Vela stared at her, speechless.
"Did you just say-"
"That I want to summon the earth warder's spirit?" said Kyragosa, cutting Vela off. "Yes, yes I did. But hear me out first."
"I don't need to," said Vela. "That's a really bad idea, there's no way raising that bastard's spirit will do any good! If anything it can only do more harm."
Kyragosa looked at her with a stern look, obviously getting impatient. "Hear me out, little whelp," she said. "If I am correct, then he is the only one that ever existed who could possibly know how to fix this. But he is, as you know, dead. But his spirit still exists."
"So this is what you're saying," said Vela. "You want to summon the very soul of the worst creature that ever flew the skies on the slim chance that he actually knows something."
"Yes." said Kyragosa.
"You do realize how crazy this sounds, right?" asked Vela as she stood and began pacing around the room. "Deathwing-"
"Neltharion," corrected Kyragosa. "Honor the dead, no matter what they did. Especially when they were your kin."
"Neltharion, whatever" said Vela. "Anyway, Neltharion was the craziest creature that ever lived, he tried to destroy Azeroth for Titan's sake! How in the world do you expect to reason with his spirit to tell us how to fix this? How do you even plan to raise his soul? I can assure you his spirit has been damned to the very depths of all hells!"
Kyragosa sighed, but somehow managed to keep her composure. "If my theory is correct, then he won't be crazy."
Vela stopped in her tracks, giving her a look of bewilderment. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"I mean that if these books are correct, which they very well should be to be in that library, then when a creature is corrupted, the spirit stays at least somewhat sane, so to say. So when the creature dies the spirit enters the spirit realm, hell, heaven, whatever you want to call it and is immediately cleansed."
Vela opened her mouth to say something then stopped, closing it. She was at a loss for words, still trying to decide if what Kyragosa was proposing was good or bad. She really wanted to fix this tremor sense problem, but was summoning Neltharion's spirit really worth it? So many things could go wrong, on the slim chance her problems could be fixed. Was she really willing to risk everything, even the world's safety, for that slim shimmer of hope?
"If you are correct," said Vela after a long pause. "And I say yes to all of this and help you and we go through with this, what exactly would we do?"
"I would need to bind my powers with yours so that we have the power from you to fuel the spell and the control from me to perform it and make sure nothing goes wrong." said Kyragosa. "I'm not sure what happens after that, but we summon Neltharion's spirit and if all goes well we will be able to communicate with him."
Vela nodded very slowly, taking in all of the information. "And if something goes wrong...?"
"Then we end the spell and Neltharion's spirit will return to the spirit realm, where it belongs." said Kyragosa "There is no reanimating Neltharion, his body was completely destroyed from the evil that ravaged his body and the demon soul, the object created by him that ultimately destroyed him. He won't come back Vela, and he can do no harm. We will be in control, he will come and go as we please."
"Are you sure?" asked Vela "He was so powerful... wouldn't that make his spirit powerful too? What if he-"
"That power is yours now," said Kyragosa. "The shred that was his own was destroyed after his death and the rest now lives on in you. You are much more powerful than he is, or ever was. You have the one thing he didn't: Control."
"What do you mean?" asked Vela "I don't want this! This is all new to me, I have no idea what I'm doing."
Kyragosa shook her head, silencing her. "Neltharion was vulnerable, his connection to the earth made him weak and the Old gods incapacitated him with ease, even if it did take a little while. He was Deathwing before the world was able to blink. You, however, hate what he became and all that he did too much to become like him. You hate Deathwing so much that your hate is stronger than any urge you have to abandon your power. And that, my pupil, is why you will always be more powerful than he was. You have will, and self control, more than he ever had."
Vela nodded slowly. "You're right," she said. "I would never listen to the old gods, not like I've ever heard them. I would never become like that damned 'aspect', never."
Kyragosa smiled slightly. "Good," she said. "Very good. Perhaps there will be an Earth Warder yet again, one that will do what's right for the world."
