Nozdormu is missing

After the Nightmare War ended, Aiden followed Chromie to the Caverns of Time. The resolution of the Worgen crisis in such a satisfactory manner was indeed good news, but before that, he had already arrived at the Caverns of Time—the lair of the Bronze Dragonflight—to prepare for another journey through time.

The Caverns of Time are located in Tanaris, southern Kalimdor. This is a desert region, and the neutral goblin city of Gadgetzan also provides a safe trading platform for various factions and races. Perhaps it was the similarity between ordinary sand and sands of time that led the Bronze Dragons to settle here.

This Caverns of Time, hidden in the mountains, is one of the world's most incredible wonders. It controls the secrets of time, governs the changes of Azeroth's past and future, and regulates the cause and effect of all things. The true Caverns of Time are not actually in the mountains of Tanaris; that is merely one of its entrances. It is located in another dimension, one that transcends the material and spiritual worlds.

Here, there are unimaginable and bizarre landscapes. Golden sand grains spin and dance on semi-transparent walls of time, and countless Bronze Dragons soar and fly in this dimension. Some are in their original form, while others have transformed into various creatures, various intelligent races, or even other animals, plants, stones—all the Bronze Dragons visible outside the walls of time are actually performing tasks at different points in time, and what remains here are merely special time projections. Only those walking within the walls are truly awake and capable of contact and communication.

"So, do you find this place more mysterious than you imagined?" Chromie led Aiden into the Caverns of Time, guiding him to the deepest part, explaining the actual meaning of the various sights along the way.

"Somewhat."

The real scene was indeed much more spectacular than in the game, and Aiden was genuinely awestruck.

He had originally worried about being hunted down by Nozdormu upon arriving here, but Chromie confidently assured him that such a thing would never happen. In fact, even if the Bronze Dragon Aspect really wanted to kill Aiden, Aiden wouldn't need to worry about his safety now—because Nozdormu had disappeared.

All the Bronze Dragons were unable to find their Dragon Aspect, nor could they find his specific trace in the timeways. All evidence indicated that Nozdormu was no longer on this timeline.

This was precisely the reason why Chromie had brought Aiden here.

In fact, the invasion of their current timeline by Blackmore from another timeline with the help of the Infinite Dragonflight should have been resolved by the Bronze Dragons; this was their inherent responsibility. However, Nozdormu disappeared at this time, and the remaining Bronze Dragons were simply unable to deal with the Infinite Dragonflight supported by the Infinite Dragon Aspect, let alone capture the invader Blackmore.

Chromie led Aiden to the bottom of the Caverns of Time. Here, there were three enormous, eye-catching hourglasses. The golden sands of time inside the transparent glass hourglasses did not all flow normally from top to bottom, but flowed backward, or even flowed erratically.

Next to the hourglasses, two people were already waiting for them.

"Chromie, are you sure he can help us? Instead of…" The speaker was a high elf-like woman, who glanced at Aiden suspiciously, her expression somewhat strange.

She wore a gorgeous and sexy yellow dress—a recolored version of the famous "Sandshroud Cape," the same style as the "Warden's Robes," which female players in the game loved to collect.

Of course, everyone here besides Aiden was either a Bronze Dragon or a dragonkin. The high elf before him was merely the appearance after a Bronze Dragon's transformation.

And this elegant and noble woman was Nozdormu's consort, Soridormi, the Bronze Dragon Queen.

"Yes, I think only he can help us," Chromie answered matter-of-factly. "Or do you have any better candidates?"

Next to Soridormi, a human man in earth-yellow full plate armor said with doubt, "But even we Bronze Dragons can't find Father, so he can?"

This was the Bronze Dragon Prince, Soridormi and Nozdormu's offspring, Anachronos. His mother liked to transform into a high elf, but he liked to transform into a human, while Chromie liked to transform into a gnome.

Aiden didn't want to get involved in this mess. Finding Nozdormu might not bring him any benefits—except for being able to deal with the Infinite Dragon and Blackmore who invaded this timeline.

If his relationship with Nozdormu were represented by a reputation system, it would undoubtedly be "Hated."

Chromie said, "Precisely because we can't find him that we need to seek help from the outside world, my dear Anachronos. Trust me, this human is different. His way of thinking is unique, which is the most important quality for seeing through the fog of time—besides, he's not completely ignorant about time, as you know."

Now, who among the Bronze Dragonflight didn't know about Aiden? Because of Nozdormu's reckless behavior in the Battle of Icecrown a year ago, which led him to shatter the hourglass of time and suffer serious injuries, almost dying, Aiden's name had become well-known among the Bronze Dragons—but not necessarily for good reasons.

