With the Wild Gods came a host of other fay creatures, including the woodland dryads and the many-headed chimaeras. Even the elusive treants, mighty tree-folk imbued with great wisdom and strength, emerged to fight the demons.
Under Shadowsong, the combined army launched a desperate assault against Zin-Azshari itself. The resistance stormed the broken capital and clashed with the Legion’s seemingly numberless ranks. The cost was horrific. Thousands upon thousands of demons fell, but so, too, did many of Azeroth’s mighty defenders. The Legion’s bloodletting warriors even overwhelmed a number of the Wild Gods. One by one, these primordial creatures succumbed to the poisoned black blades and fel powers wielded by the demons. With each death, the forests atop Hyjal shivered, and the winds howled in sorrow.
As the battle continued, Malfurion and Tyrande journeyed to the Well of Eternity’s shores with a small, elite force. They hoped to reclaim the Dragon Soul and prevent the Legion from using its powers. Malfurion and his allies were soon joined by Illidan, who claimed his previous allegiance to the Highborne and the Legion had merely been a ruse to learn of their ways.
Although Malfurion remained deeply suspicious of his brother, a much greater threat consumed his attention. He discovered that the Well of Eternity had become a colossal portal—a direct gateway for Sargeras himself to enter Azeroth.
Malfurion then realized that no standing army, no matter how vast, could withstand the terrible might of Sargeras. Victory, he determined, could only be achieved by destroying the Well of Eternity itself. While such an act was unthinkable, the Well of Eternity was the Legion’s umbilical link to the physical world. Malfurion knew that destroying the fount of power would spell the end of night elf civilization as he knew it, but it was the only chance of saving the world.
After reclaiming the Dragon Soul, Malfurion and his companions infiltrated Azshara’s palace. They discovered that many of the Highborne were in the midst of weaving a spell to strengthen the portal within the Well of Eternity. In a desperate attempt to throw their magic out of alignment, Malfurion drew on the potent energies of the Dragon Soul and lashed out at his enemies. The great druid conjured a colossal thunderstorm that devoured the skies over the broken palace. The tempest battered Zin-Azshari with ferocious winds and a barrage of lightning strikes, decimating the demons and Highborne within the city.
Just as Malfurion had hoped, his efforts to disrupt the Highborne and their enormous gateway worked. As Sargeras prepared to emerge from the portal, the Highborne’s spellwork unraveled and an unstable vortex of arcane energies ignited within the Well of Eternity. The fount buckled in upon itself. In that moment, Sargeras was ripped back into the Twisting Nether. Volatile energies whipped out from the collapsing Well of Eternity, hurling most of the Legion’s ranks into the Nether as well. As their roars of fury echoed across the Nether, massive earthquakes began rupturing the crust of Azeroth.
Malfurion and the night elf resistance had won, but they had no time to savor victory. The world itself was coming apart beneath their feet.
En masse, the night elves scrambled to put distance between themselves and the crumbling Well of Eternity. The fount completed its collapse, igniting a cataclysmic explosion that blotted out the skies. The howling ocean surged in to fill the void left by the explosion, devouring the ruins of Zin-Azshari.
When the apocalyptic earthquakes finally ceased, the surviving night elves saw that their world had been torn asunder. The Well of Eternity’s destruction had shattered nearly eighty percent of Kalimdor’s landmass, leaving only a handful of separate continents and small archipelagoes. A tumultuous storm of energies—known as the Maelstrom—had engulfed the Well of Eternity itself. Ever after, the constantly spinning vortex would stand as a reminder of the terrible cost of the war.
For the night elves and all other living creatures on Azeroth, the world had changed forever.
THE FATE OF AZSHARA AND HER HIGHBORNE
Queen Azshara and many of her loyal Highborne survived the Sundering, but not without consequences. The imploding Well of Eternity sucked them into the fathomless depths of the Maelstrom. Some were cursed and irrevocably warped into a new and hateful serpentine race called the naga. One of the most powerful among these twisted abominations was the queen’s former handmaiden, Lady Vashj. Hidden from the world, she and Azshara would quietly build the naga capital of Nazjatar in the cold darkness at the bottom of the sea.
