"You've never been to Outland before," said the captain at Falcon Watch to me. "So let me tell you that traveling from point A to point B isn't an easy thing to do. Going to Zangarmarsh is tricky. You have to go through Thornfang Hill, and that's a dangerous area because of the ravagers over there. They will attack anything that moves, and even if you have a company of mages with you, you may not make it through alive."

"You're not suggesting that we go to Shattrath City and make our way through Terokkar Forest, are you?" I asked. Quite apart from that trek being longer, I knew that Terokkar Forest was teeming with giant spiders, and I was quite adamant about avoiding them as much as I could.

"I wish I had some dragonhawks to spare, but I'm afraid I don't."

"Hamu wouldn't be able to ride a dragonhawk, he's a little heavy for them," I told him. "Look it's fine. I'm sure we'll be able to make it through. If we don't, you can go tell Sylvanas that she was right."

The following day, I sent most of my remaining troops on a transport that would first take them to Thrallmar, then onwards to Shattrath City. They'd be able to get new armor there and some additional training while I led the small team on a journey to get the rest of the corps back.

It was a difficult journey. Hellfire Peninsula was a barren wasteland, with absolutely no trees growing there whatsoever. What sparse vegetation did grow was tainted with fel energy and was impossible to eat, so we had to make do with the supplies we'd taken from Falcon Watch. I was very happy that the three Forsaken soldiers with us didn't eat, because that really would have gotten rid of our food very quickly.

We encountered sporadic horrors throughout our travels, but nothing was worse than the ravagers. I'd heard of them on Azuremyst Isle, where the draenei had crashed before joining the Alliance, but I'd never seen one before.

Huge, standing almost as tall as I was, they were horrid insectoid creatures with pincers strong enough to bite through the light mail armor I wore for travel. The first one that attacked me had some kind of venomous spit oozing from its mandibles, and I had a bad time of it as I tried to avoid it biting my hands off. Hamu and the others, each busy fighting their own ravager, weren't able to help me immediately, and as I landed flat on my back, waiting for the thing's pointy leg to pierce right through me, I cast a fire spell.

The ravager exploded, showering me with gore and toxins. How that had happened was beyond me, but when I cast another fire spell at the ravager attacking Hamu, the same thing happened.

"Their toxins must be powerful indeed if they explode on contact like that," cried Eliza.

"Just make sure they don't bite you with it. Who knows what that'll do to you."

We killed the rest of the ravagers, and I caught Eliza bending towards some of the remains and scoop up some of the venom into a glass phial.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm sure that the Royal Apothecary Society would love to know about this venom," she said innocently.

"Eliza, did Sylvanas ask you to bring toxins back from Outland? Is that why she didn't want me to come?"

"I'm sorry, Faith. She knows you hate doing stuff like that, which is why she didn't ask you."

"She didn't know I was going to be coming over when she asked you," I told her, my mood sour now. I shook my head, "But if you need ravager venom, I guess I can help you get some."

"You will?"

"Yeah. Come on."

We killed another ravager, this time using our blades instead of magic, and were able to fill three vials with the slimy and foul-smelling venom.

"We'll make sure to get more later on, but right now, we need to hurry. I don't want to be stuck out here too long."

The others agreed and we quickly kept going cresting the hill we were on and seeing Zangarmarsh on the horizon. It looked pretty from up there, almost peaceful, with glowing mushrooms and blue mist that seemed to be sparkling in the distance. Shapes danced within it, and I wondered what kind of creatures they were. Could they be the spore bats I'd read about?

We arrived in the marsh a couple of hours later, and almost immediately came upon the Cenarion Refuge, a small town that had been established by the Cenarion Circle and a new organization, called the Cenarion Expedition. They welcomed us among them, the tauren greeting me in Taur-ahe and hugging Hamu like a brother. The night elves there were a little less effusive in their welcome, but were kind to us as well.

They explained that the First Magi Corps had volunteered to scout the marsh for naga activity.

"We've been having a lot of problems with them."

"I don't doubt that," I replied. "What have they been doing?"

"They're draining the marsh, but we don't know why yet. We've been trying to get them to stop it, but you try reasoning with the naga, they don't understand anything but violence."

"Aren't the naga here affiliated with Illidan?" I wondered. "It seems to me that if you want to get to the bottom of things, you should check out what's going on in Shadowmoon Valley."

