//------------------------------// // Prelude // Story: Draconic Guardians of Equestria // by Defias //------------------------------// The time had come, the moment to strike was at hand. The combined forces of the Human resistance and the Obsidian Draconic Guardians were fighting valiantly and without heed, but were started to tire and wear thin. The time for Vakarious to act was now. The time to follow in his fathers footsteps..... Two Hundred and Fifty years ago, the biggest military force on Earth had been formed at the strong 'suggestion' of Vakarious, Dragonlord of the Obsidian Draconic Brood, and leader of the Obsidian Draconic Guardians. The Dragons numbers ranged in at about 14 billion, while humanity ranged in at about 7 billion, giving Vakarious the largest military force at his disposal, numbering in at about 21 billion, all of them strong warriors. However, be he who he is, large numbers or not, 21 billion warriors were not even a single percent compared to the seemingly endless number of Burning Legion forces. The war between Earth and Evil itself had been a long fought one, being fought for little over 250 years. Demon after demon fell, and demon after demon replaced the fallen. Only those demons killed by Dark Elementium were destroyed permanently. All was not in vain, however. After 250 years of the Legion forces not gaining more land than they had, which included the entire eastern seaboard, most of Europe, Japan, and Southern Africa, as well as the entire Antarctic, the Dark Lord himself, Sargeras, had grown tired of his forces faltering. After Kil'jaeden had been sent back to The Void by Praetorian himself, Sargeras made his frustrations clear. He would not suffer another Azeroth, however. No, he would not rely on his forces to open a portal for him to enter. Sargeras himself would fall from the skies this time, never again trusting portals. Frustrated as he was, however, Sargeras had been impressed by the forces and resistance this world had put up. He dare say it, he may have even respected them. Sure, worlds before had resisted, Azeroth even repelling them many times, but no world had ever fought, and lasted this long, against a full force invasion. Especially a world with absolutely no Arcane users at all... Praetorian was doing what he did best: Ordering troops around and hitting the Legion forces hard. He had to admit, he was glad the humans created such effective weapons of war. Even he cringed a little bit when hearing the faint buzzing of the Gau-8 Avenger... With collaboration from the Draconic Guardians, said weapon, and many others, were made even more deadly and effective against demonic forces. One prime example with the above weapon, were rounds that were self replicating, as well as an energy force for the plane itself to stay airborne indefinitely, and a very special, deadly slug: Dark Elementium rounds. While nowhere near as dense as Depleted Uranium, Dark Elementium, when propelled to extreme velocities, still had a tendency to want to keep going through almost anything. And given the element's unique property of completely destroying the souls and essences of all those they killed, they were the perfect weapon for an enemy that would normally just be reborn somewhere else... "Infantry, continue forward. Tank battalions, flanking formation. Air to ground support, strafing run along the Dreadlord casters. Air to air support, continue assaults on Fel flyers. All forces, we will soon be pushing against Erebar. Do not relent." Despite the sounds of gunfire, cannon fire, fire and steel clashing together, Praetorian's emotionless, almost synthetic like voice echoed through his troops ears the loudest, rallying both dragon and human as a single fighting force. The art of war was truly his own. "Fall back! Fall back!" "The Destroyer his here, retreat!" the cries of retreat could be heard clearly from the battered human forces after seeing Sargeras himself land. "Belay that order. Should we fall, we fall here and now, in Glorien's honor. Show this "Dark Lord" the mercy he would show you." Despite the Dark Lord himself landing in front of them, somehow, Praetorian's voice enforced the humans resolve, halting the "retreat". One thing was certain, Praetorian had taught all of those under his command to fear him more than they feared the enemy, Sargeras himself included. "The time has come, brother. The moment is at hand. My father would have been nothing but proud and honored by your actions, Galvadir. I just hope he would see the same of me." Vakarious, son of Glorien was, all things considering, nervous. Not because of the fate that lay before him. Not because of the monstrosity he would have to face. Not even because of the results should he fail. He was nervous, because he was unsure if he had done his father, the father he had never met, yet had, proud. If he would approve. "Millions of years ago the same was said by your father. When the time came for him to do what was needed to be done, the only thing he worried about was whether his progeny would be proud of him. I can assure you, Obsidian's Rebirth, son of Titan's Herald, your father would be more proud of you than he of me." Praetorian's normally emotionless voice was filled with just that, emotion and pride. "I will make sure the sacrifice given of all here was not in vain. Rest assured, the Burning Legion will pay for their crimes against nature, their crimes against order, and most importantly, Sargeras' betrayal