For you gamers out there, I'm sure you've heard of World of Warcraft. This is dedicated to my awesometastic guild (and its special warrior) who recently killed Sha of Fear, the final boss of this tier, realm first.
If you don't get it, it's an inside joke.
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SOS vs SHA OF FEAR
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In the Terrace of Eternal spring, Andro struck the final blow to Lei Shi.
The elemental guardian's face cleared and her hands flew to her chest. The water keeping her afloat in the air calmed, and she sank closer to the ground.
"I... ah... oh!"
Kiarae raised her fist, signalling for the attack to stop. None of them wanted to kill the guardians if it could be avoided. They weren't evil.
"How are you feeling?" asked Kiarae. "Do you know where you are?"
Lei Shi blinked, the huge orbs dimming for a moment. "Did I...? Was I...? It was... so...cloudy."
The heroes kept their weapons raised as Kiarae stepped forward. Panic was unpredictable.
"You were, but no longer. The Sha's influence over you has been lifted."
Lei Shi took the news better than Rainbow expected. She nodded once, raising her head to meet Kiarae's eyes. She clasped her hands together, the water moulding and sealing them together. "I have the make the water not cloudy now, will you help?"
"Of course."
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief and let her hands fall to her sides. Her mana was running low, and she hadn't been sure it'd last the fight. Looking around, everyone else was the same. Lei Shi had looked like she'd never break, with all her running and hiding. As tired as she was, when Kiarae waved the Guild over to the steps, she followed behind the rest of them.
When the Alliance had first arrived in Pandaria seeking Prince Anduin's lost vessel, they'd never, ever expected this. A land that would not tolerate violence without fighting back seemed absurd. And yet, the Sha had appeared and slowly begun to sap the life from its people.
The Dread Wastes were proof that the land could be corrupted. The darkened sky and the trees that seeped wispy poison into the ground and mutated the animals were the consequences. Rainbow's druidic power writhed within her whenever she set foot upon the land. They had brought defilement upon Pandaria once more, and they would be the ones to fix it.
Sometimes, there were just more important things than the Horde at your doorstep.
The Guild had hunted the Sha of Fear in the Heart of the Klaxxi and expelled it from the Empress with her death, but it hadn't been enough. It retreated to the Terrace and possessed its guardians. The protectors fell first, then Lei Shi, with Tsulong succumbing before their eyes.
One by one, the Guild fought to purge the fear from the guardians. The protectors had to be put down, the fear too deep to be purged by Rainbow's nature, Akira's spirits or Holy's light. Shihiro's shields could do little for the fear already trapped inside. Tsulong had fought against the Sha bitterly, the sun eclipsing in his struggle, and together the healers had coaxed him from it while the rest fought off the physical manifestations of terror as it spawned.
Lei Shi hadn't fought so much as cowered in terror at their approach. She all but refused to engage them herself, summoning elementals and a foggy mist to shield herself from sight. Their perseverance had paid off, and now, they ascended the steps to the highest platform of the shrine.
The monstrosity sat in the centre, seemingly content to wait for its hunters to arrive. It knew, it possessed some kind of twisted consciousness. It watched each of them at once with the thousands of eyes hidden in folds of fleshy cartilage that was its body.
Rainbow possessed a shudder. How were they supposed to fight that? She glanced at her companions, noting the wearied determination that each of them possessed. She couldn't blame them; her own energy was running low.
Kiarae echoed her thoughts. "How do you kill something that isn't supposed to exist at all?" The raid leader shifted her weight, folding her arms as she examined their final foe. "Blood, do you think you could just blow it apart with fire like you did with the Amber Shaper's shield?"
Blood shook his head, the purple witch hat atop his head almost falling off. "Nah, that was luck. The fuckin' shield was broken anyway."
Kiarae clicked her tongue. "Kay. Andro? Ray? Any ideas?"
Both of the tanks shrugged. Ray was the first to reply. "It looks really hard... Like I'll have to dance like I did on Will or something... I really wish I was still a druid, yano?"
"Yea, if only I knew how to use a shield," said Andro. "That could be useful. Holy, I don't suppose you can teach me really quickly...?"
Holy gave Andro an incredulous look. "I offered like, a month ago, and you're asking now?"
"Riggnaros wouldn't need a shield," Blood snickered.
