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Azshara blocked a kick from Illidan and forced him back. He continued to attack when he suddenly swung his sword her way. The queen was able to dodge this the slash and rather than regain her footing, she performed a backflip right as Illidan threw another kick. After flipping, Azshara kicked him right into a tree before throwing his sword right at his head, barely missing it but managed to cut his cheek. With a smirk, she helped her student."You are still letting your emotions dictate your actions." she reprimanded as she helped him up. "But you have improved a lot since we began this."

"Thank you, Azshara." Illidan said gratefully. "So...?"

"Yes, that will be all for today." Azshara said as she sheathed her sword and he did the same. "Remember, Illidan. You must keep your emotions in check. Remain calm at all times, no matter the situation. The moment you rile up your opponent, you have basically won, or at the very least, secured a massive advantage. Individuals who let their emotions dictate their actions are more prone to making fatal mistakes and you should not be like them. I am not saying that you should not feel, far from it. But, do not be swayed by what you feel."

"Wait, these last few weeks, was your goal to rile me up when we train?" Illidan asked in surprise as the queen had never said anything about it

"Yes. I intentionally riled you up whenever we trained and as you have no doubt realized by now, you kept leaving yourself wide open whenever you get mad. This does not just apply to direct battles. It has a bigger impact when you're not in the middle of a fight as you do not exactly have direct control over your soldiers or allies." Azshara explained while Illidan was somewhat ashamed that he never figured out what the queen was training him in

"Azshara, can I ask you something?" Illidan asked and she merely nodded for him to continue. "Why did you train me the way you did?"

"If you are referring to how you could have gotten yourself imprisoned for good as well as the others, then that is because there are five things you must always keep in mind." Azshara began to explain. "The first two things go hand in hand with each other. First, no matter how good your mentor is, experience is and will always be your greatest teacher. The second is your enemies will always be your greatest teacher after experience itself. This is because of the difference between a mentor and an enemy. Your mentor will tell you of your weaknesses while your enemies will exploit it. If you don't adapt to your own weaknesses, then you will die. It's that simple. These very same enemies will also provide you with the experience you need which, as I said, is one's greatest teacher."

"And by taking the role of my enemy, you forced me to experience this firsthand and made me made me aware of my own limits." Illidan said thoughtfully

"Exactly. Swinging a sword, firing a bow or just casting a spell, all of that is just moot. Even if you are the best in all three, if you do not have experience and self awareness, you will still lose to someone that knows what they're doing." Azshara added as she sat on a downed tree. "I did teach you to improve on how to use a sword and cast spells but I made sure to give great emphasis on experience and self awareness." she finished. "The third thing you need to keep in mind is that your greatest enemy is never the ones that try to kill you or the one that is disguised as an ally. Your greatest enemy is yourself. By that, I mean your own emotions. If you get nervous, afraid, cocky, or any other emotions, an enemy with half a brain will know how to exploit your emotional nature and lead you into a trap."

"And every single time we train, you keep luring me into a trap since you kept riling me up. You wanted me to control my emotions so that no one will take advantage of me." Illidan realized

"You're catching on. The fourth thing is no matter what happens, understanding will be your greatest weapon." Azshara said and Illidan looked at her, confused. "Illidan, the simple fact is everyone has a motivation for doing something even if it's something like wanting more power or just out of enjoyment. That already counts as a motivation. This is where understanding comes into play. Instead of simply disregarding an enemy, put yourself in their position and analyze what they have done. What are they doing? How did they do it? Why are they doing it? These are just some of the questions that you need to ask and figure out yourself after you put yourself in their place. If you do this, you will gain a good insight into exactly what your enemy wants and more importantly, allow you to predict their next moves. It's not guaranteed but it's far better than just fighting someone blindly."

"If what you're saying is true, then that would apply to you as well." Illidan pointed out. "So, what exactly is your own motivation for training me, Azshara?"

Azshara smirked at this. 'He is clever.' she thought. "That, Illidan, is a story for another time. As surprising as this might sound, I am not prepared to tell you that. You may think of me as strong because of all I've taught you but really, I'm weak."

