Heartbroken by his brother’s departure, Furion led his companions into the
heart of Azshara’s temple. Yet, as they stormed into the main audience
chamber, they found the high-borne in the midst of their final dark incanta-
tion. The raging communal spell created an unstable vortex of power with-
in the Well’s raging depths. As Sargeras’ ominous shadow drew ever clos-
er to the surface, Furion and his allies rushed to attack.
Azshara, having received Illidan’s warning, was more than prepared for them.
Nearly all of Furion’s followers fell before the mad Queen’s raging powers.
Tyrande, attempting to attack Azshara from behind, was caught off guard by
the Queen’s high-borne guardsmen. Though she vanquished the guardsmen,
Tyrande suffered grievous wounds at their hands. At seeing his love fall,
Furion went into a murderous rage and resolved to end Azshara’s life.
As the battle raged inside and outside of the temple, Illidan appeared from
the shadows near the shores of the great Well. Producing a set of specially
crafted vials, Illidan knelt and filled each with the Well’s shimmering waters.
Convinced that the demons would crush the night elves’ civilization, he
planned to steal the sacred waters and keep their energies for himself.
The ensuing battle between Furion and Azshara threw the high-borne’s
carefully crafted spellwork into chaos. The unstable vortex within the Well’s
depths finally exploded and ignited a catastrophic chain of events that
would sunder the world forever. The massive explosion rocked the temple
to its foundations and sent massive quakes ripping through the tortured
earth. As the horrific battle between the Legion and the night elves’ allies
raged around and above the ruined capital city, the surging Well of Eternity
buckled in upon itself and collapsed.
The resultant catastrophic explosion shattered the earth and blotted out the skies...
Mount Hyjal and Illidan’s Gift
As the aftershocks from the Well’s implosion rattled the bones of the world,
the seas rushed in to fill the gaping wound left in the earth. Nearly eighty
percent of Kalimdor’s landmass had been blasted apart, leaving only a hand-
ful of separate continents surrounding the new, raging sea. At the center of
the new sea, where the Well of Eternity once stood, was a tumultuous storm
of tidal fury and chaotic energies. This terrible scar, known as the Maelstrom,
would never cease its furious spinning. It would remain a constant reminder
of the terrible catastrophe and the utopian era that had been lost forever…
The few night elves that survived the horrific explosion rallied together on
crudely made rafts and slowly made their way to the only landmass in sight.
Somehow, by the graces of Elune, Furion, Tyrande and Cenarius had sur-
priestess, Tyrande, agreed to accompany the brothers in the name
of Elune. Though both Furion and Illidan shared a secret love for
the idealistic priestess, Tyrande’s heart belonged to Furion alone.
Illidan resented his brother’s budding romance with Tyrande, but
knew that his heartache was nothing compared to the pain of his
magical addiction…
Illidan, who had grown dependent on magic’s empowering ener-
gies, struggled to keep control of himself and his overwhelming
hunger to tap the Well’s energies once again. However, with
Tyrande’s patient support, he was able to contain himself and help
his brother find the reclusive demi-god, Cenarius. Cenarius, who
dwelt within the sacred Moonglades of the distant Mount Hyjal,
agreed to help the night elves by finding the ancient dragons and
enlisting their aid. The dragons, led by the great, red leviathan,
Alexstrasza, agreed to send their mighty flights to engage the
demons and their infernal masters.
Cenarius, calling on the spirits of the enchanted forests, rallied an army
of ancient tree-men and led them against the Legion in a daring
ground assault. As the night elves’ allies converged upon Azshara’s
temple and the Well of Eternity, all-out warfare erupted. Despite the
strength of their newfound allies, Furion and his colleagues realized
that the Legion could not be defeated by martial strength alone.
As the titanic battle raged around Azshara’s capital city, the delu-
sional Queen waited in anticipation for Sargeras’ arrival. The Lord
of the Legion was preparing to pass through the Well of Eternity
and enter the ravaged world. As his impossibly huge shadow
drew ever closer to the Well’s raging surface, Azshara gathered
the most powerful of her high-borne followers. Only by linking
their magics together, in one focused spell, would they be able to
create a gateway large enough for Sargeras to enter.
Furion, convinced that the Well of Eternity was the demons’
umbilical link to the physical world, insisted that it should be
destroyed. His companions, knowing that the Well was the source
of their immortality and powers, were shocked by the rash notion.
Yet Tyrande, seeing the wisdom of Furion’s theory, convinced
Cenarius and their dragon comrades to storm Azshara’s temple
and find a way to shut the Well down for good.
Knowing that the Well’s destruction would prevent him from ever
wielding magic again, Illidan selfishly abandoned the group and set
out to warn the high-borne of Furion’s plan. Due to the madness
brought on by his addiction and the stinging resentment towards
his brother’s affair with Tyrande, Illidan felt no remorse at betraying
Furion and siding with Azshara and her ilk. Above all else, Illidan
vowed to protect the Well’s power by any means necessary.
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