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

Huge, huge thanks to Dusty the Umbravita for betaing.

Selriona

Aerliona led us rapidly down towards the Thandol span. Whatever spell she used to move so fast, I needed to figure it out. The processes of magic were so much more complex than I could have imagined, so many possibilities, and things could go so wrong if you didn't calculate one of the variables right. I'd found that out the hard way earlier; the explosion wasn't supposed to continue in a line behind it, like some sort of dive-bomb, but that didn't matter to the tree. Behind us, the storm had grown, staying at our backs with winds the whipped at Murdonia and Aerliona in the physical realm, but passed through our illusion-selves. Sometimes I briefly pulled myself out of the twilight realm slightly to feel the strength of the winds; they did not abate. If I glanced behind, I could see a circular section of cloud noticeably lower than the rest, with a vortex of dark clouds plowing across the earth, trees and dirt swirling around it and the occasional lightning flash that would light up the swirling, howling funnel of the tornado. I wasn't particularly worried, though; the tornado was several kilometers off, and we could always bring the others into the twilight realm for safety.

Aerliona took the lead with Verthelion and Murdonia staying next to her, one using the twilight realm and one flying to keep up with the dragonspawn, and I followed with Pallasion at my side.

"You're not fully convinced, are you?" I asked.

Pallasion shook his head. "This just goes against everything I've ever seen and heard. It's hard to accept all that being wrong. How did you figure it out?"

"The Old Gods told me my brood-mother abandoned me to the faceless. I figured out that they lied, and then I wondered, 'what else have they lied about?'. I went to Stormwind, and that just reinforced that what we'd known was wrong."

"But I don't have anything reinforced. I have yet to see any example. Murdonia and I, we're taking your word for it. It's not easy..."

"Don't tell me, the Old God?" I guessed.

He nodded. "It's constantly talking to me. More than ever. How have you not gone insane yet? How has Verthelion not gone insane?"

"Well, if you want to know, I have a sort of sentient dream in my head that's blocking them." Pallasion's gave me a look that screamed 'you're not serious'. "Don't ask. It started when I accidentally drank a potion of Nightmares." Was forced to. "Nasty stuff. But as for Verthelion, I just keep off-setting what the Old God tells him. So, you can really see this spell on us that lets them talk to us wherever we are?"

"Yes, I can. I can see the weaving, but its so tangled, I can't understand it. I've found out that to dispel magic you need to pluck at certain parts of the spell in just the right order, and there's a pattern, but this is just so complicated..."

"Why can you see it, but not me?"

Pallasion shrugged his wings. "Beats me. If I had to guess, it's because you haven't been fully grown as long."

I sighed. "Great. How long do you think we'll need?"

He raised his snout into the air. "Oh, a couple days, maybe. That's about how long it took me."

I growled. "Great, just great. So anyway, have you heard of this General Vajarn?"

He smiled. "No, I don't think so, but if he's who I think he is, then yeah. I'd heard of someone leading hit-and-runs within Deepholme. Whoever did that was a tactical mastermind, and I have a good feeling that it's him."

"So why haven't I heard about him?" I extended the two of my tusks farthest back in an expression of curiosity.

"Probably because you 'died' in the Bastion, where we were kind of busy. Anyway, apparently whoever did the attacks had a fair sized command, four dozen I think. He led devious sabotages and sneak attacks on mortals, and not once did they find him out, not once was he discovered."

I shifted more into the physical realm to be greeted with a gust of wind. I curled my physical claws on a clump of dirt surrounding a stone, while my twilight self nodded thoughtfully. I sunk back into the twilight realm, my physical self turning into an illusion again. "He sounds like he'd listen to reason, he sounds smart. That should make it easier to convince him, if it is him."

Verthelion's twilight self fell back to us, but his physical self continued to run next to Aerliona. "Definitely. And if he's as good a leader as he sounds, then those under his command should listen to him more eagerly."

"It does pose the question as to why he wasn't put higher up, if he's so good," I asked.

