Author: Storyteller's Dream
Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft
Title: Defend
Rating: T
Pairings: None
Notes: This just popped into my head while I was writing another World of Warcraft story so I thought I would write it down.
Summary: A Trading Post in Grizzly Hills is attacked by the Scourge. Who will defend it?
Defend
She stares at the approaching army and knows that there is nothing to stop them. Those sent to protect them have long since deserted to find a place where the enemy won't be so numerous. She doesn't know if they ever found it and at this moment, she can't bring herself to care.
"We... we could send for help." One of the men says though he sounded too
scared to sit in the saddle. Everyone is scared, she realizes, but her.
"Help won't reach us in time." She finds herself saying. "Not without some
sort of distraction."
"And how can we distract them. We're simple folk, Jai." She turns towards the
people she has lived with for the past six months. They are just plain folk and that perhaps is why everyone seeks to harm them. She understands their fear and for that, she is willing to do what she must.
"I will distract them." She leaves them, heading towards her small room where
a chest now rests.
This chest holds her armor, it's not extremely good in quality. But it is or was all she could afford. She dresses into her armor carefully, making sure that there are no gaps. While she does so, there is a conversation in her mind... one that most would find disturbing.
You can't hold off the Scourge.
I need only to distract them.
You are useless! A weak warrior!
I am what I need to be.
You need me.
I need nothing that you offer.
Only I can lend you the strength you need to 'distract' them.
...
Use me, little girl. Bring me into the world and I will hold off this army in
your name. Oh how she wishes she could trust this voice.
The woman known as Jai has not always been a commoner. She was one Jaisela, a Paladin of the Silver Hand, a warrior of Light. But all good things must come
to an end and Jaisela found herself battling a demon of the Burning Legion. The demoness was an expert at battles and the two were evenly matched. Then an Orc
Warlock, made with power attacked and defeated them both. He bound the two
together in body and soul, seeking to control them both.
He was no match for the new Jaisela, a Paladin with demonic power.
Jai walks to where the men now stood, openly gaping at her. They had not
known she was a Paladin, she had not told them.
"Take everyone and run while I distract the Scourge. They will not get past
me, but I can only hold them off for so long." She instructs them, her voice carrying the power of a Paladin.
"Light bless you child." The eldest says as he gathers the children and
forces them on a horse. It is only when he has turned around that Jai winces.
Everyone is gone now and it is just her, left to defend a Trading Post from
the Scourge.
Left to defend nothing.
When I die you will be set free. Jai tells the demoness. It is an act of
kindness.
No, when you die the Lich King with enslave me. Allow me to help.
Why should I?
Because what is your home is my home too.
There is a Death Knight leading this army, one with plans to destroy everything. Jai knows she cannot stand against this army.
Surrender...
The Death Knight is an old friend and lover.
Surrender...
His smile tells her that he will not spare her.
Surrender...
He will have her at his side.
Let
She will refuse; he will take her anyway.
Me
He will kill the children and raise them as ghouls. He will torture her friends. He will not let her be-
FREE!
A wave of dark energy crushes several ranks of the Scourge. Bodies are broken
in on themselves; they cannot stand up to the onslaught of anger. The second wave nearly wipes out a third more before the source can be identified. It is startling to these creatures.
Maddening.
The Death Knight looks on in horror as something moves out of the crater
caused by the dark energy's release. Vaguely human, vaguely female, it destroyed several Scourge soldiers that got too close, slicing them to pieces with the wicked swords in her six hands. The plate armor, once dull silver and adorned with symbols of the Holy Light is now dark and covered in runes of hate. Only one symbol remains untouched on the breastplate, the symbol of the Silver Hand.
A face turns towards the Scourge, its features both recongizable and alien. Even though the human could have been described as beautiful, this face was now heart-wrenchingly so. Deep red eyes, glowing with hate narrow as the creature studies the remain Scourge.
"FOR YEARS I HAVE WAITED TO BE RELEASED. FOR YEARS I HAVE BEEN BOUND TO THIS PALADIN'S FLESH. NOW SHE ASKS SOMETHING SO SIMPLE OF ME THAT IT IS AN HONOR TO DO IT."
"And that would be?" The Death Knight does not want to appear afraid, but he
cannot help himself. He has seen this creature before or a type of it and it was never this powerful.
"DESTROY YOU!"
The demoness now wields both Holy and Chaos Magic against the attacking army. Each time one Frostbrood gets too close it dies a horrifying death that echoes to every Frostbrood. Deep within the Citadel of Icecrown, the Queen of all Frostbroods will stir and scream in agony as the power rips through her like swords ripping flesh from the bone.
This demoness attacks all at once and while the Scourge would have destoryed a useless and faint-hearted Paladin, this one is far stronger. But there is a catch, one the Death Knight thinks he senses. The demon is tainted by the Light and is no longer completely evil. Much like the gem that would one day be forged into the legendary Ashbringer, being exposed to the Light for long periods of time has begun to change this demoness.
He thinks he can defeat her.
After she has killed the last of his cannon-fodder soldiers, he is there and swings his blade aiming for her back, but she catches it. Her body doesn't turn but the head does, staring down at him with sharp eyes.
"DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT I DID NOT EXPECT THIS ATTACK MORTAL?"
"I am a Death Knight of Arthas! I am invincible!" He shouts creating an anti-magic barrier. She shakes her head and with a wave of a hand, dispels it.
