~Lets just pretend I was here the whole time!~

~Scroll 10

Falling into unconciousness was nothing like sleeping. It wasn't restful. You didn't wake feeling refreshed or envigorated. You blinked, and more time had passed than expected. It left you confused, exhaused, or in some cases. Angry.

Angry was what Lunaea felt as she opened her eyes to a dark sky. No stars winked at her from the heavens, obscured as they were by a black smog. Glaring at the offending sky, she sat up and quickly noticed she was alone, surrounded by empty boats and the burnt remains of huts. She was on the beach outside of Sen'jin village. Moving to stand, she hissed through her teeth as her wrists refused to lift her from the sand. Inspecting them, she saw a band of thick bruises wrapping aroud her skin. They reminded her of shackles, and she grew angry again.

Rising to her feet, ignoreing the aches of her body, she began to walk through the empty village. It was almost surreal. All footprints had been washed away by the sea, leaving behind a smooth untainted surface of sand. Glancing behind her she almost felt bad for leaving heavy footprints in the sleek sand. It was beautiful. A reminder that nature always remains. Through fires and floods and the cruel treatment of humanoids, nature always came back to it's proper state.

Sighing, Lunaea walked to the end of the village until she reached the road that lead to Orgrimaar. There, she found a macabre scene.

Two enormous piles of bodies, burning away. Before them stood hundreds of trolls, heads lowered, silent before the dead. Walking slowly toward them, Luna wrapped her arms around herself, both to keep her wrists steady and to hold her acheing ribs. Getting as close as she could to the mountainous flames, she blinked at what she couldn't see before. One pile of bodies were trolls. Men, women, and children alike piled together and caught aflame. It didn't seem right to her, until she saw what the next pile consisted of. Undead.

Ghouls, zombies, and wraiths. A pile near the same size as the other. Now she understood. They had to burn them all, to keep any from raising as undead. If necromancy had been worked nearby, it was extremely likely to spread. It was a sorcery that was more like a disease. Anger licked at her again, causing her to clench her hands tightly into fists. The ache of her wrists only seemed to fan the flames that were reflected in her silver eyes. She hadn't felt anger like this since before she had died. It was a refreshing emotion. It burned away all pretense and left the truth behind, naked as a babe.

Glareing into the flames, she flinched suddenly as a face with yellow eyes glared back at her before seeming to break out in silent laughter. She blinked and it was gone, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Swallowing thickly, she had a sudden dark thought. Where was Jak?

Turning slowly, as though to face some horror, she looked at the mass of trolls around her. Time seemed to slow as she pushed her way through the throng. Some simply moved aside, seemingly numb from the events. Other's seemed fueled by the same anger that burned in her, and shoved her back. She ignored them, simply finding her feet and pressing on.

"Jak." She mummbled. Surely he wasn't in that pile.

"Sen'jak!" She shouted, causing some near her to flinch at the sudden noise. Anger was suddenly drowned by hysteria. Her eyes were wild as she began to sprint through the crowd. Her breath was labored as she shoved men and women alike to the side, parting them like water. She needed to see red. Sparks. Embers, not unlike the flames that devoured the dead.

Looking around desperately, she caught a flash of red at the edge of the sea of trolls. Her breath caught in her throat as she forced her way towards it, ignoreing the angry shouts nipping at her heels. Leaping through the edge of the crowd, she ground to a halt before a startled and somber looking Vol'jin.

He blinked at her slowly, his eyes red rimmed and brimming with unshed tears.

"No.." She breathed. Turning, she stumbled towards the fires.

"No.." She moaned loudly enough for people around her to hear. Numbly, she got as close to the searing flames as she could. Falling to her knees, she watched as the already darkened flesh of the bodies popped and melted. Tears burned at her as she lifted her face to the clouds. Two dark pillars of smoke rose from the flames, flicking embers into the black sky. How much of that smoke was Jak. Which embers were left of the man she loved.

Lowering her eyes to the flickering embers at the base of the fire, she absently became entranced with them.

'Jak's eyes.' she thought to herself. Flames licked along her fingers for only a moment before a tiny hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. She gasped lightly as she fell backwards onto her butt, her right hand held aloft.

