' = Internal dialogue

ยจ= Normal speech

* = Sounds / Etc

-Chapter 37 Start-

Shortly after the explosive house debacle, my Grandmother and I decided to part ways for now. She lent me some sort of blue stone, and as long as I had that on me, she would come and meet me in a day or so, even then I could just channel my mana into it, which would signal Aegwynn that I was done with whatever I had to deal with.

Aegwynn had started to recover whatever she could of her ruined house. Her garden was in utter ruin as well. She just shook her head and continued looking for whatever artifacts she had remaining. Judging from her reaction, she did not lose too much.

In the end, she packed a few ward stones, like the one I collided with, and several others, and her well of liquid mana used for scrying, which no doubt would be much more potent now when she recovered her magic, soon after we both prepared to deal with our own problems for the time being.

When the feeling of weakness left my body after the brief mana sickness, I decided to keep on heading toward Onyxia's lair, so after giving Aegwynn a short description of what had happened and what I was going to do, she just snorted and then laughed briefly before mumbling something along the lines of: "Good riddance, Black dragons never change..."

With a smile and a wave, she teleported away to deal with the so-called Zmodlor while I took to the air again, feeling like a mountain had been lifted from my back and took off like a missile toward the south, directly toward the dragon's lair.

Just when I can see in the distance the dark and damp area that goes by the name of Dustwallow March, I can't help but notice down at the beach were a few murlocs who were standing beside what looked like a miniature grave.

I couldn't help but gawk when I realized that was the exact spot I fought my first enemy since I arrived in this version of Azeroth.

So I did what any man would do. I dived down where all the murlocs were and stopped right in front of the tiny grave while the murlocs on my side were frozen in utter terror as a nearly two-and-a-half-meter-tall giant appeared out of nowhere.

I offered a slight bow to the little grave before me, 'Your sacrifice will be remembered, young one.' Then I looked at my side where five adult murlocs were looking at me with pure unadulterated terror in their eyes as they scattered away in different directions while babbling to themselves.

As I just stared at the fleeing murlocs, I shook my head and took to the skies again, but this time directly toward the southern part of the dark and eery swamp.

While flying at high speeds, I made a mental map of the area to compare it to what I already knew about it from when this was a game for me. Unsurprisingly I found the size to be much larger than I could recall. Instead of a ten-minute run from the north to reach the south like the game, it was more like a ten-hour sprint.

Long ago, two fragmented sets of memories had settled within my mind, but they still conflicted regarding simpler things like these. My life so far as Med'an was all there, sure, but the other? It was an anomaly, there were no personal memories, but I did feel some of the personality behind the memories leak into my own. I had since come to realize I, no, we had become an entirely new person.

Then there were the memories of this whole... dimension as a fictional world made by humans. Did that make them gods? Simple human beings who made fiction and entertainment for others? Maybe, but that no longer mattered, this world was now mine, and no amount of bullshit fiction would change that.

As I kept thinking about all this, I could see the start of a scorched land, splitting the dark swamp off almost like a border, many drakes flying around a mountain in the distance.

I had reached my destination, the entrance with a giant set of jaws with spiky teeth could now be seen from far away.

My descent to the ground was performed from a distance away because I did not want the drakes flying around to notice me...Yet.

When I finally landed, I studied my surroundings momentarily. I saw small barrows lifted up from the ground like primitive tents made of hardened clay, clearly housing dragon spawn, the kind without wings.

After making sure there wasn't anyone who noticed me, I started making my way on foot toward the nostalgic sight, gradually closing in while roars of drakes could be heard. It was most likely the regular way for them to deter creatures with lesser intellect from approaching the area.

Then as I stood before the entrance, I put my hands forward to grab it. I pulled the locked maw open with the creaking sound of metal being torn apart violently. I started making my way through it, old bones covering the ground inside the entrance breaking under my feet as I made my way through slowly until I finally reached the start of the tunnel downward.

But what I expected to see as I descended down the magma-filled tunnel was not... This.

