Barrow Deeps History

"The Sentinax could be a good idea, but not really," Velen added. "We would need to take advantage of the element of surprise to destroy it, but as soon as they'll notice the adventurers on the ship… They might fly back to Argus and keep them prisoners. Or worse."

"In that case, we can only destroy that new portal," stated Illidan.

The other commandants nodded in approval. It was clearly the easiest solution and with just enough force, they would be able to get rid of it before the end of the day. By doing so, they would allow themselves to breathe for a few more days before being worried about the Legion finishing its invasion before the end of the week. And thus, now that the objective was settled, they had to decide on how to proceed with it, and it was Maiev who intervened first with a plan.

"We should gather some adventurers, like four or five, and one of us should join them to make sure the portal will be destroyed for good."

It was the best option; the one that would take the least risk and they all knew it. Yet, a little voice in Illidan's brain told him to say something, to change that plan and make it better. After all, when Maiev was saying that they should send one of them, she was talking about him or herself, as Khadgar and Velen were mostly staying in Deliverance Point to oversee the operations, and they were barely showing up on the battleground unless it was really necessary. But Illidan wasn't needing anyone.

"Actually," he finally said. "Let's not bother the adventurers, they would be more useful on another mission. Instead, I'll do it myself."

Upon hearing Illidan's words, Maiev rolled her eyes, believing to be hidden by her helmet as she once again forgot that Illidan's special sight would allow him to see through, and of course, Illidan saw it. He didn't need to prove himself to the Warden; to show how good he was at fighting, and how he wasn't a threat for Azeroth anymore. It wasn't necessary and he knew it. The woman was showing him enough respect for him to not do anything stupid, but he was feeling it, and he was going to do it anyway.

"Are you sure? We don't know how many demons there will be at once," added Khadgar.

"Oh yes, it won't be a problem. I'm the one who can hold a fight the longest, and I closed countless demonic portals when I was on the Outland. Shouldn't take me more than an hour."

"Well, if you are sure of yourself, then do it."

"You should still take an adventurer or two with you, or some of your demon hunters," warned Maiev.

"No need," he chuckled. "This isn't some demons that will scare me."

He really didn't need to prove himself. But being able to show to Maiev that he was reliable and strong was enough to convince him to take upon that mission by himself, and thus, as it was pretty much settled, he went back to take his weapons and he prepared himself a plan to take care of the portal. He wasn't sure as to how the portal was put on the island, and how many demons it could spit at once, but it wasn't going to be a problem as he would simply need to destroy the portal first, and then, kill any demons that would still be on the island. Yes, it was going to be fast and easy.

With a swift movement from his wrists, Illidan made his Warglaives dance around him, trying out his abilities for the day and he was satisfied with it, he spread his wings and took off from Deliverance Point. Under him, he saw the Shore in all of its broken beauty, flashes of a long gone time where instead of the sharp grey rocks, it was a beautiful green land, surrounding the majestic Temple of Elune of Suramar, a peaceful green setting in the middle of the busy city. Who could have thought that their glorious empire would be reduced to rubble in the blink of an eye? But it wasn't the time to stay in the past, and Illidan flew faster toward his objective, as, after all, if they were falling to push back the invasion, it would happen again. 

He finally caught the sight of the small island, and indeed, the Legion had put on it a greenish portal, along with what seemed to be a teleporting device allowing the troops to join the main land of the Shore as he watched a flock of imps moving from the island to the the high cliffs standing above their head. The hybrid quickly made a mental note to take care of both of the devices after the portal. They had to slow down the Legion as much as it was possible. 

Locking his eyes on the portal, Illidan took out his Warglaives and decided to take advantage that no one was seeing him coming to destroy it, as he would only need to dive on it, break the structure which was holding the spell together and then, simply kill the demon. With a smile, he spun on himself and then, folded his wings and he fell right towards the portal. A few meters away from it, he put his arm in front of him, the blade targeting a small crack already appearing on the semicircle. But as the tip of the warglaive was going to touch it, he suddenly hit himself against an invisible wall and he felt the electric shock going through his entire body, which got sent flying away, right on the ground.

