A/N:

Alright, here's chapter thirteen. A double chapter update for ya'll!

Chapter 13: The Vision and the Decision

Arthas' POV

The sound of drums...

The sound of a desperate war cry...

The yells of victory...

The last roars...

The sound of a body falling lifelessly with a thud on the ground...

"Fallen Prince of Lordaeron! Hear my call!"A voice that sounded eerily familiar said.

For some reason, I saw... and my vision all but foggy... the Legion, rushing to the World Tree, Kil'Jaeden himself and another demon leading them in a final attack... The Aspects themselves are gathered around the World Tree, attacking every single demon that got too close...

Then, a flash was all I saw. Bright light that blinded me. A few moments later, another vision showed up.

Six massive and powerful figures fought the Burning Legion.

Another flash...

All I saw was chaos and destruction. Everything was burned, the land looked like there's nothing that could grow. And on every crack on the desolate planet, there was just magma and smoke seeping out. The elementals raged around the lands, driven mad by the Old Gods, further crippling the already devastated planet. And then suddenly another flash occured...

And then I saw Azeroth from afar... it was all red, it's natural waters dried out. And for some reason. I knew that even though this did not look a bit like Azeroth, it was the same planet were I grew up. And because of all the chaos that took place and are taking place... it was given the name... The Scorched Earth.

"Hear me! For there is nothing the champions could do to save Azeroth!" The voice said again. "The Burning Shadow wasn't the one who caused what you just saw! Something else did! Someone bigger!"

"Who are you!? Show yourself at once! Why am I seeing this!?" I yelled angrily.

"For you are the only one... who will be able to save the inhabitants of Azeroth, from the Wrath of the Titans." The voice said mysteriously.

(Third Person)

Arthas woke up with a jolt, for some reason... he managed to sleep on his chair while researching on the seal.

"What on Azeroth was that just now?" He thought aloud.

"A vision." The same voice said. Surprised, Arthas turned to look at the source of the voice.

"You!?" Arthas exclaimed, surprised. It was none other than... The Last Prophet, Medivh. He suddenly drew his sword, and held it defensively.

"Now, now, no need for any hostility." The Prophet said calmly.

"Why are you here?" The Lich King asked with a glare. He put his sword down, but he did not sheath it.

"As you may remember, you had a dream... correct? It was not a dream, Fallen Prince, but a vision. You must go back to Azeroth as soon as you can, for there is nothing that will remain in it in twelve days." Medivh answered.

"Why would I go back to that place!?" He demanded.

"Because that's the only chance... for you to stop The Legion." The other man replies calmly, again. Despite the fact that The Lich King is already yelling at him.

"The Legion?" He asked with a laugh. "I don't want to stop the Legion from destroying Azeroth. For all I care, that place is already damned."

"Still you are stubborn. Listen to me, Arthas. I-"

"You talk to me as if you know me." Arthas said threateningly. "Get out of my sight... At once."

"Those threats ring hollow Lich King! I am already dead! All you see is my soul and the last of my magic. Listen to me, you won't be able to stop the Legion alone! But together, you will."

"Together? Do you honestly think that those fools will be smart enough to even set the past aside and ally with my Scourge?" He retorted.

"They did it before. What's to stop them from not doing so again?" Medivh stated.

"Whatever. My answer is no. I have entertained you long enough. Now, Begone!" Arthas yelled. "Or do you wish to be a prisoner of my sword?"

"Think this through Lich King, for you hold the fate of the Azerothians. I will try to visit you again for your answer." The Prophet concluded before he disappeared completely, leaving Arthas to his own thoughts. A few moments later, a knock came from the door.

"My king?" A familiar voice called out from the door. It was Kel'thuzad.

Arthas was so busy with his own thoughts that he didn't even hear him until he realized that someone was knocking on the door, breaking his chain of thoughts. "Come in."

Kel'thuzad entered and found Arthas in a rather disturbed form.

"Is something wrong my king?" He asked worriedly.

"Well, I saw a vision. I saw a war, between the demons and the Azerothians. I saw the final battle, the Aspects were gathered around the World Tree, defending it with their lives. Then, it changed, and I saw six figures fighting the Legion, six massive figures. It changed again, showing Azeroth... a devastated Azeroth. I saw it from afar, and it was all... just burned..." Arthas explained. "Then I was visited by none other than Medivh himself, and he told me, that I should go back to Azeroth, and convince them to leave Azeroth. Saying that I am the only one who will be the only chance for the Azerothians' survival. That I am the one who holds their fate." He added. Silence followed his statement. Kel'thuzad was completely at loss of words. His hand was stroking his chin, clearly thinking about what might be their next course of action.

