Chaudew: Hello, this is part one of the "Light's Twilight" trilogy I'm working on. I will only make author notes at the beginning and the end of any short story that I create. In addition, I will release one chapter a day, four chapters in all, for this short story. If you have time, please review, or PM, and tell me what you like and/or dislike.
Disclaimer: Warcraft/WoW (World of Warcraft) belongs to Blizzard Entertainment and any other company involved. Any characters, places, objects, spells/abilities, etc. that are not of my creation is theirs.
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The Arathian Wall
"Alright men," said the General Commander of the Stormwind Expeditionary Force. The General in his silver plate-chain mail places his greatsword into the ground. "We have finally arrived to where we're ordered to go. The journey by foot for these past few weeks from Stormwind is over."
Facing his back to his army, his golden-amber hair and snow white cloak flow with the gentle breeze.
"Behold, the Arathian wall. Long ago, our ancestors built this wall…"
Many of the soldiers from the Stormwind Paladin Brigade (SPB), Stormwind Hunter Brigade (SHB), Stormwind Mage Brigade (SMB), and the Stormwind Warrior Brigade (SWB) are all tired from their long march from Stormwind to Arathi. Nobody but the peasants who were transporting the materials was given any horses. Not even the Knight-Captains and the General Commander himself got any on this mission. Ah, gotta love the tight budget.
"…Your individual captain will tell you your assigned duties for the remainder of this month. Til then, rest well. We want to be prepared for the Scourge."
Breaking from the improvised assembly, each of the captains returned to their respected brigade where everybody in each group separated into their click and minded their own business.
Everybody who signed up for this expedition was either classified as a warrior, mage, hunter, or a paladin. Stormwind wasn't taking any chances with its regular infantry and knight troops on this trip.
Finding a quiet spot within the Arathian wall, Lucian's Paladin Brigade met for his own little assembly. In a semi-dark hall, fifty-five regular paladins, and four expert paladins await for Knight-Captain Lucian to speak.
With the light reflecting off of Lucian's golden plate-mail armor, he shouts, "Roll call. Lieutenant-Knight Abigail, Lieutenant-Knight Roland, Lieutenant-Knight Devin, and Lieutenant-Knight Elizabeth."
"Sire," each knight shouted.
"Are each of your men present and accounted for from the long march?"
"Yes Sire," all the knights shouted at once.
"Whew, good, good. Well then, I've assembled all of you after the General's talk to assign duties while we wait for our main duties from the General to be issued. Lieutenant Knight Roland and Elizabeth's teams will guard the front entrance of this wall for any possible attacks, while Lieutenant Devin's group will ensure that the peasants are protected from any harm. Lieutenant Abigail's team will setup the camp site before having the first break. Each group will rotate to make it all fair. Dismissed."
"Sire!" shouted everybody in the hall.
As everybody were breaking into their individual groups and getting ready to dedicate their time to their duties, Abigail slowly walks up to her captain.
"Excuse me Sire. May I speak with you?" Abigail, wearing her blue plate-chain mail armor and shield, politely asks. She pulls back part of her dark brown hair behind her ear.
Looking at her, Lucian says, "You may. What is it you want to talk to me about?"
"Sire…"
"There's no need for that Abigail, you know I'm not into formality that much. Come on, we've known each other since our academy days. Please treat me the way you've have back then when we're alone."
"Sure. Say Lucian, do you think the Scourge will really come this way and attack Stormwind?"
Raising his golden gauntlet to his chin, Lucian ponders about that.
"To be honest, I have no idea. The gargoyle that managed to survive Stormwind's defenses long enough to tell us that the Lich King was going to destroy the Forsaken and us as well caused one hell of a stir in Stormwind. I can't exactly blame the Elder Council to react with fear and hasten the repairs to the Arathian Wall for good measure against a possible land assault."
"Hmm, I see. Well, we paladins and even the mages haven't sensed any undead or evil entities within the vicinity. I may be tired from the long journey, but it just seems too quiet if you ask me."
"(sigh), I hear you on that one…" his grayish-blue eyes meeting her brown eyes.
A warrior clad in red leather and chain-mail armor walks up to them.
"Excuse me Sire, but the General Commander has ordered me to tell you that your presence is needed out on top of the wall for a private meeting with him and the other captains."
"Gregory doesn't waste time now does he? Of course, I'll be on my way then. Abigail, I'll be counting on you to keep the brigade in check while I'm gone for a short while."
As he leaves with the messenger, Abigail turns to look as her captain leaves the hall and places her hand over her chest. Oh how she wants to touch his short dark brown hair…. Looking up, she begins to wonder.
Finding the stairs to the top of the wall, Lucian makes his way up to the top of the wall and finds the General Commander along with the three other captains from the other brigades.
"Ah, Windchester has finally arrived. Let us begin the briefing," the General spoke.
Seating down at the small, chipped portable table, the General starts the meeting.
