Emerald Aspect.
Part V: Lux Aeterna.
Jaina and the two dragons kept the serpents at a distance with their fire, whilst Uther and Sylvanas moved on the other three ritual fires.
"That's it!" Uther yelled, over the faint roar of something unnatural echoed in the chamber. "The fires keep the summoning stable, I think."
"I'll handle it, just keep the snakes back," Sylvanas smiled.
Onyxia and Ysondre focused their fire breath on the oncoming serpents as they slithered into the room, whilst Sylvanas kicked the other three fires over, extinguishing them. As the final fire was extinguished, the room went dark, and the serpents retreated, before a bright flash illuminated the room. They quickly recovered, and saw a skeletal flying serpent filling the centre of the room.
"I'm guessing that's Atal'Hakkar, or at least an avatar," Uther commented, before the undead serpent attacked them.
Uther leapt over its tail swipe and quickly swung at the aberration's wings. His sword merely scratched the bones, and glanced off instead of doing any real damage.
"It's a tough blighter, for an animated bag of bones." Sylvanas said, her daggers having little effect as well.
"Conventional attacks won't work on something like an entity like this," Jaina yelled, hurling fire and ice at the skeletal opponent.
"You're right" Uther said, dodging a pillar of sickly green fire.
He focused his holy energy into his sword, until its golden glow appeared, before slicing through the undead wind-serpent's tail. As the bones hit the floor, a strange ethereal essence dripped into the egg from the wound, and the Avatar of Atal'Hakkar seemed to get weaker.
"That's done it!" Sylvanas yelled gleefully. "Ladies, care to finish it off?"
Uther quickly understood and backed away, as both dragons breathed fire at the avatar, burning the bones to ashes, and making the essence flood into the egg.
"Jaina, care to guard the egg again, I have a feeling that the Aspects will want to put it somewhere secure." Uther said, leaning down and picking the egg up, which was now considerably heavier.
"Of course, that just leaves Eranikus to deal with," Jaina said, storing the egg in the folds of her robes.
They hurried back out into the central chamber, before moving down an adjacent passage, finding a room full of trolls, both living and undead.
"The shield be down! Rise up Atal'ai! Rise up!" the lead troll yelled when they appeared in the entranceway to the room.
"Master, let me deal with them!" Onyxia said excitedly, as the trolls rushed toward them.
"I will handle this!" Uther said, before she could incinerate the crowd.
He focused his holy energy and blasted it outward, scalding the living trolls, and vaporising the undead. Jaina finished off the survivors with a blast of arcane energy, leaving the leader alone at the far side of the room.
"The Soulflayer comes!" the troll yelled, charging them with blind fury in his eyes.
"We've just killed its avatar, what chance do you have?" Sylvanas said, countering his charge.
"What?" the troll said, mistakenly stopping and looking at her in confusion.
This distraction meant she ran past unopposed. With a flash of silver, his head rolled from his shoulders, and dropped to the floor.
"Not how I would have handled it my dear, but you gave him a quick death," Uther sighed, as she strutted back toward him.
"You know not what you do! We must destroy you for your own good!" a voice yelled from the corridor.
"I know that scent," Ysondre gasped. "It's true!"
"What?" Uther asked, noting how she had gone stiff at the realisation.
"Eranikus isn't the only emerald dragon twisted by Atal'Hakkar and the Nightmare, Itharius was right" Ysondre said gravely. "There are other, younger kin of Ysondre down here."
"Like who?" Sylvanas asked.
"I do not know, but they likely stand between us and Eranikus," Ysondre replied. "I know the scent of my own kin."
"Should we try to save them?" Jaina asked, as they slowly walked back to the main chamber.
"I fear a quick end to their torment is all we can do to help them," Uther said, as he saw the two dragons circling in the central chamber. "The corrupting power down here is stronger than the power that corrupted Ysondre."
"Turn back! Do not wake the Dreamer!" one of the dragons yelled, as they flew toward the intruders.
"May I my lord?" Ysondre asked quietly.
Uther nodded and the others took a few steps back, allowing her to transform and surprise the oncoming drakes. She roared and they charged her, breathing fire in an attempt to harm her.
"Be at peace from the Nightmare," Ysondre said, before swatting one of the drakes into a wall, and then hitting the other with her wings.
Before the four heroes could proceed, another two emerald drakes flew out of the last passageway, and flew toward Ysondre. She quickly dispatched them as well, this time with a burst of green fire, before transforming back into her elven guise, and following Uther down the unexplored passage.
"Oh poor Eranikus!" Ysondre exclaimed, as they turned the corner and saw the large, ghostly emerald dragon sleeping peacefully. "He believes he's at peace, not knowing his mind is not his own."
Ysondre quickly began transforming, and moved toward the ghostly dragon, who woke at her approach. Uther and the others hurried to her side as Eranikus attacked them.
"This should be easy," Sylvanas smiled, aiming her bow at the dragon's head and firing, only to see the arrow fly harmlessly through the ghostly opponent. "What happened to enemies that were easy to kill?"
"They're all dead now" Jaina chuckled.
Ysondre and Onyxia's combined dragon powers quickly outmatched the ethereal Eranikus, whilst Jaina, Uther and Sylvanas did their best to help in the rather one-sided fight.
"Be at peace," Ysondre roared, as Eranikus collapsed dead, an ethereal stream floating into a nearby cauldron.
