World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 (26 page)

The Highborne traveled on foot for months before finally settling in a place marked by a strange silver hand—a land called
Tirisfal by tribes of primitive
humans that inhabited the area. Initially, these humans rarely interacted with the Highborne. Yet as time passed, they began to tell legends of a brave metal-skinned guardian named
Tyr, who had sacrificed himself to kill a monstrous foe in Tirisfal.

Indeed, the Highborne detected potent ley energies in the land—energies that the primitive humans could not detect. It was no Well of Eternity, but the lingering supernatural presence intrigued the experienced arcane practitioners. Some elves speculated that, in time, they could unlock its secrets and restore themselves to their former glory.

They were desperate to succeed quickly. After being exiled from the Well of Eternity, the Highborne began to feel the effects of aging and disease. Their skin had even lost its violet hue, and they had begun to shrink in stature. The Highborne feared that the effects would only worsen over time.

Led by Dath’Remar, the Highborne made a new life in
Tirisfal Glades. For a time, they dwelled in peace and reveled in their independence. Yet as they tapped into the area’s latent magic, they found shades of dark energy. These shadowy powers drove some of the Highborne to madness. They began to argue that the humans had built their settlements atop the most potent ley lines in the region. Therefore, the Highborne should force them to relocate … or even conquer the primitive beings outright.

Dath’Remar did not agree. He had no wish to war against a people who posed no threat to his kind. The wise leader had also sensed the dark energies radiating from the land. He theorized that they might be responsible for the sudden rise of belligerence and madness that was afflicting the Highborne.

Ultimately, Dath’Remar chose to lead his people away from Tirisfal to avert violence and spare them from further calamity. He decided that they would try to make a new home in the north. There, Dath’Remar’s scouts had discovered a region rife with lush forests and powerful ley energies. Intent on reaching this land, the beleaguered Highborne struck out north and into the unknown.

T
he exile of the Highborne ended a tenuous chapter in night elf history. Yet even so,
Tyrande and
Malfurion found no time to rest.

Malfurion and the
Cenarion Circle busied themselves with upholding the balance of nature and healing lands still polluted with demonic corruption. Much of this they did in unison with
Ysera and her green dragonflight, deep within the twisting pathways of the
Emerald Dream. Malfurion and the other druids slumbered for decades at a time, their dreamforms wandering Ysera’s realm.

Tyrande,
Shandris, and the
Sentinels maintained their guardianship over the night elf domain. They patrolled the forests without rest, ever wary of another demonic resurgence. Their efforts resulted in a long-sought period of peace and tranquility. Life in the forests and thickets of Hyjal thrived.

In time, the enchanted keepers of the grove and woodland
dryads emerged from the secluded
Moonglade. The night elves revered these creatures, for they were
Cenarius’s own sons and daughters. Their presence in the wilds of
Ashenvale was seen as an omen of better times to come.

Along with the keepers of the grove and the dryads, other creatures appeared in the open with greater frequency. The wise treants, the elusive faerie dragons, and the mythical chimaeras all began roaming the forests near night elf holdings. In the centuries to come, the night elves would foster strong bonds with these fay creatures and call on them in times of need.

With Malfurion in the Dream, the task of governing the daily activities of the night elves fell to Tyrande. The mantle of leadership was demanding, but she enjoyed it. Yet despite the hope and optimism that blossomed among the night elves, Tyrande could not shake the feeling that dire times were ahead. They had banished the
Burning Legion, but they had not killed
Sargeras. Tyrande believed with all her heart that the fallen titan was somewhere out in the darkness between the stars, plotting another attack. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before Sargeras renewed his
Burning Crusade to decimate all life.

And if that day did come, Tyrande hoped she and her people would be ready for it.

F
ar from the dense woodlands of Ashenvale,
Dath’Remar Sunstrider and the
Highborne continued their quest to find a home in the Eastern Kingdoms. They followed the trails of magical essence, seeking the confluence of ley lines that their scouts had spied in the north. The Highborne’s journey proved unexpectedly brutal. A ferocious blizzard stopped the elves dead in their tracks for nearly a month as they traveled, with no way to move forward or escape from the mountain passes.

The Highborne quickly realized just how vulnerable they had become without the
Well of Eternity. For the first time in memory, they began to die of starvation. Only the compassion of some primitive
humans living in the mountains kept the entire expedition from perishing in the winter’s fury.

