Chapter 9: Rescue
Firewing point was one of the largest colonies of blood elves in the southern half of Outland. Despite its size and prominence, it was not affiliated with the horde in the least. Kael'thas' followers hated every race that was not blood elf. The crooked and corrupt beings even hated elves that were not as loyal to their maddened leader as they were. Prince Kael'thas truly embodied the Lich King's taunts towards Ranilok; the prince had recently been offered a more stable source of power than Illidan could offer him and had switched his allegiances to the one who would grant him more power.
From the colony at Firewing point, Kael'thas funneled initiates towards his stolen stronghold at Tempest Keep. Cin'donia was held at Firewing point for future transport to Tempest Keep as a prisoner. In the interim, she was being held in an area that was quite out of reach to Xainia and Lily. Each blood elf colony in outland always seemed to have at least one spire. The spire in the city was the tallest structure and was where the leader of the area often looked down upon his or her people from. Looking down upon each other was something blood elves did often. In addition to having high observation points, the towers often had floating shelters that hovered magically in the air around the tops of the towers. Some of the structures were reachable by teleportation devices while others could only be accessed by those who knew the spell to reach them.
"So your name is Cin'donia. The guards were able to at least gather something useful. " An inquisitor that stood near Cin'donia laughed. "Mindless scum. So weak compared to any of the magister caste."
The naaru-elf was being held on one of the floating platforms that hovered near the pinnacle of the tower. A prison much like the ones that the Kirin'tor used to contain magical prisoners was constructed around her while she was chained to the platform floor inside of it. Magical prisons like hers would allow no spells to pass in or out of the prison walls.
"You may have been powerful enough to ward off a few guards and try to steal M'uru from us, but in that cage you're nothing but a high elf with strange eyes. I detest you high elf scum. You're too blind by the old ways to realize what glorious powers await when we use all of the sources available to us. In there you'll probably become a wretched… unless you embrace our magic." The inquisitor tried to use typical techniques against Cin'donia.
Cin'donia felt horrible at being trapped again, but she would not let this evil and corrupt elf interrogate her without resistance. Though she was willing to give him a few words, the woman would not let him know anything important. She knew that this elf would be impossible to teach, unlike Ranilok, but she committed herself to saying only lessons.
"You can't have something stolen from you that isn't yours to begin with. M'uru is a being, not some possession." Cin'donia called out as she cast a spell in the prison.
The elf caused the crystals on her wrists and forehead to flash brightly as they did in Silvermoon. Though the elf outside could not be effected by the time lapse due to the prison, he could be temporarily blinded by the flash of light that accompanied the spell.
Grabbing his eyes, the elf leaned over and cursed under his breath. "Funny, huh? I'll make you pay for that when you get sent to Tempest Keep." The inquisitor regained his vision slightly, but it was very blotchy. "M'uru is ours. He's not a blood elf, so he's not even worthy of living by our standards. The blood elf is the ultimate form of life, able to harness any energy to become more powerful. Nothing will stop us from taking all of Outland as our own and draining every bit of energy from it."
"And what happens when you've drained this planet of all it has? Where will you go? What will slake your lust?" Cin'donia cast her spell again, blinding the inquisitor further.
"Stop that!" The elf staggered around. "You're only making things worse for yourself. I'll make sure that you'll never have contact with another soul in your life once we're finished with you. You'll be deprived of all power until you go completely mad from it."
Entertained by the tactics that this inquisitor used, Cin'donia spoke again, flashing her light as before. This time, the elf blocked his eyes, but she still spoke. "I don't need power or want power. I'm not like you at all. Everything that you think you could torture me with, I've endured to a harsher degree than you can imagine."
"Haha… then if you're not like us we'll just have to dissect you to find out what makes you different. How would you feel about having your body torn apart slowly while you have to sit awake and watch it?" The inquisitor blocked his eyes again in preparation for Nia's response.
Speaking matter-of-factly, Nia diffused the elf's latest threat. "I've endured worse. This isn't my first body, after all."
"Liar! You're just trying to seem strong. After we break you down we'll…" The elf had taken his hand away from his face to point at her as he called her a liar; a grave mistake on his part.
