Disclaimer:I do not own Warcraft or its sequels. Blizzard does.

Huge thanks to dharak for being my beta and catching those embarrassing mistakes!

Chapter published 3/9/13

Section 5:Legion's Grip

295 years, seven months, seven days, seven hours, seven minutes, fifty seconds after the Epilogue of Coup de What?

Amanthe

It was cold, it was wet, and it was dark.

I walked forward, not knowing where I was going. The ground below me was dark and gray. Even the grass stalks were hardened and dull, crunching like glass beneath my shoes. A dull gray mist surrounded me, obscuring sight, not even letting me catch a glimpse of the sky. Every now and then a weak gust of wind would push the mist around me, causing it to approach me on one side but recede on the other side, allowing me to see the black skeletons of dead, gnarled trees.

Crunch, crunch, crunch went the grass. I kept walking, swiveling my head from side to side, looking for... whatever it was that I was here for. I hugged my arms to my body, shivering as the chill wind undulated around me, my skin covered in water droplets from when the burning-cold fog nipped my skin. Several times I snapped my head around, certain there was a disembodied eye floating in the air,watching me, only to reveal it to be the knot of a desiccated tree.

Maaaaaa.

I whirled around at the sudden noise, trying to peer through the mist. There was a form, four legged, in the gloom. I screamed and whipped out a dagger from... somewhere... and threw it at the creature. However the fog encroached again, biting me with its cold, and it seemed to absorb my weapon as it flew in. When the wind pushed the fog away from the side, the thing was gone.

I shook my head. I must be seeing things. I looked around, using the landmark of one of the dead trees to find my orientation, and headed that way. The heavy blanket of gray fog didn't abate, and the ground and grass stayed the same; cold and desaturated, breaking like glass under my feet. More and more decrepit trees began to surround me. In spite of the obscuring mist, I could see that I was walking through a forest.

I stumbled over a root, said root snapping into pieces as I tripped. I tried to balance myself, but landed on all fours. I got back up, brushing myself off. I grimaced; my hands were bleeding from where they'd been cut on the brittle grass.

Maaaaaa.

I spun around. There, again, was the creature. It was closer now, so I could make out details. It was a goat, a black goat with tattered, messy fur, as tall as I and significantly longer. Its horns were a dark, nearly black purple, and from its open mouth dripped something black, like tar. I bit down a squeak when I saw its eyes. There were seven eyes, one in the middle of its forehead and three on either side, creating a crown of eyes around its head. The eye furthest to the left was open, red iris glaring at me and taking in light through the slit pupil. All the other eyes made me want to throw up; glassy, gray, and unfocused dead eyes that reflected light like a mirror, forming six reflections of myself.

"By the Titans," I whispered to myself. My voice was strange and distorted, like I was speaking to myself from underneath a pool of water. I stepped backwards, reaching for my one remaining dagger, pulling it out of the scabbard that hadn't been there a moment before, which vanished in a moment. The goat and I stared each other down, seeing who would make the first move.

The goat charged with a guttural roar I didn't even know it could make. It lowered its head to charge at me, intending to impale me on its violet horns. I waited until it was almost at me, then shifted into the twilight realm. I stepped to the side and emerged back into reality, driving my dagger down to where it was -

Except it wasn't there.

Maaaaaa.

I wasn't even where I was before. I was surrounded by the ruined, black skeletons of trees. The stone beneath me was devoid of grass, and the trees had grown out around me so thick that it was like a cage, and I couldn't see out. I looked around, trying to call on the Light to illuminate the area. Nothing happened. I summoned twilight flame to my hands, but not even a spark appeared. There was also that annoying dull thrum in the air.

"Hello?" I asked. "Jason?" I spun around. The mist had receded, letting me see a little way into the wall of trees encircling me. It appeared solid all the way through. The dull thrum was getting louder. I briefly stuck a finger in each ear to see if I'd gotten water in there; nothing.

"Selriona?"

Still nothing, and the dull thrum was getting much louder. So much louder that, I noticed it wasn't a thrum at all. It was the galloping of hooves.

