Arthas blocked up part of the door with more ice. The creature would try to get through and Arthas might slice off its head. He hoped despite its other peculiarities that it couldn't survive without a head.

Cracking continued. Rot peeked his head out into the hallway and sniffed. He looked confused and sniffed some more. A much larger cracking sound persisted, then nothing. Either it had given up or it had broken through. Suddenly there was a growl. Arthas raised his sword, but neither a head or any other body part entered into the room. Despite it having no flesh, the creature was sniffing around the hallway, near the door.

Silence. Arthas glanced over at Lethumo, who was trying to take deep calming breaths.

The beast burst through the ice Arthas had created. Once again Lethumo screamed in terror, irritating Arthas. The creature roared fiercely. Arthas was about to slice off its head, but it snapped its head backwards and grabbed the sword in its mouth. But he did not need a sword to kill it. Arthas let go of the sword, and proceeded to grab its skull. It snarled angrily and of course violently tried to throw off the man, shaking its entire body. The creature roared and attempted to slam him against wall.

Arthas grunted as he hit the rough stone wall but managed to hang onto it. The creature writhed around, enraged at the audacity of Arthas holding onto it. Every clump of its white fur stood on end. As it snarled in anger, bloody spittle flew in the air.

He grabbed the thing by its antlers, about to snap its neck when he realized something. The antlers were small, only nubs really, covered in soft, fleshy velvet. White fur. Blue eyes. Just like-

The thing finally dislodged his grip on it, and flung Arthas off. It then slashed at his chest. Arthas's armor, paltry though it might be, protected him from being eviscerated. It lunged at him, mouth wide. Arthas raised his forearm, which the monster quickly clamped down on. The force of the creature forced Arthas to fall backwards onto the floor.

"It's Sapphire!" Arthas managed to choke out.

"Are you fucking serious?" Lethumo squeaked from the corner of the room.

Arthas growled and tried to pry his daughter's jaws off of his arm. Her jaws must be very strong, for it was actually hurting Arthas. He managed to get her upper jaw out of his flesh but she lashed angrily.

While Lethumo just cowered in the corner. Arthas snapped at him. "Do something, you moron! She likes you!"

The elf was clearly panicking. If he didn't do anything, Sapphire could very well rip off Arthas's arm. Which would be very inconvenient for him. At first that seemed it would be the case, but the elf suddenly got an idea. He grabbed a rock and tossed it at Sapphire. The rock wasn't large enough to cause pain, but it did get her attention. She dropped Arthas's arm and turned to snarl at him.

Lethumo immediately lifted both his hands to show that they were empty. And he started to sing in a low, gentle tone.

And where did you get such

a messy bloody face, little saber cub?

Did you perhaps crawl in the mud?

Or did you splash too much blood?

Come over little saber cub,

lest you get pulled astray.

Your dear Lethumo is here

to take your fear away.

Sapphire stared at him with those dark eye sockets. She lifted herself to walk two legged over to Lethumo. The night elf backed himself up against the wall, trembling with fear. He held up one hand.

"Nice Sapphire...good, Sapphire," He said comfortingly. Sapphire came forward to sniff his hand, then rubbed her snout against it. Suddenly, a deep noise rumbled from deep in her chest and she shoved herself against him. The elf jumped in alarm but Sapphire was only cuddling with him. The elf started stroking her white fur along her neck, causing her to arch her back and continue that deep noise.

"I think she's purring, Arthas," Lethumo said, suddenly laughing at the situation. Arthas got to his feet. He shook his arm, wincing at the pain. Black blood slowly oozed out. Lethumo started to wrap his arms around Sapphire's thick muscular neck and continued to soothe her by running her fingers through her fur. Her dog like tail started to wag.

From bloodthirsty monster to affectionate dog with only a simple rhyme sung by a mediocre bard, Arthas thought sardonically.

