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Dawn of the Dragon	By : RotSeele Category: +S through Z > World of Warcraft Views: 3875 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
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Thirty
He felt weightless.
It was an out of body thought, for he was falling fast and, with how high they'd been, wouldn't have that far to fall before he went splat on the ground below. Anduin saw Tyra trying to turn to chase after him, the little black bullet of Wrathion already speeding after him, and Shalya leaning over Tyra's side and watching him fall to his death with wide blue eyes.
He supposed, as deaths went, falling wouldn't be so bad. The impact would kill him quickly, and not leave him in pain like when he'd been crushed by Garrosh and the Bell. He wondered, too, if anyone would bother to bring his body back to his father, or if they'd leave him a bloody, mushy puddle on the ground.
Then a field of translucent black filled his vision, and something wrapped around him, soft like velvet and twice as warm. His back hit the fabric with enough force to drive the breath from his lungs. It closed around him, immersing him in pure darkness, and then-
SLAM!
-Anduin was shaken hard enough to make his teeth rattle. He suddenly found himself sliding downward and scrabbled to grab a hold on whatever was wrapped around him. It was warm, soft, pulsing - A wing, Anduin realized, it's a wing. - and the membrane bunched in his fingers, stopping his sudden descent. From somewhere on the outside of the wing there was a loud bellow and all of a sudden Anduin found himself lying on his back in the dirt with a woman standing over him, her back to him. Black plate armor covered her body from head to toe. Black hair spilled down her back, showing just a bit of a tanned neck. On the other side of her, Anduin saw Korvek struggling against the blade the woman held, sparks and shrieks jumping from the intersection of their swords.
"Risking your own neck to save a human?" Korvek laughed. "You've gotten soft, Athena."
Athena laughed. Anduin stared at the back of the woman and realized this was the alternate form of the giant black dragon that had been squaring off with Korvek while they had been trying to escape. "Soft?" Athena purred. "Oh, I'm not getting soft. Every good warrior needs a healer."
Anduin scrambled to his feet. Then he retreated a safe distance away from the two combatants. Before he could say anything, Korvek suddenly lunged toward him in a classic display of rule one on the battlefield: take out the healer first.
Anduin managed to throw a shield around himself right before Korvek's sword swung. Anduin fell backwards from the impact, but he was whole and not bleeding. Then Athena was there, a black-armored fury who swung her sword so fast and so hard it dug a deep divot in the earth where Korvek had once been standing. She didn't stop, though. She pivoted on her right foot and her sword kicked up a veil of dirt as she swung it at Korvek, forcing him back. There was the shriek of steel on steel and when the dust cleared, Anduin saw that a great rent had been torn in Korvek's breastplate. Anduin stared open-mouthed.
"Stop gawking and get to your feet, priest." Athena spat, her crimson eyes narrowed at the Orc. "I'm going to need you for this."
Anduin quickly followed her orders. He'd be insane not to. "Looks like you're handling him just fine on your own."
Athena chuckled. "Oh, kid, you ain't seen nothing yet. So make yourself useful."
Anduin spared a glance toward the sky as Athena moved forward to engage Korvek in a sword fight that created more sparks than there were stars in the sky. He spotted Tyra hovering just out of range of the battlefield, with Shalya and Wrathion, who was back in his human form. All of them were watching Athena and Korvek, and all of them knew that Korvek stood between Athena and Anduin's escape and the pair themselves.
Anduin quickly drew on the Light and cast a shield around Athena, then called upon a few mending spells to seal the slice on her arm and the deeper wound on her hip. Despite those few injuries, Athena was proving herself Korvek's equal in swordplay. Her strength might outclass his - she was a dragon after all - but the Orc had grown up fighting. Strength of arm mattered little to Korvek, that much was clear. The scarred warrior utilized every trick in the warrior handbook, from feinting to using the terrain to give himself the advantage. Anduin realized that he was still Korvek's primary target. If the Orc managed to wound or even kill Anduin, then Athena would become more vulnerable. He wouldn't have to kill her - Anduin doubted very much that he wanted to kill her - but he could wound her until she was too slow from blood loss to fight back, or he could even chop off a limb or two.
