Chapter 2:
Only a few seconds later as I step out of the teleporter on the lower floor, my legs are still shacking a bit. I'm not used to travelling like this at all.
Straight to my left, only a couple of meters away I spot two men and a male bloodelf standing there off to the side, each of them sporting a full set of armor similar mine as they seem more or less absorbed with talking to each other. Only after taking a short yet somewhat closer look I manage to see a couple of differences. Their armor has a dark blue, almost violet toning, with the weld held in a darkish grey. All in all there is nothing especially remarkable about it.
They stopped their conversation for a moment or at least the elf seemed to shut up as all three of them are now looking towards me from their cold blue eyes. Was it something I'd done?
No... No that couldn't be, none of them is looking down on me. It is not as if I were nothing more than a ghoul or a worthless acolyte, it seems quite the contrary actually. After only a short moment of hesitation, agitation and a wild mixture of other pretention feelings the bloodelf of the group even lifts his hand to greet me. Not sure how to take it I respond with a short nod of my head and keep on walking, not offering a second gaze of my own.
'The spearhead of my army is now completed with you. Go now, my champion! Call out the war we have been preparing for! Talk to the Highlord... Mograine will send the troops out to attack!'
I do not question anything what happens yet again it still is somewhat irritating. Being ordered around like this and all...
As I drew closer to the center of this lower level I knew the man I was to seek out. Quite frankly I had already seen him from the moment on when I had stepped out of the teleporter. This lower area has an upper ring to it and a rather small circular area in the middle that you easily can reach by walking down a little slope. The walls down here are broken up and left out completely, a constant wind grazing the folios spread out on tables close by.
The Highlord with the corrupted Ashbringer on his back, a weapon I recognized at first sight and another death knight with long white hair are sitting on their mounts in the middle of this place. It is a perfect circle in between the four paths leading to the upper ring. The giant mushrooms of the eastern plaguelands as well as the green fields of the eastern coastline that are still untouched by the plague are in view from up here. The rest of the bookshelves scattered out rather randomly are not untouched either. Necromancers of young and old come rushing here grabbing books filled with wisdom of the dark arts, amongst them a strange looking elf is reading in a couple of them set to side. He looks strange, fairly different to the bloodelves and nightelves I knew or those that I had seen in Acherus so far. His skin is easily as grey as ashes and his ears are a lot shorter than of all the other elves, the mask on his face adorned by bleak fangs.
He takes a look over his shoulder and sees me standing near our Highlord. Our eyes meet for maybe half a second and still the lust for blood reaches me and fancies my own.
But I'm drawn away from just as easily... I felt the extreme power coming from the Ashbringer on the back of Mograine. This truly is a fearsome weapon, yet still... it is of no interest to me as I can safely say. It is the blade of the Lich King himself that I am attracted to. I can see the heresy in front of my inner eye just. How I hold the ice-cold blade. Frostmourne I reckon to be its name, though I had never heard it before. Then again... it told me on its own accord.
My body like a puppet dancing according to the strings again, I kneel down before Mograine.
His armor has much darker coloring showing almost none of is blighted skin at all. The helmet as well as the shoulder pads each are resembling horned skulls with the familiar ice-blue glow coming from their eyes. The steed he is sitting on is clad in a full set of armor. Its fur is as black as tar and the mail on its back and neck is crimson almost like human blood, skulls of his victims hanging down from the side of it, probably trophies he collected during the years of servitude. This mount looks by far more suitable for a death knight than those 'normal' skeletal horses like of the Forsaken that I once envied. But in the end this too is also only a lone memory that I never knew of.
"Speak, initiate!" His voice is strong and demanding, just as you expect of a leader.
"I bring order from the master." My lips move on their own, but I don't fight it... On the contrary..., I give in. "The preparations are about to be completed. The final judgment has been passed: Death. Send out the first troops."
"Well then, you and your brethren will lead the charge. The march upon New Avalon shall begin!"
He makes a sign with his right hand and out of the void around us four Val'kyrs appear on the edges of the platform we are standing on, one of them blowing loudly into a horn.
'Armies of the Scourge, hear my call!' I hear the voice of the Lich King resonating in my mind. 'The scarlet apocalypse has begun! Tear this land asunder and leave only death behind in your wake!'
"As for you, initiate, you shall be sent down to the breach together with Orbaz, Koltira and Thassarian. Orbaz will be in charge of the ground forces as of now. The other three of you will be assigned to the most urgent tasks at hand, supporting the march of our army to your fullest capacity. Now go forth, death knight, bring us blood. Only to the victor there shall be the glory!"
