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// Shore: Cathedral of Eternal Night 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Khadgar, Maiev, and Illidan were pleased to hear that Lyra, Trixie, Azuregos, and their group had succeeded in stopping the Legion's invasion of Azsuna, though the commanders insisted that the group take a break and relax from their excursion into the areas that the Legion had seized. Since they had time before the other three groups returned from the other three regions, where they would likely begin the next stage of their plan for the Broken Shore, Lyra walked with Illidan and simply stopped at an area where they could spar, as Illidan was interested in seeing how one of his best students fought. Lyra was more than willing to shore her mentor how she had improved since they had last sparred, which had been seven long years ago, and she was sure that the two of them could draw a crowd because of how famous they were, though their fame was for completely different reasons.

Fighting Lord Illidan, even in a sparring match, was even tougher than the shadowy creature that Gul'dan had tried to use before he had been completely obliterated, though the reason behind that was because he had seen what Lyra was capable of and was testing her skill. One thing he tested was her skill with her warglaives, another was how fast she could move over a course he specified, and another had her fight with only her fists, in case she came upon an enemy that made her fight with only her hands and hooves. It was quite the experience, for both her and the people that were watching them, but it gave her some insight into how to better herself, to which her mentor called for a break when the group from Val'sharah returned with news of success. A few more seconds passed before the heroes that traveled to Highmountain came back to Deliverance Point as well, telling the others of their own success, causing everyone to be happy now that they were actually being effective against the Legion.

Another ten minutes passed before the heroes of Stormheim bothered to return to the Broken Shore, where they also revealed their success to the rest of the group... though as the heroes started to truly relax before their next assignment, however, Khadgar approached them and got their attention.

"Heroes, we are ready to begin an assault on the upper area of the Tomb of Sargeras." Khadgar said, though at the same time he pointed at the large structure that everyone knew about, which was their end game goal at the moment, "I studied the writings of Aegwynn, the Guardian who defeated the Dark Titan's avatar. She said that if her wards were compromised, a failsafe could be triggered by placing the Aegis of Aggramar upon an altar in the Cathedral of Eternal Night. Some of you were the ones who acquired the Pillars of Creation, so I would recommend that you get together and determine who should enter the Cathedral. Be warned; Mephistroth will use all his power to stop you from placing the Aegis, but I know you will prevail!"

"Lyra and Trixie should be part of the group, since they recovered two of the Pillars of Creation." Kurost stated, to which the heroes behind him cheered as well, indicating that they agreed with the orc warrior, before he looked over at Allvar for a moment, "I would also suggest that Allvar, one of the heroes that Recovered the Aegis of Aggramar from the Halls of Valor, head into the Cathedral as well, along with Maraa, whose healing skill will come in handy. I would leave the final member of their group up to them, though those of us that aren't chosen can begin attacking the demons and disrupt their operations."

"Landan should come along as well," Trixie said, naming the paladin that had stood near her and Lyra when Kil'jaeden sent his ships to attack Dalaran earlier, though even as she said that the other heroes didn't seem upset, giving her hope that the hate between the Alliance and the Horde might actually die thanks to this invasion.

With the team decided, and the other heroes went off to collect their duties from Commander Chambers, the five heroes gathered what they needed and followed Khadgar, who was being guarded by both Illidan and Maiev, though the heart of the Broken Shore as they approached the Tomb of Sargeras. Along the way Lyra got the chance to see where Lyra and her friends confronted Gul'dan, as well as the exact location that Varian Wyrnn, the former High King of the Alliance and Anduin Wyrnn's father, met his end when Gul'dan forced the fel energy into his body and caused him to explode. After that point was when the group walked up to the main entrance of the Tomb, which would no doubt take them into the depths, but instead of going in their they turned to the left and made their way around to the side entrance... the one that would take them to the upper section of the Tomb, where the Cathedral of Eternal Night rested.

Fortunately the entrance contained a portal, meaning that Aegwynn, who had built the entire tomb, needed portals to help her get around the place, as this one allowed them to travel right to their destination... where the group noticed that there was a lot of demons walking around the first level, though at the same time Khadgar handed Trixie the Aegis, since she and the others needed to find the area it needed to be put into.

Allvar drew his sword and shield as he walked through the entrance in front of him, where Landan did the same with his two-handed sword as the others gripped their weapons, as there were more demons in here than they originally thought. As they walked out of the entrance area, however, Mephistroth appeared before them and declared that the guests of honor had arrived, along with saying that he was going to take great pleasure in tearing Illidan's horns from his head while also calling him by the name lots of people knew him by, the Betrayer. Illidan, of course, stated that the demon wouldn't be able to run from him, since Mephistroth was a coward for running from Lyra and Trixie earlier, only for the dreadlord to flee immediately, causing Illidan to grin as he and Maiev gave chase. Khadgar turned around and used his magic to throw a barrier around the portal they walked through to get here, indicating that he would guard the entrance to the best of his ability before withdrawing... to which Lyra, Trixie, and the others continued forward.

