//------------------------------//
// Ahn'Qiraj, Part 6: Chaos and Madness 
// Story: Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth 
// by Xarmar13 
//------------------------------//

The hive was quiet. The once thriving primary Silithid hive beneath the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj was riddled with the fallen bodies of its denizens. The seemingly infinite swarm was now reduced to the dangling egg sacs hanging from the ceiling without tenders to care for them upon hatching. Of course, there were the many insects that lit up the hive, but that was their only function. 

The Silithid and Qiraji armies had been devastated by a group of adventurers and the meager army at their back. The leaders, including Vek’lor and Vek’nilash, were dead and it had nothing left to put in the way of the Huntress of the Void to keep her from it. Within a day, the plans it had devised over thousands of years were foiled. It would have to wait another generation before it could begin to rebuild the hive, provided it survived the imminent encounter.

If only its N’raqi minions had survived the Usurpers’ onslaught those many millennia ago.

It gathered all of the power it could muster for its last stand. If it was going to be devoured by the Huntress, it wasn’t going down without a fight. The mortals that accompanied her would fall prey to madness and serve it.







Violetta was salivating a black substance. Her prey was within her grasp at last and she sensed nothing else, aside from three non-hostile minds, between herself and C’thun. She was trembling in excitement knowing that she would soon be one step closer to obtaining her true power.

Claiming C’thun’s essence would allow her to be independent of Mena’s mind which protected her from her own madness. Of course, she also had a contract which would take years to fulfill. This was fine by her as she was certain that the priest would encounter the other three Old Gods in time.

With nothing else to impede their progress, the party summoned their silithid battle-tanks using their crystals and rode into the long, narrow tunnel. As they rode, anxiety gripped the party. They knew they were about to face a being that fought in a way that they couldn’t train for. Their minds would be their vulnerability and only Sophia and Violetta could offer them any means of protection from that. The horror they would soon face was what they figured Violetta was capable of and it scared them to think about it.

The tunnel narrowed until they could barely move side by side. Sophia and Thanatas led the way forward while the others formed a line behind them. The tunnel twisted and turned a few more times while ramping upward.

Soon, the sand and hive matter gave way to stone once again and they entered the central area of the temple. The death knight stopped at a corner of the stone corridor which prompted the others to stop. She dismissed her wings while the silithid mounts burrowed underground.

Instead of looking at the group, Thanatas looked around the corner to find three individuals: two night elves and a gnome, all in robes corresponding to the dragonflights she knew they belonged to. These were the three who sacrificed themselves to ensure the Scarab Wall was sealed one thousand years ago.

Thanatas already figured that the Old God, who was likely staring at the three dragons from the central chamber, already knew that they had arrived so there was no point in being secretive.

“Who are you all? How did you get this far into the temple?” the red-robed one asked. Going by Vaelan’s description, the party figured that he was Caelestrasz. They deduced that the gnome was Arygos and the female night elf was Merithra.

“We’re here to put an end to the threat of Ahn’Qiraj once and for all,” Thanatas answered.

“You sound confident, that will be your downfall,” Caelestrasz warned. “C’thun is an entity unlike any you have ever encountered. He strikes at you where you can’t fight back.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this before,” Violetta dismissed. “Let’s get in there and eat, I’m hungry!”

The dragons gave strange looks to the strange-looking female. Did she really just say that she intended to go into C’thun’s chamber with the intent to eat in there like it was a tavern? They watched as she and the entire party began moving into the Old God’s chamber. Most of them were understandably nervous while others, such as the undead knight, the blue rabbit creature and the black-wearing figure with the writhing hair, showed no fear. They wished that they could help against it, but C’thun’s dark power kept them bound.

What the party saw of the Old God was a massive slitted eyeball with purple sclera and a bright yellow iris. The sclera faded to a sickly green toward the back. The eyeball sat atop a circle of claws that moved around. The eye was surrounded by a circle of eye stalks which stared at the party.

