Memories of a Crusader

Bump! Up you go, for great justice. About time I updated this one. Without any further delays, I proudly present you:

Memories of a Crusader – Brother against Brother

The beginning of a war that history will remember as the Scarlet War - me slaying one the Onslaught. Not just anyone, unfortunately. Light would have it that my old, childhood friend’s blood be spilled to start it. Algorath and I have had a long history of saving each other’s life, and other memories of good times long since past. Light only knows how it has gotten so far. I encountered Algorath just outside the Onslaught basecamp in Dragonblight, where I did what had to be done.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dannath was keeping watch while his men took some sleep. Justicar or not, he took the shortages and the hardships just like any other Redeemer. He never asked anything of his men that he would not do himself. Than again, there truly are no bounds to what he would do to achieve his goals.

The howling wind was cutting right through his amor and clothing, freezing him to the bones. A powerful blizzard blurred out Dannath’s sight significantly and thus he was more on edge than usual. Then came that all too familiar, dreadful sense. A Death Knight was approaching rapidly. His body had been here a thousand times before and acted instinctively on its own, free of his mind. He started walking towards the unholy presence, breaking into a sprint to reach the top of a snowy hill. He narrowed his eyes and located the Death Knight. His legs moved without any debate or consulting his mind as he charged down to block his path.

“Halt, Death Knight scum! Your end is nigh!” Dannath yelled through the howling storm. By just being in the very presence of a Death Knight Dannath could feel righteous power and holy spirit coursing through him, strengthening him for the inevitable clash.

The Death Knight stopped, lowering down his dark hood and his blue eyes lighting up menacingly. There was a faint grin on his scarred face. The area around each step the Death Knight had taken became blighted.

“What is the meaning of this, Crusader?” He spoke in a low, sinister yet familiar voice.

Dannath looked with disgust at the Scarlet tabard the Death Knight was wearing. “That such evil is allowed to fester behind such a righteous symbol sickens me. You are a blight upon the Crusade and I will-”

“Dannath? Dannath Downshaft? Is that really you?” the Death Knight interrupted him. Than it dawned unto Dannath; he recognized the Death Knight as his long lost companion Algorath.

“Can it be? I thought you’d never return from Outland, my old friend! It’s good to see you again!” Algorath took a few steps forward, Dannath unsheated his blade.

“What in Light’s name has befallen you, Algorath!? You are infested and plagued to the core! It saddens me to see that the noble man of the Light I once knew has succumbed to twisted undeath!” Dannath pointed in Algorath’s direction after every accusation with the tip of his sword, as if making a point.

“Listen, there is no time now for me to explain. High General Abbendis is leading an assault on Naxxramas and I’ve been sent to-“

“The High General not only damned herself, but she has also damned the Crusaders who have followed her here! You are the victim of her treachery and she will pay for her sins!”

“Dannath, stop this folly at once and help us fight the wretched Scourge! Fight alongside me like you always faithfully have! Outland has made you mad, it seems!”

“Fight the Scourge?! YOU are one of the Scourge now! Look at you! You are lost to us… to me! Just like the entire Light-forsaken Onslaught!” Dannath felt his heart pounding in his chest, as if it wanted to kick his ribs out, adrenaline racing through every part of his being.

“Perhaps that is the price some of us must pay for the Crusade’s salvation, Dannath! Are you truly that blind, my friend? We are at an impasse.”

Dannath clenched his fists. “No! We are at an end!”

Dannath charged forward, sword in two hands and high above his head. Algorath unsheathed his runeblade and braced himself for the impact. Dannath brought his blade down with all his might and a fierce warcry. Algorath parried the blow in the air and the two were engaged in a lock, pushing, grunting and nearly face-to-face.

“I am sorry it has to be this way but your fate is sealed, my friend! If you are no longer with us than you are against us!”

“Come, Death Knight! See what merciless justice the Light has in store for you and the Onslaught!”

Algorath quickly sidestepped out of the lock and punched Dannath in the face with a plated fist. Pain flared through Dannath’s head, he could hear his own bones crunch. He staggered backwards, the taste of his own, warm blood insanely enraging him. Algorath followed it up with a horizontal swing of his runeblade, which Dannath dodged by a mere inch and he counterattacked. Something completely instinctive boiled up from his gut and drove him blindly at Algorath. He unleashed flurries of blows and could not stop, he did not want to. He wanted total annihilation and destruction. A foul blue light emitted from the vile runes of Algorath’s blade as he continued to defend himself from Dannath’s rampage. The ground around Dannath started to shake and burst open, frozen chains grasping his limbs and shackling him firmly in place, putting an end to his blind anger. Algorath took a few steps back. The uh-uh-uh of labored breath from both men filled the air. Dannath spat out blood.

“Like this will stop me! No unholy powers will keep you safe from the wrath of the Light!” Dannath closed his eyes for a moment.

