Chromie, the Dragon Born to Toil

Tanaris.

This was an endless sea of sand.

This desert covered a vast region in southern Kalimdor. It lay south of Thousand Needles and east of Un'Goro Crater.

Beneath a cloudless sky, it was a scorching land filled with shifting sands.

The southern part of the region was mountainous, its vast caves crisscrossing one another, some extending deep below the surface. Much of the desert concealed countless secrets.

Most of this place was uninhabited, yet many massive creatures—such as kodos, sandworms, and tallstriders—roamed about in search of food.

Beneath the ground lay a vast network of tunnels, largely unexplored, because few possessed the perseverance, courage, or strength to venture into such a desolate place. Even so, rumors persisted of all kinds of creatures hidden within those tunnels, said to kill intruders without hesitation.

Life was remarkable. Even with water so scarce, the environment so harsh, and the blazing sun forever hanging overhead, countless forms of life had still flourished here. Setting aside goblins and trolls, the two intelligent races that had arrived from elsewhere, native desert kodos, tallstriders, lions, and several kinds of giant predatory birds had been common here since ancient times.

Even among the towering mountains in the southeastern corner of the great desert, one could occasionally see drakes and adult dragons soaring through the heat haze above the sands—though this sea of dunes hardly seemed capable of sustaining much wildlife.

This mountain range stretched for hundreds of miles. Since dragons frequently appeared here, outsiders rarely came anywhere near it. More precisely, all intruders had been driven away by the dragons.

For this was the domain of one of the five great guardian dragonflights, the Bronze Dragonflight—the site of the Caverns of Time!

An incomparably vast cavern lay hidden beneath the mountains. The power of time had warped the landscape, tangling together buildings and climates from different timelines within the caves, creating scenery that was both extraordinarily magnificent and faintly eerie. Any outsider who came here would surely be captivated by this strange beauty and declare the journey worthwhile.

Chromie was utterly unmoved by it all.

She had lived here for tens of thousands of years. Yes—though she usually liked to take the form of a young gnome girl, the age of this guardian dragon was a secret. Aside from a few Dragon Aspects, not many dragons knew her true age.

As one of the Bronze Dragonflight's most capable hands, Chromie had been highly valued by the Dragon Aspect ever since her youth. Back when everyone had just become guardian dragons and all the Dragon Aspects were brimming with drive, Chromie and her superior Nozdormu went through workdays like this:

"Chromie, notify me ten minutes from now to send adventurers to the Stratholme timeline and correct the events distorted by the Infinite Dragons."

"Yes, my lord. I'm on it."

"My lord!"

"Hm? You're back already?"

"No. You from two hours ago asked me to remind you not to forget to send adventurers to help the Horde's current Warchief, Thrall, escape Durnholde Keep in an earlier timeline."

"Right, right. Oh, and notify me fifteen minutes from now to remember to send adventurers to help Illidan obtain water from the Well of Eternity."

"Right away."

"My lord!"

"What is it?"

"You from half an hour from now asked me to tell you not to arrange Stratholme anymore. The Infinite Dragons have changed their strategy and are going to stop Medivh from opening the Dark Portal."

"Alright, got it. I'll arrange it right away."

"My lord, you from ten minutes ago asked me to notify you not to forget to send adventurers to the Stratholme timeline and correct the timeline distorted by the Infinite Dragons."

"Alright—wait. What time is it now, and which time period am I in?"

Alright, such tangled timelines would leave mortals confused. But for the Bronze Dragons, who wielded the power of time, they naturally had their own logic and methods.

Thus.

With Dragon Aspect Nozdormu having become somewhat detached from worldly affairs in recent years, Chromie had taken on much of the Bronze Dragon Aspect's heavy workload, becoming one of the busiest dragons in the entire Bronze Dragonflight.

Just like today.

Chromie had just restored a timeline in which Quel'Thalas had been destroyed by Zul'jin and the Quel'dorei exterminated by the Amani Trolls to its proper course. Exhausted enough to feel as if flames were rising from all over her body, she had only just returned to the Caverns of Time and wanted to rest.

Kairoz, a rising star among the Bronze Dragons, flew over to deliver some troubling news to this important figure of the Bronze Dragonflight.

