World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: Dun Morogh

Trixie angled herself to the north of Stormwind and started flapping her wings, to which she and Lyra started to make their way towards the area known as Dun Morogh, where they would either find the Legion attacking the region or preparing for their attack. The two of them were eager to reach their destination, as there were innocent people who couldn't fight resting throughout the entire area, according to what Trixie told Lyra anyway, and they wanted to save everyone from the Legion. As they flew through the air Lyra noticed a chapel of some kind that was on the other side of the mountain that was behind Stormwind's keep, keeping the back of it safe from harm, though she didn't comment on it as they left the city... though that didn't stop Trixie from commenting on the fact that she had landed outside the building and had met her friends there seven years ago.

As they flew over the land Lyra noticed a seemingly barren place to their right, which was apparently the Blackrock Mountain according to what Trixie told her, and that the mountain housed the entrance to the Molten Core, where they dealt a crippling blow to Ragnoros, the Firelord. Lyra nodded her head and refocused on the task at hand, though as Trixie flew over some water she took a deep breath and enjoyed the air, as she hadn't been to a beach since being locked inside her prison and mentally stated that she would visit one when she had the chance to do so.

It took them some time to reach the area they had been flying towards, maybe thirty minutes based on the speed that Trixie was going, though Lyra let a light smile appear on her face as she noticed that the zone they had been heading towards was a snowy region. It was a seemingly peaceful place, as Trixie mentioned that the dwarves and the gnomes maintained the peace in the area and fought against any enemies that sought to do harm to their races, though Lyra liked what she was seeing from the air. Trixie also pointed out, with a nod of her head at the nearby mountain, the location of Ironforge, the capital of the dwarf kingdom, which was someplace that Lyra was determined to visit at some point in the near future.

One thing that Lyra noticed, while they descended towards a town that was helping adventurers prepare for the incoming Legion attack, was that the Legion ships, which she had seen during her time in Mardum, were nowhere to be seen... but she knew that they could warp into the area and could change the situation in a matter of seconds.

"So, where's the Legion?" Trixie asked, though as Lyra climbed off her back she reverted back to her human form, where the two of them looked around the area near the small town she had landed near, "Your friend said that they would be coming here and attacking the region, but there are no demons trying to burn the place down...save for the warlock's imp that is trying to torment a nearby chicken."

"They're analyzing the area and planning their assault," Lyra replied, as she knew most of the tactics that the Legion could use in a situation like this, which made her wonder if giving them six possible targets was to weaken the forces guarding the main cities, but she had the feeling that they were in the right place, "Trust me on this Trixie, the Legion will be attacking this region in a few minutes and we'll be thankful for all of the soldiers that are already gathered here. We should be able to turn the tide against the Legion, and save this region, without getting anyone killed."

"It is good to hear that someone knows that the Legion is definitely coming," a rough voice said, to which Lyra noticed a male orc, clad in plate armor that made him look tough and carrying a pair of swords on his back, walking towards them, "Well met, Trixie Lulamoon. It has been some time since we have last seen each other."

"I agree, it has been some time sense we last saw each other," Trixie replied, to which she turned to Lyra for a moment and beckoned to the orc, "Lyra, this is Kurost Skullcleaver, who is one of the Horde's strongest warriors and is responsible for defending his people by killing a thousand demons, from this world, the Outlands, and the alternate Draenor. Kurost, this is Lyra Heartstrings, who is the new commander of the Illidari in the place of her former master, Illidan Stormrage."

"It is an honor to meet the new leader of the Illidari," Kurost stated, to which he raised a hand and placed it over his chest, or more accurately over his heart, before he stared at Lyra, "My forces and I received word that the Legion would be attacking several settlements over Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, along with the fact that the new leader of the Illidari was heading over here. I asked the mages in Orgrimmar to teleport my forces here, so we could fight the Legion and meet you, though it appears that the Legion are holding back this time. Lyra Heartstrings, how long do you think we have until the Legion attacks this region?"

"They'll attack us soon." Lyra said, though at the same time she pulled her warglaives out and waited, because in her heart she knew that the Legion would be making its move in the next few minutes, "And, if I know them as well as Lord Illidan trained me to know them, they'll start their attack here, in this town, before trying to weaken us by attacking the rest of the region."