I stand up and back off in silence. I know what I have to do and I will not tally. The blue eyes of Mograine still keep burning through the back of my head.
As I reach the upper circle yet again I now realize that the three people the Highlord was referring to are the ones standing up here.
'The Scarlet Crusade must be eliminated at all cost!' The voice in my head speaks up again seemingly never tiring in its persuasion.
Curious I draw closer to the three of them. The elf turns to me immediately and offers me his hand as a friendly greeting.
"Koltira is my name, so you are the one we have been waiting for? The fourth of our group?" He speaks without being asked. The color of his skin is of a light grey almost white even, his face haggard. I don't respond to any of his for me empty words, I only look at him. A judgment of my own was easily passed. Something already tells me that he is the weakest of us by far. He lacks strength in combat and discipline. I know this might only be an assumption or a feeling, yet again I look at the elf and somehow I can't deny these thoughts. But worst of all... his eyes... they are merciful.
Opposing him there stands a man with a full white beard and shoulder-long evenly white hair. His eyes are surrounded by strange violet markings. I shortly wonder if that might be blood still trapped in his veins, now for all eternity. The third death knight standing here with them is the only one with a darkened skin. He is wearing a helmet, leaving not much of his face visible to others. A careful one I take it as only the glowing blue eyes that every death knight has are left to be seen. Yet something about this man is already bothering me. He is without doubt the complete opposite of the elf. With ease I can tell how dangerous he is, even for his so-called comrades. But maybe I on my own part only lack a bit of cruelty at the moment to fully understand and read him. The voice in my head tells me his name, revealing that this is Orbaz, strongest competitor for me.
At his command, the four of us now make our way over to the balcony of this level. Another bloodelf death knight is already awaiting us there. He is swift to offer us the possibility to get to the breach below. He had already prepared the undead gryphons for each of us so the time wasted remained at a minimum.
The moment I get onto the back of the creature it already takes off. It flies quite fast and is eager to deliver me to where I had to go in order to fulfill my calling.
As soon as I first set foot into the camp of the Scourge, I already know – I already feel how the plaguelands are still spreading in this area. For a moment the landscape appears to me as a vivid creature, roaring up as it fights the green parasite invading from the coast and only a split second later the vibration under my feet stops and everything seems normal again: quiet and dead.
The grass in this area is already rotting away, turning brown as it is still growing. And whilst my gaze shifts along the outlining of the area to conquer the first thing I can spot is the large banner of the Scourge. The sword of the Lich King in the center of it, with two shattered dwarven maces forming a cross behind it - not to forget the two human skulls pronged onto two wooden spikes, and the icicles hanging from the ends.
The main part of the camp is a merely group of tents, offering shelter for various soldiers of the Scourge, higher and lower rank alike. A pit filled with dead bodies not yet tended to by the necromancers is nearby and still, from time to time you can see a lone ghoul crawling out of it from underneath the corpses solely fueled by the proximity to our one king and master.
After Thassarian had landed, he was the last of us four - Orbaz finally gives us our new orders. He says that I shall stay here for the moment and help out in the base camp with all the menial and truly pathetic tasks they would need my aid for whilst the three of them would launch the first direct attacks against the enemy. He was sure that I would find something to do back here. The whole time he refers to me only as 'the nameless one'.
True thing... not even I know my name.
Anyways the three of them are quick to leave me here to my own ends and the wishes of our superiors. I shalt not be disappointed, though it is all as our king wished of me, though he knows I would rather prove my worth by standing in his front lines. But it matters not... he tells me this time would come soon enough.
A lot of geists are roaming the area I notice as I look for whom's bidding I should follow. They are lower undead minions of the scourge, hardly any more than cannon fodder or messengers. Despite their crippled human body they tend to crawl and are only seldom able to talk, usually known to only emit strange crackling and muffled sounds. Nevertheless, they remain surprisingly agile as I have seen them jumping around here in front of me.
Now on my own I use the chance to take a swift look around and into the tents. In the largest one I find another of the strange elves with the crude fangs on their masks.
I know I should talk to him, so I step forth. He looks at me, eyes glistening and makes some strange sniffing sounds before he begins to speak.
