Victory At All Costs.
The roar of anger the Dark Titan let out followed them out of the tower of Karazhan, their ears ringing as they stepped on to the damp gravel outside the forboding structure.
"What now?" Alleria panted as the doors to Karazhan slammed shut. "The Legion no longer control it; we indirectly helped the Alliance push the demons back on all fronts…"
"We still need to close the portal." Jaina interrupted, summoning refreshments for them which they greedily accepted.
"He was right though," Vereesa noted with a mouthful of manabread. "They'll just come back again after we close the portal, they'll never stop trying to destroy this world."
"Is there…" Sylvanas began before she froze mid-sentence.
Uther realised he was the only one who was not frozen in place, even the cold wind and ceased, and he was left in a vacuum of silence.
"You stand at a crossroads, Lightbringer." A familiar voice stated, and Uther turned to see Nozdormu standing a short distance away. "The fabric of time and space are wound around you; your actions will decide the fate of not only your world, but all worlds."
"I don't understand," he furrowed his brow and cautiously approached the Timeless One. "Why does everything depend on me?"
"This timeline should never have been, it is an aberration in the fabric of reality," Nozdormu said, slowly circling him as sand swirled around them both. "And now its existence is leading to the destruction of other timelines, if it is not solved soon then the destruction will continue until all that is left is the void."
They were now standing in the centre of a whirling orb of sand, blocking out everything beyond it.
"Where did it all go wrong? What caused this aberration?" he asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
The sands parted partially, and he watched from afar as his younger self grasped the hilt of Frostmourne before Arthas could.
"It is too late to simply go back and prevent yourself from journeying to Northrend, by your actions as the Lich King you have connected this timeline to the true course of history," the great golden dragon explained, answering the question Uther's mind immediately raised. "I have borne witness to several thousand possible outcomes for you and your timeline, and nearly all of them end in death for all reality."
Uther realised where Nozdormu was leading the conversation.
"What would you have me do?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They headed east, meeting up with the armies of Kalimdor and the Draenei as they were pushing into the Swamp of Sorrows, through a chasm carved by Therazane's earthen kin. At the edge of the lake where the sunken temple of Atal'Hakkar lay was where the heroes were reunited with Thrall, Gromm, and Tyrande again, while Yrel was welcomed back into her people's fold.
"Thrall, your arm!" Jaina breathed, staring at his stony stump.
"It's nothing Jaina, a small sacrifice for my people's survival." He dismissed her worries, before embracing her. "I thank the spirits that you're alive and well."
"We recieved word as we pushed through Redridge that Stormwind still stands, with the armies of Khaz Modan moving through Elwynn towards the Vale," Tyrande informed them, her eyes seeming fixed on the temple stonework poking out of the calm green lake. "It saddens me to inform you of Varian's passing."
"What?"
"Apparently he fell defending the ruins of Goldshire," Gromm told them, showing surprising compassion for the fallen human. "A true warrior's death."
"Where's Cairne?" Vereesa asked, noticing the great bull's absence.
"He too fell in battle," Tyrande hung her head, "His son now leads the Tauren in this fight, his heroism has inspired them to fight on."
They all bowed their head and observed a moment's silence for the two fallen leaders, who had also been their friends.
"Their heroism shall inspire us as well." Uther said with pride, calling on the Light to bless their fallen friends and give strength to their arms. "The Legion's time on Azeroth draws to a close, let us not tarry a moment longer."
"For the Alliance!" Gromm roared, raising his axe above his head and charging towards the pass into the Blasted Lands.
Hellscream's war cry was echoed by all who heard it, and as more and more took up the call, the feeling around them became increasingly hopeful and confident.
"We stand with Azeroth!" A tall male Draenei proudly proclaimed, as Yrel escorted him over to the heroes.
"This is the leader of our forces in this fight, Exarch Akama," she introduced them to her fellow Draenei. "Exarch, these are the heroes who I've been helping stop the Legion's agents."
"We know the pain of losing our homeworld, it is not one we will not allow to fester here," Akama said defiantly.
"When this is all over, your people are welcome to call this world your home as well," Tyrande put a hand on his shoulder.
"Then we shall fight to earn our home on this world." he smiled, before they all turned and marched towards the forboding southern sky.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As the sickly green hues of the swamp gave way abruptly to the blackened soil and sulphurous air of the Blasted Lands, their quickened march ground to a crawl as the Kal'dorei and Draenei forces clashed with the dug in demonic defences.
"Krona ki cristorr!" Akama belowed, spurring his people to fight harder as the demons seemed to form ranks at their advance.
Uther stopped and closed his eyes, muttering a silent prayer to the Light as battle raged all around him.
"Light, give me strength" he said to himself as he tried to block out everything but his connection to the holy energy within him. "To shatter these vile demon's hold on my world, so we may begin to heal at last."
