Stormwind City, rebuilt a year earlier, had been born anew.
Under the leadership of King Varian Wrynn, the exiled residents of the former Kingdom of Azeroth had returned one after another to rebuild their capital... restoring prosperity to what had once been the largest city in the entire Alliance.
Tonight, however, the air in Stormwind City was exceptionally cold.
As a cold wind blew past, the guards stationed outside Stormwind Keep pulled their cloaks tightly around themselves, shivering despite themselves.
"Anything to report?" Marshal Bolvar Foxtain, commander of Stormwind City's defenses, strode over and asked the guards.
"Everything is normal, my lord Duke!" The guards hastily straightened their backs and answered loudly.
Bolvar nodded and reminded them, "Stay alert. The Horde has reappeared near the Dark Portal in the south. We must be careful not to let them infiltrate our keep again... as they did before!"
By the end, the Duke's voice had grown noticeably downcast.
"Understood!" the guards shouted in unison.
The Duke left, but rather than rest, he went to the Alliance Command Post on one side of the keep and began studying a map of southern Azeroth...
"Duke Bolvar!" A messenger hurried over. "A letter for you."
"A letter?" Bolvar frowned. "Let me see it!"
He took the letter from the messenger and carefully opened it... then suddenly froze!
For the letter had come from Karin Sunfury, the Wetlands Lord.
After hearing the Duke's instructions, the guards became especially vigilant.
But the cold grew more intense, making them begin shivering again.
An eerie, chilling wind drifted through the streets of Stormwind City... then streamed through the main gate of Stormwind Keep and passed straight down its broad corridors.
The chilling wind skirted several guards, then turned into another passage, until finally it entered a library.
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