A/N: Hello readers! This will be a summary of the way I'm going to be writing this story, as I know that many of you want to know right off the bat if this is a story you will be interested in. While I won't discuss the specific details for the plot or the ideas I have to make this more unique than just a player character's experience in World of Warcraft, I am going to overview the way I will be writing it, partly because while I appreciate reviews, I like to think of them more as comments and not questions as to why I am including certain elements or when the next chapter will be out.

First off, update regularity. My aim is going to be a 4-8k word length chapter every 1 to 1 and a half weeks. It may be a bit more, it may be a bit less, so don't scream your head off if it's been 11 days.

Second, I love Warcraft and there are so many possibilities for custom characters in it that I shouldn't run out of things to write about, so my primary problems will be the details. As it goes on, this story will become more and more AU, indicating the effect the main character has had on the world (Plus, just running through all of the things a WoW toon does is boring and predictable).

Third, as you can see in the summary, while this is a self-insert (kind of), I am not going to be using the "Gamer" system for character development and skill improvement. I think it's an interesting idea that can be implemented well sometimes, but that it has been used far too much, and the amount of work that needs to be put into the number system makes writing far too tedious and has resulted in several writers that use it quitting their stories because keeping track of it all became too much of a hassle.

Fourth, this is a "semi self-insert". The basics of the character and their knowledge of the lore, characters, and history will be based on my knowledge of such. While I will be referring to Wowhead and wowpedia for details of encounters, raids, events, etc, my character is NOT all-knowing. I was introduced to WoW in TBC and have been an on/off casual player since Cataclysm. I have also watched some lore videos and played Warcraft III. So the characters knowledge will be spotty, with random very accurate details. Also, I am not a badass, I'm just a uni student that wants to be an author one day. I also have a tendency to be impulsive, but since I am going to be writing and editing this, the characters' choices will be similar/identical to mine IF I had the time to think it through.

Fifth, I have read several of the top Warcraft fanfictions/crossovers and noticed that more than a few start in Felwood. I, instead, will be starting near the end of TBC, although the character will not be a part of the events of that expansion.

Sixth, like all writers on this website, I appreciate follows, favourites, and reviews! Not only does the latter give me critical feedback, but I want to see this community grow! The better it is received, the more motivated I will be to continue the story! I love writing, but it would be quite disheartening to see a 100k word story of mine with 10 followers.


I was floating in nothingness. All I could see was blackness, all I could hear was absolute silence. I couldn't feel or hear anything, not even my breath. For that matter, I couldn't breathe. Or even seem to need to do so. I couldn't feel anything, not even my own body, but nonetheless, I was aware.

Greeting, fleshling.

"Hello? What's going on? What is this?", I said in alarm. So I can speak after all, and hear as well. Although 'it' didn't seem to come from any particular place around him, but rather from within my mind, like I was having a conversation with myself.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am...well, my true name is incomprehensible to a being such as yourself, so you can just refer to me as… Madrigal.

"Why can't I see anything? What the hell is going on?!"

Where you are...is nowhere and everywhere. You are not in any particular place, you just are. As for why you can't see anything...well, you don't currently have eyes. Or a brain to use them, for that matter. And even if you could see, there is no light here, so…

"Great. Sounds fun", I said sarcastically. So either a deity, a giant Lovecraftian horror monster thing, or a super-powerful alien. "What am I doing here? For that matter, how did I get here?"

The answer to your first question is based on the answer to your second, so I'll respond to that one first. Basically, you died.

I blinked. "Wait, I'm dead? Is this supposed to be the afterlife?" Eternal blackness forever? That sounded eternally depressing. I have a hyperactive mind, I'd go crazy with boredom in the first 10 minutes. Hopefully, this was just some form of purgatory.

Well...not technically. You were about to die, and would have died without my intervention, but I saved you and brought you here instead. You are here because I need your help.

"Um, thanks." I've read a lot of fiction novels and fanfiction as well as seen a lot of movies. Deity-like figures requesting help from a 21-year-old like him were rarely benevolent. They usually turned out to be an evil god trying to return to life or make you sign away your soul. "What kind of help could a deity need from a human?"

I'm not a deity per-say, merely one of many beings that has transcended the physical limitations of the cosmos. We generally refer to ourselves as the Ascended. I am here to make a deal with you.

"A deal?" Yep, definitely some kind of intergalactic soul-eating demon.

Yes, a deal, an agreement, a coalition, a pact. And no, I'm not a demon. Ironic you should think that actually…

I felt nervous suddenly. "You can read my mind? And why is that ironic?"

