Emerald Dream

Karthus and Hecarim were the first to arrive. Both the Lich and the Centaur were experts in matters of the soul. Following them was the Death Knight, Brox, who had come with Karthus.

Seeing the Master of Metal emerge from the summoning array, Hecarim ceased his pointless running. "Mordekaiser?"

The Master of Metal strode forward and said, "I thought I had returned to the Shadow Isles."

All three of them hailed from the Shadow Isles and had extraordinary origins. Evelynn was also from the Shadow Isles, but she didn't come this time.

Karthus had only exchanged a few words with Mordekaiser when the second group arrived: Thrall, Anna, Khadgar, and Kael'thas.

Brox nodded to Thrall as a greeting. Before becoming a Death Knight, he was a warrior of the Horde, and even in his current form, he held special feelings for the Orcs.

At that moment, Nautilus, resembling a steel giant, emerged from the array.

Thrall was stunned and widened his blue eyes. "That's a big fellow!"

"Looks like it's made of iron. Is it a mechanical puppet?" Khadgar speculated.

Nautilus heard their voices and said, "I am not a steel puppet. I am a diver! It's just that I can't take off this steel pressure suit."

The sound he made was mixed with the vibration of metal buzzing when it passed through the steel shell, sounding like a mechanical sound.

Khadgar asked curiously, "Then how do you usually eat?" He looked up at Nautilus, guessing whether he needed to open the sealed compartment on his head and have someone climb up to feed him?

Nautilus said loudly, "I don't need to eat!"

The second batch of Valoran heroes also gradually arrived, including Malzahar and Syndra.

When Janna appeared, someone couldn't help but whistle. The overall atmosphere of Azeroth tended to be conservative, and such a sexy, beautiful, and scantily clad woman was very rare.

After coming out of the array, she took two steps and stood on the ground, her expression somewhat troubled.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She can't fly anymore."

Broll and Thrall answered each other.

In Valoran, Janna was favored by the spirits of the wind. As an embodiment of the wind, her feet rarely touched the ground. Just like Syndra rarely stood on the ground after gaining immense telekinetic power, they were both accustomed to using their innate abilities at all times.

Telekinetic power originated from within, and the wind spirits of Valoran were obviously not the same system as the wind spirits of Azeroth. Janna needed to regain the recognition of the wind spirits of this world to regain her previous abilities.

Janna tried to contact the wind spirits as before, but received no response. She walked to the other heroes with a troubled expression and sighed softly, "I really didn't expect that coming here would turn me into a useless hero. Alas, how can I help the summoner like this?"

Thrall heard what others said and asked strangely, "Why don't you try to communicate with the wind spirits of Azeroth?"

"But... what should I do?" Janna looked at the Orcish Warchief with confusion.

Thrall said, "I have experienced two different worlds. Although the elemental spirits of Azeroth and Draenor are different, the way to communicate with them is essentially the same. Perhaps you should learn the way of the shaman."

"Way, essence..." Janna immediately understood the crux of the problem. She had been stuck in a rut. This wasn't Valoran, so how could she get help from the wind spirits of her original world?

She recalled the process of first feeling the wind spirits and tried to contact the wind spirits of this world.

At this time, Zyra had already walked out of the summoning array.

Broll sized up the woman who was only covering her body with various colorful leaves and petals and couldn't help but take a few more glances. "She is clearly human, but why do I feel like she is... a plant-based creature like a flower fairy?"

"That means your feeling is right." Thrall chuckled a few times.

Zyra's true form was a flower fairy, but she transformed into a human form after devouring the mage who possessed the current body and integrating the other party's memories.

"Another beauty!"

Another whistle sounded.

Compared to Janna, who was sexy but had a fresh temperament, Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox, was the most popular and alluring woman in people's eyes. Her lively eyes seemed to be able to hook people's souls, and every move exuded a fatal attraction.

"Valoran is really a good place!"

Baine Bloodhoof, son of the Tauren Chieftain, also came here. He looked at Vol'jin, the Troll leader, and asked, "What do you think?" He was referring to Ahri, whom the humans were staring at so intently that their eyeballs almost popped out.

"Too short." Vol'jin glanced at Ahri and replied.

"Besides being short, she is also too thin." Baine seriously evaluated her with the Tauren aesthetic. 

Vol'jin shrugged. "I don't understand why those humans would like someone like that."

Both expressed their incomprehension.

