Shatu dipped one wing and banked, skirting the edge of the mountain and feeling the winds subside as her altitude dropped and the valley spread out below her. The crystal formations toyed with her senses, far too bright for the eyes of a bird, and she forced the elven part of her mind to focus and not let the animal instincts take control.

They had been growing stronger as of late.

The night elf flapped her pinions, reveling in the feel of power that kept her airborne over the valley. She was hunting. There were creatures below, deformed and misshapen beasts that hacked at the pristine crystal formations, their jagged claws leaving gouges in the humming stones. There was one particular creature in that valley too that she could barely bring herself to define as human.

Ruul the Darkener. She cried a bird's clarion call to the winds at just the thought… degenerated so far from what he should be – what they all should have been. The Sin'dorei, led so far astray, consumed by their arcane power, and now this one was consumed by the battlelust. Well, she would see an end to it. Her and the others.

There were four of them, three humans and the lone night elf druid. They had stood together when they cross through the Dark Portal and from that point on it was as if everyone had shifted in some, discrete way. Korus, the paladin among them, had grown silent and his jokes were far and few between. He read often during his watches when they were camped in the wastelands of this place from the book of Uther's teachings that he never let off his person. It was growing quite worn. Tider, the lanky and ambitious mage had only grown even more aggressive with his magic, often attacking when he should be holding back. It drove Korey, the priest among them, to hysterics at some points. Shatu dipped lower in the sky.

Of all of them, Korey was the one she found the most common ground. The woman had started out soft and weak and the night elf had scorned her at first, when the group had first met out in the tavern of Booty Bay. She was timid, flustered by the boisterousness of Tider and Korus, and it wasn't until they crossed the portal that the two woman had grown closer together. Korey was cold and resolute now, that compassion burning like a fire within her. It was far easier to talk to her now than the times when Korus was challenging the night elf to a drinking contest back in the tavern.

If she could, Shatu would have smiled. The paladin had passed out while she stared on bemused and a handful of orcs in a corner had cheered her on, while the goblins watched the proceedings with both an appreciative eye for the gold being spent and for any sign of hostilities.

They were waiting on the road near the entrance to the valley for her signal. Word had reached them of Ruul, of his cruelty in battle, his relentlessness, and how many he had slain. Korus had sworn that in the name of the Light, he must die. Shatu had silently agreed with a nod, praying to Elune as she did.

The winds picked up. As barren a place as this was there was good flying and she should think about spiraling up on the currents, away from the singing crystals and those ground-creatures far below… finding the high perches of the world… nesting.

Shatu stopped her flight, hovering in mid-air. She had to focus. She could not let the animal mind control her. It was not yet her time to vanish into the wilds.

There. Her sudden stop had brought to her sense the attention of a large drake moving deliberately among the crystals, as if hunting for something. It had to be him. It had to be. She dove, hitting the ground behind him at a good distance and shifted back into her form, the leathers feeling awkward on her frame in comparison to the feathers she had been wearing moments ago. The netherdrake shook itself, as if sensing the disturbance, but the rider did not notice. Shatu bit her lip and pulled a flare from her pouch. This would attract attention. Then she would have to run and pray her companions were ready.

The light burst in the sky with a hiss of noise. The drake roared and tried to turn its bulk as the rider barked orders but the creature was large and awkward and Shatu had already shifted.

'Run!' she told the animal part of her mind, 'Run, for hell pursues you!'

And the cat's body responding, long limbs snapping into a run that outpaced her pursuer. She could hear the snik of metal sliding out of scabbards and the fear only fueled her run. There. Up ahead. They were running to meet her. She skidded into their ranks, the shield of Korus's shield finally bringing an end to her blind panic and she slipped out of the form, crouching just between Korey and Tider.

"He's going to be hard as hell to hit while on that mount," Korey commented, planting her staff on the ground while Korus braced for the incoming charge.

She saw him lock his shield into place so it would receive the brunt of the blow, saw him prepping his body to throw itself forwards so his own momentum of the incoming rider. And she saw Ruul rise in the saddle, the wind blowing his hair back and his one visible eye glinting with the thrill of battle. The bloodlust was upon him.

"So we knock him off," Shatu murmured and shifted again.

The bear's mind was quiet beside her own. It was prepared. It was ready. She did not have time to reflect what it was waiting for – normally she had harnessed the rage of the animal. But this was different this time… like a den mother backed against a wall. There was no time to think. She couldn't let the drake hit Korus full-force.

