[Horde] Chapter Five: Session Fifty-Three
Appearing Characters: Agamaggan (Memory), Ashamane (Memory), Aviana (Memory), Blaithe (Memory), Broxigar Saurfang (Memory), Cenarius (Memory), Dambala (Memory), Elune (Memory), Freya (Memory), Goldrinn (Memory), Jaina Proudmoore-Menethil (Memory), Kaz'rogal (Memory), Malfurion Stormrage (Memory), Malorne (Memory), Ohn'ahra (Memory), Omen (Memory), Proxcera (Memory), Renard (Memory), Tyrande Whisperwind (Memory), Q'onzu (Memory), Ysera (Memory)
December 5th
At one point, while Freya was alone, Renard had appeared again and asked her what she was doing as she was planting a sapling. Freya expressed that Renard had shown his cunning, thus was deserving of an answer, and she explained that ultimately helping the flora and fauna of the world was her calling, and she felt that perhaps chancing fate a bit and giving creatures a chance they wouldn’t have was a fine goal so that she could see what they would become.
Renard agreed that seemed like a fine goal that he could jive with, and he cheekily commented he was worried about the boar, as he had gotten kicked quite a bit. Freya chuckled and said she believed he was quite resilient.
Freya asked the fox if he had met anyone else interesting in his travels, and the fox mused idly about a pair of bears and a large stag he had seen at one point. Freya said that she would appreciate it if he pointed her in their direction, and she would be happy to repay the favor in the future. Renard happily agreed to the deal, and he ultimately made himself scarce before the others were alerted to his presence.
Aviana fluttered down and landed on Freya’s staff and asked if Renard had offered anymore tricks, but Freya said that he had instead given her a few tips, and she felt it was time to head north.
As they traveled, Ashamane asked why they weren’t aging like the other animals were. Freya said that they were all very special and capable of rising to heights greater than they could possibly imagine. They were all part of Azeroth, but the other beasts would look to them and sense their power.
Agamaggan asked what Freya was then, and she simply replied she was a wanderer that was looking to learn everything she could about the world. Ashamane asked if that meant she wasn’t from Azeroth, and Freya said she was, but her mother had come from a land far beyond the stars.
As she continued to muse on seeing her family again, Renard appeared on her shoulder and asked why she was looking for others like them.
Agamaggan snorted.
Eventually they traveled to the lands Ashamane had been born in. However, they saw strange creatures there. Figures that walked on two legs like Freya, but they were much smaller. There were trolls among them. Freya explained she normally stayed away from them, not in fear or hatred, but out of respect, as they were not beasts, but they were just as much a part of the world as the beasts were. However, if they needed her help, she would aid them without a second thought.
Agamaggan asked if they were there to protect the world too, and Freya said they were there to protect their families, but perhaps eventually they would. For right now, however, they had much smaller struggles to contend with. Renard asked if any of them would become like them someday, and Freya said she simply didn’t know. But she believed they were capable of both greatness and great evil, and their futures were a mystery, but that in itself was beautiful.
Agamaggan opted to wander off at that point, and Freya asked where he was going. He simply said he was heading in a different direction, but he believed they would cross paths eventually.
Eventually, they passed the same place Ashamane had lost her mother, and they soon found themselves surrounded by a pack of wolves. Freya held out her hand, and two wolves sauntered forward. One was great and sizeable, and the other Ashamane recognized as the one who had delivered the killing blow to her mother. Even after so many years, there were still scars in his fur. Some of them were ones her tiny claws had given him a long time ago.
Agamaggan had wandered back into their periphery.
The great wolf recognized Ashamane and asked what she was doing back in the area and if it was going to be a round two. Ashamane replied she had no quarrel if he didn’t. The wolf mused that he had learned much in his time since their last meeting, but her skill had bought them passage. Freya thanked him for his kindness, and the wolf replied he was not kind, simply wise.
They started to move through the wolf pack, and the wolf asked if she knew the way. She mused that wandering in places was half of the beauty of travel. The wolf retorted a simple no would have sufficed.
