Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

Four Months Later

In the last few months, the Scourge have located the remaining Pillars of Creation

The one located in Stonetalon Peak was the Tears of Elune, which possessed the powers to restore dead lands even if it was corrupted by something with powers as dark as the Old Gods'. In the Peak, the Tears was disguised as the main source of light within the caves aside from flames that were placed on wooden sticks. The Tears was hanging at the very ceiling of the cave, hidden in plain sight since it was disguised as a large mirror that picks up light from the cave's main entrance and reflects it to everything below. In a classic Scourge move, when Illysanna and the others learned that the mirror was actually the Pillar, they removed it, not at all caring about everything else within the cave. When it was removed, it was also discovered that it being a large mirror was just another illusion. The actual size was small enough where it can be held with one hand

In Pandaria, Illidan's group found the Eye of Aman'thul in an underground cave that was even deeper than where the Heart of Y'Shaarj was kept. What really surprised them was while the Pillar was underground, it was directly beneath the chamber of the Heart however, its entrance was the far from the Heart's. While the Heart's chamber entrance was hidden on the side of a hill, the Pillar's was in the Mogu'shun Palace. Beneath the waters that were running in the palace was a secret entrance. When it was opened, it was a long fall directly to the pathway that would lead towards the Eye's chamber. There was an issue with how to get it out as it was too large to carry but upon further investigation, it was discovered that the Eye of Aman'thul had the power to create a gateways. When they learned that, Illidan just used it to bring it to Silvermoon

The last Pillar, the Aegis of Aggramar, was the one that took the longest to find thanks to Northrend being completely shattered. While the other two only took a week at most before they were located, the Aegis took thirteen days before Malygos and the others located it. The naga were invaluable in allowing them to search underwater for any clues. Surprisingly, the naga didn't object too much and were cooperative in the efforts. Despite their help, there was no clue as to the Aegis' location underwater which made things much more complicated since that was the only place that the Pillar could be. That was until Allari noticed something different. The largest islet that was floating in Northrend was not an ordinary one. It was one made from the Aegis' powers that kept this specific rock formation intact despite its location being directly on a ley line. The only reason Allari even suspected the islet was that its magical energies was different from the others floating. With the help of Vashj and Malygos, the soil and dirt covering the formation was dispelled and the Aegis was there, shielding itself. It took them a long time to drain its powers before it could be removed and transported

When all the Pillars were gathered in Silvermoon, the Scourge began to study them. It was discovered that none of the creatures of Azeroth could use the full powers of a Pillar without that very same power destroying them. That included beings as powerful as the Dragon Aspects and Illidan. This discovery also explained how Azshara was killed when she destroyed N'zoth. With this, Vashj decided it would be best to do the same thing that the Old Gods have ordered the naga, to create something that would harness the power of something similar to how they were building runestones that would restore N'zoth's powers. However, that proved to be a much more difficult task to do as the only reason the naga were ordered to attempt such a thing because they were familiar with the Well's powers. The Pillars were a different story as no one, including Illidan and Malygos, was familiar with its powers

Over the weeks, the naga, especially Vashj, was gaining the trust of the Scourge. Contrary to what many of them expected, Vashj rarely ever got into disagreements with them. While she usually would listen to what the other undead say, she wasn't afraid in the slightest to voice her own thoughts, something which only solidified their trust in her. The Scourge was a group where nobody was intimidated of their compatriots, one where even the lowest ranking death knight could speak to someone like Illysanna or Illidan as an equal and not be condemned due to the basis that there is no point having someone in your organization if the members are intimidated by someone else

Since then, things have been really quiet on Azeroth. Nothing too significant has happened and the Scourge were able to retrieve the Tears of Elune unnoticed with the help of their remaining shades that kept an eye on the locations of the mortals' patrols

Kalimdor

For most of the recent months, the Kalimdor inhabitants have been on edge. The thought of the Scourge finally attacking the Old God in Ahn'Qiraj weighed heavily on their minds since they knew they would be in the crossfire. While they were capable of fighting off the qiraji and whatever remains of the Twilight's Hammer, they did not have the necessary resources to fight the Old God directly. Their only saving grace was that the draenei were very fast workers who have already made a good number of high powered artillery while the Horde were still keeping a cool head. The night elves still have their hands full since they have barely made any significant progress in cleansing Ashenvale Forest of the Nightmare's corruption. While the injuries of the red and green dragonflights were mostly healed, they were still greatly crippled with the loss of a lot of their members. Only the bronze were in any fighting condition but without an aspect, even they would have a hard time so the three dragonflights were forced to work together. They already did this in the war against the Emerald Nightmare but that was with the aid of the Scourge. Needless to say, everyone on Kalimdor have been hard on training after realizing that they are thoroughly outmatched against their enemies. The only question on their minds was if their training would be enough

