The Cold Winds of Northrend and the Dragon King

"You..." Vereesa raised her head, staring blankly at him with tear-filled eyes. When she caught the faintly teasing smile on his face, she suddenly understood.

"Go to hell, you bastard!" Overcome with embarrassment and anger, the girl grabbed his collar and shoved him hard.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Seeing that she had even grabbed the hilt of her blade and looked ready to take him down with her, Lanlos hurriedly reached out and caught her wrist.

The sudden change in her feelings had left Vereesa strangely sensitive. She clearly felt his hand's scorching warmth against the back of hers. An emotion she couldn't understand welled up inside her, and little spots of pink appeared on her cheeks.

"Let go of me!" The sensations in both her body and mind startled her, and she quickly shook his hand off and stood up.

Seeing her get up and move away from him, Lanlos actually breathed a sigh of relief. It was no wonder. The jolt from Shocking Grasp had sent the magic within the Arcane Aberration into a sudden frenzy. The escaping energies collided and compressed against one another, triggering a massive explosion. He had sacrificed that energy to Fel at the first opportunity, but he'd still been a little too slow. And at such close range, he'd come within a hair's breadth of dying.

Of course, he hadn't been lying on the ground playing dead. Aside from calming the chaotic magic surging through his body, the feedback from the Sargerite had given him a surprise.

Mana Burn:

Analysis Progress: 7%/100%

Time Remaining: 373 hours, 55 minutes, 41 seconds

Suggestion: Obtain more theoretical knowledge to greatly increase analysis speed...

After about half a month, the progress bar was moving slower than a snail.

But there was no doubt this was exciting news. If circumstances allowed, Lanlos would have even wanted to break into a B-BOX routine right there.

Mana Burn was an absolute nightmare for spellcasters—not just because of its effects.

Lanlos still couldn't forget the feeling, as if every blood vessel in his body were on fire.

Even with a mind as resilient as his, he'd been unable to cast a spell through that kind of agony!

It was easy to imagine what a deadly weapon this would be once he mastered the metamagic technique.

"Lanlos, look!"

Vereesa's cry brought the mage's attention back. He slowly sat up and silently pulled tight the long robe that had been torn to shreds.

Following the girl's gaze, he saw the place where the Arcane Aberration had perished. The object hovered steadily in the air, its irregular surface a deep blue. The setting sun illuminated a captivating sheen flowing across it.

A crystal about the size of a fist?

Its unusual aura made the magic inside Lanlos surge for no apparent reason, as if cheering and urging him to hurry up and take it in his hand.

The feeling made him uneasy, but he did it anyway.

If he wasn't mistaken, this had to be the thing Velania had asked him to find.

The crystal's surface felt cool to his touch. The ceaseless aura of magic left Lanlos somewhat dazed. He forcibly suppressed the excitement of the magic within him, then slowly reached out and grasped it.

Nothing happened.

Letting out a long sigh of relief, Lanlos relaxed. Then, out of habit, he directed his magic toward the crystal to investigate its secrets.

But something happened that he hadn't expected.

When Lanlos's magic touched it, the crystal suddenly shone with brilliant streams of light. Like a magnet, it swallowed his magic in an instant—and drew in Lanlos's consciousness as well!

Buzz!

A sound like metal being struck exploded in Lanlos's mind. His other senses were instantly stripped away, leaving only his sight, stretched out endlessly.

As if merging with the magic inside the crystal, Lanlos was whisked into the Ley Line in an instant.

Rising higher and pulling farther away, he saw the full expanse of Quel'Thalas, the eternal land, and the Sunwell in all its breathtaking splendor.

Suddenly, an immense force tugged at his consciousness. His perception raced through the Ley Line at an immeasurable speed, and one familiar yet unfamiliar scene after another blurred into view.

He passed over the snow-covered Alterac Mountains and through the verdant Hillsbrad Foothills. Dalaran, the magical kingdom shrouded in mist and Arcane magic, came into focus.

Before Lanlos could take a closer look, that irresistible force seized him again.

This time, he found himself beneath a perpetually gloomy sky. The familiar wasteland was just like Mardum, except it had no Fel.

No, there was one other difference.

A gloomy, ancient tower rose from the ground. There was no light, no sign of life. Apart from the eerie, hair-raising breeze, the place seemed forgotten by the world.

Karazhan? Deadwind Pass? Why had he come here?

The question had only just surfaced in his mind when the scene before Lanlos changed completely once more.

The barren deserts of Uldum and the pyramid of the Halls of Origination; Mount Hyjal and the World Tree rising into the clouds; the silent elven ruins of Azsuna in the Broken Isles...

