Author's Notes: A series of revelations unfold in this chapter, some of which you may find predictable – others may still surprise you. If you find yourself frowning upon one part or the other, especially some concerning the Old Gods, don't fret over it – expect any apparent contradictions or inaccuracies to be explained in detail in future chapters. Also, given the short time between the updates, there wasn't time for the usual quartet of reviews, so I'll sum up my responses here – Shadow, I wouldn't be quite as certain about Darion's fate yet. Fortunately, you won't have to wait more than one more chapter to find out about it in detail.
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Chapter IX: Embrace the Inferno
The fiery hell towered to the heavens, setting the sky itself ablaze. Lor'themar Theron had seen a Phoenix summoned before, but never one so powerful. He sensed the awe and fear in his soldiers. They were afraid of this power, and yet lusted to wield it. The renewal of the Sunwell had not quite cured them of their arcane dependence.
Whether Sylvanas had survived the assault or not was of no huge consequence to the Regent Lord of Quel'Thalas. They had been friends once, and he had been quite fond of his superior. However, following the fall of Silvermoon and Sylvanas' death and rebirth into the ranks of the Scourge, Lor'themar considered all ties between them broken. It was not so much as a change in personal feelings, but… the undead were an anomaly, something that couldn't exist within the laws of nature. More than that, they had ravaged Quel'Thalas till there was nothing left, destroyed the Sunwell and decimated the High Elven populace. True, that was done under the command of Arthas, now crowned Lich King, but despite the independence the Forsaken's had supposedly achieved, Sylvanas' tactics and attitude were not that much different of those of the Scourge. In a way, she was farther from them than Kael'thas now.
Speaking of which, this was another betrayal Lor'themar could not afford to tolerate. After observing the inferno that was still blazing ahead for a few more seconds, he turned to the wayward prince.
"It is time to finish this, Kael'thas Sunstrider." He said calmly. Retrieving his longbow carved from its strap along his back, the once Ranger, now lord of the Blood Elves, armed it with one of his feathered arrows and aimed straight at the traitor prince's chest.
"You still don't understand, Lor'themar." Kael said quietly, turning around to face his compatriot. Before it had a chance to pierce his heart, the projectile caught flame and was turned to dust in mid-flight, though its intended target had not even cast a glance at it. "I promised that I would find a way to relieve the Blood Elves of their arcane addiction. The fel magic of the Burning Legion is the answer to that. I promised them glory, and power. By Kil'Jaeden's side, we found both. It is you who are the outcasts, the separatists, the traitors. Look at us, Lor'themar, and decide who wields the superior power. You can't deny reality. I gave you a chance to join me, in spite of the wayward path you decided to follow. You chose to turn me down. Even then, I was willing to let you be, as long as you did not interfere with my plans. But you made even that impossible, Lor'themar." Kael'thas raised his arm, pointing a finger at Lor'themar – a stream of fire crossed the distance between them, to be timely deflected by the arcane shield Rommath put up between them.
"It is a shame that you had to drag more of my people to your insane cause." Kael said, shaking his head. "I expected more from you, Rommath."
"That is my line, prince Kael. No – you have no right to claim that title any more." The Grand Magister retorted. "Have you forgotten history, Kael'thas Sunstrider? The Burning Legion is manipulating you just as it did with the orcs, to serve its own ends and nothing more. Once they're done with you, you will be tossed aside like nothing!"
"Once they're done with me?" Kael asked, incredulity reaching his voice. Framed as he was by the fiery hell he had brought down, he looked more sinister, and more insane, than ever. "You are an idiot, Rommath. When that time comes, with the weapons I will have at my disposal, even the Legion will bow down to me. Do you see those Dreadlords, Rommath? Why do you think they have chosen to side with me?"
"Weapons, Kael?" Lor'themar turned around in surprise at the female voice, and he was not the only one. Rommath and Halduron whipped their heads in astonishment, and even Kael turned to face the newcomer. A woman, clad in blue and gold, with massive shoulderpads protruding from her full plate armor, emanating an aura of strength and ferocious power.
"You mean the power of the naaru?" Lady Liadrin, who had just arrived on the field of battle accompanied by a legion of her Blood Knights, asked coldly. "Forget about it. The Light of the naaru would be beyond your reach, even if we weren't going to finish what should have been done in the Sunwell Plateau. But you will die now, Kael, just as you should have died then."
