Chapter 1: A Tale's Beginning
Imprisoned, banished, chased, betrayed, killed. These were the things that Illidan Stormrage was.
Before he was imprisoned he was a mage, before he was banished he was told he was free, before he was chased he freed the world known as Outlands, before he was betrayed he was The Lord of Outlands. Then he was killed, killed by the very same people he had saved from the Burning Legion. So why was he thinking all this? Why was he able to think in death? He didn't know, all he knew was that he was a powerless wisp, doomed to wander the Twisting Nether for all eternity. He searched and searched for Elune knows how long, months, maybe years. Throughout all this time he had found nothing, but he had no reason to give up hope. For this was all he could do, if you did not search for freedom then he would do nothing, which was not what he wanted to do. The mind of a wisp was a curious thing, so simple in its goals: Find a way out, our find a way back. Being trapped in the wisps body for a long time now, Illidan had thought through all the events in his life at least a hundred times over by now. Doing so, he had thought of different choices he could have made, near the end of his life, there were many he would have wanted to change. Wandering past a large star he had seen many times before, he found a black hole. Taking the chance, he went through it, on the other side was pitch blackness. "Well, this is how it all ends then." He thought, but the end it was not. Out of the blackness he saw a white portal door. On the other side of the black abyss he saw a green portal door. "But which one?" He asked himself, as he floated towards the two gates to what he hoped was freedom. The green gate gave off an aura of misery and doubt, while the white gate gave off nothing. He had lived a life filled with nothing but the green gate's auras, so he slowly went to the white gate, but stopped right in front of it. "How do I know this leads to Azeroth?" Illidan questioned himself, if he went through the wrong one he would be stuck there forever. So he merely waited, weighing his options. If he chose incorrectly, then he would be stuck in an alien world with no way to get back to Outlands, but maybe, just maybe if The Goddess decide for once to smile upon him, he would finally be back home. The third choice, to stay here was no longer an option for him anymore; he was willing to either go home, or become stranded eternally in Elune knows were. But which gate was home?! He studied both doors for hours, maybe days. The green gate still gave him an overwhelming feeling of fear, if that was not home then he was curtain he was done for. But the white gate made him feel nothing at all. His fear, ultimately decided for him. Illidan Stormrage, slowly but surely, flouted into the White Gate.
Two Years Prior, Black Temple
Illidan Stormrage encased the Horde and Alliance champions that were trying, and failing to beat him. How could they hope to defeat him when only seven of the twenty-five heroes remained? The answer was simple, they could not. "Is this it mortals?! Is this all the fury you can muster!?" He shouted out in victory. However his celebration was cut short by an old friend.
"Their fury pales before mine, Illidan. We have some unsettled business between us." Said the huntress he thought he had slain long ago, she pulled out her umbra crescents, and readied herself for battle.
"Maiev, how is it even possible?!" He knew not how it was. She had been killed, he watched it happen! Even had she lived, how could she have found him?
"Ah, my long hunt is finally over. Today, justice will be done!" Maiev Shadowsong said, but she waited for him to make the first move.
Illidan swung his blade to his right, cleaving the head of a Horde shaman from his shoulders. Maiev leaped towards him, and brought her weapons downward. He blocked the strike with his left blade. He felt an Alliance rogue drive his sword into his leg. He knocked Maiev's weapons aside and sliced the Alliance hero in two up the middle; only five more, then it would just be him and Maiev. He threw his dagger into an Alliance hunter, killing him instantly. Maiev swung both her blades from Illidan's left side, he dodged most of it, only receiving a small cut to his shoulder. He kicked her in the back, sending her to the ground, then spun both of his swords as he leaped at an unprepared Horde warrior, only three to go. Maiev leaped for Illidan again, only to hit nothing when he rolled out of the way. In his roll he kicked an Alliance druid as hard as he could, sending him flying off the temple's roof. He turned around to face the final two soldiers. A brown orc warrior of the Horde, and a draenei paladin of the Alliance.
