It took Vanaar countless ages to painstakingly corrupt one of the guardians—the "Wind Serpent God" Sethe—but ultimately, his plan to release it failed. Later, Rukhmar even created the Apexis civilization and used the power of the sun to deal Vanaar another blow.
Later, the Burning Legion—or rather, Kil'jaeden—took notice of this world. He had long recognized the presence of an Old God on this world, possibly one that had been parasitizing it for a very long time and was incredibly powerful. So, while openly confronting Prophet Velen, he secretly guided the orcs here to pollute the land and weaken this Old God.
Later, Kil'jaeden even used Ner'zhul to detonate the planet, causing Vanaar, who resided within Draenor, to suffer unprecedented damage.
After the Great Explosion, Vanaar could only use his power to protect Nagrand and its surrounding areas, preventing them from being corrupted by fel energy, and attempted to slowly heal the shattered Outland.
But a dozen years passed in the blink of an eye for an Old God. Before he could recover much of his strength, the Burning Legion came again, one wave after another, each more ruthless than the last.
Now that Kil'jaeden had come knocking, the immortal Vanaar was doomed.
For a plant-based Old God with relatively weak offensive capabilities, he only felt that his fate was so tragic, and the Titans and demons so vicious.
Hearing the Old God's question, Kil'jaeden laughed and said, "Because you are an Old God!"
No other reason was needed. This alone was enough for any Titan or demon to launch an attack!
After saying this, Kil'jaeden began to prepare his attack!
If comparing raw strength, perhaps a hundred Kil'jaedens combined could not defeat the Old God Vanaar before him. His attacks would have difficulty even penetrating the other's skin. The massive bombardment from the Legion's fortress only managed to blast away the dirt on Vanaar's back, barely even touching his hair roots.
But the nature of the Old Gods dictated that when the planets they parasitized were destroyed, they would suffer unimaginable damage.
The Titans called the Old Gods "light-darkness sensitive parasitic symbionts," which succinctly pointed out the characteristics of the Old Gods—their relationship with the parasitized planet was one of "symbiosis."
The Titans might tolerate this parasitism to avoid harming the intelligent life on the planet, but the Burning Legion would not. Upon discovering an Old God, the demons would destroy the planet itself along with the Old God!
Therefore, for the Old Gods, the Burning Legion was their true nemesis!
Now, the last piece of land where the immortal Vanaar could parasitize had also been destroyed. Although he was still enormous, he was actually very weak inside.
Kil'jaeden reached out and summoned a portal in front of him. Countless exploding imps jumped out of the portal, screeching as they swarmed towards the Old God's massive body.
The hair roots on Vanaar's body came back to life, working together as if they had independent thoughts, trying to whip these annoying little demons away. But as soon as these tentacles touched the exploding imps, the little guys immediately exploded, like living bombs.
The fel energy from the explosions stained Vanaar's skin and tentacles, immediately igniting into a raging fire.
"Go, my servants!" Kil'jaeden did not participate in the attack himself. Now was not the time for him to truly make a move.
Countless demons charged at Vanaar under his command, and the arcane cannons in the sky resumed firing.
Even the largest demons were so small to Vanaar that they had to get close to be distinguished, like elephants and ants. But as Kil'jaeden expected, Vanaar was incredibly weak.
Every time he used a bit of strength, his size would shrink a little. And with Outland completely shattered, it was as if this world had died, and he could no longer replenish his energy. When his strength was exhausted, it would be his death.
He roared and charged towards the Legion fortress that was firing at him, throwing the huge thorny spear in his hand. The spear was even larger than the fortress itself, so the demons controlling the fortress had no chance to dodge and were completely destroyed.
"Roar!" Vanaar let out a victorious roar.
But countless demons climbed up his hair roots, some even stabbing his skin with the weapons in their hands, injecting fel energy into him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
"I also have minions!" Vanaar shouted.
With a wave of his hand, countless minions appeared around him. Some of these Old God's minions were giant primal thorn beasts in the same shape as Vanaar, some were plant-like thorns and vines, some were multi-headed dinosaur-shaped monsters that were half plant and half animal, and some were dryads, treants, and strangely shaped beetles.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Vanaar had an army that was no smaller than the Burning Legion.
But the cost of doing so was also very high. After completing the summoning, Vanaar's size had shrunk to only one-third of its original size. Although still enormous, the feeling of awe was much lower than the giant beast that once supported the world.
"Indeed, this kind of battle is more interesting." Kil'jaeden revealed a look of interest, and he began to take it seriously.
And Sinestra, cowering in the Nether, watched the war between the Burning Legion and the Old God with extreme fear, not daring to make the slightest sound.
"This world is too terrifying and too crazy!"
"How can there be such monsters…"
"This place is so dangerous, why did I choose this direction!"
"I really want to go back! It was so much better staying in the fortress…"
—
Aiden thought of the Titan laboratory underground and immediately wanted to see if there was anything inside that could help them leave this dangerous world.
As he walked into the elevator leading to the bottom of the fortress, Aiden had another whimsical idea—since plants can produce oxygen, could he massively cultivate plants in the Naaru's spaceship or the closed Shattered Spire to produce oxygen?
