SOVEREIGN by J CAE
A/N: From the USA with love. Hey sorry, I know it's been 24 days since I've updated. Got the finals and everything. But ha! Now I'm on vacation! And lately I've been having dreams of milk chocolate...damn it. Happy New Year, everyone!
SYLVANAS'S INTERLUDE
Eternal blue blaze.
Its flickering light danced wildly in the place where a black gaping hole formed in her soul. Flames sputtered and rolled, sparkling upon her mind.
The flames never faltered, never scorched her frail mortal body.
Power.
The fire answered to her command--an answer to that sweet ecstasy washing over her as she wielded it to crush and destroy. The tortured souls of her victims screamed and writhed at her conjuring. Their bodies laid broken and bleeding at her feet. She would step over their ruins, feeling no pity, no shame.
Why then, could she not defeat him?
Then, a spectre appeared, gleaming with a wraithlike golden glow. She reached out and bounded it with her circlet of power, but she did not feel it tremble in her magnificence. Without even looking, she knew it was him. It was him.
"A year ago when we met again, this is what you said to me," finally, she turned her gaze on that figure, masked and faceless. "You said I would choose to stand where you stand. Then, you would destroy me." She paused, only momentarily, and laughed, "Destroy me? You know you do not have the power!"
"No," the lich king answered dully.
"Then, be gone," she said to him, waving a hand irritably as if to shove him away.
"It is true I do not have the power to destroy you," Ner'zhul said sardonically. "But it would not be through my power you should fall. It is through your own."
Her blue eyes flared in terrible anger. Had Ner'zhul been a mere mortal, he would have found her gaze colder than ice. But he was not, and he was used to her outburst--a mirror of his own in earlier days when he first found himself on the game board of Kil'jaeden's yet refused to admit it.
"Look at yourself, Sylvanas," he extended a hand, pointing at her. His tone changed, somehow. It was no longer full of scorn--now it sounded almost sad, "You have always tried to set yourself apart from me, but do you really see? You are becoming me."
"How dare you!"
"You sought power to destroy me. You'd give anything and everything to have your vengeance. You even tried to banish your own thoughts and emotions in order to understand my mind."
He did not let her speak, "You have turned your back on yourself."
"No," she protested, but her voice died on her lips. "I won't become like you. Never."
"Say what you will, but I have seen better," a dark shadow of a smile played at the corner of his lips as he reminded her of the things she had done, "I have possessed Vashj for my convenience, and I have shattered your king's heart. But I do not feel remorse, for they both mean nothing to me--they are merely obstacles. And in return, you possessed the human Sir Usven for your own convenience--and you shattered his wife's heart. Still, you feel no remorse, because those humans mean nothing to you. How different are we?"
She gritted her teeth, her rage so great she could not speak. But rage? She could not tell whether it was directed at him, or at herself!
"I have destroyed Alanen to ensure my victory, and you are now plotting to destroy one of my servitors for the same sake. Interesting how our minds work the same way, isn't it? "
"I have captured Elma, and I will turn her into my apprentice. And you will do everything it takes to stop me and to get her back. I know what it is that you plan to do. Are we really that different?"
"No..." she whispered.
"Come to me, Dark Lady," he beckoned invitingly, temptingly. "You shall have your vengeance. I am weaker than you are now."
She involuntarily obeyed. In her eyes there was nothing now, other than his perfect darkness, his mind, his seduction. She lifted a foot. Somehow, she felt like she was rushing forward to meet her doom, but she also saw an opportunity...she could kill him. She could kill him right there and then...
But another voice inside of her retained her, and she started to look behind her.
"I have already destroyed your past," the lich king said. "Silvermoon fell. You have slaughtered your people and murdered your own dear family. There is nothing for you to go back to."
He was right. There was nothing behind her but destruction and sorrow. Nothing but dead hateful faces that stared back at her.
She gazed at him hesitantly. She thought about another way...
"You cannot try to live both our lives," his words haunted her. "You would weaken, and then you'd crumble. There is only one choice here you can make. Either you stay there and remain Sylvanas Windrunner, or step forward and become me."
"Never!" she heard herself yelling, turning away from him, only to find that there was nothing she could turn away to. "I'll never become you!"
"Come to me," he called, softly, seductively. "Come to me--to your salvation, to my death."
