Dream...Or Reality?
"Welcome Heroes, to the land of Azeroth!" a raspy, deep voice caused Cayde to jolt awake, causing him to grit his teeth because of the painful ringing in his ears. Cayde slowly opened his eyes as the pain subsided, and what he saw caused him to have a stupefied expression fixed to his face for a few solid minutes, as he saw a few hundred people passed out with very few stirring. As Cayde was looking around at the various people, he noticed that many of them were not human, with some having tusks coming from their mouths or they were covered in fur. Cayde was beginning to notice that something was very wrong, as he had no idea where he was and that some of the people that were unconscious were people he knew from school, and he was just about to start panicking until a firm hand landed on his shoulder with a voice asking "Are you ok, Hero? You landed pretty badly and you seem to have a minor concussion, and I assume the four people who landed with you are your friends, correct?" upon hearing this Cayde quickly whipped his head around, narrowly avoiding into a surprisingly handsome...Elf? Cayde managed to stammer out "A-An Elf? Ok very funny, take the makeup off and explain where you've taken me!" this time it was the Elf's turn to cock his head sideways with a confused expression as he asked "What it this makeup you're talking about? And this land is known as Azeroth, Hero...and I assume you would at least know about your own race..." Cayde began to panic as he gingerly reached his hands up to the side of his face and felt his elongated ears with subtly points at the end. Seeing the shock on Cayde's face, the Elf showed a light smile as he introduced himself "My name is Lor'themar Theron, the regent lord of Quel'Thalas...it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." Cayde couldn't help but feel confused about this whole ordeal, as his own memories were too fuzzy to recall. Eventually Cayde looked back up at Lor'themar and said "My apologies, my name is Cayde Smith, it's also a pleasure to meet you, sir." Lor'themar gave a small laugh as he waved his hand and said "No need for pleasantries, Hero. Please, call me Lor'themar." Cayde rubbed the back of his head with an awkward smile as Lor'themar waved him goodbye as he went off to tend to the other more seriously wounded people scattered around the massive building
Suddenly, Cayde jumped to his feet as he remembered Lor'themar saying that he had four other people that had come with him. After a quick conversation with Lor'themar, Cayde ran towards the southern end of the building, which took him fifteen minutes, and he came across a marble door adorned with a scarlet dragon. Cayde opened the door and he immediately came across four figures, which he recognized as Kat, Sai, Kai, and Vale all sleeping peacefully. The one thing that was off about the four, however, was they all had similarly pointed ears as Lor'themar and himself, while Kat's eyes were fully orange, including the sclera, while Sai's were a dark crimson, Kai's were a light blue, and Vale's were a dark purple, and all of their eyes seemed to glow with a magical light in the dimly lit room.
Cayde breathed a sigh of relief as he confirmed that all of them were alive and with no major injures except for a few scrapes. Cayde moved over to the far side of the room and sat into a lavish looking chair with a comfortable looking red cushion, but he felt a strange...'lump' on his back, and as he reached his hand around to feel what it was, he felt a long piece of leather, which felt like it was wrapped around something. Upon further inspection he noticed that there was a leather strap and a clasp hidden under a dark blue cloak he had woken up with, and when he undid the clasp he heard a muted thud from behind him, and as he turned his head around to see what had fallen, he saw a familiar dragon shaped guard, with a black handle and a sapphire affixed to the pommel. Cayde slowly knelt down towards Khaon and revealed the dark blue blade hiding within the dark blue leather sheath. Just as he strapped Khaon to his back, Cayde heard a rustling from behind him and heard a weary voice call out, asking "C-Cayde...is that you, Cayde?" he turned around to face the teary eyed Kat as he said in a soft and reassuring voice "Yes, Kat...I'm right here...I'm glad to see you're ok." just then, a snort sounded out from the opposite side of the room as a pair of mischievous twins began to double over in laughter.
