However as Thrathreon arrived to the common area where the rest of the adepts gathered for their assignments, he was met with a hushed whisper. He had quirked his head in bemusement, but before he could speak a word for clarification, the Doomguard Quartermaster snapped “Shut up elf! Our Lord speaks!”
A projection of Kil'Jaeden appeared overhead everyone of the room as the Man'ari stood atop his command ship. The room fel silent as the Deceviver's words echoed without fault through the halls.
“The Day I Took The Felfire Into My Veins, I Saw My Destiny”
“A Grand Crusade That Would Reach The Ends Of Creation!”
“I Paid For That Destiny With My World!”
“The Time Has Come To See Its Done”
“A Grand Crusade That Would Reach The Ends Of Creation!”
“I Paid For That Destiny With My World!”
“The Time Has Come To See Its Done”
The projection of a magical floating city appears in place of the supreme commander, as more prejections of Invasion Ships begin to appear surrounding the city, followed by the Legionlord's final command.
“Burn It...To Ash!”
“Dalaran...?” Thrathreon breathed. The shock of seeing his home again had made the elf betray himself. For years he had played along with the design of the burning legion, but only out of a sense of self preservation. He had come to terms with the belief that the second invasion was a success and that his home had been destroyed, along with Prince Kael'thas and the other Sin'Dorei who crossed into Outland with him.
But that was Dalaran, it looked different from what he remembered, and it was flying, but he would recognized the city of his long lost dreams anywhere. Thrathreon hadn't even noticed the entire room was now staring at him, a cynical grin was on the Quartermaster's face. “That's right...that's the world you were plucked from wasn't it? Ready to watch it burn, Elf?”
Options, Possibilities, Scenarios were racing through his mind, he barely registered the Doomguard approaching him cracking his whip. “I ASKED YOU A QUEST---” the Demon had bellowed as it began to raise its whip to the elf, but it stopped mid sentence, almost freezing on the spot. Ethereal chains began to wrap around the Doomguards throat, waste, wrists and legs. It looked on in horror as the power poured from the hands of the small elf at his feet, seeping into its very brain.
“Never...Again...” Thrathreon snarled. The doors to the common room slammed shut, sealing the elf, demon, and other supplicants inside. Screams could be heard from within, thankfully they were not uncommon to raise alarm...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
There was a small pop as a Fel Imp materialized in the common room. “You called Mas---” Pippik began before taking in the scene of the room. Bodies were strewn all around, blood and scorch marks plastered the walls. The Doomguard that once berated Thrathreon lay in pieces at the Warlocks feet. “Looks like I missed one hell of an orgy...damn.”
Thrathreon had hidden his true talents from his Legion Overseers. As where they discovered his affinity for magic, and did their best to abuse his power for all it was worth, he masqueraded his demonic abilities he had acquired to be his final trump card should ever he be found in the cross-fire of a power play that was all too frequent. In truth that was the only reason he was able to survive his spur-of-the-moment coup, enslaving the Quartermaster and turning it on the room, and even that proved an uphill battle he almost did not return from.
It was rare he ever summon his minions, and when he did he was sure to do so in complete privacy, even going so far as murdering the unsuspecting witness a time or two to protect his secret. But with what he was now put in motion, Thrathreon knew he could not do this alone and succeed. The bruises from his recent battle were apparent, and Pippik rushed to grab his master a chair to settle himself in. “Finally snap eh boss?”
“Were leaving.” Thrathreon replied. “OH! Vacation!? Can we go to that fiery lava world you told us about?!” Pippik squeaked in excitement, bouncing about on the spot. “No...were going there” the warlock pointed towards the projection of Dalaran. “My Home.” Pippik looked at the image “Looks kinda small boss, but tha' fel am I complaining about!?”
“I'm going to gather my strength, go ahead and find me a portal to one of those ships bound for Azeroth.” The imp looked on intently and nodded at the orders “And what if I run across more of...well them?” he pipped jabbing a thumb at the bodies in the room. Thrathreon stood, surging the power within him coating him in a deep fel green aura, the power physically manifesting behind him as floating shards of power. “I'm getting off this planet once and for all, anyone or anything that stands in my way will submit or perish.”
Pippik sneered at the malevolent nature emerging within his master “That's why I love you buddy!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The two emerged from a portal onto the operation deck of an invasion ship. The landing appeared clear for the moment, but various demon and eredar occupied the floor. Thrathreon took the first opportunity and dove behind a stack of crates to prevent being noticed. Without missing a beat, the small imp tore off to investigate. Hoping himself concealed, the warlock summoned a spherical eye in his hands and bound his vision to it, sending it away after the imp.
Pippik bounced around corners and zipped through the halls humming an action tune all the while. Given there were many Fel-Imps on the ship Pippik blended in, however his brandish additude was starting to draw attention. Thrathreon could only watch in ire as his magical construct struggled to keep up with the imp. It wasnt long before the entire ship began to shake. Falling debris had knocked over one of the crates the Warlock was hiding behind breaking his concentration and shattering his magical eye. “Gods damn it!” he cursed as he re-positioned himself. Mighty roars could be heard outside as smaller trimmers vibrated at his feet. 'The fel is going on out there?!' he wondered, hoping Pippik would hurry the hell up already and report back.
