Charlemagne Theron, the eldest son of the Theron family and elder brother of Lor'themar Theron.
He did not know whether such a person had existed in the original history, but after being born into this world from his mother's womb, Charlemagne had spent a period in a muddled daze.
From childhood until ten years ago, Charlemagne had been undergoing soul fusion, and in everyone else's eyes, he had been thoroughly mentally disabled. Fortunately, although his parents were somewhat disappointed by their child's limited intelligence, they had still raised him with loving care.
Lor'themar's birth had delighted the entire family. Even Charlemagne, whose mind had been clouded at the time, had instinctively expressed joy at his younger brother's arrival.
Like the Windrunner family, the Theron family had been a family of rangers for generations.
The rangers, a fighting force distinctive to the high elves, had been founded during the Troll Wars thousands of years ago. Their first Ranger-General had been the ancestor of the Windrunner family-Talanas Windrunner.
Yet in Quel'Thalas, the high elven kingdom where arcane magic flourished, despite the many achievements the rangers had earned over thousands of years, the mages who wielded arcane power were still held in the highest regard by both the common people and the upper ranks.
With the Sunwell serving as an immense source of energy, high elven mages even advanced far more easily than the humans who had learned the art after them.
After the Highborne, originally the nobility of the night elves, had arrived in Eversong Woods and founded their kingdom, the Sunwell's radiation had lightened their originally violet skin, while their eyes had gradually turned blue.
Nourished by the Sunwell, the entire high elven civilization had flourished. At the same time, however, they had discovered their destined enemies in the surrounding lands-the Amani Trolls.
Strictly speaking, all elves had originally belonged to the same race as trolls. The earliest night elves had gradually transformed from dark trolls who had migrated near the Well of Eternity.
As cousins of the night elves, the high elves naturally shared some kinship with trolls as well.
Once the two sides actually met, however, neither considered those distant blood ties. As they came into contact, the millennia-long Troll Wars had unfolded on a vast scale.
The Theron family, which had served for generations as deputies to the Windrunner Ranger-Generals, had likewise sent its patriarch, Sigma Theron, to follow the Windrunner family onto the battlefield. With the full support of Emperor Thoradin of the human empire of Arathor, they had ultimately defeated the trolls and secured final victory in the war.
But Sigma, who had survived the immense Troll Wars, had later been ambushed and killed during an attack on Zul'Aman.
The Windrunner family's Ranger-General of that generation, the father of Alleria and her two sisters, had also died in the same incident.
Upon hearing the terrible news, Charlemagne and Lor'themar's mother had been unable to bear the blow. Before long, grief and worry had made her ill, and she had passed away.
The two orphaned brothers had been taken in and raised by Lireesa Windrunner, who had succeeded to the position of Ranger-General. She was also the mother of the three sisters, Alleria, Sylvanas, and Vereesa.
Watching his younger brother Lor'themar weep in sorrow, the mentally clouded Charlemagne had felt grief as well, but with his mind in chaos, he had remained unable to truly control himself.
The Ranger-General's duties kept Lireesa busy and away from home much of the time, so the task of caring for the brothers had fallen to her eldest daughter-Alleria Windrunner.
At first, the rather rebellious Alleria had looked down utterly on the mentally disabled child Charlemagne. Eager to protect his brother, Lor'themar had naturally disliked this fellow elf of their age who so often looked at them with contempt.
Ten years ago, however, Charlemagne had finally completed his soul fusion, swiftly regained his senses, and taken control of his body once more. The Thalassian used over those many years had also become engraved deep within his soul, like an instinct.
Although filled with regret over his parents' deaths, Charlemagne had nevertheless sought out Ranger-General Lireesa with firm resolve and concern for the future, hoping to learn from her and become a ranger.
Lireesa had naturally been deeply heartened by the unexpected recovery of her late close friend's eldest son. Holding nothing back, she had taught him every technique she knew, and Charlemagne had rapidly absorbed all that knowledge like a sponge.
The origins of Quel'Thalas, the ancestors of the high elves, the founding of the ranger forces, and the situation Quel'Thalas now faced-Lireesa had taught all these things alongside ranger techniques to Charlemagne and Lor'themar, who trained with him.
The Dark Portal hasn't opened yet? That means I still have enough time... Since I've been reborn as a high elf in this life, I won't let what happened to the blood elves in the future happen to us again!
As a transmigrator, Charlemagne naturally knew the hardships that would befall Quel'Thalas and the high elves, and even all of Azeroth, from this point onward.
Now that he had become one of the high elves, only by doing everything he could to improve his strength and build a force of his own could he survive in this age fraught with danger.
The orc wars, the Undead Scourge, the Old Gods, and the Burning Legion-thinking of these steadily approaching enemies, Charlemagne wished he could split every minute into two.
Over these years, Alleria had also witnessed firsthand the spectacular transformation of a mentally disabled high elven child. The fool she had once seen in him had needed only a few short years of training to nearly catch up with her, despite her century of ranger training.
She had found it unbelievable, but it had also stirred a sense of danger and a competitive spirit within her. Having inherited the indolent nature of long-lived races such as the high elves, she had, for the first time ever, begun asking her mother for extra training of her own accord.
Unlike the strong, sensible second daughter Sylvanas and the third daughter Vereesa, who had only just come of age and still retained a touch of childishness, Alleria, the rebellious eldest daughter, had been a constant source of worry for Lireesa since birth. She had even relinquished the duties of Ranger-General that she should have inherited, intending to become one of the Farstriders instead.
The Farstriders-an organization likewise composed of rangers. Unlike the ranger forces, which simply defended Quel'Thalas, the Farstriders believed in fighting for the Highborne throughout Azeroth, so naturally, many of them spent long periods wandering far from home.
Her eldest daughter's rebellious ideas had given Lireesa a considerable headache, and she had even decided to pass the position of Ranger-General to her second daughter, Sylvanas, in the future.
But Alleria was her own flesh and blood, after all, and Lireesa had in fact always worried about her daughter's future. Now that Charlemagne had spurred her to pursue further training, her mother could hardly have wished for more.
Their rivalry had instead led the two to develop mutual admiration as they honed one another's skills. Over the following years, that feeling had gradually deepened through their days together, reaching the point where they were more than friends but not quite lovers.
Although busy with official duties, Lireesa had noticed the ambiguous relationship between her eldest daughter and her late close friend's son. She also thought highly of a diligent, driven elf like Charlemagne, however, and simply turned a blind eye to their relationship, leaving them to develop it on their own.
Yet... at some point, Charlemagne had begun having the same nightmare over and over. Its contents were precisely the scenes of Quel'Thalas falling in the original history.
Alleria's younger sister Sylvanas would also die in that war, then be transformed into the Banshee Queen by the Death Knight Arthas, continuing down the path of turning dark without ever looking back.
Returning together, the two smiled at the sight of the tranquil Windrunner Village, now close before them.
That's right, there's still time for everything. The Farstriders-let this be my first step toward changing the future!
(End of chapter)