"Sometime Around Midnight"

My city burned. The fires of the night singed the hair upon my forearms and scalp, as I ran with elbow-crook shielding my nose, and I wondered to myself, why is this happening?

The pandemonium was more than my senses could bear, the screams of my compatriots wracked the night and all sense of compassion was stripped from me as fear gripped me in the very gut. My bravery dwindled as I cried out loudly for my husband, peering through the smoke and the shadows hoping in vain to find him. The ground trembled with the approach of the undead onslaught and my people fought hard to save our capital. The foul stench of death crept upon me slowly, viciously and the sense of evil loomed over us all. The fright was terrible; I had lost all sense of control or merit.

Chaos reigned as my people pushed and shoved to flee, whilst our paladins, magi, priests, warlocks, and rangers defended Quel'Thalas with their lives. The abominations heaved their bulk across the battle field; wretched skeletons scurried in an awkward trot across the way towards our front lines. Ghouls, with their flesh rotting and dangling off their very frame, disemboweled the living where they stood. Crypt fiends, as we later learned they were called, rushed through our ranks biting and clawing at my brethren, with a hunger unknown to any man or beast.

It was then which I turned, hearing my lover call for me in the night, and smiled through my pain and fear at his familiar and welcoming face. Time stood still as setting my sights on him seemed to make sense of everything that was happening. In my stupidity and excitement, I stumbled and fell to the ground, an action that lured a nearby crypt fiend to me in a heartbeat. There was a moment where my eyes went dark, and all the sound around me faded before a terrible pain ripped through my body. The crypt fiend had lunged at me, an action that caused me to roll upon the blackened earth to avoid his attack; I was a moment too late. His fore claw ripped into my back, starting just under my left arm pit and rending my flesh down the side of my rib cage and onto my back, stopping at my tailbone. The blood was warm, and the haze filling my head even warmer and I realized that this might be the night I died.

The fearsome creature loomed over me, lowering his crooked jaws to my face and I reached a hand up to shield my rapidly failing eyes. I was losing blood fast, I realized, as my head grew heavy and hot, and my body limp. The voracious monster surveyed me for a long moment, while infectious matter seeped from his gaping wounds here or there, landing on my armor and newly exposed flesh, which caused me to writhe and scream upon contact. I found myself trembling from both fear and pain, praying to the Lady Elune to preserve me. Oh, please Goddess, save me.

Gaping jaws drew ever closer to my face, biting into my chain-mail helm and sundering it with one swift crunch. This evil calculated just how to end my now miserable existence, my blood continued to rush from my body, and my ears twitched at a familiar voice. "Rhyn...Rhyn, don't give in! Resist the shadow!" The voice of Salrinde, a paladin, my husband, permeated the night. His warhorse clad in heavy plate armor, reared and whinnied loudly. The noble beast covered the ground 'tween him and me with an ease and a thundering that seemed to drive fear into the hearts of those undead brutes. No longer could I keep my eyes open and I knew that I most certainly was passing into the great beyond. The sensation was almost comforting in its own way, my eyes became heavy and I felt very fatigued and completely unable to fight against this powerful slumber that was beginning to consume me.

My eyes grew heavier and no longer could I hold them aware. A brilliant light tore open the darkness and my body was overcome by a sensation far different than the heat of blood-soaked armor. Immediately, warmth consumed my soul and awoke me from my near eternal slumber. That moment drew on for an eternity, with everything happening in the slowest of motions and sounds, my strength quickly returning to me as did my senses. "Salrinde, don't. Please, don't do this for me!" I screamed at my husband, realizing what he had done. I begged of him not to go through with this, his divine sacrifice and intervention; please dearest husband, don't do this!

The gaping wound on my back ceased to bleed, and I found the strength to rise to my feet. I scanned the battle field around me, as abruptly everything had come to a standstill. Confusion now overrode my fright and I struggled to make sense of this new found calm. For only a moment I stood in this pacified stupor, that same white light blinding my eyes while my pleading cries for my beloved seemed to echo across empty fields. Out of the flames appeared a dark figure, running swift towards us with fangs bared, and snarling. It was my wolf! He had come to aid us in this epic battle, he had come to lay down his life if need be. Slowly, my head stopped spinning and the bright light faded from me while I watched my wolf come to my side. "Ebonmaw..." I whispered to him, gratefully grabbing onto his neck while he lunged to my side, growling protectively at the undead around us. A gentle muzzle slipped under my hand, a heavy body pushing against my left leg helping me to right myself upon my feet. My senses slowly came back to me and my vision was unclouded. Fumbling, I managed to secure my bow, draw three poison tipped arrows and sent them soaring into the body of the crypt fiend who had maimed my back.

The monster fell with a loud hiss and other deafening sounds, his massive body landing with a 'thud' at the feet of my lover.

"Salrinde!" I gasped in a panic, falling to my knees and crawling to him as the pain in my back resurfaced. Gingerly I lifted his head into my lap, and removed his shield from left arm and plunged his sword tip- first into the soil next to me. Peculiarly, the dead surrounding us had slowly began to quiet and swarm into the broken wall of our city, and it was then I knew that something wasn't right at all. The night grew very still, the only sounds were of the wheezing of Salrinde and the crackling fires of sundered buildings and flora. "Why?" I breathed heavily, leaning in to kiss his forehead as my eyes welled with tears. "Why did you do that for me? You could have saved yourself. You could have fled the battle and I could've escaped on my own..." He silenced me. A gloved finger, warm plate, pressed gently to my lips. "My love, please do not fret. I saved you out of the love I bear for you..." He coughed and a bit of blood came forth to taint his bottom lip, my heart skipped a beat. The reality of the moment rushed me with a swift jolt, shaking me to my core as I shook my head in disbelief.

