Chapter 16
We decided against bringing down what Teir had named "The Garden of Manifestation", and headed back to the house, exhausted.
I fell onto the bed once we made it inside, and Bandit hopped up from his place in front of the fire, nosing at me in concern.
"She's just a little tired, Bandit-though she can't sleep yet," Teir said, and I groaned from where my face was buried in the pillow.
"You still have to write Lor'Themar and Elynae-sooner rather than later." Teir said, her voice laden with something that caused me to look up in concern.
"Are they alright?" I asked, voice rising, and she shook her head, looking startled but attempting to comfort.
"They're fine! They miss you more than words can say, and I merely mean that you should let them know how much you obviously care," Teir said, and I nodded, eyeing her.
She was hiding things, and I'll find out what.
But later, I have a letter to write.
I concentrated for a moment, focusing on the writing set that sat atop the desk, and it slowly lifted, shaking a bit as I pulled it towards me, and it finally settled on my lap. I smiled victoriously at Teir, who had watched merely with raised eyebrows, a small smile pulling at her flaky lips.
"Getting better, still chaotic," She said, and I snorted, picking up the quill and dipping it in ink, before studying the parchment in thought.
Mother and Father,
I'm okay. I'm gaining control of my powers very quickly-I levitated this writing set to me from across the room! I made a Garden of Manifestation-as Teir calls it-earlier, and I managed to hold pure fire in my hands without being burned. I will be home soon.
I love you both dearly,
Jadearra
I studied the small letter, something felt missing.
I opened the window next to me, a thought sparking into my head, and I focused.
"Jadearra-?"
A blossom from the Garden of Manifestation came floating in on a small breeze, and I let it blossom in my hand while thinking of mother.
A Thalassian lily fell into my hands, glowing with life and magic-Mother's favourite flower.
I tucked that into the small enveloped with my letter, finally feeling satisfied with the message.
"Think I can throw this hard enough to reach home?" I asked, and I looked up to realize Teir was still watching me inquisitively, something in her gaze pitied.
"What?"
She shook herself, smiling hurriedly, "I believe you could, but I think shadow message would be a bit more…reliable. Allow me," She held out her hand, and I reached over and gave her the envelope, still watching as she focused, and my message dissolved in a small puff of dark smoke.
"Are you hungry? Your pet left me some instructions on how to cook a few different things…" She stopped, realizing that I was staring at her, "What?"
I shook my head, easing the writing set back over to the desk with the flicking of a couple fingers, before easing down under the covers of the bed, feigning sleep.
I listened acutely, timing my breaths to slow my heart rate down, and I waited.
She moved around a little, and I heard the fire being tended, and windows being drawn shut, and I heard a small Darnassian prayer, before she finally settled.
I listened for the sound of breathing to cease-she never needed air when she slept-and when it did, I moved.
I slid inward, feeling out the contours of my own mind, and I saw the hatch that had been hastily constructed. I ran my fingers along it, tugging carefully and smiling when I felt it give. I pulled it aside slowly, balanced behind it as I braced myself for what would be on the other side.
It was some sort of hallway, with magic racing around and shifting constantly, so that it wasn't the most graceful climb.
Wait.
I looked down, and my legs dissolved, and I floated through the hallway smoothly, reaching the door on the other side.
This door was much stronger, with magic runes and locks covering it on both sides, from what I could tell. I drew a little power to me, and watched little snake like ribbons of glowing magic slide along through the hallway, lacing through my fingers and tying themselves there like accessories. I nodded, tracing the runes and locks again, smirking triumphantly as they dissolved, and the door swung open slowly.
Teir's mind was a library.
I stepped fully into her mind, the smell of books flooding my nostrils, and I looked around in curiosity. The vault that stood where the screaming once held domain twitched occasionally, but was covered in tenfold the locks and runes from the door. Shelves stretched off into the darkness lengthwise and height wise, and the books were all sorts of shapes and colours and sizes. I had no idea how to find what I was looking for in here.
I heard footsteps, and withdrew into the shadows, making myself as dissolved as I could, and Teir showed herself.
Except that can't be Teir, because Teir isn't alive.
An elf stood in the centre of the library, auburn ringlets spiraling around her face and down her back, tied back in multiple small braids and puffed up on top of her head, lanterns catching strands of hair and turning them gold. Dark skin, the colour of well tended soil or of the deep tree bark in the Arboretum reflected the lantern light hauntingly well. Keen, blue eyes-warm like the south sea, not the ice cold of Undeath-darted around the room. She wore the armor she had been wearing in the house, but it was in rich reds and golds, not blacks and browns. Her axes hung at her sides, runeless and simple.
