Blue (part two)

It was weeks before I woke from my long loss of consciousness. I found the night elf woman and later her mate took me to their home in the forests of Kalimdor and kept a ceaseless vigil over me, tending to my injuries and bringing me to powerful healers well known among their people. They even took water from their Moonwells for me to drink so I could heal. I didn’t realize that anything was capable of giving so much love.

They were called Daina and Faleon Cloudshadow. They were both druids, ancient protectors of balance and students of the great Cenarius. Eons ago, before the War of the Ancients, Daina was the servant of a cruel Highborne noble, Narcassia. Narcassia was jealous of her beauty and jealous that Daina was the object of the affection of another, kinder noble, Sha’dren. When the demons invaded, Narcassia chained her unintended inside a tower and sent several of the monsters after Daina to brutally mangle and kill her. Sha’dren managed to escape and rescue Daina, but doomed himself in the process. He thought he could responsibly use the forbidden arcane magic to protect him and his beloved, but he was exposed by Faleon, who had been his longtime friend. Sha’dren disappeared with the banished Highborne, and was never seen again.
At first, Daina couldn’t forgive Faleon for his betrayal, but as time went on, she knew he only did what he did out of love…his love for her. It was a love that survived even his death and undeath at the hands of the Scourge. Daina’s trials and suffering gave her far more wisdom than any I ever saw in her people. This great wisdom gave her strength, the kind of strength I myself needed. She discovered what it meant to survive. She couldn’t just focus only on herself. Daina had always believed that every living creature on the world had the right to exist, and the duty to protect one another. She saw past the strife between the Alliance and Horde, and took a young tauren druid named Satura with an unusual gift of foresight as a student years ago.
As time went on, and we ventured into the world, fighting whatever evil threatened it, following Satura’s visions of people who needed the kind of help only we could provide, others from both sides joined our cause. I came to think of these mortals as my closest friends, and I’ll fight to my dying breath for them. They taught me so much about caring for one another, and they helped close many of the deep wounds I suffered at the hands of Deathwing’s brood.

“I know you must hate the Black Dragonflight for what they did to you,” Daina once told me. “But you must not let that hatred burden you. It will hold you down, steal away all your strength, and eventually bring your untimely end. In order to fight back, you must focus on justice, not revenge.”

I did hate the Black Dragonflight. However, that hatred couldn’t hold me down when Danai and Faleon’s love was lifting me up. As my health returned, I became like their child. They gave me children’s toys to play with, books to read, and brought me to their villages to meet others. I knew I was a dragon but I didn’t want to behave like one. All I wanted to was to rest on Faleon’s shoulder as he journeyed within the forests, and fall asleep in Daina’s arms when daybreak came. They tried to return me to my kin many times. The thought of leaving them was more than I could bear. I didn’t know happiness without them. I was afraid of the world. I knew wickedness, torment, and death were out there. In their home, I was safe.

“I…even feared my own flight. I think…somehow I knew…something was wrong.”
Malygos looked up, silent and thoughtful. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled, releasing a loud, powerful sigh. “You have made your case well. I will spare the lives of your mortal keepers. Bring them to me, and they will be safe.”
“No! Please, my Lord! That was not why I came here! You must stop the Nexus War! Wiping out the mortals isn’t the answer!” I cried desperately. He looked down at me, and I froze in terror as he lowered his massive head and looked me in the eyes. But he did not look angry. His eyes were soft, solemn…hurt.
“You fear me? Do you think I will harm one of my own, one of the few blue dragons that still exist? I will forgive you because you are of my own brood, and it was my fault you were in the Black Flight’s clutches in the first place. It is not your fault you don’t understand why this war must go on. I have failed you. I…I have lost you.”
“You say I am lost, but it is not I who is truly lost.”
“This world is doomed if left in the careless hands of the mortals! It was their carelessness that destroyed our kin! Do your mortal pets know they’re the ones responsible for bringing the demons into the world in the first place! That they put us in the position to be betrayed by Deathwing?”
"No, they are not responsible! Daina and Faleon fought against the demons! As did thousands of heroes during the War of the Ancients and millions in each battle that followed. The mortals have proved themselves time and time again! Whenever one great evil rose, a thousand great heroes also rallied forth to destroy it and protect our world! It was because of them we were able to endure!”
“You don’t understand…you—”
“No. She does.”
I looked past Malygos and saw my friends had entered the Eye of Eternity. Daina and Faleon stood side by side, and behind them were her followers: Satura Featherhorn and her mate Ranu, the tauren druids, Traela Stoutblade, the dwarven hunter, and her mate Gilbert Kettlepop, the gnome mage, Andarien Darkcharmer, the blood elf rogue, his warlock half-sister Astalia, and her father, Josuah Blake the Forsaken priest, even Somnormu, the bronze drake Satura rescued from the Stratholme of yore. I tried to keep them out of this, to sneak away without them knowing but they came. They came knowing full well that Malygos could destroy them.
They came…for me.
“Alexstrasza has sent you lesser beings here, has she not? To fight me? To destroy ME?” Malygos scoffed. Daina stepped forward, and knelt before him.
“My Lord, we did not come here to fight. We came here with the hope that you would see the truth,” Daina said.
“Please, Lord of Magic, you must stop all this!” Satura begged. “I know I am young and I can’t begin to understand what you went through—“
“You are correct. You can’t begin to understand…you could never understand! You come into my domain with your show of peace, but I can see past the ruse that mortals have tried to blind us with! You don’t deserve to live in this world! You are reckless! You understand nothing!” Malygos roared. He stared right at Daina, his eyes blazing with rage. “I’ll give you one chance, for the sake of Ceruligosa, leave this place at once before I destroy all of you!”
Daina held her ground. Her eyes showed no fear, but rather softened, showing sympathy and compassion for the very creature threatening her life. She stood up, and slowly walked to Malygos. Satura reached out to her, but her mate held her back. They all knew that Daina alone had the wisdom and heart to plead for the existence of all mortals.
And if they didn’t know, I did.
“Don’t do this, great Spell-weaver. Please, return to our favor. The Scourge is threatening to destroy everything we’ve spent countless ages fighting for. The Black Dragonflight is still out there, surely plotting the destruction of mortals and immortals alike. Come back to us. Come back to your brothers and sisters. We need your wisdom, your guidance. This world can’t survive without you,” Daina murmured. She reached out to him, and placed her hands on his face. Her touch was powerful, I knew that much. It had the power to heal someone from the inside out. My heart was warmed and swelled with hope as I watched her embrace him. It was over.
“My patience with you…”
“Daina!” Satura’s voice rang out shrilly. It filled the empty space like the death roar of a red guardian falling to the earth in the Dragonblight. There was no time to think about what she saw.
“Has reached its limit!” Malygos let out a strong deep breath, and the force of the arcane magic threw Daina across the platform as if she weighed nothing at all. I stared in horror, trying to comprehend the fact that my friend, my protector…my mother…had died right in front of me. Satura ran to her side, and Malygos roared again and began to charge.
“I will be rid of you!” he shouted.
“NO!” I screamed. I quickly shifted into my dragon form and threw myself in front of them. Malygos’s huge claw plunged into my body, and I could feel my bones shatter from the blow. My breath escaped me in one last gasp. Faleon screamed and drew his runeblade, and Malygos swung his mighty tail at me for a second strike, sending me hurtling into the emptiness of his realm. Numbness quickly invaded my body, effortlessly defeating the pain, and I knew death would follow. I would be lost forever in the emptiness.
I failed…
“Her death is on your hands, mortals! I will suffer no traitors!”
Mother…Father…I’m sorry…
My friends engaged Malygos in a terrific battle atop the platform, which was growing smaller and smaller, finally vanishing from my sight. My eyes grew heavy and I struggled for breaths. I still didn’t know how to willingly walk into the arms of death. Even at the last second, I tried to endure just one second longer.
Survival.
I was a blue dragon. Bred within each of us was the instinct to survive.
Mortals shared this instinct.
We’re not so different…
None of us…