"Well, only he really knows that," Pallasion answered. "But it doesn't matter now. The point is, he can help us k- fight off anyone who attacks us."

"Like the cult?" Verthelion asked.

"WHAT?" both versions of Pallasion exclaimed at once, drawing a confused look from Murdonia and Aerliona. "Nothing," he said in the physical realm while in the twilight realm he continued. "Why would the cult attack us? No, scratch that, how would they KNOW to attack us?"

"The Old God," we both answered simultaneously.

Verthelion continued. "It's telling the cult about our betrayal, pitting them against us. They'll fight us at one point or another, definitely."

Pallasion's fangs gritted against each other. "Great, well, that's just perfect, isn't it?" He turned his head forward, and I followed his eyes to the Thandol span, now even more crumbled than before as the elements continued battering it since last I'd seen it. I pulled myself entirely out of the twilight realm, feeling my consciousness retract to normal. I walked up next to Aerliona.

"So, just on the other side of this, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "He should be getting close, we'd probably rendezvous not to long after we get across." She placed a foreleg gingerly on the bridge, listening to it groan as she did. "You'll need to fly, we can't have this bridge collapsing, can we?" Behind me, I practically heard Pallasion's heart skip a beat.

"Fly?" he squeaked.

Aerliona looked back at him. "There is no way the bridge will support your weight. I don't understand the problem here, what's wrong with flying?"

Murdonia snickered.

"Pallasion is acrophobic," Verthelion explained with a quivering smile.

Said acrophobic spread out his wings. "Oh yes, haha, let's all mock the one who's afraid of heights. Oh don't give me that look, you were all thinking it. I'll fly if I absolutely have to." The smell of his fear reached my nostrils. I raised my weight onto my hind legs and took off, hovering over the earth, each beat of my wings sending pebbles scattering, only for them to stick into the ground when they stopped. Verthelion took off as well, joining me and Murdonia while the dragonspawn raced across the crumbled, half-collapsed bridge.

His wing extensions counteracted his fear-filled slow flying, letting him marginally keep up with us, and Murdonia occasionally let out a screech to let him know he was going the right way since his eyes were screwed shut. Aerliona passed underneath us, and soon enough we were inhaling the steam of the Wetlands.

"Are we high up?" Pallasion asked once we had arrived into a hover at the other end. I could hear his thunderous, rapid heartbeat.

My mate looked down at the near-kilometer drop we had ascended to. "Not much, no. Just go down slowly, that's it, gently..."

Much whimpering later, Pallasion's claws touched the ground, sinking slightly into the marsh. We just sighed and shook our head as Aerliona caught up to us. "General Vajarn is this way, just follow me." She started to head off the road, but Verthelion stopped her, placing a massive foreleg in her path.

"Hold on, I feel something." His pupils contracted and all 6 of his tusks emerged with a shwing. "Reds. Right ahead."

Aerliona's hands caught fire, twilight flame rippling around her claws. "They've found us. You need to help, come on!" She sped away into the growth.

Taking flight and moving after her, I too soon felt the pulsing. Several dozen dragonspawn, and four drakes circling an area. Verthelion led the way, with Murdonia and I behind him and Pallasion's faded outline running behind the two of us, most of him in the twilight realm. I began to bring up energy from my mana pool, only roughly a quarter drained, shaping it and providing the If-then calculations, region searching, and just like Samuel had back in Stormwind, drew small bits of arcane energy from my artifact to keep the spell's energy from going down as it naturally faded into the environment.

The fight came into view; it was a massacre. The red drakes flew around, pelting roughly seven dragonspawn with fireballs from above. In the woods, a massive plated twilight dragonspawn stood, wings outstretched, firing blasts of twilight energy into the air to intercept said fireballs, but one always got through. And the ground fight was miserable as well; roughly thirty red dragonspawn against the remaining seven of our flight, about one and a half dozen dead with their corpses scattered throughout, casters standing back to try in vain to nullify the red flight's magic.

