The Discovery

Undercity. To Viragio it felt like it was just only yesterday since he were back home.
Walking in his slow pace to the laboratory and when he arrived, there were no one around.
Viragio didn't care this time, he wanted to do his science projects. As he approached his working place there were notes.
New notes. Notes about the pond. It seemed that one of his colleagues did all this during his abscence.
In curiousity he began to read the notes. He managed to blink few times after what he have read. The pond seems to have been purified.
"Unbelieveable..." he murmured to himself in amazement.
Reading from note after note he began to realize that the pond have healed extraordinary fast. Unnatural fast.
A green note with black ink gained Viragio's attention "The results are done. Send the vials to Thunder Bluff for scientific pursuit." It made Viragio blink few times.
Does this mean he have to return to Thunder Bluff?
Viragio sighed. Crushed the green note and tossed it to the side.
He looked through his pocket and took out a small vial with earth from Mulgore, inside the unstable cave.
The lab was ready and he poured the content in another vial with fire burning under it. Then he took a small potion and poured only few drops in to the same vial. Took a small glass stick and mixed the contents.
Viragio waited. And the liquid turned from brown to purple.
The liquid had the same color as the corruption from the pond. That made him scratch his bony cheek in wonder.
He thought it over and over. He frowned, he came to no conclusion to why the corruption was in that cave aswell.
But then the thought came over him about his tauren friend the farseer told him.
"...The elements aren't to blame..." it echoed within his mind.
It made him wonder slightly. If it isn't the elements, the finger points somewhat at the dragon aspect of Earth. Or perhaps all of them.
In doubt he began to scratch his neck, old skin fell off from the neck.
"Ssomethingss not right.. not right at all.." he told himself.
He wrote down on a paper about his finding, his result.
Then he stamped the letter with the mark of The Spine.
"Messssenger!" Viragio yelled.
Footsteps were heard from behind him. Running.
Viragio turned and saw a small, undead child. Barely nine years of age.
Somehow the image of this boy made him think back. But shook the thought away.
"Take thiss letter boy and give it to the High Delegate. It is a matter that is important."
The letter boy took the letter, sniffing at it and ran off to deliver it to the High Delegate.
Watching the boy running off, he corrected his glasses and returned to his research.
"..twinkle twinkle little star.." he sang for himself.

"I have news from the outposts near Stormwind. They've claimed to have seen a dark, red glowing dragon who nearly burned up Storm--"
"Ssstormwind..?"
"Yes. It seems Deathwing has returned, Viragio."
Viragio halted suddenly. Turned his head to the colleague behind him.
"Are you cccertain of thisss..?"
"Come now, Viragio. You know that the only dragon, at that size and image, can only be--"
"Yess..Yess.. I were jussst-.. ssshocked.." he looked straight ahead and kept moving.
The walking around Undercity were slow. Viragio had his hands behind the back and looked around.
His colleague kept talking but Viragio had something else in his mind. The corruption came to his thoughts yet again.
It was Deathwing all along... he thought to himself.
"...anyway, your High Delegate should-"
Viragio turned fully towards his colleague "The High Delegate ssshould be notified, yesss. And you are the one who are going to tell her. I need to sssee a friend of mine in Thunder Bluff."
He turned yet again and walked, with haste, out of Undercity and the colleague who blinked at him, departed towards the laboratory.

"Viragio. Your claimings that it was Deathwing is beyond any--"
"According to our ssscoutsss, it wasss Deathwing. Ssstormwind jussst got sstruck by the dark leviathan."
The tauren weren't pleased with the report that it was truely Deathwing. They thought however it was just another maddened dragon.
"And to note, I think you ssshould let your people, be cautiousss."
The tauren nodded in resignation.
"I'll... take that in to consideration, Viragio."
Viragio grinned at this "Ssseemss I were right anyway."
The tauren glared lightly at Viragio "I shouldn't brag about it if I were you, Viragio."
Viragio kept grinning at the tauren. He loved to be right about this.
"I'll be informing my people about what is really going on. Many of us won't take this lightly yet."
"Of courssse..." and Viragio bowed before leaving.
He only managed to turn and take few steps before the tauren said "Wait."
Viragio stopped, blinking and turned his head towards the tauren.
"Let me ask for your services once more, Viragio. Just to be sure."
Viragio turned fully. Still blinking.
"One of your... sssuicidal jobs, hm?" Viragio questioned.
The tauren however, nodded.
"You remember that cave who proved to be unstable?"
Viragio blinked once and twice, nodding slowly.
"We want you to help my people to clear that cave. The shamans and the druids said that something within the cave is rather... unsettling."
"How, or what, unsssettling?"
The tauren picked up a red blanket from the shirt pocket and handed it over to Viragio.
Viragio eyed at the tauren while walking towards him, looking at the red blanket and the tauren unfolded a black, brownish stone. Emittering a red glow.
"My people managed to dig through some of the rubble and came across this stone. Maybe you know what it is..?"
Viragio took the stone in his hand, adjusted his glasses and took a close look.
The stone kept emittering red glow.
"I think thisss ssstone hasss been to a place very hot... and dark. Ssseemsss to look like coal. But ssstill..."
"That's why I want you to take a closer look in that cave, Viragio. You've been there. And you know what's within."
Viragio handed back the stone, tossing it.
"I'll take another look..." he said loudly when he walked out of the room and towards the cave.

