//------------------------------//
// Argus: Nath'raxas Hold 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

"Azeroth was right in sendin' us here." Magni commented, snapping both Lyra and Trixie back to the situation at hand, though even as they did that they kept their thoughts about what they had seen to themselves until they got back to the Vindicaar and told the others the news, "We have to stop whatever it is Sargeras is plannin', or we may not have a home left to save when this is all over. Ye should go back to Turalyon and let him know what ye've seen. I'll stay here and see if I can't glean anything else that might help us."

Lyra and Trixie nodded as they said farewell to Magni, for now anyway, and headed back towards the beacon that was near Hatuun's campfire, to which they bowed their heads towards the chieftain for a few seconds, who nodded his in return, before they accessed the beacon and teleported back to the Vindicaar. Several of the other heroes, those not sent out to the Antoran Wastes to gather information on the Burning Throne and attempt to cut down some of the demons that guarded Sargeras' prize, nodded their heads to the duo as they walked towards the navigation console. Even some of the Lightforged Draenei nodded their heads, meaning that someone must have been spreading stories about the duo, though they paid it no mind as they walked up to the area that Turalyon was standing in, awaiting any news that would benefit them as he clearly thought about something that might aid them in their time of need.

"High Exarch, we have returned." Lyra said, causing the man to turn away from Romuul, who seemed to never leave the navigation console, and faced the duo once more with a look of interest in his eyes, revealing that he was wondering what they had see.

"What did Magni have to show you?" Turalyon asked, cutting right to the heart of the conversation, because he wanted to know if they had some information that would help them in this war or have a target they could take out to damage the demons they would be fighting against.

"Nothing good I'm afraid," Trixie replied, as she knew that some of the heroes and commanders would be upset by what they had to say, but at the same time she knew that they needed to know what they were all up against, "As you know, Sargeras fought and killed the rest of the Pantheon a long time ago, but what no one knew was that he captured their souls and has been torturing them since their battle. According to what we saw, thanks to the still unbroken soul of Argus, our enemy has already broken and twisted Aggramar into a willing servant... and it's only a matter of time until the rest of the Pantheon, as well as Argus, join the Dark Titan. And, since Azeroth has a dormant Titan sleeping inside it, that explains why the Dark Titan is so interested in the planet; he wants to either break Azeroth into a willing servant, or destroy her before she can awaken and potentially rival his own power."

"I knew the situation was bad, but not this bad." Turalyon commented, as that was some heavy news to take and he knew that their chances of winning had just decreased with the mention that they were now facing two Titans, instead of the original one that everyone knew about, "Though maybe this will change things. We have already secured ground near Nath'raxas Hold, which is one of the Legion's chief military fortifications on Argus. Striking it now, and hard, may be our only opportunity to tip the scales in our favor... especially since we're now facing two Titans, instead of one."

"And let me guess," Lyra said, as she had the feeling that since Turalyon was telling them this piece of information, and not any of the other heroes that had been standing near him, waiting for something to do, they were the ones he wanted to send on this mission, "we're leading the assault?"

"In a sense," Turalyon replied, to which he nodded to Romuul, who accessed the navigation console and called forth the image of the imposing base they were going to take on, "You two, as well as some of the other heroes, will join me and some of the Lightforged for an assault on Nath'raxas Hold, which we will prepare for first before we launch the real attack. With any luck we'll be able to take the hold out and cripple the Legion in this area, allowing us to focus on the Antoran Wastes and Mac'Aree areas of Argus. To get to our base you'll have to teleport down to Hatuun's village again and run by the area that Alleria saved us in, until you reach Destiny Point and set up a beacon so we can move into position without giving the Legion time to stop us."

