//------------------------------//
// Suramar: Darkbough 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Lyra, as well as the other heroes that had been helping Thalyssra in Suramar for the last two weeks, stood in the center of Lorlathil as the remaining heroes of both the Alliance and the Horde, all of them Lyra mentally reflected, flew in on every mount that the Dalaran flightmaster could provide them with. Lyra was pleased to see that everyone was coming, because the threat this time around was the Nightmare Lord known as Xavius, who was no doubt serving the fourth Old God, N'Zoth from what she heard. She honestly wasn't surprised to hear that there was a fourth Old God, especially since Trixie mentioned the other three she had fought, but with this force of heroes gathering around them, preparing for total war with the forces of the Emerald Nightmare, she couldn't help but smile.

She already knew that Xavius was going to fall and that there was nothing he could do to stop their army from laying waste to his forces, though they only had to wait for the rest of the heroes to arrive before they departed for the entrance of the Emerald Nightmare, which the druids had found some time ago... though they had to thank Malfurion, who had been rescued while Lyra and Trixie were hunting for Maiev, for helping them find the entrance in the end.

Since they were using Lorlathil as their base for the moment, to make sure everyone had enough supplies, potions, and all the essentials necessary for such a large fight, she had seen Lord Illidan's brother walk around with a serious look on his face. She could tell that he might not approve of the fact that a small army was gathering in what might actually be the place of his birth, but at the same time it was the closest place for them to gather without Xavius' forces knowing that they were even gathering their strength. At the same time, however, Malfurion shot her several disapproving glances, indicating that he didn't trust her as much as his 'corrupted' brother did... which only reminded Lyra of Malfurion's wife, the priestess Tyrande, and her attitude towards Lyra when she was only trying to help.

As far as Lyra cared Malfurion and Tyrande were a perfect match for each other and clearly didn't care for people like her, along with the other Illidari, and only tolerated her presence because she might be useful... or, as Tyrande believed, she was Trixie's familiar and would do what the dragon hybrid Equestrian would asked her to do.

Lyra heard the sounds of wings flapping and turned towards the sky, where she saw a blue dragon fly towards the village and landed nearby, where a male blood elf and a female troll climbed off the dragon and walked in the direction of the other heroes. Lyra stared at the dragon for a few minutes and raised an eyebrow, where the dragon smiled and was surrounded by arcane energy, to which Trixie, in all her hybrid glory, replaced the dragon and walked forward as her staff reappeared in her hand once more. Lyra had to admit that Trixie's hybrid form made her that much more intimidating than what she already was, because the power boost the transformation gave her made her one of the strongest mages in all of Azeroth... putting her in the leagues of Khadgar, her mentor, and even the great Medivh according to some of the other mages she had overheard earlier.

In Equus, however, Lyra knew that she and Trixie had the power to challenge Princess Celestia and Princess Luna if they so desired, as that was the level of their power now, but at the same time they had no desire for conquest... they only cared about saving Azeroth from Sargeras and his terrible Burning Legion.

"So, did everyone else arrive while I was gone?" Trixie asked, though at the same time she was pleased to find so many of her guild mates standing nearby, because this was going to be like old times and she knew that they needed the help of the Celestial Dragons in order to defeat everything that Xavius threw at them... as well as the aid of the heroes from the Horde, considering that they were fighting a minion of an Old God.

"Yeah, they all arrived when they said they would," Lyra said, though at the same time she jerked her thumb towards the entrance of the inn for a moment, indicating that there was something that Trixie needed to see, "and, as an added bonus, a friend of ours is coming to help us."

Trixie turned towards the inn's entrance and watched as Azuregos, who she could have sworn went back to the Nexus Vault to be sure that the relics were secure, but at the same time she was glad to see that the disguised dragon had come to lend them his aid, especially since he had fought Xavius' forces the last time they all visited Val'sharah. Azuregos might not carry an artifact of power, like all of the other heroes, but he was one of the strongest living blue dragons in the entirety of Azeroth. Trixie would have been a fool to refuse his aid, to which she smiled at her old friend, who returned the smile and walked up to her, where they stood together and stared at the rest of their forces, because there would be time for them to catch up once Xavius was dead and the Arcan'dor was saved.

