Chapter 8
It has been a few weeks since Anduin's last letter. Something in the back of my mind was starting to feel that something was not right. My mother was talking me out of a panic when we heard a knock at the door. Both me and my parents froze. Then we hear another knock at the door.
"James, lad! I know your home. If you don't open the door I'm not afraid to break in!" A familiar voice shouted from the other side. My father walked up to the door and pulled it open. There stood Sully with his red bandana on, sweating just a little.
"James, lad. Have I told you how much I hate how far your house is from the city?" Sully breathed almost like he had been running.
"Yes, many times. Aren't you supposed to be at work? Why are you dressed in black in this kind of weather?" my father questioned Sully.
"Yea, it's my uniform, but I came here to talk to the child," Sully stated.
"Why do you need to talk to my daughter? Is the kid okay?" my father asked.
"That's the problem, lad. He's missing. The ship he took is gone," Sully stammered out.
"WHAT?!" I screamed from the kitchen. I ran to the front door to see the mixture of confusion and worry on my dads face.
"Where … How?" I stammered out.
"The ship wandered off course and then got stuck in a storm. Then we lost contact with them. But we know the area where the ship crashed. A team has already been sent out to find him. If your father is okay with it, you're a good resource to have on hand. You know him better than anyone on the team, I have a feeling he doesn't know his son as well as he thinks he does." Sully disclosed as he looked at me and my parents.
"What do I need to do?" I questioned.
"The champion has requested from you to come with us." Sully stated
"The champion, from where?" My father questioned
"Night elf, Gillanen, and the champion of the humans. The ones you helped train, along with the others," Sully answered hoping his words would sink in. I also looked up at my father hoping for an answer. Then my father looked over to my mother. She looked over at me then she looked over at my dad.
"She will go with you. Just keep her safe. Ava, take Ari with you. He's got a good noise," my mother addressed me. I smiled as I went upstairs to pack a bag.
" It's hopefully just going to be a few weeks, Lass!" Sully yelled from the front door, when I heard someone come up the stairs. Then my mother comes through my door as I was trying to stuff my things in a bag.
"You want a bigger bag?" asked my mother as she crossed my room.
"No. I'll make it work," I sighed as I shoved my clothes in a bag that my brother gave me.
"Ava, it's okay to be nervous or scared," my mother breathed.
"I'm scared out of my mind. I swear Aduin has no fight or flight response. He's the softest man I know. He trusts people way too easily. He can protect himself, yes," I stammered out barely able to make a sentence without tripping over my words.
"Take a breath. He will be fine. His father would not send him by himself. He probably at least has a couple guards. He also most likely has SI:7 scouts too. The worst that's going to happen to him is that he trips, he falls and he gets hurt," my mother comforted me as I was on the verge of tears. She pulled me into a hug as tears rolled down my face from worry.
"I just don't want to lose him" I wept. After a few more minutes, my father knocked on my door with one of his guard bags and set it on my bed and both of my parents helped me pack my things.
Sully, my parents and I discussed my behavior, what should I do if we got ambushed, and I were to take Ari because he can help find Aduin. I think my mother worried that I would get home sick. I hugged my parents before I left Sully, Ari and I walked out of my town I called home.
"It's going to be okay, Lass. They will be here when you come back" Sully soothed
"I know I just don't want them to think I'm leaving them behind" I voiced as Ari was glued to my side not wanting to leave me.
"You are not leaving them behind, both of your parents knew that you would grow up then go on your own adventures. Your parents were just hoping that they had a little more time with you. But when you watch kids grow up it's faster than some people think. But you'll still be their little girl, always." Sully claimed. I nodded as we approached the gates on Stormwind. I sighed as we walked through the gates.
"Well no going back now" I sighed
"Just until we leave Stormwind" said Sully
"How did this happen?" I questioned
"Ships get caught in storms all the time." Sully added. Ari barked, wanting to be part of the conversation. I giggled as I scratched his head. His white fur seemed brighter in the sun, he still has a puppy face. I feel a little better that he is coming with me. I look back at Sully, he seemed nervous as well. I didn't blame him since the prince was missing. It is not a good situation.
