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Quel'thalas
Kael, Sylvanas and more rangers quickly headed towards the Sunwell but what they found were nothing but dead bodies. The Sunwell itself no longer gave out arcane power but was now exuding corrupt energies similar to that of the Legion
"What happened here? How did the demons get in here unnoticed?" Kael demanded to know from Rommath, who had accompanied them back. While he was told of what happened, it was still hard to believe that a demon infiltrated their city without anyone noticing
"We don't know, my prince. Your father suddenly felt the wards in the Sunwell breached and we found Dar'khan along with another magister, who soon turned into a demon. That demon was even familiar with Felo'melorn." Rommath answered before noticing something, it was the runeblade Felo'melorn. The dreadlords didn't even bother to take it with them
Kael walked over and picked it up, noticing a small burnt area. As soon as he felt the magic, he realized who it belongs to
"I'm sorry, prince Kael." Rommath said, confirming who the ashes belonged to. "The demons didn't leave anything of your father behind."
A tense silence then took over. Kael was informed about what had happened earlier, how the dreadlords infiltrated them by posing as an elven mage, taking complete advantage of the lack of knowledge of their enemies about the demons. Just as Sylvanas was about to ask Kael on their next move, a guard suddenly came running in
"Prince Kael'thas, you need to come outside quick. It's urgent." the guard said in a panic. Everyone frowned at what was going on so they followed him back to the city. Once there, they were surprised to see an injured Antonidas being tended to by some priests
"Antonidas, what happened?" Sylvanas asked, hoping that what she was thinking wasn't true
"The dreadlords. They have infiltrated Dalaran by posing as citizens. They took the Book of Medivh and before I left, they have already begun some kind of ritual, most likely to bring the Burning Legion into our world." Antonidas explained but he still left out some details. "I barely made it out as Dalaran was attacked by orcs and the undead, which distracted the dreadlords and allowed me to escape. The council members are all dead, minus the two of us."
"This is bad. We need to stop the summoning." Rommath said before Sylvanas quickly interjected
"No. Dalaran is quite a long way and if they've already begun, we may already be too late." Sylvanas said before looking at Kael. "It seems our only choice now is to flee. Dalaran is still at the very least, a three hour journey from here."
Kael frowned at this as it seemed that they had no other choice. "Sylvanas, you need to go to Lordaeron. Inform King Terenas about what happened and about the dreadlord's ability to disguise himself. Have all the paladins check everyone who is with the expeditions if they are demons in disguise."
"What about you?" Sylvanas asked
"I'll head back to Dalaran and see what I can do, and maybe I can find a way to interrupt the summoning. If not, then at the very least, I'll be able to teleport everyone to Lordaeron. Regardless, our first priority should be getting as many people out while ensuring that no one is a demon in disguise. We would all be dead if even one citizen is actually another demon." Kael answered to which Sylvanas reluctantly agreed
"I'll come with you." Antonidas said as he slowly got up, obviously still reeling from his earlier battle with the dreadlords. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I may still be injured but I can still fight."
"Just don't push yourself too much, Antonidas." Kael said and ultimately agreed. He then looked at Rommath. "Go. Take Sylvanas to Lordaeron and inform King Terenas of the situation. We need to be ready to leave in the next few hours otherwise the Legion would just wipe us all out."
