Name: Storyteller's Dream
Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft.
Title: Honoring the Dead
Rating: T
Pairing: None
Notes: I don't know who wrote the poem in the summary, but for some reason it made me think of this story. This story will be mostly Lore Characters with a few of mine or a friend's mixed in. A great deal of these have my two favorite Highlords, Darion Mograine and Tirion Fordring. Neither get enough love. I'm sorry if these seem rushed, I think I'm a little rusty.
None of these One-shots are related.
Summary: Honor thy Father, Honor thy Mother, Honor thy Brother, Sister, and Lover. Honor thy Son, And thy Daughter. Honor thy Family and One Another. A collection of one-shots about Honoring the Dead.
Honor thy Father…
The halls were darker than he remembered but the stench was still the same. He pulls a nearby torch off the wall before glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone is paying attention. No one is as Tirion Fordring is commanding the members of the Ashen Verdict to set up barricades. He approves of Tirion's orders; though Kel'Thuzad is supposed to be dead and Naxxramas abandoned, Darion Mograine is anything but convinced.
Not that his reasons for coming to Naxx have anything to do with the Ashen Verdict's. Tirion has come to take the flying citadel down whereas Darion's mission is more personal. He knows that his father's body is still here in Naxx. Kel'Thuzad and Baron Rivendare took great pleasure in reminding him when he was still a member of the Scourge. So he has come to take his father's body back home, back to lie in the soft brown earth next to his beloved wife and mother that Darion has never known, Elena.
He shakes himself from his thoughts and starts down one of the halls. He knows that Tirion is too busy to notice his absence which is exactly what he wants. There are some things that a son must do for his father. He remembers that he should call at least one Death Knight to his side, but decides against it. There is nothing in Naxx that he cannot handle.
His steps echo on the blood and slime stained floor as he goes deeper into the flying castle. If Tirion had asked him, he might have told the older man how to take Naxx out of the sky, but that would mean giving up secrets on how to take out Acherus and he didn't trust that the Alliance King, Varian wouldn't try to force Tirion's hand especially if Darion didn't side with him against the Horde.
He knows that he has to stop thinking such thoughts or he will be open for an attack by anything left in this stinking hell-hole. His steps abruptly stop when he steps on the leg of a spider. Looking down he knows that this leg belongs to Maexxna, the largest spider he has ever known. Sneering he passes it, thinking that the adventurers could have been a little neater when they killed the creatures. But during his attempt to rescue his father, being neat was not the first thing on his mind.
"So… you've come to finish the job?"
Darion freezes at the weary voice in the darkness. He raises the torch to see the nearly torn remains of Faerlina, the Grand Widow.
"I see that the adventurers are getting careless; not bothering to check and see if you're really dead." Darion's voice echoes as he draws one of his runeblades.
"Perhaps… but you of all people should know that these walls hold many secrets, secrets as to raises up those who have died so many times." The woman says still resting against the wall. "You really are a handsome young man Darion… oh we could have been a wondrous team."
Darion's frown becomes darker. He had heard that Faerlina had taken a liking to him and did his very best to stay away from her. She was much like a black widow, she would drain you of your very essence when she kissed you and Darion had no interest in her embrace.
"Why are you here Darion?" Her words echo the chamber, making him believe she is trying to trap him.
"To recover what's mine."
"Your father's corpse?"
Darion nods.
"Seek out Zeliek; he knows where Rivendare and the Master hid it. Now if you don't mind, since our real Master, Arthas, the Lich King is dead, would you send me on?" Darion severs her head from her body and continues on out the door.
"He is not my Master, Faerlina."
Footsteps echo once more and he can hear people ahead of him. He knows that these people are not the Ashen Verdict; they would not leave Tirion's care and the Ashbringer's protection. No these are more Death Knights, created by the Scourge to serve Arthas. But now that Arthas is dead, they have no purpose.
"The Master will live again!"
Darion knows that annoying voice. It's Instructor Razuvious and Darion is pleased to know that he can have the Instructor's head. It will be payback for all the times that Razuvious has gone against him in Acherus and even for the deaths of several Knights of the Ebon Blade.
"We will march on Icecrown Citadel and take our Lord's body from them! We will raise him and forge Frostmourne anew!" Cheers answered the insane man's rambles as Darion sets the torch in the wall mount.
"Right now, our Master's murderer is here and we must take revenge against him and the traitor Mograine who is-"
"Right here!" Darion shouts drawing attention to him. From a void of power, Darion draws the mighty axe, Shadowmourne and leans it against his shoulder.
