World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Argus: Ruins of Mac'Aree

The first thing Spitfire did, after giving Romuul the order to prepare the Vindicaar so they could depart for Mac'Aree, was have most of the dimensional fleet remain in Krokuun for the time being, as it would allow them to make sure no demons tried to return to Nath'raxas Hold or any of the other areas that had been cleared out earlier, while at the same time it also gave Illidan's forces more reinforcements, especially if they needed to rain death on an enemy's location or needed a place to fall back to, something that caused the captains of her fleet to nod their heads before carrying out her orders, allowing her to focus on Velen and the relic he was after.

"Thousands of years ago, before Argus feel to the Legion, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, and I crafted three special gemstones that would become the Crown of the Triumvirate," Velen explained, knowing that giving his allies this information would allow all of them to know why he was so interested in recovering the other two pieces of the relic, as Spitfire was sure that he held one gemstone and that it had to be part of his staff, or maybe not since she had no idea what they looked like, but this was good for all of them and no one said anything as the Prophet continued, as he had paused for a moment to gather some of his thoughts before speaking again, "Kil'jaeden created the Crest of Knowledge, which is said to contain the vast sum of knowledge that had been cultivated by our people, Archimonde did the same with the Sigil of Awakening, a gemstone that radiates pure Arcane power, and I made the Eye of Prophecy, which allowed me to focus my visions and bring prosperity to our people, among other things, and together the gemstones make the Crown of the Triumvirate. When Archimonde and Kil'jaeden decided to accept Sargeras' offer, but before my people fled with the Naaru, I took the Eye of Prophecy from the area that we kept the Crown in, as I could only carry one and didn't have time to take the others with me, and I have been carrying the Eye with me since the day we Draenei were forced to leave Argus, keeping it safe in the one place neither of my former brothers would think to look, in the center of my staff."

"And you are sure that the remaining pieces, the Crest and the Sigil, are somewhere in Mac'Aree?" Spitfire asked, though at this point she was positive that Velen was telling the truth, as he only lied when he thought it was better than telling the person or group he might be talking to a terrible fact or an equally terrible truth, meaning if they could get their hands on the remaining pieces of the Crown they could empower their fleet even further and grant them a level of power that would let them break into Antorus, meaning neither she or Rainbow would have to waste some of their own energy breaking into Sargeras' dark throne.

"Yes, we just need to travel to Mac'Aree and I can do my best to direct our forces to where the other fragments might have been left, when my brothers realized their fragments were useless without the Eye," Velen replied, though that was all he could say at the moment, as he had given Spitfire everything she needed to know about the Crown and the relics that had been created by those he once called his brothers, and there was also the chance that, after some time looking around, a source of Void energy might be found for her to obtain the final wing, something he told her about earlier, meaning all he could do was wait and see if she would actually agree with his plan.

"Grand Commander, the fleet is ready to disperse as you ordered... they're just waiting for the order." Romuul spoke up, as all of them, heroes and leaders who had ensured that Azeroth was safe from the dangers that plagued the planet in the past, were following Spitfire's lead and knew that she was in control of their invasion of Argus, so if she changed her mind on something the army was going to assume it was for a good reason and go with it, though A'dal and the other captains were waiting to see what she said before they did anything, showing that they trusted her knowledge on what the Legion might do and how to counter their movements.

"Give the order: the fleet will remain here, defending Krokuun and assaulting Antoran Wastes, while the Vindicaar will go up to Mac'Aree and search for the Crown of the Triumvirate," Spitfire stated, showing that she was going to follow Velen's desire to check out the floating ruin that was above them and seek out the remaining fragments of the Crown, to which Romuul nodded his head and relayed her order to the rest of the fleet, who would spend some time making sure that all of the ships were situated in their best places for some time, while each of them waited for the Vindicaar to return, and as soon as that was done he tapped a few buttons that caused the Vindicaar to move as well.

Spitfire, Rainbow, and their allies watched as they departed from the rest of the fleet, heading for the ruins that were far above the surface of Argus, though while it took a few minutes to reach their destination, since no one wanted to give the Legion an idea they were heading to Mac'Aree, eventually they were able to see a section of Argus that wasn't corrupted by Fel energy, a pristine sample of what Eredar civilization looked like before the Legion arrived, with all sorts of buildings that Velen would have to tell them about at some point in the future, and Romuul eventually brought the ship to a stop as they stared out at Mac'Aree, giving everyone a good view of this section of Argus.