"Wooooooow, Blood. Wooow--"
The argument was interrupted by Lei Shi. The elemental floated forward and held her arms out to the side. Was the guardian going to take on the Sha by herself? Rainbow wasn't the only one to grasp her weapon's hilt, but it was unnecessary.
Instead of engaging the Sha, droplets fell away from Lei Shi's figure and began to coalesce into fourteen globules of pure water. When they were about the size of a fist, they drifted through the air to rest in front of each person.
"Drink, it will replenish your energies. I... I can't do much to help you, I'm sorry," said Lei Shi. She turned to Andro, who had teamed up with Cora to kick a football at Ray while he tried to eat a piece of bread. "But I can give you Hope against the Fear."
Lei Shi's core ignited into a golden glow and she rushed to the centre of the platform. Kiarae started forward to stop her, but the elemental vanished. In her place, an orb of light floated just off the ground of the platform, directly in front of the Sha's mass.
"Damn it. That's one less thing we've got to work with. What is she even doing?" said Kiarae, obviously frustrated.
"I think we should stand in it," said Andro. Ray nodded in agreement. "It looks like a good thing to stand in."
Kiarae glared at them. "You don't stand in anything. That's the number #1 rule of raiding. Don't stand in the obvious bad stuff! This is why your healers hate you most of the time!"
Andro pouted. "But it's free vengeance!"
"Lei Shi created it, and it doesn't feel bad," said Holy. "It's a fortification spell, from the feel of it. It'll help us."
"Alright then! Pulling in 5..."
Everyone looked to Andro, weapons in hand and ready. The seconds passed, and the expected countdown ceased to happen.
"Uh, Andro?" said Kiarae. "Countdown?"
Andro gave Kiarae a blank stare for a long moment before the light came on in his head. "Oh shit, sorry. I got Tyrone'd. FOURTHREETWOONE--"
The Sha shifted on its platform, snaking its head in the air. "You will know fear!"
The Sha's massive limb raised in the air and came speeding down towards them.
"Spread out!" yelled Kiarae, shielding herself to speed away to the far edge of the platform. The shadows claimed her form and a bluey purple beam shot from her hand as she tried to flay with the Sha's mind.
Rainbow called upon the feline spirit and felt her bones morph into a cat, already dashing out of the way. Beside her, Blood reappeared from thin air as he blinked away. Fire coated his hands and he flung two fireballs in rapid succession.
The heroes spread out across the platform, surrounding the sha, relying on instinct and their healers to keep them alive. None of them knew what to expect, only that they had to down this thing before it could cause any more harm.
Andro took Holy's advice and ran for the orb of light Lei Shi had created. Her power infused him and he doubled in size, a wall of light erupting to shield the area behind him.
Already, terror was manifesting itself at the edges. They cast bolts at random around the platform, which the raiders danced around to avoid and occasionally ate.
The sha drew back its head, clouds of purple gathering at the back of its throat.
Mak was the one to realise what it was doing.
"It's going to fear us into oblivion!"
"Get inside the wall! It'll protect us!" cried Holy, shield above his head, other hand outstretched and shooting a bolt of light at Andro.
The Guild dove for the wall, but not all were going to make it. Cora's feathers slowed his movement and prevented him from shifting quickly enough. Shihiro muttered a few words under her breath. Wings made of light formed at Cora's back as she pulled him towards her. Cora collided with Shihiro, sending them sprawling on the ground.
The Sha released the vile mist, and the world outside the Wall of Light turned dark for a long minute.
"Thanks," said Cora. "Coulda been bad."
"Get up!" ordered Kiarae. "Hit it harder! It's cracking!"
Following her orders, the heroes continued to strike the Sha. The only problem was, the manifested terror at the edges were still duplicating, and each one conjured penetrating bolts and flung them at the players.
It was only a matter of time before someone was hit, and that someone was Hak. The bolt collided with his leg and he fell with a cry to the ground. Rainbow prepared to heal it, but Akira beat her to it, his healing spirits sealing Hak's leg to a usable state once more.
"Stop getting hit by the bolts!" said Kiarae.
"There's too many!" came the reply. "We're all too busy moving to hit it other than Icut and Nite!"
