//------------------------------//
// Val'sharah: The Temple of Elune 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

"Lady Ysera," Trixie said, causing the large green dragon to turn towards her and Lyra for a moment, to which she noticed that the former Aspect was raising an eyebrow at her, "What can we do to save Cenarius?"

"As you know, Cenarius is in danger." Ysera replied, noticing that the person next to Trixie was annoyed about her mentioning the obvious, though she decided to ignore that for the moment, "If his condition is not reversed soon, he will be lost to the Nightmare that threatens the Emerald Dream. To spare him that fate, we must have the Tears of Elune... the same relic you were sent here to retrieve. Elune’s temple is not far from where we are standing, so go there and find Lyanis Moonfall. Show her my seal and instruct her to release the tears into your custody... and I suggest you hurry, because time is not on our side."

"I will show you were the temple is located," Malfurion commented, to which he pulled out his map and pointed at the road that was near Lorlathil, where he traced the route the group should take, "You should be able to reach Elune's temple and recover her Tears in a matter of minutes."

"Then we shall depart at once!" Bloodclaw stated, to which she and her fellow druids departed from the grove that they were standing in, indicating that this mission was one of great importance for all of them, before she returned a few seconds later to acquire the seal that she had left behind and then rejoined the others.

Azuregos and Lyra sighed as they followed after their druid allies, knowing that they could easily handle themselves and knew that they could benefit from Lyra keeping an eye out for hidden enemies with her Spectral Sight. Trixie, on the other hand, remained behind for a few moments, knowing that Ysera would have questions for her in regards to her new form. That was because the last time they had seen each other would have been after the defeat of Deathwing, when she was wearing the form that she had found herself wearing when she first landed in Azeroth.

"Trixie Lulamoon," Ysera said, causing Trixie to turn towards the large dragon, while at the same time Malfurion and the Archdruids returned to tending to Cenarius, "how is it that you have become a dragon? I sense the essence of a blue dragon lingering around you... and it is not from the blue dragon that travels with you."

"I was wearing a necklace that contained the essence you are feeling," Trixie replied, though at the same time she had learned to stop questioning the Dragon Aspects, because some of them were weird and could feel some strange things at times, "A day or two ago I was knocked into a large mana pool and the magic in the water reacted to the necklace, where I guess the essence fused with the person that was closest to the necklace; me. Once the essence had fused with my body I transformed into a blue dragon and crushed the person that knocked me into the pool to begin with, where I promptly collapsed from exhaustion. When I woke up some time later my body had become what you are seeing now... and if I'm being honest, I'm actually liking the fact that I'm a dragon... or half-dragon I guess."

"I always told Kalecgos that you would have made an excellent blue dragon," Ysera commented, causing Trixie to look up at her again, before she beckoned to the walkway that her friends had gone up, "but that is a tale for another day. You should catch up with your friends before they get too far ahead of you... though I wouldn't mind seeing your new form at some point in the future."

Trixie respectfully bowed her head to Ysera for a moment, stunned by the fact that the green dragon liked the fact that she was part dragon now, before excusing herself and ran in the direction that her friends had gone in. It was rather easy for her to catch up with Azuregos and Lyra, though not too far ahead of them were the four druids that they were helping out. She mentally reflected on how screwed their enemies would be, because it would be seven on one and their various skills made it hard for something to take them out. While they walked Azuregos asked what Ysera wanted to talk to her about, though she basically told him that it was about her new form... and the dragon form that she hadn't used since she crushed that one elf that was pretending to be the prince of Azsuna.

When they finally came to the area that the temple was supposed to be located in, however, they were shocked by what they were seeing before their eyes... so much so that Lyra felt the need to voice what they were seeing and what they were feeling.

"Oh come on!" Lyra angrily said, staring at the ruined section of the temple and the chaos that was surrounding the section of the building they were staring at, "Not only is the 'World Tree' corrupted, which Ysera told us about, we've got evil root like creatures and satyrs attacking the defenders of the temple... and there's a Doomguard patrolling the area, no doubt looking for the Tears of Elune! This is sheer stupidity, that none of the people in Lorlathil knew this was happening when we were at least five minutes down the blasted road!"

