As Brisa made her way through the dark hallways to the rest of the Sin'dorei gathered in one of the en suites, she heard laughter coming from the twins, Jassan, and another unfamiliar feminine voice. I thought Tragique was coming alone, thought Brisa. The fact that this new person was in near tears of laughter was a good sign they weren't hostile, at least not to her family.
As she entered the room, Brisa noticed Tragique standing stoically in the center of the room, crossing his arms and shaking his head. Her brother Jassan stood on top of a decapitated love seat like a stage, holding a fork with a half-eaten potato on, mimicking a goblin microphone, like the fool he was.
"So you see," Jassan blurted, "It was actually our mother that Jassan had laid one on, back in that closet all those years ago. Can you believe it?" Both the twin's faces were bright red with laughter, Runa slamming the table in a fit, Aeri was wiping off a tear. A strange blood elf sat next to them, a death knight from her eyes and cold skin, and was nearly falling off the crate she was sitting on, cackling like a witch, pointing at Tragique, unable to get a word out with all her laughter.
"And not only that," Jassan continued, "but our mother and our dear cousin here promised they'd never tell anyone about it, hope to die, they said. But guess what? Our cousin did literately die and she went and told us anyway!" The room was shaking with howls from everyone. Poor Tragique stood like a statue, probably wishing he really could die all over again.
"Did mother ever tell you that it was also the worst kiss she ever could remember," Brisa interrupted, leaning on the doorframe. All eyes suddenly were on her and the room went silent. "It's true," she continued, staring at a bare wall off to the side, "he had bad breath, she said, and his poor little face was sweaty from all the games they had been playing outdoors."
A moment of silence passed until Aeri couldn't hold it anymore and let out a bright holler. The others followed suit and the room was bursting with high spirits once again. Brisa's face finally let out a sly smirk as she walked past Tragique.
"Ugh, not you too," Tragique muttered under his breath, shaking his head even more.
Brisa made her way to sit on the love seat her brother was standing on, while Tama padded softly to an empty corner of the room to lay down. Jassan plopped down next to his eldest sister and wrapped his tanned arm around her.
"Glad to see you finally decided to join us. Potato?" he said, waving the fork with the half-eaten potato off of it in front of her. Brisa swiftly chomped it with one bite. Jassan looked hurt all of a sudden, staring at his empty fork. Aeri and Runa smiled wide at her from across the table, grinning like children as if they shared some secret from her. The stranger gave a soft, genuine smile at her and Tragique was busy finding something to sit on in the room. He settled on an old broken barrel, which hardly looked to the task of supporting his weight with all his plate armor on. Still chewing on the fried potato, she wondered how the food tasted sweeter than it had in many months. Maybe it was just being together with her family like this like none of the last few years ever happened. Everything fell back together so natural, she thought. Would they truly forgive her for everything? Would something happen to shatter everything again?
Brisa pushed down her memories and just focused on the now and let herself enjoy this moment; she wouldn't know when she'd ever get this chance again.
"Alright, enough, kids," barked Tragique, not unkindly, but enough to get their attention. "You've had your fun at my expense, but let's try to remember why we're all here. Dreadmoore, if you please."
"Oh, yes," said Illanna, collecting herself for a moment, then searching over the documents she had sprawled on the table, fumbling with upside-down documents, a rolled-up chart falling off the edge of their table. "Oh gods," she muttered to herself, "I'm sorry about this, just give me a moment."
The mood in the room had sobered from their earlier mirth and each of the Nethari tried their best to focus on what new quest they were going to be given. After a minute of organizing her documents, the archivist rolled out a large graph, depicting what could have been a large, circular looking city, or perhaps a very large building, with different circular sections eclipsing into itself. Brisa, Aeri, Runa, and Jassan all crowded around the chart, trying to figure out what it was.
"As you might have already known, a breach from the Shadowlands into Azeroth has been found in the Northrend skies above Ice Crown Citadel," Illanna started. Each of the siblings gave her a serious knowing nod, as she'd expect from any seasoned adventurers in the know about the current events. She had no doubt each of them already possessed the common knowledge of what had transpired over the last few weeks since the abduction of their world leaders.
She continued, "You might already have been aware as well that Highlord Darion Mograine had opened the way into Ice Crown Citadel to discuss the current state of affairs with the remaining world leaders, which included Lor'themar Theron, our Regent Lord of Quel'Thalas." At this, Jassan's brow furled and said, "wait, when did this happen? I wasn't aware of a secret meeting?"
"Oh love," Runa said with a pitying voice, "you're barely aware of your own shadow, much less the happenings of world leaders." Jassan made a snarled face at her, while Runa stuck out her tongue.
"I'll fill you in the details later, okay," winked Aeri at him, dimples forming on her cheeks as she smiled warmly at him.
"Take this seriously, everyone," Tragique interrupted with impatience.
"I swear, this is just like school," Jassan started until Brisa shot a quick elbow to his bare ribs.
"Shhhh, listen," Brisa mothered.
Jassan took a deep breath and smiled pleasant-like at Illanna, "my apologies, please continue, Head Archivist."
