Hour of Twilight

Siderion walked through the Maw of Neltharion, shivering in the heat. He came to the ledge where Neltharion had rested upon in the pool of lava. He peered down into the pool to check upon his Aspect, hoping to find improvement in his health. He found the pool empty. Siderion reverted into his dragon form and leapt down onto the lower ledge. He fanned and flapped his wings, as he gripped the black rock and closed his eyes and thumped his tail against the wall of the ledge.

He must have slipped down again, Siderion thought. His mind slipped into the rock as he listened to the vibrations echo back to him. Images of the lava tube below came back to him, outlining the shapes deep within. The blobs became clear, but he found no sign of Neltharion. The Great Black was not in the tube below. Siderion searched lower. Seeing the bends and bumps, twists and turns, but still no sign of Neltharion. The Aspect of Earth was gone. Siderion pulled his mind from the rock and climbed out of the hole. He rushed out to the mouth of the cave and took off in to the air, flying as fast as he could back towards Wyrmrest Temple. The closer he came to the temple, Siderion saw more dragons gather. Shaman from the Earthen Ring gathered around campfires, discussing battle plans. Siderion angled p and landed upon the highest ledge of the temple where Alexstrasza and the other Aspects gathered with Thrall and Aggra. He reverted to his human form in an explosion of black smoke. Siderion gasped as he approached them, gripping his chest.

"He's gone!" he shouted. They all turned to him.

"What happened, Siderion?" asked Thrall.

"Lord Neltharion is gone!" said Siderion, choking on his breath. "He's not in the shrine."

Alexstrasza filed herself between Kalec and Nozdormu.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, Life-Binder," he replied. "I went to check up on him." Siderion's head lowered. "He was not there."

Thrall walked over and touched Siderion on the shoulder: "Don't worry. We'll find him."

"You won't need to," said Nozdormu. "He isss not here, not in Dragoblight. Not in Northrend."

"Where is he?" asked Kalecgos.

"The Twilight Highlands."

"Good Titans," said Alexstrasza. "He can't be there. He's injured." She turned to Nozdormu who shook his head. Alexstrasza walked over to him, her eyes focused heavily upon him. Th Time Lord crossed his tanned, muscular arms, flipping his lengthy, striped scarf over his shoulder. Alexstrasza stopped, placing her weight upon her left heel, tilting her head and narrowing her golden eyes. "You knew."

"I did, little sssister," said Nozdormu.

"You let him go alone in his condition," she said, her fists balling up. "Have you no concern for your baby brother?"

"I do, Alex."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Would it do any good? We have to face an army of Twilight Hammersss coming our way. With them away to fight us and Ultraxion with them, Neltharion could go there in safety."

"Why would he leave us?" asked Kalecgos.

"Someone has to keep the Dragon Soul out of the handsss of Cho'gall," replied Nozdormu.

"What?" Thrall said in a thunderous boom. "

"Dear gods no!" said Aggra. "Why is it there?"

"Because Calia is," said Nozdormu. "And Calia has it."

Everyone shifted back and forth, murmuring over what was brought forth. Thrll huffed. Aggra placed a firm but calming hand upon his shoulder. He looked to her, shaking his head, his blue eyes darkening with distress.

"It seems everything is falling apart...one right after another," he said in a heavy sigh.

"It will not take them long to know that he is there," said Kalecgos. "The Hammers want him dead more than they do us. When Cho'gall finds out, he will call Ultraxion and his Twilight Dragons back."

Thrall nodded: "One thing that I have learned about Cho'gall, he never takes betrayal easily. The Hammers expected Deathwing to deliver the Hour of Twilight and Deathwing promised it to them. With Neltharion on our side, this slander became a slap in their collective faces. He lied and made them look like a joke among the other factions. Cho'gall will skin him alive if he does manage to kill Neltharion."

"We need to do something!" Alexstrasza called. "My brother..."

"Will be alright," said Nozdormu. "Trust that." He shrugged. "It's just Cho'gall. What can he do to an Asspect?"

"Don't treat Cho'gall lightly," said Thrall. "In Neltharion's weakened state, he is a liability."

Nozdormu smiled. "And I sssuggest you do not underestimate the power of the planet Neltharion protectsss."

"You know the outcome."

