Chapter 11

Destins- Jaina will probably be very against them working with the Alliance and probably be against them being independent and them getting away with what they did, which probably will happen if they do a great enough deed for the Alliance that'll Varian will let them go.

Guest- Yes, she'll get a metal arm.

Hideki667- Then I recommend to stop reading any further cause I'm pretty sure I'm going to be butchering Chief's character in your eyes. And yes, it does feel forced that they're helping the Horde. I'll try to justify them helping them, but it'll probably be a weak explanation so I recommend to not read this story any further.

Broken Isles

Chief

"This is the fifth time we've been attacked." Said Master Chief as he reloaded his rifle. "We must be getting close to what made Theryn the way he is."

"Agreed." Said Kel'danath as he examined the corpse of the spider-elf that Master Chief just killed. "These things are definitely Nightborne that have become Withered, but the mutations they have are beyond anything I have ever seen in my lifetime."

"Can they be cured?" Asked Chief as he looked at his motion tracker for more unknowns.

"No." Said Kel'danath as he shook his head. "Even from my most superficial of searches, I can determine that whatever mutated these Nightborne to these creatures is far beyond any cure we can find. Even if we restore their sanity, they'll stay like this permeantly."

Chief gave a grunt as they went deeper into the forest, Theryn leading the way. Initially, they were wandering idly in the forest, looking for the thing that made Theryn saner than the rest of the Withered. But after several hours, something made Theryn respond abruptly and soon the Withered was walking somewhere deeper into the forest. It was fortunate for Kel'danath and Chief that Theryn was walking so slow because more of those spider things that attacked them earlier showed up and tried to kill them. Fortunately, Chief was loaded with ammo and bullets and quickly dispatched them, conserving his bullets as best he can.

"Do you really believe what made Theryn the way he is can be made into a cure for the Nightborne?" Asked Chief as the two followed Theryn, the Withered walking with a purpose.

"I have hopes that I can use it to advance my research into finding a cure." Said Kel'danath. "Even I don't have such high hopes."

"And if it can't help you?" Asked Chief. Kel'danath sighed at that.

"Then I fear that there is truly no cure for the Withered and that the Nightborne will be utterly dependent on the Nightwell to survive." Chief hummed at that and was about to respond when Theryn suddenly wailed out. Looking at the Withered, the two saw a large decript building in a large clearing. Even from their position, they saw a large seed in the middle of the building, floating on top of a pedestal and protected by some sort of forcefield. The forcefield seemed to be powered by some towers that were emitting beams all over the place, one in particular aiming it beam to a stone slab that was connected to the pedestal the seed was on top off.

"My word." Said Kel'danath. "I feel such great power coming from that seed. I feel calm. I feel like there's nothing that can hurt me."

Chief simply nodded, feeling the power as well, but still kept on guard. For all he knew, this was a trap set up by someone, given the way the seed was placed in the way it was.

"Be on your guard." Said Chief as he followed Theryn. "This could be a trap."

"I know." Said Kel'danath. "This seems too good to be true. Still, if this is what made Theryn what he is, then we must take that chance." Chief gave a grunt as they inched closer to the building, eventually entering it.

Now that they were closer, Kel'danath could feel the power from the seed even more. Its sheer power was enough to make him believe that it could cure his people of their addiction. The question was should they plant it or not?

As they inched closer, Chief suddenly raised his fist up in the air and telling everyone to stop. Kel'danath responded, trusting him, but Theryn didn't, too entranced with the seed to listen. When he saw Kel'danath look at him, Chief silently used his other hand to tell him that something was behind them.

Nodding, Kel'danath readied himself for a fight. Just when Theryn touched the barrier protecting the seed, Chief's motion tracker flared up. Turning around, he was about to open fire when someone yelled out.

"Stop!" Yelled a male, hidden behind a stone wall. Turnign to the source of the voice, Chief spoke out.

"Who are you?" Demanded Chief as he aimed his rifle to the general location of the voice.

"I'll reveal myself if you promise not to attack me the moment you spot me." Said the voice. Turning to Kel'danath, Chief saw him nod. With that, he stood down but was ready to fight in a moment's notice.

"We swear not to attack you. Now reveal yourself." Said Kel'danath. With that, the voice revealed himself. It was a big male with green hair and blue glowing eyes. His clothing was simplistic, but practical in many ways.

