After the incident at the summit of the Black Temple, where Maiev faced two powerful demon hunters that rivaled the sheer power of the Betrayer himself, the Head Warden had bandaged herself and made sure any cuts were wrapped up so she didn't bleed out as they transported their cargo to the Vault of the Wardens, a prison where she and the others kept the most dangerous criminals in all of Azeroth locked up. Normally it would have been a hard thing to do, transporting all of the Fel crystals from one world, delivering them to another, and getting a boat to take them to an area that was near the Vault so they could make sure their prisoners arrived safely, but fortunately for them, and the rest of Azeroth, Archmage Khadgar had been found and he was willing to lend them a hand in moving their cargo. Khadgar was, as Maiev discovered, rather interested in how they trapped the Illidari, who he knew were demon hunters thanks to his own studies of the temple that the Betrayer called home, along with the fact that Maiev's armor was in pieces, since he wasn't expecting to see that when he answered her call for assistance, even though she disliked allowing anyone to help them. What he did was open up a temporary portal back to this side of the Dark Portal, because the Alliance and Horde were still celebrating their victory in Shattrath City and wouldn't be watching the structure for some time, giving them the perfect chance to transport the prisons without being discovered. Once on the other side of the portal, the side that rested on Azeroth, she gave him the exact area that she needed him to portal them to, allowing him to be the first outsider to see the inside of the Vault, especially since he was a human, but she needed his magical ability and he was more than willing to offer it, giving her the chance to deliver the prisoners in less time than what it would normally take.
The crystals that contained the demon hunters were set up in the lowest part of the Vault, so far down that not even natural light would reach that far, hence the special Sentinel owl statues and the various enchantments that allowed them to see everything that was around them, allowing the other Wardens to attach the smaller crystals into slots to keep their prisoners contained, while a much larger room, one filled with darkness, had been reserved for the Betrayer himself, as she had the crystal strung up with chains and let it rest in that position.
With that done, and Maiev had a new suit of armor to replace the broken set, Khadgar left the Vault behind and let the Wardens tend to their prisoners as he returned to the world of Azeroth, instead of staying in Outland for the rest of his days, and spent his energy towards trying to assist the Alliance and Horde as they battled the threats that their world might be coming their way in the future. The first thing he discovered was that Kael'thas used the magics of the Throne of Kil'jaeden to teleport himself and a number of his followers to an island to the north of the Eastern Kingdoms, which was the continent that the Azeroth side of the Dark Portal was located on, and that they opened a number of portals for the demons to invade part of the island while their leader tried to use the power of the Sunwell to summon Kil'jaeden into their world. Given the fact that the Sunwell had been shattered, so he heard from those that protected Quel'Danas, that did require the fallen blood elf prince to use a vast amount of power, likely stolen from part of Outland and one of the Naaru that had been captured, to reconstruct the energies that were in the magical font so he could use those energies to summon his foul master into their world. That was when the Aldor and Scryers, joined by the Blood Knight order, joined together and formed the Shatter Sun Offensive, where they and the heroes of the Alliance and Horde lashed out at the demons that were trying to claim Quel'Danas and slew Kael'thas in Magister's Terrace, depriving the Legion of another tool to use in their schemes, before the heroes braved the dangers of the Sunwell Plateau, where the Sunwell rested, and, with the help of the Blue Dragonflight and an ally, were able to banish Kil'jaeden before he could truly enter their world and try to take it over.
While all of that was going on there were sightings of undead, the Scourge, that appeared on Quel'Danas in response to the demons appearing on the island, making many wonder if the infamous Lich King might be active again, or if this was the work of a lesser lich or necromancer that thought they were doing what was best for their master, mostly due to the fact that it was the first organized movement of the Scourge in a long time.
