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Orgrimmar
The second defensive line was still holding up fine as this was where most of the night elves were. It has managed to repel the attack from the first defensive line however, they were forced to hold their positions. If they return to Orgrimmar and aid against the elementals, they would leave the defense line vulnerable but if the elementals take out the Orgrimmar defenders, they would be killed. Before some of them could retreat to Orgrimmar, the Nightmare's forces that was made up of a lot of corrupted spiders and treants have attacked once more. This has ensured that the Horde will be fighting two battles at once
The city was in complete chaos. The arrival of Al'Akir, just like with Ragnaros, disrupted any plans the night elves and Horde had. While the air elementals were able to catch them by surprise, the orc's shamanistic powers has allowed them to stand a much better chance. However, that all changed when seventeen fully grown corrupted green dragons, each of them carrying a corrupted ancient and each of the ancient carrying the ball that contained corrupted spiderlings, flew above the second defensive line and dropped them right at the center of Orgrimmar where the elementals were attacking
For the first half an hour of the battle, the Horde was getting slaughtered. They prepared their defenses at the city gates and walls but not within the city itself, not that they had the time to do so in the first place. The fact that the green dragons bypassed the city's outer defenses only made it a whole lot worse for them. Fortunately, it wasn't too long before Thrall returned and with him, some of the red and bronze dragons including the dragonqueen and the two uncorrupted green dragons
Despite being horribly outnumbered due to the spiderlings, Tyrande once more summoned another starstorm. Shandris quickly ordered everyone to take cover as the starstorm easily destroyed all of the spiderlings. The corrupted ancients and dragons did not suffer that much damage and still posed a significant threat. One of the green dragons shot its acidic breath at the distracted priestess but Alexstrasza was able to protect her
"Tyrande, enough! Your powers won't do much against the Dragons and Ancients." Alexstrasza yelled before using her tail to throw away the green dragon
"It matters not." Al'Akir declared once the starstorm stopped. "You will all suffer my power!" he yelled and increased the wind intensity. Lightning soon accompanied the chaos as the corrupted ancients prepared to re engage the Horde
"Drek'thar, how did they get here?" Thrall asked after making his way through towards him
"The Old Gods had servants that were Orcs. They have already infiltrated us and summoned the elementals here while the Green Dragons attacked from the sky." Drek'thar explained and they quickly ducked down when they were targetted by air elementals
"Alright, Cairne, Vol'jin." Thrall yelled out and the two regrouped with him. "Cover us. We'll try to get rid of all the elementals." he ordered
The tauren and troll didn't bother to respond and quickly killed any elemental trying to target them while the two shamans began using their powers to calm down the windlord. After a while, they realized that unlike Neptulon, Al'Akir willingly served the Old Gods and they would not be able to do anything to it
Alexstrasza, on the other hand, had no intentions of trying to free the windlord from the Old Gods. She was well aware that Al'Akir and Ragnaros have continued to serve the Old Gods and once she got an opening after engaging some green dragons, she quickly lunged at the windlord and dug her claws into him. Al'Akir managed to push her back and trap her in a powerful wind vortex but he was distracted from it when Thrall used a lightning spell. When Al'Akir tried to target Thrall, he was suddenly attacked by Tyrande from behind. Furious, the windlord summoned a lightning storm that struck in random areas. It hit both the defenders and his own minions. Due to the lightning, part of the city has been set on fire and buildings exploded depending on what was in them
Other red and bronze dragons engaged the corrupted green dragons and in the chaos, the lightning storm by the windlord disrupted their fight quite a bit. The green dragons, in their corrupted state, shrugged this off and took this opportunity to take advantage of their enemies. They were mostly safe from being blindsided by the orcs or night elves due to the corrupted ancients keeping them busy. While the defenders tried to stop the lightning storm, the green dragons began inflicting significant injuries on their uncorrupted brethren but not enough to kill them
Al'Akir's air elementals have covered their master from the attacks. Both Thrall and Drek'thar have summoned spirit wolves but even that wasn't enough. On their own, the elementals would have gotten slaughtered by the dragonqueen but Alexstrasza had her attention occupied when another green dragon pounced on her, desperately trying to spread the corruption on her. She was saved when Korialstrasz attacked the dragon from behind and dug his claws into the green dragon's spine, instantly killing it
