Life after the Second War was stark for Draenor’s orcs. Their world was still dying. Fel energies continued to spread, choking natural life into extinction. The demonic bloodlust coursing through their veins had not diminished, and too often orcs turned upon orcs, creating a whirlpool of chaos that threatened to drag the race down into oblivion. The Warsong and the Shattered Hand clans, in particular, had insatiable needs for violence.

The closest the Horde had to a leader was Ner’zhul, the orc who had inadvertently led his people into the Burning Legion’s clutches. Gul’dan had seen no use in bringing the elder shaman to Azeroth, and he had left him on Draenor. Ner’zhul had kept to his ancestral lands in Shadowmoon Valley. In time, Draenor’s orcs had looked to him for guidance. Yet leadership was not a burden he wanted. Ner’zhul had fallen into despair. Day and night, visions of death plagued his broken mind. He saw orc skeletons littering a barren world. He’d even had a skull tattooed on his face, a practice shaman had long used to mark certain failed apprentices as “dead” to their people.

For Ner’zhul, there seemed to be no way to save the Horde from doom. The invasion of Azeroth had been a desperate attempt to escape a slow death, and it had failed. The orcs did not have the strength to try again.

Teron Gorefiend, however, was not prepared to give up. He had seen Gul’dan’s plans unravel, but he had also witnessed moments of incredible power. Conquering Azeroth? Perhaps it was impossible. Yet Gul’dan had gleaned knowledge from Medivh’s mind, and he had told his death knights that there were many potent artifacts out there that were vulnerable, ripe for the taking.

Gorefiend had three particular artifacts in mind. The first was the Book of Medivh, a tome that contained some of the Guardian’s considerable power and his knowledge of blending different shades of magic together. The second was the Eye of Dalaran, a relic crafted by the Kirin Tor that could focus and amplify magical energies. The third was the Scepter of Sargeras. This artifact, created long ago by the Burning Legion, had the ability to open gateways between worlds.

Gorefiend and his death knights cared only for themselves. They desired a new world that they could assert sole dominion over, but they knew they would need the Horde’s help to escape Draenor. With the artifacts, the orcs could create new dimensional rifts. Not to Azeroth, but to other worlds where the Horde could settle.

Yet these artifacts were back on Azeroth, and Gul’dan had not told his death knights of their exact locations. Even if Gorefiend could rebuild the Dark Portal, he would need the Horde’s help to claim the instruments of power. This presented a challenge. None of the survivors trusted Gul’dan’s former allies, especially the unholy death knights. Success depended on Ner’zhul. He was the only orc on Draenor who still had the influence to rally and lead the clans.

Ner’zhul vehemently resisted Gorefiend’s ideas. What good would a few relics of power do? How would they possibly save the orcs? More importantly, Gorefiend had betrayed Ner’zhul in years past. He had been one of Gul’dan’s closest allies. How could Ner’zhul trust the death knight?

Gorefiend persisted, telling Ner’zhul of how they could open new rifts to flee from their dying homeland. There were countless worlds out there in the cosmos. Even a weakened Horde would surely find one to conquer.

Ner’zhul slowly relented. Gorefiend’s plan was appealing. Draenor’s decay weighed heavily upon Ner’zhul. He felt guilt for allowing the Legion to sink its claws into his people, and a fresh start on a fresh world might be his only chance to redeem himself.

He gathered the leaders of the remaining clans. Among them were Grommash Hellscream of the Warsongs, Kargath Bladefist of the Shattered Hand, and Fenris of the Thunderlords. Ner’zhul was stunned at how easily they agreed to his plans. Hellscream, Bladefist, and Fenris had been forced to sit out the entirety of the First and Second Wars. They thirsted for battle, any battle.

The other clans wanted war, too. Any chance to escape Draenor was worth taking.

Opening the Dark Portal for the first time had required tremendous amounts of magical energy. Restoring the rift to its former size would be far simpler. The bridge between worlds still existed, albeit in a diminished form. Teron Gorefiend told Ner’zhul that the lingering power kept within the Skull of Gul’dan would be more than enough to reconstruct the Dark Portal.

That was a fortunate bit of news, for the skull had been brought back to Draenor by Horde refugees. In the time since the Dark Portal had slammed shut, the skull had passed between orcs, traded and fought over as a prized trinket.

After claiming the skull, Ner’zhul and the death knights began their great convocation. He could only hope that the Alliance would be unprepared.

In the waning months of the Second War, Garona had wandered the land on her own. She could still feel the Shadow Council’s dark presence in her mind, trying to bend her thoughts. She could not trust her actions around friend or foe. Slowly, patiently, she fought her way back into control, shrugging away as many of Gul’dan’s lingering mental chains as she could.

Finally, she was confident she could resist the Shadow Council’s orders. That meant Garona was ready to visit the one person she still trusted in the world: Khadgar.

Under the cover of darkness, she infiltrated Nethergarde Keep and snuck into Khadgar’s private quarters as he slept. They had not seen each other since their battle against Medivh. They had much to discuss.

Garona told him of her activities during the Second War, and she also openly confessed to assassinating King Llane. Khadgar believed her when she said she had been compelled to do it by Gul’dan; he could sense the Shadow Council’s mangled spellwork still woven through her thoughts.

