Chapter 15: Volume 1: Chapter 13
Lost Lion
Disclaimer! I don't own wow, blizz does, and your soul too.
Volume 1: Chapter 13
***The Redridge Mountains***
I found it funny that I didn't have any sort of 'life flashing before my eyes' moment the first time I died. Guess the Truck-bastard was feeling generous or administered some kind of death anesthesia that day. However, when Medivh's eyes landed on K'ara with naked greed and hunger in his eyes? Well, I saw it all. Flashes of my childhood on earth juxtaposed side by side with my childhood in Azeroth. It was as if a double feature of my life was being played at that moment.
"Do you mind if I have a look at it, young Callan?" Medivh asked gently. His request was reasonable, his tone disarming; anyone would have just let him take a look.
However, perhaps it was my battle instinct honed to an edge since the Garona's attack or a deeper connection to the Light. What I heard was not a gentle fatherly voice, but a demon issuing an ultimatum. There was a shift in his body, a tenseness to the way he held his greatstaff, Atiesh, as if he was ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice. I knew without a doubt that with this orb, Medivh could probably avoid his fate and Sargeras would succeed in destroying Azeroth. The way Medivh was defeated was very convoluted, but it was also a very specific set of steps. Without which, Sargeras would have roamed free.
"Young Callan?" Medivh's tone was light, but I saw his fingers gripping his staff even tighter.
I had a choice. Give Medivh the orb and watch Azeroth burn, or try to deny him the orb and be killed by the leader of the Burning Legion, backed by the guardian powers. There really was no choice.
"Oh? Sorry," I sounded as apologetic as possible. "Here. I got it off that orc warlock."
I stepped closer to Medivh and presented the orb. There was really never any other choice.
"Did you now?" Medivh mumbled as he eyed the orb covetously. I swore I saw a flicker of green sparks in his eyes as he peered at it. "I wasn't even aware that the orcs had such a thing in their possession."
Medivh reached out for the orb and just before he touched it, I pulled it away and tackled the man who would have drawn a flagrant foul penalty for a dirty hit in the No Fun League. There was no way I could let the people of Azeroth die due to my cowardice. My life was a small thing in exchange for all of those who I had grown to call friends and family. There was never a choice. I had to kill Medivh myself!
"Uffh!" His utterly shocked expression meant that I was able to catch him off guard. He went down with me straddling his chest with my weight, but not for long as his eyes began to glow blue.
Oh shit, he was calling upon arcane power!
"Aegis!" I shouted even as arcane lighting struck me instantly. There was a reason why he was known as the Guardian and the strongest mage in Azeroth. My shield glowed brightly as it nullified the impact, but I knew that, had I been hit normally, I would have been in a world of hurt.
However, my Holy Word: Aegis wasn't just empowered by me; K'ara did so as well and that allowed my magical shield to hold in the face of such overwhelming power. Medivh looked surprised that my shield stayed steady against his great magic, but he didn't have that expression on his face for long when I punched him as hard as I could. Then punched him again and again, trying to cave his skull in.
"Callan?!" Gavinrad sounded shocked from behind me. When did he get back? Wasn't he leading our forces after the orcs?
"Sir Callan?!" Khadgar's shocked voice reminded me of his presence. Sorry, my dudes, but this was more important. No time to talk. I focused on punching Medivh to death; I had the leverage over him so I should be able to kill him.
Unfortunately, this was the master of the Burning Legion that I was dealing with. On the last punch, his head–like straight out of an exorcist movie–snapped back to face me. Only now, his eyes were no longer blue, but flaming green.
"Shit," I cursed and did the first thing that came to my mind. I tried to force Ashbringer into his mouth, hoping that he would burn to death and possibly choke on it. The side benefit was that it also prevented him from casting spells, especially since his non-verbal attack was already strong enough!
"ARRRRRRRRRRRAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Medivh's muffled voice cried in pain as Light from both K'ara and me poured into his body to burn the Fel magic that I knew was inside of him.
"G-Guardian?! Sir Callan?!" Khadgar shouted in shocked confusion. It was probably because of the green and gold light show that swirled around me and Medivh.