Sapphire looked at her current state with curiosity, seemingly unaware of anything that she had done previously. She then looked over at Arthas. Her tail started to wag faster, until she saw his arm.

She growled in alarm and rushed over to him. She made a cacophony of worried noises. Arthas tried to reassure her.

"I'm fine. You didn't do much damage."

Sapphire whined and looked at her paws. She then backed away from both men. Lethumo immediately went to comfort her.

"No no! It's okay, kid! It's not your fault," He consoled.

She whined some more. As the elf tried to keep her calm, Arthas's thoughts went wild. He was right. It could not be Sapphire's fault, but there was more. Someone had to have done this. Arthas left the room and looked down the hallway at the old man on the floor. He approached and saw that the blood pooled around him.

Sapphire had ripped off the man's arm, which had caused him to bleed out. Arthas looked into the other room, which was full of dissection apparatus. A woman with a torn up face and slashed chest lay dead on the floor. From what he could determine, they planned to kill her and cut her up. Instead, for some reason she had changed into some kind of creature and turned against them.

Arthas noticed there was no torn off arm. He looked back at the man, thinking he'd missed it. Still no arm.

He heard footsteps from the opposite end of the hallway, away from Sapphire and Lethumo. Arthas turned and saw a pathetic example of humanity. A greasy, black haired man stormed down the hall. He looked like one of his ancestors had dallied with a kobold or two. The ratty man saw Arthas standing over his dead colleague.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded, raising his arms to defend himself but Arthas merely raised his own and closed his fist. Dark energy lashed out and wrapped around the cultist's neck. The man immediately clutched at his throat and gurgled in horror.

At first, Arthas intended to suffocate the man but a thought occurred to him. Maybe it was this man who had cursed Sapphire.

"What did you do to Sapphire, my daughter?" Arthas demanded, letting go of his spell. The magic dissipated and the man fell onto all fours, gasping.

"I...I did not do anything to-"

With a single move, Arthas stepped on the man's hand. The necromancer screamed in pain.

Arthas bent down and smiled. "Lie again and I crush all of those fragile little bones."

The cultist sobbed, "I swear! I...I just told the others to kill her? I did not touch her! Please, spare me!"

He sounded sincere, so Arthas took his foot off the man's hand. Most cultists had higher tolerances for pain. This one was no masochist it seemed. Arthas was disappointed. Lethumo and Sapphire left the room, with Rot trailing behind them. Sapphire snarled at the sight of the man. The cultist shrieked at the sight of her.

"What the fuck is that thing?" He cried out. Arthas whipped around toward him.

"You sniveling sack of flesh. I'm Arthas Menethil and I suggest you not call my daughter a thing again!" He hissed.

The realization of who stood before caused the already pale man to turn almost a green color.

"Master! I didn't know!"

Arthas ignored the boring groveling of the cultist and turned to Lethumo. Lethumo himself was pale after viewing the carnage that Sapphire had done, but he was stronger than his dashing, shallow demeanor led on.

"Take Sapphire home. Clean her up and perhaps feed her..." Arthas started to say, then looked at the armless man. That's where the arm went. Sapphire would not need dinner. She had eaten plenty enough.

Lethumo nodded at the pathetic toady. "What about him?"

"Take him with you. At least now I have a single, if wretched cultist to worship me." An undead dog, his daughter, and now one cultist. That was the sum total of his followers.

The man cleared his throat and came forward. He smiled weakly. "My name is-"

"Your name is whatever I feel like calling you," Arthas sneered, causing the man to cower before him.

Sapphire whimpered questioningly at Arthas. He reached over and pet her head. He was staying behind to see if he could uncover the reasoning behind her transformation. Two corpses lay on the ground, their secrets about to be his.

Lethumo wrapped his arm around Sapphire and gently pulled her forward. "Come on Sapphire. You are in need of a bath."

That was the wrong thing to say. Sapphire growled at him, not at all desiring to bathe. But the night elf planted both hands on his hips.