So as Athena pivoted to keep herself between Korvek and Anduin, Anduin started to look for a way to end this fight. The terrain around the cave was chewed up by claw and tail, and the fighting warriors. Korvek was taking care not to allow Athena to pivot then around where Anduin could easily run to his friends, thus freeing her from protection duty and allowing her to go wild. The Orc was too smart to fall for a feint like that, and Anduin had no doubts to how fast Korvek could move, so him bolting was out of the question. He cast another healing spell toward Athena, sealing up the freshest gash on her body. There wasn't much Anduin could do at this point, save trying to keep Athena alive until one of the combatants started to tire.
Then something caught his attention, something that had his mind reeling with a flurry of ideas.
Varian had never really been forthcoming about his battles, but Anduin had heard enough from other people's accounts to form a picture of his father's battles, the ones he wasn't present for. Like the battle in Ashenvale, where Varian had led an army of worgen against the Horde, bringing down magnotaurs and Horde members alike. The worgen had been a surprise, something Garrosh hadn't been expecting. And now, there was something Korvek wasn't expecting, something that Anduin could use to change the tide of battle in Athena's favor.
Shalya attacked without warning, bursting out of a clump of bushes the moment Korvek took a step too close to them. Though the Orc managed to avoid sustaining a crippling blow, Shalya's surprise attack gave Anduin enough time to tap into the shadowy part of his priest training and a second later, shadow tendrils were rising from the ground, ensnaring Korvek's feet. The Orc flailed as his balance was upset, but the tendrils didn't last long. Anduin saw them break the moment Korvek tumbled forward, ducking his head under his shoulder to turn his fall into a roll. As he came back to his feet, Anduin was ready with the next spell, and Korvek sucked in a breath as the spell Shadow Word: Pain took effect.
Anduin dodged to the right to avoid the blade howling in at his neck, and Athena was there to catch Korvek's blade on her own. Her lips were pulled back from her teeth in a feral snarl as she pushed Korvek back toward Shalya, who darted around the fighting pair toward Anduin.
"You okay?" Shalya asked as she reached him.
"I'm fine. You? You didn't have to rescue me, you know."
Shalya gave him a smirk. "Who said I was rescuing you?"
Anduin stared at her. "What?"
Before she could reply, a massive fireball seared the air between them, Korvek, and Athena. Wrathion stood at the origin of the fireball, his red eyes narrowed as he focused on Korvek. Both Athena and Korvek broke apart before the fireball reached them, and Korvek hit the ground on his belly to avoid the very tail end of the fire. Then his attention focused on Wrathion.
Then Korvek laughed.
"What's so funny?" Wrathion demanded.
"You!" Korvek laughed as he got to his feet. "You're funny. You think that the lot of you ganging up on me will make any difference in how this will turn out? All of you could come at me, and the result would still be the same. Whelp, you've no idea what you're facing."
"All I see is a washed up old warrior who can't seem to let go of the fact that no one wants him around." Athena said, resting her sword blade on the ground beside her foot. "You were sent here to babysit these miserable wretches because your master couldn't stand the sight of you."
Korvek laughed again. "You talk big, Athena, but it wasn't that long ago you were frantically trying to figure out ways to outsmart me in order to free the pathetic creatures your kind has become."
Athena lifted her lip in a snarl. "They wouldn't be pathetic if they were allowed to live as a dragon should."
"Ah, but the black flight is hated for everything they've done. For everything Deathwing's done. Do you really think anyone would let you settle in their backyard to lay your eggs and raise your whelps?" Korvek looked at Wrathion. "Do you even know who that little one really is?"
Anduin saw Wrathion tense. Athena lifted her sword and pointed it at Korvek in obvious threat. "I don't care. He's one of us. That's all that matters."
"Are you sure? You're sure you don't want to know where he comes from?"