The presence of these dark enchantments proved something else: at least one member of the Shadow Council was still alive and on Azeroth. Were that not the case, the spells would have lost their potency the moment Gul’dan had died. Someone was trying to maintain his links to his old puppets.

Over several months, Khadgar secretly met with Garona outside Nethergarde Keep, carefully unravelling the Shadow Council’s hold on her. He was successful. Garona, for the first time in her life, was free.

In gratitude, Garona offered to do whatever she could to hunt down the Shadow Council on Azeroth. Khadgar eagerly accepted. Of late, he had been sensing strange energies radiating from the nearby rift, and he was concerned that forces on Draenor were working to expand it.

He asked Garona to remain in the area, hidden from the Alliance, while he investigated.

Before long, Khadgar sent a message to many of the Alliance’s leaders, asking them to meet in Nethergarde Keep at once. There was some reluctance. The Second War had only recently ended, and most nations were still working to rebuild.

Nonetheless, the leaders traveled to the keep. Once there, they understood Khadgar’s urgency. He and the other magi had managed to stop the spreading fel energies, but not before they had turned the southern half of the Black Morass into a wasteland. The keep’s garrison had taken to calling the region “the Blasted Lands.” The northern portion of the Black Morass, still teeming with life, had been renamed the Swamp of Sorrows in honor of those who had died in the Second War. The sight of the Blasted Lands was a sobering reminder of the dark forces the Alliance had stopped…and of what they might be called upon to stop again.

But the state of the land wasn’t the truly bad news. Khadgar told the leaders that there had been unmistakable surges of fel magic where the Dark Portal had once stood. He feared that the orcs were attempting to expand the existing rift and pass through it.

The gathered leaders agreed to give Khadgar their full support. War-weary as they all were, they had no intention of allowing the Horde to gain another foothold on this world.

Turalyon coordinated the military effort from Stormwind, where he was in the midst of helping the kingdom rebuild. He tasked Danath Trollbane, one of the Second War’s most prominent veterans, with leading a small army to the Blasted Lands. In the meantime, Turalyon would rally the rest of the Alliance forces for the march south.

Unfortunately, the Horde’s invasion was already under way.

Just a few weeks after Khadgar warned the Alliance of the impending threat, Ner’zhul finally succeeded. Drawing on the Skull of Gul’dan’s energies, he expanded the rift between Draenor and Azeroth.

Almost immediately, Grommash Hellscream led the spear tip of the Horde’s invasion force—the Warsong, Shattered Hand, Thunderlord, and Laughing Skull clans—into the Blasted Lands. These soldiers were joined by Gorefiend and his death knights. The orcs began constructing a physical frame around the dimensional rift, creating a new Dark Portal that could remain open permanently without needing a constant influx of power.

Kilrogg Deadeye and his Bleeding Hollow clan had been watching over the Blasted Lands for any sign of the Horde’s return. They met with Grommash and the death knights, informing them of what had happened on Azeroth after the Second War. The information would prove invaluable in the days ahead. Gorefiend ordered Kilrogg and his people back to Draenor. They had fought for survival since the end of the war, and they deserved time to rest.

By the time Danath’s meager army arrived at the Dark Portal, the Horde had brought many soldiers to Azeroth. The humans stood little chance against their enemy’s superior numbers. Brutal, close-quarters combat erupted across the southern edge of the Blasted Lands.

Danath was the only member of his army to leave the battle alive. He retreated to Nethergarde Keep, where he hoped to use its garrison. Despite the earlier defeat, Danath was confident he could contain the orcish armies in the region until the rest of the Alliance arrived.

He wasn’t wrong. The orcs did not have the numbers needed to mount a true invasion. But conquest was not their objective this time.

The Horde’s fearsome soldiers made a show of preparing for a full-scale assault. Meanwhile, Gorefiend and his death knights led a hunting party beyond the Blasted Lands in search of the artifacts. The group was composed of death knights and orcs, including Chieftain Fenris. Few Alliance soldiers noticed their departure, and none guessed their purpose.

Garona did. She began to track them, trying to discern what they were searching for.

Deathwing had gone into hiding shortly after the Second War ended. His plan had failed—the orcs had not conquered Azeroth—but there had been some small victories. Much of the red dragonflight, along with its leader, Alexstrasza, was still under the Dragonmaw clan’s control. The other Aspects had not yet taken action against the orcs. Most of the dragons feared falling prey to the Demon Soul and suffering Alexstrasza’s fate. The human kingdoms had also experienced heavy losses, and they needed time to recover.

When he sensed the rift to Draenor expanding, Deathwing wondered if the orcs had somehow managed to replenish their numbers for yet another war at full strength, but it soon became clear that their “invasion” was only a feint. Conquest was not their purpose.

And yet, Deathwing was intrigued. He decided to take on human form once again and influence the Alliance’s response to the Horde. This tactic had been very effective during the First War. There was another political crisis taking place. The Alliance was furious at Alterac’s betrayal, and there was much debate as to how the kingdom should be punished—or if it even deserved to exist.

