Shadow Trails in Azeroth

“The day after I was brought to Kul Tiras by Hal and his wife, I was sent to the Church of Storms’ Sage Fortress in Stormsong Valley.

Hal was a really good brother and cared enough about me to take me there himself and stay there for several days while I recovered.

Nat Pagle, who had regained his consciousness after being beaten, was now making a shrimp platter honestly, twitching his mouth from time to time, and telling the captain and his newfound experience in the kitchen about his past experience. The mentor listens.

Although he was in a charmed state for a period of time, he remembered these things very clearly. After all, he was sane.

But when talking about these things, Nat also had an expression on his face that said the past is too painful to look back on.

He said in a strange tone:

I didn't think it was a problem before, but now that I've woken up, it does feel weird to recall the days I spent in the fortress of the sea sages.

As soon as I was sent there by Hal, I immediately attracted the attention of the sea sages.

They marveled at me.

They looked at me as if they were looking at a strange piece of 'art'. Not only did they not treat me immediately, they also called their friends and called other people in the fortress, even the Hai Xian apprentices.

At that time, I was captured by the fear in my heart, and I was confused, but I can still remember that they used me as a teaching tool and taught those Haixian apprentices a lesson on the spot.

Some people say, 'This is what happens if you don't respect the sea.' Others say that I am 'the crystallization of the sins of the sea.'

That weird situation continued until that night. The news of my appearance seemed to have attracted important figures from the Church of Storms, and several Daixian came to the fortress, and they checked me.

At this point, Nat's face turned red with embarrassment, and he gritted his teeth and said:

“A very private kind of examination.

Then, I felt that the darkness in my heart was awakened by them in some way, and my main consciousness fainted. When I woke up, I had already gone to the cave inside the Temple of Storms.

A female sea sage told me to appreciate the power of the sea and taught me to identify the breath of ocean currents in the tide. She told me that this would be good for my condition.

It does have benefits.

Blake pouted and said:

Look how 'healthy' you are now.

You can scare a lot of people with just the blink of an eye. If you expose your true form in front of the Hals, your good brothers might be scared to death by you.

Facts have proven that the Tide Sage thing is filled with poison and will injure anyone who touches it.

Well, not really.

Nat rubbed his aching forehead and recalled:

“Although most of the sea sages in the Temple of Storms are gloomy and lonely, there are also members who make people feel warm, such as my mentor, Brother Pike.

He was very kind to me. During the time when I was most helpless, Brother Pike always took good care of me. He also secretly took me out fishing to try to cheer me up.

Although I have no proof.

But I can feel that Brother Pike is different from other sea sages.

He sincerely wanted to help me. I was able to get rid of the fear in my heart. In addition to repeatedly reciting the Tide Scripture and praying for the help of the ocean, it was also thanks to Brother Pike's enlightenment.

The young fisherman rubbed his panda eyes, turned to instructor Natalie and said:

Brother Pike encouraged me with the same words of encouragement as you, Ms. Serling.

He told me that becoming a fisherman does not mean becoming a sinner of the sea. The sea is tolerant and generous. As long as the fish I catch are not for killing but can be turned into filling the stomachs of others, then the act of fishing is the sea. allowed.

He told me that the reason why I am afraid of the dark things in my heart is because I don’t understand it well enough. If I can transform the incomprehensible things of doom in my heart into a form that I can understand, then I will have a chance to defeat it!

Well, is that why you keep saying you're catching a big fish?

Natalie looked at her new apprentice with strange eyes and said:

You turned the dark fear in your heart into a fish?

Well, fish-men to be precise.

Nat shook a finger and explained:

Relying on the knowledge I learned from the Tide Sage, I want to materialize it into a fish that is harmless to humans and animals and can be easily caught by me.

But it is too dark, and it was born with some will of the abyss.

It does not allow itself to become a harmless thing for humans and animals, so even if I try my best to transform it, its final form is still solidified into an ugly, weird, deep and evil white fish-man with sharp teeth.

I asked my mentor Parker.

