Garbage Day

This time, she hoped, wouldn't end as poorly as the last.

The satyr waited in her own dreamscape for Gilveradin to arrive.  She had created it as she had for Azgadaan- the clearing in the middle of a deadwood covered in brambles, and at the center a fountain with the worn away statue of an elf woman carrying a vase.   This time around, she had dimmed the scene so that it would not be as overwhelming to someone not accustomed to seeing in this way.  It would still be green, but much paler and darker.  She, in contrast, would appear vividly. 


Again, Nyxxa sat and waited on the small stone wall surrounding the fountain's pool.

Thank you for this, Azgadaan.

Everything was so green. Gilveradin looked around in equal parts confusion and squinting from the sheer amount of just green. Maybe this is the real Emerald Dream. The thought made him laugh to himself. He walked into a clearing looking at everything taking an interest in the faded statue as he did. He saw her sitting on a wall after that the only other color here except for himself.

"Why.. is everything so green?"

Nyxxa couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"This is how I see the world, Gilveradin.  The blindfold isn't just for show.  And when you loose your sight for long enough, you tend to forget the concept of colors."

She could almost sense a question of how was she able to see without a blindfold- as was wont to follow.

"Best not linger on that topic though, I don't know how this magical sight works.  And I imagine there were other things you wanted to discuss."

I wonder...

"We have the night, but I imagine there was much and more you wanted to discuss,"  Nyxxa said, switching her words to draconic.

Gilveradin noted the language shift and picked up the hint. "Where would you like to start then?"

He sat down on the wall by her. "There's a lot to tell."

"Indeed.  I suppose I would start by asking what it is you'd want out of this arrangement.  Your broad goals are clear, and I think we've both come to the understanding that we share them.  But how is it you wish me to help with those goals?  Or are you coming to me to offer your help?"

Her mind drifted towards Sinestra and the black dragons that had caused Remnii and her friend's death.  A small grimace appeared on her face.

"For one thing, from what you said before, and the fact that you can speak this language likely means that you know more about the dragons then I do.  I had a bone to pick with a black dragon before you delivered that information to me.  I assume you were the one Remnii relayed the information about Sinestra to. So anything you can tell me concerning them would be helpful."

He nodded and launched into it. “For starters the black dragonflight is insane and I mean that literally. They are malicious only caring about their ends. I don’t know what their goals are for certain but I know they seem to want to destroy everything.”

He looked at her. “I met Sinestra before the fall of Silvermoon. I spent an evening with her, Zendarin, and my twin Velameestra. It was lovely I played songs on my guitar we had dinner. Not once did I suspect how truly evil she was. Zendarin was always the black sheep of our family though. Second cousin once removed, put him not in the main family branch. He also held beliefs that elves should keep to themselves and all other races are inferior. I had hoped to turn his viewpoint in that regard with time. Seems now I’ll likely have to kill him instead.”

He let out a heavy sigh before he continued. “As for other dragons there’s four flights Red, Green, Bronze, and Blue. They each have a charge to protect Life, Nature and the Emerald Dream, Time, and Arcane magic respectively. I’m personally tied to the Red Flight, the massive wyrm. The one who’s skull is hung like a trophy. He was my master and one of the oldest beings on this world.” His hands gripped the wall tightly as he continued. “His name was Tyranistraz but there was another dragon with him Noristraza she was much younger and much smaller.”

“We haven’t been able to find any trace of her through Scrying, Dream or anything. We just want to bring her home at this point.”

He shifted on the wall and loosened his grip. “If you have questions I can try to answer them, but I can’t tell you everything I know. Technically I previously wasn’t even to tell people I was Dragonsworn but that information has been spreading across the continent so hardly a secret anymore.” He attempted a grin but it fell flat.

"I won't fault you for not telling me everything, so long as you don't fault me for doing the same.  Information can be a dangerous thing to possess, and our enemies can peer deeply into our minds.  Thank you for this information thus far, these were things I did not know."

