Lyra and Trixie, instead of using their whistles to summon their steads by magic, simply followed the directions that Velen gave them and headed in the direction of the Conservatory that they had been told about, allowing them a few minutes to take in the interesting sights and wonder how the Legion hadn't corrupted this place. There was no explanation behind why Sargeras and his forces wouldn't have come up here, even if either Kil'jaeden or Archimonde asked their new master to ignore Mac'Aree, and yet the demons hadn't tainted this area yet. As they walked down into the area past the barrier, and entered an area where good and evil echoes were still fighting, the duo noticed that even the houses that the Draenei had built before the demons arrived were still standing, despite the fact that some of them had pieces missing from their structures. All they could determine was that because no one had come here since Velen's departure from Mac'Aree, when his fellow rulers betrayed him, everything was left as it was all those years ago... allowing the two of them to take in the interesting sights, and the small warrior like constructs that were either still moving or offline, as they left the area Velen was in behind.
Since they were following Velen's instructions, and there weren't any enemies in the area around them at the moment, Lyra and Trixie were able to reach the Conservatory of the Arcane with some ease, where they found Archmage Y'mera, who simply teleported over here and left them behind, standing near a larger construct that Trixie recognized as a Vigilant construct.
"This place has its share of secrets." Y'mera told them, as she turned and looked at them the moment she noticed their arrival, before she turned back to the Vigilant construct that she was standing in front of, "Thankfully, I know enough of them to get us started. We need to wake the Gatekeeper up, because it should have the information we need to locate the Sigil of Awakening."
"Okay, then tell us exactly what we need to do," Trixie said, as she had the feeling that they needed a new power source to awaken the Gatekeeper, though she had no idea what sort of power source this construct needed, because the only Vigilant constructs she had encountered had been online when she found them.
"I have an idea. We once stored great quantities of energy in conduits throughout the Conservatory. They are still functional, but only just. Take this." Y'mera explained, to which she handed Trixie a brightly glowing crystal, one that Lyra stared at for a few seconds when the crystal was given to them, before they both tuned their attention to Y'mera as she continued to explain their task, "It will provide a small burst of magic that should help stabilize an erratic conduit. I think I have enough stored for eight or so. Stabilizing a few should allow us to access the whole network."
"Nice." Lyra said, though in reality she had next to no idea what the Archmage was talking about, but since Trixie seemed to understand what was going on she simply nodded her head, knowing she could ask her friend about the task if she needed clarification on something, "Anything else we should do while we're out there?"
"We should seek out an alternate source of energy just in case I am wrong about the conduits. Luckily enough, I think I know where we can find one." Y'mera stated, to which she pointed over to another section of the Conservatory, where the duo noticed some sort of panther creature walking in front of a nearby building, "The panthara native to Argus are solitary creatures, but it seems whatever magic the Wakeners possessed has drawn them here in great numbers. This is no time to be gentle with the environment... panthara devour energy to survive. Slay them and see if you cannot reclaim some of the power they have consumed."
"Well, that's nice to know." Trixie replied, as she had some experience with energy devouring creatures over her long exposure to everything she had fought against over the last seven years, before she beckoned to Lyra and the two of them departed from where the Gatekeeper was resting.
Lyra and Trixie started to explore the Conservatory of the Arcane and took in the sights around them, as the area on their immediate left happened to be some sort of testing area by the looks of things, as there were three statues and several buildings, along with some protective barriers keeping things from entering the structures. As they reached the teaching area Lyra turned around and looked at the area that was behind them, directly in front of where Y'mera and the Gatekeeper was located, and spotted the courtyard of the Conservatory, and behind that was the area that the panthara now lived in. In line with the courtyard was another building that was also sealed off, while also appearing to be of some importance, and near that structure was a pathway that lead to a larger building, one that Trixie stared at for a few seconds before turning towards the pylons that they needed to siphon some energy from.
Lyra understood what Trixie was feeling, because her gaze was lingering on the massive temple like structure off in the distance, as she could feel the same power she felt back up on the Vindicaar coming from it, meaning that she might have found where the shadowy power was coming from... and she wondered if Trixie had felt the presence of the Sigil of Awakening, but she said nothing as they continued on they way and gathered the necessary energy.
