Demons. There was only one word for the tide that washed across the land before her. Beings of hellish design that not even her mind could conjure up as a nightmare slaughtered all that stood in their path in the valley below - Horde and Alliance alike. Trying to snap herself out of this dazed, fearful trance - Krys opened her beak to speak before snapping it shut. Now was not the time to let fear reign, the region they held within Azsuna would be lost if they failed.
Glancing around, she tried helplessly to spot some weakness she and her charge could exploit in the demonic ranks. After a moment of searching, she spotted it. Snapping an order to the blood elven magistrix to her right, "Focus your fire not on the monsters below, but on the siegecraft they've summoned!"
Grunting quietly in surprise, the magistrix raised a single eyebrow. "The siegecraft? If we let up even for a second, the felbats will simply take their place, Blood Guard!" As if to reinforce her point, the blood elf motioned to the swarming bats above, all but threatening to break the defensive measures being held together by the mages below.
"Yes, the siegecraft!" Krys squawked, growing more and more irritated by the situation as the moments passed. No matter the path she went, it would require sacrifice - a faction she was not fond of in the least. "The cannons are eradicating our forces below, but they are not heavily defended! A single, focused strike on the binding crystals should shatter their hold to this world!"
"And what about us?!" the magistrix snapped, not even bothering to disguise her own rage anymore. "You're going to get us all killed, outsider! Just because you have the blessing of Durgas does not mean you have my trust, and I am not about to let you get my mages slaughtered because you want the glory of this kill! I would-"
"Enough!" Krys snapped, turning from the blood elven mage. "If you won't do what we must, then I will." Reaching for her wingblade, she noticed the magistrix reach for her own dagger, as if she thought the arakkoa was planning on killing her. Not giving the fool a second thought, Krys took off with a run, leaping from the cliffside and spreading her wings.
As she soared towards the first cannon, she could see the forces below. With the constant bombardment, the Horde and Alliance were being pushed back. Step by step, the demonic tide gained the upper hand. She would have to hurry if there was any hope of keeping this hold.
Diving in for the first cannon, she spotted one eredar summoner that was guarding the siegecraft and the crystal. With a squawk of fury, she launched herself into the demon as he chanted. Cutting down in a swift strike, she cut deeply into his left arm whilst raking across his face with her taloned hand.
As he yelled in rage and pain, she felt an invisible force throw her back into the rocky cliff wall as he snapped a single spell. The wingblade still embedded in his left arm, Krys spotted a portal open behind him he finished his chant. Three felstalkers rushed from the black portal, snapping as they lunged at the fallen arakkoa.
Slipping to the side, she raked one felstalker across the throat with her talons, leaving it to die as she tried lunging at the summoner again. If she didn't stop the source, there could be many more demons to follow. Hearing him yell in pain as he pulled her weapon from his arm, Krys decided to use this to her advantage.
Raking down across his face again with a taloned hand, she took out one of his eyes with an enraged screech. Ducking his following blow, she threw the flailing demon back with a single tackle. Darting with all the speed she could muster, she lunged for her wingblade as it slipped from the demon's hand.
Whipping around, she cut down just in time to kill the second felstalker as it tried to move in for the kill. Leaping toward the wounded eredar, she let out a yell of pain as felfire scorched her feathers and flesh on the side of her torso. Seeing the eredar grinning wickedly, she noticed him channeling the ability, forcing it to expand across her side as it threatened to devour her like kindling to the fire.
Screeching in pain and fury, she noticed the final felstalker moving in for the kill. Rather than attempting to stop it, she waited until it was upon her before launching herself into the beast - screaming in pain as the fire continued to spread. Grabbing the beast with all her strength, she threw it into the fallen eredar.
As the beast and warlock collided, she noticed the flames subside with the diverted focus. Doing her best to ignore the striking pain as she moved, Krys darted towards the warlock one final time, slashing down with all her strength as she severed the eredar's head from his body. With the death of the summoner, the final felstalker started to fade back into the Twisting Nether once more.
