The Broken Shore

"Are the guns ready?"

Sky Admiral Rogers bowed her head to Victoria who was making sure every boat, gunship and soldier was ready for the invasion that could happen at any moment, being told that it could happen sometime this week. "They are, your Grace. We will blast those demon bastards out the sky."

"And my gunship?" Victoria now asked as they were all onboard the Sky Admiral's gunship.

"It's ready to sail, gun down and punch a hole into their lines, your Grace." The Sky Admiral had a dark smile on her face. "We will rain hell down on those demons, your Grace. They won't stand a chance."

"I hope so." Victoria said, shaking hands with the Sky Admiral before leaving the gunship. "Everything looks to be in order." She told Sera who nodded her head in agreement. "Are you ready for this?"

"I am, my Lady." Sera smiled down at Victoria. "I will stay by your side throughout this upcoming war, we will get through this together."

Making their way back to Stormwind Keep, they were joined by Tanadia who saw the pair of them together. "Your back!" She cried, hugging her older sister. "How was Windrunner Village? Getting to have a week off must have been nice."

"It was." Victoria agreed, stroking her sister's hair. "I haven't spoken to you about going to Westfall though." She saw Tanadia look away, smirking at her. "You thought I forgot, didn't you?"

"I was hoping... Yes." Tanadia muttered.

"Talk to me next time you want to go on a mission." Victoria grinned at her sister who looked up at her, expecting to be yelled at. "You are my Princess, yes. But you are also my sister. I want to know you are safe, so please come to me if you want to go into danger."

"Like when you are all going to fight the Burning Legion soon?" Tanadia asked, looking over to Sera who had a small smile on her face. "I want to join you. I'm tired of being stuck in this city when I could be helping out there."

Victoria looked over to Sera who shrugged at her, trying to keep out of this and making her Queen sigh. "I suppose I could have you with me. As a healer for me and my guard whilst we fight the Burning Legion." She saw Tanadia was about to hug her, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her from doing so. "But you have to follow me, okay? Don't go running off to do your own thing."

Tanadia shook her head. "No, I won't. I promise." The second Victoria's hand left her shoulder, she jumped at her sister and hugged her tightly. "Thank you for taking me with you!"

"Okay, hold on." Victoria said, trying to extract her sister from her body and failing to pull her from the hug. "Wow you're strong... Look, I need to still talk to Thalina before I can let you come with me. She is still your mother."

Tanadia frowned at her sister. "You know she isn't going to let me go, right? My mother will keep me locked down in this city for all time. She yelled at me for going to Westfall without telling anyone."

Victoria watched the golden eyes of her sister begin to drop, placing a hand on her face and tilting it up a little so she could see her. "I will talk to her, okay? I will continue to talk to her until she is convinced you will be safe in my hands." Victoria smiled at her. "Okay? I won't leave until she is cool with it."

Tanadia nodded her head in agreement. "Okay."

Before Victoria could leave to talk to Thalina however, she was intercepted by Cyndia who had a grave look on her face. "What is it?" Victoria asked when the ranger was catching her breath. "Cyndia?"

The Captain looked at her Queen and knew she could read her face by just looking at her, but had to tell her anyway just in case. "They're here, your Grace... The Burning Legion are on the Broken Shore, trying to get into Sargeras' Tomb."

"How do you know this?" Sera asked the Captain.

"A messenger from Ironforge and another from Silvermoon. Undercity too, they are all readying their ships to sail there this very second, your Grace. They all have gotten word from Khadgar who has been surveying the area on a daily basis." Cyndia saw Victoria's face go blank as she began to lose herself to the many thoughts racing through her mind. Was she ready for this? Were her people ready for this?

"Gather everyone and tell them to return to Stormwind." Victoria said, looking at Cyndia who nodded her head at her. "And be quick. We need to set sail immediately if we are to interrupt them."

Sera began to set off with Cyndia, being held back by her Queen. "My Lady, if we are to gather everyone in time, I need to go too."

"No, stay with me. We are going to my gunship and getting ready. We have to lead the assault from our end and I want to be prepared." Victoria held onto her General's wrist, looking up at her. "We need to go now, Sera."

The Night Elf closed her eyes and nodded her head. "Okay."

Setting sail towards the Broken Shore, Victoria's fleet met up with the Forsaken and Sin'dorei fleets sailing the same way with the Dwarves arriving in Stormwind just before they left. She had kept her sister with her as they made their way to the Broken Shore, making sure the Priestess knows of her role and mostly to keep her safe. "Stay close and you'll be fine." Victoria told her, standing beside her sister as they both watched the dark clouds in the distance begin to roll in towards them. "Just remember what I said, don't go off by yourself and you should be fine."

