Dragon Lady and Guardian Lady

[Living Flame Core]

[Use: Summons a level-nine fire elemental that cannot distinguish friend from foe. Extremely dangerous.]

Tonatiuh held a black stone the size of a troll's fist in his hand.

About an hour had passed since the battle.

Tonatiuh was alone in the center of the camp, with a bonfire burning before him.

The surrounding trolls looked at him with both reverence and adoration. They had all witnessed it: that terrifying elemental creature had been like an ant before their king, snuffed out with a single squeeze.

"I'm actually immune to magic?"

Tonatiuh had never expected to have such an overpowered cheat.

"At the very least, I'm immune to fire magic attacks..."

An ordinary bonfire burned before him. When he reached his hand toward it, he could feel pain and heat.

Ordinary flames could hurt him.

But...

He tossed the core in his hand onto the ground. With a whoosh, a massive fire elemental five or six meters tall burst forth.

It let out a silent howl.

Before it could roar, a hand ignored the flames that could dry out the surrounding earth and seized its core.

Whoosh!

It shrank back even faster than it had emerged, turning back into a pitch-black elemental core.

Tonatiuh held the fire elemental core in his hand. He had already discovered that as long as it remained on his person, it was still alive, but could only cower within the core and could not emerge.

Only after leaving him

could it come out again and transform back into a terrifying Living Flame.

It was as if his body insulated magic. Even magical objects he touched temporarily lost their life.

"So it wasn't that I couldn't become a mage. I'm magic-immune..." He had originally planned to find an archmage from Quel'Thalas or Dalaran and have them determine why he could not learn magic. Instead, he was simply immune to magic. He would probably remain forever cut off from magic and all those mysterious powers.

But that did not seem like a bad thing.

Azeroth was a world of mystical fantasy and magic, filled with far too many strange and mysterious powers. A pure warrior could never go far in this world, no matter how powerful or famous he was, like King Varian or Saurfang.

But if one was immune to magic,

then things were different.

"Hehe... If I ran into Dalaran or Quel'Thalas right now, wouldn't I be able to go on an unstoppable rampage..."

While Tonatiuh fantasized about rampaging through Dalaran or Quel'Thalas,

the finest masterpiece jointly created by Dalaran and Quel'Thalas was strolling through his city.

The former Guardian, Aegwynn, was cloaked from head to toe in black and had cast the arcane spell Invisibility over herself. She looked over every part of Zutona with curious, probing eyes.

Aegwynn had lived for several centuries. As the longest-serving Guardian in history, she had finally laid down her burden a few years ago.

She had borne a child with Stormwind's court archmage. That child was the next Guardian, and he was currently in the Kingdom of Stormwind.

Believing that she had fulfilled her duty, Aegwynn had avoided the Tirisfal Council and traveled alone to Kalimdor, where Dalaran and Quel'Thalas had little influence, intending to find a place to live in seclusion.

Yet one of the defining traits of the greatest mages was their intense curiosity. Un'Goro Crater had once been a Titan laboratory, so naturally she had wanted to take a look. Instead, she had discovered the strange troll city of Zutona and infiltrated it.

Though Aegwynn's strength had greatly diminished after giving birth and passing the Guardian's power to her child, she was still a powerful mage. For trolls whose magical power was practically nonexistent, discovering her remained extremely difficult.

What intrigued her most about this troll city was the statue at its center.

That troll statue gave her a feeling very similar to Quel'Thalas's Sunwell. She wanted to go take a look, but both magic and instinct told her that if she went over there, she would likely expose herself.

Aegwynn was not afraid of these trolls. They could do nothing to her. But she did not wish to stir up trouble now, lest she draw the attention of the Tirisfal Council, which had relentlessly pursued her.

She chose to continue wandering through the city, observing and exploring it as she toured this troll city, which she felt was even more civilized than Zandalar.

And so night fell.

Aegwynn had grown tired of it. Other than that statue, there was nothing in the city that the former Guardian considered worth exploring. She wanted to go take a look. She had already prepared a large-scale charm spell, intending to put all the nearby trolls to sleep before going up to inspect it.

As she passed a corner, she saw a little troll girl sitting atop a wall, swinging her legs back and forth.

Aegwynn paid her no mind and continued walking.

But only seconds later, she raised her head and looked back at the wall.

The little troll girl was still there.

She was even smiling at Aegwynn and waving at her. Aegwynn's heart jolted. She can see me?!

Aegwynn stopped.

"Who are you? You're not a troll. That is an illusion. What are you concealing?!"

"Hehe!"

The little troll girl chuckled.

"Guardian Lady. You're concealing yourself too. Why are you invisible? If it weren't for me, no troll in this city should be able to detect you, right? I thought you were supposed to be in the Eastern Kingdoms. What are you doing all the way out here?"

A blue flash flickered in Aegwynn's eyes.

Oh.

A dragon of the dragonflights.

The surprise in her heart settled somewhat.

She had just used an extremely sophisticated detection spell and seen through the identity of the "little troll girl" before her. The former Guardian had lived for centuries, and few beings in Azeroth could match her breadth of knowledge.

The knowledge in Karazhan's tower had little to do with Medivh. In truth, ninety-nine percent of its collections and knowledge had come from his mother, this former Guardian who had lived for centuries.

"Oh my. Magic. Looks like you've already guessed who I am." Chromie shrugged, jumped down from the wall, and walked toward Aegwynn.

"You may not know me, but I know you, Guardian Lady. Hello, I'm a member of the dragonflights. You can call me Chromie. I'm here on official business, carrying out a mission. I hope you won't interfere with me!"

A mission from the dragonflights?

Aegwynn became even more curious about this troll city.

But she did not show it at all. Instead, she nodded lightly. "Very well, Dragon Lady. It was merely a mage's bad habit acting up. I was curious, that's all. I won't do anything to this city."

"That's good."

Chromie nodded.

I still want to eat grilled meat for a few more years!

Suddenly,

Chromie raised her head toward the southwest. A strange smile appeared on her face as she said to Aegwynn beside her,

"Guardian Lady. It seems one of your compatriots has arrived over there. I can sense Dalaran's aura."

Aegwynn's lovely brows furrowed.

She too had sensed a familiar Dalaran magical aura rapidly approaching.

Those Tirisfal fellows caught up this quickly?