With Onyxia's sensing ability, he easily located his target on the Dragonmaw Port.
However, the appearance of the Black Dragon Queen before him surprised him a bit—Sinestra had transformed into a female Fel Orc, with bright red skin and exposed fangs, looking utterly devoid of beauty.
How could she be a Fel Orc?
Aiden was somewhat perplexed. He remembered that in the original timeline, Sinestra should have transformed into a beautiful Blood Elf—but he quickly realized why.
It must be because in the game, the Blood Elf Prince had joined Illidan, who had already defeated Magtheridon and become the new overlord of Outland. Both the Fel Orcs and Blood Elves served Illidan. So, it was normal for Sinestra to transform into a Blood Elf and cooperate with the Fel Orcs.
But now, the situation had changed. Illidan had become a lone commander of the Night Elf forces and hadn't betrayed his race. Moreover, before Archimonde's arrival, Magtheridon was still the overlord of Outland. To study the Netherwing Dragons, Sinestra could only transform into a Fel Orc and infiltrate the Fel Orcs within the Dragonmaw Fortress.
Aiden's speculation was basically the truth.
What he didn't expect was that Sabellian, the black dragon who had previously disguised himself as Baron Sablemane in Blade's Edge Mountains, was also on Dragonmaw Port.
Of the four people present, excluding him, all were related to the Black Dragonflight…
"Onyxia, why are you here? And who is this person?" Sinestra didn't show any joy at her daughter's arrival, as the Burning Legion's arrival had put her in a terrible situation. Sabellian's arrival seeking refuge was already annoying enough.
Just a day before, Blade's Edge Mountains had been attacked on two fronts by the Burning Legion, and Sabellian had barely escaped from that battlefield. With nowhere else to go, he brought the news to the Black Dragon Queen, seeking her protection.
"Lady Sinestra," Aiden began, "I believe you are well aware of the Burning Legion's arrival. I am here to discuss a deal with you."
"You know my name, human," Sinestra's gaze turned fierce. She stared at Aiden, then glared at Onyxia, "Did you tell him, my dear daughter?"
This was the only possibility she could think of. After Sinestra transformed into a female Orc, she had never revealed her true identity to anyone in Outland for many years. She didn't think those foolish Orcs could see through her disguise.
Onyxia quickly shook her head: "No, no, it wasn't me, Mother."
Aiden said, "I don't think that's the main point you should be concerned about."
"Speak, what kind of deal do you want to discuss?" Sinestra looked at him.
Aiden said, "The Burning Legion is currently destroying this world. I believe you should be very familiar with the demons' style."
Sinestra's expression darkened. Of course, she understood. As the Black Dragon Queen, the first consort of the Earth-Warder Neltharion, she had personally participated in the War of the Ancients, killed many enemies… and witnessed Neltharion's fall with her own eyes.
"I don't need you to remind me of that. Get straight to the point, what is the content of the deal?" Sinestra interrupted impatiently.
"I have a way to safely evacuate all of us from here," Aiden looked at the Dragon Mother, "This requires using the power of the Twilight Dragons you have been researching."
Upon hearing Aiden mention the Twilight Dragons, Sinestra immediately became vigilant. This was her secret plan, and she had always been careful to keep it a secret. No one except her knew even a single detail about it.
Why would this human know her secret?
Sinestra looked at Onyxia suspiciously—she was quite certain that her daughter, who had no interest in biology, couldn't possibly know either.
Moreover, she had only recently succeeded in creating the first Twilight Dragon—while Onyxia had only appeared in her senses recently. She must have just arrived in Outland not long ago.
"But why should I help you?" Sinestra felt a sense of shame at having her secret exposed, and subconsciously resisted cooperating with this human.
Aiden explained, "It's not free help, but a mutually beneficial cooperation—we use the power of the Twilight Dragons to open a void portal and take you with us to leave this world, which is destined to be destroyed by the Burning Legion."
"But even without your help, I have a way to escape—I don't need to rely on your power!" Sinestra revealed a mocking expression, "You need me, but I don't need you!"
Aiden stared at the Dragon Mother and said in a deep voice, "I suggest you accept my proposal."
