Conquest of the Horde

"You must be very careful not to lose yourself in the magic my boy, our way is different than the traditional ways of Dalaran. Looking at the world though, the few able to wield magic as both sword and shield bare the biggest burden, even now it crushes down upon my shoulders young Aroes. Those of us that have chosen to devote our entire lives to the study of the mystical are not only obliged but have the responsibility of defending life..terrible creatures exist out there lad..and they are looking for you."
~Archmagus Zaxen Sorel

Prologue: Gone but not Forgotten
The middle-aged magus sat in a camp just outside of Earthshaker Stronghold staring in disbelief at the letter his familiar had just arrived with. Thousands of thoughts and memories raced through his head, leaving the man in a daze. "I've done it.." He thought "I hope I can make you both so proud.." Aroes laid his hat aside and reads the letter out loud to himself just to make sure it isn't a dream.



"Dear Mage Aroes Blackstone,

We are pleased to inform you that the application you submitted
has been approved by the Advisory Board on Student Affairs for the Kirin Tor. Upon receiving this letter it would be best to make your way to Dalaran as quickly as magically possible, gather any swords, staves, wands, reagents, and anything else of magical nature with you. When you arrive in the city please report to the Secretary of Rising Mages on the ground floor of the Violet Citadel for orientation. If you perish during this training your possessions as well as any written accounts will be distributed to your next of kin and/or any others you choose to list.

Magic guide you,
Tina Charmer of the Kirin Tor"




Self assured that it was not a dream Aroes folded it up, slid it into a pocket of his robe, and started to cry in happiness, nostalgia, and grief. "I did it you two, it all was for you.."


Ashenvale, Third War, six years previous:

Jaina Proudmoore's forces were on the move, demons could be and were
most likely waiting around every corner and in the middle of the army
marched two humans and a high elf, all clad in red robes. The oldest was a
Dalaran archmage by the name of Zaxen Sorel, a high elven wizard named
Aticus Lightstriker, and between the two of them a hyper twenty-seven
year old human. The three of them had been traveling back to Southshore
when they received word of what had happened to Dalaran, immediately
following they rushed to catch the refugee forces before they left for parts
unknown. The last few months had been absolutely gut wrenching, it had
been the first real combat that Aroes had experienced and the demons of
the Burning Legion as well as orcs had all put his skills to the test, luckily
he had a master and a brother to rely on. "That last one was quite something, eh boys?" The old wizard said. "Hardly."

Aroes and Aticus
replied, albeit in an unsure tone. The march continued in relative silence
until a sudden battle horn was sounded. The screams of dying foot soldiers
could be heard not even fifty feet in front of them. The column had come
under ambush by a combination of Satyrs and imps, the dark magic was
thick enough in the air to smell. The battle continued on for some time and
the supporters were becoming tired. Although the spells he cast were great
they were also costly for the old mage. Right before their eyes Zaxen Sorel
was cut down by a dark purple satyr. The two students became enraged,
lashing out at the demons. Soon though, like the master, they became
increasingly tired as well. The horn of retreat sounded through the charred
and bloody battlefield, the unit had scattered…Aticus and Aroes managed
to pull aside some other mages and used the last of their strength to
teleport them a short distance away to "safety"…the body couldn't be
brought back with them..


Aroes looked up at the sky and smiled weakly. "Despite the hardships,
they were the best years of my life." He looked down at the small mana wraith-like creature that many mages used as a servant and commanded it very clearly. "You'll sit at the bar and notify anyone looking for me that I am in Dalaran, no more no less…"

With that Aroes withdrew a fist sized rune from his component pouch and
spoke aloud in the spidery language of magic before disappearing with an
unusually loud crackle. "Back to Dalaran it seems…"

"Change is the way of the world, and as sorcerers we have the power to shape our portion as we see fit. There are many ways to influence the world and those around you, and the first way is the most blunt. Transmutation, my boy, the art of physically changing things to suit another purpose. This is also the most dangerous arts though..if a sheep is turned into a wolf, it becomes the wolf. Always beware to never completely change anything or risk losing the former self to the new self. This set of skills in not for the vain, for the corruption from it could drive you to insanity."

~Zaxen Sorel


It had been three days since Aroes arrived in the now quite active city of Dalaran, war heroes were still enjoying a much needed break after the fall of the Traitor King. There is no rest for the weary…and Aroes was very tired. As he sat in a modest room in a high elf run bar know as "A Hero's Welcome" thoughts flowed freely in and out of his mind thanks to a spell of magical intellect. "I am ready for whatever they can throw at me…" the mage reassured himself. "I must not falter and I must not fail." With a magically opened mind Aroes tore through spellbook after spellbook memorizing all possible uses he could. In the late hours, near Darkwatch Falling, the weary was finally allowed to rest. He fell quietly to sleep, head cradled in the pages of a spellbook.