By the time the Invasion of Outland was complete, a two year campaign that had been mostly focused on taking down Illidan Stormrage and his demonic allies, the heroes were able to return home and rest from their ordeals, not to mention bury the dead heroes that fell during the last couple of battles to save the world, but that followed by the Lich King actually awakening from his slumber and declared war on the living, by attacking Stormwind and Orgrimmar. While that occurred the Lich King claimed the bodies of the fallen heroes and raised them from the dead, adding them to the rank of his death knights, powerful warriors that used dark magics and rune weapons to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies while at the same time having none of their original emotions, as they only had their memories, even if some of those had to be suppressed to turn them into an effective and merciless fighting force. According to what Khadgar heard the Lich King had trained all those dead knights so he could locate and draw out Tirion Fordring, one of the strongest paladins in the world, and was eventually forced to flee after the paladin was able to obtain Ashbringer, an incredibly powerful greatsword that left ash in its wake, when the user used it on the undead anyway, something that freed many of the death knights and allowed them to form the Knights of the Ebon Blade, before sending the resurrected heroes of the Alliance and Horde back to Stormwind and Orgrimmar to rejoin their factions and aid the heroes in stopping the Lich King. That was shortly followed by some additional attacks on the faction cities, through the use of poisoned grain and ghouls, an old tactic that had worked in the past, before sending a small force of undead to assault the cities and force their leaders to sign off on their own expeditions to Northrend, the island that the Lich King called home.
As such the Alliance and Horde sent fleets to both Borean Tundra and Howling Ford, so they could deal with the local threats and then, when those two provinces were finally liberated from the Scourge, they could turn their attention to the other provinces and cut down the Lich King's greatest champions over the course of their quest to bring down the leader of the Scourge. While that happened Khadgar assisted the Kirin Tor in moving the city of Dalaran from the ground that it was resting in, back in the Eastern Kingdoms, and teleported it into the air above Crystalsong Forest, another province that happened to rest in the middle of Northrend, and it also gave them a better chance to deal with the threat that Malygos posed to all the magic users of the world, as not only were the heroes of the factions having to fight the Scourge they were part of the Nexus War. Due to them doing that they were also joined by the Silver Covenant and the Sunreavers relocated to the city, to represent the factions in the war against the Scourge, with the former representing the Alliance and the latter for the Horde, though while they were doing that the Lich King attempted to force the invaders from his lands and found that neither faction was able to be forced off Northrend, allowing the Alliance and Horde to set up their various bases and prepare for their assaults on their enemies. One of the assaults they were able to launch was against the vrykul of the Howling Ford, a race of half-giant warriors that were in the process of allying themselves with the Lich King, which was why they invaded the seat of the vrykul's power, Utgarde Keep, to kill Ingvar the Plunderer, before heading into the Pinnacle, where King Ymiron ruled from, and it wasn't long before both of those targets, along with their most powerful underlings and the Lich King's emissaries, were cut down.
While the heroes did that the forces of the Alliance and Horde, in their own ways, had to deal with the attacks that the Scourge launched against them, especially since the necropolis known as Naxxramas focused on the eastern part of the province of Dragonblight, where the Alliance set up Wintergarde Keep, while the Horde dealt with the nerubians that were to the west of Agmar's Hammer. It was at that point that the Lich King launched an assault on the Dragon Shrines that just so happened to rest in Dragonblight, to raise the dead dragons into his service, though even with everything that was going on the Alliance and Horde, joined by the dragonflights that were in that province, were able to temporary repel their enemies and ready themselves for what happened next. That was followed by the forces of the Alliance and Horde marching on Angrathar the Wrathgate, a barred entrance in the northwestern part of the province that would allow them to invade Icecrown Citadel, the lair of the Lich King, something that actually caused the two factions to have a temporary truce between them until the Lich King was killed and the Scourge was dismantled, as they understood the threat that the Scourge posed on the world and wanted to bring them down. Of course, just as the Lich King came out to face them, a force of Forsaken, the undead that had sided with the Horde so long ago, unleashed a powerful blight on the entire area, one that killed members of the Alliance, Horde, and even the Scourge as well, and it was only due to the interference of the Red Dragonflight, dragons that tended to life, were lead by Alexstrasza the Life-Binder and burned the area with their power, restoring life and saving who they were able to.
It was later revealed that the faction of Forsaken was under the leadership of a Dreadlord by the name of Varimathras and that they had acted without the Banshee Queen's knowledge or consent, leading her to take a force back to her seat of power, the Undercity, and purge of it traitors, including killing the demons that had caused the corruption in the first place, so they could turn their attention back to Northrend and their true enemy... even though the tensions between the Alliance and Horde remained with Varian Wrynn, High King of the Alliance and King of Stormwind, blaming the Horde for the attack on the Wrathgate, an attack that cost the Alliance five thousand soldiers, and he made sure his forces knew to engage their natural enemies whenever possible.
