Music: I BLEED FOR YOU || Peter Gundry

My fellow birds were recovering from my attack. Some flew away, perhaps afraid, others eyed me aggressively, but warily.

My quills were vibrating - tiny, but persistent tremors deep in my skin. The static ebbed and flowed under my feathers, creating goose-bumps on my flesh.  

I glanced at my feet to see the husks, kernels and pastries on the feeder bouncing upon its surface. The rhythm of the seeds quickened, the noise - an irritating timpani.

Next, voices, both recognisable and unfamiliar, vacillated around the rooftop. 

An image of the Dark Portal rippled into view again with faces I knew; friends, colleagues, leaders - Illidan and Sarah.  

All spun around me like a carousel, their faces blurring as they rushed past my eyes. Countless, nameless others shimmered in the background, their shapes wavering between stable and tenuous forms. 

Everything merged, becoming a kaleidoscope of distorted shapes and colours. Voices, crying, shouting and screaming - I was reliving the collapse of the portal. 

Then a brutal, deafening lull followed. The pitter-patter of grain ceased  - it was as if nothing peculiar had happened at all.

I looked around; all the birds had flown - I was the last one standing.

The spiculum started once more. With it, the voices and images returned, ebbing, wheeling and flowing over, under, and through me. 

Seized by merciless panic, I froze. Aphotic lines and shapes materialised - stone, metal, rubble. And as it all started to shift, rise, restructure, I saw myself as - Archmage Khadgar. 

I was standing at the entrance to the Dark Portal, a pained look etched on my face, staring at Sarah. Her clothes were dusty and torn, hair tousled, dirt smudges marking her face. Her lips moved silently, mouthing my name. 

Forgive me, I uttered, before everything reversed and I was, once more, encased within the darkness - a raven.

My caw of pain seemed to reach out across the city. I swore I could hear the guttural screech ricochet off every nearby building and beyond.

Feathers flexed, pulling at my skin again and my body started to tremble. 

I took to the skies, thinking if I left the rooftop, the phenomenon would cease. I was wrong.

As I soared, searing pain caused me to bank to my left. I plummeted a few feet but righted myself seconds before I almost smashed into a nearby building. Flying was proving a challenge. There was no sanctuary from this assault.

In the recesses of my mind, a question arose - Had Illidan found the way? Did I dare hope? If this was the Thalassian Secret, it was terrifying, but I could think of no other spells which would affect someone in this manner.  

A voice, faint and distant spoke to me. Remember, all is not lost, Khadgar. They were the words of my dear, late friend, Vindicator Ocel. The image of his spirit whispering to me in the Dark Portal shimmered. But his words had reached me in the dark, and I kept repeating them in my head – All is not lost. All is not lost.

Exhaustion was starting to take me as I crossed the boundary into Cathedral Square.

Again, I felt the dynamics alter; it was, without doubt, a most frightening experience.

All is not lost. All is not lost.

I was no longer in control, my flight path determined by an unseen force steering me through Cathedral Square to the west. 

Instinctively, I tried to shield my torn wing, but the pain was excruciating - it was all starting to take its toll.

I could not maintain this furious effort any longer and I was becoming too exhausted to care. 

I believed I was, indeed, within the grasp of the Thalassian Secret. I had only discovered scant detail of the spell in ancient tomes thought lost and forgotten. It was a spell not used in thousands of years, and, I could only interpret a few symbols and passages, in the hope Illidan would fill in the blanks. This magic belonged to the Elves, masters and pioneers of powerful sortilege.

So I resigned myself - I would survive - or not. Either way, I gave in to the lure of blissful oblivion as my body continued to glide towards the window of my study.