//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Hell and Heaven on Earth // Story: Defending the universe // by KRissCHu573 //------------------------------// Defending the universe Chapter 5: Hell and Heaven on Earth Within the great hall of the Shifting Winds palace, built on one of the small mountain islands in the northern see of Pandaria, were gathered lots of people, representatives of the Alliance, the Horde and the Pandaren Empire. As a neutral territory from any fraction, this palace was constructed for the very purpose of political meetings. The current attendants were the military leader of the Alliance and King of Stormwind, the Horde’s warchief, the night elf high druid, the Archmage of Dalaran, and several other important figures. “What?!” Samion Wrynn yelled. Taranog took over. “I thought Darnassus’s catacombs were the safest place on Azeroth. How was the eye taken and by who?” A light purple night elf with glowing orange eyes, light bluish-purple hair and short beard replied. “This baffles me as well. They were humanoids, clad in armor which didn’t allow us to identify their species. Judging by their arsenal they were assassins…highly skilled ones at that. They came through a purple portal, which appeared in the very room.” “How is that possible?” A human mage began. “Isn’t Darnassus protected against all magic we know, even that of the Legion.” “Apparently this is magic we have not faced before.” Sylvanas Windrunner said, before enquiring. “Do you have information on their fighting style and abilities?” “I can only tell you what I discovered in the only survivor’s mind. They moved as gracefully as the pandaren monks…” That made the several attending ursine beings uneasy. “…only with the viciousness and ferocity of worgen. That’s the closest I can describe the fighting style. As for the abilities, the survivor only saw how the supposed leader of the attackers created a copy of himself from shadow, and used it to escape a binding spell and kill the mount of a huntress.” Baxtorian Stormrage replied. “The Master of Shadows.” Taranog said with a frightened expression on his face. “Who?” Geram Hellscream enquired. He was too a brownish green with only a ponytail of brown hair and reddish eyes, only wore two spiked shoulder plates, attached with chains to armor-plated leather pants. On his back could be seen a large two-handed, single bladed axe. “What is this Master of Shadows you speak of Taranog?” After receiving an approving nod from the king of Stormwind, the shaman sighted, then gave the truth to his warchief. “I and Samion were visited by the Oracle Medivh, in the dream plane.” Several quiet gasps were heard from the attendants. The shaman noticed how Baxtorian’s ears twitched slightly. Everyone knew what Medivh’s appearing meant. “You had a vision of the Legion’s return?” Archmage Harziim asked shakily. “No.” The king of Stormwind began. “He just warned us about this shadow man, but given that the eye of Sargeras was taken, it is safe to assume that the demons are involved.” “Was there anything else the Oracle share with you?” The high druid asked. “He told us that the Dark Titan himself had leaned over all of creation, now with a new army. And the only way for us to defeat him, is to awaken a god, and ally ourselves with creatures, which were supposed to appear in the sky today.” Taranog explained. “That’s preposterous. How can we possibly awaken a god, when we know of none, neither on Azeroth, nor on Draenor and we have no way of using the Dark Portals to reach other worlds.” Lor’themar Theron said with distrust. He was a blood elf with white hair, tied to a ponytail and a glowing green eye, the other one was covered by an eye patch. He also wore red armor with golden linings. All of a sudden, a powerful wind loudly burst opened a window, and an owl flew inside of the hall. Once it landed on the floor it became the oracle in question. “Fools!” He began. “You should have mustered your forces to the opposite end of the world!” “Medivh…” Harziim quietly gasped, along with several other attendants. “What are you talking about?!” Geram demanded. The man in the brown cloak began to speak with an angry tone. “The cold of death was burned away by fire, but now the light of the flame falls to darkness.” He paused for a moment. “The darkness, which is coming for you now.” A loud scream of a pandaren girl was heard from outside. Everyone who was in the hall, looked towards the window. The very next moment they returned their gazes to their previous spot, to find that the Oracle had vanished. -- Bolvar Fordragon, or the name he was now known by – the newly “crowned” Lich King, sat upon the ice formation that was the Frozen Throne, engulfed within its cold grip. His scorched arms gave off a slight glow through the ice shell. A purple portal opened at the bottom of the stairs, leading up to the throne, and through it…walked Kil’jaeden. This time however, he wasn’t the gigantic monster, but was the size of a slightly large man. The demon took a step forward, before being halted by a voice, which sounded from everywhere. “If you think you can regain the command over them, and lead them against my world…you are dead wrong.” Suddenly the ice shell shattered, and Fordragon lunged at the demon lord, his arms and eyes burning furiously. The Deceiver took a blow to the jaw, and made two steps back. Rivers of fire