Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
Shado Pan Settlement
A familiar that took the shape of a seagull flew into the settlement. It was an odd sight for the Pandaren and it only got weirder when it landed near Jaina, who took the familiar and received a message
"What kind of bird is that?" a Pandaren asked in awe
"It's not exactly the kind that you think. It's something that we archmages can summon so we can send messages to someone far away as quickly as possible." Jaina answered as she received the message, which caused her to breathe a sigh of relief. "The war against the Nightmare, it is over." she said
"Thank the Light." Arthas sighed, being relieved himself
Suspicious of how it happened, Dranosh chose not to immediately accept what he had heard. "Were any of the details mentioned?" he asked
"Well, it's not as detailed as I would have liked but apparently, both Theramore and Orgrimmar were directly attacked but the Scourge arrived to our aid." Jaina explained, surprising her allies. "As soon as they learned who was controlling the Nightmare, Illysanna was furious and quickly launched an assault on Ashenvale Forest. The others were left with no choice but to help. It was a success and the Emerald Nightmare is gone for good." she finished
"That's surprising. I never expected those abominations to ever aid us." Turalyon said dryly
"Give them some credit, Turalyon." Khadgar said in a reprimanding tone. "We wouldn't even be back on Azeroth if it wasn't for them. Besides, I don't think it is in their best interests to let the Old Gods have even the slightest bit of control of, well, anything, I guess." he said and caused the elder paladin to snort
"Then I guess the undead weren't lying." Sylvanas commented, getting their attention and confusion
"You knew about this, Sylvanas?" Nathanos asked curiously
"Something like that." Sylvanas answered with a long face. "Earlier in the forest, Alleria and I ran into Anya, one of the dark rangers, and she told us that the Scourge launched an attack on the Nightmare. I just couldn't believe that the Scourge would help us." she continued but shook her head. "No, that's not it. I didn't want to believe it." she said before anyone could ask why she never mentioned it sooner
Chen, out of curiosity, decided to speak up after listening in. "I take it you are not friends with the undead?" he asked
"No, we are not." Arthas said. Although he had a good moment with Uther, he was still confused at how his mentor, of all people, would serve the very thing that destroyed Lordaeron. "The undead were created by the Burning Legion, and they're the ones responsible for why our homeland is destroyed." he explained
"I'm sorry." Chen said, now only knowing why they weren't allied with the undead
"It's fine." Arthas said before he decided to think about the voice he had heard yesterday. 'Just who was that?' he wondered to himself. That voice he heard almost sounded too good to be true. 'Could it be the Light? Should I tell anyone?'
'Do not tell anyone about me, young prince.' the voice rang in Arthas' head again. 'Your friends will never understand the way you do. Illidan Stormrage will threaten your people sooner or later and you will need to even the playing field if you hope to defeat him. You understand this and they do not.'
A couple Pandaren soon arrived. "Chen." he called out
"Report." Chen ordered
"We have scouted the Ruins of Korune as you ordered." he said and everyone's ears perked, having been informed of what laid there. "Someone has entered the ruins. There were traces of ice magics and also, there were two Shas that were frozen and killed."
"These Shas, they were larger than the others." the other Pandaren added and everyone's eyes widened in surprise. "The Divine Bell has also been destroyed."
"What?!" nearly all of the Pandaren asked in unison and surprise
"Is that bell the one Shaohao talked about?" Turalyon asked
"It is." Chen answered. "But still, who would have killed two of the Prime Shas and destroy the bell? With ice magic of all things? That kind of magic is not that common here."
Having experienced battle with and against the undead first hand, all of the Alliance members knew instantly who was responsible. The Horde members with them however, only had limited experience during the last Legion invasion as they didn't have that much exposure to the undead with the exception of those who were recently involved in the war against the Nightmare
"It is the undead, no doubt." Jaina answered knowingly. "Ice and frost magics is their specialty. They are here as well."
