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In Orgrimmar...

Tharok stood holding the cup filled with wine that evening in front of thousands of his people before the entry of Grommash Hold in the Valley of Strength. He was flanked by his brother and sister Orcs from the Argent Crusade who had come with him from the other side of the world. In front of him and off to the right stood Supreme Lord Varok Saurfang. True to his word, he had been the first to accept the cup upon their victory over the Shadow creatures in the city.

It had taken all the rest of that night and into the increasingly heated day as they drove through the city and deep into the cleft of Shadows, the Light giving them the strength and endurance to keep going without tiring. The Orc warriors drove the shadows back, deep into Ragefire Chasm under Orgrimmar and had found the Void fissure through which they were coming and the dark practitioners who had formed it dead on the ground, murdered by the creatures they had summoned. Following the voice of the Light within him, Tharok himself had closed the fissure merely by touching it, watching with awe as it burst into flames and dissolved like the abominations it had spawned.

And then the warriors that had struck into the chasm had to just as quickly evacuate it. Magma had begun to erupt from cracks and fissures in the walls of the caverns and tunnels and quickly spread, filling in crevices and caverns with a kind of vengeance as though the rock and earth itself wanted to be cleansed from the Shadow's filth and remove all trace of it. No living thing could have survived it.

Tharok remembered the warriors who had fallen defending the city with strength and honor as he spoke to his people before presenting the cup of Jeshua's pact. It was only right. He had then spoken of the human teacher he had known in Hearthglen, and what he had seen him do for the Forsaken. He then had spoken of the warning given by the Night Elf goddess to Jeshua's emissary.

In truth, he had not known how they would respond. He had not been there in Draenor when his people had first taken the demon's blood, making their own pact with the Legion through Gul'dan. Tharok had not been born yet. But he would have been a fool to not realize what many of them, the older veterans especially, would think of making a pact with some powerful force again. Many of them, he had heard, when they slept still had nightmares of the things they had seen and done while under the influence of the fel's bloodlust.

And then Saurfang himself had spoken to his people, "I too have heard of this human teacher from the Warchief herself! I have seen the change as many of you already have that this man wrought in her! Can any of you say it was for the worse?! After everything our people have been through, after everything we have done, after every horror I have done, the Light, once foreign to us, now reaches out to us to save us from certain destruction! I for one will make this pact with the Light through this Jeshua Lightborn! I will not turn away the Light's hand when it is outstretched in friendship to us!"

And with that, the aged warrior Orc took the cup from Tharok and drank deeply, surprised that the level of wine in the cup had not lessened when he handed it back to him. "Strength and honor, friend." He had told Tharok before turning around, crossing his arms, and waiting expectantly for his people to follow his example.

And then they did. Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, even some Goblins came. Not all of them, but many, answering Saurfang's challenge to them to not turn away the Light's hand when it was offered. Matron Battlewail, the elderly surrogate mother for the Horde's far too many orphans, had presented herself along with her assistants and their small, innocent wards. Warriors, Mages, Shaman, Sunwalkers, and common peons that had seen what the Argent Crusade warriors had done during the night, it made no difference; Tharok had presented the cup for hours as the people came to drink from it.

And then towards the evening, just after the White Lady had risen, the moon disappeared from it's place in the sky without explanation. A great, otherworldly voice had been heard across the valleys of the city speaking in the Darnassian tongue of the Night Elves.

A massive earthquake shook the city even as people were still coming to him. In the west and high above them, a great plume of black ash spewed into the sky from Mount Hyjal followed by shooting globs of orange red molten rock. The tremors continued unabated, and magma began to seep from the cleft of Shadows into the Drag.

"Get to higher ground!" The call went out as the residents of the city started to climb by any way they could to the Wind Rider aeries and zeppelin towers at the mesa atop the city.

The city's Shamans fought to keep the rising molten rock back and under control, but all they could do was buy the others time. It refused to be stopped.

On the coastline of Durotar, steaming waters began pushing their boundaries, the waves growing more powerful and more destructive as they slammed into the shoreline and the city's docks. Sea dogs, Kro'kuun guards, and peons abandoned their posts and evacuated inland as wave after wave pounded and splintered the docked transports and juggernauts until there was nothing but wreckage and broken boards. But the fury of the waves wouldn't stop.

In the Great Dark High above Azeroth...

