The day of Alexstrasza's arrival was a busy, chaotic time.

The day before had been simple enough; the green drakes did not want Virigosa's help, and she simply watched them go about their work for a long while. That night and day was the calm before the storm. The next morning was chaotic- over and over, Virigosa was asked to check the perimeter to see if anybody had cast any suspicious spells or left strange runes. They shouldn't have waited until the last minute, Virigosa gripped to herself, scratching at the dirt to investigate a strange object. It was just a few beads, nothing of particular importance.

She finished her patrol around the outside of Nordrassil, returning to the building that served as the base of operations. "Anything to report yet, Virigosa?" A green drake called, hovering in front of the building just above the ground.

Virigosa flicked her tail in annoyance. "Well, let's see," she replied. "The birds are a bit afraid of me, maybe that's a bit of a cause for concern? Oh, and I found some toys that elven children left laying around, shall I check to ensure that they aren't cursed?"

"Alright, alright, I get it," the green drake said. "If it's all fine, then, come inside the command center and we'll send you out again when Alexstrasza arrives."

Virigosa hesitated for a moment, unsure if she'd like to spend time with the greens. "I'll wait, I'll keep watch. You can go play inside with your little green dragon friends while I do the real work. Just leave me alone. Yes?"

The green drake was silent for a while after, a grimace on her face. "Alright then, Virigosa," the drake said. "You do whatever makes you happy."

Virigosa was left alone, and she scrambled up on a rock on the border of the city, alone. Her memories of the Nexus War flashed before her eyes. First, she remembered the hopelessness, her inexperience and ineptitude and so much pain. Then, she remembered her time as she gained experience, the strength she had, the power she had over red drakes. She remembered the bloodshed, the feeling of her claws slicing through wing and scale and muscle, eventually meeting bone.

She remembered seeing her own reflection in snow that had been melted by a red drake's breath. She had blood all over her maw and talons, red scales under her claws. That drake in the reflection, Virigosa had wondered, was she beautiful or was she a monster?

Then, she recalled the end of the war. Defeat was so bitter, her aspect dead and her flight even closer to extinction than before. No matter how hard she alone had fought, no matter how much she had sacrificed for victory, a single drake could not change the tide of the war. She was nothing, useless, a bitter loser of the war that she had so badly needed to win. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Bitterness could only go so far. Now was another war, and this one she was determined to win. This one she could win.

Her thoughts were not quite clear when she spotted a sudden glimmer, a sudden spark of magic. Alarms went off in her mind, and almost on instinct, she breathed in an exhaled a torrent of frost, blanketing the area for a moment in brilliant white crystals. The glimmer came again, and this time the source was obvious: three twilight drakes were stunned by Virigosa's ability to detect them, frozen for a moment before a the drake in front let out a defiant hiss, shifting into a battle stance.

That drake's mistake was her last. Virigosa leapt from the rock, propelled by her wings, digging her claws into the drake from above. The twilight crumpled to the ground under the weight of the blue, who was most pleased by this. Virigosa rolled the twilight over onto her back, claws tearing away at the wings, and leaned her head down to bite into the twilight's throat. The drake's life was over, and Virigosa turned her head to the other two drakes, who were torn between running and readying themselves to fight.

Virigosa watched them for a moment, silently, and turned to continue tearing away at the twilight's soon-to-be lifeless body. The other two drakes could hardly believe their luck, and flew off into the sky to watch their fallen comrade from afar.

To Virigosa, this twilight drake was the perfect target. A perfect opportunity to let out all that anger, to express Virigosa's frustration and confusion towards the world. Her black-blue hide was like a canvas, every slash an expression of the blue's feelings. Virigosa stopped for a moment, beholding her work, looking over the mutilated corpse expressionlessly.

Then, strangely, she wondered what this twilight dragon's name had been. It wasn't a merciful thought, Virigosa was not trying to attach any relatable feelings to this monster, but a mere curiosity. Did she love anyone? Did she have anyone who ever loved her? No, of course not; twilight dragons could not love. Twilight dragons felt no emotions, had no thoughts. Could they even speak? Probably not.

But still, had someone ever taken the time to name this drake? Had anyone actually ever cared enough to acknowledge that this drake existed, even if they were just a pawn, just a puppet of Deathwing? And, come to think of it, the other two drakes had fled, as if they were afraid. Briefly, the blue recalled a memory of her and Eryigos in desperate flight; she pushed it away to the back of her mind, where it couldn't bother her anymore.

First, it occurred to Virigosa that she was not in her right mind. Next, she realized that these three lowly drakes could not possibly have been the only twilight forces sent to try and disrupt the Life-Binder's arrival.

Virigosa pushed off from the ground, taking to the skies and flying frantically back to the base of operations. She landed in front of the building, barging unceremoniously through the entrance

There were gasps. "Virigosa, you're covered in blood," someone said.

"There's been a breach!" she called. "The Twilight's Hammer is here to disrupt the arrival! Get out there, now!"

Virigosa was the first to take to the skies to search for more twilight forces. Drakes were swarming out of the building, starting to fan out and search for intruders. Suddenly, Virigosa could feel it. There were traces of twilight magic everywhere, emanating from somewhere that she couldn't quite pinpoint. Something was wrong, far more wrong than she ever realized. The blue drake suspended herself in air, looking frantically for the source of the disturbance.

Nalasra flew up beside her. "Virigosa, the Dragonqueen is set to arrive at any moment. Look, there's her guard," Sure enough, countless red dragons had come into view. "We can't have all our forces flying around in all directions like this. What exactly did you see?"

Alexstrasza's red form was visible over the treetops, massive and beautiful. Suddenly, it was clear. Suddenly, Virigosa saw exactly what she was looking for. She cast a glance at Nalasra, but only for a moment, and flew as quickly as she could away from the village. It was all on instinct, there was no conscious thought, no reason to her actions. Nobody else had seen what Virigosa had seen, not yet.

She put herself some distance away from the Dragonqueen, her back to the red aspect. Suddenly, they all saw what she had. "Look out!" someone screamed.

But it was too late; Virigosa knew what she must do. She hovered in air, spreading her wings, and the mass of shadow magic enveloped her. It began to consume her wings, burning like fire, worse than fire. She screamed, no longer able to hold herself in the air, spiraling downwards towards the ground once more. It was pain unlike anything she had ever experienced, and for the first time, she began to wonder why she had done that. Alexstrasza is an aspect, she could have lived through that. Then there was the unspoken thought, that Virigosa couldn't.

Her body hit the ground with a crunch, breaking inside as the magic ate away at her outside. She had one last, conscious thought: Does the world have no mercy?

Something enveloped her, something horribly hot, and she tried to let out a feeble scream as her eyes faded to darkness. There were words being exchanged- there were dragons talking- but their words were as gibberish to her. Then there was nothing but darkness, and eventually, silence.