Obsidian Dragonflight.
Part V: I Burn.
"Sylvanas, stay with Onyxia!" Uther yelled to his protégé, as Ysondre and Onyxia flew side by side. "Ysondre, take me to the base of the mountain!"
"Yes my lord," Ysondre said, as Uther and Sylvanas traded places on the dragons' backs.
"See you there!" Jaina smiled, leaping off Onyxia's back and floating down toward the ground.
When Uther, Vereesa, Arthas, Muradin, Falstad and Jaina landed at the entrance to Blackrock Mountain, they were immediately greeted by the glowing red doors. It was clear that the heat of Ragnaros' rage had welded them shut, on top of the magnets from their assault on the mountain one year prior.
"This is problematic," Uther sighed, but Jaina and Vereesa shared a knowing look at each other.
"Let us handle this Uther," Jaina smiled.
"Where's Ysondre?" Muradin asked, looking around for the emerald dragon.
"She's helping Onyxia," Falstad said, spotting the two friendly dragons fighting the lava-wyrm. "Let's hope that Sylvanas is up to the challenge."
"She is," Vereesa said non-chalantly.
The two magi blasted the door with ice spells, until it no longer glowed red and creaked from the sudden temperature change.
"Care to do the honours Arthas?" Jaina smiled.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked, looking at the door in confusion.
"Hit it as hard as you can, the metal is so weak that it will shatter upon impact." Vereesa explained. "But to ensure that you don't tarnish your mace, channel the Light into your weapon."
"Alright, don't get preachy." Arthas snarled.
He walked up to the door, before raising his mace to strike, but hesitated.
"What is it Arthas?" Uther asked.
"The Light does not answer me," he said weakly. "Just like it did in Stratholme."
"Have you lost your faith in the Light?" Uther asked.
"I had a hard time believing after the plague hit, and this cataclysm has not restored my faith." Arthas sighed, lowering his weapon. "But I have not completely lost faith."
"The Light does not abandon those who truly believe, only when your belief faulters, doe the Light not heed our call." Uther stated.
"That's rather odd for a supernatural force," Muradin commented.
"You cannot help those who do not want it," Uther said, and Muradin nodded in agreement. "Light give me strength."
He unsheathed Frostlight and slammed it against the door, shattering the frozen metal instantly. The thick blocks of frozen metal flew in all directions, leaving the entrance into the mountain completely open.
"Nice work, now let's go face the fire lord!" Falstad cheered.
The group hurried into the large central chamber, to find it utterly changed. There was no trace of Orcish or Dwarvish buildings left intact, instead the walls were coated in magma and ignacious rock. Where there had once been a pillar of rock held by chains over a lake of lava, the lava was now level with the circular platform, and it stirred as they approached.
"Come out and face us Ragnaros, your minions are outnumbered by the other elementals and Nefarian will not pose a threat for long." Uther said boldly.
"Fools! You do not realise that you will bring about your own destruction!" Ragnaros' voice roared inside the mountain. "Defeating me here will change nothing!"
"Face us coward!" Arthas yelled.
"Coward?" Ragnaros laughed. "You slaughtered your own people out of fear! Now you shall face a god, puny insects!"
Ragnaros rose from the lava and towered over them, clad in armour made from pure fire and molten rock, with his torso more defined than the last time they had fought.
"What's Deathwing's plan? Why did he not kill you for killing his son?" Uther yelled, not backing down like the heroes around him.
"We have a common nuisance." Ragnaros laughed, flexing his arms and smashing Sulfuras against the walls of the mountain. "We will destroy the world together, and bathe in the chaos til the end of time! Now die!"
Ragnaros smashed Sulfuras down, causing the heroes to scatter, with Uther charging forward to slash at Ragnaros' body.
"Ladies, care to cool him down!" Uther yelled, managing to block another swing of Sulfuras. "Give us a weak spot to focus on."
Jaina and Vereesa blasted the lava armour with frost spells, managing to create chunks of ignacious rock around the fire lord's base.
"You think you can trap me in ice? I am fire incarnate!" Ragnaros laughed, making the magma melt back into lava instantly. "No element is stronger than fire!"
Suddenly the mountain shook, and Ragnaros snarled in anger.
"Air can suffocate a flame," a whispering voice said, as they felt the air being sucked out of the mountain.
"And Water extinguishes all fire!" another, deeper voice laughed, as rain fell into the mountain's core.
"Brothers! Why do you ally with mortals?" Ragnaros yelled. "Why do you fight for the doomed? We are eternal, they are fleeting and insignificant!"
"They fight for balance." The second voice said.
"We do not ally with them, we only wish to make you suffer!" the first voice said. "Your reign of terror in this world is at an end, our reigns will last forever."
"Even together you could never defeat me!" Ragnaros laughed.
Suddenly the walls of the mountain cracked and shook violently. Large chunks of ignacious rock fell from above, and the heroes were forced to take cover where they could.
"Earth buries all!" a deep female voice roared, and the walls of the mountain began to collapse all around them.
"You may defeat me here, but from the firelands I shall strike back!" Ragnaros said, disappearing into the lava.
"Cast ice armour on us now!" Uther yelled as they all gathered around him.
