Seventh chapter second part
The blood god conspiracy

She woke up in the fiery heat and the banging of the great forge. Doused in warm goat skin, a normal elf would’ve been drowning in its own sweat.
She however was shivering. She clung to the skin as if it was a protection from something for a while, and then she stood up with the skin wrapped around her, leaving a naked gnome sleeping in the bed.

She walked to the balcony of the apartment and looked outside.
Frostwind had arranged for her the best apartment in the city over the molten iron/lava that ran around the great forge.
Ironforge had really grown over the last three years. When she came here it had been an inward metropolis of surly dwarfs but now you could find night elves asking for the gnomish mechanic shop to improve their human made bows.

All races of the alliance from all the corners of the world came to this place, haven of trade and commerce for all „good races“.
Well, all but one. Little over a year ago the remaining blood elves had been shunned by the alliance and now were seen with no better eyes than orcs or trolls.
In the blood elves eyes the other races had bad memories.
Most of them fled to the remnants of their homelands, where a small part of their former glory had been restored.

Sira’dreth didn´t. She liked it under the ground, in the heat and the lava. Somehow it seemed a part of her that she couldn´t just leave behind.
She dropped the skin to the floor and stood for while on the balcony over the great forge. And then jumped down into the molten iron.

„I hrarrr will personally ,hrumprarr decimate the one arhmhrumprarr that wrote that sign“, exen´tor coughed.
„Not if I herbrr find him first“ Mizra coughed.
„Why couldn’t I keep it? Ehh? It seemed such a gentle beastie “Ankthar argued in his elven form seemingly unaffected by the dust that was falling around them
The others didn’t answer and seemed to have gone over this quite often.

They were standing in the mouth of a very recently opened tunnel.
Dust was falling all around them and burn marks from within the cave showed clearly that the opening had been blasted away by magic.
They made their way through the highlands of Arathi. A fairly aggressive environment. But this time they actually walked for days without being irritatingly confronted by conceited undead forces.

This part of the journey was however not without danger. Day and night they were besieged by raptors, two legged predators with maws like a demon and claws as big as exen´tors hand.
The team usually made quick work of them with either fire or ice but Ankthar grumbled all the way that he really needed another pet since his unreasonably big wolf had undoubtedly burned down in his sleep with the house.
„Never di’ anythan’ else than sleepin´tha’ damn dog“ he grumbled.
But after a few tryouts with the wide open maw of one of the beasts he decided that a ferocious polar bear would be a safer pet than that abomination of nature.

After a few days trek they at last came to civilization, or a bit of it.
Refuge pointe.
Finally then they realized their troubles, they knew that blood elves were not welcome in the lands of the alliance. Yet they needed to get to Ironforge.
Can’t ye just teleport us there? Ye people are supposed to know magic aye? Asked Ankthar, more of an elf than a dwarf.
„Well we could “Exen´tor argued „but I won’t guarantee the result.“
„How so?“
„We´ll most probably be , by magic standards of course, irreversibly temporally spatially misplaced.“
„I understand “ankthar lied, „what does that mean? he whispered to Mizra“
„In all likelihood mizra shot out, we´ll end ten thousand feet above ground with our organs turned inside out“ Mizra replied with a smile.
„Ahh So we’re not going the teleporting way are we?“
„As soon as we come to a place we’ve been to before “Mixra explained „we can teleport ourselves to whatever place we’ve been to from there. That’s how teleporting works.“
Ankthar who did not want to suffer an excruciating death at high velocity did not question the matter any further.

„But right now“, Exen´tor stated,„ we need to find a disguise. A pair of blood elves would have a hard time getting into a fanatical human outpost like this.“
„We could dress ourselves up as night elves. Mizra suggested“
„No one would fall for that!“ Exen´tor replied sarcastically while throwing his hands about, „what about wizards? And the night elves! Especially night elves, they’re not the same as us. For crying out loud they’re used to dance around trees to heal the rabbits near them“.
„To hell with them then we’ll just avoid them, and if we come across one of them; well then you better pick up your dance feet and join the chanting“, Mizra replied smiling, Probably at the thought of Exen´tor dancing around a big tree while chanting some ridiculous nature song.“
Bloody blood elves Ankthar grumbled.