Rommath reluctantly agreed to this before channeling his power, casting a teleportation spell that would get them to the Capital City of Lordaeron. Kael decided to leave the Sunwell for a couple reasons. One, they were running out of time and two, he had no idea how to destroy it. No one does and they'd be joining the Scourge by the time they figure it out
Dalaran
Dalaran was in complete chaos right now. With the lack of the champion for the Lich King, the dreadlords were forced to take a more personal approach. While their original plan was to use the Scourge to weaken the eastern kingdoms, now, they would just go straight for the summoning while throwing Lordaeron and Quel'thalas into complete chaos just by their infiltration
Their attack on the three kingdoms was a success. The retrieved Kel'thuzad's body, killed Anasterian and resurrected the summoner as a lich and more importantly, retrieved Medvih's Book. At the moment, the six dreadlords of Balnazzar, Detheroc, Varimathras, Mephistroth, Anetheron and Tichondrius gathered at the hills outside the Violet Citadel while Mal'ganis lead the Scourge forces against the gates of the city, aided by the Blackrock Orcs from Alterac
"Are you ready to begin the summoning?" Tichondrius asked as he, Mephistroth and Anetheron were finishing up the summoning circle
"Yes. All I require now is Medivh's Book." Kel'thuzad said before three glowing green lights appeared and the three dreadlords finally arrived with the book. "The summoning will take some time. If it is interrupted then it will fail. The other two kingdoms may be in disarray but the forces in Dalaran is still formidable. We are heavily outnumbered and the rest of our forces is on the other side of the city." the lich pointed out
"Do not worry, we have prepared for such a possibility. Instead of summoning Lord Archimonde, you will instead first summon Doom Lord Kazzak." Varimathras explained
"If I do that then Archimonde's summoning will take even longer." Kel'thuzad pointed out once more
"That's true but as you said, we are heavily outnumbered. Archimonde's summoning will take at most an hour while Kazzak will take less than half of that time. He also has an army ready to aid us so by summoning him, we will also bolster our forces on this side in the event Mal'ganis ends up having trouble getting here." Mephistroth answered
"How long it takes for Archimonde to arrive is irrelevant. All that matters is that he arrives. After Kazzak, you will summon Mannoroth next and ensure that the humans will not be able to interrupt us." Anetheron ordered as he walked to the edge of the hill. "Our forces is also heavily divided. We are using only a small undead army aided by orcs to attack the city. Most of the undead are in the forests that separates Dalaran from Quel'thalas and Lordaeron, ready to ambush any potential reinforcements. As such, we will instead summon a couple small armies of the Legion before the main invasion force so that we can ensure Archimonde's arrival."
"I understand. I shall begin the summoning then." Kel'thuzad said before putting the book on a pedestal, flipping through the pages until he arrived at the ones that contained the incantations. Once he found them, he began channeling a great amount of power, enough that it is slowly disrupting the barriers between worlds. "You dreadlords need to hold off any assaults, at least until I can bring Kazzak and his group into this world."
"Take up defensive positions. The archmages will realize what we're up to sooner or later. We need Kazzak to bring in reinforcements or Archimonde will have our heads." Tichondrius ordered and the rest of the dreadlords then hid in the shadows
At the gates of Dalaran, Mal'ganis was having a whole lot of trouble. The forces of Dalaran were really formidable. Vereesa Windrunner had assumed command in the absence of the Council of Six and she was able to stop the advance after they got in a good distance. The city's magical defenses also proved extremely useful, able to kill hordes of orcs and undead at once. If the battle went on like this, then they would be able to defeat the incoming offensive, or so they thought. Kael'thas soon arrived and quickly met up with Vereesa, who was standing on one of the city's higher elevations firing her arrows
"Vereesa." Kael called out
"Prince Kael? What are you doing here? What's going on?" Vereesa asked in surprise as she thought Kael was supposed to be in Quel'thalas
Kael quickly informed her of what happened and she was surprised. She was so focused on the defense of the city that she hadn't even begun looking for the dreadlords, not that she had the choice otherwise the city would be breached. All of them all soon felt a surge of energy from afar. They all quickly tensed before heading to the nearest tower that would overlook the hills where the energy came from but not before Vereesa gave some more orders. When they arrived, any hope of victory they had was lost. A massive demon, which was Doom Lord Kazzak but no one knew who he was, stepped through the altar and with him, an army of demons. Kazzak's army all took up defensive positions, ready to hold off any assaults. Vereesa had a horrified look on her face as she didn't even consider this at all
