Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

Broken Isles

After hearing what had transpired in Pandaria and Arthas, Illidan knew he had no choice but to listen to Azshara. He was slightly furious at himself for not having done this sooner and having all his efforts to hide his emotions be ruined just like that. It also revealed a glaring weakness he had when it comes to Vashj

Instead of simply flying to the Isles, Illidan opted to create a portal there instead. Having been to the location a few times, it was fairly easy for him to do just that. He didn't want to reveal to his forces where he was headed as he didn't want to cause some questions. Only Illysanna knew that he left to go somewhere and she understood that it needs to be kept secret

The portal he had created led to the coast on where he had raised Maiev prior. He knew where his forces were located and was aware that at the moment, no one should be able to spot him. Illidan then took flight while hiding himself with an invisibility spell. He flew towards the northwest of the Broken Isles. 'Azshara had said that it should be here somewhere.' he thought to himself trying to look for anything out of the ordinary. When he found nothing, he continued his search. In the distance, Kalimdor was visible. After a while, he eventually found something, an area of the sea that was disguised by arcane energies. 'It's so subtle that no one would even sense it.' he commented to himself

The area he found, to the naked eye, would look nothing more than just another area of the great sea. To his spectral sight, it was anything but that. The arcane energies surrounding it was creating the illusion that it was just an ordinary part of the sea and nothing more and it was so sophisticated that he knew that no regular individual could have done this and it was so well done that the magics were even preventing his spectral sight from seeing what was hidden. Taking a closer look at the magics, he realized that this was old, about as old as he was. "Azshara." he muttered, realizing the only person that could have done this. 'It's so well made that I doubt Medivh or even Aegwynn would recognize anything out of the ordinary in this place and to think it survived all this time.' he thought, genuinely impressed at his former mentor and wondering if he can pull something like this off

Since it was only an illusion, there was literally nothing that could stop anyone from entering, including him, so Illidan simply entered the field. On the inside, he finally saw what was being hidden, a small group of islets. 'What is this place?' Illidan wondered to himself and touched down. He didn't just land immediately and checked the ground for any traps. He was somewhat taken aback when he found none. 'Was Azshara that confident that no one would find this place that she just relied on an illusion spell?' he thought but nonetheless investigated what he had found. After a while, he reached the central islet and finally found something significant, a rock that had a sword embedded in it. His mind then wandered to the last topic of his long conversation with Azshara in his mindscape

"Illidan, I need you to retrieve something but you must do so on your own without telling anyone." Azshara said. "I need you to find a small group of islets to the northwest of the Broken Isles. It is hidden by a powerful illusion spell that disguises the location as just ordinary waters. With your spectral sight, you will be able to see the energies of the spell. In the center of these islets is a sword."

"You want me to go out of my way just for one sword?" Illidan asked in confusion. "Just what is so special about this sword?"

"That sword was something I crafted personally. Up until now, no one is aware that this sword exists, not even Vashj. What makes this different from any other sword is that it was made from both Elementium, the strongest metal on this world, and the solidified waters of the Well of Eternity itself." Azshara explained, causing Illidan's eyes to widen in surprise at just what exactly was his mentor capable of. "It is the only thing in this world than can cause actual damage to the Old Gods. In fact, I made that sword specifically for the Old Gods."

"What's that supposed to mean? Why would any other weapon not work against them?" Illidan asked

"The Old Gods are made out of pure corruption, pure darkness. I'm going to be honest here, Illidan. I've known about the fel for quite some time now and studied it in secret. While the fel can destroy an Old God, it needs to be released in a very large volume which I don't think even you are capable. However, even the effects of the fel would seem normal when compared to the Old Gods. If you try to attack them with just about any ordinary weapon, it would cause damage but over time, the Old Gods would just regenerate from it." Azshara explained again. "This sword however, would prevent the Old Gods from regenerating any parts that was destroyed by it. Let's say for example you slice off a tentacle from an Old God. With an ordinary weapon, it would just regrow that tentacle but with that sword I made, no matter what the Old God does or how hard it tries, that tentacle is gone for good." she finished explaining. "Naturally, all of this is easier said than done considering the Old Gods are a huge mass that could rival even Zin Azshari's size so it will take a few dozen hits before it kills them. Of course, there are other ways to kill them such as huge amounts of energy especially now since they're power is very little. I believe your runeblade, Frostmourne, is also capable of harming the Old Gods and if it is, I know it is nowhere near the level of capabilities the sword I made has."

