The dimly lit house atop the massive World Tree Teldrassil lay close to the edge of the trunk, yet far enough to avoid its two residents certain death. Many would have considered it unsafe and stayed away, but they were happy with it.

          Inside, a draenei kicked up his feet on the bed. His hooves nearly touched the ceiling as he did so. We really need a bigger place.

          In the other room, another came through the doorway. “Man’ar, there are some people coming to the house.”

          Getting up again, Man’ar wandered towards the door. “Who is it?”

          “I don’t know. Looks like a courier, he’s carrying some sort of parchment. Looks like he has a package, too.”

          He glanced over her shoulder towards the visitors. It was a human, a relatively thin build. Seeing Man’ar, he sprinted the rest of the distance to the house. “Master Man’ar, it’s good to meet you.”

          He shook the man’s hand. “You are?”

          “I have a message from Lady Jaina Proudmoore herself. It’s a matter of great urgency.”

          He took the scroll from the courier and began reading. As he did, Sayaadi took the package from him and opened it. It was a brilliantly polished, glowing orb.

          “An attack? What?” he said, looking up. Noticing the courier looked understandably weary, he motioned for him to come in and sit on a chair.

          “We can only assume it was the Horde,” he said, easing into the seat. “The army is currently attacking the Exodar in huge numbers. Lady Jaina has appealed to King Varian Wrynn for more reinforcements. The draenei will not hold up on their own.”

          Man’ar sat down in another seat, feeling sick inside. “So you’re asking…”

          “Lady Jaina is asking you to defend them from the Horde. She wishes an audience with you, which is what the orb is for.”

          Man’ar rubbed the tentacles on his chin, thinking. Sayaadi read and reread the letter, possibly hoping it was some sick joke. “I understand if you feel uncomfortable going back to battle,” the courier continued, “considering how you gave it up.”

          “Surely the Alliance has enough forces of our own. Two more will not make a difference.”

          “Jaina believes your presence will serve as a ray of hope for the defenders of the Exodar, if your acts in Outland and Northrend are any indicator. She’s sending out for all able-bodied warriors. Ilthilior Nightwind is also going to battle. I understand he’s a friend of yours from around here? In any case, she asks an audience of you before you make up your mind.”

          “Fair enough,” Man’ar replied, standing up again. “We’ll leave as soon as I get my weapons, to save time if we decide not to get involved.”

          “I’m already in,” Sayaadi said. “I’m not letting that scum take over the only reason our race is still alive.”

          “I don’t like this. I don’t feel comfortable risking my life anymore. Besides, I’m getting older, I’m not in my prime, if you know what I mean.”

          Sayaadi looked at him and giggled. “You’re still young for a draenei. You only gave up war a year ago, you’ve still got it I bet.”

          “Probably right. I just… haven’t taken on an entire army before. Without a tank, of course.”

          “Who knows? Maybe that’s one of the perks. Anyway, I’m ready to go to Jaina whenever you are.”

          “Me too,” Man’ar said. He picked up the glowing orb, and Sayaadi put her hands on it. She muttered a few words, and a bright light pierced through the room.

          “Thank you for coming,” she said, addressing the two as they appeared in the tower. Man’ar opened his eyes, still partially blinded by the teleportation. He could partially make out Jaina and another, more elven figure in the room.

          “I hope we didn’t arrive too late,” Sayaadi said, stepping forward. “Hello again, Ilthilior.”

          The elf nodded at her. Quiet one, that druid, Man’ar thought as he stepped forward. “How is the Exodar holding up?”

          “It’s not,” Jaina said, and a barely visible tear rolled down her cheek. “The Horde’s wiped out almost their entire force. I can’t believe Thrall would sanction such a massacre.”

          “It is a bit hard to believe. Is he leading the force?”

          “It doesn’t seem so. From what some of our troops have gathered, the leader is a Forsaken warlock, and a powerful one. The name’s Jarigise or something like that.”

          Thump. Everyone in the room turned towards the sound to see Man’ar with his fist firmly into the wall. He turned to them and quickly pulled back. “Sorry, go on?”

“Right,” Jaina said, giving Man’ar an odd look. “He’s taking as many prisoners as he can, and only the ones that don’t cooperate are killed.”

Sayaadi barely suppressed a smile. “Well, we’re stubborn like that.”

“This is hardly a good time,” Ilthilior said, frowning at her.

“Sorry.”

Jaina continued for a few more minutes, then finished. “Can I count on your help in defeating this… Jarigise fellow?” – thunk – “Will you stop doing that? Repairs are expensive nowadays.”

“I’m in,” Sayaadi and Ilthilior said simultaneously.

“Wonderful,” Jaina said, clasping her hands together. “I will teleport you to the Exodar immediately. Man’ar?”

His face contorted in rage, he spoke. "Send us down there. I'll rip every damn thing there limb from limb."


FUN FACT TIME:

Yes this will be regular for me. I'll be making comments on the chapter/story here. Get used to it.

As I said before, I hate beginnings. As a result, I'm never happy with what I do at the start. So this chapter had a crapload of revisions before I posted it here.

I don't plan on this being a comedic story, but I will have bits here and there meant to get a laugh, for example Man'ar's outburst (which, by the way, will be explained later - I'm trying to give him a motive beyond "AHHHH RAGE REVENGE RAWR"). For the most part, though, it's an action-war style story spanning a large portion of Azeroth.

Man'ar, Sayaadi, and Ilthilior will be one side of the spectrum in terms of main characters, while Jarigise and possibly Sylvanas will be the other end. Ultimately, I'll be including each side's end of the story equally. I'm trying to make who's the protagonist and who's the antagonist subjective to your opinion moreso than other stories, but that's proving rather difficult, because it's pretty clear that I can't really give Jarigise positive motives, especially on the path I'm planning for him.

On the topic of Jarigise, you'll really get to see his plan develop throughout the story, rather than having it planted right in front of his face. The inspiration for his character comes from a lot of manipulative bastards throughout history, specifically Josef Stalin.