burst through the Lich King’s arms, drowning Kil’jaeden. In a little under a minute, he stopped pouring out the blazes, only to see that the demon had barely flinched. “Pathetic.” Jaeden said, after which he punched Bolvar, sending him on a collision course with the staircase. The King groggily managed to look up, to see the demon jump on top of him, smashing his fists over his chest. The burned man coughed out some ash. Kil’jaeden grabbed him by the throat, rose him about 10 inches from the ground, and started pounding him with right blows, while talking. “I created this power. You, that stupid white haired princess and the wretched orc thought that you could take it…” Shouting out a cry of rage, Fordragon exploded, sending the demon onto the circular podium in front of the throne. The Lich King stood up, and slowly started walking towards the fallen demon. When he was about half way to him, the sound of footsteps made him turn around…which was a grave mistake. His vision was filled by purple energy. Bolvar bellowed in pain as the world around him began to vanish into a purple nothingness. The energy burned his being. In a few moments his vision returned, and he faced two glowing purple eyes in a void behind a metal helmet. “Now it’s mine.” The being said, and thrust a bluish dagger in the Lich King’s throat. Fordragon fell forward, the crown falling off his head and slid a few inches away, before Kil’jaeden picked it up. The demon gave a quick glance to his creation, before turning towards Malzahar, who was now sitting upon the Frozen Throne. “Let’s make it authentic. Who better than its maker?” The mage said, as he took off his helmet and placed it next to himself. The Deceiver took another glance at the crown, then he hesitantly walked up to the throne, and placed it on the Prophet, who had closed his eyes. When the crown was firmly on his head, his eyes opened and exploded into a purple light, and the crystal on the crown changed its color to purple. Malzahar chuckled, before saying. “Alright. Let’s try this baby out.” __ Samion cut off a brawler’s head, while Taranog’s hammer found itself smashing the head of a sword carrying demon. “I recognize the demons from the Legion, but what are these things?!” The King of Stormwind yelled as he punctured a hound demon. “I think they’re the darkness Medivh spoke of!” The shaman replied, after which h used the element of the earth, summoning hundreds of rock pillars, which stabbed a swarm of voidlings. “Yeah, big help that information is!” The human called, slashing his way towards the orc. “I don’t see you getting anything more useful!” Taranog shot back, ripping apart a serpent, using the plants around them. “Oh yeah?!” Samion yelled. “Yeah!” The shaman returned. The two were literally head pushing each other. All of a sudden a black arrow whistled right between their throats, hitting a demon, which was about to cut them down with a flaming sword, in the heart. With shocked expressions they stared at the demon, as he looked down at his chest, then at them, and uttered. “Uh-oh.” Before falling back dead. Then the two turned around to see Sylvanas. “You bozos ready to stop your bickering, and start acting like beings who’ve gone beyond their 30th life cycle?” The banshee asked with an angry tone, before suddenly freezing into place. “What is it Sylvanas?” Taranog enquired. “It can’t be…” She barely uttered, when out of one of the purple portals lunged out a ghoul, cutting down a human with its claws. Following suit were lots, and lots more, along with skeletons, gargoyles and various other undead, their eyes and the holes in their bodies reaped purple energy. “What in the nine hells is the Scourge doing here?!” Samion shouted, while dodging a slash from an undead, riding a skeletal horse. Just as the rider past him, the human squatted, whirled and cut off the horse’s legs, sending the zombie mounting it head first into the open belly of an abomination. The scream of a pandaren and blood elf getting eaten alive filled Baxtorian’s ears. He, Archmage Harziim, Warchief Geram and Lor’themar Theron were back to back, fighting off waves of demons, undead and the other dark creatures. “We’re not going to hold out much longer!” The blood elf shouted, as he slashed a brawler in half, using the great-sword of the Sin’dorei. “You don’t say! And what do you propose we do?!” Geram returned, as a burning stone golem lost its head from his axe. The human torched two undead with lightning, before saying. “Gentlemen, it has been an honor fighting with and against you.” And then chuckled. Moments later, two large purple portals opened in the sky, and a pair of dragons flew out. They were made of bones, with some rotten flesh, purple energy swirling within the boned bodies. One breathed down cold on all that were bellow him, leaving big ice formations. The other breathed down green gas, which suffocated any living thing, melted the bodies of all of the unlucky undead, who got in the way, and made the plants it touched rot. Baxtorian sent a barrage of arcane missiles at several giant gray spider like creatures, who fired swarms of small insects at them. In doing so, he managed to obliterate them, but failed to notice a ghoul, which leaped at him. The elf had no time to dodge, or react, so he took a deep breath, and accepted his fate. In a split second, the said undead was hurled to the side, by a