Hytharion groaned, and the world spun as he opened his eyes. He wasn't shaking or shivering, yet he felt as if his whole body was vibrating. His limbs felt numb, tingling as if they were asleep. He sensed magic surrounding him, though what spell or what kind of magic it was, he could not say, at least not immediately. It was hard to tell anything, really. It was dark, and his ears were ringing. All he could tell for sure was that someone was holding him. It would have felt comforting if he knew who it was. Even if the world were still, his vision was too blurry to see anything other than a vague outline of a face looking down at him. In whose arms did he lay? Was he on Argus, still a captive of the Legion, or somewhere else? Memories retreated as he attempted to grasp them. He felt like his thoughts were scurrying around like mice in his head, difficult to catch and impossible to organize. "Hythe?"
The voice was slightly distorted, and it took several moments to register who it belonged to. "Falaria...?" He blinked in confusion as the teary yet smiling face of his sister slowly came into view. "W-What... What happened?" He tried to sit up, but his limbs felt oddly heavy.
"Take it easy," she said softly, her voice now sounding more normal as the ringing in his ears started to fade. "Take it easy. You've been through a lot. Here, would these help?" She dug something out of a pocket and handed it to him, and it took him several more moments to realize that it was his glasses.
"Thanks... J-Just please, help me sit up," he muttered. He managed to sit up with her assistance and looked around, squinting, as he tried to shove away Mira, who headbutted his shoulder and licked his face. He frowned, confused. It was nighttime. He was on a beach somewhere, the ground coarse, rough, and mildly irritating beneath his fingers. Water gently lapped at the shore nearby. Squinting and furrowing his brow as he glanced around at his surroundings, he looked past Falaria and spotted a massive tree on an island across the water. "Teldrassil," he murmured. "We're in Darkshore...? What am I... W-Wait..."
The arrow. He looked down, his eyes wide, but the arrow was gone, and besides the dry blood that caked his shirt, there was no sign of any wounds. "I-I didn't die...?" He looked back at his sister in confusion, but her smile answered none of the questions he had. Had she gotten him to a healer after all? He remembered something else, though. He had gone somewhere, somewhere not of Azeroth. He shuddered. No... No, it had to be real. He remembered feeling pain. Not physical pain but somehow in his very soul. There's no way that was a mere dream. "Please, sis, talk to me." As Falaria went to speak, Mira's rough, slimy tongue suddenly engulfed his face. "Damn it, Mira, fuck off!" he shouted as he shoved the excited lynx away. Mira jumped back in surprise, laying her ears back as she hissed and retreated. Hytharion blinked, surprised by his outburst. "I... S-Sorry, Mira..."
Falaria frowned as she put a comforting hand on her companion's head. "Don't yell at her. She's just happy to see you. But yes, you were dead."
"Then how-" His eyes widened as realization suddenly dawned. He looked down at his hand, but instead of the healthy pink his skin should have been, it was terribly pale. "You... you raised me...?" he said quietly, his breathing quickening as he kept his eyes on his hand.
"Yes. I asked a val'kyr for help, and she brought you back!" Falaria replied, her tone indicating that she was smiling.
He looked back at her wide-eyed. "Y-You raised me?" He got to his feet and almost fell over, his legs still feeling numb. Stumbling as he ran to the water nearby, he fell to his knees before it and gasped in horror as he stared down at his reflection. His hair was snow white, his skin almost the same. Piercing crimson eyes glared back at him, causing him to gasp in horror and scramble back. "N-No... No, no, no!"
"Hythe? Are you okay?"
He heard his sister's quiet steps approaching. He got to his feet again "H-How long, Falaria?" he demanded, still staring out at the ocean. "How long have I been dead?" He felt rage rising inside. Not just anger. Rage. It was not an emotion he was used to.
"A day," she said casually. "I would've brought you back sooner, but Sylvanas wouldn't let me borrow a val'kyr until we won Darkshore. But it doesn't matter now, you're back!" She went and hugged him tightly, but he was stiff, confused at how she could look so happy when he felt much the opposite. How could she be so oblivious to his horror? How could she ever think that this would be a good idea?
He shoved her away as he turned, causing her to stumble back. W-What have you done to me?"
She blinked at him, frowning. "What do you mean? I brought you back."
