Malygos hurried to form an arcane shield around his body as he was violently knocked out of the sky and sent hurtling toward the ground. On top of this shield, he quickly layered a heat-resistant ward to protect himself from the molten landscape that had replaced the stretch of land that had once been filled with forests.
Malygos crashed down into the ruined earth and quickly teleported away to avoid being skewered as Neltharion caused a massive stone spike to erupt where he had landed. He then warped the space around him so that the stream of Void-infused lava directed to where he reappeared twisted around him instead of burning him alive.
Manipulating space was significantly more difficult with the high density of Void energy in the area, but Malygos was the Aspect of Magic. If they were still at an earlier part of their confrontation with Deathwing, he would have likely made the effort to taunt his corrupted brother, but Malygos had to devote all of his focus to just surviving.
It had been easier at first when Neltharion had not fully understood what was happening and was still toying with them. Malygos and his siblings had focused their efforts on finding an opening that they could use to tear off a fragment of Neltharion, but they hadn’t initially been able to find one.
Things started to get worse once whatever Void monstrosity Neltharion unleashed began causing a significant number of mortal deaths, successfully distracting Alexstrasza and her consorts. It was only when a powerful beacon of Light had flared up in the sky and vanquished Neltharion’s monstrosity, momentarily diverting his attention, that they were able to find an opening.
Alexstrasza’s eldest consort, Tyranastrasz, had immediately snapped his jaws around Neltharion’s leg to hold him in place, which had allowed Malygos to launch himself onto the corrupted Aspect’s back. He had then unleashed a massive explosion of arcane magic that devastated everything in the vicinity and successfully tore a scale from Neltharion’s back.
After Ysera’s consort promptly grabbed it and took it toward the portal, their intentions had been extremely obvious. Neltharion no longer hesitated with his attacks from that moment forward.
Malygos could still hear Alexstrasza’s pain-filled scream as her eldest consort’s head was ripped from his body and his corpse was thrown into a newly formed river of lava.
Neltharion’s subsequent rampage had upended the earth for miles around, and likely caused quakes that could be felt throughout the northern portion of Tirisfal Glades.
It had taken everything that Malygos and his siblings had to avoid being killed. With most of their power still being held in the Dragon Soul, they were all significantly weaker than Neltharion, as much as it galled him to admit.
Malygos watched as an emerald green portal appeared behind Neltharion and several enormous vines emerged from it and wrapped themselves around the corrupted Aspect, interrupting his attack. Neltharion had most likely destroyed the land with the intention of disturbing Ysera’s nature magic, but she was no common druid.
Unfortunately, it only took a few moments for Neltharion to break free in an explosion of Void magic that mutated and killed the vines holding him. Malygos summoned hundreds of arcane missiles that struck Neltharion from every direction, but the hateful bastard merely ignored them and stepped through the Void to appear behind him in an instant.
It was only due to the fact that Nozdormu had predicted the attack and slowed down Neltharion’s claws that Malygos managed to avoid having his throat ripped open.
Just as Malygos teleported away, Alexstrasza unleashed a massive ball of fire infused with life magic that tore through the Void surrounding Neltharion and actually made him stagger.
How much longer are those mortals going to take?!
“Your efforts are worthless! The Titans have abandoned us and the Void’s domination over this world is inevitable!” Neltharion roared as he launched ravenous torrents of Void toward each of the Aspects. “Do you truly believe this world can defend itself from the forces that wish to control it?! From the Old Gods? From the Burning Legion? Your stubborn loyalty to absent gods serves to help nobody!”
Malygos ignored Neltharion’s insane ramblings and immediately breathed out a wave of pure arcane magic that only barely succeeded in pushing back the Void. In order to buy enough time for him and his siblings to regroup, he instantly created several dozen illusions in the air of each Aspect while simultaneously turning himself, his siblings, and the remaining consorts invisible. All it took to bait the corrupted Aspect into focusing on the illusions was a quick application of telekinesis when one of Alexstrasza’s illusions attacked Neltharion’s back.
Malygos left Neltharion to his impotent rampage as he flew toward the rest of his siblings.
“I’m not certain how much longer we can keep this up,” said Ysera, her voice filled with exhaustion. “Nothing that we do to him seems to have any permanent effect. I had forgotten how much weaker we became when we lost the power bestowed on us by the Titans.”