Vela looked away, uncomfortable. "I'm no Earth Warder," she said "I have power, that's all. I don't need any fancy titles that I don't deserve, nor want."
Kyragosa nodded. "Yes yes I know, whatever you wish." she said "Now, back to business. Are we going to do this or not? It's now or never little whelp. I don't have all day, I do have other things to do."
Vela sat there, motionless besides the steady up and down movement of her chest as she breathed. This was in all honesty one of the biggest decisions she had ever made, and she wanted some time to think. She was putting a lot on the line. As confident as Kyragosa was in this project, Vela still couldn't help but worry. This was necromancy, and she knew very well the limits and bounds that it had, and how easy it was to slip and destroy yourself in the process. She had seen it with her own eyes.
But this was for the future, not only for herself but for the world she would protect. She had to learn how to control these abilities and learn how to use them. It was her duty to the land, to the world, to the ground beneath her very feet. If she neglected to take care of this, she would not only be hurting herself but the world as well. Taking the chance was worth it, she decided.
"All right," she finally said, looking right into Kyragosa's eyes. "I'll do it."
Kyragosa smiled. "I'm glad you have agreed. I-"
"I wasn't finished yet," said Vela. "On one condition. If we're going to speak to him, I'm going to give this guy a piece of my mind. He ruined my flight, shattered the world, and wreaked havoc upon everything. I'm going to tell him every single thing that comes to my mind when I think of him. He is going to know just how much I hate him and how much wrong he had done to me."
Kyragosa was silent for a long, long moment that seemed to last eternity, but finally she nodded. "All right," she said standing up. "Let's get down to business."
Vela and Kyragosa were in the elevator, headed up to the tower where they trained everyday. It was here that they would perform the spell, the most secluded and spacious place in the city. No one bothered them when they were there, in fact, Vela had never seen anyone else up there. And it was that fact that made it the perfect place to do this.
They would have done it in one of their rooms, but this spell required a lot of space, space they didn't have in their rooms. And if anything went wrong there would be a lot of noise, if not a huge explosion. So that made the training area even more of a better choice.
The elevator rocked back and forth as it lurched to a stop at the top of tower. The doors slowly opened and Vela leaped out, not wanting to be in the machine any longer than she had to be. She turned back to see Kyragosa coming out after her, carrying a few books in her arms as she did so.
"Don't get too excited now," said Kyragosa as she passed Vela.
Vela shook her head. She was not excited at all, she just wanted to get the whole thing over with. The sooner the better in her opinion.
Kyragosa strode over to the center of the tower, Vela in fast pursuit. The blue dragon stopped when she reached the center and sat down, folding her legs as she placed the books on the ground next to her. She looked calm and composed as compared to Vela's frantic movements. She was slightly nervous about this, she couldn't help but worry. Magic was a dangerous thing, even to blue dragons, and it was not a toy to be played with.
Kyragosa glanced back at her, "It will take me a while to get things sorted out," she said. "Go walk around if you want, stretch your legs and relieve the tension. It will be good for you."
Vela hesitated but nodded, going over to the edge of the tower where a ledge kept anyone who dared look from falling. She placed her hands on the top of the ledge and looked out, trying to see through the flurries of snow that acted as a barrier, restraining her sight to only a foot or two out. The magic barrier that surrounded the tower still held strong, invisible to most. But Vela could sense it, could see it with her draconic eyesight. She could feel it's icy presence as she drew closer and closer to the magic laced through it.
She frowned as she looked out into the blizzard. Miri's chilling words still sung through her mind as fresh as the second they had left her mouth. 'No blizzard lasts this long, none! at least not any so close to Grizzly hills! Maybe in Icecrown, but not here!'. A shudder went up her spine, the night elf was right. Blizzards didn't last this long in areas like this. So why did it?
