Undeath Beckons

Chapter 16 – The Heart of K'ure

LOADING…

CHANGING REALM… ERROR… REALM UNKNOWN…

FETCHING CHARACTER DATA…

ERROR… CANNOT RETRIEVE CHARACTER INFORMATION…

ENTERING WORLD…

"What?" I said, my voice soft and human once more. Silina's voice. "No! I can't believe it!" Six eyes—two Human, two Gnome, and two Night Elf—turned to look at me curiously. "Of all the times to lose my connection to reality, it has to happen in the middle of a boss fight! By the hells…" We'd stopped walking and were now standing in the middle of a dirt path.

"Um… Corporal, what are you talking about?" the Night Elf woman asked. "Are you all right?"

"No I'm not all right!" I cried. "My friends are counting on me! I don't have time for a flashback or a hallucination or whatever this is!" I looked toward the sky. It was unbelievably blue, with a mess of tiny floating islands of dirt, grass, and trees dotting it like stars. I could see bands of colorful light shimmering across like rivers, and the sun shone brightly. "I want to wake up now!" I shouted skyward. "I don't want to be here, okay? Self? Can you hear me?"

"Sonyi's right. Corporal's losin' it," the Gnome—I recognized her as Pegy from my previous encounters—muttered under her breath. "Was only a matter of time…"

A dark-haired Human woman in white robes shot the Gnome a sour look. "Hush." She walked up beside me and put a warm hand on my shoulder. "Commander, are you feeling well? Do you need to rest?" As she touched me, a thought appeared, as if from nowhere: her name. Eldavendiel. Elda for short. I could remember a few details about her, as if she'd said them aloud. She was a priestess of the Light. Loved games. Spoke fluent Darnassian, whatever that was.

I sighed. Clearly I wasn't going to wake up until this scenario had played itself out. "Apologies, Elda," I said, adjusting my robes—huh, these were different robes than the ones I had last time I went through this—and shaking my head. "Just had a moment of, uh, confusion."

"I'll say," Pegy chimed in.

"Are you done?" I snapped. She shut her mouth. "Good."

Just then I heard the sound of plate mail clanking as the fifth member of our party jogged up to us. "Lina," a female voice said, slightly out of breath. I spun to look at her. It was the blonde woman from the last two times I was here. The one with the same tattoo as me.

And now I knew who she was.

"Cassandri," I replied warmly. I took a moment to study her. Her skin was fair, unlike mine-one of us had to be adopted or of a different parentage. She wore an array of colorful plate armor in various shades and hues, and carried a huge pink gem honed to a razor edge—a crystal sword. The familiar blue and gold lion head tabard I'd seen during my adventure in Hellfire Peninsula covered her torso. Her hair was blonde and short, as before, and her eyes shone with a blueness that rivaled the sky. Her form was thin yet muscular—the body of a warrior. "Hey sis."

Cassandri gave me a strange look. "Uh, hey. I took a look at the path ahead, like you wanted. Looks like Oshu'gun is quiet today. No sign of any raiders or voidwalkers."

"Thank you. Let's keep moving," I said, unable to stop myself from smiling. My sister! Alive! But… if this was my sister with the matching tattoo, then Dystressi had to be the undead form of her… which meant this had to be a memory, right? No time to think about it; we'd started down the path again. I made sure to let the others lead. Where were we headed? I didn't need to wait long to find out.

Before us towered an absolutely massive white stone. It looked like a mountain compared to the flat grassland we were crossing to reach it. I could see a small opening in the side, still distant but drawing nearer. Looking further around the horizon, I saw other hills beyond the flatlands, but none like this one. The landscape here was verdant and green plains, with lakes, streams, and rivers in abundance. In one direction, however, there was land up to a point, and then… nothing. The earth fell away into empty space. This had to be some kind of dream—how else could that be explained?

"Good," the blonde said. "We could use a break. Took us four days to get to Oshu'gun; we don't need more trouble." So we'd been on the road a while. Oshu'gun… was that the white mountain? I studied it as it loomed in front of the party. It didn't look like stone, but what else could form a mass that big? As I stared ahead, I caught sight of the tattoo on Cassandri's neck again. A skull entwined with bronze chains. Did Silina have one too? Or had I gotten it after this adventure took place? I had to find out if I had one now, in my human form.

