Rhonin still remembered the scene when he first met Aiden in the Hall of Justice in Stratholme five years ago. He learned from him about a peculiar world in another dimension called "Valoran," and heard about the "League of Legends" system and the legendary "War College."
At that time, Rhonin had hoped that one day he could see this civilization, completely different from Azeroth, with his own eyes. He thought it was just a fantasy, but he never expected it to actually come true!
He didn't even need the ability to travel across dimensions; Valoran appeared directly before him.
The red-bearded mage widened his curious eyes, carefully observing the Valoran War College, which was transforming from virtuality to reality. Besides the heavy, solemn obsidian buildings, he also saw a group of ice sculptures on a huge square—a large number of humans and Yordles lying flat on the ground, as if asleep.
"Is this a special custom of yours, or something?" Rhonin couldn't help but ask Ryze.
"No," Ryze shook his head, explaining in a tone that was both heavy and relieved, "About a thousand years ago, Valoran was eroded by the Void, and Void rifts that could devour everything gradually appeared throughout the continent. Kassadin is an expert in this area. He told us that these rifts would increase over time until the entire Valoran was completely swallowed by the Void."
Recalling the events of that year, Ryze's face showed a hint of reminiscence. Many heroes of Azeroth had gathered around him. They had fought alongside the Valoran Federation for several years, but knew very little about their homeland. They were also curious about the reason why the heroes of Valoran would migrate to Azeroth.
Ryze continued, "Later, we held a meeting here at the War College to discuss solutions. 'Zilean, the Chronokeeper,' told us that in a thousand years, a human from another dimension would save us all. However, given Valoran's condition at the time, it was impossible for us to last that long. So, in order to buy time, we devised a plan that could be described as insane—to stop time for the entire world and freeze life, putting everyone into a state of 'hibernation,' and then have 'Soraka, the Starchild,' use her divine power to maintain people's life signs."
Rhonin looked at the ice sculptures in the square with astonishment. It was only now that he realized that they were all frozen lives!
"But if time is stopped, everything is frozen. Why bother putting people into hibernation?" Prince Kael'thas asked curiously.
"I can answer that!" It was Anachronos, the bronze dragon prince, who spoke. The bronze dragons were experts in matters of time, so he naturally knew why this was done. "If time were completely stopped, then no matter how long Valoran existed, when everything resumed, they would still be at the moment when time was frozen a thousand years ago. Nothing would change. Stopped time does not flow, even if there were a timer that could continue counting in frozen time, it would only be false time. To truly delay for a thousand years, they needed to put Valoran in a state of 'suspended animation'—I suspect the Chronokeeper severed the connection between Valoran and the Void, so that the Void's erosion would not continue to take effect."
Speaking of this, Anachronos looked at the increasingly real Valoran with some concern, and said worriedly, "But in this way, the distorted cause and effect will eventually erupt when time resumes flowing. I wonder if Valoran's Chronokeeper can deal with all of this?"
"There will always be a way. At least we have waited for the person who will save Valoran." Ryze himself was not too worried, but instead glanced at Aiden not far away.
The others immediately understood, and someone laughed, "So it's Lord Aiden, then there's nothing to worry about."
"But to cast such a spell, it must be very difficult, right?" Anachronos asked.
"Of course. In order to achieve that effect, all the heroes of Valoran paid a huge price." Blue arcs of electricity danced in Ryze's hand. He clenched his fist, sensing his current strength, and then glanced at Alexstraza, the Dragon King, who was soaring excitedly over the War College, and pointed at him, saying, "Alexstraza used to have strength no less than that of the current Dragon Aspects, and Lady Kayle even had power surpassing Deathwing—but in order to implement that plan, all the heroes only retained their most basic abilities, and poured the rest of their energy into that grand ritual."
"I see."
In order to reflect the principles of fairness and justice, all the heroes who joined the League of Legends had their strength adjusted and balanced when summoned by summoners, otherwise those gods and demigods alone would be enough to crush dozens or hundreds of ordinary heroes. However, this restriction only existed in Summoner's Rift; their own strength was not affected. And in order to save this continent that was about to be swallowed by the Void, they ultimately only retained their most basic strength.
This is also the biggest reason why those god-level and demigod-level heroes were unable to match their identities when they first came to Azeroth.
However, the strong will eventually be strong. Just like Karthus, in just a few years, he went from a lich with strength similar to Kel'Thuzad to a super powerhouse who was able to seriously injure the chromatic dragon, Chromaggus. As long as there is enough time and opportunity, these heroes will eventually become stronger.
Aiden found Kayle and asked, "Where are Zilean and the other two heroes?"
