Death Descends

The mages of Dalaran carried out their duties in perfect order. A massive barrier rose up, enveloping the entire city. Purple light shimmered across its surface. Mages had long since taken up positions atop the mage towers, watching everything before them. After the alarm sounded, the civilians in the city had already taken shelter in their cellars, waiting for it to end.

"Archmage, that energy will arrive in a few minutes," a junior mage said anxiously. In contrast, the Archmage remained calm. He believed that with its defensive barrier activated, Dalaran was a moving fortress. Nothing in this world could break through Dalaran's shield. The barrier had been personally laid by several of the world's remaining masters, and dedicated mages maintained it every year. This was what allowed Dalaran to stand firm in Azeroth. This was the holy land of mages.

The Archmage asked, "How much longer?" The junior mage trembled as he replied, "One minute. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. It's here, right above us." In an instant, every mage looked up at the sky. The sky was as usual, covered in dark clouds. One mage said, "Are you sure? Why can't we see anything? Is the equipment malfunctioning?" The junior mage said firmly, "There is no way this equipment could malfunction. That's impossible." "But there's nothing above us." The Archmage suddenly said, "The equipment isn't malfunctioning. There is something above us." He saw a fireball rapidly approaching Dalaran. The heat it gave off caused the air around it to warp. The Archmage swept his sleeve. "Quick! Everyone, brace for impact!"

After seeing that everyone was prepared, the Archmage continued staring at the fireball. It grew larger and hotter, its power not diminishing in the slightest with distance—or perhaps it had been even more powerful at the beginning. In an instant, a fireball one-quarter the size of Dalaran slammed into the barrier. Waves of shock rippled outward, making the barrier's energy fluctuate violently. Dalaran shuddered fiercely from the impact, and the entire city shook. The water in the fountains evaporated instantly, and the plants withered. In the end, the fireball brought only its heat and failed to breach the barrier.

Seeing that the barrier was intact, the Archmage let out a breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. He asked, "What about that energy? Has it dissipated?" The junior mage, who had been knocked to the ground by the fireball's tremendous impact, climbed to his feet and looked at his device. "N-No. It's still above us!" "What?" The Archmage hurriedly raised his head and searched the sky in the direction opposite the fireball's arrival.

The clouds churned and rolled, as though some colossal creature were trying to break free from within. Then, in that instant, the clouds surged apart, revealing a huge, pitch-black, hideous head covered in spikes. Its enormous jaws gleamed coldly as if forged from iron. Its scarlet eyes stared mockingly down at Dalaran, making the Archmage's hair stand on end. Then its massive body tore free. Red markings covered its enormous form, and with every beat of its huge black flesh wings, it surged an unknown distance forward. In the blink of an eye, it reached Dalaran. It was an incomparably enormous black dragon.

Its enormous claws raked viciously across the barrier, and wherever they passed, the shield seemed to melt away. "Oh? It seems many interesting things appeared during my slumber." A booming voice echoed behind them, making every heart tremble with its cadence. The enormous head lowered, red flames deepening in its throat as its jaws clenched and its throat swelled. Seeing the abnormality, the Archmage quickly shouted, "Quick! Cast spells to reinforce the barrier!" Countless points of light appeared throughout Dalaran, beams striking the shield one after another. The purple radiance of the barrier grew increasingly intense. Yet the mockery in the dragon's eyes only deepened. It watched the mages without trying to stop them, because they were too insignificant. Its fang-filled jaws opened, red flames gathering and churning within. The fire blasted forth, striking directly against the barrier. Under the assault of the heat wave, Dalaran's buildings actually began to weather away.

The barrier, gathering the strength of every mage in Dalaran, melted away just seconds after the first contact. Like a savage beast freed from its cage, the flames swept over Dalaran. Just as the fire was about to devour the city, it dissipated, leaving only scorched blackness wherever it had passed. The dragon spoke again. "I did not come this time to destroy you all. I came to make an announcement: I have returned. I look forward to seeing their expressions when they hear this news. Now, I will go and see how this continent has changed." With a beat of its wings, the dragon that had devastated Dalaran flew away.

The Archmage stared blankly at the departing dragon. "Dalaran has been destroyed... the great holy land of mages, destroyed just like that. What was that? Even a dragon shouldn't possess such power." Then, as though he had suddenly remembered something, he shouted, "Quick! Notify those six people of the Kirin Tor. Tell them to return at once." Seeing that the junior mage had yet to recover, the Archmage grabbed him and said, "Stop standing there! We don't have time. Gather the surviving mages, check the casualties throughout the city, and send people to inspect the damage to the barrier's magical formation. Go!" Startled awake by the roar, the junior mage immediately replied, "Yes!" He scrambled away. After issuing all his orders, the Archmage hurried to the underground library. He prayed that the books had not been destroyed, so he could find out what that creature was.

In Dalaran, where more than half the city had been destroyed, mages cast freezing spells to lower the temperature of the ground. The surviving soldiers in the city were helping civilians. Fortunately, that dragon had not intended to completely destroy Dalaran. The mage district had suffered the greatest attack, while the civilian and commercial districts had fared somewhat better. In the Alliance and Horde encampments, the surviving ambassadors hurried to report the intelligence to their respective capitals. However, both magical mail and portals had been disabled. The only means still available were their respective messengers, but messages carried by messengers would take days to arrive. All they could do was pray that it would be in time.

Entering the library, the Archmage searched among the well-preserved books for the information he needed most. Yet there was very little recorded information about dragons: red dragons, green dragons, bronze dragons, and blue dragons. There was almost nothing on black dragons. All the records contained only one sentence:

Because of the black dragons' betrayal, most black dragons have been exterminated.

Damn it, couldn't they have left a little more information? The Archmage wanted nothing more than to tear the book apart. Then he noticed a sentence in the corner of the page:

When Deathwing returns once more, he will surely bring about the Cataclysm.

Recalling what he had just witnessed, the Archmage's face suddenly turned deathly pale. He murmured, "Deathwing... black dragon... Cataclysm."

Thousands of miles away, in Ashenvale, Kalimdor, the battle between the Alliance and the Horde was reaching its climax. Both sides had played their trump cards one after another. Corpses piled ever higher across the battlefield, and blood flowed like a river.

Varian and Garrosh clashed once more. Varian had discarded his heavy armor and changed into light armor. At some point, the greatsword in his hand had become two swords, and the whirlwind of his dual-wielded blades dazzled the eye. Garrosh had also removed his tusk armor and entered the battle bare-chested. Heat radiated from his crimson skin, while the giant axe in his hand was stained with the blood of countless people. In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged blows an unknown number of times. Sparks flew and blood splashed. Without realizing it, both had become covered in wounds, but neither their strength nor their speed diminished in the slightest.

Alpha and Sylvanas fought with increasing intensity as well. Alpha's back was riddled with arrow wounds. Another arrow struck with a whoosh, and without even turning around, Alpha pulled it out. "You should know poison no longer works on me. But you... how are you feeling?" "Hmph. Let's see how many more you can take." Several claw marks crossed Sylvanas's chest, the wounds so deep that bone was visible. There were claw marks on her back as well, though they were not as deep as those on her chest.