Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
Ten Days Later
Great Dark Beyond
As with what Illidan said, a small group of Scourge warriors were on board the Paraxis as it made its way towards Nathreza, the dreadlord's homeworld. Even though most of the Scourge was been wipe out, all that was really needed for this were the demon hunters. Their objective was simply to head directly to the planet's main citadel, the Hall of Nightmares, where the Legion's records lie waiting. Given that Argus itself was completely annihilated, there was the possibility that the demons have destroyed the records but Illidan still chose to pursue this objective in the event that the Legion didn't or that they are unaware of their master's fate
The Scourge chose to fly towards Nathreza on a gunship in the event Nathreza had some sort of magical detection that would alert the leadership of whoever remained on the planet that someone had infiltrated them through a portal. In order to achieve their objective, their plan was to isolate the citadel from the rest of the world and transport all the records to the Paraxis using a spell that was based off the Eye of Aman'thul's ability to create portals. Thanks to the information they extracted from their prisoners, they had a very good idea on the size of the citadel and the room of records. Over the last days, Illidan had also gathered the souls of the fallen, both his own and of his allies in the Broken isles, so that he can use them to completely destroy the world once they have what they came for
As the Paraxis exited Azeroth's atmosphere to being their journey towards Nathreza, Vashj walked towards the top deck, looking in awe of the Great Dark. When she was younger, much younger, she had always wondered what the space beyond Azeroth looked like however, things changed for her and Vashj's first trip into another world was not how she imagined it would go
Tha naga had opted to come with since she still wanted to keep an eye on Illidan. He may be back to full strength but she wasn't about to wait for him to return when she could simply go with. Not only that, she had also enjoyed fighting by his side. When they were defending the portal to Elunaria, they worked perfectly in sync and were able to coordinate their attacks without even so much as a word escaping their lips, as if they had one mind. As Vashj was observing the Great Dark, Tyrande walked up to her
"Vashj." Tyrande called out
Vashj turned around and saw the priestess walking towards her. "Oh, it's you Tyrande." she greeted
"Mind if I join you?" Tyrande asked and Vashj merely nodded. "Outer space, I've always wondered what it looks like."
"That makes two of us." Vashj agreed as she went back to staring. "Since we're talking about it, I was originally thinking of exploring other worlds if the war didn't happen so long ago." she said. When she was told about what happened to Illidan after the War of the Ancients, Vashj was completely furious at the night elves. However, her lover had convinced her that at this point, it really didn't matter and that no matter what they did to their former people, it will not change anything. That conversation is what allowed her to be civil with the priestess right now
"I would have liked to help with that if my priestess duties wouldn't take up too much of my time." Tyrande said before looking at the naga. "It would also have been nice to meet you under better circumstances. I was always curious who was the one Illdan held dear to him."
Vashj raised an eyebrow at Tyrande's words. "Wait, you knew about us?"
"Not exactly." Tyrande answered. "Illidan has been a childhood friend of mine and since he went to the palace, he seemed happier than before. After the war, his behavior changed. I thought it was just my imagination. He never mentioned anything about that."
"I'm not surprised. Up until Illidan joined the resistance, we never really got together and he was very careful not to reveal it to anyone." Vashj responded. "And I'm guessing you've been with Malfurion since your younger years."
"Yeah, we have. Even before, we just clicked together naturally." Tyrande said, recalling old memories while they observed the gunship moving at a steady speed
"Which reminds me..." Vashj trailed off. "Why did you and Malfurion come with us anyway? I thought you would be occupied with cleansing Ashenvale from the Nightmare's corruption?"
"We were but..." Tyrande said hesitantly. "After the War of the Ancients, Malfurion was the one who condemned Illidan to his imprisonment and during the invasion a year ago, both of us exiled him when he became a demon. Surprisingly, he didn't object and ultimately, he's the one responsibile for all of our survival. They did end the bad blood between them but they never truly reconciled. As such, I suggested to Malfurion to take this opportunity to reconcile with his brother."