Once the duo gathered enough energy inside the crystal that Y'mera had given them, which did have enough room for eight different charges, they headed towards the part of the Conservatory that the panthara roamed and started attacking the energy devouring cats. The panthara didn't take too kindly to them coming and attacking them, which was to be expected of some feral creatures, but Lyra and Trixie attacked them like they attacked everything else, with Lyra at the head of the assault while Trixie stood back a bit and blasted her targets with magic. When the current group of cats had been taken care of, and before they moved on, Lyra sighed as she sliced open the stomachs of the panthara they had killed and found the goo-like substance that had to be what Y'mera was looking for. It was slightly disgusting work, but Trixie was used to stuffy like this, especially since she had seen the horrors of the Scourge for herself and Lyra had seen what the demons did to their captives, so they were able to ignore the disgusting portion of their work as they continued to fight and kill more panthara.
After a few minutes of fighting, and gathering the partly digested arcane energy they had been chewing on, Lyra stopped pulling more of them when Trixie indicated that they likely had enough for Y'mera, to which the two of them headed back to where the Gatekeeper was located and found the Lightforged Archmage working on it... who was extremely thankful for their efforts to help her as they gave her the items she requested from them.
"It was a good thing we sought two sources of energy. Even with the conduits active, the construct has not stirred." Y'mera told them, beckoning to the Gatekeeper for a few seconds, though at the same time Trixie approached it and stared at the construct for a few seconds, as she was curious as to what they needed to do next, "It has likely been inactive a long while. Perhaps as long as Mac'Aree has floated above Argus. What a long, lonely vigil it must have been. Go ahead and jostle it a little. That combined with one last burst of magic ought to do the trick."
Trixie raised an eyebrow for a moment, as she was surprised that Y'mera would suggest 'jostling' something like the Gatekeeper, before she eventually sighed and approached the construct, where she placed her hand against the metal and focused her mind for a moment. A few moments later she felt the spirit inside the Gatekeeper stir, which was followed by her backing up as the shoulder pieces of the construct moving, before the arms and legs moved a little and the Gatekeeper stood there in an animated state, meaning that they had succeeded in their mission.
"I am restored." the Gatekeeper said, though that was when Y'mera moaned a little, telling Trixie that the Archmage knew the person whose spirit was inside the construct, meaning that this was likely going to be tough for them to get through if the spirit decided to hinder their progress.
"Oh no..." Y'mera said, though her tone told Lyra and Trixie everything, meaning that they had to be careful before something serious happened, especially since they needed the Gatekeeper's help, "I know that voice."
"Exile Y'mera." the Gatekeeper stated, revealing that, before the area was abandoned, that those that had fled from Argus had been labeled with 'Exile' status, likely something that Archimonde had done in the off chance that any of them actually returned to Argus, "Why have you returned?"
"Vigilant Quoram," Y'mera started to say, her tone trying to be formal in this situation, despite the fact that she clearly wanted nothing to do with the spirit that was inside the construct, "we need to..."
"Conservatory resources are not available to one of your... status." Vigilant Quoram replied, revealing the truth of the matter, that Archimonde had been smart enough to put this status on those that had survived the terrible events that Velen had relived earlier.
"Of all people to become Gatekeeper..." Y'mera said, to which she sighed for a moment as she walked away from where Vigilant Quoram was standing, who seemed to be completely ignoring her for the most part, "Lyra. Trixie. Perhaps one of you had better do the talking."
Trixie and Lyra looked at each other for a few seconds, because this seemed to be a common occurrence for them, before they sighed and Trixie stepped forward, as she had the most experience in arcane type constructs and would know what to say or what to do in this situation.
"Vigilant Quoram," Trixie said, causing the pieces of the Gatekeeper to shift a tiny bit, as it appeared that the spirit inside the construct was interested in what she looked like, or at least that was what she assumed was going through the spirit's mind at the moment, "We need your assistance... we seek the Sigil of Awakening."
