In the distance William noticed what appeared to be a small village, passing a sign he learned it was called Glenbrook Homestead. Drawing closer, the Death Knight hopped off his undead steed and banished it back to the Shadowlands, something he did around any of the settlements in Drustvar given the people’s superstitious natures. William knew that seeing an undead steed would surely cause a panic, same as changing into his worgen form, they would suspect he was cursed by a witch to turn into a beast. They would be partially right anyways...
The village had an eerie silence as he approached, looking around he didn’t see a single person, instead he saw wildlife overrunning the town as ravens and wolves picked away at the carcasses of slaughtered farm animals... It reminded him of Pyrewood Village so long ago after the Worgen attacked. William passed by the ravenous creatures and entered one of the houses only to find it abandoned as well, broken furniture littered the floors as it articles of clothing, bottles, plates, the place was a mess. Whether it was ransacked or not was hard to say. Passing through the house, William stopped in front of the fireplace, his gaze falling to the pieces of firewood that had all but burned out.
The Death Knight’s eyes fell close...
“William! Come help your old man bring in some firewood.” Came the voice of an older sounding gentleman in his forties.
“Yes, sir!” A small boy around ten runs out of his home to meet his father, a stack of firewood lays piled against the house, the boy smiles as he grabs a piece and holds it in his arms, “I can carry these all myself, papa, I don’t need any help.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah! I am going to become big and strong so I can become a great warrior of Gilneas and fight alongside King Greymane!” Young William rushed the piece of wood into the house, followed shortly by his father carrying several pieces of his own.
“Honey have you heard what William plans to do when he grows up?” William’s father asked as he set down the firewood and looked to the woman sitting at the table reading, as she lifted her head with a warm smile.
“I have not.” She looked from his father to William with a curious gaze.
“I am going to be a great hero of Gilneas who fights alongside King Greymane!” The ecstatic young William stated firmly with a look of confidence on his face.
His mother giggled slightly before pulling her son into a hug, “I believe you, William.”
Nothing more than a naive child with a foolish dream to serve a coward of a king. A king who doomed us... William thought as his memory faded..
The moment King Greymane built that wall he sealed the fate of Pyrewood Village... the fate brought on by Arugal.. Another memory floods in.
Screams echoed through the village as William runs towards his home to find his parents amidst the chaos of the Worgen attacking the village. William and the other guards tried to fight off the beasts, but their numbers were too great and the town was overrun, all they could do was hope to escape with those they could save.
As he approached the house he heard the sound of a struggle inside, he quickly drew his sword and entered. The sight that befell him made his heart sink, laying on the floor, mauled, was his mother. In the corner was his father fighting off one the large worgen as it tried to maul his father just like it did his mother.
His father looked to his son as he entered, his eyes going wide, “William, no! Run!” His father pleaded.
William didn’t listen, he charged the beast, but was not fast enough it quickly turned and knocked him over, biting him on the forearm. He let out a cry of pain and began kicking at the beast when suddenly his father slammed a piece of firewood into it’s head causing it to be dazed for a moment. William’s father helped him up only to quickly push him into their cellar and close the door, locking it.
“Father!” William slammed a fist against the door and then tried to push it open with his body.
“Stay safe, William..” A low growl came from the other side of the door before his father’s scream and simultaneously the yelp of the worgen, and then nothing.
William stood by the door for a moment, closing his eyes knowing both his parents were gone, and then as sudden jolt of pain, starting in his arm and making his way through the rest of his body. He brought his hands to his head, and fell to the ground writhing in pain as he his body began to change. Slowly, painfully, his nails began to grow into claws, bones broke and elongated, black fur sprouted, until finally the man that was William was gone and all that remained was a monster.
I don’t remember anything from that first transformation, how long I was in the cellar, I only remember his face when he found me... Arugal.
The door to the cellar swung open and light shone down into the cellar, the lone worgen hunched over in the corner turned towards the doorway and stared up at the silhouette of a robed man surrounded by other worgen.
“Come, my child. Let me take you away.” The robed man held out a hand gesturing for the worgen to follow him.
Arugal, the man had gone mad, he took us worgen in as if we were his children, but we were nothing more than his slaves. The horrible atrocities he made us commit, I thought that hell would never end until the day the Horde attacked Shadowfang Keep and put an end to our cursed existence.
Or so I foolishly believed.. until Arthas.. Another memory flashes into William’s mind.
A collection of Death Knights kneel before the Lich King awaiting to do their master’s bidding.
“You will become my force of retribution. Where you tread, doom will follow. Go now and claim your destiny, death knights. Make the Scarlet Crusade pay for their defiance.” The Lich King spoke, his will overpowering all of their own.
“Yes, master.” Every Death Knight, including William, spoke in unison.