As the commanders left them alone the group charged at the demons that were guarding the path they had to take to reach the other side of the chamber they were in, to which they had to fight some felguards, some eredar, and some fel hunters to do that. In the first few seconds of the fight it became clear that the demons were expecting them, as the were much stronger than what the group was expecting, but that didn't stop them from felling the demons where they stood and progressed to their target destination. As they moved, however, a doomguard and some felbats joined the attack, to which Lyra took great pleasure in bringing down the larger demon while her companions dealt with the foes that were in front of them. With the number of groups in their way it took the group some time before they could reach the stairs that would take them up to the level above them, though they all took some joy in cutting down the demons that stood in front of them... especially since every demon slain here meant one less demon on the Broken Shore, fighting the combined forces of the Armies of Legionfall.

Eventually they reached the stairs and started walking up them, though they had to deal with a pair of eredar and the fel green succubus that was with them, which was much stronger than the type of succubus that warlocks learned how to command during their training, but even with that wildcard the group eventually beat the group and moved forward... though they had to wait while Lyra tore the demonic rune from the succubus' chest, as she was sure that the warlocks and the other Illidari could use this in some manner.

When they reached the second floor of the Citadel, however, the group engaged another fel succubus, who came into battle with her own pet lashers and some fel Nightborne that happened to be stationed here, to which the group had to engage the group of foes. Lyra made sure to kill the succubus first, before she could seduce anyone for a few moments, so she could turn her attention to the other enemies that were around them, which included another fel succubus that was hiding in the corner. She was fortunate to have found three of them so quickly, because that meant that the warlocks and the Illidari wouldn't fight over the new information she was collecting, to which she got a chuckle out of her group when she told them why she was collecting so many of the fel succubus runes. The next area they came to had a pair of fel Nightborne, some lashers, and another fel succubus, causing Lyra to chuckle as she tackled the succubus while her friends dealt with the other foes... though once she had the rune they faced the large fel corrupted treant that was blocking their path forward.

The creature, Agronox, rushed at the group as they uprooted him, where he attempted to smash Allvar with his fists first while at the same time ignoring the rest of the group, allowing Lyra, Trixie, and Landan to use their damaging abilities to wound the ancient creature. Agronox also tried to breath foul poison gas on those that he was targeting, while at the same time calling more lashers into existence so he could take out the group, though Landan slashed the lashers apart before they could even reach the group. There was another type of lasher that Agronox called to battle, but they were broken under the intensity of Landan's blows, though those seemed to be the only real abilities that the ancient creature knew and continued to rely on those powers... until the group brought an end to the ancient's life, freeing the former guardian from the fel curse that was plaguing it's body.

"If I'm going to be honest, I expected more from an ancient guardian," Trixie said, as she expected Agronox to be tougher than he had been, but at the same time she guessed that they might have been much stronger than what she originally believed them to be.

"That just means we might have a tougher enemy later on." Lyra stated, though at the same time she made sure that the fel succubus runes were secure in a small pouch, but at the same time she grinned as she looked at the area they had to pass through next, "Come on, let's catch up with Lord Illidan and Maiev."

As they walked over to the other side of the floor they were on, where the stairs to the upper area were located, the group noticed several more groups of enemies waiting for them, though as they attacked the first group a Nightborne called for more to come to their aid. Lyra spent the next few minutes killing the five fel succubus that came at her group, though while it was odd that all of them were literally targeting her, before she attacked them, she was fine with that and broke them all down. She was also happy to collect the runes they possessed, since it would further improve their understanding of the strange fel succubus they were encountering in this area, before their current group of enemies were completely taken care of. After that they found Maiev fighting some demons, claiming that Illidan left behind a mess, though Lyra suspected that the Warden was only trying to shift blame to her mentor... though they helped her take care of the demons she was fighting before they continued up the stairs.

They traversed the stairs to the upper level, where they found some imps guarding the door to a library, though as they walked forward two things happened; the first being that Maiev chose to stay at the top of the stairs and defend their backs in case demons broke through Khadgar's barrier and were following them. The other thing was that Trixie, upon seeing the treasure trove of knowledge that was stored around them, engaged her magic and took all of the tomes with her magic, moving them into her bag so she could give them to Dalaran later... even snatching the ones that were being tossed around by the imps, who were annoyed by the action until Maiev took them out. From there the group moved into the area and attacked the beholder demon that was in charge of the invading imps, though as the demons fell around them the group moved out of the middle of the room as a large Mo'arg landed in front of them.