Before the inquisitor could finish his phrase, Cin'donia began to cast her time lapse spell repeatedly, flashing the elf to blindness and pain numerous times. Although the platforms in the sky were magically suspended, they were not protected along the sides. As the inquisitor staggered around cursing from the repeated flashes, he took a bad step and fell off of the platform, plummeting to the ground several hundred feet below. The inquisitor's life ended with a sickening thud as Cin'donia prayed that he might find some peace in whatever awaited him next.
"Hurry, Ranilok." Nia thought to herself. "They won't lose someone else like that again… they'll take me soon."
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"Did you just see that?" Lily pulled back into the ring of bushes that her and Xainia were hiding in.
"Nah. If ah'd seen it ah'd be askin dat tah yah." The troll continued in her thick dialect, sometimes confusing Lily.
"Someone just fell off of one of those platforms by the spire." The elf put a hand to the side of her face, distraught at the thought of that happening to either of them.
"Tah bad fah him. Teach 'im tah play 'round on tall tings." Xainia held no pity for the elf that had plummeted to the ground.
"That's not very… eeeeep!" Lily fell backwards and shrieked.
Not looking back at her, Xainia held out a hand while she continued to look around the town for a sign of a buildup of guards or some sort of struggle. "Yah be quiet! Yah tryin' tah call da guards ah sometin?"
As Xainia finally looked over towards her companion, she wasn't sure whether to be entertained or shocked. Lily was lying on her back and squirming as something was wiggling around in the bodice of her dress. Nearly fainting, Lily watched as a pink colored baby mana wyrmling wiggled its way out of the top of her dress. The wyrmling floated in front of the elf's face and butted up against her forehead playfully.
"Oh my…" Lily looked faint again, wanting to scream but holding it back as to not scare the little animal.
"Why was ya hidin dat down dere?" Xainia sat down on the ground and laughed at the elf's reaction to the tiny being.
"I didn't put it there!" Lily protested and then felt around her dress. "Oh no! The arcane beacon is gone!" The elf added the two together quickly. "This thing is the arcane beacon?! What did Ranilok give me?"
"Did yah jus say Ranilok?" Xainia looked over suspiciously as the mana wyrmling flew to her and began to circle around one of her hands.
Standing up and dusting herself off, Lilt looked at Xainia indignantly. "Yes, but what does it matter? I just had a baby mana wyrm fly out of my dress! It's indecent! Doesn't it matter how I feel? I'm distraught!"
Xainia remained seated and kept laughing at the situation before replying. "Yah bettah be keep in yah voice down. If dat was traumatic enough fah yah tah be yellin like dis ah tink yah might deafen dah enemies if yah sah some real horrahs."
"Hmph!" Lily sat back down and simmered at the remark. She knew she wasn't cut out of this kind of life. "What does it want to do aside from startling me like that?"
"Ah dunno. Yah said dat dah friend who asked yah tah watch ova dis Cin'donia was named Ranilok? Wah he an elf tah?" Xainia tried to investigate the situation more.
"Yes… why? Do you know him?" Lily was surprised that the world would be so small to have her bump into a random troll that knew Ranilok.
"Ah heard ah him. Ah heard dat he done some prettah nasty stuff in dah past. He alsa was dere when sometin reallah big happened in mah life." Xainia explained her knowledge of the elf more.
Lily knew that it must be the same elf because Cin'donia had found time to tell her about Ranilok's sordid past when Lily and Nia had traveled to Silvermoon together. "It must be the one you know. He's different now… I think. He seems more honest and giving."
"Ah believe dat when ah see it." Xainia stood up to look out of the bushes again.
Suddenly as the priestess rose, the wyrmling flew up into the air near the top of the bushes and began to circle furiously, making rapid squeaking noises. Both Lily and Xainia were blown back against one side of the bushes as the hole in reality opened near the top of the bushes and the blue wyrmling flew out towards the pink one. The travelers fell out of the hole behind the wyrmling and landed in a heap as the small creature chased around the pink wyrmling playfully. While the two little serpent-like creatures flew around in the bushes and tired each other out while squeaking and making other noises quickly, the two groups picked themselves up and separated, each trying to see if there was a threat from the other. Xainia instinctively adopted a ready stance with her black staff Anathema while casting shielding spells on both herself and Lily.
