She stood on the edge of the pinnacle of stone that made up the Stormspire, the warm breezes blowing her red hair and fluttering the hem of her dress and her cloak. Far below, the lush jungle that the Ethereals had created beneath the protection of their dome was bathed in the purple glow of the shielding above, the colors a beautiful blend to Biara's fel-tainted eyes.
She head him as he approached, his footsteps crunching the gravel as he walked, his steps slow and steady, as if walking towards a specific predetermined point. And perhaps he was, perhaps he was walking towards a destiny, a fate that had been changed. One that was now filled with the unknown since its moorings from time had been undone.
He paused behind her, maybe twenty yards away. She could feel his gaze on her back, but she didn't bother to turn to look at him, still staring at the forest below; a forest that had had its fate changed by the intervention of magic. When she spoke, her voice was low and unafraid, "I knew you would come."
"You know what you've done. It cannot be allowed," the voice replied. It sounded like a male Sin'dorei, but Biara knew better, knew what she would see if she turned around. He continued, as if sensing what she was thinking. "If we allowed an exception, then everything we have worked to protect would be undone. You are intelligent enough to know this, and I ask that you submit to the fate that was allotted to you."
Biara finally turned, her gaze taking in the form of a Sin'dorei dressed as a Magister might be. His guise was nearly perfect, and he would have blended in on any street of Silvermoon City except for the golden glow in his eyes. Many would not see it unless they were searching for it, but Biara knew that he was not hiding now in respect for her. For a moment, silence hung between them, a tension in the air that both recognized as conflict brewing.
"I shall not submit," Biara said finally, the wards on her right cheek beginning to glow with arcane magics. "There are many wrongs that I have yet to undo, and I will not suffer you to stand in my path. You think you are here to put an end to one mistake, but you are here at my bidding. You can submit to my will, or you can be brushed aside like the beast you are. I will leave this place however, with or without your aid."
The strange Sin'dorei tilted his head, staring at Biara hard now and a menacing tone to his voice when he replied, "You are decided then? This course is your will?"
Biara smiled, bringing her hands up as arcane magic began to glow at her fingertips. She nodded once, her voice firm, "It is my will. Let us begin."
The Sin'dorei nodded, bringing his own hands up and shouting a word of power. His form began to expand and shimmer, the magic that had created it fading as he took on his true form. Rising up until he towered over the insignificant elf that had dared to challenge him, he glared down at her with reptilian eyes.
A huge bronze dragon towered over Biara, its wings flapping as it drove its head down to destroy the elf in a single blow.
In a flash Biara was gone, the dragon's snout slamming into the ground where she had been standing, the blink spell having relocated her behind the creature before it could react. With a shout flames shot from Biara's hands, the spell slamming into the dragon's flank and sending bronze scales flying off as it burned part of the creature's hide. The dragon roared in pain, it's tail slashing out and forcing Biara to duck to avoid being beheaded.
The creature turned faster than a cat, its claws lashing out and slamming into the ground where Biara had tumbled. A mighty limb slammed down on the hapless blood elf, the ground around her shattering with the force of the blow, the impact not reaching her as the attack rebounded off of the barrier of ice that had formed in the air just above her.
The dragon quickly followed up its attack, rearing its head up and beginning to inhale to draw in enough breath to breathe a deadly stream of magic on its target. Even as it did so, Biara sprang to her feet, one of her hands coming up to her ruby red lips as she blew air across her palm. The wind of her breath ignited, turning to flames and flying up into the dragon's face and mouth as it inhaled, causing it to rear its head back and roar as the fires burned its nostrils and the inside of its mouth.
The bronze lunged forward, slamming into the ground with all four limbs as it shook off the effect of the spell, its cries echoing across the Stormspire and the shaking of its weight colliding with the stones sending Biara tumbling to her behind again. She shouted, hurling a ball of flames at the dragon, the creature forced to shield its smoldering head with its wings. The spell impacted harmlessly against the leathery barrier, flames fanning out around the dragon as it roared again and surged upward, its head lunging down and its jaws snapping at Biara.
The Magistrix rolled, narrowly avoiding being impaled on the razor sharp teeth of her foe. Dust rose around her as she struggled to her feet and dove foward, one of the dragon's claws slamming into the ground behind her. She shouted a word of power and ice flared around her, freezing the very ground solid and entrapping the dragon's talons in a crust of ice that adhered to the rock.
The creature roared, drawing in a quick breath and sending a dizzying spray of magic directly into Biara's fleeing back. She shuddered as her wards struggled to contain the power, the hot breath flowing around her and narrowly avoiding the effect of aging her to dust. In a flash her ice barrier shattered, bits of razor sharp ice flying in all directions as she tumbled to the ground.
Behind her, the dragon shook its paw free finally, blood flowing from wounds where the scales had been ripped free by the ice. With an almost apologetic tone, the dragon shook its head, its voice booming out, "I am sorry, Magistrix, I truly am, but your time has come to an end."
He uttered the words to a spell, magic flaring out and slamming into Biara's body, a spell that would freeze her in place in time such that he could kill her at his leisure. She shuddered, slowing to a halt as the beast loomed over her, looking almost sorry as he drew in a great breath, preparing to burn her to cinders.