"̵̼̮̈́̀C̵̹̹̝̱̞̫͒o̵̺̪̳̞͂͂̓̕ṃ̷̽͌̔͘ȩ̵̛̛͇̘̱̥́̅̾̍,̸̫͑ ̷̨̰͐̆͛̋̾͜ỳ̵͕̭̰̮̫͆o̵̢̤͈̘̯͛̍̋͑̄͘ū̷̡͓̺̖͍̚r̵̝͙͖̾̉͋͜ ̴̟̚d̷̤̖̺̾̓e̸̖͈̞͈͎͂̔a̴̱͙̽͌̑t̵̗͔̐̆͝h̷͍͙̝͕̣͎͘s̵̹̽̆̑ ̸̬̙̤͎͇̒̑͠ẉ̷̫̓̀̎̓ͅi̸̹̘̝͉̽̈́̾̈l̸̡̦̭̞̭͆̄͗̀͛͑l̶̞̻̥̫͎̺͆̅̓ ̴̛̜̗͍̓̈́͒͛b̵̡͓̟̻̙͈̓̊̅͒e̴̢͍̣͉̻̗̓̄̐ ̵̨̝͉̹͂̈́͒͑͋̿s̶̩̝̊̐̿̓̎͋͜l̶͍̥̳̘̼̿o̷̘̰͗̇̌́̀w̶͇͌́͋͆̈́.̷̡̛̑̑.̵̹̉́̾̅.̷̖̳̟̗̝̤͐̆͝͝͝"̶̟̞̻̯̱͎̈́̇̒̈́̇͠ it said.



Violetta frowned. She could tell that C’thun was concealing its main body in one last attempt to keep her from devouring it. She would force it out of hiding.

The rest of the party charged in and began attacking the eye stalks which began firing beams that harmed their minds but was still healable since it wasn’t psychological damage. The giant eye began firing beams that jumped from Jaqueline to Talia who was nearby, injuring both of them. Groun and Bella were able to heal their injuries.

Lokosh found that C’thun paid no special attention to anyone so he changed tactics to attacking the tentacles.

Each tentacle that fell bled more of the Old God’s essence which was taken by Violetta who used the chaos of the battle to begin channeling a large amount of void energy to prepare an attack.

C’thun was also preparing something big as well and needed its enemies to stand still while it was using it. The Old God then began to use its power to pierce through Sophia’s mental defenses and attack the party’s minds.

It was mostly successful but the templar’s mind was too strong to pierce. The Huntress had the most powerful mental barriers it had ever experienced and found piercing that to be futile. That protection extended to the undead in plate armor. It was a curious thing, but there was nothing it could do about that.

It was able to get into the minds of the other party members and discovered some interesting things. While the night elf druid and the human paladin didn’t have anything noteworthy in their minds, the others were another story.

From the gnome, it discovered that her mind was fractured by the void energies coursing through her. It could have taken advantage of such a thing if it didn’t notice the trap the Huntress set that would have ripped its essence from it.

It was amusing that N’Zoth’s pet dragon had created pets of his own. Even more amusing was that he became so scared of his own creations that he locked them away in stasis. There wasn’t much it could do with that info, but if it ever saw its fellow Old God again, it would derive some amusement by making fun of the fact that their pet was a coward.

C’thun discovered that the human warrior had some dark power within her that didn’t belong on this side of the Veil and it was slowly tearing her apart. It knew that her fate was unavoidable at this point.

