Sylvanas knew the situation was dire. No, dire didn't quite explained the situation the Rangers of Quel'Thalas found themselves in. The inner gates had fallen, they were once again on the retreat, half of them were wounded and worse of all, the undead army was stronger than when it breached the borders to their precious homeland. It wouldn't take long for the undead army to reach Silvermoon. Sylvanas had already sent one of the more fitter rangers to the capital city of the High Elves, in order to warn their leaders and prepare their defences. Sadly, Sylvanas couldn't afford to send an escort with her ranger. Plus earlier that day, their group had been attacked by a small number of Gargoyles, flier units which up to this point the enemy army had held back for some reason. Now they not only had to watch the air, but also chances were high that another scouting party found their messenger and killed him off.
Right now, it was dark. The Rangers expected the enemy army to arrive the next day. Their own scouts had already spotted a vanguard force. No one doubted that this would be their last stand.
"If anything" Sylvanas spoke out loud "we might be able to buy Silvermoon enough time to rally its forces and prepare the defences. Even if they're not able to counter these abominations, the Sunwell will protect our people and give them a chance to survive."
The other elves looked up from the fire and towards their general. "But...there're so many! Can our people hold out against so many?" One younger ranger asked. He had lost his left arm during the last fight, but refused to leave, claiming he could still hold a sword. At this point in time, Sylvanas had no choice but to accept what she got.
"Our mages will be able to create a shield around the city." Explained a ranger. "It takes some time, but if we can provide this time, our highest mages will be able to create an impenetrable shield, which can last as long as the Sunwell exists. Food and water won't be a problem for a long time and even if, our people would be able to use portals to get to Dalaran or at least somewhere close and ask for reinforcements."
Sylvanas held her tongue in check as to not to comment on the humans. Right now she didn't have the highest opinions of their so called "allies", thanks to a certain bastard prince, who dares to invade their home right at this very moment.
"So we have a chance."
"And it's our last." The General got up to her feet. "We have to make this count! Silvermoon depends on us more than ever. I won't lie to you. Tomorrow will be our last day as living beings on this world. Whether we will end up dead or undead doesn't matter. What does matter is that we give Silvermoon enough time, so that our city and our people won't fall into the hands of the slaughterer!"
The others nodded in agreement, their faces showing a grim expression.
"Get your rest tonight, rangers. Tomorrow we will show the so called "prince" what the children of Quel'Thalas are truly made off!"
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Further away from Silvermoon, Arthas watched from a high up position as his army of undead cut down trees, as it marched through the old woods. A satisfying smirk appeared on his face, as he watched his meat wagons passing by, overloaded with dead elf bodies. He could raise them now, but it would slow his army down, considering just how many bodies they were transporting. Not to mention, his necromancers were constantly working on new kinds of ways to bring back the dead, maybe even give them additional powers. Plus they needed material in order to repair the damaged abominations.
From behind, one of his necromancers approached the fallen prince, bowing as the man arrived at his lord's side.
"My Lord, our Gargoyles have spotted a ranger from Sylvana's troops, heading towards Silvermoon, presumably a messenger. They killed him, of course, but the Ranger General might send more."
"She is persistent." Commented the dark Prince. "Persistent and annoying. Let our Gargoyles fly in a perimeter, but don't let them get too close to Silvermoon. Keeping the elves in the unknown is key to my strategy."
"As you wish, my lord." The necromancer bowed once again, before leaving. Arthas returned his attention to his army.
"You will regret ever getting in my way, Sylvanas. Tomorrow I will grant you some hope, before I will crush you with all my might. And then your true suffering will begin, as you will lead my army to your race's ultimate defeat."
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Sylvanas found herself standing on hill. Silvermoon was burning beneath her, the Sunwell had been destroyed, completely rendering the elves defenseless as the source of their might was lost forever. And worse of all, the traitor prince stood over their fallen leader, laughing like the maniac he was. Anger was consuming the Ranger. Picking her last arrow, she took aim at the prince's head. There was no wind going on and from that distance she couldn't miss him. She adjusted her aim slightly and took in a deep breath…
But then he looked at her. He had spotted her! And all he did was smirking, like he had before. Sylvanas let go of the arrow. She wanted to let go of it, but for some reason her body wouldn't let her.
