I am Maralah, Elder of Pack Spirit, once known as the Den Mother. I survive to tell stories of the past, the most important of these to me are the stories of the Pack. Sit now and listen.
Throughout the history of the Pack we would travel to visit our spirit guide, Artan, once a bear. It was understood that Artan was not completely of the world After, he was in a shadowy place between our realm and the next. Soon we were to learn more of what transpired on this half-realm.
Artan had dire news for us on one particular visit. While we fought our mortal war with the Alliance he was fighting in a war as well. The soldiers who died on the material realm, Horde and Alliance, would be held to fight with Artan and the others... prevented from going to their final destination or reincarnation.
It was terrifying news, moreso when Artan revealed he was not aware of who they were fighting. A bear in life he was no general in death and had little to tell us of the mystery, but what he did know he shared. There was a great force coming, something evil loomed on the horizon...both in the material realm and in his ghostly one.
We did not dare ask him what happened to the ghostly soldiers if they were slain... and I do not think he would have told us. What he could tell us is that the enemy appeared in droves seemingly from a huge purple and black shadowed crystal. They would fight with no regard for order; battle strategies; or injury. They skittered and clung to shadow.
There was not much we, a small Pack, could do... but the Shaman consulted the elements and their oracles; the Druids queried nature and the Dream; and the Hunters sent out four legged and feathered sentries. We were prepared when the necropolis first appeared over Azeroth.
We were few but others, both Horde and Alliance, joined the battle. It happened just as Artan had said... large crystals; summoned undead creatures; a drive beyond anything natural. We fought and some of us fell... only to rise again and fight against us.
It was bloody and seemingly endless. Tocho returned to Artan's cave to see if things in the spirit realm had altered, but when he cast the ritual of summoning... Artan did not appear! No amount of casting could bring his friend to speak to the assembled Pack. Khazrikieh, Elder of Sight, was tasked with finding a way to contact Artan... we had a war to fight, but this was clearly related.
The rest of us continued our fight alongside the Horde and Alliance and, eventually, the Scourge were contained within the plaguelands. The necropolis, Naxxramas, loomed over Stratholme... a constant reminder of the Scourge presence.
Artan prepared us for a battle of unimaginable magnitude. The story of his disappearance, however, is for another time.
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