"Why aren't you in Northrend?" Lor'themar snapped. He had ordered Liadrin to assemble Silvermoon's Blood Knights and join the Crusade in Northrend. He himself had seen, with the help of Shattrath's Scryers, that Kael was planning an expedition in Azeroth – as soon as he could determine the position where he had ported his forces into, he realized that his target was the undead in Undercity and moved in to counter him. But still, the Blood Elves were supposed to join the Crusade's effort – even Kael was a distraction in the war against the Lich King.
"We tried to get there, Lor'themar." Liadrin snapped. "But the portal… closed… before we could enter."
"What? What are you talking about?" For all the various reasons he had expected to hear, this was one he did not. "What do you mean, 'the portal closed'? Silvermoon is full of mages, surely one must have been able to – "
"It's not like that." Liadrin interrupted him. Now everyone on the battlefield was carefully listening to their conversation, the battle almost forgotten. Even the Dreadlords were paying attention. "We opened a portal to Dalaran, but it… snapped shut… before anyone could enter. As if from its own will. We tried again, and again, then we tried different locations in Northrend, but the results were the same. Then we tried opening one here, and it worked. Something has happened, Lor'themar. We can't open a portal to Northrend."
"What could have – " Lor'themar began wondering. "It must be the Nexus War!" He came to a conclusion. "If the Blue Dragons have managed to disturb the leylines enough, then – "
"It is not that, you fool." Kael spoke, and his tone was low and soft. One could have almost said he was afraid. "Malygos' destruction of the leylines has nothing to do with… this. Can't you feel it?"
"Something much more terrible has begun."
As if to impress upon those ominous words, the skies turned black, and the sound of an explosion, of a thousand explosions happening all at once, covered everything.
---
Despite her consort's pessimistic predictions, Alexstrasza's onslaught against the Infinite Dragonflight was going well. The tide of reinforcements had lessened, and the Red Aspect's strength had been enough to overwhelm most of them, and force them to a standstill. Slowly, but surely, the Accord was gaining ground.
Suddenly, Alexstrasza felt time freezing around her. The Dragonqueen struggled to move, but even she could not resist this much power. She looked around bewildered. Everywhere, in every direction, Infinite Dragons were appearing from portals randomly opening in the sky, from the past, future and present, many, too many to even begin to count, freezing the timeline in place. With this many dragons using a halting spell of this magnitude, the entire Dragonblight must be frozen in place. With this many dragons, even Alexstrasza was forced to a halt.
"It is over, Dragonqueen." Who appeared to be their leader, a massive dragon, its color and shape distorted in the shadows of time, with deathly-looking green eyes, said, its voice desynchronized from the motions of his mouth and repeating itself twice, as if coming from the past and the future as well as the present, said coldly. At the same time, every Infinite Dragon around her opened its jaws and charged a black beam of destruction.
Not so fast, mongrels. Alextrasza thought, unable to express herself through words as the muscles of her mouth refused to move. But that would soon change – Alexstrasza might lack the time-controlling powers of Nozdormu, but her own strength existed beyond time, granted by the Titans themselves. No matter what was done to her physical form, nothing could tame that.
Burn.
Fire exploded from the Dragonqueen's body, primordial flames from another age, reaching out and embracing the dragons and their attacks. The pressure that was holding her in place was suddenly lifted as her enemies were extinguished from existence, and she found herself involuntarily pushing upwards, moved by the strain she had placed on her body while immobilized, now hovering on level with the dragon that had spoken who, in spite of the blaze still raging around him, looked relatively unharmed. Nothing remained of the rest of her attackers. The battle froze, and all the remaining Infinite Dragons assembled around her and their leader, but hesitating to engage her. The Wyrmrest Accord, now reduced to roughly three-fourths of the original number that had set off to join the war effort in Icecrown, hovered tentatively around that ring, ready to interfere, but at the same time unwilling to do anything that would endanger that precarious standstill that had been established.
"Are you their leader?" Alexstrasza demanded angrily, boring at the large Infinite Dragon with her piercing eyes.
"I will not answer that question, Dragonqueen." He said again in that unsettling voice. Staring at him was like looking into an abyss – Alexstrasza found she could not follow the lines that formed his shape with her eyes to their completion, instead, her gaze slid somewhere in the middle, defocusing and breaking contract. His form seemed ever-shifting, like it constantly warped between different points in time. Only his eyes remained consistent, fixated on her own.
"What do you plan on doing? Why do you oppose us? Who do you work for?" The Dragon Aspect continued her questions. From what she had gathered from the Bronze agents, the Infinite seemed to have no solid purpose. They had attempted to interfere in events during the opening of the Dark Portal, Thrall the Horde's Warchief original escape from Durnholde Keep, and Arthas' destruction of Stratholme, each time by killing the protagonists of those acts. They had also sensed some interference in the timeline warped around the battle of Mount Hyjal and Archimonde's destruction, but when they had investigated through time, nothing seemed out of place. The pattern of their 'attacks' seemed random, and no solid cause was ever established. They were as much of a mystery as time itself.