Illidan groaned audibly, dizzy from the shock and he looked at his hand, shaking from it as he wondered what had happened to him. Looking back towards the portal, he finally noticed that there was more than the teleporting spell surrounding the semicircle structure and he caught on the protective spell, an electric barrier for anyone trying to get past it from the outside. The demons could easily get out of it without damage, but they wouldn't be able to get back to it without risking to experience an electroshock as well. Knowing that it was dangerous for him, Illidan quickly checked his body, and he sighed with relief as he could that most of it was still moving. Then, he noticed that actually, his wings were barely flapping anymore, rendered useless by the shock. It made him frown, but it wasn't going to be a problem, especially that he could still fight if it was needed, and it was all that mattered.

Especially that the imps were now watching him, fire spells starting in their little hands as they noticed the intruder.

"I still can take you all out," muttered Illidan as he took out his second warglaive and threw himself into the fight.

"Didn't Illidan say that it would take him less than an hour to take care of the portal?" asked Maiev, looking away.

"That's what he said, indeed," Velen replied.

The Warden quickly glanced at the sun in the sky, already going down as a sign that they were in the afternoon and that the moons would soon rise on the other side. 

"It's been way more than an hour since he left," she added, thinking out loud.

"You shouldn't worry, he probably saw the adventurers we sent to kill a demon in front of the Tomb and he must have joined them," Khadgar intervened. "If he wasn't able to fight back at the portal, he would have come back to warn us. He's a little reckless, but not stupid."

Maiev pinched her lips at the words. She had come to accept that indeed, Illidan was actually thinking more than she would have given him credit to, and he was also aware that this war wouldn't be won by only one person, but instead an entire group of fearless people, but for a reason she couldn't explain, she knew that something was going wrong. They had quickly admitted that the portal would be a source of problems, so, using multiple people to destroy it was the best option they had, yet, he had decided to go alone… And even if he would admit that it was too much for him, he would need to come back to Deliverance Point. But what if he couldn't do it?

With a heavy sigh, Maiev quickly checked her weapons, making sure that she had her crescent and enough knives on her, and then, she adjusted her cloak over her shoulders and without a word, she left Deliverance Point.

The Warglaive flew through the air, slicing every demon on its path and at the end of its course, impaled the Felstalker against the rocky wall. Further away, Illidan vividly glared at the portal, his arm still in front of him from the throw, and he gradually took it back by his side as he checked the surroundings, searching after the demons that would be left but he saw none. After so many hours of fighting, he had finally been able to stem the tide of demons to allow him to destroy the portal for good, and it was with a smile that he walked there, despite that he couldn't do much but dragging his hooves through the ground. 

After all, he had been fighting for so long and he could feel that it hadn't been a good thing. He wasn't able to walk in a straight line; his entire body was hurting where the demons succeeded to wound him, and just by passing a hand over his face, he saw the blood on his fingers, dripping from his mouth as there had been quite a lot of internal damages too. Dizziness took over him and he felt his consciousness slowly driving away, and yet, he stayed focused on his objective: the portal. He had to destroy it; he had no other choice if he wanted to protect the rest of the Shore.

Using all of what was left of his brain at that time, he looked at the protective spell who had been carefully hidden by the teleporting one, and he felt his wings protesting with pain as he remembered the shock he had felt when he hit it at full speed. Thankfully for him, it was an easy one and all he had to do, was to break the outer circle to cancel the shield, which he could do with just the tip of his blade, but as he dragged the weapon across the ground and cut through the sigil, a loud buzzing sound came from the portal and suddenly, the shape of a Felguard appeared in the portal. Illidan hadn't been aware that there had been another protection spell, one who was going to summon a guard as soon as the electric shield would fall. 

Realizing that he was up for another fight, and maybe another wave of demons coming from the portal, Illidan took the best decision on the moment and quickly targeted the base of the portal, hitting it right where it needed to be to make the structure fall down like a house of cards, leaving the Felguard alone to deal with Illidan. With a powerful roar, the demon propelled himself toward the hybrid, the blade of his axe meeting with the ground as Illidan used all of his strength to dodge the hit. Despite the foggy thoughts clogging his brain, Illidan's survival instinct was able to dictate him the best way to survive that last encounter, and he glanced at the teleporter further away, knowing that if he could make his way back to the mainland of the Shore, he could get help to take down the Felguard. And at worst, it would only be a single demon instead of a small army which would wander through the Shore.

