Recaps

After the Arcane Aberration Spirit triggered a Legendary-level explosion, Rowan’s party was scattered across the Temple, and Rowan and Sylvanas ended up trapped together in a crater. Rowan survived thanks to the Heart of Azeroth and woke to find Sylvanas had given him her enchanted armor; the chapter ended with her blushing and telling him to stop staring.

• Aegwynn, Rhonin, and Jaina attacked the Arcane Aberration Spirit, but he created Spell Clones and caused his main body to swell toward an explosion.
• Aegwynn tried to reverse the spell reaction while Jaina teleported Rowan’s party into a singularity, but the blast scattered everyone across the Temple.
• Rowan’s system awakened his mind and explained that the Heart of Azeroth had saved him and activated after absorbing the Legendary-level energy.
• Sylvanas woke in a crater beside Rowan and put her enchanted armor on him to protect him from the Arcane Fire.
• Rowan woke, claimed the Heart of Azeroth protected him, and urged Sylvanas to put her clothes back on.
• Sylvanas stopped Rowan from removing the armor and told him to stop staring at her.

Rowan and Sylvanas waited for rescue in the pit while the Heart of Azeroth protected them from the arcane flames. After Sylvanas fell asleep in his arms, Rowan discovered a legendary fragment in the rubble and bound it to his soul, leaving Sylvanas curious about his necklace.

• Sylvanas confronted Rowan after he stared at her while she was undressed, and he struggled to find a way to make amends.
• Sylvanas told Rowan how Alleria had asked Turalyon how he would feel if she married someone else, prompting Rowan to admit he did not want Sylvanas to marry anyone else.
• Sylvanas leaned against Rowan and fell asleep in his arms, while Rowan learned that the Heart of Azeroth let him sense energy fluctuations.
• Rowan used Sylvanas's longbow to search an orange glow in the rubble and found a crystalline legendary fragment marked with three phantom figures.
• The fragment bound itself to Rowan's soul, and he showed Sylvanas his Heart of Azeroth necklace, which she admired and tried to touch.

Gul'dan agreed to serve Kil'jaeden's plan while arranging for Kairoz to send him back to Draenor, where he hoped to rebuild the Horde and eventually aid Azeroth. Meanwhile, Rowan gained three rebirth-capable Spell Clones from the Arcane Shadow Shard, but after they burned away in the pit, he discovered he could use the shard's power only once per day.

• Gul'dan obeyed Kil'jaeden's order to travel to Azeroth and secretly arranged with Kairoz to return him to Draenor afterward.
• Gul'dan told Kairoz that the Horde might help Azeroth against the Burning Legion and Shadowlands forces, claiming the orcs needed a home.
• Rowan merged with the Arcane Shadow Shard and gained three Spell Clones that could share his thoughts and replace him if he died.
• Rowan demonstrated the clones to Sylvanas, who tested them by pinching one and joked about their shared pain and pleasure.
• Rowan's clones burned away after three hours in the pit, and he learned that the Heart of Azeroth required 100 artifact energy for each use of Arcane Shadow, which he could replenish only once per day.

Captain Gado and Melandrus followed Thalyssra beyond Suramar, where she showed them the Withered and explained why she was trying to save the common people from mana addiction. After they returned to the city without offering support, Thalyssra continued investigating the ruins and encountered Gul'dan, who attacked her.

• Gado gave Melandrus intercepted intelligence revealing that Thalyssra was secretly leaving Suramar, and the two men followed her toward Meredil.
• Thalyssra led Gado and Melandrus to an abandoned palace, where two Withered attacked them and she explained that mana deprivation could turn Nightborne into monsters.
• Melandrus urged Thalyssra to appeal to Elisande, but she said Elisande accepted that many commoners would die as the Nightwell declined.
• Melandrus and Gado returned to Suramar without acting, while Thalyssra continued searching the ruins for a way to save the Nightborne.
• At Fal'dora Temple, Thalyssra found Gul'dan empowering Withered with fel energy, and he attacked her with Death Grip.

