Hey guys Shadowwolf1997 back with another chapter of Son of Neltharion. Disclaimer: I own nothing of Azeroth, I am not a member of Blizzard and as such do not own the rights to world of Warcraft. As mentioned by grg213 I need to make my time skips more noticeable, to which I thank you, now on to the story. For timeline clearness this part of the story takes place about a year before the First War.

Chapter 3: To you in 10,000 Years

The sun rose over the dusty plains of the southern part of the fast savannahs that made up a large part of the central portion of the current Kalimdor, the western continent of Azeroth. About 10,000 years had passed since the cataclysmic Sundering had destroyed the supercontinent of Kalimdor and created four smaller sections of land in its place, the former Well of Eternity now simply a massive whirlpool in the middle of the sea that separated Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms from each other. As the dawn slowly rose chased away the shadows of the night, one became aware of the sounds of thunderous wing beats as if a flock of titanic birds were taking flight. These "birds" however, were actually a force of four dozen black drakes being led by half a dozen fully grown black dragons. Below those dozens of the centaur-like dragonspawn and a few of the lumbering giants known as Drakonid followed them as they chased down their prey. They all had eyes full of cruelty and madness. Ahead of the formation flew three other black dragons, who unlike their pursuers did not have the look of insanity and instead had eyes full of determination and, if one looked close enough, satisfaction. They were flying along a range of mountains that separated the Barrens and Mulgore. As they turned suddenly and passed through the hole in the cliffs that lead to the green grasslands of Mulgore, their crazed brethren followed, into the waiting jaws of roughly two and a half dozen adult dragons and twice as many drakes. Below the dragonspawn and Drakonid were struck on the flanks by six dozen dragonspawn and eight Drakoid who had been waiting in ambush on either side of the opening that led to the green grasslands. As the dragons fought and screeched above and below the dragonkin clashed in a flurry of steel and blood.

In the battle above, the largest of the corrupted black dragons bit the throat of a drake, crushing the windpipe and killing the young dragon, before letting the body plummet down to the earth. Before the dragon could search for another victim however, a massive shadow descended over him, and he turned to see a massive black wyrm slam into him full force. As the mad dragon was sent sprawling, his attacker pounced upon him, claws and fangs tearing at his wings and body as he tried to get away. The large black dragon gave him no time to recover, keeping up his withering assault on his opponent with a merciless brutality. The smaller dragon was finally freed from his attackers grasp by a swing from the leviathan's massive tail, swatting the smaller dragon across the sky. As the dragon regained his balance and turned to face his attacker, his heart nearly stops as he finally recognizes his assailant, and turns to flee. He makes it only a few feet before his skull is enveloped in a crushing bite, and that is the last thing that the dragon Ragnarion, the lieutenant of Neferian, feels before he slips into death.

Obsidrion kills his opponent with a powerful bite to the skull before he lets the body go, letting the lifeless corpse hit the ground with a thud. As he looked around he saw his forces destroying the forces of his brother and sister. His brother Darkrion ribbed the wing from a small drake clean off before throwing said drake into a larger dragon. This stunned both corrupted black dragons long enough for Shadnyxia to descend upon them and kill them with relative ease. The old wyrm Nyxrion blew molten magma onto a drake before he snapped the neck of another. Below, the Drakonid general Grimfang was leading the uncorrupted dragonkin in a charge that shattered the forces of the enemy dragonkin. All the corrupted dragonkin had been slain and the most of the dragons had died in the ambush as well. All six of the adult dragons were slain, and only three or four of the corrupted drakes had managed to escape and none of the dragonkin of the corrupted black dragonflight survived. In comparison with that Obsidrion had lost maybe about six of his dragons and drakes and a dozen dragonspawn. The sight his corrupted brethren slain had become a familiar sight in the past few millennia. He couldn't help but give a humorless chuckle at how use to death he had become. He was drawn from his musings by a very familiar voice, "Father, our scouts report a large number of our corrupted brethren coming this way led by Neferian." Obsidrion turned to look at the eldest of his children, his daughter Neltharia, named after her grandfather Neltharion the Earth-Warder, who as far as Obsidrion was concerned, was dead. He saw the molten aberration that was Deathwing as simply a shell of the once noble being that had been his father, not even a shadow of his greatness. Obsidrion looked at his daughter, and once again thought he found himself looking at a younger version of her mother Shadnyxia, the same beautiful purple hue that colored her black scales whenever the light struck them at the right time and angle, the same calm, brave, witty personality. He also saw some of himself in her, his patience and, he was regretful to say, his temper and somewhat vicious nature that he was famed for in the heat of battle. Yet overall, his opinion was the same, she had inherited more from her mother than from him in both personality and appearance. When his beloved mate flew up to fly right beside their daughter that fact was only proven without the shadow of a doubt that the two were mother and daughter. Shaking his head to clear it of his musing he spoke in a loud voice "We have won my brothers and sisters, the corrupted have been defeated, the day is ours!" All around him his loyal followers roared in triumph but the large black leviathan continued "However more of Neferian's minions come to strike us in retaliation. For now we retreat and frustrate and anger them, keep them unbalanced. The day will come when we purge our corrupted brethren from this world, but for now we retreat, regroup, and plan our next move. Darkrion gather son of the others and collect the Drakonids and dragonspawn." As his brother and many others flew down to pick up their wingless warriors Obsidrion turned to the direction of their home and began leading the others toward the capital of the uncorrupted black dragons.

