The Loremaster – Chapter 5 – Descent into Madness

Shado-Pan Lord Taran Zhu stood looking over the mountains from where he stood on a tower of the monastery. He closed his eyes. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the Yaungol fighting to gain access to the Summit.

All of this. All of this madness. The Mantid had woken ten years too early and were in far vast numbers than any books recalled. The Yaungol were being driven from their homelands as the Mantid pushed passed their borders of the Dread Wastes. This could not be helped and he felt somewhat sorry for the men, women, and children who only wished to live.

However, his eyes narrowed toward the Goddess Mountain of Neverest. The Horde and the Alliance were a different matter. The outsides who had come bringing their own war with them. He felt the sting of a tear in his eye. He wiped it away angrily. They had taken the one he loved. He never thought he would find love again, but his love for the White Lady had been deeper and more pure than anything he had every felt before, and now she was gone, murdered at the Serpent's Heart when the men and women of the Alliance and Horde squared off releasing the Sha of Doubt.

He closed his eyes. The Shado-Pan were to fight the sha, but that sha would be the Alliance and Horde's problem to bear. It if killed them, so be it. They deserved nothing less for their crimes.

He drew a deep breath allowing the cold air to fill his lungs. He then leapt from the tower and landed on the earth, rolling to protect himself from the fall. He stood up and wiped snow from his arm. He walked to the shrine of his beloved.

He wiped snow from it and his breath caught as he smelled the faint smell of cherry blossoms. It was becoming fall and the blossoms had long since fallen. He looked about. "Rhenn?" He asked the air about him. He then closed his eyes and shook his head. It could not be.

He squared his shoulders and looked down the valley his eyes narrowing as he felt his heart harden. The Horde and Alliance would pay for this outrage. Let them rot and if they came to this place he would see them die as horrible deaths as she had. He touched the jade piece.

"I will never forget what they did to you and they will suffer for it." He vowed.

The scent of cherry blossoms became stronger and he shook his head sadly wondering if she could hear him and knew how much he missed her.

ZzZ

Windsong stood nearby, her small feet not making a dent in the snow as she watched Taran Zhu. She knew he could not see her. She lived on a different plane of existence than he. Her realm was the realm of dreams, death, and emotion. She had refused to join A'dal until her task was done. Pandaria was still in danger and she had vowed to protect it. He had allowed her soul to return and had infused her with his own powers knowing she would need them to defeat the great Sha Primes. Though in life she had been Rhenn of Azeroth, she was now Windsong, a young fair maiden, the complete opposite of the Sha. She was good and shown with Light as she walked. Around her she could summon the smell of cherry blossoms, a gift from the Mother Goddess, herself, to alert others to her presence. As she grew stronger, with each Sha she would help defeat she would become more visible and on the last, she would have to use her powers from the August Celestials to defeat. There was still a Prime missing and unaccounted for and A'dal himself did not have answers for her. Her task was to defeat this presence and return to him when Pandaria was safe.

She closed her eyes as she heard the words of Hatred on his lips. He had to fight. Such words were against everything he believed in. She reached to touch him and her hand touched his cheek softly. She knew he would only feel the touch as a cold mist, but she needed him to know she had not forsaken him. She never would. Not until he had driven the Sha away as he was tasked.

"Remember." She whispered.

"He does remember little one. He remembers watching you die at the hands of the Horde and Alliance." A voice rasped nearby. She looked up, her small body was that of a young woman, perhaps twenty with white hair. Her face was young, so young and the Sha of Hatred turned his gaze to her. "His soul is mine."

"No. I will fight you. He is a good man and you shall not have him." She turned to the Sha of Hatred.

"Such spirit." Came the voice of the Sha of Violence. "We will enjoy breaking you."

She looked to his cage where his clawed arms were reaching upward. "You will not break me. I will be sending you back to the abyss you came from."

"It is only a matter of time before we are free and strong." The Sha of Hatred rasped. He lifted a claw and moved to touch her. "Your lover will be the first we corrupt. Others will follow. With each we grow stronger."

She formed light in her hands and threw it at him. He hissed as it burned.

He smiled. "You are the only one who stands between us and our goal."

"No." She smiled. "I have summoned help. Soon they will come and defeat you." She hissed.

"Such faith." The Sha laughed, deep and maniacal. He turned his attentions to Taran who was walking away. He moved to touch him and Windsong leapt into the air and gasped as the withered claw touched her. She looked up at him. The sha had burned her.

He smiled. "Already you are weaker." He hissed at her. He then flicked her away from him and she yelped landing hard on the ground. She looked up at the sha as he smiled in triumph. "You are only a thorn in my side, little one." He turned back and touched Taran Zhu.

Taran went rigid as the Sha of Hatred entered his body and then one he was possessed the Sha looked back at her as she lifted a hand. She could not defeat this sha alone, especially one that was feeding off his brother.

The Sha of Violence rattled in his cage and it sounded like a cheer. "You will not defeat us now. You are the only one here who can try, and you are too few."

"Soon." Windsong promised as she moved to a tower, transforming into a ball of light that traveled on the breeze. "We shall see how long your reign lasts." She called to them as she lighted on the window and looked down.

The tower glowed and she stood there looking down.