"This isn't your fault Vereesa. You did a good job on holding off the assault. No one could have predicted that they would summon them here." Antonidas said reassuringly
While she still considered this her failure, Vereesa chose to ignore it for now as there was no time for dwelling. "We have to evacuate the city. More and more demons are coming through and we will be overrun soon from both sides." she suggested
"There isn't enough time for us to get everyone out of here, not at this rate at least. Kael, you and Rhonin get everyone to Lordaeron and leave. I will try to buy you a few minutes." Antonidas said, knowing that it will only be a matter of time before the demons finally arrive
"But Antonidas..." Vereesa attempted to object but was cut off
"Do it, Vereesa. If the demons manage to gather a large enough army, we will get attacked on both sides. This battle is already lost. More importantly, King Terenas needs to be aware of what is going on so they can evacuate immediately." Antonidas said sternly
"But what about the Kirin Tor? Who will lead us?" Vereesa pointed out
"You and Rhonin will. He has already proven he is a capable leader. He will do fine with your help. Go." Antonidas said before teleporting away, obviously on a suicide mission that is doomed to fail but the point is simply to buy a few minutes
"Vereesa, let's go. We won't last long at this rate." Kael said and ran back down, beginning to evacuate the city while Vereesa went to buy more time. Kael, Rhonin, and every other available mage, began creating a portal for the citizens to retreat back to Lordaeron before teleporting a runner first to Lordaeron to inform them of what is going on
Antonidas in the meantime, used his magic to hide among the trees. With none of Dalaran's forces attacking the altar, most of the Legion's forces left a few gaps in their defense. What the archmage didn't know is that it was intended all along. The dreadlords hid in the shadows in those gaps. Antonidas suspected that much and avoided them, instead going right below the hill, a good distance away from the nearest demon. He then began channeling his own power, even drawing on his own life force, to create a powerful magical attack to at the very least, interrupt it
This did not go unnoticed by the nearest demons and they quickly rushed to go for the kill. They were a bit too late as the archmage was able to fire a powerful lightning bolt, which scored a direct hit on Kazzak, knocking him away and created a huge explosion. The explosion also knocked a few demons away and one of them hit Kel'thuzad, which interrupted him
"You fools. Kill him." Kazzak ordered in anger but at that point, Antonidas was already being ripped to shreds by the Fel Guards but the damage has been done. "The summoning is not done." the doom lord said as the lich slowly got up
"It really doesn't matter. It would seem that Mal'ganis is doing a good job of keeping them busy. I will simply restart the summoning and continue opening the gateway for Mannoroth." Kel'thuzad said before doing the ritual again
"Mannoroth is gonna be pissed once he finds out we have been delayed." Kazzak commented as he looked at the city
"Since when is that pit lord not pissed about something." Tichondrius commented with slight amusement
In the city, the portal didn't take too long to finish. "Go. Get out of here, now!" Rhonin yelled and the citizens quickly ran through it. After most of the city has been evacuated which took nearly half an hour, Kael looked the outside of the city and noticed that even more demons poured through, this time accompanied by a giant lizard that is more than twice the size of a human with huge tusks and wings, wielding a double edged spear. This was none other than Mannoroth but like with the rest of the demons, none of the alliance members knew his identity
"Vereesa, let's get out of here, now. The evacuation is finished." Kael yelled out. The ranger looked at him and gave a nod before giving the order to retreat to the rest of the defenders. Soon enough, they all retreated with Kael and Vereesa going in last. The portal then closed
The orcs and the undead, who weren't even trying that hard to push once Mal'ganis received word of Kazzak's arrival, suddenly found their enemies retreating. They quickly rushed to the city, completely destroying any building in their path but inside, Mal'ganis found it abandoned. Their enemies escaped but it didn't matter as this meant that no one will interrupt the summoning anymore. The armies that were lying in ambush were then recalled to assume defensive positions around Dalaran in case the humans were going for a suicidal full scale counter attack
Nearly an hour later, the sky burned green, lightning of the same color struck around before finally, one last lightning struck the altar
"Come forth Lord Archimonde. Enter this world and let us bask in your power." Kel'thuzad said before the demon lord finally stepped through
"Tremble mortals and despair. Doom has come to this world." Archimonde said, declaring his victory despite no one was there to witness it. "You have done well little lich." he said, looking at the lich before looking at Tichondrius. "Despite your intiial failure, I am pleased that you still have succeeded."