Thalyssra used the Nightwell conduit to purge fel from the Fal'dora Temple, while Gul'dan became interested in her and the energy-absorbing creatures in the corridor. Colin confronted Sylvanas over burning Teldrassil and died by her arrow, while Lorin and Thalyssra completed an energy transmission array and prepared to test it at the Crystal Vein.

• Thalyssra fled Gul'dan and his fel Spellweavers, then detonated the Nightwell Underground Energy Conduit to purge the temple of fel and restore much of her power.
• Gul'dan released the temple barrier and sent the Spellweavers outside, then focused his interest on Thalyssra and the energy-absorbing creatures in the Withered Corridor.
• Colin arrived at Lordaeron and confronted Sylvanas over burning Teldrassil, but she shot him with a deathly arrow, and he died after reminding her he had promised to be her hope.
• Lorin organized sweet potato planting and asked Tirion and Byron to prepare a large stone cylinder for future work.
• Lorin, Thalyssra, Byron, and Korn traveled to the Crystal Vein and assembled an energy transmission array from rune-inscribed stone slabs and Prism Devices.
• Thalyssra finished setting up the array and prepared to test whether it could extract and transfer energy from the vein.

Rowan and Sylvanas escaped the collapsing mine but became trapped in the shifting Nature Hunting Grounds, where the Arcane Aberration Spirit Metri demanded Rowan’s Arcane Shadow Shard. After Rowan survived Metri’s attack and the Guardians arrived, Alodi confronted his former student, whose search for lost inherited power had led him to fall; Metri questioned whether Guardians could still be Guardians without that power.

• Sylvanas pulled Rowan out of the collapsing mine, and Rowan revealed how frightened he had been when he thought she was buried.
• Rowan detected a powerful presence in the Nature Hunting Grounds, and he and Sylvanas fled upward before realizing Metri had manipulated the terrain and trapped them.
• Metri demanded Rowan’s inheritance fragment, and Rowan discovered he could not remove the soulbound Arcane Shadow Shard.
• Metri trapped Rowan in mire and attacked him with stone spikes, while Sylvanas escaped; Rowan appeared crushed, then surprised Sylvanas by reappearing behind her.
• Ysera and Katrana located Rowan and Sylvanas, and Alodi, Skevyn, Aegwynn, and the High Archmages arrived as Metri restored the hunting grounds.
• Alodi rebuked Metri for willingly falling in Ascension, and Metri explained that he had sought lost inherited power before asking whether Guardians could remain Guardians without it.

Metri challenged Alodi and revealed that he had killed seven Guardian Spirits to gather their Soul of Forgetting fragments, then sought the remaining fragments and Rowan’s world-soul power. Alodi and Skevyn regained their Guardian strength with Rowan’s help and fought Metri, whose inheritance power surged as the battle continued.

• Metri rejected Alodi’s warning, declared that he would save the Guardians’ successors by breaking Ascension’s rules, and transformed the surrounding land into his domain.
• Rowan saw seven Soul of Forgetting fragments inside Metri and realized that Metri had killed seven Guardian Spirits.
• Rowan sent Jaina, Rhonin, Aegwynn, and his duplicates to find the other Guardians’ souls while Centurions fought Metri’s Elemental Giants.
• Alodi drew on the Heart of Azeroth’s power through Rowan, restoring his and Skevyn’s strength as Guardian Spirits.
• Alodi split Metri’s elemental domain with Arcane Blasts, but Metri enlarged his form with the inheritance power and prepared to attack again.

Gul'dan broke through Oculeth's teleportation defenses by corrupting their magic, while Thalyssra and Oculeth planned to escape through an abandoned Nightwell energy passage. They prepared to reactivate it despite the danger of being overwhelmed by arcane energy.

• Gul'dan destroyed the weightlessness magic circles, then analyzed their energy source and used shadow magic and fel corruption to take control of them.
• Gul'dan reached the Teleportation Beacon and vanished into the next teleportation space, leaving Oculeth and Thalyssra with fewer places to hide.
• Oculeth reassured Thalyssra that they were allies and friends, and urged her to seek help from Suramar and Grand Archmage Elisande.
• Thalyssra revealed that she carried pulse ions from an abandoned Nightwell passage, and Oculeth proposed using them to reactivate an abandoned energy passage.
• Oculeth teleported them to a ruined corridor, where Thalyssra activated the ancient transmission and refraction facilities.
• Thalyssra warned that the returning Nightwell energy would cause powerful arcane corruption, then offered to slow its flow if Oculeth would protect her and take her to the Nighthold.

