Warcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodstained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul ❯ The Kiss of Nightfall - Chapter 10 ( Chapter 40 )

Chapter 10:

 

 

Sorrow and despair quickly turned back into blind hatred.

I pushed aside all thoughts about Keira because it was easier than coping with what had happened only minutes ago.

The rage that built up in me found a new target only a short time later. I focussed completely on the Scarlet Crusade again. I had no idea what would happen if they gave me any more tasks involving the Crusade. The only thing I wanted to do was killing. Annihilate them. Every single one up to the very last.

I already knew that I would get my revenge on Plaguefist sooner or later. The irritating thing was that the master promised me vengeance. He probably said that to soothe my anger. But I guess it wouldn't matter if I fed the soul of a Crusader to Frostmourne or the wretched soul of Plaguefist, surely both would be to its liking.

I heard him how he was whispering to me almost all the time... but... I didn't listen to him anymore.

Only occasionally a single words slips through that I clearly understand. So I'm actually not sure if he meant vengeance by killing Plaguefist or just another ambush at the Crusaders.

But soon I stopped questioning everything again. All that matters is the present and the revenge I am longing for.

On the way back to Thassarian I was tumbling. Every part of my body felt numb and my vision was blurry, though I didn`t suffer any injuries. I never felt like this before. As if I had been gravely wounded.

Luckily for me this condition wasn't too persistent. The moment I stood in front of the inn everything cleared up again, at least for a bit. Even though my legs somehow still felt weak.

Now Thassarian looks at me from his dead, bloodshot eyes. He clearly knows that something is wrong with me, but I don't plan on telling him anything that had happened.

I tell him the important part of the story which cheers him up a bit, making him leave behind any doubt he had about my situation being alright. That man is too weak for becoming a champion of our master.

But what am I saying?

Am I turning weak now too?

NO! I won't become a fool like Koltira or Thassarian! I don't want to be like Orbaz either.. but I would prefer being like him compared to the other two... I guess.

"Koltira's cry for vengeance has been answered! Another victory for the Scourge! I salute you."

Something about his words makes me feel uncomfortable.

Orbaz is tapping his foot behind us. I turn around to look into his cold blue eyes.

“While you burned down churches and murdered vermin, I've been busy formulating a plan. Within the next hour the courier will pass the Scarlet Overlook.”, he makes a short pause. “Just kill him. Kill him, but be careful not to damage his clothes too much. Take his belongings and bring them here..., including the clothes.”

I nod and want to leave.

“Hurry up so you don't miss him or I'm forced to kill you... By forced I mean I will take great pleasure in ending your life.”, the smile on his lips is deceitful.

As a matter of fact I don't think of his words as a threat. They simply mean nothing to me.

The overlook is to the east, near a path winding down to the coast.

I don't hurry through the empty areas of New Avalon. This war is almost won. It only took us a single day to drive the Scarlet Crusade to the brink of annihilation.

Two large watchtowers flank the path leading out of the city to the small harbour. I take a look down to the coast from the cliff above. Their `harbour' consists of roughly three or four wooden landing stages. But then again, I see five large ships with white sails bearing the symbol of the Crusade. A large amount of people are down there loading the ships. The coast is heavily guarded down there.

Seeing the letter `L' standing for Lordaeron coloured crimson somehow is familiar to me. Something in me wants to come out. It is almost as if memories are trapped deep inside my mind.

All these thoughts vanish in an instant as I hear a horse approaching.

He slows down the moment he has passed the two towers, maybe he feels safe now. Ironic that this is the case only after he has left the walls of the city of his beloved Scarlet Crusade.

Soon he will regret that he slowed down early.

I concentrate on the area around the horse of the courier. I know what I want to happen. I smile as I hear a digging sound. The horse rears up as the digging comes closer and closer, knocking the courier out of the saddle.

A rotten hand bursts out of the ground. The flesh on it is green, only held on the bone by dark magic.

The animal sees the unholy creature coming out of the ground and flees back into the city of New Avalon. The courier now lies on his back staring in shock at the ghoul as it makes its way out of the ground. Its eyes are black and lifeless, the skin covered with blains.

“I LIKE GLITTER!”, the creature announces in a distorted voice.

If their brain did not rot away too, I'm sure they would be far better minions.

The courier still lies on the ground paralyzed by the sight of the ghoul as it comes closer to him. Its movement is clumsy and not very fast, but what would you expect from a former human with most of his stomach missing. Blank ribs are pointing our of the rotten flesh. Its vitals seem to be all gone, at least I don't see any of those hanging out. Small lumps of earth are flying everywhere as it shakes itself once.

Then it further approaches the human. I come closer myself. The ghouls seems to... sniff at the courier?

“RATCARVER HUNGRY!”, the ghoul announces and with a surprisingly swift movement it sinks its teeth deeply into the arm of the human.

Still shocked it takes a moment for him to realize what is happening right now. But before he can open his mouth to scream, I leap at him and cut off his head with one clean blow.

I know that the voice of a screaming human more wouldn't matter but I don't want to make them suspicious as it is this close.

