Black Mire Forest
The nights at Crimson Sanctuary were Tranquility. Kaelen hadn't told the Queen of Dragons that their homeland had been invaded, but Alexstrasza returned and smelled the lingering scent of dark magic scorching the earth.
The Lifebinder didn't interrogate her further, choosing instead to patrol alone, checking on the dragon eggs. The sight of the unborn children lying on the ground eased her tense nerves. She began to consider her next move. Deathwing had escaped, but only temporarily. The Worldbreaker's devastation of this world wouldn't be limited to Twilight Highlands; where would his next target be? Alexstrasza gazed anxiously at the moonlit sanctuary. She couldn't linger here; she had to return to the Wyrmrest Temple and, with the other Guardians, quickly devise a way to defeat Deathwing.
"Excuse me for disturbing your thoughts, Your Majesty."
Alexstrasza turned around and saw her fellow being Christalyssa, standing before her.
"What's the matter?"
"I heard from Kaelen that you were injured, you..."
"Thank you." The Queen of Dragons gave her follower a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. Deathwing... is not yet able to defeat me." Her tone was somewhat bitter; this was the most relaxed she could muster so as not to worry Christalyssa.
"Kaelen also said that an Undead stood up when you were fighting Neltharion, and the Worldbreaker called him the Forsaken."
"Regarding this..." Alexstrasza recalled the Undead's last words before leaving, "I've saved you many times." The Queen of Dragons was puzzled. Aside from fighting the Scourge, she couldn't recall having any contact with Undead creatures, let alone any product of death helping her. Moreover, the Undead wasn't among the trials experienced by the Lifebinder. Many times? Had they met before?
"... I will investigate, but I am surprised. The mysterious person who saved me is dead, I can sense it. But his heroic act forces me to redefine the Undead, who are considered monsters by the world. The Forsaken, were they once part of the Scourge? After the Lich King was defeated, did they regain consciousness, or were their actions an attempt to atone for their sins?"
At that moment, a smile began to bloom on Christalyssa's face, as if she had seized an opportunity in despair. "You are truly a great queen, the Lifebinder. I shouldn't have kept anything from you, not long ago, so can we talk? Talk about the Forsaken."
A chilling sound can be heard beyond the Gilneas wilderness. An ancient curse has long haunted the kingdom. Though only twenty years have passed, the changing times have left the walls protecting the kingdom riddled with holes.
The Dark Ranger Veronalara knew that a cataclysmic change was imminent. Before her lay a beast, a Worgen that had attempted to attack her from the Black Mire Forest. Veronalara couldn't help but recall Arugal from years past. The Worgen summoned by that wizard had significantly hampered the Forsaken's advance. These beasts had been summoned to fight the Scourge. But tragically, the Worgen's Bloodlust was never satisfied; after repelling the Undead army, they turned their attacks on the people of Gilneas.
The Worgen had been shot dead. A black-feathered arrow was lodged in its chest. The heat had dissipated from its body, and the ground was stained dark with blood.
It's a full moon night, and the howls of wolves echo from the depths of the Black Mire Forest. Some fearless bounty hunters, fully armed, are searching for the creatures making these sounds, solely because of the high bounty offered by the Kingdom of Gilneas.
Veronalara was different; she wasn't there for the money. She carried a powerful artifact— the Moon God Scythe, which played a crucial role in the siege of Shadowfang Keep. This weapon had always been kept in the castle, and she was only allowed to take it with the permission of the Witherer.
The Dark Ranger reached up to touch the hole in her clothes on her shoulder, where two teeth marks were visible. Her hands were covered in thick, crimson blood. The beast had ambushed her, nearly biting her shoulder. The lingering fear still coursed through her. She felt nauseous. If she had been bitten, perhaps she too would have become one of those reviled monsters?
As far as she knew, a crucial reason why the Worgen threat in Gilneas couldn't be resolved was that those bitten by Worgen would contract a virus, gradually losing their sense of self and eventually becoming Worgen. This curse would only spread further. It was so vicious that even Veronalara found it cruel.
"I really don't know what the King of Gilneas was thinking!" Her voice pierced through the leaves as she took the arrow from the Worgen corpse, examined it, and decided to destroy it on the spot.
"Be careful, there seems to be movement here!" another voice echoed through the forest. Startled, Veronalara immediately hid in a tree.
"Yes, I heard it too, it's nearby." There was another person. But the footsteps clearly indicated three people. The Dark Ranger Elf waited, and finally, the person who made the sound came right under her nose.
They were clearly Gilneas. One of them carried a backpack and a hunting rifle, clearly a hunter. Another was dressed similarly. The last man was the most well-dressed of the three, and also the strangest. He wore a top hat and a monocle, his collar pulled up high, and carried an umbrella. This attire seemed to suggest that he was completely unaware of the dangers of the Black Mire Forest.
"Look, it's Worgen's corpse." One of the hunters discovered the Worgen that Veronalara had killed and began to examine it.
The Worgen's tongue lolled out, hanging outside like a pink ribbon.
"He was still warm; he hadn't been dead for long."
"Find the wound, Mistermantho," the man in the top hat said to the young hunter.
"Yes, Lord Godfrey."
A lord? Veronalara, hiding in the tree, was taken aback by the other party's approach. Gilneas nobles differed from those of other kingdoms. Because Genn Greymane was a man deeply attached to land, he rarely bestowed titles lightly, as that would mean he would have to carve out a piece of his own territory as someone else's fief. Therefore, those with titles in Gilneas were all close confidants of the King.
Lord Godfrey suddenly looked up. Veronalara shrank back instantly, but made no sound. The man below was merely testing whether the "murderer" who killed the Worgen was still there.
"It's an arrow wound." The hunter named Mistermantho finished examining the corpse. "A very precise arrow that pierced the monster's heart and lungs."