Yalda welcomed the freed spirits with open arms, and the adventurers were duly thanked for their kindness. Keeping her end of the bargain, Yalda basically confirmed what the wind lords had confessed, and that the image of Archdruid Pterneldan had left Yalda a rather cryptic message behind before vanishing:
One would have to dive deep in order to hear. One would have to drown before they can see.
“Do you understand what this message means, young Master Crossdeep?” Yalda asked.
Saphrit sighed at first, and then he smiled slightly. “An’da loved to speak in riddles when it came to time-sensitive information, Auntie Yalda,” the young dragon paladin replied. “I’m sure that is him talking in that message, and that I will understand what he is trying to tell me about in due time.”
There were nods of understanding all around, and a long moment of pensive silence fell upon the group.
After a while sitting in the contemplative atmosphere, Hollee broke the quiet at last. “What’re we gonna do now?” she asked.
~||~
“I hadta’ ask …” Hollee groaned, tightening her grip on her trusty pickaxe while she watched Saphrit march to the end of the ruined dock.
The paladin held the dark ritual orb with care, feeling the artefact seethe with disgust at his presence as he approached the growing rift between the planes. Aetherion’s booming voice taunted the adventurers beyond the small rift, clearly incensed by the group’s foiling of the wind lords earlier. They could hear him swearing a mighty oath to complete what Deathwing started, starting with the interlopers, and then going on to deal with Malfurion himself.
If the giant elemental had hoped to deter the mismatched band of would-be heroes, he was sorely misguided.
Time was of the essence, Yalda had warned them; every spare moment they tarried would only give Aetherion further opportunity to gather his strength in preparation to make good on his threats. The ritual orb that the group had recovered was the key to disrupt and weaken the greater elemental, and it had to be placed in the largest runecircle nearest the rift where Aetherion was emerging from in order to rip Aetherion into the material plane before he had fully formed. Lesser elementals, still under the thrall of the Hammer, mindlessly swarmed the group in an attempt to buy Aetherion more time to grow in power, but the windborn army ultimately failed to hold the group back from their objective.
It was unnervingly quiet at the dock. One would have thought that the greatest resistance to Aetherion’s impending fall would have been waged there, but even the lesser elementals would not dare set a foot nor an airy tendril upon the splintered remains of Auberdine’s most recognized landmark. Wordlessly, Saphrit entered the runecircle beneath the elemental rift and whispered the last few words of the unfinished summoning incantation.
Aetherion roared, and a bolt of angered lightning shattered the orb in Saphrit’s hand, the sheer concussive force enough to knock the Paladin out of the circle and flat onto his back. A massive, partially corporeal being drifted down from the rip in space and time, his very essence wrapped in twisted windsteel armour. With cold, inhuman orbs that crackled with swirling energy, he glared down at the incapacitated Paladin at his feet.
Aetherion had arrived, and in force.
“YOU … DARE!?” he boomed, a triumphant sneer heard in his hissing, echoing voice. “FOOLS! TODAY, YOU WILL SEE THE END OF ALL THINGS. YOU HAVE ONLY HASTENED THE DOOM OF LOR’DANEL. MALFURION’S GAMBIT WILL COME TO A TRAGIC END AT MY HANDS … AND I WILL START MY GLORIOUS CONQUEST OF THE KALDOREI LANDS IN THE NAME OF AL’AKIR BY SLAYING YOU AND KEEPING YOUR WRETCHED SOULS AS MY SPOILS, SO YOU MAY WATCH MY TRIUMPH IN DELICIOUS HELPLESSNESS!”
Aetherion landed on Saphrit, pinning the Paladin down. The young dragon, still dazed from getting hit by the mind-numbing lightning, did what he could to resist, but the greater elemental was surprisingly heavy. Gloating laughter was heard as Aetherion increased the swirling winds around himself, making it impossible for Aaron, Hollee, and Tuathann to come to Saphrit’s aid. All they could do was try and brace themselves as well as their strength would allow against the buffeting winds, unable to stop Aetherion as he raised his windsteel sword in preparation for the killing blow.
The blade would have come down were it not for a timely intervention. Yalda’s spirit appeared, grasping the jagged bracer that made up Aetherion’s armoured wrist, stopping the fatal swing.
“WHAT IS THIS?” Aetherion boomed; oddly enough, more amused than annoyed. “YOU ARE TOO LATE, LITTLE SPIRIT. ALONE, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO NOW BUT DELAY THE INEVITABLE.”
“I am not alone, Aetherion!” Yalda corrected the elemental. “And we will see to it that your blustering will finally fall silent!”
As if on cue, the spirits of Taldan, Hippogryph Master Moonfeather, Sentinel Starbreeze, and Thundris Windweaver appeared in their wisp forms and latched onto a now shocked Aetherion, allowing Saphrit to scramble away to a safe distance.
“Hurry, heroes!” Yalda cried out. “We will drag his power with us into the next life! Destroy Aetherion while you have this boon!”
The adventurers did not need to be told twice. As soon as they felt Aetherion’s gales abate, they attacked the greater elemental with all their combined might. Claws, wrathbolts, fur, steel, and light collided with the weakening Aetherion as he flailed around frantically, trying to rid himself of the leeching spirits that held a tight grip on his essence. Hollee, seeing Saphrit give her the signal, flung her pickaxe, nailing Aetherion in the very core of his being. The greater elemental screamed, his defeat imminent.
