All right guys, Enjoy.
The powerful cold winds would have bothered her once upon a time, they mean very little to her anymore. Why would she notice the cold when it's all she could feel, her body gave off a coldness that almost matched that of the winds ever since she was raised. Thankfully seeing ahead was no issue for them, a great wind came from the north-west not five minutes before that seemed to sweep the dark clouds out of the sky and allow them to see further ahead towards the horizon.
It allowed them to easily see their destination, something that was needed considering where they were going. Sylvanas was leading a large part of her host towards the Emerald Grove, the trees of which she was just starting to make out in the distance. Half of her army remained a few miles behind them to act as reinforcements if the dragons reacted poorly to their presence, not to mention guarding their prisoner that would act as a good bargaining chip if her suspicions about Kal's forces proved to be true.
"Incoming!" a voice of one of her shadow guards sounded behind her. She was turning her head to face the guard. She was raising her bow to the right of them, aiming it high at something that was no doubt high in the air. She quickly turned to face that direction herself, drawing her bow in the process, along with everyone else.
She drew the arrow and aimed, but her bow lowered a couple of inches the second she saw what was coming. Or rather who?
The large blue scales would have most likely allowed him to stay camouflaged in the sky, that is if one ignored the large white crystals sticking out of his body and the glowing yellow eyes. The large form of the dragon neared them and showed no fear despite so many arrows and magic being made ready to fire upon his hide. When he neared the ground, it was clear as to why. Behind this large dragon, Sylvanas could quickly see more. Dozens more.
Thankfully, those she brought with her were the best in the Forsaken so they didn't panic when the large creature neared them. When it reached them, his large wings opened creating a powerful wind buffer that stopped it in the air and gravity took control from there. The ground thudded and many of the undead had to lower their weapons and regain their balance.
The Banshee queen remained in place with her weapon primed and ready as the large blue dragon looked down at her with his large head. The large claws dug into the ground next to her, each one of them the size of her torso. The Forsaken didn't say much as more dragons came and the undead host found themselves surrounded by the blue dragon flight, many of the dragons landing on the ground while even more stayed in the air, hovering in place. Looking at them with what she assumed were looks of anger, it was hard to tell what facial expressions dragons had.
"What is your business here mortals?" the largest of the dragons that stood boldly in front of their host spoke to them, his voice being carried on the wind that was in no way natural and held a power to it that she felt only rarely before.
I was being the leader that she's always been. Sylvanas lowered her weapon and stared up at the blue dragon "We've come here to put an end to the Scourge. Once and for all" she said with a loud and confident voice.
It was mostly true, but it seemed that wasn't enough. The large-scaled eyes narrowed even further, faster than she thought was possible, the dragon brought up his claw and slammed it down next to her. It was so close that later she would swear she could have felt the sharp edges of the nails brush against her skin. The ground cracked under her and the force knocked her off her feet and to the ground, landing on her back. Those of the shadow guard and Nathanos quickly turned their weapons at the dragon.
Though it spoke before they could fire, distracting them for a moment "Lie to me again and I shall split you open from your belly to your brain and feed you your own intestines'" he threatened as he lowered his large head to her, his breath washing over her with each word and while she didn't look scared of the dragon, she did stay down "Why are you here 'Forsaken'?" it wasn't hard to miss the condescending tone in his voice.
She was silent for a few moments, not in fear but concentration as she tried to think about the best course of action, being able to figure out when she was lying was not an easy thing, she was a masterful deceiver in life. Being able to lie is a necessity when growing in the rank of politics in Silver Moon, that skill only grew when she rose to her undead state, and being able to see through her was no easy feat. However when she realized who she was talking to, it became clear "We came here to stop Kal-El" she answered as she rose to her feet "because the Lich King's life is ours to take" She rose to her feet, and the dragon took one step back to allow her the room to do so, allowing her to continue "The alien is useful to us, I will not deny that but I refuse to let him take a vengeance that is rightfully ours" the heat in her voice was strong "we intend to march on Ice crown and take that Bastard down"
The dragon was silent as she spoke, allowing her to say her peace before speaking herself. The replay was quick, the dragon not taking a moment before answering back "As foolish as all others of your kind. Your force would not stand a chance against the armies of the Scourge" he said to her.
The insult was difficult for her to ignore but being surrounded as she was, she bit her tongue "Were we stupid enough to march in open war then I would agree. But we are Forsaken" She pounded her fist onto her chest "We will walk calmly through the undead horde playing the part of slaves. Only the Death Knights would have the strength of mind to recognize us as different from the others, by the time they realize that they would already have a blade in their chest" she explained, listing her plan to the dragon who listened closely.
