The Flight of the Blue Dragons
- Location
- Australia
The flight of the Blue Dragonflight
"I wish I could go with you" I sat side to side with Cyanigosa, watching as the Blue Dragonflight began final preparations before flying off to meet with the other Dragonflights at Wyrmpeak. "Lord Malygos wouldn't let anyone use the War Trial after you broke it!" She lightly punched my shoulder, grinning cheekily.
I smirked at her. "Sorry I'm just so great that the War Trial had to break its own rules to even challenge me". I lifted my arm and ruffled her hair, ignoring her attempts at batting my hand away.
Lord Malygos had ordered that no one was to use the War Trial until he had returned from the war. He also ordered that no one but the Wyrms were to know what exactly happened, meaning that I had to put up with the Blue Dragonflight thinking I had somehow broken the War Trial so badly that Lord Malygos had to interfered. Cyanigosa hadn't hesitated at all to start teasing me over it, and Varian's lessons had been insufferable, dealing with the very basics of enchantment safety, thankfully I had been getting far less lessons from him than before the incident, Sindragosa seemingly taking every opportunity to teach me she could.
We sat in silence for a minute, merely enjoying each other company, and the sight of hundreds of Blue Dragons hurrying about the impromptu staging grounds that Lord Malygos had created yesterday.
"How long do you think it would take?" I turned to look at Cyanigosa curiously. "How long do you think this war will take? A month? Two?" I opened my mouth, then shut it, lips pressing into a thin line, did she not understand how big a threat the Burning Crusade was?
"I doubt it would be that quick, a long and difficult road lays ahead of us". I watched Cyanigosa roll her eyes, and met her flat look with an even one of my own.
"Against the entirety of the Blue Dragonflight? Plus the other dragonflights will be there, nothing could stand against that!" She waved her hands at the blue dragons below us, which if I was entirely honest was pretty compelling evidence for the swift victory, it was hard to comprehend the idea that anything could possibly stand against the might of the thousands of dragons below us "Even Lord Malygos will be fighting! He is basically an entire army of dragons by himself!" She poked me in the ribs "So, how long? A month or two? I bet you my library withdrawals for a whole week!"
I hummed, catching sight of Sindragosa landing in front of a group of dragonspawn, directing them towards a group of drakes already being mounted by other Dragonspawn. "We'll learn that soon enough, I suppose". I put my arm around Cyanigosa, side-hugging her tightly. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone Cyanigosa, wouldn't want to give Sindragosa a reason to have to harm Eregos right?" I let her go, and not giving her a chance to reply quickly stood up and blinked away. I reappeared in front of Sindragosa.
"-igned to the fast response teleport group, under Perigos, report to him in the north east of the staging grounds, do not keep him waiting". The Dragonspawn left quickly, their four legs covering distance with a swiftness that belied their seemingly unwieldly size. Sindragosa watched them go for a moment, before turning her head towards me. "You will be accompanying me on the first flight, but will be on rotation between different groups afterwards". She gripped me lightly in her Telekinesis, pulling me up to stand on her back.
I shrugged, and sat down next to her left wing, absently drumming a tempo against my leg as I watched a group of Dragonspawn mount a group of drakes that lifted off as soon as the last were secure, flying up into the growing cloud of circling blue dragons.
"You'll be reporting to Ice tempest Varian as part of the general footmen, find him swiftly we leave in mere minutes". I felt Sindragosa's muscles flex underneath me, and I watched her wing joints curiously as we quickly ascended to join the dragons flying above.
Sindragosa circled the Nexus once, before flying further up to where Malygos was hovering above the rest alongside several other Wyrms.
"And Eregos, if the Nexus is under any threat that you cannot defeat within minutes then you will contact me immediately, we cannot leave the Whelps undefended". I watched Malygos pin Eregos with a sharp look "Do not abandon your duties to seek glory, understood?" Eregos nodded, descending back down towards the nexus, and despite his great bulk he was almost instantly unseeable through the cloud of Blue Dragons. Malygos swung his head around to watch Sindragosa take her place beside him. "So you've decided to keep him with you?" Malygos made an amused huff. "Your choice." He looked downwards, his face looking fatherly for a moment as he beheld his Dragonflight.
"BLUE DRAGONFLIGHT!" His voice boomed across the skies, and I knew that without my helmets enchantments that I would be deafened by the noise rather than having my ears slightly ache from it. "WE FLY TO WYRMPEAK NOW, WE WILL JOIN MY SISTERS SIDE WITHIN THE HOUR". The dragonflight, no matter where they were, pivoted south in eerie unison, surging forward at great speed.
Sindragosa dived slightly, gaining speed at a far faster rate the should be possible with just falling, reaching an even speed with the dragons below us before beating her powerful wings.
I turned to look up at Malygos, who had yet to move, but then with a pulse of arcane, he surged forward quickly overtaking every dragon in the flight in less than a second.
Then the arcane pulse hit us, and I felt Sindragosa lurch forward, her speed greatly increasing until she too kept pace with Malygos, fly at a speed greater than anything I had ever witnessed before.
My eyes flicked downwards, and watch the ever expanding reaction of dragons surging forward with massively increased speed, and wondered just how much power it took from Malygos to do this, and how powerful Malygos was to be able to do it with no visible strain.
I leant back, still marvelling at the insane power of the Magic Aspect, and watch the blurry skies.
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With Malygos boosting the Dragonflight's speed we made it to Wyrmpeak in less than an hour, greeted by the sight of the other four Dragonflights arrayed at the base of Wyrmpeak looking up at the four present Dragon aspects, Nozdormu, Ysera, and Neltharion arrayed in a line underneath a higher up Alexstraza.
The spell boosting the dragons flight dispelled as Malygos immediately flew towards his siblings, and the rest of the Dragonflight landed between the Green dragonflight and the Bronze, Sindragosa landing in front of the rest side by side Senegos, and a Wyrm that I did not recognise.
"Ah Brother, just in time, we will soon fly out to engage a Demon host approaching Eldarath that have broken past the Kal'dorei containment efforts, we will sweep them aside, as a prelude to sweeping the rest of the demons off our world". Alexstraza's confident voice boomed, accompanied by a wave of magic that washed over the assembled dragons, I felt it empower me, soothing aches I didn't know I had and I felt my back straighten unconsciously.
"Eldarath? The demons have made it far sister". Malygos hovered slightly below Alexstraza, not enough that he had to crane his head, but definitely enough to be noticeable.
"The mortals are valiant, but they are still mortal brother, they inevitably falter". I felt my teeth clench at that, her condescending tone almost physically painful to my ears. "Still, it falls to us to protect Azeroth, and protect it we shall". Malygos snorted, and turned around midair, side to side with Ysera and Nozdormu.
"DRAGONS OF THE FIVE FLIGHTS, A NEW THREAT MENACES AZEROTH, AND JUST LIKE THE ELEMENTAL LORDS BEFORE THEM THEY WILL BE SWEPT ASIDE BY OUR MIGHT!" Alexstraza's voice boomed across the assembled flights, and I could see the magic infused in it cause the dragons to become antsy, their wings straining to unfurl and carry their bodies into battle. "RISE DRAGONS OF AZEROTH, WE MAKE HASTE SOUTH-EAST TO ELDARATH!" Alexstraza beat her wings powerfully, surging over the Dragons before her. As she flew over them, the dragons rose in the air, spinning around mid-air following after the massive Life-Aspect.
