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"My destiny is of my own making." Speech.
"I remember the time..." Flashback speech. Spellcraft.
"When your people huddled in caves I was there." Greater being speech.
"█▄██▄▄█▄▄█▄" Inarticulate roar/scream etc.
A?N: Timeline concerns please read!
This is a note concerning the warcraft timeline we are using primarily events prior to War of the Ancients. At first we had issues finding a consistent timeline that was the same across multiple sources. While we eventually did find one that we are using it was after work had already begun on planning out events. The current timeline that we are using was focused around trying to find out how old Malfurion, Illidan and Tyrande were at the time of the War of the Ancients. A few sources claimed that the twins were mid 5,000 years old by the time the Legion invaded so we built of that. The only difference this adjustment makes to the overall timeline is that the canon events that we found in 'World of Warcraft Chronicle VOL 1.' are spread out a bit more over a couple of extra millennia.
So for the sake of our timeline Harry is a good thousand years older than Malfurion and Illidan.
XxxXxxXxxX
Previously:
The void-scar was easier to follow after that. The thin trail having become almost like a crack within the Dream itself. It pained Harry to see the Dream like this. Is if the Emerald Dream itself was being attacked and wounded by the actions of this vile Loa.
A further unknown amount of time and he passed beyond the borders of Stranglethorn and into a large wetland that stretched along the southern most cost of eastern Azeroth. And he saw it. Well, to be more exact; he didn't see it.
And it was massive. Like a great and terrible demon had reached into the Dream and violently tron out a massive chunk of it. The void before him was horrifyingly huge. Several miles in diameter it forced Harry to take a step back when he noticed that the Dream was not forcing it to grow smaller as its energies refilled the emptiness, but the reverse happened. The void, it was growing larger. Whatever was happening there, whatever these monsters were doing in the name of their dark god; it was increasing the influence of the Loa of Blood and through that the damage his influence had upon the world.
"We're running out of time."
XxxXxxXxxX
No time had been wasted when Harry returned from the Emerald Dream. The moment his eyes snapped open to the star filled skies and a vigilant Sa'Shiket a few feet away watching over him from his post atop a large boulder he had taken off. Running at an incredible pace. The Zandalari Troll had easily caught up to him with his wider gait and had then enhanced the frantic Elf with the power of his Loa when Harry had explained what he had witnessed.
For the void within the Dream to be growing as it was, it could mean only one thing. Hakkar was in process of being summoned.
Still burning villages were passed by as the pair sprinted through Stranglethorn. Bodies piled up and rivers of blood running down to large pools scattered around each village. The stars had long since turned red as they passed through and entered the miasma of Hakkar's influence. Harry noted the veil coming down on his connection to the Emerald Dream and poured almost the entirety of his focus into gathering energy from it as best he could; fighting for every scrap of power he could pull through the veil and filling his body with it. He had long since passed the threshold of power that had proven too much for him centuries ago when he had first met Lunara and did not slow even a fraction in pulling more into him.
If he and Sa'Shiket arrived too late then the last thing he would need to be concerned with was the dangers of the Emerald Dream causing him to explode. In fact it might very well be preferable to the fate that would no doubt follow should he come to face a fully manifested god.
By the time the Emerald Dream truly became cut off from him, Harry no longer able to reach through the void that had overcome the region to pull further on its power, his body had already been almost completely infused with its power.
His skin tingled with the raw power barely contained within his flesh and his eyes glowed like stars. With every movement through the trees, Harry could feel the faintest shift in the wind and felt the world itself responding to him. the earth would shift to aid his every step; pushing him further.
There was a faint part at the corner of Harry's mind that sent him back to one of his previous initial meetings with Cenarius when he had first been taken under the Wild Gods tutelage. Cenarius had introduced himself as an Archdruid with the statement of 'I am the Wilds.' Never before had he quite understood the significance of the claim. Even as a student in the Druidic Arts Harry had simply assumed it to be a reference to the heritage of his Shan'do.
He assumed no longer. Now he understood the depth of that claim. Tapping into as much power as he was at this current time he could feel, so much. There was actually a noticeable effort being made on his part to ensure that 'Har'rin Whisperwind' remained as such and did not become just another part of the Emerald Dream.
