Chapter 28

I woke up in a haze, with a cloth pressed to my face. I felt luke warm water dripping down my jaw and my neck, into my shirt and onto my hair. I was on my back, my head lolled back. I was surrounded by people.

I opened my eyes and squinted, my eyelashes running uncomfortably against the rag that was covering them. I felt my muscles tense at once, my chest spasming as I forced out a hot chunk of air and phlegm in a cough. My back curled inward from the force of it, and noise greeted my limp ears.

"Thank the light, she's awake. Lift the rag."

The rag was pulled away from my face, and was replaced with the burning eyes of my Prince.

"What the fuck..." I trailed off, slowly sitting up with help, leaning into Anduin on reflex.

My head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, and I felt vaguely nauseous.

"You got a little lost off in your mind, there," Teir said, from somewhere behind me.

"Teir went and pulled you back, and tells us that the shaky communication had negative effects on you," Khadgar said, and I almost recalled the colourful, deafening chaos.

"I feel bet…" I trailed off as my stomach lurched, and I felt a healing wave of mint move through me reflexively.

"Easy there, Princessling," Anduin said gently, smoothing a hand slowly through my hair as his other hand moved in patterns along the planes of my stomach-with a jolt I realised that his hand was moving on my skin.

Like that didn't bring images to mind. I shoved them away with a blush, and the resulting amusement that floated through the bond told me Teir was in the know.

"So for the time being, we will not risk further communication," Khadgar said, and I sighed inwardly, understanding but forlorn all the same.

I felt two fingers on the back of my neck, and stiffened as I felt magic-unfamiliar magic at that-flow through me, looking over each crevice of my body, until it withdrew.

"She is healthy, but her system is still somewhat disoriented. She needs to rest," Kenlora said, and I realised that she must've used a Draenic spell when she touched my neck.

"We do not have that time, I'm afraid."

All eyes turned to see Yrel standing at the entrance to our common room, her expression one of quiet fury.

"You say you are a deathspeaker, elf?" Yrel asked, her accent allowing the furious accusation to sound beautiful to my fatigued brain.

"What has happened, Exarch?" Kenlora was in control, all at once shifting from herself into the role of a hardened priest-what did they do to her?

"Auchindoun is under attack from the Burning Legion."

I felt my magic return to me in rush as fury and recognition flooded me.

"They attack-?"

I stood, magic sparking around me, and Teir wisely hauled Anduin the fuck away from me. My nausea and fatigue evaporated, replaced by adrenaline and rage.

"The home of the dead?"

With a burning flash and deafening crack, lightning struck, and I smelt electricity and smoke.

Yrel looked at me with bright eyes, her expression twisted with a myriad of emotions, her golden armor undermining the sky blue skin that covered her, before she nodded, "They do indeed, deathspeaker."

I turned to my party, rage flooding my veins in such a way that Teir was shaking, Kenlora holding her in a vice grip against her side.

"We're going." I said without any doubt.

Above my father, my people, Shad, Anduin-

Above all, the dead.

"Jadearra-." It was Anduin and who came to my aid.

"She made an oath." It went silent, and I felt my heart shudder with affection as he continued, "She pledged her soul and her power to the dead. To not go would be to forsake that. We all remember what happened to the Mist lord who forsook his duties."

The monster who turned me to stone in Northrend. I had gone for his head in order to appease the dead.

"Very well." Khadgar sighed, "We leave for Auchindoun."

It seemed that my dedication to the dead had changed Yrel's interpretation of me.

"I need black and purple paints, and feathers. Black ones. Black armor," I spoke, knowing they would be found.

Yrel stood in the back of the room, watching in curiosity as these were brought to me, one Draenei even explaining, "These are from the dread ravens of Arak, my lady."

I quickly braided my hair, snarling at anyone who dared to try and touch me, and I set my eyes, watching my reflection carefully.

I will walk into the Auchindoun with the strongest connection to the dead that was possible while living and breathing.

I twisted feathers into the correct braids, before sweeping them into the correct places. I finger painted my skin with old precision, memories and practice returning to me swiftly.

