"A Dark Bargain"
David Potter
Based on the Warcraft series by Blizzard Entertainment
“You know what must be done, Anneke.” The archmage Rhonin spoke firmly, but not without a hint of regret in his voice.
Anneke slowly nodded. She remained silent; she hadn't spoken a word to any of the Kirin Tor since she returned to their city, Dalaran. She kept her gaze down, avoiding eye contact with Rhonin. At this point, all she wished was to be able to say “I'm sorry,” and then to leave this disconcerting city to see Devin again. She tried to tell herself, fuck the Kirin Tor, let them go on in ignorance, but, amidst all of Anneke's racing thoughts, she couldn't shake the fear – nope, the fact – that her future looked a lot bleaker from this point.
Rhonin took a deep breath. He looked to
the Kirin Tor guards standing on either side of the door leading out
of the small bedroom that Anneke had spent the past week in. “Leave
us for a minute.”
“Sir-”
“Don't be concerned. No matter the nature of her magic, those bindings will prevent her from invoking any arcane spells.”
The guards nodded, and then quickly
left the room. After the door closed, Rhonin looked to Anneke with a
look of frustration. “God damn it Anne,” the archmage sighed. “No
matter what the Kirin Tor do with you, we don't have to be enemies.”
Anneke remained silent. How could she
be okay with – let alone respect – any one in an order whom was
going to banish her on an outdated principle?
Rhonin kept looking Anneke in her
blankly-staring brown eyes. “I know you, Anneke. At least I think I
do. I know you have reasons for what you did... who you are.”
No words.
Rhonin sighed once more. He took a step
towards Anneke, and lowered his voice: “I also know that you now
command more power than most of the Kirin Tor. But Anne, please...
what are you trying to do with it?”
The archmage was starting to get to
Anneke. He was getting too close...
“Does this have to do with Aesiri?”
Anneke froze at the mention of that
name.
“Why? Why go that far?”
For the first time since returning to
Dalaran, Anneke looked Rhonin in the eyes. “At first...” she
started. She was forcing her words out; earlier, she swore to herself
that she wouldn't tell the Kirin Tor anything. Expulsion was
inevitable; time in the Violet Hold might be avoidable. “...It was
to be better. But you saw me then... in the end, it was to save her
life, your life... everyone.”
* * *
The depths of the
forgotten Titan city of Ulduar felt as if they couldn't possibly be
on Azeroth. The walls were lined with black-green Saronite ore, the
presence of which was indescribably disturbing. The chambers and
tunnels below the grand ruin of a city were enormous. At any rate, no
matter how fascinating these ruins might be, Anneke didn't divert her
attention from the task at hand. The Kirin Tor party including her
had entered Ulduar knowing only rumors of an evil old god imprisoned
beneath the city, but as they explored Ulduar, defeated its ancient
guardians, and went farther and farther downwards, any doubt of the
presence of an old god was erased. The party had not even seen any
physical evidence of the old god, but a terrible, cold dread had
built up amongst Anneke and her Kirin Tor allies: Aesiri, her old
friend and a prodigious Draenei frost mage; Devin Grohl, Anneke's
lover and a powerful arcane mage; Dairen, Aesiri's lover and a mighty
paladin, helping the Kirin Tor through Aesiri; Rhonin, Jaina
Proudmoore, and Aethas Sunreaver, the highest archmages of the Kirin
Tor; and a handful of Alliance knights and priests.
As the party went
farther through the tunnels beneath Ulduar, the cold amplified.
Something terrible was near.
Rhonin stopped,
signaled to his allies to do the same, and turned towards them. “You
all feel that?”
Everyone nodded.
“Yes,” said Jaina, clutching her staff. “Whatever we've been
looking for is close.”
Rhonin nodded
back. “Indeed. We don't know the nature of this monster. Hopefully
it won't be nearing the power it had when it fought the Titans, but
even so we approach a being of incomprehensible dark power. Be
ready.”
The party turned
a corner, into a huge, circular room with frozen walls. In a large
pool of icy water in the center of the room stood... a tall Vrykul
woman?
“You've
come, at last!” shouted the Vrykul. “You are not safe for long!
The time to strike at the head of the beast will soon be upon us, but
first we must defeat his minions!”
