Chapter 2: Nightmares

It had been five years since he last met Arthas. Five years without being harassed or molested, five years of peaceful moments with Rommath as his friend and student in Dalaran. He had forgotten about his stupid love with Jaina, who had now moved to Stratholme or somewhere else that he didn't care, and the ambivalence towards the human Prince. Now, the only thing he cared for was Rommath.

A month ago, Rommath had to return to Quel'thalas, as King Anasterian needed him for something. Kael really wanted to know what it was but after all, it was his Father's business. Now he stayed here alone with only Sartra and the phoenix egg as his friends. About the phoenix egg, well, he could just say that he could feel it hatching, but when the phoenix came out was still a mystery to him. He hid the egg in a dimension deep inside his heart so that it would be safe from any kind of outside contacts and only be harmed when, of course, he died.

Kael was wandering in the garden, enjoying the scenery. Though he had heard about a severe plague some of the human cities, he didn't care much. His faith belonged to his people, not to the human or the Alliance, despite the fact that his race had sworn loyalty to the Alliance. Suddenly, he heard sound of horn, alerting one. He quickly strode to the city gate to find what was going on.

A group of hawkstrider riders were approaching the city. The leader was a black-haired Elf. Rommath? How could he return so soon…? Kael walked out to greet them. But he stopped dead, stunned at the scene. Most of the riders were covered in blood from their own injuries or from other source. Some of the hawkstriders couldn't even stand after the journey. Kael inhaled sharply, his face showed panic.

"Rommath, what had happened to you all? Tell me, now!" The Elven Prince spoke out loudly. He couldn't stand watching them like this.

"Prince Kael… Our Kingdom… Quel'thalas…" The Magister collapsed to the ground but got caught in the arms of the Prince. "Quel'thalas is under siege…"

The news came like a strike from the blue. Kael felt as if he could faint immediately, but he tried his best to keep calm. He must stay strong now, or nothing could be done.

"Be hurried… I don't think we have much time to waste…" Kael helped Rommath get up and look at the others. "Gather everything we can find here, especially potions and first aid tools. I will go gather food and other supplies. We will make haste back to Quel'thalas as soon as those things are done!"

:

It could be too late. The thought just kept echoing in his head. He couldn't even concentrate on the ride. Sartra ran on her own, following the other riders. Kael felt dizzy, he was afraid. How is Father doing? How are brothers doing? And other people as well…? He could not help worrying.

A shrieking sound of Sartra brought him back to reality. He shook his head and looked up, and gasped. The scene in front of him was like that it came out from a horror story. Blood was everywhere, on the ground, on the trees and on the stone wall of the gate. Corpses of Elves, both military and unmilitary Elves, lay on the road. He jumped off the white hawkstrider's back, rushing to the pile of corpses, hoping that there were still some survivors. But he found none, not even a hawkstrider, let alone an Elf. His hands stained with the blood of his people while digging through the piles of corpses, the corpses of the people who could have survived if he was here during the siege. He buried his face in his blood stained palms, feeling hot tears mixing with the blood of his people. I am the guilty one, he bitterly thought, I should have returned to Quel'thalas long before this, at least I could save someone…

"Prince Kael! The Sunwell!" Rommath's voice startled him.

He looked up. Strands of blasting pulse of energy could be seen in the sky above Quel'danas, where the holy Sunwell was located. Swarms of monstrous flying creatures hovered around the energy pulses that shoot through the sky. Kael could not say a single word, his tongue had gone numb and a chill slowly swept through his spine. What he saw was more than horrible. It was the corruption of his people's energy source. The bright yellow light of the energy pulses changed into deadly green light. The destiny of the High Elves had been sealed at that moment; they would no longer have a magical energy source. Kael's eyes wide opened, staring at the dying light of the Sunwell.

All of a sudden, he felt a shocking blast. It shocked him but did not harm him much. He looked back at Rommath, who was trembling in panic.

"Rommath? What is going on…?" The Elven Prince stood up and walked over to the black-haired Magister.

Rommath couldn't even speak. He only raised his trembling hand, pointing at something behind Kael. The Prince followed and this time, it was he who became speechless.