After a few more seconds of silence, Arthas decided to break it. "By the way, have you gathered everything we need for the seal?"

"Ah, glad that you asked my king. Yes, we have gathered all that we need. In fact, I have them right here." Kel'thuzad answered as he showed a bag. He handed the bag over, and Arthas quickly took a peek in and started to take the bag's contents out. He laid them all on the table, before he grabbed a cauldron, and something to beat the ingrediants, a ladle, a very large spoon to mix it. He started to beat the herbs, he poured a whole lot of water, put the herbs in, cast a fireball on the wood, igniting it...

...

Two hours later...

"Alright!" Arthas exclaimed. Kel'thuzad looked up from whatever he is doing and looked at him expectantly. "Now we wait." He stated. Kel'thuzad's expression immediately changed from excitement to disappointment and boredom. He was expecting the Lich King to say it was finished, but apparently, he had just finished putting the ingredients. And was just letting it boil and was mixing it.

'This will be nothing in the long run.' Kel'thuzad reminded himself. Half an hour later and it was finished.

He filled a vial with the blood-colored liquid. It made a sizzling sound when it filled the vial. He looked at the liquid and smiled in satisfaction. "Now we just have to test it. I'll call in a ghoul." He said. The lich nodded. A moment later and a ghoul barged through the lab door, nearly breaking it. "I brought in the most aggressive of the ghouls we currently have." He explained. "Now... hold still." He said as he motioned the ghoul to come closer. He poured a little of the liquid on his index finger, and started to paint on the ghoul's back. He painted a sort of ram, with various sinister patterns around it. After he was finished, the ghoul looked no different.

"My king, something seems wrong." Kel'thuzad observed.

"No. The seal has to be manually activated either by the bearer or the creator of the seal." Arthas explained. "Okay, here it goes. Mark of Undeath! Release!" He chanted. The seal glowed brightly, suddenly changing it's appearance and making it's body swell in size. The ghoul now gained horns on it's head, grew spikes on his back, changed his eyes to bloodshot, and his claws and teeth made sharper, stronger and longer. It's overall height multiplied by two. It suddenly let out a mighty roar, making both Arthas and Kel'thuzad smile.

"Quite impressive." The Lich commented.

"Let's test his power." The Lich King said.

They went to the training grounds and made three ice targets. Huge ones. "Destroy these targets." He ordered. The ghoul did as he was told and smashed the first target, grabbed the second and threw it to the third, destroying both. Arthas grinned. "Alright, we'll do the same for all the ghouls. It's a troublesome task, but we will pull it off." He said. Then he looked at the humongous undead creature. "As for you. I can't keep you like that, so... Mark of Undeath! Seal!" He yelled. The seal glowed again, and the ghoul reverted back to its original form. They went back to the lab, called the other generals except for Anub'arak, and started to paint the enchantment seals.

Ten hours later...

"Alright, let's rest up a bit." Arthas declared. His generals sighed in relief. They have been putting the seals on the undead minions for the whole day, and after a while it got old, and they felt exhausted from just painting and sitting the whole day.

"If only we had those necromancers..." Kel'thuzad said with another sigh.

"Agreed. This wouldn't be such a chore if we had those." Baron replied.

"I'll fetch the necromancers." Arthas told the two. Who traded surprised looks. "You're in charge." He said as he pointed at the arch lich. He walked out of the laboratory.

"My King!" The lich called as the fallen prince opened the door. He paused and looked at the lich. "Be careful out there my king." He said. Arthas simply nodded and walked out. As he left, the lich let out a sigh. 'For some reason... I think he just uses the necromancers as an excuse to go back to Azeroth...'

Somewhere in Outland...

Arthas has been walking through the blasted lands for a few hours now, and he can't help but feel like something was... off. Then a figure materialized in front of him.

"So you are going back to Azeroth..." The figure said. It was Medivh.

"Finally you showed up." He told the prophet. "I have a question for you." He told him. He started walking to the direction where the Dark Portal is.

"What might it be?" The Last Guardian asked curiously. He walked along the Lich King, who appeared to be in deep thought.

"Nevermind." He said after a moment of thinking.

"Well I have one for you." Medivh said. Arthas just shrugged. "Why are you going back to Azeroth?"

"To get the necromancers." He answered. "And to see the situation."

"Situation?"

"Correct, i'll scope the place out, see what I can do."

"There's nothing you can do. The titans themselves, will intervene. And you know what that means right?" The Prophet told him.

"I do. And I will prevent them from coming by destroying the Legion myself." Arthas concluded with an intense glare.

