The short event I am about to describe comes in the manner of a dream. Any Venture Co player, Horde or Alliance is welcome to have experienced this dream at some point over the past/future few weeks. I'd very much like some of you to do so. If they do, it'll only happen once, but will leave behind a lingering sensation of heightened senses and excitement. It's mechanics are akin to the sensation of waiting on the edge of somthing - it's actual cause is an astronomical alignment of stars causing some strong-willed and 'heroic' individuals across Azeroth to catch glimpses of both the past, and potential futures. This does not require any involvement in the DoA storyline beyond a social standpoint - I would just like to remind you all that the end is coming. My exams finish on the 18th June, expect the final string of events to follow shortly after. I promise, you'll kick yourself if you miss it.
It's between the smell of freshly cut grass, and the pressing sensation of an overcast sky that are foremost in your mind, though as you look up the sky is clear of cloud cover, if somewhat darker than the Azerothian sky-blue you might expect. Stars twinkle gently down towards you, each one softly smiling as it does, admiring your strengths and supporting your weaknesses in perhaps the oddest sensation of heroism you've ever felt. You feel invulnerable, which is made more percuiluar by the way that a chill wind cuts through your clothing, armour and skin to chill your very bones. Only with all these sensations running through you, a cold sweat on your brow, that you can take stock of your surroundings.
You stand upon a red-brick path, wide enough to compensate for a large cart, with a gentle camber that leads to the barren, yellow-sand rock and infertile dirt on either side of the road. There's nothing around you, for miles and miles, save high walls of the same red-brick that form somewhat large circles with a single doorway. Shorter pathways branch off the main road towards these, reaching a doorway in the walls that stand rigid and closed. Somehow, the presence of these walled circles into which you cannot see do not discourage from the barren nature of the featureless land you stand in, the countless barricades barely a presence amongst the vast desert.
Time flitters past, as you try doorway after doorway, finding each one locked and sealed from you, despite your best efforts to open each gate you come to. As you progress, you come to notice scorched circles in the ground, at the end of some of the off-shooting pathways. Some even have some of the walls remaining, as you come to note nothing more than scorched dirt and broken rock within these shattered circles. You start to wonder if there's anything living in this featureless world, and as you do so - you bear witness within one of these circles, scorched and broken like the others. There grows, or clings to life - a bush of beautiful white roses. Their scent overpowers your senses, bringing hope and light to you and your body.
Approching the white-rose bush, you gaze curiously at the only living thing amongst so much devastation, as the roses evolve before your very eyes, becoming a flock of white doves, their gentle cooing even more potent than the scent of the flowers. They flitter about their broken circle, finding places to perch amongst some of the still-standing walls and shattered gateway. They softly cry, gentle tears of crystal purity, as a lament of crushing sadness fills your ears and your mind. None fly further than the former borders of the circle. One of these birds, a gentler white than the others, starts to cry tears of a ruby-red, flitting with aggitation from patch of scorched earth and former organic matter to broken wall and back again, it's feathers pulsing with light as the other doves move towards it, protesting loudly against it's actions.
Moments later, the bird bursts into flames, their light a scorching brand against your skin even as it fades, leaving behind a dove of darkest black. Screeching a pained cry, it turns to fly past the wall, sweeping into the sky with an angry flash in it's eyes. Unable to persue it's speed, you turn to watch the lamenting doves, who, one-by-one, find their feathers fading to grey and black, molting away to mere shadows of their former selves.
Leaving this circle, you find yourself following the black speck in the sky, as it flutters from circle to circle, yet as you follow each one behind it, you find the circles scorched and broken, much like the few you've seen before. Each time the black bird dives down, you catch a glimpse of it's growing size, the large bird snatching those of other colours from inside still-standing circles and consuming them in flight.
Finally, you feel your presence here slipping, as you reach a circle who's door stands open for you - and through which you see a beautifull walled garden. It's walls are somewhat marked and scorched from the outside, though they still stand defiantly protecting the fragile garden within. The black bird you had been following flies over the wall before you, and is lost from sight. You step closer to the open gateway, and as you do so, a brown-feathered bird flutters up from behind you, alighting upon the top of the gateway. Looking down upon you, it's eyes convey a strange sense of hope before it persues the black bird into the garden. Wishing to see the beauty of the garden, and to prevent the black bird from harming it in any way, you follow - and stepping over the threshold, find yourself sharply awoken, covered in a cold sweat, with the smell of white roses on the air...
If you would like your character to participate in this dream, please send me a PM. Everyone's different, and depending on your individual personalities, you may see somthing additional...
