Chapter 1

Velen

Velen awoke with a start. Another vision, but this one was...different, startling. Even in the haze of waking from a deep slumber, the images still lingered with him. Bright, penetrating images. Ones that he knew instantly were of grave importance. Yes, visions were nothing new to the wise old Draenei. But with all his knowledge, all his experience and of course the powers of the light, he could easily distinguish when one was of the utmost importance, something that should not be...NO... could not be ignored. Concentrating now, trying to make sense of what he had seen and of what the vision was attempting to convey to him left him...unnerved... excited...hopeful. But in amongst these mostly positive, light filled feelings, remained an undercurrent of pervasive darkness. A struggle between the dark and the light and Velen, looking down at his hands in his lap, noticed that they were shaking uncontrollably. Something was about to happen, something that could tip the balance of power in Azeroth. Something that, if the alliance did not intervene in time, could tip the scales of the war, no not just the war he thought to himself, but the entire future of Azeroth itself, a future filled with wonderous light or an impenetrably deep darkness. Velen grunted as he rose from his bed and speaking out loud now, uttered only one sentence in haste, "I must speak with Anduin immediately".

Stormwind

Anduin, the king of Stormwind and leader of the alliance was waiting patiently in the war room in stormwind keep. A messenger had arrived early in the morning with some interesting news. The message was from Velen and stated that he was to arrive in the afternoon to speak to the high king about an extremely important matter, one that he could only speak about in person to the young king. Obviously Anduin was intrigued, not to mention that his deep respect for his mentor and friend meant that he always made time for Velen, but a matter of extreme importance piqued his interest...and made him a little nervous. The Alliance and Horde armies had been battling so often lately. That was why, as in the last few weeks, when there was only a few skirmishes, he was both happy that he could take a break from the constant pressure of leading the alliance and constantly worried about what his counterpart,Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, leader of the horde, was scheming next. Luckily for him, Lady Jaina Proudmoore had arrived from Kul Tiras yesterday to visit Anduin, partially to discuss matters of the war and partially just to visit him. The Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras stood beside him trying to smother a laugh.

"Anduin, if you keep pacing like that, you're going to wear a hole in the carpet. Why are you so nervous", Jaina asked with a slight smile.

"Jaina, If Velen is rushing over here with something so important that he can only speak to me in person about it, well, I don't know what to think" Anduin replied nervously.

"Come on Anduin, sit down beside me, lets chat before he arrives and at least try to relax", she responded patting the seat beside her.

Anduin stopped pacing, took a breath and smiled weakly but left the war maps for the moment and sat down beside her.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a bit on edge"

"You could say that all right, when was the last time you had an actual relaxing nights sleep?"

Anduin looked at her with a smirk, "Jaina, when was the last time you had a relaxing nights sleep"

"I take your point" she chuckled slightly.

"Besides with the Warchief's unpredictable and let's be honest, at times purely sadistic methods of war, It doesn't make me sleep any easier. Add to that Spymaster Shaw discussing with me only last week that horde spies in Stormwind are clearly on the rise. We caught three of them last week...THREE Jaina!"

"Anduin, the alliance have many spies in Orgrimmar too, and at least we caught three of them"

"For every spy we catch, you can guarantee that there are two more we haven't. And alliance information has been leaking to the horde much too easily lately for my liking. Damn you Sylvanas, I always hoped that Genn would change his mind and instead of destroying her we could reason with her, until Teldrassil. Now...now I don't know Jaina"

"Anduin...", Jaina sighed sympathetically and put her hand on the young king's shoulder. "I wish you never had to take up this burden so young. It pains me to see you trying to handle so much, but you're not alone, you know that right?", she smiled gently

" I know and I can't thank you enough. It's thanks to you and Genn, Tyrande, Velen...the whole of the allliance that even now the light is still strong within me" Anduin visibly relaxed and smiled back at her.

"Oh, Velen is here", Jaina exclaimed standing up to greet him

"Velen, you've arrived, it is, as always, good to see you", Anduin stood up to greet the prophet, "How long have you been standing there?"