One curse ended, one master who took away my freedom killed, only to have another curse thrust on me.. Another master forced to serve and commit atrocities for. In the end at least we regained our will, and Arthas’s reign put to an end... At least we have a chance to atone for our sins, even if there is no redemption for us.
The memory fades away back to the recesses of the Death Knight’s mind.
William slowly opened his eyes, again staring at the fireplace, the memories of his past only bringing his feelings of guilt, rage, and anguish to the surface causing him to clench his fist. He then turned to face the doorway only to find one of the wolves that roamed the small village standing there, growling, it must have caught his scent and followed him. The Death Knight grabbed his sword and in one quick burst of anger cleaved the wolf’s head from its body, all his anger, frustration, and guilt went into the fatal blow.
He stared at the corpse for a moment, his breathing heavy before taking a deep breath and recomposing himself, he then sheathed his sword and walked out of the home, taking one last look around Glenbrook Homestead before departing the village.
The ground rumbled, weapons clashed, yells and battle cries of both Horde and Alliance alike echoed across the battlefield, and smoke continued to fill the air. Dardillien slowly stirred awake moving his hands to push off the ground, he shook his head a few times to try and brush off the drowsiness. Then it hit him. Alyssa.
“By the Light, Alyssa..” He suddenly jerked off the ground looking in the direction of the battlefield where the Alliance laid siege on Lordaeron. How long was I out? I hope I am not too late. Dardillien thought as he was now fully awake and dropped onto all fours rushing towards the on going skirmish.
It was chaos.
The entire area leading to Lordaeron scorched, destroyed, and ravaged by the Alliance on its war path to the city that held the Banshee Queen. The worgen rushed past it all, past burning trees, destroyed land, all to get into the fray and find his sister.
The battle raged on as friend and foe fell, and the hatred between the factions was palpable. Dardillien made his way onto the battlefield, sword in one hand and his revolver in the other, his main goal was to find his sister, but he had no problem cutting down any Horde along the way after what they had done to Teldrassil. He made sure to stick with groups as he made his way through the chaos, cutting down and firing away at any Horde that stood in his way. However, every time they killed one Horde soldier it seemed that three more popped up out of nowhere, it was truly a Horde.
It didn’t seem to matter where he looked his sister was nowhere to be found as he traversed the area. Dardillien continued to scan the field for his sister until he came across a wounded soldier laying on the ground with an Orc standing over top of him, the man tried to crawl away as the Orc lifted his axe to finish the job. In a quick motion, Dardillien aimed his revolver directly at the Orc’s head and fired. It was a killing blow as the Orc toppled over, the Gilnean then moved to the man’s side and knelt down.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Dardillien said with his adrenaline rushing as he wrapped the man’s arm around his shoulder and lifted him up.
“AGH!” The soldier let out a yelp of pain, “Thank you...”
Dardillien led the man as quickly as possible back towards Brill, fighting all around them causing them to turn and sway to avoid being attacked. This plan would not last however as a group of Horde soldiers killed the soldiers standing between Dardillien and them. The Gilnean quickly reloaded his revolver and got it ready to fire, but it wouldn’t be able to stop them all of them.
They began their charge.
(NSFW-ish due to violence below cut)
“Shit.” Dardillien stated backing away faster with the soldier.
“Just leave me.. you won’t make it with me.” The soldier exclaimed trying to convince the worgen to drop him and run.
“No. Come on, just move faster.” Dardillien pulled the man along picking up their pace, but it was futile, the Horde group was closing the distance with ease. Seeing this he fired his revolver into one of the Trolls in front, the Troll fell to the ground, but it didn’t stop the others from rushing towards them.
Suddenly time seemed to slow, it felt like the end, but Dardillien wasn’t going to go easily as he reached for another bullet and began reloading his revolver. He went to aim again, but it was too late they were barreling down on top of them, his eyes going wide as he watched an Orc lift his axe to cleave him in half..
“AGH!” The Orc yelled causing Dardillien to jump as he watched a sword fly through the chest of the Orc. He stumbled back a few feet staring at the weapon before falling to his knees.
What the hell?! Dardillien thought in a panic when suddenly a wraith-like hand moved in front of him from the corner of his eye and begin to materialize as it grabbed the blade, and then a full wraith-like being formed into a worgen with dark plate armor before ripping the blade from the Orc’s chest.
“Go! Now!” The worgen turned and yelled, sending an icy chill down Dardillien’s spine, just then a giant winged skeletal creature landed behind them as if waiting for them to get on. Dardillien wasn’t going to argue and began moving towards the winged creature.
