Transcendence
Chapter 08: Through the Canyon
Ichigo ran up and slammed himself into the wall, his back to it and pressing in deep on the rock wall, trying to keep himself flat against the wall as to not be seen. Slowly he shifted to the side and peered around the corner, he barely poked his head around before he pulled back and pressed himself back against the rock. Around the bend and just a few meters away was another patrol, six of them were there and they were moving past his position.
Looking around again he saw them moving off, in a loose and unorganised formation and you could probably just think their walking around aimlessly than patrolling. He glanced at them and cringed at the ugly and savage looking beasts, their faces were snarling and misshapen – though not in a deformed or horrific way, but simply ugly. It would seem what Adelina said about the Centaur were true, they were savage looking beasts.
But they certain fit the bill, he remembers reading something once about mythical beings with horse bodies and the torso of a man, but he can't remember where or what exactly they were called. Pushing that aside he looked at them and tried to see what kind of danger he was dealing with, mainly their weapons and armor. Luckily all they seem to wear was basically small plates of metal anywhere that it could hand, mainly over their shoulder or chest. But apart from that they had nothing else to offer protection, except for the crude looking weapons they had.
Mostly spears and hatchets make of rock, wood and from what Ichigo could tell bones, not very advanced in the terms of armaments. But Ichigo wasn't going to fight them, after all, just because you got a superior weapon doesn't mean a wooden spear can't kill you. Adelina had also warned him that the woman of the Centaur seemed to possess some form of nature magic, something he didn't want to test out. The final reason was that they had Hyena's as hunting dogs, and he didn't want to deal with those.
Ichigo turned back into the rock and pushed off, running as quickly and quietly as he could back the way he came. As he slid down into a small ditch he looked up to see the familiar young druid a few feet ahead of him, peering around a rock. Ichigo crouched low and slowly moved towards her, keeping as quiet as he could to make sure that what was over that rock didn't hear him coming. After all they were both in very deep water right now, and they had sharks all around them.
Ichigo and Adelina had entered a contested section of Thousand Needles; it was under the control of the Galak Centaur Tribe. That meant they had to sneak through the area and avoid detection at all costs. Adelina had warned him that the Centaur were highly aggressive and often went out looking for fights, so if they found them the entire tribe could be after them. That would mean facing over a hundred horsemen that could run them down easy and likely eat their corpse's afterwards.
Ichigo moved close crouched down next to the young druid; he leaned up and over her and peaked around the corner. To his expectations he saw another patrol a few feet away from their raised cover between the large stone bluffs they were situated between. Ichigo leaned back and got back down to a knee and listened to the hooves clanking on the stone slowly faded away.
"What now…?" Ichigo whispered as the clanking grew silent.
Adelina silenced him with a finger on the lips, before she peaked around and watched them leave from sight. She kept watching the corner they moved behind for a few more seconds before she slowly leaned back into cover and looked at Ichigo.
"We need to be very quiet, the Centaur are natural scavengers and hunters, if they even hear a single footfall they will pounce on us," Adelina whispered, her words just audible to Ichigo.
"Okay, how do we do this?" Ichigo asked.
Adelina was silent for a moment, thinking about what to do, and scanning her surroundings for anything that caught her eye.
"My mother taught me a lot about hunting, as well as the kind of enemies that roam Ashenvale and beyond," Adelina said. "The Centaur won't have a set patrol route; they will simple move around in the open searching for anyone, so if we stick to the cliffs and high rises between the bluffs we may be able to pass them unnoticed."
Ichigo nodded, that sounded like a good plan, Ichigo wondered how someone his age could be so skilled in hunting and tracking. He guessed the Night Elves are very cautious when it comes to their kids and teach them all they have to know about surviving, especially in places like this.
"Sounds good, how do we do that?" Ichigo asked, they didn't exactly have a good map of the area, and the map they did have only showed what they knew so basically they couldn't do anything unless they scouted out the entire area.
But instead of replying she continued scanning the environment around her, and eventually her gaze lingered on a small rock spire in the distance. Adelina smiled as an idea formulated in her mind, she turned to Ichigo and ushered a simple command before moving off.
"Stay here."
As she moved forward her body was enveloped in a dull green glow before she quickly shape shifted into a different form. Instead of her regular appearance she now looked like a lithe purple panther, it quickly shot off and towards the stone spire and leapt onto it, scaling it with her sharp claws.
Ichigo gazed at the Night elf in panther form in awe, her climbing and the sudden transformation taking him by surprise only for a moment before he collected himself. He was still getting use to that, as well as so many other things around here, but her transformation really had been the first things that caught him off guard. As well as embarrass him.