"Pheta vi acahachi!" Yrel echoed in her native tongue, and Uther felt a warmth envelop him moments later.
He focused on the warmth, drawing it into him until he felt like he was burning, before casting it out in all directions, channeling it into every ally he could.
"The Light is with us!" a cry went up from somewhere nearby, and Uther felt his heart lift to know that they were not alone.
Demons still flowed out of the portal without relent, and from several smaller portals dotted around it, which were being held open by red-skinned kin of the Draenei, but it was clear to every member of the Alliance grand army that their efforts were in vain; the demonic hordes were now the ones being overwhelmed on all fronts.
To the south the Troll Empire had reclaimed Stranglethorn and were pressing up the coast with their ships protecting them all the way. Along the eastern shore the skips of the Kul Tiran fleet ceaslessly bombarded the coast with cannon fire, their ships protected from counterattacks by the Tidehunter himself.
Along the western edge of the Blasted Lands Dark Iron drilling machines and Earthen Elementals had created cavourness tunnels for the armies of Lordaeron, Khaz Modan, Silvermoon, and Gnomeregan to charge on to the battlefield. Even the skies were pressing down on the Burning Legion and resticting their movements. Al'Alkir commanded the winds to aid the gyrocopters, wyverns, gryphons, and hippogryphs, and send any infernal orb smashing into the legion's lines and not the Alliance's. And from the north came the final armies of Azeroth; the Tauren, Kal'dorei, Orcs, Draenei and fire elementals, clearing the way for the Titan creations of Ulduar to begin appearing from their teleport pads again.
"We cannot lose!" Gromm cheered.
"We have won nothing until those portals are closed once and for all!" Alleria chided him, shouldering her bow after loosing her last arrow. "But even cornered as they are, their numbers are without end. We need to clear a path so we can stem the tide at its source, else we shall find ourselves fighting upon a rising tide of corpses."
Uther stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes, ignoring the soldiers shouldering past as he calmly rested his mace on the ground and brought his hands together over the pommel in prayer.
"What are you doing?" Saurfang growled.
"Praying for our salvation." He said calmly.
"Age has addled his mind!" an Orc laughed, before being cut down by a Felguard.
"Do you fear we cannot win?" Jaina fretted, casting a wall of ice to protect Uther from harm while he prayed, before noticing something in his fingers. "Wait... You're not..."
Her question was answered seconds later by a deafening roar, even over the sounds of battle cries, blood-curdling screams, and weapons clashing. The clouds parted to reveal the five Dragon Aspects diving down as one, their jaws opening to breathe fire on the demonic hordes that stood in the Alliance's way; the combined fury of the five dragons turned the masses of demons to ashes in an instant, even destroying the subsidiary portals and the Eredar maintaining them.
"Bless the Light!" A Draenei breathed at seeing the winged beasts circling overhead.
"Bless the Aspects." Arthas quipped in response.
"How did you know…" Sylvanas began, but he just smiled at her and picked up his mace, the pendant Alexstrasza had given him so long ago wrapped around his wrist.
The dragon fire cleared a path for the armies of Azeroth to surge forward on all fronts, and with only the Dark Portal still active the flow of demons had been greatly diminished; the Aspects circled and maintained a wall of fire around the swirling vortex, essentially bottling the Legion in the crater. With the Legion's forces contained within the crater, the Aspect's flames, and Al'Akir's lightning clouds, the armies of the Alliance were able to fully unite and gather, their leaders meeting where not that long ago the heroes had been forced to retreat and rally the factions to face the foe thy were on the verge of banishing from their world.
"We made it!" Gromm cheered, and many soldiers from every race cheered with him.
"The portal remains open," Jaina breathed, wiping black blood from her face, feeling it gluing locks of her hair together. "We still need to close it."
"How do we do that?" Bane asked, shouldering his way to the front to stand with the rest of the leaders.
"We use this," Jaina withdrew the Spellbook of Medivh from within her robes.
"And this," Tyrande held out the Skull of Gul'dan. "I believe the last time the portal was closed it required both artefacts to complete the ritual."
"It did, though I may need assistance in casting the spell as I doubt I am strong enough alone," Jaina leafed through the pages until she found the ritual.
"It's not that simple," Uther said slowly, knowing the time had come. "If we simply close the portal as Kadghar did last time, history will repeat itself and the Legion will return again in the future. We must ensure that Sargeras learns that Azeroth will never yield to him, and to try again will end the same as it has last time and this time."
"And how exactly do you plan to ensure the Mad Titan learns this lesson?" Illidan sneered.
"What are you suggesting Uther?" Arthas asked, looking into his old mentor's face.
-AN-
Apologies for the extremely long delay, but as I'm sure many else experienced, the past two years have been VERY busy for me, and while I have written several new stories sporadically, I neglected to finish this story.
THere are only a couple chapters left, and I will try to get them out by the end of the month, if not the end of the year. :P
NilioJ13