Krashpoint: The final assault

We learned a lot about our enemy in the few weeks since the timeline was changed, and as we gathered to prepare for our final assault, we learned enough to paint a complete picture. Let me sum up here a few crucial details. My father, Tarakan Krasha, a Timewalker Watcher, fell prey to the whispers of a Void entity called X’aaztre, known by many titles, including the Unspeakable One and the King in Yellow. Possessed, he changed the timeline, causing my uncle, employer and mentor, Verroak Krasha, to die in his youth. Instead, his sister, Isha, survived instead and became a philanthropist who largely took my uncle’s place. This being’s homeworld is a dark place called Carcosa which, as it turns out, used to be a world known as Karkora, until X’aaztre dropped from the sky and corrupted it. Obsessed with playing with time, the entity not only made Carcosa’s timeline a chaotic mess beyond salvation, it started messing with Azeroth’s timeline and is believed to have inspired Murozond and the Infinite Dragonflight. We did not know what it wanted to do now and why it’s done the Tarakan gambit, but we knew we had to stop it or all of time was in peril.

We gathered on Centralis, on an abandoned Titan installation we call Station of Trust, where Verroak – and apparently Isha – send people they don’t quite trust to negotiate. There, we exchanged everything we learned. I told them about the specific thread of time and the unfortunate fact – the King in Yellow has woven it into his cloak and the only way to restore the timeline is to disrobe a being equivalent in power to an Old God. Isha told us what she learned about Carcosa’s nature and location. Anachronos revealed to us what he went through with Skreah and what he learned about the universal threat of X’aaztre from the gibberish spouted by that harpy in the mental asylum. So we started making plans.

Unfortunately, the only plans we could come up with were pretty poor, until we had another visitor, a very unexpected one. It was Sara, the avatar of Yogg-Saron. Somehow, we did not instead jump to attack her and she was quite disappointed, “hoping for a show of power”. Although we knew the entities of the Void are not one big happy family, we did not expect one coming to aid the mortals against one of their kind. However, she was there and she told us everything we did not yet know about our enemy. Turns out, he went rogue. Instead of destroying the universe like a proper Void God, he played with it, which could possibly result in something even worse – at least for their kind. Sara told us how to beat him. In Carcosa’s own past, before he corrupted it, he would be weaker and bereft of his time manipulation powers. Attempting to prevent his corruption would also draw his attention, as a ultimate insult – using his own trick against him, and on his own world no less.

Although we did not know if we could trust Sara, we had precious few little options. We decided to go ahead with the plan she suggested, but we needed some final preparations before we depart. Menrim, who was with Isha, told us he’d learn more about Carcosa’s history to find the proper insertion time in its past, and Isha promised to get the artifact T’uure for us, the naaru staff with ties to Carcosa’s past as Karkora. Anachronos would leave to prepare the ritual to send us to the distant past of a different world, and I would prepare to fight with all my newly found demon powers. We departed, knowing the next day might be the last time we see each other.

We gathered the next day with everything prepared. Instead of Menrim, Yu Gwai came with information from him, because apparently the tol’vir thought we needed a better fighter. Instead of the priest hero, Silas Darkmoon came to us, having borrowed the staff because the priest was busy looting the Tomb of Sargeras. Once we were done talking about potential ways to cure my demonhood and eating snacks Silas brought, we finally teleported to Carcosa.

What we found was a dark forest. Possibly the Dark Forest that Old Gods and their minions frequently speak about. While we started preparing the ritual, we had another unexpected visitor. Brann Bronzebeard and the draenei captain Glovaal came at us, thinking we’re the rescue party. After dispelling their confusion, they decided to join us nevertheless because Brann was “itching to punch something for the things they went through”, including Glovaal’s muteness. While we fought off the monster that came charging at us chasing Brann, Anachronos and Silas cast the ritual and opened the portal to Carcosa’s past. All of us left, leaving only Silas behind. As I would later learn, he sent the aberration screaming in horror and went back to Azeroth without any outside assistance.

Karkora was… much different than Carcosa. It was almost the polar opposite. It was full of bright, happy, pastel colors. Aquamarine sky, pink trees, bright green grass, rainbows and unicorns everywhere. Frankly, it was more disgusting than its present state as the corrupted, dark jungle. And it wasn’t just my demonhood talking, even Anachronos expressed distaste with it. At least we knew we were in the right place, so we left towards the city nearby. The city that would become X’aaztre’s capital one day.

