There it is, the all too familiar whirlwind of colour and light. Darren cannot tell up from down as the magic rattles his body; he is racing through a place without space or time; everything is spinning. Next to him, Eclipse is screaming; Darren manages to stretch out his hands and catch the colt. Levinia flaps her wings and somehow manages to drift over to them. Hugging Darren from behind with a grip so tight he would not expect from a pegasus, she painfully presses the scabbard against his back. They keep spinning and falling until, finally, the portal spits them out.
Darren collapsed on the soft surface, his impact sending sand in all directions. Eclipse landed on top of him with a huff as the air was pressed from his lungs.
There was something under him. Darren bent forward and rolled to the side. Eclipse slid off his chest and fell into the sand.
"Sorry, Levinia," Darren rasped. He felt sick; everything was still spinning around; Darren held his hurting head and tried to get his bearings.
"Ow," Levinia groaned, to his surprise. "That did not feel good." She blinked a few times, waved her transparent hooves in front of her face and flexed her wings as if to test if they were still attached.
Eclipse rolled over and retched; as he spilled apple juice on the ground, Darren tried to figure out where the hell they were.
They were on a beach, facing a sun that was setting behind a red coast across the sea. It was hot; mosquitos and flies buzzed around their heads which was no surprise due to the light source: a burning torch that stuck in the sand next to them.
"Great," Darren groaned. It seemed they were stranded on a foreign beach, maybe even on another world, and they had nothing with them except for his sword. And he had just built a new home! He angrily hit the sand with a flat hand.
Darren staggered to his feet, trying not to slip, and bent over to look after Eclipse. "Are you hurt?" he asked, carefully touching the colt's shoulder. Eclipse shook his head, then he quickly covered his mouth with a hoof. Darren nodded and turned around.
He froze when he saw the two tall figures standing in front of him. One seemed familiar; the other was a stranger. His face fell as he recognized the one to the right. Tall for a troll even though he was not standing upright, red-haired and blue-skinned with a long lose and pointy ears, clad in green leather armour, two large tusks protruding from his mouth...
"ThrAkk ko'Samedi dan'nae," said Vol'Shalai slowly.
"You ain't Samedi," Vol'Shalai said, staring at the unexpected arrivals. A human and... two ponies? He exchanged a look with Miwemba who just stared at the man, her face contorted with anger.
"What is de meaning of dis?!" she demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the human... who looked oddly familiar to Vol'Shalai.
"Waaait," he said, grabbing Miwemba's shoulder. "I know dat man. Him be ma friend, Darren Houndslayer!" His face split into a hesitant smile as he and Darren scrutinized each other. Darren looked quite different; he was wearing simple clothes instead of plate armour and the surprised look in his eyes was... so normal. The blue eyes of a human, in a face with some wrinkles, though the tattoo and the long white hair were exactly as Vol'Shalai remembered. And Darren still had his weapon, the cursed runeblade of a death knight.
Miwemba scoffed and clicked her tongue.
"Ya can't be friends wit a human," she stated. "And what is dis? Two likkle horsies? Are ya kidding me?!"
"Ponies, dey be ponies," Vol'Shalai corrected. He brushed some sand off his armguards, trying to hide his own surprise.
The smaller pony, a little grey pegasus with a black mane and tail, stared at him with wide fearful eyes and hid behind Darren's leg.
"How," stammered Darren, still blinking at him in disbelief. "How - how did you -?"
"De ritual," Miwemba cried. "It has failed. We be doomed! But how - we did noting wrong! I - I dun' undastand!" She wrung her hands in anguish, only stopping to throw a poisonous sideways glance at Darren.
Levinia slowly stood up and floated into the air. Still confused, she stared at the two trolls. Then, she also recognized Vol'Shalai. Her face lit up and she beamed at him.
"Vol'Shalai!" she said happily, flying towards him with her forelegs outstretched. "Thank Celestia!"
"Hello, Levinia, likkle spirit," said Vol'Shalai happily. He embraced the ghost and cuddled her. Levinia giggled happily, overjoyed that someone could hug her even though she was dead.
The little pegasus tugged at Darren's pants and whispered, "What's Levinia doing here?"