The rogue, the most agile of the melee classes, had taken it upon himself to climb on the Sha's back. There appeared to be footholds enough. Nite didn't look like he was going anywhere despite how much the Sha tried to shake him off. He drove the daggers deep into its hide, mutilating the flesh and leaving trace amounts of the deadly poison to seep into the Sha's veins.
"Icut! Take care of the adds!"
Icut turned his sights to the manifested terrors at the edges. He raised his bow and released a flurry of arrows at the adds - a flurry that should have taken them down with ease, but instead ricocheted off to the side and skittered on the ground.
"Shielded!"
"Casters, get behind them! Melee, keep attacking the boss!"
Blood, Mak, Kiarae, Soap and Cora ran behind the manifested terror. The terrors didn't turn to face their opponents, tunnelling instead on the healers still shielded within the wall of light. Their spells and arrows sank easily into the add's hides, and one by one, they dropped.
"Other side!"
The Sha hissed in pain as their assault continued, and their hopes began to rise that maybe, just maybe, this thing wasn't invincible.
"No one can stand against the fear, 'heroes'..." The black mist appeared again. "Drown in terror!"
The blackened poison shot from the Sha like an arrow and surrounded Andro, Akira, Shihiro, Blood, Ax, Hak and Cora in its grasp. They struggled for a moment before falling limp, their forms shrouded by the mist.
Rainbow gathered her magic and felt Holy do the same, but it bounced away, ineffective. Whatever it was, the mist could not be healed away so easily.
"What do we do?" she asked Holy, who shook his head.
"I don't know! Keep trying! Get Akira out!"
Nothing they did worked. The mist cleared around the fallen heroes, and in their places were a twisted version of their former selves. The wall of light flickered and died as Andro staggered out of it, blinded by fear.
"Let fear consume you!"
With a sweeping movement, the Sha flung the transformed heroes to an outer platform across the lake. They seemed to be okay, standing up, until a large, armed figure began to spray something that looked like black water at them with blinding speed. Rainbow looked in desperation for Kiarae, whose grim expression did nothing to assure her.
"Keep fighting! Ray, stand in the ball!"
The remaining heroes did just that, continuing to dance around the bolts crashing on the ground and healing those that were clipped by them. Ray took up Andro's previous position, and once more, the wall reappeared at full strength. Rainbow dove into it, crossing the threshold just in time as the fear spray darkened her sight once more. It seemed the ability took time to recharge, and for that she was grateful. She didn't want to try and heal anyone through it.
Cries of fear echoed from the outer platform, but none of heroes could stop moving for a moment. Without the ranged, the adds were building up strength again and the bolts were more numerous than ever before.
Nite was back on the Sha's head, gouging its eyes out one by one. Icut, Mak and Kiarae ran with renewed haste, desperately trying to stay on top of the never ending mobs, but it was hopeless. They simply couldn't move fast enough. More than ever now, bolts were clipping the heroes and each one seemed to do more damage than the last.
Holy was tiring quickly, as was Rainbow. Between moving from the bolts and keeping the others alive, they were both running low. Standing still for a second to regrowth Mak, a bolt slammed into the back of Rainbow's head. She fell to the ground, vision blurry with tears.
"Glory!" cried Holy.
She could hear Kiarae and Holy yelling at her, but what they were saying was fuzzy and the words didn't make sense to her brain. Relief came with Holy's spell, but it wasn't enough to get her back on her feet in time, and another bolt was already coming.
"Shield!"
Shihiro's shield enveloped Rainbow at the same time that Akira's greater healing wave flooded her body with energy. She went flying as Shihiro gripped her out of the bolt's path, steadying herself on her feet.
"You're alive!" said Rainbow. "How did you--"
"The Sha's possessed the pandaren champions," said Ax. He pulled the two-hander from his back, swinging it in careless circles.
The people she'd thought were gone were all here, she realised. They looked different. All of them shone with a golden light, and their faces were renewed and determined. Banished of fear.
"Noooo... Fear... consume you..."
Heads snapped around to face the Sha. The black mist returned around his head and shot towards them. The people it'd taken before stepped forward, charging his mass, but it wasn't after them.
Instead, it went through Shihiro and crashed into Rainbow behind her.
The darkness was terrifying and all consuming; it was the only thing she could feel. It clogged her sight and blocked her nose with black smoke that curled from every pore of the Sha's being.