"The Sigil is the Conservatory's highest honor. Only Archimonde's chosen may pursue this accolade." Vigilant Quoram replied, confirming Trixie's suspicions that this wasn't going to be easy, but all of her adventures had never been easy and she was prepared for whatever she and Lyra had to do this time around, "I am obligated to inform you that the master created trials specifically for this purpose. I am also required to allow the uninitiated to participate in the trials of Tenacity, Cunning, and Mastery."
"Sounds easy enough." Lyra spoke up, to which she grinned for a moment, as she was sure that she and Trixie could overcome whatever trials Archimonde set up all those years ago, especially since Trixie's skill over the arcane was much stronger than it had been when they were living on Equus, "So, what do we have to do?"
"My master Archimonde was not known for his willingness to suffer indecision." Vigilant Quoram stated, though at the same time there was something in his tone that told Trixie that there was something they hadn't noticed yet, which made her worry that the Vigilant had a nasty surprise waiting for them, "He preferred to teach by rewarding frustration with more frustration... punishment with more punishment. Absolute conviction was required to succeed under him. At the opposite end of the Conservatory you will find a large structure. Once inside, your goal is to overcome all the obstacles placed before you. Emerge unscathed and I will be forced to consider your will strong enough to proceed."
"Very well," Trixie said, as she was surprised that the Trial of Tenacity seemed that simple, but she had been fooled by simple tests in the past and wondered what sort of trick Archimonde put in this one, "but I'm sensing there's more to this than you're saying."
"Archimonde expected greatness from his pupils. Only the most imaginative minds, the most adroit of intellects, could ever truly fathom the deepest reaches of our magic." Vigilant Quoram continued, to which he turned towards the left side of the Conservatory, to someplace that Trixie and Lyra recalled since they had passed by the area with three statues earlier, "I doubt you can relate. The path to the left will take you to a set of three statues. Use them to collect a Mark of Cunning. To preserve the integrity of this trial, I will not be able to provide hints. If you do, by some miracle, happen to succeed, I will formally recognize your... brilliance."
"And?" Lyra inquired, knowing that there had to be a third test, as these usually came in trio's, while at the same time mentally knowing that they could already best the two trials that they had been told about, "What's the third and final test that your master set up?"
"Archimonde was an individual consumed by the pursuit of power." Vigilant Quoram stated, to which the duo nodded, as that was the reason behind why he had betrayed Velen and joined Kil'jaeden in taking Sargeras' power, "Only those who could match his lust would fare well under his tutelage. You will fight what remains of Archimonde's greatest pupils. These three once held such power in their own disciplines that the Conservatory remembers them now. Their echoes will try to kill you. Best all three with all your limbs intact and I will recognize your strength. And, for it to be fair, only one of you may take on Archimonde's trials."
And there was the condition that Trixie knew was coming, because if it had been her and Lyra tackling the trials together they would have smashed through all of them and come back here in record time, but at the same time she already knew what Lyra was thinking. Still, to be absolutely sure that she was right in her thinking, she glanced over to her friend and looked at her for a moment, to which Lyra nodded and took a step back, revealing that she had faith in Trixie's abilities and that she would best the trials with ease. With the decision made, and Lyra allowing her to see how well she did against Archimonde's trials, Trixie stepped forward with a smile on her face, because she was interested in getting the trials over with.
"Very well, I shall take on the trials by myself." Trixie stated, though before Vigilant Quoram could say anything she headed to the left and departed from the area that Y'mera and Lyra were standing in, where she headed back towards the area that the statues were in.
Her plan of attack was simple, she was going to tackle the Trial of Cunning first, since it was the closest one to her, and then she would head back to the building that the Trial of Tenacity was located in, as they seemed to be the simplest of Archimonde's trials. Since the Trial of Mastery involved her battling three of Archimonde's former students, or more likely their echoes, she wanted to have as much power as possible for when she engaged them, especially since she was sure that they were going to be difficult to face in battle. As such she made her way over to where the trio of statues were standing and noticed that they had glowing symbols above their heads, more specifically a red, blue, and yellow symbol, while three more symbols, baring an orange, green, and purple coloration, rested around three specific parts of the area. While she came to a stop in front of the statues, and considered whether this was an easy test or it was designed to look easy when in reality it was something much harder, though at the same time she heard Vigilant Quoram walking up the path behind she so he could see her take on the trials by herself.