I ignored him; I could not break my concentration. The sky darkened, and arcane turned to Fel magic as it struck my Aegis over and over again. Thankfully, the super-charged shield held firm.
"Just die already!" I shouted to the writhing Medivh whose face was beginning to shift to a more demonic version. Veins of green light could see beneath his skull. He put his hands on my wrist. Slowly, he pushed my hands and by extension, Ashbringer, away from him. "Oh no, you don't!"
'Fine!' I thought as I lifted my arm away from his mouth and surprised him by slamming the orb into his forehead. If I couldn't beat his head in, maybe I could burn it off! A dense golden light surrounded the orb while the green fire in Medivh's eyes intensified. Tendrils of light slowly seeped into the Guardian's head at a maddeningly slow pace. The grip on my wrist became stronger as I felt Fel magic coming from his hands trying to burn through my shield.
"Nuugggh!" I grunted as Fel magic assaulted me from every angle. I poured even more Light energy into K'ara and was rewarded when Medivh's veins became visibly filled with golden light.
"Foolish mortals!" Medivh's voice sounded in my head. What the fuck? Sargeras had telepathy?! Of course, he had telepathy! Why the fuck not! Shit! "I had suspected you knew something, but it would amount to—nghh- NOTHING!"
At least the Burning Legion's master sounded like he was in pain.
"G-Guardian?" Khadgar was in front of me, eyes filled with concern now that the golden glow was spreading all over his mentor's head. "Sir Callan, you must stop! There must be some mistake. You're hurting him!"
'No shit Sherlock!' I cursed at him, but to my dismay, I saw green tendrils of energy crawling up from his neck and attacking the golden ones. 'God damn it!'
I needed help!
"Khadgar! Medivh has been possessed by a demon named Sargeras!" I shouted to the mage. It was his knife strike that helped kill Medivh originally in canon. Maybe he can do the same to help me. "Help me kill him!"
To my distress, Khadgar didn't move to help but had a stupid confused expression on his face. Of course… it was probably too early for him to even doubt Medivh.
"H-Help me, Young Trust!" Medivh spoke, making me whip my head back to him, his face was no longer shifted into a demonic one and his eyes were back to normal. Judging by the grin on his face, I knew what he was trying to do. "Th-There is a demon but it is C–aaahh–Callan who is the one possessed! You must strike him down now!"
'Oh, you dirty mother fucker!' I locked eyes with Medivh whose smile grew vicious. My attack wasn't working. I couldn't burn his body, and at this rate, Khadgar might help him over me. Shit! What could I do? Think! Oh, wa-wait! Wasn't Sargeras a soul infection? What if I attacked his soul?
I closed my eyes and willed the orb to stop attacking his body, but to strike at his soul instead. I didn't think K'ara knew what to do at first, but I flooded her with images–the concept, really–of what a soul was and felt a shift as her energy was...redirected?
"Aragaaahhhh!" Medivh yelled as if suffering the worst torture. He closed his eyes while his face twisted in pain. "H-Help!"
"Callan, what is going on here?!" Gavinrad must have regained his senses. "Why are you attacking the guardian? What is this accusation about demonic possession?"
"K-Khadgar! Sir Kn-night!" Medivh sounded old and frail once. "H-Help me! Lothar's son has gone–aarrgh–mad!"
"If you stop me now, we're all dead!" I roared in frustration as I realized my street cred, no matter how good, was nothing compared to that of Medivh's.
"H-Help!" Medivh sounded weaker as the golden light from Ashbringer was digging deeper into his body. "Sa-ave me!"
"MALLAROZ!" I heard Khadgar yell before whatever spell he cast broke my Aegis.
"Ae-urk!" I was in mid-casting when I felt the possessed man's strong withered hands grab my throat and begin squeezing.
"Callan!" Gavinrad's voice sounded urgent. "Get off of the Guardian. Now!"
You dumb mother fucker!
"Die~~~!" Sargeras mentally hissed as he squeezed harder and called down Fel lighting onto me. He must not have liked me attacking Medivh's soul.
