Ruby Aspect.
Part II: Through the Fire and Flames.
Uther had once thought he would never again see Grim Batol, he had thought that when he, Rhonin and several others they had liberated Alexstrasza that it would be the end of it, and mean he would never have to return to that accursed city. Now he had returned to a similar peril, an unknown amount of enemies had taken up residence inside, however this time it was Alexstrasza's eggs as the target they needed to free.
This time however, he wasn't fighting just for the Alliance; he was marching into Grim Batol on the dragon queen's behest. As they circled lower and lower toward the small plateau outside Grim Batol, Uther spotted a Sin'dorei waving at them.
"Onyxia, land near that woman" Uther commanded, and Onyxia dived, breaking at the last moment to touch down gracefully.
Uther leapt off her back, followed by Sylvanas, and Falstad swooped in behind them, his gryphon gently placing the tremor device on the ground, before he jumped off its back, and stood beside them.
"Greetings lord Uther" The Sin'dorei said, bowing before him. "I am Lirastrasza, I was sent by the dragon queen to monitor the region before your arrival. I am also the one who will return the rescued eggs to the queen."
"What are we facing inside?" Uther asked quickly, his eyes looking at the decapitated red dragon heads on spikes, lining the path up to the gates.
"Dragonkin and unknown monstrosities" Lirastrasza said coldly. "Black and Twilight Dragonkin to be exact, plus creatures I've never seen before."
"Twilight Dragonkin?" Sylvanas exclaimed, "I didn't know that there were other dragonkin outside of the five aspects."
"The Twilight kin are abominations, they're the creation of Sintharia, and Deathwing ensured they were kept beneath Grim Batol to breed and fester." Lirastrasza said with disgust. "They were an attempt to better Nefarian's Chromatic Dragonflight."
"Sintharia was as mad as my brother; I look forward to ending her legacy" Onyxia growled. "Even if she's my mother!"
"Well then have fun, it's full of them" Lirastrasza said cheerfully, "but the unknown creatures are what you need to watch out for."
'Faceless Ones' the voice whispered.
"Faceless Ones? I thought they were a myth" Uther stated aloud, Lirastrasza gave him an odd look, but she quickly shrugged it off.
"They're not, they're servants of the old gods, and there's at least one of them in there." Lira stated. "How'd you know that's what they are?"
"I honestly do not know," Uther mused.
"Well, what's your plan?" Lira asked quickly, changing the conversation topic.
"Kill everything, then plant this in the center, after weakening all the supports, and bury the remains." Sylvanas said, pointing at the tremor device.
"How do you plan to damage the supports?" Lira asked, tilting her head at the device.
"Onyxia's fire" Uther replied proudly, Onyxia smiled at the ruby dragonkin.
"Well I wish you luck, use the pendant if you need us, we are not far away." Lirastrasza said cheerfully before taking off, and transforming in mid-air. "I will contact you if anything comes up out here."
"What's the plan?" Falstad said as they slowly walked up the small hill toward the city.
"Myself and Sylvanas in front, you two behind, weaken the supports as we go and keep the device covered until we reach the center." Uther stated.
He signalled to Onyxia, and she breathed flame on the decapitated dragon heads, until only the skulls remained.
"That was a mercy." He said as they entered. "May they find peace in the Light's embrace."
"What about the eggs?" Sylvanas asked as they walked down the deserted entrance hall.
"Put the device on a timer, grab the eggs and run" Uther smirked as they rounded a corner, and entered the city itself.
"Bless the ancestors" Falstad breathed, as he took in the sight before them.
The once proud halls of the Wildhammers; were now dark, dingy and full of dragonspawn, Twilights Hammer cultists and Troggs, who were milling about the ruined pathways, still showing the scars of Alexstrasza's fury.
"Intruders!" a cultist yelled, before the four heroes were swarmed by enemies.
Uther and Sylvanas instinctively ducked and Onyxia's flame breath incinerated the mob in the blink of an eye, softening up the ones behind, as the two heroes charged into the now scared cultists and dragonkin.
They fought their way into the halls, navigating the destroyed walkways in favour of the more structurally sound. Onyxia breathed fire on to the supporting columns until they glowed red, upon which she'd punch them and leave a crippling dent.
"A million more await my orders. What chance you do have?" a large dragonspawn yelled as he charged them, swinging his claws at Uther's head. "You smell of Ruby dragons, you are weak compared to me!"
"I doubt that!" Uther yelled back, swinging his sword and funnelling holy energy into the strike. He cleaved off one of the dragonspawn's sickly dark blue wings, and it wailed in pain.
"I am General Umbriss, I will not be beaten by some puny mortals!" Umbriss yelled, taking a swing at Sylvanas, who ducked, rolled under him and sliced through his left flank.
