//------------------------------//
// Order Hall: The Exodar 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Lyra, Trixie, and Azuregos stood near Khadgar as he worked his magic into the air in front of them, to which a portal to the Exodar formed in in front of one of the bookshelves. The reason they knew that it was the Exodar was because Trixie confirmed that the image on the other side of the portal resembled the downed ship that she had been to several times to understand how such a ship could even fly through the vastness of space. Lyra wasn't too shocked by the idea of someone using spaceships, as she understood that the Legion had ships like that and she and her forces had taken over the Fel Hammer when they assaulted Mardum. Azuregos, on the other hand, was a little shocked by that information, though in the end he accepted what he was being told, because he had seen enough strange events to last a lifetime... and he was sure that they were far from over.

Once the portal was complete, and Trixie was sure that she had the beacon her mentor had handed her, the trio stepped through the gateway and headed to Azuremyst Isle... though when they arrived, and Lyra laid eyes on the large ship that had crashed into the ground, they found that the ship and its inhabitants were under attack by the Legion.

"We make our last stand at the Vault of Lights!" a voice called out, one that sounded like a leader telling their soldiers what they were doing, while at the same time informing everyone else where they were located, "If you can make your way here you will find sanctuary, although I cannot say for how long…"

The trio looked at each other for a moment before determining that Prophet Velen was alive and that his people were currently under siege by whoever the Legion had sent to attack the Exodar, to which they charged into the opening in front of them and headed down the passage that they discovered. A few moments later, when they entered the main chamber, they discovered that demons were roaming the halls and were searching for people, the draenei, to capture, kill, or even torture until their wills broke. Trixie knew that if someone was tortured long enough they would eventually crack and fall into darkness, though that all depended on what the torturer used to inflict pain on the captured victim... and she suspected that Velen was the target in this case.

"Did your visions foretell of this day, Prophet?" a second voice shouted, one that Lyra immediately recognized as one of the eredar that served Sargeras, which made her grip the Twinblades a little tighter than usual, "Did you see our coming? I bring you a message from Kil’jaeden, to be served in the blood of your people! JUSTICE WILL BE MET! A coward’s death to these traitorous “draenei!” Mar their corpses so the living may see the fate that awaits them!"

"That demon's not here to capture or torture Prophet Velen," Lyra commented, though at the same time she had a burning desire to find this eredar and put him down, preferably by ripping his black heart from his chest and allowing the warglaives to take his soul, "he's here to kill everyone... and likely blow the entire place to pieces."

Trixie nodded and lead the way through the Exodar, which was understandable considering that she was the only one with any experience with the area they were in at the moment, but at the same time Lyra made sure to kill each and every demon that they encountered along the way. It actually didn't take them too long to reach the area of the ship that Velen had told them that he and the others would be gathering in, though when they reached the Vault of Lights they spotted demons charging at a barrier of Light... where they disentigrated into nothing, but at the same time the action weakened the barrier a little bit. Lyra had seen this tactic before, as some demons did the same thing against the arcane barriers that mages used, and she instantly knew how to fix this mess.

"Prophet Velen!" Trixie called out, though at the same time the trio walked through the barrier and approached the leader of the draenei, who was powering the barrier with his own energies.

"Trixie Lulamoon! Fate has delivered you, and your companions, to us in this most dire time!" Prophet Velen replied, though despite the fact that he was under a great deal of strain the trio could hear that he was pleased to see them all, even Lyra for that matter, "While I sense that your mission is urgent, if we do not push back these invading demons, we will all perish. This barrier protecting my people requires all of my energy and focus. I am afraid you must venture into the demon infested halls alone. Please, search for survivors and eliminate the Legion invasion point portals that you find across the Exodar. You must hurry. I do not know how much longer I can keep this barrier active!"

Fortunately for the draenei of the Exodar, however, Lyra already knew what to do in this situation and immediately moved forward to ensure the safety of the citizens that were under attack, which involved her heading to the right of where the Prophet was standing and attacked the demons that controlled that area. The felguards that were guarding the portal she had targeted attacked her the moment she was near them, though considering what the demons were doing Lyra attacked faster and harder than she usually did, to which she cleaved her opponents into pieces and raised her Twinblades into the air... where the energies inside the blades ripped the demonic portal to pieces.

Once the portal was destroyed, however, some of the warriors of the Light claimed the area for themselves and promised to defend it until she and her companions turned back the tide... to which she beckoned for her friends to go down the other path while she went down this path. She walked into the area known as the Crystal Halls, which she got from one of the signs, and attacked the demons that were in the area, who turned and attacked her the moment they noticed that she was there. She had already known that the demons wanted her dead, as every demon she had encountered since Mardum mentioned something about wanting her dead and torturing her soul, so she was just fine with what was happening.