She took a stride forward, "What do you want from me? Tell me! Why do you show me my weaknesses? Why do you give me a way to destroy you? Is this a trap?" She felt as though she was leaning over a chasm. If she did not grab hold of something fast--some part of herself--she would surely fall.
"You still do not understand, do you?" he began to laugh. "I am giving you a choice. If your life, your love and memories--if these still mean anything to you, go back to your king. But you would live with the understanding that you have no power to destroy me--that there still exist some things greater than revenge in your life. Otherwise, come forth. I will let you slay me, and you will take my place."
"No! I will not! "
His mouth twisted into a mocking grin as his last words echoed and died in her mind.
Come to me...
Come to me...
The sound of someone knocking at the door jerked her back to reality. Had it merely been a vision?
"My lady!"
The next thing she could feel was cold water splashing on her face.
She had no memories of how she reached the bath, but she somehow did. She screamed in fury--and relief as she punched both her fists into the basin of ice cold water.
It was a nightmare, she told herself. It is over. It is all right.
"My lady, are you well?" the voice of a concerned servant locked outside of the room did nothing more than to aggravate her mood. She chose to ignore it, threw the basin to the floor, and then herself on her stomach, shrieking and writhing.
"¡Xyour salvation.
My death."
"My lady! What is happening?" the 'clank' of the copper basin against the marble floor must have alarmed more servants. She could hear different panicked voices outside.
"The nightmare is not over. It will never be, until you face yourself," still, she could hear Ner'zhul's voice haunting her, resounding in her mind. It would never go away...
No.
She shook her head and laughed bitterly.
Ner'zhul, I would not yield to your hollow threats.
I would not face myself.
She took deep breaths laid perfectly still, waiting for her composure to return to her. She closed her eyes and listened--the servants outside were saying something about fetching their king to deal with this.
But the last thing she wanted was for Kael to see her in this state, so confused, so vulnerable.
She picked herself up from the wet floor and yanked the door open. The servants stood around her with their jaws agape. Her face was pale and her blue eyes wild. Her clothes were soaked, and her hip-length hair hung in an unruly fashion. She looked a mess--more like a mad woman than a great warrior.
"My lady!"
"Say nothing to Kael!" she grabbed a terrified servant. "Say nothing, or I'll knock out your teeth and cut your tongue!"
The servants gasped and huddled around themselves like frightened chickens, "No, my lady. We won't tell the king...but are you well?"
She let go of her captive. Was she well? Had she ever felt well? Without answering the question, she stormed back to her own room and slammed the door shut behind her.
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J NoBo:
Theoretically, I should have more time to work on my stories, but hey, did someone mention shopping?...^_^. Chapter 13 is coming. Don't worry. I'm determined to finish this story, well unless, of course, if a higher power calls...A warning though--I'm kinda having trouble with Illidan's character.
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Thank you for the very many, many reviews. Brought tears to my eyes! Honestly.
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Rowan Seven: Hahahaha...that mental image was so cute. Really. If you don't mind I'm gonna steal from your parody...even if you do mind...
Ner'zhul: And today, little Elma, I'm gonna teach you how to laugh evilly. Watch this. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Elma: *puzzled* mwahaha?
Ner'zhul: MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Elma: Eh?
Ner'zhul: *sighs* Just think of Syl riding on a kodo beast,
shooting arrows and yelling 'Lok Tar Ogar'.
Elma: MWAHAHAHAHA!
Ner'zhul: Yes!! That's it!! The very essence of evil itself! *secretly wipes tears out of eyes* I'm so proud of you...But perhaps I should stop the author before she gives out the plot...*hits J Cae* (I'm not masochistic, btw, but such things do happen and many times too often!)
Thanks for pointing out errors. I'll make the corrections if I have time.
All right, about Ner'zhul. In earlier chapters, the lich king feared that Sylvanas, Alanen and Illidan (each of them have their own reasons of hating him) would group together under Kil'jaeden's command to destroy him. He was willing to gamble to prevent that from happening--such as sending out Kel'thuzad to try and stop Syl from escaping Northrend (he failed cuz Kael and Vashj were too cooperative); sending Anub'arak to pull her out of Kil'jaeden's torture chamber, and holding Elma hostage (and accidentally discovered her powers) to ensure that Alanen would not kill him as long as his daughter's life was at stake. Illidan, however, broke away from the group voluntarily to pursue his own ambition.
