The Dragon Race's Many Forms

Mornings in Stormwind City's Trade District had always been noisy, but today was especially different.

"Don't miss out, folks! Black dragon fertilizer—the miracle of Azeroth agriculture!"

A green-skinned goblin stood atop a stack of fertilizer bags, waving a gold-trimmed megaphone. His voice was sharp enough to pierce eardrums. He wore a ridiculous black scale-patterned coat—clearly cheap leather coated in paint—but an exaggerated dragon head had been embroidered across its chest in gold thread, with two reflective glass beads set into the dragon's eyes.

"Exclusive formula! Infused with black dragon essence! Half a gold per bag, double your harvest!"

The crowd grew larger and larger. Farmers, merchants, and even several uniformed Stormwind City guards gathered around. Seeing this, the goblin immediately tore open a bag of fertilizer, grabbed a handful of grayish-white pellets, and shook them beneath the sunlight.

"Look at that texture! Smell that power!" He took an exaggerated deep breath, though the scent was more like swamp muck mixed with sulfur. "Every single pellet has been blessed by black dragon blood!"

"Is that for real?" A weather-beaten human farmer leaned closer skeptically. "Dragon blood? Isn't that stuff just legend?"

"Ha! Legend?" The goblin jumped down from the fertilizer pile, grabbed the farmer by the arm, and lowered his voice—while deliberately making sure everyone nearby could hear him. "We've got an exclusive contract with the Black Dragon Princess!"

The crowd erupted in uproar.

In a corner, a thin man in a cloak quietly stepped back and slipped into the shadows. He was an SI:7 agent. His fingers brushed over the seal of a fertilizer bag as he memorized the brand stamped upon it—"Swamp of Sorrows · Blackwing Fertilizer."

At the same time, deep within the Swamp of Sorrows, in Onyxia's lair.

"They say you mixed dragon blood into fertilizer?"

Deren laughed so hard he nearly sprayed the ale from his mouth. He shook the freshly delivered intelligence report from Stormwind City in his hand, making the paper rustle.

Onyxia lounged against her throne, pinching a small handful of fertilizer between her fingertips and letting the granules slip through the gaps. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly in a mocking smile.

"If I really had that much blood to spare, Stormwind City's farmers would have heard my wails by now."

Deren wiped away tears of laughter, then his expression suddenly turned serious. "Still, the more outrageous this rumor gets, the better."

"Oh?" The Black Dragon Princess raised a brow.

"If Deathwing hears that you're 'selling blood to grow crops,' he'll only think you've gone mad, or fallen from grace..." Deren lowered his voice. "He won't suspect that the fertilizer we've really buried underground is far more dangerous than fertilizer."

Onyxia's Golden Vertical Pupils narrowed slightly.

Meanwhile, far away in Northrend's Ruby Sanctum, the Red Dragon Queen Alexstrasza gently turned a dragon egg with her enormous claw. Warm magic energy flowed from her fingertips into the eggshell, and the whelp within gave a contented tremor.

"Life is always so wonderful, isn't it?" she said to her consort, Krasus, beside her.

Krasus was about to answer when a smaller red dragon landed on the platform and transformed into a red-haired elf. "Your Majesty," he said, dropping to one knee, "news has come from the Eastern Kingdoms. It concerns... the black dragon Onyxia."

Alexstrasza's movement paused slightly. "Onyxia? What scheme is she plotting now?"

"Surprisingly... she's started selling fertilizer." The elf wore an odd expression. "Through goblin merchants, she's selling it on a massive scale throughout the human kingdoms. They say its effects are astonishing—the crop yield increases by over fifty percent."

The Red Dragon Queen blinked her enormous amber eyes. "Fertilizer?"

"Yes, a powder that promotes crop growth. But the goblins claim in their advertisements that it contains black dragon blood."

Krasus could not help laughing. "Onyxia would willingly donate her blood so farmers could grow crops? That's even more absurd than saying she'd turned vegetarian."

But Alexstrasza did not laugh. "Anything involving black dragons warrants caution, especially Neltharion's daughter." She pondered for a moment. "Keep watching, but do not alert her. If she truly is only... selling fertilizer..." The queen's voice was full of doubt. "Then that would actually be good news for us."

"Should we send an envoy to investigate?" the elf asked.

"No need." Alexstrasza shook her head. "Our human informants can keep watch. What matters more now is the hatching of these dragon eggs." Her gaze softened once more as she stroked the dragon egg before her. "Life has always been more worthy of attention than death."

Within the cold halls of The Nexus, the Blue Dragon King Malygos floated above a pile of Magic Tomes. His eyes flickered with unstable Arcane Energy, and the air around him warped beneath the force of his magic.

"Fertilizer?" He repeated his subordinate's report, his voice like cracking ice. "Does it have anything to do with magic?"

The blue dragon envoy lowered his head. "According to our investigation, no magical fluctuations were detected. It appears to be an ordinary mineral mixture."

Malygos immediately lost interest. "Then why are you wasting my time?" He waved a claw impatiently. "Unless Onyxia is using magic to disrupt the natural order, she can sell whatever she wants."

"But, Your Majesty, the goblins claim that the fertilizer contains black dragon blood—"

"Lies!" Malygos cut him off. "Do you think black dragons are generous enough for that?" A hint of madness flashed through his eyes. "Unless... no, impossible. That madman Neltharion would be more likely to use blood to destroy crops than cultivate them." The Blue Dragon King turned and drifted toward his throne. "Go monitor something more worthwhile, like whatever those mages in Dalaran are up to again."

