Conquest of the Horde

Sleepless,

What an annoying state to be in. Tired, but unable to find rest for whatever reason, give it illness, or excitement. And such an ailment had fallen upon Krona. The day’s excitement of finding a Runemaster to teach her had left her well awake and lusting to learn more. Just a few hours before, Thragash had taught the young orc how to properly sense for a rune. It was all so awe-inspiring. Just the mere imagination of the Ley lines twisting about and forming runes in her head was enough to encourage her to go the distance. She sat in the midst of the crater, a land she had just been introduced to her that day, and began to focus. Her eyes closed and with them did her spirits rise. She dug deep, her entire night’s focus on carefully grasping into the ley lines that ran beneath the crater. The repeated this, time and time again, simply just getting the feel for the line. With every attempt, her grasp about it got tighter.

The night’s eye was high in the sky, staring down at the Runenovice as she practiced and practiced, and it wasn’t until the morning’s eye opened that she finally delved deeper. With her tight grasp on the Ley line, she began to trace it for as far as she could, feeling the power flow out of the crater. Se could not follow it for long, but the most she new is that it traced all the way to Ashenvale. And with that simple knowledge, she set off on her tireless journey. For the most part of the travel there was nothing of interest. Krona knew little about the forest, hell she was lucky to know it’s name. Yet still she ventured into the black woods, shaded by a purple and green canopy.

Her footfalls were quick and decisive, light against the cobble path. The only thing running through her mind is the prospect of finally finding a rune to brand herself with. The only pause given in her travels are the moments she took to trace along the ley lines. Eventually she pressed on, traveling off of the cobble road in order to follow the line once more. At one point, she was so focused on the line that she actually barreled straight into a tree. Even then she didn’t mind too much, her focus way too endowed on the rune to give thought to anything, even something as key as pain.

Finally, she found the glade, standing underneath it’s natural gateway with an entertained awe. And from behind her, came a brother orc. She did know who he was, or cared why he was here. All she did was spare him a nod before fearlessly venturing into the clearing. From just the entrance alone, Krona could feel the power radiating from the ley lines, rising from the ground and drifting up into the canopy above. Her gaze fell upon the creatures of the vale, which had grown angered and vicious at their very presence. She nodded to herself, accepting the challenge presented to her.

The two strode calmly to the challenge presented before them, and wordlessly the fight began. First a lone, rabid wolf traded blows with Krona, ending with it’s neck snapped by her powerful hands. Followed shortly after by two majestic stags. One of which was quickly felled by Tagren’s mace, the other was brought down by the two’s combined attacks. Yet the biggest challenge was yet to come; three bears, massive in size and native to Ashenvale. This battle raged long and hard, with many trades of claws, fists, shields and maces. The bears at one point even gained the upper hand, until aid came in an odd form. Two beasts entered the fight. One, a doe, and the other, a bear. The doe was first to strike, knocking Krona off of a bear she was wrestling. The bear followed soon after, tackling the one that Krona was just on.

Once the bears were felled, the confusion only grew. The doe shift out of her form, taking the appearance of a Kal’dorei, while the bear took the guise of a Tauren. After much useless babbling from the Kal’dorei, Krona marched off to the center of the veil to focus on the real reason she was here: The Rune.

With lacking grace, the young orc plopped onto her rear and pulled the worn boots off of her feet, which shimmered with the same runes that laid on her fists. Her posture slumped with her legs folded within one another as her eyes dritfed shut. She sat there.

And sat there...


And sat there...

The orc and tauren behind her were still arguing over how disrespectful it was to kill the animals, despite that fact that they attacked first. She tried to give no heed to the two fools, but it was no use. Their voices penetrated her mind’s eye, blinding it with their useless bickering. It was only after they left that she was able to properly focus.


She spent another hour, simply dedicating the pattern to memory.

Challenge complete

A crash of lightening lit up the dark skies, soon followed by another, and another. It seemed near constant around the dark portal, as some called it. Krona just left what was left of Draenor the ominous portal stood tall behind her as she calmly walked into one of the portals to Orgrimmar that the magi there maintain. As soon as she could, the orc found a quiet hole to crawl into. She pulled off her boots and planted her feet onto the dusty ground, beginning her ceremony almost immediately. For what seemed like an impatient eternity, Krona was in meditation, tracing the ley lines that ran so deep under Orgrimmar. Even though she had spent so many hours in practice before, it still took her an hour or so to get a full view of the line, and even longer for her to trace the line to the next rune.

It wasn’t until the dead of night that she found it, where all the chattering of the city had died down to that of a whisper. She knew where to go, North West., what she didn’t know of what was there. Her knowledge of the world of the world was that to an orcling’s that gets tutored by the Orphanage matron. The most she knew was Durotar, Northern Barrens, some of Ashenvale, and parts of Azsahra, including the Crater. Despite this factor, she dredged off int the unknown, leaving through Orgrimmar’s west gate to travel underneath the blanket of the stars. The trip itself as uneventful, save for sneaking around a raptor or a centaur warband. Still she pressed on, eventually greeted by not the orange ridge that was Redridge. No, instead what greeted her was a sign of what the Horde was, a commemoration of it’s strength and superiority. Before her stood a massive camp, leftover from the Stonetalon campaign. While she couldn’t help to gaze around at awe, especially to the Kor’kron vanguard that was stationed there, she pressed on into the valley.

That was not the only thing to draw her attention, hell it was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Between the Grimtotems, destroyed villages, remains from the Stonetalon conflict and Malaka’jin, Krona’s attention was fairly drawn away from the pursuit of the rune. Or at least, it was momentarily. Still, as she passed the troll village, she was dead set on her mission once more. She could feel the ley lines beneath her feet, and she could tell the rune was near. She paused beside of the mountian, tracing the lines once more before looking up with a groan.


The woman huffed a sigh and began on her trail up the orange monolith. The path was long and arduous, and she can tell that it was only the beginning with storm clouds gathering overhead. Even still she pressed on, which in retrospect, probably wasn’t the wisest thing she’s done. About halfway up, their rain began, making the already steep mountain only harder to climb. Her grip on the red rocks began to slip, and at one point the only think keeping her from a certain death were a few fingers tightly clamped tightly around a rock hold. Still, she was pressed to continue, she had to. There was no time to back down, to play it safe.Only as she reached the peak could she observer the severity of it. Off on other mountaintops she could see the strikes of bright blue lightning.

With a haste she didn’t know she had, she confirmed her position over the ley crossing and dived in. Her entire person delved in a runic meditation as the world about her faced a cataclysmic storm. Lighting struck, and struck, and struck. The rumble constantly rolling across the skies beneath the black clouds. She could feel the world around her, even with her eyes closed, she could clearly tell where the scorch hit, how it arced from the heavens down upon Azeroth. She was aware of every drop that matted her otherwise vibrant hair to her head.

Suddenly it all felt as if it had stopped. The rain, the thunder, the lightning, the looming sense of death. It ll ended as her minds eye gazed clearly at the pattern before it. Yet as she reached around it, grasping it’s every detail, reality came around. Lightning struck, but not far off, no. It struck just a few yard from her on a tall outcrop of rock, sending chunks of the orange stone to pelt her body. She repeated the process, only the be interrupted as reality but in again. Once more, and the gust of wind nearly knocked her back.

Finally she got it. She delved into her mind’s eye, but kept her awareness to the storm. As her mind wrapped around the ley-infused symbol, her senses traced every movement of the skies. She managed to dedicate it memory.