Karp
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Chapter 161
🕑 Added 2025-01-31 14:59:04 +0000 UTCOpening her eyes for the first time in centuries, Ysera caught everyone off guard.
The looks of surprise, and shock felt empowering to her. As someone who was often looked down upon, and disregarded, taking action for once, to chase after her dreams felt right.
Ever since she was young, she was the weakest of her siblings, the runt of the litter. Her brother, Neltharion often shielded her from the elements, and Alextrasza babied her.
When they confronted their cannibalistic father, the Dragon progenitor, Galakrond, she had been the least of his worries, and contributed little to the fight.
Then, when the Titans had bestowed upon them the awesome power of the Aspects, to safeguard Azeroth, her siblings had been granted fantastical abilities, while all she could do was travel through dreams…
Maligos gained dominion over magic, and could warp reality into any shape he desired.
Alexstrasza could breathe life into inanimate objects, and with her infinite stamina, engage with her consorts night and day.
Nozdormu could freely travel between timelines, collecting rare antiques, and erase anyone he disliked from the timeline.
Even her big brother-who she respected most-Neltharion could make islands, or sink continents in his role as earth warder.
Meanwhile, Ysera had to sleep to use her ability to its maximum effect. Her own Dragonflight was nothing but a conjured dream, and while Alextrasza was throwing herself at every man that looked at her sideways, Ysera had been trapped fantasizing about romance for millenia!
It was enough to drive a girl mad!
And when the perfect man of her dreams showed up, he already had a wife, and that slut Vaermina was flaunting her recent conquest.
Understandably, this was the worst day of her life, and she had to react the way she did.
Aessina's advice was always so sound, but today was the day that Ysera would stand for herself!
And so she opened her eyes, and cast an instantaneous ocular spell, paralyzing everyone in sight, and entering Varrus's dream!
She knew he was the best target to pick based upon his qualities as a leader. If she could enter his dream, and sway him to replace those misguided emotions he had for Syra onto her instead, then Ysera knew victory would be short at hand.
Her goal was to pierce his dreams, and find his subconscious. Once that was achieved, she could work her magic, and the pretty boy would be gifting her flowers, and making love to her nightly, and would cease all relations with that other woman.
Giggling to herself, Ysera ignored Aessina's pleas, and the mounting horror of her victims as she enacted her plan.
Turning into a phantom, Ysera entered Varrus like a ghost possessing a body, and threw herself into his dream.
Upon entry, Ysera was surprised by an unfamiliar sight.
Surrounding her were impossibly tall grey, box-shaped rectangles, and a world of metal dwarven vehicles. It was such an odd place, one that could only be defined as a city. The method of travel involved copious swearing, and hairy men repeatedly slamming their hands angrily onto the steering device moving their vehicles.
Crowds of Humans walked every which way, and a thousand things stimulated her senses. Nose wrinkling as a black cloud exhaled from one of the dwarven wheeled vehicles, Ysera looked everywhere she could for Varrus, but in this dense crowd, had no such luck.
Sharp noises pierced her ears, and several oddly dressed locals stopped to gawk at her, distracting her from her search. Many of the passers-by whipped out metallic rectangles, and held them in front of their faces, pointing them at her. It was as if they were more interested in looking at these rectangles than her, a beautiful woman.
Catching sight of one of these rectangles recording an image, Ysera found it to be an odd shape for a scrying orb, yet the ease with which these rectangles fit into pockets and bags intrigued Ysera.
Curious, Ysera almost forgot her mission to find Varrus's inner consciousness, and wanted to get lost in this deeply complex, and extremely unique dream.
All around her there was so much new mixed in with the familiar.
Great statutes, museums dedicated to unknown art, street vendors hawking never before seen food, and so many different types of clothes!
Ysera saw more in one slice of this dream, than she did when traversing the dreams of a thousand common denizens of Azeroth.
“Just who are you, Varrus Vandercross? Your mother is a Shard of Akatosh, do you come from beyond the Dark Portal, a Plane of Oblivion, or even further?” Ysera said to herself.
Holding a hand up to a window, Ysera saw her reflection, and couldn't help but smile at herself. Creating a pouting face, Ysera laughed, then turned around to get to business.
She was about to focus up, and cast a spell to locate Varrus's consciousness, however, much to her surprise, all the people, vehicles, sounds and smells of the city had vanished!
A cold wind blew between the city blocks, and thunder boomed on the horizon.
Stifling rain soon dropped down on top of Ysera, and water so cold she could feel it in her bones fell upon her skin.
Shivering, Ysera held her arms tight, and sneezed.
‘This isn't right. The inclement weather of a dream has never impacted me to this level before. My authority as an Aspect has protected me for all these millenia…No, this only proves how special Varrus is, that I was right in my decision to pursue him!’ Ysera clenched her fists in excitement as she bolstered her self confidence, and tried to power through the coldness she felt due to the rain.
The inviting, vibrant city had transformed into a dark, dismal locale. Flickering lamp posts, and the distant clatter of trains crossing tracks tickled her ears.
A growing sense of unease shivered down her spine, she tasted danger in the air.
Thick rolling fog obscured her sight, and Ysera almost gave in to her urge to retreat, and pull out of this dream. To give herself up, and submit to whatever demands the Elves had of her.
