World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose

Val'sharah: Following the Trail

Lyra and her friends, along with their druid companions, followed Tyrande Whisperwind into the area that the Nightmare had already invaded, as she could see that there were corrupted treants and other creatures that had once been allies to the druids of Val'sharah. It sickened her when she laid her eyes on all of the corruption that rested around them, because all of this might have been avoided if Ysera had told her allies about the danger, and the more she thought about what happened the more she disliked the corrupted dragon. She was sure that everyone else was going to try and find a way to save those that had been corrupted by the Nightmare, but to her eyes she could tell that many of them were already beyond redemption and deserved only death before they consumed the world.

She determined that, at some point in the future, she and her friends were going to have to fight Ysera and kill her before she did something drastic... and she was sure that she might be the one to deal the finishing blow.

They followed Tyrande into what appeared to be a hollow that had been created beneath a tree, with a sort of small camp built around it, though the night elves in the area were scared about something. Lyra had the feeling that she and the others would be helping them at the same time they aided Tyrande, as that was what they had done in Azuna and Lyra knew that they would be repeating it many more times in the future. When they reached their destination Tyrande climbed off her mount and entered the small hollow, where Monoskah and Bloodclaw stood guard while everyone else listened to what the leader of the night elves needed to tell them.

"Xavius led Ysera past here, but their destination is unclear." Tyrande commented, though at the same time she beckoned to the area that was near the hollow they were all gathered in, where the group knew that she was referring to the corruption they had seen, "This twisted wickedness smothers my mind! These refugees tell of an ancient Moonwell hidden in the ruins of their home. If it somehow resisted this corruption? I will beg of Elune a vision to give me direction. With her light, I may find my husband yet."

"Okay, but that begs the question as to how you know that information." Lyra asked, once more finding something wrong with what someone was telling her, while at the same time everyone else stared at her for a moment, "We literally just arrived in this area, so how do you know that they have a 'Moonwell' when you haven't had the time to ask them anything?"

"I came here first when I arrived in this particular part of Val'sharah and asked them," Tyrande replied, though she was one of the first person that Lyra had met who sounded annoyed when someone questioned what they were saying, "Meet me at the Moonwell at once, heroes."

The group watched as Tyrande walked out of the hollow them were in and headed into the village that was nearby, no doubt heading towards the Moonwell so she could start communing with Elune, though at the same time Lyra let out a sigh as Trixie spoke to the other elves that were in the hollow. Lyra was interested in hearing what tasks the elves wanted them to go through, at the same time as helping Tyrande with her mission, to which she waited for Trixie to talk with them so they could get underway with helping Tyrande.

"As if Shaladrassil’s encroaching roots were not enough to deal with," one of the night elves said, a male one by the tone of his voice, though he looked up at the group for a moment, indicating that there was more to the situation than what they knew about, "now the Wormtalon harpies have come to take advantage of our plight. Kill them, heroes. They deserve nothing less for feeding on the misery of others."

"That can be arranged." Bloodclaw commented, easily hearing what the night elf wanted them to do and actually licked one of her paws, as if she was imagining the battle to come.

"And what about you?" Trixie asked, turning to the female night elf, who looked up at her in surprise, as if all of this might be a dream and soon she would wake up.

"Is this the end?" the night elf replied, though at the same time Lyra could hear the despair in her voice, meaning that she must have seen something that had frightened her, "Our beloved Malfurion, I saw him in the Dreamer’s clutches, only she was… changed. Twisted just like Shaladrassil, our mighty world tree, and corrupted beyond recognition. We were forced to flee our homes without our belongings. Some of our belongings were heirlooms, sacred to me. Return them to me if you can, heroes."

Trixie nodded and lead the others out of the hollow that they were in, though as they walked into the entrance of the abandoned village, however, they spotted Tyrande standing next to what she assumed was the Moonwell, to which they walked over to her.

"I will need to focus on the vision to understand its message." Tyrande said, not even bothering to give the group a chance to announce their arrival, though at the same time she made eye contact with everyone in the group, except for Lyra, "Make yourselves useful and stand guard."

"Yes High Priestess!" the group, excluding Lyra again, replied in kind, though once the words had left their mouths they formed a half circle around the leader of the night elves and prepared for their enemies to come at them.

