“Resist…”
“Arise…”
Obeying the compulsion, Jaqueline rose from a hard surface that she found herself laying on. As she sat up, she tried to remember what had happened to her and how she ended up here. The last thing she remembered was fighting a death knight and somehow emerging victorious despite the pain that her enemy and her own heart had put her through.
She instinctively checked her chest to feel her heartbeat, only to find that she didn’t feel a heartbeat. In fact, she didn’t feel anything at all.
Every inch of her body was numb which ended up taking precedence over the fact that someone had stripped her out of her armor and left her wearing only the bare minimum of clothing to protect her modesty. She also noticed that her skin had become completely pale. It didn’t take a genius to know that she was dead, her very soul refused to allow her to deny it.
She knew that she should be freaking out about being left unarmored and unarmed since her swords and shield were missing, yet she couldn’t bring herself to feel any panic. She couldn’t feel anything but cold and analytical. Of course, given that she usually wasn’t the thinking type, that wasn’t saying much.
Jaqueline took a moment to examine her surroundings. She appeared to be on a wooden surgical table and spotted a number of surgical instruments. She spotted the torso of an abomination on a nearby table. A number of tesla coils were hanging from the ceiling. Some part of her told her that they were for reanimating abominations.
Her sightseeing was abruptly brought to an end when she spotted a skeleton carrying what appeared to be a pile of clothes in their hands. They then left them on the floor and left.
Before Jaqueline could question what was going on, she heard a dark and ominous voice in her head, “Get dressed, there is little time to prepare before the attack commences.” Jaqueline wanted to question who that was but instead found herself getting off the table and heading to the pile of clothes. She wanted to stop for a moment and question what was happening but her body wouldn’t listen to her. She silently picked up the clothing and began to get dressed.
Because her body wasn’t listening to her protests, Jaqueline concluded that her free will had been taken from her. She might as well be a passenger in her own mind.
The armor that she had been given resembled black sleeveless robes with plate mail reinforcement with spiked shoulderguards and a reinforced hood as well as a black cape. Unfortunately, the getup didn’t come with a weapon. At least she was fully clothed again.
“Resist…”
Now that she was decent, she left the chamber and entered an area built of dark stone and was occupied by cultists, ghouls, necromancers, skeletons, death knights and abominations. They were all preparing for battle. None of them paid her any mind as if she belonged with them, though as she thought about it she probably did.
Jaqueline quietly walked out to the balcony overlooking the land where the man responsible for her reanimation stood. His back was turned to her as he observed the land below. A large part of her wanted to strangle him from behind and try to snap his neck but those thoughts would never see the light of day. Instead she moved to the Lich King’s right side and stared at the landscape.
“It is unfortunate that I did not have time to condition you like my other death knights,” Arthas said, his voice deep, rumbling and bone-chilling. “Each one I conditioned by tormenting them with shades from the Realm of Shadows. Though recently I have found that some of the shades do not obey me like before. It is something that I will have to investigate later.
“Until I have time to condition you, I have made sure that your will is tightly bound. You may have noticed that you are unable to feel anything physically and emotionally. This is a side effect of that. I will have more time to properly condition you once we have finally brought an end to the blemishes upon these lands: the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn. Now, go and speak with Razuvius. He will begin your training as a death knight.”
Jaqueline silently bowed to Arthas before retreating into the necropolis and moving around a pit area to meet with the death knight instructor.
Razuvius was a human with a gray flat top buzz cut with markings on his face. He wore icy blue plate mail all over his body. He stared at their newest recruit for a few moments, sizing her up. “Your name?” he asked.
“Jaqueline Pomerton,” she responded in monotone.
“Hmph…very well. Let us begin by forging yourself a runeblade. It is the single most important piece of equipment in a death knight’s arsenal. The powers of blood, frost and the unholy are channeled through runeblades and through using our runes do we gain power to unleash more suffering upon our enemies. The blades are an extension of our very being. Without one, a death knight cannot do battle. Now, go to the runeforge behind me and pick up a weapon. Use the forge to make it into a proper runeblade.”
Without another word, Jaqueline walked over to the runeforge. The forge was designed to look like a giant skull with a number of pipes connected to it. Inside the mouth was an anvil engulfed in a roaring blaze of blue flame that seemed to lower the temperature of the area around her. Of course, she couldn’t feel the cold but something told her that this was the case.
Picking up a sword from a nearby rack, she held the worn blade into the forge. The otherworldly flames licked the blade as she saw a number of icy blue runes form along it. She had no idea what the runes meant, only that she was to use them for battle.
