Days later
At first, Arthas couldn't see anything out of his injured eye, but over the days he took to return to his cultists, his necromantic healing managed to restore some of his vision back though it was blurred and dark. The pain did not fade away however. The wound still felt like it had only been seconds since Sapphire sliced him open.
He had rebuffed all attempts from Jaina to look at the wound. The fact that she saw him in such a vulnerable state disgusted him. Let her cry over Sapphire. She can return back to Dalaran and find comfort with that blue lizard.
Invincible started to slow, drawing Arthas from his thoughts. He saw the crypt where Kiefer had set up the Cult of the Damned. Immediately one of the cultists came out to greet Arthas, a relieved expression on their face.
"Lord Arthas, you have returned-"
Then the cultist saw the long scratch along Arthas's eye. Arthas dismounted before the cultist could comment. He shoved the man aside. As he went through the crypt, the other cultists and the undead were quick to pick up on his mood and stayed well out of his reach.
Kiefer was in his makeshift study when Arthas slammed his door open. The man jumped at the sound. His eyes widened when he saw the state of Arthas and he leapt up to come to his side.
"Master! What happened to you?"
"Sapphire happened," Arthas snarled.
Kiefer paled. "I...I see. Does it need tending to?"
Arthas reluctantly sat down and let the cultist tend to his wound. The cultist brought in another to aid him. They examined and cleaned the wound. The other cultist looked at Kiefer.
"Should we replace the eye?"
Arthas quickly snatched the cultist's neck and crushed it. The cultist gurgled as they desperately tried to pry his hand away from their neck. Kiefer said nothing as Arthas strangled the cultist until their heartbeat stopped. He only winced when Arthas dropped the body to the floor.
Kiefer sighed. "That's a no then."
Arthas took a potion that the cultist offered and downed it.
"What happened to the princess?"
He did not want to talk about Sapphire. Did not want to confront the feelings he felt since she slashed his face and left him alone. So he quickly changed the subject. Closed the door on those thoughts.
"How many cultists do we have?" He demanded.
"We have around fifty here, but there are a hundred more loyal to us in Stratholme."
Once, thousands of cultists served him. However, looking back would not help. Arthas shut down his thoughts and turned to a more strategic mindset.
"Get me the most senior of all the cultists and start finding the strongest undead from here to Stratholme and get them in line."
Kiefer, ever obedient, did not try to pry any further on what happened. He merely nodded, and collected a few things he needed before leaving to do his job. When he opened the door, he saw Lethumo coming. Arthas heard them speak.
"I don't recommend you go in there. The master is in a foul mood."
"Why, what happened? Is Sapphire okay? Where is she?" The night elf asked, suddenly concerned. There was a shuffling of noises, but Arthas saw the night elf push aside Kiefer and enter the room. He saw the body on the floor and paled at the sight, but quickly looked away to see Arthas and his wound. The elf immediately gasped.
"By Elune, what happened to you!"
He reached out to help, but Arthas grabbed his wrists. "It is nothing."
"Nothing! Looks like you got mauled by a rabid night saber!" The elf exclaimed, then horror dawned on him.
"Oh no! Was it Sapphire? Did she turn into the Larrikin again?"
"Yes, she did this and...Wait, what did you call it?" Arthas said, confused.
He then narrowed his eyes. Pain exploded in his wounded eye, but he ignored it. Lethumo laughed nervously as Arthas stood up suddenly.
Arthas glared at Lethumo. "You see a giant beast of bone and claws that had ripped off a man's arm with ease and you...name it after the Dwarvish word for 'mischievous child'?"
The elf gave him wide shrug, smiling sheepishly. "Seemed fitting."
Arthas turned away with a sound of disgust, but Lethumo grabbed his arm.
"What happened? Tell me!"
The elf would not let it go, unlike Kiefer. Arthas turned to shove the elf away from him.
"Sapphire did this on purpose! She has chosen her own fate and I never wish to see her!"
Lethumo recoiled, horror on his face. He stuttered. "W-well, I doubt it was on purpose. Such a sweet naïve kid, I'm sure if you gave her a chance-"
Rage flowed through Arthas like blood in his veins. He grabbed Kiefer's desk and threw it against the wall. The wood exploded into a shower of splinters. Lethumo fell back, terrified, as Arthas turned his attention back to the night elf.
"No more chances! If I ever do see her, I'll kill her! The same goes for you, little elf! Get out of my sight or you won't ever see the light of your precious moon again!"
Lethumo shakily got to his feet again. "But Arthas-"
A ball of unholy magic formed in Arthas's open hand and he slammed it against the floor. The magic started to spread, sizzling and causing the room to smell of decomposed bodies. Arthas stood in the middle of the spreading growth.
"Get out or your flesh will slide off your bones," Arthas growled. A roach crawled along the floor. As soon as the magic touched it, the roach burst from the inside out.