She stood before the great table that dominated the main space, her voice strong and warm-even warmer than her voice now-as she called out, "Give me everything on Lyressai Tortheldrin and the Sickness."
I didn't recognize the name, but it must've held some importance to Teir, because books flew off shelves through the library, hitting the table and flying open to previously marked pages.
Teir went through them, flipping pages and mumbling as her eyes read the words-relived the memories-faster than I had ever seen.
She slammed a book down, taking a deep breath before calling out, "Give me everything on Elynae Theron and the Sickness."
What? Mother isn't sick-
I felt bile rise in my throat, and tears light my eyes afire as a book came floating slowly from the darkness, the cover blood red with my family's crest over the top, and Teir took the book gently, sighing deeply before pressing her hand into the cover.
I was in the Spire. I was home.
But I was home as Teir.
Her skin was once again basalt, and her breath rattled in dead lungs as she walked quickly, a thing of parchment secured in one hand, and a bag of-I focused-salves, leaves from the trees at the northern border, and a vial of water from Nordrassil. She rounded a couple of corners, coming out to the palace gardens, where Mother was-
Oh Azeroth, my mother.
She was frail, her skin paler than normal and bruises under her eyes. Amongst her gorgeous red hair, a thick strand of silvery hair stood out. She was sick.
"Hello, Teir," she said, coughing hard, and Teir's lips stretched into a smile.
"Hello, Elynae. I brought the ingredients for one of the old rituals. You're lucky you caught me before I made it down south-Anduin tells that your daughter is awake," Teir's voice said, and I watched loved and gratitude morph Mother's features into something almost healthy.
"Thank you…where did you find this ritual, exactly?" She asked, and Teir hesitated, images of an old life flashing before her eyes.
"The Kal'Dorei are very educated in the affliction," Teir lied through her teeth, and Mother nodded suspiciously.
"Now, sit still and don't gag," Teir knelt beside Mother and pulled out the salves, opening them and spreading them over Mother's chest and neck, moving up to cover her cheeks and under her nose. Mother's eyes watered.
"Yeah, I know it smells like sewage." Teir said, taking the leaves and layering them over the salve, until Mother looked quite strange. Teir was mumbling incantations for most of it, switching between Thalassian and Darnassian quickly, and the salve began to glow.
Mother gasped as it seemed to take effect, and Teir watched for a moment as the glow intensified, before she nodded and took the small vial of water out of the bag.
"This is going to burn. Probably a lot," She said, before she sprinkled the water over the leaves and salve.
Mother ground her teeth and hissed, squeezing her eyes shut as the salve and leaves began to dissolve into her skin, and I watched the grey in her hair fade just slightly.
Once it was complete, Teir watched for a moment, cautious, and cursed as the strand of hair returned to the silver it had been before.
"Did it work?" Mother asked, sounding so hopeful that it hurt.
"It…It did something."
We floated back out of her head, and I couldn't help the near soundless cry that punched past my lips in an anguished breath. My own mother.
Teir heard it.
I pressed into the shadows, not daring to breathe as her ears twitched in the silence, and I watched nervously as she looked around, her blood red eyebrows clenched together to almost touching, full lips pursed in thought as her nostrils flared-she was searching for a scent.
I waited for a long moment, and when I thought she was going to finally sense me, she sighed, running a dark hand through rumpled hair and turning back to the table. I sagged silently, relief and horror swamping me. I wasn't done here, and neither was she.
"Why didn't that work for her?" Teir was mumbling, flipping through more pages, eyes flying over the words like a dying man would over his last meal.
Suddenly, she stopped, her muscles stiffening as her hair flickered between deep auburn and cold blue, and the vault shook violently in the corner.
"Quiet!" She snarled, and a form of Teir I had never seen blinked into being for a mere second, terrifying and feral, and very dead, before it sunk beneath her skin again, and the vault stilled.
What is in there?
Teir took a deep breath, her form settling into her living, red haired one, before she continued to search through the pages.
She continued on for ages, and I wasn't bored, not for a single moment. I felt horror and agony and millions of emotions spiraling through my veins and weighing down on my heart, but I had to be still.
That I've gone this long unnoticed is somewhat surprising-
"You haven't gone unnoticed."
I jumped out of my skin, startling to life as I realized Teir was looking right at me, deep-sea blue eyes pinned to me like arrowheads from the steadiest ranger.
She stepped away from the table, nostrils flared and lips pinched together, her eyebrows drawn and cheeks sucking in to form a look of utter agitation and disappointment.
