A Nerubian's Journey
Chapter 44

As Krivax walked through the streets of Dalaran while making his way to the Violet Hold, he couldn’t help but feel a strange sort of… pride. That was perhaps a strange thing to feel while walking toward a magical prison, but Krivax could tell that by looking around him that things were beginning to move in the right direction.

He still remembered the expressions of worry and fear that he had grown used to seeing on the faces of Dalaran’s natives after the start of the war. The Alliance was more than holding its own and had achieved many successes on the battlefield, but that did little to comfort those who lived in constant fear of losing their loved ones to the Horde. After the Horde seemed to form some kind of alliance with the forest trolls of Zul’Aman, that fear had reached new heights.

There had been a brief boost to morale when Azjol-Nerub announced its intention to declare war on the Horde several months ago, but that boost faded when it became clear there would be few immediate changes. Aside from the lengthy investigations that the High King had to conduct into the Order’s history and activities, there was a lot of logistical work that needed to be done to properly prepare a kingdom for war.

Food needed to be stockpiled, weapons needed to be forged, and transportation needed to be accounted for. It turns out that while portals were perfectly fine for transporting a relatively small number of important individuals, consistently transporting entire armies was a monumental task. Not only that, but it was difficult to open multiple permanent portals to the same place due to the interactions that portals had on leylines.

The Dark Portal was an extreme exception, given that it was created by one of the most powerful mages in the Warcraft franchise, who also just happened to be possessed by an evil god.

Dalaran was quite capable, but they couldn’t quite compare to that.

Things would have been far easier if Azjol-Nerub was able to transport its army over the sea, but Azjol-Nerub’s navy was still pretty much in the planning stages and the Alliance Navy was already in full deployment against the Horde.

Despite all of these difficulties, the portal between Dalaran and En’kilah had been in a state of nearly constant use for the past few months, and Azjol-Nerub’s contributions to the war effort were steadily increasing. The effect of this had been profound for the people of the Eastern Kingdoms, who now looked to the future with a sense of optimism and hope that they lacked just a few months ago.

Krivax knew that the Alliance would have prevailed over the Horde even without Azjol-Nerub’s help, but he still couldn’t help but feel proud of his accomplishments whenever he looked at the smiling faces of the pedestrians.

Krivax felt his mood brighten further as he spotted one of his favorite new developments to happen in the past few months.

“Ms. Sherwood! How’s business today?” Krivax asked as he diverted from his path to approach the kindly old woman who was standing behind a food stall.

“Business has been good, dear. Especially with you stopping by so often,” Ms. Sherwood said with a fond smile. “Would you like your usual, or are you willing to try something new? I just received a shipment of Silverpine Fireflies, and I’d like to hear the opinion of my favorite customer.”

Most people were still generally uncomfortable being around nerubians, but Ms. Sherwood seemed to be a notable exception. Krivax had noticed that the looks that he received from the common folk were gradually growing more friendly ever since Azjol-Nerub started fighting the Horde in earnest, so had hope that Ms. Sherwood would not be an exception forever.

“Well I do enjoy trying new things,” said Krivax as he handed over a few Lordraenian copper pieces. “And I’ve never been disappointed by any of your goods.”

Ms. Sherwood chuckled and presented him with a piece of freshly baked bread filled with faintly glowing insects, “Oh, there’s no need to flatter an old woman like me.”

Krivax took a bite of the bread and immediately let out a sigh of satisfaction. It was a bit difficult for him to recall exactly what things used to taste like when he was human after living as a nerubian for over six years, but he had no complaints as far as food went in his second life.

“It’s delicious, Ms. Sherwood,” said Krivax, sharing his honest opinion. “I’m sure it will sell well with all of the new nerubians passing through the city.”

The number of nerubians in Dalaran had soared since Azjol-Nerub’s entry into the war, and there was no shortage of merchants looking to make money accommodating them.

“Oh, I’m sure it will, dear, but money’s not why I do this,” said Ms. Sherwood. “I’m just a baker, and these insects are still rather expensive. I doubt that I’ll make very much profit when all’s said and done.”