"Uraaaakah!" I choked and gasped in pain as I continued to press K'ara onto Medivh's head, not letting up. Even when the Fel lighting struck me, I refused to let go of him because, while his attack might kill me, I knew that letting go would definitely do so. Instead, I let the Light inside my body heal the damages on its own as best as it could, but more waves of Fel magic crashed down on me over and over again, withering away at its efficacy. I didn't realize I was bleeding until drops of what I thought was sweat dripped down onto his face, staining him red.
"Callan! Let go now or I will have to remove you!" Gavinrad began to stalk over. "Now!"
"K-Kill him!" Medivh croaked out as blood began to leak from his mouth. "Kill him now!"
"Callan!" Gavinrad pleaded with me, but I couldn't answer even if I wanted to with Medivh's hands around my neck.
"Hurrraghh- Hurry!" Medivh roared before I pressed took advantage of his momentary distraction and flooded his body with more Light energy. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
"Forgive me, boy!" Gavinrad sounded heartbroken and from behind me came the familiar sound of steel being drawn from its scabbard.
So this was how it ended for me. Huh...typical Warcraft-style betrayal now that I thought about it. At least, I tried. I closed my eyes to wait for the inevitable, but even then, I intended to damage Sargeras as much as possible before I die. Hopefully, this would give them a fighting chance.
TING!
'Hmm?' Was that steel on steel? I opened my eyes and saw another blade blocking the one that was inches away from my arm. Even Medivh looked surprised to see it.
"Lady Fordragon?!" Gavinrad sounded betrayed. That's my girl! Though, to his credit, I realized that he aimed for my arm, not my life. He wasn't going to kill me after all.
"Sir Callan does not stand alone. You will not harm him, Sir Gavinrad!" Mara Fordragon declared as she shoved the sword away from me. I really wanted to turn around to see what was going on, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Lady Fordragon! We must save the Guardian!" Gavinrad pleaded with the cleric. "He's our kingdom's greatest asset!"
I didn't hear Mara's answer, only more steel-on-steel action.
"K-Khadgar!" Medivh's eyes snapped to his apprentice. Shit, I forgot about him.
"Mallaro-aaah!" Why did Khadgar sound like he was in pain?
"Do what you have to do, Callan," Victoria spoke up from behind me. "We'll handle the Guardian's apprentice and Sir Gavinrad."
'My girls!' I grinned and for once, things were looking up.
"Fools!" Medivh roared, and I felt his body expanding?! His eyes became a dark flaming red. I felt a suffocating evil presence fill the air around me. Oh shit. His body somehow glowed with dark flaming energy that could be seen through his body and robes. How that was possible, I didn't know.
That wasn't the worst of it. Somehow, Medivh's body mass was beginning to expand, but that wasn't the only thing wrong. His face was morphing into something more… sinister.
W-Was he about to go into his demonic form?!
'Shit! SHIT! I'm so screwed–no–we're all screwed!' I panicked as I witnessed mini-horns protrude from his head. Guys? Stop fighting! Can't you all see this?! I need to warn them!
"Gurkk–!" Fuck! Medivh just increased the strength in his hands, preventing me from shouting out any warning.
'Thinkthinkthinkthink! What else?! What else could I use against Medivh? What can I use against–oh! Was...wasn't there–yes, yes, I remember now. There was that little bit of plot point I forgot!
However, to use that, I needed his hands off my neck. I allowed one hand to let go of the orb before cocking my arm back. I swung and punched him right in the throat. Too bad, it didn't kill him. That would probably have been too lucky. What it did do, however, was make Medivh's hands loosen a bit from the impact and allow me to tear my neck away from his hands. I had no time to lose; I had to hurry!
"Medivh!" I croaked out hoarsely. The Guardian's demonic eyes locked onto my face in curiosity. "Medivh! I know you're still in there! That you have helped Stormwind before! Help me kill this demon in your body!"
Medivh blinked his demonic eyes before he began laughing.
"Pathetic!" Medivh laughed mockingly. This time, he was talking out loud. Can the others not hear him?! "You are trying to appeal to him? Clever but he is nothing now! Merely a puppet to my will!"
I ignored Sargeras's taunt. "Medivh! Guardian of Azeroth. I know you're in there! I know you can still fight! Help me defeat your enslaver! Help me kill him!"
"Foolish!" Medivh's hands, which had turned into demonic-looking claws, did not go back to my neck but instead punched right into my body below my rib cage. I doubted the standard issue plate armor that I had would have fared any better had I worn it.
