Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
"Illidan Stormrage."
"You're still alive." Illidan commented. "Seems like this world is full of surprises."
"Illidan..." Illysanna groaned as she began to remember what happened
The Lich King looked at her and crouched down. Using some of the magics Azshara had taught him before, he tried to heal her to at least close the most fatal of wounds. "Don't speak, Illysanna. You have been hurt badly." he said
"Touching." Xavius mocked, choosing not to attack just yet. "You know, Stormrage..." he said and got the demon hunter's attention. "You almost look like a father caring for his daughter." this made Illidan frown and Illysanna most certainly did not miss that note. "I never thought I would see the day you would show emotions. In all the time I've known you, you've always kept yourself in check. If it wasn't for this display now, I would have thought you were a construct."
Illidan didn't react and he didn't want to give Xavius the satisfaction. He looked down and saw Illysanna trying to get up but he quickly stopped her. "Leave him to me, Illysanna. Just rest." he said while using his wings to cover them. While Xavius couldn't see, Illidan gave Illysanna something
"Stormrage." Xavius said in a soothing voice. "I do not wish to fight you and when I say this, I speak on behalf of the masters. Your ability to think ahead and your calm personality would serve our cause."
"And why would I do that?" Illidan asked suspiciously, deciding to humor him
Xavius grinned, thinking he has gotten through. 'That was easier than I thought.' he thought to himself. "If you do, the masters will grant you your heart's desire." he answered
'Could he be aware of what I truly want?' Illidan wondered. He has always kept it to himself and he was even forced to live in it for a long time so he decided to test Xavius' knowledge and Azshara's words. "Really? And just what is it that I want?"
If Xavius could sweat, he would be, but he couldn't and that question caught him off guard so he just answered based on nothing but a wild guess. "Power. Serve us, Illidan Stormage, and the masters will grant you power far beyond what the demons could offer." he said arrogantly. "You will bring this world to its knees."
'Power? Yeah right. I guess Azshara never really told anyone.' Illidan thought and in response, he summoned his falchion blades. Xavius took a combat stance but was caught off guard when Illidan rushed behind him and run him through. "Don't lump me in with you, Xavius." Illidan hissed. "I may have wanted power but not for the reasons you think."
Xavius writhed in pain from the attack. Illidan was much stronger and faster than Illysanna was and on top of that, he hasn't been in any serious battle recently, unlike her. 'Just what is he really after?' he wondered to himself before creating constructs made out of pure corruption. However, Illidan wasn't fazed by this at all and simply cleaved through them. Upon the last construct's destruction, Xavius shot a stream of shadow magic which the demon hunter met evenly with an eye beam
While Illidan was fighting the constructs, Illysanna slowly sat up, gripping her torso due to the pain. With Xavius distracted, she grabbed hold of the runestone that Illidan gave her. 'Illysanna, listen. I need you to get the Orc Warchief to kill Xavius. I know that I can take him but I am not certain that I will be able to kill him. I'm not going to take the chance that I will fail so I need you two to kill him if I am unable to for whatever reason.' Illidan's voice spoke directly to her mind from the runestone after she channeled some magic into it. Looking at Thrall, she saw that the Warchief looking like he had seen a ghost. "Thrall." she called out but grunted in pain afterwards. She got no response. "Thrall!"
"The Horde... is..." Thrall muttered as he simply stared at the ground
"Damn it." Illysanna cursed and forced herself up. When the Warchief was still not responding, she decided to grab him by the pauldrons and slammed him into the ground
This got Thrall's attention as he quickly stood up but he still had the lamenting look on his face. "I'm sorry, Illysanna. The Horde has died, by my hand. I can't go on." he said, not remembering what had happened after Xavius' last attack
'Why would he...? A nightmare.' Illysanna realized that the corruption was true to its name. "Listen, Thrall. The Horde is not dead but it will be if you just sit there and do nothing." she said and that finally snapped him out. "Now, listen..."