"My-my mother. You…you lied to me," I said, stepping into the light of the library, and she remained still.
"In your current state of power flux, where even asleep you hum with enough energy for an entire squadron of mages, was it really a good idea to put that form of stress on you? You cannot go home. Not like this. Especially not while a magical disease is eating-" She stopped, clenching her fist together and squeezing her eyes shut, forcing something away, "I am impressed, that you managed to find your way into here. But I noticed from the moment you broke the door on your side. I have utter reign here." She snapped her fingers, and a weird tugging sensation pulled at a place behind my belly button.
She waved a mirror into being, and I gasped, horrified.
I looked like Thessali.
Tanned, honey toned skin stretched over seasoned muscles. Cherry red hair fell in waves down to just below perky and full breasts, curling in at the ends. Keen, Spongy green eyes with the barest hints of evergreen edges stared back at me, horrified and unnerved.
Her lips were pulled into a snarl, sharpened teeth gleaming in the light.
"What have you done to me?" I said, my voice echoing out of Thessali's body.
She snapped again, and I choked a little as my form changed again.
I was Delevenia, with raven hair curling elegantly around her face, to fall on her shoulders in corkscrews. Her eyes were nearly silver, they were so pale a green, and her sun bleached skin brought her age into light. Tight, thin lips were pursed in a thin line-a look I often received-and gloved hands twitched at her sides.
"Your maiden has been working day and night to assist me in slowing the disease down." Teir said, and she finally returned me to my true form, and I sighed in relief as my eyes darkened to a deep jade again-my namesake.
Suddenly, the mirror disappeared and I was jerked forward, and Teir was inches from my face, her own features pulled into a feral snarl-nearly as boneshakingly terrifying as the flicker-and she growled, "Now, this is your warning, kid. Stay. Out."
I felt a shoving and yanking sensation, and I was suddenly back in my own body, and the connection to Teir was so utterly locked down that I couldn't even find the door.
I opened my eyes to look at the ceiling of the house, moonlight streaming in from the window, and my heart was pounding. I was just very stupid.
I sat up, making sure all of my limbs were attached, and looked over at Teir, who looked for the entire world to still be asleep.
I sat there for a long moment, my insides aching as it truly sunk in.
My mother is dying.
My mother is dying and I can't see her.
I was out of the bed in moments, sliding my boots and the cloak that Teir lent to me on, before I left the house unceremoniously.
I marched through the woods, the warm glow from the Garden of Manifestation quickly brightening to light my path. I found a spot not far off, and I focused in.
I want to see my mother.
I felt the power crackling in my hand, the weight bringing me down into a crouch, and I stared at my hand with a disorienting intensity, forcing myself to rise, and with my hand something forced its way out of the ground.
I growled as the magic weighed down heavier, my arms shaking with effort as I finally forced whatever I had summoned out of the ground.
It was a statue of my mother.
I stared in horror at the worst possible machination of my mind, and I flicked my hand out in panic, shattering it.
Stone flew in a million different directions, shattering into piercings shards that cut my skin. I braced myself and pulled the cloak over me, hissing as stone scraped my skin as it flew past.
After silence fell and the stone settled, I glanced over the hem of the cloak and observed the damage. Where the statue had stood before was now a smoking crater, the ground charred and dead. Stone had impaled trees all around, and the air smelled burnt.
Woops.
I dropped the cloak entirely, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck, focusing again, this time on something that wasn't flesh and blood. I thought for a moment, pondering, before I focused in on the air in front of me, raising my hand.
Build me a path to home.
I shoved another hand out, still kneeling below the weight of the magic, and I found my hands moving in patterns I didn't know as a stone road came into being below my feet, flickering and slowly falling into place. Sweat dripped from my jaw, and my body shook with effort, but I kept working, baring my teeth and moving my arms as quickly as I could in the patterns that felt carved into me.
Suddenly, the road began to extend in front of me, and I slammed my hands forward, falling to my knees completely as power ran forward.
It was as though an invisible guild of architects had rushed forward, digging and paving the road quicker than I could comprehend, and soon I had a gleaming stone path that curved off into the trees.
"I wonder…" I whispered, wondering down the path.
The stars twinkled far above, dancing innocently along the inky black stage of the sky, wisps of cloud occasionally dulling their shine momentarily. Cicadas hummed, and I walked along by the light of the moon, whose light was shining down brilliantly tonight.
Smack.
I jerked backward. For a moment it felt as though I had run into a wall.
Wait…
I focused, tilting my head to the side and focusing, and a buzzing that had been gnawing the back of my head intensified almost painfully, and I could almost see a shimmering in front of me.