"This is too easy, you've lost your touch, Maiev." He said, his confidence building back up. Just as he had said that, the brown orc charged him head on while the paladin kept on healing him. No matter how many times Illidan sliced the brown ball of rage, he would not go down. Illidan's movement stopped as he felt a two circular blades slice down his back. The blow brought Illidan to his knees. As he dropped his blades, he knew it was over.
"It is finished, you are beaten." Maiev Shadowsong gloated, but he had one last message for the under-handed witch.
"You have won... Maiev... But the huntress... Is nothing... Without the hunt... You... Are Nothing... Without me." He said with all the cruelty he could muster. With his final words said, he slumped to the ground as all of his five senses started their shut down process. His hearing was the last to go, and he heard her response.
"He is right. I feel nothing. I am...Nothing." She said with a voice filled with regret and contempt. So his words did mean something to the Warden. As his hearing faded, all he had ever done, his whole life went by him in a flash. It reminded him of what he once was, and what he had become. With hatred burning for no one but himself, his last lights faded to blackness.
White Gate World, Hours Later
Illidan awoke, his mind was cloudy, his body felt sore and.... Different, he felt grass touching his back, he felt a breeze blowing threw his hair, but something about his body was far from right. Slowly and softly he sat up and open his eyes, he could have gone his whole life without seeing what he did. He was sitting on a green hill with a single tree, grassy plains, rolling hills, a forest to the South, and an unrecognizable village to the North were all that surrounded him. This was not his only problem though, when he looked at his form he was left metaphorically speechless. Illidan saw that not only did he have nothing but his pants, belt, and dagger, but his hands and legs had been turned into pale purple hooves, he also saw a small horn like appendage peeking out of the top of his vision. He added everything together to conclude that his body was that of a small equine with a horn protruding from his head for no apparent reason.
It mattered little though, he was now absolutely sure that he had chosen wrong. This world's sun was starting to set, but it was of little concern to him. He was trapped in this world for all time, so there he stayed, for he had no motivation to do anything more. The sun set, and the moon took its place, the crickets being his only company. His mind then went back over his life once more, seeing all that he would never see again, and for the first time in ten-thousand years, he bitterly wept, as he sat all throughout the night.
That Morning, Weather Duty.
Getting up early was never Rainbow Dash's strong suit, but for the weather that day it had to be done. Her, Thunderlane, and Cloud Chaser had to set up clouds all over Ponyville for a large storm that was due tomorrow, luckily some other ponies had that job. So she was free for the week, but she was also too tired to think straight. No, she was exhausted.
So after heading to Sweet Apple Acres and laying down in a tree, she only got to nap about ten minutes before she was thrown out of it when Big Macintosh bucked it. So one awkward apology later, she went to her favorite tree on the picnic hill. Once there, she stretched out on its biggest branch, and started to dose off. If she'd have been a little more vigilant, she would have seen that she was not alone.
Picnic Hill.
Illidan had seen a fellow equine land in the tree next to him; he didn't bother looking up at it for very long though, nor did it seem to even notice him. So he counted that as a blessing that he was not about to question. But from what little he saw of the creature; it had wings, was very colorful, and it smelled female. But he didn't bother thinking about the strange flying horse for long, as he returned to his blank, longing stare.
He simply sat there, thinking, hoping, praying, that he would find a way to undo his foolish mistake. But the longer he sat, the longer he thought, the more he found he was damned, damned to wander this world as he would have wandered The Twisting Nether. "Was this always my fate?" He pondered to the heavens. "Was I born to die, and wander without purpose for all eternity?" The more he pondered, the more he questioned, the more he was embittered by the prospect of such a pitiful existence. "Why would I be born with the amber eyes, if I was meant for this?" The question made sense, why would he be blessed with the eyes of great destiny if this was to be his fate? It mattered little now, he would be trapped in this world for the rest of his pathetic, wretched, and cursed life.
That Afternoon.
Rainbow awoke to the afternoon sun, she was now rested enough to really care about the rest of her day. So, without fail, she did a lazy loop in the sky before hitting the ground under the tree. However, to her surprise she found that she was indeed not alone. A lean, muscular, pale purple unicorn stallion with a mane black as night styled in a pony tail was just sitting there in the shade of the tree, so she decided to say hello.
