I thanked them for their advice and told them that I planned to return here, later that day.
Then I went, Westwards again.
After some time, I saw where the Centaur had build their camp. They had guards at the gate but no patrols outside and so, I dared to risk it. I had the choice to run and possibly draw more attention, or to go slow and careful, but be exposed for a longer time.
I chose the careful way, I could still run, if they were to spot me.
It took a long time, before I was out of sight of the camp.
Soon, I needed to go more to the South. I was still not at the opposite side. A small path left the road, going in the right direction. Walking there, I saw the wall of the ravine coming closer. Ahead was a big Winged Serpent hovering above the path, blocking my way.
There were Winged Serpents in the Barrens too and I knew them and their dangers well, but this one was bigger than I had ever seen! Twice bigger, if not more. What this magnificent monster could do, I could only guess.
It was best to stay far away from it.
Perhaps I should find another path going South. There must be many ways, weaving between the stone pillars. But on the next path, I found myself confronted with a Cougar. It had already seen me and ran directly at me. I was able to kill it, without getting hurt too much, myself. Then I went on-wards and spotted a Hyena. It was only one Hyena and it had not seen me, so, I decided to leave it be.
It is always good to not kill unnecessary.
The wall was now very close and I looked for the road that was going up. I could see it, winding up the side of the canyon, but where did it start? It turned out that it was not far from where I had been before and the Winged Serpent was flying in front of it.
I had to get up this path, so as soon as the monster had moved away a little, I made a run for it.
Only a few yards up the path, I was struck by a tremendous lightning bolt! I fell to the ground, but managed to get away before the Serpent could launch another bolt. Luckily, it was not following me.
I could only hope that it would be gone by the time I would return.
Finally, I arrived at my destination. The place where the Star-wood trees grew.
It was a secluded place, surrounded by high walls of rock.
This was the realm of the Wyvern, that flew around and had their nests here.
The Star-wood trees were growing in a very strange way, the branches staying low and to the sides, not upwards like normal trees. It must be due to the harshness of the place, that they grew in this way.
I could spot several Wyvern-nests, many of them were in use. Luckily, none were too close, and I set out to gather the Wood. Below the trees, there were dead twigs, of which I made a bundle that I put in my bag. This would last us quite some time, but would it not be better if I brought home a decent branch? That would certainly make a difference. Then this arduous trek needed not be made so soon again.
I set out to break off one of the lowest branches, but the living wood proved to be enormously tough. The dry heat had caused the wood to grow to be nearly indestructible.
As I was tearing at the branch, I heard a thunderous roar behind me. A Wyvern was flying directly towards me! I prepared to defend myself and was able to make it fly away.
As soon as I had this branch loose, I would be out of here!
I could not see the Wyvern any more and renewed my attempt to break free this terrible branch.
Then I felt a sudden sting in my back. The Wyvern had returned and had struck me with the end of its tail!
I felt the poison spreading though my body and I fell to the ground. I tried to get up, but all I managed to do, was to turn myself on my back. The pain in my back exploded in a multitude of colors and the poison took control of my body.
There, I was lying, staring up into the sky, being carried by the face of the World.
The poison was altering my perception.
The Sun, the Eye of the Earthmother, was watching me from above. And I saw myself, through Her Eye, far below, as an insignificant little speck.
But there was no malice or contempt in her gaze, just attention. She had Love for all her children and was watching what I was going to do. But I was unable to move and could only look back, to that bright Eye in the sky.
I slipped in- and out of consciousness during that long day, till finally the Eye left and the night fell.
But the night had it's own Eye, that looked down on me, with that same unspoken question. A question that I did not know the answer of!
Stop tormenting me this way! I exclaimed in my mind.
I knew that I was going to die. If not this night, then surely tomorrow. Another day exposed to the Sun would certainly bring the end. I hoped, it would not have to come to that.
I did not fear Death, but I could not say the same thing of dying.
Through the Eye of the Earthmother, I saw myself, walking towards the tree and trying to break off a branch. My thrashing about alerted a Wyvern, that took silently to the air. From his high perch, it had seen me as soon as I had entered his territory, but now, this trespasser was disturbing the peace.
He had several females with nests in the area, who depended on him for their protection.
In a long flight, he went closer to assess the situation.
The intruder was trashing about with the branches and it was making the females nervous.
He went for a new approach, to scare it away.
Roaring loudly, he announced his presence, but instead of fleeing, the intruder tried to attack him! He could not risk to get hurt, lest he would be unable to fly, but the invader had to be dealt with.
He readied himself for an attack and lashed out with his tail. The trespasser fell to the ground and the danger was averted. He went back to his high seat, to again oversee his domain.
The next thing I saw, was how it had been my unawareness, that had caused the Cougar to mistake me for an easy prey. A mistake that had cost it it's life.
I could see how we have responsibility, for everything that we do.
Seeing all this, I knew what I wanted, to live life with the ability to not make any more mistakes.
But there was no life for me to live any more. I was on the brink of Death. It did not matter, I knew now, the answer to the question that had been torturing my mind.
I could die in peace.
The white light of the moon was in my eyes and peace was in my mind. And dying seemed the easiest thing in the world. Lying there, peacefully, I awaited the end.
