“By the Light, what happened here? I followed the evils caused by the sha into this temple in order to smite them and—”

 

A familiar face appeared in the doorway to the Sanctum.

 

“Oh, it’s you again,” Vel’rosh scowled as he recognized the death knight and his traveling companions. The orc’s eyes fell upon the unconscious Mori, her arms and legs still dangling from the way Sahtra held her.

 

“What have you done to her?” The paladin immediately suspected the death knight of foul play and became enraged. “Did you kill the child?”

 

Sahtra’s blue eyes burned fiercely in response. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Halvor, who was still twice his regular height.

 

“Ah, no, friend orc. Small child just needs to wake up. I will go slap her.”

 

“Wait!” cried out the vulpera. “You'll hurt her!”

 

The oversized vrykul would still retain his superhuman attributes for another two hours. Though he had woken up the hardy tauren with his bare hand without consequence, he was his normal size at the time, and the child did not have the same tenacity.

 

“Okay, fine. I use pinky.” Halvor walked over to Mori as he spoke. He lifted his finger and struck her across the cheek as gently as he could.

 

“Ow!” Mori cried out, rubbing her cheek. “I’m awake!” She noticed the undead below her—below me? and realized she was being held above the ground by the death knight. The young blood elf cheerfully waved at Sahtra.

 

“What am I doing here…,” Mori frowned, trying to remember what she was doing in the Scrollkeeper's Sanctum, “Oh, right! What happened to the Teacher?”

 

Sahtra looked at her and began to speak. “The Teacher is no longer with us—”

 

“Yes, exactly!” Halvor cut the death knight off once again. “He said we were right and big light bulb left us alone! He is not here, yes!”

 

Mori thought for a moment, searching her memory for anything she could muster, and sighed as she drew a blank.

 

“And,” the vrykul continued, “Teacher says he loves you.”

 

Mori blushed at Halvor’s words. “Aww!” she exclaimed. “He is very ni—OOMPH!”

 

Sahtra, in a fit of rage at the obvious lies, had released his grip on the child and sent her dropping to the carpeted floor. Frost formed around him as he looked between the massive vrykul towering over him and the small child lying on her belly. Mori happily got back up onto her feet and smiled at the death knight, who was still visibly upset.

 

The young blood elf's smile curved into a frown of concern. “Is something wrong?”

 

Sahtra noticed Halvor glaring at the death knight with a sinister twinkle in his eyes. Tell her the truth and you will regret it, they seemed to speak. The vrykul had no intention of allowing Mori further interaction with the Teacher, so he had to make sure she believed he was no longer around.

 

“No.” Sahtra abruptly turned away from Mori and strode several steps away, his cloak dragging across the floor. He could not challenge the vrykul while the latter was in his gargantuan state; the death knight’s strength would be of no comparable magnitude. The frost surrounding him slowly vaporized, and after a few minutes, he returned to his usual calm, stoic self.

 

“For Light’s sake, what are these undead abominations around me? Shoo!”

 

Mori laughed loudly as her summons surrounded the paladin. “Now, wave at the big orc,” she commanded, “that’s right!”

 

Sahtra watched the small child toy with Vel’rosh. I approve entirely, he thought to himself. The death knight chuckled as the young blood elf continued to irritate the paladin, whose futile efforts to run from the undead were nothing short of comical.

 

“Listen, I am bored of these damned Sha,” Sahtra turned to the group and grinned maniacally, his cursed axe unsheathed, “can we go kill something that bleeds?” The death knight was once again in high spirits.

 

* * * * *

 

Sahtra would get his wish sooner than he had expected. A black mist seeped in through the entrance of the south wing, and it appeared to be originating from the courtyard.

 

“The courtyard!” Mori exclaimed. “That’s where the priestess and the cloud serpents and—” She broke off into a run towards the entrance but was stopped abruptly by the death knight’s strong arm gripping her shoulder.

 

“Wait, little one,” Sahtra spoke quietly but sternly, “it is not safe out there.” The man stepped in front of her and carefully walked to the threshold, unsheathing his cursed axe. Finally, he stepped outside, and the others followed.

 

The sight that greeted them was the complete opposite of the peaceful, joy-filled courtyard the travelers had last seen. Tens of pandaren bodies were strewn about, their faces indicating their last breaths had been taken in anguish. Near them, black and white ethereal beings hovered, clouds of white spinning around their centers. The sha, as they were known, clawed around at the bodies and any living pandaren who dared resist them. One such being floated over to Halvor, who struck it down with ease.

 

“So, this is sha,” the vrykul spoke, “though it is small kind.”

 

“Look there!” Meechi pointed a furry finger upwards, and all heads turned to what should have been a peaceful bright blue sky. In its stead was a whirlpool of black and white clouds, churning with an occasional flash of lightning and clap of thunder. 