He possessed the power of nature, and it wasn't difficult to massively cultivate plants—historically, after the Battle of Mount Hyjal, the night elf druids jointly cast spells to use the seed of the World Tree to cultivate a new World Tree, Teldrassil, in Darnassus, known as the "Crown of the Sky." Although Aiden didn't have so many druids around him, he could summon heroes who manipulated plants, such as Zyra, the "Rise of the Thorns," and with himself, it was really possible to create an indoor oxygenated environment in a short time!
The more Aiden thought about it, the more excited he became. There are always more solutions than problems! He planned to implement this idea immediately after exploring the Titan laboratory!
He told his ideas to Kayle, Thrall, and Prophet Velen, and everyone was a little confused at first.
"Are you saying that the oxygen we breathe is provided by plants?" Prophet Velen asked back.
"Yes, is there a problem?" Aiden thought this should be common sense, but he quickly slapped his forehead. He was now in a fantasy world, and although there were researchers in natural science, their level was obviously far behind that of Earth.
He roughly explained photosynthesis, and everyone understood a little.
"I feel inspired." Thrall seemed to understand. The way of the shaman is both the way of the elements and the way of nature, and photosynthesis is more inclined to the way of nature. If it were a druid, it might be easier to understand. But with Thrall's wisdom, he could still get some inspiration from it.
"It should be here." At the end of the elevator, some rooms appeared with a different architectural style from the Shattered Spire. More importantly, the identification mechanism had changed—the previous identifiers of the Apexis civilization were all sun-shaped symbols, but now it had become the mark of the Pantheon Titans: a huge bronze head. And the two eyes of the head were staring at them, giving Aiden a feeling of being watched by a living person.
Just as they stepped out of the elevator, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded:
"Archives activated…"
"Scanning is about to begin…"
"Identity verification starting…"
A beam of white light suddenly shot out from the eyes of the bronze head, enveloping Aiden in front. As the white light swept over him, he suddenly had the feeling that all his secrets were exposed.
"Identity verified: Titan."
"Welcome back to the laboratory!"
Aiden breathed a sigh of relief and stepped over.
He had a sense of relief at passing the test, and at the same time, he was also very puzzled: Ansu once asked him if he was a Titan wearing a human appearance, so he could activate the highest authority of the Shattered Spire. At that time, the only reason he could think of was Sargeras' forced fusion in the Twisting Nether.
Could it be that Sargeras' occupation could even deceive the real Titan system?
He had a ridiculous feeling.
Then, the beam scanned Kayle:
"Identity verified: Eternal Kingdom, angelic being."
Following that was Prophet Velen:
"Identity verified: Argus, Eredar."
Finally, Thrall:
"Identity verified: Magron flesh construct."
After crossing through the light portal, Thrall couldn't help but ask, "What does that mean?"
"As far as I know, the Magron are the ancestors of the Gronn, and some Gronn evolved into Ogres, and some Ogres evolved into Orcs. The system's conclusion seems to align with this hypothesis," Aiden replied.
"Gronn raising Ogres, that I know very well. But you're saying Ogres evolved into Orcs?" Thrall asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
Aiden chuckled: "There's nothing strange about that. Aren't there Mok'Nathal half-breeds in the Citadel right now?"
He was referring to a group of half-breeds from Blade's Edge Mountains—these half-breeds were the product of Ogre and Orc interbreeding, possessing characteristics of both.
Rexxar, the Beastmaster, was from the Mok'Nathal clan. Now, the chieftain of this group of half-breeds is Rexxar's father, Leoroxx. They also joined the Outland Allied Forces during the great retreat from Blade's Edge Mountains. The survivors are still in the Citadel.
"...Truly astonishing," Thrall said, slowly digesting the information.
"Actually, if you knew that Elves evolved from Trolls, you'd probably find it easier to accept such facts," Aiden offered consolingly.
Thrall was born on Azeroth and had seen both Trolls and Elves. He couldn't find any similarities between the two, except for their long ears.
"Really?"
"Of course!"
Aiden was truly interested in Kayle. He asked, "Kayle, has your Eternal Kingdom also been visited by the Titans? Otherwise, this authentication system is too powerful."
"Yes, it has," Kayle nodded in affirmation. She glanced at Aiden but didn't continue to explain the relationship between Angels and Titans.
Aiden was well aware of the fact that the Titans had visited Argus. He just hadn't expected that the Titans from the Warcraft universe would visit the Eternal Kingdom from the League of Legends universe. This news made him realize more deeply that there were more secrets hidden behind this world that he didn't know.
However, he then thought about how he had once returned from the Twisting Nether to a parallel Earth where he didn't exist. Perhaps one day he could find a way back.
With everyone verified, the eyes of the bronze Titan head finally stopped emitting their eerie light.
They arrived before a large door, on which were engraved two mysterious patterns and a stone tablet.
One of the patterns seemed to depict the movement of Draenor's two moons and the planet itself, but the representation of Draenor looked shattered. The second picture showed sunlight projecting onto a planet that was collapsing.
