Author's Note: My own interpretation, of course. I do not believe that Neltharion is corrupted, but that Deathwing is another entity altogether, put in his body by the Old Gods. Also, title sorta comes from a song from a movie called Repo! The Genetic Opera. Which is awesome. Also, my own interpretation of Elune. Why ELSE is she so close to her? Some little priestess gets all that power, why? I think this is why.
Let the Brother Die, Let the Monster Rise
Dying. Hundreds. Thousands. The power of the soul...souls...within the disc was unimaginable. Neltharion watched in horror and fought against the foul creature within, Deathwing. His siblings would believe he did this...that he wanted this. No, never. He was guardian of Earth, not murderer of Earth, nor the things living upon her. At first, they, the voices, had talked of good things. Of saving people.
Of preventing this tragedy that was happening, not causing it. In a way, it WAS his fault. Neltharion was a Destroyer. He had agreed to create the Dragon Soul, believing it to be a way to defeat the demon army forever, to protect his precious Earth and his precious siblings forever. But then...without his consent, they had put something inside him. Something that caused his mind to constantly reel and him to lose control.
This thing...this creature...Deathwing. Thats what it called itself when it spoke to him, anyway. When it spoke to other creatures, it still claimed his own name, Neltharion. It wasn't! Why couldn't they see that? Why? Not even Alexstrasza...his precious, precious sister. His most loved of siblings...not even she could see it wasn't Neltharion here anymore, but a creature of evil and darkness.
Deathwing watched in delight as the Demon Soul destroyed hundreds of thousands of elves, demons, and even dragons. It had the soul-bought powers of each flight within it...each flight but his own! His own flight remained unharmed and the powers of the souls flew by the black dragons without even a glance, or whatever demon souls did when they destroyed things. He cared not.
All he cared about was this. Doing as his masters bid. Killing them. Ruling a world where the blackflight was supreme. No other race, excepting his masters. Alexstrasza, the Whore Queen, would be his mate. Sister of his body or not. Same with the green Dreamer, Ysera. The little bitches would bow before the Destroyer in the end. Would BEG to be his mate.
Together, he and Alexstrasza would create the perfect flight. Too long had his masters wanted him to mate with a fellow Aspect. Too long had they waited. The power such children would have!
Inside Deathwing's head, the pitiful creature Neltharion wailed. This is wrong! Stop it! I didn't agree to this! I agreed to create the Soul for the good of the Earth, not for this, not for killing. I am the Earth Warder! I have power!
Another attack. Deathwing's body reeled in the sky, almost losing control of the Soul for a moment. Neltharion was launching all the attacks he could at Deathwing, but he lost every time. So he always would. Still, as the Earth Warder, the TRUE Earth Warder, he had power Deathwing knew naught. His love for his precious Azeroth and his precious siblings. His attacks were fiercer in their presence. Which is why Deathwing made sure the wall his masters had trapped Neltharion behind was secure before going near his siblings.
It still seemed that Neltharion had power when it came to anyone hurting the Earth, Azeroth, and her people though. Deathwing had been unprepared for this attack. Had thought Neltharion defeated or simply that he had given up fighting him and retreated in his attacks. Begone, wretch! You are not long for this world! Deathwing's own mental attack caused Neltharion to retreat. Good. He wasn't going to want to see this. And Deathwing wasn't sure he could fend off Neltharion should he see what was going to happen.
"NELTHARION! Stop this at once, Betrayer!" Deathwing realized he was surrounded. Blue dragons. The guardians of magic. And their leader, the one who had spoken, Neltharion's brother, Malygos. Almost the entire flight...the entire blue flight surrounded him. His masters' words came to him, unbidden, but welcome. Guardians of magic of not, their souls still help power thiss...you can dessstroy them...all of them...killlll...
"You make a mistake on this day, BROTHER!" Deathwing struck out with all the power of the souls the disc held. There was a massive blast. Blue dragons disintegrated into thin air, howls of pain and shock in their cries. Malygos hadn't been destroyed, but the destruction of his entire flight seemed to have paralyzed him. The other Aspects were coming in, circling him. He turned his head.
Malygos seemed to fall from the sky, though he wasn't dead. His stunned body fell to the ground, crushing demons and night elves beneath it. The destruction of his flight had been a terrible blow. Deathwing grinned inwardly. The others would soon follow.
The other Aspects and their flights surrounded him now. A beautiful, gleaming red female at the head of the flights. The Dragon Queen. Lady Alexstrasza, his most beloved of siblings. At least, Neltharion's. Neltharion was trapped well inside his head.
"Siblings! See the power of the souls! The power of the dragon soul! Alexstrasza! Ysera! We could rule this planet! No foolish mortal races to get in the way!"
"Brother! Neltharion! You speak madness! You have killed many! You destroyed the entire blue flight. The Guardians of Magic are no more. Their leader, your BROTHER, is worse than dead! Why have you done this, brother?" This from Ysera, the green Dreamer, still shifting in and out of this world and her precious Emerald Dream.
"I speak not madness, little sister! I speak the truth. Look at what you see! Look at the evil the mortal races have brought upon this world! Were it only dragons, only us, there would be more evil!"
Alexstrasza snarled. "You aren't my brother! You killed! So many! Mortals, dragons, even demons. None should be subject to such evil. You are evil!"
Deathwing laughed. His eyes were turning from the normal gold to molten red. "You are right, Dragon Queen. I am not your brother. Let the brother die, sister. Let the monster rise. I am Deathwing, the Destroyer."