Verthelion took a deep breath and let out a glass-shattering roar, causing the fight to pause and for all eyes to redirect to us before the fight resumed, one side with more conviction, one with far less. Then I released my spell, leaving my capacitor with roughly half its energy left.

It didn't do what it was supposed to.

It had been supposed to search the entire area around me for twilight energy and when it did, it would regenerate their flesh, healing wounds. What it instead did was heal the trees that had been covered by twilight energy, and branches arced through the fight, separating individuals briefly, and as the Red flight came to their senses, two more dragonspawn died and another got nailed on the back with a fireball, breaking his back and setting him aflame. Stupid, stupid, I should have scanned for twilight dragonkin, not the energy!

One of the drakes screeched, senses coming to them. "Retreat, retreat!" They scattered, heading back towards the Vermillion redoubt, away from us, their signals getting fainter and fainter. Smart. We set down in the woods and contracted to our mortal forms, save for Murdonia. The winged dragonspawn, no doubt General Vajarn, stepped forward. One of his left fangs was missing, and the plate armor his chest had been dented in several places, not to mention splattered with soot.

Verthelion stepped forward while the other dragonspawn cremated their dead and gathered around us. "General Vajarn, I assume?" he asked.

He nodded. "My thanks, we'd be dead if you hadn't shown up when you did. The blasted Red flight saw us. I sensed them coming from a distance away, but we were horribly outnumbered. Took a few of them with us, though, fight their corruption as much as possible."

Verthelion grimaced. "Yes, see, we need to talk to you about that."

"We will, soon. Right now, I need to tend to the others. I know healing magic; I've needed it a lot of times." A smile tugged at Vajarn's lips, but he shoved it down, moving over to a groaning male with green eyes and a deep gash along the side of his face, with his axe, braided with violet metal, on the ground a meter from him. "Stay still, Cauterlion." Shadow energy glowed around Vajarn's hand, and the gash faded to a scar. Overall, five dragonspawn beside the General survived, and I learned their names as he went around healing the survivors; Aerliona I already knew, Sheralion, Turliona, Feraliona, and Cauterlion. Finally, he returned to me, Murdonia, Verthelion and Pallasion.

"You said you needed to talk to me. What is it?"

Verthelion sighed. "You might want to sit down."

Sheralion shook his head, the scar under his eyes catching and releasing shadows. "I just can't believe it. But it makes sense!" Sheralion's eyes darted around his companions, and over the three dragons sitting next to the dragonspawn. "We've been fooled all this time. I can't believe it..."

Turliona placed her arm around his neck. "I know. What now? Verthelion, what was your plan about what to do with this information?"

"We go to the Vermillion redoubt and tell them. We need more people to know." As he said this, I pursed my mouth. I remembered what Chronormu had said, unwilling to give away too much of the future she was trying to ensure would pass. 'You see, Verthelion becomes... somewhat... important later, let's leave it at that.' Important indeed. We had so much influence now. Before as one drake, nobody would have listened to me; it was hard enough with Verthelion, and no doubt if we had tried to convince Pallasion and Murdonia before growing up we would have failed. Now though, three dragons and a drake, we had actual persuasive power; the Old God was smart to try and stop us. I think the mortals called it the snowball effect.

I lifted my tail out of the dirt it had sunk in. When had that happened? Looking up, the growing storm clouds had engulfed half the night sky, alarming to say the least. I tuned back into Verthelion's conversation in the physical realm while playing with a spell in the twilight realm, trying to find out why it wouldn't do what I wanted it to. "If we can get the Red flight to stop attacking ours, we have a chance at persuading the others." When had his goals become so large? When had our plan been anything more than survive? I remembered that what seemed like ages ago, my ultimate plan was to defeat the 'corrupt' Red flight and obliterate the murderous, unstable mortals and bring in a Golden age for Azeroth. How far I'd come; how far we'd come. "But we need to start small, hence, we are headed to the Vermillion Redoubt."

Cauterlion shook his head, the mute dragonspawn making a series of hand gestures that made no sense to me.