With an amused tone, despite that it all sounds like a decaying zombie trying to speak, it foretold her future with one phrase, "̸̡͖̲̺͑̐̅͘̕̕Y̴͔͈̤̭͚͑̇̚ơ̵̫̬̳̒͑û̴͎́̓r̵̰̝̘̰̯͐͘ ̵̛͔̬͔̰̓h̶̞͇̒͜ė̷̻̬̂̆ä̵͚̭́́͘r̴̡͔͖̈́͐̆͊͘͠t̶̖́̏̿̑͐̔ ̵̖̜̞͍͌̊̽͒ŵ̵̻͔̹̻̈́̓̅i̸͉̮̔̚l̸͖̈l̶̝̣͉̇̑͆ ̴͔̤̮͕͒̿̐̓͜ͅe̶̱̗̬͉̩͐̈́̉̚͝͠x̷̰͌̀͗p̶͖̻̯̾͐͂̽̇͠l̴͉̅̓̏̎̎o̷͈̪̱͂d̸̳̩͙̋̑̂̈́͋̀ę̷͖̦̋͌.̷̘͐̆̂̍.̷̧̺̬͑̀̃͜.̶͚̘̅̓͂͋̍"̷͉͚̓͒̓̌̕͝

“Argh, get outta mah head, ya freak of nature!” Jaqueline growled as she clutched at her head.

C’thun chuckled as it heeded her request, if only because it had seen all that needed to be seen of the warrior.

It was the others that possessed information that piqued its interest. The orc, tauren, troll and forsaken held memories that didn’t match their bodies. It was certain that the minds possessing these four were not of this world. In fact, if it was interpreting the information right, these four were not of this universe. It could see their true forms through their memories. Their universe was created and administered by a race of colorful equine creatures? Very interesting indeed.

Even more interesting was the master whom the four served. The one called Crystal Silicon greatly feared her master while the others were kept oblivious to his true nature. Even though it was a memory, C’thun could sense the ancient malevolence emanating from her master. There was more to their little mission than what their master let on.

Sophia realized too late the information leak that had just occurred. Her eyes widened in horror as she opened the link to the Sphere employees. “This is bad! Very bad! I couldn’t stop C’thun from reading the minds of the ELF members, the nature of the Eternal Sphere is compromised!”

“WHAT?!” Twilight mentally screeched. “We need to stem the leak before it spreads. We can’t allow the denizens of this world to know about the Eternal Sphere, there would be a mass panic and everything will be ruined!” Twilight began to hyperventilate as many bad scenarios began to play out in her head. Sophia cut her off from the link temporarily because nobody wanted to see these scenarios play out in their heads and because this was not the time for indulging in fantasies.

“For now, we need Violetta to absorb C’thun into herself as soon as possible before it decides to leak the info to the reincarnated,” Sweetie Drops offered. “Chances are the Old God may already be trying to send the info out to Yogg-Saron and N’Zoth.”

“Are you sure, Bonnie?” Lyra asked.

“I’ve read the report on these things Lyra, they are rooted so deep into the planet that I wouldn’t be surprised if their combined reach extended across the known world.”

C’thun turned its eye to stare at Violetta. The party began to notice that the eye was slowly turning red. Thanatas knew what that meant so she yelled at the others, “Move out of its sight, quickly!”

At the same time, Violetta was ready to unleash her own attack as C’thun finished charging its attack. The two unleashed their attacks at the same time, resulting in a beam clash. The collision of red and black filled the chamber with an eerie light.

The party decided to distract themselves from the dark display by attacking the numerous eyestalks and claw tentacles around the Old God. Each severed tentacle continued to give a tiny amount of power to Violetta who continued to struggle against C’thun’s eye beam.

It was then that Thanatas said something to her daughter that surprised everyone in the chamber. “Quit playing with your food, young lady. We don’t have time to mess around anymore.” Even more surprising was her daughter pouting as if her mother had just spoiled her fun.

Violetta then summoned a number of tentacles around C’thun with fanged maws that began to devour the ocular organ, consuming it piece by piece. The Old God was forced to abandon its attack with its main weapon now under attack. Of course, with the other tentacles under attack, it couldn’t defend itself.

Having no other option left, the eye withdrew into the circle of claws around itself which began to stretch outward and point upward, becoming a ring of teeth. To Violetta’s excitement, C’thun’s main body emerged from the ground.

