Gul'dan's emergence didn't go unnoticed.
Across Earth, those watching the invasion, militaries, civilians, hidden organizations, saw the towering portal of stone and green flame, and the monstrous figure stepping through it. A figure not of this world. Not of this universe.
In a heavily secured underground base in New York, General Ross watched satellite feeds in real time, his fingers curling tightly around the armrests of his chair.
The giant stone portal had caught him off-guard. But what shook him wasn't just its scale or design.
Ross leaned forward and barked at his technician, "Zoom in. Sector B-14."
The creature, hulking, green, and hideous, was less than five hundred meters from his squad of fifty super soldiers.
A sick feeling twisted in his gut.
Something about the thing's movements, its stance, the air around it, told Ross everything he needed to know: this wasn't a random monster.
"Send an order to the field," Ross said grimly. "Tell the team to back away. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage under any circumstances."
His deputy snapped a salute and moved to relay the message.
Ross didn't want to lose a single one of those enhanced men. Each one of them was too valuable to put them at risk.
Elsewhere, Loki stood atop a crumbling building, surveying the battlefield with the smug confidence of a chess master.
He narrowed his eyes as Gul'dan stepped through the portal.
"Hmph," he muttered. "Another beast."
There was a flicker of curiosity in his expression, but not fear.
"Let the mongrel bark," Loki scoffed. "With the Chitauri here, I have already won. One more monster changes nothing."
He turned away from the growing storm on the horizon.
Back in the grocery store, Luke stood frozen at the doorway, staring at the monster his own computer had just dragged into reality.
Not a pixelated raid boss.
Not a cinematic cutscene.
Real, breathing, and reeking of evil.
He could see a glowing prompt hovering above Gul'dan's hooded head:
Primary Ability: Fel Energy
Main Skills: Dark Portal (Summons portal to marked location)
Drain Life (Absorbs life force to heal)
Fel Sickle (Wide-range soul reaping attack)
Destruction Storm (Massive fel energy burst)
Well of Souls (Absorbs souls from nearby corpses)
Resurrection of Death (Raises corpses as followers)
Endowing of Fel (Grants fel power, binds the target to Gul'dan's will)
Summon Level: Fifth-Order
'Oh no. This isn't just Gul'dan. This is the full patch-notes version…'
He spun around and shouted, urgency rising in his voice:
"Wanda! Sharon! Get inside now! It's not safe out here!"
The two women paused mid-stride, confused.
Sharon had just fried a Leviathan with lightning and was still riding the high. Wanda was floating serenely, her fingertips glowing red, enjoying herself far too much.
"Wait, what?" Sharon asked, brows furrowed.
"That thing?" Wanda gestured toward Gul'dan. "He doesn't look that"
Luke didn't let her finish.
He dashed forward, grabbed Wanda by the wrist, and tugged her through the door.
"Trust me! That's Gul'dan! You don't fight Gul'dan. You hide from Gul'dan!"
He waved Doggo over with a panicked whistle. The three-headed dog returned to normal and trotted inside, looking confused but obedient.
Bumblebee, meanwhile, stayed parked just outside. He couldn't fit through the grocery store door, and even if he could, Luke figured the fel energy probably wouldn't mess with him anyway.
"You'll be fine out there, right buddy?" Luke called.
Bumblebee's headlights flashed once in acknowledgment, followed by a brief burst of static that vaguely resembled a nervous chuckle.
Outside, Gul'dan stirred and finally opened his eyes.
Twin beams of sickly green light shot from his sockets like demonic searchlights. He sniffed the air.
And smiled twistedly.
"Such... purity," he rasped in a voice like gravel soaked in poison. "Such life."
The wind shifted around him.
His nostrils flared again, hungrily.
"So much... to devour."
The Earth's energy was cleaner than anything he'd ever tasted, its life force untainted. Billions of souls, all ripe for consumption.
His staff pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
For a moment, he simply basked in the scent of the world.
Sharp, piercing deep.
Gul'dan clutched his skull and roared.
Something foreign forced its way into his mind, slicing through his consciousness like barbed wire.
Memories not his own.
Orders not of his making.
A mission embedded into his soul.
The pain vanished as suddenly as it came.
His eyes snapped open.
He knew what he had to do.
He didn't know why, and didn't care.
Something even more powerful than him, something binding compelled him, and he accepted it.
Gul'dan turned slowly, his gaze rising to the sky where the rift still spilled glowing ships and silver-blue soldiers like insects from a hive.
A crooked grin spread across his face.
"Very well," he growled. "Let me greet the flies with fire."
He raised his staff, considering which spell would be the most fun to cast first.
But then, his attention shifted.
Just off to the side, fifty large humanoid figures stood in a formation.
Tall, muscular, light green glow on their skin.
They reminded him of something…
"Orcs?" he murmured, tilting his head.
They weren't true orcs. Not his kind. But they felt familiar.
And more importantly?
They could be shaped.
Gul'dan's twisted smile widened.
"Yes…" he whispered. "My first army in this world."
His staff began to glow brighter, as if responding to his emotions.