"Hey," I said quietly, stepping up next to my sister. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering about my neck."

'Your… neck?"

"Yeah, um…" I thought up a lie as quick as I could. "I feel like I got a scratch or something back there in the last battle we had. Can you check for me? Make sure my tattoo is still intact?" I smiled as though making a joke.

The woman laughed just a little, and studied my neck with her fingers. Her hands felt soft and familiar. "Looks like you're fine," she reported. "No damage to your tattoo."

"Thanks," I murmured, well aware that I looked kind of foolish. She smiled good-naturedly at me.

"We'll be at the mountain in no time," she said, to all of us. Our path was undefended and surprisingly smooth. I was grateful, at least, for the sunshine-it felt good on my skin, and its heat was a sensation I never quite stopped missing.

When at last we reached the base of Oshu'gun, our shadow priestess Sonyi extracted a strange contraption from her bag. It was pink and made of crystals bound with steel in a sort of cylinder. "This is a passlock device," she explained, "given to me by a Draenei paladin. He said it would allow us to access the inner chambers of the ship."

"Ship?" I interrupted. "What ship?"

"Did you forget everything we heard at the briefing?" Pegy asked. She was clearly in a foul mood. "Oshu'gun is a Naaru-powered ship that was once piloted by the Draenei."

"That thing is a ship?" I repeated, still shocked. Pegy rolled her eyes, and the other three women in the party studied me curiously. "Well, whatever," I said, trying to recover my poise. "We don't have all day. Fire that bad boy up Sonyi."

Sonyi gave me a strange look before fiddling with some twistable part of the machine. It began to glow faintly and emit a gentle hum, like a chime just struck with a padded mallet. The noise was rather soothing. We followed her lead as she cautiously approached the opening-which, now that we were beside it, I realized led nowhere. There was just a crystal wall in the back, a few meters inside. But as Sonyi drew near, something changed. A light glowed from within the wall, and a panel slid away, revealing a complex series of metal walkways surrounded by twisted pipes and hanging crystals. The inside swirled with pink and purple arcane energy. I could sense it through my internal magical awareness, the same one that I used when looking at items and feeling their aura.

"Wow," Cassandri said, her eyes wide. She took the lead as we entered the complex. Our boots clattered with unfamiliar echoes on the strange pathway. Over our heads, arcane power drifted lazily through the clear tubes, funneled to who knows where within the massive… ship? Could this really be a ship? What sea or sky would it sail? Surely nothing like this existed in Azeroth, which meant this must be Outland, or someplace else.

"I'm getting a reading…" Sonyi murmured. She was looking into the passlock intently, barely aware of where she was going. Pegy guided her steps, nudging her left and right to prevent her from walking off the edge and into the mess of wires below. "Shouldn't be far now."

We continued like this for a short time, just ten minutes or so, before reaching a dead end. But there was Sonyi once again, rotating the passlock in her hands like some kind of brain teaser puzzle. The wall rose. We entered the chamber. It was small, barely big enough to hold all five of us at once. In the center rested a single large pedestal, with dozens of pipes, tubes, and cables running from it into ports on the wall. Atop it hovered a small object. Another crystal, I thought at first, but pausing a moment to look, I realized that wasn't it at all. The spherical object was small, about the size of two fists together, and glowed with an otherworldly white presence. It seemed to be made of light, its form incorporeal and yet solid, a shimmering illusion made real. It spun slowly on the pedestal, and with a start I realized it was not a sphere, but flat. A disc. No matter which way it turned, however, I could always see the same facet.

"This is what we came for," Cassandri said quietly. She took two quick steps up to the dais, adjusted her gloves, and reached out. The object came into her hands almost before she grabbed hold. Turning around, she held it aloft, as if offering it to the sky. "The Heart of K'ure."