When she was finished, the dragon looked at her with narrowed eyes before shaking his head "Fools" it said again "I know not what information you have on the enemy but the armies of the Scourge have grown greatly in recent months. The Lich king's army is strong enough to march on the rest of the continent and take it with the little issue" The condescending tone left the great beast's mouth for a moment as he spoke "Those of Scourge that venture close to the nests of the flights find themselves beaten back but unlike the undead, we cannot bring those we lost back to life. Your plan will fail quickly"
"My lord" a voice interrupted them before she could say anything back. The two heads turned to see another large dragon approach them. However, he was smaller than the other "Perhaps it would be wise to make use of an increase in numbers and work together against a more common foe?" he said with a strong voice but from what she could hear, there was a note of nervousness in there as well.
"hhhmm" the dragon hummed in thought as he looked down at her younger form "The blue, red and green flights are about the launch and counter-offensive against the Scourge, we are going to be joined by a force of one hundred Night Elves, they are led by the large Druid Stormrage. A good force but we still lack the numbers to hold a meaningful offensive" his head rose and he looked away from her and to her entire army…. Well, the half that was with her "Myself and the others believe that Kal-El is sneaking into Icecrown in an attempt to cut the head from the snake. While we lack the means of joining him. We can still aid this alien by keeping the forces of the Scourge occupied while the Citadel is stormed" he explained the plan.
"You don't know what he's doing for certain" her response was quick and confident.
"We do not" he confirmed "It is a gamble but either way we will deal a large blow to the Scourge and they would not be able to recover from it for some years, buying the rest of the world time to prepare" It was a morbid change of topic but one she couldn't dispute.
"I will not commit my forces to this until I know it will end with the Lich's head in my hands" she said with a strong conviction, the death of Arthas was her only motivation for anything she has done since she regained her mind from his control, she would not allow more of her fellows to die for a cause that would refuse her that.
The large dragon growled at her words, his claws dug into the ground cracking the ice in the process and his wings spread wide "Then your time here is over. Leave" he didn't yell but his voice carried a tone of command that almost made her turn around.
That magic that flowed through her was powerful if she didn't know who she was before then she definitely knew now "My lord" the smaller dragon said again, this time however he took a couple of steps forward towards smaller beings "It is foolish to think you can match the power of the Scourge, sneaking through would only get you so far before you are found and destroyed. You wouldn't make it even halfway towards Citadel before you're killed. Join us and we can work together, we may be able to beat back the Scourge to the Citadel and go further. The Scourge have yet to meet the flights in open war, a handful of skirmishes will not contribute to their knowledge of our tactics. It is a real possibility that together we can win this fight here and now"
As he explained his reasoning, a part of her wanted to believe him, she wanted to join them in this fight. But that part was currently waring with the rest, the rest of her was refusing to consider a battle where she does not kill that bastard for all he has done. She was about to refuse him when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning she saw Nathanos looking at her, she raised an eyebrow at him, it was very unlike her second to take an action like this "This Kal-El, if our suspicions are correct about him then he carries the standard personality as the everyday Paladin, a man playing the role of hero" he started to explain "we suspect that he freed the Death Knights of Naxxramas and now uses them as he own force. What do you think the odds are that he intends to take the Lich king prisoner because he believes that Arthas is a prisoner of the helm as much as we were of him?" he asked.
The very idea of the question was ridiculous to her and made no sense at all. The notion that the Lich king is a prisoner was madness and the fact that one could free him is even more so. But the more she thought about his words, the more uncomfortable sense it seemed to make, she thought back to all the interactions she'd had with Kal, everything she'd heard about him and his goals. The more she started to think that Nathanos's point started to make more and more sense, would it really be so naive to think that he would do such a thing?
It didn't matter, did it? She could hope but that was all she could do. The dragon before them, Malygos himself, the Aspect of magic only recently being brought back from his madness, has given them a choice. Stand with him and the others or leave. She glanced over her shoulder and looked at her force, they were surrounded on all sides by dragons both small and large. If she went against them now then they maybe would be able to bring down a handful of them but it wouldn't be enough to make a difference. At least if she chooses to fight with them then they would have a small chance at taking their revenge. Assuming Kal-El really was so naïve, then she would have her chance to kill that monster.
Letting out a mental sigh, the Banshee queen looked up at the large dragon "So be it, we shall fight with you" she said.
This felt like a weird position to be in. Kal had done a lot of different things over the years, but staying in this position for any real length of time wasn't one of them. He was on his belly, practically falling forward as he started to slowly move down the mountain, pinching his cape in between his legs was the only thing stopping it from falling over his head. All around him, his forces were doing the same, climbing down the mountain as quickly and quietly as they could. Getting closer and closer to Ice-crown. Once a large portion of his forces made it to the peak of the mountain, the others started to climb down on the opposite side.
