OoO( 7 )OoO
The elf, if he could even be called that anymore, sat on the stone floor of the blackened tower that was his home. He growled to himself in frustration as his scout told him what he already knew to be true. His two greatest creations were now dead.
His colorless hair fluttered as he stood to his feet, scowling at the scount through his white eyes. The undead stood their, emotionless and unmoving. He snorted and looked away from the servent, folding his hands behind his back. The Scourge, while obedient to his every order, were lackluster minions to have, fearing nobody. He let a sigh escape him, almost missing the days when he had minions that were terrified of him.
Those days were over now. It was time to move on with the old, and deal with the new. Like this current problem. "Who did it?" asked the elf.
The undead never took its view off its master. "It was a paladin." said the creature.
The black robed elf looked at the scourge before him with surprise. "A blood knight? Surely not. Lorthemar has thrown numerous of those at them before and only got viscera in return!"
The undead shook its head, the bones of its body rattling as it did. "Perhaps I should have been more clear. This was no blood knight, it was a paladin of the Light." said the creature, going back to its unmoving state after it finished.
The necromancers eyes widened at the realization. "A paladin of the Light, here? The Alliance has no more reason to be here than the Lich King himself anymore. What was he doing?"
"He was no Alliance pawn. He was a high elf with silver hair, and a lightning blade on his back." said the corpse. Finally, realization hit the elf. He turned from the minions, his face twisting in anger. "He headed to Silvermoon with a young girl. We know not what happened to him beyond that."
"If you see him in our lands again, alert me immediately. I wish to deal with this insect myself." said the elf, his glowing eyes now livid with anger. The Scourge nodded and exited the building, leaving the necromancer to stew in his own rage. When he was alone, he whispered one word to himself that infuriated him even more. "Stormblade..."
OoOoO
The appropriately named Ghostlands were less welcoming to the pair than when the paladin had passed through before. So far, the two had carved their way through what seemed like concentrated attacks from undead, spiders, bats, and a number of other terrifying creatures who had no doubt been turned hostile by the death of the land.
It had been hours of travel and battle before the pair found a quiet spot to rest themselves. A tower jutting out of the coast of the land was where they stopped, it's high spires acting as a temporary beacon for those seeking shelter from the merciless onslaught of undeath.
Dias sat, leaning against the frame of an arched doorway that led to a balcony. His eyes peered over the land in front of him, scanning its landscape for the first time since he had entered the place. Aedammair sat against the far wall, her eyes closed as many thoughts ran through her head, most of them questions. It seemed an eternity before one of them broke the silence.
"So, you are truly free of him?" asked the paladin, his eyes still locked on the dead land. The high elven woman opened her white eyes and looked at him through a glare. He had a right to ask, but that didn't mean she had to like his tone.
"I am free to do as I wish. Lord Mograine let us do as we please with our...lives." she said, unsure about using that last word. "Regardless, I am a fighter. I will not do as others have done and go to live in peace and solitude while the Lich King still breathes." Finally, the paladin turned and looked at her, a look of examining on his face. He seemed to be searching her, trying to find any exposed untruth about her statement. After a minute, he seemed satisfied. "Trust me, if I weren't free, I wouldn't be paired with the likes of yourself, off to assassinate someone for the leader of Silvermoon."
He nodded, standing up from his spot near the balcony and walked over to her, his travel pack clutched in his hand. He set the rucksack down and dug inside it. She looked at him curiously, her fingers resting on the handle of one of her axes should he try anything clever. Finally, he pulled out a loaf of bread and a cut of dried meat, handing them to her.
She dawned a look of shock as she looked at the food. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"When you were in the grip of Arthas, you could survive on his dark regenerating magic alone. But now that he is no longer controlling you, you no longer have the gift of immortality. Meaning you need to eat." he said.
She turned her head away with a glare. "I don't need your charity..." she said spitefully.
"Your stomach has been growling since we left Silvermoon." he said, still holding the rations out to her. "These ears aren't for decoration." he said with a smirk. She turned back and looked at him, then stared longingly down at the food. Finally, she reached foward and took them from him.
"So, you trust me?" she asked curiously before taking a bite from the food.