"What about you?" Vashj asked and Tyrande looked at her questioningly. "You said both of you exiled him. You don't plan to reconcile with him yourself."
"Actually, we already had after Xavius was killed." Tyrande revealed to her
"Oh I see." Vashj replied. "That was actually a good idea in all honesty. I can tell you for a fact that Illidan wouldn't even bother to reconcile like ever."
Tyrande let out a small chuckle. "You know him very well. Illidan really had no plans. When he came to Ashenvale after the Nightmare, he went straight to see what Xavius did with the Well."
Contrary to her expections, Tyrande was actually a very friendly person. Vashj wasn't sure if this was a ruse but she has enjoyed their conversation. She also couldn't think of why Tyrande would only pretend to deceive her when there is nothing the priestess would gain by doing so
The priestess noticed the naga's silence and grew curious. "Is something wrong, Vashj?"
This brought Vashj out of her suspicions. "It's nothing. I'm just glad that the worst of all this is finally over."
"You have a point there. Ever since Deathwing's death, these constant back to back battles were tiring. It was almost like there would be no end to them." Tyrande said before looking at the naga and waiting for her to do the same. She spoke when Vashj finally did. "You and Illidan should come visit Ashenvale once we have cleansed the corruption."
"If I know Illidan, he's going to focus about learning as much about the Old Gods' power." Vashj said. She kind of regretted the fact that despite having been under their control, she didn't bother to study their powers. "But, I'll try to convince him as best I can." she said with a smile
The two continued to chat for a while but after around half an hour of flying through the Great Dark, a portal opened some distance away from the Paraxis. When the gunship entered the portal, its speed increased to over ten times what it was previously moving at
On the bridge, the demon hunters, Kel'thuzad, and some val'kyrs, seven of them, observed as the Paraxis moved through the Twisting Nether. Despite the incredible speed, Nathreza was light years away so getting there would take a while. Agatha didn't come on this journey as she had to take care of what remained of their forces on Azeroth and utilizing the Fel Hammer to hunt down the remaining demons
"Matron Mother Malevolence, are you sure this is the right direction?" Asha asked suspiciously
"It is. You will recognize Nathreza almost immediately when you see it. The world's concentration of fel is almost as high as Argus'." Malevolence answered
"Why did we bring her along again?" Kayn asked, not at all comfortable with the shivarra
"Because if she's lying, we'll let her float endlessly in the Great Dark." Kor'vas answered. It was her idea to make the shivarra miserable if she lied
"Oh please, demon hunters." Malevolance said, offended. "As I said before, I was already planning to split from the Burning Legion along with the other shivarra that you killed on Elunaria."
"We shall see about that." Illidan said before turning to the one piloting the ship. "Illysanna, how close are we?"
"We're almost there. At the speed we're going, we should arrive in less than an hour." Illysanna responded
"That's only at most. I think we'll get there sooner than that." Maiev said, herself helping Illysanna fly the gunship
"Already? But it hasn't been that long since we left Azeroth." Malfurion commented in surprise
"These gunships were created specifically to travel across the stars at incredible speeds, night elf." Malevolence answered. "Normally, the gunship would have gone at top speed but Nathreza is in the Twisting Nether and not in the Great Dark. As such, all that was needed was for it to gather enough energy to create a portal into the Nether. Here, any gunship would have its top speed multiplied by over ten times and it travels faster than it would in the Great Dark."
