World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose

Arming: Hall of the Guardian

If someone had accused Trixie of being stunned when Lyra showed her and her mentor the Fel Hammer, the Legion ship that she and the other demon hunters had taken seven years ago when they invaded the prison plane known as Mardum, she would have agreed with them. The Fel Hammer had a number of secrets that she and her mentor could spend months learning about and still be no closer to figuring out everything that the ship had to offer, though at the same time she was glad that they had one on their side. Khadgar was already making a map in his head of where the potential weak points of the ship were located, because it seemed like the Legion mass produced these ships and that by studying one it would give them the edge against the other ships... if their enemies used them again at some point in the future.

As Lyra got caught up to date about what had happened since she and the others returned to the Black Temple seven years ago, where they were captured by Maiev and her Wardens, Trixie took some time to take in the appearance of Lyra's mount, the felsaber, and decided that she was glad that she had never fought that particular demon before. The catlike demon let out a yawn as Lyra spoke with the captains of the various races that were part of the Illidari, though Trixie noticed that her fellow Equestrian seemed pleased by what she heard. She found it amazing that Lyra's forces could have held the Fel Hammer, and the area around it, for seven years and held off every demon attack that came their way, which had to be a fair number.

Trixie had to wonder what was so special about Mardum, and the Fel Hammer, that would make the Legion attack the area every now and then, but she could tell that the only way she was going to figure that out would be to ask Lyra... as the other demon hunters hesitated to trust her, despite her connection to their leader.

"Trixie, I know that you are going to go find your own artifact weapon soon, but I think there might be one more thing we haven't seen yet," Lyra said, beckoning Lyra and Khadgar to follow her for a moment, to which she turned to the Broken warrior that was standing in front of her, "Gaardoun, could you show us what you found?"

"Of course Commander," Gaardoun replied, to which he started walking towards one of the four ramps that would take them to the lower level of the ship, where the prize Lyra had mentioned was located, "Legion reinforcements arrived soon after you and the others left for the Black Temple, destroying the portal behind you... though all I will say is that it was a glorious battle. In the aftermath we uncovered an ancient Nathrezim forge, one that was used to create many of the Legion's most powerful weapons. We've guarded it carefully ever since we discovered its existence... though I'm sure that it will prove quite useful to you."

The forge in question was unlike anything Lyra or Trixie had ever seen before, because while the forge looked imposing, with the spikes and the two skulls on both the right and left sides of it, they could feel the fel energy coming from the seemingly ancient forge. Lyra stepped forward and gently placed the Twinblades on the forge, wondering how all of this worked, though she decided to take a leap of faith and closed her eyes, making it appear that she was trying to commune with her weapon. She could feel the demon souls that Varedis had fed to the Twinblades empower the pair of blades with new power, spending the energy that had been lingering in the blades and telling her that she would need to kill more demons, and potentially other enemies, to further empower her new weapons.

Lyra wasn't quite sure what she got in return for using the power of the souls that had been swallowed by the Twinblades, but she was sure that she would discover the difference... once she and Trixie started their quest to find the Pillars of Creation.

"Hey Lyra,"Trixie said, causing the other Equestrian to turn towards her for a moment, "Khadgar and I are going to return to Dalaran and see if the other mages have had any luck uncovering anything useful, so is it okay if we leave you and your forces to catch up with each other... and the events that are unfolding on Azeroth?"

"Sure, if that's what you want." Lyra replied, sounding a little annoyed that Trixie wanted to separate once more, but then she sighed and smiled at her friend, which told Trixie that her friend fully expected her to go find her own artifact and empower it a little bit, "I'll return to Dalaran as soon as I'm finished up here."

Trixie nodded and turned towards the ramp that they had used to reach the lower level of the Fel Hammer, where she and her mentor started walking towards the portal that would take them back to Dalaran. She was sure that one of the mages, from either the Horde or the Alliance, had to have uncovered something she could use in the fight against the Legion. It was the same feeling she had about the other classes that were running around the city, as everyone else was researching the various artifacts that belonged to their particular class and were devising plans to find and recover any of the weapons they could locate.

She glanced at the demons that were looking at her and Khadgar, the ones that were allied with the Illidari, and knew that they would continue to keep this ship safe... to which she and her mentor stepped through the portal that two demons were maintaining, why she had no idea, and returned to Dalaran so they could plan what to do next.

---

"I must return to the Council and tell them about the Fel Hammer," Khadgar commented, though at the same time he and Trixie walked down the street of Dalaran for a few seconds, but he did so at a pace that told his apprentice that he expected someone to come looking for her, "Trixie, you are one of the strongest mages I have ever seen in my entire life, in the entirety of Azeroth, so I would expect one of our fellow mages to approach you at..."

