In the frozen reaches of Northrend, a group of massive figures gathered in the middle of a blizzard, their outlines obscured to the point that they collectively looked like a hill perched at the edge of a cliff. Each winged individual was bigger than a house, and the white snow could not fully hide their blue scales. 

The congregation of blue dragons sat or crouched silently in a loose half-ring by the ledge, solemn and grave as if flagellating themselves with the biting cold. In the center, one blue dragon loomed over them all, almost a small mountain by itself. Despite its imposing size, it was hunched over in clear grief, the long crested neck arching down to allow its snout to gently brush against the bones jutting out of the crater of ice.

“Sindragosa…” Malygos growled mournfully, his sorrow carried even through the arctic blizzard.

Vasyrgos watched in silence with the others as his liege grieved over his beloved consort, lost to Deathwing’s treachery during the War of the Ancients all those millenia ago. The Aspect of Magic had been broken with the betrayal and near extinction of his dragonflight caused by what was once his closest friend. 

Even now, after Grim Batol, after revenge was meted out, none of the scars of the past healed over. The Aspect was still prone to secluding himself and staring off into space; His mind had been broken along with his spirit, but unlike the latter recovery seemed slow.

And now, discovering the remains of his prime consort from an age past, Malygos regained a measure of lucidity that frightened Vasyrgos. 

When he had proposed to search for Sindragosa to Malygos, the Aspect’s eyes gained an unnerving focus as he seemed to suddenly remember who she was. Then a manic urgency took over, and not only did he agree to the proposal, Malygos had also personally joined the search, and called nearly half the blue dragonflight as well.

Kyle’s directions had been vague, but with the scrying of so many dragons, it took only days before Sindragosa was found.

The howl of the air filled the congregation as Malygos settled for sorrowful silence. Vasyrgos noted how the larger dragon slowly gained a measure of solidness to his presence. A hardening resolve and baleful clarity washed away the air of befuddlement hanging around the Aspect of Magic, and Malygos finally rose up to his full height. With a sudden beat of his wings, an arcane gust banished the blinding blizzard and cleared the storm into a cloudless day.

“Little Vasyrgos.” Malygos’ voice was soft but steely, showing none of the laconic drawl or jittering instability that usually afflicted him.

It took some effort for Vasyrgos to remain still as the Spellweaver fixed a deep, intense gaze on him. 

“Thank you.”

The younger dragon simply bowed in reply, unable to form words from the attention. Thankfully, the pressure lifted as Malygos shifted his focus away, sweeping his gaze across the rest of his flight.

“There might be others. Search for them. Let us bring my lost children, your lost kin, the peace they have so long ago deserved.”

The blue dragons around Malygos bowed at receiving their orders, and then promptly took flight to fulfill their Aspect’s demand. Vasyrgos remained, because something told him that Malygos was not done with him. He kept silent as his liege watched the others fly off for a moment, and then turned his attention to the frozen bones beneath the ice. With a sorrowful sigh, Malygos gestured lightly with his right hand, and ice glowed as Sindragosa’s remains were whisked away by arcane winds.

And then the Guardian of Magic gave his full attention to Vasyrgos.

“Vasyrgos.”

“Y-Yes, my lord?” It was hard not to shrink back as the larger dragon silently padded over to him. It was harder still to hide his nervousness. So Vasyrgos didn’t try.

Yet for all Vasyrgos’ anxiety, Malygos regarded him with only gratitude, though the softness of the expression was lost in his overwhelming presence.

“Thank you, for this opportunity of closure.”

“It is…it is nothing, my lord. I am only glad that I could do something to…er…”

“Drag me out of the cave?” Malygos finished for him, a trace of amusement in the Aspect’s voice.

“To bring some peace to your mind, my lord,” Vasyrgos corrected nervously.

“And so it has done indeed. But-”

Here it came…

“-this is not solely your idea, is it, Vasyrgos?”

The smaller dragon fought back a gulp as he nodded. “It is not. A mortal…suggested that you might…appreciate this.”

“And why would such a mortal offer such a gesture?”

Vasyrgos gave the barest of nervous nods as he tried not to gulp. “Beyond the care of your wellbeing, the mortal…he fears of…desecration.”

The ice creaked softly as Malygos shifted his weight with intrigue. “Desecration?” he echoed puzzlingly, the somewhat light tone of his voice suggesting that he was already trying to formulate theories as to why the word was used.

Vasyrgos drew in a breath before he fought to meet his Aspect’s gaze. “He believes that there are unsavory elements who lurk in Northrend’s corners. Fel elements.”

