by Blizzard
It was only a matter of time before the Horde would consume itself from within.
The remnants of the Horde on Azeroth were faring little better. Kilrogg and his Bleeding Hollow clan had not reached Blackrock Spire in time to join Doomhammer’s forces. They’d witnessed the aftermath as some of the defeated Horde soldiers stumbled to the Dark Portal. Kilrogg had hoped to reach the gateway as well, but the Alliance army had barred his way. Rather than risk a suicidal charge to the portal, he’d pulled back his Bleeding Hollow. The orcs quietly disappeared into the wilds north of the gateway to plan their next move.
Much like the Bleeding Hollow, the Dragonmaw at Grim Batol had not arrived at Blackrock Spire in time to aid Doomhammer. Seeing that the Alliance was triumphant, the orcs had retreated to their fortress. They barricaded themselves within the ancient stronghold and continued breeding and training their red dragons. If the Alliance ever discovered their presence, at least the Dragonmaw would have weapons to fight with.
Dal’rend, Maim, and the surviving members of the Black Tooth Grin were also still alive. They’d arrived at Blackrock Spire after the Horde had been defeated. The clan had gathered with other Horde survivors, mainly from the Blackrock clan, and waited until the Alliance had pulled its forces out of the region. With the way clear, the orcs had then snuck back into Blackrock Spire and taken control of the stronghold.
Dal’rend and Maim blamed the Horde’s defeat on Doomhammer. They’d despised the warchief ever since he’d struck down Blackhand in the mak’gora. The brothers now planned to reforge the Horde as they saw fit, but they knew it would take time. They gradually reached out to other large groups of Horde survivors, trying to rally them under their new banner. Kilrogg ignored them. He had seen his destiny, and he knew it did not lie with Dal’rend and Maim’s “false” Horde.
Yet the Dragonmaw did pledge their support to the orcs in Blackrock Spire. They offered to give some of their enslaved dragons to Dal’rend and Maim’s forces if ever they were needed.
Other members of the Horde scattered into the wilderness. Some traveled in packs. A few were alone. Among the solitary survivors was Eitrigg, the former handler of Garona. In the aftermath of defeat, he dwelled on everything the half-orc had told him about the dark forces manipulating the orcs. He began to believe what Garona had said, and his unquestioning loyalty to the Horde faded. Gul’dan’s promises, the “benefactor” Kil’jaeden, the Dark Portal—none of these things had been what they’d seemed. Forming the Horde had not brought the orcs salvation; it had brought them doom.
With shame and anger in his heart, Eitrigg disavowed the Horde. He struck out north in search of a place to spend the rest of his days.
A place to die in peace.
While the remnants of the Horde struggled for survival, victory celebrations graced every Alliance city. Humans, dwarves, gnomes, and high elves reveled in their triumph. Yet when the jubilation passed, a harsh reality set in: life would never be the same.
War had decimated the Eastern Kingdoms. The Horde had razed countless villages and cities. Corpses choked the roadways and mountain passes from Hillsbrad Foothills to Quel’Thalas.
For nearly everyone who’d fought, the war did not end with the Dark Portal’s destruction. Survivors were plagued by nightmares of the horrors they’d witnessed. Many soldiers had lost close friends. Some had even lost their entire families. Still others emerged from the war forever maimed and disabled. The struggle to find inner peace would be a long and arduous road, a battle more difficult than any of the survivors had faced against the Horde.
Even Turalyon was haunted by what he’d seen. The death of his mentor, Lothar, pressed down like an iron fist on his heart. The temptation to withdraw into himself was strong, but Turalyon would not abandon people in need. He’d been promoted to supreme commander of the Alliance, and thousands now looked to him for guidance and leadership.
Turalyon knew that the key to bringing life back to normal was rebuilding the Eastern Kingdoms. He spearheaded these efforts by gathering the Alliance leadership in Lordaeron. The rulers agreed to pool their resources to mend their war-ravaged nations. Due to its betrayal, Alterac did not take part in this meeting. The human leaders were still debating how to deal with the rogue kingdom, and the discussions would continue for many weeks.
