User:Joshmaul/Telek Eaglespear/A Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises

With the fall of the Firelands and the progress made in the Molten Front, the defenders of Azeroth have moved to end the threat of Twilight's Hammer and prevent the end of days. Into this maelstrom, Telek Eaglespear will enter into his last battles...

The Whimsical Flow of Time
With Ragnaros defeated and the Sentinel Tree standing watch in the Molten Front, the greatest powers of Azeroth looked to ending the threat of Deathwing and all of his minions once and for all. To that end, the four uncorrupted Aspects - Alexstrasza, Ysera, Nozdormu, and the newly-elevated Kalecgos - met with Thrall, now incredibly powerful even by the dragons' standards, to discuss what weapon could be capable of ending the corrupted Earth-Warder. It was decided that only a weapon of Deathwing's own creation would be enough to defeat him, a weapon that he had intended to rule over all dragonkind - the Dragon Soul, or the Demon Soul as it became known. The accursed artifact had been shattered two decades earlier during the liberation of the red dragonflight from the Horde's control, and then its fragments completely obliterated shortly before the war against the Lich King.

In order to obtain the Dragon Soul in its purest form, they would have to go back to a period shortly after it was created...to the War of the Ancients, ten thousand years earlier. But Nozdormu found his control over time blocked by a sinister future - a future where the Hour of Twilight had fallen, laying waste to all Azeroth. The infinite dragonflight, the perennial enemy that travellers of the Caverns of Time had battled since the war in Outland, had arisen in full force, with its nefarious master at last revealed: Murozond.

One of Many Possible Futures
In order to open the timeways and allow for the Dragon Soul to be retrieved from the past, the heroes of Azeroth had to enter this bleak future. And so Telek, accompanied by the human death knight Artimus Devaneaux and the goblin shaman Smeet Spiritgrinder, entered the corrupted timeway and found himself standing in the Dragonblight, the skies darkened by ominous clouds, only broken by the occasional flash of lightning. The ruins of Wyrmrest stood imposingly in the distance, with the shattered, burnt-out carcass of Deathwing impaled at its summit, his corrupted blood pouring from his body like a waterfall of filth.

In order to defeat Murozond, they first had to battle "echoes" at four of the five dragonshrines. Telek was disheartened to see, travelling to the Obsidian Dragonshrine, that one of those echoes was Baine Bloodhoof, driven to despair and rage by the apocalypse, having failed his father and ancestors. His powers augmented by the magma that now roiled freely through the shrine and his rage crushing the obsidian islands within, Baine proved to be a powerful enemy. His own totems were turned against him to stun the raging chieftain, and finally, the fire in his heart gave way as he joined his ancestors. The others were also powerful beings - Jaina Proudmoore and her flying blades of frost at the Azure Dragonshrine, Sylvanas Windrunner and her mastery of shadow and undeath at the Ruby Dragonshrine, and Tyrande Whisperwind, who was still able to call on Elune's light in battle, at the Emerald Dragonshrine, which was shrouded in an unnatural darkness even beyond that of the rest of the world.

With the way clear, Telek and his comrades journeyed to the Bronze Dragonshrine, where infinite drakonids guarded a massive hourglass that gave power over time itself. As Murozond taunted them, unleashing temporal rifts, his foes used the Hourglass to turn back time enough to replenish their strengths. With Nozdormu's blessing and the power of his hourglass at their disposal, Murozond's broken form began to deteriorate and fade before it finally vanished into oblivion, completing a vicious cycle. As it transpired, the Lord of the Infinites was in fact a future, corrupted incarnation of Nozdormu himself, driven mad by his knowledge of the world's ending. With his future self dead, as foreseen, time would be restored to its natural flow.

To the Land Where Legends Remain
With the route to the past now open, Nozdormu teleported Telek and his comrades ten thousand years into the past. When they arrived, they found themselves disguised as night elves standing in a great courtyard. From what he had studied of history under Master Ketiron, Telek recognized this as shortly before the war's end, and guessed that the grand edifice nearby was the palace of Azshara, queen of the ancient kaldorei. Demons of the Burning Legion poured from the palace into portals in the courtyard, preparing for the coming of their foul master, the Dark Titan Sargeras.