Morning brought a purple sky to the city of mages, and with it the promise of a wonderful day. Aroes awoke shortly before nine. "Holy fel I'll be late!" the mage screamed in his head as spellbooks flew around the room and into a bag. Gathering up his staff and spellblade he departed for the Violet Citadel. A simple ironwood staff clunked against the cobblestones of the street as he made his way toward the steps to the Citadel, it truly was a magnificent sight, having been restored to its former glory in just a few years. After wandering through the halls of the citadel for a good fifteen minutes he finally found the proper office. Inside was a simple desk, quite odd considering mages are known for being extravagant.

A portly little woman sat behind the desk and beamed up at him. "Ah Mr. Blackstone, thank you for arriving on time, your new master is in the next room whenever you are ready. You may wish to have a seat nearby though as I understand it." Aroes bowed to the woman behind the desk. "I'm not quite sure what you mean, but thank you miss." He looked to the door across the office and walked through it and looked around the new office, laying his eyes on his new master causes the middle-aged mage to fall back and hit the wall.


Aroes was at a complete loss for words, he sat on the floor of a red and gold room decorated in the fashion of the Quel'dorei. Aroes sat slumped on the floor, his dull red robes clashing harshly with the room. He stammered in both shock and happiness when all of a sudden a folded bright red robe hit him in the face. The mage finally brought himself to say something, looking down at the robes. "What's this?" The high elf stood from behind the desk and smirked at Aroes. "You always did like elven robes over human robes….Its good to see you again Brother, and we have much to catch up on, but how about we start your training first?" Aroes simply sighed and rushed forward to hug the high elf. "I can't believe you're alive Aticus…you don't know what it's been like…."


Before either of them knew it half the day had passed, Aroes was now rather oddly dressed in red Quel'dorei robes, sitting on the other side of the desk in a rather comfy armchair, just chatting away about all the years the two had not seen each other. Soon though the conversation was interrupted by the sound of rushing through the halls, Mana Monday in the cafeteria it seems. Aticus wiped a tear from his eye, the laughter had just been too much.

"Demon hunters, orcs...you certainly have been busy Aroes, glad to hear it though. Down to business now, I'm going to do my best to teach you, and as you know I will not go easy." Aroes cringed "Ya, I remember our spars…the scar from that fireball is still there." Aticus paused a moment to dig through a desk drawer, bringing out a red leatherbound book with runes dancing across the cover. "In this book Brother are all the spells you will be learning, I have enchanted it so that they will only reveal themselves as I see fit, trying to remove it will destroy the book. Are we clear?" Aroes nodded excitedly and took the book. "Your first task is to practice an advanced disguise self spell, I want you to use the first spell listed in this book to change your physical appearance to that of a Quel'dorei, To be able to use this spell effectively you need to get every detail right so I'll start you off with something easy. For the next week that is your task, I expect only the best." Aticus let out a long sigh. "If you do well enough, we will go back home for some training….now get to work…"

It was just after midnight when a rather sickly looking mage made his way up the steps of the Violet Citadel, exactly like the past six nights. Aroes was admittedly struggling with the first spell he had been given, not so much with the actual casting but with the side effects. That bastard Aticus had failed to mention that the alter self spell leeches off the magical strength of the one that cast it constantly, this also leads to an increase in the speed of transmutation corruption. The ever eager mage had gone a little overboard, opting to keep the form as long as possible, paying especially close attention to make sure the ears were right.

After wandering down several hallways in a daze Aroes finally found his way back to Aticus's office, who was seated comfortably in his armchair reading the latest issue of Kirin Tor Monthly. The tired mage grunted in acknowledgment of his friend's presence while walking to a small cot in the corner of the room. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

-------------

Aroes was wakened by Aticus Lightstriker late in the morning. The high elf smiled weakly as he loomed over his apprentice. "Wake up sleepyhead, you have to prove yourself in transmutation today." At the word "transmutation" Aroes was wide awake. "Damnit Aticus you could have told me sooner!" Aticus merely sighed. "Now if I did that you'd never learn responsibility." Aroes blinked. "Am I really being lectured on responsiblity from you?" "You'd better hope so, if I don't see that you have it I won't unlock the next transmutation spells, now get up and prepare your mind."

-------------

Aroes was given thirty minutes to go over the proper words and gestures for his test of the "Alter Self" spell. He chose to cast a magical spell of intellect so that the memorization would come easier. The time was upon the purple robed mage, he stood and waited for the test to begin.

Aticus paced back and forth and game his usual annoying pretest lecture. "Now, as I have apologized for numerous times now, this spell does indeed leech off of passive magical strength as you found out. The amount leeched depends on the alterations made, how long you are trying to keep them, the detail, and the significance of them. For example, trying to change the general structure of a face would be much more taxing than changing the ears. In a sense this is the purest form of the transmutation school because this can not only be used for short term changes, but for permanent ones as well, understand?"