"As you all know, the Elder Council had sent us to the Arathian Wall to not only repair it from its years of neglect, but to reinforce it with two more walls around it. According to our scouts, the Blood elves have been receiving reinforcement from the Forsaken at Silvermoon, while the Undercity has been getting its reinforcements from the Orcs and the Trolls. We can't allow either the Scourge or the Horde to make an assault on Stormwind. That is why we're here."
"Do you think we can really handle either force with a couple or so hundred soldiers in our army?" posed the warrior in his heavy red plate-chain mail armor, with a shining red claymore by his side.
"Rest assured Sir Boltimoore, we have the mages and the paladins to sense any disturbance from the enemy, allowing us time to mobilize. Remember, we're not only building walls, we're also making offensive fortifications to these walls. The peasants can help with the fight when need be. The Council is currently working on getting more troops here in a couple of months."
"Do we even have the resources to last a couple of months if there would be an intense besieging from the enemy?" The woman with her long light brown hair and blue robe, flowing in the wind, asks.
"We do Lady Waters. As a matter of fact, there is a gold mine around here, and we're to be getting some more peasants in a few days to mine it and create a small market in the Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands."
"So Gregory, I've sent out my men to do guard duty at the entrance of the wall and protect the peasants over by the transport wagons. Want them to continue that?" Lucian inquires.
Boltimoore glares at him.
"Hahaha, you're usually one step ahead of me there Windchester. Please continue that, while half of Boltimoore's men will assist you with guard duty and the other half assist Lady Tyche with the hunting party for food. Lady Waters's men will analyze the surrounding highland for possible enemy troops and investigate the artifact in the basement of this wall."
"Well then," said the General as he gets up from the table. "If there is no further discussion about the plan, all of you are dismissed."
Standing up from the wobbly foldable chairs, each captain went back to their separate brigades. Exiting the Arathian wall, Lucian walks along the wall heading north to the end of the wall where Abigail's team has made living quarters for whole brigade. Passing by the smaller tents, he heads enters into the large tent in the center of the camp site.
Upon entering, Abigail lays down her cards and chuckles over the grumbling as her hand won her the game. Lucian overlooks one of the lower ranking paladins and whistles to Abigail's royal flush hand.
The lower ranking paladin in his brown chain-mail armor notices him and nervously says, "C, captain…"
Lucian places his hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry to scare you like that. Is the Lieutenant playing fair?" he asks as he smiles towards Abigail's way.
"Yes Sire, she had us cut the deck and has bested us four times in a row."
Lucian whistles in shock. "Lieutenant, you better start letting these boys here win, otherwise you're going to be out of people to play with," he sarcastically jokes.
"Not my fault I'm just as good as my beauty," Abigail laughs.
Everybody joins her on that note. As everybody start to settle down from the good laugh, Abigail slowly stood up.
"Sire, I do need to talk to you for a bit."
"Of course, shall we Lieutenant?"
As Abigail walks around the table, she jokes with her men at the table to keep the seat warm for her. Bruno, the low ranking paladin in brown, guaranteed her or the unlucky fellow would be tossed out. Walking out of the large tent, Abigail and Lucian start to walk along the Arathian Wall.
"I take it you want to talk about provisions?"
"Yes Sire, I mean Lucian. While food supply shouldn't be a problem with the Hunter Brigade dealing with that, we'd be spreading thin our numbers as we have to help with the Mage Brigade, now that they've just got back from their survey of the area and found a gnoll camp to the east…"
"What the hell? Gregory told Lady Waters to do that about ten minutes ago."
"Um, Lucian…mages can use portals to travel around the place," she reminded him as she chuckles.
Feeling his cheeks burn a little, he lays low on that one and changes topics.
"…Well, we're going to get some more troops in a while, but, has the walkie-talkies been distributed yet?"
"No, not ye…" Abigail attempted to say.
A portal opens right in front of them. A young gnome, with red goggles over his mossy green spiky hair, and clothed in a lime green robe, steps out of the portal. Lucian jumps back in shock.
"For Light's sake Pike, stop doing that! You know I freak out when you do that."
Pike lets out a little laugh. "Nice to see ya too. But anywho, my Lady asked me to give you this walkie-talkie. I was just at the mess hall your brigade has setup, but I got there a wee bit late as you two had just left. So I left the box of walkie-talkies with your men, but this one is especially made for you Lucian."
Pulling out a red walkie-talkie, Pike hands it to him.
"What's so special about this one," he asks.
"Glad you asked. This Razzle-Dazzle Ultra-Super-Dupper GG2000 walkie-talkie allows you to communicate with not only your troops within your brigade, but with the other captains and the General on different frequencies."
"Thanks, though I could live without having to speak with Boltimoore, this should come in handy."
"Oh, one more thing. Lady Waters wanted to meet you in the Anti-chamber in the basement of the wall."
