p class="MsoNormal"The air whistled through my fleshless body as the torrent of dragons sped towards the ongoing battle. Sindragosa flew overhead, leading her undead flight to their next meal. Her laughs echoed around the Citadel's sprawling arms, and under us I could see the dread on the weakened warriors' faces. Certain death was hurtling towards them, and all they could do is what they had been doing for so long already – fight. Eager, far more so than I, the rest of the dragons separated onto singular targets, each ensuring they had a prize to feast on once they'd made the kill. I instead landed directly into the snow to observe. Claws, teeth and swords flew left and right as the hungering dead went in for the final blow. Almost every human, orc and elf on the field was occupied with a dragon, and many fell to ice-laden breaths or heavy flesh wounds. I whipped around when I heard a whimpering behind me; a small female gnome had dug into the snow where I had landed. She now fearfully cowered at the back of the concave, clutching nothing but a tiny wrench in her hands. Tears streamed down her face from under goggles that were too big for her face. br / "emSlay them all,/em" came the voice of the Lich King in my head. "emGive in to your hunger./em" Despite a lack of internal organs, I could feel a familiar sensation from my ribcage. The blue-black magic stirring inside of me hissed and spat just asking to be sated. Seeing this, the little gnome cried out in Common, huddling deeper against the wall of her prison. I could feel my jaws pry open, as if Arthas was manually forcing me into action. The energy swirled and grew in the back of my throat as the gnome screamed in terror. emI'm so sorry little one. /emA thin beam of white light shot forward, piercing the engineer through the throat. She gasped as it hit her, the blood spraying like a fountain, staining the pristine ground red. The scent filled me with ghoulish glee, the warmth of her life essence on my face rousing a starving growl from between my teeth. Like a panther I stalked slowly towards her, watching the colour drain from her features, the tears crystallising as blood pooled in her severed neck. What sentience I had had before the kill was gone, and now the primal urges overtook me. With savage movements I was rending the skin from her body, satisfying the call for blood from within. Every mouthful fed the energies in my gut; they tore the meal apart like a pack of hounds and it was not long until every morsel was gone and it cried for more. Raising a bloodied muzzle to the sky, I called out to my undead compatriots, most of whom roared back in reply. The broodmother circled like a vulture, spraying the landscape with icy breaths. In the song of dragons, I came to my senses as the hunger began to die down. There was nothing living left; the flight feasted across the entire battlefield. I couldn't bring myself to turn back to the destruction I had brought on myself, instead lending a silent wish to the Life-binder to preserve her. Scraping snow back with my hind legs, I best covered her remains from the others, but I knew a simple covering would not stop her from being resurrected into the Lich King's mindless army. As I took to the sky again to join Sindragosa, I watched the others, lost in their madness, fighting over scraps below. A pair of younger-bodied (their ages were undistinguishable by bone alone, but their small, low horns gave best judgement) drakes fought over the long femur of an orc. Others waged full-on fights over half-eaten remains. br / "The thrill of battle," the former blue dragon sighed, noticing me following her from the corner of her eye. "Does it just not fill you with joy?" embr / If it truly were a battle, /emI thought, the screams of the engineer ringing in my skull. Sindragosa studied my expression with great disdain. br / "The Lich King will be pleased with what we have accomplished here today, Deridovely." She read the emotions right, but the reason incorrectly. br / "I have an eternity to prove myself," I retorted, a statement that was neither true nor false. emBut not to a bastard like Arthas. /emThe broodmother nodded in / "Come, let us return to the Citadel and rest. There is plenty more to be done," she murmured softly, a tone not unlike Ysera's had been. The skies boomed with her roar, and immediately the dragons below took wing, and hollow bodies filled the air once more. The flight back was slow and calm, with dragons playing and tumbling about in the sky like family. I had allowed myself to fall back and watch the landscape, unsure what chances I'd get to see it again. In the not too distant hills, stood the Nerubian temples – four of them to be precise – hoatching with undead and huge spider-like creatures that skittered around caldrons and spires covered in corpses. To the far left of my vision lay the Argent Tournament, the gleaming light of the gathering of Azeroth's greatest heroes shining bright over the mountains that kept it safe. In front of that however, was a far more interesting scenario. Two airships cruised in the sky, one Alliance and one Horde, following similar circular routes. On the ground, the forces had been allies, even if it were a strained relationship. In the air, the airships threw out warning shots at each other from powerful deck cannons. The losses on the field would only lead to more taught relations between the factions, I mused, turning back as the Citadel was just coming into view. The Lich King was not there to greet us. Instead, Sindragosa herded us onto a lower platform on the outside of the structure, where a yawning gate awaited us. One by one, sometimes not as