Warcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodstained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul ❯ The Kiss of Nightfall - Chapter 11 ( Chapter 41 )

Chapter 11:

 

 

'All four of you have served me well. The mark of the Scourge has been burned into these Scarlet lands. You have reaped death and destruction for as far as the eye can see and delivered to me the last of the Scarlet armies.' Our master lifts his arm and points at New Avalon.

'The time has come to finish what you have started!'

The Scarlet Apocalypse, I wonder if the master and the strange elves actually knew it would end like this.

'There must come an end to all things, my four proud deathknights. They are preparing to make their final stand against us. They have no way to escape, trapped facing obliteration they will fight back with all the ferociousness that is left in their hearts.', he makes a short pause.

'We will unleash true terror upon them. You four shall lead the charge against them.'

Salanar the horseman approaches us from the side.

'As the troops charge the armies in the fields, you will direct them from up above.'

Above? I'd prefer to jump right into the midst of their warriors and let my blade sing a song of death.

'On the back of my frostwyrms you will be death itself. Take the horn Salanar gives to you.'

He hands one to each of us, all made of pure white bones.

`With the horns you can call them. A single wyrm will respond to the call, its icy breath will freeze the Crusaders where they stand. Now, go! Go to the fields, there the frostwyrms can land, and bring death to the Scarlet Crusade! Offer their souls to Frostmourne and let our army grow!'

The voice fades away as we stand up.

I look at the horn in my hand. It feels light and I also sense a faint streak of dark magic.

I summon my horse and am the first to ride off into Havenshire. From the corner of my eye I see how Orbaz is growing angry. I guess I just bailed out from his `giving orders'.

I let the horse run as fast as it can, even though it's not far away.

I have no intention on waiting for the other three. Orbaz is way too narcissistic when it comes to giving orders. He loves hearing his voice and commanding people around like this.

The moment my mount steps on the soft earth of the fields I blow into the horn. I get off my deathcharger and dismiss the fiend to the realm of shadows.

I turn my head to Acherus the moment I hear a loud flapping noise. Large wings are whirling the air around. It is coming closer very fast.

What a remarkable creature! Carefully the dragon lands next to me turning its head so it can see me with both his eyes at the same time. They glow brightly in a icy blue, you can almost feel a chill when you look at them.

The creature is reduced to mere bones and claws. Only between its wings and the spikes on its head there is a thin layer of what formerly might have been skin. It has a faint blue tone.

The skull of the dragon is frighteningly similar to the one of a horse, although I'm sure it's not nearly as fragile.

Between the large ribs of its body, close to the spine there is the centre of its unholy power: a small glowing magical orb of frost and shadow. White vapours are coming from it and filling up the whole body of the wyrm.

I guess after this battle I will ask the master if I might keep one of these for myself.

The frostwyrm crouches down pressing itself to the earth so I can get onto its back.

As I take a look to the side I see how Orbaz and the other two come riding towards me. I start off into the air before they reach me. With incredible strength the dead dragon pushes itself upwards from the earth. As soon we are airborne, the large wings are holding us up with strong flaps.

The dust that we whirled up was so much that Bloodbane had to cover his eyes.

We gain height fast. I gaze upon the army of the Crusade. Those are quite many. I did not expect that they still had this much followers. That are more than twice as many people as we fought in Havenshire and New Avalon.

I'm pleasantly surprised.

Their heads turn to me as I rise up high over the city walls. The wyrm seems to be linked to my thoughts. It follows every instruction I think without hesitation or making any problems.

The crusaders think quickly, they turn their ballista towards me and shoot. The large spear is too slow to ever hit us, with a graceful turn the frostwyrm dodges it.

After we are in a stable position again, the creature opens its mouth to attack. An orb the size of my body is forming in its mouth and only seconds later flying at the crusaders. Pure frost magic, their death will be cold.