of the Titan Pantheon. I will not allow such weakness to destroy anymore worlds." And with that, Vakarious flew off. There would be no speeches, there would be no glory. All that was needed to be said, was said by his actions. The only glory he cared about, was the glory of the battle field... ~~~ As he landed, Sargeras couldn't help be admire the surrounding landscape. He had viewed this scene many times before on many different worlds. He had always admired the destruction he could cause by simply being on a world. Call it a slight weakness, but he thoroughly enjoyed just observing for a time, not paying any mind to anything else. A weakness indeed, as he would find out... Vakarious was unlike any other Dragonlord, or Dragon Aspect for that matter. After he had matured, he was summoned by the Titan Pantheon, to observe and confirm whether he was truly worthy of replacing his father and leading his Brood. After being declared worthy, another thing was bestowed upon the dragon: The power of the Pantheon itself. Vakarious had proven that not only was he a capable, as well as sane leader, he showed the potential to wield power absolute. And while the Power of the Pantheon within him still paled in comparison to that of the fallen Titan Sargeras, it would prove very useful nonetheless in the battles he faced. ~~~ Sargeras stood there, marveling in his work, the destruction he wrought. And, as he stood there, he suddenly found himself disarmed of his terrible blade, Gorribal. He soon found himself face down in the very ground his presence was corrupting and destroying as well. Immediately rising up, he noticed a creature all too familiar. He had seen dragons before, even lauging at the one called "Deathwing" many eons ago. This dragon, however, was different. This dragon wielded a power very familiar to him, while also another power very foreign. Before he could grab his blade however, the dragon struck again, this time with what seemed like a familiar flame: Shadow flame. As he was struck by the dark purple fire, Sargeras found it actually painful and burning him. He had been struck by every type of magic before, as well as every type of flame. He himself was quite literally made of fire, seemingly immune to such effects. Yet, here he stood, being bathed in an all too familiar, yet not familiar, deep purple flame. Vakarious unleashed the wrath of thousands of dragons, and the fury of his fathers success. A very special type of fire that was fueled by the Old Gods themselves: Dark Flame. Dark Flame had the visual appearance of Shadowflame, a fire that employed shadow energy with fire, but it was not. Dark Flame was the harnessed power of the Old Gods unleashed by fury, similar to that of Dark Elementium, it's solid form. And much like Dark Elementium, those killed by Dark Flame had their essences and souls completely destroyed, forever ceasing to exist. There was no equal to this flame, and Vakarious both wielded it, and knew it. After unleashing his fury, he began his unrelenting assault on the Dark Lord, never giving him a chance to fight back. And while it may have seemed as though he was winning, Vakarious knew that he was only causing superficial damage at best. It would be a long, long fight. As Vakarious continued to hack, slash, claw, stab, and conflagrate the Dark Titan, Demons, Humans, and Dragons alike seemed to circle around and just watch. Watch their respective leaders, these dreadnoughts, fighting the ultimate battle. A battle which would forever decide the fate of the world. "Enough, impudent whelp! I will sear the flesh and scales from your disgusting frame!" Shouted the enraged Dark Titan. At once, Sargeras, with his strength, managed to "swat" Vakarious away, if only for a second, giving him time to retrieve his blade: Gorribal. Once he had done so, he finally got a true look at his attacker. This dragon was massive, rivaling even Sargeras himself in size. His wings far wider than the Dark Lord was, even with his arms outstretched. The dragon was just as well covered, wings included, in a very glossy armor that seemed purple in color, but also not. The beast's eyes and mouth showed the only sign of true flesh, flesh that, as well, was a glossy dark purple. Impressed by the being that hover before him, Sargeras set aside Gorribal for the moment. "I had not realized a creature of such, power and size existed. Myself excluded, of course," Sargeras mused. Vakarious, deciding to play along for a bit, decided to humour the Titan. "For over 200 years, we have fought. We have not faltered, nor will we. What stands before me is not a being of power, or a leader of an endless army. What stands before me is a traitor. A traitor to his brothers, a traitor to all he once stood for, fought for. Such actions are not the sign of a leader, but that of a coward. There is no strength cowards possess that I cannot extinguish. You, Sargeras, are not power incarnate, nor are you a power that cannot be defeated. You may posses some destructive ability, but you are nothing more than a weak minded fool. As my father before me vanquished the ancient evil C'thulhu, I to, shall vanquish the evil coward that stands before me." There was no cheering, there was no gasp, there was no response from Sargeras. All that came after, was a ravine that formed under Sargeras, the volley of thousands of Dark Elementium shards, the fury of the four elemental lords, Vesta, Vulcan, Neptune, and Aether, and the falling of the