An era end; an era beckons - By Noctus

The music flowed through Darnassus in waves, coming from several directions at the same time. The joyous flutes combined their tone with the vivid strings, and the drums seemed to create the heartbeat of the city. A happy heart, a heart that was celebrating after such long time once more.

Nightelves were streaming the streets, in pairs and companies of three or more, all of them smiling, laughing, dancing with each other, dancing with the occasional human, dwarf or draenei that happened to pass by. A couple of gnomes were picked up and placed on the shoulders of tall elves that continued their dance to the frustration and near-terror of their unwilling riders. A day of joy indeed as finally, a great evil that haunted the history of the Nightelves had been brought to an end.

A group of seven young elves was on the highway leading to the Temple of the moon, three young lads and four girls as beautiful as all Nightelves. They had created a ring that danced and singed along the highway and most of the other people on it stood on the side and smiled watching them.
As they moved on, they reached the footsteps of the Temple. There, a lone Nightelf stood, facing the doors of the Temple, peering inside, where the statue of the Moon Goddess stood.

The ring of dancers swept over him and a girl with green hair and a skin the color of the moon grabbed him by the arms and tried to make him join them.
“Why alone on such a day, brother? Rejoice! Haven’t you heard, the Betrayer was beaten at last!” the seconds it took her to say the words was the time needed for the look of the single Nightelf to crash on her thoughts. All clad in leather, with two daggers hanging loosely by the waist, he looked ready for murder; or delivered from one. But it was his face that made her feel as if a frozen hand had squeezed her heart. A snarling face, and the glow of his eyes hidden by a piece of cloth. The Nightelf’s glare made fear spring like water in her.

It all lasted for heartbeats, cause the next moment, one of her laughing friends was already pulling her by her hand inside the Temple. The fear-contorted face of the girl disappeared in the swirl of lightly colored clothes that entered the Temple.
“Perhaps it is a bad day to visit the Temple of the Moon…” The Nightelf turned left and slowly walked away.

A few minutes later, he was sitting in a comfortable armchair in one of the tall tree houses of Darnassus. The view offered to him was of all Teldrassil in basking life and motion, but although he had hoped that height and distance would protect him, the music followed him here as well.
A delicate hand with long, thin fingers, skin the color of white silk, touched his shoulder. He didn’t move.

“So it’s done, I hear.” The feminine voice sounded like crystal chiming. “The Betrayer has fallen. Were you there?”
He gave no answer, yet the hand gripping one arm of the armchair flexed for a second.
“Was it that bad? Well, you’re back now. You can come back now. That’s all that matters. She is avenged by your hand. There’s nothing left for you in the outside world. They owe you nothing, you’ve already paid too high a price.” Her tone was almost begging. “Please, come back to us”.

“Illidan told Maiev, that as he was undone, so was she. The hunter is nothing without the hunt. Maiev agreed, and so do I. There’s nothing left for me in this world, no reason to keep going on.”
Angrily, she came in front of him and placed her hands on her waist. Sometimes she looks so much like Elayne, he thought. They even share stance and motions.
“You will not have such thoughts! I forbid it!” She had managed to keep the tremble of her hands off her voice, but her eyes were almost full with tears. “It’s wrong! The Goddess forbids it, I don’t like it, and neither would Elayne!”

He laughed, a sound rare to come from him. “Little girl, I thought you were too scared to mention her name. Seems there’s something that scares you even more… But no, you misunderstood me. There’s nothing in this world, and Outland is almost safe. But I hear there’s ships leaving for Northrend soon. I’ve already booked a spot on a fast skimmer of ours.”
She gasped, and her face paled. “Northrend? That’s… that’s suicide. Or even worse, the Lich King can put you in his own ranks! Not to mention the other horrible creatures that reside in these frozen wastes!”
“Little girl, from all I can tell, Northrend might be just the place for an old fox like me. As for dying, they said Outlands was dangerous. I survived the Outlands. I don’t think there’s much that can freeze my heart up north either.”

He rose and retrieved a small white stone from a pocket. It started to glow with a green light that filled the room, focusing mainly on him.
“You’ll hear from me soon”, he said, and vanished in the green light of the heartstone.
She made a step towards the light, then stopped. “Elune keep him safe”, she whispered.