"Ya - ya tainted de ritual," Miwemba realized. "Ye got a connection ta dis spirit... we summoned her instead of Samedi. Fool!" She hit Vol'Shalai on the back of his head with her flat hand. "Why did ya no tell me, eh?! Now look at dis mess!"
Looking guiltily at his wife, Vol'Shalai let go of Levinia.
"I had no idea, Gonk be mah witness," he admitted. "And why Darren and de oddah pony be here - no clue, mon."
"I have an idea," said Darren with an indignant huff. "We holt each other when the door open, so we fall here."
"By da Loa, yar Orcish be gruesome." Vol'Shalai snickered. "But is still good ta see ya. Ya lookin' good, so - alive!"
"Thanks." Darren sighed and looked down at the colt clutching his leg. "But Eclipse not look so goot. Sick because of falling."
"Uch! Tsk!" Miwemba clicked her tongue again and spun around. "See wat ya gonna do wit ya mess! I be outta here!" she called without looking back, stomping away. In a swift movement, she snatched the drums from the hut's floor and left in the direction of the trees.
"Darren, what are those creatures?" Eclipse asked in a scared whisper, again in that language Vol'Shalai did not understand. "Are they humans, too?"
Darren snorted, amused, and shook his head. He lifted the terrified Eclipse from the ground and sat him on his arm.
"No," he said. "This is my friend, Vol'Shalai. He's a Darkspear Troll. And my guess is that his wife just left the premises because we messed up their ritual to summon a spirit."
"Oh," said Eclipse, relief spreading on his face. "Your friend, that's lucky. But..." Eclipse looked around. "Where are we?"
Darren's face fell.
"Let my guess: Eclipse just been askin' where ya be?" Vol'Shalai asked.
"Yes." Darren sighed. "But I know exactly where we are. We're in deep shit."
"We better don' let ya into da village just yet," said Vol'Shalai, stirring the fire with a stick. "Ya be safe here - for now. Miwemba be mad but she won't tell on us, promise. She be too embarrassed anyway. The ritual was important, ya know. Now we gotta start from scratch."
"Sorry," said Darren bluntly even though it was not his fault. He warmed his hands at the fire. Eclipse sat close to him, desperate for some comfort in the alien environment. Darren's explanation - that they fell through a portal and were now stranded on his homeworld - was a shock. He did not want to know how the colt felt, knowing that he might never see his family or home again. He probably had not fully realized it yet. For Darren, it was less hard. Even though he felt bitter regret at yet another setback he was at least familiar with this world. He had never been in Durotar, though; the land was property of the Horde. In other words, the last place a human wanted to find himself... He groaned and covered his face with his hand.
"Ya lookin' tired," said Vol'Shalai, standing up. "Lemme get ya some blankets, some food and water."
Darren nodded thankfully, rubbing his eyes. Levinia tilted her head to watch the smoke escape through a small hole in the roof.
Princess Cadence paced up and down in her throne room, something that her sister-in-law Twilight usually did. She spun around to face Feather Rush.
"And they didn't leave any trace?" she asked desperately.
Feather shook her head.
"No. They were there, and then they were gone. And I have not the faintest idea where that portal leads. It's - it's horrible! My s-son - my son is gone...!" She grimaced and sobbed, covering her mouth with a hoof. White put his foreleg around her but he, too, was fighting with tears. Peridot just stood there, a thousand-mile-stare in her eyes, and said nothing.
Cadence felt her own heart sinking as sympathy flooded her soul. The thought of losing Flurry Heart - it was unbearable.
"I promise you," she said, "we will do everything we can to bring Eclipse and Darren back. We will not rest until we find them and we will bring them home."
Sunburst raised a tentative hoof.
"I suggest we contact Twilight," he said. "She has a bit of experience concerning portals, she might me able to help."
"Good idea." Shining Armor nodded. "And tell her to ask her friends; Jonathan or even Discord might have a clue or two. I will write an urgent letter to Princess Celestia."
Cadence put her hoof under Feather's chin and gently pushed it upward.
"We will find them," she said with a confidence she did not feel.
Feather, unable to say any more, just nodded.
Darren is running through the woods, chasing after his prey. His dark plate armour hardly weighs him down; he can easily keep up with them. They will need to rest soon enough. After half a day of being chased by the Scourge, even the fear of death cannot help a man to overcome the fatigue.