The orb hits the ballista, instantly covering it with a layer of ice that is several centimetres thick. The Crusaders near to it are also instantly frozen into living statues. If they die like this with conserved bodies, they will surely be fine initiates.

Those not in range of the blast take out bows and begin shooting arrows at us.

I send several of these orbs flying into the masses. New Avalon is becoming a winter-paradise of demise.

By now the other three have also mounted their frostwyrms. Koltira was the last, elves and dragons...

One mounted wyrm would be enough to bring death to their army. Now four are flying on the firmament. Some of the Crusaders try to flee back to Tyr's Hand the way they came from, but Thassarian blocks their way out with his dragon. The coastline is guarded by Koltira.

Orbaz and I do the Scarlet Harvest, the laughter of the Lich King echoing in our minds.

It takes mere minutes to trap every single one of them in ice. Soon they will die and then they will be a part of our army.

We fly back to the middle of Havenshire where we get off the frostwyrms. Three of us summon their deathcharger instantly, only Koltira insists on staying a little longer petting the frostwyrm's head.

If really every elf is like this guy or the bloodprince brothers, I don't want to meet any others of their kind.

After returning to the camp below the black fortress, Valanar steps forth to greet us.

“The master is very pleased with the things you did today. Twilight approaches and the Scarlet Crusade is no more. I applaud you, it was mainly thanks to you.”, he claps his hands three or four times.

“The master wants to give you a reward for the things you have achieved and you will have to be prepared for the next battle. Highlord Mograine will present the gifts to you personally under the eyes of the Lich King. You should hurry up, all of you.”, he smiles at me.

We don't care if they tell Koltira about this as well or not, we just take the gryphon up to the black fortress.

Being back in Acherus has something soothing to it. As the three of us make our way to the teleporter, the initiates passing by bow in front of us and back off. Well, I could get used to that.

Getting to the upper level with the teleporter is as fast as every time. Our master is already standing at the balcony again, the Highlord of the Scourge next to him. Orbaz and Thassarian start some chit-chat about the events of this day, but I don't want to participate in any of it. I look to the masters weapon. He is using it as a support. The skull on it and the runes are pointing in my direction. Something of this weapon is screaming at me that I should be the one possessing it. I want to take it, wield it in combat, drive it through the hearts of my enemies.

With a strange sound Koltira appears out of the teleporter.

`Come to me my children.'

“I guess we can finally get started..”, Orbaz mumbles to himself with a disapproving voice.

The four of us take the small staircase onto the balcony. We stop in a fair distance to the master and kneel down. The Lich King then turns to us and Highlord Mograine comes towards us. Bloodbane kneels to my left and Thassarian to my right, Koltira is the one furthest to the right.

Mograine stops only few metres in front of us. He then looks to the back of the hall and waves to someone or something to come over here.

Heavy sounding steps behind us make me turn my head. A large undead creation walks over to us, even though its movement seemed clumsy, it is still incredibly fast. It's an abomination just like the ones that attacked the Scarlet Crusade only minutes ago, but... it is at least three times as large as those.

It stops by the side of Mograine.

“Patchwerk miss Naxxramas.”, the creature announces and clutches its fists.

It then opens his large right hand and displays a variety of different weapons, a total of four swords, two of them are one-handed and something that looks like a polearm.

“Today all of you have brought victory to the Scourge with the complete annihilation of the Scarlet Crusade. You four stand out of the crowd of initiates and have proven your worth for our army several times in different situations. You are on the best way of becoming champions of the Scourge.”, Darion makes a pause.

“The master wants all four of you to be equipped as good as possible for the upcoming battle. Our objective will be the Chapel of Light's Hope to the west. As a preparation for the fight and as a reward for what you have done today, each of you will receive a weapon that was selected especially for you.”

Mograine takes a short breath and then announces: “All of them are already runeblades, but still without a name. Name them yourself if you wish to do so. I highly recommend it to you, so you will be able to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy easier.”

Then he steps to the abomination called Patchwerk. He takes one of the two-handed swords out of its fist and approaches Koltira.

