The Call
Everglade, Ashenvale Forest. Not far from the foot of Mount Hyjal.
The moon was hanging on the night sky; its silvery light brightened the entire forest. The forest was silent. Not even an insect makes any noises. Then a huge bear came and scratched the nearest tree. Another bear joined, and followed by others. They went to the open plain, which not far from the forest. The first bear turned to the east, as the sound of stampede came. The sounds were getting closer. Slowly but sure, something started to appear. It appeared as a band of the dark-skinned women. Most of them carried longbows, while some was riding the Nightpanthers. The riders wore a dark, light armor and brandished the boomerang-like glaive. Soon, their numbers had filled the entire plain.
At the same time, the bears roared. Their hunched bodies started to stand upright. Their paws were retracted into fingers. The gruffy, bearded face formed in the place of the snout. Then the transformed creatures began to walk with their legs like a normal elf. They wore the bear fur as their cloak. The druids began to join their counterparts at the plain. Everyone was silent when the beam of moonlight fell to the middle of the plain. Then a spark appeared on the place. As the sparkles shone brighter, something began to materialize in front of the crowd. It was begun to appear as the woman with a huge white tiger. Her armor was similar with the Huntress, except the color was silvery. Her face was serene and still. She was holding the longbow at her left hand. Despite in the midst of throng, the woman showed nothing.
Meanwhile, someone was coming. It was the green-bearded man with a cloak made of the tree bark. Two antlers were rested on top of his head. He was holding a curled wooden staff. His face was grim and determined, yet it began to soften when he saw the woman. The dryads followed him, while showed their playful natures. The crowd opened the way for the man with some respect. When close to the Priestess, he bowed a little,
"It was a long time, Sylane," he said with a heavy tone, ".since the Horn of Cenarius had sent us asleep 10,000 years ago! Now the same sound had awoken us, the Druids! Elder Stormrage has sent me to aid your warriors," Sylane smiled thinly, as her dark eyes still turned to another direction.
"Thank you, Earyl! Your assistance was highly appreciated." she gestured to her surrounding, "However, I'm still waiting someone else." Then the booming sound broke the silence,
"Are you waiting for me?" Everyone turned to the tall, longhaired man at Sylane's direction. The man brought the double-edged sabres. Anyone close to the mysterious guest swore that they could hear the sabres hummed. The warrior wore a white scarf to cover his eyes. His body was tattooed with arcane symbols. The hair was tied into a long ponytail. The situation became restless, as everyone whispered to each other. Even the dryads stopped their play. They whispered in fear,
"J'bric.J'bric Doombringer! He has returned." The Sentinels hesitantly gave the Demon Hunter a way as he walked toward Sylane and Earyl. The Keeper's face darkened as he saw the warrior,
He shouted, "Go away! There is no place for you here, Demon Hunter!" The warrior answered with a cold, yet commanding voice,
"I have nothing to do with you! I'm coming here because someone had summoned me from my exile,"
"Who had summoned you here?" "I did!" The Priestess' answer shocked Earyl as he turned to her with disbelief.
"You? Did you realize what you have done?" Before he could continue, Sylane had stared him with respect and authority. The Keeper was silent.
