Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
Dalaran
Kel'thuzad and Anya were still at the hill along with an army of undead minions. The lich had summoned the Medivh's Spellbook and used it to manipulate the portal, allowing them to send scouts to the other side
"What's the situation?" Kel'thuzad asked
"It would seem that the so called 'Draenei' weren't lying. Our forces got instantly slaughtered upon crossing over." Anya answered
"I see. At the very least we have confirmed that." Kel'thuzad said before closing the portal. Not enough to close it for good but just enough to make it extremely difficult for the Legion to pass through
"Agreed. Let's report this to Lord Illidan." Anya said and walked back towards the city turned fortress with the lich following her
It only took them a few minutes before they reached the main courtyard. There were a lot of notable scourge commanders. Many death knights, liches, the val'kyr and even the demon hunters including the four high elves they found in Zul'aman. The two draenei were also there and looked really tense. This was not surprising since they have been made aware the the undead was created by the burning legion
"So, what have you discovered?" Maiev asked when the duo reached the main courtyard
"They're not lying." Anya answered and the draenei let out a sigh of relief. "I sent a few foot soldiers and shades but they were all slaughtered. They did not last more than five minutes on the other side."
"What was the terrain like?" Drak'thul asked as he still had faint memories of Nagrand
"An open plain with dead grass everywhere and a ridgeline nearby. If I had to guess, the corruption only happened not that long ago." Anya answered. The orc warlock looked at Illidan as if having a silent conversation
"In the meantime, I have also sealed off the portal. No one aside from the lesser demons should be able to cross over for the next few hours." Kel'thuzad added
"That still leaves the question." Agatha said and got everyone's attention. "How did the Legion open a portal from Outland? Shouldn't portals be opened from this side?"
"Not necessarily." Illidan answered which confused the val'kyr. "The energies from a gateway of that magnitude does not dissipate quickly and there are portals that are next to impossible to permanently seal off but that comes at the cost that these kinds of portals need to be fed incredible amounts of power to maintain open otherwise only beings without great power can cross from either side. Given that the Legion is possibly as old or even older than our world, I would not be surprised that they know just about everything concerning portals." he explained before looking at Kel'thuzad
The lich saw this and knew what his master wanted so he told everyone what he told Illidan before. "The breach that the Legion had me open was also different. It was a kind of portal which can be manipulated freely. Some time after Lord Illidan became the Lich King, I checked the breach which I had opened and found it was been altered by the Legion. They used it to have most of their remaining forces retreat but changed the gateway so that no one else from this side would be able to reopen it but at the same time, they would be able to freely open it from the other side." he explained
"If that's the case, then that's why you ordered Dalaran be secured first even before Silvermoon." Kor'vas said and looking at Illidan
"Yes. I was aware of something like this so we needed to be able to contain any further attempted invasion." Illidan confirmed
"What about the Dark Portal? That was from Outland so why hasn't it been opened?" Rivendare asked
Instead of one of the more knowledgable members of the scourge, it was Aedon who answered. "Because of Khadgar. The archmage closed the portal from Outland and not long after that, we destroyed the portal's structure after Draenor was shattered." he answered
"At least we took the precation of destroying the structure on our end after..." Drak'thul trailed off as he did not want to tip off the draenei about their current targets
"So, do we actually help these two?" Rivendare asked the inevitable
The draenei were surprised when the death knight said this as it became clear that they were unconvinced
"You two." Illysanna said to the draenei. "Head to the outskirts of the fortress and await us there." she ordered and motioned for a couple skeleton warriors. They silently obeyed her as they understood that the scourge needed to discuss this privately
"This could just be a trap. Why would the Legion open a gateway to this world and not launch an invasion immediately?" a death knight said when he thought that the draenei are out of hearing range
"Care to elaborate, Mograine?" Agatha asked
"Let's first take in what he have been told and assume that the information is true due to Drak'thul's spell not detecting any lies." Mograine said and waited for everyone to acknowledge. "With that in mind, it is logical to assume that the Legion's invasion a few months ago was not launched in this 'Nagrand' place and assuming that they want to invade again, why would they make a gateway in a recently acquired territory?" he pointed out. "It can only mean that they want us to attack them."