Aroes nodded eagerly. "Yes, I think we went over that when you first assigned the spell to me though-" he was cut off by the high elf. "Of course I went over it then, but if I don't say it over and over you won't remember, trust me I remember how much trouble you had learning to control you fire spells."

After a moment of laughter the high elf suddenly put on a serious look. "Okay, we shall begin the exam now, first change your ears to match mine."

Aroes nodded and removed a small chunk of iron from his component satchel and started muttering the words to the spell. Holding both hands over his ears and moving them in a manner similar to slicking back your hair, the shape of the ear began to slowly change as the skin was moved from one part and magically shaped. The finished result looked as to be expected, a cross between a human looking ear and an elf ear, notably longer yet still quite thick. Aroes took the time to rest from the spell while his master examined the finished work.

"I see you are actually sticking to pure transmutation here, although the end result will always end up being worse. You could have made them much better if you mixed it with a conjuration spell to create temporary skin."

Aroes blinked. "But you didn't say..." interrupted again "I didn't say you couldn't."

-------------

The test was concluded so the moved to the desk for the review. "While you did show the true purpose of the spell I'm somewhat sad that you didn't take advantage of the loophole I left open, it was good enough for me though so hand over your spellbook." Aroes did as instructed and watched as Aticus waved a key over the book and muttered a low verbal command. "The next two spells have been unlocked, along with these two I am assigning you some reading material. I want you to read the case of catastrophic incidents using polymorph as depicted in "My Kingdom For A Horse: The One Hundred and Fifty Reasons Why A Kingdom Should Not Be Turned Into A Horse" and "Bartholomew: the bear who bears arms". From those titles alone you should know where I'm going with this."

"Study the True Polymorph spell and the Polymorph object spell and practice them responsibly, you have a week."

"A wizard is never late, he arrives exactly when he means to."
`Gandalf?

It was once again late in the evening when the tired mage returned to the archmage's room, as Aroes approached the door he could hear what sounded like music coming from within. Sadly it was not yet another wild party, instead Aticus Lightstriker was merely rearranging furniture by polymorphing it into many different things. He looked over as Aroes walked in. "Ah brother, you are just time time." Aroes raised and eyebrow. "In time for what exactly?" The archmage pointed to the furniture. "Your practical exam..."

What happened next the mage was not exactly sure, Aroes found himself blindfolded in a chair sitting on a road in the Forlorn Woods...and something large was approaching. After a few seconds the blindfold was yanked off by Lightstriker who pointed to his exam down the road. "For the purposes of this exam I have captured a rather angry magnataur that would like nothing more than to crush some bones to make some bread, Your exam is to evade him at all costs. Oh, and you can only use the spells you have learned in the last two weeks." Aroes looked at Aticus pleadingly. "Is this a...you can't be serious..." Aroes' mind began racing. "Surely he is just toying with me, some sort of illusion.." Lightstriker just laughed. "This is no joke, if you do not face exams that are actually challenging what makes you think you'll be prepared for the darkest evils you will no doubt face. Enough of this redundant speech though, evade the magnataur and make it back to the Citadel." With that he vanished in a shower of arcane sparks.

Aroes grabbed for his component pouch as soon as Lightstriker left, finding the only contents were some lumps of iron, some rose petals, bat guano, and a small signet ring. "Well shit.." The spell that had been restraining the magnataur suddenly wore off and the beast let out a bellowing roar before charging in the mage's direction. Aroes tried to keep a clear head as he threw some rose petals up and tried to polymorph the magnataur into something more manageable, like a kobold. The spell was either not powerful enough or the creature was simply too large to be changed, the creature became both enraged and confused due to a partial success, a kobold sized arm took the place of the beast's normal left arm. Seizing the opportunity Aroes darted off into the forest in an attempt to run away from the giant creature. The mage took a minute to assess the situation. "Okay, running in the woods with nothing but a reagents for some transmutation spells, this will be fun..."

The magnataur continually tailed the mage, stopping every so often to sniff the air. Aroes was doing his best to make the least amount of noise possible, the shield was in sight, maybe a quarter of a mile away. Aroes just shook his head, soon there would be an open field which means no cover from the 20 foot monster. So he had to set a trap for the big brute. After a moment of sitting in silence the mage suddenly darted for the road, he removed some of the bat guano from the pouch and spoke loudly the words of a polymorphing spell, a section of the road between him and the magnataur suddenly slicked over with a layer of ice. Aroes turned to a tree that seemed stable enough and spoke the words to yet another spell, the front of the trunk turned a dull metallic grey. Aroes let out a sharp whistle to get the beast's attention, standing firmly in front of the tree. The magnataur whirled on its four legs and leaned down his head like a bull, charging for the mage. He tried to dive out of the way but ended up being clipped by a leg, cracking a few ribs. The ruse worked though and the brute collided with the metallic tree, uprooting it and knocking himself out in the process.