The General translated, "Cauterlion says that won't work, that there are incredibly powerful wards around the Redoubt, ones that would incinerate us long before we got within earshot of even the outermost of their patrol drakes. If you want to start small, you'll need another idea." Vajarn grimaced, not liking how he had been revealed to be duped by the Old Gods, but like I had thought, he was smart, and knew when to accept reason over belief. As Verthelion had said, the few dragonspawn left listened to him; no doubt his tactics had saved their lives more than once.

Such a tragedy so many had died. If we hadn't come when we did... "I suggest the 'All In' strategy. When you have a single objective goal that would instantly bring about victory, do not waste time dealing with other less important distractions. We can convince the entirety of the Red flight by going for the 'throat' as it were; Alexstrasza." Well, I have a very nice plan written out for you. Meeting with the dragonqueen under truce, some well placed flames... The Old God's words came back to me from when my time as a whelp ended. Was this all in its plan? No. No, it would not work. I knew better now. I would not attack her.

I sighed. "I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm going back and forth all the time; if we are going to Alexstrasza, we will have to go to Wyrmrest, right?" The others nodded. "Then this will be the fifth time I venture to the Arathi Highlands. A little bit redundant, don't you think?"

Verthelion chuckled in his throat. "Yeah, yeah it is. So, we can't get to the Vermillion redoubt? No chance? Not even through the twilight realm?"

Aerliona shook her head. "Not a chance. I tried to do that before; the effects still took hold, and I was lucky to escape with my life. We can not get there."

Verthelion lowered his head and shook it. "So we go to Wyrmrest, do we?" Nods of assent, including from myself. "Perhaps we should rest for the night; sleep is important to."

"It is. Alright, let's get to sleep," Vajarn ordered. Aerliona made herself a little nest of twigs, and Sheralion fell asleep next to Turliona on the ground. Feraliona and Cauterlion each made a structure of mud lined with rocks, looking frighteningly similar to mortal bedding. As the others, save for Verthelion and Pallasion fell asleep, I decided I would too. I didn't need to sleep, and could go a week without before the effects weighed on me, but then I'd need twenty-one hours; with only so few sleepless days, I needed only two hours. I laid down, folding my wings along my back, and rapidly fell asleep beneath the rapidly obscuring skies.

Nalestrasza

I listened to the ever-present, but dimming, hum of Selriona's thoughts with one small part of my vast intelligence, operated her heartbeat with another, and her lungs with yet another, keeping her body in perfect working order all the time, just like I had ever since I became truly self-aware, the rest of her brain, brain stem and all. A less intelligent being would see my twilight self as ungrateful to me for keeping both of us alive, but I know better - of course I know better; she has no knowledge of all that I do. Normally her brain would have done all of it automatically, but now I am the rest of her brain, ever since she was forced to drink that toxin.

Have you seen the way they look at you? The way they wish to kill you? I stopped the Old God's voices in the hearing section of her brain, and destroyed it before Selriona could process its existence. It had no chance against me, not the way it was going on about it, and the few times it tried to attack me directly, I showed it just how smart I am, just how good at arguments one gets from being as intelligent as me. In a battle of wits, I am omnipotent, a deity.

I reached across neurons, sifting through her memories before retracting, feeling her fall asleep, with her mate moving to lean against her. I released the required chemicals and redirected her brain's electric impulses to bring about a dream right away. The sheer amount of thoughts that went through me on a regular basis would be enough to drive anyone else mad within minutes, if not seconds. But I don't go insane.

Because I'm just brilliant.

I moved part of my focus into the imaginary world I had conjured up through logic and calculation, not personal desire or whims. It was the same place she had fallen asleep; the middle of the Wetlands. The twilight dragon shook her head and stood up, looking at me, perplexed. I knew what she was about to say before she said it.

"Aren't you supposed to be a drake?"

Even knowing it, that was still infuriating. "I'm supposed to be a whelp you moron. Honestly, was that really the first thing that came to your mind?"

