NIGHTMARE DRAGONFLIGHT

A wise lion once told me that from the depths of grief can arise either the mightiest of heroes or the most depraved of villains. To lose that which matters most can strip away all the layers of duty, purpose, and desire that form the very basis of who we are, leaving behind only a choice between hope or despair. For Fandral Staghelm, who was forced to watch as his son Valstann was torn in two by the qiraji General Rajaxx, such devastating pain led down a path of darkness that ultimately destroyed him and nearly ended the Emerald Dream. Yet to understand the seeds of this tragedy, we must begin much earlier, with the growing of saronite, a mineral said to form appearance from the blood of the Old God Yogg-Saron. Knowing that the druids dare not leave such corruption unchecked, Fandral decided that the best way to eradicate the threat was to steal clippings of the World Tree Nordrassil and plant them at the various sites of infection. While his reckless efforts to cleanse the rot were initially scorned, his plan appeared successful until the wildlife surrounding the new World Tree Andrassil grew wrathful and chaotic.

In investigating the disturbance, the druids made a horrifying discovery: It appeared that the roots of the World Tree had burrowed so deep into the soil that they had pierced Yogg-Saron's prison, allowing the corruption of the Old God to seep into the tree. Though the druids quickly destroyed Andrassil and halted the corruption of the forest, they were unaware the corruption had already spread into the Dream. Fandral's fall to the spreading Nightmare was all but assured after the Nightmare Lord Xavius sent the archdruid dreams detailing a way to restore his fallen son to life. Desperate to believe the satyr's lies, Fandral silenced and misdirected many of the druids who might otherwise have noticed the growing presence of the Nightmare within the Dream. Lost in the depths of madness and hope, the archdruid planted a new World Tree grafted with a branch from Xavius's tree, all but ensuring the full infection of the Emerald Dream. By the time the first physical manifestations of the Nightmare were uncovered within the Wailing Caverns, Dire Maul, and the sunken temple of Atal'Hakkar, the infection had grown well beyond the ability of the druids or the green dragonflight to stop it on their own.

DRAGONS OF NIGHTMARE

Servants of the Nightmare Lord Xavius

Survivors who were purified of the Nightmare often share similar accounts of how the infection's slow, insidious progress made the drift of their sanity nearly imperceptible. Whether dragon, druid, or denizen of the Dream, each describes the same creeping madness that was at first isolating and then consuming. None spoke at the time of their tormented dreams or their simmering rage, for such things occurred over the course of weeks, months, and even years. Worse still was the stigma among the druids that such chaos of the mind was the antithesis of their long training and a weakness to be overcome through increased meditation. Even the dragons who should have recognized the mark of the Old Gods failed to see the spreading rot due to their relative solitude, both within the Dream and as sentinels of the physical world. It is for these reasons that the Nightmare was recognized only upon the emergence of the Dragons of Nightmare from the dream portals of Azeroth.

What befell Ysondre, Lethon, Emeriss, and Taerar was neither a failure of strength nor a lack of dedication to their flight. Each was an ancient dragon and long-trusted lieutenant of the Aspect Ysera. It is believed that what triggered their early downfall was likely their long slumber within the Emerald Dream, a condition that prevented them from sensing the writhing tendrils of corruption that had threaded itself amid the realm's abundant life energy. Regardless of the cause, the result was a force of dragons with a singular goal: the extinction of all life on Azeroth. Emerging from the dream portals in the Hinterlands, Duskwood, Feralas, and Ashenvale, the Dragons of Nightmare sought to spread madness and terror throughout the mortal realm. Their raging challenges echoed amid the very boughs of the World Trees that Fandral Staghelm had himself so unwisely planted, daring anyone brave enough to test the might of a dragon. Although defeated, and with the groves cleansed of their foul essence, they would later return again when Xavius launched an attack on Val'sharah. Though the dragons' suffering continued for many years, each was eventually redeemed and their souls returned to the purified Emerald Dream.

NYTHENDRA

Guardian of the World Tree Shaladrassil •- Guardian of the Dream - Gatekeeper of Corruption

Mighty Shaladrassil, thought to have been grown from the great Mother Tree G'Hanir in the time before the Sundering, stood at the center of both Val'sharah and druidic culture since the kaldorei first dared reach toward the Dream. Here it served as a bastion of learning for the Dreamweavers, a group of elves so ancient that they watched their World Tree take root and bind itself to the Emerald Dream. For eons, Shaladrassil towered peacefully over the verdant elven lands until, one day, its brilliant crown inexplicably began to blacken and emit a sinister crimson aura. With the threat of Xavius and the Nightmare thought sealed away, the sudden surge of corruption in Val'sharah caught not only the local defenders by surprise, but also Malfurion Stormrage. Here the rot chose to slip deep into Shaladrassil's roots before driving the ancient defender Cenarius, along with Oakheart and Nythendra, to madness. With its greatest threats culled, the infection quickly spread to the town of Shala'nir and much of the elven forests beyond.

As once emerald foliage became gnarled and blackened, the druids and dragons sleeping within Shaladrassil were transformed into foul servants of the Nightmare Lord Xavius. Under such control, Nythendra of the green dragonflight was mutated into a plagued skeletal monstrosity. Once she and Oakheart had defended the World Tree in the name of the Emerald Dream, but they now turned upon the mortal champions who attempted to breech the sanctum and fight back its corruption. Unable to resist the Nightmare Lord's commands, the former green dragon unleashed her pestilence upon the fighters, killing many with her virulent rot. Yet despite her incredible ferocity, Nythendra's eternal guardianship was ended and her spirit was finally freed of the Nightmare. Though the Nightmare itself was defeated in time, the many crimson scars of its infection remain upon Shaladrassil and the land of Val'sharah.