World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Prelude: The Black Temple

Spitfire found that there were a number of things to look at while she and the mysterious pair of beings walked towards the large temple structure that was off in the distance, giving her a chance to see what else was in this land and if there were other people, as the pair said, that lived in this province, even if she was still sure about the fact that no one could really live in this area due to all the fire, potential ash, and lava. Any trees that might have been in this land were burned and withered husks of their former selves, showing her that whatever had happened to this place had done a lot of damage, which was sad to see since she was sure that this place had been full of life at some point in the past and that there had been a lot of people living in this, but now there was nothing. In fact the only other thing she noticed, besides the temple, were a couple of buildings off to her right, where they looked like a mage's tower of some kind and had spheres floating in the air around the top of the tallest structure, like a planetary or something, where the spheres looked like they were made of some polished stone and there were red stones that were embedded inside certain parts of the structures. After that she spotted an area that was covered in massive blue crystals, something that was rather interesting and weird at the same time, but that was all she saw over there, so she turned her attention to what was going on at the moment and focused on walking with the support of the pair that were helping her out.

What was surprising was that, even with her transformed body, she was able to walk on her own a little while they were making their way to the temple, though when they finally reached their destination she discovered that they had only done a part of their trek, as there was a long main road that seemed to lead to the inside of the structure, along with two paths that lead up to the upper reaches of the sides of the temple. From what she could tell the temple had one main structure and two wings, sort of like the castle in Canterlot and some of the other major structures that were scattered throughout the areas of Equestria, though it made her wonder what was up on top of the wings, and, interestingly enough, her escorts did head up a ramp so that she could see everything else that was in the area, even though it was more due to the fact that this was likely the way they entered the temple, without using the front door. It was during that moment that she found something interesting, there were beings that walked on two legs patrolling the area that had been further along the main path they had been following, before heading up the ramp of course, though they were much more muscular than the pair was and seemed more angry about something, along with the fact that their skin seemed to be darker and they had tusks in their mouths, though that was before she discovered something else that nearby caused her to freeze for a moment.

There were several demonic beings, including a massive Infernal with blue flames that seemed to be resting, in front of the temple's front door, which meant that the pair that was escorting her had picked this route after seeing how she had reacted to the first demon she had seen, since she had frozen the moment she had seen the infernal the pair had taken down, before she focused on something else. The other thing she noticed was the fact that there were a number of beings, like the pair in front of her, positioned all over the top of the wing that they were on the roof of, where it looked like whoever this Lord Illidan was happened to be in the middle of training an army, revealing that there were far more people in this province than what she originally thought there were, and all of them had the same weapons that the pair in front of her were carrying. It appeared that whatever these weapons were there happened to be plenty to go around, as all of the trainees had a pair like their mentors did, making her wonder how many of them the army had and how they were producing so many that there were way more than there were individuals to use them, but for now, instead of asking the pair that was escorting her, she decided to say nothing as she studied the area they were in, finding that the temple was darkened as well, no doubt due to whatever happened to this land. Her thoughts were interrupted by the fact that there was another figure approaching them, one that looked more like the female being did, though that was the moment Spitfire noticed that there were some differences between the two beings that had rescued her, like they were two varieties of the same race.

"Kayn, Kor'vas, it seems your mission was successful," the newcomer said, revealing that it was male, which Spitfire was able to gather due to the lack of a vest on the being's chest, something that was rather odd in her mind since the male creatures in the area by the temple's front door had been wearing armor over their chests, before the newcomer turned to look at her for a moment, where his expression made her think that he wasn't too happy to see his allies return with someone new, "Did you bring a new recruit to join the cause?"

"No Altruis, we brought the product of what Lord Illidan felt back to our base, before our enemies could capture her and torment her." the male, who Spitfire had to assume was Kayn, replied, though his words meant that it was a good thing that they had picked her up when they did, otherwise she would have been in a much bigger mess than what she was currently in, before he gestured to the highest point of the temple for some reason, "We're also delivering her to our Lord, so he can figure out what is going on... it will be up to him as to whether or not she joins the Illidari."