Once the runes were fully formed along the sword, Jaqueline showed her work to Razuvius who nodded in satisfaction. He then went on to explain about a concept called the “endless hunger” where a death knight will experience untold suffering unless they inflict suffering upon others. He then gave Jaqueline a key to the shackles of the unworthy initiates in the pit in the center of the room. Her task was to free one of them so they could equip themselves and fight her to the death.
Jaqueline’s sense of empathy may have been suppressed along with many other emotions that the Lich King found unnecessary, but he still left her with her desire for a challenge. She looked around the pit to find people of various races shackled to the wall, all clad in next to nothing like she was earlier. Wanting to challenge the most skilled of the unworthy, she chose a night elf.
Once she freed her from her shackles, the elf collected a set of robes like the ones she wore and picked up a runeblade before she turned to Jaqueline with her weapon raised.
Jaqueline raised an eyebrow at the stance she used. Her instincts as a warrior had not been suppressed so she could tell that the elf had a number of openings. The elf charged forward and swung her sword to deliver a heavy slash but Jaqueline blocked it with her sword. The clash lasted for a second before the former human overpowered the elf and kicked her into the back wall where she fell to her hands and knees and dropped her weapon.
“Get up,” Jaqueline demanded. The elf struggled to get back to her feet but this took too long and Jaqueline’s patience was short. Just as the elf grabbed her weapon and got back on her feet, Jaqueline grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the wall. Her opponent dropped her sword again which made Jaqueline growl in disappointment.
Angered that she wasn’t getting her challenge, she threw the elf on the floor where she quickly moved to stomp on her victim’s leg. The elf screamed in agony but Jaqueline’s sense of mercy was suppressed so she continued stomping on her leg until she heard the sound of three bones breaking before doing the same to her other leg.
Jaqueline saw that the elf was struggling to crawl away from her with her arms desperately grabbing onto the stone. She was about to move to shatter her arms but she paused for a moment as she heard a strange, yet faint, voice in her head.
“Resist…”
Her anger drained in that moment which gave way to utter disappointment. She couldn’t make out what that strange voice was but now she wasn’t in the mood to prolong the one-sided battle so she ran her blade through the woman’s back and through her heart.
Leaving the corpse to rot on the floor, she returned to Razuvius who seemed pleased about how she made the woman suffer though he commented that she could have done so much more before she ended her wretched life.
Regardless, she had the basics down and she would learn the rest in the field. When Razuvius told her that, Jaqueline returned to the Lich King for her next task.
Arthas informed her that what separated a death knight from a mindless ghoul was to know her enemy. She was granted use of the Eye of Acherus to investigate her future targets.
Walking up to a pedestal that held a giant transparent blue eyeball, Jaqueline used what knowledge that was instilled upon her by her master to mentally take control of it. It soon flew toward the nearby town held by the Scarlet Crusade.
After some investigation, she learned that the town was called New Avalon where she found a few targets to attack, including a forge, a barracks, the town hall and a chapel. There was also a small hamlet closer to their location that she learned was called Havenshire.
Arthas saw what she saw. He noticed that the Scarlets were preparing for battle but he also sensed an enemy that he thought he had destroyed years ago. However, he decided to leave that thought alone for now and focus on unleashing the Scourge right away to give the enemy no time to properly evacuate and establish their defenses. For this, he sent Jaqueline to Highlord Darion Mograine to order him to begin the assault.
With a bow, the new death knight moved to a teleporter and stepped on it where she ended up on the lowest floor of the necropolis. She found the highlord atop his mount going over the attack plans alongside Baron Titus Rivendare who didn’t seem pleased to see the newest member. Jaqueline relayed the Lich King’s orders to Darion who sounded the horn to call the Scourge to battle.
She also noticed the runeblade on Darion’s back. It was a greatsword that gave off an eerie green aura with a guard in the shape of the symbol of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. A circular crystal in the shape of a skull hovered over the back of the blade. She could tell that the weapon held immense power, but she had no idea what the weapon was nor why it held such power.
She headed to the aviary where the death knights kept their skeletal gryphons for transport. She borrowed one to get her on the ground where the Scourge had established a forward base. Once landed, Jaqueline dismounted and reported to the one in charge of the base.
Prince Valanar was one of the San’layn, a sect of undead elves referred to as the Darkfallen, with the distinction being their powerful blood and shadow magic combined with their vampiric tendencies. He wore bluish green robes with sea green gemstones with a mask over his mouth that had the image of sharp fangs. She spotted the wet spots on his mask that told her that he was salivating about something in the Scarlet town, likely the blood of the living.