You'll never get out of here, it whispered. You're going to die here and now, and I shall corrupt this land and steal all your purples.
Shihiro's hands were on her shoulders, the light desperately trying to break through, but it wasn't enough. The terror twisted inside her, imagination running wild with the horrors of the night.
She was aware of her own screaming in a roundabout way -- She knew she was doing it but couldn't stop. Similar cries echoed around her and she knew she wasn't the only one the black mist was taking.
The Sha flung them to a second, different outer platform.
The black mist dissipated quickly, revealing a pandaren of considerable size armed with a crossbow. Sha essence leaked from his fur. Around her, Ray, Holy, Kia, Mak, Nite and Icut all groaned and got to their feet, blinking in confusion at the panda before them.
"What the--" began Nite.
The pandarens eyes opened in a flash.
"You will all die."
The black, water-like spray erupted from the end of the panda's crossbow. Except it wasn't water at all; it was thousands of tiny crossbow bolts sharpened to the point where they gleamed.
Rainbow leapt to the side, crashing into Mak as she attempted the same manoeuvre.
The pattern was erratic, and the panda could move like lightning. He spun a hundred and eighty degrees in the blink of an eye, firing in several directions at once as the heroes ducked, dodged and danced to avoid the spray.
"Kill him!"
Nite brought his poison laced daggers into the Panda's hide. Mak and Kiarae combined their power to summon massive bolts of shadow at it. Ray danced around, sweeping its legs from underneath it and hitting various pressure points to keep its attention focused on him. When that failed, he taunted it.
"Your mamma's so ugly, I bet even the Sha of fear would be scared of her! Am I right?" taunted Ray as Icut hit it with a particularly painful arrow. "Well, am I?"
The panda growled and sheathed its crossbow, the dread spray ceasing for the moment. Rainbow and Holy took the chance to rejuvenate the people nearby.
"DEATH BLOSSOM!"
"Oops," said Ray. "Hide!"
They ran behind the pillars. Rainbow cowered with Kiarae and Holy. Shards of crystallised flower petals imbedded themselves in the carved wood and went flying past their heads as they pressed themselves further into the improvised shield. Icut and Mak hid behind the pillar to the left with Frank, Icut's pet raptor, who appeared to be oblivious to the danger.
"Safe!" called Ray.
With a deep breath, the heroes pushed themselves out from behind the pillar. Ray lay on the ground, panda butt beared to the boss and several fragmented petals stuck in his hide. The ox statue had done little to protect him from it.
"Tanked it like a boss," said Holy dryly. "If only you had a shield..."
"Shut up. I'll re-roll warrior next patch."
Floating green orbs covered the platform, slowly retracting into the large corrupted panda. Each time they hit, he hit Ray a little bit faster for a little bit harder. Then it clicked.
Rainbow ran into the orbs, revelling in the sense of replenishment that ran through her limbs. She felt her mana return and the renewed sense of determination replace the fear. It pricked with pain every time she touched one, but it was nothing compared to the nourishment they gave her and was easily fixed with a rejuvenation.
"Get the orbs!" she said, running for another and ducking under a dread spray. "They'll help you!"
One by one they picked the orbs up, and the panda began to drop fast. Icuts arrows, Nite's poison and the shadow magic of Kiarae and Mak was too much for him to withstand, and eventually, the panda fell to his knees, bow falling to the ground.
"You face your fears. A moments.... peace for you, brave heroes." A golden orb, similar to the one Lei Shi had created appeared before him. "Go, and be fearless before his presence."
The seven of them touched the orb. With a flash of blinding light, they found themselves suddenly back on the main platform in the shadow of the Sha.
But they were no longer afraid.
"You got back just in time," said Akira, raising his hands to heal Andro where a gash had appeared on his arm. Blood trickled down the side of his head and his breath came in ragged gasps. "The adds--"
"You heard him! Kill the adds!" ordered Kiarae. She and the other ranged rushed forward together, and sped by Shihiro's shields they felled the terrors that besieged the raid quickly.
Rainbow spread her hands wide, casting a wild growth on the raid. It took form quickly, repairing broken skin and bones alike. The melee swung their weapons with renewed vigour, cracking the hardened shell that protected the Sha.
They could do this.