The Sundering decimated life across the face of Azeroth, but one secluded region of southern Kalimdor miraculously escaped destruction: Pandaria. For centuries, a succession of peaceful emperors had ruled over the mysterious land. Prior to the Burning Legion’s invasion, a new pandaren ruler had taken the throne, brimming with confidence and hope about his future.
His name was Shaohao, and although he did not know it at the time, his reign would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Pandaria’s history.
As was tradition among new emperors, Shaohao consulted a mystic jinyu waterspeaker to glean knowledge of what the future held. The news he heard was dire: the jinyu foresaw a horrific invasion of ravenous demons, kingdoms engulfed in sickly green fire, and the land itself howling in pain and torment.
Plagued with uncertainty, Shaohao went to see the legendary August Celestials and his great friend the Monkey King in order to make sense of the terrible vision. With their help, the emperor expelled the dark emotions that troubled his heart: his doubt, despair, fear, anger, hatred, and violence. As he did so, these negative traits took on physical form. They manifested into powerful spiritual entities known as the sha.
One by one, Shaohao used his wisdom to battle these sha and lock them away deep beneath Pandaria. There they would remain, festering beneath the earth. To stand watch over these imprisoned sha, Shaohao also founded the Shado-pan—an elite order of highly trained pandaren soldiers.
Brimming with newfound confidence and purpose, Shaohao set out to spare Pandaria from the Sundering that was to come. He planned to do so by separating his land from the rest of Kalimdor. The emperor would perform his grand task in the heart of Pandaria: the sacred Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
In the vale, Shaohao focused his powers to sever his empire from Kalimdor. Yet try as he might, he could not succeed. His doubts and fears returned. Across Pandaria, the imprisoned sha stirred to life and feasted on the emperor’s uncertainties.
As the Legion’s fel magics set the heavens alight, Shaohao desperately called upon the aid of the wisest August Celestial, the Jade Serpent. She appeared in the roiling skies and told Shaohao that Pandaria was more than just his empire. Everything in Pandaria was connected. Everything in Pandaria was one.
It was then that Shaohao understood the Jade Serpent’s advice: to save his land, he would need to become one with it. Despite his dream of living a long and prosperous life, he knew it was not to be.
With his mind clear and his heart set on the task ahead, Shaohao merged his spirit with the land itself and forced it to break away from the rest of Kalimdor. His very essence shrouded Pandaria in a thick mist that would hide it from the outside world and protect it from the terrible Sundering.
For the next ten thousand years, Pandaria would remain hidden, and it faded into legend.
THE SHA OF PRIDE
There was one negative emotion that Shaohao never purged from himself: pride. It would silently lurk in Pandaria in the millennia after the emperor spared his people and his land from the Sundering.
MAP OF AZEROTH AFTER THE SUNDERING
THE HIGH ELF KINGDOM OF QUEL’THALAS
The Sundering had left the world broken. The Well of Eternity was gone, and so, too, was the once-coveted source of the night elves’ arcane power. Desperate for refuge, the surviving night elves fled northwest to Mount Hyjal, one of the few places on Azeroth untouched by the destruction.
En route to Hyjal, Malfurion Stormrage and the other night elves concluded that arcane magic was not safe. They agreed to prohibit its use to avoid another catastrophe li
ke the War of the Ancients. Yet as they reached the summit of Hyjal, they were horrified to discover a second, smaller Well of Eternity. Equally shocking was the figure whom the night elves found standing at the fount’s shores: Illidan.
Before the Sundering, Illidan had filled several vials with enchanted liquid from the original Well of Eternity. He had poured some of them into the lake atop Hyjal, transforming the idyllic waters into another fount of arcane power.
Violence erupted when a group of night elves confronted Illidan, and his brother Malfurion was forced to restrain him. Yet Illidan insisted that a new Well of Eternity was necessary. With it, the night elves would have the arcane power they needed to fight off the Burning Legion when—not if, but when—it returned.