Valanar noticed her approach and turned to address her, “Good, you’re here. I have already been informed about the bindings our master has placed on your mind so I will simply give you your instructions. First, I want you to sow terror upon the populace by slaughtering soldiers and civilians alike. Show no mercy, even if they beg for their life. Second, Salanar the Horseman wants you to steal one of their horses so he can convert it into a proper deathcharger for you. Orithos is requesting more arrows but we don’t have time to waste on equipping his archers so recover as many arrows as you can. Also, before you leave, Olrun wanted me to inform you that your worthiness shall always be tested. As such, she believes that you should challenge a few of the death knights around here to a Death’s Challenge. That is all.”
Jaqueline recalled the information instilled upon her mind and realized that the Death’s Challenge was a simple duel between death knights.
After a few duels, Jaqueline realized that her fellows were too reliant on their runeblades while her warrior instincts were still intact. She found that their movements were too slow and their attacks were telegraphed. She couldn’t help but wonder if Arthas turned anyone who could wield a sword into a death knight.
Having enough of humiliating the initiates, Jaqueline left the base camp in pursuit of her other objectives. Once she entered the nearby farming community of Havenshire, she slaughtered every man, woman and child in her sights. Like a machine, she butchered them all with ruthless efficiency, even as they begged and pleaded for their lives. She finished off any civilian who was unlucky enough to get pinned by an arrow before she collected said arrow. Once she collected every arrow she could find, she proceeded to her last task of stealing a horse and delivering it to Salanar.
Once she delivered a horse, the horseman cast a dark spell which caused the horse to vanish as they were enveloped in darkness. Salanar indicated that he had banished the horse to the Realm of Shadows where his dark rider would slay them and raise them as a deathcharger. She would need to enter the Realm of Shadows to retrieve the deathcharger for her to call upon as her mount.
Before she proceeded any further, Jaqueline informed Valanar that she had completed her tasks. As a sign of her progress as a death knight, he rewarded her with a new cloak to replace her initiate’s cloak. A skeleton appeared who took the old cloak so that it would be given to the next initiate who joined their ranks.
Jaqueline returned to Salanar who cast the dark spell on her where she was engulfed in darkness for a moment before her vision returned to see a darkened version of the world around her. She saw nobody around her, as if the camp was just abandoned.
She began her search for the horse by heading into Havenshire where she spotted a number of shades wandering around as well as a mounted horseman, the dark rider.
A few shades moved to attack her but her blade tore through their phantasmal bodies with ease. With the interference out of the way, she charged at the horseman who was knocked off his horse from the death knight’s first strike. She didn’t wait for the horseman to get back on his feet before she swung her blade down on him but was blocked by his blade. The horseman rolled to the side to avoid another strike only to be struck by a blast of frost which slowed his body enough for her to deliver a slash that left a deep hut in his side that she caused to fester using an unholy rune on her blade.
Still on the ground, the dark rider tried desperately to defend himself only to have his weapon knocked away before she plunged her sword into his chest and out the back.
With the dark rider dealt with, Jaqueline prepared to mount the now abandoned deathcharger. Before she lifted herself onto her new mount, she heard the sound of slow clapping nearby. Looking around, she spotted Thanatas who was walking toward her while continuing her clapping.
“Well done defeating that dark rider, I see you are beginning to grow accustomed to your new…unlife.”
Jaqueline knew that she wasn’t part of the Scourge and her compulsions told her to kill this person. Despite knowing that Thanatas would crush her, she had no choice but to fight this one to her death.
As she prepared her blade however, her opponent only smiled before she raised her hand toward her in a grasping gesture. Suddenly, Jaqueline could actually feel sensations again. She could actually feel her hatred toward the Lich King surface and boil furiously. She also felt the guilt over slaughtering those innocent people.
As tears flowed down her face, she fell to her hands and knees as she dropped her weapon. “Wha…what did ya do to me?” Jaqueline asked.
“I simply loosened the Chains of Domination that were binding your soul. Arthas’ power in the Realm of Shadows is not as secure as he thinks it is. Unfortunately, I cannot break your chains, only you can do that. Once you leave this realm the chains will bind your soul again.”
“How do ah break ‘em?”
“Resist…”
“If your will is weak, you don’t. Though if you do, I’ll give you a prize. To encourage you to do your best, I will tell you that it’s a good one,” Thanatas chirped. Her cheerful expression soon darkened as she became serious. “You should probably get back before they consider that you died again. Stay away too long and they will wonder if you are worth keeping around. Remember, only you can set yourself free from the Lich King.”
Jaqueline sighed, “Ah really don’t wanna go back to bein’...that…again, but at least ah know ah ain’t forgotten. By the way, what’s this weird voice ah keep hearin’?”
“Frankly I have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe it has to do with that magical core you have in your body. That thing is pure death magic.”
“What!? So this thing actually killed me?”
