Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

Nathanos found some broken twigs and unusual shaped bushes. He figured that it was the way Arthas took. 'Was Arthas aware that someone was following him?' he wondered to himself. He thought about what Sylvanas had said when she had a talk with Anya. The way Arthas just suddenly changed direction was definitely odd. 'It could all just be a coincidence or assuming that it is a coincidence is probably what Arthas wants.' and before he knew it, Nathanos was suspicious of Arthas. 'What the hell am I saying? Arthas isn't like that.' he reprimanded himself. 'Or maybe he is. Arthas was about to chase a dreadlord to Northrend out of anger. I wouldn't exactly blame him if he is desperate to save Jaina.' Nathanos considered the other hand. "What?" he muttered aloud when he noticed that the trail just ended

"Nathanos!" a voice called out. The ranger lord looked to where it came from and saw a face he had not seen since the evacuation of Quel'thalas. The owner was different from when they last met but Nathanos could still easily identify who it belonged to. "Were you following Arthas?"

"Captain Anya? Is that really you?" Nathanos asked in surprise but soon realized that the dark ranger was in no mood for pleasantries. "Yes, I was following Arthas."

"He led you on a wild goosechase." Anya said with a frown. "I know Jaina was nearly killed, Nathanos. What was the reason Arthas left the settlement?"

"A walk." Nathanos answered and the dark ranger tilted her head in confusion. "All he said was that he needed time to clear his mind."

Anya shook her head. From her perspective, it was easy to blame them for being stupid but she knew that they weren't as careful as the Scourge. "Someone was directing him to go somewhere." she said

Nathanos' eyes narrowed at her words. "What makes you say that?" he asked suspiciously

"Think about it. If someone was going for a walk, why would that person go out of their way to make a false trail?" Anya pointed out. "Follow me." she ordered and began walking. "While you were tailing him, I was tailing you both. I saw him go through all the trouble of making a false trail and when you followed it, I simply followed Arthas. It's easy for me to conceal my own presence because the demon hunters love being stealthy." she explained upon noticing his confused expression and reading that he wanted to know how she hadn't lost Arthas. "I know where he is."

"This had better not be a trick, Anya." Nathanos warned

"And what? Have Sylvanas hate me for the rest of her life by killing her lover?" Anya countered sharply which caused him to frown. "I may be undead and I may be under someone else's service but I still have respect for the Ranger General, Nathanos. Besides, we have the same enemies so there is no point in fighting you."

'She has a point.' Nathanos thought to himself and followed her lead. She led him back the way he came from and eventually, opposite to the trail he followed. Anya soon led her to an area that had more vines among one of the hills

"There." Anya said, pointing to the part where the vines were the thickes. "Those vines are hiding a door of some kind." she said before looking at her former colleague. "Do you want to go in?"

"What do you think is behind the door?" Nathanos asked

"I have no idea to be honest. This door is so well hidden that I wouldn't have even known about it if I wasn't following Arthas." Anya answered. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Someone directed him to come here, just like you said." Nathanos said in realization. "Wait, if Arthas went through all the trouble of following someone's instructions then that probably means Jaina is probably awake."

That was something Anya hadn't even considered. "You may be right about that. If what you're thinking is true, then you may have another problem on your hands."

Nathanos' eyes widened in surprise. "Jaina will not react well to Arthas going somewhere. This almost reminds me of the time Arthas nearly went to Northrend to chase after a dreadlord."

"Indeed although I can't exactly say I don't understand him." Anya pointed out. "Worst case scenario is that the Old Gods were manipulating him the whole time."