As they defeated an enormous felguard sentry, they were greeted by none other than Illidan Stormrage, the night elf demon hunter who - much later in the future - would become a half-demon abomination ruling over Outland. Using his immense sorcerous powers - granted by his "gift" from Sargeras and by his own natural aptitude - Illidan was able to shroud the time travellers in shadow, allowing them to sneak past the marching hordes of demons and attack the magisters who defended the portal energy foci, leaving them to be shattered. As they moved swiftly and decisively through the courtyard, they shut down the three portals, causing the marching Legion to dwindle. The portals closing caught the attention of an immense satyr - Peroth'arn, first of the satyrs to be "promoted" after the elevation of Lord Xavius. Striking from the shadows, the attackers dodged his powerful felfire attacks, and managed to obscure themselves from his demonic eyes long enough to gather their strength to attack him again. Even as he tried to steal their life essence and gave in to his demonic rage, the satyr was no match for Illidan or his allies.

As they ascended the ramp towards Azshara's viewing platform, overlooking the corrupted Well of Eternity, Telek and his comrades battled their way through the Queen's deluded champions and demonic eyes that served as Legion sentries. Reaching the platform, they found the self-styled "Light of Lights" standing before her throne, with six powerful magi funnelling energy into a featureless golden disc, floating high above the Well. The artifact they sought was within reach - and now they had to defeat Azshara's chosen to reach it.

As they battled her "keepers of Eternity", they also had to contend with Azshara's own magics, her ability to make any creature dance to her tune. Though shielded by powerful magics, they were still able to interrupt what spells she could cast, earning her ire in the process. Finally, her magi were slain, and Azshara retreated with one of her shadowbat riders. Just then, bronze drakes sent by Nozdormu arrived to bring the champions to the shores of the Well below, while Alexstrasza, Ysera, and Soridormi - Nozdormu's Prime Consort - attempted to cleanse the taint from the Dragon Soul. Though Deathwing himself - still referred to by his true name, Neltharion, to the others - attempted to intervene, even he was driven away by the evil within the disc. In order to secure it, they had to journey to the Well's edge and defeat the pit lord king, Mannoroth, who was channelling powerful demonic energy into the Dragon Soul to open the portal for Sargeras.

Aided by Illidan and Tyrande Whisperwind, the time travellers battled their way through a nearly-endless wave of demons and corrupted Highborne guards to confront Mannoroth, who directed Azshara's guard captain Varo'then to keep the mortals at bay. While Illidan charged into the pit lord and Tyrande dealt with the continuing onslaught of demons, Telek and his comrades battled against Varo'then, all the while avoiding storms of felfire unleashed by the Destructor. Finally, Varo'then's broken body collapsed on a pile of demon corpses, his sword falling to the earth. The sword was picked up and thrown into Mannoroth's chest, piercing his infernal armor. As the demons rushed them, Illidan decided to use the powerful demonic gifts given to him by Sargeras, invoking a demonic metamorphosis for himself and his allies. Imbued with Sargeras' dark powers, the time travellers broke Mannoroth's connection to Azeroth, sending him spiralling through the portal along with all the other demons. The Sundering was about to begin - but they could not stay long, for they had one last duty to perform...

Of Thralls and Treasonous Wretches
Upon returning to the present, they found themselves again in the Dragonblight, but this time in the present. Thrall was standing nearby, awaiting their arrival and the delivery of the Dragon Soul. With the artifact in hand, they made their way through icy canyons to a rendezvous with Alexstrasza's drakes at the old Scourge excavation site that had dug up the "progenitor", Galakrond. Ambushed by elementals obeying the ascendant Arcurion, Telek and his comrades fought their way through the powerful icy magics until they at last confronted their master at the end of the canyon, battling his icy chains and boulders while Thrall dealt with his minions. Making their way into the excavation site, slaying more Twilight cultists along the way, they were confronted by the sin'dorei assassin Asira Dawnslayer, who used her skills of trickery to silence the spellcasters and obscure herself with smoke bombs. But it would avail her nothing, as she too would fall. Red drakes arrived to transport the party to Wyrmrest Temple.

