Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy
Book Two: The Demon Soul
The second novel in the epic Warcraft trilogy

Written by Richard A. Knaak.

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A point of utter blackness formed in the center of the fiery sphere. From far within it, a voice filled Mannoroth's mind, a voice as familiar to him as his own.

Mannoroth...it is you...

But not that of Sargeras.

We have waited too long...it said in a cold, analytical tone that made even the huge demon shrink into himself. The way must be made completely open for him. I will see to it that it is finally done. Be ready for me, Mannoroth...I come to you even now.

And with that, the blackness spread, becoming a huge emptiness above the pattern. The portal was not quite as it had been when first the night elves created it, but that was because the one who spoke from the other realm now also strengthened it. This time, it would not collapse.

"To your knees!" Mannoroth roared. Still under his sway, the sorcerers had no choice but to immediately obey. The Fel Guard and night elven soldiers in attendance followed suit a moment later. Even Captain Varo'then quickly knelt.

The demon was the last to kneel, but he did so with the most deference. Almost as much as he feared Sargeras, he feared this one.

We are ready, he informed the other. Mannoroth now kept his gaze on the floor. Any single act, however minute, that could be construed as defiance might mean his painful demise. We, the unworthy, await your presence...Archimonde...

A massive, eight-legged lupine form dropped down on Rhonin. Had he been other than what he was, the wizard would have perished there, the meal of a savage, saber-toothed creature with four gleaming green eyes to go with its eight, clawed limbs. The monstrous wolf-creature brought him down, but Rhonin, having magicked his garments to better protect him from the elements, proved a hard nut to crack. The claws scraped at a cloak they should have readily tattered, only to have instead one nail snap off.

Gray fur standing on end, the beast howled its frustration. Rhonin took the opening, casting a simple but effective spell that had saved him in the past.

A cacophony of light burst before the creature's emerald orbs, both blinding and startling it. It ducked back, swatting uselessly at flashing patterns.

Dragging himself out of reach, Rhonin rose. There was no chance of flight; that would only serve to turn his back on the beast and his protective spell was already weakening. A few more slashes and the claws would be ripping the wizard to the bone.

Fire had worked against the ghoul on the island and Rhonin saw no reason why such a tried and true spell would not benefit him again. He muttered the words-

And suddenly they came out in reverse. Worse, Rhonin found himself moving backward, returning to the wild claws of the blinded beast.

Time had turned in on itself...but how?

[ Awards ]

• Computer: 400 MHz Pentium II or equivalent, or a 400 MHz G3 processor or better.
• Operating Systems: Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. Warcraft III requires Mac OS?9.0 or higher, or Mac OS X?10.1.3 or higher.
• Memory: Warcraft III requires 128 MB of RAM. Virtual Memory should be enabled on computers running pre-Mac OS X versions of the Mac OS?
• Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required.
• Drives: A hard drive with at least 550 MB of free space (in addition to your Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos installation), and a 4x speed CD-ROM drive are required for installation and play.
• Video: 8MB 3D video card (TNT, i810, Voodoo 3, Rage 128 equivalent or better) with DirectX 8.1 support. For Mac OS?systems, a video card consisting of an ATI Technologies or nVidia chipset with at least 16 MB of memory is required.
• Sound: A DirectX-compatible 16-bit sound card is recommended. Warcraft III will work with the built-in sound features of the Mac OS?

• Access to Blizzard Entertainment's online gaming service, Battle.net, requires a low-latency, active Internet connection rated at 28.8 Kbps or faster.
• Multiplayer games played over a LAN require an active connection to a TCP/IP network.

• Computer: 600 MHz processor or better
• Memory: 256 MB of RAM
• Video: 32 MB 3D Video card