Vela shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts. She had other more urgent problems to deal with, ones that affected the world. She would deal with this later, for now she had to focus on the spell she was going to perform. Or at least attempt to perform.
Vela put her hands out and lurched back as the tips of her fingers hit the invisible wall surrounding her, making a surge of energy pulse through her and the wall. A white line of electricity quickly traveled up the invisible wall, disappearing before she could blink.
This confused her as it always had, most force fields had a purple or blue hue to them, but this one was completely invisible. It was if it wasn't even there, but Vela knew very well that it was. In the beginning of their stay in the city, she had just assumed it was some dwarf magic trick, but now she wasn't so sure about that. She had never heard of dwarf magic being any different from regular magic, and she had never seen a force field that was invisible.
Vela shook he head and turned around to see Kyragosa setting up her books. As she walked over, deciding she was tired of looking at the snow, Kyragosa glanced up.
She stood, brushing her robe of dust and said "I'm just about done, only a few more things to do."
Vela nodded and stopped to stand only a few feet away from the books that lay on the ground, watching Kyragosa carefully as the blue dragon continued.
Kyragosa took a deep breath of air, spreading her arms out to either side as clapped her hands together in front of her chest. She closed her eyes and took another slow deep breath, her hands rising and falling with her chest. She opened her eyes and cracked her knuckles once before looking at Vela again.
"It is time to begin," she said. "Are you ready, or would you like a few moments to relax first?"
Vela sighed, and shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm ready. It's time to get this over with."
Kyragosa looked her over once and nodded, reaching a hand out for her to grab. "Come, we must bind our magic if this is to work."
Vela hesitantly raised a hand, placing it in Kyragosa's. Kyragosa grabbed her firmly and brought her close to her side, giving her a serious yet firm look. Vela took a few steps until she was right next to Kyragosa, and began to take deep, calming breaths, knowing that she couldn't back out of this.
"Is this binding going to be hard?" she asked.
Kyragosa shrugged. "I'll be doing all the work, so don't worry. It might sting a little though, we are forcing two parts of each other to become one." she said.
Vela nodded. "I can deal with a little sting, I've had much worse." she said "Let's just get this over with."
"Agreed," said Kyragosa. "I don't want to waste any more time than I have to. Now, concentrate. Go deep into your mind, to your inner power. I will meet you there."
Vela gulped, and closed her eyes. She knew what to do, she had to go into her inner being, the source of all her power. It was there that she would have to go to start the spell, for her power was the one thing that kept Deathwing bound to her control. It had been a piece of him, a piece long lost, and a remnant of him lived on in Vela, whether she knew it or not.
She took deep shaky breaths, focusing on the center of her being. She went deep into her mind, heading for the orange light that was her power. As she went deeper and deeper she began to lose her sense of the waking world, her physical body on autopilot as she delved into the depths of her subconscious. She forgot all about Kyragosa, about breathing and walking and seeing. There was only her power, the light at the end of the tunnel, and nothing else.
She could feel it like it was right in front of her yet she knew it was far away, deep within herself. She kept going deeper and deeper into her subconscious, losing all contact with the physical world as the warm light of her power washed over her.
She was deep within her mind so everything was very blurry, like a dream. But she could see a warm orange wave of energy wrapping itself around a large ball of orange energy, which twirled around and around. As she got closer to it, it seemed to move faster, as if it were reacting to her presence. The energy soothed her to the core, making her think of the happy things in life and all but forgetting the bad things.
She waited for what may have been seconds, hours, or days for all she knew until a blue tentacle of energy came through her body. She felt cold inside, the only feeling she had felt sense going so deep within her mind. She felt her body shivering as the blue magic made it way towards her own power, causing everything to have blueish tint to it.
She watched as the blue energy drew ever closer to her magic core, and then it collided. the sensation the washed over her was like the chilling winds of Icecrown wrapping round her, like the sting of wasps all along her spine, like being thrown into a bed of molten lava. But before she knew it, it was over and she saw an orange and blue ball of magic in front of her, twirling around with ten times the speed.
