The Vale - A World of Warcraft themed tale

A Story by Nicola

I short story fictionally describing the events that came with patch 5.4, for those who play WoW.

The Vale is peaceful today. Wild dragonflies spiral around my two beautiful children as they run, tiny paws leaving tiny prints in the golden grass. Back and forth they sprint, slinging Chi-Ji kites high into the crisp sunset air. Moon is older; she easily out runs her brother Kai, giggling and teasing as her kite glints emerald against the sun while his barely lifts off. Another melodic laugh joins my children’s and I look towards the sound, finding myself as awestruck as I am every day. My wife, Meilin Summerstrike. You have returned from the Shrine of Two Moons to re-join your family. Your fur is a deep, velvety brown, so unusual for our kind. You descend slowly to the ground and sit there cross-legged, closing your eyes; a small smile touches your lips and I know you are at peace here. We all are.
My children sleep now, tucked up to the necks in delicate blankets you embroidered for them. The night is unusually cold. I bend to their tiny, mottled heads and press a kiss to each. Moon smiles slightly, hugging her Xuen toy close. Kai stirs and for a second I fear he has woke; he simply sticks a foot lopsidedly out of his bed and resumes snoring lightly. A tiny candle is lit to guide them through their dreams and I retreat to our bed. You lie there stiffly, eyes trained on the ceiling. One glance into their bronze depths tells me that you are seeing something I do not. You have always possessed that unfamiliar skill, seeing the world in all its outcomes. Climbing into bed, I kiss your cheek and wish you well on your journey before drifting into sleep.
My eyelids flutter open in the darkness. A reach to my right confirms my first thought �" you are not there. Worry drags me from my tired state but I resist it, reminding myself that your visions often take you wondering through the hills of the Vale. The nights are so serene and I am sure that the Celestials lead your footsteps. I sleep again.
As I drag myself into an upright position my body stiffens reflexively �" I am sure it is daytime but the floor beneath my window is absent of sunbeams and no bird songs fill the air. You are also absent, the blankets neatly tucked in where your scent and indent should linger. Suddenly, my window smashes and a shadow falls across it, before it is filled with what appears to be tentacles. More and more of them slither through the window, oozing black and white fluids �" they seem like thick smog, constantly dissolving and reforming. I grab my sword and begin to slice through them, growing ever more frantic as they do nothing but grow again before my eyes. Bracing myself, I glance around the window frame and come face to face with their source. A hideous face stares back at me, as far as I can tell; it has no eyes but a black abyss of a mouth that stretches across the lump of charred, smoking flesh that must be its head. The mouth is lined with teeth that are coated in a slick substance like oil. It focuses on me, unmoving, for a second, before its mouth twists into an unforgiving, sadistic grin and a guttural sound erupts:
“Sssummerssstrike…”
Furious at the creature for knowing my name and near crippled with fear, I plunge the sword through its mouth. It howls deafeningly in agony before slumping forward onto the blade, oozing white liquid. I watch, sickeningly mesmerised as the creature’s body melts into this substance which then seeps to the ground. However, it does not sink into the soil but trails away as if imbued with life. It is then that I see the horror that has befallen the land around me. The ground is charred black and littered with the blackened remains of trees that once bloomed all day. Swirling inky clouds hang low in the sky, concealing the Shrine of Two Moons, so proud a landmark visible from my window, so that it is barely solid against the smog. Near it, something catches my eye and I squint, eyes stinging from the fumes �" A blinding column of light shoots up into the sky below the concealed outline of the Mogu’shan Palace. It splits the cloud above it and crackles with free electricity. I cannot tear my eyes away and as I stare at it, face drooping as though being slowly weighed down by a thousand different negative emotions, something stares back at me. An enormous pair of eyes, jagged and darker even than the land around them, form within the lightning �" there is no face to complete them but they seem to narrow as if scrutinising me. Suddenly I am hit with an emotion that feels unfamiliar to me; pride. I stand straighter, push my shoulders back mechanically as if pulled by a puppeteer’s strings and raise my sword to the invisible beast. The eyes widen again and a rumble shakes the ground slightly as if it is chuckling at my nerve. The false bravado then vanishes and in the instant it takes me to recover from the overwhelming arrogance that had just engulfed my senses, the eyes are no more, leaving nothing to signal their existence save for my sweating face and shaking paws