"I do," said Nozdormu. "But the future can change. Sssso long as we stick to this path and Neltharion sticksss to his, we will succeed. The Hour of Twilight will be ssstopped."

Siderion's head lowered and wagged with dismay. They were planning to do nothing to help his lord. His lips perched and he felt a dryness grow inside his throat. Neltharion needed him. Siderion was the only member of his flight that did not betray him. He was faithful. The little black dragon in human form walked away as the Aspects and Thrall continued to argue their next move. He reverted back to his true form and flew off, gliding himself down to the snowy scape below. Still many of the mortals looked to him with hostility. Black dragons were synonymous with evil and many of them still conducted evil.

Siderion shook his head and settled down up the snow. He heard the sound of feet crunching through the powder and he turned his head. Nadina, the Blood Elf who saved him, came walking up to his side. She was dressed in more appropriate priestly robes instead of her original Twilight Hammer robes. She gripped her staff and waved.

"I saw you fly over," she said, her glowing green eyes casting a light on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Neltharion is not at the shrine," said Siderion.

"Where is he?"

The Twilight Highlands."

Nadina's face grew dark and she turned to the south. She shivered in the silent cold. Siderion lumbered closer, comforting her with his radiating heat.

"What can we do?" she asked.

"I must help my lord," said Siderion. "I must go where he is."

"I want to go with you," said Nadina.

"You can't. It's too dangerous."

"Who knows more about the Hammers better than me, Sid? I was a member once."

"Which is why you should remain here," Siderion said as he swung his neck to the elf, lowering himself to her level. "I don't want to risk getting you killed. They don't like traitors. What do you think they'll do to Lord Neltharion when they get a hold of him?"

"I know what they will do to him," said Nadina. She placed a hand upon his neck and smoothed the ruffled, pointed scales out. "That is why I need to come, Siderion." She turned back to the south. "Would I be any safer here with the Hammers knocking down the door? Please, let me go too."

Siderion's black scaled ruffled again, sticking out along his neck like a spiky mane. His upper lip pulled back across his fangs, twitching as he growled lowly. Though this fearsome expression did not frighten Nadina. She had seen worse.

"I am going," she said, her eyes flashing with intent. The black dragon shifted and lowered his body for her to mount up. Siderion rose from the ground, loose snow dropping wetly from his belly.

"I may not be able to protect you," he said.

"I can protect myself," she said as she settled between his wings. "And I can heal you if you need it."

Siderion craned his head around: "I suppose you have your uses then, elf."

The black dragon hobbled off, heading for the portal the shamans were coming out from. Thrall had the portal established just north of the Elwyn Forest where it was maintained by the Earthen Ring representatives sent to Stormwind. Their portal access to the Twilight Highlands was quicker for many of the shamans to get through in order to assist the Aspects. Before one of the orc shamans could stop them, Siderion bolted into the portal while Nadina ducked down, bracing against his neck. They flew out over the Elwyn Forest. It was quiet, the sky was eerily black. Siderion's orange eyes looked to the northeast. A plume of ash erupted from the peak of Blackrock Mountain. How lucky was Stormwind to be built a hundred miles upwind from the most active volcano in the region. Siderion spied cracks and fault lines heaving, seeing that the Elwyn Forest was not completely spared. Homes near Goldshire were toppled over, trees up-rooted, roads cracked and splintered. A landslide buried a farm.

"What happened here, Siderion?" asked Nadina.

"Blackrock Mountain erupted," he replied.

"Isn't it always active?"

"It is, but activity doesn't mean eruption."

He looked onto the north, seeing a trail of an ash cloud forking off from the main cloud. The cloud followed to the north towards the Twilight Highlands, blanketing the forests around it in soot and volcanic rock.

"Neltharion," he said, pumping his wings northward.

"What happened?" asked Nadina.

"That cloud," said Siderion. "That is Neltharion's trail." His head turned back towards Blackrock. "He caused the eruption."

"Why?"

"He climbed out of Blackrock."

Siderion continued towards the Twilight Highlands, following the volcanic destruction left behind by the Earth-Warder.