"Hurrrk!" I spat out a mouthful of blood onto the demonic face and felt his sharp claw wiggling, reaching for my heart. "Medivh-huagh! I-I know you're there! If you have any love for Stormwind, for King Llane, for my father! For our people! For this planet! Please lend me your strength! We need you, now more than ever! MEDIVH!"
"Hahahahahaha! Foo–what?!"Medivh's demonic face which had been mocking me stopped with a bewildered expression before, to my surprise, it turned to one of fear. "You dare?!"
'Now, young Callan, strike together with me. I can drop his defense but only for a moment.' I heard the whisper in my mind. The tone was gentle; some would even call it fatherly.
"Medivh?" I whispered. The dual colored swirl of Fel green and golden light around us had a third color added to it: arcane purple.
"No! You will not deny me! You GNATS!" Sargeras roared.
'Now!' Medivh's spirit urged. I felt the pressure of the dark flame inside his possessed body give way. It was as if a gate suddenly opened and exposed the heart of the corrupted titan. K'ara and I wasted no time and poured a torrent of golden flame into its very center. The golden flame rushed forward like a sword and pierced the core of the foul taint inside the Guardian's body.
"RAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sargeras' loud roar could be heard before the golden light flooded through his body and burned away the dark red flame.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I gave the orb all of my strength; every last bit of my very being was pumped into K'ara. This had to work. This must work!
"MEDIVVVVVVVVVVVH!" The possessed man roared as golden flame poured out from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, chasing after the reddish-black flames and snuffing them out. Then, it exploded in a final burst that brightened the area even though it was daytime. I was blinded for a moment, but when my vision cleared, everything looked back to normal and beneath me was now a very old, withered, and aged Medivh who was breathing laboriously.
'Do not think you have won here, boy!' I heard Sargeras growl in my mind, making me wince in pain. 'I have marked you and will have my vengeance!'
Just as quick as that presence invaded my mind, it dissipated.
"Well...fuck you too," I told the air before what just happened struck me.
Di-did I do it? Did I really get rid of Sargeras? I was excited as hell, but my body was hurting everywhere. Heck, it was hurting in places I didn't know that I could be hurt! Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, I felt the adrenaline high leave me.
'Oh shit,' I thought as I felt myself falling.
Thankfully, before I could fall onto Medivh, I jerked my body right and plopped face-first onto the ground next to the Guardian. I wanted to roll over onto my back, but the old saying "the spirit was willing but the body was not" came to mind.
"Callan!" I heard Mara's voice above me. Next thing I knew, I was being rolled over onto my back and saw red hair framing a soft oval face staring down at me. Her emerald green eyes were filled with concern. By her side was Victoria and next to her were the other three who took protective positions around me. "You're wounded! What is going on? Why did you attack the Guardian? Why did you stop? What-what was that dark voice?"
'Girl! Have I got a story for you!' I thought tiredly, but instead of answering her, I flicked my eyes over to the Medivh. Gavinrad was already there and gave me a passing look filled with anger, despair, and relief before turning pale at seeing the Guardian's condition. Khadgar was a bit bruised and bloodied but otherwise alright as he knelt down to check on his master. Damn...those girls don't play around. I couldn't be more proud.
"You're wounded. It's not healing," Mara said worriedly as she held her glowing golden hand out. "Is it cursed?"
It probably was, but that didn't mean it couldn't be cured. It was an attack from the Burning Legion's big baddie so it needed something of equal power to undo it.
"M-My hand," I groaned and opened my hand to reveal K'ara still glowing golden bright. Perhaps, it was just me, but I swore I could feel the orb's concern for me. Her spirit should be gone, right? The Naaru might be crystals, but does that mean that they grow like crystals? If I added salt water, would K'ara grow back? I mentally shook my head and directed Mara's attention to my hand. "The orb in my hand. Take it."
"I-Isn't this the foul warlock's artifact?" Victoria was probably closer and saw the whole thing. "It's an evil thing!"
I was in pain, and the situation was really serious. However, like all the times in my life when I am hurting, panicking, stressed, injured, and even suffered death in the family, I used humor as a defensive coping mechanism.
