Obsidian Dragonflight,
Part IX: Limits.
Uther appeared in the Wyrmrest throne room, and was greeted by a vision from a dream which he had not forgotten. Alexstrasza was arguing with a figure enveloped in smoke, though from his current position, the figure was mostly hidden by the floating globe. He was not noticed by either of the figures, and slowly approached, but froze when he saw the figure in the smoke.
"Why do you resist the end sister?" Deathwing's mortal form laughed. "The Hour of Twilight is coming, and your resistance does nothing to stop it."
"My champion has already silenced the Twilight's Hammer, and he faced Ragnaros once, he will defeat him again!" Alexstrasza said proudly.
"And I did!" Uther spoke up, surprising both Dragonflight leaders.
"Uther!" Alexstrasza cheered, but Deathwing laughed.
"This is your champion? An aged warrior of the last war?" Deathwing chided. "You truly are deluded if he is your only hope of stopping me!"
"I'm not alone Neltharion!" Uther said boldly. "The greatest heroes of the age stand with me, and now you stand alone against us. Ragnaros and the Twilight's Hammer have fallen, and the other Elemental Lords are neutral, you cannot win."
"I am not alone little mortal!" Deathwing snarled, angered by Uther using his former name. "Forces beyond reckoning are rising, and I am the herald of the end, the one to break the world and let the chaos reign."
"The Burning Legion?" Uther said, hoping that Deathwing would be refering to them.
"Uther, he means the Old Gods." Alexstrasza said, her head bowed slightly. "He's going to break Azeroth to free the Old Gods."
"Silence!" Deathwing roared, back-handing Alexstrasza across the face, knocking her down. "There is no force on this miserable planet that can stop me, you can fight all you like, but the end is inevitable."
With that Deathwing vanished in a cloud of fiery smoke. Uther hurried to the Dragon Queen and helped her to her feet.
"Your intervention was not necessary," she said curtly, brushing herself off lightly, but her right cheek burned red. "I am able to stand up to my fallen brother."
"That is not why I am here," Uther said sternly, surprising the Dragon Queen again. "We have just helped Nozdormu in the Caverns of Time, but something happened and I needed to speak with you."
"Where are your companions now?" Alexstrasza quickly asked, noting their absence.
"Back during the Sundering, Nozdormu believes that…"
"The Dragon Soul, of course…" she interrupted him. "He is right in his thinking, it is the only weapon that can stop him, or at the very least, mortally wound him. I remember seeing them there now; do not fear Uther, they will all survive their time at the Well of Eternity. What troubled you so much that you sought to return to the temple?"
"It troubles me," Uther sighed, unsheathing Ashmourne. "Despite being restrained by the Ashbringer Crystal, the voice still torments me, and I fear that it is eating away at me."
"Do you wish to be separated from it again?" She asked, her eyes staring intently at the hilt of Ashmourne.
'-You will never be rid of me!-' The Lich hissed. '-You need me to fight the Legion!-'
"Time away from the blade will not give me time away from it," he said slowly. "But I did need time away from the constant fighting, and time to truly reconnect with the Light."
"Your chambers have not been touched since you left Uther," she smiled. "You will find peace here for the time being, but we both know that Deathwing needs to be stopped soon, or Azeroth will pay the price."
"I know, how go the preparations?" He quickly asked, remembering what Alexstrasza had said last time they had discussed the confrontation with Deathwing.
"They are going as well as can be expected, considering that the world is suffering from his escape." Alexstrasza said, her eyes turning to the globe which was covered in warning lights over different regions. "But the Elemental Lords seem eager to restore balance, and all nations know to hold back for the Legion."
"And the Old Gods? Are they coming as well?" Uther asked.
"If we let Deathwing win, then they will be free to sow chaos," she said sternly. "But I have no intention of letting him win."
"What were these secrets that you planned to 'wake' beneath Northrend?" Uther asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"I think I'm allowed to keep a few things up by sleeve Uther," she smiled down at him. "But rest assured they will help if Deathwing has more allies to take down when we confront him. But you should rest now, that is why you are not fighting alongside your protégé and companions."