He shook his head at her as he blinked back tears. "How are you not understanding that that's exactly the problem? I... Sis, w-wherever I went when I died, it wasn't good, but I would've taken it over this!"
"What? Hythe, you're the only family I have left, I couldn't just leave you there!" she cried, looking confused. "I thought you would want to come back, I-I thought you wanted to see your family again, I thought... I thought you would be grateful!"
"Grateful?" he scoffed. "No, I-I-I didn't want to die, of course I didn't want to die, but what is dead should stay dead! I look like a monster, like one of the fucking Scourge!"
"But you're not! You're not one of them, you're still you, so get over it and be thankful!"
"Damn it, Falaria, i-it doesn't matter whether I am one of them or not! This is just wrong! Why do you think I should thank you when you've never thanked me for jack shit?"
Falaria furrowed her brow in confusion. "Excuse me? I've always-"
"Oh no, don't even start. After the Scourge, when you were injured and dying in the forest, and everyone else thought you were dead, I found you. I lost my fucking hand for you, but I don't recall hearing anything even close to a goddamn 'thank you'! I lost the rest of my childhood - YEARS of my life - spending nearly every waking moment making sure you didn't either starve to death or slit your wrists with a fucking butter knife, but I don't remember hearing a 'thanks' for that either! I have innocent blood on my hands, Falaria, for you. I committed career suicide for you. I took that arrow meant for you, I died in your stead, and you think I should be doing the thanking here?
Falaria gave a scoff, blinking rapidly for several moments before she could speak. "I don't recall asking you to come here, Hythe! I didn't ask you to sacrifice your career! And of course you took care of me, you're my brother! I thought the thanks was implied! We never got to say goodbye to Mom and Dad, but your kids will get to see you again! You-" She stopped, her eyes flicking to his hand. Looking down at it, he realized he was holding a flame. He narrowed his eyes. When did I do that?
He shook his head and closed his hand. "What? Scared of me now? Rethinking the single worst decision you've ever made in your entire fucking life? You think my wife will still love me? You think my children won't scream and run at the sight of me!? You're so fucking selfish, Falaria! You know what? I wish I had the guts to leave like Baladir did. I should've let you die!" Falaria covered her mouth, staring at him in disbelief for a few moments before letting out a heartbroken sob and turning away. He stomped his foot and let out a frustrated shout as he looked down. The bottle he had stuffed all of his stress and thoughts into had broken. "I didn't mean-"
The sound of a great crash in the distance interrupted him. He spun to see part of Teldrassil's trunk explode before quickly catching fire. What? How? As if someone heard his unasked question, several flaming boulders were catapulted at the tree from somewhere further down the coast. All but two connected, and more flames erupted. They were spreading rapidly, too much so to be natural fire, and as more and more fiery boulders were launched, they spread faster and faster. Every time he thought there couldn't possibly be more, he was proven wrong. What should have taken days, at the very least, happened in mere minutes. The entirety of Teldrassil, the grand home of the night elves, was completely ablaze, and only then did the bombardment stop. Despite being many miles away from the island, the roar of the fire was overwhelming, and the heat was intense enough that he felt like he should have been sweating. He heard horrified screams from nearby that couldn't belong to anyone other than night elves watching their home burn... and, most likely, their families. The light was blinding, and yet, he couldn't look away.
How many innocents are being burned alive right now? he thought to himself in stunned horror. That druid... Did I save her life just to doom her to an even worse fate? It was a long time before he was finally able to tear his gaze away and turn back to Falaria. She stood there, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, as she watched the inferno, looking just as hypnotized by the flames as he had been. Surely she sees now... "Did you know Sylvanas was going to do this?" he asked, having to raise his voice to be heard.
That snapped her back to reality, and she looked at him as if in shock that he would ask such a question. "W-What? No, I didn't know about this! This wasn't part of her plan. At least, I... I-I don't think it was..."
"Surely you can see Sylvanas for who she truly is now. Are you really going to tell me you're still going to follow her?"
"Of course," she answered without hesitation.
He stared at her incredulously as Baladir's words echoed in his mind. Yes, Sylvanas Windrunner -was- a hero but she's gone now. Whatever possesses her body is no longer the noble soul who died defending our home. You think I'm exaggerating, but what differences do you see between her and the Lich King?
