Thrall Twilight of the Aspects

by Christie Golden

  The reds and blues worked in tandem, the blues using their skills with cold magic to freeze or slow their enemies, and the reds attacking the corporeal dragons with fire. This time, the combined dragonflights outnumbered the single twilight dragonflight four or five to one, and what the enemy had no doubt thought would be a damaging attack—or at least a distraction to the powerful Aspects—was little more than flies buzzing about them.

  They heard Chromatus before they even saw him.

  “Kalecgos, so you have come back for more torment!” The voice was issuing from the black head, deep, rumbling along the bones and in the blood. Thrall shivered once, then set his jaw. “Deathwing once tried to eradicate your flight,” said the blue head. “You must be determined that they all die, to come challenge me again. And I see you’ve brought your little friends with you.” The red head spoke in a mocking tone of voice, “Life-Binder, all done weeping?” while the green said, “And are you finally awake, little Ysera?”

  The words were laced with venom and contempt, but they fell on deaf ears. The once-Dreamer was now truly Awakened, her wings as swift and sure as Kalec’s or Alexstrasza’s. The Life-Binder had returned to herself, and Thrall knew her beloved’s sacrifice had only given her strength for this battle. He wanted to shout back to Chromatus, let him know how foolish he had been to try to taunt them, but he was no dragon, and his words would be lost in the wind.

  The Aspects were so focused, the insults had as little effect as raindrops sliding off their scales. Smoothly, yet with determination, as they had practiced, they moved gracefully into their attack formation.

  It was like watching a beautifully choreographed dance. Kalecgos, Ysera, and Alexstrasza each took up positions around Chromatus. Alexstrasza flew above him, bearing down on him and blasting him with orange-red flames. Kalecgos attacked from below, buffeting him with both icy-cold attacks and magical ones. Ysera darted about unexpectedly as openings occurred, her mercurial nature meaning that Chromatus would never know where she would be next.

  Thrall had watched, openmouthed in awe, as they had practiced this attack. They had done so with red, blue, and green dragons, feigning attacks but encouraging each “Chromatus” to “attack” with his or her flight’s tactics.

  It seemed as if they would win.

  After Ysera’s grisly description of each one of the Aspects being slain by his or her own particular magic, they had decided that each of them would target a different head on the chromatic dragon. Ysera concentrated on the bronze head, attacking not just with her corrosive, sickly green breath but by suddenly creating an illusion of a massive bronze dragon. More than the others, Ysera was unpredictable, and seemed to be staying a step or two ahead of Chromatus’s bronze-dragon brain. Kalec targeted the red head, countering blasts of fiery breath with ice and magic.

  And Alexstrasza went for perhaps the most intelligent one of all: the blue. In her rage, she was without a doubt the most beautiful, dangerous thing Thrall had ever seen. The blue head looked taken aback at first, as she attacked ceaselessly, breathing fire and then darting out of the way, shaking off clusters of twilight dragons as though they were little more than a nuisance. Everything she held precious in this world had been taken from her by those responsible for Chromatus’s unnatural life: the mysterious Twilight Father and, of course, Deathwing himself. She was determined that the five-headed monster would not live to continue the slaughter and destruction.

  Chromatus was clearly stunned by the smoothness of the coordination.

  For a few moments.

  Then, as if he had only been toying with them, he suddenly began striking back with twice the speed and determination. He had five heads, and there were three foes. The blue and red heads continued to fight Alexstrasza and Kalecgos; the black and green ones suddenly turned on their long necks and joined the bronze head in the attack upon Ysera.

  She was unprepared for the sudden switch in tactics, and one of her forelegs was engulfed in shadowy flame. The green head fixed her with an intense stare, and Thrall guessed it was probably attempting to send the green Dragon Aspect one of her own nightmares. But Thrall knew, from what Ysera herself had said, that she had witnessed such things as this creature could not even imagine. Ysera pulled the injured limb in close and dove out of the stare’s path, shaking her head and closing her eyes, deliberately casting off the green dragon head’s attempt to use her own magic on her.

