Chapter 1; Enter the Thoughts
Azeroth had just nearly evaded the icy grasp of the Lich King, once again moving past destruction with all pieces. But yet another darkness waited for them, beneath them in the dark caverns of Azeroth. The mortal leaders of the Alliance and Horde tried to have a pseudo-peace between one another.
"It wont work..", said many. Doubts were cast in thousands since it has never been such a thing as a 'lasting peace' between the two factions, it would be as probable if the scourge and forsaken became good allies.
All the while inside the hard crust of Azeroth dwelled the Aspect of Death; Deathwing. His armor plates blackening himself more so, the Darkness of his soul and heart formed by a magma educed skin. A massive being, perhaps not even a being anymore, due to his transformation.
And yet, with a groan he swayed back and forth. "How am I to do this?" He asked himself, and ironically responded "You will bring about the cataclysm when you emerge and extinguish all life. You could also have the War between the alliance and the Horde come again, always easy targets in this wars."
The repeats of questions, answers, and retorts was by the same being; Deathwing. In his solitude he has found no one to comfort him other then his own sadistic mind. How to kill a said being the fastest , or the most brutally.
A slight solution to one of the problems he faces, but barely in any sense. It was only in this, did he find a 'sanctuary' from his own insanity created by the Old Gods.
But he soon stopped his self-conversation…a new thought entered his mind. One of delight, and yet a deep feeling was weighed down on him. What was this…? Not in centuries upon centuries did this feeling ever entrench him.
Shrugging this off as a natural side-effect of being consolidated to a space under the crust of Azeroth, centuries of solitude from any beings besides the Old God's lackeys, and never seeing the dragon who had cast him down.
"Alexstraza…" was the name that crossed his mind, remaining there as if someone had punched it into his mind until he could no longer reject this thought. What was he to 'exactly' do at this point? Kill her? Seduce her? Torture her?
Even in his own thoughts, he could not think of a way. "Killing the aspect of life is no mere feat!", he thought to himself, "It takes…it takes power! The power the True masters of this world have given me."
The thought of power made his scales turn and ache with a need for a blood-bath. He was all but unprepared for the moment at hand. But that feeling was ruining the moment. What exactly was it?
It felt, to him, as if a large mass was holding him down. A massive wound to his well being, a large dent into his process of thinking. Scowling at this sensation of "unknown feeling", it occurred to him that he might have not grown attached to the idea of fully killing her.
In truth, at first he wanted her as a mate for his 'new' glorious empire of peace. But now, it seemed that wasn't possible in any sense, state of mind, or universe. But she was Alexstraza, the life binder, and he was Deathwing, the Destroyer of worlds. Complete opposites, complete foes.
How could he not grasp this idea? "Just break the neck at a 180 degree angle…or perhaps burn her with our molten breath! Maybe educing a suicidal syndrome after killing all of her offspring, that usually gets her in a fight or in a depressed state! We saw this, do you not remember?" His mind beckoned to him.
The body winched at thinking the moment the life-binder did see her children get slaughtered, experimented, and ultimately destroyed by all means. The confusion, the stress, and downward feeling seemed to have a 3-way battle inside his own consciousness.
"What's wrong? Didn't you like to see her in pain? In suffering?", a voice spoke within his own being. Was it him? Or maybe the old gods mocking him? Perhaps an imaginative voice he pictured inside his own mind to mock him, a furthering sign of insanity.
For the moment he turned his eyes downward towards the rough rock beneath him, clutching pieces within his claws. These pieces began to melt by just his touching of it…perhaps to fully mock him for what the aspect he 'was'.
The Earth aspect, Neltharion…the memories engulfed his mind before he cast out his old identity from his process of thoughts. "Why think of that meaningless past when you can strive to create a better future? Come now Deathwing…don't tell me you've gotten soft over the years.", once again the un-named voice spoke clearly within his mind. Echoing like a thousand screams of pain and death, its sound became a scorn in Death wing's ears.
"I should at least consider to where I came from" he retorted, but the voice did not respond. Death wing's silent cavern was all that had gave him a piece of sound. "Solitude isn't that blissful anymore it seems…" Deathwing spoke to himself. With a heavy sigh he looked upward, his sigh turning into a dark smile.
He had a goal now; To Destroy Azeroth. "Lets see how long that lasts…" replied the voice, which he for the time being irritatingly named his 'conscience' due to the ability for it to speak back and himself not being able to speak to others for the time being.
On top of the Wyrmrest Temple, sat the Red Dragon Queen; Alexstraza the life binder. Yet she was alone for the time being, her consort Krasus had gone to other duties in the mortal plane.
A deep sigh wrestled itself out of her, as she began to think of the past life she once possessed. The life of an aspect, with the other 4 as a family almost. Ysera; Aspect of Dreams, Nozdormu; the Aspect of time, Malygos; the Aspect of Magica, Herself as the aspect of life, and then Neltharion…the aspect of Earth. The one word that stood out in her mind was her former friend; Neltharion. Why did he choose such a path? To become a servant of the Old God's Chaos, when he had everything that could make him happy.
