Chapter 02: Azeroth's First Wound
Azeroth.
A wondrous world—a place where everything that grows becomes unique and awe-inspiring.
Millions of years ago, back when I was merely a bud cradled in the womb of the earth, the Titans of the Pantheon arrived on this world. In their language, "Azeroth" meant: the place where the stars shine.
But reality is never as beautiful as hope.
When the Titans arrived and discovered this young world—not yet fully born—they were shocked. For what lay hidden within was not sacred potential, but the seed of destruction. They found traces of the Void's corruption.
The Old Gods had arrived long before, and now they were spread across every corner of the continent. Among them, the most terrifying resided at the center of the world: Y'Shaarj.
Thus began what would come to be known as the War of Darkness—a cataclysmic battle to save a world that had yet to open its eyes.
But the Titans were too few. If they were to handle everything themselves, it would be far too exhausting, far too slow. So, as they had done in other worlds before, they followed the same pattern—no one faces destruction alone.
The Pantheon created the Keepers, sub-Titan beings who became the generals of the Order's forces. They also forged extraordinary weapons and war legions:
Iron Vrykul.
Iron Demon Ancients.
Iron Dwarves—also known as the Earth Spirits.
The Titan armies launched a massive offensive against the Old Gods. But those vile creatures had weapons of their own: biological legions known as the Aqir—beings of flesh and blood, corrupted into soulless killing machines.
They were countless. Massive hives rose like grotesque palaces above the blackened earth, led by the Faceless Ones—direct creations of the Old Gods, avatars of the Void itself.
The war raged across the continent.
Eventually, the Titans triumphed.
But the victory was far from complete. The Old Gods had taken root. They were no longer mere external enemies—they had become parasites, fused with the very body of the world.
Aman'Thul, leader of the Titans, was enraged.
With overwhelming power, he descended personally and ripped Y'Shaarj from the belly of this world—like pulling a radish from the soil. With one mighty tug, the creature was lifted, roaring and shrieking—then hurled into outer space. There, before the Pantheon, Y'Shaarj was shattered to nothingness.
But...
There is always a "but" in every victory.
The hole left by Y'Shaarj's removal became the deepest and most terrifying wound on the planet's surface.
And that wound... bled the world itself.
Even Azeroth, still asleep, whimpered for the very first time.
Yet the wound left by Y'Shaarj's fall was the worst across all of Azeroth's surface.
When the Ancient God's body was torn from the world by the Titans' own hands, it left a gaping hole that pierced deep into the planet's core—right to where Azeroth's soul lay dormant. The wound was so deep and horrific that it directly harmed the world's soul, which was quietly developing within. As a result, Azeroth's birth was delayed indefinitely, plagued by unbearable pain.
Blood began to flow from the earth. The more it poured out, the more it gathered—until it finally formed a magical lake of infinite power—a sacred and dangerous liquid that would later be known as the Well of Eternity.
The Titans, realizing the catastrophic potential of this wound, immediately turned all their focus to healing Azeroth. After a long and exhausting struggle, they managed to stabilize the cosmic wound, saving the world from total destruction.
But the problem was far from over.
The other Ancient Gods—scattered across various corners of the world—still gripped reality with their power. The Titans knew that killing them outright would wound Azeroth once more, perhaps fatally. Thus, they dared not destroy the remaining Ancient Gods.
The only option left: imprisonment.
The Pantheon created underground prisons impervious to all external influences, places where the Ancient Gods could be sealed away forever. They were locked deep beneath the earth, under hard, magical ground, far beyond the reach of mortals and the Void's influence.
Some examples of these prisons include:
Ulduar, the eternal prison in the North, where Yogg-Saron was confined.
The Aeon Seal, imprisoning N'Zoth's influence deep beneath the ocean.
Odyn and the Halls of Valor, the highest overseers of the Titans' legacy.
And N'Zoth's mad lair, hidden far in the deepest ocean trenches.
To guard all these facilities, the Pantheon appointed the Titanic Watchers—secondary creations who had once led the armies in the War Against the Darkness. Under their command, the steel-born forces—like the Vrykul, Earthen, and Mechagnomes—were tasked with guarding these seals until Azeroth would "hatch."
If any threat arose beyond their control, the Watchers were instructed to send the Alpha emergency code, which would directly alert the Pantheon in outer space.
After the great war ended, the Titans left Azeroth, hiding the world from the eyes of Void agents and leaving it under the protection of loyal Watchers.
And thus, a new era began.
The Watchers carried out the orders passed down to them. They guarded the seals, studied the world as it slowly began to pulse with life, and eventually—for the first time—noticed the presence of other beings: the ancient dragon race soaring through Azeroth's vast skies.
But peace did not come.
Among them rose a figure who would later be known as a catastrophe: Galakrond, the colossal primeval dragon.
Thus began the era of uneasy peace. The sub-Titanic Watchers, left behind by the Titans, faithfully followed the Pantheon's instructions, continuously monitoring the prisons of the Old Gods while starting to pay attention to the outside world.
They discovered the native creatures known as the proto-dragons. However, this discovery was not good news.
Galakrond, king of the proto-dragons, with his tyrannical might, crushed everything in his path. Although many other proto-dragons flew across Azeroth's skies, none could match this giant. The mere beat of his wings was enough to flatten dense forests into barren land.
More than raw power, Galakrond wielded extraordinary cunning as his weapon. Driven by greed, he began to prey on his fellow proto-dragons arbitrarily, even devouring corpses without hesitation.
