I haven't updated this, because like my previous chapter, I just kept it saved and forgot about it.

Part of it was because I was busy. Now I won't bore you guys with anything else.

This story's pretty slow. I might have bitten off more than I could chew, especially given that I've recently got a new job some time ago, so I might be rushing some chapters to get to the end, and just treat this as an AU. Because I've forgotten lots of minor details.

Sorry if it breaks my already mediocre story.

By the way, it's a very short chapter, next one would be longer.

Once again, I owe absolutely nothing.

"How does one earn reputation around here?" Shirou asked. The redhead was in the middle of his break. He had jumped to another job. As a freelancer, he often went wherever people told him of a job opportunity. Things were rather different compared to his time.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." There was more, but he couldn't say. No doubt his boss would think him crazy if he told him the whole story. He was having trouble believing the situation at hand.

"Why do you need reputation? Didn't you say that you wanted a simple life? Those who earn fame normally have a difficult life, burdened by the expectations of others."

"Just curious."

His boss wasn't happy with the repeated answer but let it slide.

"To become famous, you have to go around doing deeds that award fame and merit. Say you'll gain great reputation if you killed a dragon who was terrorizing a city. Or you can take a slow and steady route and work your way up the chain of command in a military. Combat is often the fastest way to become famous."

"I see." Nothing of much that would be of use to him.

His boss just stared at him for a few moments before he resumed work. Inwardly, the redhead let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I'm not too sure how to begin with this quest."

Inwardly he was already thinking that he might have bitten off more than he could chew.

"Medivh, that was the name of the Last Guardian. The one responsible for bringing the orcs into this world."

"In the flesh." There was a hint of playfulness under that tone of his. "But I'm sure that's not important right now is it?"

"Actually it is, but you're right, there are other things to worry about. Like why are you spying on me?" He was grateful for his services, but he couldn't let his guard down, especially against someone like him. "No in the first place, how were you even aware of my presence?"

The wizard chuckled in response. "I have had experience with beings from other worlds, and I'm not just talking about the orcs. When you first arrived, I felt a surge of power, and went to investigate. At first I had thought some great evil had appeared, but to my surprise, it was a pair of human siblings. I watched over you two for some time. If either of you had become a threat, I would dealt with you long ago."

His fists tightened at the words, but he didn't say anything.

"Time passed, and my fears were proven to be false. Even better, it seems that you might be able to help accomplish my goals."

"I'm grateful for your help, but I see no reason to go along with anything you ask for."

"Even if it involves your sister?"

Kanshou and Byakuya sprung in existence at his command. The old man wasn't worried in the slightest bit. "Settle down, I am not the one you should be worried about. I"m not the one who is going to threaten the lives of you and your sister."

"Then who is it?"

The old man did not answer the question directly, it made him more agitated. "You are familiar with the Scourge are you not?"

"The army of the dead? How can I not be?"

The Scourge was all anyone could talk about when they weren't talking about their everyday lives. How could they not, they had replaced the Orcs as the greatest danger to the land they lived in.

"The Scourge's leader is in Northrend is it not? I heard rumors that Arthas is leading an expedition force against it."

"Bah." The guardian snorted in mild disgust. "The prince will find nothing but death in that frozen wasteland. Humanity has no chance against the Scourge should the dead take the war seriously."

"Are you saying that they are going easy on us?" The situation was already bleak enough for his taste. "If so, why?"

"Because the Scourge is not the problem, at least for not. Rather, it is the master of the Scourge that you should be worried about."

"Master?"

"It seems I have your attention now." Medivh took a moment to catch his breath. "Tell me boy, have you heard of the Burning Legion?"

He shook his head.

"Figures." Shirou no matter how adaptive was still someone from another world. He wouldn't be familiar with many names.

The wizard went into explanation. "The Legion is an immortal army of demons that travel the cosmos, destroying entire worlds in the process. They are the ones who created the Scourge."

An immortal army of demons who destroys worlds. He had thought that nothing could top the Holy Grail War, he was quickly proven wrong.

"Ten thousand years ago, the Legion invaded this world in force. They were defeated, but not without a heavy cost. This entire continent was once part of a complete world that existed back then."

"And now this Legion is coming back?"

"The Scourge is but a weapon of theirs. A weapon to weaken the defenders of this world. Years ago, the Orcs were their weapon of choice. Needless to say they failed, so they turned to the Scourge. One far more powerful and dangerous, and yet even they are nothing to the horrors that will come."