“If it’s not profitable, then why are you baking specifically for nerubians?” Krivax asked curiously.

“Well, my grandson’s a mage and he’s been sent off to fight the Horde,” said Ms. Sherwood, her expression a mixture of pride and sadness. “The boy tries to ease my heart by sending back letters, but I can’t help but worry for him. I hear from my friends all the time about how dangerous those monsters are, and I’ve been to too many funerals lately. I could tell from his letters early on in the war that he wasn’t expecting to come back home…”

Krivax was filled with a wave of sympathy as he listened to the old woman’s story, “I’m sorry to hear that, Ms. Sherwood.”

“Don’t be, dear,” said the old woman, shaking her head. “I’m luckier than most, and things are starting to look better thanks to you spiderfolk. My grandson told me that it’s thanks to you folk that there were any survivors after what happened over in Tol Barad.”

“I think you should thank the Alliance Navy for that, Ms. Sherwood,” Krivax said honestly.

Tol Barad was an island south of Gilneas whose population was nearly completely slaughtered by the Horde. While it was true that the scouting capabilities of the Alliance Navy’s nerubian flyers allowed them to discover the attack almost immediately, the actual fighting had been done by the Alliance.

“I’d thank them too if they were here in front of me, but that doesn’t change the fact that you folk are helping us,” said Ms. Sherwood, her tone chiding. “Besides, that ain’t all you’ve done. My grandson fought down in Hillsbrad and he told me all about how one of those big beetle fellas helped them fight off the greenskins. I can’t do much to show my appreciation, but the least I can do is make sure I’m selling something you folk like to eat.”

Krivax felt touched. He didn’t have very many opportunities lately to speak with the common people of the Eastern Kingdoms given his position, so it was nice to hear evidence that he was actually impacting Azeroth in a positive way. Krivax only hoped that continued to be the case.

“Where is your grandson fighting now? Is he still in Hillsbrad?”

“He was, but the Alliance has decided to send him to help over in Quel’Thalas,” Ms. Sherwood said before her expression suddenly turned pleading. “I’m not sure what you can tell me, but have you heard anything about how things are going over there? I’ve heard that those nasty trolls are fighting with the Horde now.”

After failing to conquer the Hillsbrad Foothills, the Horde had freed a troll warlord by the name of Zul’jin from some Alliance keep before traveling east to the Hinterlands. From there, they made the mistake of antagonizing the Wildhammer Dwarves, who quickly set upon them with their Gryphon riders. The Horde took significant casualties until they managed to increase their number of undead dragons and contest the Wildhammer’s air superiority.

However, the Hinterlands was not the Horde’s main objective and they quickly began marching further north toward Quel’thalas. Krivax didn’t exactly remember everything that had happened during the Second War, but it didn’t take a genius to realize why the Horde was attacking the elves.

The Horde needed the forest trolls to help them pass through lands that they were unfamiliar with quickly, and Zul’Aman considered Quel’Thalas to be their mortal enemies.

Krivax had been reading reports of the ongoing battles, and it seemed clear to him that the war was reaching its most bloody period. The Horde had finally managed to transfer the bulk of its forces across Baradin Bay and was attempting to completely overwhelm the Alliance with their superior numbers. With the aid of the forest trolls, they had managed to inflict a humiliating defeat on QuelThalas, burning much of their countryside, and it seemed like the elves were being pushed back towards Silvermoon.

Despite this, Krivax knew that Azjol-Nerub was sending more and more troops to the Eastern Kingdoms with every passing day. Spiderlord and jormungar were effective in breaking Horde positions in any battle they participated in, and swarms of skitterers flooded over enemy lines.

Time was decidedly not on the Horde’s side.

Krivax thought about what he could and couldn’t say before he responded, “The fighting is at its bloodiest right now, but all signs point to things turning in the Alliance’s favor soon.”

As long as we don’t lose to Deathwing once we replace the Dragon Soul, that is.

