Azure Dragonflight.
Part II: It's a Kind of Magic.
Sylvanas awoke to see Uther, Vereesa and Jaina kneeling over her, talking in hushed voices.
"What… What happened?" she asked groggily, feeling a slight headache pounding against the back of her skull, suggesting she had fallen down.
"We were rather hoping you could tell us sweet sister." Vereesa laughed. "One moment I and your Lord Uther were back to back against the Azure attackers, the next we're in a golden bubble, watching everything burn away in the same gold light."
"Everything?" she asked in disbelief, and her sister helped her to sit up.
She was lying by the large metal doors, and could see a large dragon skeleton lying where the woman had stood. On the outer walls were ashen outlines of dragonkin and the once occupied cells were open and empty, with the watery cage being devoid of any water.
"Did the prisoners escape?" she asked quickly, and felt genuine surprise when Vereesa shook her head.
"They all must have died in the gold shockwave, as did that child of Malygos and all her kin," Uther explained. "I've never seen anything like it, and judging by the fact you were unconscious on the floor here, means you are the most likely source of the shockwave."
"But I'm not even a Paladin yet!" Sylvanas spluttered. "I don't know how to weild the Light like this!"
"You did disintegrate that Orc's staff when we were back helping Alleria in the Caverns of Time," Vereesa commented.
'-That was her!?-' The Lich roared.
"And your bare hands touched the Light Crystal, and you were immediately telling me how it burned you. I think that you are clearly more powerful with the Light than any of us realise," Uther stated. "What was your last thought before you passed out?"
"I saw you were in trouble, and knew I had to do something to save you!" she said quickly, managing to get to her feet, but she still leaned against the still locked doors for support. "And I didn't pass out; everything went gold, then black."
"That suggests that you cannot yet control it, and in your desperation to save us, you unleashed a considerable amount subconsciously. Because it was subconcious, the blast vaporised everything that could harm us, even the prisoners in their cells." Uther stated, as the doors slid open, to reveal two men standing there.
The first was dressed in purple armour with a glowing sword and shield, with fiery red hair and a clean face. The second was older, with long white hair and beard, and was dressed in white robes with a purple staff at his side.
"Rhonin!" Vereesa said excitedly, before hugging the younger man.
"Hello Vereesa, nice to see you alive and well," Rhonin smiled, hugging his wife and sharing a quick kiss, before turning his attention to the others. "Uther, it's good to see you as well, Jaina too."
The two men shook hands, and Rhonin also shook Jaina's.
"I don't believe I've had the pleasure," Rhonin chuckled as his attention turned to Sylvanas.
"This is my sister, Sylvanas. Sister, this is my husband Rhonin." Vereesa said brightly, and the two shook hands.
"Nice to meet you," they both said to the other.
"What happened here?" Antonidas asked, looking around at the empty prison, the open cells and outlines of burned dragonkin, with the dragon skeleton front and centre.
"We do not fully know Archmage," Uther chuckled. "A powerful burst of the Light's holy energy incinerated the Azure dragons and their leader, as well as those you were holding prisoner."
"Was it your work Lightbringer?" Antonidas chuckled, but froze when Uther shook his head.
"It was Sylvanas!" Vereesa said excitedly from Rhonin's side. "She did it to save us!"
"A ranger channelled the most powerful Light spell ever seen?" Antonidas asked in disbelief, and the four heroes nodded their heads. "How?"
"We don't know," Uther stated. "I think we need to head to Stratholme again, I must speak with Saidan."
"You're welcome to stay here, we'll send word for the Silver Hand to convene here," Rhonin smiled. "I think that Dathrohan will want to see this for himself, and we'll seal the Hold so no one may enter until they arrive."
"A good suggestion," Antonidas said quickly. "I would also urge you to stay here, if Dathrohan sees this himself, he will find it hard to disbelieve what you tell him."
"You can stay in the Purple Parlour until they arrive." Rhonin said, gesturing out of the prison. "Thanks to your dragon friends, the Azure flight has fled with their tails between their legs."
"We cannot stay long; the dragon queen has asked we head to Northrend and end Malygos' madness permanently." Sylvanas said quickly, as if Uther had forgotten.
"Then we'll get the Silver Hand here post haste." Antonidas chuckled.
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"Uther, what could be so important that we were teleported here by a Kirin Tor novice?" Saidan Dathrohan boomed, appearing in the Purple Parlour flanked by Tirion Fordring and Alexandros Mograine, with numerous other holy men following him out of the portal.
"Have you been shown the Hold?" Uther asked, standing up to greet his fellow paladins.
"Yes, some mage went mad with his pyro spells," Dathrohan said flatly.
"That was not done by any mage's fire," Jaina said, nursing her bruised back. "The Hold would still be filled with smoke if fire did that; the Hold was emptied by the Light."
"How?" Tirion asked.
"We are not really sure," Uther said quickly. "But we know who cast the spell that vaporised every dragonkin and prisoner in the Hold." His eyes turned to Sylvanas, and she shrunk under the gaze.
