The moment Thalyssra dispelled the barrier, and beckoned for Trixie and Lyra to follow her, the three of them followed the path that was directly in front of them, while at the same time Lyra kept her eyes on the area around them and silently dared the withered to come and attack them. She disliked how the withered were looking at her friends, meaning that they were likely looking for mana, but she held her warglaives at the ready, in case they were attacked. Trixie clearly trusted her, thanks to everything that she knew about Lyra's training, though Thalyssra clearly hesitated in the same thing, no doubt because of what happened in her city... before she was forced to flee from the city, come out here, and send the message that Khadgar would find.
"We must take care." Thalyssra commented, though at the same time her head moved to the right and the left, as if she was studying the withered that were wandering the area near where they were walking, while also keeping her magic at the ready, "The withered ones prowl this area, ravenous in their hunger for magic and flesh alike. Such is the fate of the Nightborne who cannot drink of the Nightwell. This is my fate as well... unless... LOOK OUT!"
Whatever Thalyssra was actually going to say, about the situation, was cut off as the withered came into the area around them and started to attack them, to which she raised a shield and protected herself while Trixie and Lyra focused their energies on protecting her. That meant that Trixie stood beside Thalyssra and focused her magic on blasting the withered that were trying to drain the barrier, while Lyra moved around the area and used the Twinblades to cut down the enemies that chose to come after her. It took them a few moments for them to actually defeat the withered that were coming after them, and make sure that they weren't coming back at them, before they started moving again... though Thalyssra continued to power her shield while they moved.
When they neared the small bridge in front of them, however, Thalyssra coughed for a few seconds, though before either Trixie or Lyra could voice some concern she shook her head and continued moving.
"My strength is fading... we must find shelter soon..." Thalyssra stated, which was something that both the Equestrians agreed on when they considered how many enemies were around them, and they also had no idea how many eyes were staring at them at that exact moment.
The moment they reached the other side of the bridge, and stopped in the middle of the ruined area that was in front of them, a large group of withered emerged from their hiding places and attacked the three of them, though their numbers immediately told Lyra that they were prepared to kill all three of them. Trixie, seeing the large number of foes that were approaching them, pulled her power in and stepped away from Lyra and Thalyssra, where she transformed into her blue dragon form and crushed several withered that tried to hit her in the process. Once she was in her other form she roared and roasted a few more of the enemies that were coming from the open area that they had been walking towards, while Lyra stood her ground near the small bridge.
Despite their abilities and powers, however, Lyra and Trixie knew that the two of them could only handle so many withered on their own, so when Thalyssra started moving backwards, towards a nearby cave that happened to be near the ruined village... one that the withered clearly didn't like, as they backed away as Lyra escorted Thalyssra to the entrance and Trixie guarded them by trying to intimidate the withered. Once the withered were gone, and they were sure of that, Trixie rapidly returned to her hybrid form and moved into the cave, following after her companions and finding that Thalyssra was leaning against the wall while Lyra stood next to her.
"The two of you fight well." Thalyssra commented, though at the same time she coughed again, indicating that she was likely running low on energy, since she couldn't drink from the mysterious Nightwell that she had mentioned just a few minutes ago, "Perhaps it is time for a proper introduction... however, I can ignore this wound no longer. Help me patch this up. I will explain everything."
As Trixie and Lyra tended to her wounds, with what little supplies they had, Thalyssra explained that Suramar had been a prosperous city ten thousand years ago, which Lyra knew was right before the destruction of the Well of Eternity and the cataclysm that created the continents that existed on Azeroth at the moment. Then Queen Azshara betrayed them all, as she had been tempted by the fel power that was offered to her, which caused the people of Suramar to erect the barrier that had protected their city. Of course that cut them off from both the sunlight and the moonlight, causing them to rely on the Nightwell that rested in the middle of the city, which changed them and drew the Legion to their city once the latest invasion started.
From what they were told the elders that controlled the city planned on surrendering to the Legion, no doubt after Gul'dan threatened to destroy all of them, and Thalyssra had started a small rebellion to take the city back. Ultimately she failed and was tossed out like trash, but based on what the one elf they had encountered earlier said they were still hunting for me, meaning that they believed that Thalyssra was still alive. The Legion essentially had a second source of power on the Broken Isles, the Nightwell, and that meant that they were likely looking at a long siege if they wanted to take the city back and overthrow their enemies.
"My people have subsisted on the Nightwell for millennia." Thalyssra explained, to which she gently shook the flask that she had been carrying the entire time, something that they hadn't really noticed thanks to the events that had been happening around them, "Ancient Mana is our lifeblood, without it we become... well, you saw them out there. I'm afraid I have been rather reckless today, and I can already feel my senses dulling. Without magic to feed upon, I will turn. Please... find me something to feed upon... anything..."
