((A/N: This is easily going to be my most ambitious work I ever have done and most likely ever will do. It is going to be darker, more epic, and a hell of a lot more mature than anything I've ever written before.))
"Wake up."
The words had been barely audible over the crashing of the waves against the boat that a young Draenei was on. She groaned out loud and arched her back like a cat in an attempt to wake herself. She opened her eyes and tried to blink her sleep away. The Draenei pulled herself into a sitting position and swung her legs off the side of the hammock she had been sleeping in. Her hoofs connected with the ground and she picked her head up, looking around to see who had been the source of her awakening, there was no one besides her pet, who was still sound asleep under the hammock. Her eyes then adjusted to the dim light the lantern provided and saw that the only fellow adventurer aboard the ship was still asleep as well.
She grumbled something unintelligible and managed to stand up from the relative comfort of the hammock. She knew that, at the very least, the boat was getting close to land; she had been informed the length of time that this particular voyage would take, and unless she had completely lost her mind, this was the scheduled day of arrival. She walked over to the chest that she had been given as a means of storing her gear while it was unnecessary. It had taken a little while for her to feel comfortable without her armor on, after all she had spent months within the safety of her lightweight yet durable and protective mail armor.
She fumbled with the lock for a moment before finally prying the chest open. She began pulling her armor on piece by piece, and almost in record time for her, was fully clad in her armor. She slung her large quiver over her shoulder and secured it into its position. She reached in and grabbed her bow, slinging it over her back. She then reached in and grabbed her two swords from the very bottom of the chest and slid them into sheathes that were attached to her belt. She tugged at everything one or two times each to make sure it was secure on her body. Finally satisfied, she closed the chest and locked it up for the final time, feeling glad that very soon, she would be off the ship and off to assist the Alliance in whatever way was necessary.
"Well well well." A female voice finally said, a hint of amusement lining his voice. "Look at the little huntress, all prepared for battle." It appears that the second adventurer had arisen as well. This one was a Draenei as well, but with one difference that one would not be able to tell very easily; this woman was a warrior, and a powerful, successful one at that.
"Well well well." She said, sounding equally as sarcastic. "Look at the warrior, awake from her beauty sleep." She paused for only a moment before continuing, "What a shame, looks like she didn't sleep long enough." Of course, it was an empty joke, as the warrior really was stunningly beautiful by absolutely any standards, but she didn't know what else she could possibly say.
"Such a sharp tongue…" The warrior commented with a slight tilt of her head in a sort of mock confusion. "I wonder, Kelselyn; do your lovers find it as pleasing as I do?" She threw her head back and let out a good natured laugh. The two had developed an odd sort of relationship over the course of the voyage; there were times when they were absolutely inseparable no matter what happened, and there were times they were at each other's throats ready to claw each other to shreds.
Kelselyn let out a small laugh of her own before quickly replying, "You have no idea." She observed as the Draenei warrior arose from her hammock and walked to a chest that closely resembled her own, while being considerably larger, considering the amount of armor and weapons it had to store compared to the Hunter's. She watched as Asyllian bent over and swiftly opened the lock, revealing the warrior's armor.
"Would you mind helping me? Putting all this armor on is really a two person job." Asyllian asked, turning her head to look back at the Hunter.
Kelselyn nodded and walked towards Asyllian, following careful instructions while assisting her in putting all her armor on. After a few short minutes of work, she stepped back to view the warrior and her massive, ornate armor. It was kept to perfection, shining and looking almost brand new from all the polishing and cleaning the warrior had been doing day in and day out.
Asyllian turned back to the chest and drew her sword and shield from the very bottom of the chest. She attached her shield securely to her back, and sheathed her sword, if it could even be called a sword. It was a strange design, it appeared to be one of the saws that operate in the many sawmills that the alliance controlled, but in sword form; it was quite an interesting piece of work.
Asyllian had not yet put on her helmet, but she tended to have it off unless it was absolutely necessary; in other words, when she was or was going to soon be in combat. Since neither of those applied to the situation currently at hand, she wasn't wearing it. She sat back down in the hammock, and it was almost possible to hear the wood groan and creek from all the added weight of the warrior's massive armor.
Kelselyn had only seen Asyllian in her armor once before, and that had been at the start of the journey when she was removing it and storing it away. Even that had seemed like ages ago and it was interesting to see the powerful warrior in her armor. She wondered where she had gotten it, but then she remembered she had already asked that question before; Asyllian had earned her armor in the Argent Tournament.
