The Truth of Theramore

Jaina's Star Soul Barrier formed a pale golden light curtain around the room, while Chromie took out the Time Sandglass, allowing the fine Hourglass of Time to form a flowing barrier around everyone.

Deren stood before the fireplace, the firelight dancing in his deep eyes.

Then he sat down on the sofa.

Jaina leaned against Aegwynn, while Onyxia embraced Deren, seemingly asserting her dominance. On Deren's other side was Anveena was standing close by.

"Now let's recount the entire Tragedy of Theramore's Fall from the beginning." Deren drew a line in the air with his finger. "In another Timeline of The Theramore's Fall, Garrosh, with the help of goblins, dispatched the Kor'kron Guard to rob Blue Dragon transport convoy and seize the Eye of the Storm."

They then quickly converted it into Arcane bombs and attacked Theramore. Rhonin and the other Kirin Tor mages sacrificed themselves to cover Jaina's retreat. The city was destroyed. Jaina, in a frenzy, wanted to flood Orgrimmar.

Aegwynn frowned. "How could an orc chieftain so accurately pinpoint the transport route and timing of the Blue Dragon artifact?"

"No, what's even more suspicious is how he knew about this thing. Even if he did, how could a violent, orthodox orc think of stealing a magical item to bomb Theramore?" Deren emphasized.

"Unless someone around him happens to know about it and how to modify it, like the Twilight Mage. But what's more suspicious is that even if the Twilight Mage knew about the Eye of the Storm artifact, it's impossible for him to have ever come into contact with or used anything from the Dragon Race."

Are you really that confident that you can just steal it and easily turn it into a destructive weapon?

"There's another question: why Theramore?"

During Thrall's time, Theramore and the orcs had a good relationship, more like allies than enemies. Even after Garrosh came to power, he shouldn't have immediately made Theramore a target for elimination.

They've been fighting the Night Elf in Ashenvale for years; the Night Elf should have a higher aggro level, especially since Ashenvale is right next to Orgrimmar, much closer than Theramore.

Deren was utterly baffled as to how Garrosh's thought process led him to the conclusion that Theramore had to be destroyed.

He paused for a moment and said, "Unless he has to carry out orders from a higher level."

As for the source of the information that Teacher Aegwynn mentioned, that can be easily dismissed with any excuse. Something Horde a Dalaran Archmage Horde, a goblin who accidentally stumbled upon the information, a traitor to the Dragon Race, etc. No one can verify its truthfulness."

Aegwynn nodded in agreement, saying, "That's a plausible excuse that can be made up easily."

Deren took a sip of tea and continued, "Next is the issue of the Dragon Race ' combat strength. The Kor'kron are the elite orc guards, with explosive combat power. But the Dragon Race are not to be underestimated either. Not counting magical attacks, their individual combat strength shouldn't be too bad—except for that useless, simp dragon."

Besides, the artifact escort team has other members. Even if they can't win, they can send out a distress signal. If all else fails, they can take off and escape.

But none of this worked; the artifact was easily stolen by the orcs, and not a single member of the escort team, including the Dragon Race, escaped.

Chromie put her fingers in her mouth to stifle a scream, her teeth chattering as she stammered, "You mean the Dragon Race in the escort team were drugged? Only that can explain why the Dragon Race couldn't defeat the orcs, couldn't escape, and couldn't send out a distress signal!"

After all, as long as a signal is sent and received by the Nexus, the Blue Dragonflight can teleport there to provide reinforcements.

Deren shrugged. "I didn't say anything. But I know there's a lot of discontent within the Blue Dragon towards the Mad Dragon King, right?"

Chromie nodded, but dared not even imagine the shady dealings involved.

Deren's intention was to use this suicide escort mission to purge dissenters from within the Blue Dragon. After all, the Dragon Race already had a lot of internal strife.

Deren continued, "From the time the orcs seized the artifact to the explosion in Orgrimmar, there were almost twenty days, nearly a month, during which the Blue Dragon didn't even think to look for the lost artifact until a month later when they finally came looking for it."

"It's even stranger that they so easily let go of the orcs who stole their artifact and killed the Blue Dragon."

Jaina sneered, "They were just acting all along. They just got so caught up in the act that they lost the artifact, and that's why they're coming to look for it."

Deren pointed at Chromie: "We have Bronze Dragon companions here to help cover up the Timeline. But Garrosh doesn't. The Blue Dragon are looking for the Eye of the Storm. If they just ask the Bronze Dragon for help, they should be able to find clues and locate the artifact soon."

But instead of doing that, a month later they wandered around aimlessly like headless flies.

Onyxia gracefully approached Deren, meeting his eyes as she asked, "Why is this? Is it a new kind of friendship among Dragon Race?"

Deren said calmly, "Either the Blue Dragon King didn't go to see the Bronze Dragon King Nozdormu, or he did but Nozdormu didn't say anything. Anyway, the relationship between these two Dragon King is very strange."

The behavior of the Red Dragon and green dragons is also worth noting. Alexstrasza, the Red Dragon Queen, said nothing, but her actions subtly hinted at the crisis in Theramore. The green dragons, on the other hand, slept all day, seemingly uninvolved.

The Black Dragon grumbled, "This is one of the reasons I dislike the Aspect Dragons the most. They seem to do everything uprightly, but they're actually scheming and plotting at every turn."

"That's the first suspicious point." Deren flicked a gold coin into the air. "From the planning and intelligence gathering to the execution, everything went incredibly smoothly. The Kor'kron Guard encountered almost no significant resistance before obtaining the Titan Artifact."

The gold coin landed on the table, spinning and buzzing. Chromie suddenly reached out and pressed it down. "The Blue Dragonflight was indeed vulnerable while dealing with Malygos's madness, but this is too much of a coincidence."

Deren held up two more fingers. "The second point of doubt—the timing of Thrall's abdication."

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "In the Timeline where Theramore was successfully destroyed, Thrall joined the Earthen Ring organization under the guise of appeasing the elementals, and then passed the Great Chieftain to Garrosh. This led to such a terrible consequence."

However, in our current Timeline, since Deathwing has been crippled by us and can no longer cause Cataclysm, Thrall went to Outland ahead of schedule to gather the orcs of his homeland and, incidentally, pass on the title of Great Chieftain.

The reasoning here is plausible, but it still feels a bit odd. Thrall is only going on a temporary trip; is it really necessary to pass the Great Chieftain to Garrosh? If he wasn't comfortable with that, he could have simply let his experienced subordinates temporarily lead the Horde.

Jaina sneered, "Just bring out the ' Ancestor's Spirit ' again and tell him he has to do it. Anyway, no one can verify it with his Ancestor's Spirit."

Haha, another 10,000-word update in one day! Next time I get 800 monthly votes, I'll update over 10,000 words again. Thanks for your support, everyone! The story gets more and more exciting from here on out.