He ordered his pack to follow them and show them where they could walk. His son, however, approached him and asked why he wasn’t going to claim revenge. The wolf mused that if his son wanted revenge, he was welcome to claim it, but he believed if he tried he would be dead, as the cat, as a cub, scarred him, and now she was far larger and more powerful. The younger wolf looked after Ashamane, but then his tail went between his legs as he realized he would be outmatched. The younger wolf argued that they could take her together, and the great wolf simply said that he would still be dead, and he would then be missing a son.
They made it to the edge of the territory, and the great wolf approached Ashamane and asked her why she had not sought vengeance. Ashamane said that the wolf was simply feeding himself and his children, and her own mother would have done the same. She held no ire for those that followed the nature of the wilds. He asked her what she was called, and she introduced herself as Ashamane. The wolf, in turn, expressed that many had come to call him Lo’gosh.
They had a moment of understanding between them, and they both continued on their way. As they traveled, they met many other beasts. A bear. A mammoth. A winged snake the color of ice. More cats. More bears, brothers, who were cousins to the first. Great reptiles whose roars were like thunder.
They encountered a strange serpent with whom Freya shared her powers, and watched as it began to soar with the air.
As they traveled, their powers grew more and more, and their travels took them far and wide. They were never in one place for long, but eventually Aviana started to run messages and check in on some of the old friends that she and Freya had made. However, she always returned to Freya. Sometimes she would be with a new friend, and other times it would be an old one, but always Aviana would find her way back.
In time, old friends would find their own ways. Agamaggan came and went. Renard never announced when he arrived or left. Ashamane too had decided to go her own way, though she waited until one of Aviana’s returns to do so. Aviana shared tales of her troubles, but there was also something she sought to show Freya as her powers had grown. She explained she had wanted to get closer to the other peoples of the world.
She conjured her magic,and in a whirlwind, she manifested in the form of a woman with the wings of a bird. Freya was amazed and asked how she had done it. Aviana simply smiled and laughed, and Ashamane’s fur bristled in surprise. Freya said that she looked wonderful, and she was more than impressed, but then she asked her if she could show her something. Aviana agreed, and Freya stepped forward and hugged Aviana. Her feathers ruffled, as she was now the size of roughly a toddler to Freya. Ashamane looked up at them, and Freya also scooped the large cat up as well.
Ashamane bid a sad farewell as she set out to find her own means to guide the peoples of the world, much like Aviana had found hers. It was once again just Aviana and Freya, just as they were at the beginning.
Their travels continued, and in time, Freya got increasingly contemplative. She expressed there was something she wished to show Aviana, and in time they arrived in a place of giants. There were stone buildings there, like cities. But among them were diminutive stone creatures. On the mountains were great rams made of stone, and when their horns clashed, thunder roiled overhead and the rain fell.
Eventually they arrived at the center of one of the great stone structures. Freya spoke to some of the people there, and they saw a great hole in the center of the city that the city seemed to be built around. In the hole were great roots. Aviana uneasily looked in the great hole, and she saw an endless combination of stone and dirty that went down for eternity. Freya promised they weren’t going into the depths, and she explained the site was a place where the world had lost something great. Long ago, it had been the home of a massive tree whose canopies would have spanned hundreds of miles, but now all that remained was its roots. The people around the crater were the servants of Freya’s family, and they watched over the place to ensure the “wound” didn’t get infected.
Freya took Aviana’s talons, and magic swirled around them, replacing everything around them with a verdant forest beneath an emerald sky. However, before them, where the craters was, was a massive tree they could not see the top of. Each leaf was large enough for Aviana to rest in. Thousands of translucent birds, like emerald dreams, flitted through its boughs. Aviana asked why it felt like she knew that place, and Freya explained they were in the Emerald Dream, which was a place that Aviana ventured whenever she slept. At its heart was G’Hanir.