Harry and his Troll companion grew more and more concerned with each passing village. They had sadly grown accustomed to the sheer scale of blood and death that permeated each of the Troll settlements that had been raided by these cultists. It was the last two that alarmed the pair. No blood. No bodies. Only signs of struggle and heavy drag marks of wooden carts weighed down heavily leading out in the direction they were headed.
Sa'Shiket had not needed to offer any explanation for the worrisome sight. Harry could already take a guess as to what had happened.
The Cultists had captured rather than slaughtered the inhabitants. Something which, given the nature of their actions prior to this, suggested their intent to properly sacrifice their captives more ritualistically.
It didn't matter that these were Trolls to Harry. So far apart from the overall threat a fully released Hakkar would pose to all life, these Cultists had not threatened or even taken any Kaldorei lives. It didn't matter. These, monsters had slaughtered countless of their own kin and were intending to add to that body count, which was something he could not, would not stand.
The great trees of Stranglethorn gave way to open plains and them swampy marshland as the duo left the Stranglethorn Forest and the official limits of Gurubashi territory. The Emerald Dream was completely absent from this area, so deep the two were within the void of Hakkar's influence and the tracks that had led out from the last two villages Harry and Sa'Shiket had found disappeared into the marshland and beyond either of their ability to track.
Harry let out a frustrated snarl, lashing out with a fist into a large boulder next to him. He could not afford to shift into an animal form to utilise the enhanced senses that came with the shift. In this place where he was unable to draw on more power he could not afford to waste even the smallest amount. The muddied ground of the marsh ahead had covered any tracks to follow and the over all odour concealed the scent of blood that had been clear to him without the use of his shifting.
"Be calm Whisper of de Wind. Now not be de time for dat." The Troll Priest soothed patiently, seeing the mounting frustration in the Night Elf. "We know de Cultists be somewhere in dese marshlands. Dat be better dan what we knew before."
Harry nodded tersely, his jaw still clenched and brightly glowing eyes narrowed in continued irritation. "We can't afford this delay. You saw those villages we passed. If those fanatics have taken captives in the state of mind you say they are in, then whatever use they have for them will not be long term. They took those prisoners because they need them now. Not later."
The Troll's chest heaved with a deep breath as his shoulders dropped with a reluctant nod. There was no refuting the logic behind the young Druid. Patience may be needed, but it was not a luxury that could be afforded right now.
"I am cut off from the Dream in this place. I can't pull in more power to replace what I would need to expend to pick up the trail once more." Harry explained in frustration. "I just, I don't know what to do."
Sa'Shiket could only soften his gaze as he looked down to the Elf. He could not blame the young druid for his doubt and frustration in this. While quite a lot older than himself, the Druid-in-training was still a but a child to his own people and had not experienced the trials and tribulations that came with adulthood like he had with his own people within the Zandalari. His frustration was understandable.
Harry blinked a few times as the setting sun finally dipped below the horizon, marking the beginnings of the night, his eyesight rapidly adjusting to the quickly and steadily declining light. As was with the nature of his people he could feel his strength growing as night fell. His senses, already drastically boosted by the massive store of raw power he was carrying from The Dream, further increased.
And still it wasn't enough. There were no creatures; great or small, nearby to commune with. Nor spirits of the Wilds to seek guidance from. Even the trees and plants of the wetlands themselves were silent. The presence of this Loa of Blood and all but killed the entire area.
Another snarl of anger and lashed out at the rock next to him once more, his tightly clenched fist this time breaking it in three from the sheer force of the blow.
"Aah, it seems de Loa and your moon goddess are wid us mon." Sa'Shiket spoke up with a large fanged grin as he reached out to place a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I have found de way."
Harry turned to consider the Troll before following his gaze out into the distance. To see; right out along the horizon, a distant glow, flickering and pulsing from either several or a single large source of open flame.
There was no other sign of life to be seen around. There was no doubting it. Sa'Shiket had found the Cultists.
XxxX
Despite the relatively short distance to cross to reach the light source and final location of the Cultists of Hakkar, it still took several hours to traverse the distance. The very landscape of the marsh wasn't cooperative to begin with before even considering the concern that had to be acknowledged regarding sentries and guards that the Cultists may or may not have set out around their perimeter.
