Chapter Thirty-Seven – Raging War

Jaina took both wands in her hands and turned towards the nearest group of Horde soldiers which were fighting against a group of humans, dwarves and skeletons. She muttered a few words and created dozens of sharp ice-splinters which rained down onto the enemies and wounded them. I didn't hesitate and rushed to them as well, defending the soldiers of the Alliance which were outnumbered by the Horde soldiers.

My first hammer swing brought down a forsaken warrior. My second swing hit a massive orc in the chest, causing him to stagger backwards. My third swing squashed the head of a troll who had tried to attack me from behind. Meanwhile, Jaina cast spell after a spell and killed two orc shamans and their earth elementals. The last remaining soldier of the group, a troll druid, was taken down by a precise headshot from Vereesa.

There was no other enemy in our near so we decided to walk to the west front where a few dozen Alliance soldiers and about eighty minions of the Scourge were battling against two hundred Horde soldiers. I also spotted three val'kyries which were protected by a powerful barrier. They were busy raising the fallen soldiers which weren't burned by the mages or shamans.

I even saw a massive flesh titan which was walking around and squashed the sons and daughters of the Horde with its massive feet. I assumed that the flesh titan was at least two hundred and sixty feet tall. It was clearly visible that it was stitched together out of different bodies parts. Jaina had told me that hundreds of bodies were used to create such a creature.

At this moment, the flesh titan lifted one of Sylvanas' smaller abominations in the air and regarded it with its green glowing eyes. It opened its jaw and shoved the abomination in its mouth. The loud screams of the abomination were barely hearable when it was squashed by the titan's massive iron jaw.

I shifted my gaze away from the titan to our opponents. There were lots of tauren and orcs on the front line while most of the trolls, blood elves and goblins were standing in a large distance behind them and were shooting arrows, throwing bombs or casting spells. These missiles were very effective against the grouped-up soldiers of the Alliance.

A throwing bomb exploded a few feet to my left. Only one of the three soldiers survived but was heavily injured. He had lost one of his legs, which meant that his chance of survival was pretty low. He was hit by an arrow a few moments later which pierced through his chest and heart, killing him immediately. A few seconds passed and the freshly killed soldiers started to move again after they had been raised by one of the three val'kyries.

I turned my head a little, noticing that Jaina was igniting forsaken necromancers with small fireballs. Tirion, on the other hand, had paved a way through the mass of fighting soldiers and approached a person who seemed to be the commander of the Horde forces on the west front.

This person was wearing dark armour which covered his entire body. Not even his eyes were visible through the slits in his helmet which was decorated with massive spikes. His entire upper body armour was spiked, especially his shoulder plates. He was carrying a massive mace which was spiked as well. Red and black blood stuck on his weapon, same counted for his armour.

I had never heard of a commander of the Horde who looked like this. Nor had I heard of a mighty fighter with such a huge mace. Maybe it was one of the Banshee Queen's new allies. I knew that Sylvanas was capable of a lot. Who knows where she had searched to find new allies. Who knows what she had said and done to get new allies. Otherwise, I had no explanation where this warrior came from.

I observed the warrior out of the corner of my eyes while I was fighting against warriors of the Horde. I had no problem with those who approached me nor did it seem that the mysterious warrior had problems dealing with the soldiers of the Alliance. One mace swing was enough to throw four soldiers away. One mace swing was enough to squash the head of an abomination. Even the nerubians, varguls and vrykuls didn't hold long against him. Each member of these races fell after one or two swings.

The flesh titan turned around and charged towards the unknown commander. He bent down and tried to pick up the knight in dark armour. But the unknown knight dodged his attempt, jumped on the titan's hand and started to climb up his arm. Dozens of night elf archers tried to hit him with their arrows but he created a pitch-black barrier around him which protected him against all arrows. He made a large leap and landed on the flesh titan's left shoulder.

Suddenly, blue flames appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the mace. The knight didn't hesitate and began to pound on the titan's head. Loud screams escaped the flesh titan's jaw whenever the mace hit him. The flesh titan shook its upper body, especially his shoulders and tried to knock the commander off. Unfortunately for the titan, the unknown knight managed to stay on it and hit it over and over again.

