Prince Farondis stood in the center of the bridge as he watched Trixie, someone who seemed to be a mix of a dragon, a human, and something else, walk into the Nar'thalas Academy and disappear, though at the same time he felt paralyzed. Trixie's companions, Lyra Heartstrings and Azuregos, seemed to be as odd as she was, as one of them seemed to be a mix of demon and elf, while the other seemed to be a mix of elf and dragon. He had no idea what was going on, as he was sure that hybrid creatures like that didn't exist during his time period... but then he had to remember that ten thousand years had passed since the time of his death and that things had been changing ever since.
As he stood on the bridge, however, Lyra and Azuregos moved back into the city ruins and took the fight to the naga, leaving him alone with his thoughts and the emotions that he was feeling at the moment.
Just thinking about how long it had been since the day he died, and was forever cursed to live as a spirit like the rest of his people, made his heart ache as the guilt he had buried started to resurface. He had known that Queen Azshara would have doomed Azeroth ten thousand years ago, back when she was using the power of the Well of Eternity to aid the demons that had found their world. The Queen had seemed to have been tricked by their master, Sargeras if his memory was correct, but in reality she was more than willing to let the demons into their world... which was why he had started to stage his coup all those years ago. He silently cursed out the elf that had betrayed him and told his plans to the Queen, who had called upon the power of the Well, mixed it with her own, and then shattered the Tidestone like it was made of clay... which sunk the entirety of Farondis' kingdom as well as cursing them to live as spirits for the rest of their lives.
His people, who had been loyal to him until his desperate attempt to stop the Queen, started to accuse him of being a murderer, a butcher, and all sorts of horrible names, all because he was trying to protect their world against a Queen that wasn't right in the head... and this was his reward for trying to do the right thing; he, and all of his people, were nothing more than spirits, doomed to walk the planet until they were released from their curse.
Still, despite the grief and guilt that was eating away at him from the inside, he knew that there was some hope to their predicament, as one of his Elders had already been freed from the curse... and there were people among the living that gave him hope for the future. There was something about both Trixie and Lyra that made them seem like there was more to them than what he was seeing, especially since one was half dragon and the other was half demon... and there power, which they hadn't used a lot of since he had met them, had to be impressive. Add in the fact that they likely had a full grown dragon following them around, a blue one if his guess was correct, made the three of them an effective team when they worked together... and, oddly enough, it filled him with hope that they would make it through this and claim the pieces of the Tidestone.
When he thought about the hope that Trixie and her friends instilled in him, however, Prince Farondis found the strength to cast off his guilt for a moment and face the academy with a new sense of conviction... though before he could take a step forward he noticed two naga emerge from the middle of the building. He quickly ran towards the academy building and hid behind one of the large pieces of the walkway, making it much harder for enemies to see him, though he could see the two naga clearly. One was female, which had to be Athissa, and the other was a male brute, which had to be some sort of commander to replace the one that had been killed an hour or two ago... though that was when he noticed that Athissa was carrying the fragments of the Tidestone, and that the brute was hauling an unconscious Trixie away with a plain looking rope.
"Make sure that prisoner doesn’t awaken, Parjesh." Athissa said, stopping for the briefest of seconds to address the larger naga that was following her, while at the same time being completely unaware that Prince Farondis was watching their movements.
"Yes, my mistress." the larger naga, Parjesh, responded, to which the two of them continued moving away from the academy building, with both Trixie and the Tidestone in hand.
Prince Farondis kept his eyes on the pair for a moment, wincing at how they were poorly treating Trixie by dragging her across the ground like they were, and watched as they crossed the bridge he had been standing on, turned to the left, and stopped at a small shrine not even a minute away from the bridge. Once he was sure that neither of the naga were moving, as for some reason they had chosen to stop at that exact area, Prince Farondis picked himself up and made his way across the bridge... where he saw Azuregos and Lyra tearing apart more of the naga's siege weapons, while at the same time being unaware of what was happening with Trixie.
He chose to let the two of them had their battle with the rest of the naga's forces, allowing him to take on their commanders and rescue their friend... to which he walked over to where Athissa and Parjesh were standing.
"Unhand my friend you wretched naga," Prince Farondis said, to which he gathered a small amount of his power and blasted Athissa in the back, causing her and Parjesh to turn and face him, "and hand over the Tidestone... it belongs to me, and whoever I gift it to."
"Be gone, spirit!" Athissa replied, though at the same time she faced Prince Farondis, while her companion seemed to be getting read to leave them alone, "The Tidestone belongs to us now!"
