World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose

Mardum: Total War

Lyra waited for a few seconds, where she was standing next to her Felsaber and petting its head, while she waited for Kayn and the others to tell her exactly what needed to be done in their battle against Brood Queen Tyranna's forces. She could guess, from just looking at the various sections of the battlefield, that someone needed to take out the large cannon like constructs, the Legion Devastators she recalled them being called, before they did some serious damage to the camp. There was also quite a number of generals that needed to be taken out, which would no doubt tear apart their enemy's moral, but other than that she had no idea what else to expect. She was sure that the senior demon hunters knew what they were looking for and had already found what they needed to do, which was why she was standing there.

When Kayn turned back to look at her she immediately straightened herself, because this was what she had been waiting for and was eager to see what needed to be done in regards to the Legion's forces.

"Lyra, I'm sure that you can see the devastators that are arrayed against us," Kayn commented, pausing for a moment so Lyra could actually nod to him for a second, which told him that she was listening to him, "While you join the other demon hunters, and declare war on the forces that are guarding the Brood Queen, you should take out the devastators before they do some serious damage to our camp. We also managed to interrogate a few demons that told us there is a Imp Mother somewhere in this area, which means that she is no doubt carrying some of the Legion's secrets on her... which is why Kor'vas has gone out to hunt for her. If you find Kor'vas out there, while you're waging war on the Brood Queen's Court, I would recommend taking some time to help her, because the reward will be worth it."

Lyra nodded and climbed onto her Felsaber, because now that she had her instructions she was eager to see what the Brood Queen's Court had to offer her. She was sure that helping her fellow Illidari would allow them to cut their way through the bulk of their enemies, though she did notice that some of the demon hunters were staying behind, no doubt to make sure the camp was safe in case of a sneak attack from behind. Cyana and Kayn were the ones that decided to join her in battle, which Lyra was grateful for, while Allari and Mannethrel stayed back to help in the defense, meaning that Izal and Belath, the other demon hunters that she knew the names of, were somewhere in Inferno Peak.

As the three of them rode out of the Illidari Camp, where Cyana and Kayn were riding dark furred panthers, Lyra immediately felt someone spying on them, to which they all stopped for a brief moment and stared up at the Legion Ship, where Lyra was sure that the Brood Queen was staring down at them.

"I commend you on a good start," Tyranna shouted down at them, though from the distance Lyra could barely make out the spider demon's form, even with her enhanced Spectral Sight, "however, your forces are already wavering. I would look forward to us meeting, but none of you will survive Inferno Peak."

"Its YOU who won't survive, demon witch!" Cyana shouted in return, though at the same time Lyra knew that it wasn't wise to piss off the Brood Queen at the moment, especially since they couldn't reach her at the moment, but it was too late to stop Cyana from saying what was on her mind.

"How droll." Tyranna said, though her voice was still loud enough for the three of them to hear what she was saying, while at the same time Lyra didn't like what might be coming next, "Even from up here I can sense your uncertainty. Tell me dear, have you considered joining us?"

It was at that point that Lyra decided it was best that they not make the Brood Queen talk anymore, because she could see that Cyana was annoyed by the demon's words, but at the same time she sensed that her fellow demon hunter had considered the lure of the Legion's power... something that she knew that they couldn't afford to have at the moment.

"Cyana, don't listen to her words," Lyra commented, causing the night elf to turn towards her for a moment, as if her voice had snapped her out of her thoughts, "Remember, the Legion doesn't care for people like we do, as we are willing to sacrifice our lives, even our very souls, for the safety of the other worlds. Yes, taking the fel energy into our bodies makes the offer to join them more tempting, but to do so would twist us into the monsters that we have sworn to destroy. Turn your uncertainty into determination and turn it against the Legion... besides, there are demons to kill and a Keystone to take, once Tyranna has been dealt with."

"O... of course commander," Cyana said, bowing her head slightly, though Lyra assumed that she was also trying to hide her emotions over this, but that was followed by her lifting her head back up, "Let us begin our assault."