Turning and weaving of this thought alone brought much despair to the Queen; the loss of a dear old friend wasn't the only thing that was entwined within the tale. The Loss of Malygos, the death of millions in the countless wars after, the division of the Dragon flights and their own aspects! But, for her, it was impossible to blame all atrocities of Azeroth upon Deathwing.
Yet why? It was easy for Malygos, simple for Ysera, an equation for Nozdormu, but why not so simple to her? Re-thinking the same question many times over; "Why did he do it? Why can't I even attribute him to the destruction Azeroth is in?"
Her eyes turned downwards from the high temple, a seemingly bottomless pit that led to the earth warders former domain. The earth-warder himself was very fond of it before, if almost a symbol of peace in the old days. Creating mountains for their own beauty, to distract and persuade the mortals that war will not bring about anything but a realm of destruction.
An ironic tone, since now Neltharion was for nothing but destruction of all things, all life. His once handsome, built structure that would make any dragoness fall over heels was now nothing but a shell of armor, a shell built for War.
As quickly as that thought came to mind, it remained for only a few seconds in Alexstraza's mind before shifting it away to the back of her mind. Small amounts of heat built up on her, along the area of her nose and cheeks. "Am I…blushing over Neltharion?" She thought to herself.
It was true that she did see 'qualities' of him in the olden days but now he was just a monster. Wasn't he? The Life-binder could, surely, give up the compassion for him, right? Or maybe she couldn't for she loved all life. Even that of Neltharion's, but this contradicted her.
"Neltharion had killed my babies, killed my consorts, had me captured, gave me to the orcs, and brought destruction upon all the Dragon flights!" A part of her rebutted, trying to have her see that Neltharion was evil. And yet, another part of her replied; "Yes, yes but…could he be fully corrupted? He has not killed you yet. He could have killed you when you were captured, and been done with it. But, no he didn't. There is still some good in him…you just have to search for it!"
Another groan seeped out of her, this little question had turned her into thinking about philosophical questions about the redemption of Neltharion and how she thought of him as 'cute' in the old days. She soon let out a half-hearted chuckle, as if she was admitted to herself the concept of Neltharion was, more or less, a complicated subject to even classify.
"Good…evil…Too simplified choices for such a being like him…", she uttered under her breath. In truth, it would be too simplified in any manner to classify him as an absolute evil or an absolute good that is now corrupted. Sometimes his methods would be harsh even as Neltharion, the earth Warder.
But as Deathwing he obviously had some 'good' left in him, or some feeling for her. In her mind, she knew this was a falsification of her sympathy to try and get Deathwing seem 'good' in her eyes. Or was this her other side, the side that was against Deathwing for everything?
She didn't even know anymore truly, only that she would have to form the opinion on a later date. To form one now would be nearly impossible due to not only the stress to rebuild the Red and Blue dragon flights, with the fact Malygos had to be replaced, but the mortal world was still suffering from the fall of the Lich King. All of this seemed to just grow as if a larger cataclysm would come.
Warm liquid came to her eyes, burning with the intensity of the heat of lava. With a muffled cry, she spoke one last statement before turning to leave into the realm of sleep. And this was; "Neltharion…why…".
Thrall overlooked Orgrimmar, the fine capital city of the Horde. But while overlooking this magnificent city, he began to think about the evident future of the Horde. With the Fall of the Lich King it has, once again, proved the alliance and Horde can become allies against a darker evil. But, he was not getting younger and his ideals for peace are not appreciated by others of his kind. Hellscream is just one of those who did not follow his ideals of peace with the Alliance, rather he wanted an upfront conflict with the them.
"Though I don't know if Hellscream believes that this will end in a sure victory for the horde…" Thrall begins to think of that question, and judging from what he knows from Hellscream. If he knows it wont be an easy victory why does he attempt it? To clear his fathers name and create a title of glory for the children of his later heirs? Or perhaps he thinks it will be an easy victory, and will soon see when he tries his 'war' that it will end thousands of lives of alliance troops with Horde comrades.
His moment of thinking was disturbed when another Shaman of the Earth Council entered, Thrall turned to his ally and spoke; "Hello fellow Shaman, something to report?"
The Shaman's grave expression told most of the story to Thrall, yet the Shaman only said; "Fellow Shaman Thrall, the malestorm is turning with dark energies. We suspect it will grow in enough size to engulf all of Azeroth. The Council has decided to send you to the malestorm to halt its expansion with 4 others…"
At first Thrall was only at a mild downed thought, but as the Shaman spoke on it was obvious his expression was one that had experienced the end before it had happened. His eyes full of void, wrinkles proving to be more like veins pulsing due to the stress this would cause him in the later future.
