Disclaimer:I do not own Warcraft or its sequels. Blizzard does.
Thanks to dharak for catching those embarrasing mistakes.
Chapter published 8/29/13
Amanthe
I woke up to more of the tablets.
Joy.
Before long, we were ready to move out, and the wound poison had faded from my veins, so I healed my arm. We broke camp, and once again began to travel. Droga and I took the rear, letting me inspect his magically-deadened arm more. It didn't take me much longer to figure out where the magical 'knot' was, and then the whole enchantment unraveled under me dispel, leaving me free to heal up his arm.
We entered the Circle of Li - the Circle of Cinders, without incident. We also reached the road without incident, and followed it into a small valley. It was quite barren; save for a few trees here and there, nothing grew. It was a very tight fit, a mere three meters across. Selriona'd have a tough time opening her wings if she had to. I didn't say anything; I didn't feel like it. The encounter with Ellemayne's past self had rattled me. I wondered what my past self was doing at this time. Probably going through the Argent Crusade's initiation. Or had I already gone through with that? I couldn't quite remember. How long after splitting up with Selriona was this?
Ellemayne held up a hand for us to stop. Something was up, I felt it. A tingle at the base of my spine. There was a sucking sound, disturbingly similar to the last sounds a whirlpool made in a washbasin, when the water began to run out and the vortex 'slurped' at the rest. Both in front and behind us, light collapsed into a central point, opening an Infinite portal both in front and behind us.
From before us, a drakonid twice the size of the last two walked out. His hand wielded a long axe, with the handle resting against the ground and the blade up by his head. The blade kept shifting; one instant it was a single-bladed wooden axe, another instant it was double-bladed, both edges an Omega symbol, like the kind I heard felguards used. He gestured with his free hand, and his portal closed, leaving only one behind us. He pointed his axe at Selriona, and spoke.
"Selriona, hatched one-hundred and three days after the second Shattering. You will bring unimaginable sorrow to the denizens of Azeroth through your mate. You will not be allowed to escape Hyjal with Verthelion, our master commands it." Bullshit she will! But I wondered... just how much longer would they live? Just how much else would happen? They'd never willingly do something like that, by a thousand years was a long time to change. So was ten thousand, and a hundred thousand...
"Do you not see? We are the righteous ones! The Bronze say that our interference will destroy the future, but that is only on an individual basis. Brought together, the changes that must occur to history will result in Azeroth's triumph! Stop this foolish quest, or all will be lost!"
I wasn't the only one getting irritated with the Infinite. Ellemayne shot an arrow at his forehead. Right before impact, a transparent, sparking barrier stopped it, and the arrow fell apart, rotting in seconds.
The drakonid scowled. "Very well. You have made your decision. Attack the twilight drake! Ignore the others, they are irrelevant to our master's plans!"
There was a series of shrieks from behind us. Droga, Selriona and I turned around to see a dozen coal-black whelps, with silver horns, emerge from the remaining portal. In a heartbeat, Selriona shifted and took to the air, the whelps following after her.
We attacked the drakonid, but it wasn't very good. I cursed it and plagued it, but none of my flames or mind flays, or the others' weapons and arrows, could get through to it. A shimmering shield, comprised of multiple of the same sparkling squares, kept making our attacks decay into nothingness. Meanwhile Droga was busy keeping up with its shimmering axe. It didn't need to defend itself. All he had to do was attack.
Sparks popped in the air above us, following a drake's roar.
Selriona fell to the ground, covered in biting and scratching whelps. She tried to slam herself into the canyon's walls, but more came from the remaining portal, forcing her to the ground.
Something in me snapped. "Selriona!" Fires exploded around my hands, and I thrust them both out. A river of twilight fire washed out, engulfing Selriona and the whelps. When it cleared, I ran over to her and wove a quick renew to her, stumbling a bit as my balance faltered. Selriona took back to the air, flying around the drakoni. His magical shield deflected Droga, blocked Katalyn from behind, and stopped Ellemayne, who'd climbed the canyon walls to fire arrows.