"Mac'Aree... the pinnacle of Eredar civilization, which drew the Legion to our planet... I am home," Velen commented, as he had a mix of emotions as he stared out at the place that he, Archimonde, and Kil'jaeden once called home, which his allies could see just by glancing at him for a second or two, before he let out a sigh that sounded like he was heartbroken about something and he seemed to be resisting the urge to shed some tears over those who had been lost when their race was split into demonic Eredar and the Draenei, "The last time I was here was thousands of years ago, when my people escaped from the Legion's grasp, where I suffered another betrayal in the form of my trusted advisor, Talgath, capturing my family and going to Kil'jaeden with my plan to leave Argus before it fell... the rest you know, as Rakeesh eventually found us and tried to kill me... if we find Talgath, and I'm hoping that we do come across him, I will show him no mercy and make him pay for his part in my son's corruption."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find him... but first, let's scout out the area and make sure we're safe," Spitfire said, as while it looked like there were no demons up here, as neither she or Rainbow could feel any demonic signatures right now, which would change if the Legion found out what they were up to and meant that they had to be quick in finding out where the Crest of Knowledge and the Sigil of Awakening rested, to which she turned towards Romuul for a second, who nodded as he accessed the navigation console.

Not a few seconds later she, Rainbow, and Velen appeared near the edge of Mac'Aree, in an area that looked like it had a worn path that lead into a nearby clearing of sorts, where they walked forward and took in what was around them, taking in all of the pristine trees and plants that were still growing in this place, meaning there was still life on this section of the broken planet, and Velen headed for an arch that seemed to be a doorway or marker of some kind, something that caused the pair to follow after him as they kept their eyes open for any enemies that might want them dead. As they walked and took in everything that was around them, while making sure no foes were in this area, Velen seemed to be staring off into the distance, as if reliving the day that he and his people fled Argus before the demons claimed them, where Spitfire found that the Light seemed to grace her and Rainbow as they peered into the past as well, finding Hatuun's people aiding Velen in his escape, before Talgath revealed his betrayal and, as an odd twist that neither of them saw coming, the leader of the Krokul actually stayed behind and defended the area to allow Velen's group to escape, which meant that Hatuun had to be annoyed by Velen never returning for his group. After Hatuun said that, and his group moved to stop the Eredar in their tracks, it was followed by Velen calling on the air of K'ure, one of the Naaru who assisted his people, and a dimensional ship appeared in the air, teleporting the soon to be Draenei off of Argus' surface and aboard the Genedar, as the memory told them which one it had been, though once everyone was on the ship they departed from Argus as Kil'jaeden claimed that he would hunt Velen across the stars, regardless of how long it took. Once the vision was done they returned to the present and paused for a few seconds, just to make sure nothing was wrong with any of them, before Velen stopped as he noticed something odd, where he found echoes of his people, the Draenei to be exact, fleeing from something and caused him to wonder what in the world was going on, to which Spitfire and Rainbow shifted their stances as they drew their sets of blades and followed after him, and when they passed through the arch a few seconds later they found a decent number of echoes fleeing from or facing the echoes of Eredar, with an echo of a Naaru resting in the middle of the area that Velen eventually stopped at the edge of.

"Spirits of those who died that fateful day, both Eredar and Draenei alike... along with an echo of L'ura, the Naaru who stayed behind to hold back the Legion so we could escape," Velen said, where he gazed upon what was happening down in the area in front of them, as he honestly wasn't expecting to see this upon his return to Mac'Aree, especially since they could hear the Naaru's song of war, though part of him wondered what in the world happened to L'ura, since neither he or his people had seen her after departing from Argus, or had A'dal and the others told him anything about her, so it was possible that she might be alive, to which he focused on what they needed to do next, "before we start looking for either the Crest or the Sigil, we must put these spirits to rest by doing what we were unable to do when this battle raged... which means finding a way to empower this area's defenses, as I had ordered for them to be turned on when we were fleeing to the Genedar and none of them were activated. Also, there might be an echo of a hulking beast resting in this place, an in an Eredar turned Brute, who volunteered to be the first to undergo the process and whose arrival likely ended this fight... Kil'jaeden and Archimonde were quick to transform their people into weapons for the Legion, and Khazaduum was the first of his foul kind, so be careful as you explore this area, though if an echo of him exists he'll likely be in possession of a crystal matrix we need to secure this place."