Without any other choices, Illidan grabbed his Warglaives, put them on his back and cursed out loud that his wings were still refusing to work, but he still ran to the teleporter as the Felguard took back his axe and began to follow him. Just by stepping on the device, Illidan felt his body being violently thrown away as he appeared on the top of the cliffs, and it was exactly where he had to regret his decision to use the teleporting device. Falling on his knees, he felt his stomach reclaiming the right to empty itself as he put a hand over his mouth, only for it to be covered with dark blood as the transport had completely messed up with the internal wounds. The entire world began to spin around him and as he heard the Felguard's roar, he only had the possibility to turn around and he saw the blurry stain meant to be the demon. 

Raising his axe high in the sky, he was ready to finish the commandant, and Illidan had no other choice but to accept his fate. His body was refusing to move anymore. It was the end.

But the hit never came.

"You are really stupid!" Maiev's voice hissed.

A loud metallic bang had been heard right before with the two blades clashing together, as she jumped in the fight and used her Crescent to stop the axe before it would reach Illidan and now, she was stuck against the Felguard, well decided to not move at all and protect the hybrid who was standing behind her. She quickly noticed that the demon's eyes went past her, locking them on the weakest being present on that cliff, and she instantly understood that Illidan would be his prime target as long as he would be alive, so, Maiev knew that she had to finish the demon really fast.

Meanwhile, Illidan couldn't believe his own sight as he watched the green blurry stain made by Maiev's Warden cloak as she stood between him and a certain death, and deep down, he knew that he was safe and that the Warden wasn't going to let him die that easily. She would never accept such a fate for him. And with the feeling of safety washing over him, his brain finally gave up and his thoughts stopped being coherent altogether as he stared at the fight happening in front of him.

Using all his strength, the Felguard was pushing Maiev as her feet slid on the ground, and he still had his eyes locked on the wounded man that she was protecting. Thanks to that, he didn't notice the victorious smile of the Warden as she got the advantage over the demon as soon as he had started to concentrate on something else than the ferocious woman, and thus, with a swift movement from her wrist, she turned her Crescent and by putting all of her energy in it, she threw her blade in the air. As the blade of the axe was stuck within the Crescent, the weapon left the hand of its owner as well, and there, the Felguard made the mistake to look at the two blades above their head. Without waiting for one more second, Maiev grabbed two knives that she had taken with her, and she targeted the demon's head. The first knife ended up between the eyes of the demon, and with a fast movement, the second one went to cut his throat.

His body fell at Maiev's feet, not moving anymore as the Twisting Nether quickly reclaimed the soul of the fallen soldier.

Then, the weapons fell on the ground with a loud metallic thump which echoed all over the place. But it wasn't the only sound as right after, it was the shock of a heavy body hitting the ground that could be heard once again, followed by an almost maniacal laughter as Illidan's brain, understanding that he was safe and that he didn't have to fight for his life anymore, just stopped working. The blood loss was quite important, even for a demonic being such as himself, and his mind was completely clogged with useless thoughts. Not even his real death had been able to put him in such a state. Probably because Maiev had been merciful and didn't toy with him that day.

"You did great," he finally said, a shadow over his eyes as even his spectral sight was blurry.

The Warden approached him and removed one of her gauntlets, putting her fingers over his throat and chest to check on his heartbeat and breathing to allow her to decide whether or not he was in a critical state. For a faint moment, they glowed with Elune's light as she went beyond a physical examination and looked after a trace of his vitality, and she sighed - whether it was of relief or disappointment wasn't clear - but she knew that Illidan would live, as long as they were taking care of his wounds in the following hours. With a quick look over him, she brought her arms around her torso to lift him from the ground, groaning audibly so he would know that she wasn't helping out of goodwill, but he didn't care about it and kept weirdly smiling.

Carefully, she stood up, taking Illidan with her in a way that would allow her to drag him back to Deliverance Point without too many problems, even if she wasn't sure that Illidan himself could help her by walking a little. He was already looking around and squinting as if he was trying to understand where he was, and Maiev could feel that he wasn't using his legs at all to support his own weight. She would have to carry him completely. After a quick check to be sure that she had a good grasp over him, she began to walk back toward their headquarters.

A faint laugh rang in her ears as Illidan chuckled to himself, looking at her.