"Then that means Nathreza would be so far away if we travelled at the regular speed." Malfurion said and the shivarra confirmed his assumption
"Kel'thuzad, once we get there, you will remain on the gunship. Keep an eye on the shivarra. If she tries something, kill her." Illidan ordered
"Yes, my king." Kel'thuzad responded
Illidan nodded and walked to the doors of the bridge to prepare for their attack. Stealth was an absolute priority as they didn't have that many warriors. The demon hunters could hold their own against multiple enemies but they didn't want to take any unnecessary risk. Like with Malygos, Illidan was more than capable of creating an invisibility spell that would bypass the Legion's magics. He had an even easier time doing this since he is a demon after all. While the Lich King was headed to another room of the gunship, his brother approached him
"Illidan, can I speak with you for a minute?" Malfurion asked
"What is it?" Illidan replied but unlike most of their conversations since the War of the Ancients ended, there was no trace of anger or hatred in his voice
When his brother spoke, Malfurion noticed the difference in his tone. It made him feel somewhat relieved but didn't want to dwell on it. "I just wanted to apologize for the way I treated you." the druid said, much to Illidan's surprise. "You were right, all this time. Unlike the rest of everyone on Azeroth, you were the only one who was thinking ahead. While I wish circumstances were different, I am glad that I was wrong about you."
Illidan was caught off guard at what Malfurion had said. After everything that has happened, he never expected that they would have this kind of conversation. Not knowing what else to say, he decided to change the topic. "Why did you come with us anyway? You know there is a good chance you won't be able to use your powers, right?"
Malfurion smiled at this. "It's the least I can do. For far too long, we've had nothing but bad blood for each other. It's time I proved I truly am sorry with something more than words alone."
Before their conversation could go any futher, Illysanna had said that they were already at the space outside Nathreza. It did come as a surprise that Malevolence did not lie about it. Illidan then ordered the demon hunters and the few val'kyr they brought with them to the top deck. Malfurion also came with them and up top, they saw Vashj and Tyrande looking at another world occupied by the Burning Legion, or what remains of them
"Alright, everyone already knows what they should do and where to go." Illidan said and everyone nodded. "Move out."
The rest of their forces then took to the skies leaving behind only two val'kyrs, one of which picked up Maiev and carried her onto the planet's surface
"We should get going too." Vashj said
Illidan then picked her up and flew straight towards the world's main citadel. The other val'kyr then picked up Tyrande and did the same. While he couldn't use most of his powers, Malfurion still had his transformation abilities and transformed into some kind of raven and followed them. When they arrived at the citadel, they quickly secured the outer areas, making sure to hide or destroy the bodies of any demon guards they find. Unlike many other structures that counts as a stronghold, the Hall of Nightmares was smaller. It's size was less than half of that of the Black Temple in Outland
The other demon hunters and val'kyrs went to different areas of Nathreza and placed the soul bombs, explosives that were designed to recreate the destruction of Argus and used the souls of the fallen as a power source. However, since none of them were Sargeras, the effects of these bombs would be nowhere near as powerful but with multiple of them, it will be enough to destroy Nathreza completely
After killing all of the guards, Illidan's group found a window from which they can subtly break and enter. He then gave the signal that the citadel guards were dead and when the demon hunters finished with their tasks, they headed to the Hall of Nightmares and found different areas they could enter whether it was an easily breakable window or a door outside. The moment all of them finally arrived, they all burst into the citadel at the same time. They were very careful not to let a single demon alert the others that they have been breached. All of them quietly secured the citadel and rendezvoused at the Vault of Conquests where the records lie await
"Clear." Illysanna said when they regrouped
"Very well then." Illidan replied. "Allari, stay up top and keep an eye. If you see a group of demons heading this way, tell us but do not engage and make sure that they can only enter through the main doors." he ordered and said person nodded and left. "The rest of us, prepare these records for transportation. If you find any records relating to the Old Gods or their magics, make sure to prioritize them." he ordered and nobody hesitated to listen. Illidan himself began searching as well
Up top, Allari was on watch duty and a little over an hour after securing the citadel. Things had been pretty quiet but she didn't let her guard down. She was somewhat curious what was taking so long but then again, there was a whole lot of records for them to take. It was only now that she saw a group of demons heading towards the citadel
'Illidan, trouble.' Allari said telepathically. 'There are about twenty demons heading your way. By the looks of things, they're just ordinary demons. Not a single one have some sort of fancy armor or something and they seem to be unaware of what is happening.'