In the meantime, Xavius was having great trouble fighting off the demon hunter turned Lich King. The wounds from Illysanna and Thrall was taking their toll but even if they didn't, the Nightmare Lord doubted he would be in a much better situation without the Well's powers. He had severely underestimated Illidan's abilities. The demon hunter was easily destroying his Nightmare constructs. After creating an even bigger construct, Illidan shattered the head with an eye beam before jumping down to kill Xavius. The Nightmare Lord dodged this and created tendrils to pierce his enemy through. He managed to graze the demon hunter's wing before Illidan was able to slice them before throwing one of his blades at him
Xavius was struck by the blade right where Illysanna had cleaved him earlier and only accentuated the wound. Knowing that he won't be able to attack for as long as Illidan was being this aggressive, Xavius decided to trap him in the same cocoon he did to Thrall the demon hunter was trapped, he quickly pulled out the blade that was still lodged in him
'Is this your idea of a nightmare?' Illidan wondered when he found himself on top of Zin Azshari that was being consumed. Seeing the palace he once called home burning wasn't a strange site. He had lost it once thanks to Sargeras. Illidan could blame Xavius for it but in the end, he knew that Sargeras would arrive one way or the other. He had also lost it again when he was forced to destroy the palace when Azshara used this same exact trick. Without any hesitation whatsoever, Illidan destroyed the world he was trapped in before anything else could happen and by extension, the cocoon he was trapped in
"What?!" Xavius asked in surprise when the cocoon was already being burned not more than five minutes after he had trapped the demon hunter in it. 'That is supposed to trap someone in their worst nightmare. How has he broken free so easily? Is he really a construct after all?' he wondered in disbelief right as Illidan threw his other blade. The Nightmare Lord was barely able to dodge and since his greatest trick barely slowed Illidan down, Xavius knew he would have to do this the hard way
Illidan then summoned his twin blades but before he could attack, he heard something coming down on him. He looked up and was next to helpless when a massive rock came down on him. Before it struck, he was able to unleash his demon form and fire an eye beam. It didn't have enough energy to completely destroy the rock before it could come into contact with him but it greatly reduced the damage that would have done otherwise. The impact created a massive rubble and Illidan was buried in it. Before too long, Xavius caused the rubble to explode and it threw the demon hunter into the air. From the look of things, Illidan was clearly bleeding. The Nightmare Lord didn't let up as he created more tendrils but unlike the ones from earlier, these tendrils were laced with an incredible amount of corruption similar to the one that corrupted Ysera
The demon hunter noticed this and figured that it must have been what corrupted the green dragon aspect. Reacting quickly, Illidan unleashed a blizzard but not to freeze it. It was only meant to slow the tendrils down enough for him to rush behind Xavius. While the rock dropped on him did hurt, he shrugged it off before Xavius could do any worse. Appearing behind his enemy, Illidan slashed him across his back with one of his blades before using the other to run him through right in the chest. Xavius howled in pain as his enemy's attack also released fel energies so they inflicted much more damage than it normally would. The Nightmare Lord created some spikes from the ground to get some ground between him and Illidan. One of the spikes pierced Illidan near the shoulder but he quickly destroyed it and move back. Deciding to end this, the demon hunter fired another eye beam, scoring a direct hit and creating a huge explosion. After his attack, Illidan observed what was happening in the smoke. He wasn't surprised when after a while, he saw Xavius move but he could clearly see that his movements were forced
"You stupid... demon." Xavius growled out before he coughed up some blood. He cleared the smoke but was forced to the ground and used his hands for support. Even though he was defeated, he still wasn't dead and in spite of that, he grinned, much to Illidan's confusion. Xavius saw this and decided to answer but creating red energies on his hands which transformed into an amulet which the demon hunter realized as belonging to the burning legion. "As a reward for my loyalty... Sargeras gave me this amulet." he explained before his grin widened even further as he thought he had won. "It ensures that... no demon aside from Archimonde... or Sargeras can ever... kill me." he finished although talking was very painful