"Did you tell the rest of the Scourge present in Pandaria about what had happened?" Nathanos asked, fearing he may have failed in his task

"Of course I have. Some of the other dark rangers are already going to the Pandaren Emperor for more information." Anya said and heard him mutter curses. Nathanos was about to answer when the door suddenly began to open. Anya was the first one to react and quickly pushed the ranger lord out of the way right as a stream of dark energy shot at them. It missed but it created an explosion and sent them both flying into a tree

"What was that?" Nathanos asked, being the first one to get up

From the door, a small army of lesser Shas appeared. Behind them were two larger Shas which they assumed were Primes. This completely surprised Anya as this did not match up with the information they spied upon. And behind the two Prime Shas was Arthas with something wrapped around his body. Both rangers wondered what it was but there was no time to be surprised or for wondering

"Retreat." Anya said, pushing down Nathanos' bow as he began to take aim. "We can't take them all on right now. We'll have to go back."

Despite not wanting to, Nathanos was left with no choice and were forced to fall back. As they were running, one of the Prime Sha shot another stream of dark energies at them. Nathanos was able to dodge but Anya was struck and slammed into another tree

"Anya!" Nathanos said in worry

"Don't worry about me." Anya said as she slowly got up. "I can take care of myself. Go tell the Ranger General what happened here." she said with a smile and nocked an arrow. "Go!" she yelled and begrundingly, Nathanos left her to face their enemies alone. However, this did not faze Anya at all and she used her magic to turn the arrow she had nocked into a black arrow before shooting it at one of the incoming Sha, creating a small black cloud. Taking advantage of the cover, Anya forced herself to run away. She soon came across a small river and there was no bridge nearby. 'I'll have to take that risk.' she thought to herself and jumped on the trees before leaping across the river. Since the river was not that wide, she took the chance the she would be swept downstream but to her relief, she reached the other side. However, one of her hands slipped. Reacting quickly, she pulled out a dagger and used it to climb to the top of the river. 'Altruis, everyone, we have a situation.'

'What is it?' Altruis responded

'The last two of the Prime Shas were among the hills which I assume would lead to an underground area. But that's the least of our concern. Arthas has been corrupted by something. I couldn't really stick around to find out what it is.' Anya answered

'Damn it. Cyndia, have you gotten information from the Emperor?' Altruis asked

'I have. That place Anya mentioned leads to a vault that contains the Heart of Y'Shaarj.' Cyndia said

'Alright, we need to regroup.' Altruis said before thinking of a place to rendezvous. 'Anya, where are you now?'

'I'm near the borders between the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and the Valley of the Four Winds.' Anya answered. 'I'm making my way to the Jade Forest now but it's still a long way.'

'Don't bother going back to the forest. All of you, head to the Valley of the Four Winds. We'll rendezvous there.' Altruis ordered

'Alright, Altruis.' Cyndia said and left the palace. 'Also, Arthas might choose to attack the palace.'

'Hardly matters. We are not in a position to stop him right now. We need a plan.' Kayn said dismissively

'As you wish then.' Cyndia answered

Dread Wastes

"I thought the Emperor had said that one of the Prime Shas was in this place?" Kayn asked the other demon hunter, both of them sneaking around the Dread Wastes

"No, all he said was that the Prime Sha was sealed here but there is always the possibility that it has been released without the Pandaren noticing." Altruis pointed out. "Regardless, we'll have to solve this mystery later." he said and they both flew away from the area

Shando Pan Settlement

A few hours after Arthas had left, Jaina suddenly began breathing. It did not go unnoticed by the two healers that stayed by her side. One of them quickly went outside to find Turalyon. Said paladin eventually came to the room a few minutes later along with his wife and Rokhan

"What happened?" Alleria asked curiously

"We have no idea, Lady Windrunner." the other healer said. "She just started breathing and we didn't do anything."

Turalyon in the meantime, has been observing the archmage along with the troll. "She should regain consciousness soon. Her breathing isn't abnormal." he said

"Dat is true. I can sense dat da energies surrounding her is not dere anymore." Rokhan added. "It is almost like it suddenly vanished."

Outside the room, Sylvanas was listening in. She noticed when one of the healers staying with Jaina called Turalyon and she figured that something has happened to the archmage.'Breathing out of nowhere and after Arthas went for a walk and didn't return after a few minutes? No, this cannot be a coincidence. He didn't go for a walk. He went somewhere and didn't want anyone to know.' she thought to herself and began walking out. 'Chances are Nathanos would have noticed what Arthas was up to.'