0

Neltharion shook off the last bit of the volcanic ash from his wings, giving a them a mighty flap. The flames trailing the edges were extinguished. He looked behind him to find the trail of fire and smoke he caused from his path. Neltharion's brow furrowed and he sighed, shaking his head at the destruction. It was exactly how Deathwing first emerged from Deepholm a year ago. He was going to pay for it, he knew that, but he hoped that what he will about to do will make up for it. What's a little destruction when you are trying to save the world? But now, the world, as in Azeroth, did not matter to him. Only his world mattered, Calia...she was his world. And he was going to save her. He hovered above the corrupted Twilight Highlands, his path of destruction following behind him. He landed upon the blackened ground and then turned to the south. There amid the jagged rock named Old Gods' Blood was the spiraling spire and shadowy energy of the Twilight Citadel. Ogres who followed Cho'Gall guarded it from watch towers. Neltharion dove down upon them. Their arrows bounced harmlessly from his hardened scales. Then, with a wash of his lava, he burned right through them. Neltharion landed right at the foot of the citadel and looked up. He could sense the movement of the Dragon Soul. It was in the Twilight Citadel. Cho'Gall was in there as well.

Neltharion knew what he had to do. Launching into the air, he flew up to the very top of the twisted spire. He landed upon the platform where the glowing purple portal stood surrounded by a rick of curved spikes. He took in a deep breath and touched the portal. Beyond the portal laid the Bastion of Twilight, a pocket dimension of shadow and despair the Twilight Hammers called home. Neltharion could feel the cold air on the other side as he pushed his way through the portal. The Black Dragon came through to the dimension of chitin-covered walls, slime dripping from the ceiling and a shadowy glow of purple lighting his path. He could feel his eyes adjust to the low light, though even with his keen sight, it was difficult to see. Deathwing could see through the shadow better due to his connection to the Old Gods. Without that connection, Neltharion was nearly blind. But he could still feel the vibrations on the ground and that was enough to help guide him. Though gripping the floor was difficult. His paws slipped on the mucous-covered floor. The organic structures breathed and pulsed as if they were alive. As he moved down the corridor of the Bastion of Twilight, Neltharion felt his footing fumble in the darkness. His claws slipped and slid on the floor and the vibrations from his own stumbling impeded his Sight even more. Then, he felt the floor give way only a few feet into the corridor. He plummeted down through the darkness only to land with a squish into something he did not want to know. The chamber he fell into was even darker than the corridor he was previously in. Whatever it was, it was slimy, and the sour smell of it turned his stomach. He felt as if he fell into a pool of sticky gelatin. The slime splashed onto his tongue and Neltharion spat, coughing from the taste. His wings flapped and flailed in the slime. It was cold and clammy. As he struggled to fight against it, he felt himself seep further down. He kicked his legs and thrashed his tail, fighting desperately to hold his head above the surface. Neltharion grunted and groaned. Slime plopped all around him.

Calm down, he thought. His breathing slowed and Neltharion felt himself settle. He let his eyes adjust again and as his irises opened wider, a bank of the slimy pool came into view. Neltharion slowly began to push himself through the slime. His wings draped back behind him, pinned by the thick syrup. Pushing through, feeling around, he finally came to a rough ramp. His toes could touch the bottom at last and that at least gave him a heart-jumping light of hope. He could get himself out of this horrid place. Neltharion gripped as best as he could with his toes and bobbed up and down as he hobbled towards the bank. He lifted a foreleg out of the muck and reached for the bank itself. With a pull, he managed to clime himself out of the pool. As he emerged, slime glopped and dribbled from his body. He was covered from head to toe with a thick coating of the nasty stuff. His wings could barely rise in order to fold themselves to his back. He let the heavy membraned limbs droop open, hanging down from his sides and drag at his feet as he walked out away from the pool.