deep purple sky above him. A sudden realization had reached the Titan's mind. A realization he had never came to before in his entire existence, even as a Bronze Titan. Fear. Not fear of the beings that assaulted him, but fear that with the coming of his end, that his work, his thousands of years of work, would be undone, all for naught. Wasted. This moment of fear, of weakness, only lasted but a fraction of a second. But it was enough. It was enough to send the Titan into a blood lust not yet witnessed by any living or non living thing in existence. A blood lust not even thought to be possible, yet here it was. With all of his might, he brought Gorribal up, and in unleashed fury, attacked indiscriminately. Demon, dragon, human, and elemental alike were all destroyed. "Brother, the Dark Lord is in his equivalent of a Draconic Frenzy. Pull back and take advantage of the chaos that ensues." Vakarious could clearly hear Praetorian in his thoughts. If what was said was true, then Sargeras would feel no pain, and if he felt no pain, Vakarious could strike him without the Titan becoming aware of his presence until it was too late. In theory, of course. The theory was simple. Vakarious would use a special favorite form of attack he called "the scorpion strike". In short, he would fly behind Sargeras, attach himself to his back, claws in deep as possible, and begin attacking repeatedly with the Dark Elementium javelin at the end of his tail, resembling the stance and attack of a scorpion. In theory, he would implant shards of Dark Elementium into the Titan, which would then begin siphoning and draining his power slowly, possibly equaling Sargeras out in terms of power. Once again, all theory, something Vakarious hated acting on. And so began his attack which, for the most part, was working, really well. Too well, in fact, as the Dark Elementium did indeed start draining the Titan's power. Something which proved to be problematic, as Sargeras had regained his senses upon noticing his weakened state. As he regained his senses, he saw the creature responsible. It was the dragon, the dragon that was starting to prove his equal, if not greater. This was something Sargeras would not abide. It was, however, too late. The damage was done, Sargeras' complete immunity to all forms of physical weapons, and high resistance to magic, began to wane. Sargeras began to feel another thing he had not felt in centuries, if not for a few millennium: Pain. Even the very small wound that that cursed insect of an Orc inflicted was just an annoyance more than anything. This was different though, his power, no, his very essence, was being drained from him. "What...have...you DONE to me whelp!" "As with all beings in the universe, you are no more immune to the effects of Dark Elementium, the very blood of the Old Gods in solid form. The same substance as Dark Flame, the fiery blood of the Old Gods. As with all things, your essence, your existence, will be drained and extinguished. Your end comes, betrayer of the Pantheon. Today is a day of days, the day you fall." There was but one thing Sargeras had left to do, lest he be consumed. Sargeras may have been weakened, but he was by far, not weak, at all. He still had his blade, Gorribal, after all. He had made his mistake once more, though. He had underestimated the forces of this world, and unless he retreated now, a concept he hated more than his fellow brethren, he would be destroyed. Sargeras understood the powers of the Old Gods, and while he didn't exactly fear them, he didn't seek out conflict with them either if it could be avoided. He knew of their devastating power and evil, though. He knew even more the devastation merely their blood contained, and if this dragon, no, abomination, not only harnessed the Old God's power, but was sane AND still served the Titan Pantheon? Then Sargeras did not stand a chance by any conventional means. This dragon had the potential to undo all of the Dark Lord's work, to undo him. This dragon possessed the power to completely destroy him, instead of merely sending him to the Twisting Nether. Sargeras had decided, then, in only a second of time, that he would fall back, as would his forces. But the Dark Lord would not be disgraced so easily. No, he would ensure that this dragon knew death, true death. He would kill that which had humiliated him so. And in just a swift motion, Sargeras incapacitated the dragon with blinding fire. It didn't actually hurt the dragon, nor did it last very long, but it succeeded in distracting the dragon just long enough for Sargeras to bring his terrible blade about. In one fell swoop, Gorribal had slashed across Vakarious' chest, the dragons armour, however, negating almost all of it. But it was enough. The dragon was injured enough to require landing and grasping his chest, granting enough time for Sargeras to bring about another slashing strike, this time to Vakarious' side. Sargeras, however, did not have enough time to bring about the final blow, as the black blood of the Old Gods was indeed finally starting to take its toll on the Dark Lord. With what remained of his arcane power, he managed a portal to the Twisting Nether, where he would once again plan, plot, and scheme. When the dust had settled, and the Dark Lord disappeared, Vakarious was no where to be found as well. Just as the Dark Lord had, Vakarious disappeared into a rift to another realm. Not the realm of death, or even the Twisting Nether, however.