Lyra and Trixie nodded their understanding, wondering why Turalyon hadn't sent someone to actually put a beacon down at Destiny Point while they were busy elsewhere, but they said nothing as they simply teleported back down to Hatuun's village and started moving towards their new destination. The only thing they had to worry about was the large Fel Reaver type machine that was wandering the area between Hatuun's village and the pits they had found Alleria in, but it was easy to bypass the construct and soon they were on their way to Destiny Point. Sure enough when they arrived at their destination they found several Lightforged warriors guarding the small base they had created, along with spotting the area that they decided the beacon was going to be placed in. Lyra, now possessing her own connection to the Light, stepped forward and called the new energy to the surface, where Romuul seemed to sense her actions with the Vindicaar and a beacon struck the area in front of her... to which Turalyon and the heroes he had chosen, along with the Lightforged warriors and some additional supplies, moved down to the area immediately.

One thing that Lyra wasn't expecting was for Lord Illidan to show up as well, as she figured that he would be busy gathering information on the Burning Throne, but since he was here that meant that the other Illidari likely had the situation under control... even as Illidan stepped down near the demon infested area and started cleaving the demons to pieces, to make things easier for everyone else.

"If we do not act quickly, the demons stationed here are more than enough to overwhelm us." Turalyon commented, staring out at what was in front of them, revealing that he understood what they were up against and knew that the rest of his forces were prepared for what they needed to do, "Fortunately I believe that Romuul, Velen, and even the Betrayer have some suggestions for what we can do to improve our standing and weaken our enemies at the same time. Speak to them and see what we can do before our assault on Nath'raxas Hold."

That was the one thing that Lyra hated about some of the people that spoke about Lord Illidan, they called him the 'Betrayer' because people thought he willingly joined Sargeras' side at one point and wanted to destroy Azeroth, when in reality he fooled the Dark Titan into believing that he was changing sides and gained the knowledge that eventually gave birth to the creation of the Illidari. Yet despite all of that some people still believed that he was against them, that he was only bidding his time, weakening the Army of the Light, until he could 'betray' them and join Sargeras' side once more... though she called those people insane and pushed the thought to the side as she and Trixie approached the hologram of Romuul, who only appeared in such a manner when he had something of importance to say to his allies.

"The Army of the Light's warframes have won countless battles on Argus." Romuul told them, though he patiently waited for the two of them to approach his hologram before speaking, to which he beckoned to one of the warframes that had been sent down with them, "Despite their power, not all who descend into the fray return. My modifications to this frame should give us the edge we need, but several critical components are still missing. There are remains of battles past in Nath'raxas that we can still scavenge. If you can find the Invocation Array, some Vindicator Plating, and a Judgement Core, the Legion will feel our fury yet."

Trixie nodded her head, because recovering pieces of machinery for Romuul sounded easy, especially since she was sure that the other two objectives would take them into the area that the components he needed were located in, which meant they could kill two birds with one stone. Once they knew what Romuul wanted of them, and the Draenei returned to his work on the Vindicaar, they turned towards Velen and approached the Prophet, as his task would likely be saving something or blowing something up.

"There is no end to the Legion's depravity." Velen stated, though his eyes were locked on the area in front of them, as he was envisioning something else and sighed after a few moments, "Every battle won, every world conquered, yields more souls to fuel their war machine. They have not yet defiled all of the fallen warriors in the hold, but I fear it is only a matter of time. Please, take this talisman with you into the hold and use it to sanctify any corpses you encounter. They deserve a better fate."

"Of course." Lyra replied, though at the same time she carefully passed the talisman to Trixie, who would likely be able to sanctify the corpses as they fought their way through the area, before the two of them headed down the path that would take them to their destination and stopped by Illidan, who happened to be standing around some demon corpses with a small smile on his face, "Lord Illidan, we were told that you might have some ideas on what we need to do next."

"Despite their strength and their numbers, even the Burning Legion requires order to fight." Illidan said, though he turned his smile towards Lyra, as she was one of the few people who knew what he might say before he actually gave the order to do so, "I'm sure you know this, but you and Trixie should disrupt that order... and make them fall like the rabble they are. The plan is simple. Let chaos reign in their ranks, and the day will be ours."