Anduin watched me carefully, worry and concern showing, but Teir's eyes were rapt, intense and fixed.

"Teir, are you alright?" Anduin asked, but she didn't respond, and only when I turned to look at her did she falter in her gaze.

"I forgot what a death lord felt like…" Her eyes were cloudy, and I felt her need to obey.

She was, after all, dead.

I continued my preparation, slipping into solid black armor and completing the rune patterns on my skin, and then I spoke the incantation.

I rose, looking into my own eyes, and I felt Tier's breath still as I raised my hands.

"Suza onos talah."

Darkness descended upon the room, and possibly even the temple. I heard cries behind me.

"Anari lo O ahar talah.

Beashisr ar maahs.

Baise ar almashes."

Teir was on her knees-or her spirit was. I felt movement all around, and purple fire erupted in my hands.

"Oorab lo elamlaur.

Oorab lo alsu.

Ars lo alsu.

Ars lo anooror."

"What is she-?"

"Quiet." Teir's voice was waited, her eyes rapt, but I didn't dare look away from the mirror.

Reflected back was myself, holding the ritualistic flames, but I wasn't alone.

Behind me, in the mirror, the room was filled with every faithful Mist Lord and Lady who had ever breathed. Their power was flowing into me, their own deaths putting them into my legions of command. I noticed unfamiliar faces, and knew that the death rituals of every world held one commander for each. I was reaching through Draenor's past as well as Azeroth's.

"Ars lo baan.

Sesh lo phoisham.

Sesh lo sind.

Oorab. Ars. Sesh.

Esnise ahar talah.

Onwynique!"

I brought my hands together, and a near solid wave of purple light and power shot outward, going through the walls and air and into the surroundings.

After a moment, the light returned, and I turned around, noting that the ground beneath was now a perfectly scribed rune circle. I was refreshed, and I felt the dead of a thousand worlds behind me.

I looked at my audience. Teir was deadly still, her eyes flashing a million different thoughts all at once, in awe of what she must feel through the bond, and her own soul quivering-very few are privy to the empowering of a Lady of the Mist.

Anduin was mystified, his jaw slack and his eyes burning, and his tanned skin and golden hair seemed to contrast starkly with the death I had just invited into the room. His pupils were dilated, and I noted a distinct tenting below and concealed both a disturbed thought and a laugh.

Yrel looked about ready to flee. Her hooves were digging into the ground, and her knees were almost visibly shaking. Her mace was in hand, and her expression was one of flight.

"What did you do?" she asked, and I could smell her unease, her fear.

I took a deep breath, before taking the golden grills from the table beside me and sliding them neatly into my mouth.

"She bound her spirit to the dead for an indefinite amount of time, until she speaks the counter incantation," Teir said, her voice somewhat flat.

"What does that-?"

"It means that if I so choose it. I can strike someone not just with my power, but with the strength of every soul that has ever been laid to rest on this world and my own." I said, and I watched the realization of just how powerful I'd become.

There was a knock on the door, and when Khadgar opened it, his face was slack, "I felt the wave of energy, but…" He was staring at me in wonder, eyes meandering throughout the room, presumably at my now sprawling power, "You would make a formidable opponent. I pity those who await you at Auchindoun."

"We must leave immediately. Reports say that our defense crystals have been lost, and only one remains. We must keep the demons away from the souls," Yrel spoke quickly, her accent garbling her words and giving me pause for only a moment, before I took two long blades from my pack and strapped them to my hips.

When one draws on the Mist, one fights with blades. It is the only way.

"We will take one of the Fae dragons. They are our fastest fliers." Yrel continued to speak as we left the room, but I felt the eyes of the other Draenei on me, on my magic.

The majority of my party followed, but when we reached the landing, Kenlora and Yrel gave us pause.

"Priestess, you are needed here," Yrel said, and I turned with a start to realise that Kenlora had dropped the blinding white robes, and was wearing dark, form fitting leather armor, with dozens of blades sheathed in different places.

"My place is with her." Kenlora spoke defiantly, and I knew that 'her' was not me. My eyes went to Teir, whose face showed affection beyond comprehension.

