--a few hours later--
An inhuman shriek was heard by almost every ear within the battered walls of Honor Hold. Several of the fresher soldiers that the Alliance had installed at the Hold bolted to a rapt and minutely terrified attention in response to the unholy sounds coming from the forward base’s only Inn, trading equally stunned and uneasy expressions amongst each other while voicing mutual shock and morbid curiosity. In contrast, the Hold’s veteran soldiers only gave the inn a cursory glance, muttering about this and that before turning their attentions back to whatever mundane tasks they were attending to prior.
Meanwhile, within a guarded and quarantined room in the inn’s hastily emptied cellar, a Draenei Anchorite sized up the hissing and spitting, demon-possessed mess of a man being barely pinned down by several able soldiers and a considerable amount of rope. All available Paladins and Priests in the Hold had been called to the Anchorite’s aid in preparation for an emergency exorcism, and that included Theluin and Eleazar.
The man being pinned to the floor was Colonel Jules, one of the commanding field officers of the Sons of Lothar. It had been discovered that he had come under the thrall of the Legion when he had attacked the Draenei Ambassador Eleazar and Theluin had been accompanying. Thankfully, the attack had happened in the situation room with Force Commander Trollbane and other ranking officers present. It was Trollbane’s direct command that this possession be dealt with immediately, lest Jules would be lost to the Legion.
“This human belongs to Sargeras!” the demon snarled through the colonel he possessed. “Victory for the Legion!”
“Silence, demon!” Anchorite Barada commanded, punctuating the word with a minor Smite. Without looking back to face the newcomers, Barada asked with a focused edge keenly honed in his voice: “Are you new to this, brothers?”
Eleazar simply invoked the Seal of Command and a Blessing of Might with a calm smile. “<It is what I do always, Anchorite,>” the paladin replied in Draenic, grasping his shield and hammer in readiness. “<To contend for another’s soul is my battleground.>”
“<Praise to the Light,>” Barada whispered, sharing in the confidence Eleazar contributed. “And you, our Night Elf friend?”
“I have dealt with demons for thousands of years, Anchorite,” a poised Theluin answered softly, adding a calm to counter the great tension building in the room. “This is nothing new to me.”
Barada nodded sharply and prepared to invoke the final preparatory rites of the exorcism as the other priests and paladins present invoked their powers in the Light, acknowledging their readiness upon request.
Barada cast one last holy seal before announcing, “Now, we will begin …” Then he placed two fingers on his forehead and invoked one last great power in concert with the other Draenei clergy in the room. It was an invocation spoken only in Draenic, filling the Draenei with prodigious strength and bestowing upon them a glowing sigil floating in front of their cranial plates.
“Glory to the Legion!” the demon snarled again, now sounding shaken by the sheer amount of Light in the room. “You will never wrest this human from our grasp!”
Barada ignored the demon’s ranting, and began to lead the opening prayer of the exorcism. “Our Glorious Light, be present with your champions. We ask for your power and grace. We seek your protection and cleansing power—”
“Glory to Sargeras! Your Light will do NOTHING to us!”
“—and we ask that your holy will be done through us. Lead us into battle, dear Light, and into victory. For your Glory, O Light, may it be so.”
“May it be so,” the other warriors of the Light chorused in unison. Theluin, while in agreement with the others, also asked for the aid of Elune’s light to add to the concentrated divinity in force within the room.
Barada opened his eyes, and then pointed at the possessed man. “A demon’s power is in its name! Speak! By the authority of the Holy Light, tell us your name!”
The demon hissed through his vessel, then replied with a voice that spoke with a hundred tones in unnerving harmony. “We have many names, exile!”
“Many names? Give us your one name, demon!”
“We cannot give you one name, exile. For we are many!” the many-toned voice laughed in blood-curdling concert. “You will never drive us all out, exile, for we are Polykilós – many thousands! This little box of wood and stone you call a ‘hold’ is DOOMED if you even DARE drive us out!”
Barada remained unflinching. “Many millions bow to the Light, demons. Your many thousands that you boast is nothing before the Light’s chosen champions.”