Then she was pushed out of her conscious by some unknown force and she was blinking her eyes open, the light of the sun penetrating her pupils. She blinked the light away as her eyes adjusted to the light and then glanced to her right to see Kyragosa watching her intently.
"What's next?" she asked, knowing what Kyragosa would probably say.
Kyragosa sighed "Next is the spell," she said. "My power is bound to yours now, so I'm going to have to go through your mind. You see, you're the outlet in this little experiment, the outlet for the power. I'll guide the power out of you and bend it to the will of the spell. So all you have to do is stand there and let my conscious go into your mind. Any more questions?"
"Nope" said Vela. "Let's just get this done."
Kyragosa nodded. "Relax, tension will make it much harder." she said.
Vela nodded and closed her eyes, awaiting the invading presence of Kyragosa's mind. She could hear the blue dragon breathing deeply next to her and not a second later she felt the sharp pang of Kyragosa's conscious as she she pushed her way through Vela's mind. The sudden pain in her head made her cringe, gritting her teeth together, but before she knew it the pain was gone and she could feel Kyragosa moving around in her mind.
In her mind she could see a small spark of blue energy fly across her eyelids, disappearing before she could wonder where Kyragosa was going. She felt the hot liquid pull of her magic as it arced through her, being guided by Kyragosa. It was more magic than she had ever been able to use, and the sensation of it traveling through her body was almost overwhelming.
Her eyes snapped open and she looked at her hands to see that they were held up, a ball of orange and blue magic swirling around in her hands, swelling with energy as more gushed out of her palms. She glanced to her right and saw that Kyragosa was in a similar position, only her eyes were closed and her brow was creased with wrinkles.
She watched as the magic grew and grew until suddenly it stopped, the flow being cut off. She felt the pressure of Kyragosa's conscious leave her, and suddenly felt light headed. She was now aware of how much control it took to handle so much magic and she had to concentrate hard not to lose her grasp on it.
She heard Kyragosa whispering beside her, speaking words she didn't know too fast for her to make any of them out. Suddenly the ball of magic was aflame, tentacles of it branching out in all directions as the spell started. It roared with power, and Vela would have stepped back had it not been in her control.
This was her magic, hers. No one elses. It was hers to control, and it would obey.
The energy branched out even more and the tentacles began swirling around in circles, a gray cloud forming between them. The gray cloud grew and grew, the tentacles growing with it and soon it was bigger than Vela herself.
She began to feel a pang in her arms, a sharp one that made her shriek. The pang grew, making her want to collapse on the ground in pain. She realized that she was loosing control of the magic, something wasn't right. Something had gone wrong with the spell.
She tried, oh how she tried to keep the magic under control but it was too much. Pain arced through her, clawing at her insides. She let out a gasp and fell over, the spell breaking as she released the magic. The black cloud disappeared and the magic went back into her, where it would rest until its use was called upon again.
She breathed in fast frantic breaths, the pain quickly ebbing.
She looked up after a few moments and saw that Kyragosa wasn't in a much better position. The blue dragon was slumped over in a tiny ball on the ground, breathing deeply as sweat trickled down the side of her face.
After a few minutes of the two catching their breaths, Kyragosa rolled up and sat on the ground, still breathing heavily but managing to wipe the sweat off her face.
"Something went wrong," she said. "There was a fluke with the spell."
"I know." said Vela. "I could feel it. Some words off maybe?"
Kyragosa shrugged. "I don't know." she said. "Could be."
Vela nodded, and began to stretch her arms which were now sore. She cracked her knuckles and neck before trying to stand up, and she nearly winced from the toll it took on her weak muscles.
"You are weak," said Kyragosa. "Go, rest. I will clean up here. I will look into this more thoroughly to see what I missed... until then, recover. We won't have any training sessions for a few days until then."
