Shadow Trails in Azeroth

Blake got a majestic seahorse as a birthday gift, the little fish man became an honorary tide fish knight, and the pirates got jewelry and could enjoy life lavishly.

The Tide Hunters have gained precious freedom and are making ambitious plans to regain the glory and reputation that have been lost for millions of years. Even the Turtles have been protected by the Hydrasian Legion.

Everyone got a gift and everyone was happy.

Except Naga.

The Nagas are the most lost.

They lost everything in Vashj'ir overnight.

When dawn came, under the "farewell" of the giant snakes of the alien world and the water elements of Hydrasia, less than one tenth of the naga escaped from Vashj'ir, which had become the "hell of soft-skinned snakes". .

The shining sea frontier no longer belongs to them.

Even though it was only the edge of the Deep Sea Empire, and even though the Queen would never take a second look there, losing it meant losing it, and a humiliating defeat always made people feel heartbroken.

But the Nagas who fled were not desperate.

They have enough reason to believe that their supreme queen will not let such disrespectful things continue!

This is not grabbing the territory of the Nagas at all!

This is a slap in Queen Azshara's face.

Can this be tolerated?

Isn't it just a ruined elemental monarch, plus a stinking pirate who is fanning the flames and fearing that the world will not be in chaos, plus a group of Ancestral Turtle exiles who are overwhelmed by the Nagas?

Then go back to Nazjatar to ask for millions of reinforcements, and with the Queen's destined anger, raise them overnight!

That's what the Nagas thought, and that's what they did.

The Nagas who escaped from Vashj'ir fled back to their capital city of Nazjatar in groups, but in fact, the great Queen Azshara already knew what happened in Vashj'ir even before they were slaughtered. matter.

ha?

How did she know?

For the great magic demigod, she has too many means to monitor her own borders, but this time, Her Majesty the Queen learned about it through her own treasure.

Yes, that's the Tide Scepter.

Black repeatedly emphasized the status of this scepter in the heart of Queen Azshara to the turtle man Kojo. It turns out that the smelly pirate understands the queen very well.

When the Tide Scepter fell from the hands of Naz'jar, the unlucky sea witch who died in mysterious circumstances, Queen Azshara, who was recuperating in Nazjatar, had already learned everything through the scepter.

She imbued the staff with powerful enchantments, including one for surveillance.

This is to prevent the sea witches who use the scepter from losing their ambition and using her scepter to do bad things that exceed their power. It is also a warning to the sea witches.

Her Majesty the Queen is watching you!

"Oh, you are so incompetent."

Under the deep sea, in the mysterious sea of ​​Nazjatar, on the high tower of the "Eternal Palace" rebuilt on the ruins of Zin-Azshari, the once glorious capital of the Highborne Empire.

A sigh mixed with contempt, sarcasm and helplessness came from the Queen's lounge.

The voice had a hint of laziness and hoarseness, but its tone was extremely mature and seductive. Just by listening to the voice, one could imagine a lazy and beautiful woman with a dissatisfied expression.

But the reverberation of this beautiful voice made the royal maids next to the lounge lower their heads in fear. They did not even dare to move or make a sound.

They are familiar with Queen Azshara's character and understand that whenever the Queen speaks like this, it means someone is going to be unlucky.

"Call my most loyal maid, Vashj, to come over. I need her to handle this trouble on my behalf."

Queen Azshara's voice came from behind the purple gauze curtain. After receiving the order, the palace maid immediately swayed her snake-like waist and went to convey the queen's will.

The other maids are still standing outside the Queen's lounge like sculptures. They maintain the most elegant posture, always waiting to serve the Queen.

He even sacrificed himself for her.

There is no need to doubt that in the Naga Empire, all it takes is an order from the Queen. There are so many fanatics who are willing to give everything they have for the Queen's great cause and regard it as an honor.

In fact, this is also the most criticized point in the night elves' records about Queen Azshara.

