Warcraft: Dreamgrove
Year 25, Day 6
Thankfully, despite only making it back to the Dreamgrove during the early hours of the morning, I was able to get a full ‘night’ of sleep. The rooms that my summons and I had been provided were small and done in a rather unfamiliar style, but comfortable. The ‘mattress’ was some kind of luxuriously thick and soft fur that made it feel like I was sleeping on a cloud and I woke up well rested.
I was one of the few who could say as much, however. The Dreamgrove boiled with activity and it was obvious that quite a number of druids had not slept since last night. Nor had Kent or Peach for that matter, though neither looked nearly as affected by their sleepless night as I would have been. For all that I often stayed up late reading or practicing magic, I also much preferred to sleep afterwards.
I ate a very late breakfast while Glynda and Kent caught me up on what was happening. Ysondre had been in and out of meetings with various druids and priestesses all day, often dragging Kent along with her for his unique outlook on the issues at hand. Apparently she was planning to leave to go meet with her mother and leader soon, and had offered to either bring us along or drop us off at Darnassus along the way. That sounded like an excellent idea to me.
This ‘old god’ corruption thing was clearly a big deal, bigger even than I’d initially suspected. Annoyingly, learning anything specific about it seemed all but impossible, with the druids speaking in riddles and indirect references whenever it came up. Even Kent, who’d met with quite a few members of the local leadership, had only managed to figure out so much.
Apparently, several thousand years ago some other world tree––I hadn’t realized there were so many of the things––had been infected by this same corruption and had ultimately needed to be destroyed. The druids were hopeful that, since they’d caught the infection so early, they’d be able to cleanse it without having to go so far, but the atmosphere was grim.
Once I’d eaten, I decided to fulfill Rensar’s request from the night before and spent about half-an-hour turning two-dozen two-foot-long lengths of woven rope into portkeys with the road outside the Dreamgrove as their destination. Their range was limited since I didn’t put too much magic into them, and they’d only last a few weeks, but they should be good enough for what the druid wanted them for.
I wasn’t able to track down the man himself, but I did find one of his underlings who I recognized from the previous evening and the man gladly accepted my prepared package. I gave him all the relevant instructions––how long they’d last, how far they could go, how to activate them, and so on––and he promised to pass them, and the note I’d written, along to the archdruid.
Not long after that, another druid tracked me down and informed me that Ysondre was getting ready to leave. I hurriedly collected my summons and headed towards the entrance to the Dream at the center of the grove.
We arrived nearly at the same time as she did. There was an odd-looking centaur woman––a dryad apparently––walking beside her, the two talking with hushed voices. After a moment, the dryad bowed, bending both her digitigrade front legs and her human-looking upper body, then pranced away.
Ysondre looked up and our eyes met. “Ah, good, you’ve already arrived. I take it that you have chosen to accompany me?”
I nodded, “I appreciate the offer, especially with how busy everything has been since yesterday.”
Ysondre smiled tightly. “It has been a long and sleepless week already, but it is a cost I bear gladly. There is work that needs doing, and few with the will and knowledge to do it. And in any case, I am certain my lady mother would be interested in meeting you. In just a handful of days you have done much to aid our Flight and Azeroth itself. Who knows how much longer this rot could have progressed undetected without your intervention? I shudder at the mere thoughts of a future that will never be. There is still hope that Shaladrassil can be saved, but it will be a race against time.”
We exchanged a few brief pleasantries, then set off. Instead of staying in elf-form, Ysondre transformed back into her enormous draconic body and set a rather grueling pace through the ever-shifting forest. Despite her enormous size, her footfalls were utterly silent and she moved without so much as ruffling the grass in her wake. My huntsmen summons had no issues keeping pace, though they had to run rather than walk, while Kent, Zatanna and I were swiftly told to climb onto her back.
Unlike our trip from the Twilight Grove to Val'sharah, this trip was not a brief, leisurely stroll. By the time Ysondre said we were getting close, it had been nearly two hours and Emerald, Glynda, and Mercury were all starting to slow down. Despite not having to do much, I was also getting rather tired of the trip. Ysondre’s back was not very comfortable and her scales were sharp and magical enough to dig right through the enchantments on my pants.
Only Peach looked completely unaffected by the trip, which was doubly unfair because I was certain I’d seen her briefly pause multiple times to look at a flower or vine before hurrying to catch up with the group before we moved too far. The youthful-looking huntress seemed to possess a bottomless well of energy, her aura revitalizing her body and still regenerating faster than it was consumed.
