World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose

Suramar: A Growing Crisis

A week had passed since Lyra and Trixie helped Ly'leth conquer her opposing houses and take the advisor position that had appeared in Elisande's council, giving Thalyssra's rebellion the ability to gain more information than they would have if they let the position pass them by. After returning to Shal'Aran, and giving Thalyssra the good news, the duo was basically given some time off so they could relax and do whatever they wanted, where Trixie continued to study the various magical spells that the Nightborne used. Lyra, on the other hand, took to patrolling the area around the entrance of Shal'Aran and cut down the enemy patrols that happened to in the area of their hideout, knowing that sooner or later one of them would bypass her searches and find what they were looking for.

The week off basically gave Lyra the time to really think about what they had been doing since they arrived in Suramar and brought her to one conclusion; while they were going good deeds in helping Thalyssra and her rebellion, by saving the poor civilians that were suffering, they weren't getting closer to Gul'dan, who was getting ever so closer to completing whatever foul plan he had set in motion.

As the days passed Lyra noticed something interesting, more refugees moved into Shal'Aran so they could escape the tyranny of Elisande's forces, but what really caught her attention was that the Arcan'dor was growing larger and was looking more like an actual tree. Since it was connected to the leylines, where Lyra discovered that the other heroes had activated all of the other waystations that fed power into Shal'Aran, something terrible started to happen while she and Trixie were waiting in the area; arcane lightning started to branch off of the Arcan'dor, but fortunately nothing happened to anyone that was in this area. Even though Lyra wasn't a mage, and was used to the way the arcane magics worked, she knew that the Arcan'dor looked like it was in the early stages of detonating in a large explosion that could destroy the entirety of the rebellion's leadership... to which she and Trixie walked up to Farodin, as he was the only one with the answers to their questions.

Lyra silently swore that if this arcane tree, which was supposed to be good for everyone, was in the process of getting ready to kill everyone she was going to force Farodin to fix his mistake... before she bashed him for making such a stupid mistake and endangering so many people in the process.

"I see that you have seen the signs... the Arcan'dor is failing." Farodin stated, though at the same time Lyra growled as she stared at the elf, because she seriously hoped that he wasn't about to say what she was thinking about, "This energy was once bound in its boughs and fueled its growth. There was balance, between life and arcane. Now that energy is breaking free. When the heart can no longer hold it, this tree will kill every living thing in this hall. I have seen this happen before and I must find a way to stop it from happening again. We must go to the tree that came before. Its bones can guide us. Meet me at the temple of Fal'adora. We will descend together."

Before Lyra could say anything, and declare that literally everyone on Azeroth seemed to be insane in one way or another, Farodin excused himself and walked over to the teleport station, where he returned to the temple they had found earlier, when they were saving the seed that became the Arcan'dor.

"I'm getting sick and tired of this," Lyra said, to which she noticed Trixie turn her attention towards her, where she beckoned to the Arcan'dor for a few seconds with a frown on her face, "He told us to plant that seed in Shal'Aran, knowing full well that when it reached a certain point of maturity that it was going to kill everyone in this hall once it's heart can no longer hold the energy that's around us. I am getting tired of hearing that people knew something was going to happen ahead of time and do nothing to try and prevent the future from happening... this is just a repeat of Ysera's mistakes."

Trixie knew that Lyra hated people like Ysera and Farodin, who knew that something terrible was going to happen and didn't warn anyone about it, but she had her fair share of people like that in the past and had grown used to them. All she could really do at the moment was make sure that Lyra didn't do anything stupid when they met up with Farodin, because the last thing they needed was the death of the one person that could help them stop this madness. A few moments later the two of them walked over to where the portals were resting and found the one that would take them back to the temple of Fal'adora... where they walked through it and found Farodin standing off to their left, though he appeared to be staring at the wall they had walked through after claiming the seed some time ago.