After a few illusion spells and training in the night elves way of speaking the trio appeared at refuge pointe.
„Hail an well met heroes“one of the guards welcomed them.
„ Errr yeah may the blessings of nature aaand the spirit guide you on your nonmagical life“ Exen´tor stumbled his way through the greetings.
The guard looked at them in as if they were the most peculiar thing he had seen in a while as they hurried to the camp.
But then a well known duo, a night elf and a gnome, appeared before him and he hailed them in the same way:
„hail heroes and well met, by the way Xarock two of your kinsmen just came by the camp. quite the strange sort if ye ask me.“
„Well we aint asking you“ an impossibly squeaky voice was heard behind Xarocks head
„Which way did they go?“

„I think that went better than I planned“ Exen´tor claimed quite happy about himself.
„Ye do don’t ya ?“ Ankthar grumbled,„ jas let me do tha talking aright?“
„ I think we´re quite capable of doing this ough,“, mizra tried to state but crashed into a guard.
„I´m quite sorry lady night elf the guard “began but Mizra fumbled while trying to stay in character:„ by the frost! err I mean by elume ,i mean a loon I mean i´d know the name of my own night elf goddess since i´m a night elf and nothing else I mean ,,,, LOOK AN ORC!“
„WHERE?!“ half the square yelled.
„Ahhmmm I think I saw, I mean nature told me that the orcs are massing, down the road in a very rough terrain far away from here.“
„COME ON MEN LETS GET ‘EM! “The guard yelled and led an angry mob out of the square almost clearing it of all activity.
One of the shopkeeper mumbled to himself: „bloody night elves.“

All that remained was a handful of thieves, suddenly out of business and awkwardly out in the open .Exen´tor and his gang , and gnome on the head of a night elf staring intently at them.
The night elf though seemed more excited about joining the fray of the battle than to stand around in a peaceful square.

„Ahhhh Frostwind“, he asked the gnome, his voice was deep and somehow oozed of stupidity.
„Yes “the gnome replied without taking his eyes off the group before him
„Why aint we going to the battle?“
„there aint no battle“
„No battle? But the druid said that there was a battle in,,“
„There aint no battle and that aint no druid“
„Wha?“
The gnome’s eyes narrowed, „they´re blood elves.“
Xarock readied his sword and seemed to lose his deep accent: betrayers of nature aye?

Exen´tor blinked for an unusually long time and a new star was born.
„As few casualties as we can you hear me?“ Exen´tor commanded „we´ll dispose of them and the run to the gryphons.“
Mizra readied a frost spell in her hands, ankthar took aim and mesfer fell down from the sky.
„Ready!“ ankhar yelled
„Ready !“ mizra yelled too
„I’ve got the chips! “Mezfer yelled, his own original battle roar.
Don’t ask! Yelled to refrain from awkward questions and comments about his imp
The only good thing about the battle was that all innocent bystanders were too busy running after imaginary orcs in the mountains to be killed. And such it began.


She came up from the lava screaming in ecstasy. This was the life! She swam through the molten iron, choked on a piece of stone and dove through the cores of the city.
This was her place, in here no one could find her, reach her or hurt her.
In here her curse was a blessing her powers were natural and her corruption and pacts seemed minor. She swam through the molten iron and breathed the fiery sulfur as if it was air.
This was her heaven.

Something grabbed her leg and something else grabbed her hand. Hands or something like them were coming at her from all over the place.
She fought as hard as she could. But more of them came by every second that passed.
She raised the heat a few thousand degrees, and kept raising it, but the hands seemed unaffected. They pulled her down. But she wouldn’t quit. she knew what would happen if she did.
She kept raising the heat all around her and she sang a rhyme that had saved her before:

He’ll conquer the world of your fallen soul
to conquer the worlds of all that might be whole
discover the fate of the fallen god
and find out the truth and the meaning of it all

Her eyes became ablaze. And the heat raised to an impossible amount. The hands loosened their grip and she swam to the surface as hard as she could.

They´d found her in the lava. They´d found her in her home! where could she ever go?
She came to the surface and flew to her balcony with a fire storm thrusting from her feet.
She fell to the balcony and lay there for hours.
He´d found her at last. And the news from the south didn´t sound too good either.

She´d have to run away. Someplace far away. There had to be a place in the world far enough.
She lay there for hours and the rhyme sang in her head without giving her any support.

She was alone.
And she knew it.