With the news that Xavius, the Nightmare Lord himself, having returned to Val'sharah, and had already stolen the artifact that Lyra, Trixie, and Azuregos had come to collect, the group silently retraced their steps and headed back towards the grove that Cenarius was resting in. Failure weighed heavily on their minds, as they had come to prevent the powerful artifact from being stolen and they had arrived too late to prevent that from happening. Lyra, on the other hand, was furious with the dragon known as Ysera, because according to her she had seen this entire series of events coming and did nothing to stop it from coming true. They had lost one Archdruid, had the Tears of Elune stolen, and Cenarius was infected with what the druids referred to as the Nightmare... and all of it might have been prevented if Ysera had simply said something sooner.
"This may not be the best time to mention this," Monoskah commented, causing most of the group to turn towards the bear as they walked, "but back when I was acquiring the artifact I carry, the Claws of Ursoc, the shade of Xavius appeared while I was gathering the artifacts and made off with Ursoc..."
"Let us hope that we don't lose Cenarius as well..." Bloodclaw said, though Lyra knew that the reason the feral druid didn't want to continue the conversation was because she was getting annoyed at all of their failings.
The group continued to walk in silence as they returned to Lorlathil, where the assembled druids were still going about their business and had no idea what was happening at the Temple of Elune. From there they turned towards the path that would take them back to Cenarius' grove, where they found Ysera, Malfurion, and the two remaining Archdruids tending to the infected centaur. As the group arrived, however, Lyra spotted that the green growths that had been growing on the centaur's body, the corruption that Malfurion had mentioned, had turned into a sinister red coloration... one that reminded her of Xavius.
"Lady Ysera, we bring troubling news..." Bloodclaw said, though at the same time she got no further, as Ysera let out a sigh and stopped everyone from speaking for the moment.
"So, Xavius has returned… and that means that he has stolen the Tears of Elune." Ysera commented, once again annoying Lyra with her choice of words, though she still paid her no attention, "The situation here is far worse than I had imagined…"
Not a few seconds later the one thing that Lyra had been hoping to avoid happened, as a swirling mass of sinister energy surrounded the unconscious Cenarius for a few seconds. When the energy disappeared, however, the group found that Cenarius was no longer where he had been resting moments ago, which meant that Xavius had another prize to add to his growing collection of toys.
"NOOOOOO!" Malfurion screamed in anger, to which he turned towards the group that was assembled in front of him, where they could see the anger in his ancient eyes, "I have wasted too much time here! I'm going to kill Xavius and rescue my teacher!"
Before anyone could stop him Malfurion transformed into his bird form and flew off, disappearing into the tops of the trees as he begun his hunt for the Nightmare Lord... while at the same time causing the assembled druids to sigh.
"Cenarius has succumbed to the Nightmare and Malfurion has run off with the rage of all the ancients." Ysera said, though while her tone had some urgency to it Lyra was still annoyed about what was happening, "Quickly now, heroes! We must find him. Speak with me when you are ready to begin the pursuit."
"Look, before we leave, there is something I need to ask," Lyra stated, causing everyone to look at her, as they were all sure that she would have been eager to chase Malfurion and kill Xavius as well, "I have heard the names of Cenarius and Ursoc mentioned a little bit since we came to this forest, but can someone please tell me exactly who they are?"
"They're demigods." Trixie replied, knowing that the simplest answer was best at the moment, especially when they had no idea what Xavius was going to do next.
"You mean that our enemy, the Nightmare Lord himself, has two demigods under his thumb now, as well as the power of the Tears of Elune?" Lyra asked, to which the entire group nodded to her, though at the same time she could tell that they were wishing that she would stop reminding them of what they knew, "Well then... Val'sharah is already screwed beyond repair."
"Lyra!" Trixie said, as she had never seen her friend like this before and it was surprising to see her so readily give up on the region they came to save, "There is still hope for Val'sharah... we just need to find and kill Xavius."
"Who likely has an entire army of corrupted druids and other powerful creatures serving him at this point," Lyra replied, though at the same time she looked at everyone that was staring at her, "Let's face the facts; Xavius has likely corrupted Ursoc into being a loyal follower, which is what happened to Cenarius just now, and there is no telling how many other druids are under his thumb as well. Xavius also has the Tears of Elune in his possession, so he's already much stronger than he has ever been before and will likely be near impossible to kill without taking the Tears back. He's got two demigods, a Pillar of Creation, an army of corrupted druids, and who knows who his master is, cause everyone has a master of some kind in this world... so this entire region is already finished off, and its all because someone didn't warn you about the danger ahead of time."