Lyra mentally chuckled to herself for a few more seconds, because she always believed that Trixie and Azuregos looked cute together, before Landan Nash, the leader of the Celestia Dragons and one of the strongest Paladins around since the passing of Tirion Fordring perished, stepped forward and called for everyone's attention. What followed next was a short speech about how they had gathered together, while putting aside their differences for the moment, to combat an enemy that had been causing havoc since he revealed himself and would continue to be a thorn in their side if they chose to focus their attention on fighting the Legion. He said that they would follow Malfurion to the entrance of the Emerald Nightmare, where they would do battle with the forces that Xavius put in place to be sure that he was undisturbed while he attempted to take over all of Azeroth from within the Emerald Dream.

Once Landan finished his speech, however, everyone called for their mounts and followed after Malfurion, who told them earlier that they would have to go through the ruined village of Shala'nir before they would arrive at the entrance of the Emerald Nightmare... where they rode up the path, passed by the Temple of Elune, and used the path that Tyrande had used to leave Shala'nir to arrive at the entrance. The instant they arrived the heroes dismounted and made sure that their mounts would be waiting for them when they returned, to which they all carefully drew their weapons and entered the swirling magical portal that would take them to the first guardian of the Emerald Nightmare. When they appeared on the other side of the portal, however, they found themselves in what appeared to be the base of the corrupted World Tree... and, after ascending the path in front of them, they found the first guardian that stood between them and their target.

Lyra gazed at the large dragon that was sleeping in front of them, one that appeared to be as large as Trixie was when she transformed, though this particular dragon appeared to have been corrupted by the Nightmare, as it looked sick and twisted, which meant that it's powers must have been twisted as well. Malfurion let out a sigh as he gazed upon the dragon, indicating that he knew it somewhat, and said that the dragon was called Nythendra, before saying that he had to press on without them so he could focus his efforts on something else. He then turned into a bird and flew to the top of the tree, where Lyra and the others had to simply fight their way through this area, because if they asked Trixie and Azuregos to do it the task would take too long.

The decaying globs that happened to be resting in front of Nythendra were relatively easy to get rid of, as long as they focused on one of them at a time instead of fighting multiple globs, but the moment the last glob was slain Nythendra awoke from her slumber and attacked them.

The tanks of the group, with Allvar and Monoskah, led the charge and took up the majority of Nythendra's attention, while the other tank level heroes made sure that they did nothing to change who her target was unless they were told to do so by someone else. Maraa and the other healers spread out and made absolutely sure that everyone received some healing when they needed it, while Lyra and the other damage dealers also spread out to avoid damaging others when an attack was directed at them. For the most part Nythendra's first set of attacks seemed to be her raking her claws at whoever was closest to her, namely the tanks, while at the same time spitting small poisonous globs at the damage dealers that made the healers take care of them... while also adding in a rotting attack that made those afflicted by it run to the outskirts of the arena to dispose of the rot where no one would be hurt.

As Lyra hacked and slashed into Nythendra's leg, and occasionally used her Eye Beam to deal additional damage, she also noticed that the dragon would occasionally target someone that wasn't any of the tanks and breathed a rotting breath attack in the direction she was facing, forcing everyone to move so they could avoid it.

Nythendra seemed to move through the same movements for the next minute or two, where she tried to kill them by clawing at them or poisoning them or infecting them with rot that they needed to drop, and the heroes kept their guards up for any surprise attacks while they continued to deal damage to their opponent. After a minute had passed Nythendra collapsed on the ground for a moment, acting like she had gone still, but that was followed by disease carrying insects appearing around the arena. The heroes divided themselves and focused their individual group efforts on taking out the various insects that Nythendra apparently summoned, as when the last one fell to the ground she called the infected arenas back into her body, cleaning the ground while pulling herself back up, and continued the fight as if nothing had actually happened.