"Hey buddy, never seen you around here before, are you new to Ponyville?" She asked, but the pony just sat there like he hadn't heard her. Confused, she tried again. "Hey, you okay dude?" She walk around to face him but his head was drooped downward so she couldn't see his face, but she did see the black tattoos that covered most of his body. What was weird was they were on his skin, not his fur, he had no fur where the tattoos were. "Cool tattoos." she whispered more to herself then to him, she reached out to touch one of them, but as soon as her hoof made contact with the skin, he recoiled away from her slightly, and lifted his head to look at her.
What she saw made her take a few steps back. "Woah! buddy are you okay? Oh Celestia ! What happened to you?" Her concern for this pony had doubled, but her fear of what he was had also gotten larger. "C-can you talk?" She asked to which he just lowered his head back down again. "I'm gonna take that as a no, can you even hear me?" Again she garnered no response from the bizarre pony, but she was not about to just leave him there. She reached out and touched his hoof to which he just looked were his hoof was.
She gave it a tug to tell him she wanted him to follow her. "Come on, if you can hear me, then follow me." She spent more time then she would have preferred trying to get him to move. But after tugging and even trying to push him, he got to his hooves and allowed her to lead him, she was taking him straight to Nurse Redheart.
That Same Afternoon.
The creature had seen him, he knew that before she had even spoke. "Hey buddy, never seen you around here before, are you new to Ponyville?" The equine asked. Her voice was young and jubilant, and her natural scent was quite potent, as if she had just been training in a barracks. However, he was still not curious enough to look at her.
"Hey, you okay dude?" she asked, her hooves moved into his view, they were a bright cyan, and they were not really hooves, "fuzzy nubs" was a more apt description. "Cool tattoos." The female cooed, had she never seen tattoos before? Illidan moved away a bit and for the first time looked up at her when he felt a hoof touch his side.
She was indeed very colorful, her fur was that of a bright cyan and her mane and tail were colored after a rainbow, the last thing he noticed were her over-sized eyes, she was an interesting creature to say the absolute least. "Woah! buddy are you okay?" The fluffy equine asked, then it said something that really confused him. "Oh Celestia! What happened to you?"
Who was this, Celestia? I didn't matter, hopefully this female would leave him in peace soon so that he could revel in the silence once again. "C-can you talk?"
Did this creature never give up? Why was she still trying? "Did she not have better things to do?" He thought as he lowered his head back down to its previous position.
"I'm gonna take that as a no, can you even hear me?" Wow, this harridan knew not when to quit, did she?
"Come on, if you can hear me, then follow me." Like hell he was following her; he sat there as she pulled at his front hoof. After getting tired of pulling she put her back to his other side and tried to push him.
"She is never going to give up, is she?" He thought to himself. Her pushing was the last straw, he got to his hooves and finally allowed her to lead him. Maybe she'd leave him be if he went along with her. It was a tad difficult to learn to walk on all fours. However, since this body was built for it, it didn't take him long to find a rhythm.
Small Village, North of Spawn Point.
This day could have gone better for Illidan; first: He made the wrong choice and was now trapped forever in Elune knows were. Second: He was found by one of the local creatures, that happened to be a female that was very stubborn, and would not leave him alone until he conceded and allowed her to drag him to the village he had been over-looking. Third: He had to walk behind her whilst still smelling her sweat which was not something he had ever desired to do. And to top it all off, every single one of the equines he passed did nothing but burn holes in the back of his head with their staring.
"Why me?" Was all he could think at that very moment. As Illidan was dragged by his hoof through the strange little village, the female had not stopped once, or even slowed down. At least she didn't until she was flagged over by another equine that was a lot less colorful then the first one. She didn't appear to sport wings like the stubborn one or a horn akin to the one on his head, and she was also wearing an odd-looking, wide-brimmed hat. "Why are they all female?" He mused, looking around to notice that there were only about three other males in the area.