Another terror dropped, and the Sha growled. This thing, impossible or not, wasn't invincible. It could die -- the black tar leaking on to the ground was proof of that. The melee had severed one of its tendrils it used as legs. The limb lay on the ground, useless, and they'd started on a second.
They could do this.
"Hey guys, starsurge procced!" said Cora. "Boomchicken, go!"
Armour appeared on his feathered shoulders and the moon eclipsed the sun overhead. The moonkin released a massive ball of silver-blue energy from his hands. Kiarae, Mak and Blood added their power to it as it flew in slow motion towards the Sha. The ball of fire, shadow, nature and lunar magic impacted with a resounding 'BOOM' as it hit the Sha square in the face.
The Sha hissed, a high pitched squeal that made the raiders clutch their ears. By Elune, it hurt. Rainbow's freakishly long night elf ears were not equipped to deal with such noise. Looking at him, she could see Andro was the same.
"You think it is so easy to vanquish your fears?"
The hiss broke off into maniacal laughter that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.
"Your lights will go out. The darkness will envelop you. And you will fear the shadows that move within it!"
The sunlight overhead faded -- and it wasn't just from Cora's eclipse. It was literally fading from sight, everything was draining away and turning dark as if the shadows themselves had come to claim it.
"To Andro!" cried Kiarae. "Get to Andro, get to the centre, go go go!"
Rainbow's feet kicked in and she ran, still clutching her ears, to the middle of the platform. The guild huddled together in complete darkness, surrounded only by the sound of the Sha's snaking voice.
"Whatever happens, don't get separated!" said Kiarae.
The floor dropped away.
They fell together, grasping at each other's hands to keep them together. They fought together or not at all. Not even Andro, for all his talk could take on something like this alone. He didn't even have a shield. They dropped bosses together and then fought over the loot. That's how it'd always been.
The thought of being alone terrified Rainbow. Imagining what would happen if a few members of the guild ascended suddenly sent a cold shot of fear down her spine.
The hand in her own squeezed her fingers. She didn't know who it was, the darkness made her blind, but she was grateful. They were still here -- still together. And no Sha of Fear was going to change that... unless of course, they had a 200k wipe on it but the thought of that was ridiculous.
Their feet found ground, although it wasn't entirely solid. It felt slippery and moved under pressure. Slowly, the light came back in. Eyes adjusting, the Guild spread out slowly, clutching their weapons and glancing around the bleak wasteland they now found themselves in.
"Did it run?" asked Akira. "It's not here."
"It'll be here somewhere," said Kiarae. "It doesn't know fear, merely feeds off it. Stay ready."
The expanse was completely bare as far as the eye could see. Black mist floated on the horizon, but there was the feeling that if you ran towards it, you'd never quite reach it. Rainbow glanced around, wondering if they were stuck here.
Apparently Blood had the same idea. "You know, I can always portal us out, come back tomorrow--"
"You'd just portal us all to the Dalaran crater, you jerk," said Hak.
Blood went to reply when a now familiar voice came from beneath their feet.
"Dread rises...It seeks the light...It HUNGERS!"
"MOVE!"
The water-floor they were standing on bubbled furiously. Shihiro and Kiarae, directly at the edges grabbed Hak and Ax with their lifegrip. Soap disengaged, Frank close on his tail and Blood blinked away with a curse. Rainbow, Holy, Akira and Mak ran for it, while Ray and Andro prepared their best insults.
"WHY THE FUCK DON'T WE HAVE STATS!" screamed Kiarae. "PAIN!"
The Sha of Fear erupted from the bubbling ground, sending up a geyser of boiling water. It turned, smashing through Andro's blood shield and destroying the bone barrier he kept surrounding him with six huge thrashes. Andro crumpled to the ground and lay there unmoving. The Sha went to finish him with a final smash.
Ray leapt in front, screaming at the top of his lungs, "WHATEVER YOU REACH FOR NEXT BETTER BE A SANDWICH, BECAUSE YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO EAT IT!"
Then, in a moment that could never be explained, Ray conjured a loaf of the best Rye bread Pandaria had to offer and chucked it at the Sha.
"Have some cheese with that, you butt!" said Ray, kneeing the Sha in a spiny limb.
The Sha's attention diverted from Andro, Ray rolled away from the fallen death knight, dragging the Sha with him. The melee hacked away at his back leg; desperately trying to detach something from the main body like it was Garalon.
