It took the Illidari a few moments to warp back to the Fel Hammer's previous position in Mardum, where it returned to it's vertical stance and allowed everyone to head back down to the floors that they were used to working in since Spitfire had claimed the ship, though this time around they were returning with some good news, as the Felsouls were dead and both of their souls had been sealed inside the artifact weapons they had been carrying since they were revived as servants of the Legion, not to mention the fact that both she and Rainbow had absorbed the power of their foes as well, increasing their own power as well, before they walked over to where Kayn and Altruis were standing.
"The deed is done, our targets have been vanquished." Spitfire remarked, though at the same time she was surprised that Rainbow's body hadn't changed after absorbing the Fel energy that had been attached to Caria's soul, just like she was also surprised that her own body hadn't changed all that much either, making her wonder if each demon hunter had their own level of Fel energy before a change occurred and the amount increased as they progressed to becoming more demonic, though even as she thought about that Rainbow didn't seem all that bothered by the couple of changes that her body had gone through, especially since she was capable of using the changes against their enemies.
"Varedis and Caria have been punished for joining the Legion, and we have dealt a telling blow to our enemies," Kayn said, something that was followed by one of the rare moments where Altruis nodded his head to show that he agreed with the demon hunter he usually opposed, which had to surprise everyone that had to be watching them at the moment, before he noticed that the rest of the Illidari were staring at them and seemed to be waiting to hear something, no doubt waiting to hear the news that they had been successful in their mission and that the main Felsworn had been defeated, erasing one of the Legion's powers, "I believe it is time for us to tell the others the news, and then we can get to telling Khadgar and the rest of our allies the good news as well."
"Go ahead, you were always better at speaking to crowds," Altruis commented, showing that he really didn't want to speak to crowds and that Kayn was obviously more suited to take that role, even though he was pleased by the fact that they had done what Lord Illidan had planned out so long ago, taking down the forces of Mardum, claiming a Legion ship, and then taking and using the Sargerite Keystone to unleash a counterattack on one of the Legion's worlds, something he was sure their mentor would be proud of, if he was here to see what they had done, though at the same time Spitfire and Rainbow walked over to face the rest of the Illidari, with Kayn walking up behind them.
"Illidari! Servants of Illidan! Hear me!" Kayn called out, where the former was a label for the demon hunters and the latter was for the Shivarra, Broken, and Naga that fought with them, even though Spitfire was thinking of just calling everyone by the former label at this point in time, as there was no reason for such a thing to exist between them, so this might be the last time anyone used the latter when addressing everyone, but she said nothing as she and Rainbow waited for Kayn to do his speech, so they could celebrate and head to Dalaran to tell Khadgar the good news, "We gather here today to pay tribute to the one who has served with both honor and distinction as our indomitable leader, along with the one that has served as her unbreakable spear, as we have regained the missing Sargerite Keystone and killed Cordana Felsong, the Fel Warden who betrayed both Azeroth and her own order, we have defied Kil'jaeden himself, despite his tempting offers, and invaded one of the Legion's broken worlds, and we have vanquished our nemeses, Caria and Varedis Felsoul. For all of our recent successes, and countless others, we shall bestow one of our highest honors, the title of Slayer, upon Lady Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, so they might strike even greater fear into the hearts of the Legion!"
Spitfire and Rainbow were surprised, as the title of Slayer was reserved for the highest ranking demon hunters, where the two of them had assumed that either Kayn or Kor'vas, at the very least, would have gained it at some point in time, or even Altruis for that matter, for those that were right under Lord Illidan, though upon thinking about that, as the Illidari cheered after hearing Kayn's short speech on what they had done, Spitfire determined that it made sense, due to the fact that she and Rainbow were now two of the strongest demon hunters in their entire order and that the only one that stood above them was Lord Illidan himself. With that done Spitfire made sure that the Illidari had a break to recharge themselves for all of the fights that were ahead of them, as once the Orders were done with their missions, and had a short break as well, it was only a matter of time until they regrouped, made sure everyone was ready, and launched their second assault on the Broken Shore, even though Rainbow remarked that someone would be tackling the dangers of Suramar before anything else happened to their forces, since they still needed the last of the Pillars of Creation. While they were thinking about that Kayn had them follow him for a moment and revealed that Loramus had completed his work on the Nathrezim Forge, the powerful forge that rested on the lowest level of the Fel Hammer, not counting the very bottom of everything, that their fellow demon hunter had used to reforge Frostmourne into the new form that Scarlet wielded in battle, capable of going from a pair of one-handed swords to a two-handed blade in seconds, though Kayn's statement told them that they might be getting something special in the very near future. Sure enough they found Loramus standing next to the forge, actually in his transformed state, before he stepped to the side and revealed that the Nathrezim Forge was capable of awakening the true potential of their weapons, meaning they were going to become even stronger and deadlier than they currently were and that he had been unable to complete this before the invasion of Niskara, otherwise he would have given them a power boost, even if they honestly didn't need it to tear down Varedis and Caria, before they stepped forward and stopped in front of the forge.