They looked at each other for a moment, before Yrel sighed, "Very well, I suppose we could use your strength."

With that, we paired up onto our respective Fae dragons-the beasts were gorgeous, like an interesting mix between a tree frog and a gryphon. Their smooth, dry skin was a brilliant blue with splashes of vibrant yellows and oranges.

I swung onto the nearest one, eyes on the horizon as Anduin sat behind me, his arms lacing through mine to take the reins. Under normal circumstances, I would've leaned back against him and relaxed a little.

These are not normal circumstances.

As the vow said, this connection to the Mist goes both ways. I was being assaulted with a dizzying kind of triple vision, seeing through the eyes of the dead. I felt their presence in my bones ten fold their usual strength. It was…disorienting.

It meant that I couldn't be Jadearra Theron. I had to be the Lady of the Mist, and that meant I had to focus.

We took off, flying over the hills with deadly grace, and I looked dead ahead, reaching outward for the screaming of the dead.

They were scared, and that made me furious.

"Dive!"

My eyes were narrowed, and I felt my face contort as my fury rose. Demons everywhere.

I unsheathed my blades as we landed, dismounting and moving to crash straight into the fel guards that were taking down the nearest Draenei.

"The Auchenai are struggling to hold the lines, Exarch!"

I saw the Draenei that we rescued from the jungle directing attacks, atop a great white Elek, and he brought down maelstroms of light whenever the demons tried to break the line.

"Maaladar! I bring you reinforcements!"

The Draenei-Maaladar-turned to look at me, and his face went slack for a moment, before his resolve hardened, "You are the elves who risked your lives for me."

I felt Teir looking at me, but I didn't care, "Let me reinforce the barrier. Where is the crystal?"

"I will take you," a Draenei in dark robes with darker skin came up, her voice thickly accented and low.

"Nyami, we need you!"

"The soulbinder has strength!" Nyami called back, before she turned and led the way.

We moved into the holy ground, and I felt the dead caressing my mind and my skin, and I sent out a wave of greeting, hoping this would appease them.

"You called me a soulbinder," I was keeping pace with the Draenic woman well enough, "Why?"

"You have an aura of death about you, but the spirits welcome you openly. That is how the soulbinders that protect Auchindoun feel." Nyami explained, and I nodded, filing away that information.

So on Azeroth I am the Lady of the Mist, but on Draenor I am a Soulbinder.

We reached a room inhabited by multiple other women in matching robes, and one in particular looked up at our entrance.

"Thank heavens, Nyami! The crystal is nearly drained!" her accent was thick, but her voice was lighter.

"Tuulani, step aside. Allow this one to see the crystal." Something about Nyami wasn't adding up, but I moved forward anyway, feeling the weight of the dead on my bones.

I examined the crystal. The ley lines were soft, but I followed them into the ground, where they branched out to fuel the barrier. It was an object of immense light magic, and it seemed fueled by the strength of the soulbinders.

Well, it's about to get a hell of a lot stronger.

I laid a hand on the crystal, it was surprisingly cool to the touch, but I kept going. I let the power move through my veins, funneling through my chest and out to my other hand, where the magic began to spark.

"What is she-?" One woman behind me asked, but she was hushed.

I brought my other hand to the crystal, and the funneling intensified. I braced myself, golden girl grinding together as I added my own strength to the flow. The glow of the crystal brightened.

"The barrier is growing stronger!"

That's right. The lines on the ground had brightened, and I could feel the dead helping me, bracing me and providing their own strength. I felt my face moving closer to the crystal, my reflection snarling back at me as I nearly touched it with my nose.

Suddenly, I was ripped away, and with a heart wrenching screech-

The crystal shattered, and the barrier fell.

I looked up in horror at Nyami, who was grinning savagely, "Thank you for your assistance."

She was a traitor.

I brought my blades through her immediately, slicing and stabbing and screaming until she was but a mess of gore on the floor.

I looked up at the other soulbinders, who all looked vaguely ill, and I grimaced.

"We must defend the Auchindoun."