Lordaeron had become the place where these debates were held. Deathwing returned there in a new human form, casting himself as a minor noble named Lord Daval Prestor, a distant cousin of King Perenolde. Having an apparent connection to Alterac royalty gave his words weight.

Prestor advised Lordaeron’s king, Terenas, to establish martial law in Alterac until the line of succession could be settled. This move split the attentions of the Alliance army, weakening its response to the Horde’s new invasion. The human leaders found Prestor to be charming, endearing, and refreshingly pragmatic. He showed no signs of being prickly about the pride of “his people,” and he seemed to have only the best interests of the Alliance at heart.

With the Alliance snared in unnecessary turmoil, Deathwing formed his endgame to restore his black dragonflight to its former power and glory. The human nations were unlikely to suffer serious damage from the Horde’s invasion, and thus his plans on Azeroth would not advance. Any attempt to reestablish the black dragonflight would be noticed by the Alliance and, more importantly, by the other Dragon Aspects.

Perhaps the solution to that problem did not lie on Azeroth at all. The orcs’ homeworld, Draenor…The other dragonflights could not threaten Deathwing there.

It mattered little that the world was blighted. Dragons did not need to live off the land the same way mortals did.

Deathwing moved to make contact with the Horde once again.

As battle engulfed the Blasted Lands, Gorefiend led the Horde’s covert hunting party north. Of the three artifacts he sought, he knew only the Book of Medivh’s location. He had learned it was in Alterac, a kingdom far from the Dark Portal.

Gorefiend’s forces quietly traveled to Blackrock Spire to make contact with Blackhand’s sons, Dal’rend and Maim. Through their alliance with the Dragonmaw in Grim Batol, they had access to red dragons. Gorefiend desperately needed these creatures to expedite his journey to Alterac.

The meeting was disastrous. Dal’rend had declared himself warchief of the “true Horde.” He considered Ner’zhul a coward and a usurper, and he had no intention of helping him with his plans.

Gorefiend left empty-handed, but he was soon approached by Deathwing. He offered the death knight and his allies a deal: he would lend his black dragons to help the Horde retrieve what it needed; in exchange, the Horde would transport “precious items” to Draenor. As a sign of trust, Deathwing told Gorefiend the exact locations of the other two artifacts, as well as the dangers his forces might face while retrieving them. One was in Dalaran, and the other was deep within the Tomb of Sargeras.

Gorefiend was in no position to turn Deathwing down. He split his forces into three raiding parties. Black dragons would transport them to collect the artifacts immediately.

Gorefiend suspected that obtaining the Book of Medivh would be the most difficult of the three tasks, so he decided to handle it personally. Deathwing had warned him that Alterac was under martial law, so Gorefiend expected stiff resistance. The Alliance forces occupying the city were utterly unprepared to face dragons and death knights; when the Horde raiders arrived, most of the soldiers fled in terror.

Gorefiend infiltrated the castle and found King Perenolde. The human was erratic, boisterous, making demands; his sanity had slipped away, in truth. Deathwing had made sure his “distant cousin” had lost his mind so that the king could not contradict the lies the dragon was telling in Lordaeron. Bemused, Gorefiend humored Perenolde’s fantasies for a few moments, and then he agreed to wipe out the Alliance occupying force in exchange for the artifact. Such chaos would only help divide humanity’s attention, giving him more time to complete his task.

With the Book of Medivh in their possession, the death knight and his followers left the mad king alive and made their retreat from the city. Gorefiend kept his word: the Alliance soldiers stationed in Alterac could do little to fight off the black dragons’ relentless onslaught, and the garrison was eradicated.

While Gorefiend and his forces were assaulting Alterac, the fighting at Nethergarde Keep ground to a bloody stalemate. Turalyon had arrived with Alliance reinforcements. Alongside Khadgar and Danath’s soldiers, they kept the Horde contained. Yet the humans couldn’t shake the suspicion that the orcs were not throwing their full might into the invasion. Alliance scouts stayed on the alert for unexpected maneuvers, but none came. The Horde seemed content to test Nethergarde’s defenses day after day without trying to overwhelm the keep.

As the days passed, more and more Alliance reinforcements arrived at the keep, enough to not only defend the walls but also launch counterattacks against the Horde. The siege was eventually forced back into the empty, open landscape of the Blasted Lands.

That should have spelled the end of the invasion…but it didn’t. The orcs continued to fight, maintaining a skirmish line for no apparent reason. They sacrificed warriors to hold or retake useless ground.

Khadgar’s suspicions grew into an unnerving theory: the Horde was buying time for some other purpose. The invasion was just a distraction.

To find answers, Alliance forces captured one of the enemy. They brought him back to the keep for interrogation. Turalyon led the questioning, calling on the Holy Light to draw out information from the orc.

The captive eventually talked and confirmed what Khadgar feared. The Horde’s new leader, Ner’zhul, had no interest in conquest. Small raiding parties had spread across Azeroth under the Alliance’s noses, searching for powerful artifacts. There was no telling where they had gone or exactly what they were looking for.

North of the Blasted Lands, time was running out for Gorefiend. He’d hoped that the other two hunting parties had already obtained their artifacts. They hadn’t. When he joined his forces that had set out for Dalaran, he was furious to learn that they hadn’t been able to sense the Eye of Dalaran. Deathwing revealed the reason why. Dalaran’s Kirin Tor magi had cast wards on the relic, keeping it from being sensed from a distance.