"We ain't mortal mate" Sylvanas chided, diving effortlessly away from of a wall of blue flames he sent at her.
She pulled out her bow and fired two arrows at his eyes, blinding him and forcing him to stagger backwards.
"Onyxia now!" Uther yelled, diving to the side, as Onyxia transformed into her dragon self and swatted Umbriss into the abyss behind him. "Well done!" Uther said getting to his feet and peering over the edge at the abyss below.
"I'm guessing that's a Twilight dragonspawn," Falstad commented, as his eyes drifted to Onyxia, who was shifting back to her human form. "Nice work dragon."
"Thank you dwarf," Onyxia said flatly. "See, sounds odd doesn't it? I have a name, do not call me by my species!"
"Enough!" Uther nearly yelled, ceasing the tense situation.
"Where to now?" Sylvanas asked, looking around for the way forward.
"Looks like it's into the center, to Khardros' Anvil." Falstad said, pointing to a small set of stairs that curved around a corner and out of sight. "That's where we'll plant the device. Give me a second."
Falstad ran over to one of the buildings and picked up a large Twilight's Hammer crate, before hurrying back and placing the device inside it.
"That's a little more inconspicuous." He said cheerfully as they hurried into the central chamber.
"What the hell is that?" Sylvanas said, as a large creature lumbered toward them.
"I think it is a Mountain Ettin, a giant basically." Uther said, disbelieving what his eyes were seeing. "I always heard they were incredibly shy, dumb creatures that lived in the mountains of Lordaeron."
"Looks like the things been abused and forced to smith for the Twilight's Hammer, killin' it'll be a mercy for sure." Falstad said, pushing the crate containing the device into a corner, as the Ettin spotted them.
"NO! Throngus get whipped again if he no finish!" the Ettin yelled as it ran to a vast chest.
"Yep, definitely tortured" Sylvanas stated.
"Oh, this is gonna HURT!" it yelled as it withdrew a large mace and charged them.
Uther swung his sword to counter the swing, and the mace proved no match for his sword, as it cleaved through it with ease.
Throngus bellowed in annoyance and turned and hurried back to his chest. Sylvanas fired several arrows into its back and the Ettin roared in pain, before withdrawing a large, heavily beaten shield.
"You not get through defences!" It yelled triumphantly before charging back to fight Uther.
Sylvanas climbed up the ruined buildings on their left, and used the height to shoot arrows over Throngus' shield.
"Ow, no fair!" It yelled as arrows stuck into his necks, forcing him to raise his shield, leaving his legs vulnerable to Uther's sword.
"Onyxia, deal with his shield!" Uther yelled, Onyxia swiped her bare hand at the shield and at the last moment her dragon claws sliced clean through it, enraging the Ettin further.
"Throngus SLICE you up!" It yelled, taking two unfinished swords from the anvil and began swinging them wildly at Onyxia.
"Oi thick heads!" Sylvanas yelled from the building directly above Throngus.
The Ettin looked up as she dropped down, her daggers flashed and she rolled out of the way, as one of the creature's heads dropped to the floor. The Ettin stumbled around in pain, pawing at the severed neck, trying to stop the blood that oozed from it.
"Death… Good choice. Not best choice maybe, but better than fail and live." Throngus moaned as it collapsed to the ground.
"How philosophical" Falstad said cheerfully, pushing the crate next to the central anvil, and putting several smaller crates around it. "Say the word, I hit the button, and the whole mountain will shake."
He waved a small remote in front of them, before pocketing it.
"Let's look for the eggs now. I assume we keep following the path of dragonkin, until we come across the faceless one?" Sylvanas asked, and Uther nodded, leading them through a damaged passage beside the former throne room.
"I think we are on the right path" Uther said as they rounded a corner on to another curving hallway, this time more destroyed than the first one they had battled through. "It looks like Alexstrasza was imprisoned down here, and this suffered her initial wrath when she was freed."
Before they could hypothesise further, more cultists and small dragonspawn charged them.
"There are more of them, and they seem more desperate to push us back." Sylvanas noted as she leapt from victim to victim, slicing through them with relative ease. "We're definitely nearing something important."
Uther snarled in anger as he spotted the next high-ranking figure ahead, an Orc in warlock robes, channelling flaming spirits around him.
"I will burn you from the inside out!" the Orc yelled as Uther broke through the cultists and charged him.
"I have killed hundreds of your kind; you are no different to a lowly peon!" Uther snarled as he swung his sword at the Orc's head, who managed to block the swing with his staff.
"Uther!" Sylvanas yelled, joining his fight with the Orc, as Onyxia vaporised the remaining cultists that tried to fight her, before weakening the supports. Falstad also rushed to aid Uther and Sylvanas.
