Chapter 12

Narzum (Day 44)

Matt watched Kar'coran staring down at him with bulging eyes. His already horrifying features now only intensifying with his angry, maniacal stare. He's really going to kill me and I'm never going to save Valeera, he thought as panic began to set in. His nose stung with pain but it enabled him to snap back to reality completely now. He could think clearly. He had to get out of this. Somehow. He had to. If he could just...

"Ugghhhhh...", Matt heaved, nearly throwing up as Kar'coran drove his gnarly fist hard into his stomach and again into his solar plexis. It felt like he had been hit with an iron bar as he tried to catch his breath.

Illidan growled furiously, crashing his body again and again against the metalic shackles that held him and the cold table he rested upon. Each repeated attempt to escape resulted in the same futile result.

Kar'coran snapped his head towards the night elf, "Patience, patience demon elf thing. I'll be with you soon enough." He turned back to the human and continued, "Right after I finish with this one. This...infuriating one." He seemed to produce a knife out of nowhere and driving his hand downwards, drove the ten inch curved blade through Matt's left arm.

"Aaaaaagggghhhhhhhh", Matt howled in agony. The pain was instant and terrible. He had felt it enter the inside of his bicep and exit the other side.

Kar'coran retracted the blade slowly, causing Matt to inhale sharply, and just as quickly, stabbed the blade into his side and pulled upwards. Matt began to vomit blood and he could feel the blade tear away at his gut. He didn't need to see the pool of blood on the table as he could feel it pouring from his side and seap into his clothes. He had never experienced physical pain like it before. He felt cold and he could smell and taste his own coppery blood in his mouth and in the air. It was a disturbing feeling. For the first time in his life, he could feel that his death was imminent. He wondered if this was how his father had felt in his last moments. Cold, tired, scared and alone. He could feel warm tears rolling down his face as he remembered his dad and his life on earth. Everything he had been torn from. Everything that had been taken from him. And for what? Why had he imagined that he could save Valeera when he couldn't even save himself. He could feel himself slipping away and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop it. In fact, he thought, I'm not even sure I'd want to even if I could. He had tried but he had failed. Azeroth had clearly made a mistake when she had chosen him for her champion. He closed his eyes. He had done all he could and now it was time for him to rest. I'm sorry Valeera.

Illidan

Illidan strained his neck to the side only to see his friend slowly slipping away. His skin had turned a waxy shade of pale as his human blood pooled onto the metallic table underneath, dripping rythymically onto the floor below. Like a gruesome hourglass, he knew that each drop of blood was the equivalent of the sand quickly running out. And he knew that Matt was nearly out of time. They both were. He knew that he had to do something. But what can I do? Excluding his unbearable imprisonment, he had rarely felt so helpless in all his long life. He couldn't believe the strength of the magic that the Nar'zuleem were capable of, let alone their extrordinary technology. Illidan couldn't quite grasp either...but...but Matt could, he thought. It may have been some sort of...simulation, but Matt had been able to change parts of it. Kar'coran's fury was proof that it had clearly been no mean feat. If he could do it in the simulation, then...he could do it now. Matt, like him, had awoken groggy and disorientated. His confusion and anger had clouded any clear thought or concentration that breaking any kind of Nar'zuleem spell would require. He knew now why Kar'coran wanted to kill Matt immediately. It wasn't just rage, it was fear. The Nar'zuleem were terrified by his human friend and what he may be capable of.

Illidan's eye sockets burned a fell green under his blindfold. He turned back to face his friend and growled at the top of his lungs, "MATT, DISMANTLE THIS SPELL. JUST LIKE BEFORE. ARE YOU GOING TO LET VALEERA DIE. ALONE. ON THIS ALIEN ROCK!"

Kar'coran spun around towards Illidan, his mouth wide open, showing his needle like teeth in a wild ferocious grin. "He's dead you fool", he screeched and began to laugh as he walked over to the night elf. Illidan could feel his body tensing up, preparing for the forthcoming punishment.