"N-No," I whispered, channeling my inner Boromir. "It is a gift!"
Of course, the meme was lost on the woman who was skeptically looking at the orb in my hand. So with my fun had, I coughed in pain and looked at Mara.
"Go ahead and touch it," I urged Mara whose expression was hesitant. "Use this to heal me."
Mara had doubts but her trust in me must have been strong. With a nod to herself, she reached for the orb. There was a soft gasp when I felt her touch the orb and for a while, her eyes were solely on K'ara.
"Ah...kinda in pain here?" I reminded her and saw her face match her red hair. Cute. Hesitantly, she held the orb in front of me. "Now, just press it to my skin."
Mara's flush faded as she followed my direction and placed the orb on the wound where Sargeras' claw had dug into. The moment K'ara touched my wound, it was like rubbing alcohol on an open cut, making me suck in my breath sharply.
"Okay, now just heal how you normally do but only with the orb. Oh, and the strongest heal, please," I coached her. At first, there was nothing before I felt pain flood my body. "Arragh!"
"Callan!" Mara made to pull the orb away from my wound.
"Keep healing!" I said through gritted teeth. "It's burning the curse away."
Mara looked very reluctant, but continued to channel the Holy Light into my body. Fuck, it hurt like crazy. Even pouring salt on open wounds didn't hurt this much. However, this was soul damage, and I needed to remove the taint so that my soul could heal naturally. I was surprised that I knew of this little trivia, but once again, I chalked it up to Anduin's knowledge which was probably taught to him by Velen. That ancient Draenei would know more than anyone about how the Fel magic attacks the soul.
Another interesting little tidbit I was beginning to realize was that K'ara was a hammer, and to a hammer, everything was a nail. Evil cosmic being? Burn it with golden fire! Evil cursed injuries? Heal it with golden fire! Now that I think about it, when she amplified my Aegis, I believe that there was golden fire dancing around the outer shell.
It looked like the Ashbringer cannot be wielded as anything other than an attacking weapon. Maybe if there had been more of K'ara, she could have been something like Light's Wrath, flexible to use. Alas, it was still enough. Eventually, I felt my soul scars fade. It was an odd thing to know what your soul looked like, but I didn't see any more damage with my mind's eye. It still hurt, of course, but that was something that would probably fade over time.
"Ahhhh...thank you," I said in between pained breaths.
"Callan!" Sir Gavinrad made to step closer, but his way was barred by my clerics. "What did you do to the Guardian? He's on the verge of death's door!"
Well, now that things had come to this, there was only one thing I could do. Tell the truth, not the 'truth-truth' but the truth about Medivh. With help from Mara and Victoria, I got to my feet and faced the Knight.
"I–" I was about to tell the truth when a weird power filled the air. Did Sargeras return already? Was Medivh not himself?
"Callan?" Gavinrad demanded, but I kept searching until, by chance, I looked up and saw a dark yellow portal opening. One could even call it the color of bronze. Oh, dear.
"Watch out!" I shouted in warning as I pointed to the sky.
"What?" Gavinrad and the others followed my finger to the sky just in time to see several large dragons emerge.
"By the Light!" Alyson moved closer to all of us fearfully.
Seeing a dragon in a movie is one thing. However, to see actual real live dragons was the equivalent of going to a real-life Jurassic Park and seeing dinosaurs. One dragon turned into two, then three, four, five, six. Finally, a seventh one emerged before they circled the sky as if searching for something. I knew they were here for my transmigrating-reincarnating ass.
"Mara, take the orb and go," I told her because if there was a greater murder hobo in the Warcraft universe, it was the Bronze who ensured a lot of people died for their sacred timeline. Mara must have been troubled by my command as her face showed her reluctance. "Now, Mara! Take the others and go! They are here for me!"
But my warning came too late.
Perhaps, it was because I was yelling at Mara that they heard me, but I saw a dragon bank around the garrison and home in on me. To his credit, Gavinrad drew his sword, ready to meet the dragon in combat. Khadgar looked shocked, however. He probably never saw a dragon, not knowing a dragon had resided in Dalaran for hundreds of years now.
