Azeroth: First Encounter

It had been some time since Sargeras left the Pantheon. As his deputy, Aggramar felt both helpless and pained by the departure of his superior and mentor.

Although neither he nor the other Titans could understand why Sargeras had conceived such a mad idea—wanting to purge the servants of the Void Lords by destroying every living creature in the universe—Aggramar had fought alongside Sargeras for countless ages. He had seen for himself how those evil demons corrupted the mortal races of entire worlds. These creatures lurking in the shadows were an enormous nuisance to deal with, so Aggramar understood Sargeras's urgency to eliminate those threats.

Now, he still traveled through the depths of the Dark Void, continuing to eradicate every trace left behind by demonic forces. This Avenger of the Pantheon was unstoppable. One demon-corrupted civilization after another was restored under his aid. Though this task had once been carried out together with Sargeras, and the burden now rested entirely upon his shoulders, his resolve had never wavered.

He continued to firmly believe that one day, Sargeras would realize the flaws in his ideas, understand that the Pantheon's way was right, and return. (In some ways, he was right, because we all know that Sargeras did indeed "return.")

The journey of battle beneath the stars was long and lonely, but during this solitary campaign, he discovered some unusual clues.

During one battle, after personally slaughtering a demon army, the exhausted Aggramar had been looking for a place to rest when a melodious song of life stirred his Titan soul. The song was so beautiful, like a joyful murmur from a tranquil dream. Aggramar keenly sensed something unusual within it and decided to seek out its source.

The search went smoothly. The spreading song came from the dream of a slumbering World Soul, and its echoes stirred surging waves throughout the universe. Following its trail, Aggramar found his target. He discovered a world the Pantheon had yet to find and named it "Azeroth." The name came from Eonar; Life-Binder had once mentioned that lovely name to him.

At the core of the world Aggramar had discovered dwelled one of his kin. The power contained within this kin left even Aggramar, upon first seeing her, stunned beyond words. Its magnitude was unlike anything Aggramar had ever witnessed. He could even sense that the power within her surpassed that of his mentor—Sargeras.

Yet when Aggramar finally drew close to Azeroth, everything he saw plunged him into deep terror. The surface was devastated, chaotic beyond measure. Familiar Void energy wrapped around the planet's surface like a layer of rotting flesh. This scarred land had already completely fallen into the claws of the Old Gods and the Black Empire.

Everything before Aggramar filled him with fear, but a powerful pulse of soul energy pulled him into a strange dream. To his surprise, the dream belonged to this newborn Titan, and its intact state undoubtedly showed that her soul had not yet been corrupted by the power of the Old Gods. But Aggramar understood that it was only a matter of time.

Remembering the world Sargeras had described, Aggramar quickly realized that he could delay no longer. He had to immediately inform the other members of the Pantheon and report his discovery to his brothers and sisters. He could not bear to see the tragedy Sargeras had encountered unfold before his own eyes again. He was not prepared to personally slay one of his own kin.

A ripple of magic rose from Vanidak's waist. Without pausing the motion of his right hand as he thrust at his enemy, he drew a magical disc with his left, ducked beneath a fierce swing, and, amid his opponent's furious roar, infused the disc with Titan energy.

A magical image emerged from it. Vanidak glanced at the figure that appeared, dodging as he shouted at it, "Hey! Aggramar, my silent brother! While I'm glad you took the initiative to chat with me, now isn't the time! I'm handling important business here!"

After grumbling, Vanidak suddenly bent low. Silver light flashed, and in the next moment he appeared above his opponent—a Pit Lord far larger than others of its kind. He tossed the disc from his left hand into the air and casually said to Aggramar, "Wait a moment. Watch out for the crash!"

Then blades sprang from both hands, and he plummeted with fierce momentum, his target the Pit Lord's head.

Unlike other reckless Pit Lords, however, this one reacted quickly. It reversed the enormous war spear it had just swung and thrust its other end toward the descending Vanidak.

Faced with the spear tip rapidly approaching him, Vanidak let out a strange cry. "I don't have a sewer for you to unclog! You've got the wrong guy!"

Just as the Pit Lord grinned savagely, convinced it was about to kill this annoying insect, thin black mist surged from Vanidak's body when he was on the verge of making negative-distance contact with the spear tip. Then, in an utterly forceful act of defiance against the coffin lids of every authority in physics, his figure vanished from the spot.

Just as the Pit Lord thought that cunning little insect had escaped again, a cold voice sounded beside its ear. "Feast of Slaughter. Are you ready?"