"What do you mean by that?" Illidan asked but the queen merely kept her silence

After a while, Azshara finally spoke. "The final thing you need to keep in mind is that life is all about learning. No matter how high you reach or how good you become, there will always be something to learn no matter how big or small. That applies to everyone including myself." she said and her student didn't give her a hard time about not answering his question

"You know, Azshara." Illidan said, getting the queen's attention. "If I was like the others, I would have called you insane." he continued. Azshara raised an eyebrow. "But, I guess this is what you would call having a method to your madness."

Azshara laughed upon hearing the compliment. "I went easy on you. The way I've trained you might seem harsh but the reality is that is nothing compared to what you will soon face. Keep that in mind, Illidan, as even with my abilities, there are limits to what I can teach you so make sure you remember what we have just talked about." she said before finally looking at him. "You may leave now, Illidan. I am very impressed at the rate you're learning. I never imagined that you would pick up on these things in just a few months, less than half a year in fact." she complimented with a smile. "Go ahead, I'll stay here for a while." she said when Illidan appeared to be waiting for her. Azshara then watched Illidan leave and in a few minutes, she knew that he was no longer near the area. "Illidan, I am very sorry that I have to force you like this. While the things we have discussed today will help you in the long run, the truth of the matter is no matter how calm an individual is, there comes a time where that individual will snap. Creatures like us have our limits even on matters like this." she spoke to herself after she thought about the mutual but unsaid attraction between her student and one of her handmaidens. "Keeping your emotions in check is just one of the things you will have to learn if you are willing to fight against this world's dark secret. There will come a time when even your level headedness will be pushed to its limits and I fear that this is something I cannot teach and that you'll have to experience it yourself." she said with sadness in her voice, knowing full well that by teaching Illidan how to be calm, he will no doubt display little to no emotion at all

"YOU!" Illidan growled right before he tackled his former mentor. Caught off guard in his rage, Azshara was thrown across the room and barely managed to dodge when Illidan summoned his falchion swords and tried to run her through

Azshara forced him back using her tails before getting up. "Illidan, wait..." she tried to speak but was forced to summon her own sword to block as Illidan had rushed to her side and tried to cut her up. "Damn it." she muttered right before Illidan forced her back again. Left with no other choice, Azshara summoned another sword to match his dual wield. She really didn't want to fight him but her previous fears of Illidan losing his cool has become a reality

Unlike the previous times where she riled up Illidan, she was actually afraid of what would happen this time. Azshara had trapped him in an alternate reality within his own mind which means that if Illidan wills it, she would be gone and there is nothing she can do about it. The queen was relieved that Illidan was too blinded with grief and rage that he hasn't taken the time to analyze his situation. However, that did not mean that Azshara had an easy time as even though he was completely furious, Illidan's reflexes were at its peak and the fact that they were in a dining room only made it more difficult to fight. Illidan however, did not care for that one bit as he was ruthlessly slicing up anything in his way as he tried to kill Azshara. Right as the demon hunter threw on of his blades, Azshara used one of her tails, which she revealed that she can extend it, to grab it midair but not giving her a chance, Illidan shot an eye beam right at her. The queen was slammed against a wall, slightly burned from the attack right before she was suddenly kicked right in her abdomen. The kick had such a powerful force that she was thrown right into the next room

The guards were surprised at what was happening but before they could even react, they were surprised when a demon suddenly stepped on the elf with snake like scales that was on the ground. "What the hell?! Who are you?! What have you done with Lord Illidan and Lady Vashj?" one of the guards demanded but they were ignored

Before Illidan could fire a point blank eye beam, Azshara used both of her tails around his wings and threw him into the guards and caused him to fire into the ceiling instead. This caused some debris to fall down but this did not faze Illidan at all, who, in his rage, unintentionally entered his demon form. Knowing that having to kill Vashj and Illysanna with his own hands had pushed Illidan over the edge, Azshara was left with no choice but to actually fight as she dodged when he threw his other falchion sword at her. This time, Illidan finally summoned his twin blades while Azshara summoned her trident while dispelling her swords