If you can recall, you have no mind right now. As for why I can understand your 'thoughts', this is the form I naturally exist in. You are new and have no barriers to protect your feelings. Plus, it wouldn't be the first time I've been mistaken for a demon. And you'll understand why it's ironic soon enough. But I'm no demon. Just one of many that exists in this transient state outside what you call reality. An nth dimensional being. All you need to know is that we're immortal, vastly powerful, and extremely BORED.

Ah, here it comes, I thought. The Bored Cosmic Entity That Wants To Mix Things Up. Oh well, there were worse cliches.

To mitigate the monotony of our existence, we practice one of your own world's oldest, most seductive, and most popular pastimes. Gambling. Our ability to do so determines our social and hierarchical structure. Every participant chooses a champion that we prepare, promote, and enlist in the Game. These champions are always from one of you 4th-dimensional races. We use a currency system, 'chips' to empower and equip our chosen champion with abilities. Then, the champion is dropped into a different universe with a specific mission to accomplish, killing a great villain, saving a planet, toppling a tyrannical empire, etc. If the champion succeeds, they are rewarded with a full lifetime in a fictional universe of their choice, and their benefactor moves up in the listings, gains more coins, and gets to choose a new champion.

"So...basically the Hunger Games if the tributes had a choice and got equipment from sponsors at the start rather than in the middle of the deathmatch?"

Well... no. No Game will have more than one participant in it at a time. It's a solo quest. And you don't have much of a choice really. If you say no, you'll be returned to where you were...that is, about to die.

"What if the champion fails the mission?"

Then their benefactor is moved down in the rankings. There are no punishments for the champion, they just revert to the state they were in before being selected by their benefactor, and since all champions are taken at the moment of their death, it's the same outcome as if you hadn't been involved at all. Most like to think of it as one last hurrah before the end.

So it was succeed or die.

"So, why me? I'm not exactly a hero. I mean, sure, I've read a lot of fantasy fiction with a hero character like Lord of The Rings or The Sword of Truth series, and I've played a lot of video games like World of Warcraft and Star Wars the Old Republic, so I get the gist of it. But I have no special skills. I'm just a university student, I'm not particularly athletic, and I don't have any special combat skills or such, even if I was fascinated with medieval warfare and weapons

You see… Madrigal sounded embarrassed at this. Compared to others, I haven't been doing this for very long at all, but I was excited to start and I spent most of my chips on the first 'hero' I chose and he ended up failing, so ever since I've just kind of been drifting along the low stakes Games…

I had a really bad feeling about this. "So, I'm...what? The budget hero? Economy class? A penny stock?"

Exactly! Now the bastard sounded cheerful.

"Well thanks!" I growled.

Hey, you said it, not me.

"This all sounds like high stakes for a game. Playing with people's lives?"

But we're not playing with people's lives! We're playing with their deaths! We give them more life than they would have had, and the chance to be more than they were in life. Humans especially. So many of your kind are so dull. I blame technology and the lack of other sentient species to have an intergalactic war with.

"If you're such powerful beings, why not make it a game where you have to accomplish the task instead of us?"

Well, for one, our essence cannot be contained within a mortal form, so we'd blow up instantly, making for a pretty boring Game. Also, since we are immortal, eventually we would go to the same universe multiple times and figure out a way to "cheese" the system. Now, the time has come to decide. Are you in, or are you out.

Either return to my old life and immediately die, as I was in the process of doing, or, be inserted into a fictional universe, gain abilities I always dreamed of and, if I succeeded, get to live a life of my choosing in whatever fictional universe I wanted. Be a hero, and risk suffering and hardship, with no guarantee of success, or just pass on to whatever afterlife awaited him. It was a no-brainer. "I accept."

Then let us begin. Now, since you are, like you said, a relatively unskilled person in the grand scheme of being a hero, you didn't cost nearly as many 'chips' as others do, leaving more for powers!

I blinked. "Really? I would have thought that choosing a person would be pretty cheap compared to being an OP badass with tons of abilities."

The choosing of a champion is actually a very delicate process. You'd be surprised how many people end up being evil overlords of the universe they were sent to. The cleanup of such things is quite expensive.

"Okay. Well, where am I going?", I asked excitedly. "What is my mission?"

Oh, it's pretty simple. You're going to Azeroth!

My eyes widened. "Azeroth? I'm going into World of Warcraft of all places?! The place where first-class adventurers go to die to a couple of trash mobs?!