With labored breathing Aroes staggered the remaining distance to the crystal barrier and into the city via the portaling crystal. When he finally made it back to the Citadel he felt as though he was about to faint. He reached for the door handle to Lightstriker's room and opened the door. Before he took a second step over the threshold a magical moonglaive embedded itself in the wall next to him, that was all it took, Aroes collapsed.

He awoke late afternoon the next day to find himself bandaged with a note taped to his forehead. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he read it to himself in a muttering tone. "Sorry about that scare last night, the mages I had assigned to destroy the thing when the exam was done failed, so I have to go hunt it. I'm quite pleased with the resourcefulness though so you passed, time to move on to the next school. Practice the Moonglaive and Bladestorm spells that I've unlocked, try not to pass out this time."

"What have I gotten myself into..."

Aroes walked up the steps of the Violet Citadel once again after a long few days of training. Learning to use these two new spells had not been kind to him magically, requiring a lot of energy to maintain. Aroes had joked about how he hated night elves now because of the moonglaive spell, as his heavy steps caused a resounding thud with each step in the wide hallways of the castle of magic the magic mused about his training.

~~Flashback~~

Aticus and Aroes stood in an open field in the Forlorn Woods not far from the crystal shield, set over to the side was a large backpack full of daggers that were clearly past their prime. "The bladestorm spell is partial conjuration and partial transmutation, take two of these daggers and speak the incantation, the sword style will be different for each mage. The daggers used also do not matter so just take any two." Aticus said. The two stepped forward and removed a pair of daggers each from the backpack and spoke their spells.

Aticus went first, Aroes watched as the archamge's lower arms began to transform into blades. The final result was one wickedly curved blade and one blade that appeared relatively flat with three inch spike jetting out of the end.

Aroes sighed at what was about to happen, so he just prayed that the blades he got were actually useful. Aroes spun the daggers in his hands before muttering his spell and watching as his new blades slowly took shape. His right arm transformed into a flat-topped blade with a gradual curve on the underside, the left arm changed to a style that resembled a kopesh.

"Before we start I just have one question...are these blades somehow linked to my arms or something, so if it breaks I'm down a wrist?"

"No no, this spell operates independently of your real arms, you definitely don't want to get your blades jarred or you can screw up your shoulder."

"If that is all then we shall begin, guard yourself!"

The archmage rushed forward and swung his spiked sword arm for Aroes' shoulder. Aroes swung the kopesh arm to the other side of his body to block the blow but because of the horrible angle the spike still dug in. Aroes tried his best to block the pain and continue, bringing his rather large cleaving arm around in a rather violent motion he swung down at the high elf's head. The hit had limited success though as his master crossed the two blade arms and halted his causing a horrible ringing sound and a few sparks to fly off.

The battle continued on for about three more minutes with each one of them gathering quite a few wounds. Aroes had earned a spike to the shoulder, a thin slash across his clavicle, and two bruised knees. The archmage's injuries were negligible.

"That is quite enough for today, see to the healers so that they may patch those wounds."

"Of course master."

~~end flashback~~

The healers had done an excellent job of patching up the mage, four days had passed and the combination of magic, herbs, and potions had caused the wounds to close rather quickly.

Aroes finally reached the door to the room of his master. "I'm home, so what's next?"

Aticus looked up from the arcane mark he was inscribing on the wall. "Well you appear to be doing much better, practice for the next spell is on the agenda for today." Aticus finished the mark and activated it, a shimmering wall stretched from one end of the room to the other. "The moonglaive spell is of course based off a night elf weapon with that name, the one difference is that the arcane version is in some ways better and worse than the physical weapon.

Aroes nodded. "Ya, I've done a bit of reading on the spell but I still can't figure out what makes it so special, it's good to have variety and all but it seems weaker than a fireball."

"Not so actually, allow me to demonstrate." Aticus snapped his fingers and three wood and straw targets popped up. In the archmage's right hand the outline of a shimmering three-bladed glaive appeared over his palm. Just as the shape was starting to become clear a low humming sound resonated in the room, the cause was the glaive spinning at a rather high speed. Hurling the glaive like a discus Aroes watched as the weapon flew the the first target and slashed it in half before bouncing to the second and third. "-That- is why it is a good spell to know."

They stayed in that room the rest of the day, Aticus would conjure target dummies and Aroes would try to control the glaive. The first time he tried the glaive flew off randomly and hit the wall of force, but each subsequent time the glaive was a little more stable. Finally Aroes had it so that the glaive would spin and slash through two targets.

"That's enough for today, now get some rest, you have an important mission in the morning."

"Wait what..."

The next morning:

Aroes yawned loudly and looked around the room, Aticus appeared to be sorting through some random objects. Sliding on a new purple robe the mage stood up and walked over. "Whatcha doin'?"