The two crossed blades once more and their sheer power forced the guards back. More guards rushed to the upper levels but were helpless to do anything against the two dueling individuals. When they tried to interfere, they were almost immediately forced away by their raging powers, some being instantly killed

As Azshara and Illidan continued to fight, the upper levels of Zin Azshara began quaking under their sheer power. Arcane blasts and fel beams was flung everywhere. The queen was able to land more hits but the half demon's attacks were more ferocious, which meant that most of the damage inflicted upon the queen result from collateral damage. Eventually, Azshara managed to pin Illidan to the floor before firing a powerful arcane blast, completely destroying the floor as well as the lower levels. The Zin Azshari inhabitants were surprised at the palace being damaged and a demon falling from the upper levels

Both Illidan and Azshara fell to the bottom floor. The demon hunter was the first one to regain his footing. He quickly tried to go for Azshara's throat but the queen managed to block in time. Before she could use her tails again, Illidan flew up, anticipating her next move. The queen was impressed by this and realized that he must have begun to calm down. She was proven wrong when Illidan recklessly fired an eye beam at her. Reacting quickly, Azshara used a short distance teleportation before she managed to wrap her tails around him and slammed him into the ground. She was forced to quickly let go when Illidan decreased his temperature and threatened to freeze her solid then and there

Once free, Illidan quickly fired a stream of frost magics at her, which Azshara managed to easily block. But rather than stop the attack, it merely froze her surroundings instead. She quickly realized that Illidan was trying to limit her mobility and force her into close quarters combat. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to destroy the ice and fight him off at the same time, she resolved to another solution that she wasn't really comfortable with. Azshara teleported behind him and tried to cut his head off. Illidan instinctively reacted to this by bending forward dodging the trident. He then quickly slammed her with one of his wings, throwing her into a wall before firing a powerful eye beam, destroying the wall. In the process, Azshara managed to let go of her trident as she was forced through the wall with his eye beam

This was exactly what Azshara wanted as while that eye beam hurt a lot, she was thrown into the main courtyard of Zin Azshari. Illidan noticed this and realized that Azshara wanted to transfer their battle into a more open location while everyone in the palace have already left in fear of their lives. Some of the soldiers and guards even chose to build a perimeter outside the palace to prevent them from escaping knowing that there was nothing they could do against these two very powerful entities

Finally having more room to move around, Azshara slowly got up as Illidan was flying straight towards her. When the demon hunter got close, the queen made a risky move and grabbed him by the wings using her tails before throwing him away. "Damn it, Illidan. Can you calm down?" she cursed. Azshara was now growing frustrated and it did nothing to help her case. Illidan shot a fel bolt at her which she blocked very easily. "Damn it all." she cursed again and began transforming her body from her current form back into her octopus form

Illidan was surprised at what he had witnessed. 'She can still transform into that?' he thought but he wasn't fazed. It was also only now that he realized he had unconsciously entered his demon form. He saw Azshara swing four of her tentacles right at his direction. He took to the skies to avoid a direct impact before he attempted to slice up all four but it seemed that Azshara had learned her lesson when she quickly retracted them. Before Illidan could fly towards her, the queen's eyes glowed and he was trapped in an arcane cage. He wasn't able to break free instantly so he just glared at his mentor. "So, all that talk about fighting the Old Gods were nothing but lies, weren't they, Azshara?"