The Mo'arg, saying that he was Thrashbite, waved his large weapon in the air for a few seconds before the group engaged him in battle, though as the battle stated he created a circular area around him that he intended to smash, to which the group backed away before the attack happened. Once Thrashbite failed to hit anyone with his attack, which seemed to annoy the demon more than the group originally thought, he lifted his weapon and hurled it through the air, where it landed on the exterior of the area they were fighting in and started spinning around the room in a perfect circle. That effectively forced the group to remain in the middle of the area that they were fighting in, though after a few seconds Thrashbite called his weapon back to him and stared at Trixie with a look of hate in his eyes, to which Lyra flashed beside her friend and moved her behind one of the bookcases... causing the demon to slam into the bookcase and shattered it, before returning to battle once more.

The battle continued like that for a few more minutes, as it appeared that Thrashbite had more health than what the group was used to, before the group managed to topple the Mo'arg, though as the beast fell to the ground the group took a moment to catch their breath before they moved through the other entrance of the library... though as they did that the imps that stood in front of them screamed in terror before they ran up the stairs in fear.

Lyra chuckled as she and the others stared walking up the stairs, as it appears that Thrashbite was supposed to be a big shot and crushing him had scared the imps off, meaning that they didn't have to waste time on them and simply continued up the path in front of them. A few seconds later, when they reached the top of the stairs, they found a group of fel spider demons waiting for them, though as they engaged the demons a few more dropped down from the ceiling and joined their friends, but Lyra and the others were more than happy to slay more demons to get to the area they were heading towards. It honestly didn't take them long to deal with the spiders and the humanoid demon spider that was leading them, though as they killed the last one, and walked forward, the group spotted Illidan and Maiev standing at the bottom of the stairs with some demon corpses resting around them... though as the group arrived the duo charged up the stairs with Illidan going first.

"Did you really think you could elude me, Illidan?" Maiev asked, though at the same time she followed the leader of the Illidari up the stairs, while Lyra and the others followed after her so they could reach their destination, "Run again and I'll shackle you like the beast you are!"

"Posture if you must, Maiev," Illidan replied, though as he spoke his attention was on the stairs and what was waiting at the top of them, where their destination, and his target, was waiting for them, "but for now, do what you do best and follow me."

As they reached the top of the stairs a projection of Khadgar appeared and informed the group that the barrier had been broken, indicating that demons were coming after them, causing Illidan to state that he and Maiev would stand guard in front of the entrance to the alter... protecting the group until they did what they had to do, to which Lyra and the others walked into the area, where a fel lord appeared the moment Trixie slipped the Aegis into the slot.

"Kil'jaeden sends his gratitude for delivering the Aegis into our hands." the fel lord said, to which he actually chuckled for a few seconds, though that only got on the nerves of everyone that was standing in front of him, "I, Domatrax, will kill you and claim the Aegis for the master."

As Allvar started the battle with Domatrax, however, Lyra noticed that a circular barrier appeared around the area that the Aegis was slipped into, which meant that it likely played some part in the battle that was happening now, though at the same time the group made sure that the fel lord wasn't facing the Pillar of Creation. At first it appeared that Domatrax's only attack was the powerful cleave attack that all fel lords knew, though as the battle progressed he started tearing open portals and called in imps, felguards, and even a few shivarra to attack them. Lyra was the one who dealt with the more powerful demons that he called into the fight, cutting them down and making sure that none of them survived, though she was more excited when she received a few cuts in return, indicating that this was a tough fight for everyone. Trixie, of course, was worried about her, but Lyra was more than willing to take out every demon that came out of the portals that Domatrax opened... though when Allvar dealt the finishing blow, however, the fel lord hurled his massive axe and literally knocked the Aegis from where it was resting before he collapsed.

Illidan rushed into the chamber as a group of felbats broke through the glass windows, though as he tore them all to pieces, and impressed Lyra's friends in the process, Mephistroth appeared where Domatrax had first been standing when he entered this area... though it appeared that the dreadlord was ready for a fight, to which Lyra and the others, including Illidan, readied their weapons in response.

