I do not own nor possess any right over Harry Potter and World of Warcraft, all rights belongs to their rightful owners.

Hi! Sorry for the very long delay, I'm working 6 days a week right now so I'm a bit occupied as you can guess, plus I have others things going on in life that makes it that I can't work on the story all the time. I'm quite tired honestly.

I don't know when the next chapter will be out but it shouldn't take too long. At least I hope so.

Hope that you will like this chapter! We're coming ever closer to the end, maybe 6 to 8 more chapters.

Please comment/review.

Thank you for your patience and good reading.

Numb couldn't even come close to describe how I felt when consciousness came back to me. I felt strengthless, weaker than I had ever been, incapable to do anything more than breathe for a couple of seconds. The weight on my body was simply crushing, so much that the thought of moving didn't even occurred to me. In fact, I couldn't think straight. I simply laid there, breathing slowly as I felt a trickle of strength filling me up, drop by drop.

Yet even this was nothing against the weight on my mind. I felt so sluggish, as if my mind had been stuck in goop or swallowed by quicksands. Blurry images, whispers barely heard or on the contrary a terribly loud voice, a lack of sensations. There was the feeling that something was wrong, and at the same time that something else had been wrong.

Very slowly, a near infinity later, I found the courage to open my eyes. Yet it was for naught. I could barely see anything but a couple of extremely blurry blotches, some blue, white, and perhaps a red? I wasn't sure for that last one. I blinked, looking at these colours without focus, lost in my lack of thoughts. I could only tell that I had the feeling to see something move. But whatever it was, wherever I was, there was no sound.

I felt lost. So very lost, incapable to see clearly, to hear or recognize anything. My mind and my thoughts were like mud, moving slowly and slowed down to the extreme, incapable to do more than lay there and wait.

I don't know how long I remained like this but at one point I noticed that the red blur was suddenly right next to me. Confusion kept clouding my mind, but it was now starting to make a bit more sense, my eyes followed the red blur as it moved and I started to hear a few, very muffled, sounds, like if the world was behind an entire wall of thick wool.

Another moment passed that the red blur started to gain shapes, and it wasn't long before I identified it as a person standing before me. A few sounds started to become clearer, and I thought that I heard voices. Something that I hadn't noticed until now was the sense of touch. I was touching the ground, no, I was laying on the ground. The person in front of me was also touching me, hands moving slowly on my face as my vision became clearer and clearer at every blink.

"…me?" I heard from a female voice.

My eyes started to follow the movement of the person's arm, waving right in front of me for a few more seconds as my eyesight finally returned to normal. It took a few seconds for my mind to link what I was seeing with my memories, but it finally did.

'Mom.' I thought, trying to say it aloud only to have my mouth move slightly.

Mom kept waving her arm a little bit longer, got closer as I followed her movements which brought a shy smile on her face. It was only then that I realized that she had obviously been quite distressed, with several trails of tears running on her cheeks.

"Amaria? Can you hear me?" She said as she placed her hand right on my cheek.

"…Mom." I barely managed to whisper.

"Yes my daughter, it's me." Mom replied as her smile grew wider, her eyes softer as she blinked away the last of her tears.

I tried to figure out why she was crying but couldn't think of any reason. As I did this, I also realised that I had no idea of where I was and that there was quite a lot of noise coming from all around me. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes for a second and tried to stand up, pushing on all of my four limps for barely a couple of seconds, rising up briefly before falling back down.

"Don't push yourself, you are still very weak." Told me mom, brushing my cheek softly.

Why? I couldn't recall anything that could have exhaust me so much. Focusing on my breath and my eyes, I looked behind mom, hoping to find out what happened.

I managed to find Tyrygosa in her dragon form, Anduin holding a golden staff, Genn, and a woman that I barely remembered. We were in Stormwind castle's courtyard, and even if I couldn't look behind me, I saw a line of people carrying buckets of water quickly as I saw a large column of smoke that came from somewhere outside my field of view. A lot of soldiers were busy with fighting what was certainly fire but a large group remained right next to Anduin. It was then that I noticed that most eyes were on me.