"Reveal," I whispered, waving my hand in front of me, and a small snarl of surprise wrenched itself free as a spider web of magic sprang into being.
It was intricate and well sewn, and solid as a wall to me. It stretched out both ways, off into the trees, and upward, into the sky.
I can't cross.
I stepped back, taking an acorn from the ground under a nearby tree and throwing it. It passed through harmlessly, being swallowed by the light momentarily before falling harmlessly on the other side.
"Why are you here…?" I whispered, eyes narrowed in thought.
I pressed my hand against the barrier, golden, silver, and lilac light brightening upon contact with my skin. I pressed hard on it, and the buzzing intensified on my skull, like a hive of honeybees.
I recognized this magic; faintly…the light is, familiar…
I took a few steps back, readying myself and bracing inwardly, eyes on the barrier.
1…2…
I ran forward, charging into the barrier full on.
Silver hair floated above me, ethereal and nearly white, spare for one sunlight golden strand. Purple robes covered her, and silvery blue eyes showed strain as she shoved back.
I fell back with a feline esque snarl, holding my head as the buzzing turned into spikes of pain, but I was also pissed.
Jaina Proudmoore made this.
"Jade- "
I turned, an angry roar echoing as I threw a glowing knife that just appeared in my hand as I turned, sending it soaring towards Teir, who was dead and standing there. She simply caught it and crushed it, the magic machination fading on contact. I had conjured that.
"Jadearra." She said again, and I turned again, slamming my fist into the wall and crying out when spikes of pain drove through my head, summoning stars in my vision.
"Stop it, Princessling!"
I froze, standing back in horror to realize that Anduin was in the wall. Blue sparks of energy wafted off of him, along with gold, and he was…he was here.
I realized that I had been crying, and wiped at my face absently, staring at Anduin.
Magic-my magic-crackled around me, having manifested into a see of glowing ribbon that lit the entire area up in a myriad of colour.
"I had Jaina set this up, so that if you tried to leave, I would know. If anyone came in, I would know…I felt your magic hit it, and then you." Anduin said, not moving.
"You're not..." I cleared my throat, my voice throaty and low, "You're not really here, are you?"
The not Anduin shook his head, the motion slowed and blurred by magic, "I'm standing in my private chambers in Stormwind, in front of a floor length mirror, which was enchanted to show me wherever someone tried to cross through the wards."
"Wha…why?" I asked, my voice cracking, "Why am I caged in?"
He sighed, and I heard Teir try to move behind me. My magic itched to dismantle her, for the sake of use, but I clenched my fists, bringing it closer to me.
"I…It is very tricky, having a Horde war hero who happens to be the most powerful mage since the age of Azshara, living twenty miles from the capital city of the Alliance. I didn't want any patrols or civilians to come in and see you-that would cause panic. I also didn't…didn't know how you react to being surrounded by humans."
Anduin said, and I could hear his labored breathing, how he was restraining himself.
"Anduin…I can control it." I said, looking down to realize that my magic had condensed further, into a shimmery, blue over throw, which shined in the starlight. I could feel the raw power emanating from it, but it was in control. I threw it over my shoulders, dropping Teir's cloak to fit it.
"Princessling…" Not-Anduin ran a hand through his hair, the move sending sparks of magic off, "I trust you. Completely and unconditionally. But I watched how you reacted when you thought you were trapped in here. There is a very feral element to you, always has been. With the recent months…I can't risk you getting cornered, or getting scared, and accidentally leveling a village." He said, and something in me knew he was right.
I'm dangerous.
I nodded, looking down at where I was fiddling with the edges of my magic, the strands breaking into little swirls of energy to run through my fingers.
"Teir. Take her back to the house. There is sleeping potion in the drawer at the desk."
Anduin said, looking at me the entire time, "I'll see you soon, Princessling."
The Not-Anduin faded away, and a weak sob left my mouth, echoing from somewhere deep inside. I didn't resist Teir as she gently led me away from the ward, merely looking over my shoulder to watch as it faded back to being invisible.
"Come on Kid- "
I felt a ping! In my chest, and the buzzing returned in my skull, and the wards around us surged to life. Teir stiffened, looking up and around and inhaling hard, before her flaking, dead lips pulled back from her teeth.
"Go to the house. Your armor is under the bed in the chest, along with your weapons.
Go!" She shoved me forward, taking her twin axes from her belt as she did so, turning and racing off into the darkness.
I fled to the house, heart pounding in my ears and my pulse jumping in my throat.
Someone was in the wards.