The flesh titan's screams became much louder and shriller when its head caught fire. The titan tried to knock the mysterious knight away with his hands. Jaina and other mages tried to knock him off with arcane blasts. Even shamans tried to hit him with strong gusts of winds but the knight managed to stay on the titan's shoulder.

The mysterious knight jumped on top of the flesh titan's head, lifting his mace above his head. He executed his swing and destroyed the skullcap of the titan. Then he jumped and landed next to the flesh titan which entire body had caught fire. He ran away and managed to avoid getting hit by the falling flesh titan which landed on the ground and squashed at least twenty soldiers from both sides under its massive weight.

I didn't need to look twice to find out that the titan was truly dead. Jaina and other necromancers tried to extinguish the flames because they wanted to raise him again but they didn't manage to stop the body from burning. The body burned down faster than everyone had expected, leaving nothing but ashes behind.

I saw out of the corner of my eyes that the soldiers of the Alliance were heavily impressed by the strength of the unknown knight. Most of the nearest undead creatures were ghouls or skeletons, meaning that they had no working brain so they weren't able to show reactions. But those who had an intact brain like the necromancers were having mixed expressions on their faces. Some of them were only surprised. Some of them made shocked faces and a few were even terrified about the knight.

But their fear didn't stop them from fighting, nor did my surprise stop me. I had fought the entire time and slain at least twelve forsaken soldiers and three orcs, while the enemy commander had taken out the flesh titan.

We kept fighting and gave our best but it was not enough to best the enemy commander and his forces which were still outnumbering us. It wouldn't have been a problem for us to deal with the Horde forces but their commander killed too many of our soldiers in a short time.

We had lost half of our forces on the west front but fortunately, reinforcements arrived at this very moment. A small group of dragons came from the east to our aid. I recognized the largest of the green dragons as Ysera the Dreamer. She was accompanied by five dragons of the Green Dragonflight which were almost as large as her. The Horde forces had no chances against the six dragons. They managed to hurt one of these dragons but they got roasted in return.

The Horde forces retreated even though their commander was screaming at them, insulting them as cowards and weaklings. They ignored his angry shouts and fled from the battlefield. Only the orcs remained because of their honour codex. For them retreating was not honourable. They either got burned by the dragons or they died by Jaina's, mine or the hands of the other members of the Alliance.

The unknown knight cursed and snapped with his fingers. A hearthstone appeared in the palm of his hand. I knew immediately that he wanted to retreat as well.

I turned my head to the direction from which the loud war cry came. I saw that Tirion charged at the knight, Ashbringer was raised above his head for the finishing strike. The unknown knight turned his head a little and regarded the Scourge commander. He sidestepped the attack with ease and countered it, hitting Tirion in the chest with his mace. A loud painful cry escaped Tirion's lips as he staggered backwards and landed on the ground when he was hit again.

I charged forward, trying to reach Tirion before it was too late. Unfortunately, it was too late. The knight executed another strike which caused that Fordring's chest burst. A last scream escaped the death knight's lips before the blue glow disappeared out of his eyes. His body became limp eventually.

An angry cry escaped my lips when I approached the knight and prepared a strike with my massive hammer. But the knight disappeared by using the hearthstone before I was able to hit him. I bent down and lifted Tirion's upper body up, regarding his broken form.

"The wound in his torso looks bad but fixable" spoke Jaina and bent down next to me, holding her hands right over his chest. Her hands started to glow bluish. The blue glowing stopped when I grabbed both her hands and placed them in mine. She was regarding me with a frown and a raised eyebrow, giving me a questionable look.

I answered her unspoken question immediately. "Don't raise him, honey. He deserves his final rest. I'm pretty sure that he didn't enjoy living as an undeath. I think he has always hoped for salvation. He deserves to rest finally"

"But..." Jaina spoke but I silenced her by capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. She blinked a few times when she pulled away from that quick but awesome kiss, giving me a confused look. She stood up and looked at the persons who approached us at this very moment. Vereesa and Ysera in her humanoid form came to us and regarded Tiron's lifeless body.