Dias turned around and walked back to his spot in the doorway. "No. Not by a long shot." he said, sitting down and looking at her. The moon was out tonight, and its light caught his silver hair as he rested again. "But I know that right now, you aren't the enemy. You've had multiple opportunities to kill me since we left, but short of an attitude, you've shown no hostility. And as long as it stays like that, we might as well be professional." he said, then turned back to the landscape.
The words shocked Aedammair into silence. Since her arrival at the city of Silvermoon, she had been treated as a monster. Not that the people were wrong in their judgement, after all, she was what she was. But it still hurt to be shunned at every turn. This paladin, someone she had physically harmed as well as emotionally with the death of his friends, was the first one outside Liadrin to consider her more than the Scourge. She sat silently, eating the food and continuing to stare at the paladin curiously.
OoOoO
After a decent rest, the pair packed their stuff away and descended the tower. As they walked down the stairs of the magnificent spire, a glint of light on the stairs caught the paladins eye. He stopped and knelt down, picking up a small object that seemed to shine in the light. The death knight walked up to him and looked down at the object.
"A pendant?" she asked. He shrugged as he examined it closer. It was heavily caked with ash and dark flaky residue, likely blood. But still, the brilliant blue stone in the center shone brightly, despite how tarnished the rest of it was. He put it in the pouch at his side after the appraisal and together they left the tower as cold and alone as it had been before their arrival.
In a matter of hours, they had reached their destination. It looked like a dark city built into the side of the mountains. Dias knew that on the other side of the mountains was the only place he had known his entire life, the now desolate Plaguelands.
"So, care to fill me in the rest of the way on our target?" asked the woman as she eyed the city cautiously.
Dias nodded, unable to pry his own eyes away from the city. "His name is Dar'Khan Drathir. He's a necromancer, and probably one of the most important high elf known to the world."
"Why is that?" she asked, staring at the tower that sat in the dead center of the city.
"He's the one who let Arthas into Quel'Thalas. He gave the Lich King the key, and allowed him to do this." he said, his arm arcing as if to show her the landscape.
She suddenly jolted. She looked at the ground confused, her brain running a million cycles a minute. She had done this before on several occasions, any time she thought she remembered something abour her past. This time it was stronger though. "Arthas entered Quel'Thalas..." she said, her hands weaving back and forth as if she was trying to make the picture appear in front of her. "He...he broke the first gate. Then...the bridge, and...Sylvanas fell..." she said as her eyes widened, an overwhelming feeling of recollection hitting her. "He killed her, and turned to the city. I tried to stop him...I was a blood knight...and he killed me." she finished.
Dias stared at her, a look of surprise on his face. She looked at him with so much confusion in her expression. She saw his face change as well, but she wasn't sure what it was. Pity? Sorrow? Neither of these made her feel any better. "In any case, he was believed to have been killed, many times over. But each time he keeps finding a way of reappearing."
"Like...a lich?" she asked. He turned and faced her, his expression a mask of confusion. She sighed. "A lich, it's an undead sorcerer who's soul is locked away inside a phylactery. They use these phylactery's to create physical bodies, allowing them near immortality as long as the item is still intact." she said.
"How did you..." he asked curiously.
She tilted her head and glared at his ignorance. "Lich King." she said. Her statement made him palm his own forehead in stupidity. "But, the phylactery could be anything. If he is some form of Lich, then likely it is somewhere he wouldn't want it to be found." she finished, scratching her chin.
They were both startled as a voice crashed intrusively against their ears. "So, the mighty Scourge slayer shows his face at my gates?" said the voice, loud and ambient. "You have destroyed two of my greatest creations, you carve a bloody path from Silvermoon all the way down to my little city here. Now, herein lies the question. Why?" said the necromancer as he crossed his arms.
Both the paladin and the death knight looked up at the arching gateway of the dead city, seeing a white haired elven form standing there. Dias smirked as he saw him. "You aren't a very popular person Dar'khan." said the paladin, his gauntleted hand gripping the hilt of his broadsword tightly. "Turns out selling the genocide of your own people for power hasn't made you any admirers." Aedammair simply glared at the dead elf, her white eyes memorizing the face that caused her, and many others deaths that day.