“Minions?”
said Aesiri quietly. As if on cue, countless translucent green orbs
began to materialize and swirl through the air. They formed together
into larger orbs that then exploded, leaving in their place faceless,
vaguely-humanoid monsters with sharp tentacles in place of arms.
Before the Kirin Tor party knew it, they were surrounded by a dozen
of these monsters.
“Split!”
shouted Rhonin. The party divided their attention between individual
monsters. This is what they were trained for; despite the
unfathomable dark power of whatever was lurking beneath this ruin,
Rhonin was confident that his party would overcome any foe short of
the Lich King himself. Rhonin outstretched his hand, from which a
barrage of purple arcane missiles fired at one of the monsters. The
beast was stunned by each of the missiles, and as the last missile
hit the monster, Rhonin blasted it with raw arcane power. The beast
was vaporized, leaving behind only sparkling mist. Anneke smiled. She
expected nothing less from the master of the Kirin Tor.
Aesiri had tapped
into what must have been most of her arcane power. Her normally
gray-blue skin was tinted an icy, paler blue. Although Rhonin had
said to split targets so that each monster would be flanked by a few
attackers, Aesiri found no need; it seemed that every second she was
firing lances of ice at two of the monsters at once. The lances
impaled the monsters, who both spewed out purple blood before falling
over.
“Don't
exhaust yourself, Aesiri!” shouted Rhonin over the sounds of
combat. “The real challenge is ahead!”
Aesiri realized
the obvious truth in Rhonin's words: any mage as experienced as her
knew that one could not maintain their full power for very long
before having to rest.
Anneke shook off
concern about Aesiri wasting her power on minions. Sure, Aesiri was
actually probably the most potentially powerful mage present, but not
by much; Anneke's mastery over fire neared Aesiri's over frost, and
the archmages' positions in the Kirin Tor spoke for themselves.
Anneke shot a massive fireball at one of the monsters. Upon impact,
the monster was ignited, yet seemed to not care about any pain, even
as it fell to the ground, its monstrous flesh scorched.
Soon enough, the
monsters had been cleared. Their bodies turned back into green orbs,
which each started to drift towards the Vrykul woman.
“You!”
Rhonin shouted at the Vrykul. “Who are you?! What is happening?”
The woman smiled
and paused. As she spoke, the chamber echoed with a booming,
harrowing voice: “I am the lucid dream. The monster in your
nightmare. The fiend of a thousand faces.” She rose, levitating
above the pool. The Kirin Tor party each gripped their weapons.
Anneke took a look at her allies; she was comforted to see in them
confidence amidst fear that was mostly contained. Anneke even smiled;
victory seemed assured, given her party's caliber. Her smile quickly
dropped, though, when she noticed Aesiri breathing quickly and
heavily, her eyes anxiously fixed on the Vrykul woman. Could it be
that Aesiri really was depleted..?
“Enough
of this!” shouted Rhonin.
The woman
laughed; if her voice was audible, it was completely muffled by the
darkly booming voice. She looked at Rhonin with a maniacal smile, her
eyes having turned to a pupil-less bright purple. “Enough, indeed!
Now, cower before my true form!” With these words, the woman's body
seemed to melt into a slime of flesh. The slime fell into the pool,
and with that the chamber began to violently quake.
“Bow
down,” echoed the voice, many times louder than it was before.
“Before the god of death!”
What appeared to
be a massive, gaping maw emerged from the pool. Countless sharp teeth
filled the mouth, and huge tentacles grew from the gray-green being.
Before the Kirin Tor party was an ancient being of terrible, dark
power: the old god Yogg-Saron.
“You
are weak!” boomed the same voice. With those words, a massive
tentacle burst from the ground behind Aesiri, and tossed the Draenei
into the air. Aesiri wouldn't be taken this easily; she invoked an
arcane spell to teleport herself to the ground. She turned to the
tentacle to begin casting a spell, but was too slow to act before the
tentacle rose and then slammed down on Aesiri over and over.
Before slamming
Aesiri a fourth time, the tentacle was sliced in half by an arc of
light. As its bottom half retreated into the ground, Dairen stood
over Aesiri, gripping his greatsword. “Coward!” he yelled. The
paladin charged Yogg-Saron and sliced the old god's body, only to be
thrown aside by another emerging tentacle.