More likely remember.

Tyranistraz.  At least I can look to him with a name now.

"As for Noristraza,  I am sorry, but Sinestra was the only dragon we were able to identify following the fall of Silvermoon.  I assume you heard that Sinestra was the one to claim to have killed Tyranistraz.  Given that claim went uncontested, I have no reason to believe it was false.  If he and the younger dragon were together, I have but to assume that Noristraza was also killed or captured by her.  Neither of this options are good."

Especially with her tendency toward experiments on living things.

Nyxxa was taken with a sudden sickness to her stomach.

"When the dust settled in the city under the barrier, Sinestra approached the orcs offering her assistance.  She did so in the form of her creations- the Skarvyn."

She leaned over the pool of water and touched it with her claw.  In the pool, an image of that first Skarvyn in a cage appeared.  The rest of the meeting was obscured, but Sinestra as she appeared that day- the satisfied smile on her face- was clear and apparent.

"What she asked for in return was that unharmed civilians we captured would be turned over to her.  And in making this offer, it became apparent to us that these Skarvyn were the fate of some that had already ended up in her hands.  The orcs denied her help- a fact that infuriated her to the point she cut all ties with the orcish people and sent her orcish thralls through the portal with a great number of her supplies."

That is likely where that young dragon is then.  In what's left of Draenor.

"That was when I ran into the Resistance for the first time.  Knowing Sinestra was a danger to those they were protected, I warned them of her intentions.  At the time I had expected her to flee with the orcs, but instead she then reached out to the Resitance.  She offered them what she had offered us- though instead of calling the Skarvyn her creations, she claimed them to be orcish slaves she had liberated.  Liberated.  Hah."

Nyxxa sneered, clearly disgusted by the notion.  She raked her claws against the pool across her face and the image rippled and vanished.

"I do not blame the Resistance for doubting my warning, and accepting her assistance.  I am a demon, one similar that had just killed one of their leaders at that.  She was an established presence that used their desperation to her advantage.  I was only lucky that one person in the resistance took my claim seriously, and decided to trust me.

"As you already have figured out that it was me that was assisting the resistance, there is no point in hiding that.  Though I would caution you from spreading it.  Sinestra was made into one of their leaders, so she also found out this out.  It was also around this time that a different type of skarvyn appeared."

Again she touched the pool, and an image of Dabu appeared.  

"I have reason to believe that these ones are to orcs as the others are to elves. But, I have no other evidence as to this other then appearance.  A friend of mine was able to charm one and it allowed he and I to speak.  They speak Draconic, and they have no memory of a time before Sinestra.  They serve her because they must, and they don't seem to understand an alternative.  He seemed not to differentiate between the effect the charm had upon him and Sinestra's own influence.   They do not have names.  The one I spoke with, we gave a name to.  He seemed to like it, though that was still under the effect of a charm, so I don't know how he felt after.  I only hope our time with him had instilled some change in him."

She gave the image of Dabu a quick smile before more gently touching the water once.  This time another image of Sinestra appeared- the one of her in the alley.  Her cloaked viasage surrounded by the skarvyn.  

"I decided to meet with Sinestra to try and see what she would do with the damning information she knew about me.  She made it clear she would do nothing, at the moment.  Yet if I sought to move against her in any way, she would find a fate for me worse then death.  I was pressed into making a deal with her, and to seal it she extracted some of my blood.  I have not followed through with that arrangement, but I haven't seen or spoken to her since that night.  As I understand, she fought in the battle to destroy the portal, and at it's height she transformed and was pulled through it before it collapsed.  I haven't heard anything since."

With one touch to the pool, the image rippled and vanished.

"Given all that I know, if the young dragon was captured by Sinestra, she is probably with those orcs- in the lands that were once called Draenor."

She tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him.

"I know this is a lot, and again, I am sorry.  You've already been through so much."

He listened as she spoke and his heart dropped. “Oh Nori.” He took a second to get back on track there was nothing he could about Nori right now. There was other work to be done at least.

