"Hmm?"
Jaina's slender hand trembled, and her quill fell onto the parchment scroll, staining it with spots.
"Lady Proudmoore?"
Her assistant, hearing Jaina's voice, thought she was being called, but Jaina waved her hand, tossing the stained scroll aside and picking up her quill again, dipping it into the inkwell.
She frowned slightly; what was that strange pressure just now? As an Archmage, Jaina had suddenly felt as if the entire world's Arcane had been disturbed by something, reacting in a way it never had before.
Connecting this to the massive changes happening across the world, Jaina also thought that it must be related to the "Burning Legion" that Arthas had mentioned.
It's just that…
What exactly did the other side do to make the entire Arcane of Azeroth react?
The sudden anomaly in the Arcane gave Jaina many bad premonitions; perhaps, besides Arthas, everyone else had not yet realized what kind of enemy they were truly up against.
And at this very moment, far across the ocean in Quel'Thalas, beside the Sunwell, which served as the sacred symbol and fundamental cornerstone of the High Elf race, an old Elf with a somewhat aged face but eyes still radiating a soul-stirring Arcane glow, was also anxiously gazing at the Sunwell.
When the Arcane had just undergone its anomaly, the Sunwell, which exists by depending on the Arcane nodes, saw its millennia-old placid waters erupt in a terrifying tide.
Fortunately, the mages guarding the Sunwell Temple and the old Elf, who was Sun King Anastarian, reacted swiftly, preventing the Sunwell from being damaged.
The Sun King held the golden scepter, symbolizing Quel'dorei power, and gazed at the now calm waters, but his heart remained far from peaceful.
"Has the calamity of ten thousand years ago… finally returned?"
The Sunstrider family has existed since the ancient Night Elves Empire, and because they left Kalimdor and found a place to settle on the current Lordaeron continent, they have preserved many historical records from ancient times.
Therefore, Anastarian was very clear that the threat his ancestors faced was caused by the misuse of the Well of Eternity, and today, ten thousand years later, the High Elf were almost identically walking the same old path that the Kaldorei once trod.
However, there was nothing that could be done; magic was already ingrained in their bloodline, and as Quel'dorei who inherited a portion of the Highborne legacy, they could hardly abandon the "temptation" of magic.
One thousand, two thousand years, when the Sunwell had brought them no danger for thousands of years, the Elf had forgotten the past, and although they had built the sturdy Banthinoriel Barrier, the fact that the Barrier was destroyed during the Orcish Wars proved that they were not entirely safe.
And the Council and citizens of this nation were still immersed in the beautiful dream of the Quel'dorei magical kingdom, failing to recognize reality.
The Sun King raised his hand, summoning a wisp of the Sunwell's water to flow around his arm; he could clearly sense the magical power contained within the water, but he himself showed no obsession, instead sighing and returning the water.
How much longer could he protect this well for the Quel'dorei? Although the Sunwell was powerful, it was ultimately just an imitation of the Well of Eternity; without the true Well of Eternity, the Quel'dorei's lifespan was no longer as long as it was in ancient times.
Anastarian already knew that his days were numbered and he could not last forever like magic, so he deliberately let Kael'thas see the true face of the Council and the kingdom, causing his only son to leave for the human kingdoms in a fit of anger.
Elf are always proud; even though Anastarian was aware of the corruption within Quel'Thalas, he was unwilling to ask for help from humans, whom the Elf regarded as juniors and apprentices.
But he hoped that his child could gain some vitality from the thriving new races of humans, rather than being as lifeless as the Elf.
The existence of the Well of Eternity and the Sunwell allowed the Elf's civilization to flourish, but without the wells, they were nothing, not even comparable to the humans they looked down upon, merely a fleeting glory in a long history.
The Sun King thought of this, gently tapped his scepter, and his figure disappeared into the Temple.
Although his body was already on the verge of decay, the magic within him remained as deep as the abyss.
…
"Did Quel'Thalas only send the ranger corps?"
Kael'thas and Sylvanas conversed, his expression somewhat strained, because he had previously promised Arthas to greatly assist the Alliance in jointly resisting external enemies, but now Quel'Thalas's performance was somewhat lacking compared to other Alliance members.
Sylvanas was also helpless, "I can't do anything about it, this is an order personally given by His Majesty; in fact, I originally thought that even the Farstriders wouldn't be dispatched."
The Elf's self-serving approach had become a habit; unless absolutely necessary, they would hardly ever proactively join any Alliance actions, and the title of Alliance member was mostly just a nominal one; when it came to actual fighting, it had little to do with them.
Their principle was: we don't cause trouble, but if you humans cause trouble, don't expect us to help.
Kael'thas sighed deeply, "Those councilors always think too highly of themselves; if it weren't for human help during the Second War, we would probably have paid an even more tragic price."
"Hmph, they are no longer the Silvermoon Council that made the Quel'dorei proud; now, the Council is either filled with cowards who cling to life or short-sighted, inflexible fools." Sylvanas's prejudice against the Silvermoon City councilors was even greater than Kael'thas's, after all, it was because of those councilors that the ranger corps was so strained every year.
"Thankfully, we have the help of the Farstriders, otherwise we might truly not be able to stand our ground in the Alliance in the future," Kael'thas said with a wry smile; in recent years, Quel'Thalas's assistance to the Alliance had indeed been too little.
As Sylvanas and Kael'thas conversed, an Elf walked over and informed the two high-ranking Quel'Thalas officials, "The meeting is about to begin."
Sylvanas and Kael'thas exchanged glances, no longer discussing the situation in Quel'Thalas, and instead headed towards the conference hall.
When they arrived at the conference hall, they found that most of the other members for this pre-war meeting had already arrived; the two smiled apologetically and found their respective seats.
After waiting for some more time, when almost all attendees had arrived, Uther walked to the front, cleared his throat, and the somewhat noisy conference hall immediately fell silent.
"Everyone is here, so let's begin."