“Shit...”
said Devin, his fear evident as he fired arcane missiles at
continuously erupting tentacles. “Two of our strongest down... It's
all on the archmages now, the soldiers won't last. Light protect
us...”
“Don't
say that,” said Anneke flatly as she destroyed a tentacle with a
fireball. “No one is going to die. This old god will be destroyed.
And...” She paused.
Devin turned to
Anneke. “What?”
“The
archmages will help.” Anneke raised her hand upwards. A cyclone of
green fire erupted around her, overcoming the cold of the room with a
disturbingly unnatural heat.
“Anneke...”
said Rhonin. “What...”
“Anne...”
whispered Devin. “No way...”
The cyclone of
fire condensed into a pillar of green flame that burst from Anneke's
up-reaching hand. As the fire struck the ceiling, the ice encasing
the walls and ceiling began to visibly melt. The chamber again began
to quake. Once again, fear crept into Anneke's allies, but one that
felt far from cold...
The old god stood
in observation. Its tentacles throughout the room stood still. “You!”
it started, but was interrupted by a massive thud from the ceiling.
The room was silent for a moment, before it filled once again with
the old god's twisted laughter.
Anneke stood, her
hand still channeling a pillar of green fire to the ceiling. “Come
on...” she said, her frustration growing. “COME ON!” The
chamber quaked more than it had before.
“You
are unskilled! You cannot even summon-”
The old god was
interrupted by four green meteors loudly bursting through the ceiling
of the chamber, crashing into the icy ground. Anneke lowered her
hand, letting the last of the green fire reach upward. From the
impacts of each meteor rose a massive being made of stone and green
fire. The infernal beings circled around Anneke, who took a deep
breath, staring at the old god.
“Impressive!”
boomed the old god. “You are beyond your companions!” A tall
tentacle burst from behind Anneke, and it sparked a pink beam from
its tip to Anneke's head.
Anneke smirked.
The old god was trying to corrupt her mind. It was uncomfortable...
“And
now, you shall destroy them!”
...but not a
problem. Anneke mustered the will to conjure a blast of green demonic
fire that scorched the tentacle, but did not break its beam.
“Futile!”
echoed Yogg-Saron. Laughter filled the room once again as Anneke's
allies stood stunned, before the laughter was interrupted by one of
the infernal demons ripping the tentacle from the ground, its flaming
grasp igniting the tentacle's rough flesh. The beam was broken, and,
control regained, Anneke invoked shadowy magic into her hands, then
unleashed it at the old god in a massive dark-green blast. A tentacle
rose near Yogg-Saron which attempted to block the blast, but the
blast pierced through the tentacle and continued to the old god,
exploding on impact in a burst of green fire.
Yogg-Saron was
stunned. Now was their chance, if Anneke's allies would get
themselves together. For the first time since invoking this demonic
magic, Anneke turned to her allies: “Don't just stand there!”
Rhonin nodded,
his face solemn. “You heard her,” he said to their allies.
Anneke turned
back to the old god, and unleashed a stream of green fire from her
hand towards Yogg-Saron, searing the monster. The flaming demons each
easily fought off tentacles that the old god was still summoning,
before they could harm anyone. Rhonin shot a steady barrage of arcane
missiles at the body of Yogg-Saron as Jaina fired bolts of frost and
Aethas shot fireballs at the old god. The Alliance knights were
gaining the upper hand on excess tentacles, and some were charging in
to attack Yogg'Saron's body. Amidst the heat of combat, Anneke felt
her heart sink as she noticed that Devin was merely standing stunned,
staring at her...
“Enough!”
roared Yogg-Saron. “Look upon the true face of death, and know that
your end draws near!”
Tentacles resumed
bursting more rapidly from around the chamber, quickly overpowering
and destroying the infernal demons through their numbers. With the
demons destroyed, more and more tentacles were freely spawning.
Anneke and the mages continued to cast spells at the tentacles, until
Anneke froze when she heard Devin screaming in pain. She turned; a
tentacle had gripped Devin and was squeezing him in the air. For the
first time since since tapping into this fel power, Anneke started to
feel a hint of fear, but she shook it off to call forth yet more dark
power.