"There is a clan of naga there, it's true. But we can't worry about the ones there when we're having so many problems with them here. They've already dried out part of the marsh. We don't want them to kill everything."

"No, I understand that." I didn't want the corps to be decimated while fighting naga, but we couldn't very well leave the Cenarion Refuge to deal with them on their own. They would be more than capable of handling them, I knew, but they didn't have enough people for such a monumental task.

"We need to take out their leaders. The Bloodscale Tribe is in northern Zangarmarsh near Serpent Lake, but we also have to contend with the Darkcrest around Umbrafen Lake. It hasn't been easy."

I nodded, "Where exactly did you dispatch my forces?" I asked Warden Hamoot, a wizened tauren who had welcomed us.

"They're at Umbrafen Lake on a recon mission. They should be back soon."

"And how long have they been at Cenarion Refuge?"

"A few weeks, Captain Everstone. We couldn't send them out there right away because of the nether rays that used to live around here, not to mention the hydras in the lake. We had to get rid of them first."

"I understand, Warden," I told him, raising my hand to stem the flow of explanation. "Have you had anybody else to help?"

"A couple of draenei were here, but they moved on to Telredor because they were needed there."

Yes, I bet they had been.

"Your Forsaken seemed more than willing to help out."

Of course they had. "They're not my Forsaken, Warden, but thank you." Saying that gave me a pang of homesickness. Sylvanas. I hadn't seen her now in nearly three weeks, and while I was used to being away from her, I didn't like it. I shook my head, "I suppose I should go get them so that we can organize something against the naga."

"You'll stay and help us?" asked the warden, a little surprised.

"I know we're technically here to fight against the Burning Legion, but that doesn't mean that I want to see the naga destroy one of the few beautiful places here. We'll help for as long as we're able."

We settled into the inn, and began to make plans for finding the others. I also sent someone to find the rest of the Magi Corps in Nagrand, to have them go to Shattrath City as soon as they could.

In the room next to mine at the inn, was a night elven girl by the name of Shaladyn. She looked young with her dusky pink skin, and had dark purple hair, and the bright silver eyes of her people.

"If there's anything I can help you with," she said to me timidly, "please let me know." Her voice was nearly child-like.

"You want to help us?" I asked her.

"It's obvious that you came here to take your people and move on, and yet you've decided to stay and help. There aren't many who would do that."

Sylvanas would have done, when she'd been alive. "I came here because I wanted to do something worthwhile. And I happen to think that taking care of the naga is indeed worthwhile. So I'll stay for a while, although it won't be for very long. A month, at most."

And it was a month, almost exactly. We found the corps and brought them back to the refuge for some strategic planning, after which we trained for a while. Shaladyn trained with us for a reason I still don't understand, and helped us when the time came to fight the Darkcrest.

It was a brutal battle, with the naga calling for their Wrekt slaves to assist them, as well as water elementals. Because they were users of arcane magic, we had our work cut out for us, and for several hours, the air around the Darkcrest grounds crackled with bursts of magical lightning that effectively reduced the pumping stations around the lake to rubble.

"Now we need to move onto the Bloodscale Naga," said Eliza. "And they're worse than this lot."

Whether that was true or not, we didn't really realize. The battle was longer, and definitely more fierce, because from what I could tell, there were more of them. They had the same slaves and elementals, and there was a time when I thought that all was lost. They were just too powerful, and it was difficult for my fire magic to work around all the water in the marsh, so I was at an unusual disadvantage.

But we managed it in the end, using a technique that Felicity and I had come up with before going to the Ghostlands. Arcane, fire, and frost magic combined to destroy the Bloodscale naga, annihilating them down to the last one. We spared the slaves that didn't attack us, and calmed down the maddened elementals that took some time to be dispatched.

"They're not meant to be out so long," I said quietly. "It drives them a little crazy."

"More than a little, from what I can see," said Hamu to me. "It's just water. You wouldn't think that it would be so bad."

"Water will drown the unwary swimmer and douse the hottest fire," I told him. "Never underestimate the power of the elements. It's something I learned from our father, Hamu."

He gave a gentle nod, "I know."

We returned back to the Cenarion Refuge to let them know that we'd managed to eliminate most of the naga except for the ones staying near Zabra'jin. "The trolls there should be able to handle whatever naga are left, I think." I told the warden.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done. We sincerely appreciate it."

