Zandalar Endures Forever

Beyond distant mountains and seas lay a vast island named Zandalar.

Slightly south of the island's center stood a magnificent colossal city, one that filled every Troll who saw it with yearning. Even the Night Elves, who had once known glory themselves, would praise its grandeur.

Its name was Zuldazar.

Today.

Zuldazar welcomed a grand celebration. Rastakhan, the last blood descendant of the Troll Empire's royal family, would ascend the throne today and become the King of Zandalar!

The entire nation rejoiced.

At Zandalar's invitation, nearly every major Troll faction had sent envoys to attend and pay homage to Rastakhan.

The young king stood atop the platform before the Great Seal, wearing a restrained smile as he accepted the cheers of the entire city and the reverent gazes of the scattered Troll envoys.

Amid the cheers.

He turned and patted the shoulder of a thin Zandalari Troll standing a step behind him, speaking in a voice only they could hear. "Zul. I have not let you down, and I will never let the Trolls down! Let us restore the Empire's glory together!"

Rastakhan had originally expected his childhood companion to cheer firmly or respond with enthusiasm.

Yet the young Troll, already renowned throughout Zandalar, held in immense esteem among the witch doctors, and known as the Dark Prophet, seemed rather distracted on such an important day.

Rastakhan noticed.

He frowned in displeasure. "Zul? Are you listening to me?"

"Ah? Yes... Your Majesty."

Only then did the young Dark Prophet come back to himself. "I was listening. Your Majesty, I just saw another few fragments of the future, so I lost myself in thought. Please forgive my discourtesy, Your Majesty."

Rastakhan had long grown accustomed to this behavior from his companion. Zul, the Dark Prophet, possessed an ability no other Troll had—he could foresee the future.

That ability had manifested when Zul was very young. In Zandalar, Zul could foresee nearly everything, but because the misfortunes he foresaw always came true, most of his kin regarded him as a harbinger of disaster and called him the Dark Prophet.

So Zul learned to be wiser. He began concealing parts of his prophecies. But there was one exception: Zandalar's Prince Rastakhan, who had grown up beside him since childhood and was now Zandalar's god-king, Rastakhan.

Zul was Rastakhan's most trusted friend. Both of them longed to make the Zandalar Empire the ruler of the world once more, and they had worked tirelessly toward that goal.

Through their combined efforts.

Rastakhan had finally risen from a Zandalar prince to Zandalar's god-king.

Throughout that process.

Zul had rendered tremendous merit. It was precisely because of the Dark Prophet's many prophecies that Rastakhan had stood out among the many Zandalar princes, ultimately taking hold of Zandalar's highest authority and becoming the supreme god-king.

Of course Rastakhan trusted Zul.

Amid the endlessly fervent cheers, Rastakhan laughed loudly and patted the shoulder of his best friend and finest comrade.

"My dear Zul, I would like to know what prophecy you have foreseen this time. If it concerns Zandalar, then it must be one of light!"

"Because..."

Rastakhan suddenly turned toward all the subjects and envoys below the enormous pyramid city and roared, "I, Rastakhan! Troll Emperor, god-king of Zandalar! Zandalar endures forever, and Trolls shall never be slaves! Let us witness with our own eyes as the Empire's glory descends upon this land once more!"

The cheers surged like a tsunami, each wave higher than the last, the sound almost tangible. Whether Zandalari Trolls or envoys from other Troll lands, they all shouted madly, heedless even if they tore their throats apart.

As though the Trolls were about to reclaim the glorious days of antiquity.

Zul wore a smile and cheered along with everyone else, yet for the first time, doubt arose in his heart. Originally, that doubt would not have appeared until more than thirty years later.

I hope I was wrong.

Seeing the fervor on Rastakhan's face, Zul sighed inwardly. He set aside his doubts and joined Rastakhan and the Trolls in celebration.

As Zandalar's new emperor ascended the throne, Tonatiuh was looking somewhat bedraggled over in Un'Goro Crater.

Tonatiuh had been secretly watching the conversation and battle between two human female mages. He had been watching just fine, though he could not understand what they were saying...

The two archmages spoke the human language, which humans called the Common Tongue. But at present, it was really only common among humans. Tonatiuh could speak only Troll and a little Zandalarian. Though Trollish shared some similar syllables with the Darnassian and Thalassian spoken by the elves—roughly like the differences between countries in Europe's Latin language family—

Neither the elves' languages nor the Troll language had the slightest connection to human speech.

Listening to Aegwynn and Modera speak was basically like a rural Chinese lad who had never left the country or gone to school suddenly seeing two foreign female PhDs arguing in front of him in their native language.

Not understanding was one thing.

The two petite, shapely, and exceptionally pretty human female mages suited both the physical and spiritual tastes of the newly adult Tonatiuh. Listening to them argue in a language he did not understand was rather entertaining too.

But before he had listened for long, Tonatiuh sensed something terrifying behind him. He spun around warily and saw two enormous stone men covered in flames standing behind him. Without a word, they swung their fists down at him.

"Fuck!"

Tonatiuh could not help blurting out a fragrant phrase in Chinese that the natives of this world could not understand.

[Flame Invader: Level 15, elemental creature, extremely dangerous, hostile]

[Flame Invader: Level 14, elemental creature, extremely dangerous, hostile]

He had searched everywhere only to find nothing, yet found what he sought without effort. He had spent two or three days without encountering a single Flame Invader, only to run into two at once while secretly watching the mages—and they immediately wanted to smash him to death.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly.

He darted aside, raised his greatsword to block the massive fire elemental's attack, and released as much as possible of that mysterious annihilating power within him. With a clang, he blocked the Flame Invader's strike!

That block.

Made Tonatiuh's hands go numb, and he could barely keep hold of his sword. His pupils contracted as he looked at the two elemental monsters, and he inwardly cursed.

The Flame Invaders were obviously far stronger than the Living Flame and Scorching Elementals he had encountered before, but the greater trouble lay elsewhere.

Both the Living Flame and Scorching Elementals lacked physical bodies. Their only tangible part in the real world was a core; everything else was flame.

Yet these two Flame Invaders not only possessed more vigorous, surging, terrifying firepower—their bodies and limbs were actually solid. Amid flames that burned without ever going out, the Flame Invaders' true bodies were crimson, rock-like torsos. Without the flames surrounding them, they looked tall and thin, but their strength was astounding.

When the Flame Invaders ambushed him, Tonatiuh's magic immunity dispersed their flames. Yet their physical strength was tremendous, and a single blow had numbed his hands through the greatsword.

Before Tonatiuh could recover from his shock, the other Flame Invader's attack followed immediately. Just like the first one, its flames vanished before they could touch Tonatiuh's body. But after the fire disappeared, its seemingly thin fist still slammed down, smashing cracks into the ground Tonatiuh had dodged away from.

Tonatiuh had thought his magic immunity would make him unstoppable against fire elementals. Who would have thought such high-level elemental creatures would actually possess physical bodies!

He could only run, fight, and dodge at the same time.

As a result, he was chased out of his hiding place and spotted by the two human female mages. Then the battle on the mages' side began as well.

Thanks to wow521 for another generous donation! Thanks to reader 58901 for the donation, and thanks to Zhitian as well! There should be another update later! Four updates today to make up for the one I forgot to post yesterday!