Theramore Isle

In days after the death of N'zoth, the Alliance have been occupied with their problems. Half of their ranks were unavailable, specifically the high elven half, whose magical addiction have only gotten worse ever since the night elves' supplement was stopped due to the Emerald Nightmare. Arthas has regained consciousness two months after N'zoth's death. The Alliance were relieved but the high elves still had their own problems. Around seventy percent of their entire population have suffered the effects of the addiction, some a lot worse than the rest

At the same time, Kael and Turalyon have been up to something but it went completely under the radar thanks to their positions and the problems they were having. What nobody ever realized is that Turalyon has managed to secretly cure Kael's own hunger but now, the high elf prince wanted more. In secret, Turalyon revealed he knew about magics that he should have no knowledge of and taught a lot to Kael. The prince, being frustrated with the Scourge and how things were progressing, willingly accepted the paladin's teachings and soon realized what was going on but chose to keep his silence. The two of them even managed to recruit another one for them both but they didn't push their luck in recruiting more. All they needed was a few more months and now, that time has finally come

Turalyon was staring out at sea when Kael approached him

"Are you certain now is the time?" Kael asked

"Indeed. I hope you are ready for this, Prince Kael'thas." Turalyon answered back

"Do not concern yourself too much about that." Kael said sternly. "Why have we waited until now before we make our move?"

"Because trying to check on what we need under Illidan's nose is a very difficult task. We were barely able to pull it off." Turalyon answered. "But first, I need to rid myself of this."

"And how might we do that?" Kael asked

"By killing whoever is closest to this human." Turalyon answered, referring to himself in the third person

"That presents a problem. There is no way you will be able to kill Alleria without getting yourself killed." Kael pointed out

"There is always another one." Turalyon answered and Kael's eyes widened as he realized what the paladin meant. "I've already sent Caria to locate him."

"Then let's go." Kael said and the two of them soon walked over to another area of Theramore

In one of the city's piers, Arator was hanging out with Arthas, Jaina and the prince's two captains when Turalyon, Kael and another female high elf approached

"Father." Arator waved to the elder paladin

"Ahh Arator. What have you been up to?" Turalyon asked when the three of them got close

"I've been training with Captains Falric and Marwyn." Arator answered before looking sad. "I apologize, father. I did not know that you would be here today."

"It's alright, my son." Turalyon said as he put a hand on his son's shoulder. "But today is also the last day we will see each other." he said and surprised everyone

"What are you talking about, Turalyon?" Arthas asked incredously

"This." Turalyon said and before anyone can react, he drew his blade and run his son right through the chest

"Father..." Arator said in surprise. "Why?"

"Turalyon, what are you doing?!" Jaina demanded and turned to the high elf prince. "Kael? What is this?"

Out of fury, Falric and Marwyn tried to attack the elder paladin but Kael blasted them back with his magics but did not kill them

"Kael!" Arthas said in a reprimanding tone

"Sorry, young prince, but the Turalyon you know is dead." Turalyon said as he put his sword on the ground. Green markings then appeared on his body and he began twisting in body. After a while, the elder paladin's body soon transformed into something awfully familiar

Arthas' anger instantly boiled when Turalyon finished transforming and before him lay the individual that he had truly hated. "Mal'ganis!"

"We meet again, young prince." Mal'ganis greeted him

"How? Illidan drove you out and locked the Legion out of this world. How are you here?!" Arthas demanded to know as he took Falric's sword

"Never leave unfinished what you start." Mal'ganis reminded him of how the prince did not travel to Northrend. "You fled."

"Answer my question, you vile demon!" Arthas demanded

As Mal'ganis was about to finish his quarrel with Arthas, Kael put a hand on his wing. "Let's leave before the Scourge finds out about this."

"You're not going anywhere!" Jaina said as she tried to freeze them but the dreadlord simply teleported himself, Kael and the other female high elf with them somewhere else

When they were gone, rather than get mad, Arthas quickly went to Arator and tried to heal him. "No." he said after he checked on the kid. "We're too late."