With the next swing of the Demon Soul, the other Aspects were paralyzed, unable to move, speak, anything. Their own souls within the disc giving him power over them. He killed many, many greens, many reds, in front of their mothers' horrified, unmoving eyes. Something eventually broke his concentration, and the next thing he knew the rest of the flights and their Aspects were scattered across the land, no where to be found. Deathwing snarled inwardly with rage, but knew he would triumph, in the end.
Later, much later, when Deathwing found himself trapped, unable to escape, inside a fiery pit of pain and agony, he looked back on those moments, and laughed. His wounds were terrible, true, but it wasn't something he couldn't recover from, in time. The flaming pit was merely a setback (insert your own Kael'thas joke here), but when next he took to the skies, they would all cry for mercy from the Aspect of Death!
Deep inside his head, behind walls built by the Old Gods and Deathwing himself, Neltharion lay trapped.
"I didn't want to harm anyone...never. Not my siblings! Not their flights! I only agreed to save people."
Neltharion was crying. He couldn't help it. As protector of the Earth, of Azeroth, he and Alexstrasza were the eldest of the Aspects and the ones charged with protecting it and everything on it. Neltharion felt a brush of something cool, something far different than anything he'd felt in the thousands of years of being possessed by Deathwing.
"You aren't cursed, you aren't damned, Neltharion, Protector of the Earth."
He hadn't seen, truly seen, in ages, but now, as clear as day, he could see a woman. A night elf woman. Her hair was shifting between blue and green and her eyes seemed to glow with silver-white light.
"Who are you? What are you? You...look familiar."
The night elf woman smiled and reached out a hand, almost as if she were stroking Neltharion's head. That is what it felt like to him, anyway.
"Yes. I do look familiar. I would, then, wouldn't I? To something with so long a memory as you. Please do not despair, Neltharion. I am greater than even your creators, the Titans. I know you aren't damned. You will be free of Deathwing."
The blue-haired night elf woman with silver eyes seemed to be staring into his very soul.
"Mistress Night Elf, I still don't understand. Who are you? WHAT are you, to be here? Are you just a hallucination?"
The woman smiled and seemed to walk closer to him, her silver-white dress shimmering around her body, almost as if it were made of moonlight, not any type of fabric he'd known.
"The Night Elves, my creations, call me Elune. The tauren call me the Earth Mother. I am all those things and more, Neltharion. I truly protect Azeroth, when it is needed. When those who are meant to protect it can't."
This woman was Elune? The Goddess? What was She doing here? Why him? Why would She appear to him of all people, of all things?
"Elune, Goddess, why me? Why now?"
The night elf shook Her head sadly.
"You'll see, Neltharion. Deathwing isn't finished with this world. My people, my love, will be in danger again. Will you protect them, Neltharion? Will your sister?"
It felt as if the night elf Goddess had Her hands on his face, was stroking him in comfort.
"How, my Lady? How do I protect anyone, anything, with this monster in control of my body? Even were I to somehow take control of my body, how, Goddess, would I live? My body...if you haven't seen it...is in tatters. The only thing holding it together are the goblin-forged plates."
"You'll fight him. When they come for Deathwing, you'll fight him. You'll let her kill you. Your sister."
Neltharion tried not to cry again, not in front of Her, the Goddess.
"Of course I will, Goddess. I deserve to die, for all I have done. For all my greed brought about..."
The Goddess felt as if she were hugging him now.
"Your greed wasn't sinful, dear Neltharion. Your greed was for your people, and your Azeroth. You won't die, Neltharion. You have only to fight him. You have My promise. I don't intercede in the affairs of Azeroth often, great Aspect, but this saddens even Me."
A silvery tear tracked down her pale, violet-skinned cheek.
"They killed so many of My children, too. These things you first made the deal with. I cannot give you a new body, but I can give you a new life. I can give you a life as one of My children."
"Anything, Goddess, as long as this monster is defeated. My Lady...may I ask...who are You? Really? I know You are, Elune, the Earth Mother, the Light, and so much more...but what body do You wear, what love do You speak of?"
The blue haired night elf woman smiled, this time a happy smile.
"I speak of Malfurion Stormrage. The Dreamer's chosen one, he who surpasses even your sister in power now. I love him not for his great power, Earth Warder, but for his heart. His heart is as great as yours, Aspect. I love him as much as you love your sister. You will see her again. Your Alexstrasza."
Neltharion knew who this woman was now. The little night elf priestess. Why, then, had She allowed all the destruction when She saw it happening right in front of Her?
"I can sense your thoughts, great Aspect. She is My avatar. She is My body among My children. She, I, do not know. When Tyrande dies, She, I, will remember. It is complicated, but I wanted to walk the earth as one of my own children. Feel, know, love as they do. If I knew who I was, I couldn't. Your despair brought me here. She sleeps. The body I made for Myself. She knows not of who She really is, that She is the Goddess She worships. I want it that way. I love Malfurion. For the sake of My love, and your love, we will protect this planet from what is coming."
Neltharion looked at the beautiful night elf in apprehension.
"What do you mean, what is coming?"
The night elf sighed sadly.
"He said it long ago. You should know, Aspect. Forgive me, She wakes. I must go."
The Goddess once again hugged him and vanished.
The ground shook. What...? He felt more than heard Deathwing's victorious laughter, his cry of triumph. Azeroth trembled. The whole of Azeroth, breaking, beneath the tremors of the monster's wings. Neltharion knew what the Goddess meant now. Truly knew. Deathwing was free of his pit at last. His injuries healed. His vengeance would be deadly, swift, and terrible. A cataclysm that would shake all Azeroth.
Let the monster rise.