The other being, Altruis as Spitfire learned, just stood there for a few moments, was clearly debating what he should do with the situation that was being presented to him, as if he was worried that something might happen to Spitfire if she were allowed to meet the Lord that they were talking about, before eventually moving to their right to allow them to press on to their destination, like he was now sorry for delaying them. From there Kayn and Kor'vas, as Spitfire had to assume that was the name of the other individual that was standing beside her, basically carried her through an opening that was in front of them, leading the three of them to what seemed to be some of the quarters for the army she had seen, before locating a walkway that let them access the upper levels of the temple, where Spitfire found more and more chambers, most of which had to be taken by the forces she had seen outside. While it did take them some time to walk through the temple, following whatever path her escorts were following, the pair eventually brought her to the top of the temple, not to mention the fact that they had to walk up some more steps to get up there, before they finally arrived on the final level of the massive structure and came to a stop at long last, which was when they finally let Spitfire go so she could walk on her own and not be carried everywhere. It was in that moment that she noticed the individual her escorts had brought her to, Lord Illidan she determined, who seemed to be the same type of race that Kor'vas was, only he was far more muscular that Kayn was, he wore a sash and some tattered pants, while his hands seemed to be sharpened, almost like claws, he had large hooves in place of what her escorts had, green tattoos that had the same coloration as the sky did, large curved horns that made him look imposing, and large demonic wings to go with the horns.

From what Spitfire could tell, just by looking at the being that was in front of her, who may not have noticed them due to the blindfold around his eyes, which some of the others had been wearing, Lord Illidan was a rather imposing being and he definitely looked dangerous as she took in everything that she was seeing at the moment, though that was when she noticed that his own weapons, styled in the same manner as the other paired weapons she had seen, had the same green glow on the edge and looked far more imposing than any weapon she had seen so far.

"Kayn Sunfury, Kor'vas Bloodthorn, it would appear that you have returned," the intimidating figure said, turning to face the group not even a few seconds after they came to a stop, where it should have been impossible for him to see any of them due to the blindfold, but even as that happened, and Spitfire's thoughts were proven to be incorrect, both of her escorts knelt towards the figure that was now approaching them, "and that you have brought a guest to our sanctum. Tell me, what did you discover on your mission?"

"Lord Illidan, I regret to inform you that we were unable to discover anything, besides this strange girl," Kor'vas quickly replied, not even bothering to gesture to Spitfire as she spoke, showing that she was more focused on speaking to her Lord so he would know everything that she and Kayn figured out in the short period of time that they were in the area that Spitfire had landed in, "There were no signs of any warlocks preparing a ritual in the area that we investigated, after you felt the disturbance and sent us out to investigate it, save for an Infernal that could have been sent to study the area for some unknown enemy we have not yet faced."

"It sounds like the Legion is trying to gain a new foothold on this broken world," Illidan commented, clearly talking to himself for a moment since neither Kayn or Kor'vas said anything to that statement, or at least that was what Spitfire had to assume since she was unfamiliar with how these beings interacted, even though she knew who the boss was and knew that being his enemy was a bad thing, as she was sure he would crush her in no time, before he turned his gaze towards her for a moment, "So, you were found at the site of the disturbance I felt. What is your name? What plane of existence were you summoned from?"

"My... My name is Spitfire," Spitfire replied, as the first question she was asked was rather easy for her to answer, as she would have had to have lost her memories to be unable to answer something as basic as that, before she took a few seconds to even consider the second question, even though she was a little terrified of what he might do to her if he didn't like any of her answers, despite the fact that she was trying not to show him any of the fear she was feeling, "and I come from the land of Equestria, located on the planet of Equus. Look, I don't know what you mean by 'summoned', but all that I remember is going into a cave, suddenly getting knocked out by something, and then ending up in this place, surrounded by fire, smoke, lava, and apparently demons... I honestly have no idea what happened to me, especially since this isn't the body I had a few hours ago."

As she paused for a moment, mostly to think about the situation that she was in, she could see that Illidan, along with the pair that was kneeling behind her, seemed to be considering the limited amount of information she had given them, not that she really knew what to say since this was the first time she had been in this situation and there were no ways for a pony to prepare for something like this, so she decided to remain quiet as the imposing figure shifted a little, like he was getting ready to talk to her again.

"I do not know of this Equus, but there are countless worlds out there in the Great Dark Beyond," Illidan said, almost as if he was taking the fact that she was from another planet without even questioning it at all, something that confused Spitfire since this was the first time she had even heard of another world before, hence why she was shocked when she first discovered the area that she had landed in, but she decided to say nothing to that, mostly so she didn't annoy Illidan while his soldiers were near, "It is not that hard to believe that we aren't alone in the universe, not when I was born on the planet of Azeroth and was banished here, to Outland, many years ago, discovering races that didn't exist back on my home world, though it would seem that your planet has escaped the Legion's sight... for now."

"I don't like the sound of that 'for now'," Spitfire replied, though she had no idea what those words meant in the context of what Illidan was saying, especially since she had no experience in this sort of thing, but that didn't stop her from waiting to see if the three mysterious beings would give her any additional information or if they were going to leave her in the dark for the foreseeable future, even if she was beginning to suspect that none of them were going to help her get back to her home planet.