From there it really became a repetition of Nythendra's abilities, as she constantly reused the same attacks that everyone was starting to learn how to avoid, people were disposing of the infection before it could actually hurt anyone, and the breath attack just missed everyone as they moved out of the way. Even the insect summoning trick she did had absolutely no effect on all of them, as they simply repeated what they did the first time around and defeated them all with the same level of ease... before they truly toppled Nythendra and caused her to fall to the ground, where she stopped moving and passed on, allowing her spirit to be free from the Nightmare while her body rotted away. Despite the fact that the battle seemed easy, and in a sense it really was considering that Xavius put a weak guardian to defend the front gate of his lair, Lyra and the other heroes took a few moments to catch their breath and get some energy back before they bothered to ascend the pathway that rested behind Nythendra's corpse.

As they walked up the path that they had discovered they encountered corrupt druids, corrupt dryads, vile swamp creatures, and even creatures that lurked in the shadows, only to pop out when someone entered the mist that they happened to be hiding in. The battle to the summit of the World Tree, where Malfurion was waiting for them, was a long one, because Xavius put a good amount of pawns in their way, meaning that when they eventually reached the summit they would have to pause for another break before they picked the path that would take them to their next opponent. Lyra remembered what Trixie had told her after they first reunited with each other, about these 'raid' like areas where their skills were tested and that they had to take breaks to avoid being wiped out, though she was getting her first taste of what her friend had been going through for the last couple of years.

When they finally reached the top they found Malfurion trying to open the way to Moonglade, but first he told them that they would have to break the powers that were arrayed against him and that the large group would have to deal with the four creatures that were behind the four portals around them. Lyra found that, while the group rested and regained their energy, that the druids could tell which portal led to which location, where they insisted on heading through the portal on their immediate right so they could head to the Un'Goro Crater, because something sinister resided in that area and they would feel better if they removed it first. The tanks conversed for a few moments, determining the threat level behind every portal and how best to tackle the situation, before they agreed that Un'Goro Crater would be the idea choice... though once everyone had their energy back they got onto their feet and headed into the portal.

When Lyra stepped out on the other side of the portal, however, she found herself standing in what had to be some sort of forest or jungle like area, though at the same time she could see the signs of corruption due to the massive vines that rested everywhere... as well as the nightmarish looking tree that was in the middle of the area they were in, where several members of their group whispered something about the Old Gods.

Lyra had no idea what was going on, but instead of playing around she and the rest of the group headed down the path that was in front of them, fought off the corrupted dinosaurs that were all around them, and came to a stop in front of the tree, where they found an eyeball staring at them while two sinister tentacles, small ones, rested near it. Malfurion's voice whispered to them that this was Il'gynoth, a manifestation of the horrors that rested in the heart of the Nightmare, and that they should dispose of it quickly. Lyra had the feeling that, since Xavius was linked to an Old God and he was corrupting the Emerald Dream into the Emerald Nightmare, that Il'gynoth was also a small manifestation of the monster that Xavius actually served.

As the tanks started the battle, causing Il'gynoth to summon vines to prevent them from leaving the arena they were in, Lyra discovered that actually hitting the eye that was staring at them did absolutely nothing, to which she and the majority of her group turned towards the tentacles. When the tentacles were killed, however, they spawned some dangerous looking globs that targeted a single person, who seemed to know that they were being targeted and moved away from them, though that was when Lyra got the idea to use the dangerous, and explosive, globs on the eye. As it turned out the eye, and the vines surrounding it, withered in agony when such a thing happened, though the creature also summoned more tentacles to deal with them, as well as a swamp creature as well... though when that was cut down several globs dropped into the arena and hunted down their targets.