Malygos’ gaze flashed with a fathomless rage and his body tensed up at the last words. The ice beneath cracked as his claws unconsciously bit into the ground.

“Fel?”

One deep breath, and then Vasyrgos got it over with. “I am unable to verify his claims, my lord, but he is adamant that some element of the Burni-”

“They are here?” Malygos interrupted with an intensity that made the smaller dragon startle back.

Vasyrgos drew on what courage he had left and nodded, silently praying that Kyle was truly right about this. The Aspect of Magic was not someone you inflicted tasteless pranks on. Just in case, he’d have to clarify that all of this was just Kyle’s words. “That is his claim, and that they are hiding their presence with-”

Malygos interrupted again, this time by rearing up on his hind legs. “We shall see.” His forelimbs began the gestures of a divination spell Vasyrgos was unaware of.

“Hidden, little Vasyrgos?” the Aspect asked even as his attention narrowed to his spell.

“Y-Yes, my lord. He says that there are nathzerim, dread lords, who might be responsible...”

“I see.” Malygos made an offended sound, and his gestures shifted. Vasyrgos had to brace himself as arcane winds exploded from his sire, blasting clear the layer of snow around them and triggering avalanches on the nearby cliffsides. He kept silent as Malygos’ eyes narrowed to slits as he fully concentrated on his spell.

“Clever,” the Aspect of Magic finally said with heavy disdain. “So clever…yet not clever enough…”

The eldritch gale died down with a banishing wave of Malygos’ arm, and he slowly turned his attention back to Vasyrgos. “Your mortal is right, little Vasyrgos. There are…vermin so close to our home.”

“I…see…”

“Tell me, how did your little mortal know this? How did he know to bring such news to you?”

“Ah…” Vasyrgos opened his mouth, and then slowly closed it as he realized just how stupid his answer was about to sound. He made Malygos wait patiently for an appropriate response.

“I…I don’t know, my lord. But Korialstrasz of the red dragonflight vouches for him.”

The outburst of incredulity did not come. Instead, Malygos only hummed thoughtfully. “Korialstrasz…? Alextrasza’s mate? Hmm…”

It seemed that he was about to lose himself in his thoughts, but then Malygos suddenly beat his wings once to lift him skywards. “Come, little Vasyrgos. We have much to do... Fallen to lay to rest, and vermin to eradicate.”

*****

Korialstrasz let out a soft sigh as he dismissed the scrying portal with some annoyance.

“Something the matter, my beloved?”

The red dragon turned to the source of the warm, calming voice. His queen, Alexstrasza, Aspect of Life, lay contentedly at the far end of the chamber, surrounded by clutches of eggs in varying stages of growth. Some vibrated rhythmically as the hatchlings within were just days away from breaking free, while the newer clutches had the illusion of a warm and radiant glow as their shells slowly solidified.

“It is a small matter, my queen,” Korialstrasz rumbled as he lightly padded over to her side.

With his tutoring of Kyle over, the enigmatic elf Krasus could resume his ‘sabbatical’, allowing the dragon Korialstrasz more time to spend as prime consort to his queen. The only minor irritation was the promise he’d made Kyle to oversee some matters in Dalaran. 

The dragon did as his student had requested and found himself strung along a curious and concerning discovery. As the clues and hints added up, the implications became such that it distracted Korialstrasz from his much needed time with Alexstrasza.

“Is it Kyle?” his queen guessed as she leaned down to nuzzle his neck affectionately.

Korialstrasz returned the gesture before answering with a sigh. “His hints have bore fruit once more.” He’d shared his experience with Kyle with Alexstrasza of course, initially because of the concern he’d held over the boy’s method of reaching out to him, but later on because of the curiosity that psionic magic offered. The Dragonqueen was just as intrigued as her consort at the nature of such magic, especially its uniqueness. And she too shared the same concern of corruption in Kyle.

Thankfully, Korialstrasz’ judgment of his character has held up so far, and occasional scrying showed that Kyle seemed content in ruling Alterac without devolving into a psionic warlord. Alterac and its mage king could be left alone.

Dalaran however…

“It must be of some significance for you to be frowning so, my love.”

Korialstrasz snapped back to the present, bowing his head before his queen. “My deepest apologies. I did not mean for my attention to waver.”

“It’s quite alright,” Alexstrasza replied with an amused lilt. “Recent history has shown that the affairs of mortals are not something we should so casually ignore.”

Korialstrasz forced himself to keep his eyes from wandering down to Alexstrasza’s neck and wrists, where orc chains once harshly bound her. Just the thought of her enslavement, and the enslavement of the red dragonflight as a whole, still stoked the flames of anger within him.