Vela opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, nodding before making her way over to the elevator. She was tired and weary and she was not going to reject Kyragosa's offer.
As she was about to get on the elevator Kyragosa turned around from where she stood and said, "And Vela."
Vela glanced back her eyebrows raised and asked "Yes?"
"There's something... enchanted on your mind." said Kyragosa. "A spell, hex, something. I could sense it when I was in your mind. It was subtle, but it was there."
Vela frowned and nodded, not sure what to think of it. She turned around and stepped onto the elevator and stood there as it began going deeper and deeper into the city, wondering what it could be.
A spell on her mind? How would she not know of it? And what did it mean to her?
Vela's eyes shut open as she was lurched from her sleep by two strong hands. She was being ripped form her bed, the covers flying onto the floor as her mouth was covered and she was dragged across her room, her arms flailing around she desperately tried to escape her captor's grip. To no avail however, for whoever was trying to subdue her was immensely strong, and all she could do was flail around.
She tried to scream, but all that came out was a few muffled murmurs, lost in the tight grip of her captor's hands.
She looked around for something to grab, something she could use to help her escape, but there was nothing. Everything around her was pitch black as she was dragged through her room to somewhere unknown.
Suddenly there was a flash of white magic going across her eyes and she found her self crumpled up in a ball, a hand covering her mouth, right in front of a roaring fire. She was still in her room she realized, and she became even more confused.
"Quit squirming," he captor hissed into her ear, and Vela realized she had heard that voice before. "You'll wake up the dwarves."
Vela immediately relaxed as she realized it was only Miri, but anger quickly blazed in her when she realized the night elf had nearly given her a heart attack for what seemed to be no good reason.
"It's me, Miri." said the Night Elf. "Now, I'm going to let you go real slowly. But you have to promise not to make any noises, you'll wake them up. Nod if you understand."
Vela hesitated but then slowly nodded, deciding she would hear the night elf out first before she made any rash decisions.
"Good," said Miri, and she slowly let go.
Vela immediately shot up, whirling around to face the night elf. "What's wrong with you?!" she hissed. "Do you just randomly kidnap people in the night? Is this some sort of revenge for me being a black dragon?!"
"Shh!" hissed Miri "This is when they come out. You have to be quiet!"
"Who?" asked Vela, this time a little quieter.
"The dwarves!" said Miri. "This is when I hear the scuffling outside my door and the footsteps going down the hall,"
"All right, I'll be quiet." said Vela. "But why are you here?"
"I wanted to pay you a friendly visit because that's what I do in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping after a long day of working," mocked Miri. "Why do you think I'm here?! We need to figure out what they're doing! Use your brain! If you have one."
"Oh I'm sorry, why on Azeroth would I not think of that after being ripped out from my sleep by a psychopathic Night Elf?!" Vela hissed.
"Good question, you probably have memory loss or a mental illness. No surprise." said Miri. "Now, are you going to listen or are you going to yell and get those dwarves to come rushing in here and catch us?"
Vela sighed "Fine, fine." she said. "I'll listen. But don't waste my time, I've had a long day."
"Trust me, it's worth your time." said Miri. "Now anyways, we have to find out whats going on. I've been tracking there movements and I've found out at exactly what time they go down the hall. So now I know when to track them, but I don't know how to track them without being noticed. That's where you come in."
Vela's eyebrows perked up. "Oh?" she asked. "Go on, now I'm interested."
Miri smiled. "Well, I do recall you saying you were rogue before, you know, you got captured. Am I correct?"
Vela smiled, she knew where this was going. "Yes, yes I was," she said.
"So that means you know how to stealth, right?" asked Miri.
Vela nodded. "Absolutely."
"Then that means I need you for my plan," said Miri. "I can shadowmeld but other than that I can't do much. You can follow from behind and tell me when it's clear for me to follow. So, are you in?"
