Outbreak.
The jedi and their friends hadn't been making much headway in their attempts to stop the growing number of undead that keeps appearing everywhere they go. But they had been successful in finding the who seemed to be responsible for the outbreak. A man dressed in black, the darkness was flowing around him, and yet he didn't look like a sith. He used the dark side but it was unlike anything Arthas and Jaina had sensed from any sith. Whoever he was, he held the answers they needed, so they needed to find him, before he leaves the planet The next day, outside of another villaige, Arthas, Jaina and their allies catch up to the cultists. They had constructed some kind of structure, and the darkness was like an infection. Neither Arthas nor Jaina had sensed anything like it, and the possiblity of the Sith not being responsible only added to the mystery.
"Look, the cultists who were with the dark sider! What is that strange construct doing?" Jaina asked.
Arthas looked closely "Oh no! Whatever it is, it's draining life from the surrounding area. The whole area will die if we don't stop them. Attack!"
Nova nods and aimed her sniper. She fired a shot which goes clean through an Acolyte's chest killing him on the spot. The rest looked to see Arthas and Jaina rushing towards them
"Damn these intruders! They must not interfere with the master's plan!" One of them said as he quickly flees with the others, releasing some undead to slow the jedi down.
Arthas slashed through the undead that reached them, while Nova gunned down several from the distance. Some tried to attack Jaina, only to be blown apart by a powerful force blast. They begin to explore the area, but the people of the village were nowhere to be seen... They began to fear the worst but keeps looking until they found another food facility. They go inside, their guard up as they look around only to find the food storage empty. Like it had been recently cleared... Which could only mean one thing
"We're too late, the supplies has already been sent out" Arthas said in worry.
"But if the food carries the plague... How many villages relies on this place for food?" Nova asked, dreading the answer.
"Several..." Arthas answered, confirming Nova's worries.
Suddenly the man from before walked inside, with a pair of ghouls by his side "Hello again, children. I am Kel'Thuzad, and I've come to deliver a warning. Leave well enough alone. Your curiosity will be the death of you".
"Noted. Don't try to run, or you will loose your head" Nova warned.
"Now why would I run? When I hold all the cards?" Kel'Thuzad said
"Are you responsible for this plague, sith? Is this cult your doing?" Arthas demanded.
Kel'Thuzad smiled "Yes, I ordered the Cult of the Dark to distribute the plagued grain. But the sole credit is not mine, nor am I a sith".
"What do you mean?" Jaina asked.
"I serve the nathrezim Mal'Ganis. He commands the Scourge that will cleanse this galaxy and establish a paradise of eternal darkness!" Kel'Thuzad said, sounding like an unhinged fanatic.
"Nathrezim? Impossible, those dark beings were wiped out centuries ago" Jaina said.
Kel'Thuzad chuckled "So you believe. Or at least, that's what they want you to believe".
"And what exactly is this Scourge meant to cleanse?" Arthas asked.
"Why, the living, of course. His plan is already in motion. Seek him out at Stratholme if you need further proof" Kel'Thuzad said as he was about to leave.
However before he could Jaina used the force to block his path and Nova quickly killed the two ghouls he had with him. Arthas used the opening to attack Kel'Thuzad with his lightsaber. Channeling his dark power in to his staff, Kel'Thuzad managed to block Arthas' attack before forcing his saber aside and striking him across the face. However, Arthas brushed of the hit and began attacking Kel'Thuzad more aggressively, not giving him the chance to call on more of his dark power... soon enough, the staff broke, allowing Arthas to stabb his enemy through the chest.
Kel'Thuzad coughed, but his confidence never left his face "Naive fool. My death will make little difference in the long run. For now, the scourging of this planet... begins".
Arthas turned off his lightsaber, allowing his dead enemy to fall to the ground, dead. His words had left them all with an unnerving feeling. If what he said was true, that an long believed to be extinct dark species had indeed returned, then this situation had gone from bad to far worse. Still they had to keep moving. The trip would take a while, but the town of Hearthglen would be their destination for now. There they could go over what they found and prepare their next move. And most of all, get some rest before they run in to any more problems.
"I will message Lena and tell her to meet us there. Say, what are these Nathrezim you seemed so worried about?" Nova asked.
"The Nathrezim are an ancient race, said to be born from the darkest depths from the dark side itself. Little is known about them as any recorded records of them are highly secret, but history claims they've existed all the way back during Darth Revan's time" Jaina explained.
"Revan? I've heard of him, he's a hero among the jedi" Arthas said.
"He's been both a hero and a villain. He redeemed himself and now his descendant leads the council" Jaina said.
"Satele Shan" Arthas remembered.
"Shan... I know someone named Theron Shan, worked alongside him in the SIS" Nova said.
"Interesting, could they be related?" Jaina asked.
"If they are, he never spoke of it" Nova answered.
"A mystery we can solve on our free time. Right now we have a far more urgent mystery to solve" Arthas reminded.