Spitfire glanced at Rainbow for a few seconds before the pair headed down into the ruined area that the majority of the echoes were lingering in, where Spitfire was mostly looking around, taking in everything that was around her while looking for the important crystal matrix Velen had just mentioned, while at the same time Rainbow rushed over to an area which had a number of Eredar echoes that were hunting down the Draenei echoes who were running for their lives, though due to the fact that they were simply spirits she really couldn't drain them of their former Fel energy, but she was fine with that since she'd track down some demons later to make up for this loss. As such she raised her arms and lashed out with both her clawed hands and her Warblades, blocking attacks that were coming at her while lashing out to take down her foes so the Draenei spirits could flee this time around, though what she found to be interesting was that one of the Eredar had a circular crystalline core in her hands, like she had stolen it from one of the pylons that Velen wanted to restore to put all of the spirits at ease, to which she picked it up and walked over to the central arch, as there was one in the middle, with one on its right and another on the left, before noticing the collapsed pylons in front of them. It only took her a few seconds to find a slot where an item could be inserted and quickly slipped the core into it, where she watched as the device reformed before her eyes and floated in the air once it was fully powered up, to which she focused on tearing down all of the Eredar spirits that were around here as she sought out the ones who were holding the other two cores that would power up this part of Argus, something that might be a mistake since the Legion might be able to lock onto whatever Eredar technology is being used and figure out what they were up to, but Spitfire felt this was worth the risk and she was willing to follow her lead in gathering the remaining fragments of the Crown. As she thought about all of that Rainbow did find two spirits that held the remaining cores that she was looking for, to which she crushed her foes and picked up the stolen items that the Eredar were carrying, allowing her to approach the other two arches and slip them into the slots without delay, powering up both of the remaining pylons that were in this area and formed a barrier of sorts that would prevent the spirits of the fallen Eredar from entering this area while allowing the fleeing Draenei to be safe.

While she did that Spitfire found an echo of an Eredar Brute that was hanging out on the outer edge of the area that they were working to make safe for the spirits of the past, to which she landed near it and simply closed her eyes as she took a few moments to dodge the incoming attacks that were coming her way, as the spirit tried to slash her apart with his claws and failed as she used her heightened power to avoid his attacks, even though she did feel some sort of power radiating from the large temple in the distance, but instead of worrying about that she used one of her Twinblades to crush the foul spirit and found that he left behind a crystalline item that she carried over to Velen.

"I found, and destroyed, Khazaduum," Spitfire stated, where she took a moment to notice that Rainbow had been rather successful in finding a way to repair the pylons that had been in this area, something Velen seemed happy with, though at the same time she lifted the crystal she had picked up and let the Prophet look over it for a few seconds, since he would know what it was and if it was the matrix he told them about a few moments ago, but he nodded his head and that told her that this happened to be exactly what they needed to move forward, "Okay, now that Khazaduum's echo has been destroyed, and we've recovered the crystal matrix while powering up the pylons of this area, is there anything else that needs to do before we resume the search for both fragments of the Crown?"

"We just need to head down into a small alcove that holds the shattered remains of the Argunite Matrix, where replacing the keystone you recovered should restore it to its full capacity," Velen replied, to which he walked down the steps that were in front of him and entered the area that the spirits of his people were still lingering in, even though now they didn't have to worry about the dark spirits of the Eredar catching up with them and dragging them down or outright killing them, before he turned and headed into the alcove he had just mentioned, causing the pair to follow him as they spotted a bit of crystalline fragments lingering all over the floor, "activating the Argunite Matrix should empower this area and grant these spirits the peace they so deserve... those who stayed behind will never know how much I mourned for them, or the sheer depths of my regret to leave so many Draenei behind... even when Argus became smaller and smaller, as we departed for another world to call home, I even begged the Naaru to go back, to let me save as many as I could, but it was not meant to be, as the Naaru had other plans for me."

