Disclaimer: I don't own Blizzard or anything they made. I just own this story and the characters I made up

NOTE: this is NOT based on WoW. It is based on Warcraft III (So might at one point think: Hey! priests can't do that in WoW!) It begins just after the Warsong clan has build it's first settlement (Which is just after: "Chapter 4: The Spirits Of Ashenvale" if anyone who has ever played Warcraft III wants to know.) Other than that, I won't give away anything else about the story.

It seems the lines I previously used to seperate parts of the story are no longer working. I think most of you know that. Instead I am going to try to put "# # # #" were the lines should be. If they dont work, well it shouldn't be to hard to tell the parts apart.

So, let's get on with it.

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Of Blood and Chaos

Chapter 1: A Certain Feeling

"What on Dreanor is that! One of the younger grunts had said. I be sensin' great power emanating from it, mon! A Which doctor mentioned. AGH! It's a tree, like any other, cut it down! Our great Chieftain had answered to that." Nielak Was telling a story to some of the young orclings.

"Ah! Daddy, you have told us that story ten times already. We want to hear something new." The oldest of Nielak's three children protested.

"I didn't tell it that many times, did I?"

"Enough for us to now exactly how it ends"

"Ya mon!" A troll child peeped in a high voice. "They cut the big tree of magic down an' then scare them purple elves away."

"We want to hear something new, dad."

For a moment nothing was heard in the large tent as everybody looked at Nielak. The large tent served many purposes in the budding Warsong clan settlement. As it stood almost central in the largest of four sites where buildings and tents had been erected it was used for important meetings concerning coming battles or just important decisions about the settlement itself. Through the settlement ran a river, which in places was shallow and allowed passage to the other side without the need for bridges. On the west side of the river there were three sites were Orcs and trolls worked together on building their new settlement. On the east side was the largest site which most of the young children of the Warsong clan called their home.

"Aright then, what story do you want to hear? How our people came through the dark portal to this world. Or how about the story of how Thrall rallied what was left of the free Orcs and freed those in the human internment camps?"

"We heard all of those before. We want to hear something we never heard before!" A slightly older orcling said. This young Orc came to listen to Nielak's story's almost every evening, as did many of the young children, even trolls came to listen to his stories, even though most of the time the stories told of a time from before the trolls joined the Horde.

"But I already told you all the stories I know. If you want to hear a new one I will have to make one up."

"Than make one up!" The older orcling said and he was supported by many of the other children present.

"I can't just make a good story up, that will take time."

"Than tell them about yourself, from before Thrall came around and began the liberation of our people." Nielak's best friend, Talgrun, said. Talgrun was one of the somewhat older Orcs. He had been born on Dreanor, which was something not many could say of themselves. Black hair decorated the top of Talgrun's head. In it were a few streaks of premature grey, further increasing the feeling that he was a lot older than the rest. Grey tinted eyes lay in deep eye sockets with some beginning wrinkles around them, but the rest of his face was smooth, except for a few scars, the most prominent of which crossed the nasal bone.

"Nah, that's not very interesting for them. But maybe YOU can tell them a story."

"The only story I know is about myself, and that is a to long and dull story for small kids like you." The story Talgrun revered to was indeed a long one, but not necessarily a dull one. Talgrun had not been born a Warsong Orc. He had been born in the Bleeding Hollow clan, which had been one of the few clans to come out of the second war between Orcs and humans largely intact. The Bleeding Hollow chieftain, Killrog Dead-eye, eventually led an Exodus through the Dark Portal back to their home world. That was when Talgrun's story had really started. During the Exodus he had been gravely wounded and was not able to make it through the portal. Despite his wound he managed to evade capture by the humans and than continued evading them for months, until he was finally captured after having travelled weeks to the lands north of the Dark Portal. He had been transported to one of the Internment camps, just south of Lordearon. After weeks in one of those camps he managed to escape and find a Warsong scouting party.

"Alright then. Maybe we have had enough stories for today. You should go to your parents now." Nielak told the children. "Come on, go!" He said with a bit more energy when none of the kids moved.

While protesting the children stood up and left the tent. When about half had left an Orc soldier in full battle armour came pushing through the throng. "Talgrun! Nielak!" Both recognised the voice as belonging to Malkak, A hot-headed act-before-think young grunt. Sure enough Malkak seemed upset about something.