It was, as if the Earthmother spoke to me: "When a mistake is made, it need not inevitably lead to it's fatal conclusion."
And the white circle of the Moon became bigger and bigger, till it filled my view completely.
I was taken up in Her care.”
- The Wyvern patriarch had been waiting for the trespasser to leave, but it was still lying there.
Not their type of prey, it was not considered food. Hyena's were his favorite.
He would take the corpse and drop it, back into the ravine, so the Hyena's could get to it.
For reasons unknown, his flight, that night, was longer than expected.
-
“In the early morning, I was found by a guard, lying behind a tent, on the high flats of Freewind Post.
With their great care and healing skills, the people there were able to nurture me back to good health.
I gave them many thanks, for saving my life and was able to return home, after several days.
Back in Thunder Bluff, I had a lot to report and the Elders listened attentively.
Then, one of the Elders spoke:
"Every creature that decides to attack, hopes for gain, without getting hurt, or tries to prevent loss, possibly to the brink of Death.
We do hunt, out of need and sometimes to prove skill and bravery, but to kill many, all in the same manner, without need and letting go to waste, is a sign that one has lost the connection with the World and it is to ones own peril. Dwarves do come to mind, they celebrate their greatest hunters by the number of useless kills they make.
We can only hope, that they will once again, return to ways of the Earthmother.
Any other reason to attack is a sign of Insanity.
That includes greed, revenge, fear and anger.
There is great risk in that."
I told the Elder that I understood this.
That I had seen, how we are responsible for all that we do and that I wanted to live by the guidance of the Earthmother. They told me that She would find her own ways, to show me how I could help Her lessen the suffering of the World.
Following Her advice, I came to see that by doing that, I helped myself even more.
And now I have to eat this Crab," he concluded, "there is still a lot left."
"That was a great story!" exclaimed the Priest. "I wished I was a Tauren too. Being Undead, I have nothing to expect, but Death.
"Yes, and No." said the Shaman between two bites. "I can tell you about that later."
Why did I never see anything like that?! I asked myself. I had died and was ress'ed and had never seen anything, other than that misty place, where I longed to be alive again. It was like a bad dream, with no substance at all. And he talked about things and the Earthmother, as if it was all real. The only real things we had, were the skulls of our ancestors and the power to defend ourselves. Our magic depended on that, and Fire.
Fire was always needed.
I saw that Wilani had fallen asleep. It had been a long story and we were underground for so long, night must have fallen a long time ago. "We all should get some sleep." said the Rogue, while he brought some more wood for the fire. It was good. Once a fire was burning, I could keep it going with only the littlest use of Mana and very little wood. But the others would need to feed the fire during the night. If you could call it night.
Here, underground, it was dark all the time.
"I will take the first watch.", said the Shaman.
"I will take the second!", I said quickly.
"Wake me when you get tired", said the Rogue.
The Priest had put away all his cooking things found himself a spot, away from the fire. He dared not his risk to have his dried out bones catch fire while sleeping.
As he lay there, he looked like a parched and long dead corpse.
And I though of what he had said.
The Shaman was still eating and I was too much awake to go to sleep any time soon. What a story that was!
I went over it again in my mind. "So you are of the Clan Dawnstrider" I started. He "Hummed" in response.
"Would you be OK if I called you like that?" He "Hummed" again.
I fell silent and looked into the fire.
There was a lot to think about.
The flickering flames created images in my mind.
Images of things that had happened in my life.
One scene was quickly followed by the next.
It was like a whirlwind with me in the center.
Sometimes, I was still very young,
while others were more recent,
but I always felt myself as 'ME'
and the same one.
Not the same were the feelings and emotions connected to these images; the happiness in my childhood, the competition and connection between Lani and me, the fear when my mother went missing and the desperation and loneliness when she was gone and Lani also not being there.
All the way to the moments of intense fear when I was holding that terrible Murloc sheeped.
And then the whirlwind dropped me somehow into my body sitting by the fire.
I regained my composure and looked up. Had this been a dream?
I saw the Shaman looking at me intently, had he done this, in some way?
Seeing my reaction, he said "I looked after you, while you were away.
Call the Rogue if there is anything. I must sleep now."
And with that he closed his eyes and slumped backwards.
"But.." I started to say, only to get a sonorous snoring as a reply.
Well, he's not going to be much of a help, then, I thought. What am I supposed to do now?
I looked again at the fire and at the pile of firewood; it looked about as much as it had been before, so how long had I been 'away' then? Somehow I felt it was quite a bit longer then it seemed.
My legs argued that I had been sitting in this posture for way too long and I wanted to get up but a peculiar tug at my mind made me look in the direction of the mouth of the cave. I could not see anything in particular and wondered what it had been that made me look that way.
But then I heard it: the soft flaps of webbed feet: Murlocs! They had come back! They would kill us all!
Fear rose up in me like lava in a volcano, ready to burst forth but it had me frozen to the spot at the same time.
In panic, I Blinked, away from the fire, where I was in clear view.
Now in the shadows, I saw a Murloc coming towards the circle of light, but hesitant to get any closer: it feared the fire.
My heart left my throat to take it's normal place and I was able to think again.
Was it only ONE Murloc? It seemed so.