Spitfire said nothing to that, as she really didn't have a good response other than admitting that most of the Naaru were just using Velen and his people for their own gain, as it sure seemed that way and Xe'ra had proven her point earlier, but she did step forward and held out a hand as the keystone slipped into place, pulling the other pieces up to where it was resting, before a surge of power rushed over this area and she stopped hearing L'ura's song of war, to which the three of them walked out of the alcove and found that all of the spirits, plus the echo of the Naaru, had disappeared, which gave Velen a chance to let out a sigh of relief as Spitfire called down a beacon from the Vindicaar. Not a few moments later she found a number of Draenei, normal and Lightforged, came down to defend Velen and assist them in uncovering where the fragments of the Crown might be resting, as the Chosen were here as well and that told Spitfire that they were mostly his bodyguards, which she was perfectly fine with, before she noticed that the Lightforged included Y'mera, Baraat, and a few new individuals that Fareeya introduced to them. One of them happened to be a slightly buff male Lightforged Draenei who carried a greatsword on his back and seemed ready for battle, called Blademaster Telaamon, another was an older male who appeared to be a paladin, Grand Vindicator Sorvos, and the last one was a female Lightforged priest who, like all of the others, was staring out at the area they were in while making sure that the immediate area around the beacon was safe for Velen and their allies, in case anyone else came down to join them, though for the most part the heroes of Azeroth were with the rest of the fleet and were either in Krokuun or Antoran Wastes to assist Spitfire's forces. Of course Spitfire knew that most of those who came from Azeroth were fighting the Legion and wasn't too worried about such a thing, as it allowed them to make sure the Legion's gaze was down near Antorus, instead of up here on Mac'Aree, though one or two heroes were likely still aboard the Vindicaar, with Khadgar and the others who decided to stay with her, Rainbow, Velen, and those who were after the fragments of the Crown, to which she turned her attention towards their main goal and just glanced at Velen, who sighed and nodded his head to confirm that he knew what needed to be done.

"Now that we have secured this location, and assisted the spirits who were trapped here, we can begin our search for the fragments of the Crown, and to start we'll look for Archimonde's Sigil of Awakening," Velen stated, to which he took a few seconds to gesture to a structure that was across the way from their current position and caused them to glance at it as he did that, though Y'mera frowned for a moment as she realized what sort of area the Prophet was talking about, but Spitfire said nothing as she listened to what Velen had to say, since his information would be valuable for them to find the Crest and the Sigil, "I'm positive that he left it somewhere inside the Conservatory, the greatest school of magic in all of Argus, as it was where he learned all he knew and gained the mastery he eventually possessed, though I'm not sure where he might have left the Sigil when he learned that I took my fragment of the Crown with me."

Fortunately for them Fareeya had an answer to what was bothering Velen, as she had Y'mera follow Spitfire and Rainbow for a time, as her knowledge on the Conservatory and all of its mechanics would come in handy for figuring out where the Sigil might be hidden, to which she started to move out of the area as the other Draenei remained with Velen, allowing Spitfire to follow after Y'mera as Rainbow returned to the Vindicaar, due to the fact that there were no demons up here and she was debating heading down to Antoran Wastes to tackle some demons. From where all of the spirits had been running around Spitfire followed after Y'mera as she headed down some steps, entered what had been a square of an old settlement that had been built around the large temple, and headed for a worn out path that rested between the section of Mac'Aree Romuul had parked the Vindicaar near and where Velen assumed Archimonde left the Sigil of Awakening in all those years ago, though one thing she did see were a couple of large metallic constructs which belonged to the Eredar, as in before they became demons, and most of them were offline. Of course it didn't matter if the constructs were still awake or if they were offline, because if they saw her and Y'mera as intruders she could take care of them with ease, though she found that none of them even came near where she and her guide were walking and it allowed Y'mera to focus on what Fareeya ordered her to do, while confirming that Mac'Aree was rather peaceful, in comparison to the rest of Argus anyway, and that there were no demons hanging out up here, meaning Rainbow's desire to stay behind was acceptable since she wanted to kill demons and would no doubt get a chance to do so, as Spitfire had a feeling that sooner or later the Legion would notice what they were up to and send someone to investigate. The Chosen were likely thinking the same thing, as a few of them had looked like they might be looking for additional places to set up camps or beacons for greater travel for the future, since there was still another fragment of the Crown they needed to find after the Sigil was recovered, so she was fine with Velen and his bodyguards, with some Lightforged reinforcements, doing whatever they needed to make sure Mac'Aree was secure as they searched for the other fragment of the ancient relic.

Eventually Y'mera came to a stop after passing through a large arch, one that was tall enough for one of the large metallic constructs to walk through during a patrol pattern, where Spitfire found a smaller construct, like a guide or speaker that was supposed to welcome someone to this area of Mac'Aree, resting a few steps in front of them, though it was offline like most of the other constructs that were scattered around this area of Argus, or at least everything near the Vindicaar, one that they ended up stopping in front of of.

