Night of the Dragon

But still nothing happened.

Then, he felt what almost seemed a wing cover over him. Kalec was immersed in shadow... shadow with hints of amethyst in it.

Barely a breath later, he heard Sinestra... and another.

'He is missing,' she hissed at her companion.

'Your old friend'?' The other voice was that of the blood elf. 'From the chrysalun chamber? How is that even possible—unless —perhaps his companion survived. Maybe he let the other out.'

Kalec grimaced, caught between hope and concern. He suspected that they spoke of Krasus, which meant that the red had somehow escaped a chrysalun chamber of all things. That was all for the good, but now Zendarin had, by his mistaken notion, put into Sinestra's mind the thought that the blue lived.

'Dargonax has feasted on that one,' Sinestra replied. Yet, there was a hint of question in her tone. Then...'Besides, the chamber was destroyed from the inside.'

'I've never heard of such a feat! How could he manage that?'

'He is who he is: that is how he could manage the impossible! Make no mistake of it, my dear Zendarin; he is the one fact that I consider a concern.'

'And yet you brought him here.'

'He would have come,' she retorted. 'He always comes. He always interferes. That is his nature. The best way to deal with that was to make him come on my terms, at my urging.' There was another pause, then, 'He must be even weaker now and if I know him, he will have fled below. He knows that must be where to go. I want you to send your pet after him—'

'I'd do that, my lady, except that the damned beast hasn't responded to an earlier summons! The last I traced it, the thing was in the vicinity of the nether dragon and since then.. .nothing.'

Sinestra let out a long, angry hiss. 'How cunning! Korialstrasz must have slipped around and sought to free the nether dragon! Go! Seek your mageslayer—'

Kalec did not hear the blood elf depart, but assumed that he would be wise enough to obey her. The blue started to speak, but then sensed that his unsettling companion did not wish him to do so.

'My sweet child...' she cooed in a manner that turned the blue dragon's blood cold. Her fury had now been replaced by a malevolent confidence. It was as if she had become an utterly different being from the one the moment before. 'Come to me, my sweet child....'

Dargonax moved upward, ever keeping his indistinct form between Kalec and the dark lady. 'Mlssstressss...'

The shift in Dargonax's speech startled Kalec nearly as much as Sinestra's odd, abrupt change in attitude. The creature sounded much younger, much less developed.

Much less of a threat?

'My Dargonax...my firstborn of a new world... Is there anything you would tell your mother?' 'Hungrrrrry...'

Sinestra chuckled. 'Of course, you are. Fear not, my darling. Soon you shall be fed, fed as you never have been before, oh yes... but from thereafter, you must learn to stave off your hunger. There will soon be others to feed, brothers and sisters in multitudes....'

Brothers and sisters in multitudes. Kalec imagined a dozen, a hundred more like Dargonax. What would become of Azeroth, then? He doubted that these newer ones would be as unstable as the pair that he and the others had fought. And even if they could eventually be stopped, how much bloodshed and destruction would they have committed by then?

Kalec thought of the sacrifice that Anveena had made to help her world begin the road to recovery. All that might be for naught if more of these dragons hatched.

He recalled a brief conversation that he, Krasus, and Iridi had had shortly after the struggle. While eating, Iridi had mentioned her impressions of the dragons, who were not black, blue, or nether. The word twilight had come to her, a word very apt in so many ways to these monstrous beings, if Dargonax and the pair were even the least of their example. The draenei had called them twilight dragons.

And they might just be the vessels by which Azeroth's own twilight would happen.

Caught in such thoughts, he missed what Sinestra said next. Only Dargonax's reply enabled him to figure out what it was.

'Yes.. .mother...' the creature answered in his false child-talk. 'Want to share.. .want them strong...'

Sinestra had obviously been emphasizing the fact that Dargonax could no longer expect to be the focus of all her efforts, that he would have no choice when she began feeding him less magical energy so that she could use it on the next generation. But even if Dargonax's creator did not notice the tiny hint of ire in the twilight dragon's voice, Kalec certainly did.. .and now he knew why his shadowy companion left hidden to Sinestra his rapid maturing.

Dargonax was jealous of the siblings to come.

Suddenly, although he had made no sound, no movement, the blue dragon sensed a change in Sinestra. That was verified all too well a moment later, when she snapped, 'What is that in there with you?'

'Nnnothing...'

'Nothing?'

Dargonax screamed and only because his roar was so loud did Kalec's own cry go unheard. The blue dragon suddenly felt as ifmolten earth rather than blood now flowed through his veins. It was all that he could do to avoid adding to the other scream. Dargonax roared again, his cry ending in a whimper.

'Do not lie to your mother. It hurts me more than you when I must punish you. Show me what you have there, my child....'

'Yesss...'

Kalec prepared himself to be tossed up to the lady in black, there to be subject to a fate that would make his recent pain a blessing. Yet, it was not he who flew upward—perhaps raised by Dargonax's paw; he could not tell —but a heavy lump that he had not noticed previous in the dark.

'So...' Sinestra said in an almost disappointed tone. 'Is that all, then? One of the missing guards. They left them to you.' ' Yesss...'

'Consider him an appetizer for what is to come. You will be obedient from here on, will you not, my darling son?' 'Yesss...' 'Yes what?'

Dargonax did not hesitate. 'Yes...mother...'

'Very good, Nefarian. Finally learning...'

There was the brief sound of movement away from the pit's edge and then silence. In that silence. Kalec pondered the interesting fact that Slnestra had called Dargonax by her prime son's name. Whether it had been accidental or not, he could not say, but it made him think of something.

It was another minute at least before Dargonax quietly rumbled, 'She has left.'

'I must get out of here,' Kalec immediately responded. 'Korialstrasz needs me....'

'He's the other? He is a...friend?'

'Yes,' the blue replied quickly. 'And he could be of great help to you. You want to escape her, don't you? You want to be free of her. It would be best if Korialstrasz is also able to help you.'

Dargonax considered this, then replied, 'Yes...that makes sense...it does...who is Nefarian? You know. I sense that you know....'

So, the twilight dragon had been as quick as Kalec at noting Sinestra's use of the name. 'He was also her son, the son of she and her mate, Deathwing. Nefarian was the eldest and most powerful of her children....'

“I would meet Nefarian,' the creature murmured. “I would meet my brother....'

'Nefarian is dead.' At least, that was as far as Kalec knew. Taking advantage of the mention of Sinestra's murderous offspring, the blue dared add, 'He failed her and she abandoned him to his enemies....'

There was silence. Dargonax either did not understand or was digesting the information. The twilight dragon was very, very clever, but perhaps it did not understand all things, being secluded here.

'My brother is dead. All my brothers are dead.'

The finality In Dargonax's statement shook Kalec as much as the last part itself did. Brothers...