In the end she decided to take the blue and yellow 'blessings' from their respective statues and watched as the symbol that appeared above her head was the green one, where the barrier around the floating green symbol seemed to fade away for the moment. She carefully approached the area that the arcane barrier had been protecting and found a chest, one that contained a metallic fragment of some kind that appeared to be linked to this very trial, to which she collected it and backed away from the chest. A few steps later the symbol above her head vanished and the barrier snapped back into existence, revealing that she needed to be quick about gathering what was inside each of the chests, otherwise she would have to create the appropriate symbol again. With that determined, however, she returned to the trio of statues and considered the combinations she knew while staring at the remaining two symbols she needed to overcome, while also noting that Vigilant Quoram was silent the entire time.
The blue and red symbols allowed her to create the purple symbol, which in turn allowed her to approach the building on her immediate left and found a chest containing the second fragment she was after, before she returned to the statues and thought about the third barrier... where the red and yellow symbols created the necessary orange symbol that allowed her to enter the building with the barrier and secure the third fragment.
With the three fragments in hand, or more accurately the Mark of Cunning as Vigilant Quoram called the three fragments when they were together, Trixie headed towards the large building that the Trial of Tenacity was supposed to be housed in. When she arrived she noticed that the barrier to the interior was still up, to which her silent follower approached the doorway and undid the seal for the moment, allowing her to slip into the building before he disappeared to some unknown area. As it turned out the floor in from of her had glowing circles, which appeared to be runes of some kind, that alternated between purple and red, though she immediately noticed that it would be in her best interest if she avoided the red colored runes and followed the path that the purple ones created. Since it was pretty straightforward Trixie advanced forward and followed the path in front of her, where she safely arrived at the other end of the first room and found that she had to dodge moving arcane spheres and arcane beams to enter the next area.
Trixie, instead of rushing forward, stood there for a few seconds and watched as a pattern emerged, to which she carefully picked the perfect moment to walk forward and soon enough she was in the part of the building that housed the stairs to the next level, which had painful looking arcane spheres moving down the steps. Fortunately the spheres seemed to follow a pattern as well, to which she studied them for a few seconds and started making her way to the floor above her, pausing to let some spheres pass her, before she walked up the stairs and stepped out of the building, where the magical image of Vigilant Quoram rested. With some reluctance the Gatekeeper declared that she had passed the trial, merely because he ran out of space to test her, and allowed her to continue to the final trial, to which she jumped down into the area before her and made her way to the courtyard. It didn't take her long to reach the courtyard, especially since it was close by to where the second trial had taken place, but when she approached the former students of Archimonde, and challenged one of them to a duel, something interesting happened.
Instead of the middle one accepting the challenge on her own, since that was the one that Trixie had challenged, all three of them accepted the challenge as one and charged at Trixie, effectively forcing her backwards as they rushed her with their powers. As Trixie started to fight them she realized that these were the not yet corrupted forms of Lord Jaraxxus, Aargoss, and Arch Magus Velysra, powerful demons that she and the other heroes had encountered over the years. While Jaraxxus and Velysra's echos stood back, and hurled spells at her, Aargoss' echo charged at her and swung his sword at her, though to defend herself against the fury of blows, while also casting spells to block and damage the mages, Trixie used Aluneth to parry her foe's attacks. That wasn't an easy thing to do, considering that the echo was stronger than what she was expecting him to be, revealing that the heroes who had killed his present day counterpart had likely overwhelmed him in some manner. The only downside to using Aluneth in such a manner was that the blade managed to put a scratch in the shaft that Trixie held onto when she was carrying her staff, to which Trixie slammed a powerful spell into the chest of Aargoss' echo and blew it back into the structure behind it.