He remembered the first time he heard her say she could transform into animals; saying that the druids were given gifts from the Ancients to be able to turn into forms reminiscent of them. She said she could turn into a Panther and a Bear, but she said that the Druids have many more forms that they can choose to become. Ichigo didn't doubt her, after all he remembered that Yoruichi could do the same, although she could only turn into a cat but it should be the same process.
Sadly that line of thinking is what made him look like a complete idiot, remembering a little detail about Yoruichi's transformations that he suspected Adelina would have as well. He thought she was going to be starch naked when she turned back, so when she attempted to do so he turned around and covered his eyes. Refusing to look until she put some clothes on, but to her later explanation and his surprise she was completely dressed. Leading to a very awkward few hours between them as she asked if he had never seen a woman naked before, but she asked it if he had never felt the touch of a woman and asked if he was frustrated.
In turn that led to several questions on the sexuality of his species, something he was not keen on answering. That was a bad day for him.
Brushing the thoughts of that incident aside, along with certain images that sprung to mind, he focused on something a little more productive. He decided to focus on the place he was now, Thousand Needles, a canyon with hundreds of stone spires and bluffs that run up its lengths. He could understand now how it got its name.
It was a massive canyon that stretched for miles and was filled with hundreds of stone pillars. These pillars rose hundreds of feet into the air; some were only a meter in diameter and capable of supporting massive boulders twice as large as a bus. Then there were the mountainous bluffs, smaller mountain that had completely vertical cliff faces that rose hundreds of feet up. It was a very unique location to be in, but despite the place living up to its name there were a few negative qualities.
It was damn hot, the air was dry and the sun was irritating, and Ichigo bloody hated it with a passion. Even Hueco Mundo wasn't this hot and that was a damn desert, who would have thought a canyon would have been so humid and hot. It was like because it was next to a rainforest and the humid air actually swept down here.
Also the entire canyon was devoid of almost all life and colour, simply dull brown and rust coloured sand and rocks, which there was a lot of. There wasn't even any life that Ichigo could see, not a single animals or even a damn plant lived or grew here. But even if there was he had to think how anything could survive in such a place, he wondered how the damn Centaur even survived. Yet based on what he had heard about them, he doubted that their methods of survival could be considered humane.
But from what Ichigo was told the Tauren had been living here for centuries, and he doubted they were cannibals, they were peaceful creatures and not ones for violence. So it may mean that surviving here was not as impossible as last thought, maybe they had a way to survive here that others didn't know. It kind of reminded him of the tribes of Arabia, capable of surviving in wastelands that had limited food and water. It was kind of odd that this world was sharing some similarities to his own, he wondered if they were connected somehow.
Ichigo laughed quietly and simply brushed it off; it was probably only a coincidence.
But his small smile disappeared when he heard a loud thump in front of him and he looked to see a Panther right in front of him. For a moment he moved to reach for Zangetsu but stopped when he remembered it had to be Adelina, he was still not use to that. Adelina slowly moved towards him before shifting back into her humanoid form, her body quickly morphing and reshaping into her normal form and to Ichigo's prudish nature had her clothes on.
Adelina moved forward and kneeled down next to Ichigo, looking over the side of their cover to make sure none were near to hear them.
"I found a route, let's go," Adelina said, rising up and leading the way from the path she had found, Ichigo got up and followed her.
Several Hours later, Nightfall.
Several hours and they had gotten through most of the Centaurs territory, they were near the edge but Night had fallen before they could get through. Meaning they had to camp for the night, but they couldn't sleep in the open, unless they wanted to be found by something. That something was not clarified upon, but Ichigo took the hint.
Adelina had found a cave in the cliff wall that they could stay in for the night, luckily it wasn't inhabited, and again what could be in there wasn't clarified.
Ichigo was currently sitting on a small stone near the entrance to the cave that sat about thirty feet over the canyon floor overlooking the breadth canyon. The moonlight offering some illumination over the canyon, casting some light through the canopy of stone spires, illuminating the canyon in white and blue light from the two moons. Ichigo found it very serene watching those moons in the sky, but also distressing since it made it apparent he was on a completely different world.
Adelina was inside preparing their dinner; she was a very descent cook and could make almost anything edible, although the taste was another factor. Tonight they were having hare and snake, thought it didn't sound very appealing, but when you have little to anything else to eat its better than nothing.
"Hey Adelina, how's the food coming?" Ichigo called over to her, standing up and walking into the cave and finding a large black tarp covering the path ahead of him. It was there to prevent the light from the fire from being seen outside of the tent, Adelina saying that the light would draw the more predatory animals towards them and also the Centaur. Ichigo had to admit that Adelina knew a lot about this stuff, she was a skilled hunter and tracker, and she was very knowledgeable on the world. He couldn't have asked for a better guide.
"Another few minutes, the meat still needs to be prepared," Adelina said, looking at the skinned rabbit that was lightly roasting over the fire and adder that was beside it.