Elune felt as much as saw the eruption of Mount Hyjal from high above the world she had watched over. New orange and golden colored fissures opened up around the planet running like an aimless jigsaw puzzle a gnome might create to amuse and frustrate his companions.

As he turned, An'she saw it too and knew that it would not be long now. He then turned back to face the swirling mass of darkness and renew his attack. His silvery white counterpart did the same as more waves and tendrils of Void energy shot out with a renewed desperation at the two guardian gods. The pull against the two became enormous as the Void tried desperately to dislodge its assailants from their positions.

Nearby, a small globe of blue flew past them and into the Void's maw, destroying and collapsing it, tearing apart the companion moon Azeroth's people had called "The Blue Child" until there was nothing left.

And then, in the distance across the Great Dark, a new star appeared that had not been there before. It was still a long ways off, but growing in brightness and intensity like a new sun rise beginning to crest. The two cosmic beings were not the only ones to recognize it.

"NOOO! I WILL CONSUME ALL! NOTHING WILL STOP ME! NOT EVEN THE LIGHT!" The Void cried out across space and time.

The pull against the two became unbearable as debris floating in the vacuum pummeled them on its way to oblivion in the Void's grasp. Swarms of the Void's minions flew out from its darkness as the primal force of destruction fought with all its malevolent dark energy against them.

Elune screamed for the pain as one of her dimensional anchors came free and she was torn between her right foot still held fast and the insatiable, demanding, devouring draw of the Void's power. She hung there in space, swinging her scythe wildly at it and its minions.

An'she, seeing this, became enraged. He caught Elune's hand with his own flaming gauntlet and tried to help her lock herself down again, but she couldn't find her footing. Then, looking down towards Azeroth and seeing the time was at hand, he looked back towards the encroaching Light, so close and not yet here.

An'she knew he only had to buy them, buy her a little more time. It was what he was created to do, protect her at all costs. But how to give them all the time they needed? The Void was hungry and desperate.

Around him, the minions of the darkness swirled but avoided trying to to touch him directly, instead focusing their attack on his sister guardian, Elune. When they did make contact with the surface of his white golden armor they withdrew quickly as if badly burned. The creatures of the Shadow couldn't stand the presence of the Light. Nothing born of the Void could, not even...

And then he knew.

The Void, for all its bluster, hated and feared the Light An'she knew. Any Light would burn and hurt its physical, manifest form. An'she himself was the brightest source of Light close at hand.

As his sister struggled against the onslaught, He realized what he had to do to give them all the time they needed. He would not survive it, he was certain, but he did not need to. His followers, the Sunwalkers, understood the purpose and honor of giving their lives that those they loved might live. He, more so.

He made his decision. He would not let his charge Azeroth or his sister Elune fall today or ever, even if it meant his own life.

"FOR THE LIGHT!" The great Tauren sun god roared his challenge at the Void.

An'she's flaming form then became glorious as he called upon all the Light within him that had given him form and substance. That Light exploded and radiated outwards blindingly.

And then he let go from those anchors which had held him in place against the Void's ravenous pull and charged it, his ax raised high for the strike. Those Void creatures, void gods, void lords, and all of their subordinates either fled before him or were consumed as he smashed through them hard and fast.

"AN'SHE!" Elune cried out for her counterpart, her celestial voice carrying far and wide, as his bright, shining sun form slammed into the Void's swirling clouds and darkness in an explosion of glory.

The swirling darkness erupted in white flames and the Void screamed a deep, gutteral and demonic scream across the Great Dark for the pain of the burning, searing Light that had been forced upon it. Its demanding pull was broken as it erupted in flames, and Elune was freed to anchor herself once more to carry on the fight alone against a much weakened entity of darkness that was struggling to recover.

For a brief moment, she looked towards the exploding sun who had been her companion, silver white tears flowing from her eyes as she said her brother's name once more with a heart breaking despair, "An'she."

Then, turning away from the sight for the pain of it, below he, she noticed tiny points of golden Light ascending from the planet's surface even as the land masses of the world began to crack and collapse in fire with explosive force. They grew in number from hundreds, to thousands, until she saw hundreds of thousands if not millions of them rising from all over the surface of the world.

Azeroth's children were now the Light's by adoption. The Holy Light had called them out from the pangs of their mother's true birth.

