She was stunned. Aegwyn stood there, not knowing what to say. Her mouth was open but nothing seemed to come out. He looked on at her, still kneeling, still holding her hands. If she hadn’t been an active participant, she would have thought he was asking her to marry him. And the decisions that she had to think would be just as life altering.
The Death Knight suddenly stood up. He looked about him, swiveling his head like a deer that knew danger was close by. He threw her to the ground suddenly.
Aegwyn slammed into the dirt just as she saw a bright flash blind her. She covered her eyes and then tried to peek through the cracks of her fingers. The light speared through her barrier and struck her vulnerable eyes. She couldn’t see. What was going on?
“Lurgúk uruf nag Maglúb!”
Aegwyn saw two silhouettes battling in front of her. Her eyes began to adjust when another flare of bright green all but blinded her again.
The light faded into darkness. Aegwyn opened her eyes to find complete midnight surrounded her. Aegwyn sat still, waiting for her eyes to readjust. She looked around as the forest started to appear. There was no one in sight. Several blackened craters were on the ground about her and the light of dying sparks was in the dirt.
Aegwyn gasped and stood up, looking around for the Death Knight. Who attacked them? Did anyone attack them? Aegwyn started hearing something in the distance. She froze and waited, trying to understand what the sound meant. Her eyes widened and she started to rush back towards the city. It was the unmistakable sound of cannon fire.
Aegwyn was dragged to the ground by several creatures. She let out a startled cry and then was crushed beneath the weight of two foul-smelling beasts. One of them stood up and pulled out a black sword, which seemed to glow in the light of the crescent moon overhead.
A bright red beam appeared as quickly as a darting bird. The beam struck her assailant in the eye, causing the light to splatter like water that had struck a rock. The creature let out a cry and his face began to let out wisps of smoke. It dropped its weapon and clutched its face, trying to stop the pain.
The other person stood up and caught the sword of his dying comrade. He looked around and let out a low growl. Aegwyn saw him dart off into the forest.
There was a loud explosion and she turned around to see a ball of fire erupt from the forest a few feet a way. A darkened shadow was thrown from the explosion and landed with a thud a few yard from where she was.
The cannon fire began to grow louder. She could see a faint angry glow along the horizon. She began to hear screaming.
Aegwyn looked around, trying to find the person who had rescued her. She saw no one around.
“Where are you! Please come back!”
The only thing she heard was the echo of her own voice.
Her ears twitched and through the sound of war in Kul Tiras she heard several rough sounds behind her. Fierce snarling and snorting reverberated in her ears. She could hear the soft clink of steel against steel and grumbling.
Her shadow appeared beneath her. Aegwyn looked up to see a burning creature dart through the sky, like a bird that was afire. She saw several more slash across the blackness of the night.
“Arob ugdúl ghol Namba!”
Aegwyn swiveled her head and saw that several Orcs were standing in the light of the moon, their armor like hard jagged edges against the backdrop of the forest around her. One of them was running his thumb along the edge of his blade and the other was holding a great wolf by a leather leash. The wolf snarled beneath its breath and its eyes glowed like fire.
Aegwyn turned and ran. She heard the sound of baying behind her and saw to her dismay that the Orcs had let loose the wolf. The creature was bounding after her, it’s jaws open like the mouth of doom itself
.
Flames of red slashed across the sky again. One of them stopped and hovered in the air. She widened her eyes as she saw a bolt of fire racing towards her. Aegwyn jumped to her left and the force of the explosion threw her farther than she had planned to go.
She heard whining and the forest burst into an inferno about her. Another beam of fire blasted through the sky, aiming for her heart. Aegwyn scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could. The light of the fire caught her, sending bursts of flames licking at her cloak and her legs. She fell to the ground and started tumbling downward, carried by her own momentum.
Her leg burned fiercely. She clenched her teeth and struggled to her feet. She tried to walk but her foot gave out from under her. Pain shot up through her spine and caused her to whine in anguish.
She heard another explosion behind her, which threw her forward as easily as a child tossing a rag doll. She slammed against the trunk of a tree and slid to the ground, enveloped in complete agony. Her back stung painfully and her arm was crying out with distress.
The sound of the cannon fire and attack of Kul Tiras was completely deafened by the roaring flames, which burned at the trees around her. Aegwyn struggled, trying to get away from the birds of fire which circled overhead. The very stench of evil was in the air but it was almost muted by the pain she felt all over her. A trickle of warmth ran from her forehead past her right eye and down her cheek.
The demons overhead suddenly drew together and burst apart like an explosion, leaving trails of sparks which fell to the ground in their wake. The sparks started to catch fire with the dry leaves and branches, causing the flames to encircle about her.
Through the fire she could see several shadows that were mounted upon beasts of destruction. The horses leapt through the inferno and started moving towards her. Rotting and decaying cloaks swirled madly in the stifling heat and the sickly pale green of evil eyes surrounded her, further enhanced by the light of the fires.