It took a few minutes but the Imp finally returned to his master, darting behind him as if he was being followed. “Ok boss, I got good news and bad news” he chimed. “Speak!” Thrathreon barked, quickly losing patience with the small demon, now was NOT the time for his malignant behavior. “Well the good news is, we ARE in fact in Azeroth!” the Imp declared with a smile and a thumbs up. The elf took a small sigh of relief “Good, whats the bad news?!” “Dragons are attacking the ship, and were going to die any minute now!” Thrathreon's eyes scowled at the imp, “You ported us on a ship being attacked by DRAGONS!?” “WHAT!? You said get us on one of them ships, you didn't say check it for dragon attacks first!” the imp argued, but still withdrawing fearing its master was going to punt him across the room.
Truth be told, the thought did cross the warlocks mind, but he had more pressing issues. He figured his escape wouldn't be easy, so no sense in mulling over every issue. “Ok...now we have to get off this ship” Thrathreon stated, standing up from behind his cover and launching a Chaos Bolt at a passing sentry, taking it by surprise and reducing it to ash. Another sentry rounded the corner, and Pippik emerged too from their cover to engage, mumbling to himself “Get me on the ship, Get me off the ship...Does this mean we get to to back to Argus?” “NO!” Thrathreon shouted as he hurled immolation fel-fire at his target.
The Duo battled their way down one level to a navigation room. After dispatching the Eredar inside, Thrathreon was able to get his first good look out into the horizon; Lush green foliage, blue sky with a purple overhang from the setting sun. For a moment he could even make out eleven architecture in the distance, and for the second time he became immobilized by the reality before him. It wasn't until a giant blue dragon tore past the port window shaking the ship that he was able to snap out of his fantasy.
Rushing to the controls, the elf tried to grasp the controls, but cursed angrily as they were all written in demonic language of Eredic. “Pip! Can you read this!?” the warlock called behind him to the Imp which was occupying itself with biting at the head of one of their fallen victims. “Read it? Boss, I cant even reach the console, how the hell am I suppose to read whats on it?!” The warlock punched the console in anger as he began racking his brain for a new solution. “This one looks like its still alive, you can ask him” Pippik chimed in bouncing over to a non-gnawed on eredar.
Quickly reviewing the body, Thrathreon could see the demon was still drawing slow shallow breaths. Wasting not a moment, he reached out entwining the body and enslaving the mind of the Eredar Navigator and siphoning his own life essence into the being. “Rise! And tell me how to get off this thing, NOW!” Thrathreon barked. Perhalps he had spent too much time in Argus under an Overseer's heel, for even his own words bit back at him in his mind.
Shaking off his injuries, the Eredar did as command and approached the console. “There is no escape, we fight or we die. However you can use the Fel Cannon to launch yourself onto the surface below. Simply empty the artillery shell at the base of the ship and climb inside. I cannot guarantee you still wont die from the impact.” “Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you...” Thrathreon replied. The look of confusion that quickly turned to horror on the Eredar's face left just as quick as it had come as the Elf burried a dagger into its skull.
Pippik burst with laughter dancing around the corpse that fell to the floor, “Oh I should have pushed you over the edge YEARS ago had I known we would have THIS much fun!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It did not take them long to reach the stern of the ship. The chaos going on outside kept most of the ships denizens preoccupied allowing near free access. A small fel-corruption crystal lay before them locked in a swirling energy vortex that traveled up to the ships main cannon. “That looks like a tight fit boss.” Pippik remarked, but Thrathreon paid him no mind. The warlock focused his power into his hands forming a stone from his own soul, just in case things did not go well. “Here, take this. Once you launch the cannon, slip back through the nether and meet me on the other side.”
“You know this is gonna hurt, right?” Pippik inquired. Thrathreon nodded, even with his unending resolve, and a dark pact with his void lord there was a good chance he could end up as a smear along the mountains edge. But the Dragons attacks were pressing, he was sure the ship had been breached by the champions of azeroth and the klaxon alarms were blaring all along the ship signaling a core breach. The ship was going to implode soon, and he knew if he had even the slightest chance to get out of this alive, it was going to be outside the ship.
The force of the cannon blast distorted all of Thrathreon's senses as he spun wildly inside the artillery shell. The brief blur of blues and greens between his eye blinks was enough to cause enough nausea to vomit a weeks worth of meals. Just as the elf could take no more of this maddening ride, everything went black.
Pain had infected every pore of his body, the world still spinning despite feeling solid ground underneath him. The Fel-corruption casing he was launched out of lay shattered before him. Thrathreon was unsure how long he was out or even where he was for a moment. He tried to rise, but the strength had left his body. Feebly he turned his head towards the sky. The Legion Ship was gone, most likely imploded from the assault of the dragonflight. The multitude of blues that cascaded over the sky was breathtaking. He wasn't sure if it was from the pain or the realization that he had made it home that brought infernal size tears to the elves eyes.
He chuckled and wept in pain for a moment rolling onto his side, and that's when he saw it. Looming in the sky was his old home, his old prison: Argus. There was a moment of surreal calm. He was out of the fire, but not out of the kitchen just yet. He had escaped the Legions Grasp, but it was now invading the very world he had escaped too, one wrong move could end him right back where he started. His head was hurting too much to think straight, and the elf succumbed to the trauma once more and blacked out.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The guards dropped the body at the landing “Lieutenant Sinclari, we found this Felblood Elf in the Ley-Ruins of Zarkhenar. It appears he escaped the Legion Ship that was assaulting the region.” The Blond Human Kirin-Tor Mage shifted her weight from one side to the other as she examined the near-dead horned elf, the fel-corruption was apparent enough. “Lock him in the Hold, we will interrogate him when he awakens and see what he knows.” she commanded
“Yes Ma'am” the guards chimed as they each took the elf by an arm and lead him away.
TO BE CONTINUED