I do not own nor possess any right over Harry Potter and World of Warcraft, all rights belong to their rightful owners.
It took a bit longer than I expected, but there it is. I'm still a bit unsure about where to go next, and I will be working on Hogwarts Dragon next, so I don't know when the next chapter will come out. A bit of time, for sure.
My schedule is shifting a lot currently, so I don't have as much time as before to write.
Please comment/review.
Thank you for your patience and good reading.
Opening my eyes, I saw that I arrived last. Before us was a bright sunny sky, with a couple of clouds here and there. I quickly recognised the tauren capital, Thunder Bluff, below us, just as I noticed that we were standing atop a tall bluff.
Jaina was standing near the edge, looking down at the city before her, with her back toward us. I saw Thrall look at Baine and Varok, exchanging a look with the older orc who gestured toward Jaina with his head.
"Thank you. Baine would have died, without your aid." I heard him say, speaking softly and with an exhaustion that wasn't there before.
"I couldn't let that happen." She replied.
"Well, that's done." Treesha said, my focus shifting toward her as she sat down on a rock, her body language showing how old she was.
Shaw was looking at every Horde member with open wariness, keeping a hand close to his daggers. I couldn't say that I didn't understand his carefulness, but I thought it was a bit much in the presence of potential allies.
Leciea was taking care of her pets, using more bandages, herbs and better tools to patch up Baro and Moonhaze. Out of all of us, I think they were the ones who took the most damage, and they had the wounds to prove it. Let it be burns, missing fur or cuts, they had it all. Baro, being larger and with a thicker hide, took more hits, which did less damage. For Moonhaze though, his hide wasn't as strong as the bear, but at least he didn't look to have been critically injured, even if Leciea was bandaging a particularly bad burn on his right foreleg.
And Mightion was simply there, having dismissed his mace, and he gave me a slow nod as I looked at him.
"What do you think Sylvanas' reaction will be?" I asked Treesha.
"Not sure. That dark witch of a banshee, she knew we were coming, so she may have planned for us to succeed in saving Baine. Not that it really matters. Killed plenty of her soldiers. Idiots who can't think by themselves." She answered, using a small fire spirit to warm her up. The living flame was going all around her, pressing its burning hands against her clothes just enough to dry them up.
"And what will you do next?"
"Take a break from all this nonsense. I was already quite busy before coming here. This war is distracting us from the real, important problems. Darker things." Treesha said a bit creepily, taking out a hearthstone from one of her pockets.
"Then I suppose I will see you in Silithus next." I replied.
"Yeah, that." She sighed, standing up and sending the fire elemental back to its elemental plane.
"We are." I heard Jaina say, a bit more strongly.
Turning toward her, I saw that Baine, Varok and Shaw got closer. I walked up to Mightion and took his arm, taking him by surprise, before pulling him alongside me toward the rest of the group. Treesha and Leciea shared a small glare as they found themselves at the back, before ignoring each other and joining us.
"I should go. Anduin will want to know that Baine is safe." Jaina said.
Baine put a fist against his chest and bowed slightly.
"Tell your king, he is not alone." Varok said.
He got a nod from Jaina.
"Leciea, Shaw, do you want to return with me?" She offered.
"If you please." Shaw replied with a nod.
"Me as well." Leciea added.
"Amaria, Mightion?" Jaina called us.
"I think we will return in our own ways." I assured.
"Very well. Thank you for your help, I will tell Anduin that everything went well."
"It was a pleasure."
"May the moon be with you earth-wardens." Leciea said with a small bow.
"And may the stars guard you." Mightion replied politely.
"See you next time." I simply said, waving my hand.
Jaina's magic once more gathered around us and on the three Alliance members, before they teleported away in a flash of blue and indigo light.
With me and Mightion left alone with the Horde members, I saw how the old orc was quite wary of us. Mightion more than me, but I suppose seeing him change into his real form gave up enough clues about our nature. Thrall looked a bit concerned as well, but it was clear that he didn't trust us.
"Dragons." Thrall called us.
"Thrall. I know them." Baine said with a slightly raspy voice.
"I didn't know you made friends with dragons." Varok replied.
"Baine gave me his help when I needed it, and even if I sadly wasn't able to use it, I have not forgotten his gesture. I'm in his debt." I replied strongly, giving a thankful look at Baine.
"WE, owe him a great debt." Mightion corrected.
"Thrall, you know that not all black dragons are like the Deathwing. These two are protectors of Azeroth, earth-wardens just like you were one." Baine added.
"I will trust your word, old friend." Thrall nodded at Baine before turning toward us again. "I didn't know that dragons were that involved in the war, but it's welcome news."
"Don't mistake us, we came only to save Baine. The Dragonflights are still against joining this war, and while I don't fully agree with this decision, I will respect it. Just as I told King Anduin, I'm ready to help save lives, but don't ask me to take any." I warned them, wanting to make that point clear before anything else.
"You're on good terms with the Alliance's king?"