Deep within the Emerald Dream, the Green Dragon Queen Ysera circled within a cloud of dream mist, showing no response to the news from the material world. Her dragon guards hesitated over whether they should wake their queen, but ultimately decided to let her continue sleeping.

"Anyway, it's just black dragons doing something strange," one guard muttered to himself. "Better than them plotting a war."

The golden grains of the Caverns of Time flowed without pause, tracing countless dazzling paths through the Void. Every grain of sand carried a moment, a choice, a possible world. And the Bronze Dragon King Nozdormu—the guardian of time—was currently staring at a certain point in the river of time, his brow tightly furrowed.

There, an image that should not have existed was emerging: the Black Dragon Princess Onyxia stood before a fertilizer factory, personally inspecting a burlap sack printed with the words "Blackwing High-Yield Fertilizer."

"Chromie!"

The Dragon King's voice echoed through the cavern, making the grains of sand tremble faintly.

A small figure leaped out of a Time Rift. As the golden glow faded, she took the form of a gnome girl with twin ponytails. She patted away nonexistent dust, blinking her large eyes as she tried her best to look innocent.

"You called for me, great Nozdormu?" Chromie tilted her head, her voice as sweet as though she had just stolen a taste of honey.

The Dragon King ignored her act and pointed directly at the image in the river of time.

"Explain." His voice was low, carrying unquestionable authority. "Why has Onyxia—Daughter of Deathwing, descendant of the Worldbreaker—suddenly taken an interest in agriculture?"

Chromie's smile stiffened for an instant, but she quickly recovered her liveliness.

"Uh... well..." She scratched her head, her eyes darting around. "Goblins?"

"Goblins?" Nozdormu's dragon eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes! It's all those greedy goblins!" Chromie suddenly seemed to have seized a lifeline, and her words poured out rapidly. "They found the fertilizer business profitable, so they hired Onyxia to provide... um... brand endorsement! You know black dragons need gold to maintain their schemes, so..."

The Dragon King stared at her in silence, countless branches of timelines reflected in his golden pupils. Chromie felt cold sweat trickle down her back.

"You're lying, Chromie." Nozdormu finally spoke, his voice cold as ice. "I can sense it—the timeline at this node is experiencing abnormal fluctuations."

With a wave of his hand, the image of the River of Time abruptly magnified. Deep beneath the fertilizer factory, some sort of metal device could faintly be seen buried underground, while Onyxia and a man named Deren were speaking quietly about something.

"There is something there you do not wish to tell me." The Dragon King's gaze was as sharp as a blade.

Chromie's smile froze completely.

Of course, she knew the real reason—Deren, that harbinger of Apocalypse, the founder of the fertilizer business. A variable that should never have existed, a temporal anomaly brought by Apocalypse. What he had brought was not merely fertilizer, but some even more dangerous plan...

But she could not say.

At least, not now.

"Perhaps... it's just a small variable?" she said tentatively, trying to make her voice sound relaxed. "The kind that won't affect the bigger picture? You know, the River of Time always has a few little ripples..."

Nozdormu did not answer immediately. His gaze pierced through Chromie as though he were peering directly into her soul.

After a long while, he finally sighed.

"Continue observing." The Dragon King's voice was low and commanding. "If Onyxia's actions begin to affect any significant temporal nodes, I am to know immediately."

"As you command, great Keeper of Time!" Chromie bowed deeply, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

But when Nozdormu turned and departed, his figure merging into the flow of time, her expression instantly crumpled. Yet she soon began humming happily again. Her private stash had gained several hundred more gold coins, all of them dividends from Deren.

In Deeprock Abyss, scorching magma churned deep beneath the earth. At the center of this realm saturated with elemental power, a massive black shadow flickered in and out of sight within the lava. Its scales resembled flowing magma, and plates of source metal were embedded in its body, radiating a suffocating pressure.

Deathwing—once Neltharion, king of the Black Dragons, now the betrayer of the Aspect of Earth—was immersed in fantasies of destruction. Suddenly, a timid voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Great Master..." A Twilight Dragon Servant knelt in the distance, not daring to approach the roiling lava pool.

"Speak!" Deathwing's voice rumbled like thunder from the depths of the earth.

"News... regarding your daughter. Princess Onyxia..."

Deathwing's body rose from the magma, his Source Armor glowing a dark red beneath the extreme heat. "What trouble has that useless rebellious daughter caused now?"

"Rumors are spreading everywhere that she... she has begun working with humans to produce fertilizer, selling it throughout the Eastern Kingdoms."

"Fertilizer?" Deathwing's voice suddenly became dangerously calm. "You mean the... manure used to grow crops? Shouldn't she be in Stormwind City, impersonating a countess?"

The Twilight Dragon Servant trembled even more violently. "Y-yes, Master. It is said to be highly effective. Humans and Goblins are scrambling to buy it."

"How dare she!" Deathwing's roar shook the entire cavern, sending broken stones tumbling from the walls. "I gave her the bloodline of a Black Dragon, not so she could become a farmer!"

The magma around him churned violently, and searing flames burst from the gaps in his Source Armor. "Where is she?"

"P-perhaps... perhaps... maybe in the Swamp of Sorrows."

Shadows gathered around him, the lava-like patterns gradually contracting until they finally formed the figure of a tall middle-aged man. A few dark-red streaks ran through his black hair like cooled magma, while his eyes—still burned with golden vertical pupils of destruction.

"It is time... to teach that rebellious daughter a lesson."

He raised his hand, tore open space, and stepped into the shadows.

Before the final flicker of firelight went out, a cold laugh echoed from the abyss.

"Fertilizer? I'd like to see what she thinks she's playing at."

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