//------------------------------//
// Azsuna: The Whelplands 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Lyra, Trixie, and Azuregos followed after Stellagosa as she flew towards the Azurewing Whelplands, where the younger dragons were apparently being raised until they were older, or at least that was what Lyra thought considering that she had next to no knowledge on this sort of thing. As they rode their mounts towards where Stellagosa was going, however, Lyra also noticed what appeared to be some sort of elf that was bent over one of the dead whelps, though the elf appeared to have a strange coloration to its skin and apparently couldn't tell where the three of them were as they rode passed it. She had the feeling that they would be seeing more of that type of elf in the immediate future, because she was sure that Senegos had been referring to that particular type of elf when he mentioned the Nightfallen.

It didn't take them too long to reach the area that Stellagosa had been flying towards, though as they entered the ruins that the Azurewing had taken move the group noticed a projection of Senegos appear in the middle of the area... to which they rode up to the transparent projection.

"Don't you worry, small ones." the projection said, apparently noticing the looks on the trio's faces, while at the same time telling them that Senegos could speak with through the projection, "It doesn't take much energy to throw a projection of myself here and there. I may be old and dying, but I AM still a blue dragon. Speak with Agapanthus, he knows the situation more than I do."

The group nodded and headed over to the entrance of the only building that was in this part of the ruins, where they found the dragon in question waiting for them... though they knew that he must have left the moment they took the fatally drained whelpling to Senegos.

"The withered are the worst kind of pest." Agapanthus said, giving the three of them some knowledge about their enemy before he asked them to do something, though the three of them nodded their heads for a second, so he knew that they were paying attention, "They capture our whelplings, knock them unconscious, and then drink whatever mana they can get from the helpless babes. Normally our drakes and keepers would fend them off, though today, however, it looks like we need your help."

"So kill withered and save the whelplings," Azuregos commented, to which he turned towards Lyra and Trixie, noticing that they were thinking the same thing that he was at the moment, "We'll be back once we have turned back the withered and rescued the whelplings."

The three of them walked away from the ruins, choosing to leave their two mounts behind at the moment, though as they approached a bridge they noticed that there was a large mana crystal, about the side of one of their hands, to which Azuregos yanked it out of the ground. With the crystal in hand they continued towards the area that was the actually whelplands and noticed some of the Azurewing keepers already engaged in battle with the withered, though they also noticed that the withered appeared to be blind and were only attacking back when they sensed their opponent's movements. When they entered the area, however, several of the withered immediately noticed their arrival, as it appeared that they might have felt Trixie's staff, but she was more than willing to give them a taste of her power... to which she sent a bolt of arcane magic into one of the withered's chest, knocking him into the pillar behind him.

Lyra, seeing more of the withered elves approaching them, pulled out the Twinblades and sent one flying through the air, damaging several of her targets before it returned to her hand, where she used it to cut down one enemy that was walking towards her. As she and Trixie targeted withered, and cleared a path that would allow them to reach the injured whelplings, Azuregos followed behind them and healed those that they could reach at the moment. They also noticed that Stellagosa was in the area as well, though it appeared that she had been knocked out of the sky and was resting in the middle of the ancient road that had gone through this area.

One of the withered seemed to think that it was a good idea to approach Stellagosa, though both Trixie and Azuregos noticed and sent a pair of arcane blasts at their target... knocking the withered elf into the tree and giving Stellagosa the time to pick herself off the ground, where she floated in the air for a few seconds.

"Thank you. I fell so quickly, though it is because I am not as strong as I once was." Stellagosa said, though the trio knew that she was referring to the weakening of the dragons that had occurred after the fall of Deathwing, even if Lyra had missed all of that while she was in her prison, "We truly do need your help. One of these disgusting creatures ran off with several of the whelplings, though I do believe that I heard his name: Runas the Shamed. I will survive, seeing how my home is not far away. You still have strength, though. Slay this Runas before he does any more damage to our brood."

The trio looked at each other and knew that Runas had to be stopped, as taking the whelplings and feeding off of them was weakening the dragons as a whole, so they nodded and watched as Stellagosa flew off towards the Repose. Once the dragon was gone, however, the trio returned to their work and continued to combat nay of the withered that came at them, while finding the time to secure some of the remaining whelplings and restore them to a state that would allow them to fly home, where they could get some real rest. They also spotted the cave that Runas must have run into, as it was the only place the withered elf could have gone if he wanted to make sure no one found him, so once they had saved enough whelplings, those that could be rescued anyway, they made their way towards the cave.

Inside the cave they found the withered elf resting on a bedroll, though it appeared to Lyra, from a glance anyway, that the elf wasn't in the same state as the withered they had been fighting so far, but it also appeared that he was progressively getting worse as time wore on. Once they had gathered around the withering elf, who hadn't noticed that they had entered his cave, Trixie and Azuregos called their magic forward, to which they blasted Runas in the chest and woke him up. Lyra was the one that went on the offensive, making sure that the elf's attention was on her and not on her companions, though she also noticed that Runas seemed shocked and surprised at the same time, while speaking almost like a madman.

After a minute or two of fighting, however, Runas did the one thing that Trixie had only seen a few of her enemies do without having a plan to fight back once her guard was lowered; he surrendered.

"I... I surrender." Runas said, falling to his knees and taking up a begging type of position, though at the same time the trio was caught a little off guard by the sudden change in his personality, as he had gone from a fighter and turned into someone that didn't want to die, "Please, my friends, forgive me. I am truly, truly sorry. Feeding on such raw energy... it clouds my judgment. I hope you can see beyond my tattered robes and desperate behavior. I am not a monster. Watch. I shall prove to it to you. I am not some mana-addled FREAK, like the rest of those wretches."