Fortunately there were no such sentries to look out for when they reached a copse of trees that stood at the very edge of the well lit clearing.
What lay there was very near the stuff of nightmares. It was the first time Harry had ever seen Troll architecture with his own eyes. And seeing the massive step-pyramid that rose up from the ground nearly two hundred feet comprised of five steps to its structure. It was brightly colored in reds and blacks that had Harry feel his stomach turn when he felt a justified fear in that it was not paint that had given the pyramid its crimson coloring. Bones and skulls were piled up around large braziers that lined the sides of the large stairway that led up to an alter at the pyramids summit and scores of screaming, crazed Trolls jumped and writhed at the base of the structure as well as on its steps.
"I tink we found de villagers mon." Sa'Shiket pointed out gravely as he stretched out an arm to indicate to the base of the Temple.
Harry's eyes widened when he followed the direction to see two large iron wrought cages covering two matching pits that had been dug on either side of the Temple-pyramid's stairway. Each cage was filled to their limit with trembling, fear-ridden Trolls. Even over the screaming and roaring of the Cultists lost in the middle of their blood-haze Harry could hear the terror-laden cries and pleas of those poor, poor people. The wails of women and children and the desperate, futile moaning of the men as they tried pointlessly to pry at the bars of their prisons.
"Oh dis is not good mon." The Troll Priest spoke up again, his visage dark with righteous anger and concern. "I can see a High Priest at de Alter. Dese madtrolls be already invoking de Loa of Blood. If we be hopin' to save any of dose poor folk, we best be quick."
Harry nodded in silent agreement, already having turned his gaze to the large Alter at the top of the Temple and seeing the ornately garbed Troll there, waving hands and a wicked dagger in the air. He could see another troll up on the Alter itself as well. Prostrate on its surface as if asleep.
"There are too many in between us and the captive villagers for us to be able to sneak in and free them." Harry pointed out with an indicating wave of his arm. "Not only that but the Cultists are too tightly packed together to even attempt to pick them off one at a time if we hope to maintain any element of secrecy."
Sa'Shiket nodded in agreement. While dulled by their fervor and bloodlust toward their Loa these creatures were still Trolls. Their senses were far too highly attuned to not notice a stealth attack. Even less so considering they were all packed in against one another. "It would seem den dat de only approach would be de direct one."
Harry hated it, it was wasteful of what power he had been able to collect before being cut off from the Dream. But the Priest had a point. As outnumbered as they were a battle of attrition would only end in failure and it was beyond impossible to avoid a fight altogether.
"Fine." The Elf bit out, rolling his shoulders as he drew on the Dream within, causing a faint pale green halo to light up his skin. "If we hit hard and fast we might be able to surprise them long enough to reach the cages."
Sa'Shiket nodded in understanding, readying his staff and dropping into a ready stance, his feet digging into the soft earth as he readied himself to move. "I'm wid ya mon. de Loa guide ya."
Harry returned the nod sharply before turning his gaze back to the Temple of blood and death. The roars of the raving Cultists, the cries of their would be sacrifices. Both of them fuelled his desires and hardened his resolve.
The world was muted to his senses. The wild distant and the spirits of nature hidden from him. But he still felt a response when he sent out the power and influence he had collected. Reaching out with an open hand, fingers splayed wide. He felt the tangle of roots, rotted plants, seeds and scattered snapped off branches and twigs.
'A Destroyer is coming. Lend me your strength and power.' Harry called out, shifting and shaping the gathered Dream energy accordingly as he encouraged the dormant elements of nature to act on his will.
He grit his teeth in frustration when he was met with resistance. So close to the source of the void that was affecting the Emerald Dream, nature was reluctant to act. It forced him to draw on more of his power. The young Druid ignored the sting in his eyes as he felt blood leak out from the corners of his eyes, blood vessels burst from the combined exertion and strain his body had been under this whole time.
Far too much power than he felt he could afford with the potential dangers ahead. But it worked.
A faint rumble was heard as the earth shook ever so slightly, just enough to attract the attention of some of the Cultists who turned from the Temple to look around for the source. But for nought.