Not paying attention to the others, Lily looked to Ranilok first. "Ranilok…" She started calmly and then quickly sounded indignant. "You could have told me what that thing was!"
"Why did it matter?" Ranilok bent down and picked up the now-tired wyrmlings that had gone back to being balls of their respective colors.
"Because I…. I…" Lily stammered as Ranilok placed the balls into his robe pocket.
"She try tah hide it in ha dress tah be cleva and she pay fah it." Xainia spoke up to Ranilok, recognizing him vaguely from a ceremony that they had both participated in long before this moment.
Ignoring the jab, Lily quickly accepted the explanation. "Yes… that!" she sounded distraught.
"My apologies, I didn't have time to tell you what it was. Where's Cin'donia?" Ranilok tried to move the conversation on, not paying attention to the fact that some of the group members were still wary of each other.
Turning to look at the rest of the group, Xainia resumed her defensive stance quickly. "Wha dis dwarf be doin here?" the troll had once worn the rank of Lieutenant General for the horde and was not trusting of many members of the alliance unless they had shown themselves to be above petty alliances.
"He's ok, Xainia, he's a friend." Mithelidan spoke up with authority towards the troll. "It's fortunate that you are here too. I don't know how you managed it, but your shadows will be useful in whatever battles we have ahead."
Confused as to why this random elf would know her name or that she had been a shadow priest, Xainia turned her sights away from the dwarf and towards the voice that had just spoken to her. "Do ah know yah?"
"That's Xainia?" Arisia spoke up in a bit of wonderment. "I never thought I'd actually meet you."
Interrupting the conversation, Lily spoke out adamantly. "Why does everyone know everyone except me!"
Every face in the group turned to her at that comment and stared for a moment. Ranilok went to her and pulled her off to the side slowly. "Just some… re-acquaintances. You'll get up to speed sometime, just leave them alone."
"How yah even know me, elf? Yah all got some funnah thoughts 'bout me. Ah dun have shadah nah more." The troll corrected the two elves. "What yah name be, ladah?"
"My name's Arisia." The woman turned to her husband. "Mith, are you sure that there's only one troll that's named Xainia?"
"Arisia…" Xainia muttered; the name slightly familiar to her.
"Sometimes, minds need to see each other, rather than bodies. Unlike her, you've known me in all three of the ways I've appeared in this existence, so you could recognize me in any shape or form." Mithelidan approached Xainia. "Close your eyes, child."
Slightly miffed that the elf would use that term with her, Xainia grudgingly obeyed as the elf placed his hand on her shoulder. In the darkness of her mind, Xainia analyzed how the hand felt, the weight and way that it was held on her shoulder. A bit of the color drained from her face as she realized that she remembered this touch. Without opening her eyes, she felt a sudden connection to the being that stood in front of her. Pointing her head towards the hand with closed eyes, she noticed that it looked withered and claw-like in her mind. The troll followed the arm towards the body and instead of an elf standing before her, she saw a shorter undead with worm-eaten cheeks and green hair. The sight matched that of her former master, Maldelic.
Xainia's eyes snapped open and she jumped backwards from the grip and shivered a bit. "Masta? Dat be yah masta? Yah nah look dah same at all."
"I thought we agreed that you weren't going to call me that anymore." Mithelidan answered her question indirectly. "You have no master now."
"It is yah!" Xainia couldn't resist running up and hugging the elf, something she would never have let herself do when he was an undead. The tense feelings between the groups immediately dissipated as they joined up fully. Looking around to the rest of the group Xainia quickly brought herself up to speed. "Dis be everahbodah from dat storah yah told me by dah world tree." The priestess looked down at the dwarf. "Ah sorrah if ah offended yah. Yah mus be Gevran."
"Well ae am glad that ye nae longer want tae see me on thae end of ae pike." Gevran nodded, recognizing that Xainia was a powerful priest as he was.
"An yah be Arisia." The troll walked up to her master's loved one and hugged her also. Xainia was completely delighted that Maldelic had found his family and somehow cured his undeath. "Who dis be?" she looked down at the small elf boy that had been behind Arisia.