"Assuming they want to invade being the keywords." Tirion Fordring argued. "From their information, the demon gate was only made recently. It is possible that they want to secure the location first so they will have multiple points of entry." he said
"I think it should go without a doubt that the Legion wants to attack again. However, it would be premature for us to assume they want to use the same breach again and I don't really think that the Legion would have multiple points of entry. We have scoured the entire Eastern Kingdoms and only the Sunwell and Dalaran were ever used for them to get to this world." Altruis argued
"That's a good point. The Legion should be no aware of who Illidan is. In fact, I think they were even the ones that gave him the moniker of 'demon hunter'. They should be more than aware that both the Sunwell and Dalaran would be heavily watched." Illysanna agreed
"Even if that's true, it does not change the fact that it is illogical to launch an invasion from an area you haven't even fully secured." Allari said
"Be that as it may, if the breach in Dalaran was the one the Legion used to get here then it also means that even though Outland was not entirely under their control, they attacked this world." Rivendare pointed out
"While you're all discussing on whether or not the Legion are planning to attack us again this soon..." Malygos said and got their attention. "There is the possibility that they don't want to attack, at least not yet. But that's not the concern. If they can still open the gateway from their side, it is in the realm of possibility that they could manage to sneak in and send in an agent to setup a future invasion."
"The dragon makes a good point. It would also be much worse if while we are engaging the Old Gods, the Legion would attack. Given what we know about both of them, it would be a disaster if we are forced into a two front war." Kel'thuzad said
"I can agree. Driving the Legion out of Outland would be our safest option." Anya added
"That is true but such an endeavor would not be easy and could delay our plans to fight the Old Gods." another val'kyr named Olrun said
"I don't think it would matter if it gets delayed." Kor'vas added. "I doubt the Old Gods' prison will be fully broken anytime soon otherwise the effects of their corruption would have been felt already."
"Perhaps, but we would undoubtably lose a lot of our forces for such an endeavor. The gunships alone already pose a significant problem." Mograine said
"Enough." Illidan said and stopped all discussions. "We will go to Outland and drive the Legion out but only on our terms. Malygos is right, if the Old Gods are able to drive Neltharion insane while imprisoned, who knows what they're capable of when fully released. We need to maintain the one advantage we have and that is our control over when the battle happens." he said before looking at his allies for the longest time. "Illysanna, this will be your first battle with your new powers. Are you all ready for this?"
Illysanna looked towards her fellow demon hunters and found they had no second thoughts or doubts. "We are." she said
"Good. For now, we will need to create a spell that will allow us a distraction..." Illidan trailed off before looking at his demon hunter followers. "Long enough for us to infiltrate the gunships and secure a holding for us." he ordered before looking at another death knight. "Varian, you lead the first assault against their ground forces. For now, this gateway is too small for us to bring in frost wyrms so we will have to raise an army on the other side. I will join in to take over their gunships." he said before looking at the blue dragon. "Malygos, I cannot ask you to be a part of this. Our deal does not extend to the Legion."
"I understand. I shall remain here and guard the artifact we require." Malygos said and the lich king merely nodded in understanding
"Tell the Draenei that we will help them against the Legion in exchange for them sealing the gateway on their side." Illidan said and Anya acknowledged. "That's all. Dismissed." and everyone soon left, minus Illysanna, Kel'thuzad, Drak'thul and Maiev
"Lord Illidan." Kel'thuzad called out. "Do you honestly believe that the Draenei to agree to sealing off Outland from here?"
