The night grew deep.
The ten hawkstriders formed a single file, tracing their way along a barely visible forest path.
Riding near the rear-middle of the column, Luo Xun’s body swayed gently with the bird’s stride—or rather, jolted up and down as if riding a tractor on a mountain road.
*I really don’t get why elves ride birds.
Aren’t there plenty of steadier animals around?* Beneath the moonlight, Halduron’s golden hair gleamed with a cold luster, his posture as steady as a boulder.
*Can this old elf really see the road in the dark?* No one had lit a torch, nor was anyone using magic to illuminate the way.
Luo Xun withdrew his gaze and began observing the rest of the squad.
In his energy vision, all eleven elves were enveloped in a blue halo, representing order energy.
However, the thickness of this aura varied.
Halduron’s was the thickest, measuring about a centimeter.
The other rangers had thinner auras, with only a faint line outlining the sides of their bodies.
There were two exceptions: a large-framed elf whose aura extended down to his hips and thighs, indicating a melee brawler, and a slender female ranger whose aura was about half a knuckle thick.
Judging by her gear, she was likely a scout or trap specialist.
These weren’t just standard soldiers; they were bona fide elites.
*Much tougher than the people in those wilderness survival training camps I used to lead.* “What are you looking at?” Alice’s voice drifted over from the front.
Without him noticing, she had slowed her pace, bringing her hawkstrider side-by-side with his.
The white veil was almost translucent under the moonlight, offering a faint glimpse of her elegantly sculpted jawline.
“I’m looking at them,” Luo Xun replied in Elven, gesturing toward the squad with his chin.
“It seems like everyone has some cosmic forces circulating around their bodies, some thicker and some thinner.” Alice turned her head slightly, her golden eyes shining like two warm stars in the night.
“You can see that level of detail?” “Yes.
But I don’t understand it.
Why…
do they flow like that?” “That is the result of training,” Alice said softly.
“The legacy of the Farstrider rangers dates back thousands of years.
What you see now is the crystallization of the wisdom of countless generations.
The flow of each halo has been tested through thousands of battles.” Luo Xun nodded.
He was reminded of the traditional martial arts schools on Earth, where techniques were repeated thousands of times until the mechanics of exerting force were hardwired into the body.
The principle was much the same, except this world had an added layer of energy.
*To put it plainly, it’s like internal cultivation techniques, complete with built-in glow-in-the-dark effects.* “General Halduron,” he murmured, pointing toward the broad, sturdy back ahead of them, “is very strong.” “He is one of the finest rangers in Quel’Thalas,” Alice said, her voice laced with respect.
“During the Second War, he infiltrated Zul’Aman entirely on his own and captured their leader, Zul’jin, right under the noses of tens of thousands of trolls.” *Zul’jin?* A memory from the game flashed in Luo Xun’s mind—a one-eyed troll, the chieftain of the Amani Empire.
He had indeed been captured by the elves.
*So it was this guy who did it.* Looking at Halduron’s back again, Luo Xun felt the figure seemed even more imposing.
At the same time, his eyes caught the human battleaxe hanging at the general’s waist, glinting coldly in the moonlight.
*An elven general using a human axe as his weapon?
There’s bound to be a fascinating story behind that.* “Have you known him for a long time?” “Ever since I can remember,” Alice said.
“General Halduron and my father…
have been friends for many years.
They have fought side-by-side on numerous occasions.” *Her father.* Luo Xun suddenly recalled the strange reactions of the elves back at the retreat.
Their demeanor hadn’t just been the standard deference shown to nobility; it was more like the way one would treat the daughter of some towering figure…
He hesitated for a moment but decided to ask anyway.
“Back at the retreat, they called you ‘Lady Alice.’ And ‘Sunfire.’ Is that your family’s surname?” Alice fell silent for a moment.
The rhythmic thudding of the hawkstriders’ talons echoed in the night as the moonlight stretched their shadows long and thin across the ground.
“Yes,” she finally spoke, a touch of complex emotion in her voice.
“Our Sunfire family has guarded the Sunwell for generations, responsible for maintaining its energy balance and protective barriers.
In matters of magic…
the standing of the Sunfire family is even higher than that of the royal Sunstrider family.” Luo Xun’s heart skipped a beat.
*Guarding the Sunwell, with a status higher than royalty?* *What kind of setup is that?* He quickly racked his brain for the Warcraft lore he knew: the Sunstrider dynasty, the Windrunner family, the Morningstars, Dawnseekers, Bloodsworn…
It was always the same few names.
*Sunfire?* He searched every dusty corner of his memory but was absolutely certain he had never heard of this surname before.
Back in the day, he had memorized the game’s lore more diligently than his college entrance exam questions.
There was no way he would have missed it.
If the Sunfire family truly held such a transcendent status and managed something as vital as the Sunwell, as Alice claimed, there was no way they wouldn’t have left even a trace in the game’s lore.
*Unless…* *Unless the family was completely wiped out at some point.* *Or erased from history entirely.* *Or…* The gray film on Kaelen’s body flashed through Luo Xun’s mind, along with the corrupted land of the Dead Scar and the bone-deep weariness in Alice’s voice when she said, “Our energy source has been destroyed.” All signs pointed to the same grim reality: the Scourge had invaded the Isle of Quel’Danas, and the Sunwell had been defiled.
But what about the Sunfire family?
If they were truly the guardians of the Sunwell, why wasn’t there a single mention of them in any of the historical accounts?
He didn’t know if Kael’thas had destroyed the Sunwell yet.
He hadn’t had a chance to ask.
And now, it was even harder to ask.
Knowing that Alice’s family was linked to the Sunwell, pressing for details would be like rubbing salt in a raw wound.
But they would know soon enough.
Silvermoon City lay ahead.
Once they arrived, there would be more puzzle pieces to put together.
Luo Xun looked at Alice.
Her profile was slender yet upright, her white veil fluttering gently in the night wind like a bowstring drawn to its absolute limit.
*If the Sunfire family is truly gone, what does that make her now?
The last survivor…?
No, she still has her father.* He wanted to ask.
He wanted to ask who her father was, what had happened to the Sunfire family, and why they hadn’t left so much as a ripple in history.
But the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back down.
*Now is not the time.* Looking at Alice’s back, he recalled everything that had happened over the past seven days: her patience while teaching him the language, the casual ease with which she shared her food, and that split second when, despite being so gravely injured, she had thrown herself in front of him to shield him.
*No matter what the deal is with the Sunfire family, at least this elf is a true friend.* *As for the rest…* *We can investigate slowly once we reach Silvermoon City.* Ahead of him, Alice’s figure swayed gently in the night.
Luo Xun stared at her back, a single thought revolving in his mind: *Just who…
is her father?*