Spitfire raised her Twinblades first, where the power within the forge and her blades transformed the weapons into a deadlier pair of artifacts, with the edges being covered by Fel energy, the tips becoming sharper, the points that were curved her way became even sharper, and the horns grew out a little more, though when Rainbow did it both of her Warblades became longer and had orange Fel flames on the tips that were near her shoulders, though that was when a small shield appeared over the handles of her weapons, making them more like warglaives in that moment and it meant that she didn't have to worry about someone cutting her hands while she fought them. Both of them were impressed by their new weapons, even taking a moment to swing them a few times to make sure they worked and that the additional weight hadn't ruined anything that they were used to, before smiling as they noticed that nothing had changed and that this meant they could deal some additional harm to those they fought, mostly to the Legion. With that in mind, and their transformed weapons in hand, the pair started to take a moment to think about what to do next, which was when Jace walked down to where the pair and Kayn were standing, as the other Illidari headed back to the top floor so they could join the celebration before a new threat or something forced them to focus on taking the fight to their enemies or the Broken Shore, hence why they focused on Jace once more.
"Pardon the intrusion, but I have something... interesting... to share with you two," Jace said, something that caused both Spitfire and Rainbow to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they banished their new weapons to their horns, as while they had been thinking they would have some time to relax before the next part of their mission, and hear what the rest of Azeroth's heroes had done during their own missions, it seemed like both of them might be getting dragged into a brand new venture of some kind, "there's an odd magical signature near the small floating island near the part of Dalaran that Khadgar and the Council like to gather in... but its nothing like what we have on Azeroth... in fact, as far as we can tell, its somewhat similar to your own magical signatures."
"An Equestrian magical signature?" Spitfire inquired, as that was very odd, due to the fact that she had believed it was near impossible for them to open a gateway from Azeroth and have it connect to Equus, based on several things that she had been told at the start of her stay with the Illidari, but if there was a magical signature from their home world near the part of Dalaran that Khadgar and the other Council members resided in, on a floating island with a small pond, there might be another lost soul for them to embrace or someone was scouting out this world for some odd reason, to which she sighed for a moment, "Okay, we'll take a look and figure out what in the world is going on, then one or both of us will return and tell you whatever we find on that small island, so we can get back to the celebration and preparing for the next stage of our operation to bring down the Legion."
Jace nodded for a moment and stepped to the side as Spitfire and Rainbow walked by him, as they were all interested in what this might mean for everyone, especially when one considered what the two of them had been able to since they joined the Illidari and escaped from the Vault of the Wardens some time ago, though as they walked up to the top floor Kayn glanced in their direction and nodded his head, showing that he understood what Jace had shown them, before they walked through the portal and returned to Dalaran once more... though upon flying through the air, however, they found a familiar figure standing in that area, one with a noodle shaped body with a number of animal parts.
"Discord? What in the world are you doing here?" Rainbow asked, because while she had been expecting to find someone like her or Spitfire, meaning someone who wasn't important to making sure their home world operated like normal, due to him being a counter of sorts to Celestia and Luna, she wasn't expecting the Spirit of Disharmony to sudden show up like this, even though it looked like he had a brown vest over his chest area and a fishing pole in one hand, though it seemed like his getup was more to make him seem like a local or something, but even as she thought about that she made sure that there were no demonic signatures around them, just in case the Legion retaliated by sending their forces at Dalaran, to knock them out of the sky.
"I was looking for you two, actually." Discord replied, where he dismissed the gear that he had summoned a few seconds ago, as he had been expecting this to take some time and felt a disguise had been necessary, and turned to face the pair that were in front of him, where he noticed their more demonic features and raised an eyebrow for a moment, since that wasn't something he was expecting to see when he found them, to which he focused on both of them and less on his own thoughts for a moment, "As you know, you went missing from Equus some time ago and I've been looking for you, as we have discovered that there is a demonic threat to our world and that the... soul, I guess... of our world sent both of you here to prepare for the..."
"Discord, we're already in the middle of dealing with the Legion," Spitfire said, since that was the only demonic threat that creation was facing at the moment, something that seemed to stop the Spirit and caused him to raise an eyebrow while he listened to what information they had to share with him, though she did wonder if there was another unknown army out there, hiding in the darkness of space, waiting for a chance to burn the universe to ash and might be waiting for the Legion to be taken out first, before they did anything, before she refocused her thoughts once more, "and we're making headway, for the first time in Azeroth's history I might add, so we can't just pack up and head back home, not when doing so would bring the Legion to Equus... we wouldn't want that, not with the potential that all ponies possess and the power that could be unlocked if they were corrupted by the Legion."