“Your champions are weak!” the demons hissed, beginning to sound desperate. “We claimed this human while they watched helpless, exile! Let us leave this place with him, and maybe we will spare your little box.”
“Demons are liars, and the spawn of lies! No deal.” Barada’s hands began to flicker with enough Light to Smite a black elekk white. “Return Colonel Jules to us, demons, or we will remove you by force!”
“Force? You wish to fight all of us with a handful of men? A fool’s errand.”
“The foolishness of the Light is greater than a demon’s wisdom. We will not be deterred.”
“You do not intimidate us with your pretty lights, exile! This petty ritual of yours will not bear fruit. Your friend slips further and further into our grip as we speak! Abandon all hope for his life and we will ensure that he dies peacefully.”
A blast of light impacted the demoniac.
“And forfeit his soul to you wretches!?” Eli snarled, his eyes blazing with silver light as he stood aside Anchorite Barada. “I would rather suffer bein’ severed from the Light than allow a brother to be unjustly sacrificed to the Legion!”
Barada blinked at Eli for a moment, and then smiled as he turned back to the possessed colonel. “The purifying fire of the Light burns bright within us. Our brother will be freed from your grasp, Polykilós. You have no power here.”
“He is OURS, exile! Your words, your light, and your plucky little friend there have no power over us!”
Both Barada and Eli blasted more Light into the demoniac.
“The Light claimed his soul before you claimed his body, demons!” Barada announced.
“If not by the authority given us, then by the direct authority of the Light, we compel you to release Jules!” Eli chimed in.
The demons roared, clearly frustrated. “THEN ALL OF YOU WILL SUFFER UNDER OUR MIGHT!”
The possessed man heaved himself off the floor with unnatural force, flinging off the dozen or so burly soldiers holding him down with rope and brute strength and hovered up into the air, shrouded in shredded binds, tendrils of shadow and the green glow of fel energy. “VICTORY IN SARGERAS’ NAME! FOR THE LEGION!”
“Brace yourselves, brothers and sisters!” Barada commanded, speaking the power word for a great barrier of Light to shield them from the coming onslaught. He initiated a Draenic chant, raising a set of holy prayer beads as he did so, signalling several lesser Anchorites to cast shackles of light on the slowly transforming Jules, and began the arduous task of extracting the demons, one by one.
“PATHETIC MORTALS!” the demons chorused in mocking. “YOU MOVE TOO SLOWLY IN RECLAIMING YOUR ALLY! FOR EVERY ONE YOU REMOVE FROM US, SEVEN MORE TAKE HIS PLACE!”
The vindicators present in the room responded with blasts of Light, shocking out several fel oozes and shrieking winged skulls from the demoniac Colonel.
“Strength of steel, tender as a dove,” Eli began to whisper, focusing a holy beacon of Light onto Jules. “Like a wolf, may my spirit be fierce. A lion’s heart, steadfast and filled with love, rays of light through the dark clouds pierce …”
Theluin contributed by calling down the wrath of the stars upon the fleeing legion of minor demons, whispering a prayer in Darnassian while channelling further fortitude into the other clerics and Paladins in an effort to keep them from getting overwhelmed by the now constant stream of oozes, imps, and flying skulls.
“Colonel Jules!” Barada shouted into the center of the chaos. “Can you hear us?! Be empowered by the Light, brother, and respond to our call!”
The demonic visage that had nearly engulfed Jules flickered in the intensity of the light being focused onto him. There was a gasp and Jules broke free for a second, but the demonic visage engulfed him again. “Help … help … no hope … Barada … Barada … fear … kill me …”
“Aw fel,” Eli cursed. Paying no need to Barada’s or Theluin’s objections, Eleazar breached the barrier of Light and flung himself into the darkest reaches of the room, throwing his shield and his hammer at the demonic visage to weaken it long enough for his to get within arm’s reach. Once he was close enough, Eleazar tagged himself with a holy beacon and plunged into the dark heart of the growing beast, reaching for the Colonel. “Colonel Jules! Listen for my voice!” he shouted. “Find the Light and grab onto my hand!”
