"When I was a boy Orcs walked the streets of my kingdom. Not as invaders. Not as citizens. Hard to even say as enemies. We always heard the stories of an orc breaking down your door to slaughter you and your family, but now they were walking by our door with no concern for us. Taking passage through the mountains of Alterac, offered by our traitorous king. They wanted to lay waste to the human kingdoms. Who was to say they would not turn their blades and hammers towards the civilians and do what they did to Stormwind? If that happened the royals and nobles would be ready and able to retreat and live. Though that is what happened, just not at the hands of the Horde."
A plate broken in the night awakens Vontez Cronart. The bear of a man sits up in his bed calmly and turns to put his feet on the ground. He is wearing thin trousers that cover the length of his legs and not much else. Reaching to his nightstand for his cloak that he uses to cover his wide chest and back. The man is covered in body hair and has a bushy beard that comes down from his rugged face. Receding and thinning at his hairline shows his age.
The man sighs and walks to the door of his bedroom to pop it open. The door opens to reveal the small living space and kitchen being lit by the moonlight from the open front door. Vontez steps into the kitchen to find the pieces of the plate broken on the floor.
"Alright... I know you're here. You can leave or I can acknowledge that I gave you the opportunity for mercy." Vontez says under his breath trying not to wake up all the way.
SWIPE! A dagger slides across the back of Vontez's hamstring. Immediately Vontez pivots and grabs the Syndicate assassin by the throat and slams him down on the ground. The wiry pale assassin is no match for Vontez physically as the hulking man puts his weight on top of him. Vontez removes the orange mask from the assassin's face. His cheeks are sunken in but he looks like a relatively young man with strands of blonde hair poking out of the front of his hood.
"You tore my trousers you bastard!" Vontez growls through the sting on the back of his leg.
"You're on Syndicate land... you have to be removed one way or another!"
"I'm trying to sleep." Vontez puts a knee on the man's chest and kneels with the other leg. He takes the assassin's arm with the dagger and bends it over his leg.
"What are you doing! No, please!" The Syndicate member pleads.
"I gave you the chance for mercy." CRRACK!
"GYAH! AGH!" The Syndicate member yells out as Vontez effortlessly snaps the elbow and the dagger falls to the floor. "YOU MONSTER! WHO ARE YOU!?"
"I might as well be the king of this mountain. Now go back to your band of thugs and make sure they know who did this to you." Vontez picks up the intruder easily and tosses him out the open door before he slams it shut. He runs his hand along the back of his leg. The attack tore his pants but barely broke the skin on his leg.
"Now it's cold in here..." He looks at the floor to see the assassin's dagger and broken plate. "I'll deal with that in the morning... and I guess reinforce the door."
~
The next day Vontez spent his morning reinforcing the broken down house in the mountains.
Over the years he had been building the home on the outskirts of the ruins of Alterac between the walls of the city and Strahnbrad. Vontez always saw Alterac as his home. No matter how overrun it was with enemies or how far he would venture into the world.
"Click-thunk" The towering man tinkered with the lock on the door. It had been broken beyond repair by the intruder the night before. The old rusted lock stripped by the thieves' tools. He would have to go scavenge for a new one.
The Paladin would put his plate armor over the chainmail that he would wear casually throughout his days. His cloak covered his head and helped protect him from the cold of the mountains. Throwing a shield on his back and sheathing his sword he ventured into the ruins of the city.
Heavy feet crunched the snow and soil beneath the boots of the Paladin as he walked through the broken gates of the city. Scanning the field of ruins for his intended goal. Snow was falling to limit how far Vontez could see but he couldn't help but notice commotion off in the distance.
WOOSH! A large wild cat sprinted past Vontez as the commotion came his way.
"Come back! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HEAL ME YOU ELF BASTARD!" A human man stumbles out from the fog of snow about thirty yards from the Paladin. His chainmail armor is broken and hanging off his torso and blood is running down his forehead. His eyes meet Vontez.
"HELP!" Before anything can be done a large figure appears behind the adventurer by the head and neck.
"NO! NO! NYAHGGHHH!!!" The ogre rips the poor man's head from his jaw and lets the body drop at his feet to stain the snow red. The ogre steps over the body and towards the Paladin.
"Puny humans. Stay off our mountain!" The ogre charges towards Vontez.
SLICE! Thud!
With a single movement Vontez draws his sword and lobs half the ogre's arm off.
"GRR! YOU PUNY HUMAN TAKE ARM! DIE!"
Vontez rolls out of the way before the ogre drops a crushing blow to the ground where he stood.
"Not very kind of you to rip a man's head off. An arm for a head is hardly even a fair exchange." Vontez drew his shield and took his battle stance. "Back down now and I won't have to end your life."
"HAHAHA! You puny humans always talk until I squash you!" The ogre revs back again but gets stunned by a flash of light.
The metal shield bounces of the skull of the ogre followed by a burst of fiery judgement, then finally the sword of Vontez pierces the sternum of the ogre. The sword is removed and blood spills onto the snow before the large corpse falls back and crashes to the ground.
Vontez walks past the body to inspect the door on the ruined building in distance.
"This will do." Vontez pulls the door from the rotting frame and casually places it over his shoulder before walking back out the gates to his home.
As Vontez approaches his house he sees a Draenei woman outside. She sees and approaches him.
Her skin a light blue and hair white slicked back behind her horns. Wearing white robes with plate armor on her arms and legs and a hammer strapped to her back.
"I assume that you are Vontez Cronart? Paladin of the Argent Dawn?" She questions him.
He walks past ignoring her to prop the door up against the exterior of the house. "Who's asking?" He asks without turning to look at her.
"The Argent Crusade is requesting your presence at the Sanctum of Light. We need all the champions we can get." The Draenei instructs as he inspects the door.
"Don't you have plenty of soldiers at your beck and call? I have things to do." Vontez dismisses.
"Ah yes. Plenty to do out here I see." She teases to no response. After a moment of silence she gets to the point. "The Legion is threatening the wellbeing of Azeroth. We need everyone we can get... Tirion has fallen."
Vontez stops what he's doing and turns to the fellow Paladin with a look of confusion. "What?..."
"Tirion Fordring was defeated by the demons. As well as the King of Stormwind. Even the Warchief of the Horde. You may want to sit out here in your mountain but I'm sure your oath will not allow you to."