"The orcs were weapons that were designed to destroy the world. I didn't know that."

"That is of no importance at the moment." The wizard brushed aside his accusations. "For my crimes, I was killed by my apprentice and his comrades."

'And yet you stand before me.' He kept that thought to himself. There was another more important matter at hand. "You said that Arthas will fail no matter what, why is that?"

"The dead is but a weapon for the Legion. The foolish prince believes that he knows who the master of the Scourge is and attempts to destroy him, not knowing that everything he knows is but a lie."

"If you knew that, why didn't you inform him?"

The former guardian snarled. "My attempts to warn that foolish prince was a waste of time. He and that uncle of his refuses to listen just the same. As does everyone else I attempt to warn. As you are not from this world, you appear to have more sense than they do."

Experience was mostly to thank for this. He had known to not brush things off just because he didn't like something or simply because it didn't make sense at all.

"What do you want then?"

The wizard just huffed and pointed to the distance to his left. "To take the people of this land and head to the west. This land is doomed, even if by some miracle, the people defeat the Scourge, it would not affect the Legion at all. Sail west to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor, there hope lies."

"Hey wait!"

The wizard shifted into a bird and flew away into the distance. Shirou had many questions to ask of him, but it appears he wasn't going to get any answers.

"Does it have something to do with the undead?"

His eyes widened slightly as his boss hit the nail on the head.

"Looks like I was right. Don't look so surprised, you probably aren't the only one thinking about it." His boss gestured him to look around. "Everyone here is actually on edge to be honest. We go about our daily lives, but in reality, it's just to distract us. The Orcs attacked us sometime ago, and the town guards were only able to slow them down at best. And now we have the undead who are even worse than them."

"Maybe fleeing to the west doesn't sound so bad now."

"Probably." The old man shrugged. "With all the unrest going on, some people might have considered either moving to an isolated area, or to the capital cities for protection. Things have only gotten worse with the latest rumours of Prince Arthas taking a large portion of the military to go fight the undead leader. Some are excited, while others are worried."

"Worried...that he'll fail?"

"That and the kingdom is weakened by it. There's been more cases of the dead attacking lately, and the kingdom is struggling to keep up with the amount of attacks. Even worse is that after the news spread that it's possible to turn people into the dead by targeting the food supplies, people have become more paranoid."

"Hmm…" Perhaps there was something he could do.

Time passed, before he knew it, over a month had flown by and he still wasn't anywhere close to accomplishing his goals.

Technology was bouncing all over the place in this world, but for the most part that only applied to the goblins and gnomes. In his spare time, Shirou had travelled to many nearby areas. Never leaving for more than a few days. He had changed to a freelancer, no longer settling for one single job. He used the opportunities well to better himself.

He visited tarvens, and other areas where adventurers gathered to share their stories and brag about their achievements. He learnt many useful things from them and combined the knowledge with his unique set of skills.

A gem of true sight to protect himself from illusions and invisible enemies, a hearthstone to return home in an instant, a variety of potions, and other small trinkets that would assist him. Adventurers had more work these days than before. They were often called in to assist with protecting villagers, escort missions and so on. The people often hired them as guards or hired muscle to assist them in their work.

As for him, he would occasionally help out with the townguard, working alongside others to defeat any threats that were to appear in the nearby vicinity before disaster struck. Occasionally he would work with several adventurers that were called in.

He was unusual in the eyes of many adventurers. He held greater power than most of them, yet lacked basic knowledge. Often asking questions that even novice adventurers would know the answer too.

The redhead was doing whatever he could. He made connections with others, occasionally trying to get others to join him on his quest in the future. He was stronger than most, but even he held no confidence in trying to fight off the entire scourge on his own.

His success was limited, though many were afraid, they refused to leave. Fear of the unknown made it hard to convince anyone to leave to the west.

A part of him hoped that Medivh was wrong, but he knew such warnings usually held some truth to it. It was a big regret that he didn't get all the answers he sought. The few people he was able to convince wasn't helping him much.

For the next month, life went by without any noticeable problems.

"Have you noticed something lately?"

"Notice what?" Shirou asked as he wiped the table. The redhead worked part time in the tarven. It was a great place to listen in on rumours and get the latest happenings from travelers, adventurers and merchants who wanted a place to rest. At present he was having a conversation with a regular merchant who often stopped by.

Throughout the last month, he had hopped from place to another, helping anyone if they were close enough for him to do so. He still considered his sister the most important of all, but that didn't mean that he had to spend all day with her.