 

At the center of the courtyard stood a familiar figure, the pandaren woman in green robes that matched her eyes. Unlike the last time, however, she was shrouded from head to toe with wisps of black and white aura and wore a golden mask. Mori squinted as she tried to discern the identity of the woman underneath.

 

“It’s the priestess!” she exclaimed when she confirmed it. “The one who brought out the Teacher. Something’s wrong with her!”

 

“Yes, small elf child,” Halvor replied, “she has been taken over by sha.”

 

The corrupted Liu Flameheart sharply turned upon hearing the conversation and began to prepare a fire spell in one hand. Her brows were furrowed deeply, and her eyes glowed with fury behind the holes in the mask.

 

“Your forces are weak!” the priestess yelled. Her voice was no longer delicate and sweet, but husky with undertones several octaves below her regular speaking pitch. “You could not possibly hope to defeat me.”

 

Mori couldn’t help but wince at the voice that sounded so unfittingly harsh for the calm and refined pandaren woman from her memories. “We’re your friends,” the young blood elf cried out, “don’t you remember me?”

 

“She cannot tell friend from foe, little one,” Sahtra spoke, "this is what happens when you succumb to the sha." Mori looked up at him silently. “That woman must be taken down.” The death knight stepped forward and shot out a coil of shadow energy from his gloved palm, striking the priestess squarely in the chest and drawing her ire.

 

“You dare aggravate me?” Liu Flameheart shouted, then ran swiftly up to Sahtra. “The heart of the Great Serpent will not fall into your hands!” The priestess retaliated with a powerful fire-infused blow onto the death knight’s shoulder and followed up with two kicks to his thighs. The fight had begun.

 

Halvor picked up his shield and slammed into the priestess, knocking her back and buying time for Meechi to prime a flame bomb. Liu stood back up to her feet and struck out at the warrior. This served as a fine distraction for the paladin to smite the priestess and land two cuts with his Greatsword of the Crusade. Mori stood several paces away and spread out her arms to conjure a spell of blight as she summoned her undead to attack the corrupted pandaren woman with their weapons. Liu Flameheart brushed the summons away but was forced to take the young necromancer's spell in full force. The priestess stepped back and placed her palms onto the ground, sending out three waves of fire that propagated throughout the courtyard. Meechi went through the party, healing those who could not dodge the rapid flames easily, but Mori’s undead summons were critically wounded by the attack. They would not last much longer.

 

Fearing the possibility of another such spell being cast, Sahtra launched a bolt of ice from his hand and froze Liu Flameheart in place. The death knight raised his palm upwards, and chains locked themselves onto the priestess’s torso. The alchemist took advantage of the enemy’s current immobility to throw the bomb she had primed for a powerful direct hit. The pandaren coughed amidst the smoke, and in her temporary bout of blindness, was unable to defend herself from or alleviate the blows from Sahtra’s cursed axe Shin’ka.

 

Panting heavily, Liu Flameheart looked upwards and raised her arms to the sky. “Jade Serpent, grant me strength!” she called out, and in response, a bright ray of green energy came crashing down on her, enveloping the pandaren with its aura. Her strength renewed, the priestess shattered the ice and chains pinning her down with a fierce strike and launched herself into the air for an offensive attack onto the death knight. Sahtra took the blow and stumbled back a few steps while Halvor rushed up to the pandaren and once again slammed her with his shield. He and Vel’rosh kept the priestess’s attention occupied while the alchemist ran up to the death knight and tended to his injuries. Liu Flameheart knocked the paladin away and landed two kicks infused with fire onto the vrykul. Halvor stepped back to recover, but this had allowed Mori time to position herself firmly onto the ground and begin draining the life energy from the priestess. She commanded her undead summons to attack as well, but in their weakened state, they were deflected and knocked unconscious with ease.

 

Taking several steps back, Liu Flameheart raised one hand to the sky and brought it down onto the ground, sending a series of both flames and tremors coursing through the courtyard. The force sent Mori and Meechi, the lightest of the group, tumbling, and burnt the young blood elf’s undead summons to a crisp.

 

Sahtra was the first to act after the tremors finished resonating. He held out his left palm and drew the pandaren woman closer to him. She had no power left to break free or soften a blow with any weapon. With one swift strike from Shin’ka, the priestess fell, defeated. The death knight looked over her bleeding body as he heard her croak, barely audibly, “The haze has been lifted from my eyes…forgive me…Yu’lon…”

 

The black and white aura that once covered the pandaren’s body dissipated and revealed a growing pool of deep red. Liu Flameheart, Priestess of the Temple of the Jade Serpent, was dead.