Night of the Dragon

She shoved them both to their feet. 'You are not fit to walk In Rhonin's footsteps....' The ranger spit in his face. At that moment, a desperate notion came to her, one so wildly improbable and yet the only hope that Vereesa had. 'And without that stolen staff, you are nothing to anyonel'

He grinned. 'Aah, but I do have the staff... and it can do many things for me, even while you cling to it...'

The large crystal turned as bright as the sun.

Vereesa threw her weight into thrusting the staff to her right. At the same time, she said a silent farewell to Rhonin and her sons.

The crystal struck the Demon Soul just as Zendarin unleashed the former's energies.

Someone grabbed the ranger from behind, tearing her from her cousin.

Zendarin Windrunner shrieked as both the head of the staff and the Demon Soul shattered. He was enveloped by energies from both, energies that tore him in opposite directions even as shards from the Demon Soul went flying throughout the chamber and the ruined staff burnt to ash. Zendarin, his face spreading wider and wider, reached for his cousin as if seeking her help.

The staff and its power were of Outland, not Azeroth. The ranger had prayed that its unusual energies would do what Sinestra had prevented her own world's magic from accomplishing—destroy the Demon Soul once and forever, even if it cost the high elf her life.

'You have all the magic you could ever hunger for,' Vereesa murmured unsympathetically. Her own life meant nothing now that she had made certain of her cousin's demise. The children, at least, would be safe. 'Why do you not savor it, Zendarin?'

The blood elf ceased shrieking as his body tore in two, the halves quickly dissipating In the spiraling energies. As the unleashed magic more and more filled the chamber, the ranger suddenly recalled her mysterious rescuer.

'We must keep moving!' Kalec shouted in her ear. 'Hurry! There's not much time!'

He looked and sounded far healthier than when Vereesa had seen him last, but she knew that could not be due to the Demon Soul being reshattered. Not even the blue dragon could have recovered in the space of a single second, much less have also seized her before the energies could do with her as they had her cousin. Still, Vereesa was glad to see Kalec and grateful for his quick action.

He dragged her toward the other chamber, but the intense energies began to pull them back. Kalec cast a shield around them, yet that barely slowed their backward movement.

'It's too much for me!' the blue shouted.

'What can we do?'

'You do nothing!' shouted another voice. Krasus's voice.

And in the next breath, the unleashed magic suddenly condensed, then rose up through the very rock, vanishing. As it did, both the high elf and Kalec fell forward.

A stillness settled over the chamber, a stillness broken by gloved hands raising up both of them by the arm.

The dragon mage smiled grimly at the pair... and the miracle of Kalec's recovery was minute compared to that of the red dragon. Krasus was whole, utterly whole, although he did not seem so pleased by that.

'Praise be!' Vereesa hugged him. 'But how? Where did you get the power to do all this, especially bind such a wound—' 'I am not responsible.' 'Then, it was Kalec, after all!'

'I've done nothing for him,' the blue piped up. 'I don't even remember him having any wound. It was a bad one, I take it?'

'Sinestra drove a stalactite through his chest and left him dying upon the ceiling!'

Krasus grimaced at this recollection. 'It was very nearly my time.'

Kalec shook his head in wonder. 'I'd think that I'd recall doing anything like that, if I even could do it. It was no miracle on my account that he's alive—'

'Ah, but there you are wrong, young one.' As both looked at Krasus in puzzlement, the dragon mage solemnly explained, 'Even though you have felt the loss of Anveena, you have also always felt that she was in your heart, your soul, have you not?' “I have. What of it?'

'I shall tell you as we move! There is much at stake!' As he led them toward another passage, Krasus said, 'She left you a small token of her own love, Kalec. A tiny part of her that did not return to being the Sunwell. It was what kept you alive when, under Sinestra's influence, you sought to slay me.'

'Great Korialstrasz... I never truly meant—'

'There is justification to your anger, but your violence was not by your choice. I know that. Sinestra was all at fault. The incident is forgotten. As I was saying, what Anveena left in you helped preserve, then save you. That says much.'

'Anveena...' Despite their situation, the blue smiled. His gaze looked to the unseen heavens.

'And, because I was near... and because she sought me to help protect you afterward...that same essence also healed me. It took all of its power to save us both and it shall never be able to do more now than remind you of her love. I sensed it earlier on, but never knew it—she—was capable of this much.'

Kalec grabbed his wrist. 'You talked with her—'

'She spoke to me. I have told you all she said during her brief materialization... and when I say her, I mean that which she left to protect you.'

'Anveena.. . I'm glad she was able to bring you back from so near the brink. If I'd had a choice, I'd have had her take care of you before me.'

The dragon mage guided them into a darkened corridor. 'And that is why she had the power to do that much, I believe.' He grunted. 'But as ungrateful as it sounds, I would wish that she had more to give us yet, for we will sorely need it.'

'But why?' asked Vereesa. 'With both my unlamented cousin's stolen staff and the Demon Soul no more, this surely puts to an end Sinestra's mad dreams!'

'There are variations upon variations to that mad dream as Deathwing's foul family has shown time and again... and one of those is the reason we must hurry! Have you not thought of what happened to all that was released by the destruction of both creations? Kalec, have you?'

The blue hesitated in mid-step. 'Do you mean—'

'Yes—' At that moment, there was a rumble from above. It shook the passage so much that Kalec had to quickly shield them before they would be buried under a small collapse. Krasus wasted no time on gratitude, instead remarking, 'It has reached what has been waiting for it. We are too late again.'

'But where did it go?' Vereesa demanded. 'Where did it go?'

Yet, it was not the dragon mage who answered that, but rather, Kalec.

'It's gone to Dargonax...' he said. 'It has to have gone to him....'

TWENTY-TWO

Rhonin could not believe the size of the behemoth. Other than Korialstrasz and the great Aspects, this Dargonax was the hugest dragon that he had ever seen. It had, in truth, been all he could do to stand before it with his expression unfazed. Indeed, only his experiences fighting Deathwing had made him able to face such a monster.

Krasus, I could surely use you now, the wizard thought. However, there was no telling where the dragon mage was and Rhonin could not stand there hoping that his mentor would suddenly materialize to save the day. It appeared the fate of everything was in his hands.

So be it, then. The crimson-haired spellcaster did not wait. He struck, but not at Dargonax.

It was perhaps audacity that enabled his spell to have some effect. After all, Sinestra no doubt expected him to attack her creation, not her. Thus it was that she was suddenly encircled by green bands of energy that pinned her arms to her sides and her legs together.