Sunset Shimmer: Path of the Damned

by Blackdrag-rose

Enclave: Behind Enemy Lines

After leaving the Crypt of Remembrance, and leaving Keleseth and Rivendare to whatever they had been doing before her arrival, Sunset climbed onto her steed before heading into New Avalon once more, where she found that the people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. She supposed they were, given that their Mayor had been killed not that long ago and she had massacred a number of their soldiers before departing with the information she needed, and she found that her slaughter earlier had provided her with the opening she needed. She and her steed were able to get across the town without drawing the attention of the citizens or any of the soldiers, in fact the latter seemed to be in the middle of fighting the ghouls that were currently tearing through their defenses, thanks to her empowering the plague cauldron not that long ago. Such a thing allowed her to reach the orchards that the tavern was located near, which also happened to be near a chapel she had seen previously, though what surprised her was that none of the Scarlet soldiers had noticed her, even with her being so close to their keep, so she placed her steed behind the two story structure and headed inside.

Sure enough she found a number of death knights guarding the area, keeping themselves hidden for the most part so any of the enemy soldiers wouldn't see them until the last moment, before she found two powerful death knights, both humans in imposing armor, standing over some slain soldiers while ghouls feasted in the nearby bedroom.

"So, the infamous Sunset Shimmer has seen fit to join us." the closest of the two death knights, Orbaz, remarked, though at this point in time she wasn't even surprised by that fact, rather she expected everyone in the Scourge to know of her, due to all the people she had slaughtered since her rebirth as the Lich King's tool, "We have been hunting our targets while you slaughtered our enemies, but our master has informed us of a courier that you're looking for... to be honest, we don't have a damned clue as to where he's supposed to be. Fortunately, while we were trying to fulfill our own mission, we learned that there should be a patrol schedule somewhere inside the garrison, so you might be able to obtain it and figure out the courier's route."

"Also, we lost one of our best death knights in the act of establishing this place, and I'm sure he's somewhere inside the garrison you're heading into." Thassarian, the other human death knight, added, something that caused Sunset and Orbaz to turn towards him for a moment, as he spoke like the person was his brother or an ally who had been brought back into undeath as well, "Rescuing Koltira would be a boon to our forces..."

"And why should I care? We're death knights, uncaring soulless killing machines, and if he got caught than it's his own fault for being weak at such a critical moment." Sunset replied, something that pleased Orbaz, while surprising Thassarian, but before either of them could say anything she raised her hand and grasped the second death knight by the neck with her magic, a fact that was followed by her lifting him into the air, like she was strangling him, "There were rumors about you caring about our kind, Thassarian, and I was hoping that they were exaggerations or outright lies... but now, after seeing it for myself, I should just purge this weakness before it infects the rest of the Scourge."

Stay your hand, my chosen death knight. a voice said, where Sunset quickly recognized it as the Lich King's voice, as it was hard to mistake it as someone else's, and reacted instantly, releasing Thassarian before closing her eyes to listen to her master, though she also kept her senses open, just in case the pair tried anything while she was doing this, I have plans for his bond with Koltira, and will speak to them when both of them return to Acherus... for now, continue with your search for the courier.

"As you wish, master." Sunset replied, because the only one that could stop her from doing anything was their master, so if he told her to stay her hand, and allow Thassarian to have his bond with Koltira, she was going to do so, meaning when she headed into the garrison she would have to rescue him as she gathered the information she required, causing her to open her eyes, "The Lich King has commanded me to stand down in this manner, as he will tend to you two personally, so that means I'll rescue Koltira as well."

Thassarian said nothing for a moment as he rubbed his neck, because he was sure that without the timely arrival of their master's voice, and his command, he would have died for the second time, though he kept his mouth shut as he realized that the tales were right, Sunset was the Lich King's chosen death knight. As he thought about that, and what it meant for all of them, Sunset headed outside and climbed onto her steed for a moment, where she rode for the garrison and found that it was being guarded by all sorts of Scarlet soldiers, not that it mattered to her. When she got close enough she raised her hand and yanked the first pair of guards over to her, where Sunset jumped off her steed and slew her foes before they had a chance to defend themselves, allowing her to force her way into the garrison without delay. Her first action was to find her way to the upper level, as that seemed to be where the Scarlet Crusade hid their more important documents, and it wasn't long before she found the stairs leading up there, even though she lined the path with the corpses of the Scarlet soldiers, much to their dismay.

On the upper floor she found a more armored Scarlet soldier, likely the Commander of their forces, and was disappointed in his skills, as he informed her that he would rid the world of the Scourge and left himself open, allowing her to cut out his heart and kill him, to which she claimed the book and headed to the basement, where she found Koltira.

"Count yourself lucky that the Lich King has plans for you, otherwise I would have left you behind." Sunset said, cutting the Scarlet preacher down before she had a chance to even cast a holy spell on her, who must have been tasked with doing something to Koltira, who stared at her as he picked himself up off the table he had been resting on, without armor, which was nearby with his battleaxe.