The worgen then turned back to the other Horde soldiers that had stopped in their tracks and began his own assault, he lifted his hand causing one of the Tauren to lift into the air gasping for air as if he was being asphyxiated. Then in a flurry of strikes at blinding speed and ferocity the worgen cleaved in half a Troll and decapitated an Orc, Dardillien watched the whole thing as he helped the injured soldier onto the creature before getting on himself and it took off in the direction of shore where the Alliance had first made landfall. He looked back to observe the worgen fight his way through the Horde soldiers, it was a kind of brutal fighting he had never seen before, until eventually he could no longer discern who was who in the sea of people.
“What is a Knight of the Ebon Blade doing here?” The injured soldier asked with a cough.
“I’m.. I’m not sure. However, we are very lucky he showed up when he did.” Dardillien said equally as perplexed as the soldier.
“Either way I am thankful for your help, I didn’t think I was going to make it back there.” The soldier gave a nod and grunted in pain from his stab wound in his side.
“We aren’t in the clear yet, and you need assistance as soon as possible.” Dardillien sighs, Alyssa, please be safe... I can’t lose you a second time. He thought to himself.
The two rode on the winged skeletal creature for what felt like an eternity when really only thirty minutes or so had gone by as they made their way to the shoreline. The smoke from the area continuing to rise and fill the sky. That’s when they saw it..
“What is that?” The injured soldier asked as both stared in awe at the sight before them. Flying through he air, through the smoke, heading towards Lordaeron was a giant ship, neither could believe their eyes. “Is that thing going to help in the fight against the Horde? How is it flying? Who is flying it?” All good questions and none of which Dardillien had the answers to as he gazed at the magnificent ship pass by on it’s way to Lordaeron. As quickly as the ship appeared before them, it disappeared into the smoke like a ghost on it’s way to the battlefield, both could only hope that it was there to help their allies.
Eventually the two landed at the shore where people were running about, on and off the ships carrying supplies to help in the battle. Dardillien jumped off the winged skeletal creature then helped the injured soldier off and setting him down gently, as soon as both were off the creature flew away in the direction they came from.
“Stay here, I am going to go see if I can find a healer or medic.” Dardillien stated, the soldier giving him a nod while holding his side. The Gilnean then left to begin his search, one that would prove to be bittersweet for as he made his way along the beach he could not find a medic or healer, however as he walked along he noticed a demonic gate open up and out of it came several soldiers... and his sister. By sheer luck, fate, or perhaps even the Light, his sister had been dumped right in front of him from a demonic gate, she looked like she had been through hell and back, but he had found his sister.
(Mentions @alyssa-ward and this was my way of introducing my alt Death Knight @william-hendrickson )
A slight breeze blew through the air as the Death Knight stood on the edge of the cliff, glowing blue eyes stared out over the sea taking in the view, despite the fog that seemed to form and the lighthouse off in the distance. William didn’t know what to expect when coming to Drustvar, but he wasn’t expecting to find the land plagued by witches and their strange magic, in ways it reminded him of some of the magic of Death Knights, but at the same time it was very different. Combating the witches, those under their hex, and their wicker creations seemed like an endless battle, but one that was necessary to help the people of this land.
If only you two were here, you would have found this land interesting. William thought looking down at his hand which held two trinkets, one a Quel’dorei brooch and the other a Draenic crystal.
“Over here! I found someone!” A voice yelled from behind William causing him to close his hand around the trinkets and turn. Standing behind him was a man who was clearly a guard, one of the few not hexed by the witches, “Sir, are you alri-” The man stopped abruptly and drew his sword, just then two others ran up and joined the man. “Looks like we found another one cursed by the witches! Look at his eyes!”
William examined all three men with their weapons drawn, “You are partially right. I am cursed, but not by the witches that plague your land. I am not one of the ones you are most likely hunting, in fact we have the same goal, I have been trying to stop the witches just like you.”
“We won’t fall for your tricks! You won’t fool us into lowering our guard.” The men began creeping forward.
Hysterical fools. William sighed and began backing up before looking over the edge behind him, “Very well. If you won’t listen to reason, then perhaps it best if I remove myself before things get... violent.” The Death Knight suddenly jumped backwards off the cliff... he watched for a moment as he saw the guards peer over the ledge.
“Is he crazy?!” One of them yelled as they watched the Death Knight plummet towards the ground below.
William turned to face the ground and gave a loud whistle as he continued to fall, from the treeline came a winged skeletal creature giving a screech as it begins it’s own descent to catch the Death Knight. William sees his Winged Steed swoop in and grabs onto it’s reins, pulling himself onto it’s saddle and then pulling up on the reins to fly out over the sea.
William steers his steed along the coastline until he notices a ship off in the distance, a pirate ship, one that looked like it belonged to the Irontide. He veered towards the vessel, he could feel the insatiable need to cause pain rising, and he knew no one would miss a bunch of pirates.
William meeting Zallestrasza and having to explain how he had no part in what happened to the Red Dragon flight, and that he disagreed with what the Knights of the Ebon Blade were doing.