"Lady Alexstrasza." Korialstrasz said, worried that the dragonqueen has been corrupted
"I'm fine, Korialstrasz. We need to take down Al'Akir before he does too much damage." Alexstrasza said
The air elementals then used their powers to throw the flames from the buildings into random directions. It set both corrupted ancients and the defenders on fire but not that much. It soon became clear that it didn't really matter if they won this battle or not for as long as the Horde is crippled, it would do. Like with the Scourge, the Emerald Nightmare's forces didn't need any kind of sustenance
Out of nowhere, breaths of frost along with fel fire rained down from the sky. Everyone looked at where it came from and saw a few blue dragons and four demon hunters arrived. Malygos ambushed the distracted Al'Akir and froze the elemental lord. It didn't take long for the windlord to break free but Alexstrasza and Korialstrasz quickly breathed fire onto him along, causing him immense pain. Deciding to quickly end Al'Akir before he could unleash more destruction, Malygos added his own frost breath and eventually, Al'Akir was killed
"Malygos? What are you doing here?" Alexstrasza asked in surprise
"The same as you, I imagine." Malygos pointed out
"We really have to discuss what you have done with Illidan and the Scourge, but not now." Alexstrasza said reprimandingly
"If we live long enough to take out the Old Gods that is." Malygos retorted before fighting off the corrupted green dragons
At the same time, the demon hunters used their fel rush abilities to move on the backs of the green dragons. Rather than immediately go for the kill, they would instead blind them first and make things easier for them. The night elves and Horde nearby were surprised that the demon hunters even came but were nonetheless grateful despite not trusting them. The demon hunters' fel fire was sufficient to inflict great damage on the corrupted ancients. Along with the blue dragons, their arrival tilted the scales in favor of the defenders mostly because of their incredible mobility and ability to take to the skies
A green dragon was about to move in for the kill against Shandris when it suddenly yelled in pain. It tried to kill the one who attacked it but was helpless as the demon hunter was on its back. The dragon tried to slam its back onto a wall but the demon hunter simply flew up and dodged the attack. Left vulnerable, Shandris shot a poisoned arrow at the dragon's neck, forcing it to the ground due to the effects of the poison. Still, the dragon did not die. The demon hunter instead cleaved an opening on the back of its neck and shot an eye beam, which caused a small explosion and severed the dragon's head
"Hey, Shandris." the demon hunter greeted. "Looks like you could use a hand."
"Wait, Kor'vas? Is that you?" Shandris asked, remembering her from when the Legion was still here
"It's me. Let's talk later. For now, let's finish them." Kor'vas said before taking to the skies
The battle continued for a while longer after that but the Nightmare's forces were slowly losing. The demon hunters' mobility and the fact that they were not expecting them gave them a huge advantage. Like with their master, the demon hunters only need a slight opening to tilt a battle in their favor. Throughout the fight, Illysanna had kept a very close eye on Vandel as he used his newfound mobility to target the ancient's heads. Part of the reason on why she chose to bring him was to see if he had truly gained full control of his powers. To her, as well as Kor'vas', surprise, Vandel exceeded their expectations. He remained in control of himself. He even took some hits when he tried to save some of the Horde. It was impressive as he gained control faster than Altruis did. Only Illysanna and Kor'vas controlled their powers faster than he did
'Leave one or two of them alive. I'll try to extract information from it.' Allari ordered once she noticed that everybody was killing their enemes
'On it.' Malygos responded before freezing two of the green dragons before using his arcane magics to create chains that would bind them in the event they broke free. Alexstrasza grew curious at his actions but nonetheless chose to not to kill the frozen dragons
A little over an hour ever since the air elementals attacked, the battle was finally over. Most of Orgrimmar was damaged. The blue dragons were occupied with putting out the fires while the red dragons tried to heal the defenders. There were a lot of deaths on the Horde side and not a single building was not damaged in the fighting
While the Horde was assessing the damage, an orc arrived in the city from the gates and went towards Thrall. "Warchief, I bring a report. Samuro and the rest of the Night Elves have prevented the Nightmare from breaching the second defensive line. In the middle of the battle, the rocks from the surroundings came to life and aided us in the defense. With the help from the rocks and the Dragons, we were able to drive them back." the orc reported