A radiant beam of light shot out of the "heart", striking me square in the face. My vision flushed with white. I could hear yelling-screams of rage and exertion. I could feel a sudden wind, then stillness again, and pain, some kind of hot, wet pain. A wound. A wound on me? Where? How? Still the white would not fade, and I heard Cassandri calling out to me, saying, "Lina? Silina?" even as another voice cried, "Blight? Blightfire?" A familiar voice. The voice of-

Mitexi was shrieking in my ear as I stood stock still, eyes fixed on some distant point. "Blight, look!" She was pointing at the altar. Altar? The Cathedral! I was back in the Cathedral! I shook my head and looked where she gestured. There, standing at the center of the once-holy space, was none other than David Trias himself. His mottled undead skin looked even more sickly in comparison to the flushed, sweating faces of Mograine and Whitemane as they hung by his sides, panting. David was holding something aloft. My eyes widened. That ethereal whiteness… it couldn't be, could it? The Heart of K'ure?

"He's casting a spell!" Iyania shouted. "Be ready!" I took a moment to glance at my companions. One of Iyania's ears was badly cut, and she had blood on her leather armor, but seemed otherwise fine. Savenia looked exhausted. Vorrel, as usual, appeared nonplussed by everything. Mitexi was also bloodstained, but unlike the splatters on Iyania, the blood did not appear to be her own.

"Fools!" Trias bellowed. "Your end is nigh!" He made a small twist with his fingers, and light poured out of the heart like water, flowing down his arms. Before our eyes they changed and warped. The rotten flesh turned rosy pink. The bones disappeared as muscle and skin grew over them. The light dripped from his arms to his shoulders, falling onto his head, drenching him, and all the while a glorious chime rang out in the space, echoing again and again like a thousand church bells. The glow of him became so bright that we had to cover our eyes, and still it slipped between our fingers, making everything white.

Then it was over, and in front of us stood the living form of David Trias. Back from the dead. Cured of the plague. He was a little taller than before, with olive skin, black hair, and a dark mustache. He placed the heart in front of him on the altar-the disc was now a pearly silver in color-and drew his daggers. "Mograine, Whitemane," he said in a new tone, a meaty, living tone: "Let's finish them."

"It is over! Your search is done!" a tremendous voice bellowed. A deafening explosion shook the entire room, causing all of us to stumble and fall to the marble floor. One of the walls of the Cathedral had just been blown apart, sending a cloud of dust and rubble into the air. From the gap emerged a familiar figure. He rode a steed with glowing green hooves of fire. His head, resting in his hand, shouted, "Let fate choose now, the righteous one! Hahahahahahah!"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Mitexi groaned. "Not this guy again."

"My sentiments exactly," I murmured.

The Headless Horseman leapt from his mount and took a few clomping steps forward. "Soldiers arise," he bellowed, pointing his longsword at Mograine, "stand, and fight! Bring victory at last to this fallen knight!"

"Eeeaarrghh!" A pack of ghouls-a dozen at least-charged out from behind the Horseman. But there was more: a bat-like winged creature, and a huge spider-looking thing, and even an Abomination like the ones we'd seen in Undercity, all making their way forward to stand at the Horseman's flank.

"Kill!" the Abomination shouted, flailing its tiny arms.

"Ssssouls to feast upon!" the spider hissed.

"By the gods," Mograine was heard to say. He, Trias, and Whitemane turned to face the new foes.

I saw our chance. "Shadowstalkers!" I cried softly, trying to keep our enemies from hearing. "New plan: eliminate Mograine, Whitemane, and Trias while they're distracted, then retreat. Let the Scourge have this place if they want it." Iyania nodded sharply, then turned to translate to Savenia. Vorrell said nothing. Mitexi smiled at me evilly, the lust for battle in her eyes. "Oh, and get that disc thing he used! Charge!"

"Sssslay them!" the spider hissed, seeming to take command. The Scourge forces barreled ahead. Our party did likewise. The Scarlets, caught in the middle, scattered. And I, predictably, blacked out again, right as Mitexi and I fell-

"-nder attack!" Cassandri was shouting, donning her helmet. We were outside Oshu'gun, facing down a squad of very strange humanoids. I recognized an elf among them, but this one had pale peach skin instead of the purple or blue of a Night Elf. The others were human, save for one who was of a species I'd never seen. She had deep purple flesh, black hair that spun in curls like ocean waves, curved horns, and dark hooves. Her eyes glowed with an otherworldly blue light. The five assailants were holding staves and glaring at us menacingly. I noticed all of them were wearing the same tabard-a purple banner with a huge golden eye in the center.