After that the Alliance and Horde turned their attention to Grizzly Hills, a province on the eastern side of the continent they were fighting on, where they fought over the rich supplies of lumber and other materials that were in that area, even though both factions took actions with the local trappers in the province, the Alliance trying to recruit them to deal with the Horde and the Horde retaliating by attacking. Eventually it was discovered that the humans of that province were, in reality, worgen, which were humans that could turn into wolf-like individuals, and they were under the command of the risen shade of Arugal, who had been raised by the Lich King to enact part of his plans, though whatever he was planning was brought to an end as the heroes of the factions slew their foe in a grand battle. From there the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade ventured into Zul'Drak, a province to the north of Grizzly Hills, where they engaged the hostile troll races that were there and, more importantly, the Scourge forces that were scattered all over the province, so they could take out two birds with one stone in a sense, where the heroes of the factions joined them to take down their enemies, clearly not bothering to worry about the fact that the faction leaders didn't like each other all that much. One of the things they did was cleanse Drak'Tharon keep of those that were located within, even though that delivered it into the hands of the Lich King and his newest pawn, Drakuru, who was empowered and became an Overlord that attacked the forces in Zul'Drak, eventually causing the heroes to bring him down as well, both because it was the right thing to do and because they were annoyed with him taking advantage of them in the first place.
From there three things happened that the heroes of the Alliance and Horde were apart of, the first of them being that the heroes invaded Naxxramas and fought a long and fierce battle with the inhabitants that were waiting to be sent out to conquer Dragonblight, only to succeed in killing everything inside it, including the lich known as Kel'Thuzad, before gaining a key that would allow them to invade the Nexus, an area that Malygos and his dragonflight were guarding, or, to be more precise, the Eye of Eternity. It was then that they brought the insane leader of the Blue Dragonflight down and his plan to basically strip all of Azeroth of magic by blasting all of it into the Twisting Nether, something that would have done irreversible damage to the entire world, which was why so many were happy that the plan had been foiled and that they were able to turn their attention to the second item of importance, helping the Argent Crusade and the death knights as they breached the border of Icecrown, the province their main foe commanded, at long last. It was around that time that all of them were called upon to venture into Ulduar, an ancient Titan structure that happened to house one of the Old Gods, beings of incredible power that wanted nothing more than to be freed from their prisons so they could corrupt the planet and take it over, causing them to fight all of the Keepers that were supposed to be guarding the prison and freed them from the Old God's influence, eventually coming down to them 'beating' the weakened Old God and driving it back into its cell, as killing a creature such as that was beyond their abilities, meaning keeping it locked up was all they could do in the grand scheme of things. They also stopped a Titan construct from attempting to reoriginate the world, showing it that they had the skills necessary to protect their world, to which it left and they focused on the true foe that was waiting for them in Icecrown, where the heroes rejoined the Argent Crusade and prepared themselves for the longest battle of their entire lives, and likely the most costly one of all.
After spending some time training their forces, so they could deal with the greater threats the Lich King had, they also had to deal with a powerful nerubian that ambushed them in the northern part of Icecrown, before they marched on the gates of the citadel and fought their way through the numerous enemies that stood between them and their foe, before eventually facing down the Lich King, who revealed that his plan was to turn all the heroes into his new masters of the Scourge, only for Tirion to shatter their foe's weapon, the dreaded Frostmourne, and with it gone they were able to slay the Lich King, leaving Bolvar Fordragon to take up the mantel as Keeper of the Damned.
During the battle for the citadel the heroes forged a weapon that could match the might of Frostmourne, an axe that Darion Mograine called Shadowmourne, which had to be used in two hands and was the sister blade of the terrifying blade the Lich King used, and it was an orc death knight that carried the weapon into the battle, and it was he who was allowed to use it after the war for Northrend was over. From there it seemed that peace might return to the lands, for a time anyway, but it was barely two months after the fall of the Lich King that their world was struck by another disaster, this one causing the very elements themselves to scream out in pain and caused the shaman that were connected to them to do the same thing, for the terrifying black dragon known as Deathwing, the Aspect of Death, returned to Azeroth from the realm of Deepholm and forever changed the world, shattering dams, breaking walls, flooding entire provinces, and causing a wake of destruction that forced the heroes of the world to band together to deal with the new threat. During this point in time the Alliance was able to recruit the inhabitants of Gilneas into their ranks, most of them changed into worgen that had control over themselves, unlike the worgen they had faced in the past, with a lower percentage of the population remaining free, and a few of the humans that killed themselves, rather than siding with the worgen, were raised by the Banshee Queen, even though she later had them killed when they turned on her. The Horde, on the other hand, were able to recruit the goblins of Kezan into their ranks, where a good portion of them were only in it for the money, but there were a few of them that cared more about their world and joined the heroes before they ventured off to save the world from the terrors that Deathwing had unleashed, just as the worgen did as well, even though the previous Warchief of the Horde, Thrall, withdrew to tend to the wounds of their world and left Garrosh Hellscream in charge.
