As the crystallization of magical civilization, Dalaran, the Violet City built by humans and high elves, is breathtaking in its beauty and grandeur. The streets here are very clean. Unlike the cone-shaped spires of Lordaeron's royal city, the relatively low buildings are adorned with red or violet domes. Among them, tall mage towers are evenly distributed, piercing the sky. Each tower represents a powerful mage.
Looking around, Aiden could count at least fifty magic towers within sight, and the actual number would be even greater.
"What a great city," Aiden sighed. But this pinnacle of magical civilization easily fell before a more powerful force. If Kil'jaeden, the leader of the Burning Legion, were to descend, all the mages here, bound together, still could not resist the city's destruction.
This magical kingdom gave Antonidas enough pride that he completely failed to hear the sigh in Aiden's tone. He asked, "Then how does it compare to your War College?"
Kayle replied for Aiden, "The main body of the War College is made of obsidian and precious metals fused with magic, with a dark tone as the main theme. Because it is to establish the authority of Valoran, the city's architecture is known for its solemnity and majesty. In terms of style, this Violet City seems much gentler."
"Is that so? It must also be a magnificent city," the Archmage said, leading them to a teleportation array, stopping and saying, "I will take you to the Council of Six in Dalaran. Are you ready?"
"Please!"
The runes of the teleportation array glowed, and Aiden found that they had appeared in a completely enclosed room. There was no external light shining in here, but the unusually active magic elements made its internal environment strange, sometimes dim and sometimes bright. Although there were no windows around, he could always hear the sound of wind whistling in his ears.
In addition to Aiden and Kayle, there were five other people in the room. They were scattered around the seats. Except for Antonidas, everyone else used magic to conceal their appearance, allowing people to only see the clothes they were wearing, and completely unable to distinguish their faces and genders.
In the face of the mysterious atmosphere painstakingly created by these council members, Aiden couldn't help but want to laugh—
"Welcome to the Kirin Tor Council," Antonidas began, "My colleagues have some questions they would like to discuss with you. Please forgive our system, they need to hide their identities as much as possible. Of course, this is not aimed at you, but to prevent people in this city from approaching the councilors with certain purposes. I assure you that almost no one in this city knows their identities."
"I roughly understand, but—" Aiden smiled, "Perhaps you are very unfamiliar with me, but I may not be completely unfamiliar with you."
He raised his hand, and a blue light spread out from him, and wherever it passed, the magic of the archmages immediately failed, revealing their true faces.
Aiden heard a surprised gasp. He looked at the first councilor on his right. He had an absolutely handsome face, more perfect than a sculpture. His flawless blond hair and pointed ears showed that he was a high elf: "Hello, Prince Kael'thas."
The high elf prince's surprise turned into a smile: "Hello, Aiden of Valoran."
The second was a taller female mage. She looked young, but her hair was silver-white. It was unknown whether it was natural or due to some youth-preserving technique, but judging from her calm and deep eyes, the latter was more likely.
"Hello, Madam Modera!" Aiden still revealed her identity in one breath. He thought, I have the 'prophet' Blizzard as my backing, I know your identities like the back of my hand.
Modera was obviously more surprised than Kael'thas. The former, as the prince of Quel'Thalas, was quite famous, and his characteristics were too obvious, so it was not surprising to be recognized. But she rarely left Dalaran, and not many of the local mages here could recognize her. How did this young man know her identity?
She nodded in response, while secretly sending a look to Antonidas, indicating whether he had revealed it, but Antonidas shook his head to deny her guess.
The third was also a man who looked like a high elf. He seemed much more mature than Kael'thas, with some red strands mixed in his long silver hair.
"Greetings to you, Krasus!"
Krasus nodded in response, thinking to himself, could it be that what Antonidas said was true, that this young man from another world had received guidance from a prophet?
Then his true identity as an adult red dragon must not be hidden from the other party.
The fourth was Antonidas, and next to him was a short, fat middle-aged mage.
"Hello, Archmage Drenden!"
Drenden laughed heartily: "It seems I'm still quite famous! You really surprised us, Aiden. What kind of spell was that just now? I couldn't completely defend against its probing of me."
"This is the Insight spell in the Summoner spells," Aiden replied. This spell was much more powerful than in the game. It could not only detect situations in the distance, but also reveal invisibility. However, coming to Azeroth, this was also the first time Aiden had used this spell. It seemed to work well.
