Chapter 1: Awakening

"Th….I…..n…..e….is….e…ake?"

Crackles of speech penetrated my ears. My eyes slowly fluttered open.

"So you finally decide to wake up." A vile voice addresses me. I see two…men? The have the physiology of humans but their skin is gray and decaying. The one to my left is missing his right eye and holds a scalpel that is dripping with an odd blue liquid. The one on my right appears to have had several of his limbs sown on.

"What is your name?" The one on my left asks, laying the scalpel beside me. I realize I am lying strapped by metal bands to a table as I cannot rise.

I want to answer, but I don't remember. Odd, my memory has been hailed as remarkable yet I cannot even recall my own name?

"Answer me!" The one on my left calls again putting his face close to mine. I can see the flies buzzing around his head and a maggot crawl into one of his ears.

"Hale, calm down," the one on my right says. "Many of our newer recruits are like him. Can you remember anything?"

"N…no…" I managed to choke out an answer. It feels like it takes all my effort to speak.

"Then let me inform you," the one to my right begins. "My name is Grayus and this is my cohort, Hale. We are surgeons here in Deathknell responsible for reanimating the dead or making Scourge, like you once were, join us."

"Scourge?"

Hale laughs but Grayus thrusts a bony hand over his mouth. "The Scourge is a group of Undead led by the vile Lich King of Northrend. They were the ones who started the plague that killed you. However, this plague not only slew the living, but brought them back as Undead. You were in the service of the Lich King, as most of we Forsaken once were, until our great leader, the Dark Lady Sylvanas, won our freedom. I know little of our lives as Scourge, as many of us forgot that part of our life when we regained our free will."

"How long did we serve this Lich King?" I ask.

"Roughly a year until our freedom was gained. However, some of us did not become free of his will so quickly." Grayus said.

"Like you," Hale cackled wickedly. "We had to operate on you to bring you to the side of the Dark Lady. You thrashed a great deal but we were eventually successful. We have now perfected that process."

"How long did that take you?" I managed to stutter.

"Four years." Hale replies.

"Do you recall any of your past from your death of five years ago?" Grayus asks me. I try to remember but nothing come. This is strange. Why? Why could I remember how I had a great memory but nothing else?

"No," I answer sadly.

"Then I shall give you a name as is my duty for ones that remember nothing," Grayus tells me. "From this day forth you are Darren. Rise now Darren, the Dark Lady will want to meet you along with our other new converts."

Hale removes the bindings and I stand from the table. Is this all a dream? Am I really truly neither alive nor dead? I gaze at my hand and the answer becomes obvious as I see a large piece of flesh fall off the bone. Hale motions for me to follow him down a hall and I comply. The place we are in seems to be some sort of mortuary and I hear pained screams coming from everywhere. The building appears to be built of granite and is most likely underground from the dirt that occasionally seeps through the ceiling. Here and there I notice bones, flesh and other objects I cannot identify lining the walkways.

Hale eventually shows me into a room lined with rusted weaponry and old armor.

"If you wish to serve the Dark Lady in our war against the Scourge and the living then you must arm yourself." Hale says as he straps a buckler onto my left arm and places a sword in my right. He hands me a thin mail shirt which I slip over my head. Isn't metal supposed to be cold? But I feel nothing even as the sword slits open a small gash in my arm. Was I even a warrior in life? So many unanswered questions.

Grayus looks me up and down. "This works well, you are ready to meet the Dark Lady to pledge your allegiance." I follow him back through the hallways and I hear more cries of pain, most likely former Scourge that they are trying to bring to our side. Am I already identifying with these…people? They did save my life after all, though it isn't truly a life anymore.

"We must return to work," Hale tells me as he and Grayus return to the room where I was; another Forsaken is throwing a corpse onto the table and nods to Hale. "Exit the mortuary and find a Forsaken wearing green armor and carrying a two headed battle axe. He goes by the name of Jadd; he will be your escort to the Undercity."

I exit, feeling I can learn about this Undercity from Jadd and not bother Grayus and Hale while they work. The steps are crumbling and in desperate need of repair and the area seems eerily quiet…

"State your name a business!" A stern voice says to me. I turn to see a Forsaken wearing green armor and carrying a two headed battle axe.

"My name is Darren. I assume you are Jadd?"

"Correct."

"I was informed you were going to show me to the Dark Lady so that I may pledge my allegiance and learn more of the Forsaken and these lands."

"Yes, follow me." Jadd appears to be a Forsaken of few words and nothing passed between us as we walked along a dirt road. On occasion we would see other Forsaken doing tasks such as chopping lumber or picking herbs but they did not interact with us at all.

We walked for what seemed an hour until we reached a great walled city. The stonework looked as if a master had laid it, but these walls were crumbling as well. Jadd entered the ruin and I followed a bit skeptically, for I still knew little of the Forsaken or their customs. I hoped this Dark Lady could give me some answers.

High-Elf-Swords (HES): There goes this chapter, hope you like it. The first was short because it was a teaser (a tidbit to get you to keep reading) but there will be no others like that because I dislike short chapters. This story just came as a random inspiration one night while playing WoW. Now for some review answering.

Tsabo-Tvoc Phyrexian-General: It was a teaser. There's a reason I never complain about the shortness of Seraphin's musings because certain things SHOULD be short (generally never more than a chapter or two at the beginning but there are exceptions).

DemonBredChild: Yeah, it is short, but like I said to Tsabo it's a teaser. Trust me; no others will be that short.