Shaladyn hugged me, "I'm really happy I got to meet you, Captain Everstone. You're a strong leader."

"You can thank Sylvanas Windrunner for that. She's the one who trained me."

She smiled, "Hopefully, we'll be able to meet again someday, under better circumstances."

"Hopefully, yes," I replied. "Good luck to you, Shaladyn."

"You too, Faith." She gave me the kind of look that I wasn't used to seeing on someone's face, not when the look was directed at me. Before I could stop her, she'd leaned forward and kissed me, her tongue parting my lips.

I froze. She had kissed me. Someone who wasn't Sylvanas had kissed me. Emotions swirled within me. Betrayal. What would Sylvanas say? Would she know? She would know. She knew everything about me. Everything.

"Shaladyn… no."

"Oh, it's okay if you're with the Horde," she whispered to me.

"It's not even that. I'm already spoken for."

She looked at me, "You mean Sylvanas? She doesn't have to know. Besides…"

I held up a hand, "I'm flattered, I really am. But I can't."

Feeling wretched about a lot of things that I had no control over at that moment, I made sure that the Magi Corps and I left the Cenarion Refuge as quickly as possible after that. I didn't know what to think.

I thought of what Sylvanas would say when I told her about this. Part of me wondered whether she would care. I hadn't initiated the kiss in any way. As a matter of fact, I hadn't paid the slightest attention to Shaladyn's feelings towards me. I hadn't been aware that there had been any feelings there.

Oh, Sylvanas, I'm so sorry…

I had a miserable time on the trip to Shattrath City. I'd gotten a report from Rotvine while he had been in Nagrand, telling me that him and the rest of the corps would be joining us in the capital city after a semi-successful campaign in Nagrand. The thought of hearing about what had happened to them failed to distract me.

"You didn't ask her to kiss you," said Hamu in a soft voice. "Stop thinking about it."

"I can't." I looked at him, my eyes wide, "I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Faith, Sylvanas won't know. And even if she did, come on, what makes you really think that she'll care?"

"Because she will, okay? I would be devastated if she…" I couldn't even think about it. I didn't want to think about it. Sylvanas with someone else? Suddenly, all I wanted to do was go home and leap into her arms. I needed her.

Had I felt anything but shock when Shaladyn had kissed me? No.

When I kissed Sylvanas, I felt a thousand things. My heart pounded out of my chest every time she was near me, and when she kissed me, my world seemed to still. I would shake, my hands would grow cold and my cheeks would be warm. I would feel close to fainting.

This time, I had felt shock. Despair because of what had happened and what Sylvanas would think.

"I need to go home."

"That's the last thing you need, Faith. It'll be fine, okay? You're probably never going to see that night elf again.

But about that, he was wrong.

We landed in Shattrath City a day after having left Zangarmarsh. Once, it had been beautiful and vibrant. Now, it almost looked as tainted as the rest of the land on this planet. All sorts of people lived there. Chief amongst them were the draenei, who headed the Aldor faction in the city, and the Sin'dorei who had arrived here after the Second War and who had formed the Scryers.

Rotvine was the one to greet us. He looked a little worse for wear, and had had his jaw replaced since I'd last seen him, but he was smiling to the best of his abilities. "Welcome to Shattrath City," he said to us. "It seems as though every bit of population on this piece of land has converged here."

"What do you mean?" asked Hamu.

"You have Arakkoa, orcs, draenei, blood elves, humans… everything. And we almost all get along. Except for the Aldor and the Scryers."

"We're not here for that, though," I told him.

We spent the day catching up and updating each other on what we had done in Outland so far. Altogether, we hadn't lost that many people, which was a good thing, because I didn't want to go to Shadowmoon Valley with only half our force.

"I think we've done pretty well, what for being here for two months," he concluded. "I'm sure we could have brought down that second forge camp, but there was no time."

"Orders are orders, I'm afraid." I held up a sheet of parchment that I'd gotten upon my arrival, "It says here that we're going to be merged with the Shattrath City Second Infantry Regiment for our assault against the Burning Legion in Shadowmoon Valley."

I didn't like that idea. Not many people could work with the Forsaken, and not many actually wanted to. Maybe it was because they were undead, and others thought they were mindless minions. I couldn't tell.

"I'll go talk to the officer in charge of this," I said to Rotvine. "You guys settle in."