Illidan wasn't surprised one bit at this. When he first entered Ashenvale, he realized that the Nightmare didn't have enough forces to take on the Scourge. The mortals were already giving them trouble and the only mistake that the mortals made was that they overestimated the Nightmare's power, something that Xavius took advantage of completely. "I may not be able to kill you, but..." he trailed off
Xavius' eyes widened at this as the demon hunter implied that he had already taken this into account. He wasn't able to give a proper response as a massive lightning bolt, one that contained traces of powers belonging to the air elementals. That attack came from none other than Thrall, who, along with Illysanna, had hidden themselves while Illidan kept the Nightmare Lord busy. Xavius yelled in pain and eventually, the lightning destroyed the amulet. Illysanna noticed this and quickly jumped down from the ledge they were on and completely cleaved Xavius in two before putting some distance between them. With the amulet destroyed, the female demon hunter's attack was enough to finally kill him but rather than simply drop, Xavius' body began to overload with energy and was about to explode
"Look out!" Illysanna yelled right as Illidan pulled her down and created a shield of fel energy around them, Thrall and the two dragons who were still unconscious
It took a few minutes before the explosion cleared and it was so powerful that the fel shields cracked. Fortunately for them, the explosion died down before the shields were shattered. When it died down, both demon hunters could see the influence of the corruption slowly disappear from the surroundings, which turned from a corrupted place to simply a dead area
"Is it over?" Thrall asked as he approached the demon hunters
"The corruption is disappearing. I believe so." Illysanna said and dropped to her knees
"Don't talk too much, Illysanna." Illidan said as he picked her up before looking at the Warchief. "Stay close, Warchief." he ordered as he walked towards the green dragons. "Hold on." he said and gathered energies around the five of them and teleported them out towards the two unconscious dragon aspects
"You can put me down now, Illidan. I'm alright." Illysanna said to which he granted her request
The Lich King prepared to cast the very same spell he did earlier only this time with much more power since he was taking four dragons with him, all of which were badly injured in battle. It took about a minute before the spell took effect and brought them all to Mount Hyjal
Upon arriving at the World Tree, Thrall was surprised there were lots of dead bodies belonging to the Nightmare's forces around. Some of which looked like they didn't have the slightest injuries upon them
"So, you were already in the Emerald Dream." Kor'vas greeted them
"What happened here?" Illidan asked and from his tone, it was clear that he was upset
"I have no idea. We were fighting them but they suddenly collapsed a few minutes ago." Kor'vas answered
"I see. They must have died after we killed Xavius." Illysanna said
As soon as some of the others came from the lower parts of the mountain, everyone who knows how any healing magics tended to Alexstrasza and Ysera as both of them were in critical condition. Tyrande even decided to heal Illysanna first as Vol'jin and the trolls were already on the dragon aspects
"Illysanna, can I talk to you?" Illidan asked, which again, confused those who were affiliated with him since he would just normally just order stuff. Nonetheless, they all granted his wish and the Lich King teleported Illysanna and himself to one of the balconies on the necropolis
Illysanna, although still injured, was feeling better now thanks to the high priestess and he led them to a secluded area. "What's wrong, Illidan?" she asked. She got no response and all Illidan gave was a sad and longing look. "Illidan?"
"I'm sorry, Illysanna." Illidan said eventually much to her confusion. He turned away, refusing to look at her in the eyes. "I should have been honest with you instead of remaining at the courtyard atop our fortress. I knew that Xavius was the one controlling the Nightmare."
To say that Illysanna was surprised would be an understatement but at the same time, that only got her more confused as to what really happened to him. "Illidan, what has happened to you?" she asked
He looked at her straight in the eye. "I killed you." he said and now, Illysanna was completely lost. "I'm sure you've been curious why I have remained isolated up until recently. Azshara trapped me in a dream." he said and only got her to frown. "I will have to explain this to the rest later but I'll tell it to you first, Azshara wasn't the person you thought she was."