"Is… is she not going to give us orders? Tell us what we are facing?" I spoke only as loud as I needed to for Sindragosa to hear me. "Isn't just attacking them reckless?"
I felt Sindragosa huff underneath me. "Against the full might of the Dragon flights? There is no need for tactics against bugs". My eyebrows furrowed, and I thought about the Azj'Aqir, who's empire were once considered direct rivals for the Dragon's powers, and were bugs themselves.
"But… the Aqir?" I pointed out, and felt Sindragosa underneath me chuckle.
"Well, consider this? Who flies unopposed in the skies, and walks unopposed over the earth, and who cowers underneath the earth in fear?" I conceded the point with a nod, and fell silent.
"THE DEMON HOST LIES AHEAD, BURN THEM FROM OUR WORLD'. I looked to the side as Sindragosa started circling, seeing the gigantic demon horde before us, a countless amounts of Felguard marched along-side legions of Felstalkers, surrounding a Cabal of Red Draenei, who walked in the Shadow of a Pitlord that was almost as tall as Mannoroth, and trailing only a small distance were groups of Mo'arg, pulling along assembled siege weapons.
I watched the Pitlord look left and right, watching the thousands of circling Dragons impassively.
"NOW!" The entire swarm of Dragons dived simultaneously, and the world was bathed in hellfire, an intense heat that I felt even through my armour, despite the Wyrms body between me and inferno.
Sindragosa lifted herself back into the air, circling around where the demons were, watching as the fury of five dragon flights slowly dissipated, revealing a field of burnt demon corpses, and a sickly green shield surrounding the Pitlord, his cabal of sorcerors, and the Mo'arg with their siege weapons.
"Ah, Lord Achimonde thought that this would draw you out of your hiding…" The Pitlord's Voice was strangely soft, for such a brutish looking creature, but it was easily loud enough for me to hear atop Sindragosa, hundreds of metres in the air. "tsk, in the thousands of worlds I have burnt for Lord Sargeras, there is always something that looks like you creatures". the Demon chuckled "for all their incalculable might they were surprisingly uncreative, or perhaps because of". The Demons giant face broke into a grin, its burning green mouth standing out starkly against its sharpened bleach-white teeth.
"YOUR ARMY IS ASH CREATURE, SURRENDER AND I WILL ENSURE THAT YOU ARE TREATED FAIRLY". Alexstraza's voice pressed down on me, and I briefly fought the urge to supplicate myself before the Dragon Queen.
"Oh yes, the chaff have been banished, but they'll be back soon, after all their mission was a rousing success, and rewards for success are important for morale". My eyes flickered between the green-lit oddly smug Pitlord, and the imperious Alexstraza, wondering when the Dragon Queen would command the Dragonflights to rip through the shields and destroy the last remnant of the Demon host.
"Successful in their mission to become ash on the wind? What peculiar missions your Burning Legion has". Was… Was Alexstraza Bantering with the Pitlord rather than Killing it? Why?
"Well, if you look at it from a certain point of view that was their mission, however it was the acting as bait that was their true goal". Bait? My eyes snapped towards the Draenai, who were hunched over what looked to be a desiccated corpse chanting
"Sindragosa! They're performing a ritual!" I hissed at the Blue Wyrm underneath me. "We can't let them finish!" Sindragosa didn't move, staring down at the Pitlord unwaveringly.
"Thank you, Lizard, for waiting". The Pitlord chuckled. "It would have been unfortunate if you attacked while we were preparing after all".
"YOU DARE CALL ME A LIZARD? BURN THEM TO ASHES, LEAVE NONE ALIVE!" Alexstraza roared, diving forward at the Green shield, but it was too late, innumerable small portals appeared overhead, Doomgaurds spewing forth falling upon the unwary Dragonflight.
"NOW MO'ARGS STRIKE THEM FROM THE SKIES!" The green shield dissipated, and the Mo'rag sprang into action, firing their black cannons up into the Dragonflight's as they scrambled to respond to the trap sprung from above.
I began preparing the spell I used to kill the Doomguard that I had fought when I fled Xin'Ashari, cutting away unessecary mistakes that I had made through haste and inexperience, ending up with roughly the same spell that would cost less mana, and that I could cast three of simultaneously.
"Sindragosa! These creatures' skin is magic resistant but their inside a-" I fell silent as Sindragosa flipped onto her back and raked her arm through the skies, monstrously sharp claws ripping the demons with frightening ease.
"You are wasted here Kaezar, go assist the other dragons, these creatures are too weak to even pierce my hide". I felt the magic that always held me in place while sitting on Sindragosa release me, and I fell into free fall. I let myself fall for a moment, scanning over the chaos to see where I could be most helpful, and quickly saw a Green drake being swarmed by a half dozen Doomguard.
I blinked ontop of the Green Drake, blasting a Doomguard who's claws were buried in the Green Drake, my icy bolt bored deep into its head, and flung it off the dragon into the chaotic cloud of fighting creatures belwo. I was given no time to savour my quick victory as I was forced to twist around just in time to dive out of the way of another Doomguard's lunging hand, barely avoiding a painful death of choking on my own blood. I blinked behind it, suspended breifly off the side of the Drake, another spell already formed in my hand, and I blasted through the Doomguard's back with it.
"MORTAL! JUST GET THEM BELOW ME AND I WILL HANDLE THE REST!" The Drake underneath me roared, I shrugged to myself, unleashing a barely focused blast of arcane into a Doomguard that was attempting to dive at me doing little more than buffeting it back, then gripped the air surrounding the cloud of Doomguard, and forcefully shoved downwards, throwing them below the Green Drake "Good wo-".
I caught sight of a grievously wounded Black Drake being pulled through a portal, and blinked away, forcing my way past the drake natural magicial resistance to pull the ravaged Black Drake away from the demons, and push the drake towards a Red Wyrm, and a Blue Dragon nearby that at a glance seemed to be protecting injured dragons. I couldn't blink away, the effort of back to back spells capable of killing Doomgaurd, and overpowering the Black Drake natural resistance to magic in order to pull it away as well as all my blinks leaving me breathless, dizzy, and drained.
I let myself freefall catching my breath as the demons turned towards me with eerily synchronicity, their cruel eyes alight with with a denied fury.
My mouth pressed into a thin line, and I brought my hand up to blast at them with what little I had left "ENOUGH!" A massive surge of arcane followed behind Malygos's words, completely obliterating the Doomguard floating in the air, leaving the skies completely empty… for a moment, but mere seconds later more Doomguard poured through the still open portals. Malygos had reset the amount of Demons, but with the Portals open the horde would reach its previous number quickly.
The portals had to be closed, before more drakes were killed or dragged off for what-ever the legion was attempting. I twisted around mid-air glad for my faceplate enchantment keeping the terminal velocity wind out my eyes, I took in the ground for the first time since the ambush had begun, and bore witness to the chaotic melee raging below between the Dragonsworn and a seemingly endless Demon horde that was pouring out of yet more portals, as well as a hastily assembled fortification that fired sickly green blasts in a constant barrage into the aerial supremacy fight above, and blasted any dragons that attmepted to assist the ground combat out of the sky.
