Lyra and Trixie, with help from the strongest heroes that the Alliance and the Horde could offer, spent a week traveling between the various locations that the Legion attacked and brought down the forces that were attacking the town in the region they happened to be traveling to. It gave Lyra some time to explore and know the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor better, as she had never explored them before and needed Trixie's knowledge to show her where everything was, while at the same time they took the fight to the demons that sought to destroy Azeroth. It also gave her the opportunity to meet some of the strongest heroes that the two factions had, which meant that she met warlocks, rogues, priests, and the other classes that existed throughout the world... including the Death Knights, which Trixie had to spend an afternoon explaining their origin to her before she understood them.
To Lyra it seemed that the strongest heroes, with the inclusion of her for the demon hunters, seemed to be evenly split down the middle, as six of the classes had the strongest heroes in the Horde while the remaining six remained in the Alliance... which Lyra was sure had pissed some people off, but she wasn't about to complain, as it put both factions on equal ground for the war with the Legion.
There were times where Archmage Khadgar recalled Trixie to Dalaran, as it appeared that he might have discovered something that could help them in the war with the Legion and wanted his apprentice's input before coming to a decision, which meant that Lyra had to catch the portals that the other mages opened. It felt weird when she had to attack the invaders without Trixie, especially when she was used to explaining why the Legion continued to attack the same six locations a few times. Nonetheless she and the other heroes killed hundreds of demons, from the various races that made up the ranks of the Legion, and she was able to sample almost every type of demon soul in the process... though she was annoyed when they did little more than empower her for a few seconds.
As she and the other heroes stopped what was the fifth invasion for the day, which was a record for the Legion, she had to wonder if there was a way to imbue her weapons with the power to absorb the souls of the demons she slew so they wouldn't come back in the future... and, more importantly, allow her to boost her natural abilities as a demon hunter. She had asked Kayn about that when she was last in Dalaran, which had been about four days ago, and she had been promised that she would be informed if a stronger weapon, one that fit the information she had given Kayn, had been found among the ranks of the Legion... or anywhere else across Azeroth.
She turned to the Alliance mages that were gathering together, to open a portal to the next area that they needed to defend from the Legion, when she noticed that the area they were heading to was actually Dalaran. When she asked one of the other heroes what was going on, however, she discovered that Archmage Khadgar was calling for all the heroes to gather in the city before they teleported the city to a new location. It quickly became clear that Trixie and her mentor had discovered something that could help them turn the tide against the Legion, which meant that they were going to be heading to a new location and would be seeing something other than the same invasions... which was apparently ending, as it appeared that the Legion had stopped focusing on the towns she and the other heroes had been guarding.
When Lyra stepped through the portal, and returned to Dalaran with the other heroes, they found that the city was under attack by six Legion ships that were arrayed to do the maximum amount of damage, indicating that they were planning on knocking the city out of the sky. Sure, there were some lesser demons running around the city, mostly imps and a few infernals, but it appeared that they didn't need Lyra's help... which was fine, because Trixie ran out of the middle area of the city and spotted her within a few seconds.
"Trixie, did you and Khadgar find something that could turn back the Legion?" Lyra asked, though she knew that even if they hadn't found anything the Legion would have attacked the city in due time, because it was a prime target and was full of magic that the demons would want to take for themselves.
"Yes, though we had to trek through a small section Ulduar and visit Karazhan to get the information we needed," Trixie replied, to which she beckoned for Lyra to follow her into the area she had walked out of, where Lyra discovered the Council of Six charging some sort of magical spell in the middle of the area they were in, "We need to find the five Pillars of Creation, which are five immensely powerful artifacts that can lock the portal in the Tomb of Sargeras and prevent the Legion from coming into our world. Unfortunately the five artifacts are located on the Broken Isles, which we have been studying since we discovered this information... though now that the Legion is attacking the city we all agreed that it was time to act and recover the Pillars."
Lyra was glad that they had gained something while protecting the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor from the Legion, though she had no idea what these five Pillars were or where to find them on the Broken Isles, but she had the feeling that Trixie and Khadgar had an idea where to start. She was sure that Khadgar and the others had a plan to get rid of the six Legion ships that were baring down on the city, which oddly weren't sending their larger and tougher forces to fight them in battle, though she patiently waited for the mages to finish whatever they were doing.