'Alright. Stay there and keep an eye on the surroundings. I'll deal with these demons.' Illidan replied and turned to the rest. "Stay here. More demons are coming." he said and left
"Illidan wait..." Malfurion said but his brother already left. "Damn it." he cursed and followed him
Vashj was about to follow them but Maiev stopped her
"Don't, Vashj." Maiev said. "I want to see what those two are going to do."
The demons were still making their way to the citadel. What the Scourge didn't know is that the dreadlords who rule Nathreza in Tichondrius' stead had their own life force synced into the world itself. When they were killed, the rest of the world's inhabitants were made aware that something was wrong but it did not outright tell them that their leadership has been killed. The demons who were heading there now was only meant to check up on the leadership
As soon as this small group of demons entered the citadel, they were quickly slaughtered by Illidan. The demons didn't know what hit them. The demon hunter killed half of them before they were even able to react while the rest fell shortly thereafter. Those that were able to react were completely outmatched and Illidan was far too fast for them and the shock from the ambush made them more vulnerable. With nothing else left to do, Illidan decided to stand guard at the main doors. He wasn't at all surprised that they were taking this long since the Legion is as old or even older than Azeroth itself
A few minutes later, a large group of demons were heading their way and Allari spotted them from her vantage point. 'Illidan, more trouble. A large group of demons is heading your way. I think they're aware of what is happening.'
'I see. The ones from earlier must have only been a scouting unit. Make sure that one one can enter the building from other entrances.' Illidan theorized. 'Illysanna, Kor'vas, how much longer?'
'We've got most out of here already. Only the technology of the Legion remains. It shouldn't take us much longer.' Illysanna replied
'Finish it.' Illidan said before cutting off the connection. As Allari suspected, the demons were aware. When they came into view, they were immediately shooting projectiles at the citadel. The Lich King summoned the Flamereaper blades and prepared to fight them
Malfurion noticed this and despite being mostly powerless, prepared to fight the demons with his brother as they once did during the War of the Ancients. "I'll fight with you, Illidan. You won't face them alone."
Illidan smiled at this and handed a sword from a fallen fel guard to his brother. "Then, let's do this."
Back at the Vault, the others were finishing up right when the building shook slightly. Maiev knew what was happening and quickly blinked away before anyone could ask
"What's happening?" Tyrande asked worriedly
"There can only be one reason why." Illysanna said. "The demons found out what is going on."
"Illidan..." Vashj muttered, worried about him. "Get the rest through that portal, now." she ordered before running to the main entrance
"Vashj wait." Tyrande said but the naga was already gone. She decided to go as well since Malfurion was with Illidan after all and the rest just pushed the remaining records through a portal which led to the Paraxis. While the two were running to the entrance, they suddenly found Maiev just standing there. "Maiev, what the hell are you doing? Why aren't you...?" the priestess asked but she found her answer when she and Vashj followed the warden's line of sight
"A sight I thought I'd never see." Maiev answered as the three of them observed Illidan and Malfurion working together to fend off the demons. Like with the warden, both Vashj and Tyrande stayed their hand
By now, Illidan had raised a few corpses of the demons but didn't do much more. He had his undead demons keep the constructs busy as he really didn't want to fight them. However, the demons weren't even able to get past him and his brother. Even though fighting directly was something he wasn't good at, Malfurion was able to hold his own since he did know basic combat although he was nowhere near the level of someone like Shandris, Sylvanas and especially Illidan. However, the difference between their fighting abilities was being shown. For every three demons Illidan killed, Malfurion would have killed only one
The difference did not impair the brothers in the slightest. When Malfurion was having trouble fighting a demon, all he did was lure his enemy close to Illidan who would then finish the demon off and at the same time, Malfurion would kill the one his brother was fighting which meant that they would swap enemies without even saying a word. The two has been repeating this pattern ever since the first demons arrived and it has been incredibly successful. After Malfurion killed a couple fel guards and Illidan killed a small group of shivarras, some of the eredar sorcerers summoned some lesser demons but in large numbers. In response, the Lich King decided to keep them busy by raising more of the bodies