The corpses struggled and they all rose up, lifeless and soulless. Their eyes burned with ghostly blue flame as they began to move towards the living ones.

Death had returned to take life with it…

:

Kael had to bite his lips so as not to cry out in agony when he threw pyroblasts at the ghouls – who were once his own people but no longer now. It was a lot better to see them rot in the earth than to watch them suffering the pain of being undead. Each ghoul he slain was needle struck in his heart. And he didn't know how many needles he had in his heart now.

Rommath and the other mages, knights and rangers fought to make way to Quel'danas through the sea of undead Elves, the priests kept on the healing. After a while, Kael's group ran into a group of Elven rangers, who were still standing against the undead. Kael'thas recognized the leading ranger, Lor'themar Theron. While the Magister and the other Elves protected him from behind, Kael threw a fire ball down below the battlefield and began to perform a spell. A circle of magic began to form bigger and larger from where the fire ball was thrown. Then came a huge pillar of scorching flame that consumed everything within the radius of the magic circle in deadly heat. When the fire eased down, the high Elven rangers still remained but the undead force surrounding them had been all burnt to cinder. The leading ranger, who had lost his right eyes during the conflict, no turned to look at the one who had helped.

"By the Light! Our Prince had returned to save us from the undead!" He shouted with great relief and led his group of rangers to Kael's side.

The rangers, including Lor'themar, ran over to their Prince and hugged him with all the strength they had left. Kael could say that some of them had burst into tears as they were too relieved when knowing that he had come. But it was him who was the most relieved one.

:

That night, he ordered the rangers and the knights to set a camp while he went with the mages and the priests to make a burial for the fallen ones.

He had to restrain himself hard so as not to cry but Rommath could not. The Magister collapsed and sobbed before the tomb that they made for the fallen Elves. It was the first time, Kael witnessed Rommath crying. Since they first met, Rommath had always been stoic and calm, but now it seemed that the Magister finally showed his weak side. Kael didn't say a word. He had never heard that Rommath had a family. It could be possibly that, with Rommath, his family was the whole race of High Elves.

After the burial, the black-haired Magister was too tired that he needed Kael's help to get back to the camp. Kael also helped him get onto the bed, which was just a big, flat stone covered in clean cloth, and tucked him in. Rommath quickly fell asleep. The Elven Prince sat next to his Magister on the bed, and just sat like that through the whole night.

:

The next morning, Rommath woke up when the sun had got high. He barely remembered what happened last night. He sat up and tied his ebony hair into a pony tail and walked out of his tent. The rangers were still on guard while the priests performed healing magic on the injured. Walking through the camp, the Magister wondered where the Prince was. He decided to ask Lor'themar in the commander tent. Fortunately, he didn't have to ask, Kael'thas had already been there, looking at the map of Quel'thalas.

"Kael…" Rommath strode over to Kael.

"Yes, Magister?" Kael replied, not even turn to look at Rommath.

The black-haired Elf halted. He was about to place a hand onto the Prince's shoulder, but the cold tone of the reply made him hesitate. Perhaps calling him so informally in this situation was not a good idea…

"I'm sorry, Rommath…" Kael sighed, turning to face his Magister. "I was just tensed…"

"It's alright…" Rommath nodded and placed his hand on Kael's shoulder to calm him. "I can understand…"

Kael'thas gave out a weak and painful smile. He wondered how he could still smile in this situation.

"Rommy, I need you to do me a favor…" He gently placed his hand on Rommath's hand.

"Everything you want will be done, my Prince…" Rommath looked directly into his eyes.

"Good…" Kael nodded. "Then I want you to tell Lor'themar to stay here with his group to protect the city."

"No problem. I will tell him right after this." The Magister nodded.

"And one more thing… I want you to lead the others out of Quel'thalas to Lordareon. Right now." Kael sighed before he said those words.

Rommath's face showed the shock. "Now? But… But what about you?"

"I will go after you when I finish the burial for my family…" Kael turned away from Rommath, not wanting to show his youth friend the pain in his eyes.