Yep! Your job is high stakes, high reward. Make sure that neither the Scourge or their old masters the Burning Legion can ever again threaten Azeroth.

I gaped. "You've got to be shitting me!"

I'm not.

"The BURNING LEGION, the endless horde of resurrecting demons that have burned or converted thousands of worlds into lifeless husks empty of all magic?"

Now you're getting it!

"How in the world am I supposed to do that?!"

You'll figure it out. I sure can't do it for you. That would be cheating.

"I thought it would be something relatively simple that would take a few weeks, a month at most. Stopping the Legion is a job that will take years!", I grumbled. "Even if in Warcraft canon they were able to stop them after the Legion expansion, I'll presumably have to take a major role against the most powerful army in that universe.

Now that you know what you're in for, do you want to find out what your options are powers-wise?

I sighed. "Sure, let's hear it. Knowing my luck, I'll probably be a level six warrior with a wooden club and armour made out of tree bark."

Not at all. Since it's such a difficult mission, we can kit you out pretty well. However, reality will be a bit different from the game. Don't forget, many features are in there for balance, and if you get directly hit by a really big sword, chances are you're going to die. While people have limited mana when using spells for instance, which is increased with use and experience, as well as their physiology, there isn't such a thing as a health pool. Smash a warhammer into a gnoll's head, and it's going to die. It's much more organic than the D&D-like situation you are imagining. Well, you CAN choose what is called the "Gamer" option, which most do because it's very to exploit once you get good enough, but it's ridiculously expensive. Actually, while I may not have many chips, the fact that we aren't using that system means you'll have better options than I expected.

"Well...that's good. Honestly, even if you had the 'chips' for the Gamer system, I wouldn't want it. I doubt I'll succeed, I mean I'll do my best, but it IS the Burning Legion. Arthas is more badass than Azeroth's strongest paladin, and Sargeras would make Arthas look like a sock puppet. So I'm going to enjoy this incredibly difficult and terrifying experience as much as I can, and I know I couldn't do that if my life was based on a numbers system."

Now that would be awesome, I thought. "If I was, say, a wizard from HP, would I be restricted to the spells written in the books? Or could I use spells from fanfiction or even make my own? Also, what would say my mana pool would be like?"

All are determined by the chips we distribute in your ability system. You can pick and choose from multiple systems, but it is more expensive per 'ability'. So, shall we get on with the selection?

"Uhh, sure. What's first?"

Appearance! Now, you could remain with your default setting, or you go either way in improving or making it worse. This is mostly free unless you make changes that would give you notable combat advantages.

"I'll stay mostly the same then...except maybe a little taller?" In my past life, I was average height, 5 foot 7, but in the world I was going to, I'd be fighting some pretty massive bad guys. "And can I be mixed race? Maybe half High Elf and half Human?" Not only would I get some of the benefits of superior physiology, but I wouldn't automatically be beholden to any one race or faction. I'm not as neutral as Theramore-era Jaina, but I sure as hell am not going to be as belligerent as most people in that universe are. I can't afford to be.

Sounds reasonable. And you're right, you can't afford to alienate potential allies. But of course, once you get there, they aren't NPCs. The people you interact with will have their own agency, but their mindsets at your insertion into Azeroth will reflect the path they WOULD have taken if you hadn't come along.

I suddenly felt very nervous. "So I could make things even worse than they would have been?"

Of course! That's why it's gambling! Fortunately for you, the mess would blowback on me, you'd be in the clear to go back to your death,

"Right. Well uh, let's see. I'm going to be fighting all manner of enemies...by the way, when am I being put into Azeroth?"

The last few months of Year 26 After the Opening of the Dark Portal, 618 by the King's Calendar. Basically, during the later stages of the Burning Crusade expansion and the War in Outland, and right before the 'Echoes of Doom' prologue to the WotLK events. Although, you won't be able to take part in that. The first part of your mission is to kill the Lich King, so you'll be dropped elsewhere.

"Please, please, please not Northrend. If I was in Northrend during the reawakening of the Scourge, I'd be so fucked."

There was a pause. You're not going to Northrend. You'll be somewhere in the Eastern Kingdoms, just banned from going to Outland, for now, that is…

"Ok then. Well, I know the war against the Scourge lasted over a year before Arthas' death, so my primary enemies for a long time will be undead...in that case, some kind of fire class would probably be best. Titans know that Arthas has the monopoly on top-tier frost magic right now, although Jaina will be pretty badass in a few years, and Kael'thas is going to be dead soon...yeah, I'm going to be something fire-based. What are my options."

