Dawn of the Aspects: Part II

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Maps of Northrend

  Part II

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Notes

  Further Reading

  The Battle Rages On

  About the Author

  PART II

  ONE

  THE NEXUS TOUCHED

  The hot, malodorous breath nearly overwhelmed Kalec and his host as the jaws closed. Kalec wondered if perhaps it would be best for Malygos to let the stench knock them out so that they would not feel the monstrous teeth crush through their shared flesh and bone.

  A violent, steaming burst of wind suddenly threw Malygos back. The burst was accompanied by an odd muffled thunder. At the same time, Galakrond’s maw opened wide again, enabling Malygos to tumble to freedom.

  Finally out of range, the blue-and-white proto-dragon frantically righted himself. As he did, both he and Kalec saw the source of Malygos’s salvation.

  With a defiant laugh, Neltharion darted away from under Galakrond’s throat. Galakrond hacked, creating another powerful explosion of wind that forced back not only Malygos but also other proto-dragons in its path.

  Neltharion had struck at the weakest point just at the right moment, an attack that Kalec would have thought foolhardy at the best of times. Even while regaining his breath, Galakrond had the cunning and fury to snatch at his tiny attacker as the charcoal-gray proto-dragon dived. Claws as large as Neltharion closed on him, but at the last second, a fearsome blast of what appeared to Kalec to be sand half-blinded Galakrond.

  A dust-brown male veered off. Galakrond shook his head to clear his vision, enabling his prey to make good their escape.

  Neltharion flew directly toward Malygos. “Fly or die!”

  It was good advice to both Kalec and Malygos. But as Malygos turned, Galakrond’s roar arose from behind them. The roar was accompanied by a swooshing sound and punctuated by a heavy thud and Neltharion’s pained grunt.

  Peering over his shoulder, Malygos saw that where the titanic monster’s claws had missed, Galakrond’s long, thick tail had not. Several times the length of Galakrond’s hind limb, it easily caught Neltharion on the side, striking him hard.

  Stunned, the gray male spiraled toward the harsh ground below. Perhaps Galakrond intended to pursue, but a panicked yellow female chose that moment to pass near enough in the gigantic proto-dragon’s field of vision to attract his attention. With an eager roar, the hungry behemoth gave chase.

  Unheedful of this stroke of luck, Malygos had already dived after Neltharion. The other male had endangered himself to save Malygos, and Kalec saw without surprise that his host could do no less. The blue-and-white proto-dragon stretched hard to reach the plummeting figure, but even as swift as he was, it was clear to Malygos and Kalec that there would be no catching Neltharion before the gray struck the ground.

  A fire-orange form rose from below, colliding with the stunned male. Alexstrasza grunted hard as she and the bulkier Neltharion hit, but somehow the female managed to maintain control. For a few vital seconds, she stopped Neltharion’s fatal descent, just long enough for Malygos to reach the pair.

  Without a word, he gripped Neltharion by the shoulders, hefting the larger male up and relieving Alexstrasza of her burden. She, in turn, rose and assisted him with carrying Neltharion away from the vicinity.

  Through Malygos, Kalec observed the area and found it astonishingly devoid of blood and torn flesh. He realized that Galakrond had swallowed nearly all of his victims whole. In some ways, the blue found that even more horrific, imagining how those proto-dragons had felt as they vanished in the behemoth’s gullet.

  “So many . . .” Alexstrasza gasped as they flew. “So many . . .”

  Malygos said nothing, but his thoughts mirrored her words. Kalec’s host was just as shocked by events as she was.

  A new sound rumbled through the area, a sound so odd, so unnerving, that the two proto-dragons nearly lost their grip on Neltharion.

  The sound grew more intense, more guttural—and because of that, more terrifying. Kalec still had no idea what it could be, but Malygos at last identified it with something from his own experience. Images flashed through Kalec’s mind, images of his host regurgitating bits of bone or other inedible parts of various prey.

  Somewhere, Kalec understood with growing sickness, Galakrond was doing something akin to that, only what he was disgorging was not the remnants of any buffalo or fish—

  Kalec’s world suddenly swam again. His consciousness was torn from Malygos. Visions of Galakrond feasting ran through Kalec’s thoughts, and then the accursed darkness overtook the blue.

  Yet, once more, a familiar voice called him from that darkness. Kalec . . . Kalec?

  Why Jaina called him this time, the dragon did not know, but with what sense he already had, Kalec blocked his thoughts from her notice. Even as he did that, he felt the world around him return. A harsh wind struck his face. Kalec instinctively shifted position and discovered himself slipping.