"That's good. We would be in grave danger if the defensive line has fallen while we were under attack here." Thrall said in relief. "You have our thanks Demon Hunters." he said to the mentioned individuals gratefully
"Still woulda been nice if ya told us about dis." Vol'jin complained
"Then that meeting in Stonetalon Peak didn't count?" Illysanna raised an eyebrow
"At any rate, how did you know what was happening here?" Alexstrasza asked curiously
"Ever since the battle against Deathwing, I made sure we had eyes an ears everywhere. If Azshara was under their control, then who else might be?" Kor'vas pointed out. "It was always possible that the Old Gods had servants here as well and we have been looking for those Humans and other races that serve them, who call themselves the Twilight's Hammer." she explained before Kael teleported to Orgrimmar with Velen, Vereesa and the other Scourge members that aided them
"It happened here too huh?" Kael asked in sadness
"Indeed. The Old Gods are trying to kill everyone on Kalimdor." Thrall answered him
"Who was the one that attacked Theramore?" Illysanna asked, putting up the disguise that they weren't aware of what was happening
"Some Fire Elemental called Ragnaros. Neptulon tried to help us but Ragnaros killed him during the battle." Vereesa answered
"Before we compare notes, let's go meet up with Allari and Malygos. They should be gathering information on the Nightmare now." Kor'vas suggested and they all agreed
In the meantime, Allari was using the scythe on one of the corrupted dragons with Vandel and Malygos observing. The green dragons were fighting the effects of the scythe but they were slowly losing and against their will, they had to submit to Allari's orders
"Find anything?" Illysanna asked as she and the leaders arrived
"Tell them what you told me." Allari ordered
The green dragon struggled against her orders and was flailing around in pain. The demon hunter decided to increase the power and it forcefully knocked the dragon down, still bound in chains by Malygos. "Xavius, the Nightmare Lord. He will kill you all!" the dragon said while panting for breath. "He can... be... found... at the... edge... of... the Emerald Dream." the dragon continued struggling
"Can the scythe actually do that?" Vandel asked curiously
"Not exactly. It works by linking one's soul into the scythe and that soul will be forced to obey the scythe's user." Allari corrected him. "However, for this to work, that link must be intact at all times. If it breaks, then the victim will be free from its influence. This ability also prevents me from using the scythe for anything else, even fighting. More importantly, the greater the difference in power the more difficult it is. I imagine using this on someone like Mannoroth will be far more difficult or even impossible if the one in question was Archimonde. The state the victim is also adds to that factor. The more injured my victim is compared to me, the easier time I have." she explained. "But, moving on to other things, does the name Xavius ring a bell? I know that wasn't of any significance in Quel'thalas." she asked and all the night elves and dragons looked at each other
"That name does mean something. Who is he?" Velen asked them
"Well, to make it short, ten thousand years ago before the Burning Legion invaded, we Elves lived in one empire and our queen was Azshara, the very same one that was able to knock Illidan unconscious. Xavius is her top advisor during those times." Illysanna gave what was the most direct to the point explanation
"But I thought that Malfurion had transformed him into a tree during the war?" Tyrande reminded them
"No spells last forever, Tyrande, even if someone like myself, Illidan or Azshara casts it." Malygos pointed out
"Then that means that in the time Xavius was not accounted for, he agreed to serve the Old Gods." Kael concluded
"We were careless. After the war ended, nobody bothered to check up on him." Illysanna said and in her voice, it was clear that she was furious at how things were done so long ago. "I'm going to rip that bastard to shreds." she muttered lowly but Tyrande heard her, causing the priestess to grow concerned
"Anything else?" Allari asked before exerting more energy and causing the dragon to writhe in pain
The dragon in question flailed once more before eventually stopping. "This... this attack has been... planned ever since... Illidan was..." it said painfully
"Preparing to take out Deathwing." Illysanna finished the statement. "Now it makes sense."
"What do you mean?" Shandris asked curiously
"When we forced Deathwing out, we made sure that we had the advantage in that fight and they knew that we have been preparing for a possible counter attack even before the events in Northrend." Agatha explained. "When it became clear that Deathwing was a lost cause, they decided to target you people because the Old Gods knew that attacking the Eastern Kingdoms would be suicidal. They wanted control over this continent to force us into a stalemate where we can't attack the others' territory."