After summoning Ahri, Aiden discovered that the energy of the Heart of Valoran was still enough to summon about ten more ordinary heroes, but he didn't plan to use it that way.

Nightmare's invasion had plunged one-third of the world's creatures into slumber. This included not only intelligent creatures such as humans, elves, dwarves, and goblins, but also various animals, large and small, that dreamed after falling asleep. Wolves, dogs, bears, leopards, tigers, lions, cattle, wild boars, kodo beasts, griffins, mammoths... Basically, apart from dragons, the vast majority of medium and large animals also had about one-third devoured by Nightmare.

These sleepers would become Nightmare's claws. As long as Xavius gave the order, the Nightmare claws could enter the real world in a semi-physical state under the special circumstances of dream merging with reality and launch an attack on Xavius's enemies.

Now that Xavius no longer had the essence of the World Tree to absorb, he no longer had the ability to trouble other unsleeping people with nightmares. In this case, obviously summoning tens of thousands of ordinary people would be more useful than summoning ten heroes.

Aiden withdrew from the Heart of Valoran and saw that everyone had arrived, so he said, "Now time is of the essence. Let me first talk about the general plan—the Nightmare Lord's main body is on a cliff in northern Azshara. After our reconnaissance, we found that countless Faceless Ones, Sea Serpents, and Nightmare Claws are gathered there. It will be difficult to break through the defense line whether we come from the sea or from the ground. And his soul is in the Emerald Dream, guarded by the souls of all the sleepers in the world. Even the master of the dream, the Green Dragon Queen Ysera, cannot resist his power. The difficulty of attacking is even more difficult than destroying his main body."

"Then what kind of method can we use to defeat him?" Prince Kael'thas asked.

"We may need the help of a key figure." Aiden was talking about the Archdruid Malfurion, who was trapped in the dream. He briefly introduced Malfurion's situation and then said, "If we can wake him up from the dream, he will complete the subsequent events."

After a pause, he continued, "If not, then we can only save ourselves—I think if we really face a desperate situation, the will of the world—or, possibly, the Earth Mother—will not only recognize a specific person to bestow power. If our own strength cannot contend with the Nightmare Lord in the end, then we can only hope for the help of the Earth Mother."

Hearing him mention the Earth Mother, Hamuul, Baine, and Munn, the three Tauren who came here, bowed their heads and said piously, "The Earth Mother protects us."

"This feeling of having one's fate controlled by others is really terrible." Khadgar showed a wry smile. He once again recalled the illusion of his future that he had seen in Karazhan more than ten years ago. Last time in Outland, facing the combined offensive of Archimonde and Kil'jaeden, he comforted himself with the illusion, believing that his final moment was not at that time or in that place, and later they escaped the danger.

Then this time the place of battle is in Azeroth, and there will not be those scenes in the illusion. So does it mean that Xavius will still not succeed in the end?

Khadgar shook his head, throwing away this logically absurd reasoning. After returning to Azeroth, he had more than once raised a certain thought—if I commit suicide here, will I succeed?

If suicide is successful, then the prophecy of Karazhan is meaningless; if it is not successful—then everything is worth pondering.

"You're right, but at least our fate is not controlled by the enemy." Kassadin said from the side.

"Those gods—the Moon Goddess, the Earth Mother, these almost omnipotent gods, what are their thoughts? Why don't they directly take action?" Khadgar's thoughts drifted to the other side. He thought: If I were a god, I would at least not stand by and watch my protected people face a desperate situation before helping.

"We must learn to walk on our own, not be supported by the gods." Kassadin's words woke Khadgar up like a thunderclap.

The Jungle Guardian Remulos began to cast a spell on the portal in front of the Dream Tree, preparing to open it.

The topic returned to Aiden. Thrall asked, "Are we still following the original plan?"

The original plan was to advance on two fronts, the dream and reality, at the same time. Aiden would lead a group of heroes who were good at dealing with spiritual enemies into the Emerald Dream to rescue Cenarius and Malfurion, while Thrall, the powerful shaman, would lead the rest of the people to gather a large army and go to Azshara to deal with Xavius's main body—that is, the twisted oak tree on the cliff.

"Now we have a better plan." Aiden smiled.

Over there, Remulos had completed his spellcasting, and the purple portal began to glow, indicating that it was in operation.

Aiden separated his soul and was the first to pass through the portal and enter the dream.

