CHAPTER II: The Battle of Raven Court I
Uther charged at the red demon, hammer in hand. With a valiant battlecry, he swung...but the demon blocked it.
Before he could make another move, the demon grabbed him with its huge clawed hands and threw him across the road.
Nova had disappeared, much to Uther's concern and confusion, but he couldn't worry much about that right now. The demon charged at him, glowing with an overwhelming aura that was quite unfamiliar to the paladin.
Uther acted fast, pulling one of the cheapest tricks a paladin could use: a magic golden hammer fell from the sky and bashed the demon's head, stunning him momentarily.
At that moment, Nova reappeared behind the demon, opening fire with her weapon. Several glowing blue shots slammed into the demon's back, causing him to stumble forward. Uther swung his hammer around into the demon's jaw, knocking his face sideways.
The demon merely chuckled, however, and with a stomp of his foot, several hellish flames erupted forth. Uther dodged around them, Nova somersaulting over.
"Magic is a thing here? Interesting...", she commented, clearly unimpressed.
Uther replied, "Um, yes...why is that a surprise?"
Nova dodged as the demon breathed a jet of fire in her direction. "Where I'm from, the closest you get is psionic abilities!"
"Psionic? Never heard of anything like that!", Uther replied, before blocking a swipe of the demon's claws.
"Kneel before the Lord of Terror!", the demon yelled.
Nova shot it in the head, but it simply shook it off and charged at her.
Uther shouted a warning, but it was too late. The demon swung its claws into Nova...
And she simply dissolved.
While Uther looked at where she'd been with shock, Nova appeared behind Uther. "Takes more than that to kill a Ghost."
"A ghost!? I did not realize I was fighting with an undead!", Uther cried. He felt rather angered with himself for not realizing this. But she certainly looked alive...
The demon laughed. "I am the Lord of the Burning Hells! No mere soul can escape my realm! A ghost, you say?"
Nova rolled her eyes and sighed. "You both are idiots..."
Uther felt quite indignant. The demon's eyes flared with rage.
Nova opened fire again, as another version of herself materialized next to her. Uther felt terribly confused, especially as both of them started shooting the demon and dealing damage.
"Now that's a powerful illusion spell if I ever saw one.", Uther muttered, readying his hammer.
The demon bellowed angrily. "I will rend your flesh and tear you apart!"
He lunged at one of the Novas, and it dissolved into energy again. Uther took his opportunity and bashed the demon's face with his hammer, breaking one of his horns.
The demon was definitely looking worse for wear, but somehow still standing. With a roar, several large fiery runes appeared on the ground beneath the heroes' feet, and before they could react, the runes exploded in a massive burst of fire and darkness, sending Uther and Nova flying.
Uther grunted in pain as he crashed into the ground, feeling something crack inside him. But he was not a paladin for no reason, and summoned the light to heal his wounds. Swiftly they mended, and Uther got to his feet right as something flew in behind the laughing monster.
"I will cleanse your evil from this world, demon!", boomed a powerful voice, and a glowing sword stabbed through the demon's chest. The demon's laugh abruptly choked off, and he slumped forward as the sword was pulled back out.
Floating behind the demon was a strange figure, dressed in white robes and silver armor. A hood covered his head, and his face was hidden in shadow. A sword of light shone in his fist, and two pairs of glowing ribbons of light danced off of his back, and Uther realized they were some kind of wings.
The demon growled weakly, "You cannot kill me, Tyrael...I will return... as always.."
The fire in the monster's eyes faded and with that, Uther knew it was dead.
Nova limped over to his side, and Uther winced. "Here, let me heal you."
Uther pressed a hand on Nova's side, causing her to hiss slightly, and warm magic flowed from his fingers. Her few injuries were rapidly healed, and her eyes were wide with astonishment.
But when Uther withdrew his hand, all she said was, "Um, better tell me next time when touching is involved, alright?."
"Well fought, mortals!", Tyrael declared, "This day, you have helped slay a terrible-"
Suddenly the demon's corpse shimmered, and began to dissolve into blue triangles, which flew off into the sky with a boom of thunder.
All was quiet for a moment.
Uther could not see the angel's face, but he could see how tense he was.
"Is that a spirit healer? I've only heard of them in legends from the holy texts from Northshire. Interesting..."
"An angel? This just keeps getting better and better.." Nova commented
"Impossible..", Tyrael muttered, "I can sense him reforming already. I should've suspected something was wrong when he died so easily, but this cannot be."
Nova asked, "Somebody mind telling me what the hell is going on here?"
Tyrael said, "I am not sure, mortal. I woke up in this strange land, my powers mysteriously reduced and with that demon's presence nearby. You two have only made things more mysterious, for you look like no one I've ever seen in the High Heavens, Sanctuary, or the Burning Hells."