"And Tirion wasn't the only one who had a hand in Arthas' death, meet Shadowmourne, the axe that severed his spine."
"KILL HIM!" Razuvious screams as waves of Death Knights rush the Highlord of the Ebon Blade.
Darion smiles.
Death.
It has claimed these souls once more as they could not hold out against the combined power of a Highlord and Shadowmourne. These bodies were weak, unable to fully understand the power they wielded. He doesn't mourn them, watching as they fall on his blade though some don't even make it that far.
"If this is the best your training as to offer Razuvious, you are severely lacking something." Darion goads the Instructor as he swings Shadowmourne to clean off the excess blood.
"They were just pawns. Pawns to wear you down." Razuvious declares. It pisses Darion off more; after all he had been a pawn of the Lich King. Sent to Light's Hope Chapel to die.
But the Lich King made a mistake, just like Razuvious.
"And here I thought I was going to get a fair fight." The Highlord sneers before attacking. "A pity I won't grant you one!"
Darion knows that he is nothing like he was before his redemption. He knows that he has limits now, thanks to the consist annoying lectures he gets from Tirion Fordring. But the Instructor has made something break inside him, just by telling him that the trainee Death Knights were just pawns.
Razuvious fights him with all the knowledge he possesses but in the end, Darion is victorious, and it's not just because of Shadowmourne.
"So… you beat me." Razuvious says as he gasps for air. Darion notices his eyes flicker to somewhere behind Darion and the Highlord now senses someone is behind him. He whirls around, before realizing his mistake of leaving Razuvious with an opening. But he doesn't have to worry… the shadow is an initiate that plunges her own sword with enough strength to pierce the floor below into Razuvious' chest.
"Traitor!" He roars as blood trails down his chin.
"No," the Human Death Knight says, "I am vengeance. You murdered my family and me. Now I get to return the favor."
Razuvious dies without another word leaving the initiate to stare at the Highlord and vise versa. She pulls her blade out and inspects it for a long moment before sheathing it and holding out her hand.
"Windoryn." She says it simply, it's her name.
"Darion." He takes her hand, prepared to kill her if she should turn on him. She stares at his frozen blue orbs and blinks slowly.
"I'm hoping I look as well preserved as you. Anyways, I guess… unless you're dying to kill me, I could some training." She quirks her mouth in a strange grin at her own sour humor.
"You need serious training with that blade. You sucked all the fun out of revenge." He creates a portal to Acherus, one that he'll create again soon. "Take this portal and tell Lady Alista, Darion Mograine says to train you. Follow orders or I'll kill you."
"Gee everyone's a critic." Windoryn mutters as she vanishes through the portal. Darion can feel his eyebrow raising.
"I must be growing soft." He finally grunts and returns Shadowmourne to the void he keeps it and continues his journey.
Its not long before he reaches his desired location. Glancing around he can see that nothing has truly changed. Well almost nothing. He can make out the destroyed forms of Thane Korth'azz and Lady Blaumeux against one wall. Baron Rivendare, oh how he wishes he could spit on the corpse of that pompous fool. But he is above the petty act and instead begins to search for the one corpse he cannot find, Zeliek.
"Zeliek! I know you're around here." He finally calls out in annoyance. "I've come for my father's body and I won't leave without it."
"The Light… it still answers my call." Darion hears before a feeling of intense pain rips through him. Death Knights do not normally feel pain and Darion is no exception, however one thing can bring a Death Knight to his or her knees and that is Holy magic.
"You must flee Darion! The Master still lives!" It is Sir Zeliek, standing in the shadows, more healed than Faerlina.
"I don't think so! I came for my father's body. I won't leave!" Darion withstands another blast of Light before charging Zeliek, knowing that he was well-versed in long range attacks and weak at close up. Zeliek holds his own for a long time against the Ebon Blade Highlord, but in the end it is no contest. As Darion severs his arms from his body and one leg, the Light-wielding Death Knight surrenders.
"Kel'Thuzad is still alive. He has your father's body… intending on forcing him back into the service of the Scourge." Blood flows freely from Zeliek's body as Darion's runes drink deep.
"I freed my father's soul to the Light when I found his soul shard on Arthas' body." The blades form an X at Zeliek's throat. "I won't allow anyone to take him from the Light."
The blades slice and Zeliek falls, truly dead as Darion steps over his body. The Highlord will find Kel'Thuzad and make the sure that the Arch Lich never finds his way back from the Twisting Nether.