Dar'Khan chuckled to himself. "So, another do good hero come to slay the bad man that broke the inpenetrable kingdom of Quel'Thalas?" he said, slightly amused at the news. Suddenly, a cold laughter shook him slightly. The woman behind the paladin was laughing loudly, her mirth shaking her entire form. "Pardon, did I amuse you?" he asked.
When she recovered from her episode, she looked up at him with a winning smile, her white eyes locked onto his. "The man that broke the inpenetrable kingdom of Quel'Thalas? You?" she said, almost bursting out laughing again. Straightening her composure, she crossed her arms. "Arthas and his Scourge tore down the gates of our kingdom. He slaughtered our people and corrupted our Sunwell. You..." she said, pointing a pale finger up at him accusingly. "You opened the door, then ran down your little rat hole like a coward. You let that murderer do all the work. Then when you came grovelling up to him asking for your scraps of power, he killed you like the gutless dog you are." she said, her smile never waning.
Her comment had the desired effect, as his face contorted in rage. "You'll pay for your tongue bitch!" he shouted. Lifting both arms into the air, he shouted, "Arise! Come to your masters call and destroy these pests!"
Both high elves immediately drew their weapons, watching as the ground around them split open, limbs of all sorts clawing at the surface to get out. When the commotion finished, the pair were surrounded by a small army of rotting and drying corpses, all of them with their dead eyes set on the two. "You certainly know how to make friends..." said Dias as his blade began to glow with the power of the Light. Aedammair drew her axes with a smirk.
"Forgive me, courtesy isn't my greatest talent." she said.
"Destroy them!" shouted Dar'Khan from the top of the gate. The army of undead lurched forward, a wailing cry coming from their decayed throats. Dias immediately ran forward, the tip of his long blade scraping the dead earth before he crashed into the ranks of the Scourge. His sword was like a beacon of fire, blazing back and forth, sending limbs and bodies flying as he maneuvered the glowing blade.
The death knight started spinning her axes in her hands quickly as she was surrounded by the undead minions. She hurled her blade forward, the razor sharp blade like a whirlwind of slaughter as it carved its way through the horde of undead like they were paper. Immediately, the axe flew back to her hand as the beam of dark energy hit it, yanking it quickly back and taking out even more in its path. She dodged as one of the undead behind her tried to grab her, side stepping the monster and neatly severing its head. She quickly looked up to the sky and yelled loudly, the air around her turning chill with her cry.
The Scourge surrounding the woman began to slow to a grueling pace, their limbs snapping off as they strained against the ice that now formed on thier bodies. Without the feeling of pain to alert them, the undead continued their march, regardless of shattered bones and snapping limbs. She hurled both of her axes again, the death grip on them keeping them swarming in and out of the mob.
The paladin was easily surrounded by the Scourge forces, but the closer they came, the weaker they got. The Light seemed to sap the energies right out of their bodies as the blade seemed to hum with holy power. He swung the sword in a semi-circle around him, carving through three undead, not even stopping his onslaught to watch their bodies be devoured by the holy energy.
In a matter of minutes, the necromancers army had been demolished, their bodies either burned alive by holy power, or too shattered and broken by ice to be of any use. "It seems I've underestimated your abilities..." Dar'khan said as he looked down on them. "It matters not. Neither of you, whether alone or together are a match against my dark magics. Meet me inside if you wish to finish this." he said, then seemingly vanished from the gateway. The doors in front of the city opened slowly, creaking loudly as they swung.
Dias snorted as he looked into the gates that awaited them. "You know that it's probably a trap right?" he asked as she walked up to him.
"Of course it is." she said walking past the paladin. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." she said with a smirk. Dias grinned and walked behind her, entering the dead city together. "I'll hold you to that." he said as they looked around the area. They both stopped as they saw a large lumbering figure walking towards them.
"I figured as much." said the paladin as the abomination stomped its way towards them.