The earth split open violently as a great number of roots, as sharp as spears and as thick as trees burst forth like a wave. Quicker than the Trolls could react the wooden spikes shot up nearly twenty feet, impaling several of the cultists and gouging out chunks of those that were nimble enough to avoid impalement only to bleed out in seconds from the massive chunk that had been carved out of their bodies.
Harry felt the hot trickle of his blood trail down his cheeks and sweat bead up on his brow as he clenched his fist and twisted; redirecting the roots and manipulating their shape. Sa' Shiket had already taken off at an incredible speed, sprinting toward one of the cages as the roots all twisted; entwining together before unravelling rapidly, lashing out to force the Cultists on the Temple itself that were attempting to move out to find their attacker back further up the pyramid's steps, disembowelling several more and scoring deep wounds.
Another push from Harry, spending the last of the Emerald Dream that he was willing to sacrifice for this, and a path was cleared for Sa'Shiket and the remaining roots twisted together to form a barrier between the cages and the Temple.
Dropping his arm down to his side with a heavy gasp, Harry blinked away the blood in his eyes and forced his body to move. He could not afford even a moment of rest. Not with what was at stake. He could not, would not, allow his own weakness to see innocent people needlessly slaughtered.
He pulled his bow off his back as he ran and quickly shot an arrow at a Troll that had survived the initial assault; the arrow impacting into the cultists skull and sending him back into the mud. His ally had already made it to the cage he had targeted and with an impressive display of physical strength torn off the iron gate.
The Priest was pulling out weeping villagers and pushing them away from the Temple by the time Harry made it to the other cage. The golden eyed Elf had to swallow the bile in his mouth when he felt the sheer wrongness that was wafting down from the Temple as he came within such close proximity. The nausea left him lightheaded causing him to stumble forward a few steps as he reached out to the cage door.
He got more than a few fearful looks when the captive Trolls noticed him. He was after all Kaldorei; a long established enemy of Troll-kind, in all likelihood they feared he was going to kill them all.
Refocusing himself the Druid, quickly examined the heavy gate. Unlike Sa'Shiket he didn't have the raw physicality to tear it free. The lock holding it shut was heavy, but more within reason for him.
Harry wasn't knowledgeable in lock-picking so he couldn't simply unlock it the traditional manner which left him to grab it tightly and pull.
His arms strained as he yanked, twisted, pushed and pulled at the lock. Using every bit of his own strength to try and force the lock open or even break it. He felt the sharp edges of the lock bite into his skin, spilling blood that ran down the length of his forearms to drop to the ground at the elbow but still he continued.
He was not afraid to spill a few drops of blood when right in front of him countless lives were relying on his success.
He pulled. Twisted. Yanked. Pulled. Pushed. Twisted.
Nothing was working. The lock was too strong for him. It was of Troll make. Of course it was beyond his level of strength to break. Designed by Trolls. Made by Trolls and meant to lock away Trolls. More blood leaked from his eyes as his helpless frustration caused a tremor to run through his weakened body. He was failing.
*crack*
A series of sharp cracks and snaps sounded out from beneath his hands and Harry's eyes shot down to lock onto the lock he was still holding. A flash of pale blue light like flickering embers burst out from beneath his hands and he felt a sharp but very slight rush pass through him, leaving a tingle in its wake.
And the lock crumbled away in chunks.
Despite the situation Harry could not stop his moment of stunned silence as he starred at his hands and the shattered fragments of the lock that had broken free of the cage and was slipping through his fingers to sink into the soft mud at his feet.
It was the rusted creak of the cage door sliding open an inch that brought him back to reality and spurred him on.
Pulling the cage door open quickly, Harry reached in and pulled out the closest Troll. Setting the female onto her feet he caught her wide eyed gaze and pointed with a free hand toward the direction Sa'Shiket had sent those he himself had saved.
"Run!"
With barely a nod the female took off frantically, tripping several times over a few Cultist bodies before finding her feet and taking off. With that first Troll on her way the others lost the fear in their eyes toward him; seeing that this Kaldorei was not there to kill them or harm them but save them. With every villager Harry pulled out they gave him a quick thankful look before taking off in the wake of their brethren.
Perhaps thirty, thirty five villagers were pulled free at the hands of Har'rin Whisperwind. Thirty to thirty five lives saved. Before it all went wrong.