Velen smiled, "Long enough Anduin to know that the light is still strong in you despite the bitter times we live in, and my young king, we will need it in the times ahead".

Anduin smiled resolutely, "Indeed, Let us talk". The three of them spent the next few hours speaking in both astonished and hushed tones, excited and pensive at the same time.

What they did not know, was that someone heard much of their conversation, something about an incoming event fortold by the great Draenei prophet himself, something that could change things for either side of this seemingly unending war. Something about a champion, a champion like no other.

"A champion that the dark lady herself would want to know about", smirked the horde spy. And before anyone ever even knew she was there, the dark ranger spy disappeared as quickly as she had arrived with no one the wiser.

Orgrimmar

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, Queen of the forsaken and Warchief of the horde sat back on her throne. Even inside, the air was warm, tinged with dust. The forsaken in front of her, bent down on one knee, head down in a deep respectful bow. Sylvanas uncrossed her legs, crossed them again and leaned forward in anticipation, her eyes glowing a brighter shade of red.

"Tameriel, tell me again, this time slowly. Don't leave out anything"

The dark ranger Tameriel took a sharp intake of breath, realizing that in her hurry to relay the information to her queen, she had rushed her message incoherently and quickly apologised. "Yes my queen, my apologies!", she exclaimed and bowed even deeper. After a moment she raised her head as Sylvanas gracefully lifted up her hand and ushered her to start again.

"My queen, I was finishing up a meeting with one of our human spies in Stormwind to gather information on the enemy as I was ordered. He had mentioned to me that he had found a secret passageway into the castle that only very few people knew of. After he relayed some interesting facts that he had garnered from this secret passageway, he gave me a map with the directions for our other assets to use. I was about to return to Orgrimmar with this important missive when I noticed that there was what looked to be a guard patrol not more than a few hundred yards away. Realising that my disguise had seemingly held up well so far, out of interest, I moved closer. That's when I realised that it wasn't a patrol, that in fact it was an entourage leading the prophet Velen towards the castle."

"Not an altogether unusual thing. The lion cub has a deep for respect for the old Draenei. Maybe he called for him so he could tuck the boy king into bed and read him a bedtime story", Sylvanas spat dismissively, interrupting her ranger.

"...Indeed my queen. But considering that he would surely be meeting with the king, I took the opportunity to use the map and soon I discovered the passageway into the castle. I managed to make it just as the prophet began a conversation with the alliance king and the Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras"

"So Jaina Proudmoore was also in this meeting", Sylvanas made the statement rather than posing the question, her interest piqued. "Continue".

" The prophet began telling them of a dream, a premonition, or a vision that he had. I'm sorry my queen, but I could not get too close at the risk of being discovered. They sometimes talked in hushed tones but I could make out most of what they said...although some of it was...confusing."

" Tameriel!", Sylvanas said, her tone cold and impatient, "This vision"

"Yes my queen. The prophet Velen bagan speaking of a vision, a battle between the light and the dark on Azeroth. He spoke of a champion, one who could possibly alter not only the war, but the future of Azeroth itself. He also spoke of strange steel carriages in both the air and on the land, of weapons that could destroy large portions of entire planets and giant buildings that could touch the sky. Apparently this was the world that this champion was from. Velen said that he would arrive here by divine light or magic but that his weapon would be himself. One that could be used for great good or evil, and that the influence of the alliance and the light would be crucial in determining this factor."

Sylvanas stayed quiet for a long moment, red eyes piercing through Tameriel. "So this champion...he is not from this world."

"I believe so my queen."

"And the alliance clearly does not want the horde to discover this champion and bring him to our side. One who could be extremely advantageous to our cause", she paused, as a smile began to slowly grow, "...to the horde and... to me." Her smile disappeared almost instantly and her cold tone resumed. "When and where will this champion appear?"

Tameriel nodded and continued. "He said that it would be in four days when both moons are in conjunction with the sun. The prophet seemed convinced that he would appear near Darkshore, close to some old temple ruins which may still retain some power and aid in his passing to this world."