"He has been far more welcoming than Sylvanas so far. She sent riders after me that destroyed Baine's gift, and her actions go against all I stand for." I replied. "We owe Anduin, just like Baine, a great debt. He saved us from the Old Gods' madness, despite being quite wary of me at first. I think that Anduin and Baine are the best suited leaders I've met so far. Anduin with his kindness and acceptance, and Baine with his wisdom and selflessness."
My words seemed to have touched them, the two orcs looking thoughtful and Baine more exhausted and thankful.
"Look at you, with all your great speeches! Ha! So ridiculous!"
All of us turned toward Treesha, who we apparently all forgot, and who was staring at us with a wide grin, standing up with the support of her staff.
"Treesha." Thrall simply said.
"Yes, thank you friend." Baine added.
"Don't thank me, you didn't deserve death for doing what was right. Not that I care that Sylvanas uses a dead corpse as a weapon or not, but I can't let her kill you. The Horde wouldn't recover. Many things wouldn't recover." She explained herself, a bit strangely at the end.
"But you did, and thanks to you all, my life is my own again." Baine bowed his head at Treesha and Mightion and I.
"What are the dragons going to do next? Between Sylvanas and N'Zoth, I expected them to react to at least one of them." Thrall said.
"Our war is with N'Zoth and his minions. We just today learned about the Nagas and their Queen's potential plan to free her master." Mightion replied.
"Really? It seems I missed much in my absence." Thrall noted.
"No shit. I've been working my ass off for years while you went hiding, doing what others didn't want to do or didn't even care about." Treesha said harshly before sighing loudly. "I don't blame you, Thrall, but you and many others just left everything on other's shoulders, me included. And it wasn't always the right shoulders. Now, we have to deal with that stupid war and a bloody Old God that keeps pissing me off since the Legion invasion!"
"We can't do that while Sylvanas divides us. We need to bring her down, or the Horde will suffer." Varok continued.
"The Horde isn't this world." Mightion replied. "If we don't fight for Azeroth, the world you know will cease to be, and all that will be left will be the old gods and their minions."
"We are hard at work to save Azeroth, and we can't be everywhere at once to solve every problem. Though we will inform Queen Alexstrasza of this recent development with the nagas, as well as the fact that Sylvanas is producing weapons powered with Azerite." I added, thinking about how we would have to tell everything to my mother.
What would her reaction be, I didn't know, but I doubt she would allow the Dragonflights to intervene directly. Not yet at least. Perhaps with the news we would bring, it might motivate her to act.
"But no help in this war." Varok said.
"I doubt it." I replied honestly.
The old orc swore in orcish, which I didn't know a word of, turning around and clenching his fists.
Baine gave him a look, and then exhaled loudly as he walked up to Thrall, a hand on his stomach. Looking at it, I didn't notice how his armor and large hand hid the fur matted with blood.
"There is much to do, old friend." He said, putting his other hand on Thrall's shoulder before looking at us. "We need to save the Earth-Mother, but it can't be done as long as Sylvanas rules the Horde."
"I already tried to push the Aspects to be more active, and it didn't really work." I said, recalling my attempt to bring the Dragonflights leaders to Silithus. "Mightion and I will answer if you need us, but the rest of dragonkind will remain focused on N'Zoth. We ourselves are quite busy with taking care of the wound in Silithus, but helping friends comes first."
"So sappy." Treesha commented, doing a grimace.
"I tire of your comments, goblin." Mightion growled, glaring down at her.
"And I tire of you! What? Are you that tall because your head's so full of air it pulls you up?" She taunted, baring her teeth at him and waving her staff to threaten him.
I sighed, knowing that it would happen at one point. None of the two was ready to back down, and I swore that I would let Mightion deal with this himself, no matter the consequences. Turning toward the orcs and the tauren, I refocused on the important matters at hand.
"Baine, I want to say that even if our debt is paid, you will still have our support."
"Thank you, Lady Amaria. I am honoured." He bowed his head down.
"It was the right thing to do." I assured him.
Wack!
I turned around at the sound, watching as Treesha slammed her staff against Mightion's greaves, with the tall dragon remaining adamant and not even moving.
"I believe we better leave now, before it escalades any further." I told the Horde leaders.
"It would be wise. That goblin has more bite than most of the orcs I know." Thrall agreed with a small smile.
This time, I bowed down to them, well, mostly Baine.
"Then we will depart now. It was a pleasure to see you again, Baine."
"Me as well, Amaria. May the spirits and the Earth-Mother be with you." He returned my bow.
"Thank you for helping save Baine. We won't forget it." Thrall said next.
All I got from Varok was silence, the old orc still showing me his back. Nodding at Thrall, I went to get Mightion, who actually had his mace in hand and glaring balefully at Treesha, who had a large orb of crackling electricity in her left hand.
"Alright, that's enough you two." I called, getting their attention. "Mightion, we're leaving."
"Good. The further away we are from these mortals, the better." He grunted, putting his mace in his back. He didn't stop glaring at the old goblin though.
