Chapter 2: Distant Thunder
Titania descended the flight of stairs with amazing haste. When she reached the landing, she took off her cloak and pulled her turquoise tunic over her nightgown and slipped on some golden sandals. She took a moment to tie the strings around her legs then flung her cloak back onto her shoulders. She then quickly ran a brush through her long, straight, black hair and splashed her face with cool water from a basin next to her bed. Next she went over to a small, chestnut cabinet and opened the doors. Inside was a glimmering headband made of gold, embedded with a shining sapphire in the center and several smaller sapphires twisted with golden wire across the band. Titania took her Mage's Crown and placed it on her head. She took one last look in the mirror and headed for a heavy, wooden door at the other end of her chamber. As she heaved the door open she paused for a second and looked back into her room. Her right hand shot into the air and her long, black staff topped with another shining sapphire, flew from the corner it was resting and into Titania's open hand.
The empty corridor echoed with the sound of Titania's footsteps. She moved at a great pace. She came to the end of the hallway to where a staircase spiraled downwards. She began to descend but only after a few steps she stopped at a door. She knocked on the door quietly and said in a quiet voice, "Junai?"
At first there wasn't any answer, but then a small voice answered. "I'm coming, mistress."
With that, Titania continued to descend. The door opened behind her and small footsteps started to follow. Soon there was a royal blue carpet beneath Titania's feet and the floor flattened into a small room. A tall, dark, double door stood at the end of the room and slowly it began to open as Titania and Junai approached it. The gentle morning breeze filled the room. The call of sea birds echoed off the stonewalls and the two stepped out onto white stone.
A glimmering, white bridge crossed over the water far below. A stonewall surrounds the Pandemonium Sanctuary and through the Great Gates below, a bay rests for ships to pass in. Thousands of steps and roads climb intricately through the towers to the top-most arcane sanctuary, the Masters Sanctuary. This is where Titania and Junai are headed. They crossed the bridge leading to the metropolis of stairs and towers and began to climb.
They walked up one road and came to a stable. There, Tobin and Bereneth, steeds of Elwynn Forest, awaited them. Titania mounted Tobin and Junai on Bereneth and together, they rode up the streets. They wound through the labyrinth of roads all the way up to a landing where a very tall, white tower stood. The tower looked as though it had once been the peak of a mountain, with cliff-like sides and a jagged shape. Titania and Junai trotted through the giant, open doors into a great hall.
Marble floors flooded beneath their horses and swirls of mystical lights danced under the dome-shaped ceiling. On the wall facing the doors, a round balcony stuck out of an arch in the wall. As the two sorceresses' dismounted onto the shiny floor, a flustered, very old dwarf appeared at the balcony. He was still in his pajamas, which were purple and green striped. On his head, a dark blue nightcap sat with a white fluff ball at the tip that fluttered around with a pair of golden wings, bouncing up and down. White tuffs of straggly hair stuck out from under his cap and he had a braided, white beard on his face.
"Hurry, Titania! Take the left way!" Said the dwarf, and he stuck out his majestic, gold scepter towards a dark passage. White lights shot out from his scepter and lit up the passage. Titania ran towards the way, followed by Junai. The walked down a short hall and then up a spiraling staircase. When they reached the top, the passage opened to a brightly lit courtroom.
In the center of the room, nine oak chairs sat in a circle, each with it's own distinctive person sitting in it, except for one. To the left of the room, a larger throne, with a soft, plum cushion, sat. There the old dwarf sat but he was now dressed in a white and gold robe with a violet cape. To the right, the landing to the balcony led outside.
Titania and Junai walked over to the circle. "Junai it is best if you leave for the moment. You will be summoned after we have finished discussion." Said the old dwarf. He pointed his scepter towards another passage to the back of the room.
"Yes, Master Gothwine." Said Junai and she walked away.
"Please, Titania, sit."
Titania sat down in the remaining chair. She looked around the circle. She knew everyone here. There was Esmeril Dothgown, the pompous mage from Stormwind city who wasn't the most skilled of sorceress', Biggle Rustworthy, a young, pink haired gnome mage and alchemist, Jinny Johnson, skilled human demonologist and warlock, Thorim Rafalgastor, an aging, black human mage, Antoinette and Rebulum Knotfountain, twin gnome warlock and mage from Ironforge, Radamere Normcinder, Theramore refugee and highly skilled arch-mage, and of course Gothwine Goldenfaith, dwarven High Priest, founder and ruler of the Pandemonium Sanctuary. This group of sorcerers, Titania including, all joined together after the fall of the Legion and called them selves the Seldaryne. They had the same idea as Jaina Proudmore, to erect a citadel from the ocean depths, but they wished to be more secluded from the outside world and so they summoned their fortress from deep below the Great Sea.
