Blue Dragon Investigation

Meryl vanished quickly. To everyone's eyes, he seemed to have been scattered by the sea wind. Before leaving, he did not forget to toss aside Atiesh. Nathanos had given him this staff, so now it had returned to its rightful owner.

"Meryl knows nearly all of the Forsaken's secrets, my lord," Belmont advised. "If he reveals them, it will surely make the world fear us."

"He will not do that." The Witherer adjusted the conical hat on his head. Surprisingly, his emotions remained perfectly calm, completely unaffected by the mage.

Veronalara keenly sensed that Nathanos was being too calm. She suspected this had been part of the Witherer's plan all along. "My lord, you understand Meryl's strength better than any of us, and he is also a member of the Blade of the Witherer. Driving him away like this brings us no benefit. Let me bring him back."

"There is no need." Nathanos rejected the Dark Ranger's suggestion. Looking in the direction where the mage had vanished, he pondered for a long time. "When I resolved to claim Lordaeron, I had already foreseen this."

Meryl was different from them, always had been. Nathanos gently picked up Atiesh from the ground. Of all the Forsaken, Meryl was the most exceptional. He had existed for nearly three thousand years as an Undead. But had he ever truly experienced the pain of being transformed into one of the dead? Nathanos had once asked about his past. Meryl had suffered a mortal wound in a war against Trolls and had survived as Undead only because circumstances had forced him to.

It had been his choice; he still possessed the right to choose. But true Forsaken were different. How many would willingly drag their broken bodies through life? Along the way, even the Witherer himself