Just a few minutes after Archimonde's arrival, multiple gunships soon arrived, numbering nearly thirty and they quickly took aim and the nearby forests. From the gunships, doom guards came flying down while more demons stepped through the tear made by Kel'thuzad
When the gunships arrived, Mal'ganis then teleported to the altar to report what happened. "Lord Archimonde." he said, grabbing everyone's attention. "All the humans have evacuated the city some time ago. I suspect they retreated to Lordaeron and are preparing to flee. Do we go after them?"
Archimonde thought about this for a moment before looking at Tichondrius. "Are you sure that the orcs have fled to the west?"
"Yes. The direction they left were to the west and the only thing in the west is Kalimdor." Tichondrius confirmed
"Then don't bother. If the orcs are there then they will without a doubt meet and considering their personalities, it's gonna be difficult for them to ally with each other. You do have cultists among their citizens right?" Archimonde asked
"We do, even among those that have fled to the other kingdoms." Mephistroth answered
"Very well. For now, we shall not launch any further assaults." Archimonde said and surprised everyone present. "Our original plan was to use the Scourge to weaken the kingdoms for our arrival but now, we will need to strengthen our hold here in the event the mortals try to counter attack from the other kingdoms."
"What about the gunships? We can use them to intercept them as soon as they arrive on Kalimdor." Mannoroth pointed out
"No. I have other plans for the gunships." Archimonde said, looking at the fleet of gunships he brought with him
Lordaeron
Kael, Vereesa, Rhonin and the others arrived earlier. King Terenas and the other paladins have already been informed of the situation and have immediately began checking everyone present. The first few ships have already sailed to Stormwind and Kul'tiras a few days earlier with most of the citizens. They sent the citizens first as those kingdoms have their own army while the expedition to Kalimdor will need all the troops they can get as they are venturing into unknown lands. The paladins have also discovered Gavinrad's remains earlier and they all concluded that the lich that was conducting the ritual was a reanimated Kel'thuzad. Due to how the dreadlords made their assault, they made it their top priority to ensure that there weren't any demons in disguise left. Unfortunately, they had no way to see if someone was a spy for the Scourge as the spies were just regular humans. They weren't that deep into the magics wielded by the Scourge or the Legion yet
"How long do you think before they arrive?" Uther asked as the leadership gathered, which consisted of King Terenas, Uther, Arthas, Jaina, Kael, Sylvanas, Vereesa and Rhonin. All of the other leaders are already dead or at their respective kingdoms
"Hard to say. On a usual trip, Lordaeron is about two days away from Dalaran." Kael said as they were all gathered in the coast
Arthas was not at all happy with this turn of events. He would have preferred to stay and fight but he quickly changed his mind at how the dreadlords were able to accomplish their objectives and they even made it seem that they did it effortlessly
"Regardless, we should leave as soon as we can. Before we left, more and more demons were pouring through. I don't think it would take them that long." Vereesa pointed out
"Agreed. The preparations are nearly finished and most of the citizens have already travelled to Stormwind and Kul'tiras. They should arrive there in the next few days." King Terenas said before looking at the remaining ships they have
"And the rest of the SIlver Hand have already left as well. We are the only ones that remain." Uther added
"If that's settled, we should go, now. The longer we stay, we risk the Legion catching up to us." Vereesa said, clearly concerned about the situation
Nobody objected to that so King Terenas and Uther boarded one of the ships while everyone else boarded another. Soon, the order to leave was finally given and all the ships set sail, completely leaving their lands, helpless to stop the arrival of the Burning Legion. This was something that none of them thought they would ever do in their lives
One month later
