vanaereis-blog

[vanaereis-blog]

World of Warcraft: Misfits

****Chapter 1****

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/98381323-world-of-warcraft-misfits

Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12514136/1/World-of-Warcraft-Misfits

Netherstorm, Outland - Legion

Veiled by Shroud, Vanaereis steps off the elevator platform onto Stormspire. The two Nexus-Guards at the entrance are oblivious to her existence. Vanaereis smiles, relieved that she was able to remain hidden. 

Since Stormspire no longer required the aid of adventurers, sneaking in was the only means. Unless, you could talk your way in, but Vanaereis was never very good at that.

She sneaks past the guards at the entrance and heads towards the Inn. She then sinks into the bushes located to the left side of the Inn's entrance. She crouches low and out of sight.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She holds for four seconds then exhales. Once all of the air has left her lungs, she takes in another deep breath; repeating the process a couple of more times.

When her mind is clear of all thoughts and distractions, she begins searching for a familiar feeling. A couple of years ago, she discovered that she could sense the power emanating from magical objects that were within her vicinity, and with practice, she was able to pinpoint their locations.

The market for these powerful long forgotten relics, tomes, and weapons are new and in demand. Especially, with the Exotic Dealers at the Black Bazaar. She has made a killing selling to them and plans to continue doing so; no matter the risk.

Suddenly, a rectangular outline of white light emerges in her mind.

'It's a tome!'

Her starry eyes perk open. They glow beneath her black hooded cloak, as she peers at the path before her. She needs to head straight, towards the southeast portion of Stormspire, then along the wall of the second level.

Vanaereis pulls her hood down, making sure it was still shielding her eyes. Then she slowly exits the bush; crouching her way towards Dealer Jadyan. He's an Ethereal that she has had a few dealings with before. Vanaereis recalls the many ways he has tried to undercut her. Luckily for her, that is one of the things she can talk her way out of.

She soon passes the lone Stormspire Nexus-Guard, who she assumes is guarding the corner for some odd reason, then makes her way up the small hill that runs along the wall of the upper level. When she reaches the top, she knees down before the tree. She begins digging through the loose soil. It doesn't take long before she pulls the leather bound tome out.

With a bright smile on her face, she makes her way to the elevator. Her white eyes dazzle with pride; pride for being able to unearth this forgotten relic --- undetected. She calms her excitement; as her mission isn't over until she is miles away from Stormspire.

Once she is on the elevator, she begins flipping through the pages of the tome. She still feels the powerful aura that it’s emitting.

This may sell for a high price....if I can find a buyer.

She thinks to herself as she runs her fingers along the parchment. She's not familiar with tomes and their worth, but she does know that if someone wants it bad enough; they'll pay any price to have it.

Vanaereis feels a dainty hand grasp her shoulder, spinning her around. She comes face to face with a golden-haired green-eyed Blood Elf. She just stares at him wondering how in the hell he knew she was there. And in her confusion, he manages to grab the tome from her hands. "Hey!" she yells reaching for it. "That's mine!"

He shines his pearly whites as he holds the tome high above his head. His 6'4 height towers over her 5'9 frame. Vanaereis is unable to reach it; even as she jumps for it. "Thanks." He says as the elevator begins to descend. "Saved me the trouble of getting my hands dirty."

The Blood Elf looks up as Vanaereis clings to his free arm. "Give that back!" She demands as she desperately claws at him, still unable to reach the tome.

"You should be more concerned about them." He gestures for her to look up. Vanaereis stops in her tracks and looks up. She not only sees the two Nexus-Guards that were guarding the elevator but additional Ethereals looking down the shaft. "Those guys can glide, right?" The Blood Elf asks. "They don't look too happy."

"Great." Vanaereis steps back and takes out two ornate daggers from their sheaths located on each hip. She eyes him down. "This is the last time I'm going to ask -- nicely."

When the elevator stops at the bottom the Blood Elf just stares at her. After a few seconds of silence, he blurts out "Well?"

"Well, what?" She retorts.

"Aren't you going to ask, nicely?" His demeanor smug and his tone mocking hers.

Vanaereis rolls her eyes then exasperates a sigh, "Please, can I have it back now?" the words painfully escaping through her gritted teeth.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" He then throws the tome towards her. As she sheaths her daggers in anticipation, his free hand catches it. "Just kidding!" He then turns and bolts off of the elevator, startling the two guards at their post on the ground level.

Vanaereis clenches her fists and bolts after him, leaping off the rising elevator platform. She sprints and manages to be inches behind his heels followed by a horde of Ethereals at hers. "Give it back! I found it!" She demands.

The Blood Elf turns and begins jogging backwards. "Finders keepers." His grin fades as he looks over her shoulder, "Oh, shit!" He turns forward and runs faster.

"You didn't find it!" Vanaereis voice has now escalated into rage. She uses that rage to run faster, trying to keep up with him.