Alleria had noticed her sister eavesdropping on them. When she noticed her leaving, she decided to follow. "Sylvanas." she called when they were outside the building

Sylvanas turned her head towards her sister. "What is it, Alleria? How is she?" she asked but she knew she had been caught eavesdropping

"Turalyon and the others think she should wake up soon." Alleria answered and she saw her sister release a sigh. "What's going on, Sylvanas? I know you were listening in. What are you thinking about?"

"Let's talk about this in private and we need to talk with Baine as well." Sylvanas said, choosing the tauren as he was the most level headed of the Horde. Alleria nodded and they went to find the tauren. They found him in one of the tents they had set up. "Baine, we need to talk."

"What is going on, Alleria, Sylvanas?" Baine asked curiously. Alleria merely looked at her sister for an answer

"I think Arthas has been targetted by the Shas." Sylvanas said, and surprised them both. "I have no evidence of this yet but if what I'm thinking is correct, we may have a fight on our hands."

"Hold up, this is Arthas we are talking about. Are you really suspecting him of treason or something similar?" Alleria asked in disbelief

Sylvanas nodded. "I do. You were never told this, sister, but Arthas actually purged Stratholme when it was consumed by the undead and was about to chase a dreadlord to Northrend on his own even if Jaina and Uther wouldn't go with him." she said, surprising Alleria and even Baine. "Arthas is prone to letting his emotions get the better of him and when you consider that the Sha chose to nearly kill Jaina, it makes you wonder if she was the real target."

"Couldn't all that just be a coincidence?" Baine pointed out

"It is possible but lately, I've been trying to adapt to a mindset that nothing is a coincidence, at least until it is confirmed. Which is why I'm considering the possibility that Arthas was targetted, possibly by the Old Gods." Sylvanas answered. "Also, the fact that Arthas goes for a walk, doesn't return after a few hours and Jaina's condition getting better. It's a bit too convenient if you ask me."

"I did not know about Arthas wanting to travel to Northrend. Why was he unable to do so?" Alleria asked curiously

"Uther destroyed all of the ships in Stratholme and it bought the time needed for Terenas to summon Arthas." Sylvanas answered before looking at the tauren. "Baine, tell your warriors that we may have to go to another battle. Well, it may be a two front war if we assume that the Mantid are with the Old Gods."

"I understand. I'll inform Dranosh about this." Baine answered

"What about us?" Alleria asked

"We do the same but we shouldn't make it obvious yet." Sylvanas answered. "We should know what Arthas was really up to soon. I've sent Nathanos to keep an eye on him." she said. 'Although I fear we may have been too late.' she thought, referring if the Scourge gets to Arthas first

Mogu'Shan Palace

At the same time, the corrupted prince of Lordaeron, along with his Sha minions, invaded the palace. All the pandaren who were just going about with their life were caught off guard and were quickly killed. The few guards that were stationed there did not stand a chance against two of the Prime Shas. Eventually, Arthas barged into the chambers of the pandaren emperor, who looked at him in complete shock

"You are... Y'Shaarj!" Shaohao exclaimed, realizing that the thing wrapped around the human was the Heart of Y'Shaarj

"Miss me?" Arthas replied in a twisted voice. "Ah, this human was so easy to manipulate. No wonder he was so willing to do something stupid before." he commented

"How are you alive? Aman'Thul ripped you out of this world." Shaohao said in disbelief

Arthas merely let out a laugh at this. "And yet, here I am." he replied, not bothering to answer the question. The corrupted prince then walked over to Shaohao and grabbed him by the throat before lifting him off the ground. "Time to die, Emperor." he said before summoning a dark purple sword, a twisted sword, one that was exuding huge amounts of dark magic. What was the most notable of all is that the sword looked like it had three eyeballs in the guard area

"Please, don't..." Shaohao said but Arthas quickly run him through, killing him instantly

