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It was called the Sundering of the World. Their lands were called Kalimdor.
Kalimdor, repeated Medivh. Though you have the child s version of the tale,
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the bit we tell would-be mages to stress the dangers of what they are playing
with. The Kaldorei were foolish, and destroyed themselves and nearly our
world. And when the Well of Eternity exploded, the magical energies within
scattered to the four corners of the earth, in an eternal rain of magic.
Andthat s why magic is universal it s the power of the well s death.
But Magus, said Khadgar, that was thousands of years ago.
Ten thousand years, said Medivh, give or take a score.
How is it that the legend comes down to us? Dalaran itself has histories only
going back twenty centuries, and the earliest of those are wrapped in
legends.
Medivh nodded and took up the story again. Many were lost in the sinking of
Kalimdor, but some survived, and took their knowledge with them. Some of these
surviving Kaldorei would found the Order of Tirisfal. Whether Tirisfal was a
person, or a place, or a thing, or a concept, even I cannot say. They took the
knowledge, of what had happened, and swore to keep it from ever happening
again, and that is the bedrock of the Order.
Now, the race of humans survived those dark days as well, and thrived, and
soon, with magical energy worked into the fabric of the world itself, they too
were scratching at the doors of reality, beginning to summon creatures from
the Great Dark, prying at the shut gates of Sargaras s prison. That was when
those Kaldorei who had survived and changed themselves came forward with the
story of how their ancestors had almost destroyed the world.
The first human mages considered what the surviving Kaldorei had said, and
realized that even were they to lay down their wands and grimoires and
ciphers, that others would seek, innocently or less so, ways to allow the
demons access once more to our green lands. And so they continued the Order,
now as a secret society among the most powerful of their mages. This Order of
Tirisfal would choose one of its number, who would serve as theGuardian of
theTirisfalen. This guardian would be given the greatest of powers, and would
be the gatekeeper of reality. But now the gate was not a single great well of
power, but rather an infinite rain that continues to fall even today. It is
nothing less than the heaviest responsibility in the world.
Medivh fell silent, and his eyes lost their focus briefly, as if he were
suddenly swept into the past himself.
Then he shook his head, returning to himself, but still did not speak.
You are the Guardian, said Khadgar, simply.
Aye, said Medivh, I am the child of the greatest Guardian of all time, and
was given her power soon after my birth. It was& too much for me, and I paid
for it with a good piece of my youth.
But you said the mages chose among themselves, said Khadgar. Couldn t Magna
Aegwynn have chosen an older candidate? Why chose a child, especially her own
child?
Medivh took a deep breath. The first Guardians, for the first millennium,
were chosen among the select group. The very existence of the Order was kept
hidden, as was the wishes of the original founders.
However, over time, politics and personal interests came into play, such that
the Guardian soon became little more than a servant, a magical dogsbody. Some
of the more powerful mages felt it was the
Guardian s job to keepeveryone else from enjoying the power that they
themselves commanded. Like the Kaldorei before us, a shadow of corrupting
power was moving through the members of the Order.
More demons were getting through, and even Sargeras himself had manifested the
smallest bits of himself. A mere fraction of his power, but enough to slay
armies and destroy nations.
Khadgar thought of the image of Sargeras that fought Aegwynn in the vision.
Could this have been a mere fraction of the great demon s power?
Magna Aegwynn, Medivh said the words, then stopped. It was as if he was not
used to speaking those words. She who bore me was herself born nearly a
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