Alternate Azeroth 2: the Alternate Boogaloo

No rest for the wicked, as they say. The moment I returned from the alternate Draenor, I was greeted by Krasus. Yes, Krasus, also known as Korialstrasz, the Consort of the Dragon Queen, also known as “dead”. But it wasn’t our Krasus, as you might expect. It was the one I met on the alternate Azeroth the Arbiters of the Nexus sent me to some time ago. After dumping all of my duties on Menrim’s head again, I consulted Krasus to hear what is it that led him here (and how he even got here, considering the trouble I had to go to). Turns out there’s trouble brewing in the alternate Azeroth. Or at least, an even greater trouble than I left it in. Who knew that just killing the big bad guy rarely solves the problems that created him in the first place?

When I left that alternate reality, Uther and Turalyon departed towards Stormwind to deal with Sargeras, who was possessing Anduin’s body. As Krasus relayed to me, they arrived in Stormwind Keep only to see Varian Wrynn gravely ill and Anduin in full control of the kingdom. Just a day before they arrived, the Sargeras part got mad and killed a room full of elven delegates, leading Quel’Thalas to officially declare war on the side of Alterac and Stratholme. While Anduin was busy lobbying the dwarves to join his side of the war, Uther started sniffing around for a way to influence the court, only to attract the attention of a half-human, half-troll assassin who became Anduin’s lover, Yara the Half-Troll. I guess there must always be a Garona, even without orcs on Azeroth.

The half-troll was as mentally troubled as Garona and after some time spent with Uther and Turalyon, she finally decided to join their cause. Together, they snuck into the royal chambers, trying to kill Sargeras/Anduin silently. However, Anduin woke up and caused quite a stir. I don’t know the details of the ensuing battle, but I know that Varian somehow woke up and attempted to stop Anduin who only threw him at a wall, snapping his neck and killing him immediately. The view of his father’s death distracted Anduin long enough to let Uther stab him, killing the prince and releasing the demon within. Wherever Sargeras went, I have no idea, nor did Krasus. The kingdom was now left with no king nor heir, leaving Tiffin Ellerian as Queen Regent who ruled until the Council of Nobles could decide which one of them was the closest to Wrynns or Arathi by blood.

But that wasn’t the worst part. Kel’thuzad wasn’t lying when he said they were too late on his death bed. In the following weeks, the Scourge began to spread. Whole villages became infected and undirected hordes of zombies were swooping across the countryside. With no paladin orders present, there was very little this Azeroth could do against this mass. Krasus even reminded me of a line he heard in one of the timelines he investigated while looking for a solution. Without its master’s command, the restless Scourge will become an even greater threat to this world. Control must be maintained. There must always be a Lich King. And guess what, in his timeline there is no Lich King! There never was one, which makes his world’s Scourge extremely dangerous. Upon consulting the bronze dragonflight, he decided they must create a Lich King.

Lacking an ability to outright create the Lich King, Krasus decided he must find the Plate of Damnation and Frostmourne from a reality where there was no Scourge anymore and bring it over to his reality, so that a Lich King can be appointed where he can control the Scourge and at least slow it down. But instead of going there himself, he needed someone else to do the dirty work for him. As he says, the Blackwyrm Cult, his world’s Twilight Hammer, found the Dragon Soul and is beginning to use it to enslave dragons. He must intervene to stop them, while he sends someone else who has some expertise with alternate timelines after his task. That someone being me.

Being faced with an extremely powerful dragon and a mess I partially made myself, I agreed. I was allowed to take one other person with me for the voyage.and decided to take my brother, Tarakan. When he arrived at the Tower with a Riverbeast (don’t ask me where he found one), he still wouldn’t believe me he was talking to an alternate Krasus. Imagine his surprise when the dragon opened an entrance to the timeways and we entered the corridors between realities, where Kairozdormu awaited us. I freaked out at first, but it was a different Kairozdormu, one that never sided with Hellscream, one from this Horde-less reality.

Equipped with a timeline-traversing gizmo and a set of coordinates back to their reality, we embarked on the way to yet another Azeroth, one where the Scourge and the Lich King were completely destroyed. We came out of the entryway in Stormwind, but one much different from the one we know. Instead of the Park, or its ruins, there was a Gilnean District. On the streets of Stormwind I could spot members of many races of Azeroth and Draenor, including furbolgs, arakkoa, orcs, ogres and even a mogu, many of them wearing that mismatched adventurer gear. Soon afterwards, I would find an arakkoa veil and a furbolg den on the outskirts of Stormwind.

Upon further investigating where we found ourselves, we realized we are in an Azeroth where first, Rhonin and Krasus never traveled to the past and messed up War of the Ancients, and second, Alliance and Horde still work together closely, and never stopped. With no Faction War, the Scourge was completely obliterated and the Lich King was dead. Now the problem was to find where would he or his weapons and armor be buried.

TO BE CONTINUED