"What if I don't?" Sinestra took a few steps back, ready to transform into dragon form at any moment. She could hear the threat in his tone.
"Then I will use force," Aiden's voice sounded as time around them froze. He walked towards Sinestra's position in the gray space and placed the Silver Judgment on her neck.
Then time returned to normal.
Sinestra's mind was still on the previous moment of preparing to fight, but in the blink of an eye, a large sword emitting a burning temperature was placed on her neck.
"You're threatening me!" She looked at Aiden angrily.
"I warned you," Aiden shrugged.
Sinestra looked at Onyxia behind Aiden and gave her several winks, signaling her to attack the human, but her daughter guiltily turned her head away, pretending not to see.
"Don't bother with those tricks, she won't attack me from behind," Aiden wasn't blind. Sinestra was practically spelling it out, so how could he not notice such a small action?
On the other hand, Sabellian, who was standing to the side, gripped his staff, preparing to cast a spell for a sneak attack.
"Stop what you're doing, mage," a voice sounded behind Sabellian at this moment. He felt a sword pressing against his back. This black dragon, who had transformed into a human mage, was covered in cold sweat. He didn't even know when someone had appeared behind him!
It was the angel Pamyel, who had come with Aiden.
"Alright, you win, put down your sword," Sinestra glared fiercely at Aiden.
Aiden retracted his sword, "Then we can now talk about the matter of cooperation…"
But before he could finish speaking, the Dragon Mother in the form of a Fel Orc suddenly retreated violently, rushing towards the rear at a speed far exceeding that of humans.
Aiden chuckled, the Dragon Mother was actually playing tricks—"Let's go, let's follow her!"
He and Onyxia, who was full of embarrassment, followed, but their speed wasn't very fast, forming a sharp contrast with the anxiously fleeing Sinestra.
They didn't need to rush, because there was another angel waiting for her on the route Sinestra was retreating.
Sinestra raced at full speed towards the cave where she was researching the Twilight Dragons. In her heart, she mocked the simplicity and stupidity of humans, who were so easily deceived—she believed that as long as she awakened her Twilight Dragon, she could definitely escape unscathed.
As the cave got closer and closer, she became more and more relaxed—until an angel wearing golden armor slowly descended from the sky, blocking the entrance. In her hand, she held a burning greatsword, identical in appearance to the one in Aiden's hand.
Kayle, she had been waiting here all along.
Sinestra let out a low roar, summoning a huge fireball to crash into the angel who was blocking her way. But Kayle summoned a golden shield in front of her, completely neutralizing the power of the spell.
Sinestra was extremely unwilling. She wanted to launch a stronger attack, but Aiden and the others had already arrived.
Aiden looked at her leisurely and asked, "Can we talk about cooperation now?"
Sinestra gasped for breath, not because of the fatigue of running, but because of the uncontrollable anger.
She looked at her good daughter, her voice almost a roar, and questioned, "Why, why would you help a human to deal with your mother!"
Onyxia's eyes darted around, and she replied in a low voice, "I was forced to. Please forgive me, Mother." After a pause, she raised her head and said, "Besides, cooperation is a win-win situation. You'd better agree."
Sinestra had lost her last resort and could only accept her fate.
After years of experiments and failures, a few months ago, she finally realized her grand idea: combining the characteristics of the Netherwing Dragons to research a dragon with the power of a true black dragon.
And the first Twilight Dragon to successfully develop was named Dralgonax, which means "Devourer of All Things" in the dragon language. This first Twilight Dragon lived up to her expectations, showing its powerful characteristics: it could devour the magic of others or ingest magic crystals to gain rapid growth.
Moreover, the Twilight Dragon also had the special ability to transform reality and nothingness. The Twilight Realm it created could evade attacks from reality. It was this characteristic that made Aiden believe that the Twilight Dragon could break through Kil'jaeden's spell-imposed imprisonment on the real world, allowing the Naaru's ship to initiate warp.
Sinestra treated Dralgonax like her own son, but the growth rate of this son far exceeded her expectations. Recently, all the magic crystals she had accumulated had been eaten by Dralgonax, and she had to consume a large amount of mana every day to cast spells for it to devour.