"I realize what I did, Earyl Treegrowth.however, something had forced me to call all of you here." Suddenly, the large crow flew into their midst. As it landed on the ground, its wings began to form the arms and the talons transformed into legs. In a split second, the man with a feather robe stood in front of them. Earyl recognized him immediately. Quickly, he inquired,
"Ravenbeak, what happened?" The druid of the Talons tried to control himself, yet he broke with sorrow,
"Keeper! Priestess! Cenarius is dead!" he said slowly, "The greenskins killed him! I saw it myself!" Instantly, the situation became furious. Everyone spoke with anger and curses, when they heard what happened to their Demi-god. Earyl couldn't control his temper, while Sylane looked downcast. The only person who wasn't affected was J'bric. Then the Priestess shouted with a clear and loud voice,
"Calm down!!" Instantly, the situation was under control again. Sylane turned to Ravenbeak, her face showed sympathy as she tried to comfort him,
"What else did you see?" Ravenbeak looked back to her, and snarled,
"I saw the greenskins invaded our beloved forest! Even as we speak now, they razed the trees for their foul neccesities! Many of our sisters had fallen to their hands. Not only that, they had built a base at the western part of Everglade." Before the young druid could continue, Earyl already cut him,
"That's why you had summoned us here, Sylane? Why did you not tell us that the foul creatures invaded Ashenvale like before? I suggested that we should get rid of them immediately!!" His word was greeted by shouts and warcries among the Sentinels. However, the Priestess once again calmed them,
"Hold it! It is true that we should avenge Cenarius' death, but I won't allow bloodshed until we could know the real problem! If the greenskins were killed the Demi-god, then they were not an ordinary foe! We should find who they are and what they want!!" The explanation seems reasonable, yet it did little to put down dissatisfaction among them. Ravenbeak spoke again,
"Priestess, there's something you should know! Far at the Barrens, I also saw humans and. the Quel'dorei settled here.at Kalimdor!" The news stirred uproar among the crowd. It is still clear in their memory that the Quel'dorei was part of them once until their reckless disregard to magic had invited the Burning Legion to Kalimdor. Though they, the Kaldorei, managed to banish the demons back to where they belong, their homeland was drowned as the continents broke during the colossal fight. Then they were separated to their respective ways; the Quel'dorei went to east and founded Quel'Thalas. For the Kaldorei or Night Elves, they had decided to shun, or at least practiced magic that in harmony with the life itself. Now their estranged relatives had returned here with lesser mortals! The Keeper could barely hold his anger,
"The greenskins, and now the Quel'dorei and humans! What were the meanings of this?" Once again, Sylane had to keep them calm down. After everyone silent, she began to explain the purpose of the meeting,
"Look, that's why I have summoned you here! High Priestess Tyrande had summoned the Priestesses from their respective tribes, including me! She warned us about the greenskins' invasion and presence of the humans in Kalimdor! For that reason, Tyrande had to blew the Horn of Cenarius to awake Elder Stormrage and the Druids! They have reason to fear that.the Burning Legions might not far behind these events." Nobody lift their voice, since they knew what kind of foe the Burning Legion was.through the hard way. Then J'bric spoke,
"So, what is your suggestion then?" Sylane turned to the warrior, while Earyl frowned only. The Priestess of Elune turned to the crowd, and called one of the huntress,
"Arista, take some archers and huntresses as you need! I want you to keep eye on the greenskins; however keep some distance from them. If it is necessary, use the Sentinel! Understood?"
The huntress bowed, "I'm understand, Priestess!" As Arista and her band left them, Sylane turned back to Ravenbeak and commanded,
"Ravenbeak, return to your elders! Tell them to keep us informed about the human's movement! By the way, tell the Furbolgs about our situations. I believe they would gladly help us in dealing with this menace," Bowed, the young druid suddenly morphed into his raven form and flew.
"You'll regret this, Sylane," the Keeper commented, "What will you do if the greenskins and humans were really our enemies?" The Priestess answered with an icy tone,
"Then we have to purge them in the name of Elune! We shall destroy them utterly!!" This time, she was greeted with the furious cheers and applause. The huntresses and archers lifted their weapon to express their agreement. The Druids bellowed with a loud voice. The Demon Hunter was silent only. Sylane waved her hand to dismiss them. Without delay, the crowd began to disperse and blended with the darkness of the night. The plain was empty as before, save Sylane, Earyl and J'bric. The Keeper still stared his rival with an intense dislike. Knowing that, the Priestess walked down from her steed and touched Earyl's shoulder gently,
"Don't worry, brother," she said, "Leave this matter to me, I can handle it!" Earyl turned on her, and saw his sister smiled. He replied it with a kiss at her hand,
"If you said so, then I won't question your decision," Then he left her and passed by J'bric. The Demon Hunter seems undisturbed, when Earyl hissed something to his ear,
"I didn't want to lose another sister again!" With that, the Keeper vanished among the flock of ravens. Now there were only both of them. J'bric inquired,
"Why did you call me? Earyl was more than enough to deal with the greenskins," Sylane turned to him,
"We badly need everyone here! Perhaps this would be the battle we can't win."
