"Alleria, what can we do to help?" Trixie asked, knowing that Alleria had to have a plan already, because based on what she and Lyra had been shown, revealing the dangers that awaited them near the Seat of the Triumvirate, she knew that Alleria must have formed one before coming and asking them to join her.
"Ethereals, the Void, a Dark Naaru... I feel they are all connected." Alleria told them, to which she got several nods from the heroes that were listening to the conversation, despite the fact that they were going to be deployed to the Antoran Wastes and Krokuun to harass the Legion's forces, "As I just said, I explored the ruins below while you and Velen were seeking the Crown... there are survivors. Broken wander the cluster of buildings to our west... I cannot understand much of what they say but I suspect that their minds are not their own. If the Void is to blame, we will need to start our investigation there."
"Then let's head out and see what we can find," Lyra said, as she was eager to see what sort of shadowy power the Void commanded, and what sort of madness it was trying to impart on the survivors that Alleria had found while she was scouting the area out.
Alleria nodded and beckoned for the two of them to follow her, where Velen said that he would ensure that the other heroes spent their time stalling the Legion's forces, on all three areas of Argus they had visited so far, before Lyra and Trixie followed Alleria down the ramp and approached the navigation console. Once they reached their first destination Romuul nodded his head and teleported the three of them down to the first beacon, where Lyra and Trixie had set up the defenses earlier, before the three of them vanished from the Vindicaar and appeared in their destination. From there they headed towards the left side of the ruins they were in and carefully avoided the echoes that were fighting each other, as none of them wanted to waste their time in meaningless battles, before they headed towards the ruined settlement that was near the beacon... that included walking down the stairs that were in front of them and avoiding the large construct that was still patrolling the area.
Sure enough Alleria stopped moving when they reached an area that allowed them to observe part of the settlement, though the look in her eyes told Lyra and Trixie all they needed to know, but they said nothing as they waited for her to say whatever was on her mind at the moment.
"It is as I thought. The Void's corruption has reached them here." Alleria commented, though at the same time she made sure to take in what she was seeing and what she was feeling, as she could tell that there was something out there that might be trouble for them, "I am certain it had help. Take a look around. Call for me if you find anything of interest."
Lyra and Trixie nodded as they stepped down into the area of Oronaar that Alleria had lead them to, though as they started their search they could tell that Alleria was heading to another area, which made since considering that they were dealing with something that was this dangerous. Before Lyra could ask Trixie what the Void was, and why some of the heroes and soldiers aboard the Vindicaar seemed frightened of their chances, they heard some whispers for a moment, to which they approached the statue that was in front of them. As they did so the two of them noticed several of the Broken in the area appeared to be praying in front of the statue, which made them wonder what was going on at the moment, so when they reached the statue they stopped and listened for whatever message the Broken were hearing.
You must resist the shadow's pull. a voice said, one that was definitely coming from the statue in front of them, though neither of them said anything as they searched for whatever the message was trying to say, Come to me, brothers and sisters. Be whole within the Light. Let Arkhaan show you the way home.
"Interesting." Trixie said, to which she and Lyra pulled away from the statue, though as they did so Lyra picked up some prayer beads that had been left behind, which they both resolved to collect more of, just in case they were necessary for the future, "Someone knew that the Void was coming and has been trying to save his kind, if 'resist the shadow's pull' means what I think it means."
"And some of these guys appear hostile," Lyra added, to which she drew her sword as she looked at one of the wandering Broken, who seemed ready to snap at any moment and attack whoever was closest to him, before an idea came to her, "which means we have a way to collect prayer beads without hurting the innocent and passive Broken that are praying all around us."
Trixie nodded her understanding, as it made perfect sense to her, and they started investigating the ruins around them, though while she headed inside a nearby building, as she spotted something that appeared to be an abandoned altar, Lyra cut at the shadow infused Broken that wanted to kill her. Trixie touched the alter and heard Arkhaan's voice once more, revealing a message that said his brothers and sisters must 'hold fast to your resolve' and that 'temptation weakens the mind and spirit'. It matched what she knew about the Void, as the shadows and the Legion tempted people with power all the time, though as she understood the message she walked outside and found Lyra battling a few more hostile Broken that wanted her dead. Trixie decided that her help wasn't necessary, as the Light inside Lyra was as bright as Velen's and Turalyon's, if not even stronger, and she hacked her way through the Broken that were trying to tear her down, before she eventually sighed and stopped once they were all taken care of... where she collected their prayer beads before they two of them continued their search.
