The Great Thief

Translator: Halcyon Translations  Editor: Halcyon Translations

At the time, Shandris Feathermoon was still just a little girl.

In the history of Dawn, the birth of this little girl could be traced back to the ancient wars because of the long lives that Night Elves lived.

Either way, Tyrande picked up this little girl and took her back with her. As the leader of the Night Elves, perhaps she thought that she could do something for this kinswoman of hers, or perhaps she was considering the future of this girl.

Tyrande ended up taking her to the Elune Sisters.

The Elune Sisters were a group of Priests that worshipped the Moon Goddess, Elune. They were the highest tier of Priests amongst the people and were one of the few organizations that remained almost as whole after the war.

Over thousands of years, the Priestesses of Elune all became symbols of morality or great warriors. Whenever the Night Elves were plunged into war, the Sisters of Elune would fight alongside the soldiers, worshipping Elune and summoning her power. The Moon Goddess often answered to their calls and would unleash her wrath on the enemies of the Night Elves. According to legend, these priestesses could even summon a mirror of the moon in the sky during midday, so that the Night Elves, who fought best at night, could receive some of Elune’s powers. After they won the war, the priestesses would then pray and heal the wounded.

The members of the Elune Sisters were taught all sorts of battle skills, tactics and healing skills.

Shandris Feathermoon, who also joined the Elune Sisters, had to learn the same things. Tyrande had hoped that she would someday specialize in a particular aspect.

Then, Shandris Feathermoon performed exceptionally under the wings of Tyrande.

During a time when the Elves fought against the Burning Legion in front of Azshara, Tyrande’s lover, Malfurion Stormrage placed down Tyrande, who had passed out, beside a tree. The evil Zhat’Harvis attempted to take Tyrande away. Malfurion couldn’t battle against so many, but Shandris appeared in time and used her exceptional archery skills to help Malfurion take down Harvis. However, in the end, Tyrande was still taken away.

After that battle, Shandris rose in position and became an intern priestess. Alongside the other priestesses, she defended against the attacks of the Burning Legion.

Some said that Shandris Feathermoon had already learnt her signature move – Prayer of the Moon Priestess – by this point. Now that Shandris Feathermoon had become a Sentinel Commander, this battle seemed like a joke to her.

However, after Lu Li appeared, she changed her mind.

She had high respects for Garona Halforcen. Garona had taught her many things, even though later on there was proof that Garona only taught her because she had some intentions of her own.

“Your teacher…” Shandris began as she puckered her lips. She couldn’t understand why those great figures were willing to take in these adventurers as students. These adventurers all seemed so weak; she could probably crush all of them with a single hand. On the other hand, the Night Elf girl seemed very beautiful. She was the kind that Shandris favoured.

If she was to take in a student, she would consider the Night Elf girl. At least she was something beautiful to look at.

“I’m learning the way of the Thieves from my master.”

Lu Li could sense Shandris looking down on him, but this was someone from the same master as him, so he wasn’t unhappy at all. This was a game that valued true strength and if you looked down on true strength while you had no strength at all yourself, then all that you were really displaying was your weakness.

Shandris deserved his respect; she was a character of true strength from the Elune Sisters.

Apparently, there were still no Priest players who had entered the Elune Sisters. March Rain might have a shot, but according to Lu Li’s memories, she needed to wait for the right timing to come.

“Then why have you come for me?” Shandris asked. If necessary, she wouldn’t mind helping Lu Li. They learnt from the same master anyway and she got along well with Garona.

“My master has given me a quest. She wants me to slay Bygraves,” Lu Li said.

“Bygraves, who’s that? Do you need me to help you kill him?” Shandris asked in curiosity.

Lu Li was speechless. As a commander in battle, this girl had no clue who the opposing commander was. He had to explain in detail and he also brought up the issue between Garona and Bygraves.

“How is this possible? Why didn’t she kill him? Don’t tell me Garona can’t kill him.”

Shandris was shocked.

To a certain extent, she knew of Garona’s past. Shandris was close with Garona not only because their personalities matched, but also because their fates were similar.