Well, as I said, the reality you're going to is more organic than the scripting of a video game, so if you were a fire mage, for example, pyroblast wouldn't be a different 'spell' technically, it would be a longer, more developed, and more powerful fireball. A fire ward would be a directed energy barrier attuned to the element of fire, and thus more protective against it, but still capable of blocking other damage. And it would have to be maintained by the concentration of the caster, outside of enchantments there are very few long-term spells.

"Right. Well, while fire mages are badass in the games, if I'm going to be on the frontlines without a health pool mechanic, I don't think I can be one of the original classes if I want to be versatile enough. Can I customize it?"

Sure, it's pretty open-ended. We have a state-of-the-art chips calculator to determine if we're over the limit.

"Wait, seriously?"

Of course not. We're bodiless beings, how could we use a calculator. No, we just have to use our experience to judge if your chosen skills are acceptable to our available resources.

"Uh, alright. Well with the absence of a health pool, a paladin class would probably be the most versatile, and it's even more effective against both undead and fel...but I really do not want my ability to be based on my faith in an absolute cosmic force. Not only would it hard cap my strength, but I'm probably going to have crises of faith at some point, so that's a poor option overall. Can I have, like, a mage-paladin crossover? A spellsword like the Death Knights? Plate armour and a greatsword, and enhanced with fire-wielding capabilities and maybe a few utility spells?"

Perhaps. A living death knight that uses fire instead of frost…

"More customized to fight the Scourge than the Legion maybe, but the Scourge is going to be my main focus for at least a few years, depending on how the war goes. I can use that time to gain the skill to be more versatile with it."

If you want to be anti-Scourge that much, perhaps resistances to death magic and mind magic would be in order? Both the Scourge and the Legion use Decaying spells and shadow magic.

"Honestly, I'd rather be capable of self-healing than have resistances to specific types of magic. I can be hurt physically as well, not just by enemy magic. If I had an affinity to nature magic as well, I could use some kind of rip-off druidic healing abilities. And nature magic IS directly opposed to the unlife of the Scourge and demons."

Hmmm. I think I could work something like this out. Affinities to fire and nature magic, physical combat abilities. The custom nature of that will eat up quite a lot of your chips, but it would be like the Light without the faith aspect. Useful. As you gain combat experience, you will improve your capabilities in both, although not using the kind of levelling system that the game uses. You have room for a bit more. Not enough for any crafting skills, but maybe some utility and some gear.

"Portals. With rudimentary technology and multiple warzones, fast transportation will be key."

Then why not teleportation?

"If only I can teleport then I'd be leaving my allies behind each time."

Lucky for you, portals are common knowledge in Azeroth. They would have to be local though, with no portals between worlds.

"That's fine, I can rely on others for inter-world portals. Two more things. Immunity to the blight, and slow fall. It's not that useful in the game in combat, but it could be a lifesaver in the 'real world'".

Slow fall shouldn't be a problem, but an immunity to the plague of undeath however...that's another matter.

"I know it's big but it's critical. And it might be easier than you think. If I'm attuned to both fire and life magic, well both would oppose the blight, wouldn't it? Alexstrasza and other red dragons burned through the enhanced blight at the battle of the Wrathgate just fine, and their abilities are pretty similar to what I'm proposing."

That's true...I might be able to spin it that way, actually the fact that such a fusion of fire and life magic already exists in Azeroth should make doing so for you cheaper. I...think I have enough for this. I can grant you a few pieces of basic unenchanted armour and a basic weapon spelled to stay sharp and not corrode, but that's it. You've driven me almost to bankruptcy. Please, don't fail. I really don't want to spend a few centuries trying to dig my way out of the bottom-tier scrubs with shite for chip balances.

"I'll do my best, that's all I can promise. As you said, this is a chance to live a dream, even if it is a terrifying and incredibly dangerous one. But I'll have a few months while the battle in Outland finishes up to get myself organized and to test my abilities."

Well that's it I suppose. Good luck. You're right, you'll have some time to train. The area you're going to has plenty of Scourge, so be careful. Remember there is no such thing as a levelled zone. Watch out for undead squirrels. And may the Great Chad have mercy on your soul.