While Lyra was pleased that she and the others had to think about this fight, as damaging the globs was what made them explode and damaging them too much, before they were in place, hurt their group, the fight was extremely slow because Il'gynoth appeared to be able to take a great deal of damage before something else happened... while at the same time Lyra, and some of the other heroes, heard Il'gynoth whisper nonsense to them, which was it's attempt to corrupt them before they ended the corruption's existence.

It took some time, effort, and a lot of dead explosive globs, but eventually something good happened for the group, as when the eye appeared to take too much damage it withered away and revealed the heart of the corruption, to which everyone charged into the hollowed core and started using all of their best moves on the strange shaped heart. After a few moments the hollowed core vibrated, causing them all to run out of the area before something happened, to which the eye reformed after the last person left the core and prevented them from hurting the heart again. From there the group had to play the same game again, killing the tentacles and swamp monsters when they showed up, bringing the globs towards the eye so they could damage it when they exploded, and avoiding the attacks that the eye loosed at them every now and then... before they exposed the heart again and charged into the hollowed core once more.

This time around they dealt enough damage to the heart that it withered and died on them, to which the heroes cheered for a few seconds before they retraced their steps to the portal they walked through and returned to the summit of the World Tree... where they found Malfurion hard at work still, though this time around it appeared that his task was slightly easier, indicating that removing the foes that were arrayed against him was the right thing to do at the moment.

After the group spent a few more minutes resting from their ordeal, and the healers made sure that everyone was fully healed from fighting Il'gynoth, the entire group got back on their feet and headed towards the next portal that the tanks had decided on going through... where they stepped out into an area that Lyra knew as Mulgore, as Trixie had told her about this place. They carefully followed the path in front of them and dealt with the enemies that were in front of them, which ended up being spider that had been corrupted by the Nightmare and transformed into more sinister looking versions of what they had been earlier. Of course since Xavius was in control of this entire place there were quite a fair amount of the corrupted spiders that they had to take care of before the boss of this area engaged them, which Malfurion explained was the spirit of a dead druid called Elerethe.

When they finally killed the last of the spiders, however, a much larger corrupted spider, which appeared to be slightly human like in some manner, dropped down and attacked them, which meant that this had to be Elerethe and that this was an unnatural form Xavius had forced upon her spirit.

As the battle started Elerethe called upon more of the spiders that were hanging in the webs above them, meaning that she was calling upon reinforcements despite the fact that the battle had literally just started, while at the same time forcing some of the tanks and damage dealers to focus on them while the majority focused on Elerethe. As people moved around the area, however, some of them were targeted with poison, where they had to run a little further and drop the poison in an area where no one was, thus preventing their allies from being hurt. After a few moments of the group fighting the spiders Elerethe fled back towards the roof of the area and patiently waited for all of the spiders to be defeated, though when that happened she returned to the area and attacked them with a vengeance.

At one point Elerethe shifted her form and took on the appearance of a large bird that could walk on two legs while using it's wings and beak to attack them, but instead of doing that immediately she spread her wings and flew to another part of the area, forcing the group to follow after her.

When Elerethe landed she started attacking the first people that approached her, which happened to be the tanks, while at the same time everyone else approached her from behind and continued their assault, where they noticed that she was summoning purple gusts of wind around all three parts of the area in an attempt to hurt them all. Elerethe also swung her wings and threw painful feathers at the assembled group, though while the majority of the heroes dodged the attack some got hit, forcing the healers to turn towards them and heal their wounds before they resumed the fight. From that point forward Elerethe continued to attack in the same manner, where she used her wings and beak to attack them for the most part and occasionally used the painful feathers when she determined that the tanks weren't paying attention to what she was doing.

After a point, where it was clear that Elerethe was drawing close to being defeat, she shifted back to her spider form and tried to kill them all again, but in the end her repeated attacks were easy to read and the group toppled her to the ground... winning the fight while at the same time hopefully setting the remains of her spirit free. As they walked back towards the portal that would take them to the summit Lyra knew that she and the others were going to punish Xavius for what he had done... they only needed to get passed three more creatures before they reached his lair, and then they would take care of the Nightmare Lord.