It was during that time that Ragnaros, the Lord of the Firelands, attacked Mount Hyjal and attempted to burn one of the World Trees, large trees that were connected to the Emerald Dream, which would have caused untold devastation to Azeroth, hence why the heroes headed to the province the fire elementals were fighting in and assisted the druids in their efforts to drive them back to the Firelands. When they were sure that they had dealt with their foes, who decided to stop attacking for a time, the heroes spread out among Vashj'ir, an underwater province that revealed itself thanks to what Deathwing had done, Uldum, a desert province that held a powerful Titan structure and was close to where one of the other Elemental Lords resided, Deepholm, the earthen land that Deathwing had been hiding in since the last time he had been seen, and the Twilight Highlands, causing a dwarven clan to rejoin the Alliance and an orcish clan to rejoin the Horde as they focused on their true foes. Once the heroes assisted the residents of the new provinces, and the newer heroes of the various races helped stem the tide of chaos that erupted in the old provinces, thanks to Deathwing's actions, the group of heroes turned their attention to the Throne of Four Winds, where they killed Al'Akir, the Windlord that had sided with the black dragon that had reshaped the world, before they were forced to return to Mount Hyjal and laid siege to the Firelands themselves, this time breaching Ragnaros' lair where they and the most powerful druids in the world brought their foe to his knees and permanently extinguished the Firelord so that he would never rise again, effectively allowing the heroes to kill a second Elemental Lord so close to the first one.
The world was well into the next year when they finally discovered the means to kill Deathwing, an ancient relic known as the Dragon Soul, something the dragon created when he was still Neltharion the Earth-Warder, where the heroes and Thrall, along with their allies, fought off the Old God minions that tried to stop them and, eventually, used the power of the artifact, combined with the three remaining Aspects and a newly appointed blue dragon to make Malygos' place, to wipe out Deathwing before he would shatter the rest of the world, at the cost of all dragons losing their seemingly immortal lives and ushering in the Age of Mortals.
The heroes, fully expecting to be drawn into another world changing event, were surprised when they got to take a break and help their homes heal from the disasters that Deathwing brought to Azeroth, so while the leaders of the Alliance and Horde didn't see eye to eye they made sure that they kept in touch so that when another event sprung up, one that all of them had to deal with, they would be ready to go the moment it did. They were able to spend the next ten months, or the rest of the year, in a strange peace that seemed unreal, as both factions happened to be recovering from what they had been through, even though the heroes of the Horde knew their Warchief hated the peace and that he was looking for a way to take out the Alliance, while those that were the heroes of the Alliance knew their High King was preparing for his foe's plans, since he didn't trust Garrosh one bit. Sure enough when Year 30 began, exactly ten months and a week after Deathwing's defeat, both factions discovered the existence of a new landmass to the south of the Maelstrom, where the frozen land of Northrend was to the north, and both leaders sent out a scouting force to determine what they were able to find, eventually leading to an Alliance airship to crash into another island that they knew nothing about, even though they had been in the middle of transporting Horde prisoners back to Stormwind, before the natives helped them out and sent them on their way, but not before joining both the Alliance and the Horde, revealing the pandaren to the rest of the world and giving many people the change to learn how to be a monk, who fought with their fists and their body in a way that was unique to the pandaren. Of course a number of them joined the heroes of the factions, as they were drawn to individuals like that, before the factions set out for Jade Forest once more, the first province that resided in Pandaria, the new island that they had discovered.
