A Glimpse of Nyx

[Barefoot]

Dear Eyesore,
When you and Maledicta first set forth to the ancient compound in Azshara to learn more about Lady Nyx's history, I wanted to join you... but I couldn't. I felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety, even fear, about the idea. This paralyzing anxiety prevented me from assisting, although I couldn't explain why.

When I woke up this morning, I suddenly felt no more fear about researching Lady Nyx's past. It was as if a ward against me had been lifted. More than just overcoming my anxiety, I felt compelled to pitch in to the research.

My only guess is that for some reason, Lady Nyx didn't want me to find out more about her... and today, for an equally mysterious reason, she changed her mind. Is it simply that she doesn't care anymore, doesn't want to protect the secrets she kept me from? Or does she want me to discover them? Or, even more ominous perhaps, is someone else manipulating my feelings about the matter?

Whatever the reason, I feel it is my duty to journey to that compound and do some delving of my own. I took the liberty of getting myself a blank journal from our guild library; I hope Warburn won't mind. Even though my fear has evaporated, I still have some common sense -- if you don't hear from me by Friday, please send help to the secret compound.

Your friend,
Barefoot

Dear Eyesore,
Just as I mailed the last missive to you, my good friend Astorialla bumped into me at the mailbox. When I told her my plan, she begged to come along with me, insisting that her powers of arcane magic would be valuable. I tried to dissuade her - she's a good mage, but I do not wish to put her in danger - but she couldn't be talked out of it. I just wanted to let you know that she will be with me.

Barefoot

[Barefoot]

Entry #1:

Astorialla and I arrived in Azshara by Wyvern around noon. We traveled halfway across the area before stopping for a late lunch.

I have never seen her so... happy. Usually she is nothing but pouty and petulant. I know I shouldn't complain. I want everyone to be happy! But this... it just seems a little odd. I can't help but wonder why this serious project gives her so much simple joy, yet I don't want to ask and spoil her good mood. Maybe she's just glad to feel included, a part of something. I get the feeling her temperament causes her to get left out most of the time. Anyway, I'm glad for her company. Everything is more fun with a friend...

[Barefoot]

Entry #2:

We arrived at the excavation site about an hour ago. It's obvious that it hasn't been visited in a while. Wind and rain have covered the area where Eyesore and Maledicta once delved with loose dirt. I took the form of a Bear and used my big paws to quickly dig this new dirt away. Astorialla used her magical abilities to playfully spin the dirt around in the air to make pictures. She's really a great artist. I bet Linkan would be flattered of the portrait she did of him, although he might feel annoyed that it was made of dirt!

When I started hitting more tightly packed earth, I took my true form in order to use delicate tools I'd purchased in Orgrimmar. Astorialla let the flying dirt fall to the ground in order to watch me closely. I thought I felt hard clay.

"I think there's something a little to the left," Astorialla told me, pointing.

Eagerly, I used my tools to delve where she'd indicated. Sure enough, there were two earthen jars, along with crumbled bits of marble, which I think was from a ruined building. I guess Astorialla's magical senses are pretty useful, after all. We didn't want to harm the jars so we were very meticulous in loosening them from the earth around them. We carefully pulled the two jars out of the ground. One is very small, about the size of my hand. The other is almost as big as my head!

The digging was surprisingly tiring! We decided to take a short break before opening the jars, but I think we're ready to continue. Both of us are very eager to see what's inside!

[Barefoot]

Entry #3:

There's good news, and there's bad news... I found an artifact, but Astorialla is hurt and I don't know how to help her.

We decided to open the bigger jar first. Astorialla really wanted to open it, but as much as I hated to spoil her excitement, I felt this was too important to leave to someone as immature as her. I can't deny my own desire to be the one to first discover the artifact, either...

It took a lot of strength to remove the lid. Peering in, I thought the jar was empty, so I sighed with disappointment and reached for the smaller of the two jars.

Astoriallaa stopped me. "Well, aren't you going to tell me what you found?" she demanded.

"Nothing. I guess the wards of preservation didn't protect whatever was in here... it's empty now."

