Richard Knaak - Night of the Dragon

He seized Kalec and threw the blue into Korialstrasz. The red could not veer out of the way in time. The pair collided with a sound like a thunderclap.

Wasting no time, Dargonax battered the tangled pair with his long tail. The amethyst beast then brought his tail to Korialstrasz. As he did, the twilight dragon turned ethereal. Dargonax thrust his tall through the red—

And turned solid again.

Korialstrasz barely realized in time what his foe intended. He twisted in mld-air, seeking to escape the tail. He was only partially successful.

The red dragon cried out in pain. Already twisting, he ripped open a gap in his side where the tail had stuck in.

As terrible as the agony was, it surely would have been worse if not for Dargonax quickly reverting to an incorporeal form. The twilight dragon had wanted to slay his adversary, but not at the cost of being dragged down with him.

From his maw, Kalec unleashed a blue cloud. It enveloped the ghostly giant, then crystallized around him.

Dargonax briefly writhed, as if freezing solid. Then, the Devourer opened his mouth—and immediately sucked in the magic that Kalec had unleashed. The cloud vanished.

As he finished swallowing, the twilight dragon momentarily shimmered, then solidified again. At the same time, he caught a stunned Kalec hard in the side with one vast wing.

The blue went hurtling down toward the lava. Korialstrasz dove after him. only to be snagged from behind by Dargonax's claws.

"You first I'll feed upon!" the gargantuan beast declared. "Then his essence will I take! Then... then nothing will there be as powerful!"

"There—there will always be her!" Korialstrasz reminded him.

He sensed Dargonax's ire rise at mention of his creator. "There will come a day..." the twilight dragon murmured between them. "There will come a day...she made me too great to be her slave...I am destined to rule all...."

"Until she creates more..."

"She no longer can! The eggs are destroyed!"

"She protected them! You know she would!"

Dargonax shook. He threw Korialstrasz from him, shouting out, “I save you for last! The blue's magic I'll taste first!"

As the red dragon sought to recover, Dargonax dove down in the direction of Kalec... but Korialstrasz knew that the monster was not actually pursuing the blue, who hovered weakly over the burning mount.

And to verify that belief, Dargonax became incorporeal again.

But just as he was about to reach Kalec—and continue on through him, Korialstrasz was certain—a golden glow surrounded the twilight dragon.

Dargonax struggled, but could go no farther. He twisted around to face his creator.

"Do not be a bad child," Sintharla intoned, holding high the shard of the Demon Soul. "I have had enough bad children...." The black dragon thrust a clawed digit at Korialstrasz. "This one first! As for the other..." She glanced at Kalec, who had crash-landed near the base of Grim Batol. "There may be some pickings left on his corpse by the time you are through with the red...."

"Yesss, Mother..." And with the golden glow still surrounding him—no doubt, Korialstrasz believed, to discourage any further rebellion—Dargonax charged the red.

"There will...be...be...only one chance," Iridi managed. She looked to the high elf. "You're certain of what happened?" The ranger nodded. "I saw it happen."

"Then, we must try now." The draenei sought to stand on her own, a questionable proposition at first.

Rhonin and Vereesa exchanged glances behind the priestess. "Iridi, what do you intend?"

"I know how to...how to guide the staff...but...but I've nothing left...to give..." The draenei peered at the faint glow from the crystal. "But you...you might be able to provide the power...."

"If it can stop that thing, you'll have everything I can give—"

"Beware!" Vereesa interrupted. "She sends the beast at him again!"

Iridi immediately stepped forward and thrust the staff in the direction of the battling dragons. She wobbled for a moment, then murmured to herself, "I made a vow." To the wizard, she gasped, "I need you...now..."

Rhonin stepped up beside her and placed a hand on the staff. The crystal flared as bright as it ever had.

The draenei focused... and prayed.

Dargonax again tore into Korialstrasz. The red tried to fend him off, but so many events had worked to weaken him, and the twilight dragon was at his peak.

Then, there came from Sintharia a maddened shriek. A great burst of light enveloped Korialstrasz and Dargonax.

And the twilight dragon swelled to even more grotesque proportions.

"Yesss!" Dargonax cried. The twilight dragon let out a roar of pleasure.

He threw a startled Korialstrasz back...and turned upon his maker. Even as he did, he continued to swell.

Korialstrasz fought to stay aloft. He glanced at Sintharia.

Her hand was burnt badly, another addition to her macabre beauty. Yet, the black dragon clutched tight what so burned her... the shard. It was also what fed Dargonax more and more power....

No! Korialstrasz thought. Do they not know what they are doing? We looked down at the source of the energies flowing through the shard into the twilight dragon.

Iridi... with Rhonin beside her. He was the source of the energy now powering the staff. Rhonin should have at least known better what would happen. Why would they—

"No!" Sintharia shouted to the sky. "I will not give it up!"

He looked back at the black dragon and saw that her clenched paw was straining toward Dargonax, as if she—or rather it —sought desperately to join the amethyst juggernaut.

And suddenly Korialstrasz understood what the others hoped to do. They were making use of the same aberration he had sensed in the other dragon.

Dargonax converged on his creator... but seemed to be caught at the end of an invisible leash only a few scant yards. The behemoth strained, but could not go any farther.

It is because she still wields the shard...always because she wields the shard...

Disregarding the consequences to himself, the red dragon pushed with all his might to do what Dargonax could not... reach Sintharia.

His plan would have been certain to fall if not for Dargonax so near and the shard continuing to scorch the black dragon's paw. Deathwing's consort had eyes only for those two situations, nothing else. So long as she had mastery over the twilight dragon, the fate of all else was literally in her hand.

Korialstrasz came up from under her, his snout aiming for her paw. Sintharia noticed him at the last moment, but her reaction was too slow.

With all the force he could muster, the red dragon barreled into her, taking special aim for the paw. His snout slammed into the underside.

Already straining, Sintharia could not maintain her grip. The lone shard from the Demon Soul flew out of her hand... and with astounding speed and accuracy, drove straight into the maw of Dargonax.

"You fool!" she growled at Korialstrasz. Her tall wrapped around the base of his throat. The sharp scales dug in deep as the muscular tail—fueled also by her insane fury—threatened to crush in his neck. "I will tear your head off!"

"No...I will tear yours... " said the twilight dragon's voice.

No longer restrained, the monstrous dragon attacked her. Sintharia's eyes widened in disbelief and even as Dargonax seized her, she roared back, "You are mine! I birthed you! You will obey!"

The amethyst beast's eyes narrowed dangerously. “I obey no one but myself...I am Dargonax, the Devourer of all, including you..."

He tore at her mid-sectlon with his fearsome claws, now twice as great as hers. Sintharia shrieked anew as scale and flesh went flying. Yet, she showed no fear, only fury, and spewed forth from her gullet a torrent of molten lava that matched in intensity that still bursting below.