it dimmed.
The keepers, still retaining their original personalities, puzzled over the strange phenomenon. They knew they had been gifted with a portion of the Pantheon’s power, but they were unaware that the last remnants of their beloved makers had been infused in their very bodies. The bewildered servants called out to the Pantheon for answers, but they received no reply. The deep silence troubled the keepers, and they sank into a long period of confusion and unease.
The Old GodYogg-Saron, imprisoned beneathUlduar, sensed these fluctuating emotions. In the eons since the Ordering of Azeroth, a sharp awareness had begun to stir within the entity. Yogg-Saron had devised a plan to weaken its jailors and escape imprisonment. It would corrupt theForge of Wills, tainting its creation matrix with a strange malady known as thecurse of flesh. Anytitan-forged created by the machine thereafter would fall victim to this affliction. Some would even spread it to previous generations of titan-forged. The curse of flesh would gradually transform many of these infected servants into mortal beings of flesh and blood—beings who the cunning Old God knew could be easily killed.
To implement this plan, Yogg-Saron turned to KeeperLoken. Out of Ulduar’s guardians, Loken had been the most troubled by the Pantheon’s silence. Yogg-Saron assailed the keeper through fevered dreams, stoking the cold fires of his despair. Yet even in his disturbed state, Loken resisted the whisperings in his mind. Ultimately, his downfall would come from a much subtler place.
As Loken drifted deeper and deeper into despair, he sought comfort from avrykul namedSif, the mate of his brother, KeeperThorim. Loken often met with Sif in private, telling her of his darkest fears. In time, a forbidden love blossomed between the two titan-forged.
Yogg-Saron latched onto Loken’s love for Sif and twisted it into a dangerous obsession. The relationship quickly soured due to Loken’s increasingly compulsive behavior. More and more, he talked of openly professing their love for each other, an act that Sif vehemently opposed. She knew that if Thorim discovered the affair, it would shatter the keepers’ unity.
KEEPER THORIM DISCOVERS THE BODY OF HIS WIFE, SIF
Ultimately, she broke all ties with Loken, demanding that he leave her in peace. The thought of losing Sif drove Loken to madness. In a fit of anger and jealousy, he lashed out at his love and killed her.
Though racked by guilt, he could not bring himself to tell Thorim of what he had done. Loken scrambled for a way to cover up Sif’s death. It was in this time of need that her spirit appeared before his eyes.
Much to Loken’s surprise, this visage of Sif forgave him. She also warned him of the need to act with haste, lest Thorim learn the truth. If he did, thetitan-forged would descend into civil war, and every pledge Loken had made to thePantheon would be broken.
Sif’s suggestion struck Loken as devious, a characteristic he had never known her to possess. He sensed something strange in her spirit: an unseen darkness, subtle yet discernible. But Loken’s fear clouded his judgment, and he pushed away his doubts.
On Sif’s guidance, Loken dragged her corpse into the frigid wastes of theStorm Peaks. He informed Thorim of his wife’s demise and convinced the keeper thatArngrim, king of the ice giants, was to blame. The grief-stricken Thorim unleashed his unbridled fury, slaying Arngrim and many of his followers. This event ignited a catastrophic war between Thorim’s storm giants and Arngrim’s ice giants. Sif’s spirit continued aiding Loken as the conflict raged. Her guidance became ever more extreme and worrisome, but Loken forged ahead nonetheless. She convinced him to build an army of his own using theForge of Wills, one large enough to protectUlduar from the depredations of the warring giants.
Loken was even persuaded to punish his brother for starting the war. He berated Thorim for letting anger
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