The Demon Hunter smirked only, "Perhaps, but don't forget that it was the Druids who turned against us after we had banished the Legion together 10,000 years ago! Lord Illidan still imprisoned beneath the Barrow Deeps along with other Demon Hunters. Few were banished from the forest, including me,"
The Priestess sighed, trying to change the subject, "Were you still blaming yourself for Vyshna's death? Could you allow her spirit to rest?" J'bric growled and gritted his teeth upon the name,
"It was my fault! If I could help her on time, she wouldn't be dead by now!" Sylane quickly countered him,
"Stop condemning yourself!! By doing that, you were condemned her soul to eternity! Let her go, J'bric!!" Angrily, J'bric turned on her. Suddenly, his body was covered with a greenish flame. Sylane had to distanced herself from him,
"I can't! Not until I have my revenge upon those demons!!" he shouted, "I was willing to blind myself in order to harness the force of Chaos as Lord Illidan did! Because of that, I was condemned by our society! I was deserved to be damned!!" The flame roared like storm, forcing Sylane to return to her steed. When the fire was gone, J'bric was nowhere to be seen. The Priestess sadly shook her head,
"Oh, J'bric! If you know what is in my heart.may Elune guided your tortured soul!" Slowly, her form began to fade from the existence, leaving the plain alone.
Author's Note: O.K., let me explain several things before you're going to fry me! First, my knowledge about the Night Elves was not so good like you, folks. (Not mention I didn't have the game reference.^ ^ !) So, I attempted to write the story with my available resources, some of them comes from other Night Elves' story. Second, you'll notice that Earyl's form was not half-stag, because I tried to follow the game storyline. The only half-stag was Cenarius, so I made Earyl looked like Furion instead. Last, the story was supposedly set between "Brothers in Blood" and "Destiny of Flame and Sorrow". To avoid conflict between Illidan's imprisonment and J'bric's return, I assumed that some Demon Hunters were banished from Ashenvale, and returned after Illidan was freed. Now, that's my excuses! It was up to you, since you'll be the one who read it! Next time, the last story would be about the remnants of the proud Human Alliance! Goodbye!
Everglade, Ashenvale Forest. Not far from the foot of Mount Hyjal.
The moon was hanging on the night sky; its silvery light brightened the entire forest. The forest was silent. Not even an insect makes any noises. Then a huge bear came and scratched the nearest tree. Another bear joined, and followed by others. They went to the open plain, which not far from the forest. The first bear turned to the east, as the sound of stampede came. The sounds were getting closer. Slowly but sure, something started to appear. It appeared as a band of the dark-skinned women. Most of them carried longbows, while some was riding the Nightpanthers. The riders wore a dark, light armor and brandished the boomerang-like glaive. Soon, their numbers had filled the entire plain.
At the same time, the bears roared. Their hunched bodies started to stand upright. Their paws were retracted into fingers. The gruffy, bearded face formed in the place of the snout. Then the transformed creatures began to walk with their legs like a normal elf. They wore the bear fur as their cloak. The druids began to join their counterparts at the plain. Everyone was silent when the beam of moonlight fell to the middle of the plain. Then a spark appeared on the place. As the sparkles shone brighter, something began to materialize in front of the crowd. It was begun to appear as the woman with a huge white tiger. Her armor was similar with the Huntress, except the color was silvery. Her face was serene and still. She was holding the longbow at her left hand. Despite in the midst of throng, the woman showed nothing.
Meanwhile, someone was coming. It was the green-bearded man with a cloak made of the tree bark. Two antlers were rested on top of his head. He was holding a curled wooden staff. His face was grim and determined, yet it began to soften when he saw the woman. The dryads followed him, while showed their playful natures. The crowd opened the way for the man with some respect. When close to the Priestess, he bowed a little,
"It was a long time, Sylane," he said with a heavy tone, ".since the Horn of Cenarius had sent us asleep 10,000 years ago! Now the same sound had awoken us, the Druids! Elder Stormrage has sent me to aid your warriors," Sylane smiled thinly, as her dark eyes still turned to another direction.
