World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Prelude: Training Day

Spitfire spent the rest of the evening, as that was what it had been when she told Illidan, soon to be Lord Illidan to her, that she was going to join the Illidari and combat the Legion that was apparently trying to ravage all of the universe, though she had no idea how someone could tell what time it was given that she hadn't actually seen the moon or sun for this planet, save for the planets that one could barely see in the first place. Apparently, according to her new Lord, Outland used to have a red sun, but when the planet was shattered and set adrift, by an event that they would tell her about later, it left the area it had been resting in for some time, though the event also caused the inhabitants to change the name to what it was now, an interesting decision in Spitfire's mind, but one she wasn't about to argue with. As for telling time that was thanks to the blood elf mages that were allied with the Illidari, those that served Kael'thas and were here to help the Illidari until their own master called them back to Tempest Keep, though even as she was told that Kayn, who was a blood elf, sat her down and gave her an idea of the various races that made up the Illidari, with the demon hunters being made up entirely of elves, at least until she decided to join them and their Lord stated that she would be one of them. There were a number of races that made up the forces she was joining, as there were naga, orcs, the blood elves and night elves, the Broken, and quite a fair number of demons that had defected to their side when Outland was taken by Illidan, when he conquered Magtheridon, the Pit Lord that ruled this world, meaning the demons had sided with the stronger warrior.

Truthfully, it was a lot to take in, though Spitfire figured that learning about the various races that she was allying with was a step in the right direction, that way she could identify allies and potential enemies rather easily, though she had to admit that the naga, who were apparently half serpent half elf creatures that were both strong warriors and powerful mages, were the only race she hadn't actually seen yet, since she had seen plenty of the others during the first couple of hours since her arrival in the Black Temple.

Following the lecture on the various races that made up the Illidari, giving her an idea of who her allies were, Kayn moved onto another subject and produced one of the maps that contained the layout of Outland, as in the provinces that their Lord ruled over and the areas that his allies were positioned in, allowing them to prepare for their eventual invasion of the unbroken worlds that the Legion had taken over since their crusade had started. The Black Temple was located in the province known as Shadowmoon Valley, which also happened to be the darkest, bleakest, and most Fel-infected region in the entirety of Outland, something that was rather easy to believe based on what Spitfire had seen since she arrived in this broken world, before Kayn moved to the closest province that was near the one they were in. The area in question was Terokkar Forest, a province that contained a large forest, a dead area known as the Bone Wastes, a city known as Shattrath City, and a few other minor landmarks that weren't important at the moment, hence the reason that he moved onto to Nagrand, a land that was sacred to the orcs, even if their own allies were hesitant to explain why that was. There was also Zangarmarsh, a swamp province that had massive mushrooms and served as one of the major sources of water in Outland, as well as being where Lady Vashj, the leader of the naga that was one of their allies, was preparing her own forces for the future, along with Blade's Edge Mountains, the home of the ogres and Gronn, brutal monsters that were better left alone, even if Kayn was sure their Lord could convince a few to join the cause. Other than that there was also Netherstorm, which was the area that Kael'thas ruled over due to Tempest Keep being located there and was slowly falling apart at the moment, and Hellfire Peninsula, a grim place that housed the Dark Portal, the portal that would allow one to head to Azeroth, if it was active.

Based on that information Spitfire was under the assumption that the portal must have been active at some point in the past, due to the fact that Illidan had come back from Azeroth at some point in time, though instead of focusing on that she paid more attention to what Kayn was telling her, since Kor'vas had wandered off to do something else, showing she didn't care about what they were doing at the moment.

Since the day was nearing its end, according to Kayn, Spitfire found that there wasn't much for her to do, other than learning about Outland and the provinces that were near them, along with the races that made up the residents of this world, she was given the rest of the day to do whatever she wanted and found that a number of demon hunters had come back to the area that was right outside her room. She had no idea how many of them there were in the first place, giving her more than enough names to make it so she wouldn't remember all of them at the moment, but despite her odd form, something that wasn't like anything they could have possibly seen, the rest of the demon hunters actually accepted her as one of their own the moment Kor'vas informed them that Lord Illidan had allowed her to join his forces. Kayn also told her that the reason none of the other Illidari, as some of the Broken and a few of their allied demons also came to greet her for a few moments, was because they had all seen more outlandish things than a pony, a pegasus as she corrected them, being turned into some sort of hybrid between their original form and a human, who Spitfire knew was a native to Azeroth due to their earlier lessons, especially since there was supposedly a fort of them in Hellfire Peninsula, with some members of the other races that were native to the other world. With that in mind Spitfire was actually able to relax a little as the rest of her fellow demon hunters did the same, allowing her to listen to whatever stories they had to offer her, be they about the worlds they visited or the demons they fought, giving her an idea of the life that she had signed up for, even if it was probably too late for her to change her mind, not that she was planning on doing that anytime soon.