With renewed urgency I dash to my children’s room and the sight before me stops me dead. Their room is no longer a safe haven but a gaping hole, the shell of a place where my babies would read their books and play, so blissfully unaware of the dangers around them. I rush to their empty beds, determined to find some clue as to their disappearance, but something clings to my feet, tripping me. Fearing another of those vile beasts I raise my sword but find no enemy before me. The entanglement is a blanket. Removing it from my feet I stretch it out before my face �" the image you wove for Moon hangs before me. I reach to stroke the tiny silken portrait of her but my claws rip through the damaged fabric. As the destroyed remains of my last connection to my children drift to the floor around my feet I drop to my knees, howling mournfully. My children are gone. I may never see them again.
Grief and loneliness and rage torment each other and my mind, stabbing me every few steps. They fight for attention with the familiar yet strange proud feeling that overwhelmed me earlier. My best attempts to ignore them are futile as I stumble from the remains of my home, the home I believed to be safe. Tiny, strange footsteps lead me forward for I have no aim myself. They end abruptly and I take in the place to which they have brought me; it leaves me retching in disgust. The very ground where my children had played so gleefully just yesterday is now a mound of ruined earth resembling dead flesh. Wisps of emerald kite fabric hang limply from a gnarled tree corpse. I am sickened; I have followed my children’s footsteps to the last place they were happy, at peace. I jump in surprise then as my feet become coated in a sticky, cold substance �" the white fluid that had leaked from the corpse of my earlier encounter oozed past me, sliming towards what appears to be a lumpy puddle just in front of me. As my weary eyes attempt to make it out they find themselves following contours and curves that seem all too real. Running to it I beg that my suspicions are false; digging my hands into the white bile I meet slicked fur. My heart stops there. Tears begin to flow unchecked from my eyes as I roll the corpse over and stare into your face. It is contorted with what I can only assume is sheer horror. Both your mouth and eyes are open and a black viscous liquid drips from them. Despite all our surroundings I cradle you close to me, gagging as my glistening tears drip onto your face and wash some of the blackness away. I feel my chest grow wet and pull away to examine your torso �" your ribcage is shattered, heart missing, organs charred black like the ground around us. I promised you that I would keep you safe here; I promised you that you would no longer have to feel pain. Uncontrollable sobs of grief escape me as I hold you, stroking your face, attempting to smooth the terrified features into some semblance of serenity.
After what seems like hours I rest your torn body upon the earth, removing my coat and draping it over the wounds. Overcome with hopelessness I retreat and stumble away, this time following no footsteps. Touching each broken tree and plant I whisper death prayers to them, hoping beyond hope that they felt no pain when whatever atrocity that struck here struck them too. I wish that my feet will carry me away from this twisted mutilation of my beautiful home, the Vale. That would be the case were it not for something buried within the soil that trips me, causing me to fall on my face. Ignoring the blood I wipe the dirt away from myself and the strange object; it is a chest. It glows slightly from within as I gingerly open it and withdraw the contents. A set of leather armour rests in my hands, intricately shaped and designed with the pattern of cranes. The shoulder guards somehow produce their own bluish glow; it feel s warm when I reach into it. The pride that has taunted my thoughts all day now swells and as if possessed I slowly adorn the armour, marvelling as each piece seems to shrink and grow precisely to the shape of my form. I look not dissimilar to the elusive Shado-Pan, guards of the realm whose job is to keep us all from harm. For a second I am enraged; where were they when this nonsensical destruction corrupted the Vale? But this rage is quickly replaced by an emotion that amongst all my grief and despair feels alien to me. Determination. Straightening, I gaze across the desecrated world. It is all so vivid now, tinted red with the haze of my growing bloodlust. As I fasten my sword to my waist, a thought so unmatched in its intensity that I know it can be my only purpose.

I will find the one who caused this.
I will find the one responsible for my family's murder.
I will have my revenge.