“The Guardian!” one of them rasped through its rotting mouth. Several death knights pointed their staffs of emerald towards her.
Aegwyn cried out as she felt pain burst through her body. Her cloak started to fall apart and the agony ripped through her skin and tore at her muscles and broke her bones. She clenched her teeth and with great effort rose to her feet. She tried to get away but the pain was overwhelming. She collapsed and groaned, all but dying but still clinging fiercely to life. No! She was so close! The world needed another Guardian!
Time seemed to move slowly. Though the steeds of the undead sorcerers were galloping they seemed to move as if they were caught in a time ebb. She looked about her and struggled to her feet. The visions about her blurred and seemed to cast away as a brighter image appeared.
Her eyes widened in complete horror. She could see dragons flying through the air like a great swarm of locusts. The vision swirled and blurred and then dark redness enclosed her senses. She saw the twin eyes of angry yellow appear and then horns and great leathery wings that opened up and spanned the world about her. The capital of Lordaeron burst into fires and explosions rocked the castle walls. Human knights being cut down as they struggled to defend their homelands.
She saw King Terenes’ head on a pike, his mouth still open in a cry that would never end. Water rushed into her vision and she saw several giant turtles moving slowly through the seas, the light of the sun never penetrating the waves. The debris of the fallen ships fell about the armored creatures. Bloody streaks broke through the waves as body parts sank to the ocean floor.
A single Orc, standing on front of a banner which wafted softly through the cool breeze of the Lordaeron night stood atop the hill, surveying the wasted capital that lay beneath him. He raised his axe and let out a long cry. And then darkness was all that she saw.
“Aegwyn...”
She heard it, almost as soft and gentle as if in a dream. There was a long pause and in the darkness she saw nothing, heard nothing. Was she dead? She groaned to herself. The world! The world would be destroyed! She had seen it! She couldn’t die! Couldn’t be dead. The pain had leeched from her body and all that was left was the darkness. She couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t hear anything. There was complete nothingness around her.
“Aegwyn.”
She heard it again. She tried to locate the source of the voice. She moved her limbs slowly, as if she were trying to walk in a dream. Running fast yet moving like molasses.
Light burst about her, enclosing her in the colors of the rainbow. Piercing shafts of blue and deep slashes of red crashed with the gentle lines of green and the stalwart walls of purple. The colors were dazzling and invigorating. She was fascinated by the show of the lights, which echoed around her. Images stretched and skewed, never holding shape for long and always moving, always changing like the clouds in the sky.
“Aegwyn...”
She looked around, moving her head, trying to find where the voice was coming from. “What do you see, Aegwyn?”
The lights continued to dance in her eyes. Like beams of crescent thunder and soft waving patterns of a white streaked sky. She saw images in her mind that flashed through with so much speed that she couldn’t see them clearly, yet she knew who they were. Nielas, Daissan, Selaine. King Wrynn, Lady Varia, Young Prince Llane, the children of the court, the horses of Azeroth. Lord Lothat, King Tarin, Galion, Tarmand; all the people she had known during her life, before and during her long and heavy burden of the Guardian of Tirisfal. She couldn’t find Medivh anywhere in the collage of pictures that surrounded her. The familiarity made her heart ache with pain. She had loved them all in different ways, even Galion and Tarmand, whom she had known for such a short time. She respected them and had cared for them. She had grown a bond with them that was forged through the trials of their journey.
“They have made this possible. Please. There is little time. Aegwyn you must.”
She saw a hand outstretch towards her in the blurring and dazzling light of the colors. Aegwyn saw a face appear clearly through the line of blooming paints. He smiled at her in a way that made her remember.
She extended her hand towards him and brushed her fingertips against his own. Aegwyn strained closer, stretched her fingers. She grasped his strong hand in her own.
Warmth and life flooded into her veins and a light so brilliant appeared that it blinded out all the colors that surrounded her. All the feelings that were mankind’s treasure surged through her heart and mind, filling her with peace, with life, and with happiness that she hadn’t felt for so long.
The light started to dull and fade and the colors drained out of her vision until there was blackness again. The feeling of the grass beneath her body and the cool breeze of the world almost hid her from the fact that she was dying. Even though the flames roared about her and her whole body was all but broken, she felt no pain.
Aegwyn closed her eyes and let out a gentle smile as she felt herself begin to fade, felt her grasp on the world disappear. She had done what she had to do, given her mantle to another. As the light of the world faded, she saw one last vision, which filled her with happiness.
There was a gentle light that shone off the armor of several soldiers that had gathered together in the light of the sun. In the valley below them there was a deep, heavy crater that had formed at the bottom of the depression. Obsidian stones lay scattered along the walls of the canyon. She could feel their relief, could feel their happiness now that the war was over.
There was another Guardian. One who could bring back peace to the land. Aegwyn let go of the last strings that held her to this world. She knew who the new Guardian was; and she was going to miss him.