“… fruitless … no hope …”
“Light, Colonel! C’mon!” Eleazar was sounding exasperated. “Just repeat this prayer after me – In this quiet, I bask in your rays. In the cold and cloudy dark, you are my Sun always …”
That was when Eli felt a desperate hand grab onto his own.
“That’s it, Colonel!” Eli encouraged. “Don’t give up, don’t give in! The Light hasn’t left you, and it never will!”
“Save me!” Jules gasped.
The other human paladins had joined in on reciting the prayer, speaking in concert with the chant their Draenei counterparts were using. In desperate response, the demons uttered a combined shriek in an attempt to drown out the prayers being lifted up for Jules, but the ritual would not stop and the bombardment of Light was relentless. For what felt like an eternity, a tremendous tug-of-war for one man was fought until finally the many thousands were whittled down to the principal demon leading the myriad cohort.
“By the power of the Light, begone!” Barada commanded, breaching the barrier of Light himself and shaking the prayer beads in the demon’s face. “Leave this place, corruptor of faith and souls, and never again return to this vessel, lest you find yourself defeated again!”
… My heart, my soul, body, and mind,
I have dedicated to thee.
Be the solace in no other source will I find.
Oh Light,
Be the solace in no other source will I find.
The demon only hissed and its vessel tried to feebly claw away the prayer beads from Barada’s hand … but Barada forced the rosary around the demoniac’s neck, eliciting a terrible and inhuman scream from the victim. Jules collapsed from the effort of expelling the last demon from his body and lay motionless on the floor at Eli and Barada’s feet.
Both the Anchorite and the Paladin hefted the weakened colonel to standing and waited in concern. This particular exorcism was excruciating, and a lesser man could have died from the nature of the extraction and the sheer number of demons. After a few minutes, however, all those worries faded as Jules slowly came to and smiled a genuine smile at the exhausted cadre of clerics and holy warriors.
“Thank you,” was all that came out of the colonel before the whole room erupted in cheers and praises to the Light.
~||~
After reading the report, Commander Trollbane was duly impressed with Theluin and Eleazar in regards to their participation in the exorcism of Colonel Jules. The good colonel was now on the road to a full recovery, but it would be a while until Jules was ready for battle again … and that meant that the Sons of Lothar were down one field officer. With that in mind, he asked if Eleazar and Theluin would be willing to fill in for Jules for one mission. The priest and the paladin only responded by trading uncertain expressions between themselves before Theluin finally spoke.
“It would be an honour to help fill in the gap, Commander Trollbane,” the calm Night Elf began, placing careful emphasis on his words with a gracious bow of his head. “But we will need time to discuss how this added responsibility would affect our current mission as a whole, first.”
“Of course, Sir Priest,” the Force Commander replied. “Feel free to consider, as the mission I have in mind for you will need a few more hours of preparation before it must be executed.”
“Our thanks, Commander Trollbane.”
“Commander.” Eli spoke up before Theluin turned to leave the situation room. “If ye dun mind me askin’, what's the nature of this mission you may need us for?”
~||~
“I can’t believe you guys talked me into this. … fresh air, my aching head,” Tuan muttered, shifting about in the saddle. Sandy snorted, steadying his pace on the hard-packed soil as he sensed his rider’s discomfort. All Eli could do was give his friend an apologetic smile and discreetly shoot Theluin a slightly desperate look.
Eleazar simply invoked the Seal of Command and a Blessing of Might with a calm smile. “<It is what I do always, Anchorite,>” the paladin replied in Draenic, grasping his shield and hammer in readiness. “<To contend for another’s soul is my battleground.>”
“<Praise to the Light,>” Barada whispered, sharing in the confidence Eleazar contributed. “And you, our Night Elf friend?”
“I have dealt with demons for thousands of years, Anchorite,” a poised Theluin answered softly, adding a calm to counter the great tension building in the room. “This is nothing new to me.”
Barada nodded sharply and prepared to invoke the final preparatory rites of the exorcism as the other priests and paladins present invoked their powers in the Light, acknowledging their readiness upon request.