Neltharion fumbled back through another tunnel, wobbling as he walked. The smell clinged to him, causing him to become dizzy, making the world around him tilt. Neltharion rumbled and he leaned against the wall, his head felt heavy, his shoulders slumping and his mind swimming around in the drunkeness. His weakness gave way to sleepiness. His beard clinged sticky to his neck. HIs slime-covered body shown dark blue in the purple light. Neltharion pushed himself away from the wall, trying to reach into a pocket of energy to continue on. As he continued down the corridor, there at the end was a glow of orange light. He suddenly felt drawn towards it. He heard the metallic scrape of his tail blade upon the floor as his tail dragged heavily behind him. The glow opened out to a vast chamber of dark purple and black chitin. At the center of the chamber was a pit of lava, bubbling, splattering, and churning. A black crust formed along the cooling ledges. All around the ledges were hundreds of spiky, midnight blue eggs. They wiggled and pulsated with life. Neltharion stumbled out, sliding down a bank. He rolled over to a group of eggs. Raising a claw, he touched their surface. The shell seemed almost translucent and he could see the little whelpling inside squirm. It was black. But it was not a whelpling. Neltharion snatched his claw away looking at the egg with horror. These were not normal black dragon eggs. Inside, he could see that the unborn baby was in fact a drake, not a whelp at all. The drakes were the young adolescent stages of a dragon's life. He could see the colors of the membrane wings. They were the color of blue and purple.

"Twilight drakes," he said in a hushed whisper. Neltharion slowly backed away from the egg. He swallowed hard. He swung his head to the sound of something cracking and splintering. Then, another crack sounded and it rolled across the chamber joined by more cracking. Then another, and another, and another until the sound itself became horribly deafening to Neltharion. It pounded inside his head and the Aspect backed up to the wall, firmly pressing against its slick side. Neltharion looked about him as eggs cracked open, releasing their noxious fluids and claws, heads, and ails burst out from them. Fully developed Twilight Drakes slicked out of their eggs, devouring the yokes inside as their first meal. Neltharion looked about him, the numbed expression of horror spreading about his face. He held his breath as if not to attract their attention to his presence. But the horrid stench of the slime covering his body would no doubt gain their attention. The drakes hissed and snapped at each other at first and then sniffed at each other. The calmed down, each of their scent was like the other, just as it should be.

Neltharion kept still, breathing shallowly and hoping that the would not see him. With his back to the wall, his vision filled with newborn twilight drakes, the Earth-Warder slid as silently as he could towards the opening he came through.

Look for Calia, he thought. She is all that matters. Save her from the madness that once took me.

He tried to keep his thoughts to himself, and away from the drakes. As he continued to back towards the opening, Neltharion watched the drakes, hissing and growling. It would not be long before they are fully grown dragons. Deathwing mutated them, speeding up their life cycles so that they would be grown in a couple of years. And with many Twilight Dragons now capable of reproducing, their numbers could be replaced easily. But having advanced aging meant for short lives. But like mortals, there would be thousands if not tens of thousands in a few years. And this batch guaranteed that. With this batch, the survival of the accursed Twilight Dragonflight was assured. They had a future. And it seemed that any other flight, including his precious Black Dragonflight, did not. They would replace all other flights.

"What have I done?" Neltharion said to himself. "The Hour of Twilight, no other flights but the Twilight Dragonflight will exist in a burt world of death and madness."

He hushed himself quickly when he heard a fevered rustle of leathery wings of a purple scaled, Twilight Dragon come lumbering in. She dragged behind her a carcass of a horned animal.

"Feed, children," she said. More twilight dragons came in, bringing more rotting meat. Neltharion, who began to get used to and enjoy the delights of various mortal delectables, felt his stomach wretch at the putrid smell of the bloodied flesh. It stunk and his nose quivered at it. The drakes dove into the carcasses, tearing the flesh. They gobbled down the meat, jaws stained with blood, entrails dripping from their scaly lips. Neltharion continued to watch them as he made his way to the opening. His great, slime-covered bulky foot bumped against something. He tore eyes away from the drakes in the center to a drake at his feet. The little drake looked up and its blue eyes lit up with and a gleeful smile spread across his blood-stained maw.

"Father!" he squeaked in delight.

Neltharion's green eyes lit up in horror. He turned to the other drakes who them echoed the first upon seeing him.

"Father! Father!"

"Father?" the grown Twilight Dragons quizzed as they turned towards his direction.

"Father came to see us being born!" chimed another drake.

The female dragon bounded to Neltharion, her cyan eyes lighting up.

"Father," she said. "They are beautiful, father! And strong!"

The drakes climbed onto Neltharion's body, clinging with their tiny claws to his black scales. They nuzzled him. A drake scampered up his shoulders and pressed his head against the Earth-Warder's neck.

"We love you, father," they cooed at him.

Neltharion felt his head grow even heavier as the drake continued to caress him. They were breathing out their vampiric breaths, the black cloud sapping away his strength.

