Chapter Two: Closed Doors

The celebrations of the destruction of Theramore were still ongoing. Then Garrosh received the news in his throne room. Saurfang looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "Warchief, there have been a series of massacres. They all happened last night. Five entire villages were depopulated in this region."

"The centaurs?" guessed Garrosh.

"No. It was a mage." said Saurfang. "One mage."

"The warriors of the Horde are not that weak." scoffed Garrosh.

Saurfang looked up in fury. "There were hardly any warriors to begin with. You drew them away to attack Theramore. Whoever did this, teleported into a region and killed every man, women and child. All save one..." He paused. "We found a survivor, half-starved from the journey."

Garrosh eyed him. "Well?"

"She said she was given a message." said Saurfang. "'Jaina Proudmoore sends her regards.'"

Garrosh laughed. "Perhaps the sorceress is not as weak as I thought."

"She is slaughtering peons by the hundreds!" said Saurfang. "This is not a game!"

"They are peons." scoffed Garrosh. "The weakest and least worthy of the Horde. They are of no great loss. Fit only to serve.

"Still, it would not do to let the sorceress act as she pleased. Send out our warriors. Track her down and bring her to me alive."

Jaina Proudmoore was making no attempt to hide. Far from it, she was busy burning grain stores and fields. She'd managed to destroy half a dozen of them in the last hour. Thrall really hadn't laid out his defenses very well. Orcs thought about war in terms of warrior against warrior.

But if Jaina burned all the crops and grain stores, those warriors would starve to death.

Still, it was rather boring. So when she noticed the orcs riding out in great numbers she decided to have some fun. She played hit and run, leading them on little by little. When they slowed, she attacked them with fire. Hails of ice and snow tore through their flesh. Water elementals harassed their lines.

She'd killed hundreds before the day is out.

Finally, she found that their encompassing net was getting tighter around her. With a sigh, she realized that she ought to move operations. It wasn't as if she couldn't have just as much fun killing some of the other races.

So she teleported away. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of a confrontation.

She appeared in Lordaeron and sighed. "Well, it looks like Garrosh is starting to take me seriously. So I'll start work on the forsaken instead." Noticing a forsaken base, she stretched. "That looks like an excellent place to start.

"Sylvanas is still engaged in Gilneas. So I can attack behind her lines."

Then she walked toward the Forsaken village with a spring in her step. The guards drew their weapons as she waved to them. "Excuse me! Good day to you, my fine sir!"

"Alliance, stay where you are!" they shouted as they drew bows.

"Oh I'm sorry, I don't mean to intrude. I'm here to help you." said Jaina.

They stopped. "Help us?"

"Yes." said Jaina. "You forsaken are always whining about the curse that is your existence. And I've decided that-" An arrow bounced off her shield. "-you could let me finish talking?"

"Would it help?" asked the forsaken.

"Probably not." admitted Jaina.

And then began the massacre.

The massacre continued over the course of several days. Dozens of forsaken outposts were destroyed, their inhabitants burned alive. It wasn't as fun as the first time, more of a hobby than anything else.

Still, it wasn't as if Jaina Proudmoore had anything better to do.

As the assault on Gilneas continued, Sylvanas received tidings from a subordinate. She looked up, unbending her bow as the battle raged.

"Lady Sylvanas, we have a problem." said the man.

"What is it?" asked Sylvanas.

"Dozens of our villages have been completely obliterated." said the forsaken. "They are all in the heartlands of Lordaeron."

"What?" said Sylvanas. "How could the Alliance get that far?"

"I..." the man shifted. "It's Jaina Proudmoore. She just teleported into the locations where we were weakest. Then she started killing people."

Sylvanas mused. "I thought she was dead. No matter."

"What do we do?" asked the forsaken.

Sylvanas quickly ran through things in her head. What did she know of Jaina and her abilities? "Let me think.

