Chapter Thirty-Eight – Lillia

Dustwallow Marsh: Onyxia's Lair

The silence was broken. Lillia drove into battle, her runeblade pointed at the dead dragon's neck. Onyxia didn't even flinch, and the runeblade was redirected to the ground by her hand. Argus threw a few Shadow Bolts, which were also deflected with ease. Tarethra threw some frost bolts at the same time as Mavare shifted into a big dark cat and knocked Onyxia to the ground.

Jaina and the other woman supplemented Tarethra's frost bolts with their own; at the same time as Mavare's attack, and Lillia used that time to strike. As she thrust her runeblade forward, intending on stabbing the brain of the dead woman, a shockwave sounded and Lillia found herself on the ground next to the wall. Onyxia had shed her disguise and was a sickly purple and black excuse for a dragon, with the accompanying stench, and the shockwave of such a change blasted nearly everyone to the walls of the chamber. Half the party was out of commission.

Amyntastrasza landed on the back of Onyxia and bit down by her neck, inciting a ear piercing roar. The two dragons began to wrestle; and as Lillia propped herself up using her runeblade, she saw the only other one unaffected from the blast.

Tael had remained motionless; and to Lillia's surprise was still in shock. As she saw it, something akin to fear had somehow gripped him, a condition she had never seen on him…but once.

And that was Stratholme.

Lillia surveyed the others quickly; Mavare the huge cat had recovered no doubt as a result of her healing magic. She joined Amyna in battle, fast as lightning. Aphrodite had also gotten up, and quickly healed the others, which were all unconscious or otherwise incapable of recovering at the moment. The Paladin also limped into the fray.

Lillia used her runeblade as a crutch and walked to Taelus, intent on getting him out of his…fear.

"Taelus!" she shouted in his ear "What is wrong with you?!"

He shook his head.

"Lilly, I don't know what's wrong with me-but we can't beat her" he looked at her "The Scourge is one thing; this monstrosity is another"

"You wanted to go earlier!" she shook him "Tael, you have got to pull yourself together"

His voice hitched.

"I-I can't" he started to cry "Lilly, I can't get them out of my head"

"Get what?" she ducked when a flame ball headed in her direction.

"You-Mav…your visions-mangled bodies" he grabbed his head "They're coming back-they're coming back, and they were gone at Alterac" she heard him sob.

Lillia took a step back; she did not know he was haunted by such things. She looked at the black mass of dead meat, and figured that whatever this was-it had to come from Onyxia.

Then something hit her as well; she knew it was magic instantly. Someone's casting dark magic at them, and it didn't appear to be the dead Dragon.

Her mother stood before her, the tabard of the Argent Dawn had a big hole where her left breast was supposed to be-suddenly she was in the camp of the Crimson Flame, the whole battle had disappeared from her sight and hearing.

"Here we are, Death Knight" Commander Plaguefist pointed to the prisoners. Lillia saw herself yank the head up of an elf. Her breath caught in her throat, and she watched herself step back from the incoming memories. Her mother shook herself out of her daze and stared at her…seconds went by and then.

"L-Lilly…my Lilly-no, no, no" she grabbed the chains and wailed "NOOOO!" she sobbed "Not my little girl you bastards-Ahhhhgh ahh" tears fell freely down her face, and the whole room of people, including Lillia looked at her past self as she backed away from the woman who was her Mother.

"Mom-Mother" she ran to the chained elf and hugged her mother, as she heard herself draw her weapon and stab right through to the chained elf screaming.

"Stop this incessant noise" she heard herself say to her mother, whose sobs now gargled with bood.

"I'm sorry commander, but this one won't be of use to us anymore".

"NOOOO!" Lillia shrieked, and slashed her phantom self. The blade was embedded in Onyxia, who knocked Lillia to the side in rage and flung Amyna on top of her.

Lillia heard an explosion, the likes of which made her cover her ears.

"AGGGGHHHHUAAAA" she and everyone saw Taelus rise in the air; a swirling blizzard surrounding him. It took her a moment to realize that he had made the storm of snow appear in the cavern.

"IF BLOOD AND GORE IS WHAT YOU ARE, ITS WHAT YOU GET" he slammed his fist in the ground with the power of the ice magic surrounding him "I WILL BRING DEATH TO ANY WHO TOUCH THEM-FRIEND AND FOE"

An ice torrent sped to Onyxia and slammed her into the side of the entrance of the chamber, and it continued to snow.

