//------------------------------//
// Order Hall: Speaking to a Soul 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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"Okay, so where are we going to store Light's Heart?" Lyra asked, though at the same time she glanced at the strange looking heart that was resting on the ground in front of them, while wondering what Xe'ra looked like with the object resting at the center of her being.

"Well, we can either place it in the Hall of the Guardian or the Fel Hammer," Trixie replied, though even as she spoke she knew what was coming, or suspected what her companion was going to say, "Personally, I'm against letting something so valuable rest in a Legion world, even if that world was taken by you and the Illidari seven years ago and held by the forces that were left behind. The Fel Hammer is the most dangerous place to hide Light's Heart, because the Legion will be expecting that to happen since you and I attacked their forces in the Exodar."

"Actually, putting it in the Fel Hammer would be a genius move," Lyra countered, to which she held up a hand to stop Trixie from arguing with her, "Think about this, the object is known as 'Light's' Heart, meaning that it might have some connection to the Light that both the paladins and the priests study and worship. The Legion will be expecting Light's Heart to go to either of those orders, and wherever their Order Halls are located, and likely wont be expecting us to send something so valuable to a Legion world. Trixie, we can hide it from the Legion until we have figured out a way to access the vast knowledge that the Army of the Light was trying to send to us... and turn the tide against Sargeras."

Trixie opened her mouth to say what was on her mind, and try and convince her companion that putting such an important artifact inside a Legion ship, on a Legion world no less, was a bad move... though Azuregos placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, indicating that it wasn't worth arguing. It also told her that the disguised dragon agreed with Lyra, though after a few seconds she guessed that Lyra might have a point in hiding Light's Heart in the one place where the Legion wouldn't expect it to be stored in.

"Fine, you can take Light's Heart to the Fel Hammer," Trixie replied, though at the same time she tapped Aluneth on the ground and gathered her magic around her, while making sure that Azuregos was standing next to her, "I'm going to head to the Hall of the Guardian and see if there is anything else that my followers can tell me about the other regions in the Broken Isles... just in case we missed something."

Lyra nodded and watched as Trixie used her magic to teleport herself, along with Azuregos, to the Hall of the Guardian, indicating that she believed that Azuregos would make a great recruit for her order while confirming that she was leaving Light's Heart behind. Lyra then let out a sigh as she picked up Light's Heart and carefully stored it back in her bag, before respectfully bowing to Khadgar as she departed from the building the Council of Six gathered in. She carefully made her way through the streets of Dalaran, making sure to keep an eye out for anything and everything that was out of place, before she arrived at Krasus' Landing. Once she arrived at the landing she looked at the other heroes that were gathering around the flight master, talking with each other about what was happening in Highmountain and Stormheim, where the other two Pillars were hiding.

She found it a little amusing that she, Trixie, and Azuregos managed to defeat Queen Azshara's forces, defy the will of Xavius, rescue Maiev from her prison, and recover two of the Pillars of Creation, while at the same time all the other heroes hadn't gotten close to finding the Hammer or the Aegis... to which she sighed as she jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, allowing her to glide down to where the portal to the Fel Hammer stood. Once she landed on the small floating piece of ground, and made sure that no one was following her, she stepped through the portal and crossed the vastness of space... where she stepped out of the other side a few seconds later and smiled as she gazed upon the Fel Hammer, and her comrades, once more.

Kor'vas approached her and inquired if something was wrong, because she could feel a slight disturbance in the fel energy that resided inside Lyra, to which Lyra told her what she and Trixie had found earlier, along with what she was carrying in her bag. Kor'vas then beckoned to an indent that rested near where the universal map was located, which would allow her to put the artifact somewhere where she could easily keep an eye on it when she returned to the Fel Hammer. Lyra had no idea that the spot even existed, as the last times she had been in his place she had been busy fighting or too focused on helping her followers, but she determined that it was the best place to set down Light's Heart... though as she did so she could have sworn that she felt some hope return to her.