Dark blue fire crackled in my palms, and I released another surge of twilight flame as more Infinite whelps emerged. I forcefully ignored their screams of pain, instead releasing surge after surge of fire, again and again, hoping the others figured out a way to kill the drakonid.
"We can't hurt it!" Ellemayne shouted from above. "We need to try something else!"
I swore, incinerating another group of whelps, trying to forget that they were children. However, I didn't notice some of them break off from the others, and I was blasted with a half-dozen arcane missiles. I collapsed, but before the whelps could capitalize, something changed.
A glance back confirmed that the drakonid was casting a spell, the square shields rotating rapidly around him, forming a shell that contained steadily-brightening amber light.
"Take cover!" shouted the night elf.
Before I knew what was happening, a pair of three claws wrapped around me and hoisted me into the airs, Selriona grasping me in her forepaws. Next thing I knew, she was dropping me next to Ellemayne, Katalyn emerging from her shadow in some sort of bizarre rogue trick.
Whoosh!
The bronze light filled the canyon. Looking back, we saw that all evidence of the Infinite had vanished without a trait. Droga was still there, kneeling with his replacement shield raised. Selriona and Katalyn went down, and began poking around, while Ellemayne approached me.
"Need help with your arcane burns?"
I rolled my eyes. "No need." A greater heal, and the pain diminished to nothing. "I'm fine." I held down a grimace; I'd used more magic than I thought.
She kicked down a rock and kneeled over. "Hey! Can we get some help up here? I can't carry her down."
"Oh shut up Ellemayne, I'm up."
I unceremoniously cast a levitate around both of us, and shoved her off. She flailed wildly as she descended, while I was infinitely more graceful. I noticed Selriona giving me an alarmed look.
Oh, right. Cataclysm, twilight flame.
I tentatively approached her. "I... guess you want an explanation for that, huh?"
"Not now. We have more important things to worry about, like how Droga's been frozen in time."
I sighed, wiping my forehead off. "Thank you. Okay, let's get Droga, Katalyn, Ellemayne and... where's Fluffy?"
Suddenly, we had Ellemanye's attention. "Fluffy? Where is he?" She looked around briefly before settling on the feline in question, on a tree branch, holding on for dear life. She pulled him down from the tree. He seemed to be... frozen. Looking around, I saw that Droga hadn't moved, either. Oh dear. "Oh no, oh my baby! Are you okay? No, you can't answer me. How are we going to fix this?"
Katalyn suddenly took an interest in her boots. "I don't know. Amanthe, can't you remove the spell?"
I shook my head. "No, I can't do time magic. Far too advanced. We could go ask one of the ancients -"
Katalyn jumped as if electrocuted. "ARE YOU CRAZY? They'll kill Selriona on sight, and if she dies, there'll be a paradox, and we all die."
"Not if we can convince them she's not a twilight drake," I countered. "She can change her clothing to something not-threatening and I can just stay out of the way."
She growled. "We are - not - splitting up. That is an order."
What.
My eyes narrowed. "And who, exactly, are you to order me around?"
"I am the second in line to the -"
I scoffed. Honestly? It wasn't often I felt indignation stemming from my rather generous age, but... "The Greymane throne? As if I care about the -"
"HEY!" Ellemayne interjected. "If you two are done, we need to get going! Amanthe's right, we need to go to the ancients, if not to revive Droga and - " Her voice dropped briefly into a babying tone "Poor Fluffy, we need assistance to travel down the mountain. We'll never get there in time at this rate!" Katalyn and I both pressed our lips together.
"We need to go to Aviana," Ellemayne continued. "She's our best bet for transportation. It's risky. If she declines us, we'll have lost valuable time, but if she helps us, we'll speed up tremendously. Anybody want to argue?" Nobody spoke. "Good. Now, I'll carry Fluffy. Selriona, you have some of your strength in that form, right?"