In the maze of caverns in the mountains between Tanaris and Uldum lay the stronghold of the black dragons who clung to their duty to guard Azeroth, the natural bastion once called Obsidrion's Outpost was now called by a new name, The Stonehold, the capital of the uncorrupted black dragons. Within the Stonehold's winding tunnels, expansive caverns, secluded grottos, and hundreds of different caves, was the largest concentration of uncorrupted black dragons that be found anywhere on Azeroth. The natural fortress was home to well over several hundred adult black dragons and drakes and thousands of whelps and eggs. Some of the older black dragon's felt that their escape from corruption was due to the location of their home as it was so close in proximity to two sites of the titans, the primal valley of Un'goro and the deserts of Uldum. Whether that was the case or not mattered little to the leader and founder of the Stonehold and the undisputed ruler of the uncorrupted Black dragonflight, Obsidrion, the large leviathan only knew that he and his followers had been spared and was not going to let that blessing go to waste. Currently Obsidrion and his advisors were in the middle of a war council to determine their next course of action. "With the latest clash in the Barrens we have destroyed the last major group of our corrupted brethren this side of the Maelstrom outside the Dustwallow Marsh." The ancient wyrm Nyxrion, once an advisor to the Earth-Warder, had been sent as Neltharion's way of making sure his son didn't do anything too irresponsible back when the Black dragons first settled in the Stonehold. Now the ancient dragon was the main general and strategist of Obsidrion's armies. "With that in mind I say we launch a series of probing expeditions into the Marsh to measure our enemies' strength while also take a base of operations in the area with the Drakonids and Dragonspawn. As we know the southern Marsh is held by Lord Obsidrion's corrupted siblings I believe the best place would be in the Northern parts of the Marsh." Darkrion took this time to put his own opinion in " I believe sending a few of our drakes and even a full grown dragon or two for air support and to deter the more eager drakes of Onyxia's brood." Obsidrion turned to look at this younger brother. The once playfully annoying drake had grown into a large black dragon with a serious no nonsense attitude that now served as Captain of the Guard for the Stonehold and one of his brother's greatest warriors and now his right hand man. Finally coming up to speak was the Drakonid General Grimfang "My lord I believe the Captain's version of the plan would offer us the largest chance of success in this endeavor. I will personally lead or ground forces into the marsh to establish our foothold in the corrupted ones territory. Obsidrion nodded to his loyal general before saying "Very well general, take your best men and enter the marsh from the Barrens. Brother I will leaving the decision for which drakes and dragons are going to you. If no one else has anything else to say than this meeting is adjourned." All the others nodded in agreement and thus ending the war council.

Later that night in him and his mate's personal cavern, he watched the sun set in the west towards the sands of Silithus. At the very name he let loose a low growl. About a thousand years ago the minions of one of the Old Gods, the Qiraji, left their capital city of Ahn'Qiraj to conquer the whole of Kalimdor. They ran into a problem in the form of the night elves, but with sheer numbers pushed the elves back further and further. Finally the night elf in charge of leading their armies in the War of the Shifting Sands, Fandral Staghelm sent emissaries to both the Caverns of Time and the Stonehold, while Nozdormu had refused Obsidrion had been more willing to listen. Since the corruption of his father and most of his kind, Obsidrion had come too absolutely loath anything even vaguely related to the Old Gods. His decision had been made easier when bands of brazen, and stupid, Qiraji had attacked both the Caverns of Time and the Stonehold, thus encoring the wrath of both the Black and Bronze Dragonflights. While the Bronze were led by Nozdormu's son and heir Anachronos, the Black dragons were led by his second eldest hatchling, he and Shadnyxia's eldest son Shadrion. Named for his mother, the young dragon had been undeniably his son. Shadrion had looked exactly like Obsidrion and had also inherited his father's unnaturally large size. When time was needed to raise the scarab wall, Shadrion led the children of the Aspects, Caelestrasz the son of Alexstrasza, Arygos the son of Malygos, and Merithra the daughter of Ysera, in a charge to give Fandral, Anachronos, and the night elves the time they needed to raise the barrier. And so all four dragons were lost behind the barrier that day, three the children and one grandchild of the Aspects lost behind the barrier meant to trap the Qiraji. That had only deepened his hatred of the Old Gods and their damned minions. Whenever he thought about those abominations, his thoughts always turned toward his father. It had been many millennia since he had last seen his father, but even so the metal abomination he had become haunted Obsidrion's nightmares. While many saw their success in Kalimdor as the result of his efforts, Obsidrion was smart enough to also know they had only gotten this far because his father hadn't felt it was worth his time "putting down his son's rebellious attitude" and was more than happy to leave the job of his death to Neferian and Onyxia. Obsidrion knew he was no match for his father and was in no hurry to fight him head to head. Only one of the other Aspects could do that and hope to come out of that confrontation alive. Thinking about his father, Obsidrion's thoughts turned towards his mother, Sintharia, the former prime consort of Neltharion the Earth-Warder. He had not seen her for nearly ten thousand years, he had heard however that she was the only one of his father's consorts to survive mating with him after his corruption into the molten monstrosity that was Deathwing. If he saw her now, he knew the dragon he would meet would not be the mother he had once known, but an insane, pale shadow of the beautiful, kind, and wise dragon who had laid his egg and help raise him in his early years, the mother who had taken great joy in teasing him about his relationship with his mate when he had been a young dragon. He shutoff the memories beginning to overwhelm his mind. In some ways, it hurt more trying to remember his mother than his father.

