Standing at the edge of the Dead Scar outskirt, Aethas eyed on the shambling brittle horror walking on the black, dead soil filled with the anguish of millions of lives that were forced to turn into undead and marched through.

Aethas eyes flashed an ominous glint as he focused on the walking skeleton wandering in the dead zone absentmindedly, after years of absorbing soul to strengthen himself, Aethas now had some confidence in trying to control some of the weaker undead roaming in the outskirts, breaking their bond with the Lich King and bringing the minion under his absolute control.

“You! Will! Obey!” Aethas doesn’t waste much of his time of the day either, whatever there was free time, he will go back and study the notes from the [Book of the Dead], 3 years is plenty of time for anyone to master the basics of magic- let alone a Blood Elves, whom magic is their birthright to wield as they desired.

The skeletal minion that Aethas is targeting began to struggle and combusted into blue flames, after the flame died down, the creature stood motionless and watched Aethas with it blue soul flame for eyes.

“Success!” it was a success, he managed to wrought control of the undead minion from the hive-mind of the undead Scourge and brought it under his control! Even though this undead was just a weakling among the general population of the Scourge, it still progress, seeing that his power has reached a substantial point, Aethas snapped his fingers and the minion immediate collapse and it soul flow toward him, fueling and expanding his mana reserve even further.

Years of “eating” soul of countless critters and from time to time, bigger animals, had expanded Aethas mana reserve beyond that of what could be considered normal even among elves, it should be more than enough for him to pass and enrolled in the magical academy within the Sunstrider Isle by the end of the year, Aethas wish he could say that to all his minion, but it turned out that not all are “talented” enough to be mages.

Of the 4 boys that followed Aethas, 2 of them choose to be a Paladin, 1 decided to follow the path of a Warrior, while the last has a talent to be a Rogue, maybe because of his family circumstances, while Valeera chosen to be a Ranger and the last girl, Litheria became a priest.

Aethas seem to be the only one in the class that has any chance of becoming a certified mage, much to his own surprises, Elves does have talent in magic- sure, but with the scarcity of mana and the willpower of the user to manage their thirst, many had given up the chance of becoming a mage, as for the knowledge they learn from professor Sunreach class, it’s just knowledge about life skills to help them whenever they needed.

Good thing they won’t be separated because of their choices, Sunstrider Isle teached all kind of classes, from the lowly Rogue Assassination class, to the noble priests.

Of course to get into the academy, they first need to pass professor Sunreach minimum standard on practical knowledge test, then they can earn a small scholarship and recommendation for the Academy on the Sunstrider Isle.

The things about the scholarship is it will only sponsor them for a maximum of 2 years, after that, they are on their on and will have to find a way to make a living, of course the student can choose to stay on the isle and look for work, most did anyway- but Aethas has a better plan and a much greater ambition, his plan was to enroll into Dalaran- however that might posed a bit of a problem, Dalaran disappeared from once it original location in Hillsbrad Foothill.

Many do not know where the city vanished to and left only a magical energized crater behind, but Aethas know- based on his knowledge, the city itself should be in Crystalsong Forest, Northrend- the front door of the Lich King domain, all Aethas need to do now is either find a route there, or somehow create a portal and travel to the city itself.

Aethas might have to take his chance and ask Professor Sunreach, as after boosting his own power to a certain point, Aethas could somewhat gauge the magical power of his teacher- and one thing is certain, he is not weak despite how he showed himself, the old elf is a powerful mage! Even though there was no record of his name etched in the wiki page, Aethas already threw most of what “canon” lore out the window since his reincarnation.

Part 2

After Aethas returned home to his family, washing himself up, eating dinner- chatting with his mother and father, listening to his father bragging about his current “Valiant deed” for the day, nothing much is going on- yes of course! They encourage him to study harder and quickly become a mage and then a magistrate in the Court serving their Prince Kael’Thas.

Unbeknown to them that Kael’Thas Sunstrider has long betrayed their people for Kil'Jaeden the Deceiver and the burning Legion, judging by history told by professor Sunreach that their Prince has returned from Outland and currently resided in the Palace on Quel’Danas Isle a short distance from their Capital city of Silvermoon city.

So if his guess is right, Kael’Thas must have been defeated in Outland and was forced to retreat back to Azeroth, where he planned to bring his new master, Kil’Jaeden the Deceiver to Azeroth, using the remnant of the Sunwell as a portal, this is good news and bad news at the same time for Aethas, the good news is there’s a good chance of him going to Dalaran sooner or later, possibly within the next couple of years.

The bad news is, currently he is not strong enough to personally secure his life from all kinds of threats that exist out there, if he were to face the Demon Lord Kil’Jaeden in his weakened form right now, just a little sneeze would be enough to obliterate him let alone the might of the full might of the Lich King.

Aethas need to immediately get stronger, the sooner the better, he needed to speed up his plan for this world, it’s either get eaten or be eaten in this savage world, to survive all the contastrophy and chaos that will soon ensue.

Soon enough, the day of the exam arrived marked by the warm morning sun- yet as always, the moment he woke up, his room was either filled by a corpse of some kind, either a random squirrel, bird, or insects, this has been going on for years already, to the point where he was used to it, thus he quickly cleaned up the mess- harvest the critter soul and collect any usable reagent from the creature before burn it with a firespell.

Since the day that it first start, up to present day, Aethas still hasn’t figured out as to why it happened- however since it doesn’t seem to harm anyone close to him, he just let it be, maybe the answer will naturally come to him in the near distant future, for now let it serve as an extra measure against anyone who wished to harm him, plus it’s an easy way to gain soul essence, it just served to him on a silver platter.

That aside, when Aethas arrived at the classroom of professor Sunreach, it was a surprise to see that he was the only one who came on time, all the other kids seem to take their sweet time today it seems, when he got there, Aethas saw professor Sunreach sitting on his couch reading his book without a care in the world.

“You’ve finally arrive I see.” the old elf closed his book and fixate his gaze on the young soon to be mage that arrived “right on time”, seeing that Aethas was confused, some clarification must be done it seems.

“Don’t bother looking around, I lied about the time you’re supposed to show up for today's final examination.” he smiled, much to Aethas confusion, why would he lied about such things? What the point of that- unless!

“Your guess is correct, I have something that might interest you.” the old elf pulled out an envelope sealed in wax, depicting an upside down eye- it’s the crest of the Kirin’Tor! The ruling organization and the council of magi’s resided in the magical city of Dalaran!

“As my most promising disciple, I reserved the right to give you the best treatment and paved the path for your promising future- this is the recommendation and residential right for you to enter Dalaran, hench the reason for your early summon, but first prove to me that you have what it takes and earn that right.” professor Sunreach summoned an orb.

“Show me your power my young disciple.” the moment Aethas let his hand touched the orb, it glowed with a brilliant light- acting as a bright beacon for villages miles around.

Hours later, the children finally arrived, when they got there they managed to spot the top of their class, standing quietly in the corner next to their professor, holding a letter and token in hand, quietly looking at them.

“Class, before the final examination start- I wish for you all to give a round of applause for your fellow classmate, Aethas- he has graduate early and will “soon” be departing in the most prestigious college this world has to offer, joining the Sunreaver Sanctuary in the magical city of Dalaran!” dead quiet, these kids know too well what kind of place is Dalaran from their teacher, the magical city where many of the most powerful magus reside.