I do not own nor possess any right over Harry Potter and World of Warcraft, all rights belongs to their rightful owners.
This chapter was really hard to write, mostly because I'm not good at writing emotions. The next chapter will be filled with less action and go more onto Mightion and Amaria's relationship, so again more feelings and emotions so it will be another tough one.
Please comment/review.
Thank you for your patience and good reading.
We entered the cave with a feeling of dark foreboding, following the bloody footsteps quickly as we passed a few more bodies from both the Twilight Hammer's cultists and Wrathion's guards. It was clear that no mercy had been displayed, the fallen quickly left behind as the fights went further in the cave, trails of blood paving the path.
No one said a word as we went deeper, the dim light of the torches not warm at all with all the blood splashed around, giving the dark cave an even grimmer look. It took us a whole minute of slow, careful and silent progression to reach the end of the tunnel, entering the cave with trepidation. I don't know how the others felt, but I could feel my heart beat out of fear and anticipation, hoping that Mightion wouldn't have met his end because of my actions. Seeing all the blood, it was possible that N'zoth decided to simply kill Mightion instead of corrupting him.
Just for a second, I wondered how many times I had acted recklessly in my life, how many times other people got in danger because of me. And the worst was that I had no answer to that, my whole life went with me fighting evil forces of all kinds, and vanquishing them with the help of my friends and allies. They put themselves in danger too, that much was true, but too many times it was for me or because of my actions, due to my selfish eagerness to jump into battle without considering all the dangers or simply ready to ignore them in favour of completing my objectives. Yet the lesson was obviously still not leaned.
Focusing back on reality, when my eyes saw the cavern, it was both to express an intense feeling of relief and a raging fury mixed with terrible grief and crushing remorse, a potent poison that threatened to overwhelm me again. But it was exactly what I had to avoid, so I took a deep breath and tried to ignore those feelings for now. Many bodies littered the ground, from both groups, but, as selfish and disrespectful as it might have been, I wasn't even focusing on them.
No. My eyes were locked on the end of the cavern, on the lava bath that held the massive black dragon that was laying there still asleep. This was part of the reason why I felt so relieved, seeing Mightion still there, and thankfully, not corrupted yet. My earlier guess about his death was wrong.
But this was the only good thing I could see. All around him, cultists were channelling magic in a large dark crystal that shot a large purple beam at Mightion, making him twitch and growl in pain every few seconds, obviously fighting the corruption as much as he could, with purple marks starting to appear on his body. Another group of cultists were focused on another black dragon, one smaller and bearing a large number of small wounds, covered with a magic net that crushed him to the ground. Wrathion had fallen too, captured and grunting as the magic net painfully stopped any of his attempts to get away.
And between us and the two black dragons stood a large group of the Twilight Hammer forces, nearly three dozens of cultists strong. But what was far more worrying was the twilight dragon, glaring at us with a twisted snarl on her face. She was tall, her entire body screaming 'corrupted' with the purple glow coming from her eyes, the purple scales and skin along with the overall feeling of wrongness coming from her. Was it what would have happened to me had N'zoth corrupted me? That was a troubling thought.
"Ah, the Queen of Life, the boy-king, the old wolf, the sea witch and the broken toy. The Master knew you would come." Sneered the twilight dragon, a female that stood bigger than me, closer to Tyri's size.
"You and your servants shall be purged from this lands, minion of the old gods." Growled back Alexstrasza.
"Minion?! I am Vexiona, the new leader of the Twilight Dragonflight! Empowered and blessed by N'Zoth himself!" She proclaimed loudly, standing taller and spreading her wings wide in a show of power.
"We don't have time for this!" I shouted, both at her and my friends.
"You pitiful, useless, mistake of a whelp!" Snarled Vexiona. "You know nothing of the might of the old gods. Our Master gave you a taste of his power and yet you refused it, denying the great gift bestowed upon you!"
"He tried to corrupt me, and nearly succeeded by my own fault. And even if I had accepted or fallen to his corruption, it would have never been the real me, only a shadow of who I actually am. Your master failed to corrupt me. You will not corrupt Mightion." I replied with absolute certitude.
"Agreed. Let's get this over with." Replied Anduin, taking out his sword and placing the Shard of Light on his back.
"You shall die for the Master's will!" Roared Vexiona as she and the Twilight Hammer's cultists rushed forward.