Suddenly, the Draenei pair heard a deafening roar coming from the upper deck of the ship, followed by loud shouts of panic and a few screams of terror. Kelselyn rushed up the stairs without looking back at the Warrior and was then greeted by a terrifying sight, one that she had not been expecting in the least. She drew her bow and slid an arrow into position, drawing the string back and letting it fly at the massive Frost Wyrm. Of course, after a moment, she realized that fighting it was futile, the boat she was on was nothing but a massive death trap, and she had no chance of downing the undead dragon on her own.
"Kelselyn!" One of the crew, who just happened to be a good friend of the Draenei's, shouted, flailing his arms over his head in a frenzied attempt to attract her attention. "Our orders are to get everyone off this boat immediately! We've got the lifeboats all prepped and ready, hurry up!"
Kelselyn whipped around and whistled loudly. In a split second, her pet, a massive Nightstalker charged up from the lower deck and was at her side, snarling and hissing up at the Frost Wyrm, his tail whipping back and forth in anger towards what he perceived to be a direct threat to his master. Kelselyn ran across the deck, weaving through the scrambling crew members and leapt into the lifeboat. Within seconds her pet quickly followed her. Luckily, the boat they had chosen to board had been among the first to disembark from the ship and start rowing frantically towards the shore line, where soldiers had already begun lining up with rifles and bows, taking the best shots they could at the massive undead dragon in an attempt to bring it down before it could do any real damage to the boat, its crew, or the passengers.
Then, the Frost Wyrm suddenly changed its attention to the very boat that Kelselyn was traveling on. It took a deep breath and let out a massive roar and let out a blast of ice breath directly at the small boat. Everyone panicked and dived off the side of the boat before the ice connected with the boat. Unfortunately, in the scramble; one of the burlier crew members had knocked Kelselyn to the side in his own attempt to escape. Her unprotected head connected hard with the side of the boat with a shattering cracking sound and she slumped to the bottom of the boat, quickly slipping into a state of unconsciousness.
Kelselyn woke up and instantly shot up, looking around in fear. The last thing she remembered was seeing the Frost Wyrm descend towards her as she slipped into an unconscious state. But now, she didn't recognize where she was. The best she could describe it was the inner chamber of a Scourge ziggurat. She looked at one end and saw a massive door made of some sort of metal she didn't recognize. She sat up and realized that she was on a stone slab.
She immediately leapt up and away from the stone slab. She instantly saw that it was covered in dried blood stains. Could it be her own? She looked down at herself and realized that she was clothed only in her undershirt and a simple pair of cloth pants she generally wore under her mail armor. She couldn't spot any wounds on herself, so it was logical to guess that the blood had been of others that had come here before her. The only question was; where exactly was 'here?'
The door swung open and a towering Lich floated through as the doors swung shut behind it. It saw that Kelselyn had awoken and its bony face split into a wide grin. "Good, it appears our guest is awake." It floated towards the Draenei woman and saw that her eyes were widening in pure, absolute fear. It raised its hands as if to signify it would not harm her. "If I wanted you dead or harmed it would have been done already. Calm yourself child."
Kelselyn started backing away however, she was terrified. But after all, what unarmed individual with no way of escaping the situation wouldn't be terrified? "What do you want then, Lich?" She forced out, her voice shaking but with an underlying steadiness to it that caused an immediate, amused reaction from the Lich.
"This isn't about what I want." He spoke, sounding amused, continually floating towards the retreating Draenei. "It's about what HE wants."
"He… Who's he?" Kelselyn asked, her voice continuing to shake.
"Why, my master of course! The Lich King!" The Lich exclaimed, sounding surprised that the young Draenei didn't know who he was. Upon seeing Kelselyn freeze in fear, he let out a quick laugh in an attempt to reassure her. "You won't be dealing with my King for quite some time, do not fret. However, he has been keeping an eye on you for quite some time, and now that you had finally been within his great grasp, he has chosen to act."
He began to pace, or well float actually, back and forth, explaining everything so that Kelselyn wouldn't be so confused. "Why do you think the Frost Wyrm singled you out? He wants you, dead or alive; dead being the more preferable option to him, with alive working just as well." The Lich laughed again.
"Why though?" Kelselyn asked, her mind already formulating ideas, none of which would make this scenario work any better in her favor.
"Because he senses that you would make a powerful Death Knight, and he wants to turn you himself. It is quite a high honor, possibly the highest that could possibly be bestowed as a minion of the Scourge. However, the Lich King could always use new spies, living spies… The Argent Crusade along with the Knights of the Ebon Blade are growing quite bold, and he needs people on the inside to tear them apart."
Kelselyn shook her head, finally steadying her voice enough to speak clearly, "I'd never be a mindless minion of the Scourge." For a brief, shining moment she had regained her mind from the clutches of fear and stood proud, glaring at the undead minion of the Lich King.