  The bronze head opened its mouth and breathed out sand, scouring her, while black jaws closed on a wing, bit down hard, and ripped. Ysera cried out and pulled free, leaving a chunk of wing in her attacker’s mouth. Quickly she healed herself from both injuries, but in that precious moment the other two heads ceased struggling with Alexstrasza and Kalecgos, and all five converged on the green Aspect, who was now clearly fighting for her life.

  Thrall held fast to Torastrasza as she dipped and dove. He continued to use the Doomhammer when he could, but the twilight dragons were now prepared for such attacks. When Torastrasza drew near them with the orc on her back, the twilights made certain they were not in corporeal form, fighting only with their ugly, purple-hued magic. Thrall realized that he needed to use his shamanic skills now, and opened himself to the elements.

  He reached out with his mind. I fight to save all of you, all the elementals. All of this wounded land. Come to my aid, that I may protect you!

  Erratic they were at first, but Thrall put all of his urgency into his plea. And finally they obeyed. A wind elemental took the shape of a cyclone, picking up enormous boulders and hurtling toward Thrall’s foes. Gusts of air came to his call, microbursts that caught spread wings and sent their owners slamming into one another. Blinding snow swirled up to envelop them, only to turn to boiling water that targeted open eyes.

  Together, he and Torastrasza slew several of the twilight dragons. Then suddenly the great red dragon dropped in a tightly controlled dive. Thrall wondered what she was doing, and then realized. She was flying close to land, targeting the cluster of Twilight’s Hammer cultists, opening her mammoth jaws and spewing flame. Their robes caught quickly, and they screamed in torment. It would seem, Thrall thought darkly, that not all of the cultists were so willing to sacrifice themselves when actually faced with death in the form of a huge, angry red dragon.

  Torastrasza wheeled and rose, almost lazily, curving around the temple to the other side. Again she flew low, breathing fire on the screaming cultists, then caught the wind as lithely as a sparrow and rose gracefully to rejoin the battle in the air.

  Thrall glanced over at the battle with Chromatus, and his heart sank. He could see that all three of the Aspects had been wounded—burned, frozen, crippled, injured in some other way. And Chromatus seemed barely touched. Even as Thrall watched, the dragon threw back two of his heads and laughed.

  “Life is sweet, to offer such entertainment!” he bellowed. “Come for me again! Let us play some more!”

  Ysera veered erratically away. She flew close to Thrall before heading back—long enough for him to catch fear and despair in her brilliant eyes.

  Kirygosa’s words came back to him: He was made … for you. All of you. He was brought to life with a specific purpose: to destroy the Aspects!

  They fell almost like raindrops, the reds and blues and greens. Wyrmrest Temple might now just as well have been called Wyrmrest Abattoir.

  This couldn’t be happening! Three Aspects and their flights—certainly the number of cultists and twilight dragons was dropping, but Chromatus seemed to be gaining strength the longer the battle continued.

  Where were the bronzes? Nozdormu had said he would come. They were desperately needed now. With another Aspect, perhaps that would be enough to emerge victorious. Thrall looked around wildly, hoping against hope that—

  There was a dark smudge against the evening sky now. More twilight dragons? And then Thrall realized that their scales were much, much lighter-hued than those of the twilights. Much lighter than any other dragonflight.

&nb
sp; “There!” cried Thrall. “The bronzes! They have come!”

  The reds, blues, and greens had spotted them as well, and a wave of joy rose in their throats. Now, with the bronze dragonflight added to the fight, they could turn the tide. Four Aspects—surely even Chromatus could not stand against them!

  The bronzes scattered, joining their brethren in attacking the twilight dragons, while Nozdormu dove straight to his fellow Aspects. They broke off the attack, wheeling away to meet him partway. It was a beautiful sight: four Aspects, flying together, united in battle.

  And then Nozdormu said something Thrall did not expect to hear.

  “Retreat!” he called. “Retreat! Follow me!”

  Thrall felt his heart sink in his chest like something physical, and he knew the other Aspects felt the same way. All eyes turned to the Life-Binder. For a long moment she hovered. Then Chromatus made the decision for her. He had flown off a slight distance, doubtless confused by their abrupt departure, and had waited for them to resume the attack. When they did not, he came after them, flying straight and true, with deadly intent.