"I heard a rumor that you are going to attempt to make contact with Illidan's immortal demon soul in the Twisting Nether." Lyra heard a voice behind her say, though when she turned around she discovered that the voice belonged to the Matron Mother, but at the same time she had no idea what the demon was even talking about, "You are going to need many magical things. I have taken the luxury of putting together a potential list for you. I do so hope that it proves helpful, gorgeous."

As it turned out that she could send some followers on a mission and gather several of the more important, and hard to find, fel components without her going out into the world and spending hours searching for an item she may or may not even know the appearance of. Fortunately both Kayn and Asha, along with a Broken Warrior as backup, were more than willing to take this mission on, though Lyra noted that the command center of the Fel Hammer also told her which region of the Broken Isles they would be going to. She had no idea where they were supposed to find fel components in Val'sharah, as she and Trixie had barely seen the Legion's presence in that area, until they got to Black Rook Hold anyway, but she decided not to question it and sent the trio on their way.

Once she had sent her followers on their mission, however, she heard a demon shouting at someone in the demonic language, though because it sounded so close she walked down the ramp and ventured down into the lower area of the ship... where she found Lyndraxa standing in front of a demon that was locked in one of the demonic cages.

"I was wondering when you were going to come down here," Lyndraxa commented, to which she turned towards Lyra for a moment and smiled, indicating that there was something that she knew that Lyra didn't know about, before she beckoned to the imprisoned dreadlord, "Allow me to introduce Razelikh the Defiler, who battled our former brother Loramus Thalipedes and was imprisoned together with him inside a powerful dagger. In the wake of the Legion's return that dagger was shattered and Razelikh returned to the Twisting Nether, though because both Razelikh and Loramus were fighting to control their body that meant that they continued to exchange possession over the demon's body. I had the others capture them at the Felblaze Ingress, which is located in Azsuna, and brought them here... where Loramus agreed to aid us in empowering our Order Hall, while keeping the demon at bay."

"I see," Lyra said, remembering one of the other demon hunters mentioning the name Loramus at some point, but he had disappeared shortly before her arrival and she had never had the pleasure of meeting him, "The Matron Mother told me that she heard a rumor about us trying to contact Lord Illidan's immortal demon soul... is this true, or is someone pulling my leg?"

"Oh, its definitely true," Lyndraxa replied, though at the same time she walked away from the imprisoned dreadlord, while Lyra noted that her tone indicated that her fellow demon hunter wasn't annoyed with her, "We're hoping to get some guidance from our master's soul... and maybe he'll tell us how to rescue his soul, before the Legion finds him."

Lyra nodded and decided to spend some time using the souls she had gathered so far to empower the Twinblades, finding that Lyndraxa was doing the same thing for a few minutes, which meant that she had killed a lot of enemies before she returned to the Fel Hammer. When she finished empowering her artifact, and departed from that area of the ship, she spent some time talking to the other demon hunters and the rest of the Illidari, so she could check up on what was happening in the other regions they had been sent to. From what she could tell her forces had seen a few Wardens wandering the land, making her wonder what Maiev was searching for, but she was glad to hear that her forces had been since she had been adventuring with Trixie and Azuregos.

An hour passed before Kayn, Asha, and their Broken Warrior returned to the Fel Hammer, where they announced their success and handed Kor'vas a crate that contained the components that they had recovered... which was almost everything on the list the Matron Mother had given them.

"The time has come to make contact with the Master's soul." Kor'vas commented, taking stock of everything that had been gathered, while at the same time glancing up at both Lyra and Lyndraxa, who were standing in front of her, "It is somewhere in the endless expanse of the Twisting Nether. Luckily, so is Mardum. Such a thing is not unheard of, but it will be exceedingly difficult, even here. In addition to what the Matron Mother had us gather, we need a great deal of demon blood. Like, a lot of it!"

"Then we'll get some blood," Lyndraxa replied, to which she glanced over at Lyra and grinned, while at the same time pulled out one of her blades and running a finger over its edge, "We'll just head to Azsuna and slaughter as many demons as necessary to gather a lot of demon blood... and then, once we've gathered enough, we'll come back and start the ritual."