Rowan discovered that Metri’s Guardian power depended on seven legendary shards and devised a plan to steal one. He sacrificed his body to claim a shard with the Heart of Azeroth, then reappeared beside Jaina as she asked what had happened.

• Alodi fought Metri using the elemental giants, while Rowan noticed that Metri’s seven module groups each held a Guardian shard.
• Rowan enlisted Ysera and Katrana to attack Metri’s modules, prompting Alodi to target Metri while he scattered parts of his body.
• Rowan leaped into a module’s elemental core and used the Heart of Azeroth to absorb a legendary Guardian shard as the elementals destroyed his body.
• Rowan’s consciousness returned to Jaina’s side with the shard set in the Heart of Azeroth, and Jaina asked what had happened on the battlefield.

Rowan stole one of Metri’s legendary fragments, weakening him as Alodi and Skevyn fought to hold him back. Evans, Adolf, Eilor, and Rowan joined the battle, but Metri trapped Eilor just as a familiar figure appeared before him.

• Rowan took a legendary fragment from Metri, causing part of the giant’s body to crumble and weakening his guardian inheritance power.
• Metri unleashed seven enormous elemental spheres, but Evans teleported six away and Adolf destroyed the last one with a barrage of Pyroblasts.
• Eilor attacked Metri while Alodi, Skevyn, and the other Guardians joined the fight, and Rowan returned to restore Alodi and Skevyn with world soul power.
• Alodi sent Eilor to strike at Metri, but Metri shifted his modules, trapped Eilor’s arm, and prepared to refine him for his fragment.
• A familiar voice rang out as the person before Metri changed.

Alodi defeated Metri, mourned his former student, and prepared to gather the remaining Guardian Spirits. Rowan then met the Archon to urge an attack on the Jailer, but their argument over Ascension’s rules ended with Rowan challenging her vision of freedom and describing a fairer society.

• Alodi used assimilation to separate Metri from the five legendary fragments, and Metri apologized before dying and dissolving into spell dust.
• Eilor blamed Ascension’s rules and the toll of the Dusk Bell for the Guardians’ suffering, while Alodi ordered a search for the four remaining Guardian Spirits.
• Devos told Rowan he could meet the Archon, and Rowan entered the Ascension Temple alone after leaving a Spell Clone outside.
• Rowan urged the Archon to attack the Jailer, but she refused because the Maw and its ruler were necessary to the Shadowlands’ order.
• The Archon trapped Rowan in the temple after he challenged the path of ascension, and Rowan argued that true freedom required fairness, equal rights, and a life free from oppression.

Rowan persuaded the Archon to investigate the Jailer's expansion, though she refused to send Bastion's army to Azeroth and required Devos to accompany him on trial. Rowan and the Guardian Spirits returned to Icecrown Citadel, where they reunited with old friends and prepared to travel onward.

• Rowan challenged the Archon over the Jailer's threat and secured her agreement to investigate, while she barred him from spreading his ideology in Ascension and assigned Devos to accompany him to Azeroth.
• Rowan, his companions, and nine Guardian Spirits traveled through Oribos and returned to Icecrown Glacier, where they found Meryl's Forsaken rebuilding Icecrown Citadel.
• Alodi reunited with Meryl and Sakia, mistakenly assuming they had become a couple, while Sakia tried to correct him.
• Eilor prepared a group teleport to Kul Tiras, but Alodi told Guit that the Guardians' duties came before his request to visit his family.

Thalyssra and Oculeth escaped the Nightwell’s energy torrent, and Oculeth learned that the Nightwell was powered by the Eye of Aman'Thul, which Elisande and Thalyssra had used to save Suramar. Thalyssra reunited with Elisande, but after discovering signs of fel power in an old conduit, they set aside their feud to investigate a powerful demon and a human mage from Suramar’s past.