He stood over him now and Illidan could see that his demeanour had changed completely. It was then that he realized how much of a threat that Matt had posed to Kar'coran and his race. After he had disposed of the human, his vulgar pomp had returned.

"I'll dismantle you slowly, you sad wretch of an elf. Did you think your human friend would help you?", he boasted, continuing his laughter.

Illidan turned away in disgust. He felt lost. He had failed the only true friend that he had made in centuries. He had failed Azeroth. And somehow, worst of all, he had failed himself. Once again, for all his sacrifices, failure seemed to follow him. Sticking to him. Unable to escape it. Like a tick slowly gorging on his blood, draining him of all of his good intentions. Draining him of all hope. If this was to be his end, then it was a fitting one. He began to feel a darkness close in around him. An oppressiveness quickly surrounded him. Just when he began to wonder if this was what truly giving up felt like, he sensed a change in the air pressure. It was as if the room's atmosphere was pressing against his chest. He tried to catch his breath and turned back towards Kar'coran who was now standing sideways towards Matt. His mouth was agape and Illidan perceived the look of hatred returning to his eyes and a new emotion. Fear. He noticed a pure unbridled fear in those alien eyes and Illidan strained his neck again towards his dead friend.

Matt was standing right in front of their Nar'zuleem torturer. As Illidan could only lay there blinking furiously, his delight at seeing that Matt was not only alive but had escaped his shackles, was disrupted by the image of the man that now stood only a short distance from him. Matt's eyes had changed to a glossy jet black and his hands glowed an azure blue. His face was creased in a bitter fury.

Kar'coran stuttered in a high pitched tremello, his bravado now almost all but gone. "H...How-"

Matt struck forward with a devastating punch, his glowing fist almost tearing Kar'coran in half and sending him crashing into the wall a few metres away.

Illidan turned his head slightly as Nar'zuleem blood sprayed his skin for the first time. He had a feeling that it wouldn't be his last as he turned back to his friend. Matt waved his hand and Illidan's shackles disintegrated into dust before him. He slowly stood up and, stretching his muscles, he towered over the human. He placed his hand on his shoulder. "You took your time. Now how do we get out of here. Wherever here is?", he chuckled. Matt's face remained sullen. There was a wild look in those unsettling black eyes and while Illidan felt almost gleefull at his escape, he remained cautious. He didn't have time to try to contemplate what was happening right now. Escape came first.

Matt nodded his head towards the wall and finally smiled, "This way."

Illidan felt a shiver creep up his spine at the cruel smile and found himself wishing that he had stayed sullen. "There's no door and I'm not sure that we can break through"

Matt raised a hand and the wall exploded sending rubble into another room behind it. He strolled into the newly breached room and Illidan heard screaming and cries of pain. It seemed that they were being observed by more of the Nar'zuleem. He followed Matt and regarded the injured captors. Most looked very similar to Kar'coran but he almost stopped in his tracks when one of them that had been blown across the room with the force of the magical blast began to move sluggishly, eventually managing to sit up against the opposite wall. Matt made his way over, slowly, almost drinking in the damage he had wrought and savoring it. He knelt down on one knee before the Nar'zuleem. "You're female", he said, sounding for the first time since his dramatic resurrection, surprised.

The Nar'zuleem female lay back against the wall with a hand pressed against her side. Purple fluid was leaking from an ugly looking gash. She raised her head slowly and inhaled sharply, her pretty face wincing in pain. She looked into Matt's eyes with a look of defiance. "I am. Why...ughhh", she winced again but continued, "Why do you look so surprised?"

