SirShotgun
31-10-04, 11:31 AM
I've been toying with the idea of writing a fanfic based on the Forsaken as they are in World of Warcraft for some time now. I finally sat down and did it. It seems an appropriate time to do, considering today is Halloween and all.
So here's my wariii.net Fan Fiction debut.
---
Forsaken
Chapter 1 - A Dark Awakening
Darkness. It started that way. It ended that way. As the Reaper embraced my soul and I passed into the cold chill of death, the last fleeting images of my life were burned into my memory. My family, lying on the floor - victim to a death far more merciful then mine.
It was something in the food that had done it. I was ill, too afraid to look in the mirror. Too afraid... lest I see in my own face what I saw in the faces of my family. More dead then alive - their eyes staring blankly ahead, their skin changing to a sickly purple, motionless bodies collapsed on the floor. Too weak to even lift their own weight, their breathing ragged and halting.
Summoning my last ounce of strength, I tended to myself. I didn't admit it to myself, but my family was too far gone - there was no helping them now. My youngest brother died first. I left him lying in the corner, a pool of blood forming around his head as it streamed slowly out his mouth. My strength now utterly spent, all I could do was sit at the table and stare at him. I knew my parents were somewhere on the floor behind me, doubtless facing a similar fate. Or having already met it.
I began to pray. I prayed to the Light for it all to end, whether I face the same fate as my family or something worse. I couldn't stare at the motionless corpse of my brother much longer; maggots had begun to consume his body. I didn't know it at the time, but my mind was slowly fading. I began to lose all awareness of myself. I don't recall exactly when, but I eventually slipped out of conciousness and never woke again.
Darkness. It started that way. It ended that way. I had no way of knowing that it would begin again. Only this time, the darkness would not end. My dark awakening began with the loud crack of splintering wood. I sensed that it was happening, but I could not bring myself to move.
I sensed that I was being gripped forcefully - I felt nothing, my vision remained black. Somehow... I sensed it. Dimly, low voices drifted through my thoughts. As long as I exist, I will never forget those words. Even now, I don't know which were real and which were drifting memories, taunting my thoughts and infiltrating my dreams.
"This one looks like a winner." One voice said, low and raspy.
"Eat up, girl - we need to keep you good and healthy." Another voice said, this one familiar.
"Put her over there with the other ones. She'll regain her motor skills if we leave her long enough." Said another raspy voice, this one seeming to magically echo around the room.
"I feel ill, papa..." This was my own voice, I am certain of that.
"Nonsense, darling. Go back to bed." The familiar voice returning, it's tone comforting.
I sensed that I was being moved, and I struggled to resist. My legs bucked slightly and my finger twitched, but I could not control my movements. My vision remained black.
"Looks like you were right, Doc. Let's just hope she isn't Scourge." The first raspy voice said, distantly this time.
"What's wrong with her Doctor?"
"I don't know, Norman. I've never seen a disease like this before. Keep her in bed. Have you seen this rash on anyone else in the city?"
"Time will tell, Karnoff. Get a guard down here, just in case."
My mind became a swirl of voices, and I could no longer distinguish them. I couldn't even hear myself think, my mind was so full. The darkness continued to cloud my vision, and my skin began to feel as though it was on fire.
Without even realizing it, I bolted upright and began to scream. It didn't occur to me that I suddenly had complete control over my body. I didn't even realize that my mind was now clear. The fact that the darkness had slowly begun to fade and revealed myself to be in a dimly lit, damp room didn't even register. All I did was scream.
"You were right, Karnoff. We've got a winner." A voice said dimly, drowned by the echoing scream I was producing.
I recognized the voice. That was one of the invading voices in my head. I dismissed it as a stray thought and waited for my eyes to, my mind formulating thoughts as to where I was and how I could find my way back home.
I stoppped screaming, and collapsed back on the floor. I felt exhausted. My head rolled to the side, and another scream was caught in my throat when I saw what was lying next to me.