What none of them were expecting, however, was the initial confrontation that the two factions had on the opposite ends of the province, which later caused the Jinyu, a race of fish-like individuals who were good at using the power of water to help them out, to side with the Alliance while the Horde were forced to side with the Hozen, basically primitive apes that needed far more training than what the Horde general wanted, and eventually ended with them clashing near a large jade serpent that was nearly complete, only for it to end up destroyed. The beginning incidents between the factions revealed the existence of the Sha, creatures of negative emotions, that had been sealed away for a long time, and the act of destroying the statue caused the Sha of Doubt, the purest manifestation of that emotion, to be released, which set in motion a chain of events that released five other Prime Sha: Despair, which went on to attack the Temple of the Red Crane in Krasarang Winds, Anger, which assaulted Kun-Lai Summit, Violence, one that remained in a temple in the Summit, Hatred, who tormented Townlong Steppes, and Fear, who invaded the Terrace of Endless Spring. The heroes, who knew the Prime Sha couldn't be allowed to get away, focused their efforts on tracking down their targets and put them down one by one, while at the same time helping the residents of the various provinces whenever they were able to, showing the local pandaren that they were more interested in saving the land than doing war with each other, something that did seem to put a smile on their faces. It was during that time that one of the pandaren picked up a plot of land in the middle of the Valley of Four Winds, a place where one could farm and enjoy the simpler things of life, giving her something to do when they weren't busy tracking down their targets and saving the world from disaster, which earned her a few pats on the back from her friends and the locals.
It was after the death of the sixth Sha, and the Mantid Empress, basically a massive bug that lead an army that was trying to wipe out the pandaren, that Garrosh made his move against the Alliance forces, though that didn't stop him from having Vol'jin assassinated, who was saved by several of the heroes and they passed false news to the warmonger that was their Warchief as the injured troll leader went into hiding, and that was only the start of his plans. While the heroes moved to the Isle of Thunder, to deal with the newly awakened and revived Thunder King, Garrosh also had some of his loyal agents invade Darnassus, the home of the night elves, to stop the leader of the blood elves, Lor'themar, from even negotiating with the leaders of the night elves, Tyrande and Malfurion, before Garrosh eventually outed everyone that refused to serve him and founded his True Horde, an orcish Horde with goblin allies, something that lead Varian and the other leaders of the Alliance to make a truce with the rebel leaders of the Horde, including Vol'jin, who came out of hiding to lead the rebellion himself. Part of that seemed to be what Garrosh wanted, because in reality he was actually back in Pandaria, instead of in Orgrimmar, where he busted his way into an ancient Titan vault, seized the chest that was inside the vault, and then dumped the still beating heart of the Old God Y'Shaarj, an ancient being that had been torn apart by one of the Titans so long ago, causing a wave of destruction that wiped out nearly everything in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, before he transported the heart back to Orgrimmar, where he and his spoils of war resided as he planned out his assault on the rest of Azeroth.
The heroes, shaken by the actions that Garrosh had committed against the entire world, especially since it did seem like he might be trying to reawaken an Old God, returned to Pandaria and waged war on the corrupted inhabitants of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, correcting the mistakes that the Warchief had left in his wake, before finding and confronting the seventh and final Prime Sha, the Sha of Pride. With the last of the Prime Sha dead their allies arrived a few moments later and opened the way for them to teleport back to a fleet of boats that were approaching Orgrimmar from the side, where they had to deal with the guardians that Garrosh had set outside the city before they were allowed to enter his domain and fought their way through both his army and the things he had stolen from Pandaria. The battle was long and hard as they engaged Garrosh's forces and broke their way into the lower depths of the city, following the path that their foe had left for them, before finding the powerful Mantid that had followed the Warchief after he claimed the heart of the Old God, as they were servants of Y'Shaarj and since Garrosh had the heart of their master they were following him, something that resulted in the heroes killing all of them in battle, before eventually finding the area that their target was located in. It was a long and difficult fight for the heroes this time around, more because of the fact that Garrosh was channeling the power of the Old God's heart, by throwing his axe into the heart and draining all of its power into his body, transforming him into a monstrous version of himself, before the heroes knocked that power out of him and forced him to kneel as the leaders of both faction broke into the area, even though the rest of the Old God's power had disappeared forever.
Garrosh was tried for his crimes against the Alliance, Horde, Pandaria, and everything else, but just before he could be punished for his crimes one of the Bronze Dragons sprung him free and fled to the past, basically preventing them from tracking him down, so the heroes and the leaders went back to their normal lives, cleaning up the mess that Garrosh had left behind, while Vol'jin replaced the orc as the new Warchief for the Horde.
