Don't Evade Your Responsibilities

Everything here is water, pink water, water filled with Arcane energy. Aside from the water, there is nothing here. No, there is also Arcane. Look closely, and you can see her; she is shimmering, everywhere, here, and there too! She swims in the water, swimming slowly—not up, not down, not forward or back—she is drawing circles, drawing circles without end. Suddenly, she changes direction, rushing from all places toward one spot. A mass of something floats over, and she rushes toward that mass. It is a ball of light, golden and bright. It floats over, and it is transparent—no, there is something inside! There is a body, surrounded by golden light. The Arcane energies rush toward it, striking the golden ball of light, striking the nine brightest points: "Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Zai, Qian." With every strike, these nine points enlarge, revealing these nine characters.

This is the body of Azar, and this golden light is the seal Azar placed upon himself, a formation formed by the Nine Character Mantra. The Arcane energies seem to know no fatigue, no failure, only knowing to rush and rush. Slowly, they concentrate together, rushing toward "Lin" in unison. "Lin" shatters, and the body inside twitches. They are excited, even more active. They do not stop, continuing to rush toward the next character, "Bing." "Bing" shatters as well, and the body inside twitches again. Just like that, one by one, all nine characters shatter. The body inside the golden light twitched eight times; the formation is broken. The body does not twitch a ninth time because the golden light has dissipated, and the body is slowly sinking.

The Arcane energies do not stop! They gather together, supporting this body, and slowly, slowly, they wrap around him once more.

"Your seal is quite formidable; it took me a long time to break it completely," a sweet female voice rings out in Azar's mind.

"Who are you? How did you get in? I have sealed my six senses; how could I hear you speaking?" Azar's tone is full of surprise and doubt.

"Relax, my child. The Arcane within your body resonated with me, so I entered. Do not be afraid; I mean no harm."

"Are you the World Soul of Azeroth?"

"To be precise, I am the World Soul of Azeroth."

"You want to speak with me! Why?"

"I need help. You are my believer, you are closest to me, and you are powerful enough."

"What could possibly stump you? Could it be? Sargeras!"

"Yes, he wants to devour me, he wants to reshape me. I am resisting his encroachment, I am stopping him from entering Azeroth. I am struggling, I am almost at my limit, and I need help. Are you willing? Help me defeat him!"

"So he has come after all. That spendthrift woman still couldn't resist the temptation. Is the War of the Ancients about to begin? Is the fate of the Kaldorei still impossible to change? The Great Sundering, the splitting of Kalidom, the mists of Pandaria—is everything, everything, about to return to the tracks of history? I have done what I could; what more can I do?"

"Calm down, my child. Do not be too hard on yourself. Although I do not know what you mean by the Great Sundering, the splitting of Kalidom, and so on, I can feel your pain. Relax. Relax."

"How do you know what I am thinking?"

"Hehehe, we are speaking within your mind right now; of course I can feel what you are thinking. I also know that although you call your wife a spendthrift, you still love her very much." The World Soul actually knows how to joke; perhaps she feared the topic was too serious and found a bit of fun to lighten the mood.

"Fine, let's not talk about that. Let's get to the important business. What can I do for you?"

"If you want to, you can do a lot."

"It is precisely because I did not know what to do that I sealed myself away," Azar's expression dims.

"No, you did well."

"Well? If it were well, it wouldn't have attracted Sargeras. I should have dealt with those selfish Highborne long ago to nip the trouble in the bud!"

"No, child. You are going to extremes. All things have the right to make their own choices."

"But they chose Fel! It is evil! They will destroy everything!"

"How do you know that Fel is evil? Because you yourself believe in Order?"

"" Azar falls into deep thought.

"That is it, child. You must learn to think, to look at problems objectively. Whatever path you choose, you must have the corresponding professional knowledge. This knowledge determines your temperament and the direction in which you think about problems. Your power comes from Order, so you think about problems from the side of Order. If your power came from Fel, then you would certainly think about problems from the side of Fel. This is a matter of perspective."

""

"Child, our perception of things should be three-dimensional and objective. You must learn to establish your own coordinate system for perceiving things so that you can be impartial, watching the clouds rise and the mountains crumble before you while remaining unmoved."

"Then why don't you choose to submit? What is your perspective?" Azar feels this is the essence of the problem.

"Hehehe, that is different. 'I respect your right to choose, I will defend your right to choose with my life, but I do not agree with you.' Do you understand the meaning of this sentence?"

"You mean that you allow these things to exist, but you refuse to be assimilated, refuse to become a product. Sargeras wants to devour your World Soul and turn you into what he wants you to be, so you resist!"

"That is it! Good child, you finally understand. I am who I am. I am Azeroth. I can be Order, I can be Chaos, I can be Light. As long as I am willing, I can even manifest as Shadow. I am the only one, so my perspective is—'no perspective'."

"This is Azeroth, and I am Azar Tikal. I am a Kaldorei. I was born here, I grew up here. I am one with Azeroth. I breathe with you, I share your fate. I am you, and you are me. I am Azar, I am the Prince of the Kaldorei, and I speak for Azeroth!"

"No, you are still you. You can also be me, but I can only be me."

"One last question!" Azar shouts with excitement.

"Speak." Her voice remains calm, without a hint of emotion.

"Sargeras is actually seducing my wife. I want to beat him up, but I'm afraid I can't win," Azar says, his face full of grievance as he speaks his true heart.

"If you want to, then go for it. I will help you; I always keep my word," Azeroth's reply is full of playfulness.