As the first echo fell the other two seemed to step up the pace in an effort to bring them down, though Trixie, her power backed by a slightly pissed off arcane spirit that was trapped inside the staff itself, unleashed a few more powerful spells than what she usually used and smashed through the spells that were thrown at her. The instant the two remaining echoes realized that they were in trouble, when their magic faltered for a the tiniest of moments, was when Trixie loosed a surge of power and knocked them down as well, proving that she was stronger than them. Once the echoes had admitted defeat, and Trixie huffed for a moment since those spells were more draining than she realized, she tapped Aluneth on the ground and headed back to where the Gatekeeper was waiting for her return.
"I've completed the trials." Trixie stated, to which Lyra and Y'mera smiled as the news, despite the fact that Lyra clearly knew that she was going to succeed in her mission, before she turned her attention over to Vigilant Quoram, "Now, where is the Sigil of Awakening?"
"It seems you are not so easily deterred. Very well." Vigilant Quoram said, though while his tone suggested that she was still going to fail the construct moved a bit and pointed at the final structure in the area, the very one that Trixie had felt a rush of power coming from earlier, "Your deeds qualify you to seek the Sigil. To be clear, I am only permitting you to move on. This does not guarantee your success. The greatest of your challenges lies before you. You must go to the Praetorium and face Archimonde himself. Only by defeating the master of the Conservatory will you be worthy of the Sigil. Few have overcome this obstacle. I hope he does not make too much of a mess of you."
"I cannot step hoof in the Praetorium." Y'mera stated, though at the same time she glanced over at the construct that she was standing next to and stared at it for a few seconds, just like she had done earlier, "But you knew that, didn't you?"
"Perhaps." Vigilant Quoram replied, but he said nothing else, revealing that he knew Archimonde was powerful and even his echo would defeat anyone that dared to challenge him, even if he didn't know that the person who was going to be challenging that echo was one of the people that beat the Eredar before.
"Trixie Lulamoon, I have complete faith in you." Y'mera said, to which Lyra nodded her head as well, indicating that she also believed in Trixie's abilities, something that she was grateful to have, "Lyra and I will be standing nearby when you are finished."
Trixie nodded and carefully made her way back to the final structure of the Conservatory, where she found a hole in the wall that allowed her to enter the chamber that she was searching for, though as she entered the area she found the echo of Archimonde, before he became the demon she had fought in the past, standing in the middle of the area.
"Ah, yes. It has been too long since I have humbled a pupil." the echo said, to which it stopped what it was doing and turned to face Trixie, where she could see a familiar expression appear on it's face as it prepared herself for battle, which was what she did as well, "Come. Face me."
Trixie made sure that there was some distance between her and her opponent before she started hurling spells at Archimonde, where sometimes the echo seemed to take the damage and laugh or just avoid the incoming attacks and laugh anyway. In response Archimonde swung his staff and loosed a volley of arcane missiles that struck where Trixie had been moments ago and detonated their payloads, though as all of that happened he also started opening rifts in the air around them, which exploded seconds later. The exploding rifts actually didn't damage Archimonde at all, though whether that was because it was an echo or something else Trixie had no idea, and when Trixie actually got close to him he had a spell that ordered an arcane bombardment from somewhere, knocking her into the nearby wall for a few seconds. She already knew that Archimonde was strong, as it had taken the combined heroes of the Alliance and the Horde, backed by Khadgar and the leaders of the alternate versions of the Orcs and Draenei on the not yet ruined planet of Draenor, to topple such a creature... and that was when he was fully empowered by the fel energy that Sargeras had given him, as he nearly crushed them all in the process before they were able to defeat him.
Still, despite the fact that Archimonde's echo might be even stronger than she realized, Trixie refused to give up and got back onto her feet, allowing the claws to grip the ground for a moment as she reached deep inside herself and drew her power to the surface.