"Thank you, Earyl! Your assistance was highly appreciated." she gestured to her surrounding, "However, I'm still waiting someone else." Then the booming sound broke the silence,
"Are you waiting for me?" Everyone turned to the tall, longhaired man at Sylane's direction. The man brought the double-edged sabres. Anyone close to the mysterious guest swore that they could hear the sabres hummed. The warrior wore a white scarf to cover his eyes. His body was tattooed with arcane symbols. The hair was tied into a long ponytail. The situation became restless, as everyone whispered to each other. Even the dryads stopped their play. They whispered in fear,
"J'bric.J'bric Doombringer! He has returned." The Sentinels hesitantly gave the Demon Hunter a way as he walked toward Sylane and Earyl. The Keeper's face darkened as he saw the warrior,
He shouted, "Go away! There is no place for you here, Demon Hunter!" The warrior answered with a cold, yet commanding voice,
"I have nothing to do with you! I'm coming here because someone had summoned me from my exile,"
"Who had summoned you here?" "I did!" The Priestess' answer shocked Earyl as he turned to her with disbelief.
"You? Did you realize what you have done?" Before he could continue, Sylane had stared him with respect and authority. The Keeper was silent.
"I realize what I did, Earyl Treegrowth.however, something had forced me to call all of you here." Suddenly, the large crow flew into their midst. As it landed on the ground, its wings began to form the arms and the talons transformed into legs. In a split second, the man with a feather robe stood in front of them. Earyl recognized him immediately. Quickly, he inquired,
"Ravenbeak, what happened?" The druid of the Talons tried to control himself, yet he broke with sorrow,
"Keeper! Priestess! Cenarius is dead!" he said slowly, "The greenskins killed him! I saw it myself!" Instantly, the situation became furious. Everyone spoke with anger and curses, when they heard what happened to their Demi-god. Earyl couldn't control his temper, while Sylane looked downcast. The only person who wasn't affected was J'bric. Then the Priestess shouted with a clear and loud voice,
"Calm down!!" Instantly, the situation was under control again. Sylane turned to Ravenbeak, her face showed sympathy as she tried to comfort him,
"What else did you see?" Ravenbeak looked back to her, and snarled,
"I saw the greenskins invaded our beloved forest! Even as we speak now, they razed the trees for their foul neccesities! Many of our sisters had fallen to their hands. Not only that, they had built a base at the western part of Everglade." Before the young druid could continue, Earyl already cut him,
"That's why you had summoned us here, Sylane? Why did you not tell us that the foul creatures invaded Ashenvale like before? I suggested that we should get rid of them immediately!!" His word was greeted by shouts and warcries among the Sentinels. However, the Priestess once again calmed them,
"Hold it! It is true that we should avenge Cenarius' death, but I won't allow bloodshed until we could know the real problem! If the greenskins were killed the Demi-god, then they were not an ordinary foe! We should find who they are and what they want!!" The explanation seems reasonable, yet it did little to put down dissatisfaction among them. Ravenbeak spoke again,
"Priestess, there's something you should know! Far at the Barrens, I also saw humans and. the Quel'dorei settled here.at Kalimdor!" The news stirred uproar among the crowd. It is still clear in their memory that the Quel'dorei was part of them once until their reckless disregard to magic had invited the Burning Legion to Kalimdor. Though they, the Kaldorei, managed to banish the demons back to where they belong, their homeland was drowned as the continents broke during the colossal fight. Then they were separated to their respective ways; the Quel'dorei went to east and founded Quel'Thalas. For the Kaldorei or Night Elves, they had decided to shun, or at least practiced magic that in harmony with the life itself. Now their estranged relatives had returned here with lesser mortals! The Keeper could barely hold his anger,
"The greenskins, and now the Quel'dorei and humans! What were the meanings of this?" Once again, Sylane had to keep them calm down. After everyone silent, she began to explain the purpose of the meeting,
"Look, that's why I have summoned you here! High Priestess Tyrande had summoned the Priestesses from their respective tribes, including me! She warned us about the greenskins' invasion and presence of the humans in Kalimdor! For that reason, Tyrande had to blew the Horn of Cenarius to awake Elder Stormrage and the Druids! They have reason to fear that.the Burning Legions might not far behind these events." Nobody lift their voice, since they knew what kind of foe the Burning Legion was.through the hard way. Then J'bric spoke,
"So, what is your suggestion then?" Sylane turned to the warrior, while Earyl frowned only. The Priestess of Elune turned to the crowd, and called one of the huntress,
"Arista, take some archers and huntresses as you need! I want you to keep eye on the greenskins; however keep some distance from them. If it is necessary, use the Sentinel! Understood?"