Lyra nodded and led them right into the nest of spider demons, where they each jumped off of their mounts and cut apart the first demon that crossed their paths, though at the same time Lyra kept her eyes peeled for anyone that might need saving from being overwhelmed. As Cyana and Kayn marched up the hill Lyra spotted one of the devastators in the area beneath them, to which she broke apart from them and cut down the spider demons that were guarding the cannon, though that was followed by a trio of Broken sneaking through the area and placing some bombs of some kind next to her target. Lyra then moved away from the devastator, along with the Broken, before the cannon was blown apart, to which she returned to the battle as her allies were heading towards the structure that was on their right.

Inside the structure they found a large spider demon, one that was different than the others Lyra had seen up until this point, that was in the middle of fighting Gaardoun, who seemed grateful for the aid. The three of them charged into battle and started hacking into the large demon, who declared that he was 'King' Voras, which meant that he was implying that he was Tyranna's mate. Voras spat acid at whoever he was targeting and tried to hatch eggs to call more spiders into battle, but Lyra noticed the second tactic immediately and broke the eggs before anymore spiders could join the battle... though that was eventually followed by Voras collapsing and Tyranna screaming in agony for a few seconds.

With Voras dead, and Gaardoun free to resume his duties, Lyra and her companions returned to the path they had been followed and made their way towards the next area of Inferno Peak... where Lyra immediately noticed a large Mo'arg demon that was fighting Malevolence. She and her companions cut their way through the demons that were in their way, while at the same time she spotted the devastator that was on her left, knowing that she'd be destroying it in a few minutes. When they approached the large demon, along with at least ten more members of the Illidari backing them, Malevolence told them that the demon was called Overseer Brutarg and that she had been occupying his attention until they had arrived.

Brutarg's tactics included quickly moving around the area and spinning around, to which Lyra and her forces stayed away from him for a few seconds, though when the spinning stopped they resumed their assault on the large demon... until he dropped dead and their forces separated once more.

With Brutarg dead Lyra moved over to the devastator and cut down the two demons that were standing guard, to which she allowed a pair of Shivarra to appear and destroy the cannon with their magic, though once the deed was done she followed the path in front of her. She stopped a minute later when she spotted Kor'vas standing near the entrance of a cave, which told her that this was where the Imp Mother was hiding, to which she and her companions climbed off their mounts and approached their friend.

"Commander Lyra, as you can determine I have found the demon I was searching for." Kor'vas stated, though Lyra had to resist the urge to sigh when she heard Kor'vas call her by the title that everyone else was calling her by, "Do you see the cave in front of us? This is where the Imp Mother we were told about is hiding, though the best part is that she is the keeper for some sort of book that contains fel secrets. We're going to need the power that she has been infusing into that book... which means that she needs to die as well."

"I figured as much," Lyra commented, to which she drew her warglaives and approached the cave entrance, though she was followed by Cyana, Kayn, and Kor'vas, "Let's do this."

Her fellow demon hunters cheered as they made their way into the cave, where they cut down the imps that were standing in their way before they came to the Imp Mother herself, to which Lyra had to resist the urge to throw up when she looked upon the ugly mug of their target. The demon they had been searching for was fatter than what she was expecting, though at the same time she apparently hadn't noticed that she had company, which worked in their favor as they approached where she was sitting. It wasn't until Lyra tossed her warglaive at the Imp Mother, using the ability she had learned a while ago, that the demon noticed that they were there, but she caught her weapon as they all zeroed in on the demon Kor'vas had been hunting for.

As they started fighting the Imp Mother, and avoided the poison attacks that were sent at them, Lyra learned that the Imp Mother was named Prolifica and that she demanded that they leave her alone so she could continue her work in peace... though her demands didn't last very long as the four of them struck her body and avoided her attacks. Prolifica would, occasionally, summon imps to interrupt them, but they didn't do much to stop Lyra or the others from continuing their attack. Eventually the Imp Mother collapsed on the ground, or rather she slumped over, though once the battle was over Lyra sheathed her warglaives and pried the tome from the demon's dead hands.

"I'm interested in seeing what secrets we can learn from that tome," Kor'vas said, though at the same time she and the others turned towards the entrance, where more demons poured into the tunnel, "and it seems like the Brood Queen wants it back before we can use it. Let's cut our way out of here and get back to camp."