"Who's Chad? Wait a goddamned minute, you better not mean the Eastern-"


"-Plaguelands!", I gasped out, falling to my knees on the orange-brown grass. The sudden ability to see, breath, hear and feel my surroundings slammed into me in a kaleidoscope of confusing messages to my brain. After a few moments, I finally managed to blink away the spots in my vision and stand up straight. Looking around, I easily recognized the contaminated environment. Dead and dying plants, barren hills, and a greenish-brown mist in the air, reducing my visibility considerably. I sighed, feeling an almost overwhelming mix of...nope, just a sense of utter terror.

"Fuck." I was in the heart of Scourge territory in the Eastern Kingdoms, the only other comparable region being the Ghostlands. "No wonder that bastard had more influence to spend than he initially suggested. He got some back by sending me quite literally to death's doorstep." The only way in and out of the Eastern Plaguelands was a road through the mountains in the southwest of the region, that went right past the lake surrounding Scholomance, the Scourge necromancer school. Not a place I wanted to go near anytime soon. As I recall, there was also a Nerubian-infested tunnel through the mountains just west of Stratholme. But I couldn't go anywhere until I took stock of what I had.

I was wearing a somewhat bulky, but still flexible set of steel plate. I could tell that Madrigal had scraped the barrel on this, as it appeared completely mundane, and was even lacking some pieces. I had a simple steel cuirass, bracers, fauld, spaulders, and greaves. No helmet, and all of it unadorned. My spaulders were quite small for Warcraft armour, more akin to shoulder guards from Earth than the massive pauldrons worn by most melee types here. I wore a set of cured leather armour beneath it, leaving my hands with a pair of simple leather gloves.

If I was in World of Warcraft in the Eastern Plaguelands with this kind of gear, I'd be freaking out. It was quite a bit below the level of equipment you'd want for such a zone. But realistically, it would certainly do. The Scourge I faced would be attacking me with claws, teeth, and basic steel weaponry, the remnants of the Lordaeron peasantry and army. I remember reading somewhere in the lore that after the Scourge tore through the northern Eastern Kingdoms, Arthas took the best of the lot back with him to Northrend, and he has been sleeping on the Frozen throne since then, trying to fully subdue the spirit of Ner'Zhul. So until the war started properly, I'd be dealing with under-equipped undead.

"So I probably can make it through to the Western Plaguelands.", I muttered. "I'll just have to be careful to avoid packs of Scourge and any abominations."

Reaching over my shoulder, I drew a massive greatsword, vaguely reminiscent of the greatswords that the Death Knight character would be given in the campaign for Light's Hope Chapel a few months from now. Luckily for me, it was a bit smaller, as I'm sure all weapons would be than their relative versions in the game. Any human wielding a weapon the size of Ashbringer would be exhausted after a few swings. Despite that, it still felt much lighter than it probably should have been. The keen edges gleamed, and runes for fire and purity ran down the length of the blade.

"Fire and purity", I mused. "So basically a budget Ashbringer." At least if I came across any allies, they wouldn't mistake me for a Death Knight. My eyes didn't glow, and my runesword seemed to represent the antithesis of what those beings were powered by. Although that assumed that any of them knew anything about runes and didn't just assume what they meant. Great.

I gave it a few test swings and found that while light, it was harder to stop than it was to swing it. "So it's not actually this light, it's just enchanted that way. But it has the momentum of a heavier sword."

Sliding the runesword back through the leather baldric over my shoulder, I noticed that I also had a small pack attached to my lower back. "Oh thank the Titans." Ruffling through it, I found some preserved meats, bread, and three skins of water, as well as a pretty detailed map of Lordaeron and the surrounding regions. An actual post-it note was stuck to it, with "You are here" pointing to a spot in the foothills northwest of Corin's Crossing, by Blackwood Lake. I examined the map for a moment. I was stuck almost in the dead center of the region, at a time when the only friendly operations in the Plaguelands is in the Western region.

This would take some work.

After about 15 minutes, I had a basic plan sketched out. In such dangerous territory, avoidance would save my life, so I planned to skirt the southern edge of the hills that were north of the east-west road through the zone. By doing that, I could avoid the majority of the forces in the east of the region. While the common Scourge troops wouldn't be that dangerous to me, larger groups would certainly kill me. And eat me. And, not particularly in that order.

Why you may ask, was I not simply portalling to a more friendly location? I was asking myself the same question. But I could somehow sense that something seemed to be blocking my ability to do so. I don't know if it was an internal block, as I hadn't managed to cast any of my magic yet, or some kind of ward against it maintained by the Scourge. Or even just a passive effect of the miasma that permeated the air.