"I would like you to meet the rest of my greatest creations." said the familiar voice of the necromancer, it's raspy tone echoing around them. Aedammair looked around and noticed three other figures aside from the behemoth around them. One was an undead sorcerer, another was a skeletal warrior figure with a monstrous sword across its back, and the last was a dark shade with glowing red eyes.
"And the rat shows his true colors..." said the death knight, her smile growing as she felt the flicker of anger in his voice.
"Go my minions and crush these two." said the dead elf as he watched from atop his tower. Dias didn't give the minions the first move. His gleaming blade created a blurring streak as he dashed for the abomination. Aedammair turned and immediately grabbed the sorcerer in her dark grip, jerking him towards her at high speed.
The monstrous creation swung its third arm down towards the paladin, the axe within its grasp whistling as it flew. But the paladin seemingly vanished from in front of it, his sword slicing through the monsters side.
Though startled by her death grip, the sorcerer aimed its staff at the high elf woman and fired dark energy bolts towards her. The death knight deflected the blows easily with her axes, dashing towards the undead with amazing speed. The spellcaster didn't even get off another blast of dark magic before his head was sent soaring into the air.
The shade, surprised at the speed of the attacks, recovered quickly and held its arms forward, trying to hit the paladin with dark energy. But Dias rolled behind his current target, causing the energy to stab into the abomination, making it roar loudly as its left arm was seared off. The high elf took his chance and jumped up, cleaving through the two other arms on its right side, sending them tumbling across the ground.
Dar'khan watched them nervously. His initial plan to ambush them with his four lieutenants wasn't working. Two were already dead, and he didn't hold out much hope for the other two. Aedammair raised her axes, blocking a monstrous cleave by the skeletal warrior. The blow took her down to one knee, but didn't effect her swiftness. She immediately kicked out at one of its legs, impacting it and causing the undead to stagger backwards. Shoving up with her axes, she threw the creature off balance and began spinning with her twin blades.
The abomination immediately fell over after the attack that severed his remaining limbs. The paladin turned to the ghastly figure and charged, the lightning on his blade glowing like the sun in the dark environment. The shade immediately retreated, firing off bolt after bolt of dark energy at the relentless holy warrior. But the effects were minimal, easily being shattered against the gleaming blade as he raised it to deflect them. The paladin closed the distance between himself and the ghost in a matter of seconds, immediately jumping into the air with the blade over his head. The glow of the Light shining off him blinded the dark shade, immobilizing it just long enough for the high elf to bring the sword down. The blade seared completely through the dark entity, making it explode into nothing but smoke.
Aedammair spun like a cyclone, her axes tearing little by little into the skeletons weapon. Finally, with a mighty crack, the long blade succumbed to her relentless onslought, shattering into pieces. Dancing like a shadow of death, she whirled her axes at the undead, severing it piece by pieces until nothing was left but cleaved bone and rended metal.
Dar'khan growled to himself as he watched the spectacle. "Damn them..." he said to himself. He suddenly felt his stomach in his throat when he heard the paladin yell.
"Hey Necromancer!" shouted Dias, who was now wielding a hammer forged of light in his free hand. Running forward, he hurled it with all his strength. It flew like a missle straight where he was standing. Dar'khan jumped quickly, his white hair fluttering as the hammer nearly missed him, and instead collided with the tower that was his home. As soon as the weapon crashed into the tower, the necromancer yelled loudly in pain and fell to the ground out of mid flight. He got to his feet gasping in pain as he looked at them, his form distorting slightly.
"Damn you...damn you both..." said the dark caster as he got to his feet. He immediately fired a dark energy bolt at the death knight, sending her flying backwards. Spinning around, he raised his arms into the air, a cage of bone shooting out of the ground and surrounding the paladin. Dias swung his blade at the trap, but it clanged uselessly off the thick bones.
Aedammair jumped back to her feet and charged at the necromancer, her axes at her sides. However, she had to throw herself out of the way as a beam of dark energy crashed into the ground at her feet. She landed hard with a loud thud, and soon began rolling out of the way as the beam continued to follow her.