Countless scenes flashed before his eyes, but Lanlos could always pick out a familiar landmark or point of reference. Without exception, these were Ley Line hubs in Azeroth whose power rivaled Silvermoon City's. Yet the strongest of them all was undoubtedly the one Lanlos was seeing now.

Coldarra, in Azeroth's far north, west of Northrend. It was a towering mountain ringed by sheer cliffs, and an isolated island cut off from the world. Its inhabitants didn't worry about contact with the outside world, though, because they were dragons!

One enormous azure dragon after another wheeled through his field of vision. If Lanlos could still control his expression, his jaw would probably have dislocated.

The Nexus, home of the Blue Dragonflight, was also the place with the densest concentration of magic in the surviving Ley Line network. Although the Blue Dragonflight had faced annihilation during the War of the Ancients, its survivors still fulfilled their duty to maintain the Ley Lines and protect Azeroth.

Unfortunately, unable to bear the pain of being abandoned by everyone, Malygos, the mad Dragon Aspect of Magic, had left his people and vanished without a trace.

Turning his attention back to what lay before him, Lanlos saw a colossal tower rooted deep in the ground at the center.

No! How could this be a tower?

Countless enormous stone blocks and platforms formed a hollow tower that reached into the sky. Boundless Arcane energy coursed through it, supporting countless platforms of all sizes in the air with beams made purely of magic!

Crude, yet imbued with an intelligence beyond comprehension.

Magnificent, but why had he been brought here?

Perplexed, Lanlos searched his memories and all he had learned, but found no explanation for what was happening. He shook his head helplessly, then tried to make contact and return to his body.

Surprisingly, the whole process went smoothly...

The cold wind swept across the hills of Northrend like a sharp blade. A blinding blizzard buried everything on the mountain peaks beneath frozen earth. On the empty snowfield, a different sound came from a cave almost completely sealed by ice.

Heavy and drawn-out, like a drumbeat stretched to infinity, it pounded against mortal hearts, pushing them to the limits of what they could endure.

A dragon—an actual dragon!

Even curled up on the ground, its size could be seen to blot out the sky. Though it had slept for many years, not a trace of snow or dust clung to its ancient, deep-blue scales. Purple Arcane runes covered its entire body, shining brilliantly with each breath.

Even in slumber, the pressure radiating from the dragon could force almost any creature to the ground, trembling.

This was an irresistible being, a being beyond the mortal realm. This should not exist!

Its breathing stopped. Heavy eyelids slowly lifted, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes. The sounds in the cave vanished. It was as if they were afraid...

"A disturbance in the Ley Line? I recognize this aura..." The dragon's voice rang out through the cave like a bell or thunderclap. The blizzard raging outside was nothing compared to it.

"No, it's too weak. Just some ignorant mortal who doesn't know their place..."

"I must have slept too long. Even my mind has grown sluggish—I actually mistook it for something else..."

Murmuring words that made no sense to anyone else, the dragon fell silent. After a long while, it suddenly raised its head. An inexplicable fury flared in its scarlet eyes. "Filthy demonic power! Do you intend to defile Azeroth's Ley Line again? Foolish!"

"Pitiful mortals. You use magic recklessly, believing you can wield this power with ease, yet you always repeat the same mistakes..."

"Shallow! Ridiculous!" A thunderous roar burst from the dragon. The cave began to shake violently, and as the Arcane runes on its body blazed brighter and brighter, an invisible shockwave spread out from it and smashed through the cave walls.

Rumble—

One corner of the lonely mountain suddenly collapsed. The ice and snow shattered, and the earth caved in, as if the entire Northrend could hear the dragon's mighty roar!

Who was it? Who was bold enough to disturb this sleeping overlord?

Boom!

With a thunderclap, a colossal figure burst out of the avalanche. As its weathered, battle-hardened wings spread, a vast shadow raced over the snowcapped peaks.

Judging by its size alone, even a jumbo jet might barely have made a decent pillow for this dragon.

"So reckless! So outrageous!"

"I will stop you with my own hands from driving Azeroth into the abyss!"

"Mortal, I will make you pay for your arrogance!"

With an earth-shaking roar, the dragon spread its wings as wide as it could. A fierce storm, powerful enough to tear through space itself, crashed in every direction.

The howling snowstorm was ripped to shreds. As the dragon soared, the silent snowfields exploded beneath it, and an avalanche bent on destroying everything swept across the entire plain.

And it was heading straight for Coldarra.

"My fury will reduce everything you have to ruins!"

"I am the mystery-maker of Azeroth!"

"I am the Spell-Weaver, the fury of the Arcane!"

"I am the Dragon King!"