Had something happened? Had I started a fire? And why was mother here, in Stormwind? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recall much. There was just a blank space in my memory, with only a incomprehensible whispers filling the gap.

"What happened?" I croaked as I focused again on her.

A sad look passed onto her face, her smile dimming a bit as she stared in my eyes.

"Could you tell me what you remember? What is your last memory?" She asked me.

My last memory… I wasn't sure of what it was. I remembered going in Thunder Bluff to find the powder, losing it in a fight against the Horde which was already quite blurry, as if I could only remember parts of it as I recalled getting angrier and angrier, and then coming back to Wyrmrest Temple. But after that, everything just seemed so blurry. A feeling that I saw Mightion, unharmed, me flying and then fire. Lots of fire. But what I remembered most wasn't a thing I saw, but rather something I heard. A voice, at first merely a whisper, that grew into a voice so strong and powerful that it was almost like I couldn't have heard anything else, like if there was no one else to listen to.

"I remember a voice." I said as I put more strength into my neck, raising my head from the ground. "I remember following it. It said I could be with Mightion. That he would be saved."

I got a feeling that what I just said was wrong. Not about the voice, but about Mightion. When I thought about him, I could recall the powerful sensation driving me forward and compelling me to save him. But now? That feeling was absent. I still knew who Mightion was, in how much danger he was, and while I was sympathetic to his pain and suffering, I didn't felt the feelings I had for him before. There was no feeling of devotion, of need to make sure he was safe nor had I any feelings of love. It was as much as if something had been removed from me, something that hadn't been there before.

"And he will be, everything's going to be alright now." Mom told me, cutting me in my thoughts.

This only raised more red flags in my head, mainly why it was going to be alright. It meant that something was or went wrong. I would have asked, yet I was stopped when I noticed Tyri, Anduin, Genn, and the woman that I now recalled being Jaina coming closer, stopping right behind Mom. It was clear as day that both Anduin and Tyri were worried, but Jaina and Genn had far tougher, sterner expressions. There was an anger in their eyes, one that I couldn't guess the reason for but dreaded to know at the same time.

"Amaria, how do you feel?" Asked Anduin.

"I feel… tired. Very tired. But I don't know why." I replied.

"Don't worry, it's perfectly normal. But we certainly need to rework your training." Said Tyri.

"Love you too, Tyri." I replied with a small chuckle, feeling a bit of my strength come back.

Feeling better, I tried to stand up again. I was barely a few centimetres above the ground that Tyri rushed next to me and used her wing to push me up, finally raising on all fours after a few seconds of struggle. She didn't let me go and I was thankful for that, feeling like my left forearm was far weaker than the rest of my body.

Yet I still had to know. Something obviously happened and it seemed that I couldn't rely on my memory right now.

"Mom, what happened?" I asked again.

She sighed, looking at me with a deep look. A quick glance at everyone else showed me that they shared it, for the most part.

"In your quest to free Mightion from the old gods, you became their next prey. Or maybe your were his orignial target all along? The voice you mentioned, it belonged to the last of the old gods, N'zoth." She started.

A small feeling of dread started to grow inside me. I knew what the old gods were, how evil and destructive they could be. And I had heard their voice? That couldn't be good.

"In your despair to save your mate, he reached to you. Whisper after whisper, he took hold of your mind, twisting your emotions and bending you to your own will to do his bidding."

My mate?

It didn't felt like it anymore. I still had something, a tiny feeling of sympathy for Mightion, and perhaps something else, but the overwhelming love I had for him before simply vanished. It was like it had been for a moment and then the next it was no more.

The realisation of what this meant started to crush me, the implications so wrong that I couldn't help feel disgusted at what happened to me and how I didn't saw it earlier. I certainly remembered the Imperius curse and its sensation of euphoria, but the whispers that I heard never made me feel happy, it was simply convincing me, telling me that it would be alright. That me and Mightion could be together. I read and heard a lot about the old gods and their corruption, how insidious they could be, how easy it was for them to influence mortals whithout ever making it known it was them until it was too late. But more than that, I didn't realised they could control emotions.

