Author's note:

Hi everyone! I just wanted to take the time to say hi! I know that my updates haven't been very consistent lately, and I'm sorry about that, I was in a bit of a rut. But you'll be happy to know that my writer's block seems to have lifted. Maybe it's the fact that Switzerland is on lockdown, so I'm at home most of the day and only going out for groceries once every two or three days if I need to!

Anyway, I hope you guys are staying safe! If you can work from home, do so, and don't forget to wash your hands and practice social distancing!

*Waves with both hands*

Love,
Lunarelle


Four members of the Horde stepped forward at General White's command: the troll Faith had just met, whose name was Wem'jin, two Forsaken, and one of the Sin'dorei.

"General, we are at your service," said the Sin'dorei, whom Faith recognized, although she had difficulty placing him.

She nodded, "Thank you. I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

"I don't think we ever met, but… I remember you from Silvermoon a long time ago. My name is Geldin Bloodrise. I was there when Arthas…"

Faith's mind suddenly flashed back to the day of Silvermoon's fall. "Oh. Of course. I saw you when Arthas threw her body at me. I'm glad to know that you survived, and I'll be happy to have you along."

They waited for the five members of the Alliance to step forward, and they finally did: a dwarf warrior with a scarred face who had seen his share of fights, two women and a man from Stormwind, and a pandaren monk.

"Good," said General White. "I wish all of you luck. It won't be easy to get inside the Halls of Valor, but we will help you in any way we can."

Faith gave a nod, "Thank you, General." She turned to the members of the Horde she was leaving behind, "I want all of you to heed General White's orders as if they were mine, do you understand? This man fought with me against the Scourge in Northrend, and saved my life a time or two. Even the warchief worked with him back then."

She had said the right thing. She saw the Horde soldiers standing up straighter and salute her respectfully. An orc, however, looked directly at her, wordlessly asking her a question.

"Focus on the Burning Legion first," she told him. "We'll worry about the rest later."

They left quickly, skirting around the massive battle and killing a few demons on their way.

"There's a side entrance we can use," said one of the women. "Hopefully it won't be guarded like the main gate."

"It's as good a way as any," said Faith. "Let's go."

They went in the direction of the side entrance, finding it suspiciously quiet and free of enemies.

The demons are already inside, she thought. Otherwise, they'd be fighting here too.

"There's the entrance," said Geldin. He moved forward, but Faith caught his robe.

"Whoa, slow down."

"Why?"

Bending down, she picked up a rock and tossed it towards the door. There was a resounding crack, like lightning hitting a tree, and the rock suddenly split in two, having hit an invisible force field. "Years of war have taught me that when an area of the battlefield is completely clear, it means that a trap's been laid somewhere."

"How do we get through?"

"We find da source of da force field," said Wem'jin. "It could be a spellcaster."

"I doubt it," said Faith.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I can't feel any magic, so I don't think it's a spellcaster. But there are probably some demonic runes in place somewhere. See whether you can find any."

They didn't have long to search, as the runes glowed a fel green in the underbrush. Faith new the spells to use in order to deactivate them, but since her magic was weak at best, she had to give a crash course to the other spellcasters in her group.

"Sorry, guys, the spell is in Thalassian, but it's the best I can do under the circumstances."

"I can help with that," said Geldin. "I'm a paladin, so the Light will help."

And help it did. After teaching the spell to the Alliance magic-wielders, they were able to disable the runes enough to pass through the invisible barrier.

"I have a feeling that ya would have been able ta do that faster on ya own, General," said Wem'jin.

"If my magic weren't so weak now, I might have done, but we can't be picky now. Let's go."

They went on, stopping at the sight of the door.

"Be careful when you open it," said Faith. "We don't know what's waiting on the other side."

Not much, as it turned out. Nothing living, anyway.

As soon as they walked in, they were greeted by the sight of viscous blood seeping into cracks on the polished stone floor, some red, some green. A vrykul warrior lay nearby, clearly dead, his head bent at an odd angle and the wounds on his body testifying to the fact that he had fought with every fiber of his being. A couple of feet away from him lay a felhound that had nearly been decapitated, the sight of which made one of the women dry heave.

"By the Light, the smell of that thing…"

"It's not enjoyable," Faith told her. "But you get used to it."

"I suppose you would, since you live in that sewer."

Faith didn't bother answering, her senses on alert for any possible attack.

It came from above them, the spider demon that once upon a time would have made Faith faint with horror. Reminding her unpleasantly of her time in Icecrown Citadel, it scurried down from its webbed perch, fangs dripping with venom, ready to kill them.

She swung Felo'melorn in an arc as soon as it got close to them, cutting one of its legs deeply. The spider emitted a high-pitched screech and dropped down. She was just able to move out of the way before it landed on her.

