His badge of service had given him the call: The Sunreavers were gathering in support of the Horde. Calthos has donned his armor and tabard while choosing which staff to bring with him. He stared at the weapons rack in his private office, but his mind was not truly on the choice at hand.
“The Legion returns. All Sunreaver soldiers are called to aid in the counter attack upon the Broken Shore. Teleport to Archmage Aethas’ location as soon as possible.”
The message echoed in Cal’s mind as he stared at his staves. He had known that this day was coming. He had told Ina’thia of the message he had extracted from the demons he had tortured. “We are Legion, and we are coming.” He felt ill prepared even now, with no way to control the demons they would be facing. Sighing, he took up one of his more powerful staves and made to find Vae. A note scrawled in her elegant handwriting told him what he knew: she had gone already. He sighed and folded the note, kissing it and stowing in a breast pocket.
“I will find you, my love, and we will protect one another.” With that, he teleported from his home to where Aethas’ beacon was set to meet the rest of the Sunreaver forces. The ships awaited, and Calthos took his spot as befit his rank as a Sunreaver Archmage along with the other minor officers.
“Magi of the Sunreavers; of the Sin’dorei! Make your preparations! Enchant yourselves and the forces of the Horde! We set sail soon!” called out Aethas. Cal nodded to the other archmages and set about working their spells in tandem with the other mages of the Horde.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is was: The Tomb of Sargeras. Calthos stared at the shore and the beacon of fel magic in astonishment. Mouth slightly agape, he flexed his fingers and whispered a prayer to the Light. He was never an overly religious man, but his oldest brother had been a priest, and he felt he could use all the help he could get.
A blast was head from above, and in horror Calthos watched as the alliance gunship and horde war zepplin collided and went down, only to hear the voice of King Varian cry out, “For Azeroth!” moments later. It was time.
The Sunreavers landed on the shore and blasts of arcane, fire, and frost magic burst out from the ship over the heads of the foot soldiers and into the Legion ranks. The mages came on strong, attacking again and again, yet the Legion soldiers kept coming. Cal wove his hands and began bringing up defenses around the soldiers who were fighting face-to-face with the demons along with the other mages around him.
He spotted her then: Vaenama Sunkeeper, his wife. She was fighting valiantly, weaving her curses and draning demons of their own fel energies, only to throw them back on other demons. He broke rank, to the shouts disapproval from his own superior officers, but this was his wife. He had to reach her.
There was a FLASH in the sky and suddenly an over-sized abyssal was careening through the sky toward where she was fighting. Calthos shouted, “NO!” and used the magic sustaining his own shields to protect her. At the last moment, she saw the shields and looked in his direction. “Calthos!” she shouted, not in relief, but in horror as Calthos was left vulnerable. “I love you!” he tried to shout, but the noise of the battle drowned out his cry.
That was when the abyssal hit the ground. It threw those around it aside as it crashed in a heap of fel fire and broken earth, sending the protected Vae flying away to hit her head against the rocks and was knocked unconscious. Cal was throw back, but not before he was washed in fel flamed, trying to shield himself and turn away, the flames ignited his right side, burning at his hair and charring his flesh. He shrieked in pain and tried to put it out, but it was different. The flames were persistent and he fell to the ground, writhing in agony.
The horn for retreat was sounded.
“Get Sunkeeper! Bring him back, quickly! We must fall back!” called one of the higher officers of the Sunreavers as the Horde retreated. Cal was already unconscious by this time and was easily teleported to safety, but the damage had been done.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cut to an infirmary within Silvermoon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What was going on? Who were those voices speaking over him? Where was he? He remember the abyssal, and then nothing. Why was only one eye shut, while the right eye stared at a moist linen cloth? All these questions seemed to run through his mind and then panic.
“V-Vaenama...” he said weakly, his voice hoarse and raspy. His throat was on fire.
“Priestess! The archmage is awake!” said one of the voices.
“W-Where am I? What’s happened?”” He was groggy, and trying to wake himself up. “Where is Vaenama? Vaenama Sunkeeper!” He was hysterical, and hands were placed on his shoulders to push him back to his bed. “No! Let me up! I have to--”
“Archmage Sunkeeper, you are in a Sunreaver recovery unit. You must lay back and rest. Lady Sunkeeper is alive. She is unconscious, but is otherwise fine. You are in much worse shape, I am afraid.”
“I don’t think right now is--”
“LET ME SEE!” he shouted in that harsh voice, his throat on fire. The nurses hesitated, but then brought him a hand mirror. He stared at himself; his hair was gone, and the right side of his face--nay, his head-- was covered in bandages. “I...I remember...”
“We did all we could do, but this fel magic is stronger than we are able to heal. I am afraid that we could not--”
“Show me. Show me what is under these bandages before I rip them off myself.” The nurses and priestess made no move, so Calthos began tearing at the bandages. Cries of outrage and protest ran up with arms trying to hold him down, but some new found strength allowed his ti throw them off. And suddenly he was staring himself full in the face in the mirror.
The right half of his face was completely black and raw with lines of fel spidering about his charred flesh. His ear was mostly gone, and a hole in his cheek showed his teeth beneath. His eye was lidless, and he realized why the moistened bandage had been placed over it. His eye quickly began drying, and his other eye welled up with tears as he threw the mirror and covered his face with his hands, shaking and thrashing in despair. The world soon went black again as he was sedated and fell back to unconscious sleep.