As Lyra and Trixie descended into Nath'raxas Hold, and began their search for the three items that Romuul asked them to recover, they immediately encountered some demons standing in their way and attacked them, where Lyra rushed them and Trixie stood back to use her magic. Trixie smiled as she loosed arcane blasts and missiles at her targets, as she found that watching Lyra master a few type of power, one that was different from what she was used to, was fascinating to watch, especially when her power over the Light was stronger than she originally realized. One point of that was when Lyra confronted a Dreadlord, that happened to be guarding some plating Romuul needed, and the cuts she dealt to the demon glowed for a few moments, before she drove her blade into her opponent's chest and finished the demon off. The side effect of that was that the Dreadlord's corpse smoldered for a few moments under the intensity of the Light, allowing them to gather the component that Romuul needed and let the souls inside the corpses depart from their shells.

The duo continued forward and assaulted the demons that were in front of them, though as they did so Trixie noticed that some of the heroes that had teleported down to Destiny Point as well charged out at the demons that patrolled the area, making their own tasks easier in the process. Lyra made sure to make sure she and Trixie weren't overwhelmed by the demons that were in front of them, though that didn't stop her from cutting down the Eredar that tried to fight back and used arrows forged from the Light itself to pierce the foes off in the distance, causing the demons to explode when the energy expanded. Lyra imagined that she could have passed for a hunter if she had forged a bow out of the Light, to go with the Lightforged arrows, but she was fine with being what was essentially a Lightforged demon hunter, or whatever her class was supposed to be called at this point in time. Fortunately Trixie was paying a little more attention to the enemies around them, as she blasted an Eredar in the chest with her magic and obliterated the demon in an instant, causing Lyra to focus her attention as she returned to the fight.

Along the way the duo managed to find the second of Romuul's items, the Invocation Array, and continued searching as they sanctified the corpses of the soldiers of the Army of the Light, before they walked over a new portion of the area and found the Judgement Core that happened to be laying out in the open... causing the duo to sigh for a moment as they collected the item in question and, with the majority of the heroes staying in the area, headed back to the grateful commanders that were leading the assault on Nath'raxas Hold.

"Eredar are adept at manipulating the fel that courses through this world." Illidan commented, causing Lyra to nod her head, as the Eredar had been like that for as long as she could remember and knew that they had to be slightly stronger on the Legion's homeworld, "Those who do not shape it into living weapons build other armaments, like the Spires of Woe. The spires will make it difficult for even a small force to penetrate the main stronghold. We must dismantle enough of them to clear the way before we advance upon it."

Lyra and Trixie had seen the left side of the area before Nath'raxas Hold, where the fel energy was more potent than what was on the right side, and knew that something must have been going on over there, which meant they were making some sort of progress... though as they moved up to tell Velen and Romuul the news they noticed that Alleria had decided to join them, where they approached her after telling the Prophet the good news.

"We've been presented with a rare opportunity." Alleria stated, to which she beckoned to some Lightforged Draenei that were dressed up like they were scouts, meaning that she must have found something in this area after she had joined her husband and his forces, "Our scouts have spotted two Shivarra priestesses in the western fel pools enhancing the Legion's war effort. The inner circle of Sargeras' chosen never leave the walls of Antorus. If we take them out, we might be able to sow fear among those closest to the Dark Titan."

The duo grinned for a moment, because taking out the Shivarra priestesses would deal a great blow to the area around them, and potentially the Legion as a whole, but instead of getting too excited they headed over to where the image of Romuul was resting and watched as he teleported the pieces they had acquired to the Vindicaar... no doubt so he could work on it for a few more moments before the warframe was ready for whatever he had planned for it.

"Our warframe is almost operational!" Romuul exclaimed, causing the duo to wonder what they were going to do with this empowered warframe, but they were sure that he was going to tell them the moment it was complete, to which they focused their attention on the hologram, "It just needs a good jolt to revitalize its systems. Warlocks in the pools below infuse pieces of Argus with fel energy to create living siege weapons. If you can extract one, we can use it to jumpstart the warframe's Judgment Core!"

"So destroy the Spires of Woe, kill the two Shivarra priestesses, and get an immaculate felcore," Lyra said, to which the hologram of Romuul nodded his head, indicating that he already knew what the others wanted to tell the duo and agreed with their missions, since it would benefit them all in the long run, "Well then, let's get this part started."