She smirked, a feeling of smugness running through her brain. "Actually, the first one was 'Oh hells, not her again'."

I snarled and bared my fangs. "Of course. Of course. At any rate, there's a reason I brought you here into the dream."

Her pupils contracted. "You... made me want to fall asleep?"

"Of course not you idiot!" I snapped at her. I pulled myself up, lifting my head higher. "But I did cause the dream to happen right away once you did."

"Let me guess, you wanted to yell at me for saving the dragonspawn? Or maybe for not getting the spell right?"

"No, not that." To be honest, I had no idea how she came up with the spell so fast, and that's saying something. I wasn't good with magic; Selriona was. Oh, sure, I could sift through her memories and see how she did it, but I still wouldn't be able to do it on my own. One of the few things she had over me, but of course I would never admit that to her. "In fact, props on saving them, bit of life that keeps going, every bit counts." However much I am her subconscious, I am still her Red self, still feel obliged to their charge. "Great idea going to Alexstrasza, uh huh. You're on a time limit."

The twilight dragon unsheathed several tusks in the back of her jawline. "WHAT? What do you mean I'm on a time limit?"

I shook my head. Of course, she wouldn't know, being so less intelligent. I knew that, but still... "Of course you wouldn't know. Haven't you noticed the elements growing less stable? The storm that doesn't end? The earth that's starting to become soft in places? It's going to increase exponentially until either A: The world ends or B: Deathwing falls."

Her tusks retracted. "What? But... WHAT?"

I rolled my eyes. "Real genius, aren't you? Yes, Deathwing is causing the elements to become restless, and despite the Earthen Ring's best efforts, they will get worse and worse." I didn't have any definitive proof that was the cause, but there were no other explanations, none that made sense. "At the present rate, I'd say we have, oh, about two months before it really picks up. During that time things will get slowly worse, and after that there's roughly a day before the entire Titans-damned world ends." Monitoring her blood flow, I could see it leave Selriona's head even as she slept.

"You're rather calm about this," she spoke in a low, terrified voice. "What, with us having barely more than two months to live."

"I'll be honest, the odds aren't good." Okay, the odds weren't that bad, but if she knew that, she'd grow lax, and then very bad things would happen. "Vajarn mentioned the 'All In' strategy for convincing the Red dragonflight. I'd tell Verthelion that it wouldn't hurt to apply that strategy to the Elemental Instability Event."

"You don't mean - " Observing the stimuli coming into my awareness even as Selriona slept, I decided it was about time to end the dream so she could get rest.

"Yes, I do. Now, get some rest." With that, I destroyed the dream and sent her into deep sleep, but to her it would look like I woke her up.

Selriona

When I woke up with a start against Verthelion's scales it was still night time, and not only did the dragonspawn sleep, but so was everyone else. I looked back over the information Nalestrasza had given me amidst her various jabs at my intelligence. Honestly, if she was as smart as she claimed she was, wouldn't she know that anyone would appear unintelligent compared to her?

Two months. We had two months to live! Nalestrasza had said that we needed to use the 'All In' strategy for this, but... but that was madness! That involved killing Deathwing!

I groaned and put my head in my claws. Two months. A mere two months until the world ended. I paced back and forth, occasionally tweaking a spell or racking my brains on a particularly difficult, complex one, and still other times drinking from the numerous ponds in the Wetlands.

I didn't like this. The world would end in two months if the Kingslayers didn't kill Deathwing. Surely they knew that? Surely the Earthen ring and the other Dragonflights new that? They had to have a plan. They had to be closing in on Deathwing.

Two months.

I didn't notice when Verthelion walked next to me and poked me in the flank with a claw. "AH! Verthe - Don't do that!"

He grinned wickedly. "Sorry. So, what are you doing pacing?"

I felt a shiver start in my crest, run in between my horns, down my spine and to the tip of my tail-club. "Nalestrasza. It's Nalestrasza. She gave me some really bad news."

"What do you mean 'bad news'?"

"Did you notice that storm?"