Gothwine then began the council. "First off I would like to ask you all, who received the premonition this morning?"
The whole circle shared a shifting of eyes. Biggle, Jinny and Titania were the only ones who raised their hands. Esmeril made a jealous snigger.
"Alas I knew you Jinny and Biggle would have received it," said Gothwine, "But I did not expect you Titania. You were the first one to call upon me. Titania will you share your vision with the rest of us?"
"Yes, Gothwine." Answered Titania. She got up from her seat and went to the center of the circle. Just then a crystal globe descended from a hole in the ceiling and hovered near Titania's face. She backed up slightly and pointed her staff towards the globe. With her free hand, she touched her temple and closed her eyes. A bright light pierced her eyelids and her staff illuminated the globe. All around the room an illusion of her premonition appeared for all of them to see. They were in the jungle. She showed them the statues, the spider crane, the demonic creatures with red eyes and the floating wraith that let out the piercing cry. Then it was over and Titania sat down.
"Can it really be her?" Said Antoinette in her squeaky voice.
"Yes, I am afraid it is." Said Gothwine. "Brandistock is alive once more. The Banshee commander has found away to live. But I am afraid that there are more than mere banshees we should be worried about. No lesser being could have summoned her back from the Nether."
"You are right, Gothwine." Said Jinny, a look of worry on her face. "I saw more of the premonition, more that none of you three might have seen. They are coming."
"Who is coming?" questioned Gothwine.
"I'm not sure, but they will be here soon I am afraid, maybe even today-" Jinny stopped. In the distance, loud thunder sounded in the sky. Everyone turned his or her heads to the balcony. A cold, damp wind filled the room. Gothwine got up from his seat and darted towards the stairs. Everyone else followed him. Titania called Junai and she came out of the passageway and followed. The Seldaryne all walked out of the tower and into the cool air. The sky was dark and rain began to fall. A dark cloud advanced towards the fortress from the south, spewing lighting in all directions. As they continued to gaze in wonder and in fear, horrible, black ships appeared in the clouds. They seemed to be sailing in the mist. Rebulum jerked his head to west.
"I thought I saw a dragon in the sky," He said.
"That's not very good." Answered Gothwine. Just then a bright light blasted from the front ship. The light became larger and then they realized that it was heading straight for them. Everyone ran to the side as a blazing boulder came crashing into the tower above. Large rocks fell next to them. "Raise the alarm, Radamere, we are at war." Commanded Gothwine very calmly. Radamere ran back into the tower. "Everyone, places. Junai, you must get inside where it is safe."
"What?" Junai protested. "Why can't I fight?"
"Because we can't risk it," replied Gothwine, "You are too important."
"What are you talking about? No I'm not."
"There is something that you have not been notified about, but now is not the time." Said Gothwine.
"What are you talking about Gothwine?" Asked Titania.
"There is no time right now," Gothwine said with slight urgency, "Stations!" He yelled.
Titania got the idea and she raised her staff. It began to glow a light blue and instantly she teleported to her sanctuary on top her tower. She motioned the globes and spheres around her to orbit much faster and farther. She was ready for battle.
The rest of the Seldaryne were in their various towers around the Pandemonium, all of them prepared for the assault. Just then the whole citadel began to rumble, and then it seemed as though all the sound was sucked up for a split second. Then like the force of a hurricane, a great beam of silver light shot into the sky. The light spiraled around the Master's Sanctuary and blasted the dark clouds directly above the tower. The signal was sent and soon hundreds of small lights appeared at the top of every other tower, where the residents of the Pandemonium prepared for battle.
At the same moment, in a small glaive on the shores of Winterspring, Taeowyn Moonferal looked into the sky. She saw the burning, silver signal in the distant gray storm. Without a thought, she leapt from the tree she was sitting in and dove for the ground. Falling faster, and faster, the ground coming closer and closer, her long, silver hair blowing behind her. Then in whirl of violet smoke, she transformed into a large, dark stormcrow. She swooped just before she hit the ground and flew into the east. Her violet wings shone in the sun and her long tail feathers whistled behind her. At a great speed, she continued to fly towards the Pandemonium Sanctuary.
Titania looked at the oncoming fleet. They were a lot like the goblin zeppelins she had been on before, but they did not have the large balloon attached and she could certainly tell any goblin engineer did not make them. They were horrifying to look at. Titania could see black statues of winged serpents on the bow of the ships. These were the same statues she saw in her dream.
The thunder sounded very loudly now and began a rhythm. It was as though the ships played the thunder on great drums on their decks, and used it as a menacing technique. Titania listened to the continuous rumble but she did not feel afraid.