"We've got adds! Icut, Mak, with me! Down them now!" said Kiarae, searing the sha-spawned bodies with her mind.
"Rainbow, get Andro up!" said Akira. "We'll make sure Ray lives, go!"
Rainbow ran, legs pumping as she towards Andro. The death knight still hadn't moved, and she feared the worst. His skin was a strange pallor, though it was to be expected from one who'd been revived from death by the Lich King. Technically, in this life, he was only about three years old.
Maybe that was why he couldn't use a shield yet.
She gathered her energy, almost within range when a huge orb of golden light appeared in her hands. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't drop it. It weighed more than Ray after thanksgiving.
Despite that, it emitted a warm glow, one that made her happy. Then she looked up. The adds were making a B-line for her, and they looked hungry.
Happy feeling gone.
She tried to move her feet again, but they were firmly planted in the liquidised ground and sinking further with every moment.
"We need Andro up now! What's wrong?" cried Holy.
"I can't move! This balls too heavy!" she replied.
"Then throw it here! I'll hold it," said Holy. "It's a thing of the light; it can't be that bad."
"Catch!"
The adds turned quickly, following the light like moths to the not-so-deadly flame. Spines emitted from their body with their change of attention, catching the raid by surprise. Holy caught the ball with ease, and immediately noticed the adds interest in him. He seemed to realise the same thing she had, in that he was stuck firmly to the ground.
"Got it, go!"
Rainbow got up and continued running toward Andro, whispering under her breath the words she knew would call him back to consciousness.
"Jellybeans, hearts and Rainbowrage!" She threw her arms in the air, watching as the pillar of light erupted from Andro's body. He stood up, coughing, and she completed the spell with a healing touch to rejuvenate him completely.
"Ray needs help, go!" She pointed at the pandaren monk, who was desperately trying to think of new insults. The best he was coming up with was to call the Sha a butt.
"FOR RIGGNAROS!" cried Andro, rushing towards the Sha with his weapon at the ready.
The Sha thrashed a second time, hitting Ray hard. Shihiro's hand lit up and Ray was encased in a powerful shield that Rainbow knew suppressed most of the pain he was feeling. They just had to heal it away before the shield faded and he realised it was there.
"This is not your realm, mortals!"
The ground began to bubble and froth once more. Various sized geysers shot up into the monotone sky, taking Blood with them. He disappeared into the sky, shouting "YOLOOOOOOO!"
Icut dodged one, but ran into a second as their spawn rapidly increased. Frank bit and tore at the Sha in happy oblivion as Icut's leg was clipped by the spout. He gave a silent cry, dropping his bow.
It was only when he crawled away that they could see what the problem was -- his leg appeared to be made of soap, and the water had activated it. Tiny bubbles left a slippery trail from the leg that he dragged behind him.
Akira gave him a look. "You're allergic to water? What are you, soap or something?"
"Akira, catch!" said Holy, throwing the ball. "The adds like it! I don't know why, but they do! Ah, ow, spines!" He touched his own arm with glowing fingers, digging out and healing the damaged flesh. His shield caught most of them, though it was dented from the impact.
Blood came plunging back toward the ground. At the last moment, he created a large iceblock around himself that shattered when it hit the floor, leaving him perfectly unharmed. Despite the frost still coating his body, he still managed a "Full trap bruh!" before combusting the Sha in flames again.
"Don't stand in the bad crap!" yelled Kiarae. "How many times do I have to tell you that before you'll stop doing it!? God damn it!" She lashed out with mind flay. "Pain! Die already you jerk!"
Something dark excreted from pores around the Sha's head that Nite had previously damaged and gathered together to hang in large grey clouds. The Sha thrashed, which Andro tanked with his face since he didn't know how to use a shield, then raised its hands in the sky.
"Huddle in TERROR!" it hissed. The black clouds meandered forward, locking on to Hak, Ax, and Kiarae.
They tried to kite it, get away from the unknown bad stuff Kiarae was forever telling them to avoid, but it was hopeless. The clouds picked up speed, until they could no longer be out-run. The Sha's magic hit the fleeing heroes with force enough to knock them over.
The effect was instantaneous. All three's eyes glazed over, arms over their heads and obviously cowering before something that only they could see. They cried out in fear, huddling into the ground. Ax held his axe like a soft toy, cradling it against him. Hak rocked back and forth, shifting between his worgen and human forms until he got stuck between the two.