The night elf covered his mouth, horrified by the sight. He stumbled out of the room, stopping just at the door. He looked back as if he wanted to say something, but let out a hurt sob. Arthas watched him run off with a smug expression. No more distractions. The past year had only hindered him. Sapphire with her pathetic dreams of being a druid. The annoying bard with his carefree attitude. Even the damn dog Rot had only distracted Arthas.
Now all that was gone. Arthas was alone. As he stood there, he tried to convince himself that it was what he had wanted.
"Chomper! Little sister, where are you?"
Ethan looked around his bedroom, trying to find the little gnoll to no avail. He looked behind the books on the bookshelf, behind his small armchair, and even in his clothes chest. Finally, he heard a rustling under his bed. Ethan got down on all fours, wincing at the pain in his lower abdomen.
Under his bed, little blue eyes peered back at him. Chomper opened her mouth and bared her little white fangs. Ethan sighed.
"Come on out there. Aren't you hungry? I made you some food." He reached out toward her.
The gnoll snapped at his fingers, but he ignored the hollow threat. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and yanked her out from under the bed. She immediately started yowling.
Ethan made his way downstairs, holding on tightly to the thrashing baby. Chomper snapped again at Ethan but the boy got her into kitchen and set her down at the table.
"Found her. She was under my bed," Ethan said. Across the table, Tirion Fordring merely smiled and took a sip of tea.
"Well, at least Alphus can preach to the masses in peace today knowing that she isn't hiding somewhere ready to pounce on him."
Chomper was still getting used to be around non gnoll people. She practically terrorized everyone in Hearthglen. Most of the paladins wanted to kill her or at least kick her out of Hearthglen, but the Highlord had given the gnoll orphan sanctuary. Ethan was in charge of her, much to the amusement of everyone. They called him Dogbreath to his face already and now he'd heard Gnollfriend being spread around.
Now that she had been caught, Chomper readily shoved sausage and eggs into her mouth. Tirion picked up a strawberry and held it out to the little gnoll. She growled at him and snatched it away, turning her nose up at him before tearing the berry apart.
Ethan kept his head down as he picked at his plate.
"Something is bothering you." It was not a question.
Ethan refused to look the Highlord in the eye. For the past several days he had tried avoiding the tough questions. Lady Proudmoore had quickly left in tears without telling the Highlord. Sapphire had vanished, though to Ethan's confusion had left some kind of strange clarion behind in her room. Stockley and his friends' bodies had been found brutally dismembered in the forest.
Ethan could guess that Sapphire had been involved but he was not sure how exactly to tell anyone, especially Highlord Fordring. Nor could he think of how to bring up the fact that a supposedly evil person like Arthas was not dead like everyone thought. It scared him.
The Highlord cupped his chin with his hand and gave the boy a sympathetic look. "Is the little girl too much for you?"
Ethan immediately looked up. "No, sir! Not at all!"
Tirion tilted his head curiously and pondered the boy.
"Can you not confess it to a priest? Alphus might dislike little Chomper's ferocity, but he has a fondness for you."
Ethan shrunk in his seat and silently shook his head. He didn't want to burden anyone with this struggle. Tirion Fordring nodded as if he completely understood, then got to his feet. He put a hand on Ethan's shoulder.
"Come with me."
Dreading what Tirion wanted, Ethan reluctantly followed him to the back of their house, where Tirion grew beautiful flowers. Tirion got straight down into the dirt and started picking flowers of light pink and snow white. He arranged them into a lovely bundle and handed them to Ethan. The boy took them cautiously.
"I haven't sent flowers to my dearest friend in a while. Why don't you take these to Sorrow Hill and place them in his tomb?"
Ethan took the flowers, flabbergasted. Sorrow Hill. He had not yet been there himself but he knew enough to know who Tirion was talking about.
"Are you sure?"
Tirion smiled. "Take Mirador as well. My back has been acting up recently so I haven't been able to give her a proper ride."
It would have been wrong to refuse the old man's request, so Ethan collected enough supplies for the short journey. Though it felt a bit demeaning, Ethan got a leash for Chomper. She was prone to running off and she was much faster than him. He would hate for her to run off and be eaten by wayward wildlife.
Though he felt that the Forsaken wouldn't just attack a lone traveler, Ethan did wear his armor and tabard to signify him as a paladin officially with the neutral Argent Crusade. As a last minute thought, Ethan retrieved Sapphire's horn which he had kept in case she returned for it. If anything, if he got in danger he could always blow it in the hopes of someone hearing and coming to his aid.
Mirador, ever steadfast and patient, ignored Chomper's audible protests and Stub's hyperactive nature. The ride to Sorrow Hill was a quick one, with Ethan passing around the ruins of Andorhal without any trouble from the occupying forces that were there.
Sorrow Hill itself was a stark reminder of how many people had died both from wars and the Scourge plague that had ravaged Lordaeron. He rode through rows and rows of graves of differing ages and quality. Most of the recent ones were mass graves, with names covering every surface of the memorial stones.
Ethan directed Mirador to the largest tomb in the graveyard. Here, a subtle light glowed from the tomb itself. The land was green and the plants were suffering a lot less than those in the surrounding landscape. Someone tended to the bushes and the stone walkway to keep the area looking nice.
