Trixie yawned as she pulled herself from the bed she had slept in, rubbed her eyes for a few seconds, and then stretched her arms as she observed the area around her. She and Lyra, after the other Equestrian had gotten over the humor she discovered in the friendly relationship she and Azuregos had, started discussing what they should do when they went down to Azsuna. From what Trixie knew Lyra had already sent down her Illidari to one of the ruins to begin their search for the location of the Tidestone, or someone that knew where the artifact might be located, so she was pleased to have some progress already done while they were up here, in Dalaran. She had admitted that having a lead on a second Pillar of Creation, as the druids claimed they knew where the Tears were located in Val'sharah, which meant that they could bring an end to the Legion's invasion of Azeroth that much faster.
Trixie sighed as she glanced over at the bed that Lyra had collapsed in last night, where she discovered that the other Equestrian was already up and getting ready for their trip to Azsuna, to which she pulled herself onto her hooves and started gathering her stuff. She noticed that she had left Aluneth leaning against the wall, which would have been annoying if someone had taken her staff while she was sleeping, but she grabbed onto the ancient staff and returned it to her back. With that done she made sure that her clothing was in proper order, and that everything was still in her bag, before she walked down the stairs and went to the lower level... to which she spotted Lyra sitting at the same table they had been sitting at the previous night.
Trixie had to resist the urge to chuckle at the fact that Lyra had picked the same table, as the others were open at the moment, before she walked over to where her friend was sitting.
"You ready to head to Azsuna and begin the search for the Tidestone?" Trixie asked, causing Lyra to look up for a few seconds, to which she discovered that her companion was looking at a message she had received while they were sleeping, "Did something happen?"
"You could say that," Lyra commented, to which she let out a sigh as she got onto her hooves, while at the same time allowing Trixie to see that her warglaives were still on her back, before she slipped the message into her bag, "My forces have already landed in one of the ancient elven ruins that dot Azsuna's landscape and have claimed it as a base of operations while we search for the Tidestone. From what they can tell, at the time they sent the message, the Legion has already infected most of the area that's in front of the ruins they have taken, which means that they have started the fight against our enemies. Now, they haven't requested that I join them or anything, but since we were already heading to Azsuna I figured that we might start our search there... as I am certain that we might get a lead while we're there."
Trixie may not trust the Illidari as much as Lyra did, which was no doubt due to all the time she had spent training with them before Illidan had sent them to Mardum, but she did trust her fellow Equestrian and knew that she would never intentionally lead her astray.
"Helping the Illidari sounds like a good idea." a voice said, to which the two of them noticed that Azuregos, now carrying the staff he had been using when Trixie had helped him in the Nexus, standing near the entrance they were going to pass through in a few seconds, before he smiled and moved out of their way, "Especially since Kalecgos told me that one of the Blue Dragons in the area might have been captured by the Legion, with the purpose to learning their secrets and twisting them into a tool to corrupt Azsuna."
"What about the Nexus Vault?" Trixie inquired, though at the same time she fell in with her companions, as she figured that the disguised dragon was here to aid the two of them to the best of his ability.
"Safe." Azuregos replied, to which he tapped the area beneath his neck for a brief moment, indicating that he and Kalec must have come to a decision and put some better seals on the Vault, "Kalecgos and I have improved the seals on the Nexus Vault, to which the key is the only thing that can open the way... so I can rest easy knowing that the other relics are safe from harm at the moment. With my newly discovered free time I decided that I might as well lend you my assistance, to repay my debt to you for showing up when you did and stopping the Ethereum before they could complete their plans... and, if we have time, I wouldn't mind talking with the Blue Dragons that call Azsuna home."
Trixie had been thinking about talking with those dragons, if she and Lyra had time to do so while they were in Azsuna, so it was a little weird to be thinking the same thing as the disguised dragon, though at the same time she noticed the look on Lyra's face. It was clear that, despite the hardships of the demon hunter training she had gone through, Lyra was going to poke fun at the fact that she and Azuregos seemed to be thinking the same thing at the moment, but Trixie knew that there might be some jokes in the future. Trixie already knew that, if she asked Lyra her opinion on whether they should allow the disguised dragon to join them on their adventure, her fellow Equestrian would eagerly agree to letting Azuregos come with them... to which she nodded to the dragon she was following, who smiled in return.
