Chapter 141

(Happening concurrently with Malf vs Varrus) 

Tyrande Whisperwind pressed her lips into a thin line as she witnessed her husband enter the 'druid's fury.'

For someone who was so calm most of the time, he had a penchant for violence that overcame even Illidan at times. 

…Illidan. 

His death did not sit right with her. 

While she didn't love him like Malfurion, he was like a brother to her. 

So while she was a proponent of peace, she could admit a small part of her was happy when her beloved struck out in anger. 

Seated atop her longtime companion, Ash'alah, Tyrande was surveying the area with a sharp eye. 

As soon as Malfurion's forest, and Vandercross's crystalline city clashed with one another, Tyrande had been playing a game of cat and mouse with the rogue, Faedra. 

Upon the opening fight, Tyrande had shot down a thrown dagger with her bow & arrow, then the shorter woman had disappeared. 

Currently on the far side of the forest and surrounded by her husband's trees, and the broken remains of what was once a great city, Tyrande had deployed dozens of owl spirits around the premises. 

The owls were blessed by Elune, and had exceptional eyesight. Not even she could hide from their gaze when she went invisible under the moon's light. 

At the same time, she had the Elite rangers positioned in trees. Meanwhile the druids were scouting. Some druids held onto tree roots, feeling for vibrations, others flew in the sky as birds, yet others still transformed into canines or bears to try and smell out the assassin. 

A butterfly made of mana flew towards her, and Tyrande held out a hand, and let it land on her finger. 

"Anything to report, sister?" Tyrande asked. 

"Immortality is still within your grasp. Rangers throw down your weapons, druids bind your arms, and you will be spared." Faedra's cold, haughty voice resounded. 

Clenching her fist, Tyrande broke the mana construct.

Looking around, she saw several of her sisters and some of the druid's shift uncomfortably at her words 

"Do not fall for her lies. She seeks to divide us." Tyrande strongly replied in an effort to boost morale. 

As soon as she said that, she heard the sound of bow strings being plucked repeatedly just over a few dozen feet away. 

"Prowl, Ash'alah!" Tyrande urged her snow white tiger mount, and was suddenly moved over to the combat zone. 

Yet when she arrived, all she saw were a dozen bloody and mutilated corpses. 

Less than 30 seconds had transpired since she first heard and reacted to the noise, yet her Elites had already perished. 

Gripping her bow tightly, Tyrande's ear twitched, and she unleashed a dozen Searing Arrows at a spot in and around where she heard the noise. 

Orange imbued arrows streaked through the air, and each one exploded with enough force to destroy a tree. 

Several large oaks groaned as they toppled over, and revealed the target Tyrande had hit. 

"No." Tyrande felt pain as she saw that the one she struck was a druid in bird form. 

Some of her Elites who had moved to reinforce her showed up just in time to witness the carnage. 

"Sisters, I fear we are being toyed with. That the witch plans to scatter us, and slaughter us one by one. Gather everyone close, I have a plan." Tyrande ordered as she scanned her surroundings vigilantly. 

For the first time, a righteous anger had colored her voice. It was one thing to take revenge for Illidan-complicated feelings that there were-but it was an entirely different thing when her friends and long time comrades were played with as if they were worth less than dolls! 

"We're here, priestess." A ranger said. 

About 79 Night Elves from the original 100 gathered, causing Tyrande to frown. 

"Is there no sight of Maiev?" Tyrande sceptically questioned. 

"None, priestess, this was all I could find." The sister bowed her head. 

"Very well. Everyone, don't leave this small circle. I'm counting on you to watch my back." 

Tyrande then began to recite a prayer to Elune. 

"Mother Moon, bathe us in your glow. Reveal all who mock your children so."

Upon finishing her recital, a radiant moonlight pierced the day time sky, and shone down upon the forest all around them. 

Tyrande busily scanned the area, and was using a spell to switch between the spirit owls vision, searching everywhere within a 3 mile radius. 

All she spotted were more and more dead bodies, and curiously, Maiev. The Warden was slowly walking towards the circle within stealth. 

'Now this is odd.' Tyrande furrowed her brows.

Maiev had been acting suspicious and hostile ever since they had gone after Illidan. Several times, she showed insubordination to both herself and Malfurion. 