Lyra couldn't agree more, to which she shoved the tome into the pack she had been carrying, which she had been ignoring the entire time since there was nothing she needed to collect in Mardum so far, before drawing her warglaives and following her companions outside the cave. It took them a few minutes to cut through the demons that wanted to keep them in the cave, but when they exited the cave they followed the path in front of them and continued towards the last of the cannons. Along the way they spotted a Pit Lord that had a group of naga pinned down, to which they made a brief detour and attacked the demon from behind, while at the same time learning that its name was Volroth.

Seeing how Volroth was being attacked from all sides, and could only face one direction and carried a weapon with a single point, it was rather easy for Lyra and her companions to cut him down and earn the thanks of the naga they had saved. Once that was done Lyra moved them towards the final of the three devastators and allowed her allies to rush forward and cut the demons down, to which some naga came into the area and froze the cannon solid, before one of them shattered both the ice and the cannon. With that deed done they made their way towards the pathway that the other Illidari were fighting near, which happened to be a way for them to circle back to the camp... though at the same time Lyra noticed that the Soul Engine had a powerful demon commanding it.

As she moved towards the final area of Inferno Peak, and the last of the generals, Lyra and her companions were joined by Lady S'theno, who told them that Count Nefarious, a Dreadlord, was guarding the Soul Engine... though that was when Allari chose to appear as they engaged the demon. Apparently the devices around the demon, which appeared to be soul wells, could be used to stun Count Nefarious, which Lyra used to their advantage and caused the downfall of the count. With the last of the generals dead, and the war pretty much over, Lyra and her companions returned to their camp, where she was prepared to tell them everything that had happened and get the final assault underway.

As they all returned to their camp Lyra could tell that everyone was feeling happy by their victories, though she also noticed that some of the Illidari were keeping watch and attacking groups of demons that were coming at them.

"The war of Inferno Peak is over and the devastators are destroyed," Kayn commented, to which he and the others climbed off of their mounts and returned to where they had been standing before they had departed earlier, "Now then, what can we all learn from that book?"

"The demons made a grave error inscribing their secrets into that book." Kor'vas said, pointing at the tome that Lyra was pulling out of her pack, though at the same time Lyra could feel the energy radiating from the tome, "The fel energy emanating from it is potent, but there's only enough to enact one of the rituals. After that, the book will be consumed. Commander Lyra... its up to you to choose which secrets we want to use against the Burning Legion."

Lyra was, once again, shocked that the more experienced members of the Illidari were asking her to choose something for them, but at this point she was tired of questioning what was going on. She sighed as she opened the tome and used her Spectral Sight to gaze upon the two rituals that were available, where she discovered that the first one was a more slender demon that had wings and a darkened skin color, while at the same time the tattoos were glowing more than what she had at the moment. The second form was a more demonic one, as the form had spikes growing out of its back and arms, though at the same time it looked more like a brute of some kind that had glowing green eyes, no doubt caused by the fel energy.

In the end Lyra turned her gaze towards the first demon form, the one that her mind labeled as 'Havoc', and allowed the knowledge on how to use the form to flow through the tome and course through her body, to which she grunted for a few seconds before the knowledge was hers to use as she desired... and then the tome burst into flames before turning into a pile of ash.

"The deed... the deed is done," Lyra said, though it took her a moment to say what she meant, as she was still winded from having the knowledge pour into her body like that, but at the same time she looked up at Kayn and the others, "I know how to use one of the rituals."

"Good, then you must teach us what you know." Kayn replied, though he made it sound like it was an easy task for her to simply explain what she had learned, which was what he and the others had done when they were teaching her how to be a demon hunter, "Share with us the knowledge, and the power, that you have learned."

Lyra had to wonder how she could teach this new technique to the other members of the Illidari, or more specifically the teachers that had taught her everything she had known before they had come to Mardum. As she thought about it, however, she remembered how she had learned the knowledge and wondered if she merely needed to touch her former teachers and show them what she had seen. Kayn looked at her for a few seconds, as if he was willing to be the first person she taught the new ability to, though that was before Lyra let out a sigh and rested a hand on his shoulder, where she focused on the form and power she had learned. When she had the image of what she had learned in her mind she 'pushed' it towards Kayn, hoping that she could at least show him what she discovered... though that was before Kayn let out a small gasp.