"We can't heal it off!" said Akira. "There's too many adds! Shihiro, catch the ball!"
She did, and once again, the adds switched targets flinging spines at the raid, most of which were shielded and fell useless to the ground.
"Guys?!" said Hak. "Guys! What's happening! I don't know--"
"Knock them out of it! Throw the ball at them, it's heavy enough, so use it!" said Holy.
"Got it!" said Shihiro. "Hak, catch!"
The ball mid-flight, Hak pulled out a small white stone with a teal rune inscribed on its surface. Still under the effects of the Sha's magic, he rubbed it until a green light appeared and encased his entire body. Somehow, he still managed to catch the ball.
His eyes opened. "Oh, hey guys. Sweet ball. I uh--"
The green light flickered, and Hak vanished, taking the ball with him.
"What in the-- Where'd he go?!" said Cora. "Warriors aren't supposed to cast!"
"If we don't have the ball, we can't break Kia and Ax out of it and whatever he's doing it is killing them," said Herps. "Rainbow, Shi, try to coax them out of it. Keep them alive!"
Rainbow ran to Kiarae and Shi to Ax and tried to talk them out of the encapsulating terror. They kept their hands alight with healing magic, healing any wounds they inflicted upon themselves in their panic, but talking wasn't working. They needed that ball.
Mak ran off to the side. A void opened on the watery surface at her command. "I'll summon him back. Click the portal!"
"Can we have cookies too?" said Cora.
"CLICK THE DAMN PORTAL ALREADY!"
Icut was already channelling when Cora added his own power to it. Mak's summoning stone rose from the ground, unfolding like a cupboard that could stretch between worlds. She began a second channelling that Icut was assisted her with, searching the void for Hak's soul and before long, Hak was standing in the place of the stone, the golden ball clutched tightly to his chest.
"Whatthefuckloadingscreen," he said.
"You hearthed," replied Mak. "Throw the ball to Kia or Ax, like now."
"What? Oh, uh, yup! Kay!"
With all the accuracy of a healer, Hak threw the ball at Kiarae. The raid breathed a unanimous sigh of relief when the ball hit Kiarae squarely on the head and broke the terror clutching at her mind. You just couldn't be sure what Hak was capable of.
Spines flew out, which Holy and Rainbow worked to heal out those not shielded by Shihiro. The priest's mana was running low. Kiarae picked the ball up quickly, throwing it at Ax and ending his panic with a solid thunk.
More spines.
Kiarae pointed a shadowy finger at the Sha. "Your tricks won't work, Sha! Give up! You're beaten!" She raised her hand. "PAIN! There's no way you can win!"
The Sha turned its gaze to the defiant priest that stood without fear in her heart and slipped below the surface of the floor once more. Its voice echoed around them, bouncing around inside their skulls.
"Drown in terror, mortal. You cannot defeat me."
With the Sha hiding, Ax threw the ball back to Akira and the adds, as expected, released a huge wave of spikes.
Unlike the first few times, however, there were thousands. The adds had continuously duplicated, and with three out of action and two others summoning back a fourth in a different city, hadn't been culled in enough time.
"Hak rallying cry! COOLDOWNS!" cried Akira. He activated a totem laced with the healing tides. It swirled around, rejuvenating those within range.
Shihiro activated spirit shell and flung light at anyone she could reach. The spines impact time lasted for a good three seconds, in which the hastily crafted shields stopped most of them mid air until finally dissolving under the pressure.
"Fucking ow!" said Blood, a spine impaling his thigh. "Someone get this thing out of me!"
Similar curses and shouts of pain echoed around the expanse. The healers had to act fast or risk losing more people like they had Andro. They couldn't revive someone so quickly the next time.
The Sha emerged, bringing with it a massive wall of displaced water in its wake that cascaded over the raid. Cora summoned a typhoon of his own, breaking the water walls tension and sending it drifting harmlessly out to the edges.
The spines were still harming the raid. Akira's healing waves were doing the job but they weren't fast enough. They were going to have to throw the ball again, and soon. The adds were almost at Akira's feet.
"AOE!" called Kiarae. "The healers can't keep this up dammit, AOE! Ax, freeze or something!"
