Christie Golden - Thrall - Twilight of the Aspects

“How could that be possible?” spat Torastrasza. Thrall could feel the coiled anger in her body. “You brought another full flight, and yourself—four Aspects! How could anything stand against that?”

Even Kalec, normally so calm, looked frustrated and upset, and mild Ysera appeared agitated. Thrall, too, was confused, but trusted Nozdormu. The others must as well, or else they would not have broken off the attack as they had.

“I have learned much, in my wandering of the timewaysss,” Nozdormu said. “I asked this orc to tell you that I was ssstill searching for answers. I have found sssome, at least. We cannot defeat Chromatus without true union amongst ourselves.”

The other dragons exchanged glances. “We are working together as seldom before,” protested Kalec. “All four flights are united in this! You saw us: we worked cooperatively, none of us seeking glory!”

“Perhaps that was what the vision was trying to tell me,” came the soft voice of Ysera. “We cannot defeat him by simply fighting together. We need to fight … together .”

“Exactly!” said Nozdormu. The others simply stared at him, and Thrall knew what they were thinking. Had Nozdormu and Ysera, too, gone mad?

Nozdormu shook himself impatiently. “We are Aspectsss,” he said. “We are not sssimply dragons with different skills and more power. We were changed when the titans gave us our abilities. We cannot defeat this monster by something so sssimple as coordinating an attack. We must think and act and fight as one. United. Share the essence of what it truly means to be each Aspect.”

“I think I understand,” said Alexstrasza, frowning slightly. “We were meant to join. Combine our skills, our knowledge. Is that what you are saying?”

“Yes, that is it exactly, Life-Binder! Do you remember what the titans sssaid as they departed?”

“‘Unto each of you is given a gift; unto all of you is given the duty,’” said Alexstrasza, her eyes widening. “We … were parts of a whole. We were never meant to be separate.”

“Will … we lose ourselves?” asked Kalec quietly. Thrall knew how important Kalec’s individuality was to him. More than any of the other Aspects, he was used to simply being himself. Being an Aspect at all was still very new to him, and the thought of having to lose himself utterly was not a pleasant one. Still, Thrall knew his friend, and knew that if Kalec had to “die” as an individual in order to stop Chromatus, he would not hesitate to make the sacrifice.

“No,” answered Nozdormu. “Not if we do so properly. We are partsss of a whole, but complete unto ourselves as well. That is the great myssstery.”

Suddenly, Alexstrasza closed her eyes in pain. “Then … we are indeed doomed,” she said, her voice breaking.

“What?” said Torastrasza. “Life-Binder, you have suffered and endured so much. Why do you give up now?”

And then Kalec realized it as well. “We are only four,” he said. “We will never again be as we were intended to be. Neltharion is Deathwing now, and there is no Aspect of Earth.”

The silence was almost unbearable, yet no one could think of anything to say. It was a crushing truth, but was the truth nonetheless. They could not even try to call a new Aspect, for Deathwing yet lived.

And Chromatus was Deathwing’s tool.

Thrall slumped, almost numb with the realization. All that remained to them, then, was to throw their lives away fighting Chromatus, and fail. The world, and every living thing in it save the twilight dragons, would then fall. The cult would triumph, and Deathwing, insane and evil, would be victorious, living only long enough to be impaled on the very spire of Wyrmrest Temple. Thrall would never return to his Aggra, never be able to work with the Earthen Ring to—

He blinked. Was it possible? Could he …?

His connection with the elements had only seemed to grow stronger with this unexpected journey he had undertaken. His renewed connection with the Spirit of Life seemed to make everything stronger. The knowledge of the importance of the moment made him feel … solid. Grounded. As long as he remembered that, nothing could uproot him again.

“Life-Binder,” he said, his voice shaking with hope, “I … may have a solution.”

They turned weary heads to him expectantly. He looked at them each in turn. “It might not work, but I think—I believe it’s worth a try,” he said. “This may sound—well, I simply ask that you hear me out.”

“My friend, of course we will,” Kalec said. “And I hope with all my being you have some option for us.”

“I … may. We have four Aspects gathered here now: the Life-Binder, the Awakened Dreamer, the Steward of Magic, the Guardian of Time. You are only missing one … and that one happens to be the Earth-Warder. I am a shaman. I work with the elements. I could do nothing to aid you if it were any one of you who were missing. I could not step into the role that any of you four occupy.

“But you’re not missing magic, or time guardianship, or the power of life, or the knowledge of the Dream of Creation. You are missing Earth. And that … I know how to work with.”

He hoped they would not be angry with his presumption. He, a simple shaman, was offering to stand in the place of a Dragon Aspect.

Ysera brightened noticeably. Nozdormu eyed him speculatively, and Alexstrasza looked uncertainly at Kalecgos.

“I knew you would be important,” Ysera said happily. “I just didn’t know how.”

“Please do not be offended, my friend,” said Kalec, “but … you are not even a dragon, let alone an Aspect.”

“I know,” Thrall said. “But I have spent years working with the elements. And I have learned much over the course of my journey.” He looked to Nozdormu. “You know this to be the truth.”

The Timeless One nodded slowly. “You have been given insight you did not have before,” he said, “the sssort of insight that calms a ssspirit, and does not agitate it. There is no harm in attempting such a thing.”

“But how would you aid us, Thrall?” asked Alexstrasza. “You cannot fight alongside us.”

“I sssay again, Life-Binder, this is not about individual acts in battle,” Nozdormu said. “This is about combining our essences. Obviously Thrall cannot attack with us. But he can possibly offer us with his ssspirit what another Aspect could. I tell you truly, there is no hope otherwise. None. Each Aspect alone will fall, and it will be the end, first of the dragonflights, and then of Azeroth. I … have seen that end.”

So had Ysera, who had told them of it. Nozdormu’s voice was heavy and somber, and Thrall felt a shiver run down his spine.

Yet, strangely, Thrall did not second-guess his impulse. It felt right in his heart in a way he could not properly describe. It seemed ages ago that he had been so distracted and unfocused that he had faltered during the Earthen Ring’s effort to calm the distraught elements. He knew, without knowing how he knew, that now he could hold in himself the peace, the solidity, to do what he needed to. His strengthened connection with the Spirit of Life made working with all the elements easier—even more joyful. The earth held life; it nourished the seeds and the roots that animals in turn fed upon. The Spirit of Earth and the Spirit of Life would welcome him back now; they would trust him to hold and gently direct and contain the Spirit of Earth, even while working with four Dragon Aspects. The earth was enormous; its spirit was great; and in his humility to accept that, Thrall knew he could, conversely, succeed with it.

“Let me try, at least,” he said.

“My flight has done what we once thought impossible,” Kalecgos said. “We have chosen a new Aspect. From what I have seen, in Thrall, in Chromatus, in my own flight, I believe this has a chance of working. I say, let us attempt it.”