"You fools!" the other dragon yelled before Allari used the scythe to shut it up
"Shut up unless you have anything useful to add." Allari ordered
This time, it was this dragon that writhed in pain, desperately trying not to succumb to the scythe's powers. "Corrupting that... druid, demigod... and dragon... was retaliation for... Azshara going missing... since... since..." it said before the demon hunter had it shut up
"What?! Azshara has been missing?" Alexstrasza said in complete disbelief before looking at Illysanna. "Do you think she has taken over Illidan's body?"
"Doubt it. Illidan would rather choke on his own blood than allow anyone to control him. I mean, what other reason could he have to fight these things?" Maiev pointed out before she herself looked at Illysanna. "Illidan has regained consciousness already." she said but the demon hunter already knew
"Really? Then where is he?" Tyrande asked worried
"Still in Silvermoon. Whatever Azshara did to him has greatly affected him. If I didn't know any better then I'd say he probably lost his will to fight." Maiev answered
"You don't really think that, do you?" Thrall asked, not fully confident they would be able to fight off the Old Gods without his help
"Of course not. I guess the master has returned your soul to you if you're tongue is this sharp." Anub'arak said almost reprimanding the warden turned death knight
Kor'vas motioned for Allari that she had another question for the dragons and the latter obeyed
"Tell me, what would happen if we kill Xavius?" Kor'vas asked
"The Nightmare... would be... completely dispersed." the dragon answered painfully
"It's just like what Eranikus and Merithra said." Alexstrasza commented
"Where are they anyway?" Kael asked
"At the Echo Isles trying to locate Xavius." Thrall answered
Again, Allari decided to ask the dragons another question and repeated the same pattern. "How do we get into the Emerald Dream?" she asked
"At... Mount Hyjal... The World Tree..." the dragon answered painfully
"Now what?" Vandel asked since they finally had all the information they needed
"We find and kill Xavius." Illysanna said as if it was the most obvious thing ever
"Wait, before all that..." Kael interrupted her. "We need to be ready for the Twilight's Hammer and we need to know where they've been hiding this whole time."
"Not only that, the Twilight's Hammer also had some kind of insect creatures to aid them." Velen added
This time, all the Scourge members frowned as now it all make sense where the hammer has been hiding
"Allari, when you observed Ahn'Qiraj, you didn't notice anything?" Maiev asked
"None whatsoever. Aside from some elementals trying to kill me, the temple has been too quiet, almost too quiet in fact." Allari answered
"I was there myself and there was nothing going on in the temple. It was almost as if it was a ghost town." Vandel added
"Ahn'Qiraj?" Velen asked. Nobody aside from the dragons, night elves and Scourge knew about it
"It is a temple to the south west of Kalimdor. A thousand years ago, we fought a war against insectoid creatures known as the Qiraji and we managed to seal it away." Maiev answered
Agatha looked at Illysanna as if asking for permission which the demon hunter silently granted. "it is also where one of the Old Gods is." she said and to say that they were surprised would be an understatement. "For obvious reasons, we have chosen not to go after the Old God there for now."
"But you were already planning on engaging this Old God? Which means you would have gone against what you said about leaving us alone." Kael said sharply
"In case you forgot, Prince Kael'thas, that temple is not part of your territory so we are free to do as we please." Illysanna said reprimandingly, exploiting this loophole in the agreement
"I think a more appropriate question would be..." Cairne said before looking at the Scourge members. "Why didn't you inform us about your intentions?"
"Would you have believed something as corrupt as the Old Gods existed if we straight up told you?" Maiev asked back and no one could really come up with an answer. "I thought so. If we did tell you, you would have instead wanted to investigate for yourselves to confirm and given the fact that even now you still don't have the means to leave Kalimdor in large numbers, that would have only delayed our plans."