As Tyrande started to commune with the Moonwell, however, the harpies that called the area they had invaded home crept out of the trees and flew down to do battle with the group. Trixie, Azuregos, and Linbu, the ones who used ranged attacks, stood at the back as they focused their fire on the enemies that were coming at them, while the rest of the group stood at the front and physically attacked the harpies with their weapons and claws. As Lyra cut down the harpies that came at them she noticed that a few of them were carrying pouches on their belts, which had to contain the heirlooms that the one night elf asked them to retrieve.

With their combined powers they made short work of the harpies that had been coming at them, though as Lyra counted the bodies, and the bags she had picked up, she determined that neither count would be enough for the elves that had asked them to kill the harpies and retrieve the heirlooms... though she didn't say that as the group turned towards Tyrande, so they could hear what she had to tell them.

"His location is still unclear, but he lives." Tyrande commented, turning to the group once more, though the look on her face told them that there was more they needed to do before they could catch up to where Xavius carried Malfurion off to, "We must go deeper into the nightmare. Wherever he is, peril is already upon him! Meet me back at the refuge and we will continue our search."

The group watched as Tyrande departed from the area they were in, heading back to the hollow that they had gathered in mere minutes ago, though at the same time Lyra told the others about the lack of kills and heirlooms. Bloodclaw, upon hearing this, charged out of the area that they were in and immediately sunk her fangs in the leg of a harpy that happened to be flying by, dragging her to the ground before tearing her apart. Lyra and the others followed Bloodclaw through the rest of the invaded village, killing more of the harpies that tried to attack them and collected every bag that they could find, discovering that some of them actually were money pouches and some were the actual heirlooms.

After about ten more minutes of fighting, and leaving a fair number of harpy corpses behind them, the group returned to the hollow with their heads held high... though when Trixie and Bloodclaw walked in, as Lyra was getting tired of Tyrande acting like she wasn't even there, the leader of the night elves beckoned to the two elves they had spoken to earlier, who were happy to hear that their tasks had been completed.

"Such violence should not be necessary." the male night elf stated, nodding his head as he heard that the group had killed a fair number of the harpies that had attacked the village, "Thank you, regardless."

"It is not much, but it is better than I could have hoped for." the other night elf added, looking at the number of heirlooms that they had managed to recover, which meant that many were either still lost or destroyed by the harpies, "You have our gratitude."

With that done, and the people of the village knowing that their attackers had been punished for their deeds, Trixie and Bloodclaw turned to Tyrande again, so she could tell them the next step in what they needed to do in order to find out where Malfurion had been taken.

"I know only that my husband is somewhere deeper in this twisted forest. He is still alive, but it remains to be seen if he is whole." Tyrande said, though at the same time Trixie watched as a scowl appeared on the High Priestess' face, indicating that she was thinking of something terrible, "Elune herself cannot protect Xavius and his ilk if he is not."

"Somehow, I don't see Elune offering Xavius any sort of protection," Lyra commented, as it was rather easy to hear what Tyrande was saying, though she didn't turn back and look at the High Priestess, "Striking him down, now I can see that happening... or him besting her in some manner. Whichever happened to come first if such a scenario ever happened."

"Trixie Lulamoon," Tyrande stated, causing Trixie to look at her again, though at the same time Tyrande seemed to be glaring at the back of Lyra's head, "while I respect you and your master, Archmage Khadgar, I would ask that you keep your pet demon in line... or better yet send her back to the Hell that spawned her. In time she will follow the path of her previous master, Illidan Stormrage... only she may very well bring about the end of this world, if she joins the forces of the Legion."

Trixie doubted that Lyra would so willingly give herself to the demonic forces that wanted to burn the universe to the ground, especially when she remembered the fight between Lyra and that large demon that had been patrolling the area in front of the Temple of Elune. At the same time she remembered what she had seen back in Azuna, when they had found Cyana being corrupted into a pawn of the Legion and had to kill her before she could be completely turned against her allies. She also recalled Lyra's tale of how she acquired the warglaives she was carrying, where she described the appearance of Varedis, a demon hunter that she and her guild had killed before the assault on the Black Temple.

As all of this returned to her, however, she could also see, for a few moments anyway, a fully corrupted Lyra at the head of Sargeras' army, easily filling the empty position left behind after she and her guild had killed Archimonde. It was a disturbing image, where Lyra brought the might of the Legion down upon the entirety of Azeroth... to which she shook her head and dispelled that image. She was glad that Lyra had a firm dislike, a hatred that some could call it, for the Legion and their foul master, as it meant that she would remain on their side... unless something happened that shook up her world.