"If you had this weapon all along then why did you allow the Legion to come into this world and do the dirty work for you?" Illidan asked suspiciously

"As powerful as I am, Illidan, even I cannot fight these Old Gods alone." Azshara said with a sigh. "The corruption of these Old Gods is so severe that nearly everyone, even the Dragon Aspects, would just label it as a myth and just about everyone in the world is in the mindset of fair fight nonsense. There is also the fact that fighting them will be unlike any war that has happened until then. It could lead to some pointless squabbles with the other races on Azeroth or worse yet, lead to a civil war among the Night Elves, something that would only benefit the Old Gods. Although to be honest, I could have just bided my time but the cold reality is time is not on our side, something which I assume you are fully aware."

"I see." Illidan said. "That is true. Even I wouldn't have believed you if you never showed me your true nature." he admitted

Azshara let out a small laugh at that. "Listen, Illidan." she said with a serious tone. "When you retrieve this sword, you need to keep it a secret and do not use it unless you are facing an Old God directly. The Old Gods may be imprisoned but they can see through the eyes of their minions, especially the less powerful ones. If they realize that the sword you have is old, then they might start to suspect that I am still alive and that I have betrayed them which would make it near impossible for me to help you."

"Worse yet, they might kill Vashj and the rest of the Naga." Illidan said in distaste. "I understand, Azshara."

"Good. Do not worry too much about this and do not destroy the place when you have it. Just leave it be as if nothing ever happened. That spell won't be dispelled anytime soon and I designed it to remain the way it is for a years to come, which will give you the time you need to move against the Old Gods and you'll also have time until I make my move." Azshara said and he simply raised an eyebrow. "I do not know how I will help you yet, Illidan. I need to find out first what else from the ancient times still linger and which ones I can use. When I do make my move, you will know of it."

'Take my time, huh?' Illidan thought as he approached the sword. Upon grabbing the hilt, he expected there to be some sort of resistance before he could pull it out but to his surprise, it just came out rather easily. Inspecting his new weapon, Illidan saw that Azshara was indeed telling the truth. The blade itself was made out of waters from the Well of Eternity while the hilt was from a metal he wasn't familiar with, which made sense as he hasn't encountered Elementium before

The sword's shape wasn't anything fancy. The total length was around a couple inches longer than Frostmourne while the blade was just as thick. The shape of the blade wasn't too different from an ordinary blade. The only difference was a small part of it had a rough edge which ran from the edge of the hilt to about a third of the blade. The tip of the blade was slightly curved similar to a katana. Near the center of a blade was a small circular empty space. The guard was the only thing out of the ordinary. At the ends of the guard were what appeared to be miniblades that were around three inches long. A small part of it was pointing to the blade's side while the rest was on the other side. Combined with the actual blade, this gave the sword the appearance of a trident with the center spike was much longer than the other two. The color of the hilt was midnight blue while the blade was a deep violet

While he was tracing the blade with his hand, a bright light suddenly appeared, one that blinded even his spectral sight, and he found himself in Zin Azshari. 'Not this again.' he grumbled to himself but soon heard footsteps behind him and saw Azshara, or an image of her at least

"Illidan, if you are seeing this message, then that can only mean that you have retrieved the sword I have created, Dusksoul." the image of Azshara said. "I have not been completely honest with you, Illidan. Yes, I taught you a lot but the reality is I have a more personal reason on why I want to kill these Old Gods. When I first learned of them, I had my doubts on whether or not I will be able to fight them. Unlike you, my dangerous nature is just a facade for my own weak willpower, which is the main reason why I trained you. You are far stronger than I am and you will only grow stronger in time, both in mind and power." the image explained. Illidan muttered something but when the image didn't respond, he realized that this was simply a recorded message. "Take a look at the sword, Illidan. Near the center of the blade, you can find that there is a missing piece." she said and the demon hunter did just that. "That missing piece was not by design. I intentionally broke off that piece and hid it. When you finally face one of the Old Gods, the missing piece will react to the sword's presence. When the sword is whole again, there is another message and it will reveal to you everything about me." the image had said

With those last words, everything grew bright again and Illidan found himself back in the present. He was very surprised at the revelation. 'Was Azshara thinking that far ahead? Risking everything on an illusion spell? If anyone else found this sword, things could have turned out very differently.' he wondered at his mentor's actions. He checked the sword further. 'Is this illusion spell powered by the sword itself? If it is, that would explain how it lasted this long without anyone noticing.' he reasoned