"But I thought they said that they would not do anything." Khadgar pointed out
"Well, it could be possible that the undead simply ran into the Shas." Chen said, not that willing to consider the undead as enemies as they didn't really do anything to Pandaria or its citizens. However, he was not about to just disregard his allies so he looked to the scouts he sent. "Send some group to the Temple of the Jade Serpent and the Red Crane. Find out if anything suspicious is going on." he ordered and the Pandaren in question nodded and they both left
"Those locations." Nathanos spoke up. "That is where the other Prime Shas are located, right?"
"Indeed. We need to know if the undead makes any move against them." Chen said sternly, an understandable action
"We'll probably need to check out all the sites where the Sha are and kill them before they get too powerful." Alleria suggested
"I agree with her. We should not stay here if we do not have anything else to do." Dranosh said and everyone looked to Chen for instructions
Chen thought about it for a few minutes and realized that the high elf ranger had a point. "Very well, let's move against the Prime Shas however, someone will have to remain and guard the Serpent's Spine. We will first investigate those two temples as I don't think we have enough resources to split into four groups."
"Baine, Arthas and I can remain behind, if it's alright with you." Nathanos suggested
The human prince looked at the ranger in surprise but soon felt a hand on his shoulder. "He has a point, Arthas. You're the one who is bad at managing your emotions." Jaina said
"Hey!" Arthas objected vehemently. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you are the one most prone to letting your emotions dictate your actions, Arthas." Baine said, backing the archmage up
Arthas grumbled at this, taking offense at what was said. "Fine."
Dread Wastes
Altruis and Kayn were still exploring this part of Pandaria. They have been informed of recent events but true to their word, they chose not to interfere with anything in Pandaria unless they were directly attacked. Neither demon hunter have made their way out ever since they were told about the mantids occupying this area and instead, the chose to keep investigating. When they were told about this, they didn't immediately investigate and instead continued what they were doing in the Towlong Steppes and found nothing of significance. The mantid were still clueless to their presence throughout the whole time
Some hours earlier, they finally moved on to the area known as the Dread Wastes. While they couldn't see, they could tell that the area is very corrupted. It was almost as if the Legion was here except they never were
"This place is so corrupted. What could have done this?" Altruis wondered aloud
"I'll give you one guess." Kayn said in a mocking tone. it was clear who or what was responsible
"The Sha." Altruis said and decided to take note of the surroundings. "This corruption has been here for some time now but from what we know, the Sha have only recently awakened. Something does not add up."
"What if..." Kayn trailed off, thinking hard. "The Sha are controlled by the Old Gods." he said and his companion motioned for him to continue his thoughts. "You know how after the mortals sent their forces here, the Emerald Nightmare attacked? What if it wasn't a coincidence? What if the Sha have really been awake this whole time but the Old Gods merely had them not do anything?"
"That is an interesting idea. But if what you're saying is true, then that means-" Altruis said but was cut off when they heard a swarm of mantids heading their way. Unlike the ones from the Townlong Steppes, these were clearly more corrupted. "I think those things can see us." he commented when he noticed that they weren't just heading in their general direction but right at them
"I think you're right. I guess that means we're caught." Kayn commented without much care. "Do we fight them or do we return?"
"Return. We don't know how many we'll be facing." Altruis ordered and they flew away from the immediate area. The mantid tried chasing them but they flew high into the sky that they weren't able to do anything. "As much as I hate to say it, we may have to deal with the Mantid on our own."
"Won't that go against what we told the mortals?" Kayn pointed out as they were floating around
"It would but the question is, would they just let the Mantid do as they please. There are far too many of them and we may need a gunship just to inflict serious damage." Altruis argued back. "Wait, no." he said after thinking about it. "Our only goal here is to gather information and nothing more. We know that the Mantid in the Wastes are under the influence of the Sha so we have what we need and Illysanna specifically told us not to do anything."