A sudden and massive wave of nausea swept over Harry, causing him to collapse to his hands and knees and the Trolls still within the cage all screamed in unholy agony. Harry barely managed to lift his gaze back up to see them all violently explode into a shower of gore; flesh and bone splattering everywhere and covering the heaving Night Elf. But no blood touched the ground. Instead, with each exploding Troll, the blood spewed forth shot upward in a stream of crimson toward the Temple and up its steps.
With wide eyes he watched as every last drop of blood from the meaty chunks of what used to be Trolls both villager and Cultist that had met their end from his initial attack crashed up the steps of the Temple-pyramid like a grotesque waterfall of red in reverse.
Harry felt a strong hand grab him by his arm and yank him forcibly back to his feet, faintly making out the pale blue skinned visage of Sa'Shiket looming over him. He faintly felt a measure of relief in seeing his unlikely friend and ally still alive before he felt a sharp pain as the Troll lightly slapped him across the face, returning him to his senses.
"It's not good mon." Sa'Shiket uttered with a shaky voice. "De Invocation has been completed. De Priest of de Blood Loa has opened de gateway for de Soulflayer entry into dis world."
Harry felt the blood leave his face in fear before he tore himself free of the Troll's grasp to stagger back as he found his footing, his head lifting and eyes looking up to the Temple summit.
The moon. Elune in all her glory. Was red. Bathed in blood and pain. The priest that had been enacting the invocation was gone, nothing more than scattered flesh as all the blood that had been spilled from the rituals completion continued up and into the Troll that had been prostrate atop the Alter.
It felt like an eternity, but only seconds passed before the blood was folly absorbed into the last surviving Cultist. And then. Silence
it was like the world had simply come to a total and complete stop. There was no wind. No crickets chirping, no water bubbling from the stream at the edge of the clearing. Harry couldn't even hear the frantic running and cries of those that he and Sa'Shiket had managed to save.
He could hear only the heavy and frantic beating of his own heart within his chest.
"Whisper of de Wind."
Harry jolted, his heart leaping into his throat at the sudden sound. It was but a whisper, barely audible and yet Harry heard it keenly as if Sa'Shiket had instead shouted at him.
"Hakkar comes to dis world now. Dat dere Troll has sacrificed himself to de Loa to bring de Soulflayer to de Material." The troll whispered, speaking softly and urgently as he placed a glowing hand upon the slowly panicking Night Elf. "But de connection between de Loa and his Avatar is weak. It can be severed."
Harry felt the calm wash over him as Sa'Shiket's magic filled his body, washing away the shaking fatigue and fear that had been building in him as the vile presence that was Hakkar grew stronger with each breath.
Licking his lips and coughing to clear his throat he turned his head toward the Troll. "W-we can, I mean, it's possible to destroy the Avatar?"
The Priest of the Loa Lukou frowned in thought before blowing out a tense breath. "It is still de Loa Hakkar. Powerful beyond any of us and terrible in its savagery. But it still be flesh. And dis early de connection dat hold Hakkar to dis world is not yet stable." He pounded his staff into the ground, letting loose a pulse of pale yellow light washing over the two; filling them both with strength. "De longer dis fight goes on de stronger de Loa will become and de more of Hakkar's true self will come out. If we can stop him before he takes his true form. We can win dis."
Harry nodded in understanding. It was relatively easily said. Take out what was effectively a god before he could truly manifest. It was the act of making that reality that was going to be an issue. He had used far too much of his gathered Emerald Dream energy for his liking given the undertaking before him now. Roughly sixty percent of the power he had available to him had been expended just to summon the entanglement of roots that had decimated around a third of the Cultists forces and kept the way clear to the cages to free the captive villagers. Add into the damage his body had taken from the strain of holding in as much power as he had since entering the void of Hakkar's influence and the domination he had been forced to assert over nature, it was no small miracle he was still on his feet right now.
Another pulse of light from Sa'Shiket, blue this time and the nausea that had been bearing down on Harry lifted as his mind cleared and his focus sharpened.
Another pulse and the ache in his bones faded. Another and his resolve fortified.