A flicker of light drew my attention. A spot of orange, the sound of deafening hooves, and the crunching and cracking of trampled trees. Suddenly I understood what was happening. The goat was charging at me, and I didn't know how but it was breaking all the trees in its path. Though, considering how unhealthy the woods around me were, it couldn't be too difficult...

Maaaaaa.

So why didn't I run for the woods? If it could smash through, so could I. Great idea, Amanthe. Let's try it. I ran for the cage of trees, the sounds of the goat getting louder and closer by the second. I took my one remaining dagger and sliced it at a tree. It bounced off as if the plant was made of iron. I cursed, then turned around to the sound of a particularly loud crashing, suddenly paralyzed in fear. The goat emerged from the woods and into my little clearing, but now it was changed. It was still black, with dark slime dripping from its mouth, seven eyes with six dead, and purple horns sharper than any sword. However, now it was on fire, red flames tinted with green burning along its hooves and back as it jumped up, bearing down at me, one good eye open wide.

MAAAAAA!

"Guh! I shot up in my bed, cold sweat beading my forehead. I blinked several times, my heart thrashing about in my chest like a fish out of water.

My vision cleared, and I blinked a few more times, my eyes wide open like an owl's. I looked around, trying to remember where I was.

Oh, right.

The building was relatively small. the roof so low I'd almost bump my head into it if I stood. It was made of black marble, with bright gray cracks running through it, specifically designed so that as little light would be reflected as possible. The bed I laid in was surprisingly soft, the sheets, mattress and pillows all varying shades of blue and red, all close to black in their brightness. The bed was also too large for just me, and the space to my left was conspicuously empty, the sheets ruffled and turned into a semi-cocoon as though someone had gotten out of them.

I looked to my right onto the night stand. The box's painted eye stared at me. I glared back at it, then reached a hand over, grabbed one of its spikes, and dragged it over to me.

Still sitting in bed, I maneuvered the various locks, shifting ledges, and hatches on the puzzle box, according to the manner in which I'd figured out had the best chance of opening it. The more I worked on it, the more I got the sense something was watching me, something unspeakably powerful and evil. I pushed the sensation down and kept working. Even if there was something watching, it wouldn't see anything particularly interesting. I kept working at it. I was close, I knew it. Over nearly three hundred years I'd gotten very close to opening it; I could feel the opening at the top loosen from time to time. Still, I had quite a ways to go, yet. At least it was a good brain teaser, and kept my thoughts flowing quickly.

"Raah!" I shouted as I hit the apparent 'failsafe', the clue that I had almost got it. The moment I moved the fiftieth latch into place above the fifth clasp, the entire box began to reshape itself, pieces moving back into their original shape. I dropped it away from me, letting it rattle on the sheets, lest one of the moving parts hit me. In a few moments I was back to square one and got a nice little present in the back of my mind.

'You cling to your life as if it has meaning... you will learn soon enough. And then you will teach the others.'

'Tell it to someone who cares,' I returned to it, setting the box aside. I peeled myself out of bed and walked over to the closet. After changing out of my nightclothes into a violet shirt and pants, both filled to the brim with wool and other insulators, I walked out of the room into the rest of the inn.

The change in temperature was immediate. While personal rooms were warmed by machines, making it nice and toasty, relatively little of that heat transferred to the main room of the inn, and it was 'too expensive' to heat the entire place.

The majority of the residents of the inn were goblins, sitting around the table where meals were served. Most of them carried the smell of gunpowder, so I assumed it was another flight group from... ? I looked closely at one woman, her jacket shimmering slightly with the slivers of tiny white crystals. Dalaran. A group from Dalaran. I didn't see Jason among them, which meant he was outside in the biting, cracking cold.

I approached the inkeeper's desk. He was a stout, short goblin who - like most everyone else - wore heavy, black clothes to ward off the chill. His left ear was half as long as the other, looking like it had been bitten off near the end. Knowing the local wildlife, it very well may have been. His red eyes scanned over me, briefly showing interest, then dulled back to boredom as he recognized me. "Yeah? What can I do for you?"