“Yep, from what I can tell, the seed slowly fed on your life force as you grew up and the more you fought the more it took from you. The seed was useless while you were alive, but now that you are dead it’s time for you to start reaping the benefits.”
“How do ah do that?”
“I’m afraid we have run out of time. Get on your horse and get back. We will meet again.”
“Wait!” Jaqueline called out but the death knight dispersed into the shadows. With no other choice, she returned to the camp where she called for the huntsman to pull her out of the realm.
Once she was back in reality, the physical and emotional numbness returned, but not completely. She had hope that she would break free from the Chains. Of course, her initial attempt to break free didn’t budge the Chains, but she was stubborn and determined. She needed to keep trying.
In the meantime, she was stuck doing the bidding of her jailors. She was tasked by an elder necromancer named Gothik the Harvester to use a portable plague spreader that turned the miners in a nearby mine into ghouls. Some turned into hostile unbound spirits but she had no trouble destroying them.
The chaos at the mine gave the Scourge an opportunity to destroy the Scarlet Fleet. Since the workers were too panicked to check their mine carts, Jaqueline was able to hide herself in one of them. Because of this, she was snuck aboard one of their ships where she used one of their cannons to decimate an army of Scarlets who were so foolish as to gather together.
Once the entire coastline was a graveyard of unburied corpses, Jacqueline returned to the camp. Once she reported her accomplishment to Valanar, he laughed maniacally, saying that the Lich King will give him a commendation for his leadership. He then ordered Havenshire to be burned down so they could move the line forward to New Avalon.
Valanar gave Jaqueline a pair of bracers and legplates made out of a strange metal. When she found a private place and put them on, she had a strange feeling that someone other than the voice she had been hearing was whispering into her mind. It spoke in a weird and creepy language but she was incapable of concerning herself with it.
With nothing to do for the time being, Jaqueline wandered around the camp humiliating more initiates in duels.
Over the next few hours, the sky turned dark as the smoke from the flames coming from the village rose to create a burning sky like in Burning Steppes. The minions and cultists also set up a stage with a Scourge banner in the back. Valanar took his place there where he beckoned for Jaqueline to come to him to give her next task.
With the village destroyed, the Scourge took over a nearby crypt that was now being used as a forward command center where Valanar’s brother, Keleseth, was leading the assault on New Avalon. She was to report to him.
Summoning her new deathcharger, she quickly mounted it and rode toward the crypt. Once she entered and reached the depths of the crypt, she spotted the san’layn. While Valanar and Keleseth wore the same design of clothing, Keleseth was dressed in dark crimson with reddish orange gems. Titus was also there glaring daggers at Jaqueline again.
Ignoring the baron’s issues with the new servant, Keleseth gave Jaqueline her new orders which involved obtaining a few things for a necromancer named Noth the Plaguebringer to set up a plague cauldron to blight the land as well as assaulting the town hall and slaughtering anyone who got in her way of getting the town registry.
With hundreds of ghouls rushing the entrance to the town, Jaqueline had no problem getting around the beleaguered humans and attacking all of them from behind. Unable to fight the swarm before them and the enemy behind them, the defenders easily fell, allowing the ghouls to rush into the town.
Jaqueline’s rampage began as she went into people’s houses and scoured it of all life. It didn’t matter if they were unarmed, elderly or a child, she butchered them all the same. She knows that she should feel crushing guilt about this but she couldn’t feel that.
She assaulted the blacksmith, taking some iron chains, she assaulted the inn and left none alive while locating a cauldron that would serve Noth’s purposes. She summoned ghouls to carry the cauldron and the chains to the necromancer while other ghouls were ordered to tear off the heads of the citizens she slaughtered and deliver those to the necromancer.
Jaqueline killed a few more Scarlet combatants before attacking the town hall where she murdered the officials, including the mayor, then searched through the books until she located the town registry.
She left the bloodstained town hall and returned to Keleseth, who was pleased with her progress. He awarded her with a girdle and greaves, again made of the strange metal that whispered strange things into her mind. If there was one benefit of being emotionally numb, she didn’t feel disturbed when the equipment she was wearing whispered directly into her brain.
As the vampire looked through the book, he discovered that a few ships had set sail to Northrend along with the words “Crimson Dawn”. Since they needed more information, he had Jaqueline return to New Avalon with a pair of magically enchanted pokers to use to torture any soldiers that she hadn’t slain into telling them about the meaning of the term.
It didn’t take long to find a soldier who was still holding out against the ghouls. However, the ghouls backed away as a death gate, a portal usable by death knights, opened next to the soldier before Thanatas emerged from it.