When the three of them reached Krasus' Landing, where they could chart their course for the land known as Azsuna, Trixie spotted her mentor standing in the middle of the area, which meant that he was going to either send them off or he was accompanying them to where the Illidari were stationed.
"Ah, Trixie and Lyra, it is a good thing I caught you before you left," Khadgar commented, causing the group of three to stop in front of him for a moment, though at the same time they made sure that they weren't in the way of the other heroes heading to the other zones of the Broken Isles, "The Council and I have noticed that, in addition to the Blue Dragons, the spirits of long dead elves, and the newly arrived demons, that a small army of naga are apparently moving into Azsuna. That means that you might have competition from Queen Azshara herself... which means that another force might have a hand in trying to gain the powers of a Pillar of Creation."
"N'zoth." Trixie replied, remembering all the theories that her friends in the Celestial Dragons, along with some of the more friendly members of the Horde, had about the origins of the naga, where they all determined that they had to have been created by an Old God.
"It seems to be the most likely explanation," Khadgar stated, nodding his head for a moment, though before Trixie could say anything he held his hand up for a moment, "Don't worry too much about them at the moment, because we'll deal with them after aiding the Illidari... which leads me to my next question. Lyra Heartstrings, do you have a mount whistle or do you still need to pick one up?"
"You mean this?" Lyra replied, to which she reached into her bag and withdrew a fel green colored whistle, where Khadgar raised an eyebrow as Trixie chuckled, "Gaardoun, who originally handed me my felsaber back in Mardum, pulled me aside while I was getting used to the speed of my new Twinblades, where he handed me this whistle and told me that I would be able to summon my mount wherever I was. Unfortunately I haven't tried the whistle out yet, so I have no idea if it even works or not."
"Well, seeing how you won't be able to rely on Trixie's Sandstone Drake form all the time, now is the perfect time to make sure the whistle works," Khadgar said, to which he, and by extent Trixie and Azuregos, backed away from where Lyra was standing, "Go ahead, blow into it and see what happens."
Lyra stared at the whistle for a few seconds, knowing that it had to be important for her to have a working whistle, before she let out a sigh and raised it to her lips. She blew into it for a moment or two, to make sure that there was a solid note, before she pulled the whistle away from her and glanced around the area they were standing in. A few seconds later she was about to ask how long it took for the magic to happen, as she had no way of knowing, but before she could say anything a small fel portal, about the height of her felsaber, opened behind her. As she turned and looked at it, however, her felsaber jumped out of the portal and came to a stop beside her, to which it growled as she petted it for a moment.
"It seems that your whistle works just fine." Khadgar commented, causing the group to look at him once more, as it was clear that he had more to tell them, "Now that we have cleared that up, and determined that Lyra can use her own mount in the future, we should get underway and head down to Azsuna... because the longer we wait the closer our enemies get to uncovering the location of the Tidestone and claiming it for their respective masters. Shall we take to the skies and begin our search?"
Trixie knew that the question was designed to let them know that there would be no going back, not until they had finished searching the entirety of Azsuna for the Tidestone and returning it to Dalaran, to which she nodded her head. A few seconds later she tapped her ring and shifted into her Sandstone Drake form, where she noticed that some of the crystals on her body had a blue tint to them all of a sudden, but she decided to ignore the slight change as she beckoned to Lyra with her head. Her friend seemed to understand what she was doing, because Lyra patted her felsaber's head for a moment before she climbed up onto the saddle that came with Trixie's dragon form. Once Lyra was in place, however, Azuregos smiled and shifted into his own dragon form, revealing the Blue Dragon Trixie had met in the Nexus, before they all turned towards Khadgar.
Khadgar smiled as he held his staff up towards the air and allowed the magic to take hold of his body, to which he morphed into a small raven and departed from Dalaran... to which Trixie and Azuregos took off and followed after him, though they both made sure to go slow so they didn't overtake him.