Taran Zhu looked about, his eyes red as he looked about. He looked up. Let the little thorn have her place. He would defeat her sooner or later and her spirit would be the perfect vessel to corrupt and use for their greater purpose.

ZzZ

It was some months later when some of the monks of the Shado-Pan were becoming suspicious of their leader. They understood his anger, but he had hatred was like venom. Some listened. Others who knew him well wondered what was going on with him.

Windsong saw her door. She needed to see how she could make it so others could see her. One night she entered Ban Bearheart's room. He woke with the eerie light there. Reaching for a weapon, she lifted her hand.

His eyes narrowed as he saw it was a young woman, perhaps twenty, a pale skinned elf in a dress of gray like the mists of the shores of Pandaria. She looked at her hands and then up at him. Her ears were long and pointed against her head. Her eyes were grey-blue, matching her dress. She was barefoot and she stepped to him. "Hear me." She said softly.

He looked at her. She was not armed and she watched him. He set the weapon down and stepped to her. "Who are you?"

"Windsong." She said. "You must leave this place Ban. The Shado-Pan have been corrupted. You are one of the few who is fighting." She lifted her hand. He smelled the cherry blossoms about her. It was a beautiful scent. The smell of spring and hope.

He knew she spoke true and he looked at her. "Who are you?" He repeated. She was so young to be here and more to the point, elves he knew were part of the Horde and Alliance, but she did not have the look of a Blood or a Night Elf. Her skin was pale, her hair icy white, and her features were young. Her ears were pointed and the same pale color as her skin.

"A friend." She answered. "I will fight the Sha as hard as I can to gain you time to gain whom you can and come back. I cannot defeat them alone. They are too powerful and their power grows as each soul joins them."

"My lady." He said bowing.

She smiled a little. "Celestial's Blessing upon you Ban."

"You know me." He said startled. She had named him. Who was this girl?

She dipped her head and retreated to the hallway.

"Wait. I must ask you…" He followed, but when he came to the hallway, she was gone, but the scent of cherry blossoms remained, strong and it gave him hope.

ZzZ

Ban Bearheart, Taoshi, Yalia Sagewhisper, and Suna Sunstrike confronted Taran Zhu as he stood in the Grove of Fallen Blossoms. It was here when members of the Shado-Pan were first brought in as apprentices and for every rank they gain, the grove was where it was presented.

He had released the prison hold on the Sha of Violence who now roamed the halls freely feeding on the violent tendencies of the monks there. In his wake smaller sha sprang from the earth. All this Windsong had watched from her tower.

She looked down at the brave four who stood before the Leader of the Shado-Pan now.

"You must step down, Taran. You are not yourself." Taoshi said pleading with him.

"I have new powers and I will use them to bring down the Alliance and the Horde for their crimes." Taran Zhu's voice was distorted and had developed a hissing quality.

Yalia reached to touch his arm. "We all know your pain, master. But you must see reason. Can you not hear the anger and hate in your voice? The sha are near and they grow with such words."

"The sha will see the Alliance and Horde fail. When the time comes we will meet them and defeat them?"

"How when they are already here?" A new soft voice said.

The four smelled cherry blossoms as the woman in the flowing robes of gray stepped between them and their leader.

"Who are you?" Taran demanded.

"They speak the truth and you are so blinded by your own corruption you do not hear, Lord Zhu."

Taran glared his eyes flashing red. "You know nothing." He hissed and lifted his hand.

A black ball flew toward the girl. She crossed her arms and hatred fell to her feet withered and crying in pain as the small sha moved back toward the master. She stood her ground crouching. "You four leave. There is nothing more you can do here."

"But…" Suna protested.

Taran leapt at the girl and she locked arms with him. He seemed surprised and Ban nodded gathering the four. "Come." He ordered the others.

They followed and ran up the rise they looked back as Windsong became a ball of light and then flew to them as Taran lifted an arm. "Put them down. They are deserters!" He barked.

Arrows fell, but nothing hit the four as they ran. Yalia touched the barrier and her hand defected against something. The smell of blossoms made Ban look before between them. "Windsong." He said. He could not see her, but the scent. He well knew the smell. He had smelled it when he had seen her in his bedchamber and as she stood before Taran Zhu.

"Fly!" Came a voice on the air.

Fly they did. They ran up the battlements and looked back seeing the Shado-Pan guards chasing them. They looked down. The snow was deep and soft below them. They looked at each other. The shield was gone, but Windsong appeared on the steps below them, holding a staff.

An arrow was aimed at her and flew through her shoulder and bounced off the steps. The only one who witnessed it was Ban. He was the last and he jumped as the girl used her staff to block an attack from two monks.

Windsong looked back and nodded at him. He jumped and then he watched a light ball lift into the air and hover on the battlements. He looked back gathering his comrades into his balloon and saw that the monks dropped their weapons as they suddenly glowed red hot and the ball hovered.

"Go Ban. I have friends. You must find them and end this." A voice came to him.

He nodded grimly. He would end the corruption, but he needed help. Windsong was a formidable ally, but even she was not great enough to stand against a sha.

They flew to Winter's Blossom and Ban shook his head. They had won this battle but not the war. That was far from over.