She then turned her attention back to the weakened monstrosity before her, raised her moonlit scythe and with a great cry, brought its sharp blade edge down hard against the mass of darkness, causing further pain and agony to the Void as she would not let her brother's sacrifice be in vain. She would fight until she couldn't any longer. She owed him no less.

Again and again she struck without mercy, unleashing the full rage of her pain at An'she's loss, at her consort Malorne's loss, at her friend Ysera's loss upon the monstrous, twisted force that was ultimately responsible for them all. Great beams of silvery white energy struck from her eyes, burning the surface of the darkness even further as she screamed in rage and righteous anger. She would not lose Azeroth too! Her own maternal instincts drove her to strike further and harder against the Void even as it tried to recover, lashing out wildly against her with tentacles of Void energy like a great leviathan of the deep.

Beneath her, the world began to crack open as the fissures in the crust grew larger and larger. The world's swirling white clouds all vaporized as atmosphere escaped and burned away from the planet's surface. The waters of its oceans spilled over the land masses, deluging them and wiping them clean, leveling hills and mountains and pouring sediments into valleys. And then whole chunks of the world's crust broke free, crumbling apart and away.

And then a woman's form emerged from among the debris, a goddess new born among the stars. She was titanic in size, broad shouldered with toned, firm muscles, but slender as well. Her skin was a deep, dark azure and crackled with powerful arcane energies which ran across her skin like glowing, circular tattoos. She was naked as a babe which had just been born. Her long, grass green hair spilled around her long tapered Night Elf like ears and two small horns like a Tauren's that protruded from her temples. It flowed like water down her chest and back down past her waist providing a covering. She had five fingers on each slender, feminine hand, and five toes on each foot. Two small, white, just visible tusks jutted from her lower lip. Her facial features were refined and delicate with high cheekbones and deep set eyes with long green eyelashes, her head set atop a tall and stately neck. When she opened her eyes, one glowed golden like the sun, the other glowed with a silver light like the moon. The faint line of a long sapphire colored scar could be seen in her right side, and another circular scar graced her flat stomach.

Azeroth had awoken.

First she looked towards the White Lady, still engaged in her relentless fight against the frightening darkness which had threatened her. Her great Titan's heart went out to her guardian, wishing she could help her somehow. But then she turned expectantly and saw the approaching Light as it grew larger and faster towards her. When she did, an instinctive recognition broke over her beautiful features, and that heart began to beat faster.

"My husband!" Azeroth spoke into the Great Dark.

And then from across the Great Dark, the voice of the Light responded, "My Beloved!"

The approaching Light grew until she could see it was made up of thousands of smaller lights surrounding a Being of enormous size and power, radiating purity and holiness. That Being appeared strangely human in form, with silver gold, shoulder length hair and full beard. His skin burned bright like the sun, and he wore robes that radiated pure, Holy Light.

The Being of Light pointed towards her and said, "Robe her."

At once, those thousands of Light forged beings, Holy Naaru made of crystallized Light, rushed towards her and surrounded her, interlocking their structures until they became a beautiful gown of radiant light adorning her like no jewels ever could. A tiara of golden Light appeared across her forehead as well.

The Being of Light drew nearer to her, his arms open wide to receive her, strange holes revealed in his wrists as he did. Azeroth opened her own arms to welcome her long awaited husband's embrace.

"NOOO!" The weakened Void mass cried out. "STOP! THE BALANCE! YOU CAN'T! I FORBID IT!"

It began to thrash wildly against Elune's attacks trying to shove her to the side and out of its way, but the moon goddess held her ground in time and space refusing to budge as she responded with fierce strikes and slashes against it. She would see this through to the end no matter what. She owed An'she that much.

His hand met hers and then she fell into his waiting arms.

"My love!" He told her. "How I've longed for this day, since before time itself!"

"My husband!" She called back. "I am yours as you are mine!"

"Forever." He whispered gently to her.

His Light merged with her powerful, innate arcane energies. Time and space itself began to ripple as they joined, intertwining in a lover's dance and becoming one. The powerful energies cascaded from them in waves of glory and then the whole fabric of the space around them began to change. The energies radiated outward harder and faster in an ever expanding globe of power which rushed out to envelope the moon goddess in its pure, energetic Light and then past her as it struck the Void manifestation. But it was not a wave of destruction and death. It was a wave of healing, life, and creation itself.