Ms. Sherwood thanked him for the reassuring news and gave him another piece of firefly bread to show her appreciation. Krivax said his farewells and once again began making his way to the Violet Hold with his spirits lifted.

It didn’t take long for Krivax to reach his destination and replace himself being stopped by a pair of guards who asked him to state his name and business.

“Vizier Krivax with the Anomalous Magic Research Division,” Krivax said with a hint of exasperation as he provided the name of the Order’s successor organization. He wasn’t quite sure if non-nerubians were just that bad at distinguishing nerubian features or if security was just that strict since this was a prison, but the guards continued to ask his name even though he’d visited the Violet Hold many times. “I’m here to request a progress report from Archmage Kel’Thuzad and Queen Khitix down in level four.”

Krivax couldn’t help but sympathize as he watched the guards stiffen once he mentioned ‘level four,’ which was one of the deepest portions of the Violet Hold, which was where the Kirin Tor ran the most ‘intensive’ of its experiments on their most dangerous prisoners.

The Circle of Viziers had negotiated a research agreement with the Kirin Tor, and there was now a significant amount of cooperation between the two organizations when it came to research of all kinds, especially magical. The last time that Krivax had seen Kel’Thuzad and Queen Khitix, the two of them had been thoroughly and joyfully… examining a Death Knight, so he could see why most people would not want to have anything to do with level four.

The guards quickly checked his credentials and examined him for any mind-altering and shapeshifting magic, along with a variety of other magics, before sending him on his way.

Once he was inside, Krivax immediately began making his way past the various guards, researchers, and of course, prisoners and test subjects in their cells behind bars and violet-colored arcane barriers. Level one was mainly filled with regular criminals, a variety of non-magical animals that were generally used for experimentation, and other mundane things.

He wasn’t surprised to see that many of the researchers were nerubians, as his new organization often had personnel moving throughout the Violet Hold.

The newly formed ‘Anomalous Magic Research Division’ had been named in a way that was deliberately similar to the other divisions of the Circle of Viziers. From an outside perspective, the division was a response to the discovery of the Light and was responsible for researching it and any other ‘strange’ forms of magic that Azjol-Nerub might be exposed to during its exploration of the world outside of Northrend.

And while they did devote some of their resources to the study of the Light and several other new discoveries, especially after discovering how it interacted with the Void, the Anomalous Magic Research Division had a few notable differences from other divisions. While most divisions had regional branches for each city, there was only one Anomalous Magic Research Division, and they answered directly to the High King.

The only regional branches were the Northrend and Eastern Kingdom branches, while the Kalimdor branch was expected to be created once contact was made with the continent.

Honestly, Krivax wasn’t completely certain why the High King chose to set things up this way, but he knew that there was an annoying amount of politics and bureaucracy involved. But whatever his motivations, it seemed like the only ones who knew that the division was the successor organization to the Order of Kal’tut were those who were supposed to know.

It was honestly quite impressive.

Following Krivax’s conversation with the High King, he and Hadix had been transferred to the Eastern Kingdom’s branch of the division. Neither one of them was particularly upset by this.

Hadix was happy as long as the Void was being confronted and Krivax hadn't actually seen that much change to his daily duties, at least not yet. Azjol-Nerub had ultimately decided that he was more valuable in his role as a diplomat than anywhere else and had seen fit to leave him there, for which he was grateful.

He knew for a fact that, based on what Hadix told him, many other former members of the Order were not particularly pleased with their various reassignments. Unfortunately for them, they would either learn to adapt or the High King would make his displeasure known.

Hadix trusted his colleagues to learn to play ball with their new lot in life quickly… or not. Krivax had gotten the feeling that his mentor didn’t particularly care one way or another if they chose to act ‘foolishly,’ as he put it.

It was one of the few times that Krivax didn’t mind being overlooked due to his relatively young age since it resulted in the High King viewing him as ‘low-risk.’ His meeting with the High King, and his subsequent meeting with the council, had already been tense enough for Krivax to know he much preferred to not be the subject of the High King’s attention.