With Jaqueline still bound to the Lich King, she was still compelled to try to kill the enemy death knight. However, she quickly found herself frozen from the neck down by one of her spells.
The soldier tried to take advantage of Thanatas’ distraction by striking her down but she reacted too quickly by shattering his sword. Thanatas then used her runeblade and pointed it at the soldier, pulling his soul from his body. With a wicked grin, she interrogated the poor soldier, “In death you shall tell no lies. Now what is the Crimson Dawn?”
As if compelled, the soul spoke of how High General Abbendis was spoken to by the Light itself and that those who were worthy would go with her to Northrend. He also mentioned a courier from Hearthglen was due to visit. Once he had nothing left to say, she ripped the soul free from his body and let her blade claim it.
Turning her attention to Jaqueline, who gave her a blank stare, Thanatas gave an innocent smile, “There you have it, take that information back to that pompous elf. Also, do try to avoid mentioning my involvement.”
As Thanatas opened a death gate to leave, Jaqueline heard the voice. She noticed that it was getting stronger each time she heard it.
“Resist…”
Jaqueline finally managed to break free from Thanatas’ spell. Though with the information obtained, there wasn’t much need to finding someone to torture so she returned to the crypt.
Keleseth thought the mention of the general’s communication with the Light was just crazy talk but figured that they might get some information from the courier. He looked at the death knight who appeared that she had something else to say. “What else?”
“That was all he said. What’s my next task?” Somehow, her will had won that battle since she didn’t mention Thanatas. It gave her hope that the Chains were starting to weaken.
Keleseth stared at Jaqueline for a moment and shrugged, “Very well, I sent Orbaz Bloodbane ahead with Thassarian and Koltira to establish a base of operations in a tavern near the chapel. Check in with them and inform them to be on the lookout for the courier.”
Jaqueline left the tomb and mounted her deathcharger, riding back into New Avalon where she raced across the town that was beginning to look like a literal ghost town with all the ghouls roaming about hunting down any stragglers who were hiding.
She soon found the building near an apple orchard. Seeing the orchard reminded her of her old farm near Andorhal. She had joined the Argent Dawn to try and take it back but later realized that there was nothing left to go back to since the Scourge had burned down her old home and plagued the land which killed the orchard. Since then she fought the Scourge to avenge her farm.
As she reminisced, her body mechanically moved on its own and entered the tavern after killing a pair of Scarlet soldiers who were skulking around. She went upstairs and found two of the three death knights she was looking for. She recognized Orbaz and Thassarian but didn’t see Koltira anywhere.
“Where’s Koltira?” Jaqueline asked.
“Does it even matter? That deadweight got himself captured. He’s worthless!” Orbaz stated. She noticed a look of irritation on Thassarian’s face as he said that, though Orbaz was looking the other way so he didn’t notice.
Despite Orbaz’s protests, Thassarian asked Jaqueline to go look for Koltira and rescue him if possible. Since the captive was at the barracks, Orbaz requested that she look around the building for the patrol schedule so they might find some info on when the courier was supposed to arrive.
She left the tavern and summoned her deathcharger before she rushed toward the barracks, barreling through any Scarlets on the way. Once inside, she cut down any soldiers she came across as she ascended to the second floor and into the command room where she overpowered the commander and infected him with several diseases before she beheaded him once he was weakened.
She looked through the books and papers on the command table and found the schedule she was looking for. She then returned to the first floor where she heard the sound of someone being tortured in the basement. She had a feeling that it was Koltira. A part of her felt conflicted about whether or not to rescue him or not. She decided to at least investigate.
In the basement, she slaughtered the Scarlets near the torture racks before looking upon the pitiful elf in his underwear.
“Get me out of this thing!” Koltira demanded. “The high inquisitor will notice the racket you caused and investigate.”
The Scourge part of her wanted to brutally eviscerate the elf in front of her for his weakness but this warred with her desire to rescue him. At the moment, she was left uncertain about what she should do.
“Resist the Chains!”
Her will won out in the end and she freed the elf from the rack. Checking his wrists, he then moved to a nearby chest which contained his armor and weapon. “You shouldn’t have come. I failed. I should have been abandoned.” He sighed. “If you are here, then it’s probably because of the fool, Thassarian. No matter, if we survive this and kill the inquisitor, then bring his head to that fool.”
To Koltira’s surprise, Jaqueline chose not to play it safe and channeled her inner berserker before rushing forward. Any acolytes that came down to the basement were dead before they knew what attacked them. When the inquisitor came, he tried to cast a holy attack spell but lost the chant as his mind suffered a painful case of brain freeze before his shoulders became several pounds lighter as the head flew off and landed in her hand.