With the demonlord slain and the trio broken up, Ner'zhul no longer felt threatened since he knew Illidan alone was not strong enough to kill him (the demon hunter needed a source of power to feed his hunger for magic--funny that he actually drew power from Kil'jaeden to kill Kil'jaeden himself! Damn plot flaws, should I say?!). Alanen, on the other hand, still had a soul and therefore could be killed with Frostmourne. Sylvanas was the only threat that remained--because she was so similar to Ner'zhul himself! Eh...what am I saying? Never mind then.
And as for whether Kil'jaeden was real...let's just say that he is, for this story, and whoever summoned him summoned his true form to Azeroth O_o|||.
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Shadowblack: I hope you're okay already ^_^. Yeah, I know some people...their chapters are as long as 5 of my normal ones added together. But I'm only doing the best I can manage...Did I say Varimathras summoned Inferno? Sorry, that shouldn't have happened. Yeah, but when I started out, I was not familiar at all with undead units. It was my lil brother who helped me with battle strategies (destroyers and crypt fiends work well together, he says...), and mostly my War3 game manual that helped me. Syl's secret admirer migrated to the other story, To Honour. And he's that 'oh-so-obvious-everyone-knows-he-likes-Syl-except-Syl' guy.
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inaam07: Oh thanks. I see your story. I'll go read.
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Ira Poon: Is Ner'zhul getting crazier or is he getting out of character O_o??? To run across continents for a little girl??! No, actually. I hope this chapter helped. Ner'zhul isn't completely evil the way I see him. (The only character I believe is totally capable of evil is Kil'jaeden...or Archimonde?! Even Sargares seemed to have felt some pity when he first saw how corrupted the Eredar (or was it the Nathrezim??) were). I think the game shows in more than one way that Ner'zhul only cares about himself--that's a very real element of humanity isn't it?!...and that there is no conscience left in Arthas when he ascended to the Frozen Throne (first time I watched the ending movie I sorta prayed that he would destroy the Frozen Throne hearing all those voices of Uther and Muradin in his head, but he didn't so I'm destined to hate him forever! Damn him!). Oh, do update soon.
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ETERNITY!!!: aaay! How's it going??! Thanks so much! Surely I won't want you to die of anticipation or anything. You're a great writer yourself and I'll miss you if you died!! As for the Forgotten Ones, I'm up to chapter 5. It's a really very enjoyable story.
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Warp da Warp Liger: Anub'arak...Like what I typed to Rowan Seven earlier, Ner'zhul felt certain that Sylvanas, Alanen and Illidan grouped on Kil'jaeden's side would undoubtedly defeat the Scourge. Ner'zhul sent Anub'arak to pull Sylvanas out of Kil'jaeden's keep before the demonlord had full control over her. Anub'arak went, willingly, even though it meant his own death, to protect his own master and the Scourge. It's okay if you don't like the story. No hard feelings.
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ToughPreacher: Ow. I feel deeply insulted when you compare my progress to Patch 1.13...just kidding. Yeah I know it's been quite a while since I last updated. Can't be helped. There's the finals, man. But one order from you, I opened Microsoft Words right away and started writing chapter 13 ^_^.
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I)void: Yup, you've reviewed before and 'threatened' me with an 'update soon or else' message ^_^. I remember you. Really appreciate that you enjoy my fic ^_^. RG is comign to an end, BUT in the teaser, therein hints a s...*shuts up*...
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Demongod86: Oh all right then. Illidan, back to life by your request ^_^. But well, life and death and undeath have their own meaning, you see...
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the aegis knight: Thanks for reading.
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San: *grins evilly* I hope the previous chapter was not the moment you first figured out that I'm evil!! I am evil and cruel and cold hearted and will do anything for a s...wait. Never mind. Patience, my friend. All shall be revealed...
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Ride4Ruin: Thanks for reading. I know it's confusing and the cat is struggling to get out of the bag. I guess I get confused myself sometimes cuz of infinitely many sudden plot changes which I can't connect back to earlier chapters. I'll try my best to unconfuse you. But this whole story is actually just a contest of telepathic power and strength of will between Ner'zhul and Sylvanas.
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