Additionally, she seemed to have had some prior contact with Faedra. This was highly suspicious. 

Furthermore, there were 5 individuals dressed in very strange, extremely bright clothing lurking on the edge of the area. She thought she might have seen something similar at a Dark Moon Fair once. They were…clowns??? 

Shaking her head, she didn't care to explore this matter. She had to finish her prayer. 

"In the name of the sacred moon, our mother in heaven, I call upon you, seal our enemies' doom!"

"Starfall!" 

Upon finishing the chant, countless white hot globes, twice the size of a person, fell from the sky, and began to decimate the surrounding forest. 

Craters dotted the landscape, and trees exploded upon impact. Maiev and the clowns were forced to dodge, and scramble for their lives. 

While she channeled this spell, she was vulnerable, and relied upon her Elites to guard her flank. 

Tyrande was going to warn her subordinates to raise their guards around the Warden, and these possible new threats, as well as the fact that she hadn't spotted Faedra, when one of her comrades made a noise. 

"Sister, look out!" A ranger shouted in warning. 

Tyrande's eyes imperceptibly widened in shock, as the 'sister' from earlier who had gathered everyone was actually Faedra! 

The pale moonlight from the prayer had revealed her for who she really was! 

Caught by surprise, Tyrande felt death approach her as a pair of sickly green glowing daggers came within inches of her face. 

"Ruargh!" Ash'alah raised her claws, and batted Faedra away. 

At the same time, Faedra had dug her weapons deeply into the tiger's eye, and raked the other one around her throat. 

"Ash'alah, no!" Tyrande said in worry as her companion of 15,000 years collapsed in a pool of blood. 

White fur became stained red, and labored breaths squeaked into the area as Ash'alah was on the verge of death. 

Tyrande tried to heal the tiger, but every time the pale glow of the moon stitched together her wounds, fresh blood would squirt out, and her friend would only moan in pain. 

Tears streaming down her eyes, Tyrande stood from a kneeling position, and gnashed her teeth. 

Looking out, she saw that her Elites had encircled the rogue. 

"You shall pay for what you have done here." Tyrande drew on her bow, and shot a magical arrow imbued with the powers of Elune.

"Now honey, you and your man started this cat fight, I'm as much of a victim as you are." Faedra ballet danced around the arrow, and conjured a flower in one hand. 

"For the charming tiger. Her performance was commendable. Bravo!" Faedra took a bow-dodging another arrow in the process-and tossed the red rose upon the tiger's corpse. 

"Open fire. Don't let her escape." Tyrande coldly commanded her troops in frustration. 

She had priced herself on her exceptional archery, and her inability to hit such a close target was vexing her to no end. 

"A priestess of Elune who does not honor the duel between Heroes? Tsk, tsk. How the Kaldorei have fallen. You know, you don't have to follow here orders now, right? How long do you think it is until the Orcs cut down your forests? Can you really survive by standing by and doing nothing?" Faedra buffed her nails on her magnificent black ball dress, and blew on them. 

The response to her taunt was a flurry of arrows, snapping tree roots, and roaring bears. 

"Oh very well, but for every tear on my dress, and mud stain on my heels, I'll be depriving one of you of your ears. Sounds fair?" Faedra cheekily said, and flipped a dagger in her hand. 

Blinking to the side, Faedra dodged a hail of arrows, and found herself face to face with a druid in bear form. 

"Auragh!" The bear roared. 

"What a strong demoralizing shout. I'm practically quivering in place. If only there were a big strong man to hold me?" Faedra slinked within the druid's guard, and eviscerated him. 

As his neck slumped, he reverted back to his muscular, 9ft tall Night Elf form. 

"That's better." Faedra said as she pulled the corpse into a hug, and used it to block a few more arrows. 

Blinking to the side once more, she tossed a dozen daggers at a dozen rangers. 

The Elites all shot arrows at the daggers, but right when they were about to make contact, the daggers blinked forward 5ft. 

"By Elune!" One ranger swore, and caught a dagger to the forehead. 

Four more meaty thunks resounded in the forest, as the momentum of the daggers carried the bodies forward, and impaled them to trees. 

One Elite had twisted her body, and caught a dagger to her collar. She tried to pull it out, and seek healing, yet a vile poison spread all throughout her body in the most sinister way. 

