I apologize for how bad this story has been as of late xD I am well aware that, once Kyra and Colin got to Northrend, the story just took a turn for the horrible, and I do apologize- I truly am going to reconsider any ideas I have for any other 'epic' tales in the future. 'Lacroix', which I honestly believe to be possibly the best story I've ever written, works so much better as a personal, not-epic tale. Granted, I do think the final act of 'Reconcilliation' was really good, so I have no regrets on the whole, but when I can't exactly enjoy writing the story, I know you guys aren't enjoying reading it xD

Thankfully, after this, if I decide to continue the series, it will be in a lot less of scale, with Kyra and Colin on adventures contained to single stories. I know this story is still getting views, so if this is your first time stumbling across my writing, I apologize for this not being my best- I'm literally trying to conclude this story as best as I can without it seeming rushed, which, of course, ends up seeming rushed xD

Sorry, again, for the story turning out like it has! Between my horrible 'action writing' and inevitable rushing, I assure you that there's a pretty cool ending in here somewhere :p

Ulric stared intently as the mass of scales and wings that lowered to the ground before him with a gigantic *THUD* as Alexstraza's large paws met with the ground, her slithering head waving side to side, curiously as she stared down at the two men, as if ascertaining the situation with no knowledge as to why she'd even come here.

"Human."

Ulric felt a tremor through his body as she spoke, as if her voice had passed through him, reverberating through his bones. He stared with a sort of quiet intensity, though the dragon didn't seem to notice, almost as if she'd been preoccupied peering through to his soul rather than his body. Her voice crackled to life, though her lizard-like jaw didn't bother to move.

"Mother's light…"

Alexstraza's head swayed, curiously, as she worked her head down lower to steal a glance at Colin's still-downturned head, a quiet rumbling escaping her in a curious musing.

"You are indeed mortal, yet mother marks you."

She pulled her head away, turning to Ulric, when her scaled body pulled back, suddenly.

"You…are not as you seem."

Ulric's hands clenched into fists, his lips shaking as he muttered aloud, "No thanks to you, Lifebinder."

Alexstraza's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she watched him, her neck beginning to recoil as she came to understand the soul within him.

"Worgen."

"NO!" Ulric shouted back in a blood-curling yell, drops of tears bursting from his eyes as his body hunched forward, his arms wrapping around his stomach as if he was in pain, his voice shaking through hollow gasps of tears, "I'm not my father…"

Alexstraza's serious gaze didn't leave him as she replied, simply.

"You are a product of the viciousness and foolhardy nature of mortals, not of me. What have I to do of this curse that afflicts you? for it was not my doing."

Ulric growled under his breath, angrily, "You allowed it! My mother did nothing to deserve-!"

In a burst of heated wind, Alexstraza interrupted him with a massive cacophony of draconic voices accompanying her own.

"She was born of mortals! I'm I to believe you came all this way to cast blame on me?!"

Ulric gritted his teeth angrily as Alexstraza shook her head, beginning to turn away to return to her post atop her temple.

"Truly foolish beings you are."

As she stepped away, Alexstraza began to work her powerful wings, kicking up ash beneath her. Ulric's heart had begun to work overtime, his breaths quickening as his fingers curled around the dagger within his pocket. His eyes widened at the sight of Alexstraza's scaly hide, her side nothing more than a few running paces away. A sharp, hot breath escaped his nose as his body leaned forward, his legs immediately bursting into a mad dash as his tears burst out into the air behind him, whipping the dagger out from his pocket.

Alexstraza turned her head, as if noticing his advance, her eyes glowing wide as she watched him close in on her, her backside immediately darting through the air away from him, but in that moment, Ulric made a feral lead through the air, contorting his body in mid-air as he clutched his dagger with both hands, plunging it right into the dragon's thigh as he plummeted right into her body.

"GAAAH!"

The mighty dragon swayed as the stepped backward, feeling the numbness climbing up her body as her face grew an intensely hateful fury as she stared down at Ulric, who'd returned to his feet, returning her stare with his own hateful, tear-strewn one. Alexstraza pushed herself into the air with her mighty forelegs, spinning around and taking a grotesque slash at Ulric, but he only reached an arm up to defend himself, the powerful claw only passing through him, forcing Alexstraza to weakly lean into the ground, having expelled so much energy while her body revolted against her.