Their juices falling into the fire and hissing, Ichigo stared at the two and wondered what rabbit taste like, hopefully something that he didn't have to choke down. He would not like to go hungry or sick, or possibly even worse insult Adelina for getting the food and not liking it.
Getting rid of those thought he decided to do something that he had wanted to do for some time.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Ichigo asked, sitting cross legged on the opposite side of the fire and looking at the young druid cooking their evening meal.
"Of course," Adelina said, looking up at Ichigo in curiosity as to what he wanted to know.
"Can you tell me about your people, your culture?" Ichigo asked, but there was silence for a moment and he only received a raised eyebrow in return.
"My culture? What do you mean?" Adelina inquired, not understanding what he was asking or why he was so interesting in her people, she honestly didn't think that what her people were doing was very interesting.
Of course they had a proud tradition and history, but she really couldn't think of anything to say that showed how great they were. They were simply who there were.
"Well, I know you think humans are great and that, but what about your people?" Ichigo asked, trying to clarify but finding it hard to ask the right questions.
"My people have been how they are for the last ten thousand years, I really don't have anything I can tell you about them that is noteworthy." Adelina said, not finding anything that she could say of importance, her people are quite simple – in her mind anyway –, she didn't know why Ichigo was so fascinated in a race as simple as hers.
"You're joking right?" Ichigo mumbled to himself, finding it hard to believe that she can't find a single thing to say about her people, looking off to the side for a moment, he remembered something she might be able to answer. "Well, how about those Centaur guys, I remember Quintus saying they were the sons of a guy called Zator, the son of Cinarus."
"No, his name was Zaetar and he was the son of Cenarius," Adelina chided for Ichigo's obvious lacking in remembering names, in fact she remembered he called Quintis Quonto.
"But you are mostly correct about the Centaurs being his sons. The Centaur race is the offspring to the Keeper of the Grove, Zaetar; the Son of Cenarius." Adelina said, slowly turning the rabbit as she spoke.
"Keeper of the Grove?" Ichigo asked, not recognising the title, or whatever it was, he hoped he would understand all this after her explanation before it was all done.
"The Keepers of the Grove are the sons of Cenarius; every single Keeper is a direct descendant of him." Adelina clarified
"And Cenarius?" Ichigo asked, might as well learn what he can about him as well, it might be interesting.
"Cenarius is the Lord of the Forest and the patron god to all Druids; he is the son of the Moon Goddess Elune and Malorne the White Stag." Adelina said, but not realising she was speaking with someone who had no idea about their history or even the general information of what she was referring to.
Some of the things she was saying was leaving Ichigo with more questions than answers, such as who exactly Elune may be and this new character Malorne. It sounded like some kind of strange mythological origin story, but he knew that it was far from make believed.
"Cenarius is the one who taught our people the way of the Druid, taking us away from the corruptive influence of the Arcane after the War of the Ancients and allowing us to embrace a better way of life that was made to protecting the balance of nature on Azeroth." Adelina continued, not noticing Ichigo's confusion over several things she had said.
Ichigo guessed that Cenarius was obviously a guy that thought nature was a very big deal, but really he had no idea what to think about the guy. For all he knew he was some horse guy that said love nature and be peaceful and all that other hippie crap. Or he could be a sort of Nazi that said death to all those who defy nature and stuff, he simply had no idea. But it didn't stop his imagination from running a little wild.
"Okay, so does he look like those guys out there, the Centaur?" Ichigo asked, wondering how close to home they may look in terms of appearance, after all they are related.
"Oh no! Cenarius does not appear as they do, he resembles actually a man. He has the torso of a man with the body of an elk," Adelina said, making Ichigo get a vivid image of what this guy could look like, but still could do with a clearer picture. "With great antlers rising from the crown of his head and a mane of leaves that falls down his back, with an arm that looks to be made of bark and wood."
He had a better idea now, but he could not really get a good picture of this guys, he was so much better when he met people. He remembered faces pretty well, names not so much, but if he saw him he guessed he could recognise the guys at first glance.
"I see, so about the Centaur, how did they come around?" Ichigo asked, getting back on track to his original line of questioning.
"They were the offspring of Zaetar and another being, known as Theradras, also known as the Elemental Princess of Earth, said to be the daughter of the Elemental Lord Therazane." Adelina said.
'Elemental Lord?' Ichigo thought, wondering what kind of thing that was. "Elemental Lord?"
"Oh right, you're not from around here," Adelina said. "You see… An elemental is a spirit that is completely made of a certain element; there is fire, earth, water and air. Each elemental group has an Elemental Lord that is the ruler over all elementals; they are the Elemental Lords and are god-like beings. Theradras is the daughter of Therazane, the Elemental Lord of Earth."