"Kill it!" she called.

Her companions pounced on it. Magic sizzled in the air and ichor flew as they killed it efficiently. But a second later, Faith heard something that made her hair stand on end, so to speak.

The sound of dozens of pincers clicking furiously. The hiss that accompanied any giant spider attack.

"We're about to get cornered!" she cried. "Spread out now before they trap us here!"

They did as she asked, spreading out in a line so as to meet the spider demons who had come to their fallen friend's aid. A rain of venom began to fall upon them, and Faith put up Felo'melorn to shield herself.

"Dark Lady help us, I've never seen that before," said one of the Forsaken, sounding awestruck.

"Titans willing, you never will again," said Faith. "Attack them! Don't just stand there!"

Springing forward, she reached the first demon and began to slice at it just as a sizzling pain tore through her leg.

"Clever," she hissed as she pulled away from the second spider who had sunk its fangs into her from behind. "And costly." She swung her blade again, calling out a spell unconsciously. The magic was feeble, but it did the trick, causing the creature to erupt into flames.

"General!"

I'm fine, she said to herself, not having the time to verbalize her thought as the first demon leaped on her. She flattened herself on the ground, barely avoiding what would have been a nasty collision. As she did so, she stuck Felo'melorn into the demon's underbelly, cutting the thing wide open and spilling…

"Oh, sick!" she cried. She scrambled to her feet as a mess of gelatinous eggs fell on her. The eggshells broke as they landed, revealing slimy spiderlings that moved feebly in foul green yolk. Screaming once, she batted them away, feeling her head spinning in disgust.

"That is just nasty," said one of the orcs, reaching her and swatting something out of her hair. "Are you all right, General?"

She nodded, "I'm fine, Benok, thank you. If only this could be the worst of it, I'd consider us lucky, but I have a feeling that these delightful creatures are just the beginning."

"The beginning of what?"

"A very long fight." She looked around, seeing that the spider demons were all dead. "Take thirty seconds to regain your composure, then we'll press on."

"Do you even know where to go?" asked one of the humans.

"That doesn't matter. We can't let the demons reach the Aegis."

They moved forward cautiously, listening to the sounds of battle ahead of them. They were attacked several times by demons of various shapes and sizes, and once by a massive Nathrezim, but they were able to dispatch them quickly enough. But the more they were attacked, the more tired they got.

They reached a set of wide double doors that had been cracked open and led to an outdoor area. Faith barely had the time to register the beautiful landscape before she noticed the demons fighting magnificent beasts that were obviously Odyn's creatures.

None of them wasted any time, springing into action. A swarm of imps came towards them, sending out fel fire, which Faith sent back to them using her blade, thus incinerating them.

"I think I'm getting the hang of doing magic this way," she whispered.

"And not a moment too soon, General," said Benok, pulling his axe from the head of the felhound he had just killed.

She nodded to him and kept moving, beginning to lose track of time as always happened during a big battle. There were a lot of demons, and she and her team would have been hopelessly outnumbered if it weren't for Odyn's beasts fighting with them along the way. Even the great eagles were of help, one of them swooping down to lift Faith out of harm's way when one of the demons summoned a pool of fire right beneath her feet.

"Thank you," she said to it as it deposited her in a clearing.

The eagle jerked its head towards a heap of fur about ten feet away from her. She turned her head, realizing that it wasn't just a heap of fur, but an animal that lay there, struggling to breathe.

She went to it, hissing when she saw that it was a worg, one that had been mortally wounded.

The worg whimpered when it saw her and tried to get to its feet, but she held it down. "Shh," she said quietly. "Be still, friend, be still." She scratched a spot behind its ear, "It's going to be okay."

There was nothing she could do for it. Even if she had been able to perform her usual magic, no spell would have been able to heal the venomous wounds that had been inflicted upon the magnificent wolf.

The eagle who had brought her to the clearing made a sound in the back of its throat, as though asking her a question, and she looked at it, shaking her head gently and not saying anything.

All either of them could do was stay there with the worg as it drew in one last breath and closed its eyes a final time. As it passed, thunder boomed overhead, a sign, Faith thought, that Odyn knew what had transpired.


Faith got to her feet, wiping her eyes without having realized that she'd started to cry. Around her, she could see animals coming over, some injured, to presumably pay their respects to the fallen wolf.

I keep being amazed at the way some animals behave, she thought as she began to walk away from the clearing. Overhead, eagles flew, showing her the way to her companions, whom she found resting by a brook.

"There you are, General," said Geldin. "We wondered where the eagle had taken you. Are you all right?"

"I am."

"You look horrible, if you don't mind my saying so."