pink bolt of magic. The quartet turned around, and saw a dozen horses, some with wings, others with horns, all wearing silver armor, charging at the demons, darklings and undead, under the command of another horse, which had both wings and a horn, wearing the same type of armor, only encrusted with different gemstones, and revealing her head. Her mane was of purple, pink and yellow stripes, and her body fur was pink. “Lieutenant, engage and hold down maneuver Lairon!” She commanded, and the pegasi split into two groups, one on the ground, and the other in the air, engaging the enemies with their spears. “Corporal, cover fire, on me!” Was her next order, then she and the unicorns began firing bolts of magic. That combination slightly drove the attackers back. “Are we really getting saved by talking horses in armor?” Geram deadpanned with a dumbstruck expression. Harziim tapped the orc’s shoulder, turning his attention to the sky, as he said. “I…don’t think it’s just horses…” Two gigantic golden ships, followed by five gray ones, which were almost as big as the golden ones, and about three black mechanical looking ones suddenly appeared high in the sky. Several blue portals appeared, and through them came a dozen beings in red mechanical suits, and started shooting down the creatures, alongside with the horses. Four warp prisms descended to about 7 meters above the ground, changed their shape, illuminating the ground in a blue light. In flashes of light, appeared 9 zealots, 3 sentries and 5 stalkers and a high templar, as well as two reptilian figures. One was very bulky, wearing metal plated leather pants, and steel sleeves on his arms, but revealing his shoulders and hands. Long spines could be seen on his shoulders and back. The other was a lot more man like, his head being exactly like a dragon’s, and wore armor, made as if from bones, the chest plate being a dragon’s skull. On his sides he had two twin identical one-handed swords, with black blades and bone handles. Several brawlers gathered in front of them, bearing their teeth. Deh’Kal smirked, then gave out a loud roar, making the creatures wince, and then charged at them, followed by the protoss and Kalistrat. The baloth tackled one of the brawlers, puncturing its ribcage with his shoulder spines, then threw the sorry creature to the side, letting the venom in the spines finish it. The Cursed Dragon got out his blades, and threw one, stabbing a brawler in between the head and its left shoulder. He then ran up to the creature. It attempted to swipe at him with its right arm, but the dragon bent underneath it, and sunk his other blade from underneath its throat, five inches of the sword appearing from on top of the head. He then picked up his second blade, and charged to battle once again. More horses in armor walked through the portal the marines appeared from. The little parts of their bodies which could be seen, were striped. Unlike the other ones, they had neither wings, nor horns, and their weapons were clawed gauntlets on their front hooves. Some leaped on the backs of brawlers, crypt fiends and the dog demons, and tore them like lions did with their prey, while others dodged enemy attacks, and did swipes of their own. A demon was slashing at a zealot, who was backing in order to dodge. Next, his opponent thrust his blade forward. The protoss dropped on the ground, leaving the sword to pierce a burning golem in the gut. While the demon attempted to pull out his weapon, the laying zealot cut off its arms, and kicked it in the stomach. The armless monster bellowed in agony, as it stumbled back. A sentry summoned a force field behind it. The demon tripped and fell backwards, breaking its head on a stone. The zealot responsible for the creature’s fate was getting up, when the stabbed golem rose its fists to crush him. Just as the stone hammers started to descend, the burning monster exploded to pieces. The high templar was standing behind it, with its arm stretched at the golem’s direction. Deh’Kal charged an unlucky undead, breaking his bone horse, and then crushed the rider’s skull in his hand. Suddenly, several missiles exploded near him. He looked up, and saw a familiar face. It was Kha’Zix, only his body was made from metal, and his scythe claws and wings were made from a thin layer of red and yellow energy. Instead of spines, his shoulders now fired missiles. The mech released a loud metallic screech, to which the Baloth King returned with a roar, and the two closed the distance between each other with a jump and a dash. The metal bug cut off one of its opponent’s shoulder spikes, but the baloth barely winced from it. Then he grabbed the mech, and slammed it on the ground. The reptile was about crush the head of Zix, but the bug vanished in a flash of red, leaving only the ground to be damaged by the powerful punch. Deh’Kal looked around for a moment, before the mech reappeared behind him, and kicked him in the back. The King fell face first. He groggily looked up, after which his eyes widened, and then he dashed, avoiding the breath of the ice dragon. Kalistrat picked up one of his blades from the corpse of a serpent, and then looked with distain at the two flying monstrosities. Next his gaze made contact with Deh’Kal’s. The two exchanged nods before starting to run, the dragon chasing the baloth. When caught up to him, Deh lowered his right arm. Kalistrat