"BOOM!"
A burst of sickly green fire suddenly erupted in the dark night sky, painting the clouds with malevolent light. Then, Varian's Oath, the gleaming aerospace battleship, began to shake like a startled griffin.
"Enemy attack! Oh, for the love of—already?!" King Varian, who had been attempting to snatch a glorious five minutes of naptime in the captain's room, practically launched himself from his small, uncomfortable bed. After joining Drake Proudmoore's fleet in the sparkling waters of Kul Tiras, the combined armada had continued their westward journey. As they gradually approached the ominous waters of the Broken Isles, Varian, ever the cautious (and slightly paranoid) leader, had ordered the entire fleet to be on high alert. He even slept in his armor, just in case.
After planting his feet firmly on the deck, he dragged a rather bewildered Anduin and a startled Talia (who had also been rudely awakened by the explosion) and quickly hustled them to the main deck of the battleship. Green light flickered menacingly in the distant dark clouds, and the sound of something large tearing through the air could be heard from time to time. The deck was already a minor inferno, with frantic crew members attempting to put out the flames with buckets and very loud cursing.
"Adjutant! What in the blazes is going on?!" Varian bellowed, still clutching one of his chopsticks from his half-eaten late-night snack as he addressed Rogers, who was valiantly commanding the crew amidst the chaos.
"Your Majesty, it's the demons! They're here! And they ambushed us a good 500 miles from the Broken Shore! Who'd have thought they'd be so dedicated?!"
Everyone knew that in addition to the main invasion points, many more demons had apparently decided to visit Azeroth through other, less formal channels. But who in the name of the Light could have imagined that these fel-brained fiends would run so far and actually ambush their main force in the middle of the ocean?!
"Hmph! I've been a soldier all my life, and this is just an ambush! A glorified skirmish! Pass the order down! Every ship! Enter combat status immediately! Let's show these overgrown bats how we do things in Stormwind!"
No sooner had Varian roared his command than a truly horrifying shriek—the guttural roar of a wild, demonic beast—ripped through the air! A swarm of dark, leathery bats, each the size of a war-gryphon, poured out from the clouds, descending like a plague of angry shadows, targeting the joint fleet of Stormwind Kingdom and Kul Tiras!
"Fire now! Blast those winged nuisances!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late. A massive, glowing green meteorite, trailing noxious fumes, shot out from the clouds and slammed directly into the Lion's Oath, which was dutifully serving as the frigate on the right side of Varian's own flagship!
BOOM!
The bow bunker of the Lion's Oath collapsed instantly, imploding in a shower of sparks and shattered metal. It wasn't just a hit; it was a total, unmitigated structural disaster.
But it wasn't over yet! Oh no. A truly colossal Hellfire, a monstrous construct of living rock and molten slag, crawled out from the flames of the explosion, its massive, rock arms wreathed in fel flames. It immediately began to swipe indiscriminately at the terrified soldiers on the deck, clearly aiming for maximum carnage.
The deck was already tiny, now it was an absolute sardine can of screaming mortals. The Hellfire took up nearly one-third of it, a geological marvel of pure destruction. In addition, the hull was now severely compromised and had tilted at a dizzying, stomach-churning angle. Crew members were thrown into disarray, sliding across the deck like marbles, and those who weren't falling were swept away by a single, casual swing of the Hellfire's arm, sending most of them plummeting into the churning waves below.
"Quick! Climb higher! Get this ship out of the way!" Seeing that the tilted Lion's Oath was about to lose control and crash into his own magnificent vessel, Varian immediately screamed at his adjutant to evasively maneuver his aerospace battleship, thus preventing the turbine on one side from being utterly pulverized!
"Kids, stay still! Don't move a muscle! Jeros, you take command! Do not let them die!"
As a warrior, Varian's body moved faster than his brain could even process. After leaving only a single, shouted sentence, he simply jumped off the deck, launching himself into the air like a very angry, very determined cannonball!
In mid-air, Varian grabbed Shalamayne with both hands, its twin blades humming with righteous fury, and chopped down with all his might directly at the forehead of the Hellfire rampaging on the Lion's Oath!
"DIE, YOU ROCK-HEADED LOUT!"
WHOOSH!
A searing red light flashed, a blur of deadly steel. The Hellfire, caught completely off guard, was split cleanly in two from its massive, obsidian head straight down to its fiery crotch. It exploded in a shower of molten rock and fel flames, leaving a very large, very dead, very bisected demonic problem on the deck.
Over the years, Stromgarde had withstood most of the apocalyptic disasters in Azeroth, constantly evolving. Varian, having trained with Galen and constantly pushed himself, had not wasted too much time. With his formidable talent and relentless hard work, he was now much, much stronger than Galen (or anyone else, frankly) remembered. At least, simple demons like Hellfires could now be dispatched by the King of Stormwind with a single, magnificent sword stroke.
"Long live His Majesty Varian! He cut it in half! He's amazing!" "Crrunch…" "Long live Stormwind… Ah, no! We're sinking!"
The crew members, who had just breathed a collective sigh of relief, feeling incredibly lucky to have escaped death, were abruptly snapped back to reality. The very next moment, they saw thick black smoke pouring out of other turbines on the ship! Although the Hellfire was gloriously destroyed, the hull of the Lion's Oath had suffered catastrophic damage.
The fall was imminent! They were going down!
WHOOSH!
A pitch-black chain, thick as a tree trunk, shot down from the sky like a divine grappling hook. Varian, sensing absolutely no murderous intent from it (which was a relief, given his day), immediately grabbed onto the grappling hook, clinging to it like a very regal barnacle.
King Varian looked up, squinting through the smoke and flashing lights, and saw an aerospace battleship even larger than his own Oath of Ryan! No! This wasn't just a battleship; this was an aerial fortress! It was at least half the size of Varian's flagship, looming majestically above them.
Looking in the direction of the hook, Varian couldn't help but feel a sudden, overwhelming surge of relief and a tiny, knowing smirk spread across his face. That was his old brother, once a member of the infamous Princes' Group of the Eastern Continent and now the formidable Lord of Kul Tiras: Drake Proudmoore!
Not only that, but Varian also saw a graceful, familiar figure emerge from behind Drake. It was Jaina Proudmoore, glowing with calm, reassuring power! White light condensed in Jaina's hands, shimmering with arcane energy. As she exerted her immense magical power, Varian watched, utterly amazed, as the Stormwind soldiers around him were collectively wrapped in a brilliant white light and instantly teleported away from the rapidly crashing spaceship, appearing safely on Drake's flagship.
Seeing this, Varian no longer hesitated. He pulled the hook, climbing quickly, almost eagerly, to Drake's magnificent flagship: the New Sea Sovereign! It was a good day to have friends in very high, very powerful places.