This act of consuming other proto-dragons twisted Galakrond's mind and body under a living death curse. His monstrous form became riddled with malformed limbs and eyes scattered across his body.
His lair, made from rough dragonhide, was shrouded in wandering death energy, awakening dead creatures one by one. Galakrond's victims were possessed by this undead power before finally dying and being reanimated without sanity—a horror beyond measure.
Tyre, a secondary Titan Watcher, discovered this terrifying situation and promptly chose the five strongest and wisest proto-dragons to help him face Galakrond.
As Tyre and the five proto-dragons battled Galakrond, the other Watchers, who had remained silent, began to slowly awaken from their stupor.
But it was too late. The threat brought by this corrupted giant terror had grown too great—and it was the Watchers' fate to confront their end.
In that fierce battle, Tyre's winged allies showed burning resolve, though they felt shame for their prior negligence and indifference.
Without reprimanding his comrades, Tyre led them in cooperation until they finally defeated and killed Galakrond forever in the wilds of Northrend. In the bloody fight, Galakrond bit off Tyre's arm, which was later replaced by a silver prosthetic.
After the war, Tyre persuaded the proto-dragons to unite their strength to protect the land of Azeroth.
Freya, the loving nature guardian, called upon her Titan creator, Eonar, to bestow power upon the proto-dragon Alexstrasza. Known as the Red Dragon Queen, Alexstrasza became the Life-Binder—guardian of the world's birth and death, and protector of the true meaning of life itself.
Next, Freya pleaded for a blessing from Eonar, the lifebringer of nature, channeling that power to the ancient dragon Ysera. Known as the Green Dragon Queen and the Dreamweaver, Ysera embodied the union of dreams and nature, forging the Emerald Dream—a mirror world of pure, untouched Azeroth. With Ysera standing watch, Azeroth would preserve its original form: a world teeming with nature, life, and boundless vitality.
Meanwhile, Loken, the Titan's sentinel, called upon the creator Titan Norgannon to bestow power upon the ancient blue dragon, Malygos. As the Mystical Sovereign and Watcher, Malygos governed the flow of magical energies throughout the world, tasked with maintaining the stability of the arcane and preventing catastrophic magical disasters that could shake Azeroth's very foundations.
At the same time, Loken also prayed to Aman'Thul, the Father of the Titans, to bless the bronze dragon Nozdormu with the power of the sands of time. Nozdormu—the Timeless One—was Azeroth's eternal guardian of the timeline, tasked with correcting deviations and ensuring all events followed their proper course.
Finally, Azadas, the stone protector, petitioned his creator Khaz'goroth to share a portion of his immense power with the black dragon Neltharion. Known as the Earth Warder, Neltharion controlled towering mountains and the deepest caves across the continents. He was the embodiment of the world's raw strength—unyielding, steadfast, and immovable.
Thus, the lesser Titans could focus their attention on watching over the Old Gods, while the solemn duty of maintaining the world's peace was entrusted to the five Dragon Aspects.
Blessed by the Titans' power, these five dragon guardians transcended their former forms—elevated from ancient dragons to exalted beings now known as the Dragon Aspects. From that moment on, they were no longer equals among their kind; they had become something far greater.
The Keepers never forgot Yvhanar—the first tree they had discovered since the elemental wars long ago. Tyr, Thorim, Freya, Hodir, Mimiron, and Odyn had been the first witnesses to the sprouting of that seedling in Azeroth's soil, long before the world understood true balance.
Though Odyn remained skeptical of the Dragon Aspects, Yvhanar was different. That's why he joined the other Keepers in beseeching the Titans to bless the tree as they had blessed the Dragon Aspects.
Yvhanar was no ordinary tree. It was not forged by the Titans, nor was it born of elemental power. Its existence was natural yet shrouded in deep mystery. Over time, the Keepers began to realize just how extraordinary the tree was. They implored their creators—Aman'Thul, Norgannon, Eonar, Golganneth, and Khaz'goroth—to grant their blessing upon it, just as they had done for the Dragon Aspects.
But when the Titans poured their power into Yvhanar, something unexpected happened. The tree rejected their blessing. The Titans' energy seemed unwelcome—not out of hostility, but because of an odd incompatibility. Shocked and puzzled, the Titans decided to descend directly to Azeroth to witness the tree for themselves.
They recalled that long ago, the Keepers had spoken of a sprout that grew at the dawn of the world. At that time, their focus was on rebuilding after the elemental devastation, and the sprout had been neglected. Now, it had grown into a majestic tree—serene and full of quiet authority.
As the five great Titans observed Yvhanar, they realized the tree possessed a soul. Its roots delved deep into the earth, emitting faint vibrations that repelled the touch of the Void. Aman'Thul tried to pierce the tree's timeline but could see neither past nor future—an anomaly rare even for a Titan.
Yet Eonar, the life-binder, felt something different. A resonance in harmony with her own essence. The tree's natural spirit welcomed her with both gentleness and weariness. Yvhanar seemed fragile, as if silently enduring, waiting for its moment to rise in full strength.
In the end, the Titans agreed: this tree was an anomaly, not a threat. Though its origins remained unclear, they were certain Yvhanar was no harbinger of destruction. Instead, its presence could serve as a balancing force—calming Azeroth's spirit and shielding it from the Old Gods' influence and the corruption of the Void.
Before departing, the Titans instructed the Keepers: do not disturb the tree. Protect it with all your might. For one day, Yvhanar might become the world's last hope.
And from that moment on, the world continued in balance. All living beings thrived in peace, and Azeroth flourished in an age of prosperity and lasting harmony.