Kor'vas glanced over at Lyra for a moment, as if she was expecting her to say something, but instead all Lyra did was nod her head, confirming that Lyndraxa's plan was sound, to which she bid the two farewell for the moment as they started making their way towards the portal. A few seconds later Lyra and Lyndraxa reappeared on Krasus' Landing, where they acquired a pair of griffons that would take them down to the outpost that the Illidari had set up in Azsuna, which was the first place Lyra and Trixie had arrived when they started their quest to recover the Pillars of Creation. It didn't take them long to reach their destination, especially since it was the closest region of the Broken Isles, though when they arrived the pair made their way towards Faronaar... where they both knew a lot of demons would be gathering together.

Lyra found that the next hour of her life was exceptionally boring, because she had fought these exact demons a day or two ago when she, Trixie, and Azuregos were searching for the missing Illidari, so she had already memorized their movements and knew where to find the best groups that would maximize the amount of blood they were collecting. Lyndraxa, on the other hand, was enjoying herself way too much, as she was simply going around the area they were in and was slaughtering every demon that dared to show their face to her, wetting the ground with the blood of their enemies as she hacked them to pieces. Lyra wasn't surprised by her companion's behavior, because some demons hunters took too much joy in their work, but at the moment she was tired of all of this and eventually called for Lyndraxa to leave the others alone... as she could always come back with reinforcements later if the amount of blood they collected wasn't enough.

Of course that meant that Lyra had to listen to Lyndraxa whine a tiny bit about having her fun ruined on the ride back to Dalaran, but she tuned it out to the best of her ability as they arrived in the city, flew down to the portal, and crossed over so they could hand the blood over to Kor'vas.

"Lord Illidan's immortal demon soul is lost somewhere in the vastness of the Twisting Nether." Kayn spoke up, to which Lyra and Lyndraxa watched as Kayn and Altruis approached them and Kor'vas, though that was before they turned their attention to the crucible that rested in front of them, "Contacting him risks much, as the Nether is full of creatures of unimaginable power and appetites. But, it must be done if we are to move forward. The ritual can be performed using the Nether Crucible. Lyra, make the blood offering."

Lyra glanced down at the large vial of blood that she and Lyndraxa had gathered from the Broken Isles for a few seconds, wondering if this was even going to work, before she took a deep breath and poured the contents into the middle of the Nether Crucible... to which an image started to appear before them.

"Lyra Heartstrings," a powerful voice said, one that made Lyra's heart skip a beat for a moment, as it was a voice that she hadn't heard since she and the Illidari went to Mardum seven years ago, "I have been expecting your arrival for quite some time now."

Lyra glanced up to where the image was and watched as it shattered into a thousand pieces, though they quickly reassembled before her eyes and transformed into the form of Lord Illidan, only he appeared to be light blue colored because of what they were doing and the fact that he was actually a soul at the moment.

"I am impressed that you managed to get Kayn and Altruis to work together," Lord Illidan commented, spying the two elves that hated each other, but had been willing to let go of their hate for the promise of Lyra leading them to victory over the Legion, "I have a few moments before my location is discovered, so listen closely. I entrusted the duplicitous Akama with planning the campaign against the Legion, though he is the only one that knows every detail of the plan... so you will need his counsel if you are to succeed. You must also regain the Sargerite Keystone to invade the Legion's worlds, which means that you'll have to ask the Wardens where they had hidden it.

Lyra Heartstrings, know that since the day you truly became one of the Illidari I knew that there was no one better to lead them should something happen to me, which is why I trained you to the best of my ability, so you could replace me at some point in time... but now they are yours to command, and I know that you will do everything in your power to stop the Burning Legion."

It was at that point that Lord Illidan noticed something in the area around him, to which he said that they wouldn't be able to contact him in this manner again... before he loosed a blast in their direction and broke the connection, though even as that happened they still had an idea of what they needed to do next. Lyra honestly had no idea how they were supposed to convince Akama to join them or retrieve the keystone, especially since Maiev would make sure she never got her hands on it, but seeing their leader again made her remember why she was doing this in the first place. Lord Illidan trusted her abilities and her desire to see the Legion fall, to which she mentally stated that she would do everything in her power to ensure that their enemies fell... and rescue his body from Gul'dan.