What blocked my path was... A tiny gnome with her hair set up in two buns on each side of her head while crossing her arms defiantly while looking directly at me with a heated gaze, Chromie yet again has decided to appear, but this time she was armored up with a glowing staff behind her back and wore several rings that practically flared up with magic when I look at them, around her neck was a medallion, it had a small hourglass tipping back and forth inside a small crystal container.

"So... You still decided to come here in the end... I had hoped that it would not come to this... Mr. Anomaly, I would like to use the favor I wanted from you to lead you away from what you will do here." Chromie said in a resolute tone, then her shoulders slumped and she looked at me in defeat.

Then she continued, "However, I now see that is no longer an option as your mind is made up to go through with this no matter what..." She paused as tightening her grip on her weapon tightened.

"Your actions so far have been catastrophic in a scope far beyond your wildest imagination. There has been... Consequences... You have indirectly hindered us and our enemies by tilting the scales of power in your... Favor." Chromie said with a tinge of annoyance, which was very unlike her.

"... You are not the Chromie I dealt with months ago," I said with a neutral tone.

"No, I am not. Due to falling for a few ploys done by our enemies, no thanks to what you have been up to these last few months, I several selves, resulting in my future liege having to utilize certain measures, whatever they had done to me and my other selves in other timelines enabled several tremendous changes to occur in our enemies favor, this came at a cost however." She said as frustration showed on her face and pointed toward the medallion hanging around her neck.

"This right here... Is the Hourglass of Time, it was my... liege's wish for me to bear it until he would appear again, do you see? You have caused my entire flight to lose a leader singlehandedly. One of the only ones that could hinder the minions of the Old Gods from wreaking havoc as they wish, effectively neutralizing our entire flight while the Infinite ones will fester not only this timeline but every timeline in existence for an unknown amount of time!" She said as her voice gradually increased to shouting at the end while looking visibly upset.

"My decision to help you caused all this, so no... You are not entirely to blame. Some of it is on my shoulders. "She sighed in defeat as her shoulders slumped yet again.

"So... Why are you here now? Is it to fight me in hopes of stopping me from getting back at Onyxia?" I asked, more curious than anything.

"...No, I am simply here... To ask you for your assistance when the time comes, I don't have the power to fight you in a direct battle, but I can delay you very, very much." Chromie stated matter of factly before she looked me in the eyes and continued, "However... I don't see the point of making you an enemy for no other reason than spite. Regardless of what you and I had put in motion, there is much more benefit for us both by working together when the time comes..." Chromie said with a firm tone while some nervousness slipped from her gestures.

After a moment of consideration, I had come to a decision, "If you need my assistance, all you need to do is ask. That favor I owe you for the orb you gave me is unnecessary. The Old Gods are the enemy of everyone. I don't see the hesitation to wait this long just to ask me for assistance..." I told her while gazing down at the tiny gnome with an odd look, almost as if I couldn't understand the logic of her not coming to me before all this.

She didn't dare look me in the eye as I said all this, but she just laughed nervously at the end. "Well... Even if I have a lot of experience with mortals, I am not known to be the best negotiator of my kind... And most humanoid creatures, who knows if they can exploit a situation we cannot handle ourselves... Tend to demand compensation for every single thing I have asked of them, and at this point, that is something I cannot afford in the least... We are not a very materialistic flight compared to others. Our funds are... Limited, both in favors, currency, and debts." She said sheepishly.

"I see... Well, I wouldn't mind staying in touch with you and yours, please don't wait months just to ask questions like these... It's mind-numbing that you come up to me dressed like you are going to war just to ask me for help. By the way, did you notice anything from earlier today?" I asked casually.

"Well, no... Should I have?" She asked, becoming more distressed each second as we both descended into silence for a moment...

Uh, now that was... surprising. Could this be a result of the bronze flight being practically crippled? Regardless I decided to humor Chromie with the truth.

"Ehm... I gave my grandmother... Aegwynn Magna, back her magic... And from what I felt, she is now... Near her prime or even stronger? I'm not entirely certain, but as you can probably guess... We now have someone with lots of knowledge and power to help us with your... Problem."