"Welcome to the Conservatory of the Arcane, where we should be able to find the Sigil of Awakening," Y'mera stated, to which she gestured to the construct that was in front of them, causing Spitfire to focus on it for a time as she took a couple of moments to consider its purpose in this area, though as she did that the Archmage took a few seconds to glance around the area they were in as she considered something that needed to be done before they returned to their allies and left this place, before focusing on Spitfire again, "though this Gatekeeper will be useful in opening the way to where Archimonde left the relic that the Prophet is after... we just need to wake it up, and to do that we're going to need to stabilize this area, by empowering some of the Power Conduits that are scattered around this place, while also hunting down some of the local Panthara to gather whatever Arcane energy they might have ingested, but with your power you might be able to turn the ingested bits into pure energy again."

Spitfire raised an eyebrow for a moment as she listened to what had to be done to this area, since she was expecting a bit more than what she had been told, before accepting a crystal that Y'mera handed her, a source of power to wake up the conduits and network in this section of Argus, where she opened her wings for a moment and took to the air so she could look down on the area that served as the Conservatory of the Arcane, finding a number of buildings off to the right of the entrance that seemed to be where a number of cat-like beasts happened to be resting, the Panthara based on what she had been told. In addition to that there was a circular square just beyond where the Gatekeeper was resting, a building that was either two or three stories with some sort of Arcane barrier preventing anyone from entering it, a small structure with a single story off to the left with a bunch of ruins nearby, and a large building located to the northwest from where the square was located, diagonally from everything else and had to be where Archimonde worked before he became the demonic being everyone eventually knew him as. Once she knew the layout of the Conservatory she spotted a number of Arcane devices that looked nearly identical to those Rainbow had empowered when they were assisting the spirits, where she noticed eight of them were fully active and that meant those were the ones that needed to be given some power to awaken the network Y'mera had mentioned, to which she focused her power for a few seconds and connected it to the crystal that was currently floating above her left hand, before putting her plan into action. Y'mera watched as small beams of Arcane energy erupted from the crystal she had given Spitfire and found that there were eight of them, which quickly struck all of Spitfire's targets and she felt part of the network in this area start to awaken within a matter of seconds, and based on what she was feeling it was clear that it wouldn't be long before they had part of the power necessary to power up the Gatekeeper, though once the conduits were empowered Spitfire returned to where Y'mera was standing and gave her the now dim crystal, indicating that it had been used up, before heading over to where the Panthara rested, since they had a bit of the Arcane energy they needed to empower the Gatekeeper.

What happened next really caused Y'mera to raise an eyebrow as she observed what Spitfire did, as she landed near the area that the Panthara seemed to be calling home and such a thing caused the beasts to turn on her not even a couple of seconds after she touched down, but instead of them attacking her, like Y'mera assumed they would do, the Panthara just gathered around her and seemed to be at peace in her presence for some reason, which made her wonder if it might be the Life power at use, before Spitfire used her power to withdraw the bits of eaten Arcane energy from the Panthara, as she created an orb of Arcane energy that she eventually carried over over to where Y'mera was standing.

"You know that you are a strange individual, right?" Y'mera asked, as that was the best way she could explain everything she and the others had seen during the time the Army of the Light had worked with Spitfire, which had only been for an hour or so based on what she knew, something that caused Spitfire to nod a little, showing that she did know and that it was likely due to her having control over most of the Cosmic Forces that resided in their universe, before she pushed the orb into the construct and took a step backwards before a frown appeared on her face, "Of course that wasn't enough to awaken the Gatekeeper... these things are troublesome to the end..."

In that moment Spitfire tapped the Gatekeeper and the construct stirred not a few seconds later, the arms and legs being the first to move as it came online once more, something that caused her to notice that Y'mera looked like she wanted to give up on trying to understand what she and Rainbow were capable of, especially since Spitfire had access to three more Cosmic Forces besides Life and Arcane, but instead of worrying about that they focused on the Gatekeeper and what sort of information they could gain from it.

I am restored! the construct stated, though the voice that came from it, though distorted a tiny bit, sounded like a male Eredar, one who must have been bestowed this purpose before the rest of his kind either transformed into demons or escaped with Velen, while at the same time Spitfire could tell that Y'mera wasn't pleased by who was in front of them at the moment, meaning they might have found another obstacle they needed to overcome before they could find the Sigil of Awakening and claim it for their forces, before the Gatekeeper noticed them, Exile Y'mera, why have you returned? You should know that the Conservatory's resources are not available to someone with your... status.