Why did it not attack? Yes, the fire. Thank the spirits for fire!
Could I wake the others in time or should I try to kill it myself?
Could I kill it by myself?
Then came into my mind what the Tauren-elder had said: to attack out of fear is the sign of insanity.
Well, I had fear all-right, no doubt about that. But what should I do then?! There was no possibility to run away and moreover, I could not leave the sleeping others unguarded!
I looked again at the Murloc; it's attention was not at all at those sleeping by the fire, there was something much more attractive: the rest of the mostly eaten crab. It must be really hungry to go so close to the fire.
For a moment I felt pity for the poor Murloc, but that vanished on the spot: those monsters had killed and eaten my mother! Suddenly the lava in my volcano had changed into anger!
I was going to kill at least THIS one!
But the Elder spoke again: to attack out of revenge or anger is the sign of insanity.
I looked at the Murloc again and could feel its longing for the pool in the back of the cave, but that was even beyond the much feared fire. I hoped it would take the crab and be off and not make a run for that pool. I would not know what to say in the morning when the others would discover that we had gotten a new house-pet during the night!
And besides, cooked crab was really delicious, but not so much the next day.
And so I found myself wishing for a Murloc to steal our food.
The thought made me smile. Come-on! I thought.
Perhaps if I magically made the fire a bit less. I was a Mage after-all.
As the fire burned lower, the Murloc seemed more hopeful, till suddenly it made a quick dash and was gone. The crab also. That could have been someone's head, I reprimanded myself, but somehow I did not really believe that.
I let the fire flare up again and could finally get up.
My legs were not amused.
"Owww", I let out a groan that immediately woke the Rogue.
And now him again, I thought. I wanted to go sleep.
It must have been long past my due time and he was the next one anyway, so I did not feel guilty about waking him at all.
More annoyed. He would surely want to know every little thing that had happened when he would discover the Murloc-footprints all over our camp.
"There was a Murloc. I let him have the left-over crab. There were no problems.
I want to sleep now. Wake the Warrior if there is anything."
If the Shaman could be short and go to sleep, so could I!
I stretched my painful legs, it was wonderful.
* I * felt wonderful and very amused with myself.
And off I was.
I heard the Rogue talk to the Warrior. It was about our nightly guest, of-course. Wilani sounded not so much impressed but the Rogue spoke as if he had to make a big deal out of it.
"She let it steal the rests of the Crab!" His belittling tone made it sound not how it had happened.
I let it go. - A part of me made a note of that: Was I changing?
I decided to act like I had not heard any of that and acted-out a convincing yawn-and-awake.
"Get ready to be going", he said to me.
"Good morning to you too!", I said.
"We can't stay here for much longer, we nearly ran out of firewood", he added, to clarify himself.
"Yes, I can see you've been stoking the fire quite a bit", looking at the big pile of ashes.
"I had to make sure no Murlocs would be coming back" he replied, "after you let one run off with our food!"
"I can see why it had you worried, since you still smell like fish", I said, half jokingly.
"I do?!", he asked, turning towards Wilani.
"Just a bit", she said.
"I would not worry about it!", she called after him, while he ran off towards the pool in the back of the cave.
He quickly got busy cleaning himself and his gear.
"He should use his Vanishing-Powder!" I said quietly to Wilani.
That made us bust out in badly contained giggles, like we were little girls.
"You ladies seem to be having fun?" said the Priest, getting up, like a corpse from the grave.
It felt so good to have this connection again, with Wilani, I said, "Yes, life is just great."
"I have to take your word for it", he said. "I hope to experience that too, some time."
"I am sorry! I did not mean to make you feel bad", I said.
"No worries" he smiled, a bit of a thin smile. "Do you two care for some breakfast?"
"I am afraid you can't cook now", I said, "we have no more wood and we have to be going soon."
That prospect seemed to make him more sad than what I had said before.
"Why don't you go wake Dawnstrider?" I told him.
"You call him Dawnstrider??" he asked surprised.
"Yes, he said he was OK with that", I replied with a big smile.
"I will conjure some bread and water for all of us, then we have something to eat on the way."
"No water for me!", called the Rogue from the back.
"Yes, I know, darling!" I called back.
Wow! I must be feeling really good today, calling him that!
"Since I will be casting from now on, I could use some more water", said the Shaman.
"So, you two finally got married, then?", said Wilani.
That made us giggle a lot again.
"There are still these things we have to divide", said the Priest, pointing at the heap of spoils that were still left.
"Pick it up, we will have to do that later!", came the Rogue again.
"Oki", he said. "You should take one of these stones", he said to me. "I can not take more then one."
I looked puzzled. What was so special about these stones? They did not look very interesting at all.
And why could you not take more than one?
"These are bits of a broken gravestone", he explained. "If you bring a piece to the Undercity, you can have yourself a tremendously good Wand made there. It's called The Gravestone Scepter, which is unique in it's kind. I specially came here, in the hope to find this, but I did not expect to find it so soon. So, be sure to take a piece and keep it safe, you won't find anything coming close to this, anytime soon", he concluded.
That must be some Wand then, I thought.