Vela thought for a few moments. This could be very dangerous and they could get caught, but she really wanted to know what the dwarves were up to. And she really wanted to try out her rogue skills.
"All right," she said. "I'm in. What do we do first?"
"First, you need to get ready. Can you shape-shift into some better clothes? Robes are a bad idea."
Vela looked down and saw that she was indeed wearing a robe. She sighed and closed her eyes, quickly going into her mind and altering her appearance. When she opened her eyes she was glad to see that she was now wearing a pair of black pants and a long sleeve black shirt, perfect for staying hidden.
"Much better," said Miri. "Now we wait and listen. We'll go out once they pass us. Trust me, we'll hear them."
"All right, sounds like a plan." said Vela. "When do they usually come?"
Miri thought for a few moments. "They should be coming down the hall any minute, we should probably get closer to the door actually."
Vela nodded and they both stood, silently walking over to the door. Once they were there they crouched down and listened very carefully for any sign of someone outside.
It was a few minutes before they heard something. It was a faint scuffling on the floor outside, slowly growing louder as it got closer to them. Both Vela and Miri tensed, quietly placing there ears on the door. As it got closer they began to hear murmuring, and then the small clank of metal against metal.
"This is it," whispered Miri so quietly Vela could barely hear it. "When I say go, go."
Vela nodded and pressed her ear gently against her door, her heart racing. Part of it was excitement and the other part was a little bit of nerves. This could give them so much information, but it could also go horribly wrong.
Whoever was outside approached steadily, taking their time to get through the hall.
I wish they would hurry up and get down the hall so we can get this over with, Vela thought as the person passed their door.
After a minute of waiting they could finally just barely hear the person in the hall.
"All right, stealth and go!" said Miri. "I'll follow further behind,"
Vela wasted no time in gathering her energy and slipping into stealth, crouching as the shadows hid her. Miri slowly opened the door, which barely creaked for once, and Vela slid out. She turned left and began walking down the hall, following the faint sound of the person walking down the hall, dragging who knows what with them.
At first she went fast trying to catch up with them but then when they came into view she slowed down. She strained her eyes as she tried to make out who it was but all she was able to tell was that it was a dwarf, a male she thought. He was holding some rope like thing and dragging something attached to it across the floor. Whatever he was dragging was too dark for her to see though, because it looked like a black lump on the floor to Vela.
Vela glanced back every few moments to look for Miri, but the most she saw was the tip of a mint green pony tail disappearing in the shadows as the night elf went into shadowmeld.
I guess that's a good thing, she thought, If I could see her then so could he...
She walked a little farther, always keeping at least twenty feet away from the dwarf before the dwarf stopped, making her slowly stop as well. She settled into a low crouch, watching closely.
The dwarf stopped in the middle of the hallway, and turned to come face to face with the wall. He stood there just staring at the wall, not moving a muscle. At first Vela was confused, but then she realized that his mouth was moving and that he was tensing, which meant he was chanting a spell. Vela couldn't hear what he was saying though, so she slowly crept forward until she was with in hearing distance of him.
As soon as she heard what he was saying she froze, petrified, nearly breaking her stealth. It was not the familiar limp figure that lay bound in chains sprawled out on the ground before her that scared her though. Nor was it the slowly growing passageway in front of the dwarf. No, what had scared her was much, much worse.
She could understand what the dwarves were saying. The spell that had been on her mind was gone, all of her memories coming back to her.
And it was one, chilling memory that made her freeze in place as she had. It was the language the dwarf was speaking. He was speaking the tongue of the titans.
And there's chapter 21. Took me a while, I know, but I wanted to make it extra special. There was actually going to be more, but I decided to cut this one short and save the rest of the excitement for the next chapter.
As for the question, did Alexstrasza know about Vela's torture and what not... All I can say is this: For the sake of this story's plot, I can't tell you. ;)
Well, that's all for now.