Warcraft 1. Chapter 1

**PART 1**

A shuffling of feet. A hand shaking her shoulder, "THIS ONE IS STILL ALIVE!" someone shouted, "TAKE HER TO THE CLEAN AREA!" another yelled. Suddenly she was lifted up and carried to a place she doesn't recognize.

Suddenly, Eirika awoke with a start. As she awoke she thrust her upper body forward and almost bumped her head on the bunk above her, the gnome sized beds were big even for Eirika. But, of course she had never been a very big gnome to begin with. Her hair was green and always put up in little buns on the back of her head. Her skin was pale from the time she had spent recuperating. "The nightmare again" she thought to herself, "but what does it mean?"

It had been ten hard months since she had awoken in Anvilmar, the city of the dwarfs, when she had awoken she couldn't speak, she could barely eat, and she had no idea of who she was. All she knew was that she had a locket that had her name engraved on it. She didn't know why or how she came to possess such a treasure, but it was hers, it was the only certainty she had that said she had someone who cared about her somewhere in this big world. It was the only driving force behind her for those past ten months. She knew that if she got stronger she would be able to find that someone in the world who cared for her. Eirika had tried to open the locket on many occasions, but it was made of mythril and Eirika didn't want to reveal that she had such a treasure to any one.

She had kept the locket a secret, for although she had no idea how valuable it was, she knew that someone might try to steal it from her. Since she had very little energy, she knew she wouldn't be able to defend herself if push came to shove.

So she lay back asleep and drifted off again to that place between waking and sleeping.

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

**PART 2**

"I wonder why I never get to see the clean area in my dreams." Eirika thought while she was sitting in the snow, waiting for her first assignment from the city. It had been decided long ago that when Eirika was able to defend herself, she would help out the city with various tasks until she was strong enough to leave the city and begin her assignments for the great city of Ironforge.

So there Eirika sat, in the snow, waiting for the messenger to come. "_PSST"_, said someone from behind her. "is a cat hissing at me?" Eirika thought. "_PSST"_, "there it is again! I wonder what it is." She thought. And as she looked around she saw a dwarven trader trying to get her attention. "oh!" she exclaimed, "you look mighty cold" he said. "Ill tell ya what, ill give you these nice warn rabbit handeling – umm- I mean fuzzy green mittens if you bring me 8 pieces of wolf meat". As he said this he pulled out a pair of nice warm mittens, and held them up just a foot from Eirika's face, to let her eye the prize she would obtain, as she jumped for them he quickly pulled the mittens away. "Are those really mittens? They look more like rabbit handlers gloves to me!" she said, "do you want them or not?!" said the trader rather shortly. "Oh, of course I want them!" said Eirika. And she set off to find some wolf meat.

It wasn't easy getting wolf meat, for her fire balls charred the wolfs main and sometimes she used to much power and it burned the meat to a crisp. But she was soon able to handle the power she had in her little body.

After she managed to get the meat and bring them back to the trader her assignment had come at last!

She spent several days doing favors for the citizens in exchange for cloths to keep her warm in the cold climate. But after the third day, she was finally ready to leave Anvilmar.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

**PART 3**

_FIRE BALL!_ "One less rabbit ruin the world!!" Eirika yelled. It had been about three days since she had started helping the city of Anvilmar, and the denizens of Anvilmar had been more than happy to help Eirika, if she helped them first. Now she was on her way to Ironforge, to pickup her first assignment, and along the way she was picking all the flowers she could. "Why not be happy?" she thought to herself, "I'm finally going to find the only person in the world who loves me!" So she started to skip down the road singing. When suddenly she saw a huge, black cow, with a white face, a ring in its nose, and standing on its hind legs running across the road!! Being chased by an even bigger rock giant. Suddenly, Eirika felt even smaller by comparison to anyone else in this vast world.

Then she saw him, the biggest…well if she had to name it she would call it a devil I suppose, she had ever seen. It had horns growing out of its head, and its hair was black. It had spikes growing out of its shoulders, and it was on a fiery horse with spikes growing out of its flanks as well it also had a scythe on its back that was glowing red.

Now you must consider, Anvilmar is very secluded, and she had never seen any other life form bigger than a gnome or dwarf, except the trolls whom plague Anvilmar with their never-ending chanting.

Eirika yelled, after it took one swipe and killed the strange Cow. Thinking it would come after her next; she turned and started to run. But it caught her by the back of her robe and picked her up to look into her face, "don't I know you from somewhere?" it said. "Please don't kill me!" she said. In that instance, when what he had said registered, she suddenly saw a crowd of people, all cheering.

"Hello? Anybody in there?" She was suddenly pulled back to the present. it, or "he" as the being was a he, was friendly (Eirika reasoned this because he didn't cut her up with his over sized sythe). He had taken off his horns, his spikes, and his various other pieces of armor that mad him look like a devil, had replaced them with more normal looking armour. He had also summoned an imp in place of his inferno, so as to put Eirika more at ease with him and his minion.

"Who are you?" Eirika asked, after he had made a fire and cooked some hamburgers, "I am Asha'man, officer of The Knights of Davion. We seek out horde that are causing disturbances in the world and exterminate them." "So you aren't the only one of your kind?" Eirika asked, "oh no! The Knights of Davion are rather small, but we take only the best." He said, "And I can see that you are traveling alone, that is very unsafe, all the monsters in this area have become very hostile over the past few days. Let me accompany you to the great city of Ironforge, and beyond if it happens our paths go the same way." He said, knowing that he missed what she had meant by the question she decided to continue and forget it, "that's very thoughtful of you, but I'd assume just go it alone, that's the way it's always been for me, and that's the way it always will be." She said, "Alright, but let me leave you with this card, it is enchanted, it holds the name of everyone in The Knights of Davion, and they will help you if you only ask, and if you prove yourself you may become a part of the Knights of Davion as well. Good-bye" he said. "Good-bye!" she said as she was waving farewell.

Farther down the road Asha'man contacted the Guild Master, Slider.

"I think I've found her. She certainly seems like she has lost her memory, she wasn't like this before."

"Excellent, and did you extend your protection?"