"Citizens of Azeroth!" Khadgar called out, to which he moved his hand towards the middle of the room as he spoke, which was a motion that was apparently repeated by the other five mages as both Trixie and Lyra watched what was going on in front of them, "Today is the day that we turn the tide. Today is the day that we re-take our world. And send the Legion back to the hell that spawned them."
The moment Khadgar said that the area between him and the other mages lit up as a beam of concentrated magic surged through the room and hit the top of the building, though Lyra could feel that they were preparing something massive based on the power she was feeling. It was almost like she was back in Canterlot, during the wedding when Princess Celestia dueled the Changeling Queen for a few moments, because the power she felt almost reminded her of her home world... and she was sure that Trixie was feeling the same way.
"Our path is clear." Khadgar said, using the same volume that he had used a few seconds ago, while at the same time the other mages nodded their heads, as if they were telling Lyra and Trixie that this was the best course of action, "The Pillars of Creation await... on the Broken Isles!"
The instant the last word left Khadgar's mouth Lyra felt a surge of energy pass through the building and cast a glance outside, where she found that the Legion ships were missing. She had to wonder if part of the spell had destroyed the ships, or if the mages had simply teleported the six ships to a different location, but she decided that it didn't matter at the moment. That was followed by the purple arcane energy leaking out of the chamber they were in and flowing over each and every building that Lyra could see, making her wonder what the Council of Six was even trying to do, before the area around them disappeared and they teleported the large city to its new destination.
Lyra moaned as she came to, to which she picked herself off the floor and looked back into the chamber that the Council of Six had been standing in, though she found that she and Trixie were the only ones left at the moment. She suspected that Trixie wouldn't be caught off guard by the amount of magic that the six Archmages had poured into their teleportation spell, as she suspected that it required a lot of power to move a city of Dalaran's size, but it had still caught Lyra off guard. After a few moments Trixie walked over and helped her onto her hooves, to which the two of them walked out of the chamber so they could make sure that the rest of the citizens were okay from the massive teleportation spell that had surged throughout the entire city.
"Okay, now that we're near the Broken Isles, where should we go first?" Lyra asked, though at the same time she wished that she had time to actually study the area they would be heading towards and aiding the locals in their various problems, whether that meant fighting the Legion or settling a dispute between two factions.
"My mentor told me that some of the smartest members of each class have been searching for powerful artifacts that can help us win this war," Trixie replied, to which she let out a sigh for a few seconds, which told Lyra that she either didn't trust the other mages to find something powerful or that she didn't want such a weapon, "He said that we should take a breather and wait to see if we can find anything... because we might find some useful weapons that can aid us and deprive our enemies of the weapons they would use to hasten the end of our world."
Lyra nodded her head for a few seconds, because she agreed that the various classes should take every opportunity that presented itself, so they could secure every powerful artifact weapon and keep them out of the Legion's hands. Not a moment later she noticed Kor'vas walking over to where the two of them were standing, though the look on her face told Lyra that she might have some information regarding such a weapon.
"Lyra, it's a good thing I found you so quickly," Kor'vas said, to which she turned her head to the left and right for a few seconds, as if she didn't trust anyone besides her and Trixie, "Kayn told me that he might have found a weapon that matches what you told him earlier... and that he's waiting in Krasus' Landing, where he'll give you the information he has on the weapon in question."
Lyra glanced at Trixie for a moment, knowing that the other Equestrian was curious as to why she had been searching for a weapon before this point, before she headed in the direction of Krasus' Landing. As she stepped out onto the landing, where people were coming into the city every so often by some sort of flying mount, she immediately noticed Kayn standing next to a table, with some tamed felbats sitting on the wall behind him.
"Lyra, I see that you got my message." Kayn commented, knowing that the reason Lyra was here was not because here wanted to have a normal conversation, but rather because she had heard the news he had told Kor'vas.
"I did." Lyra said, knowing that Trixie was standing behind her, though at the same time she couldn't fault her for following along, "I heard that you managed to find a weapon that matches what I told you a few days ago?"