I had to ask.

"Mom, can the old gods create emotions?" I asked weakly.

"They can manipulate us, pushing us toward negative emotions." She replied.

"But can they create one? Can they create love?" I quickly added.

A look of realisation crossed her face, instantly replaced by pity and sorrow.

"Oh, my daughter. I am so sorry for you." Said Alexstrasza sadly, bringing a hand once more on my face.

"What is it?" Asked Anduin.

"It appears the love she felt for Mightion never existed. A construct of the old gods to manipulate Amaria. We thought that she got corrupted because of Mightion but it seems the old gods were a step ahead of us. Mightion was the reason of her corruption."

I stopped at what Mother just said.

"No he isn't." I said.

"Daughter?" She asked surprised.

"I was already hearing the whispers long before seeing Mightion. I didn't act on them and that's what led to all of this. I guess Mightion being corrupted by the old gods made it easier to corrupt me too but he isn't the origin." I firmly said.

I looked into Alexstrasza's eyes, seeing that same kindness and pity that she always seemed to had for me. It didn't frustrated me, on the contrary it was welcomed, but I didn't needed it right now. Looking forward, I started at Anduin, Genn and Jaina and the many soldiers standing behind them, weapons in hand.

"What have I done?" I asked as I realised that they weren't looking at me in worry. I was the reason why they were worried.

"Look around you." Mother sadly replied.

Gathering my strength, I turned around with Tyrygosa's help. My eyes widened, my breath got caught up in my chest, my mouth hanging out slightly open.

The large ruin in front of me had nothing to do with the magnificent castle of Stormwind. Fire had destroyed a large part of it, mainly the front and a few other parts of the walls that were still being watered with buckets of waters and spells from some mages. A part of the roof had gone up in smokes, burned and brought to the ground, black wood and cracked stone laying around everywhere. Yet this was nothing to the right part of the building. I couldn't see everything from my point of view, but the crumbled wall and the tonnes of stones testified of the destruction that took place, with a large portion of the castle simply brought down.

The many bodies covered in white drapes put more weight on what happened than any stone in existence.

Darting from left to right, it took me a minute before I brought my eyes on my mother again.

"I've done this?" I asked, my voice cracking and shock taking over me as I could feel tears starting to pool in my eyes.

"No." Alexstrasza assured me with an unmatched conviction.

"Bu-but you said to look around… I've killed all of these people." I weakly replied.

"No, my daughter. You were under the influence of the old gods. It was N'zoth that pushed you to do this, it was him that made you do it. You were merely his tool, just like thousands have been before." She comforted me, so convinced of her own words that it almost made me believe her on the spot.

"She's right."

I turned toward Tyri, who was looking at me sadly.

"I arrived before her; you were trying to fight the corruption. I saw you, tortured by N'zoth, trying to question him, doubting his words. I managed to convince you to let go of the staff just as he took over you completely." Tyri said kindly.

I had done this. As soon as Tyri finished talking, I saw more than remembered what happened. Me mercilessly fighting me way through the castle, that one soldier that I tortured to know where the vault was. It was like I watched it all happen without a single emotion, removed from reality and forced to watched as another me did all of this. Yet it was still me. And then there was getting the staff followed by the pain. A pain so strong that I couldn't remember what happened after that. All the times N'Zoth talked to me and when I dismissed it, thinking that I could worry about it later.

"I'm sorry." I said as I fell back down, remorse crushing me as I realised the mistakes I made and my foolishness. I felt like crying but I couldn't, tears refused to get out. I simply was far more crushed by what I allowed to do than what I did. "I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have come here, it was-"

Even if I couldn't remember what happened fully, the consequences were right before me. I may have been completely mind controlled for a time, but what happened before was a result of my actions under the old gods injunction. It was my fault.

"Amaria."