Fortunately for the Horde, the Kirin Tor had no idea they were under scrutiny. They had enchanted the Eye of Dalaran simply because it was important, not because the magi believed anyone would be foolish enough to try to steal it.

Though Gorefiend and his followers could not detect the artifact’s exact location, Deathwing was more sensitive to such things. He instructed the hunters where they could find it. He then gathered his black dragons and assaulted Dalaran’s outer defenses, providing a distraction that Gorefiend and a small group of death knights could use to sneak into the city.

As magi rushed to defend their home from the dragons, Gorefiend and his followers crept through Dalaran’s streets. Soon enough, they discovered the Eye of Dalaran, locked in an enchanted vault. Gorefiend shattered the containment wards placed around the artifact.

And in doing so, he attracted unwanted attention. One of the most powerful leaders in the Kirin Tor, Archmage Antonidas, raced to investigate the source of the disturbance. He and a handful of magi battled the death knights in the vault, but the element of surprise was on the Horde’s side. Gorefiend and his allies killed one of the magi and escaped with the artifact.

Antonidas gave chase for as long as he could, but once the hunters had reunited with the black dragons, they vanished into the skies. All the archmage could do now was warn Khadgar.

The third hunting party could not make the journey to the Tomb of Sargeras entirely on the backs of black dragons. The distance was immense, and there were no islands en route where the creatures could land and rest. Even for Deathwing’s mighty servants, such a journey was beyond their ability. The hunters needed to find another way to reach the tomb.

They settled on stealing ships from the same harbor where Warchief Doomhammer had overseen the construction of the Horde fleet. The site had fallen under Alliance control and been renamed Menethil Harbor in honor of Lordaeron’s king. There were plenty of ships, but many of them were Alliance vessels under the command of Admiral Daelin Proudmoore.

Despite the risks, the hunters had little choice but to take ships. Their only advantage was the element of surprise. The Alliance navy would certainly not expect to fight black dragons and members of the Horde.

In that, the hunters were wrong.

When Gorefiend had set out on his quest, he had been followed. Garona had kept her distance, observing the death knight’s pact with Deathwing. When the hunting parties had separated in three directions, Garona had to choose which to follow. She had shadowed the group that traveled to Menethil Harbor, believing that it was seeking out the Tomb of Sargeras.

As the hunting party planned its assault on the harbor, Garona went to work. She could not warn the humans directly—they would not listen to an orc—but she knew their language well. She scrawled a note to warn about the impending attack, and she made sure the Alliance would find it. It was a simple matter. She showed herself to the harbor’s guards, and when they gave chase, she dropped the missive and ran.

The incident gained attention immediately. An orc intruder leaving notes was not something seen every day, and the information in it was hard to believe.

Yet when the black dragons swooped down a few hours later, the humans were not completely unprepared. A bloody confrontation erupted in the harbor, and the hunting party only managed to steal a few small, slow ships. They sailed them clumsily out to sea while the black dragons burned any vessels that attempted to pursue. Garona was unable to follow. She traveled as quickly as she could back to the Blasted Lands to tell Khadgar what had happened.

The voyage to the Tomb of Sargeras was slow and miserable, on ships not meant for the open ocean. When the hunting party arrived, they had to fight their way through the swarm of demons that had killed Gul’dan, taking great losses.

The Scepter of Sargeras was indeed inside the tomb, and the hunting party claimed it. It was well worth the journey. The artifact’s ability to open rifts in the fabric of reality would make it critical to Ner’zhul’s efforts back on Draenor.

Only a scant few members of the hunting party made the journey back to the Eastern Kingdoms.

When the hunters finally reunited with Gorefiend at the Dark Portal, the death knights made preparations to return to Draenor. Deathwing had already brought them enormous carts loaded with his “precious cargo.” The objects were heavy, large, and enchanted—mortal eyes could not see what lay within the crude containers, and magical energies seemed to have no effect on them. The contents were of little concern to Gorefiend. He wanted only to finish his mission.

Deathwing was satisfied. The Horde would carry a huge clutch of black dragon eggs to Draenor, and soon he would join them to oversee the rebirth of his dragonflight.

Gorefiend suspected that after the Horde’s latest attack on Azeroth, the Alliance might seek to invade Draenor. He left behind a large number of soldiers to prevent this from happening. This force was composed mainly of Warsong orcs led by Hellscream, along with the mok’nathal Rexxar. With this small army in place, Gorefiend and the rest of the Horde returned to Draenor.

Their departure was noticed by the Alliance, and it did not bode well. Based on what he had learned from Archmage Antonidas and Garona, Khadgar began piecing together the Horde’s objective. Some of it was incomprehensible to him—he knew of dragons, but Deathwing was not a creature most mortals were aware of—but all of it seemed sinister in nature.

Khadgar only learned the true scope of the Horde’s plans after the Alliance captured a death knight. The archmage bombarded his prisoner with arcane magic, forcing him to reveal all he knew of Ner’zhul’s intentions. At last, everything was clear. Ner’zhul and the Horde were planning to escape their dying world by creating new portals, and they had stolen the artifacts to do so.