"Howdy there, Rainbow, who's yer friend?" Asked the hat-bearing equine, her accent grated on his nerves the second her voice met his ears, but his face remained stoic. "Woah! little early there for Nightmare Night aren't ya, buddy?" The annoying one asked him.
"Nightmare Night? What is this Nightmare Night? And why do these creatures keep referring to me as 'buddy'?" He had no clue what she was talking about, so he still kept silent.
"I don't think it's a Nightmare Night costume AJ, and I don't even know him, I just found him on that hill we used for our picnic last week." Said the stubborn one. "I'm taking him to Redheart to see if he's hurt. Oh, and I think he's also mute.....And he may be deaf."
What?! He was not mute, nor deaf, nor blind! But still he kept his silence.
"Oh Gosh! well, ah won't keep ya Dash, good luck, and tell the..... pony ya found ah said hi." She finished awkwardly.
"So that's what they are called." he deduced in his mind. He didn't much like the term "pony", for it didn't roll off his tongue very well.
"Okay, I'll tell him, see ya, AJ!" The one named "Rainbow" said before continuing to pull him onward.
"At least it's an appropriate name for her." He thought as his foreleg was being yanked to the point of slight pain.
"Come on, we're almost there." Said Rainbow. "Almost were?" He wanted to say, but his words remained unspoken as she lead him on.
The one named Rainbow lead him for a good minute or so through the small town, and it was odd because he had never seen buildings like these before. One building even looked like it was constructed of different over-sized Hallow's End treats, and another looked like a night elven tree house, but this "Rainbow" was not leading him to either one. She was leading him to a building that had two stories to it and was white with brown shingles, but the thing that told Illidan the building's purpose was the small red sign with a white cross embroidering it.
"Why is she taking me here, does she think i'm injured?" He asked himself; he had yet to say a word to any of these locals.
"Okay, we're here. Come on, buddy, we're just gonna get you some help." The one called Rainbow said.
He was not having this, he was completely fine, he didn't need and definitely did not want any medical attention. So he sat down on his haunches out in courtyard right before entering the front door.
"Oh come on! It's right there!" She yelled, but he didn't care. "What's the worst she could do, kill me?" He thought defiantly.
"Plleeeaaaasse?"
Or she could do that. Contrary to popular belief Illidan did possess a heart, even if it had been broken repeatedly. Even he had to admit that her face at that moment was impossible to refuse. "Why me?" He thought as he stood back up and held out his hoof to be grabbed once again.
The Black Temple, Present Day.
Akama sat at the peak of the temple, meditating. He did so often now that the temple had been reclaimed for The Light. He sat peacefully, watching the broken and draenei alike pour into the now, Holy Temple. He cracked a smile at the sight, seeing his people, along with the rest of Outlands free. It was something he had always dreamed of seeing. He then returned to his meditations, hoping to feel the elements reach out to him. He rested, waited, and longed for them to speak to him once more. Akama received his wish when he felt a start of pain throw him from his concentration. He quickly went back into it, and asked the elementals to tell him what ailed them. He was told through a vision. A vision of a land, of green trees, rolling hills, and beautiful snow-capped mountains. And he also saw a race of peaceful (albeit strange) looking creatures frolicking and playing in the vast green fields below were he was standing.
"What could be so disconcerting about this?" He wondered. "This land looks wonderful." No sooner had the words left his mouth did the land turn black as the fiery mountain's ash; the trees turned to green torches blazing with fel light that burned the dark sky, and all the small creatures from before now writhed on the ground and shrieked out in pure agony as demonic powers tore through their very souls. However, in the center of it all, stood one monster Akama recognized. The Betrayer.
He rose from his trance and called for one of his men. "Soldiers of the Ashtongue! Your leader calls to you!" He yelled. Quartermaster Okuno was the first to arrive at the temple's top .
"What do you require, Akama?" Asked the elder merchant. Akama was not sure why he was going to do what he was about to. Perhaps he hoped to rid himself of three birds with one stone; to kill the the "Lord of Outlands" a second time, to get rid of that miserable Warden, and to help save yet another peaceful world from corruption.
"I have a task of the utmost importance. I need you to find an old 'friend' of mine."