Irideus was partially hiding behind Arisia's leg and curling up in the side of her dress. The boy had never seen a troll before and was both scared and excited at the same time. Although he normally wouldn't be so withdrawn, the presence of so many people combined with the new location they were in had him clinging to his mother. "My name's Irideus."
"He's my son, Xainia. You also need to know that I go by the name of Mithelidan now." Mithelidan finished explaining the situation.
"Ah'k. Yah sure he sha be out 'ere? Dis place be dangerous enough fah Lily, nah tah mention 'im." Xainia looked concerned.
"With both of us here, it's safer than leaving him alone at home." Arisia chimed in, starting to look around at the surroundings.
"What about Cin'donia?" Lily chimed in again, drawing everyone's stare about Ranilok. Slightly awkward at this attention, she continued. "I know it's nice and all that you know each other and are realizing all this, but I promised that I'd try to save Cin'donia and we're just standing here."
"She's right." Ranilok stopped anyone else from speaking to Lily about interrupting. "If they were in some bushes we must be somewhere hostile. We can't make this much noise." The mage turned to Lily again. "Where are we?"
"Firewing point. We haven't found Cin'donia, but they took her through a portal to here." Lily got everyone up to speed.
Looking out of the bushes, Xainia gasped and suddenly pulled back from them. The troll spoke quietly, holding her hands out for everyone to be silent. "We been makin tah much noise. Dere be lotsa guards comin dis way."
Issuing an Eye of Kilrogg from the bush, Mithelidan quickly confirmed that at least a platoon of guards was headed to patrol the border of the settlement. Ranilok started looking through his bags to try and find something that he could use against them. It was so much easier to fight when he had an army at his back and a construct around him that he could change the form of.
"I don't have anything that can take out that many of them! I don't know how I'm going to do this!" Ranilok slumped down after speaking quietly but with urgency.
Saying nearly the same thing as the general, Neru'Delgan, Mithelidan reminded Ranilok of everyone else. "That's why we're here. If you could win on your own, you wouldn't need us to help you."
Realizing that he was almost making the folly that he had in Azjol-Seraq of underestimating his friends, Ranilok smiled at the fact that he truly had friends again. "Ok, how are we going to do this?"
"Well there's always just a direct attack." Mithelidan suggested. "It's not like we haven't taken greater numbers of undead than this before… or the tuskaar."
"Yah, but dese ah blood elves. Dey been getting intah magic dat nah one else been up against." Xainia reminded her former master quietly.
"Mummy look!" Irideus called out to his mother excitedly.
Moments later after a deal of debating and emotion, Irideus slowly walked out of the bushes towards the platoon of guards that was coming around the perimeter of Firewing Point. The entire platoon stopped at the sight of what appeared to be a young blood elf boy. His eyes were green and he looked lost in at the edge of the town. Quickly closing in, the leader of the group approached him while someone on the far side called more guards in along with one of the town priestesses.
"Who's child is this? Our children should be growing in Quel'thalas and then coming out here." The guard captain remarked as some of the guards leaned down to look at the boy.
"The good word of Kael'thas' wisdom has been spreading. Perhaps it has spread so far that even the children wish to come now." The priestess smiled at the boy. "Where's your mommy?" Feigning tears, Irideus simply cried in front of them. The priestess quickly assumed that his mother had brought him here and died getting from one of the lesser horde-allied colonies to Firewing Point. "We can take him in and see if he has a use. It is obvious that his family is loyal to Kael'thas if they tried to come this far with him."
"Hello." Ranilok stepped out of the bushes towards the group of guards. "I believe you have something that you shouldn't."
The large group quickly turned and looked at the elf, noticing that his eyes were blue. The guard captain was the first to speak. "Is this boy yours? Why is he a blood elf and you are a high elf?"
"No, he's not mine. Tell me where they took the woman that was captured in Silvermoon." Ranilok demanded from the group.
"Or else what, throwback?" The captain referenced the fact that Ranilok appeared to be a high elf.
"Hey… That's the man that was helping the woman we captured." One of the other guards who had run over to the group spoke up.