"That even I do not know however, it is a good thing the four of you chose to remain behind." Illidan said before looking at the lich. "Would you be able to completely seal the breach that the Legion had you make if we are in Outland?" he asked
"I am not particularly sure at this moment. I would have to take a look in Outland itself before coming to a conclusion. Perhaps if Malygos helps with this I might be able to do that but at the very least, if I am on Outland, I can prevent it from being opened for a few years, how long I am not exactly sure." Kel'thuzad answered
"That's fine either way. All we need is for the Legion not to interfere while we're fighting the Old Gods and I have no intention of dragging that war longer than necessary." Illidan said and looked at his former jailor. "Maiev, follow me." he ordered and began walking towards the fortress' underground while the others left the courtyard
Preparations were in order and each individual went to prepare for each of their roles in the coming conflict. Anya in particular went back to the entrance of the Dalaran fortress and found the two draenei just sitting down and surrounded by a few undead warriors
"Lady Anya..." Yrel greeted when she saw the dark ranger
"You two, listen. We will help you drive out the Legion from Outland and not because you asked for help but because they are a threat to what we are planning. However, there is something we ask in return." Anya said
"What would that be?" Aedon asked
"Seal off Outland from this world." Anya said and after what she said, did not come as surprising
"We..." Yrel paused for a while to look at Aedon. "will inform our leaders about it." she said with an uncertain tone, something which Anya noticed and made the dark ranger hope that the lich king took that into account
In the meantime, Illidan and Maiev arrived in the fortress' underground
"Lord Illidan, why have you brought me here?" Maiev asked curiously
"Give me your sword and go take a seat over there." Illidan said while pointing to a nearby rock. Maiev obeyed and gave it to the demon hunter before doing as he said. When she was settled down, Illidan began communing with Frostmourne
Frostmourne
When Illidan finished communing, Maiev became catatonic. At the same time, Illidan's soul travelled inside the runeblade
Inside, there were a lot of souls around imprisoned, most of which were the human and high elven commanders that have been raised into death knights. They screamed at the lich king for release but he simply ignored them as he walked towards a specific prison, one that has taken the shape of his own cell over the last ten thousand years. "You enjoying yourself?" he asked as he gripped the prison fence
The prisoner looked up and glared at the lich king. "Yes, I am greatly enjoying spending the rest of eternity here in your sword's prison." she replied sarcastically as she got up
"Karma is a bitch, isn't it?" Illidan mocked
"You wretched betrayer. I swear, once I break free, I will put you back in your cell." Maiev hissed venomously
"Don't make me laugh, Maiev. You chose to come after me without my brother's permission and I haven't even done anything that would put the Night Elves in danger." Illidan answered
"You call those... those... abominations you found in Northrend as 'not a danger'?" Maiev yelled out
"Am I the one responsible for them infesting Ulduar?" Illidan countered which shut her up. "You know how the vaunted Night Elf justice works, only hand out sanctions when sufficient evidence is provided yet my actions thus far have not endangered anyone." he pointed out
Maiev couldn't really argue with that. Even she has realized that the night elves were unlikely to drive out the Legion or to even head to the Eastern Kingdoms in the first place. Neither the Alliance nor the Horde, at the time, had the means to travel to said location
"Let's face the facts, Maiev." Illidan said and the former warden narrowed her eyes. "We have the same enemies, the Legion, the Olds Gods. That same goes for the mortals."
"Except you plan to kill them if you can destroy the Old Gods. You are no better than the ones you fight." Maiev argued. "I am trying to protect the world from you."
"Are you really trying to protect this world from me?" Illidan asked sharply. "Or are you still furious about when I nearly killed Jarod?" he asked and the former warden simply looked down. "Let me ask you a couple questions, Maiev. When push comes to shove, would you rather have Azeroth at the Old God's, the Legion's or at my mercy? And do you think the mortals have the means to permanently get rid of the Old Gods and the Legion permanently? You and I both know that demons cannot die in this world." he pointed out and Maiev simply went quiet. She was well aware that if Illidan was still imprisoned and if they somehow won at Hyjal, then everyone would simply go back to living their lives while their real enemies shape their doom in peace. "Think about it. You and I are more alike than we care to admit. You may deny it but even you would not hesitate to kill the mortals just to put me back in prison. What makes you different from me willing to go to any lengths to destroy this world's enemies?" he asked
"I would never do that..." Maiev yelled back
"Really?" Illidan asked in a very unconvinced tone. "If that is true, then why did you recklessly chase after me without even considering if I would be ready for you?"