As they followed Khadgar down to Azsuna, on a predetermined path that was going to show them some of the landscape and what they might be up against, the group was able to glance over at Suramar and ponder the mysteries that were waiting in that area of the Broken Isles. Lyra already knew something about the area, considering that was where she had claimed her Twinblades from, but there was still more that none of them knew about and they had no idea how much of the landscape the Legion had already corrupted. Such a thought made Trixie wonder where Gul'dan had run off to, because there had been no reports on the orc's movements since the defeat on the Broken Shore... but she was sure that they could find the orc, once they secured the Pillars of Creation.
"Look there. The naga forces are moving into those ancient elven ruins!" Khadgar called out, causing the group to look down at the large force of naga that was moving into the area they were flying over, though at the same time both Lyra and Trixie knew that they would be coming here at some point to deal with them, "Breathtaking. Imagine all of the arcane knowledge that was lost here..."
Trixie had to agree that the ruins had likely been some sort of magical school, much like Dalaran and other sections of the various cities around the world, and that it was sad to see it in such a state. They flew over the ruined school of magic and spotted an area that had a decent amount of dead spirits wandering around the grounds, before they moved around a building and noticed a lone tower... one that the Illidari had made their camp in. It was then that Trixie noticed that the area in front of the Illidari's camp was infested by the Legion, as the demons were trying to move into their area and mow them down, but Trixie was pleased to find that Lyra's forces were holding their own.
Once they moved into the area near the Illidari, who must not have noticed their arrival due to the demons that were constantly coming at their camp, Khadgar landed in a small clearing and reverted back to his normal form... to which the group landed before him and followed his lead, to which Trixie and Azuregos reverted to their original forms.
"It is good to see that the demon hunters are holding their own against the Legion," Khadgar said, to which he tapped his staff on the ground for a moment, before he beckoned for the others to join him as he walked towards the command tent, "Come, let us lend them our aid and turn the tide against this attack."
As Lyra followed the others towards the command tent, where she expected Kayn to be standing and going over some reports he had been given, she noticed that all of her forces, those that came to this area, were either fighting the demons, interrogating those they had imprisoned, or were tending to the wounded that had been replaced. Something she had learned while she was training beside these hardened warriors was that there weren't any slackers, as everyone was always doing something while they were in the field. She was pleased to find that they were following their training to the letter, because this reminded her of their campaign against the demons of Mardum... only this time the prize at the end was a different artifact.
Lyra even noticed that the Malevolence was standing near the command tent, which meant that she must have used the Fel Hammer's systems to teleport their forces here, though Lyra wasn't annoyed with that and continued to where Kayn was standing.
"Commander Lyra?!" Kayn commented, noticing Lyra and her friends approaching his command tent, though he actually sounded surprised to see her standing in front of him, "This is an unexpected surprise. When I sent that report I was expecting you to order some additional reinforcements to join us, though I didn't dare to hope that you and your new companions would come to our aid."
"Trixie and I determined that one of the Pillars would be best left to the druids and whoever decided to help them out," Lyra said, recalling what she and Trixie had gone over the previous night, though at the same time she could already see a decent number of demons being mowed down by her forces, "besides, we also agreed that the other classes could deal with finding and recovering both the Hammer of Khaz'goroth and the Aegis of Aggramar. When we took into consideration that Queen Azshara's forces would be coming here, and might attack either you or the spirits, we agreed to come here and lend you our aid. That being said, I know you have already met Khadgar and Trixie, but allow me to introduce our new friend Azuregos."
"It is a pleasure to meet you," Kayn said, holding out his hand for Azuregos to shake, though at the same time he knew that in a second things could change and he might need to attack any demons that came at him.
"Likewise," Azuregos replied, to which he reached forward and shook the hand that was offered to him, but a few seconds later they pulled back from each other, "I heard that there were Blue Dragons in the area... do you know where they might be?"
"We haven't had a chance to go anywhere besides staying in this camp," Kayn said, to which he turned back towards Lyra for a moment, knowing that she and her friends could easily help them turn the tide against the demons and create a stalemate situation between them, "I know that Allari needs some help gathering demon souls so we can figure out where the Legion took Lord Illidan's corpse, though I would also suggest that you speak with Jace as well... he's got something special planned for our enemies."