"Arthas is right" spoke Ysera. "I didn't know this human very well but pretty I'm sure that he doesn't want to continue to suffer. He has fought the Scourge for over a decade. It makes sense that he hadn't really enjoyed serving them.

"She is right, Jaina" I responded and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on my shoulder and stared at Tirion's body. It was unmistakable that she was grieving. I knew that Tirion was a good friend for her. Together they had fought the Scourge in Northrend for a long time. It was only understandable that she was grieving at this very moment. I held her close and caressed her back and the back of her head softly while she kept staring at the corpse.

"We should bury him after the battle" spoke Jaina.

"Yes, we should do that" spoke Vereesa and stepped closer to Jaina pulling her in a comforting hug. Ysera bent down and regarded the corrupted Ashbringer which laid next to Tirion's corpse. She pointed at it and asked, "What do we do with this?"

"Someone has to wield it" responded Vereesa and turned her head, looking at me.

I made a surprised face and looked at the legendary sword for a few moments before I looked at Vereesa again. I pointed at my chest. "Me? Are you sure?"

Vereesa nodded. Ysera nodded as well and said "Indeed, that would be the best choice. The original Ashbringer was a weapon wielded by a worthy paladin. You were first a paladin, then you became a death knight and years later a paladin again. You would be able to wield the corrupted and the non-corrupted Ashbringer which makes you the perfect carrier"

"So, I'm allowed to pick up this sword, right?"

"Yes, you are" spoke Jaina and gave me a convincing smile. I nodded and released her. I bent down and picked up the sword. My skin began to tingle when I held the sword in my hands. My hands started shaking first, then the rest of my body began to shake slightly as an unknown power rushed through it. It was so intense that I had to close my eyes to bear what was going on in my body. The power spread out until it reached every corner of my body. I waited a few minutes until my skin had stopped to tingle and my body had stopped shaking.

I opened my eyes and regarded the massive sword which glowed goldenly. It was unmistakable that it was not corrupted anymore, instead, it was blessed by the holy light. The symbol of corruption - the skull with green glowing eyes - was replaced by a golden disc in which a symbol in form of a hand was carved in. This symbol belonged to the blade's decoration.

I swung the sword a few times, testing how it lied in my hand. It had to say that I hadn't expected that it would be so light. It was a huge sword so I had expected that I would need both hands to swing it. But I was able to hold it one hand while my other would be able to hold Light's Vengeance. I knew I would need a lot of practice with this sword before I could consider using it and Light's Vengeance at the same time.

"It seems that Ashbringer has accepted you as its new worthy wielder" spoke Ysera and smiled at me.

"I still can't believe it, to be honest"

"The light has already forgiven you for the events of the past. It has returned to you and allows you to use it. Now, it signalizes you that it trusts you more than ever. That's a good sign" spoke Jaina and stepped closer to me. She stepped on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss on my cheek, giving me a wide smile when she pulled back.

"I guess you are right" I responded. I looked at her for a few moments before I looked at the persons around Jaina and me. Blood Queen Lana'thel and Zaen stood to our right while Vereesa and Ysera stood to our left. "What do we do now?"

"We bring his corpse to Light's Hope Chapel then we should assist the other Alliance forces on the north and south front" suggested Ysera.

"We should do that" responded Jaina and created a portal. Two alliance soldiers put Tirion's body on a stretcher and brought him through the portal.

"It seems that we have to split up now and go to the remaining fronts" said Vereesa.

"We have to decide who goes to the north front and who goes to the south front" I responded and put my arm around Jaina, signalizing everyone that I wouldn't go without her.

"I would suggest that Jaina, Arthas and I go to the north and assist Genn Greymane there. Vereesa, Blood-Queen Lana'thel and Zaen Bloodcaller could go to the south and help King Varian" said Ysera and signalized her dragon companions to come closer. She received nods from each person she had mentioned. She nodded in return and closed her eyes.