Krivax’s musing was cut short as he passed through the portal that would take him directly down to level four. The Violet Hold was specifically warded to prevent teleportation in and out of prison, but specialized portals still allowed for internal teleportation, and could be activated and deactivated as necessary.

Basically like a magical high-security elevator.

He could feel highly complex wards run over him to once again check him for a variety of magics once he arrived on the other side of the portal. Although level four wasn’t designed much differently from any other level in the Violet Hold, Krivax immediately felt more tense. Not only was level four mostly empty of activity and the prisoners vastly more dangerous, but he could also feel… something watching him whenever he was there.

Krivax had once asked Archmage Kel’Thuzad about where that feeling came from, but the only answer that he had received was that it was ‘security.’

Krivax hurriedly skittered through halls, intent on getting his business done as quickly as possible. After passing by one cell that contained what to be a naga sea witch and another that contained a massive fire elemental, Krivax turned down the hallway that led toward his destination. Even if this had been his first time making this trip, Krivax would know that he was headed in the right direction by the increasing amount of ‘anomalous’ entities contained within.

Primarily, these entities were things that both Azjol-Nerub and the Dalaran had little experience in, such as the previously unknown races of the Horde, the necromantic magic of the Death Knights, and the Void in general. Krivax paused outside Kel’Thuzad’s primary laboratory and shuddered as he spotted a void-corrupted creature that vaguely resembled a male dwarf.

“Fascinating creature, isn’t it?”

Krivax flinched in surprise and turned to see Archmage Kel’Thuzad standing at the entrance of his lab.

“It was captured recently by Anub’rekhan and delivered to us for examination,” said Kel’Thuzad, either not noticing Krivax’s discomfort or choosing to ignore it completely. “Although I replace myself to be far more interested in necromantic magic than I am in shadow magic, or Void as you nerubians refer to it, I do believe there’s much that we can learn from its study. Did you know that despite appearing superficially to be a corrupted dwarf, this creature could actually be considered an entirely different species?”

“Uh… No?”

“There are many examples of creatures with magically altered physiologies that we know of resulting in reproductively viable creatures, but such a thing is usually difficult to replicate artificially,” said Archmage Kel’Thuzad, his normally dull eyes lighting up at the topic. “But when one is using the Void there seems to be an exception. These creatures seem to be entirely capable of reproduction, and their offspring are born similarly corrupted to themselves. Reproducing this result with the Void is extremely simple. Queen Khitix was extremely delighted when we discovered this phenomenon.”

“That's… nice, Archmage. I’m glad to hear that your experiments are producing results,” said Krivax, trying his best not to think about how exactly they managed to discover that phenomenon.

“As am I. Research has been much more productive since the Kirin Tor began cooperating with your people,” said Kel’Thuzad. The Archmage abruptly turned and began walking back into his lab with Krivax quickly following behind him after a moment of hesitation.

The laboratory itself was well-lit and filled with tools fit for magical research and shelves that contained a variety of spellbooks lined the walls. There was a workbench that seemed to hold a mortar and pestle, as well as numerous vials that held an assortment of strangely colored alchemical substances. Enchanted tools, most of which Krivax was unable to recognize, were all organized neatly in a corner of the room.

Honestly, Kel’Thuzad’s laboratory would have looked far more ordinary than he had expected… if not for its occupants.

Krivax glanced over at the massive form of Queen Khitix, who was currently looming over the dismembered torso of a Death Knight that was being magically suspended in the air over an arcane glyph. The Death Knight’s limbs were also suspended near his torso, giving him the appearance of some kind of doll that a malicious child had chosen to tear apart.

As generally horrifying as the sight was, it was made worse by the fact that the Death Knight was still ‘alive’ and was glaring at Queen Khitix with a mixture of hatred and despair. Death Knights were extremely difficult to kill and didn’t need to worry about mundane concerns like eating or bleeding out.

While the Queen was nominally Krivax’s superior in the Anomalous Magic Research Division, she seemed content to ignore him in favor of doing… whatever she was doing with the Death Knight.