"Do I really seem that shallow, Illidan?" Azshara asked, clearly hurt by his words but she couldn't really blame him. "Just let me explain what is happening right now." she tried to plead. 'If only you knew.' she thought sadly

"And why should I believe anything that you say? I should kill you along with your masters." Illidan growled before his tattoos glowed brightly. The demon hunter released a large amount of fel energy which slowly consumed the arcane cage

Azshara's eyes widened in surprise as she knew that she wouldn't be able to hold him for much longer. Even if she did, it would take up all of her remaining energies. There was also the issue that this is Illidan's mindscape so he would recover his energies far faster than she would. 'Or is that just something that demons naturally possess?' she wondered right as the cage finally shattered. Instinctively, her eyes glowed once more and created an arcane shield around her right as another eye beam was heading her way. The queen then summoned a swords in each of her hands and wielded four at the same time. As she expected, Illidan was already in front of her. Azshara blocked his attack with two of her swords. She then used the other two to try and cut him but to her surprise, he blocked it using both his wings. Illidan then began charging another eye beam so the queen quickly used her tentacles to force him off her

Illidan was wrapped by two of the tentacles and was struggling to break freek so he decided to just burn them with his eye beam. This caused Azshara to hiss in pain and released her grip before he could destroy them. The queen then forced him on the defensive and he couldn't even stay in the air as Azshara would disrupt his flight with her tentacles or by creating an arcane chains. However, they were more than evenly matched despite Illidan only having two weapons. Azshara was also very creative in using her tentacles as rather than use it simply to bind him, she would occasionally use it to throw herself in the air to dodge, something that impressed even Illidan. The queen also made sure that her tentacles would not remain in contact with his body for long otherwise it would just get burned

After a while of slashing and dodging, Illidan managed to force Azshara to release one of her swords. This gave him the opening he needed to finally fire an eye beam that wouldn't be blocked by a shield. He scored a direct hit and sent her flying a few feet away. However, as soon as he tried to finish her off, Azshara countered back with a blast of arcane energies which forced him back. At this point, both of them were really fatigued

Gasping for breath, Azshara was still on the ground but slowly got up while transforming into her hybrid form. "Illidan, please. Enough." she said before gasping for breath once more as Illidan was also getting up himself. With an opening, Azshara summoned her trident back to her hand and made her swords vanish. Illidan chose to ignore her and rushed to her. She blocked his attack and as he try to use his other blade to kill her, Azshara surprised him when she caught it with her bare hands. With him surprised, the queen headbutted him back. However, Illidan shrugged this off and slashed her across her torso and forced her into the ground

Illidan then raised one of his blades to end this once and for all but to his surprise, Azshara still had a good amount of energy left as she kicked him away before managing to slash him from his lower abdomen to his left shoulder. This forced Illidan to lose his footing for a bit right before Azshara shot a powerful arcane stream right at his abdomen and sent him slamming into a statue that was built in her honor in the middle of the courtyard. The impact instantly shattered one of the legs and caused the entire statue to collapse

The demon hunter eventually got up from the rubble and released some wind to clear the smoke. Both fighters glared at each other and they were badly bleeding. Still blinded by vengeance, Illidan began to run towards his former mentor, blades at the ready. Instead of continuing to fight, Azshara just stood still. She didn't really want to fight but she had no other choice. She could have done this earlier but she was too afraid and after realizing that this battle could go on for a very long time, Azshara decided it was enough and dropped her trident in surrender. If Illidan kills her, she more than deserves it and finally accepted it but she still hoped that he wouldn't. Azshara not doing anything allowed Illidan to run her through

The life from the queen slowly began to leave her body. With the blade still lodged in her body, she was unable to use her magics to heal herself. Illidan then lifted her by the neck and began charging up an eye beam. "Why? What did you make me do, Azshara?" he growled out as he removed his sword. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Azshara was not able to answer as his grip upon her throat was too tight. She barely managed to put a hand on his wrist as if to say she couldn't breath. Giving in to her request, Illidan let her go and she dropped to the ground. She began to slowly heal her wound while trying to catch her breath

"Talk." Illidan ordered

This was one of the very few times since she became the queen so long ago that Azshara felt actual fear. His demonic form only added to the fear factor he exuded. "The Old... Gods." she said in between pants

"I know about them. They were the dark secret you mentioned all those years ago." Illidan replied, slowly growing impatient. "Get to the point already. What did you do to me?"