As she carved the demons into pieces, and shattered their portals with the might of the Twinblades, she called for any of the innocent civilians to run passed her while the way was open, to which she smiled as the draenei civilians ran towards the tunnel and headed towards where the Prophet was waiting. At one point she realized that there was another tunnel that appeared to have some people fighting for their lives, where she charged at the demons that were in front of her and cut them down before she reached the shamans that were under attack.

"The Exodar shook from the force of the Legion’s arrival." one of the shaman, who Lyra suspected was the leader of this group, stated, though at the same time Lyra knew that more demons would be coming this way, "Before we could react, demons were running rampant through the halls, slaughtering everything in their path. If it were not for the Prophet, we would have all perished in the initial assault. I was charged with evacuating the Crystal Hall, which is when my Broken and I were separated from the main force. We fell back into the collapsed hall to make our last stand. With your aid, we may survive this invasion."

Lyra nodded her head and stood beside the Broken, though the first wave of demons that attacked them were just an army of imps and wyrmtongue, the demons that the Legion used as pack mules and slave labor, to which Lyra simply attacked them and let the shaman rest until the actual threat showed their faces. After a minute or two of fighting the lesser demons, and allowing the Twinblades to consume their souls, Lyra heard the voice of the demon commander calling for the felguards and doomguards to attack them, to which she smiled as a larger force came and attacked them. Now that she knew about the Dark Magic that coursed through her veins, and that it could empower her, she let the mist return to her eyes and resumed her fight against the attacking demons... where she scattered their severed body parts while the shamans blasted them with their elemental attacks.

After another few minutes she spotted a new wave of enemies coming her way, eredar using flying disks to avoid touching the ground and the felblades that they had encountered back in Stormwind Keep when they tried to slaughter the newly crowned King and the other leaders of the Alliance. Even with the Dark Magic empowering her Lyra knew that even she could fall to an army of demons, but fortunately all of her enemies always made a mistake and she cut them down accordingly... until the leader of the attackers, a Pit Lord, walked up the path and assaulted their position. The Pit Lord, who called himself Karzak, insisted that he would be the one to break Lyra's will and force her to submit to the Legion... to which Lyra transformed into her Havoc form, slammed into the ground in front of the demon, and engaged him in battle almost immediately.

Within a few minutes of a terribly predictable battle, however, Lyra stood on the corpse of Karzak and let the Twinblades drink in the demon's soul, thus empowering them further while Lyra wondered if it was time to visit her forge and truly empower her weapons again.

"You have my thanks, and the gratitude of the Broken, hero." the leader of the shaman, who she learned was called Farseer Nobundo, commented, though Lyra rubbed the back of her head, because it was still taking some time getting used to being called a hero, especially after a lot of people announced their dislike for her and the Illidari, "Many would have considered us an acceptable loss, yet you have shown us great compassion and kindness. An act that I... we... will not soon forget. Now we will return to the Vault of Lights and assist Velen as best we can."

Lyra nodded and beckoned for the shaman to follow her, to which they moved as a group and headed back through the path she had cleared to reach this area to begin with, though when they reached the area Lyra found that Trixie and Azuregos had returned to the Prophet... who was patiently waiting for Nobundo's return before he said anything.

"Divinius. Trixie Lulamoon and her companions have crushed the incursion." Prophet Velen said, to which the draenei in question approached him for a moment, indicating that a command had to be coming, "Now is the time to take the Chosen and finish off the leftover demonic taint within our halls. Secure the Exodar for our people once more!"

"As you command, Prophet!" Divinius, a female draenei paladin, replied, though at the same time she and her Chosen saluted their leader before they charged out of the barrier, which Velen dropped the moment he realized that it was no longer needed.

"I fear we have but a moment, heroes." Prophet Velen stated, though Lyra and the others already knew this, as they hadn't encountered the leader of the invasion since they started their counterattack, "Rakeesh, the leader of this attack, is still here... somewhere... and he must be stopped if my people are to find peace again. I know that you have ventured far to find me and have brought with you a dire message. In your possession is an object of great importance. May I see it?"

"Of course," Trixie said, to which she beckoned to Lyra for a moment, who reached into her pack and pulled the mysterious object out, before placing it on the ground in front of the Prophet.

Prophet Velen stared at the object for a moment, as if it was taking him some time to understand what he was seeing, but when his eyes widened the group knew that he already knew what he was staring at... especially when he glanced up at the three of them.

"Mother of Light!" Prophet Velen exclaimed, to which he picked up the object and cradled it like it was a baby, "I… I am sorry. I did not know. Champion, we have to go. NOW! I will explain on the way there."