Before he could finish his statement, and inform his apprentice that he fully expected her to acquire an artifact of her own, a magical construct, in the form of a fly to avoid alerting their enemies of what they were doing, approached the group and stared at Trixie. Khadgar, knowing that a message was about to reveal itself, stopped and faced Trixie, making it look like the two of them were having a conversation, despite the fact that he had no idea what the message was.

"Trixie Lulamoon! Thank goodness I've reached you!" a voice said, one that Trixie immediately recognized as one of the Forsaken's mages, though she was sure that she had never met the person that the voice belonged to, "I need your help. Come to the tower above the Silver Enclave and I will explain everything to you."

Trixie found it odd that the mage wanted to talk with her in a specific building in Dalaran, one that was close to Krasus' Landing, and instead of speaking to her upon her return from the Fel Hammer the mage sent a magical construct to find her and direct her to the building that she and her mentor had walked passed a few seconds ago. As she thought about the message the magic expired and the magical fly vanished, to which she looked back at the building that was behind them and wondered what the other mage could want with her.

"It appears that I was correct." Khadgar said, to which he placed a hand on Trixie's shoulder for a second, where he smiled at her, "I am sure that you and your new associate will be able to locate a powerful weapon for you to use... and then we can see to finding the Pillars of Creation."

Trixie nodded and carefully made her way to the building the mysterious mage had requested that they meet up in, though the reason for being careful was because she had no idea if she was being watched and was trying to act like everyone else that was around her. As she stepped up to the entrance of the building she noticed a raven fly through the air, which had to be her mentor using one of the powers that his own staff gave him, before she took a deep breath and headed inside the building. The few mages that were in the building hardly noticed her walk into their area, which told her that they weren't who she was meeting, to which she walked to the upper level... where she noticed an undead mage sitting in the middle of the upper level, with some books surrounding him.

After coming to a stop at the entrance of the upper level Trixie let out a small cough, one that immediately made the undead mage turn around and notice that he had company... to which he smiled, to the best of his ability, before his face changed back to a frown.

"Good, you made it." the mage said, to which he closed the book he had been looking at, and placed it back on the pile that it apparently belonged to, and faced Trixie, "I'm afraid that we have an escaped Dreadlord on our hands."

"Explain what you mean." Trixie stated, because while she knew that Dreadlord demons could be disastrous to the area they were in, such as Dalaran, she also had no idea how such a demon broke free of the prison that the mage had originally put the demon in.

"I was a fool. I believed that I could banish Kathra'natir once and for all," the mage explained, to which he let out a sigh as he spoke, which told Trixie that there was something terrible about what she was hearing, "Years ago the Dreadlord was tricked into possessing my body, where it was believed that he would be contained until the end of time... but with the return of the Legion he has broken free and has escaped. Unfortunately he knows the secrets of the Council of Tirisfal, which he could use to disastrous effect... and potentially cripple our order forever."

"Okay, then we had better stop him," Trixie stated, though at the same time she had no idea where the demon could be, but she was sure that her new friend might know that answer, "Do you have any idea where Kathra'natir could have wandered off to?"

"Yes. He's gone to steal our order's most ancient relic, a forge that the Council of Tirisfal has used to imbue their weapons with their power." the mage replied, which immediately reminded Trixie of the forge she had seen in the Fel Hammer, where she wondered what the mage version of the forge looked like, "The Council hid the forge inside the Violet Hold for safekeeping... so that is where we must go. Oh, and before you ask, my name is Meryl Felstorm."

Trixie had to wonder how she hadn't spotted the magical forge if it was inside the Violet Hold, as she had been there an hour ago when Lyra was speaking with the eredar that had been captured, but before she could say anything Meryl opened a portal that apparently went into the prison. The two of them entered the portal and appeared in the prison, though the moment they were on the other side Trixie immediately noticed the large Dreadlord in the area in front of the prison's entrance, though a magical barrier rested between the demon and the middle of the prison. There were also four more shadowy demons positioned around the prison, apparently firing their powers at the middle of the prison, which meant that they were here to steal the forge and grant its powers to the Legion.

Before Trixie could even think up a plan of attack, or even take the time to properly prepare herself, Meryl charged forward and stopped in front of the demon, to which he held his staff up and prepared himself for battle.

"It's over Dreadlord," Meryl shouted, causing the large demon to turn its attention from the middle of the prison and lock eyes with the person he had been imprisoned in for so many years, while at the same time Trixie stopped next to him, "your evil reign ends here!"

"How pitiful. You should have brought an army to fight against me!" Kathra'natir stated, though his tone indicated that he believed that his strength was greater than the two mages that were standing against him, "What good is one little mage against the power of the Nathrezim!"