"Arator..." Jaina muttered sadly

"This is going to be an awkward conversation with Lady Alleria." Marwyn commented

"Regardless, she needs to be made aware of what happened. Not only her but also everyone on Kalimdor and..." Falric trailed off

"Illidan." Arthas finished. While he was still distasteful of the Scourge, he was somewhat grateful at how the demon hunter freed him from the Old Gods' control

"I'm on it." Jaina said and began summoning some familiars

As soon as Jaina was about to send the message to the other inhabitants of Kalimdor, some guards and Vereesa arrived in their area which caused her to stop what she was doing. They were horrified when they laid eyes on the fallen half elf

"Prince Arthas? Lady Proudmoore? What happened here?" Vereesa said slowly, hoping that they weren't the ones that killed Arator. A tense silence immediately took over as no one had any idea of how to explain this to the ranger although they were rather grateful that it wasn't Alleria. "Jaina." Vereesa repeated

"It's the Legion." Arthas eventually spoke. "I don't know how but Turalyon turned out to be the dreadlord, Mal'ganis. Prince Kael and another high elf I'm not familiar with allied with him. They left."

Vereesa listened to all this in horror and pieced together what she had heard. Mal'ganis was the one who killed Arator. Like the others, she knew this would be a difficult conversation with her eldest sister. She only hoped that Sylvanas and herself could calm Alleria down

"But how?" Vereesa eventually spoke. "Weren't the Scourge the ones that brought Turalyon and the others here?"

"I don't know but for now, we need to be ready." Jaina said

Broken Isles

In the meantime, Kael, Mal'ganis and Caria all teleported to the roof of the Tomb of Sargeras. There, another dreadlord was already waiting for them

"You're late. Were you spotted by the shades?" the other dreadlord demanded

"No, Detheroc." Mal'ganis answered. "The Scourge's spies were not in the area where I revealed myself. Now, what about our point of entry?"

"It is ready. I have crafted a spell that would hide us from the vision of the Scourge's shades but it will only last until we break the seals. Once we do that, the spell will be dispersed and the Scourge will know of our presence no matter what." Detheroc replied

"I thought you said that all five seals needed to be broken for the gateway to be opened? Would three of them suffice?" Kael asked, concerned about all this

"It won't but on the other side, Kil'jaeden is ready to provide the necessary power to fully open the gateway. Once the seals break, he will funnel the power to the gateway to fully open it." Detheroc explained

"That kind of power would take a long time to create." Caria finally joined in. "How long have you been planning all of this?"

"Ever since Illidan freed the Scourge from our control when he arrived in Lordaeron." Mal'ganis replied, surprising both high elves. "Even preparing to fuel the portal if at least one of them are intact was already something we took into account."

"Enough small talk." Detheroc said and began channeling a spell. "The time has come for the Legion to claim this world." he said and they teleported inside the Tomb of Sargeras

Inside the tomb, the group teleported to the lowest level, one where the lower body of Sargeras' Avatar was hanging above the large room. After creating a ritual circle and contacting Kil'jaeden, Detheroc finally gave the clear that everything was ready

"Kael'thas, you will conduct the ritual needed to break the seals while the I will maintain the illusion spell." Mal'ganis ordered

"Why me?" Kael asked in surprise

"Because Aegwynn has modified the seals where no demon can ever manipulate it when she buried the avatar here. The only exception to this is Illidan seeing as he is only part demon." Mal'ganis answered before looking at the other elf. "Caria, you stay at the entrance and keep an eye out. The moment you hear something, alert us." he ordered and she promptly obeyed

"One last thing." Kael said before doing anything else. "If this has been planned for over a year, why did it take you this long to open the gateway?"

Detheroc was annoyed at this but decided against lashing out. "Aside from the reason earlier, I needed to be sure of what we're dealing with here. The Scourge have eyes and ears inside as well so if there is even the slightest miscalculation, then the Legion will never be able to enter this world. It was only during the chaos against the Old God that I finally had the opening I needed to enter the Tomb and crafting a spell that would guarantee my being hidden from everyone but the demon hunters is not easy and would take time especially since Illidan has altered how the shades work."