Astorialla snatched the jar from my hand. She flinched a little upon touching it, then turned it upside-down. A small piece of jewelry came clattering out. I saw it land in her open hand for just a split second. Astorialla jolted, her eyes widened, and then she fell over as if someone had just knocked her on the head.

"Astorialla!" I shouted, but it was no use. She lay on the ruins, breathing but unconscious. I looked at the object that seemed to have caused this: a small silver representation of an elaborate mage staff. It looks enough like the magical staves I've seen that I could recognize that's what it is, and yet I've never seen any that look quite like it. I have no idea what to make of this discovery, or what happened to Astorialla. For now I'm just sitting beside her, waiting to see if she wakes up. If she doesn't come around by tomorrow morning, I'll need to find a healer.

[Barefoot]

Entry #4:

This time I have good news, and I have very juicy news!

Astorialla came to just as the sun was setting. Before I could express my relief or ask her what had happened, she stared me in the eyes and whispered, "Barefoot, you have to see this." She reached the hand that the jewelry had touched towards me, and when she touched my hand I felt a jolt, then saw a scene unfold before me.

An upscale Night Elf marketplace. Several Highborne elves peruse fine robes and jewelry. One stands out: a small Highborne child with striking blue eyes. Holding the girl's hand is an older Highborne woman, whose posture seems meek compared to the child's raw confidence.

Merchants and shoppers turn sharply. They face towards a gaudily dressed woman who radiates beauty, followed by a large armed entourage. The eyes of every Highborne in the market are lowered to the ground. All eyes but the deep blue ones of the child. The little girl's eyes widen and stare intently at the regal woman walking by.

As she passes the child, the woman notices her stare and stops.

"Lower your eyes, little one! Know you not upon whom you are gazing?"

The girl gives a curt nod.

The woman is obviously taken aback. "Who are you to stare at me so disrespectfully? You are not so young that you do not know better than to show such petulance to your Queen!" She turns away and starts to continue on her path.

When the Queen's back is turned, the girl speaks softly but with conviction. "You're going to bring great tragedy and destruction."

The beautiful Queen whirls around, her eyes narrowed and her face clouded by anger. "NO ONE speaks to Queen Azshara that way!" She strides towards the girl and looks down at her. "What is your name, little one?"

"Onyxia."

Queen Azshara slaps the child hard in the face, leaving marks from her fancy rings, but the child doesn't flinch. "Don't lie to me, filthy child! I know a disguised dragon when I see one."

The woman with the girl, who throughout the exchange has been standing back and quivering with fear, says without looking up at the Queen, "She speaks truth, Highness. It is the name her father gave."

The Queen's expression changes from harsh anger to thoughtfulness. "Well then, little Onyxia... I suppose you have plenty of confusion in your life with such a powerful name, but that's no reason to go around threatening your Queen." Azshara takes off a brooch. It's a small golden sun, with a silver mage staff and a silver hunter's arrow making an X across it. She fiddles with the brooch until the three pieces unfit from one another, then reattaches the arrow. "Please, dear child, take this token as my promise to you," she says, handing Onyxia the staff.

Raising her voice, Azshara announces to the elves in marketplace who stand idly gawking, "This is a solemn promise I make to you, and to all who hear me: I will never bring tragedy and destruction to our people! Only prosperity and joy will come from Queen Azshara!" She gives a small nod, which leads to applause and cheers from everyone in the marketplace. Everyone but little Onyxia, whose wide eyes have not changed since Azshara approached.

[Barefoot]

Entry #5:

I'm back in the Orgrimmar inn for the night, trying to make sense of things. Astorialla insisted that we bring the silver staff to our Guild Library in Orgrimmar. She wrapped it in cloth, careful not to touch it, and put it back in the earthen jar from which we got it. Together, we came back to Orgrimmar, bringing the large jar along with the smaller one we haven't opened yet. I placed the jars on a high shelf in the library, and she made a sign saying "WARNING! Do not touch or open!" Without a word, we came to the inn to rest for the night. There seems to be an unspoken agreement that we should wait before opening the small jar.