I took a final drag of breath, and blinked to a where the fighting was the fiercest, reappearing amidst the demon horde as they enveloped a group of Red and Black Dragonsworn.
I had barely a second before the demons reacted to my presence, weapons flashing towards me with deadly intent. Thankfully barely a second was more than enough time to send a burst of volitile arcane out of my body, which all but incinerated the demons surrounding me, giving myself enough room to work a more powerful spell.
I infused my foot with magic, and kicked the ground, lightly disturbing the dirt, and forcing my magic into the ground, it splitting into two fiery thin lines that burst forward to encircle the group of several dozen Dragonkin, before violently exploding upwards and outwards, wiping out demons in a thirty metre radius from the Dragonspawn.
I cough harshly, my throat feeling tight and full despite the lack of physical obstruction, and walked swiftly up to the Dragonspawn, who had already formed up into a circular formation surrounding Dragonspawn in various states of maimed, polearms pointing outwards ready to receive the already encroaching horde of demons.
"Who is in command of you!" I demanded as I walked up to the formation, absently noting the Dragonspawn unconsciously straightening in my presence.
The Dragonspawn ahead of me glanced at each other briefly before returning their gaze to the Demons approaching swiftly. "No one, commanders haven't been established, no one expected the Dragonspawn to fight in this fight". A red Dragonspawn grunted, his four legs crouching lower as he prepared to receive the Demons that were mere moments behind me. I spun around, and blasted the demons behind me with a wave of frost, freezing the demons into solid blocks of chilling ice.
The Dragonspawn watched the frozen demons almost hungrily, eyes slightly too wide to be entirely comfortable. "And you didn't establish them yourselves?" the Dragonspawn's attention snapped to me instantly, and their wide eyes became coloured with confusion. "No matter, I'll take control".
I crushed the iceblocks behind me into thousands of sharp blood shards, before blinking inside the formation, taking in the state of the four wounded Dragonspawn inside the formation, and the Red Drakonid tending to them.
"Drakonid!" the Drakonid startled oddly, its back and legs seemingly jolting but its arms not moving an inch from where it was stitching together a chunk of flesh back to the chest of a Black Dragonspawn "Your name, and the state of the wounded!"
The Drakonid stared at me for a second, confused. "Raxanar, and the wounded aren't critical, all of them can be moved to a safer place, and could even fight if I was given enough time to heal them with Alexstraza's gifts". Raxanar's voice was surprisingly soft for how brutish he looked, and he immediately resumed tending to the Dragonspawn once he had said his piece.
"Good, because we need to move swiftly to shut down the artillery preventing the Dragons from supporting us". One of the wounded Dragonspawn looked incredulously at me. "it would take hours to force our way through this horde! Just wait for the aspects to win the air battle and destory them".
I glared down at the Dragonspawn, barely taller despite it laying down on its belly. "The Portals must be closed, or the battle will rage on for days, if not weeks, and the Dragons cannot close the portalb while those artillery are preventing them from getting lower than a certain height, so we will destroy those artillery, understood!". The Dragonspawn shrunk away from me, bunching its shoulders up and looking at the ground.
"Rexanar, you have two minutes before we move out, get them in as good a condition as possible". I turned away from the Drakonid, and began channelling arcane, slowly crafting an intricate selfsustaning pattern, the Dragonspawn was right about something, it would take far too long to force out way though the demons the conventional way, but I could get us close enough that it shouldn't take too long with the right spell, but in the same vein sustaining a spell on that scale would drain me quickly.
As I was crafting the pattern I began to loudly speak. "Dragonspawn! Your masters fly above you in a desperate struggle against an endless tide of Demons, pinned with cruel irony in the very domain that they rule. It is up to you to stem the tide, it is up to you to tear down their enemies. Will you be found wanting?" The Dragonspawn growl, a deep guttural sound that oozed discontent "Will you falter?" smatterings of disagreeing mutters spread amongst the Dragonspawn.
"Will you leave your Masters alone against this tide?" My spell neared completion, and I began gathering the mana necessary to kick start its self-sustaining systems
"NO!" the Dragonspawn roared out, the building fervour reaching a tipping point.
"So you will be the tip of their spear then? You'll drive yourself deep into their enemies' hearts?" the spell reached its own tipping point, ready to be activated
"YES! WE ARE THEIR SPEAR WHICH DRIVES THEIR ENEMIES TO RUIN!" The back lines of the circle formation began banging their weapon together, and the front line began tearing the apart the demon horde almost as fast at the demons could throw themselves at them.
"THEN FORWARD DRAGONSPAWN, FORWARD INTO THE FIRE OF WAR! FOR THE DRAGONFLIGHTS!" I roared, finally activating the spell, a thick flurry of blood ice began spinning violently around us, leaving all sides covered but one direction, the direction of the Artillery formation.
"FOR THE DRAGONFLIGHTS!" the Dragonspawn roared, surging forward, and the second part of my spell activated, an arcane link formed between every Dragonspawn within the formation, moving the energy from the Dragonspawn on the back line into the Dragonspawn on the front line, empowering them to almost double their normal capabilities.
The demons in front of the Dragonspawn were almost instantly ripped apart, the charge driving deep into the demon's lines, and continuing without losing any momentum, moving forward at a speed that I had to run to keep up with.
The wall of bloody ice followed along with us, preventing the demons from surrounding us, and giving the Dragonspawn one clear target, the black fortifications spewing sickly green blasts into the skies.
We made good time, turning what should have been an hours long slog of grinding through thousands of demons into mere minutes of a constant charge that minced every demon in front of it.
However, as we approached the near ramshackle fortification, I noticed that my Spell was coming under increased strain, something was drawing on the arcane energy that was powering it, and I found myself having to make up the difference, something that only increased as we got closer and closer, until a mere two hundred metres from the Fortification I was forced to drop the spell lest I exhaust myself.
"PREPARE FOR THE FLANKS TO OPEN UP! BACK RANK, TURN AROUND AND SECURE OUR REAR, SECOND RANK SECURE OUR LEFT, THIRD RANK SECURE OUR RIGHT, FRONT RANK PUSH TO THE FORTIFICATION!" The Dragonspawn were moving even before I was finished, the middle ranks turning in sync in opposite directions, and curling around the sides, while the back rank spun around and waited a beat, before backing up at nearly the same speed they were moving forward, while the front rank slowed down slightly to account for the rear ranks reduced speed. It was an insanely coordinated manoeuvre, and I was baffled at how a group that were from two separate branches, and up until that point had no leaders had managed to pull it off with such speed and efficiency.
I shook my head, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, dispelling my spell as the Dragonspawns got into position, and revealing thousands of demons surrounding us on all sides who didn't even miss a beat before charging us the second the Ice wall was down.
