Everyone got off the dragon's back, and Alexstrasza also returned to his human form.
She was standing in a soft valley covered with rocks and trees, but there was no mood on her face to appreciate the scenery.
She just stood there quietly with her eyes closed, as if sensing something.
"What's wrong? What did you find?" Onyxia walked up to her. Although his tone was still alienated, it was less direct and hostile.
Alexstrasza slowly opened her eyes, her molten golden eyes filled with sadness and disbelief. Her voice was as low as a whisper, "This place is filled with the smell of death. It's not the death of nature, but the void and sadness left after life is forcibly deprived and interrupted. It's so strong that it's suffocating."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and waved lightly at the ordinary-looking ground covered with purple ferns beside her.
A soft but irresistible force swept across the ground, and the vegetation and soil on the surface seemed to be peeled away by invisible hands and rolled to both sides.
The sight revealed made everyone take a breath!
Under the soil, there are not rocks, but layers upon layers of white bones! Most of those bones show the characteristics of a combination of dragons and mortal creatures.
It has a skull, spine, and limb bone structure similar to Dragon Race, but it also has a pelvis and rib shape similar to that of an elf or a human. It can be seen that there are still exotic spines and joints on some bones that can be completely deflowered or closed.
"This ---- this is ----" Onyxia's voice had an imperceptible tremor. It was not that she had never seen death before, but the scale and strange shape of the pile of bones in front of her still made her feel palpitated, "Dragonborn? Or ---- something else? Is it ---- everywhere here?"
Alexstrasza nodded heavily, his face as pale as paper. "My life sensor tells me that there are almost all such skeletons buried underground in the entire valley. The number is probably not a few hundred, but thousands, or even more."
"Dracthyr." Chromie's voice sounded, less out of the ordinary and more solemn, "Neltharion created a new race. I started from As seen on Timeline, these combine the adaptability and intelligent form of the mortal race with the strength and lifespan potential of Dragon Race. But judging from these remains, the experimental process is obviously full of failure and pain."
"No----no----I can't believe----" Alexstrasza shook his head in pain and took a step back, as if he wanted to stay away from this land, "This is----the slaughterhouse. Is this something that Aspect Dragons, who has always been responsible for protecting Azeroth and cherishing life, can do it? Neltharion----What on earth are you----"
Deren looked at the speechless bones in the soil in silence, without much surprise in his heart.
He has long known that Neltharion, and later Deathwing, were "persistent" and "unscrupulous" in creating Dracthyr, and even later Twilight Dragon and other new races.
He just didn't expect that the scene at the scene would be so shocking, and even Red Dragon Queen felt such a shock.
Jaina also watched all this silently. As the ruler of Theramore, she had seen war and death, but the systematic destruction in the name of "creation" before her eyes still made her feel chilly. The mage's curiosity and sense of morality clashed fiercely in her heart.
"Okay, sad memories can't change the past." Chromie broke the heavy atmosphere. She pointed to the steep mountain wall on one side of the valley, where there was a dark cave entrance half-covered by vines and glowing moss. "The entrance to the laboratory should be over there. Let's go and have a look. I hope - it won't be worse inside than outside." She rarely reminded everyone to be mentally prepared.
Alexstrasza took one last deep look at the land of bones that were buried in the soil again, as if she wanted to carve this scene into her soul. Then, she turned around and followed Chromie's footsteps, her steps firm but with a martyr's heaviness.
Deren and Onyxia walked side by side, while Jaina walked behind, watching their surroundings vigilantly.
Deren, who was walking in front, looked at the deep cave that looked like the mouth of a giant beast pointed out by Chromie, and couldn't help but think about the Black Dragon family's almost "family inheritance" and obsession with taboo life experiments. Nefarian's "masterpiece" in Blackwing Lair, mother-in-law Sinestra's "feat" of rubbing Twilight Dragon's hands, plus ancestor Neltharion's Dracthyr experimental ground here----
In the Black Dragon family, except for Oni, whose taste has been "corrupted" by the human city, everyone seems to be...
An out-and-out "Frankenstein"
One or "mad biologist"?
He subconsciously glanced sideways at Onyxia, and suddenly a strange and a bit scary thought came to his mind:
Will my Black Dragon wife suddenly become interested in "creating new life" one day in the future, and then her style of painting will suddenly change, turning into a "weird Ajie" who spends all day in the laboratory, playing with bottles and jars and weird organs?
Thinking of that scene, Deren couldn't help but shudder, and immediately made up his mind: in the future, he must take Oni to engage in more leisure and entertainment activities that are healthy, beneficial to the body and mind, and conducive to "creating life"!
For example----cough, more new ways, new postures, new maps! Or you can change clothes?!
"What are you thinking about?" Onyxia has been with him for many years, and naturally has some spiritual connections. He immediately noticed the subtle changes in his eyes, raised his eyebrows slightly, and asked with a half-smile.
Deren coughed dryly and decided to tell the truth - embellished of course, "I'm thinking that your Black Dragon family's dedication to - well, the study of life forms - is really long-standing and distinctive. Fortunately, my Oni is the most special, normal and elegant one."
When Onyxia heard this, he couldn't help but chuckle. A trace of understanding and narrowness flashed in his eyes. "Yes, I also feel that I have no interest in those bottles and jars and bloody organs. Maybe - it was the experience of playing Catalina Countess in Stormwind City that changed me? The salon gatherings of the nobles, the exquisite makeup and costumes, and the various enjoyments in the bustling city -
It's definitely more fun than sitting in a dark cave playing with corpses."
She frankly admitted that the civilized life of human society, especially the upper classes such as the nobility, had a profound impact on her.
Deren nodded with deep understanding. "Yes, cities are the most concentrated expression of civilization. The establishment of rules, legal constraints, and the formation of morality are often gradually improved in the process of population gathering and the complexity of social relations."
"This kind of in vivo experiments and research that ignores individual pain and ethics are often considered "normal" or even "necessary" by some beings only in the barbaric era when civilization has not yet been established or the rules have collapsed."