"I did, but she didn't accept it, she said she would rather go at it alone, but I think she can take care of herself for the time being."

"Good, but hurry back here, I need you here, we have new information that I dare not say unless you are here."

"Alright"

"I'll send Que to watch over her."

"alright, but he better not botch this one up, I don't want her to get hurt."

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

"WHAT?!?! Why-how-when…"

"I don't know why or how but she was assigned to the Stormwind region."

"Did you-?"

"Of course! I tried telling them who I was representing, but none of them listened, they seemed very reoccupied with something."

"Did you take it to the king?"

"Of course I did! But he was very somber and just threw me out saying, 'I have no patience for this sort of thing right now! Now leave!'"

"Well, let's look at the bright side; we can use this to our advantage. She is very weak right now. She needs to get stronger, and I doubt very much that the news of her living has reached that far south so fast. It will be at least another fortnight before they hear word of her."

"Oh, wow!" exclaimed Eirika. "A whole city full of humans like Ash'aman!"

Eirika had learned about the different animals, races, and (most importantly) who her enemies were, in the few short days she had to rest in Ironforge.

Eirika's first stop was the royal Stormwind Library; there she received her first quest in this region, to report to Marshal Dughan in Goldshire, a very short walk from the Stormwind gates. So, on her way out of Stormwind she was deep in thought, so much that she didn't see the Tiger she was about to collide with.

"Hmm", Eirika thought to herself. "Why do I feel like I'm being followed since I've been I've been in Ironforge?" she thought to herself. Right at that moment she collided with what fealt like a giant furry cat, it didn't even move when she hit it except to cushion her fall slightly. The leopard was white with black stripes, had very sharp claws, very big teeth, and was at least 2 times bigger than Eirika.

When she realized it was a leopard she reached up to scratch it behind its ears subconsciously, as she continued to think.

"You had better watch-out, or that cat will gobble you up without a second thought." Eirika had been so deep in her thoughts at that time that she was startled by the voice, she yelled and started to twitch. "Oh Kechara, don't scare her like that! You don't want a bad reputation now do you?" said a second female. "But Gwynneth, she can see its all in play" Kechara said in return. "Can't you see? Shes shaking in fear, Oh, its okay little one, my cat won't hurt you." The comment was being aimed toward Eirika. After that the two got into an argument about the subject and Eirika took this as an opportunity to escape from under Gwynneth's watchful eye before she volunteered herself to escort Eirika to her destination.

Eirika continued down the road tword Goldshire only to get redirected once she got there to go to Westfall because apparently "we have enough volunteers here, Westfall needs your help!"

"She has noticed that she was being watched."

"It's ok, I know this already, and I've sent Bigears to watch over her."

"The connection between student and teacher must still be very strong. Just think, soon it'll be student teaching teacher."

"Oh! What an adorable kitty!" Eirika exclaimed, as she held the cat to her chest and felt the purring vibrating against her chest. "This time, the cat is normal sized" she thought to herself. "But, where's your owner?" she asked the cat, "your just skin and bones! You must be a stray."" She paused as the cat rubbed against her face affectionately "Maybe I'll nurse you back to health, and then we can find your owner later."

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

As soon as she got into Westfall Eirika saw a farmer and his wife standing over by the side of the road with their horse. Since her health muffins tasted rather disgusting, she decided to see if she could do anything to help them in exchange for some food.

Eirika listened to their sad story before she found out what they wanted her to do. Their farm had been attacked in the middle of the night and how they were driven away from their house by bandits. The man wanted her to venture to his farm and retrieve his pocket watch, while his wife wanted her to find some oats for the horse and deliver a recipe to the neighboring farm.

An extremely boring day of questing later and she was directed to help Lakeshire in the Redridge Mountains to the West, and Darkshire in Duskwood to the south. As she was heading towards the Griffon to fly to Lakeshire, she heard a voice calling her name.

"EIRIKA!, EIRIKA!". The source of the voice turned out to be a small, white haired gnome, with a rather serious expression on his face, and a balding spot on his head that was so shiny you could see your reflection in it if you bent over him. He was wearing a gold colored robe and carried the nicest staff she had ever seen, it had a small head but the staff was atleast twice his size, it had what looked like a cross-roads at the top and a blue gem in the middle of it. Other than that blue gem the rest of the rod was pearly white.

"There you are Eirika. I've been looking for you forever." He said. "I don't mean to be rude, but, do I know you?" Erika asked the balding gnome. "No, no you don't. but Asha'man asked me to come and test you, if you pass, you will become a member of The Knights of Davion." As the gnome said this he bowed so low his head almost touched the grass. "I am Quescent, but most people call me Q" the balding gnome said. "Q, where have I heard that before?" Eirika said to herself.

"Well, are you ready?" Q asked. "Ready for what?" Eirika replied. "What else? You're testing!" Q replied happily as he beckoned Eirika to come to a better spot for her testing. When they got to the hill Q was going to test Eirika on she put Fluffy down(what she named her new cat) and told him to stay there.

A few minutes later Eirika lay sprawled out on the grass panting. "Very good!" Q said, as he clapped for her slowly. "It isn't official, but I have to say I'm sure you're in." Q told her as he helped her up. "I have to talk to Slider about it still though."

"So I'll leave you now and I'll get back to you later about the results." Q told her. "Alright, in the mean time I'm headed for Duskwood and The Redridge Mountains." She told him.

"Alright, but, just watch out for _dark days_" Q said as he faded out.

"He certainly was strange wasn't he?" Eirika asked Fluffy, _meow_ Fluffy replied, "Oh are ya hungry? Let's go get something to eat."

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6**

"The Black Cloud is getting closer to where she is! We have to act fast if we want to save her! The cloud will be there in about a week, I don't think even Bigears can handle this by himself."

After a silence that seemed like an eternity, the voice said:  
"I know who we can send"

After Eirika helped the people of Lakeshire in Redridge, she had been redirected, south to Duskwood. After having been there for about a week she knew her way around pretty well. Today she was headed clear to the other side of the map, to the Raven Hill Cemetery.