Dias grabbed one of the bones on the cage to try and rip it down, when he jerked his hand back in pain. Spines shot out of the sides where he grabbed them, piercing the skin in the slits his armor didn't cover. He looked outside, frustrated as Aedammair had to dodge the dark laser with everything she had. Kneeling down, he glared at the necromancer before closing his eyes. "Light, give me the power to free myself and destroy this blight upon the land." he said.
Aedammair hid behind the remainders of a building. But the beam smashed away at the stone structure, crumbling the wall in seconds. "Both of you will die for your indescretions! Then I will raise you both to serve at my side!" he shouted gleefully as the death knight fled for more cover.
Suddenly, both Aedammair and Dar'khan turned to look at Dias as a blinding light shined on both of them. Dias stood, his entire body flourishing with the power of the Light. The bones surrounding him discentigrated as he grabbed them. Dashing forward, the paladin of the Light slammed his palm down on the ground. Cracks filled with light shot from the ground, travelling at high speed towards the necromancer. They surrounded him and erupted underneath his feet, travelling up his legs until his entire body was covered in the zig-zagging holy light. "Aedammair! Now!" shouted the paladin.
The death knight sprung quickly out from behind her cover and yelled as she charged. Dar'khan cringed in pain as a wave of ice covered him. Both of the warriors ran toward the necromancer, the paladin with his palms glowing with the power of Light and the death knight with her keen edged axes at full swing. In a matter of seconds, it was over. Dias grabbed the necromancers head with his glowing palm, the Light searing into the dead elfs skin. Aedammair's axes sliced clean through the dark casters mid section, separating his legs from his torso.
Dias immediately slammed the dying casters upper half into the ground, forcing his power into the mans body so violently that it shot from his mouth and eyes. His body immediately deteriorated, leaving only a skeleton behind. The earth seemed to shake as they stood, staring at the remains of the former necromancer.
Suddenly, they both were startled as the dead elfs voice rang out around them. "Foolish mortals! Did you honestly think you could defeat me!?" he shouted angrily. "Nothing can stop me! I am immortal!" he shouted as the earth split open under them.
"The phylactery, we have to destroy it!" shouted Aedammair as she tried to keep her balance. The high elf stood somberly, their fight going through his mind rapidly.
"If the phylactery was damaged, it would weaken him right?" he asked her over the din of more undead crawling from the earth.
"Yes. Why?" she asked, eyeing him curiously. He smirked at her and opened his palm again, another Light forged hammer appearing in his palm. He spun quickly and hurled it again at the tower before them.
The hammer flew and crashed into the side of the stone, causing the previously damaged wall to collapse in on itself. Dar'khan roared loudly, as if in pain. "His body distorted when I hit it before...and he looked like he had been hit when it clearly didn't hit him." he said smiling. "I think we found our phylactery." he said.
Aedammair smiled and reached both arms forward, the shadowy tendrils reaching out and gripping the tower. She pulled down with all her might as the paladin sped his way towards the building, his palms again glowing with holy light. He slammed his hands against the building, the cracking light flooding the surface and causing the stone to splinter and divide. With the strength of her death grip, the high elf woman jerked down harder, the large tower on the building breaking off as its base weakened from the holy attack. With a loud, ear splitting crash, the entire building crumbled, falling to the ground and sent a shocwave that flattened the new risen Scourge.
Both of the warriors stood in the rubble of the fallen tower, breathing heavily as the strain from the fight finally hit them. They both turned, ready to fight again as the voice of Dar'khan could be heard once more.
"What is the meaning of this!? What is happening!?" shouted the frantic voice of the necromancer. He appeared before them in the form of a specter, his shape distorting and twisting more and more frequently as the seconds ticked by. "What did you do to me!?"
Dias walked foward, his sword in his hand once more, and pointed the glowing blade at the geist. "Your lich powers will serve you no more. Now go to the darkness traitor, where you belong." he said, and stabbed the ghostly form through its chest. Immediately the form evaporated with a loud shriek of pain. Sliding the sword back into its scabbard across his shoulder, he turned to the female death knight. She smirked at him, and he smiled back. "So...the next time someone asks a favor from me, just slap me in the face before I get the chance to say yes." he said.
She chuckled at her partner as they began walking towards the gate, the battle finally over, and the wear finally laying into the two.