Anduin is the only child of the King Wrynn, so his son missing is currently making him unpleasant to be around. He is also the last thing that he has of the queen. Aduin would look just like his mother more than his father with his blonde hair and blue eyes. The garden in the Stormwinds Keep was a memorial for the queen and the stained glass on the far wall of the garden depicted a likeness of her. According to Anduin where the stained glass window sits now used to be a normal window, but it was where she used to sit in the morning to watch the sunrise and read her books in the afternoon. That room was turned into a small flower bed which were filled with flowers that she liked. The King goes into that room when he needs to think. He puts roses under the window on her birthday and their anniversary. According to Anduin his father was not himself for several years after her death. Anduin wishes that he got to know her more. Sully told me that Anduin and his mother share the same big heart for the races of the Alliance and the other races that they come in contact with. Along with their culture and the wanting to learn more. For a boy who has a warrior father along with very high expectations to excel at everything he does, he's very calm and collected. I can only wonder about the stress that he's going through. By the way he acts when we met at the old training grounds, he doesn't get to be a kid all that often.
Sully and I walked through the city, we managed to get through the Trade District alive. I looked up to see the lavender roofs, royal purple and gold banners of The Mage Quarter. I breathed a sigh of relief to see moss covered cobblestone with dark wood trim.
"Now we get to go through this mess"Sully whined
"The Mage Quarter is not that bad, Sully. Now getting to the portal you mentioned might be a problem. Knowing the way the tower is set up it's going to take us a hot minute," I groaned. Ari huffed and layed down on the lush grass that made the pathways of The Mage Quarter.
"Ari come on boy don't lay down just yet, please," I begged Ari. He reluctantly got up from the soft grass, but he got up as slowly as possible. After Ari got up we started to walk through the Quarter. We managed to get to the portal tower with a little struggle. I watched people walk up and down the spiral pathway that led up to the base of the building for the portals that are held at the top. I heard that there was a portal to a bigger room where the portals to different worlds outside of Azeroth were. I heard the room also had a portal to the Allied races as well. We walked up the spiral walkway to meet the mages.
"Good day, how can I help you three with something?" One of the Mages asks as he greets us at the doorway.
"Yes I need that portal that just opened up briefly in the back." Sully chattered
"Ah, yes. Go up those stairs and to your left. It should still be there," The Mage gestured up the stairs.
"Thank you lad," chuckled Sully as we made our way up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a large, blue portal. I stopped just a few steps in front of the portal. I watched as Sully walked through, almost like walking through a door.
"Uh Sully?" I hesitated.
"Yes Lass?" Sully answered his voice was distorted. I could see him as he walked back up to the portal. He stepped out of the portal room.
"Do I need to hold your hand?"Sully asked as he turned back towards the portal with his hand held up over his head. I hesitantly took his hand as he walked through the portal. I slowly went through the portal. Was it cold? I closed my eyes as I stepped through.
"Lass you can open your eyes. You're through the portal," Sully chuckled. I slowly opened one of my eyes to see. Then blinked to see a dark room with the only light being provided was the light the the portals in the room along with a very large yellow stained glass window with golden lion heads propped up at the top. The room was decorated with royal blues and gold.
"Wow, this is a very nice room for just holding portals," I noted as I looked around. Waiting on Ari to jump though.
"It's normally the first thing that people from other kingdoms see, so the King wanted the portal room to be on the nicer side," Sully stated as he dragged Ari through the portal. The pore boy was scared out of his mind, I've never seen Ari scared of anything before. I don't blame him as I haven't brought him to this side of the city before.
"Alright let's get going before I get harassed because I'm taking too long," Sully fumed.
"I'm starting to get a little excited," I chattered. We walked through the room. I watched as Sully looked for the portal that was supposed to take us to where we needed to go. One portal caught my eye. It showed a Pandaren village with a cherry blossom forest. I watched as the Pandaren witch looked like a black smith. Then I saw a light lavender tail?