In Duskwood there is a main road that runs East to West, in the center of that road it splits into two directions, one heads south to Strangle Thorn Vale, the other keeps heading either East or West.  
As she was running along Eirika thought it strange that she didn't hear any sounds of birds chirping, animals running away, or even the annoying buzz of bugs in her ears. But she simply shrugged these off and continued down the path. As she was passing the road to Stranglethorn Vale she heard a strange sound, and felt what she could only describe as a steady, earth-shaking, pounding.  
Eirika stopped, dead in her tracks, petrified with fear, she gazed into the fog ahead of her as Fluffy began to arch his back his fir began to stand on their ends, and he began hissing wildly. She stared into the fog wondering what was waiting on the other side. As she stared, the rumbling getting louder (and fluffy's hissing and spatting got louder and louder) she saw a shadow through the fog, she hoped her eyes were playing tricks on her, she even rubbed them several times before she believed what she saw.  
As the fog started lifting the figure became clearer and clearer. Then Eirika let out a scream, for what was standing before her was an abomination of human (and inhuman) parts, the thing was 15 feet tall, and almost just as fat, it looked like it was sown together out of parts of different bodies. The skin was pale, as if it had been down in a laboratory for months, and it had this stupid, ugly, look on his face, like it missed its share of brains when it was being created.  
Eirika watched tears of fear in her eyes, as slowly its head pivoted toward the sound of her scream. Upon seeing her it just stared at her, for what seemed like an eternity it stared straight into her eyes. it seemed like it was looking into her soul, trying to figure out what she was, and what he was going to do with her. Suddenly, just as the thought to start backing away slowly entered Eirika's mind, the Abomination decided what he was going to do with her. It suddenly started barreling toward her, a hungry look in its eyes, as if it hadn't been fed in months.  
But right at that moment the sky grew dark as if it were a full moon, Eirika had barely enough light to see ten feet in front of her, looking past the abomination Eirika saw a legion of Undead. The only reason she could see what they were was because their skin glowed under what little light there was.

The sun had been blocked out by all the huge bats which carried the undead here, as they circled the sky above, waiting for their masters to finish their task, it blotted out the sun.

As Eirika stared at the legion of Undead standing on the other side of the Abomination, She saw that they were not staring at her. But, instead, they were all staring at the abomination that lay between them, and Eirika. Upon seeing this "feast" the abomination started yelling "Stitches hungry, Stitches hungry!"  
I will not go into detail at this time as to what happened after Stitches started toward the Undead army, but I will say this, It was a mass slaughter, none of the Undead survived. And after witnessing this, Eirika was even more frightened and even more frozen in place by her fear.  
As Stitches remembered that there was another living thing there, he slowly turned his head to look at Eirika, and said "hungry! Stitches HUNGRY!!" at that moment Eirika screamed as her knees gave way and her legs buckled underneath her.

before the echo of her scream had died out she had a female voice yelling at her, "OUT OF THE WAY!" at that moment a horse with a fiery main, hoofs, and eyes, Leaped over Eirika. As the mysterious figure jumped off her horse she unsheathed her sword, and holding the blunt side at both ends, she held the blade up to her face and as she closed her eyes she began to chant an incantation in a tongue Eirika could not recognize. As the figure cast her spell of summoning she channeled her power through the sword, which amplified it, allowing her to summon more powerful minions.

As Eirika watched this she suddenly realized she was being hoisted up onto a saddle by a pair of gloved hands.She may have tried to fight if she hadn't had been so drained of energy at the time. But it was taking all the energy she had to stay awake. But as soon as she felt herself being seated on the saddle, she felt her eyelids droop down over her eyes.

_To Be Continued…_


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

"Didn't I tell you I didn't need your help?"

"Who do you think was standing back making sure your Voidwalker didn't …well…for lack of a better phrase, bite the dust?"

"I could have handled it myself! I didn't need your help Thundabolt!

"Fine Tearie, next time I'll just let you go off and you can protect her, all by yourself!"

"Keep your voice down! Or you'll wake Eirika!"

"It's too late for that." Eirika replied as she sat up.

"So, who are you, where are we, and how did I get here?"

As the paladin began to respond to the question, but the warlock intervened before he could let out even a puff of air.

"I am Tearie, one of the few higher skilled warlocks in the Knights of Davion, the bastion of peace, the protector of love, and the arm of justice; I am the protector of noobs, the defender of the weak…"

"And the biggest Ego you will ever encounter in the known world." Thundabolt muttered as Tearie continued reciting this rehearsed speech.

"…and this is thundabolt" Tearie said shortly after her speech was finished.

"We are camped right outside darkshire, we discussed it and figured that it would be better to wait till you regained consciousness before venturing into town, we want to be as inconspicuous as we can, after all, you never know who could be watching." Thundabolt said, answering Eirika's second question.

"As for how you got here, Thundabolt raised you off the road and onto his saddle before you passed out. Then, we rode here, and set up camp." Tearie said, answering Eirika's third question.

After they ate and cleaned up camp, they walked into Darkshire, heading for the Pub (or inn, as some of you people would call it). As they passed the threshold of the inn, Eirika became distantly aware of the sensation that someone was watching her, but this had become a common occurrence for her in Duskwood that she ignored it.

As soon as they came into view of the tables they realized how full the inn was. Everywhere you looked there were tables full of guests, eating, drinking, laughing, passing gossip, and some were even so drunk they were passed out on the table.

Even though she could barley hear over the clatter of plates, the thud of mugs on the wooden tables, and the general roar of the guests talking. She was able to hear her name being called from over by the fire. She tried to ignore it, but Tearie had already heard it and it was too late to stop her. As Tearie led the way, Eirika followed behind, and Thundabolt came trailing behind for her protection.

There, by the fire, was a table that seated six. The first three seats were occupied by two female Nightelfs and a human female, the first two Eirika recognized as the two she had met outside Stormwind those long weeks ago, Gwynneth, and Kechara. The third was introduced to Eirika as Ashalind, a warlock. After they had all exchanged their names Thundabolt excused himself to go get them some drinks. He returned with eight beer mugs, one for each of them, and three for himself.

