Chapter 140

Malfurion wished he could have remained in the Emerald Dream. 

The world outside the dream was one of chaos and anarchy. 

He had hoped that his brother would have reformed. That the cold reflection of 10,000 years of solitude would do him some good. 

Ultimately, Illidan proved himself to be the same power hungry man he had been when the Legion first arrived on Azeroth. 

Yet his passing had left a bitter wound on his heart. 

If any one was going to end this cancer, it had to be him. Illidan was his responsibility. 

Malfurion did not chase his erstwhile brother across the ocean, only to see his malformed kin to murder him in cold blood. 

The assassination had put a sour taste in his mouth. 

While he hadn't seen Illidan in so long, that didn't mean he had entirely abandoned his feelings for his brother. 

That was one strike against the so-called Highborne. 

Then he discovered they were harboring an Undead tree. A minor World Tree, no less! 

Its roots were toxins to the soil, its barn a bane upon the air. It had to go. 

This was the second strike. 

But when the champion of the Blood Elves made himself known, Malfurion recognized the tang of time magic only Nozdormu possessed. 

To so openly wear the demise of one of Azeroth's greatest guardians. This. This was a threshold Malfurion could not sit idly by as he witnessed its crossing. 

This third, and final strike had put him against this foolish youth, and all those who had a hand in Nozdormu's demise. 

Only…

Only, Malfurion did not anticipate the grotesque city of mana hungry crystals to pollute the environment. 

Or the volcanoes, twisters, and giant orbs of ice. 

He had assumed the aura of time surrounding the youth would be shared amongst many hands. After all, how many individuals amongst all of Azeroth's denizens could claim supremacy over a Dragon Aspect? 

Malfurion had underestimated him. 

This Varrus Vandercross-a foolhardy youth blind to the consequences of his actions-was more than net the eye. 

Like an ogre that had learnt magic, it seemed he irresponsibly summoned natural disasters upon the land without a care in the world. 

When Malfurion tried to heal the land with the soothing rains of Tranquility and remove the stains Vandercross had brought upon it, his ears had picked up a harsh, and brutal shout so at odds with the graceful elegance known to Elves. 

The brutality contained in that shout disrupted his spell, and for a time, permanently cleared the skies. 

Malfurion wanted to go back to the Emerald Dream. 

And yet, the shout had awoken something in him. 

Something primal. 

Nature was not only healing. 

While he tried to share this wisdom with the misbegotten youth, Malfurion could see that this lesson had been ignored. 

As more and more volcanoes began to sprout up, and burn down his trees, the more enraged he became. 

It was time to educate this youth in the ways of Nature. 

Pulling out a horn from his pack, Malfurion blew a deep and sonorous tune. 

HOOOOOOONG 

The horn reverberated across the land. 

Trees shivered, the earth shook, and a second of pregnant silence suffused the air. 

Malfurion put his lips to the horn once more, and infused it with mana. 

HOOOOOOOOOONG 

The horn blew, this time, the earth began to quake, and it was not stopping any time soon. 

HOOOOOONG 

The third, and final deep bass horn rang across the land. 

The shifting leaves, and shuddering trees ceased all movement, as if an incredible earthquake had never happened. 

"Come, spirits of the land. Come to the aid of your protector. May we cleanse this land together of the taint that haunts you so." Malfurion's call spread all throughout the Eastern Kingdoms. 

Suddenly, ethereal blue ghosts of squirrels, deers, bears, wolves and more began to stream towards Deatholme from all across the continent. 

Standing tall, Malfurion nodded his head in thanks towards the friends of the forest who chose to offer their resting souls to him in defense of the world. 

"My thanks. Your gift shall not go unused." 

Glowing with a magnificent aura of green, Malfurion turned his gaze to the shorter, lesser-Elf who was flying in the air upon a floating carpet. 

The blonde boy was smirking as he slinged spell after spell without a care in the world. The ecological destruction simply angered Malfurion to no end. 

Slamming his staff into the ground, Malfurion launched bramble balls the size of watermelons up at the youth. 

When they drew near, they would explode just before reaching him, releasing thick purple clouds of poison, as well as shooting out piercing thorns. 

It was during this attack that Malfurion transformed himself into a tiny beetle no larger than a fingernail, and flew towards the pompous pest. 

His speed in this form was faster than any other creature on Azeroth, and he moved so fast, it was as if he had teleported. 

As he neared, Malfurion noticed that his mana was being drained at an astonishing rate, and his body was accumulating a weakness to magic. 

Recognizing this sinister aura effect, Malfurion briefly communed with Nature, and realized by sacrificing the forest friends, he could temporarily free himself from this disgusting plague. 

But that was a road he hoped he wouldn't have to cross, as he intended to end it all here and now! 

Moving at impossibly fast speeds, Malfurion transformed into a 9ft tall, furred monster right on top of Vandercross. 