What was wrong?! All she needed to do was to let go and then she would have at least gotten rid of the bastard! So why didn't she just shoot?
"So much fighting spirit still within you?" Her eyes widened as she heard his voice in her head!
"I will have fun breaking you."
And then, out of nowhere images flashed through her mind. She and her rangers fighting against the undead, mockery of attacks being sent to their camp, all the while one after another, their messengers were killed by those damn Gargoyles! Finally The prince himself showed up, a huge army of ghouls and abominations backing him up. They never stood a chance. Sylvanas, having run out of arrows, engaged in a sword fight with her nemesis. The first clash already showed their difference in strength. Arthas played with her, mocking her with gestures and taunts. After what seemed like forever, he punched the elf in the gut and pierced her heart with Frostmourne.
Sylvanas could feel the darkness, which was death, embracing her, yet before it could fully take her soul into the next world hand grasped her soul and painfully brought her back to the world of living. She woke up in her own, rotting body.
"NO!" Sylvanas shouted. This couldn't be real, this…!
…
"Where am I?" she asked aloud, realizing that her surroundings had once again changed. She was now standing in endless darkness. Nothing but black was in front of her eyes.
"This is the fate" a voice loud and booming echoed through her head "of your people, if you do not stop this Terran."
Sylvanas spun around and found herself face to face with a floating red eye of all things. The first thing that came to the Ranger's mind was that in front of her was nothing more than a demon. Personally she had only fought a few of them in various circumstances. She only heard about those eyes demons used as spies and scouts.
"What do you want, demon?!" Sylvana's spat, although she had a fairly good idea as to why a demon would seek her out now of all times. "Where am I?"
The eye closed, almost looking amused.
"Your physical body has not been moved. You are fast asleep, dreaming. I simply connected my mind to yours, Sylvanas Windrunner. However, you are mistaken in my true nature. I am not what you call a demon. I am or rather I was a Zerg."
"Zerg?" the elf asked. "And what do you mean, you were? Just who are you for that matter?!"
The eye opened again. "I was once called the Overmind." Some kind of magical screen appeared behind the eye, similar to when a mage opens a portal to a location or other. It showed her a big mass of flesh with tentacles and teeth on it. In the middle of the mass seemed to be some kind of mouth.
"Once I was the leader of what was called, the Zerg." The scene changed into insect type monsters running on top of some purple mass. There were also bigger "Zerg", almost looking like buildings, probably nests.
"The Zerg are a race, being capable of adapting to any environment, constantly evolving, all for the preservation of the swarm."
There was some kind of egg in front of one of the nests. Sylvanas couldn't help, but jump back, when a gigantic monsters grew out of the small egg. It had similarities to a beatles with huge sized blades attached to it. There were also snake like creatures, with blades attached to some arms and flying, almost dragon like creatures could also be seen.
"World after world we invaded and claimed as our own. As time went on, we met the Protoss."
Pictures of blue, mouthless bipeds in golden armor and magical blades appeared, slaughtering one monster after another. Sylvanas could only feel awe, upon seeing these creatures fight with such grace.
"It was one of their leaders who eventually killed me during the battle of their homeworld."
"Killed you?!"
"Indeed. It was the power of the Terran's weapon, which brought me back to the world of the living. If only temporarily."
"So what? Do you expect me to bring you back for good?"
"No. I do not wish to fully return."
Sylvana's raised an eyebrow.
"Because if I would, the dark one would find me. And if he would find me, he would enslave my Zerg once again."
"Dark one? Enslave?"
The eye nodded.
"The Dark One belongs to the race who created both Zerg and Protoss. However, he planned to use both in order to resurrect himself from the void. For this, he took many Zerg from our original homeworld and changed us, so we could fight the Protoss. His intentions for doing so still delude me up to this day. But without me, he has no power over the remaining Zerg."
"I admit this much, I am interested in your story. However for one: I don't see how it helps me. For two: I don't trust you. And three: I have quite frankly better things to do, than to listen to the story."
The Overmind chuckled in his deep, booming voice. Sylvanas found it disturbing.
"Then at least let me tell you, why I have sought you out. As of now, you chances of winning the battle are nonexistent. Even if you can buy enough time, the Terran named Arthas will never allow word to arrive to the rest of your race. Eventually you will be overwhelmed and added to his army."