Immediately drawing his weapons, the guard captain gave orders. "Take him!"
The scene that unfolded next was terrifying for the targets of the attack. The blood elves in the guard group all tried to cast spells to drain Ranilok, but even though they spoke the words, nothing happened. Before they had fully realized what was going on, Ranilok was busy launching fire into their midst, aiming high as to avoid Irideus. As soon as the attack began, the rest of the fighters in the group came out of the bushes and began to attack the elves as well. Quickly allowing himself to be moved, Irideus appeared back in the bushes where his father had left an unfinished summoning spell for him. Lily kept the boy safe in the bushes along with her while everyone else took down the guards. As the guards had left their spells behind thinking them useless, the battle was now easy for Ranilok and his friends.
"Ae got em, missy." Gevran called to Xainia. "Whae dun ye see if ye can do some damage tae em."
The ruckus on the side of town had called the attention of many of the other elves in the settlement. The guards now rushed towards the fray to try and stop this group of high elves from infiltrating Firewing point. The new guards wouldn't be fooled by not having their spells for a moment.
"We could have used the shadow here, Xainia." Mithelidan spoke candidly as he continued to curse the enemies and throw shadow bolts into their ranks. "I thought you'd overcome it? Why did you leave it behind?"
"This hardla be dah time tah talk about it!" Xainia called down holy fire upon several of the charging guards. "It left me… ah din leave it. Dah nothin' ah can do about it." The troll paused, suddenly feeling all of the other guards rushing in, their demonic magics and corruption nearing her friends. "Dah darkness be wit dese foul 'uns. Spirit ah redemption be wit me!"
Xainia's eyes flashed from red to golden as all of the color in her skin suddenly drained away. The troll's hair broke free from the small binding that kept it held up and was suddenly long enough to touch the ground. Gevran was completely amazed at what his fellow priest was doing as the entire group felt holy energy radiate off of the solid white troll. A luminescence came to Xainia's skin as she jumped forwards and plowed through the remaining guards from the original group, headed for the newly arriving troops. The elves that she came towards became quickly scared of her as the demonic magic within them recoiled at the presence of so much light.
"Dah shadah's powah tah ovacome da light not be unmatched when da light try ta ovacome da shadah." Xainia called back as she tore through the oncoming guards, rending them by simply passing her hands through them.
The group finished off the last of the close guards and watched in amazement as Xainia continued to tear through the additional blood elves. Her hair was wrapping around the enemies and tossing them high into the air while a hailstorm of holy light rained down upon the entire group. The troll jumped from body to body, weapons meaningless when she was in this form. Though this show of power would not be nearly enough to fight the settlement off, it was enough to scare the advance to a halt. The blood elves in the settlement stopped coming as they saw the carnage and pulled back to set up a barricade. As Xainia finished off the last of the guards, she flipped behind a building and her form returned to normal, even restoring the binding on her hair.
Mithelidan left the rest of the group to the building that she was behind and laughed as Xainia breathed heavily after expending so much energy. "Well that was sudden… You're a better paladin than I ever was." He commented.
"Ey!" Xainia gasped for some air. "Dun be callin me one ah dem. Ah still be ah priest. Dat onla happen when da shadah and da demons be around."
"Ok, ok." The warlock took stock of the situation. "This is about to get very heavy."
"Hold on, listen!" Ranilok silenced the group as they heard a voice on the wind.
"Ranilok! Up here! I'm up here!" Cin'donia called out from the platform that Lily had seen the blood elf guard fall from, able to both see and feel the battle below.
As Gevran and Xainia safely saw that Lily and Irideus made it to the building that they were all hiding behind, the captain of the guards behind the barricade quickly mustered the defenses. The elves had also heard Cin'donia yell from her prison high above the ground.
"They must be here to free the prisoner from Silvermoon! Quickly, send the magisters to the platform and take her to Tempest Keep!" The captain motioned towards several of his lieutenants who promptly ran into the town to fetch the magisters.
Almost frantically, Ranilok looked for an opportunity to get around the barricade. The elf had to continuously dodge behind the building that the group was at to avoid spells and arrows. Ranilok noticed the group of magisters run into the tower under guard as from the spot that they were hiding.