Going up one end and down the other, getting closer and closer to this cold fortress. Kal had to admit, this place just felt wrong. It wasn't the horrid dread that Darkseids palace gave off, it wasn't that powerful thank Rao. But it did give off a powerful aura of death and decay that was difficult to ignore, the cold as well was noticeable. Clearly magical in nature given the fact that it was only negative three but Kal could feel it on his skin. Something negative three thousand can't do to him.
He and the former horsemen were at the front of the group, Kal once again found himself amazed by the versatility of these guys. A force as large as this crawling down a nearly completely vertical mountainside on all fours with speed and making barely a sound. The Amazons would be impressed.
Upon nearing the large balcony-built hallway up the Citadel proper and connecting the cliff they were moving down, he got a good look at the first targets. The balcony was large, he would wager it would be used as a means of evacuation or transport for something or other. It was enough for an airship to be on it, but that didn't matter at the minute. It wouldn't be here for much longer anyway considering what he was planning on doing to this Citadel when he was done.
Anyway, he brought his hand up behind his head in a closed fist, a universal hand signal that they all went over before they began their assault on the continent. Those who saw him all stopped in place and those who didn't see the others stopped and did so themselves. Bellow them by a few dozen meters, Clark could see well over a dozen Death Knights standing guard, completely unmoving. And that was just in his current field of vision. They weren't looking up at them, why would they be looking up at a near-vertical cliff face?
The balcony they were about to land on wrapped around the entire middle half of the Citadel and it was only this small portion of it that rubbed up against the mountain they came down from. The edges of it were decorated with jiggered black spikes, and the ground held its own morbid decoration, while many different cities, castles and village roads may be made to have a certain pattern, be it the way the bricks are placed, patterns and runes designed into them. Normally it was just that decoration, the huge metal and stone plates that made the ground of the balcony held the pattern of black skulls, no doubt to add to the theme but the more Kal looked at them the more disturbed he got, they weren't fake. They were really skulls, and they were built into the floor.
He put aside the anger he felt for now and focused on the mission, the Death Knights that he could see were still as they watched for danger, for every one of them, he could count at least five of the lesser undead. There must be at least fifty enemy targets on the balcony, not a problem for them, they just needed to be quick. The rest of the mission would go a lot better if the alarm wasn't raised just yet.
"OK everyone, listen up" he whispered, the small earpiece taking his words and transmitting them to the helmets of his force, those that were recently freed and didn't have one will just need to be told later by the others "Squad A will be moving with me on the right, Squads B, C, D and E will go left. All the lesser undead are to be eliminated immediately, the Death Knights can still be saved but we don't have time to free them all now, as you all know it takes time. All enemy Death Knights need to be disarmed and restrained so they can be freed later. The key here is speed. We need to do this before the alarm can be raised. Understood?" he asked.
No one said a word but he did see everyone give him a green ping, letting him know they understood and they were ready. Slowly, Kal bent his legs and braced himself, many others doing the same "Begin" he said. As soon as the word left his mouth, they moved.
Kal and everyone who was in the lower rows of the force jumped off the wall and towards the ground, the others higher up moving down quickly so they could do so as well, while they wouldn't be hurt from falling higher up, the higher they where the louder their landing would be the less control they would have over where they would land.
Case in point being right now, Kal grabbed the trident from his back as he fell and he knew those of his squad did the same with their own weapons. Though for them it was the rifles, not that it made much of a difference at this point.
The sharp points of the trident broke through the unexpecting skull of the mostly skeletal figure and the weight of his body brought the rest of it to the ground with no resistance. Upon hearing the sound of his feet hitting the ground, though before they could even let out a screech and try to attack him, they themselves found themselves crushed under the black boots of his forces, some moved to a complete stop when they landed, others rolled forward slightly but what happened next remained the same for most. Kal was in the lead as he ran right towards the now-turning hordes of the undead, the others of his squad running with him.
The first one he reached wore the armour of the Death Knights. Kal could see an ice-coloured glow come from his hand, it would be easy to backhand him so hard his head fell off but he wouldn't do that. They needed to be saved, he used his speed to move to him quicker than the others, hitting his feet with the shaft of his trident and knocking the undead to the ground. He opened his mouth and took a quick breath, a layer of strong ice formed itself around the knight and so locked him in place and made him harmless to the others.
While he may be able to break out in time by the time that happens they would be done here.
