Chapter 1: An Almost Clean Slate
Neltharion's senses felt dull as he heard and felt things. His eyes began to gain vision, but everything was a big blur to him. Stirring from his unconsciousness he began to feel extreme pain in his right leg, feeling something brush up against it. He managed to hear a few words now such as "help," "him," "leg," and "pain." Neltharion couldn't make sense of it, but he began to see shapes of things in front of him. Unfortunately, his sense of pain came rushing back as excruciating pain shot through his body in an instant. He roared out in pain, barely able to hear himself. His vision returned as he laid on the cold ground, looking into the sky. The voices he heard started to sound more distressed as he waited for everything to return to normal. He decided to lift up his head and look at the source of the pain, only to be worse off as he saw his broken leg. That hurt enough, but the real pain he felt all over was from his bloating.
Deathwing's metal plates had mostly all broken or fallen off, which made Neltharion start to swell. All his previous exposure to the Dragon Soul forced his body to contain a part of its power. His flesh was not enough though, for he had to have plates nailed in in order to hold his very being together. Now that those boundaries were gone, Neltharion grew in size, spilling his lava blood all over the snow. He could see that his chest was almost double what it was a few hours ago. Finally, his hearing had returned as he heard a few voices nearby. He looked around to see the other Aspects looking upon his form.
"What can we do sister?" he heard Ysera ask in her frightened but tranquil voice.
"I used a lot of my power restoring us all so we could help him. I don't think I have enough to be able to keep him in one piece, let alone close his wounds," he could hear Alexstrasza return. He turned his head to look her direction. The other three Aspects stood beside her, but he looked directly at her.
"We have to do something! We can't just let him die… n-not when he just returned," The Dreamer replied, sadness starting to fill her tone.
Neltharion examined the Dragon Queen for the first time in millennia with his own eyes, taking in her features: her ruby-colored scales that looked so rich in his eyes, her many black horns upon her head that curved back, her magnetizing golden jewelry that covered bits of those same horns, and most importantly, as she turned towards him, he saw her eyes. He saw her glowing yellow eyes. Within them, he could see the flames of life that were within all living things. They burned, unlike Deathwing's pupils, in a glorious and righteous way. The sight of her magnificent form brought back old memories to Neltharion. Times when she would come to him seeking advice on how to maintain peace between the mortal races as to stop more fighting came flooding into his head. Those were the good times, he thought, before his descent and captivity that caused them all such grief. He felt happy for the first time since his return, but it was short-lived as he felt increasing pain from his body. Alexstrasza moved her maw as she began to speak to him.
"The only one who can save him is himself. Only you can help yourself Neltharion! We are all too weak and injured to stop your current fate of…" she trailed off, looking away as she began to sob.
"Why should I?
"W-what do you mean?" she responded in confusion.
"I have caused you nothing but heartache and loss, and you are my most loved companions. I fell into the trap of the Old Gods, which has led to so many deaths of humans and dragons alike. What purpose do I serve if I cannot stop myself from falling to the beasts trapped below the Earth? I am supposed to be the Earth-Warder, protector of the planet! Why should I set myself up to fail again—because it is inevitable that I will. The whispers are barely even here now, but they will fester until they drive me to insanity and I cannot resist anymore, and then I—" he gritted out between breaths before roaring from his swelling.
"Because you won't be setting yourself up to fail again; we will be there for you this time Nel. Please, come back to us and save yourself before we lose you—forever this time," she finished in a sullen tone before backing away from the growing mass in front of her. Neltharion felt the sincerity in her voice, but it was just the words of one Aspect.
"We will be there for you brother and we won't let you lose yourself again. Us Aspects are supposed to work together, not separate like we were when you started to be taken by the Old Gods as you said," Nozdormu rallied as he spoke to Neltharion. "We were not there to help you, but we know now that we must if we are to all stay sane." He hoped his words would give his brother strength, and strength they gave him as his brother saw the other Aspects sending looks of agreement towards him.
Neltharion thought about the offer on the table, a chance to start again and prove himself to the mortals, the dragonflights, and his fellow Aspects. A chance to get to know the new Aspect of Magic and mourn the loss of his brother, Malygos. A chance to help the Aspects keep the world in check once more. He would be able to start over, with a second chance, and try to make amends for what he, or rather Deathwing, had done. He would find a way to gain back the trust of the mortals as well as the dragonkin. With this determination in his mind, he lifted his arm up, calling forth the elements of the earth from below him by using his long-dormant powers. He pushed through the blinding pain he felt from using his powers in this frail and dying state as he brought metal up to the surface. Clusters of iron shot into the air and flew towards him before slamming into his large wounds, sealing up his leaking insides as the iron melted and transformed into crude plates. The burning made him roar in agony, thrashing his head around as he saved himself from bloating further. The iron plates that closed him would only last about half a day before they melted or broke, but it would keep him alive for now. He needed rest and healing to regain his strength. He wasn't going to explode anymore, but his leg was still broken, he was still bleeding out, and he was still bloated. Instead of asking for the resident healer of the Aspects' help, Nelharion sat up and punched his leg bone into place so he would be able to stand for a little while, growling in reaction to the pain. The other Aspects gasped at what he did. He began to stand back up and, after a fall or two, he made it onto his four legs.