Ichigo got an idea, he guessed, but he was having some weird thoughts on how a horse man could have kids with a rock monster. They were very disturbing thoughts indeed. But he guessed Adelina didn't exactly know much about them, likely she knew about the trees and animals, and the elements were someone else's forte.
"Zaetar and Theradras mated and from their union a horrid offspring came forth, misshapen and savage; they turned on their father and killed him in rage for being born ugly and deformed." Adelina said, continuing her tale. "After their father's death the five sons created their own clans and became the first of the Khans, creating five clans that to this day wage war against every race in Kalimdor and against one another."
"They're that pissed that they fight each other, that's kind of insane," Ichigo mumbled to himself.
"It is their way, they are violent and savage, I would not put much stock into them being of rational mind; after all they resort to actions of terror and cruelty that even other savage races find disgusting." Adelina said. "After all, their tents are sometimes not only made up of animal hides, sometimes it is the hides of other Centaur, from other clans and even their own."
Ichigo was silent for a moment thinking on that, hell he knew that there were some fucked up people back on earth thousands of years ago like that. But the fact that he was here right now and basically the art of skinning another living being was present, he found it highly disturbing and a little frightening.
"What about… Theradras? What happened to her?" Ichigo asked, trying to change the subject and get off the matter of the Centaur.
"Legend says she took her lovers body into Maraudine, an ancient vault beneath the surface of the Desolace where the Centaur now claims as their own. She made it into his tomb, a tomb that she eternally watches over and protects." Adelina said.
"Well, that sound poetic I suppose," Ichigo says, it sounded like a Greek tragedy, for all he knew it may well be. Also there were tonnes of different things that were going on in his mind, such as trying to make sense of all the different things he had to remember in her tale.
Gods, Demi-gods, Elemental Lords, Keepers of the Grove, Druids. Yada yada yada. Ichigo groaned a little, there was so much he had to think about, almost reminded him of the first time he opened a history book and all these words jumped out at him. He guessed Adelina wasn't interesting in telling him about her people, obviously she didn't have the same curiosity he had about her people. It wasn't surprising really, he didn't see much of interest in his own people but when he told her bits and pieces she was enthralled.
Yes she was almost the same as he was when discussing about her people, he could see that she was simply recounting what she knew and not showing any interest. It was funny, she liked human so much and didn't think much of her own people, while he was in the same boat, thinking the elves were interesting and the humans were dull.
"It's ready," Adelina said, passing Ichigo a piece of the rabbin, it looked like one of its flanks.
Ichigo took it carefully, and looked at the cooked meat for a moment and wondered what it was going to taste like. But something was bugging him on how he had a body to eat this food, especially if this wasn't a spiritual realm and the material one. He was wondering what caused it that he could have a body, he wondered if he was in some kind of faux body.
He shrugged mentally before looking at the cooked ribs and took a bite, finding the meet a little dry and bland. But oddly enough it kind of tasted like chicken, funny, he thought it would have had its own unique taste. Swallowing he thought about how he could enjoy some of Yuza's good cooking again when he got back home, with that thought he took another bite and had his rabbit.
Caverns of Time, Unknown Temporal Coordinates
Chromie stood at attention in front of the central chamber of the Caverns of Time, a massive cave that was in a complete state of flux. All around her she could see rifts in time and space, opening portals deep into the past and future as well as gazing into the voids of the Greater Dark. Around she could see many members of the Bronze Flight going about their business, speaking to one another, going about errands. In one case she saw another version of herself speaking with a man in the guise of a Human.
She remembered that conversation, she had it one year and three months ago. Yet right now she was almost reliving it, as if she was having that conversation at that exact moment while being on the opposite side of the room and a future version of the one doing the conversation. But she held off on getting lost in the timeline and being in so many different times and places. She was here to report her findings on the Dire Maul incident, something she was dreading.
Standing before the Gnome in disguise were four of the Bronze Dragonflights highest ranked leaders. Four were standing at the base of a large mound that held up the Sand Clock, a giant intricate hourglass that held the threat of the pure timeline as it was to occur. While the last, in his draconic form was the current leader of the flight, Anachronos, the son of Nozdormu and Heir to the Bronze Dragonflight.
They all stood at attention and waited for Chromie to make her report, eager to know the cause of the sudden shift in the timeline in Dire Maul.
"I have returned from Dire Maul, the news is bad," Chromie said, looking at everyone present and noticing no visible reaction from any of them.
"What has occurred there to cause a shift in the timeline?" Anachronos asked, his eyes staring directly as the dragon in disguise and wanting a straight answer, he was serious and blunt when it came to preserving the timeline and did not like wasting previous seconds with rambling and loitering.
"An anomaly, one I have never encountered before, somehow it is able to prevent me from scrying its fate and actually hide itself from my sight," Chromie said, making the others look at her in curiosity.