"I know that you are angry with me, but do not continue down this dark path you are on," Ysera said, causing Lyra to turn towards her for a few seconds, "your anger and hatred will only lead to your downfall... just like they eventually lead to Illidan's downfall."
"Oh, I'm not angry... I'm pissed off!" Lyra snapped, turned her gaze towards the large green dragon, "You said it yourself, you knew that this was coming and did absolutely nothing to prevent the worst possible outcome from coming true. You could have warned Malfurion of the danger that Xavius posed and secured both Cenarius and the Tears of Elune, but instead you kept the warning to yourself and we all played right into Xavius' plans. You have officially turned this war, which had two enemies fighting each other, into a three way war between the armies of Azeroth, the forces of Xavius, and the seemingly endless hordes of the Burning Legion... I hope you are happy with yourself."
"Will the both of you stop fighting for just a minute?" Trixie snapped, to which she stepped between the two and held her hands towards them, though at the same time she was ready to erect some arcane walls and stop the two of them from moving if they tried to attack each other, "We have already wasted valuable time on your arguing, so we'll have to make up for it by finding Malfurion and stopping whatever plan Xavius has in store for us. Lady Ysera, can you show us where Malfurion went?"
"I can," Ysera said, to which she turned away from Lyra and looked into the sky, though at the same time she lowered herself, as if allowing someone to climb onto her back, "but I will not carrying your pet demon on my back."
"Fine, I'll just ride on my felsaber and catch up with you guys," Lyra growled, though at the same time she pulled out her whistle and blew into it, to which her mount appeared nearby and allowed her to climb into its back, "I'm ready whenever everyone else is ready."
Trixie watched as the four druids that they were helping transformed into their bird forms as well, leaving her to climb onto Lady Ysera's back while Azuregos transformed into his dragon form. Once everyone was ready they took to the skies, following the lead of Ysera as they traveled through the forest, though at the same time Trixie made sure that Lyra was actually able to follow them.
"Rage has blinded Malfurion." Ysera commented, hoping to distract Trixie from what Lyra had said, about all of this being her fault for saying nothing about what she had known, "He and Xavius have a long history of conflict, though even Malfurion cannot hope to defeat Xavius alone. We must find him at once."
Trixie said nothing as they flew through the forest for a few seconds, turning to the right of the fork that would have taken them to the Temple of Elune, before they dropped down in front of a bridge, allowing her to climb off of Ysera's back as the druids and Azuregos returned to their natural forms.
"I sense a powerful dark presence here, heroes, but it is not of Xavius." Ysera commented, though at the same time Lyra caught up with them and dismounted, but Ysera knew that the demon hunter wasn't going to like what she was about to say, "This feels too familiar. I sense a druid’s touch here, a druid twisted by the shadow of the Nightmare. We must deal with this threat if we are to find Xavius. I will take to the skies and lend you my aid. Find this corrupted druid and cut down his tainted and twisted plants."
Lyra glared at Ysera as the dragon took to the skies, leaving them to deal with the enemies that were in the corrupted part of the forest that was waiting in front of them, as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Before she actually had time to think about what Ysera had said, however, the rest of the group entered the corrupted forest, where they quickly discovered the corrupted druid adding to the corruption that was resting around him.
"I am Lyrathos Darkgrove... and Xavius is the master of this forest now." the corrupted druid said, staring at them for a moment as more corrupted flower creatures popped up out of the ground around him, to which he disappeared and let his voice echo around them, "To enter it now is to succumb to the Nightmare."
"Darkgrove has fled into a nearby cavern." Ysera called down to them, launching a ball of green energy down at the creatures that had just been summoned, killing all of them in the process, "Hunt him down and end this."