Koltira slowly walked up the stairs, his body weak from torture. “You are a strange death knight. Reckless, yet somehow you emerged from that unscathed. Leave me, I am burning this place to the ground.”
Jaqueline decided that her task was complete so she returned to Orbaz and Thassarian. She showed the head to the more caring death knight which prompted an eye roll from Orbaz. Once he received the schedule, he quickly looked through it to find the courier’s route. As Jaqueline stared at him, Orbaz pointed to a nearby table where a pair of gauntlets and a breastplate were placed.
After replacing her armor, he told her to go two hundred paces east and ambush the courier as he heads toward the coast. He also told her to take everything on him, not just the letter. She raised an eyebrow when he handed her a wooden board made in the shape and painted to look like a tree. A huge part of her wanted to question why he would think this tactic would work but decided to let the Chains have this one since she didn’t like Orbaz anyway.
When she arrived at the ambush location and placed her strange tree, she waited for the courier to arrive. She didn’t have to wait long. What astonished her was that the mounted courier was an idiot because he thought it was a good idea to investigate what was obviously a fake tree. When he got close, she struck by running her sword through the tree and the horse’s barrel to eliminate the courier’s means of a quick escape. The messenger got to his feet quickly and tried to run away, only for a bolt of necromantic energy to wrap around his body and yank him back to Jaqueline who thrust her sword into his chest upon his arrival.
With the courier dead, she relieved him of all of his belongings, along with his clothes, and the message. Since her sense of curiosity was suppressed, she didn’t bother looking at the message and simply reported the information to Orbaz.
The death knight grinned as he read the letter, mentioning the armies of Tirisfal and Hearthglen marching into a massacre. This told her that the Scarlet Crusade planned on sending their armies to defend this place. Orbaz then went on to order her to use the clothes she stole from the courier to deliver the message to High General Abbendis and to get as much information from her as she could.
After going into an adjacent room to change into the courier’s clothes, Orbaz used some dark magic on her to transform her into the complete likeness of the courier, voice and all. The magic also created the illusion that her deathcharger was a living horse.
The Scarlets appeared to buy her disguise since the ones protecting the nearby coast let her through. As she rode down to the coast where the general was located, she found the general speaking with a pair of bishops about something before her presence gained their attention.
Upon delivering the letter, Abbendis gave a message for her to deliver, saying that the armies must turn back and prepare to sail for Northrend. She handed her a journal that she said would explain everything while also declaring that the Scarlet Crusade was no more and this was the rise of the Scarlet Onslaught.
Deciding that this was enough information and that pressing any further might arouse suspicion, Jacqueline returned to Orbaz with the information and the journal. He told her to deliver it to Highlord Mograine while opening a death gate to Acherus to speed her way.
Once she stepped through, she gave the journal to the highlord and informed him of the coming Scarlet armies. He looked through the journal for a moment before he laughed uproariously, pleased with the information he had been given and her contributions to the coming apocalypse of the Scarlet Crusade. He then gave her a pair of spaulders to replace the ones she was wearing.
The next few hours were spent with her practicing her abilities while the Scourge waited for their enemies to come to them. Jaqueline suddenly felt the Lich King’s icy presence in her mind as he spoke, “Come to me, the time has come to bring about the end of the Scarlet Crusade.”
Heeding his call, she headed toward the aviary to requisition a skeletal gryphon to take her back down to the ground. What she saw filled Jaqueline with so much rage that she could have sworn that her body expressed her feelings for a brief moment. A pair of plague doctors were standing near the corpse of a gryphon whose hind quarters were a dark shade of brown with the upper half having snow white feathers and a dark brown beak and brown feathers around the eyes.
“Winona…” she thought.
She approached the doctors who were preparing to spray plague on the corpse. “What is going on here?” she demanded.
“This one foolishly attacked this necropolis by themself and paid the price,” one of the doctors said. Without wasting more time, they sprayed the vile substance on the corpse, washing away their fur, flesh and feathers until only a skeleton remained.
Jaqueline desperately wanted to ruthlessly hack apart the doctors with her blade until they were beyond recognition but the will of the Lich King prevented her from having her vengeance. She screamed from the prison within her own mind, though her body didn’t mimic this sentiment.
“Take this one to be reanimated,” one doctor ordered.
“Let me handle that,” Jaqueline said. This only further enraged her as her body was still doing things on its own. She really didn’t want her beloved gryphon to be brought into this hell but it appeared as if the Lich King had a different opinion on the matter.
Against her will, she pointed her sword at the skeleton and channeled necromantic energy into the bones for several seconds before the bones began to move and assemble themselves into the position they once were when Winona was alive.
Soon the skeletal gryphon was moving on her own before she proceeded to the aviary. “Winona…forgive me…” she thought.