"You better teach him how to be better with his elders." Treesha said, waving her stick at him.
"I will not. He is big enough to make his own decisions, and older than you by the way." I replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She growled at me.
"You know what buttons to press to piss him off, so you do it. Act a bit more mature and it will be fine." I told her, not giving her an inch of ground. "You can act however you want, I doubt it will ever bother me, and I like that you're not as big on names and titles like dragons. But not all are like me."
She glared at me for a second or two, and then relented, dissipating the magic in her hand.
"You're lucky I like you." She simply said, taking her hearthstone once more and activating it. In barely a few seconds, she was gone, without a goodbye to the orcs or the tauren.
I was actually glad that the situation didn't escalate any further and that we wouldn't have to fight her. Not because we could lose or anything like this, but simply because it would have been completely pointless and useless.
"Finally." Mightion nodded.
"We're leaving too." I said, calling on my magic to create a large portal next to us. It made my hand hurt quite a lot, so much that I flinched, but I ignored it.
Mightion looked like he was about to reply, but didn't and simply nodded again. With but a glance at the Horde members, I went in the portal first.
Appearing in the throne room of Blackrock Mountain, I saw that there were more of our guards than usual, and that they seemed to be quite tense as well.
"Has something happened?" I asked.
"Lady Amaria." One drakonid guard saluted. "N'Zoth's minions tried to invade the mountain, but it seems they were unaware that it was ours. We threw them out, not without losses."
"Are you sure they're all gone?" Mightion asked, coming from behind.
"They aimed to go into the lower levels of the mountain, where Nefarian and Onyxia's corpses remain."
"I thought we closed that access." I said, frowning.
"You did, that's why they couldn't enter. Once there, they were cornered and we slaughtered them all, except for their leader who fled. A human female." The guard added.
"Tend to the wounded and prepare a proper burial for the fallen. The cultists' bodies can be thrown into the fire of the mountain." Mightion ordered, taking command of the mountain.
"Is Roko alright? I need to see him." I asked as I felt the pain in my hand flare.
"He didn't face our invaders, and should be tending to the wounded right now. Since there's no infirmary, we put the wounded next to his room." The drakonid replied.
"Good. Thank you." I said, just about to make my way toward our young resident druid.
"My love, a moment, please." Mightion said.
"Yes?"
He was about to say something, that his eyes darted toward my hand and its ugly scar. He stared at it for a couple of seconds, before sighing slowly.
"I would like to have a word with you, after you take care of your scar."
"Is there something bothering you?" I asked.
"Yes, but it can be discussed later. We should deal with what happened here first." He acknowledged.
"Alright. I'll see you later."
"Very well, my love. Guard, with me. Show me everything." Mightion ordered the drakonid.
"Yes, my lord." Said guard saluted, leading the way toward the inner chambers and paths of the mountain.
Letting them handle that, I made my way to Roko. As I walked, I saw how the guards were patrolling in bigger groups than usual, ready to face our intruders should they come back, and I saw how relieved they were to see me here. There was in all of them at least one drakonids who acted as the first line and two or more dragonspaws who could either be melee fighters or magic casters.
"Lady Amaria." All the patrols I crossed saluted me.
I told them when they first arrived to not act like this with me usually, but since we were under alert, I guess that they returned to their old habits. I didn't tell them to stop this time, simply nodding or waving a hand at them in recognition.
Some of them had a couple of bandages on their limbs, but nothing serious.
Roko's quarters were soon before me, and I took notice of how our guards fared. There was one drakonid, lying dead on the ground with an extremely severe wound on his stomach and a burn of shadowflame on his chest and shoulder.
Two dragonspaws also stood next to him, dead as well with one missing an arm and burns all over his head and neck. The second had a hole in his chest, apparently made with an extremely powerful spell that burned the armour, flesh and bones away.
Groans, grunts and heavy breathings came from the room adjacent to the one where Roko slept. Going in, I saw a dragonspawn with a large bandage on his chest and a smaller one on his left forearm, lying down on the ground and breathing with difficulty, but thankfully alive. A drakonid was also injured, though not too badly even if the wound he had was on his leg, forcing him to remain seated on a large crate.
Lastly, there was another dragonspawn, who was being tended to by Roko on a makeshift bed. I recognised her as Fariath, our majordomo, and she had a series of cuts on her torso, not too deep but still worrying, with Roko currently bandaging her.
The young tauren looked up as I entered, and while he wasn't exactly tired, it was clear the attack affected him quite badly. His hands worked carefully, but they were shaking slightly, and his face betrayed his fears and doubts.
"Lady Amaria! You're here!" He exclaimed, tying up the bandage a bit too strong.
"Ow! Be careful!" Fariath growled, clutching her chest.
"S-sorry." Roko apologised, removing the bandage a little before redoing it with more care.
I must say that I don't think I ever saw Roko looking that young. I actually didn't know his age, but now he looked quite young as it took all of his attention to focus on the wound. More like a young Neville, scared yet still brave enough to act.