"Feel the Wrath of Nature!" Malfurion howled.

Opening his maw wide, Malfurion roared. 

The power of his roar triggered the spell, Umbral Embrace, and activated a one-two punch. 

In one move, a hazy green energy moved all around his body, and took on the shape of a beetle's horn at the top of his head. At the same time, the roar was a sonic attack that diffused Vandercross's shield spells, pushing the protective barriers surrounding his body to his extremities such as his arms and legs, leaving his torso only a woefully thin protective screen. 

Carrying the momentum and speed of his beetle form, the massive bear that was Malfurion practically teleported into Vandercross's chest! 

Feeling the crunch of bones, Malfurion pressed on, and began to swipe with his claws, and bite down. Each one of his attacks was coated in rich Nature energy, and tore away at Vandercross's protective shields. 

Some of his claws got through here and there and fresh welts of blood sprayed outward. 

During their tumble off the flying carpet, they teleported all over the place due the spell, Blink, and a holy flame of Light burnt Malfurion, enticing incredible pain, and draining him of his stamina. Casting Rejuvenate, a green glow healed any burns caused by this constant flame, and Malfurion maintained his assault. 

Even if he tried to Blink away from Malfurion, he always tried to stay in close contact, and wouldn't allow the mage to teleport away, or free his hands for any spells. 

He didn't know how the Light spell was cast, but clearly Vandercross primarily needed his hands to work magic. This, he would not allow! 

Tearing away at the green armor, Malfurion felt it rip and tear at an increased rate. His claws were now less than a quarter of an inch from piercing the shield, and then victory would be his! 

During the few seconds of their rapid descent, Malfurion was sure of his victory, yet he was shocked when an illusion of himself began to rip and tear into his backside. 

Green Nature energy coated the illusions claws, and it began to reach for his throat! 

'Hmph!' 

Malfurion noticed that for all its power, the illusion could be knocked over with a small attack. All he needed to do was rely upon the Thorns spell that protected his body, and the illusion would end itself. 

Never once leaving Vandercross out of his sight, Malfurion was determined to end this menace once and for all! 

The distinct pop of his shields sounded in Malfurion's ears, and his Nature empowered claw reached down to tear at his throat. 

However, during that half a second of distraction when the illusion had struck, Vandercross said something. 

Three words to be exact. 

"Feim. Zii. Grom!" 

(Fade. Spirit. Bind!) 

The young Elf, who was on the verge of defeat turned ethereal blue, and passed right through Malfurion's chest and body as he kept falling to the ground. 

Recognizing what was happening, Malfurion was about to transform into his beetle form, when he recognized a shift in time had occurred. 

For a brief, singular second, it was as if his world had stopped for 10 seconds, and he could not move. The transformation into a beetle, which should have been instant, stretched beyond reality! 

From his perspective, the youth suddenly moved. 

By the time he had blinked his eyes once, a dozen deep sword wounds had penetrated his flank. Each strike was surgical and methodical, as if Vandercross knew where each gap in his armor-like hide was, and he struck an organ with each blow. 

Finally, he went in for the final hit, and sliced down upon Malfurion's head, decapitating him. 

The force and speed with which they had traveled had been great, and when Malfurion's body hit the ground, it made a massive impact crater. The resulting explosion shattered half the forest, and half the crystalline city. The kinetic energy that was traded between bitter foes caused yet another tumultuous earthquake. It was one so vicious, it could be felt a sea away on Kalimdor! 

As his head flew through the sky, time came back to normal, and Malfurion felt shame and rage at what had just transpired. 

He felt a soul sucking force try to pull his essence into a black cloak of foul magic surrounding Vandercross. 

To think this youth was so perverted, so arrogant! 

Malfurion would see to it that he learnt the meaning of the word 'humility.' That he would learn how Malfurion became known as the Stormrage! 

"REINCARNATION!!!" 

Malfurion's vast mana pool erupted with an unfolded power, and his body, which was being cut to pieces, suddenly disappeared, then resembled, whole and hearty a dozen feet away. 

Sacrificing all the spirits of the forest for the entire continent of the Eastern Kingdoms, Malfurion came back to life, and was brimming with energy. 

With a wave of his hand, and a mutter from his lips, the anti-magic aura Vandercross was emitting was suppressed.

With the curl of his finger, and the glow of his eyes, the force of the earthquake from just now was redirected, and a super tsunami the likes the world had not witnessed since the age of the Sundering manifested on the horizon. 

Twirling his staff, he tried to call upon a typhoon, but grunted in disappointment when not even a drizzle could be mustered. 

The youth seemed to mock him with an arrogant smile for his seeming failed attempt, yet Malfurion replied with a grim grin of satisfaction, as instead of the overwhelming might of a typhoon, the focus of the sun came down with a vengeance. 