"You can't hurt me," Ulric retorted, evilly, "Not anymore, you can't."

A heated breath left Alexstraza, her face not allowing itself to lose its fury as the rest of her body was being forced to. She eyed him with the intensity of the sun itself as plumes of smoke escaped through her gritting teeth, knowing already that she'd be unable to do much more than what she had already done given this state.

Ulric stomped over toward her, shaking his head as the Dragon Queen's body began to fall to the ground lower and lower before he made it back to her backside, eyeing the dagger that had been impaled within her, a sickly, dark miasma running around her scales as that sickness continued weakening her. Ulric reached out, grasping at its handle before yanking it free from her hide as the mighty beast cried out painfully, the scales it had impaled shattering into the very ash that lined the landscape.

Shaking his head, Ulric raised his arm, preparing for the killing blow as he quietly muttered to himself in a quietly pained voice, "This is for you, mom."

He grunted as he prepared to invade this dragon's body once more, but just as he began to drop his arms, the body of Colin flew into his side, knocking the dagger out from his grasp as the two men fell to the ground, leaving Ulric with a feral dash back up to his feet, but Colin grabbed ahold of his ankle, yanking him back to the ground as he wore his own desperate face. With his one good leg, he managed to crawl up Ulric's body in an effort to keep him pinned, but the beastly man only brought his claws down angrily, clawing at whatever he could, knowing his time was running out.

"LET GO!" he demanded with a fury that could only be described as sinister.

Colin refused, reaching his own hand up to deliver a particularly savage blow to Ulric's cheek, trying to wear the man out, "NO!"

As the two men wrestled atop the ground, Alexstraza slowly attempted to force her body to cooperate, her eyes fixated on the brilliant light covering one of the human's faces. With the dagger freed from her, her own body began to counter whatever evil the weapon had taken her into, and she painfully began to pull herself away from the confrontation.

Finally, Ulric had managed to bring his leg up past Colin's body, sending a brutal kick into Colin's side, sending him into a shock that allowing Ulric to desperately shake him off, jumping to his feet as he stomped quickly to the pathetically retreating hide of Alexstraza, bending down only to retrieve his dagger.

Colin's eyes flared open as rushed onto his hands and one good leg, pushing his body up onto his only foot, but before he could fall back down to the ground, he threw his hands down at the ground, a sudden pillar of flame covering each arm, the heat being so immensely searing that trails of vapor carried up above him in a hazy collection of waves. He quickly hopped along with his one foot, the intense heat keeping his body afloat at his eyes narrowed determinedly, biting his lip as Ulric grasped the dagger, once again, with both hands.

Colin felt his heart drop as he reached out, darting through the air in any attempt at stopping this man who was so adamant to steal his immortality away from him.

Kyra rushed down the jagged rocks of the mountain, careful not to catch her foot on any craggy parts that jutted out into her path. She had kept her pace up, and, noticing increased activity out in the Blight, she tried her best to quicken her strides, though not at the sacrifice of her own safety. Coming to a particularly level section of the mountainside, she stopped for a brief moment, leaning over to hold onto her knees, quickly catching her breath as Vylira's footsteps grew closer and closer, ending with a loud *clack* as Vylira's single show smacked into the ground, her breathing far more even than Kyra's.

"Think we'll make it down there in time?" the elder of the two asked, silently thankful for her years of service now.

Still heavily keeled over, Kyra nodded as she gasped for air, "We have to."

Her panting went on, leaving Vylira to hide a groan as she shook her head, looking out into the vastness before them, "Alexstraza's out there now."

"What?!" Kyra questioned loudly, her body jolting up to see the giant body of the dragon shimmering within the outer reaches of her vision, "My god…"

Vylira turned to her, "If we're going to beat her there, we need to get going. Want me to go ahead?"

"N-No," Kyra answered, quickly, "I'm ready."

She made her way to the ledge, working her way down again, as Vylira stayed back to give the two some room in their decension. Following behind her, the two went at a slower pace than before, but that wasn't so much due to Kyra's exhaustion. She'd had something of a nagging thought in her mind for the last while, like a slithering bit of thought that meandered around her brain instead of letting itself be known. She wasn't sure if it was due to her own lack of focus or not, though the thought frightened her. What if it was to help her?