It was the corpse of a man, his body half-rotten. His skin had faded and begun to decay, turning a sickly green. Bits of skin were missing all around his face, revealing bare bone. One piece of his jaw was not attached properly, and hung loosely at his side. One eye socket had a single, glowing eye staring out. The other socket was empty.
I didn't think anything more horrifying then that moment could possibly happen, but something did. The dead man blinked. I rolled away in terror, my voice still caught in my throat as my mind was filled with the terrible image. I rolled straight into another corpse, and it's arm was twitching.
Forgetting my exhaustion, I lurched to my feet and stood motionless. I knew where I was. I had visited it a hundred times in childhood nightmares, but I never truly believed - I was in a crypt. And I was surrounded by dozens of corpses, almost all of which were twitching and jerking as they lay on the floor.
My eyes scanned the floor slowly, and I began to murmur as I slowly found my voice. I suddenly gripped my voice tightly and used it to it's maximum extent at what I saw next - two of the corpses were standing in front of me, one of them dressed in a dirty white linen smock, his glowing eyes staring at me intently. He did not have a jaw bone. The other corpse was dressed similarly, and he did have a jawbone. His eyes were blank - deep, endless black pits of emptiness.
The eyeless corpse raised a rotting a hand to my mouth, and he stared at me intently. It was amazing how piercing a stare from a man with no eyes could be. The jawless corpse spoke. His tongue rolled around inside his skull, but his voice came out clear as though he had all of his proper bones.
"Good evening, my dear. You were fast." He said calmly, as though he was accustomed to having people scream loudly at the sight of him. "If you could please step outside the Crypt and speak with the Adjudicator, then we can get back to work."
I looked between the jawless and the eyeless corpses. I blinked. Then I looked again. I told myself that I was dreaming, hallucinating, fantastizing - anything that would make me believe that two corpses were standing in front of me asking me to leave a dark, wet crypt and speak with a man I never knew.
Sensing my hesitation, the jawless cadaver sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to a wall that was lined with dozens of coffins. "Karnoff, show her the way will you?" He said curtly as he consulted a clipboard.
"You got it, Doc." The eyeless corpse said, removing his hand.
He put his arm on my shoulder and lead me away from the body-strewn floor. "Welcome back to the land of the living, love." Karnoff said to me, an almost evil tone in his voice.
I didn't hear his words. All I could think about was how I could not feel his rotten, bony hand. Karnoff pointed towards an ancient, broken spiral staircase that lead straight up. Several steps were missing.
"Just head straight up those stairs." He said reassuringly. "Ask for the Adjudicator. There's lot of the newly reborn like yourself up there, so maybe you can find yourself a support group."
He laughed evilly at his joke, removing his hand and stomping back around the corner to the doctor. What exactly he meant did not occur to me. I watched him go, then turned back to the spiral staircase. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't know what else to do. I climbed the spiral staircase.
The natural light grew brighter as I neared the top of the staircase, but I also grew colder as I went. I wrapped my arms around me, staring intently up as I went. At last, after what seemed an eternity of climbing that staircase, I emerged out of the crypt.
I had emerged from the ruins of a decrepit crypt in the middle of an ancient graveyard. I stared high into the sky; an almost-full moon dominated the horizon.
"Beautiful." I commented to noone in particular.
"I suppose so, yes." A snivvling voice responded.
I turned around, back towards the crypt. I managed to restrain myself this time when I saw a walking, talking corpse before me.
"Name?" He asked.
"What?"
"Name!"
"Are you the Adjudicator?" I asked, turning back to the moon. There was something entrancing about it.
"Name."
I gazed at the moon, transfixed. I ignored his question. He waited impatiently, tapping a bony foot that stuck out from another dirty linen smock.
"Name!" He shouted at last, bursting my out of my revery.
"What? Oh!" I exclaimed. "Crystal."
"Hmm..." The Adjudicator said, not so much interested as patronizing. He consulted a clipboard, similar to what the doctor had in the crypt. "No, that won't do at all." He said at last.
"What won't do?" I inquired.