"Enough." Kor'vas broke it up. "Argue about this later. For now, let's come up with a plan to enter the Emerald Dream." she said before looking at Thrall, then Kael and then Alexstrasza. "And we are going there as soon as we can whether you're coming or not." she declared boldly and none of her compatriots disagreed with her, not at all caring if the Scourge had to do this alone
Ashenvale Forest
During the whole chaos in the Barrens, Illidan managed to sneak his way directly to ashenvale. He was aware that the Old Gods are more corrupt than the demons but seeing it himself was something else. While he had half a mind to just make a beeline towards Mount Hyjal, he didn't want to be that reckless so he decided to sneak around the area a bit. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you need to be as sneaky as possible, observe the expressions on the ones you are trying to avoid. If they are trying not to see you then that means they are aware of your presence. He recalled Azshara's words during his training. It was a very important lesson because it can be used to lure the infiltrator into a trap
While he was sneaking around, Illidan felt something off and quickly jumped up. As he was just floating around, some vines suddenly wrapped around him and forced him to the ground
"Fancy seeing you return here, Betrayer." a voice said. The demon hunter looked to where it came from and saw a keeper of the grove approach. "You still fight for these people even though they have done nothing but give you pain and grief." the keeper said almost as if he was berating Illidan. "Join us and serve the masters who would praise you for your talents." he offered
'Does Xavius think I'm stupid or something?' Illidan wondered to himself. "If I had any plans on joining you and your merry band of idiots I would have done so by now." he responded before slowly getting up. Once he was no longer lying on the ground, Illidan's tattoos glowed before easily burning his way through the vines. "Those pain and grief that you mentioned is preferable to enduring a waking life as your slave." he declared. "N'zoth, is it? Or is it C'thun that's controlling you like idiots?" he asked mockingly. A small battle then ensued when seven satyrs and three corrupted ancients and that keeper of the grove tried to kill the demon hunter but despite they were outmatched. Fighting multiple enemies at once has become of a specialty to him thanks to Azshara. Summoning one of his blades, he killed four satyrs in one swing before unleashing his fel energies and killed the remaining satyrs
He was able to easily kill these creatures during the invasion of the Burning Legion and he is far more powerful now than he was then. However, he did take note that these satyrs were different from the ones he fought back then but he couldn't tell what the difference was at the moment. The ancients tried to attack him with the keeper trying to stop him from moving but those were all for naught. Illidan easily burned through the vines once more before firing an eye beam at one of the ancients' head, instantly killing it. In response, the keeper tried to summon treants to aid but they too were just burned when Illidan shot a stream of fel fire at the ancients which slowly burned them. Turning his sights to the keeper of the grove, Illidan used his fel rush ability to quickly move behind the keeper and grabbed him by the back of the neck. "I know you can hear me, N'zoth, C'thun." he said, not entirely sure about that statement but he made sure he didn't know that he was aware that Xavius was the Nightmare lord. "I'm coming for you." he said before burning the keeper of the grove to ashes
'Would the Old Gods suspect that something is off if I reveal I know about Xavius?' he wondered to himself, referring to how the queen was missing. 'I suppose it doesn't matter. Azshara is far too cunning to be trapped that easily but it's better I keep it to myself.' he said before using his spectral sight to scan the area. 'I'll have to wait for when Illysanna decides to attack. Allari should have gotten the information from the dragons by now so it is only a matter of time before this war escalates. Knowing Illysanna, she's not gonna bother to try and liberate Ashenvale. She'll just go straight for Xavius.' he thought knowing full well that the Nightmare forces are aware of his favorite tactic of sneaking around
Here continues the Emerald Nightmare stuff. This one highlights Illysanna's difference from Illidan where she is more prone to getting furious than he is. When I read about her canon biography, she changed her opinion about Illidan after her father was killed. With that, I wouldn't think it would be too unreasonable for her to hold Xavius accountable for that. There is a flaw on that but that will be explained much later so I'll just say it here. Even if Xavius didn't make contact with Sargeras, the Legion would find Azeroth sooner or later. It really doesn't change anything whatsoever
Aside from that, still more of classic stuff of how Illidan does stuff before WoW Legion. Doing what everyone is interested in without telling them whatsoever. Only in this story, everyone else have little to no choice
That stuff with Allari's scythe is something I just made up. I don't think the canon really explained how it worked so I just made my own. The same went for Alexstrasza knowing about the elementals. I mean, if she didn't, that would be horribly irresponsible for someone who is supposed to be the guardian of all life. Although just think about it as the process of elimination since water elementals are no longer under the Old Gods and earth elementals are absent, for the most part anyway. Finally, the part where Illidan said the Satyrs now are different from the ones serving the Legion is not just for show. It will not be explained so I'll take the time now. The Legion servant Satyrs are basically just ordinary elves that have been transformed while the Nightmare Satyrs are more corrupt. There is another quality that sets them both apart but that'll be revealed in the coming chapters
That's about it for now