Onyxia got to all four of her feet and took to the air; a roar of challenge was sent to Tael, whose only response was to raise his fists in the air. And it continued to snow; which despite the molten lava in the chamber, the temperature had dropped significantly.

He sent a cone of cold to the dead dragon, which deflected her very powerful fire breath.

Lillia at once felt the cold melt away from the air surrounding her; Tael had given the whole party an Ice Armor spell to help stave off the cold. Being a death knight meant she really didn't need it, but was grateful that her Tael managed to shake off the dark magic that affected them.

Ice elementals of every shape and size appeared in the cave, and Lillia was distracted momentarily by one that was the size of her pinky. Her mind recalled the memory of the forest being on fire, and the fire elementals chasing the ogres away-of the line he whispered to her when they were still but children.

"No one gets to touch you" he had said.

It continued to snow.

Lillia grabbed her runeblade, rejuvenated by his return, and rallied to him. She blocked Onyxia's cleave attack with the side of her blade, just as Argus entered the fight with a Doom Guard. The Guard in question cut clean off a leg from Onyxia's body.

Still the snow and wind continued.

Rellia, darkened by her shadow form, joined the battle and began to wield magic; much like the magic that attacked Lillia and Tael. Onyxia responded with a roar and a crash to the ground.

"It's not so good now that it happens to you, is it" Rellia yelled at the dead dragon.

And still it continued to snow.

The elementals that Tael had summoned converged on Onyxia like bugs to a food source and assaulted her with Ice magic, which hurt her despite her undeath.

Jaina, the mage with her, and Tarethra all added frost bolts to the mix-fueling the elementals and damaging the dragon even further.

The snow only got faster.

Mavare shapeshifted to a moonkin, and managed to summon a hurricane of her own, which supplemented Tael's blizzard. Aphrodite used the light to attack Onyxia; which caused her now pitiful attempts at defense to cease.

The snow was just under a foot at that moment, and Lillia spared a glance at Tael.

He was muttering, and grabbing his head-soft sobs and heaves could be heard from him.

"What's wrong with him?" Aphrodite asked.

"He's being assaulted by shadow magic" Rellia said "One of the only cures is the unexpected"

"Unexpected?!" Mavare was a night elf now "Who's still attacking him?"

"I'm sorry!" he suddenly shrieked "Lilly-I didn't mean it, please!" he wailed, now on his knees.

The snow only fell even harder.

"We have to do something!" Mavare ran up to him, only to be thrown into a wall. She crumpled to the ground.

"Tael didn't do that" Argus said, and looked at Lillia "Someone's in the background"

"MAV!" Tael screamed "Please don't be dead" except he was looking the other way.

"These visions are going to kill him" Rellia said.

"Or drive him insane" Jaina said "We have to find the culprit"

Aphrodite carried Mavare over, and Lillia almost ran to them.

"How is she?" she asked, alarmed.

"Unconscious, but healed" Aphrodite said "The baby will be fine. I'm going to put her next to Amyna and keep them safe-whoever is assaulting Tael might try to attack them the way we were all attacked"

"The source of the attack is behind Tael" Rellia said "I'm sure of it"

"Then can we focus on that point?" the woman who was with Jaina asked hurriedly.

Lillia drew her runeblade, which made all the others take a step back.

"I will handle it" she told them coldly.

They knew better than to get in her way; shame this attacker didn't have the same information.

Lillia used her Anti Magic Shell, and walked determinedly to the man she loved.

She got to him, and put her arms around him, which stopped the blizzard. Holding Tael to her side, she swung her blade at the indicated spot, and at the exact moment that she hit her target; they teleported.

Lillia

BlackrockMountain: Shadowforge City

Lillia fell on her back; with Tael tucked comfortably on her left side. Her runeblade was actually wrenched from her as it stuck outside the body of the assailant. He clutched the blade, but for naught-he was already dying and that could not change.

"B-bitch" he managed before he collapsed on top of the runeblade, which only dig deeper in him as a result.

Lillia made sure that Tael was okay (he was unconscious) before retrieving her blade. As she took it out of the body, a bloody piece of paper fell out of a pocket. She picked it up, and read it…or tried to anyway. It was in dwarfish, but a symbol adorned the blood soaked paper, one that Lillia only saw in passing-and for the first time in a long time shivers went down her spine.

It couldn't be…

It was the symbol of the Twilight's Hammer Cult-

The mark of the Old Gods.