This was his biggest concern, especially regarding Kael'thas—ever since the battle at Icecrown, Kael'thas had completely disappeared. Aiden deeply feared this would be a final farewell. Especially since he remembered Kael'thas once saying that forcibly stopping time would inevitably incur the punishment of time.
He himself also held the secrets of time and was even more aware of how severe that punishment could be.
"It's at the War Academy, this is where that ritual unfolded."
"Will they be alright? Kael'thas, Anivia, and Soraka—" Aiden was somewhat anxious.
"I would like to know as well, but I hope they are alright." The angel wasn't very good at comforting people, but this sentence did have that effect.
Night had already fallen, but the sky above the Veiled Sea was covered by an increasingly solid illusion. In the dim moonlight, everything here looked shadowy and uncertain, and everything became unknown.
Alexstrasza transformed back into her human form, came to Aiden's side, and said, "Deathwing is dead."
"Oh?" Aiden heard cheers coming from that direction. He looked over, and the reef was covered in flames. Within the fire were countless twisting and crawling tentacles of the Old Gods. Having lost their host, they struggled on the ground, still trying to pounce on the surrounding people. However, the dragons flying in the air continuously breathed dragonfire downwards, burning all these evil tentacles to ashes.
As for Deathwing, his entire body had turned into part of the flames, leaving only his pale skeleton and the elementium armor on his head and neck.
"The Destroyer" was finally dead.
"This is a good thing for everyone," Aiden said with a smile. "I'm afraid only N'Zoth won't be happy."
"Probably nothing you do will make it happy," Alexstrasza joked. "N'Zoth probably hates your guts!"
"Ha, it's better to have it hate me than to let it be pleased. The war between us isn't over yet! We have to let it reunite with C'Thun and Yogg-Saron."
"Yes, I believe that day will come."
"Let's go back to Tempest Keep first. It probably won't be long before this place is filled with the materialized War Academy. I don't want to be buried under the stone slabs." Aiden pointed around. Wasn't he currently surrounded by the plaza filled with countless 'ice sculptures'?
"Alright, I also want to see the moment the miracle truly happens. I'm afraid there won't be a second chance to see such a sight in this lifetime."
This news was spread, and everyone transferred to Tempest Keep in the sky through the teleportation array.
Before entering the teleportation array, Thrall found Aiden and said worriedly, "Aiden, did you notice the tsunamis caused by the magical tides in the Maelstrom earlier? I'm very worried. The Earthen Ring also believes that these tsunamis will be at least a hundred meters high when they reach the surrounding lands—you should know how serious a disaster that would be. I heard that the Blue Dragonflight is good at manipulating the elements. Can we ask the Blue Dragonflight to help us eliminate the tsunamis caused by this war?"
The voice of Malygos, the Aspect of Magic, came from not far away. He said, "We would be happy to serve."
...
"According to calculations, the tsunamis will gradually reach Pandaria, the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, and Northrend in about four or five days. We probably need to act immediately—Aiden, the Focusing Iris would be very helpful for us to control the tsunamis. However..." Malygos said worriedly, "However, this is not purely a tide or magic after all, and what we can do is also very limited. You'd better prepare for evacuation while there is still time."
Aiden took out the Focusing Iris, which was almost depleted of energy, and returned it to Malygos, but smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about this matter, I have already arranged it."
"Oh?"
Thrall and Malygos both looked at him.
Aiden explained, "Before the war, I was worried that the sudden appearance of Valoran would cause a large rise in sea levels, so I asked 'Tidemistress' Neptulon for help in advance."
"That water elemental lord?"
"Yes."
"Then I'm relieved. They are professionals in dealing with tsunamis." Malygos showed a relieved expression.
As they spoke, countless water elementals were distributed in the sea area within a thousand kilometers centered on the Maelstrom. Tidemistress Neptulon commanded his servants and descendants to fight against the hundreds of meters high surges in the Veiled Sea.
Although the tsunamis were huge and terrifying, the water elementals were like shrewd hunters. These tsunamis could not harm them, and as long as they had enough patience, they could gradually tame these violent seas and turn them into docile little splashes.
Especially Neptulon, the lord of the water elementals, who casually issued an order, and the surge that swept towards him would roll back, dispersing the surge that was rushing over.
Some time ago, when N'Zoth sent Naga and Faceless One legions, led by the giant sea monster Ozumat, to attack the Throne of the Tides, it was Aiden's troops who saved him. He was not an ungrateful person, so after receiving the message requesting help, Neptulon immediately led the water elemental army out of the Abyssal Maw.
Taming tsunamis was too simple for Neptulon. He didn't have to worry about his strength being damaged at all, and this was also his best field.
Under the taming of the water elementals, the tsunami, which was enough to submerge eighty percent of the world's land, disappeared without ever truly unleashing its power.