"What is it?" Talgrun asked.

"Our group is to report to Krizslak tomorrow. They are doubling the guards because of those elves. Scouts have found tracks and one group of scouts had a small skirmish with them." The group Malkak was referring to consisted of the three of them and nine more, Krizslak was a shaman put in command of the group. Malkak often got into trouble by insulting someone before he could stop himself and therefore had to stand guard more often, something which was not a very popular thing amongst Orc warriors who preferred open combat, instead of waiting for the enemy to attack.

Nielak had to crack a smile at what Malkak must be thinking of him needing to stand guard almost every day, while Talgrun just had a brooding look on his face. "You must love to stand on guard some more!" Nielak teased.

Malkak looked ready jump onto Nielak and smash the latter's face into the ground. Before that could happen Talgrun stepped between them like a wall. Being the biggest of the three he could be a big obstacle to overcome, even for a hot-headed youth like Malkak. "Malkak calm down and Nielak, watch what you see to him." Talgrun said in a calm voice. "They are probably right, putting more guards up. If they see increasingly more of those mysterious elves it might mean they are going to attack." His calm and sensible words had a calming effect on both of them.

Fortunately the last of the children had left the tent before Talgrun had said the last, or else they might have to worried for their parents, a lot of which were either soldiers or the lower cast worker peons which the soldiers needed to protect.

"We're Warriors! Not some weak-willed peons who are only good for low tasks! We would be a lot better of without having to look after them, so we can just drive those purple elves from these lands." Malkak Shouted, but he was clearly calming down.

"The peons are the ones who make our weapons and armour and our food. No matter what you say, we still need them." Talgrun said in a still calm voice. But in contrary to Talgrun, almost all warriors overlooked that fact and just saw the Orcs who did not have the strength of will or body to become a warrior.

Malkak mockingly left the tent. "Sometimes he can be just like an Orcling." Nielak remarked. "Well, I'd better check on the kids, see if they have gone to their mom as I told the." Nielak said, referring to his own children. "Guard duty tomorrow. . ." was the last thing Talgrun heard as Nielak left the tent.

Talgrun was left alone to his thoughts. It did not sit well that there had been increased sightings of the elf folk. There were probably many times more elves than those they had seen, because the elves were masters of stealth. Talgrun had seen how it could seem like there was nothing in a bush, even if you looked at it very hard, while in fact there sat one of those elves with a bow at the ready.

He shook the thoughts of and headed outside. A blanket of darkness had descended upon the Ashenvale forest were the settlement lay. Torches lit the area, casting shadows on the ground in all directions. Most of the trees in the area had been cut down to serve for construction of the many buildings which were being erected everywhere. Barracks's for troops, Watchtowers and a great many pig farms. But the trees that still stood were immense. The older trees stood many times higher than the average watchtower.

From one of the Barracks's stepped an Orc whom then purposefully walked towards Talgrun. As the figure walked through the light of a torch the grim features of the aging shaman Krizslak became visible. As Krizslak came within a few steps, Talgrun saluted to the greying Orc.

Krizslak in turn saluted, although with less vigour, as if something was troubling him. "Talgrun, just the one I needed to see. I trust that hothead. . . What was his name? Anyway, I trust he told you the group is on guard tomorrow?"

"He did. Nielak was there to, so the whole group probably knows by now."

"Good. Since you are my second in command I will fill you in on more of the details, which the young Orc couldn't give you. He spoke of small skirmishes?" Even while Krizslak was speaking he seemed distracted by something, as if something pulled on his consciousness. On more than one occasion he looked around and peered into the darkness.

"Yes, he did speak of small skirmishes." Talgrun responded in his usual calm voice. But the fact that Krizslak was so distracted could not be a good thing. Krizslak was not know to be easily distracted.

"But he didn't say skirmishes against what."

"What do you mean? There are other enemies than those elves? Humans?"

"Those skirmishes were not fought against elves. The scouts said that it was as if everything in the forest turned against them. The local wildlife turned against them without provocation. Some even spoke of the trees coming alive! Although I think that last is a bit. . . Unlikely. Probably just shadows playing tricks on them while they were fighting of the wildlife. All I am saying is, be prepared for anything!"

"Even demons falling from the sky?" Talgrun grinned after he said that.

"Even that." The grin quickly faded away.