Verthelion looked up at the overcast night sky, winds howling in the space above the trees. "Of course. What about it?"

"She told me that apparently the elements are getting perturbed. That they're going to get more and more violent until... until..."

"Until what?"

"Until the world ends two months from now, or until Deathwing dies."

We lapsed into silence. "Ha, really funny. The Old God says you're lying."

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. Don't you see the signs? Why would I lie about something like this?"

"You wouldn't. And yes, I see the signs too. This means - oh Titans no, this is bad beyond description. I mean, two months! I'm going to wake up the others. We need to decide what to do with this. We don't have any time to waste." With that, he trampled through the marsh, and I too went to wake up the others, and soon we had formed a circle in the clearing our movements had caused via fallen trees, and Verthelion and I told everyone the situation.

Cauterlion shivered. Pallasion closed his eyes and sunk his head to the ground, and Murdonia curled up into a ball. Vajarn stamped his foot. "Well then, that makes things REALLY simple, doesn't it? Let's start marching to Wyrmrest. That Aspect needs to die."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Feraliona cut in. "Are you out of your mind? This is Deathwing we're talking about. He will slaughter us."

"Not if we lend our aid to the Kingslayers," Vajarn pointed out. "I'll bet my wings they'll be coming up with their plan at Wymrest, and they need all the help they can possibly get. This is the fate of the world. Deathwing's survival translates to our death, so in a way, Deathwing is going to kill us. We can not just stand by and let him do that, even if he would die anyway. We have to try."

Verthelion nodded in agreement. "You're right. We need to try. Time is of the essence; let's go. I'll open a portal to the twilight realm, you seven go into it." He reared back, twilight energy coursing through his scales. I just stared in disbelief; I could see the way he wove the magic, tiny tendrils appearing and weaving in patterns, but a simple one. Verthelion vanished from the physical realm, leaving a giant portal where he had been, swirling dark blue and pulling in the air around. The others went into the portal, I shifted, and soon enough we were on our way north... again.

Back and forth, back and forth.

The process of flying back across the Thandol span was miserable. We faced a headwind, even inside the twilight realm. I shuddered to think of what it would have been like in the physical realm. Eager to find out, I shifted back out slightly, to be greeted with a huge gust to my face, prompting me to retreat. Sheralion and Feraliona lagged behind the others as I flew, but by the time I landed they had caught back up. I thought I saw something ripple on Feraliona's flank, but it turns out it was just the shadowy ripples of the twilight realm playing tricks with my eyes. The sun must've come up by the time we reached the Arathi Highlands, but hidden beneath the cloud cover and lightning strikes, I could hardly tell. We hunted a few of the indigenous species, keeping our strength up. I walked up to Verthelion, who led to march.

"How are we going to get them across the Great Sea? Pallasion is incapable of flying that distance, and the others are incapable of flying at all."

"Well, here's the idea. You're very good at magic, right?" To prove his point, I brought some of my power up into a solid shell of twilight energy around me, before re-absorbing it into my body.

"Obviously."

"Well, I was thinking we could get as far north as we can, then you fly over to the Howling Fjord and open a portal there to here. Unless you can do it now?"

I shook my head. "Not that simple. Teleportation, yeah, but that's a whole other thing. Portals need anchor points." That, I knew from reading the book. "Specific places to go, and I don't know any specific anchor points anywhere that I know how to use. I mean, I know of ones that exist, but using them is entirely different." There was that anchor point in Outland that Samuel had used to keep me from getting ground-sick, but I didn't know how to open a portal there, or anywhere, for that matter. Why had there even been an anchor point there? Perhaps someone else enjoyed the scenic view?

"Okay, so why can't you teleport us?"

"Energy. I can't use arcane magic as well, even with my capacitor. I've recently found out that if you take a spell and try to make it target more places or people than it should, like say, a teleport spell, it takes much more energy. I could maybe teleport one of us besides myself, if I could even figure out how to do it in the first place. And going back and forth would leave people stranded as well."