I looked up at Anduin, now standing before me. It was clear that he was about to talk but I didn't gave him the opportunity.

"I should have been better." I said starting to get angry at myself. "I should have done better. I already fought ennemies capable of taking over my mind and body, I know how dangerous they can be. Yet for some reason I was stupid enough to ignore the danger of the old gods and the whispers I heard."

"The old gods are unlike anything you ever fought, daughter. All what you learned before coming to us could never have prepared you to face N'zoth." Pointed Alexstrasza. "But me and the other dragons also bear the weight of today's failure. We didn't showed you how to protect you against them well enough. None of us know how the black dragonflight deals with the old god's corrutpion, how to fight it through centuries, but its no excuse for failling you."

"Perhaps. It remains that you were right, especially you Anduin." I said looking at the young kind as well as Jaina and Genn.

"What are you talking about?" He replied confused.

"About the black dragonflight. About me. You've been wary of me since the beginning, you all have. And it's good." I said with anger against myself. "I thought that it didn't concerned me, that I was better than the rest of my Flight. Turns out I was wrong."

"No Amaria." Anduin said as he took a step forward, a determined expression on his face. "You have been tricked, like so many of us before. I will not hold you responsible of what happened here today, if someone has to answer for that, it's N'zoth. You were trying to save someone, you were ready to do everything for him, but I also know that if it had been truly you, you would have never harmed anyone for that."

"He speak the truth, daughter." Confirmed my mother.

"But it was still me. How can I not feel sorry for it? If I hadn't been so blind to the old god's danger, how obvious it was that my sudden love for Mightion didn't belonged to me, if I hadn't been manipulated that easily, maybe this could have been avoided." I replied bitter.

I couldn't accept this. Not being held accountable after all of that chaos and destruction. It was unthinkable. Of course, I would acknowledge the old gods corruption, that it hadn't be fully me. But the facts remained that I played a part into it. The biggest one.

"You being sorry means that you're also seeking redemption. If you truly want to earn it, you can start by helping us rebuilding our castle." Told me Anduin.

I stood up at that, staring at him intensely.

"Anything. I'd do anything." I assured.

"Daughter, seeing you ready to repent fills me with joy, but there are more pressing matters. We need to know where Mightion is, he still need to be saved." Mother reminded me.

I knew we still had to save him, even if my feelings for him weren't the same anymore. I may not love him as I did, but it didn't meant that he had to be abandoned to the terrible fate that was becoming the old gods' slave. I was starting to really develop a strong hate for these beings, as well as a wariness that I didn't had previously, seeing their corrupting power in action and how strong and insidious they were truly was frightening. I mean, I knew that something was wrong but at the same time I remember questioning myself it talking about it with others was the right choice to take, I remember persuading myself that it wasn't worht it. How much of this had been me and how much of it had been N'zoth?

And I still had a responsibility toward Mightion. Would he fell because of me? Because I obeyed N'zoth and gave him the time to corrupt Mightion?

"We will save him." I said with a renewed confidence as I stepped forward, forcing everyone to take a couple of steps back.

"Careful." Growled Tyri as she was taken forward with me.

"He's in the Badlands, hidden in a cave. We may not have much time." I stated, opening my wings wide.

"Don't! You're still too weak!" Cried out my mother.

I heard her but my body would hold on. I may be a bit tired and feeling like my body got crushed under an iceberg, but it wasn't enough to stop me from setting things right. I took off awkwardly, falling to the left first before catching myself up, pushing my wings stronger as I started to ascend higher. The strain that it put on me was terrible, it felt like my left shoulder would break at any moment, that my wings would fail me. But I simply couldn't allow it.

"Amaria! Wait!" Shouted Tyri, closing down on me in a matter of seconds just as we started to pass above the mountain.

"Glad to have you with me!" I roared back.

"He don't need you to drop dead! Just calm down already!" She replied angrily, adjusting her speed to be right next to me.

"Amaria!" Came another shout from behind.