"No," he said. "Get away from me."

Neltharion felt his body sink down, growing ever-so heavier as he tried to slide away from them. His mind felt drunk and his senses betrayed him. He thought he was wobbling to the opening, but his eyes saw the light of the molten pool grow brighter. He sauntered towards it, dragging his feet. He stumbled about, flailing his wings to bat them away. Neltharion collapsed upon himself, colliding with the floor with a great tremble, face now full of the embryonic fluids from the eggs and blood from the carcasses.

"Father!" called a male twilight dragon. "Father, we will help you."

"No," said Neltharion as he squirmed and reviled the touch of his nameless twilight dragon son. They have no names, they deserve no names What monsters have I wrought?

Neltharion felt himself being lifted by the forepawes of the twilight dragons. The female leaned his much larger body against hers and brushed down his scales, attempting to calm him. She breathed her sapping breath upon him.

"Don't," he said with a weak moan.

"We should tell our big brother that Father is here," said the male again with that sickening sweet, gleeful tone that Neltharion began to hate about the twilight flight.

"Big brother...?" Neltharion said with a rumble.

"Ultraxion, Father," said the male.

"Titans damn it..."

Again, Neltharion squirmed. He pulled away from the female, once more batting away the drakes who snuggled up beside him. Neltharion lifted his heavy head up, his eyes on the pool of lava. He reached out for the pool, trying to pull himself to its ledge.

"Oh, Father!" said the female. "No! Father, no!" She latched her claws at his scales. "Father come here."

Fuck you..." Neltharion said, but all that came out of his mouth was a hiss.

"Father!" said the male, latching his claws to Neltharion's black, muck-covered hide.

Neltharion growled at him, his scaly lips curling over his sharp teeth. The mate's claws dug into the Earth-Warder's scales, piercing all the way through to a magma-filled vein. Neltharion screeched as his fiery ichor erupted from the wound. The male backed away, bellowing in pain as Neltharion's blood seared his blue scales. He snatched his claws away. Neltharion slid out from under him and his tail whipped about, slicing the blade against the smaller male's flank. The twilight dragon slammed a ways from his father, colliding into a group of smaller drakes, crushing them under his greater weight. They died with the sound of a crunch. An enormous purple, bloodied gash sliced across his side, bleeding profusely.

Good, thought Neltharion. He turned back to the molten pool, reaching out for it again as he dragged himself towards its ledge. The heat swirled around him and he could feel the heat ignite the hardening slime on his body. His black form came alight with flames as the hot tongues licked their way down his scales. The female tore away from the fire, hissing as she watched her sluggish patron crawl towards the pool. Neltharion hissed as he came close to the pool, delighting in the heat.

"Father!" called a drake. "Don't go in there. Ultraxion will come and help you."

"Ultraxion can feast upon my shit for all I care!" Neltharion bellowed as he commanded his body to dive into the molten pool. The lava began to clean away the grime, burning away the muck and any drake that still clung to him. He dipped down into the fiery, thick substance, delighting in the strength he felt from the heat. He lowered his head completely inside the lava, smiling. He could feel his strength returning. The sounds of the twilight dragons' protests were muffled by the lava's roar. Then, Neltharion rose his head up out of the lava, strength renewed.

"Father?" the female said, cocking her head up at him.

Neltharion's eyes narrowed, glowing dull red from the heat of the lava pool. A low, menacing growl escaped his jaws.

"Don't ever call me father, you bastard mutant," he said. "None of you are my children. You're delinquent creations of Deathwing's pompous craving for power. My children are black dragons!"

"But we are your children, said the female. "We are all born from Mother Sinestra's eggs and your seed."

Neltharion slammed his right forefoot onto the ledge of the pool, sending a tremble rolling through the floor.

"My seed..." he said with a growl. Then, he leaned back. "And Sintharia's eggs. This was her breeding chamber." Oh my Dark Lady, what did I do to you? These 'children' these monsters have no right to call you 'mother'. He blinked. "What children of mine and Sintharia's would proclaim their love for us and then demand our heads to be served up to the monsters down below? My children would love me and rely on me, not harm me."

"We must end your suffering, Father," said the female. She moved to the male and lifted him to his feet.

"You–are in pain, father," said the male.

"I am not in pain," said Neltharion. "And I don't suffer."