Sure enough Lyra and Trixie headed towards the fel pits, with some of the heroes and some Lightforged backing them, before they rushed the Eredar and the fel created creatures that they had summoned, where Lyra slammed into the first demon she came across and cut into her target as Trixie backed her up from behind. Their allies joined them instantly, attacking the demons and the other creatures that where around them, though as they fought the demons Lyra grinned as she approached one of the Spires of Woe and gathered the Light to her, before shattering the spire with a burst of energy. The other heroes did the same thing with the other spires they came across, shattering the weapons that the Eredar had created, while also killing all of the demons that wanted them dead, though one of the things they focused on was the Infernals that had to contain the felcore Romuul needed... and sure enough, thanks to the efforts of a hunter that also happened to be a jewelcrafter, they managed to find the felcore with ease.

Once that objective was complete they focused on tearing their way through the Eredar and fel creatures that were all around them as they searched for the Shivarra priestesses, where they discovered that the first one was experimenting on the corpses of it's own allies and they took it out with some relative ease... and the other one actually appeared to be working on empowering something, only to fall when the combined might of the heroes charged at it.

"These are the best Sargeras can post here?" Lyra asked, as she was worried that they would be lured into a false sense of security with the enemies they were fighting, something that the others seemed to agree with, before she sighed and headed out of the area, "Whatever... let's just tell the commanders the good news and see if we can't finish this assault up before something happens."

Lyra, Trixie, and the heroes returned to Destiny Point, leaving the Army of the Light to take out the remaining demons and fel creatures that were in the area, before telling the commanders that they had completed all of their tasks and that they were eager to see what was next in their assault.

"No war is won by a single act, but without the spires protecting them the rest of the hold will fall as well." Illidan said, though this time around he accompanied the heroes up to where the hologram of Romuul and the other commanders were waiting for them.

"Thanks to your efforts, our enemy is in disarray and their defenses inoperable." Turalyon stated, turning to look at the group of heroes for a moment, or more accurately Lyra and Trixie, beofre he revealed what the next stage of their assault was going to be, "We must take the ground at the spire's base and tighten the noose around their commander's neck. You have more than earned the honor to take the warframe into battle. We will follow your lead once the way is clear... and after that we'll take the fight to the lord of this hold."

Trixie nodded and climbed into the seat of the warframe, which immediately started to rise off the ground the moment she climbed into it, revealing that it might have an autopilot function of some kind, though as she started to move away from the base Lyra jumped onto the back of the machine and let it take off. It didn't take them long before they reached the courtyard of Nath'raxas Hold, though as they landed Trixie smashed several demons under the warframe and started using the commands to hurl Light empowered spheres at her targets. Lyra, on the other hand, landed near her friend and started her assault by zeroing in on the portals the demons were opening, as she used her new powers to cut and blast her way to the portals before she silenced the gateways in question. The last thing she wanted was for more demons to pour out into the area before the Army of the Light could arrive, though at the same time she smiled as she watched Trixie smash the demons and crush them with the warframe.

It took them a few minutes to clear the immediate area of enemies, for the moment anyway since they had no idea what else was waiting for them, though once that happened the duo received a communication from Turalyon, which came through the systems of the warframe.

"Lord Nath'raxas rules over this hold as thanks for his role in delivering Argus to the Legion many years ago." Turalyon told them, where their attention was drawn to the entrance of the hold that was in front of them, to which the duo realized what they were going to do next, "Make no mistake, he is powerful, but he has also grown overconfident in his seat. Take advantage of his hubris and make use of the warframe's firepower while you can. We will storm the courtyard shortly!"