The corrupted prince wasn't satisfied with that as he quickly used his newfound powers to turn all of the fallen pandaren into undeath. However, it was a different kind than the one the Scourge uses. It was much darker and all of them were bound to the powers of whoever Y'Shaarj possessed. After turning the pandaren in the chambers into his minions, the possessed prince unleashed his darkness over the entire palace, slowly corrupting it and the other two Shas taking their place beside their progenitor

Silvermoon

As expected, the Scourge high command was made aware of what had happened to Arthas. Illidan and Illysanna were at the peak of the fortress when they were told of what had happened

"Apparently Arthas was corrupted." Illysanna relayed the information to Illidan. "Altruis is going after him as soon as they regrouped. He wants to end this otherwise the mortals might try to save Arthas and end up handing over the entirety of Pandaria to the Old Gods."

"I suppose that's a fair idea." Illidan said

Illysanna was confused that he didn't say anything too significant. "Wait, you're not gonna give him permission?"

"This is still your operation, Illysanna. It's your call to make." Illidan answered, genuinely curious at how she handles this

"I see. But what's your take on this?" Illysanna asked curiously

"I think he should do as he sees fit but only if he knows what he is up against." Illidan replied

"Seems like we were thinking the same thing." Illysanna said with a smile. "I'll send two gunships to monitor the Mantid. We may have another all out war on our hands." she said and Illidan merely nodded, giving her permission to do as she see fit

"What was the object that corrupted Arthas?" Illidan asked

"Not sure. None of our forces there were really able to get a good look." Illysanna answered before leaving

'According to the Pandaren Emperor, the Sha are the spawn of Y'Shaarj that dropped from the sky when the Old God was ripped out of this world. If parts of it was dropped, then there is the possibility that one of the things dropped was one that contained its essence and if it was hidden since then, that could mean that Y'Shaarj was still alive all this time and was simply waiting for an opportunity to take a host.' Illidan thought, considering the situation. 'It is possible that Y'Shaarj right now is too powerful for Altruis but if that is the case, why didn't it make a move earlier? The Pandaren were supposed to be peaceful people so it shouldn't be too hard to manipulate them especially for someone like the Old Gods. Then again, it may be possible that whatever contained the essence of Y'Shaarj was sealed in something and that seal only became weak enough now. Perhaps releasing Yogg Saron was not the only thing Deathwing did before he was defeated. Maybe he was also the one responsible for Pandaria being visible to the outside world, which could mean that he also managed to do something to the seal. Releasing Yogg Saron could have just been a distraction. This must be the Old Gods real plan, to divide us while they try to free another one of them.' he reasoned

Illysanna was at the lower levels of the fortress, mentally giving orders to their forces. She sent out the gunships they had stationed in the stronghold they have in Stormwind to Pandaria while relocating some from their other strongholds to take their place. She then created another mental link. 'Altruis, are you attacking Arthas right now?'

'Not yet. We're still observing the area. Why?' Altruis responded

'Listen, if Arthas proves too strong, fall back and make sure that the mortals don't fall under his influence as well. It won't take us that long to get there if we really need to.' Illysanna instructed

'I understand.' Altruis said and she cut off the link

After thinking about it for a few minutes, Illidan went down to the lower levels. "Illysanna." he called when he found her. "There is something I need to retrieve."

Given how vague Illidan was speaking, Illysanna decided to talk to him in private. "Something from Azshara?" she asked when no one else among them can hear

"Indeed. I didn't want to have to use it but we are left with little choice." Illidan answered

"Alright, I understand." Illysanna left and watched as Illidan flew away. She then decided to take over the job of babysitting the four elves that had come with them after the events of the Nightmare. Jace Darkweaver, Asha Ravensong, Varedis Felsoul and Valeera Sanguinar. Out of the four, only Valeera did not want to be a demon hunter which the Scourge allowed. However, until they were trained further, they were not to leave the fortress

Shando Pan Settlement

Nearly an hour after being chased off by the corrupted prince, Nathanos finally made it back towards the settlement, panting for breath when he finally did so

"Here." a pandaren said, handing him a flask of water

The ranger lord took the flask and greedily drank the water. "Thanks." he said and handed it back. "Where is Sylvanas?"