"A ranger?" Saidan laughed. "Is this a joke Uther?"
"It is not a joke." Uther responded. "But the events behind this event are long and complicated; I would suggest that you take a seat if you wish to hear it."
"I will humour you Uther, but you better not be wasting my time," Saidan said flatly, taking a seat a short distance away from Uther, whereas Tirion and the other paladins sat on the seats in-between.
"As you may have heard, Sylvanas was made an honorary member of the Silver Hand, before we went to help the Bronze dragonflight." Uther began.
"Yes, because you were too stubborn to travel across Stratholme to get her officially inducted." Saidan said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Anyway… Please tell the story Uther," Tirion said, realising that Saidan was the stubborn one at the moment, holding on to a petty hatred for Uther which had no basis or logic.
"Well, she was given honorary position, and we travelled to Tanaris immediately afterward." Uther explained. "We were tasked with going into several different time rifts, each led to a different moment in Azeroth's history, and we were charged with preventing a mysterious force from altering history; One of them was helping Thrall escape. However, before we travelled back to that moment in history, I recieved a delivery of a particular relic from Alexstrasza, the remains of Frostmourne."
"Why would she send you that cursed blade?" Alexandros asked.
"I asked her to because the entity that inhabited it returned, whispering in my mind." Uther sighed. "It told me of a great evil coming, that will dwarf Deathwing in the threat to Azeroth, and it said I would need it. It was then I hatched a plan to use its power, but not succumb to its evil, using something I knew existed in that time period."
"You sound like an alcoholic trying to justify drinking again after achieving sobriety." Saidan laughed.
"Let me finish before you mock and insult me Saidan!" Uther yelled, finally reaching his limit with the younger paladin, before resuming his calm demeanour while the Lich laughed. "We went back to Hilsbrad when Thrall escaped from Durnholde, but we split into teams to complete individual missions. Jaina and Vereesa went to help Thrall, whilst I and Sylvanas headed for Southshore."
"I think I know where you're going, but I will remain quiet before asking my questions," Alexandros said quickly.
"Thank you Alexandros," Uther smiled. "We witnessed the creation of the Ashbringer Crystal at the Southshore Inn, and when the opportunity came, Sylvanas swiped it from the box."
"You stole from us!" Saidan yelled, getting to his feet.
"Let me finish!" Uther yelled back. "Instead of trying to prove that you are 'better' than me with these constant quips, keep silent and let me tell the full story. By constantly interrupting and trying to belittle me, you are just showing that you are not fit to lead the Silver Hand, and it is abundantly clear to me that you still have a lot to learn about true leadership."
"When I took the crystal, I held it with my bare hands, and Uther found me behind the inn, clutching the crystal tightly," Sylvanas piped up, drawing the conversation back to the intended subject. "I felt warmth coursing through me, but instead of being strange and foreign, it felt familiar and soothing. When Uther pried the crystal from me, that warmth remained."
"When we returned to Ironforge, I asked the dwarves to re-forge Frostmourne, and place pieces of the crystal in Sylvanas' daggers." Uther said, unsheathing Ashmourne and placing it on the table in front of him, with Sylvanas placing her bow and daggers beside it. "The crystal has restrained the Lich's influence, and the shards in Sylvanas' weapons have increased her power with the Light."
"How does this relate to the remains in the Violet Hold?" Tirion asked.
"Well, when we were fighting the Azure kin, we were overwhelmed by countless dragonkin, and one of Malygos' children," Uther explained.
"I saw this, and without thinking, subconsciously summoned a massive amount of holy energy that killed everything that could have hurt Uther, the unconscious Jaina, or my sister." Sylvanas cut in. "Uther thinks that the crystal is responsible."
"This is fascinating," Tirion breathed. "But it is also very perplexing, that such power resides within a Sin'dorei ranger. There must be something more to this."
"I think we should return to Stratholme and research this further, and perhaps speak with the Sin'dorei for further assistance. We are also well aware that you have your own task to complete," Alexandros said quickly, Saidan was keeping quiet, in fear of another tirade from Uther.
"Thank you Alexandros, we would appreciate some more information on this puzzle, we're heading for the Nexus to end Malygos." Uther said warmly, standing up to shake his hand, before repeating this action with the other paladins, including Saidan.
"Is there anything else you need from us?" Tirion asked.
"Alexstrasza is gathering the strength of the dragon Dragonflights at the Wyrmrest Temple, in preparation for Deathwing's return." Uther said quickly as everyone was getting to their feet. "Send what help you can to help her, but hold any armies back, as we do not know the nature of what chaos Deathwing will bring, or what evil the Lich has foreseen."
"We will do what we can to help the dragon queen," Tirion said warmly. "As Deathwing doesn't just threaten the dragonkin, he threatens the whole of Azeroth, so we will not stand idly by."
"Good luck with the Spellweaver," Saidan said quickly.