Lyra smiled as she walked over to where Allari was standing, where she, Trixie, and Azuregos caught a glimpse of her finishing her questioning of the demon she had captured, which ended in the demon's soul being taken by the scythe she carried at all times. When Lyra approached her comrade, however, she was handed a red stone and Allari asked if she and her companions would capture eight demon souls, specifically ones that were being taken by the other Illidari. With that in mind she turned over to Jace, who asked if she and her friends could reactivate the wards he had dropped into the beach that rested between them and the demon's main camp... as the wards were designed to harm demons and would help cut down their numbers.
With those tasks in mind Lyra pulled out her Twinblades and leapt down into the area in front of the camp, to which she threw one of the warglaives at a wrath warrior and cut into it's side, though as the demon approached her she caught her weapon as it made the return to her. As she prepared to cut the demon down, however, a blast of arcane energy knocked the demon back, indicating that Trixie and Azuregos were aiming at the same target, though the attack proved to be the perfect distraction as she cut the demon down. Lyra tossed the red crystal over to Trixie, who raised her left hand and allowed the soul of the demon to be absorbed into it, before Lyra moved towards the felstalker that was charging at her and cut it to pieces.
The three of them moved towards the first of the three wards that Jace had pointed out, where Trixie and Azuregos took care of the smaller demons while Lyra focused on the wrath warriors, though the three of them converged on the infernal that was walking around the area and combined their powers to take it out. Once the first ward was activated it launched energy at a nearby demon, that had apparently moved into the ward's range, and blew the unfortunate demon out of the air. With the first ward activated they fought their way to the second ward, where they claimed some of the souls from the dead demons, before they reached their target and killed the demons walking around it. As the ward turned on Lyra continued to the third and final ward and used the Twinblades' special ability on the demons that were guarding it... to which she spun the Twinblades around her body for a few seconds and cut down her foes, where she activated the ward and smiled.
Once all three of the wards were turned on, and Trixie confirmed that they had gathered enough souls to please Allari, the three of them turned around and headed back towards the camp, to which the main line of the demon hunters saluted Lyra for a moment before resuming their duties. When they returned to the camp, however, they discovered that Jace was happy to hear that the wards were activated, because that meant that they could have some breathing room before they launched their counterattack on the demons they had been studying. Allari, on the other hand, had the group follow her to an area she had set aside for interrogating the demons she had captured inside the crystal she was carrying, while at the same time doing the same thing to the demons they had captured.
When they arrived at the area in question Lyra noticed that Allari was quick to set up the crystals in a manner that would allow her to take the information they were after, to which the demon hunter asked that one of them break the crystal on the left of where they were standing. Trixie, wanting to see what happened next, walked over to the crystal and smashed it, to which Allari compelled the demon to tell them what they had done to Lord Illidan's body, where the demon promised her that all the demon hunters would soon bow to the Legion before disappearing. Azuregos stepped up to the second crystal and repeated the process when Allari asked him to smash it, though the demon told them that he and the other stolen demons were stronger than the scythe.
It was then that Allari said that the powerful demon she had been keeping trapped in the third crystal must have been helping the other's resist her questioning, to which she asked that they invade the crystal and take the demon out while she stayed put to prevent the demon from escaping. When Lyra and the others smashed the final crystal, and revealed the soul of an inquisitor demon, she immediately attacked the demon soul and distracted it, allowing her companions to position themselves around their target. With the three of them taking turns attacking the demon soul, and interrupting the attacks they could interrupt, they were able to take down the soul without taking any damage at all... though as the soul perished it told them that the Illidari was unraveling and that one of them had betrayed the others.
Lyra growled as she glanced over at Allari, because the demon's statement meant that some of their forces had to have been taken captive once more, though the betrayal part meant that one of them might have been corrupted by the Legion. There was only one member among their ranks that might have been corrupted, though as Lyra looked at her friends she silently hoped that she was wrong, because eventually hunting down and killing both Varedis and Carla, the two slain demon hunters that had been resurrected by the Legion, already hurt Lyra. If she had to hunt down and kill Cyana, who was more like a sister to her thanks to all the time they had spent together, it would make her hate the Legion more than she already did... and it would cause her heart to ache more than it already was.
Lyra let out a sigh as she walked over the Kayn, because he deserved to know what they had discovered and what they might have to do next... though she was sure that she, Trixie, and Azuregos would be heading over into the demon camp in the next few minutes.