“Ten thousand years is long enough for even us to grow accustomed to something,” said Alexstrasza as she began healing their wounds by directing Life-imbued flames toward their bodies. Even as his stamina was restored, Malygos felt a tinge of sympathy as he heard the barely contained grief still in her voice. “We will last for as long as we must. There’s nothing else to be done.”
“How much longer do we have to wait, Nozdormu?” questioned Malygos, glaring at his brother. “Ysera’s consort should have delivered the scale to them by now. Are those mortals actually going to succeed in destroying that cursed artifact, or are we simply wasting our time?”
“We won’t have to wait for much longer,” Nozdormu said with infuriating calmness. "The Void is going to great lengths to obscure my vision by drowning me in possible futures, but the Timeways have been solidifying toward a favorable outcome."
"And if you're wrong?" Maylgos asked challengingly.
“I have been before, but I doubt that is the case now. I’m confident everything will unfold as it should,” said Nozdormu, his eyes gazing off into the distance in the same way they always did whenever he was looking into the Timeways. “Though if I am wrong, then I suppose Azeroth’s fate will be a dire one, so let’s hope that isn’t the case.”
As usual, Malygos found himself annoyed by Nozdormu’s perpetual lack of concern. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough time to continue questioning the Aspect of Time, because Neltharion seemed to lose patience with the illusions before he could.
Malygos winced in pain at the magical backlash as all of his illusions were destroyed by the explosive burst of Void energy released by Neltharion. The Void assaulted his mind and ripped apart the spell hiding himself and the other Aspects seconds before Neltharion was launching himself at them while screaming more of his insane ramblings.
I hope this works.
Despite how it might have seemed to his siblings, Malygos hadn’t only spent the past few minutes recovering, but also preparing his unconventional attack. Throughout the entire fight, he had been gradually funneling his magic deep into the closest leyline and slowly seized control of its energies. It was only in the past few minutes that Malygos had taken enough control that he could successfully implement his plan. Such a thing would normally be impossible for even the most powerful of mages, but there was not a single soul on Azeroth more familiar with the world’s leylines than Malygos.
Just as Neltharion was about to reach them, Malygos pulled against the arcane magic flowing through the earth with all of his magical might.
Suddenly, with a deafening roar, the land beneath them shuddered and cracked as the leyline erupted upwards and unleashed an unfathomable amount of arcane energy that could likely be seen from miles around directly at Neltharion. Malygos was filled with malicious glee as his corrupted brother screamed in pain at the constant torrent of arcane energy ripping into his body and launching him half a mile away.
He knew that this wouldn’t be enough to kill Neltharion, but it should be enough to buy them all some time until the Dragon Soul was destroyed.
“Malygos, what did you do?” Alexstrasza asked in astonishment.
“We never had any chance to defeat him in a straight fight. That being the case, it should be obvious that I would plan something like this,” said Malygos, feeling more than a little smug. “A quick look at the Arcanomicon revealed to me that Neltharion had positioned his manor over a decently sized leyline. It was never something that I needed to do before, but it wasn’t difficult for me to devise a way to uproot one and direct its power elsewhere.”
“Won’t something like this cause long-term consequences for the region?” asked Ysera, observing the results of Malygos’ actions with curiosity. Even now, arcane crystals were beginning to emerge from the lava-covered landscape as the leyline’s energies spilled out onto the surface.
“Perhaps, but if the mortals succeed in destroying the Dragon Soul, then I will have my powers restored and I’ll be able to fix the problem at a later time,” Malygos said dismissively. “Besides, this should be enough to grant us the time we need.”
Unfortunately, it seemed like Neltharion loved nothing more than to make Malygos look foolish. Seconds after he finished speaking, the mountain that Neltharion had been launched into exploded as the corrupted Aspect reemerged.
Pieces of his body seemed to have cracked open, revealing streams of magma flowing beneath his skin. His eyes were completely aflame and he glared at Malygos with unending hatred.
It reminded him too much of how Neltharion looked when he had betrayed them all during the War of the Ancients, and Malygos barely prevented himself from losing his mind in an unwelcome depressive spiral. He also noticed that Neltharion’s body had begun to twist and deform as he pulled deeper from the Void, causing strange writhing appendages to emerge from random locations.