"Quoram... of all the people that could have been chosen to become the next Gatekeeper..." Y'mera started to say, like she was about to get into an argument with the construct and ruin their chances of figuring out where the Sigil had been left all those years ago, before she sighed and shook her head, showing that she understood that such a thing was not the right thing to do at the moment, while at the same time confirming the fact that she did know the rule the Gatekeeper, or Quoram as she called it, had just mentioned, "Lady Spitfire, perhaps you should do the talking."

"Vigilant Quoram, Gatekeeper of the Conservatory of the Arcane, we have come here for one reason: to recover the Sigil of Awakening that Archimonde left in this school," Spitfire stated, deciding to get to the point and tell the construct why they were here, while the reason she used 'Vigilant' when addressing it was thanks to a number of Draenei possessing the title, so she figured that there was a good chance that Quoram would have held the title at one point and might like to hear it be used again, before she returned her focus to the topic at hand once more, "I have it on good authority that you either know where the Sigil was hidden, before the Draenei fled from Argus when Archimonde and Kil'jaeden joined the Legion, or you know what needs to be done to open the path to the relic in question."

The Sigil of Awakening is the Conservatory's highest honor... only Archimonde's chosen may pursue this accolade, while exiles are not allowed such an honor! Quoram stated, informing Spitfire that Velen and Fareeya's guess as to where they might find the first missing fragment of the Crown had been correct, the Sigil was somewhere inside this place and, if she knew pre-demon Archimonde as well as she thought she did, which might not be accurate since she was going off of what Velen had told her and Rainbow, there was likely a path of some kind that would grant her access to the relic in question, even though the construct seemed to sigh a few seconds later, I am, however, obligated to inform you that the master did create trials specifically for this purpose... I am also required to allow the uninitiated to participate.

"The tell me what needs to be done and I'll go take care of whatever trials Archimonde left in this place," Spitfire replied, as she was happy to hear that there was, in fact, a way for her to get at the Sigil of Awakening, because she was sure that the construct would insist that Y'mera stay out of this and just watch her tackle the trials, though the Lightforged Draenei just nodded her head and took a step back, to show Quoram that she understood all of the rules that rested in this place and that she was going to let Spitfire tackle the trials on her own.

You have three trials that need to be completed: the Trials of Tenacity, Cunning, and Mastery, Quoram said, even though Spitfire was sure his tone, had he been alive and not stuck in a machine like this, would have been one of displeasure, due to letting an outsider like her tackle the trials that Archimonde put into the Conservatory, even though she was a tad bit surprised by his lack of emotion towards her mentioning that his master had joined the Legion, before he seemed to shift for a moment, likely to give her the last pieces of information she needed, My Master taught by rewarding frustration with more frustration, punishment with more punishment, that sort of thing... and to overcome the Trial of Tenacity, which you will find in the large building at the other end of the Conservatory, you will need absolute conviction to succeed over this particular trial. You will find a trio of statues up and to your left, ones linked to the Trial of Cunning, of which I am unable to give you any hints or information on, simply that only the smartest and most intelligent minds will be able to find a way to obtain three special fragments to form a Mark of Cunning that indicates your success. As for the Trial of Mastery, you will need to fight and best three of Master Archimonde's greatest pupils, or their echoes before each of them became part of the Legion, and if you are successful in beating all three of them I will acknowledge your strength.

Spitfire raised an eyebrow as she heard that, mostly because the trials sounded like they would be child's play and that all of them would be over in no time, to which she simply nodded her head and departed from the area they had been in for the last couple of minutes, where she headed up the ancient road and targeted the area that Quoram mentioned that the Trial of Cunning happened to be resting in, something that allowed her to find three golden or brass colored statues of old Eredar who had symbols floating in front of their hands, the left one having a red one, the middle being blue, and the right one having yellow. She stared at them for a few seconds before finding there were three Arcane barriers scattered around the rest of this part of the Conservatory, the one to her immediate right having a green symbol above it, the one that was behind the statues had an orange one above it, and the one to her left had a purple one, something that was followed by her raising her eyebrow for a moment as she realized what this trial was and felt that Archimonde had been trolling those who sought his teachings, as this was simply a test to make sure someone knew how to mix colors. She knew that because the blue and yellow statue symbols, which appeared above her head when she accessed the power of the statues, mixed to become a green icon that unlocked the barrier with the green symbol, granting her a chance to pull out one of the many fragments from inside the chest the magic had been protecting, and once she was back near the statues the barrier came back, waiting for the day when someone else tried the Trial of Cunning out, even though she was sure that this was more like the Trial of Trolling. Mixing the blue and red statues granted her a purple symbol that unlocked the barrier off on her left, something that gave her a chance to pull out the fragment from the chest that was inside that structure, and once she was back at the statues she used the red and yellow symbols to form an orange one to unlock the final barrier, granting her the third and final fragment that formed the Mark of Cunning, even though it sure felt like this had been a troll trial or something, that Archimonde had been wanting a little fun with his students, before she sighed and moved on to the center of the Conservatory, as she was sure the echoes were in the central square.