"What the" I thought to myself. The tail was light and large but I could not put my finger on what it could be. I looked over at Sully to see him still looking at some of the portals trying to remember what portal he came out of. I looked back to the portal to another Pandaren dressed in all black almost like he was dressed in what looked like samurai armor but instead of a helmet he wore a black fringed hat that covered most of his face. What made me step back a little was when he turned to face the portal. He was larger than he was from the side. He also wore a red mask that covered the bottom half of his face. His armor was not just black, it had blood red detailing. His gloves along with his belt was a deep red color. He wore a pair of silver and black shoulder pieces. But only one was of a snow white tiger with black stripes. The tiger had what looked like blue mist coming out of its mouth. The tiger was also on his belt. I took a closer look at his armor. The breastplate had silver striping. What was striking was when he tipped his hat up by just an inch. He had snow white fur and bright amber eyes that seemed to glow. A shadow came beside him as he walked to the side of the portal where the shadow was sitting then he was gone. Before the large shadow was gone I got to see a bit of what the shadow looked like. The lavender tail belonged to the shadow.
The way the tail was shaped reminded me about the feathered serpent I read about not that long ago. The serpent can get to the size of a small temple when they are younger in age. If they gain power, it's from the titans themselves or worshipers that pray to them over their lives. One of these serpents gained a conscience. He gained the following from many troll tribes and became Hakkar the soulflayer. A God of Blood, the Gurubashi trolls worshiped Hakkar first and the most. The Gurubashi trolls were known for their ruthless and unforgiving nature. The blood elves gave them the name "Blood Trolls".
"Ah good you found it Lass"Sully said abruptly. I jumped a little not knowing he was standing next to me. Sully was very good at his job. For being a very talkative Dwarf when he is put to a job he does it very well.
"Alright, grab your dog and your bag. I'll be on the other side" Sully chatted as he stepped through the portal he turned to face the portal and motioned for me to follow. I looked down at the floor to see a napping Ari and a backpack lying next to him. I let out a shaky breath as I picked up the limp bag and threw it over my shoulder. Ari picked up his head and got up with a groan. I turned back to the portal to see Sully walking away from the area where the portal was stationed. I stepped back then jumped through. I slowly opened my eyes and giggled to myself.
"SULLY I did it" I shouted to where Sully was standing. Then I was shoved to the floor. Standing over me was Ari with a book in his mouth that I had dropped in the portal room. I managed to get out from under Ari. When I got up, I could see a small Pandaren town surrounding me. Some of the residents didn't look too happy to see us, especially what looked like guards. I started to walk over to the small group that Sully was talking to. Then I froze when I saw a very familiar black bird perched on the lamp that Sully and a few others were standing next to. With the bird being in the open like this I could see it better. The bird had leather patches that lined the top of its wings. On one of his wings there was what looked like embroidered feathers. The feathers around the bird's neck were shaggy and unkempt. The large bird and I made eye contact. Then the large bird adjusted on its perch, jumped off the lamps posted and turned towards the large mountains that stood around the village. "Wait, was that the bird… what is it doing here?" I thought to myself as I watched the bird fly over the mountains to what looked like the top of a building.
I stood there in confusion at the appearance of the bird that just flew off. When a Draenei with deep lavender skin started to walk in my direction. I could see her out of the corner of my eye. She had white hair that was pulled back in pigtails with side bangs framed her face well. Her horns were curled close to her face. The glasses that sat on her face were oval in shape. The gloves that she wore were white but they were covered in blood. She had on light gray tabard, gray pants, and had on dark green shoulder plates. Ari growled softly as she approached, I put my hand over his eye. Then gave him a quick pat on the head.
"Hello. You must be Ava that Sully told me about. I'm Mishka. I am one of the healers that will be accompanying the group that you will be traveling with," she said in a calming tone with a soft smile. Her bright blue eyes looked tired; they also looked like they had seen things that the mortal eye should have never witnessed.
"It's nice to meet you. Can you repeat your name? I didn't quite catch on how it was pronounced," I managed to nervously smile. I could never put my finger on why talking to or just being around Draenei made me nervous. The people of the race that I came across were very loud, and passionate talkers. When I passed them in town they were always dressed in gold, light purples or any color that the nobles or even the royal family themselves would wear. Some that I have physically talked to were mean and judgmental just because my family weren't followers of the "Light" and how my mother was a part of the Legion because she's a Warlock/Mage and she and I were probably summoning demons to take over the city.
