Chromie and Romi'ko

Orendo had no idea that a whole group of the finest human and elven mages were agonizing over matters concerning him.

After Aegwynn left, he had troubles of his own that left him irritated and restless.

The Guardian's deterrence was formidable. While she was around, those people did not dare act recklessly. The moment she left, Orendo immediately sensed the area around him becoming much livelier.

So while the Tirisfal Council held its secret meeting, he neither read nor conducted arcane experiments. Instead, he sat quietly in his residence at Violet Academy, waiting in the enormous reception hall on the first floor.

He did not have to wait long.

Soon, the air before him warped, rippling like a tranquil pond disturbed by a thrown stone.

A petite figure, even shorter than him, emerged from those ripples.

Seeing her appear, Orendo could not help rolling his eyes.

"Still not giving up? Just give it up. You can't kill me," Orendo complained helplessly.

"Not necessarily!" The visitor had a sweet, childish voice and an even cuter, prettier appearance: a pink-haired gnome girl. "To preserve the proper course of the timeline, I can't give up no matter how dangerous it is!"

Orendo rubbed his forehead helplessly and stared at her in speechless frustration.

The pink-haired, twin-tailed gnome girl before him was none other than the renowned model worker of Azeroth's Bronze Dragons—Chromie!

The reason she was here was simple: she and the Bronze Dragonflight wanted to restore the future timeline to normal.

In fact, this effort to preserve the timeline had already continued for more than a year.

In a sense, it was precisely the "help" of the Bronze Dragons and Infinite Dragons that had allowed him and Aegwynn to develop such a twisted relationship.

It had begun a year ago.

When Orendo had first entered Dalaran to study, the Bronze Dragons and Infinite Dragons had begun a secret battle near where he was, without his knowledge.

And unfortunately, Orendo had not chosen to live outside. He had stayed in Dalaran's apprentice dormitories.

Even more unfortunately, Aegwynn had been hiding out in the apprentice dormitories for some peace and quiet. Thus, the battling Infinite Dragons and Bronze Dragons ran into Aegwynn...

Other mages, even the Archmages of Dalaran, would have found it difficult to notice them when the Bronze Dragons and Infinite Dragons deliberately concealed themselves.

But Aegwynn was Aegwynn!

Without question, Aegwynn had discovered the conflict between the Bronze Dragons and Infinite Dragons near Orendo.

Then, when one side emerged victorious and prepared to strike at the completely unsuspecting Orendo, Aegwynn's curiosity was piqued, and she stopped the time dragons—the Infinite whelp Orendo had dissected for the second time was the one she had caught during the fourth wave of attacks by the time dragons and delivered onto the operating table.

Though they had run into an immovable obstacle, the time dragons had never given up. They kept sending dragons over, one after another, in an attempt to influence Orendo.

Having lived for centuries without ever encountering such a thing, Aegwynn's competitive spirit was also stirred. However many time dragons came, she sent back just as many, and she had even killed over a dozen of them—both Bronze Dragons and Infinite Dragons.

For some reason, the attitudes of these two kinds of time dragons toward Orendo had constantly changed.

At first, the Bronze Dragons wanted to kill him while the Infinite Dragons tried to protect him. Later, the Infinite Dragons wanted to kill him, while the Bronze Dragons protected him instead.

And this pattern kept changing. Whenever one group of time dragons wanted to kill him, the other would protect him.

It was also because the Bronze Dragons and Infinite Dragons refused to give up that Aegwynn became intensely curious about him, leading to their first formal meeting.

As they gradually spent more time together, Aegwynn discovered his "unparalleled" talent for magic and eventually became his true mentor.

Then this mentor remained in Dalaran, teaching him while using him as bait to fish for time dragons—over the course of a year, the Guardian's private vault in Karazhan gained an enormous quantity of time dragon materials.

There were even several dragon eggs!

It could be said that the time dragons were actually the "matchmakers" of Orendo and Aegwynn!

The adorable, pink Chromie before him had also protected him from Infinite Dragons several times, so Orendo found it hard to feel any dislike toward her.

Thus, facing the earnest little girl, Orendo said helplessly once more, "All right. Ms. Chromie, the diligent model worker, is it the Bronze Dragons' turn to kill me today, or protect me?"

But Chromie did not answer his question. Nor did she attack or approach him. She warily turned her head and scanned the surroundings. "The Guardian really isn't here today?"

"She'll be back soon," Orendo scared her, deliberately saying, "And even if my mentor isn't here, it won't be so easy for you to kill or protect me now, will it?"

"Hmph!" The little model worker snorted through her tiny nose. Then, not far from her, the air rippled again like the surface of a pond.

Under Chromie's wary gaze and Orendo's helpless expression of Here we go again, another petite figure emerged from the air in the same manner as Chromie...

Another Chromie... or rather, Romi'ko! She looked exactly like Chromie, except her skin was not as fair as Chromie's but slightly grayish, and her twin tails were not pink but gray, wreathed in black mist: a "Chromie."

Romi'ko, Chromie after becoming an Infinite Dragon in the future, was a powerful member of the Infinite Dragonflight.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... me from the past. Is it your turn to protect him today? Then I won't hold back!" This Chromie—no, Romi'ko—was far more hot-tempered than the Bronze Dragon. The moment she appeared, she attacked.

"By Aman'Thul! The Bronze Dragons will never allow the timeline to be disrupted! Future me, stop your unlawful actions at once!" Chromie unhesitatingly confronted herself from the future timeline.

The two "Chromies" immediately began fighting.

Orendo stood nearby with an unsurprised expression.

Back when time dragons came after him, they would bring along all sorts of inexplicable helpers. But under Aegwynn's assault, both the helpers and the time dragons themselves were thoroughly beaten.

Later on, the time dragons simply stopped bringing those inexplicable helpers. They only sent dragons themselves.

But whenever an Infinite Dragon came, a Bronze Dragon would come to deal with it. Whenever a Bronze Dragon came, its future self that had become an Infinite Dragon would come to deal with it.

It was all utterly chaotic.

At first, Orendo had found it fascinating—his "present self" and "future self" appearing together and fighting each other was such a fantastical sight!

But no matter how interesting something was, watching it too often and for too long would grow tiresome. Severosa had long grown sick of the time dragons' infighting around him.

After glancing once more at Chromie and Romi'ko, who were often together, Orendo yawned, rubbed his eyes, and waved at them.

"Don't wreck my reception hall while you're fighting, and don't draw Dalaran's mages over here. I'm going to sleep. Um... remember, only the winner gets to kill me. I'm so sleepy. See you."

The two time dragons ignored him. Their battle was extremely fierce.

"You're being a little loud and it's affecting my sleep. Please, keep it down while you fight. Thanks!"

Then... they actually slowed their fighting movements and lowered the noise of their battle.

As Orendo went up to the second floor, he turned back to look at the two entangled time dragons and shook his head.

"Another lively, noisy night."