"Well, I-" Maiev began
"Was afraid that you would lose my trail so you decided to risk everything just to catch up to me?" Illidan cut her off. "You do realize that you could have simply waited to properly prepare and ask for Malfurion's help in locating me." he pointed out and finally shut her up. "Here's a parting thought, Maiev. We have the same enemies and our long term interests are similar. If we fight and kill each other, who do you think would benefit from that?" he asked but did not expect an answer
"What exactly do you want from me, Illidan?" Maiev asked with a hard glare after being quiet for some time
"Just get over it and I may return your soul to your body. You may not realize it but controlling you takes a bit of toll on Frostmourne's power." Illidan answered
"Yes, I will just submit to the power hungry demon as his slave." Maiev replied ecstatically. "In your dreams betrayer. I would rather die than serve you willingly." she hissed
"You would be alright to die knowing that there are those who would do far worse to your world without even having the chance to fight them?" Illidan countered without even giving it a second thought. "Don't forget, Maiev, every action has its consequences. You brought this upon yourself for being too reckless." he pointed out. The former warden was silent once more so Illidan began to walk away. Before he got too far, he turned around. "Here's a parting thought, Maiev. Stop seeing being undead as a curse. Think of it as a second chance to fight for this world, that is if you ever cared about it at all." he said and left
As the lich king left, Maiev simply stared at the ground, thinking hard about what her former prisoner said and seething at how easily he was able to read her. While she would never admit it to anyone, even to herself, she knew deep down that she and Illidan were no different from each other
Terokkar Forest, Outland
The battle was still underway. The Legion was unrelenting in the assault and so were the draenei. In the thick of the battle, Jubei'thos was cutting down draenei after draenei with his sword. From his observations, this was a stalemate as the draenei's defenses were powerful while the Legion had a ton of resources to throw at them. It became apparent that if he was to win this battle for his masters, Jubei'thos had to find a way to tilt the scales in their favor. He wanted to do it himself as he wanted to take over as warchief of the fel horde from Kargath
Suddenly, he swore that he saw a high elf hiding in the trees. He was well aware of who this high elf was, Alleria Windrunner. If he could kill her, then he would have secured an advantage for the Legion in this war. Without thinking, he killed the three closest draenei to him before chasing Alleria
The high elf ranger noticed this and quickly ran away with the fel orc hot on her trail. Eventually, she reached a dead end where the land was shattered into the abyss. Without anywhere left to run, Alleria turned around and saw Jubei'thos walking towards her with a mad grin
"Nowhere left to run, little elf." Jubei'thos said mockingly and carefully observed the surroundings for any potential ambush. He intentionally dropped his battle stance so as to make himself look vulnerable and trigger the ambush he thought was there. When nobody attacked, he resumed walking. "Now, now, little elf. Don't worry. I will make this enjoyable first." he mocked before he saw Alleria suddenly disappear with her own grin. 'What?!' he thought to himself
A mocking laugh soon resonated in the area and the fel orc looked around in alert. "You mortals are so easily deceived, even after being empowered by our magic." the voice mocked and all of a sudden, massive claws slashed the blademaster from behind and left him bleeding. "Disappointing. You can't even tell an illusion from the real thing." he mocked again. This time, the fel orc finally had enough strength to turn around and saw who his attacker was, a dreadlord. "My apologies but this is nothing personal." the dreadlord mocked. Jubei'thos didn't know that this dreadlord was actually Varimathras and not Mal'ganis or Mephistroth. The fel orc twisted his body in pain when the demon casted a spell. After a while, his soul was pulled from his body and Varimathras quickly grabbed hold of it
"What are you doing?" Jubei'thos demanded to know through gritted teeth
"The Legion's grand design." Varimathras answered before completely destroying the fel orc's soul. "Now then." he said and he disappeared. Jubei'thos' corpse then rose with fel green eyes before it returned to normal
Jubei'thos then rushed back the way he came and this time, he found the human known as 'Turalyon' taking charge of the defense personally. 'This is too easy.' he thought to himself and quickly began slaughtering the defenders to. This did not go unnoticed and the other fel orcs were inspired before they got more aggressive
"DO NOT LET THEM PASS!" Turalyon said before moving to engage Jubei'thos. The two clashed swords a few times before the fel orc threw them down a ridge, completely away from any prying eyes
Jubei'thos was the first one to recover his footing and quickly kicked the human away. This time, Turalyon finally regained his footing and blocked the fel orc's incoming strike. The human then kicked the fel orc's foot and made him lose his balance for a few moments before hitting Jubei'thos with the hilt of his sword, forcing him back. Going on the offensive, Turalyon managed to wound the fel orc on his shoulder. Growling in anger, Jubei'thos caught the human's sword when he attacked again. Raising his own sword, Jubei'thos then tried to slice Turalyon in two but he managed to dodge. Grabbing a knife from his belt and buried it deep in Jubei'thos' arm, forcing him to let go of Turalyon's sword. Turalyon then quickly grabbed hold of his weapon and unleashed a burst of holy energy which burnt part of Jubei'thos' body. In complete fury, Jubei'thos delivered a brutal kick, sending Turalyon flying. After ripping out the knife from his arm, the fel orc threw his sword at the human, pinning him into a tree