Telek was horrified to see a massive maw of tentacles and teeth, like the creature Iso'rath in the Twilight Highlands, had arisen within the Path of the Titans, unleashing faceless minions, oozes and tentacles to bar their way. Finally, salvation came outside the Chamber of Aspects, when Archbishop Benedictus - the venerable leader of the Church of Light - came to their aid, forcing the remaining Old God minions to flee back towards their monstrous master. Once they were secure, however, things took a sinister turn - as Benedictus unexpectedly demanded the Dragon Soul for himself, declaring that none could avert the Hour of Twilight, that there was no good, no evil, no Light - only power. Benedictus was, in fact, the "Twilight Prophet" Telek had heard about in the Highlands. Using his Light-given magics at first, Benedictus showed his true colors by calling upon the Shadow - showing a man warped by his own insanity. His horror giving way to rage, Telek charged in with his comrades. Avoiding the waves of Light and Shadow and powerful bursts of dark energies, they were able to bring down the traitor Archbishop; in his last breath, he declared that he had "seen into the eyes of the Dragon and despaired"...

The Battle for Azeroth Begins
With the death of Benedictus, the siege of Wyrmrest Temple began in earnest, as powerful elementals and faceless monstrosities destroyed the meeting hall at the summit and kept the dragon Aspects and the most powerful of their flights trapped within. At the front gate was the gemstone colossus Morchok, calling out challenges to the dragons within to fight him. Though he unleashed the "black blood of the earth" and great pillars of corrupted stone, Morchok could not keep back the Wyrmrest relief force forever, and fell before the onslaught. That left two generals of the faceless - Warlord Zon'ozz and Yor'sahj the Unsleeping, minions of the Old God N'Zoth - the powerful creature responsible for Deathwing's corruption and the Emerald Nightmare that had plagued the Cenarion Circle.

Flying first to the maw of Go'rath to confront the Warlord, the attackers first battled Go'rath's massive tentacles. Zon'ozz would also call upon Go'rath's black blood to empower him, much as General Vezax had used Yogg-Saron's in Ulduar. Using a "void of unmaking" to sap energy from his attackers, he found that energy instead turned on himself once the void became powerful enough to unleash, resulting in his calling upon more tentacles before the increasing void energies finally tore him apart. Yor'sahj was far more insidious, calling upon powerful oozes to unleash acidic slime, sap mana, or empower him with shadow. This proved to be the more difficult of the two generals to destroy, but he too would fall. With the siege all but lifted, they travelled into the Nexus, to the Eye of Eternity. In order to stabilize the Dragon Soul and invoke its magic against Deathwing, the Aspects had to recover the Focusing Iris from the Eye, and so their mortal champions went to do so, confronting a corrupted orc shaman, Hagara the Stormbinder. Smeet Spiritgrinder, who stood at Telek's side, was particularly incensed; though a typical goblin (and somewhat insane, to boot), he found this corruption of the Elements unforgivable, and charged in with his elemental fury. Telek followed suit, and the champions slew Lieutenant Shara and her Twilight cultists before confronting the Stormbinder herself.

Unleashing powerful elemental magics, including moving ice walls and lightning wards, Hagara was infuriated to see those powers dispelled - her frost elementals destroyed, her lightning wards overloaded. With the power quickly turning against her, she fell dead, breaking the siege of Wyrmrest. Returning to the summit with the Focusing Iris, the champions witnessed Thrall and the Aspects begin their ritual to empower the Dragon Soul - just as Deathwing arrived to interrupt it, unleashing twilight drakes created from Alexstrasza's corrupted eggs from Grim Batol. Finally, he unleashed a new enemy, supposedly more powerful than Nefarian, Onyxia or Sinestra - a full grown twilight dragon, Ultraxion. As he unleashed twilight magic against them, Telek invoked his own heroic will to resist, soldering on as his comrades fell around him. The power Deathwing had granted him, feeding on the power of other twilight drakes, made Ultraxion unstable, and finally he disintegrated into nothing.