The elf gritted her teeth. "Even so, we give up without a fight! The chances may be nonexistent in your opinion, but clearly you haven't seen elves fight!"
"Maybe. You may have a chance, but deep down you know that you will die. Die and be resurrected as a slave."
"Grr…"
"I have a proposal for you."
"I think I have a pretty good idea, about your proposal…"
The screen appeared again, this time showing an abandoned mine deep in the woods of Quel'Thalas. Sylvanas knew the location. She was once sent to investigate it, since there had been sightings of monsters from reliable sources. In the end they found nothing. However the mine still was left abandoned, since it simply was too far away from Silvermoon and the gold wasn't needed anyway.
"Centuries ago, I send off smaller scout forces, looking for possible worlds to invade. I lost contact to one and thought them lost, dead. But when I was brought back, I found them."
"Don't tell me…"
Again the eye nodded.
"A full functioning hive is inside those caves. As long as my mind remains on this world, I can take control on the nest, at least until I perish once again. When that happens, the Zerg will go back to a wildernate state, killing everything in that is not a Zerg. While I have seen your...magic capabilities, there would be still many losses before you killed the last one. Someone needs to control, but in order for them to control them, they need to become Zerg."
"Okay. I see where this is going. And I have to ask: do you take me for a fool?! Why should I trust you?! How do I know, you don't have some alternate plan! Maybe bring you back to life?! Maybe you want to have my body?! How can I possibly trust you?!"
"You can't." The Overmind stated simply. "You either die tomorrow and become an undead or accept my help and become a Zerg. The choice is yours, Sylvanas Windrunner. Think carefully. You do not have much time."
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Sylvanas woke up with a migraine bigger than Arthas' cruelty. She rubbed her forehead, cringing and silently cursing. Opening her eyes, she could see it was just before dawn. She remembered the dream she just woke up from very clearly, but shook it off with some extreme willpower.
"We need to prepare. If no one from Sylvermoon arrived as of now, then it meant that their messenger had been caught and killed. Determined she approached the Nightwatch, who saluted to her as she came near them.
"No one came my lady."
"I know, Varias must have been killed. There's no time to mourn, one of us needs to get there! Wake up the others, Arthas might send us a "wake up call", so to speak."
"At once."
Arthas' forces didn't take long. A scouting party, consisting of ghouls and a few necromancers. The archers quickly took care of the necromancers, before they could even think of so much as casting a spell. The ghouls weren't much trouble either, as it were not enough against so many veteran rangers.
"Elleria! Go now and watch the skies! Take cover under the trees!"
"At once, General!" Elleria gave a quick salute, before she started running. Sylvanas prayed for her safety.
Counterattacking was out of the questions and there was no time to prepare complicated traps now. All they could do is wait and hold out the next attack. It didn't take long to arrive. This time there were Nerubians in the mix and their ranged attacks made things complicated. In order to ease things up, Sylvanas send in the few remaining mages, in order to let it rain lightning on the Nerubians. It exhausted their mages and the General desperately hoped that the time until the next attack would be enough for them to recover.
Sylvanas and her rangers were on the lookout for the next attack. The last two attack they got lucky. Arthas wouldn't let this happen a third time. As her eyes scanned for anything that resembled rotten flash, an all too familiar voice appeared in her head.
"Your messenger is dead."
Thanks to her training and long life, the general didn't show any distress, aside from looking grimmer than before.
"Get lost."
"Look at the size of the attack."
Just as the Overmind said those words, Sylvana's keen eyes spotted a huge attack coming their way. It wouldn't be impossible to throw this one back, but their losses would be devastating.
"We need to get just one through. Just-"
"It is pointless. You will all die, unless you accept my help."
"Why should I trust you?! What do you get from helping us?!"
"A chance."
"A chance?! What chance?!"
"There is not much time left."
"You haven't answered my question!"
…
No answer. Sylvanas gritted her teeth. "Get ready, rangers! They're coming once again!"