The Stormrage brothers, after killing a few of the lesser demons such as wrathguards or imps, soon found themselves surrounded. The two were aware that Maiev and their lovers were just watching but didn't let it bother them and instead, they wound up doing something that nobody would ever expect given their history. As they were putting some distance between them and the demons, Illidan and Malfurion ended up back to back with each other. Neither of the brothers expected this themselves as they glanced at their backs when they bumped into each other. As the demons charged at them, Illidan jumped behind one of the wrathguards while slicing off its head while Malfurion threw the sword of another fallen demon at its living comrades. This gave the druid the opening he needed to kill one of them before dodging to kill another
The lesser demons were very uncoordinated and would sometimes end up getting in each other's way. Illidan took full advantage of this by simply going in between multiple demons and just dodging their attacks which would sometimes cause them to hit one another and allowed him to finish them off. Malfurion had a much more difficult time since he wasn't as agile as his brother and suffered some wounds although none of them were severe. The druid was forced to move back and to his surprise, his enemies were bloodlusted and some of them attacked one another. Malfurion took advantage of this by killing the remaining demons while they got distracted. The brothers were about to engage more demons but Vashj spoke
'Illidan, we got what we came for. Let's get out of here already.' Vashj said
'Alright.' Illidan said before releasing a large pulse of necromantic energies which raised all of the corpses. "Malfurion, we're done here. Let's go back." he said and his brother led the way back to the citadel. They were greeted by the three girls who watched them before they continued towards the Vault where a portal to the Paraxis was waiting. Illidan was the last to go through and found everyone who took part already onboard so he closed the portal. The gunship then flew to a safe distance. "Activate the soul bombs." he ordered and a few minutes later, a large explosion was visible through the darkness
"That should have reduced Nathreza to space dust." Kor'vas commented before turning to her best friend. "Illysanna, does this thing have something that can be used to scan areas around it?"
"I'm not exactly sure to be honest." Illysanna answered thoughtfully
Malevolence then approached her. "Allow me." she said and began pressing the controls. Illysanna made sure to keep a very close eye on what the shivarra was doing. Malevolence surprised them once more since she just activated the gunship's targetting systems and used it to observe the explosion. "We have succeeded. Nathreza has been completely destroyed." she said as she showed what the targetting systems saw
"That's three times now that you haven't double crossed us." Allari commented and turned to their leader who nodded. "You may yet earn a place at our table, Malevolence."
"Enough of that." Illidan said. "Get us back to Azeroth as soon as possible." he ordered and Illysanna had the gunship fly at full speed. He then spared a glance at his brother who did the same
In another part of the bridge, Vashj and Tyrande observed the interaction between the two
"Well, there's something I thought I'd never see." Tyrande whispered to her new friend
"Tell me about it." Vashj whispered back. "After hearing what happened between them, I never thought I would live to see the day that they would fight back to back with each other."
Azeroth, One Hour Later
Exiting the Twisting Nether, the Paraxis reduced speed as it approached Azeroth. The gunship flew towards Lordamere Lake where the Fel Hammer was hovering. Since all of their strongholds were in ruins, the Fel Hammer, being the larger gunship, was being used as the Scourge's main base of operations for now. They would have taken the two night elves back to Ashenvale but both Tyrande and Malfurion wanted to spend some time with them and listen to what they have found. Throughout their journey back, Vashj and Tyrande spent most of it chatting with each other after the priestess healed her lover
Agatha soon flew over from the Fel Hammer onto the Paraxis once the latter hovered next to the former. "I take it you were successful, Illidan?"
