Apocalypse

Chapter Two: Covenant

In the great mountains of Northrend, an eerie green nimbus began to glow, surrounding a pair of bodies. As the shapes coalesced and took form, one took the shape of a tall, winged monstrosity, while the other transformed into a rider on a large warhorse. The green light faded into a soft azure glow that suffused the pair from within, before fading entirely, leaving the two standing in all their unholy glory.

Balnazzar slowly turned his head this way and that, eyeing his surroundings suspiciously. Around him, undead toiled relentlessly, tirelessly at the preparations for war. Amongst them, he could see the occasional nerubian; that was surprising, as he had heard from the late archdemon Archimonde that the nerubians no longer accepted and bowed their heads to the Lich King, master of the undead. Arthas glanced at the Nathrezim, a smile curving his lips.

"Fearing for your life, dreadlord?" The question was sarcastic, a dark humour playing around the words. The demon snorted and shrugged, trying to cover his nervous demeanour with a brave front.

"Hardly. Lower undead of these caliber could hardly even wound me. Just cautious, that is all. Lead the way." Arthas laughed; he wasn't fooled, and the demon knew it.

"As you wish, my dear Balnazzar..." Relieving his mount's reins to a nearby necromancer, he turned and walked into the icy mountain which housed his Lord's Throne. Balnazzar hesitated, but followed in the end.

--

Throughout the long and arduous climb to the top, no words were exchanged between the two. Balnazzar took each step cautiously, wary of any trap that Arthas might spring, but none came. Arthas was too preoccupied with his thoughts - no doubt coming from his master - to notice this, or he would surely have found it amusing. At length, the two arrived at the peak of the spiral, where three other forms awaited them.

One of the three was a lump of cloth on the floor; both Arthas and Balnazzar found this puzzling. There was definitely a body underneath it, but it was wholly hidden by the weave and none of it could be seen. The next was one that Balnazzar did not recognize, but had heard of. The Lord of the Nerubians stood tall and proud, facing them. Seeing the Death Knight, it bowed in greeting and homage. The last was one which the dreadlord recognized, and disliked intensely.

"...Kel'Thuzad." The words were a hiss coming from the dreadlord's mouth. Regarding the lich in loathing, the dreadlord felt deep animosity against the floating skeleton.

"Greetings, Balnazzar. I see you are already... acquainted with me." No expression could be seen on the lich's face, but the demon could clearly hear the amusement dripping from the creature's tone. Snarling, Balnazzar turned his attention away from the lowly creature, towards Arthas. The demon demanded angrily of the death knight, "Why is this servant of yours in here?" Arthas turned towards him slowly.

"You would do well to learn respect for your comrades, dreadlord. As things stand, his power far exceeds your own." Although Arthas' face betrayed no signs of hostility, the emotion was vividly portrayed in his words. Glowering, Balnazzar opened his mouth once again to speak, but another voice forced itself on their minds.

Enough! The Lich King's thoughts pushed themselves forcefully into the dreadlord's. Subdued and shocked, Balnazzar turned his face to the Frozen Throne. For a moment, he was stunned by the radiance of the huge icicle; its power was so overwhelming, he was forced to wonder why he had not noticed it before. I called you here not for this incessant bickering. Now stop this at once!

Balnazzar. It was a command. There was no refusing that tone. The demon gritted his teeth and said, "I am here, Lich King."

You have come here knowingly, willingly, to aid our fight against the Sentinel. You have come here, to bow to me and acknowledge me as master. And I am pleased with your decision. A pause. Balnazzar said nothing, refusing to commit himself to anything. The Lich King carried on. I see there are still doubts in your mind. It matters not. For you will serve our cause, and serve it well. For you will be unable to resist the power that I alone can give you...

The Frozen Throne began to emanate a dark, black aura, which quickly began to expand and spread. It passed by Arthas, Kel'Thuzad and the Nerubian Lord without effect, but where it touched the dreadlord's skin, it adhered itself to him. Roaring in rage, Balnazzar began to writhe and thrash in an effort to remove the dark aura, but nothing availed him. He had been tricked! There was no pain, but a burning sensation began to spread across his body. He was being consumed by a raging inferno from within-

-and just as suddenly, the flames ceased. Balnazzar stopped thrashing, panting heavily on the floor of the icy mountain. Stumbling to his feet, dizzy from his efforts and the unusual sensation, Balnazzar glared in outrage at the Lich King's champion. When he spoke, his words trembled with anger and were tinged with a trace of fear.