The Shaman was as a bad shape as he, for the Tauren had seemed as if death made a blow at his whole tribe. Not only that but the once lush fur that had covered the Shaman before in the days of the war against the Source, it had now turned old, shedding, frail of life.
The shaman continued; "..I am sorry that you must go, but it is urgent…you must choose a replacement in 2 days. Goodbye Thrall…and I pray to the Earth spirits that your soul will have a safe journey."
Parting with the other shaman, Thralls mind simply plummeted into his worst fears. The only one the Orcs of Orgrimmar would accept as the new Horde War chief would be none other then Hellscream. "I guess I have no other choice…" he spoke within a deep sigh.
The following morning Thrall went to the training area, where new Orc soldiers were trained by their champion; Hellscream. "Greetings Hellscream, champion of the Horde." Thrall addressed to Hellscream, who looked his surprise, look with awe. "Greetings war chief! Is there something a miss? You look…depressed." Hellscream spoke out of concern, to which Thrall replied; "the Malestorm is…growing to size. I must go there with the other 4 powerful shamans of Azeroth, to halt its growth. As I am away to stop this calamity from harming us, I place you as my replacement as war chief…" Thrall said, in trying to sound happy that he was giving the position to Hellscream.
In an odd event, Hellscream accepted it a bit hesitantly. Perhaps he also knew that it was a hard job, and Hellscream wasn't the best 'fit' for the job. But none the less he accepted, and with that Thrall went on his way to visit the Malestorm. His arrival would be one of horror and anguish he suspected, but quick.
Lone in his study, Nozdormu sat with the expression of one who had all the guilt in the world. His thinking clashing with one of another, one which wanted him to do the unspeakable. "Why don't you reverse the spectrum of time? Stop Deathwing from going down his path, you will help the Dragon flight remain united… you will help all those who had died by reviving them. Making the world at peace!"
He knew those were lies, but the temptation itself was very great. To have the power to change the events that would haunted the Dragon Flights till their end, to have Deathwing not go down a path of the Old Gods; of madness.
But if he chose this path, the consequences might even be greater. Who knows what else the Old Gods might take in, what the future would be like, and what other dark demon take Deathwing's place. His grief, his torment, his theorizing would all lead him to the same conclusion; either he had to have time and life take its course or change the series of events that caused Deathwing to fall down into his current state.
Yet…a voice crept into his thoughts, his conscience. Telling him; "You know you want to do it…You will benefit the world by having Neltharion back into your united Dragon Flight, second in command to Alexstraza. You will create new life! New prosperity…Come now, will you reject such an offer? I can grant you many things, many dreams and hopes. All you need to do is either change the course of history or Activate the Black Temple. Then…I will help your cause."
This voice, sounded one of metallic being. It was ancient but all knowing…sounding as young as the Aspects were during the War of the Ancients. It wasn't the Old Gods…it couldn't be. Their whispers brought one of cautions, one of fears. This one…brought one of hopes, dreams, ideals, prosperity. It nearly sounded too good to be true, and perhaps it was. There are far ancient, more powerful beings then the Old Gods. Some legends even tell of a race of gods, that in their greed consumed one another un till only 4 were left. Could this be one of them?
Nozdormu did not know, but decided he would hold off on the voices offer for now. He had to study the recent events of the world, the destruction of mountains, villages being rocked by earthquakes. What were rare occurrences became more common day by day. Could this be Neltharion? He was the former master of Earth, the earth warder. But he was dead, defeated. He couldn't possibly be alive…could he?
"Anything can happen Nozdormu, Dragon Aspect of Time. You can't underestimate these occurrences unless you, yourself, want to be consumed by the movement of time." The Voice responded in a mocking manner, as if it knew what was going to exactly happen. "And you try to tell me of what will happen?", Nozdormu replied back in an irritated voice.
The Voice only laughed in a metallic menacing tone; "No, I only tease you with the knowledge of what will happen. You living beings struggle ever so fondly to try and figure out what will happen…un till your own doom is brought upon you. Quite amusing, that even some of your own section find it hard to believe Deathwing is the problem for everything. Perhaps your dogmatic teachings of right and wrong fail in implementing a new thinking to the generations, eh Nozdormu? You will only prevent the inevitable if you figure it out in time. Un till then…my offer still stands." The voice, just as it had come into fruition, disappeared into nothingness.
The voice obviously knew of something that was happening, and was mocking Nozdormu with the thought that this could be not Deathwing's doing or that the Dragon flights 'union' is finally falling apart into rivals. This voice must have enjoyed all the fighting living beings are having, seeing that it is amused by the dragon flights struggling to figure out what is happen to them and to the world. Is this just a darker sigh or a mocking of logic? Whatever the case…a dark event will occur through out the lands. What its origin is, no one knows yet. "But you will…soon.", said the voice as a last whisper of knowledge to Nozdormu.