"Fascinating... simply fascinating." a new voice said, where Spitfire, Rainbow, and Discord glanced to their left, or the right in Discord's case, and found a new humanoid figure standing near their position, whose voice allowed them to determine that it belonged to a young adult male, though it was hard to make out any specific features since the figure was wearing a black coat of some kind that covered pretty much his entire body, with a zipper that went from his feet to his neck, even though the bottom half had been unzipped and showed off the figure's dark gray, nearly black, pants, while he had a pair of ebony black gloves and boots, which had blood red runes on them, and the hood had diamond shaped drawstrings that were silver colored, despite the fact that his hood was up and they couldn't see his face, like some sort of darkness was keeping them from seeing what he looked like, "The rate of your growth is amazing, and I cannot wait to see what you and the rest of your displaced do in the near future, especially since the first pair exceeded my expectations and set the bar pretty high for all of you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow inquired, though at the same time she didn't trust the stranger that was near them, since they had no idea who he was and had no idea if he served the Legion or someone else, despite the fact that she didn't feel any Fel energy coming from the individual in question, even though it did seem like he was spying on the rest of the displaced, which was a surprise that she wasn't expecting to hear and she could tell that Spitfire was thinking about what they had just learned, that there were more like them scattered across the universe, who she hoped were safe from the Legion, even if the demons were focused on Azeroth right now.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out in due time," the stranger said, something that was followed by something interesting happening, an oval shaped portal appeared behind him and appeared to be made out of either shadows or a mass of darkness, where the figure made not motions with his arms, making them wonder how he had created it in the first place, but before anyone could even ask him another question and figure out who he was, or why he was so eager to see what the displaced were up to, he stepped backwards and disappeared as he entered the portal, which closed not a few seconds later, leaving them in the dark once more.
"This isn't the first time I've seen that individual, who mysteriously appears, mentions something, and then disappears, but we have no idea who he is and why he's so interested in the adventures our displaced are on," Discord remarked, where he sighed for a moment, even though his words gave Spitfire the knowledge that they were the third ones that the Spirit had checked up on since everyone had been displaced, even if it made her wonder who the other two before them might have been, before Discord glanced at them and seemed to take a moment to think about what they had told him earlier, about not returning to their home world, "Are you two sure that you want to stay here?"
"We'll be fine, Discord," Spitfire replied, because if she was right, and the threat that Equus faced was, in fact, the Legion, then by staying and fighting beside the forces of Azeroth they could bring the Legion down and not only save this world from Sargeras, but they could also save Equus and the rest of creation, though in response to her statement Discord stood there for a few seconds and then opened his own portal, which was basically him opening a door in midair, and stepped through it, though when he closed it there was no trace of the door, like Discord had never been here in the first place, to which she sighed for a moment and rubbed the side of her head as she thought about things, "Come on, let's get back to the others and tell them what we've discovered..."
It was in the following moment that a blue sphere of Arcane energy appeared nearby and caused them to stop again, as neither Spitfire or Rainbow had any idea what was happening right now and they weren't being given any time to consider what was going on, though that was where they found Khadgar's head inside the orb and it made them wonder if this had been a spell of his own design or if someone was using his face to try and speak with them, but since they couldn't feel any Fel energy this had to be from their ally and it, once more, made them wonder what in the world was going on and how much information they would be learning this afternoon.
"Lady Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, I know you would rather be celebrating, but I must ask that you come to the Violet Citadel as soon as possible." Khadgar stated, where his tone revealed that he must have found something interesting and that, while he would be sharing it with the rest of the Council members, they were the first heroes he would be revealing this to, due to the others either being busy with the end of their missions or whatever was going on right now, even though Spitfire suspected that each Order would be unlocking the true power of their artifacts before they did anything else, before both of them focused on the Archmage once more, "I have made a rather interesting, and possibly exciting, discovery that I would like to share with you and the Council of Seven... something that could possibly aid us in locating the last Pillar of Creation and Gul'dan."
Spitfire and rainbow glanced at each other for a moment, since they weren't expecting to hear that statement, which was when they nodded their heads and spread their wings for a second, allowing them to take off and land in front of the area that Khadgar, Jaina, and the rest of the Council members resided in most of the time, when they weren't busy fighting the Legion and their enemies, though as they closed their wings the pair found that there was a sphere of Arcane energy in the middle of the chamber and seemed to be what Khadgar wanted them to see, which only made them even more eager to see what their ally had discovered.
"So, what's going on now?" Spitfire asked, because that was the best thing she could ask, just see if the Council knew what was going on and if there was anything they could share with her and Rainbow, even though it did look like Jaina had been in the middle of researching a number of subjects, when she wasn't busy flinging spells at the Legion, thanks to a bunch of books that were near her, but right now her focus was on the Arcane magic that was in front of everyone as she focused on whatever they might learn from it, "You said it might help us with Suramar and the last Pillar of Creation?"
"Yes, that is the gist of the situation. Just so you know the elven city of Suramar has been sealed in a nearly impenetrable Arcane barrier for the last ten thousand years, much like how Dalaran once was, before we moved it to Northrend... but now that barrier has now come down." Khadgar stated, something that caused Spitfire and Rainbow to think about it for a few moments, as they had seen some massive circular structure on the outskirts of the city in question, with bits of what they assumed was Arcane energy coming from them, that must have been the area that the barrier rested in, though even as they thought about that it made them wonder what the sphere had to do with Suramar, "Since then, waves of magical energy have been emanating from the city like ripples in a pond, and it was in these waves that I sensed a pattern... it was a spell, encrypted among the chaos. I have recreated the spell here... trust me, it's not dangerous, but beyond that... I have no idea what it does, so I wanted you both here in case a demon appeared or something."
