#seleri

Before long, the army was at the gates of Lordaeron. It was a hard fought battle but things had seemed to be going in the Alliance’s favor, and then the blight came. Of course, with Sylvanas in charge there was no one to hold her back. As the army retreated, Seleri called on a barrier of Light to protect herself and a few of her nearby allies.

Suddenly, a canister of the deadly ooze landed just a few feet in front of her. The bright green flash of the explosion temporarily blinded her and caused her spell to waiver just enough to expose the comrades she had been shielding. The sludgy death made quick work of them. By the time her vision returned, the soldiers were motionless and she was alone, an island of Light in a field of blight.

Seleri could feel her protective spell fading as she waded through what felt like an endless mire of the deadly muck. She began to prepare for the worst, to say prayers for herself, for the soldiers, for her wife that was out there in the battle somewhere, and most importantly for her daughter. Nalia would grow up without her, but Seleri hoped she had instilled enough morals in the little girl to give her a solid foundation as she matured.

The paladin’s spell was nearing its limit and she felt like she had made no progress in escaping the blight when suddenly she was blinded again. This time a flash of brilliant blue lit up the battlefield and a chill penetrated her spell and her armor, freezing her to the bone. If not for the protective barrier, she imagined she might have been frozen solid. 

The shield of Light faded, she expected to feel the blight burning through her armor, but...nothing. Hesitantly, the paladin opened her eyes and peered through her helm. What was once a veritable lake of the ooze had been cleared. She heard a roar of triumph and looked back to where the army had retreated to see them surging forward. As they reached her, Seleri joined the ranks and charged through a freshly blasted opening in the wall of Lordaeron. 

A second wind would have been an understatement. As she fought through Forsaken and their abominations, Seleri felt as if she was made of Light. Every swing of her sword, every bash from her shield, every shock of Light exploding from her hands was more powerful than the last. She was so consumed by her goal of avenging her family and Teldrassil, that she didn’t even notice how or when the gnomes with their fantastic machines had joined the battle. 

As they pushed further into the ruins, victory seemed like it was within reach once more. A piercing shriek shot across the battlefield - an arrow, heading straight for a large container of blight she was standing right next to. There was no time to move, barely enough time to call for a shield of Light. The explosion threw her to the ground as the ooze and debris from the wall rained down on her. She had already escaped death one time today, that was more than she could have asked for. As her world went black, her last thoughts were of family - the one she had already lost and the one that was about to lose her.

When she finally came to, her vision was dark, just a few weak beams of light making their way through the cracks in the rubble. She could still hear the battle raging on, though not directly around her. It sounded as if the army had left her behind and pushed further into the ruins - not that she blamed them, that was war after all. 

It was only by some miracle that her shield was holding and she hadn’t succumbed to the blight already, but her strength was faded, too many things hurt and there were a few she could barely feel at all. There was no way for her to dig her way out of the stone, all she could do was wait for her protective spell to give and then die. It was frustrating, she wished the initial explosion had just kill her. She’d been at the Wrathgate, she’d witnessed the aftermath of Southshore, and she’d seen what the blight had done to her comrades earlier in the day. Thinking that she would experience the same fate, that Laelan wouldn’t even be able find enough of her body to bury her, filled her with dread. 

Then, suddenly, she felt a warmth. A familiar warmth, one she hadn’t experienced since before the Cataclysm. It was the warmth of her father - a paladin like herself with an unmistakable presence - but he was long dead, killed in Southshore with the rest of her family.

It must be death tightening it’s clutch around me, at least it’s a nice feeling.

Seleri’s eyes closed and a smile formed on her lips as she accepted her fate one more time, but then, as one of the chunks of debris was suddenly tossed aside, she blinked her eyes open in confusion. She was pretty sure hallucinations couldn’t move rocks. More of the rubble was moved, allowing the dim light of Tirisfal to shine down on her face. 

“Hold on. I’ve got you.” The voice was one she’d never heard before but also familiar, comforting.