A beam of pure solar energy was directed at Vandercross, like a beam of light focused through glass. 

Wherever the beam-thick as a large bed-passed, it erased the land in a cataclysmic cleansing purity of fire and flame. 

Malfurion slammed his staff on the earth, and pulled. 

A massive, true volcano began to gush up to the surface, and lava erupted into the sky. Ash moved as if it had a life of its own as it swept towards Vandercross in an effort to suffocate him. Molten rocks erupted indiscriminately, and exploded mid air, releasing random jets of lava wherever the diminutive Elf may wish to Blink to. 

The earth groaned, and Malfurion wept for what he was doing to his beloved Azeroth, but when it came to slaying Evil, there could be no half measures. 

The boy had accused him of negligence, of dereliction of duty when it came to combating the Legion. 

The boy didn't know the meaning of duty. 

Holding onto his staff, Malfurion watched on as the youth began to counter his magics with the great translucent crystals. 

"Have you gone mad, druid? Do you intend to sink the very land you swore to protect?!" Vandercross yelled in disbelief as he telekinetically picked up one of the magma boulders, and slammed it down upon Malfurion's position. 

He then Blinked away from the solar beams, and started to blast Malfurion with an extreme amount of lightning, fire and ice from all sides. 

The explosions and radius of Vandercross's magic began to destroy the ruined city they were fighting all across, and between the two of them, the plateau and mountain they had been fighting on was slowly turning into a great canyon. 

Raising his staff high, Malfurion blasted the 4-story tall magna boulder into smithereens, splattering super hot liquid to his left and right. 

He then pulled once, twice, thrice! A spherical force of pure green struck the encircling elemental attacks, and ground them into nothing more than harmless motes of light. 

"You wouldn't understand." Malfurion shook his head. 

"Wouldn't understand? I'm sorry to hear that Malfy, but I think it is you who does not understand. Do you, in your sleep-addled mind, think this is a game? That it is somehow the 'Will of Nature' when you threaten a continent, but an act of great evil when your brother destroys the Lich King at the cost of a portion of Northrend?" The boy mocked as he absorbed all the mana from the volcano into his Mana Stones, and began to toss these super heated exploding crystals at Malfurion with extreme prejudice. 

Each and every crystal carried with it the strength and power to decimate a city block. Not only was the kinetic energy supreme, but the after shock carried with it a flow of lava that Malfurion found difficult to block. 

At the same time, Vandercross was running in the sky, and had Blinked above Malfurion's position, bringing the solar beam down on top of his head. 

"Nature is all about balance." Malfurion growled, and summoned a massive tree from the ground, blocking the sun's wrath. 

Instead of being destroyed, the tree absorbed the solar power, and grew and grew and grew until it reached the heights of the nearby deceased World Tree. 

Flowers blossomed, and fruits began to spray acidic juice at Vandercross, tracking his every movement. 

Vandercross countered by summoning an overwhelmingly large blizzard. 

Malfurion felt his bones ache in the cold, and felt as if the snow storm was covering the entire province that they were fighting in. 

"Funny thing about Nature." Vandercross's voice came from miles away, somewhere hidden within the blinding white snow. 

"Nature dies." Vandercross whispered in Malfurion's ears at the exact same time that his voice had shouted from within the blizzard. 

Whilst Vandercross spoke, a dagger entered the back of the druid, entered his heart, and exited through his chest. The High Elf's hand was coated in blood, and the fiery enchantments upon his blade immolated Malfurion's innards to a fine crisp. 

Malfurion Stormrage, first druid, and leader of the Kaldorei coughed blood as he fell to his knees. 

Rejuvenation constantly worked against this devastating wound. Constantly healing the damage and constant burning. 

Malfurion wanted to do something, anything, yet his mana was sluggish, and would not move. 

Weakly raising his hands, he tried to push the dagger out, so that he may turn into a beetle, and get done distance to heal. His strength was still mighty, and he was about to cry himself free, when the armored guard who had been accompanying Vandercross approached. 

The armored boots crunching on the snow, and his crimson armored form emerging from the howling blizzard was like a death knell. 

No words were exchanged as the guard held onto Malfurion's arms, and pried them off the dagger. 

The blade pulsed as it was freed from his grasp, and the flames freely began to eat at his organs, and the balming healing of Rejuvenate dried up along with his pool of mana. 

Closing his eyes, Malfurion resigned himself.

The boy was right. 

Not even the sun or the Gods were forever. 

All things died...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: Reincarnation is a canonical ability Druids in WoW can do. Here, Malfy used his spirit juice to accomplish this feat, and could only do it once thanks to that. MC also used a shout at the end there to confuse the enemy. Stealth enjoyers will recognize which one it was. 

Read up to chapter 172 at: patreon.com/KarpQQ