It didn't take them long to find the next area that held a clue as to what happened in this settlement, as they found a scrawling on a wall, one that they had to fight their way towards, but when the Broken were dealt with the duo held their hands towards the scrawling and listened to the message. Trixie then raised an eyebrow for a moment, as this one stated that the listeners shouldn't let the 'long, dark night break you' and that they should 'accept its gift', making her wonder if Arkhaan was referring to the actual night or the Void. Since they were no closer to solving this riddle the two of them headed out of the part of the settlement they were in and followed a worn out path to another part of Oronaar, where they found a ruined building with a discarded Naaru figurine. When they approached the figurine they both heard Arkhaan's message about 'looking to the heavens' and that their 'salvation was out there', making them wonder what he was hearing and if he had snapped like a good number of the Broken around them.
As they looked around for more signs that they could use to get some more information from, as they were actually a little lost on what Arkhaan had been trying to do and what had actually happened to this settlement, but before they could move forward a voice spoke in the wind, one that they recognized.
"I found a survivor." they heard Alleria say, though how she was speaking to them they had no idea, especially since none of them happened to be carrying any communicators from the Vindicaar, something that they could have grabbed and forgot to while they were leaving the ship, "Come to me."
Fortunately the short connection that Alleria had made with them, even for a few seconds like this, was able to give them a decent idea of where she was standing, to which the duo descended into the area of Oronaar that definitely had bits of the Void floating everywhere. It also didn't take them long to find Alleria and the survivor, as they were standing next to a path that descended from the area of Oronaar they had first explored, where they found the alter and the scrawling, though Alleria nodded to them as they approached her and the survivor.
"This Broken still retains some of his sanity, though not all of it." Alleria commented, indicating that the Void was definitely at work in this area, even if it was on a smaller scale than what she had shown them earlier, "I can sense some Void influence nearby, but it is isolated to small pockets. Dispelling these manifestations should help our friend here clear his mind. Perhaps we can use the prayer fragments you found, as they still contain some Light energy. I will try and make sense of his chattering in the meantime. Maybe we can learn something about what is happening here."
"Darkness envelops us... the Light has gone from this place..." the Broken mumbled, though as Lyra and Trixie stared at him they realized that it was none other than Arkhaan, as his voice sounded the exact same as the one they heard thanks to the messages earlier, "Arkhaan could not save them. Brothers. Sisters. Whispers twisted them. The Light cannot see them. It turns away from us. Arkhaan failed."
Despite the fact that he was clearly not well, no thanks to the Void influence that was nearby, both Lyra and Trixie knew that he was asking them, in his own manner, to save his people from themselves, to which the two of them headed out into the area that was in front of them. Neither of them were going to bother Alleria and ask how she had known about the prayer beads, as she had likely seem them collect a few of them before she left them to their devices, so they turned their focus to their current task and started exploring the lowest area of Oronaar. As it turned out the Void manifestations were floating circular spheres, about the size of one of their heads, that happened to be spitting out little bits of Void energy on the ground around them every now and then. It was actually rather easy for them to silence them, as all they had to do was let Lyra channel the power of the Light through the prayer beads and direct the power to the spheres that were in front of them, which dispelled them within seconds, indicating that they were extremely weak... which only made Lyra worry that there was a greater source of Void energy nearby.
While Lyra worked in hunting down the Void manifestations, and purging them when she discovered them, she also aided Trixie in fighting off the Void tainted Broken that charged at them, though she quickly discovered that if Trixie actually needed assistance she would turn into her more draconic form, which she guessed was her being seventy-five percent dragon, and utterly ruin whoever was fighting her... and, thankfully, she actually didn't need it. Trixie explained what she would have done had she needed help, and then would have gone full dragon if that wasn't enough, though if she reached that point she would have had to call on Lyra for assistance, but fortunately these Broken proved to be no match for her in her hybrid state. That allowed Lyra to focus her energies on finding and dispelling the manifestations of the Void, so that way they could figure out what happened here and if Arkhaan had any plans, before he dropped to this level of madness, to save his village and his people. After five minutes had gone by, and a lot of Void empowered Broken laid dead on the ground, the duo finally determined enough was enough and headed back to where Alleria and Arkhaan were standing, hoping that their efforts were enough.
There was also the fact that there was nothing left for Lyra to purge at the moment, as she had run clean out of manifestations to direct the Light energy towards, and they both smiled at Alleria as they approached her...as they were eager to move out and hoped that she agreed with them.