After recovering her breath, Azshara sat up. "After the world was sundered after the war, the rest of us Highborne were saved from certain death by N'zoth. Illidan, you always saw me as the most dangerous individual on Azeroth. There might be some truth to that but in reality, I was weak." she said and he remembered the day he asked her about his training. "I was afraid to die. I knew that death would have been preferrable than serving them but I was so afraid of dying that I agreed to serve them." she said

"And just what the hell does that have to do with you forcing me to kill her?! How did you even know about it?!" Illidan demanded to know, barely stopping himself from ending her then and there

"Please, the others may have missed it but once you two got to know each other after the incident, I knew that you two were slowly falling for each other." Azshara replied as if it was the most obvious thing ever before she gripped her abdomen in pain. "Your situation with Vashj was not uncommon. You two met and became closed to each other but are too afraid to admit your feelings for fear that it would ruin your friendship. You were clever enough to hide it from everyone else but not from me. In fact, I know that you two shared your first kiss before you left the Highborne." she explained and the demon hunter listened. He finally calmed down enough for him to think about this rationally. "After we were transformed into the snake creatures, we called ourselves as 'Naga' and the N'zoth made sure that it could keep an eye on us at all times. The moment any of us go out of line, all of us were dead." she said and surprised Illidan. "Which is why I put you in this position. This world isn't exactly my own doing but a product of your own subconscious desires."

"My what?" Illidan asked in surprise as he never even considered that possibility

Azshara continued to catch her breath as the pain from all the hits she took was taking a huge toll on her even with her level of power, which was reasonable considering that both her and Illidan were more or less equals at this point. She was surprised at how Illidan was able to shrug all those hits off but she figured his part demon physiology helped and she could see that her own attacks took their toll as well. "Think about it, Illidan. Only you, Vashj and myself knows about the two of you. I never mentioned that to anyone and I doubt you did as well. Regardless, this kind of magic is one that the Old Gods use a lot. They trap you in a world where one has everything they subconsciously want and if the victim chooses to accept the new world, they fall under the Old Gods' control. It's far more convenient than forcing their own powers upon an individual since if the victim accepts, their very souls would end up belonging to the Old Gods and allows them to do as they please with the body." she said and this only irritated the demon hunter once more. "I did the same to you but I changed it a bit by linking my own soul to yours. If you had accepted this reality, not only would I have been forever enslaved by the Old Gods but you would be as well."

"But by rejecting this life, I broke the Old Gods' hold on you as well." Illidan said with nothing but anger in his voice. Azshara expected him to kill her then and there but she was so relieved that he has finally calmed down enough to control his own emotions

"Indeed. It was the only way for me to break free, to bind my soul to someone of equal power and have that person in question reject the influence willingly." Azshara said with shame. "When we fought in Northrend, the Dragon Aspects were able to defeat Deathwing but he managed to create a powerful earthquake before he died. I took that opportunity to link my own soul to yours while simultaneously making the Old Gods lose track of where I am and gave them the illusion that you managed to defeat me."

"What happened since then?" Illidan asked

"I was trapped in between dimensions, so to speak. I could not be seen by anyone nor could I interact with this world. All I can do is observe, that was until you chose to reject this life." Azshara explained what happened to the demon hunter. "Before I was trapped, I was able to sense that an Old Gods' prison was shattered. I imagine that the earthquake Deathwing caused has released Yogg Saron. I do not know what happened after that but I would guess that your army managed to find a way to destroy Yogg Saron or this would be a much different story."

"How do you know all of this?" Illidan asked suspiciously

"Don't forget, I am the one who trained you, Illidan. Like you, I know how to anticipate someone's actions and I know for a fact that you wouldn't hunt down Deathwing without some sort of back plan to deal with him if your original plan goes wrong." Azshara replied with a smirk before her wounds stung her again and she coughed up blood.