"YOU DID WHAT!? Oh, dear... This day keeps getting better and better..." She fell backward in shock.

She then proceeded to calm down and mumbled to herself before continuing. "Well... I can safely assume whatever timeline you are in a lost cause, I guess... Regardless, when we are cooperating... Can you please stick to what we are to deal with? Because if I am to drag you along, then going out of your way to further complicate things will undoubtingly be almost the same as self-sabotage... Well... At least we now have a strong ally if I include her in our dealings with timelines..." Chromie said while mumbling the last part to herself.

Then she looked toward me with a wry smile, "I will leave you to it then... unofficially, this timeline we are currently in... I will ensure that my kin will not interrupt or sabotage you in whatever you feel necessary to do, at worst I'll warn you of any consequences, this I tell you in good faith and payment for your assistance, as we undoubtingly will see a lot of each other in the future.

For better or worse, I am still glad I helped you that day. Even if that version of me died, I still see her reasonings for doing so. She was undoubtingly playing it as a long game... But we no longer have the necessary means to play it by that long game... So, bye, Mr. Anomaly.

You will hear from me soon." Chromie said as she started casting some spells as her hands were covered in bronze runes.

"See you soon, Chromie. Make sure to visit my city soon." I said as she turned to me one last time and replied with a small smile, "Who says I haven't already?" Then she disappeared from view as her form got obscured like a mirage in a desert.

As I stared at the spot she had just been in silence, I pondered how she could possibly know I would be here in the first place. After some consideration, I concluded that she probably didn't find me. Instead, I had seen Onyxia's reaction or behavior as a result of what I was doing or was going to do in the near future, and by doing so, she probably tried to locate me some time before that action by checking the people around me.

In the end, it didn't matter, though if she could find me like that, it meant that my title's function was undoubtingly flawed. A tiny black spot on a white sheet could still be found if disregarding the white. Which just told me I needed more power or the means to fortify my defenses against enemies smart enough to overlook the obvious.

There was nothing to do about it for now, so I'd leave it for future me to deal with, precisely what a bronze dragon would say.

Then after considering all this, I made my way down the narrow tunnel until I could see the fiery lava flow down the side. Beyond that was a small bridge as the tunnel became much larger the longer inward I traveled.

If it was an ordinary person who came through here, he or she would undoubtingly have issues breathing as the tunnel heated by the natural elements around it would be very hard to breathe in without being poisoned by air within the narrow tunnels without any sort of ventilation would be a certain death for the standard humanoid being.

That aside, I could hear a lot of loud noises further down, sounding as if someone was hammering on metal, so when I neared where I had heard the sounds, I tried to make myself less visible and went close to the wall just to peak around the corner.

When I finally saw what was going on, I was shocked, to say the least, because according to the compendium, different minerals and metals I was given by the dwarves as appreciation for allowing them to build their mini-Ironforge, the dragon spawns in front of me was hammering on something looking almost like silver. Still, it had a metallic sheen to it.

It was Arcanite, pure and unprocessed Arcanite, directly from a furnace able to handle the extreme heat required to actually be able to melt it into bars, which was honestly impressive, as the dwarves had explained how to process Arcanite when I asked them, it was by no means doable without the proper heat, but this lair had that solution solved already.

'My visit here seems to be... Quite productive, to say the least.' I thought while almost salivating from the fact that I would be taking all this with me.

After keeping myself hidden while thirty or so dragon spawns were hammering for their lives on anvils made by what looked like vulcanic stones, I made my way further down the tunnels, which had evolved into a large cavern at this point.

In an attempt to further descend undiscovered, I took to a low flight while making my way through rooms excavated on the side of the lair; as I progressed deeper, I could see a lot of different dragon spawns, not just those large hulking abominations, but the female variety which was usually wearing some sort of hood as they went on with their tasks.

And those tasks mainly were ensuring that the large male dragon spawns had what they needed or had to move items around.