"What do you mean? Why can you not see its fate?" Andormu inquired, a young ten year old elf boy, thought his form was deceiving as he was much older than ten years old; he was close to three hundred years of age but chose to keep the same form.
"There seems to be some sort of interference, I think there is some sort of temporal shield around the anomaly, preventing me from seeing it with my scrying eye." Chronormu said, making everyone look at one another seriously, to be able to avoid detection in the timeline was a very serious danger to them.
"That is powerful temporal magic; very few can do it, any idea what this anomaly is?" Soridormi inquired, she appeared to be an elvish woman as well, long chocolate brown hair and robes of gold and white. Lithe and beautiful, she was a truly magnificent woman and that is likely the reason she was the prime consort of the Lord of Time himself.
"It could be anything, it could be one of those Infinite infiltrator we have been dealing with recently, we have been getting reports of an unknown group by that name appearing throughout the timeline," Erozion said, his hand on his chin and thinking that this could be another attempt by them to destabilize the timeline.
It had happened nearly a year ago that the Infinite had appeared, little was known about them, but they were vicious and dangerous. Appearing throughout history and attempting to alter it for nefarious reasons, but little had been learned of them. The reports state that these Infinite appear to be another Dragonflight, but their bodies seem to be decomposing, as if they are crumbling away. But the fact that their powers over time match the Bronze Dragonflight and their appearance coincided nearly exactly when their leader Nozdormu disappeared has left the flight anxious as to what has caused these being to come into existence.
"But I fail to see the importance of this kind of attack, the only thing I see that changes is in fourteen months," Andormu said, crossing his arms and thinking hard.
He had seen that Varian would enter the city for the Dire Maul gladiatorial tournament as usual; also the only changes would be the ogres control the city. But apart from that no major deviations have been noted, aside of course from the exodus of the Highborne, but their part in the future is sketchy as best. Despite that he guess that with the recent occurrence of the future being blocked from their sight, the elves may hold a very important place in whatever was to come.
"You're wrong," Chromie said, drawing everyone's attention back to her. "There is more you do not know, the ogres are not going to win as first predicted, take a look yourself."
Glancing at each other for a moment and wondering what she was trying to get at they simply did as asked and used their scrying ability to see the fate of Dire Maul from afar. When they first detected the anomaly they were able to scry it from a distance and see no major deviating in the timeline, except for the exodus of the Highborne from the city. But seeing from a distance could only offer so much, they had decided to send Chromie there to determine the exact change that had occurred and also the cause.
But this time they saw something completely different, and the images that soon appeared only horrified them. It was not the slaughter and the blood that made them jump in fright; it was the massive change that has occurred in the timeline that just seemed to have happened. The timeline had changed and they had not noticed, massive changes were occurring as they speak and they were blind. In fact every few moment they could see several changes in the timeline, thanks only to their scrying eyes that allowed them to see the shifts and changes as they occurred.
"How is this possible, the Anomaly, what is it doing?" Anachronos demanded, rising up and looking down at Chromie for an immediate explanation.
"That's the thing, when I tried to look for it, I couldn't see anything at all, completely blotted me out, but it gets worse," Chromie said. "The field is somehow keeping the anomaly from integrated into the timeline; he quite literally exists out of time."
Every single one of them knew what that meant without even having to ask, their wide and terrified eyes showed their terrified understanding easily. It was one of the most dangerous things that they could face, for it was the only thing that made their temporal abilities completely null and void.
If an anomaly exists outside of time they cannot detect it unless it makes a change in the timeline, only by interacting with the timeline can it be seen. But they could not read its fate or destiny, for it simply did not exist in the timeline, for the Bronze Dragonflight who monitored the timeline and the fates of all, it was completely non-existent. It quite simply is something that can exist outside of time but interact with the world around it and able to avoid detection.
The infinite were reported to be similar to this, able to appear from outside the timeline and enter it and having no effect until they sprang into action and made a change. If this anomaly was like them, then that means that they are on the move in the present, they had to be stopped.
"What is the worst case scenario?" Erizion asked, he was another temporal investigator similar to Chromie.
"Bad, based on what I have seen we can expect the Ogres and Highborne to be driven out of Dire Maul in a month, but with how the timeline is shifting it may come sooner." Soridormi said, her furrowed brown and clenched teeth made it apparent on her anxiety at these changes. "Based on current information the Highborne will be forced from the city and scattered, we cannot allow that to happen."
They all knew that the Highborne had a destiny to fulfil, if they did not join with their cousins the Night Elf's during a crucial moment in the timeline then it was possible that whatever events that would unfold during the future may be catastrophic. The Highborne were meant to join them and their knowledge would help bring aid in protecting the world from an unknown Cataclysm. Thought they had no idea what it may be, they could not risk whatever it was, after all the timeline was being blocked by enemies who wanted to destroy the timeline.