The huntress bowed, "I'm understand, Priestess!" As Arista and her band left them, Sylane turned back to Ravenbeak and commanded,
"Ravenbeak, return to your elders! Tell them to keep us informed about the human's movement! By the way, tell the Furbolgs about our situations. I believe they would gladly help us in dealing with this menace," Bowed, the young druid suddenly morphed into his raven form and flew.
"You'll regret this, Sylane," the Keeper commented, "What will you do if the greenskins and humans were really our enemies?" The Priestess answered with an icy tone,
"Then we have to purge them in the name of Elune! We shall destroy them utterly!!" This time, she was greeted with the furious cheers and applause. The huntresses and archers lifted their weapon to express their agreement. The Druids bellowed with a loud voice. The Demon Hunter was silent only. Sylane waved her hand to dismiss them. Without delay, the crowd began to disperse and blended with the darkness of the night. The plain was empty as before, save Sylane, Earyl and J'bric. The Keeper still stared his rival with an intense dislike. Knowing that, the Priestess walked down from her steed and touched Earyl's shoulder gently,
"Don't worry, brother," she said, "Leave this matter to me, I can handle it!" Earyl turned on her, and saw his sister smiled. He replied it with a kiss at her hand,
"If you said so, then I won't question your decision," Then he left her and passed by J'bric. The Demon Hunter seems undisturbed, when Earyl hissed something to his ear,
"I didn't want to lose another sister again!" With that, the Keeper vanished among the flock of ravens. Now there were only both of them. J'bric inquired,
"Why did you call me? Earyl was more than enough to deal with the greenskins," Sylane turned to him,
"We badly need everyone here! Perhaps this would be the battle we can't win."
The Demon Hunter smirked only, "Perhaps, but don't forget that it was the Druids who turned against us after we had banished the Legion together 10,000 years ago! Lord Illidan still imprisoned beneath the Barrow Deeps along with other Demon Hunters. Few were banished from the forest, including me,"
The Priestess sighed, trying to change the subject, "Were you still blaming yourself for Vyshna's death? Could you allow her spirit to rest?" J'bric growled and gritted his teeth upon the name,
"It was my fault! If I could help her on time, she wouldn't be dead by now!" Sylane quickly countered him,
"Stop condemning yourself!! By doing that, you were condemned her soul to eternity! Let her go, J'bric!!" Angrily, J'bric turned on her. Suddenly, his body was covered with a greenish flame. Sylane had to distanced herself from him,
"I can't! Not until I have my revenge upon those demons!!" he shouted, "I was willing to blind myself in order to harness the force of Chaos as Lord Illidan did! Because of that, I was condemned by our society! I was deserved to be damned!!" The flame roared like storm, forcing Sylane to return to her steed. When the fire was gone, J'bric was nowhere to be seen. The Priestess sadly shook her head,
"Oh, J'bric! If you know what is in my heart.may Elune guided your tortured soul!" Slowly, her form began to fade from the existence, leaving the plain alone.
Author's Note: O.K., let me explain several things before you're going to fry me! First, my knowledge about the Night Elves was not so good like you, folks. (Not mention I didn't have the game reference.^ ^ !) So, I attempted to write the story with my available resources, some of them comes from other Night Elves' story. Second, you'll notice that Earyl's form was not half-stag, because I tried to follow the game storyline. The only half-stag was Cenarius, so I made Earyl looked like Furion instead. Last, the story was supposedly set between "Brothers in Blood" and "Destiny of Flame and Sorrow". To avoid conflict between Illidan's imprisonment and J'bric's return, I assumed that some Demon Hunters were banished from Ashenvale, and returned after Illidan was freed. Now, that's my excuses! It was up to you, since you'll be the one who read it! Next time, the last story would be about the remnants of the proud Human Alliance! Goodbye!