The one in charge of the regiment we were being attached to was a huge draenei called Major Arkaar. He looked down upon me, and I realized he thought I had aligned myself with the Scryers.

"What do you want, soldier?"

I narrowed my eyes, "I'm Captain Everstone," I said. "Of the Undercity First Magi Corps."

"Oh, right. The dead ones." His glowing blue eyes looked me over, "Do you know how the dead ones came into being?"

"Necromancers. And I don't need a lecture on the undead, Major. I've fought my fair share of them when the Burning Legion sent them to invade my home."

"You will listen to whatever lecture I give to you. If I send you and your corps to Shadowmoon Valley now, you will be slaughtered and raised from the ashes."

"Nothing can be raised from ash," I countered, keeping my tone polite.

"Do you think you can learn nothing?"

"On the contrary, I think that we can all learn from each other if we stop working against each other and begin working together. Now, I have fought the Burning Legion before, so I hope that you will call on my expertise in the matter, Major." I turned to walk away.

"Soldier!"

I stopped, gritting my teeth.

He began to walk towards me, "You may be a captain in your corps, but this is my army. You are a soldier here, nothing more, is that clear?"

"Crystal, Major."

We began basic training. I found it thoroughly insulting that the major would subject us to this. Despite the fact that we were mages, he insisted on having us learn hand-to-hand combat.

I was lucky in that respect, knowing how to hunt. My skills with a bow and arrow and with a long knife were enough for the major to skip me through to magical training, but most of my corps were stuck in basic training for weeks.

"They will never be ready like this," he said to me, sneering. "What is it that you've taught them, exactly?"

"We're an elite mage corps. Our weapons are the arcane, fire, and frost, not knives and clubs."

"Hmm. Have you ever encountered a fel hound?"

"Of course I have." And I hoped to never encounter them again.

"Tell me, what will you do after it has bled you dry? You won't be able to fend it off with magic, you will only be feeding it. Basic training will help overcome that. You are not fighting the small army of undead that you fight at home, soldier."

"I pray that, someday, you'll be able to come and fight our 'small army', Major. Perhaps then you'll understand what I'm talking about when I say that we have experience in these matters."

It took more than a month for every member of the First Magi Corps to pass basic training enough to be integrated into the infantry regiment. We passed magical training on the first day, working so well together that the major didn't have anything to say about it.

He almost looked impressed when he handed me the order to move out the following week, and came with us when we left Shattrath City, accompanying a large group of draenei into battle.

Shadowmoon Valley. Its name implied beauty and peace. Instead, we found fel energies, dark skies, and demons everywhere, both in service to Illidan and the Legion.

I couldn't help but feel a tremor of fear as we arrived in that desolate land. I wished Sylvanas were there with me. She could always calm me down before a battle, just with her presence.

A large camp had been erected for us not far away from Legion Hold, where we would be fighting. We could see that area crawling with infernals and eredar.

I swallowed and made my way to my tent, which I would be sharing with someone else.

Shaladyn.

She was sitting on her bed roll when I entered, and her face broke into a smile when she saw me. "Oh, I just knew you were going to be here!" she cried. Leaping to her feet, she ran to me, obviously meaning to hug me, but I turned away so that she mostly hugged my shoulder pads.

"What's wrong?" she asked me. "You're scared?"

"Of course I'm scared. Everyone here is scared, and the ones who say they're not are complete liars."

I was loath to get undressed in front of her, but I had no choice in the matter, working as quickly as I could. She watched me the entire time, making me feel intensely uncomfortable.

"I did mention that I was spoken for, right?"

"Oh, come on. We could die tomorrow, you know?"

"And if I die tomorrow, I want to die knowing that I was loyal to the one I love." I left the tent, aware that she was going to try to go through my things. I was fairly confident that she wouldn't manage it, not unless she wanted to get seriously burned. The cry I heard coming from the tent seconds after I'd left made me smile. At least my spells were working.

I ate dinner with Hamu. Shaladyn was nearby, watching my every move, but I paid as little attention to her as I could.

"She just won't take no for an answer," I told him. "But I guess I won't have to worry about that in a few hours."

"I guess not. I can't believe you're thinking about that just before a big battle."

That made two of us. Sylvanas would have flayed me alive for being so shallow. And she would have probably laughed herself silly. Or she would have when she was alive. I hadn't seen her laugh like that since before she had died.