  “Retreat!” cried Alexstrasza in a broken voice. “Retreat, retreat!” Ysera and Kalecgos took up the cry, ordering their own flights to follow.

  Those who could obey at once did so. Others were still locked in combat and came when they could—or not at all. They flew swiftly and steadily at top speed to the east. Thrall, perched atop Torastrasza’s strong back, clung on as air created by the sheer speed threatened to dislodge him.

  He craned his neck and looked over his shoulder. Chromatus was still following, and as Thrall watched, he opened his red mouth and bellowed a sheet of flame. Then he broke off the attack, veering back toward the temple. A few of the twilight dragons pursued, but soon they, too, turned back.

  Why? They were winning; why would they break off the attack?

  After a few moments of hard flying, making sure that they were not being followed by the nightmarish creature, the Aspects slowed. They alit upon a snowy peak, their flights landing close beside them.

  Alexstrasza whirled on Nozdormu. Grief and anger were in every line of her crimson form. “Why? Why did you not join us in the attack, Nozdormu?” she cried. “We could have—”

  “No,” the Timeless One said, bluntly and brutally. “We would have all died if we had persisted in our attack.”

  “How could that be possible?” spat Torastrasza. Thrall could feel the coiled anger in her body. “You brought another full flight, and yourself—four Aspects! How could anything stand against that?”

  Even Kalec, normally so calm, looked frustrated and upset, and mild Ysera appeared agitated. Thrall, too, was confused, but trusted Nozdormu. The others must as well, or else they would not have broken off the attack as they had.

  “I have learned much, in my wandering of the timewaysss,” Nozdormu said. “I asked this orc to tell you that I was ssstill searching for answers. I have found sssome, at least. We cannot defeat Chromatus without true union amongst ourselves.”

  The other dragons exchanged glances. “We are working together as seldom before,” protested Kalec. “All four flights are united in this! You saw us: we worked cooperatively, none of us seeking glory!”

  “Perhaps that was what the vision was trying to tell me,” came the soft voice of Ysera. “We cannot defeat him by simply fighting together. We need to fight … together.”

  “Exactly!” said Nozdormu. The others simply stared at him, and Thrall knew what they were thinking. Had Nozdormu and Ysera, too, gone mad?

  Nozdormu shook himself impatiently. “We are Aspectsss,” he said. “We are not sssimply dragons with different skills and more power. We were changed when the titans gave us our abilities. We cannot defeat this monster by something so sssimple as coordinating an attack. We must think and act and fight as one. United. Share the essence of what it truly means to be each Aspect.”

  “I think I understand,” said Alexstrasza, frowning slightly. “We were meant to join. Combine our skills, our knowledge. Is that what you are saying?”

  “Yes, that is it exactly, Life-Binder! Do you remember what the titans sssaid as they departed?”

  “‘Unto each of you is given a gift; unto all of you is given the duty,’” said Alexstrasza, her eyes widening. “We … were parts of a whole. We were never meant to be separate.”

  “Will … we lose ourselves?” asked Kalec quietly. Thrall knew how important Kalec’s individuality was to him. More than any of the other Aspects, he was used to simply being himself. Being an Aspect at all was still very new to him, and the thought of having to lose himself utterly was not a pleasant one. Still, Thrall knew his friend, and knew that if Kalec had to “die” as an individual in order to stop Chromatus, he would not hesitate to make the sacrifice.

  “No,” answered Nozdormu. “Not if we do so properly. We are partsss of a whole, but complete unto ourselves as well. That is the great myssstery.”

  Suddenly, Alexstrasza closed her eyes in pain. “Then … we are indeed doomed,” she said, her voice breaking.

  “What?” said Torastrasza. “Life-Binder, you have suffered and endured so much. Why do you give up now?”

  And then Kalec realized it as well. “We are only four,” he said. “We will never again be as we were intended to be. Neltharion is Deathwing now, and there is no Aspect of Earth.”

  The silence was almost unbearable, yet no one could think of anything to say. It was a crushing truth, but was the truth nonetheless. They could not even try to call a new Aspect, for Deathwing yet lived.

