Hmm… I came to a bit a writer's block with this chapter, but I will press on! How hard can it be anyway?
Whatevs. Let's see what awaits our heroes this episode.
A Wyvern perched in a tree looked down at the ground below. He was eyeing a Twilight's Hammer camp, a small and hastily built one. Below he could see guards, elementals, the usual. But there was a reason this Wyvern was interested in the camp. Below there was a Raptor in chains. An Ogre pulled the beast out of its cage toward a pedestal where the dead remains of a Nether Dragon lay. Magisters were working to siphon the dark energies of the nether from the lifeless corpse. As the Raptor was dragged toward the body, the Wyvern's eyes widened. He quickly leaped from the tree and spread his wings to go tell of what was happening. But out of nowhere, another dragon, this one alive, flew down on the Wyvern. The lion-like beast quickly turned in midair to face the foe. The dragon spewed dark Shadowflame from its maw at the Wyvern. It roared in pain. As a response, he grabbed onto the dragon with its claws, and drove its scorpion-like tail into the dragon's belly. The poison sank deep within the dragon's veins, but did nothing to deter it. Down they fell, the dragon landing on top of the Wyvern. There, it closed its jaws down on the poor Wyvern's neck. While its mane provided some protection, the sharp fangs of the dragon pulled through, and the Wyvern's neck snapped.
"Good," said a cultist watching the fight. "No one is to know of what we do here. And the beast…" He turned to see the raptor, who roared in pain as it's form twisted and deformed. "She shall be our greatest weapon in this forest… This land will burn with the master's power!" Around him, cultists laughed sinisterly, and the raptor's cries were silenced. She closed her eyes, in too much pain to move. She started to levitate as her form began to twist and grow. Her fangs grew, and she grew thorny frills behind her eyelids. She landed. The transformation was complete. She felt nothing in her soul but hate.
She opened her eyes. Only one thing was on her mind. Blood.
She walked up to the body of the dead Wyvern, and swallowed it whole. Another one was in the tree, and watched in horror. It was shrouded in leaves, unlike the other one, and the Dragons didn't spot it. The raptor's nostrils twitched. And it looked at the Wyvern, straight in the eye. She grinned a toothy grin. The Wyvern turned tail, ready to take off, but the raptor was at the base of the tree, biting the trunk, shaking it. The Wyvern fell over, trying to hold onto the branch with its claws. The raptor, the size of a full grown Devilsaur, roared up at it. It whipped the tree with its tail, and the tree toppled over. The Wyvern was crushed under the trees weight.
The Raptor roared, issuing a challenge to anyone who would threaten her new dark masters. Nothing could stop her.
A few hours had passed. Nel and Koro stayed behind at the starting point to wait for the Wyvern to return. So far, none, Wyvern, Human, Elf, or otherwise, had come back.
"Where are those damn beasts… Wyverns…" Nel complained.
"Don't get snippy, Darkcaller. They're still looking. Learn some patience." Koro had just as much as an attitude as the Draenei. They were arguing half of the time. And it didn't help that they hadn't heard from the others.
All of a sudden, they heard a rustling in the trees. Koro looked up, and toppling out of the leaves was a Wyvern. But, this one had an injured wing. The membrane that allowed it to fly was torn to shreds, and its left wing and back were badly burned. Both of them went to the Wyvern, who gestured to the East with his tail, before its eyes went white and rolled back in its head. Nel and Koro looked to each other. They left the now dead beast behind and ran into the forest.
Pyro had been tracking the claw prints until they stopped. But they gave way to a gap in the brush. Being a hunter, he was an expert tracker, and had no problems finding Veloci's scent.
"We be getting close but… Deres a scent I don recognize… Smells strange…" He looked around.
"What do you mean?" Ailyne asked. "What does it smell like?" Ailyne and Lull were both fascinated by the hunter's heightened senses.
"Smells human…" He said. "And it's not you, Lull." He smirked.
"I sense…" Titan's eyes widened. "I sense a dark magic in the forest."
"What kinda magic, mon?"
"The magic of old… Ancient… Dark… This cannot be good." Titan pointed down the path. "And it's coming from the path you're tracking. We must hurry." Behind them, Pyro heard heavy footsteps.
"Wait, mon. I hear footsteps. It's Koro and de Darkcaller." He looked behind them, and running up, panting and huffing, was Koro and Nel.
"We found… A Wyvern…" Koro said in between pants. "It died. It was… Badly injured." This caused all of them to look at each other in worry.
"We must follow the trail! There's no doubt that Veloci is wherever this dark magic is coming from!" Ailyne proclaimed. With that, they all ran through the forest toward where Titan felt the dark energy.