"The number of undead incidents has dropped by a little recently."

"Really? I never noticed."

It was a lie, he had noticed the drop, but it didn't make him feel relaxed. In fact, it made him more weary. The people whom he expressed his doubts about the situation only told him that he was too paranoid and that it was a sign that the threat of the Scourge was coming to an end.

Fools, most of them were. It was only a handful of individuals who shared the same line of thinking as he did.

He had already begun making preparations for the journey to the west. He just hoped that he would never have to actually do so.

"Well, there's still a lot of things to do. Things like bandit raids have risen up to take their place, and the cult is still on the loose."

"One thing at a time." Shirou changed the topic. "By the way, are there any news regarding what I asked for?"

"You mean if there are still individuals who want to leave? Nothing much has changed, in fact some people reconsidered their options. With the threat of the dead having being reduced, they have grown less afraid, though there are others who are still paranoid and won't return until it's confirmed that the dead are no longer an issue."

That could cause some minor problems. He was hoping to make a reputation for himself so as to be able to convince others to leave with him it came down to it.

"Well keep at it anyway. Nothing comes easy." The redhead sighed. He finished his work early. It was early in the afternoon, there wasn't much to do.

"Oh by the way, this is just a rumour, but I heard that the kingdom recently sent someone over to call Arthas's force back. I don't know how true that is."

"Any news about his progress?" The name bought up some dark feelings, but he kept his face straight, not wanting to bother his companion. "It's been over a month since we last heard anything from him."

"Nothing new, though it seems that he and his men are still alive, so that counts for something doesn't it?"

Not really. He wouldn't let his guard down until he saw for it for himself.

It was nearly two months later before more news had surfaced.

Prince Arthas had returned, and he had defeated the leader of the Scourge. At first there were mixed reactions. Information traveled slowly, so many were doubtful at first. However as time passed, more people begun to take it was the truth.

Many visited Lordoreon, in hopes of attending the celebrations.

Shirou was not one of them. He had friends and colleagues who told him of several unusual events, such as the prince not being himself, and that the number of men who returned with him was unbelievably small compared to when they set off.

"The prince is a fool, not knowing that everything he knows off is a lie." He recalled the words that Medivh had said.

He had been making preparations for emergencies over the past few months, and learnt many things. No more would he be caught off guard, like he once had. He had studied and learnt about what were the things that would mostly threaten him, and the methods for overcoming them.

But at the end of the day, he was but one man. Even though he had built a decent reputation and made some connections with other people, it wasn't enough. People's fear of the Scourge was growing weaker, and with the return of Prince Arthas, they had arguably lost their main reason for wanting to leave the land.

At present the preparations were already half way done, but had grinded to a halt as many people abandoned the project to returned to their daily lives, no longer seeing any reason to leave.

"You think I'm being a little too paranoid?" The redhead sighed as he touched his hair. He noticed that his hair had developed a few shades of white over the past few months.

"Letting your guard down at the first sign of good fortune is a sure fire way to get killed." His colleague, a heavily armed warrior by the name of Gran replied to him. The hulking man wore heavy armour from top to bottom, even in the bar, yet surprisingly he was quite light on his feet. He was one of the regulars who often dropped by the tavern he worked part time in.

"I know, I'm not stupid enough for that."

"So, what are you going to do? Adopt a wait and see method?"

"Not much else I can do." He shrugged. "There's a chance we could be wrong and that we are overly paranoid."

"It be good if that happened, after all, it's not we lose anything even if we were wrong." The warrior took a huge gulp of his drink before slamming the empty cup onto the table. "But now that I think about it, what was your plan even if we had to set sail to the west?"

"Truth be told, I haven't thought of everything." He wasn't someone who knew how to manage and lead others. Even an amateur could point out the flaws in his plan. "I originally thought all we needed was ships to sail and some supplies to last us the journey."

"Shirou, people need a place to settle down. Even if we did supposedly arrive, we don't know what kind of place it would be, and what kind of things are waiting for us. We need people who can fight as well."

"Right." He nodded. It was just another thing to add to his list of concerns. "Maybe we should look into someone whose good at all these planning? It's not something I'm good with."

"In times like this? Good luck finding someone who fits that bill. Unless something drastic happens, kiss that wish goodbye."

The two shared a small laugh as Shirou refilled his drink.

Neither would realize, the horror that was about to be unleashed until it was too late.

So yeah, it's a short chapter, next one would likely be longer.

...I got nothing else to say.