Just then, out of the sky, from above the first ship, a live winged serpent came soaring through the air. It was almost dragon like, except it hadn't any legs. Mounted on the great snake was Brandistock, the banshee commander. She let out a piercing wail that pounded the entire fortress. With that command, hundreds of other winged creatures soared out of the clouds toward the Pandemonium. The battle had begun.
Titania began to conjure her spells at once, so did most of the rest of the Pandemonium. Fiery flames engulfed the globes and spheres around Titania. She held her staff in the air and pointed at the nearest enemy. The flames around her flung into the air like a catapult and bounded towards the creature. It made contact with a flurry of flame and limbs. It fell from the sky to dark water below. Hundreds of other offensive spells catapulted from towers around Titania, firing at the enemy. Titania started to conjure another fireball.
All around the flying creatures dove towards the great fortress. Other magi without towers were lined on walls and terraces, casting their spells at passing enemies. The creatures lunged for helpless fighters. Most of the creatures were demons. There were many succubus in the fleet, seductive demons with bulging breasts, large, bat-like wings and long barbed tails perfect for poisoning their victims. As one whistled past Titania, the succubus was blasted by a flicker of flame and fell to her death. Another one flew straight for Titania and pounded hard with her hoofs on one of the globes, which fell out of its orbit and bounded for Titania. Titania turned her head as the blazing globe hit her and bounced off. She fell to the ground in agony as the globe ricocheted on the stone below. Just then a swarm of raging succubus came thrashing towards her. She quickly got to her feet and raised her arms. This time cool, blue light erupted from her hands and illuminated the spheres around her. They spun even faster and catapulted a cone of freezing wind. The magic hit them like a raging tornado and instantly they froze in mid air. They still continued to bound towards the tower but they hit several of the rotating globes and shattered.
Titania looked around to see if she could spot Brandistock. Titania looked towards the Masters Sanctuary and spotted her circling it. Furious bolts of ice sped after her but they couldn't catch her. Titania looked back to the open sky and saw the great, black ships descending nearer to the walls. Several of them were aflame, but the others were pretty much intact. When they were close enough, the planks dropped down and thousands of small beetle like creatures came running onto the bloodstained streets. They leapt onto the walls of the towers and scurried around. Back in the sky, more strange airborne demons came thrashing in. These ones were dark red, with large, bulging horns and long black tails with bold hammer like bulbs at the end. The hurled their tales at the top of the towers and they bricks came crashing down. These demolishers tore through the forest of towers, bringing them down as they flew by. If all this wasn't enough trouble already, the black ships began firing blazing boulders towards the citadel.
Titania started to conjure an arcane missile to launch at one of the ships when an unseen ship floated behind her. She was almost done charging when the ship fired a massive fireball towards her. She turned around just in time to see the fireball make contact. It hit her with a great force as sparks of red fire and violet magic tore through the air and a reinforced purple sphere of magic flew from the tower. It hurtled into a couple of small towers, bringing the large boulders falling onto the protective globe. As the violet barrier settled Titania stood up from the rubble. Her mana shield managed to save herself but her tower was gone. She sighed as she looked upon the ruin of her arcane sanctuary. She wiped it off and turned back to the battle. She looked at the demon locusts swarming over the towers bellow and at the flying horrors in the sky. Hope was lost and Titania prayed for some light.
Just then, high above, the clouds started do dissipate and the brilliant moon shone through. A large bird circled under the rays of silver light. Just then, the moon began to glow and thousands of falling stars fell from the ugly clouds. The great beams of violet light crashed into the terrible black ships; spewing forth it's magnificent energy. The soaring demons fell pray to the star fall as well, dissolving in the misty light. Titania gazed in awe as her long time friend soared down from the blazing sky. Taeowyn transformed back into her druidic self, long silver hair, gray skin with a tint of violet. Her blue markings of wild flowers around her glowing eyes gave her a sweet yet ferocious gaze.
"Hey there, Kiddo!" Taeowyn said to Titania.
"Nice of you to show up," Titania responded with a smile, "Are you ready to do this?" Taeowyn nodded and they both charged off the ledge.
Taeowyn soared back into the air as the magnificent, dark bird again and Titania landed on the rubble below. Taeowyn flew with tremendous speed and ripped through the flying demons. The demons screeched as she tore through their flesh with her beak and talons like a razor. Titania ran down the steps to the harbor below. They needed more help.
Titania reached the salty waves and turned to the northern wall. Some stairs led down into the dark water below. She pulled out a small vile in the pocket of her tunic and pulled the cork off. She threw down the misty blue potion that enabled her to breath underwater and she dove into the dark depths. She swam down hard and when she reached a landing, a dark cave opening awaited her. She swam into the darkness beneath the raging war above her.