The pair glanced at each other for a moment before pulling their weapons out of their horns, with Rainbow bracing herself in case a demon surged out of the magic and attacked them, to which Spitfire carefully approached the sphere as Khadgar and the Council summoned a barrier to protect the area they were standing in and all of the tomes, to be sure nothing was lost in case something bad happened, though when she touched it they watched as the sphere expanded into a female elf that looked like she was starving, a shell of her former self, where it appeared that all she was wearing was a brown cloth bra which was attached to a gemstone necklace, which was connected to her cloth hood, and whatever pants she had on were ripped in multiple places, though it also looked like someone had stabbed her recently.
Ith'el kanesh! the faint echo said, as her tone was weaker than what they were expecting it to be, a combination of her starving state and the wound that had been dealt to her, though based on everything Spitfire was seeing she came to the conclusion that whoever was in front of them wasn't a night elf or a blood elf, something that the mages had to be looking at as well, before everyone focused on what the echo had to say, since there had to be a reason for this being sent out of Suramar, without the Legion knowing about it, I am Thalyssra, of the Shal'dorei... the Nightborne... and I... I am the First Arcanist in the court of Suramar. My people have made a dire pact, one that spells doom for our world. Time is short, and I cannot explain everything right now... if you have found this message, you are capable of finding me as well. Please, make haste for Suramar... you may be our last hope. Ith'nala kanesh!
"A magical message in a bottle, slipped right beneath the Legion's noses... she's a clever one." Jaina commented, as once the echo uttered those final words it faded away and disappeared, the rest of the magic following suit in seconds and left everyone to lower their defenses for a moment, though it was easy for everyone to see that there was a possible ally in Suramar and that she was dying right now, and might have perished by the time they got down to the province that their enemies were in the middle of corrupting, where she could see the wheels in Khadgar's mind turning as he thought about what they had just learned.
"Indeed she is, and she's in trouble... I'll send for one of the High Priests to join you," Khadgar replied, where Spitfire and Rainbow knew that he was talking about one of the three priests that lead the rest of their Order against the Legion, which Remeraa was one of, so this meant that they might meet one of the other two leaders of the Conclave, which was what the priests called their Order, though he chuckled for a moment as he pulled out a small wand that looked like it might not be all that useful, at least in terms of fighting anyway, "These Nightborne could prove to be powerful allies against the Legion, even if you two are some of our strongest allies, so we must do everything in our power to assist this Thalyssra, though the first thing you'll need to do is track down her magical echoes, sort of like how I found her distress call earlier. I will use my magic to teleport you near the location where she recorded this message, though from there you must search for ripples in the very fabric of the Arcane itself... and to do that, I will let you two and your new ally borrow this wand, as it is already attuned for this sort of thing. All you have to do is follow the sparks that it creates, as they should lead you to the locations where Thalyssra used her magic, and lend her whatever aid you can give her."
Spitfire nodded for a moment as she accepted the wand in question, while at the same time Rainbow quickly banished her Warblades as they took a few moments to wait for the third person of their party to reach this area, though she did notice that whenever they headed down into one of the provinces that made up the Broken Isles one or more of the heroes also joined them, not that she was annoyed by such a thing since it allowed them to divide whatever tasks they needed to go through to reach their end goal. This time around their end goal was to bring about Gul'dan's end, not to mention aiding Thalyssra and her cause, before even worrying about locating and claiming Lord Illidan's body, which would happen the moment they found the orc warlock, though their thoughts were interrupted as a female blood elf, who had long golden hair that almost looked like she had been blessed by the Light, while wearing a light blue robe with golden runes on it and carried a staff that looked like it had stained glass right in the center of its head, walked into the building that they and the Council members were standing in.
"Lady Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, allow me to introduce High Priest Kelila Lightwhisper, who wields the staff known as Light's Wrath as her weapon," Khadgar said, where the blood elf in question bowed her head for a moment as Khadgar told them who she was and the name of her artifact, even though she knew who the two demon hunters were, because at this point everyone in both the Alliance and the Horde knew who they were and what they stood for, before he waved his hand for a second and his Arcane energy opened a temporary portal nearby, one that seemed to head down to Suramar, "I briefed Kelila on the situation before she left her Order Hall, so you won't need to explain anything to her, but do be careful, as the wilds of Suramar have been untouched for the last ten thousand years and, as a consequence, we have no idea what you might encounter while you search for this Thalyssra."