Her entire body started to glow greenish, then its form started to change. Her neck became longer, the form of her head changed. Her hands were replaced by claws, two massive wings came out of her back which had grown in size was well. A long tail grew out of the spot above her rear. Her skin was covered by scales. Most of the scales were green, only the scales on her belly were white.

Ysera lowered her head as soon as her transformation to her dragon form was over. I put my hammer and Ashbringer on my back, then I took Jaina's hand and guided her carefully on top of the dragon's head. We sat down onto it and clung on the smaller horns on Ysera's head. Jaina cast a spell which made sure that we wouldn't fall off during the flight.

Ysera's left eye glanced in our direction as if she wanted to convince herself that we were sitting safely on her head. She gave the other members of the Green Dragonflight a quick nod before she lifted her head, stretched her back and spreading her wings. She slowly raised in the air and hovered about fifteen feet above the ground.

Ysera didn't warn us when she started to fly towards the north. I had never ridden on a dragon - Riding on Saragossa while I had been controlled by the Lich King didn't count in this case.

I had never imagined that I would ride a dragon one day. I had hoped that I could ride a dragon one day since I had been little. But I had never believed that this could happen to me. Riding a dragon felt far better than I had thought it would feel. Actually, it was pretty hard to describe what I was feeling when we glided through the air on top of this beautiful and majestic creature. I could only say that I was feeling mighty. Not many humanoid creatures had the chance to ride a dragon, so I was very lucky to count me to those who had been allowed to ride one.

I held Jaina's hand during the flight, our fingers were intertwined and she even moved on my lap after a few minutes. I wrapped my arm around her hip, pulling her closer to me. My right hand held one of Ysera's smaller horns tightly. I knew that we couldn't fall off the dragon, still, I was careful and made sure that Jaina and I were additionally secured for the case that the spell would fail.

We came to the north front after a ride of about fifteen minutes. We could already see from the top that the battle down there was raging. As we came closer, I was able to take a closer look at the fighting soldiers of both sides. I guessed that at least one thousand sons and daughters of the Horde were fighting against seven hundred soldiers of the Alliance and five hundred minions of the Scourge. Even though the Alliance and the Scourge were outnumbering the Horde, they weren't able to decimate enough of their warriors to force them to retreat.

"Undead dragons... That's so disgusting" whispered Ysera with a voice which expressed that she was not pleased to fight alongside the former members of the other dragonflights. I understood that she didn't like these Frostwyrms. She was the sister and best friend of the Dragon Queen Alexstrasza who was the Aspect of Life. It was only natural for the dragon sisters to not like anything which was not really alive. Jaina and I were exceptions because we fought voluntarily for the living and the Alliance while the members of the Scourge were only fighting for the Alliance because Jaina had ordered that.

Ysera landed at the edge of the battlefield and allowed us to get on the ground before she rose up in the air and started to burn members of the Horde with her fiery breath. I debated quickly if I should use Ashbringer or Light Vengeance for the battle. I decided to use my hammer because I was used to it and had no experience with Ashbringer.

I knew that this legendary sword was a lot stronger than my hammer. Still, I decided to only use it if it would be necessary. I decided to only use it in a dangerous situation where I would have no other choice than using it. I needed to train with the sword before I would use it as my main weapon.

Jaina and I walked to the nearest group of Alliance soldiers which consisted out of three worgen and a dwarf. The worgen were shooting arrows at the nearest enemies while the dwarf was loading his rifle and fired a shot at a large tauren. The bullet penetrated the tauren's armour with ease and left a huge flesh wound in the tauren's chest. The tauren was not dead but it was clearly visible in his face, especially in his eyes, that he was heavily in pain.

I charged forward and executed a precise swing, taking out the tauren before he was able to do something. I regarded the corpse which was raised a moment later by a lich. The lich belonged to the strongest liches I had ever seen. It was not as strong as Kel'Thuzad but at least stronger than most liches I had met.

Speaking of Kel'Thuzad, it really surprised me to see him on the battlefield. I hadn't seen him since that day where Jaina and I had found out that a demon had taken his place. Until this day, Jaina hadn't told me that she had found him, so it really surprised me to see him a few feet away from me.