"Itwon't do. It'll have to be changed." He sighed, shaking his head vigorously. A rattling noise was produced, but the Adjudicator seemed to hardly notice it.
I returned my attention back to the moon, as the Adjudicator appeared to be deep in thought. "Yes..." he said at last. "Yes, that will do. Your new name shall be Lukrystul!"
I turned back to him. "Now hold on! You can't just..."
The Adjudicator swept back towards the crypt, ignoring my words. "Please go down the hill to Deathknell and speak with Executor Hadren." He said as he turned. "And for god sakes, stay on the path. We have enough problems with Scourge without having to rescue some silly girl who has gotten herself attacked by some forest wolves."
I sighed. Looking at the ground, I saw what appeared to be a crude but well-trodden path weaving among the tombstones. I began to follow it, not keen to spend any more time with the Adjudicator. As I walked among the tombstones, of which there were many, I looked noticed that many had been dug up. Many more had not.
Here and there, I saw what I was certain were fingers, hands, and tiny pieces of heads sticking out of the ground. They were motionless, but I hurried past them nonetheless. After about five minutes of walking, I reached what I assumed was Deathknell.
It was a small town, surrounded by a tall iron fence. Here and there on the fence, driven onto the iron stakes protruding from the bars, were the heads of men. Nine or ten small buildings surrounded a tall tower, and small campfires dotted the landscape. All of the buildings were pitch black, as though the whole place had been consumed by a fire but the wood had refused to burn.
More horrifying then the architecture, if that was possible, were the inhabitants. Dozens and dozens of walking, talking, rotting, stinking corpses lounged casually around, sharpening weapons, and chatting with one another. As I neared the gate, I was approached by a particularly large one. Dressed in shattered, patched black armor, he wielded a wicked steel axe.
"Name?" He said gruffly.
I sensed that this was not a man to trifle with, so I didn't not waste time with stargazing as I had with the Adjudicator.
"Crys- I mean, Lukrystul." I said hesitantly.
The black-armored man grunted in response. "Newborns get free room and board here in Deathknell. Banshee Queen Sylvanas' orders." His tone changed harshly as she spoke of the Banshee Queen. "Follow me to your room. And mind the fires; you burn easily."
So here's my wariii.net Fan Fiction debut.
---
Forsaken
Chapter 1 - A Dark Awakening
Darkness. It started that way. It ended that way. As the Reaper embraced my soul and I passed into the cold chill of death, the last fleeting images of my life were burned into my memory. My family, lying on the floor - victim to a death far more merciful then mine.
It was something in the food that had done it. I was ill, too afraid to look in the mirror. Too afraid... lest I see in my own face what I saw in the faces of my family. More dead then alive - their eyes staring blankly ahead, their skin changing to a sickly purple, motionless bodies collapsed on the floor. Too weak to even lift their own weight, their breathing ragged and halting.
Summoning my last ounce of strength, I tended to myself. I didn't admit it to myself, but my family was too far gone - there was no helping them now. My youngest brother died first. I left him lying in the corner, a pool of blood forming around his head as it streamed slowly out his mouth. My strength now utterly spent, all I could do was sit at the table and stare at him. I knew my parents were somewhere on the floor behind me, doubtless facing a similar fate. Or having already met it.
I began to pray. I prayed to the Light for it all to end, whether I face the same fate as my family or something worse. I couldn't stare at the motionless corpse of my brother much longer; maggots had begun to consume his body. I didn't know it at the time, but my mind was slowly fading. I began to lose all awareness of myself. I don't recall exactly when, but I eventually slipped out of conciousness and never woke again.
Darkness. It started that way. It ended that way. I had no way of knowing that it would begin again. Only this time, the darkness would not end. My dark awakening began with the loud crack of splintering wood. I sensed that it was happening, but I could not bring myself to move.
I sensed that I was being gripped forcefully - I felt nothing, my vision remained black. Somehow... I sensed it. Dimly, low voices drifted through my thoughts. As long as I exist, I will never forget those words. Even now, I don't know which were real and which were drifting memories, taunting my thoughts and infiltrating my dreams.
