The Hunters Journey - Part 6: The Broken Runestone - A World of Warcraft Fanfiction

I found Runewarden Deryan, near the central runestone. He told me about how Arthus attacks had destroyed most of the runestones and others had been stolen. He said there were many before this but now only three were left and only one of them was working.

The eastern runestone is not working but he thought it could be salvaged. He gave me an Infused Crystal that is used to recharge the runestone. It seemed small but he assured me that it carried a punch. I could feel the energy buzzing in my hand. It was a little intimidating that this much power could be in such a small object.

"Before you go," Runewarden Deryan said "Know that the scourge may be attracted to the infused crystal as you are powering the runestone. Stay safe Hunter."

Junelight and I had to be on guard. Junelight understood the mission, her ears were perked up and alert as soon as we got near the eastern runestone.

"You ready?" I said to Junelight.

I could have sworn she nodded at me, as she slightly bowed her head. But her eyes and ears were focused on the surroundings. She was waiting for them.

It felt like the shadows were watching us as I placed the infused crystal next to the runestone. That unsettling feeling of being watched crept up my spine, and sure enough there they were. The wraiths in the area felt the presence of the crystal. They did not take kindly to the ward that kept them away, being recharged.

They attacked us, in a swift motion, three of them came at us at once. Luckily Junelight and I were ready. She went for one, I went for another, and we converged on the third before it even got close to the crystal.

I didn't know how long this process would take. I should have asked Runewarden Deryan before I left. I guess we just had to hold out as long as it took.

Another wave of wraiths came for us. Junelight and I did the same thing. We took them out swiftly, despite them trying to surround us. Luckily for us, that was all it took. A staticy noise came from the infused crystal and it was drained of all its power. I quickly checked the runestone and the symbol was glowing bright blue again. It worked, and it seemed to be doing a good job keeping the scourge at bay. I waited for a while to be sure but no more wraiths or scourge of any kind came to attack us again.

I asked him why we couldn't replace the runestones with new ones, but he didn't have an answer for me. He said something about the new way we did things, and so on and so forth, but mostly he spoke about finding another way. The runestones were old magic, and we needed to find a new way to survive, and do better than the runestones did.

I wondered if I could find more answers somewhere else. Runewarden Deryan just kept saying the same things when asked different questions and eventually I gave up. Bidding him farewell, Junelight and I would just have to keep searching. Maybe the answer was in the Ghostlands.

I wondered if we were ready to venture into the Ghostlands, but I had exhausted all of our options in the Eversong Forest. We trained, met many people, and learned as much as we could here. We had to move on, there had to be more answers elsewhere. I doubted going to Outlands was the only answer, as many of my people believed...