"HOLD FAST! WE MUST MAKE IT TO THE FORTIFICATIONS!" the demons slammed into the formation, and for a moment it buckled worryingly for a moment, before locking in place, its forward momentum slowing to a crawl, but it still was grinding forward over the corpses of thousands of Demons, But for all the forwar momentum it was dozens against thousands, and dragonspawn slowly started falling, demons foul weapons finding purchase on the Dragonspawns thick scales after countless scratches, the foul magic enchanting the weapons weakening the Dragons bodies, leaving them slow and sluggish.
"We might not make it" Raxanar spoke next to me, his red scales intermittently glittering as the foul green blasts lit up the sky. "We have a very limited amount of soldiers, and nothing in the way of reserves, and I can't properly heal what-ever that Green magic is while fighting". I ran my tongue across my teeth, mind racing, he wasn't entirely wrong, while we were still moving forward it was slow going, and the formation could collapse if we got unlucky before we made it to the fortification, but I couldn't cast any meaningful spells underneath the magic drain. I took a deep breath, it might exhaust me, but as I adjusted my wristguards slightly I kn- I tested the enchantments on my Wristguards, feeling out their internal stores of mana which wasn't being drained at all.
"What is our maximum speed?" I turned towards Raxanar, who was watcing a faltering Dragonspawn closes, eye's lighting up with a ruby glow.
"The average Dragonspawn's average running speed is forty-three metres per second, considering the armour, weapons and injuries, I would say more like thirty-five metres per second". My eyebrows rose slightly, genuinely impressed by their speed.
I turned my attention towards the Fortification, overestimating the distance as one hundred and eighty, and quickly ran the numbers, coming to the conclusion that I needed to give them six seconds of uninterrupted sprinting to get to the Fortification at the very least, and more realistically seven seconds.
"Dragonspawn! On my command you are to run full pelt towards the fort, and form up three ranks deep with your backs to the wall!" I didnt even wait for any kind of acknowledgement, pulling together a formidable pattern, that would be resistant to being meddled with, it wouldn't prevent magic from being taken from it, but it would give it would retain magic just slightly better than otherwise, and would reach slightly further.
I took a deep breath, and ripped most of the mana out of my enchantments, reducing the powerful enchantments to enchantments barely more powerful than a child's first attempt at magic, but the results spoke for themselves, unleashing a cataclysmic blast that tore apart the demons in every direction, clearing the way all the way to the walls, and for almost a hundred metres In every other direction
"RUN!" The Dragonspawn immediately broke into a dead sprint that I struggled to keep pace with now heavy armour, a race against the rushing demon horde, if we made it to the walls before the demons arrived, we would be able to have almost completely secured rear, if we didn't then the demon horde would slam into our lose formation, spilling into the gaps and tearing us apart.
But our gamble paid off, moments before the Demon horde would crashed into our undefended rear we reached the wall, spinning around and meeting the oncoming fel-host with braced halberds, flashing blades, and striking claws.
I collapsed to my knee's gasping for breath, the mad dash, the lack of magic to reinforce myself, and the mental drain of combat leaving me tired, breathless, and slightly ill. A heavy hand came down on to my shoulders, and the exhaustion disappeared under a wave of energy, Raxanar had evidently seen fit to heal me.
I got to my feet steadily, and looked around at the three Dragonspawn deep wall between myself and the demon horde. "Did we all make it?" I glanced at Raxanar who had already moved away from me. "It was close, and a few stragglers were badly injured, and won't be able to fight on today". He knelt next to a heavily bleeding Black Dragonspawn, its back and sides a twisted mess of bloody cuts which pulsed with a green glow. "Luckily Dragonspawn are built from stern stuff, and they'll live to see another fight".
I turned away from him, looking at the melee going on around us, one that was favouring us far more than the Demons, as the pressure of their endless numbers was reduced by almost half, and much thicker battle lines allowed the Dragonspawn to cover each other.
"We have to breach the wall somehow, and leave a Rearguard behind us". I mused, eyes tracing creases where black metal sheets were hastily melted together, it was surprisingly slapdash fortification, far from the imposing impenetrable black fortress I feared I would find. "You!" I pointed at a black Dragonspawn that wasn't in the formation, a heavy wound looking like it was almost separating one of its rear legs from its body. The Dragonspawn snapped to it attention, standing heavily on its three good legs "Pass me your halberd". He tossed the halberd wordlessly towards me. "Thank you". He slumped down once more as I turned away, bracing my new halberd against a particularly poor weld, forcing the enchanted steel straight through the black metal with effort, the metal barely inches deep. I dragged the halberd downwards, slicing through the metal, before taking the halberd out and repeating the action four more times, cutting a large rectangular hole into the side of the fortification, large enough that a Dragonspawn could enter easily, but Raxanar would perhaps struggle to fit through without crouching.
"Raxanar, you will stay outside, tend to the wounded, make sure the demons don't overrun us". I heard Raxanar grunt in acknowledgement, and I turned towards my Dragonspawn lines, wondering just how many I could take without weakening the lines too much, and what combination of Dragonspawn I should take, the Halberds would be useful if we needed to defend an choke point, but would be unwieldly while advancing in the corridors, the swords would most likely be ideal for fightiing through the fortress, but getting close to the Demons ran the risk of them getting a lucky shot and disabling my forces, which would be devastating, and the claws were a more extreme version of the sword, they'd excel in close quarters, but they would be in the most dangerous position, their ability to tear apart demons a trade off with them having less reach than most demons.
I spun my halberd around, and rolled my shoulders, feeling them grow stiff underneath the weight of my armour, and came to a decision, deciding to take a rather balanced approach, taking a core of five swordsmen who would take point, clearing the way, three halberdiers bring up the rear, and potentially defend choke points as we progress, and two Dragonspawn using nothing but claws to defend the centre of the formation, prepared to both tear apart anyone who managed to reach the centre, and take the roll of any of the other Dragonspawn if they got injured, and while the force was potent, it was only a sixth of the effective fighting force, leaving behind plenty to hold the line and give us enough time to disable the artilery.
I pulled several Dragonspawn out of the formation, explaining quickly that I had chosen them to breech the fortress, and their roles, before sending them through the hole I made to secure the other side.
I sent the last dragonspawn through, and stood just before the make-shift entrance of fortress. I took a deep breath, brought my halberd to rest my shoulder, and walked into the belly of the beast.
A/N: I hate this chapter.
Here we see some of the negative effects of Kaezar's meddling, the dragons have no idea the capabilities of the Legion, since they don't have months of carefully watching them fight the night elves, thus when you combined with Archimonde's tactical genius (I think he's described as one of the greatest military minds in the universe somewhere in the lore) the endless horde of legion troops, and Draconic natural arrogance (keep in mind Alexstraza at this point has never been humbled, Deathwing has never beaten her, Grim Batol has never happened, up until this point all she's done is win win win) results in an ambush that is tearing the Dragonflights apart (well not really, dragons are really really really tough, like, only the youngest drakes have injured or killed by the Doomguard, however plenty have died to the Artilery, as its literally being empowered by the passive power that every dragon nearby is giving off.
Also we have a glimpse into the Dragonspawn mindset, which is stunted, they value power greatly, and they have little initiative beyond serving the Dragonflights, as well as being hella tough.
Still, fucking hate this chapter, wish it was never written.
Also there's probably a million mistakes, but I wanted to celebrate finally completing my exams and fixing my computer, so I pumped it out.