Everyone saw this scene.

According to common sense, his body should now be devoid of any defense, having lost the control of his will, like Malfurion, asleep in the Barrow Dens.

However, after only a few breaths, as Aiden's soul completely entered the Emerald Dream, his body, left behind, suddenly opened its eyes and stood up.

"This, is this real? You've returned from the entrance to the Dream?" Broll Bearmantle asked in surprise.

"No, my soul is still in the Dream, in the same place we're standing, beneath this Dream Tree in the Dream."

The Aiden on display answered.

"But how is that possible!"

Unless Aiden had two souls, how could his body remain conscious while his soul entered the Emerald Dream?

It was like someone dreaming, yet still able to communicate normally and complete any task a normal person could.

"Sleepwalking?" Broll asked tentatively.

"Not purely sleepwalking," Aiden explained, "The Emerald Dream shouldn't be forcibly merging with the real world in this way.

It's like forcibly bringing things from our dreams into reality; it's logically contradictory."

"Things from the Emerald Dream can indeed merge with the real world, but not in this way.

Xavius may have controlled some of the permissions held by Ysera, allowing him to push the Dream's fusion, but he doesn't have the ability to control the steps before the blueprint import.

More importantly, he doesn't have the complete, normal energy required to import the blueprint."

Seeing that everyone basically looked like they were listening to gibberish, Aiden had no choice but to state the conclusion directly: "In other words, his program is illegal, creating a logical error.

He can use this error to advance the process of merging the Dream with reality, and we can also use this error to enter the state I was just in—soul in the Dream, yet still conscious in the real world."

"So, we can all split into two like you just did?" Thrall asked.

"That's right."

Now everyone understood.

Aiden patted his forehead.

He suspected that, among those present, apart from those who had experienced the Outland expedition, the others probably didn't understand the true meaning behind words like 'blueprint,' 'Dream,' 'permissions,' and 'fusion.'

Not understanding didn't matter; knowing how to use it was enough!

This was the help Aiden received from the Moon Goddess.

Elune told him what to do, and he figured out why it could be done.

This was undoubtedly a good method.

Originally, everyone had to divide their forces to attack the Nightmare army in both the real world and the Dream simultaneously, but now each of them was essentially two people.

Khadgar suddenly realized: "Xavius can simultaneously possess the will of his main body in the real world and the Nightmare avatar in the Dream—it turns out it's not his innate talent—in fact, we can all do it, as long as we master the method."

"Then—can we directly awaken my teacher in the real world?" Broll Bearmantle asked.

Before anyone could answer, he slapped his own head: "I'm muddle-headed; he doesn't know this method yet…"

"So, after we enter the Dream, many things can proceed smoothly."

Thinking that they wouldn't have to painstakingly consider how to bring Malfurion, this key figure, out of the Nightmare Lord's blockade in the Dream, and only needed to contact him to complete the mission, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Aiden informed everyone of the method of splitting into two and then said: "Let's move out! The sooner, the better!"

Mages, who frequently meditated, were the easiest to allow their souls to enter the Dream through the portal.

In comparison, warriors were the most difficult.

Baine strained for a while but couldn't calm down.

Stealing a glance, he saw Vol'jin also sweating profusely, clearly unsuccessful as well.

He stole a glance at the orc death knight Broxigar not far away—this guy should also be considered a warrior, right? Baine thought.

However, this silent and robust warrior quickly stood beside Aiden—the place where the heroes whose souls had already entered the Dream were staying.

Baine was dumbfounded.

Why was Broxigar so easy?

However, in this way, Aiden discovered the shortcomings of the method provided by Elune.

Obviously, the vast majority of people couldn't enter meditation, so their souls couldn't enter the Dream.

If only a small number of heroes, or rather, mages, could enter, then the effect of this method wouldn't be significant enough.

"How to solve this?" He fell into deep thought.

—

On the other side, in the Emerald Dream, Aiden could be said to be revisiting an old haunt.

He first came to the Dream after crossing over, and then entered the real world.

This time, entering in a purely soul form, he had a different feeling.

The most direct thing was that the faint green mist in his consciousness seemed to be thinner.

He didn't know if it was because the Dream's fusion with reality had thinned the green mist here, or if there was a difference between the soul's perception and the physical body.

He hoped it was the former, because that meant Xavius, the Nightmare Avatar, would become weaker during the fusion process.