Rather than reply, Illidan simply motioned for them to head to the storage room where the records were kept. While they were on the way back from Nathreza, the Kel'thuzad and the other demon hunters been tasked with skimming the records for anything concerning the Old Gods. Since the demon hunters couldn't read thanks to their spectral sight, Kel'thuzad had instead casted a spell which allowed made the records' contents appear magical so that they could see it
"What have you found out, Kel'thuzad?" Illidan asked
"This might be something you would not expect when you think about the Old Gods." Kel'thuzad replied and took out a couple records. His master then motioned for him to mention his findings. "Apparently, in the beginning, there were only two forces, both made out of pure energy, the Light and the Void, one representing order and creation, the other of chaos and destruction. These sheer amount of raw energy from these two is what allowed two twin realms to be created. The Great Dark Beyond and the Twisting Nether." he explained the origins of everything that exists. "From these energies were creatures born that could harness their power, the Naaru and the Old Gods. According to this, both the Naaru and the Old Gods are born in another dimension where the only thing that exists are the Light and the Void. The energies is what allowed the Naaru and Old Gods to enter this dimension and end up in various worlds. The Naaru exists to spread order across all of creation while the Old Gods are hell bent on bringing that very same creation under their heel. However, while the they do possess a significant amount of power, it is nowhere near what is necessary for their tasks and as such, the Old Gods instead opted to corrupt a titan but found themselves unable to. Instead, they focused on corrupting a titan in its most vulnerable state, when it is still a world soul."
"It adds up. If the Old Gods came from another dimension, they must have jumped from world to world in search for a world soul." Agatha reasoned
"You weren't aware of this, Agatha?" Kor'vas asked
Agatha shook her head. "No one knows where the Old Gods came from. After they have been defeated, the titanforged never bothered to learn about them and just allowed the Old Gods to corrupt them." she answered and turned to the lich. "Have you found anything about the origins of the titans?"
"Not yet." Kel'thuzad answered. "I have only found the ones concerning the Old Gods as they are the very first records the Legion have made. I imagine that they didn't make records about the titans until much later."
"Hold up, would that also mean that the Naaru are as powerful as the Old Gods?" Maiev asked worriedly. The Legion may be defeated but this could be much worse
"No, they are not." Kel'thuzad replied, much to her relief. "From these records, both the Naaru and the Old Gods are not too powerful at all. In fact, even we could just destroy them fairly easily. However, what does matter is their nature. The Naaru are mostly the same as mortals except that they're made out of pure Light energy. The Old Gods are different. They are parasitic creatures that feeds on the ambient energy. Normally, even if they absorb the energy of a random world, they still wouldn't be too much trouble. The problem lies if a world has a nascent titan. It is the titan's own energies that allow the Old Gods to become as powerful as we know them."
"Good to know. At least we won't have to deal with Naarus as powerful as N'zoth." Maiev commented
"That still leaves us with a much bigger problem." Illysanna said. "If the Old Gods can cross to this dimension, there could be even more of them. At this point, I think it is safe to assume that the Burning Crusade has been focused on wiping out the Old Gods but with Sargeras now gone, we have to take responsibility for what we did."
"I agree with you, Illysanna, but I don't think we have to." Vandel said as he was looking at another book. "According to this record, Sargeras found out about the Old Gods and their intention and destroyed the world with the nascent titan in it. When he informed the rest of the Pantheon, he was scorned and he didn't bother to push his point. Sargeras thought that if creation is to be saved, it has to be burned for that is better than seeing everything enslaved so he used the demons he fought before as his own minions."
"Funny." Vashj said in a teasing tone and looking innocently at the ceiling. "Reminds me of someone I know." and those present released a small laugh at her poking fun at Illidan
"Moving on..." Vandel trailed off. "After doing battle with the rest of the Pantheon, Sargeras emerged victorious and he ordered his minions to study an Old God directly. Eventually, they found out how an Old God ticks and using the bodies of the defeated Pantheon, Sargeras cast a spell that would turn all of the Great Dark Beyond and Twisting Nether into lethal poison for both the Old Gods and Naaru. If any of them enters these two realms, they will lose all their power and eventually, they will be reduced to complete nothingness. To ensure the safety of creation, Sargeras used the world souls he destroyed to ensure this spell would last for a long time and as both the Great Dark and Twisting Nether expands, their own expansion would also fuel this spell, effectively ensuring that any Old God or Naaru will die almost immediately and the spell would last for as long as both realms exist." he explained and put the record down. "Apparently, Sargeras didn't care one bit about how the Naaru had similar goals as the rest of his kind, to spread order."