The fight went, as it was to be expected. Sylvanas forces having fought for weeks non stop, with only small breaks the elves were at their limit. The undead didn't need any rest. They attacked and attacked, not caring if someone in their ranks fell. They could easily replace them with the fallen enemy. And they did. The necromancers didn't waste any time, reviving every elf that fell. Finding herself fending off three ghouls and an abomination at once, Sylvanas pushed the remote button to detonate the bombs they buried the night before. A little something they got from the goblins. The resulting explosion blew up the ground and every undead in the area. Sadly it also meant the loss for half their own troops.
Sylvanas fell on her back, being knocked back from the blast. It took her moment before she could get back up and witness what she had done. Body parts lying everywhere, the smell of burning flesh in the air, the destroyed trees, the huge holes in the ground and her troops. Her tired and beaten troops. One had lost a leg and was screaming on top of his lungs for help. Another one tried to provide first aid, but there was no chance he would get through, let alone survive the next attack.
"Silvermoon needs to be warned. Lunara seems still-"
"She will die. Just like all the others who died during the battle."
"Won't you ever SHUT UP?! I don't NEED the help of a demon or zerg or whatever you are!"
"You need my help. Your people will die. Your race will be enslaved. Forever."
Sylvanas gritted her teeth. In the back of her mind she noted that she was doing this a lot recently. She began weighing her options. She could send another ranger, who would most likely get killed and they would be overwhelmed. The other option was to accept the so called "help". The only problem was, she didn't know what would hurt her folk more. Being killed and revived as undead slaves or whatever this so called Overmind had planned. Maybe it was a creation of Arthas, just to mock her in some twisted way. But then again what did she or her people had to lose at this point? In a strange way, just dying would be the lesser of two evils for her people.
"Fine. But if you betray me and I know you will, remember this. I am going to hunt you down, no matter where you are!"
The Overmind didn't respond. At least not in the way she expected him to. The very ground started to shake and cracks started appearing on it. The archers who were still able to stand, readied their bows.
"What is this?"
"Have they been digging under the ground?"
Their answers were answered when a gigantic worm shot out of the ground, letting out a scream of terror. The elves fell onto their buds, while the worm settled to the ground with only his head sticking out. Before anyone could get back up, the worm opened its huge mouth, spitting out huge insects! There was no better way to describe them as "insect hounds", "insect snakes" and oversized...cockroaches (?) came out of the mouth and had soon surrounded the rangers. The elves just got ready to fight, when all of the sudden…
"Stay down!"
Everyone turned their heads to the one who shouted.
"G-general?!"
"These are...reinforcements."
"What?!"
The insect creatures moved into a defensive line formation. The elves themselves were way too dumbstruck (and exhausted) to do anything. One of the less injured archers moved over to the general who eyed the Zerg critically.
"General, what in the name of the sunwell is going on?"
Another bunch of insects came out. They were smaller than the other Zerg, but still as big as horses with huge fins on the sides. They carried something inside of flashy sacks.
"Drones. They will build a hive cluster here, in order to defend you properly, during your transformation."
"Transformation? Oh yes...you mentioned something like this. What is in the sacks?"
"Compromised biomass. Special proteins were added to speed up the transformation. What normally would take weeks, will be compromised into a few hours. A side effect is that the transformation is more painful than it usually would be."
"I will endure any pain, if it means saving the people of Kel'Thalas!"
"I see."
Without any kind of warning, some of the nearby snake like Zerg spat out some kind of glibbery mass against ALL rangers. Everyone screamed up and tried to get rid of the sticky stuff, but was engulfed in a matter of seconds, completely trapped and immobile. Sylvanas was no exception.
As soon as the struggling in the pods faded, the Overmind appeared as a red-eye-ghost, floating in mid-air and watching his Zerg building an outpost. He felt somewhat nostalgic, being able to battle again. However, he needed to mind his energy. He could already feel the Void calling for him once again and it would only be a matter of hours, until he died again.
"Dark One. You may be a Xel'Naga, but imprisoning me in my own mind was your worst mistake. Now not only have I one, but soon two champions to challenge you. I may not live to see your fall, but I will die with the satisfaction of knowing that one day, you will follow me."
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"Just when I thought she had ran out of tricks. I'll make that bitch suffer. Come, my servants! We will defeat Sylvanas once and for all!" With a raised sword, Arthas galloped head on towards the High Elf camp.