“I remember!”
The ice spires shivered, creating a sound at first like a tiny bell, then quickly rising to a near ear-piercing
cry. Malygos poked his way toward the wizard, scratch of a mouth wide and bitter. Pits deepened
beneath the pale imitation of a brow.
Snow and ice spread, grew, filling the chamber more and more. Around Krasus, some of the snow
swirled, rose, became a spectral giant of mythic proportions, a dragon of winter, a dragon of ghosts.
“I remember the promise,” the macabre figure hissed. “I recall the covenant we made! Never death to
another! The world guarded forever!”
The wizard nodded, even though not even Malygos could see within the confines of his hood. “Until the
betrayal.”
The snow dragon now stretched wings. Less than real, more than a phantasm, it moved in reaction to the
emotions of the cavern's lord. Even the mighty jaws opened and closed, as if the spectral puppet spoke
instead.
“Until the betrayal, the betrayal, the betrayal . . .”A blast of ice burst forth from the snow dragon, ice so
harsh and deadly that it tore into the rocky walls.“Until Deathwing!”
Krasus kept one hand from Malygos's sight, knowing that at any moment he might have to use it for
swift spellcasting.
Yet, the monstrous creature held himself in check. He shook his head—the snow dragon repeating his
gesture— and added, in a more reasonable voice, “But the day of the dragon had already passed, and
none of us, none of us,none of us,saw anything to fear from him! He was but one aspect of the world, its
most base and chaotic reflection! Of all, his day had come and gone with the most permanence!”
Krasus leapt back as the ground before him shuddered. He thought at first that Malygos had tried to
catch him unaware, but instead of an attack, the ground simply rose up and formed yet another dragon,
this one of earth and rock.
“For thefuture,he said,” Malygos went on. “For when the world would have only humans, elves, and
dwarves to watch over its life, he said! Let all the factions, all the flights, all thegreat dragons—theaspects
—come together and re-create, reshape the foul piece, and we would have the key to forever protecting
the world even after the last of us had faded away!” He looked up at the two phantasms he had created.
“And I, I, I . . . I, Malygos, stood with him and convinced the rest!”
The two dragons swirled around one another, became one another, intertwining over and over. Krasus
tore his eyes from them, reminding himself that although the one before him clearly despised Deathwing
over all other creatures, it did not mean that Malygos would aid him . . . or even let him leave the chill
cavern.
“And so,” interjected the faceless wizard. “Each dragon, especially theaspects,imbued it with a bit of
themselves, bound themselves, in a sense, to it—”
“Forever put themselves at its mercy!”
Krasus nodded. “Forever ensured that it would be the one thing that could have power over them although they did not know it then.” He held up one gloved hand and created an illusion of his own, an
illusion of the object of which they spoke. “You remember how deceiving it looked? You remember
what a simple-looking object it was?”
And at the summoning of the image, Malygos gasped and cringed. The twin dragons collapsed, snow
and rock spilling everywhere but not at all touching either the wizard or his host. The rumble echoed
through the empty passages, no doubt even out into the vast, empty wilderness above.
“Take it away, take it away, take it away!” Malygos demanded, nearly whimpered. Clawed hands tried
to cover the indistinct eyes. “Show it to me no more!”
But Krasus would not be stopped. “Look at it, my friend! Look at the downfall of the eldest of races!
Look at what has become known to all as theDemon Soul!”
The simple, shining disk spun over the mage's gloved palm. A golden prize so unassuming that it had
passed into and out of the possession of many without any of them ever realizing its potential. Only an
illusion appeared here now, yet it still put such fear in the heart of Malygos that it took him more than a
minute to force his gaze upon it.
“Forged by the magic that was the essence of every dragon, created to first fight the demons of the
Burning Legion, then to trap their own magical forces within!” The hooded spellcaster stepped toward
Malygos. “And used by Deathwing to betray all other dragons just when the battle was done! Used by
him against his very allies—”
“Cease this! TheDemon Soulis lost, lost,lost,and the dark one is dead, slain by human and elven
wizards!”
“Is he?” Stepping over what remained of the two phantasms, Krasus dismissed the image of the artifact
and instead brought forth another. A human, a man clad in black. A confident young noble with eyes
much older than his appearance indicated.
Lord Prestor.
“This man, this mortal, would be the new king of Alterac, Alterac in the heart of the Lordaeron Alliance,
Malygos. Do you not find anything familiar about him? You, especially?”
The icy creature moved closer, peering at the rotating image of the false noble. Malygos inspected
Prestor carefully, cautiously . . . and with growing horror.
“This isnoman!”
“Say it, Malygos. Say who you see.”
The inhuman eyes met Krasus's own. “You knowverywell! ItisDeathwing!” A bestial hiss escaped the
grotesque being that had once worn the majestic form of a dragon.“Deathwing . . .”
“Deathwing, yes,” Krasus returned, his own tone almost emotionless. “Deathwing, who has been twice
thought dead. Deathwing, who wielded theDemon Souland forever ended any hope of a return to the
Age of the Dragon. Deathwing . . . who now seeks to manipulate the younger races into doing his
treacherous bidding.”
“He will have them at war with one another. . . .”
“Yes, Malygos. He will have them at war with one another until only a few survive . . . at which point
Deathwing will finish those. You know what a world he desires. One in which there is only he and his
selected followers. Deathwing'spurifiedrealm . . . with no room even for those dragons not of his ilk.”
“Nooo . . .”
Malygos's form suddenly expanded in all directions, and his skin took on a reptilian cast. The coloring of
that skin changed, too, from an icy white to a dark and frosty silver-blue. His limbs thickened and his
visage grew longer, more draconic. Malygos did not complete the transformation, though, stopping at a
point that left him resembling a horrific parody of dragon and insect, a creature of nightmare. “I allied
myself with him, and for this my flight saw ruin. I am all that is left of mine! TheDemon Soultook my
children,mymates.I lived only with the knowledge that he who had betrayed all had perished, and that the
cursed disk had been forever expunged—”
“So did we all, Malygos.”
“But he lives! He lives!”
The dragon's sudden rage left the cavern quivering. Icy spears lanced the snowy floor, creating further
tremors that rocked Krasus.
“Yes, he lives, Malygos, he lives despite your sacrifices. . . .”
The macabre leviathan eyed him closely. “I lost much— too much! But you, you who call yourself
Krasus, you who once also wore the form ofdragon,you lost all, too!”
Visions of his beloved queen passed quickly through Krasus's mind. Visions of the days when the red
flight of Alexstrasza had been ascendant washed over him. . . .
He had been the second of her consorts—but the first in loyalty and love.
The wizard shook his head, clearing away painful memories. The yearning to patrol the skies once more
had to be quelled. Until things changed, he had to remain human, remain Krasus—not the red dragon
Korialstrasz.
“Yes . . . I lost much,” Krasus finally replied, his control returned to him. “But I hope to regain something
. . . something for all of us.”
“How?”
“I would free Alexstrasza.”
Malygos roared with mad laughter. He roared long and hard, far longer than even his madness
warranted. He roared in mockery of all the wizard hoped to achieve.“Thatwould serve you
well—provided you could achieve such an impossible goal! But what good does that do me? What do
you offerme,little one?”
“You know what Aspect she is. You know what she may do for you.”
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