"Got it!" The frost death knight howled, and a blast of icy wind surrounded him. The adds slowed until they were unable to move, the sudden temperature drop too much for their bodies to handle as ice crystallised around their body.
"Hold them as long as you can!"
"That's not going to be long!"
Rainbow clenched her hands into fists and threw them above her head, thinking tranquil thoughts and calling nature to rain down on them with its healing power. Akira threw the ball back to Shihiro, just as the adds broke free of Ax's ice and went to snatch the ball. Holy leapt in front of Rainbow, shield up and absorbing the impact of the second round of spines while she channelled the spell.
They were all still alive -- they still had a shot.
"Hero, Lust up now!" cried Kiarae.
"WOMBAT POWER ACTIVATE!" Akira threw his hands in the air. The heroic cry inspired the Guild, and they all became that little bit faster and stronger as the warcry echoed around them. The Sha was hit with a barrage of sharpened melee weapons, fireballs, a hailstorm of arrows, shadow lances, and the wrath of a boomchicken all at once.
The Sha stopped mid attack, pausing. The guild continued their assault, each person launching a final attack on the beast until finally, it fell.
"Eughhh."
The Sha of Fear's head hit the ground and his carapace cracked, revealing the nothingness within. The thousand eyes closed as its haunting presence was lifted from the raiders.
It was over, they'd done it.
Pandaria was safe again.
"Good work guys," said Kiarae, breathless. "We did it. We downed the Sha."
"How do we get out?" asked Hak. "I don't trust a portal from Blood and my hearthstones on cooldown for some weird reason."
Holy pointed to the Sha's head, where Lei Shi's globe of light had once again reappeared, hovering in the air. The elemental's gratitude could be felt through the expanse.
Touch the light, and it will bring you back...
Sore and weary, the guild picked themselves up and headed over, congratulating each other on a job well done and already arguing who would get the purples that'd magically appeared on the ground after the Sha had fallen.
Kiarae wandered over and picked them up, saying "I'll give them out when we're back at Terrace. No ones ninjaing any of these."
"Can I have the--" Hak started.
"No you can't Mr. Hearthstone."
"Awh."
"Does that mean we can give up the hero business now?" asked Blood. "I mean its fun and all but I'd really like to go kill horde and be otherwise productive with my time, you understand right?"
Kiarae shrugged, holding the loot suspiciously tight.
"There's nothing left now. We've healed the corruption we brought here, we've paid our debt to this land. Now we get back to fighting the horde and stopping Garrosh from creating a second Theramore here."
One at a time, they touched the orb of light Lei Shi had left them to escape. Rainbow outstretched her hand, and once more a blinding light transported her back to the main platform of the Terrace.
It was done. They'd healed Pandaria of the unnatural blight of Fear. The Klaxxi were tamed, the Vaults of Mogu'shan had been delved and cleansed of the Mogu's titanic influence. Even the Pandaren armoursmiths were happy and fatter than they'd ever been before with the heroes gold lining their pockets.
What else could possibly go wrong?
*+*+*+*
<3 Rainbowtree.
Not expecting votes or comments for this, it's just a bit of fun and a good writing excercise for me ^.^
Will probably never upload anything like this again (unless we get realm first last tier boss NEXT tier too... maybe... if I don't get laughed out of my guild for this O.O) but who knows?
For anyone curious -- It's a 10 man, composed of the following people:
- Andro - Blood DK
- Ray (aka Bread) - Brewmaster Monk
- HolyHerpes - Holy Paladin
- Akira - Resto Shaman
- Shihiro - Disc/Holy Priest
- Rainbowfire - Resto druid
- Bloodmagix - Fire Mage (go arcane dammit)
- Kiarae - Shadow Priest
- Makutu - Warlock
- Icut (aka Soap) - Survival Hunter
- Frank, Icut's pet raptor.
- Corainarn - Balance druid
- Axphyxiate - Frost DK
- Nitestalkerr - Assassaination Rogue
- And of course, our special little warrior Hakisak, the fury warrior who hearths out mid-fight and sings us all birthday songs.
I love all you guys to pieces, this is my dedication to you <3 Please don't laugh at me too much.
"At the end of the day, no guild on this shitty realm is going to beat us to the end of this tier" ~Taita.
Oops. Our bad, Taita. Our bad.