"I wish I could go with you" I sat side to side with Cyanigosa, watching as the Blue Dragonflight began final preparations before flying off to meet with the other Dragonflights at Wyrmpeak. "Lord Malygos wouldn't let anyone use the War Trial after you broke it!" She lightly punched my shoulder, grinning cheekily.
I smirked at her. "Sorry I'm just so great that the War Trial had to break its own rules to even challenge me". I lifted my arm and ruffled her hair, ignoring her attempts at batting my hand away.
Lord Malygos had ordered that no one was to use the War Trial until he had returned from the war. He also ordered that no one but the Wyrms were to know what exactly happened, meaning that I had to put up with the Blue Dragonflight thinking I had somehow broken the War Trial so badly that Lord Malygos had to interfered. Cyanigosa hadn't hesitated at all to start teasing me over it, and Varian's lessons had been insufferable, dealing with the very basics of enchantment safety, thankfully I had been getting far less lessons from him than before the incident, Sindragosa seemingly taking every opportunity to teach me she could.
We sat in silence for a minute, merely enjoying each other company, and the sight of hundreds of Blue Dragons hurrying about the impromptu staging grounds that Lord Malygos had created yesterday.
"How long do you think it would take?" I turned to look at Cyanigosa curiously. "How long do you think this war will take? A month? Two?" I opened my mouth, then shut it, lips pressing into a thin line, did she not understand how big a threat the Burning Crusade was?
"I doubt it would be that quick, a long and difficult road lays ahead of us". I watched Cyanigosa roll her eyes, and met her flat look with an even one of my own.
"Against the entirety of the Blue Dragonflight? Plus the other dragonflights will be there, nothing could stand against that!" She waved her hands at the blue dragons below us, which if I was entirely honest was pretty compelling evidence for the swift victory, it was hard to comprehend the idea that anything could possibly stand against the might of the thousands of dragons below us "Even Lord Malygos will be fighting! He is basically an entire army of dragons by himself!" She poked me in the ribs "So, how long? A month or two? I bet you my library withdrawals for a whole week!"
I hummed, catching sight of Sindragosa landing in front of a group of dragonspawn, directing them towards a group of drakes already being mounted by other Dragonspawn. "We'll learn that soon enough, I suppose". I put my arm around Cyanigosa, side-hugging her tightly. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone Cyanigosa, wouldn't want to give Sindragosa a reason to have to harm Eregos right?" I let her go, and not giving her a chance to reply quickly stood up and blinked away. I reappeared in front of Sindragosa.
"-igned to the fast response teleport group, under Perigos, report to him in the north east of the staging grounds, do not keep him waiting". The Dragonspawn left quickly, their four legs covering distance with a swiftness that belied their seemingly unwieldly size. Sindragosa watched them go for a moment, before turning her head towards me. "You will be accompanying me on the first flight, but will be on rotation between different groups afterwards". She gripped me lightly in her Telekinesis, pulling me up to stand on her back.
I shrugged, and sat down next to her left wing, absently drumming a tempo against my leg as I watched a group of Dragonspawn mount a group of drakes that lifted off as soon as the last were secure, flying up into the growing cloud of circling blue dragons.
"You'll be reporting to Ice tempest Varian as part of the general footmen, find him swiftly we leave in mere minutes". I felt Sindragosa's muscles flex underneath me, and I watched her wing joints curiously as we quickly ascended to join the dragons flying above.
Sindragosa circled the Nexus once, before flying further up to where Malygos was hovering above the rest alongside several other Wyrms.
"And Eregos, if the Nexus is under any threat that you cannot defeat within minutes then you will contact me immediately, we cannot leave the Whelps undefended". I watched Malygos pin Eregos with a sharp look "Do not abandon your duties to seek glory, understood?" Eregos nodded, descending back down towards the nexus, and despite his great bulk he was almost instantly unseeable through the cloud of Blue Dragons. Malygos swung his head around to watch Sindragosa take her place beside him. "So you've decided to keep him with you?" Malygos made an amused huff. "Your choice." He looked downwards, his face looking fatherly for a moment as he beheld his Dragonflight.
"BLUE DRAGONFLIGHT!" His voice boomed across the skies, and I knew that without my helmets enchantments that I would be deafened by the noise rather than having my ears slightly ache from it. "WE FLY TO WYRMPEAK NOW, WE WILL JOIN MY SISTERS SIDE WITHIN THE HOUR". The dragonflight, no matter where they were, pivoted south in eerie unison, surging forward at great speed.
Sindragosa dived slightly, gaining speed at a far faster rate the should be possible with just falling, reaching an even speed with the dragons below us before beating her powerful wings.
I turned to look up at Malygos, who had yet to move, but then with a pulse of arcane, he surged forward quickly overtaking every dragon in the flight in less than a second.
Then the arcane pulse hit us, and I felt Sindragosa lurch forward, her speed greatly increasing until she too kept pace with Malygos, fly at a speed greater than anything I had ever witnessed before.
My eyes flicked downwards, and watch the ever expanding reaction of dragons surging forward with massively increased speed, and wondered just how much power it took from Malygos to do this, and how powerful Malygos was to be able to do it with no visible strain.
I leant back, still marvelling at the insane power of the Magic Aspect, and watch the blurry skies.
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With Malygos boosting the Dragonflight's speed we made it to Wyrmpeak in less than an hour, greeted by the sight of the other four Dragonflights arrayed at the base of Wyrmpeak looking up at the four present Dragon aspects, Nozdormu, Ysera, and Neltharion arrayed in a line underneath a higher up Alexstraza.
The spell boosting the dragons flight dispelled as Malygos immediately flew towards his siblings, and the rest of the Dragonflight landed between the Green dragonflight and the Bronze, Sindragosa landing in front of the rest side by side Senegos, and a Wyrm that I did not recognise.
"Ah Brother, just in time, we will soon fly out to engage a Demon host approaching Eldarath that have broken past the Kal'dorei containment efforts, we will sweep them aside, as a prelude to sweeping the rest of the demons off our world". Alexstraza's confident voice boomed, accompanied by a wave of magic that washed over the assembled dragons, I felt it empower me, soothing aches I didn't know I had and I felt my back straighten unconsciously.
"Eldarath? The demons have made it far sister". Malygos hovered slightly below Alexstraza, not enough that he had to crane his head, but definitely enough to be noticeable.
"The mortals are valiant, but they are still mortal brother, they inevitably falter". I felt my teeth clench at that, her condescending tone almost physically painful to my ears. "Still, it falls to us to protect Azeroth, and protect it we shall". Malygos snorted, and turned around midair, side to side with Ysera and Nozdormu.
"DRAGONS OF THE FIVE FLIGHTS, A NEW THREAT MENACES AZEROTH, AND JUST LIKE THE ELEMENTAL LORDS BEFORE THEM THEY WILL BE SWEPT ASIDE BY OUR MIGHT!" Alexstraza's voice boomed across the assembled flights, and I could see the magic infused in it cause the dragons to become antsy, their wings straining to unfurl and carry their bodies into battle. "RISE DRAGONS OF AZEROTH, WE MAKE HASTE SOUTH-EAST TO ELDARATH!" Alexstraza beat her wings powerfully, surging over the Dragons before her. As she flew over them, the dragons rose in the air, spinning around mid-air following after the massive Life-Aspect.
