Hello everyone, Ranuvin here, and this is my first real story, the first one that will have chapters and an actual storyline. It takes place right before and during the events of World of Warcraft: The Wrath of The Lich King. The story is called, as you can see, White. White is one of my favorite colors, and white figures prominently into this story, white hair, white fur, white eyes, white snow (of course). The story is told from the point of view of Ranu, my main player character and my online handle. Anyways, read and review, and I'm not afraid of criticism (I hope).

Regular type- Happens in the here and now.

Itaclics- Flashback.

Bold- Happens in the future. Sneak peeks for future chapters and character's visions of the future.

I dashed along the rooftops of Orgrimmar, my black ponytail flowing behind me. These damn

bounty hunters the Venture Company hired to hunt me down were incredibly slow. But still, they were

better than those stupid humans before them. And those humans were much better than the gnolls. But,

you see, the thing about the goblins is, once in a while, they'll hire one of their own, a clever one to

hunt somebody down, which was happening right now. There were a few mercenaries, led by a goblin,

of course, ahead of me. Stupid orc as I am, I didn't notice the tripwire they put out for me. I really hate

tripwires.

"Shit!" I yelled as I went flying off the guild house.

"There she is!"

"Get her!"

With orcs coming out of the guild house that were stopped by me, and the orcs gathering around

to watch the fight between my pursuers and I, I found myself in a fight I most certainly would not win.

At least, until I found myself and my attackers separated with three hundred pounds of orc and an

impossibly large two handed axe.

"Halt! By the order of the Warchief, I command you to cease your pursuit of this rogue at

once!" I was certainly dumbfounded. Why had the Warchief decided to show mercy onto a thief like me? And even more confusing, why has Overlord Saurfang shown mercy?

My knees hit the ground in front of the Throne of Orgrimmar. I refused to raise my head, to look

my Warchief in the eyes, so, one of the Kor'kron binding me to my place grabbed my dark hair and not

so gently jerked my head up to face my Chieftain. I had always hated the Kor'kron. Arrogant, boorish,

sadistic, stup--

"Enough!" Thrall's great voice boomed through the chamber. "Do you really intend to harm the

orc I just saved from certain death at the hands of her bounty hunters?" At this, the two Kor'kron

holding me loosed their grip,but not enough to stop hurting me completely. "Ranu... Earthshaker.

Named for your father, I'm guessing? Earthshaker was a great shaman, and a better orc." At this, I

glared at the Warchief. "I... am... not... my father!" I gasped. Thrall looked down at my with a smile,

saying, "I see the fire in you eyes, young orc. After I watched you parents die in the fight against

Archimonde, you were forced to support the rest of you family, weren't you? But one by one, they all

died, some taken by the Scourge, some by the Scarlet Crusade, and still others by the Alliance of

Lordaeron. Young Ranu, I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself in your eyes." Tears stung and I

blinked them away as I asked, "How? Why?" After this question, two three fingered blue hands patted

the green ones of my captors as a jovial voice assaulted my ears. "We've heard 'ow sticky ya fingers be,

so we've decided ta sent ya on a mission. You be goin' to Northrend, mon!" Voljin said with a toothy

grin.

"What do you want done to you, green skined brother?" The Tauren barber asked in a loud

voice. I leaned the chair back and closed my eyes. An hour later, I came out of the barber shop, hair and

head hidden by a wide brimmed leather hat. I was looking for somebody here in Mulgore.

"You are to be accompanied in the great North by three companions, two of which you will

choose, and the third will be of my choosing. The man I've selected is already at the building site of

Warsong hold, along with my regent there, Grommash Hellscream, and they are both awaiting you

arrival. You have two days to assemble your team and gear up." I saluted Thrall and smiled. "Yes, my

liege!"

Atop my wolf, I climbed the hills near the Red Rock Cliffs in Mulgore. I approached a small

hut, calling out, "Ashanto Proudstag! In the name of the Warchief, come out at once!" At my call, a

young bull tauren came out of the hut, armed with a walking stick.