"I can feel the Void's influence retreating... perhaps now we can find out what happened here." Alleria said, to which she turned towards Arkhaan for a moment, making Lyra and Trixie relieved that they didn't have to tell her anything this time around, "Arkhaan, was it? Can you tell us what happened to your people?"
"Arkhaan knows, yes." Arkhaan replied, nodding his head for a few seconds, though at the same time Trixie realized that he was speaking like she did when she was a traveling showmare, causing her to sigh as she shoved the memories back into the box they came from, "Arkhaan remembers. He remembers something that will... yes... will save us. Follow Arkhaan. Isolon calls! We will offer soft words to the Light. The Light will banish the darkness."
It was at that point that Arkhaan, for whatever reason, decided to stare at Alleria for a few seconds, as if he detected her ability to feel where the Void was located, something that the duo would have to ask her about in the future, once they had stopped the Legion anyway.
"Arkhaan will watch that one closely." Arkhaan said, though that was when he started moving towards one of the ruined buildings that rested nearby, more specifically the one that was slanted and rested with one end in the ground in front of them and the other resting higher up, connecting to another part on Oronaar,"This way. Arkhaan has a plan."
"Could you elaborate? Even a little?" Alleria asked, though the trio followed after him, as he seemed to be eager to do something, but at the same time both Lyra and Trixie found themselves agreeing with Alleria, "Perhaps with some idea of what you hope to achieve?"
"We will stop the whispers." Arkhaan replied, turning for a moment so he could look at Alleria, with what Lyra and Trixie assumed was a knowing smile, or maybe a frown since it was hard to tell with how quickly he seemed to go through emotions and changed his expressions, "Pointy-ears should know."
"I must confess, Arkhaan, that does not put me at ease." Alleria said, revealing that she knew something that the duo didn't and it wasn't a good thing, which caused Lyra and Trixie to have their weapons and magic at the ready, just in case something horrible attacked them on their way to Isolon.
The trio followed Arkhaan through the ruined building that he lead them to, which thankfully had a second entrance that brought them to the area above the lower area they had been in, though as they walked outside they discovered a disturbing amount of creatures that had either completely fallen to the Void or were in the process of doing so.
"Are all these creatures..." Alleria started to say, though despite the fact that she, Lyra, and Trixie knew what they were staring at she felt that she needed to be sure, just in case they were wrong.
"My people." Arkhaan replied, his voice sounding sad as he gazed at two of the Void Broken for a few seconds, before turning to the left and continuing forward, ignoring the creatures once more, "Once."
"How is it that you do not share their fate?" Trixie inquired, as she knew that her companions were thinking the same thing, even Lyra, who had no knowledge or experience with this sort of thing, was nodding her head in agreement.
"Arkhaan forgets." Arkhaan stated, as if that was the answer to almost all of his problems, though as they approached a nearly completely destroyed building he stopped, as if he felt something odd about this area, "Wait. There is a voice..."
That was followed by a trio of Void Broken climbing out of the shadows of the ruined building and launched themselves at the trio, though as Alleria loosed a arrow or two at them it appeared that they were more interested in Lyra and Trixie, who easily dealt with them thanks to their combined powers... though once the enemies had been taken care of Arkhaan started moving once more.
"We still hear their prayers." Arkhaan said, referring to the fact that he heard the prayers of his brothers and sisters still haunting his days, reminding him time and time again of his failures, "Rest, brothers. Rest."
"At least their suffering is over." Lyra stated, as she was pleased to see that they might have saved them from an eternity of being controlled by the Void, though at the same time they followed Arkhaan until he stopped by a ruined bridge of some kind.
"Quiet, quiet!" Arkhaan commanded, almost as if he was listening to someone else talk and wanted Lyra, Trixie, and Alleria to say nothing more as he focused on the other voices, "Arkhaan listens..."
That was when a larger group of Void Broken emerged from the shadows around them and attacked the trio, who went on the defensive because of that fact, but they made sure that Arkhaan was protected and continued to blast and cut down the creatures that were coming their way... until they got the message and backed off, causing them to look at each other and the number of corpses that rested around them.
"Where are these things coming from?" Alleria asked, though while she had no problem thinning out the creatures that were attacking them, thus making this area easier for the other heroes in the future, she was surprised by how many of them there were.