Everything instantly descended into a madness of spells and explosions. We were severely outnumbered, but we made up by having a lot of dragons on our side as well as an extremely talented mage, one of the greatest priest that I knew of, and a ferocious worgen that didn't gave a break to his opponents. A large shield summoned by Jaina protected us from the initial barrage of dark spells casted at us, giving Tyri the time to change back to her high-elven form and to shoot back with fire, arcane and frost spells in a fury of magic that forced our opponents on the defensive at least for now.
Mother did just the opposite, turning back into her dragon form now that we were no longer in the narrow tunnel. A brief moment was all she needed to unleash a fearsome stream of fire that made quick work of a couple of cultists before she charged ahead, clashing against Vexiona as the two of them quickly devolved into a fierce fight of teeth and claws, roaring and trashing around as the walls and the ground trembled before their might.
The thought that this could have been me fighting mother if I had fallen to N'zoth whispers made me shudder briefly.
I didn't gave much attention to Genn, running around and using his enhanced worgen agility to evade the spells cast at him and slashing at any cultist that would end up in his sharp claws' range.
"Amaria! Go free Wrathion! We can save Mightion after, but we need to drive off the Twilight forces first!" Shouted Anduin right before he fearlessly ran ahead, sword in hand.
As much as I wanted to go to save Mightion right now, and not truly caring much for Wrathion, Anduin's strategy made sense. Growling, I ran through Jaina's shield toward Wrathion. The large number of cultist made my progression slow, forced to stop to deal with them in a fire breath or using my claws to tear them apart. It would have been even longer if I had been alone, silently thanking my allies, friends and family as a few cultists were brought out of my way by Tyri's spells.
Passing next to mother and Vexiona proved to be far harder, the two of them crushing anything foolish enough to come close and taking a large part of the cave as their arena. I had to wait, dealing with two more cultists that managed to cut through the scales on my chin thanks to some sharp, nasty looking polearms. My weakened state was very quickly reminded to me as I started to pant loudly barely a few seconds in the fight, trying to move around, my body burning up in pain with my left forearm almost too painful to touch the ground.
When mother bit down on Vexiona's neck, crushing her into the ground, I saw my opportunity. Gathering my strength, I passed next to them and only got slightly wiped with Vexiona's tail before the corrupted dragon stood up, unleashing dark flames on my mother that was forced to let her go.
Wincing briefly, I reminded myself of my mission and made my way toward Wrathion. The cultists around him noticed me and all but three stopped focusing on him, turning toward me as a spells started to be shot at me.
"The Black Empire shall return!" One of them shouted.
"Crazy bastard." Was my response as I swiped him away.
I was truly thankful for the magic resistance of my scales, allowing me to suffer far less damages than if I had bare skin, even if it couldn't completely stop the spells. Some of them singed my scales or even managed to destroy them.
It wasn't much and in return I would almost always kill them in a single attack, let it be by crushing, slashing or burning them. I knew I could have used my teeth but I didn't, it was not only taking a risk but it was also quite disgusting to me, to think about eating a sentient being.
Yet all their attacks were taking a heavy toll on me. I heard the dying cry of a female orc as my claw fell on her, leaving only the three casters focused on keeping Wrathion down. Going for the first one, a rather skinny man, he was glaring at me just like the two other cultists but stopped and threw a dark green skull spell at me. The spell hit me in the face and it felt like an intense burn, tearing away a couple of scales and burning the flesh beneath, making me stumble and growl in pain. Invigorated by anger, I glared at him hard and before he was even able to cast a second spell, he was covered in a shower of flames.
The two remaining cultists shared a glance and the closest one to me turned around, purple fire in hands. As he did so, I noticed Wrathion standing up slightly, pushing against the magical net now powered by a single caster, no longer enough to contain the black drake. Just as I tanked a stream of purple flames with my right claw, bringing it down on the cultist that was about to die, the net containing Wrathion broke.
"Puny mortals! You shall know the fury of the black dragonflight!" He roared as he turned on the last cultist, a troll that looked slightly exhausted.
Contrary to me, Wrathion had no issue with devouring people, making short work of the troll who disappeared in his maw in three bites. I cringed at that, but didn't gave it more thoughts, doing my best to ignore it.
A sudden howl of pure agony exploded in the cave, forcing us to turn toward Mom and Vexiona, the twilight dragon firing a purple beam of tainted magic straight at Mom who was pushed back when it hit her chest. Anger filling me, only wishing to defend my mother, I was about to join in that Wrathion jumped in front of me.
"Don't, you'll just be in the way. I'll deal with her, you take care of Mightion." He growled shortly before rushing in.