Even worse Soridormi could sense that several figures would be killed in the fighting if the demons got loose; something that they couldn't afford to happen considering that they have crucial roles to play in the future. As she scried several of these individuals' fates she halted on Shandris Feathermoon's thread of fate, noticing that several places were blocked out. Making the consort of Nozdormu eyes widen in slight surprise, wondering how that had occurred.
"Chronormu, how many anomalies did you detect?" Soridormi inquired, looking at the little gnome, who simply raised an eyebrow at the question.
"I can only assume there is one at the moment, after all if there were more there would be a greater number of distortions," Chromie said. "Why do you ask? Is something wrong?"
"I have just scried the fates of several individuals that would be affected by this change and found that Shandris Feathermoon's fate as well as many others elves within her fortress has been altered," Soridormi said, making everyone glance at her in surprise.
"What did you see?" Anachronos asked his mother.
"I saw several alterations from the original timeline, it would seem that an event occurred that made some subtle changes and another that somehow prevented over forty seven deaths within the fortress." Soridormu said, noticing that there were many there that not dead and their fates were continuing on despite the timeline saying they should have died during the Naga attack on their fortress.
"Another anomaly? That's impossible, there is no way something like that could have happened without me noticing the shift in the timeline," Chromie said, not understanding how she was unable to detect it or anyone else, but realising that only a few minutes ago they had no idea of the anomaly making shifts in the timeline.
"I did see several images and oddly enough they seem to diverging off the timeline, but it was only after and during the attack that there appeared to be considerable gaps in the threads." Soridormi said. "There is another anomaly, and it may be of the move,"
Everyone looks at one another seriously before they all looked to the Heir of the Bronze flight and also the current leader. The giant wyrm was silent for a moment and weighing the options of his next choice. He had to think of something quickly, a roaming anomaly was not something he liked, but without knowing where it was they could do nothing for the moment but wait for it to appear.
"The alterations caused by the second one, what was the damage?" Anachronos inquired, looking to his mother for answers.
"Minor, most of those that survived would not cause any major alterations, although one may become a Ranger Commander later on, but nothing truly major has changed." Soridormi stated, but despite the minor changes they cannot condone that it has occurred.
They would need to correct these changes quickly, even the minor ones; they would likely need to change the fates of those sentinels to see it that they meet unfortunate ends. A cruel fate, but still they had a sacred and often cursed duty to maintain the timeline, no matter the cost.
"Begin looking for the anomaly that is causing the changes in Dire Maul, locate it and try to find a means to remove it. Regardless of what it is, we need to stop it before any more damage occurs." Anachronos stated.
"Of course, we will move to it right away," Chromie stated, bowing to the Heir of Nozdormu. "What of the other anomaly,"
"If you find it, kill it as well, we cannot allow it to remain present, it may have a specific target in mind and we cannot let it capitalize on something like that." Anachronos said, they all nodded their head and moved off without another word, aware of what they must do.
As they departed Anachronos remained and looked at the Sand Clock, the same one gifted to their flight by Aman'thul the Allfather, the same Titan who gave them their powers over time. With this clock they were able to gaze into the timeline and see the events of the universe unfold around them.
Every event that was meant to happen and how it was meant to happen, even now Anachronos could see the timeline as it should exist. The clean and calm waves of the time stream brushing against him mind and feeding him images of great and terrible events. But every single one was needed, the good and the bad, for that was how it was meant to be. For no matter how good a change may be, the consequences would be far greater than what may be gained.
At first he saw a king entering his citadel and reclaiming his crown from the treacherous imposter who tried to have him killed and replaced with a puppet under her control. Another flash of images showed a brash young paladin sacrificing his soul, stabbing himself with a corrupted sword, to free his father from eternal torment. The broken and charred husk of a man, sitting upon a frozen throne, he took up a crown to become the new King over the damned to protect the world from their evil.
But now he saw much of that changing, he could see that despite the interference that these events were becoming different. Events were shifting and changing because of this and he did not know what would be the result of them. In fact he saw a great change when these anomalies were first detected nearly two and a half weeks ago.
But it was not on Azeroth that he saw them, for when they first appeared something had happened that caused a shift in the timeline almost exactly the same time as the anomalies in Dire Maul appeared. What he saw that was coming he could only describe as terrible, five great beasts would fall upon this world in the future to come. They would cause untold havoc that will cause destruction to rein supreme across Azeroth, and possible end it. Anachronos hoped that he would be powerful enough to face these dangers when they came, for if he was not, then the Legion may very well claim its prize.