Turning his head back up to assess the others, he found that those with him moved forward around him, he could see rounds of plasma fly through the air towards their targets, some hitting and many others flying too wide and missing, flying off into the distance. Of course, he was concerned that those rounds would be seen by the other forces and they would investigate but they didn't have the time to train them to match Deadshot in skill. Besides, hopefully by the time others investigate them the killing zone will already be set up.
He stepped away from the downed Knight and moved to the next one, looking to his left he saw one of his own holding the rifle in one hand and a blade in the other, he fired at a nearby skeleton archer while using the blade to block the strike of the Death Knight that was attempting to slash him in half, though before the Knight could attempt something else, a thin round of plasma smacked off his head and he fell to the ground. It wasn't so powerful as to kill him but it was enough to knock him down. Seeing his chance Kal blinked forward and froze him in place before he could get up.
That was the pattern that repeated itself many times, Kal used his speed and strength to take out the bulk of the enemy forces, but the undead never had a chance to see him kill them again. There was a reason Kal only took one squad with him on this side while the rest went to the other. With him there, a lot of the work fell on his shoulders to deal with most of the enemies while the others got the stragglers, it was hard to say if they would have a harder or easier time on the other side but based on the small moments he allowed his hearing to spread that far, he would say that they were moving at a similar speed to them.
He raised his left hand to block a ball of green poison that was fired from a mage, seeing it with a grouping of others and no Death Knights in sight, his eyes lit up and the four found themselves sliced into pieces. His squad moved around him and they all ran together towards a grouping of three Death Knights, the armour they wore seemed more intricate and detailed than the others, giving Kal reason to think that these guys were of higher rank, behind them he could see ten more coming.
Kal knew this wasn't looking good, their progress was acceptable, but they wouldn't be able to do this without loud sound coming from this and with the amount of magic being flown around, they were going to draw a lot of attention from the other forces of the enemy. He didn't think they'd done it yet for two reasons, the first being that the plasma rifles while strong made little in the way of sound. Sure, they weren't as quiet as something with a silencer, but they still made much less noise than rifles of the same size that used bullets. The second thing is that despite the fighting happening, no real bit of combat lasted more than a couple of seconds, the blades his forces used cut through the enemies as well as their armour like a hot knife through butter. That was of course assuming that could handle the plasma rounds without being knocked onto their backs from the force of the shots.
He blinked forward and held his Trident out sideways, the three Death Knights in front were each hit a piece of the weapon and were knocked to the ground, Kal looked down and opened his mouth to freeze them to the ground. In his peripheral vision, he could see the other ten run towards him with their blades raised, however, before they could strike his own squad moved around him and forward. Two of them jumped over the downed Knights while the others went around, he saw some fire their weapons, others slash with blades and two just tackled the others to the ground using their strength and the power of their armour to push them to the ground.
Knowing that plan well enough, Kal quickly moved forward and did the same to the others who were brought down.
It's been one minute and ten seconds since the fighting started.
When these other ten were frozen in place Kal moved forward to catch up with the others who moved forward to help "Incoming! Right side" Kal quickly turned to see what it was. He looked over the edge of the balcony and up into the sky, a large undead dragon was flying towards them. Kal let out a silent curse, a dragon coming in was going to make staying quiet nigh impossible. All it had to do was let out a roar and that might alert the whole army under them in the valley. He shook his head, it's not like he could do anything about it now, the best he could do was not let it get to them.
Placing the trident on his back, he quickly ran to the side of the balcony and grabbed one of the large black spikes, with no effort he ripped it free from the ground and took aim. Throwing it like a human would a javelin, the spike sailed through the air and found its target. Before the dragon could attack or alert anyone else, the spike flew half a mile and impeded itself through its upper jaw and went out through the top of its head. From what Kal could see it 'died' permanently this time and started to fall.
There wasn't anything else Kal could do, if he flew out then the speed he would need to go to catch it would at least cause a sonic boom that would alert everyone in the area, sure it could have passed for thunder but since he used his breath to blow away all the clouds that was no longer an option. All he could do was watch as its large form continued to fall and crash into the side of the citadel, its body crumbling upon impact and creating a not-so-subtle bang as it did so and crashed into the ground around the base of the dark walls.
They were about to run out of time.
Focusing on the matter at hand, he turned and started to move back forward, happy upon seeing that most of the enemy had been dealt with, at least on their side. Only a few others remained. Running forward to aid his forces as best as he was able.