"Are you insane!? You won't be able to stop them by yourself! Sargeras himself is-"

He interrupted him all of a sudden. "I lost my sanity a long time ago. And I got nothing to lose."

"Don't be foolish!" Medivh yelled.

"I'm not." He said casually.

"Listen to me. I-"

"Stop." Arthas interrupted. "I will do things my way. You think you know what my fate is? I'll prove you wrong."

"Then i've wasted my time here." The Prophet said with disappointment.

"You didn't." The man said out of the blue. "I'll make sure that Azeroth is safe. Don't worry about me." He added.

"What made you decide that?" He asked curiously.

"I don't honestly. I had a feeling of emptiness for some reason." The man replied, who looked deep in thought. Frostmourne hummed. "And that Frostmourne hungers..."

A day later...

"Why didn't I think of teleporting?" Arthas thought aloud as he walked out of the portal he just made. He's now right in front of the Dark Portal.

"Be careful out there Arthas, Kil'jaeden will NOT spare you this time." Medivh warned.

"I think it's the other way around." Arthas stated casually. "Besides, I have a surprise for him." He added. He removed his armor, and showed him some sort of ram, and has patterns around it.

"What's that?"

"Just something to enhance my powers. By the way, another reason why I wanted to come back. I need the blood of Kil'jaeden to further enhance this enchantment seal." He explained. Medivh simply nodded. "See you around ghost." He said as he walked to the portal.

He was greeted by the demons guarding the portal, who already raised their weapons and are about to attack him.

"Gimme a break." He sighed. He drew his iconic sword, Frostmourne. And killed all of the nearest demons in a mighty cleave, imbued with runic frost magic. He concentrated more magic on his foot, and just launched himself up in the sky. He made artificial runic magic wings and flew away towards the mountains. Towers shot arrows and fireballs in a futile attempt to take him down, which are all avoided.

Somewhere else...

"Lord Kil'jaeden! The Lich King has returned!" An eredar informed.

"Hmm... You may leave now." Kil'jaeden told the eredar. The lesser demon bowed and left.

"This is quite a surprise." A dark voice told the powerful demonlord.

"I'll take care of him. I was not finished with him." Another voice said.

"You do that N'zoth. We will keep on working on these new hybrids." Kil'jaeden replied to the voices.

Back with Arthas...

The Lich King landed on a mountain. Looking around, he found that no demon followed him. "Strange." He thought to himself. "There are only a few who tried to attack me. Where are all the other demons...?"

"They are currently busy destroying the World Tree." A voice said suddenly. A creature showed up, and was none other than N'zoth.

"Have you come here to experience the feeling of losing again Old God?" Arthas taunted. It seemed effective as the creature stabbed its massive sword on the ground, cracking it.

"Oh it will be the other way around this time, Lich King." N'zoth replied. The creature charged at Arthas, who flew out of the way.

"I really have no time for this." The Lich King said with an irritated tone. He came back down and punched the Old God with his left hand, imbued with runic magic, making it stagger. Then he stabbed him through the chest, twisted the blade, and kicked him away. A huge fireball suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit Arthas, knocking him several feet away.

"It's time Lich King." Another familiar voice told him.

"Show yourself then, let's fight." Arthas said with excitement. The demon lord appeared out of nowhere and started to attack the Lich King with a combination of shadow, chaos, and fire magic.

"Legion Lightning!" Kil'jaeden yelled. A black and white lightning bolt hit Arthas, knocking him towards a huge rock. He didn't stop there, he threw several more lightning bolts on him. "Flame Dart Explosion Barrage!" He yelled. The whole rock was obliterated. After the dust finally cleared, Arthas' corpse or even a piece of his armor was nowhere to be found, much to the surprise of the massive eredar. The sound of wings flapping was heard.

Shhhkt!

Arthas slashed Kil'jaeden from shoulder to elbow, creating a huge wound, before suddenly disappearing again.

"Damn you insect!" The Deceiver roared in anger. "Show yourself!"

"Very well demon. I want you to witness this yourself." Arthas said mysteriously as he walked out of hiding. "This is it demon. This is where you will die..."

"Mark of Undeath: The Twilight King! RELEASE!" The Lich King yelled powerfully.

A/N:

AND! A cliffhanger! Oh man that's some intense shit. That's a pretty long ass title for a small ass chapter. Two chapters!

Why exactly did Arthas go back?

And... is he finally getting his sanity back?

And what the hell is the Mark of Undeath on Arthas?

Stay tuned.

Merci d'avoir lu. Au revoir mon'ami.