A part of Malygos expected Neltharion to continue his demented ravings, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Neltharion let out a guttural roar that echoed throughout the ravaged landscape to announce his unrelenting fury. The corrupted Aspected surged toward them with renewed ferocity, his molten body glowing brightly as he flew through the air.
Neltharion’s following onslaught was relentless. He tore through any barrier that Malygos could conjure as if they were mere annoyances and barreled through Ysera’s conjured vines like they didn’t exist. Nozdormu focused on creating openings wherever he could and slowing down Neltharion when he came close to landing a lethal blow, but Malygos could tell that his efforts were gradually growing less effective. If Alexstrasza had not been constantly healing them, there was no doubt that Neltharion would have killed them all within a few minutes.
Malygos winced as a jagged shard of molten rock pierced through his wing, the heat searing his flesh. Holding himself aloft with magic, he pushed the pain aside and focused entirely on the battle. Another one of Alexstrasza’s consorts had been incapacitated and knocked out of the sky as his wings were ripped from his body.
Just as Malygos was beginning to believe that none of them were going to survive to see the next day, his attention was drawn to the sound of Nozdormu releasing a breath of relief. Before Malygos could question his brother, his attention was suddenly drawn to the feeling of familiar thick ribbons of magic headed toward them from the east.
Judging by the sudden hush that had fallen over the battlefield, Malygos wasn’t the only one to sense what had happened.
“No!”
Neltharion’s roar was filled with a mix of rage and disbelief as a pulse of magical energy swept through the land. The Dragon Soul had been destroyed, and the power that had been stolen from the Aspects was returning to them.
Malygos watched as the four streams of power connected and strengthened them in ways that they had not felt for millennia, healing their wounds, and empowering them to great heights
I almost forgot what this felt like, Malygos thought as the strength bestowed upon him by the titans surged through his body.
Seeing no reason to wait for his siblings to adjust to their regained power, Malygos instantly created a powerful ward around the battlefield before anyone could react. Space twisted inward as everything within the ward was suddenly trapped in an isolated bubble of reality from which nothing could escape.
Neltharion was instantly snapped out of his disbelief as he sensed what Malygos had done and turned his gaze toward the Aspect of Magic.
“Do you remember what I promised you, Neltharion,” Malygos asked malevolently. The moment that he had been waiting for had finally arrived, and he could barely hold himself together as hatred and the desire for vengeance surged within him. “I told you that I would capture the memory of your life leaving your eyes and treasure it dearly. Please struggle, brother. I want this moment to last for as long as possible.”
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Where before Nelharion was able to easily shrug off his attacks, this time his barrage of arcane missiles struck with devastating force, tearing through Neltharion’s molten hide and causing the corrupted Aspect to recoil in pain. Malygos grinned savagely as his siblings, now bolstered by their regained power, joined in the assault.
Alexstrasza flew toward Neltharion with speed far beyond what she could muster just a few moments ago and plunged her claws into his eye before ripping it out. It wasn’t like her to be so ruthless, but Malygos knew well the kind of pain that came with losing a consort, so he paid it no mind.
Neltharion roared in pain and attempted to breathe a stream of lava into Alexstrasza’s face, but his attack barely traveled a few feet before it was sent away to another period in time by Nozdormu. Despite the lava and arcane crystals still covering the battlefield, Ysera used her power to easily seed life into the landscape and cause an enormous jungle to emerge from the ground.
This time, Neltharion found it much more difficult to escape the vines entrapping him and Malygos gleefully decided to use the opportunity to taunt him. “How does it feel to finally face an enemy who is your equal after so long, Neltharion? How does it feel to know that this will be your last day alive? Do you feel helpless? Do you feel powerless?”
Malygos quickly summoned a spear of ice and launched it into Neltharion’s regenerating eye, destroying it once again.
“Whatever pain you feel pales in comparison to what I felt as I watched helplessly as my brother betrayed me and killed my family!” Malygos screamed, unleashing the repressed despair that had eaten at him for the past ten millennia as he continued to skewer Neltharion with an endless barrage of frozen spikes. “I trusted you! I’m the one who convinced our siblings to follow your plan and infuse our power into the Dragon Soul! And you used that same artifact to kill everyone I loved!”