"I can confirm that." Malevolence said, getting everyone's attention. Without her knowledge, Illidan cast a spell that if she would say a lie, they would be made aware. "The shivarra was one of the first races to have joined the Legion even before the eredar did. Sargeras made us aware of what his goals were. Most of the demons didn't care and were content that they could freely slaughter anyone as they pleased while us high ranking demons have agreed to aid him. The spell we used also feeds off the energies off the Great Dark and Twisting Nether. Combined with the world souls we have destroyed, the spell remains as potent to this day as it was when we first came up with it. Given the amount of world souls we have used, Sargeras estimated that this spell will last for all eternity as long as nobody tampers with it." she explained and the lie detection spell did not go off. "During the battle with the Pantheon, Sargeras was informed about Azeroth, a world soul that is far more powerful than just about anyone and at that point, he had his own ideas. He wanted to use Azeroth's power to permanently destroy both the Light and Void once and for all."
"Wouldn't that have dire consequences? I thought that they kept everything in balance." Maiev asked
"It would and Sargeras doesn't seem to particularly care." Kel'thuzad said before flipping more of the book he was holding. "The Light and the Void is the very source of magic itself. If they are destroyed, then magic would cease to exist and consequences could vary to erratic movements of a world to unexplained destruction of one, or worse, cause the Great Dark and the Twisting Nether to collide and many more."
"So, the magic we all wield is just a form of the Light and Void in one way." Kayn said in realization before looking at the shivarra. "Wait, you said that Sargeras was informed by the Pantheon about Azeroth. Does that mean that Azeroth was discovered by the Pantheon after Sargeras left them and that he took a long time before making his decision?" he asked and Malevolence confirmed it
"With that in mind, the magics used by the Old Gods is the Void which represents chaos. That would explain why it appears as pure corruption." Vashj said in realization. "Kel'thuzad, does that thing say if the Void has some side effects if you wield it?"
"None whatsoever. All that is said is that the powers of the Light and the Void are far more potent and that wielding them to great extent would take its toll." Kel'thuzad answered and looked at Illidan. "I would imagine that is why the Alliance never uses it for anything more than healing and why Velen could heal you even though you're a demon."
"Then I guess that settles it. We'll have to study the Light and the Void." Illidan said and looked at his brother and childhood friend. Both night elves have just been listening and chose not to say anything as they didn't want to jump to any hasty conclusions. Neither of them gave a look of disapproval and they simply gave him a look that said they were fine with it. Illidan didn't particularly care about it since he would have done it either way but he was glad they didn't seem to disagree as he didn't really want to argue with them about it
The reason why both Malfurion and Tyrande didn't disapprove is that even after everything that has happened, Illidan cares about Azeroth but in his own way and was willing to do what is necessary if the worst should come to pass, something neither of them would do no matter what
"There is something that's been bothering me since the invasion last year." Tyrande finally joined, getting everyone's attention. "If the gunships could be used for interstellar travel, why didn't the Legion use them to attack us head on?"
"Because entering a world through its atmosphere could disrupt its natural magics and cause cataclysms similar to the Sundering." Malevolence answered
"Alright, now some things don't add up." Illidan spoke upon hearing the shivarra's answer. "If entering through the atmosphere could have unwanted consequences, then how were the draenei able to do just that? Better yet, how did both the Fel Hammer and Paraxis not do anything when we arrived from Argus?"
"The answer to that lies in the design of the ships." Malevolence answered. "The ships that the draenei used were created mostly by the Naaru which meant that it was meant to adapt immediately upon a new world's natural magics. Our gunships however, are different and going through a portal would completely bypass this."
"She's right." Maiev said as she scanned another book. "These are the designs of the gunships. If I'm reading this right, the gunships uses the ambient magic to power its systems which results in it affecting the natural magic." she finished reading. "If that's true, then that means that even both the Fel Hammer and the Paraxis has affected Azeroth's natural magics."