The main body was a bulbous mass of light gray flesh with smaller tentacles around its body along with purple, horizontally slitted eyes with yellow irises. There were also fanged mouths around the base of the body along with larger tentacles in between each mouth.



"̵̢̤͇̤̟́̚Y̵̯̰̹̩̽̿ō̵̼̣ͅů̴̧̡͔͈̎͐̊̈r̸̠͍͋̇͌ ̴̟̯́͆̚͠m̵̺̤̃̆ą̵̟̫̂̉͝͠s̷̻̮͑͒͝ẗ̴͚̩̟e̶̛̪͔̘̼͜r̴̛̰̹͂̆s̶̘̯̱͂̏̿ ̶̨͋̈́ẉ̸̢̺̘̪̌̈̀͝i̴̮̾̆l̸̰̦̙̈́͗̀̈́́͜l̵͔̳̣͈̘̑̕͠ ̵̳̀̈́̕n̷̨͖͍͋̉̂ō̴̪̇t̵͕̞͔͒̈͆̅͠ ̸͎͆ş̷̧͎̍̋̐̿̓a̶͙̭͔̋͛̔v̸̜͚̙̚ē̸̖̾̈̀̕ ̴̥̱̟̿̇̈̒̕y̷̳͔̦̹̥͒̄̽̉̒ơ̸͍͔̻͛̀u̵͉̮̖̤̇.̵̡̲̏͋̇,"̶̨̄̏̚ C’thun said.

"̷͕̓W̶̢̬̭̱͛ͅo̴͈̹̍̆̀͠ř̷̡͈̭͈͉r̴̰͈͛͝͠y̴̮̹͉̖̬͆̒͆ ̶̛̣̝̯̪͉̔͛̎a̴̟̒̂̈́͜͠͠ḃ̸̡͓̤̗ơ̶̻͍̮̯͐̈́ȗ̷̢̼̜̲̄͂t̶͚̀͑̀̀ ̴̞̠̖̓͒y̴͕̘̓̍͘o̶͈̜͋͝͠u̷͇̖͑͊͌̚r̷̛̩̝̠̞̼̔̈͘ ̴͎̹̜͆͆́͗ö̶̟͎̲͔̮́ẅ̶̗͈͒͛̋n̴̩̘̝͙̐̾͘ ̷̳̾̄̌̈́e̸̜͙̥͌ń̸̘͈͎̭͜d̷͈̓̑̒͑a̶̼̪͈̯̅̅̊̿ͅn̴̰̯̣̍́g̶̥̳̬̫̔͗͑ͅe̶̡̙̫͕̖͂͛̋̀͠r̴̰̤̩͗͑e̴̙͓͊d̴̢̞͖́ ̸̨͇̲̝̄̏͒̔͜͠h̵̺̖̼̪̙̋́̊ì̴̡͍͈̐̅ḏ̴͚̺̈́̒̃̍e̵͚͓̽̈́,̶̲̈́̇͜͝"̵̺͑ Violetta countered.

The battle resumed with C’thun firing beams from the eyes around its body which were barely dodged or barely blocked by shields which ended up shattering against the powerful force as it faded. The party retaliated against the Old God, but it quickly became apparent that their best spells didn’t even faze it. Their time soon became occupied when a number of giant claw and eye tentacles emerged from the ground and forced the party to focus on them.

Sophia and Thanatas also discovered that their attacks were not working as it appeared that the horror’s carapace was nigh invulnerable, rivaling the armor of Sophia’s toughest minions. Both had ways of piercing its shell, but not without potentially causing the chamber to collapse on them and the others.

Not long into the battle, C’thun decided to rid itself of the nuisances that were destroying its tentacles by causing its own mouth tentacles to rise from beneath each of them. In an instant, everyone except Sophia, Thanatas and Violetta ended up on a trip through the Old God’s digestive system.

