“What is this? What is this place?” Eltharion stirred, unable to see anything at all. He turned his mind back… he was on patrol with General Ferghal of the Iron Spear who lead a column of troops below as Eltharion flew overhead. They were on their way to fight a host of chameleon skinks when Skaven! The skaven attacked them, could he be in one of their dungeons now?
Eltharion felt around, he couldn’t be certain whether this place really was dark or he’d simply been here so long the mage’s enchantment had faded and his blindness had returned. He felt around the floor – gravel and soil, he felt the walls – rock – no metal bars. This wasn’t a prison then. Besides, if he had been captured by Skaven he would be subject to mutations or slavery by now. Where was he? How did he get here wherever here was?
He was on the ground clearly, the air was far too thick to be at high altitude so logically he must have landed or been shot down…Stormwing? Where was Stormwing?
He feared for the worst, that his faithful mount had perished and he’d be the only survivor when suddenly, he heard the shuffling of pebbles denoting somebody entering wherever this was.
“Is someone there? Who are you? Where am I? he asked, searching the floor at the same time for a weapon. He found what felt like a spear, though he couldn’t be sure if it was his own or someone else’s. “I’m warning you, I’m armed!” Eltharion stated, backing up against the rock wall behind him so there could only be one direction from whence he would be attacked.

“Greetings stranger. I have waited long for you to wake. I am Ba’Bu’Shar, this is the covered stone dwelling of Ba’Bu’Shar. Where else would Ba’Bu’Shar take you but the home of Ba’Bu’Shar?”

“Stone dwelling … You mean we’re in a cave?” Eltharion responded.

“Yes, new friend of Ba’Bu’Shar.”

“Are you going to eat me?”

“Do you want me to?” Ba’Bu’Shar responded.

“No.”

“Then I will not.”

“Where’s your body? I can’t see you. Tell me what are you? You speak like no race I have ever encountered? I warn you I don’t need my vision to slay you should your intentions turn hostile.”

“I am not sure of the word. In my tongue I am Ywazuq Puuvql Maixglael.”

“Tongues… well how are we speaking then? I doubt you speak the elf tongue?”

“I connect to the mind – see? … Whatever I say in my tongue becomes your tongue for you. But who are you, new friend of Ba’Bu’Shar?”

“I don’t see why I should tell you that. What reason do I have to trust you?” Eltharion responded sternly.

“Ba’Bu’Shar kept you here and fed you of its secretions when you slept. If Ba’bu’shar wanted you dead, Ba’bu’shar could have let you die.”

“I see. Well, in that case you may call me Eltharion.”

“Greetings Eltharion, new friend of Ba’bu’shar. You are an elf then?” the creature replied.

“You couldn’t tell for yourself already?”

“I do not know of elf or perhaps memory not as it was. Where is elf from? the creature replied.

“Alright… well let’s say I came from an island continent far away from here.” Eltharion responded, making sure not to offer any more names.

“The ring-shaped one?” the creature pondered.

“I thought you said you knew nothing of our kind?” Eltharion questioned.

“Ba’bu’shar smart, it learns, see?”

“No, I don’t see. I don’t know why I’m here or what you’ve kept me alive for.”

“Ba’bu’shar want friend. You can be friend of Ba’Bu’Shar, Eltharion.”

“Alright. Tell me this and know that if you lie, I will realise it. Have you had any other of these friends before?”

“Yes, new friend Eltharion. There have been many friends in the home of Ba’bu’shar but they all gone now.”

“What happened to them?”

“They leave. Ba’bu’shar heal their wounds and minds, mends their armour but they leave. Ba’bu’shar alone again. Will Eltharion leave Ba’bu’shar?”

“I’m not sure I still have anywhere to go. You won’t even tell me how long I have been here.” Eltharion noted.

“You seem sad. What make Eltharion the Grim sad?” Ba’bu’shar asked.

Before Eltharion could even ask how the creature suddenly knew of his colloquial title his mind suddenly cast back again, this time much further back and seemingly without any input on his end. He found himself cast back a lifetime ago, standing on a set of harbour docks adjoined by fertile fields and the cool breeze of mountain air flowing from behind him.