After Thundabolt had returned with the drinks Tearie started "interrogating" their table partners, until Eirika felt that Tearie knew everything about them someone could possibly hope to know. Then, as Tearie asked even more questions, Eirika found herself gazing off into the fire. She felt herself go back, back, and even farther back, until the flames of the fire started to form shapes, shapes she recognized vaguely, then as they became clearer and clearer.

The flames started forming a face, the face got ever clearer, she could first recognize the nose, than the hair, than the mouth, than finally the eyes. As she stared into those cold, hard eyes she found herself lost in her own mind, she felt an unbearable weight start suppressing her from all around, she tried to scream but she could mutter even a breath, she began gasping for breath. But she could get any air into her lungs, she finally threw herself from her chair.

Breaking the eye lock broke her out of the trance. She felt herself going into convulsions, she felt her muscles tense and release, tense and release, finally it subsided and she jumped up and ran from the inn, tears streaming from her eyes.

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8**

Thundabolt knew what to do, he wasn't stupid, and he knew his job was to protect Eirika. Which is why he bought everyone at the table a mug of beer and he bought two mugs of juice for myself, but he couldn't resist buying himself one mug of beer.

When he returned to the table he found Tearie asking the three strangers a wide array of questions, it seemed like she was interrogating them by the look on the strangers faces. But that was to be expected, you never know who you can trust in this region.

After he passed out the mugs to everyone, their spirits were lifted. After that though, the questions became less and less interesting. "One thing about Tearie, she sure is thorough". Thundabolt thought to himself, as he started gazing around the room to find something to occupy himself so he wouldn't go insane with boredom. It seemed Eirika had the same idea; she was staring rather transfixedly at the fire. Then Tundabolt noticed something unusual, everyone was starting at them. At first he thought it was rude. Than right before he said something, he heard gasping coming from his right, right where Eirika was sitting.

He turned as quickly as he could to see that Eirika was gasping, as if she couldn't get any air into her lungs. Then she started thrashing her arms and legs, all the while she was still staring, wide eyed, at the fire. Finally she rocked her chair over, and went tumbling to the floor where she promptly began having what looked like a seizure.

So soon as she started having her "seizure" Tearie started yelling at him to do something. Even though she was not even three feet from him, she sounded as if she was fifty feet away. He stumbled forward as Tearie pushed him to go help Eirika. Even though he didn't know what to do, he kneeled down to take her pulse after her flailing had subsided. But before he had even touched her Eirika jumped up, knocking him down, and went running from the Inn, before he could even stand, the three strangers and Tearie had run off after her.

As Eirika went running from the Inn, tears were running down her face. As the tears were tingling down her pale, blood-drained face, Eirika closed her eyes, and started wishing to wake-up in her bed in. Suddenly her foot snagged in a rut in the road, she fell and slammed into the ground, when she hit the ground she felt the clasp of her locket break from the chain on the back of her neck, and the locket went flying about ten inches from where she hit the ground.

The tears continued to pour down her face she didn't realize that her friends had come out of the Inn after her to make sure she was all right. As she laid her head on the rut filled road and started heaving in silent tears, she realized the locket had opened.

As she ran from the Inn after Eirika, Tearie realized that Gwynneth, Kechara, and Ashalind were not far behind her. As she looked around all she saw was a cat beside a pile of clothes on the ground. Then she realized, the pile of clothes was Eirika! She ran forward, and upon reaching her she heard the most beautiful music she had ever heard. Then she was suddenly taken back, to her worst memory. On that day, that horrible day Gnomeregan was invaded by the Troggs.

As quickly as thunder strikes, Kechara saw everyone else stop and don a blank facial expression; she continued to run forward to where Eirika lay. Kechara didn't know the reason everyone else was daydreaming, but she knew she needed the reason, the locket. She knew she had to stop it. She ran over to it and forced it shut, she didn't even realize she damaged the hinges of the locket in the process.

After she regained her senses, gwynneth ran to where Eirika lay on the ground, she wasn't sure what happened, but she knew Eirika was laying face down on the ground. Gwynneth ran to where she was and checked her pulse, it seemed faster than it should be.

As soon as he realized she was ok, he ran to make sure she wasn't bleeding. First he checked her legs, no blood, but she skinned her knee. Then her moved to check her lower torso, no blood, that was very good, then he moved to her head skipping her upper torso, he moved around so he could see her full face when she lifted her head. He nudged at her head to try to get her to lift her head. Suddenly Thundabolt came and tried to shoo him away, but he wouldn't go. So Thundabolt ended up just ignoring him.

It took a minute after Eirika had knocked him down for Thundabolt to realize what had happened; as soon as he did he jumped up and ran after them. Once he saw Eirika with everyone else around her, he ran forward to make sure she was okay. He went to check her eyes first. He had to end up trying to shoo the cat away, but it wouldn't go. Thus he just ignored the cat, and got Eirika to lift her head.

When Eirika lifted her head, everyone was surprised at the expression they saw in her face, not anguish, but pure loathing.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 9**

"We need to pull her out of there!"

"We can't pull her out right now! Eirika would get suspicious!"

"But we can't—"

"No! She will tell Eirika when she is ready, until then we will not get involved. Send Quescent, Eirika will want, and need, his training for the coming battle."

"Are you sure you are Okay?" Thundabolt asked, as he bandaged Eirika's scraped knee. It had been an hour since her little "adventure" outside the Inn and they were now all inside one of the many rooms the Inn held.

Everyone was scattered about the room. Tearie was in one of the corners, with Ashalind was leaning against the wall opposite her. Gwynneth was looking over Thundabolts should to make sure he was doing it right, Kechara was sitting in the chair beside the wardrobe, and Fluffy was rubbing against Eirika who was siting on the bed, with Thundabolt bandaging her knee.

"Yes, I'm fine. My memories rushing back all at once was just a little, overwhelming." Eirika replied to Tundabolt. Then, tilting her head to the side in an inquisitive way, she added "you were there, weren't you?"

"Yes, yes I was. I helped you in the last rescue attempt for the Gnomes who were still left in Gnomeregon after the Troggs invaded. Then, when we were about halfway to the central chamber, we all got separated. I was one of the first to find my way out. I tried to go back in and find you, but, when I got back to the place we got separated, I found the charred remains of a small gnome. So I thought you were, well, dead."