"Thank you my queen, I will not rest long in this time of need." Uther said, bowing to her. "I just need time to find myself again; it is wearing me down and…"
"I know, go and rest, do not worry about how others view it, this is important to you." She smiled, ushering him toward the stairs.
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"Ah, welcome. You are here to join us in the coming celebration? No? A pity." A tall, elegant and beautiful High Elf said as they approached her.
"The legends did not do her justice, she's beautiful," Arthas said, dumstruck by her beauty.
"Queen Azshara may be beautiful, but she only has eyes for Sargeras, and we must stop her from summoning him to our world." Vereesa said, steeling herself for the confrontation.
"But she was not murdered, how do we defeat her without killing her?" Jaina asked.
"One way to find out." Sylvanas said, her hands glowing gold.
Sylvanas nocked an arrow and fired at the queen. Before it could touch her perfect skin; it was deflected away and clattered to the floor.
"Do not ask for mercy after such an act!" Azshara exclaimed, walking slowly toward them, a thin glowing shield surrounding her. "I have no time for such diversions. Keepers of Eternity, will you stand for your queen?"
At this summons, several elegant High elves approached from behind them, clearly enthralled by Queen Azshara.
"WE WILL NOT fail you my queen," they said in unison, before hurling ice, fire and arcane spells at the heroes.
"It looks like we merely have to waste her time until she gets bored. I doubt we will be given any chance to harm her." Jaina surmised.
"Interrupt her when she tries to cast spells, while dealing with her thralls," Vereesa said, blasting back the enthralled High Elves.
There was a blast of gold energy that washed over the heroes, and when it had passed, the thralls were gone, and Azshara was sprawled on the floor.
"What's happening to me?" Sylvanas exclaimed, as another blast incinerated the rest of the thralls.
Arthas hurried over and grabbed her hands, as they were now glowing so brightly that her fingers were no longer visible. He was forced to let go when the heat she was giving off began to burn his hands.
"Remember Uther's teachings, do not let it overwhelm you!" he hissed, while Azshara got to her feet.
"Brave of you, to strike a queen. A lesser monarch might be enraged." Azshara said politely, walking over and towering over Arthas and Sylvanas. "If you intend to play the fool, you may as well look the part."
She touched the bridge of Sylvanas' nose, and before anyone realised what had happened, her holy shockwave blasted them back instead of the Queen.
"Sylvanas!" Vereesa exclaimed. "Snap out of it!"
Arthas charged toward Sylvanas, slamming his mace down and blocking another holy shockwave, before swinging his weapon at the thin ghostly strings that hovered over Sylvanas. This did the trick, and she quickly snapped back to her senses, but the uncontrolled blasts were now unfocused, hitting both sides with equal force. Azshara expected this result quickly blocked it with an equally powerful shield.
"Enough!" Azshara exclaimed as the shockwave dissipated. "As much as I adore playing hostess, I have more pressing matters to attend to. Riders to me!"
A large bat flew down and the queen leapt on to its back, before it rose into the sky.
"My noble Varo'then, do return and dispose of this murderous band." Azshara said softly, before she flew away.
"Heroes, you have only to help me obtain the Dragon Soul and we may leave this dark time," Nozdormu said as he appeared in their midst. "However, I cannot simply fly up and grab the Dragon Soul. The Old Gods protect it. To make matters worse, their shield is strengthened by the swirling, arcane energies that emanate from the Well of Eternity, and those energies are being focused by the great demon Mannoroth."
"What do you want us to do?" Sylvanas asked, picking up the arrows she had fired at the queen's thralls, whilst trying desperately to contain the holy energy raging inside her.
"Distract Mannoroth, and the link between Dragon Soul and the Well will be broken." Nozdormu said simply. "Once the wards have fallen, I will take the Dragon Soul and get it to Queen Alexstrasza in your present."