"You're hot like that," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "Can I kiss you?"

Maiev couldn't believe her ears and all of her willpower had been requested for her to keep walking, especially that she knew that if she was stopping now, the probability of Illidan's body falling over a cliff would become a higher risk… She would accuse the Felguard of it, of course. But she had decided to help Illidan and she couldn't change her mind now, especially that she was aware that he had mitigating circumstances to explain such a stupid sentence.

"Shut up. That's probably the bravest thing you said and you're lucky that I can excuse your current mental state."

"But can I get my kiss?" he asked again, a faint hope in his voice.

Maiev groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe if we get to Deliverance Point and that you shut up."

In a flash, a really bright smile appeared on his face, but it wasn't any kind of sarcastic or smug smile. Just a genuine and happy smile that made Maiev's heart skip a beat.

"Yeah…"

It was the last word of Illidan as right after he fainted. 

Maiev stopped, looking at him to see if it was just temporary and that he would wake up right away, but as he wasn't moving anymore, she realized that he had really reached his limit and now, it was entirely up to her to bring him back to safety. Thankfully for him, she was strong enough to carry him back, whether or not he would have been conscious, and she began to walk again.

Illidan slowly woke up, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to understand where he was and if he was in danger or not. After all, he was remembering Maiev's intervention during the fight, but even if he knew that if the role had been reversed he would have brought her back to safety without a second thought, he couldn't really say the same about the Warden. Of course, there was a possibility that she would have helped him because she knew that that was what she had to do as a fellow commandant of the Army of Legionfall, but he couldn't be sure that she would go through it, especially that his last words were echoing in his brain.

Why didn't he shut up?!

Repressing the groan that was building up in his throat, he concentrated on where he was instead,  and his first conclusion was that the ground on his back was way more comfortable than the rocks that had been standing under the cliffs where the fight happened. So, he came to the conclusion that he must have been back in Deliverance Point. But before he could try to investigate the place further, a dreadful feeling washed over him as he suddenly felt in danger, and his survival instinct kicked in, making him jump awake to find out the source of that feeling.

Only to find out that Maiev was sitting next to him, reading a scroll.

"Flick the threatening switch from time to time," he groaned loudly.

"In your presence?" She replied, glancing at him. "Never. You do not deserve to know peace."

Illidan rolled his eyes. After the disastrous confession, he had to act as hostile as possible with Maiev. He wasn't going to let her know that there had been a part of truth in his words.

"And even less after what you told me."

Despite sweating heavily from that fact, he had been mentally preparing himself to play the amnesia trick, and using all the years of practice against Kil'jeaden and the demons, he showed his best poker face to Maiev.

"What did I say?" he asked back.

"You don't remember?" she raised an eyebrow, still looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

"I said something there?" 

Illidan would have patted himself on his back with how good he was acting. It was just a shame that Maiev also had a few tricks up her sleeve.

"Oh… Alright," she said. "A pity. We reached Deliverance Point without you blathering stupid shit after all."

Quickly biting his lips, Illidan succeeded to not add anything, but his eye twitched at Maiev's implication. She did say that there was a possibility for a kiss if he was just shutting up, and it had been a reason why he had fainted so easily back there, realizing that it would only help him to achieve that objective. Even if he wasn't aware at the moment that he would come to regret his mental state and words. 

But he had to be strong, and he couldn't afford to let Maiev win.

"Really? What should have happened?" 

Instead of replying, Maiev put down the scroll on the nightstand and she got up, stretching as if she had sat on that chair for hours, and then, she got closer to Illidan. He glanced at her, his heart thundering in his chest as he suddenly imagined something, and it took all of his strength to keep his hands over the blanket and not move them to grab Maiev. But as she leaned down toward him, her hand gently taking hold of his face and her lips brushed over his, he threw up all caution through the window and grabbed the woman around the waist, making her fall on him as he parted his lips to welcome the kiss.

But a loud whimper went past his lips as a burst of pain hit him in the chest.

"You're wounded you dumbass," Maiev glared as she had tried to avoid the collision with his body, to not hurt him more.

"Oh, it's nothing," he winced. "Just a few more hours and I'll be back on the battleground."

"Not under my watch."

"We'll see that," he tried to smile.

Ravencrest guard: "If you've come for the warden, you're too late!"