"They're going to move her! We have to get to the tower!" He called out.
"Dah be getting us killed. Even ah know when dere be too manah ah dem. De entire town be afta us." Xainia had peered into the mind of one of the guards and seen all of the blood elves that stood behind the barricade.
"But we must! I can't just let her be taken away! She's done so much for me… meant so much to me!" Ranilok sorrowed at the thought of being helpless to save the one he loved. "Is there really nothing we can do to save her?"
"There's always something we can do." Mithelidan pulled a set of black studded leather reigns out of his bags. "Come, Obsidia!" The warlock called out.
Responding to the call of its master, a black netherdrake flew down from the mountains nearby and phased into the reigns that Mithelidan was holding. The drake was surprised at the appearance of her master, but recognized that it was the same being as the undead that had helped her people fight against the Dragonmaw orc clan.
"It's beautiful…" Lily looked at the majestic creature; it was her first time seeing a dragon of any type. "It actually lets you ride it?"
"When you adventure, you come across amazing beings and amazing things." Mithelidan climbed onto the saddle.
"Wow… If only to see things like this for myself, I wouldn't care about fear or indecency. I'll have to get started when we go back." Lily found a reason that she might be cut out of a life of adventuring.
"You never cease to amaze me, old friend." Ranilok commented as Mithelidan climbed into the saddle.
"Thank you. Now, we have a naaru to save." Mithelidan leaned over to whisper to his drake, Obsidia. "Fly high and fly wide."
The beast agreed with Mithelidan in draconic and then took off with lightning speed to get above the range of the elves' spells. Looking to the sky, the elves tried to shoot at the drake, but fell miserably short of their target. Obsidia dodged left and right to avoid the guards on the tower that were still capable of reaching her. Sighting the glowing prison on one of the platforms, the elf directed his drake towards it.
At about the same time as Mithelidan took off, the elves reached the rune of teleportation from which they could cast the spell to reach the prison platform. The guards ran back down the tower to join the ranks while the lieutenant that had lead the magisters up ordered them onto the rune continuously.
"Quickly! Get on the symbol and make ready to transport the prisoner!" he followed them in after the last one had gone through. Appearing on the platform, the overconfident blood elf continued. "You thought you could stage such an escape attempt, but none can match the mi…"
The elf could not finish his sentence before Obsidia burned him with shadowy flame and smacked him off of the platform with the chains that she had pull off of Cin'donia. All of the other elves that had teleported to the prison met a similar fate, subject to gravity despite their powers.
"That's the last of them. Do you have a good hold, Cin'donia?" Mithelidan asked back to the freed prisoner.
"I think so. I am weak from fighting them off." Nia held onto Mithelidan as he steered the netherdrake off of the platform and away from the battle.
About halfway to the holdout spot where the blockade was holding the rest of the group, Obsidia suddenly shrieked in pain. An elf from the tower had landed a powerful spell into the dragon's side, also striking Cin'donia.
"They've hit me badly, I must land!" Obsidia called out to Mithelidan as she flew for the holdout spot instead of beyond the battle.
On the way down, they could not avoid dipping into spell range. The entire blockade fired upon them, landing numerous hits against the three before the netherdrake skidded harshly into ground and threw both Cin'donia and Mithelidan off of her. Xainia quickly ran to her former master and healed him while Gevran tended to the drake. Both of the priests turned to Cin'donia next and were simultaneously stumped.
"Mah spells ah not workin!" Xainia continued to try and cast spells on the naaru-elf.
"Aye, mine nae workin either." Gevran wasted his energy on his most powerful spells to no avail.
Before they could dote over her for too long, Ranilok reached them and took hold of Cin'donia. The naaru-elf was burned on her arms and had been clipped by an arrow through the thigh. The arrow had hit something severe as a large amount of the blue sparkling liquid that served as her blood was pouring from her leg and coating her clothing and the ground. Picking her up, Ranilok ran away from the town to try and find safe cover. The rest of the group followed him quickly, hoping that the blood elves would not charge from their blockade to pursue.
Ranilok stopped a distance away, holding her and starting to weep. "The spells don't work. I won't lose you like this!"