Thanatas and Sophia were a little distracted as they had to listen to Twilight panicking that all of her friends were just eaten alive. The death knight could only hope that the victims could figure out what they needed to do now.

Inside C’thun, everyone who was eaten suffered a brief slide through the narrow, slimy tentacles. Each was thankful that the Old God didn’t know how to chew its food, though this didn’t change their situation.

Their little luge soon ended as they all fell into a chamber filled with a smelly, green liquid.



“That was fun! Let’s do it again!” Mena remarked.

“I’d rather pass, darling,” Bella said.

“Are we really in the stomach of this thing?” Stella wondered.

“It certainly looks that way,” Lokosh added.

“How about we discuss something useful, like finding a way out of here before we end up digested,” Talia snarked.

Sure enough, the party could feel the stomach acid begin to burn through their armor and it wouldn’t be long before things would turn ugly.

Aside from the pond of acid at their ankles and the caustic fumes in the air, the inside of C’thun’s stomach seemed almost as large as its whole body. What appeared to be a black stone platform stood at the opposite end of the stomach guarded by a pair of tentacles. Farra’jin looked up and spotted a hole in the ceiling just above the stone slab.

“Maybe if we triggah de gag reflex we might be able ta use de slab ta get out.”

“How are we gonna do that?” Jaqueline inquired.

“Perhaps if we attack those tentacles, we might trigger the reflex,” Flutashe guessed.

“Worth a shot,” Groun said.

With their plan made, the party began attacking the tentacles while the spellcasters positioned themselves on the slab and fired spell after spell at the tendrils. Once the tentacles were mangled until they stopped moving, the stomach began to rumble and the spellcasters could sense something rising from below. Acting quickly, the melee-oriented members of the group joined the others with everyone holding each other tightly. Within moments, they found their platform flying into the air and out the hole.

The party emerged from the fanged maw atop the Old God and flew off in different directions, some landed hard on the floor while others who could stop or slow their falls acted quickly to do so.

C’thun groaned as it suffered a painful stomach ache. Its eyes were unfocused and its skin had taken on a deep purple color.

Violetta sensed its weakness, she knew that it was time to strike. She knew it was the chance she was waiting for. She was not going to get another chance like this again.

It was dinner time.

Summoning her mouth tentacles once more, Violetta had each of them rip its eyeballs out from its sockets before reaching inside and pulling on the Old God’s essence. Each tentacle took big gulps as they drained the mass of flesh dry. Each gulp greatly added to Violetta’s power and already she could feel the consciousness of the Old God within her as the first of four prison cells within her mindscape was being filled. The rush of void energies was ecstasy for her. She began holding herself as she was overcome with a feeling of pure bliss. The malevolence she felt only added spice to her meal.

C’thun’s body began to wither as the tentacles continued to drain it of the essence of the Old God. The fleshy exterior was nothing more than a vessel meant to protect the true fiend within from the weakness that the universe itself imposed on all beings who existed outside of it. Violetta was an exception to this rule.

Within a few minutes, C’thun’s body was reduced to a dried, withered husk. For the first time in her life, Violetta felt satisfied with her meal. Though the hunger had not completely disappeared, it was now much more bearable.

C’thun’s malevolent aura in the room began to fade which was soon replaced by Violetta’s ominous aura. 

Violetta spent the next few minutes testing out her new powers. She created an eye and found that she could witness everything the eye saw. This was followed up with multiple eyes which flew out through a window just outside the chamber. She could see everything that went on outside the temple from the perspective of each eye, including every soldier that was securing the ruins simultaneously. She would need to enhance her brain in order to increase the limit of information that she could take in at once, and there was one Old God who could give her that capability.

She then looked at the three surprised dragons in the corridor outside who had witnessed the battle and the consumption of the fiend who controlled the Qiraji. Her hand radiated darkness for a moment before the bindings on the trio came undone. “There, you’re free to go home. Now get lost,” she said casually with a shooing motion of her hand.