"Pursuing her is pointless. She can teleport away if she ever gets cornered. And she knows Lordaeron and Durotar well. Which means she can go virtually anywhere in those two lands and attack wherever we are weakest.

"And she'll always be able to know where we are weakest because of scrying."

"Then how do we stop her?" asked the forsaken.

"Get my mages immediately." said Sylvanas. "I want them to set up a magical warning system that can tell us instantly when a given area comes under attack. I also want teleport ready mages standing by to transport me and my honor guard to a given location." She paused. "And pull back our main forces."

"Isn't this an overreaction?" asked an officer.

"Of course not." said Sylvanas. "Jaina Proudmoore has absolutely nothing to lose. And there is now nothing she is not willing to do.

"We have to remove her quickly."

Killing people had officially become a chore.

As Jaina sat in front of a blazing inferno that had once been a village, she found herself bored. She'd tried boiling people alive in their own blood. She'd drained all the water out of them. Flayed them alive. Cooked them alive. And just plain old stabbed them to death.

It was all starting to blur together. "Humph. It's odd, really. I never thought that brutally slaughtering innocent villagers could get boring. Then again I never really tried it until now."

She teleported to her next site and noticed something at once. "So, looks like Sylvanas has set up an early warning system. Unlike Garrosh, she's actually smart. She'll probably have mages standing by to teleport in.

"So, what to do?

"Well, I can't really afford to have a direct fight. I could go back and keep attacking Garrosh, but he'll probably wise up. Or rather, Sylvanas will take over things. Then everyone will be ready to hunt me around the clock.

"Well, it isn't as though I'm in any kind of hurry.

"I can wait.

"Maybe I should pay Varian a visit? Yes, that sounds good. They're probably assuming that I'm going just after the Horde. And I've been indirectly helping him so far, so I really should do something to make him suffer.

"Yeah, I'll do that." Then she paused. "Then again. Maybe I should take a break and go get a drink or something. I'll make sure to murder everyone at the bar while I'm there, of course. That way I'll mix business with pleasure.

"Or something."

And she teleported away.

This whole 'murder everyone she didn't like' thing was working out really well. So many problems were solved by a slow and painful death for the person responsible. She couldn't believe she hadn't tried this before.

She found a nice bar, owned by orcs and quickly set about paying her tab.

As she drank, a door opened. Glancing back, she saw a wizard, dressed in the robes of the Kirin Tor. He was shaking and looked horrified. "Lady Jaina Proudmoore?"

"Speaking." said Jaina, taking another sip.

"...We've been looking all over for you for the past few days." said the Wizard.

"Were you?" asked Jaina. "How did you finally manage to track me down?"

"We... er... followed the trail of corpses." said the wizard. "Why are you drinking here?"

"Well, I felt like I wanted a drink. But I didn't have any money on me. So instead I found an orcish bar and murdered everybody inside. But I accidentally set fire to the alcohol, so I had to find another one.

"I got into a scuffle with a patrol, and then I found this place. This time I killed everybody inside with ice.

"How can I help the Kirin Tor?"

The man shifted. "...Lady Jaina, after the events of Theramore, Rhonin named you his successor."

Oh had he? How sweet. "Well, that was nice of him."

The man paused. "We were going to tell you after the survivors from Theramore entered but... you left before we could tell you."

"Hmm, sorry I led you on such a chase." said Jaina.

Then she pretended to take no more notice. There was silence.

"Are you going to-" began the man.

"No." said Jaina.

He paused. "No? What do you mean, no-"

"The last time I poured years of my life into running a city it got burned down. and for what? So Varian and Garrosh could sustain their homoerotic grudge against each other." said Jaina. "I'm not going back to Dalaran."

He looked around. "Then... then what are you going to do?"

"Live for the moment. Murder orcish men, women and children without or restraint." said Jaina. "Kill people I have a grudge against. I've had some really great ideas already.