Her lips parted as she beheld her hand. The skin on three of her fingers was red and already blistering, her palm and the back of her hand merely singed. A small set of hands came into view as they began to gently cradle her burned hand. Blinking slowly, so slowly, her vision focused on a small boy. He was probably around nine, with long pink hair all braided and pulled into a tail. His skin was a fresh shade of minty green, and on his left arm, just below the elbow, was a thick bloody bandage.

"You." She whispered. He smiled a tiny smile at her before standing, bringing her with him. Gently, he held her hand as he guided her towards Vol'jin. Lunaea spied many trolls watching them, odd expressions on their faces. She ignored them.

Vol'jin smiled a sad smile as they reached him. Vanira appeared at their side, her usually perfectly kept blue hair singed and unbraided. She looked utterly exhausted, her knees moments from buckling. Luna knew who had lead the cleanup of the bodies. Despite stories, it was quite hard to get a fresh body to burn. The undead burned easily, their dry skin and long dried up organs made for perfect kindling. The fresh dead however, were still juicy, their skin moist. It took alot of effort to burn the freshly dead.

Vanira placed a clamy hand on Lunaea's shoulder and mummbled,

"Sen'jin was not among the dead." Her voice was raspy from too much shouting. Sweat beaded on her brow as she fought to stand, however she lost that fight as her eyes rolled into her head and her knees buckled.

Luna let out a small "Oh" sound and moved to catch her but she was far too slow. It mattered not as long blue arms just appeared under her as she fell. Vol'jin craddled her to his chest, and Lunaea spied a warm appreciative look in his eyes before he met Luna's face.

"She worked tirelessly tah clear the dead." His voice was desolate, barren of emotion.

"Many corpses rose tah feast again before we got them all." Luna didn't respond. "But mah nephew was not among the bodies."

He shifted Vanira's weight against him, "We searched thoroughleh. But he's nowhere."

Luna didn't know whether to feel relief or panic.

"Where is he then?" She murmured to herself, as she turned to gaze into the flames.

Someone had been listening however, as the pile of burning undead bodies suddenly exploded outward from its center. Screaming ensued as pieces of burning flesh rained down into the crowds. Vol'jin lept away, clutching Vanira to him as several body parts fell towards them. Lunaea, too exhausted to run, shoved the young boy to the ground and covered him with her body.

Molten pieces of flesh rained down like lava, catching anything it touched alight, while shards of broken bones cleaved it's way through any explosed flesh. The screaming only lasted a few minutes, before a fearful hush blanketed the crowd. Lifting herself to her knees, Luna checked the boy first to find him unscathed. She was weak and wounded but at least she could still be used as a shield, she laughed wrly to herself.

Looking around, she saw all of the trolls looking in fear at the fires. Following their eyes, she quickly found the reason.

The Lich. The troll with the black robes and the white mask, and the piercing yellow eyes. He was standing, unafraid and unburnt where the explosion had originated from. His dark robes whipped around him amidst the roaring flames, exposing his greying skin and painting it with a wicked red light.

He began to laugh. A short chuckle at first, but it quickly devolved into a mad cackle that left him gasping for breath. One hand went to his gut, as if to express his glee even further as he beheld the fearful faces before him. Before he suddenly stopped. Silence reigned as he made a show of stretching his back, cracking his neck, before his head snapped up to meet Lunaea's eyes.

She vaguely heard Vol'jin gasp next to her as she pushed the boy behind her, her eyes locked onto the Lich's black and white mask.

He began to hum to himself, slowly at first but faster and louder as he stepped out of the flames around him. They parted for him, bringing gasps and cries from the trolls as they scrambled to get away from him, this man who reeked of death.

He largely ignored them, walking as though through a meadow, his gaze wandering to observe all the different specimens around him, ripe for plucking. Step by agonizing step, he walked towards Lunaea and Vol'jin, humming his happy tune all the while.

He stopped when he was nose to nose with Luna, be crouched down to her height and she heard him begin adding words to his tune.

"I have something daa belongs to yoooooouu." He sang. Her eyes widened and she heard Vol'jin suck in a breath behind her.

Fire.