"You were still foolish for coming, as now we might both die." Koltira remarked, though he had a feeling he knew who was the cause behind Sunset's annoyed mood right now, where he coughed for a moment as he moved over to his armor, as he could hear the sounds of the soldiers of the Scarlet Crusade coming to end them, "I am still weak from my ordeal, but I will do whatever I can..."

"Yeah, I don't care." Sunset replied, where she turned her head for a moment and engaged her magic as she spotted some of the Scarlet soldiers, yanking them through the railing of the stairs, impaling one of them in the process, so she could cut them down with a swing of her runeblade, "I'll slay whoever dares to challenge me!"

Koltira paused as he put his armor back on, as he had heard tales of her brutality while he and the others were fulfilling their own tasks, even though he had a hard time believing that she was capable of such feats, but watching her combine her magic and death knight powers told him that they were true. Sunset Shimmer was a force to be reckoned with, as she slashed through her foes without pause and showed no hesitation when it came to killing the living, in fact he was positive that the Lich King's conditioning had twisted her into a pure soulless killing machine that was unlike any death knight that had come before her, maybe even beyond that of the first of their kind. Even the High Inquisitor, one of the stronger Light users that remained in New Avalon, didn't stand much of a chance when it came to fighting Sunset, as she tore through his magic and smashed him into the ground, killing him before he had a chance to do much, before grabbing his head as she hauled him outside. Since the figure was dead this was a way to instill fear into the hearts of the Scarlet Crusade, as in to show the soldiers that not even their strongest Light users were safe from the might of the Scourge, and many who saw them fled as she walked out of the garrison, though before Koltira departed for Acherus he informed her that there were some prisoners being executed near the chapel.

Sunset, of course, didn't care as she pulled the corpse onto her steed and made her way back to the inn, where Orbaz and Thassarian were surprised by her arrival, even though they were pleased to see the body of Valroth, who would raised as a servant of the Lich King in due time, and she handed over the patrol book as she made her report.

"You have done well, Sunset, and I will endeavor to figure out when the courier will arrive." Orbaz remarked, where he was pleased to have her on their side, because if she was part of the Scarlet Crusade he was sure that it would have been an entirely different story for this assault, before he handed over two items, a pair of saronite plated gauntlets and a chest piece made of the same material.

"Still, we might as well check out the chapel, to see if anymore of our order have been captured." Thassarian said, where this time he found that Sunset didn't seem to care that much and was only doing it since Orbaz needed some time to look over the tome she had given him, to track down the courier she was looking for.

Sunset wasted no time in heading outside and walked over to the chapel, where she found that it was on fire and that the side building was intact, meaning the death knight leader much have found something important, who saluted her when she approached the building.

"We didn't find any of our brothers or sisters, as we heard Koltira's report before he left, but we found some feisty prizes inside the prison house." the death knight, Plaguefist he called himself, said, though his actions told her that she had to be a higher rank than he was, something he might resent given that she was fairly new to the Scourge's forces, though as his forces torched the area he focused on what they had found, "It appears that the Scarlet Crusade had captured some of the Argent Dawn's forces, possible champions who disagreed with what our enemies were doing, and have executed a fair number of them before our arrival... we left them alive, as an apology for wasting your precious time."

Sunset took that to mean that they were there to vent her anger or frustration, so she walked over to the doorway of the prison house and found all sorts of people kneeling around the chamber, from humans to draenei and from blood elves to orcs, the main races of the Alliance and the Horde.

"You've come to finish the job, haven't you?" a voice asked, where she found that the female human looked up once they heard someone walk into where they had been contained since they had been captured, though while many were slightly surprised by her appearance, her hooves and pony features, each of them knew that she was Scourge, "I don't know who you were in life, but I have a feeling that you were a champion of your kind... a hero... and that you have been risen into a mockery of what you stood for while you were alive. Listen to me, whoever you are, you have to fight the Lich King's dark hold and free yourself, as he's a monster that will see the whole of Azeroth covered in darkness and transformed into a world of ruin, and he is using you to make his will a reality!"

"Me? A hero?" Sunset remarked, where she chuckled for the first time since her rebirth as a death knight, as she found this to be hilarious as she found that everyone had paused what they were doing as she spoke, before she steeled herself for what she was about to do next, "No, I am no hero... I'm a villain, given a second chance to dominate my enemies, and right now those enemies are you, the Scarlet Crusade, and the rest of the living who call this world home! My master will bring death and destruction to this world, you're right about that, and I will fight until my last breath to make his will the new reality, with everyone serving the Lich King... and you, too, shall serve him!"

The Argent agents barely had time to react to her statement as she summoned her power and yanked them towards her position, where she lashed out at all of them and ended their lives before anyone could defend themselves, though in the following moments Sunset held her blade out, like she recalled from her own death and rebirth, and felt one of the val'kyr watching over this area.