Thinking that his business here is done, Illidan decided it was time to leave. As he was walking away, he suddenly realized something concerning the conversation in the mindscape. ''Take my time'? That's what Azshara had said and this sword had been here since the war. She said that she was genuinely afraid of dying. Did Azshara already predict that the Old Gods would make contact with her? If she knew about my promise to Vashj, then that would mean that I was her backup plan. She knew that I would not just turn tail after being told about something dark in our world so does that mean that she was aware of how things would turn out?' he thought in complete awe. 'Azshara must have known that with her fear of dying, she would end up being a servant of the Old Gods. Not only that, she was that confident that she would be able to maintain enough freedom to free herself from their shackles and inform me about this thing.' he reasoned before taking a look at the sword again, specifically at the missing piece. 'She said that when I finally face the Old Gods, the missing piece would reveal itself. There is no guarantee that I will be facing one directly and not just resort to using some kind of artifact to destroy them. Even Azshara would not be able to predict that so that must mean that the missing piece is with whoever remains as the Old Gods' servant. Judging from their minions thus far, I am almost certain that the missing piece is with Vashj. Azshara would not have been able to make contact with the Horde without Gul'dan knowing and none of the Alliance members I have raised have a clue about them either. Assuming that she gave it to Vashj, it would make a lot of sense. Azshara knew what was going on between us and the Old Gods have allowed them to survive. Sooner or later, Vashj and I would have crossed paths regardless of what I do and if she was serious about being honest with me, she would have to give it to the one guaranteed I would meet. That was very clever of you, Azshara.' he continued to think about it. The thoughts of facing Vashj as an enemy filled him with dread. Somewhere in him, he was rather glad that Arthas was corrupted. That gave him the option of taking the prince out instead and leaving Vashj to Illysanna

Realizing that he had lingered here for nearly two hours now, counting his search for this place, he finally decided to make the sword disappear using the soul shackle spell he was taught so long ago. It took him quite a while to do so because of how powerful the sword was but he eventually did it. Illidan then left the area, going invisible in the process, but instead of going back immediately, he hovered some distance away where he can still clearly see the illusion spell. "Azshara must have known from the beginning that even after training me, Vashj would be my weak spot. If even the calmest person have their limit, then Azshara must have hers. I wonder, have the Old Gods taken someone from her?" he muttered to himself before finally going back to Quel'thalas

Silvermoon

Nearly half an hour after retrieving the sword, Illidan finally made it back to the fortress. He was greeted by Kel'thuzad and Drak'thul but neither of them bothered to ask him where he had gone. That was until he saw Illysanna and she motioned to speak with him which he granted

"So, did you find anything?" Illysanna asked

"No. It was a dead end. I'm not even surprised anymore." Illidan said but his tone did not have the slightest bit of disappointment. The conversation didn't go any further as he already left towards his chambers at the peak

Illysanna noticed his tone and his actions, quickly realizing that Illidan had indeed succeeded in retrieving whatever it was he went after. Given the nature between Illidan and Azshara, Illysanna realized that he did not want to reveal it until the time was right. There was no other explanation on why Illidan would not talk about it even with her so she just respected his choice. 'Or it could be something concerning Vashj. I wouldn't be surprised if it was that. Illidan was literally not in a right state of mind for days after having had to kill the one he loves with his own hands.' she thought to herself before going back to her duties. She had already sent Kor'vas to pandaria not to face Arthas but simply to wipe out the mantid. While Illysanna wanted to do it herself, her friend had convinced her that she needs to make sure Illidan is fine as she was still unconvinced about his state of mind

At the peak, Illidan went back to the small room that was in the courtyard, closing the door and locking it. "If worst comes to pass..." he trailed off as he summoned the sword. "I may have to use this to kill Arthas." he said, observing the weapon and thinking that he might have to go against Azshara's request

Mogu'shan Palace

"So, come then you so called heroes. Show me all that power and glory. For in the final hour, this world and all of creation shall fall unto darkness."