He was drawn from his reminiscence by the familiar presence of his mate, and turned to see Shadnyxia giving him an understanding look. "Thinking about the past my love. You keep doing that anymore and others will begin to think that you've gotten old." Obsidrion let loose a booming laugh at Shadnyxia's joke before responding "I'm almost 11,000 years old, I AM OLD!" At that they both began to laugh at the truthfulness of the statement. While neither dragon was what could be considered very young, they were also not that old among dragons. They were older than many dragons left alive simply due to the fact that many of their kind died before reaching even a few centuries in age. After them both began to calm down Obsidrion expression turned serious and he returned his gaze towards the reddening horizon. Shadnyxia noticed this and moved to be standing right beside her mate before speaking "A copper for your thoughts?" Shaking his head Obsidrion responded "It's nothing my love, just thinking that I can't go on forever avoiding my father. It's inevitable that we will eventually fight, I just wish I knew why he hasn't made his move yet." Shadnyxia gave her mate a sorrowful look before replying "The time will come when it comes my love, worrying about the when and where will only make you more irritable and upset than need be." Throwing her an amused glance he conceded to her view with a nod and the two just sat in silence and watched as the sun vanished below the horizon and the now dark sky and deserts lit only by the light of the two moons.

Deep within a cave in the southern part of the Dustwallow Marsh, the roars of any angry dragon could be heard echoing throughout the cavern. "Damn you brother, damn you Obsidrion." Neferian, the second oldest of Neltharion the Earth-Warder's children was livid at the turn of recent events. Not only had his second in command Ragnarion been killed, but with the losses they had incurred at the entrance to Mulgore within the Barrens had destroyed the last sizeable force they had outside this fetid swamp. While Neferian didn't mind living in the swamp, on the contrary he kind of liked it, it was the fact that it was their last bastion on the western continent of Kalimdor that angered him so greatly. His sister Onyxia was just as equally displeased, but instead of yelling she was simply roaring in anger at the humiliation inflicted upon them by their brother and his followers. If there was one dragon that Onyxia hated more than her elder brother it was his damned mate Shadnyxia. Even before the War of the Ancients the two she-dragons had never liked each other. Shadnyxia had never shown Onyxia the respect she felt she deserved and was always the more cunning of the two and had always been considered more beautiful when compared to the daughter of the Earth-Warder. What had started as simply jealousy had evolved into full-fledged hatred, much like what was the case between her older brothers. They had both seen their father's order to destroy their older brother and his followers as the chance to finally be rid of the two dragons they had considered their rivals and obstacles to the respect and power that they deserved. But for centuries their brother had continually outsmarted them and basically made total fools out of his younger siblings. The fact that both knew that even together, they would be hard pressed to defeat the eldest of the Earth-Warder's children who not only had them outmatched in size, but in sheer muscle and power. "The Black Warden", as many of Deathwing's followers had taken to calling Obsidrion, was without a doubt the strongest and most powerful of the great leviathan's children, and had developed a downright merciless attitude when fighting the Destroyer's followers. As the two dragons continued their ranting a messenger entered, "Lord Neferian and Lady Onyxia, I bring news from Lord Deathwing." Turning to face the dragon Neferian calmed down and spoke "Well don't keep us in suspense, tell us what news you bring." "In light of events that have unfolder here on Kalimdor, the Destroyer wishes both of you to come to the Eastern Kingdoms. He has deemed the destruction of your brother to be left to your lieutenants as he would like the two of you to be kept under his watch for the time being. His saws he has plans for the both of you and that your brother is only and annoyance that will be dealt with soon enough." With that the messenger turned to leave, leaving a pair of two very confused and curious siblings in wondering what their father had in mind.

Hey guys sorry it took so long to update, I've been kind of busy lately, and that and I was waiting for more reviews. I mean come on guys, I want to make where you can enjoy this but I can't do that without input. As you can see I am making many changes to the lore. Here I kind of revealed a side story about Onyxia and Shadnyxia's background. I also introduced a few new characters like Shadthrion and update older ones like Darkrion, who will have a larger role as the story continues. Now until next time read, enjoy, and for the love of the lord please review, criticism and advice appreciated, flames will be ignored however. This is Shadowwolf1997, until next time.