"I see, so we don't have to do anything since we did our orders." Kayn said in realization. "However, I don't think that the Mantid is the end of it. There's probably something else in this place that concerns the Old Gods."
"Then we better find out what it is as soon as we can. Only then should we plan our next move." Altruis said and they left
Temple of the Jade Serpent
By nightfall, a small group of warriors from both the Horde, Alliance and Shado Pan had arrived at the temple of the Jade Serpent. It was led by Sylvanas and accompanying her was Rokhan, Jaina, Dranosh and Turalyon. Instead of running directly inside the temple, Sylvanas had ordered some of the Pandaren to scout the surrounding area, specifically to check if the citizens are near the temple itself
While they were still waiting for the scouts the ranger general had sent, Jaina suddenly approached her. "Sylvanas, there is something I need to tell you." she said, motioning she wanted to speak in private, and the high elf obeyed. "I did what you asked and you were right. There is a Death Knight nearby."
Sylvanas frowned at the information. "Were you able to determine the Death Knight's location?" she asked
"The Death Knight was a female and she was tailing us while we were on the way here. Right now, she is keeping an eye on the temple." Jaina answered
"I see." Sylvanas said. 'It's just as I suspected. The undead are keeping a close eye on us.' she thought to herself before she looked at the temple. "Good work, Jaina. Where is she now?"
Jaina grew curious at what the ranger general was up to but decided to answer nonetheless. "In the treeline near the closest settlement. Last I checked, the Death Knight was keeping an eye on the scouts you sent out."
This made Sylvanas smirk a little. "Can you discreetly teleport us to where she is now?" she asked
"I could, but why?" Jaina asked curiously and in confusion but the ranger simply kept her smirk. "Fine. Hold on." she said and gathered arcane energies. A few seconds later, they were among the treeline
Amira jumped in surprise upon someone suddenly appearing and quickly drew her runeblade. "Ranger General, Archmage Proudmoore." she hissed as she got into a combat stance. "What do you want?" she asked. Her actions resulted in a stand off between herself and Jaina, who was now preparing to cast her magics upon her
Only Sylvanas was unaffected by the standoff. "Calm down, Jaina." she said and begrudgingly, the archmage obeyed. "Listen, uh..." the ranger trailed off, not aware of the death knight's name
"Amira."
"Amira. That's a nice name." Sylvanas commented. "Listen, Amira. I need your help."
"What?!" Jaina said in surprise
"What game are you playing, Windrunner? Why would you need my help? You do realize that your sister's husband would be furious if I reveal myself, right?" Amira asked suspiciously
"No games, Amira, and I'm not asking that kind of help." Sylvanas said, much to the other two's confusion. "I just need you to watch the entrance and if anyone affiliated with the Sha shows up..."
"You want me to kill them." Amira finished the ranger's sentence. For a few minutes, she continued to stare the the high elf. "And why are you exactly asking for my help, Sylvanas?"
"Because we don't know what awaits us in there and I need every able bodied fighter to come with us." Sylvanas answered simply. "Leaving a few to stand guard outside could make us vulnerable, which is why I'm asking this favor from you."
'I guess she has really adapted to the way we fight.' Amira thought to herself. She didn't really have anything to lose and despite her outward behavior at the moment, she actually held respect for Sylvanas Windrunner and she decided to humor her since the death knight was planning on keeping an eye on the temple anyway. "Alright, Sylvanas. I'll keep watch." she said and when the ranger general was about to say something, she interrupted. "But, I do want something in return. I want to know exactly what happened down to the last detail."