As she answered the question Lyra noticed that some of the other soldiers, be they from the Horde or the Alliance, had been looking at her the entire time, as if they had been curious as to what her answer was going to be, but now they were getting ready for the incoming attack. She had been told that the two factions hated each other, which was was they were almost always at war with each other, but it was only in the face of the Legion invading their world that they were able to overcome their hatred and do what was necessary to save their world. She was sure that there were other instances where they banded together to save Azeroth, and she knew that Trixie had to have lived through some of them, but she was happy to see that they were willing to work together.

It made her happy that they were stopping their personal wars and entering into an era of peace until the Legion was stopped... though her thoughts were interrupted as she looked at the sky and watched as a Legion ship warped into the sky above the town, where some of the soldiers shouted and pointed at it. As they all noticed that their enemies had arrived, however, the ship opened fire and sent small fel fire shots at them, which either vanished after hitting the ground or remained burning wherever it hit. Lyra turned her attention to the area around the town as the demons teleported from their ship and arrived all around the soldiers of the Horde and Alliance, to which she did what came naturally to her at this point in time.

"Soldiers of the Alliance and the Horde," Lyra said, jumping in front of the demon that was heading her way and severed the arm that was carrying the large axe it was carrying, before cutting the demon's heart out and causing it to collapse on the ground, "Attack the demons that are invading Azeroth and drive them back to whatever Legion world that they came from!"

Despite the fact that Lyra sucked at shouting orders around, and she knew that she needed to work on that if she was going to be the commander of the Illidari, the assembled forces of the Horde and the Alliance drew their various weapons and engaged in battle with the demons that were attacking the town. Arrows and magical missiles were flying through the air while pets, both those from nature and those bound to warlocks, struck the demons that warped into the town, though at the same time the melee classes dodged attacks that were coming their way and cut their foes apart. As Lyra fought by Trixie's side, and cut down any demons that dared to come their way, she noticed that the Legion was not holding back, as they were summoning wrath warriors, eredar, felbats, and the larger demons to take the defenders down.

As they fought against the army the Legion had sent to this region Lyra noticed some priests, monks, and paladins standing around the battlefield, though they were seeing if anyone was wounded and were apparently healing their allies before they were killed... though some of them were also dealing damage to enemies that were coming their way. She even spotted one or two of her Illidari gliding into the area from above and taking out enemies that were trying to flank someone, where some additional reinforcements arrived from the air and focused on the demons. With the combined forces of the Alliance and the Horde fighting together, and were cutting down the demons that were trying to burn down the town, Lyra immediately noticed that two larger demons, who had to be lieutenants from the Legion ship, warped right into the middle of the battle.

As the lieutenants were focused down, as each of them required half of the assembled forces to kill one of them, a third demon warped into the battle, though this one was a larger wrath warrior than the ones Lyra had fought on Mardum. His attacks cut open the road as the warriors dodged his attacks, though some of them were unfortunate to get hit and required the attention of a healer for a few minutes, but even with some of their forces being knocked out Lyra and the others managed to bring down the commander of the assault... where the ship remained silent as the fighting settled down. Lyra knew that the fight wasn't over yet, because she could feel the power of a high ranking demon that was waiting aboard the ship, though she was silently surprised when the demon actually shouted down at them... though it appeared that he was commanding his forces and trying to install fear in them at the same time.

"Leave no stone unturned!" the commander demon shouted, which was no doubt boosting the morale of the demons that currently remained at the moment, "Snuff out every mortal life you come across!"

"Spread out." a voice shouted, to which Lyra noticed that one of the leaders of Ironforge, Muradin Brozebeard thanks to what Trixie whispered to her, had actually been fighting the demons and seemed to be beckoning out to the area that was his domain, "This fight is just getting started!"