As Sa'Shiket continued to call upon the power of Lukou and infuse the blessings of the Loa upon both himself and the young Night Elf at his side, Harry looked down to the dagger hanging from his belt before shaking his head. Too small a weapon to face against so terrible an enemy.
Turning his attention to his surroundings and the many discarded blood caked weaponry of the Cultists, Harry moved away from Sa'Shiket and over to one in particular that caught his eye. A simple hand and a half longsword. Rusted and jagged the blade as in good enough condition as he picked it up. A quick examination of the blades edge to determine its sharpness and a few experimental twirls of the sword in his hand saw Harry comfortable with his choice.
By now, Hakkar had managed to discover control over its new body. The former Troll Cultist had been twitching and convulsing as the Loa tested the limits and reactions of the vessel it had found itself within. By the time Harry had selected his weapon and Sa'Shiket had concluded bestowing the blessings of his Loa upon the two, Hakkar had heaved itself upright.
It was a very alien manner in movement as the Troll form Soulflayer went from being completely prone on the Alter to perfectly upright, standing up like a serpent uncoiling.
Already Harry could see the possession taking effect on the Hakkar-Troll. Baleful reptilian blue eyes glowered down at him and a faint dusting of red scales had already grown across the shoulders and bicep.
"What's this? Supplicants to kneel before my glory?" The Loa spoke, his voice rumbling with power and resonating through both Harry and Sa'Shiket's skull like an echo. "No. you are not my Hakkari."
Harry swallowed thickly, feeling a brief surge of fear through the calm that Sa'Shiket and his Loa had filled him with before clearing his mind of it and restoring his resolve. "You do not belong here Dark One. Azeroth is no place for you."
Hakkar's eyes narrowed in outrage, blood drooling from his maw as he reached up and ripped the tusks from his face violently and a pair of large serrated fangs grew in their place. "You dare deny me!? I am Hakkar. The Soulflayer. The Loa of Blood. You stand upon Holy Ground. MY HOLY GROUND!"
With a powerful movement, the Loa leapt off the Alter and down to the very base of the Temple. His feet crashing into the bottom steps and shattering the stone. The flesh beneath his skin writhed as if containing countless serpents as he straightened to snarl at the pair.
"This World will all kneel before my glory. I will cover this entire realm in blood and you! You will be but the first!"
Harry's eyes widened and he snapped an arm out, quickly pushing Sa'Shiket out of the way before dropping to the ground as the Loa shot forward, clawed hands outstretched and his mouth open wide. He felt the skin part on the side of his face as Hakkar managed to land a superficial strike; one of his talons grazing a light scratch along his cheek as he passed over head.
When Harry found his feet once more, sword held to guard before him, Sa'Shiket matching his movement out of the corner of his eye, the Night Elf kept his gaze fixated on the Vile Loa.
Hakkar had not followed up the lunge and instead was holding his clawed hand up before his eyes, looking intently at the small drops of blood that he had stolen from the Elf. A long, forked tongue snaked out of the Soulflayer's gaping maw to lap up the drops of crimson fluid.
"Aahh. You are god-touched." Hakkar crooned, a sadistic, twisted expression of joy coming to his face as he flicked his eyes over to the guarded Kaldorei. "There is Power within you Fleshling. I will enjoy consuming it!"
Harry could see the Loa preparing for another charge. The twisted muscles of the Troll form Blood God shifting and tensing. Surprising even himself, Harry did not let Hakkar seize the initiative.
With a testing twirl of the sword in his hand, Harry pulled on his collected Dream energy and reached out with a hand.
The wind responded to his summons. Raging overhead in a vortex before crashing down atop the raging Loa. The force of the wind crashing down tore at the muddied earth beneath Hakkar and battered the god himself off of his feet; stumbling him.
Taking advantage of the instability of his footing, Harry charged the unsteady god, heedless to the streams of lightning passing by him to strike at the flesh of the Soulflayer, further keeping him off balance.
Harry came in low, underneath the reeling god and swept his sword up in a swift arc. The blade bit into Hakkar's flesh, carving a moderately deep gash across his chest. It was, ultimately, a superficial wound. Hakkar didn't even seem to notice it beyond that the Elf was now right in front of him and it didn't debilitate his movements when he recovered and struck back with an attack of his own. Hakkar lunged for the rapidly back tracking Druid, seeking to tear out Harry's throat.
