"But, what about you?"

He turned his gaze back to the two dread behemoths, his failure to answer the draenei answer enough. Korialstrasz was only concerned with her life, not his.

The priestess could not leave him to face them alone. She had many skills and the staff at her command. There had to be some manner in which she could aid him—

Although his eyes continued to monitor the two nightmarish dragons, Korialstrasz suddenly made a movement with his tail that the draenei realized was directed toward her. The red still desired for her to depart.

One of the shadowy creatures also noticed the movement... and proved cunning enough to understand what it meant. Monstrous orbs measured Korialstrasz anew.

A scowl replaced the cowering look.

The amethyst beast let out an ear-jarring cry and launched itself at the red dragon.

The other followed only seconds later, echoing the first's cry.

Letting out a roar of his own, Korialstrasz beat his wings hard. Iridi feared that the two attackers would turn immaterial again, but, so close, they apparently assumed that their prey was doomed. Instead, though, the red dragon not only stood his ground, but struck with all his might.

The heavy wings battered the dark dragons. One spun back, uprooting trees and ripping up more ground. The second dove headfirst into the dirt, its snout drilling deep.

Korialstrasz twisted his head around to the second and bathed his adversary in flames.

The shadow dragon—no, that title did not seem quite right to Iridi, for they did not so much resemble shadow, but rather the day turning to night—shrieked as it pulled its maw free and belatedly returned to a ghostlike state. The amethyst shimmer increased as it shifted.

Twilight! the draenei thought abruptly. It is as if they are like the twilight of this world's day....

Then, a savage paw came down where she stood. Only the heightened instincts of one of her order enabled the priestess to leap aside before she would have been crushed into the soil.

Iridi turned the naaru staff against her attacker. This time, the beast reacted too slowly. Blue lightning crackled around the fiendish leviathan. The dragon shrieked.

The draenei's hopes surged. Perhaps she and Korialstrasz would yet defeat this unsettling pair, who felt to her senses so wrong and yet somehow still bound to that which she hunted.

But suddenly the crystal ceased glowing. Stunned, Iridi glanced at the tip.

The dragon against whom she had fought let out a brutal laugh.

"Yessss!" it called. "Feed me mmmmorrre!"

It lunged at her, but Iridi knew that it was the staff that the creature sought. Aware what power still lay in the gift, the draenei feared what would happen if her attacker devoured its full essence.

She would have turned to Korialstrasz for help, but the red dragon was in dire straits of his own. The other monster had not only turned incorporeal, but had vanished beneath the ancient leviathan. Korialstrasz spun about, seeking some trace, however minute.

From behind him rose a purple specter. Iridi tried to warn Korialstrasz, but it was already too late.

The twilight dragon—yes, Iridi found that the name better fit the dread beasts—fell upon Korialstrasz's back. The red fell forward, the sudden weight catching him off guard.

“I will feed!!!" the red's tormentor declared yet again. However, it did not bend down to bite through Korialstrasz's neck, but rather sank its claws into his back and wings.

The ancient flier moaned. A sinister purple aura enveloped Korialstrasz.

The dark dragon gleefully inhaled... and a crimson glow arose from the writhing red, a glow that the purple behemoth immediately ingested. The vampiric beast inhaled again, drawing forth more of what could only be Korialstrasz's life energies. Despite clearly trying not to, the red finally unleashed a terrible roar of agony.

Korialstrasz's scaled form began to shrivel, as if he were a fly being sucked dry by a spider. He scraped at the air, trying feebly to escape as his foe ingested his essence.

There was nothing Iridi could do to stop the terrible feasting. Her own pursuer lunged again at her, nearly snapping up both the staff and the draenei together.

The ground shook as the dragon behind her tore at it. Iridi stumbled, then completely lost her footing. She fell forward, the staff flying from her grip.

The twilight dragon let out a cry of triumph that quickly turned into one of childish frustration as it watched the staff vanish. It could not have known that the naaru's gift would soon vanish when not held by her.

"Wheerrre isss ittt?" the beast called."Wherrrree?"

She felt the monster looming over her. In the background, Korialstrasz continued to moan.

There came from the heavens another roar, one whose vibrancy stilled all other sound. The next instant, a powerful force akin to thunder slammed into the monster magically ripping into Korialstrasz. The twilight dragon was bowled over.

The one near Iridi only had time to acknowledge its twin's fate before a new dragon alighted on to it. The twilight dragon immediately transformed, yet although it should have then avoided this startling foe, the new leviathan's claws hung tight. Iridi belatedly noticed that those claws glowed themselves.

"You like to fight those who can't fight you, don't you?" snarled the newcomer. His voice, his tone, were those of a much younger but more hot-headed dragon. From him emanated magical energies such as the draenei had sensed only on one type of dragon.

"You want to feed? Feed on this!"

His unsettling foe shrieked anew as bright, burning energies poured over it. In the light of those energies, the young dragon's flight was identified.

A blue dragon! Iridi had only seen one before, but the memory of that encounter remained burned in her memory. It had not been due to any particular feat by that previous dragon—for, in truth, the priestess had only watched it fly by—but rather the very essence of magic simply radiating from the azure colossus. She felt that now from this one as well, only even more so. Young this blue dragon might have been, but he wielded much power.

And he used that power quite well now. Caught unaware and now knowing that its ability to become incorporeal was of little value to it, the twilight dragon struggled to flee. However, the blue did not give up his prize. He was eager for battle, eager to vent some deep frustration that the priestess sensed on whatever enemy that he could find.

"Not so fast!" the blue bellowed. "I'm not done with you, not at all!"

From seemingly out of nowhere, the other twilight dragon attacked the blue. The younger leviathan was hard-pressed, but still seemed eager for the struggle no matter what the outcome.

But he was not alone. Crimson paws seized the second attacker and, making use of the monster's distraction, seared the twilight dragon's wings.

Iridi finally regained enough focus to recall the staff, but was uncertain exactly what she should do. The priestess did not want to feed the two creatures more of the energies for which they hunted. She stood frozen, torn between her choices.

It finally became obvious that this was a battle of dragons, with no place for a puny draenei priestess, however powerful the gift she had gotten from her mentor. Iridi stepped back, only prayer useful to her now.

And it appeared that her prayers were heard. Korialstrasz stood next to the younger blue, the pair aligned as if comrades of old. There was no argument, only action. They struck at the abominations, the blue taking the lead with Korialstrasz feeding his powers to his comrade.

The twin nightmares shrieked, yet they did not flee. With glowing orbs full of madness, they looked upon those who did not feed their hunger, but rather made it grow and grow...