The Light tore into it with powerful healing force, burning away the darkness of the Void and bringing peace to its madness and pain. It struck deep into the places in between dimensions and rooted out the Shadows and insanity that dwelt there. Quickly, the Light bathed the broken and twisted pieces of the universe which had been the Void in its own embrace and healed them, absorbing the essence which had been lost and wandering for so long back into itself.

The Light continued to expand throughout the Great Dark, bringing its healing force everywhere it touched. It plunged into the Twisting Nether and raced across all those worlds trapped therein, rushing across the surface of the Outland, rebuilding it and reshaping it into the world the Holy Light had meant Draenor to be. Across space and time, it struck against the shattered remains of Argus, healing and restoring those pieces and bringing peace to those souls still trapped there. Everywhere the combined energies of Azeroth and the Holy Light touched new life emerged and took root free of the corruption of the Shadow.

And in the center of the creative explosion, a new green world began to form, untainted and unsullied by the twisted insanity of the Void or its minions. Azeroth's emerald dream unfolded as the new reality in place of the world that had incubated her for so long.

Soon, faster than Light alone could travel, the corruption that had tainted the Light's creation for so long, the corruption that had destroyed those things the Light held dear and threatened to consume everything the Holy Light loved passionately was gone. It had been completely erased from the boundaries of time, space and all dimensions in between.

The Holy Light's eons long nightmare had finally come to an end, and a great peace settled over the universe.

Somewhere on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea on a new world...

Anduin Wrynn looked out across a deep blue, crystal clear sea before him. He did not know how he had come to this place. One moment he had been trying to get his people in Stormwind to higher ground, the next he found himself peacefully watching the water below where he stood, and listening to its sounds.

His feet felt solid against the gray and marble rock beneath him. The air was cool and comfortable and filled with the welcome smells of sea salt. The golden colored sky above him held a few, wispy clouds. He could not see where the daylight was coming from however. There had been no sun in the sky above that he could find. His last memory of the sun... Had it been real? Now, he wasn't so sure, but it was still nowhere to be found.

In the distance to his left were vibrant green hills beyond which he could see the treetops of an emerald forest, greener and more vibrant than any he had ever seen, and yet strangely familiar. Behind him was a green and growing valley, at the end of which sat a crystal clear lake at the foot of majestic purple mountains. The colors were brighter, the air fresher and sweeter, the peaceful sounds of the crashing waves before him more clear and distinct than he had ever known any before. There was a peace and a joy in this place that he felt in the very depths of his being.

He felt at home there. He felt rest there. And yet he was certain he had never seen it before.

Behind him, in the valley, were thousands of people of every race in the Alliance that he knew of. Humans, dwarves, Draenei, gnomes, elves of every kind, every race was represented as far as he could see, though he saw no Worgen and wondered at it. But there were no buildings, no human, elf, or dwarven made structures of any kind anywhere. The world he found himself in was pristine, untouched and uncivilized, and beautiful like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

He had just materialized here, in this place. It looked so familiar to him, but he was certain he had never seen it before. Nevertheless, he had the sense that he had been brought home somehow and that home had been thoroughly cleaned and made ready for him. No, it had been transformed into a paradise.

"Well done, Anduin." He heard the voice of a young man, only a few years younger than himself address him.

Anduin turned in the direction of the voice to see a light skinned human man with strawberry blond hair and beard, and sea green eyes. He wore a robe of golden light. Standing next to him was an exotic looking, beautiful young woman who herself looked at the man who had addressed him with love in her eyes. She most resembled a dark skinned, emerald haired Night Elf, maybe even like one of the Shal'dorei to the young man, but with a Tauren's horns and a troll woman's tusks. She too was arrayed as though the Light itself had robed her with sparkling jewels.

"Well done, my friend." The man said, gesturing to the mass of people in the valley. "All the lives you saved."

When the man gestured, Anduin saw a gaping hole in the man's wrist as though someone had driven a spike through it. The man's identity clicked in the young monarch's mind. Looking again at the woman next to him, he then realized who she was as well. Immediately, the king of Stormwind then took a knee before them.

"I'm sorry, my lord." Anduin told him. "We didn't save everyone. We couldn't convince everyone to come, and some we just didn't reach in time. We tried, but we couldn't get to everyone in time."

With a serious, and saddened expression, Jeshua responded, "I know. What's done, is done. Look at all those who are here because you did act though. Thank you for listening, Anduin. Even though you never saw me before now, you still had the faith to trust me."