The trio nodded for a moment before walking through the portal that had been opened for them, where they appeared in a ruined area that had a few fallen pillars and what looked like a tiled path that was being reclaimed by nature, and there were a few structures that seemed like they had been broken beyond repair, to the point where new ones would have to be made if someone wanted to rebuild this area, though once Spitfire, Rainbow, and Kelila were on the other side of the portal they watched as it closed and the way to Dalaran was sealed for the time being, even though two of them could just fly back to the city if they needed something, before refocusing on what was in front of them. Down the path that was in front of them stood two male figures who were dressed in decent looking leather armor, or maybe it was made out of mail or even plate that was made to look like lesser armor, who seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, though they had dark bluish colored skin and silvery blue runes on their arms, or maybe they were markings of some kind that were totally unknown to them, but based on what the trio could hear it sounded like these Nightborne were in the middle of looking for Thalyssra, meaning they were either concerned for her safety or had been sent out to track her down and kill her, even though they figured that the latter was the most likely option in this situation. Upon approaching the pair Spitfire discovered that these Nightborne weren't friendly, as she, Rainbow, and Kelila were considered outlanders, just like what happened in Stormheim, and the pair lashed out at the trio without delay, apparently believing that they were superior to everyone that wasn't a citizen of the city, though that didn't stop her and Rainbow from parrying the incoming attacks with their weapons and surprised their enemies for a few seconds, as if they couldn't believe that such a thing was possible and that this was just a fluke, all while Kelila stood at the back of the group and blessed them while they fought their foes, as she knew from Remeraa's tale about the Halls of Valor that she might not need to heal them. As it turned out the pair of guards used their staffs while they lashed out at Spitfire and Rainbow, in addition to channeling and throwing bolts of Arcane energy at them, spells that were easily avoidable as both of them used a single blade to knock the staffs away from their wielders, opening the way for them to cut through the chest armor that their foes were wearing and quickly knocked both enemies to the ground.
The trio glanced at each other for a moment, as it sure seemed like Suramar was going to be a rather dangerous place for anyone to explore, and that wasn't counting the city itself for that matter, before Spitfire pulled out the wand Khadgar had given them and activated the power that was inside it, where she and the others watched as a bit of Arcane energy sprung to life nearby, right in front of where they found the two Nightborne, and when Rainbow quickly tapped it with one of her Warblades they found another echo of Thalyssra standing in front of them, appearing to be at the end of her message, the same one that Khadgar had discovered earlier.
Please, make haste to Suramar... you may be our last hope. Ith'nala kanesh! I hope someone out there is listening... the echo said, where it was easy to determine that the last bit of her statement had been something she said to herself right after finishing her spell, allowing Khadgar to discover her plea for help, though that was when Thalyssra winced in pain and fell to one knee as she held her side for a time, once more revealing that she had been injured at some point and that her wound was acting up, something that was making it hard for her to do whatever it was that she was here to do, where they found that she forced herself to stand once more, I... need to keep moving...
"She's definitely injured... pretty badly, if this echo is anything to go by," Kelila commented, though she was referring to far more than just the wound that she had been told about, as Thalyssra's body was in the middle of withering away, due to the fact that her body looked like it was skinnier than what she imagined, like the First Arcanist had been locked in prison and starved before escaping to this place, something they would only be able to determine if they found her and asked her what was going on, which allowed her to determine that it was a good thing Khadgar had sent a message to her Order Hall and asked for one of the High Priests to join the pair in this venture, "We should get moving... if she's this injured, and progressively getting worse, we might not have much time left to aid her and treat her wounds."
Spitfire and Rainbow nodded as they headed down the path that was in front of them, following the direction the echo of Thalyssra had walked in, where it was easy to find that there were two more Nightborne guards patrolling the area and also seemed to be angry with outsiders coming to their province, hence the reason that Spitfire parried an incoming attack and tore through her foe's chest with ease, while at the same time Rainbow blocked and stalled her foe's attack before she lashed out with her clawed feet, dealing four gashes to her chest, since this pair of enemies were female while the last two had been male, before they found another echo near a Nightborne corpse, one that was incredibly withered and seemed to have been starved to death, far worse than what was happening to Thalyssra.
Rath! Thalyssra's echo stated, where once she spoke the word of power she blasted the still living creature that had become the corpse that was near them, something that revealed that the creature probably attacked her due to her being there and it being starved, meaning it had been trying to survive and she had likely put an end to it's suffering, which was when she and the others watched as Thalyssra winced again as she walked off to their right and headed over to an area that had two more of the withered creatures hanging out in it, who turned to look at her when she walked up the ruined steps, Withered... I must be getting close... Rath-domaas!
Sure enough she struck down the pair of Withered that were in front of her, which gave the group a name to put to these new enemies, and headed forward as the echo faded again, to which they followed her path as it lead them to a ruined stone bridge that was cracked in the middle, with one half resting in the river that was below it, before they walked over to a ruined area with a few stone pillars, some of which were smashed and had fallen on their sides, though that was where they found a Nightborne captain or something suspended in the air in the ruined area, no doubt locked in time magic or something, which was when they discovered another echo to check out.
Stand down, Erasmus! Can you not see that Elisande has forsaken us?! Thalyssra's echo asked, where it sure seemed like she was trying to make someone see the light about what was going on inside the city, something that told them that this Elisande was a problem and that, to get to the Eye of Amun'thul, they would likely have to overthrow Elisande, but that was something that would have to wait for later as the Nightborne captain readied himself for battle as he floated in the air that his present day version was resting in, to which she readied her own magic once more, wincing as she did so since she had been weakened by someone else's attack, An'ah! Tha... That will buy me some time...