When Khadgar told Turalyon of what he’d learned, they both agreed that they could not allow the Horde to invade another world. No other land should suffer as Azeroth had.

Yet it was possible the Alliance’s other heroes wouldn’t feel the same way. Launching a campaign into Draenor would require an army, and casualties would likely be high. Turalyon and Khadgar both feared that there might not be much of an appetite for battle among the soldiers who had already spent years fighting to protect Azeroth from the Horde.

It was time to find out. Turalyon raised his banner, declaring that he would lead this army—the “Sons of Lothar”—into the orcish homeworld and end the Horde forever.

Not all of the Alliance’s soldiers answered the call, but most did. Nearly every one of the Second War’s most revered heroes—including Alleria Windrunner, Danath Trollbane, and Kurdran Wildhammer—brought their forces to Nethergarde Keep in preparation for war.

Garona wanted to join the expedition force, even if it was only in secret. Khadgar knew he could use her knowledge of Draenor to his advantage, but he had a different task for her. They both knew that members of the Shadow Council were still alive on Azeroth. He convinced the half-orc to stay behind, hunt them down, and kill them all.

The Sons of Lothar smashed through Hellscream’s warriors, forcing them to scatter into the far corners of the Blasted Lands. With the way clear, the Alliance expedition force marched through the Dark Portal and laid eyes upon Draenor for the first time. The sight shocked them. They stood on land that had once been Tanaan Jungle; now it was Hellfire Peninsula, a barren wasteland of red earth stretching endlessly into the distance.

The Sons of Lothar faced no real resistance in those first days. The orcish forces had not expected to be chased back to Draenor. Yet word of the invasion soon spread throughout the Horde.

Gorefiend brought all of his cargo to Hellfire Citadel, where Warchief Ner’zhul was waiting. By now, the Horde had received word that Alliance forces were streaming through the Dark Portal. Time had grown short, and Ner’zhul was anxious to begin.

He was stunned, however, to see the full measure of what Gorefiend had brought back. Not only had he obtained the three artifacts, but he had also returned with a large number of suspicious carts. These items belonged to a surprise guest: Deathwing. The black dragon and other members of his flight had come through the Dark Portal disguised as orcs so as not to draw attention to themselves.

Ner’zhul was initially terrified of Deathwing. Even though the dragon was not wearing his true form, he radiated immense power. Deathwing sensed the potent Skull of Gul’dan in Ner’zhul’s presence, and he demanded it for himself. The warchief balked at this request, but only for a moment. He was in no position to resist a creature like Deathwing, and he had no further need of the skull. Its purpose had been to reopen the Dark Portal.

Deathwing was interested in using the skull’s lingering energies to strengthen his dragonflight and accelerate the growth of his eggs and whelps. As a token of “friendship,” Deathwing left a portion of his black dragons with the Horde to protect Hellfire Citadel against the Alliance’s invasion.

With the Skull of Gul’dan in his possession, Deathwing left Hellfire Citadel. He settled on Gorgrond as a suitable place to hide his clutch of black dragon eggs.

Meanwhile, Ner’zhul put his own plans into action. The gathered artifacts would grant him enough power to open portals to other worlds, but he needed to find a place to begin the ritual. The Dark Portal’s location had been chosen because it rested on a convergence of magical ley lines, but now that was in Alliance hands.

The only other nexus of ley lines Ner’zhul knew about was at the site of the Black Temple. He ordered the bulk of the Horde to accompany him to that location. The warchief left Kargath Bladefist and his Shattered Hand at Hellfire Citadel to hold the Alliance army at bay.

Khadgar and Turalyon both agreed that stopping Ner’zhul was their highest priority. If he were to fall, the Horde’s plan to escape to other worlds would collapse. Believing that Ner’zhul was still in Hellfire Citadel, the Sons of Lothar launched an all-out offensive against the stronghold.

Chieftain Bladefist and his Shattered Hand had dug in at the citadel for a siege. The orcs had hoped to hold the Alliance at bay for a week. Their defenses fell before the first day ended. Even with the help of black dragons, Kargath simply had no means to repel simultaneous attacks from dwarf gryphon riders in the sky and soldiers on the ground. Once Khadgar and his fellow magi joined the fray, Kargath had to abandon his position and flee into the wastes.

The Sons of Lothar were victorious, but they had no time to rest or rejoice. The presence of black dragons at Hellfire Citadel was an ill omen. What was worse, Khadgar discovered that Ner’zhul had marched southwest with the rest of the Horde and most of his potent artifacts. Strangely, the archmage did not sense the Skull of Gul’dan moving with them. He felt its presence somewhere in the north.

Khadgar knew that the Sons of Lothar could not simply focus on Ner’zhul. The archmage needed the Skull of Gul’dan to destroy Draenor’s side of the Dark Portal. After much debate, Turalyon decided to split his forces. One half would track down the Skull of Gul’dan. The other would apprehend Ner’zhul and the artifacts in his possession.

Khadgar, Turalyon, and Alleria Windrunner led the forces that sought out the Skull of Gul’dan to the north. Danath Trollbane and Kurdran Wildhammer pursued Ner’zhul to the south.