He told me that this was probably because I had been frightened by the white fish-man on the beach in Southshore as a child, so that my fear merged with my original fear.

Well, that explanation makes sense.

Natalie listened with great interest.

She stroked the Void Scripture on her waist and said with deep approval:

“The method used by the Tide Sages to transform void taboos using their own wisdom is very groundbreaking and deserves my in-depth study.

During the period when I was lost in the void, I would try to transform the existence that the void showed me but I couldn't understand into something I was familiar with and could understand.

This method is indeed very effective in communicating with the lower energy levels of the void.

It can effectively prevent your mind from going crazy due to stress due to looking directly at something incomprehensible and indescribable.

Hey, your 'Void Knowledge Academic Exchange' will be paused for a moment!

Blake made a pause gesture. He held a dwarf pipe in his mouth and looked at Nat Pagle with strange eyes. After a few seconds, he asked:

I'll describe the characteristics, and you can see if they are consistent with the fearful fish-man in your mind.

It has pale white skin like a dead man, with dark red spots on it, and a few red fins like bone spurs on its back, and its eyes shine with a crazy and cruel dark red light.

After the fish mouth opened, there were layers of shark teeth, and a red eel-like tongue with a fleshy sucker.

In addition, its claws are very sharp and occasionally entangle dark streamers.

It can also talk.

The most common saying is ‘I come from the abyss’.”

Nat was stunned.

The shrimps he held in his hands fell into the basin.

He looked at Blake in front of him with an incredible look, with unconcealed surprise and fear in his eyes. After a few seconds, Nat came back to his senses, rubbed his forehead and said:

The fish-man in my heart cannot be said to be completely different from the one you described, it can only be said to be exactly the same. You are worthy of being a prophet, Captain Black.

Can't you even hide such a secret thing hidden deep in my heart?

No, I just guessed. This time it's not my prediction.

Blake waved his hand, raised his eyebrows, and said to Nat in a tone of joy and pity mixed with looking at someone's misfortune:

I have good news for you.

The 'fear of fishmen' in your mind is not entirely made up out of thin air.

The guy who releases the Curse of the Void to you through the Night Pearl is an evil creature that really exists in the void where matter and dreams meet.

I've heard of it, I've seen it.

Its name is Mutanus, and it has a very popular nickname called 'The Devourer'. It is a lowly servant of some great monster, feeding on dreams and spreading nightmares to torment poor souls as unfortunate as you.

I even know where its lair in the physical world is.

What you have to do is go to its lair with a fishing rod and a group of companions who can kill demons, fish it out of the nightmare, and then kill it.

Is it that simple?

Nat was excited for a moment.

Especially when these words came from the mouth of Blake, whom he trusted very much. Nat knew the name of his enemy and its information, which made the fisherman feel that the opportunity to get rid of the nightmare and fear was right in front of him.

However, Ms. Natalie Serling has seen through it all.

She asked quietly:

When there's good news, there's naturally bad news. Tell me, Captain, stop playing your evil tricks. What's the bad news?

Bad news.

Blake took a quickly cleaned shrimp from Nat's basket and threw it into his mouth. While chewing, he shrugged and said:

That guy is a nightmare creature that's very difficult to deal with.

Although it is a lowly fish-man, it probably also has the title of Nightmare Lord. It is an evil existence that can travel through dreams, oppress, pollute, and devour the dreams of the Archdruid.

If it were summoned to the material world, its strength would probably be at the level of legendary power.

And believe me, such an evil guy will never appear alone.

The evil-minded pirate glanced at Nat, who was already stunned, and said:

This matter probably cannot be solved by just one fisherman. Nat can at best fish it out of the nightmare. But if you want to get rid of it, you two masters and apprentices will probably have to recruit some powerful people to help.

And that place is relatively far away. I have no plans to go there at the moment, so you have to endure it for a while.

alright.

Don't look so disappointed, my chief fisherman.

You are one of your own, I will definitely help you with your matter.

Blake patted Nat's shoulder, said a few words of relief, and then asked:

You have been in the Temple of Storms for a long time, haven't you ever wandered there? For example, have you been to the dark cave protected by piranhas under the Tide Altar where the Sea Sages pray daily?