Trixie nodded and realized that Ysera knew which cave the corrupt druid had gone into, to which she told the others to follow the trail that the green dragon was leaving for them, with her bursts of energy and the corpses that were left behind. Thanks to the aid of the Ysera they were able to find the cave in question without wasting any of their energy, though it was clear that Darkgrove had tried to stop them thanks to the multiple times he spawned more enemies in front of them, only for Ysera to destroy them. As they followed the corruption into the depths of the cave they found Darkgrove hard at work continuing the mad orders of Xavius, though he seemed to focused on his work and ignored them... up until Lyra tossed both warglaives at his back and punctured his armor, in both the heart and the stomach.
"I live... to serve... Xavius." Darkgrove spat out, having just enough energy to say those five words and turn around to face the group, before collapsing in front of them.
"Did you really need to kill him so quickly?" Bloodclaw asked, though she was also glad that Lyra had acted as she did, as that gave them valuable time to continue their search and not be distracted by a corrupted druid.
"Yes... Darkgrove had fallen to a point beyond redemption," Lyra said, to which she pulled the Twinblades free from the corrupted druid's body, cleaning the tips on the ruined robes Darkgrove had been wearing, before she turned to the others, "Come on, maybe we can stop Malfurion before Xavius captures and corrupts him as well."
The group nodded and headed outside, where they immediately spotted Ysera to their left, as she was firing more shots at the corrupted creatures that were coming near her, though oddly enough when they reached the green dragon the plant creatures stopped rising to attack her.
"Darkgrove has been killed," Trixie said, hoping that Ysera had some good news for them, especially with the time they were making on this mission.
"Malfurion cannot be far." Ysera stated, making no effort to acknowledge the information, save for a brief sad look in her eyes, before she grew serious once again, "You check the summit of Andu’talah while I continue to scour the forest. Be swift, heroes, time is of the essence!"
As Ysera flew away Trixie and the others followed the stairs that were to their left, to which they walked up the various sets that they found and noticed that none of the corrupted creatures were anywhere near where they were at the moment. That immediately raised the alarm bells in Lyra's head, because they had been told that Xavius owned this place and that generally meant that they were walking into a trap... though when they noticed Malfurion tied up, in corrupted looking vines no less, the majority of the group approached the open area while she hung at the back. A few seconds later a large number of vines erupted from the floor and wrapped around all of them, trapping them in a number of positions that were designed to prevent them from doing anything... though Lyra had more than everyone else, meaning that Xavius had seen her empowered form and had a way to stop her from using it.
A moment later Xavius, in all his glory, stepped out of the shadows with a sinister red colored teardrop shaped item floating above his right hand, which Lyra immediately recognized as the Tears of Elune... confirming her worst fears that Xavius was much stronger than any of them had realized.
Before Lyra could say anything, however, she heard a roar and looked into the sky, to which she noticed Ysera flying down towards where the Nightmare Lord was standing, but she had done the stupid thing and announced her presence to her target. Xavius, on the other hand, zeroed in on where the green dragon was located and threw the corrupted Tears of Elune through the air, to which the corrupted artifact struck Ysera in the chest and burned its way into her heart, which was followed by a small explosion knocking her out of the air. A few moments later Ysera crashed into the ground and remained there for a few seconds, though when something emerged from the hole the group watched as the Nightmare surged through Ysera's body, darkening her scales and turning her talons the same sinister red that the rest of the corrupted people and plants possessed.
With the deed done Xavius climbed onto Ysera's back, confirming that she had been completely corrupted into a beast that was loyal to the Nightmare Lord, before they took off and grabbed Malfurion, taking him into the air and disappearing without a trace. A few seconds later a series of arrows pierced the vines that they were all trapped in, allowing them to move as Tyrande Whisperwind, one of the leaders of the night elves, rode in on her saber.
"Malfurion, my love… In vision I saw him, enraged and then distressed, and now lost beyond my mind’s reach." Tyrande stated, to which she stared at the group as they untangled themselves from the vines that they had been trapped in, though they were sure that they would be chasing after Xavius this time around, "You’re coming with me, heroes. If Malfurion succumbs to the horrors that have befallen this land I shall hold all of you personally accountable! Now gather your wits and follow me!"
Lyra growled as she and the others followed the night elf leader down the path that Xavius had gone down, though if Malfurion succumbed to the Nightmare Lyra was more than willing to blame Ysera, as everything that had happened so far was all her fault. She knew that if the green dragon had simply warned them about the danger they wouldn't be in this terrible situation... though Lyra hoped that she and the others could salvage something from this situation, otherwise this entire trip was a massive waste of time.