The Lich roared with deep laughter. "And what makes you think your destiny is in your own hands, Child?" He asked, tilting his head to the side out of pure curiosity. It stopped its floating and its hollow, glowing eye sockets gazed at the Draenei.
"Because I refuse to allow my path to be chosen for me." Kelselyn said, raising her head in a show of defiance.
This only caused the Lich to slip deeper into hysteric laughter, which was a quite frightening sound considering the deep, echoing quality of the undead's voice. In the blink of an eye the Lich was directly in front of the Draenei, a wicked looking dagger in its hand. "Isn't that a rich prospect?" He asked in amusement. He brought the arm holding the dagger back and grabbed Kelselyn's shoulder with his other hand. It leaned in and whispered, "May the master's will be done," And without any further delay, stabbed Kelselyn through the heart.
Kelselyn shot up in her bed and let out a silent scream, her hand flying for her heart where she had been stabbed and was horrified at what she found; a bandage wrapped around the area. She frantically started tearing at the bandage, desperate to get it off of her and see what it was covering.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice advised her. "You got a pretty nasty wound there. No one is sure how you got it, hell we couldn't even find you till the day after the attack; we thought you were a goner." It was Asyllian.
"Where was I?" Kelselyn asked desperately, a twinge of horror and fear lining her voice. She finally managed to get the bandage off of her and looked at the wound, it was only a feint scar but the outline was undeniable, she had been stabbed or sliced by something sharp. Her eyes widened and she stood up from the bed and began pacing fervently.
"Washed up on the beach… Is everything ok?" Asyllian asked, sounding genuinely concerned, she could tell that something was very wrong. Kelselyn did not respond right away, instead she began whispering angrily to herself, and she couldn't exactly hear what the seemingly panicked Draenei in front of her was saying, but she had caught glimpses.
"Only a dream… Can't be real… The Lich… Me… Death Knight… Lich King."
Asyllian shot up and grabbed Kelselyn by the shoulders. "What the hell is going on? Tell me. Now." She ordered. She wasn't going to ask nicely when she heard anything about the Lich King being involved.
Kelselyn suddenly sat down and held her head in her hands, she felt like her brain was going to tear her apart. Her thoughts were frantic and racing and she couldn't calm herself down. That was when Asyllian grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to lay back against the bed. The young Draenei was in shock as Asyllian climbed into the bed on top of her and pressed her lips against hers, starting to kiss her Draenei friend.
Suddenly, Kelselyn's heart stopped racing and she calmed down. Her muscles loosened and she instantly felt herself relaxing. The feeling only lasted a few moments though as she suddenly realized what was happening and she shoved Asyllian off of her with all her might. "What the hell?" She asked incredulously. "Are you out of your mind?"
Asyllian shook her head, "You were frantic, I had to calm you down any way I could. I can't stand seeing you like that." She locked eyes with Kelselyn and realized instantly the mistake that she had made. "Oh my god… You, you're like me?"
"What do you mean like you?" Kelselyn hissed in outrage, although she knew full well what the warrior meant. "I am nothing like you! Don't even think for a second I'm anything like you!"
Asyllian was suddenly stunned; she had never seen Kelselyn this mad at another person before. Before she could respond, Kelselyn sprinted by her and down the stairs to the ground level of the inn and she ran out the door. Asyllian snarled at herself in frustration and went chasing after her. As soon as she exited the inn however, the young huntress was nowhere to be seen. She hissed and reentered the inn, leaving the crazed woman to her fate.
Kelselyn let out a loud hiss of aggravation. She had never felt such anger in herself before. She had managed to escape the town and was now off on her own without weapons or armor. She thought for a moment and then knelt down and reached inside her boot and drew a large, wicked looking knife that she carried with her at all times. At the very least, she had a weapon, but against the cold hostility of the Borean Tundra; she wasn't sure she had made the smartest idea. Then again, she didn't exactly care… But just then her thoughts were interrupted by the loud snapping of twigs and a sudden blunt smack against the back of her head as she was pulled into yet another state of unconsciousness, but not before she heard something quite interesting.
"This is the one." An echoing voice said. "Prepare her for what is to come." Before she slipped fully into her unconscious state however, she felt something sharp enter her body, and looked down, a familiar looking blade was protruding from her chest, where her heart was. She let out a scream of pain and dropped to her knees, before finally dying.
((A/N: Ahahahahaha! Finally! The most epic cliffhanger ending to a chapter I can possibly come up with! I feel accomplished, this is the start of something amazing, and I just know it!))