Entering Dalaran was one of the most shocking moments in Kael Gull's life. He wanted to say that he had never seen more psykers gathered together, actively using their power for various tasks, training or just plainly for fun. Yet, he knew these could not be ordinary psykers, as their power obviously differed and the Materium was perfectly stable despite their actions.

  He walked through the city in a daze until his high elf companion parked him in an inn, claiming he had to visit the local leadership of the high elves. Kael passed though the lobby and continued to his room, the bright colors of the inn as if laughing into his face all the way. He remembered the people outside, hurling fireballs, levitating or teleporting away, acting in a business as usual manner.

  The inquisitor closed the door of his rented room behind him and breathed out slowly.

  Magic, spells, mana, the words circulated in the inquisitor's head threatening to shatter his worldview. Sometimes, it felt that he was even not in the same universe anymore. He desperately needed to see something he knew, something to connect his old world to the new, to regain his faith in the rules as he knew them back when he was sailing among the starts of Segmentum Tempestus.

  "There is a way, but no one can know about this." Although it was unpleasant to admit, there was something that reached further into the depths of space than even the Emperor's will, ever lurking in the furthest corners of the universe.

  Kael Gull made sure there was not a single living soul around him and crouched down while taking out an item he had bought especially for this purpose, a drink made by mixing milk and blood. He opened the bottle and dipped his finger in the thick, purple liquid and proceeded to paint a small symbol on the floor of his room.

  It was a rune that belonged to Khorne and he was usually in the business of killing whoever was drawing it, but not today.

  He was one of the chaos gods that he was the most confident in suppressing if anything went wrong. Khorne tended to be blunt and raw, he would rather not use the symbols of Nurgle or the others, as they were more corrosive or deceptive.

  After a while, he started to feel something and a faint presence began to linger around the symbol making him uneasy, he recognized the presence right away with his trained senses.

  "He is here!" The inquisitor said with happiness and was immediately ashamed of it, promptly destroying the symbol.

  "I will not ask for forgiveness, I needed to know. They are here, the response is not strong, as if far away, but they are not completely gone." The presence of the chaos gods was faint, as if reaching from beyond a veil, but it was undeniable. He could not even imagine how far he was from the Holy Terra, but it was there somewhere, not completely lost as he had feared.

  For the next half an hour he was cleaning the floor over and over again, trying to erase even the memory of the symbol of heresy , as if it could erase his sin.

  * * * *

  "What are you doing here, Theron, and more importantly, why have you brought that strange person along with you?" Kael'thas Sunstrider was eyeing Lor'themar with curiosity.

  "I am here with . .I am here on a mission." Lor'themar stopped himself from telling the whole story. Only now he had fully realized how weird his escapade with the stranger would sound if reported to his superiors. Sure, Sylvanas would have had a good laugh, but the prince was certainly not going to react the same way.

  "There are rumors of a Dreadlord appearing in Lordaeron, not far from Marris Stead." The high elven prince clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing back and forth in the room that was situated on top of one of Dalaran's high spires." The malicious creature appeared along with many undead at a time when we all have the terrible treachery of Kel'Thuzad fresh in our minds."

  The prince stopped his pacing and suddenly turned to look directly into Lor'themar's eyes.

  "I hope your new companion is not related to all that mess." He held his gaze, looking more for signs of negligence than treachery, as the ranger lord was a faithful servant of the high elves with many honorable deeds to his name.

  "It is unlikely, my prince." Lor'themar said in a hurry, but his wording had not calmed Keal'thas down.

  "Unlikely?! You mean to say that person might be involved?" The prince asked impatiently, as if expecting to hear that the ranger had misspoken.

  "Yes."

  "Who is he? Do you know his identity?"

  "He is a . . .a . .. " Lor'themar immediately understood he was bound to be in deep trouble the moment he confidently declared Kael's identity as he had presented himself to him just a while ago.

  The prince might throw him out of the tower's window for making fun of him.

  "A what?" Kael'Thas inquired impatiently.

  "An enigma." Lor'themar lowered his eyes and prepared to dodge a fireball.

