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Barraccus stepped through the Portal and looked around, his jaw dropping in amazement. Below him, masses of demons were attempting to assault the Portal, while pathetically small numbers of both Horde and Alliance forces held them off. Barraccus descended the steps leading down toward the chaos, but before he could join the fight he was waved over to an Alliance commander standing off to the side. The commander quickly sent him off on gryphon back to their stronghold, called Honor Hold.
During the next few weeks he was kept constantly busy, killing fel orcs, demons and the occasional nuisance wildlife; and the time passed quickly. He was glad to be actually doing something, and the fact he was needed there gave him a sense of importance he had not felt before. He would have been perfectly happy, in fact, if it weren’t for the dreams.
They started the first night he was there, as he slept in a bunk in the Honor Hold inn. At first it was just flashes of a female night elf, one that looked strangely familiar yet he couldn’t remember where he had seen her before. He thought perhaps he was just missing Quae and the others, but after a couple nights he was no longer sure. By the third night, he figured out that the fighting he was doing was causing the dreams, because after a day of resting at the Hold and running simple errands, the dream was shorter than before, more vague. But soon he was distracted from the puzzling dreams by the events going on in Hellfire Peninsula. The fel orcs were growing stronger, and after Barraccus had been there for about 3 weeks, he was summoned before Danath Trollbane and his council. They told him they wanted him to try and infiltrate Hellfire Citadel, find out what the orcs were planning and why they were getting stronger, and assassinate some of their commanders if possible. Barraccus’ hands were trembling with excitement as he wrote a short letter to Alanon, telling his “brother” of this new charge. He received a reply soon after, with the somewhat cryptic request to hold off his attempt at the Citadel, and to stay at Honor Hold for the next couple days. He obliged, but wondered what Alanon had planned.
It was only two days later that a female night elf hunter arrived at Honor Hold, and quickly found Barraccus inside the inn. “Barraccus?” she asked him. “I’m Alanon’s sister, Kelesaria. I’m here to help you out with your mission to Hellfire Citadel.” Barraccus’ jaw dropped for a moment. When he was able to speak, all he could think of to say was, “That’s awesome. When do we leave?”
They headed out the next day. By the time they reached the citadel, Barraccus was pretty sure he was smitten. However Kel, as she preferred to be called, was also rather intimidating, so he kept his thoughts to himself. Her pet was also quite fascinating. It was a creature she called a hydra, pure white, with three heads, and was almost transparent, though he felt real enough. His teeth and jaws were definitely solid, as he bit and tore his way through the orcs while Kel shot them full of arrows. It was almost all Barraccus could do to keep up. It was definitely not the most subtle approach, but they did kill a great many orcs, and also several of their commanders. When they returned to Honor Hold, the Alliance commanders were quite happy with the results.
Kel stayed for an early supper at the inn, where they talked quite a bit. Barraccus found out that Kel was the oldest, almost 10 years older than Alanon. She had actually seen the creation of the World Tree Nordrassil, although she had been far too young to join the fighting. She had her own home and didn’t live with the others, though she did visit now and then. She also told him of their two cousins, who lived in Stormwind. By the time she finally took her leave, Barraccus felt much more comfortable around her, and also felt that he knew his new family much better.
That night his dream came back again, much more detailed this time. He thought he was close to remembering who the strange night elf was, but couldn’t quite get there. It was beginning to consume his thoughts, whenever he wasn’t occupied by some errand or mission.
The commanders at Honor Hold sent him off after he had been there a month or so, giving him directions to a temple belonging to their recently-discovered allies, the Kurenai, and also warning him that he would have to earn their trust, as they were still suspicious of everyone they did not already know. He found them without much difficulty, and set out proving himself to them. They had some major reservations at first, because he was a death knight, but he overcame them and soon enough won their trust. The only problem he had while he was there was the dream, which became even stronger while he was with them. He was surprised one morning, after a rather rough night, by the temple’s high priest, who came into his room and without preamble asked him about his dream. He told the draenei what he knew and answered all the questions he could, then sat and waited while the priest thought. “I do not know what this could mean,” the priest said finally. “But I can perform rituals and spells that might make things clearer. Would you like for me to do this?” Barraccus thought hard for a minute. He had come so far already since the day he had given up on his memory returning; now it seemed that it was trying to come back on its own. After a long minute he said, “Yes. I didn’t care much about my memory before, but now I feel like this is important. Please, do what you can.” The priest nodded and left.
There were no noticeable results in the next few weeks; however he did receive a rather disturbing letter from Alanon. It seemed that events in Northrend were more out of control than anyone had thought. Barraccus found himself watching his back carefully for the next few days.
The Kurenai at the temple ran out of things for him to do shortly after, and after thanking him for his help, they told him of a place in the adjoining marshlands that was looking for volunteers. He eagerly agreed to go there; the marsh sounded like it would be a nice change of scenery from the blasted landscape of Hellfire Peninsula. But on his last night at the temple, he had a startling revelation regarding his dream. In the middle of the most realistic one he had had yet, he suddenly realized that whoever this person was, he had loved her once. He only wished he could remember when it had happened and who she was.
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I have finally figured out what happened to Barraccus to make him lose his memory. It's not going to come back all at once, you'll have to keep reading to find out everything. Muahaha.
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