Chronicle of the Obsidian Dragonflight.
Part I: Hammer.
As they flew over Lordaeron, the heroes moved closer together.
"So Uther, have you been busy since you killed the Lich?" Arthas asked cautiously.
"Not until a few weeks ago, when all hell began to break lose for the Wyrmrest Accord." Uther chuckled. "I have probably seen more of the world in two weeks than I ever thought possible."
"Indeed; Grim Batol, Hinterlands, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, Caverns of Time, Black Morass, Hilsbrad Foothills of old, The Nexus, and now we're heading back to Blackrock Mountain." Sylvanas listed the places they had been.
"And we saw the world beyond the Dark Portal, although Uther had to deal with another matter." Vereesa smiled.
"We are not dealing with Ragnaros first, there is something else between here and Blackrock Mountain." Uther stated. "The area east of Grim Batol is crawling with Twilights Hammer; we must deal with them first."
"Yes my lord," Sylvanas smiled.
When they flew over the Hinterlands, they were joined with a squadron of gryphon riders, who flew in formation behind Falstad.
"We've got help!" Jaina beamed.
"We will need it, look what is waiting for us." Uther said, pointing ahead of them.
Several jaws dropped when they saw the skyline across the Thandol Span. Hundreds of purple dragons were battling with Ruby dragons, but the kin of the Dragon Queen were completely outnumbered.
"Then it's a good thing I brought these!" Falstad yelled, tossing each hero a brown rucksack. "Parachutes!"
"Good thinking," Uther said as he hurried to get the backpack on. "Onyxia, Ysondre, help out Alexstrasza's kin, we will continue on and find the Twilight base of operations."
"Yes master!" Onyxia roared, as Uther leapt on to the back of Falstad's gryphon.
The dragons and the squadron of gryphon riders peeled off and joined the aerial battle with the Twilight dragons, while the heroes detoured around, following the coast.
"Do you know anything about this region Falstad?" Jaina asked when the mountains gave way to pleasant fields.
"Not much lass, we abandoned this area along with Grim Batol, considering it equally as cursed." Falstad sighed. "Looks like we were right in our assumptions, the Twilight's Hammer have certainly settled in here."
Before them was a large twisted metal spire, with a clear entrance near the top and hooded figures milling around the base.
"Likely a gift from Deathwing, the land around it is easily defensible, and the spire is one with the landscape," Uther said through gritted teeth. "Looks like we'll have the element of surprise though."
"Let's do it!" Sylvanas yelled, leaping off her gryphon's back and parachuting toward the entrance, followed by Vereesa and Jaina, who used their magic to slow their descent.
"Brave lasses," Falstad laughed, as he tilted his gryphon to land on the small platform by the entrance. "You're training them well."
"That bravery is genetic; they are very much cut from the same cloth as their sister," Uther chuckled. "I merely honed Sylvanas' bravery to make her a skilled fighter, and I am sure Rhonin did the same with Vereesa."
"Aye, it's a shame about Rhonin, I'd have liked his aid in this dark hour, like it was in the Second War." Falstad sighed, as the men descended slowly. "Heroes from that age are few and far between nowadays, and many are past their prime."
"You're becoming awfully nostalgic Falstad, is something wrong?" Uther chuckled.
"I'm just thinking ahead, about our chances against the Legion, if it is truly returning, we only survived last time by the skin of our teeth," Falstad explained. "We had brave men who rose up to lead in those dark hours, and our enemy were torn apart by infighting. If the Legion itself is coming, we will not be as lucky as last time."
"Let us focus on Deathwing and his ilk for now," Uther said as they landed. "I'm sure that with the entire Azeroth Alliance and the Wyrmrest Accord united together, we will hold off the Legion."
"We're with you Uther," Muradin, Falstad and Arthas said in unison.
The men landed, and the heroes and dragons quickly gathered together by the entrance, with Jaina summoning several walls of ice around them to hold back Twilight reinforcements.
"We will wait for Ysondre and Onyxia to rejoin us; I would feel safer entering with dragons at my back." Uther stated, and Falstad nodded in agreement.
It was at least an hour before they saw two familiar dragons soaring toward them. Ysondre and Onyxia transformed in mid-air and landed gracefully on the platform, they were both smiling, and even in their mortal guises, were covered in dragon blood, but it was clearly not their own.
"The Ruby kin send their thanks; we were enough to tip the battle in their favour and save them from being wiped out." Ysondre explained.
"Your riders were unfortunately outmatched, and the survivors are being cared for by the Ruby kin," Onyxia said, addressing Falstad. "My lord, there is something… off… about this place."
"In what way?" Sylvanas asked.
"There's something familiar, I can… feel something watching me… something that knows me." She said, looking down at the ground far below them. "Something familiar."
"Do you want to stay outside?" Uther asked.
"No, I will stay by your side master, and help you destroy the Hammer," she growled.
"What are we waiting for, let's end these lunatics!" Arthas said, readying his mace and charging into the tower.
"It seems the 'Mad Prince' has still not learnt that rushing to violence is never the answer," Sylvanas shouted after him, and she heard him stop running.
"Says a former Ranger General!" he called back. "What makes you better than me?"
Sylvanas didn't reply, she simply strutted into the dark entrance. Just as she was about to be enveloped by the darkness, she began to eminate the Light from her body, chasing the darkness away.
"Many things 'Mad Prince'," she said quietly, but the sound reverberated back to Uther, Vereesa, Jaina, Muradin and Falstad a short distance behind them.
"Seems your former protégé is quarrelling with your current one," Muradin chuckled.
"Indeed," Jaina smirked, before they heard Sylvanas shout something.
"How 'bout it Arthas, fancy a friendly competition?" she asked, her tone rather cold. "See who can kill the most Twilight cultists?"
