Suramar's morning should have been a tranquil time, with arcane radiance flowing over exquisite spires. Now, it had been utterly torn apart by unprecedented panic.
To the Nightborne, the disappearance of the Magic Barrier was no different from suddenly throwing a deep-sea fish onto the shore. The environment they depended on for survival had collapsed in an instant, exposing the frailty they had accumulated over ten thousand years, a weakness that had long since become terminal beneath the "unfamiliar" air.
The guards watching Deren froze in place, incredulously reaching out again and again to touch the empty space where the barrier should have been. Their fingertips met nothing but unobstructed air. Then, the first scream from the city behind them tore through the sky, like a boulder cast into a still lake, raising wave after wave.
"The barrier! The barrier is gone!"
"Mana... I can feel it draining away!"
"No—! What are we supposed to do without the barrier?"
Chaos spread instantly like a plague.
The Nightborne, who had once prided themselves on elegance and refinement, now made complete fools of themselves.
And this chaos was not limited to the Nightborne watching Deren.
Within the bizarre and exquisitely crafted city of Suramar, there was chaos everywhere as well. Nobles in lavish clothing ran through the streets like headless flies, utterly unaware that their magnificent robes were being trampled beneath their feet. They rushed toward the mana taverns, only to find their doors tightly shut and the Mana Wine inside already divided up by the owners and attendants. To fight over the dregs of spilled wine on the ground, once-courteous gentlemen and ladies clawed at one another like beasts, their screams and curses unending.
Some Arcane Masters who appeared equally powerful futilely tried to gather mana, forming temporary defenses or attempting