军团再临广播剧《萨格拉斯之墓》第三章神墓之怒

　　A faint rustling. Skin rubbing against cloth. That was all the warning Khadgar had. Gul'dan was raising his hands.

　　A roaring wall of green fire raced toward Khadgar's exposed back. He let it approach. Its heat was on his neck before he made a simple gesture. Arcane magic froze the air solid around him, surrounding him in a barrier of ice.

　　Gul'dan's fire barely melted a few drops of it. With a snarl, Gul'dan retreated into the shadows again. Khadgar smiled. Another gesture, and the barrier shattered into a thousand tiny shards, sprinkling to the ground with a musical sound. Khadgar shook off the sudden chill and resumed his pacing, his boots crushing ice into puddles. "Almost had me there," he said.

　　A muffled grunt of pain floated through the chamber.

　　Khadgar couldn't help but laugh. "Didn't have permission to strike at me? How does the

　　Legion's discipline feel, Gul'dan? Are you ready to be a good pet now?"

　　The orc's voice was near to bursting with suppressed rage. "Do you believe in fate, human?" he asked.

　　An odd question. "I know your fate," Khadgar said.

　　"What about redemption?"

　　"Redemption? For you? No," Khadgar snorted.

　　"No, not for me," Gul'dan agreed. "Your kind of redemption bores me. It bored the son of Hellscream, too, from what I hear."

　　That was true enough. "What do you want? I can't imagine being a puppet appeals to you." "I want my enemies to burn," Gul'dan said.

　　"Lovely," Khadgar said. No further attacks were coming from the shadows. Gul'dan was stalling.

　　Khadgar inspected the chamber. A nearby pedestal shimmered, drawing his eye. He did recognize the runes on it. They were ancient Highborne work. During the War of the Ancients, when the Legion had taken steps to open a portal here—which would have created a second front, of sorts—it had required a significant magical effort to seal it off. That was exactly what he was looking at: one of the five seals. He knew of them only through his studies. Khadgar leaned over to examine this one. It was fascinating work, so precise, even though it had been hastily wrought. It was still active, rippling with violet light as it—

　　There was a noise. The seal flashed green; then it went dark. Khadgar stared. After a moment, acrid smoke rose from it, but its light had faded permanently.

　　The seal was gone, broken before his very eyes. Khadgar felt an itch at the back of his mind. Gul'dan. Even though he was hidden, he was breaking the seals.

　　And when they were all gone? The Legion wins. Khadgar couldn't wait any longer. He formed energy into a shoulder-high teardrop shape, then filled it with power. Two arms appeared, and the arcane elemental opened its eyes. "I serve," it said.

　　Khadgar pointed toward the shadows. "Someone is hiding. Kick some rocks until you flush him out," he said.

　　"I obey," the elemental said. It couldn't actually kick anything—no legs—but it floated over to the eastern corner without asking questions. That was nice. Elementals could be terribly literal.

　　It couldn't help but stumble over Gul'dan eventually. But why stop with one? Khadgar summoned more. It was time to put pressure on the warlock.

And on his masters, hopefully, Khadgar thought. He suddenly had a new idea. Distraction could take many forms, after all.

　　"So, Gul'dan," he said, "I have to ask—has the Legion told you how you died?"

　　---

That wasn't me, Gul'dan thought. But his annoyance battled with his curiosity. Did the archmage actually know the other Gul'dan's end?

　　Kil'jaeden seemed to read his mind.

　　—IGNORE HIM.—

　　"I am," he hissed, still in pain. After Gul'dan had attacked Khadgar, his disobedience had earned a swift response. That made him all the more furious. Highmaul slaves were treated better than this, he raged silently.

　　He glanced around the chamber. None of Khadgar's constructs were near him. Gul'dan was using only a trickle of fel power, far too slight for even Khadgar to locate.

　　But that was all the warlock needed.

　　Kil'jaeden had revealed the truth of this tomb. The original structure had been warded against demonic trespassers many thousands of years ago, but Gul'dan was no demon. Not quite. There was so much power here, not all of it Legion-derived. It had been layered and inverted and hidden away so skillfully that only one person had ever discovered it before. But after ten thousand years of inattention, these seals, wrought from titan power by imperfect mortals, had tiny weaknesses. Fatal weaknesses.

　　The Legion could not touch the seals, but the demons had studied them. The wards' ancient designers had crafted them so they would kill whoever tried to break them, but Gul'dan knew exactly how to crack open all five seals safely.

　　One had already fallen, and Gul'dan still lived. The Legion was giving him true instructions. Four left.

　　Gul'dan strained and felt something give way. The entire tomb quivered. Another seal was gone. Three left. He looked up at Khadgar, who tilted his head but did not seem to understand the magnitude of what had happened. Breaking the seals was not as dramatic an event as Gul'dan would have guessed.

　　All of the power the Legion had prepared to open this portal seemed to call to Gul'dan from a distance. It had been dormant too long. It needed to be claimed.

　　Interestingly enough, Gul'dan was beginning to suspect that the Legion was unaware of the other source of power down here. But though he could sense it, he couldn't wield it. That made it irrelevant. For the moment.

　　Khadgar's voice intruded on his thoughts. "The Horde—the first Horde—had stormed across

　　Lordaeron. You abandoned them to come here." One of Khadgar's elementals floated close to Gul'dan but didn't see him. "This island was beneath the ocean. You raised it up. Very impressive."

　　Gul'dan focused on his task, fingers twitching unconsciously. His fel power maneuvered deep within the tomb's runes, seeking the third seal. There it is. Gul'dan tried to grip it. He couldn't. It was slippery. Every time he attempted to pry open its weak point, he missed. It was like trying to untie a knot of spider's silk in the dark. With his toes.

　　"And as a reward for your loyalty, do you know what happened to you, Gul'dan?" Khadgar asked.

　　Suddenly, Gul'dan's magic slipped from his grasp. The third seal did not just break; it shattered.

　　A deep rattle sounded throughout the room, and then a crash followed on its heels. Gul'dan froze. Khadgar's constructs stopped moving. A low hum rose, and a dim hue, flashing between green and violet, began to shine from every stone in the chamber's floor and walls.

　　Not only had Gul'dan cracked open the third seal, but he had accidentally broken the fourth as well. It was likely a miracle it hadn't killed him.

　　There was only one seal left. Kil'jaeden's pleasure was unmistakable.

　　—WELL DONE.DESTROY THE LAST.—

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