During the last weeks, the Kalimdor Alliance Expedition have made it safely. They lost a few ships but most made it. They made landfall and quickly explored the barren landscape, eventually coming across Stonetalon Peak, where the prophet convinced them to ally with the orcs, which all of them reluctantly agreed
Fortunately for them, they managed to get rid of Mannoroth but it came at the cost of Grom Hellscream, even with Kael, Arthas and Sylvanas' help as Mannoroth had a few doom guards with him. But at that point, the Legion had gotten what they wanted, the death of Cenarius, which was done by Grom manipulated by the Legion
From there, the Legion invasion of Kalimdor finally began. Seven gunships appeared in the barrens just as the Alliance and the Horde burst into Ashenvale Forest. Their intrusion quickly annoyed the night elves and they ended up fighting a two front war as the Legion arrived very quickly with their gunships
The night elves, Alliance, and Horde, quickly retreated deeper into the forest as the gunships put a lot of pressure on their ground forces as it quickly began bombarding fel fireballs at random, corrupting the forests, bringing in Fel Reavers and Infernals while Fel Guards, Doom Guards, Succubi, Shivarra, Dreadlords and Eredars dropped in great numbers from the gunships, including Kazzak, Azgalor, Tichondrius, Rage Winterchill and of course, Archimonde himself. All of the demons with their undead minions quickly began killing the inhabitants of Ashenvale with impunity as the night elves were distracted by the humans and orcs
Eventually, the night elves managed to awaken the druids and were finally able to slow down the Legion's invasion, but that was it, only slow down, as the Legion brought with them an undead army, their numbers still grew with every passing moment
The situation turned so dire for them after a few days of near non stop fighting that Tyrande Whisperwind decided to ask help from someone who was considered to be very dangerous, Illidan Stormrage, who was imprisoned near the druids of the claw for the last ten thousand years. Illidan reluctantly agreed to help the night elves but only becase Tyrande asked him and nothing more. He ventured into Felwood alone, which was one of the areas that was greatly corrupted already
"I am free after ten thousand years." Illidan said to himself as he was observing the effects of the corruption. Despite being imprisoned for ten thousand years, he wasn't that pissed off about it, something which surprised his brother when they met as Malfurion honestly thought that they would have to fight, something he was not so keen on. Illidan was already a difficult opponent to imprison the first time. Doing it again would prove to be just as if not more difficult
The demon hunter just sat on the ground as he knew that the Legion wasn't nearby and he was powerful enough to beat a half decent demon on his own. He turned his head around when he sensed someone approach but he wasn't particularly concerned as he felt this individual wasn't here to kill him
"So, you're Illidan Stormrage, the one they call 'The Betrayer'?" the newcomer asked
"Betrayer. In truth, they never truly understood what they brought upon themselves. Ten thousand years ago, I warned them that the Legion would return and they chose to do nothing." Illidan said with a hint of irritation before getting up. "Who are you? You seem to be an undead mage yet you don't appear to be affiliated with the Burning Legion."
"I am Kel'thuzad, arch lich of the Scourge." he introduced himself to the demon hunter, who merely stared at him, indicating that he wanted the lich to explain further. "As you have rightfully observed, I am not affiliated with the Burning Legion. My master, is just like you in a sense, he opposes the Legion but is forced to do their bidding."
"And you came here to sabotage the invasion, right? Otherwise Archimonde would have killed you by now as even he is too careful for someone like you to be here." Illidan pointed out
"That is correct. My master used his powers to ensure that I would slip by here unnoticed but it will not last long." Kel'thuzad said before pointing at a specific direction. "You can feel it can't you? The source of this corruption is an artifact known as 'The Skull of Gul'dan', controlled by the leader of the Dreadlords, Tichondrius. If you steal it and take its powers, you will be able to gain enough to overpower most of the demons."