"Detail? Why would you want to know that?" Jaina asked curiously as her own demand was not unreasonable at all
"It's quite simple really. Lady Illysanna sent us here to gather information concerning the Old Gods and the Sha is something within those lines so it is in our best interests to know exactly where they still have their influence." Amira answered
"But how will we meet to tell you of what happened?" Jaina asked once more
"If one of you makes it out alive, I'm going to keep tailing you. At midnight, just separate from your group and I'll show up." Amira answered
"Alright. I accept your terms, Amira." Sylvanas said and extended her hand, which the death knight shook. The archmage and the ranger soon went back to their group after that
"Sylvanas, are you sure about this?" Jaina asked with uncertainty
"Not at all but, I'm willing to take that chance." Sylvanas answered
"If you're not certain, then why did you even do it in the first place?" Jaina pointed out
"Well, we need as many of us as possible to put down the Sha. Based on your report earlier, the Sha can amplify our own emotions so we need to kill it before it causes major damage." Sylvanas explained. "I am taking a huge risk here but..."
"But we have very little choice in the matter and based on what happened in the ruins, there is a strong possibility that the undead aren't affected by the Sha." Jaina finished. "I have to admit, I was thinking about doing the same thing as well. As you said, we really have to adapt to how these kinds of wars are fought otherwise we'll just get slaughtered." she said thoughtfully
A few minutes later, they came across the others who were waiting for them. "Sylvanas, Jaina, where have you two been?" Turalyon asked curiously
Jaina was about to tell them where they've been which Sylvanas noticed so she decided to speak before the archmage could. "I had Jaina put up some wards that would alert us if anyone was to come near the entrance." the ranger answered. Jaina looked at her in curiosity and realized that Sylvanas wanted to avoid another banter with Turalyon
"Well, that's a good idea. Anyway, let's get this over with." Dranosh declared as he stood up. Sylvanas nodded and they all stormed the temple. Inside, what they saw was something they were not prepared for, undead Pandaren
"I thought the undead said they weren't doing anything." one of the Pandaren yelled out
Right as everyone was about to blame the scourge, Rokhan noticed something upon slaying the undead Pandaren. "No, dis is not da Scourge's doing. Me and da oda Trolls have studied some of da undead after da Battle at Mount Hyjal. Da magic surrounding dese undead Pandaren are diffirent from da ones da Scourge uses. It is far more sinister. If it was really da Scourge, den dese undead Pandaren wouldn't be here anymore." the troll explained and almost immediately, one thing came to mind
"Keep your guard up. The Prime Sha could still here." Sylvanas warned. Upon hearing something, the general quickly fired an arrow at it, hitting an undead Pandaren right in the eye and killing it instantly
Deeper in the temple, they encountered more and more undead Pandaren and finally, the Sha. Most of them were lesser or medium sized Shas. However, the deeper they went into the temple, they were starting to wonder if they truly were ready for what they were about to face
Jaina noticed this and having fought a Sha before, knew exactly that this would not end well. "Keep calm, everyone. Do not doubt yourself. The Shas have the power to directly influence our emotions. The more we give in to it the more powerful it becomes." she warned them
"You are right about that." a hissing voice said and everyone knew instantly that it was the Prime Sha. "Why do you bother to come? It is hopeless." it declared as it summoned a few lesser Shas
"Yeah, whatever. We've heard this before." Turalyon said and quickly charged at the Sha. He tried to slash down at the Sha but was blocked using its claws and was kicked away
Rokhan then quickly created a binding chains spell that temporarily disabled the Sha for a few seconds. However, it became a mistake as the Sha's magics began consuming his chains. 'Damn it.' he thought to himself as he realized that he has doubted himself on whether or not he would be able to bind the Sha long enough. When the Sha's power reached the troll, it caused immense pain and made him yell