She spoke in an almost harmonic cadence, in a voice so disimilar to Kar'coran's that one would almost assume that they each belonged to different races. The differences didn't end there. She was shorter than the males that Illidan had seen, but it was everything else that seemed to differentiate her from the males that was far more surprising. Her skin had a blue/green hue with a healthy glow rather than the thin gray leathery skin of the males. Kar'coran's skin seemed to be almost dessicated, clinging to his thin skeleton whereas hers was full and healthy, much like a human, elf or troll. There were clear indicators that she was indeed one of the Nar'zuleem but even the similarities weren't a perfect match. Like Kar'coran, she had large black eyes and horns jutting out from her forehead but her horns weren't misshapen and were of equal length. Unlike the males, she had long silver/white hair which reached to the small of her back and instead of the short mangled crooked wings of the males, she had fine healthy orange tinged wings that were folded behind her back, reaching from her head to her waist. Her body had all of the alluring female curves of any beauty from Azeroth and as she brushed her hair from her face to glare at Matt, Illidan confirmed that her beauty didn't stop there. Even her needle teeth didn't dilute her attractiveness.

Matt kept a keen eye on her, watching for any sudden moves, but raised his glowing hand sideways. It was only then that Illidan noticed that the rest of the badly injured Nar'zuleem in the room, who all happened to be males, had healed themselves and were advancing on them. Matt closed his hand into a fist, his eyes never leaving the female, and in that one simple movement, all of their heads exploded in unison. Illidan winced internally and realized that Matt's power had grown exponentially. The female looked over in horror and a short whimper escaped her lips. She turned her head back to Matt with a renewed smouldering glare.

"Why aren't you healing?", Matt asked in a cold tone while Illidan watched on.

She continued her rebellious glare without uttering another word.

"What is your name?", he continued.

Still nothing.

" I asked politely. What is your name and why are you not healing?"

She turned her face away from him.

Matt pressed his hand over her own covering her side and pushed his weight forward.

"Agggghhhhhhh", she screamed in pain as more of her purple blood oozed from her ghastly wound, pouring through her fingers. "Stop...please stop", she wept and Illidan saw her large black eyes become wet with tears. He felt sickened and entranced at the same time as glistening blue tears slowly fell from her eyes. He knew that their situation was dire and they needed the information, but it didn't mean that he enjoyed the methods.

Matt took his hand away. Illidan noticed that he didn't look the least bit concerned let alone shaken. Something didn't feel right but he didn't quite know what.

"Do I need to ask you again"

She looked up at his face, her defiance dissolving by the second. "My...my name is Sar'loran. I can't...Ughhhh...I can't heal myself. No female can. We can't use magic."

Illidan looked down at her from his standing position. "Fascinating. You are born this way?"

"Yes, It's biological. Males have always been born with the ability to use basic magic. Females don't have that ability but our minds are more suited to scientific endeavours. We...Ughhhhh... serve differently but we are equally important in advancing the greatness of our people."

"So you're the brains and the males are the brawn?", asked Matt in a neutral tone.

"An imbecile might look at it in such simple terms as that but things rarely are that simple", she spat.

Matt looked at her sternly and began to close his fist.

She jerked backwards, wincing again, "I'm sorry..."

"You said that the males are born with the ability to use basic magic. What they are capable of is the furthest thing from basic magic. It's dense and brutal...", anger lined his face now, "...and dangerous. How did this come to be? It isn't natural."

Her eyes darted sideways looking for a way out of the situation that she found herself in. Matt pushed his fingers into her wound and she screamed a high pitched scream, her eyes rolling back with the agony. He removed his hand again and growled at her, "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR BULLSHIT. ANSWER ME!"

She was openly sobbing now and began to speak through blue tears rolling down her face. "It was when the burning legion attacked us...ughhhhh...they tried to make us drink their demon blood. The females had a terrible reaction to it resulting in the deaths of most who drank it. But...ughhhh...but the males were different. The mutations were quick and devastating...for...ughhhhh...for us and for the legion. Their bodies began to change and their magic abilities merged with their biology in a way that took even the legion by surprise. When we realized the power that our males had achieved, we ...ughhhhhhhh-", she paused, coughing up purple blood, but continued, "It wasn't long before we drove the legion out of Nar'zum and we found ourselves top of the galactic food chain, so to speak."

