Warcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodstained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul ❯ Frozen Hearts - Chapter 8 ( Chapter 53 )

Chapter 8:

 

 

Every time I've been in Undercity after the events of the Wrathgate and the coup d'état of Varimathras I felt a certain sting in my rotten heart.

After taking the ruins of Lordaeron again for the Horde and the encounter with Varian Wrynn in the throne room of Sylvanas where the hostilities between Alliance and Horde were renewed, the Kor'kron discovered that the words the king of Stormwind had spoken were the truth. They found out about the mangled bodies of humans as well as orcs which the Royal Apothecary Society had used for their experiments and started to become wary of the situation.

Knowing that excluding the Forsaken from the Horde was not a viable option at the moment, the Warchief gave order that all the abominations under the control of Sylvanas that were guarding the city had to be removed immediately. A group of soldiers of the Kor'kron then took their place. The only areas that are still guarded by abo's are those where none of the orcs was willing to go, the sewers for example.

Concerning the Royal Apothecary Society, Thrall found it appropriate to send a group of special overseers especially for them.

Orcs in Undercity, what a disgrace.

The only citizen of Undercity who was happy about this development was Kaal Soulreaper, but even he changed his mind rather quickly as they started to intrude his working chambers and confiscated some of his books as well as a few vials of demon blood or whatsoever.

For a greater good? How laughable...

Now you meet a orc at every corner of the city, 'Lok'tar Ogar' echoing through the halls.

No more peaceful and quiet silence in Undercity.

I hope this occupation by the Kor'kron will end soon, even though I wonder if this moment will ever come.

Yet on the other hand, I didn't notice too much of it if I'm honest, I had my own confrontations with members of the Kor'kron and the Warsong Offensive in Northrend often enough. Most of them occurred during the time I spent in Agmar's Hammer, the Horde base in the Dragonblight.

Originally I went there out of pure curiosity. I wanted to find out whether the rumours I had heard were true or not.

I hadn't met Koltira or Thassarian since the fight for Acherus. Both of the fools seemed to have had vanished from the face of the earth. But after I had arrived in Northrend pursuing fate, word was spreading of a deathknight at the outpost in Dragonblight. After a bit of further research - forcefully, I have to admit - I found out the deathknight was supposed to be a bloodelf. This was the moment when I finally started to wonder if it might actually be puny little 'Deathweaver'. I just had to find out.

I came to Northrend with the zeppelin from Tirisfal and arrived in the outpost of the Forsaken called Vengeance Landing. From there a wyvern took me to the Dragonblight. This may not have been my very first visit to the Frozen Wastes, but one of the earlier ones so I was not informed about the state of things in Agmar`s Hammer.

Agmar is the name of the orcish overlord in command there, quite the despot as I found out a bit later as I walked through the camp. Together with his two wolves Lak`tuk and Gar`mak he resides inside the small stronghold of the outpost. Agmar views himself as an envoy of Garrosh Hellscream.

“His voice is life and his voice is death.”, he preaches to his servants.

Hellscream and he are pretty much alike. They don't care about possible consequences, both of them would do whatever it takes to reach their goals. Straight forward brutes..., yet intelligent and ruthless brutes, they are rather dangerous if you'd ask me.

Still, it was not he who I got in trouble with that time. I didn't even meet `Overlord' Agmar on that day. But I ran into an orc named Valnok Windrager instead.

Most of the time he was standing there waiting for orc soldiers coming running up to him who he could tell what they should do. You just have to love orcish lieutenants, generals or whatsoever from the commanding staff. Quiet observers at first... okay, only for about a split of a second and if you make one move, may it be the right one or the wrong one, they let hell loose upon you. I already had a faint idea what would happen if I asked that self-important orc where to find the rumoured deathknight in this camp so I just wanted to pass by quickly.

"Lok'tar Ogar!" he grunted towards me as I had already passed him.

I just kept on walking, hoping he had meant another one of the orcish soldiers. "Yeah... whatever." I mumbled to myself.

"YOU DARE DISGRACE THE BATTLECRY OF THE HORDE?!"

Out of nowhere the orc started shouting at me. How unfortunate for me that he had heard just that.

I wondered why, but he turned calm instantly again and started talking about the meaning of that battle cry.

"Victory or death - it is these words that bind to the horde. They are the most sacred and fundamental of truths for any warrior of the Ho...", I interrupted him bluntly.

"Aw, come on...", I called out as his looks darken. I already knew that if he had to finish his monologue, I would start pushing my luck. I wasn't too keen on doing so but he was calling for it.

He snarled at me and kept on going.

"...for any warrior of the HORDE!", you could see the rage in his eyes.

"Maybe that is where the problem lies...", I whispered to myself, this time he seemed to have overheard it.

"I give my flesh and blood freely to the Warchief! I am the instrument and the weapon of my Warchief!" he was almost shouting at me. I responded with a mildly bored look in my eyes.