Its meaning was completely incomprehensible—could it be saying that the sun and moon would destroy this world?
However, the words on the stone tablet could be recognized.
Prophet Velen slowly recited, "In the beginning, Draenor was a wild and savage land, with nothing but the eternal struggle between the creatures of creation and destruction. Later, three ancient spirits appeared in the wilderness: Rukhmar, Anzu, and Sethe…" This was a piece of information introducing the history of Draenor.
The inscription mentioned the past of Rukhmar and the others, as well as the birth of the Arakkoa, the glory of the Apexis civilization, and the ancient battles between the Magron and the Genesaur.
Aiden noticed a sun-shaped mark at the end.
He smiled and said, "This should have been left by Rukhmar."
He noticed that the inscription deliberately downplayed, or even completely omitted, the Titans, only saying that this laboratory was the origin of the Apexis civilization. Yet, they were now at the door of a Titan laboratory. As a guardian appointed by the Titans, why would Rukhmar do this?
Aiden couldn't understand.
However, now that they had arrived at the door, he assumed they would find the answer once they went inside.
With Aiden, a pseudo-"Titan" with the highest authority in the authentication, the doors of the archive automatically opened to them.
This was a Titan laboratory somewhere. The room was dozens of meters high, and all the instruments seemed enormous—clearly, this was the environment suitable for the Titans to work in.
They didn't know what these machines were for, so they didn't dare to touch them recklessly. However, the scene here was enough to subvert their previous understanding.
Aiden personally embarked on a journey to explore the secrets of the Titans, feeling a novelty completely different from solving puzzles in a game.
On Azeroth, the explorer Brann Bronzebeard was most interested in such secrets. Aiden thought to himself that Ezreal, the explorer of Valoran, would definitely love such an adventure as well.
Aiden was inspired by Brann Bronzebeard. It didn't matter if they couldn't find the purpose of these machines, something knew.
"What is the function of this archive?" Aiden asked loudly.
The archive's voice, which had just verified their identities, automatically responded:
"Query initialization…"
"This is the Arrakoan planet's Fail-Safe system activation facility."
"Fail-Safe system?" Aiden immediately understood its purpose.
Thrall asked, "What does that do?"
The archive's voice replied, "The Planetary Fail-Safe System is an automated system used to respond to emergency requests from the Prime Guardian."
"And what is that?"
"When the Titans left the planet, they left behind six Titan Guardians, led by the Prime Guardian, Landen."
Aiden was also listening from the side. The "Prime Guardian" Landen mentioned by the system's voice should be a Titan Guardian equivalent to Loken, the Keeper of Wisdom in Ulduar on Azeroth.
"Where did Landen go?" Aiden asked.
"The Prime Guardian was destroyed 11,000 years ago. This event was considered an early warning signal for the beginning of a global system breakdown. Observer Algalon then descended, eliminated the threat with Guardians Rukhmar and Anzu, sent a safety signal, and returned."
Algalon—wasn't that the final boss of Ulduar? Aiden didn't expect that this guy had come to Draenor more than 10,000 years ago and fought alongside Rukhmar and Anzu!
Aiden asked, "What is the operating principle of this laboratory? What kind of signals can it send?"
The archive's voice replied, "There are three signal buttons on the console. Reply Alpha means everything is normal, Reply Beta means summon the Observer, and Reply Omega means planetary re-origination is required."
"Planetary re-origination?" Prophet Velen became tense for the first time. "Re-origination in what sense?"
"Decompose the planet and its ecological organization into basic constituent components: metal, rock, gas, and reconstruct them for a period of time to conform to the original planetary blueprint."
Thrall murmured, "Simply put, it's to make this shattered world even more thorough, to collect all the materials and forge them into a brand new appearance. Is that what it means?"
Aiden nodded: "Indeed, that's right."
"This laboratory is too dangerous! Let's leave quickly!" Thrall only felt cold sweat all over his body. The Burning Legion had already made Draenor fragmented and Unbearable, but he didn't expect that the Titans could destroy it even more thoroughly—he was now a little confused as to which of the two was more terrifying.
"Don't rush!" Aiden recalled that Azeroth seemed to have more than just one experimental base in Ulduar. In fact, Uldaman and Uldum were also proving grounds, especially the latter. In the Halls of Origination in Uldum, there were guardians who specifically carried out the work of planetary re-origination.
Aiden asked loudly, "Besides here, are there other Titan laboratories? What are they used for?"
"Another laboratory is on the sun. Its purpose is to melt the planet."
"…" Aiden was speechless. He never expected that even the sun would become a tool in the hands of the Titans.
"The mural at the door," Kayle suddenly said, "The mural shows the sun shining on this planet and then destroying it."
Aiden's eyes lit up. Kayle had obviously thought of the key.
"Then the other one, the shattered Draenor surrounded by two moons, should be in the process of being reassembled—then, the so-called blueprint should be on one of the two moons?"
"Blueprint?" Thrall didn't understand what the word meant at all.
"On Azeroth, the place with the same name is called the 'Emerald Dream'!"