• Thalyssra used the Nightwell’s energy to protect Oculeth and open a passage to his teleportation space, revealing to him that the Nightwell drew its power from the Eye of Aman'Thul.
• Oculeth helped the weakened Thalyssra teleport to Suramar, then disguised himself with a Masquerade Mask as Duskwatch Guards noticed him.
• Valtrois escorted Thalyssra to Elisande at the top of the Nightspire, where Thalyssra said Suramar needed to reduce its dependence on the Nightwell.
• Elisande mistook Thalyssra’s weakened condition for a possible attempt to challenge her, but Thalyssra fainted before she could explain.
• After Thalyssra awoke, Elisande agreed to set aside their differences when Vandros reported fel power in an active old conduit.
• Thalyssra urged Elisande to investigate the demon and recalled a powerful human mage who had raised a palace from the seabed, prompting Elisande to react gravely.

Thalyssra and Elisande debated how Suramar could survive the demon threat and agreed to seek help from the human kingdoms, while Rowan used the Guardian Spirits to accelerate Kul Tiras’s industrial research. Alodi then brought Rowan his student Metri’s legendary fragment to see whether Rowan’s artifact could unlock its power.

• Thalyssra warned Elisande that Suramar could not defeat the demon or safely draw power from the Nightwell, and she persuaded Elisande to pursue contact with the human kingdoms.
• Elisande agreed to send Oculeth as an envoy, and Thalyssra told her that Prince Farondis’s soul still survived.
• Rowan returned to Kul Tiras with ten Guardian Spirits, whose expertise advanced research projects, including Guardian Adolf’s breakthrough in electrical generation.
• Rowan established a construct research institute under Guardian Mok'krel and enjoyed several days of rest while the Guardians worked.
• Alodi visited Rowan and presented his student Metri’s legendary fragment, asking whether Rowan’s artifact could unlock its power.

Rowan fused Guardian Metri’s inheritance shard into the Heart of Azeroth, gaining the ability to shape elements and increasing the artifact’s energy. He then proposed reforging the Guardian inheritance power by bringing retired Guardians back into service, and Alodi called a meeting to hear their views.

• Alodi explained how human mages and the Tirisfal Council had gradually uncovered the history and secrets of Azeroth.
• Rowan warned Alodi that fusing Metri’s shard into the Heart of Azeroth would bind it permanently, and Alodi agreed to proceed.
• Rowan fused Metri’s shard, raising the Heart of Azeroth’s energy from 150 to 300 and unlocking the Shaping Form skill.
• Rowan used the surrounding elements to create a dragon-shaped elemental creature, while Alodi described the power’s potential and risks.
• Rowan proposed reforging the Guardian inheritance power and suggested that retired Guardians could take up their roles again.
• Alodi agreed to consult the other Guardians and called them to a meeting in the Industrial Zone’s conference hall that evening.

Oculeth left Suramar to warn the human kingdoms that the Burning Legion was approaching, but mana addiction and an accidental drunken sleep left him stranded at sea. After meeting Capernian and Valeera aboard a Kul Tiras fleet, he learned that Suramar’s survival was unknown to the outside world and continued seeking directions to Dalaran.

• Oculeth’s mana addiction worsened during his voyage, and he drank all his remaining mana wine before falling asleep on the Moonlight Skiff.
• Ellen found Oculeth at sea and brought him aboard a Kul Tiras fleet, where he gave him a Hangover Potion.
• Capernian and Valeera questioned Oculeth, who identified himself as Suramar’s chief telemancer and explained that the Nightborne had lived in isolation for nearly ten thousand years.
• Oculeth told Capernian and Valeera that a powerful demon was approaching a monster sealed in the Temple of the Moon and that the Burning Legion was about to arrive.
• Valeera offered to return to the Morris Industries District to report the warning, but Oculeth asked for directions to Dalaran; Capernian invited him to come with them to Kul Tiras.

Oculeth traveled to Kul Tiras seeking allies for Suramar and discovered the kingdom’s industrialized arcane magic at the Morris Industries District. Rowan oversaw a successful Blink-Type Mage Hunter test and agreed to delay reforging Guardian inheritance power until Guardians could be kept in check, as Ellen brought Oculeth to meet him.