"I would recognize that voice anywhere... but you should be dead by now..."

I grinned, took off my leather hat, and let my newly shoulder length white hair drift out. "Aw,

you sound disappointed, old friend." Ashanto, visibly shaken by my sudden appearance, lead me inside.

"By the Earthmother... Come in then, I'll make tea... I'll need it to get though this... or maybe some

alcohol would be better..."

"... so after those guards captured me, I worked off my debt to the Thirty Second by fighting in

Outland. But as my luck would have it, Illidan was killed about a month after I arrived in Outland. So

after my debt was gone, I traveled around Azeroth, enlisted in the Shattered Sun Offensive, even

watched the story of that poor Anveena girl unfold. A few months later, some people from my past

caught up with me, from the Venture company. Oddly enough, I was spared from repeating my ordeals,

and taken to Thrall. Which brings me to the point of my visit... What do you know of Northrend?"

Ashanto sat back in his chair, and with wide eyes, drained his thistle tea, and sighed, before saying,

"You know, after that question, I'm getting the feeling I'm going to wish you had died."

"Let me repeat this, to see if I'm getting it right."

"Okay."

"You want me to accompany you to Northrend, risking certain death at the hands of The

Scourge, The Vykrul, The Alliance, the bitter cold, or a combination of the four?"

"Well yes, but The Scourge or The Alliance could just as easily kill you here in Kalimdor."

"Point taken. But I'm still wishing you had died."

"So do you want to do it? Feel like taking on another adventure with an old friend?"

Ashanto's white fur shook as he sighed deeply.

"Yes, I'll go. You said we needed three people, right? There is one person I have in mind. We

have a need to go to Thunder Bluff.

I followed behind Ashanto as we walked through Thunder Bluff, his ghostly white fur attracking

stares of all sorts. Apparently white fur meant somebody who would fulfill some great prophecy. Soon

we reached the entrance to the Pools of Vision, where Ashanto nodded to the guards to let us through.

They stared at his fur too. The Pools of Vision these days were nearly empty with the Tauren being

called to Outland or the Isle of Quel' Danas to heal, and rumors were flying around that the Banshee

Queen called her subjects back to the Undercity for a "special operation". With the empty pools making

our footsteps reverberate throughout the chambers, our target stirred.

"Enough! Ashanto Proudstag, how dare you disturb my meditation!"

"Do not worry Emna. I have brought someone you will be glad to see."

The Forsaken woman opened her blind eyes and blankly stared up at Ashanto. "Very funny, my

friend, even though I am unable to smile." She then turned to me and stood. "Ranu Earthshaker... I

heard you were dead. Guess everybody was wrong, huh?"

"You know, Emna, I keep hearing about my death, and I'm just hoping that you all didn't make a

gravestone for me. But we came here to ask you a question. Feel like going on an adventure to

Northrend?"

Half a day later, my crew and I knelt again at the feet of Thrall in Orgrimmar, as he told us of

what was to come. "Ah... The white of fur, Ashanto Proudstag. The white of eye, Emna Maystone.

And," Thrall chuckled, "The newly white of hair, Ranu Earthshaker. But, your family name,

Earthshaker, it does not suit you any longer." Thrall then took up the Doomhammer and lightly rested it

upon my shoulder. "From this day forward, you shall be... Ranu... Palebane! You shall all bring a

second death upon those of the Scourge, and punishment unto those who dare disrespect the Horde! Go

now, Heroes, to the great North, and meet he who is white of skin..." Newly invigorated, we then stood

saluted, and walked to our waiting zeppelin, and our waiting destiny.

Prieview-

Ashanto shivered. He knew it was going to be cold in Northrend, but this was different. It was a cold sense of fear... and it was emanating from Warsong Hold... Something new and ominous awaited them there.

Hello, Ranuvin again! If you've made it this far, I thank you. Shoutouts to all my guildmates out there who are reading this! Hopefully I'll have the second chapter up in about a week and a half or so. Until then, this is Zaugg/ Ranuvin/ Ranu saying goodnight and goodluck. S