He froze. "The you-know-what said that we should leave some stranded, namely Pallasion."

"We shouldn't. Like Vajarn said, the Kingslayers need all the help that they can get killing Deathwing. And Pallasion would undoubtedly be found by the cult and killed."

He nodded. "Thank you. So, with that said, we go as far north as we can, you fly to the fjord and create a portal while we create an anchor point here, then we go through, problem solved."

"I hardly think it will be that simple."

His eyes flickered briefly. "It won't. If I had to bet, the Old God is going to try to stop us with the cult."

"Undoubtedly," Murdonia said, flying up next to us. We both turned our heads left to look at her. "Why was the mortal Illidan Stormrage so good at killing demons? He fought fire with fire. What are we going to do with Deathwing?" She grimaced, still not entirely happy with the 'Reds aren't corrupt, mortals aren't evil' philosophy. "Fight fire with fire."

"The Kingslayers will be making a plan in Wyrmrest, most likely, with the Aspects. We'll go there, try to not get blown to shreds by the defenders, and help. Like Vajarn said, we can't just sit back and let Deathwing cause our demise," Verthelion answered with finality, officially closing the conversation. He stopped, and faded a little. "What the... oh no." He turned back to the others. "We need to exit the twilight realm. I have a bad feeling about this." The others nodded, Vajarn already weaving together magic - so fascinating, I could see the individual lines of spell runes being created - into a portal. I shifted out, joining Verthelion and Pallasion, followed by the others. The wind blew at my face with vengeance, whipping the grassy plains into frenzied waves and whistling against my ear-plates a chilling melody.

In front of us, a ruin of rusted, twisted metal occupied the road. That had not been there. Jagged spires, original shape impossible to discern, reached to the sky. They twisted along each other, creating a labyrinth of destruction several hundred meters large. The smell of decay overpowered my nostrils, but I was capable of making out one scent above it; fire.

Deathwing is causing the elements to become restless.

And of course, that would mean fire as well. We stepped carefully into it, Pallasion, Verthelion and I in our mortal forms to not accidentally touch the metal. So much magical power in me! Looking around, I did see a few holes in the larger spires. Like something had been carved out.

Verthelion understood what was happening a split second before I did. "Get down!" He pushed us down, holding out his hands and launching a torrent of twilight fire into the hole to our left. Someone started screaming and flailing before they hit the ground, ablaze in violet fire; the male orc cultist that had been hiding in there. Others came out of the metal spires, surrounding us. I saw an Earth ascendant, the grass wilting into dirt around it, and the soil rising to meet its legs as though it were part of the ground, lava showing out of the cracks where normally veins would be visible.

A trap. We'd walked right into a trap! How could we have been so stupid?

Right away, Vajarn snapped into 'commander mode'. "Casters and dragons in the middle, Murdonia take the air, everyone else form a ring!" With that, everyone did what he said, with not enough room for me to use my true form. We were caught in a channel, two paths leading to us. Sheralion and Turliona blocked one end, Cauterlion and Feraliona the other, with me, Vajarn, Pallasion, Verthelion and Aerliona in the middle and Murdonia taking to the air. Several of the cultists moved closer to attack, but a sheet of flame from Pallasion stopped that attack easily. Unfortunately, on the other end was the ascendant with another few cultists taking up bow and arrows. Remembering the spell, I let it loose, forming the lines of magical instructions rapidly and hurling it at them, feeding a fair bit of power into it. The fireball blew up on them, and the area caught fire, burning dark blue with no fuel.

But of course, before they could be burned significantly, the earth ascendant created a tremor that knocked them away from the area, and another cultist, completely veiled in robes behind them, wove shadow magic into healing them. Amazing, I could actually see it casting the spell, shaping the magic.

I shook my head; not now!

Okay, so one of them is healing, and the ascendant is getting closer, with earth spikes blocking everyone's attacks at the cultists.

Fine.