"I would like a mead basted caribou and some honeymint tea," I said. "Two cups of the tea, two slices of the meat."

He nodded. "That'll be two gold."

I narrowed my eyes. "You said it was one gold and fifty silver last week."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, supply dropped. Not many caribou around this part of the year. Some stupid migrating thing or something. You got the money or no?"

I rolled my eyes and dug a hand into my right pocket, fishing out the gold I kept with me as spare change, handing it over to Innkeeper Kirsk Brassknob.

"Thank you for your business. Let me just go get it." He turned around and opened a door behind him, shouting into the yellowish light and wafting heat. "Two honeymint tea and two caribou! On the double!" He closed the door before I could get curious enough to look into it, returning to me. "We'll have your food out in a jiffy. Why don't you take a seat until then, miss?"

I rolled my shoulders. "May as well, thank you." I made my way over to one of the side chairs, near the edges of the inn, not wanting to sit next to the group of goblins discussing air currents and downdrafts on their most recent trip, as well as - ugh- politics.

"Hear the Horde just made a huge upgrade to their airship armor. They say it'll make the Alliance's new cannons useless."

"Who's 'they'?"

"My sources. You don't need to know."

"Yeah well, I hear that the Alliance is upgrading their siege tanks. Napalm, electromagnetic shocks, even magical shields."

"Those two factions are going to kill each other."

"Tell me about it."

I sighed, reclining against the fur chair. I opened up my link, the familiar pressure blossoming along my head, right above my ears. 'Hey, good morning.'

'Good morning,' Selriona replied. 'How're things up in the Storm Peaks?'

I sighed in both real life and into the link. 'It's cold, it's bright, and it's windy. Did I mention the cold?'

'You did.'

'It's cold.'

It was her turn to sigh. 'It was your idea to go there to keep an eye on Ulduar. How's that going, by the way?'

'Meh, same old same old.' I noticed a few goblins moving over to me. 'Hang on a moment.' I took my food and drink from the chef on a plate. "Thank you." He bowed overly lavishly, as if that would result in the inn getting an extra large tip - I'd already paid! - and without a word, returned. 'So as I was saying, same old same old. I'm going to be going to take another weekly observation in a few days, but I don't expect anything new. The Watchers have rebuilt centuries ago.'

'Wonder why they don't leave Ulduar? I mean, Yogg-saron's gone.'

'It is a Titan city,' I reasoned, setting my food and drink on one of the chair's arm rests, eating from them. 'They can't just leave it. There's a lot of very high-tech stuff in there that they really can not let get out into the hands of us lesser, 'fleshy' races.'

'Hmm, true.'

'How're things in the Amethyst Sanctum?' I asked.

'Well, the eggs are still doing well. It makes sense, I am keeping them in the twilight realm until they hatch. They should start that in four days.' The grin in her voice was unmistakable. 'So, how're you doing? Any nightmares recently?'

I froze. Did she know? She couldn't possibly know, it was impossible. To date, Jason was the only one who knew I still had the puzzle-box. It was impossible for her to know. But then, she did have Nalestrasza living in her mind. Maybe she found out, then told Selriona about it. I wouldn't put it past the psuedo-Red.

If she did, then honesty was the best policy. 'One. Don't really remember much of it. Something about... fire and a goat. That's about all I remember.' Which was true. Even now, as I ate my basted caribou and drank my warming tea, the heat radiating throughout my body, outwards from my stomach, the memory of the intense horror was slipping away steadily.

'Hmm. Wonder if it means anything.'

'Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. At either rate, it's pretty much gone now, so there's no point trying to interpret it.'

'You're right,' she consoled. We spent the rest of the morning chatting and catching up, as I steadily finished off my breakfast. Once done, I delivered the empty plate, utensils, and cup back to the innkeeper and headed outside. The group of goblins was still in the same place, I idly noted. That meant they didn't have anywhere to go, and would probably be here for... a month.