That's when Tearie interjected into Thundabolt's explanation, "Okay! Okay, I cant stand this guilt any longer! Ever since that stupid locket popped open I haven't been able to forget this! If I don't tell someone I'll go insane!"

At that point everyone in the room, even Fluffy, turned and starred at Tearie, wide-eyed, and waiting impatiently for her to continue.

"It all started when I hit the peek of my training as a warlock, I knew every spell, trained my demons to as much as I could, I thought I was invincible, I never thought my recklessness would cause the death of someone." As Tearie said this, tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I had heard of the ultimate summon from my trainer, only one warlock could achieve this summon. Thus far, everyone had failed, and had never been heard from again. But I thought I could do it, I thought I could tame the demon "

"So I got a priest to come help me, he had just reached the pinnacle of his training as well. I told him we were heading to Gnomeregan, because that was the closest place to hell I could think of. There were rumors, that the gnomes had tamed the fires of hell to do their bidding and fuel their city. I figured it was worth at least a look over."

"After we snuck in through the vents we found a shaft that went down, as we followed that shaft we delved as far as we could down into the depths of Gnomeregan, all I had in my mind was how I was going to summon this demon, by the time we got to the lowest chamber, the generator room, I knew what I was going to do.

"I marked a summon circle in the center of the room, with the help of my imp. And I summoned every demon I had mastered thus far in my training and placed them in equal places around the perimeter of the circle. After that, I placed a soulstone, a healthstone, and a regular soulshard, equal distances apart around an inner circle. Then, I began my chanting."

"I chanted the words that just came flowing into my head, as I chanted a rip, in matter itself appeared, right over the inner circle of my summoning circle."

As I continued to chant the rip got bigger, then it stopped when it was big enough for a human to walk through. As I turned beaming with pride to see the look on Denebs face, I saw pure fear. I turned back to the rift, and saw a tentacle, as blue as the sky, grouping around the floor, from right in the middle of the rip."

"Once it felt the soulshard it absorbed it, then threw the tentacle as quick as lightning, it flung toward Deneb, it ripped through his rib cage, right below his heart. Snapping his spinal column clearly in half. As his limp body slumped to the floor I couldn.t look at it any longer, I turned back to the rift, I was so horrified I couldn't move."

"As I stood there watching the tentacle in horror as it slipped back into the rip. I heard a low, raspy voice speak in a tongue so ancient I couldn't understand it. "_Ossir palan nai kiril irolas kal"._

"After the voice finished speaking I watched the rift for what seemed like hours, tears of fear and sorrow rolling down my cheeks. Finally, a small trogg crept slowly out of the rip, looked around, sniffed the air, looked at all my pets I had summoned, one by one. First, it looked at the imp to my right, then it looked at my voidwalker to the right of my imp, and as it moved around the circle looking at each summon in turn, Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Felhunter, Felsteed, Elemental, DoomguardDreadsteed, it seemed as if it were sizing them up. Then tilted its head to one side in a quizzical manner, as if it had just noticed me standing there, It starred at me for a while, then let out the highest pitched squeal I had ever heard, as it rushed back into the safety of whatever accursed world it had come from."

"Then the most horrible thing happened" said Tearie, in a very shaky voice. As she looked around the room just then remembering she was speaking to the people in the room. Everyone in the room was listening with transfixed gazes on her, it made her very uncomfortable. But she started back into her story "After the small trogg went back through the rift." Just as Tearie was picking her story back up, the ground started to shake, lightly at first, but then it got more and more violent very quickly. Soon, hangings and decorations were falling off the walls. Not knowing what to do, they all ran outside, they ran as far away from any buildings as they could get, which was the center of town, right nest to the great fountain.

All 9 of them, and the cat, looked wildly at the buildings around them, not sure what to make of this odd shacking, they just thought to be sure nothing would fall on them.

Then, as suddenly as it all had started, it stopped. The shacking all stopped. They were all very relieved, even the cat seemed relieved that it was over.

As they starred around at the buildings they noticed, odd cracks in the sides that weren't there before the shacking began. The buildings were also leaning at an odd angle. Then, one-by-one they fell, in a domino effect, it started with the blacksmith, then the town hall, then the inn, then they noticed an odd crack in the ground that was traveling in a course to each building.

It reached the house across the way from the Inn and leveled it, it proceeded to all the buildings in the city of Darkshire, before finishing the circle it had made around the travelers and the fountain.

_To Be Continued…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10**

Even though the locket appeared broken when Kechara tried to close it, Eirika still wore the locket. Eirika fingered the locket as she flew over the countryside on the back of a shipping griffon, thinking about what had just happened to her.

As the buildings clasped around them in a domino effect, Eirika, Tearie, Kechara, Gwynneth, Thundabolt, and Ashalind ran out of the Inn. They watched helplessly as all the buildings in Darkshire were destroyed, as the circle of destruction around them was completed. There was a loud crack, as if some large stone arch had broken and fallen to the ground. Everything fell silent, just as fast as it had started.

"What was that?" Ashalind asked, in a hushed, scared whisper, as she looked around to identify the source of the sound. Everything was quiet; none of the animals were anywhere to be seen, and the residents of the town? The party could only hope that they realized what was happening and sought refuge elsewhere.

In the thick silence all the party contemplated what could have caused this massive amount of damage, they were so deep in their thought that they didn't realize a green haze was descending upon them, and the remainders of Darkshire.

After Eirika landed in Stormwind, she knew she needed to head to Gnomeregan, but Thundabolt had a different idea, after they left Darkshire he told Eirika that they were going to meet up with a mage who would escort them into the depths of Gnomeregan, where the final leg of their journey was to take place. They would stop the Trogg invasion and drive them from the home of the Gnomes, once and for all. There was only one problem: they had no idea what they were to fight, or what they would need to fight it. All they knew is what Earicol, that they would be fighting the most powerful evil Azeroth had ever seen.

Gwynneth was the first to notice the green fog, it had begun to thicken, in fact it had become so thick that everyone wondered why they hadn't noticed it before. But the fact remained: the fog wasthe the point that you could barely see the person standing five feet from you, which was just as well, because if they saw the shear size of what came next they may not have been able to believe that they were there to help them.