jumped on his associate’s palm. Then the Baloth King launched the Cursed Dragon, who also jumped from his palm, up at the flyers. As he neared maximum height, the armored dragon tightened his grip on his blades. Chains made of fire appeared from the handles of the blades, and went up to the elbow of their wielder’s arms. He then threw one, stabbing the gas breathing dragon in the right eye, It screeched as Kalistrat took hold of the flaming chain, and pulled himself onto the undead dragon’s head. On it he seemed like an ant on a dog, but ants can bite. The Cursed Dragon sunk both of his still burning blades into the skull, receiving a loud scream from the monster. The other dragon approached, and tried to gobble the small fleshling, but Kalistrat ran down to the neck and jumped off. He threw one of his chained blades again, attaching itself on the wing of the ice dragon. Holding onto the chain, he swung himself up, then pulled back his blade. Now really pissed, the two dragons came at him from below, both opening their maws to obliterate him with their breaths. He however, dove down, head first, and when he was in between them, he threw both of the swords at them. Each weapon found its mark, the lower jaws, and when they were firmly gripped, Kalistrat pulled both flaming chains crosswise. Both beasts engaged in a bizarre, full mouth open “kiss”, unable to stop their projectiles. The green gas melted the entire body of the ice dragon, then the vile substance rained down on the ground. As for the other dragon, his body turned into a gigantic ice block, and started plummeting towards the earth. Kalistrat was falling down, holding onto the chain of a blade, which was attached to it. When the block reached about 20 meters from the ground, the armored dragon sent his other blade, piercing a sword carrying demon in the chest, then jumped off, and pulled himself to the said demon. He landed with his legs on the monster’s shoulders, crushing it, while the giant block shattered to thousands of icy pieces, when it hit the ground. Mecha’Zix attempted to cut off Deh’Kal’s head, as he lunged at him. The baloth foresaw his move, dashed, and pinned the bug to a cliff wall with his metal plated left arm. The sight of the struggling bot, made the reptile smirk, especially entertaining was the part, where it tried to bite the arm, with no success. “Nowhere to run now.” The Baloth King sneered. Then Zix launched one of the missiles from his shoulder, making a small explosion, which helped him escape. Deh was blinded by the explosion, and began rubbing his eyes, attempting to regain his vision. Just then, the mech jumped onto his back. After a few unsuccessful attempts to shake him off, the bug raised his claw for the finishing move. Then the baloth smashed his back against the wall, stabbing the bot with his back spines. The machine screeched out in pain, before its glowing eyes, lost their light and shut down. “Piece of junk.” The now seeing reptile sighted, before letting the metaly remains to drop on the ground, and then cracked his back. Just as the dead bot was about to make contact with the soil, a purple portal opened, and the parts fell through it. “Son of a-. Seriously? COME ON!” The baloth exclaimed in annoyance, before a dog demon jumped at him. Samion and Taranog were fending off attackers, now facing a swarm of voidlings. The shaman summoned the element of wind, to blow away the creatures. His plan was successful, but two of the insects managed to bite the warriors. The venom’s effects quickly started to show, as the human and orc felt their strength leave them. Two demons rushed to them. One was tall, with blue skin and black spikes coming from its back. It wore armored leggings, and carried a large glaive. The other one was purple and centaur like, with a crocodile lower body with dragonic wings. His weapon of choice was a large lance. The immobilized victims faced the demons with courage, to which the foul beings laughed. Just as their victorious cheer began, two blasts of acid hit each, making them scream. Then, four marines burst from the ground, and tore them to shreds with their rifles. Unlike the others, these had strange appendages coming from their backs, their right arms had merged with their guns via some sort of fleshy covering, which could be seen around their bodies. The two azerothians stared at the display, when four small creature with wings, clawed forelegs and limbs on their backs, and mandible like jaws filled with sharp teeth, ran to them. Unable to move, the warriors had no choice, but to wait for them to come. When they neared, the human and orc noticed another figure with the creatures. It was a man with a goatee, who wore a suit, and a military cap. His left arm and some of the body were covered by the same flesh covering, like that of the marines. The arm had long claws on its end, and on the back of the shoulder, he too had an appendage, ending with a bone claw. The different thing about him was, that his left side of the face was melted, with several holes, which glowed with the same fiery-orange light as his eyes. Two of the creatures picked up Samion, and carried him towards the palace. As the other pair lifted him, with slight difficulty, Taranog asked the figure. “Who are you?” The bizarre man smiled, before replying with a strange accent. “I am Alexei Stukov. And you my friend are very lucky.”