I neared the door and picked up one of the shades designed to keep me from going snow-blind. It was a deceptively simple, yet ingenious method the goblins of K3 used to keep the glare of the icy snow of the Storm Peaks from blinding everyone. It had also been invented by gnomes, but they'd never admit that.

I didn't put them on quite yet, though, and returned to my room to put on a coat. I definitely needed it to go outside. It was black, to retain heat better, and so bulked up it gave me some trouble moving, with a hood that nearly covered my whole face and obscured my peripheral vision. I hadn't slipped into it for ten seconds before starting to sweat, so I hurried back outside. I placed on the shades, making me unable to see in the relatively dark building, and stepped outside into the Storm Peaks.

As I had told Selriona, the Storm Peaks were cold, bright and windy to the extreme. The little town of K3 served as a sort of 'stepping stone' into the higher peaks. Today would be a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, which meant the special, Peaks-Grade sunglasses were absolutely required to step outside. When it wasn't sunny, it was dark and miserable, with either snow, freezing rain, hail, or all three. K3 was in a plateau base, where the wind, strong enough to toss someone into the air and carry them around like a kite, was reduced to simply making it hard to keep your footing. There were also no steep, ninety degree cliffs to fall down, it was marginally warmer...

Why had I decided to take Ulduar? What could possibly have possessed me to take that position upon myself?

I found Jason in a back corner of K3, his back to the wall to keep some of the howling, whistling wind out of his face.

"Hey," he greeted upon seeing me. "I see you're up."

I smiled warmly at him. "Yeah. You said you had something to show me?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. I was helping the hunters find some more food last week, while you were trekking to Ulduar to check up on it. And, well, I found a lookout I want to show you."

"Oh?" I asked. One of the few good things about the Storm Peaks were the lookouts. The clear air and high altitude made vantage points highly sought after. Though few were willing to actually go to the Peaks to see them, those who did were supposedly rewarded with a view they would never forget. "Are we going now?"

"Yep. I didn't want to wake you. I've already had breakfast."

"Alright. Let's get going."

"Should we tell Brassknob?"

"Nah. Nobody in this town cares if you leave as long as you come back, and if you don't, they've become pretty jaded after living here for so long." Here, in arguably the worst weather on all of Azeroth, conveniently right next to Icecrown Glacier, home of the brainless undead, a land forever cursed to infamy by a madman and a traitor, few people dared to come. Many didn't live long, underestimating the winds and the cold. Of course, I had spared no expense making sure Jason and I were both ready. I had my twilight flame to warm us, levitation for the winds, and if worst came to worst, I could portal us to Grim Batol. "They won't think twice."

"We'll be fine, Amanthe. It's not far, and we don't have to go to the main peaks to get there."

"And the wildlife?"

He scoffed. "This time of year? What wildlife? Come on," he said, peeling himself off the wall that defined the boundaries of K3. We headed to the gates and showed the guards the card that meant we were allowed to live here.

"Be safe out there," one said, pressing a gloved hand against his glasses, pushing them back up his long, beaklike nose. "Very cold."

"I know," I said. "We've been outside K3 before, we'll be fine."

He grunted. "Just be back by nightfall. It gets even colder then."

I rolled my eyes. With how far north we were, the time the sun would be up would be almost a whole twenty-four hours in its own right.

"We will," I said. I turned to Jason. "Lead the way, Jason."

"With pleasure. Come on, this way. It's to the west." Jason took the lead, his furred boots crunching on the ice, the spikes on the bottom securing him on the otherwise slick surface. I followed after him in much the same way, tethered to the hard-packed snow by the same mechanism. Wind howled through the air, but with the coats, and a shield of Light around the both of us, it didn't get too too cold. Though the fact that it was still dark didn't help matters.

So we hiked... and hiked... and hiked. The snow had a steady incline downwards, one that slowly but surely increased, so before long I had to be careful even with my spiked boots, lest gravity suddenly get the better of me. We were nearing the southwestern ring of mountains, the black stone spires rising up before us like the spiked teeth of some wild beast. The sun was still rising, even though it was a clear day, letting me see Azeroth's shadow clearly; a dark blue mass near the horizon, its top tinged with blurred red.