“Burn!”
she roared, raising her arm in Yogg-Saron's direction. With this,
black fire rose from the ground around the old god in a growing
vortex. As the cyclone of flame grew, it engulfed the body of
Yogg-Saron, and an ear-splitting screech burst through the chamber.
“Your
fate is sealed. The end of days is finally upon you, and all who
inhabit this miserable little seedling!..” shrieked the old god.
Anneke only
laughed, practically bathing in dark power. She clenched her
spell-channeling fist, and with that the vortex of black fire erupted
into a massive tornado of shadowy flame. Yogg-Saron's screams echoed
throughout the chamber, before suddenly stopping. The vortex
subsided, and nothing was left. Anneke lowered her hand. Her allies
behind her were silent. She turned to them, and first looked at
Devin. “It's over. We won... and we all survived.”
The party was
silent for a moment. “Yes,” said Rhonin, interrupting the
silence. “We all survived... at great cost.”
* * *
“Anneke
Loomis.” Rhonin spoke with a grim firmness, far from the anxiety
Anneke heard in his voice yesterday. The archmage took a deep breath,
and looked to Jaina Proudmoore and Aethas Sunreaver at his sides.
Anneke had actually never been in this council chamber before; it was
grand and circular, and its dim lighting was all but unsettling.
“All
present members of this council witnessed you practicing dark warlock
magic, which is forbidden in the Kirin Tor, of which you are a sworn
member. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”
Anneke didn't
sleep last night; instead, she sat in bed thinking over and over
about what she would say at this moment. There was no concealing the
fact that she had been practicing this magic for a long time – in
fact, since she was partnered with Aesiri as Kirin Tor initiates,
shortly after the Dark Portal to Outland was opened two years ago. No
matter how hard Anneke worked, no matter how many nights she spent
studying the arcane and practicing her control over fire magic, she
could never outmatch Aesiri as a mage. The power-gap between them
only grew over time; sometimes, it seemed like Aesiri commanded an
endless flow of arcane power, rivaling that of any archmage. And all
too often, it was Aesiri who would save both of them from a foe who
would have otherwise crushed the mages. That was why Anneke turned to
a dark school of magic beyond Aesiri's reach, as a Draenei affiliated
with the Holy Light. She was tired of being saved by Aesiri, and of
the Draenei's arcane power always being just out of Anneke's ability.
“Nothing,
Anneke?” Rhonin dropped his firm demeanor. “You were practically
born into this order! You must have good cause to violate it!”
“FOR ONCE,”
burst Anneke. The Kirin Tor would never understand, and frustration
had pushed Anneke to break her silence. “I was the one who
saved us all. You were there! I was the one, who saved...”
Anneke's words choked on the very regret that she tried to rid
herself of.
“Aesiri.”
Rhonin sighed.
“Aesiri?”
Jaina turned to Rhonin. “What does this have to do with Aesiri?”
she asked. There was no doubting Rhonin's word; Jaina simply didn't
understand. After spending most of two years adventuring with Aesiri,
slowly learning everything about the Draenei through late-night
conversations in inns, Anneke found herself what she thought would be
a lifelong friendship. After undertaking countless missions from the
rebuilding Kirin Tor together, Aesiri and Anneke had become
counterparts in combat, destroying most foes easily. But whenever
there was an actual threat, Anneke always found both of the mages
saved by Aesiri alone, in one awe-inspiring display of power or
another. Not only did Anneke want to outdo her partner for once, she
owed that Draenei a debt of several lives. And finally, Anneke had
that chance, after years of preparing; she finally saved Aesiri's
life, with their allies safe as a bonus. And these closed-minded
fools were going to punish her for it.
“More than we
would have ever guessed.”
Anneke was caught
in a cloud of anger mixed with regret. The Kirin Tor were going to
punish her despite what she had done for all of them. She might have
alienated herself from her best friend, and, come to think of it, she
hadn't heard from Devin since that day...
“Anneke,”
said Rhonin. He took a deep breath. “Please, leave. Take anything
that's yours from that bedroom – no hurry, but please, don't come
back. You can return to Stormwind, I'm sure the Alliance could use
more... warlocks... on hand.”
Anneke was
speechless. A warlock. She could get used to being that. A lonely
one? Anneke wasn't sure.
