reminded her of the horrific tales of the demon Illidan. A noble paladin. An arrogant human noble. A young, blond woman, whose eyes held both innocence and some incredible secret.
And, most of all... a face that shifted back and forth between an extraordinarily beautiful woman with crimson tresses streaked withgold and the same sort of pale elven features as Krasus wore... and the ageless visage of a gargantuan red dragon. Mingling with the woman's fiery hair were leaves touched by autumn, but what struck Iridi more was that the wild, amber eyes of the former—eyes filled with both a wisdom and humor that the priestess could never attain in her own short lifetime—were somehow the same eyes as those belonging to the crimson leviathan.
They were some of the significant memories of this ancient, this dragon in mortal guise. She knew his true name now and the revered place he held with one that the draenei was aware was a being of great power.
'You are Korialstrasz,' Iridi whispered. 'First consort to—to the Aspect of
But that was not what she had been seeking. She needed to find the core of what ailed him. Unfortunately, these memories had to be peeled back, first.
Though regretting her intrusion into his past, the priestess had no choice. Not only could Iridi not have abandoned someone in need, but she also felt certain that Krasus—he seemed to prefer that title when in this form—was somehow a part of her search. The elders of her order had taught her that there were reasons for all that occurred, from the slaughter of so many draenei by the orcs during the early days of their encounters to the great calamity—again by the hand of an orc—that had literally ripped apart Draenor. The naaru had emphasized that point as well. No, Iridi needed to help Krasus not only for his sake, but her own.
But other memories kept flowing into her, one in particular disturbing to her. She saw a huge city on the edge of a sinister, dark body of water. A maelstrom formed in the latter and the city was dragged under, countless lives sucked into the water with it before the waters themselves began to follow into the dread gap. Iridi sensed the foulness of the Burning Legion... and something older and more terrible than even them lurking in the background.
The priestess fought through the memories and voices, seeking that which was more immediate, more significant to the moment—
She found it. A part of the dragon mage was literally missing. A small part, but the violence of its destruction had been terrible.
And even as the draenei discovered this, that intangible gap within suddenly expanded. Bound to her patient, the priestess was also struck. And while against her the attack was only peripheral, it was enough to throw the draenei back.
Iridi landed hard. Fighting dizziness and pain, she suddenly looked about, certain that whatever was responsible was upon them.
Yet, although she saw nothing, Iridi knew that time was running out. 'Great one!' She seized his shoulders in a most unpriestesslike way, shaking them hard. 'Great one! Krasus!' Out of desperation, she added last, 'Korialstrasz!'
The dragon mage stirred, but did not wake.
The draenei's feeling of impending disaster heightened. With no other recourse left to her, Iridi struggled to raise Krasus up so that she could drag him away from the immediate area to better protection.
A blood-chilling roar filled the darkened sky... a blood-chilling roar that was answered a moment later by another, identical one even closer.
SEVEN
In the pit that passed for its nest, that which Zendarin and the veiled sorceress had created digested the energy most recently fed into it by the pair. Despite having been fed well—as the screams of Zzeraku could attest—the thing in the dark still hungered. It hungered for both more of what the nether dragon could give it and also, at last, for solid fare.
But of both, there was none to be had. The small, scaly creatures —the skardyn its 'mother' had called them—had learned to stay well away from the nest's vicinity. They had discovered the hard way that, although newly born, that which had hatched from the egg was already a master of its natural magic. With its growing abilities, it had drawn one skardyn to it by causing the ground underneath the vermin's feet to give way. The skardyn had fallen into the pit, where the small morsel was devoured in a single swallow, the food still kicking and screaming as it descended down the gullet.
It was growing fast, faster, in fact, than its 'parents' had imagined. They were pleased with that, although not as pleased as it, who yearned to be free, to fly in the sky....
To hunt and devour proper prey...
Then, through senses that only it was aware that it possessed, it noted those who had come before it, those who were almost like it... but not quite. Now and then, it could feel and even imagine what the other two did, the two who acted as one. They were as close to siblings as it had, and so these glimpses of their freedom were as a feast to a starving man.
They were hunting. They were hunting the proper prey. They not only were hunting it, but, having tasted some little hint of it, now knew where it hid.
The thing in the pit tasted their eagerness. They were not as clever of mind as it, but their instinct was strong.
It waited, eager to savor through them the devouring. Soon, though, soon it would grow large enough to hunt on its own.
And then... no force in all the world would be able to stand against its might.
The flapping of wings filled the night sky, but although Iridi had excellent vision, she could not quite make out what it was they presaged. There were
'Ahh, sssuch lovely-looking morsssels...' bellowed a monstrous voice, striking her ears like thunder. 'And we are ssso hungry...'
'Hungry...yesss, we are...' echoed a second with equal ferocity. 'It hasss been ssso long ssslnce we feasssted...'
'Ssso very long...' called the first from what seemed to the draenei directly above her.
The sky there shimmered an unsettling purple. The purple coalesced into the outline of a gargantuan creature.
A dragon. A dragon of such proportion as to leave Iridi gaping at it despite the peril it also presented to her.
'Ssso very long...' it repeated. 'And we are always hungry...'
It descended.
The draenei's hand thrust up, the naaru staff forming In Its grip. The crystal flared.
Roaring, the nightmarish dragon suddenly vanished.
Iridi knew that it had not been due to the staff. The crystal had no such ability.
The ground around her erupted, entire trees, huge rocks, and tons of dirt ripped away by what at first the priestess imagined an earthquake but what materialized a moment later as the dragon... barely yards from the two small figures.
'We mussst feed!' it declared somewhat more succinctly than previous.
Above, the other voice repeated, 'Yesss, we mussst eat!' It took no stretch of Iridi's imagination to understand that the pair referred to the draenei and Krasus.
She waved the staff at the one on the ground. The shimmering dragon, in the process of tearing up the rest of Iridi's surroundings, drew back in anger... and disappeared again.
