you, did you not?' She cocked her head. 'No answer from you? Perhaps
The red dragon roared as his paw suddenly thrashed uncontrollably. He opened his paw—
The shard that he had hoped to use on Dargonax was now no more than a puddle that dripped through the air... and with it went Korialstrasz's last hope.
TWENTY-FOUR
The moment that the red dragon appeared, Rhonin tried to get the others to flee. Vereesa, however, had another concern. 'We must find Iridi....'
With a nod to his wife's sense, the wizard and she rushed off to where he had last seen the draenei, while Grenda reorganized her people in preparation for any attack, even by Dargonax or his creator.
'She should've been near here,' the wizard muttered, eyeing the area in exasperation. 'She was supposed to stay out of danger....'
The sharp-eyed ranger studied the ground. 'Iridi went this direction.'
'That leads her back toward Grim Batol. Of course.'
With Vereesa in the lead, they raced to where the trail led. Above, the dragons roared, but Rhonin kept his focus on finding the priestess. At this point, the outcome above was in the hands—paws —of Korialstrasz.
But while Rhonin had often had confidence in his mentor, he wondered exactly what the red could possibly do under these extreme circumstances.
'Rhonin!'
Vereesa pointed at a rocky formation just ahead... a rocky formation that was in actuality a body. The two ran to Iridi, certain that she was dead.
But as Vereesa gently turned her over, the draenei let out a low moan. Her eyes fluttered open.
'Does it...still...fly?'
They knew what she meant. Vereesa answered, 'The monster still flies, yes.'
'Twilight...dragon...that's what I called it...' She coughed. Twilight of the...dragons...of all Azeroth...' Iridi coughed again. 'Perhaps...'
Rhonin noticed her hesitation on the last. 'What do you mean?'
'The staff... It still lies near me? I can't feel it, anymore.' The draenei grimaced. 'I miss that. I miss the closeness.'
Vereesa located the naaru creation. 'Here it is.'
Iridi managed to grasp it with one hand. She looked at the crystal. The draenei grimaced. Rhonin started to speak to her, but suddenly the crystal glimmered.
The priestess stared at him. 'There's something...left in it, but it reacts...reacts to you. wizard...the naaru...have you...have you communed with them before this?'
Rhonin gave both her and his wife a puzzled look. 'I've never spoken with one of them. If that's what you mean...'
'Yet...something deep in the staff...woke...something I can't sense...you are touched by someone, if not the naaru...I...wonder... perhaps there is something... please, can you... can you help me up?'
Rhonin was reluctant, but Vereesa urged him to help. With the pair's aid, Iridi managed to stand.
The draenei pointed at Dargonax, who at the moment hovered near Sinestra, a new arrival to the trio.
'This just gets better,' grumbled Rhonin. 'Vereesa, you stay with her! I've got to go and do what I can for him—'
But Iridi managed to take hold of his arm. 'Wait! You can't go! There's something... you need to see it...'
'See what?'
'Look there!' the priestess suddenly called.
However, the wizard saw nothing save impending doom for Korialstrasz. He looked to the high elf.
With a frown, Vereesa said, 'I thought—I thought that for a moment—the twilight dragon shimmered—'
''Shimmered'?' Rhonin gazed at Dargonax. To Iridi, he asked, 'Is that significant?'
'P-pralse Zzeraku...he did more than...than he imagined...' The draenei looked grim. She was clearly dangerously near her end. 'It may mean our salvation...or it may not...'
'For the final time, Sintharia,' Korlalstrasz began, purposely using the name that the black dragon no longer desired. 'I warn you to reconsider—'
'You are simply laughable, Korialstrasz! Indeed, there is no more need to tolerate your existence! Dargonax....'
The twilight dragon looked as if he would have preferred to devour his creator, but he certainly had no qualms anymore doing the same to the red. After all, with his mistress guiding the matter, Dargonax stood to gain all that was Korialstrasz...and thus become an even greater terror to Azeroth.
That left only a lone option for Korialstrasz... to take Dargonax with him.
If that was at all possible.
The amethyst leviathan fell upon the red—only to be unexpectedly struck in the side by a sleek, blue-tinted form.
Kalec and Dargonax exchanged furious roars. The pair slashed and snapped at one another. The blue glowed, possibly seeking to further protect himself from the twilight dragon with a magical shield.
But although the younger dragon fought zealously, Korialstrasz could see how weak he truly was. That Kalec had also come from the same direction as Deathwing's consort explained to the red how she had been able to feed Dargonax so much more power when he had been fighting against Zzeraku.
Korialstrasz knew that he should try for Sintharla, but he could not let Kalec fight Dargonax alone. Torn between the two choiceshe finally threw himself into the struggle alongside the blue.
His intervention only made the twilight dragon laugh. 'Come then both of you to me... I will merely feast greater...'
He seized Kalec and threw the blue into Korialstrasz. The red could not veer out of the way in time. The pair collided with a sound like a thunderclap.
Wasting no time, Dargonax battered the tangled pair with his long tail. The amethyst beast then brought his tail to Korialstrasz. As he did, the twilight dragon turned ethereal. Dargonax thrust his tall through the red—
And turned solid again.
Korialstrasz barely realized in time what his foe intended. He twisted in mld-air, seeking to escape the tail. He was only partially successful.
The red dragon cried out in pain. Already twisting, he ripped open a gap in his side where the tail had stuck in.
As terrible as the agony was, it surely would have been worse if not for Dargonax quickly reverting to an incorporeal form. The twilight dragon had wanted to slay his adversary, but not at the cost of being dragged down with him.
From his maw, Kalec unleashed a blue cloud. It enveloped the ghostly giant, then crystallized around him.
Dargonax briefly writhed, as if freezing solid. Then, the Devourer opened his mouth—and immediately sucked in the magic that Kalec had unleashed. The cloud vanished.
As he finished swallowing, the twilight dragon momentarily shimmered, then solidified again. At the same time, he caught a stunned Kalec hard in the side with one vast wing.
The blue went hurtling down toward the lava. Korialstrasz dove after him. only to be snagged from behind by Dargonax's claws.
'You first I'll feed upon!' the gargantuan beast declared. 'Then his essence will I take! Then... then nothing will there be as powerful!'
'There—there will always be her!' Korialstrasz reminded him.