"This one looks like a winner." One voice said, low and raspy.
"Eat up, girl - we need to keep you good and healthy." Another voice said, this one familiar.
"Put her over there with the other ones. She'll regain her motor skills if we leave her long enough." Said another raspy voice, this one seeming to magically echo around the room.
"I feel ill, papa..." This was my own voice, I am certain of that.
"Nonsense, darling. Go back to bed." The familiar voice returning, it's tone comforting.
I sensed that I was being moved, and I struggled to resist. My legs bucked slightly and my finger twitched, but I could not control my movements. My vision remained black.
"Looks like you were right, Doc. Let's just hope she isn't Scourge." The first raspy voice said, distantly this time.
"What's wrong with her Doctor?"
"I don't know, Norman. I've never seen a disease like this before. Keep her in bed. Have you seen this rash on anyone else in the city?"
"Time will tell, Karnoff. Get a guard down here, just in case."
My mind became a swirl of voices, and I could no longer distinguish them. I couldn't even hear myself think, my mind was so full. The darkness continued to cloud my vision, and my skin began to feel as though it was on fire.
Without even realizing it, I bolted upright and began to scream. It didn't occur to me that I suddenly had complete control over my body. I didn't even realize that my mind was now clear. The fact that the darkness had slowly begun to fade and revealed myself to be in a dimly lit, damp room didn't even register. All I did was scream.
"You were right, Karnoff. We've got a winner." A voice said dimly, drowned by the echoing scream I was producing.
I recognized the voice. That was one of the invading voices in my head. I dismissed it as a stray thought and waited for my eyes to, my mind formulating thoughts as to where I was and how I could find my way back home.
I stoppped screaming, and collapsed back on the floor. I felt exhausted. My head rolled to the side, and another scream was caught in my throat when I saw what was lying next to me.
It was the corpse of a man, his body half-rotten. His skin had faded and begun to decay, turning a sickly green. Bits of skin were missing all around his face, revealing bare bone. One piece of his jaw was not attached properly, and hung loosely at his side. One eye socket had a single, glowing eye staring out. The other socket was empty.
I didn't think anything more horrifying then that moment could possibly happen, but something did. The dead man blinked. I rolled away in terror, my voice still caught in my throat as my mind was filled with the terrible image. I rolled straight into another corpse, and it's arm was twitching.
Forgetting my exhaustion, I lurched to my feet and stood motionless. I knew where I was. I had visited it a hundred times in childhood nightmares, but I never truly believed - I was in a crypt. And I was surrounded by dozens of corpses, almost all of which were twitching and jerking as they lay on the floor.
My eyes scanned the floor slowly, and I began to murmur as I slowly found my voice. I suddenly gripped my voice tightly and used it to it's maximum extent at what I saw next - two of the corpses were standing in front of me, one of them dressed in a dirty white linen smock, his glowing eyes staring at me intently. He did not have a jaw bone. The other corpse was dressed similarly, and he did have a jawbone. His eyes were blank - deep, endless black pits of emptiness.
The eyeless corpse raised a rotting a hand to my mouth, and he stared at me intently. It was amazing how piercing a stare from a man with no eyes could be. The jawless corpse spoke. His tongue rolled around inside his skull, but his voice came out clear as though he had all of his proper bones.
"Good evening, my dear. You were fast." He said calmly, as though he was accustomed to having people scream loudly at the sight of him. "If you could please step outside the Crypt and speak with the Adjudicator, then we can get back to work."
I looked between the jawless and the eyeless corpses. I blinked. Then I looked again. I told myself that I was dreaming, hallucinating, fantastizing - anything that would make me believe that two corpses were standing in front of me asking me to leave a dark, wet crypt and speak with a man I never knew.
Sensing my hesitation, the jawless cadaver sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to a wall that was lined with dozens of coffins. "Karnoff, show her the way will you?" He said curtly as he consulted a clipboard.
"You got it, Doc." The eyeless corpse said, removing his hand.