"Stop." Pyro whispered to them all. He put his finger over his mouth and made a 'shh' sound. There, he camouflaged, his skin and armor changing color to the area around him, and he walked ahead through the bushes, and looked out. There, he saw it. "De Twilight's Hammer…" The camp was dark, with evil ornaments brandishing the encampment. Above were Twilight Dragons perched on roosts, watching for outsiders. He went back to his friends.
When he went back to his friends, he had found they had been scooped up in the arms of a very large ogre, larger than the tallest Tauren he had ever laid eyes upon. He backed up and drew his bow when he heard a sinister voice behind him.
"Invaders? In the camp?" The man laughed. "You will not last for long. Your blood will be spilled on the alters! The masters will have your souls!" Around the camp evil cackles arose into the sky, tormenting the heroes. Pyro swiftly turned around and drew an arrow on the bow string, letting it go between the ogre's eyes. It fell with a crash, the sound silencing the cackles behind him. The friends turned toward the cultists.
"We won't allow ya to plague dese lands!" Pyro yelled his own challenge at them. And in they charged like rampaging Clefthoofs defending their young, felling cultists left and right. One after the other they fell to magic and steel. The man who led the camp ran, leaping onto the back of an armored twilight dragon, taking to the air like the coward he was.
"You have forced my hand, little mortals! Look now at what awaits you and your kind!" He pointed toward the western edge of the camp. And there he saw her. Pyro's eyes widened; the sight was too much for him to bear. There, in all of the dark glory the olden gods had bestowed upon this unwilling subject, stood a raptor, the size of a Devilsaur, roaring at them in challenge. Her pink skin and the feathers on her joints gave her away.
"Veloci…" Pyro muttered under his breath. She had been twisted by evil magic, her claws longer, two, saber like fangs sticking from her mouth, her horn curled back like a sickle. She roared and thrashed, being held in chains by two massive ogres. She pulled and pulled, but they held her back.
"Behold the power of the masters! Now, pledge allegiance to the glorious ones, or die as sacrifices to them!" The heroes took arms. Except for Pyro. He fell to his knees in disbelief. Veloci roared, turning on her ogre captives, ripping the head off one and smashing her tail into the other, sending it flying into the forest like a toy zeppelin. She turned and roared at the heroes. They charged, ready to defend their lives. But they stood little chance. Titan was the first to be struck. He swung his hammer overhead, but was sent flying like that ogre by a swift kick from the large dinosaur. Nel leaped into the air, ready to smash her Runehammer into the animal's side. But she was caught in her massive jaws in midair, and Veloci started to shake her like a rag doll. The dinosaur spun, sweeping her tail low, just missing the remaining three, but when she came back around, she opened her jaws, sending the Draenei flying into Koro, making them skid several feet away from the battlefield. Ailyne began to assault the creature's mind with dark thoughts and words, but to no avail. The animal's mind was already lost. She roared, making the two stumble on their knees, and she slammed her sickle horn into the Paladin's chest, sending her fly into one of the dragon roosts, making it collapse. Ailyne looked into the beasts eyes, as if to search for some regret or sorrow for what was being done.
She saw nothing.
The animal stood tall over the defenseless elf. She closed her eyes and prayed to Elune that this would be a swift, painless death. The animal struck downward, ready to close its jaws around the priest and swallow her whole. She quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the jaws of death. Veloci swung her head to the left, slamming the side of her face into the elf. She flew back, unconscious. From there, the dinosaur looked to the small Troll who had watched the whole thing. He was on his knees, looking down at the ground, tears falling from his eyes. Veloci took step after menacing step toward him, standing over him, and roared a challenge to the heavens above, as if to taunt the travelers themselves. She opened her mouth and went down on the Troll.
SQQUUISSHH!
...
The sound of metal piercing flesh and bone echoed through the camp. The Troll had brought his spear before him thrusting it upward through the dinosaur's mouth. She had frozen, her eyes wide, blood gushing out of her mouth. He pulled back, forcing the spear from its place in the raptor's head. She fell over, lifelessly, to the ground. Tears poured down his face as Titan called to him.
"Pyro! It was the right thing to do, friend!" But before he could continue, the man above taunted him, laughing.
"Ah ha! That was YOUR beast, hunter? This makes it all even better! Do you feel the sorrow? The pain? The endless suffering? This is what awaits the world! This is what awaits you and your kin! Do you see, hunter? Do you see!" He continued to ramble about death and fire and darkness. Pyro heard none of it. All he could hear was his own heartbeat. But he heard something else. Another thumping echoing in the endless nothingness he felt. The world melted away around him as he felt a light in the darkness. He circled the body, placing a foot upon it, and he looked to the man.
