The Balancing of Light and Shadow, and Xelle's story.

[elarion]

Greetings friends,

May the light of Elune shine blessings upon you. As some of you know, my brother Adantigus some time ago adopted a young human girl by the name of Xelle. He first encountered her uncle, who had been charged with raising her after the passing of her parents, at the human encampment lead by Jaina Proudmoore during the battle at Hyjal. Adantigus had been an envoy, sent to help the humans in staving off the invasion. Sadly, he could not help Xelle's uncle, who was mortally ounded while attempting to fight one of the demons of the Burning Legion.

After the battle, Adantigus and I travelled to the Eastern Kingdoms, to the ruins of Dalaran, where the remnants of the Kirin Tor yet stood together. There, in the shadow of the plague and the destruction that Archimonde wrought, lived Xelle. With her uncle dead, and no living relatives, she had been living on the generosity of strangers for some time. We took her in, and travelled with her to Stormwind. Adan felt it would be a better environment for her than the ruins of her former home, and I agreed.

Xelle was a lively, and a bit mischevious young girl, but her friendly nature was marred by one problem. Since that day we took her in, to this very day, she had never spoken a word. She was very expressive with her features and gestures, but she never spoke, and nothing could coax words out of her. Despite all my brother's powers of healing and probing, we could not discern the exact nature of her problem.

Still, we were determined to give her a good life. The arcane was in her blood, as her mother and father had both been wizards of Dalaran. Although neither of us was completely comfortable with this, we chose not to deny her heritage, and in time she was enrolled at the Tower of Azora. She grew to be a beautiful young woman, and masterful in frost magics, but yet could not find mastery in her voice.

We sought help from many places, but no one could tell us more than she seemed to physically be fine, and her muteness was due to some wound of the mind. Whether this was simply trauma or something more sinister, we were not sure. We both suspected it was more than shock. It turned out Adan had good reason to, he knew her story, which her uncle had told him on his deathbed.

I will use his words to narrate the story, rather than my own.

[elarion]

(( This is from a storytelling session, I've tried to strip out emotes and such, so it is easier to follow.))

[Adantigus] says: My story is a true one, and a tragedy, and there is a special reason why I am telling it.

[Adantigus] says: It is about a young girl I know who was gravely injured, though she does not know how or why.

[Adantigus] says: Only I know this story, but I will share it all with you.... and afterwards, I will ask you...

[Adantigus] says: Some have told me that I must share this story with this girl, while others believe it must remain outside her knowledge... I will ask you your thoughts when I am done.

[Adantigus] says: This young girl was born and raised in fair Dalaran.

[Adantigus] says: She was daughter to a now-forgotten family of archmages...

[Adantigus] says: Her early life story need not be told, save that she was an intelligent and enthusiastic young girl, and always talkative and full of hope.

[Adantigus] says: But we will focus instead of the day that the Burning Legion came to Dalaran.

[Adantigus] says: On that day, countless many were killed, and there were unspeakable acts committed, but her case is special.

[Adantigus] says: You see, there is a type of demon that feeds directly off of the torment and suffering of mortals.

[Adantigus] says: And to such a demon, there is no more delicious and powerful a "meal" than to destroy the innocence of a child.

[Adantigus] says: One such demon came to the home of this girl, and saw... felt... her vitality and life, and decided to feed...

[Adantigus] says: He grabbed her up by her throat, and held her aloft in one hand.

[Adantigus] says: Then he carried her to where her mother lay, and killed her mother in a most unspeakable manner.

[Adantigus] says: With every sob, and every cry, and ever shudder of this girl, he grew stronger...

[Adantigus] says: Her every suffering was his joy, the sound of her pain giving life to him, and to his intent...

[Adantigus] says: He moved on to her father, and her brothers, her aunts and uncles...

[Adantigus] says: He was only stopped when a Knight of the Silver hand rushed into the building and assaulted him from behind.

[Adantigus] says: This noble paladin, filled only with thoughts of self-sacrifice and protection of the innocent, was anathema to this demon.

[Adantigus] says: His very presence was poison, and his touch was like fire... the paladin was able to wrest the girl free before he was consumed by the angry demonic fire.

[Adantigus] says: The demon and the paladin slew each other by their very presence, and the girl's sole remaining uncle grabbed her up and fled the ruined city.