With most of the Death Knights restrained for now, he moved forward and ended the suffering of those poor undead souls. Within the next thirty seconds, they arrived at the other side of the balcony, a large circle lift was stationed at the side of them, a lift that would take the others down to the ground floor. The other squads were slightly behind but only by a couple of seconds or so, unsurprisingly was the one leading them Mograine and the other Horsemen were spread out through the squads "We're ready, seventeen Death Knights in total. They're all restrained" he reported as the others all moved in beside him.
"Good, fourteen on our end" he said as well before turning and pointing at the lift, the others got the message and started to move towards it, ready to fly down "We need to be quick about this, no way they don't suspect something is happening" he warned them.
"Then lest nah waste any moore fucking time" Korth'azz said as he waded his way forward towards the lift.
Since his forces were not one to waste time when on a mission, or delay in any way when they didn't need to, it wasn't even a few seconds before they were all on the large platform, ready to go down. Mograine stayed by his side as was the plan, though as they all looked at him, he knew he needed to say something "I know all of you have suffered" he started as they all looked at him "I know you all want your own vengeance for everything that happened to you, but I also want you to remember something else, we are here because what happened to you cannot be allowed to happen to anyone else, the next time you see me, I will be holding the helm of domination in one hand and Frostmourne in the other. This reign of terror will be over. I promise you this. It ends! Hear and now!" he shouted that last part.
Upon hearing his words, his forces closed their fists and smashed them against their chests in a salute, something Kal had never done before but happily returned.
However, the nice moment was ruined by the distinct echo of a voice that seemed to come from all around them "You fools have entered my domain, you now walk within the hollowed ground of the Scourge" The was nothing to him, Clark had heard the voice and will of a universe's greatest evil. This meant nothing to him, though he could tell that it was having an effect on the others "Ah, so my once loyal knights have come home to take a vengeance they have no hope of achieving. All you have achieved here alien, is bringing my slaves back to me, providing me with more power than I would have had before in their weapons and armour. Your actions have only hastened my own ascension and you Kal-El, shall be my greatest champion" the voice said to him.
Kal scoffed at it "far more powerful and evil beings than you have tried Lich King, you are nothing more than a foot solider, a grunt in the face of all you have stood against" he didn't know if the Lich could hear him but in truth, it didn't matter, it wasn't for him, it was for his forces that where looking at him with an air of nervousness "IT ENDS NOW!" he shouted directly at them, they saluted again.
Clark moved to the side and flipped the lever for the lift and it started to move down towards the ground floor, he saluted them as they did so. When they were out of sight he turned to Mograine who nodded back, Kal moved forward and wrapped around the man's armour. They both shot into the sky and moved up to the next floor. They landed on an extended platform which held a single morbidly decorated door. The former Horsemen took a step forward ahead of Kal and readied his weapon before speaking "Let us end this madness" he said as he moved forward, Kal being quick to join him.
The heavy feet of Gargok hit the snow with a loud thud as he jumped from his ship, it took longer than he would have liked. But the Warsong had finally arrived at the place of their new goal. The High Overlord came to them with a mission, end the Scourge. Finally, something that would give them true honour and recognition by the rest of the Horde.
Ever since that alien pushed them out of the depths of Ashenvale, and brought his technology to the Horde, the need for the Warsong has lessened and lessened, they no longer need the lumber with that, their own mission which was important to the Horde died. An entire Clan was left with nothing to do but sit in their camps and wait for something to do.
Which has now arrived, to be summoned and lend their aid to the defeat of the Scourge, the accursed undead. His blood thumped from the thought, feeling his blade swing through those skeletons, he could not think of anything that would bring them more pride "Chieftain, they've already moved ahead" a voice called to him.
He started to march forward towards one of his scouts while the rest of the clan started to anchor the ships to the shore and disembark, five ships in total three hundred Orc warriors. Though he knew they were not alone, the High Overlord was specific in saying that the Forsaken and Druids had arrived as well, something he already knew based on the Night Elf ships that his own were now parked against. He was surprised to see that there were no guards stationed there to watch them, they couldn't afford to leave anyone behind.
Something he too will be doing. He marched forward into the abandoned village and found the remnants of the Night Elf forces, burnt-out campfires leftover foods. This was going to be a very interesting battle, he knew he wasn't here to fight the Night Elves, the Scourge were a much more attractive enemy to have. But the grudge was there, and he would be a fool to ignore it. He made it clear to those who followed him that they only had one enemy here, they were here to bring honour to the Horde, something he wouldn't fail.
"Tell the others to disembark quickly, we all leave the ships and march forward. I will not allow those Elves to take this from us. We shall be the ones to end this accursed enemy!" he shouted loud enough for those on the ship behind him to hear.
And so the battle begins, let me know what you all think in the reviews down below and I'll see you in the next chapter.
Next story update: A New Guardian