The chaos of the coming battles would soon overwhelm both sides of the war.

Ner’zhul and the orcs were disappointed to hear how fast Hellfire Citadel had fallen, but they already had a considerable head start on the Alliance. The Horde knew this land, and they were moving quickly. It didn’t seem possible that their enemies could catch up to them.

Unfortunately for Ner’zhul, Kurdran Wildhammer and his gryphon riders had decided to scout ahead. They found the warchief and his small army at the edge of the Bone Wastes, west of Shadowmoon Valley. The dwarves rained hell upon the orcs, bombarding them with impunity. Unless Ner’zhul and his people found a safer route to the Black Temple, they would soon die.

There was only one such path nearby: through the draenei tomb city of Auchindoun. Much of the holy site was in ruins, but many of its crypts and tunnels were intact. During the Horde’s war against the draenei, Gorefiend had learned much about Auchindoun. He knew of little-used passageways that led toward Shadowmoon Valley—paths that Ner’zhul and his forces could travel through to elude the Sons of Lothar and get closer to their destination.

Auchindoun was a haunted and twisted place. It would not be safe to enter, but Ner’zhul had no alternative.

As he led his forces into the tomb, the gryphon riders launched a bold new attack—one that they would soon regret. Kurdran was knocked from his mount and captured by the Horde. Before the other dwarves could rescue him, he was taken into Auchindoun’s darkened corridors. Kilrogg Deadeye interrogated Kurdran, hoping to learn about the Alliance’s true numbers. The dwarf held his tongue even under unspeakable torture.

Danath Trollbane’s ground forces were not far away. When they arrived at Auchindoun, some of the gryphon riders explained the situation. It would be very dangerous to rescue Kurdran. In Auchindoun’s tight quarters, a large force was little more effective than a small one, and the orcs knew the terrain. They would be capable of outmaneuvering Danath, no matter how many troops he brought with him.

An unexpected source of aid presented itself. An Outcast arakkoa named Grizzik had been following the Sons of Lothar as they pursued the Horde south. He had no love for the Horde. Years ago, Chieftain Kargath had toppled the high arakkoan capital, Skyreach. His orcs had killed nearly all of its inhabitants, and they had captured high arakkoa and thrown them into the cursed Sethekk Hollow. Grizzik was one of these unfortunate prisoners. He emerged from Sethekk Hollow as an Outcast, warped and twisted by the region’s shadowy energies. Eager for vengeance, Grizzik offered to lead the Alliance through Auchindoun.

Guided by the arakkoa, Danath and his soldiers stormed through the tomb city. They moved carefully, avoiding the Horde’s ambushes, and methodically searched Auchindoun. In time, they liberated Kurdran.

Yet Ner’zhul was nowhere to be found. Only Kilrogg and the remnants of his Bleeding Hollow clan stalked Auchindoun. They had volunteered to occupy the Alliance while the rest of the Horde escaped to the Black Temple. It was not simply nobility that drove Kilrogg to make this sacrifice. Years ago, he had performed a ritual that granted him a vision of his own death. He now realized that Auchindoun was the place where he would breathe his last breath.

The Bleeding Hollow fell upon the Alliance forces. As blood spilled across Auchindoun, Danath confronted Kilrogg. The two engaged in a brutal duel that echoed through the tomb city’s halls until Danath plunged his blade through the orc’s throat. With their chieftain dead, the rest of the Bleeding Hollow scattered or surrendered.

Kilrogg’s sacrifice was not in vain. He had given Ner’zhul the time he would need to safely reach the Black Temple with the rest of the Horde.

Gorgrond was inhospitable terrain, the perfect place for Deathwing to build a refuge from those who could not fly. He and his black dragons swooped down on the mountains in force, seeking out safe places for his eggs.

Though the land was barren, it was not unoccupied. Gorgrond was home to the gronn who had survived Draenor’s slow decay. The mightiest of these giants was known as Gruul. He lorded over a number of ogres and lesser gronn who dwelled in the mountains. Gruul’s kind were highly territorial, not prone to living in close proximity with one another. But the calamities that had befallen Draenor had changed them. The gronn now joined forces in order to survive.

Gruul and his followers had no intention of allowing intruders to conquer their home. They fought back, surprising the black dragons with their ferocity.

Deathwing ignored the gronn, seeing them as little more than pests. He focused on finding a number of hiding places for his unhatched children while the rest of his dragonflight fought the native creatures.

His arrogance led to the ruination of his plans. While Deathwing was distracted, the Sons of Lothar arrived in Gorgrond, searching for the Skull of Gul’dan. The Alliance soldiers were deeply unsettled by what they had found. Battles between black dragons and gronn had resulted in many deaths. Gruul and his followers had taken to impaling their slain enemies on spikes, displaying their corpses to all.

The gronn nearly turned on the Sons of Lothar with violence, but Khadgar and Turalyon were quickly able to demonstrate that the Alliance was also the enemy of the black dragonflight. They struck a simple bargain with Gruul. If he gave them safe passage through Gorgrond, they would help him defeat Deathwing.