Kyra came to a particularly nasty crevice beneath her, stopping her from advancing. She quickly decided to round the thing, beginning parallel to the mountain as she stared down, trying to find any spot that she could jump over or pass in general. Her feet skittered around, hastily, as her mind raced, her eyes scanning the crevice for any sign of a pathway, her mind racing as she saw furious blast of flame along the grey expanse of ash.

She gasped, a shot of worry bursting through her mind as her head jumped up, her foot catching the lip of some crag in the rock, sending her tripping over, falling over, almost in slow motion as she turned her head down, her body falling so slowly into that abyssal pit just in front of her, her eyes flying wide open as she reached her hands out, desperately reaching for anything to catch her fall.

In a split second, however, she stopped in mid-air, a weak gasp escaping her mouth as she hung there, just above sure death, stating in bewilderment at the endless darkness in front of her. She suddenly noticed that there had been a hand at her shoulder, and that it wasn't Vylira's.

A chill ran down her spine, recognizing the large hand of a man keeping her afloat, though she hadn't any idea to what end that would be the case. She heard the clattering of rocks from behind her as Vylira caught up, her voice rising up in desperation.

"Hey!" she shouted, "Let her go!"

Only silence accompanied the hand, though as Vylira caught up and noticed the predicament, she altered her speech, "Okay, pull her up first and then let her go! Who are you?!"

Ever so slowly, Kyra felt herself being pulled back up and I to a second hand that grabbed at her side, pulling her back onto her feet, her body still in enough of a shock to forget to look around to catch the man's face. She heard a soft, gentle chuckle behind her as Vylira drew her sword, not impressed with the man's lack of urgency.

"Hey! Let her go!" Vylira demanded, more heated, give the man's nonchalance.

Kyra began to turn her head, but the man's voice beat her to the punch, her movement pausing immediately as she recognized the man's deep voice and archaic cadence, "Surely this one will vouch for me."

Her head finished whipping around, her eyes widening as they met the face of Ascal, whose face was as stony as ever, though it had grown quite a few saged wrinkles since she had last seen him. She stepped backward to examine him fully, the shock settling throughout her entire body as her jaw dropped.

"Y-You…"

"Were left in Stonetalon?" he answered for her, something of a wry smirk crossing his face, "Yes, and I do appreciate you and Dumerval making such comfortable accommodations while I slept. No doubt you called upon your experience as a Sentinel."

Still lost in her bewilderment, Kyra failed to correct him, but Ascal seemed to understand, simply nodding as he finished, "The earthroot, particularly, was a hospitable touch. And this must be your eldest sister?"

Vylira approached the two apprehensively, accepting Ascal's handshake as the druid offered his hand, "My Lady speaks quite highly of you. I'm quite fortunate to make your acquaintance."

"Oh, uh…thank you," Vylira managed, her own confusion making itself known.

Ascal nodded approvingly, turning toward the sky-strewn tower far off in the distance, "Look, I understand you two are in a hurry, but the three of us have a task of far greater importance. Your mate will be safe in Alexatraza's hands, however, My Lady has her own sights sets on a different task."

Kyra eyed him curiously, having now been able to focus on reality, "Hold on; you mean Ysera?"

Vylira's eyes lit up in shock as Ascal confirmed, "Indeed. Unknown to both of them, Alexstraza and Dumerval are unable to complete their task until we handle ours. A particularly nasty satyr is the one pulling Ulric's strings, you see."

The druid allowed something of a crooked grin to appear as he muttered, "Call it revenge. or in more poetic terms, call it the wrath of the Emerald Lady. For Aerxaxx was an apprentice of the satyr who fell Ysera in this realm."

Ulric sneered devilishly as he threw his two hands down toward the hide of Alexstraza, who was trying, mightily, to curl away from him. Her body was recovering, though it still was fighting against the nefarious magic imbued within the dagger, and as Alexstraza's eyes widened fiercely, she realized that another plunge of the weapon could very well kill her. Still, she couldn't retreat, and Ulric was left to his own devices, his face almost grinning at the thought of revenge for what had been done to his mother.

"HA!" he shouted as his hands descended, though in just a moment, a hand entered his vision as Colin dove forward, throwing his hand in the way of the dagger.