"Please! No! Don't leave me, Salrinde! Don't do this to me!" I said selfishly, drawing my right hand in a fist on his chest and resting my ear to his heart. "Don't make me do this alone..." I whispered. He grew still, his breathing slowing to a stop as his delicate lips whispered his final goodbye to me "I love you, Rhyn..." I cried out into the night, breaking down into an awful sobbing fit. My body heaved and shook atop his as my mind was flooded with grief, all comprehension gone from me. I could feel Ebonmaw easing down next to us, resting his head in my lap and whimpering to me; ears pinned and tail tucked, he mourned with me.

There was a piercing cry from within the city walls. It was enough to take me from my moment of sorrow and turn my attention to the smoking walls. It was there that I saw a great shadow upon a frightful steed, draw up to our leader in arms. The Lady Sylvanas fell to her knees, her hands wrapping around the sword which violated her innards. I sharpened my gaze and peered harder into the short distance, and saw her face grimace with pain. Her jaws clenched hard, her eyes widened, and she lashed out in a final riposte with her dagger at the mysterious figure. There was only laughter from this menace while our Lady gasped and fell to the ground. She was dying by the second and I lay there trembling in fear and clutching the cape of my fallen companion. "Let this be a lesson!" The terrible figure yelled into the night, "Let none stand in our way! None can suppress the scourge!" There was a loud roar from thousands of ghouls and minions and monstrosities, as they rallied to the call of their leader.

Our Lady was slain, our city raised and my heart seemingly stripped from me. I stared in awe; jaw opened a slight bit, at this fearsome figure. The ground shook slightly as he turned to walk away; a few strides and he remounted his horrid steed. "Raise the dead, leave the dying." He said loudly, a command to his underlings. My wits took control of me as I watched in fear while this hooded figure rode slowly past, my Lady draped over his saddle horn. I immediately convinced my body to go limp atop my husband, Ebonmaw following suit as I did so, and we waited for him to ride past.

All around us, the night air crackled and hissed as necromancers came from amongst the ranks of the undead, and began raising our lost. All around me, hundreds of thousands of Sin'dorei were reanimated into rotting corpses. They were now the damned. A very pale human strode up next to us, and stood still for a long moment surveying this odd pile of elf and wolf. He laughed at us, clicking his tongue in approval. A hand shot out from his long sleeved robe, and hovered over the face of my husband while he chanted a bone chilling tongue. He was calling the nearly departed soul of my husband back, chaining him to this world by means of evil.

I lay there in fear, motionless out of smarts and terror, while the body of my beloved shrunk and decomposed under me. The smell was horrible and it took all I had not to purge on the spot.
The air surrounding me went from warm and thick with death to icy and frigid in a matter of seconds. The now rotted pile of bones beneath me seemed to sink into the ground, causing Ebonmaw to leap back with a start and snarl. "What's this? The wolf lives?" came the echoing voice of the necromancer, his black eyes seemed to glimmer under his tattered hood. I tried my hardest to not make a sound, but my muffled squeal caught his attention and he took notice of my furrowed brow and eye lids pursed shut. His voice seethed and hissed through clenched teeth, a foot swiftly kicked in my new wound; I cried out in pain and grimaced at my stupidity and lack of strength. "You better hope that for your sake, the poison of the crypt fiend does away with you." The villain smirked at me now, his teeth black with decay and gums swollen with infection. The air was still frozen around us and I began to shiver with a chill that crept over my body. I looked up from the ground, where I was doubled over in pain, and saw my husband standing before me. His body was wrecked and simply putrid, with open sores and what appeared to be puss oozing from his eyes. The stench was foul and immediately there were insects swarming around his body and crawling in and out of open wounds. Grief stricken, in disbelief, I reached a hand to him, yet all that came from his mouth was a horrible rattling sound, scratchy and hoarse. Blood spattered from his lips onto my hand and face, it was then I realized he was lost to me forever.

The necromancer turned to walk away while the air surrounding us seemed to crack, like one walking on thin ice, as warmth returned to my body. The ghoulish corpse that was once my darling leapt after its master, with an awful gimp in its step. Broken pieces of flesh flapped against its thighs as it ran behind my undo-er. The long night was finally over. The scourge retreated from our lands, no doubt moving south. In that moment my heart sank as I realized just where they were headed. Lordaeron.

I looked to Ebonmaw, who had sensed the change in my body language and we both leapt to our feet as quickly as the injured could. We ran swiftly into the heart of the city, to the stables where I prayed there was still a Hawkstrider left to be of service.

As luck would have it, a lonely white Hawkstrider stood trembling in the farthest corner of his stall, eyes wide with fear. Relief spread over him as I ran to him, tossing saddle and harness onto his soot-doused body.

I grabbed all the supplies I could find in the city, from bits of food, to ammo and weapons to armor. I mounted my new steed with all due haste and urged him out of the broken capital. "Make haste to Lordaeron my brother! We must get there and warn the humans before it is too late. We must try and save them while we still can!" We rode off into the night past the dying and the rotted dead, swiftly on past the abandoned troll villages. I looked back over my shoulder one last time to my ravaged home, and sighed to myself. I prayed to the Goddess Elune, who, unlike my Sin'dorei brethren, I still worshipped. Not like the rest of my kin, I had no addiction to the arcane or any other form of magic.

I was once a Ranger of Eldarath before the sundering, when the Kal'dorei and Sin'dorei was one people. I worshipped the Goddess then as I do now, and it was to her that I would pray to help me through this.

Into the night I rode, leaving the pain and wreckage behind me. The sun was very slowly rising now, just barely peeking up from the horizon. I thought to myself the time frame in which this all happened, how it all played out in a matter of six hours.

It started sometime around midnight.