The commotion caused Vale to stir awake with a tired look on her face as she began to yell at the twins for waking her. This caused Cayde and Kat to smile as the former walked over and placed his left hand on Sai's right shoulder, and his right on Kai's left shoulder, and pulled them into a long hug as he said "All of you gave me a heart attack when I woke without seeing any of you around me...I thought something happened but I was worried for nothing..." Cayde had a soft smile on his handsome face as he stood up and began recounting his interaction with Lor'themar and the few bits of information on their situation. As he finished speaking, the door creaked open as Lor'themar and a huge, green-skinned man with piercing yellow eyes stepped into the room. Lor'themar gave a polite bow as he said "Greeting, Heroes, this is High Overlord Saurfang of the Horde, and he is here to not only personally train you five, but to also give you more information of your whereabouts and the situation of Azeroth."
Cayde nodded his head before Saurfang's voice rumbled and echoed in the small room as he said "I believe your name is Cayde, young Elf. Where did you get that sword young Hero? It is...unnerving..." Cayde cocked his head for a second before the gears began to turn in his head and he responded "Oh, I forged it myself, before all of this happened, and when I woke it was with me." Saurfang showed the same stoic expression as he eyed Cayde, noticing that he had good quality armor and a magically reinforced cloak. Deciding to ask at a later date, as he would be training Cayde personally, Saurfang instead asked if he could see Cayde's sword. However when Cayde handed Khaon over to Saurfang, it started to burn the latter's hand. Cayde showed an apologetic expression as Saurfang was getting treated by Lor'themar, which caused him to show a wry smile as he kept his gaze affixed on the sapphire embedded into the pommel of Khaon.
After Saurfang got treated, he shook Cayde's hand and went to check up on the others leaving the five to their own for now. But when Cayde was just about to grab a spare blanket that was stowed away, a dark grey screen appeared out of thin air, detailing his 'stats' and other various things like reputation, titles, and even what he was wearing. Around the same time, Kat, Kai, Sai, and Vale all saw the same window as Cayde and were all equally confused, as it made the moment feel more like a video game than real life.
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[Name] Cayde Smith
[Race] (Locked)
[Title] Twilight Bearer
[Level] 5
[Class] ???
Strength - 51
Stamina - 74
Armor - 349
CRIT - 25%
HASTE - 13%
MASTERY - 8%
VERSATILITY - 19%
Skills - [Blacksmith] [Metal Shaping] [Twilight Devastation] (Locked)
[Blacksmith] - Gives the ability to forge powerful weapons and armor.
[Metal Shaping] - Gives the ability to shape metal with ease
[Twilight Devastation] - ????
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[Name] Katie Locke
[Race] Blood Elf
[Title] Princess of Light
[Level] 3
[Class] Priestess
Strength - 21
Stamina - 35
Armor - 28
CRIT - 10%
HASTE - 9%
MASTERY - 9%
VERSATILITY - 6%
Skills - [Lights Blessing]
[Lights Blessing] - Heals the Target for 20% more than the amount of mana originally used
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[Name] Kai Vorden
[Race] Half-Blood Elf
[Title] Loki's Protégé
[Level] 4
[Class] Rogue
Strength - 48
Stamina - 27
Armor - 35
CRIT - 10%
HASTE - 8%
MASTERY - 3%
VERSATILITY - 1%
Skills - [Progenitor] (Locked)
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[Name] Sai Vorden
[Race] Half-Blood Elf
[Title] Bane of Kings
[Level] 4
[Class] Warrior
Strength - 48
Stamina - 37
Armor - 51
CRIT - 10%
HASTE - 8%
MASTERY - 3%
VERSATILITY - 1%
Skills - [Thunder Clap] (Locked)
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[Name] Vale Valence
[Race] (Locked) (Sealed)
[Title] Ancient Destroyer
[Level] 1
[Class] Warlock
Strength - ???
Stamina - ???