Jeshua then moved forward and took Anduin by the hand and raised him to his feet. "I wanted you to know how much I appreciate that faith you always placed in me, even when you couldn't see me there with you."

Anduin nodded, surprised by the man's declaration, unsure of what to say in response.

"Oh, I also wanted to bring you two people who have been asking about you for a long time. I met them in the Shadowlands during my brief stay. They seem quite eager to see you." Jeshua then told him.

A confused expression passed over Anduin's features as he looked past Jeshua who then turned once more, stepping out of the way and gesturing to a point down the slope not far from them. His royal blue eyes followed Jeshua's fingers until they fell upon a pretty young woman in a royal dress with long, golden blond hair and blue eyes exactly like his own. Standing next to her was a muscular man with strong clean shaven if scarred features and dark wavy hair. He was wearing a white shirt and royal blue pants. His shirt bore the monogram of Stormwind's royal monarchy.

Tears came to Anduin's eyes as he recognized them, "Mother? Father?"

"We will leave the three of you to get reacquainted." Jeshua then told him, smiling as he did. Then addressing his wife, he said, "Come beloved, there are others I need to speak with."

She nodded, and then suddenly they were gone, vanished in a golden shower of Light.

Anduin stood still, unable to move and barely able to breathe as Tiffin and Varian Wrynn approached him. His mother reached out to him, caressing his cheek with her hand as his father placed his hand on Anduin's shoulder and declared, "I am so proud of the man you've become, son. Stormwind has never had a greater king than in its final days."

And then Anduin embraced his parents fiercely.

Elsewhere in the world...

Sylvanas Windrunner stood next to her consort atop a hill overlooking the sea as well. Behind them was a green and gold forest. She breathed in the scent of the green, vibrant trees deeply, wondering where she and Nathanos were. Though she could not place it, the landscape felt like home, and she was at peace.

As she turned to take in the sight, she saw two other High Elf women standing nearby and recognized them. They were her sisters, Alleria and Vereesa. They too looked at the world around them with a confused mixture of recognition and not.

"Hello, Sylvanas, Nathanos." Sylvanas heard the familiar voice of the man who had given her back her life.

She and Nathanos turned to face him, both holding each other's hands tightly. He was accompanied by an exotically beautiful woman robed in light that resembled neither Night Elf, nor Troll, not Tauren, nor human or dwarf but some combination of all the best qualities of each. There was an expression of love and kindness on her exquisite face.

Jeshua smiled broadly at the elf woman and her human consort. "I thought I might find you here."

"Where are we, Jeshua?" Sylvanas asked. "It looks familiar but I don't remember it."

"Quel'Thalas." Jeshua replied. "Quel'Thalas as Azeroth dreamed it could be." He then gestured towards the woman next to him and Sylvanas then understood with some shock as to who she was.

"The Dream the druids spoke of?" Sylvanas repeated as her mind worked through what he said. "The Emerald Dream has become... all this?" She said with wonder.

"Did I not tell you you would be in paradise with me?" He responded.

She didn't know what to say. It was peaceful. It was beautiful. It was gloriously vibrant and alive. Tears came to her eyes and she managed to whisper two words in response, both choked with emotion, "Thank you." Then she choked out, "I don't... I don't deserve this. With everything I've done, every horrible thing I've done without remorse and without mercy. You had every right to let me fall into oblivion."

"It was never about deserving anything, child." Jeshua told her. At this, Azeroth approached her in a motherly fashion, and began to wipe her tears from her face with her hand, nothing but compassion in her expression. "I wanted to heal you from your sickness, all of you. That's all I've ever wanted." He explained. "I've only ever wanted you all to know how much I've loved you, and to heal you from the Void's corruption, and now I have. Now, go. Live the life I've given you. Be truly free. You, and all your people. Fill this world and enjoy it as our gift to you."

Sylvanas tried to comprehend the generosity and compassion that drove this Being's very existence and she found that she couldn't. She didn't understand, but a deep feeling of gratitude and a peaceful joy welled up inside of her and she squeezed Nathanos' hand tightly once more.

"And you, Jeshua?" Sylvanas then asked. "Where will you and she be?"

Jeshua smiled once more as his wife came to join him. "I will always be right here, Sylvanas. I was the first and I will be the last. I am not going anywhere, and neither is my beautiful queen. Our Kingdom of Light has come."

THE END