Though some of the surviving Highborne agreed with Illidan, the majority of the night elves did not. They chastised him for his brash and selfish act, claiming that a new Well of Eternity could be used as a gateway for the Legion. Even then, Illidan remained unapologetic.
Seeing no other recourse, the night elves decided to deal with Illidan once and for all. Ultimately, the decision was made to imprison the sorcerer. Malfurion himself would see to enacting this punishment. With the help of Cenarius, he chained Illidan deep within a barrow prison. Malfurion then charged the priestess Maiev Shadowsong to stand guard over the wayward sorcerer. She would later take on the mantle of warden, founding an order of elite and secretive night elf jailors.
THE DRAGON ASPECTS BLESS THE WORLD TREE NORDRASSIL
Upon learning of the second Well, three of the great Dragon Aspects converged on Hyjal. Like the night elves, they knew that so long as the fount of power existed, the Legion would have a means to invade Azeroth once again. Thus the Aspect of Life, Alexstrasza, used an enchanted seed to sprout a mighty tree over the Well of Eternity. The tree’s boughs soon towered over the lake, scraping the belly of the heavens. Its roots grew deep into the earth, spreading life-giving energies across the war-torn world. Thereafter, the great tree would act as a seal over the new Well of Eternity, preventing the Legion or anyone else from abusing its powers.
Malfurion and the other night elves looked upon this colossal World Tree and named it Nordrassil, meaning “Crown of the Heavens.” They vowed to keep it safe and protect the Well of Eternity at any cost.
To honor this decision, the Dragon Aspects agreed to bless the night elves so that they could perform their guardianship successfully. Alexstrasza infused Nordrassil with renewed strength and vitality, which would also extend to the night elves.
The Aspect of Dreams, Ysera, then blessed the tree, binding it and all night elf druids to the Emerald Dream. Prior to this, Malfurion and his followers had wandered Ysera’s realm, but doing so required difficult meditation. The new enchantment placed on Nordrassil would allow these druids to journey into the Dream whenever they so wished.
Lastly, Nozdormu, the Aspect of Time, wove his energies through the boughs and roots of Nordrassil, assuring that as long as the colossal tree stood, the night elves would possess immortality.
With that, the Aspects ventured back to their hidden lairs. Due to their enchantments, the second Well of Eternity would no longer act as a beacon to demons, nor could the Legion easily use it as a gateway into Azeroth. It would become a symbol of the night elves’ connection to the natural world, a sacred monument that empowered their race with immunity to sickness, disease, and aging.
As the centuries passed, the burgeoning night elf society expanded into the dense forests of Ashenvale, south of Mount Hyjal. Tyrande Whisperwind, high priestess of the Sisterhood of Elune, led the night elves in rebuilding their society. Her order was uniquely positioned to fill the power vacuum among the night elves, for it had emerged from the War of the Ancients relatively unscathed.
Tyrande deftly positioned the Sisterhood as the leaders of both the night elf government and the military. She also forged a new fighting force: the Sentinels. Composed of devout and highly trained warrior women, this order dedicated itself to protecting the emergent night elf society. The Sentinels set out to patrol their misty forest home, befriending the native creatures of the land and standing guard against any threat.
Meanwhile, Malfurion continued fostering a culture of druidism among his people. Having abandoned arcane magic, many former sorcerers embraced Malfurion’s teachings and devoted themselves to living in harmony with nature. These early druids lacked the stringent militaristic codes and hierarchy of the Sentinels. Malfurion’s followers were free to explore the depths of the Emerald Dream at will. They also experimented with the art of shapeshifting, taking on the forms of mighty bears, lithe nightsabers, swift-winged crows, and many other animals that roamed the woodland deeps.
SHANDRIS FEATHERMOON
The Sentinels included a number of night elves who had fought bravely during the War of the Ancients. Chief among them was Shandris Feathermoon. Orphaned during the Legion’s invasion, she was taken under Tyrande’s care. Young Shandris distinguished herself in combat time and again throughout the conflict. Her heroics earned her a place at Tyrande’s side thereafter, and when the Sentinels were forged, Shandris was named captain of the fledgling order.