"And of course what do the powerful do but choose to abuse that power. You could have chosen to help other planets fight the legion but instead you chose to take their place", Matt replied.

"Kar'coran is the future of our people. He knows like I do that power is not to be shared. The strong eat the weak. It is the way of things. Most would assume that you would share that philosophy. After all, you're using your power right now against a weaker foe", Sar'loran rebuked.

Matt looked liked he wasn't listening. He looked like he had just remembered something extremely important. "Kar'coran!", he gasped and ran back to the other room where the torturer was almost ripped in two.

Illidan quickly followed only to hear Matt growling angrily. In destroying the adjacent room, he had forgotten to fully dispose of Kar'coran.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! He's gone! The motherfucker escaped. Fuck!", Matt stood horrified at his own complacency, hurling abuse at no one in particular.

"He's gone now. There's nothing we can do about that but we need to get the fuck out of here Matt. Now!", said Illidan.

Matt seemed to instantly calm himself and turned his black eyes towards the night elf. He nodded and returned to the half conscious Sar'loran.

Kneeling down again on a solitary knee, he continued where he left off. Although this time there was clearly more urgency to his questioning. They could not linger here any longer, especially with Kar'coran's escape. An enemy attack was imminent.

"Where is Valeera?"

Sar'loran blinked her eyes frenetically. "Who?"

"The yellow haired blood elf that was with me...in the simulation. I'm sure you were watching. Where is she?"

"I...I don't know where she's being held. Kar'coran knew that something wasn't normal about you, so he kept you apart from her. She's your weakness and he exploited that. That's why he allowed you two to meet in his simulation."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that she was really there. That was really her. So we really did..."

"In the simulation, yes. That was really her."

Illidan noticed Matt take a breath. It was the first time that his eyes had softened at all since they turned black.

"I'll ask you one more time. Where is she?"

Sar'loran looked up at Illidan, her eyes imploring him to save her and replied, "I don't know. If I knew...I'd-", Sar'loran's pretty head fell from her shoulders, nesttling in her lap.

Matt lowered his hand, his face grim. "You wouldn't have told us one way or the other."

Illidan gripped Matt's shoulder, "Let's go!"

They ran through a series of seemingly never ending corridors, Matt blasting his way through any dead ends that they came across. They spoke very little to each other, partially because of their urgency to escape the prison maze that they found themselves in and also because Illidan found Matt's demeanour to be less than cordual. But it didn't escape his mind that they hadn't come across any more enemies thus far and it made him feel uneasy. Something felt off but Illidan knew little of what to expect.

It was when they blasted through the last wall that their problems became clearer. As the dust began to settle, the first thing to hit Illidan was the noise. They found themselves in the middle of a bustling city street but like none that he had ever seen before. Tall, graceful buidings surrounded them but it was the throngs of people that threw him off completely. He could hear screams from the crowd closest to them and he could see that they were regular citizens and not Nar'zuleem soldiers as he imagined they would be. Nar'zuleem women and children began to scream and panic when they saw the night elf and human blast out of a building and into the street and Illidan knew then that an escape like this had clearly never happened before. The Nar'zuleem military were completely unprepared for Matt or anybody like him no matter what Kar'coran had implied.

Matt turned back towards the building, stepping over the rubble and beginning to make his way back inside. Illidan stared at him, confused.

"Matt, what are you doing? This is our chance. Make a portal and get us the hell out of here!"

Matt turned to Illidan with an icy stare. For a moment he thought his human friend was going to attack him.

"I'm not leaving without Valeera. If I had to have known that this wall would lead us to the outside, I wouldn't have blasted a fucking hole through it. I would have moved in the opposite direction. She has to be somewhere inside. I'm going back in."

"Are you fucking crazy. We have to warn Azeroth about what's coming. I'm sorry about Valeera, I really am, but an entire planet is more important than one blood elf."