"Dragon, you will do as I command! Catch me!" The Orc yelled as he dove off the ledge, appearing moments later on the back of a large Twilight drake.
"If they do not kill you, I will do it myself!" the dragon roared, before breathing flame at the heroes.
Onyxia rushed forward and shielded the three with her wings; the flames wrapped around her wings, but didn't harm her or the three heroes.
"Impossible!" the drake roared, as Sylvanas shot an arrow at its neck.
"Die abomination!" Uther yelled, he jumped up and grasped the drake's wing, and heaved himself on to his back.
"Valiona, finish them! Avenge…" The Orc yelled before Uther beheaded him and leapt from the dragon's back.
Onyxia shot a column of fire at Valiona, who dived into the chasm.
"Come back and fight you coward!" Onyxia roared, her draconic voice echoing through the empty halls.
Before they could move further into the ruined city, Valiona rose up again, with another large Twilight dragon.
"Don't call us cowards you traitor to Deathwing!" the new dragon yelled at Onyxia.
"I will not follow my father or deceased brother into the Old God's madness!" Onyxia roared back.
The two Twilight dragons laughed as Onyxia took flight and transformed, quickly dwarfing the two Twilight dragons. Valiona turned and flew away, making Onyxia give chase. Uther looked around and saw a length of chain lying abandoned on the floor, he ran over and tied it around the handle of his sword.
"Over here ugly" Sylvanas yelled, distracting the new dragon.
As the dragon moved to breathe fire on Sylvanas, Uther threw his sword at the dragon; it wrapped around the beast's neck and held fast against its attempts to shake it off.
"I knew I should have stayed out of this…" it managed to say, before Uther yanked on the chain, and sliced off the dragon's head.
As the beheaded dragon fell into the abyss below, Uther pulled on the chain and his sword clattered to the floor. Onyxia landed behind him and transformed back to her mortal guise.
"She won't bother us anymore" Onyxia smiled, a trickle of black blood leaked from her lips, until she wiped it away with a smile.
"You didn't?" Sylvanas said, disgusted by the idea in her head.
"Nope, I just severed the artery in her neck as we fought. She fell against a weakened support and it collapsed on her." Onyxia smiled, "you?"
"Cut its head off with Uther's sword on a chain" Sylvanas said picking up his sword and handing it back to Uther, minus the chain.
"Only one area left to search, and it's got the most flame damage" Uther said to a large, charred passage on their left. "I'm guessing Alexstrasza was held down there, and her eggs are in the same place."
"Let's not waste time, the column that collapsed to kill that 'Valiona' has probably affected the structural strength of the entire city." Falstad said, urging them on.
They charged down the passage but froze when they rounded the corner. The vast chamber was badly scarred from its previous prisoner, and was now filled with large, vivid red eggs. The thing that made them freeze more than anything was the creature at the other end of the chamber, a towering abomination of nature, with large claws for hands and wicked armoured skin resembling a large crustacean.
"I'm guessing that's a faceless one, odd name as it has a face" Sylvanas joked at the sight, the abomination's yellow eyes narrowed as it spotted them.
Uther channelled as much holy energy into his sword as he could muster, making it glow brightly. Suddenly he charged the abomination, followed by Falstad, Sylvanas and Onyxia.
"The darkest days are still ahead!" the thing yelled as it charged to meet them.
Uther's sword cleaved into the creature's right arm with ease, the holy energy of his sword burned the abomination's flesh.
"Come, suffering… Enter, chaos!" the faceless one yelled, summoning another, even uglier faceless one, which immediately charged toward the eggs.
"Sylvanas stop it from harming the eggs!" Uther yelled, noticing its targets.
Sylvanas leapt in front of the creature, and sliced its arms off when it swung them at her. She dived out of the way of another blind swing, and sliced through the tendons in its legs as she slid through its legs. She let it fall to the floor to bleed out.
"Force it away from the eggs!" Uther yelled.
Onyxia obliged, she charged the abomination, and pushed it away from the eggs. The abomination was caught off by the unnatural amount of strength she was using in her mortal guise.
When they pushed it into an alcove, away from the eggs, Uther signalled Onyxia, who breathed flame at the faceless one. But when Uther saw it wasn't having the desired effect, he held his sword in the flames until it glowed red, before charging the abomination and focusing all his might into one swing.
"Ywaq maq oou; ywaq maq ssaggh. Yawq ma shg'fhn." The creature uttered before Uther cleaved the faceless one in two, the combined holy aura and draconic heat in his blade, slicing clean through its shell-like armour.
"What language was that?" Falstad panted, as they all recuperated after slaying the final opponent in the city.
"Language of the Old Gods probably, sounded foul whatever it was" Uther panted, the adrenalin giving way to shear exhaustion.
'Clever work. But it won't save you from what is to come.' The voice whispered.