We Mages could use a Wand, but it was never used much, other then as a last resort, for when you were left without Mana. Our Spells were so much stronger than any Wand I had ever seen, but if this was going to be such a great thing, I guess taking one piece along would not hurt.
I started Conjuring the bread and water and reminded myself to dig up the Fiery-Orb, from the ashes of the campfire. It had been lying there in the white-hot blaze, soaking up light and was now filled to the brim. Verily, a dazzling little Sun. Of all the Elements, Fire was really the most useful, I thought. I took it and quickly dimmed it a lot to attach it again to my Staff. I was ready to go.
The Shaman came to stand next to me, asking if I would be so kind as to give him the water, which I did. It was a bit strange to see him as a fellow caster now. Somehow it made me feel a bit protective towards him, being new. "Here you go", I said kindly. "Let me know when you need more."
Standing so close to me, I could get a good look at the Staff that he now carried.
By the Spirits! It was so much better than the Staff I had!
It must have been obvious to see me gaping at it, because he said that was from a dangerous place, far in the south of the Barrens.
"Perhaps we could go there some other time", he went on to say, "but for now, you all want to find some more Pearls, I think."
Yes, Pearls! That was what we came here for. At least Wilani and me.
"Yes!", I said, "but I don't expect to find them now, since all the captured Murlocs had nothing on them."
"We should go on!, said Wilani. Further up there must be more of them and I can't wait to get to use these two beauties!"
She was carrying both of the Dwarven-Axes and therefore no shield.
"Are you sure you want to go without a shield?", I asked.
"Let the girl have some fun!", said the Rogue. "We have less in melee now, since he has donned the robes and he can heal too, right?"
"I can, but I am not trained in this yet.", said the Shaman.
"See!?", said the Rogue again. "Everyone is ready? Then we can finally go."
I wanted to say that it was he that needed to go scrub and make us wait, but I felt it was no use.
He already had stepped out of the mouth of cave that had been our small campsite and was followed by the Warrior and the Priest.
Dawnstrider and I were last.
It was quite a bit colder here, our fire had warmed-up our cave and the difference was noticeable.
A quick shiver ran over my spine. I wouldn't have mind staying a bit longer.
Why was he pushing us to leave so quickly?
Dawnstrider was walking next to me and Gregory alone in the middle.
Somehow it did not feel right. I had felt much more at ease with a big Tauren carrying a shield behind my back than to be the last with an inexperienced caster beside me.
It made me go through all my spells, even though I could ready them blindly.
But 'a sensible Mage is a prepared Mage'.
The ones that had taught me had repeated this so many times.
Wilani and the Rogue were setting a good pace and we had to step up a bit to not fall behind.
We did not check any of the smaller caves here and there, if there were any Murlocs in there, it was unlikely that they would have found any Pearls yet. We had to go on.
With this tempo I did not feel cold any-more!
Walking behind Gregory, the distance to the two in front grew unnoticed.
And so we found that, quite sudden, we had lost sight of our vanguard; they had gone around a corner and we were still some distance away.
I urged us to close the gap quickly and on a trot we neared the corner.
Then, while going round the corner, I bumped into a Naga Oracle!
She was as much startled as I was and hissed her foul breath into my face.
Her two Priestess attendants were appalled that I had dared to touch their mistress and rushed in to attack me.
I wanted to shout for help, but her suffocating breath had made it impossible to bring forth any sound. I readied my Staff to protect myself from their long clawing hands.
In desperation I looked to where the Shaman and the Priest had gone, but they were out of sight already.
If at least this silencing would end, then I could finally cast and scream!
I managed to cast an Instant Arcane-explosion. Beng! Under their constant attacks it was the only thing I could do.
All coolness and composure had gone but it did not matter, I was going to die!
Beng! Beng! The sound was deafening in this narrow place.
The priestesses were taking turns in Smiting me and healing their beloved Mistress. And she started to cast some Spell to finish me off, but before it hit me everything went already black.
I had died.
This time, it was different.
For some reason I was able to see everything, in a faint light gray glow. The forms of the Naga and my own corpse were slightly translucent and glowing at the outline.
The Naga turned their attention towards the Shaman who had come back into view. Upon seeing them, he quickly stepped back to take cover around the corner.
It had not taken them long at all to kill me and very little time had actually passed.
Now, lightning bolts were flying from around the corner. These were very bright in this shimmering, grayish world.
They hit the Naga, but to little effect. Two healing Priestesses and an Oracle were pretty hard to kill. It was going to be a race between Damage and Healing and with me being dead, we were one Damage-dealer short.
The two Priestesses, now determined to get the Shaman, were advancing towards the corner, taking turns in healing each-other. The Oracle followed in their wake.
And then I was there, alone, somehow hovering over my dead body.
Seeing myself lying there, crumpled-up and smitten, I felt pity for my poor body.
And sad. The heat of the fight and the fear had all gone.
I looked around and saw the narrow passage where the Naga had come from, more narrow even than where my friends had went. They must have a big fight now, I suppose.
So strange to feel no panic or fear, although I did feel a bit worried. But what could I do? I could not leave my corpse alone, now could I? What if some Murlocs would find it and...No! I did not want to think about that!
But there would be nothing I could do if it would happen, right?
I suppose.
Hmm, I did not feel great about leaving my body, but a part of me wanted to see what was happening around the corner.