"Good to see you two are alright." I said, standing up next to the bed.
"My Lady, we pushed the invaders back, but Gorgiath, Bourn and Carth didn't make it." Fariath said, already doing her report.
"I saw. Mightion and the rest of the guards are doing a complete check of the mountain, with several patrols watching the corridors." I replied.
Roko's hands tied up the bandage, and he then put his large fingers over the wound, letting out a green light as I saw Fariath relax and let out a breath of relief.
"Oh, that's good." She said, relaxing on the bed.
"Glad to hear it, now take some time to rest. Roko, may I have a word?" I asked.
"Of course." He stood up quite quickly, all tensed.
Taking him to his room, I watched how he took many large breaths, calming himself down.
"Relax, Roko, I'm not here to punish you. First, can you tell me how are you? Not too shaken?" I asked.
"I'm okay, but they took us by surprise." Roko replied, looking down at the ground. He remained silent for a second longer before looking up to me, a more hopeless expression in his eyes. "I tried to save Bourn, but I couldn't! His wounds were so bad, and the shadowflame-"
"It's alright, Roko. You did your best, and that's everything we could ask of you." I tried to comfort him.
"But the magic I learned, the hours I spent mastering the healing spells, they didn't help me." He continued.
"They did. I just saw you heal Fariath, and you've certainly done a very good job so far taking care of my scar. Sadly, there are times when there's nothing we can do, despite doing everything we can."
"Lady Amaria, I- they- Bourn and Gorgiath died in my hands. In all my years of training, we never had to face anything like this. They told us, but to see it." He said, looking at his hands.
"Roko." I said, reaching for his hand. If the moment wasn't so serious, it might have been funny to see my small hand grab his three enormous fingers. "You did what you could. I know that the horrors of war are not easy to accept, but you need to acknowledge it happens. Don't think about what you could have done, because you can't change the past, but focus on the future. Perhaps you could try to study ways to counter the shadowflame? Find different types of healing techniques, diversify yourself so you can face more challenges. You don't have to, but maybe it could help you."
He looked at my hand, then moved his hands back and stared at them, before clutching them. He then took my hand again, a bit to my surprise, and his magic went deep into the scar, purging it of the pain inside.
"Thank you. I was about to ask." I said, taking my hand black and flexing it a little.
"I noticed that you tend to keep your fist closed when your scar pains you." He replied, looking a bit more serene. "I don't think I'll try to expand my techniques yet, but I think I need to have a talk with my teachers. And, maybe you could set up a proper infirmary? We're not ready to deal with this kind of injury."
"That I can do. Don't worry, we will try to have something soon. Are you going to be alright on your own? I need to go see Mightion." I told him.
"I think so. Thank you."
Roko once more took me by surprise, giving me a bear-crushing hug. But, as I hesitantly hugged him back, I could tell it was a bit more for himself than for me, letting out a big breath as he let me go.
"You're welcome, Roko. I'll talk to you later." I said.
"Thank you." He repeated.
We exited the room and each went on our way, him back to the wounded and me to the throne room. When I got there, there were only guards and servants, but no sign of Mightion yet.
Not wanting to stand there waiting for him, I went to our private quarters and into the bedroom. We had a very small office, with only a couple of papers, a few quills and ink, since we didn't use it much, but it was plenty enough for the letter I had in mind.
I took one of the better pieces of parchment, an elegant quill and ink of great quality, and started writing. I don't think we would go see my mother today, but it was still very important to have her up to date on the information we got today. I summed up our rescue operation as well as what we learned about Nazjatar, especially how the naga queen seemed to be working with N'Zoth, and finished by explaining the attack on Blackrock.
The letter wasn't finished yet that Mightion walked in, and I put the quill back in its holder. His eyes instantly found me, and I saw how his posture relaxed at seeing me, and found it quite endearing to see how he cared about me.
"There you are, my love." He said.
"I am. How's the situation?" I asked.
"Their assault seems to have been made without much preparation, just like our guards reported. They saw our guards at the entrance, forced their way in toward the lower levels until they found out we closed them. After that, it was pretty much a massacre, with our guards coming up on top, and their leader escaping." Mightion explained, dismissing his heavy armour and replacing it with a slightly saggy shirt.
He sat down on the bed, closing his eyes for a moment and keeping his fingers intertwined.
"Can we talk, my love?" Mightion asked.
"What's bothering you?" I asked, leaving the letter and standing up to go sit down beside him.
"I'm not exactly bothered, but the affairs of mortals tire me. And before you tell me, I'm not saying this to be insulting. The world may be at its end, and these mortals fight for a few pieces of land and for glory, incapable of seeing the greater threat." He ranted.
"You're wrong on that last point, for two reasons. First, most of the world is probably not even that aware of N'Zoth and the threat he represents. They live their lives happily, and while it may seem naive, they're simply ignorant of the danger looming above us all." I explained, thinking of how normal people would worry over such threats. "And secondly, for the people aware of this, some of them may think that it's not an immediate threat and prefer to focus on other problems, or maybe they simply don't care. I can understand them, since this world looks like it has been under world-ending threats decades in a row, and I too would want to focus on personal problems rather than demons, undeads or old gods."