[Adantigus] says: But the paladin's sacrifice was in vain...

[Adantigus] says: This type of demon has another special power... the gift of eternal life, so long as one of his victims remains in pain.

[Adantigus] says: And so, even as the girl and her uncle fled with the Proudmoore fleet to Kalimdor, the demon remained alive, and grew anew.

[Adantigus] says: And so the uncle saw him again at the battle of Hyjal, where the demon sought him out and gave him a dire wound...

[Adantigus] says: ...the demon looked him in the eye, and let him live.

[Adantigus] says: The man died several days later, but not before telling me this story.

[Adantigus] says: That young girl is now my daughter, and she has been unable to speak ever since.

[Adantigus] says: And now I ask you... can she ever know?

[Naiama] says: Hmm...

[Elaran] says: Know what?

[Adantigus] says: Can she know that she is keeping a demon alive?

Arrish blinks, and says mildly, "By virtue of you telling everyone here... she will know, whether you will it or no, now."

[Drahliana] says: At the proper time....she must.

[Elaran] says: Alerac...

[Alerac] says: Kidding...

Vinnjar frowns with disappointment at Alerac.

[Keans] says: In Stormwind friend.

[Arrish] says: It's a moot question, now.

[Elaran] says: Not necessarily.

[Nim] says: She'll figure it out eventually... Y'mine as well tell her...

Aldaeus looks at Alerac in bewilderment.

[Drahliana] says: you can not protect her from that what dwells within.

Strand says, shifting his weight, "Knowledge is better than not, anyhow."

Keans looks up at the thought he spoke out loud.

[Arrish] says: No matter how good willed everyone is, secrets do not remain such when you tell so many.

[Alerac] says: Either way, tell her, man.

[Edric] says: Yeah! Of course. It's her cross to bear. Tell her!

[Drahliana] says: unless she is armed with self knowledge

[Silanthos] says: Her knowing it may be a way of releasing her from torment...

[Arrish] says: And... how does it serve her to keep her in secrecy?

[Elaran] says: Tell her, but as well tell her of how to defeat the demon.

[Aldaeus] says: The girl must know, someday at least...

[Ferrah] says: Of course you tell her. For only then can she develop the resolve to defeat the demon by letting go!!!

[Cava] says: you said she does not speak?

[Drahliana] says: But she must be prepared and forearmed first

Strand leans over, and murmurs to Trinn.

[Runedar] says: Aye

Havyn laughs under her breath.

[Vinnjar] says: I propose we train her to fulfill her destiny and to confront this demon and to slay him.

Flit wipes her hands on her tabard

Dahla says softly, "She's not a well girl. To tell her now..." She looks up at
Adantigus.

[Adantigus] says: I have wished to tell her many times... but part of me believes that she holds herself responsible for the deaths of her family...

Arrish glances over at Dahla. "Oh."

[Keadan] says: If her pain preserves the demon, then she must overcome that pain to destroy it, no? She can't confront a pain she doesn't fully understand.

[Adantigus] says: They were killed for her after all, for her as an audience...

Arrish frowns at Adantigus.

Runedar ponders intently

Tremin lets out a long, drawn-out sigh.

Aldaeus is intensely troubled by this story.

[Elaran] says: There is another way.

Veras hums softly to himself

Elaran looks up at Adantigus.

[Tremin] says: I'm sure that, whenever she finds out, she'll greatly appreciate

your first having told it to a bunch of complete strangers.

[Adantigus] says: I will leave you all to ponder this matter, and to consider the nature of the evil that walks our world.

[elarion]

Adantigus decided to tell Xelle the story thinking she needed to hear it as part of her healing process. We both were unsure if this was the best course, but he could keep it from her no longer.

Adantigus told her, but her reaction was more dire than either of us hoped. She fled to the Stormwind Cathedral in tears, distraught entirely. She fainted there, and was taken into their care. We visited, and attempted to revive her, but she had fallen into a coma. Nothing we could do helped her, but Adantigus vowed to revive her, regardless of what was necessary to do so. By his vow, he was compelled to seek out power greater than that he had been taught. I will allow him to continue the rest of this story, and explain how he came to that power which had been given to no other before now.

-El'arion Telperion.