That part won, and I drifted there to have a look.
Just for a short while, I told myself.
Time was moving differently.
Things that had my attention happened very slowly and other things seem to get skipped entirely, only to show the result of what had happened.
It was very strange.
It was a good thing that the Warrior was using both Axes and was doing more Damage now, since Tanking all these Healers was pretty much useless. A pointless effort to try and kill an opponent that gets constantly healed.
No, they should all three be killed at the same time.
Not an easy task at all.
The Rogue and the Warrior were each fighting a Priestess and the Shaman was attacking the Oracle.
Was he now hitting her with his Staff? Was he out of Mana already?
Oh! The Priestess that the Rogue had been fighting had died!
Oh! The Shaman had also died. The Oracle was attacking the Priest now.
The Warrior had to let go of the other Priestess in order to come and save him.
She was now attacked by both of the Naga.
The Priest used his wand, shooting at the remaining Priestess. She died.
Oh, the Warrior had also died!
The Oracle was now alone and was fighting with the Rogue while the Priest was shooting her with his Wand.
Now the Rogue died. Only the Priest and the Oracle were left.
Who was going to win?
She was hitting him with her Staff now, oh, she died.
The fight was over.
I quickly went back to my dead body.
Hopefully, I would be ress'ed soon!
After what seemed like an eternity, I got finally ress'ed by the Shaman.
We quickly went to the others who were busy with bandages, food and drinks to gain back their lost Health and Mana. They were all talking together, complimenting the Priest and praising him for saving the day.
Luckily he had survived, or we would have all been dead.
I felt a bit out of place.
I had seen it all happen, what they were talking about, but the feeling of what a desperate fight it had been, had eluded me. Sitting down, drinking to restore my Mana, I let their words come over me, unable to really share their excitement.
The Oracle had been an especially bad adversary, it seemed. She had managed to kill all three of them.
"Yes! And me too!" I said.
But my voice got lost in the commotion.
I looked at my party, each one of them was like a stranger.
Even Wilani, who I knew my whole life, seemed unfamiliar to me and out of reach. Was I really back alive?
My thoughts went back to that shimmering gray realm where I had been for such a long time.
There was no fear there. All that I can remember was a curious interest. A calm place.
The upheaval had died down and swung towards a silence where each seemed lost in their own thoughts.
They were getting ready to go on. I got up too.
"We should stay more close together." I said.
This time, my voice was heard.
Was I mistaken to think that the party had lost it's enthusiasm?
We were on our way, but it had the feel of compulsion. These sudden and unexpected deaths were surely part of it, but I felt there was something else contributing to our drudgingly going through these tunnels.
Somehow all feeling of adventure had vanished and it felt more like work.
Tedious work.
No-one was talking and we were walking in a huddle. There was neither front nor end to it.
The detachment that I still felt made me see how they were plodding along, without any vigor.
How would a next encounter be dealt with?
And I, even though I could see it, was not able to break the silence and say something about it.
Moving somewhat more forward, I came to walk next to Wilani who acknowledged me with a tiny smile. She looked weary.
She had gotten up early, because of having the last watch and had been tired since the fight with the big Murloc.
I returned the smile and felt pity for her. Being a warrior was really hard work.
Sure, it had it's glorious moments too, where the Warrior was the spear-point of the group, being thrust into a pack of adversaries. None-other than a Warrior could expect to survive such an onslaught.
Each their own, I thought.
I forced myself to pay attention to our surroundings.
We were in a long corridor again, with nothing on either side.
Just boring walking.
But after a while we saw something dead, lying on the ground.
It turned out to be a dead Murloc.
And when we got closer we could see what had killed it: It was crawling with hundreds upon hundreds of tiny spider-crabs!
Wilani gave a bit of an involuntary scream: she really hated those things. And they were terrible: small enough to be easily squashed, but numerous enough to make no difference at all. They could easily get in between your gear and anywhere else. Brrr!
For now they were busy eating the Murloc, but once they would notice us, we would have their deadly attention.
I told her to stay back and the others too. Weapons were useless in this situation. It was timing that was going to be used.
Too soon and too many would be missed, too late, well, too late would be too late, wouldn't it?
I stepped a bit more forward, not too close, but they had to be able to spot me. This should be about right.
I shot a volley of Arcane Missiles into the dead Murloc. That stirred-up the swarm pretty good.
Then I jumped up-and-down to make them notice me.
A flood of tiny monsters left the corpse of the Murloc and came running towards me.
I shot another volley to make the stragglers hurry-up so they would be all as close together as possible.
They were still in a bit of a long spread, too long for my taste, so I started to run to give the ones who were behind time to catch-up with the rest.
As they closed in on me, they also got closer together and when they very nearly got to me, I casted a Frost-Nova and Blinked away.
Normally I would follow this up with a Blizzard of ice, pelting down, but this vermin was so small, many would still be missed.
No, for this occasion I had something more effective: casting the Flame-strike Spell, a great circle in front of me was engulfed in Fire for a short while. Bigger monsters would only get burned a bit and would not die, but these small pests did not need much to turn to a crisp.
Checking to see if I had gotten all of them, I saw that a few stragglers had been beyond the reach of the fire.