"What do you mean?" Illysanna asked curiously
"I assume you remember the incident where I was held in trial, right?" Illidan asked
Illysanna nodded in response. "Yes, father told me all about it."
"Some time after that trial, Azshara spoke to me in private and offered to be my mentor. Her reasoning being that my attitude and the way I disregard everyone's safety to be needed..." Illidan trailed off before looking at the world tree. "To fight this world's dark secret."
"Wait, so you knew about the Old Gods all this time?" Illysanna asked in realization
"Not exactly. Azshara told me that the peace we enjoyed was nothing but a lie and that someone or something was threatening to shatter it all. She was specific that the this something was on our world, not out which meant that it wasn't the Burning Legion. However, she never mentioned what it truly was, only that it was very dark." Illidan explained
"That's honestly surprising. I'm guessing that's how you learned to fight as effectively as you do and how you remain so calm nearly all the time." Illysanna commented before making a small smile. "I never would have imagined that Azshara, of all people, paid attention to anything other than herself."
Now, it was Illidan's turn to smile. "If you think that was odd, you should know that Sargeras straight up believed that Azshara sided with him so she could marry him." and Illysanna let out a small chuckle but Illidan grew more serious. "When I told you that Xavius was the one who first made contact with Sargeras, I wasn't lying. However, Azshara found out about it almost immediately."
"Hold on, then that means Azshara had allowed the Burning Legion to run rampant in our world?" Illysanna said and her anger was starting to boil again, feeling a sting of betrayal
"She did but not for the reasons you think." Illidan answered her. "Azshara allowed the Legion to come so that they could destroy the Old Gods for her. While this is only in theory, had they succeeded, I am certain that Azshara would have turned against the Legion and since she would already be within their ranks at that point. The damage she could have done would have crippled if not, outright take out the Legion." Illidan could see that his words have greatly angered Illysanna. He had expected her to lash out or something but to his surprise, she was simply taking deep breaths and trying to calm down so she can think straight
After a few minutes, Illysanna finally calmed down. "If she is your mentor, then I take it that's why you're fighting the Old Gods." she said and he nodded but she knew that wasn't the full reason. "As much as I hate Azshara, I can't exactly say that her actions are that unreasonable given what we have witnessed with both Xavius and Deathwing." she said but her voice was clearly hurt. "But what does that have to do with you killing me?"
"As I told you earlier, Azshara trapped me in a dream, or to be more accurate, in my own mind. After she knocked me out, I woke up in a place where things were different, very different from what we know." Illidan said and she listened intently. "Xavius still made contact with Sargeras but Azshara managed to prevent the invasion and crippled the Legion. Since the Legion never invaded, that also meant that I didn't have my powers as a Demon Hunter or the Lich King." he wasn't sure about the last part but it wasn't important. "It was only six thousand years that have passed and I wasn't imprisoned. The kingdom was also left under the care of myself and Lady Vashj."
"Lady Vashj? One of Azshara's handmaiden's?" Illysanna asked
"Indeed and I had my own memories as well as the memories of the life I lived, which means I had memories of both lives. She was my wife in that reality." Illidan said and that was something she did not expect at all. "And also, you were my own daughter." and that completely left Illysanna speechless. "It was a reality made based on what I really wanted deep down. While I was truly happy there, I always had the feeling that something wasn't right but there was no evidence that anything was out of the ordinary. It soon became clear that the answer was Vashj as in that reality, she was almost as good as I was in hand to hand combat and neither me nor Azshara had trained her in that. In the end, I had to kill her and you in order to get back. After that, i encountered Azshara, the real Azshara, and she told me about Xavius."
