Khadgar wanted to explain no, that visions tended to encompass the area entirely, shifting you to the
new place, but he instead he just shook his head.
The beast itself was perched in the doorway, sniffing the air. The creature’s eyes blazed with flame. Was
the beast blind, and could only detect by scent? Or was it detecting a new thing in the air, a spice that it
had not expected?
Khadgar tried to pull the energies into his mind, but at first his heart quailed and his mind went empty.
The beast continued to sniff, turning in place until it faced the pair.
“Get to the high tower,” said Khadgar quietly. “We have to warn Medivh.” Out of the corner of his eye
he saw Garona nod, but her eyes did not leave the beast. A trickle of sweat dropped down her long
neck. She shifted slightly to one side.
The movement was enough, and everything happened at once. The beast crouched and leapt across the room. Khadgar’s mind cleared, and with a quick efficiency he pulled the energies into himself, raised his
hand, and buried a bolt of mystic energy into the creature’s chest. The energy ripped through the beast’s
chest and splattered out its back, sending pieces of flaming flesh in all directions, but it did not deter it in
the slightest.
It landed on the study table,“Whenthey succeed,” said the past Medivh, “they will make me their leader. They respect strength,
Mother, unlike you or zxchanxiang the rest of this sorry world. And thanks to you, I am the strongest thing in this
world. And I will have broken aion power leveling the shackles that you and others have placed on me, and I will rule.”
There was a silence in the vision, and Khadgar and Garona froze, holding their breath. Would the
present Medivh notice aion power leveling them in the silence?
Aegwynn, speaking from the years past, held his attention. “You are not my son,” she said.
The present Medivh put his face in his hands. His past version said, “No. I have never been your son.
Never truly yours, in aion power leveling any case.”
And the past Magus laughed. It was a deep, thundering laugh that Khadgar had heard before, on the icy
steppes, when last these two battled.
Aegwynn looked shocked, “Sargeras?” she spat, in final recognition. “I killed you.”
“You killed a body, witch. You only aion power leveling killed my physical form!” snarled the Medivh of the past, and
already Khadgar could see the overlay of the second being, the alternate shadow, that consumed him. A
creature of shadow and aion power leveling flame, with a beard of fire and great ebon horns. “Killed it and hid it away in a
tomb beneath the sea. But I was willing to sacrifice it to gain a greater prize.” its claws digging into the hardwood, and bounded again, this time for
Khadgar. The young mage’s mind went blank for a second, but a second was all it took for the
slope-shouldered demon to close the distance between them.
Something else grabbed him and yanked him out of the way. He smelled musky cinnamon and heard a
deep-throated curse as he spun out of the path of the loping demon. The beast sailed through the space
that until recently had been occupied by the apprentice, and let out a scream of its own. A long ragged
tear had appeared along the creature’s left side, and was oozing burning blood.
Garona released Khadgar from her grip (a weak, humanish grip, but still enough to drive the air from his
lungs). In her other hand, the apprentice noticed that Garona held a long-bladed knife, crimson with its
first strike, and Khadgar wondered where she had hid it while they were arguing.
The creature landed, wheeled, and tried to make an immediate, clumsy second assault, its iron-shod
talons outstretched, its mouth and eyes blazing with flame. Khadgar ducked, then came up with the heavy
red volume ofThe Lineage of Azeroth’s Kings. He hefted the massive tome into the creature’s face, then
ducked again. The beast sailed past him, landing back near the door. It let out a retching, choking noise,
and shook his ramhorned head to dislodge the weighty grimoire. Khadgar saw there was a line of burning
blood etched along the creature’s right side. Garona had struck a second time.
“Get Medivh,” shouted Khadgar. “I’ll get it away from the door.”