“Cerulee…wake up.”
“Mother…?”
“Cerulee? Can you hear me?” Somnormu asked.
“Somnormu…” I murmured. I opened my eyes, but all I could see was massive blurs of red. My head was aching, pulsing with pain as a low sound rippled through the air. The pain slowly faded away, and my vision became clearer. Somnormu was flying next to me, Daina and the other mortals were on the backs of red drakes, and, high above my head, I could see the Queen of the Dragons, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder.
She was carrying me.
“How did I…?” I whispered.
“It was Somnormu. He snatched you right out of the sky…er…whatever it is we’re flying around in,” Traela said, grinning. “Great timing, no pun intended.”
“Cerulee. You’re all right,” Daina cried. She wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed lightly into my scales. Faleon embraced me as well, his cool hands gently stroked my brow. I closed my eyes and drank in their embraces like Moonwell water. I stretched out my wings when my strength returned, and Queen Alexstrasza let me go. I flew to the ruby guardian drake carrying Daina, and she climbed on my back, gently stroking my neck.
“I thought I lost you,” I said to her.
“I was afraid I lost you,” she replied.
“What happened to Malygos?” I asked. Deep down inside, I already knew the answer. Daina’s face clouded. I looked down at the remnants of arcane energy below me…up at the remnants above me…at everything that was left of the mighty aspect. It was practically nothing at all.
I mourned his loss, but we lost him long before his death.
“He’s gone,” she whispered.
“Then the war is over,” I said.
“Yes. It’s over,” Queen Alexstrasza said.
“Well, if it’s over, can we get out of here? This place is going to give me epilepsy,” Astalia complained, rubbing her eyes. The Queen nodded at the red drakes, and they left the Eye of Eternity one by one. I stayed behind, and looked at Daina.
“I’d like to stay for a moment,” I said to her. She nodded, and climbed on the back of the drake that was carrying Faleon. They looked back at me wistfully, then traveled through the portal. Soon, the only dragons that remained were myself and Queen Alexstrasza.
“Where do you think he is now?” I asked her.
“I’m not sure. But, wherever that place is, I hope he’s found peace. The world will never see another like him. He gave so much, and found naught but suffering. He deserves a tranquil rest. All of the blue dragons that were lost deserve a tranquil rest.”
I lowered my head. It was overwhelming to think of how many of my kin were gone forever, and now Malygos was gone with them.
So many lost.
And what about me?
Will I be lost forever now?
“What troubles you, little one?” she asked.
“I…I wish I knew… I mean, I thought that I was independent from my flight, that I didn’t need them. I thought I was sure of who I am. But now, I just don’t know. I feel so empty,” I admitted. The gravity of my situation deepened within me. I was one of the last blue dragons left. I was the lost drake. Malygos was lost. My flight was lost.
Lost…
Last…
Lost…
What will happen to me now?” I asked.
The Queen paused.
“What do you think will happen?”
I couldn’t answer her question.
But I will, someday.
They say I am lost, but I am not alone.

The End