Kyle had said that there were still remnants of those orcs hiding out in the northeastern corners of Khaz Modan, and that he’d promise to call on Korialstrasz when he found them. 

Intellectually, the dragon knew that petty, bloody vengeance would change nothing. But the rest of Korialstrasz looked forward to the satisfaction of wiping out that abhorrent band of slavers that endangered his queen and his flight.

Returning to the present before he disgraced himself any further by letting his temper get the better of him, Korialstrasz gave Alextrasza a slow nod. “It is as you say, my love. And it might be the case in this matter as well...though…”

The Dragonqueen’s head tilted slightly even as her tail lightly brushed against his.

“Kyle has…predicted that what I’ve found would take several more years to come to full fruition. Yet, I fear he is optimistic in seeking out a…peaceful intervention to prevent what is to come.”

A frown of concern marred Alexstrasza’s visage, and Korialstrasz felt annoyed at himself for causing it. “What have you uncovered, Korialstrasz?”

The two dragons peered through a scrying portal, looking into a small, windowless lab somewhere under Dalaran. Through arcane sight, discreet glyphs could be found glowing in the walls, meant to ward off prying eyes. They were potent things, but such wardings were far from capable of denying a dragon’s magic. Especially from the dragon that helped the elves in crafting such a spell centuries ago.

A disheveled human mage in the dirtied violet robes of Dalaran was hunched over an alchemical table, still fussing over something as when Korialstrasz previously left him. To his side was an open tome, with others stacked up behind it. The ink on the open pages gave off a dim, sickly green glow, betraying the forbidden nature of its magic.

It was a proscribed artifact, supposed to be locked away in the darkest corners of the Kirin Tor’s archives, just like half of the other tomes.

Korialstrasz was certain that the other half were not even cataloged in the first place.

Alextrasza’s frown deepened as she stared at the man, and the stare turned into a glare as her consort adjusted the view. Between hands wielding a green crystal and a needle-like object, beneath a face contorted with intense focus, was a decapitated mouse pinned onto its back, its underside from the neck down split open like it was undergoing an autopsy.

Except that the mouse’s innards were pulsing, its small heart beating in terror, its pinned limbs squirming desperately to escape.

The bedraggled mage, a peer of Krasus in the ruling Council of Six, withdrew the green crystal back, and made a thoughtful noise as the mouse’s frantic energy slowed to a deathly stillness. He brought the crystal closer after a while, but no movement returned from the poor creature.

“Another failure,” the renowned maverick Kel’Thuzad commented to himself with clinical disappointment, and then tossed the crystal aside. “Exposure must be constant to maintain animation. Still…it’s an improvement.”

“Abberation…” Alexstrasza hissed from beside Korialstrasz.

The consort nodded grimly. “Kel’Thuzad has begun experimenting with fel magic, to reanimate the dead.” He waited for the offended growl of his beloved to fade before continuing. “According to Kyle, he is being influenced by a hidden power…” Korialstrasz regarded his queen with a sour expression. “...and he asks if Kel’Thuzad might be redeemed from his current path.”

Even if devoid of compassion, there was a pragmatic rationale to that. Kel’Thuzad was an archmage of renown, one of the greatest human spellcasters of his time. His keen intellect had played a major role in formulating some countermeasures against the baleful magics of the orc warlocks, and as a polymath his insight into a myriad of academic subjects was - among the mortals of Dalaran - second only to Antonidas.

His power and knowledge is a boon to Dalaran, and would remain so if they could curtail his connection to the destructive chaos magic and guide him back to reason.

However, one does not simply reverse something like this. Korialstrasz had already taken a peek at the archmage’s makeup, and found it stained with fel corruption. Kel’Thuzad might have enough of a presence to feign normalcy, but like many warlocks and demonologists, his mind was already lost to the touch of the destructive energies.

Alextrasza’s derisive snort mirrored that belief. To the Aspect of Life, to the red dragonflight, whose mandate was the preservation of life, fel corruption was something that was utterly intolerable. It was a disease that should be nipped in the bud as soon as possible.

“It shows that for all his insights, that student of yours is still too young, too naive.”

Korialstrasz nodded slowly. “Unfortunately so. Kyle believes that Kel’Thuzad might be turned from his path, but…”

“I see it,” the Dragonqueen said, using her own arcane gaze to study the man fussing through the corrupting tome. “He is too tainted. Whether it be now or later, this human is damned.”

“And as a ruling member of the Kirin Tor, he is in a position to cause a lot of damage.”

Despite her harshness, Alextrasza still let out a sad sigh. “Then you know what must be done.”

Korialstrasz bowed his head. “Arrangements will be made, my queen.”