"I suppose I could start over with a clean—well, almost clean—slate by making right what Deathwing wronged. I must repair my flight while I still can, there are few black dragons left alive. I need to redeem myself…" he spoke out slowly, conflict within his voice. "My leg will only last so long and I need to be healed. My swelling may have stopped, but I need to let my body return to the size it was before I can get new plating." Alexstrasza walked up to him and told him that she would heal him if he rested, but it would be a few months before he could return. He nodded slowly as she pointed in the direction of the Burning Stepps while backing away from her brother. Neltharion nodded, then steadied his feet as he let his wings open up to their full length. Being the Earth-Warder, his body was always slightly larger than the other Aspects, but now he was almost double their size plus more from his recent swelling. When Deathwing had taken the Dragon Soul for himself, its power made him become far larger, large enough where his body began to tear apart. This led to Deathwing's body being far stronger and dwarfing in size compared to his fellow Aspects. They all looked in awe at the massive wings that were on Neltharion's back. His leathered flaps stretched across the snowy yet barren landscape around him
"Are you sure you can keep up?" he joked, glancing at the giant dragons around him while grinning as much as he could with his metal jaw. Alexstrasza let out a quick laugh as he took flight, blasting snow all over her face. She was overjoyed to know that he had his humor back.
The Aspects followed suit of their brother as they flew over Northrend's mostly barren landscape. They all looked down to observe the continent where they used to meet as one united kind. The wasteland turned to shore, and then to ocean as the mighty beasts had reached the continent's edge. Neltharion sped towards Deathwing's fiery home, roaring in triumph as he looked back and saw his siblings trying to catch up with him still. He always loved flying. It was one of the few times he could be without any distractions as he felt the cold winds brush past his warm scales. It let him become one with the planet he reigned over, absorbing all of its glory. It felt good to finally be flying with his own body again, even if it wasn't the sleek one he was used to.
Shore appeared once again as the Aspects began to fly over the Eastern Kingdoms. Quickly, the green landscape turned into blackened stone as they flew over the charred area that Deathwing and Neltharion loved (which happened to be the only thing they felt mutually on). Unknown to the Earth-Warder, there was a group of humans on the ground fighting off a supernatural being in battle. A spirit with a body made of chunks of obsidian stood before them, its limbs connected by flaming tendons. This creature was an elemental, trying to obliterate the humans that were attacking it. It suddenly looked up into the sky as it heard the sound of flapping wings in the distance. It saw four giant dragons flying behind a massive black dragon that was coming closer to the elemental. The creature ran off, afraid of the dragon even it knew held great power. The humans that were fighting the elemental ran off in terror as they saw what they thought was Deathwing flying over the skies of the land.
Neltharion angled downwards as he neared the entrance to his home within the giant volcano of the Burning Stepps. The stone landform had a large opening cut out of its front for him to fly through and enter his lair. He flared his wings back to slow himself down for a landing on the stone floor of the entrance. Being not used to his already larger and then bloated body, he messed up his touchdown as his legs hit the ground too late, causing him to fall forward. His head slammed onto the black floor as the other Aspects landed behind him. Ysera managed to hold in her laugh, but Alexstrasza had to make a comment.
"Ten out of ten landing Neltharion," she said to him in a light tone. All she received in response to her joke was a low growl from him as he stood back up, dusting himself off.
"It's been a while since I've flown—or tried to land. My leg is also broken might I remind you. And everything is bloated, that's why I failed my what-would-be perfect landing. Now, follow me so I can get my damaged body fixed as soon as possible," he announced while gesturing the dragons to follow him. He moved further back into the cavern that was his lair. The entrance was a little bigger than Deathwing's full size, but the inside of the lair was massive. The cavern had a main hall, three well-sized rooms, and an entryway all within the volcano. The Aspects went through what resembled a door opening, and entered into the main hall. Kalecgos was shocked at how large the room really was since he had never been here before. He was slightly annoyed that the room was significantly hotter than the already warm outside land, though.
"Here we are! This is where I will be resting for the next few months," Neltharion said as he pointed to the center of the room. There was a giant pool of lava in the middle of the main hall that was large enough to fit Deathwing in. The Earth-Warder is literally the core of Azeroth, so the lava of the volcano can heal him, while any other dragon would die from the pure heat of the molten liquid. He walked to the edge of the lava pool and climbed in, being careful not to splash any of it onto the dragons walking up to the same pool. The warmth of the substance seeped into his scales, already starting the healing process. "The lava of this volcano reaches deep into the planet, so this is one of the best places for healing me from my battle wounds. Usually, they are not this severe and would take years to heal, so how do I speed it up to a few months?" he inquired.
"Well, I will be the one providing the healing to speed up the process as you said…" "That also means that I will be staying by your side for the next few months Nel," Alexstrasza hinted while explaining to him. She was happy to see a smile appear on the face that used to only show hatred and anger.
"How important I must be to receive the full attention of the Life-Binder, the Queen of Dragons, for so long," he spoke in a poetic-like voice teasingly.
"Don't give yourself so much credit," she started in a sarcastic tone, "You can leave now, I can take it from here," she finished, looking at the three other dragons beside Neltharion. They left from where they came, leaving the two alone. "I want to spend some time with you while you are healing Nel. Now, I know you want to redeem yourself, but it's easier said than done. While you're healing I will help spread the word that Deathwing is gone and that you are back instead, but you are going to have to dedicate yourself. A first step would be to explain to some of the mortal leaders who you are and tell them why you are seeking forgiveness. The mortals can wait a while to be dealt with after that, but your flight is an urgent issue. Black dragons are dying and there are only a fraction of them left anymore. If you don't unify them then they might disappear forever. I can help you get them together, but you will have to let them know what you want from them," she detailed to him. "Either way, right now you need to let yourself rest, so let me heal you Nel," she finished while looking at his sinking body. Neltharion looked up at the opening of his lair, the top of the volcano, ready for the start of the path to his redemption.
"Here I come," he thought to himself with a smirk on his face as he sank into the lava pool while Alexstrasza started her healing spells.