HELLOOOOOO ONE AND ALL.
I hope that the last chapter was to your liking, because I'm back for another one.
And as a refresher so that I don't get sued at all: I do NOT own Warcraft or WoW, that all belongs to Blizzard Entertainment with the exception of my OCs. They stay with me now and forever.
With that, On with the show XD
Chapter Six: Something Funny Happened On The Way To Andorhal – Prt I
It was a few hours after the battle at Brill that we found our heroes ((Not giving Arthas the satisfaction of that entitlement)) and their company ((Much better)) nearing the outskirts of Andorhal, where they found a clearing where three acolytes were nearing one of the gold mines, apparently doing something to the resource structure as green runes formed around it with bone protrusions forming a cage. When Jaina questioned its purpose, Eidolon made the smart call that even Arthas agreed to, despite his personal issues with the boy. "Jaina, I for one don't want to find out right now. Bible, Boble; nail those sonsabiches, but TRY to leave one alive for quesitoning."
"No promises. Alright brother… Fire!" One mortar shell soared into the air and landed on the one at the far right, blowing him to pieces while the middle was torn from the explosive residue, leaving the last one with 2nd degree burns and some shrapnel in his leg to keep him from running, knocked over from the blast. Before he could go anywhere, Arthas planted a foot on his back while the footmen came up to secure him. "I want a priest on him to make sure he doesn't bleed out before we get some answers. And check him for weapons doo; can't have him killing himself if we can help it."
Eidolon looked to oncoming wave of workers that had come from the remnants of Brill and began barking out orders. "Alright boys, here's the drill: We got ourselves some cultists with a plan to take out the northlands by spreading a plague via the granary. I need a base made here, quick as you can, because the dead don't sleep and won't wait up on us if they haven't found us already. Now then, MOVE OUT!" "Sir!" With a salute to the warlock, the peons began building up a base around the area, a primary station to house and train more workers as they came and a barracks for oncoming footmen to arm themselves with. "Bible, Boble, I need you and 3 footmen standing as sentry on the path to Andorhal. If you see anything that's not human, blow it to bits but do not give chase; this is their turf now, and anything can be out there. Captain, secure a perimeter around this clearing until we know what we're dealing with." With a salute, the mentioned soldiers took their position as a peon was scheduled to get some sentry towers built after the base was set up. He looked to the priest unoccupied and approached him. "You said that you were sent ahead of your team? Can you perhaps call them from wherever they are so that they can have a place to sleep? I'd rather not let them risk their lives any more than they have to. If we're lucky, we may even find a suitable place to set up a base of their own; two armies are better than one." "I'll send out a message to my commanding officer and consult with them about your decision, but I am certain that they will agree with you, as it is better to go together than alone."
With a nod of thanks, Eidolon turned around only to be faced with a peeved Arthas. "Can I help you Arthas?" Looking angrier than he was a second ago he pointed a plated finger at the robed chest. "Let's get one thing straight; these are my men, so I give the orders around here, not some half-wit who doesn't know the reality of war. Got it?" Not waiting for an answer, he pushed past the warlock rather forcefully towards the nearly completed town hall, confusing the younger man before he looked to see Jaina coming closer, and she didn't look happy either. "Oh great, not you too. What did I do wrong?" Noticing that her emotions were showing to the wrong person, she gave a soft smile before continuing. "You, nothing; you gave the right calls in setting up a perimeter while the base was underway and even set up a means of having allies with what you have around you. It's Arthas I'm having a problem with, as he seems to feel threatened by your judgement calls. Speaking of, since when did you become a born leader?" Her playful smile and quirking eyes gazed him down while he cursed on how much attention she paid to the finer details. "During my time in Silvermoon, I met up with a few people that were veteran commanders while playing a game of chess. When they challenged me, they ended up giving pointers about how one always secure victory by having the fewest casualties if at all possible. So I just took their words to heart and kept on learning more on how to be a field commander. Thought that it might come in handy in the future."
"And so it appears it does. I don't think even Arthas could come up with a plan like that, which much be part of the reason why he's angry with you." He looked to her in confusion before she elaborated. "I just…. Since we met up with him back at the King's Road after that encounter with the ogres, his overall attitude has been dropping and, after the battle at Brill, got worse. I'm not sure what it is, but try to steer clear of him for now if you can; let him blow off some steam. Hey, how about we find that other set up area you were talking about? Can't leave your High Elf friends hanging, now can ya?" With the prospect of getting away from the unknown drama around Arthas, he nodded his head in agreement before they went to make sure that they had what they needed in case they had to be there overnight. "Captain, Jaina and I will be securing the nearby gold mines. If we are not back in 48 hours, send a search party." "Understood sir. Good hunting."