Due to the fact that this Nightborne captain seemed to be hunting Thalyssra down, and might have some information on where she might be located, Spitfire lashed out at the suspended mage and knocked him out of the time spell, which the Nightborne revealed was a time stop spell before lashed out at them, even though he also revealed that Thalyssra had, in his own words, betrayed the 'Grand Magistrix' and needed to be put down, but thanks to the spell he had been locked in for a time, even if it was for a short period of time, his movements were terrible and couldn't hit them at all, so Rainbow just removed his head and they left his body on the ground... though by following the nearby path, which the echo took a few moments ago, they found Thalyssra, in the flesh, kneeling in the middle of an Arcane barrier, to protect herself while she regained her energy.
"Ou... Outlanders. You... received my message?" Thalyssra asked, where they could tell, just from listening to her speak for a few seconds, that she was still weakened from whatever had happened to her before this point in time, though as she did that Rainbow rushed by where her barrier rested and swung her Warblades into the two Withered that were coming at them, something that seemed to persuade them to leave them and their new ally alone, while Spitfire made sure no more Nightborne were in the area and Kelila walked over to figure out what sort of wounds their new ally had, which would give her the accurately treat her body so she could move without being in pain.
"One of our friends found your message and sent us to assist you, in what appears to be a potential rebellion against the current ruler of Suramar," Spitfire replied, as that was everything she had gathered from what the message said and what they had learned from the Nightborne captain Thalyssra had sealed in the air for some time, even if they interrupted that spell and slew the warrior in question, though for the most part there didn't seem to be anyone else coming for them and that gave them a chance to find an area to make into a base of operation, since she was sure that Thalyssra would want to find a hidden place to plan her rebellion.
"I have much to tell you, so you can tell your allies, but it is not safe to speak here... also, I cannot hold this barrier forever, so we have to move," Thalyssra stated, meaning that she was against being healed right now and drew a flask from a small pouch that she happened to be carrying on her ruined sash, something that she carefully sipped from as her magic flared a tiny bit, meaning it had to be a mana potion or something like that, though once that was done she made sure it was put back into her pouch and forced herself to stand once more, "If we push through this area, we might be able to find some sort of shelter, where I will tell you about the situation our world is in."
Spitfire and Rainbow nodded as they readied their weapons, just in case more of the Withered, which Thalyssra warned all of them about as she stood up, charged at them and tried to tear them down, due to the fact that these creatures lived on the flesh and magic of those they hunted, to keep themselves alive, though as Thalyssra dropped the barrier she quickly explained something interesting, and rather sad, to the group, that the Nightborne who couldn't drink from something called the Nightwell would be reduced to such a withered state, which would result in them losing themselves if they stayed in such a state for too long. In that moment Spitfire, who paid more attention to the explanations of magic since Rainbow focused on killing demons and stopping the Legion's plans, understood why Thalyssra was in a withering state, as she determined that the mysterious Nightwell had to feed the Nightborne in some manner and that without access to the powerful font, or the product that it had to produce, someone like their new ally would slowly change before their very eyes, becoming more starved as time passed by, but even then there was no telling how long they had before such a fate befell Thalyssra, who also seemed to think about it for a few seconds before pushing herself forward. That was when they spotted a number of Withered in front of them, standing around part of the ruins that Thalyssra happened to be heading towards, who rushed at the group without delay and seemed to be hungry for the power all four of them had, even if one was incredibly weak from what had happened to her before she sent the magical message, which was why Spitfire and Rainbow had Kelila make sure nothing came at Thalyssra and focused on knocking down the Withered that were coming at them, as now that they knew they had been Nightborne before becoming what they currently were, and this had been forced upon them, both felt that keeping them alive might mean that, once someone found a way to reverse the process, they could have their old lives back, or at least that was Spitfire's hopes on the matter.
As such she and Rainbow made sure not to go in for the kill this time around, purely knocking out everyone that came at them and leaving their enemies behind as they headed for what appeared to be a small ruined village of some kind, which was called Meredil according to what Thalyssra told them, though as the number of enemies started to increase, as they entered their next destination, she snapped up another barrier around them, even if it put a strain on her mana reserves, which were already weakened thanks to her wounds and her separation from the Nightwell. Instead of leaving the barrier the group let the Withered run into it for a few seconds, which hurt them and knocked them backwards, so they could get to the center of the village, which was when the group discovered that there were more wandering Withered that just so happened to emerge from the ruined stonework and assaulted their barrier with their powers, despite the fact that both Spitfire and Rainbow focused on them while Kelila assisted Thalyssra in maintaining the barrier that was around them and even threw out a bolt of Light magic every now and then to knock her targets away from their position. While they fought to clear out the Withered, with was easier said than done since there were so many of them around the ruins, Kelila knew from the stories that both Spitfire and Rainbow had the power necessary to clear the Withered out of Meredil and make it safe and sound for the foreseeable future, but with Thalyssra growing weaker as time went by, since her spell was eating up the rest of her devastated reserves, launching an all out assault on the Withered, and leaving their ally's side for a time, was out of the question, especially since their new friend was incredibly stubborn and didn't want to be healed until they found a good place to rest for a time. In fact, due to the number of Withered in the ruined area, Thalyssra started to walk backwards towards a cave that was behind them and caused the others to move with her, though when they reached the stream that was between them and the cave, however, the rest of the Withered stopped in their tracks and stared at them for a few seconds, something that was quickly followed by their foes fleeing and left the ruins entirely, as every Withered headed into the wilds and disappeared in a matter of seconds.