“Where have you gone Eltharion, friend of Ba’bu’shar?”

“Tor Yvresse, my home so very long ago.” he simply responded, the briefest of smirks materialising onto his aged lips only to vanish just as quickly upon gazing toward the horizon. “Our kingdom survived under constant threat of invasion. They came without warning. We thought they would pass or the waystones would hinder their landing…but they didn’t. Not that day.”

“Who did not Eltharion, friend of Ba’bu’shar?”

“The most horrid force I have ever imagined. The Greentide, an endless horde of savages. Their warcries travelled before them. I watched my people decimated. I lost so many, some were never even found after, with so many bodies defiled to the point they couldn’t be identified. Our own waystones turned against us, unleashing torrents of magic on our kin and though the goblins did little damage themselves, they were good at holding my men in place to be flattened by their leader’s chariot.”

The visions continued, Eltharion seeing every moment, every detail amd evety death in the war flash before his eyes. “Why are you showing me this?” he cried just before the montage ended at one final event.

“Ba’bu’shar heals Eltharion, friend of Ba’Bu’Shar. Ba’Bu’Shar make Eltharion happy.” the creature simply responded, Eltharion still unclear as to what his companion was even now.

Eltharion’s mind found itself in the most familiar of locations. The Warden’s Tower where a final waystone threatened to undo the Great Vortex and sink Ulthuan if it couldn’t be stabilised. He entered the tower alongside his favourite guards, veteran soldiers of which most had served longer than him at this point. They entered the tower and sought to stabilise the final waystone. And then it happened. A horrifying visage filled his mind, compelling him to lash out against it. He swung his blade toward the haggard beast, shrivelled, with broken horns and grey burnt skin without so much as a jaw on its face to discern it by. Wilting, decaying, dying even, a beast without logical form or purpose. Eltharion struck, swiping his blade toward it over and over in his attempt to slay the beast in his mind. It was only once the blood-haze lifted that he saw what he’d done. His companions, all four of his bravest warriors, lay dead while his own Fangsword remained in his hand, drenched in their blood.

Eltharion’s mind returned to the present day demanding answers. “Why are you showing me this? Why would I possibly wish to relive the worst day of my life? And what was that face?”

And then finally, it dawned on him. The horrifying face he saw so long ago yet blotted from his memory until today must have belonged to Ba’bu’shar.

“You’re a daemon, aren’t you?” Eltharion quizzed, knowing this must be the case even if this creature didn’t match the description of any of the 4 ruinous powers’ minions based on what he’d seen in the vision.

“Yes. This is true.” Ba’Bu’Shar responded affirmatively.

Eltharion picked up his spear once more, ready to stab this thing for daring to peek into his memories only to once again be thrown back into his visions.
The morning after the massacre in the Warden’s Tower. Only Eltharion left that damned place, his demeanour more stern than ever prior. The sun rose. Crowds cheered over the Greenskins fleeing their homeland but Eltharion never mustered a smile. However, things changed when a mage approached him in his memory.
“Greetings Eltharion. Loremaster Ba’bu’shar of the White Tower of Hoeth, sent here by the Archmage to mend the waystones and restore order to this place…” the mage went on, explaining to Eltharion that he could bring Eltharion’s compatriots back to life, his father Moranion too should he so wish.

Eltharion grew angry “No, this is not how events transpired! There was no face, no daemon and no mage who came to save us. My men were killed by the waystone, I grieved, we lit a fire, buried the dead, it changed me forever. You… you did this! You’re trying to spoil my memories of what happened!”

“Ba’bu’shar made it happen. Ba’bu’shar make other end, happy end, happen too.”

“I want my real memories back!” Eltharion yelled into the dark of the cave.