"What is the meaning of this? You promised me-"

"Be at ease, dreadlord. The Lich King does not go back on his promises, and neither do I. Arise, Balnazzar. Do you not feel the power coursing through your veins, running in your blood?" Arthas cut his words short with words of his own. Balnazzar opened his mouth again to speak angrily, but the words died on his lips as he began to feel the power Arthas spoke of. It burned in him like the dark aura of the Lich King, but the feeling was not that of a hungry fire, but that of an empowering volcano. He rose to his feet, so silently that it startled himself. Within the deep recesses of his soul he could feel a waxing of power, skills of stealth and fear, powers to debilitate, to cripple, to instill terror into his opponents. It was power he had never felt before, not even when Archimonde had endowed him with the powers of the Nathrezim.

You will serve me well, dreadlord. But that paltry title is no longer worthy of one such as you. You shall bring horror to the battlefield, terror to the forces of the Sentinel, and the night shall be your calling. You will go forth in my name, and tear our foes limb from limb. From this moment on, you shall be known as Balnazzar, the Night Stalker!

And the Night Stalker began to laugh, a deep, unearthly sound that echoed from the mountain to the base, and shook even the cores of the chill undead with its sound.

--

Balnazzar had left the throne room, no doubt to test the limits of his newfound strength. Arthas waited until the former dreadlord was gone, then turned his attention to his master once again.

"Is this wise, Master? With the powers you gave him, you have elevated him to the same power as Kel'Thuzad. Balnazzar might well decide to rebel against him."

Kel'Thuzad spoke up. "Do not worry, my liege. I am more than a match for him now."

Do not worry, Arthas. In time, he will become as loyal to me as are any of you. His hunger of power will make him fearful of losing it, and he would not risk both my wrath and his powers in such a futile attempt. Now, Arthas, I have one last task for you, and then the gathering shall be complete.

"Does it have anything to do with the body here, my Lord?"

You are perceptive, Arthas... Here lies our fifth hero. With him, our invasion can finally be launched. Anub'arak... remove the cloth.

Arthas watched as the great insect bowed its head to the Frozen Throne, then slowly and carefully began to lift the brown cloth. Arthas had been prepared for a being of great power, but was definitely not prepared for the sight that met his eyes.

"My Lord! Are you certain of this?"

Do not doubt me, Arthas. He will be a boon addition to our forces, Raise him, and he will give the Sentinel reason to falter before us, for they will not be able to harm him.

"Master, I... shall try."

Be sure of your own abilities, Arthas. I am behind you. You will not fail, this I assure you. Now, raise him!

The knight of death unsheathed Frostmourne, and stood in front of the enormous carcass hesitantly. Raising the blade, he began to utter words under his breath, words of necromancy and power, tones of death and undeath. The body before him began to glow with the same eerie green light. Beads of sweat began to form on Arthas' forehead, for the spirit of the body was strong and was defying every effort he made. He was beginning to think the task impossible when he felt the Lich King add its power to his own, and the task was suddenly a lot easier. The soul writhed and struggled, but was no match for the combined will of the lord of the undead and its champion. The green glow intensified, becoming so bright both Kel'Thuzad and Anub'arak were forced to look away. When they looked back, the corpse was gone.

Arthas stepped back, the task finally done. Before him now stood a tall towering figure, but there was no real substance to it. Ethereal hooves pawed at the floor, while an insubstantial mane was thrown about angrily in the air. The magical soul threw its head back and gave a huge cry to the heavens, but the sound was hollow-sounding and unreal. The soul, obviously in torment and agony, ceased its cries and turned its head back to Arthas. Involuntarily, he raised his blade, prepared to defend himself, but the spirit went down on its front knees and bowed its obedience. Arthas sheathed Frostmourne, a malicious smile on his face.

"Welcome... Cenarius."

--

A/N: Wow it's been nearly a year since I started this fanfiction! It's not that I've forgotten about it or anything, it's just that I've been coming across huge problems of writer's block and I totally did not know how to continue this story. I had the battle scenes and characters and general plots all floating around for a while now but I just did not know how to connect the pieces to form an actual chapter. I'll try and update more often, but since no one reads this fanfiction anyway I'm not expecting a lot of reviews, so I can actually do replies on this. Here goes.

GuardianCrystal: Yeah I glossed over a lot, because this story is sort of a sequel to the actual campaign mode. None of this is going to make any sense if you haven't played the campaign mode anyway. A lot is going to be explained there, so go play it again to refresh your memory.

Rain the Revenant: Erm. Was that the DotA song by BassHunter? Actually a lot of DotA fics have been made; I'm the only one so far to have made it into an actual story though. The other ones were just random occurances in DotA games and some were actually quite meaningless. Keep reading!

That's all for now. Will try to update some more, so read and review, all right? Just don't flame me and everything will be fine. Ciao!