Kel'Thuzad was hovering over the corpse of a human and cast a spell. I had expected that he would raise the human but instead, he created a large pillar of ice which came out of the ground and skewered two orcs and two trolls. His laughter sounded loud and evil. His blue glowing eyes reflected joy about the pain he was inflicting to others. Kel'Thuzad was a real bastard. But he was a very deadly and efficient bastard when it came to killing our enemies. I shifted my gaze away from the sadistic lich and ran towards the nearest group of Horde soldiers. I killed them quickly with the help of Jaina.

The battle was faster over than we had expected. Together with Ysera and the undead dragons we achieved a quick victory. Of course, I was happy that the battle on the north front was faster over than expected but I was also suspicious why no commander of the Horde had been there. I had expected to see Lor'themar Theron, Sylvanas or Thrall on this battlefield. But no person of importance had supported the Horde troops there.

I found out a few moments later why no one had been there. Barrels landed on the battlefield and exploded. We found out quickly that the barrels contained the blight of the Forsaken which spread out quickly and infested lots of soldiers. Not even the soldiers of the Scourge were immune against this poison. Like the living creatures of the Alliance, the infected didn't hold out very long and were carried off by the blight.

We had to react quickly. We evacuated as many people as we could before the blight spread out of the entire battlefield. A lot of people were evacuated through a portal, a large portion was carried away by gargoyles, winged beasts and dragons. Others rushed towards the south front. But we were not able to save everyone. In the end, we lost about a third of our soldiers to the blight. At least, most of them were members of the Scourge so we didn't lose too many living creatures.

We climbed on Ysera's head again, after the dragons had destroyed the catapults which had flung these barrels at us. Ysera rose in the air and flew towards the southern front. We landed in the middle of the raging battlefield and joined the massacre without hesitation. Jaina and I fought our way through the mass of enemies until we came in the near of the Horde leadership.

Sylvanas and Velonara were standing on a hill and killed Alliance soldiers and Scourge members with deadly precision. Thrall was not far away from them. He was smashing the heads of a few skeletons with Doomhammer. Even the mysterious knight was there and decimated smaller groups with only three mace swings.

I knew immediately that this final battle wouldn't be as easy as the others had been. We had the dragons and the Scourge at our side but the Horde was supported by demons.

Wait...

I blinked in surprise, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hands, hoping that I was hallucinating this. To my horror, I wasn't hallucinating this. Hundreds of smaller demons were jumping around and attacked Alliance soldiers and undead creatures which didn't belong to the Horde. I even saw a large dreadlord which was standing behind Sylvanas as if it was her companion.

He was about sixteen feet tall and had dark blue skin. He was wearing heavy armour which covered most of his body. He even wore some sort of a helmet which looked really hilarious. The dreadlord was fast for his size and very deadly. He was strong enough to kill five well-armed humans with a simple strike with his sharp claws.

I noticed that the demon was staring at me and Jaina. His staring felt unpleasant and caused that my skin tingled nervously for some reason. But that didn't stop me from charging forward and crushing the skull of the nearest orc with my hammer. That didn't stop Jaina either from casting spell after spell, killings dozens of creatures within a few minutes.

With the help of the water, frost and fire elementals, Jaina had summoned, and the soldiers which surrounded us, we managed to break through the Horde frontline and came closer to our target with each group of Horde soldiers we slew. With each inch of the battlefield we conquered, we came closer to the Horde leadership which had split up and mixed up with the other fighters. They were fighting on the sides of their people against our soldiers.

I spotted the head of Thrall poking out of a group of large orcs about two hundred yards away from me. Even from the distance, I saw that he was doing well against the minions of the Scourge. Lor'themar Theron and Baine Bloodhoof, the leader of the tauren, were fighting back to back against two human lieutenants. Saurfang and Vol'jin were not far away from Thrall. Saurfang cut humans in pieces with his axe as if their armours were made out of paper while Vol'jin pierced his spear through the upper bodies of his enemies.

I also spotted Sylvanas and Velonara who were killing their foes with precise arrows. They were standing on top of a small hill about one-hundred fifty yards away from us. The unknown knight was standing right in front of the hill's foot, protecting them from everyone who dared to approach them.