Thundabolt had called all the Knights who were not clearing dens of evil in the lands at the time. The Knights of Davion are called to protect everyone in the world from time to time by clearing out pockets of evil places all over the world, everywhere from the Deadmines, to Uldaman, to Blackrock Spire. Of the knights who were not on duty at the time, Lykan, Slider, and Quescent had answered. Although Eirika didn't know this at the time, Quescent was already sent to help Eirika at the time Thundabolt sent out the call, so the other knights who answered agreed to meet them at their camp outside Chillbreeze Valley in Dun Morogh.

So Eirika made her way to Stormwind Park, where quiescent said he would meet her.

"Why do you seek an audience with the great Earicol? You see the remainders of the buildings around you? This is the work of the power of the great Earicol, and you had best state your reason for daring to enter into Earicols' presence. Speak now or the same fate will befall you as did the denizens of this place that they once called a town." A voice that seemed far away and yet very close at the same, a whisper, yet a yell, the voice emanated to the party from between two points that glowed, rather like eyes. The light was fierce, and challenging.

The party hoped that everyone who had found a home in the town found their way out before the buildings started to collapse. The only city even remotely close to Darkshire would be Lakeshire in Redridge.

As all these thoughts were running through everyone's mind, they were startled to see the eyes sway slightly one way, then the other, and finally disappeared. Not three seconds after those haunting eyes disappeared they felt the ground under their feet shudder once, and a large gust of warm wind blow into their faces.

Eirika told the rest of her party to go ahead to Dun Morogh, she requested them to start setting up camp outside of Chillbreeze Valley. Erika then proceeded to The Park in Stormwind City to meet Quescent. She told them that the final battle was about to take place, the battle for Gnomeregan, and the future of everyone in Azeroth.

_To Be Continued…_


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

Eirika walked right up to the water of the Moonwell in Stormwind city and stared at the crisp, clean water. It almost seemed like the water was translucent, or like it was not really there. there eminated from the well a light, the light She reached out to touch it, hesitated, and then plunged her hands in to scoop up a handful of water.

Instead of running out of her hands, like normal water would, it formed a bubble, and conformed to the creases in her palms. The "water" if that is what you could call it, gave off a golden color, as if was illuminated from within by some form of magic, though Eirika couldn't feel any magic emanating from the water, or the well.

"Amazing, isn't it? Water from ancient well at the ancient well of eternity." Said a voice behind her.

Eirika jumped, as she was so deep in concentration that she didn't notice anyone walk up to her.

"The well used to be where the Maelstrom is now, when the continents were in a single land mass. The well of the Eternity was at the center of this great land mass. Ancient magic was emitted from the well and the primitive Night Elves created homes, cities, and temples on the shore of this vast lake, and learned to use the magical energies of the well. But a horrible mistake drew the Burning Legion to this world." Quescent said.

"The Night elves had one choice, to destroy the well of Eternity or their world would be destroyed, what most of the other Night elves didn't know was that the druid Malfurion Stormrage stored some of that magical water in phials he had made that blocked the magic energies from escaping into the world, he then used the water to form these Moonwells." Quiescent continued explaining.

"But why are you just standing there holding the water? Drink"

It was then that Eirika realized she had been just standing there holding the water this whole time, she cautiously put the bubble of water to her lips, and drank. The sensation was only one she would be able to describe as "dinking pure light". She was suddenly aware of so many things she hadn't noticed before, her vision was sharper, her hearing was sharper, and her reflexes had increased.

Producing about ten phials out of his pack, Quescent began filling the phials with water from the well. After he had filled all of them he placed the full phials in a leather pouch and handed it to Eirika, saying in the process "this is your fight, not mine, you must use these as best you can."

"Well, I think we best be on our way." Said Que.

"Yes, let's go." Eirika replied. All the while wondering what would lie ahead.

_To Be Continued_


	12. Chapter 12

**Part 12**

It was noon the next day when Eirika and Quescent finally reached the camp, the other party members had set the camp up outside Chillwind Valley. The camp was set on a jet of rock in the side of a cliff, the platform was only about 6 feet off the group, but it felt like the safest place at the time.

They had four tents that were heated on the inside by magic, they were positioned corresponding to the four directions of the compass, north, south, east, and west. There was a large fire built at the focal point, which had a pig roasting over it, the fire contained several dozen imps Tearie and Ashalind had summoned which emitted a flaming aura that continued to cook the pig as the pig on the spit.

All-in-all they had seven people there already, with Eirika and Quescent there were nine people assembled on the ledge. Quescents' job, once they got there, was to fortify the runes that Tearie had already drawn. "There, that should do it." Quescent said, turning to Tearie for approval afcter he finished with the last rune. "But, the north-eastern corner is a little bit, weak, don't you think? Maybe I should put another rune there incase that rune doesn't hold." "No no, it'll be fine. I drew the rune myself, nothing will get past it." Tearie said, replying to Quescent.

Once Quescent was done, the whole company sat down to a dinner of pork lightly seasoned with silverleaf, rum from the local town, and some snow radishes Ashalind found while she was looking for a river to use for dousing the fire in the morning.

After dinner the company was merrily chatting and telling stories, all but one of them, Eirika. She was still going over things in her mind, something didn't add up, she couldn't figure out what it was, but there was something. Then it hit her! Why didn't she think of it before? But Eirika had one more thing she needed to know before she was absolutely sure of it.

"So, Tearie" Eirika said, in a louder than usual voice, hoping to got everyone's attention. "Could you continue telling us what happened in Gnomeregan, you got disrupted in Darkshire when the buildings started to shake."

Looking around, Tearie realized everyone's' eyes were on her, everyone was waiting for her to continue telling her story. "What are you waiting for? We all want to know why you weren't killed just like your priest friend, how you got away, oh, and how you closed the rift as well."

"Oh, yes, I forgot about that, of course. So, like I was saying, two troggs stepped out of the rift…" gasping Ashalind jumped up and ran over to the body of the young man who had stumbled into the fire light and collapsed.