I waited till they were very close and killed those with an Arcane Explosion. Beng!
Beng! Beng! And two more, just to be sure.
I looked at my Mana; far more than half was left! I smiled, I could have killed them twice-over, if I had to.
"They are all dead now!", I called to the others.
Wilani came towards me and stepping on this crunchy carpet, she said: "Thank the Spirits for that!
Girl, you really have Icy Veins, letting them get so close to you!"
I smiled. "Each their own, Wilani. You take on the big ones and I the small ones."
How had we become so different? I thought.
A Warrior, so hot with Rage and a Mage so ice-cold and shrewd.
Having casted Fire, I felt more alive again.
I really loved Fire a great deal.
Ice was deadly and indispensable to freeze your opponents in-place and Arcane brought so many handy and clever things, it would be sorely missed, but Fire....
It's pure glow filled my heart with warmth.
It made me feel like a roiling volcano, full of red hot lava, ready to burst forth! Destroying everything!!
But wait! I am a Mage!
We are the ones with Icy Veins!!
How did I get engulfed into this fiery fantasy?
I shook myself awake.
Hopefully I was now really awoke.
Now that we have found one Murloc, others should be not far away.
But were we ready for a real fight?
Only Wilani had said anything, so far.
I dared to bring it up: "Guys," I said, "I really feel not so great."
"You handled those pests, quite decently" replied the Rogue.
"Thanks. But that is not what I mean. Ever since this Oracle killed me, I have been feeling strange and I thought I had got rid of it, but it only seems to get worse. Right now it feels like some oppressive force on my mind.
Don't you guys not feel anything?"
"Perhaps you did not sleep very well" said Wilani, stifling a yawn. "I have been feeling a bit tired myself, too."
"Will there be any more of these tiny crabs?" asked Gregory.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Lady" said the Rogue. "But if you want to find any Pearls, we better go on."
"Soon your question might be answered." said Dawnstrider.
Those replies! None of them was answering my question. Oh well.
"That reminds me," said the Rogue, "back there, I picked up this thing. It doesn't look all that great to me, but perhaps you can use it. The Priest got one already, so I guess you can have this one, here." And he handed me the Staff that the Naga Oracle had been carrying.
It was stronger and more roughly made than my own Staff, but it had a quality to it that enabled casting quite a bit. That made it definitely better than the one I currently had.
"Wow! thanks!" I said "Yes, this is going to be a big help!"
"Great!" he said, "then we can finally go on."
Nobody wanted to search the dead Murloc, so we went on.
It was not long after, till we found another Murloc. I froze it to the spot, so it could not run away and then we quickly killed it. It had a pearl! Only a small pearl, but I thought it was a good sign.
In the same way, we were able to catch four more Murlocs that rewarded us with two more pearls and one of those was an Iridescent one!
That went to Wilani.
But where was the water? This long winding corridor had still no caves on the sides and neither any water.
So it was no real surprise to come to a small lake with Murlocs splashing about on the shore.
What was a surprise, were the ruins that only just reached out of the water.
These were similar to the ruins at the beach at the Zoram Strand, but never had I heard of any ruins under the ground.
None of us had been here before. How did we manage to get in a place like this?
"We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere." I said.
"What should we do now? Go back?"
We decided to first get all the Murlocs that were in easy reach from the shore and then to have a closer look at this strange building, so nearly sunken away.
All these Murlocs left us with two more Iridescent Pearls, of which Gregory and I were the lucky recipients.
Now I had two! Enough to finish my boots that were waiting at home.
Home! It seemed ages ago. I, for one, would be fine just to make a Portal and be out of here.
But to be fair, the Rogue was still one Pearl behind and it was clear that he had an interest in these submerged ruins.
With all the Murlocs dead, the shore was safe now and we sat down.
It was a gloomy place here; the walls and the ceiling were too far to reflect any of the light of the Fiery Orb on my new Staff and the black water was also looking uninviting.
"A fire would be nice." I said. "Do you have any wood left, Gregory?"
"Only a little." He said. "It would be better if we could find something else to burn."
And he went scrounging along the waterline, to see what he could find.
"I like to inspect these ruins." said the Rogue. "And I prefer to go alone, so I can just Vanish if I happen to find anything dangerous."
How can you hope to see anything in this darkness, I wanted to say, but someone who was sneaking around in the dark all the time would probably have his ways.
"I will help Greg" said Wilani, and went along the shore in the opposite direction.
Dawnstrider said nothing. He seemed to be far away in deep thoughts.
And I was holding my Staff, like a beacon, in this small bright circle of light, in the middle of the great darkness.
And the darkness seemed to weigh upon my mind.
It was almost as when that Gloom-Orb had been stuck in my hair.
OK, not that bad, but somehow similar. I longed to get rid of it.
Was I the only one to feel this?
Shouting brought an abrupt end to my thoughts.
It was Gregory!
"It's after me!" we heard him shout and we got up quickly.
He came running towards us, shouting: "I managed to scare it away, but it came back and now it's after me!"
What was after him?!
It turned out to be only a Murloc and the three of us managed to kill it without much troubles.
"So, instead of you finding something, something found you!" I said with a smile.
"When you are alone, it is not so much fun", he replied indignantly.