The group waited for a few more moments, just to be sure that none of the Withered were waiting for them to lower their defenses or something, before Spitfire nodded her head and everyone let out a sigh of relief as they relaxed a little, which was followed by Thalyssra dropping her barrier not even a moment later as she focused all of her attention on the cave that had scared off the Withered, though as she started to walk towards it, looking even weaker than she had been earlier, Kelila rushed over to assist her while Spitfire and Rainbow stood at the back of the group, just to be sure no enemies came at them while they entered the cave.
"You... fought well... outlanders." Thalyssra said, where she sounded like that was a good thing, especially since she had been planning a rebellion that might have failed at some point, due to her wounded state, though she had Kelila set her down near the entrance, since she wasn't ready to head into the depths of the cave, and nodded for a moment, showing the group that she had to be ready for the tale she had to tell and finally being healed so she could move on her own, so she could enlist their help in everything that needed to be done in the near future, "Help me patch up my wounds... I will try to explain everything that happened to you, as quickly as I am able to."
As Kelila went to work mending her wounds, and Spitfire and Rainbow stood across from them to keep an eye on the ruins that were outside the cave they were currently hiding in, Thalyssra informed them that ten thousand years ago Suramar had been the jewel of the Night Elf empire, as in the city and not the province, before Queen Azshara gave aid to Sargeras and was foiled, bringing about something that everyone in the rest of Azeroth knew as the Great Sundering, which created the continents they were used to seeing. What was interesting was that, to save themselves, the residents of the city raised a mighty barrier, one that ultimately deprived them of sunlight, which caused everyone to turn to the Nightwell, where the prolonged exposure to the font turned them into the Nightborne, and it was the Nightwell that brought the Legion to the city and offered a trade, the Legion got access to the Nightwell and the city got to save their lives, though Thalyssra had failed in her attempted coup and now the Legion had control of her city, through Elisande.
"A rebellion, with outsiders as reinforcements... sounds like fun." Rainbow remarked, as that was the gist of what she got from Thalyssra, that she had tried to take control of the city on her own, or either with a small force of followers, and that had failed, resulting in her being wounded and stripped of her most of her clothing, as a final disgrace or insult to her, just in the off chance she survived, and the guards they had seen earlier were to make sure she was dead, though she thought about all of the demons that had to be lurking in this province, inside Felsoul Hold and the other locations, as she wanted to kill them and seal their souls away in her empowered Warblades, despite the fact that their Fel energy happened to be her true target, to strengthen herself even more.
"I guess... anyway, Ancient Mana is our lifeblood, and without it we become Withered... and I have been rather reckless, as my reserves are depleted," Thalyssra said, though as she looked inside her small pouch, to pull out the flask she had drank from earlier, she found that the container was empty and that there was nothing left inside it, where she shuddered for a few seconds and thought about what this meant for her, even though she dropped the flask and leaned against the rock wall that was behind her, where Spitfire knew this was more of a tunnel and less of a natural cave, "I thought I could hold on for a little while longer, but I can already feel my senses dulling... I think there might be some mana crystals nearby... at least I hope so... the potent magical power inside those crystals should keep me going for a day, maybe two if the power inside them is strong enough, before I would need to feed again, so maybe you could find me some crystals so we can explore this cave."
Spitfire and Rainbow nodded for a moment before heading down the rest of the tunnel that was in front of them, where Kelila joined them due to Thalyssra insisting that she didn't need any additional aid right now, something she was planning on ignoring as soon as they found some crystals to give to Thalyssra, though upon reaching the end of the tunnel, which was rather short and only took a few seconds to walk down, they found a rather intricate ruin of some kind and that there happened to be some sort of ruined tree in the middle section of the chamber, something that just so happened to have a few purple crystals that Spitfire determined to be what they were looking for. As they approached the tree stump, to grab what Thalyssra needed, a Banshee emerged from the air above the stump and shrieked for a moment, causing two bits of magic to appear on the outer ring, which seemed to be moving around and were tethered to the Banshee that was right in front of them, though even as that happened, and they raised their weapons to defend themselves from the undead that was in front of them, Spitfire noticed that there was an area that had several raised circular platforms that were lifeless on the left side, a rest area to the right, and a sunken chamber of some kind that seemed important. Once Spitfire took all of that in she lashed out and found that the Twinblades did nothing to the Banshee, something that was also true for the Warblades when Rainbow tried to strike it, especially when Kelila lashed out with her Light based powers, though that was when Spitfire focused on the tethers and beckoned to the second one so Rainbow could focus on it, where they lashed out at the magic and found that both of them easily fell apart as they struck them, either due to their empowered weapons or due to the tethers being incredibly weak, so in a few seconds both objects were broken and the Banshee shrieked as she flew down to where they were standing and rushed at them.