Stub ran over to one of the bushes and lifted his leg. Ethan growled at him. The hyena whimpered and scampered back to the boy. Ethan dismounted and turned to unstrap Chomper from the saddle. She immediately hopped onto Ethan's shoulder and then scurried down his body to the ground.
"Mirador, Stay," Ethan said to the horse. She had been trained to stay without being tied off. The horse flicked her eyes in response and started to nibble on the healthy grass surrounding the tomb.
With flowers in hand, Ethan walked up to the tomb. It had not been just flowers that made Tirion send Ethan here. He knew the boy was bottling up something. If he couldn't tell the living, why not consult the dead?
Feeling completely inadequate to enter such a place, Ethan hesitantly went up the stairs. He stood there for a moment and might not have entered at all if Chomper had not pulled at her leash and dragged him inside.
No one was visiting the tomb at the moment. Ethan was alone except for Chomper, Stub, and the statue that dominated the room. Ethan looked up at the calm yet intimidating visage of Uther the Lightbringer. He quickly went over to the place where others had brought offerings and put down the fresh flowers amongst the other, now desiccated flowers.
"Uh...These are from Highlord Fordring. Tirion Fordring...I mean. Your friend."
Ethan knew others came to ask for advice or wisdom from the great paladin, but he felt really weird standing there and talking to a statue. If only his mother could see him now, wearing metal and shoes while talking to carved stone.
Chomper looked up at Ethan expectantly with those big blue eyes of hers. He took his little sister's look as a prompt to start speaking again.
"I came here to ask for your advice, though I feel like I don't deserve it. See...I have done something terrible. Kept secrets that might cause death and pain. I have met someone named Sapphire. She's really nice if very weird and kind of aggressive, like Chomper here."
The gnoll started to scratch herself with her foot, then proceeded to chew on said foot.
Ethan bit his lip. "Her father...Her father is Arthas Menethil! You know, the man you trained as a paladin and then...killed you."
Now that the boy was speaking, he couldn't stop. He rambled on about how they had met and how terrified he was of the man and even of Sapphire a little. He mentioned more recent events.
"-And now I don't know whether or not to tell Highlord Fordring or any other important people because they might not believe me! Or...I might be wrong. Sure, he's terrifying...but he didn't hurt me? Why did he not kill me? He killed you and you were actually someone he supposedly cared about."
The boy turned his back on the statue and slumped down on the stairs leading up to it. He covered his face with both hands.
"High Cleric Alphus emphasize believing in redemption. You know, not everyone is completely bad on the inside. But I think this is stretching the idea too far."
Ethan stopped talking and let silence reign in the tomb. He wondered if Uther could even hear him. Surely a dead person would be too busy...being dead to help the living.
Suddenly a loud crash broke out behind him. Ethan saw that Chomper had chewed through her leash and both she and Stub had knocked over the altar at the back of the tomb. A book had been sitting open on it but now the gnoll was tearing pages out of it.
"Oh no! Oh no no no no no Chomper stop! Bad gnoll!" Ethan screamed, horrified. Chomper looked up at his yells and he saw her mouth was stuffed full of paper. Stub too was chewing on the altar's cloth.
If Uther's ghost didn't come to strike him down, Tirion would when he found out. Ethan rushed over to them and grabbed the book from Chomper and attempted to pull the cloth from Stub's mouth. The hyena thought he was playing however and yanked it back. Ethan again tried to pull it away. The cloth, fragile with age, tore in half and the momentum caused Ethan to fall over backwards over the altar and trapped him uncomfortably between it and the wall.
No one had cleaned behind it in a long time. Dust was thrown up from Ethan's fall. Getting up on all fours, Ethan coughed from the dust. He attempted to reach up with one hand to use the altar to lift him up. As he did so, the tile under his other hand shifted, as if poorly put in place. Ethan stopped and tilted his head.
Curious, he lifted the tile. There was something in the hole left behind and Ethan reached in, finding cloth. He pulled it out, only to discover that is was some moth eaten tabard, though with an unknown crest on it. Ethan knew very little of the history of Lordaeron and couldn't even tell if it was of Lordaeron origin. It looked like a blue bird on a field of white, though the white was long since faded into a dusty yellow.
Ethan finally got out from behind the altar and looked up at the statue.
"Is this some kind of sign from you?" He groaned.
The statue did not reply, though Ethan did notice something now shining in the spot where he had been previously been sitting. Ethan struggled to get to his feet and tried his best to fix the altar, glaring at Chomper and Stub the entire time. He then dusted himself off as best he could and went over to the object.
It was a feather. It shone a brilliant white, similar to Sapphire's feathers when she turned into an owl, only much larger and somehow luminescent. It put Sapphire's feathers to shame really.
Ethan picked it up, unsure of what to make of it. He then looked back up at Uther the Lightbringer.
"I have no idea what you want me to do...but thanks for listening I guess."
He left the tomb, holding Chomper tightly in one hand and the two gifts in the other.
