After finishing the notebook, Aaron let out a long breath. He had never expected to find it here, and casually handed it to Vereesa, who had been repeatedly trying to snatch it from him.
"This is the nonsense of a human named Natalie Selin?" Vereesa asked with a frown after skimming the notebook, which was filled with ravings and idle doodles.
"Nonsense? Her thoughts were actually quite clear in the first few pages, weren't they?" Aaron took the notebook back and showed Vereesa the opening pages.
According to those pages, this Lady Natalie had been tracking a group of Orcs conducting evil rituals. Supposedly, these Orcs possessed a profane weapon. Later, Natalie found the weapon, and the instant she touched it, she heard a name in her mind: Xal'atath.
Aaron had never expected to find Secrets of the Void in Deathwing's possession. In the game, this booklet was merely the off-hand weapon paired with the Shadow Priest artifact-Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire-but in reality, the secrets contained within it were considerable as well.
Natalie Selin had once been a bishop in Stormwind City before abandoning the Holy Light and embracing the power of shadow. She could essentially be considered the founding ancestor of all the Shadow Priests in the game.
Yet this founding ancestor had met a rather unfortunate end. Not only had the young lady residing within Xal'atath driven her mad with her incessant chatter, but her own followers had later killed her. It was not until the Legion's massive invasion of Azeroth that this Shadow Priest, whose soul had become lost in the Void, returned to Azeroth.
"But she was only lucid for a few pages." Vereesa turned several pages and pointed to the scrawled notes farther back.
"She had probably gone mad by this point." Reading these pages, Aaron could barely make out that Natalie had learned a great deal about the Void with the profane dagger's help. By then, however, her mental state had been growing steadily worse. Although she was still doing her best to kill Orcs, Natalie herself said she was seeing more and more visions that should not have existed.
"I know I should destroy this profane weapon, but I am already in too deep. There is still so much I need to understand, so very much. Whether I am awake or dreaming, Xal'atath whispers to me. She tells me that the Void holds power and knowledge, but there is a price for this, and I have already paid it."
After this page, Natalie's notes went from scrawled but barely legible to utterly incomprehensible. Only one or two words that could just barely be deciphered revealed that her mental state was worsening.
Then, on a certain page, Natalie's notes came to an abrupt end. A few bloodstains remained on that page, revealing the former bishop's final, miserable fate.
The notebook was ultimately handed to Uther as evidence of Prestor's suspicious identity. Aaron had not expected to discover Xal'atath's whereabouts in these disordered notes, either. All he could establish was that this sentient weapon was probably in the hands of Natalie's followers, but the notebook offered no help whatsoever in determining where those people were now.
Besides, Aaron had little interest in a weapon that chattered all day long. After all, the power he wielded was the Holy Light, not shadow. There was no need to snatch the Shadow Priests' artifact.
Aaron and Vereesa lingered in Lordaeron for several more days. Once Sir Uther had uncovered Lord Prestor's identity through those three dragonkin, and Kael'thas had brought back confirmation from the Kirin Tor Council, matters here could be considered settled. Sir Uther then began preparing for a war against the Orcs.
Still, this was not something for which a great army could be assembled immediately. After all, the armies of the various nations needed coordination and time to learn to work together, and their marching routes also needed to be planned.
The only fortunate thing was that the harvest season had already passed. Had it been any earlier, this war would have been difficult to launch. As for these matters, there was little Aaron could participate in. After all, he was not even a Knight of the Silver Hand, merely an adventurer at best.
Aaron only suggested that King Terenas also send Stormwind City a copy of a detailed report on the matter, lest Lord Prestor-or rather, Deathwing-use that identity to deceive them there in the future.
This should count as digging a huge pit for the Black Dragon Princess. Aaron muttered this to himself after watching Uther personally write a report on the matter and hand it to a messenger.
Uther's letter was addressed to his teacher, Archbishop Alonsus Faol, the man who had proposed the concept of the Paladin class. After the Second War, the archbishop had accompanied Varian to rebuild Stormwind City.
Soon, Vereesa would be returning to Quel'Thalas, and at her invitation, Aaron decided to go back with her.
While on the road, Aaron had originally considered visiting Tyr's Tomb to see whether he could retrieve the two artifacts there. After thinking it over carefully, however, he felt he probably could not defeat the Old Gods' minions inside Tyr's Tomb, so it would be better not to take the risk.
As for the artifact Aaron currently had his eye on, it was the shield Truthguard, which should now be on Shield's Rest in the Broken Isles. Once he found a ship bound for the Broken Isles in Quel'Thalas, he could head to Shield's Rest and try fighting the Vrykul named Ygrim.
Traveling from Lordaeron to Quel'Thalas required first passing through Andorhal, then heading north upon reaching Eastweald. After reaching Quel'Lithien Lodge, the High Elf rangers' border outpost, they would enter Eversong Woods within Quel'Thalas.
Overall, this stretch of the journey was relatively safe. Although Orcs had once been active in the region, the armies of the various nations had since cleared them out. The Hinterlands, where the Trolls were entrenched, were even farther away. Generally speaking, there should not be any problems.
The only thing that stirred Aaron's feelings was that this seemed to be the route Arthas would take into Quel'Thalas after destroying Lordaeron in the future story.
Of course, Aaron would never say such a thing aloud. He merely found it a little strange. Naturally, he also knew that this was actually the only route from Lordaeron to Quel'Thalas. Taking another direction would probably require a long detour by ship, and such a route would be far too troublesome.
Taking in the local sights and customs of the Kingdom of Lordaeron along the way, Aaron and Vereesa leisurely made their way to Andorhal, the granary of the kingdom's north. The grain produced here supplied the daily needs of nearly half the Kingdom of Lordaeron's inhabitants.
It was precisely because this place was so important that the Cult of the Damned would later make trouble here, ultimately forcing Arthas to head north and carry out a massacre in Stratholme. That incident was also what made Arthas's psychological problems grow increasingly severe, until Ner'zhul finally beguiled him into becoming a Death Knight, and he later became the second Lich King.
Along the way, Aaron noticed that although the fields beside the road had clearly yielded a bumper harvest, traces left by the war were still visible. Back then, Orgrimmar had led the Horde army in a siege of Quel'Thalas but failed to take it, then turned toward Lordaeron. Along the way, those green fellows had inflicted considerable destruction on this land.
After passing the farms of Andorhal, Aaron and Vereesa continued onward, only to hear a new place name. Aaron looked so astonished that he asked Vereesa to confirm it several times. "Is this place really called Marris Stead?"
Vereesa gave Aaron a puzzled look. "Yes, this is Marris Stead. I remember that's what the villagers here told me. Is there someone you know here?"
A mysterious smile appeared on Aaron's face. "I don't know anyone here, but there is someone you know here, Vereesa."
"Someone I know?"
"You'll know when you see him."