Trixie and Meryl raised their hands and started throwing spells at the Dreadlord, though even as her spells collided with the demon's chest Trixie could tell that they were having less effect than the demons she had struck when she had been fighting on the Broken Shore. She suspected that the demon was either empowered by the forge itself, which might make him untouchable, or he had been gathering his power over the years and this was his natural strength, though she was willing to believe the second guess more than the first one. After a minute of their attacks doing nothing, and having to move to avoid being cut down by Kathra'natir's claws, Meryl had a brilliant idea and froze the demon in a large block of ice... to which he turned towards Trixie for a few seconds.

"He's too strong to take down on our own," Meryl stated, echoing the thoughts that had been going through Trixie's mind for a few seconds, "we need the power of the forge to take him out. I'll distract the demon while you find a way passed his barrier... and then take the forge's power for yourself."

Trixie nodded and charged at the magical barrier that was in front of her, to which she called upon the Blink spell she had learned, which was pretty much a teleportation spell, and reappeared behind the barrier. With the deed done she turned her attention to the first of the four shadowy demons she had seen, which were actually rifts now that she was up close and personal with them, and opened fire by using her arcane energy on the rift. Of course the rift tried to fight back, which she fully expected it to do, but it quickly fell and allowed Trixie to maneuver around the prison, where she targeted and took out the remaining three rifts that were around the area.

When the last one fell, however, she noticed that a shimmering magical font appeared in the middle of the prison, which had to be the forge that Meryl had mentioned... though she suspected that the reason she had never seen it before was because of the seals that had been placed on it, which must have been undone by the rifts. As Meryl continued to apply frost to the ice block, which was keeping Kathra'natir contained, Trixie approached the forge and placed her hand on it, where she could feel the power flow into her body. She could have sworn that she heard someone mention her taking their power to banish the demon back to where it came from, to which she lifted into the air and let the power surge through her... though a few seconds later she landed beside the forge once more, with a shimmer added to her body.

The instant after she landed on the floor, and returned her attention to the task at hand, Kathra'natir shattered his icy prison and flared his wings, looking really pissed off that Meryl had been able to stall him like that, but this time Trixie was ready for him. The moment she started firing spells at the Dreadlord she immediately noticed that they seemed to pack more of a punch, though when she spotted her opponent applying a beneficial spell to himself she accessed another spell, the Spellsteal spell, and snatched the effect for herself. When she was about to deal the finishing blow, however, her opponent disappeared and reappeared at the highest point in the prison, to which he told her that he would hand the Legion the secrets he knew and that he would return in the near future... where he disappeared and left Trixie to check up on Meryl.

When Trixie approached her new friend, however, the shimmer on her body surged out of her and built into a shimmering man beside Meryl, though Trixie was pleased to have her body all to herself again.

"Alodi!" Meryl said, though his tone indicated that he knew who the shimmering man was supposed to be, which made Trixie wonder if he had been one of the legendary Guardians she had heard about.

"It is good to see you again old friend, though I wish it was under better circumstances." the specter replied, to which the two of them approached Trixie, where the three of them started walking towards the newly revealed forge, "The Dreadlord is only temporarily defeated, so he'll return from the Twisting Nether in the near future."

"I understand." Meryl stated, to which he glanced over at Trixie for a few seconds, as if there was something more she needed to do at the moment, "Trixie and I will lend you our magic and help you teleport the Forge of the Guardian to a much safer location."

Trixie knew that they would need the forge to battle the Legion, and she had felt the power within the forge when she had freed it from the rifts, so it was easy for her to channel her magic into the teleportation spell that the two mages were weaving into the air around them. A few seconds later she felt the air shift and they blinked out of existence, heading to the unknown location that would keep the forge safe and allow them to begin gathering the other mages together again.

---

When Trixie came to she was standing in front of the forge, which was now embedded in the floor in front of her, while both Meryl and Alodi were looking around the area they were in. She glanced around and found that the area that would keep the forge safe was full of cobwebs, bookshelves that had stacks of books laying in front of them, bits of rock scattered on the floor, and a large book that was floating in the back of the room they were in. She could tell that this place hadn't been used too much in the past, based on the size of the cobwebs anyway, though considering she had no idea where they were she guessed that the forge would be safe in this area... as long as Kathra'natir had no idea that this place even existed.

"The Hall of the Guardian!" Alodi commented, sounding sad to see the place in the state it was in, though Trixie knew that with some effort they could restore it to its former glory, as she was sure that a certain princess back home would have told her to do the same thing she was thinking, "It pains me to see this place in such disrepair."

"The hall hasn't seen any use since the disbanding of the Council of Tirisfal." Meryl stated, though at the same time he moved away from the forge and observed the damage that was on the wall to his right, "The wards protecting this place are still strong, so it should serve our needs quite well."