On one of the higher branches of a tree sat a young Night-Elven woman. In her left hand she held a wooden board with a piece of parchment spread over it. In her right she held a pencil. In front of her was a gap in the leaves, as if some giant plant eating creature had taken a large bite from the tree's crown of leaves and branches. The Night Elf's right hand guided the pencil in fast streaks across the parchment, putting the general lines of the landscape in front of her on the parchment. Opportunities to look at a landscape in the way she was looking at it now were few, since the Night Elf was actually above the trees. The tree in which the Night Elf sat stood right on the edge of a cliff, giving a view of the valley below. So this opportunity could not have been foregone by the Night Elf in question.

The landscape she was looking at mainly consisted of a see of green, but in the distance a large waterfall connected two different levels of water. It was this that she concentrated on. Her agile fingers quickly put the general outlining of several Ashenvale trees on the parchment. A few crude cliffs were next.

"Xani! Are you here!" A voice rang out in the distance. Multiple times it repeated. The one who was shouting zigzagged between trees covering as much ground as possible. Xani did not feel like answering, she still had a landscape to draw. As the figure came closer Xani saw it was a woman, a Night Elf like herself. With the characteristic pointy ears and purple skin it was hard to think she was anything else. Besides that, she could see dark blue hair, almost black, woven into a tail bouncing of her back.

The figure stopped right under the branch Xani was sitting on. The figure twisted her neck as if she had neck pains. Doing so made her look into Xani's direction. "There you are! What are you doing up there?"

"I am busy, Chereesa." Xani replied Without looking at Chereesa.

"You are always busy when you are sitting somewhere on your own far away from the camp. Are you drawing again?"

"What do you think I am doing?"

"That means drawing. Come down will you, Kaylin needs to talk to you, again."

"Alright, give me a moment." With a few last lines on the parchment she decided she had the necessary basic lines to finish the drawing without having to return here. She had an almost perfect memory for remembering pictures and such, so she could remember any details that were necessary. And if she couldn't remember something she could just make something up herself.

Grudgingly Xani packed her materials in a bag she had used bring the materials there in the first place and climbed down. She didn't like being disturbed while drawing, even if it had to do with her duties. "What does she want to talk about this time?" She asked on the way down.

"Same thing as last time. . ."

"What?" She jumped the last few feet down. "I didn't do anything wrong! Did I?" She said angrily.

"We were not supposed to go away from the camp for this week, no one was allowed to." Chereesa explained.

"Maybe they should put information like that on a note and put that somewhere public, so everybody can see it."

"I think they did, but only after you had left this morning." Chereesa began walking back the way she came. Xani immediately began walking as well.

"Then why didn't you tell her that?"

"I didn't get a chance to, she ordered me away before I could say anything."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kaylin had the reputation for being harsh, grizzled and unrelenting. But that happens to most people who have experienced the things she has. Having fought of the first invasion of the burning legion and fighting in several other wars since then, she had seen things most couldn't dream of, even in their worst nightmares.

It remained quiet a long while. They had to walk for some time before they found the road. Already the sun was halfway it's descend toward the horizon. Xani was the first one to speak up. "So how did you find me? I didn't stick to the roads."

"Well, First I found someone who could tell me you had gone down the road to the west. So I followed it and after some time found a set of tracks your size break away from the road. I followed them, eventually lost them when you passed over some rocky ground. But I figured you wouldn't try to leave no tracks, so I just went on in the same direction and eventually found you."

"You were always a good tracker." Xani said with a smile. Chereesa being a good tracker didn't have anything to do with it, although she was a good tracker. Anyone able to see an obvious set of tracks could have found where Xani had gone.

"So what have you been drawing up in that tree?" Chereesa asked after it had been quiet for some time.

Xani pulled the parchment from her bag and gave it to her. "I didn't have a long time to work on it, you found me just after I had started."

"Hmm, really nice, What's this?" Chereesa pointed at what was going to be the waterfall.

"That is going to be the waterfall. I don't see how you can say it's nice, it's far from finished."

Chereesa merely grinned and said, "I know it's going to be nice. Anything you draw ends up being at least a near artwork."

"That's only because you haven't seen any failed drawings."