“There’s another Satyr up north? Should I be worried about them?” He asked but more curiously then concerned.

“Other then those dealings with Sinestra the only black dragons I’ve dealt with directly were hiding as members of a kingdom, Alterac. I didn’t even know their true nature until it was far far too late. Too late for everyone in fact.”

He looked down at his feet as he continued. “We were hunting for King Arthas who had been kidnapped by a group of criminals. Chased them all over this continent through three different kingdoms. As we went along we came across Orc warlocks leading cults, and the criminal group eventually tied into a Wizard tower. The mad Wizard there had stolen a red dragon whelp and was possibly given a few black whelps as well. He did horrible experiments we were only able to save the red one.”

He shuddered thinking about the sights he has seen in that tower. “Eventually we confronted the mad mage himself and he drank a potion he was working on. Became a giant black dragon himself. Called himself Darkburn or some other incredibly uncreative name. After we killed him we learned that the real Blackflight was after something very powerful. It’s called the Demon Soul and it was hidden away in a cave by all the other flights so the Blackflight couldn’t get their hands on it again.

Apparently last time their leader Deathwing. Also an uncreative name by the way. Used it to devastate the other flights. It contains a portion of power from the Reds, Greens, Bronze, and Blue. And it can control them.”

He shifted back up to look her in the blindfold. “We made it to the treasure hoard where the guardian of it slept and lived. The dragon we rescued was one of his offspring in fact. He was turned into a mindless monster and that’s when Daval Prestor showed up with several of the people we revealed to be traitors. Long story short there was a fight. Daval gave the order to kill all of us. I grabbed the Demon Soul and fled with it. Things seemed to be going just fine until the earthquake.”

He shook his head in anger. “We were so stupid to go into a cave knowing the Blackflight was coming. Before their insanity and corruption they were given stewardship over the earth. To serve as its protector. I don’t know which one of them collapsed the cave but I only barely made it to a safe point.”

Fear crept into his voice. “I only barely wasn’t discovered by Daval Prestor. He was feet away from me when we left knowing he had to escape before the Red dragons made it there. I don’t know how long I sat in the darkness waiting. But all I could do is relive my failure to save any of my family, my friends. Eventually my new master found me. I met with the Dragonqueen and it should’ve been a relief to be alive. To keep this powerful weapon out of enemy hands...”

He just pulled his legs up holding them to his chest. “I’ve been branded a traitor by the new High King. People think I killed them and the Reds are monsters. He walks free and clear.”

He stopped. “Sorry. I am not good at not being emotional. That was a lot of just dump on a stranger.”

As Gilveradin mentioned a different satyr, Nyxxa cocked her head quizzically. 

Oh right, Caria.  So Vereesa hasn't mentioned anything about the demon hunters to the outside world, then?  That is likely for the best.

"I see. That is a lot to take in.  You have been through much, Gilveradin. It is alright to be emotional about such things.  Best express your emotions rather then bury them.  That is the path into letting them control you."

She gave him a reassuring smile, and his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"I wouldn't blame yourself for this.  It seems to me like these Black Dragons have been biding their time to take control over this world.  Now that the Legion is invading, and the cracks everywhere have been laid bare, they might see now as the best time to strike.  But with one of them as the leader of a nation, it's apparent that they've been planning this for a very long time."

I wonder if this original fight was something I was alive for?

"Do not worry about the other demon. She's not a satyr, but she and I fight the same way.  People made the connection.  But I killed her, so she has been dealt with for the time being."

She paused for a moment as a thought struck her.

"Also, why is it called the Demon Soul?"

Gilveradin shrugged. "It was originally called the Dragon Soul until it was uh used it to betray.. everyone really. He killed a large number of demons with it during the War of the Ancients, then he turned on the mortals.. then the other flights as well. After that it started to be known as the Demon Soul."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a particular way of fighting that's distinctive then? Should I be wary of others with.. Do you have eyes?"