aki had flown away with the wind, he had an innate ability to find her, no matter where she went. She was worried about him being lost, or if he was injured during his own explorations. Muas and some of the other mages kept joking with her, saying she was more concerned with her pet than with where they were flying. It took all of Saloris's will to keep from blasting Muas off his mount and into the air below.
There was a mixture of Horde and Alliance among the group. When they landed outside of Tiragarde Sound, they would split up for negotiations and compromises. Most of the altercations involving Azerite had turned out fine after the Kirin Tor showed up, but it was always best to be prepared in case things turned sour. The Horde and the Alliance were often quick to point fingers, and things could turn nasty quickly. In those cases, it was advised that the mages put up defense spells to try to ease tensions. They were peacekeeping, mostly, and couldn't pick sides, no matter who started the fight, but they could still kill, could fight against those that were starting the battle. In this case, it was most likely the Horde, and they could open fire as long as they were not the first to draw.
The Horde definitely started this incursion against Tiragarde Sound, and this was the third deployment to the area. The Kirin Tor had sent multiple groups of mages to the area to keep the mana flowing to keep an all out battle from starting, but the Horde were consistent in wanting more Azerite, in wanting more of the metal and the life blood of the planet. Both sides were greedy, and each wanted it as much as the other. But they kept fighting over something that could be depleted, over something that had intense destructive and intense healing properties. Saloris wasn't a negotiator and was only there if a battle broke out, meant to defend and ease the tensions with magic rather than with words.
Saloris didn't hate flying, but she was exhausted by the time they finally landed outside of Tiragarde Sound. Aki had left immediately, fluttering off to look around, his curiosity a strong trait that would cause Saloris to smile if she wasn't so nervous. While she wasn't a direct part of the negotiations, she still had to stay at attention and look around. This meant she would go into the mines to make sure no one was actively working when they shouldn't be, whether it be Horde or Alliance. Because of the active talks going on above ground, people thought it would be easy to slip in and out and continue to mine for the precious metal.
A few of the other Horde Kirin Tor followed into the mines, each taking separate branches and spreading out. It was eerily quiet, which was a good sign. If there were noises like clattering and mining and grunts, that would mean the Goblins and Orcs or Dwarves and Gnomes were hard at work. Mining was not a silent job, Saloris knew that much. It was soothing to be so far underground at times, surrounded by silence and the earth and all that Azeroth had to offer. Well, she would be soothed if it wasn't under the current situation, with tensions high and the light from the palm of her hand creating dancing shadows. The light glanced off the ores that were still lodged in the ground and created sharp edges against the walls. Saloris let her free hand out to touch a part of the ore, and understanding overflowed her mind.
Saloris's mind was still on her potion for immortality, and something she had thought while looking for the air ingredient came back to her. She paused in her search and rummaged through her bags, looking for the four items she already had - Phoenix Feather, Sea Stalk, her Philosopher Stone, Starlight Rose. Azerite was the lifeblood of the planet - Azerite was a mineral - Azerite was earth.
"Oh," Saloris said aloud, looking around for anyone that could hear her. She had never stolen before - she wasn't a common thief. But if she could get her hands on some of the liquid form of Azerite, her potion would be complete. The vein of ore she was following now was all solid, but the more she walked down the path and down towards the center, the air became warmer, thicker, more alive.
Saloris knew a little about Azerite and its properties, especially how it could heighten comprehension and understanding, just as she had felt when her hand touched the stone. Wouldn't the liquid form be just as potent? What if I just take a small amount of the solid form and heat it? I already have to boil all the other ingredients together, and boiling the Azerite might congeal everything into a liquid?
Saloris nodded to herself, turning back around and keeping her gaze on the ground of loose stones. There were no miners left down here, and she knew she had wasted time by turning towards the deeper sections. Would she get in trouble? Would they find out about her plan and potion? She shook her head, bending down to pick up a small chunk of Azerite the miners must have missed. The amber glowed against the light in her hand, and her mind became clear again. "Melting it is the right choice," she whispered, knowing what she had to do now. Her next break was soon after the sun fell, after everyone had come back from the mines and the first shift of guarding them started. She could do that during her break, and then go back to her rounds afterwards. "Yes, yes. I know what to do."
Holding that stone then, Saloris's whole world and future became clear. She understood exactly what she was doing, what needed to be done, and she knew how to do everything.
That same night, in the solitude of her own tent, Saloris put a small pot above her fire and slowly added all her ingredients, ending with the chunk of Azerite. At one point, Muas showed up, asking about drinks and night together, despite Saloris's sudden distaste for him. Aki had shown up at some point, nestling close to Saloris's chest, and Muas retracted his offer quickly. Saloris wondered if Miss had seen her pot of ingredients or only had eyes on her body. Would he question her about what she was making?
The Blood Elf watched as the metal melted, turning everything into a thick shade of gold, and watched as it reacted to each of the ingredients. It looked like the Azerite had actually melted her Philosopher's Stone, meaning she would have to get a new one, but the ingredients seemed to blend together on their own without any help from her. No stirring, no chanting, no magic added from Saloris. The Azerite was the secret ingredient that she needed, the lifeblood of the world, the lifeblood of the potion.