The decline stopped, then grew into a ramp upwards as we approached the stone mounds that separated the Storm Peaks from Crystalsong Forest, towering far above the woods. Jason led me through a series of narrow cracks in the mountainside, climbing higher and higher on a nearly vertical incline until we reached a little plateau.

"Well, here we are," he said.

My jaw dropped. "Wow..."

The scene before me was nothing short of breathtaking. To my left was the orange glow of the sun, painting a canvass of purples, reds and blues along the horizon, as if the sky itself had been set ablaze. Far in front of me, to the south, were the hints of wispy snowstorm clouds over Dragonblight. The truly amazing part was the Crystalsong Forest below me. The area of the crystallized regions had increased over the centuries, and now the entire area was an expanse of purple ground, cracks radiating vibrant white energy into the air. Colossal crystallized trees filled the area down below. These trees were not whole; parts of them were suspended, hovering around a central core of arcane power, their gem-like leaves scintillating in the light and swaying in the breeze. The rising sun's orange light reflected and refracted within them, making them look like they were on fire. Even from so far away and so far up, I could hear them singing like wind chimes, emanating an aura of wonder and majesty. Nothing obscured our view. Not smog, not clouds, not mountains.

"Jason, this is... amazing!"

"There's a ledge here," he said, walking over to the edge of the ring. He sat down on a snow-covered precipice, one that I saw jutted out in a peculiar pattern that actually made a reclined seat. I went over and joined him. The ice was cold on my back and legs, but the coat balanced it out. And I was too stunned by the view to care. "It's these moments that remind me why I came to see what your job is like."

I looked over at him. "It's more than a job, Jason. It's a charge. A duty to carry out. Almost like military service, but not always about fighting. A lot of it is tracking, and curing."

"Like Ulduar?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, like Ulduar. Nothing's happening there, thank the Titans, but you can never be to sure. Especially given what used to be trapped there." An especially chilly breeze swept over me, and I shivered. I scooched over closer to Jason and leaned into him, sharing our body heat to warm myself further.

"When are you going there again?" he asked.

"Next week. I'm still recovering after last time," I said, rubbing the small electric burn on my right side, right below my ribs at an especially sensitive part of my torso. "Who knew that the electric wards were so sensitive to movement?"

He placed an arm over my shoulders. "Well, now you know, and at least you're fine." He sighed. "I wish you'd stop putting yourself in these situations. You crazy woman, you are going to get yourself killed one of these days."

I grimaced. "Eh, I'm three hundred and twenty five years old. Way I figure, I'm living on borrowed time as it is."

"Don't say that! You've got a lot more life to live. There's a lot more to do. There's always something new to do and explore."

"Like what?" I asked. "I've seen Outland, from Netherstorm to Nagrand to Shadowmoon. I've seen Kalimdor and the Eastern Kindgoms top to bottom. We spent our first anniversary in Pandaria. Northrend, check. I've lived through the Lich King, the Old Horde, the New Horde, the Cataclysm, the following Horde-Alliance war. You start to see patterns after a while. You're only about half my age, you wouldn't understand."

"Only you could make me feel that young," he chuckled. "Even though I'm a hundred and eighty."

"Let's just enjoy the sunrise while we can," I said.

And so we did, leaning against each other, looking down at the Crystalsong Forest. The sun rose higher and higher, the orange orb turning yellow and brightening rapidly, Azeroth's shadow falling below the horizon as the flame colors along the sky cooled to a tranquil, crystal-clear blue. Slowly, the reddish light seeped out of the crystal trees and they returned to their regular hues of blazing white and blue.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" he asked suddenly.

I jumped, sitting straight up. "How did you know?"

"You didn't wake up when I did, and you tried to solve that thing the night before."

I sighed. "Yeah. Don't even remember it anymore, but yeah."

"Why do you even keep that box around? All it does is give you nightmares, let an Old God whisper to you - "

"I know better than to listen to it!"

