Daughter of Azeroth

84 | LIGHTLESS

Idira passed through the ice barrier, the fel tendrils sliding between Kalec, Khadgar, Illidan and Sargeras easing away from her, avoiding her Light. She touched Khadgar's face, the fel tendrils encasing him parting, shunning her.

'My love,' she whispered, 'I shall miss you.'

Silenced by the power of Sargeras, he could only gaze at her, communicating with his eyes; in them she read his desperation, his fear, his struggle to free himself from his bonds, his fury at his helplessness to stop her. His denial, even now, to accept what they both knew was to come.

'I lived my whole life to love you,' she said, soft, the shadows in her mind parting, exposing the crystalline truth, its purity hidden until now by fear, sorrow, bitterness. She had been meant to love Khadgar, her love for him paradoxically giving her the courage to face her death. 'I beg you, forgive me, for what I must do to you.'

He sagged in the grip of the fel. No, he plead, his thoughts slamming into her, his love for her overcoming the power of the titan.

Protect Azeroth, my love, she answered. You are her true Guardian, just as you have been mine.

She turned.

Idira. Please. Light! Don't do this.

'Sargeras,' she said, quiet, 'you will not have me.'

Tyrande rose up to face her, a slow smile spread across her blistered lips. 'Ah . . . Azeroth herself comes to me.'

A surge of Light rose within Idira, responding to the dark voice of the titan. She succumbed, relinquishing herself, letting the Light of Azeroth take over, its power resonating, thrumming, rotating, flaring so bright the entire Chamber glowed in violet light. The voice of Azeroth came from her mouth, neither male nor female, but a hybrid of the two. 'You are wrong in your thinking Sargeras. Life will overcome the Void, not fire.'

Tyrande raised her hand. Fel fire flamed from her fingers. 'Fire is all there is,' Sargeras hissed. 'Even for you.'

A wall of flames struck Idira. They slid over her frozen gown, harmless, extinguishing. She smiled, soft. 'Even in fire, life remains, both good and evil. You cannot cleanse evil by destroying life. It is the way of wisdom to understand there must be balance. Always, there must be balance.'

She reached out and touched Tyrande's fingers. The fel burning in them retreated, rushing back up Tyrande's arm and into her torso, sweeping upwards until only the colour of fel continue to burn in Tyrande's eyes.

'You have done much harm to me, Sargeras. I have been patient, but the time has come to end this once and for all.'

From the planet's depths, Idira sensed the full force of Azeroth's Light gathering, hurtling toward her, a tsunami. It surged up into her, plunging through her, a torrent, the intensity of it threatening to tear her apart. She screamed, staggering, unable to bear it. Light exploded out from her, a pristine beam of violet energy. It rammed into Tyrande, spreading through her, freeing the night elf woman from her imprisonment, the titan slithered out from her mouth, roaring, furious. The sickening crunch of bone breaking as Tyrande's jaw succumbed to the force of his release. She tumbled to the floor, ruined, broken, bleeding, brutally disfigured. A tendril of Azeroth's Light wove itself into her, sustaining her, keeping her at the brink of death, holding back the inevitable. Giving her time.

Within their cocoon of violet Light Idira shuddered, quivering, reeling with pain, the power of Azeroth's Light scorching her, clawing at her, seething, surging, preparing for its final onslaught. Sargeras stood before her, proud, unrepentant, the shape of him unexpectedly human-like, his appearance terrifying, glorious, strangely beautiful; a being of immense power, shifting, wavering, pure energy, his eyes black, riven with darkness and hate.