This made it difficult to avoid encountering them, so I did what I felt was necessary.

I made them into unliving popsicles and put their corpses aside for later collection.

Inhumane? No, most of these creatures down here had nearly no mind of their own. They were, in gaming terms, NPCs, I had tried to see if I could provoke any reaction from a few of them before turning them to ice, but they all did the exact same thing, struggle only to try to un-alive me.

No panic, no anger, just pure passive instinct, which made it much easier to get through the cavern.

This made me realize that Onyxia's *Knights* attacked me on her orders. It was no accident at all; she had tried to give me the illusion that she was surrounded by intellectual beings that could act independently, and it worked, which was honestly a bit terrifying. Still, it made me realize it was inevitable that I needed to end her when the time came.

With her intellect, she would undoubtingly hinder anything I or mine would be doing.

When I finally reached my final destination, my grin grew wide.

Before me were a thousand or more glowing eggs with black markings covering them as visible heat escaped them.

The newly discovered hatching area also had egg caretakers in the shape of female dragon spawns, walking around like drones in a set pattern to systematically care for every single egg.

When I finally mapped out the entirety of Onyxia's Lair, I decided to get to work. I left the drones at the large hall of eggs and made my way back up to clear out the dragon spawns.

(Timeskip: 2 hours later)

When I finally cleared out the entirety of dragon spawns all across the caverns and took all their valuables, including a large amount of gold and metals, with me, my bags were getting entirely loaded at this point, and hundreds of corpses were being dragged through the air as I progressed my way downwards.

As I returned to the hall filled with eggs, I smiled again until I felt something shift beside me in the air.

A blue portal suddenly opened, revealing Aegwynn dragging a bat-like demon who looked like a miniature doomguard without horns but extensions from his jaws, just like Mannoroth had. Indeed, this demon was a weird one...

As Aegwynn comes through the portal with the corpse of the demon, she is surprised to see where I was at, but as soon as she sees me, she smiles and says, "My demon problem has been dealt with, and I decided to come to you instead, do you by any chance have something to store the corpse? I need it for my research."

I just gazed back and forth between the newly dead Zmodlor and my grandmother a few times, then nodded and handed her a few of my last available bags after explaining to her that they would only hold twenty or so kilos, so she had to cut the demon in many pieces to make it fit.

She took and made the corpse of the odd demon, sliced it open with an ice-coated scythe into several pieces, put it into the bags, then turned back toward me and then turned her gaze to the vast hall filled to the brim with dark and fiery eggs.

"So this is why you came here, huh? I can see why. These eggs are overflowing with magic, but there seems to be... A few problems." She said while calmly analyzing one of the eggs in front of her.

"Their mana signature is being tampered with. If they hatch like this, they will act under a hive mind. It seems the eggs have been designed to recognize a certain mana signature. If that is the case, it will take away every single bit of self these hatchlings might have had. There is also... An obvious sign of corruption within their very soul..." Aegwynn said with a neutral face, but I could feel her anger explode upon the realization.

After a moment, she turned to me and asked, "Dear, are you willing to leave a few of these eggs to me? I would like to study a few of them to see if I could find a solution to clear their souls of this... Taint."

"I don't see why not. I had no clue what these dragons were... Corrupted, though this complicates things... Do you by any chance know anything about if we can keep them in their eggs until a potential solution is found?" I asked while gazing at the halls covered with dragon eggs.

"Don't worry about that. These eggs seem to have been specifically engineered to keep the hatchlings inside until the correct magical wavelength seeks them out. There is also no harm done if they stay long inside their eggs, quite the opposite, actually.

The longer these hatchlings stay inside the eggs, they can absorb the ambient mana in the surroundings and grow stronger, say, do you have a potential area available to store them?" She asked after looking at one of the eggs a bit longer, casting something like an analysis spell.

'Well, it seems I will have to make space for a thousand eggs inside my tower, huh? I cannot wait to see how Onyxia reacts when she finds out...'

-Chapter 37 End-