Matt clenched a fist and Illidan could hear quite clearly the blue lightening crackle with energy even over the civilian din.

"So the truth finally comes out, night elf. That demon blood must have royally fucked you up if you think I'm going to let that slide. You never wanted me to find her, did you?"

Illidan gritted his teeth, "Night elf? I'm your friend. Why would I not want you to find her? Something is...something is wrong here-"

"Something is wrong here alright!", Matt spat the words violently and to Illidan's surprise, they kept coming. "You! You are what's wrong here demon. You've been fucking with me from the very beginning, haven't you. You turned on your people and now you're turning on me."

"What the hell is wrong with you? I sacrificed myself for my people. I sacrificed EVERYTHING. For them. For Azeroth. And I was despised and imprisoned for it. For having the courage to use the legion's power against them when nobody else would."

Matt's black eyes began to narrow. "That sounds pretty familiar, demon. It sounds very much like these Nar'zuleem scum looking at us right now. These foul-" A piece of rubble hit his right shin, momentarily stopping Matt in his tracks.

Illidan looked behind him and saw a Nar'zuleem child, no more than three feet tall and looked to be what a male Nar'zuleem would look like without many of the fell mutations that he would eventually mature to gain. The child who threw the rock stood beside his fearful looking mother with tears in his eyes and balled fists. A tiny but defiant little creature. Illidan almost felt admiration for the kid and as those thoughts entered his mind, the child exploded in a purple mist, covering his mother and many of the civilian bystanders in his remains. The crowd was shocked into an eerie silence which was quickly broken by a sound that Illidan would never forget for as long as his life would continue. The child's mother began to scream, an ear splitting, horrifically painful scream as she dropped to her knees, trying to scrape up the remains of her son. For the first time in thousands of years, Illidan felt shellshocked. He could hardly believe what his own friend just perpetrated on a child, enemy or not. It was a child. The mother suddenly exploded into a similar, larger ball of purple mist and gore and the crowd stood still. Silence spread once more. Too scared and petrified to make any sudden sound or move.

"As I was saying, these foul creatures are no different to you. They betrayed the galaxy and you betrayed your people and your planet", Matt continued as if he had momentarily stopped to swat away a fly.

Illidan stood still, aghast, staring at a man who had become a friend but had committed such an horrific act and he knew there and then what was wrong. This wasn't his friend. His friend was gone. Something had happened and whatever power struggle that Matt had been fighting within himself had finally come to a head and it was clear to him now that his power was corrupting him.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor!"

"Matt, there's something wrong with you. You need to try to calm yourself. I'm not your enemy and you know that. I'm no traitor and you know this too."

"And how do I know that you haven't been working with the Nar'zuleem from the very beginning."

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response. Do you even realize what you have just done. You murdered an innocent child. And woman. The Matt I know would kill someone for doing what you just did. Whatever is happening to you, you have to fight it or we're both dead and the whole of Azeroth with us."

"Innocent?, hahahahaha...these creatures...innocent? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Illidan could see the remaining civilians almost tremble with fear in his peripheral demonic vision. One of them, another female, began to turn and run. She didn't make it more than a few steps when she too expoded in a sphere of wet purple mist. If anyone else had the same idea, Ilidan knew at that moment that their hopes of escape were severely deflated now and they remained rooted to the spot, terrified to move a muscle.

Suddenly, a loud whooshing sound erupted from their left and a large portal opened up onto the street. Matt raised a hand calmly towards the portal, his azure energy crackling, and was about to attack when a slim yellow haired elf with glowing green eyes stepped out into view.

Illidan tensed up and watched closely as Matt's eyes softened immediately.

"Va...Valeera. How?...-"

"You have been busy I see, human thing", a disgusting tremelo voice warbled from the direction of the portal and Kar'coran stepped fully from the rift, almost hiding behind the blood elf. He had a hand tightened in what looked to be a vice like grip around Valeera's arm but made sure to stand behind her at all times.