"Actually, we found two pairs of blades that you could use," Kayn replied, to which he picked up a sheet of paper and handed it over to Lyra, who glanced down at it and looked at what she was being shown, "The first pair of warglaives are known as the Aldrachi Warblades, which were bestowed to a demon hunter that willingly became the servant of Kil'Jaeden, though we're fairly certain that it's Carla who holds them. The second pair of warglaives are called the Twinblades of the Deceiver, as the original pair of warglaives were empowered by some of Kil'jaeden's chaotic power... though they are being wielded by one Varedis Felsoul at the moment."
"Varedis?!" Lyra asked, not believing what she was hearing, because the demon hunter had been one of her former teachers and had been killed shortly before the attack on the Black Temple, "How can he still be alive? We all know that he fell before the forces of Shattrath attacked the Black Temple."
"From what we can gather Kil'Jaeden revived him in the Twisting Nether, inflicted some torture on him, and converted him to the Legion's side." Kayn answered, though at the same time he sounded annoyed, which was understandable because Lyra was both shocked and pissed off at the same time, "Varedis and the Twinblades are still within reach, that much we know for sure... but, if you want to pursue this weapon we'll have to ask the eredar lord that was captured and imprisoned inside the Violet Hold."
"I heard that the demon you're talking about put up quite the fight before he was captured." Trixie said, remembering what Khadgar had told her about the Kirin Tor's encounter with the demon, "The eredar you're referring to killed quite a good amount of people before he was wounded enough to capture... and I don't think the warden will let you inside the prison to speak with him. However, that doesn't mean that we can't simply ask someone to speak to the warden for us."
Lyra immediately knew that Trixie was referring to her mentor, who seemed to be the one person that most of the people in Dalaran listened to in times like this and was well respected by the other members of the Council of Six. When she told Kayn who Trixie was referring to, however, she found that her second agreed with them, to which the three of them made their way towards the area where the Council gathered. It didn't take them long to find the majority of the Council of Six deep in conversation, no doubt sharing news about all the potential weapons that might be used against the Legion, though they didn't seem to mind it when Trixie asked if she could talk with Khadgar for a few minutes... though Lyra did noticed that Trixie used the word 'mentor' and not his name, indicating that she knew that Khadgar was still higher in ranking than her, despite the deeds she had done over the last seven years.
When Trixie explained why the three of them wanted to speak with Khadgar, however, they learned that the Archmage had specifically ordered that the eredar lord be captured and not killed when they encountered it, because he had heard that the demon might know where a pair of warglaives might be found... though the trio knew he was referring to the Twinblades of the Deceiver. Seeing how Khadgar had captured the eredar lord specifically for the weapon to be found, and was merely waiting for them to come and see him about the weapon, he agreed to speak to the warden on their behalf. They quickly made their way towards the Violet Hold and approached the warden, who got into a small conversation with Khadgar before he agreed to let Lyra and Trixie inside the prison.
As the trio entered the prison, and noticed that it was guarded by several guards and a fair number of magical constructs, the warden spoke to a familiar made of arcane energy and had it lower the barrier it was generating, while at the same time the other guards ran towards the door and left the prison. Kayn and Trixie, knowing that this was where Lyra would follow the warden, promised her that they would stand by the door and be a last line of defense in the off chance the eredar tried to escape through the open door. The two of them approached the cell that the eredar was behind held in, though as they walked up to it Lyra could have sworn that the demon knew her... and that really didn't sit well with her as they stopped in front of the cell.
"Lyra Heartstrings?!" the demon stated, though Lyra could hear the anger in the demon's voice, which told her that something from her past was rising to the surface once more, "You were the one that slew my brother, Terraxas, in Shadowmoon Valley! You would dare to stand before me, Taldath the Destroyer, after so many of your kin have fallen and after you slew my brother? If you release me I promise that I will make your suffering quick... but I will enjoy personally torturing your soul until you bend your knee to Lord Kil'Jaeden, just like the others we have broken!"
"I can see that you and Taldath might have some 'history' with each other," the warden commented, though it was clear that he didn't like the sound of some demon hunters being broken and siding with the Legion, but that didn't stop him from accessing his magic, "Remember, you were never here."