[Gregory scares away a Murloc!]
"I found something too." It was Wilani.
"Look at this thing! It is enormous!" And she held up a Giant Clam shell.
"Now I understand where these Murlocs get those big Pearls from."
"Yes, and think of all the Clam-meat that is in such a thing!" said Gregory.
"It would be great to find a few of these. Too bad it is so dark, there in the water."
"Are you afraid of the dark now?" said Wilani.
"Well, who knows what might be in there.", he replied. "Perhaps more of these tiny crabs!"
"You have more chance finding them on the shore, than in the water, Greg! You can count yourself lucky that you were found by that Murloc and not by those crabs!" I said with a laugh, teasing him a bit more. But I felt a bit sorry for him too. It was his first time here, after all.
"You should just stay with us and not walk off into the dark alone, OK?" I said with a smile.
Unfortunately we had not found any wood to burn, so that meant no fire.
"So, what are we standing around for?" said Wilani, "There is nothing for us here."
"Do you know where to go then?" I asked.
"Over there, I saw a bit of a cliff, if we could get up there, we could go on. There is hardly any water in between."
That sounded like a good idea.
"What about the Rogue?" asked Gregory. "Should we not wait for him?"
"He had not told us to wait" I said, "and he is a Rogue, he can find us.
What do you think?" I asked the Shaman.
He seemed to surface from great depths and said: "Perhaps it does not make a difference.
Therefore I will remain here, and wait for the Rogue."
And so, the three of us went off in the direction that Wilani had seen.
But when we got closer to the cliff, it was just a bit higher than we had hoped.
And the water in front of it was too deep to stand, so we tried to make Gregory climb on our joined arms, while we were trying to keep our heads above water.
After several attempts, we gave up.
Tired and wet we came back to where the Shaman was still sitting.
We too sat down, waiting for the Rogue to show up.
….
"So in the end, we decided that it was not worth the troubles, to try to get up that ledge after-all and I made a Portal to Orgrimmar.
I even went all the way to the Undercity, with Gregory and learned a few things from Tailoring, that I could make good use of.
In later years, we tried to go find that long tunnel again, that had lead us to that strange part of the Deeps, where those sunken ruins were, to show others that they were really there, but we never were able to find it again.
Anyway, Wilani and me, we ended up here, in Shadowprey Village, along the shore, much further south.
It is a nice enough place and close to the shore it is not so hot.
She is Hae'Wilani now. She ran into this Shadowprey Guardian and decided to stay here and I somehow stuck around.
Sadly, it was short-lived; he died a few years ago, when he was out on patrol.
At one time, when she was really short on gold, she had to sell one of her Dwarven-Axes which made her a good deal of gold and now she is an Axe-crafter and trader.
And I am still Lah'Mawhani and I sell Trade Supplies.
I have some contacts in the Undercity that send me goods that sell pretty well here, so I am not complaining.
It is a good enough business and I'm just next to Mai'Lahii's Fishing Supply, so you can understand that there is no shortage of fish here.
Yes, I definitely got hooked, as they say here. That Gregory, he had no idea what he unleashed, when he handed me that cooked Sagefish. "It is good for the brain, they say."
Yeah, about that, I finished my studies after some time, when I got into trade. Well, not really finished, I somehow just stopped with it. Too much danger in being a Mage.
Yeah, when you really get to the highest levels, then it is really tremendous, but ah, things went differently. I can still do some Spells, of-course, but it is hardly ever needed. Even for a fire, I only have to walk a few yards, since the beacons over there are always lit.
So yeah, that is about it, I guess.
What about the others? Hmm, from my contacts in the Undercity, I hear that Gregory is doing OK. He still cooks, but he seems to try to make his fortune with Enchanting.
It is a volatile business, I hear, sometimes you can make lots of gold, but losing a lot is also very possible.
Dawnstrider has visited us once, here in Shadowprey. He seems to know our Innkeeper, she is a Tauren too.
And the Rogue, well, he went off to inform his people and we never saw or heard from him again, though I have to say we hardly ever go to Orgrimmar, so that is just as much our fault, I guess.
Oh, there is a customer.
Now, if you excuse me, it was nice talking to you."
...
"Wait! What do you want from me!?
Let go of me!!
.
Let me go!
.
Let me go!!"
.
"Hani!"
.
"Hani!!, Wake up!"
Wilani was pulling on my arm, trying to wake me up.
I had fallen asleep. In this darkness, it was pretty easy.
Oh! What a dream was that! Phew! And it looked all so real!!
I hope I am really awake now.
It was not the first time I had been thinking that.
What is going on here? In this dark place.
There was a splashing sound and startled we looked at the dark water: something big and dark was emerging!
It was the Rogue.
He looked tired and weary.
"You guys have no fire?!" He said, as he plumped down next to the Shaman.
"We could not find any wood," said the Priest "and I have only a little left."
"Might as well use that then, since this looks to be the end of the line. I have been searching these ruins and by the size of the clams that grow here, it is clear that no-one has been here for a very long time. Just look at this pearl I found!" And he held up a beautiful big Iridescent Pearl.
"Now we are even." He said with a tired smile.