Aside from the Queen and her test subject, the only other occupant in the room was a cat that was calmly lounging in a corner of the laboratory…

“While I do enjoy speaking about my research, I am quite busy so I believe it would be best if we moved on to business. How may I help you, Vizier Krivax?” asked Kel’Thuzad, drawing Krivax’s attention away from the strange sight.

“I’ve been sent to request an update on the progress of your research in regard to Project Dragonseeker and Project Deanimation,” said Krivax. Given that he was both a diplomat and a member of the Anomalous Magic Research Division, he was the most logical choice to act as a liaison between the division and the Kirin Tor.

The Archmage rarely left his laboratory without reason and had a tendency to become engrossed in his work, so there was a need to occasionally send someone to personally receive progress reports.

Kel’Thuzad’s expression twisted into one of displeasure. “Project Deanimation has seen little progress. While it’s a relatively simple thing to create an alchemical substance that affects the undead, it is much more difficult to create a substance that can affect the undead while not also affecting the living. While I am quite certain that it’s possible, achieving success will take more time than expected.”

Project Deanimation referred to Kel’Thuzad’s efforts to create an alchemical poison that only affected the undead, which was something that very much interested Krivax for obvious reasons. Channeling the Archmage’s fascination with the undead into something constructive was definitely a step in the right direction as far as he was concerned.

It was disappointing to hear that the project was making little progress, but such a result was probably to be expected. If it was so easy to create such a poison, then the Lich King would not have been near as much of a threat as he actually was.

“As for Project Dragonseeker, we have made the opposite of progress. I’m nearly certain that it is impossible,” said Kel’Thuzad, causing Krivax to let out a sigh of disappointment.

Project Dragonseeker was an attempt to develop divination rituals that could both accurately detect the location of things being hidden by the Void over long distances and pierce through Void-based anti-divination wards. The Order of Kal’tut had been working on similar rituals for most of its history, but only achieved limited results. There had been some hope that collaboration between a wide range of researchers would have been more successful, but it seemed like that wasn’t going to be the case.

“According to our experiments, the Void seems to naturally gain a certain degree of sentience once it reaches sufficient levels of concentration,” Kel’Thuzad continued to explain. “Any spells that we create are simply adapted to and overcome. The divination ritual that Azjol-Nerub provided to us is likely already the limit of what is possible. Improving on it further is impossible unless we are somehow able to create arcane spells with similar degrees of intelligence, and that is far beyond our capabilities. The Void just seems to be remarkably well-suited to this manner of magic.”

Krivax was once again disappointed, but still not particularly surprised. As far as he was concerned, attempting to replace the Dragon Soul with arcane magic was a fool's errand given that Malygos would have likely already done so if it were possible.

“Thank you Archmage. I’ll be sure to pass your words on to Vizier Hadix and the rest of the Council of Six as soon as possible. If there’s nothing further, then I’ll allow you to return to your research,” said Krivax, more than ready to leave.

“Before you go, Vizier Krivax, there is one thing that I’d like to know,” said Kel’Thuzad, stopping Krivax in place. “Given the failure of Project Dragonseeker, I would like to know whether or not any of our other efforts to locate the Dragon Soul have been met with more success?”

“Together with the Dragonflights, we’ve managed to narrow it down greatly and eliminate a lot of possibilities, but we still haven’t found it,” Krivax said grimly. Even though he had always known that his metaknowledge would gradually become less and less useful, it was still frustrating to not know something so important. “Lord Malygos seems to believe that the Dragon Soul is most likely somewhere with the Horde. According to him, Deathwing would favor keeping it somewhere that is well-defended and easily accessible rather than relying purely on subterfuge.”

There had been a few proposals to send in spies to look for the Dragon Soul, but there was too great a risk of them being discovered and their memories searched.

“Hm. That is unfortunate,” said Kel’Thuzad, a hint of worry creeping into his voice. Regardless of anything else, Deathwing was a threat that everyone in Azeroth needed to worry about. The longer that he remained alive, the worse things were going to get. “But I suppose there’s nothing more to be done about it. If we’ve managed to narrow down the location to somewhere within the Horde, then I’m sure it's only a matter of time before we replace it.”