The last bit of the elf's statement, about the rest of the wretches, immediately told the trio that there had to be more of the withered, or the Nightfallen, somewhere nearby, no doubt effecting Senegos' mana pool and harassing any of the other dragons that lived in the area. Lyra considered ending the elf where he was standing, thus offering the Azurewing some protection for the moment, but her gut was telling her that there was more to this than what they knew, to which she pulled the Twinblades back and sheathed them... before she picked the elf back onto his feet. She glanced at her friends and noticed that they were nodding their heads, to which they made their way out of the cave and headed back to where Senegos' projection was... though Lyra made it clear that they were going to stop whatever the other Nightfallen were doing to the Azurewing.

When they returned to where Senegos' projection was, however, they all noticed that the dragon didn't seem to approve of the elf that was following them... despite Runas' attempts at being polite.

"Who is this?" Senegos asked, though he was only being polite because the withering elf was doing the same, because he could have easily ordered someone to attack Runas and was choosing a peaceful route at the moment.

"I am called Runas, son of Indarril, formerly of Suramar." Runas replied, informing the group that he was from the one place that the Legion already had a stronghold in, though it didn't appear that he was on their side, as he was missing the fel flames or energy that came with it, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Nightfallen." Senegos said, though this time he didn't bother to hide his disapproval, not that it seemed to bother Runas at all, "I do not trust you and your kind."

"I understand, good dragon." Runas stated, though at the same time he bowed his head a little, indicating that he wished to do something about that, "My people have earned your distrust. Allow me to make amends."

"Very well then. Azuregos," Senegos said, turning to face the disguised dragon for a moment, to which Azuregos nodded that he heard the old dragon, "You and your friends will accompany Runas to his destination, after which I will shift my projection to your new destination... and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this."

"Off to Zarkhenar then," Runas stated, to which he pulled out his own mount whistle and blew it, though that was followed by a saber that appeared to have magical runes on it appeared next to him, where he climbed onto the cat's back, "We must put a stop to Ael'Yith's plans."

Lyra, Trixie, and Azuregos remounted and followed after the withering elf, to which they listened to him commenting on how they were basically going to kill his family for weakening the entirety of the Azurewing. He also apologized for hurting the dragons, as consuming the raw magical energy made it impossible for him to remember everything clearly, and promised to help them stop Ael'Yith and his followers. Runas also had to ask them what they were even doing in Azsuna, as he had no way of knowing that they were searching for one of the Pillars of Creation, though before he could finish his question the projection of Senegos appeared to their left... to which they looked upon the decent sized elven ruins, with a large part of the middle area broken apart by arcane energy, and knew they had reached Zarkhenar.

"So, they are tapping into the Ley Lines and pulling mana out of the ground." Senegos' projection said, to which he turned its head over to where the others were resting their mounts, where the trio looked back at him, "This explains why not even my mana pools can dull my pain, though at the same time it make me worry for my brood. Without the Ley Lines we are nothing... and then I won't be able to help you find the resting place of the Tidestone. Look for their mana siphons, and punish the cowardly Nightfallen elves that are using them."

"And can you find a few mana jewels for me as well?" Runas asked, though at the same time he gestured to all of the mana that he could see at the moment, "All of this is making it harder for my riddled mind to concentrate, but a few jewels will give me the energy I need to focus... I swear that they will."

Lyra, Trixie, and Azuregos looked at each other for a moment, just to be sure that they had heard the withering elf right, before they simply nodded and headed down into the ruins below them. The Nightfallen were quick to attack them, as they realized that the trio was here to disrupt their operations, but Lyra was ready for them as she used the Twinblades to block attacks and deliver her own in kind. As she forced the elves to attack her, however, Trixie focused some of her attention on gathering her magic and firing spells at the mana siphons that they were near, tearing the smaller ones apart while keeping an eye on the larger ones. Azuregos spent a few moment picking mana jewels from the pockets of their slain enemies, though once he had a fair number he started attacking the Nightfallen with his own spells, blasting a number of them backwards before they were finished by either of his companions.

It didn't take them very long to find one of Ael'Yith's overseers, as the female Nightfallen wore better clothing than the rest of the ones they had seen, but her attacks were predictable and it was easy to bring her down, thanks to both Trixie and Azuregos blocking several of her spells. Once the elf was dead they turned their attention to another elf that was resting on the other side of the small chasm that rested between them, apparently working on an arcane golem of sorts. Lyra carved open the path to their target while Trixie and Azuregos provided cover fire, but when they challenged their target to a fight they discovered that he was too focused on using the construct he had been working on... to which the three of them tore the construct apart and then put the second overseer down.

With those takes complete they turned around and headed back to where Senegos' projection was waiting, though Runas seemed overjoyed to have his mana jewels while Senegos was pleased about this turn of events... to which Senegos said that it was time to kill Ael'Yith while Runas suggested that they also take out the four large mana siphons on their way to him, with the help of the whelplings that is. Even as Runas suggested that, which would help the Azurewing out, a group of whelplings, those they saved in the whelplands, flew into the area and waited above their heads... though the group knew that Senegos was agreeing with Runas, even if he didn't say anything to the withering elf.

Lyra smiled at her friends, because it was time to deal with the person that was weakening the Azurewing dragons... and then, once Ael'Yith was defeated and his schemes ruined, Senegos could point them in the direction of the Tidestone, or whoever knew the location of the Pillar of Creation.