"And why should I trust you, lich?" Illidan asked suspiciously
"My master sees all, demon hunter. He knows that you're the only one aware of what the Legion is truly capable of. Even with the help of the humans and orcs, it will be very difficult to stop the Legion especially with their gunships ready to rain down destruction at a moment's notice. More importantly, you of all people, should realize that defeating the Burning Legion will come at a price, no matter what form it takes." Kel'thuzad said before blue energies surrounded him. "It seems that my master is at the end of his ability to keep me hidden and that the dreadlords will find out something suspicious. I must go otherwise my master is in danger." he said before throwing a crystal at Illidan. "Before I go, take this. Channel your powers into it and you will be able to see what the Legion have been doing since their arrival weeks ago." he said before finally vanishing
Illidan stared at where the lich stood just a few seconds ago before looking at the crystal given to him. He didn't trust him at all, which wasn't surprising but on the other hand, if the Legion did bring gunships, then he knew that they could easily turn the tide of any battle, not to mention that this corruption could spread even further if it isn't stopped. But if he did take its powers, there was no doubt that his brother and Tyrande would react negatively regardless of what happens. After a few minutes of careful thinking, he made his choice. He sneaked his way through the burning, corrupted forests and soon arrived among the trees which overlooked the area which contained the skull
Multiple Doom Guards, Infernals, Fel Reavers and a lot of Satyrs guarded it. Illidan knew that getting the skull wasn't going to be easy and the fact that he wasn't given an army to help him only made things more complicated. Fortunately for him, someone had trained him to take on many enemies all at once. To this day, the full extent of Illidan's training was never revealed. The only thing they knew is that he was a sorcerer that was trained into a hunter by Kur'talos Ravencrest after seeing his overreliance on magic
Illidan unleashed a huge volume of fire magic which quickly killed all of the Satyrs present. This alerted the Doom Guard that they were under attack, sending out the Infernals and Fel Reavers to find their attacker. Unfortunately for them, the Infernals and Fel Reavers were not able to find their attacker, partly because of Illidan's own ability and partly because this wasn't what the Infernals and Fel Reavers were supposed to do. The fact that nearly all of the Fel Reavers and Infernals left the immediate vicinity of the skull made it easier for Illidan to make his move
The demon hunter summoned the Twin Blades of Azzinoth to his hands before quickly disabling the remaining mechanical demonic constructs in the skull's immediate vicinity. This quickly attracted the attention of the Doom Guards who tried flinging spells but Illidan reacted faster, throwing one of his blades away and summoning a flame elemental, which aided him in defeating the remaining Doom Guards. While it was difficult to defeat seven Doom Guards on his own, Illidan was able to manage it
Illidan observed the fallen bodies of the demons, bleeding from multiple wounds he received from battle. However, Illidan ignored them as none of the injuries were fatal. He walked over the the skull and observed it for a few seconds. Eventually, he grabbed the skull and began absorbing its energies. It was a very painful process to take in this much power and it completely distorted Illidan's body. By the time he finished absorbing its energies, he dropped it to the ground while he himself dropped as well, gasping for breath. He looked completely different from he did before absorbing. The tattoos on his body were now glowing a clear green, in the shade of the magics used by the Legion. Large wings grew from his back while horns similar to the dreadlords grew from the side of his head. This metamorphosis also ended up healing all the injuries he received from his battle with the Doom Guards. The single most surprising thing about his transformation is that he still retained his night elven characteristics, purple skin, albeit significantly paler and the pointed ears. His appearance was basically still an ordinary night elf with demonic horns and wings
After a while of recovering his strength, Illidan slowly got up while holding his head, still a bit shaken from the whole ordeal. He was lucky that there were battles raging everywhere that nobody has yet checked up on the skull. His blades soon vanished into thin air as soon as he got up. Knowing that the demons will come here sooner or later, he decided to hunt them down first. He had taken it upon himself that he would destroy the gunships and give the night elves some breathing room. Illidan then quickly left the vicinity, intent on finding Tichondrius
Yeah, yeah. This was kinda rushed, I admit but hey, I already told you that the prologue arc would be a bit rushed since it will be about what changed since Arthas didn't travel to Northrend. And yes, Illidan will be the main character of this story, which should have been obvious given the title. Now, since Illidan is the main character, I will be adding or changing a few details about his life before the War of the Ancients started, and about the lives of a few more characters. Will I change Illidan into a good guy? Will he remain the same? Will Arthas, Jaina, Sylvanas and Kael have parts to play? Well, who really knows
The part about Illidan relying too much on magic is also another thing I made up and Illidan's training is something entirely new, one which is a major component in this fanfic. As for the gunships, I will explain those in the next chapters when even though the Legion brought about thirty, they only used seven along with what the gunships were designed for. Part of it will be in the prologue arc while the rest will be because of the consequence of Arthas not being a death knight. Remember, this fanfic is about a chain of events that resulted from Arthas not taking the bait
That's about it for now