Free World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 by Blizzard Entertainment

rule his emotions and for creating such a terrible rift between the titan-forged. Loken further admonished his brother, claiming that Sif herself would look upon him in shame if she could only see the things he had done in her name. This bitter condemnation threw Thorim into a deep depression. Overcome with regret, he abandoned Ulduar and languished in solitude.
    With Thorim in isolation, Loken used his newly forged army to overwhelm the giants and end their conflict. All those who resisted his will were locked away in stasis chambers.
    But as these battles progressed, Loken noticed something unsettling among his warriors. A dark affliction suffused their spirits. Loken called out to Sif again for advice, but this time, she remained silent. Dread overtook the keeper as he realized that her spirit had not existed at all. She was an illusion created byYogg-Saron.
    Though Loken did not know it, the false spirit of Sif had also tainted the Forge of Wills while the keeper was creating his army. Yogg-Saron’s curse of flesh had taken root in the heart of the machine’s creation matrix. Loken had, in his selfishness, allowed Yogg-Saron to play him as an unwitting pawn.
    This discovery shattered the last vestiges of Loken’s noble heart. He became obsessed with keeping his transgressions a secret, even if it meant embracing the power of Yogg-Saron. With such might at his command, he knew he could defeat the remaining keepers and destroy all evidence of his wrongdoing.

I n order to defeat the other keepers, Loken realized that he would first have to neutralizeOdyn and his mightyValarjar army. But a direct attack against their floating citadel, theHalls of Valor, would be impossible. Instead, Loken took a more insidious approach. He reached out to Odyn’s adopted daughter, theVal’kyrHelya.
    For millennia, Helya had dutifully followed Odyn’s commands, transporting the spirits of slainvrykul to the Halls of Valor. Yet even while she did so, Helya nursed the cold anger that stirred in her phantom heart. She never forgave Odyn for turning her into a Val’kyr against her will. Helya dreamed of a day when she might avenge what had been done to her and the others who had been transformed into Val’kyr.
    Loken called out to Helya and played on her simmering anger and feelings of betrayal. He promised he would break the chains of servitude that bound her to follow Odyn’s will. In exchange, she would seal off the Halls of Valor from the world forever. Thereafter, Helya could usurp Odyn’s role as the caretaker of all vrykul spirits. Enticed by this chance to sate her appetite for revenge, she agreed to Loken’s plans.
    After Loken had restored her free will, Helya called on the same powers she had used to secure theElemental Plane in ages past. She bent the latent arcane energies swirling around Azeroth to her command, sealing off the Halls of Valor and the inhabitants within. Odyn and his mighty Valarjar struggled desperately to escape their floating citadel, but they could not break the impregnable barrier Helya had created. There the Valarjar and the keeper would remain, trapped within the golden corridors of the Halls of Valor for ages to come.
    Helya, now liberated from her life of servitude, forged a new home for herself and the other Val’kyr. She created this enchanted refuge far below the Halls of Valor, binding it to Azeroth’s great seas. The ocean mists soon coiled up to envelop Helya’s domain and shroud it from sight. Known asHelheim, this realm would become the final destination for many vrykul spirits after death.

G UARDIANS OF S HADOW
    Not all Val’kyr continued to follow Helya after Odyn’s defeat. Some of these spectral beings disappeared into theShadowlands. The few who still retained a glimmer of nobility in their souls dedicated themselves to watching over the physical world. From within the Shadowlands, these Val’kyr would at times guide the dead back to the land of the living .

    Yet the darkness