A few moments later Spitfire found that Y'mera, having been granted permission to 'watch her fail' the Trial of Mastery, as those were Quoram's words, had a bit of knowledge to share with her on the echoes that needed to be taken down, or at least her knowlegde of who they were before they joined the Legion, where she quickly discovered that the one closest to them, a male Draenei wearing some mage style robes, was Grand Vizier Jarasum, the female Draenei who stood right in the middle, wearing a different colored set of attire to what the first wore, was Arc-Consul Velara, and the one on the other side of the central area, a male Draenei wearing a robe with another different color, was High Wakener Aargon, which was followed by Y'mera telling her who they eventually became. What told her over the next few seconds was that the Army of the Light knew that Jarasum went on to become an Eredar Lord by the name of Jaraxxus, apparently Velara become known as Velysra, and Aargon went on to become Aargoss the Soulcleaver, to which Spitfire informed her that Aargoss had been slain back during her and Rainbow's time in Suramar, meaning his soul was in the Warblades, and Velysra had been slain during one of the Legion's assaults on Azeroth, but since neither she or Rainbow had their weapons at the time that meant that Velysra was still alive, and she had no idea where Jaraxxus was hiding. As Y'mera took in that information Spitfire took a step forward and approached the three echoes that needed to be beaten, where she quickly approached the area that all of them were standing in and openly challenged all of them to a fight, causing the echoes and Y'mera to stare at her in shock for a few seconds, though instead of being annoyed all three Eredar stepped forward as soon as she said that and rushed into battle without wasting even a single second, most calling upon their Arcane energies to lash out at her as one of them lashed out with his sword as well. Y'mera watched as Spitfire dodged the attacks without even raising either of her hands, rather she channeled her own powers and smashed through the Arcane blasts that were coming at her with ease, much to the surprise of the echoes she was fighting, while she dodged Aargon's sword swings as if she was relying on her instinct alone, as she was using what Rainbow had used against Kil'jaeden earlier, before she channeled a bit of her power into three orbs and smashed all three of her targets into the ground.

Y'mera knew that anyone watching the fight would have suspected that Spitfire had used her power to teleport the orbs into the air above her foes and used a spell to drive them into the ground, without damaging the stone flooring, but she suspected that what Spitfire did was actually flash through the air, with the speed created from her odd instinct state, and slam the orbs into her foes without them seeing anything coming in the first place, though in the end the echoes admitted defeat and acknowledged her strength, meaning the Trial of Mastery was successful. With that done Spitfire bit the echoes farewell, where she nodded to them as they bowed their heads towards her, before she headed for the structure that had a barrier in front of the main entrance, where she found a projection of Quoram waiting for her and it said nothing to her as it stepped out of her way, lowering the barrier at the same time, allowing her to enter the building so she could tackle the trial that was associated with this place, because with the Trial of Tenacity finished she would be able to figure out the location of the Sigil of Awakening. What she found was that there were a number of emblems on the ground that switched from a red color to a purple color, with nothing above them at all, to which she stepped forward and flashed through the first chamber of the building, while the next one had a few beams of Arcane energy that seemed to be blocking the way forward, to which she walked towards all of them and simply dodged them like they were nothing, once more like the time that Rainbow fought Kil'jaeden, and in no time she reached the end of the second chamber, finding a set of steps that took her up to the second floor of the building. Of course there were a number of orbs moving down the stairs, which she felt would damage her if she touched them, to which she walked up the steps without letting the orbs touch her once and let her reach what appeared to be a balcony of the second floor, meaning all of the bedrooms were blocked off, if this place even had some since she had no idea what Argus had been like before the Legion came and claimed the Eredar, though it allowed her to find that a projection of Quoram was waiting for her and it sighed for a moment as he admitted that she had passed the third and final trial.