The Blood Elf laughing, "I found it in your hands!" He yells over his shoulder. They both soon exit the purple dome of Stormspire onto the main road. Vanaereis follows him off the road down the steep hill. They soon enter the area of the former Forge Base: Oblivion.

As they come closer to the cliff, Vanaereis sees a Gnome leaning against a ginormous metal vessel; smoking some kind of herb. Probably Felweed, she quickly notes.

"Cuber!" the Blood Elf calls to the Gnome as he approaches. "We have to go!" He looks over his shoulder, "Like now!"

The Gnome throws the herb down to the ground. "Damn it, Quen! What did ya do?" The Gnome grunts, sounding like a very angry grandpa. Vanaereis determines that the Gnome must be an Engineer as he is dressed in leather with goggles tangled in his green hair. He pounds on the metal vessel and a hatch begins to lower beside him. "This better be worth it!" He mumbles as begins packing up his picnic blanket and lunch.

Vanaereis slows down as she and the Blood Elf approach. She has never seen anything like it before. As she gets closer she sees that the metal vessel has, what appears to be, wings.

'Does it fly?'

She shakes herself free of her trance, and thanks to the Gnome, she now knows the Blood Elf's name.

Now, for the tome...

She manages to get close enough to Quen without alarming him and as she reaches for the tome, which is situated between his arm and his torso, the Gnome's grumpy voice startles her. Stopping her in her tracks.

"Is her boyfriend coming after you?" The Gnome asks as he stands in the open hatch of the vessel.

"What?" Quen's eyes meet Vanaereis'. He furrows his brows and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Great...you're still here..."

"What is this?" Vanaereis asks trying to distract them from her true motives.

The Gnome's grumpy demeanor changes to excitement, "It's a masterpiece that's what it is. Built her from an inactive Fel Reaver. And yes, she does fly." He smirks crossing his arms; his stance proud.

The Gnome turns his attention to Quen, "So, this Blood Elf coming with?"  

Quen sighs and points beyond Vanaereis. "Ugh, I kinda owe her a ride."

The Gnome looks to where Quen pointed. "Ah, good. Thought the Felweed was causing a hallucination again."

Concerned, Quen lays a hand on the Gnome's shoulder. "You need to lay off of that stuff."

"It doesn't happen all of the damn time." The Gnome defensive.

"Huh, if you say so." Quen chuckles. "By the way, that invisibility potion was crap." He casually states before heading deep inside the vessel.

"I told you! I'm an Engineer, not an Alchemist! You go buy it yourself next time!" The Gnome hollers after Quen. The Gnome begins to mumble, "Help a friend out and they can't say thanks...always complaining..." he continues mumbling as he disappears into the vessel.

Not wanting to be left to the horde of Ethereals, Vanaereis runs up the ramp after them. When she is in the belly of the vessel, she stops in her tracks. Frozen in awe of her surroundings. It was definitely the inside of a Fel Reaver. At least from what she would expect it to look like, minus the modifications of course.

She watches as the Gnome approaches the other end of the vessel that is modified with a tall and wide window. Beneath the window, are two seats and a console full of buttons. The Gnome uses a stool to climb into the chair, located on the left, and begins pressing some buttons.

The Gnome nods at Quen and presses a big button on the console. Air escapes as the hatch begins to rise shut. "You might want to hold on to me." Quen smiles as he grabs onto a strap hanging from the ceiling.

"I'm good." She says apprehensively.

"Suit yourself." Quen's eyes lock hers suspiciously. Suddenly the vessel rises upwards, with a ferocity that knocks Vanaereis off her feet. She falls hard on her derrière.

"Hold on to your knickers!" The Gnome roars with laughter. The vessel then jerks forward.

Vanaereis is able to brace herself, preventing herself from sliding into the wall at the back of the vessel. She begins rubbing her bottom as she looks back up at Quen. 'Him with that smug look again.'

"What is this thing?" she asks.

Once the momentum stabilizes, Quen releases his grip on the strap. He reaches his hand to her. "Cuber calls it an Air Pod."

"Used to!" Cuber interjects. "Air Pod is copyrighted." He spats angrily. "Now, it has no name. If ya can think of anything for a flying ship let me know." He voice directed toward Vanaereis.

Vanaereis nods in acknowledgment at the Gnome, then looking up at Quen, she takes his hand. "And you are?" She asks.

"Quen'salas Bloodwatcher." He says pulling her to her feet. "And you?"

"Vanaereis." She shakes his hand. Her confident eyes locking his. She may be different, but by looking at whom this Blood Elf keeps in his company, she may not have to worry if he knew. When she tries to remove her hand, Quen refuses to let go.

"What kind of Rogue are you? I couldn't see you, but I could smell you." He inquires.