"How quickly one who is not blessed with insight into the workings of time forgets." The Dragon responded. "Do you not remember, Alexstrasza? The darkness that once was, still sleeps. Before the Titans came, before the dawn of time – an evil forgotten, yet not vanquished. Asleep, but slowly wakening."
"You are referring to the Old Gods." Alexstrasza replied carefully. "We already know about them. They cannot touch as yet, deeply buried in Titan-forged prisons beneath the lands. Are you saying they have something to do with this?"
"They have everything to do with this. They cannot touch you? How foolish. They have already touched you, Alexstrasza, you and every other being in Azeroth. Can you remember Neltharion's fall? It was one of them, then, the same one that shattered the sanity of the Highborne that first moved to Tirisfal. Yogg-Saron's hand tightens around Northrend from his prison in Ulduar, and it won't be long before nothing you, or anyone else, can do to stop him. C'Thun still lies below Ahn'Qiraj, only a portion of his power, his mortal avatar, faced and defeated. These are only three of the five, Alexstrasza. Do you still believe you are out of their grasp? C'Thun's influence tainted some of the Bronze Dragons in Tanaris. Yogg-Saron took advantage of Malygos' weakened state after the destruction of his Dragonflight, driving him mad. Even the Aspects aren't beyond their power."
"What do they have to do with this?" Alexstrasza snapped. Being reminded of how much evil there still was in this world, how much still had to be done, did nothing to improve her mood. Compared to these problems, the Lich King was merely an annoyance. "If you target the Old Gods, why are you attacking time?"
"We have seen the future, Alexstrasza. We have been in the future. We are at the future. Time fades into black as the Old Gods awake, and all is buried in their eternal darkness. There is no escape from this fate. Eternity is vanquished beneath their abominable might. To prevent this, they must never be awoken. The Dark Portal. Its opening propelled the fourth of the Old Gods, buried beneath the Eastern Kingdoms, into Outland, where he has begun corrupting the residents of that forsaken place. The culling of Stratholme. An infinite tribute of blood, feeding the strength of the Old God of Tirisfal. Thrall's escape – the new Horde. Without them, the battle of Mount Hyjal would never have occurred. Nordrassil's cataclysmic destruction removed the seal on yet another of their kin, lying below Ashenvale, and now working to corrupt the Night Elves' new attempt at immortality, driving them insane – it has assaulted the Emerald Dream through the portals of Moonglade, and even Ysera has been tainted, caught – "
"What?"
"I said, the Old Gods are – " The Infinite Dragon began, but stopped when he noticed Alexstrasza. Her body was wrapped in flames, and her eyes were burning golden.
"I can see why you wish to change the past, Dragon, just as I could see why Malygos wanted to purge magic from Azeroth. But your attempt is just as much of a folly as his was. The past cannot be changed – must not be changed. The consequences will be dealt with when their time comes. Preemptively trying to bury our mistakes before they come to haunt us is the coward's way – and cowardice will always lead to more pain. Do what you must, and live with it."
"You still fail to understand. The future is set in stone, Alexstrasza. We have seen it. I have seen it. Unless we change the past, Azeroth will die."
"The future is never set in stone, foolish one. Shifting, ever-changing, like a river flowing through the infinite shadow of the Great Dark Beyond – millions upon millions of timelines, parallel but never quite crossing, branching into more, thousands more, each time a decision ever affects the flow of time, heading towards the same end – that's how Nozdormu once described time. Disturb one, and the future might fall apart – not just our future, but the future of all."
"You speak of events like you were there to witness them first hand before the War of the Ancients – but there was no Infinite Dragonflight then, if there is even one now. That can only mean one thing – you existed in another form, and only changed when despair over the future overwhelmed you. Given your abilities, and your form, you are Bronze Dragons who have been corrupted by your own power over time. If that is the case, then Nozdormu is either killed in the future, or is corrupted along with the rest of the Dragonflight, if either fate has not claimed him yet. I certainly hope you are not Nozdormu."
"Why is that?" The Dragon inquired, narrowing his eyes.
"Because you will all die here. I wish I could spend a little more time to find out about you, but if Ysera… if Ysera is under attack from the Old Gods, then it is my duty to protect her."
