Not far from the Royal Palace, in the mansion of a certain Lordaeron Duke, Galen and several heirs of the Eastern Kingdoms were gathered.
The Duke's mansion tower faced the Royal Road, and they watched as Arthas led his soldiers, pushing open the gates of the Royal Palace and entering.
"Galen, brother, I thought you invited us to gather in Dalaran to unite against Lordaeron. Why have you teleported us here to watch Prince Arthas's triumphant return?"
The one who couldn't contain his impatience was Prince Liam of the Kingdom of Gilneas. The young prince had just come of age, and at eighteen, he couldn't compare to Varian, who was already twenty-seven, let alone Derek, who was thirty-three.
Oh, and in attendance were Kael'thas, who was thousands of years old, Prince Brian Bronzebeard, who was hundreds of years old, and Onyxia, estimated to be tens of thousands of years old.
The major kingdoms of the Eastern Continent were basically all present, except for Gnomeregan and the city-state of Dalaran.
"Liam, you're too impatient," Derek scolded the young Gilnean prince. If it weren't for the good relationship between his father and King Genn, Derek wouldn't have spoken at this time.
The reason being, everyone in the room except Liam had noticed the abnormality of Arthas and the troops behind him.
This team was out of tune with the festive atmosphere on the streets. The soldiers' expressions were hidden in their armor, without a trace of emotional fluctuation.
If you had to explain it as the Lordaeron Royal Guards and the Knights of the Silver Hand being elite forces that strictly followed orders, it wouldn't be unreasonable.
But their biggest flaw was those petals that had only been picked in the morning!
While the petals were still bright when they fell, when they landed on Arthas and his soldiers, or fell at their feet, they either turned black or turned into ashes!
How toxic is that!
"They're in!" Varian said solemnly, his back to the crowd.
Varian had become a father at the beginning of the year. His queen had given birth to a boy for him. According to the Wrynn family's tradition of using the names of elders for their descendants, the newborn royal bloodline was named Anduin Wrynn.
As a close friend and distant cousin of Varian, Galen not only missed Varian's wedding but also failed to attend Anduin's birth ceremony, but he prepared gifts for Varian's family of three.
Galen gave Varian's queen and child protective magical items that could save their lives in the face of fatal injuries.
As for Varian, Galen had obtained two ancient elven magical swords from Aegwynn, Shalla'tor and Ellemayne, which were held by a pair of twin elven warriors during the War of the Ancients.
Galen also specially asked Onyxia to use dragon breath to combine the two elven swords into one, which could also be split into two swords when necessary.
Would Varian still be Varian if he couldn't break chopsticks?
Wouldn't this deprive Varian of a power-up ability?
At worst, we can equip Varian with a trigger-activated return scroll.
Absolutely foolproof.
"What exactly happened to Arthas in Northrend? I heard he even killed Prince Muradin," Derek asked Brian.
Brian's face was gloomy at this time, his fists clenched: "That's right, according to reports from members of the Explorers' Guild who returned to Ironforge, Arthas and my brother were searching for Frostmourne together. Later, Arthas pulled out Frostmourne and killed Muradin!"
"Terenas said it was all just an accidental injury!" The angry Brian's beard was bristling. "I came this time to demand an explanation for Muradin!"
"Arthas is no longer the Prince of Lordaeron he once was." Galen, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. As the initiator of this special gathering, his words attracted everyone's attention. "A long time ago, I told you that there was a pair of black hands operating everything behind the undead and the plague."
"Galen, brother, you're right. We supervised the country's food supply as soon as possible and indeed found many suspicious people tampering with the food, and a lot of the food transported from Andorhal was problematic," Liam said.
"Cultists calling themselves the Cult of the Damned have also appeared in Quel'Thalas, preaching," Kael'thas said, a flash of disgust in his eyes. "There are actually a group of decadent old men who have lived for thousands of years who believe them."
"… …"
Immortality, even high elves with thousands of years of life will come to the end of their lives, and the desire to survive will indeed make them lose their minds.
After they finished speaking, Galen continued: "The culprit is a demigod powerhouse who calls himself the Lich King. His base camp is Northrend, and Arthas has fallen this time."
"The one who went in just now wasn't Arthas?"
"No, he is Arthas, a genuine Prince of Lordaeron. But he has now completely fallen under the Lich King's seduction."
Everyone looked at each other, speechless.
"Lordaeron... is finished!"
As soon as the words fell, the gate of the Royal Palace was opened, and Arthas walked out, grabbing a Royal Guard by the neck with one hand. Then, he waved Frostmourne in his hand and stabbed the guard's chest with a sword.
The guard, who had lost his life, was thrown to the ground, but he quickly struggled to stand up, drew the weapon from his waist, and scattered with the soldiers Arthas had brought back, starting a massacre.
"What... what kind of evil magic is this!"
The princes watching from afar were shocked! They knew about the undead plague, but they had never heard of undead who could climb up so quickly after death and whose strength was the same as before they died.
"Alright, I can only say that Lordaeron will come to an end after today, but the undead plague is not over yet."
Galen interrupted everyone's astonishment.
"Derek, find a way to transfer some transport ships from Kul Tiras and wait in Southshore. The Stromgarde fleet will also be waiting there."
"Kael, the chess player on that side has already made a move. You return to Quel'Thalas and start our plan!"
"Brian, go back to your country and prepare for war."
"Liam! You've also seen that the great war between humans and the Lich King is about to begin. This is an opportunity for Gilneas to rejoin the Alliance. Whether you can grasp it depends on the Greymane family's decision. I can only say one thing: isolationism will only lead to a dead end."
"Galen, what do you need me to do?" Varian asked, having waited for a long time.
"Go out and evacuate the refugees, and then wait to receive the 300,000 people who were annexed by Lordaeron back then, or come with me to see Arthas!"
"No..."
"I choose to evacuate the refugees!"