Prison Break and Full-Scale Siege

Boom!

A violent tremor shook the ground. Tyrande rose from the cold floor of her prison cell, listening intently to the sounds around her. Then, as if a realization struck, her expression brightened with hope.

It was the Resistance Army—they had finally begun their assault on Eldorei!

A flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the cell, and soon Dath'Remar Sunstrider appeared at the iron door, leading a squad of Highborne.

Zzzt...

Arcane Flame melted the cell door in an instant. Dath'Remar gestured for Tyrande to follow.

"Now's your chance. Hurry—the Resistance Army is launching a full-scale assault on the city. You can slip out and rejoin them!"

"Thank you, Lord Sunstrider. But if we go, we go together. Since you've proven you're no accomplice to the Burning Legion, I won't abandon you to leave alone."

Dath'Remar hesitated, then nodded.

"Fine. Then we go together. I hope you'll speak for us among our people. We were left with no choice..."

Boom!

"I will. But now's not the time for talk. Let's move—did you prepare Night Sabers?" Tyrande strode out of the cell. Dath'Remar immediately took the lead.

"Of course. Follow me—we're raiding the Royal Stables. That's where the fastest Royal Mounts are kept."

They sprinted through the city until they reached the Royal Stables, where dozens of purebred, powerful Night Sabers were always kept ready.

"Ah... disobedient Highborne, and a High Priestess... where do you think you're going?"

A low, rasping voice cut through the air. Sargoth—the same Satyr Illidan had killed before—now stood blocking their path. When he had appeared, no one could tell.

Sargoth looked different now. Though still in his Satyr demon form, he seemed to wield some unknown power. His Fel Claws had transformed into writhing, fleshy tendrils of barbed spikes.

Tyrande, already mounted on a Night Saber, moved to dismount, but Dath'Remar stopped her.

"Go! We'll hold him off. Tell our kin in the Resistance Army that Dath'Remar and the Sunstrider family were never traitors!"

With that, Dath'Remar gestured toward Tyrande's Night Saber. The magically influenced beast bolted for the gate.

"Highborne, to arms! Tear this monster apart!"

******

Riding hard through the streets, Tyrande's fury burned as she took in Eldorei's shattered roads and the mangled corpses lining them.

Cursed demons! Cursed Queen Azshara!

Her escape was not without trouble. The High Priestess soon ran into a demon patrol scouring the city.

Spotting a living elf, the demons grinned and closed in, cooped up inside the walls and itching for blood.

Tyrande leaped off her Night Saber, gripping a standard-issue longbow. She took a deep breath, ready to fight.

Then a surge of immense energy washed over her. Countless bolts of Arcane Lightning struck every demon in the patrol with pinpoint accuracy. The demons howled in agony before collapsing into lifeless heaps.

Through the dust and smoke, a painfully familiar figure walked slowly toward her.

"Malfurion!" Tyrande cried out in joy.

"What a pity. My dear brother is probably still out there with the Resistance Army, trying to break into the city."

Illidan stared at Tyrande and snorted in reply.

Tyrande froze. Illidan's appearance had changed drastically, and he radiated a powerful aura of arcane energy.

"Your eyes... What happened to you, Illidan?"

Illidan didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned his head to "look" behind him.

"Now's not the time for talk. Come on. I'll protect you and make sure you reach the Resistance Army safely."

With that, he pulled out a small crystal bottle filled with a liquid as clear as water.

He unscrewed the cap and poured the contents over himself.

This time, Tyrande was truly stunned. She could feel the energy radiating from Illidan—multiplied a thousandfold.

"Water from the Well of Eternity! Illidan, what have you done?! Have you lost your mind?!"

"To save your life. To save my people." Illidan answered simply, then grabbed Tyrande without another word and ran toward the city gates.

******

Boom! Boom!

Eldorei's walls groaned and crumbled under the relentless assault of the Resistance Army.

A long row of Large Catapults hurled boulders wreathed in flame or pulsing with arcane energy, smashing into the walls and triggering explosions one after another.

Under the command of Archmage Aethelred, the Highborne mages channeled a massive Arcane Barrage shockwave, hammering the walls in unbroken volleys.

After Elisande had been selected for the Elite Assault Team, this Grand Astromancer transferred from Suramar had taken over leadership of the mage corps.

"The stars say your resistance is meaningless. Keep firing!"

Above, the overwhelming Dragon Legion soared over the walls, launching aerial strikes against the demon defenders.

Red dragons spewed torrents of blazing dragonfire, scorching demons by the hundreds. The flames that gave life had become executioners that took it.

The green dragons flew with eyes tightly shut, drifting slowly as if sleepwalking, their paths erratic and unpredictable.

Yet wherever they passed, demons fell into slumber, plunging into eternal nightmares from which they could never awaken—until their physical bodies in the real world were destroyed.

The Bronze Dragon forces stirred up waves of Time Sand; demons either aged at an accelerated rate, crumbling to dry bones in an instant, or eerily regressed, forcibly dragged back to the other side of the Well of Eternity portal.

The blue dragons did not join the assault. Instead, they aided the Highborne mages in channeling a ferocious Arcane Barrage bombardment. By now, the walls of Eldorei were riddled with cracks, on the verge of mass collapse.

"Oooh! Kill! For Thunder Totem! For the glory of the tribe!"

Hu En Highmountain led the Tauren charge, their target a horde of demons trying to defend the outer walls.

The spear in Hu En's hand spun like a thresher. The Tauren swung his weapon with blinding speed, overwhelming all with brute force, refusing to play by any rules.

In the end, brother Hu En and his Highmountain Tauren forces locked down a Legion Fel Portal leading into the city, playing a brutal game of camp-kill at the gate.

One came out, one got put down. Come on! Keep coming!

After a moment, corpses piled high around the portal, and no more reinforcements were sent through.

Probably the demons on the other side had noticed the portal's abnormality and decided they couldn't stomach it anymore.

Not going! We'd rather die than go! There's someone blocking the gate and slaughtering us!

"Get those Tauren back here! The Arcane Barrage is about to hit their position! Tell them to pull back now, immediately!"

On the temporary command platform at the front lines of the resistance, Jarod Shadowsong spotted the Tauren still fighting with wild abandon beneath the walls and roared at the scout beside him.

Signed the contract already~~~ Throw some recommendation tickets my way~~~ And maybe a little tip while you're at it~~~~!