The young man had sandy blond hair, and penetrating blue eyes. He was tall, and he looked as if someone had taken a skeleton and simply dipped it in skin colored paint; it was obvious he had not eaten in days. The only clothes he had on were hanging ragged off his thin limbs, he looked as if he had been in isolation for years.

"He is horribly dehydrated; he has sunburns all over his body, he hasn't eaten in days, he collapsed from exhaustion, I have done what I can, but he will need to rest for the better part of three days before he will show any signs of recovery." It was about an hour later and Thundabolt had just emerged from the tent that the company moved the man to. "Okay, Quescent will take first watch, Ashalind will take second, Slider will take third, and Lykan will take fourth. Everyone else, get some sleep, you will need it for tomorrow." Eirika had taken charge of what the company would do, she knew someone had too, and everyone else seemed shaken by what had happened.

"Good thing nothing happened during Quescent's shift." Ashalind was thinking to herself while she sat there, listening to the owls hooting, the leaves rustling, and the wolves howling at the full moon. "I wish something would happen, no one thinks I can handle anything, just because I am the youngest. I don't care what they think! I am going to prove to them I can handle just as much as they can!" at the precise moment she heard a loud swoosh as a tent flap was thrown back, and the pattering of a human running in the cold snow. So off Ashalind went, chasing the young man whom they had found earlier in the day.

"How could I have let this happen? First I was chasing him, then I rounded a corner, and he was gone! Oh, they are going to kill me for this! Oh…" Ashalind was talking to herself as she made her way slowly back to the camp, she had just spent hours trying to find the young man, but he seemed to have just vanished into thin air.

"You know, I thought the ledge right here, Past the forked oak tree by the river. Aye, that's where it was, but, there's nothing here?" she looked at the gap between the tree branches where they had hung the remains of the pig they had eaten for dinner, and there it hung, though the flies were starting to buzz around it.

"There's the ledge, I can see the remains of the fire, but what's that?" She rushed up to the top of the ledge. And found the charred remains of four tents, one at each point of the compass, upon stepping farther back, she gasped and ran as fast as she could off the ledge. Looking in amazement, she circled the raised platform as best she could, and everywhere she looked, she saw the same thing.

It's very hard to describe what Ashalind saw at this moment, but I will do my best to describe. There was a circle covered with runes, inside the circle was a very large rune that covered the interior of the circle.

Ashalind realized immediately what the rune on the interior of the circle was, a rune of teleportation. Only mages are supposed to be able to use these, but Ashalind had heard legends of a powerful magic, and if one possessed that magic, they could use the runes without needing training by the mages of Ironforge.

It took her more than a few minutes to figure out the runes outside the circle, it was a circle of binding, nothing could get in, and nothing could get out. Circling around she saw that in north-eastern corner the rune had been partially washed away. The empty bucket she had used to carry water from the river laying a foot or two away from the washed out rune.

Ashalind realized, after thinking it over, that there was a traitor in the group; and Ashalind knew who it was.

_To Be Continued…_


	13. Chapter 13

Part 13

Ashalind sat there on the ledge, wondering what to do next. The only thing that was running through her head was to find out what happened and where everyone went. Her mind began to wonder, she saw the orphanage, and she saw the men in dark clothes come to take her away after the accident. She saw her first teacher, the only person who was ever nice to her. She saw her first master, his jolly smile, his warm, loving eyes, his small stature, his fluffy green beard that was so soft to touch.

Ashalind's mind wondered to the night when Darkshire was destroyed, and when Earicol had warned them.

"Why do you seek an audience with the great Earicol? You see the remainders of the buildings around you? This is the work of the power of the great Earicol, and you had best state your reason for daring to enter into Earicols' presence. Speak now or the same fate will befall you as did the denizens of this place that they once called a town." A voice that seemed far away and yet very close at the same, a whisper, yet a yell, the voice emanated to the party from between two points that glowed, rather like eyes. The light was fierce, and challenging.  
The party hoped that everyone who had found a home in the town found their way out before the buildings started to collapse. The only city even remotely close to Darkshire would be Lakeshire in Redridge.  
As all these thought were running through everyone's mind, they were startled to see the eye sway slightly one way, then the other, and finally disappeared. Not three seconds after those haunting eyes disappeared they felt the ground under their feet shudder once, and a large gust of warm wind blow into their faces.

Seconds passed, and then minutes, the seconds seemed like minutes, the minutes like hours. Everyone was thinking different things, "we should run" "we should stay and fight" "where did it go?" "This cant be good", and many other things along those lines. But one stood out predominantly above the rest, "What just happened?"

The cat was the first to venture forth to see what the thing was. Fluffy lowered its body close to the paving stones, and slunk forward, on a mission. He came close to the collapsed form of something very large. It was scaly, like a fish, and was hot to the touch. He pawed at it, it didn't move. He pawed a bit harder, it still didn't move. "Fine, you had this coming" he thought to himself as he raised he paw high above his head, extended his claws, and brought it down as fast and as hard as he could.

Eirika stood and watched Fluffy slink into the fog, a minute or two later they heard a loud yelp, and Fluffy came running back to hide behind her.

No one could tell how much time passed until something finally happened. They heard a loud yawn in that same type of eerie voice that seems to come from no where but everywhere at the same time, but it was different this time, more high pitched.

Eirika saw the eyes appear again, but this time, they were pink.

_To Be Continued…_


	14. Chapter 14

Part 14

"HUUUUuuuuuu" came a loud yawn from between the pink eyes. "How long was I out for?" the words were spoken in a long droned female voice that was the exact opposite of what it had been before, even the presence was different. The voice soothing, as were the eyes. The fog was letting up as well. They could see more and more of the features of the others faces, as well as who, or maybe 'what' would be a better way to describe her.

She was the size of two whole dragons, she was also a dragon herself. The one thing about her that was very odd was that she had not one head, but two. The left one was awake, alert, and talking to them, while the right head was sleeping. You could see where its head crashed on the paving stones, cracking them. The ash colored dragon spoke again, "don't be afraid, little one. I will not harm you; I have entered this plane of existence to give you encouragement, and instruction. You all are about to start the last leg of Eirika's journey, and it will not be an easy one. Whether you have been there with her the whole time, or not, each of you will play a key part in helping her."