Neltharion escaped from the vines holding him in a burst of fire before attempting to flee from the battlefield through the Void. His attempts failed as the ward isolating them from the rest of reality rebuffed him.
As Malygos and the other Aspects continued to tear into Neltharion, he savored the growing panic he could see in his corrupted brother’s eyes. Throughout the entire bloody ordeal, Malygos continued to yell out his hatred.
Eventually, he noticed that Neltharion’s wounds were beginning to regenerate much slower and that the battle likely wouldn’t be lasting for much longer. Not wanting to deal with Alexstrasza’s soft heart if matters continued this way for much longer, Malygos teleported above Neltharion and prepared to end it.
Reaching deep within himself, Malygos summoned every drop of power he could muster and unleashed it as a blinding beam of arcane energy toward Neltharion similar to the one he started the fight with. However, instead of merely carving through the earth and leaving the corrupted Aspect in a crater, this time the attack cleanly pierced through Neltharion’s throat and caused an explosion that seemed to rip the world apart.
For a moment, Malygos was afraid the attack had actually managed to kill the traitor. After all, he had sworn that he would watch the life leave his brother’s eyes and he had meant it.
Much to his relief, Malygos was able to spot Neltharion laying in a pool of his own foul blood once the dust began to clear, injured yet still very much alive. The hole in his throat would probably heal itself after some time, but Malygos had no intention of allowing that to happen.
Finally, the time has come.
Slowly descending from the sky with his siblings around him, Malygos landed harshly on top of his fallen brother and bent down to look him in the eyes. Neltharion coughed and spat blood that splattered on Malygos’ face, but he ignored it as he stared balefully at the person who had caused him more pain than anyone else on Azeroth.
“Do you have anything to say to me, brother?” Malygos asked, wondering what Neltharion would say in his last moments. Would he beg? Would he curse Malygos with his final breath? Would he perhaps offer some form of insincere apology for everything that he had done?
Unfortunately, life proved to be anti-climactic as Neltharion was able to do nothing besides cough up blood when he attempted to speak. Malygos regretted that his attack had not hit somewhere else on the traitor’s body, but he was unwilling to allow Neltharion the time to recover.
“I suppose this is an appropriately pitiful death for you, brother,” said Malygos as he raised his claw up high to deliver the finishing blow.
Malygos swung down with the intent to rip out the corrupted Aspect’s throat, but was suddenly caught off guard as Neltharion suddenly spat a glob of his corrosive void-corrupted blood into his eye. Malygos found himself being thrown backward as Neltharion pushed him away with an unexpected burst of strength before slamming his tail into the ground, shaking the earth and sending a massive cloud of dust into the air.
Malygos’ reaction was nearly instantaneous as he summoned a powerful gale of wind to disperse the dust, but neither he nor his siblings were quick enough to prevent Neltharion from diving into the earth as if he were a fish swimming through water. Despite the traitor’s apparent escape, Malygos didn’t panic.
His mind was not damaged enough for him to have forgotten Neltharion’s command over the earth. Naturally, the ward that he had cast to isolate this portion of reality extended into the ground.
“You merely delay the inevitable, brother,” Malygos muttered as he sent a pulse of arcane magic through the earth in search of Neltharion. It took several moments, but the spell eventually informed Malygos that his brother was still tunneling deep into the earth. “I’ve found you. Now let’s bring you ba—”
Just as he was about to cast a spell that would have violently pulled Neltharion from the earth and back to the surface, Malygos was suddenly struck dumb as his brother seemed to abruptly disappear. In complete disbelief, Malygos sent another pulse of arcane magic into the earth in search of Neltharion, only for the spell to find nothing.
Becoming increasingly frantic, Malygos ignored the concerned words of his sisters as he cast the same spell several more times before working his way through every scrying spell he could remember.
When everything that he tried failed to produce any results, Malygos resorted to tearing apart the ground beneath him by bombarding it with magic in fury. By the time had recovered from his hysteria, Ysera’s newly created forest had completely disappeared in the wake of his rampage.
Did he truly escape? ... How?