Taking her cue, Illanna continued, "After the meeting, the leaders made their ways back to their respective capitals, on both the Horde and Alliance sides, with contingency plans being formulated."
"Contingency plans," Aeri interjected, "as in, a backup plan?"
"Yes, precisely," Illanna agreed, "You see, Mograine, his entire company of elite Death Knights, as well as his pick of a large group of adventures managed to gain access into the Shadowlands by other means granted to them by the power of the current Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon. After his defeat from the rogue Banshee Queen, Sylvanas Windrunner, the helm of Domination had been torn into shards, a way was found into the realm of death by means of using these shards- meaning a way for mortals to enter without first dying here on Azeroth, keeping their mortal bodies with them."
Brisa flinched at hearing the name of her former Warchief, earning a side glance from Jassan. He gently leaned his head against hers, the small gesture of support bringing her some small comfort and out of her thoughts.
"What some of you may or may not know is that the Knights of the Ebon Blade nor Highlord Fordragon have had any contact with Highlord Mograine's unit for the last two weeks. The leaders have prepared for such an outcome and contingency plans are being put in place. As of date, a total of 52 groups, ranging from an elite few to groups of over a hundred, have been sent into the shadowlands, none have come back to Azeroth. To go in blind into the Shadowlands was a risk they all took, but the urgency to connect with our heroes is growing more pressing by the hour."
Illanna paused to judge their reaction to this news. It was definitely a frightening circumstance that was beginning to unfold and many adventures would fold around this point. Unlike other adventurers, these kids were just as invested in this knowledge as any old veteran strategist. They absorbed details, were invested. It's just you told me about them, Tragique, Illanna thought to herself. They really were the very same heroes who saved Azeroth from the Legion and put an end to the Fourth War.
Illanna continued, "Earlier this morning, we received word from the Acherus of an anomaly that had been spotted by our portal keepers as well as Bolvar Fordragon. Someone from the other side, holding a shard from the Helm of Domination was trying to make contact. Soon after, the Highlord used his power connecting to the helm to create a link and entered the shadowlands himself, taking a tremendous risk. However, it seems to have paid off, as both Orgrimmar and Stormwind reports confirmed a portal connection with someone on the other side of the veil."
At this, everyone stood up at once.
"You found them?" screamed Runa, almost flying off her chair.
"But where is everyone?" said Aeri, her eyes flung wide open.
Jassan sat bewildered, stroking his mustache in deep thought, "But what happened to Mograine's team and the other adventurers?" he asked.
Brisa, on the other hand, turned a curious eye towards Tragique, who sat silently with clenched fists.
"I'll answer everything as best as I can, everyone," Illanna said, trying to calm everyone down. "Please hear what else I have to say." After they all settled, she continued, "There are portals now in Orgrimmar and Stormwind that have a link directly to the Shadowlands. But what the returning champions have confirmed is far much worse than what we had originally imagined. Our original goal was to retract our world leaders from their captors right away, however, there are complications far more intricate than we could have ever envisioned."
"Our reports have confirmed that Thrall, Baine, Jaina, and Anduin all had been originally found and rescued by Mograine and others, in a hellish realm in the Shadowlands called 'The Maw', which is ruled by an unforgiving creature that is known to them as the 'Jailer'. His minions are more powerful than anything we've seen, even compared to the forces of the Legion, or the creatures from the Void. While trying to escape, a strange waystone was discovered that reacted to one of the champions that Mograine had brought along with him. While the others bought the champion time to activate the waystone, the Jailer had personally confronted them and sent his armies to thwart their efforts. If it hadn't been for the Lion of Stormwind's shield of Light, the champion would have never completely activated the waystone, which turned out was a teleportation beacon, which only reacted to the champion's touch."
"Afterwards, Bolvar Fordragon was contacted by strange magic, in which he took a dangerous gamble to heed its call. Shortly afterward, new portals emerged in the capital cities. Briefings went out of the news and now the heads of all world leaders are taking action, bringing into light the contingency plans we had mentioned earlier. The plan is to bring forth our best and brightest to enter the Shadowlands and defend Azeroth once again from that which threatens our realms."
Illanna paused for a moment to read the room. The mood was electric. Each one of the Nethari siblings was focused on her report, all childish mannerisms dissolved with her dire briefing.
"How did they do it? How'd they know that was a portal that would take them somewhere else?" Jassan followed, scratching his ear.
"What about the others? The leaders? Are they still in that place, in the Maw?" asked Runa, her jewelry clinking about as she remarked loudly.
Aeri burst, "Who was the champion that came back?" She was practically beaming from ear to ear.
"I think you already know who it is, Aeri," Brisa said smoothly, a smile playing on her lips. She glanced over at Tragique, and everyone else turned to stare at the Dreadlord, newfound respect emerging from their expressions.
Tragique slowly took his plate helm off, revealing a short blond crew cut and a gruff beard. His sharp glowing blue eyes bore the weight of someone who had been through much lately, his lips a thin terse line. He acknowledged their stares and then looked to Brisa, who was carefully watching from her seat, the same amber-colored gaze that met him earlier that day in the Conservatory.
"Your keen judgment still serves you well, Arrowsong." the Dreadlord said. "How did you know it was me?"