She felt the flames reflect in her eyes again as rage overtook her. She began to lift her right hand, ignoreing the burns. She felt bones pop and reform as she reached slowly towards the Lich. His yellow eyes never left her's as long claws gouged into the wood of his mask, leaving long finger like marks.

"I have something daa belongs to yoooouu." He whispered to her. She hesitated as he grinned beneath the mask.

"Give him back" She knew she said it, but the words sounded choked from her throat. She saw him grin again, before stretching to his full height and turning his attention to Vol'jin. Seemingly in a stupor, Luna turned to see that Vol'jin had placed Vanira several feet behind them and was standing stock still in between them.

The look on his face was of disbelief.

"How." She saw him mutter, causing the Lich to throw back his head and howl in laughter. He made a show of wiping tears from his masked eyes before speaking.

"Da Echo Isles be Zalazane's to rule, Shadow Hunter!" He cackled as though he couldn't contain his mirth. "Now and forever!" Reaching forward a single gnarled finger, Zalazane touched Vol'jin in the chest. It was a simple poke, but from the tip of his finger sprouted a dark purple membrane, which quickly expanded and emcompassed Vol'jin before he had time to react. It wrapped around and pressed against him, trapping him in an expression of fear, unable to move.

Turning back to Lunaea, Zalazane grinned at her panic'd face.

"Not ta worry leetle elfie." Her ears burned as he used Jak's nickname.

"He won't die. Yet. It's a shadow trap, tah keep him out of tha way."

"What do you want!" Luna shouted in a sudden outburst of aggravation. This troll kept popping up out of nowhere and bringing madness and mayhem with him.

"Ah now there's tha elfie I rememba. That fire ah needed, before it got tempered." He stepped towards her and dragged a cracked nail across the line of her chin.

"Remember?" She growled. She was quickly growing tired of this exchange and wished nothing more than to rip his throat out. But tiny hands clutching at the back of her robe held her back. One thing at a time.

"We haven't met before."

"Ah you wouldn't remembah. You were dead." He stated it so simply. Had he found her body?

"You don't know, but I used tah rule these islands. Until this," He kicked at Vol'jin, frozen in shadow, "Whelp, called forth Bwonsamdi and killed meh." He turned to face her again, suddenly angry as he grabbed her chin. His broken and cracked nails dug into her skin as he raged.

"My spirit fled, searching for a suitable body to inhabit. You see, a powerful spirit such as mine can't be held by a normal bodeh. No no. I need a very specific house. One that's familiar with both life, and death."

Luna's eyes widened.

"Yeees. Ya undastand now." He released her chin with a shove. "But when ah found ya, you were encased in tha tree, protected by the 'ancients'" He wiggled his fingers around the word ancients, as though they were mere playthings, and began pacing.

"Why wait." she coughed, smoke filling her mouth with ash and dust. Swallowing she continued.

"I've been out for almost two years! Why did you wait!" Her eyes grew feverish. Why wait until she found Jak, until she was happy. He stilled his pacing.

"Why!" She screamed at him. He stood still, so still she could almost beleive him dead, but for the glareing yellow of his eyes. He remained still for a time, watching her carefully before his face broke into a grin, his yellowed teeth bared.

"You see, leetle elf, the ting about souls is, they become attached to their vessels after a certain age." He stepped towards her. "And you've been alive for ah long, long time."

Luna grit her teeth, 'Then what has this all been for!?'

"But new ones..." He trailed off, extending his hand towards her. She flinched as he placed his hand flat against her lower stomach.

"New souls are much more... malleable."

Understanding dawned on her in a wave of panic. Her pulse was suddenly in her throat as he began to cackle. Blood rushed through her ears, rendering her deaf and dizzy. Time seemed slowed as she began to teeter, the ground suddenly much closer as she looked up into yellow, gleeful eyes.

Her breath left her as his white mask lowered close enough to touch her nose, and he whispered, almost intimately.

"You have a very big choice tah make." She could feel his breath against her skin, cold and dry. It reminded her of a tomb.

"Your lover..." He stood, still whispering. He began walking back towards the towering flames, turning back a moment before stepping into them.

"Or your child." The flames erupted around him, and for a glorious moment Lunaea hoped they had devoured him, despite his maniacal laughter proving otherwise.

~Que M. Night. Shyamalan ending~