"That's great..., but I don't want to give my life for YOUR warchief...", I said exactly what I thought. I admit it was not the wisest thing to do while facing a raging orc but he seemed to be one of the calmer ones after all.

By that moment I wanted to know how far I could push it, but he had already snapped on the inside. His eyes clearly showed that he already knew exactly how he wanted to rip me apart.

"Try it." I said to him, provoking him while knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"You stinking lump of rotten flesh....", was his only answer as he clenched his fists.

Just one more word and I'd have him where I wanted.

"Enough!", a calm, yet incredibly eerie voice arose behind us. Something was familiar about it. "You're pushing it too far, Malevolence..."

Against all common knowledge I turned my head around to see where it came from. In the same moment the orc hit me in the face with his large green fist. One moment of carelessness and that bastard struck. The strike forced me to make a step to the side into the snow where I lost my balance and was dragged to the ground by the weight of Armageddon on my back.

As I slowly got up again the orc spat next to me onto the ground. “Don't you ever dare to insult the Warchief again!”, he grunted as he turned away.

Coward! He attacked me in the only moment where I wasn't aware of it and then left the fight. Where was their famous warriors pride?

I turned my gaze away from the orc who was leaving the scene anyway. The fire next to the forge in the middle of the outpost was blazing as I found out who was the one that had distracted me.

I wouldn't have recognized him if it hadn't been for the weapon he was carrying. The outlining of his face had gotten harder, even his voice had changed a bit. The ice-blue eyes were gazing at me, burning their way to the back of my skull

The world we live in isn't merciful with the weak, he would be the best example for it.

“Koltira Deathweaver...”, I said as I saw the sword in his hand. “You've changed.”

He gazed at me for a moment.

“And you haven't...”, the situation was extremely tense. “Byfrost is happy to see Armageddon again. But I can't say the same thing about you.”, his runeblade was a beautiful weapon, still talking about it as a person was rather awkward if you`d ask me.

“What brings you here?”, he didn't waste any time with his main question.

I didn`t know how I should response. Admitting it openly was not an option, but it wouldn't make any difference, for I was sure he already knew the `why`. He really had changed a lot since I had left him standing in front of the gates of Orgrimmar.

The seconds passed without me answering his question.

“I see...”, he announced, “Is there anything else you want to talk to me about? If not, I, as an officer of the Warsong Offence, have more important things to attend to than your little brawls with my lieutenants...”

Officer of the Warsong Offence? He had to be kidding me. It's hard to believe that this was the same person as the Koltira I had known not that long ago.

I just kept on looking at him in bewilderment for a few seconds before he turned around without a single word further. He had already started to make his leave when he turned round once again.

“Just that I don't forget to tell you personally... You deserved that hit.”, a grim smile covered his lips. The whole time we all had been mocking him for his failures, for his weaknesses. By then he was mocking me.

“And yes, I have grown stronger since that day you had parted and left me standing there alone in front of Orgrimmar. As I walked through the streets the grunts spat at me, the peasants threw their rotten food after me. They even prepared to hang me directly in the centre of the Valley of Strength.”, he came a few steps closer again.

“The only thing that saved me from the gallows that day was the protecting hand of the Warchief! You should respect him, you idiot. He is also the reason why you were spared and left in the service of Sylvanas!”

I couldn't have disagreed more with the words he spoke.

I..., in the debt of the orcish Warchief? What a laughable claim.

“Northrend formed you.”, I spoke out loudly.

“You have no idea...”, he rushed towards me the sword over his head. The strike was swift, but not too strong. I managed to block it although it proved difficult due to the sheer speed of his weapon.

“STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME!", he demanded with a loud and angry tone, for a split of a second I even saw a glimpse of hatred in his eyes.

As the weapons had met each other, a small spark had flown through the air - another notch in my blade.

"Soon you will be the weak one. Watch out, that day won't be far.”, he said with a dark laugh and lowered his weapon as he left me.

“You have it coming for you... and if none of the Scourge will do it, I'll take care of you sooner or later.” he announced from the distance as he gave me a cold look over his shoulder.

I couldn't stop wondering. This wasn't the Koltira I had rescued from the Scarlet Crusade anymore. He had become strong and daring, he probably had abandoned every weak and soft spot he had had before.

His old self probably froze to death in these wastes of ice and snow. His soul had been eroded by the desire for revenge and the urge for appreciation amongst the members of the Horde. Thassarian probably had changed in a similar way too.

We all had left parts of ourselves behind for the pursue of strength. Now his life was actually worth something.

He had finally become a true deathknight.

But still, no matter what he said or planed on doing to me - he would always be the weaker one. I would always keep looking down on him, no matter what.

Because he would still have to learn one thing...

You cannot defeat someone who had already lost everything.