Sylvanas stood up, raised one gauntleted hand and pointed towards the door. "Good work Tameriel, now go and gather the others. Tell them to meet me here in a hour, we have much work to do."

The dark ranger nodded and left quickly as Sylvanas sat slowly back down on her throne, crossed her legs again and held a hand up to her face. Yes, a lot to do, she thought to herself. Tameriel certainly didn't hear the full conversation, and she still couldn't comprehend the full picture, but Sylvanas had heard enough to know that this could be a game changer. She spent so much time in her fury, her dark brooding anger, that this feeling was almost alien to her...this, was it excitement, possibly even...Hope? No, she didn't want to even contemplate that. She didn't know enough yet. But she could not deny her growing sense of unease mixed with excitement. " Yes, I'm looking forward to your arrival ...Champion!", she purred to nobody in particular as she felt a smile begin to grow on her face again.

Matt

Matt lay on the roof of his car, the sun stinging his eyes but he felt good. In fact he felt really good. Putting on his sunglasses, he realized that after such a long time, a torrid time of unbearing grief and even moments of depression, that he had finally rounded a corner. He finally understood that the people around him had been a gift, helping him, pushing him and when it came down to it, just caring about him. When his father died six months ago, he couldn't even imagine this feeling of contentment now. But thanks to his friends, he had pressed on, albeit so difficult at first. He was excelling in his job, he had gotten back into the best shape of his life and somehow, he had managed to turn his life around. He would always miss his father, but he knew that he wouldn't want his only son to wallow in misery forever and allow his life to crash down around him. Things were looking up.

He lost track of time and before he knew it, the sun had begun to set. Feeling refreshed, he jumped down from the car and stretched his arms over his head. Looking out over the river, he smiled as the streetlights suddenly turned on and lit up the water in an array of dancing lights. He liked to come here every weekend and just relax by himself. At first it was a place to brood, but now it was a joy to him, a place that reminded him of freedom and also how lucky he was.

"Time to go home", he yawned as he got into his car and began the relatively short journey home. He parked the car a few hundred yards from his apartment. As usual he could never get parking closer to home when he arrived back this late, but getting out of the car and feeling so refreshed, he didn't care. He made sure to grab a few things that he'd left in the trunk, just in case, and locked the car. Don't wanna leave my baby behind, he grinned, slinging the accoustic guitar over his back. Getting back to playing music again was one of the things that had helped him through the dark times. Even though electric guitar was his preffered instrument, he had gotten used to playing the accoustic as it was easier to bring around, easier to take out and just strum along a few riffs when the mood took him. With his gym bag in his left hand and patting his pocket to make sure his phone was there, he set off on the short walk to his apartment.

It didn't take long for him to notice that something felt a little different. It's very quiet around here tonight...weird, he thought. He was the only one on the street, something not just unusual but completely unheard of. Wondering if something happened, he almost jumped when his phone let off a message alert. "Shit", he almost yelled, quickly looking around to make sure nobody was close by, to have seen his embarrasing reaction. Thankfully still alone, he chuckled to himself and reached in his pocket to check his phone. He checked the screen and the streetlights flickered. He looked up and they stopped abruptly. Shaking his head and looking down at the screen again, they flickered again, this time not stopping when he looked up. In his eyes, it was like a strobe effect and after a few seconds he had to look away. His head began to feel fuzzy, in fact his whole body felt strange. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he realised that he was on the border of keeling over. Throwing his gym bag over his other shoulder he quickly pressed his hand up against a nearby wall to steady himself. The lights were flickering madly now, his head was swimming and he could see the hairs on his arms literally standing on end. He heard what sounded like lightning crackling around him, heat, and a painfully bright light cascading down from above, and before he realised what happened, Matt found himself in what looked to be some kind of warzone. An alien battle like none he could have even imagined.