No, Hai Xian apprentices like me are not allowed to approach there.

Nat rubbed his head and said:

But I have been to the coast below the Temple of Storms. There are a lot of weird stone carvings there. I mean they look very eye-catching.

Most of them are weird creatures in the ocean, such as giant octopuses with many eyeballs, or weird half-human, half-fish creatures, and some are simply carved with an entire tentacle extending out of the water.

The sea sages claimed that the reason why they made the stone sculptures so scary was to warn mortals to be in awe of the power of the sea.

But in fact, those stone sculptures have inscriptions engraved on them.

The fisherman moved his body uncomfortably and said:

Every time I read those weird inscriptions, I feel chills running down my spine, but as a Tide apprentice, I have to go there every day and recite those inscriptions over and over again.

There is also a bleak noble manor under the temple, and it is said that they have lived there for generations.

I went to visit, but the owner of the manor was crazy and rudely drove me out with a shotgun. He also said scary and strange things like I prayed above, and it waited below.

In short, now that I am awake and recalling it, that magnificent Temple of Storms is really not a pleasant place.

Although the sun is shining, darkness is still surging.

There are too many secrets in the temple, most of which are weird on the surface, but no one pays attention to them, let alone asks about them.

I think they are all like me, because they have recited the holy scriptures too much and for too long, and their consciousness has been lost in the bewitchment of the sea. The first few days I went there, I could even see eyes

Those weird dark eyeballs.

It was everywhere and frankly really freaked me out.

Under the guidance of Brother Pike, I slowly walked out of that terrifying hallucination.

etc!

Blake, who was eating shrimps with his head down, suddenly raised his head. As if he had caught some key words, he looked at Nat seriously and said:

When you passed by, could you see eyeballs? What kind of eyeballs, please describe them carefully.

Uh, I can't remember exactly.

Nat, who had panda eyes, scratched his hair and tried to recall:

It's the kind of yellow eyeballs that gather in the dark. They are like the compound eyes of spiders, or the eyes of beasts or snakes. They will suddenly appear in my field of vision, distorting everything I see in front of me into weird shapes. look.

When those eyeballs appear, I will even see the sea sages around me turn into faceless half-octopus, half-human monsters, and their voices will be distorted into an evil and low language.

That scene was enough to scare my soul out of my body.

Brother Pike told me that it was an illusion that occurs when the power of the sea is added to the body, and it is a normal situation.

Gul'kafh an'shel. Yoq'al shn ky ywaq nuul. (Hunger drives the shadows that feed on lost souls.)

As soon as Nat finished speaking, Blake used a weird sound that was impossible to make from a human throat and said a long series of words that made Natalie tremble all over.

The young fisherman's eyes widened even more, and he exclaimed:

That's it! When I have eyeball hallucinations in front of my eyes, every sea sage around me is talking in this weird language. Captain, do you also speak this language?

Blake didn't answer.

He and Natalie, who was trembling all over, looked at each other. The pirate flexed his fingers, looked at Nat, and said:

What you saw was not an illusion. You entered the realm of N'Zoth unintentionally. Those eyeballs that frightened you are also real.

Congratulations, Nat, you have accomplished something that 99% of mortals cannot accomplish.

You unintentionally looked directly into the abyss, and you were able to come back with your beard and tail intact.

You are such an amazing guy.

But the news you brought back also proved my guess.

N'Zoth's power has contaminated the Temple of Storms, which has long since fallen. None of the Haixians living there are normal, they are all a group of lunatics who have completed the transformation of Kesir.

Well, crazy in both a physical and psychological sense.

very nice.

The pirate breathed a sigh of relief and said:

With conclusive evidence, I don't have to worry about accidentally hurting innocent people. Huh? What's going on with your expression?

He looked at Nat who was stunned next to him and asked.

The fisherman pursed his lips and looked directly at Blake. After a few seconds, he said in a trembling voice:

Eyeballs. Right behind you, lots of them.

It sees you