Whilst Uther channelled holy energy into the ghostly dragon's corpse, Ysondre walked over to the shallow cauldron in her elven guise, inspecting it with morbid curiosity. Eranikus' body was enveloped by a brilliant golden glow, before it slowly faded away.
"Thank you my lord," Ysondre said, slowly putting her hand into the essence, pulling out a small pendant, which seemed to soak up the essence.
"What just happened?" Jaina asked, staring in disbelief at the small pendant in Ysondre's hands.
"I sense my grip on the Dream twisting into chaos." A voice said from the pendant, making Ysondre gasp. "Will the nightmare ever end?! I cannot force myself awake!"
"Oh Eranikus, it's okay, I'm here" Ysondre said softly, her fingers caressing the glowing green pendant.
"My soul is not a trinket! Mortal, you must release me from these chains!" the pendant yelled at them.
"It's okay Eranikus, it's me, Ysondre. We've come to save you." she said, caressing the pendant as if trying to calm the essence inside.
"Might I try something?" Uther asked, cautiously approaching. Ysondre nodded her head and he cautiously touched the pendant. "Embrace the Light!"
"My eyes! It burns... it burns... Torture me no more! Release me, mortal! The Swamp of Sorrows... mortal... please..." it wailed.
"Ssh, we'll take you somewhere safe brother, do not fear," Ysondre said, putting the pendant around her neck. "Lady Proudmoore, could you take us to your capital, we must make sure Eranikus is safe."
"Okay" Jaina said softly, they all stepped closer to the magi, who teleported them to Stormwind.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Greetings brave heroes" a voice said the moment they appeared in the mage tower of Stormwind.
They turned to see a large, muscular, purple night-elf, with flowing green robes and long cream horns smiling at them.
"Mother!" Ysondre exclaimed, flinging herself into the taller elf's arms.
"It is good to see you too Ysondre," Ysera said softly, holding her daughter close and running her fingers through her green hair. "I am glad that you are safe."
"My lady," Uther said, quickly bowing. "May I ask why you are here?"
"And how you knew we'd appear here." Jaina added.
"I am here to make sure my child is safe, and I knew you would appear here. Nozdormu informed me where you would go after defeating the monsters in the sunken temple." Ysera smiled.
"You know I would be fine with Lord Uther, why did you think I would be in trouble," Ysondre asked, pulling back slightly from The Dreamer's embrace.
"It was not just you she was concerned for," Itharius said, stepping out from behind Ysera. "You were not the only child she wanted safe."
All eyes turned to the glowing green pendant around Ysondre's neck.
"It hurts so much… Ysera, my love… Please help me…" the pendant said softly, as Ysondre took it off, and handed it to her mother.
"It is okay Eranikus, I am here, and you are safe now." Ysera said, placing the pendant around her neck, which seemed to make the glow dim slightly. "Thank you heroes, you brought peace to my kin who were affected by the Nightmare, and ended a threat to our world. The Nightmare persists, but its threat to my kin and the druids of Kalimdor has lessened for now."
"Seems to be our speciality" Sylvanas chuckled. "Saving the world from danger."
"And you are very good at it, my sister lavishes you with praise, and I can see its well founded." Ysera smiled warmly at them.
"What of your brothers, what ails the Bronze dragonkin?" Uther asked suddenly.
"I think you have earned a rest from heroism," Ysera smiled warmly at them. "Rest, relax, an envoy of the Bronze kin will come to you when the time is right."
"My lady, I do not think that we have the…" Uther began, but Ysera's laugh interrupted him.
"Do you forget WHO my brother is?" she laughed. "He is The Timeless One, he and his kin protect the timelines themselves, any threat to them, that does not impact the wider world at this time, must be occurring in another era."
Before Uther could respond, Ysera and Itharius bowed and strode through the portal on the far side of the room.
"I must report back to the Kirin Tor, but it has been wonderful to see you again Uther," Jaina said, before hugging him tightly.
"You too Jaina," he chuckled hugging the young woman.
They begrudgingly pulled apart, and she vanished in a flash of light. Uther quickly grabbed the pendant around his neck, feeling a familiar presence enter his mind.
'My Lord Uther!' Alexstrasza exclaimed as he appeared before her. 'What may I do for you?'
'I was just double-checking that we are not immediately needed to aid the Bronze dragonflight, as Ysera seemed quite insistent we take a break.'
'Well, I agree,' Alexstrasza said slowly, smiling when he gave her a confused look. 'You have not really stopped fighting since Grim Batol, only stopping to sleep, so you do need one day at least to do something not stressful.'
'-Come to me!-' the voice whispered.
'Alright, I think I will see Sylvanas inducted into the Silver Hand.' Uther smiled, feeling something writhing in the back of his mind.
'An excellent idea!' Alexstrasza smiled. 'Keep me informed; I would love to attend the ceremony.'
'Yes my qu… Alexstrasza,' Uther said, remembering her preference for informality between them. 'I will keep you informed, and please keep me informed of Malygos and Deathwing's broods.'
'Of course, good day Uther.' Alexstrasza said, before she faded from his mind.
"What's the plan my lord?" Ysondre asked when it was clear his mind was back in reality.
"We have got a bit of free time, so I think we will go see about inducting Sylvanas into the Silver Hand," Uther smiled.
"It's not that I don't want to be inducted, my lord, but what about it?" Sylvanas smiled.
"It can wait; besides, we need a moment of happiness in the middle of all this doom and gloom." Uther smiled back. "Let us head for the Cathedral, and speak to a paladin there about inducting you properly."