She was worrying about Drakonax's "food" when Sabellian arrived, and she extorted a sum from him, obtaining enough "food" from this non-biological son to keep Drakonax going for more than ten days.
However, Aiden's arrival gave Drakonax the opportunity to binge eat all day long, which was actually a good thing for Sinestra and her new son.
It's just that the Dragon Queen was forced to do it.
—
"It's still far from enough. At the current rate, it needs to create a Twilight Realm seven times larger than the current one in order for Tempest Keep to pass through."
"Can it still eat?"
"It's already been fed a lot—won't continuing to feed it cause it to burst?"
"How much has its size increased today?"
"It has increased by 27% compared to the same time yesterday."
"Then keep feeding it! Increase it by a third!"
The object of discussion among the mages was Drakonax. This twilight dragon with purple skin was now no smaller than Sabellian; by tonight, he would surpass the black dragon princess with the purest bloodline; and by tomorrow, he would be even larger than his mother, Sinestra's, true form, becoming the largest of the black dragons except for Deathwing—if he didn't explode.
And the day before yesterday, when he first arrived here, he was only about the size of an ordinary adult dragon.
The draenei possessed a highly developed crystal civilization, and their magic crystal storage was astonishingly large. At the current rate, there would be no problem letting Drakonax eat for another half year.
"Queen," Sabellian was also watching from the outside, his eyes somewhat glazed, and his throat even drier, "He… won't there really be a problem?"
Sinestra's eyes were bloodshot, and she seemed very excited, "Of course not, absolutely not! Yes, he is my greatest creation!"
Now she had transformed into the appearance of a high elf. Now that she no longer needed to cooperate with the Dragonmaw orcs, she naturally did not need to transform into the vile orc that disgusted her.
Now that she had become more beautiful, her black hair was an extremely rare color among high elves, which still made her stand out.
Although she said "absolutely not" with her mouth, she was still a little worried in her heart.
She had been observing Drakonax's growth these past two days.
These humans were even more insane than her—after Drakonax arrived at Skettis, he was eating magic crystals almost all the time. His size was increasing at a rate almost visible to the naked eye.
This was a phenomenon that completely defied common sense for flesh and blood creatures.
The size he had reached in several months of development before was not as much as he had grown in the past two days.
Sinestra had not tested Drakonax's upper limit. Before this son, her other fusion experiments had all ended in failure. No one knew what potential and limits Drakonax possessed.
She was really worried that Drakonax would suddenly explode and die while eating.
But she still had a nearly morbid sense of accomplishment in her heart—Drakonax was completely under her control. If his size were to increase threefold, no, even twofold—he would become the largest dragon in existence!
And for a dragon, size meant power.
If he were to increase tenfold… Sinestra couldn't imagine what it would be like.
It was estimated that another "Father of Dragons" Galakrond would be born at that time. And she, who controlled Drakonax, would become the queen of all dragons!
Her eyes became gloomy. If this scene happened, she would first have Drakonax eat that black-haired human who dared to offend her and his angelic servants!
—
Aiden, who was being maliciously thought of by the Dragon Mother, had no time to pay attention. After the Burning Legion's army was delayed in the muddy Zangar Sea for four days, their vanguard had now successfully entered Terokkar Forest. In at most three more days, these demons would arrive around Arakkoa Peak. And it was still unknown when Drakonax would be able to eat enough to unleash the Twilight Realm with sufficient power.
At the current rate, they had to be prepared to defend Arakkoa Peak for half a month.
"Half a month," this time made everyone feel heavy in their hearts.
It would probably not be easy to stop Archimonde for three days. Aiden had already prepared to abandon Skettis if he couldn't hold on, and then fight a guerrilla war with the Burning Legion, and slowly cultivate the twilight dragon.
Thrall and Great-Grandmother Geyah suddenly came together, bringing him another piece of news.
"Aiden, we sense that the elemental spirits of this world have recently become restless. They seem to have also sensed the world-destroying threat of the Burning Legion," Thrall said, telling Aiden about the changes in the elemental spirits that he and Great-Grandmother Geyah had recently sensed.