"You deal with our guest, Athissa." Parjesh commented, to which he tightened his grip on the rope he was holding and hauled Trixie's unconscious body into the air for a moment, "I shall take the prisoner to the slave pens."
Prince Farondis wanted to chase after Parjesh and rescue Trixie, but Athissa slithered between him and his target, allowing the larger naga to flee with his friend. In response to that Prince Farondis started to blast his opponent with small bursts of arcane energy, while at the same time dodging the bubbles and waves that Athissa sent at him. It was clear that she was trying to trap him, so she could make her getaway with the fragments of the Tidestone, but at the moment he wasn't about to let her trap him. He even summoned a barrage of small meteors and pelted Athissa with them, though after the barrage was over his foe seemed to lose the will to fight him and slithered away from the area they were in... taking the bag with the Tidestone fragments with her.
Just as he was about to give chase to Athissa and Parjesh, however, he heard the sound of footsteps coming his way, to which he turned around and watched as Lyra and Azuregos walked up to him.
"Prince Farondis, what's the matter?" Lyra asked, though at the same time she noticed Athissa, who she immediately recognized, slithering into the ruins that were off to the right of where they were standing.
"Athissa and one of her allies, who I'm guessing is a warlord by the name of Parjesh, have taken the Tidestone," Prince Farondis replied, though as he spoke he knew that the two people in front of him would be able to understand what he was saying, "and, to make matters worse, they have also captured Trixie."
"That would normally be a problem if we had no idea where they were taking her," Azuregos commented, to which he walked forward a bit and pointed at the ruins that Lyra had caught a glimpse of, which happened to have a large number of nagas roaming the area around the main structure, "I would guess that the naga brought her here, to their main camp in Azsuna, though there's no way to tell without actually heading over there and searching for Trixie."
"Okay, then our order of business should be this," Lyra said, staring at the complex that the naga had set up, while at the same time remembering the tactical training that Lord Illidan had given her, "First, we find where they are holding Trixie and free her, as we as any other prisoners that the naga might have captured so they can cause some havoc of thier own. Once we have Trixie back, and she's conscious again, we'll need to start attacking certain points of the camp to confuse the naga, allowing us to slip into the heart of the ruins, where we'll likely find Athissa and the Tidestone. We should be able to rescue Trixie, and reclaim the artifact, in no time."
Prince Farondis smiled as the three of them followed the path they were on and encountered a small group of three naga patrolling the single building in front of them, to which he crushed them with a small meteor shower. Lyra and Azuregos made sure to only fight the groups of enemies that were directly in front of them, which wasn't a problem because there was someone on the other side of the ruins apparently causing some chaos. They could see several groups of naga moving towards where the commotion was coming from, though Azuregos smiled as he noticed Stellagosa flying around and breathing fire on certain groups of naga.
He wasn't sure what had possessed her to come and help them all of a sudden, but it was good to have some assistance... though before they could get too far into the camp Prince Farondis noticed a cave nearby and ran over to it, where he stopped as he felt something familiar around him.
"Farondis! My most loyal subject." a familiar voice said, though not a few seconds later Prince Farondis had an idea who the voice belonged to, as he had heard it many times before the Tidestone had been shattered, while at the same time he hated the fact that it was easy to match it to its owner, "It’s been too long."
"That voice…" Prince Farondis commented, though at the same time he held up a hand to prevent Lyra and Azuregos from getting too close, as he needed to face this demon alone... which was when a shadowy naga, one that was slightly larger than the other ones, appeared in front of him.
"I’m sorry, you must not recognize me." the shadowy naga said, to which the image rippled until an elf was standing in the cave's entrance, one who was wearing unique set of white robes and other pieces of jewelry, though at the same time Prince Farondis was sure he would have been sweating if he was still alive, "Is this better?"
"Queen Azshara…" Prince Farondis stated, to which Lyra and Azuregos determined that the ten thousand year old spirit had no idea that his former queen had been changed into a naga after the Well of Eternity had exploded, creating the landmasses that Azeroth had these days, "you… YOU lead the naga?"