"Is… is she not going to give us orders? Tell us what we are facing?" I spoke only as loud as I needed to for Sindragosa to hear me. "Isn't just attacking them reckless?"
I felt Sindragosa huff underneath me. "Against the full might of the Dragon flights? There is no need for tactics against bugs". My eyebrows furrowed, and I thought about the Azj'Aqir, who's empire were once considered direct rivals for the Dragon's powers, and were bugs themselves.
"But… the Aqir?" I pointed out, and felt Sindragosa underneath me chuckle.
"Well, consider this? Who flies unopposed in the skies, and walks unopposed over the earth, and who cowers underneath the earth in fear?" I conceded the point with a nod, and fell silent.
"THE DEMON HOST LIES AHEAD, BURN THEM FROM OUR WORLD'. I looked to the side as Sindragosa started circling, seeing the gigantic demon horde before us, a countless amounts of Felguard marched along-side legions of Felstalkers, surrounding a Cabal of Red Draenei, who walked in the Shadow of a Pitlord that was almost as tall as Mannoroth, and trailing only a small distance were groups of Mo'arg, pulling along assembled siege weapons.
I watched the Pitlord look left and right, watching the thousands of circling Dragons impassively.
"NOW!" The entire swarm of Dragons dived simultaneously, and the world was bathed in hellfire, an intense heat that I felt even through my armour, despite the Wyrms body between me and inferno.
Sindragosa lifted herself back into the air, circling around where the demons were, watching as the fury of five dragon flights slowly dissipated, revealing a field of burnt demon corpses, and a sickly green shield surrounding the Pitlord, his cabal of sorcerors, and the Mo'arg with their siege weapons.
"Ah, Lord Achimonde thought that this would draw you out of your hiding…" The Pitlord's Voice was strangely soft, for such a brutish looking creature, but it was easily loud enough for me to hear atop Sindragosa, hundreds of metres in the air. "tsk, in the thousands of worlds I have burnt for Lord Sargeras, there is always something that looks like you creatures". the Demon chuckled "for all their incalculable might they were surprisingly uncreative, or perhaps because of". The Demons giant face broke into a grin, its burning green mouth standing out starkly against its sharpened bleach-white teeth.
"YOUR ARMY IS ASH CREATURE, SURRENDER AND I WILL ENSURE THAT YOU ARE TREATED FAIRLY". Alexstraza's voice pressed down on me, and I briefly fought the urge to supplicate myself before the Dragon Queen.
"Oh yes, the chaff have been banished, but they'll be back soon, after all their mission was a rousing success, and rewards for success are important for morale". My eyes flickered between the green-lit oddly smug Pitlord, and the imperious Alexstraza, wondering when the Dragon Queen would command the Dragonflights to rip through the shields and destroy the last remnant of the Demon host.
"Successful in their mission to become ash on the wind? What peculiar missions your Burning Legion has". Was… Was Alexstraza Bantering with the Pitlord rather than Killing it? Why?
"Well, if you look at it from a certain point of view that was their mission, however it was the acting as bait that was their true goal". Bait? My eyes snapped towards the Draenai, who were hunched over what looked to be a desiccated corpse chanting
"Sindragosa! They're performing a ritual!" I hissed at the Blue Wyrm underneath me. "We can't let them finish!" Sindragosa didn't move, staring down at the Pitlord unwaveringly.
"Thank you, Lizard, for waiting". The Pitlord chuckled. "It would have been unfortunate if you attacked while we were preparing after all".
"YOU DARE CALL ME A LIZARD? BURN THEM TO ASHES, LEAVE NONE ALIVE!" Alexstraza roared, diving forward at the Green shield, but it was too late, innumerable small portals appeared overhead, Doomgaurds spewing forth falling upon the unwary Dragonflight.
"NOW MO'ARGS STRIKE THEM FROM THE SKIES!" The green shield dissipated, and the Mo'rag sprang into action, firing their black cannons up into the Dragonflight's as they scrambled to respond to the trap sprung from above.
I began preparing the spell I used to kill the Doomguard that I had fought when I fled Xin'Ashari, cutting away unessecary mistakes that I had made through haste and inexperience, ending up with roughly the same spell that would cost less mana, and that I could cast three of simultaneously.
"Sindragosa! These creatures' skin is magic resistant but their inside a-" I fell silent as Sindragosa flipped onto her back and raked her arm through the skies, monstrously sharp claws ripping the demons with frightening ease.
"You are wasted here Kaezar, go assist the other dragons, these creatures are too weak to even pierce my hide". I felt the magic that always held me in place while sitting on Sindragosa release me, and I fell into free fall. I let myself fall for a moment, scanning over the chaos to see where I could be most helpful, and quickly saw a Green drake being swarmed by a half dozen Doomguard.
I blinked ontop of the Green Drake, blasting a Doomguard who's claws were buried in the Green Drake, my icy bolt bored deep into its head, and flung it off the dragon into the chaotic cloud of fighting creatures belwo. I was given no time to savour my quick victory as I was forced to twist around just in time to dive out of the way of another Doomguard's lunging hand, barely avoiding a painful death of choking on my own blood. I blinked behind it, suspended breifly off the side of the Drake, another spell already formed in my hand, and I blasted through the Doomguard's back with it.
"MORTAL! JUST GET THEM BELOW ME AND I WILL HANDLE THE REST!" The Drake underneath me roared, I shrugged to myself, unleashing a barely focused blast of arcane into a Doomguard that was attempting to dive at me doing little more than buffeting it back, then gripped the air surrounding the cloud of Doomguard, and forcefully shoved downwards, throwing them below the Green Drake "Good wo-".
I caught sight of a grievously wounded Black Drake being pulled through a portal, and blinked away, forcing my way past the drake natural magicial resistance to pull the ravaged Black Drake away from the demons, and push the drake towards a Red Wyrm, and a Blue Dragon nearby that at a glance seemed to be protecting injured dragons. I couldn't blink away, the effort of back to back spells capable of killing Doomgaurd, and overpowering the Black Drake natural resistance to magic in order to pull it away as well as all my blinks leaving me breathless, dizzy, and drained.
I let myself freefall catching my breath as the demons turned towards me with eerily synchronicity, their cruel eyes alight with with a denied fury.
My mouth pressed into a thin line, and I brought my hand up to blast at them with what little I had left "ENOUGH!" A massive surge of arcane followed behind Malygos's words, completely obliterating the Doomguard floating in the air, leaving the skies completely empty… for a moment, but mere seconds later more Doomguard poured through the still open portals. Malygos had reset the amount of Demons, but with the Portals open the horde would reach its previous number quickly.
The portals had to be closed, before more drakes were killed or dragged off for what-ever the legion was attempting. I twisted around mid-air glad for my faceplate enchantment keeping the terminal velocity wind out my eyes, I took in the ground for the first time since the ambush had begun, and bore witness to the chaotic melee raging below between the Dragonsworn and a seemingly endless Demon horde that was pouring out of yet more portals, as well as a hastily assembled fortification that fired sickly green blasts in a constant barrage into the aerial supremacy fight above, and blasted any dragons that attmepted to assist the ground combat out of the sky.