"You don't have to be so mad Lyra," Trixie commented, though at the same time she had never seen her friend this pissed off before, which meant that she either knew something she and the others didn't or was just venting in a strange manner, "I'm fairly sure that our enemies haven't found the Tears of Elune yet, otherwise they would be taunting us with the artifact."

"Are you blind?!" Lyra snapped, pointing at the ruined bit of the temple with one of her warglaives, which seemed to be guarded by a fair number of Nightmare infused root creatures that seemed to be patrolling the area, "The temple was compromised before we even got here, and I'm fairly certain that the Tears of Elune are long gone... no doubt taken by Xavius while we were all distracted by gathering the Archdruids."

"Why don't we just head into the temple and see if Lyanis is still there," Monoskah stated, though his commanding tone indicated that he wasn't pleased with Lyra at the moment, to which she glared at the guardian druid as they approached the part of the temple that rested on their left.

The guardians let the group pass into the main part of the temple, where they found a few night elves, those that Lyra had to be of importance considering how different their armor looked from the ones outside the room they were in, standing together and discussing something... though they stopped when they noticed that they had company.

"Help has arrived at last!" the female night elf exclaimed, though at the same time the group knew that she had to be one of the priestesses that followed the goddess that was called Elune, if her clothing was anything to consider, "Elune be praised!"

"Are you Lyanis Moonfall?" Trixie asked, though as the night elf nodded Bloodclaw held up the seal that Ysera had given to the group, to which Trixie got to the reason why they had come to the temple to begin with, "Ysera asked us to show you this seal and tell you to release the Tears of Elune into our care."

"You... you bear the mark of The Dreamer. Elune be praised!" Lyanis exclaimed, once again proving that she was glad to see them, despite the fact that they wanted her to tell them were the artifact was already, "You’ve arrived just in time, heroes. Shaladrassil’s roots are at our doorstep…"

"Yes, we saw them as we approached the temple," Lyra butted in, because at this point they were seriously just wasting time that they didn't have, and that was starting to annoy her to no end, "now, what about the artifact?"

"The Tears of Elune are a sacred artifact, protected by my order for thousands of years." Lyanis explained, to which Lyra had to resist the urge to slam her hear into one of the walls and break the entire structure down, "I tell you this so that you may understand the gravity of your request. However, Ysera is noble and wise, and I trust in her guidance. You will find the Tears in a vault at the eastern edge of the temple grounds. Proceed with caution though, as that area has been overrun by demons."

"May I make a request, seeing how you are heading towards the vault?" the male night elf asked, to which the group looked at each other for a few seconds, before they decided to allow the elf to ask them what he wanted them to acquire for him, "I am Isoraen Nightstar, though I shall move onto the matter at hand. The massive roots of Shala’drassil are strangling all life within the forest. If we are to save Val’sharah, we will need to find a way to cleanse the corruption from the world tree. If you bring me enough corrupted root samples, we may be able to find a cure for Shala’drassil. Only then will we know how to stop the spread of the roots once and for all."

Trixie considered this to be an easy assignment, because all they had to go was acquire the Tears of Elune and some samples of the corruption for Isoraen to study, though the one thing she could do without was Lyra acting like it was the end of the world... which some people happened to be shouting about back in the major cities, though they had been thrown in jail for attacking the guards and whatnot.

With their missions fresh in their minds the group headed out of the section of the temple they were in and approached the chaotic side of the temple, where they took stock of what needed to be done. Lyra quickly volunteered to be one of the people to go to where the Tears were supposed to be located, though she also said that she was going to bring down the doomguard that was patrolling the area. The others didn't care who did what, so they separated into two teams, one that attacked the corrupted enemies and a second that would help get Lyra to the other part of the temple. The first group would also collect all the samples of corruption that they could find for Isoraen, effectively allowing them to kill two birds with one stone.

