World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is looking forward to some intriguing content coming in the next few months. While the Embers of Neltharion patch is in full swing, the next update will be called Fractures in Time and focuses on the Bronze Dragonflight. World of Warcraft will finally give the stage to these time-bending dragons and their constant battle with fate itself.
Although the update has yet to arrive, players have dipped their toes into some bronze shenanigans already. The Temporal Conflux in Thaldraszus is a questing hub that is the center stage for some fascinating lore interactions. Here, players must help their old friend Chromie, a bronze dragon who is, at the time, embroiled in a fight with another dragon, Eternus. However, as is soon discovered, not all is as it seems.
RELATED: The Results of World of Warcraft's Social Contract, One Year Later
Eternus is a large dragon with black and pale blue scales, the typical appearance of a member of the Infinite Dragonflight, a radical offshoot of the yellow-scaled bronze dragons that players are familiar with. The Infinite dragons were all once bronze dragons, but they forsook their oath to protect Azeroth and instead seek to cause chaos. Their primary goal in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is to bring about the timeline in which the Bronze Aspect Nozdormu becomes the Infinite Aspect, Murozond.
Nozdormu has always sensed that his fall to madness is inevitable, resigned to a fate he has tried for an eternity to forestall. Chromie, on the other hand, is adamant that she can save her Aspect. She believes that the timeways hold the solution to every problem, and she will never stop looking for a way to change the future. However, Chromie's own journey in World of Warcraft just beforehand suggests otherwise.
At the Temporal Conflux, players helped Chromie to defeat Eternus after chasing the two dragons through a cascade of different timelines, both far in the past and a long way in the future. They briefly revisit a number of iconic events, including the Black Empire, a time when the Old Gods ruled Azeroth. Eventually, Eternus and Chromie have to work together to fix the mess they both created, and they exchange words that don't seem like the threats of a mortal enemy, but the cheeky insults of siblings.
There is a prominent theory suggesting that just as Murozond is the Infinite alter ego of Nozdormu, Eternus is merely another iteration of Chromie. The two seem to know more than they let on, and neither seemed at all eager to kill the other. At the conclusion of the questline, Nozdormu himself allows Eternus to leave in peace, feeling that her cooperation earned her clemency. World of Warcraft's coming update, Fractures in Time, will no doubt reveal the true nature of Eternus and the plans of the Infinite Dragonflight.
Whether Eternus proves to be an enemy or an ally further down the road, she seems intent on forcing Nozdormu's transformation into Murozond. It's not yet known why the Infinite dragons are so intent on this goal, as they have tried to change a number of events in World of Warcraft's past, including the Culling of Stratholme and the opening of the Dark Portal. Both of these events led to a catastrophic loss of life, so it's not certain that the Infinite Dragonflight's goals are purely evil.
What's more, Eternus and her ilk don't seem consumed with madness as was evident with characters like Deathwing. It is possible that players may find themselves aligned with her goals once more going forward, since perhaps both bronze and Infinite dragons have the well-being of Azeroth in mind, despite their methods differing greatly. Therefore, Fractures in Time has many exciting mysteries to unravel, as Chromie has long been a fan-favorite character in World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now for PC.
MORE: Two of World of Warcraft's Playable Races Are Facing Extinction