" - and it's impossible to solve anyway. It's corrupt, so why do you keep it with you?"

"It's not impossible to solve, Jason! I've almost got it. Another few years and I'll have cracked it."

"Heard that before."

"For real this time."

"Heard that too," he said, smiling widely.

"You're impossible."

"You're stubborn."

"I give up. Males."

He raised an eyebrow. "Males?"

I shook my head. "I mean, men. Titans, I've been around dragons too long."

A growl cut through the air. Jason chuckled next to me. "Hungry? Sounds like you've got their appetite too. Didn't you just have breakfast?"

I rolled my eyes as another rumble sounded, but not from me. "Look who's talking." I pulled myself onto my feet, as did my husband. "Come on, let's get back to K3."

He nodded. "Of course. Lead the way, Amanthe."

Sargeras

"Ialion!" I barked.

The fel wyrm instantly stopped his training. The green mist within his chest cavity stopped pouring out over the circular crater he practiced in, and the flashes of twilight lightning across his bones subsided. The dummies he practiced with stopped in their movement. He looked over to me and bowed his head to the ground. "My Lord."

"Rise. How goes your practice? What is the status of your prowess?" I looked over at the dummies he'd been practicing with, conglomerates of softened stone that greatly resembled dragons, in both behavior and texture.

"Growing steadily, as always, Lord Sargeras. If I had to put a numerical estimate on it, I would gauge my strength at approximately three-quarters of Kil'jaeden's.

I frowned. Considering an Aspect had almost beaten my right hand, with an army backing him up, that didn't bode well for the air force I was building. "Not enough." I raised Gorribal and pointed it at Ialion. A crackling beam of red lightning surged outwards from my weapon and into Ialion, who roared in pain. I sustained the magic for a second before stopping, lowering my sword besides me. "That should be sufficient for the invasion."

"Invasion?" he asked. "We are carrying it out now, then?"

"Not quite yet, but very soon. The gan'arg and mo'arg have finished building the weaponry I requested, and though Azeroth is unwary, the wretched Alliance and Horde are engaged in an arms race and grow stronger by the day. I have already relayed this news the Kil'jaeden. Prepare yourself, Ialion. You will be coming with me personally for your army once we step foot on the world."

The fel wyrm perked up. "Thank you, my Lord. When are we departing?"

"Not quite yet. While we are capable of landing in Azeroth, we lack the portal infrastructure to carry out such an invasion, especially one from multiple points like I have planned. Which is why I shall be departing solo momentarily. Go to the Volcanic Fields and await further instruction there with Kil'jaeden and Mephistroth."

He bowed his head. "Of course, Lord Sargeras. I shall depart at once." The skeletal dragon reared onto his hind legs, leaving deep grooves in the earth. He flapped his wings and, with a roar, flew off into the air, fel mist trailing behind him.

I held out my left hand, the right one still clasped on Gorribal's handle. A blue vortex appeared in the air, and out fell my jeweled scepter. I grabbed it in my left hand, and began to channel magic into it. A portal opened around me, arcane light flooding the air. I sustained the magic for the proper duration, and left through the portal, while it closed in my wake.

It was instantly dark, but the glowing of my metallic skin cast flickering red lights around me. I tossed my scepter into the air once more, its services not needed for the moment, and an arcane vortex once again stored it in a pocket dimension. I held my left hand up and formed a fireball in it, before letting it fly out of my palm. It split into three fireballs, burning brightly, that began to rotate around my head, illuminating the area. It was an underground chamber, the roof high above me, the halls too wide for me. Barely-glowing blue runes were inscribed on every area of the room, seemingly depleted of power. I stood in the middle of a hexagonal floor-pattern, and I wasn't alone.

An iron construct slammed its fist down on me. It rebounded off my concentrated shadow shells, barely weakening me in the least. My right hand flew outwards, stabbing the jagged tip of Gorribal into its chest. I fed fire along my sword, engulfing the construct in flame. I pulled out my sword and kicked the construct back into a group of advancing Earthen, where it then exploded and took them all out. I spotted the hallway they'd come through; the entire complex of Uldos was underground, and my prize, unseen by all except my satellites, was deeper.