"Lady Chromie. We detected intense temporal and spatial energy fluctuations coming from Un'Goro Crater in our current timeline. The disgusting stench of those Infinite Dragons can be smelled even from this far away..."

"Speak dragon!"

"Her Majesty Soridormi hopes you can go over and take a look. This time, the Infinite Dragons' disturbance is accompanied by the aura of our Bronze Dragonflight. There are also Titan ruins there, so the matter is of great importance."

"Ugh... honestly! It's fine that Soridormi is taking charge while Nozdormu can't be found, but why do I have to run around everywhere? I'm just a child!! Look, the burdens of life and work have crushed me into this—I can't grow any taller!"

"Princess Chromie... if I remember correctly, you were born at the same time as Soridormi! And the reason you can't grow taller is because you've taken the form of a gnome..."

"Shut up!"

"Oh..."

And so.

Having just corrected a chaotic timeline, Chromie had no choice but to leave the comfortable Caverns of Time and get back to work.

Before setting out.

She complained a little. "I really miss the days when Anachronos was around. He was a hundred times—no, ten thousand times—more reliable than his father!"

"Our Dragon Aspect is the most unreliable Dragon Aspect. The other Dragon Aspects have loads of children, so dragons like me can simply stand aside while their offspring do the work! But our Bronze Dragon Aspect has the fewest children—only one! And he's trapped in Ahn'Qiraj! Ugh... poor Chromie. You were simply born to toil!"

While reminiscing about Nozdormu's dependable son and complaining about the unreliable Dragon Aspect, Chromie still used the power of her role as a time guardian, appearing in an instant above the dense forests of Un'Goro Crater.

Below.

The battle was in full swing.

Chromie hid among the giant trees.

She observed the battle below.

What she saw made her click her tongue in amazement.

"One side has twenty-five powerful legendary heroes, and every single one of them is carrying a legendary weapon! Whew... that force could even overturn the Caverns of Time!"

"The other side is... judging by that appearance, it should be Murozond? They're done for. The Infinite Dragons are about to retreat."

Chromie made that judgment.

And indeed, just as she had predicted, not long after she appeared, the Infinite Dragon Murozond—held fast by the emerald dragon transformed from that troll, causing grievous casualties among the other Infinite Dragons and Infinite Dragonkin—could only let out an unwilling roar, beat his wings furiously, and vanish into a rift in time and space. He took the bodies of the Infinite Army scattered across the ground with him.

Those twenty-five "trolls" had no way to keep them. Against enemies like the Infinite Dragons and Bronze Dragons, who could manipulate time and space, only an existence like the Titans, capable of reversing time and space, could stop them from retreating. Otherwise, if the Infinite Dragons or Bronze Dragons wished to leave, only Nozdormu, the guardian Dragon Aspect who controlled Azeroth's temporal power, could hold them back.

Chromie had arrived a little late.

The battle was already over.

She was curious about it. Why had trolls appeared in Un'Goro Crater? And there were so many of them. It looked like a fairly large tribe, with elderly people, women, and children in tow. They did not resemble a troll army at all, but rather a migrating tribe.

As for those twenty-five adventurers who looked like "trolls," she had seen through their disguise at a glance. Someone had used temporal magic to conceal them.

She was very familiar with such things.

She often pulled adventurers or other heroes into battles against the Infinite Dragons. Only the Infinite Dragons or Bronze Dragons could do something like that.

Those powerful legendary adventurers had just slain so many Infinite Dragons, so they could not have been brought here by the Infinite Dragons. That meant they could only have been brought here by the Bronze Dragons.

But she was in charge on the Bronze Dragonflight's side, and she had not done anything yet...

Which hatchling had already dealt with the matter and tricked her into making the trip? Or had a time guardian from another timeline finished the job and vanished afterward?

As she considered the various possibilities.

Suddenly.

She looked into the distance to her left.

It seemed something had been watching her from there just now.

But when she looked over.

That presence had disappeared.

"A very familiar aura. A Bronze Dragon!"

Chromie murmured to herself.

The issue concerning the players was a bit of foreshadowing. If this story could continue, it probably would not reappear for another one or two million words... The main theme would still be building up the land and leading the trolls to conquer Azeroth. And, incidentally, please send in some recommendation votes.