"Prophet Velen, what is this object exactly?" Azuregos asked, though at the same time the trio followed after Velen, who was bringing them towards the middle of the Exodar, where Trixie informed them that a ramp existed that could take them down into a very special chamber.

"What you have brought to me is known as Light’s Heart. It is the sentience core of the Naaru Prime: Xe’ra." Prophet Velen explained, though the moment he mentioned that the object belonged to a Naaru, a Prime one at that, the group knew that they had found something incredibly important, "Locked away within the core is wisdom… knowledge crucial to our battle against the Burning Legion. Yet only a Naaru born of Xe’ra is capable of unlocking the core. This is why you were sent here. This is the true purpose of the Burning Legion’s invasion of the Exodar. The last of Xe’ra’s line, O’ros, sits unguarded in the heart of the Exodar. If they destroy O’ros, the information within Light’s Heart will be lost forever."

"UNGUARDED?!" Lyra nearly shouted, because after the failure of Ysera she had expected everyone to be much smarter, but to leave someone like O'ros unguarded, especially while the ship was under attack, made her rethink everything she knew about the Prophet.

"For a prophet you are doing a very poor job of making predictions…" Rakeesh shouted, stopping anyone from replying to Lyra's rage, as Trixie knew the last thing they needed was an annoyed Lyra at the moment.

It was at that point that the group heard a bitter melody fill the air, one that told Lyra that someone was attacking the defenseless Naaru and that the creature was definitely in pain.

"HAH! It makes music when you beat it!" Rakeesh shouted, as if he didn't care that everyone could hear him, which just annoyed Lyra even more than before, "What a delightful creature! I will enjoy ending its existence."

"Light damn him!" Prophet Velen declared, surprising Trixie by his sudden outburst of rage, as she had never seen him like this before, "I will guide us to the heart of the vessel. Stay within my protective barrier as I cleanse the fel taint from the pathway."

The trio nodded as they were enveloped in the protective barrier and followed Prophet Velen down the pathway, where they watched as the fel taint was removed... though when they reached the bottom they discovered Rakeesh standing in front of the Naaru that the Prophet called O'ros.

"We have made it in time!" Prophet Velen said, though he did so lightly, as to make sure that Rakeesh didn't notice their arrival, though at the same time he prepared himself to do something important, "By the grace and glory of the Light, I will heal O’ros. Then we will deal with Rakeesh."

The trio watched as the Holy light gathered around Prophet Velen once more, to which it grew for a few seconds until it seemed like he was ready to burst... though at the last second he directed the healing power of his spell at O'ros and the wounds healed immediately, to which Rakeesh turned and faced them with a look of annoyance on his face.

"You have lost, Rakeesh!" Prophet Velen declared, though at the same time Trixie, Lyra, and Azuregos drew their weapons and stood at the ready so they could begin the battle with their enemy, "O’ros is renewed and now you must answer for the atrocities you have committed!"

"Ah, the fated heroes have arrived. It would appear that you have bested me, Velen. But before I surrender and face the judgment of the Light there is one last thing I must do." Rakeesh said, holding up his hands in defeat for a moment, though that was before a large fel robot, like one of the Reavers that Lyra had seen in the Outlands, erupted from the air above O'ros and landed behind the Naaru, before destroying the Naaru in an instant, "Can you know victory without first knowing defeat? Come. Fail. Die."

Lyra growled as she witnessed the death of O'ros, which meant that whatever knowledge that Xe'ra had sent to them had just been lost forever, to which she immediately transformed into her Havoc form again and slammed into the chest of the Reaver. Trixie and Azuregos, shocked by her sudden transformation into her Dark Magic empowered Havoc form, focused their magic on bringing down the Reaver as well, while Velen focused on targeting Rakeesh. Lyra's empowered form allowed her to cut gashes into the large machine that Rakeesh had called into the Exodar, though Lyra grinned as she severed one of the arms and tore the heart out of the robot... forcing Rakeesh to the ground.

Unfortunately the robot was still ticking and was trying to do something, though at the same time Trixie and Azuregos joined Prophet Velen in attacking Rakeesh.

"You think you’ve won?" Rakeesh shouted, clearly annoyed that his machine had fallen, though at the same time Lyra detected that her opponent hadn't been informed of her new power, "You will know the taste of defeat, even if it means my own death! From the mouth of Argus comes your doom! For soon the annihilator will have its fill and detonate with the force of a collapsing star! Nothing but ash will be left where we stand!"

"No, this is all wrong." Prophet Velen said, though at the same time he seemed to realize something, while Lyra and her companions continued their fight against their opponent," I… I have been here before, but that would mean… IT CANNOT BE! Heroes, we musn’t kill Rakeesh! Stop! Please!"