Slowly, Saloris removed the pot and quickly poured the majority of it into a small cup. Azerite cooled quickly, and it wouldn't be edible past its liquid stage. She had no concerns about consuming the metal in this stage - she had already questioned that and the stone had given her clarity. It was dangerous, but she would live. Aki was making a frantic sort of noise above her, but she waved him off, focusing on the drink. Am I making the right choice? Is this the right thing to do?
Saloris shrugged and chugged the drink, body filling with warmth and intelligence and magic and the belief that she understood everything, that her mind was hyper-focused suddenly. All the reports of Azerite were true. She knew that the mage before her, the one that started this process, had not been successful. He hadn't mentioned Azerite anywhere in his research, hadn't considered the benefits of the metal, all that it had to offer in a potion.
Saloris felt strong until Aki bit her hand, and she came out of her hyper-focus. There were noises outside of her tent, something like an argument. Saloris knew without actually knowing that the negotiations were going wrong, and the ringing of a bell in the middle of the Kirin Tor camp signified that. Everyone was to be ready, for the Horde and the Alliance were actually fighting. Saloris rubbed her hand and glared at Aki before grabbing her wooden stave and stepping outside, mind full of too many things for her to actually take in the majority of the information.
Aki stayed inside the tent, as he was not one for actual fighting. Saloris followed the other mages, accidentally bumping into a tipsy Muas who said something she couldn't hear. From a distance, it seemed that a small group of Horde miners - a few Orcs and a Goblin or two - had made it past the guards outside of the mines while others were actively fighting the Kirin Tor. A few arrows shot passed Saloris's head, and she became aware of the severity of the situation. The Horde had opened fire on the Alliance and the Kirin Tor, viewing both as opposition, and the Kirin Tor, were placing a bunch of defense spells and trying to keep the damage to a minimum. But they were also shooting at the Horde, because they had started this.
Some part of Saloris's brain clicked, understanding that, while the Kirin Tor were peacekeeping, they still had to fight. You pick and choose your battles, and the Kirin Tor were careful to an extent. Sometimes you had to shoot a few offensive spells in order for them to get it, that the Kirin Tor did mean business. Saloris watched as different shades of blue and red and purple shot across the battlefield, each erupting into different pools of magic with varying effects. A Tauren was fighting off an encasing of frost that had taken his legs and the majority of his torso. Another Goblin was patting herself out from the flames that caught his trousers.
An arrow shot through the night and caught Saloris in her thigh, sending pain throughout her body. Saloris gritted her teeth and stepped forward, snapping the shaft of the arrow so it did not imbed her spellcasting. Muas looked over at her and glared at the arrowhead lodged in her thigh, mouth open to say something about the medic tent. But she was already ahead of him, already stepping forward and hands surrounded by purple, words flowing from her mouth as she moved forward. Muas knew Saloris was quick to anger, quick to want to be in the midst of battle, but there was something new and different around her, something more powerful than what Muas knew about her.
The arcane magic flew from her fingers, and she kept casting, bringing forth more spells that Muas did not think she knew at this point. True, Saloris worked in the spell library for some time, but this was different. This was as if she was taped directly to the pulse of magic, of the arcane. "Magic is corrupting," he muttered, watching as she stepped closer to the battle. Mages were light, mages didn't move toward the centers, mages casted from the sidelines. What is she doing? he asked himself, in awe of his friend. Corrupting happened slowly, and this was sudden, this was new, this was as if she was surrounded by the lifeblood of the world, aware of everything. The dark purple aura of the arcane flowed around her as Saloris continued to cast spells, unaware of anything except the battle.
He watched as another arrow caught her in the shoulder, but she did not cease her movements or spells. Getting hit like that should have caused an interruption, should have caused her to stagger somewhat in her ministrations. Saloris continued to put down spells, hitting different Horde members that were not part of the Kirin Tor. Muas made no move to join the fight, instead watching as more people kept going to take down Saloris and she cut them down quickly, without a care in the world. Her eyes were a deep purple, the same as the aura around her. Something had happened to Saloris while Muas wasn't watching, and he didn't know what. But he watched her anyway, in awe, like the majority of the other mages that were fighting.
Muas looked on as she continued to be hit with arrow after arrow until a Troll, tall and lanky and wielding a double-sided battle axe, arrived, clearly aware of the damage Saloris had already started, already created with her anger and her magic. He approached from behind, in her blind spot. She turned too slowly, purple aura turning with her, a spell on her lips, as the axe swung down and caught her neck, instantly taking the fight out of her. Muas cried out, aware that, no matter what, this was the end of the battle. He watched as the purple aura around her and the color in her eyes faded away, joining the air and the wind. He heard a screech come back from the Kirin Tor tents, a noise he knew to belong to Aki. Muas looked back, watching as the manta ray took flight and disappeared in the night.
After that, after the fall of Saloris, the world became quiet. Everyone had stopped fighting as her blood merged back with the earth.