After Araxion had been escorted to his headquarters, he saw not hide nor tail of Kerelion. In the black wyrm's absence, Araxion had spent his days chatting with his fellow drakes, some younger than him, some friends from his days under Esteria's tutelage. He hadn't been able to locate Sariona, although after coming back from Hyjal, he suspected that she needed time to herself anyways. He knew better than anyone that the campaign in Hyjal had been tough on her.

Finally, one morning, Araxion was roused by a familiar human shape. "Araxion," Kerelion said. "I apologize for the delay. I've been very busy these past few days."

"Lord Kerelion, I'm glad to see you," Araxion said. "The wait isn't a problem."

The black wyrm nodded. "Meet me in my office. We have much to discuss."

Araxion left his quarters after the black wyrm, having taken some time wake himself up properly. He had been to Kerelion's office once before, and it was not terribly far from his own quarters, just down the hall. The cultists guarding the door seemed to be expecting him, as they nodded and let him pass with little more than a look. Araxion slipped through the door and glanced around the room. It was far messier than he remembered, with papers scattered carelessly across the floor. Kerelion must not have been very keen on neatness for the past few days.

"Araxion," Kerelion was sitting behind his desk, a few sheets of paper in his hands. "It's about time we explained to you what's going on. Do you remember the first time we met, on Mount Hyjal?"

"Yes, Lord Kerelion," Araxion said.

"Drop the titles. You're reminding me of the naga," Kerelion said. "I said then that I was there on behalf of Deathwing himself. He ordered this project, and will be overseeing it personally. This is not just a continuation of Nefarian's or Sintharia's research, but everything they've done and then some."

"The honor isn't lost on me."

"Good. Araxion, do you know the characteristics of a proper dragonflight? A distinct appearance, a distinct sphere of power, and most importantly, an Aspect. A leader who possesses unimaginable power. The Twilight Dragonflight has two of the three."

Araxion felt a cold feeling sweep over him, that very same feeling he had had so often as an egg. This time, unlike it had been since he was in the egg, the source was clear- it was Kerelion. Something was wrong with him, somehow, like something was wrong with Sintharia and Deathwing and the Faceless.

Whatever Araxion was feeling, clearly Kerelion couldn't tell, because he just continued on. "The Destroyer has ordered me to see to it that the ultimate twilight dragon is created. An Aspect of Twilight, a dragon with power that puts even the three remaining Aspects to shame. You, Araxion, will be that dragon. You will become Ultraxion."

Araxion stood there, lost in his thoughts, staring blankly at the black wyrm behind the desk. So many questions... But still, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. This wasn't right. None of it was right. Had it ever been right? Just listen, he urged himself. It'll all be fine. Just listen to him.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation as to how it's going to be done, before we get there," Kerelion said. "I'm not sure how much you know about how twilight dragons are created, so I'll give you the short version. Sintharia created the first twilight dragons from the essence of nether drakes. The results of her experiments, while powerful, were unstable. Your father, when he emerged from Deepholm, took interest in her research, and perfected the process used to create twilight dragons. To this day, the Twilight's Hammer breeds nether dragons for this process. Faceless corruptors absorb the essence of nether drakes, and use it to turn eggs twilight. Our cultists then use more specialized spells to ensure that the resulting eggs are stable, and to age them into drakes before they even hatch."

"That... I think I remember that."

"Good. Twilight dragons, in part because shadow magic kills the weak, tend to be slightly stronger than your average drake. However, it's due to the dangers of shadow magic that we're creating an Aspect from a drake rather than an egg. If we were to use a more crude method, like simply using more shadow, it would kill the egg. Pure arcane energy, from what we call the ley lines, can sometimes have the same effect on an unhatched whelp. However, a blue dragon named Eszragos discovered a way to engineer spell foci and incorporate them into the shell of an egg so that the whelp inside would be able to safely absorb it."

"So... You're going to try that on me?"

"In a way. One of our blue dragon contacts, a survivor of Eszragos's experiments, was able to give us the design used for the spell foci, but he died before we could get the other important parts of his information. My theory- as I've observed with blueborn twilight whelps- is that shadow magic, which twilight drakes are based upon, will assimilate arcane energy into itself. This idea is what our work hinges upon. We'll use multiple spell foci on you, and repeat the process slowly enough so that the shadow catches up to the arcane. There are other viable methods, but this would be the most simple and allow the quickest results with the least amount of resources. The catch is that we need to test the affects of shadow on the type and amount of arcane magic that the spell focus uses."

Araxion sat down, curling his tail tightly around his feet. "I have to admit that I'm not very familiar with the workings of magic."

"I'll cut the mage babble, then. The important thing is, we need a live survivor of Eszragos's experiments. That shouldn't be too difficult- as we speak, I have a team retrieving such a drake. We've had success in the past turning blue and red drakes twilight, and so, before we attempt to use Eszragos's spell foci on you, we're going to go through the process to turn the blue. This will show us the proper ratios we need for you, and we'll be able to begin our work."

Araxion flicked his tail, shifting his feet with some amount of discomfort. "I never knew you could turn drakes twilight."

"We developed that process through our research into what we call 'chromatic dragons', but the same idea works with twilights as well," Kerelion said. "Although usually, eggs result in much more stable dragons, and the amount of resources involved in turning them makes eggs far more efficient overall. With drakes, that's not always the case, and sometimes they can even be hostile even after they turn. But by turning one of Eszragos's blues, we'll know the exact numbers that we need when we use Eszragos's spell focus on you."

"I still have to admit that I don't really understand," Araxion said. "But I think I have an idea of what you mean. It's an honor, Kerelion. All of it."

"That's good," he said. "If you have any more questions, I'll be happy to answer them. But there's one more thing. Sintharia wishes for us to spread out our operations, in the event that the Bastion of Twilight falls. We've been spreading out our nether drake breeding program, and our most high priority projects, including you, are being moved out of the Bastion of Twilight."

"Where are we going, then?" Araxion asked. "I was under the impression that the Bastion of Twilight would be secure for a number of months, at the very least."

"We don't want to end up in a position where it's too late to move, and a single attack could destroy most of our projects," Kerelion explained. "We have a new, more secure base in the Hinterlands we'll be sending you- and the blue drake- to. I'm having one of our twilight wyrms escort you there through the Twilight Realm. I'll be there once I've set my affairs here in order."

"I understand."

"Good. You have two hours, and then you need to find a 'Surion' in the northernmost meeting room. He's a twilight wyrm, you can't miss him."