"She is in the eastern building." the pandaren answered. Nathanos gave him a quick thanks before moving again. "What's with him?" he asked himself curiously

Nathanos made his way to the building and found Sylvanas in the room. She was studying some maps with Chen and Baine. "Sylvanas!" he called

"Nathanos? What happened? Why are you out of breath?" Sylvanas asked questions as she gave him more water

"It's Prince Arthas." Nathanos answered while panting, confirming the general's fears. "He has been corrupted by the Sha."

"What?" Chen asked in surprise

"It is as I feared." Sylvanas said. "Damn it, we need to find a way to save him before the Scourge moves in against him, assuming they haven't attacked him yet." she cursed before looking at the pandaren in the room. "I'm sorry, Chen. I cannot ask you to take part in this but this is something we must do."

"We will help you." Chen said, surprising the ranger and the tauren, who were not expecting this kind of help given that they haven't been allies for that long. "Your people have been of invaluable help against the Sha. I am certain we would have suffered a lot more casualties if we had to face them alone." he explained and the general gave him a grateful smile

"That leaves the question. Where would we find Arthas now?" Baine asked curiously

"Where was Arthas corrupted?" Sylvanas asked, having a bad feeling about all this

"Among the hills near the Mogu'Shan Palace. One of the hills actually has a door disguised which leads somewhere. I wasn't able to stick around and find out." Nathanos answered

"That door leads to the vault that contained the Heart of Y'Shaarj." Chen said, clearing some stuff up and finally confirming that this was indeed orchestrated by the Old Gods

There was still one problem they had left. "Nathanos, is the Scourge aware of the situation?" Baine asked

"They are." Nathanos answered, feeling that he had failed his general. "Anya Everwind, one of the dark rangers, is the only reason I even made it out alive. Arthas was accompanied by two large Shas, which I assumed were Prime Shas."

"But how? Shaohao said that the last Prime Shas were in the Mantid territory?" Baine pointed out

"Not really." Sylvanas answered. "All he said was one of the Prime Sha was sealed in the Mantid territory. It is always in the realm of possibility that the seal was somehow broken and the Sha kept a low profile."

"Regardless, we need to inform the others. The Emperor might be in danger." Chen said and went out

'Assuming that Arthas hasn't killed him yet.' Sylvanas thought grimly, already considering the worst case scenario

Mogu'Shan Palace

An hour later, the small Scourge forces have already gathered near the entrance. They were able to easily kill the undead pandaren and the lesser Sha guarding the palace entrance. Sally then summoned some shades to scout the palace but they were killed when they got deep inside

"Seems like they can see even our shades." Sally commented when they lost the vision the Shades provided inside the palace

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Zeliek asked

"We have limited options. The mortals would find out about this sooner or later and chances are they'll try to save Arthas, which could lead them to either getting corrupted themselves or just getting killed." Kayn pointed out

"But this would go against the agreement we had with the mortals." Amira said

"It hardly matters. In the end, that agreement was never going to last. The stakes right now are too high and if things go wrong, we would have another war on our hands and more of the mortals would fall under the Old Gods' control." Altruis said and drew his blades. "Let's get this over with." he ordered. All of them then moved inside the palace

They encountered more of the undead pandaren and the lesser Shas, all of which were easily dispatched. The Scourge forces were way out of the league of the lesser minions. They didn't bother trying to sneak their way through and just killed anyone in their way. They even froze and broke down walls and pillars, creating chaos in the palace. The death knight's ice and the demon hunter's fel fire inflicting damage upon the structure itself

"These Pandaren. The power that brought them back from the dead is darker than even ours." Amira commented upon inspecting a fallen pandaren after clearing a room

"You're right but I'm not particularly surprised." Anya added. "After Northrend, I don't think anything these things throw at us would surprise me anymore."