"Lord Illidan means that the Legion might be able to trace the energy that brought you here and locate the planet that you came from," Kor'vas explained, almost as if she was explaining this to a new recruit for the army that was stationed in this massive building, instead of someone that had no idea what was going on and was totally lost when the group was talking, though Spitfire did get the idea that such a thing was bad, before Kor'vas sighed, "that means the Legion will be able to launch an offensive against your world and burn it to the ground, before converting it into another outpost as they ravage the rest of the universe... and, based on what I can tell, it would be easy for them to do it."

"Now Kor'vas, let's not be too hasty. There is more to Spitfire than what you can see," Illidan said, though that was one more thing that confused Spitfire, mostly because there was no way the blind individual could see her or even judge what sort of skills she had, and she was basing that decision on the fact that his eyes were covered by the blindfold, just like what Kayn and Kor'vas were wearing at the moment, before he let out what Spitfire assumed was a chuckle, "Take her to one of the spare rooms for now, to let her rest and recover from the journey that was forced upon her, while I speak with Kael'thas about the possibility of opening a portal back to her home world... but if such a thing is impossible, and it very well might be, you'll have to get used to living in Outland, Spitfire."

Spitfire resisted the urge to moan, as she was hoping that whoever this Kael'thas was would be able to open a way back to her home world, though before she could say anything her escorts bowed their heads and made sure she followed them, to which the three of them headed back down the steps that had brought them to the summit of the temple and headed down into one of the living areas that she had seen earlier. Because she seemed to be a person of interest to the Lord of the temple, and who lead the army that was preparing for whatever conflict it was going to be fighting in, Spitfire discovered that the room she was being given for the duration of her stay was a ten foot by ten foot space that actually had a rather well kept bed, a few pieces of furniture that included a dresser, a desk, and a chair, and a weapon rack that had to go with the weapons that Kor'vas and Kayn were using. It still surprised Spitfire that the pair were able to see what was around them, despite the fact that they were either blind or weren't fans of using their eyes, like they had purposely lost one sense to enhance all of the others, but it was hard to imagine that an entire army had done it, if what she had seen earlier was any indication. At the very least all of the walking she had done since the pair had found her was enough for her to gain the ability to walk without falling over, something she was grateful for since such a thing would have caused problems at some point in the future, though even as that thought ran through her mind she kept her mouth shut as both of her escorts shifted, like they were going to tell her something.

"This will be your room for the foreseeable future, until Lord Illidan can talk with Kael'thas," Kayn said, where he raised an arm and beckoned to the chamber that was around them, even if Spitfire was under the impression that all of the rooms were the exact same and that there had to be some labels that revealed which room belonged to which member of the army, not that they could see them due to the blindfolds, "though while we're waiting for that to happen one of us will be near you, mostly to answer questions and to keep you out of the restricted areas, of which there are a few."

"I fully expect there to be areas that I can't visit, given that I'm an unknown individual that shouldn't be trusted, not to mention being under watchful eyes," Spitfire replied, because some of the training she had gone through in the past, to become the leader of the Wonderbolts, had taught her some valuable lessons and it wasn't hard for her to determine the reason behind why they would keep her from the more restricted areas of the temple, just in case she was working for their enemies, thus limiting the information she could steal from them, not that she was planning on doing that, since they could be the only way she could get home.

The first thing the group did, instead of just sitting around and doing nothing, was leave the room and just explore the rest of the temple, the Black Temple as Spitfire came to learn, though the name was either due to the state of the province that was outside the structure or due to the fact that these guys were allied with dark powers, but, as Spitfire found out, the Illidari weren't allies of the Legion, they were their sworn enemies and that they wouldn't rest until the demons of the Legion were put down. That was interesting to some degree, mostly due to the fact that she was surprised that they were willing to share all of this with someone who may or may not be staying in this world, depending on what Lord Illidan said after he spoke with Kael'thas, but despite that fact she made sure to put the information away where she might need it later on, since she had the feeling that if she was going to stay in the temple they were going to put her to work and that meant joining the Illidari. She wasn't sure about that, since she had no idea what the group even did, with the exception of killing demons based on what she had seen earlier, but at the very least she would have some time to come up with an idea of what she was going to do if she was forced to stay in this world, because from the sounds of it whatever had let Lord Illidan come to this land might not be active at all anymore. The most interesting fact that she learned from both of her escorts was that the Legion had three leaders, the ones who commanded the others even if two of them were nothing to the third one, and the two that the Illidari were interested in taking out at the moment, if they could get their hands on them, were Archimonde the Defiler and Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, two incredibly powerful demons that were the right and left hands, respectively, of their master, the dreaded Sargeras.