As she felt more weight lifted from her body, she could finally make out her savior. It was an armored woman that looked a few years her junior, with pale skin, and golden hair that reminded Seleri of her own. The woman also had the unmistakable glow of a fellow paladin, confirmed when a protective barrier formed around Seleri to further shield her from the growing puddle of blight leaking from the destroyed container. 

The little elven girl was forced to deal with emotions most weathered soldiers struggled with their entire lives and not all, maybe not even most, ever won that battle. Of course, Seleri knew it was a battle that could never truly be won. She prayed Nalia was too young to remember what had happened, that she would be fine in the future, but for now her once carefree little girl had changed.

There were the nightmares, obviously, but those were usually calmed with a blessing of Light, or Elune, and a lullaby. It was the more subtle differences that really broke Seleri’s heart. They had always kept Nalia on a loose leash, letting her play alone outside or stay up a little late if she wanted. After the invasion, Nalia preferred to stay inside, close to Seleri or Laelan, and wouldn’t play in the woods around their house without one of them.

Seeing her little girl change in an instant did more than fill her with sadness. It reignited something inside Seleri, a righteous conviction she hadn’t truly felt since Deathwing had fallen. She obviously fought to defend all living things on Azeroth, and beyond, but this time her family had been harmed. She hadn’t felt a need to fight this strong since Southshore, when her parents had suffered a fate worse than just death.

Seleri told herself that again and again as she raced toward Westfall on a gryphon. She was in such a rush that she hadn’t even finished equipping her armor, so she held onto the beast’s back with one hand and finished strapping on the plate as she flew.

Why did I let her go on that field trip? Why did it have to be when Laelan was away?

She had already contacted her wife, but Laelan was still an hour away. The rogue was forced to take a gryphon home, any available mages already had their hands full.

She finished adjusting a spaulder, the final piece of armor, just as she touched down in Westfall. A horse was already waiting for her. She zoomed past the occasional felguard. The demons hadn’t seemed to spread out, yet, they were all focused on Sentinel Hill.

She reached her destination - a small farm in the north east - and her heart sunk. A tall, demonic spire stood where a field of crops had once been. The modest house was in ruins, bricks and wood smoldered with fel fire. No bodies though, she hoped that was good. Her attention turned to the collapsed barn. Above the crackling flames, she could just barely hear the sound of crying children.

She’s alive! Oh thank the Light!

Seleri flung herself off the horse and sprinted faster than she ever had before. With the Light’s help, she lifted a huge wooden beam that blocked her path and made her way into the barn to find….corpses. The farmers’, her child’s teacher, some of Nalia’s classmates.

This can’t be happening. I’m not going to bury my child.

She began to panic. Her eyes widened and were already tearing up, her breathing heightened until she was hyperventilating, and she nearly collapsed to her knees. Then something pulled her focus back. She could hear children crying out again. She gripped stone and wood, pushed it all aside no matter how heavy. She stepped over corpses, human and animal, until she was at the back of the barn.

It was silent for a long moment and then there was crying again. It came from an overturned cabinet, which she carefully flipped over and tore the doors off of. Inside, there were two, sobbing human children and a still kaldorei.

Nalia,

The little girl wasn’t moving but Seleri could still feel life in her. She scooped all three children into her arms and held them close so they didn’t have to see the horror around them as they made their way back to the horse. They were all quiet as they crossed the plains. Nalia was supposed to visit a farm, see animals, instead she’d had her innocent life ripped away. How much had her daughter seen? Were her dead classmates going to be one of her earliest memories? Seleri prayed Nalia had hidden in the cabinet before the worst had happened.

Once they arrived in Stormwind, she dropped the other two children off at the Cathedral and took Nalia into a back room to begin healing her. Any wounds the kaldorei girl had were minor - a scrape on her forehead, a couple of jammed fingers from the cabinet overturning - and were easily treated by the Light. Seleri hugged her tight and even tighter when she finally woke up and began crying. Laelan arrived not long after. There were few words. What could be said? They just held each other as a family.