"You lie to yourself," said the female. "As you suffer, the world suffers. We only wish to end its pain. Your pain, father. We do this out of love."

"I'm not on my death bed, barely alive, trapped with no way out," he said. "This is my life! My choice to live. And I will live it and no squid-monsters nor bastard brood of Deathwing's will tell me otherwise."

"But, father..."

"Shut up!" Neltharion bellowed. "However, you my mutant children, are a threat to all I hold dear. It is your lives who will be forfeited." Lava began to drip from his jaws. "Starting with this batch."

Their eyes lit up as a stream of fiery, sticky, lava erupted forth from Neltharion's jaws. The female twilight dragon leapt out of the way as the wounded male caught the brunt of the blast. Lava burned away the flesh and the male screamed out his last breath. Neltharion swung his head around in a low sweep, burning away the drakes as well. The chamber began to smell like burning flesh. Fire rose up adding to the heat as his splattering breath burned the rest of the foul spawn. Neltharion lifted his bulk out of the pool lava, claws crushing the hardening, molten slag, crushing and spurting as he strode over it, crushing any bones he did not burn through. Neltharion felt the weakening breath of the twilight drakes and he began to slump over. The Black Dragon raised his armored tail and slammed it down upon a larger group of drakes. More drakes flew up to climb onto his neck, breathing their life sapping clouds.

"Get off of me," Neltharion bellowed. "Leave me alone!" He slammed his bulk against the wall, squishing the drakes.

"We are only helping you, Father," said the female. "Don't make us force you to submit. The Hour of Twilight must happen. We will free this world."

"I won't let it!" said Neltharion as more drakes climbed onto Neltharion's back. The Black Dragon toppled over, his strength once more stealing away.

"Why?" he asked, lifting his head heavily up. "Why? Why do this? What children would harm their father?" He growled deeply. "Why harm me?"

"We must free you," said the only remaining twilight dragon. "You are in pain, you suffer."

"What pain?" Neltharion lashed out upon the female and trapped her under his claw. "Tell me now or I will break your body!"

"Your pain?" she asked.

"My pain!" Neltharion bellowed. His head swung around, seeing another group of drakes moving for him. "Tell them to back off."

"Stay away," she said. The drakes stopped.

"Tell me about this pain you wish to free me from," said Neltharion.

"The pain that brought you to our masters. The pain they promised to free you from. The burden you were sentenced to carry since your creation..."

"What burden?"

"The burden of the world itself," she replied. "The charge of the Earth-Warder. That which your creator forced you to bare upon your shoulders and that only you can carry. You have forgotten why you became Deathwing in the first place."

"I became Deathwing because those monsters splintered my mind, creating Deathwing."

"You warred with yourself, father," she said. "But now the Aspects keep you alive for nothing."

"I live because I want to, because it is the right thing to do," he said. Your masters want me dead. Deathwing wanted me dead. Well, I don't want to die. I don't want to ever die. Despite all I've done, I don't want to die." He looked around at the dragons. "You are all a mistake, a mistake that would never have happened if I hadn't fallen. And I want to correct it now."

"And you are making another mistake," she said. "You're just going to continue to suffer."

"Who says?" asked Neltharion. "N'Zoth? The calamari can bite the fattest part of my ass."

"You don't remember?" she asked. "But we do. We were born knowing."

Neltharion leaned down, his fiery eyes glowed brightly: "Remember what?"

"You're an experiment," she replied.

Neltharion's eyes slowly faded back to green and he leaned up from her, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"This world is an experiment," shad the Twilight Dragon.

"You're the only one who figured it out, father!" called a drake. "You're smarter than the other Aspects. They never listened to you."

"They laughed at you, father," said the female dragon. "They told you that you worried too much. Even your best friend did. But you knew better. You knew the truth of the Titans' sins. You wanted no part of it."

"Malygos..." Neltharion whispered. "Malygos laughed at me? He...he wouldn't...he's my brother..."

"You could never trust them, father," said the dragon as she felt his grip loosen. She tried to wiggle herself free. "How dare your creator make you with the Heart of Azeroth as your blood, your heart. You think being made of molten rock inside was a coincidence?"

Neltharion leaned away, shaking his head.