Upon seeing him, Kel'danath widened his eyes in shock.

"He's a Nightelf." Said Kel'danath, eyeing the man's green hair and blue glowing eyes. His clothing was a bit simplistic and old, but his complexion and hair was enough for Kel'danath to see him as a Nightelf male, particular one that was one with nature. As Kel'danath looked at the Nightelf in fascination, Chief aimed his weapon at the Nightelf, suspicious of him.

"What are you doing here?" Demanded Chief as he aimed his assault rifle at the Nightelf's head.

"Protecting the arcan'dor seed." Said the Nightelf, eyeing at Theryn, who was eyeing the seed with curiosity, occasionally trying to touch it, only for the barrier to stop him from doing so. "This seed contains great power; I refuse to let it be taken for vile purposes."

"If that's the case then why not ambush us? Why reveal yourself?" Asked Chief, standing down, puzzled with the Nightelf's behavior if he was suppose to protect this seed.

"Because I have been watching you three for some time. Ever since you entered the forest." Said the Nightelf, looking at Theryn, who now just looked at the seed. "I heard how you two wanted to cure the Nightborne and Withered of their addiction. Of how the Nightborne need this Nightwell to survive." The Nightelf then began to walk closer to them. Chief tightened his hold on his rifle, but a hand from Kel'danath stopped him from going any further.

"I've seen these Withered coming from Suramar. I remember how it was a jewel in the Nightelf empire. And now, they're casting out their own citizens, allowing them to become mindless monsters." Said the Nightelf. Kel'danath wanted to protest, but the Nightelf continued. "I seen countless times Nightborne turning into Withered, seeing them lose their minds due to lack of Arcane energy. It saddened me. I pitied them. So, I provided a group of them an arcan'dor seed to survive." Upon hearing that, Kel'danath's ears perked up.

"Did it cure them? Or at least keep them from becoming Withered?" Asked Kel'danath, desperate that this seed was what he hoped it can be for his people. To his happiness, the Nightelf nodded.

"Yes. For a time, it sustained them, providing them with all the arcane energy they needed to survive with their minds intact." The Nightelf then sighed. "But that something happened. The tree that grew from the seed went unstable. We couldn't find the reason why until it exploded, turning all the Nightborne and Withered within its radius to become spiderlike creatures, called the fal'dorei. I believe you encountered them on your way here." Remembering the spiders, Chief nodded.

"Did you find the reason why?" Asked Chief. The Nightelf sighed in regret.

"I…believe so. Not that it matters." Explained the Nightelf. "I gave them a half solution to their problem and now they're hungry beasts that plagued this forest for ten thousand years. And I'm to be blamed for that." Feeling pity for the Nightelf, Kel'danath gave him his sympathies.

"I'm sorry." Said Kel'danath. "But I must implore you to give us this seed. It may be the only thing that can cure my people for their addiction and bring out people back from being Withered." The Nightelf sighed at that.

"You want me to, once again, doom a people with this seed?" Asked the Nightelf as he looked at the seed, unsure if he should give them the seed or not. "It may give you the cure you want, but if its not handled correctly, your people may end up like the fal'dorei, the people I failed to protect."

"My people are safe in Suramar. They'll be far away from the blast that engulfed the fal'dorei. I'll even do it far away from any lifeform if that is what it takes to make the cure for my people's addiction." Said Kel'danath. The Nightelf gave a scoff of respect before sighing.

"If you are willing to accept the consequences, then I'll give you the seed." Said the Nightelf. "However, before we begin, I must warn you the fel'dorei will come here. They've hungered for another arcan'dor seed and they know of the location of this one. The barrier is the only thing keeping them from it. Once its lowered, they'll come like locusts for it."

"How many are there?" Asked Chief, feeling a battle will come soon.

"I say somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and fifty." Said the Nightelf. "So, once the barrier is down, we need to take the seed and run." Chief gave a grunt before looking around their surroundings. Upon seeing just one entrance way, Chief looked at the Nightelf.

"Can you teleport it to safety?" Asked Chief.