It took an evening and a morning of negotiation with the local leaders before we were even allowed to stay. It was evident where X’aaztre took the Yellow Creeper’s form from. They were kinda… spidery. Although in a cute way. You know how spiders, blown up to arakkoa size, are not really that scary without proper magical modification? This was the deal with those guys. Furry skin; big, black, round eyes; small smiley-looking mouth with two furry mandibles. They admitted we had to be aliens, but they did not want to change their culture to prepare for the Void threat – after all, their world has beaten it once before in the form of Dimensius. Anachronos tried to directly show them the Yellow Creepers and the dark future, but it only led to the messenger fleeing in fear.

This is when the enemy struck. He showed up out of nowhere, the future version of him of course, and one last time tried to convince he’s in the right. He knew we had Sara’s help, because these bastards apparently know everything, and told us she’s our real enemy. He claimed he only wants to play with the universe, and she’s out to destroy it. By letting her help us, we’re only furthering the cause of his estranged masters in the Void. One way or another, he had to be stopped, and we knew it, so we engaged.

What followed was a fight hard to describe in words. Although his time powers were greatly diminished, they were not entirely gone. At first, we simply fought him like another aberration, until he decided to shunt each of us into some dark vision of the future. I saw a fallen, corrupted universe, with all life extinguished, ruled by demons and darkness, and me alone in that universe, because as a demon I outlasted everything. Although I supposedly outlasted everything, he still had demons to send after me. That and other inconsistencies made me snap out of it. I’m told Anachronos was shown a vision of the bronze dragonflight’s end, all of them corrupted into Infinites or dead and the Caverns of Time destroyed, and Isha was faced with some fake, twisted vision of Verroak’s reign on Anzulekk/Hecaton. I don’t know what Yu Gwai and Brann saw, but they were eventually unmoved.

Once we all broke free of these visions, we emerged in some pocket dimension of the Nether and saw X’aaztre stunned and weakened on the floor. I told Anachronos to quickly grab the thread of time from his cloak before it was too late. He did so, but was briefly overcame with the mess of tangled timelines he saw while grabbing the garb. Concentrating on Verroak, he was able to pull the thread out and the cloak unraveled before our eyes. I think he saw something else there, but he would not tell me what.

The Unspeakable One emerged from this only more furious. He unleashed all the power he could and withstanding his blows only became harder. He destroyed my doomguard – and I think he completely obliterated it – and summoned a swarm of strange, round creatures filled with teeth. Langoliers, some people call them. The story is they devour the leftovers of a destroyed timelines and would eat you alive and screaming. As they started consuming the landscape around us, we tried to fight them off, but the energies emanating from my father’s body were only getting worse. I screamed at people to concentrate on him instead, but no one could break away from the monsters.

Only Isha was able to pull away and pulled out a knife. Apologizing profusely, she stabbed my father’s body, breaking X’aaztre’s concentration long enough to have him start phasing out. As the langoliers left and the landscape began settling down, the Void monster was screaming, until he attracted Sara to the scene. With an unsettling smile, she pulled the King in Yellow out of its host, proclaiming it would be judged and punished by their masters for its disobedience. The body collapsed, but not fully, and it would prove to be quite alive. My father was alive… and free.

Although not for long. Isha ran to him and clutched his body, as he said his final regrets in his part in this whole ordeal. I should be broken up about it, but I guess the demonhood stunted my feelings. All I feel now, thinking back to it, is anger towards who caused it all. Tarakan asked us to finally finish it and release the thread Anachronos pulled from the cloak, and we did so. As the timeline began resetting, Isha began fading, remaining for a short time only because we were in the Twisting Nether. But this when the strangest thing happened – Tarakan used up the last of X’aaztre’s time powers remaining in his body to stabilize Isha and let remain in the restored timeline, although everything she did was gone, she was revitalized to the age she died at, and she remained a paradox. Then, he finally died, his corruption by the Void God being too deeply ingrained once it was torn out.

The timeline was restored. Verroak was back on Hecaton, scheming and worrying about me in his own way. Skreah was back to squawking every other word. My place in the Tower of Krasha was restored, although my demonic corruption sadly remained. Isha was saved, although we all gave up on her, including her, and she promised to continue my father’s legacy by becoming a Timewalker in his stead.

So I guess we won. Happy ending for everyone. Except my father who died for his sins. But I suppose someone had to be sacrificed and sure as hell I won’t let it be me.

I’m only worried… what did Anachronos see when he grabbed the thread of time? Was it about me? Was it about Verroak? I have a feeling something bad is still coming, and since it’s supposed to happen, the dragons won’t tell us.

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