• Oculeth followed Capernian’s advice and redirected his fleet to Kul Tiras, where Ellen took him from Hook Point to the Morris Industries District.
• On the way, Oculeth heard about a common sailor’s son studying at Morris Academy and learned from Ellen that Kul Tiras had no nobles.
• Ellen brought Oculeth through the research facilities, where Oculeth saw the Magic Industrial Base’s aircraft carrier, fighters, and powerful explosive tests.
• Rowan watched Evans successfully test a Blink-Type Mage Hunter, and Evans said they planned to make it usable by mages of level three or above.
• Evans urged Rowan to establish an organization to restrain Guardians before reforging their inheritance power, and Rowan agreed to delay the plan.
• Ellen introduced Oculeth to Rowan and said she had something important to discuss with him.

Rowan learned that Gul'dan was seeking to reach Sargeras's avatar in the Tomb of Sargeras, and he prepared to investigate Suramar with Aegwynn and Medivh. At the tomb, Gul'dan was deceived by an illusion and struck back with Kil'jaeden's enhanced fel power.

• Oculeth told Rowan that demons had invaded Suramar and that one was plotting to enter the Temple of the Moon, so Rowan promised to arrange help.
• Rowan consulted Aegwynn and Medivh, who agreed to investigate the demon in Suramar while Rowan planned to travel there and seek Elisande's support.
• Gul'dan led nearly a hundred fel-transformed Withered to the Broken Shore after Kil'jaeden ordered him to enter the Tomb of Sargeras and activate its anchor.
• Gul'dan found the temple's apparent lack of defenses suspicious, but its gates opened after he used fel magic on their runes.
• Gul'dan entered the tomb, was hurled back by an arcane torrent as the gates became rubble, and answered the illusion with Fire of Retribution.

Oculeth’s mana addiction worsened during the journey to Suramar, but Evans used Oculeth’s teleportation beacons to bring Rowan’s party to the city. Rowan met Elisande and Thalyssra and began discussing an alliance between Suramar and Kul Tiras while awaiting news from his scouts.

• Oculeth’s condition deteriorated, so Ellen gave him more Endless Depth Potion and helped him reach the portal.
• Evans used Oculeth’s teleportation beacons to send Rowan’s party into Suramar, where Oculeth recovered beneath the Nightwell’s radiance.
• Nightborne citizens reacted with hostility to Rowan, who teleported beneath the Nighthold and asked Oculeth to arrange a meeting with Suramar’s leaders.
• Oculeth led Rowan to the Nightborne Hall, where Elisande and Thalyssra received him.
• Rowan told Elisande and Thalyssra that his scouts had approached the Elf Temple of the Moon and proposed discussing an alliance between Suramar and Kul Tiras.

Rowan negotiated with Elisande and Thalyssra for Suramar to open trade with Kul Tiras and join the Alliance market in exchange for aid against the Burning Legion. While the Nightborne considered his terms, Aegwynn and Medivh entered the Temple of the Moon and recognized Sargeras's power in the lingering Doomfire.

• Rowan told Elisande and Thalyssra that the demon imprisoned in the Temple of the Moon could connect to a Teleportation Anchor and that Suramar would be the Legion's first target.
• Rowan asked Suramar to open trading ports with Kul Tiras and join the Alliance trade market, while Thalyssra and Elisande weighed the cost of an alliance.
• Thalyssra asked Rowan for time to consider his terms, and she and Elisande agreed to wait for Oculeth's report on Kul Tiras.
• Aegwynn discovered that the Temple of the Moon's wards had failed and teleported inside with Medivh.
• Medivh recognized the lingering Doomfire as Sargeras's power, and Aegwynn reassured him that Sargeras had weaknesses.

Gul'dan used his new fel power to gain the demons' obedience and force a route through the Tomb of Sargeras, while naga guards reported his presence to Queen Azshara. In Suramar, Elisande agreed to Rowan's alliance, leaving the city poised to change its course.