"I... I can feel the knowledge coursing through my veins," Kayn said, stepping back and staring at his hands, as if he expected something to happen to them, before he turned to Lyra, "This is why the Burning Legion fears us, because we can turn their secrets and power against them... becoming even stronger than they could possibly be. Now then, you should teach the others as well."

Lyra nodded and turned to Allari for a moment, where she repeated the process she had used on Kayn, to which she discovered that Allari enjoyed the feeling of being even deadlier than she had previously been. When she gave the knowledge of the Havoc form to Cyana, however, Lyra discovered that the night elf desired more power, which worried her that she might be thinking about what Tyranna had said when they started the war. Lyra then turned to Kor'vas, who was patiently waiting her turn to understand the power that Lyra had discovered, though once the knowledge had been handed off Lyra discovered that Kor'vas thought that she could destroy the Legion on her own... or maybe a smaller army, like the one they had taken out a few minutes ago.

When Lyra handed the information over to Mannethrel, however, she and the others discovered that their comrade was unable to contain the increase of power... to which he threw himself off the edge of the camp and headed towards the Twisting Nether, where he exploded into a burst of fel energy a few seconds later.

"Maybe we should hold off on teaching everyone else the knowledge you acquired," Kayn stated, to which Kor'vas and the other captains, including Lyra, nodded to his words, though that was before he beckoned to the ship that was resting in the area in front of them, "Now that we have crippled the Brood Queen's Court, and have stopped her attempts to destroy us, its time that we head to the command center and end Tyranna's life... and then we can finally rejoin Lord Illidan and defend the Black Temple."

Lyra had been expecting them to rest for a few minutes, as they had been fighting nonstop since they got to Mardum, but apparently the time she had spent teaching the others was all of the rest that she was going to get at the moment, to which she nodded and followed after the others. They approached the area that Izal was standing in, where Lyra discovered that the night elf had apparently captured some sort of bat like creature, though there was enough of the bats for her and the others to fly up to the ship. Izal was more than happy to give them passage up to the ship, where she promised Lyra that she would have all of the demon hunters up there before she started to attack Tyranna.

Lyra nodded and climbed onto the fel bat that had been prepared for her, to which she got underway as the bat followed the path that Izal had taught it, though a few seconds later she noticed that Kayn and the others were following her lead once more. It took a minute or two for them to reach the ledge that would allow them to directly attack Tyranna, who was standing in the middle of the area in front of them without any reinforcements, but instead of charging in immediately Lyra had them wait until the rest of their brothers and sisters joined them. They waited for a few minutes, to which more and more of their comrades showed up, before Izal herself showed up and said that every demon hunter that had made it to this point was accounted for.

With everyone ready for the final battle Lyra pulled out her warglaives, which signaled for everyone to follow her lead, before they all walked into the chamber in front of them... where the Brood Queen turned and glared at all of them.

"Demon hunters, you should have taken my offer to join my master's Legion," Tyranna said, though at the same time she walked to her right for a few steps, before she turned and faced the assembled group, "but now that offer is no longer on the table, as none of you will leave Mardum alive."

"Funny, I'm sure the same could be said to you," Cyana replied, though as she spoke she turned her head to Lyra, as if she was waiting for something, "Shall we commander?"

"Yes," Lyra said, to which she turned to the rest of the demon hunters and raised one of her warglaives into the air, before she pointed it right at Tyranna, "ATTACK!"

The moment the word left her mouth Lyra charged at the ledge in front of her and jumped off of it, while at the same time allowing her knowledge of the Havoc Form to surge through her body, transforming her into a more demonic version of herself. The transformation literally took between five to ten seconds, as the moment she had shifted into her new form she slammed down on the floor in front of Tyranna, where she immediately swung her warglaives at the Queen of Mardum. She was quickly joined by Kayn and the others, those she had taught the form to, while the rest of the demon hunters charged in behind them.