She explained that G’Hanir’s twin in the waking world was Elun’Ahir, who was long gone, but G’Hanir endured. Aviana touched her claw to the bark, and she asked Freya what she needed to do. Freya explained the Emerald Dream needed protected as much as the waking world, and she believed that Aviana had forged a connection with the Dream, and she could help her harness that connection so that she could fly freely in the Dream as well. She believed that the verdency of the Dream was what awoke her, Ashamane, and all of the others to the lives they lived, and she believed that all of them would find their way to the Dream in time.
She said it was believed G’Hanir was an anchor of the Emerald Dream, and that the creatures of the sky were particularly fond of it. She offered Aviana the chance to explore.
Aviana asked if nurturing G’Hanir would allow Elun’Ahir to return, and Freya sadly said it would not. Aviana then asked what would happen if G’Hanir died too, and Freya got a dark look on her face. She explained long ago, there had been a world of darkness that threatened the very soul of Azeroth. She wasn’t sure what would happen if G’Hanir died, but she feared that the Emerald Dream would never recover.
Aviana again asked what she had to do.
They spent a long time together in the Dream, and during that time, Freya taught her. One night, amongst the branches, she noted a bird, but it was unlike any of the others there. It wasn’t dreaming. It was a black bird with dark cunning eyes, and he watched her as she soared by. She thought nothing of it the first time she saw him, but by the third time, she realized he was following her. She wheeled around and approached him, and he cocked his head to the side.
She asked him if he was having pleasant dreams, and the raven simply responded they were more than he could put into words. She said the Dream was a beautiful place, and he agreed, but the raven had not taken his eyes off her. He explained he had flown the boughs for many years, but had never seen a being like her.
She introduced herself as Aviana, and the raven agreed it was a pleasant dream for her to have graced him with her name and her visage. He introduced himself as Blaithe, and he hoped that she was a reverie he would remember upon waking. Aviana joked she had been told she was difficult to forget, and Blaithe retorted those that would seek the effort were fools. He asked her what had brought her to the Dream, and she said it was a long story.
There was a twinkle in his eyes as he asked what he could do to earn that story. She said he simply needed to be patient, as it was a long tale, but she wished for him to tell her his first. They had a coy exchange, but Blaithe expressed he would not share his story there. He then looked to the necklace around her neck and asked about it. Aviana explained it was a gift from someone dear, and he asked if he could see it. She invited him to come closer.
Blaithe stepped forward and took a closer look at the gemstone, and he agreed it was a fine piece, as it brought out the colors of her feathers. He said that, perhaps, when next they met, he would add to her collection, and he would share his story. Aviana said there wasn’t much she carried, as she didn’t like being weighed down, and Blaithe offered something simple for now: a feather from his wing. Aviana took it.
Blaithe said that should she wish to see him again, she only needed to travel to the tallest mountain she could find and sing, and they could then perhaps share their tales. Aviana asked why he suspected she could sing, and he expressed that perhaps it was not the first time he heard it, and perhaps she simply confirmed it by questioning him. They bid each other sweet dreams, and later, Aviana spoke to Freya about it, and Freya suggested she go see him, as he was quite intent on her doing so.
She eventually did, and she flow to a nearby mountain and sang. Her song came to an end, but there was no sign of him, until she heard a voice singing, picking up right where she left off. It was her own voice. Above her was an illusion of herself, the epitome of grace.
She looked toward the sound of the singing, and she saw Blaithe. His beak closed, and the song ended. He said he had wanted to see it and hear it himself, and share it with her, and show her what it did for the land, so that she could see what he saw, so that her dreams could be as good as his were.
He ruffled his feathers proudly, and said that it was not a trinket she could wear, but it was one he would give to her a thousand times over. Aviana was floored, and expressed he was more a curiosity than she was.
Blaithe asked her if they would share their stories, and she said she would like that.
They took off into the air together. They spent a great deal of time together. Getting to know one another. In time, Aviana looked forward to it as much as she looked forward to time with Freya or her other friends. But in time, he became more than a curiosity. His stories were cryptic, and they always left her wanting more, but it was clear it was intentional, as he wanted to see her again and again.