Aticus looked up. "This mission was supposed to wait but things don't always go as planned, I was just preparing everything you should need."

Aroes nodded. "Do tell."

"A renegade mage that the Kirin Tor had suspected of warlockery has recently stolen an artifact of knowledge from the arcane vault where it was being kept, I have no idea why but he has fled to Kal'dorei lands. You are to go and retrieve this artifact and rid the world of this warlock scum."

"It's been almost a decade at this point...and things have only gotten worse, you know the Kal'dorei have no love of spellcasters.

"You will simply wear markings showing that you are of Dalaran and proclaim to the elves that you are not a threat and see what happens from there, anyway here are your tools" Aticus opened up a long case on the table that contained two objects. "This one is a special lantern, not only does it bear the symbol of the Kirin Tor but it will also hold the artifact for transportation." The next thing he held up was a transparent purple longsword with jagged edges. "Your spellblade."

Aroes took both the objects and smirked at Aticus. "I'll have the artifact back in no time, but wish me luck just in case."

Three days ago: Aroes appeared in Ashenvale with a thud somewhere in the middle of the woods. "Crap..this is not where I was supposed to be." He immediately called out that he was on business for the Kirin Tor and meant no harm. To his surprise Sylvandre Cloudtear appeared behind him. "Lost Mr. Blackstone?" she said. Aroes grinned. "Eh yes...I was really aiming for Astranaar..." "Well you have made it to the shrine of the Forest Guardian...Astranaar is to the north and east."

The two of them walked quietly along the forest road, catching up about what had happened since they last encountered one another. When they finally reached Astranaar Sylvandre was wondering what exactly Aroes was doing in the middle of a night elven forest. "Seeking the return of a magical artifact, nothing more." With the help of the warden Aroes was given permission to use a shrine bowl for a few moments in order to find the target, but his surroundings were too vague to make a positive identification on location. So Sylvandre offered her help.

Over a drink at the inn Aroes explained that a Highbourne suspected of warlockery had stolen a magical artifact, and that in the wrong hands it would be very dangerous. So they set out on a hunt.

The amount of resistance was to be expected, horde and demons were in abundance for the slaughter. Thanks to the warden's moon sword they were able to find the race traitor quite quickly. He had been corrupted by Fel so there was no going back.

After a prolonged battle of felflame and ice spears Sylvandre rendered the final verdict, sending the traitor's head rolling down a hill. Aroes limped over to the body and took the artifact from around the neck of the headless corpse before storing it in the Kirin Tor lantern for safe keeping. The battle had left them both quite tired and injured, Aroes' back had been scorched by the felflames. Drawing upon some of the energy from the lantern he teleported them both a short distance back to Astranaar and stayed for a rest before making his way back to Dalaran.

This morning:

Aroes rolled over in his cot to find Aticus up early again, messing around with the artifact he brought back. "So what -exactly- does that thing do?" The elf looked up from the desk and smiled. "It allows the wearer to use fire spells simply by thinking the words to the spell in his mind, quite helpful if the hands are bound. Speaking of which..it's time to teach you your first archmage level technique." Aroes raised an eyebrow. "But what about my conjuration test?" "The retrieval of this artifact was the test, you demonstrated a proficient use of both spells so I feel you are ready for this. We can always come back to it as well."

The elf walked over to the cot and helped Aroes move into a sitting position. "You won't be trying any of it for a bit because you still need to recover, but I'll share the secret with you."
Aroes just nodded politely. "Any mage can throw fireballs right? Well a fire that is known only to the archmages is much more deadly. It has many names Eternal Fire, Arcane Fire, The Black Flames and so on. It cannot be put out with water and will burn for as long as there is arcane energy to fuel it. I want you to brood on that, I will share no incantation until you are healed...now rest well Brother."

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

~Baron Acton

What is real?


Aroes woke up from what felt like a drug induced haze. "Where am.." was all he could manage as the extent of his exhaustion hit him. His Kirin Tor garb was ripped and tattered. The room was clearly underground and smelled of death, most likely the catacombs. Countless books, beakers, and vials of horrible liquids sat on ancient tables that could have easily dated to the War of the Ancients. After taking a moment to rest Aroes tried to move, only to find that he was strapped to a table in the shape of a crucifix. "What the fel is this?!' he yelled.

Suddenly the doors of the dimly lit room opened up and a bipedal creature shrouded in black skulked into the room, a hood covered its face and a long black robe hid the body so well that it could be almost any race. As it reached out a hand to grab one of the beakers in the dim light could be seem almost talon-like fingers. In a raspy voice it squawked out "Are you ready to begin the operation Mr. Blackstone?"

As the shrouded beast prepared several syringes from the various vile liquids that had no doubt been created in here Aroes went through a list of viable spells to use. "Sleep? No that will just make the thing mad...Suggestion, damn this thing is probably intelligent enough to see right through it...guess I just have one choice."