Inland off the coast of Darkshore (Alliance)

Anduin stood in full armor in what seemed to be a flat grassy area surrounded by trees. The ruins of an old temple were seen here and there, but not much else. They had been waiting for a few hours now and he was even tempted to ask Velen again if this was the right place, but he knew that it was. He could feel the remnants of power from this place himself, and besides when he asked Tyrande, she confirmed that the night elves had also detected power in this quiet place.

He smiled a little when he thought about his conversation with Tyrande. She and her people were devastated and still completely traumatized over the burning of the world tree, but Velen's vision brought hope. Hope clouded in mystery, but hope nonetheless. It had felt like so long since he had seen hope in Tyrande's eyes and he had seen it again. She was however not very happy when she requested to be there and he turned her down. It was important not to draw too much attention to this. So he promised her that if all went well, he would bring the champion from another world to her in due time, and this seemed to quell her somewhat.

He looked around at his small team that consisted of himself, ten of his best alliance soldiers, Velen and Jaina Proudmoore. He also brought his freind and personal spy, the blood elf Valeera Sanguinar, but she ventured out into the trees to keep an eye on any unwanted surprises.

Jaina looked up, "It's close Anduin, be prepared for anything." Anduin noticed that both moons and the sun were lining up. Realizing that Jaina was tense, he looked to Velen, who smiled back reassuringly and he nodded back.

"Keep alert men, we don't exactly know what to expect"

"Yes your majesty", the men replied in unison as their hands tensed around their weapons.

All of a sudden the air around them felt heavy, brimming with magical energy. The unnerving quiet was brought to a quick violent end as Valeera burst through the treeline, bow in hand. "We've got company your majesty, a horde platoon, at least twenty. The Warchief is leading them"

"What?", cried Anduin. "How did they find out? We need to hold this ground until he arrives. Men, prepare to fight!"

Jaina tensed, bringing magic to her fingertips and looked at the others. "Anduin, if you need to, use your hearthstone, it will bring you both back to Stormwind if I can't teleport us safely out of here"

Anduin now had Shalamayne, his fathers sword, in his hand and taking the hearthstone from the mage, he urged her, "If we get out, I expect you to do the same"

She nodded resolutely, determination lining her pretty features and was about to say something when an ear peircing wail broke her concentration.

"Sylvanas!", Anduin gritted his teeth with anger. Only a few seconds passed after the banshee queen's scream when the first arrow came, penetrating one of his soldier's legs. The soldier screamed in pain as blood spattered the grass and the horde stepped passed the treeline. A few orcs, some forsaken including dark rangers, and some trolls for good measure. Sylvanas gracefully stepped to the forefront in her full battle gear and stared right into the young king's eyes. He grimaced, she smiled.

Darkshore (Horde)

Sylvanas had left Nathanos in Orgrimmar. She needed someone she could trust to leave in her stead. Knowing that a large army would be seen long before they arrived at their destination, she instead chose a smaller elite team. Easier to get closer before they were spotted, easier to kill any who stood in their way and easier to get away with HER new champion. One who could help her in all of her plans. She couldn't contain another slight smile thinking about the possibilities. It wasn't long before they were at the treeline and she could see that the conjunction was nearly complete. "Come, let us claim what is ours!" and as she screamed her banshee wail, they moved forward.

Matt

Matt could barely breathe. After the horrific crackling of lightning, and a light that literally blinded him, he found himself on his hands and knees on what felt like grass. His senses were completely dulled so he just kept his head down, afraid that he was going to vomit and blinking his eyes furiously. Just take deep breaths, he kept saying over and over in his head. As his senses slowly began to return, he could feel that he wasn't alone. It was as if water was lodged in his ears, but he could hear clashes of some sort, and as his eyes slowly adjusted, he could see shapes, figures moving around him. He managed to slowly stand up and noticed that the ground was bright, it was daytime. Shaking his head softly, he looked up. His senses were almost back to normal now and he stared forward, mouth agape. "No", he turned away and closed his eyes. "Great, well this isn't real which means I hit my head really, really hard or, or..." he slowly smiled chuckling to himself, almost snorting in laughter " Or it's a dream you dumbass!" He turned back around still chuckling to himself when an arrow flew a few inches from his head and he ducked instinctively.