He stood silent as I talked, and I caught his fingers into mine, holding his hands.
"But, for many others, this war is the real danger right now, and not an ancient being that barely no-one ever heard of. The leaders, the kings and queens, the interested groups and the champions of this world do know, but only because of their positions. A soldier fighting on the battlefield may fight to defend his land, his country or to destroy an enemy, he may never know what's the danger lurking in the dark." I continued.
Mightion drank my words, and thought heavily on them as I kept talking.
"I understand how some may be unaware, and why the ones in power may want to keep some secrets to control their subjects. But in the face of N'Zoth, it's all our world that is under threat." He replied.
"I can't say for Sylvanas, but I'm certain that Anduin would give everything he have agaisn't N'Zoth. Sylvanas is the one that's currently fuelling the war, and I can't even guess what's pushing her to go so far when N'Zoth is threatening us." I went on. What could even go in the Banshee's head, I couldn't even imagine.
"What should we do then? I don't know much about mortals, but they have to see the danger ahead of us."
"There's nothing we can do. They will have to stop fighting and they can only do that themselves, interfering could actually make things worse. I don't like it, but we have to work on our side as much as we can and hope they will see the bigger threat."
"What we're doing, taking care of the wound, is part of our Flight's sacred mission. Fighting for Azeroth's survival, defeating N'Zoth, is also our duty. But our duty was made to shape this world so that mortals could live, to make sure Azeroth survives, not guiding them so they take care of the world they live in." Mightion kept going.
I'll admit it, I had a bit of a hard time understanding his point of view, but I could also see why he said this based on what I knew of Azeroth's history. The Aspects were Azeroth's guardians for thousands of years, and they slowly lost that place as the ages passed, let it be because of the Old Gods or other forces. Now, these same dragons lost most of their powers, and delegated their duties to the mortal inhabitants of Azeroth.
Did they do a good job in the last few years? It's hard to say, but there have been mortals who worked to preserve Azeroth, and others who tried their very best to bring it to ruin.
"Didn't Alexstrasza say that this was the age of mortals? The Black Dragonflight's duty changed, like the others, but there's no Aspect to lead us toward the right way. We are still required to be Azeroth's guardians, but the mortals are part of it as well now."
"And they can't put their differences aside to defend it." Mightion countered.
"They did it in the past numerous times, and even if that seems complicated right now, I'm sure they will manage to fight side by side again." I replied, delicately pressing my fingers against his. "Are you worried?"
"We have always survived threats against our world, I'm certain we will once more." He assured, resolute in his convictions.
"Then what worries you?" I kept asking.
"You, my love." He said, looking lovingly into my eyes with a profound sense of affection and, strangely, loss.
"Me?" I exclaimed, surprised. What could I have even done that could worry him so much.
"Your kindness and altruistic side are great qualities of yours, and I'm always happy to see you help others." He praised me, holding my hands back a bit tighter. "But these same mortals who you are helping, are also capable of the greatest of evils. They already killed bigger and more powerful beings than you, it wouldn't be too hard for them to defeat you. I'm afraid that one day, you'll be caught between these mortals' fights and pay the price of your kindness with your life."
I stood silent as he spoke, growing more and more appreciative of his love. He was so worried about me, that he was looking for the worst case situation, a bit like I did when he was threatened to be corrupted by the old gods.
"Mightion, nothing you say can change my mind about helping others. That's who I am, and I like to do it." I told him as I grabbed his face within my hands and pulled him closer to me. "I won't stop, but for you, I suppose I can relent and let people deal with their problems themselves. Sometimes."
"But you will still put yourself in danger." He pointed out.
"That's who I am. I lived my whole life trying to survive a madman and his servants, and to protect my friends on the way. I can't help it. But now, I only help if I want to, not because I have to. And that includes helping you." I said very gently and softly at the end, with a smile, just as I went to kiss him.
Our lips met, and I felt him relax. We sank in each other, loving the touch and embarrassing it with great desire. It was such a unique sensation, and we couldn't help but bask in it. His arms embraced me as well, keeping me almost against him, warming me up.
It kept going for a few more seconds, until we separated, panting slightly under the love, lust, and lack of oxygen.
"I love you." I said, grinning.
"I love you more, my beloved." My dear partner smiled charmingly at me, making my heart beat faster and my smile grow bigger.
He moved closer to me again, and I closed my eyes as we kissed again. It felt like a firework of emotions, explosions of happiness and content, filled with love that we enjoyed and shared with the other in a most enjoyable display. His hands started to move slightly around my curves, which made me burn with a fire greater than I had ever known before. It was both incredible and far out of my area of knowledge, as well as being a bit too different for my taste. Not uncomfortable, but slightly awkward. I thought about stopping, but changed my mind and let the action go.
