The fallen King

He watched as the last one fell. The empty husk thrown to the floor as the life was ripped from the body, and so here he stood, alone and freezing atop the Citadel. Numbers beyond count had given everything to give him this one chance. The ache was slowly being replaced by numbness. His breathing slowed as he prepared himself. A smile played across his lips, the thought that against all odds here he stood alone, amused him. No... Not alone, they were here, all of them, awaiting him, their last hope. This was it, there were no second chances, no one left to pick up the torch and carry on. No peace. No death...

The thought brought him strength, a last inner well of power. Lightning struck him as the energy of a thousand hopes poured into his veins. Placing his sacred totems he called upon pacts made in ages past to summon the elements themselves.
'Storm, Earth and Fire, heed my call!' He roared to the wind.
The whispers of his fallen comrades screamed for him to push harder. This last heroic act poured new life into his frozen form. Lightning struck as the earth rumbled. The element of fire itself answered his call. With the elements by his side and the voices of his fallen comrades carrying, pushing him onward, he unleashed the full fury of his might...

...Thunder roared above him as Lightning crackled through his very being. He had spent himself; he had given every ounce of power and more to bring low his foe. His vision darkened as his body sought for energy he no longer had. He stumbled to the floor gasping. Pictures of his comrades played through his mind. He smiled knowing soon he would join his brothers and sisters. He tried to focus on his foe as the darkness embraced him.

He watched as the Lich King pulled the runeblade from the last fallen hero. The Lich King turned to the last source of life. Their eyes locked. In that brief instant he saw not death, but an embrace eternal, a fate of damnation and perversion that chilled him to the core. There was no release...

The Lich King raised the runeblade to him, his voiced drowned out all sound 'FROSTMOURNE HUNGERS!'

He screamed as his very essence was torn from his body by unholy energies. His soul in shreds, devoured by the runeblade Frostmourne, his mind twisted. Why had the light forsaken him?
Yes young shaman, the light has forsaken you.
No, the light would not forsake me; it gave me that one chance. It was I who failed.
But it has, have you not fallen? Have you not failed? How else would this have happened if not for the light failing you?
My comrades, if only the light had given me more power!
They await you, just give in and you will join them, soon you will serve as will they. Embrace!
No, we will never serve you, NEVER!
Yes! Unleash your rage, let the pain consume you!

Lost… he had lost everything within this dark tomb. No longer could he hear the voices of the elements, only Frostmourne whispered to him now. His senses were denied to him, the dark words clawed for a hold upon his soul. He felt himself losing, he could no longer resist against his decent into darkness.

Tirion Fordring watched as the last hero fell. He had been powerless to help the heroes; the Lich King had placed him a prison of ice, forcing Fordring to watch as he cut down one champion at a time. Now they had all fallen, and now the Lich King planned to turn these beacons of light into his right hand, the hand he would use to crush Azeroth once and for all.

The Lich King walked to the centre of the citadel, leaving Fordring behind to look on. Raising Frostmourne into the air, he unleashed the full force of his runeblade upon the fallen champions, twisting their souls to his will.

Fury filled his body, he had brought these heroes here and now he had been forced to watch them die, powerless to aid them. No longer would he allow the Lich King to control the fate of others. He prayed to the light, for this one final gift.
"Light grant me one final blessing, give me the strength to shatter these bonds!"
Holy energies filled him from within, the prison of ice unable to contain the energies shattered. Gathering himself Fordring charged. Leaping into the air, he poured his full fury into the Ashbringer and brought it down upon Frostmourne.

The Ashbringer shattered Frostmourne, the unholy blade exploded as its power was overcome by the holy blade. The Lich King stumbled as he dropped the hilt.
"Impossible!"
The souls trapped within burst forth to circle the Lich King, throwing him into the air. Fordring jumped back as the souls poured out of the hilt.
Fordring watched on as the souls now attacked the Lich King with all the mercy that they had been shown. The Lich King without his runeblade was unable to free himself from the uncountable amount of souls that surrounded him, seeing this hope filled Fordring, now was the time for the Lich King's fall.
"No more Arthas, no more lives will be consumed by your hatred!"

Then light filled his world, gone was the darkness as suddenly as it had come. His soul was pulled back to his body. He gasped as air filled his lungs, his body shivered from every sensation that ran through him. Senses denied to him filled him with joy; tears welled up as he watched his comrades also awaken from the nightmare.

Unable to move anything but his head, he strained to see the source of this miracle, his gaze was drawn to the centre of the citadel, his eyes widened at the scene that lay before him.

Frostmourne lay shattered upon the citadel floor, the souls it had consumed poured forth. Still even that paled compared to the sight above the runeblade. The Lich King, suspended in the air by a sea of souls, his father King Terenas stood below him.
"Free at last! It is over, my son. This is the moment of reckoning! Rise up champions of the light"

The holy energies of the light streamed into every fiber of his being. Renewed life spread through his veins. He looked around and watched a second miracle unfold, as each of his comrades started to rise from the floor to face their foe once again.

The Lich King's voice echoed once more across the citadel.
"Here I stand the lion before the lambs… and they do not fear. They cannot fear."

Surrounded by a sea of souls the Lich King was helpless against their onslaught. Renewed with the power of the light, the group poured everything into their final attack. With that the Lich King fell, broken and defeated, his crown lost to him.

With the Lich Kings power depleted as it were, the shroud placed upon the Prince lessened as his true self once more gained control, he reached for the spirit of his father.
"Father is it over?"
"At long last, no king rules forever my son."
"I see… only darkness… for… me."
The last essence of life departed the kings broken body.

Closing the eyes of his fallen child, Terenas rose to face Fordring.
"Without its masters command, the restless scourge will become an even greater threat to this world. Control must be maintained, there must always be a Lich King!"

The End