With that done she opened her wings once more and flew back to where Quoram and Y'mera were waiting, though as she flew through the air something became apparent to her, the Legion had invaded Mac'Aree at long last, as there happened to be an area on the left side of the Conservatory, which rested near the border between the base of the main structure and one of the ancient roads of Argus, where the Army of the Light had set up a small base and were defending it, while at the same time Rainbow appeared to be tearing into some Eredar that wanted her dead.

"There, all three trials are done." Spitfire commented, speaking after landing near Quoram and her ally, where Y'mera had a smile on her face, as she knew that having her tackle the trials was a smart move and it had worked out quite well, as it meant that the Vigilant had to honor his word and give her access to the part of the Conservatory that the Sigil had been left in, to which the two of them faced the construct for a few seconds as they waited for him to say something and give her the information they were after, "You'll give me access to the Sigil now, right?"

It would appear that you are not so easily deterred... very well, I shall allow you to move forward, Quoram stated, where it sounded like he might have been surprised that she had survived the trials that Archimonde had placed in this school to test his students, and protect his ancient treasures, to which the construct gestured to the main building that was resting diagonally from where the central square was located, You must go to the Praetorium and face the echo of Archimonde himself to gain access to the Sigil of Awakening... be warned, only a few have overcome this obstacle.

Spitfire said nothing to that, save for nodding her head to show him that she understood his statement, before heading off for the Praetorium, this time opening her wings to fly over to where her destination was located, where she found a large area that seemed perfect for a fight, if the echo of Archimonde tried to engage her, and sure enough her foe was standing in the middle of the area, though as she landed the ancient and powerful echo turned to face her, patiently waiting for her to stop so he could tell her something. What was interesting was that Archimonde's echo seemed to think that she was a student and that it was time to humble another one, to which he summoned his Arcane power and lashed out at her with it, where she channeled her own power and loosed a number of blasts to cancel out the incoming attacks, which seemed to make the echo grin as he realized that he might have a good fight on his hands, to which he ordered his power to loose a bombardment on her location. In that moment she waved a hand out and snatched the bombardment out of the air, as in she redirected it and bombed the area that her foe was standing in at the moment, who used an Arcane barrier to save himself from taking damage, though as it went down Spitfire smiled as she tried something new, as she called upon her knowledge of what the Nightborne did and her own inner power for a few seconds, before releasing a spell on this area as a dome appeared around them, one that slowed the echo until he was unable to move. It was her attempt to use the Time Lock spell that Elisande had used back in Suramar, only on a much smaller scale, and based on what she could see it had worked, allowing her to summon a number of energy blasts that formed in the area around the echo, made from the five Cosmic Powers she had access to, before she took a step back and snapped her fingers once she was ready, causing time to resume for her and her target not even a second later, all while the blasts struck the echo of Archimonde and knocked him backwards. In that moment the echo laughed, claiming that she would be a fine addition to his school and that she, in time, would do Argus proud, though as the ancient version of Archimonde faded away a purple gemstone appeared in the center of the area, one that was perfectly cut and radiated pure power, to which she claimed the Sigil of Awakening and walked down to where the Lightforged soldiers were fighting, where a beacon appeared and allowed her to teleport up to the Vindicaar, with Y'mera following close behind her.

Once she was back aboard the ship she could see that everyone was interested in what she had done and watched as she walked down to where Velen was standing, who mentioned that Archimonde must have been disdainful of the limitations of the Sigil, without the Eye to give the Crown its full power, before he stepped out of the way as Spitfire walked over to the pedestal that had three posts and held her hand out as the Sigil floated into place, where the bottom point happened to be pointed to the southwest from where it rested, though once that was done she smiled as she returned to the window, as she knew it was only a matter of time until someone figured out where the Crest of Knowledge rested and then they could assault Antorus, bringing this invasion to an end at long last.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

and once again we get reminded that spitfire is every bit, if not even more so, as powerful as rainbow

[Gargon94]

They will soon find out what L'ura's Fate was and acquire the final Cosmic power.

[badninja]

Well Spitfire just showed him that he completely underestimated her. Now I wonder how that final battle will go before she achieves her objective.

[zachary12]

nice work