I looked around while I kept fighting against those who were approaching me. I saw that Varian and his close friend Valeera Sanguinar were in Thrall's near, meaning that they were planning on fighting him. Tyrande and Malfurion were not far away from Lor'themar and Baine. I should have known that they wanted to face the leader of the blood elves after the heavy argument during the meeting between the Horde and the Alliance. Varian had told me that there had always been bad blood between the two elven races and that the recent events hadn't made it better.

Genn Greymane and his son and daughter were in Saurfang's and Vol'jin's near. Rhonin and Vissia were floating in the backline and sending spells at Sylvanas' archers. The angry shades, on the other hand, were raging through the mass of Horde soldiers and killed as many of them as possible. The normal Horde soldiers couldn't do anything against them. Only the forsaken, the best-trained mages of the Horde, and the demonic creatures were able to injure them. A lot of shades were torn apart by fel-hounds, demonic hounds and other small but deadly creature. At least the shades didn't die without killing a lot of these demonic creatures.

Vereesa had the honour to rode on Ysera who flew across the battlefield and burned war machines like catapults or canons. Vereesa's high position allowed her to let dozens of arrows hail down onto the Horde. There was a mage standing behind her, a male worgen, who was busy creating more and more arrows for the youngest daughter of the Windrunner family. Vereesa used these enchanted arrows to bring down as many soldiers of the Horde as she could.

Jaina and I kept fighting and moved forward with each member of the Horde we slew. Sylvanas was our target. Of course, we hoped that the other leaders of the Horde will be taken captive as well so we could end this meaningless war which was probably arranged by the Burning Legion. I was pretty sure that the Burning Legion was behind all of this. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been kidnapped and sent to another planet where time passes differently. Not to mention that the Burning Legion was supporting the Horde.

Speaking of the Burning Legion. I had no clue where this strange blue-skinned demon was. I had seen him about an hour ago but now he was not there anymore. Maybe he was fighting elsewhere. He was very tall so it should be hard to overlook him. Still, I didn't see him in the mass of enemies. I was even more careful than before, knowing that he could come out of nowhere and surprise us.

I turned my head a little and looked at Jaina who had shot a large pyroblast at a group of twelve forsaken a few seconds ago. She turned her head as well, giving me a small, barely recognizable smile. Her gorgeous eyes rested on my face for a moment before they shifted to the nearest enemy. I charged forward and crushed the felhound's head with my hammer before it was able to attack Jaina.

The next demon died by another swing. The third demon who approached us made a very surprised and shocked face when a sharp ice-splinter pierced through his chest and destroyed its heart. A loud cry escaped the demon's lips before it fell backwards and dissolved.

I looked around, noticing that five demons were surrounding us - Three felhounds and two wrathguards. The felhounds snarled and showed us their bare teeth while the wrathguards regarded us with narrowed eyes as the came closer, axes raised above their heads. Fortunately for us, there were enough allies around us who would come for our aid.

Two large humans tackled the first wrathguard, causing that it landed on the ground. The second was attacked by ghouls who climbed on its body and buried their sharp teeth in its flesh. They bit and tore pieces of flesh out, causing that the demon howled out in pain.

I took advantage of this situation and charged forward, crushing the head of both demons. The felhounds didn't endure very long either. They were killed by Jaina and Kel'Thuzad before they reached us. Jaina turned her head and looked at the lich, receiving a small nod from him. He turned around and created a huge ice-sphere, shooting it in a random direction.

I noticed out of the corner of my eyes that the mysterious knight had gotten closer to us. At this very moment, he squashed the head of a nerubian with his mace. He turned around, before the nerubian's body landed on the ground, and looked in our direction. He tilted his head a little and regarded us for a few moments.

He started to walk towards us eventually, shoving those aside who dared to approach him. Most of these creatures were hit by his mace. Only a few were pushed away by him, meaning that they were spared for the moment at least. I looked at Jaina quickly, signalizing her that I will attack him. She gave me a nod but also a worried look in return. I looked at her for the last time before I turned around and headed towards the mysterious knight.

