The shadow of nature's protection fractured, leaving nearly a hundred Night Elf civilians trapped in a sea of fire, helplessly calling to the Druids for rescue.
"Wait here. I'll save them." Fandral Staghelm briefly cast Rejuvenation on himself, then plunged into the flames alone.
Children sobbed and civilians screamed. Alongside his anger, an uneasy feeling stirred in Fandral's heart.
Mount Hyjal's natural balance had already been shattered. Fire elementals and fel devoured and displaced the spirits of nature, leaving scarcely any of nature's power beneath the Crown of the Heavens.
Ordinary Druids cast nature spells using the power within their own bodies, so their surroundings had little effect on them.
But powerful high-ranking Druids like Fandral drew on the energies of the world, absorbing nature's power to cast their spells. To them, a change in the region's energy was not merely a vast storm, but an omen that nature energy was running dry.
Yet the troubles facing all of Mount Hyjal clearly went far beyond that.
The most important aspect of nature's power was its immense capacity for harmony and balance.
The source of that power was the Emerald Dream.
Having endured the nightmare's devastation, the Emerald Dream was still recovering. It had no strength to spare for the energy imbalance in the plane of reality.
Thus, the Night Elves of Mount Hyjal were truly alone and without aid.
Faced with this apocalyptic scene, Fandral's state of mind began to slip subtly out of balance.
The more he knew, the more his convictions wavered.
"Everyone, come over here!" Fandral raised his hand and summoned a towering tree.
Beneath its lush green canopy, the rain of Tranquility pattered down.
Seeing Archdruid Fandral coming to save them, the civilians beyond the flames rushed through the wall of fire toward him.
But during