Two Different Fates, Two Different Endings
Snyder had met an old acquaintance he had not seen in a long time, someone who should have been dead. For a moment, he failed to react. Moreover, his old acquaintance's appearance had changed, and he could only recognize her by her hoarse voice.
Vashj stroked her snake hair and began to recount what had happened to them.
"Your Majesty! The Well of Eternity has exploded!" Vashj, the head maid, burst in from outside.
"What! What happened?" Queen Azshara's expression finally changed. With the Well of Eternity behind her, she had feared no one, but without it, her strength would be greatly diminished.
"The rebels detonated the Well of Eternity. Most of the Burning Legion's members were sucked into the well when it exploded."
"Your Majesty, a tsunami caused by the Well of Eternity's explosion is heading toward us. The Highborne outside have already begun to panic," a soldier who had run in from outside said, panting heavily.
Everyone in the room froze at the news.
"Don't panic! I'll take care of it," Azshara said from her throne.
That was right. They still had their queen. With her strength, she could surely solve any trouble. Hope filled the Highborne's eyes again, such was their confidence in their queen's strength.
"Come with me, all of you. I'm going to protect the people who are loyal to me."
Azshara strode outside, and Vashj and the others in the room hurried after their queen.
Outside, more and more Highborne were taking to the streets, the panic in their eyes showing their desire to flee.
Azshara's trusted aides were doing their best to keep the situation under control, but it was no use. The crowd remained in a state of panic.
"What are you afraid of, my people?"
Azshara spoke from a raised platform. Her voice seemed to carry a kind of magic. When the elves of Zin-Azshari heard his voice, their panic subsided.
The queen was their faith. She would surely save them.
Azshara herself was struggling to hold on. She could only hope the tsunami would be smaller.
"Your Majesty, the tsunami is coming," Vashj warned, watching it draw closer and closer.
Azshara began casting an Arcane shield, and it spread to envelop all of Zin-Azshari. The golden shield put the elves present at ease.
The first wave of the tsunami struck the shield, but it did little damage. Each wave that followed was higher than the last, and every strike dimmed the shield a little, but Azshara immediately replenished it.
After an unknown amount of time, the tsunami was finally about to end, and she was finally about to get a chance to rest.
A powerful earthquake erupted beneath Zin-Azshari, its tremendous force tearing the city's land apart. At the same time, the earthquake sent a wave higher than any before it crashing toward Zin-Azshari.
The people's eyes filled with fear once more. They looked to their queen, hoping she could save them, and Azshara turned to look at her people.
She saw their fear and their trust in her. Azshara turned back and increased the energy she supplied, strengthening the shield.
But he had underestimated nature. Its power shattered the shield he had struggled to maintain. Azshara drained the last trace of her magic, but the shield still broke.
The sea swallowed Zin-Azshari, and the earthquake sent it sinking to the ocean floor.
Countless elves sank into the sea with Azshara.
The seawater carried them into the depths.
Azshara had never longed for power so desperately. Her empire had been destroyed, and she began to hate the rebels on land and every living creature there, except for the elf who used the elemental spells she looked down on, the one of her kind who had golden eyes like hers.
"I can let you and your people survive, so that you can take revenge on your enemies on land."
A whisper sounded in Azshara's mind.
"Who is it? Who's speaking?" Azshara asked in her heart. The pressure of the seawater kept him from opening his mouth, so he could only question the other party this way.
"I am the one who can save your people, and I can give you power you have never possessed, so that you can take revenge on the creatures on land. All you have to do is pledge your loyalty to me and give up a few things."
"We have nothing left to lose. I accept your terms."
"Good. The deal is done. You and your people will now be my servants."
A vast power of shadow enveloped Azshara and his people.
The shadow power began changing their bodies. Their legs vanished, replaced by snake tails. The male Highborne's upper bodies grew muscular, their entire forms twisted into upright serpentine creatures, their arms thickening. The female Highborne were also twisted into serpentine creatures, but their arms became two pairs, and their figures remained as slender as before.
Vashj and the other maids, powerful Highborne, had their hair turned into snakes and their lower bodies into snake tails, while retaining some Highborne features.
Queen Azshara lost her violet hair. Her lower body became something like an octopus's legs, and her hair became something like tentacles, but she was still beautiful, just not as beautiful as before.
When the transformation ended, Azshara and his people survived in the deep sea.
After adapting to her new body, Azshara saw her reflection in a crystal.
"No!" Azshara wailed in terror. She had lost the beauty she had been so proud of. He shattered the crystal with a punch.
The Old God N'Zoth laughed sinisterly.
Thus, a new race, the Naga, was born.
"What a painful past to look back on," Snyder said.
"Indeed, but we've adapted," Vashj said, looking at her serpentine body.
"What brings you here?" Snyder asked.
"The queen still thinks of you. After all, you rejected her declaration of love, bringing her romance to an end before it had even begun."
"Huh? Feelings can't be forced."
Azshara believed that Snyder, like her, had golden eyes and was also extremely powerful, even a little more powerful than she was. Any child they had would surely be born strong.
Moreover, Snyder was exceptionally handsome and very elegant in his behavior. He met all of Azshara's standards for a mate.
But Snyder had rejected Azshara and chosen Maiev. If only he had agreed, he could have risen to the pinnacle of power.
His choice had left everyone dumbfounded. It had also plunged Azshara into self-doubt for a time.
Snyder, meanwhile, had been driven out of Zin-Azshari by the furious Highborne. He had then founded Darnassus and, during the War of the Ancients, gained nominal control of Eldre'Thalas and Suramar.
"Let's not speak of the past. The queen sent us to congratulate you on founding your kingdom. She also had us bring these things."
Vashj waved to the Naga guards behind her, signaling them to bring forward the treasures.
They were all treasures from the deep sea: pearls as large as a person's head, deep-blue deep-sea crystals, healing herbs from the ocean floor, and more. All were deep-sea treasures that could be found only by chance.
"How did you know I raised a continent and established a kingdom here?"
"Your actions were too grand. They drew the attention of the entire world." With that, Vashj prepared to leave with the Naga army.
"Wait. Thank Queen Azshara for her gifts. I have something for her as well."
As he spoke, Snyder took out the magical energy sphere left over from stabilizing the portal in Suramar. It contained the power of the Well of Eternity and an artifact.
He tossed the energy sphere into the sky, then threw a blue crystal and pearls up after it.
Snyder linked the three things together with magical energy, then used elemental power to shape them. A necklace slowly took form in the air.
The blue crystal formed its centerpiece. The pearls, which Snyder had shrunk with magic, adorned the necklace like teardrops, while the energy sphere formed the necklace's string and the light within the pearls.
"Give this to Queen Azshara, and thank her for looking after me all these years."
Snyder put the necklace in a small box and handed it to Vashj.
"Does the necklace have a name?" Vashj asked after taking it.
"Let's call it Aikatelle's Devotion."
After learning its name, Vashj left with her Naga attendants.