Mightion seemed to know where to stop though, keeping his hands around my stomach and not moving much from there, but it was enough to offer a new experience of love. Our lips separated once more, and I knew it would be impossible to stop if we went for a third time, and I was aware enough to know I didn't want that right now.
"The day isn't over yet, my love." I told him, withdrawing a little.
"A shame, but it doesn't mean we can't continue tonight." Mightion replied as he let me go, a very satisfied smile on his face.
"A shame indeed." I said, standing back up, a smile stuck on my face as well.
Straightening my dress with a couple of brushes, I gave him a hand, which he caught, and pulled him up.
"What do you have in mind? We could spend the rest of the day ensuring our domain is safe." Mightion asked.
"While that's a tempting idea, I almost finished a letter for my mother, retelling what happened today. It just needs a bit more work. I'll finish it first, and then I'll join you." I answered.
"Good. I'll see you then, my love." He said, letting go of my hand.
Replacing his shirt by his armour, Mightion left and closed the door behind him. Heart beating strongly, I sat back down on the chair, thinking over what happened as I went on to finish my letter.
Mightion's fears weren't unfounded, since this world could be terribly harsh and violent, plagued with wars that could go on for years. Being caught in it would be quite easy, and I was quite far from being the most powerful being in this world, with people like Jaina who could most likely give me hell in a fight.
But I wasn't defenceless, and I was still planning to go help my friends in need. Not everyone, of course. Not everyone could be helped and some would even refuse to be helped, or deny that they even had a problem in the first place, it was something I knew quite well. Too bad for them, I wouldn't waste time bothering with that kind of person.
And how could I forget saying how incredible it was to kiss Mightion once more?
I promptly finished my letter, sealed it and used a spell to have it sent to my mother directly. It was a bit more flashy than an owl, but far less interesting.
It had only taken me a couple more minutes to finish my letter, and I then went to join up with Mightion. Crossing the throne room, I only had to ask a guard to find out where he went, and then I walked to the balcony and let myself fall.
Letting myself fall for a second, I then took my dragon form and flew down toward the base of the mountain. From this high point of view, it was easy to find Mightion, also in his dragon form, right outside the gates. The signs of the old gods' minions passage were clear, with pools of blood and broken weapons, armours and objects spread everywhere around. The large gates of the mountain were still broken and half open, and it was something we would have to address very soon.
I landed next to Mightion, who was currently pushing on the massive gate with his claws, his muscles bulging as he used his great strength to narrow the entrance by a couple of metres, leaving it just wide enough for two drakonids to go through at the same time. The metal of the gate grunted under the force, rust breaking as it moved.
Mightion soon deemed it in the right place, and the door sagged as he stopped pushing. He then focused and his right claw started to heat up, a violent fire burning inside, before pressing it where the door and the stone bridge met, melting the metal of the gate and keeping it stuck there.
"Well that won't move. Any other ideas?" I asked.
"I need to summon new elementals, as the previous ones did their job well and were fought until the end, giving our guards enough time to gather themselves." He replied.
"Oh, right. Is there a way to get new guards?"
"No. The ones that are here are pretty much all the ones who were left at Wyrmrest Temple. Wrathion may have a few, and the remaining members of the Black Dragonflight may have some as well, but most of them died in the last few years." Mightion answered.
"Hmm… What about hiring soldiers from other races? Or mercenaries?" I suggested, watching as he frowned at my words.
"I'd rather not, if possible. I can barely trust members of our race and Flight, and I wouldn't like to entrust our safety to mortals." He said with obvious disgust, right before scoffing. "And mercenaries? They'd abandon us at the first sign of danger."
"I can agree that mercenaries wouldn't be the most trusty people in the world, but I'm certain that there are good and loyal people that would accept working with us." I tried to persuade him.
"Then who would you recommend? And please, don't say goblins or gnomes. They aren't scary enough." Mightion asked me.
"I think goblins can be very scary, but you're right. I suppose anyone would be welcomed to work for us, though maybe it would be safer to forget undeads and too many Horde members for now. Humans, elves, worgen, and draenei would be good. Even dwarves, even if that's quite unlikely." I supplied, recalling the goblins of Gringotts who could be quite scary when they wanted to.
"Hmm… I don't like it, but I will think about it. I suppose that if we ask people like Anduin, he should be able to provide us with suitable people." He accepted, though it was easy to tell he was reluctant to the idea.
"That's all I ask." I said, nuzzling his shoulder. "Roko also raised a very good point earlier, that being that we had no infirmary and competent healer."
"Isn't he good enough?"
"To heal wounds like my scar? He's perfect. To heal war wounds? He needs more experience. He knows the basics of medicine, but his knowledge isn't perfect yet and I'm not sure if he's actually specialised in healing magic. Burns inflicted by shadowflame, severed limbs, extremely critical wounds, he needs a professional's help to deal with all of that. And even if he was enough, we have no infirmary nor do we have enough medical supplies." I explained.