"I know, Vic." Tanadia said, holding onto the white staff her sister had given her when she was younger. "I will make sure you are safe too."

"Is that so?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister.

"I will! I read that demons are weak to holy magic so I can help with fighting as well as healing." Tanadia's smile made Victoria smile, both of them looking over to the dark clouds moving in. "I am scared though."

Victoria placed a hand on her sister's arm. "So am I. But we need to faec them so we can keep our family safe." She looked back to Sera who was standing nearby, talking to the Royal Guard. "A good foothold here will change everything in this war before it's even started."

"Do we even know how many we are going to face?" Tanadia asked, stepping closer to the front of the gunship and looking down at the fleet of ships below them. "And do we have enough?"

"I hope we do." Victoria told her, noticing a low cloud in front of them that they were approaching quickly. "This is it..." She muttered, nodding towards the cloud. "This is their smokescreen before we see their full forces."

Tanadia stook closer to her sister, so much so they were almost standing on each other's feet. "I won't run, Vic. I will stand and fight with you."

Before Victoria could respond, the sky suddenly lit up with green fire, partnered with meteors that rained down and crashed into the fleet below. "Infernals!" Sera cried, running to her Queen a second too late as one crashed down inbetween the two of them, partnered with the sound of bats flying through the air and plummeting into the gunship, carrying away a few unlucky soldiers. "To the Queen!" She yelled, watching the infernal take form between her and the two royals behind it.

Growing to its full size, the infernal roared down at Sera and the Royal Guards around her, being interrupted from its first attack by Tanadia who blasted it with holy magic. "Uh oh.." She muttered when it turned around and roared at them, raising both its boulder like fists at the Queen and Princess and bringing them crashing down towards them, being stopped by the holy shell around them that Tanadia raised last second. "It's not going to hold!" She strained, watching as the shell shrank significantly when struck a second time. "When it hits us again, it's going to break!" She told her sister who was ready for the strike.

As the fists slammed down again, the barrier shattered like glass and Victoria pulled her sister away and towards the middle of the gunship, reaching for one of her swords and slicing a bat that came flying down towards them. "Get to Sera!" She yelled at her sister who followed her orders instantly.

The Infernal was being shot by arrows the second Tanadia and Victoria got to safety, blocking most of them with its arm and letting out a deafening roar at the group of Royal Guards standing nearby. "Tanadia." Sera said, standing beside the Princess. "I need you to hit him with a holy spell just as he is about to attack, got it?"

The Priestess nodded. "I.. I think so."

"Good." Sera held her glaive at the ready. "Everyone! When the spell hits, we must attack!"

Victoria reached for her bow, picking up an arrow from the quiver she had left beside it and nocking it in place, drawing the projectile back and aiming at the infernal. "Come on, you demon bastard."

The infernal raised its boulder-like fists and was stopped from its attack when Tanadia shocked it with a holy spell, having Sera and her guards charge towards the infernal and being hit by a volley of arrows from the rangers who followed their Queen's actions. Recoiling back from the volley, holy spell and attacks from the Royal Guards, the infernal continued to back away and stopped at the front of the gunship, forcing it off balance as it began to tip forward. To make matters worse, another meteor came crashing down and destroyed the engine it collided with, cutting off power to the rest of the engines.

"My Lady! Get inside the cabin!" Sera cried as they began to plummet towards the land below them, pushing Tanadia towards the cabin too. "I'll be there as soon as everyone is safe!"

Victoria stood at the door to the cabin, watching as Sera lost her footing and began to slide towards the front of the gunship that was taking a severe nosedive towards the Broken Shore. "Sera!" She yelled, watching her hold onto one of the mounted cannons on the side of the gunship. "Hold on!"

Tanadia watched the land below them get closer by the second, making her way to Victoria and pulling her into the cabin before closing the door behind her. "Vic, I'm scared." She told her sister when she hugged her.

Victoria held onto her sister tightly as the thought of having her sister scared in their final moments was something she couldn't have. "We'll be fine, Tana... We'll be fine." She told her, stroking her hair and looking over to Snow who was still in his cage, curled up in the corner of the cabin, a look of fear in his eyes. "We'll be fi-"

Her sentence was cut off the moment the gunship crashed down into the Broken Shore in front of the entire Azeroth fleet behind them. "No..." Cyndia muttered from the flagship of the Stormwind Fleet, watching as fires began to spread around the gunship. "We are going to make them pay!" The Captain yelled from the helm of the flagship, making all the soldiers who were aboard her ship look over to her. "The Burning Legion will regret coming here."

Sylvanas looked out towards the ocean from the balcony she was standing on, waiting there for several hours already after she saw the Sin'dorei fleet leave Quel'Thalas and hoping she would get an update on how the assault went sometime today. "I'm worried, Athrodar." She told the elf standing behind her. "What if they're running into an ambush?"