"You!", was all Matt could manage through a clenched jaw and gritted teeth. His hatred of the Nar'zuleem torturer was raw and unrefined and clear for all to see. It was also plain to everyone that bore witness to the exchange that the feeling from the Nar'zuleem general was clearly mutual.

Matt began to move his hand in the direction of Kar'coran, when the general pulled Valeera into his body to cover his own.

"Now, now, now, you need to rethink your strategy here. You can't kill me without going through her first and even if you can..." Kar'coran's hand that was gripping her arm began to immediately emit a black mist which seeped into Valeera's skin, causing her to scream in pain and convulse. It stopped quickly and the torturer continued, "...and even if you think you can, I'll kill her before you can release a portion of your power. And this time, she'll be in so many pieces that even I won't be able to put her back together again."

Illidan felt an enormous pressure push against his skin and noticed black veins begin to pulsate from Matt's forehead.

"YOU...BASTARD! I'm going to fucking KILL YOU. You're dead...DEAD!"

"Matt! Matt, it's okay. Forget about me. Get out of here before it's too late. You have to find a way to get back to Azeroth, warn Anduin. They're scared of you. They're scared Matt-" Kar'coran struck Valeera from behind, interrupting her plea.

"Scared? Hahahaha. You fool of an elf thing. The Nar'zuleem don't know the meaning of fear. This entire universe will tremble before us. Before ME." He peeked from behind Valeera and fixed Matt with a hateful stare. As their eyes locked in mutual contempt, more and more Nar'zuleem soldiers began to emerge from the portal behind him until their number became too much to adequately count with a mere glance.

Illidan knew that their chance for a speedy escape had severely diminished, that was of course, if they could escape at all. He noticed Valeera make a movement with her eyes but his focus was torn between too many figures. A restrained Valeera, a psychotic Matt, a demented general, his growing army and far too many surrounding civilians for his liking.

"I will admit that you have become an...irritant, but no more. I will make sure that this is the last day you see on this wonderous planet. You think that you have found a way to fight against us. You think that your power can rival us? Maybe even defeat us? You took me by surprise, that's all. You are a fool, human thing. And I will show you how much of a fool you really are."

Kar'coran gestured to one of his soldiers. The soldier held a small metallic looking stand on which lay an orange glowing cube and he took great care in holding it next to his general.

Illidan could see that Matt had lost control completely and either didn't sense the significance of this unknown object or didn't care one way or another as he nonchalantely opened up a portal. "I'm taking Valeera now. I'd like to see you try to stop me."

Kar'coran only smiled.

Illidan knew something terrible was coming and just as his survival instincts were about to kick in, Valeera screamed at him. "Illidan, get Matt out of here. NOW. You're both going to die and then it's over for all of us."

Suddenly the stone pavement cracked below Matt's feet and his body became surrounded by black and red energy. Blood began to flow from his eyes, down his cheeks and crimson lightening whipped and crackled around him. This was new and at first Illidan thought that whatever weapon Kar'coran had unveiled had been unleashed upon the human but it became clear that this was indeed none other than Matt's own newly evolving and clearly dangerous power. His friend had become almost unrecognizable now and it didn't take an academic to know that this dangerous evolution was affecting him both physically and mentally.

Matt focused on Kar'coran. His fuel was his hatred and as long as the general lived, the well would never run dry. Kar'coran returned his stare with a contemptuous loathing of his own and placed his hand on the orange cube. The general gasped loudly, his body momentarily becoming rigid. Matt rushed him, his magical energy marking the stone with his every step. Kar'coran held his now free hand towards Matt and released a massive surging pulse of energy at the onrushing human. The first blast missed, hitting the buiding behind him. Illidan watched as the gigantic stone structure disintegrated in an explosion that rocked the city streets.

