Chapter 400
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Chapter 400: Teleportation
On June 20th, inside the Wizard’s Sanctum, many mages gathered.
Jesse drank a little too much last night, but luckily he wasn’t late this morning.
He was standing in a place inside the Mage Tower that he had never been to before, a mysterious hall. A large portal of magic stood in front of him, continuously releasing Arcane light.
Three Elf Mages from Quel’Thalas held sapphire staffs, facing three teleportation masters from the Wizard’s Sanctum. Together, they were casting spells towards the giant gateway, preparing to activate it.
Ever since the Orc War, this portal had not been opened. Half of the surviving teleportation masters from the Wizard’s Sanctum had joined the expedition after the war.
At that moment, a chilly wind filled with magical power blew through the hall, tousling everyone’s robes and hair. Old Malin took out his pocket watch and glanced at it.
"It’s already 9 o’clock, the teleportation array in Stonard should have been activated by now."
"Are we going to Nethergarde, Master?" asked one of Malin’s students.
"Stonard is not far from Nethergarde, just across a hilly area, a few miles away," Malin explained. "We received news last night that due to some uncertain reasons, a stable teleportation channel may not be established in Nethergarde, so for safety reasons, a teleportation point has to be set up in Stonard instead. However, more teleportation points will soon be established, and that is also one of the tasks for mages heading there."
Jesse glanced at Malin, knowing the existence of Stonard, a Horde outpost stationed in The Black Morass.
The establishment of Nethergarde, the base of the Expeditionary Force, "The Watchful Void", only became possible after it was captured by the Alliance and the neighboring Dreadmaul Hold was taken.
As he pondered the situation on the front lines, suddenly, the teleportation gate released a faint white light, causing everyone here to blink involuntarily.
When the light faded, a magical curtain appeared in the middle of the gate, resembling a reflection in water.
The image in the curtain… seemed to be a dense green jungle, but flickered as if unstable.
"The teleportation channel has stabilized," shouted an Elf Mage loudly.
"So, Master Malin," Andromath called out, "It’s time now!"
Malin nodded firmly and walked to the portal. Jesse watched his silhouette reflected in the Arcane curtain, feeling like he was no longer the clumsy teacher who struggled with books, but closer to the rumored archmage Malin – a powerful wizard who could manipulate Arcane and fire with just a gesture.
Grasping his robes fluttering in the magical wind, he turned and shouted, "Mages, you can now go through the portal."
Jesse and the other mages beside him nodded. Several middle-aged mages with official mage insignias helped adjust their robes and led the way with magic wands held high. After saying something to Malin, they decisively rushed into the portal, disappearing as if diving into a shimmering lake of light.
Jesse had imagined what it would feel like to enter the portal, finding it hard to picture the sensation. The thought of long-distance jumping made him nervous just thinking about it.
At this moment, his mind was filled with the important rules for using portals that he had read before, such as no repeated entries, no retracting body parts once inside the portal, no probing the portal’s boundaries, and no passing through the portal in a transformed state.
The apprentice mages also arrived at the portal. Jesse raised his magic wand and followed their steps. Malin comforted the young students ahead and then turned to Jesse, asking, "Mr. Seso, why is your magic wand wrapped so thickly?"
"The magic gem attachment isn’t very secure, Master," Jesse casually explained. "I’m a bit afraid it might come off."
"Don’t worry too much about these small things, Mr. Seso," Malin said. "You are the youngest here, and others will protect you."
"I understand, master."
Jesse looked towards a blurry and chaotic Arcane mirror in front of him. Malin smiled and nodded. Jesse then immediately stepped into the portal.
As he reached out his hand, he felt like it was instantly being pulled somewhere unknown. But this almost instinctive impulse to protect his body only lasted for a moment, as his whole body then entered the strange Arcane light curtain.
He felt like he was completely engulfed by the Ley Line that had been trying to contact him, being pushed into a continuously rotating colorful deep lake.
The sensation was like suddenly flying in the sky while dreaming, lacking the sense of distance. It was like being dragged back and forth by a sticky, shiny hot vortex, but after being dragged for a while, he didn’t seem to have flown very far.
But in the end, he was suddenly spewed out of the vortex from the middle, emerging from the water’s surface, stumbling a few steps almost falling.