Illidan took a few moments to absorb the information his former mentor had mentioned. He fell to his knees due to the injuries he received and he was finally taking a few deep breaths and dispelling his demon form

"Listen, Illidan. I don't expect your forgiveness and I would not be surprised if you would hold a grudge against me because of this. I just want you to know that I truly wished it did not come to this and to apologize to you of how I weak I truly am." Azshara said as she forced herself up despite the pain and put a hand on his shoulder but he remained silent in deep thought. "There is more that you need to be aware of." she spoke and he looked at her in confusion. "Our old friend, Xavius, is still alive. Like me, he is a servant of the Old Gods."

"Why am I not surprised?" Illidan responded dryly

Azshara let out a small chuckle at that. "Well, he was always obsessed with power so I guess that's why." she pointed out before coughing some more. "Illidan, I am not sure you are aware but part of the Emerald Dream has been corrupted for a few thousand years now. I'm not sure how strong the corruption is but I do know that Xavius is the one controlling it."

Illidan's eyes narrowed at this. "How do you know that?"

"Before I agreed to serve N'zoth, I forced it to tell me what other assets the Old Gods have. It never told me much of the details but it told me that they corrupted the Emerald Dream and also told me that Xavius was controlling it due to our once affiliations. N'zoth also said that another Old God and more of their servants were in Ahn'Qiraj in Kalimdor." Azshara explained before looking right at the demon hunter. "Be very careful with what you do, Illidan. The Old Gods are not really ones to work together but given that their powers are completely depleted thanks to whatever they could spare all dumped unto Deathwing and that you are actively hunting them down, I would not put it past them to give orders to their minions to work in synchrony. Also, this is just a hunch at the moment but given that the World Tree is connected to the Emerald Dream, there is a possibility that the night elves will be targetted, well not just them but also the mortals. If it does happen, then I imagine that Xavius would use the power of the Well you created to release the Old Gods."

"How would he even do that? Does he even know how to do something like that? And I thought Malfurion used its energies to destroy Archimonde?" Illidan asked suspiciously

"No, he doesn't otherwise he would have done so by now. Which is good as the two of us are the only ones who know how to manipulate its energies and with the resonance orbs destroyed, even we would have a hard time using its full powers." Azshara answered. "And that's only half true. The Well is nearly drained of its powers and, if I had to put a number, about just short of a fifth of it remains."

"I see." Illidan responded and started thinking about it for a while. Eventually, Illidan decided to ask the one thing that truly confused him in this alternate reality. "Why was Illysanna my daughter in this life?"

"That was not my doing, Illidan. That was one of your subconscious desires. You may not be aware but I assume that you have begun to see her as your own daughter." Azshara pointed out and it was another thing that he never even considered

"My daughter, huh?" Illidan muttered, a mix of emotions running through him and not really knowing what to say to that. "How do I get back to my body?"

Azshara grunted in pain once more before finally giving the answer. "This is your mindscape, Illidan. You control everything that happens here. In this place, you will be able to tell if I said a lie or not." she replied before answering his question. "First, you have to will me out of your soul which will return me to my own body. After that, you have to completely destroy this reality. Only then will you finally wake up."

"If I let you go, would you still serve the Old Gods?" Illidan asked

"No, not anymore. I will fight them but for obvious reasons, I cannot be with the Scourge. For the most of it, I will be doing things on my own and keeping it in secret. Thanks to you, N'zoth won't have a way to track my whereabouts now." Azshara said before finally revealing something that would undoubtably shock him. "Illidan, Vashj is still alive, under the Old Gods influence. The only one who has control over the Naga is N'zoth. If you destroy it, the rest of the Naga will be free from his influence."

As expected Illidan was completely surprised. Over the last ten thousand years, he had come to accept that Vashj was gone for good. While he was devastated, he kept it completely in check, not that anybody would care about the infamous betrayer but in turn, this allowed him to have no limitations in what he would do. Vashj may not have given him a hard time after the village incident but he had doubts if she would be upset on what he had done with the Scourge so hearing that she was still alive came as a complete shock. "And just what am I supposed to say to her?"