"Obviously, a better Rogue than you." Vanaereis bluffs, not wanting to explain her skillset to him. "You're the one that alerted the Ethereals, after all."

"Alright, if that's how you want to play." Quen releases her hand. His eyes still studying her. "So, then you must have Safe Fall?"

Vanaereis simply nods, confused by the question. "What about a parachute?" Vanaereis ponders his question then slowly shakes her head no.

Quen sighs, "Cuber?"

Cuber doesn't take his eyes off of the horizon. "I can't fly and cast spells at the same time. Besides, she's your problem."

Quen sighs again. "Fine. We over Hellfire?" Cuber nods. Vanaereis furrows her brows; even more confused.

"What are you guys up to?"

They ignore her. "Just make sure to cast after she's out of the hatch or she'll be levitating in here. We don't need that mess again. That Goblin nearly shot me in the EYE!" Cuber rants.

Quen gestures with his hands in a talking motion, mocking Cuber. "Yeah, yeah." Quen then turns his attention back to Vanaereis. Cuber continues to grumble to himself.

Quen looks Vanaereis in the eyes and takes her hand in his once more. His eyes beaming as he drags her to the center of the vessel.

"Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but here's my mailbox, so write me maybe?" He then shoves a piece of paper into the palm of her hand.

Vanaereis looks down at the paper in her hand; then slowly back up at Quen. Her expression utterly confused. Quen backs away from her. He smiles and reaches up to a remote that is dangling from the ceiling. It has a big red button on it. When he presses the button, the floor beneath her splits open.

Vanaereis begins falling. Wind swirling around her. Her cloak and platinum hair tangle in a wild mess. As she scrambles to remove the hair from her face, she sees that she is too far up to land safely. In that moment, everything begins to slow down.

She is able to shift her body so that she continues to glide downwards feet first. Once she lands on the red soil of Hellfire, she looks back up. She sees Quen waving to her as the hatch closes. She watches as the ship and HER tome fly off! Vanaereis crosses her arms. A scowl look on her face.

She had been bested.

Her fault. She knew better.

Vanaereis looks to the horizon, her eyes flaring with rage. She kicks the sand at her feet. A red dust cloud blows away in the wind as she begins her journey across the barren plane of Hellfire Peninsula. 

After a few minutes of walking, she tugs her cloak and tilts her head down towards it.

Curious -- she sniffs it.

She cocks her head up, "I don't smell..." she snarls.

[vanaereis-blog]

Constellations and the Calendar

Did you recently hear that NASA changed the zodiac signs? Nope, we definitely didn’t…

…Here at NASA, we study astronomy, not astrology. We didn’t change any zodiac signs, we just did the math. Here are the details:

First Things First: Astrology is NOT Astronomy…

Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in outer space. Astronomers and other scientists know that stars many light years away have no effect on the ordinary activities of humans on Earth.

Astrology is something else. It’s not science. No one has shown that astrology can be used to predict the future or describe what people are like based on their birth dates.

Some curious symbols ring the outside of the Star Finder. These symbols stand for some of the constellations in the zodiac. What is the zodiac and what is special about these constellations?

Imagine a straight line drawn from Earth though the sun and out into space way beyond our solar system where the stars are. Then, picture Earth following its orbit around the sun. This imaginary line would rotate, pointing to different stars throughout one complete trip around the sun – or, one year. All the stars that lie close to the imaginary flat disk swept out by this imaginary line are said to be in the zodiac.

The constellations in the zodiac are simply the constellations that this imaginary straight line points to in its year-long journey.

What are Constellations?

A constellation is group of stars like a dot-to-dot puzzle. If you join the dots—stars, that is—and use lots of imagination, the picture would look like an object, animal, or person. For example, Orion is a group of stars that the Greeks thought looked like a giant hunter with a sword attached to his belt. Other than making a pattern in Earth’s sky, these stars may not be related at all.

Even the closest star is almost unimaginably far away. Because they are so far away, the shapes and positions of the constellations in Earth’s sky change very, very slowly. During one human lifetime, they change hardly at all.

A Long History of Looking to the Stars

The Babylonians lived over 3,000 years ago. They divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts – like cutting a pizza into 12 equal slices. They picked 12 constellations in the zodiac, one for each of the 12 “slices.” So, as Earth orbits the sun, the sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac. Since the Babylonians already had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the moon), each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself.

But even according to the Babylonians’ own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. So they picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out. Even then, some of the chosen 12 didn’t fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and crossed over into the next one.

When the Babylonians first invented the 12 signs of zodiac, a birthday between about July 23 and August 22 meant being born under the constellation Leo. Now, 3,000 years later, the sky has shifted because Earth’s axis (North Pole) doesn’t point in quite the same direction.

The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one. The line from Earth through the sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only 7 days.  To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12. Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time.

So, we didn’t change any zodiac signs…we just did the math.

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