ALLERIA AND TURALYON
During the Second War, many members of the Alliance formed friendships. Some, like Alleria and Turalyon, even kindled closer relationships. The elf and the human were from different worlds, but they had been brought together in a way that only war could do. As the months passed and Alleria and Turalyon discovered more about each other, they grew close. The war and its aftermath would test their bonds. But in the end, their love would prevail.
Special importance was placed on rebuilding Stormwind. King Terenas of Lordaeron had pledged to aid the fallen kingdom and support Prince Varian Wrynn’s ascension to the throne. For some, Stormwind was a powerful symbol of humanity’s future. If even it could rise from the ashes, anyone could.
Word of Stormwind’s reconstruction was met with mixed feelings by the kingdom’s refugees. Many of them refused to return to their broken home. Stormwind was a reminder of everything they’d lost. These refugees preferred to start their lives anew in Lordaeron.
Yet other refugees did return to Stormwind, including Prince Varian Wrynn. Turalyon oversaw efforts to repatriate the kingdom’s citizens and secure Varian’s place as the next king. He surrounded the teenager with seasoned ministers and advisors to help him settle into his new role.
While Turalyon was occupied in Stormwind, his fellow paladins went to work in Lordaeron. The Order of the Silver Hand had been formed to fight the Horde, but its purpose did not end with the Dark Portal’s destruction. The paladins coordinated with the Church of the Holy Light to help the Alliance move forward. They healed the sick and granted shelter to the survivors who were so broken by the war that they could no longer care for themselves.
Not all members of the Alliance were so focused on healing and rebuilding. Hatred of the orcs still burned in the hearts of many. Alleria Windrunner had seen countless elves perish in the Second War. Driven by revenge, she spent her days hunting down orcs who had escaped capture. It was her way to deal with the loss and sorrow brought on by the war.
Alleria was not the only one hunting orcs. Groups of humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes stalked the Eastern Kingdoms. They combed the deep wilds and remote mountains in search of their prey. The Alliance hunters captured many of the orcs they found. Others, they killed on sight, vengeance for loved ones who had died in the war.
The question of what to do with the captured orcs became a subject of bitter debate. Gilneas and Stromgarde argued for the execution of the prisoners. Yet Lordaeron was against putting the orcs to the blade. The capacity for mercy proved that the Alliance was more civilized and honorable than the Horde. Rather than execute the orcs, Lordaeron wanted to lock them in internment camps—prisons to be funded by Alliance members.
Dalaran’s Kirin Tor also lobbied for imprisonment. After the First War, the Council of Tirisfal had faded from existence. The Kirin Tor now took charge over matters that the secret order had once specialized in, such as investigating demonic activity. Dalaran’s magi wished to study the orcs and their strange magics, as much for the pursuit of knowledge as for strategic purposes. The Kirin Tor argued that by better understanding the orcs’ strengths and weaknesses, they could defeat them if war ever broke out again.
The Alliance eventually came to an agreement. The member nations would fund the construction of internment camps, which would house the orcs. One of Stromgarde’s most celebrated soldiers, Danath Trollbane, would oversee these crude prisons. If order could be maintained, the camps would remain. If not, the Alliance would revisit executing the orcs.
The camps did prove successful, but bitterness remained over their existence. Gilneas thought the prisons were a pointless burden on the Alliance. They were already spendi
ng a fortune rebuilding Stormwind, and now more coin was being siphoned into keeping their enemies alive.
DURNHOLDE KEEP
Though Danath Trollbane oversaw all of the camps, he delegated command of them to the Second War’s high-ranking veterans. One prison outside Durnholde Keep in Hillsbrad Foothills fell under the control of a respected lord named Aedelas Blackmoore.
During the First War, Blackmoore had discovered the infant orc Go’el and had taken him to Durnholde. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Alliance, he’d continued raising the young orc, whom he named “Thrall.”
In secret, Blackmoore plotted to mold Thrall into his own obedient general—a general who would one day lead the captive orcs against the Alliance. It was Blackmoore’s hope that he could assert dominion over the human nations and reign as their king.
In the years that followed, the cost of maintaining the camps would remain a sticking point for Gilneas, and it would eventually drive the nation away from the Alliance.