[Adantigus]

Three letters to El'arion about the staff:

Hello, brother, I bear encouraging news. The strange and mysterious eye of a Divine Being which we found in the Molten Core showed me many visions, and eventually led me to the spirit of a fallen priestess. This sorrowful shade told me the story of her failure to save the fleeing peasants of Stratholme, which even then did haunt that area. But I was able to redeem her, and release those tormented spirits from this world. Thus deciding me to be worthy, she imparted on me a powerful secret.

The gratefull spirit of the fallen priestess gave to me the secret of creating a powerful staff to act as a focus of will, and she gave to me a sliver of our sacred tree Nordrassil to be the shaft. If I combine to this sacred branch the Eye of Divinity, and an eye of a being tainted by the purest and darkest evil, it will act as a fulcrum, to balance the Light with the Shadow. An object capable of tremendous healing benediction, and also an anathema of potent destruction. Power from duality.

Such power will strike fear into the hearts of the wicked, but I intend to use it for other purposes first. I believe that the energies of this device, balanced between healing mercy and destructive oblivion, are what is needed to restore my daughter to health. She must be healed, but part of her must be destroyed as well. This is my thinking. To that end, I will scour the world searching for that Eye of Shadow described to me by the priestess.

[Adantigus]

Seeking more information on this supposed "Eye of Shadow," I consulted Veras, the famous warlock of Stormwind, and a master of Demonology. He advised me that only the most foul demon of the Lady of Pain's minions might posses an eye that had witnessed sufficient evil for my purposes. He also advised me that certain nefarious collectors of rare and evil paraphernalia might have such an Eye already and be willing to part with it for a sufficient quantity of gold.

After much anxious searching, I was able to find such a collector, a shadowy man who refused to show himself. Though it cost me a king's ransom to secure the Eye of Shadow from him, it is perhaps best that such a dangerous object is no longer in his posession.

[Adantigus]

The following is a transcript of the ritual performed in the Cathedral to create the staff, recorded for posterity by the cathedral scribes:

Brothers and Sisters, Friends and Allies!

I have come here today to forge a powerful weapon, a fulcrum balancing the energies of shadow and light and posessed of incredible power.

No doubt many of you have heard the preachings of others about light and shadow; of the blind sanctimony of the holy or the selfish cruelty of those that live in shadow.

My own view is different. I believe that "light" and "shadow" are simply two different words for power.

We all want to shape the world to our will, and power is the means which we use to do so, whether we call it light or shadow, magic or nether, our clever words or our own two hands.

It is in how we use our power that we are judged as righteous or villainous by others. We are draped in our deeds, and our words and beliefs are nothing.

I have toiled to bring together the components of this staff with one objective always foremost in my mind:

I will heal my adopted daughter Xelle.

Years ago, as a child, she was wounded and striken by a terrible demonic curse, and lost first power of speech, and now her link to the waking world.

He left her alive after slaughtering her family before her very eyes. That demon yet lives, fed by the power of her suffering. Only my daughter can slay him.

All I have striven for up until now has been for this: that I might heal my daughter. She will walk again, and speak again, and by her own hands she will bring about an end to her suffering.

These shall be my deeds; Judge me as you will.

I will now begin the ritual.

Behold [The Eye of Divinity]!

The eye of a divine being that has witnessed immeasurable suffering to spread a bountiful benediction on the friends.

Behold [The Eye of Shadow]!

The eye of a demon that has witnessed the darkest of deeds to spread its foul and dark anathema on the enemies.

Behold the [Splinter of Nordrassil]!

This shard of the Tree most sacred to the Night Elves will hold the forces of shadow and light in balance.

Now...

By the power of Elune and the Holy Light, I call forth Benediction!

/me whispers "...now, my daughter. Now you will walk in the Light again."

This is the unrivalled power of divinity over physical wounds.

/yell Behold the holy powers of Benediction! The wounds of her body have healed!

By the power of Elune and the Deep Shadow, I call forth Anathema!

This is the influence of the shadow upon the depths of our hearts, minds, and spirits.

/yell Behold the shadow powers of Anathema! The chains on her mind are destroyed!

Now my daughter, awaken!

Xelle...

[Xelle: Father...]

Rest easy for now, my dear. Tomorrow there will not be enough hours in the day for you to dance in the sun and sing alound your love of the world.

/yell Praise to the Light and Shadow! She is free!

Now that my daughter is free, I will turn this tool against the enemies of Azeroth. Tremble, ye demons!