In that moment Biara stirred, the same magic that had pinned her to this place in time causing the dragon's spell to fail. She pointed up at the creature, a bolt of burning hot flame slamming into the dragon's chest and causing it to fall backwards with a roar of pain. Quickly Biara rolled, coming to her feet and attempting to dodge the dragon's thrashing.
Unfortunately, the Magistrix was not fast enough, the dragon's tail coming around and slamming into her midsection, forcing the air from her lungs and hurling her ten feet away to land in a crumpled heap. Biara gasped for air, a bit of blood running from a cut on her lip as she struggled to sit up. A shadow loomed above her as the dragon stood over her, looking down on her and shaking its head, looking worse for wear.
"Rest in peace, Magistrix Biara Sunfire," the dragon intoned, bringing one of its claws up. Time seemed to slow as the claw began to descend, and Biara stared up at her death defiantly as it approached, not wishing to look away in her final moment.
Halfway through the descent of the dragon's claw, a massive ball of fire flew in from the dragon's flank, slamming into its side in a catastrophic explosion of flames. The creature roared as hundreds of its scales flew off, the magic burning it with deadly heat and throwing it sideways, the pyroblast having nearly pierced all the way to its heart.
Biara blinked in utter shock, her head whipping around to stare in wonder at the figure standing in the distance. There, at the edge of the clearing where they fought, Biara's past self stood, a battlestaff in hand and her cursed blonde hair fluttering in the wind of the heat that her spell had generated. The head of her staff glowed with brilliant arcane light, and she glared at the creature where it lay on its side.
"Don't ever touch me, dragon," Past Biara intoned menacingly.
The creature wheezed, thrashing again as it tried to get to its feet unsteadily, blood pouring from wounds on its side. It glared, staring down the distant figure and growling, "This is not your fight, nor your place in time. I cannot slay you, but you must understand that her existence here, what she has done, is wrong. It cannot be allowed."
Past Biara grinned, stepping closer, magic building on her fingertips as she replied, "Dragons do not tell me what is right or wrong. You chose poorly when you decided to challenge me, beast. Past, present, or future, I loathe your kind and you will serve your purpose or die and serve it anyway."
The dragon roared in fury, turning abruptly and lashing out with more of its deadly breath weapon. Biara shouted, her blink spell transporting her from the path of the magic and near to where Past Biara stood. In unison both past and present Biara shouted, and suddenly there were eight copies of Biara standing amongst the scorched stones, four with blonde hair and four with fire red hair.
The dragon roared again, lunging at the crowd of Biara's that stood facing it, but with two opponents and more than a half dozen copies to contend with, it could not locate its target. Flames spat out from amongst the crowd. Ice fell from the sky, pelting its already damaged hide, and arcane spells slashed into its flesh.
Despite its size, despite its power, the creature could only take so much. As spells slammed into it, it began to falter, falling to the ground in a heap of half burned, half frozen scales and reptile flesh, its last dying twitches setting the ground to shuddering.
Biara stood over the creature, sending one last bolt of deadly ice into its eye socket to put it to rest at last. When she turned, Past Biara stood staring and her, studying her closely.
"You will return with the magic afforded you by the creature's remains," Past Biara stated, knowing she was correct. "Use the heart, it will work best."
Biara smiled and nodded, "Of course, that was my...our...plan all along. Although unfortunately I do not have anything to cut it with, so this may take a while."
Past Biara smiled, stepping forward and removing a spellblade from her belt. She handed it hilt first to Biara, nodding at her, "Take this. It will cut through the flesh easily."
Biara's eyes widened as she took the spellblade in hand, realizing it was one she had lost long ago in the fall of her spire. She turned it over and over in her hands, remembering it and smiling, "This...does not belong in my time. If I take it..."
"Then it will be both a part of your time and not," Past Biara finished for her. "Meaning that whatever foe you face then...and I know you are facing some foe as I can tell by the look on my own face...that foe will have no way to defend against the point of this weapon."
Biara grinned, bending over the corpse of the dragon and beginning to cut away the scales and flesh there. She nodded as she worked, her voice pleased, "And then they will find that their hearts are as vulnerable as this one."
With that, she plunged her hand into the side of the dragon's corpse, her nails digging into and then ripping free the organ she sought; the dragon's heart. With the heavy, bloody trophy in hand, she turned towards her past self, nodding her thanks.
"Fight well, and make them pay for daring to cross us," Past Biara said.
Biara grinned, holding the bloody dragon's heart up in one hand, the spellblade held in the other, "Oh, I will...I assure you that they will be very sorry when I return."
With that, Biara plunged the spellblade into the dragon's heart, intoning words of magic designed to shield her with temporal energies. Using the heart of a bronze dragon, a master of such magic, she empowered her own spell, her magics reaching far into the future. In the back of her mind, Biara heard the faintest echo, and she focused on it.
It grew in intensity, the sound rising up to become the sound of Kyliska shouting her name in despair somewhere in a future that had not come to pass yet. The spell traveled through the bracelets the two sisters wore, surrounding Biara and giving her a time and place to focus on with her magic.
Fierce energy began to glow around Biara, and her past self stepped back, shielding her eyes as it enveloped her. In a flash of brilliant light, Biara was gone, whisked away to her sister's call in a time far in the future.
Past Biara grinned, turning away from the corpse of the dragon, her voice a whisper in the silence, "My will be done."
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