A few orcs, blood elves and tauren crossed my way but they were no match for me. I killed each of them and reached the unknown knight. He started the fight by executing a mace swing from below which I avoided by jumping to the side. He wanted to attack me again but he was hit by an arcane blast before he could hit me. The arcane blast caused him to stagger backwards and damaged his upper body armour.

He caught himself and started to walk to us, reducing the distance between us quickly. He charged at me again, this time his mace came from the right side. I wrapped a barrier around me, hoping that this would block the attack. His swing was stronger than I had expected. I wasn't able to block the attack even though the barrier was wrapped around me.

The mace swing had been so strong that I staggered backwards and fell over my own feet, landing on my back. The pain I was feeling in my upper body spread out quickly so that my entire body was hurting. I lifted my head a little, trying to get up but the pain was so immense that I was not able to get my body to move.

The unknown knight stepped over me and tilted his head as he regarded me from above. He lifted the mace slowly. Jaina's screams were drowned out by the war cries, the shoutings and other battle noises made by soldiers from both sides. There was nothing I could do at this very moment to prevent that the mace would come in contact with my head. There was no one around me who could help me.

Every soldier of the Alliance, every servant of the Scourge was busy fighting. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Jaina's spells were flying in the knight's direction but they wouldn't reach him in time to save me.

I knew it was over so I closed my eyes and remembered the good memories about Jaina I was having. I remembered the day we met, our trip to the prison camp where the orcs had been held. I remembered our first kiss and the first night we had spent in my room. I remembered the time we had spent after I had been freed from the Lich King's control. I remembered almost every day I had spent with Jaina.

I expected that the mace would hit me in the next moment. But it didn't. I didn't feel that something hit me nor did I feel any form of pain. I opened my eyes and looked around, wondering what was going on. I noticed that the combat noises around me were barely hearable. I realized that for some reason the time was passing slowly. The movements of the persons around me were very slow as if the time was passing in slow motion. I saw Chromie waving at me before she turned around and shot a blast of sand at a nearby enemy. Maybe she was responsible for this. She was a member of the Bronze Dragonflight, meaning she was capable of manipulating the time. This could make sense.

I also saw a young human who was about to get hit by a massive orc axe. I knew immediately that the axe will tear the soldier in two halves. I didn't know if I would be able to help the soldier. I didn't know how long the slow motion will endure. But I knew that I will take advantage of this situation and save my own skin. I looked back at the unknown knight, noticing that the mace was a few inches away from my head. I stepped to the side so that the mace would miss me if the slow motion's duration would run out in the next moments.

Fortunately, the slow motion continued. It lasted long enough so that I was able to pull Ashbringer from my back and thrust it through the knight's upper body. The slow-motion ran out when the legendary sword pierced through his armour and flesh and came out of the knight's back.

I was hearing the roars, shouts and other combat noises in full volume again. I heard a loud explosion not far away from me but that didn't disturb me nor did it stop me from thrusting the entire blade in the knight's chest. Blood flowed out of the grooves of the mouthguard. The blood was black as I had expected, meaning that this knight was undead. It would have surprised me if this person would have been alive because he was way too powerful for an average living being.

I pulled the sword out of the knight's chest and kicked him, sending him to the ground. He laid there for a few moments but he managed to stand up quickly. This really surprised me. Ashbringer was the strongest, by the holy light strengthened weapon I had ever seen. The sword had burned a huge hole in the knight's chest out of which a lot amount of blood was flowing out. Still, he was able to stand.

The knight tilted his head and regarded me. He put his hands on his helmet and took it off, revealing his face to me. My eyes widened when I realized to who was standing in front of me.

It was Uther the Lightbringer - Or at least the undead version of him. His skin was pale blue, his eyes glowed bluish and showed no warmth. The colour of most of his facial hair was white, only a few strands of hair remained brown.

He tilted his head and looked at me. "Well met boy. It has been a long time" he spoke and lifted his mace, walking towards me slowly.

"How is this possible?" I whispered and held Ashbringer right in front of my chest, ready to counter his attack.