She proceeded to ride a different gryphon to the base camp where the stage where Valanar once stood was now elevated even further to a tall platform where Arthas stood. She proceeded up the steep ramp to meet her master.
Arthas glanced at her for a moment before looking at the burning remains of Havenshire and New Avalon. He seemed pleased by the destruction and handed Jaqueline a bone white horn. He claimed that it would call one of his frost wyrms to aid her in destroying the Scarlet armies.
Once she blew the horn, a skeletal dragon landed near her. She quickly mounted it and set forth to unleash icy death upon the army. The Scarlets were not prepared as more dragons appeared, mounted by Thassarian and Koltira. Together, the three of them wiped out the Scarlet Crusade in minutes.
Upon her return, Arthas presented the final piece to her whispering armor set: the helm.
With the Scarlet Crusade finished, there remained only one final task before the Plaguelands were secured. They would soon burn Light’s Hope Chapel to the ground and end the Argent Dawn.
Jaqueline was furious that the Scourge would go after her comrades in the Argent Dawn. The Scarlet Crusade was one thing since they were a bunch of fanatical zealots who killed anyone who didn’t wear red, but this was another matter entirely.
Arthas chuckled as he sensed her rage. “I will take great pleasure in breaking you by making you butcher every person you ever called a friend. Now, take the tunnel to the Noxious Glade and meet your brethren at Browman Mill.
Jaqueline bowed to the Lich King against her will before she called upon her deathcharger and entered a nearby tunnel leading into another Scourge camp. The exit would take her to the abandoned sawmill.
She halted her deathcharger when she spotted a strange weapon planted in the ground. It looked like a runeblade and it was much nicer-looking than her own. The weapon looked heavy with a broad blade and the hilt had the design of an apple with a skull with roots branching out for a cross guard.
As interesting as the blade looked, she had to get going to the battle. However, she also felt a second compulsion telling her to claim the blade which seemed to conflict with the Lich King’s compulsion.
“Resist the Chains of Domination! Reach out and take what belongs to you and free yourself.”
It then clicked into place for her, whatever that sword was, it was the ticket to her salvation. She dismounted her deathcharger and walked toward the blade.
However, as if something was pulling her back, she felt her movements toward the blade slowing as if she was walking through tar, and it was getting thicker the closer she got. Whatever this sword was, Arthas really didn’t want her to have it and that was all the motivation she needed to force herself toward it.
The phantasmal Chains continued their attempt to pull her away but with each step she made, Jaqueline’s hopes burned brighter. As she neared her prize, she could almost swear that she heard the sound of chains snapping. With each snapped chain, a part of herself could be felt. She soon began to feel the pain of the Chains pulling her back but she endured and continued to push forward slowly. Soon she could feel herself expressing the rage and hatred she felt toward the Lich King as she screamed in fury.
Jaqueline reached out toward the sword and upon grasping the weapon, she felt the final chain break. Thoughts flooded her mind as her desires for vengeance against the Scourge came to the forefront of her mind. She swore to herself that she would not let Arthas get away with what he made her do.
Discarding her previous runeblade, Jaqueline pulled out the new sword and gave it a few test swings to get a feel for it. Surprisingly, it felt like it was made for her style of fighting, as if the blade was forged just for her. Just holding the weapon felt like she had her mother, father and brother supporting her. It gave her the same feeling as if she were holding a Pomerton family heirloom even though she knew it wasn’t.
The memory of her family made her smile, knowing that they would always be there for her from beyond the grave filled her with confidence.
Unbidden, a word came out of her mouth and it was then that she learned the name of the sword, “Appleblight…”
With new resolve, she mounted her deathcharger and raced toward Browman Mill. When she got there, she saw that the battle had begun without her. She could see that the Argent knights were getting overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Scourge attacking them.
Before she could run toward the battle, she spotted Orbaz fleeing on his deathcharger from the battle like the coward she knew him to be. She quickly intercepted him and slammed into his mount with her own to knock him off before dismounting.
As she glared at him, Orbaz got over his daze and glared back at Jaqueline. “What is the meaning of this? How dare you knock me off my steed!”
“Ah aim to send a message to Arthas. Your corpse will do,” Jaqueline replied.
“What? You dare turn against the Scourge? Wait…did you free yourself?”
“Ah did, and now ah get to deal some payback, startin’ with you.” She pulled out her Appleblight while Orbaz drew his sword. The male tried to back away to get some distance while he assessed his opponent. However, he was caught off guard when one of the runes on her sword awakened with a dark green glow. An arm sprouted from Jaqueline’s back that was equipped with an abomination hook and chain. The arm threw the hook and the chain wrapped around his sword arm, the hook piercing his gauntlet and cutting into his arm, and yanked him back to Jaqueline who was ready with her own strike. The arm and chain faded away once he was flying toward her.
