//------------------------------//
// Cataclysm: Assault on Mount Hyjal 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer: Path of the Damned 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Upon her return to the surface, after spending who knew how long down in the depths of Vashj'ir, Sunset found that her forces had obeyed her orders and fortified the surrounding province, and possibly the other ones that they had passed through to get to this point.

"My Queen, it seems that you were successful." a voice said, which came from Mira, who must have been waiting for her to come out of the water while the others went to work fortifying the conquered provinces, before she glanced out at the rest of the Scourge that stood behind Sunset.

"Indeed, even if I've likely annoyed Queen Azshara in the process." Sunset remarked, since the naga queen wanted to take down Neptulon and subjugate him for her Old God patron, while she marched in and ruined all those plans with ease, but, in that moment, she decided not to worry about it as she focused on the next stage of her plan, "Has Deathwing attacked any other provinces while I was down in Vashj'ir?"

"No, but we've determined that he's going to Mount Hyjal next, to raise the Firelord so he can burn down a World Tree." Mira answered, something that caused Sunset to raise an eyebrow as she considered what she was hearing, since she had raised the Firelord not that long ago, giving her two of the Elemental Lords, while World Trees were connected to the Emerald Dream, a version of Azeroth untainted by intelligent life.

"Well, he's going to be in for a surprise when he does so." Sunset said, because she could only imagine the look on the dark Aspect's face when he realized that an ally he 'revived' turned out to be an enemy, something that caused her to turn her gaze towards the naga that were behind her, not to mention Neptulon's forces, "I want you to join the others and reinforce the provinces that are under the Scourge's control, all while tracking down any living creature, no matter what it is, and take them down... I expect the Alliance and the Horde to make a move against us, and I want to be prepared... unless all of them decide to wait for me to deal with Deathwing. While you do that, I'll head over to Mount Hyjal and see what sort of damage I can do to the mad Aspect's forces... and maybe take control of Ragnaros' realm as well."

As her forces nodded their heads Sunset found that the naga and water elementals remained in the water, their domain to be exact, while several of the raised druids approached her, combining their energies to make a portal to Moonglade, which was a province just below Mount Hyjal. With her wings such a thing wouldn't bother her at all, so she stepped through the dull green portal and appeared in what looked like a night elf structure, one that was empty by the looks of it, meaning even the druids were fleeing before she could reach them, before deciding that it didn't matter that much. The moment she was sure that the small province was devoid of living creatures, as everything had cleared out not that long ago, she spread her wings and took off, heading to the peak of the rock wall that was to the north of Moonglade, which allowed her to see the rest of Mount Hyjal. The province in question was definitely one connected to nature, especially with some dryads fighting a number of fire elementals and creatures that were simply killing their enemies, with the val'kyr raising them, and directly in front of her she found a massive pool of lava, with the armored dragon flying above it.

Sure enough Deathwing loosed a burst of flames down on the lava for a couple of seconds, something that caused a faint ripple to wash over the mass before the massive flaming form of Ragnaros burst out of the substance, a being that was like Neptulon, the upper body being more humanoid while the lower half was a swirling elemental mass.

"I RISE AGAIN!" Ragnaros loudly declared, allowing all of Mount Hyjal to hear of his return, causing his forces to cheer while the remaining defenders likely experienced fear with his sudden return, though in that moment his flames dulled, taking on a lifeless color that all of the Scourge took on when Sunset raised them into undeath, as he pulled out a hammer that was his main weapon, a massive one to be exact, "Soldiers of the Firelands, take Mount Hyjal and cut down the living... for the glory of the Lich Queen!"

Deathwing, sensing that something was amiss, took to the air as he avoided Ragnaros' hammer, showing Sunset that he was still capable of such movements, before he flew off as he continued his own task, where this time she found that his next destination was to the south, likely another new province to explore. With the mad Aspect no longer bothering this part of Kalimdor, as she wouldn't call it an assault, Sunset nodded to Ragnaros, who had bowed when he noticed her arrival, before she rushed over to the massive tree in the distance, leaving the Firelord to order his troops around. That was the benefit of twisting him into a soldier of the Scourge, it had spread to his forces as well and now they sought to destroy Mount Hyjal, in the sense of spreading her version of death, instead of burning everything to cinders. Her earlier thoughts about the val'kyr proved to be right, there were more than enough of them to make multiple assault forces, which she might utilize at some point in the future, which caused a smile to appear on her face as a dryad was pinned by several of her revived friends, only to be raised into undeath not a few seconds later.