"Ranilok…" Nia reached up for her creator. "Death is a natural part of life… I've lived for eons, I do not fear death."
"I care for you! I can't just let you die. You've helped me so much. If it wasn't for you, I would never have learned anything." Ranilok pleaded with her as he tore of a piece of his robe and tried to tie it above the wound on her leg.
Catching up to him, Mithelidan spoke quickly. "Ranilok, you're not going to have any chance of saving her if you run from us and sit here. She's a naaru at heart, take her to A'dal."
Still hopeless, Ranilok held Cin'donia tighter. "I'll never make it in time. It would take days and days of travel from here to go that far across Outland."
"Obsidia, can you fly?" Mithelidan turned to his drake, which had been fully healed by the spells of Gevran and Xainia. "I need you to take them to Shattrath and wait for me there." The drake nodded as Mithelidan almost domineeringly pulled Ranilok to the drake. "Fly quickly, as if the dragonmaw were chasing you. You will be safe in Shattrath until I arrive."
Saving the day a second time, the drake took off quickly and flew west with the pair. Ranilok held Cin'donia in front of him on the saddle, trying to keep her supported as she faded to and from consciousness. As they moved past the trees at blinding pace, Ranilok thought of Cin'donia; she was so willing to sacrifice herself for a good cause. Ranilok had learned dedication and restraint from the nerubians, but was he being greedy to try and keep Cin'donia in this world? Was everyone who tried to prevent death greedy? The elf knew that he loved Cin'donia more than he could express; she embodied everything that he now aspired towards being. Was love a permissible greed?
Before Ranilok could answer all of these questions, he suddenly noticed that there were no longer trees around him. The netherdrake had stopped flying and was looking around in a bewildered fashion. The three were on the ground, but nothing was around them except white. There was no way that they could have traveled far enough to reach Shattrath in such a short time. As Ranilok got off of the drake and sat on the ground with Cin'donia, the blue blood from her veins continued to seep onto the blank ground. Everything around them was dead silent, not even the sound of air moving was in the area.
The melody of a naaru's voice filled both Ranilok and Cin'donia's minds, waking Cin'donia from the unconsciousness that her injury had put her into. "Greetings, Ranilok." The voice spoke to him.
"A'dal? Is that you, A'dal? How did we reach you? We couldn't have traveled that quickly." Ranilok looked around, not seeing the source of the voice.
"I sensed the one that you carry with you beginning to pass and I have summoned you to a place where you will be safe. Time has no meaning in this place." A'dal continued.
"Thank you." Ranilok knew that a naaru would at least recognize the gesture that mortal races made towards each other.
"I see into your mind and I see the struggle that you have been engaged in. You have freed a sister of our race that we have thought lost in the depths of time. I thank you in return for bringing her to us, even if she is without her true body." The powerful naaru switched his focus to Cin'donia. "Cin'donia, can you hear me?"
"A'dal." The woman spoke weakly, but not using her voice. The naaru-elf spoke using her mind, allowing Ranilok to hear her also. The melody that her voice carried was sweeter and more symphonic than any that the elf had ever heard. "It has been long since I have heard your thoughts, A'dal. You must free M'uru! He is captured underneath Silvermoon."
"We are aware of this perversion and we will free him soon." A'dal informed Nia. "Why did you try to rescue him alone?"
"I thought it had to be done. I couldn't continue if I couldn't say that I did something to help. I wasn't alone anyway, Ranilok helped me." Nia looked at Ranilok and smiled softly. "I am weakened, I cannot hold onto this world much longer. This form was badly damaged by our enemies."
"Can you heal Nia? Our priests can do nothing because of her nature." Ranilok looked all around for something to plead to.
Though the elf's searching for him was amusing, A'dal was still serious and caring for the situation. "You need not try to find me, Ranilok; I am everywhere in this place. I can heal 'Nia' as you have seen fit to call her, but I must ask her a question that only she may answer." The naaru changed his focus to his kin again. "Cin'donia, I have the power within me to restore your true form. Your soul has remained intact throughout the ages, and has strength to carry on for eons to come. I offer you this option, along with the option of retaining your current form. This is your own choice, and neither of us will force you. Think of the role that you wish to play in the world and choose your future."