  And Chromatus was Deathwing’s tool.

  Thrall slumped, almost numb with the realization. All that remained to them, then, was to throw their lives away fighting Chromatus, and fail. The world, and every living thing in it save the twilight dragons, would then fall. The cult would triumph, and Deathwing, insane and evil, would be victorious, living only long enough to be impaled on the very spire of Wyrmrest Temple. Thrall would never return to his Aggra, never be able to work with the Earthen Ring to—

  He blinked. Was it possible? Could he …?

  His connection with the elements had only seemed to grow stronger with this unexpected journey he had undertaken. His renewed connection with the Spirit of Life seemed to make everything stronger. The knowledge of the importance of the moment made him feel … solid. Grounded. As long as he remembered that, nothing could uproot him again.

  “Life-Binder,” he said, his voice shaking with hope, “I … may have a solution.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  They turned weary heads to him expectantly. He looked at them each in turn. “It might not work, but I think—I believe it’s worth a try,” he said. “This may sound—well, I simply ask that you hear me out.”

  “My friend, of course we will,” Kalec said. “And I hope with all my being you have some option for us.”

  “I … may. We have four Aspects gathered here now: the Life-Binder, the Awakened Dreamer, the Steward of Magic, the Guardian of Time. You are only missing one … and that one happens to be the Earth-Warder. I am a shaman. I work with the elements. I could do nothing to aid you if it were any one of you who were missing. I could not step into the role that any of you four occupy.

  “But you’re not missing magic, or time guardianship, or the power of life, or the knowledge of the Dream of Creation. You are missing Earth. And that … I know how to work with.”

  He hoped they would not be angry with his presumption. He, a simple shaman, was offering to stand in the place of a Dragon Aspect.

  Ysera brightened noticeably. Nozdormu eyed him speculatively, and Alexstrasza looked uncertainly at Kalecgos.

  “I knew you would be important,” Ysera said happily. “I just didn’t know how.”

  “Please do not be offended, my friend,” said Kalec, “but … you are not even a dragon, let alone an Aspect.”

  “I know,” Thrall said. “But I have spent years working with the elements. And I have learned much over the
course of my journey.” He looked to Nozdormu. “You know this to be the truth.”

  The Timeless One nodded slowly. “You have been given insight you did not have before,” he said, “the sssort of insight that calms a ssspirit, and does not agitate it. There is no harm in attempting such a thing.”

  “But how would you aid us, Thrall?” asked Alexstrasza. “You cannot fight alongside us.”

  “I sssay again, Life-Binder, this is not about individual acts in battle,” Nozdormu said. “This is about combining our essences. Obviously Thrall cannot attack with us. But he can possibly offer us with his ssspirit what another Aspect could. I tell you truly, there is no hope otherwise. None. Each Aspect alone will fall, and it will be the end, first of the dragonflights, and then of Azeroth. I … have seen that end.”

  So had Ysera, who had told them of it. Nozdormu’s voice was heavy and somber, and Thrall felt a shiver run down his spine.

  Yet, strangely, Thrall did not second-guess his impulse. It felt right in his heart in a way he could not properly describe. It seemed ages ago that he had been so distracted and unfocused that he had faltered during the Earthen Ring’s effort to calm the distraught elements. He knew, without knowing how he knew, that now he could hold in himself the peace, the solidity, to do what he needed to. His strengthened connection with the Spirit of Life made working with all the elements easier—even more joyful. The earth held life; it nourished the seeds and the roots that animals in turn fed upon. The Spirit of Earth and the Spirit of Life would welcome him back now; they would trust him to hold and gently direct and contain the Spirit of Earth, even while working with four Dragon Aspects. The earth was enormous; its spirit was great; and in his humility to accept that, Thrall knew he could, conversely, succeed with it.

  “Let me try, at least,” he said.

  “My flight has done what we once thought impossible,” Kalecgos said. “We have chosen a new Aspect. From what I have seen, in Thrall, in Chromatus, in my own flight, I believe this has a chance of working. I say, let us attempt it.”