There is a hidden chamber above where the Horsemen rest. Darion has known that it was there for a long time but now figures that the chamber holds something important, he now suspects its where the Lich has hidden his phylactery and possibly, Alexandros.
He just has to find the entrance.
The wind catches his cloak and pushes him towards a dark corner. Darion feels as if there is a guiding presence and he will do what it asks. He feels the wall, sensing something that he cannot see. There are abilities that he has which he has never spoken of, things that he can do that he pretends that he can't. Gathering some of that power within himself he unleashes it on that corner and drives a hole through the wall. As he steps through the hole he can see the phylactery… and a body dressed in red plate.
Alexandros Mograine.
Darion has found his father's body.
He steps through the hole looking for the Lich and knows that this is a trap. This was too easy. As soon as he enters, the hole vanishes and he draws Shadowmourne from the void once more.
"Where are you Kel'Thuzad? I know you're here." Darion hisses as he makes his way to dais.
"So the little Mograine misses his daddy and feels the need to find his body?" Kel'Thuzad sneers from what seems to be all around Darion. "Pathetic."
"No, it's pathetic that you hang on to a cat! That's pathetic." Darion goads trying to find his nemesis. Why can't he sense the Lich? Why does he feel weaker…?
"Feeling weak Highlord? The spells that you cannot see are draining your power. Soon you'll be as weak as you were on that battlefield not so long ago. That fool Fordring seeks to bring now my Naxxramas! Well he'll fail too!"
Darion now sees the Lich and lunges for him just to be blasted back. Indeed when he creates a shield against the Lich's spells it is weak and collapses before it does any protection. Darion grits his teeth and leaps and lunges away from the spells and brings Shadowmourne down where the phylactery is.
But it fails; the phylactery is shielded and only pushes the axe off to the side. Darion's hate grows and he summons ghouls, something he is often loath to do. The ghouls look to Kel'Thuzad and attack, being destroyed as soon as they touch the Lich. But in the mass of flailing limbs, Darion emerges and strikes the Lich.
"Treasonous bastard!" The Lich spats.
"I'm pretty certain my parents were married before they had me." The Highlord roars as he swings again. The shield fades from the Lich and Darion continues to swing even as he feels himself getting weaker. Kel'Thuzad is right; Darion has become the weak boy that attempted to defeat him at Light's Hope. If Darion could not defeat him with the Ashbringer, what chance did he have now?
The momentary lapse of concentration is all Kel'Thuzad needs to blast him across the chamber and free Shadowmourne from his grip.
"How the mighty have fallen." The Lich crows and Darion knows that he cannot reach his weapons in time to save him. He lies there and watches the Lich advance before noticing something odd.
His father's body… is missing!
He feels rage once more, as he struggles to his feet. The spell is on Kel'Thuzad's bony finger tips… as his hands are separated from his wrists.
"What is this?" The Lich screams. A body of red plate now stands between Darion and his would-be destroyer. The body… of Alexandros.
"What? How?"
"I won't let you harm my son anymore Lich!" Alexandros shouts as he hurls Shadowmourne at the phylactery. The powerful axe, the legendary weapon that severed the spine of the Lich King cracks through the shield and destroys the Lich's tool that made him invincible. Immediately Kel'Thuzad begins to weaken. A bright flash of light, the Ashbringer wielded by Fordring severs Kel'Thuzad's spine and destroys the Lich once and for all.
But Darion does not see it. No, instead when the light fades he is once more the powerful Highlord of the Ebon Blade, the most powerful Death Knight in and out of Azeroth… and he holds his father's body and weeps.
The Knights of the Ebon Blade. Eternal Guardians of Azeroth now. Today they form an Honor Guard for the First Ashbringer, for their Highlord's father. They consider this an honor.
They have gathered at the remains of Darion's childhood home to bury the Ashbringer's casket. Darion Mograine stands off to the side along with Highlord Tirion Fordring, the only living person allowed in this ceremony. Darion knows that his father would want it this way.
The initiate Windoryn's family once did headstones for the dead and she designed one for Alexandros and Elena. Darion gave credit were credit was due; the Ashbringer entwined with a rose above his parent's name was exactly the right touch.
As Thassarian and Koltira bury the casket containing Alexandros' body, Darion feels a sense of peace. He glances at the grave, farther away from his parents but close as well. Renault's grave. His brother, the traitor that set in motion the events that created him, the Death Knight Highlord of the Ebon Blade. There would never be a grave for him here. But that didn't matter because his father was home.
"Welcome home, Dad." He whispers softly and feels a breeze brush against him once more.