Lyra stared at the large eredar as the cell door disappeared, while at the same time the warden teleported out of the prison, though she was more interested in getting the information she needed from Taldath. As the eredar lord stepped out of the prison he thrust his hand towards Lyra and surrounded her in fel magic, to which he forced her back to the floor level that was below them and teleported to her as she broke free. The moment she was free, and had her warglaives drawn, Taldath charged at her with the wide variety of attacks that were at his disposal; which included breathing fel fire on her, throwing fel fireballs in her direction, summoning a hail of fel fire from the air to burn the ground, and used two balls to create a beam of dark energy that was designed to damage her.
Lyra remembered her encounter with the demon known as Terraxas, back when she was a novice in the style of fighting like one of the demon hunters, but her experience and power aided her in bringing down Taldath... after he had, foolishly she mentally added, proclaimed that all of Suramar would bow at his master's will.
"So Varedis is in Suramar," Kayn commented when Lyra returned to the group, where the three of them left the prison and nodded to Khadgar, informing the Archmage that they knew where the Twinblades were located, "two other demon hunters should join you as you hunt Varedis down, mainly to ensure that none of the other demons interfere with your fight. The rest of us will stay here, where we can keep a close eye on the second pair of blades... just in the off chance that we might want to claim them and remove them from the Legion's possession."
Lyra nodded as they walked back to Krasus' Landing, where she discovered that a third felbat had been prepared with the other two, who already had riders on their backs. It was clear that the moment they went to talk with Khadgar, and ask about seeing the eredar, Kayn had ordered that the felbats be made ready for her. She heard that Darksorrow and Ravencrest would be heading out with her, which made her somewhat happy as she climbed onto the felbat that had been prepared for her, bid Trixie farewell for the moment, and took off with her companions.
Lyra looked out over the fel infested hold that was apparently called Felsoul Hold, which told her that Varedis wasn't even trying to hide himself at this point, and noticed all of the red felbats that seemed to be lingering in the air. She had ignored the massive elven city that was resting near Felsoul Hold, because it wasn't of importance at the moment and she needed to have all her focus on the task at hand. Her fellow demon hunters were silent as well, as it meant that they could keep themselves hidden for the most part, though the other reason was because she was their leader and they were waiting for orders to be given to them.
Unfortunately one of the flying doomguards noticed that they were riding on the felbats and shouted down to the others, to which the sky was filled with fel shots as the demons tried to shoot them down... though they succeeded in blowing her companions out of the air and forcing her to dismount her own felbat, where she rushed towards the closest cannon and took it out with the energy that had gathered around her for a few seconds.
"To arms!" a high ranking demon shouted, telling Lyra that the entire hold was going to be ready for her assault, though at the same time she pulled her warglaives out as she stood back up, "Lord Felsoul must not be disturbed."
Lyra charged down the ramp that was in front of her and collided with the demons that were coming towards the cannon she had taken out, where she danced around the blows that were coming her way and cut down the demons that were in her way. It didn't matter what sort of demon tried to fight her, because she fought the wrath warriors, fel stalkers, eredar, and even a pair of Mo'arg that had been summoned from a nearby portal, though she did notice a fel construct that appeared to be powering the barrier she had seen when she and the others had entered the area. She loosed her Eye Beam at the fel pillar and tore it to pieces, which seemed to weaken the barrier for a moment, before she noticed that she needed to take out two more if she wanted to get at Varedis.
The commander demon she had heard a few minutes ago was standing in front of the second pillar she needed to destroy, though when she engaged him in battle the demon proclaimed that this would be as far as she went... to which she mentally laughed as she dodged his attacks, delivered her own to his body, and swiftly cut him down. Once the demon commander was dead, and any demon he had summoned during the fight had been taken care of, Lyra turned to the pillar and brought it down as well.
"Lyra Heartstrings." a familiar voice said, to which she turned around as she looked for Varedis, though when she didn't find him she knew that he was taunting her from the piece of his hold that was resting behind the barrier, "It has been years since we last saw each other. You, of all people, should know better than to challenge me."
Lyra let out a sigh as she followed the pathway that would no doubt lead her right to where Varedis was waiting for her, to which she had to contend with an infernal that hit harder than any of the other ones she had encountered before this point, but the souls fragments that she shaved off healed the majority of the wounds she had been dealt. She then advanced on the eredar summoners that were standing in her way, to which she cut them down and advanced towards the end of the path she was on... where she found an Overfiend, a large demon that had fel fire on its body and was wearing armor, step out of a portal.