Orbaz tried to defend himself from her strike with his runeblade. Unbalanced as he was, he still managed to avoid taking damage though he looked in horror as his blade had cracked.
He rolled out of the way from a follow up strike before he hastily cast a death gate and threw himself into it. The gate closed before Jaqueline could pursue. She spat on the ground in disappointment.
Instead of dwelling on the coward’s escape, Jaqueline turned her attention to Light’s Hope Chapel and observed the battle. She noticed that Darion’s sword stopped before he could cut down a single paladin. However, he was on the receiving end of several holy strikes from the Argent Dawn. A mysterious light from the chapel suspended the death knights in the air and dropped them before the chapel.
She spotted who she suspected to be Tirion Fordring, supposedly a former paladin who was excommunicated and exiled from the order because he protected an orc. She remembered that he aided in the previous battle of Light’s Hope and committed himself to reforming the Order of the Silver Hand after the death of his son.
Tirion went on to lecture Darion about him becoming the very thing his father fought against before his blade began to glow. An image, or perhaps the soul of a man with dark red hair emerged from the blade. Darion called him father. An image of a younger version of him emerged from Darion and spoke with the soul, wishing to do battle against the Scourge but his father told him that he was too young to go into battle.
The scene was cut short when Arthas emerged from his own death gate and pointed Frostmourne at the soul of the man…
…only to be drawn to another blade.
Arthas spotted the perpetrator, a certain female death knight with pale skin and snow white hair pointing her runeblade, Evermourne, where the soul was.
“You dare steal my prize?” Arthas growled.
Thanatas gave him a cheerful smile, “I dare, this soul is coming with me to the Shadowlands where he belongs.”
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“Let’s just say that I am going to be the biggest thorn in your side for the coming year, little puppet.”
“Puppet? What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know? How unfortunate.” Thanatas shrugged. “I wonder how these death knights will react once they realize that you were planning to use them as cannon fodder so you could kill or at least weaken Tirion. It’s as he said, you knew that the chapel was a powerful bastion of the Light that couldn’t be approached by the unholy so easily.”
“What!?” Darion shouted, his anger pointed toward the Lich King. “You were planning on using us as disposable pawns for this?”
Arthas chuckled, “It seems that you are already proving yourself a troublesome issue, woman. Yes, though I am surprised that so many of you survived the chapel’s defenses.”
“You…betrayed me,” Darion growled. “You betrayed us all, monster!” He was about to attack the Lich King in blind rage. However, the only one who saw what was coming next was Thanatas as she saw Jaqueline rush in for a strike at Arthas. The Lich King barely had time to react to her attack and the fact that his mind-controlled slave was attacking him was shocking enough that he didn’t have time to assume a proper stance before Appleblight clashed with Frostmourne with enough force to send him flying, landing on his back.
“Impossible, you broke free?” the Lich King asked as he got back up.
“Eeyup, why don’t ya stay there for a few more moments an’ ah’ll show ya how free ah am,” Jaqueline quipped.
Not liking his odds at the moment, Arthas opened a gate and retreated into it. “This isn’t over, Jaqueline Pomerton, when next we meet it will be on my terms.”
Once the presence of the Lich King had faded, a quiet settled over the area. Darion mulled over his thoughts and made a decision. He walked up to Tirion before plunging his sword, the Ashbringer, into the ground. “Take it, I am unworthy of this blade.”
Tiron smiled as he picked up the Ashbringer. His strong connection with the Light allowed him to transform it into the holy weapon that it was always meant to be, a radiant runed greatsword with a holy crystal in the shape of a glowing disc with the image of a hand on it on the back of the blade. He then turned to the paladins behind him. “On this day, I propose a union of the Argent Dawn and the Knights of the Silver Hand. We shall succeed where many before us have failed. We will take the fight to Arthas and we will tear down the walls of Icecrown. For we are the Argent Crusade!”
Darion stood next to Tirion as he spoke his piece. “On this day, we of the Knights of the Ebon Blade swear vengeance on the Lich King. Even if our kind has no place in this world, it is enough that we have a purpose to guide our blades.”
The Knights of the Ebon Blade rallied around Darion. He knew that the first thing that needed to be done was reclaim Acherus from the Scourge. They would have no hope of survival without their flying fortress.
“I would like to have a few words with Jaqueline, the rest of you should be able to handle liberating your necropolis,” Thanatas said. Darion decided to leave them to their conversation while he opened a death gate to Acherus. He and his Knights entered the portal.