She chuckled, "I daresay none of us look particularly fresh at the moment. Did the Legion suddenly retreat?"

"It did, incidentally. I don't know what happened, exactly, but the demons began to back off about ten minutes ago."

Blinking, surprised, Faith looked at him, "I don't like the sound of that. We need to hurry up and get to the Aegis. Come on." She started walking fast, and the others quickly scrambled to catch up to her.

"Ya tink dat dey going ta attack again?" wondered Wem'jin.

"I think that only a fool would believe that the Burning Legion would give up so easily on an artifact they know has the power to drive them back."

They reached the double doors again, walking back into the main Halls of Valor. The demons had disappeared, leaving wounded ones behind, which Faith skewered with her blade. She began to realize just how tired she was. Drained.

"I thought that spider venom was supposed to weaken you," said the man from Stormwind, looking at her.

Faith glanced at him, "Nerubian venom, yes. The thing that bit me was a spider demon. Its venom is making me a little tired, but it's not the same. Had we been in Northrend, I think that things would have been a lot worse at this point."

They reached an open space, at the end of which was what appeared to be a bridge made of pure Light. It was beautiful to behold, although Faith and Forsaken had to squint because of its brightness.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It is called the Ephemeral Way," came a voice from all around them. "It will take you to what you seek, but I warn you, you may not enjoy what you find there."

"This isn't about enjoyment," she said. "We came here because we have a duty to Azeroth. There's no turning back."

They stepped onto the bridge, and Faith braced herself for the pain of the Light, but none came.

"That's a good piece of luck," said one of the Forsaken. "I was expecting to be burned to a crisp."

"Let's hurry up before that happens," said Geldin, taking the lead. He went forward, the others following him until the bridge suddenly stopped, stairs leading them down to another set of double doors.


The room they emerged into was enormous, its ceiling so high they couldn't even see it. Faith was bleeding from half a dozen places, and was limping rather badly, but she could still hold her blade. The others were nursing various wounds, some of which were serious. They were in no shape to fight anymore.

"You have fought hard," came a voice. "You fought together, despite your differences."

"Havi?" asked Faith, recognizing the voice. "What are you doing here?"

Havi walked into the room, "You're hurt, child. Are you not supposed to be resting?"

"We're fighting off the Burning Legion," she said. "We don't have time to rest. Since the Pillars of Creation can help us get rid of them, I will do everything I can to make sure that we have them."

"Even work with people who would happily see you dead. People you have committed unspeakable acts against, and people who have likewise killed you for no reason."

A frown crossed Faith's features. "How do you…"

Havi began to transform. To grow to an absolutely immense size until he was over twenty feet high.

"By the Light…" said someone behind her.

Faith wasn't wholly surprised, but she would have lied if she had said that it wasn't an impressive sight to see.

Havi was Odyn.


"So, you have come back to me."

Sylvanas shivered, something she hadn't done since the moment she had died. She couldn't see a thing, but her other senses were on high alert. The presence in front of her was more malevolent than anything she had ever faced. Worse than the Lich King. She sensed that this being, whatever it was, had powers beyond the physical. Beyond everything.

Back to it. Yes, she remembered having felt this being once, when she had killed herself and ventured into the dark void. But her memories were fragmented.

"You know why I'm here," she said.

The being laughed, the sound colder than any glacier. "Oh, yes, I know why you are here, Sylvanas Windrunner. I was not aware that beings such as yourself were capable of love."

"She's dying."

"Yes. She is dying. Rather faster than you anticipate." A light flickered, and Sylvanas saw something in front of her, a figure cloaked in shadows, wearing armor made of a metal she couldn't identify and that had been twisted into terrifying shapes. Two eyes of a glowing icy blue shade stared at her from the shadows. "You want to save her."

"I have given my life to spare hers," she said to the Jailer. The knowledge of who this being was had burst into her mind suddenly, scaring her. "I will gladly do so again if it will keep her alive."

The Jailer cocked his head to the side, "But she is not alive now, and hasn't been for a while."

"I will not stand idly by while she dies again."

There was a terrifying chuckle, "I will admit to the fact that having you and your wife in my realm would definitely… increase my power. But perhaps we can come to an agreement. I can make sure your wife grows strong, and I can make you stronger as well, as long as you feed me souls."

Sylvanas blinked, "Souls?"

"You are in the world of the dead, which encompasses every living realm you can think of, anywhere in the entire cosmos. Anybody who dies anywhere, from an insignificant insect to the most powerful god, ends up somewhere in the Shadowlands." The jailer stood, and the light followed him, leaving the rest of the place in darkness. "But this realm, right here. It is called the Maw. I can make it grow stronger with every soul I receive."

"So you want Faith and I to kill for you."