Harry felt the razor sharp ends of Hakkar's taloned fingers brush against the skin of his throat, just barely breaking the skin but thankfully failing to reach any deeper and lashed out instinctively.
"██▄▄█▄▄██▄▄█▄▄"
Harry felt his ears bleed from the piercing shriek and grit his teeth when he saw, through narrowed eyes Hakkar's arm fly off to the side; severed at the elbow. He felt a flash of victory fill him, that brief moment of elation in the knowledge that he had actually succeeded in causing tangible, registered harm to the Loa. He had hurt a god!
"Brudda look out!"
Golden eyes widened as he felt his body being pulled back violently and he watched as a flash of black as a massive scythe shaped claw sweep through the air his body had inhabited literally moments ago.
"YOU DARE?! KNOW MY WRATH FLESHLING!"
Harry paled in fear when he saw the change that had come over the enraged Loa. In place of the arm he had severed a crimson red scaled forearm had grown and a four foot long black curved bladed talon sat in place of a hand. Hakkar raised his remaining Troll form right arm and flexed. The limb exploded in a shower of blood and gore as a matching red scaled arm and scythe talon grew in its place.
It was a terrifying sight to behold as Harry regained his footing and tightened his grip on his salvaged sword. Hakkar's transformation was continuing, with his eyes and now grown scythe arms, the pattern of red scales had now grown across the former Troll's broad chest and black spikes were growing out of the shoulders and biceps.
He owed Sa'Shiket his life. Had the Priest not pulled him back with his magic Hakkar would have split him clean open. He had made a mistake. He had allowed himself to revel in that brief and ultimately empty moment of victory. As if the act of taking a limb from the Soulflayer who was still in the process of shifting to his true form could equate to any kind of real success.
All he had succeeded at truly was earning Hakkar's ire. The Loa of Blood had in fact completely erased Sa'Shiket from his mind as a threat or even presence on their field of battle. To the Soulflayer; there was only himself, and the Fleshling Night Elf.
"DIE!"
The maddened God leapt at Harry suddenly. The earth beneath his feet cratering from the sheer force and power of the movement. Scythe's raised to cut Harry to ribbons, the young Night Elf genuinely saw his death approaching. He could hear Sa'Shiket cursing in futility and knew salvation was not coming from there.
In his desperation Harry called up the remaining power of the Emerald Dream within him.
The earth cracked beneath and around him as the power of nature erupted from beneath the ground and surged forward to meet the charging god. Large roots, razor sharp and jagged with savage thorns shot toward and into the maddened Loa. Several wooden spikes impaled through the possessed Troll; piercing through the shoulders, legs, stomach, groin and even the skull of Hakkar; lifting him several feet into the air where he hung limply.
Dead.
Harry's chest heaved, his lungs gasping for air as the last of the Emerald Dream left him. He had used up all of the power he had available to him, but he had done it. He had killed Hakkar. Well, his mortal Avatar at least. His arms and legs felt numb, his bones ached and his heart felt like it was on fire so fast was it pumping.
But he had done it. Hakkar was gone. The void would dissipate. The Emerald Dream would recover. The...the void, it would dissipate. It should be dissipating.
Harry felt a coldness wash over him as confusion and dread mounted within him. Hakkar's Avatar was dead. With the Loa gone his presence should be fading. The miasma of his presence and the void it was forming within the Dream should be fading as well. So why. Why did if feel worse?!
A horrifying, dreadful, bone chilling squelch broke the silence and drew not only Harry's terrified eyes, but that of Sa'Shiket as well.
Fifteen feet in the air. Suspended by the wooden spikes that had impaled him; Hakkar's body twitched. Another noise and a spurt of blood poured from a wound that suddenly formed in the chest. A moment later and that spurt of blood was joined by a steady stream, then a practical river of blood that fell free of the corpse as a gaping hole ripped itself open in the centre of Hakkar's chest.
"I will not be denied Fleshling." Came that horrifying voice. "This world will not deny me."