Ulric could only grunt as he was unable to stop his moment, but Colin let loose with a pained groan as the dagger pierced his palm, though it also allowed him to dictate, somewhat, the weapon's trajectory, and he pushed back against the dagger, the serpent head dripping with his blood in time with his pained tears coursed down his face. His teeth bit down hard as he struggled, falling back against Alexstraza herself to brace himself as Ulric shoved the dagger down against him, a furious glow escaping his eyes.

"You…petulant…being…" Ulric grunted, his muscles constricting as he forced the dagger down toward the dragon's hide.

Colin resisted as best he could, though he knew his strength was wanting against the bestial might of this crazed hunter. Every portion of his mind told him to use whatever magic he could, but pinned as he was against Alexstraza, he feared for her own safety as he was swept up in the moment.

Suddenly, he heard a fluttering whisper in his mind, though soon enough, it tore through his psyche like a wild fire catching speed along each and every synapse of his brain.

"DO IT, YOU FOOL!"

Colin grit his teeth as his eyes blew open, the veins along his face suddenly bulging as his blood began to boil. Ulric stared at him, frightfully, throwing whatever energy he had left into his arms, yelling out as he stretched out his muscles to their limit in an attempt to pierce that dragon before Colin could-

In a split second, every inch of Colin's body blew aflame, his clothing fluttering in the near-volcanic breeze, his face twisting angrily as he yanked back his free hand, turning it into a fist before making a mad slam against Ulric's face, sending the man flying back a good few feet onto the ground, rolling to a stop as Colin remained where he was, grabbing at his wrist as the pain from his palm radiated insanely fast down his arm as the flames that licked at his body began to die down.

He looked up, noticing Ulric's lifeless body, giving him the chance to collect his breath before yanking the dagger back out through his hand with a gasp of air.

"Fear not, human. That magic is only evil to dragons."

Colin nodded, eying Ulric carefully as he replied to the Queen of Dragons, "Thanks."

He half-turned to examine the wound upon her backside, but just caught the soft visage of Ulric's arms pulling along the ashes beneath him, working their way up so that he could push himself up to his knees, a soft, out of rhythm cackling escaping him in between breaths, "Ha…heh… Not over…boy."

Colin watched him in shock, though Alexstraza stared at him with critical eyes, her voice blowing heatedly through the breeze.

"You come complaining about your parents' human bodies being stripped from them. Yet you offer your body to the sickly defense of a satyr. Pitiful."

Ulric chuckled maniacally before calming himself, the demonic eyes of another creature suddenly appearing atop his face, just above a sinister collection of sickly teeth and a slithering tongue, his voice a giddy song of malevolence, "Hee… Good luck. You've no place fer talkin', she-beast. I'll c'rve the name'f Xavius in yer hide!"

Syheath's vision strained as she stared out, a worried expression crossing her as Parvaen exhaustedly spoke up, coming along behind her with both shoulders loaded to the bone with bags, "You caught wind of it as well?"

Nodding sorrowfully, Syheath replied, "You don't need to have heard it before to know that was the cry of a dragon. and a mighty one at that."

They had made it down the mountain, though they now only sat on the border between Crystalsong and the Blight, leaving quite a massive distance between them and the temple. Tandkota and Remnaar had both nearly collapsed upon descending, with the draenei falling onto his back in exasperation.

Parvaen had begun organizing the number of bags the two of them had simply dropped to the ground in their tire when he had noticed the reverberating sound of a pained dragon crossing his ears, noticing Syheath's distant expression as she stared off into the distance. He only sighed, shaking his head as he pulled bag after bag into a neat pile off the side of the road.

"You know," Parvaen groaned, dramatically, "We're all good here if you just want to run off and-"

Instantly, Syheath took off, kicking up a bevy of ash up into the air as her feet dashed across the ground, looking over her shoulder just long enough to shout, "Take care of yourselves!"

Parvaen rolled his eyes, staring pitifully at the two masses of bodies that took up so much of the ground, reaching up to scratch his chin, "Well, I suppose we need yet another leader."

Remnaar's head rolled to the side, "Kota?"

"No," the tauren answered, muttering weakly underneath his sore muscles, "You."

"Argh," Remnaar complained, "I'd just institute mandatory naps. Parv. You're responsible."

The blood elf frowned, though whatever he had begun to think, it mattered little as the two men quickly fell to sleep, leaving Parvaen to finish up organizing the camp with a dismayed expression, complaining quietly to himself in Thalassian.

"Dorithur ash'therod…" he complained, mutteringly.