Trudging south southeast through the hills of former Lordaeron, I tried flexing my magic. While I couldn't direct any bursts of flame out to incinerate a dead bush, I had this feeling of more inside my mind. The ground, the plant life, the very ground around me felt wrong, which I suppose I can feel as some passive effect of my nature/life magic.

While I was walking, I also noticed that I wasn't tired. I wasn't in bad shape before I died, but I wasn't muscular either. It seemed that in addition to gaining some as of yet unusable cosmic powers, I was also stronger. But even that wouldn't account for being able to trudge at a fairly speedy pace for a few hours straight in heavy plate without breaks. It seemed that in addition to my weapon, the armour was also lighter than it should have been. Perhaps Azeroth had lower gravity, or some magical effect was making it so that equipment wasn't as heavy?

I didn't have a mirror to examine myself, but I could tell that I was quite a bit taller than I had been. Half-elven physiology for the win! My limbs were longer, which threw my hand-eye coordination off for a while, but I adapted pretty quickly for such a major change.

I was still getting used to moving around in my new gear when I heard screeches ahead of me.

World of Warcraft graphics did not do the ghouls of the Scourge justice. Imagine facing a zombified human. Now give that human enlarged jaws that dripped slaver, blood-crusted hair, grey skin, massive protruding teeth, deadly claws, glowing blue eyes, a hunchbacked, exposed spine, and patchy flesh and muscle. Now, imagine that thing charging along with three others of its kind at you in a full sprint, which for an undead creature such as this is about 18mph.

Luckily, there was no one else around to hear my high-pitched yelp of terror. Unluckily, there was no one else around to help me.

They were on me in seconds. Drawing the massive blade on my back, I gave it a good horizontal swipe through the air in front of me as the first ghoul was closing in. To my surprise, I managed to hit it. Even more to my surprise, even a half-strength swing managed to cleave through the rotting flesh of the mindless creature and cut it practically in half. I was able to sidestep as the ghoul collapsed to the ground, narrowly avoiding its corpse, the blue light of the animation magic in its eyes fading. I had no time to think. I swung at the next one diagonally from my hip, slicing through it like butter.

The last two were a bigger problem. They didn't sprint at me without a care for their well-being, but ran at me nonetheless, making their horrible growls and screeches. They were close enough together that if I swiped at one, the other would be on me before I could blink, let alone think of swinging at it.

Please, please work. I begged inwardly as I extended my offhand and funnelled all of my anger and desire for them to burn through my arm.

Bright orange and white flames leapt from my hand, engulfing the two ghouls and half blinding me as well. I stepped back, maintaining the feeling and intent as I did.

I gasped in exhaustion when the flames sputtered out a few seconds later, but held my sword up in a guard, ready to attack if they still 'lived'.

When my vision cleared, the first ghoul was completely gone, incinerated. The second was crumbled in a heap, burned and blackened, the flesh popping as it crisped and fat dribbled down it.

I turned and heaved, gagging up my lunch of bread and water at the thought that these things were once human, and that another human had willfully turned them into that for power.

After looking around to make sure there were no more in the immediate vicinity, I pulled out a waterskin to rinse my mouth out.

I examined my blade. Black, semi-congealed blood ran its length. I wiped it off as best I could in the grass and sheathed it. It has certainly served me well. It may be but a common item in the game, but here, it takes apart unprotected flesh easily.

I smiled, raising my hand before my eyes. A burst of willpower and a small orb of fire formed in my hand, twisting and turning on itself. I held it there, mesmerized by it. My leather gloves were unaffected.

Fire. I had made fire with my bare hands. Even knowing that I would when coming here, it was still incredible.

Magic was fucking awesome.

I threw my hand out in the direction of a dead tree. The small swirling orb of flame shot out and impacted with its trunk, blasting away the bark and making that part of the trunk explode into splinters. The wood groaned, and with a crack, the trunk split. Almost 30 feet of dead tree tipped over and fell to the ground, causing a loud thud to reverberate through the ground.

I winced. That would probably be noticed. Taking another drink of my waterskin, I started running west.


A/N: So, what did you think? Our character is stuck in the Plaguelands when it's at its worst, a few months before the battle for Light's Hope Chapel. He'll have to dodge Scourge, the Scarlet Crusade, and maybe someone else…

I'm excited to write and I won't be busy this weekend, so the next chapter will probably be up within a couple of days. Follow, favourite, and review!

Note: Edited 12/02/22 and reposted.