"And just what is your plan?" Alodi asked, though at the same time Trixie already knew what Meryl was thinking, because he had called upon her, instead of one of the other mages from the two factions, and that meant that he was planning on having her lead the restored order.

"I plan to reform the Tirisgarde," Meryl replied, to which he raised a hand towards Trixie for a few seconds, where she noticed a small smile on his face, "and Trixie Lulamoon will, if she chooses to accept the position, be its first champion."

"Meryl, are you sure I should be the first champion of the new order?" Trixie asked, because while she knew that a past version of herself would have jumped at the chance, and likely ruined the entire order in the process, she wanted to be sure that the undead mage had thought this through.

"I do." Meryl answered, to which he placed a hand on her shoulder, which was something Khadgar did when he needed to convince Trixie to believe in her own abilities, which were some of the strongest he had ever seen, "I have been keeping an eye on all the potential candidates that could take this position, in case the Legion ever attacked Azeroth again, and out of all of them you were the only one that stood out. You went from a novice mage and became the apprentice of Archmage Khadgar, an honor that no one else has ever had, and you have helped Azeroth by foiling the plans of three, count them THREE, Old Gods... and that's not even mentioning that you and your guild brought down Archimonde. I can think of no one more suited for the position."

Trixie wasn't shocked to hear that the undead mage knew about her deeds in dealing with the Old Gods C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, and Y'Shaarj, or her part in bringing an end to Archimonde's life. She was shocked to hear that he had so much faith in her abilities, as if he had been studying her since she had arrived in Azeroth, as he had no one else that could be the champion of the Tirisgarde. She knew that Lyra had been faced with accepting her position as the new leader of the illidari, and had likely tried to refuse what was happening for some time, so she decided that if her fellow Equestrian could do this, with so little time, than she could do it as well.

"Very well then, I will do my best to live up to your expectations," Trixie replied, to which she let out a sigh as she tapped her staff on the floor, "So, what's the first order of business that we need to attend to?"

"First, I will grant you the spell we used to teleport here," Meryl stated, to which he pressed his hand on Trixie's forehead, or to the best of his ability thanks to her horn being in the way, before he imparted the knowledge into her mind, "The second piece of business we need to take care of is deciding which ancient artifact you will search for and recover, though we'll keep our eyes on the other two you don't choose and send others to gather them in the future. The book behind me has the knowledge you seek."

Trixie nodded and walked up to the massive book that happened to be floating in the air, though when she stopped in front of it she gently placed her hand on the pages and closed her eyes, allowing the knowledge to flow into her mind for a few seconds. From what she could see there were three weapons she could choose from, though she found it interesting that two of them happened to be staffs and the third happened to be a sword. The staff that belonged to the Frost school of magic, which she had a tiny bit of experience in, was a staff called Ebonchill that used to belong to the first Guardian, Alodi himself, though the book had no information as to where the legendary staff was located. The sword happened to belong to the Fire school, though from what she could tell Felo'melorn was lost somewhere in the lands on Northrend, which made her wonder how she and her friends didn't find it... especially since they had spent so much time up there before they defeated the previous Lich King.

The third and final weapon, the one that belonged to the Arcane school that she had the most experience in, was a staff that was called Aluneth, though it was, according to the book, the staff that Aegwynn, the Guardian that had bested the Avatar of Sargeras so long ago, had wielded. The Guardian in question had been the mother of Medivh, the mad Guardian that had been possessed by the Fallen Titan's power and forced his own apprentice, Khadgar, to kill him in order to save the world. She had heard the stories about the fall of Medivh many times, and she always found it sad that such a powerful mage had been corrupted from the inside by the enemy of Azeroth, but she knew that the weapon Medivh's mother had carried for a time could be the perfect weapon to use against the Legion... especially considering the history that the weapon might have.

Trixie raised her hand from the book and opened her eyes, knowing that it was time to head back to where Khadgar was speaking to the Council and see if she could speak with Kalec for a few minutes, because the book told her that Aluneth had been entrusted to the Blue Dragonflight and had been locked inside a secret vault. She only hoped that Kalec would be willing to help them recover the staff, otherwise she was going to have to recover one of the other weapons and hope for the best... unless Meryl deemed the weapon too dangerous to go after and asked her to pick another one. She let out a sigh, because she hoped that acquiring Aluneth was as easy as Lyra's trial to claim the Twinblades... though she knew that she had to prepare herself for one of the toughest quests she had ever been on since she arrived in Azeroth.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

I like the pacing of these chapters. I take it that, for the most part, they are spaced out with one quest per chapter?

[Blackdrag-rose]

8365394 It all depends on which quests come up next in the game. Some chapters will be one quest, because that particular quest is long and has many parts (like the Aluneth weapon quest), while other chapters will have two to three smaller quests... sometimes even a little more than that.