Illysanna's eyes widened upon hearing this. 'Now it made total sense on why Illidan seemed to avoid talking to anyone, even her, ever since he regained consciousness. He had to give up what he cared the most. No, not just give up. He had to destroy it with his own hands. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for him. There is no way for him to just be staying around looking depressed. That was probably nothing more than a disguise. I'm certain that Azshara told him Vashj is alive and under the Old Gods' control and he has been trying to figure out how to save her.' she thought but was interrupted
"You probably hate me." Illidan said sadly but to his surprise, Illysanna actually hugged him. It really surprised and reminded him of the life that Azshara trapped him there
"I don't and since we're being honest, I've begun to see you as a second father." Illysanna said, much to his surprise. "When I was younger, I always thought you were insane and not to be trusted but since after the war, I've begun to think that you had your reasons for the way you do things." she said and only surprised him further. "I can't blame you for the way to acted. It must have been very difficult for you to kill your own wife and daughter. Knowing that Vashj is still alive and under the Old Gods' control would only make this worse." she said and pulled back before asking something very important. "If you hadn't killed us, what would have happened?"
Illidan looked away. "I would have ended up serving the Old Gods." he said and made her frown. "That whole scenario was also to break the Old Gods' hold on Azshara but not with the rest of her people."
While Illysanna wanted to sympathize, she knew there was something far more important. "If we do encounter Vashj..."
"I'll leave her to you." Illidan cut her off. "When it comes to her, I don't think I can trust myself to focus. If you do kill her, I won't hold it against you. You have my word on that. I know Vashj very well and she would prefer to die than serve these things." he said sternly but Illysanna could see the emotional turmoil this was causing him so she nodded nonetheless
"We should check on the others." Illysanna suggested and they went to the former Sentinel base at the bottom of Mount Hyjal
"Illidan, Illysanna." Tyrande greeted them as they landed
"How is he?" Illidan asked, referring to his brother
"He's alive and healing." Tyrande answered. "Thank you, Illidan." she said
"For what?" Illidan asked curiously
"For not killing him. Given that Malfurion was corrupted by the Old Gods..." Tyrande trailed off. The conversation she had with Malfurion about Illidan really shook her to her core. Illidan merely nodded in understanding as he knew that if it came down to it, he would have killed his brother but part of him didn't want to do it in front of Tyrande as even he would not want to put someone in a similar position Azshara had put him in unless he had no other choice
"It will take da Dragon Aspects quite some time before they regain consciousness. Deir injuries have put dem near death." Vol'jin said. He had no obligation to tell the Scourge but part of him felt that he should
Kor'vas then approached them. "I've already told the gunship we placed near Ahn'Qiraj to pull back. If everything is settled, then we'll take our leave at your command." she said, looking at the the other two demon hunters present in the immediate area. Kor'vas observed them both and let a smile creep onto her face. She then made a silent gesture that she wanted to talk with them both
"What is it, Kor'vas?" Illysanna asked when there were no prying ears
"It's Vandel." Kor'vas answered and her friend grew concerned. "No, he did not lose control if that's what you're worried about. After the battle was over, two of his old friends said they wanted to join him." she continued and they understood why
"It seems that Maiev isn't the only one with new friends." Illidan commented, confusing the two. "Back in Theramore, she saw a high elf who was losing himself to his hunger for magic and his partner. She decided to take them with her since she got the impression that they were not satisfied with how things are going for them."
"Surprising that Maiev would do something like that." Kor'vas said. "I guess being imprisoned in her blade has changed her."
"Is that way her powers are now stronger than it was before?" Illysanna asked curiously and Illidan merely nodded
Silvermoon
Some time later, the Scourge have already pulled back to the Broken Isles and other territories they controlled while all of those who were brought with Illysanna to Kalimdor went to Silvermoon. Illidan had told the Scourge high command everything, barring the details to what Azshara had trapped him in
"What's wrong, Illidan? You seem to be in a grumpy mood?" Maiev asked casually
In response, Illidan completely shattered a nearby pillar although it wasn't exactly that important to the fortress' structural integrity. "Those damn bastards." he growled out. "Since before this even began, I never once believed that a creature would just undergo a drastic change without reason, even Neltharion. When I suspected that he was under the Old Gods' control, I thought it would have been a simple matter of killing Deathwing and all that would be left to deal with is a skeleton crew. I never even considered the possibility that they had this much more minions to throw around nor did I expect that Azshara and Xavius would still be alive. After losing their greatest servant, they simply replaced him easily as if nothing's changed. I underestimated them."