Moments later Allvar charged at Mephistroth and the battle started, where the dreadlord started loosing wave of chaotic energy at whoever he wanted to kill first, though at the same time Lyra transformed into her Havoc form to do some additional damage to their foe. He also hurled bolts of painful fel energy at whoever he wanted to target, to which Maraa had to heal the damage before the damage dealer went back to the fight, while at the same time everyone kept their eyes open for any more harmful attacks that he had. He even threw shadow energy at the group, revealing that he commanded three different types of energy, separately Lyra mentally added, but thanks to Maraa's expert healing his damage didn't stick around too long... though since he didn't have any healers, which the group would have taken out anyway, the heroes and Illidan tore through Mephistroth's defenses after some time. It appeared that the battle was going in the favor of the heroes for the moment, though that was before Mephistroth vanished into the shadows, causing them to raise their guards in the process.

As shadowy versions of Mephistroth appeared around them, however, Illidan called for someone to guard him with the Aegis while he prepared his power, to which Trixie rushed to his aid while Lyra and the others did their best to smash all of the constructs that their foe had summoned... though after a few minutes of doing that Illidan loosed a blast of fel energy that tore the constructs to pieces and revealed where Mephistroth was hiding. That action allowed the group to charge at him once more, increasing the amount of damage they were doing so they could avoid him slipping into the shadows again, to which the demon growled as he continued the fight. Mephistroth reverted back to the first set of attacks he used against the group, though they were more than ready for that to happen and repeated the same tactics they used to combat these attacks... before Lyra and Illidan tore the demon's heart from his chest, stunning their foe in the process as he started to fall before their eyes.

"The final... victory... will be ours..." Mephistroth declared, though that was before he fell to the floor and went still, especially after Illidan crushed the demon's heart as Trixie slipped the Aegis back into the slot it was supposed to be resting in.

That was, however, before a surge of energy rushed out of the slot that the artifact was resting in, to which an echo of a powerful person, a lady that seemed to radiate power despite the fact that she was dead, appeared near the Aegis and stared at the group... as well as Maiev, who was late to the party.

"What is this?" Illidan asked, though he wasn't the only one interested in what was happening, as everyone in the group was staring at the echo as they tried to make sense of what they were seeing.

"Can it be?" Maiev said, to which she stared at the echo for a few moments, as if she was trying to see something that none of the others knew about, before she snapped her fingers for a moment, "The Guardian!"

Lyra would have been a fool to ask who the Guardian was, because the most infamous Guardian in history, for all the good reasons, was the Guardian Aegwynn, mother of Medivh, who had taught Khadgar so many years ago, though she also heard Trixie gasp in joy when she realized who was in front of them... even if it was just an echo and would only give them a prerecorded message.

"In ages past, this shield defended the young world soul against madness and corruption." Aegwynn stated, beckoning to the Aegis for a moment, informing them of what the powerful artifact had done before they had been forced to recover it from Highmountain, "Today, it serves those who fight for Azeroth. I am Aegwynn, Guardian of Tirisfal. I left behind this echo of my power as a safeguard in the event that the wards I put in place to protect the tomb failed. Indeed, I sense that the master of the Burning Legion now schemes to claim his prize. Yet there is still hope. By anchoring the Pillars of Creation in the halls below, you will restore my wards and push back against the invaders. Then you must venture into the depths of the tomb and use the Eye of Aman'Thul to eradicate the Felstorm and sever the Legion's link to Azeroth."

Lyra was honestly surprised that an echo of the Guardian was able to determine exactly what was happening to Azeroth at that point in time, especially without anyone saying anything, but before anyone said anything they noticed that Aegwynn had more to say and kept their mouths shut as they listened.

"But the Pillars alone cannot bring victory." Aegwynn continued, telling the group exactly what they had been doing ever since the Legion invaded Azeroth for the third time, though they said nothing as they waited for her to finish, "Only a united army founded on strength and courage can conquer the Legion. When you and your allies are prepared for the final battle, my echo will return to aid you. The fate of Azeroth rests in your hands."

"Khadgar will want to hear of this." Maiev commented, because as soon as the echo stopped speaking Aegwynn vanished completely, leaving the group to their own devices, though at the same time they all knew that the echo would protect the Aegis from the Legion while they prepared for the assault on the Tomb.

"Indeed," Illidan said, though at the same time he smiled as Trixie started to open a portal back to Deliverance Point, as they all knew what they had to do next, "though it seems that some preparations are in order."

Lyra smiled as they walked through the portal and returned to Deliverance Point, as she and the other heroes would need to complete some more tasks before they weakened the Legion enough to start the assault on the Tomb of Sargeras, but she was happy that they were making progress. Sooner or later they would end the invasion and save Azeroth from the vision that Xe'ra had showed her so long ago, and then she and Trixie could finally think about heading home, once they determined that they were no longer needed to save this world from their enemies anyway.