Eventually, he asked her to brighten his skies forevermore wherever they might fly. Aviana said that the thought of flying the skies without him made them dim, and she didn’t believe there was anything she couldn’t do as long as they flew together.
The two of them embraced their wings in the air. They danced together.
As time passed, the time between her visits with Freya became longer. But her time with Blaithe became longer. Eventually, she laid an egg. Aviana was shocked, and Blaithe assured her that they would write the next chapter of their lives together, but he would see if his sister, Ohn’ahra, had any advice.
But before too long, the egg hatched, and the child within was not a bird. It was more like her in her chosen form. And as the child aged, it became apparent the child looked exactly like her. She was given the name Proxcera.
As soon as Proxcera was old enough to fly, they headed off to see Freya. But she couldn’t find her. Aviana went to Ashamane, and the great cat didn’t know where she was either. Ashamane suggested Freya was likely doing something important somewhere they couldn’t reach. Agamaggan likewise had not seen her, but he said he would set out to look. Aviana returned to the giant city, but again there was no sign of her.
Aviana returned to the golden plains Freya had found her in, and again, no sign of her. However, she heard the sound of slithering in the grass, and she turned around and saw a large serpent with a damaged eye. There was a stand-off, but the snake revealed he had seen Freya, and there was no sense in looking for her. Aviana demanded to know what he meant, and the snake told her to follow him.
She followed him to a burrow with all sorts of baubles. There were people in it as well, and there were images of him on the walls, as if the people went to the burrow to see him. Aviana followed him further into the burrow, and the snake explained Freya had left her a message, but he had moved it into the burrow, as he had wanted to see what had become of her over the years.
Aviana demanded to see the message, and the snake asked for a single one of her feathers so that he could find her again if they desired to catch up further. He believed that was a fair trade, as he had kept the message safe.
Aviana refused and proclaimed that she didn’t know who would worship something filled with such cruelty. The snake laughed and asked if it was cruelty to offer a service no one else would, but he said that she knew the way out. Aviana retorted she had already given the snake something. He asked what it was, and she gestured to all the altars and tributes. The snake asked what she meant, and she said she did it by not coming back sooner.
The snake laughed and agreed that she had perhaps indeed given him something. They continued some barbed exchanges, but the snake gestured to the disc by her talons. He said that had Freya’s message on it, and he hoped it wasn’t so long before they met again.
Aviana flew back to Blaithe and they attempted to get the message to play. Blaithe suggested the pendant Freya had given her, and Aviana touched the pendant to the disc. A projection of Freya appeared, and she had a dark look on her face.
She said she wished she could tell her in person, but something had happened. She explained that something had gone wrong with her family and she needed to meet with them, and she wasn’t sure when she was going to be able to return. She promised to reach out to her when she could. She asked Aviana to tell the others not to look for her, and that she loved her, and she would be back.
Aviana played the message multiple times. Overhead, the clouds grew darker overhead, and the rumble of thunder brought rain. Blaithe covered her shoulders with his wings as she started to cry. Their child, who she never got to introduce to Freya, was scooped into their wings.
Aviana took some days to grieve, but every night when she dreamt, she found herself back at G’Hanir. Over and over again.
Years went by, and there was no sign of her. She sang to the wind, and there was no reprise. She always came back to the tree, and then one night, she saw leaves fall. The light in the bark grew dimmer. Her power was waning. She didn’t know what that meant, but she tried to channel her own magic into the tree.
Av: By all the Keepers’ graces, by all the powers she gave me, let your roots stretch onward and your boughs raise high, I give to you this blessing, so reach up to the sky.
Like a second sun, her scales glowed a brilliant gold, and she felt her heart and soul connect with the great tree. It was as if the boughs of the great tree opened its arms to her, just as Freya did. The lines in the bark radiated light throughout the Dream.
The leaves shone a brilliant gold, and she felt the wind blow through them as if they were extensions of her own wings. She felt one with G’Hanir. She rested her brow against the tree and assured it that everything would be alright.
A voice interrupted her with a laugh.