Far to the south, Khadgar watched over the site where the Dark Portal had once stood. His heroics in the Second War had earned him the coveted title of archmage. Yet Khadgar had spent no time celebrating. He knew that the threat posed by the Horde was not over.
The fel energies used by the Horde had killed much of the land surrounding the Dark Portal, and conditions were continuing to worsen. Even though the gateway had been destroyed, fel magic was somehow seeping into Azeroth. Khadgar eventually discovered that this was because a connection still existed between his world and Draenor. A lingering dimensional rift remained in the area. From it, fel energies from the orcish homeworld were affecting Azeroth.
The rift resisted Khadgar’s attempts to close it. Unless Khadgar and other magi held the fel magic at bay, it would creep across the Eastern Kingdoms and bleed the land of life.
Khadgar and his fellow magi brought their findings before the Alliance. The archmage warned that as long as the dimensional rift was open, the possibility of another invasion remained. He called on the Alliance nations to fund a stronghold, Nethergarde Keep, to watch over the rift. From there, Khadgar and other magi would also neutralize the spreading fel magic.
After considerable debate, Khadgar secured the resources he needed. Nethergarde Keep gradually arose atop a hilly outcropping overlooking the southern half of the Black Morass. From the construction site, Khadgar observed the broken landscape and measured its fel energies.
He often mused about the orcish homeworld. What horrors lingered there? What had become of the orcs who had returned through the portal?
Soon enough, he would find out.
Life after the Second War was stark for Draenor’s orcs. Their world was still dying. Fel energies continued to spread, choking natural life into extinction. The demonic bloodlust coursing through their veins had not diminished, and too often orcs turned upon orcs, creating a whirlpool of chaos that threatened to drag the race down into oblivion. The Warsong and the Shattered Hand clans, in particular, had insatiable needs for violence.
The closest the Horde had to a leader was Ner’zhul, the orc who had inadvertently led his people into the Burning Legion’s clutches. Gul’dan had seen no use in bringing the elder shaman to Azeroth, and he had left him on Draenor. Ner’zhul had kept to his ancestral lands in Shadowmoon Valley. In time, Draenor’s orcs had looked to him for guidance. Yet leadership was not a burden he wanted. Ner’zhul had fallen into despair. Day and night, visions of death plagued his broken mind. He saw orc skeletons littering a barren world. He’d even had a skull tattooed on his face, a practice shaman had long used to mark certain failed apprentices as “dead” to their people.
For Ner’zhul, there seemed to be no way to save the Horde from doom. The invasion of Azeroth had been a desperate attempt to escape a slow death, and it had failed. The orcs did not have the strength to try again.
Teron Gorefiend, however, was not prepared to give up. He had seen Gul’dan’s plans unravel, but he had also witnessed moments of incredible power. Conquering Azeroth? Perhaps it was impossible. Yet Gul’dan had gleaned knowledge from Medivh’s mind, and he had told his death knights that there were many potent artifacts out there that were vulnerable, ripe for the taking.
Gorefiend had three particular artifacts in mind. The first was the Book of Medivh, a tome that contained some of the Guardian’s considerable power and his knowledge of blending different shades of magic together. The second was the Eye of Dalaran, a relic crafted by the Kirin Tor that could focus and amplify magical energies. The third was the Scepter of Sargeras. This artifact, created long ago by the Burning Legion, had the ability to open gateways between worlds.
Gorefiend and his death knights cared only for themselves. They desired a new world that they could assert sole dominion over, but they knew they would need the Horde’s help to escape Draenor. With the artifacts, the orcs could create new dimensional rifts. Not to Azeroth, but to other worlds where the Horde could settle.
Yet these artifacts were back on Azeroth, and Gul’dan had not told his death knights of their exact locations. Even if Gorefiend could rebuild the Dark Portal, he would need the Horde’s help to claim the instruments of power. This presented a challenge. None of the survivors trusted Gul’dan’s former allies, especially the unholy death knights. Success depended on Ner’zhul. He was the only orc on Draenor who still had the influence to rally and lead the clans.