Once the storm lifted, the Highborne forged ahead, shaken but determined to find a new home. As they drew closer to the land that the scouts had found, hope warmed their weary hearts. Verdant woodlands blanketed the terrain, and the ground beneath the Highborne’s feet crackled with potent lines of magic. But the elves soon discovered that another race also called this region home: the barbaric
Amani
trolls.

The arrival of the Highborne infuriated the trolls, who harbored a bitter hatred of elves from the days of Queen
Azshara. The Amani sent out raiding parties immediately, and the Highborne soon learned to fear troll ambushes in the dense forests. Yet the elves stubbornly pressed forward, using their magical prowess to decimate any Amani who dared cross their path. Soon the trolls also learned to tread cautiously. The continuous skirmishes fostered a mutual enmity between the Amani and the Highborne.

Despite the trolls’ ferocity, the elves finally reached the nexus of ley lines they had been seeking. Powerful torrents of arcane energy converged in the vibrant forests. Dath’Remar proclaimed that this was where they would begin their civilization anew.

Before the eyes of his followers, Dath’Remar revealed something he had kept hidden over the long and torturous journey to the north: a vial filled with the enchanted waters from the original Well of Eternity. Just before the Highborne had been exiled from
Mount Hyjal, Dath’Remar had secretly taken one of
Illidan Stormrage’s remaining vials from the custody of the night elves.

Dath’Remar poured the vial into a small lake at the center of the nexus, and a brilliant fount of energy tore through the skies of Azeroth. The Highborne dubbed this glorious cradle of power “the
Sunwell,” a name chosen in honor of Dath’Remar and his bold quest to reignite their culture.

Thereafter, the Highborne abandoned their traditional worship of the moon, instead taking their strength from the sun. In time, they would even be known by a new name:
high elves. The amount of arcane power available to the elves increased by an astonishing degree. Many of them proclaimed that Dath’Remar had brought them salvation. They called their new land
Quel’Thalas
, or “High Home,” and declared that it would dwarf the night elves’ civilization and stand as a monument for the ages.

The trolls did not agree. The high elves had built their new kingdom atop ancient Amani ruins—ruins still considered hallowed ground by the trolls. Outnumbering the elves by more than ten to one, the Amani struggled ferociously to drive the invaders from their sacred land.

The high elves drew on the full might of their newfound power, barely holding off the trolls’ assaults. Dath’Remar himself led almost every battle against the fierce Amani. Bit by bit, the elves carved out the borders of their kingdom, securing a new home, paid for in the blood of their brothers and sisters.

Yet many of the high elves grew wary of their rampant use of arcane magic, fearing that it could draw the
Burning Legion to Azeroth once again. Dath’Remar sent his most powerful arcanists to find a solution. Over several decades, they built a series of monolithic Runestones around Quel’Thalas’s borders. This barrier was called
Ban’dinoriel
, or “the Gatekeeper” in the high elven tongue. It would prevent others from detecting the elves’ usage of arcane magic, and it would also frighten away the superstitious Amani.

The trolls eventually retreated back to their temple city of
Zul’Aman. They decided it was safer to ambush elven convoys that strayed beyond the magic barrier than to launch a full-scale assault on Quel’Thalas. An elite group of high elf rangers soon arose to combat this threat.

Inside the borders of Quel’Thalas, civilization thrived. No longer fearful of using magic, the high elves created marvelous works and bathed their land in eternal springtime. Never again would they experience another winter as brutal as the one they had suffered en route to this land. Their capital,
Silvermoon City, became a shining monument to the memory of the elves’ ancient empire.

With the new empire established, Dath’Remar stepped down as leader. His bloodline would go on to inherit a kingdom of peace and prosperity. Yet this era would come to an end when Dath’Remar’s great-grandson, Anasterian, donned the mantle of leadership. He would come to power at a time when his people faced war with the trolls once again.

A
s Quel’Thalas flourished, other Highborne communities across the world struggled to survive. One such community dwelled in the city of
Shandaral, a repository of arcane relics and artifacts. At the apex of the night elf empire, this outpost had been established in the northern reaches of Kalimdor. Following the
Sundering, Azeroth’s main continent had fractured into multiple landmasses. Now, Shandaral and its Highborne dwelled in the frigid heart of a new and harsh continent known as Northrend.

The Shandaral Highborne remained in total isolation, cut off from their cousins in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Their distance from the second Well of Eternity left them vulnerable to disease and other ailments. Yet unlike Dath’Remar’s followers, the Shandaral Highborne did not possess any vials of the Well of Eternity’s waters. They had no way to create a surrogate source of power. For centuries, these Highborne scoured the surrounding forest of
Moonsong for a means to sustain themselves.