"Don't talk back to me, little...Well, you aren't really little physically but you are still a saber cub!" He commanded sternly. Sapphire stamped one paw down and reluctantly followed. As the cultist came with them, it seemed Sapphire still harbored resentment toward him. She snapped her jaws near him, causing him to shriek in terror. But Sapphire wagged her tail and continued on.

Arthas focused his attention away from them and at the bloodied scene. He felt no residual magic, so nothing had been cast on Sapphire. At least, not in the immediate area. The woman had died first, that was clear so most likely she had been closest to Sapphire at the time of the attack.

Without any fanfare, Arthas resurrected the woman. He did not spare any kind of extra magic to empower her. He only needed answers, not a follower. Her body stirred and slowly she sat up and looked at Arthas with blank dead eyes.

"Did you preform any magic on my daughter?" He demanded, exerting his will on her to force out a truthful answer.

She slowly shook her head. "No. I did not."

Arthas pointed at the old man and asked if he had done anything to her. Again, she said no. A few more perfunctory questions and Arthas was left with nothing useful out of the woman, so he released her and turned to the old man. But before he could start any spell, there was a cold, high pitched laugh from behind him. He looked back to see the woman had not gone limp, despite his own spell releasing her spirit.

"I command you to rest, woman," He ordered, but she did not.

"I am no woman," The body now said. It was now obvious to him that this was not the same spirit that he'd questioned previously. Somehow, another one had possessed the body without urging. Something he had never seen before.

Instinctively, Arthas placed his hand on his sword hilt casually. "Who are you?"

"No one," It said. Arthas heard shuffling behind him and saw the one armed man start to rise. He had not even started to resurrect the body, but yet it was getting to its feet. The old man stared at Arthas blankly.

To keep them both in his line of sight, Arthas sidestepped. He gripped his sword. Whatever this was, he wanted answers.

"Do you have the answer to what I want to know?" He asked blankly, hiding his emotions.

The old man's mouth gaped open but did not move when the voice answered.

"You wish to know the being who created the Outcast?"

Arthas narrowed his eyes. "I want to know what caused my daughter to turn into some kind of cannibalistic animal."

The woman learned forward, head turning to the side limply.

"You did, Arthas Menethil."

Deceptive tricksters it seemed. Arthas did not believe them. He would have clearly remembered doing that. Arthas proceeded to whisk out his sword and simply decapitated the woman. The head came off and flopped to the floor. But that did not stop the thing from speaking.

"As a consequence of your actions, you cursed the Outcast. Destined to never belong here-"

"-or there," The old man continued. "She's doomed to be a vessel of ruination and shadow."

Despite his desire to not be affected by the unholy liars, Arthas grew angry. He grabbed the old man by his neck.

"How do I undo this curse?" He roared.

His attempt at intimidation did nothing to sway it.

"You cannot. Death follows her wherever she goes and will continue to do so-"

"-till the stars expire," continued the head on the floor.

With that final declaration, both bodies went limp and hit the floor with wet thumps.

After hours of his head clouded by anger and confusion, Arthas eventually trudged his way back home. He slowly opened the door to the dim apartment. The cultist had already found a place for him to sleep, curled up on the sofa. As gently as he could, Arthas walked to his and Sapphire's room. He pushed the door open quietly. The bed room was empty. Concern did not occur to him. He knew where to look.

Arthas expected Sapphire to have eaten Lethumo and decided to nap in his bed. That would have been amusing. But instead he got another suprise. Lethumo lay in his own bed, snoring loudly. Flung horizontally across the bed with her head on Lethumo's chest was the fully human and small Sapphire. She nuzzled the elf in her sleep and mumbled something. A little ball rising under the covers in one corner of the bed told him that Rot was perfectly asleep as well.

Still disturbed by recent events, Arthas returned to his room. Rather than sleep on the floor like usual, he flung himself onto Sapphire's bed and passed out.