  At last able to open his eyes, the blue watched a rocky ridge slide up over him. Kalec realized that he was falling. With one paw, he dug his claws into the dirt and stone, managing to slow his descent but not to stop it. Kalec tried to use his other paw, but it remained tightly shut despite his desperate need.

  He toppled backward, finding out then that it was not a ridge from which he had slipped but a mountain. Kalec sought to right himself, only to have one wing clip the mountainside and send him tumbling faster. Below the blue, jagged rocks that reminded him too much of Galakrond’s teeth shot toward him.

  Managing to focus, Kalec cast a spell. His wild descent slowed nearly t
o a halt. It was a very short-term solution, but he hoped that he would not need more than a few moments. Catching his breath, the blue dragon rolled onto his stomach. Already feeling the hastily cast spell dissipating, Kalec flapped hard. As he regained flight, his spell faded away.

  The blue dragon alighted on another mountain. There was no continued call from Jaina. He hoped that she had given up. Either way, Kalec had only one interest now, and that was the foul thing still gripped in his paw. The now-complete artifact seemed to taunt him with its persistent glow.

  There was, naturally, no point in throwing it away. It would somehow return to plague him. He also doubted the wisdom of attempting to destroy it again. Kalec let the wind clear his head as he struggled to decide what to do next. If not for Jaina’s voice, the blue would not have even been certain that he was in his own time and in his own body. It was becoming harder to separate reality from vision.

  After several fruitless minutes of ruminating, Kalec launched himself toward the Nexus. Each moment of flight was nerve-wracking, with the blue expecting to be pulled back into the visions at the worst possible opportunity. When he had to fly over water, Kalec paid special attention to his protective spells.

  But to his relief and astonishment, the artifact permitted him to reach the Nexus unhindered. Kalec decided to try to focus on something other than the object of his nightmares. The Nexus’s collection had to be organized, even if he had initially made the suggestion as an excuse, not because he’d had any true desire to take on the task.

  But he realized that before he could begin on the collection, he had to work on strengthening the wards. There was no chance that they would remain strong enough to protect the Nexus and its contents for very much longer unless he attended to them now.

  He changed to his humanoid form, at the moment feeling oddly more comfortable in it than in his true one. Kalec summoned a simple marble stand with a fluted column and cautiously set the artifact atop the waist-high platform, then turned his attention to the wards. Shutting his eyes, he concentrated. Even with his eyes closed, the blue dragon could see the world around him, but it was a world crisscrossed with a variety of multicolored ley lines. All of Azeroth was draped in this complex arrangement of lines of magical energy, but those he currently viewed served a specific purpose. They powered the various wards that acted as the Nexus’s protection. Following along the ley lines, he began to inspect each ward carefully.

  Kalec quickly saw the weakest of the wards. He put forth a hand, which in this world view glowed with lavender energy, and gestured at the ley line needed. With his other hand, he drew from another of Azeroth’s ley lines and linked the two where the core of the first lay exposed—

  But before he could do more, the Nexus itself began to shimmer.

  Dismissing his spellwork, Kalec opened his eyes and immediately looked to the artifact. Not at all to his surprise, it had taken on a different glow, this one matching the array of magical colors associated with the immense forces in and around the Nexus. The stronger the relic’s glow, the less intense was that of Kalec’s surroundings.

  That the artifact could have any effect on the Nexus stunned Kalec. It had done little when he had last brought it here, but then, the artifact had not been whole before. The missing piece had not only magnified the whole artifact’s abilities but also possibly even stirred up others formerly dormant.

  Kalec grabbed the artifact and transformed. Planting it against his chest, the former Aspect fled through the Nexus as quickly as he could. The energies of the Nexus continued to fluctuate as he raced through tunnel after tunnel, until at last he reached the exit.

  Once outside, Kalec soared high into the sky. Below him, he could make out the entirety of the Nexus. The dragon sensed the various energies in play in a manner with which he was entirely unfamiliar. Kalec—who should have understood better than most the nature of such magical manipulation—could not fathom with what intent it was done.

  The rich colors normally reserved for the Nexus’s forces now radiated strongly from the artifact. As for the Nexus, it abruptly flared bright again, so much so that the blue dragon was forced to look away or be blinded.

  And then the intense stirring of magical energy subsided.

  What Kalec expected to see when he glanced back at the Nexus, he could not say. What he did see both perplexed and surprised him.

  The Nexus looked and felt to him exactly as it had before. With a wary hiss, the dragon circled his sanctum once, seeking any change, however subtle. Despite his best efforts, Kalec still found no difference.

  “All that could hardly be for nothing,” he muttered to the infuriating object in his grip. “What did you do?”