Krivax hoped that would be the case. He truly didn’t know how he would deal with it if his actions actually resulted in a worse outcome for Azeroth…

After saying his farewells to the Archmage, Krivax made his way out of the Violet Hold in a worse mood than when he went in and feeling a bit worried for the future. However, he had one more errand to handle for the day, so Krivax forced himself to focus on the present instead of on his pessimistic thoughts.

During his first visit to the city, he had hired a few goblins from the Venture Company to go out and replace something for him, and Krivax had just recently received a letter back from them claiming success…

Weaving a ward around himself that would allow him to walk through the streets relatively unnoticed, Krivax quickly began making his way to the Underbelly.

Situated deep within the Nexus, an ancient fortress that served as the Blue Dragonflight’s ancestral home, the Aspect of Magic listened wearily as an excited young dragon spoke about his time in Dalaran.

Malygos found it slightly easier to speak with Kalecgos than the other members of his flight. The whelp still looked at him with the same undeserved reverence as the others, but he at least lacked their pity…

Even his fellow Aspects alternated between treating Malygos like he was a wounded animal or a mana bomb that threatened to explode at any moment.

Can you really blame them? You spent the past ten thousand years wallowing in sorrow and forsaking your duties. Why would they look at you any other way?

As was slowly starting to become a habit since he had left his lair, Malygos quickly cast a spell on himself to search for the Void’s influence only to replace nothing. His aberrant thoughts seemed to be nothing more than the symptoms of a mind that had been deteriorating for millennia.

Malygos forced himself not to think about that and focused his attention on Kalecgos. The whelp was supposed to be giving him a briefing on the ongoings of that mortal city, but he seemed to be more interested in talking about something else. Malygos listened for a few moments as Kalecgos went on about how ‘fascinating’ the mortals were and how glad he was that he was able to interact with them without hiding the fact that he was a dragon.

“As interesting as this is, I believe we’ve veered off topic,” said Malygos, interrupting the young dragon and causing an embarrassed expression to grow on his face that reminded Malygos too much of his youngest son, Unbe… Umbra…

Holding back a growl of frustration, Malygos sullenly cast a quick memory recollection spell. As soon as the spell was finished, he was suddenly bombarded with memories of his youngest son Umbreskul, who was currently still alive but sleeping in stasis after suffering the incurable effects of a magical accident.

While you indulged in your misery, your own son was forgotten. What would Sindragosa think if she was still alive?

Malygos forced himself to ignore the reminder of another family member who he had failed and focused on the present.

“I apologize, Lord Malygos,” Kalecgos said guiltily. “My thoughts have a tendency to get away from me at times.”

“It is quite alright, young one,” said Malygos, struggling to keep his voice gentle. “That is quite common among members of our Flight and is something that will become easier to control with age. But please, focus on telling me about our efforts to search for the Dragon Soul.”

The mere mention of the artifact that had been used to slaughter most of his Flight threatened to throw Malygos into a rage, but he forced himself to control his emotions as best he could before young Kalecgos.

“Oh, right. Queen Alexstrasza said that we’re pretty close to replaceing it,” Kalecgos said seriously. “We think the Dragon Soul is probably being held by the Twilight Hammer Clan given that they seem to be Void practitioners, but we’re not really certain.”

Malygos thought about it and decided that it sounded like something that Neltharion would do. The Dragon Soul needed to be kept within mortal hands in order to be effective, and those who were already corrupted by the Void would be the easiest for Neltharion to control.

“Have you delivered my proposal to her about the dragonsworn? How did she respond?” said Malygos, his mind sorting through the magical artifacts contained within the Nexus’ vault.

Alexstrasza had refused at first to send her dragonsworn to search for the Dragon Soul among the Horde, citing concerns that any spies that were sent would be captured and have their minds plundered by Neltharion. She worried that if their traitorous brother discovered how close they were to replaceing the Dragon Soul, then he would move it elsewhere and they would need to spend several more months searching for it.