When it was time for them to get some rest, to ready themselves for what the next day had to offer, Spitfire found that she had to figure out a good way to sleep without hurting her wings, a problem she never had in her previous form, before finding a position that had one wing open and the other closed, something that seemed to work quite well and let her get some much needed sleep after everything that happened to her after waking up in this odd world.

---

Morning arrived by the sound of one of the more senior members of the Illidari, Kor'vas to be exact, waking everyone up so they could get ready for the day's training, and whatever else their Lord had in store for them, informing Spitfire that the schedule would be changed depending on what the scouts found, if they discovered anything of importance that made Lord Illidan issue such a modification. Breakfast, as she discovered, was mostly bread, water, some cheese, and a couple strips of meat, which Spitfire learned was from a boar and would help her maintain her energy throughout the day, given the type of lessons she had seen during her tour the previous day, but since leaving food behind seemed to be frowned upon she went ahead and ate them, mostly washing the taste down with her water and cheese. Despite her appearance, which was more like her old pegasus form, she found that her body was able to stomach the food she had been given and didn't feel sick at all, something that freaked her out when she thought about it, though she also discovered that she didn't have that much time to really consider the type of food that was given to her and the fact that her body could handle it, as once she was done eating Kor'vas walked over to her. What interested Spitfire was what was in the night elf's hands, as she was carrying a small crate of some kind and it made her curious as to what might be inside it, though instead of just stopping in front of her the night elf headed inside Spitfire's room and beckoned for her to follow, to which the door was closed not a few moments later, to give them some privacy.

The contents of the crate, as she soon discovered, happened to be a set of armor that matched what the majority of the other demon hunters were wearing, a vest, a matching set of pants, some bracers and a pair of gloves, and a belt, even though it looked like they were forgoing the need of the shoes, which wouldn't fit anyway, along with dropping the cloak, shoulder pads, and whatever they wore for a head piece.

"Since you're joining the Illidari, Lord Illidan wanted you outfitted as soon as possible," Kor'vas explained, though as she said that she set the crate down on the bed, not that Spitfire was surprised by this feat anymore since all of the other demon hunters seemed to be the same way, with the blindfolds and the ability to tell what was around them, before she headed for the door, "as such that will be your outfit for the foreseeable future, until you reach the level that Kayn and I are on, which is when you'll be able to modify it however you want. Once that's on I'll take you to Varedis Felsoul, one of our master tutors when it comes to training new demon hunters, though he'll be a bit rough and might knock you out, so don't feel bad if such a thing happens to you when you face him for the first couple of times."

Spitfire was given a few moments alone, more than enough time for her to switch what she was currently wearing for the attire of the Illidari, finding that it was rather light and didn't slow down her movements at all, though once that was done she set the crate near the door and figured that someone would come by at some point in the future and take it, to do whatever they wanted with it, before joining Kor'vas outside her room. From there the two of them headed for the area that the Illidari trained in, the newest recruits to be exact, though when they reached the area in question Spitfire found out something interesting, there was an entire area with only a single elf standing in it, while the rest of the trainees were off training in another area of the terrace they were standing on, meaning her teacher wanted a personal session to see just how skilled she actually was, despite Spitfire having no skills at the moment. The demon hunter that was standing all on his own was one of the blood elves, as evident by his light blond hair that flowed down to the top of his bare chest, and he, like all of the other demon hunters, had a blindfold over his eyes, though Spitfire noticed that he wore a shirk of some kind that went down to the lowest part of his legs, though he did have black markings on his chest that seemed to be like what Lord Illidan had, only with a different color of course. His weapons were the same as what the other members of the army had, the demon hunters to be exact, but his had a red glow to them and made them look more deadly than they already were, though he turned towards them as they approached the area that he was standing in, where Spitfire had the feeling that he was Varedis Felsoul, the one that would be teaching her for a time.

"Ah, you must be the new recruit that I was told about," the blood elf said, his tone informing Spitfire that he had to be arrogant or prideful to a degree, like he felt that his position among the Illidari placed him above the rest of the group and that no one could touch him, before he paused and seemed to study her for a few moments, "Truthfully, I don't think you are suited for the training that you will be going through, not to mention the fact that you'll break before the first day is even over... I don't know why we're wasting our time with the likes of you."