Barada cast one last holy seal before announcing, “Now, we will begin …” Then he placed two fingers on his forehead and invoked one last great power in concert with the other Draenei clergy in the room. It was an invocation spoken only in Draenic, filling the Draenei with prodigious strength and bestowing upon them a glowing sigil floating in front of their cranial plates.
“Glory to the Legion!” the demon snarled again, now sounding shaken by the sheer amount of Light in the room. “You will never wrest this human from our grasp!”
Barada ignored the demon’s ranting, and began to lead the opening prayer of the exorcism. “Our Glorious Light, be present with your champions. We ask for your power and grace. We seek your protection and cleansing power—”
“Glory to Sargeras! Your Light will do NOTHING to us!”
“—and we ask that your holy will be done through us. Lead us into battle, dear Light, and into victory. For your Glory, O Light, may it be so.”
“May it be so,” the other warriors of the Light chorused in unison. Theluin, while in agreement with the others, also asked for the aid of Elune’s light to add to the concentrated divinity in force within the room.
Barada opened his eyes, and then pointed at the possessed man. “A demon’s power is in its name! Speak! By the authority of the Holy Light, tell us your name!”
The demon hissed through his vessel, then replied with a voice that spoke with a hundred tones in unnerving harmony. “We have many names, exile!”
“Many names? Give us your one name, demon!”
“We cannot give you one name, exile. For we are many!” the many-toned voice laughed in blood-curdling concert. “You will never drive us all out, exile, for we are Polykilós – many thousands! This little box of wood and stone you call a ‘hold’ is DOOMED if you even DARE drive us out!”
Barada remained unflinching. “Many millions bow to the Light, demons. Your many thousands that you boast is nothing before the Light’s chosen champions.”
“Your champions are weak!” the demons hissed, beginning to sound desperate. “We claimed this human while they watched helpless, exile! Let us leave this place with him, and maybe we will spare your little box.”
“Demons are liars, and the spawn of lies! No deal.” Barada’s hands began to flicker with enough Light to Smite a black elekk white. “Return Colonel Jules to us, demons, or we will remove you by force!”
“Force? You wish to fight all of us with a handful of men? A fool’s errand.”
“The foolishness of the Light is greater than a demon’s wisdom. We will not be deterred.”
“You do not intimidate us with your pretty lights, exile! This petty ritual of yours will not bear fruit. Your friend slips further and further into our grip as we speak! Abandon all hope for his life and we will ensure that he dies peacefully.”
A blast of light impacted the demoniac.
“And forfeit his soul to you wretches!?” Eli snarled, his eyes blazing with silver light as he stood aside Anchorite Barada. “I would rather suffer bein’ severed from the Light than allow a brother to be unjustly sacrificed to the Legion!”
Barada blinked at Eli for a moment, and then smiled as he turned back to the possessed colonel. “The purifying fire of the Light burns bright within us. Our brother will be freed from your grasp, Polykilós. You have no power here.”
“He is OURS, exile! Your words, your light, and your plucky little friend there have no power over us!”
Both Barada and Eli blasted more Light into the demoniac.
“The Light claimed his soul before you claimed his body, demons!” Barada announced.
“If not by the authority given us, then by the direct authority of the Light, we compel you to release Jules!” Eli chimed in.
The demons roared, clearly frustrated. “THEN ALL OF YOU WILL SUFFER UNDER OUR MIGHT!”
The possessed man heaved himself off the floor with unnatural force, flinging off the dozen or so burly soldiers holding him down with rope and brute strength and hovered up into the air, shrouded in shredded binds, tendrils of shadow and the green glow of fel energy. “VICTORY IN SARGERAS’ NAME! FOR THE LEGION!”
“Brace yourselves, brothers and sisters!” Barada commanded, speaking the power word for a great barrier of Light to shield them from the coming onslaught. He initiated a Draenic chant, raising a set of holy prayer beads as he did so, signalling several lesser Anchorites to cast shackles of light on the slowly transforming Jules, and began the arduous task of extracting the demons, one by one.