"They want Arkhaan. He promised to save them." Arkhaan replied, though at the same time he headed towards the large structure that was behind them, one that Trixie recognized from her time in Draenor, before they reached the center of the bottom level, where Arkhaan became distracted again, "Who calls to Arkhaan? Name yourself... Ah, Arkhaan remembers. Isolon calls to us! Isolon will look to the stars again!"
It was in that moment that Arkhaan, channeling the power of the Void that none of the trio knew he possessed the ability to wield, tore open a spherical Void portal and crossed through it, while at the same time Alleria called for him to stop, only to cut herself off as she realized what was going on.
"He is still there. He crossed over into the Void." Alleria said, understanding exactly what was going on, even if both Lyra and Trixie were still a little lost as to what Arkhann had done upon arriving at Isolon, "We may still be able to save him if we hurry."
Lyra and Trixie nodded as they, along with Alleria, headed towards the Void portal and crossed over to the other side, which happened to be a more shadowy version of the plane they had been in moments ago, though as they all crossed over the portal snapped shut behind them. A few seconds later, when they barely had time to realize that the portal was gone, they saw Arkhaan kneeling before a being that Lyra knew was an Ethereal, only this one's body and wrappings seemed to be connected to the Void than to whatever power they were usually connected to. Lyra could tell that this Ethereal was more powerful than the ones she had seen back in the Outlands, as she had spotted a few during the time she spent training with the Illidari, but she wondered if she was a match for him with the Light backing her.
"Show us, please... please..." Arkhaan begged, though it was at that point that Lyra and Trixie knew that he was gone, in mind anyway, because it appeared that the Ethereal had been the one speaking to him and had caused him to open the portal to this area.
"Let me satisfy your curiosity." the Ethereal said, to which he, and the group was sure it was male based on his voice, raised his hand and channeled Void energies into Arkhaan for a few moments, then faded out of existence once he was done with that.
"Thank you! Thank you! Arkhaan finally understands..." Arkhaan declared, to which he turned around and stared at the group, the look in his eyes completely different from the one they had seen earlier, "It will all be undone! There is nothing... but the Void. You must know the truth!"
Arkhaan struck out and attacked the group that stood in front of him, forcing them to go on the defensive as he attacked them, though as they did so Lyra found that her Light empowered attacks definitely hurt him while Trixie's arcane spells impacted his body. Alleria stood near Trixie and tried to reason with Arkhaan, to get him to turn away from the power that had been poured into his body, but it was clear that they were losing him, especially when his body was warped by the Void and transformed into a Void Broken. It quickly became apparent that the new form meant that he no longer could hear their voices, though his attacks indicated that he was trying to kill them and tear them apart, which was why Lyra continued her painful attacks while Trixie and Alleria backed her up. The pain they were dealing was more than enough to topple Arkhaan and dead his cursed life, though as he fell to the floor the three of them stared at his broken body and wondered if they could have saved him.
"I am sorry that you had to learn this way. Rest now." Alleria said, speaking to the fallen Broken that was in front of them, while the three of them hoped his spirit traveled to the next world safely, before she felt something, "Do you feel that? Something is pulling us back..."
Lyra and Trixie had a few seconds to feel what Alleria was talking about before the area around them went dark once more, though when the world they had been in, before following Arkhaan into the Void portal, they noticed another Void empowered Ethereal, this one different from the last one, staring at them.
"Locus-Walker?" Alleria asked, though her surprised tone indicated that she knew who this was and that she was surprised to see him again, meaning that they had met in the past and that she wasn't expecting to see him again.
"I see you've met the Viceroy." the Ethereal, Locus-Walker, stated, completely ignoring what Alleria had said, though at the same time he turned his head slightly and stared at Lyra and Trixie, as if he was interested in them, which was very understandable considering that they were different from what he had seen before today.
"What are your people doing here?" Alleria inquired, as she figured that, if she could get some answers, this entire thing would make more sense, and they might be able to defeat the Dark Naaru that was lingering inside the Seat of the Triumvirate without any casualties.
"I am here to find out." Locus-Walker replied, to which he stood still for a moment and seemed to vanish, as if he had never been there in the first place, while his voice still echoed around them, "Follow, if you can."
"Wait!" Alleria shouted, though it was already too late, as the mysterious Ethereal was already gone, but the look on her face told Lyra and Trixie that she suspected this.
Lyra and Trixie had no idea what sort of madness they were encountering, or what Alleria's connection to this Locus-Walker was, but at the moment it appeared that the Ethereal was on their side, maybe, and that the only way they would be able to move forward was by accepting his help... though they had the feeling they were about to discover something that was different from what they had been going earlier.