Jesse steadied himself, and when he looked at the surroundings again, he felt dizzy from the strange inertia of the rotation.
His vision, hearing, and skin sensation gradually returned to normal. A humid and warm air immediately surrounded Jesse, making him feel like he had jumped from an air-conditioned room into a sauna. It took his eyes a while to adjust to the dimness of the mysterious hall.
At that moment, a red-robed mage came out of a portal in the distance and let out a cry of pain, catching the attention of other mages.
His hair was on fire with green flames as he fell to the ground, unable to put it out no matter how hard he tried. His nearby companions reacted quickly and extinguished the flames with ice magic. However, the mage’s head was already covered in blisters from the burns, his face a mess of flesh and blood, only able to moan weakly.
"Damn it," shouted a mage leading the others maintaining the portal, "the connection here has been disrupted!"
"Have the demons arrived in Stonard already?" asked Malin, who had just come through the portal.
"Demons are everywhere, Archmage!" replied a mage from Stonard who was carrying mana gems, "In the sky, on the ground…"
"Keep calm, Wizard’s Sanctum mages. He will receive the best care. The best priests in all of Azeroth are here. Follow me now!" said Malin.
Stonard was filled with buildings and fortresses made of stone. Large, brown orc-hide tents remained, adorned with the blue and white shields of Lordaeron, creating a stark contrast.
Alliance soldiers did not alter the orc buildings much, instead utilizing them as they were. After all, the war was far from over, and it was not yet time to rebuild an Alliance town like Menethil Harbor.
For Jesse, who had seen countless orc-style dungeons, fortresses, and tents in the game, it was strange to see them in real life. It almost felt like stepping back into the game.
Especially when looking outside the wooden wall, it was deep and dark yellow swamps forest.
Jesse followed Malin to the largest Stone Wall gate of Stonard not far away, where sturdy soldiers in shirts and a mage in a worn-out blue cloak were looking at the newly arrived mages.
Malin walked quickly and said, "I am Archmage Eden Malin of the Wizard’s Sanctum."
"The commander of Stonard." One tall soldier walked over and saluted, saying, "Knight Captain Marsh Seaberry. Welcome, mages."
The old mage asked, "What exactly happened to the Dark Portal?"
The Knight Captain answered, "The energy of the Dark Portal started becoming extremely unstable about four or five days ago. We immediately sent messages to the commanders on the other side of the Dark Portal, but before they could reply, countless demons appeared in the other world."
"Why did those demons appear at this time?" Malin asked.
The mage said, "Draenor… that’s the world on the other side of the Dark Portal that has a massive crack, some kind of spatial crack, giving the demons an opportunity to teleport here. We suspect it’s related to the three artifacts stolen by the black dragons. The Book of Medivh taken from the traitor in Alterac contains unimaginable spatial magic. The Horde likely used that book, along with the other two Sacred Tools, to summon demons, trying to cut off our connection with the expeditionary forces."
Jesse knew that the Great Chief of the Horde didn’t intend to summon demons, but undoubtedly, the demons had already taken advantage of the numerous teleportation fissures tearing through all of Draenor that he had opened.
Maybe the deceiver Kil’jaeden saw an opportunity he couldn’t miss. He couldn’t let the Horde fail so easily and give up on all of Draenor. He wanted Ner’zhul to use the lives of the orcs to stop Azeroth and give him a chance to invade this world again.
But it’s clear that Ner’zhul cares more about the future of the whole Horde right now. He has always been against serving demons. Now that he has reached the highest position and obtained the most important artifact, giving him a chance for the Horde to start anew, he definitely won’t let it go.
"So, we need to take back the Dark Portal and restore contact with the Expeditionary Force," said Malin.
After he asked, the whole hall fell silent for a moment.
"That’s our ultimate goal, and it would be great if we can achieve it," said the Knight Captain. "But for now, we need more mages to defend Nethergarde, ensure the connection between Stonard and Nethergarde, and secure the route."
"It’s important to note that these demons weren’t summoned by the orcs. They are a real demon army, archmage. They don’t care about losses, being killed. They’re launching all sorts of attacks on our patrols and supply teams… None of us were prepared, so we need to control this chaos now before planning further actions."