"You're on!" Arthas replied.
"She has been learning a lot from me," Uther sighed, as Falstad, Muradin, Jaina and the two dragon women hurried to support the two leading heroes, leaving Vereesa and Uther alone. "Perhaps too much."
"How so?" Vereesa asked.
"I told her that I once had a competition with your sister, to see who could kill the most Orcs at the battle of Blackrock Spire," he explained. "A competition your sister won, but I told Alleria that I won."
"Why the white lie?" Verees asked. "And you do realise if she ever found out, she'd make you pay, especially considering her speciality was with daggers."
"Because in a sense I did, I did not kill as many as Alleria, but I did face off against Doomhammer himself beside Turalyon," Uther sighed. "I counted that as more than one, because he had just killed Lothar."
"Why?" Vereesa asked, as they passed the recently killed cultist corpses.
"Youthful zeal, I was a younger man then, not as experienced or knowledgeable as I am now." He chuckled. "I am not sure why I lied, but the fact is I did, and looking back I feel it was wrong of me. I am aware that Alleria would not forgive me, but there is time for reflection later; let us catch up to the others."
"Wait!" Vereesa grabbed Uther by the wrist and forced him to look at her. "If the Legion are coming, do you think we'll see them again?"
"I hope so," Uther said simply. "I would be glad of their help again."
They caught up with the others at the edge of a large platform, overlooking a lake of lava. At the centre of the platform was a single solitary Mountain Ettin, which had clearly been twisted by forces unseen.
"Halfus! Hear me! (The Master calls, the Master wants)" A voice boomed from somewhere. "Protect our secrets, Halfus. Destroy the intruders. (Murder for His glory. Murder for His hunger.)"
"That's reassuring," Vereesa sighed. "Whoever's in charge is completely insane."
"Cho'gall will have your heads! ALL OF THEM!" Halfus roared as it charged them.
"Cho'gall!" Uther cursed. "Now I understand what we are up against, a member of the accursed Shadow Council!"
He unsheathed his swords and led the charge against the Ettin, with Arthas following close by his side. The Ettin's stave swung close to Uther's head, but thanks to the Lich's unnatural assistance, he was as able to avoid the deadly blow.
"Hey ugly!" Sylvanas and Vereesa yelled in unison.
Halfus looked up from battling Arthas, Falstad and Uther to see the two Windrunners standing side by side. Sylvanas had two glowing arrows nocked in her bow, whilst Vereesa had balls of fire glowing in her hands.
"Catch!" they yelled.
Vereesa's fire hit the Ettin's right head and caused the left head to scream in pain, before Sylvanas' arrows flew through the open mouthkilling it instantly. Jaina summoned even more fire, and it was not long before Halfus was stumbling around completely aflame, ignoring its foes to beat out the flames.
"No!" It yelled, blindly charging toward Arthas, who side-stepped him and caused the corrupted Ettin to fall off the platform into the lava below.
"Who gets the kill for that?" Arthas joked.
"Vereesa," Onyxia and Ysondre said flatly.
"She and Sylvanas did kill the left head; you just helped it kill itself." Jaina agreed.
"… And it only counts as one kill." Falstad added.
"Flesh and sinew, weak but proud. Dare they part the Master's shroud? They stumble fumble groping blind. Finding fate and chaos intertwined." Cho'gall yelled.
"Rather poetic for an Ogre," Uther mused.
"Let's just keep moving, the longer we leave it, the more likely they'll threaten Lordaeron or Dun Moroh as retribution." Arthas said through gritted teeth, before he charged onward into the Bastion.
"Was that your logic when you slaughtered the innocents of Stratholme, Mad Prince Arthas?" Uther called, this made Arthas stop and turn.
"Says the former Paladin that once again weilds the cursed blade we destroyed last year!" Arthas yelled. "The blade you told me would corrupt me, that you were so keen to keep out of MY grasp."
"It is under my control boy!" Uther snarled, showing him Ashmourne. "The Lich King is gone; the Lich is merely an entitiy inside my mind. You have not changed since the culling of Stratholme; you are still reckless, brash and irresponsible. The title the people of that city gave you still holds up. I am still a Paladin of the Silver Hand; I still work in service to the Light, the peoples of the Alliance and the Wyrmrest Accord, whereas you only serve yourself!"
"Do you?" Arthas spat back. "Do you really serve the Light if you still weild that unholy blade? Binding a gem does not change its nature, nor did retrieving it do anything to our chances against Deathwing."
"It has, you just don't realise," Uther sighed, sheathing Ashmourne again. "At the very least we know the Legion is coming, so we can prepare."
There was an uncomfortable silence as the heroes walked down the corridors, quickly cutting through the cultists they found without comment. The silence was broken when they reached a large, empty room, where Onyxia stopped and sniffed the air, before a smile appeared on her human face.
"What is it?" Uther asked.
"I think we helped ourselves without realising it," she smiled. "Do you remember those two Twilight dragons we killed in Grim Batol; I think their nest is here, I can smell their scent all around us."
"Huh." Falstad said looking around in light of the revelation. "If that's true, dragons their size should have eggs in their nest. I'm surprised we haven't seen any, if this is their nest."
"They're further in," Sylvanas commented, looking at the marks on the floor. "Looks like they were dragged further in, there must be a very large nest at the very heart of this place."
"I can see you're still a ranger at heart," Vereesa beamed at her sister. "You still have the ability to track animals, people and objects."
"Not something I would forget, considering how Alleria berated me if I forgot something when we were training together." Sylvanas chuckled. "This way my lord." She pointed down the next corridor.
Arthas brushed past her and led their leisurely walk further into the Twilight Bastion.
"(Come closer, closer. Let us see your faces. All will be humbled before His power.)"