Thousand Needles
Ichigo and Adelina were casually walking through the canyon, using one of the few well-travelled paths in the entirety of the canyon for a change rather than trekking through the unknown cluster of rock spires. It was quite peaceful; they had nothing to worry about as they were completely out of harm's way. Having just passed through the Galak Centaur's territory only a few hours ago and entered into the Horde's territory, although a bad thing considering.
But to their luck the Tauren of the Bloodhoof and Grimtotem mainly controlled the top of the bluffs and not the actual ground. Meaning they were in relative safety, although, just because they weren't walking on the ground didn't mean that eyes from above wouldn't see them. But Adelina had said that they were a peaceful people and were by far the most noble of the Horde races, but still you could only trust another race so far in this world.
But despite being in enemy territory they walked down the road in complete silence, but not out of a need to remain undetected. Ichigo tried to occupy himself with his surroundings but found that was impossible mainly because there was nothing to catch ones eye, making the walk quite boring. He guessed travel was no fun unless you spoke about something, anything to get rid of the monotony of the scenery and the heat.
"Uhhh… So how about you tell me more about your people," Ichigo said, not really sure how to start off a conversation seeing as they had not spoken since morning.
Adelina looked at him for a moment, raising an eyebrow and looking a little surprised by his sudden question.
"What would you like to know?" Adelina asked, not sounding very keen on speaking about her people, she would love to know about his people, especially from another world. She had so many questions about them and their ways, she always found new races very interesting.
"Well, you said last night that your people went through a change, something about ten thousand years ago during a war, that was when your people learned Druidism," Ichigo said, to which Adelina nodded her head and smiled.
"Yes, that is correct, our people took up Druidism at the end of the War of the Ancients," Adelina said, a hint of pride in her voice as she said it.
"What exactly was the war about? I mean what made you guys change?" Ichigo asked, it wasn't often that a culture suddenly changes, unless some kind of major event occurred like a war.
Adelina furrowed her brow for a moment, as if she was scowling at the very thought of what happened there and then. Obviously she had some deep anger towards those events, but Ichigo had no idea where that anger was focused.
"Our people were not always as we were, once we had an empire that spanned the entirety of Kalimdor, but not the Kalimdor that is today." Adelina said, her eyes seemed distant as she recalled what she was told so many years ago by her father. "Ten Thousand years ago the entirety of the world's land was once connected as one and nearly all of it was under the control of the Night Elves."
Ichigo simply let her continue, not wanting to ruin her monologue with some random questions like how they built it or how it eventually collapsed.
"Our people created magnificent cities of stone and marble, the size and scale of them so large that if you were to stand on the highest tower in the city, you would only see white stone until the horizon." Adelina said, although her tone didn't have much pride in it, more like she simply recounted it.
"Our people came to be what they were because of a single sacred place at the very heart of Kalimdor, it was there that we became Night Elves and were gifted with the power over the Arcane. It was from this sacred place that we rose up from the first and built our empire; spreading across the land we conquered any and all who opposed us. It was there that our people began, and would rule forever, that is why the source of our power was named thusly: The Well of Eternity."
Ichigo found her way of speaking to be very enthralling, he was completely hooked at the moment and the story was only beginning.
"The Well was a powerful font of arcane energy, drawn directly from the Twisting Nether, and a conduit to every Layline on Azeroth. It held so much power and allowed my people to rise to heights never before seen." Adelina continued her tale, thought despite her speaking of the grand achievements of her people's ancestors, Adelina was frowning. "But the Arcane was also corruptive, it came at the cost of one's soul, it turns the humble arrogant, the kind callous and worse, and makes you nothing more than an addict hungering for the magical energies that radiated from the well."
Ichigo could guess where this was going, either the war was some sort of massive civil war that led to the Night Elves separating or the fall of their empire that left them as they were now. But Ichigo wondered if this addiction to the arcane was something similar to what Hollow suffered, their need and hunger for souls to keep themselves alive and satiate the void in their hearts. Maybe the arcane was similar, filling them with power and trying to bring back what was lost to them.
"Our people were ruled by the greatest master of the Arcane, calling themselves Highborne, an arrogant title showing they were noble and pure, but they were the most arrogant of them all and the most callous of our race." Adelina said, sneering as she spoke, obviously she has a lot of hate for them, either by principle or by being taught as such. "They were all led by a single individual, who ruled over all our people, the Queen of all Night Elves. Azshara."
"She was beautiful and charismatic, able to bring men to their knees with her mere presence, but she was vain. Believing she was the most beautiful of all, she even went so far as to call herself illustrious titles: Cherished Heart of the People, Daughter of the Moon, Light of a Thousand Moons, Vision of Perfection."
Ichigo had to admit that did seem pretty arrogant, especially when it came from your own mouth, and even worse when you believed every word you said was true.