"We are Seekers," the elf announced. "We've come to collect the artifact known as the Heart of K'ure."

"No way," Pegy growled.

"I'm afraid not," Cassandri added, staring the elf down.

"Come now," one of the humans said. "Let's not make this difficult."

"This expedition is under Alliance jurisdiction," Cassandri growled, holding her blade at the ready. "The Kirin Tor had their chance at the artifact. But Stormwind made a better offer." I noticed Sonyi, Eldavendiel, and Pegy were all battle-ready as well. This would likely end in bloodshed. I began focusing fel energies into my palms.

The human who'd spoken before-an aged woman, her lovely features marred by wrinkles-threw back her head and laughed. "A better offer, eh? How quickly your allegiance shifts, mercenary." Mercenary… the Kirin Tor… something about all of this seemed familiar.

"As you said," Cassandri intoned, hammering each word like an unruly nail, "let's not make this difficult. Just turn around and walk away. Tell them you couldn't find us-that we were gone before you arrived. No one will blame you."

"Oh, I think not," the woman hissed back. "Magistrix Starfury has her eyes on that item you carry, and she won't tolerate failure." I was a bit surprised to see fear on the woman's face now. "It's our heads if we don't bring it back."

Cassandri was unmoved. "Terribly sorry. Guess you should've thought of that before you took the job."

"Enough!" the purple creature-was she a demon? She looked like a demon-roared. "This ends now!" She fired a barrage of arcane missiles at Cassandri, who deftly blocked them with her shield. The fight had begun!

I unleashed a string of curses on the nearest mage, causing his flesh to crawl with shadowy energy. A Curse of Elements on him added to his misery, but he seemed unperturbed as he conjured a radiant aura of ice around himself and fired a snowy blast toward me. I took the hit in the chest, knocking me back-conveniently right out of the way of an incoming fireball. A frost bolt hitting my sternum… why did that seem like a familiar sensation? No time to think about it: the man was swirling his hands, and from overhead came a sudden barrage of razor-sharp ice crystals. A blizzard! I hustled out of its path as quick as I could, the ice slowing me to half my normal speed. Some of the sharp pieces pierced my cloth armor, digging into my flesh. By the gods that hurt! Way more than anything I'd sustained in my undead form. Was my necrotic body resistant to pain, and I'd just never known it? Perhaps there were benefits to being a zombie.

Having escaped the onslaught, I turned to begin firing shadow bolts and end the mage's life, but found my work done for me-Pegy was dueling with the wizard, her daggers flashing and twirling as he struggled to block the strikes with his metal staff. I directed my attention now to another frost mage, the strange purple woman from before. Perhaps this was one of the Draenei I'd heard mentioned before? It seemed right. She was holding back a bit now, having just summoned a towering water elemental to fight Cassandri. Her back was to me. I unloaded.

"Agh!" she shrieked as bolts of shadow ripped apart her cloak. She spun and popped a shard of ice right into my left shoulder. I heard a wet thud, and felt a stinging pain. That would hurt later. It was numb now, thankfully. Despite the risk of further harm, I could feel my mana running low, and knew I had to tap into my life force if I hoped to fight her off-the Draenei was baring her teeth and conjuring a large frozen orb. I cast the spell, letting out a little cry as the pain wracked my body, but now my vision sharpened to eagle-like clarity, and I saw an opening.

"To the Nether with you!" I howled, letting loose an immolate and a conflagrate. The orb in her hands exploded, impaling her chest and face with little icicles. She shook off the blow and came at me with her staff, swinging for my skull. Missed. I stepped backward, mumbling a curse of agony, a corruption, another immolate. Her robes were aflame at the tips. I hit her with a second immolate, causing yet another frostbolt in her hands to pop, sending water into her eyes. She staggered back, and that's when it came back to me: another spell. Something Silina knew that Blightfire didn't. Something I knew, now. Soul Fire.