The moment the command was given Trixie and Lyra moved through the air, once again thanks to Trixie's dragon form, and searched around the region for any Legion invasion points, which Lyra was able to point out from the air, or any wandering demons that could be generals. At the same time Lyra noticed that the rest of the soldiers did the same thing, to which she noticed that there was a wide variety of flying type mounts; dragons, gryphons, wyverns, carpets that were infused with magic, contraptions made by gnomes and goblins, and others that Lyra couldn't identify. Trixie took them towards Ironforge, where they noticed a small group of Legion demons that were trying to open a gateway to a Legion world and summon reinforcements to aid them in their assault... where Lyra smiled when they and some other soldiers headed down to deal with them.

Apparently the demons and eredar they were dealing with had tied their lives to a fel shield that was surrounded a set of floating fel crystals, which was a mistake on their part as it actually lowered their abilities and allowed the group to take care of them, effectively destroying the portal that they were trying to open. The pieces of the portal broke apart and disappeared, no doubt returning to the ship or wherever the Legion was keeping them, to which Lyra, Trixie, and the other soldiers moved on to the next site. Lyra targeted a Pit Lord that happened to be wandering close to the gates of Ironforge, in the area below the actual gates, though the demon in question tried to kill her by breathing fel fire on her, loosing fel energy to push her backwards, and straight up using his claws to get the job done.

With the other soldiers keeping the Pit Lord's attention, for the most part anyway, Lyra managed to jump off of Trixie's back and landed on the demon's back, to which she ran up his spine and reached his head... where she drove her warglaives into the demon's thick head and brought him down to the ground. Lyra couldn't help but chuckle as she took some of the Pit Lord's essence from the demon, because she had, once upon a time, been terrified of even thinking about fighting one of these demons, though now they held no sway over her. At the same time she shivered when she felt the demon's power, as it mainly restored any wounds she had sustained and boosted her own abilities by a little bit... though she returned to where Trixie was and they set off for the next invasion site.

Thanks to all of the soldiers that were running around Dun Morogh, taking the fight to the Legion's forces and destroying all of the structures they were attempting to permanently tie to the land, they managed to stand against the power of the Legion and come out on top... until Lyra heard Muradin call out that the main commander, who seemed pissed over losing so much of his army, was personally attacking Kharanos. Once they heard that news Lyra and Trixie, accompanied by the other soldiers, returned to the town that had been under attack earlier, where they discovered a large Doomguard demon standing in the middle of the town, as if he was waiting for someone to arrive.

It was when Trixie and Lyra landed at the head of their forces, those that were facing the demon, that the large demon decided that it was time to speak... though Lyra could have sworn that it was staring at her the entire time.

"Greetings worms, I am Flamebringer Az'rothel," the Doomguard loudly said, as if announcing what his title was would cause them to bend their knees and submit to the Legion, but no one did that as they stared at the demon, "I will burn this entire region to the ground... and I will start by purging you and this town from existence!"

The moment those words left the demon's mouth he started raining fire down upon all of the people arrayed against him, though at the same time Lyra and the melee heroes charged at the demon and started swinging at him. Az'rothel summoned fire into his hands and sent fireballs at those he deemed important enough to kill, as it appeared that he was targeting the healers, but some of the smarter heroes used shield type spells to block most of the damage. It allowed Lyra to cut some gashes into the Demon Lord's legs and use her speed to do the same on his arms and back, but it appeared that it would take some time to finish the demon off.

One thing none of them were expecting was for Az'rothel to conjure several flaming spheres that detonated if no one hit them, but when someone struck them they would disappear, meaning that they had to break their concentration and get rid of the orbs before they refocused on the demon. Thanks to all the experienced heroes they managed to force the Demon Lord to his knees, though as he tried to kill them all one last time Lyra leapt off the building she had climbed to the top of and struck the demon in the head... effectively killing the demon and causing his body to crumple to the ground, which was followed by the ship warping away from the area and allowing the sky to clear once more.

"A fine victory." Kurost commented, to which he walked up to the corpse of the Demon Lord, which was resting in the middle of the road, though at the same time he cleaned his weapons of the blood that was on them, "It was an honor to watch you fight, Lyra Heartstrings, because the illidari you sent to Orgrimmar said that their new master happened to be quite powerful in her own right... and I can tell that they weren't kidding. I am glad that you, and your forces, are on our side, though I wouldn't mind facing you at some point in the future."