The mere thought of his brother's name boiled his blood, but he realized Baladir was right. As much as he wanted him to be wrong, as much as he wished to believe one of his people's most respected heroes was still there, she was indeed gone. "Are you serious? Are you not seeing what I'm seeing?!" he cried. "She just torched the entire fucking tree! Do you have any idea how many innocent people she just killed? How many innocent children? This is genocide, Falaria! Sylvanas just committed a fucking war crime, probably several, and you helped! How is this any different from what Arthas did? This is what Baladir was talking about when he-"
"No! Don't you fucking dare! I'll admit this isn't something that I would have done, and it isn't something I expected she would do, but if she deemed it necessary, then I will not question it. She is not the terrible monster you and that asshole you call a brother thinks she is! Everything she does, she does for the Horde! This will benefit the Horde in the long run. I'm not leaving!"
"Damn it, Falaria, I don't think I have ever seen someone in the amount of denial you are in right now, you know that? Are you telling me that I came here and died for nothing? That my sacrifice doesn't mean shit to you?"
She curled her fists, looking furious. "You're the one in denial, Hytharion! You can't see that Sylvanas is just trying to protect us! She's doing what needs to be done! And of course you didn't die for nothing! You didn't really die at all! You didn't sacrifice anything!"
Screaming his frustration, he conjured the biggest ball of fire he could muster and slammed into the ground, sending bits of flaming sand flying into the air that she and Mira had to quickly dance out of the way of. "I hope you're proud of yourself, Sis." He teleported further up the beach and closed his eyes as he began conjuring a portal back to Dalaran, struggling to focus on the image of the city in his mind as his thoughts raced. At least the resurrection had restored some of his mana as well.
"Hythe, wait!"
Despite the roar of the fire, his sharp ears heard Falaria calling out his name. He attempted to speed up his casting, and as he finally got it completed and was about to step through, she caught up and grabbed his shoulder. At that moment, he lost control of himself as his rage boiled over. He spun, grabbing her arm hard as he shoved his face into hers. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" He shoved her hard, sending her stumbling back into the sand. As he turned to leave, he heard screaming behind him and it took a moment to realize the voice was Falaria's. He turned back, and his anger vanished, quickly replaced by horror. Falaria slapped at her arm and rolled in the sand, desperately trying to put out the rapidly spreading flame on her arm. Mira whimpered and growled as she jumped around her, unsure of what to do.
He ran to her and held her down as he sprayed frost on her arm. The flame went out, but the damage was already done. The magical flame, despite being there for mere seconds, had spread far and left nothing but charred, bubbling muscle. She wept, breathing hard as she held her arm close and scrambled away from him. "Sis, I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" He had never seen her eyes so full of terror. He tried to reach out to her, but Mira snarled at him, and he pulled his hand back just in time to avoid having it bitten off. She got to her feet and took off, sprinting as fast as she could down the beach. Mira gave him one last intimidating hiss before she chased after her master. He swallowed hard as he looked down at his hand, horrified. What just happened? I wasn't holding a flame when I grabbed her... was I? Shaking his head, he returned to his portal and stepped into Dalaran.
The portal room was empty, and as he headed outside, he was relieved to see that the streets were the same. A cold breeze ruffled his hair and cooled his hot skin. The moons were high, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Shades of green and blue danced in the star-filled sky above. He would have thought it beautiful once. It often brought him calm when he was anxious, but now he was somewhat concerned to realize that he was apathetic about it.
Shaking his head, he glanced in the direction of his house. I should go home. 'Lani is probably worried...- He sighed. -Doubt she'll be worried for long when she sees me. Maybe I'll report to the Council first. That'll give me a bit more time to think. Business with them should be fairly straightforward,- he mused. -Either I'm punished and demoted or just straight-up banished, and I just want to get it done and over with. He peered up at the sky again. Guess I'll have to wait a few hours for them to convene, though. All the more time to think, I suppose. For the time being, he decided to head to a nearby fountain, one of Kalira and Maxian's favourite places to go. They often loved to throw coins in and make wishes, and he sometimes entertained them by making shapes with frozen water. He sat on the edge and stared down at his reflection, hating the face that stared back.