Sargeras, from what Spitfire learned, was the leader and master of the Burning Legion, or the Legion as the Illidari had been calling them for a long time, and he was much more powerful than either of his trusted generals were, but as she thought about all of that, and learned more about the threat that the Dark Titan posed to the universe, she came to a stop as she spotted something interesting, there was a large dark green structure off on the side of the temple that was out of sight, and the only reason she had noticed it was because they had walked near its location.

"What is that?" Spitfire asked, mostly because she had no idea what she was looking at, though as she stared at the odd structure she found that there was an image of some kind between the pillars, one that looked like a desolate world that was similar to what was outside the temple, save for the fact that it didn't seem to be filled with green flames and green lava, before noticing the group of Illidari that was returning from the area in question.

"A portal to one of the Legion's worlds." Kayn explained, as he had asked the same question when he had seen that structure the first time, back when he was a novice in the Illidari, and Kor'vas had been the same way, in fact most of the Illidari had questioned what the structure was and why Lord Illidan would have something like it so close to their base of operations, "we found a keystone to one of the planets that the Legion conquered, where Lord Illidan will sometimes send a batch of newly empowered Illidari to test their might against our enemy's forces, even though there are a few times where our Lord will head out to hunt demons as well, just to make sure his skills don't rust. I don't know the name of the world that we gained the keystone for, but that is what happens to the worlds that the Legion conquers, they either keep it intact and drain it of whatever resources it has, or they shatter the unfortunate world and use its remains for whatever foul purpose they have in mind, though usually they house interrogators who enjoy snatching people from the new world they're invading so they can learn more about their new enemies and the weaknesses they might have. They're also used as staging grounds for the endless armies that make up the Legion, preparing Infernals and other demons for the time that they are called upon to do battle against whatever world Sargeras or his generals are throwing them at, so to wipe out the Legion we must either cut off the heads of their leaders or wipe out the worlds they have taken."

Spitfire stared at the image of the barren world that was on the other side of the portal the Illidari had opened, where she took a few moments to wonder what would happen to her home world if the Legion found their way to it, especially due to the fact that they wouldn't be able to withstand an assault from the forces that she was just discovering, before an idea came to mind as she braced herself for what she was going to say next, which was perfect timing since it appeared that Illidan was approaching the area they were standing in.

"Kael'thas is leaving for Tempest Keep, to ready himself for the future, but he has given me some unfortunate news, in regards to your situation," Illidan said, informing Spitfire that the being he had been looking for, so he could ask him about opening a way back to Equus, had been somewhere inside the Black Temple and that he must have been rather easy to locate, though at the same time she remained silent as she waited to see what he had to tell her, "without knowing the exact location of your world, along with being unable to contact a powerful mage on the other side to stabilize a portal between Outland and Equus, returning you to your home world will be impossible for the foreseeable future."

"Really? Well, that's a shame," Spitfire admitted, because while part of her did want to go back home, and forget that any of this even happened in the first place, just staring at the portal to one of the worlds that the Legion had taken over and ruined, to the extent that the image revealed to her, there was another part of her that was much louder and it was the one that she was going to follow, hence why she focused on Illidan, "but, after hearing more about your fight, and what happens to the worlds that are conquered by the Legion, I have decided that I would like to join the Illidari and take the fight to the Legion, to save both my world and the other worlds that are out there."

"Are you sure about this? Being a demon hunter, one of my Illidari, is not an easy burden to bare." Illidan replied, but where some might expect him to be worried about a member of an unknown race joining his forces, and the health of the individual in question, it seemed that he was more interested in making sure she could handle everything that was thrown at her, which was why Spitfire nodded with a look of determination on her face, "Very well then, tomorrow we'll start your training and get you up to speed on how to move with your new body and fight with the weapons of the Illidari, and make sure you have the proper attire as well."

Spitfire said nothing to that as Kayn and Kor'vas placed their hands on her shoulders, from the sides to be exact, as both of them knew they were going to be some of her trainers and that made her a little eager to see what they sort of lessons they might have to offer her, though she knew the next couple of days were going to be intense and that she was going to meet them head on so she could help bring the Legion down.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

now there is something interesting and something I would fully expect from a qausi military pony, offering to join in the fight. Hopefully spitfire is truly up for what this will entail but only time and future chapters will show just how well she takes to the illidari lifestyle and tactics. As always another great chapter, Looking forward to what comes next. Keep up the great work

[Comickook]

REALLY good work on the latest chapter. The exchange, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done. And now Spitfire knows SLIGHTLY more about the situation and, to her credit, she is Genre Savvy enough to already KNOW there are certain areas that she won't be allowed until she has earned their trust.

VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.

[badninja]

Well I think she may know of a few very powerful mages, unfortunately several are off planet right now and the with what is left she will not be able to be found for a bit.

[zachary12]

nice work