He heard a strange female voice shout in a language he didn't understand. She didn't sound happy.

He quickly took a knee. "Okay, okay...okay...okay...what the fuuuucccckkkk!" he silently screamed, panic now setting in.

He realized that he had ducked behind a broken pillar, head down. Matt steeled himself, putting a twitching hand on the pillar, he took three big deep breaths. "In...out...in...out...in...out, and look." He popped his head up over the pillar and stared in awe at what he was confronted with. There were what looked to him to be medieval soldiers fighting with swords, bows, and spears in front of him. One of them was clad in gleaming blue, gold and silver armor and holding a sword that had " a glowing orb"..."yep, that's a fucking glowing orb in the centre". Next he turned his head to the right and from behind, he could see that there was a woman throwing some sort of "I don't even want to say it, but she's throwing some sort of ...magic light things right?"

He ducked back down. "Okay, what in the flying FUCK is going on here? What the hell happened to me". He began to panic now. "This is real, this smells real", he gripped the grass beneath him, "This feels real".

He slowly lifted his head back over the pillar and looked beyond the people that were in front of him. "Holy Shiiiit", he gasped in horror when he looked on what could only be described as monters. Monsters through and through. Large green monsters with bodies built like tanks and large tusks protruding from their mouths. Beside them were more weird monster creatures with tusks and blue shades of skin. And then to top it all off, "Ohhh noooo...fuckin zombies", he barely whispered now in a state of fear?, shock?, he didn't even know anymore. He couldn't create a coherent thought right now, he was just reacting.

His eyes suddenly caught a woman in the middle of the battle. She had pale grey/blue skin which was covered mostly with leather and metal armor. She wore a cloak and a hood over her head and he recognised with amazement that she had large pointy ears sticking out of the hood. "Like an elf", he whispered to himself. Even with the armor and the strange features, he could see that she was a true beauty. And her eyes were glowing a deep red. Just then, as if she noticed him looking at her, her eyes locked onto his. It was as if time stood still for a moment and they just stared at each other. She smiled at him and he was mesmerized. The moment was broken when the woman who was slinging magic around noticed him, and opening her eyes wide she screamed, "Anduin he's over there, get him out of here."

Suddenly the grey/blue skinned woman began to evaporate in purple plumes of smoke and before he knew what was happening, she appeared before him fully formed again. Matt stood up to face her suddenly unafraid. He said nothing, just looked at her. She cocked her head slightly and smiled as she looked back at him. She said something but he couldn't understand her.

"Im sorry", he smiled back at her, feeling for the first time since this mess began, a strange comfort around her. "I don't understand you"

"Ah, so you can speak common ", she replied, still smiling that strange smile. She looked him up and down slowly, stopping at his eyes. "I said, well aren't you delicious".

He noticed that she had fangs and his thoughts began to waver slightly. Did she mean that as a compliment or does she actually plan to eat me, he wondered, when suddenly a burst of light shot between them, and the young man in the gleaming armour jumped over the pillar to land beside him.

"Get away from him Warchief", he roared.

The woman's features couldn't have changed more dramatically. Her beautiful face morphed into a snarling one as she spat venemous words at him. "You pityful King, don't interupt us. The champion belongs to ME!" She screamed this last part and Matt couldn't help but flinch slightly. To be honest, he actually felt sorry for whoever this champion was that they were talking about.

The warrior didn't even speak one more word, as he took something in his hand and put his other on Matt's shoulder.

The dark beauty's face contorted in horror as she reached out her hand to grab him. "No, no, don't you d..."

All of a sudden they were both standing in what looked to be a castle.

"What the...", was all he could manage as his head began to swivel around in shock, taking note of his new surroundings.

He jumped when the young soldier placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly. "Welcome to Stormwind champion. Or I should say, welcome to Azeroth!"