Athena looked over at Wrathion for a split second. "Since I don't recognize him, and he's not one of yours, I can assume he's from Azeroth. What difference does that make? All that matters is that he's a black dragon, and he's not like-"
"Deathwing?" Korvek laughed. Athena's eyes narrowed. "That's what you were going to say, right?"
"So what?"
Korvek laughed again. "That right there, that little whelp you're doing whatever you can to protect, he is the spawn of your great and reverent father! That little whelp destroyed what was left of your kind on Azeroth. He's the last of you!"
Anduin saw Wrathion's skin bleach of color as Athena and Tyrannia turned to regard him. Wrathion didn't move, didn't speak, just stared at them. Anduin didn't know whether to say Wrathion was brave or stupid for not backing down under the withering stares of the two female dragons, but he held his ground and stared back. Then Wrathion lifted his head and said, "I did what I had to to save my people."
Silence stretched for minutes. Then Athena turned slowly back to Korvek. She burst forward with such speed that Korvek barely had time to get his sword up to guard. Sparks flew as the two blades skidded across each other, and then the tangy smell of blood filled the air. Korvek hissed as blood sheeted down his bicep. Athena didn't stop; she turned her sword to the flat edge, widening the wound so metal bit into red meat, then ripped her sword from the wound. Blood and meat sprayed over the ground and Korvek's arm fell lax by his side. His other hand gripped his sword's hilt and he swung, very nearly taking off Athena's left arm. He scored a similar hit on her as she'd inflicted on him, though her wound was much more clean. It still went deep, and it still bled fiercely.
Anduin drew upon the Light and cast a healing spell on Athena. He saw her shiver as the healing spell took effect, making her skin itch as the wound sought to seal itself. It was a split second healing, allowing Athena to press her attack. Even with one arm, Korvek was still proving to be a challenge. It was clear that he was weakening; without a healer, his wounds were starting to take their toll. Blood was turning the ground muddy, making their feet slip or stick and making footing treacherous as they swung their swords or blocked or parried each other's blows. Athena, too, was slowing down and her blows were becoming softer compared to the heavy blows she'd had earlier in the fight. Both were breathing hard.
Korvek blocked Athena's cross-wise strike and pushed her off balance. As she stumbled, he swung and caught her hip, clipping her armor and creating a shower of sparks. Athena hit the ground with a grunt and Anduin threw a shield around her to save her from the impaling strike that would've ended the fight right then. Korvek's powerful glare turned on Anduin and Shalya, and in two leaps he was only feet away from them. He swung his sword as fast and as hard as he could, and Anduin felt himself pulled backward by Shalya. He hit the ground on his back and rolled to get away from Korvek, then heard Shalya's sharp cry. Anduin turned to see Shalya on the ground, a bright line of red on her upper arm. Korvek turned to face Anduin and stepped toward him.
Athena drove her sword through Korvek's back, piercing the other side of his stomach. "Never take your eyes off your enemy," she growled.
Korvek choked out a laugh, his teeth and lips bloody. "Who said I did that?"
Before Athena had time to react or anyone had time to cry out a warning, Korvek lifted his sword and turned the blade to his own chest. In a split second, he drove the sword through his own flesh and bone and pierced through himself. Athena jerked backwards away from Korvek, a hole in the left side of her chest where her shoulder joined. She hit the ground in a growing puddle of blood. Korvek swayed, then fell forward. The force of his fall jammed his sword deeper into his body, and forced Athena's blade back out, so it now towered over the fallen Orc like a crimson-stained cross.
Anduin and Shalya raced toward Athena, followed quickly by Wrathion and Tyrannia. Anduin slid to his knees beside Athena as the dragon began to push herself up with her good arm. He called upon the Light and lightly touched his hand to her wounded shoulder, careful not to actually touch the wound. Athena hissed and snarled and otherwise cursed enough to make Anduin think she'd give a human sailor reason to blush as her wound healed. There was nothing he could do about the punctured armor, but at least she wasn't at risk of losing her arm anymore.
