Note: Thanks to all who have reviewed, it is much appreciated.

Guardian of the Void

Chapter II: Tasting the shadows.

Selene clamped her jaws down on the piece of bread, her Frostsaber tiger clawing aimlessly at the ground next to her. Tal sat nearby, completely silent, ripping off pieces of bread and stuffing them in his mouth greedily and Nandieb could be found grazing off among the trees.

"We'll be out of the forest soon" Tal told Selene quietly "Heading into the plains, away from the trees" Selene noted how her friend looked distinctly uncomfortable when he discussed leaving the forest, she couldn't help but smile.

"Surely a seasoned warden would be able to handle a little trip into plains?" She teased, Tal grinned.

"The chase is always, most vigorous out on the plains, nowhere for them to hide and nowhere for me to hide" He explained. Selene raised an eyebrow.

"Not going to say anything about the company?" She asked. Tal shook his head.

"I'm with a manic priestess and a sadistic Druid, its probably best I go into no more detail than that" Tal chuckled. Selene gasped incredulously.

"Manic? Me? You'll pay for that comment" She laughed, playfully lunging at him and knocking him to the floor. They playfully grappled on the floor for a few moments, with Tal eventually gaining the upper hand.

"Am I interrupting something?" Nandieb asked, watching the two as he strolled into the clearing. Tal stood up and moved away from Selene, smiling weakly.

"No Nandieb, I just called Selene manic" Tal chuckled, Nandieb blinked.

"Manic? More like crazed dear boy" Nandieb trotted around the clearing slowly.

"Its time to go, pack up"

"Right, are you going to-"Tal stopped abruptly, closing his mouth and straining his ears. Nandieb did the same, a soft growl forming in his throat.

"Can you hear that?" Nandieb asked, Tal nodded.

"Something is creeping up on us" He replied.

"We aren't creeping up on you" A voice said from the shadows, laughing slowly. As it spoke, a group of beings materialised from the shadows, people of only vague humanoid form and the texture of rippling darkness. They were unarmed, and their glowing eyes betrayed no sign of hostility as they bored into the three. Tal whipped his circular blade away from his belt and pointed it at one of the strange beings of darkness.

"Let us through" He snarled, the being he had pointed at shook his head and hurled himself at the Warden, a blade clashing into the Warden's own with the force to push him back.

A blade? He was unarmed a moment ago! Tal blinked behind the being and plunged the blade into its back.

Selene fired blasts of flaming energy at the approaching beings of darkness, the searing arrows whipped through the clearing, striking the void entities every time, doing nothing to stem the flow of them, she raised her arms up into the air, chanting under her breath. Stars began to emerge from the sea of blue above them; they plummeted to the earth, felling thousands of the void beings. Selene turned to Tal and Nandieb, both were fighting for their lives against a legion of shadows, materialising from the darkness and slashing at them with jagged swords.

"Flee! We have to get away from them, there are too many!" She called. Nandieb nodded and raised his claw, the air rippled and the trees came to life, sweeping their branches and knocking the void beings away. Tal leapt on the back of Selene's Frostsaber and they were off, dashing away from the clearing at tremendous speed. The trees whizzed past them as they ran, behind them in the clearing, the horde of void beings chased after them, gathering speed as they ran. The Frostsaber ground to a halt as a group of void beings stepped into their path, surrounding them. Selene prepared herself to fight, aiming her crossbow. Abruptly, a blast of light cut through the forest, causing a void being to disintegrate.

"Down foul beings!" A voice cried out as a woman on a white horse galloped in, swinging a hefty hammer at a group of them and leaping off her horse. She held the body-length hammer of a paladin in both hands as a group of knights and footmen backed her up, hacking at the endless horde. The paladin raised her hammer, creating a golden haze around her, she swung the hammer like a madwoman, knocking the void beings and watching as they vanished. The clawed uselessly at her, several of them vanishing in a flash of light every time she cast a spell of holy light. The three Night Elves joined in the fray, firing bolts of flame and twirling knives at the void beings. With the aid of the humans and the truents , the void beings were beaten back, eventually raising their heads simultaneously, as if hearing some cry from far off, the took one last look at the people before them and ran. The paladin wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.

"Hey, my name's Olivia, lieutenant of the Silver Hand" She told them "We were sent out as an early warning system for New Dalaran, come on, we'll take you to our camp, you must be hungry" The three Night Elves, despite being taken aback by her forward nature, agreed and followed her.

The camp was small, just a few stables, some farms and a town hall. The paladin led the three Night Elves into her office and sat them down. Wearily glancing over them.

"You must be the elves" She told them "In truth, you weren't the people we intended to call for help, we originally wanted Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind, but they are away from their grove and a far off in the Barrens, trying to convince the Centaurs to rally to their cause against Ner'zhul and the Undead, it would take them a fair few weeks to get here and by then, we may already have been conquered" Olivia sighed "So we're left with you three, we were rather hoping for an army" Selene scowled at the bold paladin.

"Do you expect us to take our defence force out because some pitiful humans want some help? Be grateful even I am here!" She snapped, Nandieb clamped his claw over her mouth.

"You will pay respect to our allies" The druid hissed before removing his hand and turning back to face the paladin.

"What do you know of their numbers?" Nandieb asked, Olivia shook her head.

"Nothing, but we know it is enough to almost devastate us" Olivia  replied "Stay here tonight, we will speed you on your way to New Dalaran at…when do you Night Elves work best?"

"Night" Nandieb told her "The clue is in the name" Olivia grinned.

"Good, then you can stay here and rest until evening" The paladin told them. The three Night Elves nodded and left quietly. Olivia turned back to her work, paying no heed to the raven fluttering away from her window.

Note: I cannot help but think that this chapter really isn't up to scratch. I just wasn't as pleased with it as I am with other things I write.

On a different note, does anybody have any ideas on how to make the 'Void Beings' interesting, right now they just seem very mundane. If you have any ideas, put them in a review, so far they can hide in the shadows and create weapons out of darkness. And their weaknesses are strong lights such as the paladin's holy light and midday sunlight.

Any ideas, please tell me and of course R&R!