Day 215
I rode hard directly east all day and night to get to the shield device having to switch out nearly every mount as it got tired. I had tried to fly there but none of my flying mounts could be summoned. In game I could ride for days on the same mount but here in the real Azeroth the mounts became fatigued just like a normal horse. As I got closer the medallion felt warmer and if I brought it out it glowed, so I knew it had to be part of the device. The location was easy to find with all the magi walking around. There were also water, and stone Elementals following the magi. I didn't see the Arch Magus anywhere, but it would be just a matter of time.
"Kit where are you?" Jake asked over guild chat. It nearly made me jump as I wasn't expecting it. I scrolled up and found I had not been ignoring it as it wasn't active until I got close to the device. "I can't believe she would ignore me. It has been five days."
"She has been fluctuating between online and offline." Bron stated. "She may have figured out how to leave Azeroth."
"She wouldn't just leave us here without telling us would she?" Ginny asked. "Not that I want to leave, but many do."
"I have found no such thing. I am on Kul Tiras they have a time device that is shielding them from the rest of the world. It maybe why I haven't been seeing chat." I wrote as a reply.
"Still how would you react if you could go home. Many would not think about others before leaping at the chance." Elvel wrote. They didn't see what I wrote and they continued there debate. It wasn't long before the chat went quiet again. The device was huge and very familiar as an hourglass of the Bronze Dragonflight. I could see that certain sections were fluctuating in color. I expected to see only humans there, but I saw gnomes and night elves working on the device. No correct that, high elves as these elves used magic. I examined the device the best I could but without getting closer I wouldn't know where the medallion would fit. There was at least three different control panels anyone of them could be the main controls.
"Psst." I heard from someone and it did make me jump. I targeted the person automatically and activated preparation before seeing the dwarf stealthed near me. He waved for me to follow and so I calmed down. I was curious what a dwarf was doing here in the first place. He lead me to a row of bushes and pushed through into a small cave. "We are safe here the ore in these rocks absorb magic."
"Who are you?" I asked. He chuckled as he sat down.
"The only dwarf on this island. Been here so long I barely remember my name. Gram Hammerfall. Was a part of the Wildhammer Clan, but I fell in love with a Stormpike lass, so I switched clans. Then my fool self got stranded on this island."
"I am Kit, of the Closers Guild." I replied.
"What is your earned name or do not have one?" Gram asked.
"I have many titles and one is Jenkins I use that one a lot. I haven't made a name for myself like most gnomes." I replied. "Is this a problem?"
"Ah, no. Just wondered if I met your parents before." Gram stated he saw me flinch a bit as there was no way I could speak of my real parents and most gnome players claimed their parents were dead. "Ah I see something happened in the past. You don't have to talk about it. We have other things to worry about."
"We? Who said that we are wanting the same things?" I questioned. "Just because I was spying on them?"
"Well no we may not, but I can feel that you are planning something involving that machine out there." Gram stated. "I can't leave this island. I want to go home to my clan, my lass, and my land. I feel you want to do the same."
"I can leave any time I want to. The shield did not prevent me from entering." I countered. "I have a hearthstone."
"Have you seen it since you came here?" Gram asked. I was surprised he knew what I talked about most NPC's would ignore a sentence that directly related to a player. Most figured it was do to speaking out of character. I opened my bags and pulled it out for the first time. Most times I just touched the icon and used it.
"This is my hearthstone I see nothing wrong with it." I stated. It then flashed once and I froze as it reset to an inn Boralus. "What did you do?"
"I did nothing. If you tried to use it, it would have taken you to the last inn you were in." Gram explained. "I used to have a hearthstone and a few other things. Special armor, weapons, food, skills. Then one day I woke up somewhere and it was all gone. I felt used."
"You were a player?" I asked.
"Worse a character." Gram replied. "Took a while, but I slowly remembered everything. I died fifty seven times. Mostly from combat, but seven times from jumping off cliffs or two times from drowning. I am haunted by strange memories of this young man, a human youngling. He laughed or he got angry when I died. He would enter his thoughts in this machine. About this glitch or that. Then he sold everything but my undergarments and deleted me."
"That is harsh?" I replied. "I don't even know what to say."
"That was years ago. Not much you can say, but are you sure that you are not being controlled?" Gram wondered. "Can you?"
"No I can not, but I am a player along with 3999 other players. I am the only one who came later." I replied. "I am this gnome and I have been for months. The others for over a decade."
"Then I think justice has been served in a way." Gram stated. "Do you want to go home?"
"I do, but I was a nobody there. Sure I miss family and the few friends I had, but here it is so beautiful. I have many friends and my closest friends are now my family." I answered. "If I have taken control of this body from someone I will never know as I have no memory of her life. No one has claimed other memories or been visited by family members."
"Then I can't judge you." Gram stated. "So I ask again what do you want to do about that device?"
"I am not sure. I would like to shut it down as time here is moving were the rest of Azeroth it is repeating yearly. Not everything as we have made changes, but it is not enough." I explained. "On the other hand it has protected this island for years."
"They have decided the fate of many who didn't ask them to." Gram stated. "Now more then ever I want to destroy it. It holding everyone else in a dream of repetition. I need a key of some type the Arch Magus holds it. I am a rogue, but I lost my special abilities. You could get it for me."
"You mean this trinket?" I asked as I smiled. "I took it when I saw how he fondled the key nervously."
"That is the key, but with all those magi there we won't get very close." Gram stated. "Okay we need a distraction. One that will lead them away and allow me to use the key and shut it down." He stared at me so intensely that I knew I was the distraction.
"Okay what's the plan?" I asked. He talked for hours. Showed me the model of the device in the hidden room in the back. A full detailed plan of the device laid on a rock table. With odd pieces and trinkets that must have been collected over the years. He had at least ten different routes of escape to draw the magi away. He just didn't know if I could draw all of them away. "Okay I need some sleep and it is nearly midnight."
"Okay we strike at mid evening that is when they seem to wander around more." Gram stated. "They won't know what hit them."