"YOU ARE JUST ANOTHER IN A LONG LINE OF MANY. A DEAD FOOL! I SHALL BE HAPPY TO MAKE YOUR SECOND DEATH MORE PERMENATE!"
They trade blows though he is outmatched, even when he creates a second dancing blade, he cannot fight off six blades. The demoness gives no quarter and he ponders if that weakness he thought he saw was false.
But it appears again, she uses a battle stance of a Paladin; she leaves
herself open for an attack. It's a long shot, but he has to try.
"Jai please... don't kill me Jai! We were friends! Jai!" He shouts as he pretends to drop all his weapons. The demoness stares at him, like a war going on within the body and mind. Her arms go limp and six weapons touch the soil. He is quick to pick his up and shove it through her chest. She will die, he has won.
He is wrong.
The demoness looks down at the runeblade and blinks slowly before slicing off
the arm that holds the blade and pulling it out while he screams.
"FOOL." She beheads him with the next powerful stroke as her armor repairs
itself.
All is quiet now and the demoness stands alone. She has grown three times the
size of Jaisela during the battle thought she is nowhere near her once formable girth. Absently she rubs the untarnished symbol if the Light on her chest. She can even hear the Paladin within; the silent girl makes noises every now and again.
Where should she go? Should she go back to Outland? To the Twisting Nether? No, she could never return there. Not with the Light within her. Just as the
Paladin was considered tainted by her, she was considered tainted by the Paladin.
The sound of wings flapping lazy in the air brings her attention to a white dragon hovering in the air. For the Paladin, the demoness knows the name of the man on its back.
"ARE YOU THE REINFORCEMENTS SENT TO AID JAISELA, HIGHLORD FORDRING?" She asks him as quietly as she could.
"I brought reinforcements. However all I see in front of me is a demoness
wearing a symbol of the Holy Light.". The man responds.
"PERHAPS... HAD THIS NOT COME TO PASS I WOULD SIMPLY BE ANOTHER ASHBRINGER. TAINTED BY THE HOLY MAGIC THAT THIS BODY WORSHIPS."
"I would rather you not compare yourself to the Ashbringer, Demoness. You are still quite evil." The tightening of Tirion's hand on the legendary blade was enough of a warning to most. It was a warning to her and she shrugged.
"SUIT YOURSELF." The dry attitude reminds Tirion of another youth who has changed so much he cannot bring himself to draw against her. She has cocked her
head to the side while he wrestles with his thoughts. Her eyes meet his and she speaks.
"THIS PALADIN BELIEVES THERE IS MUCH GOOD THAT WE CAN DO IN ZUL'DRAK."
"Who says you'll leave here?" He asks.
"WHO SAYS I WON'T?" She counters.
"Do you swear to remain in Zul'Drak until I summon you, Jaisela?"
"SHE IS NO LONGER KNOWN BY THAT NAME. BUT I DO SO SWEAR. YOU HAVE MY OATH THAT SHE AND I WILL REMAIN IN ZUL'DRAK UNTIL YOU CALL FOR US."
"The oath of a demon means little, but I can sense Jaisela is within. Very well..." Tirion trails off, unsure of what to call this creature.
"I WAS ONCE CALLED KAISO, NOW I THINK KAISELA IS MORE FITTING."
"Kaisela, you are ordered to remain in Zul'Drak until I call upon you. If you
should fail any task or fall back to the darkness, I will personally destroy you. But at this moment I cannot condemn a Paladin as selfless as Jaisela to death."
"VERY WELL, HIGHLORD. TELL THESE PEOPLE... TELL THESE PEOPLE THAT JAISELA IS DEAD." The demoness vanished from his sight, but Tirion had a feeling that she was already in Zul'Drak.
He could not afford two wars.
After the Death of the Lich King and Rise of the Jailer
Tirion Fordring stood within Ebon Watch and waited for her. He had not wanted this for her. In fact he fought hard against it and found an even stronger ally
in Darion Mograine that this should not happen. But the Alliance and Horde would not rest easy until this was done and so he took up the task. He would damn someone else to eternal imprisonment.
She had been sighted coming their direction several hours before, having been
found by a Death Knight messenger. Now that he sees her, he has to admit that like the Ashbringer, she has changed a great deal.
No longer is her skin a deep, hard, reddish-purple. Instead it is lavender and soft, glowing with the Light. Her size has remained the same and all of her body is covered in blue plate that bears both holy and unholy symbols. Only the symbol of the Silver Hand glows unaffected by the changes of its wearer.
She stands before him, her once burning red eyes now pink and glowing gently.
She knows why he is here.
"We are here at your command, Highlord." The voice is no longer a demoness's but a combination of the Paladin and demoness that share the body.
"Kaisela, greetings. I have a special mission for you."
"We know that you are charged with our imprisonment or death."
"Which is why I ask if you are immortal as a demon still." He said gently.
"Yes, we do. We are eternal."
"Then I ask that you guard a dear friend for all eternity. He must never be
allowed to be destroyed."
"The Jailer... yes we felt the shift of power. It would be our honor to defend him and guard him forever."
"You will not do so alone. Highlord Mograine has asked for several Death
Knights to aid you. If the Burning Legion should come to replace him-" Tirion paused unsure if the Kaiso of Kaisela would rejoin her people.
"Then they will die." Kaisela said gently. "There is no Kaiso and no Jaisela. Only Kaisela anymore."
"Thank you, Paladin Kaisela... for your sacrifice." Tirion Fordring and his
Crusaders saluted the demonic Paladin who disappeared and began her own imprisonment as the Guardian of the Jailer.