"Hmm…if one of you are skilled in the art of teleportation, then yes, we can safely leave with the seed intact." Said the Nightelf. "The problem is the fal'dorei will come for it as soon as the barrier is lowered. Even if we teleport safely out of here, they'll be hot on our trail. The power of the arcan'dor seed will attract them to no end. How do you propose we stop them from overwhelming us and taking the seed?"

"We fly it out of this place and somewhere safe." Said Chief. The Nightelf widened his eyes at that. Before he could speak, Kel'danath spoke on behalf of Chief.

"My companion speaks the truth. He has a large flying machine that can safely take us out of the grasp of the fal'dorei. We can take it to a secured location where the fal'dorei can't reach us. That'll give us the time we need to find a way to stabilize the tree and save my people." Said Kel'danath. The Nightelf hummed at that.

"Hmm…if your flying…machine is capable of transporting the seed safely…yes that could work. We just need to buy enough time for the teleportation spell to finish." Said the Nightelf, deciding to trust them on this.

"Leave that to me." Said Chief before bringing out a grenade.

Half an hour later

"I'm done." Said Chief as he went back to Kel'danath and the Nightelf, who told him that his name Valewalker Farodin. The two elves looked at the entranceway and were impressed. Using a combination of his strange fruit-shaped objects, which he called grenades, and some strong vines nearby, the Spartan had created makeshift traps that, once tripped, will cause the grenades to go off. They were all placed in the entranceway, preventing anyone from coming inside, not without being blown up.

"It won't last long." Said Chief as he turned around and aimed his rifle at the entranceway. "You need to hurry."

"Don't worry. Just make sure your flying contraption is at the agreed upon location." Said Kel'danath before he and Farodin in releasing the barrier holding the arcan'dor seed, by moving some towers, directing their beams to different locations.

"Its there. The only question is, where do you want to go?" Asked Chief.

"I know of a place that far away from this place. One that the Withered seem to avoid. It's just a general location but its far away enough that we should be safe from these fal'dorei." Said Kel'danath as they moved the final tower into place. With that, the barrier began to dissipate. "Get ready." Already, he and Farodin were hearing the sounds of spider legs getting louder and louder. With that, Chief got ready for a fight as Kel'danath conducted a teleportation spell.

"Hold them off, Spartan." Said Farodin as he grabbed the arcan'dor seed. "We need just a little time for the teleportation spell to finish." Chief didn't reply as several fal'dorei appeared in his sights. Without even acknowledging, he opened fire, using controlled bursts to take them down.

The first group fell before Chief's disciplined fire, each having several bullets going through their craniums. But just as they fell, more came, this time having some launching magic spells at them.

"Mages?!" Yelled Farodin as he clutched the arcan'dor seed. Theryn nearby looking at the seed with curiosity. "They have mages!?"

"You didn't know?" Asked Kel'danath as he conducted the spell. Just a little more time.

"I thought they were all bereft of magic when their tree exploded." Said Farodin. Chief didn't comply. Instead he just opened fire calmly at the fal'dorei, focusing on the ones conducting magic first as they were the biggest threat to them. Just as he fell down the last mage, several spiders managed to get inside, only to trip Chief's traps, blowing themselves up.

"Traps are nearly gone." Said Chief as he reloaded. "Need to get out of here." Just as he said that, he saw a massive fal'dorei, almost the size of a titan, coming right at them with more spiders.

"Almost…got it!" Yelled Kel'danath before teleporting everyone out of there, including Theryn. Just in time two as the giant spider burst through the entranceway, breaking stone and rock to get the arcan'dor seed. Upon seeing that they teleported out of harms way, the giant spider roared out in anger.

A minute later

Kel'danath's mansion

"We're here." Said Kel'danath as they all teleported out of harms way and back to Kel'danath's mansion. "Is the seed safe?"

"It is indeed." Said Farodin as he kept Theryn from drooling all over the seed.

"We're fine." Said Chief as he looked up, seeing a Pelican, a gunship variant, above them along with a Widow transport ship. In the Widow transport ship were two Legion class titans, conducting sweeps of their perimeter to ensure that no fal'dorei were nearby to take the seed for themselves. "Come on, let's go to this safe location." With that, Chief walked to the Pelican dropship, which was floating down to pick Chief and the others up.

"My word." Said Farodin as he looked at the Pelican and Widow transport and titan machines with widened eyes. "I've never seen such complex machinery before."