Aviana turned around and saw an owl on a nearby branch. They were light blue and white, and had cunning and duplicitous eyes. Aviana glared at him, and expressed they had never been introduced, and the owl said that she could call him Lo’sho. Aviana asked if he just watched, and the owl said when the mood struck them, they got involved a bit.
Lo’sho asked her if she knew what the tree did. Aviana asked if they knew, and the owl retorted that they knew a thing or two she didn’t. They asked if she had reached the top of the tree. Aviana confirmed. Lo’sho expressed they meant all of the way, past the branches they could see. Aviana expressed she suspected they wanted something from her, and they said they didn’t want anything, they simply wanted to see what she did.
Lo’sho bid her farewell and took off into the branches.
Aviana awoke and shared what had happened with Blaithe. He mentioned he had heard tales similar to Lo’sho, and he believed they had met them before. Apparently sometimes sightings of Blaithe were mis-attributed to Lo’sho, as the being was frequently seen in the form of a raven.
They went back to G’Hanir, and Blaithe and Proxcera cheered Aviana on again and again as she tried to figure out what Lo’sho meant. She had felt something there, and it grew stronger each time she ascended above the tree, but she couldn’t quite make it.
She tried again and again. And then finally she felt something snap. Like a rope broken on a knot. She soared into a place of the Emerald Dream where she could see the stars. It reminded her of Freya, in a way, and she called out for her.
The stars floated down to her, and they formed into a constellation right before her. It was Freya, made of stars, but it spoke with a voice that wasn’t her’s. It knew her name. Fear settled into her core, but the voice told her to not be afraid, as she had broken no covenant. It explained it was not Freya, but she shared her love for her.
Aviana asked what the place was. The voice explained it was a place between the waking world and the dream. She looked like Freya because Freya was on her heart, but her names were many. But her truth was that she was the moon, and she had watched Aviana for many long years, and she had taken on a great burden, but she believed that the Great Tree was safe in Aviana’s wings.
She promised her they would wait for Freya together. Aviana asked if the constellation could give her a message for her: she had a child now, and she had wanted Freya to see her.
The moon promised her that Freya would know, and one day, when the technicolor rainbow of her children and her children’s children danced in the skies, all of them would know.
Aviana awoke to Blaithe looking over her, concerned. He asked what she had seen, and she said that she had met someone interesting. He asked her to tell him a tale, and Aviana revealed everything she had seen.
Years passed. Decades. Centuries. Freya did not reappear, and there was much more to do. Cities began to be built by mortals, and some of her kin started to work amongst them. In some great beasts that appeared in the Dream, she sensed a kindred power. It was not Freya’s directly, but there was a familiarity, as if there was a sibling. One was Ysera. She was new in her position, and there was an uncertainty there, but she spoke of a Keeper like Freya. A giant named Tyr, who was no longer there. They found themselves seeking a path.
The dragons invited her to see their home in the waking world. There were towering spires and cities built for creatures of their massive size. They showed her nexuses where they watched over the Dream, and Aviana showed them her own.
Proxcera was only the first of Aviana’s children, and she had many more, that also had children of their own, and children further. Their plumage was a rainbow of color. They were called the Avianrae. However, as the blood trickled further from her, the lifespan of the avianrae shortened, and they began to pass on their own legacies.
There was sorrow, but there was also growth.
The people of the world built greater and greater works, and the cities expanded, some of the wild places of the world stopped being quite so hospitable to the creatures of the wild. As she continued to pass messages, she passed warnings as well, reminding them that the wilds had a voice.
Even the dragons went to war with her own kind, and their battles scorched the lands. She tried to speak to Ysera, who explained it was a disagreement, and that some did not believe the gift they had received from the Titans was natural. Some would not rest until those who were ordered were gone. Ysera said she would try to minimize the loss, but if she did not survive, then she knew the Dream was in good talons.
Ysera refused to allow Aviana to risk herself speaking to the Incarnates, as the dragons were the ones that created the war, and they needed to finish it.
Eventually, the war ended, only for another one to emerge. Skittering monsters from the depths of the earth swarmed to the surface, called by foul bargains and greed. The peoples of the world gathered together and struck back against the monsters.