"I suppose that makes sense and that Sargeras really wanted Azeroth as intact as possible." Illidan said thoughtfully. "Even if these two could affect the natural magics, then that can only mean that the effects won't do much unless the gunships are in large numbers."
"Only one way to confirm this though. We'll have to get the designs of the draenei ships and study it for ourselves." Maiev pointed out
"Don't bother with that." Tyrande said, interrupting anyone who would have responded. "We'll just ask Velen. I'm sure he'll tell us."
Illidan simply shrugged since he knew that if Malevolence knew about the draenei ships' designs, then the Legion would have a record of it somewhere in the piles they have stolen
"With all of that said, there's still a whole lot of records for us to go through. We will need proper facilities if we are to go through all of these or conduct any research." Kor'vas commented
"There's still a lot of rebuilding that we'll have to do." Agatha reminded them
"As do we." Tyrande said
Malfurion looked at her. "Tyrande is right. As much as I would like to hang out more, Ashenvale is still heavily corrupted." he said. His brother then ordered the Paraxis to fly to his former home to drop them off
It only took them a few minutes to arrive from Lordamere Lake to Ashenvale. In a clearing, the gunship's boarding docks opened to allow the two night elves to get off
Before they went back to their people, Malfurion looked at his brother. "Illidan, listen. If you ever want to come visit, feel free to do so."
Illidan blinked upon hearing that. He thought he heard wrong but his brother really did just lift his exile. He gave Malfurion and Tyrande a smile before giving a response. "Of course, brother, Tyrande."
Here lies the origins of the Old Gods. I changed this up from the canon as I didn't want to have the Void Lords in this story. If you recall from the previous chapter notes, I wanted this to have a definite ending and there is no way in hell anyone is fighting these things directly. So I decided to remove them completely and rework the origins. Instead, the Void and the Light are just pure energies where everything came from. However, everything else such as how the World Souls came to be and other stuff remains the same. Only the origins of the Old Gods and Naaru are changed
Speaking of change, I also decided to change up the power of the Naaru and the Old Gods. Since I wrote them that they're polar opposites to each other, they have to be equals and in the canon, the Naaru weren't really that strong which was something I wanted to keep. As such, I wrote it that the Old Gods are just equal to the Naaru but feeding themselves with a World Soul's is what allowed them to be how we know them
Another thing I had to change is how the fel and arcane work. Since I had the Light and the Void now take the role of pure order and chaos, the arcane and fel are now just easier versions to use of the originals. Their origins are too complicated for me and I decided that would be the simplest way. They still work the same way they do in the canon and only their origins are changed
The stuff about the gunships is also just another thing I made up. When you think about it, the Legion Ships are said to be able to travel between both the Great Dark Beyond and Twisting Nether so why didn't just the Legion use them to directly invade Azeroth? I just came up with my own reasoning for that although it probably isn't the best one. If the ships can travel between the two then I don't see any reason why they can't travel across one as that would completely ruin the point of a ship in the first place
Origins aside, another reason why I wanted to write this chapter was to give an excuse for Malfurion and Illidan to finally reconcile. In the canon, the two did that at the very last cinematic of the Night Elf campaign in WC3 but that never happened here. One thing that I never liked about that cinematic though is that Illidan was sincere but Malfurion appeared to be he wasn't. So much for being a noble leader. In this version, I had it that they were both willing to reconcile and they were sincere about it. What better way to reconcile Illidan and Malfurion than to have them fight back to back with each other. The inspiration I had for this came from, once more, Transformers Prime. In the season one finale of that show, both Megatron and Optimus were forced to fight back to back although they never reconciled
The Stormrages aside, I also had Tyrande and Vashj spend a small moment with each other. It's not much but they both found a new friend in each other. Since this chapter was mostly about reconciliation, why not add these two as well. I'm not sure how their relationship worked in the canon and I don't particularly care