"You don undastand! De bonds of friendship are endless! De darkness will give way, as we heroes of Azeroth will never falter before you, evil one!" His hands began to give off a green aura. And Titan smiled. "You will see why you can never keep a hunter away from his lifelong companion! Dere is nothing we can't do together!" The body of the raptor started to glow as well. It began to twist and shrink, the evil aura slowly giving way to one of nature. The body floated up onto its feet as it shrank down to normal size. The horn retracted back into the skull, the tail twitching with signs of life. At the last second, the eyes of the reptile opened, and she opened her mouth. An evil, distorted roar did not come forth, but a roar of vengeance called out to the man on the dragon. "Now you will know!" Titan the grabbed the man in midair with a dark power.
"You are not alone, Pyro! Veloci is with you! I am with you! We are with you!" In a grip of death, Titan pulled and slammed the dragon onto the ground, running up and smashing the reptile's skull with his Runehammer. The beast instantly died from the concussive force of the Darkreaver's strike. The mean leaped off, drawing his scythe from his back as the others began to wake up. "Arise, friends! Veloci has returned to us!" They began to stir from their stupor.
"I will RIP the heads of that cultist clear from his feeble shoulders!" Nel quickly stood and proclaimed. They all charged at them as Titan took on a bloody presence.
"The masters be with me! All will feel their might!" He gained an unholy shield of darkness. The sounds of blades and hammers being swung, as well and the thwang of arrows and the cries of a raptor pierced the air. Titan fell victim to the man's sickle, but Ailyne spoke words of healing to keep his wounds closed and his bones mended. The man's shield began to crack. "No! This can't be happening!" The raptor roared and tackled, shattering the shield, holding him down, her jaws clenched around his head. From there, the sounds of flesh being torn from its place rang in their ears. Ailyne was used to that sound by now. The ground ran red with the man's blood, the aura of evil slowly leaving.
They all stood triumphant over the dead cultist, shouting into the air 'For Azeroth!' as the ground slowly went back to normal. They looked around. Their handiwork was everywhere. Dead cultists, a drake or two. Nothing had lived. They turned to each other.
"Maybe you guys aren't so bad after all... Well... No Wyverns. How are we supposed to get back to Astranaar now?" Nel asked. Pyro sniffed the air, as did Veloci.
"I smell Orcs. And goblin rocket fuel... We must be close to Splintertree! C'mon!" Pyro, Titan, Veloci, and Koro started off excitedly, but stopped when their friends didn't follow. Koro turned and walked to them.
"Don't worry. We'll grant you safe passage." He slapped his hand on Nel's shoulder. "You're alright, Darkcaller." Nel smirked and shrugged his hand off.
"Just get us home. I want to clean my mace." And with that, they went off to Splintertree.
Since the Night Elves no longer laid siege to the post, all was quiet at Splintertree. The grunts stood guard as they normally do. The lookouts in the Guard Towers stood vigilant, when they saw the large shadows of Tauren, and the smaller shadow of other creatures. The grunts waved at the Tauren and Troll as the approached, but when they saw the Elf, Human, and Draenei behind them.
"Alliance dogs! They followed you here!" The grunts shoved passed them, axes at the ready. The three 'Alliance dogs' stood ready for battle. The grunts got a swift response - Being manhandled by two large Tauren and roared at by a raptor.
"Dese be warriors or honor! Dey saved our lives, and gave dere powers to fight de Twilight Cult in Ashenvale! By my right as a Kor'kron Headhunter, I command you to stay your arms and let dem have safe passage!" The grunts, not free, stood up to the troll.
"Troll filth. We'll have your head for treason!" Koro walked up, axes in hand.
"Try it, Grunt. I dare you. We are all Kor'kron Soldiers here! You WILL do as we command!" The grunts scoffed and stood aside. They spat at the feet of the three girls as they walked into the posts. They went up to the Flight Master where Titan negotiated three Wyverns to take them back to Astranaar.
"Well, Kor'kron, you got me..." The Flight Master spoke. "They will have safe passage on our beasts." The three soldiers nodded. They turned to their new friends.
"Dis be goodbye. But don worry, we shall meet again." Pyro extended his hands to Lull and Nel, who clasped hands with him. Koro and Titan had thir goodbyes as well. Pyro turned to Ailyne with his hand, but he was caught up in her embrace instead.
"Thanks again, Pyro, for sparing my life." She hugged him tightly. Pyro didn't know what to make of it, but relaxed and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. They released, and they got on the backs of the Wyverns. They seemed awkward, not used to these beasts, but they could handle themselves.
"I gave you my word that they would return home safely." Lull spoke. "And by the Light, I will keep that promise." The friends gave one last wave as they flew off through the trees.
All's well that ends well, right?
For the record, this is NOT the end of the story. Expect more! But for now, this is Crewx signing off!