"Varedis, you know that you cannot turn away those our master accepts," Kor'vas stated, showing Spitfire that this had to be a common occurrence in the Illidari, that one of their members had a big head and suddenly felt that he was the one that deserved to be at the top of the chain of command, though it remained a mystery as to why Lord Illidan didn't just punish him or pull him aside for his actions, since this might cause the group to fall apart, which seemed unlikely after what she had seen the previous evening.

"Yes, as you and Kayn are fond of telling me," Varedis replied, where he turned around and approached the rack that was right behind him, like he was looking for something specific that could only be found with the rest of the weapons, only for him to pull out a pair of what appeared to be wooden swords, practice blades Spitfire guessed, and she found that each one was about the total length of one of her arms, just like the blades that the demon hunters used, before Varedis turned and tossed them over to her, "Here, these will serve as your practice blades, until you are ready to actually use the warglaives that you'll be using for the rest of your life, provided that you actually survive your lessons... I will give you one minute to get a feel for how to use those weapons, but once that minute is up I'm starting the first session."

Spitfire, while curious about where in the world they were able to acquire the wood to make practice weapons and all of the other stuff she had seen, even if she was sure the wood was from the nearby forest, realized that Varedis seemed to consider the task of training others to be beneath him and that he really didn't care about it at all, especially since he was giving her such little time to get used to the wooden swords, which she had to pick up since she wasn't expecting them to be thrown at her like that, but she did find that they were rather light and likely very durable.

"Training begins now!" Varedis stated, his voice snapping Spitfire out of her thoughts rather quickly, mostly since that meant the minute she had been given to prepare herself had been the longest minute she had experienced in a long time, possibly in her entire life based on all the flight training she had done in the past, though before she could even react to what was happening her instructor appeared in front of her, not holding any of the training weapons at all, and punched her in the chest, hard enough to make her drop her training weapons on the ground and then fell to her knees not a few seconds later, causing Varedis to frown, "You weren't ready."

"Really, Varedis? You couldn't wait a few days to do something like this?" Kor'vas asked, her tone revealing that what had just happened had to be a common occurrence when new recruits were starting their training, that this one mentor would do something like this to test those that had been assigned to him and that it usually resulted in whoever he struck falling to the ground for a time, though at the same time Spitfire could tell that she wasn't all that annoyed by what had just happened, only disappointed in Varedis.

"I did it to test her reflexes and her attack speed, and she's got nothing." Varedis replied, though this time around he did seem disappointed in what had happened, as if he had been expecting Spitfire, who was a brand new species to the members of the Illidari and the other residents of the Black Temple, to be much stronger than this and to have reflexes that were more attuned, like a senior member of the group she had joined, before he shook his head, "She won't be able to survive a week with her current abilities... I have no idea why I'm being told to waste my time on her..."

Spitfire, in that moment, growled as she pushed herself back up and then, before either Varedis or Kor'vas could do anything to stop her, she rushed forward and threw her fist into her instructor's face, knocking him backwards for a few seconds as she huffed, though Varedis did have to rub the area that she had struck and seemed to be annoyed by what she had done, even if she was pretty happy to have returned the favor and made him pay for hitting her with such a cheap shot at the start of her first training session.

"She has a fire that you cannot extinguish, or so I have been told." Kor'vas said, but even then Spitfire noticed that she had a light smirk on her face, as if she believed that Varedis needed someone to knock his block off and set him straight, or at least attempt to do so, though that was when she walked over to where Spitfire was standing, "That was a good blow he dealt, but, despite all of it, you don't seem to be all that injured. So, do you feel like continuing, or would you rather take a break and come back later?"

"I'm good to go," Spitfire replied, and that was the truth of the matter, because while that punch had taken a bit out of her and her energy, even if it forced her to lay on the ground for a moment or two, she found that she was still good to go and that she was willing to continue the training session that was being offered to her, even if punching Varedis in the face was going to complicate things to some degree, not that she had a problem with that since she had faced some terrible flight instructors in the past, so this was nothing new to her to deal with.