“Go... Ratcarver? Go after the head.” I kick the head away with my foot. To my astonishment it really works the way I had it intended to do. The ghoul instantly leaps at the rolling head, running after it clumsy as it is.

The right sleeve is done for, but well... it shouldn't be too difficult to find an excuse for that.

I return to Orbaz instantly.

To my surprise the ghoul is still by my side nibbling on the severed head in its claws. Normally the creature should have stayed roaming the area around the Scarlet lookout but it doesn't matter to me.

I tell the creature to wait on the lower floor. It actually listens to my orders. I leave it standing next to a female bloodelf deathknight guarding the entrance of the inn. The number of initiates keeping watch in this area of New Avalon is growing thinner by the minute. They are mostly called back to the black fortress of Acherus.

Orbaz takes the letter our of my hands and tells me I should get dressed in the clothes of the Courier. Suddenly he bursts out in laughter.

“The armies of Hearthglen and Tirisfal will be marching into a massacre.”, a bright smile is on his face. He seems to be excited. I can understand how he feels about it quite well.

“Are you getting dressed already?”, his tone is pressing. I hurry to get into the robes of the courier. They are far too big, hanging loosely from my skinny body.

“I know that you won't fool anybody looking like this. But the Val'kyr will use a spell on you that will make a perfect disguise.”

A creature shining in a bright white light comes out of the rooms in the back. “She was checking whether the bodies up here are still of use for us.” Her lips move but I don't hear a single word she is saying. Seconds later the world around me is spinning for a short moment. After it had stopped I look down at me. Wow, the Crusaders could actually believe this disguise. The robe now fits perfectly. As I touch my face I notice the brown beard I am now wearing. This really is quite a change in appearance.

“Now go! The message must reach Abbendis! We don't want to draw their suspicion. Everything must continue as if all was going according to their plan. They want to fight us in our own realm... what fools. If you can find out a few more things about the Crimson Dawn, will you?”, I know that this is no real question, but more of an order.

“Meanwhile we will also depart to Acherus. If you are down, retreat as well. We will bring the news of the approaching armies to Highlord Mograine. Make sure you return before they arrive, don't you dare to stay here waiting for them and having fun all alone.”, his eyes narrow as the words leave his mouth.

I take the stairs to the lower area. The ghoul is still down here standing next to the entrance.

With a loud “RATCARVER”, his claws hit the bloodelf in the face.

“Stop it, you dumb ghoul!”, I yell at him. The bloodelf looks at the creature in disgust, as if she wants to wash out her mouth with soap now.

I dismiss the ghoul as I leave the building. I couldn't let him stay here, nor take him with me. It would be rather awkward for a Scarlet Courier to appear before Abbendis with a ghoul at his side. Although I guess it would be funny to see their faces in such a moment.

Still, it is astonishing how fast the ghoul could be from time to time. But this is not the time to be thinking about things like this, so I focus again on the task I was given.

I have to hurry to the coast. Luckily it's not too far away from here. The path down to their landing stages is heavily guarded.

As they see me one after another yells “Let him pass! Hurry! To the High General!”

I climb down the slope fast and without problems.

The young women with the hazel-brown hair yells at me as she sees me. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!”, her voice is piercing, “You are two hours late! We were about to send a messenger to the High Commander!”

I give her the unaltered message as I was ordered by Bloodbane.

“Damn it! The armies must not reach New Avalon at all cost! The Scourge will slaughter them all!”

She takes a step towards me.

“Listen well, courier. The Scarlet lands are lost. New Avalon and Havenshire are overrun by the Scourge. The spectre of death looms overhead and threatens to overtake us at any moment.”, she swallows hard.

“Tell Galvar this: 'Turn your armies around and prepare your ships for travel to the frozen wastes. When we meet next time, it will be in Northrend.' And give him this journal. It will explain everything.”

She makes a short pause, she has to fight for words.

“The Scarlet Crusade is no more... Long live the Scarlet Onslaught!”, I nod and raise my arm with them so I don't blow my cover. I turn around and make my way back up the slope.

“Make haste!”, Abbendis yells behind me and I speed up my pace.

The moment I enter New Avalon again the disguise drops. That was close I think to myself, but my attention is now drawn to the journal that the Abbendis women gave to me. I open it and flip through some pages.

On some of the pages there are crude drawings I can't make out. It definitely has wings, but what is this... creature? It looks like the colouring book of some child. I read a few lines on another page as I walk along. What rubbish and nonsense. Those fools are sailing to their deaths.

Havenshire is as quiet as a grave, well okay, in fact you could call it a grave after today's morning hours.

As I reached the breach below Acherus the two elven princes Valanar and Keleseth are standing in midst of two bright green circles. Valanar even waves at me slightly as I pass by..., strange cocky elves.

The platform from before is now a good bit different. It is a lot higher than before, also a lot darker. The material looks similar to the ore they use for our armour. I have no idea why they should want to build a pedestal like this from Saronite, but well... this is nothing of my concern.

I take the gryphon up to Acherus.