With Turalyon unconscious, Jubei'thos walked over towards his fallen opponent's weapon and began doing something with it. Whatever he was doing only lasted a few seconds before he grabbed it. 'This plan just derailed quickly.' the fel orc thought to himself and began walking to his pinned enemy, intent on finishing him off once and for all. Before he could deliver the killing blow, he was suddenly shot by a few arrows from behind and caused him to yell in pain. He turned around and he saw who his attacker was, Alleria Windrunner. Jubei'thos wasn't given a chance to react as Alleria quickly slashed him across the torso. Not taking any chance, Alleria kicked the body away and slashed him again and he finally dropped dead
"Turalyon!" Alleria screamed and pulled out the sword pinning him. "You're going to be alright. Stay with me." she said in complete worry and moved to pick up her lover's sword. Since it was a sword that was forged by the draenei, Alleria felt the need to pick it up since she was going through that way to get back to Shattrath anyway
The battles above the ridge still continued to rage and as such, no one was able to interfere the duel between Jubei'thos and Turalyon. The draenei were still putting up a defense and the Legion were unrelenting
When Alleria was finally away with Turalyon. Jubei'thos' eyes glowed green and a smoke soon came out of his mouth. The smoke the materialized in the form of Varimathras. 'I take it back. This all went according to plan.' he thought to himself before teleporting away
Black Temple
Varimathras teleported to the throne room and Magtheridon was there alone, waiting for him
"So, I take it you succeeded?" Magtheridon inquired
"Yes. The mortals are far too easy to trick. One objective is now completed." Varimathras answered. "Now, the rest of phase four is now entirely on your hands."
"The link to Argus has been severed and Mephistroth has instructed me not to reopen it." Magtheridon said as the dreadlord can't be here for the rest of the operation
"Do not worry. I will simply travel to another world and from there, return to Argus. Kil'jaeden should be pleased with how things are progressing." Varimathras said before making a contemplative look
"What is it?" Magtheridon asked curiously
"With what we know about Illidan, it is possible that he would sift through the minds of our troops." Varimathras responded
"I am aware, which is why of all our forces stationed on this world, I am the only one who knows of it." Magtheridon responded and caught on to what the dreadlord was saying. "It is also why if I get beaten, I will use this..." he said while raising a stone similar to the Sargerite Keystone. "... to get myself out."
"In the unlikely event that you will be too weakened, you would be helpless not to spill any information to Illidan." Varimathras pointed out
"So, what do you suggest?" Magtheridon asked
"I will head to another world through one of the gates. On the other side, I will send another Dreadlord here, one that is unaware of our plans with the specific instruction to only get you out." Varimathras suggested
"That's fine with me. This whole operation would mean nothing if any information is spilled." Magtheridon agreed before the dreadlord nodded and left
Azeroth
Dalaran
At the hill where the portal was, there were a few corpses from demons littered the area and this time, they were joined by fel orcs. The undead army's attention was diverted when the Scourge high command walked towards them
"Malygos, this could last up to a month. Are you sure you are willing to wait?" Illidan asked as he observed the dead bodies
"I am. This is my best chance to finally bring down Deathwing. While you are gone, I will try to study the spell we require to see what else we can do with it." Malygos answered but he had a sneaking suspicion that Illidan did not trust him
"I have already prepared the spell we require to nullify the Spectres. However, it will not last long without alerting the Legion." Drak'thul warned
"Then we'll make do with that." Illidan said. "Kel'thuzad, you remain here and take control of the Scourge in my absence." he ordered
"As you wish, my king." Kel'thuzad said
"Let's do this." Illidan announced and he, the other demon hunters gathered at the portal as Kel'thuzad prepared to reopen it
Well, so it begins. About the portals thing, it's just something I made up for the story. There isn't really much notes to mention for this story as it already says what the next few chapters will contain. Don't worry too much since I'm not gonna extend this part for too long
The only things I'm gonna comment though is about Alliance that went to Draenor. I don't know too much about it so you can probably guess what happened. I never listened to the audio book about Alleria and Turalyon in Legion so in this story, the Alliance that went to Draenor simply stayed with the Draenei
Another thing I want to note is that there will be lots of parts where a character would draw a dagger out and either throw them or use them for cheap hits. Unlike in canon WoW, the characters in this story will be carrying extra small weaponry such as the aformentioned daggers
That's just what I'm gonna say so, what could the Legion be up to this time and what did Varimathras do to Turalyon's sword?