"Do you smell it?" The elf closes in on me. "This is the scent of fresh meat, ever so bloody and sweet." He makes a short pause. "But my apologies... I'm sure you are not interested in my choice of fine cuisine. You are here to work. The Lich King has told me everything I need to know about you. The time for bloodshed has finally come! The Scarlet harvest may begin!" The elf looks around, his hands awkwardly twitching a few times. "My first task for you is simple... Kill for me! Kill without restraint. The foolish humans of the crusade try to push us back. They think they can stop us from attacking them. They believe that they still have a chance in defeating us! They will pay for their foolishness and arrogance. Go out there and kill as many of them as you find, do not hesitate to strike. There is no difference between a warrior of the crusade or what they call a civilian. All of them shall serve a new master... OUR master!"
I back off and leave the tent as he still ravels in the delight of his own imagination. Now I finally have my first mission. I would have expected something more... challenging than simple killing..., but I don't care. My only purpose is to follow the orders my master gives to me, not to question them.
Yet tight outside the tent I'm stopped once again. The man building up in front of me is wearing a strange kind of armor, nothing like the death knights are wearing, with a shawl covering up his face. He calls himself Salanar the Horsemen.
"So you are the praised death knight... oh yes the master has told me about you. I have an advice for you when you go out into battle later. Try to bring back one of the steeds of the Crusade. A death knight of your calling is in need of an appropriate mount, wouldn't you agree? If you are able and willing to bring me one of the horses from their stables, I will send it to the realm of shadows, where it will merge with the violent energies there to become a fine deathcharger..."
I interrupt him bluntly before he could finish up his sentence, "I'll consider..." I sound rather annoyed and truthfully I was. But he just ignores what I said and finishes before he just returns to his tent.
"... just like my personal steed or the one of the Highlord, Darion Mograine."
The last part makes everything about this whole matter a lot more interesting for me. That... thing he was riding... animal or not, a majestic creature no doubt.
With this imminent disturbance out of the way I then turn myself to the east to have another look at the pit filled with dead bodies. Solely out of morbid curiosity I guess. Standing up close in front of it I wonder whether I would ever be able to control one such ghouls as they come out of it or not. And just while I am asking myself this silent question, one of the many Val'kyr guarding this first base of operation approaches me from the side. The only difference to the ones I have seen before is that this one has long golden hair.
"Hear the call of Death's Challenge!" She announces as she comes closer to me. "You too must undergo this ritual that was born from the Lich King's victory over Illidan Stormrage. Your strength is contested by this initiate and you are not allowed to refuse the challenge." A human in a set of armor similar to mine is standing next to the blighted angel with a foul grin on his face.
"The fight shall commence now!" She announces as a warden with a lifeless voice and the human dashes towards me without delay.
"Tonight you shall rot with the ghouls!" He yells out with the arrogance only a peasant could muster.
I'm still a bit startled, yet I raise my sword quick enough to parry the attack successfully.
"I actually did not intend to stick around here for too much longer, so would you mind to just... piss off?" I bellow at my opponent rightfully.
"You heard her... you're not allowed to refuse the challenge! If you want to end this quickly than just put down the sword and I'll grant you the quick end you deserve."
That idiot just went ahead and ruined the good mood I was in only moments ago.
"You have no idea who you are talking to, human..." I reply with all the hate I feel for people that are constantly pestering and even, keep mocking you. So I was especially swift to decide that I should just not bother to reason with him any much longer. Each word would be a lost one. I shall just make it as quick as possible.
With one strong push I shove him away, throwing him off balance and making him tumble backwards. I raise my weapon high above my head, yet actually aim for his right leg. I hope the stance would distract him and indeed it did.
With a swift strike I lead my blade towards his legs instead of the upper body he was protecting and the sword cuts through rough flesh and brittle bone alike without problems. Now missing half a leg the death knight initiate falls to the ground writhing like the worm he is. Lying on his stomach I step onto his back with a foot of my own, fixing him in place as I thrust my blade into his back forcing him to spit out the laughable rest of the blood that was still circulating in the veins of his undead body.
The Val'kyr then draws closer again, one hand raised high.
"To the victor goes the glory, death knight. The Lich King looks upon you favorably today."
I turn around and back off again as her empty still echoes in my ears. Probably it's the best to get going right away before even more of these idiots would show up and try to challenge me no matter how many I would cut down. In the meantime the Val'kyr revives the fallen initiate that I had defeated so easily as the ghoul he threatened me to become. The whole body of the rendered creature is trembling as he ... or it gets up to its ... well... foot.
I guess getting promoted in this organization won't be that difficult after all.