From there the heroes worked to restore order to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, the rest of Pandaria, and all the lands that were plagued by Garrosh and his schemes, mostly hoping to mend the tensions between the Alliance and Horde at long last, though it was only a month or two later that they got bad news that some force had come out of the Dark Portal and had smashed the fortifications that the factions kept in that province, forcing the factions to gather their armies again so they could march on the Blasted Lands. It was during their retaliation of the invasion that they discovered that the force that was invading their world was a new army of orcs, the Iron Horde to be exact, where they discovered that Garrosh had gone back in time to Draenor, before the world was shattered and became Outland, and changed history so he could have an army to take over Azeroth, basically repeating the plan that had just failed, to which Khadgar, who was the expert on dealing with the Dark Portal, joined the forces and lead a vanguard through the Dark Portal, where he and the forces of the Alliance and Horde countered the Iron Horde, freed the magic users that were being used as batteries for the portal, even if one of them was Gul'dan, an orc warlock that was basically darkness incarnate, someone who Khadgar said that he would be searching for later, once they were done with this part of their mission. After the Dark Portal was closed their forces moved backwards through the area that was around the portal structure, where they freed some draenei and orc prisoners, disrupted a blood ritual, smashed a bridge, rescued two important figures, braved a combat arena, forced their way through a tunnel their enemies watched over, disrupted a forge, and then found their way to a weapon that allowed them to totally break the portal structure, followed by the vanguard and their new allies fleeing the area and using two of the Iron Horde's ships to leave the province they had appeared in.
Khadgar then assisted the heroes in establishing their strongholds, the Alliance forming Lunarfall in Shadowmoon Valley while the Horde went to Frostfire Ridge and formed Frostwall, where they assisted the locals with their problems and formed alliances with them as they turned their attention to the other provinces, since their mission was to cripple the Iron Horde and stop Gul'dan. To do the latter Khadgar set about gathering a specific set of items that would allow him to forge three special rings, the Savage Hallows as they came to be known as, where Zuleth Stormaxe, the orc death knight that carried Shadowmourne, was gifted the ring that would become Thorasus, the Stone Heart of Draenor, a pandaren monk named Xinyue Windstep was given the beginnings of Maalus, the Blood Drinker, and a blood elf mage called Vytheril Truthseeker was given Nithramus, the All-Seer. This was his move to make the Alliance and Horde ready for whatever might come their way, and as such he had the heroes help him in his quest to both empower their rings, of which he could only make three and let them decide on who should bare them, and to cripple their enemies, by striking out at the various operations that the Iron Horde had across the world and bringing them down. It was a worthwhile plan and for a time it was successful, allowing the heroes of the Alliance and Horde to take the fight to the leaders of the Iron Horde and the Gorian Empire of Highmaul, while Thrall caught up with Garrosh and the pair fought in a Mak'gora, an honor battle that was between the two of them, where it ultimately ended with Thrall using his shaman powers to bind Garrosh and kill him for his crimes, even though part of that went against the melee only battle that Garrosh declared and would have some lasting effects on Thrall, for a time.
With Garrosh dead, and the Gorian Empire broken, the heroes empowered their rings and advanced on the area that Blackhand, one of the main leaders of the Iron Horde, was located in, where they invaded his foundry, killed the orcs and creatures that were inside the place, and then cut him down in a great battle that really crippled the Iron Horde's power in Draenor, something that allowed Gul'dan to finally take them over and transform them into the Fel Horde, to use them as a distraction as he readied himself to bring his master to this world.
It was during that time that the forces suffered a rather significant blow, one that they could recover from, and that was Gul'dan corrupting the Warden that had come with Khadgar, to protect him from danger and make sure he returned to Azeroth in one piece, where Cordana seemed to disappear after her treason in attempting to take the rings that had been made for the heroes. After that failed attempt the heroes managed to find their way back to Hellfire Citadel, where they began a long battle for the fate of Draenor, taking down demons and fel-corrupted individuals at every corner, and even a resurrected Pit Lord that had been slain too early in this timeline, before tracking down Gul'dan as he created the portal that brought Archimonde the Defiler to the world they were fighting for. In the end, after a long battle, the heroes of Azeroth and the champions of Draenor were able to bring down the Defiler, depriving the Legion of one of its greatest commanders, but just before he died Archimonde sent Gul'dan through the portal that had brought him to this world, as in before it collapsed, and with that done the ancient evil perished, leaving Khadgar and the others to return to Azeroth as their forces pulled back, allowing them to enter Age 32 as he kept an eye out for Gul'dan and his foul tricks. The heroes, despite everything that had happened, were hoping for some time to relax after all the madness they had been through, but they were barely into the new year as Gul'dan revealed his hand, as he found the Tomb of Sargeras, an ancient tomb that contained something powerful, and used the power within it to open a brand new portal for the Legion, ushering in the Legion's Third Invasion of Azeroth.