Armor - 28
CRIT - ???
HASTE - ???
MASTERY - ???
VERSATILITY - ???
Skills - [Devour All!] (Restricted)
[Devour All!] - ???
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(WARNING! DO NOT LET OTHERS LOOK AT YOUR STATUS, FOR IT WILL IMMEDIATELY CAUSE BLINDNESS OR DEATH TO WHO EVER GAZES AT YOUR STATUS!)
(A/N - Vale is main character now lmao...fuck Cayde xD. R.I.P. Saurfang's hand)
The whole group was perusing their Status as the warning popped up, causing them to all to flinch as a loud ding sounded in their minds. Cayde ended up walking back out to where Lor'themar was located, as everyone else was rather tired and wanted more sleep. However, as Cayde was walking down the hall, a tall, handsome Elf with dark blue hair, green eyes, and two amazingly beautiful female Elves on each arm, came walking around the corner just as Cayde was about to turn. The Elf immediately scoffed and said scornfully "Move out of the damn way you peasant, don't just clog the hall with your stink!" eliciting laughs from the two females as they gave the Elf amorous stares. Cayde showed a wry smile as he withheld a sigh and prevented his veins from bursting in his forehead as he said "You should talk to people with better manners than that my friend, lest you want someone to get injured..." The Elf stared Cayde in the eyes, and as neither of them wanted to back down, they just stood in silence as the atmosphere grew even more tense by the second.
Eventually the Elf snorted and spat "If you're so damn cocky, then why not duel my so I can wipe that smile off of our face!?" this caused Cayde's smile to grow even larger as he nodded his head and followed the abrasive Elf. The two ended up in the middle of a large crowd of the now awake 'Heroes' as the Elf gestured for the females to stand at the side with one of them standing off to the side with her hand raised. Lor'themar was among the crowd with Saurfang as they looked on with intrigue, and a bit or worry, as the Elf who was about to dual Cayde was the heir to the second most powerful noble family in Silvermoon, Quel'Yin Malduin. Cayde grabbed the hilt of Khaon as Quel'Yin grabbed the hilt of the longsword he had strapped to his waist, and both assumed their stances, waiting for the signal to start. As the two were waiting, Quel'Yin was sizing Cayde up, and noticed his firm, awkward stance, which caused him to ask "Have you ever held a sword before, boy? If not then don't be mad if you barely survive!" and he dashed forward before the signal was given, causing Cayde to fluster slightly as he narrowly avoided the skillful slash aimed for his neck.
Cayde was on the defensive as he dodged and awkwardly blocked Quel'Yin's attacks with the latter laughing manically as he watched Cayde stumble about. One after another, skillful attacks rained down on Cayde as he just barely dodged the strikes. Quel'Yin feinted an overhand slash and kicked Cayde in the jaw, sending him careening towards the crowd. He approached Cayde and sneered as he mused "You could give up now, but then my fun venting time would be over...but if you continue maybe I can think of more ways to 'accidentally' kill you...?" Quel'Yin's eyes flashed with a cruel light as he moved faster than Cayde could react, and under the pressure...he missed the block, causing the blade to miss nicking his ribs by a hair, but Cayde realized that there was now an opening and swung Khaon down with as much force as he could muster. The air seemed to vibrate as time slowed to a crawl and Khaon began to warp out of Cayde's hands as a man dressed in a black cloak with a hood covering his face, with only dark sapphire-like eyes glowing from the shadows of his hood. The figure spoke out in a deep, monotone voice and asked in broken words "Is this...my...Master...? This cannot...be...The dream said...he...would be...stronger..."
"Who are you? Are you a monster of some sort?" Cayde was unable to move but still managed to speak a few words to the strange figure, who just laughed almost mechanically after hearing Cayde's question. A shiver went up his spine as the figure looked towards him with its dark eyes reflecting a strange light as it asked "Am I...the monster...or are you...Wielder..."