Cross-Faction Compromise

Chapter Two - Beyond the Eyes

"Although it looks untouched by the taint of the Scourge, I can still feel the pain thrumming beneath the ground," Thireu said as she crouched by the water pressing her hand into the cool sand. It was still a few hours until sunrise and she and the demon hunter Denzarus were making their way swiftly but cautiously north toward the island of Quel'Danas.

"Based on what I heard about Arthas's destruction of the Sunwell, I don't doubt your words." Denzarus had dismounted Dagger and stood behind Thireu, but he seemed uninterested in touching anything.

"But you can not feel it?"

"I'm not a monk, Thireu."

She frowned at the demon hunter as she stood up. "You do not have to be a monk to feel it. If I can feel life and untainted energy within you, then you must have a deeper awareness of the world around you."

"I am aware of what I see with my demonic and spectral sight and any demonic energy nearby. I am also aware that we're wasting time here when we need to move north."

Thireu rolled her pale blue eyes at the man. "You are quite impatient."

"Thireu, if you don't want to lead me further north, then-"

"Do not be absurd. I promised I would help you and I am a woman of my word. Just answer one question for me and we can continue." He raised an eyebrow but didn't protest. "What path did you follow before becoming a demon hunter?"

Denzarus's face lost all emotion but from his stiff stance, Thireu could tell he didn't want to answer the question. When he finally did, she was somewhat surprised by the response. "I was a priest."

Knowing better than to explore that admission in that moment, the monk nodded briskly before moving toward Cloak. "There! Was that so difficult? Now we can continue on." Thireu climbed astride her loyal mana saber and urged him onward along the eastern shore of Eversong Woods.

She had chosen that particular route because it led them as far away from established blood elf settlements as possible. There was an abandoned seaport of Sunsail Anchorage and a small blood elf encampment north of it, but the area did not concern Thireu. Sunsail Anchorage was now full of the wretched of this land who suffered similarly to the nightborne withered with an endless craving for mana.

Thireu knew from past experiences in the area that even the wretched and most of the blood elf camp slept at night. As long as they reached the northern shores north of Sunstrider Isle before full dawn, they should be able to avoid any unwanted interactions with blood elves who didn't want a night elf traveling in their lands.

As they rode in silence to avoid detection by any humanoids or beasts nearby, Thireu thought about what Denzarus had confessed to her. She knew from studying history that the leader of the demon hunters, Illidan, had been a powerful sorcerer before he started down a very different path that led him to become more demon than night elf. Going from a studied sorcerer to a demon killing machine seemed like a confusing progression to Thireu but thinking about a priest becoming a demon hunter seemed even more extreme.

While it was true that there were shadow priests who tapped into the void for stronger powers than priests with more healing disciplines, such darkness was on a different level than that of demon hunters. Thireu wondered if that past priest exploration of Denzarus's was responsible for the untainted energy she still felt within him. Somehow the light had survived inside the demon hunter despite all the unspeakable agony he had endured to gain his full powers. Denzarus might seek not to acknowledge it and perhaps hadn't been aware of it before Thireu told him that she sensed it, but the monk was certain that somewhere deep within him, the demon hunter could feel the pain of the land they now rode across.