"At least let us go back a bit and not sit so close to this dark water." said Gregory
"Yes! Let's go do something!" said Wilani. "I am tired of waiting around at this good for nothing black pool.
Why did you not bring the clam meat too? Then at least we had something to cook.
I have not even had a decent breakfast since we got up.
How do you expect me to do any serious tanking on an empty stomach?!"
"Yes," I said, "you have been rushing us to get up and go, go, go and now you tell us that it's the end of the line?"
"Ho, ho, ho! Ladies, now it's all suddenly my fault? You got your pearls, alright. Didn't you?
And he was able to do his job for the Earthmother, right?
So how can it be my fault that we ended up here?"
"Can we please go away from the water, at-least?" said Gregory. "I don't feel happy to sit around here."
"A fire will raise our spirits" said the Shaman, getting up. "We can make it over there."
We went back a bit, inside the tunnel, somewhat more sheltered than in that black void.
Gregory put down the last of the wood and I contributed the Fiery Orb, so that together with my magic, it would last as long as possible.
There we sat down to hold our Counsel of War.
The glow of the fire did indeed raise our Spirit and I said: "I am sorry that I got so irritated, I told you guys that I have not been feeling so great. It is as if something is trying to squish my mind.
But at least tell us why you have been rushing us all the time."
"I would feel much better if I had something decent to eat." said Wilani. "Sorry dear, but your conjured food is just not doing it for me now."
"I still have some Cooked Sagefish that I made earlier." said Gregory. "They're cold, of-course, but you can warm it at the fire." And he dug in his bags.
"Anyone else?" Even the Rogue accepted one.
And silently we were eating, each of us in our own thoughts.
It was the Rogue who spoke first:
"I will level with you guys, as much as I can.
I have told you that I did not come here to find Pearls but to find something out. And it seems I have found more than I can chew. Therefore I suggest that we be happy with what we have accomplished and make a Portal to Orgrimmar and go our merry ways.
"What did you find out?" asked Gregory.
"Who says we can not chew that!?" said Wilani.
"You say level with us? You still did not tell us why you have been rushing us!" I said.
"I really wish that you guys would not ask these things." he said, looking uncomfortable.
"If you plan on getting a Portal back to Org, you better start explaining." I said.
"The Earthmother has put me on this path, therefore it can not be wrong." said Dawnstrider.
"You guys don't understand, he said, getting a bit desperate, this is much bigger than any of us."
"You can put your trust in the Earthmother" said the Tauren.
"At least tell us why you have been rushing us." I insisted.
"Lady, then I might just as-well tell you everything!" he exclaimed in agony.
"What can be so bad that it has you sweating like a boar on a spit!?" said the Warrior.
"Come on! Out with it! Then we can still decide what to do."
"We should just go back to Orgrimmar!" he tried with his last effort.
"We can decide that once you are done explaining." said Wilani firmly.
"OK then," he sighed. "I have come here to find out what is wrong with this place.
There might be some kind of bad influence here. That's why I have been rushing you all, in order to not stay here any longer than needed. I did not know what to expect or what to look for, but it seems to be something that affects the mind. Since she is trained to use it all the time," here he pointed at me, "she notices it more, apparently.
If I could find out the cause, that would be a great success."
Thank the Spirits! I thought. I have not been imagining things!
The Rogue continued.
"It turns out we are not the only ones with an interest in this place. Over there, beyond that ledge, there is a much bigger lake. There I found an agent from a global organization. He is in very bad shape and I could only make out a few words of what he said because my Elvish is not that great."
“Elvish!?” we all said.
Now everyone spoke at the same time:
"How did you get on that ledge?"
"Did you finish him off?"
"What did he say?"
"Yes, he is a Night Elf.
If you manage to get on top of the ruins, you can just make it onto the ledge.
No, he is protected by powerful magic, way out of our league and besides, this organization is global, there are Orcs in there too, they work for the same goal. We should not kill him, even if we could.
The only things I know he said were "Danger" and "Go back".
Do you now see how this is so much bigger than any of us?" He said hopeful.
"Anyway, he lies there on a big island in the middle of the lake where he managed to make the turtles guard him since the whole of the lake is full of Naga.
I had to Stealth all the time!"
"If he is badly injured, he should be saved." said the Shaman.
"I doubt if we can be of any help to him, his own magic is of much higher level than ours. The best we can do for him is to notify his organization once we are back in Orgrimmar."
"You keep talking of going back to Orgrimmar." I said. "So far I have not heard anything specific that is so dangerous and I too would very much like to know what is causing this seriously annoying attack on my mind!"
"And I really want to see how you got up on that ledge" said Wilani. "We put in a lot of effort trying to get up there! Then at least we can be gone from this useless place."
"Yes! Somewhere away from this dark water would be great." said the Priest.
"Perhaps we can be of some use to him. It is my feeling that we should go have a look." said the Shaman.
"OK then." said the Rogue defeated. "But don't say I didn't warn you while you still had the chance of going back unharmed!"
"Get ready guys!" I said. "The fire is finished."
And I took the Fiery Orb to put it back on my Staff.
"I was born ready!" said Wilani.
"If you would follow me, please." said the Rogue and he went along the shore, to where Greg had been found by the Murloc.
Slowly turtling my way up.