"They have the leaders of every race behind them." Athrodar told his wife, kissing her on the cheek as he wrapped his arms around her. "Victoria will be fine, Sera will protect her with her life." He saw on Sylvanas' face that she wasn't convinced by his words, kissing her on the cheek again to try and wipe away the concern on her face but failed as he saw it was still there. "She will be fine." He told her again.

"You don't know that!" Sylvanas snapped, spinning around to look at Athrodar. "She might die. They all might die. I mean, this is the Burning Legion for godsake. They were made to destroy worlds." She stepped forward and hugged Athrodar, pressing her ear to his chest. "We should have been there with her, to keep her safe."

Athrodar placed his hand behind Sylvanas' head to keep her held against him, rubbing her back with his free hand. "We stepped back from fighting, remember? She can handle herself too, you made me train her for all those years."

Sylvanas smiled against his chest, holding onto him tighter. "Just let me feel weak, okay? I want my baby to be safe and she is sailing towards death, just hold me tight and tell me she will be okay."

Athrodar smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I did and you yelled at me."

"I didn't yell." Sylvanas told him. "I was just telling you that you don't know that she is fine."

Athrodar continued to smile and shook his head. "In an angry tone." He added, laughing when she slapped his chest. "I love you, my Queen."

My Queen... Two words Sylvanas still loved to hear from him despite no longer being one. She thought it was out of habit at first when he continued to call her that, but after five or so years of it, she realised it's because he still worshipped her like one. Something she never took advantage of, but loved every second of it. "I love you too, husband of mine." Her grip loosened as she moved her hands to his face, pulling his head down for a long kiss. "The greatest thing to have ever happened to me." She added before kissing him again.

Whilst her son and his wife were on the balcony, Illana was looking after her grandchildren for them and was just putting Cedani down for her midday nap when a knock on the door was sound. "I'll get that." She said to the youngest member of her family, leaning down to kiss her on the nose and making her way to the door as the knock was sound again. "I'm coming, hold on."

Opening the door, Illana looked down at the crimson haired mage standing in front of her. "Illana." She said when she looked up at the family matriarch.

"Thalina?" Illana responded, a little confused as to why she was here, a place she avoided and for good reason. "What are you doing here?"

"I..." Thalina closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head and stepping towards Illana who was stunned the moment the crimson haired Magister hugged her. "I have to speak to Athrodar..."

"Thal, what has happened?" Illana asked, following the Magister towards the balcony and placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Talk to me."

"Tanadia is gone. She went with Victoria to the Broken Shore and..." Thalina closed her eyes and shook her head, holding onto her ears tightly to stop them from drooping and giving away her emotions.

"What's going on?" Athrodar asked, entering Windrunner Manor with Sylvanas in his arms, both of them looking over to the Magister who was retreating within herself. "Thal?"

"They're dead..." She muttered, looking down at the floor and letting her tears do the talking. "Victoria, Sera, Snow..." She looked up at Athrodar and shook her head. "Tanadia... They're all dead."

"What?" Sylvanas stepped forward and out of Athrodar's arms, crouching down in front of the Magister who had broken down into tears. "Thal, what did you say?" She asked, her voice low to try and keep calm. "Thal... Please."

"Their gunship crashed before the assault started..." Thalina told them, hugging herself as she felt sick at telling them the story. "It was overrun by demons before everyone could even get to them."

"No..." Sylvanas looked up to Athrodar who was stunned into silence. "No!" She screamed. "I don't believe you! She couldn't... She wouldn't just die like that! They're fighters, I don't believe..." She stood up and began to make her way to her bedroom, having Athrodar take hold of her arm and spinning around to push him off, slapping him across the face when he didn't let go and making her way to her bedroom.

Athrodar held up his hand when he saw his mother was about to ask him if he was okay. "She is upset, she didn't mean to hit me." He began to make his way to their bedroom, looking back at Thalina who was now in Illana's arms. "Thank you for telling us before anyone else did, Thal." He said before knocking on the door to his bedroom. "I'm coming in." He said when all he heard was crying and a lot of screaming into a pillow.

When Athrodar sat down on the bed beside his wife, Sylvanas threw herself at him and buried her head in his chest, screaming into it instead of the pillow. "She's dead... I knew I should have gone with her!"

Athrodar stroked her back, listening to his wife scream and cry against his chest and shushing her whilst scheming a plan in his head. "Are we so sure she is dead?" He asked when she began to calm down after several minutes of screaming. "They couldn't get to her to see if she was dead, maybe they all got out in time."

Sylvanas sniffed, pulled back and looked at him with bloodshot eyes. "What are you saying?" She asked with a voice that struggled to stay true as her throat became sore.