Here yet again. Viragio were depressed. He should be in Undercity and conducting other researches that grabbed his attention.
But he swallowed this problem. His colleagues kept digging while himself kept writing in his notebook to observe and learn what they find among the rubble and other things.
It came to his attention, plenty of times, that this stone he have been looking at were not coal or stone at all. It was a dragon scale. After a thorough examination with help from books and old notes other researchers has written, it was indeed a dragon scale. From a dragon of the black dragonflight. Not Deathwing, the scales were supposed to be bigger if it were him.
"Viragio."
"What isss it..?" Viragio answered while he was writing down his progress.
"We've found something you should see, we have cleared the rubble."
Viragio looked up at his colleague who had the hood down. In this warm, clear weather, he should be all sweat. But forsaken doesn't sweat.
Viragio sighed and stood up, walking with the colleague all the way down from the hill.
The other colleagues were arguing about something and looked towards Viragio, they stepped aside.
Viragio gave them a suspicious look.
"The rubble is clear. You may go inside and take a look."
Viragio wanted to frown but didn't.
After he took few steps ahead, the colleague casted a spell that made the cave shake and the entrance was, once again, sealed.
Traitors. "You traitorousss bassstardssss!!" Viragio yelled.
He could hear the laughter behind the rubble.
Now he had to find another way out.
He turned and walked, with fury behind his movement.

The voyage through the cave were pretty much endless but not when Viragio saw a somekind of an exit. The cave began to glow red and orange. Then he stood on an edge, looking down.
Lava. Lots of red, searing hot lava. Viragio couldn't feel the warmth, and he was thankful of it.
He stood close towards the wall, he didn't want to fall down.
Viragio followed the path that goes down and came to another sort of a cave.
The cave were dark. An orb began to glow green out of his pocket, lighting the path for him.
Walking the path laid before him lead him to somewhere else. This time, he could hear voices.
He stopped a little to listen, then continued to another edge and saw something he would have never seen within this such a place. An altar.
Flags of the Twilight Hammer clan. Cultists.
Now he began to realize. The corruptions he discovered, were made by them.
He could feel the essence of corruption hanging in the air within this cave.
Viragio wanted to go further and learn what he needs to know.
A cultist, looking at the altar. Viragio were sneaking behind him and noted himself it was an orc.
A quick strike towards the orc's neck would settle it.
Quietly he managed to stand behind the cultist, strangling the cultist with his arm, lifting the head a little and cutted his throat with the knife. The cultist fell dead on the ground and Viragio dragged the body away.

Viragio placed upon the robes of a cultist and got rid off the body by throwing it over the edge.
The hood would hide his face so he dragged it down over the face.
Walking down the path, he came to a small hall, following it and climbed some stairs.
"...I tell you my brothers and sisters. The day of salvation is at hand! Our kinsmen are within Grim Batol are waiting for us and together we will bring down the denizens of this world to their knees!" and there were many who cheered at, probably, the leader of this rabble.
Viragio could see they were many and he needed to find a sort of plan to escape this place without been taken notice.
He clasped his hands together and walked through the rabble without getting attention. He looked to the side and saw a bowl filled with essence of corruption.
Viragio looked around to see that no one saw him. Took a medium-sized vial from one of his vial pouches, filling it with the essence of corruption. And placed a cork upon the vial, hidding the vial in his pouch.
Looking around, he noticed that no one saw him. Luckily.
As he turned to walk, he accidently walked in to another cultist who turned and glared at him. This one were much smaller and couldn't see the face.
"Watch where you goin', you filth!"
Viragio bowed apologizingly.
"Forgive me, brother..."
and hastened to walk away.
He were successful and decided it was time to escape. It took him merely few hours, after have been looking around like a chicken, he found, possibly, an exit.
He maintained calmness with his hands clasped together like he were truly a cultist.
Two guards halted him to leave, the spears blocking the path.
"And where do you think you are going, brother? If you have the password, you may go outside."
Viragio still maintained calmness, grinning a little.
"Sssurely gentlemen, why do you need the passssword when you know that I belong to the cult?"
The guards were glancing at one another. It made Viragio peer at them.
"Alright. But don't tell anyone." said the other guard and both of them removed their spears.
Viragio bowed thankfully and passed them.
To ensure they didn't watch him from behind, he looked. They didn't watch and Viragio took the chance to run.
He ran. And ran. The orb began to glow, lighting the way.
The way seemed endless but he kept running. And finally saw a stone wall in front of him.
No way out.
Viragio however didn't panic. Since he saw a lever to his right side.
He grinned.
"Clever... camouflaging their hideout.." and pulled the lever.
The stone wall rumbled a little and began to descend. The sun began to lighten the exit and Viragio, walked calmly out.
The stone wall closed behind him and when it did, Viragio took the opportunity to mark it, nearby a small bush, where the mark is undetectable.
Then he decided to take off the robe, placing it within his backpack and hastidly, ran towards safety.