"Go!" I snapped at the girls but to my frustration, they ignored my order and instead took a protective position around me. The bronze dragon flew toward my position and landed heavily.
"Shield!" Five voices shouted as one. Then they raised their arms in unison and fired a familiar spell.
The dragon was struck by five lashes of Smite but didn't even flinch. Instead, it let out a snort and charged the group. With a powerful swipe of its claw, it broke the girls' defensive formation.
"Foul beast!" Gavinrad stabbed the Bronze's forefoot and elicited an annoyed pained cry from the great beast before its tail reared back and batted him away. One of the other dragons made its way over and pinned the knight down with one of its massive claws while doing the same to Khadgar with the other.
More dragons arrived and like a cat, they kept their massive feet on the smaller humans, preventing them from moving. The remaining people in the garrison were wise enough to stay inside. I saw the lead dragon turn its head and stalk toward me, its every step making the earth tremble. When it reached me, its golden eyes looked at me as if I was a bug before it lowered its head and opened its mouth that was filled with razor-sharp teeth.
"What have you done?!" It roared angrily at me, making my hair flutter from its surprisingly pleasant breath. I thought it would have a pungent smell due to their carnivorous nature. "You have ruined everything! Everything!"
What could I say to that? The dragon was right? I really might have ruined everything. As much flak as I gave the Bronze dragonflight personally, I knew that they only wanted an outcome where Azeroth survived the Burning Legion's invasion during Warcraft 3. I thought it was a cop-out story method to keep things on the rails, but now that I was stuck in Azeroth, of course, I wanted the best outcome for the world. I knew that I wasn't supposed to exist so I kept my head low and, with my cheat, had planned to sneak off during the First War to live someplace quiet.
I had no illusion of grandeur where I was some mastermind that could fix or bend the world of Azeroth to my whim. This was real life. Everyone had their own thoughts, their own hopes, and their own dreams. Real people would rarely ever move according to what others wanted, but there was always wiggle room. Not joining the army might have been a red flag for the Bronze. Lothar needed the emotional pain of his son's death. My 'death' during an orc attack would have been the perfect time to exit stage left.
However, life was funny. You got to know people, you got to befriend them, you corresponded with them and suddenly, leaving was the last thing you wanted to do. So I stayed, I fought, and I saved as many people as I could. I was pretty sure there were people now alive that should have been dead. In the end, there was an earth saying that summed up my situation perfectly.
'It is what it is.' I was oddly fine with how things had turned out and had no regrets. Now that I was face to face with the Bronze, I felt calmer than I expected. There was no place to run so why bother? Rather, let's face them head-on. My silence must have not been what the dragon was looking for as its golden eyes furrowed in anger as it pushed its snout close to my face, breathing heavily on me.
"What are you? Who do you work for?" the Bronze Dragon demanded. Being that close was like two ten feet tall speakers blaring in my ears. It made me blink and gave me a bad case of tinnitus. "ANSWER ME!"
"Are you a girl dragon?" I dunno why I blurted that out, but it just occurred to me from the bestial roaring and growling that there was a distinctly feminine tinge to its–or rather–her tone of voice. The Bronze was definitely caught off guard by my question as its massive eyes blinked at me.
We made eye contact for a moment until my curiosity got the best of me. My eyes, for some reason, slowly slid away from her eyes to her neck, down to her chest, but before they could go any lower, there was a loud roar in my face. Luckily, I returned my attention to the dragon just in time to see flame building up in its mouth.
I was weakened from my fight with the orc warlock and drained from my fight with Medivh. There was nothing left in the tank. However, the desire to live was engraved strongly in humans and doubly so for my cowardly self. I desperately reached for the Light and felt it pool sluggishly into my body in response.
"AEGIS!" I shouted even as I shielded my head with my arms.
"Callan!" I heard many voices shout in alarm and despair.
The golden shield formed just as yellow flames washed over me. I could feel the shield thinning at a rapid pace as proof of this dragon's power. Thankfully, the flame stopped just as my Aegis finally broke. The girl dragon blinked in surprise at seeing me alive. She was staring at me in disgust and oddly, humiliation. How could that expression be on a dragon's face and how could I read it? I couldn't say. It just...was!