She nodded and gave an affirmative.
"Good. You get to carry Droga. Amanthe, put a permanent levitation enchantment on them both." I did so. Truth be told, it wasn't actually permanent, but it'd be more than enough. Ellemayne started to carry Fluffy, and Selriona grabbed Droga. Ellemayne and Katalyn lead us through the canyon. I was next to Selriona, the silence between us thick enough to be cut with a knife. Soon, we arrived in the Shrine of Goldrinh, yet to be destroyed. The road split off; one to the shrine, and another heading left into another canyon.
It was still narrow, but not quite as narrow as the other one; Selriona would have no trouble flying, though an adult would...
... wow that was a strange thought.
Halfway up, we stopped. Ellemayne put down her pet and pulled out more tablets. "Here, lunch."
As soon as we ate them, she suddenly spoke up. "Gather on me, now."
"What is it?" Selriona whispered to her. "Cultists?" That would be perfect, wouldn't it? Fighting the Twilight's Hammer on top of the Guardians, on top of the Infinite. I realized this was how Selriona's early life had been; the entire weight of the world, all the forces in it, trying to crush her into dust. How had she withstood it? As a teenager no less?
"Lots of weak bad guys, or something really big. Cultists I bet. Be on your guard."
I made a show of pretending to be surprised. "Cultists? How would they get here?"
A shadow blotted out the sun, and a familiar dragon landed before us.
Selriona smacked her face as Asphyxion flexed his wings aggressively. "Did you REALLY have to tempt fate, Amanthe? Let me handle this," she said, stepping forward, shifting into her true form and bowing on her forelegs. Funny. Later, it'd be Asphyxion bowing to her.
"Little twilight drake, care to explain what is going on here?" he asked, setting the tune of the conversation in Draconic.
"I don't exactly know where to begin. Perhaps names are in order?"
He nodded. "Very well. My name is Asphyxion. Yours?"
"My name's Selriona. If it's not to much trouble, could you please allow us to pass?"
Asphyxion raised his head, making him seem taller than he was. "Now why would I do that? I recognize the elf. She was the one who killed my brother, Vaporelion." Selriona's tail twitched a little at his mention of Ellemayne killing her kin. "Surely, you do not side with those mortals over your own kind?"
She shook her head rapidly. "No, no it's nothing like that. See it's, oh Titans, it's complicated. Would it mean anything to you if I told you it involved the Bronze Flight?"
Asphyxion lowered his head to her's and snorted. "Explain."
"Well, you see, I'm, well, we're all, from the future. We're supposed to go down the mountain and reach Sulfuron keep in... two days, I think it is, and we're here to try our luck with getting Aviana to send us down."
He raised his head back up. "And why, tell me, must you reach Sulfuron Keep? Which side will you aid on behalf of the wretched Bronze Flight?" Because they're better than the Infinite, I thought.
"Well, neither, it's sort of involving a third party?"
"Is that a question, or is that an answer?"
"It's an answer! So, can we go?"
Asphyxion growled, and switched to Common, clearly hesitant about his answer. "You may pass. Except for the elf. I will take my vengeance on her."
Suddenly, Ellemayne had Thori'dal raised.
We can't kill him, I realized. He exists in the future, so he survives.
Selriona quickly put herself between Asphyxion and Ellemayne. "She's a Kingslayer, do you REALLY want to fight one of them?"
He snarled, and looked at Ellemayne, opening his mouth and taking a deep breath. She fired an arrow, hitting the walls of his mouth. He reared back with a pained roar, my own hand rising to rub my throat in empathy.
"Now! Run!"
We sprinted around and under Asphyxion, Katalyn carrying the two frozen members of our party. Before we could get far, Asphyxion launched a fireball at Ellemayne, forcing her to jump out of the way, leaving it to incinerate the grass. Asphyxion slammed his wings downward, catching me and the others in a massive downdraft that forced us to the ground. I recovered, as did the others, running on. Ellemayne fired more arrows back at him, but the dragon conjured a shell of dark magic to absorb them.