During the battle Tyranna actually attempted to mind control one of them, as she targeted Kayn almost immediately, but Kayn was much smarter than the demon and actually moved out of her range to avoid being taken control of. After her first failed attempt to take control of someone Tyranna slipped into the shadows and summoned spider demons from every angle that was around Lyra and her comrades, to which they changed their targets and started cutting down the new arrivals. It took a minute to clear out the spider demons, though once they were all gone Tyranna emerged from the shadows she had slipped into and attacked them once more, where her claws were met with Lyra's warglaives and the battle between the two of them resumed.

Tyranna slipped into the shadows once more and repeated the process with the spider demons, though once they were all cut down once more Lyra focused her sight and spotted their target trying to flee... to which she impaled the Brood Queen on both of her warglaives, much to Tyranna's surprise.

"L... Lord Sargeras... " Tyranna started to say, as if she was going to scream to the heavens about her failure to do her master's job, but before she could say anymore the life left her body as she crumbled on the ground in front of Lyra.

Lyra, on the other hand, sheathed her warglaives as she and the others broke free of their Havoc Forms, which meant that they had a limited time to use the new demonic form they had all acquired, but at the same time she reached down towards Tyranna's corpse. She had, for a brief moment during the fight, spotted the Sargerite Keystone on Tyranna's body, though now that the Brood Queen was dead it was time for her to claim the prize that Lord Illidan had sent them to acquire. She carefully pried the Keystone from the Brood Queen's body and held it up for the Illidari to see, to which she heard them cheer as they gazed upon the fel touched titan artifact.

"There's a room beneath us that we can use to open a portal back to the Black Temple," Kayn said, though at the same time the rest of the Illidari started to move down the ramps on the sides of the chamber, "Come on, let's go report our success to our Lord and stop the invading forces."

Lyra smiled as she followed Kayn and the others down the ramp they had chosen, to which they walked around to the lower level of the ship and entered the room that they had chosen to open a portal in. There were two spikes of fel origin sitting in front of the Illidari, though as she approached them she held up the Keystone and, by taking a guess at how to use the artifact, envisioned the summit of the Black Temple in her mind. A few seconds later a portal snapped to life between the two spikes, to which the Illidari cheered once more as they realized that Lyra had opened the way home. Lyra, on the other hand, was impressed that she had gotten the method to use the artifact so easily, which made her wonder if Lord Illidan had seen some sort of potential inside her and had been training her for something special... though that was before she shook her head.

She knew that she was only a temporary leader for the Illidari, for the assault on Mardum by the sounds of it, but she knew that she was going to be happy when she handed the leadership back over to Lord Illidan... to which she stepped into the portal and headed back to the summit of the Black Temple.

Comments

[Nimnul]

8293208
I totally agree that this is almost always goofy, but normally the demon hunters are at least kind of an exception, because you all start at level 98 you obviously all have harsh training, it's just that the player demon hunter excelled more, and obviously as an Illidari the player character knows how the organization works. It's a hero class like a death knight, with the assumption that your character has seen and done some shit.

Hell, as a player you can literally force Sevis to kill you to open the portal, and you're a player character so you just respawn and Illidan talks in your mind like "Aha, you have an immortal demon soul!"

Of course, putting Lyra in the protagonist role basically normalizes it again because she is the same kinda nobody to these guys that the other class protagonists start out as. She has not seen and done some serious shit.

Although I usually joke with my friends that wow player characters are complete monsters and can be made to do any kind of heinous stuff so long as you wave a yellow exclamation mark and money at them.

At least Lyra shed some tears about murdering Sevis just to open a portal.

Although she didn't react very strongly to one of the demon hunters literally exploding because he couldn't handle THE POWAH.

[Ze1a7in]

This was nice, I like how the chapters are fast paced. If I were to reread the Marcum chapters, I could probably finish them in half the time I think it would take to play through Mardum.

[the other sans]

while your waging war on the Brood Queen's Court
Lyra nodded and lead them right into the nest of
that Lyra was puling out of her pack
When the had the image of what she had learned

1. You're.
2. Led.
3. Pulling.
4. She.

[TheArcticWolf]

Demon: These are not the demons you are looking for.
Demon Hunter: My mind is Prepared against mental attacks demon, they won't work on me!

[Silent_Knight]

8732518
Demon: well shit