• Gul'dan empowered the Doomguards, learned of the naga tunnel, and tortured a Naga Lord into revealing a route through the underground waterways.
• Gul'dan's demons killed two Electric Jellyfish and fashioned their air sacs into breathing gear, but a Giant Maw attacked them in the underwater passage.
• Mistress Sathis restrained Giant Maw and decided to report the intruders to Queen Azshara.
• Thalyssra and Elisande read Oculeth's report about Kul Tiras's magical industry, and Elisande accepted that Suramar needed to change.
• Elisande presented Rowan with an alliance agreement, and Rowan celebrated Suramar's decision to ally with him.

Sathylene reported the demons' attack on the Temple of the Moon to Queen Azshara, who told her to watch for an opportunity and promised that Xal'atath would protect Hajatan. Meanwhile, Gul'dan attacked the Maiden of Vigilance, and their battle left two Doom Lords directly in her path.

• Sathylene warned Athissa that a storm was coming and asked about her brother Hajatan, who remained alive in Kul Tiras.
• Sathylene told Queen Azshara that demons had reached the lowest level of the Temple of the Moon and were trying to reach the Avatar's chamber.
• Azshara told Sathylene to keep observing the temple and the Shal'dorei, and assured her that Xal'atath would protect Hajatan.
• Gul'dan unleashed fel fire against the Maiden of Vigilance, who drove it back with holy light and turned the Fel Spellweavers' power against the demons.
• Gul'dan transformed and struck the Maiden's shield with a Fel Scythe, while the Maiden aimed her empowered Hammer of the Creators at two stunned Doom Lords.

Rowan hosted Thalyssra for a nighttime discussion about Suramar’s defenses and learned that the demon threatening the temple looked like the supposedly dead Gul'dan. He concluded that Gul'dan had come from another timeline and suspected a traitor had helped him cross worlds.

• Rowan told Thalyssra he had little confidence that his scouts could stop the demon, since they had arrived unprepared and knew nothing about their enemy.
• Thalyssra drew a portrait of the demon, and Rowan recognized its features as those of Gul'dan, who had died in the Tomb of Sargeras over a decade earlier.
• Rowan rejected the idea that the demon was merely disguised and explained that Gul'dan might have come from a parallel timeline.
• Thalyssra asked how Gul'dan had crossed into their world, and Rowan suspected that a traitor among the surface life had broken the rules.

Gul'dan killed the Maiden of Vigilance and opened the Avatar's anchor, allowing the Burning Legion to invade Azeroth despite Aegwynn and Medivh's efforts to stop him. As fel spread across the sky, Rowan and Thalyssra faced the coming crisis in Suramar.

• Gul'dan defeated the Maiden of Vigilance, but Aegwynn and Medivh arrived and jumped into the passage after him.
• Gul'dan reached the Avatar's chamber and began breaking the chains, while Medivh and Aegwynn summoned astral power to attack him.
• The Avatar saved Gul'dan and opened the anchor, summoning the Burning Legion to the Broken Shore.
• Gul'dan ordered Mannoroth and other demons to attack Medivh and Aegwynn, who withdrew to find an anchor and escape.
• Rowan saw fel cover the southeastern sky, and Thalyssra asked him what path the Nightborne should take.

As the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth, Rowan urged the Nightborne to prepare Suramar for war while Suramar's nobles gathered to decide the city's fate. Elisande rejected Melandrus's attempt to surrender to the Legion and rallied the Nightborne to resist, though the nobles remained unmoved.

• Rowan told the Nightborne to find Elisande, prepare for war, and defend Suramar from the Legion.
• At the Nighthold meeting, Stellagosa blamed the arcanists for failing to prevent the invasion, while Vandros urged the representatives to stop arguing.
• Melandrus brought Takrisa Firecrown to the meeting and urged the nobles to join the Burning Legion in exchange for keeping their homes and way of life.
• Stellagosa and several nobles supported surrender, and Valtrois denounced them as traitors.
• Elisande and Thalyssra arrived with Aegwynn and other humans; Elisande slapped Melandrus, silenced Takrisa, and declared that the Nightborne still had hope and must resist.
• The nobles did not respond to Elisande's call, concerned that war would cost them their comfortable lives.