"Tyrande, I have only one thing to say to you right now," Lyra spoke up, causing everyone else to turn towards her, though Trixie discovered the same dark look in her eyes that had been there when she killed that large demon earlier, "I will NEVER be a pawn of the Legion... so stop acting like I'm about to betray Azeroth and let's get a move on. Besides, there's a certain dragon that I want to punish for her idiocy..."

Tyrande growled as she walked passed the group, refused to make eye contact with Lyra, and mounted her saber once more, before heading down the path that they had been following before they entered the hollow. Trixie and the others followed after her, not even bothering to summon their own mounts considering that the druids didn't have one and Trixie could move faster thanks to her new hybrid body. Lyra, being the last one to leave the area around the hollow, let out a sigh as she followed the group, knowing that Tyrande would never like her and that she would be fighting a losing battle no matter what she did or what she said.

Not even a minute later they all stopped in front of what appeared to be a split in the path, though they waited for Tyrande to speak, as they were following her vision and she knew which way they needed to go.

"The path splits..." Tyrande said, causing Lyra to bang her head against one of the trees around them, because she couldn't believe that the High Priestess was stating the obvious, before noticing something important, "Wait, what is that? Feathers and blood… it is still wet! There may still be time!"

Lyra moaned as she and the others followed Tyrande into an area that had clearly been consumed by the Nightmare, as there were signs of its corruption everywhere, though she had them stop by a bridge.

"The corruption is thick here." Tyrande commented, which made Lyra glad that the High Priestess could see and feel what she and the others were feeling, though at the same time she noticed something on the other side of the bridge, "What is that across the bridge? Follow closely."

What they found on the other side of the bridge was Elothir, as Trixie and the others recognized him almost immediately, but what was horrible about the situation was that he had been consumed by the corruption as well, as his colors matched the corrupted creatures that were walking around the nearby areas.

"Elothir? By Elune… not you too!" Esalia stated, sounding very depressed about the situation, as they had now lost two of the three Archdruids that once protected this forest, while at the same time the other druids hung their heads in a state of mourning, "Have you seen Tyrande's husband?"

"The trees whisper his name, but their words are madness to my ears!" Elothir replied, his voice startling the druids for a moment, as they had been expecting there to be no reply, while at the same time there was a hint of corruption in his voice, indicating that Xavius must have been behind this transformation.

"You must help me find him!" Tyrande stated, clearly showing desparation to find her lover, though at the same time Lyra knew that Xavius was just playing more games with them and that Tyrande was doing the same thing that Ysera had done, which was walk into each and every game the Nightmare Lord had set up, "Is there anything I can do?"

"You may not," Elothir answered, though he paused for a moment, which meant he was either considering something or his voice had been silenced, though the druids breathed a sigh of relief when they heard him speak again, but perhaps... your mother moon can."

Lyra had the feeling that by the end of this Elothir will have asked them to give him something that would allow him to kill himself, once he had give them all the help he could, and at the same time she couldn't blame him. Everything corrupted by the Nightmare needed to be destroyed, as leaving a corrupted druid alive or leaving an infected plant behind would only spread the infection around until the entire world was covered in it. She knew that it might sound harsh, and she would have thought the same thing if this was introduced to her back when she was naive about how the Outlands and Azeroth operated, but it was what had to be done to save the forest... and the entirety of Azeroth at the same time.

At the same time she only hoped that they could stop the Nightmare's corruption before the entirety of Val'sharah was overtaken and transformed into Xavius' domain... otherwise recovering the Tears of Elune, and saving the world from the Legion, would become impossible for them to accomplish.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

Lyra is getting quite the attitude, huh?

[Blackdrag-rose]

8497660 To be fair, she's getting tired of people calling her someone's pet and is getting sick of being accused of falling into the hands of the Legion... and Tyrande just hates demons in general.

[Ze1a7in]

8497703
I figured she didn't particularly like demons since her husband's brother is the former leader of the Illidari.

[Blackdrag-rose]

8497757 Yeah, and I'm sure that there are other reasons for her to dislike anyone associated with demons... I just don't know all of them.