I used the spell I had practiced in the Hinterlands, the one that gave me a lot of trouble, and needed a lot of power. I drew said power from my capacitor, molding the arcane energy into the type I needed. Even so, I needed a lot of my own. I focused the spell on the one that seemed to be injured the most, and as such, received the most healing. A haze surrounded them, the magic capturing the healing magic inside and using it as power, preventing it from having any effect. The power stored grew and grew until it released it all in a devastating shadow nova that punched a crater three meters wide, but did nothing outside. Obliterated the cultists, and the blast caught the ascendant in the back.

Said ascendant roared in pain and turned to me, clenching its fists. I just managed to jump out of the way of a massive column of stone that had impale the space I occupied a moment before. That's when Murdonia came to the rescue. She grabbed the ascendant in her claws and flew up, holding the struggling psuedo-elemental open to a barrage of twilight energy. Within moments it crumbled to iron and gravel with an agonized roar.

"We need to keep moving. This is a large place, there are likely more than a few ambushers," Vajarn commanded. "Feraliona, Sheralion, take the rear. Everyone else, in front. Murdonia, take the air, lead us out." Nobody even bothered to nod. Murdonia steadily led us out of the labyrinth of twisted, rusty metal spires, any cultists who dared to attack us being cut down like wheat.

If the Old God really saw us as a threat, I feel insulted.

Soon enough we had escaped, and we broke 'formation' and the three with illusions released them. We continued our northward march without a word, and soon enough night came. Our watches set up; Sheralion, Cauterlion, me, Vajarn, and Murdonia. I resolved for the hour of sleep I needed and found an outcropping of rock large enough to house me. We had gotten halfway across the Highlands. I closed my eyes, hoping and praying to not meet Nalestrasza again.

She only seemed to give bad news.

?

Now was my shift, now was my time. The dragons slept; I'd only have an hour or so before they woke up. Those... those idiots! 'Mortals aren't evil' ha, what a joke. How Selriona could have ever come to that absurd conclusion is beyond me. 'Oh the world's going to end in two months' for the love of the Titans, the world is big enough and old enough to take care of itself! So what if the elementals are having a little tantrum? I made a deal with the Old God; it would let me commune directly with Deathwing. He needed to know of the plans. If we were going to 'help' the wretched Kingslayers, we'd know their plan. They could not be allowed to win. Deathwing's fall translated to our demise, and no amount of 'diplomacy' would ever fix that, not at this point.

I was not worthy. This was an Aspect, sixty thousand plus years old, powerful beyond my comprehension, but the Old God assured me it would be all right, that he would keep the Aspect in check.

I cast the lines of magic out, struggling to find the power within myself. Just when I thought I couldn't do it...

You dare, little dragonspawn? HIS voice boomed inside my head so loud I was afraid the others would hear it, the brainwashed fools.

I instantly dropped on my forelegs. F-forgive me, but I had to tell you of -

Of the rogue twilight dragons. A shock of pain, searing, agonizing pain shot through my back. You think you would know ANYTHING of importance I do not? What is your pathetic little plan to end them? I assure you, their assistance to the Lifebinder will be most unfortunate with the twilight realm's control.

A-a rust potion. I took the rust off some metal spires in a cultist ambush and placed it into a vial. The leader of the four seems to be Verthelion, I'll give it to him!
 I was honestly afraid he was going to blast me to cinders simply through the mental link.

Good. And since you will likely fail, being a WORTHLESS, INSIGNIFICANT FAILURE OF A DRAGONKIN, I shall have the Twilight Father intercept you when you fail. If you had any sense at all you'd have made enough toxin for them all. I felt the mental link close with a painful snap. If that was the Aspect of Death with the Old Gods keeping him in check, I really didn't want to speak to him otherwise. Never again, if I could avoid it.

I took the glass vial out from the illusion I weaved around it, letting me hold it in my hands without rising suspicion. Red flakes floated around in the water, giving it the hue of blood. I wouldn't do it yet, not just yet. Wait until we'd gotten far away from anyone. I felt horrible for what I had to do; however misguided they were, they were good people. But this had to be done.

For their own good.

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