  "So you know nothing of the man, but here he is in Dalaran, led here by your clueless enthusiasm." The prince frowned at his high elf subject with displeasure. "Your unprofessional conduct displeases me, ranger lord Theron! The both of you shall leave this city at once, make sure to find out what you should have had before this conversation even happened!"

  "As you command, my prince!" Lor'themar quickly left the tower, heading back to the inn where he had left the source of his problems.

  * * * *

  Kael was satisfied with his experiment and with his mind put at ease with the fundamentals he had lived by all his life still relevant, he exited the inn and had a walk around the city. Dalaran was bustling with activity, multiple travelers rushed back and forth using multitude of animals or even flying contraptions to move around, many flying away the moment they left the restricted airspace of the city. Here and there, there were visitors arguing with city guards, as they ignored the flight restriction in the city center and were detained by them.

  The inquisitor picked up a newspaper, which someone in a hurry left on a bench and sat down, looking at the front page. Going through several pages, his translator caught up and the text was being swiftly translated into the common speech of the Imperium. Fortunately, there was a lot of news, the one article that caught Kael's attention the most was in the middle, discussing the Plague in Lordaeron.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "This is terribly outdated, rumor is that Mal'Ganis himself has been seen in Lordaeron!" A person of small stature hopped onto the bench next to the inquisitor, obviously noticing the article Kael was interested in. Kael knew that his race was called gnomes and the restless little creature immediately leaned closer and whispered into Kael's ear his own version of the events." I tell you, the expedition has been corrupted and the prince joined the dreadlords. That is why the Light abandoned Arthas and he has been killed supposedly by Uther himself! Now, Mal'Ganis is trying the same trick again and retreated back to Northrend and you would not believe it, but the paladins of the Silver Hand are led by Uther into the same old trap!"

  The little goblin shook his head violently and slapped his right hand against the bench in frustration.

  "These paladins! They have brains full of Light, but completely empty! They are about to repeat the same mistake as the original Arthas' expedition!" The old gnome looked at Kael, who tried to exchange a few words with the goblin.

  "What would you do?" He asked seriously and his conversation partner had the impression that he had guessed right and Kael was very interested in the matter.

  "That is simple, stupid demons like Mal'Ganis has been here for thousands of years and look around!" The gnome gestured towards the highest spires of Dalaran, the shades of which were only a few meters away from them. "Dalaran thrives anyway! Terenas and his paladins should just ignore the filth and focus on developing their kingdom!"

  "Maybe, you are right." Kael nodded and watched the gnome jump up from the bench and hurry to one of the high spires.

  Despite his words, the inquisitor disagreed with the gnome. His experience taught him to decapitate the leaders of any opposition before reaching for more complex strategies.

  "This bastion of human magic is strangely unsatisfying to watch." Kael mumbled while taking in the daily life of the city streets. "Maybe because the actual humans are almost a minority here."

  Grumbling, the inquisitor continued to read his newspaper. He had even found out who Antonidas was and his high position in the government of Dalaran that was supposedly performed by a political body called the Council of Six restored Kael's faith in humanity a little.

  "Here you are!" Another figure emerged from the crowd to speak with Kael, this time a lot higher than his previous conversation partner.

  "Oh, morning Lor'themar." The inquisitor gestured to the high elf to sit next to him, but he remained standing. "Has the matter with your superiors been solved?"

  "I know it sounds strange, but we should leave the city." Lor'themar responded with unease, as if remembering an unpleasant memory and Kael immediately thought that whatever meeting he had just participated in had not gone too well.

  "It sounds like you have the wrong impression of being my superior or something." Kael looked at the high elf calmly and the high elf stiffened while staring at Kael.

  The inquisitor decided to end the awkward silence between them after he had taken enough pleasure in watching Lor'themar's stiff expression.

  "Fortunately, there is a place of interest I would like to visit." Kael lifted his right hand holding the rolled up newspaper and waved it in the air.

  "Northrend. I figured there is about to be another expedition." He stated with a tone that did not allow for a debate.

  "Are you serious?" The high elf was obviously not thrilled by his decision.