Up in the black fortress I see Koltira and Thassarian standing on the outer ring of the lower area.

Deathweaver greets me as usual. Something is different. He is wearing a shiny new set of armour.

Why did that useless...?

“Looks great, doesn't it?”, he smiles at me. “They have one for you too.”, he announces with a happy voice. Why do elves have so much interest in dressing themselves?

The armour of Koltira looks similar to the one of Highlord Mograine, only a little bit darker, but also with the horned skulls as shoulders with the crimson eyes. I'm still in bewilderment that Koltira got a full set of armour as a present. It's outrageous!

As Koltira heads on wanting me to follow him to my new armour, I notice that Thassarian is also wearing a new set. It is dark blue with large spikes on his shoulders, four on each side. The welds are highlighted in a golden tone. Light grey skulls with blue glowing eyes are decorating his shoes, gloves and the belt he is wearing.

As Koltira speeds up and turns around into the hallway leading around the middle circle I just turn around and head back to the nearest way to get to Mograine.

“What are you doing? Get your new armour! It looks great!”, Koltira says after noticing I wasn't following him anymore.

“I don't have time for this, I have to get to Mograine first! Show me later!”, I snarl at him.

He looks a bit disappointed. That elf is such an idiot. How could someone like him become a high-ranked deathknight? And why the hell did they present him with something like that?!

I step before the Highlord Mograine and kneel down.

I tell them what I found out. Everything about the approaching armies has been already conveyed by Bloodbane some minutes earlier. The Highlord looks pleased as I hand over the journal of Abbendis.

A smile comes to his lips.

“You did great things today. Even more than I had imagined from you and the other three. Now go and collect your reward. Lord Thorval will give you your new set of armour. Something that should be more suitable than the things you are wearing at the moment.”

I bow to him and back off.

Lord Thorval is the headmaster of the school of blood. I still remember this from earlier this morning, the master had told me.

The grounds where he teaches aren't too hard to find. Everything is covered with curdled blood of initiates that were too weak or other `test subjects'.

Koltira, Thassarian and Bloodbane were here as well. I understand why Orbaz gets a new armour... but the other two? Come on...

I come closer to them while Bloodbane is still putting on his new boots.

Lord Thorval is already expecting me. “There it is...”, he announces, “..pitch-black, just like the rest of your soul.” A grim smile covers his lips as he speaks the words.

The primary colour of the armour is black just as he said. It is covered with bronze welts all over it.

From the gloves as well as the breastplate a skull is staring at me from bright red eyes. The shoulder pads are rather large and oval with three spikes coming out of the end of it with a bow. A black spike on the top end makes sure no blade will find a way to get through to my neck. It looks dangerous at first, but as soon as I put it on, the armour becomes one with my body. It feels perfect for me and I am sure that spike will be of no harm for me. They also have a helmet for me, but I refuse it. It would only narrow my field of vision. I can't stand that.

“This armour is completely made of pure Saronite. There are no such armours in our army at the moment.” Lord Thorval tells us with a proud voice. “You are the first ones to get these. Be proud of it!”

We all know that they will surely try to make more of these if they prove worth the effort. Maybe that is the reason why they gave Koltira one too.

He is just a rat they experiment on. If this armour is able to protect a fool from dying, it surely will be able to do the same for a real warrior!

“You will soon notice that Saronite will help you focus your power, to gather strength - magical as well as physical power. It is similar to your runeblade. You will also notice that it is significantly lighter than Mithril or Thorium. Now, suffer well brethren.”

Lord Thorval leaves the room without any further word.

I look down at me a bit speechless of what I am wearing at the moment. It feels so good. But everything is shattered the moment I touch the bag that is tied to my belt. Suddenly something feels terribly wrong.

“The master wants to see us down at the breach. Get going!”, Orbaz gives the order.

I haven't noticed his armour so far. The style of the shoulder pads is similar to mine, but in a different colour. Everything on his armour is in a light red. It doesn't look too spectacular. But I'm sure it will strengthen him a lot too. Nevertheless, I still look at him as equal, I hate that he is usually the one in command.

The gryphons swiftly fly us down to the camp.

Now the Lich King is now standing on the pedestal , overlooking Havenshire and New Avalon.

Ghouls, geists, initiates and abominations - flesh giants sewed together from various different bodies with far too many limbs - roam the area.

We kneel down in front of the pedestal next to each other. The voice of our master echoes in our minds, I'm not even sure if he only whispers to us or he really yells it over the battlefield.

`Feast my children! Feast on the flesh of the living!'

The armies of Hearthglen and Tirisfal are already in New Avalon and try to re-conquer Havenshire.

`Where is your Holy Light now, Crusaders?'

A huge spear is shot from New Avalon at us. It comes down early and only hits the ground in the town below. So they have siege-engines with them.

`Soon you will all be part of the Scourge!'

Our forces hold them back without problems.

`There is no light, only darkness!'

The screams of the dying welcome the approaching sundown.

`Leave nobody alive!'

The Scarlet Apocalypse has begun...

`Bow to your King!'