"He’s left us no choice, Prophet Velen!" Trixie stated, staring at the machine for a brief few seconds, as she was surprised that it was still gathering the energy of Argus in order to detonate, "If we don’t destroy the machine this place and every living soul inside will be annihilated!"

"If you will not spare him then I must stop..." Prophet Velen started to say, but Lyra detected something stupid coming from his mouth and dashed up to him, to which she kicked him in the chest and knocked him backwards, hard enough to stop him from enacting his stupid plan without breaking his ribs and heart.

Once that was done the trio turned their attention back to Rakeesh and his machine, to which Lyra focused on the demon while Trixie and Azuregos focused on the robot. Fortunately the two mages were able to figure out how to completely destroy the machine without setting off its charge, which was absorbed back into Argus somehow before the portal above their heads disappeared. The moment the robot was taken care of Lyra dealt the killing blow to their opponent, who staggered backwards until he stood where his machine had been.

"It will be your faces that I see in my last waking moments." Rakeesh stated, though at the same time Velen heard what was going on and approached them, "A final agonizing memory before I am turned to ash and cast into oblivion. I welcome it…"

"You asked me if I foresaw this day, child." Prophet Velen said, though at the same time he pretty much discarded Light's Heart, to which Lyra remained next to it, just in case there was something more they had to do with it.

"What’s wrong with the Prophet?" Azuregos asked, though at the same time Trixie shrugged, because she had never seen Velen like this and she was shocked by what she was both seeing and hearing.

"I… I did… And until this moment I did not understand." Prophet Velen admitted, though at the same time the trio heard a hint of sadness in his voice, a sadness that he must have been holding in for a long time, "In a time that is now just a whisper of a memory, I had a son. On the day of his birth, a vision came to me. In that vision I saw myself weeping as I held a dying eredar in my arms. His skin fel-pocked and battle-scarred. Like yours… But I buried that vision after Kil’jaeden took my family from me, and for eons let it be lost in the darkest recesses of my being. Now, finally, as I hold you in my arms, I understand."

Lyra's eyes widened as she realized that Kil'Jaeden, Archimonde, and Sargeras had stolen not only Velen's people from him, but also his family, and had twisted all of them into monsters that were bent on hunting the universe until they found the planet that Velen had run off to. It angered her to no end, because she could only begin to imagine the pain that the Prophet had felt when that day happened, though before anyone could say anything they watched as Velen closed Rakeesh's eyes and turned to face him.

"Trixie Lulamoon, here is nothing left here for you and your companions." Prophet Velen said, though at the same time he beckoned to Light's Heart, which Lyra was already holding onto at the moment, "Take Light’s Heart and return to Khadgar. Tell him… Tell him that the Light died here this day. Farewell."

Trixie felt terrible for Velen, she really did, but at the same time she was devastated by the fact that they had just lost a piece of knowledge, maybe the only real knowledge, that could help them bring an end to the Legion and their dark master. With a sigh of defeat she pulled out her mentor's beacon and activated it, to which a portal back to Dalaran formed in the area in front of her, but this time they knew that they would be returning with terrible news this time.





"And that's what happened in the Exodar." Trixie concluded, wrapping up everything that there was to tell about their trip to the crashed ship, especially after Lyra added her bits into the story as well.

"Kil’jaeden took the child from Velen, let Velen believe that the boy had been killed, then raised the child as an agent of the Burning Legion with the express purpose of murdering his own father?" Khadgar commented, though it was clear that he was shocked and annoyed by everything that he had heard so far, "That bastard waited 13,000 years to exact vengeance upon Velen for defying Sargeras and the Legion? The Deceiver indeed… For Velen to have to experience such tragedy after what he and his people have already been through is heartbreaking. Such a thing would test anyone’s faith."

"So what do we do now?" Lyra asked, because she was sure that they could continue to gather the Pillars of Creation, but even if they did the Legion would still be out there, seeking to destroy another planet.

"'You did not ask for this burden, but it is what fate has deemed.”' Turalyon’s haunting last words still echo in my mind." Khadgar said, to which he sighed for a moment, "I worry about the fate of the draenei… about the fate of my friend, Velen: but we must remain vigilant! For now, Light’s Heart remains under your watchful eye. There is one place on Azeroth that I would trust with the safekeeping of the object: one of your order halls. Take Light's Heart there and keep it safe... I will remain in Dalaran and continue looking for answers. There must be another way!"

Lyra had no idea what to do in the case of Light's Heart at this point, but she knew that she could kill some more demons and do some missions for the Illidari... and maybe discover something important while she was at it.