He put his arm on my shoulder and lead me away from the body-strewn floor. "Welcome back to the land of the living, love." Karnoff said to me, an almost evil tone in his voice.
I didn't hear his words. All I could think about was how I could not feel his rotten, bony hand. Karnoff pointed towards an ancient, broken spiral staircase that lead straight up. Several steps were missing.
"Just head straight up those stairs." He said reassuringly. "Ask for the Adjudicator. There's lot of the newly reborn like yourself up there, so maybe you can find yourself a support group."
He laughed evilly at his joke, removing his hand and stomping back around the corner to the doctor. What exactly he meant did not occur to me. I watched him go, then turned back to the spiral staircase. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't know what else to do. I climbed the spiral staircase.
The natural light grew brighter as I neared the top of the staircase, but I also grew colder as I went. I wrapped my arms around me, staring intently up as I went. At last, after what seemed an eternity of climbing that staircase, I emerged out of the crypt.
I had emerged from the ruins of a decrepit crypt in the middle of an ancient graveyard. I stared high into the sky; an almost-full moon dominated the horizon.
"Beautiful." I commented to noone in particular.
"I suppose so, yes." A snivvling voice responded.
I turned around, back towards the crypt. I managed to restrain myself this time when I saw a walking, talking corpse before me.
"Name?" He asked.
"What?"
"Name!"
"Are you the Adjudicator?" I asked, turning back to the moon. There was something entrancing about it.
"Name."
I gazed at the moon, transfixed. I ignored his question. He waited impatiently, tapping a bony foot that stuck out from another dirty linen smock.
"Name!" He shouted at last, bursting my out of my revery.
"What? Oh!" I exclaimed. "Crystal."
"Hmm..." The Adjudicator said, not so much interested as patronizing. He consulted a clipboard, similar to what the doctor had in the crypt. "No, that won't do at all." He said at last.
"What won't do?" I inquired.
"Itwon't do. It'll have to be changed." He sighed, shaking his head vigorously. A rattling noise was produced, but the Adjudicator seemed to hardly notice it.
I returned my attention back to the moon, as the Adjudicator appeared to be deep in thought. "Yes..." he said at last. "Yes, that will do. Your new name shall be Lukrystul!"
I turned back to him. "Now hold on! You can't just..."
The Adjudicator swept back towards the crypt, ignoring my words. "Please go down the hill to Deathknell and speak with Executor Hadren." He said as he turned. "And for god sakes, stay on the path. We have enough problems with Scourge without having to rescue some silly girl who has gotten herself attacked by some forest wolves."
I sighed. Looking at the ground, I saw what appeared to be a crude but well-trodden path weaving among the tombstones. I began to follow it, not keen to spend any more time with the Adjudicator. As I walked among the tombstones, of which there were many, I looked noticed that many had been dug up. Many more had not.
Here and there, I saw what I was certain were fingers, hands, and tiny pieces of heads sticking out of the ground. They were motionless, but I hurried past them nonetheless. After about five minutes of walking, I reached what I assumed was Deathknell.
It was a small town, surrounded by a tall iron fence. Here and there on the fence, driven onto the iron stakes protruding from the bars, were the heads of men. Nine or ten small buildings surrounded a tall tower, and small campfires dotted the landscape. All of the buildings were pitch black, as though the whole place had been consumed by a fire but the wood had refused to burn.
More horrifying then the architecture, if that was possible, were the inhabitants. Dozens and dozens of walking, talking, rotting, stinking corpses lounged casually around, sharpening weapons, and chatting with one another. As I neared the gate, I was approached by a particularly large one. Dressed in shattered, patched black armor, he wielded a wicked steel axe.
"Name?" He said gruffly.
I sensed that this was not a man to trifle with, so I didn't not waste time with stargazing as I had with the Adjudicator.
"Crys- I mean, Lukrystul." I said hesitantly.
The black-armored man grunted in response. "Newborns get free room and board here in Deathknell. Banshee Queen Sylvanas' orders." His tone changed harshly as she spoke of the Banshee Queen. "Follow me to your room. And mind the fires; you burn easily."