"NO! We won't leave you! I won't leave you!" Rommath grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard. "We cannot leave you alone in this ruined place! Who can be sure that the undead has been all defeated or has retreated? They can ambush you anytime, anywhere! If you die, or worse, become undead, who will lead us? Who will lead the remnants of the fallen High Kingdom? You are our Prince! You are the last survivor of the Sunstrider Dynasty, Kael'thas!"

And you are my beloved one too… Rommath bitterly thought.

The Elven Prince suddenly grabbed the Magister's face and had their lips met. Rommath was paralyzed at the abrupt contact. Kael's placed a hot kiss on Rommath's lips. He wanted his youth friend, no, his companion and beloved one to remember this moment, the moment when he put all his trust into Rommath. When he finally let go, the black-haired Elf blushed, gasping hard.

"Kael'thas… What…?" Rommath tried to speak but a finger was placed onto his lips to silence him.

"I trust in you, Rommy. If you trust in me, then please lead our people to Lordareon. I promise you that I will catch up with you all, safely. Then…" He gently hugged Rommath. "Do you trust in me?"

Rommath hesitated for a while but he nodded at last.

"Please, be careful, Kael…" The Magister bowed and left.

He would never see the single drop of tear rolling down the cheek of his beloved Prince.

:

Kael waited till Rommath and the others had departed from Quel'thalas. He put on his cloak of shadow, which helped him become nearly invisible. He rode Sartra to the east side of the High Island, where the Sunwell used to exist. There he found the now ruined, devastated structure, once was the glorious Sunwell Plateau. He kept walking deeper into the ruin. Corpses of the guardian Elves protecting this place were everywhere. He bit back a cry of desperate as he walked through the scene. Finally, he reached the core of the ruin.

The Holy Sunwell, now was nothing more than a huge hole created by the blast. His Father lied on the side of it, next to him was the remains of what used to be the sacred runeblade Felo'melorn. Kael collapsed at the scene, crawling over to his Father's cold body. He fell onto his Father's corpse, sobbing hard and cursing himself. I should have been who died here instead of you, Father…

After a while, he finally took back his calmness and took a deep breath. What had been done was done. He couldn't do anything to change the past. What he could do now was to keep on living to revenge for this terrible lost. He stood up, picking up his Father's corpse and the broken runeblade, then went to find the other members of his family.

He carefully made the burial and retrieved the skull of his Father, believing that it would be a protective charm for him and his people. Kael then performed his enchanting and blacksmithing skill on Felo'melorn to reforge the runeblade, at least the blade was reforged into a better hardness and power. The Elven Prince carefully put the runeblade under his cloak, got onto his white hawkstrider and rode out of the ruin.

:

As Kael was about to reach the city gate, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong. The feeling that someone was following him made him shivered, but when he turned round, he found nothing. The sound of something flew with fast speed towards him came to his sensitive ears. He moved his body in time to dodge an arrow. But he did not expect the next thing.

A painful blast of freezing energy blew him and Sartra off the ground. Kael gasped, his movement was slowed down because of the cold. He tried to stand up and protect himself but another arrow hit him on the shoulder. He cried out in agony while pulling the arrow out then bitterly realized that it was a poisonous arrow. Not until he collapsed did figures begin to come into his fading sight. The Elven Prince tried to stay awake but the poison and the freezing energy from the blast had made his body go numb. His eyes couldn't stay opened any longer.

The last thing he saw was two figures- one with long, bone-white hair in skull-decorated armor, the other was a floating skeleton with icy aura- walking over to him.

A/N: The fall of Quel'thalas and the making of the Lich, Kel'thuzad had been completed.

Kael showed his affection to Rommath in a very sudden and unexpected way.

Too much blood and tears had been dropped in this chapter.

We know that the Blood Elves in Warcraft are immune to magic so they won't be affected by Kael'thas's flamestrike.

Thinking of Kael fighting with Felo'melorn is hard, but I'm sure that you can imagine a mage using sword. Actually, he is not the first mage using sword, his ancestors like Dath'remar and Anasterian showed that they are mages and they can use sword, longbow, axe, etc…

Thank you for reading. Please give me your review if it is possible.