Aiden said, "Then what are your plans?"
"I think this might be an opportunity," Thrall said, "An opportunity to use the power of the elements to fight against the Burning Legion!"
Thrall discussed it with the other shamans here, and they decided to go to the Throne of the Elements to try to communicate with the elemental spirits and seek their help.
Thrall had felt the power of the elemental spirits of that world in Azeroth—their power was very strong, and their will was very clear. His shamanic spells could also exert extremely terrifying power.
These past few days, he had been studying with Great-Grandmother Geyah, improving his shamanic path, and felt that he had made a lot of progress, but the power of the spells he cast was not even half as powerful as in Azeroth. Moreover, the elemental spirits he sensed seemed panicked and frightened, and this emotion also infected the shamans who used the power of the elements.
Aiden said, "This is worth a try."
He recalled the history of the elemental spirits of Outland, and then said to the two of them, "Gul'dan used the Curse Cipher to cut off the connection between the orc shamans and the elemental spirits. This may be the key point of your trip."
"Thank you for the reminder!" Thrall smiled.
"Wait a minute, I'll find someone to help you."
Aiden thought of Karthus, who had absorbed the power of Gul'dan's Skull and obtained many of this orc warlock's memories. He should know how to unlock the Curse Cipher, or at least know some key content.
After a while, "Lich King" Karthus appeared in front of the two. Faced with Aiden's inquiry, he thought for a moment and replied, "I do know something about the Curse Cipher."
"Then go help them!" Aiden gave him this task.
At this time, if they could repair the relationship between the elements and the shamans, it would also be considered an increase in their power. At the critical moment of fighting against the Burning Legion, any increase in power was a good thing.
Aiden personally sent them away. He looked at the back of Karthus, who was wearing the Helm of Domination, and suddenly thought that this lich had fused both Gul'dan's memory and Ner'zhul's memory—this pair of orc master and apprentice would eventually fuse with a demigod lich from Valoran. Thinking about it, it was really amazing the arrangements of fate.
—
As the Burning Legion approached here day by day, Aiden also became a little impatient. He constantly calculated the strength comparison between the two sides, simulating the possibility that the people in front of him could fight against Archimonde, but the results were always not optimistic.
Although he had almost gathered all the forces in Outland that could be united, such troops were still too thin in the face of the Burning Legion.
What's more, there was still Kil'jaeden in the Twisting Nether, who was no less powerful than Archimonde, constantly looking for opportunities to sneak attack. If his true body descended, Aiden really couldn't think of any way to successfully escape Outland.
Skettis had been built into a super fortress, with defensive works and anti-aircraft fire everywhere.
But at this time, new reinforcements suddenly joined them—the Ethereum Trading Company. These ethereals who had withdrawn from their base in Netherstorm found Aiden again by spaceship.
This time, they took the initiative to propose joining the Outland Allied Forces to jointly resist the Burning Legion.
The reason was very simple—after Kil'jaeden imprisoned time and space, the ethereals' spaceships could no longer leave here through warp jump.
As the Burning Legion's army crushed all the way, the area where the ethereals could move became smaller and smaller. In the end, they could only choose to come to the Outland Allied Forces to seek shelter.
In order to survive, the ethereals moved out all their belongings from their spaceships. Divine weapons they had purchased from other civilizations, their own energy weapons, and powerful ethereal warriors.
Among them, there was even a Force-Commander's armed force that cooperated with the Ethereum Trading Company, led by a Force-Commander advisor named Lhym.
The addition of the ethereals greatly strengthened the air power of the Outland Allied Forces.
In fact, their technological level was not as good as the naaru, but the Light Naaru, led by A'dal, were inherently lacking in aggressiveness. The naaru's defensive spells were very powerful, but their offensive means were very scarce.
But for the ethereals, interstellar trade was full of risks. At the right time, these interstellar merchants would even directly transform into interstellar pirates—so their aggressiveness was beyond doubt.
And the arrival of the ethereals also meant that the Burning Legion would arrive soon.