Malygos’ mind ran through every possibility, but he couldn’t think of anything that his ward should have been able to prevent.
When he turned his gaze to Nozdormu and saw the Aspect of Time watching him with a neutral expression, Malygos knew then that Neltharion had indeed escaped, and Nozdormu had known that such a thing would happen.
“Where is he?” asked Malygos, his voice promising violence if he didn’t receive a satisfactory answer.
“Deepholm,” Nozdormu answered, unperturbed by Malygos’ implied threats.
It took several moments for Malygos to sift through his fractured mind and recall everything he knew about Deepholm. It was the elemental plane that had been created by the Keepers to imprison Azeroth’s earth elementals. It was ruled over by Therazane the Stonemother and should be completely inaccessible to anyone from the outside.
Malygos had actually forgotten that Neltharion was capable of accessing this realm through his connection to the earth. He had only ever done so a few times throughout their entire lives, as there was little of interest there aside from bitter earth elementals.
After realizing that he could not safely reach Deathwing in Deepholm, Malygos immediately felt a wave of anger grow within him.
“And you let him escape?!” Malygos bellowed as he stomped toward Nozdormu. “Why didn’t you warn us that this could happen?”
“His abilities always meant that it was unlikely that we, even with our restored power, could have successfully prevented him from escaping to Deepholm if he wanted to,” Nozdormu explained. “Besides, you were the one who made the decision to prolong his death, brother.”
“Nozdormu. If your machinations prevent me from watching Neltharion die, then I swear upon my flight that I’ll make you regret this,” said Malygos, glaring at his brother.
“It’s not often that I find myself in agreement with Malygos, but he is right,” said Alexstrasza, making her way to his side with her remaining consorts at her side as she confronted the Aspect of Time. “Neltharion is far too significant of a threat to this world. I find it hard to believe that Azeroth’s future is better served with his survival today.”
“Then you’ll be pleased to know that it won’t be long before a path to Deepholm becomes available to us,” said Nozdormu, his gaze drifting off to look at something only he could see. “Now that I have regained my full power, there is much that I can see that was previously beyond me. I’m more confident than ever that this decision was the correct one, and I’m sure you all will share my opinion when the time is right. Until then, Neltharion is in no condition to act against us or Azeroth, needing time to recover from his wounds.”
“How long until this path is revealed to us?” asked Malygos, pushing down his anger at the promise of being able to finally end Neltharion in the near future.
“Not long. Merely a few more months,” Nozdormu said reassuringly.
“I intend to hold you to that,” Malygos promised. It ate away at him to have his immediate vengeance stolen away from him, but a few months was nothing more than a short nap for someone as old as him.
Nozdormu nodded to him in acceptance before turning his gaze toward the rest of their siblings. “In the meantime, there are quite a few matters that require our attention.”
“And what are those?” Ysera asked curiously.
“The first matter that we should attend to is the C’thrax that Neltharion sent to destroy Capital City,” Nozdormu as he idly picked up a unique-looking sword with his claws like a mortal might hold a toothpick. “And this will make our task quite a bit easier.”
“A C’thrax?! How much damage has it done?” asked Alexstrasza, concerned for the lives of the mortals who had to face such a being.
“Neltharion was forced to release it early, so it still hadn’t fully recovered by the time it reached Capital City. Korialstrasz and the mortals were able to successfully fell the monster through great sacrifice, but they lack the means to permanently slay it,” Nozdormu explained. “This sword was buried in its brain for millennia, which prevented it from recovering.”
The fact that the mortals were able to defeat even a weakened C’thrax was surprising to Malygos. Such beings were the epitome of the forces of the Old Gods and could not be underestimated.
Malygos studied the enchantments of the sword and was reluctantly impressed by the weapon. The conversation turned to Nozdormu giving an account of the C’thrax’s attack on the mortal city before moving on to plans to deal with its body, and what they would do afterward.
Nozdormu was insistent that he needed to return to his duties after noticing several plots being carried out by the Infinite Dragonflight that he hadn’t previously noticed. Ysera felt similarly about the Emerald Dream, as the Old Gods’ corruption had crept up in ways she wasn’t previously aware of. They would go to Capital City to assist with the C’thrax’s containment but would leave soon after.