The gronn and the Alliance prepared an ambush at the largest cache of Deathwing’s eggs, nestled in one of Gorgrond’s barren valleys. The Sons of Lothar wasted little time; they destroyed as many of the unguarded eggs as they could, hoping to lure Deathwing into the open.

When Deathwing learned of their actions, he and his draconic followers appeared in the skies and unleashed their molten fury on the intruders. It was just the moment Gruul had been waiting for. The massive gronn scaled Gorgrond’s mountains to battle Deathwing with his bare fists.

Meanwhile, Khadgar lashed Deathwing with his arcane power, ripping apart the metal plates bolted to the black Dragon Aspect’s spine. Deathwing’s body began to come apart. Molten energies burst forth from his broken form, spilling fire and magma across Gorgrond. The pain was so great that it forced him to drop the Skull of Gul’dan. If he had taken only a few more wounds, he might have died on Draenor that day. Instead, Deathwing abandoned his plans, flying straight back to Azeroth through the Dark Portal (and over the heads of many startled Alliance soldiers).

Deathwing would never forget what happened to him that day. He swore vengeance on those who had attacked him, particularly on Khadgar.

As fighting continued between the gronn and the other black dragons, Khadgar and the rest of the Sons of Lothar collected the Skull of Gul’dan. Then they beat a hasty retreat, fearing that Gruul and his followers would turn on them once they had defeated the dragons.

When the fighting in Gorgrond was done, most of the black dragons were dead or dying. Gruul reasserted his dominion over the land. His battle with Deathwing would earn him newfound respect among his followers, and he would become known as the Dragonkiller.

GRUUL FACES DEATHWING

Having recovered the Skull of Gul’dan, Turalyon turned his forces south. Shadowmoon Valley was far, but he had magic to help him expedite the journey. Khadgar and his fellow magi opened a series of portals through which the Sons of Lothar reached southern Draenor.

Outside the Black Temple, the two halves of the Alliance army reunited. Yet they had not reached the city in time to stop Ner’zhul. What was worse, the Horde had prepared for their arrival. The remnants of the orcish army had dug in around the Black Temple to keep the Sons of Lothar back.

Much to Khadgar’s dismay, he sensed potent energies lashing out from atop the Black Temple. Ner’zhul and his followers were in the midst of preparing their spell to open new portals. There was no time for a drawn-out siege, no time to find a way around the Black Temple’s guardians.

The Sons of Lothar launched themselves against the city and crashed into the defenders. While battle raged, Khadgar and his fellow magi hunted for Ner’zhul, hoping to reach him and disrupt his spellwork.

They would not succeed.

Atop the city’s largest tower, Ner’zhul had gathered some of the death knights and a number of Shadowmoon orcs to help him with his spellwork and protect him from the Alliance. He and his followers had harnessed the power of the Eye of Dalaran, the Book of Medivh, and the Scepter of Sargeras. Ner’zhul tapped into the nexus of ley lines beneath the Black Temple, but he was woefully unprepared for the amount of skill needed for this ritual. He was desperate to succeed, and his recklessness caused the energies at his command to spiral out of control. As planned, Ner’zhul blasted multiple holes through the fabric of reality, but they were followed by others. Many others.

The magic that Ner’zhul had unleashed destabilized Draenor’s ley lines. Unimaginable forces began to tear open rifts across Draenor. With each passing moment, the world groaned louder in upheaval. Fissures erupted across land and sea.

Khadgar and the other magi arrived just as this chain reaction was unfolding. They managed to recover the Eye of Dalaran and the Book of Medivh, but not the Scepter of Sargeras. With the artifact in hand, Ner’zhul and a few of his closest followers escaped into the nearest portal.

Ner’zhul had saved himself but doomed his world.

Khadgar had recovered most of the stolen artifacts, but the damage to Draenor had already been done. The unstable rifts opening across the land would soon shatter the world and almost certainly kill everyone on it. Even worse, the destructive energies would blast through the Dark Portal into Azeroth.

After consulting with Turalyon, Khadgar knew what needed to be done. The Sons of Lothar would have to destroy the Dark Portal to protect their homeworld, and they would have to do so from Draenor. With chaos unfolding all around, there was no time to gather on Azeroth and perform the task there. It was a suicide mission, but no one hesitated.

The energies lashing across the world hampered Khadgar’s own magical abilities, preventing him from creating a portal to Hellfire Peninsula. He and his allies were forced to use gryphons to reach the Dark Portal. Khadgar, Turalyon, Alleria, Kurdran, Danath, and a number of other expedition members made the journey.

NER’ZHUL OPENS COUNTLESS PORTALS ACROSS DRAENOR

Most of the Alliance soldiers stationed at Hellfire Citadel had already retreated back to Azeroth, but now the remnants of the Horde were scrambling through the Dark Portal as well.

And the orcs were none too pleased to see that someone had come to close off their only means of fleeing.

The two sides crashed together outside the yawning gateway in their desperate attempt to escape oblivion. As the battle raged, Khadgar and the other magi unleashed the raw power contained within the Skull of Gul’dan, trying to touch as little of its fel essence as possible. Turalyon and his forces encircled the sorcerers and fended off the terrified orcs who sought to flee from their world.