“No! I am Ysera! I won't be bound to that temple for another ten millennia!” Ysera said aloud to herself.
Channeling mana to her eyes, she blasted apart the encroaching fog, and took flight in her Dragon form.
Casting light from her eyes like beams, Ysera blasted apart buildings, and clouds as she searched for the target of her heart's desire.
Channeling a spell, she tried to find the physical manifestation of Varrus's consciousness, yet it was to no avail.
Lost, and without a plan, Ysera suddenly had a brilliant burst of inspiration. She could just copy what Varrus had done to find Xavius!
She would burn it all down!
While such a method could prove detrimental to Varrus, and possibly handicap his psyche, it was a risk she was willing to take. Besides, she could always heal him through some dream therapy. Right now, victory was all that mattered.
Going through with her plan, Ysera used a combination of her eye beams, and Dragon breath to absolutely obliterate the city.
Before long, she had devastated the dreamscape into a hellish wasteland. Melted metal pooled everywhere, and blackened rubble dotted the landscape. The embers of flames surrounded the environment, and not an inch of land escaped her fiery wrath.
She was proud of her own destructive capabilities, but she found that it was impossible to celebrate.
Ysera had destroyed every building in this misbegotten city, and yet, she hadn't caught a single clue as to Varrus's whereabouts!
Doubts and thoughts of self harm colored Ysera's psyche as she felt her confidence shake once more.
What had she done wrong?
Entering dreams in the past had been so easy. Locating the prime consciousness had also always been so simple.
The city was a masterpiece of art, and while she was loath to destroy it, Ysera was willing to do anything if it meant securing Varrus as her consort.
Scanning her surroundings, Ysera was startled when a giant black square scrying orb from within the rubble suddenly activated itself, and an image of Varrus appeared on it.
Accompanying him, an upbeat tune began to play from the device.
“Varrus! You are incredible. This city, this landscape, it is a work of art! I'm sorry I jad to tear it down, but I promise to help heal your damaged psyche once you give yourself up!” Ysera tried to reign in her enthusiasm, but couldn't help but gush over him. At the same time, she playfully threatened him, and offered to help him if only he would come to the light, and see reason.
“Ysera, if only you were so forthcoming earlier. If I knew you were so talkative and friendly, there never would have been cause for violence. As much as I hate the hypocrite. Malfurion, Cenarius and the other druids…we all could've teamed up if you had been more proactive. Heed your friend, Aessina's advice, Ysera, pull out now, and I won't have to do to you what I did to Nozdormu.” Varrus folded his arms in front of his chest, and spoke to her as if he were an adult admonishing a child.
His tone of voice irked Ysera, and she was reminded of her siblings always smothering her creativity. All jovial emotions fled as bitter rage took their place.
“Your dreamscape is burnt to a crisp, Varrus. From where I stand, atop this rubble that is your crumbling mind, it is not a pretty sight. You need me. I want to be your friend, don't make this harder than it has to be.”
“Funny thing for a friend to say and do. Forcefully drag me into your land, lie to me about Xavius & Malfurion, try to set me against my closest companion, antagonize my wife, and you caused said damage without a care in the world. I don't know if this is all one big plot, or if it is the temper tantrum of the century. How could I be friends with someone who tried to melt my mind?”
“You…jerk!” Ysera, always on the losing side of arguments with her siblings, was just as weak now, and fired back with a petulant response.
Varrus sighed, and pinched his eyebrows at her admittedly, weak comeback.
“We're really doing this right now.” Varrus muttered to himself, yet it was loud enough that Ysera heard everything.
Cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, Ysera blasted a hole in the rubble next to the flat rectangular scrying orb.
“I don’t care! Come out and face me! Otherwise, I'll destroy even the rubble of your mind! Once you reveal yourself, you'll have no choice but to love me!” Ysera shouted, her inner emotions were full of hurt, and that reflected in her tone of voice.
“Yeesh, now I feel kind of sorry for what's about to happen.” Varrus hung his head forward, then the connection cut.
“Don't you ignore me Varrus Vandercross!” Ysera raged at the sudden cessation of dialogue, and began blasting apart everything in sight.
However, suddenly, the city completely rebuilt itself, as if the damage to Varrus's psyche had never taken place.
“Huh-wha?” Ysera blinked and barely strung together a few syllables in awed confusion.
Before she could regain her berings, a voice then boomed from all around her, and the world stopped. The people, the vehicles, the birds, the rain falling to the ground, it all came to an abrupt halt as a result of this all encompassing voice:
“Don't you disrespect me, little girl!
Don't you derogate or deride!
You're in my world now, not your world. And I've got friends on the other side!”
Upon this declaration's completion, the world of tall buildings, and smooth roads shattered into a kaleidoscope of color, and broken glass.
Ysera felt herself endlessly falling into a horrible pit of nonstop horrors.
Despair gripped her heart as she tried and failed to remove herself from this plane. For the first time in her life, Ysera became fearful of the dream.
Regret suffused her system as one thought endlessly drove itself home into her psyche.
‘If only I had taken my role as Aspect of Dreams seriously.’
Comments
Simo
ngl thought of this instantly https://www.deviantart.com/ultraboy123/art/I-ve-Got-Friends-On-The-Other-Side-1-1053879470
Jar Jar Bingus
Noice. Even if she lives, I'm glad she gets this comeuppance