"Poor, deluded Farondis." the vision of Queen Azshara said, though her tone would have normally made Lyra draw her weapons and attack, but she knew better than to try and do that this time around, to which she allowed the Queen to speak with the prince, "Don’t you remember? I quashed your rebellion ten thousand years ago. Do you remember how powerless you were to stop me? And look at you now! A spectre of your former self, cursed to an eternity of undeath and ineptitude. I’m giving you an opportunity to kneel before me, princeling. Maybe something can be done about that little curse…"
"To release my people’s curse…" Prince Farondis repeated to himself, as he knew how tempting the offer would have been to many of his people, who had given up on a cure so many thousands of years ago, "to redeem myself and secure my legacy…"
Prince Farondis looked back at Lyra and Azuregos, recalling what he had thought about earlier before the naga had dragged Trixie out of the academy, where he felt hope by looking at Trixie and Lyra. He still had no idea why he felt hope when he looked at them, but there was something about them that screamed that they were the heroes that would turn the tide against whoever their enemy was and make sure Azeroth was safe from harm. He was sure that they must have done some incredible things in the past, which meant that if he placed his faith in them, and answered the call when they needed aid, he was bound to end the curse that plagued his people.
The thought of ending the curse the natural way, and not siding with the Queen that had cursed them in the first place, made Prince Farondis smile as he turned his attention back to the image of Queen Azshara... and, at the same time, gathered his energy for what he was about to do.
"No." Prince Farondis declared, to which he stared into the eyes of the image that was standing before him, knowing that his friends were likely pleased that he hadn't given in, especially when he was being offered something that he really wanted, "I know I what I must do. The people of Azsuna were, and always will be, too proud to kneel before your demonic allies, witch. And we will NEVER… KNEEL… BEFORE YOU!!!"
As the last four words left his mouth Prince Farondis called upon the largest barrage of flaming meteors he had ever called since the time of his death, to which a barrage of meteors raced out of the sky and slammed into where the image of Queen Azshara was standing. He already knew that he was wasting energy, as this was just a projection meant to speak with him, but he knew that this would show his former Queen where he stood... and that he would continue to oppose her, especially with his new friends.
"Ha ha ha haaa…" the image of Queen Azshara stated, which meant that the actual Queen Azshara found what he was doing amusing, before she grew serious for a few seconds, "my wrath is coming."
A few seconds later the image of the Queen disappeared, to which Prince Farondis stopped summoning more meteors and waited for the fire to clear, before he let out a sigh and walked into the cave. He spotted several naga walking around the small cave, to which he summoned some fireballs and put each and every one of them down, though at the same time he spotted Trixie resting against one of the walls. Lyra, entering the cave behind him, noticed her friend and rushed over to her side, to which she raised a hand to her forehead and checked for a pulse... where she let out a sigh of relief as she discovered that Trixie was fine.
"Brr..." Trixie moaned, shivering for a few seconds, to which she carefully pulled herself up and sat against the wall the naga had left her by, where she noticed that she had company, "Hey guys... is it just me, or is it a little cold in this cave?"
"No, you're feeling cold because of your new hybrid form," Azuregos replied, though at the same time he heated up his hand with his magic, to which he rubbed some of Trixie's new scales, which had been cold the moment he touched them, "Am I correct in assuming that Athissa cast a freezing spell on you while you were trying to claim the fragments of the Tidestone?"
"Yes... the last thing I remember is being blasted with frost magic from behind," Trixie answered, though she smiled as she felt some feeling return to her legs, to which she stretched her new toes for a moment or two, "I was just about to claim the fragments of the Tidestone, after all the hard work I went into getting the key and opening the door, when I noticed Athissa coming up behind me at the last second. Then she froze me and declared that the Tidestone belonged to her Queen... as well as making me into a slave after they bound me to a more mortal form and sealed my powers."
"I would have liked to have seen them try that." Azuregos said, chuckling for a few seconds as he moved his hands onto Trixie's back, which would speed the process of warming her up, "The dragons of Azeroth might have been weakened after the death of Deathwing, but we are still powerful in our own right... and I highly doubt that someone like Athissa could think that she could bind your power. I think that the only naga that might be able to do that is the Queen herself... and no one has actually seen her since the collapse of the Well of Eternity."
"If you say so," Trixie commented, to which she noticed the one odd thing that was resting next to her, as the naga had captured her and let her keep Aluneth, though that was followed by her picking the staff up and pulled herself to her feet, "Now, let's go get that Tidestone."
"Are you sure you should be moving so soon?" Lyra asked, as while she didn't doubt that Trixie could be moving now, thanks to everything she had been through for the last seven years, she knew that she should be resting right now.
"We have to move quickly before the artifact is taken where we cannot follow," Trixie said, as no one actually knew where Queen Azshara's new palace was, or if she even had one after all of the years of living under the water, "and besides, I need to pay Athissa back for freezing me in that block of ice earlier."