I progressed further. Iron dwarves jumped out from alcoves. One tried to fry me with an arc of chain lightning, but I simply held up my left hand and clenched a fist, instantly crushing its neural processor. It dropped limply. Still holding up my arm, I moved it to the left, sending the deactivated body flying into a group of iron dwarves brandishing double-bladed axes. They flew to the side and impacted the metal walls with enough force to leave craters. They shattered into pieces. I didn't even need to stop walking forwards.

A double stairwell lead upwards, and I knew from how the Pantheon constructed their complexes that, despite it leading upwards, that was the direction. Something magical pricked me from behind. I spun around in a full circle rapidly. Halfway through I released Gorribal from my hand and sent it after the iron vrykul caster, before continuing on. There was a scream of pain behind me, and I held out my right hand to clasp my sword as it returned.

Eventually I reached a pair of titanic constructs. They were tall, hooded, stony things twenty meters tall, baring a great door. They charged at once, electricity crackling on their fists. I raised Gorribal, got on one knee, and slammed the tip into the ground. Two fissures opened in the earth, surging towards the constructs. It swallowed them whole, and snapped shut with a crunch. I walked up to the immensely tall door and raised a foot, kicking. The doors, tens of times higher than me, made of the toughest metal the Pantheon had, with the most secure locks they could make, flew inwards like they were toys, revealing a downward spiral of a hall. It was darker here, despite my fiery method of illumination, with shattered stained glass paintings on the wall crawling with pale gray tentacles.

'Well well well,' said a suave masculine voice in my head, hiding barely concealed, delicious anger and rage. 'Look who we have here. A warden, checking on his prisoner, unaware of the impending revolt.'

The hundreds of tendrils lining the path downward came to life, shadow magic and poison flying out towards me. The first volley forced me to take a step back, taking out a large chunk of my shadow armor. I raised a flaming shield around myself, however, and raised Gorribal into the sky. Fel fire crackled along my sword as the second volley harmlessly peppered my shield, and I let loose a volley in all directions, fel pyroblasts singing the tendrils and forcing them to retract.

'Argh! How dare you, titan! You will suffer for your atrocities!'

I laughed as some strange creatures came up from the hall. They had a single whiplike tendril for one arm, and clawed, three fingered hands on the other. They had no eyes, and long trunk-like snouts. "Do you even know who I am?" I asked. As the four of them approached me I spun around, swinging my sword in a large arc. The passively burning fires on it, combined with the sharpness and my strength, tore right through the creatures, slicing them in half and letting the smoldering bodies slide apart.

'The form you take matters not. I may not be able to escape this prison you have built, but I will have my vengeance!'

"And here I thought you Old Gods were masters of manipulation, slowly turning your enemies to your sides. I'm disappointed."

There was a howl of rage, and the ground beneath me heaved. A ring of white, spiked tentacles erupted around me and, as one, slammed downwards. I leaped above them before they could, and pointed Gorribal straight down, clasping the hilt with both hands. I dropped straight down, and on impact the devastation was incredible. The force of impact made the ground roll outwards from me like it was liquid. A ring of compressed air made the tendrils lean back, while trails of fire radiated outwards from me and burned them. Before too long, the Old God was forced to retract them.

"I did not imprison you!" I said. "I did not take away your rule. Do you not know who I am? Have you not seen me before, walking this world in another form?"

Hesitation. 'Sargeras,' the eldritch abomination whispered, the sharp bite of its anger diminished. Shame. 'The Destroyer of Worlds himself, 'gracing' me with his presence. What has brought you here? Madness, certainly. I would know. You are positively mad.'

"Is it madness to see this universe for what it truly is? Chaotic in nature, that is what it will be reduced to. And the sooner the better. But I am not here to argue for a philosophy we both share. I am here under a flag of truce," I said, continuing to walk down, down, down.

'You could have fooled me, titan, with the way you tore through my minions to reach me.'