“PATHETIC MORTALS!” the demons chorused in mocking. “YOU MOVE TOO SLOWLY IN RECLAIMING YOUR ALLY! FOR EVERY ONE YOU REMOVE FROM US, SEVEN MORE TAKE HIS PLACE!”
The vindicators present in the room responded with blasts of Light, shocking out several fel oozes and shrieking winged skulls from the demoniac Colonel.
“Strength of steel, tender as a dove,” Eli began to whisper, focusing a holy beacon of Light onto Jules. “Like a wolf, may my spirit be fierce. A lion’s heart, steadfast and filled with love, rays of light through the dark clouds pierce …”
Theluin contributed by calling down the wrath of the stars upon the fleeing legion of minor demons, whispering a prayer in Darnassian while channelling further fortitude into the other clerics and Paladins in an effort to keep them from getting overwhelmed by the now constant stream of oozes, imps, and flying skulls.
“Colonel Jules!” Barada shouted into the center of the chaos. “Can you hear us?! Be empowered by the Light, brother, and respond to our call!”
The demonic visage that had nearly engulfed Jules flickered in the intensity of the light being focused onto him. There was a gasp and Jules broke free for a second, but the demonic visage engulfed him again. “Help … help … no hope … Barada … Barada … fear … kill me …”
“Aw fel,” Eli cursed. Paying no need to Barada’s or Theluin’s objections, Eleazar breached the barrier of Light and flung himself into the darkest reaches of the room, throwing his shield and his hammer at the demonic visage to weaken it long enough for his to get within arm’s reach. Once he was close enough, Eleazar tagged himself with a holy beacon and plunged into the dark heart of the growing beast, reaching for the Colonel. “Colonel Jules! Listen for my voice!” he shouted. “Find the Light and grab onto my hand!”
“… fruitless … no hope …”
“Light, Colonel! C’mon!” Eleazar was sounding exasperated. “Just repeat this prayer after me – In this quiet, I bask in your rays. In the cold and cloudy dark, you are my Sun always …”
That was when Eli felt a desperate hand grab onto his own.
“That’s it, Colonel!” Eli encouraged. “Don’t give up, don’t give in! The Light hasn’t left you, and it never will!”
“Save me!” Jules gasped.
The other human paladins had joined in on reciting the prayer, speaking in concert with the chant their Draenei counterparts were using. In desperate response, the demons uttered a combined shriek in an attempt to drown out the prayers being lifted up for Jules, but the ritual would not stop and the bombardment of Light was relentless. For what felt like an eternity, a tremendous tug-of-war for one man was fought until finally the many thousands were whittled down to the principal demon leading the myriad cohort.
“By the power of the Light, begone!” Barada commanded, breaching the barrier of Light himself and shaking the prayer beads in the demon’s face. “Leave this place, corruptor of faith and souls, and never again return to this vessel, lest you find yourself defeated again!”
… My heart, my soul, body, and mind,
I have dedicated to thee.
Be the solace in no other source will I find.
Oh Light,
Be the solace in no other source will I find.
The demon only hissed and its vessel tried to feebly claw away the prayer beads from Barada’s hand … but Barada forced the rosary around the demoniac’s neck, eliciting a terrible and inhuman scream from the victim. Jules collapsed from the effort of expelling the last demon from his body and lay motionless on the floor at Eli and Barada’s feet.
Both the Anchorite and the Paladin hefted the weakened colonel to standing and waited in concern. This particular exorcism was excruciating, and a lesser man could have died from the nature of the extraction and the sheer number of demons. After a few minutes, however, all those worries faded as Jules slowly came to and smiled a genuine smile at the exhausted cadre of clerics and holy warriors.
“Thank you,” was all that came out of the colonel before the whole room erupted in cheers and praises to the Light.
~||~
After reading the report, Commander Trollbane was duly impressed with Theluin and Eleazar in regards to their participation in the exorcism of Colonel Jules. The good colonel was now on the road to a full recovery, but it would be a while until Jules was ready for battle again … and that meant that the Sons of Lothar were down one field officer. With that in mind, he asked if Eleazar and Theluin would be willing to fill in for Jules for one mission. The priest and the paladin only responded by trading uncertain expressions between themselves before Theluin finally spoke.