"How hard can it be to kill a demon, compared to what we've faced?" Vereesa laughed as Nozdormu faded from sight, but the others were giving Sylvanas concerned looks.
"Are you alright?" Arthas asked, noting that Sylvanas' fists had stopped glowing.
"I think so, the Light has calmed inside me, I don't feel it burning me anymore," she smiled.
"What happened?" Onyxia asked.
"I don't know, it just burst from me without me commanding it in any way," Sylvanas explained, looking at her fingers that still tingled with energy. "Maybe the chaotic energies at war here are affecting the Light, or my control of it."
"You mean the Well of Eternity is messing with your command of the Light in some way?" Vereesa asked. "How?"
"We'll theorise later, we are wasting time when the Sundering is happening around us," Ysondre said, looking up at Ysera and the other Dragonflights flying overhead. "Not to mention of how many hours we are wasting in our time."
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Uther sat on his bed in just his undergarments, with his armour resting at the foot of the bed, and his swords placed on the far side of the room. He meditated on recent experiences, and tried to focus his mind on his connection to the Light.
'-Worried you're losing your conviction 'Lightbringer'?-' the Lich mocked.
'Be silent!' he roared at the voice in his head.
He cast the voice into a dark corner of his mind and ignored it as he meditated, feeling the warmth of the Light spreading through him again. Brief memories followed the warm sensations; memories of the Second War, of his tutelage in the Holy Order, and the last year he had spent free of the Lich, which only made it laugh.
'-Are you trying to blame me for your doubt?-' It mocked.
As the creeping doubt began to spread through his mind, he focused and a familiar blank environment appeared around him, with a corrupted Orc standing before him.
'-Finally going to face me 'Lightbringer'?-' Ner'zhul chuckled.
'You said that your power is at my command, that the Ashbringer Crystal restrains your influence,' Uther said coldly, pacing back and forth in front of Ner'zhul.
'-This is unfortunately true, my powers are yours to command, and my influence is not as prominent as it was last year.-' Ner'zhul replied. '-But that does not make me helpless, I still have my voice and my mind, they are not yours to abuse.-'
'Are you cutting off my connection to the Light?' Uther asked, wheeling around to stare at the Orc.
'-No.-' it replied. '-You are losing faith in your cause, I have nothing to do with your own crisis of confidence. You see the task before you, the immeasurable powers you face, and you doubt your chances to suceed.-'
'Do you mock me Orc? You, who came to me to escape your master's wrath, and promised to help me fight the Legion when they invade.' Uther said coldly, feeling anger building inside him. 'If you have been lying to me, I will destroy Frostmourne and the Lich armour, and exorcise you from my mind, to die as the wretch you truly are.'
'-That does not sound like the righteous thing to do 'Lightbringer'.-' Ner'zhul laughed. '-I will help with the defence of your insignificant world, and for as long as it is mutually beneficial.-'
'What would you consider mutually beneficial?' He asked, still not trusting the Lich.
'-Revenge on the Legion for the torment I suffered, that is the only mutually beneficial act that you should concern yourself with.-' Ner'zhul stated.
'I do not trust you, I will not weild your dark powers without the utmost need of them, and I will not let you torment me until my dying day.' Uther said, striding toward Ner'zhul, who did not flich at the intimidation tactic.
'-If I ever let you die,-' Ner'zhul laughed.
Uther was snapped back to the present by a familiar warmth emanating around his neck, and when he opened his eyes, plants were growing out of his bedsheets, and the Dragon Queen herself was smiling at him.
"What news from Sylvanas?" He immediately asked.
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As they stepped through the portal and back into the Wyrmrest Temple, they were immediately greeted by Nozdormu, Ysera and a tall, blue haired man.
"Heroes, you have done the impossible and now we have a weapon that can end the Worldbreaker once and for all." Ysera smiled. "May we introduce Kalecgos, the new Azure Dragonflight leader; he has come up with a plan for ending Neltharion using the Dragon Soul."