The large cloaked figure walked over to the crucifix table and pulled a lever, bringing it into a standing position. "Hehehe..you may feel a slight burning sensation." Aroes grinned and replied 'No, you." and yelled out the words trying to call forth a breath of flame, only to find out that no magic responded to him. The shrouded figure screeched. "This is my world Mr. Blackstone, your magic is nothing!" before stabbing the syringe into Aroes' arm.

Aroes woke up in a cold sweat in the office of his master. "Holy fel what a strange dream..." The figure appeared in front of him "That was no deam!" and went to stab for him again. Yet again Aroes woke up, this time in the orc village in Azshara Crater. "Okay, that's more like it.." The mage rubbed the sleepys from his eyes and made his way down to the arena bar. "I must be hallucinating...it looks like the world is flickering" he thought. Suddenly Aroes was back in Outland reliving his demonslaying self from two years ago. "Okay, I'm dead, it's the only possible explanation."

For the third time Aroes suddenly awoke, and again in the office of his archmage master. The elf sa behind his desk with his feet propped up on it. "Have a good sleep?" Aroes groaned. "I had some really screwed up dreams." "Those weren't dreams, that was a spell pupil."

Aroes got up and moved to sit across from Aticus. "So it was you screwing with my brain?" The elf nodded. "Basically yes, and now that you know what it can cause let the lesson begin."

"These illusionary techniques are different from conventional ones in the sens that they actually affect the target's mind directly and not the environment. Like those, however, they can manipulate the five senses. Using this spell in combination with conjuration spells it is possible to make the illusion seem like reality by inflicting damage and such. The spell has already been unlocked, now go find someone -willing- to practice on...dismissed."

Lost in My Own Little Worlds

The day was hot and wet in Booty Bay where our favorite mage was taking some personal time for R&R and hunting down a warlock. The days seemed to all blend into one as Aroes found himself wanting to leave but not really being able to find a reason to. Unusual people passed through the town, mostly humans, trolls, and blood elves, the latter surprising him the most. The mage simply shrugged as him watched from under his hit at all the people that gathered in the tavern. After finishing his grog Aroes flipped a gold piece to Nixxrax to pay his tab, and off the mage went in search of excitement.

Well for excitement in Stranglethorn the arena was the most obvious, and having not attended a fight in quite a long time, he found no harm in making his way down to the old Gurubashi ring. The one road that ran from north to south through Stranglethorn was quiet, the only signs of life being the occasional horse drawn wagon filled with supplies that was bound for the bay. Aroes simply walked along with a reserved pace, his staff hitting the stone with every other step, the mage was just lost in his own little daydream world.

Aroes snapped back to reality when he lost his footing and fell flat on his face. He simply smiled weakly at the daydream and his own foolishness. "Wishful thinking for that which will never take place, but without dreams what are we?" Aroes dusted himself off and continued his walk to the arena. Another thirty minutes passed of the mage simply talking to himself like a madman, speaking problems out loud in order to try and figure them out, once again Aroes was lost in his own world that he barely noticed hooded man approaching from the opposite direction.

As Aroes mindlessly walked past the stranger did and about face and yelled back. "Hey, you're supposed to bow when your superiors pass you!" Aroes' twitched with amusement. "I'll certainly remember to do that when I see him."

The man growled and drew a long black-bladed knife. "Bow or I'll kill you."
Aroes took a step back and sized up the situation, the mage tapped his left arm in order to signal his snake familiar to slither out of his sleeve. The snake did so and slithered into the grass by the side of the road.

"So, what's it going to be?" the man growled.
"Well you certainly won't be killing me and I certainly won't be bowing, so what are we going to do about this?"

"Enough of your shit." the man stated in a monotone voice and suddenly slashed at Aroes.

The moment he swung the black snake struck at his ankle, injecting its venom into the man's leg. He stumbled forward and aborted the slash, clutching his leg and looking to Aroes in a pleading manner. "It's a paralytic, so you won't be dying now. Though I'm sure you'll make a fine lab rat for my spells..." without another word Aroes grabbed the man and a rune out of his component pouch, disappearing in a shower of arcane sparks.

Aroes leaned against a tree on the side of the road leading down to Booty Bay, eying the latest evil the world had thrown him. Suspended from a branch by familiar cobalt chains was the paralyzed man that had tried to stab him in the back. "You will swing from this tree and tell others of your crime, warn them to behave themselves. If I find out that you are not doing this your blood will run in the streets." With that he grasped a small rune and teleported away.

At the Violet Citadel

Aroes appeared silently in front of the door to his master's office/living quarters, he walked in and was promptly greeted with a fist in the gut. "What in the name of the Light do you think you are doing Aroes?!" Aticus hissed. It took a moment for him to quit coughing and regain his composure. "What do you mean?" Aticus punched him again. "I saw what you did with that would be murderer in the Bay, a punishment should have been inssued but what you did was simply cruelty." Aroes turned away, looking guilty. "Aticus...I.." The elf sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I keep forgetting you're only human Aroes, prone to the same behaviors as a lot of other people. You have to be conservative with your actions."