orderly, dragons poured into the building, groups being led off left and right into various holding rooms. The last of us were taken down a staircase into the centre of the interior Citadel, where Val'kyr – the angels of undeath and masters of resurrection – flew seamlessly through the huge hole in the middle of the building, through archways and portals. We passed many of them, as well as a guardian Val'kyr who was as tall as an elder dragon, on our way to our hold. Her long, snow-white hair fluttered in a non-existent breeze, all the time remaining flawlessly straight. Her steel mask covered the upper part of her face, but you could tell by her grimace that she was not fond of us draconian types, friend nor foe. The lich who guided my group stepped aside in the huge doorway to let us in to another of the Citadel's gargantuan rooms. Four gates stood open, two to each side of the dorm, supposedly with enough space to accommodate two dragons each; not that I planned on sleeping in this hollow form. The most perplexing thing was the spectral green dragon who lay, motionless except for the movement of her nostrils as she breathed, in the very centre of the room. The others seemed to ignore her, choosing their sleeping quarters rather simply and settling down on the metal floor. Anything humanoid vacated the space, leaving only us dragons to do as we pleased here. Shifting for the first time into my Orcish form again, I slowly approached the captive green dragon. It felt good to have skin again, and although I was naked from head to toe except for hair, the body was just as I remembered. I grinned in comfort. The grin, however, must have seemed malicious to my living brethren. br / "Foul frost wyrm, you have lost your way. Leave me to my slumber," she rumbled, baring her teeth. She saw me through closed lids, and it was then I realised that she was not asleep, but simply communing with the Dream. Green dragons did not see with their eyes. br / "I was like you once," I found myself saying once again, "and I still am. I am not like the others." The huge nostrils took a deep breath, testing my scent. br / "You do not smell of the Dream or of my Lady. You smell of undeath. You are not blessed with emerald scales; only bone." She was / "What is your name? I can help you."br / "Valithria Dreamwalker is my full title to you, fiendish one. Your cruel master wishes me for his crude experiments, using my magic to bring life to more of your kin. They are no longer mine." Her barrel chest heaved as she raised her head to yawn. "I am not long for this mortal realm."br / "I can help you," I said again, putting a hand against the barely tangible horn on her snout. It was easily the height of my bipedal form. br / "How could a minion of the Scourge help me," she hissed, voice low so only I could hear, "when all they've done is sap the life from me? Do you know how long I've been clinging on here? Do you?" She flicked her snout, sending me spiralling into the air, landing on the bridge of her nose. "Your kind know nothing of pain. Of the terror they have caused. Mindless wretches, all of you. Why do you speak to me when I do not believe your lies?"br / "Because in the name of the Lady I would not lie," I whispered, leaning forward as the creases of skin folded below me into another sneer. A violent growl reverberated in the dragon's mouth. br / "Do not use my Lady's name in vain. If she were your Lady, as you say, you would prove to me to be of her blood. What is- was- your name cretin?" she scowled. br / "Deridovely. I fought in the name of Orgrimmar at the Wrathgate," I murmured softly. "Fought and died there." The great dragon's features softened a little, her snout straightening out and brow ridges / "The Lady whispers of you. She saw your soul in the Nightmare but it was merely a vision. Deridovely of Orgrimmar, how can you prove to me that I can trust you fully?" I held out my hands, palms upward, drawing as much energy as I could into them. For so many people before had I done this trick, but now I struggled, my body no longer so full of life-giving power. br / "He said he would return my powers," I mumbled, watching the tiny green speck forming in the crux of my hands. "It would seem he did not fully keep his promise." The spec grew slowly, so slowly that the exertion forced the sweat onto my cold skin. In time, it formed a perfect rhomboid of faintly glowing green light – a life crystal. I looked around; the other undead slept soundly in their corners, blissfully unaware of the power I was about to bestow to my former kin. Her lids peeled back slowly, revealing the most piercing forest-green eyes I had ever seen. They glimmered with hope and promise at the sight of the crystal in my tiny hands. br / "I was born a green dragon," I smiled, as she crossed her gaze to meet mine, "and although my circumstances have changed, nothing can change my loyalty to my flight. Take this, and be free from your agony." I slid from her face and onto the steel floor, approaching the claw on the right side of me. With a tingle like wind chimes, I rolled the crystal under her paw, to which she retracted her grasp around it. br / "I can feel the energy renew me," Valithria sighed. "Thank you, Deridovely. May the Lady bless you with life once more whence you leave this unholy prison."br / "I won't be leaving without you, I can assure you. I will bring people, great adventurers, to your aid. But all in good time, I must answer his call… for now." The great leviathan closed her eyes again to rest. I felt that her idea was a good one, and feeling the weakness in my bones crawled into my metal den and fell into a deep, comatose dream./p