The dragon made eye contact with me again before its other companion spoke up. "Soridormi! Kill him! Don't let whatever he is influence you!"
I turned to the dragon that spoke. This one was definitely another girl that had a squeaky voice that I knew well due to how much it annoyed me back on Earth. It was a voice that was better suited to a much smaller frame rather than something so gigantic.
"You're Chromie?!" I didn't think that I ever saw the famous dragon in her massive Bronze dragon form. My calling her name seemed to take both her and Soridormi by surprise.
"Kill him!" Chromie roared in desperation.
"No!" Mara's voice could be heard from under Chromie's claw.
"Stop wiggling so much! You're not supposed to die yet," Chromie chastised the cleric under her claw as if she was an unruly child.
I wish I had it that easy as I saw the dragon lady open her mouth, letting flames pool into her maw. Well...I knew the Bronze was gonna end like this one of these days. It looked like today was that day, funnily enough. My final thought as I closed my eyes was that–at the very least–Mara got the Ashbringer orb.
"What?" a third male voice asked, making me open my eyes just in time to see a ball of black flame strike Soridormi's chest and send her tumbling away from me. There was a roar of pain from the Bronze beast before something massive flew over me and collided with the yellow dragon. I finally got a good look at the attacker who turned out to be an equally massive black dragon.
'Deathwing is here?!' I swore my mouth dropped in shock at seeing the two dragons duking it out.
"It's the Infinite!" Chromie corrected me unknowingly as she yelled in alarm.
"We're outnumbered; we need to retreat!" a male dragon shouted and just like that, the seven Bronze dragons fled, pursued by the Infinite dragonflight.
I wasn't alone as the others also watched as the dragons disappeared on the horizon.
"C-Callan? W-Why were those dragons after you?" Mara's voice made me flinch. I hadn't noticed her presence next to me. A moment later, I finally realized it wasn't just her. My battle clerics were taking a defensive posture around me.
Gavinrad also had confusion in his eyes, but what he had done before could not be easily forgotten by either my clerics or himself. However, he and Khadgar had taken a defensive position over Medivh's prone body. The Bronze, oddly enough, ignored the Guardian.
However, none of that mattered as I found myself trying to come to terms with what I just saw. Did the Infinite dragonflight come to my rescue?
"Callan." Gavinrad's tone sounded severe. "You need to explain what happened."
"Whatever he did, I'm sure he had a good reason." Victoria stood protectively in front of me.
"There can be no good reason for him to attack the Guardian, Lady Victoria!" Gavinrad snapped, sounding irate and agitated. I understood why. These were people he fought and trained with and now, they were on opposite sides. "We need a satisfactory explanation!"
"Callan?" Victoria asked me gently as her blue eyes softened. However, I was too deep in thought with what just happened and Gavinrad's demand for an answer felt like such a small thing.
I heard Victoria, but I kept looking at the directions where the dragons flew off to in the sky.
"Callan!" Gavinrad shouted at me. He must have been frustrated by my silence. "What do you have to say for yourself?!"
I ignored him too. I had more important things to do like coming to terms with the fact the Infinite dragonflight saved me. I always gave the Bronze dragonflight a lot of shit for helping knock off the human kingdoms during their 'Culling of Stratholme' event. Yet, I knew, they were the good guys. So I tried to be a good NPC and stay under the radar by living my best life and not disturbing the water so that they wouldn't feel the need to come after me.
But, against my wishes, I ended up neck-deep with the important characters in Warcraft, and I definitely changed something. So naturally, the Bronze came after me and then...the Infinite saved me. The evil version of the Bronze dragonflight led by the Bronze flight's corrupted leader.
Did that… Does that mean that…
...am I the bad guy?
TBC...
AN: First of all thanks to Icura who like that crab with a knife meme help me slashed my errors!
Now as for the real notes...Heh heheheh its really gone tits up now. Tits. Up! I thank everyone for taking part in the massive discussion of the last chapter, it was amazing and frigging awesome, so thanks you very much for that! This is pretty much the pay off and the culmination of this entire volume.
Everyone that is afraid of me sticking to canon, I hope this answered your questions. Everyone that fairly criticize Callan for not taking a more active role like other SI MC in other stories. I hope you understand now why he didn't now.