But there was always another war.
The August Celestials were embroiled in a war against the empire: the Zandalari and their allies in Pandaria. Their own people were in a fight of rebellion.
Eventually, a new power rose in the center of the world in a great font of magic that would be called the Well of Eternity. Elves. The kaldorei. A nocturnal folk that had spread far and wide, and brought war with them. They had skirmishes over territory, each empire laying claim to lands that no one owned.
Wars of expansion began and ended in an endless cycle. Aviana wished desperately for Freya to return.
But there was goodness and kindness amongst the people. There was death, but there was new life too. The people of the world were capable of both great evil and great good.
But then fire and brimstone emerged, corrupting and burning the earth. They struck at the wilds and the people that lived within them, burning it all one tree at a time. They fought against the demons, but there were so many wounds, and Aviana’s heart feared for what would happen next.
She fought as hard as she could to protect all her children and the world. But then there was a call by the strongest of them: Malorne, the stag that had sought to reach the moon and achieved it. His son was with him, a being called Cenarius, the Lord of the Forests. Their allies had arrived with news.
Through the vision, Rak’Symma saw a series of people: Malfurion, Tyrande, Broxigar, Jaina, and several more. Broxigar bore a striking resemblance to Arthak. Malfurion was entreating them to help them save the world from themselves, and Aviana looked upon him, confused, and expressed that was all they had ever done.
Malfurion was relieved to hear it, as he was worried that they would not stand by them given it had been by their own doing. He vowed that he would ensure such mistakes would never happen again.
It was vowed that those of the forest would stand against the burning shadow.
The orc punched his fist into his palm and vowed that they would meet on the battlefield, as with gods on their side, they would not lose. He proclaimed “victory or death” as he threw an arm around Malfurion’s shoulder. The smaller, blonde woman, Jaina, said they should shoot for Victory.
They all united against the Legion as the sky burned a malevolent emerald. Legions of demons marched against those that would defy them, burning cities and villages.
Goldrinn had loosed his rage for the first time in tens of thousands of years. He summoned as many of his kin that would answer, and he encouraged them to let go of all their control with a howl that echoed across the battlefield. Kaldorei, tauren, drogbar, kobolds, and so many other peoples were invigorated as demons froze from the chilling howl. Goldrinn leaped onto the field, crushing a demon beneath a massive paw. An army of wolves followed.
Agamaggan moved steadily across the battlefield, plowing through demons as he impaled them on the briars and weapons embedded in his hide. Periodically he shook to throw some of them off, leaving a trail of death in his wake. Thorny vines grew up behind him, and he approached the battle line that Goldrinn had drawn. Agamaggan snorted in acknowledgement to the wolf, and turned his eyes towards the demonic forces.
Ashamane was a shadow on the battlefield, slipping in and out of the darkness as an assassin no one could see until it was too late. Goldrinn barked that it was about time she joined the fight, and Ashamane returned that she had been there the entire time.
Renard darted across the battlefield, luring demons in front of the terrifying claws and fangs as his illusions sowed chaos.
Overhead, the sky darkened even further as a rippling storm cloud threatened to eclipse the fel-touched sky. It heralded the arrival of a thundering beat of wings, and her shriek pierced the din of the war with a reverberation that shattered the ears of the enemy. A cascade of ripping winds and lightning streaked down as a rainbow of harpies flocked to their mistress’s call. She torpedoed down and kicked a doomguard right in his back as Blaithe soared down in the wake of her shadow. His talons gouged out the demon’s eyes as he tore the demon’s head asunder.
At the head of the harpies, Proxcera called for them to darken the skies and release their fury.
Aviana glanced over at Ashamane and commented that she had dressed up for the occasion, and Ashamane said she wished to wear her best. Aviana then looked over to Agamaggan and asked if he was still hungry.
At that moment, a pulse of fel fire washed over the battlefield, and a demon lord easily 30-40 feet tall landed before them. He pointed a scimitar of black steel at them all and proclaimed that they faced Doomlord Kaz’rogal.