"Freeze her! Now!" The Infinites' leader roared as he saw Alexstrasza open her jaws – an orb of flame, brighter than the molten core of the Earth, and just as hot, formed inside her open mouth. Even more dragons appeared from gaps in time, each preparing to halt time in its place, but the Red Dragon Aspect was already unleashing her attack, a ball of flame no larger than a small dragon's body that locked down on her target.
"Korialstrasz, take them away!" She yelled, and caught with the corner of her eye the Red, Green and Bronze Dragons flying away like mad.
"This isn't the last you will see of us, Alexstrasza." The Infinite Dragon leader growled, and fled out of time just a fraction of a second before the fireball would hit him.
Damn. Well, he had escaped, but the rest…
The sphere of flame collapsed into itself, collapsing into a meltdown. Solar winds burned existence asunder, a prelude to the cataclysmic blast that followed soon thereafter. The heat of a sun, of a thousand suns, all centered around the core of the explosion – everything was turned to ash as soon as the wave of heat came into contact with them. Alexstrasza was unharmed, of course, even though she stood near the core of the supernova she had conjured, but the others… the radius of the molten sphere reached much farther than the ring of Infinite Dragons that perished before they could escape, before they could even think about escaping, reaching high to the skies overhead, out to envelop the ruined battlefield in Angrathar and to the east, near the Obsidian Dragonshrine, farther to the south and to the west, consuming the ice and turning it into a torrent of water in the shape of a huge lake that was immediately vaporized to fumes that rose to cover everything in a thick mist, but even that was dispersed by the heat, and clear sky replaced it when Alexstrasza's wrath subsided, letting the last of the flames die.
Sadly, the Dragonqueen looked around. Many of the Accord's champions had fallen along with their Infinite counterparts. Below them, an endless abyss reached hundreds of meters below Dragonblight, its bottom not even visible, in the smooth shape of a gigantic bowl. Water would eventually flow in from the edges, even though they were too far to see yet. In the end, it would turn into a lake, a small sea in the middle of Northrend. Who would ever know how many animals, how many people had been burned alive by that attack? The fire of life was a tremendous force. Alexstrasza only hoped that something good would come to replace the destruction she had wrought today.
"Korialstrasz, I am leaving." She said briskly, as the Wyrmrest Accord flew towards her – sadly she noticed that only her lover dared approach her closely; the rest, even her own Red Dragons, were keeping her distance, eyeing her with no small measure of fear and wariness. Too many of their own had been caught in that last attack. Another reason to call this land the Dragonblight. It was a large price to pay, if the destruction of the Infinite Dragonflight caused the Wyrmrest Accord to shatter. "I knew there was something wrong with Ysera, but if the Old Gods are behind this… she is my sister, Korialstrasz. I must go."
"I understand." He replied simply. "I will… take care of things here, until you return. Be careful."
Without response, the Dragonqueen turned and sped away, flying over the ocean straight into the heart of Kalimdor, where she hoped to come to Ysera's aid before it was too late, unaware of the consequences of her actions.
Unaware, that she had just given birth to the Infinite Dragonflight.
---
It had only been ten minutes since the Infinite Dragonflight began the siege on Rhonin and the Kirin Tor, who still lay protected beneath their arcane barrier, but it was clear which side was winning. Quite a few attacks had gotten through, and though the might of the Archmages had managed to fell some of the attackers…
Fighting against an army of undead of such massive proportions was dangerous, even with the weapon they had had at their disposal. Fighting against an equal number of Dragons was suicidal. Yet Rhonin was an astute man. The horrible danger had sharpened rather than dulled his senses. And for the moment, his thoughts were drawn to one specific direction.
Timear had been one of those that had been entrusted with the secret of the Kirin Tor's weapon. Before he revealed himself – or rather, causing him to reveal himself – as a traitor, he had done one thing – disabled their access to the wagons that held this artifact. Timear knew that what they had constructed was just about useless against anything not undead. Why had he worked to prevent its use? Why hadn't he stayed amongst them, keeping his identity hidden, then suddenly collapse the barrier from within, allowing the Dragons to massacre them at will? The possible explanations were two. Either they had accidentally created something that could combat the Infinite Dragonflight as well as the Scourge, or there was some connection, some link between the two great plagues of modern Azeroth.
Rhonin and the others had been very careful, very precise in the artifact's construction. Rhonin was as sure as someone could be that it would only function against the undead – with all the caution that had been taken, assuming that incidentally they had managed to create a bane for the Infinite Dragons was a huge stretch. Nothing about the Infinite Dragonflight suggested they were undead, either.
There was something there, and even if Rhonin didn't quite understand it, it was clear to him that he had to make use of it in order to win this fight.