Anachronos was originally a very friendly Bronze Dragon towards humans, but he had no fondness for Aiden, the human who injured, or even almost killed, his father.

Although he had to admit that his father had made a bad move at that time.

Soridormi and her son were unable to refute Chromie's question. They had indeed run out of other options, so when Chromie suggested seeking help from Aiden, they could only accept it with a try-it-and-see attitude.

However, the reason they were willing to accept wasn't because Aiden's way of thinking was unique, but because of other reasons.

Anachronos led Aiden to Nozdormu's cave and said to Aiden, "Chromie believes in you, and we are willing to try as well. However, traveling through timelines is a very dangerous thing. If you die in another timeline, you will truly die. Are you sure you can bear this risk?"

Aiden said, "I thought I was here to help—if you don't need it, I can go back immediately."

"No, no, dear Aiden, please don't!" Chromie said anxiously, her big eyes pleading. "There are dangers, but for you, these dangers are insignificant. Trust me, I won't pit you, my friend! And understanding the secrets of time will also be very beneficial to you. Really, I'm not lying to you!"

"Then tell me what I need to do," Aiden said, unable to resist. Although Chromie's pitiful act was fake, and her actual age was in the tens of thousands, he was really bad at refusing to help friends—and his resistance to cute lolis was very low.

"We'll start by letting you know about the events before Nozdormu disappeared," Chromie said, instantly changing her face, cheerfully pulling him into Nozdormu's residence, afraid that he would go back on his word.

They used a time-reversal spell to recreate the scene before Nozdormu's disappearance as a virtual projection in front of Aiden.

In the illusion, Nozdormu was using magic to observe his future.

"It really is you, only you. Let me see. What other 'great achievements' do you have?"

At this time, Nozdormu saw Aiden going to the Caverns of Time and using the Staff of Time in his hand to extract all the energy from the Caverns of Time. This platform, which allowed the Bronze Dragons to manage time and travel through timelines, collapsed, and the Bronze Dragons lost the divine power granted by the Titans, forever unable to fulfill their duties.

However, this was the illusion seen in Nozdormu's mind and would not be presented in the time-reversal scene. They only heard Nozdormu let out a neurotic chuckle, saying, "It really is you, only you."

Then Nozdormu's expression changed constantly, and he muttered to himself:

"Using that artifact that stole the power of the five Dragon Aspects to destroy the World Tree? You are truly audacious!"

"Invading the Emerald Dream with a nightmare-shaped monster? So you caused this nightmare that swept through all mortals!"

"Using the power of Deathwing to summon a continent? Hahaha, a person from another world? So that's your purpose?"

"So that's your purpose! Destroyer! Annihilator! You will not succeed, absolutely not! I will definitely stop you!"

After this, Nozdormu's massive body began to gradually become illusory, eventually disappearing completely. Soridormi, upon discovering his disappearance, mobilized the entire Bronze Dragonflight to search for him, but even now, two months have passed without any results.

In the past, it was extremely easy for the Bronze Dragons to find anyone at any point in time, but now, finding Nozdormu has become so difficult.

Aiden, of course, also heard what Nozdormu said during this time rewind. How could he not understand that Nozdormu had misunderstood him again?

He did destroy the World Tree with the Dragon King's Blade, but that was to prevent the Nightmare Lord from continuing to extract Nordrassil's energy.

He also did bring Nocturne into the Emerald Dream, but that was to save others. The nightmare sweeping the world was clearly caused by Xavius.

As for Nozdormu's statement about "using the power of death to summon a continent," that has not yet happened. It sounds like something he will do in the future. Aiden's mind immediately became active—he thought and thought, feeling that he would only possibly summon Valoran.

Doesn't this mean that Deathwing can help him achieve his ultimate goal of summoning Valoran to Azeroth before the time powers completely destroy it?

The thought of such a scenario appearing made Aiden couldn't help but feel a little excited. He felt that after Deathwing appeared in the future, he would have to carefully consider how to make such a thing happen.

"Chromie," Aiden conveyed his thoughts to the gnome loli: "You were right, understanding the secrets of time is indeed beneficial to me!"

Chromie looked up at Aiden, noticing that he was winking at her. She smiled slyly and replied, "I told you I wouldn't lie to you!"

"Ahem!" Anachronos coughed dryly.

They had all seen this illusion several times. Before Nozdormu disappeared, the things he mentioned had not yet happened, but now, except for the first and last things, the others had already occurred. Nozdormu did not mention the specific content of the first thing, so they had no way of guessing what it was. However, from these things that had already happened, they could understand that the "you," "destroyer," and "devourer" in Nozdormu's words all referred to Aiden, and even his disappearance was to stop Aiden.

But from the current perspective, Nozdormu had indeed misunderstood Aiden.