"I must find a way..." Farodin commented, though at the same time Trixie detected that he seemed distracted, as if he was remembering what had happened the first time an Arcan'dor failed and was trying to figure it out without stepping foot in the ruins of the first arcane tree.

"Farodin, just tell us what we need to do to make sure that the Arcan'dor becomes stable once more," Trixie said, though she only hoped that Farodin actually had a plan, otherwise she was sure that Lyra was going to beat the elf up until he gave her something to work with.

"In the hall beyond rests the bones of the failed Arcan'dor." Farodin stated, as if he was remembering that they were there, to which he let out a sigh as he stared at the area in front of them and focused on the hole they would be walking through in the next few seconds, "I will take fragments of the crystallized tree and attempt to read them. We must discover the root cause of this destruction. Only then do we have any hope of preventing this disaster from repeating itself."

"That makes sense," Lyra said, as she was certain that reading the fragments of the first tree would give them some insight as to how to prevent it from happening a second time, though that was when something else came to mind, "What should we do about the creatures that are guarding the failed Arcan'dor? I'm assuming you want us to clear some of them out while we're in there?"

"Long have I walked this land and I have seen many forms of corruption." Farodin replied, though Lyra wasn't exactly how many types of corruption there actually were in this world, as she had encountered a few over the years and knew that she likely hadn't seem them all yet, "The creatures that wander this hall are twisted by the magics unleashed by the failed Arcan'dor. These dryads have lost their way, and cannot be saved. You must destroy them. End their suffering."

Lyra nodded and walked forward with Trixie, though they soon discovered that Farodin clearly didn't want to see what he had seen the last time they had been in this place, to which they decided to leave him behind at the portal and told him that they would be back once his objectives had been taken care of. The two of them entered the tunnel they had walked through earlier, back when they were securing the seed that would become the Arcan'dor, and only came to a stop when they had a clear view of their enemies and the crystallized fragments that they needed to collect.

"So, how many fragments should we collect?" Lyra asked, though at the same time she pulled out the Twinblades and prepared herself, because she knew that the moment they started collecting the items they needed the corrupted dryads would converge on where they were standing.

"I'm thinking between five to ten good fragments," Trixie replied, though she was thankful that Lyra hadn't tried to kill Farodin yet, because they truly needed his experience at this point in time, but she said nothing about that and watched as Lyra nodded her head in understanding.

As Trixie started collecting the best crystalline fragments that she could find, where she was pleased to discover that there was a decent assortment of sizes and thicknesses scattered everywhere, the corrupted dryads came for her so they could stop her from taking what they had been guarding. Fortunately it appeared that they weren't paying too much attention to who was around them, as Lyra surprised them and started hacking them apart, where she avoided incoming attacks and dealt her own in hind, so she could stem the tide of foes. Trixie, seeing enemies coming at her from the front, did what any mage would do in this situation, she snapped her fingers and encased her foes in ice, where she either attacked them with the arcane and killed them, or simply left them there so Lyra could finish them off when she was free to do so.

Fortunately it didn't take them a long time to find the necessary amount of fragments that would allow Farodin to determine what they needed to do next, nor did it take a long time to cut down all of the corrupted dryads that were in the area, since they were coming at the duo for taking even a single crystalline fragment... but eventually their enemies stopped coming and they were allowed to return to where Farodin was standing.

"We collected enough fragments, so you'll be busy for the next few hours at least," Trixie said, to which she pulled out the package of crystalline fragments she and Lyra and been collecting, before she offered them to Farodin with a soft smile on her face, "we also took care of the dryads, so you won't have to worry about them anymore."

"I will study these carefully. If we are fortunate, there will be answers." Farodin replied, to which he took the package of fragments and stared at them, where Lyra and Trixie could tell that he wasn't sure if he could find the answers, before he remembered what else Trixie had told him, "And thank you. This place will never recover, but their madness need not harm others. I hope you two have a better understanding of what is at stake. Come. There is no more for us to do here. Meet me in Shal'aran and we will discuss what steps we may take next."