That only left Malygos and Alexstrasza to deal with everything else and put an end to the mortal war currently ravaging the continent. One consolation of the current situation was that the mortals had become much more exposed to dragons due to Korialstrasz’s defense of their city. That meant that there was nothing to stop Malygos from simply teleporting them all into Capital City so that they could quickly deal with the C’thrax.
He had always found Alexstrasza’s insistence on non-interference to be troublesome, so he was glad that such a policy no longer had any point. Just as they finished their discussion and were about to leave, Alexstrasza stopped them.
“Wait a moment. Let me gather up Tyranastrasz’s remains. I will take him to his final rest,” said Alexstrasza, her voice consumed with sorrow.
Malygos nodded silently as he felt his own eyes begin to grow wet when his mind recalled memories of his own consort’s body lying on the frozen ground so long ago. Alexstrasza and her remaining consorts carefully gathered the remains of the dragon who had stood by her side for millennia before nodding toward Malygos to signal her readiness.
In a flash of violet light, the Aspects disappeared from the ravaged land.
----------------------------------------
Krivax carefully hobbled into his room on three legs, feeling absolutely exhausted.
After learning that they had successfully destroyed the Dragon Soul, he had expected his following days to be bright and filled with celebration for saving the world from Neltharion. That expectation was thoroughly crushed once he learned that large portions of Capital City had been destroyed by a giant Void abomination.
Archbishop Faol was dead, King Terenas had been heavily injured and was currently being tended to by the most skilled priests still alive, and casualties were estimated to be somewhere over a hundred thousand. Many of the kingdom’s nobles had been killed, and Lordaeron would be feeling the consequences of this event for a generation.
It was already bad enough that so many people had died, but Krivax knew with certainty that something like this had never happened in the original timeline. Without the changes that he had made, everyone who died in the attack would still be alive.
When Krivax thought about that, he could feel his thoughts begin to spiral with guilt and worry, so he just… did his best not to think about it at all.
Instead, he intended to focus on what he could actually do. Masruk was off helping with the emergency rescue operations happening throughout the city, and Krivax wished that he could find a way to help out as well. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very possible given the fact that he could barely even stand with one of his legs missing, but circumstances meant that he needed to begin planning immediately.
The Aspects had abruptly returned from their confrontation with Deathwing and killed the C’thrax in a slightly more permanent fashion by stabbing a strange sword into its brain and doing some kind of complicated ritual before Ysera and Nozdormu suddenly left. Malygos had claimed that the sword would prevent the C’thrax from awakening and the ritual would keep it from spreading its influence, but he needed to do some more research into the matter in order to deal with it completely.
The two remaining Aspects had informed the Kirin Tor and the nerubians that Deathwing had been defeated but had successfully escaped to Deepholm, the elemental plane of earth.
When Krivax heard that, he was filled with a sense of dread almost as bad as when he learned of the attack on Capital City. In the original timeline, Deathwing had also managed to escape to Deepholm at some point, only to return explosively after being further empowered by the Old Gods. That return had resulted in him tearing apart the world in an event referred to as the Cataclysm, something Krivax had no doubt would kill millions of people across Azeroth if it was allowed to happen.
The only thing preventing him from falling into a debilitating panic was the fact that Krivax had made efforts to prepare for this possibility.
No matter how much he had thought about it, there was never any way to guarantee that Deathwing would be killed before he could escape. Once he had come to that conclusion, Krivax had suddenly remembered that Deathwing wasn’t the only being around who could freely access Deepholm.
It had taken a lot of money to convince the Venture Company to go searching through the mountains of Khaz Modan given the ongoing war, but Azjol-Nerub was obscenely wealthy and Krivax didn’t find it very hard to quietly… direct funds towards research and search for facilities similar to Ulduar in the Eastern Kingdoms. He had almost expected that the general directions he had given them wouldn’t be enough, but the goblins had eventually succeeded.
Krivax quickly made certain that he was alone and reached into his spatial bag before pulling out a nondescript scroll of parchment. After taking a moment to carefully unroll the map that had cost Azjol-Nerub a small fortune, Krivax began making plans for his trip to the only Titan facility in the Eastern Kingdoms, Uldaman.
And the meeting with the Keeper that lay within.