The Battle for the Veil of the Eternal Blossoms - Part 1
The Forces of Pandaria face their final battle against Nzoth's Army in The Veil of the Eternal Blossoms
Gymer, Thalrian and Kayenier stood alone at the base of the Gate of the Setting Sun, the forces of Nzoth were massing at Mogu’Shan Palace, and the time was almost upon them. Gymer peered through his telescope, there were hundreds no, thousands of them: Voidspawn, Faceless Ones and other abominations even the Old Ox didn’t recognise. These were truly the end times, a notion that made Gymer’s stomach wrench.
As if sensing this, Thalrian placed his hand on his mentor’s shoulder. “Master, this could be it, couldn't it?” He said. Thalrian did not seem upset by this, his destiny was now well known and prepared for. Thalrian was married, he had a family in Kayenier, Gymer, Sami and Ru. He was an accomplished man, and knew with peace that his days were limited.
“The more I see the more I have to accept this may be the day. Are you alright?” Gymer replied. He looked to his apprentice, and he expected to see fear. He did not. It was a reminded that Thalrian was as serene as he, as much one with this land as any Pandaren.
“I am fine, Master, really." Thalrian turned his attention to the matter at hand. "Kayeneir any progress with the Ley Lines?” Thalrian said, turning to his beloved. Kayenier was deep in thought, communing with the Ley Lines that ran under the Veil of the Eternal Blossoms directly, trying desperately to break into the now closed Alliance and Horde portal networks and direct forces to The Veil to support them. The Shado-Pan were holding the wall behind them against the awakened swarm of Klaxxi, and they were spread thin. The forces The Order of the Wandering Ox managed to muster were spread out all over Pandaria, and needed to be summoned here.
Without answering her husband, she opened her eyes as several portals snapped open around them. Stepping through were the battle worn faces of their hastily wrought allies. First, a small but intuitive Vulperan shaman, by the name of Hideki. Hideki was blind, but saw much through the elements of the world, and what he saw was bleak.
Second, The Dread Master himself, a former General and Enforcer of Arthas during his attempted conquest of Azeroth, and before this, Thalrian's adopted brother Nebulox. Nebulox regarded his brother with a slow nod, his show white hair falling over his face as he did so. He turned to the direction of the encroaching enemy force, and scowled. He took a few steps in the enemies direction and stamped his right foot hard into the earth, drawing his greatsword and igniting the runes that ran down the blade with an eerie blue fire. “Let them come.” He said menacingly.
The third portal snapped open, where Thalrian expected to see Captain Brightburn of Syriza and her 7th Legion squadron, instead it laid empty. Kayenier looked at the portal alarmed. “This was apparently their position on Azeroth.” She said, irritated. “I fear they may have been claimed by Nyalotha already.”
The bulk of their support was now missing, The five of them would have to hold until Sami could arrive with the rallied forces of Pandaria. Gymer looked from person to person. He wasn’t sure if they had the strength needed to hold; but they would have to try. He would give everything to gain victory without the need of the Avatar, and he knows that all present, even Nebulox is his forsaken state, would agree.
Gymer’s face went stern, the old, whimsical explorer replaced in character with the gruff general. “Form up.” he barked. Immediately, Hideki, Kayenier and Thalrian moved into position next to Nebulox, who hadn’t so much as moved an eyebrow since he took up position. “There are thousands of them, and five of us. I happen to quite like those odds." Gymer smiled for a moment, then continued. "Hideki, I need two platforms of earth as tall as the wall, you take one, Kayenier take the other. Rain hell on them. Nebulox, Thalrian, you are with me, we charge them head on and hit them hard. Remember, we are stalling them for as long as we can. We just need to keep them distracted and away from the wall long enough for Sami to direct the defenders of Pandaria to us. May the Celestials guide our path.”
They all nodded except Thalrian, who fought a friendly smile in the direction of his Master. “And Thalrian.” Gymer said, “You do not, under any circumstances, invoke the Avatar unless I give the order. Do you understand?” He sounded defiant, but defeated. “No Master, I can’t promise that.” Thalrian replied, his smile fading.
Without so much as a second of warning, the bright sky of Pandaria turned dark. They were coming. With not so much as a nod from Gymer, Hideki reached deep into the earth, propelling himself and Kayenier some fifty feet into the air on large stone obelisks. Kayenier found her feet quickly, and began surveying the oncoming forces for signs of weakness. She found her mark, and as Thalrian, Nebulox and Gymer met the first wave of Void Spawn on the ground, they saw the back line disintegrate in a barrage of meteoric fire followed by a hail of icicles.
Hideki began to conjure a storm, reaching out with all his will to the elements, calling down crashing lightning so powerful he cracked mountains and void obelisks, hurtling the rock down on their adversaries. The living land of Pandaria amplified his powers in ways he had never experienced before, and the small shaman liked it.
Down in the melee, the three men were fighting for every inch of ground. The left flank was held by Nebulox and his immense command over the powers of death. The spawn of the void were almost afraid of him, Thalrian got the impression they were being sent into battle with the Death Knight almost against their will. Nebulox cut a swath in front of himself, obliterating a dozen or so spawn of the void in one strike. He let out a laugh, amused by the state of their dire situation.