Skidding to a halt, Darren smiles darkly. He can still hear them. He slowly approaches the voices and kneels down behind a bush. There, a camp. Five, no, six Alliance soldiers and a few civilians. A simple tent, two fires, no horses. Too easy. Darren raises his hand. Eleven Scourge soldiers, two of them death knights like him, emerge from the shrubbery around him. They look at him in expectation. Their ghouls are growling hungrily, ready to tear flesh apart and feast. Darren reaches over his right shoulder and unsheathes his two-handed runeblade. It, too, is hungry.
He thrusts his blade forward and the undead monsters attack, an unstoppable force that carves its bloody path through human, elven and dwarven flesh. Darren runs into the fray and swings his weapon around, separating an unarmed woman's head from her body with a single strike -
Someone poked his side. Darren sat up with a gasp. Squinting his eyes in the dim light of an early sun, he saw Eclipse sitting next to him.
"You sleep really loud," said Eclipse. "Are you okay? You look like you had a nightmare."
Darren groaned and wiped his hair out of his face. He felt cold sweat on his back, he needed air... He leaned back and took a deep breath.
"Haven't had one of those in a while," he said, more to himself. "Ugh, damn."
Where was he anyway? Right, on the Echo Isles, on Azeroth. At least he was not in the Plaguelands... Now that he was awake, the sheer noise made him wonder how he could have slept in the first place: Exotic birds and other jungle animals sang, screeched and knocked in the trees, invisible to the eye but ever present nonetheless.
Darren turned around and faced Eclipse. The little grey pegasus seemed to have slept much better than him. He sat on the blanket Vol'Shalai had given him yesterday and exchanged a worried look with Levinia.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it," said Darren, waving it off.
"Was it about your past?" Eclipse pressed on.
Darren nodded curtly and raised his brows. He stood up and stretched his arms with a grunt, then he shouldered his scabbard.
"We better get going," he said. "If somebody else but Vol'Shalai discovers us here, we might have to run away very fast."
"Why?" asked Levinia, her voice echoing in their heads. "They looked kinda scary but the stallion was nice. I mean, I didn't understand anything of what he said but that makes sense. We are on an alien world."
"Humans and trolls are not usually friends," Darren said slowly as he put his hands on his hips. He squinted his eyes and looked over to the coast of Durotar. How long would it take them to swim there? Was the current too strong for that? Would they need a boat? And what about a disguise? If he just went there in all his human glory they would die faster than Darren could say, "Alliance".
"It's kinda weird that I can see you now," Eclipse said to Levinia. He poked her with a tentative hoof.
"Stop that!" Levinia laughed. She rubbed her chin in thought. "But you're right, I feel different. I can feel more... and I can't move around as quickly. It's as if I'm closer to the plane of the living..."
No. First things first. They needed to get food and water. If they were lucky, Vol'Shalai could help them with this - and to get back to Equestria. If not, well, then they were screwed anyway and had to at least go to a land that was safe for a human and his young pony friend to live in. So Darren had to find a way to talk to the troll again without alerting the entire tribe.
Before he could make up a plan, the leaves behind him rustled as something came closer. Darren spun around and crouched into a fighting position - in the open hut, there was nowhere to hide.
It was Vol'Shalai. Darren relaxed and exhaled, giving the tall blue troll a brief smile.
"Heeey," said Vol'Shalai with a grin. "How did ya sleep, ma friend? Gotten hungry? I got ya breakfast." He threw three bananas and a loaf of fresh bread over to Darren who quickly caught the food with both hands. "Ya betta make it quick, Darren. De sooner we get ya off dis island the bettah."
"Thanks," said Darren. "But, Vol'Shalai -" He gave Eclipse a banana and stuck the bread between his elbow and his side, "Can you not sent us back? You are the one that take us here in the first place."
The troll crouched down and scratched his long neck.
"Ya got me dere." He sighed, twisting his face into an embarrassed grimace. Eclipse shuffled a little closer to Darren. "Ya see - we can't. We dun' know what went wrong exactly. It was da connection wit Levinia here dat messed da ritual up. But dere be to many factors. We can't jus' reverse it. Agh," he sighed when he saw Darren's face falling, "I be sorry, mon. I dun' know what ta say..."