Wind rushed backwards as he took a deep breath. My eyes widened, and I grabbed Katalyn, pulled her to myself and Ellemayne, and disciplined the Holy Light into purpose.
A hemispherical barrier surrounded us, just in time to deflect the devouring flames. The temperature rose dramatically as the world beyond the barrier turned to fire. The flames ended, and we scurried out of the way before Asphyxion landed on it, shattering my magic with his weight.
"Simply give me the elf, and I will let you all go. Even I understand the importance of when the Bronze transport you through time, paradoxes and whatnot. Just give me the kaldorei," he said, spitting another fireball that Ellemayne nimbly avoided.
A dark blue figured swooped down, scooping up Ellemayne, Droga, and Fluffy. Said dark blue figure continued, grabbing Katalyn and I, sailing down the canyon. Before she could get too far, dark blue chains materialized around Selriona's wings.
Slam.
Oof!
Argh!
We untangled ourselves quickly and sprinted down the canyon. We were almost there. Once we reached Avianna's Shrine, he wouldn't dare follow us.
"Nobody will take my revenge away from me! Nobody!" Asphyxion shouted, even as Selriona shifted back to human form.
Titans, Ellemayne, I thought. You just had to kill his brother, didn't you?
Asphyxion fired another stream of fire, forcing me to quickly weave an impromptu barrier of light which only barely held it off. We burst out of the canyon and hugged the walls to the side as another jet of violet fire burst out, followed shortly by a roar of defeat. We took in the area.
Trees dotted the landscape, and there was a colossal tree in the middle, the branches reaching up impossibly tall, though not as high as Nordrassil. A kaldorei building slept at the bottom, not overgrown by the tree, nor a portion of it dug out where the building was constructed, but rather part of the bark itself. The air whistled around the trees, creating a harmonious melody that permeated every square centimeter of the region. Falcons, eagles and hawks stood on the top of each tree, seemingly keeping watch, while smaller birds flew circles inside the branches. Dew glinted on the glass, refracting the noon light into the colors of the rainbow, making the grass appear multicolored.
Ellemayne, scooping up the two, glared at my best friend. "Are you crazy, Selriona?"
"What? What do you mean?"
Ellemayne scowled. "Flying this close to Aviana's shrine! Didn't you think there was a reason that dragon didn't fly? It could have killed him! It could have killed you."
She swallowed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
Ellemayne took a deep breath. "It's alright. You didn't know. I'm sorry, I'm just a little shaken up about Fluffy. Come on, let's go to Aviana. We can ask her to unfreeze these two, and ask for transportation down the mountain."
"What about me? If she's an Ancient, won't she find out I'm a drake?"
I nodded. "Probably. I should stay behind too. You two go on ahead. I don't think the Infinite will try to attack us again so soon. There seems to be a period of time between each of their attacks." Maybe that was why we hadn't been swamped? Maybe sending soldiers after us sort of 'destabilized' the time stream, and the more they sent the longer it was - from our perspective - before they could send any more?
Ellemayne cut of Katalyn before she could complain. "She's right, and they especially won't try to attack with an Ancient here. Come on Katalyn. You take Droga." She handed the worgen the orc statue, and the two departed for the tree, leaving me alone with Selriona.
She turned her head to fix me with a Look. Uh oh. "Alright, explain. When and how did you learn to control twilight flame?"
I sighed, avoiding her eyes. I could only imagine how this must've looked to her. But I promised her future self I wouldn't tell her, that I'd make something up.
I shouldn't feel bad about lying to her about this. After all, she tells me to. So why did I feel like scum making her think this? "Alright, so, I was in the cult for a few years after my hundredth birthday. So?" So? So?