Spitfire found that Varedis, despite whatever anger he might be feeling towards her at the moment, restrained his desire to get back at her and simply allowed her to pick up her wooden practice blades again, where he walked around the area that she was going to be practicing in and adjusted her stance a few times, moving her legs and arms a few times so they matched the placement of how the rest of the Illidari stood with their weapons drawn. Of course he did nothing with her tail or her wings, mostly due to the fact that he either had no experience with those parts of her body or this was a way for him to mess with her, but once he was done messing with her body he pulled out his own warglaives again, which had been resting on his back while they were standing there, how Spitfire wasn't sure since Varedis was wearing nothing over his chest, though Kor'vas said nothing about that as the real training started. For now the lessons revolved around how to move with the weapons she had been given and going through the motions that all of the other demon hunters used to take down demons, even though they were allowed to change it up when they completed their training, though for the former she was given her own pair of warglaives, light weapons that could clearly cut through any demon she happened upon, while the latter was spent using the practice blades. The reason for that was because they wanted her to get used to the movements so she didn't accidentally cut herself or those that were around her, though when she was allowed to use her new weapons it was mostly to walk around the area they were standing in, to get used to their weight before actually fighting the dummies that the Illidari practiced on.

While that was happening Spitfire noticed that Kayn came into the area that they were in and seemed to inquire as to how the first day of training was going, where it wasn't long before Kor'vas informed him of what happened during the first few moments of the session, Varedis attacking her while she wasn't ready and then getting punched in the face when he declared that he felt that training her was a waste of time. From what Spitfire observed Varedis wasn't happy about the pair talking about him like that, nor was he happy with the fact that Kayn did chuckle after hearing that, even though it did seem like they might be friends to some degree, but that was just fine with her since it allowed her more time to focus on what she was doing and less on whatever tricks her mentor had in store for her. Another thing she learned was that some of her lessons might need to be shifted at some point, as the only one that would be able to teach her how to hunt, as the Illidari seemed to call it at times, was Lord Illidan himself, which made since considering that he was the only other winged creature in the Black Temple that walked on two legs, though she felt that such a thing might not happen since he was the Lord of Outland and that he might not have the time to do such a thing. Despite that fact, however, Spitfire poured her energy into mastering the basic training that was being thrown at her, so she could prove to the senior members of the group she had joined that she wasn't messing around and that she had the skill necessary to match what the others had, though she did have some military experience thanks to her former position as head of the Wonderbolts, as that was a position that would be filled in no time, especially since it appeared that she wasn't going to be returning home anytime soon, hence why she devoted herself to the lessons she was being given.

What was interesting was that she was sure that Lord Illidan had been watching her at some point during her training session, as there was a moment where she felt someone's eyes on her and had to pause for a moment, not that she had seen anything when she glanced around the area, even though it could have easily been the other trainees that she would be joining in the future, but she was positive in who she thought it was and kept that to herself, as she was sure that Kayn and the others had felt the same thing and didn't want to distract her from her lessons.

Other than getting the feeling that someone was watching her, and that she knew who it was by the reactions of those that were around her, Spitfire's first day of training continued without nothing special happening to her, meaning she was able to continue switching from carrying the warglaives around and swinging her practice blades, along with spending a few minutes every now and then getting used to how she was supposed to walk, which was becoming easier and easier as time went on. She was sure that, by the end of her second day in Outland, which happened to be her first training day, she would be able to walk in her strange pony-human hybrid form without anything bad happening, allowing her to focus her attention on the more important lessons, which were the combat training and, eventually, flying around the temple and the rest of Shadowmoon Valley with her wings, something she was going to have to relearn at some point, since she was sure a few things had changed since she had come to this world. Once all of those lessons were complete she would turn her attention to the more demanding lessons that Varedis might have for her and the other trainees, which might include how to kill the various types of demons that made up the forces of the Legion, which would come in handy once the Illidari started attacking the locations that the Legion controlled, once Lord Illidan deemed them ready for whatever he happened to be planning at that very moment.

One thing was certain, she was going to prove herself to the rest of the Illidari and show Lord Illidan that she was able to withstand whatever burdens the demon hunters had to take on, all for the sake of the rest of the universe, and that also included her home world as well, as she wasn't going to rest until Azeroth and Equus were safe and the Legion had been brought down.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

huh very nice Spits does what Lyra could not and impresses the instructor in the first session, though that can easily be chocked up to the difference between a civvie and military personnel. Still though she is definitely getting the hang of her body quite quickly and I am kinda looking forward to seeing her kill demons from above with her warglaives, needing only to worry about spellcasters, archers and other flyers but bringing absolute death to melee fighters. As always another great chapter, looking forward to more Spitfire greatness. Keep up the great work

[Comickook]

Superb work on the action, characterizations, exchanges and future chapter set up in all the right places. REALLY enjoyed seeing Spitfire earn some respect from the instructors and make headway in getting the hang of her new body. And, yeah, her instructor getting the third degree from the higher ups was great to see too.

VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.

[zachary12]

nice work.