Not a lot of people know this about my mother; she was trained in several classes. Such as a Priest, Warlock, and Mage. To be more specific she was trained in the priest class to please her parents. The class that she is recognised for and trained in the Warlock class because she knew the teacher and wanted to learn more about demons and the dark magic they used. But being trained in the class of Mage was not in that plan but one of her friends begged my mother to take the class with her. What she specializes in is fire magic for mage and Affliction for Warlock. She also studied a little in demonology. That never sat well with people we would meet. People would look at my father like he was crazy for staying and having children with this woman. Especially when we were introduced to the Draenei.
I remember the time when I was 4.5 years old, my brother and father blew up at one because they called my mother "demon worshiping scum" because she had one of her imps with her. The imp wasn't even causing problems or creating mischief, the poor little guy was just looking at some flowers that were on the bottom shelf. Me and my brother worked so hard to get her back into town after that. My mother's feelings are very hard to hurt but she doesn't like being judged by what class she is in, and my mother's self-worth can go down very fast. Plus my mother has the face that normally reads "Don't come near me or my kids, or I will kill you" but when people actually get to know her she's the sweetest person you could ever meet.
"It's Mishka" she giggled
"Mish...ka?" I said with a hint of confusion in my voice. I was not used to having a Draenei be so genuine and kind. She nods as I try to pronounce her name.
"There you go you got it" Mishka encouraged with a smile that actually showed her teeth. It surprised me a little, I never thought about Draenei that they had fangs just like Worgen but they were smaller. She turned her head towards one of the buildings. She turned back to me,
"Sorry honey I would like to stay and get to know you more but I have to go. It was really nice talking to you," Mishka chattered as she started to run off to the building that she turned to.
"Ava, lass" come this direction for a moment!" Sully called out from the lower part of the village. I motioned Ari to follow as I walked down the steps that the portal was stashed next to. Then walked towards the group that Sully was standing at.
"You brought a child with an oversized dog on this expedition. This is the girl you were talking about" said a pale woman with long black hair who was pulled back into a high ponytail, dressed in black leather and a scope over one of her light grass green eyes. The largest thing on her was her sniper rifle which was taller than she was.
"Ava this is Amber Kearnen. She is one of our best snipers. She is one of the many people that you will be accompanying on this trip," Sully growled as he glared at Amber. I jumped when there was a large explosion over one of the mountains.
"What was that" I stammered out
"Don't worry about it, Lass. Just the champions taking care of some things" Sully remarked
"Are you related to any of the champions?" Amber questioned
"No, why would you think that? I corrected, Amber scoffed as she looked over her shoulder. I looked up towards where the explosion came from. There was what looked like the top of what looked like a temple that peeked over the mountains and cherry blossom trees.
"Ari, can you grab my sketch book, please," I asked Ari as he was sitting next to me. I wanted to get a rough sketch so I could look up what kind of temple it could be. I listened to Ari sniff his way through my bag that was sitting on the floor. Then he brushed my hand with the top of his head. I looked down at Ari. He was wagging his tail, happy to have found it.
"You brought a book, what other useless things did you bring?" Amber hissed
"Yes, yes I did… is there a problem" I remarked as I pulled out my pencil and flipped to a clean page.
"Lass don't start," Sully schooled, I nodded as I made my way to the ground. I managed to cross my legs when another explosion went off. My head shot up with the next explosion, then I saw someone with a parachute.
"Finally, take them forever. It should not take that long to kill a few Orcs," Amber huffed as she made her way up the stairs. I looked over at Sully and he motioned for me to get up.
"I think you want to know who we going to be traveling with," Sully encouraged as he made his way to the stairway
"I don't really have a choice in who I travel with though," I remarked as I got up from the floor
"No, but have a choice on who escorts you," Sully clarified as he walked up the stairs. I brushed off some dirt and made my way up the stairs. To where the people started to gather.