Aroes sat down across from the Archmage and sighed. "I am sorry Aticus...I'll to to work on that." The elf nodded. "You should, because you'll soon have -real- responsibilities...its time to take life a little more seriously. Now then, tell me what you have learned from your experience with that illusion spell."

Aroes shuddered. "It was...a great escape from reality, but I...I must be hallucinating. I'm almost certain that sometimes in made the images real."

Aticus nodded. "And that is the problem, it wears on the mind Aroes. The corrupting effects of the spell can dissolve the psyche and make you a shell of your former self, yearning for that which will never be real. Rest for a bit, I'm going to test you in a bit."

The mage got up and walked over to the small cot, once again he was asleep before he hit the pillow.

Five hours later

When the time had come for the test Aroes woke up, made sure his hat was still on his head, and reviewed a few spells that may be needed. The two of them walked silently to the courtyard of the Violet Citadel where the practice fields were set up. Aticus spoke first. "You will show me what you have learned so far and let us see where that goes." Aroes nodded in acknowledgment and tried a direct fireball attack, all it did was fly back at him and into a wall. An ice attack was next but this time in continued flying, ricocheted, and struck him in the back. As frustrating as it was to see his master just standing there, doing nothing but somehow reflecting spells, Aroes was determined to hit him.

After ten minutes of casting Aroes was exhausted and he hadn't hit the archmage once, nothing seemed to work. He had tried mixed elemental spells like frostfire, dropping large blocks of ice, using illusions to try and distract him, all failed. Aticus smiled and walked over to a sitting Aroes. "You're definitely trying but you still aren't getting it, you see that is what the perfection of the art of counterspelling brings. If you know the spell it is capable to turn it back upon the caster."

"So is that the only trick to it, you just have to know the spell?" Aroes asked. "No no, you also have to be able to anticipate exactly what spell the opponent will cast, hearing their spell chants can give an insight into what they're casting. Afters of practice with this technique people tend to get to the point of it being and involuntary reaction." The archmage held out a hand to help Aroes off the ground. "All it takes is practice, practice, and more practice."

Aroes smirked and grabbed his master's hand, pulling himself to his feet. "Oh, one last thing..." Aroes flooded his hand with a bit of lightning and laughed. "I hit you with a spell..."

"...Shut up..."

Two weeks ago:

The art of spell turning had resulted in many funny and frightening moments for the two of them, ranging from random fireballs sent to Malygos knows where to balls of acid narrowly missing the heads of multiple people. It was not all bad though, one the two magi were in sequence it gave them plenty of time to talk. To the average person watching it would have seemed the effort of both rebounding the spells and changing their type from fire to frost was no more difficult than lifting a set of light weights.

It was on this day that Aticus had to ruin the fun they usually had with a serious lecture.

"You're playing a dangerous game Aroes, are you certain you can stay in control?"

"To tell the truth I'm still debating what to do at this point, I don't intend on making myself a martyr or bragging rights for those dark spellcasters. I know they'll have to be stopped soon but I don't know when I'll get the chance."

"By walking that middle line you are trying to distance yourself from valuable allies, and as such you are stretching their trust."

"I know...I've been personally warned by two demon hunters that should i screw up I'll have a face to face meeting with a glaive, and it will be unpleasant."

"Not to mention the fact this could screw you up politically."

"Those people can shove it, and if they doubt me I'll simply defeat them and take their spot on the ladder."

"You're acting like a stubborn child, you of all people should know that not all things can be solved with a fireball or lightning bolt."

"And you were supposed to be silencing any rumors in Dalaran of this effort, some might link my involvement to the Kirin Tor, and we can't have that."

"I have been doing exactly that and it has not been easy."

Aroes was getting frustrated and distracted, a fireball hit him square in the chest but luckily did not explode. Aticus smirked and folded his arms inside the sleeves of his robes. "That's enough for today."

Present day, 1 A.M. :

Aroes was sleeping soundly on a cot in the corner of the room until has was shaken awake by his master. "Aticus? It's past midnight, what's wrong?" The archmage smirked. "I have finished experimentation and have a gift form you."

They both walked back over to the desk where a scroll marked with some sort of strange runic symbol sat. The marking on the scroll was a small square that could easily fit in the palm, encased in the square was a triangle that further encased a circle. In the center of the symbol was a "T" written in an archaic style. "I've been experimenting with silent casting, this one is designed to remove the verbal components from polymorphing spells. The one downside of this use is that you must be in direct contact with the target..now hold out your left palm."

