Darkness, eternal darkness. There have always been people who say that dying was the worst thing imaginable, people who attempt desperately to escape Death. The funny part was that those who most attempt to run away from Death were the ones most likely to run right into its doorstep. A smile began to creep over my lips, yet I had no awareness of it. Death wasn't a thing to be feared, nor was it something to pursue. Death was both paradise and torment.
Death, just like life, varied from person to person. Some pursued Death as an escape from the terrible nature of life, the terrible emotions, the terrible pain, and they were right. Death was quiet, it was serene, it was just you. Most feared death and seek to escape it, fear clouding their judgment. Poor fools, they're was no escape. Just like there was no escape from disease and age, no escape from love and hate. Others revered death as the entrance into some form of paradise, some form of life eternal, some form of a reward for the deeds you accomplished in life.
I was the latter. I trusted in the Holy Light to shine through the darkness of Death, to show me the way to eternal paradise. But the longer I sat here in eternal solitude, the longer I waited, the more I thought. Why? Why would some Light shine in me. Why had I blindly followed the Light my life? What good has that done me? It just left me alone, cold, scared, bloody, beaten, scarred. Was there really a Light? Has it abandoned me? Had I followed it to my death? Was it really benevolent in nature?
The ironic part was, that after years of helping others, years of serving some power, years of praying, years of fighting, years of killing, years of pain, this really was dark, silent depths before what I believed were my eyes were relaxing. There was no more worry, no more fear, no more kindness, this was truly paradise. A time to think, a time to relax, a time to philosophy, a time to reflect back on my life.
My life... my life... fear coursed through me. I couldn't remember my life! I couldn't remember my experiences, my acts, my family. The only thing that I could really concentrate on was some rapidly fading hope that some benevolent being would reach out of the darkness, grasp what remained of my form, and thrust me out of this endless solitude. I had forgotten my parents, my loves, my fears, my friends, my enemies, the things I did, the thing I hoped to do, I had forgotten everything. I had even forgotten...
A hero; that's what you once were.
A voice called out, like a distance echo. It bounced off the vast and expansive darkness I was in, reaching my ears in a serene manner. A hero? It spoke of a hero. It spoke as if I was a hero. I scoffed in a childlike manner, laughing a voice-less laugh. The solitude was eating at my mind and my sanity. Soon the thought sank in, the darkness was eliminating who I was. First my memories, then my faith, now my sanity. At this rate I shalt be not but a distant shadow, a memory, and soon not even that.
You stood boldly against the Shadow and purchased another dawn for the world… with your life.
The voice returned, louder than before. It was talking of my life, of who I was. I felt overjoyed to hear that I could regain some sense of who I was, that I wouldn't be a memory like I expected. But there were more questions the arose. What was this Shadow? Was he speaking of the darkness of Death? In exchange for giving life a new Light I was thrust into Death? Why would I pay for doing something nice? Why should I suffer for aiding others?! That wasn't fair! Nothing was fair! I quickly caught myself, surprised at the inward outburst of anger. The Light had demanded patience, so why was I getting so worked up?
But the evil you fought is not so easily banished; the victory you claimed, not so easily held, for now, the Specter of Death looms above the world yet again and it has found new champions to bring about its final reign.
Now confusion followed in the stream of random emotions. the Specter of Death? What was it? What did the voice mean by that it was returning? What did it mean by champions bringing about the end of the world? Who were these champions that could bring down civilizations and life?
Knights of darkness wielding runes of death and destruction, bound by the will of the Lich King. This is the hour of their ascension; this is the hour of your dark rebirth.
At that moment a searing blue light emerged out of the darkness. It was frozen, its power felt through the vast darkness, freezing what remained of my mind. My mind grew weak, pain throbbing through it. A deep buzzing noise entered my mind, a slight tingle at first, but it quickly grew and resonated, pain bouncing within the confines of my head. The pain kept growing as if it would explode.
"No!" I heard my voice shout for the first time in what felt like a millennium, despair and fear evident. The pure sound of my voice clashed with the stubborn buzzing in the head. As my desperation grew a slight warmth rose from within the confines of my chest. A slight flicker at first, it grew and coursed through me, sliding in and out of the cold. The warmth it provided me grew until it surrounded my body, stubbornly fighting the freezing cold that enveloped me, refusing to succumb to its presence. I looked down through the cold blue light towards the source of the warmth in my chest.
It was a dark-red liquid pouring out of my left-most chest cavity. It circled through me fighting the cold, providing me with warmth and beating back the cold light. As it pulsed I felt my power regaining, I felt hands and feet, not just memories of them but the physical thing. As power coursed through my body I slowly realized that the red, warm liquid was blood! Blood, something the living take for granted and the dead pray for. Blood fought against the Frost of the light, the two entities growing and pushing the other back inch-by-inch.
It seemed as if my blood was about to win the duel when the buzzing in my head increased tenfold and the blue light made a final push through the defenses of the red aura, enveloped my body, and then there was darkness yet again.