Seeing that Chromie had brought the "person involved" here and allowed him to see Nozdormu's extremely irrational side, both mother and son were a little embarrassed.

"You've seen the situation, Aiden. We have to admit that there is a slight misunderstanding between you and my father. He is lost in time, and we don't have the divine power of a Dragon Aspect to find out where he went."

Anachronos's face was a little flushed. Although he was a dragon who had lived for tens of thousands of years and had seen countless aspects of human nature due to the special nature of his duties, he was still a little embarrassed.

"Should I say… express understanding?" Aiden quipped.

Indeed, there was a deep-seated resentment between him and Nozdormu. The outcome of the Battle of Icecrown led to a series of subsequent events. If Nozdormu hadn't been so crazy, everything would probably be fine now.

Aiden would not easily forgive the other party, just as Nozdormu had always regarded him as an enemy.

After glossing over this embarrassing topic, the Bronze Dragons began to discuss the real mission with Aiden.

"Actually, the only thing we must do is find Nozdormu," Chromie said, stating the main task right away: "He once integrated scales containing his divine power into various timelines. Each scale will become his avatar. And each timeline has different historical paths due to some special reasons. Therefore, each avatar of Nozdormu has different, independent memories."

Chromie glanced at Aiden, noticing that he didn't look confused, so he must have understood. So she continued: "He must have lost himself—because of that fading action. You saw the scene of his final disappearance, which was him trying to find true power. As for the purpose, you know—but don't worry, as long as you find him, all of us will stand by your side. I believe that when he sees what has happened, he will also realize his mistake."

Nozdormu was naturally looking for true power to deal with Aiden—because his Titan artifact, the Sands of Time, was shattered during the Battle of Icecrown, he could not use many of his methods. In this case, he naturally wanted to find his true body, only in this way would he have the capital to defeat Aiden.

Aiden was a little dumbfounded. He regarded Nozdormu as the villainous BOSS, but little did he know that the other party also regarded him that way.

"Then what should I do?"

"You need a time travel. We will take you through various timelines. I believe that when the Nozdormu on our timeline notices you, he will definitely show himself."

"So that means our mission is to find the Nozdormu on our timeline?"

"Very correct, my friend!"

It sounded very simple, just go to other timelines and wander around to complete the task, but there was a big problem: "There are almost countless timelines, are we going to check them one by one? Wouldn't it be possible that we won't be able to find him even after the end of time?"

The three Bronze Dragons of different shapes looked at each other, and finally Anachronos said: "Actually, no—there are countless timelines, that's right. But for us, there is only one real timeline, and the others are illusions. As long as we can see through the illusions, we can immediately find the real Nozdormu from the river of time."

Aiden tried hard to understand this concept, but it was still a bit difficult. He tried to ask: "So that means the other timelines are actually fake. As long as we confirm that it is fake, we should leave immediately, right?"

"That's about the meaning."

"It doesn't sound like there's much danger." Aiden nodded, "Then I have no questions."

"Of course there won't be any danger, besides, we will also protect you." Chromie breathed a sigh of relief when she heard him agree.

Aiden also did not expect that the meaning of his coming here to travel through the timeline was to be bait, to lure out Nozdormu who was lost in other timelines.

"And this is the best opportunity for you and my father to resolve your grievances." Anachronos said, "I believe that after he realizes his mistake, you will definitely be able to let bygones be bygones—in fact, everything he did before was to fulfill his duties, and I hope you can understand."

"I'll try my best." Aiden nodded.

His first confrontation with Nozdormu was because this Bronze Dragon Aspect regarded Killean, the "Guardian of Time" of Valoran, as an invader, and regarded Aiden as Killean's agent, so he prepared to personally eliminate this mistake and destroy or banish him and the heroes from Valoran from this world.

But Killean was not an invader, and although Aiden was a time traveler, he was not a real invader. Although he was changing history, even Aman'Thul, the head of the Pantheon Titans who gave Nozdormu the power of time, did not regard him as an enemy. Doesn't this further illustrate that Nozdormu was purely thinking wrong?

However, Anachronos was right. If they could let bygones be bygones, and Nozdormu didn't always come to cause trouble, Aiden would be very happy to see this scene. After all, he didn't want to be pushed as a villainous BOSS by a group of time warriors led by the Bronze Dragons one day.

At this time, Dragon Queen Soridormi said: "We also know that you are discussing and carrying out the matter of stopping Malygos with Alexstrasza and Ysera. This is very necessary. Our Bronze Dragonflight will also join this war. Stop the Blue Dragon Aspect from launching the Nexus War."

She said it so righteously, but Aiden couldn't help but complain—wasn't Malygos going to launch this Nexus War because Nozdormu instilled the wrong information in him?