Lyra and Trixie looked at each other before they nodded, to which they walked down the passage that was in front of them and started to explore the cave that they had discovered, though it took them a few seconds to realize that it wasn't a cave, but rather a dark ruin that looked like it hadn't been used since the barrier went up around the city. From what they could tell there were two floors to this ruin, the one they were walking on and the one below them that they could access by two sets of stairs, while there was something on the other side of the entrance they had walked through. In the middle of the room rested some sort of pillar, which was broken in half, that had a few purple colored crystals that Trixie identified as mana crystals... which might be what they were searching for.
When they approached the crystals, however, a banshee appeared in the air above the broken pillar and wailed, to which two portals opened up on the walkway they had walked on and started moving around the chamber, while at the same time more spirits started pouring into the area. Trixie, knowing more about what was going on than Lyra did, separated from her friend and focused on the portals, leaving Lyra to attack the banshee and demand its attention, so it didn't summon any additional portals. Trixie moved out onto the walkway and started blasting the spirits that were in front of her, taking a moment to focus her energies on disrupting the first portal, before repeating the process with the second portal.
Once the two portals were taken care of, and no more had opened while she was busy, Trixie returned to Lyra's side and together they combined their powers, defeating the seemingly weakened banshee... though once the banshee was dead, and the pillar had fallen apart, they carefully collected the six crystals and returned to where Thalyssra was resting. When they returned to Thalyssra's side Trixie took the crystals from Lyra and handed all six of them to the weakened elf, to which the two of them watched as she carefully consumed the mana inside the crystals, to which she let out a sigh of relief as her energy returned to her. A few seconds later Thalyssra pulled herself back onto her feet and gripped her staff, to which she faced her companions and looked at them, while offering them a small smile.
"The chamber that the two of you explored might be the perfect hiding spot, how that its guardian had been taken care of." Thalyssra said, knowing that the two of them had explored the area to their left, something that she intended to explore now that her energy had been restored to a more reasonable level and she wasn't in a weakened state, "Come, let us explore this place, Shal'Aran, together."
Lyra and Trixie knew that Thalyssra would know about the various locations that dotted Suramar, considering that this was her homeland and she had spent thousands of years living here, though they were also glad to have a name for this area, especially since they would likely be using this place a lot in the near future. Thalyssra started walking a few seconds later, to which the three of them walked down towards the area where a set of stairs was located, though it was clear that Thalyssra was more interested in the upper level than the lower level.
"What exactly is this place?" Thalyssra asked, though when she looked at Trixie and Lyra, for a few seconds anyway, they both shrugged, causing her to turn back towards the area she had chosen to explore, "This chamber... I have never seen anything like it before."
As they walked to their left, and entered a side area with a large number of strange circular indents on the floor, Thalyssra made a comment on how dark it was and said 'In'alah', which apparently was a word of power that she said when she was channeling her magic, as a circular light ignited a few seconds later. As one of the lights came on they continued walking along the edge of the area, where Thalyssra commented that the strange indents were actually old teleporters that were inactive. That told Trixie and Lyra that they were important to some degree, to which they filed the information away and followed their new friend as she continued making notes on Shal'Aran.
When they reached the other side of the upper floor, from where the entrance rested, they found another set of stairs that circled down to the lower level, to which Thalyssra declared that they were going down there and that they should watch their step. As they reached the lower level, and a light had been lit so they could see what they were staring at, they discovered something that Thalyssra called a map, which happened to rest around a strange hole in the center of the floor. A few seconds passed before they started moving again, though at the same time Thalyssra commented that Shal'Aran rested at the middle of the map and that leyline energy was being fed into this place from somewhere else... though she openly wondered if this place had been used like a weapon or to do something else.
The moment they returned to the upper level, and stopped before the entrance of Shal'Aran, Thalyssra said that this was the perfect refuge and that it was the best temporary home until she could return to Suramar, which meant that they needed specific items before they started planning their assault on the city.
"We are going to need some allies before we start planning anything," Thalyssra said, though her tone suggested that she had a few names and faces that might be able to help them in the future, which meant that Lyra and Trixie would be hunting for them since she was a high priority target.
"I agree with you... and there are a few more heroes that we should call in," Trixie commented, to which Lyra raised an eyebrow as she looked at her friend, who smiled at both her and Thalyssra for a few seconds, "Don't worry, I'll only call a few heroes to Suramar, that way we have an extra pair of hands for the future."
Lyra nodded her understanding, because some of the heroes she had encountered so far, such as the four druids and Kurost, she would be willing to travel with again... though she was more interested in finding and killing Gul'dan, and that meant helping Thalyssra in her quest. She knew that, once this rebellion of Thalyssra's was finished, they would be one step closer to saving Azeroth... and then the true battle for the fate of Azeroth would begin.