"My lord?" Jaina asked.
"You heard him. For us to truly defeat him, to ensure he does not return in our lifetimes, we must face him in his realm! Cast ice armour on all of us, we're going to follow him!"
"Uther, I don't have the ability to teleport into the firelands," Jaina said quickly.
"We follow him!" Falstad caught on to Uther's idea. "Do it lass, Uther is right."
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They followed Ragnaros through the portal he had created in the lava, and arrived in his domain. They found themselves in a large throne room, with deep red walls on all sides, and a familiar, swirling lake of lava before them.
"Mortal insects! You dare trespass into MY domain? Your arrogance will be purged in living flame!" Ragnaros' voice roared, shaking the ground beneath their feet. "I am in my element here, and I am at my strongest in my realm. Majordomo, deal with these insects!"
"Scared to face us?" Arthas laughed.
"Not quite Prince Arthas," a familiar voice said calmly, and they turned to see a fiery, yet familiar, night elf walking toward them. "My lord knows that I have a personal interest in making you burn!"
"Fandral?" Uther said in disbelief. "You're a minion of Ragnaros now? When did you turn tail and conspire with the enemy?"
"I could ask the same of you 'lightbringer'." Fandral smiled. "You claim to serve the Light, yet that is not a holy weapon you weild." He pointed at Ashmourne. "And as for an answer to why I serve the fire lord? Elune betrayed me when she let my son die during the War of the Shifting Sand. Yet it was only recently that I found a better power to serve, and it was all thanks to an old friend of yours."
"Benedictus?" Uther breathed.
"Correct." Fandral smiled. "He preached to me about the power of the Old Gods, and after seeing first-hand the devastation Ragnaros caused in the Eastern Kingdoms, I knew that if I served them, I would truly find vengeance and a master who would not let such injustices go unpunished."
"Kill them Majordomo!" Ragnaros roared. "Spare the niceties."
"Yes master, I was merely giving them a final moment of peace before they burn." Staghelm bowed to the lava pool.
"Majordomo?" Jaina asked.
"The last one failed my master, he was disposed of most efficiently, and I took his place." Fandral said simply. "But enough talk, now you shall burn!"
Fandral summoned a staff from nowhere and swung it at the heroes, fire shooting from the tip of the stave. When the heroes were forced back, Fandral summoned several orbs of fire and transformed into a fiery scorpion.
"The Master's power takes many forms!" Fandral laughed, snapping at them with his pincers, with his barbed tail flailing wildly.
"Ladies, deal with the fire!" Uther yelled, parrying one of the claws and cleaving a chunk out of the tail. "Falstad, can you call on the elements?"
"There are no other elements but fire here!" Fandral laughed. "But I'll try!"
"Why do you want revenge on me?" Uther asked, focusing the former archdruid on him.
"I was irritated when you returned from the throne of the dragons," Fandral stated, shifting back into his mortal form, summoning more fire orbs, and throwing glowing seeds at the other heroes. "I was enraged when you killed my mentor Benedictus, and infuriated when you did not get lost in the Nightmare as I wanted."
"You must have realised we were not going to enter the Nightmare, it is beyond anything we have faced thus far." Uther laughed. "You were overconfident!"
"Maybe, but now you're alone in my master's domain, with no hope of escape or rescue!" Fandral snarled, shifting into his feline form and pouncing at Vereesa. "Where's your ranger friend, this is not her!"
"I'm her sister!" Vereesa said coldly, blasting Fandral back with a wall of ice. "And she's currently killing Nefarian."
"I rather doubt that," Fandral chuckled. "Guess I'll have to make do with her sister."
"You're not killing anyone!" Uther said, walking up behind Fandral and cutting off the tail of his cat form.
"I will not die so easily!" Fandral snarled, leaping away from the heroes and shifting back into his human form. "You will all burn!"
"Not today!" Jaina yelled, channeling arcane energy into her fists.
Fandral snarled and charged toward her, but she blasted him with a constant barrage of frost spells. As each spell hit, Fandral's movements began to slow, and the fire that burned in his robes and on his skin began to cool. When Fandral was about to strike Jaina with his staff, he completely froze up, but Jaina did not relent until he was completely incased in ice.
"He won't stay frozen for long, what should we do my lord?" Vereesa asked, as the heroes gathered around the frozen Majordomo.
"From what he told us, and from what I know about him, all that we can do for him now is give him the peace he clearly needs." Uther sighed, sheathing Ashmourne. "Prepare for the worst, we are in the fire lord's domain."
He walked to the frozen Majordomo and channelled the Light into his sword.
"May the Light give you peace," he breathed, before plunging the sword into Fandral's chest, the heat of his sword melting the ice.
"Valstann, I'm sorry…" Fandral breathed, clutching to Uther as the life drained from him.
"You may have defeated one of your own," Ragnaros laughed, as Fandral collapsed to the floor. "But I will not be so easily defeated. I am Fire incarnate and the realm of fire will consume your mortal forms!"
Ragnaros rose out of the lava and immediately swung Sulfuras at them, forcing them to scatter. As they scrambled away from the fire lord's mace, they were forced to watch Sulfuras slam down on the corpse of Fandral Staghelm, a final indignity to a tortured soul.