Uther replied, "I awoke here this morning as well, just as puzzled as you are."
Nova nodded. "Something's definitely off about this."
Tyrael declared, "Very well. We are all in this situation together, so we must work together to find out where we are and how we got here. You have proven yourselves worthy of my company after how valiantly you fought Al'Diabolos today."
Uther smiled. "I am pleased to have it, spirit healer. While we walk, perhaps we can tell each other more about who we are and where we came from."
Nova muttered, "I might as well mention only the basic details, for now..."
"Sounds excellent, mortal.", Tyrael agreed, "Let's get moving."
"Now hang on, you said you were a ghost. How come you didn't burn when I healed you with Light powers?" Uther went back to that topic.
"Well, for starters, what I mean by ghost is that I am not some kind of spirit, but from where I come from, Ghosts are elite covert operations units trained to kill and assassinate. Since I am able to become invisible, the word Ghost stuck with us ever since the first ones were created." Nova explained
"Fascinating..." Uther replied with awe
LOCATION UNKNOWN
In the center of a clearing, surrounded by leafless trees and shrouded in mist, a strange man awoke.
His armor was cold and made of an unnatural metal, created from the blood of an Old God. Long wisps of white hair slipped out from beneath a spiked, distinctive helmet, as glowing blue eyes opened beneath it. Bones adorned their armor, and a large sword rested in the dirt beside them, spikes along its hilt and a strange skull in-between them. Glowing runes ran along the mysterious blade, draining all warmth from the air.
His name was Arthas Menethil.
The entirety of Azeroth feared him, for he was the Lich King, master of the Scourge, and destroyer of Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas. But it was impossible that he should've awoken here; he distinctly remembered that final fight, the mortal champions he'd sought to weaponize, the paladin by the name of Tirion Fordring, who had, by sheer luck, called upon the light and escaped his icy prison, proceeding to shatter Frostmourne and unleash the souls within it, finally killing the one who'd sought to live forever.
Yet here he was, in this strange forest, Frostmourne completely intact by his side. Arthas, however, felt different. He couldn't explain how, but it was there.
As he stood up, his gauntlet-covered hand wrapped around the hilt of Frostmourne. Immediately he realized that it felt...empty. All the souls that had been trapped within were gone.
That meant he was now missing a lot of his power.
Arthas then tried to reach out with his helmet, but found no Scourge at his command. They were gone as well.
That was not at all what he wanted. His power, his kingdom, lost in an instant. He was going to have to rebuild it from the ground up.
But it could be done. It would be done. One day, this new land would belong to the Scourge.
Suddenly Arthas heard movement behind him. Whirling around, he saw a very strange woman standing up behind him.
Her body was purple and covered in a chitinous exoskeleton, but unlike anything Arthas had ever seen. The woman's hair was like keratin, and extended in long tendrils down her back. Stretching from her back were a pair of wing-like appendages, without any membrane across them and with blade-like spikes at the end of each 'finger'. Her eyes crackled with purple energy, and were narrowed in Arthas's direction.
As Arthas took her in, he noted the fact that she was not wearing any clothes. But the exoskeleton seemed to take their place, and being undead Arthas wasn't even slightly attracted anyways.
"Who are you?", he rasped, ready for battle.
"Thinking the same thing..", the woman replied.
The two stood at a silent standoff for a few moments. They felt each other's unyielding presence, and knew it wasn't productive to immediately fight. Hence, they went with a conversation instead for the moment.
"Very well. I am Arthas, the Lich King, Lord of all the Scourge.", Arthas stated.
"Kerrigan. Queen of the Zerg, leader of the Swarm.", the woman replied.
Arthas frowned at the word 'Zerg'. He'd never heard of anything like that before, but the word 'Swarm' he was familiar with.
Arthas sheathed his sword, and the woman folded her wings. "I suspect we have mutual interests, at least for now.", Arthas said, "We appear to have been taken to a new world, and separated from our kingdoms. But this is only a temporary arrangement."
Kerrigan said, "Indeed. Once we know where we are, and I reconnect to the Zerg, our arrangement is concluded."
"And once I have risen enough Scourge, nothing will be safe from my advance, you included.", Arthas replied.
Kerrigan then finished off with a reply of her own, "And neither will you be safe from mine."
The two leaders studied each other closely, attempting to analyze the other for weaknesses. This was a powerful, dangerous meeting, a powerful dangerous arrangement. But both had agreed to it.
"Come.", Arthas said, "Let us find the nearest city and see what we can learn."
"Or better yet, seek out the truth about this world, which we can take advantage of." Kerrigan responded
The two strode into the forest, hungry for answers...and power.