Darren covered his face with both hands and exhaled. Damn it, he thought. How do I tell the kid? He eyed Eclipse who was still staring at Vol'Shalai, wide-eyed, with both curiousity and fear.
"Eclipse," Darren said slowly. "I have... very bad news."
"Wh-what kind of bad news?" Eclipse asked, biting his lower lip as he braced himself for the blow.
"They can't send us back," said Levinia. She drifted closer to the two of them. "Right?"
Darren winced. "You understood what he just said?"
Levinis shook her head and scoffed.
"No; not a word, actually. But, Darren, that look on your face says it all. We're stuck. Aren't we?"
"Yeah," Darren said simply.
"No." Eclipse stared at both of them. "No. That can't be right. We - what? We're stuck - here, on this world? We can't go home? No!"
"Yes," Darren pressed out. "I'm so sorry." Heat spread in his gut as he watched the little colt's heart breaking. Darren felt guilty even though it was not his fault. In a way, he was the bad guy here: He had to be the one to deliver to Eclipse the worst news of his life.
Eclipse gasped for breath, unable to comprehend what he had just heard. He shook his head in disbelief as tears formed in his eyes; he staggered backwards, almost falling onto his rump.
"No," he said again.
"Eclipse -" Levinia began, floating over to him, trying to hug him, but he waved his hoof around in front of his face and tried to fend her off. "No! Leave me alone!" He spun around and ran out of the hut, right into the foliage below the trees.
"Oh, shit - Eclipse!" Darren called, running after him.
"No! He can't be discovered!" Vol'Shalai called after Darren. He sprinted after Darren, easily keeping up with his long legs.
"Guys, wait up..." Levinia picked up the bread which Darren had dropped and flew after them.
As Darren ran through the woods, he cursed his own hesitation. Now Eclipse was just far enough ahead so Darren could not see him. And the colt might be small but his four legs gave him an advantage on the narrow path that led away from the hut. Which probably led light into the village.
"Darren, stop!" Vol'Shalai called. "Ya can't go dere, ya gonna get killed!"
"But the boy - " Darren panted.
"I gonna get him. Ya wait here!"
"Halt!" a hard voice barked and Darren instinctively obeyed. "Not anoddah step!" He grimaced angrily - that voice had not been his friend's. Darren raised his chin - the tip of a spear was pointed at his throat. He cursed himself twice over. He had just made another rookie mistake. In his hurried attempt to catch up with Eclipse, he had not watched his surroundings.
Now three angry trolls had surrounded him. Hate and suspicion in their eyes and each with a weapon in their hands, they jerked their head, gesturing for him to surrender. Darren slowly reached for his weapons belt. He gave the sheathed sword to the closest troll, a woman taller than him, with a golden ring in her nose and colourful bands around her wrists. Darren made a point of moving very slowly and keeping his hands to his sides, fighting the urge to summon an ice storm and assault his captors.
"Oh, shiiit, ma wife is gonna kill me," Vol'Shalai groaned and skidded to a halt. He raised both hands, trying to appease the angry trolls. "Now everybody jus' caaalm down," he said. "No need ta do anyting rash."
"I ain't gonna do anyting rash," the woman said, mockingly imitating Vol'Shalai's tone. "Cause we wanna know how a dirty human got dis close to da village. And dere could be more! Dat vermin comes in packs, don'tcha know, cousin!"
"I wash myself yesterday," Darren said before he could stop himself.
"Oh, look at dat, da human can talk," the spear-woman sneered. She tilted her head and eyed the sheathed sword in her hands. "Dat is not a normal sword," she said with a frown. She pulled it out of the scabbard by a few inches. Cold mist rose from the runeblade. Her eyes widened. "It's da blade of a death knight! But you ain't a death knight at all! Your hair be white... but your eyes are de eyes of a mortal. He must have taken it from one," she muttered. "Damn it, dose blades are bad luck! Everybody who take one get mad..." She turned her head to the left and spit over her shoulder.
"See, about dat," Vol'Shalai said, rising a finger.
"Oh, shaddap, cousin. Here, take it for safekeepin'. Let's go!"