I looked over my back, watching Alexstrasza flying with the Alliance's leaders on her back. She was back to her full size, her wings creating new air currents as she easily reached us in a few seconds, her massive head right next to me.

"I do not wish to see you injured again. Please don't scare me like that again." She said worried, towering next to me.

"Don't forget the staff! We'll need it to save Mightion!" Shouted Anduin from her back, waving the Shard of Light.

My eyes widened at that, realising that I completely forgot about it.

"Oh, right! Thank you Anduin." I replied.

"You need to calm down Amaria. You're still quite weak and if the old gods are as vicious as ever they will have planned this or sent their minions deal with Mightion, we need to act cautiously." Pressed Tyri.

She was right. They old gods probably knew of the location of the cave where Mightion was hidden, having controlling me for a long time already. Taking a few deep breaths, I recalled my lessons in occlumency and forced my mind to calm down, cleaning my thoughts from all the stress and exhaustion that had been infecting me.

"Alright." I simply said as I slowed down a bit, gliding more than flapping my wings.

"Glad to see you come back to your senses." Sighed mother in relief. "Now, you spoke of the Badlands."

"Ah, yes. Mightion is hiding in a cave, protected by Wrathion's guards." I replied.

"How was he last time you saw him?"

"I- I'm not sure. I can't remember everything, but I know he was safe, I was probably the bigger problem at the time." I said as I recalled N'zoth words, forcing me to go steal the staff.

"Do not worry, we will be there soon." Mother comforted me.

We flew for a few minutes in silence, flying above the Burning Steppes as the humans on Alexstrasza's back were forced to put an arm in front of their mouths, protecting themselves from the permanent ashes flying in the air.

"Will Wrathion be there?" Asked Mother.

"I don't know, I don't remember seeing him." I answered unsure. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"As much as I would like to say no, it will depend on him. He has been evading all my attempts to talk with him and has been openly attacking dragons of my Flight on several occasions. I want to hear what he has to say about this." She replied sternly, deep in thoughts for a few seconds before turning back to me. "But this can be done later, Mightion is our primary target."

Reassured about my mother's motivations, I looked forward at the land quickly passing beneath us. It didn't took long for us to reach the Badlands and once there it took me barely a few seconds to orientate myself, going slightly to the left as the two other dragons did the same.

The cave soon revealed itself to us, but something was very wrong. It wasn't the broken stone all around, I remembered breaking it in my dazed, controlled state. No, what was wrong were the many bodies laying all around, corpses of Wrathion's guards but also from many people dressed in deep purple clothes. A bloody battle took place there, and it was still very recent, the blood still pouring out of the bodies as a few bloody footprints went straight in the cave.

"The Twilight Hammer." Hissed my mother with disgust and undisguised hatred.

"They've found Mightion. We might be too late." Darkly said Tyri, giving me a short, worried glance.

There wasn't a second to lose. I had no idea if the cultists were here to corrupt Mightion or to kill him, but I simply couldn't let anything happen to him.

It would be my fault.

I dove straight toward the cave, not waiting for anyone.

"Amaria!" Shouted Mother.

I landed in front of the cave, looking briefly at all the cadavers as I recognised the tauren that had helped me. I was about to enter the cave that Tyri landed right before me, stopping me to go in.

"Tyri please! I need to-"

"No you don't! You're still weak and incapable to think clearly! I won't let you in until you're capable of controlling yourself!" She denied me sternly, flaring her wings open in a show of force.

I might have tried to shout at her, to rush in an attempt to pass around her or maybe feinted something. Yet I knew that not only it would be useless, but also that she was right. Going in the state I was in was literally asking to be killed.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes for a second and reopened them far calmer, nodding at Tyri who nodded back in acceptance, moving aside.

"Careful daughter, we don't know what awaits us down there." Warned me my mother as she landed, letting Anduin, Jaina and Genn get off her back before she took her mortal disguise. She was simply far too tall to enter in her natural form.

"I will. Let's go." I replied firmly, ready to go in and save Mightion once and for all.

Or lose him to the old gods.