"That is something you'll have to figure out on your own. I'm not about to involve myself in someone else's romantic interests. Besides, you're not just going to say something to her. You're going to save her from N'zoth's control. If the Old God dies, the rest of the Naga will be free." Azshara said before coughing up some more blood. "Listen, Illidan." Azshara spoke and her former student looked at her. "I might not get another chance to say this but I'm really proud. You are like the son I've never had." she said with nothing but pure honesty in her voice. "Our lives are much different from everyone else's. Unlike them, we do not have the luxury of simply enjoying life because we know what is coming. Our knowledge is both a blessing and a curse. I truly am impressed that your resolve remained strong even after ten thousand years." she said as she sat down beside him. "We are so much more alike than I came to realize. To your followers, you act like your main motivation in fighting the Old Gods and the Burning Legion is because they threaten this world." she said with a smirk as Illidan looked at her in disbelief. "But we both know that's not your real goal. You wanted to finish what I started, do the one thing that I failed in and keep your promise to your closest friend that you eventually became romantically involved with. When you thought that she was dead, all you wanted was nothing more than revenge against both the Burning Legion and the Old Gods and none of them even had the slightest suspicion, not that it would change anything."

Illidan was dumbstruck at what she had said. Azshara had read him like an open book. "A promise that I broke. It never even occured to me that she would still be alive."

"For the last ten thousand years, maybe and even then, it was only half broken, but are you really going to let that stop you?" Azshara said as if reprimanding him

If you do not have the inner resolve to move forward regardless of what happens to you, then you might as well give upthe words on the very first day of training with Azshara echoed in Illidan's mind. "No, I won't." he said, gathering his resolve and finally remembering why he was even fighting this war

"Good, otherwise the Old Gods have already won before the true battle even began." the queen said firmly and decided to try and remedy this as best she can. "There is no need to rush. Thanks to your antics in Northrend, everyone on Azeroth know exactly what the Old Gods are capable of and they have no choice but to fight. I know you're shaken up by what you went through so take as much time as you need. Whatever you do, do not fight the Old Gods until you're certain that you will be able to keep your emotions in check." Azshara said before giving him a genuine smile. "I highly doubt that we will ever meet again and even if we do, I don't think it would last."

Illidan merely kept his silence at this while staring at their destroyed and burning surroundings. It reminded him of the War of the Ancients. 'Is she saying that by the time she fights the Old Gods, she would die? Why would she say that if she was afraid of dying in the first place?' he wondered to himself

"Illidan, there is one more thing." Azshara said and he looked at her questioningly. "I need you to retrieve something but you must do so on your own without telling anyone."

"What is it?" Illidan asked and Azshara then began to explain something to him

As Azshara expected, Illidan did not believe what she had said even after she mentioned that she wouldn't be able to lie although she was able to cover a lot of the things she said with half truths but only on things that concerned her personally. She wasn't ready to open up to him and she didn't even know how to do something like that

"We shall see." Illidan said after Azshara explained something. He had lost whatever trust he had in her and it was going to take a while for her to earn it back, something that she had noticed and accepted. "How were you able to transform from your naga form and this one?"

"It was actually thanks to you." Azshara answered, confusing him. "With N'zoth's hold on me finally broken, I was free to revert back to how I looked like when I was still an elf. Not only that, I can freely transform between my elf form and my naga form, although my elven form isn't perfect as it still contains the characteristics of a naga. I did use your power to modify my, well, hybrid form, to suit my own tastes."

"I see." Illidan said simply before they let a silence took hold

Azshara finally broke the unnerving silence. "Illidan, would you mind if I asked you something?"

"What is it?"

"When you decided to agree to train under me, why did you do it?" Azshara asked, genuinely curious

"At first, it was mostly just because you intrigued me. I never imagined you would have a side like that so I knew that you were serious. After the first few weeks of training, I decided to continue not because of your threat but because I realized that you would be able to teach me things that no one else ever will so I never turned back." Illidan answered. "And if we're being honest, I just wanted to be better than those that condemned me all because I choose to fight a war differently than they do."