Lyra opened her mouth to say something, and tell the orc not to listen to the things that the Illidari had told him, but before she could speak one of the other mages came over and mentioned that they were moving to another zone that had a Legion ship floating above the region. It was then that Kurost asked if Lyra and Trixie would be willing to lend him their assistance in stopping the Legion from burning the Barrens to the ground, to which the two Equestrians nodded as Trixie aided the other mages in opening a new portal to a new location Lyra had never been to before. Lyra was pleased that they had actually suffered no losses while they were fighting the demons that were attacking Dun Morogh, as she actually expected a few deaths, but she was going to take what fate was giving her.

Soon she and Trixie, and the other heroes she was meeting, would stop the Legion attacks on both the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, where they would begin their assault on the Broken Shore once more... though she was sure that Archmage Khadgar was coming up with a plan to turn the tide against their enemies, to which she smiled and followed the other heroes into the portal, as there were more demons to kill and more people to save.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

Nice chapter. I do have one question though, in regards to this:

"I agree, it has been some time sense we last saw each other," Trixie replied, to which she turned to Lyra for a moment and beckoned to the orc, "Lyra, this is Kurost Skullcleaver, who is one of the Horde's strongest warriors and is responsible for defending his people by killing a thousand demons, from this world, the Outlands, and the alternate Draenor. Kurost, this is Lyra Heartstrings, who is the new commander of the Illidari in the place of her former master, Illidan Stormrage."

Did he kill those one thousand demon BY HIMSELF?! Damn, I knew orcs were tough, but damn!

[Blackdrag-rose]

8352972 Yeah, orcs are some of the toughest creatures around. Besides, he no doubt spent some time after the fall of Illidan cleaning up the Outlands to the best of his ability... which is where most of his kills came from.

[Ze1a7in]

8353273
Ah, the way it was worded gave me the impression that he held off an entire army of 1,000 demons at once. Thinking on it more, that would be an impossible feat, even for the strongest of individuals.

[Blackdrag-rose]

8353290 Yeah, even the mightiest of heroes cannot stand against an army of demons on their own. The Broken Shore makes that apparent in the expansion's opening.
But Kurost is strong and he hates demons... a wonderful combination.

[Ze1a7in]

8353329
I doubt that Deathwing, from what I've heard/read, would be able to kill an army of 1,000 demons easily. He would at least get a FEW scratches.

[Blackdrag-rose]

8353331 Aye, he'd likely have a few scratches on his body. Besides, he was still the Dragon Aspect of the Earth when he fell and he could cause earthquakes by hitting the ground with his head... and that's only one of his powers.

[the other sans]

were no where to be seen
which was no doubt boosting the moral of the demons
one of the leaders of Ironforge, Muradin Brozebeard
because she had, one upon a time, been terrified of even
and they set off for the next invasion sight
who seemed pissed over loosing so much

1. Nowhere, one word in this case.
2. Morale.
3. Wait... didn't Murradin die in the original Warcraft 3? What am I missing?
4. Once.
5. Site.
6. Losing.

[Blackdrag-rose]

8388688 Actually, according to the official Blizzard wiki, Muradin Bronzebeard survived being impaled by the fragments of Frostmourne's prison, rested in Northrend until the Alliance helped him regain his memories in the Lich King expansion, and then became one of the three leaders of Ironforge when his father turned into a crystal statue.

[the other sans]

8389062 Huh... figures there's alot of info I don't have since I don't play WoW

[Gulver]

8353329

Yeah, even the mightiest of heroes cannot stand against an army of demons on their own. The Broken Shore makes that apparent in the expansion's opening.
But Kurost is strong and he hates demons... a wonderful combination.

Well, there's Broxigar....

[HeartfireFirebrand]

Lyra couldn't help but chuckle as she took some of the Pit Lord's essence from the demon, because she had, once upon a time, been terrified of even thinking about fighting one of these demons, though now they held no sway over her. At the same time she shivered when she felt the demon's power, as it mainly restored any wounds she had sustained and boosted her own abilities by a little bit... though she returned to where Trixie was and they set off for the next invasion site.

Pit Lord are up there on the Demon Scale.