The blade of the sword is divided into two parts, the upper half up to its tip is coloured in light green, almost yellow giving it the look of gemstones or glass. The lower part looks more like metal, iron or Saronite. The handle is wrapped in red leather, its end resembling a claw of some sort. All in all a strange, yet aesthetic weapon.

“Stand up, Koltira Deathweaver. I present this weapon to you. It is a sister-blade to the mighty sword Apolyon, the Soul-Render once wielded by a demon officer of the Burning Crusade. This weapon has the power to drink the blood of its enemies as well as to cause terror amongst them only from its sight. It is mainly magically orientated, but still a fearsome weapon for hand-to-hand combat. Your combat skills excel when you are able to use shadow magic and have the power over mighty diseases.”

The Highlord hands over the sword.

“Wield it with pride and strength.”

Koltira bows after receiving the weapon and kneels back down, the sword next to him. Why did that elf get such a powerful weapon? That idiot got himself caught by the Crusade, I rescued him and for that he was priced with such a sword? What the hell is going on here?

Darion Mograine has already taken the next weapon out of Patchwerks hand, a pair of one-handed swords. The blades of the weapons are rather thin and incredibly long. Their tips are considerably thicker than the rest of the sword, giving them the look of a sting. Near the hand guard the blade is jagged. The handle itself is dark red, almost violet. Both swords are totally alike.

“Stand up, Thassarian. These are the weapons I present to you. These swords are made from hardened Saronite. They are sharp, still rather light. They are designed for swift blows and are mainly for cutting the enemy. Use these weapons efficiently and you will become a fury on the battlefield. Your combat skills excel when using two swords at the same time.”

Mograine hands over the weapons.

“Wield them with pride and strength.”

It seems everything they did wrong over the past day was already forgiven, Thassarian lost his last weapon. How can they present him with something like this after what had happened?

The Highlord then takes the other two-handed sword from Patchwerk. This is definitely the biggest weapon the abomination has carried. I somehow expect him to give this to Bloodbane. This weapon is easily as tall as I am. The blade of it is so long that it is divided into three parts, connected with circular pieces of metal. The whole weapon is dark grey, the handle has accentuations of violet. There are bonds around the blade connecting it with the handle to absorb hits more efficiently if you have to block or parry something. The weapon is not especially beautiful, but it surely would be a strong sword to wield.

“Stand up, Malevolence.” That... is going to be my weapon?

“This sword was forged from Titanium giving it extreme stability. The blade is sharp like no other and you can also make good use of its momentum when you attack. It may look like a simple weapon, but it will grow with the one using it. Your style of combat is dominated by strength and pure force.”

Mograine hands over the sword. I have trouble taking it from him, I have to use both hands and lie it in front of me. After kneeling down again my eyes are again fixed to my new weapon. As my eyes run along the blade, I hear the voice of my master in my head. It is quieter than usual, I hardly understand was he is saying.

`From all the deathknights, you and I are different. We both are the ones closest to the first generation.'

I don't know what these words exactly mean.

Orbaz already kneels down again. I was so fixed upon my new weapon that I didn't notice anything what was said about him. Except that now this strange black polearm is lying next to him. The upper part looks like an axe, but all in all it is some sort of cross-over from the two weapons.

All four of us rise to our feet.

“Now that you have received your new weapons, it is time for the final battle in the plaguelands. We will crush the Argent Dawn just as we crushed the Scarlet Crusade! Scourge Commander Thalanor will be waiting near the old Browman's sawmill to give you further instructions. Let their blood run freely! Suffer well, brothers.”

Highlord Mograine turns to the master and leaves us standing there.

All four of us are picking up our new weapons. I guess it will be difficult to get used to them this quickly, but well... I'll manage somehow.

Before I turn around to walk away, my eyes fall once again onto the blade of the Lich King.

Seeing Frostmourne makes me wanting to throw mine aside instantly.