Everyone was surprised at that outburst as that was the first time anyone has actually seen him get upset
"My king, there is still one thing that remains unclear." Kel'thuzad said and drew his curiosity. "If you encountered Azshara before you destroyed the alternate reality, where is she now?"
"In all honesty, I don't know." Illidan answered and nearly everyone asked 'what' simultaneously. "All she told me is that she would fight the Old Gods but she would do it discreetly."
"And you're not concerned about this, why?!" Maiev demanded to know
"I understand that he was your mentor but that was a long time ago. Surely you mustn't blindly trust her?" Drak'thul asked, trying not to irritate their master any further
"Truth is I don't and I don't think I'll be able to trust her for a long time." Illidan answered honestly. "However, Azshara doesn't wish to serve the Old Gods. That's what I'm counting on as that would mean that she won't get in our way. If she really was loyal to the Old Gods, then I imagine she would have just killed all of us while we were distracted in fighting Deathwing."
"You do realize that you could end up dead by doing this, don't you?" Malygos pointed out
"What makes you think that I'm expecting to survive this?" Illidan asked. "My real goal is not to take out the Old Gods. It is to end the Burning Legion once and for all. I'm only choosing to fight the Old Gods first so that we can focus all our resources on the Legion without worrying about something that is nearly as dangerous as they are." he said mostly lying about his goal. While he did want the Old Gods and the Legion gone, it was for an entirely different reason
"I suppose that's fair. The Legion have destroyed so many other worlds so it isn't unreasonable not to expect surviving them." Agatha commented
"So, what would be our next move?" Kel'thuzad asked
"Continue doing what Illysanna had ordered you to." Illidan said, much to said person's surprise who gave her a confused look. 'I'm not going to undermine your position, Illysanna.' he said directly to her mind and caused her to smile gratefully
Finally, this is where the Emerald Nightmare arc concludes. In one of the previous chapters, it was stated that there is something that separates these Satyrs from the ones during the Legion invasion. Aside from being far more corrupt, these Satyrs are also bound to the Emerald Nightmare and Xavius. With him gone, they too died. Having said all that, there is a reason why the Old Gods' forces are far more corrupt but don't think about it too much since that will be explained at the very end of the story
I also took this chance to show the bond between Illidan and Illysanna. That has been mentioned a few times already but it was never shown so I finally decided to remedy that. At this point, only Illysanna and Azshara knows about Illidan and Vashj and I also made it that they're close enough to the point where Illidan is willing to trust Illysanna to deal with his secret and his real goal
This chapter also shows that even Illidan, the way I've written him, can get very pissed off but the difference between him and Illysanna is that she's far more prone to it than he is. I think I already mentioned that before but whatever
Xavius also being beaten that easily shouldn't be too unreasonable. I don't think canon Xavius is as powerful as Illidan in Legion and since this version of Illidan is far more powerful than the canon, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it was mostly a curbstomp. The part about the amulet from Sargeras is just for dramatic effects. It's the only one in the story so don't expect to see much more of it
Another thing that I believe I never clarified was the Scourge High Command. I will just take this chance to clarify who the members of the High Command are. Malygos, Agatha, Kel'thuzad, Drak'thul, Maiev, Altruis, Kor'vas, Illysanna and of course, Illidan. Anyone else who have appeared with them in a previous meeting are there because they have been summoned and not because they're part of the High Command
That's about it for now. Since this is the conclusion of the Emerald Nightmare, the next chapter will continue the adventures in Pandaria. I will admit it now, that part will be the weakest part of the story and I'm not too proud about it