World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose

Suramar: The Leylines

"Maraa! Where are you?" Trixie called into the cave, confirming Lyra's suspicions that the draenei priest had been brought to Suramar, as they would likely need her assistance once the plan to take back the city really got started, "We need your assistance with something!"

Maraa came out of where she had been setting up her station, which was in the area to the right of the entrance, and noticed the wounds that were on Oculeth's chest, to which she beckoned them forward and had them lay the wounded elf on the bedding she had prepared. Thalyssra, who heard Trixie shouting, came up from the lower area and noticed what was going on, to which she ran over to Oculeth's side and used some of her own energy to stabilize Oculeth's magic, since he had clearly used too much during the short battle he had been in earlier. While Maraa worked, however, Taniel walked over to them and dropped off some of the mana crystals he had found while he and his mana saber had been hunting around the nearby area... as his job was making sure that the other hunters had enough animals for the eventual attack on the city, as well as gather enough crystals to fed every Nightborne that came to Shal'Aran.

Trixie and Lyra were pleased to find that, between the combined efforts of Thalyssra, Maraa, and Taniel, Oculeth was able to make a speedy recovery, though as he weakly got onto his feet again Maraa insisted that he restrain for burdening himself so he can make a complete recovery.

"Thank you for finding Oculeth and making sure that he reached Shal'Aran." Thalyssra commented, to which Trixie and Lyra nodded their heads, as they were both glad to see that their efforts had benefited them this time around, "He will be an invaluable asset to our cause, in creating a network that will allow us, and our troops, to get around the city without our enemies figuring out where we are."

"Ah, I am feeling much better. Thank you!" Oculeth said, to which he turned towards Maraa for a second, where Trixie and Lyra noticed that a smile appeared on his face, "And thank you for healing my wounds. I have never met someone that has such a talent for the healing arts as you do."

"Think nothing of it," Maraa replied, though that was followed by her returning to her workstation, as she needed to make sure that she had all her tonics and healing items on hand for when the rest of their forces moved into Shal'Aran.

"Now then, let us get to work." Oculeth commented, which was followed by him turning towards Trixie and Lyra, who raised their eyebrows as they wondered what he was going to say, "It is time to establish the first secure connection in our teleportation network. Take this beacon to the Ruins of Elune'eth, which are located above us, and survey the area to find a suitable location. Once your survey is complete, place the beacon and I will anchor a connection to it from here... and by the time your done with that I'm sure Thalyssra will have something else for you to do."

Lyra looked at the beacon that Oculeth was handing them, which looked like the one that Trixie had acquired while she was busy taking out the Nightborne earlier, though at the same time Trixie accepted the device and headed for the ruins. Lyra immediately followed after her, because she wanted to be sure that there weren't any enemies patrolling the roads when Trixie attempted to survey the area for a suitable spot to place the beacon in. The two of them retraced their steps towards the hill that they used to get access to the road, where they made their way around the wildlife and continued towards their intended destination... the ruins they had passed by when they were hunting for where Oculeth was hiding out.

When they reached their destination Trixie immediately stopped in the middle of the ruins and pulled out the beacon once more, to which she connected to the energies around her and allowed the device to search the area around them, while at the same time Lyra drew her warglaives and prepared herself. A few moments passed before anything happened, though that was when a small portal opened and small white arcane creatures, which looked like voidwalkers in Lyra's eyes, surged out to harm them. Lyra, taking a chance to stem the tide, jumped over the white creatures and slammed one of her weapons into the portal, breaking it apart almost instantly, allowing her to turn her attention to the three enemies that had spawned... where she found that they were also easy to tear apart, which made her a little disappointed, though when she had taken them out she beckoned for Trixie to continue.

A few more moments passed before they were interrupted again, though this time around it was a large creature, about half Lyra's height, that had tentacles for legs and a head that was snapping at everything that was around it, which also included Lyra when it charged at her. She had seen these creatures once or twice during her time with the Illidari, back when they were all training in the Black Temple, though she knew that as long as she avoided their mouths she would be able to take them out without suffering too much. Trixie took a break from holding the beacon and blasted the creature in the back a few times, causing it to turn towards her and gave Lyra the opportunity to drive her weapons into its heart area... breaking the entire creature into a thousand arcane fragments that disappeared moments later, allowing Trixie to get back to her main task.

The only other things that interrupted them were another portal for the small creatures, which Lyra closed instantly and killed the enemies, and a small gateway where a tentacle tried to pull them both in and devour them... but Lyra wasn't about to have that and killed the creature before it could do anything to her or Trixie. Once that was done they heard Oculeth speak into their minds, though it was simply a quick message telling them to place the beacon in the circular area they had noticed earlier and activate the first teleport pad. Once the connection had been established, and the two-way portal had phased into existence in front of them, Trixie and Lyra stepped forward and passed through the space between the ruins and Shal'Aran... where they reappeared in the area that Thalyssra had said had been an old teleport station.

The two of them grinned as they made their way over to where Oculeth and Thalyssra were standing, as they were eager to see if Thalyssra had something for them like Oculeth suggested after his wounds had been healed... though as they approached Oculeth handed Trixie the coin she had given him earlier, meaning she and Lyra might need it at some point in the near future.

"The arcways were built to tap into the magical leylines beneath Suramar." Thalyssra explained, because she figured that while Trixie might understand what she was talking about, being a Blue Dragon and a mage, Lyra likely had no idea and would be lost, "As we learned to subsist on the Nightwell, the old facilities fell out of use. This chamber is clearly receiving power from elsewhere, though there is only a trickle of energy coming in now... but if you can direct more leyline energy here it will help to sustain us. I know that the closest source of leyline energy is to the north, near Anora Hollow. I'll mark its location on your map."