The druids regularly entered long periods of hibernation as they journeyed through the Dream. This aloofness frustrated Tyrande and her Sentinels. Though they often sought the druids’ help to safeguard night elf lands, few of Malfurion’s followers were ever awake to answer the call.
As these changes in night elf society took shape, an old foe was gathering strength in Kalimdor. Following the War of the Ancients, the remaining satyrs stayed hidden in the dark corners of the world, waiting to strike back at the night elves. Eventually one of the horned aberrations, Xalan the Feared, gave his brethren this chance. He rallied the satyrs and girded them for war.
Xalan’s rise also drew the attention of the Burning Legion remnants trapped on Azeroth after the Sundering. Doomguard and other wicked beings emerged from dark warrens, drawn to the satyr’s call. As one, this demonic army launched its first brutal assault on the night elf stronghold of Night Run, plunging the fragile society into war once again.
Initially, the night elves suffered terrible losses from the satyrs’ assaults. Yet the tide of battle soon changed when Tyrande’s adopted daughter, the captain of the Sentinels, Shandris Feathermoon, proposed a new strategy to fight the demons. She suggested that the druids be called from their sojourns in the Emerald Dream so they could be used as a fighting force.
Upon seeing how Xalan had corrupted the night elves’ forests, Malfurion agreed to Shandris’s request and summoned the most powerful druids of Kalimdor to his side. As one, the druids and Sentinels struck into the heart of satyr territory. Shandris’s brilliant guerrilla maneuvers led the night elves to overcome many of their enemies, including Xalan himself.
But while the night elves made gains in the war, a new threat emerged from within their ranks. A group of wayward druids seeking to harness the fury of the Wild God Goldrinn had adopted savage wolf forms. Led by Ralaar Fangfire, these druids became known as worgen. Ralaar and his ferocious companions were slaves to their own rage, and they tore through friend and foe alike amid battle. Night elves bitten by the wolf-beasts contracted a virulent curse that transformed them into worgen as well.
WORGEN, SATYRS, AND NIGHT ELVES CLASH DURING THE WAR OF THE SATYR
The worgen catastrophe forced Malfurion to reflect on the state of druidism. Without some form of regulation, he concluded that individuals like Ralaar would inevitably go too far in their application of druidic power. Malfurion and his followers therefore created the Cenarion Circle, a harmonious order that would guide and keep watch over the world’s druids and their practices.
The Cenarion Circle’s first great task was to deal with the worgen threat. Seeing no other recourse, Malfurion reluctantly banished Ralaar and his worgen to the Emerald Dream. There, Malfurion believed that they would enter a peaceful eternal slumber beneath the enchanted tree known as Daral�
�nir.
After the worgen’s banishment, any hope the satyrs had of achieving victory was lost. The night elves cut deep into their enemy’s domain until most of the forests had been cleansed of corruption. The few remaining satyrs retreated into the shadows. Never again would they pose so great a threat to night elf society.
In the centuries after the Sundering, the surviving Highborne attempted to assimilate in the new night elf society. Yet many of them struggled to do so. They found the temptation to delve into arcane magic irresistible, despite the strict laws banning sorcery.
Over time, these Highborne were warned again and again to stop meddling with the otherworldly powers—the penalty for repeat offenders was death. Despite this extreme punishment, the Highborne could not stop. The call of arcane energy was simply too strong to ignore.
A revered Highborne elf named Dath’Remar Sunstrider chafed at the restrictions and punishments that weighed on his kind. He eventually proclaimed that arcane power was the birthright of the Highborne and that anyone who feared it was a coward. He and his followers began to practice the arcane arts without fear or restraint, daring the other night elves to act.
For Dath’Remar and the other Highborne, using arcane magic was more than just an act of rebellion. They had always believed that night elves were destined for greatness. Though these Highborne did not wholly condone the evils of Azshara, they knew in their bones that night elf society could once again flourish into a mighty empire. Yet to do so, they would need to revive the study and use of arcane power.
World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 Page 12