Ruul's attention was focused on the paladin before him. An arrogant fool… he'd reap their blood and add their deaths to the countless other souls he'd dispatched. And seeing the grim determination in the holy warrior's eyes – Ruul loved him. For this was a foe worth meeting and he loved him for the battle that was to come. He would never know just how much it pleased him to taint this already tainted land even further. None of them would even know how much Ruul desired to know their names at the least, so they would be remembered after their futile deaths, but that was impossible and all he could remember was their faces.

The druid struck him from the side, several hundred pounds of muscle slamming into a shoulder and driving him to the side. He screamed in sudden surprise and pain, kicking desperately to free himself from the saddle, and then the two went over and onto the ground. His drake kept moving, slamming into the paladin and sending the warrior flying. There was a burst of fire and Ruul caught sight of a mage, laughing, as he channeled arcane power into a bolt of fire that he gestured and threw at the dragon that was now claw to shield with the paladin. Ruul laughed too and rolled, regaining both his swords and his footing. The druid turned, her bear form slower than him by far, and the two met and locked into combat.

"Sister, I see in your eyes you have come to your death," he hissed, his first blade glancing along the thick hide of the bear's side. The blood steamed where it hit the earth.

And Shatu hesitated at the words for their eyes were locked and he was indeed seeing something she had not known before. All those late-night talks with Korey, the painful longing for the home she had left behind, and the constant trials of fighting for what felt like nothing other than just holding ground in this torn land. It was why the bear-mind had accepted what was to come.

"Don't worry!" he cried, laughing and she leapt at him, her claws tearing through the armor at his hip and scoring deep. He went down on one knee and for a moment the two were face to face. Shatu found it difficult to breath and wondered why.

"I'll remember your death, even if no one else does," Ruul whispered, and jerked his second blade back, the one that had been buried up to the hilt in her lungs.

Shatu felt the bear form slip away. She tried to stay standing. The blood elf struggled to his feet; limping from the wound she had given him, and grabbed hold of her tunic. Lifted her off her feet and threw. The night elf was dead by the time her body slammed into the jagged point of the crystal, the humming spire piercing her torso and she lay there upon it, eye staring at the sky, blood sliding down and dripping from her fingertips.

Elune had welcomed her home. She flew the night skies with no war between her desires and her obligations, the feathers of her wings her only care, and the moon bathed her in its familiar light. She was home.

Ruul turned in time to see his netherdrake topple. For a moment speechless disbelief filled him. While he was so preoccupied with granting that druid the death she knew was coming… they… they…

"You will pay for this!" he cried and ran towards the paladin, forcing his legs to work despite the shooting pain from his hip that the bear's claws had left.

"And you will die in the name of the Light!" the paladin roared in response.

So stinking predictable. The two clashed and Ruul felt heat wash over him, blistering his face, almost obscuring the sight in his good eye. He had to fight from the waist up, unable to leverage his agility into the fight as the druid had essentially crippled it and unfortunately, the paladin was very skilled with catching blows against his shield. There were very few openings for attack and that wretched priestess was behind him, healing almost every wound he inflicted.

Perhaps, he too, had gone to his death.

There was no time to pursue this thought. An explosion of the arcane knocked him off his feet and he heard the mage whoop in excitement, urging the paladin on to finish him off. He scrambled for his swords, exhaustion sinking in. He was fading fast.

"I will…" he gasped, spitting blood into the dirt, "Die like a god…"

There would be glory and honor. He struggled to one knee.

"No," a voice said from above him, "You won't. Light take your soul, Ruul."

And the paladin brought the mace down into the back of the kneeling elf's head.

Korey tended to their injuries as Tider braced himself in the crystal formation, struggling to lift the night elf's body off the crystal. It was harder because he could not contain his tears. But finally he got her off and her body fell into Korus's arms. Korey was right there as well, already channeling the holy light that would reach beyond and pull Shatu's soul back to them. Light encased her body.

Nothing.

"No," Tider said, "Try it again."

"It wont' work," Korey whispered, "If her soul had held on to this realm then it would have already returned."

"No, Shatu wouldn't' give up like this! She wouldn't!"

Tider continued to yell and the two let him, Korey only watching in silence as Korus removed his cloak and draped it over Shatu's body, reciting an old prayer to the Light as he did so.

"She had kin in Darnassus, I'm sure," Korey finally said, "We need to go there. If nothing else… I cannot stand to bury her in this place."

The paladin silently agreed and at last, the mage fell silent. Korus carried their friend as the three left the valley, the body of a netherdrake and a Sin'dori behind them. There would be no burial for those two, and in fact, as the humans retreated the flayers crept in, curious at the smell of blood and perhaps, an easy meal.