Lyra groaned as she stared at the demon, because she had heard about this type of demon and never encountered one until this point, which means that this would be a new experience for her. Fortunately it appeared that this particular demon had been designed to defend Varedis against demon hunters, because if it had any additional abilities then Lyra would have been in trouble, but the speed of their attacks was about equal. Since her opponent had nothing more than speed backing it, however, she used her abilities to stun the demon where it was standing and delivered a group of punishing blows with her other abilities... to which she brought the demon down and let out another sigh.
As she destroyed the third and final pillar, however, she watched as the barrier fell apart, though before she could take a step Varedis appeared on the other side of the fel river that rested between where they were standing. Lyra was surprised when she saw what had become of her former mentor, because his skin had darkened more than the other demon hunters and his tattoos burned with fel energy. His feet were permanently locked in the form of hooves, while at the same time his wings were out in full display, as if he was proud of the fact that he had joined the Legion and had taken on such a corrupting position. Varedis also wore nothing on his chest, though he was wearing some pants and a sash, making him look like a mockery of Lord Illidan, which only served to piss Lyra off more than she already was.
That was before she noticed the warglaives that Varedis was carrying, because the weapons he was carrying seemed much sharper and more deadlier than what Lyra was carrying at the moment... and that wasn't taking into consideration the fact that Kil'Jaeden had empowered the weapons with his own power, because Lyra was sure that she could feel the small fragment of the Deceiver's power from where she was standing.
"I was Illidari once..." Varedis commented, though at the same time he glared at Lyra while he spoke, as if he blamed her for something that she didn't know about, "left for dead at the Black Temple. Now you will witness the power of my new master! Behold the infinite power of the Twinblades!"
The moment the last part came out of his mouth Varedis leveled one of the Twinblades with where she was standing and loosed some strands of fel energy into the river between them, to which he forced a piece of the ground beneath them to rise and form a bridge for Lyra to use. Lyra, on the other hand, had no idea if Varedis was trying to impress her enough to make her change sides, but she gripped her weapons and charged forward as her target moved backwards. Instead of fighting Varedis in her base form, which would be asking for trouble when she considered the power he had commanded when he was training her, Lyra immediately accessed her Havoc form and jumped into the air... to which she slammed into the ground in front of Varedis and let her warglaives come into contact with the Twinblades.
When one of them stunned the other and loosed their version of the Eye Beam on their opponent, to do damage to them, the other would break free and do the same thing, just to even the playing field. When one of them used the Blade Dance in combination with the area of darkness effect the other would copy them, which was generally followed by their blades coming into contact with each other. Neither of them seemed to be making any progress in defeating the other, as they seemed to be evenly matched in their empowered forms, though that was before something powerful froze Lyra where she was standing and allowed Varedis to back away for a few seconds.
"Return to Argus." a new voice said, though this one was so commanding that Lyra knew that it had to belong to Kil'Jaeden the Deceiver, which meant that he had been watching the two of them fight the entire time, "We will deal with this one another day."
"I have no need for mortal armaments!" Varedis declared, to which he threw the Twinblades at the ground in front of Lyra, where they impaled the ground with one side sticking into the ground, before he charged at the portal he had been building and turned back towards Lyra, "You and I will meet again, Lyra Heartstrings, and when we do I will take great pleasure in corrupting your soul!"
As Lyra recovered from being stunned by Kil'Jaeden she watched as Varedis charged into the portal and disappeared, though before she could follow him to Argus, and finish the fight, the portal closed... to which she let out a sigh as she left her empowered state and approached the Twinblades, where she gently placed hers on the ground and took hold of the powerful weapons. She could feel the power of the blades the moment she took hold of them, which made her stagger for a few seconds, but she stood up and let a smile appear on her face, because Varedis just gave her the weapons she had been searching for... and would take great pleasure in using them against the Legion.
"Well done Lyra," a voice said, to which Lyra turned and watched as Kayn flew in on a felbat, along with a few more of their companions, "It's a shame that Varedis got away, it truly is, but you have what you came for... though the day will come when you and Varedis will cross paths again. Come on, let's get back to Dalaran and put those Twinblades to use."