No further words were needed and Khadgar unleashed an arcane blast. Grinning, Arthas easily blocked it with a shield of darkness. Turalyon then moved in and fought the corrupted prince in melee combat but was horribly outmatched. Arthas just caught the elder paladin's sword with his bare hand. In his shock, Turalyon was helpless as Arthas slashed him across his torso. The close proximity between the two prevented the others from even engaging at a distance. It didn't help that Arthas summoned some creatures made out of pure darkness to fight them

Upon seeing her husband gravely injured, Alleria quickly killed the creature she was fighting and fired an arrow at Arthas. "You damned prince!" she yelled in anger. The prince easily dodged the arrow and blocked the ranger's melee attacks before slashing her as well

"I never would have thought that the great Alleria Windrunner had anger issues." Arthas mocked before he grabbed her by the throat and lifter her. "I was going to just leave but I guess I can use some more help." he said and created a mass of darkness in one of his hands. It was clear that his intent was to put Alleria in a state similar to himself

"Not on my watch!" Sylvanas growled when she saw what was about to happen and shot an arrow right at Arthas' hand. It didn't cause too much damage but it did force him to let go of her sister. Sylvanas then got Alleria out of there

This time, Arthas was the one who growled in pain before a wicked grin splatter on his. "I guess I'll just have to settle for-" he said but was hit by a pyroblast spell. It did cause some significant damage but it did not put him down. Arthas turned to where it came from. "Jaina Proudmoore, I presume. One of the most talented sorceresses in the land and Antonidas' apprentice."

"Arthas please, fight the Old God." Jaina begged while preparing another pyroblast

"Don't bother wasting your breath." Arthas replied. "The prince you know is already disappearing. His body is nothing more than a mere vessel for me, Y'shaarj." he declared and saw the female archmage gathering large amounts of arcane magic. Now, Arthas grew amused. "Do you think you have what it takes to kill your beloved prince?"

"Let's find out." Jaina replied and shot a huge amount of arcane energy

Arthas blocked this ease but they were really strong. That was until another blast of arcane energy hit him from behind. The prince growled in pain and realized that it came from the other archmage in the vicinity, Khadgar. Only then did Arthas realize that his minions were all defeated but he wasn't particularly concerned about it. "You're annoying me, Khadgar. You should have just stayed out of this world." the prince growled and created a shield of darkness on one side to block any of Jaina's attack while he shot his own dark energies at Khadgar

Frowning, Khadgar tried to neutralize the incoming attack with another arcane blast but it did not do anything. He then created an arcane shield but it was too late and the energies hit him. Khadgar was slammed into a wall and badly bleeding from the attack

"Khadgar!" Jaina yelled upon seeing her fellow mage go down

"Worry about yourself, girl." Arthas mocked as he released a wave of dark energies at her

Grunting, Jaina teleported to where Khadgar was and teleported again to bring him to safety. "Rest here, Khadgar." she said softly

In the meantime, Nathanos and Sylvanas fought the prince in another melee battle. Unlike with Turalyon, they were not instantly cut down and they were actually putting up a good fight. Arthas was pushed back as like with the demon hunters, Sylvanas was an agile fighter. The prince was not able to land a single blow upon the general who was able to easily dodge. In the meantime, Nathanos took the chance to try and slice off parts of the Heart

Arthas, despite parts of the Heart being cut off, was unaffected by it. He was somewhat annoyed that everytime he wanted to go after Nathanos, Sylvanas would stop him from doing so. It did not help that Jaina was also using her magics to cut off more of the Heart. Finally having had enough, the corrupted prince slammed the ground with his sword. "Enough of this!" he yelled and threw all of them away. While his enemies were incapacitated, Arthas created a spear of darkness and threw it at Nathanos with such force that it pinned him to the wall

"Nathanos!" Sylvanas yelled but before she could move, Arthas kicked her to prevent her from moving

"I was going to have Alleria join me but since you are of higher rank..." Arthas trailed off while raising his sword. "You would serve us well."

"I will never... serve." Sylvanas declared bravely only to be met by a a large amount of pain as Arthas attacked her with dark lightning

"In time, you will." Arthas responded before intensifying the pain only to be slammed into a wall himself

The cause for this was none other than Jaina, who looked to be really upset. "Enough, Old God. If you won't let go of Arthas, then I'll have to foce you to let him go." she growled before shooting another pyroblast spell at the possessed body of her lover. Jaina didn't let up. As soon as she shot the pyroblast, she summoned three water elementals, all of them brutally beating up on the prince

Despite the attacks, Arthas was barely feeling any of it. The only one that actually hurt him was the pyroblast spell and it was even able to damage the Heart, something which greatly annoyed Y'shaarj but it was already repairing itself. With a single swing, Arthas forced back all three of the elementals. He then stabbed one with his sword and used his dark magics to destroy the other. Before he could kill the third, Jaina shot a powerful arcane lightning at him, specifically at the Heart that was attached to his torso and the elemental slammed him into the floor afterwards

"Last chance, Old God." Jaina growled, gathering even more arcane energies. "Let him go."

