Chapter 662

"Okay, okay, you can stop there!"

The Eredar twins had barely gotten started.

They had carefully prepared their solemn expressions, clearly ready to display their breathtaking knowledge of ancient history. Evenson killed the mood before they could even get through the opening.

"Can we just stick to the important parts?"

Seriously. He had asked them to explain things in detail, but they did not need to start with the days when Sargeras was still punching the clock in the Pantheon. At this rate, they could fill a dozen full-length novels before they ever reached the point.

One of the twins shot him a razor-sharp glare.

"Do you dare interrupt my poetic flow?"

She looked deeply offended.

"You uncultured barbarian! Do you not understand that the history of the Void and the Burning Legion are intertwined? You simply have no appreciation for the subject!"

"Besides..." Aurerese shifted her gaze toward Cleya. "Even if we explained everything in simple terms, you would understand it, but this little outsider obviously would not. You already have questions, don’t you? Go ahead. Ask."

"I..." Cleya opened her mouth.

Then she snorted and turned her head away.

She did have questions. She desperately wanted to know what a World Shaper Titan was supposed to be. But after seeing the twins’ smug expressions, and remembering how rudely they had treated her the last time she asked something, there was no chance she was going to volunteer again.

"Very well! Since you have asked so sincerely..."

Salorath suddenly slapped the table with one hand, putting on an absurdly dignified expression.

"I shall answer you!"

Aurerese folded her arms and leaned back-to-back against her sister.

"No matter how many creation myths exist throughout the worlds, no matter how this universe defines its origins, where we come from, the Pantheon that travels the cosmos is the source from which the many worlds were shaped."

"Yeah," Evenson said, nodding blankly. "Exactly."

Cleya blinked.

It took her several seconds to process what had just happened.

What the hell? Who asked them anything?

"Fine. We’ll go with your version."

Evenson rubbed his forehead.

There was no point fighting it. If he didn’t let the Eredar twins finish their little performance, they would never settle down.

"Sargeras was once the Pantheon’s greatest weapon, clearing away every obstacle that stood in their path. Then, one day, he fell."

At that point, Salorath glanced at Cleya again and nodded gravely.

"A very good question."

Cleya’s eyes widened.

I didn’t ask a question!

"There are many versions of why Sargeras fell," Salorath continued. "Some say he was corrupted through manipulation. Others claim he realized that the Titans had chosen the wrong path. But every version includes the Nathrezim. Whatever the truth, it is clear that the Dreadlords played an important role."

Evenson nodded thoughtfully.

The version he knew from the old stories had been straightforward enough. The Dreadlords, those insidious psychic parasites, had tormented Sargeras with their whispers until they drove him mad.

"But the truth is that the Dreadlords didn’t actually tempt Sargeras," Aurerese said. "They were never powerful enough to do that. What they did do was reveal something that shocked him."

"Something about the Void," Evenson guessed.

"Exactly."

Aurerese nodded.

"But this part would be better explained by Ulthalesh. She was there, after all."

"That makes sense."

Evenson immediately summoned Ulthalesh, the Deadwind Harvester.

He didn’t hold the scythe in his hand. Instead, he tossed it into the air and let it hover.

"Ulthalesh?"

He waited.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

Evenson frowned.

Seriously? Do I need some kind of elaborate awakening ritual?

That would be annoying.

Then he had an idea.

He cleared his throat and lowered his voice.

"Hey. Hey. Card pack opening. One pack, four legendaries. Come on. They’re rotating out!"

"WHO DARES?!"

The instant the words left his mouth, blood-red mist erupted from the blade of Ulthalesh.

The mist gathered into the shape of a long-haired demoness.

Ulthalesh.

Her shrill voice rang through the room.

"Who dares rotate me out of the meta without my permission?!"

Then she looked around.

Her expression froze.

For a moment, her face was practically a living reaction image.

Then she roared again, this time with unmistakable indignation.

"Little warlock! You tricked me again!"

"Sorry."

Evenson’s apology contained exactly zero remorse.

"I couldn’t wake you any other way."

"Hmph!"

Ulthalesh sat down on the edge of the scythe and turned her head away, clearly announcing that she was angry and absolutely impossible to appease.

No one paid her any attention.

A while later, she turned back around on her own.

Then she smiled brightly at Evenson.