  "Very, I have doubts about being here anyway, this city is a little too. . .unordered for my taste." The inquisitor was disappointed by Dalaran in more ways than one. The first reason being that the bastion of advancement and magic had too many xenos for his taste, the second was a complete absence of a spaceport or anything that might just remotely remind him of space faring capabilities of the developed worlds of the Imperium of Man. He started realizing how difficult it would be to get off world, back to his home sector.

  "Fine, but running around Lordaeron is not the greatest idea. I might have a better way to join this expedition." Lor'themar waved at the inquisitor to follow him and they quickly weaved through the narrow streets of Dalaran until they stood in front of a circular tear in space. Kael's eyes turned into saucers, but before he could ask anything, his high elven companion walked through the portal and the inquisitor had no choice but to reluctantly follow him.

  Instantly, he found himself in a place of familiar architecture he had witnessed not long ago.

  "Silvermoon? This can't be!" Kael Gull was looking around in awe to verify his hypothesis. The teleportation technology he had just experienced might change everything. It might be even the reason why there was no need for a spaceport on this world.

  Was it possible that the natives simply teleported everything around?

  "Wait, does it mean that the whole journey to Dalaran could have been done with a single step through this portal?" Kael turned to the high elf and felt like a silly kid asking an adult something painfully obvious.

  "It is not like you have asked." Lor'themar snorted, his frustration about the whole escapade evident. "Wait here, I will see what can be done with the expedition. There might be a small minority of believers in the Light who might want to ready their own ship to join the expedition. It won't be anything official, but you might just tag along."

  The high elf disappeared again, leaving the inquisitor brooding about the inefficiency of his actions.

  Changing the bench in Dalaran for one in Silvermoon, he had to say the ones in the city of mages had been slightly more comfortable.

  Not long after his companion left him, he saw him again with his face beaming with a wide smile.

  "I will escort you to a ship that will be joining the expedition organized by the Silver Hand." Lor'themar picked him up and they walked through the city to reach the harbor, the elf was obviously overjoyed by the fact that he would be finally able to dump Kael onto the ship and be rid of the bothersome visitor.

  The pair walked through the Silvermoon city with a spring in their steps. They were passing by shops, inns, even an auction, the majority of the high elves simply ignoring them, minding their own business. The Inquisitor could not get the local teleportation technology out of his head, even though it was a good sign, proving that the locals were not as backwater as he had thought, even the Imperium could not completely replace ground space ports with personal teleporters.

  "What are the limits of your teleportation technology?" The inquisitor was surprised that the teleportation worked flawlessly. He remembered the mountains that were clearly in between Silvermoon and Dalaran, the teleportation technology of the Imperium of Man was unable to handle such an obstacle. The only way to safely teleport someone in this way was to use a support ship stationed above the mountains to avoid the uncountable tons of rock, as the technology could not curve the path of teleportation and worked in a direct line.

  "You should have asked the mages in Dalaran." Lor'themar answered without much focus, as he had to be counting minutes until he would finally be free of the chore jokingly assigned to him by the ranger-general.

  "I should have." Kael grumbled, pushing his doubts to the back of his mind.

  Soon, they reached the harbor where long, elegant ships of the high elves were docking. They arrived to the one that was being loaded with cargo, sailors readying it for a long journey. Surprisingly, there was a familiar figure already waiting for them next to the ship.

  "Sylvanas, what are you doing here?" The high elf accompanying Kael looked uneasy, he had not expected to meet anyone and the sudden appearance of the ranger-general signified an unexpected situation and Lor'themar hated surprises.

  "There was a change of plans ordered by the High King Anasterian Sunstrider himself. You are to watch over this ship of eager pioneers and report back what happens in the Northrend to me. The High King is displeased by the lack of information about the Plague that is ravaging the lands to the south, just outside of our southern border. Further actions of the Kingdom of Lordearon cannot go unnoticed." Sylvanas told to Lor'themar with a bit more serious demeanor compared to how she talked to her friend usually, her typical playfulness nowhere to be seen.

  "I will do as ordered." The ranger lord responded with sour face, as if he had been just ordered to commit suicide. Yet, his professionalism prevailed in the end and Lot'themar Theron turned to Kael once again.

  "Let's meet with the captain."