"I see. Very well, then." Kael said as he stepped in the circle

"In the meantime, I will give you the instructions while you are conducting the ritual, Kael'thas." Detheroc instructed

Barrens Outpost, Kalimdor

An hour after the events of Theramore, the rest of the Kalimdor inhabitant have been informed. Horde officers, including Thrall, were already in the outpost they had all made to maintain control over the area of Ahn'Qiraj

"You're not serious..." Alleria muttered after her youngest sister told her of what happened. "Turalyon was a dreadlord? How? Arator..." she said quickly. While she was keeping a surprised face, part of her just broke. The Legion has just taken her family from her and now, she finally understood why Turalyon was acting different. Alleria just stood there in shock until eventually, she finally broke down. Her sisters were quick to comfort her

"How is this even possible? Did the Scourge not check if any of them were possessed? I thought Illidan had that capability?" Khadgar pointed out

"Maybe Illidan is in league with the Legion. After all, he is part demon." Thrall wondered aloud. That was a very strong possibility since the night elves did call him the Betrayer. "Shandris, what do you think?" he asked, turning to the night elf in the room

"I am not certain about that theory." Shandris answered after thinking about it. "The thing is, if Illidan was in league with the Legion, why would he help us in the battle at Mount Hyjal? He should have just killed Malfurion and the rest of us. During that battle, we were too distracted in fending off the demons that Illidan had a very wide opening in casting a spell that would kill us all and we wouldn't even suspect a thing." she pointed out. The demon hunter still remained a prime suspect but all evidence went against the theory. "I think what is going on is something that even Illidan had missed. The only question is what?"

Despite sharing the pain that her sister was going through, Sylvanas knew that there was something much larger going on. "There is something all of us are ignoring." she spoke up, getting even Alleria's attention. "We can figure out if whether or not Illidan is the one responsible for this later. Hell, we can even afford to ignore that Kael'thas has sided with the Burning Legion. The question we need to ask is where did the dreadlord go and what are they doing?" the ranger general pointed out. She then looked at the Horde Warchief. "Thrall, didn't you mention before that you sent some emissaries to the Scourge in the hopes for an agreement?" she asked and he merely nodded. "What did they say?"

"Surprisingly, the Scourge didn't drive the emissaries out. They didn't give any information. All they said is that they would inform us if they would move against Ahn'Qiraj." Thrall answered

In the meantime, millions of thoughts run through Alleria's mind. She wasn't even paying attention to what was being said. Her grief grew more when Sylvanas stood up to speak but she was soon reminded why her little sister was chosen to be the ranger general, she had a better grip on her emotions than Alleria herself did. The eldest Windrunner knew that she should join the conversation but couldn't bring herself to. She was very grateful that Vereesa was there for her otherwise her breakdown would be much worse

"I still don't trust them." Arthas said upon hearing Thrall's response. "I mean, Illidan does things without even telling us his plans. He has proven that we are not his enemies but he doesn't want us in the way so why would he even bother telling us when he would move with his plans?"

"You're taking this off topic, Arthas." Sylvanas said, almost as if reprimanding him. "That Old God can wait. Vol'jin, is the barrier you mentioned still there?" she asked

"Indeed it is. Da barrier's strength has never waned ever since we first discovered it." Vol'jin answered

"That's good for us. We can focus on the Legion for now." Sylvanas said

"I think it is safe to assume that the Legion has had another gateway in this world all this time." Thrall said thoughtfully. "Out of all the places in the world, I would guess that it would be in the Broken Isles when you consider that the Scourge has a significant presence there."

Throughout the whole conversation, Velen remained quiet. He had been in the outpost but chose not to speak his own thoughts as he had a very good idea on who was responsible so he just continued to listen. 'The way this has been happening, this is without a doubt Kil'jaeden's doing. But how? Could that whole event in Outland been planned by him?' he wondered to himself, knowing full well how cunning the Deceiver could be

"At any rate, should we alert the Scourge about this?" Jaina asked curiously

"I don't think it really matters either way. The Scourge will soon know about this but yes, try to send a familiar, Jaina. Let's not take the chance." Sylvanas answered. 'There is also the fact that the Legion was the one who created the Scourge. It stands to reason that they must have come up with something that would evade even their own creations. If that's the case, then that would explain how the dreadlord was able to evade even Illidan's sights, assuming that he got them from the Legion.' she thought but chose not to voice it since it really didn't matter. How the Legion managed to sneak here was irrelevant at this point

Tomb of Sargeras

Around two hours since Mal'ganis and the others arrived in the Tomb, Kael finally succeeded in breaking the seals. As expected, the illusion spell was instantly dispelled and a portal flared to life. The shades in the vicinity immediately saw what was going on and alerted their outpost. However, it was too late as fel guards already began pouring out of the portal. Not only that, the portal was also growing in power which proved to Kael that the Legion had truly been planning this for a long time

Outside the tomb, the Scourge were completely surprised. All their eyes inside the Tomb were suddenly gone with the last thing they saw were demons coming out of a portal

"What the hell is going on?!" Olrun said when she was informed that they lost eyes within

"How did the Legion managed to sneak under our noses?!" Ymiron said in frustration. "We have to go inside the Tomb and stop this before it becomes a full blown invasion."