'It's just as I had thought.' Azshara thought to herself. "I understand." she said, feigning not knowing what to respond to that. Another silence took over as they just sat on the ground and observed the destroyed palace

"It's time to go." Azshara said after a long silence. "We can't stay here forever. Illidan, I'm truly sorry for what I've done." she said

Illidan didn't respond to that and merely concentrated. After a while, Azshara's body was surrounded by fel energies before she was forced out of his mindscape by his will. "Azshara, what aren't you telling me? Something happened to you, I can tell. I guess I'm never going to find out what it is." he muttered when he was finally alone. He then unleashed his demon form again before tucking in his body, gathering large amounts of fel magics around him while simultaneously healing it with his will alone. Illidan released all the gathered energies and completely destroyed the world that was created in his mindscape. This also released a huge amount of energies in his body in the outside world

XXXXXX

Silvermoon

Kel'thuzad, Drak'thul, Kor'vas and Illysanna were in the fortress' main room, studying some maps so they can come up with a plan to deal with the Emerald Nightmare as they had no doubt that it would come after them eventually and they had no intention of being caught off guard. All of a sudden, a massive spike of power completely pulled them out of their thoughts

"What was that?" Drak'thul asked when the power dissipated

"It came from above." Illysanna said before realizing what it was. "Illidan."

Here it is. The showdown between Illidan and Azshara. Now, before I go onto the details, I wanna mention why I wrote it like this in the first place. There are actually a bunch of reasons why

- first is I wanted to try something different. While I enjoy reading a romance story every now and then, I'm not particularly good at writing them so I wanted to see how I would do. I suck

- second is because I wanted this to be between Azshara and Illidan alone with no one else interfering. With how I've written things, it would be next to impossible to make these two face each other without anyone noticing it. That's why I took inspiration in the DC storyline 'For the man who was everything', the one I mentioned last chapter, because it was the perfect way to ensure that these two finally meet

- third is something mentioned in the notes of chapter six. Up until now, Illidan's motivation remained unclear. I found that this was the perfect opportunity to explain things and just to really make the student mentor bond even stronger, I wrote it in a way that Azshara read Illidan like an open book

- the fourth reason is how I've written Illidan. In the canon, he was a complex character just like with most anti heroes. I wasn't satisfied with him fighting the Old Gods just because they were a threat to his own existence so with this chapter, I increased the stakes for Illidan in his war. Instead of it mostly out of self preservation, the one he loves is under his enemies' control so things have become far more complicated for him

Those are pretty much the reasons why I wrote the part of Illidan and Azshara the way I did. Now, about for the flashback parts, I know it is true that experience is the best teacher but for the others, I just made them up so don't

With that out of the way, I did tease two things in this chapter, Azshara's own backstory and a little secret she has kept. I will say this ahead, she will have her own backstory and it will be different from what is known about her and it will be much later in the story. Vashj herself will only appear much later. Again, this won't be a romance story. It will just contain a few elements here and there. It's still about Illidan's war against the Old Gods and the Burning Legion. I also just gave the reasoning for how Azshara was able to transform into a hybrid of a Night Elf and a Naga. This wasn't in the canon but I added it in just for the fun of it

It also does seem weird that Illidan's goal was revenge instead of pure self preservation and in all honesty, that was probably one of the things I would change about the story but I didn't want to make too drastic of a change. That one detail I changed on chapter six was enough of a change for me. On the other hand, it doesn't seem too far fetched since what's the point of keeping a promise if the one you made it to is believed to be dead in the first place

I also wanted to mention this about the Warcraft's power levels. Whenever I write these kind of fights, I always look at the raid tactics page on the specific character on wowpedia. The problem is, nearly all characters have similar abilities with the notable difference being the damage each would deal and the type of magic it uses. So, in this story, the power levels will instead refer to how each character can cast complex spells quickly, potently, and efficiently. For example, a spell that would sink an entire island that both Malfurion and Illidan can do. Malfurion can do that spell in an hour while Illidan in only half that time. That means Illidan is on a higher level of power than Malfurion. Of course, this is only on raw magical power. This will not immediately determine who is better since there are other factors like direct combat skill and of course, personality

That's about it for now