She also found that the defenders of Mount Hyjal had a couple of Wardens, night elf warriors who acted as jailers, and a few green dragons, though this world's version of Ysera was absent, meaning she knew Sunset was coming and departed before she could be cut down like those who got in her way. What interested her was that the Twilight's Hammer seemed to be interested in an Archdruid who was on Ragnaros' side of the current conflict, Fandral Staghelm according to those she slew and forced into undeath, causing her to bring down all of the green dragons and Wardens that dared to stand up to her. Sunset was also interested in the fact that some of Mount Hyjal's defenders were more like defectors, wanting to bring destruction to all of Azeroth, where she wasted no time in cutting them down and raised them into undeath as well, though with her simple swings she found that there was no challenge in facing her foes. Even the Wardens, who fought quite well against their lesser foes, were no match for her as she cut them down and discovered her target resting in the depths of a barrow, an underground area used by night elves, and Fandral was mentally imprisoned by shadowy chains, a spell she shattered with a wave of her hand.

As the Archdruid realized that something was up, and that none of his allies had come to save him, Sunset cut him down in an instant and raised him into undeath as a mighty ally, putting him in charge of the Twilight cultists she had raised so far, and with that done she headed outside before gathering her thoughts.

"So, the Twilight's Hammer wants to corrupt the Wild Gods, in addition to burning down Nordrassil," Sunset commented, to which she smiled as more information surged into her mind as she considered the ancient power that had hidden itself in the other timeline, one that was now coming back with the rise of Deathwing and his cataclysm, because she now had more targets to hunt down and turn into servants of the Scourge, "Very well, it's just one more target for me to claim in my quest... everyone, spread out and start tearing down whoever is left in Mount Hyjal."

As her forces bowed their heads, confirming that they understood her orders, Sunset took stock of the information she had gained and knew that three Wild Gods could be found in Mount Hyjal right now, those being the wolf aspect Goldrinn, a turtle demigod called Tortolla, and a harpy demigod known as Aviana. Their shrines were scattered over the eastern half of the province, if she carefully divided Mount Hyjal into two sections, meaning she had a reasonable area to start looking for them in, giving her something to do while her forces tore down the living and added them to her ranks. As such Sunset followed the information she had taken from the Twilight cultists, finding a supply chain where they intended on using all sorts of captured individuals as slaves to move supplies from one camp to another, one that brought her to a shrine that was dedicated to Goldrinn. Sure enough she found a number of cages spread around the small lake and camp near it, each one filled with those who worshiped the great white wolf, though as she landed on the small bit of central land she spotted a cave with a powerful black wolf that was stronger than the others, Lycanthoth as her Twilight cultists called it.

It took her all of a second to cut down the Dark Ancient, something that caused the real Aspect to emerge from his prison, as a majestic white wolf appeared outside Lycanthoth's cave, but it was a short lived victory for Goldrinn as Sunset chained him to the ground with her magic, stabbed his heart until he died, and then broke nature as she raised him into undeath, which caused his cultists to howl in outrage.

With Goldrinn being overtaken by death the surrounding area that his shrine was resting in fell under the sway of her forces as well, life fading away in a matter of seconds, all while Sunset freed Goldrinn's followers, even if they died seconds later and were brought back as members of the Scourge. Once the area was cleared she spread her wings and took off, giving her a chance to watch as the army of death was moving down Mount Hyjal's main path, Life's former guardians tearing down all of their former allies as she spotted ogres, dryads, and even a couple of satyrs among her growing army. As they marched on her enemies Sunset focused on the knowledge she had gained and found that Aviana's shrine was on a cliff, with harpies nesting outside a night elven structure, though it didn't look like the Ancient was nearby. Such a thing caused her to smile for a moment as she entered the two story building that the elves had left behind, as inside one of the rooms rested a large egg that contained a similar power that matched Goldrinn's, meaning it had to be Aviana, and it started to crack as she stared at it for a few seconds.

What emerged from the egg was a feminine figure that looked like a night elf merged with a bird, because she had talons for feet with the lower half of her legs looking like bird legs, her fingers looked like talons, in fact they probably were, and had feathers growing out of her arms to form wings, and she even had large white tail feathers.

Like Goldrinn before her Sunset barely gave Aviana time to realize what was going on as she slew the Ancient and raised her into undeath, finding that she, like Alexstrasza, wore what looked like a bra and panty armor, causing her to resist the urge to sigh as the raised harpy joined her army, as it wasn't worth worrying about. With that done Sunset focused on her last target, since she needed to track down the other Ancient, Aviana started to corrupt the area that her shrine was in and also tore down her own children, allowing some of the val'kyr to raise them into undeath as well. Her target, the Ancient known as Tortolla, was located to the south of Aviana's shrine, where she found that the Twilight cultists had chained him with all sorts of magic and there was a massive tainted turtle some distance down the path, Nemesis as they called it. She wasted no time in tracking down her first target and smashed the Dark Ancient into the ground with her magic, allowing her to kill it in an instant, before turning on the magic keeping Tortolla in place, breaking it in an instant, where she used Frostmourne to slay the massive Ancient before he even had a chance to move.

After that she raised him and his followers into undeath as well, allowing the army of death to move into the section of the province the Twilight Hammer ruled over, though they submitted to death and willingly joined her army, enforcing her rule over both all of Mount Hyjal and the Firelands, causing her to grin for a moment as she wondered what the next province might offer her.