As the groups separated, however, Lyra quickly moved through the enemies that were standing in her way, where she used her warglaives to carve the corrupted treants into pieces, allowing her friends to pick up whatever was left over. Some of the satyrs jumped out of the area around her and tried to attack her, but Trixie, who was following Lyra, used her magic to blast each of them in their chests, knocking them backwards and dropping them like flies. Bloodclaw, who was eager to see which of her strange companions was correct, was also following along, though she made sure to tear apart the enemies that were attacking the elves that guarded the temple.

When Lyra reached the area that had to be the vault that Lyanis had mentioned, which happened to be a chamber that was open from three different directions, and found that the artifact that they had come to retrieve was no longer here... which meant that she had been correct in thinking that they had been played the entire time.

"Foolish mortals!" a voice said, to which another image of Xavius appeared near where Lyra was standing, though Lyra was growing to hate the Nightmare Lord, so much so that she growled at the mere sight of the image, "The Tears of Elune are mine now! If Malfurion wants them back so badly, he can seek me out. I’ll be waiting."

Lyra held one of her warglaives out as she stared at the image, to which she spun around and sent it flying towards the image, where it passed right through it and embedded itself in the pillar behind the image... though as few seconds later she sighed and pulled the warglaive free, leaving a smooth hole in the pillar. The moment she had her weapon back, and the image of Xavius was gone, Lyra walked out of the 'vault' and returned to the others, though before she could get too far the doomguard seemed to notice that she was there.

"Lyra Heartstrings," the doomguard shouted, causing Lyra to turn towards him for a moment, though she was in a bad mood and wanted nothing more than for the demon to shut up, "We meet at last. I am Gravax the Desecrator, the herald of doom for your pitiful world! I will be rewarded greatly for defeating you and delivering your broken body to my masters... and then you will join us in burning this world to the ground!"

The tragic fates of Varedis, Carla, and Cyana reminded Lyra of the horrible fate that awaited any of the Illidari that died and had their bodies stolen by the Legion; they would become demonic beings that would be hellbent on erasing all life in the universe, as that was Sargeras' long term goal. She had seen what had happened to Varedis, who had been twisted by Kil'jaeden, and had seen the beginning of the process back in Azsuna, when she had to kill Cyana. She knew that the Legion would delight in having her as an addition to their ranks, though she dreaded to wonder how twisted she would become if they captured her.

Lyra stared at the demon for a few seconds before tapping into her true power, to which she transformed into her Havoc form and attacked the demon, though this time she did something completely different. She used the force of her transformation, along with her wings the moment they phased into existence, to propel herself through the air, allowing her to fly up to Gravax's chest and strike him in the center of his body, by kicking him with one of her hooves. As Gravax regained himself, and prevented himself from squishing anyone around them, he raised a fist and swung it at Lyra, who used her smaller body and her empowered state to fly around the fist and land on his outstretched arm.

Gravax tried to shake her off of his arm, to which her retort was to bite into his arm with her warglaives, though he decided to push her off with his other hand, where Lyra grinned as she pulled one of her weapons out and cut one of the demon's fingers off, which crushed one of the corrupted treants that happened to be walking beneath them. As Gravax howled in pain, and pulled his fist away from his target, Lyra tore the other warglaive out and charged up the demon's arm, swinging her weapons and cutting gashes into his arm. When she reached the demon's neck Lyra raised her weapons up for a moment, but before she could strike Gravax reached for her again with his wounded hand, where she severed two more fingers.

As the fingers crashed on the ground Lyra swung around and cut into the demon's neck, spilling some of his vile blood in the process, though that was followed by Gravax grabbing her with his other hand and trapping her for the moment, where he started to squish so he could crush her.

"Yes... struggle..." Gravax stated, his voice a mix of anger and joy, as if he actually believed that he was beating her at the moment, "your meager attempts to survive amuse me! I will crush you here and now... and then your world will fall before the might of the Burning Legion!"