The rest of the trip back to the camp was uneventful. It was already nearing complete darkness when they arrived. As they came over the top of a small rise they had a good view of the size of the camp. It was clearly a military camp, there were no gardens, no decorations and all buildings were placed as efficiently as possible around a central square. The typical Night Elven architecture was a mix of existing trees combined with man-made additions. This same architecture was seen in the buildings where the Night Elven troops slept. From the top of the rise they could see many of five such buildings around the square. No torches light the pathways between those buildings, Night Elves had superb vision in the dark and, except on the darkest of nights, didn't need torches. Here and there guards patrolled, even though it was unlikely anything was going to happen.

When they walked down into the camp they tried to pass the small house which Kaylin had taken as her own. Xani would have sworn that they hadn't made a single noise, still Kaylin's voice rang out, "Is that you Xani! If it is you, get in here."

"Good luck." Chereesa said as she quickly made herself scarce.

Xani let her shoulders hang for a moment and looked at the ground. What had she done to deserve all this. Kaylin knew Xani had gone out before, sometimes staying away a few days. As a child she always had the desire to become an artist, her parents had agreed with her at the time. She had shown talent in several things like drawing, painting and the likes. Only one thing had held her away from actually becoming a real artist. Her more than average healing gifts. When her parents had found out about them they had begun to doubt their child's calling. Maybe she was supposed to be a priestess devoted to the temple of Elune, the Night Elven goddess. In the end she ended up becoming a priestess.

Still, a priestess normally stayed in the city, near a temple. But in more recent times several powerful individuals had sensed a certain magical foulness in the air. Some of those who had sensed it thought it might have something to do with demons, or, as Chereesa sometimes referred to it, 'at least something unpleasant'. Because it was uncommon for several powerful figures to sense such things, the military was put on alert. A few priests were spread here and there amongst the different groups to provide healing power, should anything go wrong.

Xani straitened up and walked into the poorly lit house. She kept silent waiting for Kaylin to start a speech in her usually harsh voice. The only thing she could see were a pair of glowing eyes which belonged to Kaylin. Every Night Elf had glowing eyes, some said that those with the rare golden glow were destined for great things. Kaylin and Xani both had the normal silver glow.

Without saying anything Kaylin light a small candle which burned with more light than was usual for such a small candle, undoubtedly through use of magic. Kaylin herself was not gifted in any kind of magic, so the candle was probably imbued by someone else and than given to Kaylin.

The light forced Xani to blink several times, to adjust to the light. In between blinks Xani saw Kaylin was staring at her with unblinking eyes, apparently resisting the, to Xani, powerful urge to blink. Kaylin's white hair shined in the candlelight. Xani could see Kaylin's pupils narrowing because of the light. Kaylin looked a lot older with the light casting shadows around her eyes and the few wrinkles, which had started to come up in the last few years.

The Night Elven race had been bound to the World Tree when the first invasion of the burning legion had been defeated. The Night Elves had been granted immortality through that bond. Night Elven children simply aged up to a certain point and then stopped aging.

The saying 'you're only as old as you think you are' seemed particularly fitting for Kaylin. She looked a lot older than others of exactly the same age. Probably a result of all the things she had seen. This apparent age was increased with the shadows now dancing across her face.

She suddenly looked away and in an unusually pleasant voice she said, "What do you think gives you the right to disobey orders everybody else has to follow? I had officers tell everybody in the camp, there were even notes put up." She looked up again, directly into Xani's eyes, eyes narrowing and anger clearly in them. Her voice returned to it's normal harshness. "Nothing gives you that right! Please, enlighten me on your reasons."

"I didn't--"

"No, don't say it, it's always the same. It is that the amount of priests relocated to the army is so low, else I would have replaced you long ago. Hmmpf, how many times have we had this conversation? And only because you need to go out and make some pretty drawings, there plenty of places in and around the camp for that."

"But--" She was going to say she already been to those, but Kaylin cut her of again.

"Don't interrupt! I am not done yet. Well, actually I am. I hope you can prove to me why I have been putting up with this childish insubordination of yours soon. Now, get out of my house!" Leave she did, as quickly as she could. As if an afterthought Kaylin shouted after her, "And don't give me reason to have this conversation again!"

As she entered the dark building where she was housed a thought struck Xani about what Kaylin had said. Kaylin said she hoped for Xani to prove why she had been putting up with Xani. Did that mean Kaylin wanted some war to break out? Xani hoped Kaylin didn't mean it like that, but she didn't think it impossible.

Chapter 2: should be up within hours from now.