"Hello there how are you?". The little girl looked up at the speaker. He was a male gnome that could just as well have been mistaken for a human child, had he not worn the sparkling robe or a powerful mage. The little girl was taller than the gnome was for even though she was young by the standards of her race, she was also an elf and elves were taller than most humans even. "Hi Lothi.", she squealed in delight at seeing her friend. The girl bent down and hugged the gnome. Lothi returned the hug and said: "It's such a great day, why don't we have breakfast together." It was almost noon, but most gnomes had a tendency for sleeping long. Maybe he even got up early and just hadn't gotten around to eating yet. "Yay, food." the little girl said and hopped off in the direction of the Legerdemain Lounge, Lothi in tow. "I hope Lina is there too. I'd love to have lunch... breakfast...whatever with her as well." Lothi giggled. As they came around the corner they saw the entrance of the Legerdemain Lounge and standing in front of it was Tourmaline. She waved at the newcomers. A cloud cast a shadow as it blocked the light of the sun for a short while. The little girl quickened her pace and hurried over to Lina. Suddenly a shudder went through the ground, almost like an earthquake. An earthquake in Dalaran the flying city? Impossible! The girl stopped running and looked around. Everyone, elves, humans, trolls, orcs, had stopped moving, holding their breath. Another shudder went through the city, this one even longer than the first, then silence. The little girl carefully started walking towards her friend again but it was like walking up a slight slope. She was a druid and could sense even the slightest of rises in a tunnel. An orc was the first to fall on the ground. Then a troll, then a gnome. "Lina!" The girl cried out. Dalaran was tilting to one side. Soon people were screaming and holding on to lampposts. Some managed to call their flying riding mounts and climb onto them. The little girl held her balance and caught her friend helping her get out her flying carpet. She looked around franticly for Lothi but he was nowhere to be seen. Then she jumped and grew a beak, feathers and wings and flew as a bird to soar over Dalaran. The picture that greeted her brought tears into her avian eyes. The Crystal forest beneath the falling city was burning. Huge craters littered the places where there once had been trees and soon the biggest one would be made by the impact of Dalaran itself. Out of nowhere a voice spoke to her in a whisper like a snake speaking slithering words.

"Thisss is your doing. If you do not die you will be resssponsible. Thisss is your doing!" Then the voice faded away.

"No!" Bathed in sweat the little girl woke up, trembling. She dug her face into her hands and sobbed. "I know.", she whispered pleadingly, "I'll do it, just please leave me alone."

The hot Tanaris sun burned down on the little girl's head. She scratched her scalp and immediately set her silver hair right. It really won't do to not be presentable. She had been here more often when she was little. Her father didn't know but she had liked playing with the kids in the caverns. Back then she had not known that they weren't really kids though and after she had found out she had not cared and played with them anyway. When they had played catch the kids had always been faster, so the little girl had improvised and learned early to sneak up on people and also to turn into other animals. Something she had always kept hidden from her father and mother up to the day that her brother had taken her with him to live in Dolanaar and not Darnassus, where the rest of her family lived. She had learned to be a cheetah and at the last moment, as she jumped at the child, to turn back into her elven form and tag the kid. Then she would speed off again and hide until she was found and caught. Once they had played this game and accidentally run through a portal making an entire village several hundred years ago scramble for cover. By the time the militia had finally responded they were long gone though. That night they had thought that Noz would be angry but all he had done was give them a stern look. A second later his lower lip began trembling and he had roared out a great bellowing laugh.
The little girl quickened her pace as she got closer to the ruins and the entrance that lay within them. As she rounded the corner a she saw a great dragon blocking her path. His body was at least twenty times that of a grizzly bear, his body was covered in large bronze scales that could turn away almost any sword and his sharp teeth were almost the length of a human. His keen eyes looked upon her and with a roaring voice he challenged: "Who dares to trespass into our lands?"
The little girl never slowed her pace. "Hi Ana. Is your dad home?", she said and waved to the dragon. The big bronze cleared his throat and looked away a bit sheepishly. "Hello little one.", he rumbled. "I'm sorry I didn't recognise you. Nice to see you again. He's down in the cave. Shall I bring you to him?" The little girl nodded enthusiastically and Anachronos bent down his neck to aid her in climbing onto him. As they walked closer to the entrance he willed his body to shrink to about half its size so that he would fit through the entrance.

The ancient dragon looked down at the little girl. Slowly, as though each word drained him he said: "I know why you are here." His voice was very deep and rumbling like an avalanche of rocks falling down a hillside. The little girl looked him in one eye defiantly. "Ok, then what's the answer?", she said. "I really don't want to dream this over and over again. I know what I'm supposed to do and I'll do it. Can't you make it go away Uncle Noz?" When she was very little she had started calling her that after he had warned her sternly to not go close to any portal in the caverns of time. Back then she had said that he spoke to her like a concerned old uncle, which had made him laugh. Since then she called him Uncle Noz. The Timeless One shook his great head. "I cannot control what is meant to happen. For only the fourth time since time itself began was somebody given a choice. You can live and a terrifying force will be unleashed that will destroy most the worlds, or you can sacrifice yourself and thereby stop its' creation." The little girl stomped her foot. "Yes yes, but I'll do it without the dreams. Can't you make them stop?" The dragon's voice grew softer and the little girl thought she noticed something like pity in his eyes. "No, little one." They are meant to be so you will be free in your decision and have seen it from all sides in all aspects and all facets. This you must endure." The little girl sighed and her shoulders and head drooped down a little. With a sad face she looked back up with her big pretty eyes and said. "Can I stay for lunch, Uncle Noz? I'm hungry."