  The relic, its glow once more normal, gave no clue.

  Snorting, the dragon dived back down to the gap through which he had emerged. As he entered, his gaze immediately went to the artifact. However, there was no change in the glow.

  Kalec returned to his chambers, expecting each moment that the foul thing would begin anew to wreak havoc. That there was no visible sign of it doing so did not assuage his fears in the least. While Kalec was aware that he might only be feeling paranoid, there was still the chance that the artifact might be up to something even while apparently quiescent.

  Determined more than ever to find some other relic that might help him combat the effects of the one he held, Kalec summoned forth an ancient piece in which he had particular hope. An oval crystal of a deep aquamarine hue and the size of his paw materialized in the air before him. Kalec was not certain of all its properties, but some of the knowledge that had been passed on to him gave him the impression that it might nullify the magic of the octagonal relic.

  But the moment he touched the crystal, its rich hue faded. Kalec quickly probed the artifact. It was utterly devoid of any trace of magical energy.

  A curse that mixed well the best—or worst—of dragon, human, and dwarf escaped the blue’s mouth. Enraged at this latest, so swift defeat, Kalec threw the octagonal antiquity without care about what might happen. It flew with tremendous speed toward the wall, then came to a halt barely an inch from possible destruction. From there, it descended to the floor without even a sound.

  The dragon roared. Unable to stop himself, Kalec unleashed a barrage of spells upon the relic. Fire sought to consume the piece. Bolts of arcane energy assailed it. A lance of ice attempted to pierce its surface. Lightning blasted it.

  And none of the attacks left the slightest scar upon it.

  His breathing ragged from the strain of his efforts, Kalec slumped. The artifact continued to glow faintly, again seeming to mock him.

  The blue dragon brooded for a while, then suddenly stiffened. Perhaps . . . perhaps I have been going about this the wrong way.

  Kalec had never really tried to understand the artifact. From the start, he had seen it only as something evil. Yet now he wondered what purpose there could possibly be in driving him mad.

  Approaching the artifact, the dragon studied every bit of the exterior that he could see without touching it, but he noticed no change. Another probe with his powers also yielded nothing new. Still, Kalec was not satisfied. The artifact could even at this moment be in the midst of some preplanned spellwork that his acute senses could not detect. It had already proved itself capable of acting upon him without his noticing.

  He focused on the small addition he had found during his second excursion to the skeleton. Simple as it appeared, it was obviously an integral part of the overall relic. Thus far, it seemed to him that it had magnified the original effect, but he believed it also did more.

  A slight gleam in the center of the smaller piece caught his attention. The dragon squinted.

  A young human woman with long blond hair stood before him, a woman he knew too well. There was an innocence about her, an innocence that drew him as much as her beauty.

  “Anveena . . .” The bl
ue dragon gasped. He reached a paw to her, only to have it go through her own extended hand.

  Suddenly, Kalec stood in a forest. He was no longer a dragon but, rather, a half-elven figure. It was the same form in which Kalec had first met Anveena.

  Kalec . . . Anveena faintly called, her outline becoming more faded and distant. She continued to extend her hand toward him, as if beckoning him to join her.

  Kalec . . .

  He was jolted. The second calling of his name had not been done by Anveena but by Jaina. It was enough to bring him back to consciousness.

  Kalec wrenched himself away from the artifact. He was covered in sweat. He also noticed that, as in the dream, he had hands, not paws. At some point, Kalec had changed shape without even noticing it.

  At that moment, Kalec felt the presence of another blue dragon. Somehow, the knowledge that he was no longer alone in the Nexus enabled him to pull himself together. Whirling away from the artifact, Kalec left the chamber to see who had returned and why.

  It was not until he was nearly at one of the entrances that he saw movement. Kalec marched toward the newcomer without saying a word.

  The smaller blue dragon—a female—had her back toward him. Kalec hesitated. “Tyri?”

  The female turned, but she was not the one he had thought her to be. The former Aspect silently berated himself for expecting to see the female blue to whom he had once been promised.

  The blue before him stared at Kalec as if seeing an orc. He recalled his transformation; although they were creatures of magic, blues generally retained their dragon forms when in the Nexus.

  “Spell-Weaver,” she finally acknowledged. “I thought you were away.”

  This time ignoring the use of a title no longer his, Kalec resumed his draconic shape. Now peering down on her, Kalec could not help blurting, “And you hoped to be about your business and depart before I returned?”

  She looked as aghast as a dragon could. “No . . . no, Spell-Weaver! In truth, I am pleased you are here. I wanted to tell you of an anomaly I sensed near the Dragonblight recently, very near Wyrmrest Temple—”