Aroes eyed his master as if looking for a reaction because nervously holding out his palm. A scream of agony could have shattered the Violet Citadel as arcane fire seared the symbol to the bone. Aroes was likely to pass out from the pain at any moment. "Damnit Aticus..." He started to fall but was caught by his master. "You'll thank me later."

He awoke feelings as though he had been hit by the Deeprun tram on the morning of the Solstice. Upon looking at the calender he sighed. "Another busy day...just great."

Aroes returned to the office he shared with his master in the dead of night Saturday. He was tired, depressed, grieving and all other manner of negative emotion, it had been the toughest week of the mage's life. After a week in Plane of Shadows he had been forced to rub shoulders with the most vile scum mankind could produce, the scary thing was that Aroes was starting to like that path to power. The grieving came from the two friends he had lost in that horrible reverse existence, Bragdana had died fighting a Dark Rider....If only he'd gotten there sooner. Kother had been murdered by Tavren and he sat back and watched...it turns out that playing both sides can be just has hard as playing none. Perhaps what hurt him the most though was all the knowledge that had been lost, in the shadow world Aroes has held powerful, world altering spellbooks in his hands...none of them made it back. THe knowledge of the greatest mage to ever live was lost to the void.

The worst thing he brought back from the Plane of Shadow had been shattered health, a horrible cough seared his lungs constantly as a result of fel corruption. "The sacrifices I make from my magic.." Aroes mused. He had drawn in the fel willingly to preserve a barrier that had held back the undead. Aroes thought back to Antonidas and the wonderful shield generators of Dalaran. "How funny it is that with all the different methods of crafting a spell, results are usually the same."

He laid awake for the rest of that night reflecting on all the choices he had been forced to make, being forced to make those kinds of choices did not sit well with him. His master arose from his slumber early, quite surprised to find that his apprentice had returned from a mysterious absence. After regaling the tale to him, Aroes sat in silence, half expecting Aticus to burst out in laughter. The elf on the other side of the desk regarded the story with awe and disappointment, also mourning the loss of such valuable knowledge. "..The important thing is that you are alive and were able to witness the inside of the tower for yourself, viewing the majesty of Karazhan is something that every wizard should have been able to do."

"In addition to that I have exciting news for you, you will soon be taking your final Test of Magic. This test is dangerous and is designed only for those that choose to devote their entire lives to the magic. It will also teach you something about yourself, I suggest you leave Dalaran entirely until you are called upon to take the test for it takes time to prepare." Aticus rambled on.

Aroes nodded politely to his master and murmured the words to a portal spell, he walked via the corridors of magic back to his home in the mountains of Arathi where much darker work was taking place. Aroes appeared silently in the family home and immediately moved to descend a flight of stairs the appeared to go nowhere. At the bottom was a solid brick wall, and upon pressing three specific bricks, the wall slid open. The passage led down a spiral staircase to a basic stone basement lit by the soft blue glow of magical lanterns. The room was roughly one thousand square feet, in the far corner sat an unlit forge with many blade blanks in buckets and on stands. That entire wall was lined with all sorts of materials related to smithing. Another wall was lined with long tables that had various vials and potted plants running all along the length. Part of the third wall was dedicated to bookshelves that contianed subject matter on everything from anatomy to magic.

Perhaps the most horrifying part of that room were vats that lined the last wall, there were only three of them but two were currently occupied by bodies, the shadows were cast by an eerie green glow that came from he bottom of the tanks. Aroes took off his hat and donned an apron, spellbooks flew off the shelves and hovered around him. With his mind magically opened he began trying to mix spells with different phrases and components, something that would hopefully lead to a new weapon.

Oh where does the time go?

Aroes yawned and looked over at Aticus. For the last week they'd been on a nice relaxing vacation to the ecospheres of Netherstorm. "You know...you never did get that test ready."

"I just said that so that you'd leave the office so I could catch up on paperwork."

"That might as well be my job, you never do your own damn paperwork!"

"I never recall actually asking you to do my work."

"....Damnit why didn't you say anything?!"

"With you doing that secretarial stuff I'm actually free to enjoy my own time."

"...But....I like to enjoy my time too....and you just go off and do cool stuff without me."

"To the victor go the spoils."

"..I really do hate that logic of yours."

The two went back to lounging in very comfortable chairs for some time. The most essential thing for a man to have in life is a comfy chair, if you don't have one then I'm not sure you can be considered alive.

"Light help me Aticus, just about everyone I know is getting married...You ever get that feeling that you are getting way too old?"

"...I'm an elf...so no."

"I meant in mind, not body."

"I still am not sure that I've ever felt what you're trying to describe."

"Damn you and your long life..."

"Maybe you are going through what you humans call a mid life crisis."

"I'm not really -that- old...do you really think so?"

"Possibly. It will have to wait though, you didn't that that I gave us both this vacation simply to lounge around and soak up the nether rays did you?"

"Errr....yes?"

"Nope...we have work to do."

"Shit."