The right flank was a flurry of blows. Gymer and Thalrian fighting one synergetic defence. They were communicating, as trained, with a series of codes, phrases and numbers. “Number three, rising sun, left.” Gymer called. Without so much as processing what he heard, Thalrian ran at his master vaulting over his lowered frame, placing one foot on the ground and summoning the power of The Red Crane in his free foot, performing a precise backflip to disintegrate a large summoner to Gymer’s right. “Six, spinning crane, front.” Thalrian replied. At this both men rolled forward toward the next wave of stronger looking void adversaries spinning up into a whirlwind of kicks that summoned a wind to beat their opponents into submission.
Over the cacophony of battle, Kayenier called out, “Thalrian, left!” She saw Nebulox was beginning to falter. Thalrian closed his eyes, and went an ephemeral red, as two clones of his physical form appeared behind him. He had called upon Pandaria’s elements of storm, earth and fire to aid him. “Master, go help Nebulox, I’ve got this.” he said.
Gymer whirled around, Rolling to his right and running full charge to his ally. He eyed a pile of barrels laid to his left, a hastily wrought barricade made of nearby Brew Barrels to fortify against the oncoming evil. Gymer picked up a barrel from the base, sending the rest rolling toward Nebulox. “Pull him free!” Gymer yelled up to Hideki. Hideki sent a gust of wind at the Death Knight, blowing him back twenty or so paces. Less than a second later, the barrels began to crash into the wall of now more dangerous looking soldiers. Gymer threw the barrel he had under his arm and it crashed into the others, splintering the wood and causing brew to spill out and coat a few rows of oncoming soldiers. Gymer pulled a small vial from his belt, popped the cork and drank the contents. As he swallowed, he felt the overwhelming heat of Mama Stormstout’s fire brew erupt from his gut. He breathed fire into the pool of brew, igniting the enemies and cutting off their advance
“Get up and take your position Nebulox!” Gymer yelled. That fire will cover you for only a short time.” Nebulox was on his feet by now, and nodded respecfully at Gymer, walking forward to face the wall of flames.
By this point Thalrian was faltering, his elemental clones had disintegrated, and he was alone. He saw a blow coming from his right, a tendrilled axe aimed for his throat, his dodged left only to have another of the wailing axes come down on his shoulder, shattering his pauldron and knocking him down onto one knee. He rolled backwards a few paces to relative safety as his master swung in and blocked a series of four or five strikes with his cane.
“Bring them down.” A sinister voice called out over the battlefield. At once, two void bolts the size of small houses came hurtling through the sky, colliding with the two pillars that offered relative safety to Kayenier and Hideki. Both looked stunned as their makeshift towers collapsed under them. Without hesitating, Nebulox and Thalrian broke formation on the front line, forcing Gymer into a fighting retreat. Nebulox reached out with the purple tendrils of death and gripped Hideki away from the falling rocks, catching him by the scruff of the neck and setting him down. With little pause, they both charged back towards Gymer to sure up the defence.
Thalrian ran at full pace towards the collapsing tower of Kayenier, running a few steps up the cascading wall and firing a bolt of pure chi energy into its core. This shattered the rock into tiny fragments, allowing Kayenier to glide down safely with a basic slow fall incantation, gliding to the ground and out of immediate danger.
Now the five of them fought side by side, lashing out at every available opportunity towards the enemy. The malicious voice called again, “You cannot stop Nyalotha. The Black Empire rises to claim you”.
“That voice.” Kayenier said. “That’s the one who captured and experimented on me. Thalrian we are in trouble, our forces come here they will surely collapse under the weight of his power.” Kayenier looked troubled, as if she was fighting off a thousand thoughts all at once; endless cruel happenings and possibilities. "He is playing with us." She said, arcing an arcane missile over her head at an oncoming foot soldier. "Why hasn't he just destroyed us himself?". For Gymer, Kayenier’s realisation was a death blow, his final hope of saving his apprentice crushed. For Thalrian, he knew what he had to do.
As if sensing Kayenier's deductions, a hail of void bolts the size of small houses came crashing down around them. Gymer gave the order to spread out and take cover as a blast of dark fire crashed into the ground a few paces in front of him, sending him arcing backwards. Hideki dropped to all fours and ran only to be hit directly, propelling him back and slamming him against the base of the Serpent's Spine, hard. He was breathing, but barely. Nebulox bore the full force of one of the bolts, conjuring anti-magic to take the blast, but then a second one came, and a third, pummelling him down to his knees.
Thalrian looked from left to right, his allies falling around him. Kayenier saw a blast coming for Thalrian, and encased him in arcanic ice to protect him. Not a second later she too was hit, no more glaciers to protect herself, and she fell to the ground. Kayenier, unlike the others, absorbed the blast of pure Void, and it began to roam her skin and darken her eyes even further than her torturer did.
Thalrian broke free of the ice, and brandishing his cane, he spun around, calling all the magic of the land to him and bringing down a thick mist over him and his allies. Nzoth’s army were blind for now, but they were still coming.
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Map of Pandaria
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