Disclaimer: I don't own Blizzard Entertainment or World of Warcraft

I would like to thank chemicalmoonlight for testing this story before it was submitted.

This is my first fan fic - please review so I can continue to improve my writing. New chapters will be added assoon as possible.


Brown smoke enveloped the tops of tall trees like a shroud, stripping the choked trunks of bark with its morbid filth. The ground was barely visible under a vile blanket of ash, crushing the few plants left alive as they struggled for air. A sordid reek filled the air, mocking the world from its shadowy lairs, purging any lingering hope from memories of a glorious era. The rotting, festering stench of death.

The subdued hush of the dark forest was suddenly pierced by a fit of uncontrollable coughing from the remains of a tumbledown shack by the side of a wide track. Pulling back a piece of ragged canvas from a doorway, a tall figure stumbled into the gloom. The clinking of armour startled the enormous carrion birds from their carcasses as the silhouette began to stagger down the beaten road.

Elrac Lightbearer doubled over in agony as he was attacked once again by endless retching. At one time, the foul toxins that his enemy churned into the air had not the slightest control over his sacred power. At one time, the mindless servants of the Scourge had scattered from the mighty paladins of the Eastern Kingdoms. That time was gone.

Elrac raised his shaking head to gaze sadly at the woodland enveloping him. When he had been a small boy, the same area had been a mass of green, teeming with beautiful flowers and the sweet songs of birds as they glided merrily from tree to tree. But what could be more different to the sight that greeted the paladin's watery eyes? That palette of vibrant colours was now contaminated with the dull solemnity of brown, the iridescent gloss of leaves replaced with the crisp shreds of death.

Sometimes, the paladin wondered if the Light had forsaken its people that once thrived here, fleeing from the embrace of the terrifying plague with the weak. Perhaps his efforts of salvation would prove to be fruitless against such an unstoppable opponent. And yet, when all hope seemed lost, and the poisonous fumes of destruction clouded his heart, he still sensed a faint force, the power of freedom, wrestling with the imposing gloom before it.

At last the man reached his target along the track. There, in front of him, loomed the towering walls of a majestic city. Yes, its once immeasurable strength was gone, its mighty stones crumbled, but its spirit was still worth fighting for. This was the revered emblem of a whole people, no matter how much the foul creatures of the night attempted to corrupt it.

As soon as the first towers of the settlement were thrust out at him through the murk, Elrac's soul ignited with a burning rage. He gripped his fearsome mace with all the infinite fury of a titan as his eyes flashed with anger. This was his home. This was what remained of his once joyous life. This was what he would defend until the inevitable grasp of annihilation curled its decaying fingers around him. The paladin came here often, and the anguish of seeing his nation and the Light ridiculed by the swarms of doom never failed to rekindle his passion for his duty.

With renewed confidence he quickly stepped onto the cobbles of the gateway. He edged quietly towards the battered wooden doors that now enclosed the very menace they had once tried to keep out. He suddenly gritted his teeth with pure contempt as a rattling groan greeted him from the oaken gates. The hideous form of a skeletal hand extended from the gap formed where one gate had twisted away from its hinges, its rotting fingers clutching an ancient dagger corroded with rust. Crying out in pure hatred, Elrac extended his hand and a blinding flash erupted from the gateway, followed by a tormented howl as the bony claw withered into glowing embers.

"You will pay for what you have done to the living!" he yelled in his violent rage, waving his fist blindly at the cracked spire of a cathedral just visible above the outer wall. With that, he burst through the gates, wildly swinging his mace at the mangled corpses that scraped at his armour. Their grinning faces knew nothing of what they were doing or who they were. They were just vermin, vermin to be cut down for the good of Azeroth. Still, as Elrac raised his shield to block the wild slash of a fiend's axe, he couldn't help feeling the tiniest weight of pity on his broad shoulders. The beast standing before him, clothed only in a thin layer of charred and blistered skin, was a real living person once. Perhaps even someone he knew….

The paladin roared frenziedly to clear his mind of the thought as he brought the mace down fiercely on its brittle skull, sending shards of worm-riddled bone scattering through the archway. No, if he thought like that, he would never do anything to free his world. The spirits of the human beings once filling the realm with joy had long been suppressed and abolished from the disintegrated hearts of their possessed bodies.

Not looking back at the heaps of flesh and bone littering the paved pathway into the structure, the paladin stepped out once again into the open air, beholding a great yet terrible scene before him. Across a black stretch of water bubbling with the evils of decay lay the vast city, its great wooden halls reduced to charcoal, its defensive walls now piles of rubble grinding the cobbles away from beneath them. One bridge offered a crossing into the settlement. A grand bridge, still entwined with intricate patterns of loving masons and titanic statues rising up from its foundations, the great warriors of old that made the ultimate sacrifices for the defence of both the northern and this southern kingdom. Their hammers and swords still pointed to the heavens, eternal centurions inspiring the peoples of Azeroth to rise up against any threat overshadowing their realm, however great. Elrac sighed as he knelt in awe of his brethren in arms. This was the Valley of Heroes – the entrance to the ruined stronghold of Stormwind.