Using his smaller stature, Wrathion jumped in the air and landed right on Vexiona's right wing, immediately starting to tear it up with his claws and teeth. The terrific roar of pain that came from Vexiona didn't last lasted long, growling as she turned her murderous gaze on him.
I have to say that Wrathion was quite ruthless but I couldn't focus on him. Looking at Mightion, I saw how weak he looked as his face translated the pain he was in, fighting the forced corruption placed on him as much as he could. My glare turned to the cultists sprayed around him, all protecting the large crystal that was accelerating the corruption. Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to unleash my breath as I got closer, focused on eliminating the crazy cultists of a monstruous, self-called 'god'.
Letting the flames out, I hadn't expected them to summon a shield and even less to summon one strong enough to absorb all the fire. Growling in frustration, I pushed away the pain that filled my body, ignored the weariness trying to bring me down, ready to tear them apart.
Weapons were unsheathed as we got closer. A couple of fighters met me as the rest started to bury me under a barrage of spells, most of all being thankfully negated by my scales. Stretching forward, left without many options, I bit down on one of them and threw him away, his cry of pain echoing briefly in the cave as I moved to the next cultist.
My whole body was starting to overheat, most of my scales were either hot after having absorbed so many spells while quite a lot had been destroyed, leaving my flesh unprotected which quickly brought bloody wounds a bit everywhere. Those fighting with weapons weren't hard to deal with, but there was quite a few of them and they covered my face, neck and front legs with cuts and bruises. Individually, they were inconsequent, but the accumulation of them all was starting to slow me down heavily. Three more cultists died before I started to stagger, my left foreleg failing me as I fell forward, panting hard.
This seemed to galvanise the cultists as they ran at me, swords, daggers and maces in hands, eager to get rid of me. My fall turned into an opportunity, their rush leaving them unprotected as I managed to take a last deep breath that made me wheeze in pain before I bathed them in flames, their death-hungry expressions turning to fear for a second as they realised their mistake.
Coughing loudly, puffs of smoke leaving my mouth as my chest rose high as I tried to ease my pained breath, it was clear that I was reaching my limits. But it wasn't over yet. I could still hear Mom, Wrathion and Vexiona fight in the background and there was also the dark crystal corrupting Mightion, still active even with all the cultists powering it laying around dead.
"Come on!" I told myself, pushing on my left foreleg in an attempt to keep going.
It brought me a few meters closer until I gave out again, falling down harshly as my vision started to spin, pain now clouding my mind in addition to the rest of my body. The fact that he was still not corrupted said a lot about his resilience of mind but it was clear that the corruption was taking place, his breath short and quick, the recognisable purple marks growing on his body. To have him right there, so close and in such pain, with me laying down incapable to keep going, was incredibly frustrating.
"Useless mortals!" Screamed Vexiona somewhere behind me.
"It's over! You're alone, you can't face us all!" Roared back Wrathion.
"Miserable whelp, you think you've won? Look behind me, see the Master's work completed!" She exulted, soon exploding in a deep laugh.
I may not have been able to turn around, but it wasn't necessary for me to understand what was happening. Raising my head as much as possible, I looked at Mightion as my eyes widened in shock. He was still deep in trance, not fully corrupted yet, but the deep purple marks that started to expand far quicker than earlier and glowing faintly showed that it wouldn't be long anymore.
"No…" I let out in a pained sigh.
"Soon, a new puppet will be at the Master's command. You should embrace your fall now and bow before the Old Gods!" Bellowed Vexiona.
"He won't, not as long as we stand there to spare him from your corruption." Replied Tyrygosa, growling strongly. "Amaria sacrificed a lot for him, so don't think we'll let anything happen to him."
I didn't voiced it, but Tyri's words were bringing me a brief renewal of both strength and hope.
"Bah! It is folly to defy the Old Gods!" Ranted Vexiona before I heard someone, very likely her, take a deep breath.
A purple glow appeared at the corner of my eyes, but I didn't gave it any attention. I tried to stand up again, alas without success. But I had to, before it was too late. Resolved to continue, I dragged myself forward as best as I could, meter after meter until I was only two meters away from the purple crystal, the one thing that separated Mightion from freedom.
"Argh!" Came a loud howl behind me.
"Time to put this to an end." I calmly heard mother say.
"This isn't over!" Roared Vexiona as another purple light exploded.
As soon as it disappeared, many distorted voices came from everywhere.
"Faceless Ones!" Shouted Tyri.