I took a final drag of breath, and blinked to a where the fighting was the fiercest, reappearing amidst the demon horde as they enveloped a group of Red and Black Dragonsworn.
I had barely a second before the demons reacted to my presence, weapons flashing towards me with deadly intent. Thankfully barely a second was more than enough time to send a burst of volitile arcane out of my body, which all but incinerated the demons surrounding me, giving myself enough room to work a more powerful spell.
I infused my foot with magic, and kicked the ground, lightly disturbing the dirt, and forcing my magic into the ground, it splitting into two fiery thin lines that burst forward to encircle the group of several dozen Dragonkin, before violently exploding upwards and outwards, wiping out demons in a thirty metre radius from the Dragonspawn.
I cough harshly, my throat feeling tight and full despite the lack of physical obstruction, and walked swiftly up to the Dragonspawn, who had already formed up into a circular formation surrounding Dragonspawn in various states of maimed, polearms pointing outwards ready to receive the already encroaching horde of demons.
"Who is in command of you!" I demanded as I walked up to the formation, absently noting the Dragonspawn unconsciously straightening in my presence.
The Dragonspawn ahead of me glanced at each other briefly before returning their gaze to the Demons approaching swiftly. "No one, commanders haven't been established, no one expected the Dragonspawn to fight in this fight". A red Dragonspawn grunted, his four legs crouching lower as he prepared to receive the Demons that were mere moments behind me. I spun around, and blasted the demons behind me with a wave of frost, freezing the demons into solid blocks of chilling ice.
The Dragonspawn watched the frozen demons almost hungrily, eyes slightly too wide to be entirely comfortable. "And you didn't establish them yourselves?" the Dragonspawn's attention snapped to me instantly, and their wide eyes became coloured with confusion. "No matter, I'll take control".
I crushed the iceblocks behind me into thousands of sharp blood shards, before blinking inside the formation, taking in the state of the four wounded Dragonspawn inside the formation, and the Red Drakonid tending to them.
"Drakonid!" the Drakonid startled oddly, its back and legs seemingly jolting but its arms not moving an inch from where it was stitching together a chunk of flesh back to the chest of a Black Dragonspawn "Your name, and the state of the wounded!"
The Drakonid stared at me for a second, confused. "Raxanar, and the wounded aren't critical, all of them can be moved to a safer place, and could even fight if I was given enough time to heal them with Alexstraza's gifts". Raxanar's voice was surprisingly soft for how brutish he looked, and he immediately resumed tending to the Dragonspawn once he had said his piece.
"Good, because we need to move swiftly to shut down the artillery preventing the Dragons from supporting us". One of the wounded Dragonspawn looked incredulously at me. "it would take hours to force our way through this horde! Just wait for the aspects to win the air battle and destory them".
I glared down at the Dragonspawn, barely taller despite it laying down on its belly. "The Portals must be closed, or the battle will rage on for days, if not weeks, and the Dragons cannot close the portalb while those artillery are preventing them from getting lower than a certain height, so we will destroy those artillery, understood!". The Dragonspawn shrunk away from me, bunching its shoulders up and looking at the ground.
"Rexanar, you have two minutes before we move out, get them in as good a condition as possible". I turned away from the Drakonid, and began channelling arcane, slowly crafting an intricate selfsustaning pattern, the Dragonspawn was right about something, it would take far too long to force out way though the demons the conventional way, but I could get us close enough that it shouldn't take too long with the right spell, but in the same vein sustaining a spell on that scale would drain me quickly.
As I was crafting the pattern I began to loudly speak. "Dragonspawn! Your masters fly above you in a desperate struggle against an endless tide of Demons, pinned with cruel irony in the very domain that they rule. It is up to you to stem the tide, it is up to you to tear down their enemies. Will you be found wanting?" The Dragonspawn growl, a deep guttural sound that oozed discontent "Will you falter?" smatterings of disagreeing mutters spread amongst the Dragonspawn.
"Will you leave your Masters alone against this tide?" My spell neared completion, and I began gathering the mana necessary to kick start its self-sustaining systems
"NO!" the Dragonspawn roared out, the building fervour reaching a tipping point.
"So you will be the tip of their spear then? You'll drive yourself deep into their enemies' hearts?" the spell reached its own tipping point, ready to be activated
"YES! WE ARE THEIR SPEAR WHICH DRIVES THEIR ENEMIES TO RUIN!" The back lines of the circle formation began banging their weapon together, and the front line began tearing the apart the demon horde almost as fast at the demons could throw themselves at them.
"THEN FORWARD DRAGONSPAWN, FORWARD INTO THE FIRE OF WAR! FOR THE DRAGONFLIGHTS!" I roared, finally activating the spell, a thick flurry of blood ice began spinning violently around us, leaving all sides covered but one direction, the direction of the Artillery formation.
"FOR THE DRAGONFLIGHTS!" the Dragonspawn roared, surging forward, and the second part of my spell activated, an arcane link formed between every Dragonspawn within the formation, moving the energy from the Dragonspawn on the back line into the Dragonspawn on the front line, empowering them to almost double their normal capabilities.
The demons in front of the Dragonspawn were almost instantly ripped apart, the charge driving deep into the demon's lines, and continuing without losing any momentum, moving forward at a speed that I had to run to keep up with.
The wall of bloody ice followed along with us, preventing the demons from surrounding us, and giving the Dragonspawn one clear target, the black fortifications spewing sickly green blasts into the skies.
We made good time, turning what should have been an hours long slog of grinding through thousands of demons into mere minutes of a constant charge that minced every demon in front of it.
However, as we approached the near ramshackle fortification, I noticed that my Spell was coming under increased strain, something was drawing on the arcane energy that was powering it, and I found myself having to make up the difference, something that only increased as we got closer and closer, until a mere two hundred metres from the Fortification I was forced to drop the spell lest I exhaust myself.
"PREPARE FOR THE FLANKS TO OPEN UP! BACK RANK, TURN AROUND AND SECURE OUR REAR, SECOND RANK SECURE OUR LEFT, THIRD RANK SECURE OUR RIGHT, FRONT RANK PUSH TO THE FORTIFICATION!" The Dragonspawn were moving even before I was finished, the middle ranks turning in sync in opposite directions, and curling around the sides, while the back rank spun around and waited a beat, before backing up at nearly the same speed they were moving forward, while the front rank slowed down slightly to account for the rear ranks reduced speed. It was an insanely coordinated manoeuvre, and I was baffled at how a group that were from two separate branches, and up until that point had no leaders had managed to pull it off with such speed and efficiency.
I shook my head, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, dispelling my spell as the Dragonspawns got into position, and revealing thousands of demons surrounding us on all sides who didn't even miss a beat before charging us the second the Ice wall was down.
"HOLD FAST! WE MUST MAKE IT TO THE FORTIFICATIONS!" the demons slammed into the formation, and for a moment it buckled worryingly for a moment, before locking in place, its forward momentum slowing to a crawl, but it still was grinding forward over the corpses of thousands of Demons, But for all the forwar momentum it was dozens against thousands, and dragonspawn slowly started falling, demons foul weapons finding purchase on the Dragonspawns thick scales after countless scratches, the foul magic enchanting the weapons weakening the Dragons bodies, leaving them slow and sluggish.