Based on the mark that had been placed on their map both Lyra and Trixie could tell that Thalyssra truly didn't know the exact location of Anora Hollow, only that she knew that it was somewhere to the north of where Shal'Aran was located, which actually didn't help them at the moment. Instead of going through the main entrance, like they had been doing so far, the two of them returned to the portal they had just opened and returned to the surface, where they walked to the north and hoped that they located something that stood out. It didn't take them too long to reach a fork in the road, though something told Trixie that Anora Hollow would be on the ground level and moved towards the path on the left, to which Lyra followed after her. From there they walked through the area that was between the road on their right and the large hill on their left, while at the same time staying out of the small bodies of water that were in their way... before they exited the area a few seconds later and found a place that seemed blocked off, while baring Nightborne architecture.

Lyra and Trixie stared at each other for a few seconds, as they were surprised to find that Anora Hollow was this close to Shal'Aran, though as they approached the gated structure the two of them noticed someone else standing in front of the entrance... and she definitely wasn't allied with the city, as she seemed to be lacking the robes and weapons that the other Nightborne carried.

"You there, Outlanders!" the lady said, noticing them within a matter of seconds, though at the same time Lyra and Trixie wondered if she was an ally or an enemy, as Thalyssra had said nothing about meeting someone here, "Would one of you be a dear and step on that other switch?"

It was in that moment that they both noticed that the lady was standing on one of the switches and noticed the second one was parallel with the one she was on, to which Trixie stepped onto the switch and waited for a few seconds, though that was followed by the gate opening before their eyes and allowing them all entrance to Anora Hollow.

"Finally, its open at last!" the lady said, though at the same time she turned back towards the duo and her magical energies surged around her once more, indicating that she was looking for a fight.

Instead of doing anything that would provoke the lady, however, Trixie pulled out the coin Thalyssra had given them, and that Oculeth had returned, before she showed it to the Nightborne that was standing in front of her, as she assumed that this was an ally. The reasoning behind that was that an enemy would have killed them and used their bodies to open the way into Anora Hollow, especially since all of the other elves they had encountered so far, the ones from the city, wanted them both dead on sight. She was willing to take a risk with this elf, because she could accidentally reveal that Thalyssra was alive to their enemies, but the look on the lady's face told her that she might have been correct in her original assumption.

"So, Thalyssra has recruited some Outlanders to our cause," the lady said, to which she shook her head for a few seconds, indicating that she didn't believe what she was seeing, before she stared at the two of them again, "Very well then, I am Valtrois. And just who might the two of you be?"

"I am Trixie Lulamoon, and this is Lyra Heartstrings," Trixie replied, though as she placed the coin back where she kept it she was a little annoyed that Thalyssra didn't warn them that a potential ally was doing the same thing they were doing, but that was if she knew that Valtrois was even outside the city, "We came to investigate Anora Hollow and see what we need to do to activate it... or reasons you'll discover once we leave this area."

"It appears that Thalyssra and I had the same idea," Valtrois commented, to which she beckoned for the two of them to follow her, which was when the three of them entered the station and walked forward, but at the same time Trixie could tell that their new friend was annoyed about something, "This station has fallen into disrepair. The circuit is broken, and to mend it we must recharge the seals in the central chamber. Both a high potency current and low potency current are needed for each seal, so all you need to do is direct the currents to point at the same seal and then engage the seal."

"And what will you be doing?" Lyra asked, because she had the feeling that this elf was going to stop working since she and Trixie were here, bit she wanted to be sure before they left this area.

"Me? I shall supervise." Valtrois said, though at the same time both Trixie and Lyra noticed a faint smile appear on the elf's face for a few seconds, indicating that she enjoyed what was happening at the moment, "You are the help, after all."

Trixie noticed that the coil that Valtrois was standing next to seemed to be firing a beam deeper into the station, where she found four seals on the four points of the room they were in, as well as four additional coils that the beam could bounce off of. There was a lower intensity beam coming from deeper in the station, where she spotted a second coil that was releasing an energy beam as well, though as she studied the chamber she noticed several spheres near the ceilings that had to connect to what Valtrois had told them about. She fiddled with the coil that the higher beam was connected to and found that it connected to the two seals on the left side of the room, which meant if they changed the original coil they could access the two seals on the right side. At the same time she asked Lyra to do the same with the lower beam, where they found that they could activate one of the seals, the one on their immediate left, as the two beams touched it... and soon the seal was activated.

Since Lyra was the faster of the two, thanks to her training, Trixie had her find the lower coil and change its directions so she could understand where the beams went next before doing the same with the higher coil... though once she knew where each of the beams went, depending on the direction it was facing, she had Lyra change them according to what she was thinking. That was followed by the two of them working together and the seals were activated one after the other, though once the four of them were awoken, however, the air seemed to wake up and the entire station woke up, meaning that the leyline energy would be flowing back to Shal'Aran soon enough.

"I must admit, I am impressed that an Outlander like yourself could even figure out how to do this." Valtrois said, to which the duo turned and looked at her for a moment, though at the same time they noticed that there was a light smile on her face, before it disappeared as she beckoned towards them, "The two of you may actually be of some use to us. Now, show me where Thalyssra is hiding and we can start the next stage of our plan."

Lyra and Trixie nodded and started walking out of the station, though at the same time they were glad to hear that they might actually be starting whatever plan Thalyssra had been planning since her exile... though Lyra was more pleased because it brought them one step closer to finding, and killing, Gul'dan.