Before it could understand the meaning of those words, a shadow flashed across every part of the Pit Lord's body at an incomprehensible speed. Moving so fast that even Aggramar, observing while falling, could not catch it, the Pit Lord shattered where it stood like a puzzle broken apart.

Just before the disc struck the ground, a pair of hands wreathed in faint black energy caught it precisely. The black mist covering Vanidak's body had dispersed, and he now smiled at Aggramar's image as he asked, "All right, my brother. I have time now. Can you tell me what made you want to chat with me?"

"Sharp killing techniques, Vanidak. That was excellent. I could not even catch sight of you."

"Oh-ho-ho, I won't be happy just because you praise me like that. Don't give me that. I assume your unusual call wasn't just to compliment my combat skills, though that is indeed the truth. Go on, I'm listening. At least, I'm listening for now."

"It's like this, Vanidak. Do you remember the world Sargeras spoke of?"

"Oh, Aggramar, do you miss your mentor? You two are so close! Tsk, tsk... Oh, don't get angry. It was only a joke. Of course I remember!"

"It's like this. During a battle with demons, I happened to discover a—Vanidak! Watch your back! Something's wrong!"

Hearing Aggramar's loud warning, Vanidak swiftly hurled the disc in his hand toward a certain direction, shouting as he did so, "Looks like I don't have time to hear about your fascinating discovery. You should tell Eonar first. Right now... I'm a little busy!"

A blade pierced through Vanidak's chest, making Aggramar, floating in midair, cry out in alarm. When a pair of bronze hands caught him, he hurriedly shouted in panic, "Eonar, go help Vanidak! I saw him—"

"Ah, Aggramar, you still do not know your brother well enough. You have not experienced much of his twisted sense of humor. Don't worry. Look at him."

Following the direction Eonar pointed, Aggramar saw Vanidak standing motionless. A Dreadlord cloaked in shadow held a long blade burning with green fire, which had pierced through Vanidak's chest.

The successful ambusher laughed arrogantly. "Hahaha! What Titan? Didn't I still stab him to death with one blow? All show and no substance. Your head will become a symbol of my glory!"

"Oh, really? Then I should congratulate you properly." A voice came from behind the Dreadlord. The ambusher discovered in horror that the target before him, so real to the touch, was slowly turning transparent. At the same time, a dark blade tip emerged from his own chest.

"No one gets to stab me in the back!" As he watched the Dreadlord slowly collapse, Vanidak said with an unbearably smug expression, "Remember that. No one!"

Boom! The moment he finished those outrageously arrogant words, an explosion erupted against Vanidak's back, making him shriek as he pitched forward. After extinguishing the magical flames on his body, Vanidak roared furiously into the distance, "Norgannon! I know it was you! I recognize the taste of those magic missiles! Don't tell me your hand slipped and you missed, you bastard!"

"Huh? What did you say? I didn't hear you." Norgannon, who had been furiously cursed by Vanidak from afar, seemed only then to react. "I saw an enemy behind you and wanted to help you out. I just didn't expect you to move so fast—so fast that you got behind that fellow before my missile even reached you. Believe me, it was just a misunderstanding..."

"I... I don't believe a word you say, you rotten old man... Just you wait. When I..." Too angry to speak, Vanidak threw a fit on the spot before finding demons in another direction to vent his anger on.

After watching this farce with Eonar from afar, Aggramar could not help feeling both amused and exasperated. As if answering his confusion, Eonar took the initiative to say, "Don't worry. They are always like this, bickering and fighting. But thanks to Norgannon, Vanidak finally has someone who can keep him in check. Otherwise, I think our entire group would go mad."

Turning to look at Vanidak darting about the battlefield, Aggramar saw him appearing and vanishing amid the fierce fighting, harvesting demon lives one after another before the enemies even noticed him. Every now and then, he would cause trouble for the other Titan companions on the battlefield, provoking furious roars from them, only to be "accidentally" blasted by one of Norgannon's spells and settle down for a while. A warmth rose within Aggramar.

"You all truly get along harmoniously. It moves me."

"Uh... yes, sometimes it moves me too, Aggramar. But did you contact us this time because something happened?"

"Oh, yes, of course. This cannot be delayed. Do you remember the world Sargeras described, Eonar?"

"Oh, of course. I will never forget it. There, we lost a newborn brother, and... a close comrade..."

"That was unfortunate, Eonar. But what I want to say is that now, another similar world stands before me."

"And this time, I can feel that she is... far more powerful..."

"I call her 'Azeroth.' What an unfortunate soul she truly is..."