Khadgar and Maiev, despite their tense and uneasy relationship, had failed to stop the warlock from completing his plans and went about their business to prepare the world, where Khadgar headed to Stormwind and Orgrimmar to warn the leaders of the impending invasion while Maiev retreated to the Vault, to ready herself for what was to come when the Legion invaded their world again.
It took a week for things to change, as Maiev heard that Khadgar was successful in warning the leaders of the impending Legion invasion, only for the leaders and their forces to be caught off guard by the amount of demons that were being called to their world, especially ones that had cost them much to defeat in the past, revealing that any demon they had killed since the previous invasion was still alive and that they were pissed about what had happened. From what she heard the Alliance ended up losing Varian during the attack on the Broken Shore, the area that the portal was in, due to him making the decision to tackle a more advanced Fel Reaver so the other leaders of the Alliance could flee the island, which ended with him being caught by several demons, stabbed in the back by a few more, and then Gul'dan killed him by pushing a large amount of Fel energy into his body to destroy his entire being. The Horde, however, were also in the stages of losing another Warchief, as it appeared that Vol'jin had been stabbed and had a Fel wound that couldn't be healed, which meant that he was on death's door and would soon be departing from this world, but not before he figured out who among the other leaders would take his place as the Warchief, as the King of Stormwind had an heir, who would take his place as leader of the Alliance. Vol'jin, on the other hand, didn't have an heir, or if he did the heir wasn't old enough to take his place as the leader of the Horde, but Maiev turned that out as she walked down the path that was in front of her, one that would take her to the deepest and darkest hole in the entire Vault, as the battle she had been in reminded her of another battle that had nearly cost her her life, the one at the summit of the Black Temple.
That was when she felt a disturbance in the air as the seal on the front door of the Vault, which wasn't supposed to be opening due to the fact that she had commanded such a thing while she considered her options on the matter, shattered and the Vault was exposed to the outside world, leading the other Wardens, who had felt the same thing she did, run up to a higher level so they could see what was going on.
"The Legion has broken the seal?!" one of the other Wardens declared, where Maiev's stride increased the moment she heard that, as she could feel the Fel energy seeping into the Vault from the outside, with Gul'dan making his way into the depths like he was searching for someone or something, though she could also hear the others getting ready to face him and his demons, "Quickly sisters, defend the Vault! Lady Maiev, we'll need your help as well!"
"Go, start the battle without me," Maiev stated, informing the closest Wardens to leave the area and make sure the demons didn't get down to this point, especially since the lowest level was where she imprisoned the body, and possibly the soul, of the Betrayer, hence the reason she was heading to a side chamber first, because the situation called for some drastic measures and she was hoping she was right in what she was about to do, "There is something I must do before I can join the defense."
The other Wardens said nothing as she stepped into the chamber that the Illidari were sealed away in, though instead of stopping she headed towards the room that was opposite of the entrance and entered an area that had four prisoners, one being Kayn, another being Altruis, and the other two holding the strongest demon hunters she had encountered, who would give the Betrayer a run for his gold.
"Illidari, I have spent my entire life as keeper of the wicked, be it demons of the Burning Legion, creatures from lands that are hardly explored, or dangerous elementals." Maiev commented, where she tapped her crescent against the side of her armored leg for a moment, as there was a good chance that if she broke the Illidari out of their prisons, especially the two that were right in front of her, they would lash out and kill her before she even had a chance to explain herself, but at the moment she was hoping they were in the mood to talk, for the first time in seven years, "For thousands of years my only solace was knowing that the rest of Azeroth was safe from monsters like you, but, given what has happened in the last week or two, I would do anything to save the world I call home... even if it means freeing you!"
In that moment she did something she was probably going to regret in the next couple of minutes, she swung her weapon and cut a deep gash into both Spitfire and Rainbow's prisons, where the cracks spread and the crystals shattered under the sheer intensity of the power they were keeping inside, something that gave her a glimpse of the empowered forms that she had faced seven years ago, before the pair reverted back to their base forms and emerged from the smoke that had come from her breaking their crystals... and she could tell one of them was pissed, but she was hoping they were willing to listen to her, otherwise Azeroth would have something worse than the Legion to fear.