" Eirika, you will have to use all your skills you have gained from the information you have learned about your past, as well as some skills you still have yet to learn, to fight the evil that will other wise engulf the land." "Hold it! Wait! Eirika is just, well, Eirika. She can't fight this 'great evil', can she?" Ericol had been interrupted by Kechara. "Well…I'm not exactly your average gnome." Eirika said, aiming it at everyone. She knew it was time to tell them all about her past, and who she really was.

Ashalind was jarred from her memories by another earthquake. But there was something different about this one. The ground was ripping apart right in front of her! She jumped up, and instantly knew the spell she had to use; it was one of the first spells her master had taught her.

She sprang to the opening and began chanting, as she chanted purple ropes appeared out of thin air and began latching themselves onto both sides of the chasm, which was increasing at an alarming rate as more time passed. Alarmed Ashalind continued casting; she cast the spell over and over, hoping that each time she cast it would add more power to the binding spell.

Just as Ashalind was loosing hope, she felt a familiar presence to her right, as her eyes filled with tears she looked over and saw the spirit of her first master, who had taught her everything she knew.

"don't give up, just keep casting."

So she didn't stop, not even when he added his essence to the spell. The chasm had stopped widening so fast, but it was still getting larger.

Ashalind felt another presence by her side, but it was to her left this time. She looked over and it was Tearie, she smiled, and whispered some words of encouragement to her before adding her essence to the spell.

"Don't give up, and don't forget."

So Ashalind didn't stop casting, after what seemed like an eternity, with tears in her eyes, the gap finally stopped growing, and began to shrink. It continually got smaller until it was only a crack again.

Ashalind sat down right there in the snow, and began to sob.


	15. Chapter 15

Part 15

When Eirika woke, her entire body hurt, and it took her a minute to piece together everything that had happened, her memory was still quite foggy. But once she did remember what had happened anger started to burn in her like a flame. Profanities spewing from her mouth, Eirika looked around, half hoping that Tearie would materialize in front of her; she needed something to unleash this rage on.

It was only after this rage abated that she took in her surrounding, she seemed to be in a room, the walls, floor, and even the ceiling was made of metal. Thought she couldn't se much of anything, she could hear the whirr of giant machines. As she put her hands to the wall she felt the finely crafted metal, and she deduced that she was far underground. She seemed to be in some sort of ventilation shaft, there was very little room to move about, and the ceiling was not 2 inches above her head.

She looked in one direction, then the other, and in the latter of the two she saw a small glimmer of light. She made her way slowly and cautiously in the direction of the light.

Eirika woke to the sensation of heat, the tent was on fire! She ran out of the tent screaming, intent on finding the bucket of water. She didn't take 2 steps however, when she stopped, horrified at the scene that lay before her.

Eirika finally reached the end of the tunnel, and the light that she had seen was now blindingly bright, obscured by a grate that blocked her only exit out of the shaft. She tried a few spells to blast away the grate, but nothing worked. "hmm, dwarven craftsmanship at it's finest." Eirika thought ruefully. She backed up, and kept backing up, preparing to charge the grate. As she charged toward the grate her mind wandered back to what had happened before she found herself inside that shaft.

Eirika was horrified at the scene that lay before her. The compass like camp sight was engulfed in flame, imps were running rampant, while everyone was trying to fight them off. at the very center of it all stood Tearie, chanting something eerily in a foreign tongue.

Eirika ran to the "protective runes" Tearie had so insisted upon painting onto the rock ledge, and taking a closer look, she saw that they were steadily turning from a greenish glow, yellow, then pink, then blood red. She turned around and fixed her eyes on Tearie, she began screaming profanities at her, and right before she blacked out, she saw someone throwing water onto the painted runes, washing one of them out.


	16. Chapter 16

**Part 16**

Eirika slammed into the grate with all the momentum she was able to get, but it still wasn't enough, she was thrown backward and hit her head hard on the metal floor. The force of it knocked her out for only a few moments. When she woke up she was so angry that she went over and just kicked the grate a few times, to no avail, the only thing she accomplished was to hurt her foot.

In a rather pitiful manner she sat down, right there on the spot, and tried to think. It was only then that she caught a very faint whiff, one of blood, gore, and several other things she dare not dwell on.

Banishing the smell from her mind she knew that she had to get out of this shaft. Then she remembered something! She dug around in her pack, which fortunately had not been lost, and pulled out a phial of Moonwell water.

She took the phial, opened it, and proceeded to pour a little bit on each corner of the grate. The water acted as an acid, and began eating away the grate, until it fell outward with a loud crash. Hoping that the noise wouldn't alert anyone, or anything, to her presence there, she cautiously crept forward, towards the newly made opening.

The light was so blinding that Eirika was blinded for a few seconds. Unfortunately those few seconds was just enough time for her to fall out of the open ventilation shaft. The drop wouldn't have been very far, if she hadn't have been a gnome.

As Tearie walked through the labyrinth of rooms that is the lowest level of Gnomeregan, she thought to herself about what had just happened, and about how she had failed. As she walked, tears began to stream down her face as she receded deeper into her mind.

She went back to the night that it all had happened, when her summons had gone terribly wrong, and she had unleashed evils into this world. It was then, when his body lay limp on the stone cold floor, that she realized, there was no way of beating these evils. That, even if she tried, there was nothing she could do, she wasn't powerful enough. It was then that she bowed under the control of the most powerful of these evils, that of—

It was then that she was pulled back to the present; she had reached the room she was heading toward, and was just standing there. Some nearby Troggs were watching her, rather intently. Tearie started to wonder if they were thinking about knocking her out and throwing her into one of the furnaces.

Throwing an immolate at one of them, caused the rest of them to scatter, and standing alone outside a pair of huge iron doors, she calmly collected herself, preparing for what lay ahead.

So, with trembling hands, she slowly pushed open the door, and engulfed in the endless shadow spewing forth from the room, she stepped inside, as the doors slowly closed behind her, with a reverberating boom.


End file.

Warcraft, Humor, Tragedy