"Are you okay?" Tyra asked.
Athena looked at her sister. "I've had worse. Are you okay?"
Tyra shrugged. "More or less." She eyed Anduin and Shalya. "You're pretty brave, aren't you? Jumping in like that."
Anduin shrugged. "I can't stand people bring hurt. So I did what any self-respecting healer would do - keep my fighter alive."
Athena chuckled. "You must be a force to be reckoned with, then, priest." She pushed herself to her feet and stretched her arm, testing newly healed flesh. Anduin flushed a bit and shrugged.
Shalya chuckled. "He's a force to be reckoned with only when there's something he can do about it." She accepted the light shove Anduin gave her.
Athena shifted and finally looked at Wrathion, who still stood apart from the rest of the group. He seemed to almost wilt under her hard stare, then shifted and the arrogant Black Prince that Anduin knew stared back at her. A smile bloomed on Athena's face, a dangerous feral smile that didn't belong on the face of a human, not even the human guise she was wearing now. The black dragon lifted one hand and beckoned Wrathion with one long finger. For a moment, Wrathion hesitated, then slowly came forward. It reminded Anduin of the times, when he was smaller, he'd done something wrong and was approaching his father for the punishment he knew was coming, and would only be worse if he ran.
When Wrathion was in grabbing distance, Athena closed the rest of the distance between them. Wrathion barely came to her shoulders, so that left her looking down at him, and him glaring defiantly up. Wrathion had no siblings - whatever the red dragons had done to create him couldn't be done again, Anduin assumed - but he'd seen plenty of siblings interacting with one another while they were in Pandaria. Even Anduin, an only child himself, wasn't sure exactly how brothers and sisters got along, but he was pretty sure he was witnessing it right now. Athena, as the oldest sister, was glowering down at Wrathion, who was doing a pretty good job of being the annoying younger brother.
Then, suddenly, Athena lashed out and grabbed Wrathion tightly around the throat, lifting him clear off the ground so she could glare right into his eyes. Anduin took a step forward, but Shalya grabbed his arm and shook her head. Anduin stared at her, incredulous. Then Athena said, "You're young and therefore stupid, so I'll forgive you for that. And as for what you did to your brethren on Azeroth, they had it coming to them. But if you raise your hand to me, or to any of my flight, I will kill you. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Wrathion managed to choke out.
Athena studied him a few more minutes. Then she set him back on his feet gently and released his throat. Then she looked at Anduin. "Your friends are waiting for you. We'll take you back to Everglade."
"Friends?" Anduin questioned.
"The bronze dragon, Karidormi. She had your scents on her, so I'm assuming you're her friends. Along with this one." She jerked her thumb at Wrathion. "So I'm going to take you back to her, and then we're going to discuss some things."
"Like what?"
Athena looked at Tyra and stared at her until the girl started to squirm. Then she looked at Anduin. "Things." With that, she assumed her true form, the dragon towering over them. Athena crouched down and looked at Anduin, Shalya, and Wrathion. "Get on. The scales shift, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a comfortable place to sit."
Shalya glanced at Anduin, then moved toward the gargantuan claw before her. She grabbed hold of several scales, then pulled herself up until she was comfortably settled against Athena's ankle. She was, after all, too big for them to climb all the way up to her shoulders. If they did, Anduin surmised, they'd probably be killed by the wind from her wings alone. Anduin climbed up after Shalya, then Wrathion. They hooked their feet under several scales like they were stirrups, and took hold of several scales loose enough to serve as handholds. Then Athena raised her wings and her hind legs tamped down as she surged upwards. Anduin gripped the scales as tightly as he could as gravity tried to do what it did best.
When Athena was high enough in the air, Tyra transformed as well. Though she was dwarfed by her sister, she still outflew her, and often had to hover or circle back to keep close.
Anduin looked down at the shrinking cave and the scene of violence there, and wondered what exactly they had involved themselves in now, because it seemed that the task was becoming much more than just finding a black dragon to help Go’el.
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Dawn of the Dragon