After a routine exchange of pleasantries, everyone finally returned to the topic: the threat of plague, the Scourge, the Lich King, and the topic of alliance.
Drenden said: "I have some research on alchemy, so I tried to analyze the plague samples you obtained from that underground city. It is indeed as you said, it can pollute the land, and it can also be spread through food, water, and wound infection. And the required dose is very small. A dose of about two milliliters is enough to infect a healthy adult. And the infected person, according to the difference in physique and resistance, will develop within 3-24 hours and become a zombie with a strong desire to attack."
Next was Modera's account: "This food and water with the plague cannot be detected by conventional magic. Clerics are more sensitive to this. It can be determined that this plague is a combination of pharmaceutics and necromancy, but unfortunately, we have not yet researched a way to dispel it."
Krasus added: "Flame spells with vitality can purify them."
But the subtext of this sentence is: burn the infected and the objects with the plague, and let the red dragon spew dragon breath to burn them. Because ordinary flame spells are elemental spells, only the flames of the red dragon clan, as the Life-Binder, have vitality.
Obviously, this was only a last resort.
Drenden complained: "In fact, the priests and pharmacists of the Church may be more suitable for studying this kind of thing. But... alas, those aloof guys will not actively study this kind of thing that seems extremely evil to them until the fire is burning their eyebrows."
The discussion in the council room continued. After setting aside the heavy topic of the plague, the archmages turned their interest to the Summoner spells, which seemed very magical to them. In fact, Aiden had learned very few Summoner spells. Fortunately, Kayle, who was knowledgeable and experienced, was helping him, otherwise he really couldn't cope with this group of scholars who showed a strong interest in new knowledge.
...
Jaina, wearing that old-fashioned and strict apprentice mage robe, was walking aimlessly, holding a book borrowed from the library in her arms. The events of the past few days, and even earlier, troubled her, making her always restless. Unintentionally, she raised her head and found that she had walked to the pool where she often practiced spells again.
This place held many of her beautiful memories. When Arthas came to Dalaran to study, they often dated in this place. Every plant and tree nearby had witnessed her youthful love.
Jaina sat on the bench, supporting her chin with the spine of the thick book in her arms, recalling the bits and pieces of those past events. In the end, the scene in the tent a few days ago reappeared before her eyes: that cunning demon transformed into Prince Arthas to deceive her, trapping her in a circle of love, inadvertently leaking the most important information, causing two secret mage camps to be mistakenly killed by friendly forces, and directly leading to the failure of the operation.
Whenever she thought of the gentle and considerate demon in the tent and the big mistake she made due to her naivety, she would fall into self-blame and be unable to extricate herself. Although her father and teacher had carefully enlightened her, saying that it was not her fault, she was just unfortunate to become the target of the demon—if it were someone else, the same would happen.
Perhaps someone else would—but she herself was the one bearing the consequences.
She also thought of her first love. She didn't know where she and Arthas would go in the future?
"Jaina!"
In a daze, she seemed to hear Arthas's voice calling her. But this must be an illusion. He should have just returned to Lordaeron not long ago, and was now discussing national affairs. How could he come here?
"Jaina!" This time the voice was closer. She turned her head and was surprised to find that Arthas had really appeared before her eyes.
"Arthas, why are you here? Are you here to find..." Before she could finish her words, the "me" had not been uttered before being interrupted by the other party.
"I'm here to find Aiden, Commander Aiden of Valoran. Lordaeron has encountered a big problem, and my father asked me to invite him over." Arthas urgently explained his purpose, and immediately asked, "The people here said they saw Archmage Antonidas with a black-haired young man and an angel appearing in Dalaran, but they don't know where they are now. Jaina, do you know?"
Jaina composed herself and replied, "The teacher said before that he would invite Aiden on behalf of the council. It is likely that they are now in the council room—that is a mysterious place, and you cannot enter without the councilors leading you. If you want to find Aiden, you can go to the Archmage's residence to wait first. They should be there after they come out."
"I see, thank you, Jaina, I'll go first!" After hearing this, Arthas immediately left in a hurry.
Looking at his departing back, Jaina felt empty in her heart, as if her feelings with Arthas were also like this, gradually drifting away.