At first nothing happened, leading Gravax and the watchers to assume that he had actually succeeded in crushing Lyra in his fist, though that was before a dark colored mist started to leak from the space between his fingers. Gravax, who chose to do the wrong thing in that sort of situation, opened his hand to see what was wrong, where a burst of magic struck him in the chest and knocked him backwards. Lyra, who had been in his hand the entire time, was set free and landed on the ground beneath the demon, though she glared up at Gravax with a look of hate in her eyes.

Trixie, on the other hand, noticed a sinister colored mist rolling off of Lyra's eyes, one that she had seen only one other time before, back when she had asked Princess Twilight about the one type of magic that a certain tyrant had used.

"Before I became a demon hunter, I was a rather unimpressive mage," Lyra stated, though at the same time the fel energy surged through her body, preparing itself for what she was about to do, "now, however, I am actually much stronger than I had been before hand... allow me to show you what happens when you combine two powers together."

A ball of energy, made up of both fel energy and magical energy, formed in front of Lyra, who spun around and kicked it with the base of her left leg, sending it flying through the air at speeds that she was sure would make Rainbow Dash jealous. The ball collided with Gravax's chest and exploded upon impact, where it left a fairly decent sized hole that seemed to have destroyed the demon's heart, to which the body staggered back a step before collapsing... and crushing several more of the corrupted treants that were walking around the area. Lyra then held the Twinblades up and watched as Gravax's essence floated into the air, where it separated into three smaller pieces and flew through the air. Two of the pieces were absorbed into the Twinblades themselves, while the third piece was absorbed into Lyra's body... though once that was done she fell to one knee as she shifted back into her normal form, where she panted for a few moments.

"Lyra, are you okay?" Trixie asked, though at the same time she was impressed, because Gravax stood nearly as tall as Archimode did and she was sure that he would have been really strong if he was a herald of some kind.

"Yeah... though remind me to never do that again unless the situation demands it," Lyra replied, to which she weakly pulled herself into a standing position and looked at Trixie, "Arcane magic and Fel magic shouldn't be combined out of the blue like that... not without proper training and preparation anyway."

Trixie nodded her head and helped her friend walk with them back to where Lyanis was waiting for them, though at the same time she kept thinking about what she had seen. Lyra's eyes had the same sinister purple mist as the one tyrant that had taken over the Crystal Empire, as well as Princesses Celestia and Twilight, who had learned the magic to better counter it. She may not have any real experience with the magic herself, but Trixie knew what type of magic Lyra had been using against the demon... which meant that she hadn't combined arcane magic and fel magic, but rather dark magic and fel magic, which had to explain her sudden weakness.

Trixie assumed that Lyra's hatred and anger towards the demons is what empowered her to try something like this, but she chose not to say anything as they entered the part of the temple they had been in a few minutes ago... where they found Lyanis and Isoraen standing exactly where they had left them.

"Lyanis, we have some bad news," Bloodclaw commented, causing the female night elf to look at her for a moment, with a look of concern on her face no less, "The Tears of Elune weren't in the vault... they were stolen by Xavius."

"The Tears of Elune have been stolen?!" Lyanis asked, to which the entire group nodded to her, where she forced herself not to break down in front of them and steeled herself, "Then you must return to the Grove of Cenarius and inform Ysera of the situation. Though these are the darkest of times, I have faith that Ysera will guide us to victor. Return to your companions at the Grove of Cenarius with speed and safety."

As the group prepared to leave, however, Trixie remembered the samples they had collected from all of the corrupted treants that had been walking around the area outside the temple, to which she turned them over to the elf that had asked them to acquire them. Isoraen was less than pleased when he looked at the roots, indicating that it may be impossible to cure the world tree while Xavius was still alive, but he also stated that he would still look for a cure at the same time. Once that was done the group departed from the temple and headed back in the direction of Cenarius' grove... though they all knew that Malfurion and Ysera weren't going to like the news that they had to tell them.