"The cult is evil, Amanthe," she deadpanned.
"Need I remind you of your first three years?" I snapped, regretting the words as soon as they were out. She was still a child, and at this point those wounds were still fresh. I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I've just been a little off since I came here," I admitted.
"Why is that? Amanthe, what is wrong? You're my friend, you can tell me. If there's anything I can do to help you..."
I shook my head, lowering my gaze to the grass. "There isn't anything you can do."
"Why not? What is it that's wrong, just tell me that."
I shivered. "I - I can't tell you. But believe me, you'll find out at the latest tomorrow." After all, that was when Selriona was supposed to save Verthelion.
She smiled forcibly. "That isn't ominous, not in the least."
Despite my sudden melancholy - oh woe is me - I managed a genuine grin. "Yeah, I guess. Selriona, just promise me something," I asked, still unable to forget Selriona's stinging words when she revealed the truth to me.
"Sure, what?"
"When you find out, when you find out what it is, don't be angry, alright?"
She hesitated. She was afraid. "I promise." An uneasy silence. "Well, what else are we going to do while we wait for the others to get back?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, wait here, I guess. There's a chance Aviana will kill us, but if we leave, she won't be able to keep an eye on any Infinite that attack us. So, just wait here. That's all we can do."
For a while we just waited. I counted exactly forty five minutes, down to the second. "Thanks for saving me back there, from the whelps," she said suddenly.
I gave her a smile. I'd need a lot of those for what was to come. "What are friends for? You'd have done the same for me."
"Indeed, I would have." More , the others came back. Fluffy was at Ellemayne's side, and Droga was in between her and Katalyn. They were no longer stuck in time, moving like they'd been asleep for too long and had a hangover to their hangover.
"Good to see you back in the present, Droga," I teased.
He chuckled. "Some drakonid can't keep me down. What happened to him anyway?"
Katalyn scowled. "He either committed suicide with that spell, or vanished. I hope it's the former. Wouldn't want to meet him again, he's too strong for us."
Too strong for the Liberality Confederacy.
I nodded. "Alright, so we've got Droga and, um, Fluffy unfrozen. Did you find a way to speed up our trip?"
Ellemayne nodded. "As it so happens, great Aviana did give us a way." She produced six feathers, holding them by the wispy ends. They were brown, maybe a meter long, with white on their edges and a jet of black running through the middle. "Hold these by the harder portion and they will transport us down the mountain a large distance. Do not let go, you will fall. That may not be a problem for you, Selriona, but you'll be left behind."
"Understood," she said.
Katalyn took a feather. "Let us be on our way then. We are running out of time." She adjusted her grip, and shot off. Ellemayne attached a feather to Fluffy with some sort of adhesive, and the feline shot off with a terrified mewl. Droga went next, followed by Ellemayne, and then me.
Hurricane force winds surrounded me in an instant. Before I could register what was going on, the cyclone around my feet had risen to my head and lifted me a kilometer off the ground, and began to ferry me down the mountain like a train off its tracks. I forced my lunch back down - I did not want to see what the tablets were like coming up - as I began to swiftly descend down the mountainside. Trees skimmed past my feet, I soared over a lake, past more trees, and before too long the tornado around me slowed down and gently dropped me down with the others, with about two dozen Guardians of Hyjal surrounding us.
A trap. Of course.
Selriona touched down next to me.
Droga scowled. "A trap! It was a trap, the Ancient didn't trust us!"
Way to go, Aspect of the Obvious.
Selriona groaned and switched to her true form. Several of the guardians came for me, so I spoke a word to summon the Light around me in a shield, drew my daggers, and purposefully faded out to make myself less intimidating. Droga drew attention like a mountain, and like a mountain, he did not budge under the assault. Ellemayne took distance in a heartbeat to begin firing arrows, and Selriona whipped her tail-club at them from above, and Katalyn danced in between the Guardians. In no time at all, they were defeated, and we regrouped.