"I practiced on these.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

He looked at a child who had been flayed alive. "...I'm not sure I'm disappointed. I've seen things today... how can you live with yourself?"

"Well I lived with you people for a long time." said Jaina. "So my tolerance for the unforgivable is quite high. Be sure not to trip on the corpses on your way out."

The man wandered out.

Jaina kept on drinking. Then she sensed something coming. A commanding presence that spoke of disappointment and unconditional love. Jaina looked in the reflection on her mug and saw her.

She was in the form of a horned elven woman with long red hair. Well, she was late. As usual. "...Leave, before I kill you." said Jaina.

"I'm here to talk, Lady Proudmoore." said Alexstrasza the Lifebinder.

"I don't want to talk anymore." said Jaina, feeling a bit morose despite herself. "I want to skin orcish babies and make everyone suffer as much as I have suffered."

"No, you don't." said Alexstrasza. "You've been hurt by the world. Everything that was precious to you has been ripped to shreds. You're angry and grief-stricken, and you are using atrocity as an outlet."

Jaina laughed. "No, really? Brilliant deduction there, Lifebinder. How'd you figure that one out?"

"Because it happened to me." said Alexstrasza. "I don't know if you've realized this, Proudmoore, but I have lost a great many people close to me as well. Neltharion, Malygos, most of my consorts. I was forced into slavery, forced to use my children-"

Jaina splashed beer all over her and throw the mug as she stood. Alexstrasza took a step back as she approached. "I DON'T CARE!

"I don't give a fuck about your problems, anymore than I give a fuck about Varian's daddy issues! I'm done being a shoulder for people to cry on, and then abuse as soon as I get in the way of their bloodlust! Not anymore!

"I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!

"But not before I make them beg for death."

"What you are doing will not bring you peace." said Alexstrasza.

"Neither did trying to make everyone treat each other with dignity, though? Neither did doing the right thing. No matter what I do, my life just gets worse and worse. Now I've got nothing. Nothing left." said Jaina. "I could try to build something else, but it would just get torn down. I could lead the Alliance in a crusade against the orcs, but Varian would just do a 180 on his opinion on orcs. Then everyone would call me the warmonger.

"Not this time. I will make them plead for the days when I was a MEWLING PACIFIST!"

Alexstrasza looked down as silence overtook them. "...I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" scoffed Jaina.

"If I had acted differently, if I had done things in a different way, much evil could have been averted. But I didn't. I am... imperfect as a guardian." said Alexstrasza. "But what you are doing right now will do more than simply hurt the Horde. It... it could destroy everything. The path you are taking is leading to a future far worse than any-"

"What part of I don't care, do you not understand?" asked Jaina.

Alexstrasza shifted. "The leaders of the Alliance and Horde deserve to suffer for what they have done, Jaina. But their people don't. None of these orcs you killed had any say in the attack on Theramore. You... you can still help some of them, Jaina.

"You can help to right some of the wrongs of this world.

"Just... please... don't throw all of this away for revenge."

"There is nothing left to throw away." said Jaina. "I spent my entire life doing the right thing, and I was paid back in the blood of everything I cared about. Even if I could help some of these... peons, or innocents or whatever you call them, it wouldn't bring me any satisfaction.

"No one would thank me.

"And I wouldn't feel any happier.

"It's not about good or evil. From now on, I live for myself. And no one else.

"Goodbye."

Then she teleported away.

And found herself in Stratholme. The broken ruins were still stalked by undead. The stench of corpses had never been washed away. She paused. "What is this..."

And then she saw him. A Lich, floating before her. "Kel'thuzad." Old hatred welled in her, and she summoned her power.

"Peace, Lady Proudmoore." said Kel'thuzad. "I'm not here as your enemy. I've come to offer you a place of great power."

Jaina took a wild guess. "You want me to join the scourge?"

"Actually," said Kel'thuzad, "we were hoping you would be our leader."

Jaina smiled. "Sure. Why not."