Dar'Khan's delusions

Today, Anasterian had specifically invited the four of them under the pretext of a private banquet, but his real intention was to win over these talented young Quel'dorei.

All four could guess what the Sun King had in mind. Lianda, a member of the royal family, was merely there to keep them company and fill a seat. After all, she already saw the king quite often.

Interestingly, three of the four invitees had ultimately chosen not to remain in Silvermoon City to take up posts.

Sylvanas went without saying. As the next Ranger-General, she would certainly need to stay by her mother's side to receive further instruction.

Although Charlemagne's desire to choose an artifact had surprised Anasterian slightly, it was not too outlandish.

The one who surprised him most was Xiao'en, the young master of the Morningstrider family.

As the king of Quel'Thalas, he naturally paid considerable attention to these upper-class families. Though Xiao'en's past performance could not be called trash, he had certainly never been an astonishing talent either.

But hearing Lianda recount Xiao'en's outstanding performance in a crisis had truly impressed Anasterian. It was as though he could see Xiao'en's father, Fubosi Chenxingzhe, in his former glory, sweeping across the battlefield.

In recent years, Fubosi had been bedridden for a long time, plagued by injuries and ailments from the wars he had fought in his youth.

Although priests had kept him alive with the Holy Light, a full recovery would probably still be difficult.

Now, after taking part in a war, his son had suddenly undergone a complete transformation. This greatly pleased Sun King Anasterian.

After all, Fubosi, who was known as the rebel of the Morningstrider family... had once been a staunch royalist.

Strictly speaking, the entire Morningstrider family leaned toward the royal family. However, that old fox Aoxisi clearly would not allow his family to be isolated by the other members of the Silvermoon Council, so he had never openly displayed any closeness to the royal family.

After all, his younger brother had been close friends with Anasterian in their youth and had twice saved the current Sun King's life. Anasterian had always taken particularly good care of Fubosi, indirectly bringing the two families closer together.

This was also one of the reasons Aoxisi had withdrawn at the height of his career as Dar'Khan gradually gained a dominant position in the council over the years.

Dar'Khan, a rising star of the middle generation, naturally knew about the dealings between the Morningstrider family and the royal family. He had tried every means to draw Aoxisi over to his side, but unfortunately, he had never succeeded.

But calling him a rising star... was only relative to elves like Aoxisi, who had already entered their twilight years. In truth, Dar'Khan probably did not have long before old age either. This was one of the reasons he sought the Sunwell's power.

Intelligent beings always had an innate fear of death. Even High Elves, who lived for thousands of years, were no exception, let alone someone like Dar'Khan, who held high office and could wield immense influence with a wave of his hand.

Dar'Khan's plan was to seize control of the Sunwell and absorb vast quantities of its magical power, breaking through mortal limits to reach the demigod level. Only then could he possess an eternal lifespan.

He had even entertained a treasonous thought: once he successfully reached the demigod level, he could force the Sunstrider family to abdicate and become the eternal king of the entire High Elf race himself.

Unfortunately... this fool had never understood the distinction between reaching the demigod level and being a true Wild God.

Reaching the demigod level did indeed grant an eternal lifespan, but that did not mean a demigod was utterly undying.

Because the souls of the Wild Gods were linked to Azeroth itself, death... was merely part of the cycle of life for them.

Put simply, sooner or later, they could finish their resurrection cast.

An ordinary demigod-level powerhouse, however, would still perish for good upon death, even with an immensely long lifespan.

Besides, absorbing the Sunwell's energy was not that simple. Otherwise, why would Anasterian not do it himself...? Forcibly absorbing it would only end with being overloaded and exploding.

Of course, there was another way to avoid death: turning oneself into a lich. Unfortunately, with necromancy strictly forbidden by Dalaran at present, few people even knew much about this obscure school of magic.

The first lich was one of the members of the Council of Tirisfal-Meryl Winterstorm. He would later change his name to Meryl Felstorm and take the lead in reestablishing the defunct Council of Tirisfal when the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth again.

Speaking of the Council of Tirisfal, this organization had originally been a secret society founded under the leadership of the High Elves after their voyage east. Its purpose was to protect Azeroth from demonic corruption and ensure that arcane magic was not abused, lest the mistakes of the War of the Ancients be repeated.

Since the society's founding meeting had been held in Tirisfal Glades, they had simply named it the Council of Tirisfal.

Tirisfal Glades was where Dath'Remar had first landed on his voyage east. However, because many elves inexplicably began going mad, Dath'Remar ultimately abandoned the land and continued north to Eversong Woods, where he finally established a nation.

The Council of Tirisfal would select the most powerful mortal mage of the era as the Guardian and grant him or her astonishing magical power through an artifact.

When that Guardian grew too old or tired of their mission, the council would painstakingly select a suitable successor and pour the previous Guardian's power into that successor's body, making them the new Guardian.

However... this system had already been at a standstill for many years. Ever since the previous Guardian, Aegwynn, had coveted the power and refused to return the Guardian's power, the Council of Tirisfal had lost control over the selection of Guardians.

Seeking to perpetuate her own power, Aegwynn had seduced Nielas Aran, a court mage of the Kingdom of Stormwind, and given birth to a baby boy after mating with him.

That baby boy was the current Guardian, Medivh... albeit a fallen Guardian.

When Aegwynn had defeated the Dark Titan Sargeras while carrying out her duties as Guardian, the triumphant Aegwynn had failed to notice that Sargeras's soul had quietly slipped into her body.

When she gave birth to Medivh, Sargeras's soul had seized the opportunity to enter the newborn boy's body. Over the following decades, it had gradually begun to gain dominance within that body.

By now, Medivh could no longer control the conflict between his own power and Sargeras. An unconscious release of power had accidentally killed his father, Nielas Aran, and left him in a coma.

In ten years at most, Medivh would awaken under Sargeras's complete control. He would use his abilities as an astral mage to contact Gul'dan on Draenor, setting the stage for the Orc invasion.

Returning to the subject, Dar'Khan's baffling confidence in himself was actually doomed to failure. Ambitions higher than the heavens and a life thinner than paper-that was precisely the sort of person he was.

Perhaps among the High Elves, whose pool of talent had dwindled, Dar'Khan, an eighth-circle mage, could indeed be considered an outstanding figure of his generation.

But compared with Antonidas, who had reached the realm of a ninth-circle Archmage in only a few decades, and the many human Archmages who came after him... he was merely a toad gazing at the sky from the bottom of a well.

Although Charlemagne found Dar'Khan's schemes rather comical, the Sun King would not let him continue this nonsense unchecked, either, for the sake of preserving royal authority. Winning over more talented people to support the royal family thus became inevitable.

Thanks to the reader "One-hit Kill Little Q" for the tip and support.

(End of chapter)