Night of the Dragon

toward the tiny figures below.

We 're doomed, Rhonin realized. We are about to die and I don't even have the strength to cast Vereesa to safety.... Dargonax opened his huge maw.

A sharp pain was what finally caused Korlalstrasz to stir, a sharp pain in a familiar place.

The red dragon raised his head and stared at the area where he had been wounded by the black crystal. Yet, it did not strike him that the crystal was to blame... but rather something that had been hidden by the crystal's more obvious presence.

And now, here in Grim Batol, away from all else, he could finally sense it. Korialstrasz could finally tell what it was.

Ever you haunt me, child of Neltharion! The crimson behemoth concentrated his sudden fury on the spot. He twitched as renewed pain coursed through him, but did not give in to it. This time, Korialstrasz would cleanse himself.

From his scaled hide there suddenly shot out a small group of tiny shards. Most were of the black crystal and, thanks to his earlier efforts, absolutely harmless.

But with them was one golden piece no larger than a tiny pea.

'Curse of my life!' Korialstrasz growled. 'Damnable Demon Soul!'

Dismissing the other shards, he summoned the lone piece of the Demon Soul to him. It landed in his paw, so tiny and yet so insidious. With it now discovered, the red dragon could sense the secretive spell cast around it.

Already he felt stronger. Korialstrasz prepared to destroy the lone shard—then shut his palm around it. He looked to the chaotic fury going on atop Grim Batol, then stretching his wings full, rose into the air.

Sinestra watched with glee as events unfolded. In her mind, all went exactly as she desired. That Grim Batol itself was in dire turmoil did not matter. What did was that her creation had proven to be all she had hoped for and more... and would be outshone by the next generation she created once all those who sought to interfere were eradicated.

The black dragon leaned over the blue, who lay frozen at her feet. In her hand, she held one shard of the Demon Soul. It was all Sinestra needed to achieve her glorious future. Let a hundred dragons come; so long as Dargonax obeyed her, they would perish as Korialstrasz had... and the blue eventually would.

A steady golden glow surrounded Kalec. He was not unconscious, merely unable to move. Worse, once again his very essence was being drained, albeit in a more indiscriminate manner than previous.

But with her other devices and spells unavailable to her, Sinestra now used herself to help focus the energies to their final destination. Through the shard and herself, the mad dragon sent them forth in the form of the black radiance to Dargonax.

The nether dragon was no more, but his essence had not gone to waste. Again, thanks to her efforts, Dargonax had been able to ingest that essence and make himself even more powerful.

'Perfect...' she murmured. 'It has all come to pass....'

Then, the one thing that could shatter her insane confidence suddenly flew up from seemingly the dead to approach Dargonax. Sinestra roared her fury at the sight of Korialstrasz. The red was moments from reaching the monstrous figure.

And even from where she stood, Deathwing's consort could sense through the shard she held what Korialstrasz carried with him. It was no longer where her long-ago plotting had dictated. Secreted by the sorcerer under her control, under the guise of another magical attack. Now, her cunning trick to see to it that Alexstrasza's meddling consort would never face her with his full strength or faculties was coming back to haunt her.

If Korialstrasz willingly carried with him the piece of the Demon Soul once infecting him, there could be only one reason. It was a mad plan and surely could not work.

It surely could not...

Sinestra leaned forward. Korialstrasz was no match for Dargonax, no match for what she had wrought. There was no need to do anything but continue draining the blue and using it to feed her child. Dargonax would devour the red much as he had the nether dragon. There was no doubt of that.

And yet...It was Korialstrasz...

Sinestra glared at her creation, seeking any hint of trouble... and found something. Something that had been altered in Dargonax and gave Korialstrasz a chance after all...

Something that only the unique energies of a nether dragon might have caused...

With an outraged shriek, the black dragon held her own shard close to her as she soared after the hated red.

Sinestra's foul get was gargantuan. He was not quite as huge as an Aspect, but he certainly was as massive as Korialstrasz and certainly much more refreshed at the moment.

Nevertheless, the red leviathan did not hesitate. Indeed, it was vital that he close with Sinestra's abomination. Only then could he use the shard and hope that he had guessed right. At this point, there could only be one manner by which Deathwing's consort could control such a monster, the same manner by which Korialstrasz hoped now to destroy the fiend.

The hope was a desperate one and not likely to work, but it was all Korialstrasz had. He doubted Sinestra would leave such a weakness in Dargonax and yet...

The other dragon did not see him, the creature in the midst of diving down to terrorize and destroy the dwarves—and Rhonin and Vereesa, Korialstrasz sensed. That further spurred on the red dragon; he was already certain that Kalec was dead, Kalec who had rightly claimed that too many of those who had become involved with Korialstrasz over the centuries had paid the price for that association. The red dragon could not let that happen to the wizard and the high elf, especially not them.

He bellowed as loud as he could, demanding his foe pay mind to him, nothing else.

The amethyst leviathan obliged him.

'The red one...' Dargonax hissed slyly. 'Krasus or Korialstrasz, yes? I sense your great power... your energy...'

Korialstrasz said nothing, soaring toward Dargonax. The fiend sounded as mad as his creator.

The twilight dragon's eyes became silts. 'The blue told me you were cunning, but I see only a fool! I will enjoy devouring your essence as I did the nether's—'

'Would you rather not be free?'

Dargonax came up short. Hovering before the oncoming red, he growled, 'What do you mean? What trickery is this?'

'She will always command you, always keep your head bowed to her! Would you rather not be free of her mastery, you who are clearly more than any dragon ever born?'

'Oh, yes, I would be free...' Dargonax shimmered, '...but not as you'd like!'

He turned ethereal just before Korialstrasz, with a last, sudden burst of speed, tried to thrust the shard into him. The red dragon flew through his foe.

But even in failure, Korialstrasz learned much. First was that there was no shard inherent in Dargonax's physical form. The second was that the shimmering was not a part of his transformation to the ghostly form. Indeed, when it had happened, the red had sensed something altered at Dargonax's core, something that hinted of another force... one akin to the energies of the dead nether dragon.

The red dragon's hopes renewed. Banking, Korialstrasz turned for a second attempt.

A plume of lava struck him full in the chest. Stunned and out of control, he spun around and around. Only barely did he continue to hold onto the shard, although a part of him wondered if it was worth it.

As his head cleared, he saw Sinestra above Dargonax. The twilight dragon looked from one to the other and the loathing he had for the black was clear to Korialstrasz, although Dargonax was careful to hide it from her.

'For shame, Korialstrasz!' she mocked. 'You'll not take my Dargonax away from me!' The black dragon held her paw forward. 'He will always be mine...as Azeroth shall be...'

'Your insane dream stops here, Sinestra! Deathwing's insane dream stops here!'

As he had expected, mention of Neltharion threw her into a rage. Wings outstretched, she looked to Dargonax. 'He is—' Sinestra unexpectedly paused. 'Ah, well done, Korlalstrasz! You did want me to send him at