_Wilderness near Andorhal_
Jaina and Eidolon were having a nice time, just being the two of them again like it was in Dalaran. Except this time, there were no passerbys (aside from the local wildlife, forest trolls, golems, and murlocks those didn't last long), no all-seeing sentries of the Kirin Tor. They were truly alone. Together. Possible camping out in the woods.
What can go wrong here?
"Say, Eidolon?" The young warlock gave a 'Hmm?' to let her know she had his full attention. "I hope you won't mind me asking, but…" "Is it about the deal I made with Kalcifer?" She merely nodded her head, not trusting her voice to betray her fear and worry. "I made that deal because I knew that I was weak, and that I had to get stronger or I can't keep my promise." She looked to him before speaking again. "You mean… the one you made to your mother?"
_Road to Strathome_
An 8 year old boy with charcoal black hair was walking alongside a woman in her late-30s, her hair cut short for reasons she would not say as they were traveling once more, never staying in one place for too long. "Son? Do you remember the story I told you about the wizard with two souls?" Eidolon looked up to her in confusion before recalling the story vaguely. "The one about the wizard with a good and bad side? Didn't you say that he was the one who created the portal that allowed the orcs through?"
"Yes, I did. He was a man with great power, but also carried an even greater curse. You see, when he was born, there had already been another, more powerful, soul doomed to possess him. As he had no control over what he did, even during the opening of the Dark Portal. But you see, the wizard was never truly a bad man." Her son looked confused as he spoke aloud. "Wait, if he wasn't a bad person, then why did he do all of those bad things? Didn't he know he was hurting people doing stuff like that?" She adopted a saddened smile before continuing. "I'm sure he did, which was why I believe it hurt him even more, knowing that he alone could not face against him. It hurt both him, and his friends when the time came to end the wizard. But, I believe that only the bad soul was destroyed and that the good soul, his real soul, was freed from the suffering he went through."
"So wait, was he a good person or a bad person?" She stopped him and kneeled to be almost eyelevel with the young boy before continuing. "Tell me child, if a good person was forced to do bad things but didn't like it, does that make him a bad person?" Getting a shake of the head, she continued. "So then, if a bad person did a good thing and likes it, what does that make them?" "A good person!" Nodding her head, she held up a hand for him to see. "Now then, with all of that in mind, I want you to make a promise to me, here and now, and I want you to uphold it no matter what." Seeing that his mother was serious, he shook his head and stood tall. "I want you to always remember, that it is not the act that defines a person, but instead-"
"-It is the person who defines the act. I made that deal because I intend to use everything I can from it to ensure that the people I care about are kept safe, even at the cost of myself. That is the promise I made to her, and I do not intend to give up on it now."
"Truer words never spoken, young master." Shocked that he heard the Fel Imp's voice again, his head was minorly assaulted by the images of a figure in black robes, whom was unknown in their identity, surrounded by rotating purple runes and an orb above them gathering their Fel Energy for a few seconds until an Imp appeared. Holding his head to make the trobbing pain go away, he looked to see that Jaina was concerned now, probably suspecting something was amiss. "Eidolon, are you okay?" After a few seconds, his head cleared up before addressing her. "I'm fine now, it's just that Kalcifer is apparently declaring that now is a good time to start on a new spell, probably the same one that brought him into this realm. Stand back for a moment, but be prepared for anything that's about come out." "Come out?" She had backed away as the same purple rotating runes appeared under his feet and an orb forming from the gathering of visible Fel Energy. "Apparently, I'm about to perform my very first summon."
_Outskirts of Andorhal, Keep base of operations_
Arthas was getting a little impatient; he had sent a footman to find and bring Jaina to him so that he could devise a battle plan for Andorhal. Scout reports had confirmed that there was a…. base of operations stationed outside of the city, and it definitely was not human. At least, not all of it. Or alive.