Lyra and Trixie stared at each other as they teleported back to Shal'Aran, where they simply stared at the magic that was gathered around the Arcan'dor and knew that if they didn't stabilize it soon it would detonate, twisting everyone in some manner that would drive them to a new level of madness... and leave Suramar in the Legion's hands.

Since they had only just returned they knew that it was impossible for Farodin to know anything, or even have a vague idea on how to save the Arcan'dor and their rebellion, Lyra and Trixie were forced to wait for something to happen while Farodin did his research on the fragments they collected. While they were waiting Thalyssra approached them with what appeared to be one of the branches that came from the Arcan'dor, though it looked like it naturally fell off instead of someone breaking it off.

"You, and your allies, have used the spellstone of Kel'danath to soothe countless withered." Thalyssra said, though while this was the first that Lyra and Trixie had heard of someone else using the spellstone, to soothe more of the withered, neither of them said anything as Thalyssra spoke, "Yet it contains merely a shade of the Arcan'dor's power, drawn from it's slumbering seed. This fell from the tree. Though it is severed, it is not dead - invisible threads of magic bind all pieces of the Arcan'dor together. I have enchanted this branch with a new iteration of Kel'danath's charm spell. With it, you and your allies can mend the arcane essence of even more withered. Use it well."

Trixie stared at the white branch, with the spellstone at the top, for a few seconds before she decided to test it out, to which she and some of the other heroes headed towards Ambervale, as the heroes had some decent areas where they could hit multiple withered at the same time. Fortunately there was a group of withered that happened to be gathering around a poor fox that was empowered by the mana energy that the withered, and the Nightborne, fed off of, where Trixie noticed that the withered were feasting on the fox's body. Since they were distracted Trixie held the Arcan'dor branch out and channeled the new power that it contained, though once a few seconds passed she waved her arm and the magic enveloped the group of withered... calming them down and causing them to make their way back to Shal'Aran, where they would join the rest of the other withered that had been rescued so far.

With the deed done, and the new abilities of the Arcan'dor branch tested, Trixie and her fellow heroes returned to Shal'Aran with all the haste that they could, because it was unwise to remain out in the open when they were enemies of Elisande... though when they arrived Trixie noticed that Farodin had, against all odds, already discovered something that might help them save the Arcan'dor, along with their allies.

"This Arcan'dor is one of an ancient species." Farodin said, waving a hand towards the arcane tree, while at the same time avoiding the magical lightning that was still emitting from it, "They were not bred, but created. In them the arcane and primitive druidic magics merged into something greater than both. The arcane will soon devour it whole. We can restore balance, but it will require wild magic. Magic trapped in another realm. You must enter the Emerald Dream... the pure, unsullied vision of Azeroth... and bring back the essence of life itself. Only then can the Arcan'dor find stability and begin to thrive once more."

"But the Emerald Dream has been transformed into the Emerald Nightmare!" one of the druids said, as Bloodclaw had seen what Xavius had done to the great tree that rested in Val'sharah and knew that the Dream was sullied by his mere presence, "It will be impossible to get something like that..."

"No, it's not impossible." Lyra declared, though at the same time she chuckled as she turned towards the assembled heroes, who were looking at her like she had lost her mind, "The greatest heroes, of both the Horde and the Alliance, have taken on the might of multiple Elemental Lords, dethroned the Lich King, destroyed Deathwing, stopped the near destruction of Pandaria by killing the seven Sha, took out three Old Gods, and killed Archimonde the Defiler. Sure, Xavius has a host of corrupted druids and at least two demigods backing him, but all of you have overcome threats that have been worse than him in the past.

Trixie, sound the drums of war and sent word to the rest of the heroes, and I mean all of them, to meet us in Val'sharah with all the haste they can muster... we've got a Nightmare Lord to kill!"