Shandris’ parents both died when she was young. Before Tyrande arrived, she had no help. The turmoil she suffered when she was young made her hate those who brought it upon her. She was so focused on protecting her kin and she was more interested in battling for revenge.

Shandris hated those who rose their weapons against the innocent, for example, Teron Gorefiend, or Bygraves.

Teron Gorefiend was an Orc Warrior that existed around a similar time to Bygraves, or perhaps even earlier. The two of them were similar in that they were both cruel and lusted for blood.

As a Warlock, Teron wasn’t outstanding, but his cruelty and hunger for blood was the reason why Guldan favored him.

He was famous for the act that he had committed when the Orcs took over the Temple of Karabor. Teron killed all the Draenei captive, regardless of their age or gender – none survived.

His act was so brutal, that even some Orcs felt ashamed. In the minds of some prideful Orcs, it wasn’t a glorious act to kill those who couldn’t fight back.

During the first invasion of the Orcs in Azeroth, they lost an advantage and Guldan’s power was greatly weakened.

Orgrim Doomhammer seized the chance to start a political change and Teron was the first Warlock of the Shadow Council to die to Doomhammer. However, Orgrim didn’t successfully kill Guldan, because Guldan promised him to build a strong troop of riders who would follow only Orgim’s command. Orgrim commanded people to find some corpses of Human generals who had died during the War in Azeroth, and with some help of evil magic, souls of the Shadow Council Warlocks that Orgrim had slain were placed into these corpses. These revived corpses were called Death Knights.

Because of this, Teron also became the first Death Knight in history.

Bygraves was lucky enough to not be turned into a Death Knight. He followed the Blackhand to Azeroth and after the Blackhand failed, he turned to Doomhammer. Alongside the rise of Thrall, he joined the troops of the new Horde.

Although because of Thrall’s command military forces rarely touched the peasants, Bygraves was still hated by the Alliance.

Shandris could find any Alliance soldier and they could easily name out Bygraves.

The Horde commander this time was once a Horde Warrior. Shandris’ comment on him was that he was a defiler to life itself and should have been dead long ago.

“I can’t fight him myself,” Shandris said in disappointment.

Any of her ranger generals could easily take him down, but in the orders that she received, she wasn’t allowed to kill the opposing commander.

The main characters of this faction war were the adventurers; the NPCs only existed to help.

“Without your help, I don’t think I can achieve such a hard quest. My friends and I aren’t strong enough to do this alone, and my teacher is tortured by hate day and night. She can’t wait to see the day her enemy dies.”

Lu Li’s expression wasn’t impressed.

“Then what help do you need, my kin?” Shandris felt helpless.

She could possibly go against the commands from above and kill Bygraves by force, but she wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences after. It wasn’t just as simple as her receiving some punishment.

The War of Hillsbrad seemed ridiculous to her, but she couldn’t laugh at the threat of the Undead.

As Jaina and Thrall had insisted, they needed to build a shared battle line together. If Shandris was to jump out and kill the opposing commander in a battle like this that held significant political meaning, the outcome would be hard to imagine, since Orcs were a very irrational race.

“But you could at least help us get rid of his sentries, right?” Water Fairy interrupted.

“The sentries aren’t an issue, but the strength of you guys…” Shandris trailed off, then shook her head in disapproval and continued, “I’m currently level 65. I’d assume Bygraves would be of the same level. No matter how many of you go in, the results will not change.”

“Our teacher gave me this,” Lu Li said as he took out the pack of poison.

“What’s this?”

Shandris took the poison and gave it a sniff. After she sniffed it, she widened her eyes and exclaimed, “Good stuff! Can’t believe this actually exists.”

“Would this be enough to take down Bygraves?” Lu Li asked in anticipation.

The poison that Garona gave her this time had no attributes. There was no damage and no special effects, so he wasn’t sure about this at all. However, now that he had seen Shandris’ reaction, he felt a bit more confident about the whole situation.

“How could it be possible to take down a commander with this alone?” Shandris sighed as she shook her head.