"Yes.' Said Kel'danath, remembering that the Nightelf empire had never created flying machines during its long reign, mostly because their access to magic made such things irrelevant. Suramar had robotic forces, but they had a sense of elegance with them, like all elven-designed objects. These seem like they were built for war with no sense of elegance to them. "Come. This may be…enlightening."

Farodin simply shrugged at that before carrying the arcan'dor seed to the now landed Pelican with Theryn following, keeping his eyes on the seed.

An hour later

"Will this do?" Asked Chief as he looked from the troop bay of the Pelican, which was being piloted by Cortana back at Torrington. Beneath them was a large lake near a massive cave entrance.

"Yes, it should do just fine." Said Kel'danath. "Its far away from the fal'dorei enough that they won't intrude on us. Plus, the cave can be a great defensive position if you left those large machines with us."

"That's the plan." Said Chief. "I'm leaving those titans with you three along with two squads of spectres. They're dumb and don't have much in the way of tactics, but they should guard you well enough."

"Thank you. You're a good ally to the Nightborne." Said Kel'danath. "If this arcan'dor tree can provide the cure to my people's addiction, then I'll make sure you'll be remembered by the Nightborne for eons to come."

"I don't need praise." Said Chief. "Like you said before, I'm just doing this because it's in the best interest for my group to do so."

"Yes I know." Said Kel'danath. "But still, even if it's for selfish reasons, I can't help but be grateful for your help." Chief simply acknowledged with a nod before ordering the Pelican to land along with the Widow. Once they landed, everyone, including the titans and spectres from their Widow transports. Although Farodin looked uncomfortable at seeing these machines, they're ability to walk and move as an organic being was unnatural to him, he kept it to himself as they neared them.

"Spectres, titans." Said Chief. The machines stood at attention. "Keep them safe until me or another member of team Sigma says otherwise." He pointed at Kel'danath, Farodin, and Theryn.

"Acknowledged." Said a Legion titan with its deep voice. Chief then pointed to the cave.

"Go in and inspect the cave for any dangers. They'll be following you soon after. One squad of Spectres stay behind to offload supplies from the Widow transport." Said Chief. The machines, having their orders, went into the cave or the Widow. With them gone, Chief looked at the three elves.

"I would stay and help secure this place, but I need to go." Said Chief. While they were on their way here, Chief received a transmission from High Elf Archer. She told him that he was needed at Pandaria. Lor'themar requested it. "I'll leave enough food, ammo, and medical supplies for you guys to last a good while. If you need anything else or if you need me to be here in the flesh, you know how to contact me."

"We understand." Said Kel'danath. "Good luck in your little war." Chief nodded before getting back inside the Pelican and taking off with the Widow transport.

Meanwhile

Pandaria

"Still don't see why you need all of us here?" Asked High Elf Archer as she looked at Lor'themar, who was rubbing his neck in worry.

"Trust me. If you knew what Garrosh found, you would understand why I called you all." Said Lor'themar.

"Even worse-worse than when Jaina Proudmoore got more power from this thunder king?" Asked Ikit as he looked at Lor'themar with his green eyes.

"Oh you'll wish even more people had her power now, my ugly friend. You'll wish." Said Lor'themar.

"Why though?" Asked High Elf Archer, narrowing her eyes. "What did Garrosh find?" Lor'themar sighed, knowing he had to tell her.

"Its something ancient. Something so evil and powerful that, if he finds a way to harvest its power, we're all going to die." Said Lor'themar, causing High Elf and Ikit to look at each other in concern.

"What is this power?" Asked Ikit, both out of concern and greed. Lor'themar then explained to them what his spies told him of what Garrosh found.

Meanwhile

Bottom of the ocean

In the depths of Azeroth's oceans, an ancient entity sensed the faint power of another ancient being. One just as ancient as it was. It was weak, barely recognizable to the power it once held. But still, even a fraction of this ancient being was worth the lives of many.

A dark eye then opened, lighting up the depth in orange.

"Azshara. Gather your forces. The heart of Y'Shaarj has been discovered." Said the eye. With this announcement, the depths surged in activity as various deep-sea creatures began to stir. The eye then began to direct them to the waters of Pandaria, eager to gain the heart of its deceased…"compatriot".