Foam bubbled to her lips, her eyes grew bigger and bigger until they popped, and her limbs curled in on themselves, like a spider sprayed with house cleaner. 

"The way you fight…what is your relation to Warden Shadowsong?!" Tyrande demanded as she parried aside a thrown dagger, dodged a second one from behind, and retaliated with three arrows of her own. 

"We all have parents, don't we?" Faedra stopped Blinking around, and sat on top of a branch just in front of, and above Tyrande. 

A black cat came out of the forest, and Faedra lovingly stroked its fur. 

'If Maiev is the mother, then who is the father? The only man she had extended contact with that I am aware of, is Illidan?!' Tyrande thought to herself. 

Shaking her head to dispel these confusing thoughts, Tyrande focused on the witch sitting before her. 

Tyrande raised her bow to shoot at Faedra, but the intense rumbling of Malfurion and Vandercross's conflict was reaching a crescendo, and began to affect the area they were fighting at. 

Random cataclysmic earthquakes, globules of lava, and snow so thick, one could hardly see in front of them all began to descend upon the forest in random anarchy. 

"It's beautiful isn't it? One could lay out the most careful plans, all for the table to flip, and everything to go sideways." Faedra stroked her cat, and calmly sat in place as a 2 story flaming magna boulder exploded behind her. 

The ever escalating conflict, and Faedra's impossible calm ever so slightly unnerved Tyrande. 

If she didn't have experience facing the endless tide of Demons emerging from the Twisting Nether, she might even feel helpless at this moment. 

"Sisters, do not despair! If we work together, we shall prevail!" Tyrande once more ralied her troops, and spread out the True Shot aura in an effort to make her warriors hyper focused. 

Yet when she didn't hear an affirmation, she risked a quick glance around. 

Blood soaked clowns had surrounded her, each of them playfully leered at her in a lewd manner. 

Off to the side, a dozen of the surviving Night Elves surrounded Maiev, their allegiance clear. 

"You have done well, Faedra." Maiev praised. 

"Save your platitudes for someone who cares. This is simply business." Faedra conjured herself a wine glass, and took a sip. 

"Why? Why would you betray me?" Tyrande forlornly asked the Elites who she had nurtured for over ten thousand years. 

The rangers and druids looked to the ground with shame filled faces. 

"Because priestess, they are tired of hypocrisy. Of leaders who have the power to eliminate the Legion's leftover dogs such as the Satyr, yet they lack the resolve to do what is necessary." Maiev stepped forward. 

"The Satyr were once our kin, they can be turned from the Fel! Besides, I will not waste what few of us remain when we can remain hidden in safety." Tyrande hotly defended herself. 

"Will not waste lives? Do you even hear yourself, priestess? What are you doing now, but wasting lives?" Maiev hollowly chuckled, and gestured towards the limbs that strewn the battlefield. 

"I tried to speak reason to Malfurion, but the corruption-" 

"OH yes, so it is important to cleanse the corruption here an ocean away, but the wilting forests we once called home, and now call Felwood are free to rot? Come now priestess, what good is a leader if he spends 99% of the time away from his people? One who unilaterally decides to remove our immortality? Or your action to free Illidan! Give yourself up, and I will see that both you and Malfurion receive a fair trial for your crimes." 

Tyrande bowed her head, unknowing what to think. 

Was she truly guilty of the Kaldorei decline? 

"Tyrande!" Malfurion's voice carried on the horizon. 

Raising her head up, she looked through the trees, and looked towards the summit of a plateau. 

There, she saw something that made her skin crawl, and her blood to still. 

Stabbed through the heart, her beloved was breathing his last gasp. 

Upon seeing this, something within her snapped, and all reasoning left her mind. 

A white beam came from the sky, and began to super charge her with an impossible amount of mana. 

"Stop her you fools!" Maiev hissed to the clowns. She then dashed at Tyrande with the intent to kill. 

Yet the white shroud of energy surrounding her rebuffed the Warden, and slammed each of the clowns painfully to the ground. 

The moon covered the sun, and the world went dark. 

Within the darkness, a new demigod was being born as this energy fused with Tyrande. 

It was the Avatar of Elune. 

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AN: Syra 100% has an MC anime background based on her lineage and F'd up childhood. 

Read up to chapter 173 at: patreon.com/KarpQQ