“It would be an honour to help fill in the gap, Commander Trollbane,” the calm Night Elf began, placing careful emphasis on his words with a gracious bow of his head. “But we will need time to discuss how this added responsibility would affect our current mission as a whole, first.”
“Of course, Sir Priest,” the Force Commander replied. “Feel free to consider, as the mission I have in mind for you will need a few more hours of preparation before it must be executed.”
“Our thanks, Commander Trollbane.”
“Commander.” Eli spoke up before Theluin turned to leave the situation room. “If ye dun mind me askin’, what's the nature of this mission you may need us for?”
~||~
“I can’t believe you guys talked me into this. … fresh air, my aching head,” Tuan muttered, shifting about in the saddle. Sandy snorted, steadying his pace on the hard-packed soil as he sensed his rider’s discomfort. All Eli could do was give his friend an apologetic smile and discreetly shoot Theluin a slightly desperate look.
Theluin only answered Eli’s quiet plea with a knowing smile, as if to say, ‘Don’t worry. Just let her vent.’
Eli stifled an exasperated sigh and sat back in Abolition’s saddle to quietly monitor the situation they were now in.
It had been a few mere hours since their meeting with Force Commander Danath Trollbane. The mission he had suggested for them was seemingly a simple one: accompany the Draenei dignitaries and a handful of Honor Hold soldiers to the Path of Glory. Before sending them off, Force Commander Trollbane warned his two stand-in field officers that it would be a grim pilgrimage of sorts, especially for the Ambassador and his Exarch companions. Being curious as to why, Eleazar had taken the liberty of spending the time between the meeting and their departure reading up on what was known of Draenor’s history … and the only thing that was keeping Eleazar from darkly mulling over what he had learned was his concern for his roguish travelling companion.
After a few more moments of putting up with Tuan’s low mutterings and complaints, the she-rogue pulled Sandy alongside Abolition and half-glared at Eli in total silence. Now, Paladins were not the kind of folk to get unnerved, but the discomfort inherent in the situation could not be avoided. Eli turned to face Tuan with a sheepish grin. “Yes, Miss Tuan?” he asked genially.
Tuan simply pushed her dishevelled hair out of her face and sincerely confessed through gritted teeth and a monumentally displeased expression: “I need to get my mind off of this damned headache.”
Eli only offered sympathetic silence.
“Dammit, Eli. Don’t give me that look!”
“What look?” Eli held his hands up for a moment before tightening Abolition’s reins again. “I’m at a loss, Miss Tuan. I dun know what t’ say, or do, in your situation.”
“Just … talk to me. I don’t care what about.”
A palpable pause. “… okay.”
“Fel! Anything, Eli! … like, what’s so special about this Path of Glory thing?”
Eli grimaced slightly and glanced at the three Draenei leading the group. Making sure they were out of earshot, Eli answered frankly: “I wouldn’ call it special, Miss Tuan.”
“It has to be pretty damn special if the Ambassador wanted to visit it, Eli,” Tuan snapped back casually, though there was still a sharp edge of pain in her tone. “What is it? Some kind of tourist attraction?”
“Eh … not quite.” Eli paused to gather his thoughts, and then sighed audibly. “I won’t pussyfoot around the truth about it, Miss Tuan … but are you sure you really want ta know about the Path of Glory?”
“Fel. Why not? You’ve managed to get my attention. Now keep it.”
Eli took a breath and began to explain when the Draenei Ambassador gave the order for the whole platoon to halt. The next three words the Ambassador spoke were simple and chillingly unfeeling: “We are here.”
It took a moment for Tuan and Eli to notice that they had stopped near the crest of a large hill, and that most of their companions were at the top and looking down the other side. Everyone was eerily silent at whatever it was they were looking at – including the normally unflappable Theluin and his Stormsaber mount, who were found standing stock still at the view the hillcrest obscured from the priest’s younger companions. The giant saber cat almost seemed to have shrunk somewhat, its ears visibly flattened back against its skull.