In a final, desperate attempt to destroy his opponents, he detonated his compromised core, creating a massive shockwave of energy that could easily have been seen as far away as Lor’danel.
All fell silent and calm around the ruins of Auberdine. With surprising rapidity, the angry storm clouds that had heralded Aetherion’s approach gave way to brighter, albeit still thoroughly cloudy skies. Saphrit dropped his axe and dispelled the massive bubble of Light he had summoned to protect his companions from Aetherion's self-destruction, and then slumped onto his knees in exhaustion.
Tuathann was the first to tend to the young Paladin, channelling a smidgeon of nature’s rejuvenation into his depleted reserves of energy, while Hollee and Aaron gingerly approached the end of what remained of the dock where their friends were now waiting. Yalda and the other spirits were standing around them as well, their forms flickering in and out of existence as their time on the mortal plane drew to a close.
“Thank you so much for your help, heroes. All has been made right now in these ruins because of your aid.” Yalda’s gentle voice carried a peculiar echo to it now, indicating her slow ascension to the afterlife. “We will remember you on the other side. Andethoras’ethil, my young friends, and Elune smile upon you all. We all hope that you will find what and whom you seek …”
“We’ll miss you, Auntie Yalda,” Saphrit whispered, raising his weary face to smile at the elder spirit. “Andethoras’ethil.”
The others said their goodbyes to the spirits, and in a heartbeat, Yalda and the others were gone.
~||~
Corvine Moonrise and Elisa Steelhand were conversing by the hastily relit bonfire in the refugee camp, the Elven Druid and the Dwarven Explorer exchanging concern over the massive shockwave that had thundered through the rickety camp just an hour ago. Those who were able did what they could to stabilise the makeshift tents for the sake of maintaining a fleeting comfort for the displaced and injured. No other refugees had come out of Auberdine since. Elisa was beginning to grow increasingly agitated about one particular young member of the Dwarven expedition she had been helping oversee, and it was all the silver-haired Druid could do to help her maintain her composure.
Just then, an excited shout was heard from the edges of the camp, and a spry young Dwarf came running pell-mell ahead of three weary adventurers, throwing a very relieved hug around Elisa’s neck. She was talking very fast about the craziness she was witness to in the ruins, how glad she was to see Elisa was okay, and asked in between rapid-fire stories how the rest of the expedition was doing. In response, the cool-headed Elisa did her best to help calm a very happy and relieved Hollee down, and thanked Saphrit, Tuathann, and Aaron for the help they had indirectly given the refugees … especially their part in Hollee’s safe return.
After Elisa brought Hollee to the tent where the rest of the expedition was recuperating from the disaster, Corvine took Tuathann aside and spoke with her a moment while Aaron and Saphrit reported to a supremely surprised but very relieved Sentinel leader. There was precious little around the refugee camp to reward the impromptu heroes with, but they were offered a much-needed chance to rest for a while before they would return to Lor’danel.
The offer was graciously accepted.
~||~
--“Saphi? Are you there?”
-“Hey. You remembered to use the hearthstone this time.”
--*pouty voice* “… Saphi …”
-*sympathetic chuckle* “You know I’m just teasing you, R’ee.” *pause* “How are things back in Darnassus?”
--“We’re doing okay, Saphi. We just finished dinner, and we’re cleaning up the kitchen. Who knew putting too much firebloom in chili sauce would make it explode?”
-“… what?”
--*awkward pause* “Nevermind! What about you? I hope you didn’t get hurt out there.”
-*grateful smile in his voice* “I’m fine, R’ee. We’re just helping out at a refugee camp outside of Auberdine.”
--“Auberdine …” *noticeable pause* “Is Master Volcor there? In the camp, I mean. … Is he and Grimclaw okay?”
-*crestfallen pause* “Grimclaw is fine, R’ee.”
--*slightly unnerved* “… what about Master Volcor? Please don’t tell me he—”
*extended silence*
-“… R’ee. I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do.”
*more extended silence*
--*quiet sobbing*
-“R’ee?”
--“… yes?”
-“He left in peace. Before he went, he asked how you were doing. I think he was proud of you.”
--*sniff*
-“… Grimclaw’s with Master Cerellean now, R’ee. He’ll be alright.”
--*a smile in her voice* “... hee. That’s good. At least I can still visit him. Grimclaw was like an uncle to Sabi.”
-*Saphrit chuckles*
--“… did you find anything about where An’da is, by the way?”
-*pause* “It’s kind of sketchy, but we found a few clues in Auberdine. It could be possible the Hammer has An’da trapped somewhere.”
--“That’s sort of good news for once.”
-“’Sort of’ is a relative term, but it’s the best we’ve got now.”
--“Uh-huh.”
*pause*
-“… R’ee?”
--“Hm? Oh … I should disengage the speaking spell on the hearthstones now, huh?”
-*smirk* “Yep.”
--*light giggle* “I’d better not keep you, then. I’ll see you at home, Saphi!”
-“You, too, R’ee.”
--“… oh, and Saphi?”
-“Yeah?”
--“Don’t get hurt out there. I’ll never forgive myself if you do.“
-*chuckle* “I’ll be fine, R’ee. Don’t worry.” He paused briefly. ”I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”
--“Okay. Bye for now, Saphi.”
-“Bye for now, R’ee.”
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