Caelestrasz looked like he wanted to fight while Merithra appeared confused. Arygos was in shock from what happened. “You took C’thun’s power into yourself, how can we be certain that that thing becoming a part of you isn’t the same thing as it running free?” Caelestrasz asked.

“I hope you’re not planning to pick a fight with me. What would your brother say if he found out that his brother needlessly lost his life fighting a pointless battle when his adversary was giving him a chance to walk away?” Violetta countered with a dramatic flair. “Seriously, don’t pick a fight you can’t win. You’re just like your brother in that regard. He even came to these ruins to find you. If I were you, I wouldn’t keep him waiting any longer.”

The red dragon narrowed his eyes at her, “I am not foolish enough to turn my back to you, monster…”

Violetta rolled her eyes, “This conversation bores me, let’s get out of here.”

Hesitantly, Stella begins opening a portal to the camp outside the ruins. Caelestrasz didn’t want the fiend to escape from the temple so he began channeling a powerful fireball to stop the mage only for a wall of ice to rise and block the entrance to the chamber. The spell left a small dent in the ice wall. 

As the party left through the portal, Violetta kneeled down to Mena and moved her head closer to the gnome’s ear. “You’re going to need a more powerful source of light magic if you plan to wield stronger powers of the void safely,” she whispered before she faded back into Mena’s mindscape.

Once back at the camp, the party gave the good news to Varok Saurfang who cheered uproariously. The soldiers cheered in turn as the Might of Kalimdor had claimed victory in the second War of the Shifting Sands. With C’thun gone, the ruins of Ahn’Qiraj would soon become an archaeological hot spot for the Explorer’s League, the Alliance’s premier archaeological company. Of course, they still had to take care of the Silithid infestation.

By the time night fell, Cenarion Hold was filled with revelry as the dwarves busted open the kegs of ale and most of the soldiers who were off duty ended up completely smashed. Laughter and merriment could be heard for miles around. Many of them tried showing off their dance moves which looked silly while they were drunk. The party lasted well into the night.

When the next day dawned, the soldiers were fighting hangovers while Stella, Bella, Mena, Flutashe, Jaqueline and Sophia, none of whom drank too much, prepared to head back to Stormwind. Stella opened a portal to Stormwind and the Alliance group said their goodbyes to the Horde group and entered the portal.

Back home, the group knew that it was time for them to go their separate ways. With all of the imminent threats in the world defeated for the time being, it was time for them to get back to their own lives.

Flutashe returned to Darnassus to work with Tyrande on undermining Fandral Staghelm’s authority over their people. Until they found proof of his treachery, this was all they could do for now.

Bella had recently discovered that the market for magical gems was on the rise and she knew that the Cartier name would be at the forefront of this wave. She began buying the necessary equipment to expand her repertoire into this new market.

Mena spent some time honing her power to channel the Light at Stormwind’s Cathedral of Light where the priests and paladins there were especially helpful with their lessons.

Stella returned to Dalaran to give her final report on her assignment. Rhonin was pleased with her initiative and her adaptive thinking. He was surprised when he learned that she was a winged humanoid dragon but this didn’t affect their bond as master and student, or at least former student since she was ready to be a full agent of the Kirin Tor.

Jaqueline spent her time training at SI:7 headquarters to hone her fighting skills while considering her next move. She had heard that her little sister, Blossom Pomerton, had taken up an apprenticeship under the royal gardener at Stormwind Keep. Jaqueline chuckled when she heard that she had also become friends with Prince Anduin.

Sophia finally began her mission of earning the trust of the Alliance leadership through conversations with King Varian. The two of them shared tales of their adventures and quickly became friends. She would need to spend time with the other leaders, though Thanatas also warned her that another race would join the Alliance in the near future.

Although everyone had gone their separate ways for now, new adventures were just over the horizon and new dangers would soon rise.







End of Season 1