"Rokhan!" Dranosh said in concern
"Big mistake." the Sha hissed right before it shot four streams of corrupt magic right at the orc. All of them pierced the orc who ended up falling to the ground, bleeding. Before it could kill Dranosh, multiple frost arrows was shot at its back, causing it to growl in pain. The Sha of doubt wasn't even able to do anything else as arcane chains wrapped around it right before it was slashed across its head by Turalyon. "You miserable human!" it growled before it suddenly transformed its state. The chains suddenly dropped. Despite the Sha still being there, the chains dropped like it was not connected to anything while any attacks that Sylvanas and Turalyon threw at it merely phased through
Throughout the whole battle, instead of keeping to her word, Amira decided to tail them. Helping the mortals was not part of the orders but it could cause potential problems if the Old Gods' servants win even a single battle. However, she chose to observe for now
'What is going on? Does the Sha have the ability to completely avoid our attacks permanently?' Jaina wondered and before she knew it, she began doubting herself. All color from her skin was drained when the Sha suddenly turned to her with what she assumed was a wicked grin. She was barely able to create an arcane shield around her as the Sha of doubt fired a beam of dark energies, fueled by all the doubts everyone had, right at her. Combined with her own doubts if she would be able to hold it off, Jaina was helpless as the beam hit her, creating a hole right in her abdomen and like with Dranosh, she was left bleeding in a pool of her own blood
"Jaina!" Sylvanas yelled and left herself wide open which the Sha took advantage of by slamming her into a wall
The Sha then decided to finish off whoever was still alive, now more powerful than ever due to nearly everyone doubting if they can even defeat the thing. "Now then..." it trailed off right before it was stabbed by Turalyon from behind. "There you are." it said, not even fazed in the slightest bit and managed to claw the paladin at the arm, causing him to drop his sword. "You never should have come to this place if you had even the slightest bit of doubt in your hearts." it said as it pinned the paladin to the floor using its legs
'Doubt, huh? No wonder they were all defeated.' Amira thought as she watched the Sha pick them off one by one. 'Almost reminds me of how the demon hunters fight.' she thought and drew her runeblade. Right before the Sha could kill Turalyon, Amira cleaved it from behind
The Sha of Doubt hissed in pain upon being attacked. It was not even able to turn around as the wound slowly began to freeze its body and it felt another sting of pain as it was cleaved once more, this time at the head
"So, you gain more power when there are more doubts around you?" a new voice said as Turalyon slowly got out of the Sha's legs. "You never should have killed the rest." Amira said as she walked in front of the Sha and cleaved its face, finally freezing it solid. She then walked over to the paladin and help him up. "You should probably help her." she said while pointing at Jaina. "That wound is really bad. If she doesn't get help soon, she will die."
Turalyon was about to lash out at the death knight but he knew she had a point. Jaina's injuries was the most severe and even Dranosh's was really bad albeit nowhere near as bad as hers. Instead, the paladin swallowed his pride
In the meantime, Amira walked over to Sylvanas and helped her up. "Look, I was tailing you some time after you came inside the temple. There's no need for you to tell me what happened." she whispered
"Why did you help us?" Sylvanas asked curiously
"Would you rather I let you die?" Amira countered sharply and the ranger did not answer. "As I thought. Just think of this as the enemy of my enemy is my friend." she said before she left the area
Valley of the Four Winds
A few hours before midnight, Chen led another group to the borders between the valley of the four winds and the Krasarang Wilds where another one of the Prime Sha was located in. Accompanying him were Rexxar, Alleria and Khadgar along with more of their warriors
"This place really is beautiful." Alleria commented while enjoying the view of the hills and the forests in the wilds before adopting a sad expression. "It's even more beautiful than Quel'thalas."