Sandy balked for a moment when Tuan tugged his reins in the general direction of the hilltop, a behaviour Eli noted was highly unusual for a trained warhorse as Tuan made her way up to Theluin’s perch. Eli followed Tuan up; partly curious as to what it was everyone was looking at, partly dreading the fact that he had a feeling what that sight was, but mostly to apologize to the rest of the group about the she-rogue’s recent unceremonious and haphazard behaviour.
Once Tuan hastily pulled Sandy alongside Theluin’s mount, her eyes widened at the view laid out beneath them. Below the expansive nether-painted sky, the red earth was marred by a long, horrific ivory scar that stretched for miles. It started from a shadowy structure looming near the western horizon and led all the way to the faint fel glow of the Dark Portal far to the east.
The very landscape alone was enough to inspire awe, but one detail regarding the ivory scar turned what would have been something magnificent into a monument of terror and tragedy: bones. The road was paved with the splintered and bleached remains of millions upon millions of humanoid bones. If Tuan wasn’t already reeling from her current condition, she would have been sick to her stomach at the realization.
“Shameful sight, innit?” a measured low tenor spoke up from behind the she-rogue. Tuan only shifted in her saddle in response, not even bothering to give the voice’s source a cursory glance.
Eli pulled Abolition up next to Tuan. His expression of concern for his new friend was mixed with a look of disgust for the remains of a travesty that stretched from east to west – a testament to the rise of the Dark Horde that had marched into Azeroth long ago. “That scar down thar, Miss Tuan.” Eli paused to sigh and shake his head. “That is the Path of Glory.”
Tuan’s expression hardened further. “… I don’t see what’s so blasted glorious about it, Eli.”
“I don’t either, Miss Tuan,” the paladin admitted. “An’ Thrall’s Horde ain’t too proud of it either … but in the days of Ner’zhul and Grom Hellscream, that abominable path marked the start of something greater fer ‘em all. They believed they were marching into glory, trampling millions of innocent Draenei underfoot as a symbol of what they intended t’ do to Azeroth.”
“Didn’t work out so well for them in the end, though, did it?” Tuan replied, the edge of vindication’s venom in the tone of her voice.
“Put simply, nope.” The paladin’s response was respectfully deadpan. “It di’n’t.”
“Damn straight.”
Then the conversation fell silent as their attentions returned to the ugly reminder of the event that had turned the gears of fate for a world fighting for its destiny.
Theluin had been silently listening to Eleazar and the agitated Tuan trade words and share silence, intending to step in just in case the ornery rogue decided to get feistier than usual, but it appeared that would not be necessary at the moment. He allowed his attention to drift over to the Draenei Ambassador, who had been whispering a Draenic prayer over a handful of prayer bead strands. When he finished, the Ambassador passed a few of these strands over to his Exarch companions. One of the Exarchs then turned and handed three strands of prayer beads to Theluin, who only arched a long eyebrow in bemusement and curiosity.
The Exarch sensed Theluin’s question, and respectfully answered him in broken Common. “We go to soothe spirits in Path. We bring them rest. Tell them have justice.” There was a pause as both the Moon Priest and the Exarch took one last look at the macabre view. “Many,” the Exarch whispered, audibly swallowing tears at some terrible memory. “Too many. All cry out. Only can help few today.”
Theluin offered an assuring hand on the Exarch’s wide shoulder as he accepted the strands of prayer beads. “Then we will help who we can, friend.” The Exarch nodded his appreciation for the priest’s empathy.
Tuan and Eli noticed the exchange between the Night Elf and the Draenei, and approached Theluin while the Exarch made his way back to the Ambassador’s side. Handing his friends the blessed prayer beads, Theluin explained as well he could what the Ambassador and his companions intended to do, and had Eli pass this along to the soldiers that had accompanied their group. Within minutes, the Ambassador led the group down the hill and toward the grim road they had seen just moments before.
---
Originally written by TheKittyLizard
No comments:
Post a Comment