As the queen of the Highborne and all elves, Azshara undoubtedly possesses irresistible charisma among mortal creatures, half of which comes from her leadership qualities combined with her innate beauty and unparalleled wisdom.

The other half is the result of excessive use of magic.

In the most prosperous era of the Elf Empire, Queen Azshara could make everyone around her crazy for her with just one word or look.

If only it was like this.

The magical world of Azeroth has no shortage of leaders with strong charisma. It would be a good thing if this kind of influence could be used for good.

The problem is that there is a little "flaw" in Queen Azshara's character.

She greatly enjoyed the passion and enthusiasm of her subjects for her.

Driven by jealousy for the Queen's attention, many of her servants would fight for this favor, even going so far as to engage in life-and-death duels in the name of defending the Queen's honor.

Azshara takes pleasure in this "performance". She rarely stops the fights between servants that hurt each other, and will even grant the victor the power or reuse they desire.

In other words, Azshara is personally promoting this twisted "worship."

This creates extremely serious problems.

At the end of the Elf Empire, the Queen's court was filled with fanatics and lickers who rose to power in this way.

They are unable to provide any beneficial assistance to the development of the empire at all, and will only unconditionally obey all the Queen's orders.

This directly led to the fact that after Azshara began to study fel energy, the imitation of good and bad results caused the entire empire to fall into fel energy almost overnight.

Except for nobles with a sense of crisis like Kutalos Ravencrest, the Lord of Black Crow Castle, who brought order to the chaos, the entire Elf Court was almost completely destroyed.

It can be said that Azshara ruined her empire by herself.

Although, according to the records of other elves, Her Majesty the Queen is not a hard-hearted person.

Apart from her character flaws, she attaches great importance to her people. During the collapse of the world, she even used her own strength to fight against the cruel evolution of the world in order to protect her people.

Without Azshara's last-ditch effort with the Scepter of Shaladar Tides, millions of elves in the entire city of Zin-Azshari would have died in the first wave of collapse.

They couldn't hold on until the dark forces came to help them.

Without their queen stepping forward, they wouldn't even have a chance to become Naga.

She is the destroyer and the fallen, but she is also the protector and the savior. In the Naga Empire ten thousand years later, the unconditional and fanatical obedience of these people of the deep sea to the Queen is absolutely not without reason.

Azshara is such a mixture of contradictions.

This resulted in her being a character that is difficult to fully explain in one or two sentences in all documents.

Unfortunately, after accepting the assistance of dark forces and degenerating into a naga, the "small flaws" in the queen's character did not subside because of the disaster she suffered.

On the contrary, there is a trend that is getting stronger.

Soon, Queen Azshara's loyal maid, Vashj, the most effective sea witch among all her war maids, appeared outside the queen's lounge.

She came in a hurry.

He should have been training the army before. He was still wearing elf-style light armor, carrying a snake-spine war bow, a bag of magic arrows, and holding a deep sea trident, a wand and two elf war knives in his hand. .

Like other sea witches, Lady Vashj has six hands.

Unlike other sea witches who can only cast spells, Ms. Vashj can not only cast spells, but her archery skills can rival those of the Queen's ranger generals when she was an upper elf.

Her melee combat skills surpassed all the warriors under the Queen's command.

This is an all-around combat master. It is precisely because of her excellent fighting power and equally outstanding mind that she has distinguished herself among the Queen's maids as early as the Elf Empire.

She was favored by the Queen at that time, and this favor has not changed at all even ten thousand years later.

"Do you know what happened on the Vashj'ir border?"

Through the purple pearl gauze curtain, Azshara asked in her signature lazy voice.

Vashj nodded.

The naga general with strange white scales responded with silent calmness. Several small snakes on her head swallowed snake messages and hissed, representing the anger in Vashj's heart.

How dare you disrespect the Queen!

Any bastards involved in this deserve to die! Death ten thousand times is enough to pay for their sins!

"Go and deal with the mess left by Naz'jar."