"We might not make it" Raxanar spoke next to me, his red scales intermittently glittering as the foul green blasts lit up the sky. "We have a very limited amount of soldiers, and nothing in the way of reserves, and I can't properly heal what-ever that Green magic is while fighting". I ran my tongue across my teeth, mind racing, he wasn't entirely wrong, while we were still moving forward it was slow going, and the formation could collapse if we got unlucky before we made it to the fortification, but I couldn't cast any meaningful spells underneath the magic drain. I took a deep breath, it might exhaust me, but as I adjusted my wristguards slightly I kn- I tested the enchantments on my Wristguards, feeling out their internal stores of mana which wasn't being drained at all.
"What is our maximum speed?" I turned towards Raxanar, who was watcing a faltering Dragonspawn closes, eye's lighting up with a ruby glow.
"The average Dragonspawn's average running speed is forty-three metres per second, considering the armour, weapons and injuries, I would say more like thirty-five metres per second". My eyebrows rose slightly, genuinely impressed by their speed.
I turned my attention towards the Fortification, overestimating the distance as one hundred and eighty, and quickly ran the numbers, coming to the conclusion that I needed to give them six seconds of uninterrupted sprinting to get to the Fortification at the very least, and more realistically seven seconds.
"Dragonspawn! On my command you are to run full pelt towards the fort, and form up three ranks deep with your backs to the wall!" I didnt even wait for any kind of acknowledgement, pulling together a formidable pattern, that would be resistant to being meddled with, it wouldn't prevent magic from being taken from it, but it would give it would retain magic just slightly better than otherwise, and would reach slightly further.
I took a deep breath, and ripped most of the mana out of my enchantments, reducing the powerful enchantments to enchantments barely more powerful than a child's first attempt at magic, but the results spoke for themselves, unleashing a cataclysmic blast that tore apart the demons in every direction, clearing the way all the way to the walls, and for almost a hundred metres In every other direction
"RUN!" The Dragonspawn immediately broke into a dead sprint that I struggled to keep pace with now heavy armour, a race against the rushing demon horde, if we made it to the walls before the demons arrived, we would be able to have almost completely secured rear, if we didn't then the demon horde would slam into our lose formation, spilling into the gaps and tearing us apart.
But our gamble paid off, moments before the Demon horde would crashed into our undefended rear we reached the wall, spinning around and meeting the oncoming fel-host with braced halberds, flashing blades, and striking claws.
I collapsed to my knee's gasping for breath, the mad dash, the lack of magic to reinforce myself, and the mental drain of combat leaving me tired, breathless, and slightly ill. A heavy hand came down on to my shoulders, and the exhaustion disappeared under a wave of energy, Raxanar had evidently seen fit to heal me.
I got to my feet steadily, and looked around at the three Dragonspawn deep wall between myself and the demon horde. "Did we all make it?" I glanced at Raxanar who had already moved away from me. "It was close, and a few stragglers were badly injured, and won't be able to fight on today". He knelt next to a heavily bleeding Black Dragonspawn, its back and sides a twisted mess of bloody cuts which pulsed with a green glow. "Luckily Dragonspawn are built from stern stuff, and they'll live to see another fight".
I turned away from him, looking at the melee going on around us, one that was favouring us far more than the Demons, as the pressure of their endless numbers was reduced by almost half, and much thicker battle lines allowed the Dragonspawn to cover each other.
"We have to breach the wall somehow, and leave a Rearguard behind us". I mused, eyes tracing creases where black metal sheets were hastily melted together, it was surprisingly slapdash fortification, far from the imposing impenetrable black fortress I feared I would find. "You!" I pointed at a black Dragonspawn that wasn't in the formation, a heavy wound looking like it was almost separating one of its rear legs from its body. The Dragonspawn snapped to it attention, standing heavily on its three good legs "Pass me your halberd". He tossed the halberd wordlessly towards me. "Thank you". He slumped down once more as I turned away, bracing my new halberd against a particularly poor weld, forcing the enchanted steel straight through the black metal with effort, the metal barely inches deep. I dragged the halberd downwards, slicing through the metal, before taking the halberd out and repeating the action four more times, cutting a large rectangular hole into the side of the fortification, large enough that a Dragonspawn could enter easily, but Raxanar would perhaps struggle to fit through without crouching.
"Raxanar, you will stay outside, tend to the wounded, make sure the demons don't overrun us". I heard Raxanar grunt in acknowledgement, and I turned towards my Dragonspawn lines, wondering just how many I could take without weakening the lines too much, and what combination of Dragonspawn I should take, the Halberds would be useful if we needed to defend an choke point, but would be unwieldly while advancing in the corridors, the swords would most likely be ideal for fightiing through the fortress, but getting close to the Demons ran the risk of them getting a lucky shot and disabling my forces, which would be devastating, and the claws were a more extreme version of the sword, they'd excel in close quarters, but they would be in the most dangerous position, their ability to tear apart demons a trade off with them having less reach than most demons.
I spun my halberd around, and rolled my shoulders, feeling them grow stiff underneath the weight of my armour, and came to a decision, deciding to take a rather balanced approach, taking a core of five swordsmen who would take point, clearing the way, three halberdiers bring up the rear, and potentially defend choke points as we progress, and two Dragonspawn using nothing but claws to defend the centre of the formation, prepared to both tear apart anyone who managed to reach the centre, and take the roll of any of the other Dragonspawn if they got injured, and while the force was potent, it was only a sixth of the effective fighting force, leaving behind plenty to hold the line and give us enough time to disable the artilery.
I pulled several Dragonspawn out of the formation, explaining quickly that I had chosen them to breech the fortress, and their roles, before sending them through the hole I made to secure the other side.
I sent the last dragonspawn through, and stood just before the make-shift entrance of fortress. I took a deep breath, brought my halberd to rest my shoulder, and walked into the belly of the beast.
A/N: I hate this chapter.
Here we see some of the negative effects of Kaezar's meddling, the dragons have no idea the capabilities of the Legion, since they don't have months of carefully watching them fight the night elves, thus when you combined with Archimonde's tactical genius (I think he's described as one of the greatest military minds in the universe somewhere in the lore) the endless horde of legion troops, and Draconic natural arrogance (keep in mind Alexstraza at this point has never been humbled, Deathwing has never beaten her, Grim Batol has never happened, up until this point all she's done is win win win) results in an ambush that is tearing the Dragonflights apart (well not really, dragons are really really really tough, like, only the youngest drakes have injured or killed by the Doomguard, however plenty have died to the Artilery, as its literally being empowered by the passive power that every dragon nearby is giving off.
Also we have a glimpse into the Dragonspawn mindset, which is stunted, they value power greatly, and they have little initiative beyond serving the Dragonflights, as well as being hella tough.
Still, fucking hate this chapter, wish it was never written.
Also there's probably a million mistakes, but I wanted to celebrate finally completing my exams and fixing my computer, so I pumped it out.