"Merely self defense. You sent the corrupted constructs to attack me."

'Yes, yes. I thought you were one of the wretched Pantheon. So, what is this of truce?'

"Your armies and mine. Surging across the surface of this world, scouring the Pantheon's races." The slope downwards ended, and emerged into a giant, cylindrical chamber made of cracked, dark blue stone.

'An impressive notion, but what have you to offer?'

"Your freedom from the chains that bind you. The world you once owned yours again. Usually, I scour the world I visit clean, returning it to its chaotic origins, but in this case, its chaotic origins lie with you ruling it. And so it will be again, if you ally with me. Otherwise... I can not promise your survival."

A maniacal laugh. 'Your notions of blackmail are unneeded. I have long since longed for a chance to end these pathetic insects, who killed the others of my kind. I am the only one left, you know. It's been so long since we evolved in that tidal pool... so long since I could last wrap my tendrils around a mountain... your deal interests me, Dark Titan. What assistance would you need of me? My minions are unable to leave my prison, the Twilight's Hammer is unable to accomplish much with the traitors keeping an eye on them, and the Naga are loathe to leave their underwater nations.'

"I require you to use your minions to open portals to Argus so that my armies may spill forth. I lack the power and presence on Azeroth to do so on the required scale. We will strike swiftly and fiercely. I have orbital platforms in place around Azeroth to bombard the mortal cities at a moment's notice; all I need do is send the signal from this world, and fire shall rain. I also require you to send whatever armies you have, post portal opening, to Mount Hyjal to aid in taking the World Tree. I shall drain its powers for myself. In the process, the blessings of the Aspects will be gone."

'Including the traitor's,' the Old God hissed in excitement. 'The traitor's blessing that keeps me chained, despite having shattered my shackles long ago. Free to rise from this cursed earth. What locations do you need opened?'

"I need a portal opened as close to Hyjal's Summit as you can manage. I need one as close to Ulduar as you can manage; I myself will visit Wyrmrest Temple. It would also be well to try to open a portal at each of the Alliance and Horde's capital cities. If it succeeds, excellent. If not, they will be good divergences. Also, send whatever element manipulators you have to Un'goro Crater and the Searing Gorge, try to erupt them."

'An impressive plan, Sargeras. I assume this is only the beginning of it. The basics of it.'

"Of course it is! I have planned for every eventuality. Not even that dragon with a portion of my dear brother's power will be able to counteract me."

'You would do well to not be prideful. It has lead to your downfall before. Me, I have been careful. I, Tsa'thannon, have kept my influence minimal, buried my tomb beneath the surface so that none will find me. And so, I have survived. You, I hear you died.'

I roared, slamming Gorribal down onto the ground, channeling fire below in thick streams. The ground heaved and bucked. "And I have come closer to eradicating these insects than you ever have! Do not insult me, 'god'. Now, shall you ally with me or not?"

A moment of hesitation. Then, a slim white tendril burst from the ground. It moved slowly and sluggishly, as if an invisible force was holding it back. It snaked up to me. Understanding, I willed the temperature of my left hand to cool, the rest of my body heating up slightly. I gripped the tip of the tentacle and shook it. 'We have a deal. I request you open a portal here to Argus, so that I can mass my Faceless on your world. Uldos only has so much room, after all.'

I smiled wickedly. "It shall be done," I said, releasing the tentacle, which slid back beneath the ground. I let the heat return to my left hand, making it glow red. I opened an arcane vortex and grabbed my jeweled scepter. "As soon as you are able to open the portals, send a Faceless messenger through. They need not be big portals, but large enough that we can send through infrastructure and set up fortified bases within minutes."

'Certainly. What shall you do?'

"Tell my subordinates. During the invasion itself..." I sent a mental picture to the Old God, and I couldn't help but picture a ring of fangs turning upwards in a smile.

'Excellent. Well then...'

Shadows condensed around me, forming towering 'Faceless'. A couple, a dozen, a hundred.

We both spoke at once. "Let the games begin."

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