World of Warcraft has been a lot of things for me over the years, whether it be a place to escape to or a way to bond with family and friends. It’s also been an outlet for me to express my passion, and when I was about 14 I combined my love of the game with my love of writing through creating a comprehensive backstory for my main character, Aurashot. For a while I didn’t write anything down, only keeping it stored in my head and making mental notes when I thought of a new story development or neat detail to add about her life. I think having a story and motivation behind a video game character has contributed a lot to the reason why I’ve played WoW for 14-ish years. This post is a bit of an experiment as I’ve always been too shy to share these stories with anyone, but if these turn out to be fun I’ll share the stories of some of my other characters in WoW.
chapter 1 – life as she knew it
Aurys “Aura” Nightbloom had a happy childhood living with her mother and father in a comfortable estate in Zin-Azshari. As the youngest generation born into a Highborne Magus family, she knew only a bright world of happiness, magic and opportunity. She was even old enough for her father to begin teaching her simple spells, and every day she looked forward to sitting with him in their garden and learning something new. Little did she know that in the background Night Elf society would unravel and fall into disarray as Azshara, Queen of the Night Elves, plotted to bring the Burning Legion to Azeroth as part of her plan to gain more power. The Nightblooms were different than most Highborne in that they did not blindly follow Azshara and were aware that something was changing when the Queen locked herself inside the palace and no longer held an audience with her people. Something was changing, and their plan was to ensure their daughter’s safety at all costs even though they didn’t know what they would have to protect her from yet.
The terror started when demons poured from a portal opened in Azshara’s palace, and a great battle that would later be known as the War of the Ancients began. When it was clear that the demons were on the verge of overtaking the city, Aura’s parents arranged passage for their daughter to board a transport fleeing to a faraway village. One night, her mother and father kissed her on her forehead for what would be the last time. Aura saw her mother weeping while she faded into the cloak of night, and couldn’t understand why. Indris and Alben Nightbloom were good people, heroes even, and knew that they had to stand against the ruin the Highborne had brought to Azeroth and face responsibility. To protect the world for the future of their daughter. If they were successful, just maybe, they would find her again and be content to live a quiet life. They never got that chance when the Well of Eternity collapsed in on itself, finally cracking under the magical pressure after so many years of the Highborne using it for greater and greater feats of the Arcane. Everything that Aura had known or loved was swept away beneath a newly created ocean along with the Burning Legion. The world that her and everyone around her had known was gone; changed forever.
Aura had caught the attention of a group of nomadic Hunters, and they took her with them when they escaped on the backs of Hippogryphs to seek higher ground at Mount Hyjal. Life in Hyjal is a memory that Aura doesn’t like to reflect on even today, as she was plagued with nightmares of demons and being crushed beneath impossibly heavy waves. Aura’s once idyllic life became a distant dream that was so far out of reach she wasn’t even sure if it even happened. Her surrogate family was her only reminder that hope still existed, and she channeled her sorrow and anger into the hunting lessons that they taught her. They knew that Aura was Highborne and had an innate connection to create magic, but they urged her not to develop her skill and to hide it from the other Night Elves. Most Night Elves blamed the Highborne for the War of the Ancients and were not quick to forgive, even though Aura was still young and had no hand in what happened. So she took up the bow to distract herself from the curiosity and drive to learn magic. Archery became therapeutic, and every time she loosed an arrow it was like removing troubled thoughts from her mind. She grew up this way, living a life of solitude in the forests of Hyjal, and as she got older she would spend more and more time by herself focusing on her Archery skills.
By the time Aura had grown to adulthood, she had demonstrated mastery over the bow and could best even the most accomplished Hunters in her family. She poured her whole being into learning archery and mastering the hunt, and she found that the world was easier to understand from the perspective of a quiet forest. When she was there, it was easier to silence the doubt and fear that seized her mind. The Night Elves were blessed with immortality through the world tree Nordrassil, which was planted in order to stop the efforts by Illidan Stormrage to create a second Well of Eternity. For ten-thousand years, Aura passed the time by further mastering hunting and archery until the Humans of Lordaeron caught her attention.
The Humans were particularly interesting to Aura because they were so young. Night Elves were jaded and held centuries-old grudges and were set in their ways. Even then, if anyone knew she was Highborne she would be exiled. Humans were more curious and adventurous, and above all had a spirit that was unusual to the elder races. After living in one place for so long, she was ready to experience all that the Eastern Kingdoms had to offer…