"Everything and everyone you kill directly or indirectly will end up here, yes. You see, there is something wrong here in the Shadowlands. There has been for some time. I need strength in order to be able to fix it and make everything right again." The Jailer laughed. "And I think that you will be the perfect weapon for that strength."

Sylvanas' legs gave out as darkness filled her mind. A darkness so intense that it felt more like emptiness, an emptiness that was gradually filled with the Jailer's will and power.

Do this for me, he said to her, and both you and your wife will be some of the most powerful beings in all the universes. But fail, and your wife will join me here, to be tormented for all eternities in ways you cannot even begin to imagine.

Sylvanas shrieked in unbearable pain, the sound filling every corner of the place she was in. Nobody heard her, everyone heard her. The moment lasted eons, countless eternities stretching before her in agony.

She was still screaming when she was dumped back upon Icecrown Glacier.

By the time she opened her eyes and got up, she couldn't remember why she had been screaming, but she knew exactly what she had to do. She was also fully aware that the Jailer had tried to manipulate her while she had been in his realm.

Make everything right, she thought. You're the one who caused something to go wrong in the Shadowlands.

But it didn't matter.

Faith had to survive.

And if Sylvanas had to kill every other being in the cosmos to make it happen, she would.


"You're Odyn," said Faith, her voice low.

"You knew," said Odyn. "Part of you knew. That is why you are not surprised by this."

Faith swayed, suddenly feeling vile. She fell to one knee as her body shook and her stomach roiled in ways that reminded her of times she had been seasick as a child.

"Oh, by the Pantheon, not now," she whispered. She struggled to her feet, looking up at Odyn as her body shook with pain. "You wanted to bring me here," she told him. "For the final part of the Trials."

The titanic keeper gave a nod, "I did. But I'm afraid that you will not manage the final trial, Faith. You are far too weak, although I have to give you credit for making it this far without using your magic." He waved a hand and something appeared next to his enormous seat. Faith recognized it immediately for what it was: the Aegis of Aggramar, one of the Pillars of Creation. "You should rest before you attempt to fight for it."

"No, Odyn," she told him. "The more we wait, the more the Burning Legion will corrupt Azeroth. We cannot allow this to happen. More to the point, I will not allow this to happen. The Pillars of Creation were used during the War of the Ancients to stop the demons, and they will do so again."

"You will die if you try now, Faith."

"I am but one person, Odyn. If the Burning Legion wins, we will lose Azeroth and everything on it. You, me, Sylvanas… everything will be gone. So as long as I can still move, I will fight to make sure that doesn't happen." She brandished Felo'melorn, "Go on."

"Faith, you cannot fight," repeated Odyn.

"You asked me to come here and complete the trials. I will either leave here with the Pillar of Creation, or I will die. There is no other way. You know that we will not use it for our own purposes. We will use it in order to defeat the Legion, after which we will put it back in its rightful place along with the other Pillars we have collected."

There was a noise as someone got up. Armor dragged on the floor, and a minute later, one of the orcs in her group had joined her. Blood trickled from a wound on his side, and he leaned heavily on his axe, but he looked determined. "You are not alone, General."

"Aye," said one of the dwarves. "I will fight with yeh."

"None of you can stand," said Odyn. "Trying to fight would be pointless."

"The general is right. If we don't fight and let the Burning Legion take Azeroth, there will be nothing left for us to fight for. We have to do this. Our lives are inconsequential."

The door to the chamber suddenly burst open as vrykul and valkyra fought an advancing demonic tide.

"By the Light!" cried Faith. "Protect the Aegis and the Keeper at all costs!"

She ran forward, ignoring the way her body protested the movement. Her world swayed, but she didn't care.

I'm sorry, Sylvanas. I'm sorry, I don't think I'm going to make it home to you.

Facing the demons, she watched as they cut down Odyn's fighters. "Get behind me!" she called to the ones who were left.

They did so, one of the valkyra barely able to make it, collapsing against Faith. "We must keep fighting," she gasped.

"You will," Faith told her. "Protect Odyn."

She was about to call out a spell, hoping to channel it through her blade, when suddenly, the Aegis slammed in front of her, erecting a barrier of massive proportions. She found herself bathed in holy Light and she screamed, pain coursing like fire through her very bones. She fell to her knees.

"General!"

"Do not be alarmed!" said a familiar voice. "The Aegis is protecting her."

Faith opened her eyes through the pain, seeing Eyir hovering just a couple of feet away from her.

"Fight them, Faith. Fight them!"

Her voice almost sounded like Sylvanas'.

Sylvanas.

Sylvanas would die if they weren't able to pull this off.

She pulled Felo'melorn close to her, feeling her magic seeping through her fingers. The pain in her body doubled, tripled…

She fainted.