"I see. You're right, we need to fix this urgently. Would you mind asking Anduin? I'd rather leave this to you. You could also take care of asking for guards, even if I believe he will refuse. With the way the war is going, I doubt he'll want to spare any men." Mightion said.
I didn't mind at all talking with Anduin, but I frowned a little as I realised that it would indeed be quite hard to get any guards with the war going on.
"Indeed. I'll think of something." I told him, turning around as I thought about our options.
Most factions were involved in the war in one way or another, with ours being one of the rare ones who weren't. The problem was that these rare factions weren't all made out of fighters, with several that I already knew wouldn't be interested or capable to help us. Maybe we could ask Wrathion for help, but we would have to find him first.
This war was really messing everything up, and that was without counting what N'Zoth might be planning in the shadows.
Watching over the Burning Steppes, which weren't that burning anymore thanks to our work, seeing the rare signs of wildlife coming back as well as some of the plants growing back. There was still a cloud of ashes permanently hiding the sun, but we managed to lessen it, and closing the lava cracks helped cool off the area.
And in this landscape, one thing held my interest and my gaze far longer than the rest. Something that I had put off for a long time already, and found myself wanting to go to now, as I took a step toward it
"Where are you going? Don't you want to accompany me to clear the lower floors?" Mightion asked, a bit surprised and also disappointed.
"There's something I need to see. I won't be long." I replied.
Spreading my wings, I jumped in the air and beat them faster and faster until I was airborne, flying toward my destination. It wasn't far at all, a couple of a couple of kilometres away, but in all the time I'd stay in Blackrock, I did my best to ignore it. Not for any real reason, I must say, but simply because I didn't want to.
It indeed took me barely a few minutes of flight to reach it, and I slowed down enough to carefully land in front of a decrepit, abandoned and ruined building stuck in a hill that really didn't look like much. And yet, to me, it meant a lot. Not the building, I didn't care about it at all, but the place itself.
The entrance was especially wide, and I walked in, letting the sun briefly guide my way before my eyes adapted to the darker light as I went deeper. Barely a couple of steps further, and I was there.
The place where it all started. Or was it where I ended? Where I was born? Reborn? Changed? So many different words, and I couldn't tell which one fitted best. Even now, the question of if I died back on my world and reincarnated here still haunts me, even if I already had the time to cry and mourn the loss of my previous life.
Nothing changed, not that I could remember a lot from when I first arrived there, but it was so simple. Walls, ceiling, and ground of stone, smoothed over the years, with cracks spread everywhere.
Staring at the ground, I looked without looking, searching for something that I didn't know. Maybe my wand could have fallen through the cracks. But no, even after a slow look over the few cracks, there was still no magic stick there.
There was absolutely no sign that Harry Potter ever stepped foot on Azeroth, and the only thing I had to show was my unusual magic and the symbol of the deathly hallows on my belt. It once more made me wonder what happened to my old body. A question that would remain answerless forever.
Even if it happened less now, I was still wondering what followed my disparition. Had my friends had a corpse to bury? Or were they still looking for me? Was the world still safe? I couldn't tell, and it felt far worse than knowing the answer.
Perhaps, it would be better to tell myself that everything somehow went well, and that I shouldn't worry and focus on my life in Azeroth. But the precious memories I made were not made to be forgotten, and I would treasure them as the ones that forged me to be strong enough to survive both Voldemort and this world.
I was about to turn around, but then stopped. I had a small idea that somehow felt right, and one that I hadn't considered yet.
Summoning my magic, I forced the stone beneath the floor to pierce it, and to come up in the shape I had in mind. It rose, and then stopped, reaching just a little less than a metre. Gray, smooth and formed like it was part of the earth, the tombstone before me was more than simple, with only a name and two dates.
Harry Potter
July 31, 1980 CE - April 17, 34 AFW
I managed to find the date I arrived thanks to Alexstrasza, and this gave me this headstone that didn't make much sense for anyone else but me. The year I arrived was the 34th after the entrance of the Horde in Azeroth, which apparently changed the calendars.
Looking at the tomb, I was satisfied with its simple look. I never really liked fancy.
Lowering my head, I touched the top of the tombstone with the tip of my muzzle.
"Rest in peace, Harry Potter. Your life was hard, but a better one awaits you. " I said solemnly.
It felt as weird as I expected to basically say this to myself, but it didn't change anything.
Raising up, I turned around for good and headed out. Once the rays of the evening's sun touched me, I flew back to the mountain and didn't stop at the base, going straight to the top and the throne room.
Upon arriving, I took back my human form and walked up to the throne. We still hadn't replaced it with a pair, but it would wait for safer times. Taking a confident step toward it, I sat down on its hard surface and placed my arms on the armchairs, sitting between the two drakonids guards.
With the attack, we were down to six drakonids and twelve dragonspawns, stretching our already thin numbers even more. I know that Mightion would summon more elementals to balance this, but it wouldn't be enough. Should N'Zoth attack again in our absence, I'm afraid this would leave our place vulnerable. They would be prepared this time, and our numbers wouldn't be enough to stop them.