Reaching into a pouch at my hip, I extracted a small purple gem. This was a soul shard, my new knowledge reminded me, and I needed to summon its power to cast the spell. The Draenei had recovered from her temporary blindness and was preparing a spell of her own. Fire and ice melded and morphed between her hands. Would she throw her blast before mine was ready? Could I stay focused through it?

The answers were yes, and yes. She fired-I took the blow right on my tits, which hurt a whole lot, but I didn't care because at last I'd drawn the power I needed from the shard, and with little more than a murmured word, the shard shattered in my hand and I unleashed soul fire. A colossal fireball screamed forward. The soul of the damned creature I'd used cried out from within the flames. The Draenei saw it coming and tried to dodge, but instead took the hit full in her side, blasting one of her arms and part of her face clean off. I saw sinew and bone glisten as she collapsed.

Another spell bubbled to the surface. Something I knew I'd known all along. Soul Drain. As the mage breathed her last on the ground, surely more confused than in pain, I sent a tendril of blue light swirling out of my palm. It struck her in the forehead. Within moments she was dead, and her soul flew back up to me, coalescing into a purple soul shard in my hand. I grinned. You may have peace, Draenei, after I find a use for your soul energy. But not before. Until then, you are mine. I studied the crystal in my hand, the sounds of the battle becoming a warble around me. The purple of the shard grew brighter until, with a sudden flash, it blinded me, and I knew I was about to-

"Die!" Trias screamed. I opened my eyes. I was outside now. The battle had spilled into the courtyard outside the Cathedral. Savenia was near me, looking utterly exhausted. Trias was heard to say, "Ah ha!" and appeared in a cloud of smoke from behind Savenia. He drove his daggers into her back. She let out a sharp screech and crumpled to the grass, blood gushing from two deep wounds. With nary more than a chuckle, Trias turned from his victim and snarled, "Who's next?"

"You bastard!" Iyania howled. She lunged. Trias parried, and the two began to duel. I had little time to get my bearings, as I found myself under assault from a ghoul. It was all I could do to throw curses and fire fast enough to keep the pack off me. I managed to blast away a geist, giving me a moment to breathe. What the hell was happening in this battle? There were Scarlet troops here now-perhaps that turncoat Fairbanks had rallied some reinforcements-and all were engaged with scores of Scourge. That first little batch of undead was just a taste. The courtyard was now wall-to-wall ghouls, skeletons, and Scarlets, and more undead were leaping over the roof with each passing moment, only to meet the blades of more Scarlets pouring in from all doors.

Vorrell was nowhere to be seen. Iyania, as I'd noted, was fighting Trias, and appeared to be holding her own admirably. It was so strange to see him in human form. I hated him even more, somehow. He'd betrayed us twice-once in what he'd done to the Forsaken at Deathknell, and again in forsaking undeath altogether. I glanced to my right, where Mitexi was dutifully slaying Scourge alongside her Voidwalker. Mograine and Whitemane, I noticed, were battling the Headless Horseman near the steps to the Cathedral, but I could barely see them through the chaos.

Just then I spotted something disturbing-a gray, winged Scourge beast had grabbed Savenia's corpse in its talons, and was starting to fly away! I tried to cast a spell, but the monster was quick, too quick. Up into the sky it flew, and off over the wall, fading out of sight. Damn! By the hells, could things get any worse?

No, but they could get better.

From above I heard a terrible screech, and a trio of massive bats dove down. Troops from the Undercity! Three figures leapt from the backs of the beasts. One was an orc in earth-toned chainmail. He'd been carrying a zombified wolf in his arms, but now the wolf was off at a sprint, tackling the nearest Scarlet and ripping into her throat. The orc took aim with a rifle he'd pulled from his back. The second of the figures was tall and female, but that's all I could see before she disappeared in a flicker of arcane symbols, and I lost track of her. The third new companion was Forsaken like myself-a rogue with pinkish hair and glowing yellow eye orbs. She wore black armor and wielded two daggers, one licked with frost and the other radiant with fire. Before I could say a word she'd performed a diving tackle onto the nearest ghoul, blades first. I saw where she was going-toward Trias.