It was a reasonable concern, so Malygos developed a spell that would utterly destroy the soul of the mortal as soon as they were captured. Unfortunately, the existence of necromancy made it necessary to go to such great lengths when keeping secrets. Raising intelligent undead was not perfectly reliable and suicide was not exactly uncommon among spies, so such a spell should not cause undue suspicion.

As long as Neltharion was unable to read their mind, then it would be impossible for him to distinguish the dragonsworn from the rest of the mortals who were undoubtedly spying on the Horde.

When Kalecgos failed to answer, Malygos turned his attention to the younger dragon’s hesitant expression and instantly knew that he was about to hear something unpleasant.

“Speak, Kalecgos.”

“Well… Queen Alexstrasza is refusing to send in any dragonsworn.”

Malygos instantly lost control of his anger and his voice thundered across the Nexus, “What?! Does she not understand how important this is? What reason could she possibly have for such a foolish decision?”

“Q-Queen Alexstrasza said the risk is too high and your methods are too c-cruel,” Kalecgos said nervously.

Malygos immediately let out a bellowing roar filled with anger and frustration.

Alexstrasza was always like this, choosing to hold on to her soft-hearted views when the fate of the world was hanging in the balance! Who cared about the souls of a few mortals? What had they ever done aside from allowing their greed and foolishness to shatter the world?!

They didn’t lose as much as you did! Their Flights aren’t shattered like yours!

Malygos didn’t know for how long he raged, but by the time he was done, much of his lair had been destroyed and Kalecgos was backed into a corner and huddled behind an arcane barrier. The sight instantly doused any remnants of anger within him and replaced them with guilt.

“Lord Malygos, are you alright now?” Kalecgos asked tentatively, releasing his barrier.

“Yes, I am,” Malygos said regretfully. “I apologize, Kalecgos. I did not intend to frighten you.”

“I understand. Even while you were enraged, you still avoided attacking anything near me,” said Kalecgos, seemingly unaffected by the situation. “I know that things have been difficult for our Flight, so moments like this are to be expected. I trust you not to hurt me, Lord Malygos.”

Malygos wished that he shared Kalecgos’ faith. There were times that he felt as if he wanted nothing more than to destroy everything around him, and he didn’t trust himself to avoid spreading that desire to his Flight.

Malygos listened patiently as Kalecgos finished sharing Alexstrasza’s decision. Apparently, she wished to meet with him in a few days to discuss a new plan for replaceing the Dragon Soul. After agreeing to meet with Alexstrasza, he quickly sent the younger dragon away and began considering his options.

If Alexstrasza was so reluctant to risk the lives of mortals, then there was little that they could actually do to verify the Dragon Souls' location. If the Twilight Hammer Clan was truly corrupted by the Void, then it would be difficult for Ysera to see into their dreams, and Nozdormu never shared any information that he didn’t wish to…

In the space of a few moments, Malygos considered half a dozen plans before dismissing them as being either too ‘immoral’ for Alexstrasza to accept or simply too unfeasible.

Do they not see how important this is?

As far as Malygos was concerned, every moment that Neltharion remained alive felt torture. There wasn’t a moment when the knowledge that his traitorous brother was still alive while most of his Flight remained dead was not tearing Malygos’ mind.

If you wish to kill Neltharion then you will need to take a risk.

He already knew that if he was to inform his fellow Aspects about what he was currently considering, they would not react well…

For good reason.

Malygos likely knew more about the Dragon Soul’s magic than any other being on Azeroth, aside from Neltharion. He was the one who convinced his siblings to imbue the artifact with their power, something that he had only done after a thorough examination.

That was why Malygos was certain of his ability to resist the Dragon Soul’s effect long enough for him to escape if such a thing ever became necessary. Given that, was there anything preventing Malygos from going to search for it himself? He was perfectly capable of casting an invisibility spell that could fool even the greatest of mortal mages.

With reckless plans forming in his mind, he began making his way to the Nexus’ vault. Because after ten millennia of doing nothing, Malygos intended to take action.

No matter the cost.