"She might still be out there with her sister, General and Snow. Maybe her guard too." Athrodar watched Sylvanas begin to calculate something in her head followed by watching her climb out of bed and make her way towards the wardrobe. "What are you doing?" He asked when she picked out a cloak.

"Getting ready to leave. And you're not stopping me."

Athrodar shook his head and made his way over to her. "I wasn't going to you." He kissed her on the shoulder, picking out his cloak from their wardrobe in front of them. "I'm coming with you."

"Yes you are." Sylvanas agreed, looking over her shoulder at him and placing a hand on his face, specifically over the mark her hand made when it connected to his cheek. "I'm sorry for hitting you."

Athrodar shook his head once more. "Don't apologise. You're upset and I stood in the way."

Sylvanas smiled a little and kissed him lightly. "Go get Elaria and Luna. Our Kaldorei friend will want to find her sister and having Luna with us might not be a bad idea since we're facing demons."

Athrodar bowed his head to her. "I will go get them."

"Where are you going?" Thalina asked when she saw Athrodar begin to leave.

"I'm getting Elaria and Luna. We're going to go find them on the Broken Shore and bring them back, alive." Athrodar put his hand on the doorknob and was stopped when Thalina placed her hands on his arm.

"I'm coming with you."

"Thal, no..."

"She is our daughter!" She yelled at him, her eyes pleading at him to let her go. "I want to get my baby back."

Athrodar sighed and nodded his head slowly. "Okay. Then you're the one who is going to break the news to Elaria."

Thalina gulped and nodded her head. "I... I'll try."

Victoria stirred out of unconciousness to the sound of clashing steel and roaring fires, blinking hard and look up at Tanadia who had a cut on her forehead, allowing blood to flow down her face. "Vic, get up!" The priestess yelled, looking back at Sera who was fighting off a doomguard. "Vic, you need to get up now!"

Sera cut down the Doomguard in front of her, looking down at her Queen who was still laying in the rubble they managed to pull off her, reaching down to Victoria and pulling her up onto her feet and helping her onto Snow who they broke out of his cage. "My Lady, you need to get out of here. I will be right behind you."

Victoria was looking around the destroyed cabin, locking eyes with a bat that was crawling through the roof that used to be there. "Come on boy." Tanadia said, patting Snow's belly whilst sitting behind her sister, holding her up. "We need to get out of here."

Sera watched Snow run out of the cabin, being chased down by felhounds down a long path that led to the water. "I'll be right behind you..." She muttered, watching two giant demons stand in front of her and the handful of Royal Guard that remained. "Keep them distracted for as long as possible." Sera told them, holding onto her glaive tightly. "We need to make sure our Queen gets to safety above all else."

Riding to the western side of the Broken Shore, Victoria slipped in and out of consciousness several times before they stopped by the water, looking back to Tanadia who stood behind Snow with her staff in her hand, pulsing holy light at the felhounds that followed them. "Tana..." Victoria said weakly, laying down on Snow with her head now pressed against the top of his. "Tana... Where is Sera?"

"I don't... know!" The Priestess strained, holding back the felhounds and glancing over her shoulder towards her Victoria. "Hold on, Vic!" She yelled when she saw the Queen was slowly sliding off Snow's back.

"I... Can't hold.. On.." Victoria muttered, sliding off Snow's back and into the desecrated land below her with a thud, being prodded by Snow's nose as he sniffed and nudged her.

Tanadia pushed her wall of holy light towards the felhounds and incinerated them, running to her sister's side and picking her up but then collapsing onto her knees and having the Queen lay on her. "Vic... I can't do any more..." She placed a hand on her head and over the cut the was still seeping blood down her face. "I'm.. tired."

Snow's ears perked up when he heard more demons coming towards them, nudging Tanadia and Victoria with his nose to get them to hide behind the rocks nearby and having the priestess cooperate, dragging her Queen and sister with her until they were hiding beside the rocks Snow was pushing them towards, realising they were in a small cave and thanking the Titans for being so close to it. "Fan out and find them!" The lead demon commanded, scraping their sword across the floor. "They will be a fitting prize for our master!"

When the sound of hooves, laughing imps and growling felhounds had gone, Tanadia sighed and looked down at her sister who was sleeping on her once more. "We shouldn't be here, Vic." She said quietly, looking at the wounds all over her body. "You weren't cut, but you have a broken leg, several bruises and a concussion." She wiped away some more blood from her head. "I got lucky I suppose, only a cut on my head, but that's because you held onto me and saved me from any more damage."

She let out another sigh and looked up at the darkened sky, watching as more green meteors fell from it and crashed further in land. "I have no idea how we are going to get out of here."