But she was too late. Perhaps he saw her coming, or perhaps it was just coincidence, but as she drew close enough to strike, he smashed a smoke pellet on the ground and vanished, leaving her cursing. Meanwhile, the bats flew off, and no more came to take their place. So these three were all the help we were getting. They'd have to do. The two I could see were competent fighters. I began fighting once again, roasting ghoul and Scarlet alike, when suddenly-

"There!" I cried. "At the Cathedral door!" Trias was scooting around the fray, making his way inside.

"Vengeance will be mine!" Iyania said, perhaps to herself, as she took off at a sprint. The Forsaken rogue followed.

"Shadowstalkers, to the Cathedral!" I called, and Mitexi joined me as we began pushing through the battle toward the door. Without our healer or our warrior, we were in dire trouble. I knew we needed to get out of combat, or at least this massive melee, if we hoped to survive. After a minute or so of ducking, dodging, and casting an occasional spell, we skirted around Mograine and Whitemane's intense combat with the Horseman and entered the Cathedral. It was now eerily empty and quiet. At the far end of the hall was Trias, toe-to-toe with Iyania and the mysterious Forsaken rogue. Two on one was good odds, but we could do better.

"Let's go!" Mitexi hissed at me. On our heels was the orc with the wolf and the third newcomer, whom I still hadn't gotten a look at but could hear clomping behind me. I rattled off a few curses and sent them toward Trias. He saw us coming and lashed out at his two attackers with a cheap shot, stunning both. Then with dexterity unlike anything I'd seen before, he leapt atop the altar, grabbed the silvery disc that still lay there, and held it aloft. There was a blinding flash. I froze, unable to move for fear of running into something. When at last my vision cleared he was gone, with only the fading sound of a horse's hoofbeats to mark his disappearance into the forest.

"Damn!" the Forsaken rogue swore. "He got away!"

"And he took the Heart," a voice said from behind me. Was that the third person? I spun to look… and nearly took a sword to the face. A band of Scourge had emerged from a nearby room and were bearing down on us.

"Shadowstalkers! Defend yourselves!" I hollered. Not that they needed to be told. Everyone was going to town on the Scourge, with spells, bullets, teeth, and daggers in a whirlwind of violence.

It was not enough. The battle outside expanded back into the Cathedral, pushing us closer and closer to the far chamber where Trias had been hiding before. I was sweating, my mana low. Wounds leaked black blood into my robes. This was not looking good. I reflected then, as I had when I lay on the floor of the library hours earlier, on how little I'd really accomplished. I didn't even know where my sister was. Would I ever find her? And what of my lost memories-would I die without ever knowing the truth about what happened to me? The clues I'd found so far weren't enough. I needed more. I had to live. I had to!

"Mortals!" The sound was deep, the voice ancient. "Quickly, onto our backs!" I looked around. A trio of bronze dragons, so large that their wingbeats knocked several groups of fighters over, had appeared from nowhere and were landing before us. I wasn't about to refuse more help, so I took Mitexi's hand and pulled her up with me, using the dragon's spines as stairs to clamber onto its back. Once she and I were both safely atop the beast, it took flight again, knocking us both back in our seats as it rocketed out of the Cathedral's gaping wound and into the open sky. The dragon was much faster than a bat-we were almost out of sight of the Cathedral before I could count to three, and landing on a nearby hillside within a few more seconds. The other two dragons came to rest close to us, and the passengers dismounted.

The Forsaken rogue bowed low to the dragons. She spoke to them in a sharp, gutteral tongue. I only caught one phrase clearly in their reply: "belan shi karkun", and then they lifted off into the sky, disappearing in an explosion of golden arcane symbols.

All six of us turned to face one another: one orc, one blood elf, three Forsaken, and a woman with deep purple skin, black hair that curled like ocean waves, curved horns, dark hooves, and a purple tabard with a golden eye...

"Hey," I said, pointing, fear and surprise distorting my words. "I know you."

"What?" the Draenei replied. All eyes turned to me.

"I… I killed you."