Before anyone else can further comment, a bright light suddenly appeared in the darkness of the night. It was a flame. Reacting quickly, Rexxar summoned a hawk and sent it to check the source
"What did you find, Rexxar?" Chen asked worriedly
Through the eyes of his hawk, Rexxar carefully observed what was burning and realized that it matched the description of the Red Crane temple. "It's the Temple of the Red Crane. It's on fire." he answered
"And you're next." a voice hissed out, one that was all too familiar to three of them
Reacting quickly, nearly all of them quickly moved to the sides. Those that simply observed were hit by streams of shadow magic. Some of the shadow magics passed through them and transformed into lesser Shas, who quickly killed the ones who failed to react
"Damn it." Rexxar said and summoned his beast companions
Khadgar also summoned a water elemental which began killing the lesser Shas that appeared around them. Before too long, the elemental was killed when it was pierced by a shadowy spike. That very same spike also forced back everyone. The archmage scanned the surroundings and took a wild guess on where the Prime Sha, who has remained hidden thus far, before firing an arcane blast
"You missed." the Sha of Despair said and appeared behind the archmage. Khadgar, knowing full well that the Shas feast on the emotions, instead of merely defending, took the risk and shot another arcane blast. It did cause the Sha to howl in pain but he was ultimately thrown away
"Khadgar, look out!" Alleria yelled as she shot an arrow at the Sha when it was distracted by the archmage
"That was cheap." the Prime Sha hissed and using the slightest bit of emotions from its enemies, specifically when they felt defeating the Sha is a hopeless endeavor since it managed to burn one of the temples, created more lesser Shas. "Kill her."
Alleria was nearly killed by one of the lesser Shas and was pierced from behind. However, she was able to force it away and return to safety as some of the others from the group managed to aid her. She took a few seconds to regain her composure. She has been injured far worse before but now, more was at stake as she can't afford to let her emotions affect her so she decided to focus on killing the lesser Shas
At the same time, Chen has slashed the Prime Sha with a sword, forcing it to stagger a bit. However, he left himself open and lesser Shas tried to kill him. Fortunately for him, Alleria covered him. This time, the Sha of Despair then created three long whips made out of pure darkness on its back before using them to wrap around Chen and throw him deeper into the Krasarang Wilds. It then began slamming them at random, killing some among the group. Before it could cause too much damage, Rexxar's bear attacked it from behind and was soon joined by the mok'nathal himself, slicing off some of the Sha's legs
After digging its claws into the Sha, Rexxar's bear took a large bite on its enemy. Instead of reacting in pain, the Sha only forced the beast off and looked at it
Realizing that something was wrong, Rexxar quickly approached his companion. "Misha!" he yelled before glaring at the Sha, who was merely observing them. The mok'nathal could swear that the Sha was grinning at them. 'Something is not right. I can feel it.' he thought, feeling something was off with his companion. His fears was soon realized when Misha suddenly paled in color and quickly attacked him instead. This caused the mok'nathal to feel despair and left himself vulnerable to attack, which the Sha took advantage off by digging its claws right into him, inflicting severe injuries before also inflicing the same injuries upon the bear
As the Sha began to choose another target from its other enemies, a powerful icicle storm suddenly dropped on top of it, piercing its body. The Prime Sha continued to howl in pain before it was suddenly struck by a massive arcane bolt, tearing off a large chunk of its body
"Chen, Alleria, finish it off!" Khadgar yelled. When he was thrown away, he used the opportunity to setup this attack
Seizing the opportunity, Chen thrust a sword from a fallen human directly into the Sha's back while Alleria shot a volley of enchanted arrows. When she finally shot one directly into its head and combined with the damage from the lightning and icicles, the Sha of Despair finally dropped. Wanting to make sure that the Sha doesn't get up, Khadgar dropped another icicle, slightly larger than the ones from earlier. With the Prime Sha dead, all the lesser Shas also dropped
"Finally. That was intense." Khadgar said as he gasped for breath
"Rexxar!" Alleria muttered upon noticing the bleeding mok'nathal. "We have to get him to a healer as soon as we can!" she said as she ran to him
As mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, this part of the story happens a few hours after the Emerald Nightmare was defeated. In the previous one, it was already mentioned that Durotar and Theramore were safe but there was no time specified. Although now that I think about it, the only relevance of the concurrence of events is the awareness of the Kalimdor group in Pandaria. Anything that happens from this point on is concurrent but I will say that there won't be much skipping between continents
Other than that, more Sha hunting. In this chapter, the ones that were faced are the Sha of Doubt and Despair, just to make it clear. That means that out of the seven Prime Shas, the only ones left are Fear and Pride
That's all for now