"Arise, Argent champions, and serve the Lich King in death!" Sunset declared, where she was sure that the Lich King had seen what she was doing over here, waiting for her reaction to the Argent agents, and had sent a val'kyr once she decided to raise all of them to serve the very being that they hated during their lives.

Sure enough all of their bodies faded a little as the energy of death washed over each of them, similar to what happened when someone was raised from where they had fallen, and Sunset watched as the human was the first to be reborn, with a look of horror on her face, before the others joined her. Once that was done she ordered them to follow her as she took them out to Plaguefist, informing him that she had slain and raised all of them with the aid of a val'kyr, to which she left all of them in his care and watched as some of the other death knights summoned deathly portals back to Acherus, forcing all of her new recruits to join the Scourge. With them dealt with, and Sunset having shown the others that she had didn't care for the living, she left Plaguefist to the rest of his duties as she returned to the inn that Thassarian and Orbaz were in, who seemed to look at her in a new light, not that she cared about that too much. She suspected that the right of calling or using the val'kyr was reserved for their master's chosen, Scourge commanders who were higher ranking than she was, but she didn't care at all, as the Lich King humored her and helped raise the Argent agents into undeath, where each one would be put to work.

"I've figured out that the courier will be passing by our area in the next few minutes, and we have created a disguise that he'll have to investigate." Orbaz said, where Sunset found that it was a tree made out of a flat piece of wood, likely a door that was no longer serving the purpose it had been created for, and she was sure part of the paint was made of blood, to which she glanced at him for a few seconds, "Use this, ambush him, and take everything, including his clothing... I'll explain the plan when you return."

Sunset said nothing as she accepted the disguise and headed out, this time ignoring her steed, it wasn't necessary for her to use it at this point, which allowed her to quickly reach the arch area near the garrison and planted the disguise, though she added a bit of magic to make it look like a real tree and entice people to come look at it. Of course no one else was in the area, so she was able to slip into her illusion and be hidden from everyone, where she waited for a few moments as she heard the sound of someone coming, someone on a horse. Sure enough it was the courier she was waiting for, who, much to her amazement and continued belief that the Scarlet Crusade was full of idiots, stopped at the tree and wasted his precious time investigating it, even as she disengaged her spells. She wasted no time in running her blade through his chest and killed him, allowing her to pull the body out of the way and hide it where no one would see it, before claiming all of his belongings and heading back to where Orbaz was waiting for her to return.

As it turned out the armies of Hearthglen and Tirisfal were on their way here, heading right for a massacre, though once they knew what his letter was they cast an illusion on Sunset, allowing her to take on the courier's form and even used it to hide her steed, as she had to deliver the letter to whoever it was intended for. With that in mind she quickly returned to her deathcharger, a normal Scarlet horse thanks to the illusion, and rode out, heading for the road the courier had been on before she waylaid him. She found that the Scarlet soldiers believed the illusion and allowed her to ride down the path, one even announced her arrival as she did so, where she found a ship and several of the missing Scarlet commanders, the ones that Orbaz and Thassarian had been sent to kill. The High General actually mentioned that she was late, believing that she was the male courier, and took the letter, only to curse as she realized that the armies were riding into the hands of the Scourge, before informing her that she had to deliver a message to the High Commander, to 'turn their forces back and prepare the ships to travel to Northrend', and ended it with handing her a book.

Apparently the Scarlet Crusade was no more and the Scarlet Onslaught was taking it's place, to which she acknowledged the message and rode out of the cove, though instead of heading to meet the armies, as much as she wanted to slaughter them on her own, she regrouped with Orbaz's group and delivered her report, along with the book.

"All that effort, for this rubbish?" Orbaz remarked, as the book was just an edited version of the High General's diary, one that detailed how she heard the 'Voice of the Light' and created the new Scarlet Onslaught, before he quickly drafted his report and handed it, with the book, to her, where he opened a portal back to Acherus, "Take our report back to Acherus and deliver it to the Highlord, as we must prepare for the encroaching armies."

Sunset said nothing as she nodded and stepped through the portal with the items, finding that she was back on the floor that Darion rested on, allowing her to quickly deliver the report and journal to him without wasting time, even though he was surprised by her actions and proclaimed that she was an instrument of doom. With the report in hand he ensured all of their forces readied themselves for the armies that were coming, though he also handed her some imposing pieces of plated saronite shoulder pieces to replace her old set, making her look more like the instrument of death and doom she was becoming. As she accepted the armor, however, Darion moved out to get things ready for the arrival of their enemies, allowing her a short period of time to get herself ready for their final battles with their enemies, and once they were done they could return to Northrend and slaughter their remaining foes to focus on their master's plans, which she was looking forward to with her entire being and could only imagine the slaughter awaiting them.

Comments

[midnight arrow]

great chapter

[zachary12]

nice work

[Blackdrag-rose]

11268842 I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, and everything Sunset's done so far.

[midnight arrow]

this make me want to play warcraft

[Blackdrag-rose]

11269097 Truth be told, I've never played Warcraft. I got all my knowledge of the Scourge from Wrath of the Lich King expansion and the wiki.