Getting up from the rubble, Arthas destroyed the last remaining elemental. "I am impressed, Jaina Proudmoore." he complimented. "I did not think you would have it in you to harm your precious prince and to think you actually managed to damage me however slight. But..." he continued and got his sword again, pointing at her. "All things come to an end for mortals." and Arthas shot a stream of darkness at her

Jaina furiously blocked it with an arcane shield but the Old God's power was too much for her and she was engulfed. When the darkness cleared, the archmage was revealed, blood flowing from different parts and parts of her robes ripped. She then fell to the ground, unconscious

"Now then..." Arthas said while turning to the ranger general, who was just regaining consciousness. As he moved to stab Sylvanas with his sword, someone suddenly got in the way, protecting the ranger general

Sylvanas' eyes widened in surprise when she saw who it was. "Anya!" she yelled in desperation as the dark ranger was run right through her abdomen

"That was a pointless move, dark ranger." Arthas muttered as he kicked her body off his blade. Gathering dark magics on the blade, he was about to take the life of the ranger general when a large green explosion occured in the distance. "No..." he muttered, knowing full well the source, the Legion's gunships

While he was distracted, part of the roof was suddenly blown off. Arthas only had enough time to look up before he was brutally kicked into a wall. Just when he was about to get up, he was suddenly forced to move out of the way as his attacker was about to cleave his head in two. With his dark magics, he teleported himself to another area of the room and got a good look at his attacker, Kor'vas Bloodthorn. "Another demon hunter, huh? Like you will change anything. I killed the other-" he mocked but he suddenly yelled in pain when he was stabbed from behind

"Perhaps, but I didn't come alone." Kor'vas responded

The one responsible for attacking Arthas was none other than Maiev. Unlike all of the previous attacks he had suffered, this one actually hurt and damaged the insides of Arthas that had been taken over by the Heart of Y'shaarj. The organs which had been taken over by Y'Shaarj were destroyed by her strike

"We should have just killed you when we had a better chance. No wonder Ner'zhul wanted you to be his champion. You are far too stupid." Maiev said venomously before moving to engage him

Knowing that Maiev's sword is capable of destroying him, Arthas knew this would be a difficult fight. There was also the possibility that Illidan would come here himself and while Y'shaarj had his doubts if the demon hunter's weapons could damage its vessel the same way Frostmourne did, Illidan could just as easily take the runeblade and use it himself. With too many factors that could spell doom for their plans, Arthas instead bound the two in dark chains, preventing them from moving. "We shall meet again, Warden." he vowed before channeling his power into his sword, pointing it to the sky. Energies coming from the southern areas of pandaria soon gathered and when he released it, it created a portal

"He's getting away." Maiev growled but was a bit too late. The corrupted prince had left for parts unknown

Before anything else, I wanna say that I just made up the name Dusksoul. I'm not sure if there is an npc with that name but for the sake of this story, there are none. The name just sounded cool so I chose it. Like with my Bleach fanfic, the sword is also inspired by the Dark Star Saber from Transformers Prime only this time, rather than the shape it is instead the color of the blade. As for the shape itself, the miniblades mentioned would be some sort of spikes on the ends of the guard only pointing in the specified directions. Given that this sword is made by Azshara using the Well of Eternity itself, I didn't want to give it too fancy of a shape

Speaking of, that stuff about the Old Gods Azshara mentioned is something I made up. I don't particularly care if it's really in the canon or not and I just added it to increase their threat level. Also, there was always something that bothered me in WoW. In WotLK, I believe that the players encountered Yogg Saron and with that, it makes one wonder how ordinary weapons could damage something like a god damn Old God. Frostmourne can also do the same stuff Dusksoul can but only weaker. I mean, I dunno what it is made of and I don't want to go through the trouble of reading the entire Shadowlands lore in search for it

I also decided to add in Sylvanas' line. If you don't know where that's from, there was a cinematic in Shadowlands where after Zovaal gained his true power, or something along that line, he revealed that his intentions is of that of a classic bad guy. Rule everything blah blah blah. Naturally Sylvanas was pissed and said 'I will never serve' and of course, she was horribly outmatched. I think this was the end of the Chains of Domination. However, I only watched this cinematic and I still know next to nothing about the stuff in Shadowlands so I haven't changed my mind and I won't be adding stuff from it