"Regardless, we should keep moving before we are surrounded." Kayn suggested

Rivendare then responded by freezing the path behind them completely solid. The death knight made sure that the ice would be thick enough so that it would not be broken easily by the lesser Shas. Along with the other death knights, they then summoned some skeleton warriors. "These should cover our backs for a while." Rivendare said

"Let's move." Altruis ordered

After a while, they soon came across a large Sha, which they assumed was a Prime Sha. Alongside the large Sha were more of the lesser Shas

"Oh great. Another one of these things." Sally complained

"Oh?" the Sha responded. "You are not afraid of me?" it said

Not bothering with words, Kayn unleashed his demon form and rushed behind the Sha and quickly inflicted a deep wound. "Considering what we encountered in Northrend, what makes you think any of us would be afraid of the likes of you?" he countered

The battle was soon joined and for the most part, it was entirely one sided. The death knights and dark rangers were able to easily kill all of the lesser Shas while the two demon hunters prevented the Prime Sha from doing anything fancy. Upon being isolated from the rest of its minions, the Prime Sha was barely able to fight back. Its natural ability to amplify emotions doesn't work on the undead and the demon hunters were not at all giving in to their emotions

The Sha of Fear tried unleashing bolts of shadow energy and even flinging skulls made out of darkness at its enemies. Both actions proved futile as the demon hunters' ruthless attacks made it difficult to properly aim. It then changed strategies and created tentacles from the ground. This caught the Scourge off guard and the tentacles were able to slam two of the dark rangers into the wall. Amira and Rivendare were nearly run through but Zeliek and Sally manage to save them

'Kayn, Altruis, take out the Prime Sha. We'll handle the tentacles.' Rivendare said as more tentacles kept popping out of the ground

'Alright then.' Kayn said before firing an eye beam at the Prime Sha, creating a huge explosion

Altruis then took this opportunity to climb onto the Prime Sha's head and thrust his blade onto it, causing it to yell in pain. In response, the Sha of Fear decided to phase through the ground, hiding itself from plain sight. However, this did not do anything to slow down the demon hunters at all as they could see that their target was still in the immediate vicinity, just hidden below the floor

'All of you, create an anti magic shell, now.' Altruis instructed. Both him and Kayn then casted a spell that completely tore the floor apart with fel energies. Their compatriots were protected from this due to the anti magic shells while the Prime Sha was thrown upward. The energy released even nearly destroyed the entire roof

Kayn then decided to end this battle and cleaved the Prime Sha in half right to its face. As the Sha of fear fell to the floor, it was quickly frozen solid by Zeliek. Upon being frozen, the tentacles also stopped appearing which meant that the Sha was killed

"That was too easy." Kayn commented

"Perhaps but there is no doubt Arthas will be tougher. Let's keep moving." Altruis ordered. Both demon hunters dropped their demon forms as they continued to move

They kept moving after that and eventually found the chambers where Shaohao stayed. Inside, they found their target, Arthas, who was sitting on what appeared to be a throne with a sword made out of darkness by his side

"Welcome, servants of Stormrage."

Yeah that's right. I made this chapter where Arthas got possessed by Y'Shaarj. The Old God's essence lived in its Heart and now has a vessel. You probably already know where this would lead. For future reference, he will still be referred to as 'Arthas' just for the sake of simplicity. I don't want to write 'possessed by Y'Shaarj' every single time he says something. Until Y'Shaarj is dealt with, anything that Arthas says will be something that Y'Shaarj itself says through its vessel. Although what happens to Arthas when that time comes remains a mystery. While on the topic of Arthas, that sword he was wielding is Xal'atath and the model used in this story is the Claw of N'zoth in purple color. If you're not familiar with that blade, just look it up in wowpedia and scroll down until you find the image which fits the description

Regarding the demon hunters being affected by the Sha's power, they really are affected. The only problem is they're not afraid at all so the Sha of Fear is basically helpless against them

Well, that's the only thing I wanna clarify for now