Illidan could only watch in horror as the next blast caught Matt just before he could reach the Nar'zuleem general. If it was anybody else, they would surely have been pulverized immediately but Matt managed to use the incredible surge of arcane energy surrounding him to swipe the blast aside, destroying yet another adjacent buiding and his own arm in the process. The third blast caught him squarely in the middle and sent him hurtling back towards Illidan. He crashed down onto the pavement in front of him with a large hole through his chest. Matt blinked at him, his eyes still burning with hatred even now. Valeera's screams could barely be heard above the din of the terrified civilians who now finally began to flee in all directions.

Illidan grabbed Matt and throwing him over his shoulder, began to run towards the slowly disappearing portal.

Kar'coran allowed himself one more satisfied smile and powered up another incredible surge of destructive power, "And with this, you finally die."

Valeera screamed in fury and gripped the general's face in her small hands, absorbing all of the immense power left in him. She began to glow orange and her body tensed. Something felt wrong but it was too late. Kar'coran began to move away from her.

"You fool of a blood elf. Only the Nar'zuleem can control such power. It cannot be contained in an inferior vessel like yours."

She took one last look at Illidan and her human love that lay still over his shoulder. "GO!", she roared at them and fell to her knees. Kar'coran and his soldiers began to run in the opposite direction. Illidan looked back one last time to see her mouth the words "I love you" to Matt, before her body emitted a rolling sphere of energy in all directions quickly destroying masses of escaping civilians. Women and children were wiped out in an instant and Illidan leapt through the portal with Matt just in time,as it quickly closed behind them.

Anduin (Present Day)

On any other day, the flurry of activity at stormwind keep would have set peoples tongues wagging, but this day in particular was one of immense scrutiny and interest to all. Both the people inside the castle and those citizens who resided outside the keep were beset with worry, tension and for some, even a little excitement. King Anduin had made sure that all of the visiting dignitaries and leaders were made as comfortable in his home as was possible in such short notice. Most, such as Sylvanas Windrunner, Tyrande Whisperwind and the council of the three hammers were honored with the most lavish rooms that were available, while some others like Thrall, Saurfang and Baine Bloodhoof chose to sleep in the castle grounds in the lavish tents and teepees that the Horde had traveled with. Anduin didn't want to add to any more tension between the factions than there already was, so he didn't stand in their way. Everyone would be present inside during the summit anyway, so if certain important people felt more comfortable sleeping in the courtyard, he would respect that and wouldn't stand in their way. There were far more important things than sleeping arrangements to discuss after all.

There was to be an informal gathering tonight before the summit the next day. Anduin thought that it would serve as an important approach with regards to easing some of the tension. He could imagine it going one of two ways. Either important discussions and hopefully even some lighthearted moments might come of it or all hell would break loose and that wouldn't be the only thing that would end up broken. He knew it was a risk, a big one. But if this grand alliance between the two factions was going to work at all, then meeting in a more relaxed atmosphere would be a test of that resolve. If they couldn't manage that, then how would they manage tense battle tactics and joined military maneuvers. If they couldn't manage an informal meeting, how could they trust each other with their lives on a battlefield. And if they couldn't, then this alliance was doomed to begin with and Azeroth with it. They would have to put their differences aside for the good of everyone. And I believe that we can. And we will, thought Anduin. "For if we cannot, then we really are doomed", he whispered to himself and opened his door which led into the hall. The informal gathering would begin soon. And he couldn't be late to his own party. He just hoped that it wouldn't end up being his funeral or the death of the new alliance before it had even begun. He took a deep breath and allowed fate to take it's course. Whatever that may be.

Author's note

I'm planning on updating the next few chapters quicker than the gap between chapters 11 and 12. These next few chapters will be leading up to and including the end of 'A Soul In Torment'. This chapter concentrated mostly on backstory but from here on out, the story will be focused on the present day and the war on Azeroth and will be lighter on backstory set on Narzum. Chapter 13 will focus on the factions in Stormwind and the war summit itself with all of the tensions and indeed friendships and relationships that entails.

As always, thanks for reading and also for the positive comments. Much appreciated!