"Sure thing. Don't suppose you could port me there Pike?" Lucian pleads. He could just as easily find the room, but rather wants the shortcut. If only the trip was a fast as crossing a portal.
Shrugging, Pike replies, "Alright, come over here, I'll use my portal to get you there."
Pike wiggles his hands as yellow glowing sparks flare out towards the portal.
"After you."
"Sure, let's go see what's going on Abigail."
Abigail tags along with Lucian as the two stepped into the portal. Traversing across the frigid ether of dimensional space, they step out of the portal. Pike steps out after them and the portal soon closes.
The air within the chamber is stuffy with the long neglect of room service. After a couple of sneezes, Lucian walks forward towards the artifact in the center of the chamber. The artifact is a book upon the altar, and a light radiates down upon it.
"It's so good for you to join us Windchester," says Lady Waters as she and two human female mages by her side walked out of the shadow and into the beam of light by the artifact.
"Pleasure is all mine Lady. May I ask what you want to discuss with me about in this dark chamber?"
"Of course, after reviewing the excerpt copy of this book on the way up here by a friend of mine in the Explorers League, I wanted you to give us your opinion about the artifact's content. My mages and I can't decipher this one old Arathian passage."
"You have quite a few gnomes in your service, but you and your followers there are human too Lady. I don't see why you want my opinion when the language hasn't changed for the last several hundred years."
"Very true, however, there are three passages so far that we've researched where only someone with nobility from the Arathian line can read it. Notably, the only proper elite with such knowledge would be you, son of the house of the Windchesters."
"Someone from the house of the Windchesters huh? Heh, I haven't been big on family lineages, but I'll see what I can do."
Lucian walks up the steps to the altar. Opening the book, a surge of power races through him and soon vanishes. Startled by the feeling briefly, he gave little thought to it. Lady Waters walked up the steps and stood right across from Lucian on the altar. She flips the pages to the passage that she was talking about.
"'The Ancient's Wrath,' by…Rufus Menethil. What is this Lady?"
"I would've told you if I knew how to read it, this passage is one of three that isn't part of the common language root we humans use. This is another variation used when Arathi was still a kingdom. Please, read the passage out loud."
"Hmmm, 'The time T'wis come when all of the land will be covered in a black blanket of death. Death's dancers T'ill come charging not only in the dead of night, but in thy life of day. Beware ye all mortals. Death's dancers can curse ye by mere glance of thy eye, and turn ye into an undead. Thy only way to seal our impending doom is to use light's blessing, thy blade of harmony, Amateria. T'ith thy light's blade, ye can control the demonic blade, Frostmourne, and together, can cast thy undead into thy light and forevermore banish them to thy realm of eternal purity.' Hmm, the rest of the passage is scribbled, he must've been in a hurry."
Lucian looks up to Lady Waters. She doesn't look back, but rather ponders at what has been said.
"The light's blade, Amateria, and Frostmourne. Two legendary swords that were said to have been myths," said Lady Waters as she thinks out loud.
Abigail takes a few steps up towards Lucian by the altar.
"Sire, you mentioned that the land would be covered in death. Is that referring to the Scourge taking over Lordaeron in Tirisfal Glades a few years ago?"
"Indeed Lieutenant, and our formerly beloved Prince Arthas had succumbed to the power of Frostmourne, the demonic blade of doom," Lady Waters replies.
"So if the danger is real, and Frostmourne exists, then this Amateria blade has to exist somewhere," Lucian conjured up.
"So where is this Amateria sword?" Abigail inquires.
"'T'here all of thy rays of the light pour down, is T'here thy blade, Amateria, sleeps. T'hen a pure soul of thy light seeks it, it shall be beckoning to have thy pure soul come forward, as man and sword meet, all are one and the threat of doom will forever be cast into thy lake of oblivion. Remilla Menethil,'" Lady Waters recited by heart.
Lucian closes the book. Feeling a headache coming on, he says, "Whatever, we just need to get this sword and defeat the Lich King to stop the supposed never-ending undead advance, right?"
"Essentially it seems so," Lady Waters comments. "I'll contact the General of our findings. Pike, please use a portal to bring them to their brigade's camp site."
"Yes Ma'am."
Lucian and Abigail step down from the altar and head towards Pike and his newly formed portal. Before they entered into the portal, Lady Waters called out to them.
"Windchester, Lieutenant, I've had a strange feeling ever since we got here that something will happen soon. Please keep your guard up."
Lucian thanked her, and he and Abigail stepped into the portal and soon found themselves back out onto the side of the wall where they were just walking down a short while ago.
"Well that was weird, right Lucian?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah."
Abigail blocks his path as he sets foot towards the camp site.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Must be the fatigue catching up with me."
The two continued to head back to their site. Lucian still couldn't forget the feeling of the unknown origin that surged right through him earlier. But whatever it is, a dark shadow has just been cast. That's the best guess he could think of what this feeling could be…