Ner’zhul vehemently resisted Gorefiend’s ideas. What good would a few relics of power do? How would they possibly save the orcs? More importantly, Gorefiend had betrayed Ner’zhul in years past. He had been one of Gul’dan’s closest allies. How could Ner’zhul trust the death knight?
Gorefiend persisted, telling Ner’zhul of how they could open new rifts to flee from their dying homeland. There were countless worlds out there in the cosmos. Even a weakened Horde would surely find one to conquer.
Ner’zhul slowly relented. Gorefiend’s plan was appealing. Draenor’s decay weighed heavily upon Ner’zhul. He felt guilt for allowing the Legion to sink its claws into his people, and a fresh start on a fresh world might be his only chance to redeem himself.
He gathered the leaders of the remaining clans. Among them were Grommash Hellscream of the Warsongs, Kargath Bladefist of the Shattered Hand, and Fenris of the Thunderlords. Ner’zhul was stunned at how easily they agreed to his plans. Hellscream, Bladefist, and Fenris had been forced to sit out the entirety of the First and Second Wars. They thirsted for battle, any battle.
The other clans wanted war, too. Any chance to escape Draenor was worth taking.
Opening the Dark Portal for the first time had required tremendous amounts of magical energy. Restoring the rift to its former size would be far simpler. The bridge between worlds still existed, albeit in a diminished form. Teron Gorefiend told Ner’zhul that the lingering power kept within the Skull of Gul’dan would be more than enough to reconstruct the Dark Portal.
That was a fortunate bit of news, for the skull had been brought back to Draenor by Horde refugees. In the time since the Dark Portal had slammed shut, the skull had passed between orcs, traded and fought over as a prized trinket.
After claiming the skull, Ner’zhul and the death knights began their great convocation. He could only hope that the Alliance would be unprepared.
In the waning months of the Second War, Garona had wandered the land on her own. She could still feel the Shadow Council’s dark presence in her mind, trying to bend her thoughts. She could not trust her actions around friend or foe. Slowly, patiently, she fought her way back into control, shrugging away as many of Gul’dan’s lingering mental chains as she could.
Finally, she was confident she could resist the Shadow Council’s orders. That meant Garona was ready to visit the one person she still trusted in the world: Khadgar.
Under the cover of darkness, she infiltrated Nethergarde Keep and snuck into Khadgar’s private quarters as he slept. They had not seen each other since their battle against Medivh. They had m
uch to discuss.
Garona told him of her activities during the Second War, and she also openly confessed to assassinating King Llane. Khadgar believed her when she said she had been compelled to do it by Gul’dan; he could sense the Shadow Council’s mangled spellwork still woven through her thoughts.
The presence of these dark enchantments proved something else: at least one member of the Shadow Council was still alive and on Azeroth. Were that not the case, the spells would have lost their potency the moment Gul’dan had died. Someone was trying to maintain his links to his old puppets.
Over several months, Khadgar secretly met with Garona outside Nethergarde Keep, carefully unravelling the Shadow Council’s hold on her. He was successful. Garona, for the first time in her life, was free.
In gratitude, Garona offered to do whatever she could to hunt down the Shadow Council on Azeroth. Khadgar eagerly accepted. Of late, he had been sensing strange energies radiating from the nearby rift, and he was concerned that forces on Draenor were working to expand it.
He asked Garona to remain in the area, hidden from the Alliance, while he investigated.
Before long, Khadgar sent a message to many of the Alliance’s leaders, asking them to meet in Nethergarde Keep at once. There was some reluctance. The Second War had only recently ended, and most nations were still working to rebuild.
Nonetheless, the leaders traveled to the keep. Once there, they understood Khadgar’s urgency. He and the other magi had managed to stop the spreading fel energies, but not before they had turned the southern half of the Black Morass into a wasteland. The keep’s garrison had taken to calling the region “the Blasted Lands.” The northern portion of the Black Morass, still teeming with life, had been renamed the Swamp of Sorrows in honor of those who had died in the Second War. The sight of the Blasted Lands was a sobering reminder of the dark forces the Alliance had stopped…and of what they might be called upon to stop again.