While he wouldn't mind Jaina's opinion on his plan of attack, he was sure that this 'Eidolon' character was not needed (or wanted in his mind) to be present for this meeting. Something about him felt wrong to the knight personally, but he could be paranoid. Then again, he was getting a lot friendlier to Jaina for his liking so he'd keep an eye out, and keep him as far away as possible from her if needed. He wanted to catch up with her on lost time, possibly get back together even. But the young prince could see that the longer it took to do so, the farther away she seemed, even if it was only by a few yards. So his plan was to have her help him with formatting a strategy in hopes to rekindle their relationship before it was too late.
Silly, silly prince. He had no idea that that particular battle had long since been lost before he could start.
The door to the room opened, expecting to see the footman asking for forgiveness for taking so long on finding Jaina and the woman being right behind him. Instead, to his slight irritation, it was the captain that had presented himself, with the searching footman nowhere to be found. "Captain, is there something I can help you with?" "Why yes, sir. I've been hearing that you needed to see Miss Jaina? I'm sorry to say that she has gone to do some reconnaissance about the nearby goldmine for our allies-" Arthas sighed heavily, before glaring at the man. "Captain, we don't have anyone else close by, so that gold mine should be our priority in obtaining so that we can bolster our own forces before the undead does. Now then, did she say when she would be back?" Not hearing the grumbling under the captain's breath, the advanced footman proceeded. "Exactly? No sir, but she did say to send a search party by the 2nd day. She'll probably be back before then." "*sigh* Very well then, dismissed." With a quick salute, the captain left the war room, letting the crown prince stew in his plight.
_Andorhal Wilderness_
"Well, congratulations. You've succeeded on your first summon. At least now we'll know that we won't get torn apart between the fabrics of time and space because someone forgot to put down a circle instead of a square." Eidolon, while he could tolerate words of insult headed his way sometimes, just felt that Kalcifer would always get on his nerves no matter what he did. Sighing heavily, he awaited the next set of instructions, if any, from the little imp, but the demon just took a look around before having the warlock lean in closer. "As much as I'm sure that you want to get started in learning more, I don't think the woods near hostile territory is the best thing for right now. When you get yourself a good isolated or safe area, summon me again." Seeing that it would be wise, if not paranoid, to withhold his personal plans he dismissed the demon as instructed, watching it simply fade from the world as if it was never there.
"Well, that was interesting to watch. Of all the things that the Book of Medivh said about demons, to think that there were splinter-groups from the Burning Legion…" Jaina couldn't help but wonder if the concept of a warlock outside of the Legion's grasp ever existed outside of Eidolon. Would that make him more powerful than the ones before him, due to the tight leash demons put on them or limited knowledge they were allowed? For all she knew, this could have been the closest thing to one of their high-generals standing next to her, if it wasn't for the fact that the Imp had something to do with scrambling his spell-casting abilities due to a desire to 'test him'.
"Perhaps it has something to do with this former master Kalcifer seems so keen on not talking about. It's like they their very existence is suppo-." He was far too slow to react to the noise around him, and paid for it by being tackled by a blur, facedown as he felt a familiar metal object be placed over his throat, and an even more familiar position that the attacker took while keeping him down. The figure moved closer, allowing some loose blond strands fall on one side of his head before whispering into his ear. "Captured again, Eidolon. You're making this far too easy to catch you nowadays." The voice was the final piece as he smiled and looked to the High-Elf keeping him down and pinned. "Good to see you again too, Syl."
Aaaand that's a wrap on that for now. So sorry for the delay from when I normally got this posted aside from my normal frequency (last time I clocked it to a little over 24 hours) and the shortness on this one this time around. Not sure why I was being slow on this one I'm normally getting stuff down and plenty of it within that span of time. And now, Sylvanas Windrunner makes her appearance outside of the Memory Lane chapter.
Think Eidolon can survive both Jaina and Sylvanas being in a close proximity? Or can his not-so-demonic charisma keep them in line? Maybe they'll hit it off without a hitch and have a friendship of their own. You know, before Syl goes and…. Yea, we know that's coming eventually.
Anyways, hope you guys liked it so far and, if you're feeling great about it, express your joy by leaving a review. Don't forget the Poll, as the True Challenge is neither of them going deep into romance with the guy as he jumps between Horde and Alliance to be with them while helping the factions out with their problems… as long as they don't come into conflict. Otherwise he'll be forced to take matters into his own hands.
Sincerely,
Ninetails927