Trixie shuddered as her dragon wings emerged from her back, and through the slits in her robe so she didn't rip her clothing to pieces when she did this, before she glared at Archimonde and rushed towards him, to which she unleashed a powerful surge of arcane blasts at the area around her target and blocked his view for a moment. She took advantage of that situation to throw her own volley of arcane missiles through the air, where they barreled into Archimonde's chest and knocked him a few steps backwards, though that only seemed to excite him despite the fact that it had to hurt. From there the two magic users started hurling spells at each other, where to someone that was viewing the fight they would see two opponents using the same spell, meaning the collisions canceled each other out and they kept throwing every damaging arcane based spell they knew at their opponent... before Trixie used a blast of pure arcane energy to consume all of Archimonde's attacks and blind him for a moment, to which she used the cover to in front of him and slammed her fist down into his chest, knocking her foe to the floor, where he stayed for a few seconds.
What surprised Trixie was when Archimonde got back up again he was chuckling to himself, making her wonder if she had actually succeeded in besting the echo, though she kept her guard up in case this was a trick and had her magic ready for action once more.
"Ha! A worthy tribute to my Conservatory's teachings." Archimonde said, to which he tapped his staff on the ground and pointed right at Trixie for a few seconds, making her really wonder what was going on at the moment, "You will do Argus proud. Claim your prize."
That was followed by Archimonde's echo disappearing and the arcane energy that sustained it surged into the middle of the area, where Trixie watched as the energy ignited and pulled something into this dimension, before fading away entirely. When the light cleared Trixie stared at the area the energy had rushed to and found that a shiny purple colored gemstone, one wide enough to be the chest area for someone, floated in the air in front of her, with the same energy she felt earlier radiating from it. She then carefully approached the Sigil of Awakening and collected the gemstone, where she could immediately feel the sheer raw power it contained and imagined what sort of damage such an artifact could have done if the Legion had taken possession of it... and she could imagine the good she and the others could do with it, once it was reunited with the Eye of Prophecy and the Crest of Knowledge. There was that one small part of her, that used the Alicorn Amulet, that wondered what it would be like to wield the power of the Sigil, though she silenced that part of her and sealed away once more.
She knew that this gemstone was powerful, and ironically not powerful enough for Archimonde's tastes since he didn't take it with him, and knew that it's power could be used for whatever it's owner desired, making her remember what happened back on Equus... though she shook that memory away as Lyra and Y'mera approached her.
"In all the years I've been on Azeroth, I have never felt such raw power like this before..." Trixie told them, where she carefully handled the Sigil of Awakening with caution, while also making sure that she held it since she had no idea if it would lash out at those that weren't the ones to claim it, "We should get this to Velen as soon as we can."
Y'mera nodded and beckoned for them to follow, where they headed down to an area that was near where the Trial of Cunning had taken place and revealed that Y'mera had set up a beacon for them to use, just in case they ever needed to come back to the Conservatory in the future. From there they teleported back up to the Vindicaar and everyone that was on board the ship at the moment turned towards them as Trixie walked forward with the Sigil of Awakening, indicating that she wasn't the only one that felt it's power. She walked down to the area in front of the navigation console and approached Velen, who was staring at a part of the Vindicaar that had three slots in it, arranged in a triangle fashion, and realized that he had planned on retrieving the Crown of the Triumvirate all along, while also discovering that the situation with the Burning Throne had firmly sealed that decision in his mind.
She then approached the three slots and carefully settled the Sigil into the one that was on the upper right, where it floated in place and remained there, though as she packed away Velen stepped forward and stared at the gemstone for a few seconds as he remembered something.
"Archimonde was disdainful of the Sigil's limitations." Velen stated, meaning that Archimonde's power must have prevented him from realizing what sort of power was right in front of him, as he became too used to the seemingly overwhelming power that the Crown gave off, "Without the rest of the Crown, it gave him little power. And power was all he ever craved. This disdain is what allowed us to recover the Sigil. Had he anticipated its value to us, heh, he most certainly would have destroyed it. I do wonder what he hoped to prove with his trials. Was the Sigil itself the test, perhaps? We are one step closer to unlocking the Vindicaar's true potential. All that remains is the Crest of Knowledge... then the Crown will once more be whole."
Trixie smiled as she and Lyra stared out at Mac'Aree, knowing that the Crest was out there somewhere and that they would be the ones to claim it, once they figured out where Kil'jaeden put it before he left this place behind... and overcame whatever trials he put in place to guard his portion of the powerful Crown.