We slowed down and the three of us dropped down to the ground, continuing forward at a much more reasonable walk. We soon encountered the first sign that we were getting close. A trio of small green dragons––drakes––were lounging in a field of flowers while a fourth flew in circles around the trees. Though I called them small, the largest was easily as big as a horse and the smallest still came up to my chest while lying down.
The largest rose as we approached, then spotted Ysondre and relaxed back onto the ground, its head lying on the base of a smaller drake’s tail. Ysondre paid them no mind and we continued onward.
We passed more drakes and a number of flying or sleeping whelps, young dragons only weeks or months out of their eggs. Eventually, the trees cleared and a vast valley opened up before us, the everpresent shimmer of green that filled the air clearing somewhat and giving a splendid view of the natural splendor before us. Trees and bushes dotted the ground, flowers grew in vast fields, and I could see dozens of dragons of various shapes and sizes, as well as a number of either shapeshifted dragons or visiting druids.
A small group of whelps and drakes were playing nearby, watched by a larger specimen that I assumed to be an actual dragon. It was considerably smaller than Ysondre or Nythendra, far more similar in size to the dragons back home, and its scales were a dark green like a fern rather than the brighter shades I’d seen before.
Ysondre let out a soft rumble deep in her throat and the dragon turned to look at us. The young it was watching all stopped their play and turned to face us as well. It was hard to tell, but it looked surprised to see her. It glanced over at its charges, than quickly winged over to where we had stopped.
“Lady Ysondre!” it roared in greeting, “welcome back! We were not expecting you for some time yet.”
Ysondre barred her teeth. “I have urgent news for my mother. These are my guests. Please watch over them while I meet with her.”
“Of course, my lady. It would be my honor.”
Ysondre turned to us. “This is Natazus. He will stay with you while I am gone to avoid any misunderstandings. I will return shortly.”
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I barely had time to nod before Ysondre took flight, soaring down into the valley. I expected her to head towards one of the larger dragons in the valley––there were several I could see of a similar size to her––but instead she landed beside a grassy hill half-shrouded by the emerald mist.
And then the hill moved. Two colossal wings shifted and a scaled head with bright blue eyes bigger than me and two spire-like horns appeared. I gaped at what was undoubtedly Ysera herself, her body half-hidden and yet clearly large enough that she would have struggled to fit in Hogwarts’ great hall. She opened her mouth, revealing teeth longer than I was tall, and though I could not hear her voice from so far away, I imagined that I could feel her voice shaking the air.
With Ysondre gone, the small dragons returned to their play. A few of the braver ones decided to approach us, a whelp landing on Peach’s vine-covered shoulders while a small drake butted its snout against Amber’s knees.
I barely had the wherewithal to pay attention to the creatures, my eyes glued to Ysondre and Ysera. Beside her mother, Ysondre looked like a whelp, her entire body only marginally larger than Ysera’s colossal head.
I wanted it. I wanted it so much. She probably cost a truly astronomical quantity of mana to summon, and I wondered how much influence my summoning would really have on a creature so ancient and powerful, but the mere prospect of such a being acting at my beck and call made me salivate.
I could imagine approaching some foe with two elven women at my side. Then, at a gesture, both transformed into the colossal, majestic beings before me. It was a heady fantasy.
I tore my eyes away from the scene to find Zatanna playing with a whelp, a small smile on her lips as the baby dragon fluttered around her like a hummingbird. Right, priorities.
I quickly joined Amber, who was gently stroking the scales of the drake that had approached her earlier. I subtly brushed my magic across its body and it did not react, so I took that as a sign to continue. Over the next twenty-or-so minutes, I trailed my fingers and magic all across its body. It seemed to enjoy my attention, all but purring as I scratched the base of its wings and the place where its tail met its body.
Eventually, I felt the Blueprint snap into place. A generic Green Drake, exactly as I’d expected. It took longer than it would have if I’d done it intrusively, but I had a feeling the drake would not have enjoyed having my magic flow through the core of its body. Plus, this way I confirmed that the method I’d theorized but had yet to test worked, if somewhat more slowly than doing it the usual way.
It took nearly an hour––I wouldn’t call that ‘shortly’, but I wasn’t an ancient dragon so what did I know––before I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Looking down into the valley, I blinked in confusion, unable to spot the mountain-sized shape of Ysera. Then I realized that the suddenly much-smaller dragon flying towards me led by Ysondre’s unmistakable acid-green form was Ysera. Apparently her shapeshifting extended to more than just turning into an elf or some other near-human being.
Though she was smaller like this, Ysera was still an enormous dragon. She and Ysondre landed side by side at the edge of the valley, and Ysera still stood head and shoulders above her daughter, though the difference was considerably smaller than it had been previously.