"You dare to come here and throw yourself into the net?" A voice containing anger directly entered Aiden's soul.

Without a doubt, this was the strongest being in the Emerald Dream now—the "Nightmare Lord" Xavius!

As his voice resounded, Aiden sensed countless enemies surrounding him.

Xavius was driving his Nightmare minions to attack!

In the thin green mist, twisted monsters crawling on all fours roared as they charged.

Aiden summoned his weapons, guarding the exit of the portal.

These Nightmare minions were basically the embodiment of the nightmares of those who had fallen asleep.

They looked ferocious, but in reality, their power was limited.

The silver Judgment burning with holy fire drew a shining blue arc in Aiden's hand.

Within the fan-shaped area where the holy fire splashed, dozens of Nightmare minions were purified into ash.

And in the real world, the same number of people broke free from nightmares and woke up at the same time.

Aiden silently estimated the strength of these Nightmare minions and then concluded: the Nightmare minions in the Dream were slightly weaker than those in the real world.

His speculation was verified: the "Nightmare Lord's" power in the Dream had decreased due to the forced fusion with the real world!

More Nightmare minions pounced over, but the portal flashed, and Thrall's soul had already entered.

Subsequently, Morgana, Kel'Thuzad, and other heroes entered one after another.

Half an hour later, except for those who still couldn't complete meditation, all the heroes had gathered.

"Let's go!" Aiden took the lead and rushed out.

"Where to?"

"Where the Green Dragon Queen is!"

—

The Emerald Dream was now almost entirely the territory of the Nightmare Lord.

The original owners, the Green Dragonflight, could now only huddle near the Mother Tree G'Hanir, relying on this ancient tree to resist the Nightmare minions.

G'Hanir was the original sample collection of all trees.

Legend had it that the seeds of all trees came from G'Hanir.

Before withering, this tree did indeed bear the seeds of all the trees of Azeroth.

Aviana, the "Mother of Feathers," was the guardian of G'Hanir, an immortal demigod.

She died in the War of the Ancients.

Because of her death, G'Hanir also withered quickly.

Alexstrasza, the Red Dragon Queen, created Nordrassil using the acorn taken from this Mother Tree.

The Titans' blueprints would naturally include this tree.

This tallest tree in the Dream had become the last refuge of the Green Dragonflight.

After Malfurion's previous attempt to escape the Dream failed, the Green Dragon Queen lost her consort, Ysondre.

But this was not the end.

A day later, the Nightmare Lord began to forcibly fuse the real world with his power.

Sensing this situation, Ysera was completely terrified.

She even had the idea of leading all the surviving green dragons to fight the Nightmare Lord to the death.

Even if the hope was slim, doing so would at least have a chance of success.

But if the Dream and reality were completely fused, then everything would be over!

As the guardian of the Emerald Dream, Ysera could imagine what kind of disaster that would cause.

That would be a disaster completely no less than the Burning Legion destroying the world!

"Don't rush; we still have hope!" Cenarius stopped Ysera, his foster mother.

"Tell me, where is there any hope?

Wait a few more days, and the Nightmare Lord will succeed.

He will master all the secrets of the Emerald Dream and even the real world.

By then, all the Titan facilities will be corrupted, and all the Old Gods will be released!

Do you know what that means?" Ysera roared loudly.

She had never been so out of control in her life, and she had never said such harsh words to Cenarius.

But the current situation drove her close to madness.

Her small mistake could lead to the destruction of the world, which brought her unimaginable pressure.

Cenarius and Malfurion both silently looked at Ysera.

"End Time—End Time will be born from my mistakes…" When Ysera said that word, it was as if all the strength in her body had disappeared.

That huge green dragon body could hardly support her standing.

She slowly lowered her head, and two huge tears flowed from her eyes.

The erect pupils were a little scattered, allowing people to feel her confusion and fear.

"End Time?" This unfamiliar word made Cenarius and Malfurion even more confused.

If they still knew a little about things like the Old Gods, the Titans, and the duties of the Guardian Dragon, this word made them completely unfamiliar.

Ysera lay on the ground, her dragon wings covering her head, and said blankly: "Reshaping system, fault protection system, blueprint system will all be polluted by the Old Gods… By stealing imaginary energy through the system, they will become more powerful… even invincible!"

"What should I do, what should I do…"

She was obviously in a state of talking to herself, and her will didn't know where it had drifted to.