I still don't understand exactly how I saw what I saw. I know that Astorialla is a powerful mage, but I've never heard of mages seeing into the past like that. Is it something special about her, or something special about that piece of a brooch that we found? I'm sure there's something Astorialla isn't telling me. Tomorrow I'll do some research in our library and ask Eyesore if he's ever heard of such a thing. For now, I'm doing my best to quiet all the questions that this day's discovery raises so that I can get some sleep.

I just can't escape the feeling that we must find the other pieces of Azshara's brooch...

[Barefoot]

Dear Eyesore,
You know how Miss Nyx can always see what her followers are doing, no matter how far we're spread? Well, I have reason to believe that she can also see the future. Please come to our Guild Library in Orgrimmar as soon as you can so we can discuss the brooch I discovered yesterday.

Astorialla was very helpful in my delving. Apparently she has the power to see memories attached to objects. This skill could be very useful indeed as we continue our research! However, she left for her home in Silvermoon today, saying that she needed a few days to recover from the powerful magic we encountered yesterday.

Barefoot

[Eyesore]

Eyesore looks at his mail from Barefoot, not for the first time, then carefully places the notes back on his mantle.

First Warburn's artifact, he thought, now Barefoot's brooch, and both going on about the library in Org. No, that wasn't it. Not the library, but the Nyx library. And not the one in the guildhall, which was not in Org, or was it? The old orc recalled talk of moving the guildhall, as recruits had flocked to Nyx's banner. An azure bat on a black field, such a curious banner, a match for the guild tabard hung in his sleeping chamber. He wouldn't sully it as he crafted the leggings for that young hunter. She was waiting for them, he reminded himself.

Lost in thought, also not for the first time, Eyesore's musings drifted to other times. Hadn't he once crafted the finest of leathers? For the mightiest of warriors? Had he not himself carried Nyx's banner into battle? Or was that another orc, a much younger orc? An orc who believed in...believed in...

Eyesore glanced at his correspondence. What did he know of artifacts and lady's jewelry? He crafted simple leather products, they should seek a jewel crafter with their questions. Bother it all, he needed to finish the leggings, not head off to the, to the...

...library. The library in Org. Nyx's library in Org. Now why would that cross his mind?

.

[Eyesore]

The leggings finished, Eyesore set aside the scraps of heavy leather, and placed his seal back on the shelf. He gazed at the seal for a few moments, wondering just how many finished pieces bore its mark. It didn't matter, he decided. What mattered was that each was of the best craftsmanship he could manage. The young hunter should be pleased.

Turning from his work area, the old orc's eyes were drawn to his mail. What a farce that had turned out to be. Hours spent talking with old friends in Org, and not so old strangers, had not come even close to helping him locate the Nyx library. One troll, who would not even give her name, had said he should knock on stone three times and dance if he wanted the library. Lot of good that advice had been. One of the city grunts had suggested the Cleft, of all places, but there had been no library there.

In fact, having gone into every building to which he could gain entrance, he had not only failed to find the Nyx library, but any library at all! Several places had a scroll or two, but he had not found even one book, let alone a library. Any library. A Horde library was mentioned by a helpful blood elf outside the city vaults, but upon reflection, he had volunteered that come to think of it, the only library he knew of was in Silvermoon.

Bother and be bothered, it was not worth his time. He had fuzzy memories of books elsewhere, some of them quite old, but of what use were dusty memories? The past was best left in the past. Who had time to read anyway? Recruits needed leather armor, and he was a leather worker. It was that simple.

.

[Warburn]

Warburn was sitting in the library doing some research on the relationship between Kaelthas and Illidan, when the Proxtronic-Alert-Alarm-XG6800 Baelspar installed recently started making a funny sound. It sounded like a dying kobold.

Warburn said to no one present "Dat fingy needs a tinkring, but les see who might be out dere..."

He walked to the door, and opened it. Eyesore was walking by just then and seemed to be lost.

"Mah brothah, jah foget how to get to dis place? Come 'ere old-one."