"This is a really bad time for Maiev to have gone back." Varedis said as they all assembled a group and went inside the Tomb

The Scourge was already aware of the path which would lead to the lowest level and as expected, there were already lots of demons within the tomb

"Kill them all!" Ymiron ordered and they got into a battle

In the middle of the battle, Detheroc and Mal'ganis hid in the shadows. As they expected, the lesser demons were slowly being defeated but while they were distracted, the dreadlords took this chance and blindsided the undead commanders, killing them instantly. They did however, leave the demon hunter alive and bound him in chains

"Caria? Is that you? Why?" Varedis demanded to know. He never had the best relationship with his sister but he never imagined that she would ever side with the Burning Legion

"Because the Legion offers me so much more than anyone else." Caria answered simply. It soon became clear that this was about power for her, just like with Kael'thas, which her brother figured the only reason would be. "Don't kill him. He is my family and I think families should stick together."

Detheroc was annoyed at her statement. "You are in no position to give us orders, elf." he reminded her. "But you may have a point." he said and grinned at the demon hunter. "Do you know what the flaw of your kind is?" he asked but Varedis simply glared at him. "If you don't have any actual experience, that power will be your undoing. Illidan was a special case but none of you are him." he pointed out and with Mal'ganis, they began casting a spell upon the demon hunter and after a while, they included his sister in the ritual

Back at the lowest level, the portal was rapidly growing stronger. More powerful demons such as doom guards, succubi and the Legion's constructs such as infernals and fel reavers entered

As Kael was observing the demons enter the world, a voice soon spoke directly to his head

'Hear me, Kael'thas Sunstrider.' the voice said, nearly deafening the prince. 'I am Sargeras, the lord and master of the Burning Legion, and I need your help.' he said and made a part of the walls glow for an instant. 'What you have just witnessed is the true gateway for us and I need you to fully open it otherwise Illidan Stormrage would just stop this invasion.'

Upon receiving further instructions, the portal received even more power from the other side and Kael directed it to what Sargeras had shown. The very walls of the Tomb then began to glow fel green and slowly rising to the top. After about half an hour, a large powerful beam of fel energy shot up from the Tomb's roof and into the sky

The beam of fel energy soon began creating a very large tornado of pure fel energy, a fel storm so to speak. The fel energy soon began to swirl around and more infernals began to rain down from the sky, this time accompanied by a large number of the Legion's flyers. In only a matter of minutes, the Scourge outpost that was guarding the Tomb was almost completely destroyed

'You have done well, Kael'thas Sunstrider.' Sargeras spoke when his forces have decimated the Scourge's. 'Walk through the portal and receive your just reward.' he ordered and in the lowest level of the Tomb, the high elf obeyed

Sargeras' voice soon thundered outside the Tomb. "Let the unraveling of this world commence!"

And so it begins, the invasion of the Burning Legion. As for how this actually happened, there were clues to this already earlier in the story but like with the other unclear stuff thus far, there will be detailed explanation much later. I based this one on the Tomb of Sargeras audio book where WoD Gul'dan was instructed by Kil'jaeden to break the seals only this time, it was Kael'thas and it was Detheroc who gave the instructions. There were five seals that were needed to be broken and the same goes for this story. The only thing that's changed is that the Legion was prepared for the Pillars being destroyed. I'm not a hundred percent sure if in the canon, the Pillars is what those seals were but in this one, they merely harness it

As it was mentioned in one of the previous chapters, this type of invasion was not what Kil'jaeden had intended so I changed the final line of the chapter to be said by Sargeras instead. This is his whole idea after all

I didn't go into much details about how the Pillars came into the Scourge's possession. I didn't really feel like writing much of it so I just gave a summary of how they were found. It was far more efficient for me than dedicating an entire chapter just for the retrieval of those especially since they were hidden underground and not guarded by anyone

If it wasn't clear enough already, Detheroc is that unknown individual that has been popping up from time to time since Northrend's destruction. Also, don't read too much about what he muttered about the Demon Hunters. That was just some nonsense I put in for the dramatics

Lastly, remember when I said there will be a really dark moment? That is literally the only reason why I mentioned Arator before. He is nothing more than to turn Turalyon into a Dreadlord. Again, that will only be mentioned much later. While this is pretty dark, this really shouldn't come as a surprise as Kil'jaeden did corrupt Velen's son after all and this whole thing is mostly Kil'jaeden's idea so it just adds up