The magi’s spellwork ignited a massive explosion that destroyed the Dark Portal’s stone frame and severed the bridge between Azeroth and Draenor. Yet there was little time to savor the victory.

The magical stress unleashed by Ner’zhul’s spell was still spreading through the world, and it was growing more destructive by the moment. As violent earthquakes shook the land and continents fell away, Khadgar and the Sons of Lothar ran through an open rift nearby, not knowing where it would take them or whether they would survive. Only moments later, the world itself ripped apart.

Draenor, the realm touched by Aggramar and shaped by the primals and the breakers, the realm of the glorious Apexis civilization and the mystical orc clans, was no more.

The orcs who had escaped through the Dark Portal before it closed brought grim tidings to the Horde on Azeroth: their homeworld was gone. Ner’zhul had sacrificed everyone to save himself and a handful of his loyal followers. It seemed impossible that anyone else could have survived Draenor’s destruction.

For Chieftain Grommash, this news was devastating. His only surviving family—his son, Garrosh—had still been on Draenor, in the Mag’har camp. Grommash put aside his grief and led his Warsong clan north to take shelter in the isolated Swamp of Sorrows. He was not giving up; he was merely regrouping. Grommash believed that there would never be peace between the orcs and the humans, and he wanted his fighters to be ready for battle.

The members of the “true Horde” regarded the news about Draenor as confirmation that they were the rightful successors to Warchief Blackhand’s rule. In the years to come, Dal’rend and Maim would strengthen their forces.

The Dragonmaw in Grim Batol would do much the same. Zuluhed and many of their clan had returned to Draenor at the end of the Second War. Yet with news of their homeworld’s destruction, the Dragonmaw on Azeroth believed that their leader was dead. Nekros took command over his people. He ordered them to continue lording over Alexstrasza and her red dragons in Grim Batol.

Other members of the Horde saw no reason to keep fighting the Alliance. The noble mok’nathal Rexxar believed the rest of his people had perished on Draenor, and he was disgusted by everything that had transpired in recent years. His loyalties were now dust. Rexxar retreated into Azeroth’s wilds, and he wandered the world in solitude.

Tucked away in the Alterac Mountains, Drek’Thar and the Frostwolf clan carved out a new home. They isolated themselves from other orcs in the hopes of escaping the Alliance’s wrath. It was a harsh and lonely existence, but it was not without its benefits. Drek’Thar had rekindled his connection with the elements, and he used them to keep his people safe.

Far from the Eastern Kingdoms, Cho’gall and the Twilight’s Hammer clan knew nothing of Draenor’s fate. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have mattered. The whispers of the Old Gods were calling to them. Cho’gall and his followers sailed toward the distant continent of Kalimdor in search of their dark masters, eager to help them bring about the Hour of Twilight.

They did not know they were being followed. Garona had picked up Cho’gall’s trail, and she tracked the former Shadow Council member to the mysterious lands of Kalimdor.

Many of the orcs who had fled Draenor surrendered immediately to the Alliance in the Blasted Lands. They were carted off to the internment camps that had sprung up around Lordaeron. Among the Alliance nations, debate still raged on what to do with the prisoners.

Yet most of the Alliance’s attention was not on the orcs but on the Dark Portal. Some of their greatest leaders and heroes had not returned from their expedition. Accounts from the few Sons of Lothar who had come back painted a grim picture, but there was still hope that one day Turalyon, Khadgar, Alleria, Kurdran, Danath, and their followers might return.

As the days, weeks, months, and years began to pass, that hope faded. The missing soldiers were presumed dead. Statues of the expedition’s leaders were erected at the gates of Stormwind City, so that all citizens would receive a daily reminder of those who had made the ultimate sacrifice in order to save their world. Plaques were fixed to the statues, bearing messages from the leaders’ friends, comrades, and loved ones.

It would be decades before Azeroth would learn the truth of what had happened.

In the meantime, the peoples of the Eastern Kingdoms settled into their new lives. The First and Second Wars had far-reaching repercussions, altering the balance of power across the land. The Council of Tirisfal was no more, and the concept of a single Guardian imbued with great power was abandoned. Azeroth now had new protectors. The most prominent was the Alliance. Even though the Horde had been defeated, the Alliance’s members saw no purpose in disbanding the faction. They would maintain their ties, sharing resources and military strength to protect the world.

The paladins of the Silver Hand also dedicated themselves to safeguarding the land. Only Turalyon had journeyed to Draenor; he had told his comrades to stay behind. The paladins soon trained new holy warriors in their ways, and the ranks of their righteous order swelled.

Elsewhere, the Kirin Tor of Dalaran studied the imprisoned orcs and their magics. The magi knew that elements of the Horde were still lurking throughout the Eastern Kingdoms. They wanted to learn as much as they could about their enemy in the event that another war broke out.

Just as on primordial Draenor, just as on countless worlds throughout the cosmos, conflict had changed Azeroth and its peoples forever. Yet there was more turmoil to come. In the years ahead, Azeroth would need the Alliance and other protectors to survive.

TO BE CONTINUED…

MEMORIALS IN STORMWIND FOR THE MISSING HEROES FROM THE ALLIANCE’S EXPEDITION TO DRAENOR