So the question was back to who could help furnish our ranks?
I could always send a request to Anduin for medical supplies, trained healers and soldiers, I didn't think I would get any before a long time. And that was true with most factions in Azeroth, no one would spare such critical resources in such a terrible war.
We would have to continue with our current guards and supplies, but once this war was over we would hopefully get access to more. If this war ended in the first place, and if we survived N'Zoth.
I sighed a breath of exhaustion, too aware of the threats ahead of us and the many problems that kept piling up. We would most likely go back tomorrow to Silithus and get back to work on the cracks, and I was sincerely hoping none of them got worse or that the ones we mended broke again, but that was a possibility.
Looking at the two drakonids guards and the two dragonspawns keeping the entrance, I tried to remember their names. It wasn't easy, as they looked very similar, but small differences like a different shade of scale at one place or things like this helped.
"Darmarth." I called as soon as I recognised the dragonspawn on the left.
"Yes, my lady." He replied as he turned toward me.
"I would like for you to go to Chiselgrip and ask the dwarves working there if they have medical supplies to spare. Don't forget to say you come in mine and Mightion's name." I told him.
They were actually the only ones I could think of nearby and the only ones that may accept to help us as well.
"By your command." Darmarth bowed down, already about to leave.
"You can do this tomorrow. Night is about to fall." I told him, not wanting to see him rush for nothing.
"Very well, my lady." He nodded and returned to his post, as if nothing happened.
God was the role of a leader exhausting. I remained on the throne for dozens of minutes, thinking about our options, with barely any good ideas coming up to fill our shortcomings. We needed time and opportunities to prepare ourselves, and we were lacking both.
A gust of wind preceded Mightion's arrival, who took back his human form as he came in. His eyes almost instantly found me, and he naturally made his way toward me.
"We still need to fix this throne, if we want to rule with equal power." Mightion said as he stopped right before me.
"Rule? That's not the word I would use, but two seats would indeed be preferable." I replied.
"Then what word would suit you? We are the lords of Blackrock, and the Burning Steppes will one day be ours to oversee." He said with confidence.
"You're dreaming big, because that won't happen for a long time. As for a better word, lead is enough. We can lead others with our help and advice, but rule over them and commanding them is not in my blood." I countered.
"The two are not exclusive. A good leader knows when it's time to lead with advice, and when it's time to lead with authority." Mightion kept going, though a smile appeared on his face.
"True. Then you won't mind if I advise you to go to our bedroom, or do I need to order you?" I told him, standing up tall and strong.
"A sound advice, my love." He chuckled as he walked to the corridor leading to our chambers.
Walking right behind him, I slowly let my worries of the day start to bleed away, replaced by the certainty that I would soon be relaxing in bed with my beloved. I closed the door behind me once we got there, and Mightion was quick to replace his armour with his shirt and pants.
"Just cuddles, alright?" I warned beforehand.
"If that's what you want, I shall be content with it." Mightion replied as he entered the bed, lifting the covers.
I replaced my robe with my nightgown and followed him in the bed, laying down next to him at first. Our faces were staring at each other, and my left hand found his right, the two intertwining in a tight hold.
"That was a long day." I said, not able to look away from his eyes that glowed with a slight orange hue.
"It was, but not all bad." Mightion responded.
"I know. We saved Baine and that's great, but what happened here put a damper on my mind." I said, slowly turning around so that I could lay right next to him. Feeling the warmth on his skin, the softness of his clothes.
"It is unfortunate for our guards, but there's sadly not much we can do now. I pray for the mortals to end their war quickly."
"In peace or in blood?" I had to ask.
"I'd prefer peace, but blood is an option on the table." Mightion replied seriously.
"Sadly." I agreed, aware that Sylvanas would need to die for the war to end. And the question was how many people would die before her head rolls.
"Do you wish to return to Silithus tomorrow?"
"I don't mind, and at least we're doing something useful. I'm not exactly sure where else our presence would be of help."
"Maybe on a battlefield, but that is out of the question. We can only continue or work, and maybe wait for an order from your mother." He replied.
"I don't think she will order much from our suspicions, but at least she's aware of this new threat."
I remained silent after that, thinking about the next few days. The future was more than uncertain, and unless asking a certain type of golden dragons, I wouldn't have the answer. And I knew that even the Bronze Dragonflight couldn't see what would actually happen, only all the possibilities to come.
"It will be alright, my love. We will survive this." Mightion reassured me, kissing me softly on the cheek.
"I like your confidence." I let out.
"Then trust me. Go to sleep, my love. Let the night erase your troubles." He whispered, grabbing me in a gentle and warm embrace.
He rolled me over, and then I could hear his breath near my ear as his left arm covered my body, keeping me in his careful and loving clutch. I remained like that, liking his presence and his contact, and it did wonders to help me focus on other things that all the problems with the old gods and this war.
Sleep came easily after that, and I knew no more.