The Queen seemed used to Vashj's silence.

She said softly:

"I sensed the opening of the elemental realm from the magic of the distant land. Neptulon has escaped from its cage, but the sealing shackles imposed on it by the Titan Guardians still exist.

If I want it to work for me, I have to control it before the Tidehunter can find a way to escape. Go and investigate and bring me a detailed report.

Besides, if I can't capture the holder of my scepter alive, there's no need to go to all the trouble of bringing it back. "

"Um?"

Vashj made a confused nasal noise.

This is not like what Her Majesty the Queen said. What does "no need" mean?

According to the Queen's past temper, anyone who dares to touch her treasures without permission will have their hands chopped off.

"Haha, I just saw that young man playing around with powers he didn't understand through my magic."

Azshara seemed to be aware of her subordinate's doubts.

She said softly:

"I am very interested in him. My chief maid, a human who can plot against Deathwing and free the Elemental Lord from the Titan's cage, is definitely not an ordinary person.

He has surpassed most of his countrymen.

He has earned my attention. I desperately wanted to know what that little guy was going to do with my scepter.

If he proves his power, then he might be of use to me.

Just think of it as satisfying the poor curiosity of a lady who has been alone for ten thousand years.

I even have a feeling that it would be more appropriate for my scepter to fall into his hands than to be used by my incompetent maids. Alas, how I wish my subordinates were as capable as you.

Unfortunately, there is only one Viper Mistress, you.

Go ahead, Vashj.

Be my eyes and patrol my frontier on my behalf. "

"As you command, Your Majesty!"

Viper Mistress Vashj bowed respectfully and left slowly. After taking a few steps, she heard Queen Azshara say behind her:

"When you come back, stop by Suramar.

As a messenger, please ask my not-so-loyal Grand Magister Elisande why he didn’t come to see him immediately after ten thousand years of self-exile.

If she plans to become king, remember to ask her to send me an invitation letter.

I would gladly attend the coronation of my subjects. "

The Queen's witty words made Ms. Vashchi show a fleeting smile, and then she nodded and left, winding her body like a snake.

The entire high tower of the Eternal Palace once again regained its tranquility.

Within the luxurious purple pearl curtain, on a lady's bed decorated with the most luxurious velvet, Queen Azshara lay there, letting the six octopus-like tentacles on her lower body spread out.

On her cheek, where she could vaguely see the radiance of the past, her two eyes and the three compound eyes on her forehead were staring at the crystal ball in front of her.

In the reflection of the crystal ball, Blake was swimming in the sea on his new seahorse, even posing in a classic pose of Napoleon riding his horse and raising his whip.

Let the upper body of the silver seahorse jump out of the sea, hold the reins on the saddle, and raise his left hand, pointing forward.

The splashing water and the dawn light set off a chic posture.

He didn't know that there was another woman observing his every move in the deep sea thousands of miles away. Maybe he knew, but he didn't care.

Distance is a form of protection in many situations.

"Mysterious Crow Prophet, we finally meet again."

Azshara stared at the crystal ball. The crystal reflected her monster face that could scare a child to tears. Her five eyes blinked, and the white crystal tentacles behind her head swayed like long hair.

There are also her four arms decorated with gold rings, coral, and wrapped with scales.

This is the price of a disaster, this is the shaping of the power of the void.

But the queen didn't care.

She is not someone who is sad about the past, she is someone who always looks forward.

She gently stroked the crystal ball with her fingernails. In the lounge where she was alone, Her Majesty the Queen showed a relaxed smile that said, "I finally waited for you."

It's like a problem that has been stored in my heart for a long time has finally been resolved.

It's relaxation from the inside out.

She tapped the crystal ball in front of her and said:

"I've never forgotten your rudeness, but you don't seem to be as strong as you once were, so what's your secret?

Alas, the cruel time has changed me, and the disaster has also taught me humility. Ten thousand years later, I can’t wait to hear the dark wisdom I missed once.”