Figuring that it wasn't about to end now, I looked at Mightion, watching the corruption taking over him quickly. 'I can't let that happen.' I thought as I brought out all of my strength, standing up slowly. 'Not now, not so close.' It took me a colossal effort, but after several seconds to calm down my breathing and pushing myself up while ignoring the pain, I was once more on all fours.
Looking down at the crystal, then at Mightion, I tried to figure out what to do. Mightion needed to be purified with the Shard of Light but that would be useless as long as this crystal was here, meaning I had to destroy it first. I had no clue if it was a good idea or not, if the dark magic inside would spread out once broken, but it was the only idea I had that wasn't too stupid right now.
Mustering all of my will, I rose my right foreleg and brought it around the crystal, feeling the horrible corruption running through it. Ignoring the disgust I had at touching something so vile, I clutched the crystal as hard as I could, capturing the purple beam in between my claws as it burned my scales and infiltrated my skin. Grunting in pain, clenching my teeth hard, eyes half closed, I saw Mightion let out a relieved breath in his sleep, finally free from the ardent ray of magic.
My claws felt like they were covered in acid as I poured more strength, hoping it was not for naught as the crystal didn't even seemed to feel the pressure around it. A large purple glow was coming out between my toes, growing stronger as the pain intensified until I heard the sweet sound of a crack. Looking down, I saw a line appear on the crystal, enlarging itself as it spread in a series of cracks all around it.
"Amaria!"
I barely moved at the cry, glancing sideways to see Anduin running toward me as the rest of our group was dealing with some humanoid/octopus like creatures, with quite the impressive number of them downed already. But there was no more sign of Vexiona.
"How is he?" Panted Anduin as he reached me.
"Its bad." I groaned in pain. "Quickly, use the staff." I pressed him.
"What about you? You can hardly stand up." He replied pulling the staff out from his back.
I saw red at that. I was there, trying my best to save Mightion, and he was focusing on me. Me! It was all my fault and instead on saving the one actually in trouble, he was trying to save me! Maybe I was about to pass out but it wasn't important. I could recover where Mightion would not if any more time was given to N'zoth.
"I don't care! Save him! Now!" I roared.
The surge of anger helped me crush the crystal even more, at the cost of starting to feel lightheaded as I was starting to see black spots a bit everywhere. Anduin frowned, looking at me for a couple of seconds before finally walking next to Mightion, right in front of his snout as he grasped the Shard of Light in his two hands.
"We didn't do all of this only to lose you now. Both him and you." He said calmly as the sounds of battle in the background started to grow quieter.
For five infuriating seconds, I watched him standing immobile as the power in the staff started to grow slowly, before he finally brought it on the ground. An explosion of light erupted as several rays of light appeared around the golden shards, small tendrils slowly reaching Mightion's body. My attention was fixed on the purification taking place before me, so much so that I didn't noticed the glow of the crystal quickly dying as tiny fragments fell out of my claws, the cristal finally crumbling down.
The tendrils reached the dark marks painted all over Mightion's body, cleansing him and removing the presence of the old gods as his scales seemed to regain a shine that they had been lacking until now. My vision started to blur as a twitch passed on Mightion's face, both eyelids slightly moving for a second as I started to grow weaker.
And then, very slowly, he opened his eyes. Like every other dragon, they had a soft glow, one unique to the black dragonflight as it was a mix of deep red and gold, a fire burning with an unmatched intensity. Like mine's and Wrathion's. His gaze was slow, slightly confused as I saw a bit of understanding growing on his face, looking around as he started to raise his head.
That's when my legs failed me again, all giving out for good this time. I was depleted of all of my strengths, a weakness and extreme fatigue bringing me down, but it didn't mattered anymore. I could barely see, the world turning in a series of blurs and splotches.
"Amaria!" Came the voices of all of my allies.
My vision remained clear long enough for me to see Mightion's eyes fall on me, first in confusion and then hardening with a look of understanding, as if he knew what happened. Maybe he did.
"Sorry..." I croaked as my forces completely abandoned me, laying down as I lost consciousness.
The last thing I saw was Mightion, standing up from the lava bath he had been in as well as the faces of both Mother and Tyri, all of them looking far too worried. I didn't felt that way at all. For me, it was the feeling of justice, along with some degree of relief. Mightion was like this because of my stupidity, I was happier knowing I was the one falling down right now instead of him. Sure, I wasn't the one to corrupt him and he would have been captured by the old gods' minions regardless of my presence, only saved by Wrathion, but it was my stubbornness and reluctancy to act on N'zoth's voice that brought a darker turn of events. But at last, it was over. And I was very happy to finally give my body the rest it had been crying for.