Kalei calmed himself and followed the others into the hall of the Temple of the Moon.
As he reached the entrance, a foul stench he could hardly describe hit him. The farther inside he went, the stronger and more pungent it became. Even his exposed skin began to prickle with a faint, stinging sensation.
He frowned. A dark power filled the place, though he couldn't tell whether it was Fel or Shadow.
The people inside had clearly sensed it too.
Some ordinary villagers had only stayed for a short while before the discomfort drove them back outside. In the end, only Kalei's group, the village chief, Salomon, and a few other adventurers remained.
They stopped in the middle of the hall, where thirteen injured people lay side by side.
A young-looking priestess was bent over, busy tending to them.
Hearing the commotion behind her, the priestess looked up. When she saw the group, her face brightened.
She greeted them with a bow, then came forward and took Laria's hand. "The goddess be praised, sister. You're finally here."
Laria smiled. "Lilin, what's their condition?"
Lilin let go of Laria's hand. "Their external injuries aren't serious. I've treated them and stabilized their condition, but the dark power affecting their wounds has kept them from healing."
Laria gave a small nod, then went to one of the injured people. Ignoring the filth and stench, she lifted the bandages and carefully examined the wound.
After a while, Laria nodded. "You've done well, Lilin. You've slowed the deterioration as much as possible."
"It's my duty, sister."
Laria carefully examined several more of the injured people, then stood and asked, "Why are they all unconscious?"
Lilin sighed. "At first, they were fairly lucid and kept to their usual routines. But as their injuries worsened, they grew more and more drowsy. Some have been asleep for a full day and night without showing any sign of waking. I suspect... it has something to do with the dark power inside them."
Laria nodded. "The villagers fought those Furbolgs several times. There must be some Furbolg corpses. Where are they?"
At the mention of the Furbolg corpses, Lilin's face paled. She collected herself before answering, "It's strange. The Furbolgs' bodies turned black and began to rot soon after they died. I was afraid that leaving them piled up would cause an outbreak, so I purified them with water from the Moonwell and had them burned."
Laria closed her eyes and thought for a while, then said to the others, "Go outside for now. Don't disturb the patients. Lilin, Kalei, you two stay."
The others followed her instructions and filed out quietly. The spacious hall seemed much emptier at once. Only Laria, Lilin, Kalei, and the drowsy patients remained.
Only then did Lilin turn her attention to Kalei and ask curiously, "And who is this?"
Kalei replied politely, "Hello, Priestess Lilin. I'm Kalei Nightdew. You can call me Kalei. I'm here to help Priestess Laria investigate the Furbolg incident."
A flicker of surprise crossed Lilin's eyes, followed by a hint of confusion. "Are you a Druid? I thought I could sense the goddess's power in you..."
Kalei hadn't yet replied when Laria cleared her throat, interrupting them. "You two, this isn't the time for pleasantries."
Laria clearly didn't want Kalei and Lilin to keep talking.
Kalei understood at once. Although Laria knew who he was, she didn't seem inclined to reveal his identity. That suited him just fine. He didn't want to attract attention.
Lilin picked up on Laria's attitude. Though curious, she didn't press the matter.
Laria looked at them both. "I've examined their injuries. The power in their wounds isn't demonic Fel. It's Shadow."
Neither Kalei nor Lilin was surprised.
For Night Elves, who had suffered at the hands of the Burning Legion's demons and Satyrs, the world's dark powers were nothing new—whether Fel, Shadow, or even Death, which had yet to appear on a large scale.
Laria continued, "Ordinary Shadow energy can be cleansed with the power of a Moonwell."
"But the energy inside them is different. Some of the power that originally entered through their wounds has already spread to their souls."
"I don't know how this was done, but I do know they have to constantly fight this power with their minds. The struggle exhausts them and forces them to fall asleep."
"Worse still, I've discovered that while they sleep, they're trapped in a state of Nightmare. The Nightmare fills their souls with more and more negative emotions, which in turn increases the Shadow energy inside them."
"Once the Shadow energy in their bodies passes a certain threshold, they'll undergo a terrible transformation."
Kalei listened closely to Laria's analysis. At the word "Nightmare," he suddenly had a thought. Could she mean the Emerald Nightmare?
He knew that one of the great disasters to befall the Night Elves and the Green Dragonflight in World of Warcraft was the Emerald Nightmare.
The chief culprit behind the Emerald Nightmare was the Satyr lord, Xavius.
Xavius had originally been an advisor to Azshara, queen of the Night Elves in ancient times. Later, the leader of the Burning Legion—the Dark Titan Sargeras—twisted him into a half-demon with cloven hooves.
During the War of the Ancients, Xavius was killed several times by Malfurion, the Night Elves' Archdruid.
But the man was like a cockroach that refused to die. Every time he was killed, he came back to life.
The last time he died, his body was destroyed, but his soul survived and entered the Emerald Dream.
The Emerald Dream was a mirror image of Azeroth.
Some said that Azeroth's world-soul had unconsciously created it while sleeping. Others said that Freya, Titan Keeper, had created it based on Azeroth, using the power of Eonar, the Life-Binder.
Whatever the truth, the Emerald Dream overlapped with the main world of Azeroth, and its fate was closely tied to the world's.
For many years, the Green Dragonflight's Dragonqueen had personally guarded the Emerald Dream.
Yet 4,500 years before the Dark Portal opened, an evil mineral called Saronite had appeared on the Azeroth Continent.
Fandral Staghelm, the Night Elves' notorious tree-planting fanatic, tried to get rid of the mineral by cutting branches from Nordrassil, a World Tree connected to the Emerald Dream, and planting new World Trees in various places.
One of them, Andrassil, was planted in the northern continent of Northrend. Its roots kept growing downward until they reached the prison holding the Old God Yogg-Saron.
The Old Gods were terrifying beings who excelled at wielding Shadow and possessed immense powers of corruption.
So Yogg-Saron sent his power through Andrassil and into the Emerald Dream.
Xavius, who had been hiding in the Emerald Dream, came into contact with this power. From then on, he once again became Yogg-Saron's lackey.
For thousands of years, Xavius had used Yogg-Saron's power to corrupt the Emerald Dream.
He had suffered too many defeats at Malfurion's hands in the past, so this time he was careful. He had kept the Emerald Nightmare's influence in check, and it hadn't erupted on a large scale even by the time the Dark Portal opened.
That was why the Green Dragons guarding the Emerald Dream, and the Druids who helped them, still had no idea what was really happening there.
They knew only that a Nightmare existed within the Dream, and thought it was simply part of the Dream. They didn't know that the Nightmare was the source of the corruption, or that it was connected to Xavius, the Satyr lord, and the ancient Old Gods.
But Kalei knew that part of the Emerald Dream had already been corrupted.
Should he report this?
Never mind whether the people in charge, including Tyrande and Malfurion, would accept the absurd claim that Xavius was still alive.
Even if they believed him, how could he explain how he knew about the Emerald Nightmare?
How could a Druid who had spent his life in the countryside and had only just come of age know so much?
Besides, as far as he knew, the Night Elves' Druid leader, Malfurion, was still asleep. Fandral Staghelm was in charge of the Druids.
Fandral Staghelm would eventually be corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare too, but Kalei had no idea what state he was in now.
If Kalei reported it, the people in charge might not take it seriously. Worse, the Corrupted under Xavius's control might find out. He'd be walking right into a trap.
So, for his own safety, he could only move things forward little by little without revealing who he was, bringing the Emerald Nightmare to light ahead of time and greatly reducing the losses suffered by the Night Elves and the Green Dragonflight.
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