Lyra nodded and sheathed the Twinblades on her back, as she was slightly surprised by how light these ones were, though before she moved she picked up her old warglaives and tossed them to one of the demon hunters that had accompanied Kayn. The reasoning was that someone else might need a pair of warglaives in the future and it was best if they took them away from Felsoul Hold, in case the other demons tried to corrupt them or something, though that was followed by her climbing onto the remaining felbat and taking off with the others.
When they arrived in Dalaran, and approached Krasus' Landing, Lyra noticed three of her fellow demon hunters, Kor'vas, Belath, and Asha, standing near the middle of the landing, though they were accompanied by Trixie and Khadgar. Her fellow demon hunters were amazed by the Twinblades, while both of the mages stared at them in awe, though that was before Kor'vas mentioned that Jace needed her help with something and that they should head towards the small floating island that Khadgar was allowing them to use. Lyra nodded and followed her fellow demon hunters towards the ruined wall, to which they jumped off the edge and used their fel energy to summon their temporary wings from their tattoos on their backs... though Lyra noticed that they were followed by the slow falling forms of Trixie and Khadgar.
It didn't take them long to reach the floating island in question, which appeared to be a piece of the ground that had been ripped out of the earth when Dalaran had been teleported into the air so long ago, but Lyra was happy to see that Jace and the others were waiting for them... and that they had some demons imprisoned on both sides of an area that could serve as a portal to some location. There was also a Legion communicator, which Jace must have taken from the Vault while she and Trixie were busy saving the world, sitting nearby, though Lyra was pleased to find the image of the Matron Mother looking at her.
"Lyra, I have good news to tell you," Jace said, to which he tapped the communicator for a few seconds, indicating that whatever he was going to tell her was definitely something important, "I was able to make contact with our forces aboard the Fel Hammer, which they have held ever since we left Mardum all those years ago. Unfortunately the Matron Mother used most of the ship's power to teleport the bulk of our forces aboard the ship, but it greatly taxes what power remains in the ship. We now have a much better way to get to the ship... since your new weapons hold a fragment of Kil'Jaeden's power you should be able to open a permanent portal to the Fel Hammer. All you have to do is give the word and we'll get started opening our portal."
Lyra looked at the demons that had been gathered on this island, knowing that if they were free they would have brought ruin to the world in one form or another, to which she let out a sigh as she stepped between the two containers and faced the point where the portal would be created.
"Do it." Lyra commanded, to which Asha and Belath raised their warglaives and loosed their Eye Beams at the demons they were standing in front of, where their souls flowed towards the area in front of Lyra.
She waited for a few seconds, to be sure that all of the souls had gathered in the one spot, before she pulled the Twinblades out and swung them at the area in front of her, effectively cleaving a hole in the air that forced her to take a few steps back... though she smiled when she saw the gleaming portal that would take them to the Fel Hammer.
Her fellow demon hunters cheered as they walked into the newly opened portal, heading to the ship they had taken from the Legion, to which she beckoned for Trixie and Khadgar to follow her through the portal. When they appeared on the other side the Matron Mother expressed her delight in seeing Lyra again, though that was when she beckoned for her and her new friends to enter the ship. As Lyra walked into the main chamber of the Fel Hammer she immediately noticed that the body of the Brood Queen she had killed, more than seven years ago, was hanging in the middle of the ceiling... though she was sure that the demon was very dead at this point.
As she stopped in front of the console that rested in front of her, however, Lyra heard a growl that she hadn't heard in seven years, to which she turned and smiled as her felsaber walked up to where she was standing and sat next to her. Once she was reunited with her mount, who was pleased to see her again, Lyra raised one of the Twinblades into the air and the Fel Hammer responded, to which the entire ship woke up from its seven year slumber and powered up all of its systems. Lyra smiled as a star chart burst into existence in the middle of the room, detailing all the broken planets that rested near Mardum, while also noticing the sphere that had to be Azeroth.
Lyra let her smile grow as the Ashtongue, the Coilskar, and the Shivarra teleported aboard the Fel Hammer, because now that the ship was under the control of the Illidari they could begin gathering additional resources and soldiers as they searched for the Pillars of Creation... and she was going to enjoy stopping the Legion every step of the way.