"So, little warlock, why did you wake me this time? Did you finally agree that I deserved first place last time and decide we should become one?"

Cleya immediately scooted several feet farther away from Evenson.

Does he just have a thing for every female creature he meets? He won’t even let a giant scythe off the hook!

"Ha..."

Evenson forced an awkward smile.

"Could you not phrase it like that?"

He took a breath.

"I called you because I want to know what Sargeras learned from your people that caused him to fall from a proud Titan into a destroyer of worlds. Was it connected to the Void?"

Ulthalesh’s expression instantly turned smug.

"Oh, you came to the right person."

She looked almost as pleased as someone who had just reached the top of the ladder.

"I was the one who set all of this in motion."

"Before Sargeras fell, he hunted my people across the cosmos. He transformed our empire, Mardum, into a prison. Our eternal place of confinement."

Ulthalesh stuck out her tongue and ran it over one of her exposed fangs.

"Our suffering and hatred only grew. Dreadlords are an exceptionally vengeful species."

She pointed at Evenson.

"Anyone who wrongs us is remembered forever. That includes you, by the way. I still remember exactly how you caused me to disconnect from the game twice!"

"How about I give you two collector’s editions with golden Hearthstone cards?"

Evenson’s mouth twitched.

Having a Dreadlord remember a grudge against you forever was not exactly reassuring.

Ulthalesh’s eyes lit up.

"We are bound as one. How could there possibly be any resentment between master and servant?"

She casually produced a little notebook, tore out one page, and burned it.

Evenson stared.

"...How convenient."

Ulthalesh continued.

"The Void is like a reflection of this universe. The two were supposed to exist as parallel worlds that could never intersect. But for reasons we did not understand, the two worlds suddenly touched."

"A hole appeared."

"That hole was not far from our territory."

"Our people were not always evil. Nathrezim were not born synonymous with evil."

"You were affected by the hole?"

"Not merely affected."

Ulthalesh’s smile faded.

"We were influenced by it, yes. But we also learned from it. While observing the hole, we acquired knowledge and abilities that should never have been within our reach. We glimpsed countless truths. Countless cycles. Things that defied everything we thought we understood."

"That place became sacred to my people."

"Until we were forced to leave."

"Sargeras captured you?"

"No. That came later."

Ulthalesh shook her head.

Her expression changed.

For the first time since she had appeared, there was genuine fear in her eyes.

"One day, while we were observing the hole again, we suddenly felt it."

"What?"

"A gaze."

She shuddered.

"It was as though something on the other side of the hole had suddenly noticed us."

"That day, through that single gaze, we understood what greatness meant."

"What it meant to be utterly unmatched."

"What endless hunger and greed were."

"And what true terror was."

"The thing looking at us possessed unimaginable power."

"And it had noticed us."

Ulthalesh’s voice grew quieter.

"So we fled."

"My people abandoned the holy site and migrated together. We eventually settled in Mardum, where we built our empire."

Evenson stared at her.

He more or less understood the story.

At some point, for reasons no one knew, a hole had appeared between the Void and reality. The Dreadlords happened to live nearby and had spent years peeking through it.

Then one day, something on the other side noticed them.

It was roughly the cosmic equivalent of:

What are you looking at?

What are you looking at?

Followed by one very threatening glare.

The Dreadlords wisely decided that discretion was the better part of survival and ran for their lives, eventually settling on Mardum.

Later, Sargeras showed up, burned the place down, and hauled them off into captivity.

And the being that had frightened an entire race of Dreadlords into abandoning their homeland with nothing more than a glance...

"The Void Lords."

Evenson’s voice was cold.

"And after Sargeras imprisoned you, you leaked this information deliberately."

Ulthalesh nodded.

"You wanted to use him to kill your enemy for you."

"You knew that once Sargeras learned such a being existed, he would inevitably fight it to the bitter end. If Sargeras died, your people might escape. Even if Sargeras won, he would almost certainly be grievously wounded."

"And either way, you would have an opportunity."

"Exactly."

Ulthalesh nodded.

"That was my original plan."

"But..."

Her expression became grim.

"The consequences were far beyond what I expected."

"We had been gone too long."

"By the time we returned to the matter, we discovered that the hole had grown."

"The Void’s influence had continued spreading."

"And it had already produced something that truly frightened Sargeras."