This time around the group found that their attacks could deal damage to their foe, as both the Twinblades and Warblades were able to cut into her form and not pass through her, before they struck her down and banished the Banshee that had been guarding this place, something that was followed by the tree stump breaking down into pure mana as the pieces just vanished before their eyes, no doubt returning to whatever energy source that had created it in the first place, before they sheathed their weapons and found six crystals resting around a platform of some kind that was where the tree stump had been resting, made with some glass components, to which the group grabbed the crystals and made their way back to where Thalyssra was resting.
"Here, we found some of the mana crystals you wanted... they should hold you over for the rest of today, maybe for all of tomorrow as well," Spitfire said, where she, Rainbow, and Kelila handed over the couple of crystals that they had been able to find inside the ruin that they were at the mouth of right now, something that was followed by Thalyssra staring at them for a few seconds, like she was surprised that her assumptions were right about there being some crystals in the ruin she had asked them to explore, before she grasped one and took a moment to siphon the Ancient Mana that was contained within it, allowing the trio to watch as her body started to revert back to being a Nightborne's, or as close as she could get right now since this was nothing like the Nightwell, before she thought about something, "also, we found out that there's a whole ruin in this cave, complete with an old guardian that we had to kill so we could get the crystals for you, and I had the feeling that you might be able to tell us what this place is... or rather, what it had been in the past."
Thalyssra raised an eyebrow to that and pushed herself off the ground so she could see what the group had discovered while looking for the crystals they had given her, five of which she stored away for later, before they walked down the path once more and Kelila made sure their new ally's wounds were fully healed, even though it seemed that she didn't have to worry due to it looking like the combination of her magic and the Ancient Mana inside the crystal had healed her body in a matter of moments, even if she was stuck in the withering state that was between Nightborne and Withered, a state that Thalyssra revealed was called Nightfallen, even if she didn't like being in this state all that much. When they reached the ruins itself, and passed by some cobwebs that had to be cleaned up in the future, Thalyssra revealed that she had never seen a place like this and was surprised by what she was seeing, though when she spoke the phrase 'In'alah' her magic caused a number of spherical lights to become lit once more and light surged into the rest of this place, showing them far more than what they had seen earlier and confirmed what Spitfire had noticed in her brief glances while they were fighting the Banshee, before she walked over to the area on the left and discovered the small circular platforms as well, revealing that they were old teleporters, much like what were inside the city, and that they were inactive, but could be turned on again. From there they walked over to the other side of the ruins, where a collapsed tunnel seemed to rest, even though there was a space where some could rest if they wanted to, before heading down a curved staircase that brought them to the lower chamber, where they found what appeared to be a map of some kind, an intricate stone map carved into the floor, though from what Spitfire could tell it looked like this place was at the heart of the map and the various nodes or pillars had to represent places of power, or at least that was her assumption on the matter, where it looked like Thalyssra was both curious and worried about what they were finding in this place.
While Thalyssra studied the area Spitfire noticed the decent person sized hole in the middle of the map, as it had to be where a bunch of Arcane energy was coming from since there was a hint of that in the air, which made her take a moment to wonder if this place had been built to house a weapon of some kind, something that might rival the Nightwell that was inside the city, though she shelved her thoughts for a moment as Thalyssra headed up a second curved set of stairs and returned to the upper part of the ruins, standing on the front of the walkway that lead to where the tree stump had been resting, before she sighed and faced the group.
"This place is fascinating, yet it leaves me with more questions than answers... though I believe this place might be known as Shal'Aran, a place many Nightborne believe to be a mere legend," Thalyssra said, where she glanced at the ruins while she talked, as while she knew that there were many of her race that would want to see this place, just to see if the legend was real or fake, there was another aspect to this that she considered themselves lucky to have found out, as this did look like the best place to hide for the time being and prepare for a new rebellion against Elisande, before she focused on the trio that was in front of her, "one thing is for certain, and that is the fact that Leyline energy is being fed into this place, but from where I have no idea... nor do I know what could have required such power in the first place. At least the Withered have learned to avoid this place, no doubt after losing a few of their number to the guardians, and those inside the city won't come all the way out here, not without orders from Elisande, so we should be safe for the time being, safe enough for us to gather our scattered allies and plan the next stages of our rebellion."
Spitfire, Rainbow, and Kelila had the feeling that this was going to be the start of something much larger than what they were currently thinking, given that none of them had any idea of the state of the city or the residents inside it, but at the same time this was the best chance they had, in terms of discovering and retrieving the final Pillar of Creation, so for now they focused on whatever Thalyssra had planned for her rebellion, since it looked like she needed an army and supplies to make sure they were ready for the eventual assault on the city, something the heroes and Dalaran could help with, and Spitfire was sure that when their friend was done thinking about things she would tell them what their next steps were, all she and the others had to do was wait and see what happened in the next few minutes.