"Well, that was fun," Katalyn said, shifting to human form.
Droga glared at her. "FUN? You call unintentionally aiding Ragnaros fun?"
Katalyn shrugged. "I meant the fight itself. Selriona, are you alright?"
She nodded weakly. "That elf said 'It won't be enough'. What could that mean?"
"Which one?" Ellemayne asked.
She pointed at a spot of blank grass, then lowered her arm. "She's gone. I don't understand, I knocked her out. We'd better go, she's probably going to get help for the ones we knocked out." Something in my tingled. There was more to it than that. I was sure.
Ellemayne glanced around, and nodded. "Alright. We're getting close. All we have to do is climb up those hills - " She pointed south, to where the sky was orange and the trees sparse. " - and Sulfuron Keep will be on the other side. Let's get going, we'll rest on the hills tonight." She started south, and we followed after her, the heat of the Firelands quickly making itself known to us. We met a few cultists, but a quick shield to the face courtesy of Droga got rid of them. It was hard, hot work, and by the time the sun vanished below the horizon I was drenched with sweat.
Finally, Ellemayne collapsed on a stone in the clearing. "Here, is where we'll camp. One second, let me get the food pellets out." I sat down next to a tree as Ellemayne prepared camp. I was beat from the march; I didn't even complain about the pellet. Before long, Ellemayne had prepared the camp and Selriona a fire pit. I glanced up as the White Lady and Blue Child marched through the sky. They were lining up. In a few weeks from now would be The Embrace, and Kalecgos would become the Aspect of the Blue.
We went through our shifts. Mine went without incident. I fell back to sleep in my tent shared with Selriona, and in an instant...
... something was wrong. I burst out to see Katalyn and Ellemayne standing side by side, with Droga and Fluffy also ready. Something in the dry woods shrieked.
I dove back into the tent and shook Selriona's human form.
"What what what?"
"We're under attack, come on!"
We both filed out. The sun was coming up, slowly lightening the sky. Two dozen creatures surrounded our camp. They looked like kobolds only in the hunch of their backs, but they were made of conglomerations of metal, bone, flesh and stone, with curved scythe blades for hands. They tore through the trees without second thought, the blades going right through the trunks like they weren't even there. There were more further on, I could see, waiting. In the time it had taken me to get Selriona, the others had engaged in battle, fighting as if against Sargeras himself.
I drew my daggers and charged them. I met their scythes with my blades, and almost crumpled under the weight of the blow. The blow which could tear trees in half. Every now and again I found the opening the blast one with twilight flame, or shear their minds with darkness, but each time they burst into sand two more took their place, forcing us back. Selriona took to the air, providing aerial support, but it wasn't enough, we were backed up against the hill that separated us from Sulfuron Keep.
It wasn't enough.
Suddenly, darkness fell upon the golems. A moment later, a red projectile flew out from somewhere behind me and impacted one. A second later, an arrow followed. It pierced the golem's heart, and the resulting shadowy explosion tore a dozen of them to sand. No golems appeared to replace them. More seeds of corruption flew, each one detonated seconds later by an arrow. In mere seconds, they were gone. Selriona set down next to us. I winced in pain, healing the gashes I'd accumulated in the short but intense fight.
"What the hells were those things?" Droga gasped. "Constructs made by the Infinite?"
"I'm more interested in who saved us," Katalyn said.
We turned around to the peek of the mountain to see two men. One was a short, stout dwarf I didn't recognize, wielding the exact same bow Ellemayne did. The other was a tall elf, barely into his adult years, with auburn hair and red apprentice robes, with a sophisticated staff wreathed in blue flame. The elf jumped down, mischief glinting in his green eyes. "Hello there!"
I stammered. "How did you, you were -"
"Behold!" Mariel spread his arms out to the sides, grinning ear to ear. "Hyjal's summit was merely a setback!"
Review, let me know what you think.
Close. So very, very close.