Fortunately for them Stellagosa was still attacking the naga, along with a few additional dragons that had seen fit to aid her in her quest, allowing the group to sneak around the camp without the naga actually paying attention to them. They were able to easily find their way to where Athissa had to be hiding, the middle of the ruins to be exact, where they discovered her and Parjesh standing in an area with the Tidestone fragments in front of them. Trixie was more than ready for a fight, as the moment the four of them approached the two naga she raised her hand and slammed a blast of magical energy into Athissa.
"Hey you wretched naga, remember me?" Trixie called out, causing the two naga to turn towards her group, while at the same time Athissa seemed surprised to find that she was up and about already, "Now hand over the Tidestone and maybe I won't hurt you as much as I was originally planning."
"Parjesh!" Athissa said, choosing to ignore Trixie at the moment, while at the same time passing the fragments of the Tidestone into his hands, "Rally the rest of our forces. I shall make short work of this minor interruption."
"It will be done, Tidemistress." Parjesh replied, though before the group could even stop him the naga rushed down the walkway in front of where he and Athissa had been standing, disappearing into a vortex of energy.
"Hatecoil!" Athissa called out, to which the naga that weren't engaged with the dragons emerged from the surrounding area and prepared themselves, "Seize them!"
"Look alive, nightwatchers!" a new voice called out in turn, to which Trixie and her friends noticed that Thaldrys and his soldiers had followed them to the naga's camp, "Our prince needs us!"
Lyra, Azuregos, and Prince Farondis focused their efforts on taking out the soldiers that the nightwatchers were attacking, leaving Trixie to her magic duel with Athissa. Magic flared between the two of them as the spells that they threw collided with each other, exploding upon impact in the area between them, though for a while it appeared, to those that were observing the fight, that the two of them were at the same level of power. A few seconds later, however, Trixie grinned as she tapped into Aluneth's power, drawing a rune on Athissa's chest, which gathered energy until it detonated, utterly obliterating her opponent's chest with her well placed attack.
The naga that had been watching the attack, however, were caught off guard by the death of one of their leaders, to which the nightwatchers were able to put a good number of them down before they fled... allowing the group to gather together again, as well as let Prince Farondis come to terms with what he had seen.
"You killed Athissa, Trixie." Prince Farondis said, though he was a little shocked by the power that she had displayed, to which he determined to ask her about her weapon at some point in the future, "My people… they fought for us… But, Warlord Parjesh has escaped through the portal with the Tidestone. You must pursue him and retrieve the Pillar of Creation."
"Yes... I guess it's time for a dungeon run," Trixie commented, staring at the portal that was in front of them, while noticing that the blue dragons were flying back to the Repose, to which she turned back to Lyra, "We'll need to head back to Dalaran and see if we can't find some of the other heroes that went to the other regions of the Broken Isles. The three of us are powerful, but we'll need at more than just the three of us to deal with an entire army of naga... and whatever else is waiting on the other side of that portal."
"I'll leave that up to you and your friends, though there is another matter I must deal with," Prince Farondis said, to which he turned his attention to the soldiers that were gathering around them, "Why, Thaldrys? Why did you and your men come to my aid? I thought you despised me."
"We saw what you did." Thaldrys replied, though he and the other nightwatchers smiled at their prince, as they were pleased with what he had done earlier.
"Any elf with the courage to stand up against the Queen herself is worth following." Idri added, telling their prince that they had seen him attack the Queen.
"The nightwatchers are yours to command once more, my prince." Thaldrys said, to which he and his soldiers saluted their prince, causing a smile to appear on Prince Farondis' face.
"I am glad to hear it." Prince Farondis said, to which he looked upon the faces of his loyal soldiers, as he was sincerely glad to have them all on his side once more, "Come, let us return to where Trixie and her friends first met us, so we can begin preparing ourselves for the battle ahead... because if these heroes need the Tidestone then that means that something big is coming, and we had better make sure that we're ready."
Lyra was glad to hear that Prince Farondis and his soldiers were on friendly terms again, and that they were going to start preparing for the fight with the Legion, but she had to moan about something. The reason the spirits of the elven people in this reason hated their prince was because he stood up to the Queen and cursed them with undeath, which had been caused after the destruction of the Tidestone. She found it odd that they would be willing to follow him again, especially when he had done the same thing that had put them in this state of undeath to begin with, but she merely sighed and pushed the thought away. From what she had seen the people of Azeroth were weird with how they acted some times, and a prime example was Prince Farondis and his people... though a few seconds later she focused on the important task ahead of them.
She, Trixie, and Azuregos would be heading back to Dalaran to gather soldiers for the attack on wherever Parjesh had taken the fragments of the Tidestone... and she was sure that there was going to be a small war between her group and the naga in the near future.