Ysondre’s form rippled as she transformed into an elf, then gestured towards us. Like this, she barely reached up to her mother’s belly, her entire body smaller than a single one of the Aspect’s legs.
“Mother, I would like to introduce Hydrys Black, Kent Nelson, and their companions. My friends, it is my honor to present my honored mother, Ysera, the Green Dragon Aspect.”
I bowed. We all did. There was something about Ysera, a certain weight and majesty that demanded respect.
“It has been a long time since one of my Flight has brought mortals before me,” Ysera’s voice was soft, yet heavy with power and authority. “My dear Ysondre speaks highly of you. She says you saved her from the corruption of the old gods, and for that I thank you.”
She paused, staring at us with her luminescent blue eyes. Magic flowed off her in waves, almost painfully bright in its intensity, mingling with the power in the air and deepening the fog-like tint that made it hard to see within the Dream. “Your kind is not unknown to me, though I can not say that I have ever met one myself. Your interference is welcome, and your assistance a blessing. It is…troubling to discover that I have missed such a disruption to my realm. In this too, I thank you.”
She fell silent again, but I said nothing. She was staring at me too intently, and it was clear that she was not yet finished. Eventually she nodded her massive head, the trees beside her swaying from the vast amount of air displaced by her motion. Faster than I could react, she extended one foot forward, the tip of a razor-sharp claw the size of my entire body stopping a scant few inches from my chest.
“My daughter has told me of what you asked of her. I have my doubts, but I have ever been a protector of the world. I do not know how much I will be able to aid you; much of my strength is tied to this place and to Azeroth itself. Yet, if this is the boon you seek, then boon you shall receive. Do what you must, young one.”
I could scarcely believe my ears. I bowed again. “Thank you, Honored Aspect.” My hands were shaking as I pressed the top of my wand into the claw in front of me and set my hand down beside it, careful to avoid the ax-like edge. “I’m sorry, but this may take some time.”
“It is no matter.”
Ysera was vast. Her body was a literal star of nature magic, potent enough that in places it almost looked like the mana I drew from lands. It took a huge amount of mental effort to draw my magic through her, despite her clearly helping my efforts along.
It took nearly an hour, and I was absolutely spent by the end of it, but finally, incredibly, I felt the Blueprint snap into place. No matter how much I wanted to reach for it, I forced myself to take a step back and bow again instead. After what had happened with Ysondre, there was no way I was touching an even older, more powerful Blueprint without proper preparations.
Even without doing so, I could feel its strength. Nine mana was more than any creature I’d ever summoned, but honestly less than I’d expected. Unfortunately, I had a feeling that Ysera was right. As powerful as it was, my Blueprint was only a reflection of the real thing. It was still a priceless addition to my repertoire, but I knew in my gut that the copy I’d be able to call forth would never hold a candle to the might of the ancient dragon that stood before me.
“It is done. Thank you, Lady Ysera.”
She hummed, her voice the rustle of grass and wind blowing through leaves. “A curious experience. It costs me little, and aids you much, hmm.” She blinked, the world seeming to briefly dim as scaled eyelids blocked out the light of her eyes. “You plan to leave this place soon, do you not? When you do, I ask that, should he be willing, you leave your friend Kent Nelson behind for a time.”
I licked my lips. “I don’t think he’ll be able to stay here long without me. His body is made from my magic.”
“It is no matter. A fortnight shall be plenty. His aid shall be invaluable against the Nightmare.”
If she said so. “Kent?” I asked, half turning to the side but keeping my eyes focused on Ysera.
“I’m good with it. I’m a hero, this is what I do.” About what I’d expected.
I turned back to Ysera. “In that case, I see no reason not to.”
“Good.” Ysera turned to Ysondre. “Finish out your time with the Traveler and return to me, my daughter. There is much for us to do, but it can wait a day. I shall send a new guardian to the Great Tree. It is good to have you back with me.”
“Yes, mother.”
And then, without another word, Ysera took off, vanishing swiftly into the shimmering green fog.
My knees buckled, but I managed to stop myself before I fell fully to the ground. Ysondre laughed, stepping forward to help me support myself. My summons were no better, several of them actually collapsing while others were leaning heavily against each other for support.
“She has that effect on people,” she said loudly enough that everyone could hear her. “It is no small matter to meet an Aspect in the center of their domain.”
“Yeah…that was really something,” I agreed. I was exhausted and my heart was hammering in my chest, something I’d somehow managed to miss for the entire time that she’d been here in front of us.
Ysondre smiled kindly. “I will give you some time to recover, and then we shall continue onward. Darnassus awaits, and I hope to show you a few further sites before I must depart.”