With the final task of this area given to them, and the communication terminated, the duo marched the warframe into the entrance of the hold and smashed their way through the two Wrathguards that were guarding the entrance, before they made their way down into the hold... where they found the powerful Eredar, wielding a scythe, standing in the middle of the area in front of them. The moment they discovered their foe Trixie engaged the jump feature of the machine and launched herself into the air, before she slammed down near Nath'raxas and started using the warframe's powers to deal as much damage as she could while avoiding their foe's attacks. Lyra jumped her and hacked into the demon's arms and legs as she dodged attacks, though when they reached a certain point in the battle Nath'raxas forced Trixie to eject from the warframe and continued the fight. Fortunately that didn't seem to matter in the long run, as their foe couldn't hurt them despite his best efforts and confirmed his hubris, before they toppled him and caused him to crash to the ground in defeat, where he would take his last breath before dying.

As Nath'raxas breathed his last, however, he proclaimed that with his death, HE would come, to which the duo glanced at each other in worry, as they recalled what Aggramar had been doing when the vision had been shown to them, to which they hurried outside. There they found the Army of the Light already teleporting their soldiers and the other heroes back to the Vindicaar, though as they did so they heard a sound in the air above them, to which Lyra and Trixie looked up as a meteor crashed into the area on their immediate left. Fortunately Lyra had summoned a barrier made of the Light to protect herself and Trixie for a few seconds, though as she lowered that barrier, and found flames resting all around them, the duo watched as Aggramar rose from the area he had landed in. The enslaved Titan said nothing to them as he raised his sword into the air and readied what would be the killing blow, though Lyra, once more thinking quickly, called her new power to the field and connected to the Light of the Vindicaar... to which she teleported herself and Trixie back up to the Vindicaar, narrowly avoiding Aggramar's blade.

Another fortunate thing was that Lyra had dropped them right in front of the navigation console, behind Romuul of course, and they approached Turalyon, who had seen what happened thanks to the viewer that had been installed inside the Vindicaar... though it was clear that the news of Aggramar's return didn't sit well with him, especially since it confirmed what Lyra and Trixie had told him earlier.

"It appears that you two were correct, Aggramar lives once more," Turalyon said, though he knew that this didn't bode well for their forces, because now they definitely had two Titans to contend with and he didn't know if they could even defeat one of them at this point, "as one of Sargeras' servants. Velen, do you have any insight on this matter?"

"We knew the Legion to be a formidable foe, but recent events demonstrate that we do not possess the necessary strength to continue." Velen stated, to which he turned and looked out the window that was in front of them, where Lyra and Trixie noticed that he was looking for something specific and smiled when he found it, "We have come too far to fail at this critical moment. I know of a relic on Mac'Aree, my ancient home, that may be our salvation. We must take the  Vindicaar beyond the surface of Argus, to the floating ruin suspended above us. Perhaps there we will find the salvation we so desperately need. Romuul, would you do the honors?"

"Of course Prophet." Romuul replied, to which he turned back to the navigation console and input the commands that were necessary for what Velen had in mind, where the heroes watched as the Vindicaar left Krokuun behind and headed towards what would have been the atmosphere of Argus.

Between Krokuun and the atmosphere, however, resting a floating chunk of land that appeared to be almost entirely intact, save for the fact that it had been pulled from Argus' surface, though as they came to a stop above the land Lyra and Trixie realized that this place was almost untouched by the fel energies that had ravaged Argus. It was as if the Legion didn't care for Mac'Aree and had left it the way it was, though at the same time Lyra could feel the pull of something else, something that spoke to the darkness inside her body. She realized what it was, as the Dark Magic was reacting to an artifact or something that would become the second half of the golden circlet she was wearing, the shadowy portion she soon realized. For a moment she thought about to Xe'ra's prophecy, about the Child of Light and Shadow, and wondered if she had mistaken darkness for shadow, as it almost seemed like it could have been referring to someone other that Lord Illidan... namely her, if she was correct in her thinking.

Regardless of whether she was the 'Chosen One', or her mentor was, didn't matter in the long run, as they would do everything in their power to topple the Legion and stop Sargeras from completing his terrible mission... but first they would have to descend to Mac'Aree, find the artifact Velen was talking about, and overcome whatever Lyra was feeling before they thought about the Burning Throne and their eventual assault on Sargeras' prize.