Able to move in this frozen moment of time, Cin'donia sat up to think of what she would do. On one side of the choice, she was being offered the chance to become a true naaru once more and join her kin in battle against the darkness. On the other side, she had told Ranilok that she loved him. In this new form, Cin'donia had learned more from the emotions that were tied to her form than she had ever learned as a naaru. Ranilok had changed from a greedy and corrupt elf to someone who truly understood what love and trust were. The elf had trusted her so much that he even helped her in a plan that he had known to be folly and that she now saw as foolish. The decision roamed through Cin'donia's thoughts for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time.
"I am unsure, A'dal." Cin'donia began. "I have learned so much in this form, felt so many feelings that our kin are never plagued or graced by. I know what it is to express warmth and love physically as we have observed from other races in the past. Despite this, the opportunity to be among our kin again calls to me. I could serve our cause so well with my knowledge."
"This is why I have left the decision to you, sister naaru." A'dal waited patiently for Cin'donia to choose to continue as the naaru Cin'donia or the elf-bodied 'Nia'.
"Ranilok." Nia turned to him, crawling over weakly and hugging him. "You've done so much for me too. You haven't been the only one that learned from our relationship. I know what I must do, and I don't know whether I'll regret this in the future."
"It's ok. I love you, and that means that if your choice takes you away from me, as much as I might miss you, I will still be happy for you. I want the same thing that you want when it comes to your choice." Ranilok felt saddened deep inside that Cin'donia seemed to be leaving him, but he knew that she would always be with him no matter how she appeared. His love for her ran deeper than her form, deeper than anything he had felt before.
"Very well." A'dal read the choice from Cin'donia's mind. "You all must leave this place now and continue with existence. Goodbye."
Time resumed for those that had been drawn in by A'dal and they were sitting in one of the many empty camps within Shattrath City. Ranilok looked around and saw Obsidia first, the drake had fallen asleep to the sound of A'dal's voice almost as soon as they had entered the strange place that the naaru had brought them to. Sighing, Ranilok knew what Cin'donia had chosen and then turned the other direction to look around the rest of the camp.
"Nia!" The fire mage saw her lying on the ground beside him, healed from her wounds. Immidiately pulling her up and hugging her, Ranilok felt his love hold him in return. "I thought you had chosen to go with A'dal."
"I couldn't." Nia looked at Ranilok lovingly as she pulled away to be able to look him in the eyes. "You've changed so much for me; I wanted to change for you. When I was dying there, all I could think about was you. I've cared about many as a naaru, but I've never found myself overcome with such a singular love as I've found for you."
As the two sat there in the camp, the rest of their companions made it into the edge of the abandoned camp. They had traveled by gryphon from the alliance base near Firewing Point after convincing the guards that Xainia and Lily were prisoners of theirs; having blue eyes was a great protection when near the alliance and elvish. The group watched Ranilok and Nia silently, glad that both of them were ok.
"Brings ae tear tae me eye." Gevran whispered to the others quietly as they watched.
Obsidia rose and walked back to Mithelidan as he put an arm around Arisia, proud that Ranilok had come so far with only the simple pact that was made with Neru'Rekan. Xainia was amazed at the pair also, glad that everyone had found a happy ending along with her former master. Lily and Xainia both looked on as the group did, giving as much time to the couple as they would want.
"Will you stay with me? We'll find a place where we can live in peace, away from the blood elves." Ranilok tried to think of the future, as he had in Nerub'Itjahz, happy that Cin'donia had chosen him.
"I love you, Ranilok. Wherever we go, we'll go together. Thank you for saving me and showing me this life." Cin'donia leaned in and kissed Ranilok. The kiss was not as sudden as the first time that they had kissed, but it was their first real kiss; their expression of love for each other.
Both of them had changed for the better for the other. Ranilok had realized that the greed and pride of the blood elves were folly that would have led him to doom, and Cin'donia had learned that as much as one can be holy and all caring, the feelings that were attached to an imperfect life were worth more than even the greatest victory over the darkness. In the many eyes of Nerub, they were both fools, but for them love was truly the center of life.