Far Beyond the Battle, Blood Shall Fall Like a Hard Rain
After the destruction of Ultraxion and the stabilization of the Dragon Soul, Thrall was ready to invoke its power. Realizing the danger, Deathwing attempted to flee, but not before taking a glancing blow to his shoulder from the powerful artifact. The Worldbreaker turned southward, straight for the Maelstrom - trying to return through it to Deepholm. Boarding the Alliance gunship Skyfire, the mortal champions - aided by the Aspects - gave chase, hoping to catch him before he could escape. While Thrall and the Aspects further empowered the Dragon Soul, Sky-Captain Swayze took his ship over the Frozen Sea in pursuit of the fallen Earth-Warder. But they soon came under attack by his personal escort of Twilight drake-riders, commanded by the tauren Warmaster Blackhorn. After the Skyfire gunners, aided by the remaining champions, managed to beat back several waves of drake riders, Blackhorn leapt from his drake Goriona onto the deck, where he was overwhelmed and defeated. The Skyfire managed to catch up to its quarry, and Telek and his comrades leapt from the deck with parachutes, managing to land on Deathwing's back.



Tentacles protruded from the open wound in Deathwing's back where a portion of his armor plate had come off. Upon destroying one of those tentacles, an amalgamation of burning blood, tainted flesh and blackened elementium came together, growing unstable as it absorbed the globules of Deathwing's corrupted blood that seeped from the wounds. Finally, under immense pressures, the creature exploded, causing part of Deathwing's armor plating to come loose. Burning tendons attached to the spinal armor tried to seal the breaches, but the tendons were quickly severed, causing the plates to fly from his back. Once enough had been removed, Thrall - standing on the deck of the Skyfire above - unleashed another blast from the Dragon Soul, going clear through Deathwing's body. The corrupted Earth-Warder plummeted from the sky and crashed into the Maelstrom. As the attackers parachuted to one of the islands above the raging portal, they felt that at last, that had done what must be done. But they were soon interrupted by a powerful rumbling, as a creature only barely resembling a dragon emerged from the Maelstrom.

Telek stared in horror at the creature that had once been lord of the black dragonflight - his body was a mixture of tainted flesh and blood, broken armor...and the dark blessings of his Old God masters. As they worked to sever the tentacles that kept his twisted form connected to Azeroth, Deathwing shot huge chunks of his broken armor at them, and his blood produced fiery tentacles to protect his fleshy extremities. First his arms, and then his wings were broken. Finally, in desperation, the bloodied, weakening form of the Destroyer slammed its head into the soil, his tainted blood and tentacles fighting to keep his attackers at bay. But to no avail...for the Aspects combined every ounce of power they wielded into the Dragon Soul, and Thrall raised it to deliver the final deathblow. As the artifact in his hand coursed with the power of the Titans, Thrall let loose an unstoppable blast directly into Deathwing's chest. Unable to withstand the energies of his own creation, infused with the powers of his mortal enemies, the last vestige of the being that had once been Neltharion the Earth-Warder - now condemned and reviled forever after as Deathwing the Destroyer - was completely obliterated, leaving only shattered fragments of his armor.

As the sunlight began to break the stormclouds above, Telek Eaglespear saw the results of the battle for himself: Deathwing was dead, and the Cataclysm - having reshaped the world in fire - was over. The Twilight's Hammer had been all but wiped out, and the Old Gods' plans to usher in the apocalypse had once again been thwarted. But the victory came with a price. The Aspects had expended every last bit of their immense powers into the Dragon Soul, sacrificing their immortal essences and masteries over their calling. With Nozdormu's control over time broken, the Dragon Soul returned to its proper place, where the cycle would begin again.

The day of the dragon was finally over, as Alexstrasza proclaimed the dawn of the age of mortals.