The voice which then responded sounded nothing like the jumble of vowels taken on broken speech like before. Instead, Eltharion heard Tor-Eltharin spoken fluently as if by a native speaker. “Why? Your life was so miserable before. Now thanks to me, you can finally be healed. Leave this cave with I, Ba’bu’shar, Loremaster of Hoeth by your side and I will mend your life. Throw away the grim for a life of happiness, love and companionship. Let me live and you can see your friends again, for they never died. You see, I am part of it now. Your memories include me and I will always live so long as you remember me. Come Eltharion, leave this place with your old friend Ba’bu’shar. Think to yourself, couldn’t it be lovely? Your father alive and still Warden, you playing by the seaside with a loving wife and son to bare, your veteran allies safe and happy, there to tell tales to their own loved ones. Ba’Bu’Shar will make things right.”
….

• Love React: Eltharion agreed to Ba’bu’shar’s offer and together the two of them left the cave. Upon stepping outside things changed drastically. Ba’bu’shar was now the elf loremaster Eltharion had seen in his vision, the same loremaster who’d saved his friends, and had always been that loremaster in his mind. The loremaster used his magic to restore Eltharion’s vision and, with a spring in their step and a cheery disposition, the two mounted atop Stormwing (which had been sleeping outside the cave) to fly back to the Volcanic Isles to Teclis’ outpost where they would find all four of Eltharion’s allies safe and very much alive.

….

• Laugh React: Eltharion agreed to Ba’bu’shar’s proposal and the two left their cave for their new reformed lives. However, just as they were about to take off on Stormwing they were beset and taken captive by a host of rampaging plague monks who sensed their movements. The Plaguelords would surely rejoice at having a Prince of Yvresse’s standing at their mercy.

….

….

….

(Prelude to Wow, Angry & Sad React)

Eltharion pondered for a second, still raising the spear in his hand as Ba’bu’shar became more desperate, finally revealing its more confrontational nature.

“I don’t want to die! There is no light for me, no salvation! If you make me your enemy, my spite will be everlasting! I will make sure you lose everything I have given you! Wipe me out now and my power will rip through your mind, shredding your memories of any glimpse of your four friends! They will cease to have ever existed for you!”

….

• Wow React: Eltharion rejected Ba’bu’shar’s offer but chose not to make an enemy of the daemon. Instead, he simply stood up and left the cave, thanking the creature for its help in restoring him to health on the way but taking no interest in anything more than that. He followed the edges of the cave until he found his way out. Still blind, he felt around until he discovered Stormwing fast asleep. He mounted the griffon and commanded it to take him back to the Volcanic Isles. In time Eltharion would forget ever encountering Ba’Bu’Shar just as he would forget the precise details of what happened to his allies all those years ago at the Warden’s Tower, becoming just as grim as he’d ever been.

Still, at least he would remember that his allies existed even if they remained very much dead…..

• Angry React: Eltharion took no heed of the daemons warning and lunged forward to attack. However, the daemon responded. Using the magical knowledge it now possessed after taking on the form of a loremaster, Ba’Bu’Shar obliterated the Warden of Yvresse under a volley of arcane magic. In time Ba’Bu’Shar would learn how to reform itself in Eltharion’s image and would leave this cave, ready to take on its new life.

….

• Sad React: Eltharion stopped listening to the daemon’s outcry and merely responded “Goodbye Ba’Bu’Shar” before lunging forward with the spear, striking the daemon in the heart with his spear so quickly it had no chance to respond.

Ba’Bu’Shar staggered backwards in agony as its body convulsed back into its natural shape. Upon hearing the cracking of bones and restructuring of muscle mass and organs, Eltharion withdrew the spear and stabbed the creature again, forcing the creature to waste away until nothing but dust remained.Having defeated Ba’Bu’Shar, Eltharion left the cave in search of his mount. However, he came in for a rude awakening upon finding Stormwing’s festering corpse outside, its throat torn open and stray chunks of meat removed. As he grieved over the death of his winged companion Eltharion’s mind let go of other things. As he made his way into the jungle, using his senses of touch, hearing and smell to navigate through the treeline, he forgot everything which happened this day. Ba’Bu’Shar never existed in his mind, the cave crumbled in on itself and Eltharion no longer cared for what happened to his allies at the Warden’s Tower. In truth, he no longer remembered them at all.
As far as he knew, Stormwing had been shot down and killed by the Skaven, leaving him to return to Teclis’ elves alone.