It was as if watching some kind of demon snake shedding its very flesh as the grotesque half troll, half serpent torso of Hakkar tore its way free of the corpse to drop down to the ground. The returned Loa was close to being fully revealed at this stage. His legs were gone, completely replaced with the long thick tail of a serpent and a pair of feather tufts were forming at the shoulder blades.
"Soon not even the god that brought you to this wretched world will be able to stay my blades." Hakkar gloated. "And your blood will be the first I take!"
Harry couldn't stop it.
He couldn't move. He couldn't drop to the ground, raise his sword or even mount a counter attack. He just didn't have the energy, the power left to resist. The Emerald Dream was beyond his reach. He couldn't do anything. He had no power.
He could only watch with wide eyes and dread as he was bowled over by the savage being. He could only let out a pain filled scream when Hakkar brought down his Scythe arms and impale them both through his chest.
"Your Soul will be but the first I consume Fleshling." Hakkar growled as he pushed the blades deeper into the screaming Night Elf's chest. "And when I am done here, I will consume your wretched species in its entirety. And they will all know. That it was YOU who earned them that suffering."
"NO!"
It was like something snapped within him. He felt it. The desperation, the rage at what this monster, this demon intended for his people. His mother. He reached for the Dream. There was nothing. He reached for something, anything!
It came like a lightning strike. That shock that ran through his body from toe to ear tip. His very skin tingled with the influx of power and a blast of pale blue energy burst from him; pushing the snarling Blood God off of his body and removing the blades from his chest.
Acting on instinct alone Harry ignored the biting pain and blood-loss to heave himself to a half seated position. Supporting himself with am arm he thrust out his other arm toward Hakkar, snarling as he directed this newfound power toward the monster.
The Power responded without hesitation. Thick chains of ethereal blue light shot out from the ground and the very air itself to wrap around Hakkar; binding him to the ground and digging deep into his flesh as the Loa struggled against it.
Hakkar roared in fury, heaving and thrashing under the chains that had wrapped around him and pierced through his glorious flesh to pin him to the ground. "You cannot hold me Fleshling! This Magic will fade as will you! You cannot kill me!"
"Dat be true O Loa of Blood."
Harry turned his head, his vision blurry but clear enough to see a stoic and determined Sa'Shiket walk up to him. The Priest knelt down to his side and placed a hand on his chest, sending a brief but powerful pulse of energy into him, numbing the pain in his chest. The closeness allowed the wounded Elf to see the visage of his newfound friend. The Troll's eyes glowed with a power that seemed to illuminate his entire being.
"Me Brudda may not have de strength de power to kill ya." The Troll continued as he rose to his feet and turned to approach the bound god. "I may not have de power to kill ya. Ya be to mighty an enemy for us Soulslayer."
Hakkar glowered up at the Zandalari Troll as he came to stand within a foot of the half transformed serpent-troll's head. Sa'Shiket reached out and tightly clenched his hand against the Loa's forehead, yanking it up to force the Loa to meet his eyes.
"But, ya vessel's gotten weak. Me Brudda done good in fightin' ya." The servant of Lukou grinned savagely as his body brightened and the light began to surround the now snarling and thrashing Loa. "Ya right Hakkar, Soulslayer. We not be able to be killin' ya. But, we can banish ya back."
"No! You will not! This world belongs to me! It will be mine! It is mine!"
Sa'Shiket ignored the futile roars of defiance in favor of turning to look back at the Night Elf behind him. Favoring the youth with a more calming smile. "It be good to have known ya Whisper of de Wind, me Brudda. De Loa brought me to a mighty champion. But dis be de end for dis one. May de gods of ya people watch over ya."
Harry could say nothing. His voice failed him as he watched the light surrounding the Zandalari and Dark Loa build until he lost sight of them both. It grew too bright for him to look at in short time, forcing him to close his eyes tightly and turn his head away.
And then.
They were gone.
XxxXxxXxxX
A/N:
…. HOLY SHIT!
So then. This marks the end of what we have dubbed to ourselves as the 'Hakkar Arc.' designed as kind of a moment of growth for Harry and for him to experience some real hardship before the shit truly hits the fan. It is also the marking point of where his life will diverge from the path he was originally on and into something where he becomes truly great.
As always; please read, REVIEW! fav, follow, review again. And stick around as we continue on toward the ever lurking War that waits for Azeroth.