Panting heavily, she turned to face the first cannon. Before all her adrenaline faded and the pain took over, there was still one more thing she had to do. Rushing back to the cannon, she used what strength she could muster to turn it towards the second cannon. Activating it, she launched the fel-green cannonfire at the second siegecraft - watching as the ground underneath it started to shatter from the explosion of the binding crystal.
Moving it a final time, she turned towards the third cannon, repeating the process as the eredar commanding it just a moment too late caught on. Watching with a quiet grunt of approval as the explosion overtook the eredar and cannon alike, she looked to face the binding crystals for this cannon. As much as she wanted to make use of it further, firing upon the demonic forces instead, she knew her own strength wouldn't hold out long enough to give the demons a taste of their own medicine.
Grabbing her wingblade, she squawked in surprise and pain as a large, orange fireball nearly missed her, striking the binding crystal with a sickening strike. Unable to do anything to stop it, the following explosion threw Krys back as pain overwhelmed her. Falling into the ocean below, she could only let herself wonder what had happened as her vision faded into nothingness.
Withered. The young Nightfallen watched with a sigh as he observed the fallen exiles heading towards the beach. It was the fate that would befall them all if they weren't careful. Each and every day was a struggle, but there were even days when Tyhir himself couldn't help but wonder why they bothered.
Each day he let himself contemplate that, he proceeded to mentally berate himself later. He had fought for so long that he was not about to let himself become one of the Withered. For as long as he was able, he would continue to fight.
With a quiet sigh, Tyhir started to follow the Withered. Perhaps they had found some source of magic that washed up on the beach from the floating city to the south. Maybe if he was lucky, it could feed his thirst until he could find another pocket of mana crystals.
As he got closer, he saw what it was they found. Some sort of wild beast, perhaps? It to some extent, resembled those bird-like beasts that occasionally tried nesting on the beaches. Falcosaurs, weren't they called? Shaking it off, he frowned. No, this one was different. Looking carefully, he spotted that this one was adorned in some sort of light armour. And then he spotted its side.
Dark burns extended along its side - wisps of fel-green markings extending along the burns like a sickening scar. Grimacing lightly at the fate of his own home, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the creature. If these scars were caused by the demonic warlocks, then they certainly knew how to inflict pain.
Frowning slight, he considered his options. He could just leave. The Withered would never notice his presence, and he refused to kill sentient beings for his energy, as he supposed this person likely was due to having gotten on the bad side of the demons and its armour.
Sighing quietly, he shook his head. At the same time, could he just leave this being to its fate? Apathy was part of the reason he was cast out of his own home - when those he thought to be his allies turned their backs on him because it was convenient. Would he be any better than them if he did this?
Clenching his fists as he thought, he glanced up at the approaching Withered with a resigned sigh. No, he didn't think so. Muttering a slight chant under his breath, he summoned a spectral arcane entity. If he hurried, perhaps this would distract them long enough…
As it moved closer to the Withered, it did catch their attention. Without waiting even another moment, Tyhir darted for the unconscious creature. Once close enough, he drew faint markings in the sand around them - chanting a few words with each symbol. Finishing with a silent nod, he glanced to the unconscious figure with grunt.
Watching the Withered overwhelm the arcane entity as the energy of his teleportation spell finally caught the attention of the fallen, he sighed with a slight grimace. The scene of a beach changed to that of a cavern as he slumped back against the rocky wall, hoping no Withered that might've been wandering near his makeshift home sensed the arcane pull on this side of things.
Nodding once after moments of silence had passed, he rested his head against the rocky cavern wall. He'd have to find another source of mana soon, that spell took a lot out of him. Shaking a slight daze off, he glanced at the still unconscious being with a sigh. "Don't worry, you're as safe as you can be for now. I just hope that's enough."