"But even so she wanted to further her power, and she did so by tapping directly into the well, sapping the arcane energies from it and corrupting the once pure waters." Adelina said, eyes narrowing, obvious hate for the woman. "Building a massive city around it for herself and her Highborne brethren so they could take the power they wished, calling it Zin'Ashari, Glory to Azshara."
"How egotistical can you get," Ichigo mumbled to himself.
"But her lust for power did not end there, for she saw herself as a vision of perfection in an imperfect world, so she chose to cleanse the world and remake it in her image." Adelina said, and Ichigo finally got the idea what happened next, but was wrong with what was told next. "She was somehow contacted by someone who could help her in this task, a great powerful demon lord, by the name of Sargaras, the Lord of the Burning Legion."
Ichigo looked at her seriously; it sounded like the devil was stepping in on this story now.
"You likely know of the demons from the Nether well, what you likely faced were the soldiers of the Legion," Adelina said, making Ichigo's eyes widen. "For there is another danger to the use of the arcane, magic attracts the Twisting Nether like Flies to Honey. That is one of the laws, the Legion was drawn to the misuse of the Well and sought to bring destruction to our world and feed on that power for themselves."
"Wait, those demons I saw in that Twisting Nether, they are part of that Burning Legion?" Ichigo asked, thinking he had just run into basically a demonic army, from the looks of it he might have just made a potential enemy. Especially with the way he kicked soldiers around and also humiliated that other guy who nearly killed him.
"Yes, it is possibility; for they are the ones who attempted to cleanse Azeroth from existence, like so many thousands of worlds that have fallen in their wake." Adelina said, making Ichigo nervous, if those things could conquer worlds on a whim and could topple an empire that spanned the entire world; then there no telling what could happen if they came to Earth.
"The Legion came to Azeroth, and Queen Azshara opened the door to them, having her people die along with many others simply to achieve her dream to become a god in the new world." Adelina said, the hate she held for the former queen was easy to justify. "But there were some who stood against them, a resistance was formed to halt the Legion and cleanse the evil that was the Highborne."
Adelina's demeanour changed, no longer frowning and angry, but proud with a sort of smugness as her tale continued on.
"There was Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, the first of the Druids and Shando of Cenarius, his twin brother Illidan Stormrage, a powerful sorcerer and Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, blessed by the Goddess herself." Adelina said, yet her tone did not show she cared much about that Illidan character, Ichigo wondered why thought, maybe something to consider asking later on. "It was through their actions that lead to the War of the Ancients and eventually saving Azeroth from destruction, sadly I do not know how the tale went."
Ichigo was slightly disappointed in that, sounded like a very interesting one, maybe he could see about while he was here for a short while he could speak with someone who knew. Although that likely wouldn't happen, he doubted that he would be here long enough to get the entire story or meet anyone who knew it.
"But I do know that in the final battle the Well was destroyed and the release of all that arcane power eventually shattered the continent of Kalimdor apart, creating Kalimdor, The Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend." Adelina said. "After that the world would slowly recover, and our people took up a new path, one away from the corruptive influence of the arcane. We were taught druidism by Cenarius and the Keepers of the Grove, allowing is to commune with nature, and even given power to bend it to our will."
"But still there were some among up that sought to use the Arcane, they were quickly cast out, for they were too quick to forget the price that was paid for indulging in that power." Adelina said on a side not before continuing. "But those who remained create a new and better society that saw the benefits of connecting to the earth and nature rather than simple living in it. That is how we became who we are, and for the last ten thousand years we have been that way. We may not see the Arcane as something as good and useful, but we can accept that our new allies use it, despite its dangers."
Ichigo was silent for a moment as he valued the story he had been told, because it taught a valuable lesson about over indulging oneself and the grandeurs of life. The Highborne sounded like they tried to have too much and paid for it in the end, it was to be expected her suppose; karma's a bitch that's for sure.
But he had to find that the Night elves were very persevering, for the last ten thousand years they have maintained their new way of life without even considering returning to their old way of life. He had to admit that their change and also sticking to it for ten thousand years was incredible, not many cultures could be so rigid like that. Especially if it came to doing something good and peaceful, and didn't appear to offer anything in terms of grandiose comforts and elegant lifestyles.
As the two rounded the bend they saw something that they had been looking for, their only means of entering the Barrens from Thousand Needles. The great lifts were what it's called, a massive totem pole that ran up the side of the canyon wall, carved with strange symbol and runes. While beside it, rising and descended down either side of the totem, were two elevator like object that seemed to float mid-air.
'Huh, even on an alien world that was in the middle aged, they still have elevators, who would have thought?' Ichigo thought to himself.
"Come on Ichigo, I will tell you more later tonight, but first we need to get on those lift, then we will be in the Barrens." Adelina said, moving forward without another word.
Ichigo followed after her, hoping that the Barrens weren't as hot as this place, he really hated the heat.
