Shalendris awoke the next day to the sound of chirping birds. While Night Elf society was nocturnal, she enjoyed the tranquility of the daytime hours, of the less occupied streets of Zin-Azshari. While there were not as many trees in Zin-Azshari -- and none as large as the wooden giants of the surrounding forests -- the powerful enchantments created by the elven sorcerers of the city managed to dim the sunlight to keep things somewhat shaded for its inhabitants.
Sliding out of bed with a long yawn, eyes nearly glued shut from nearly half a day's sleep, the purple haired Kaldorei combed her fingers through her hair to try and tame her dark locks. Her ears perked up as she heard voices coming from the street, causing her to furrow her brow. People speaking to one another in the streets was not uncommon, especially in a city as populated as this but these voices seemed worried and there were many of them.
Throwing on night robe of dark silk, she dragged herself to the nearest window, she had to squint as the unusually bright sunlight hit bright silver eyes. "What the..."
Pressing her palms to the windowsill, the relatively young Night Elf did not fully comprehend what was happening and what was causing such agitation at this time of day. In the streets, more than two dozen Highborne sorcerers were gathered in small groups, discussing loudly among one another.
"I... I cannot weave my spells anymore!" said one.
"My enchantments have failed! Even the Queen's magic has failed!" remarked another, pointing to the bright sky.
"Something has happened to the Queen!"
These words started to worry Shalendris as well. Usually so carefree and composed, even she was starting to feel the generalized panic infecting her, burrowing into her soul. Never really gifted in anything related to magic, Shalendris could now also feel how the magic permeating every facet of Kaldorei society had disappeared. It had not faded over time, it had stopped entirely, like a river suddenly dammed by a boulder.
"What is happening...?" Her words were almost silent as she spoke to herself, a chill coursing over her body suddenly.
Putting on the leather top and kilt she felt most comfortable in, Shalendris turned towards her room's door to find Eshana, her mother, entering with the same worried, panicked look as the Highborne in the street upon her beautiful face.
"Something's happening, Shalendris. The sorcerers cannot use their magics anymore... Something terrible is happening! Go get your father, he is out delivering flowers to the Elthenil household. Make haste, dear... I..." She stared deeply into her daughter's eyes for a moment, trying in vain to regain her composure. "I fear that the worst might happen. I have heard that the Queen has been taken hostage... Our family cannot suffer once again as we did during the Troll raid on our previous home... I don't want to lose you as I did your brother. I don't want to lose your father."
A sad silence hung over the room for a long moment before Shalendris spoke again, her eyes locked onto her mother's own. Taking a few steps forward, Shalendris hugged her mother gently, reassuringly.
"I'm sure it's nothing... Don't worry, I'll go get him and we'll be back before you know it." Stepping back, she took Eshana's hands into her own, giving them the slightest squeeze.
"Hurry, child."
ΒMany people were already moving towards the gates of the Eternal Palace, demanding to know what was happening with the Well of Eternity and with their beloved Queen Azshara. Were she at the gates with the other Night Elves, she would be asking for her own beloved, Othros, rather than the Queen.
Like most Night Elves, Shalendris still loved Azshara. The Queen had managed to grow the Kaldorei empire into the greatest civilization on Kalimdor and had afforded them hundreds of years of peace and prosperity. Something had gone wrong with the Well of Eternity, however, and perhaps that prosperity would soon be coming to an end, she thought as she moved swiftly between the crowd, keeping her eyes open so she could spot her father.
As she moved towards the Elthenil household, more and more Kaldorei had gathered upon the steps to the palace.
"Excuse me, pardon me." The crowd was getting thicker, and she was having a bit of difficulty moving through the assembled elves. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for her father. The sounds of the crowd were getting louder and louder.
Even among all that, she could hear the peaceful tune of a single bird. Raising her head, she spotted it. A single yellow bird looking down at... her? She could not contemplate it any further, shoved by an insistent Highborne who wanted to ascend the steps to the palace, shouting something about the sudden absence of magic causing the city's wards to fail.
Then, she heard it. Among the clamoring were screams. Then, the screams got louder. And she saw what was causing the screams. The gates of the Eternal Palace had opened and from them had come forth a mass of horrid creatures, the massive brutes armed to the teeth and just... slaughtering every Night Elf they could find.
The crowd that a few moments ago wanted nothing more than to enter Azshara's palace now wanted nothing more but to run from it and Shalendris was stuck in this wave of fleeing, panicking Kaldorei.
Then, she heard the bird again as things briefly quieted around her. Or seemed to, at least.
"You must escape. Leave the city."
Was she hearing voices? Was this a nightmare?
Then, a massive, winged form crashed down barely ten feet from her, holding a massive glaive with which it started cutting down the fleeing crowd with sadistic glee, cackling loudly. A few Night Elves managed to pick up arms to try and defend themselves from the hulking, bloodthirsty brutes but they were no match. Without their magic, without their enchanted armor and weapons, they were no match.
Nightmare or not, Shalendris knew she had to get out of there, had to escape. She could only pray to Elune that her father had managed to get to safety somehow, that he had not been crushed by the crowd or slaughtered like the hundreds who now lay dead on the steps to the Eternal Palace.
In the chaos of it all, Shalendris's eyes were drawn once more to that bright yellow bird flying towards an alleyway. An empty alleyway between two buildings. Conjuring up all the strength in her limbs, she managed to dash perpendicularly through Night Elves running away from the carnage and into the dark alley.
With eyes that could adapt to low-light conditions, Shalendris looked around in the relative quiet of that alley, breathing heavily as she tried to come up with a way out of this mess. A way back to her mother. A way to warn her of the fiendish creatures rampaging through Zin-Azshari.
Shalendris barely had the time to think that a small form stepped out from behind a crate into the open. Only a foot and a half tall, it had ashy grey skin with two long horns protruding from its forehead. Its eyes burned with fiery malice as its grin showed its sharpened, yellowed teeth. Most disturbing of all, however, was the hefty prick it held in its hand. Its clawed digits gripped it firmly as it pumped the length of the veiny thing while its lust-filled gazed stared at the Night Elf's hefty bust and overflowing cleavage. Grossly disproportionate to the fiend's size, its cock probably would have dragged on the ground had he not been holding it in his hand.
"Ey luv, 'ow 'bout ya let ol' Fuznutz 'ave a wank on 'em tits yea?" spoke the horrid little thing, still stroking his dick furiously.
Almost reflexively, and with all the disgust in her body, Shalendris's leg swept upwards in one swift motion, her heel connecting with the underside of the unknown pervert's chin. The sickening crunch she heard as her foot connected with its face let her know that she could keep running.
And with all the grace of a nightsaber cat, she leapt over its prone form. The immobile creature still held its cock in its hand as she leapt over it and the last thing it saw was the wonderful garden hidden beneath Shalendris's kilt as she jumped over him.
His hideous cock let forth a few spurts of fiendish jizz as he died, as happy as any of its kind could be.
Still running, Shalendris looked over her shoulder to make sure it had not followed her, only to see its corpse disappear in a harmless puff of smoke and green embers.
"Ew. Gross."