"We know," she said. "We were black dragons. We will not forget. You made us better, you made us free. Now we will live for you. But you cannot live. You have to die. For the planet's freedom." She pulled herself out as she looked upon her father staring blankly at the floor. She reached out to touch his foreleg. "We love you father, but we must kill you. Your death and the death of the other Aspects and the world will be free. No wars, no more death, just like you wanted. You will no longer be burdened. You begged the masters to take away the pain, this is the only way."

Neltharion shook his head.

"If you will not listen," she said. "Then you will be shown."

0

Calia stood in front of a line of dead Twilight Hammer cultists. Blood dripped from her daggers. Before her, lined in purple tapestries was the inner chamber of the leader of the Hammers, Cho'Gall, the ogre mage. A smile spread across her face as she slowly entered the chamber. Inside her mind, the Voices continued to chime on their

Destroy him.

Only then can your Neltharion be safe.

Only then can all see that they shall not stand against you.

Only then can your Neltharion be truly free.

Free, she thought. "I do this for you, my dear, beloved husband. Only I can protect you from monsters like the ogre."

She slowly walked into the inner chamber, the glow of the purple torches leading her down the corridor. She could feel the disk laying on her chest pulsate and flush with heat. Calia felt her heart beat along with the pulsating. She felt one with the Dragon Soul. She grinned, feeling the power flow through her, tingling her fingers, strengthening her leg muscles. Calia allowed herself to fade, cloaked in shadow as she silently slipped passed the guards. She leapt and slung her knives to their backs and they died without a sound of warning to their comrades. Finally, the rogue came to her prize. There, studying his all seeing eye, his crystal ball at the battle that was happening in Northrend, was the hulking and imposing Cho'Gall. Calia's nose wrinkled when she took a sniff of his scent. It smelled like a mixture of souring sweat and tar. The smell alone almost made her gag, but such a noise would alert him to her. Calia swallowed and drew her pistol, and sited his back.

One shot and that's all it will take, she thought. Calia pulled back on the trigger taking a deep breath. She held it, allowing her heart to slow and groped the trigger. She fired, feeling the gun kick back as the bullet left the chamber, spinning swiftly to Cho'Gall's back. The bullet ricocheted off of an invisible barrier. The barrier shimmered and fluctuated.

"Shit!" she said in a hiss, priming the pistol again.

Cho'Gall turned around, the two heads looking towards her area.

"I know you're there, intruder," said Cho.

"You can't hide! You can't hide!" said Gall in a screech.

A flash of shadowy energy from his hand blinded her and she felt herself being throne to the wall. Her cloak was disrupted. Another bolt of shadowy energy spiraled to her and Calia leapt out of the way. She rolled away and fired again. Cho'Gall only chuckled when the bullet impacted his shield. He leaned down and snatched the smaller woman up into his huge hand and pulled her close.

"Who are you, pretty thing?" asked Cho.

Calia turned her head away, noting his breath to be even worse than his body odor.

"Pretty, pretty," squawked Gall. "Pretty stupid."

Calia kicked his chest and squirmed around in his tight grip.

"Well?" Cho asked.

"I am here to kill you," she replied.

"Just yourself?" asked Cho.

"A fool! A fool!" chimed Gall.

"I only need myself," Calia replied. "I don't need anyone else."

"Such a lonely task."

"Shut it," she said. Calia raked her foot across Gall's jaw and the bloated Ogre dropped her. Calia rolled again as the ogre slammed his heavy foot down. She felt the floor tremble with his massive weight. Calia swiftly tumbled behind him and pulled her dagger. With one slice, she cut his tendons and blood splattered out from the wound. Cho'Gall fell with a heavy thud and he bellowed in frustration, reaching for his foot. Only his massive belly would not allow him to bend. Calia rose up, touching her chest, feeling for the disk.

"For doing it solo, I'm handling you quite well," said Calia with a smirk. "Why are we afraid of you again?"

"Answer my question, human," said Cho. "Who are you?"

Gall just squawked, spitting out a lob of blood from where she kicked him.

"I am from the Alliance and I am doing my civic duty to take down terrorist leaders like yourself."

"You're not answering my question," he said. "No human has the power to best me alone. Who are you?"

"My name is Calia Hastings," she replied. "I am Neltharion's Prime Consort. I am the new Queen of the Black Dragonflight."