The other nods, they needed to find a way to end this, and quickly. The undead hordes just keep growing and they all could sense something much darker was behind all this... and maybe this Mal'Ganis was behind it all, like Kel'Thuzad said, which would confirm that the Sith are indeed not behind all this... Then they needed to be stop Mal'Ganis, and soon.
The jedi and their allies arrive in Hearthglen late the next day. They are all tired, and while they still needed to go to Stratholme, for now they needed time to rest and think about what they've learned. Lena landed her ship in a nearby hanger and rejoined the others. They decided to rest up in a nearby Hotel. Lena and Nova would share a room, while Arthas and Jaina shared another.
During the night, Lena and Nova were sleeping in the same bed, holding each other close. However, Nova's touch felt cold and Lena opened her eyes when Nova moved away from her. She was confused until she gasped when Nova revealed she had been turned in to a zombie and quickly bit down on Lena's neck, to consume her while she was still alive.
"Nova!" Lena sat up quickly, only a nightmare, but it felt so real. She looked to see Nova standing by the window, wearing nothing but her panties... A view Lena would've appreciated a lot more if not for her nightmare "Nova?".
"You having trouble sleeping as well?" Nova asked.
Lena got out of the bed, dressed the same way as Nova "Yes... Did you have a nightmare as well?".
"No, I couldn't sleep. Ever since we arrived here, I've had a very bad feeling. Look outside" Nova said.
Lena did and noticed soldiers were moving around "What's going on?".
"I don't know... Get dressed, I have a feeling something is about to happen" Nova said.
Lena nods, she too could sense something was wrong. They got dressed and put on their gear. They headed to the main hall of the hotel and noticed Jaina and Arthas were awake and dressed as well. Looks like Lena and Nova weren't the only ones who noticed the commotion outside and had come down to investigate.
"What are the soldiers doing?" Nova asked.
"It looks like they're preparing for battle" Arthas answered.
A soldier ran inside, looking shaken up "Prince Arthas! During the night, a vast army of undead warriors emerged and began attacking the villages at random. Now, it's heading this way!".
"What? How could they've just appeared out of nowhere like that?" Lena asked in worry.
"I don't know Ma'am. But there are a lot of them" The soldier.
"Damn it, Jaina. Me and the others will stay here and protect the village. Go as quickly as you can and tell Master Uther what's happened".
"You can use the long range communicator on my ship, that should reach him. But my ship is parked in the hanger outside the town, it will be a bit of a trip" Lena said.
Jaina hesitated "But-".
"Go, Jaina! Every second counts!" Arthas said.
"He's right, we'll hold the line for as long as we can. But we need help as soon as possible" Nova said
Jaina leaves, and for now all they could hope is that help would reach them in time.
Arthas catches glimpse of some open crates "Wait- What did those crates contain?".
The soldier checked them "Just a supply shipment from Andorhal. There's no need to worry, milord. It's already been distributed amongst the villagers".
Suddenly a man near them began coughing violently. Blood flooded out of his mouth with each cough and the color was swiftly draining from his skin. The others looked in horror at what was happening as the man looked at them with dead white eyes.
"Oh no. The plague was never meant to simply kill my people. It was meant to turn them... into the undead! Defend yourselves!" Arthas shouted.
His warning came to late as the now undead man quickly tackled the soldier to the floor and was trying to bite him. He was saved by Nova's quick reaction time, as she shot the zombie in the head, killing him on the spot. Lena looked outside and gasped when she noticed hordes of zombies had already appeared around the village. Several soldiers were taken of guard and quickly overwhelmed, some zombies were even heading towards the hotel.
Arthas used the force to move heavy furniture in front of the door, as the undead horrors began pounding on it. But staying inside the hotel could not work, so they escaped through the window, and looked around to see the soldiers fighting desperately against the infected people. Arthas turned on his lightsaber and Nova readied her sniper.
"Get ready Lena... it's going to be a long night" Nova warned.
Lena pulled out two blaster pistols, ready to duel wield them against incoming horde. Arthas quickly cut through several, while Nova sniped others, focusing mainly on the ones attacking the soldiers, hoping to take some of the heat off them. Lena duel wielded her blasters as she aimed for the zombie's heads. She was not as good of shot as Nova was, but hitting slow moving zombies who lacked the brain power to dodge was fairly easy. But there were many of them, and Lena needed to kick one back before shooting him in the face, she then dodged a female zombie and struck her across the head with her blaster, the force sent the woman to the ground, cracking her head open on a rock.
Lena was grateful her jedi reflexes hadn't become dull since she left the order, her new role as a pilot had kept them sharp... now they might keep her alive. Arthas cut down a zombie man, before force pushing a woman in to a wall hard enough to kill her. Nova dodged an attempt to grab her and kicked the zombie hard enough to send him head first in to a stone wall, killing him, before pulling out her knife and stabbed another zombie though the head. They had managed to repel the zombie attack...
But the sound of the undead horde approaching could be heard... Everyone were in for a brutal fight for their lives.
.
Tell me what you think.