“Those who walk the path of the righteous need not fear restraint”

In a blinding flash of light the chains broke and he was freed. Dannath charged the short distance between him and Algorath. Algorath anticipated Dannath’s reckless attack and sidestepped at the last moment, with the tip of his runeblade ripping through Dannath’s shoulderplate and wounding his arm. Dannath cried out at the searing pain as blood exploded from the gash. To his horror he saw dark fluids gushing out of the deep cut, snaking down his arm. It felt as if his blood was boiling. Dark spots began to cloud his vision. He fought through the stinging pain as he turned to face the grinning Algorath.

“Do you feel that, Dannath? Do you feel the gift running through your veins? That is just a taste of the might of the Onslaught! Allow me to demonstrate you first-hand the full powers with which we shall crush the Scourge!” Algorath threw a handfull of mysterious powder into the air, which settled quickly upon the frozen ground. He smashed his runeblade’s tip into the ice and waited for a moment.

Dannath looked from the festering wound on his arm back to Algorath.

“Do your worst, Death Knight.”

“The Light is my shield and protector, my guardian and guidance - the abode of he blessed!”

Purifying holy energy washed over Dannath from the heavens, warm and gentle to the touch. The plagued wound was cleansed and Dannath charged with renewed vigor.

“Rise, minion! Heed the call of your master!” The ground before Dannath erupted as a large ghoul digged itself out of it’s icy tomb. Dannath was forced to stop his charge. Once the ghoul set it’s gaze upon Dannath, it let loose a blood-chilling gurgle and immediately leaped at him with extraodinary agility. It tried to flail it’s arms at whatever of Dannath was in range. The ghoul’s claws ripped through his Scarlet tabard and scratched his chestplate.

“Cower in fear before the Light, vile abberration!”

Immediately the ghoul ceased it’s savage attack and started running away towards it’s master as fast as it could, arms over it’s head in a protective manner. Dannath focused on the ghoul and closed his eyes.

“The Light smites all unholy evil and I am it's instrument!”

Dannath unleashed a searing bolt of holy energy at the fleeing ghoul, incinerating the vile creature and reducing it to ashes in the blink of an eye. Dannath bursts into laughing.

“Amusing, Algorath! So much for the grand, vaunted and vile powers of the Onslaught! Your fate will be no different than that of your pathetic minion! Now, where were we!?”

Algorath ran at him and swung his runeblade with all his might in a horizontal manner at Dannath’s head. Dannath ducked quickly to avoid decapitation. Algorath had swung his runeblade so hard that the miss caused him to lose his balance. This was the opportunity Dannath needed.

“Light, give me strength!” The Light coursed through his blade at his incantation.

He stabbed it right up to the hilt through Algorath’s Onslaught tabard, through his unholy plate and into his stomach, impaling him. Dark blood sprayed on Dannath’s gauntlets, with the burning sensation of thousands of needles stinging his hands. He pulled the blade upward with a fierce warcry, slicing Algorath open from stomach to thorax. The Light-enchanted blade easily sliced and burned through the tainted flesh. Dannath placed his boot on Algorath’s upper body and with a sickening rip managed to pull free his bloodied blade. Algorath fell backwards and slammed down with a gasp, releasing his runeblade. He was clutching at the gaping wound and coughing up blood. Dannath, breathing heavily, bended over to him, sword at the ready.

The Death Knight spoke with his last, dying breath;

“And so it ends…curse you, Dannath! You will be the undoing of the Crusade!”

“So be it. But rest assured; from it’s ashes shall arise a new, righteous Crusade. Glory to the Light!”

There was no doubt, no guilt and no second thoughts when he plunged the blade for the final time into Algorath’s chest. He was filled only by a sense of righteous fury and purpose. Algorath’s last words were ringing for a long time in Dannath’s ears. He turned towards the cruel-looking, partially with his own blood caked runeblade. It was shrouded in an eerie glow. Dannath reached for it, hesitated for a moment and took it up. It was the heaviest weapon he had ever wielded. Immediately he was overcome by a wracking darkness, hundreds of consumed souls called out to him. An invasive force penetrated his mind.

Release...I beg you...
Suffering...torment...unending
Succumb...

Dannath steeled himself and opened his libram with a single hand. As he began to read the holy symbols aloud, the runeblade in his other hand began to desintegrate slowly, piece by piece.

Resist...futile...
Light... abandons...you!
No!

The runes etched into the weapon emitted a pure light as it disintegrated further. Infused with Light, the vile runes fragmented like the rest of the runeblade; sending vortexes of souls and shards in all directions. The endless stream of haunting voices slowly ebbed away to silence. Dannath closed his libram and turned around.

He looked the slain Death Knight over. As he did, he noticed an oddly familiar necklace dangling from Algorath’s neck. It was identical to the one he was wearing, two crossed swords on a Scarlet Emblem and a libra. Dannath knelt down next to the mutilated corpse of his friend.

“By blood and honor you served me as a true Crusader…a true friend. But now your duty has come to an end. I shall never forget you nor your sacrifice. Go with the Light.” Algorath’s menacing eyes, still locked in a losing struggle with death, slowly dimmed. Dannath once again recognized the eyes of his friend he had known so long ago. He gently ran his left hand down Algorath’s scarred and tainted face, closing the deathly eyes. He firmly pulled the necklace loose with his other hand. He lifted Algorath’s remains unto his shoulder. The raging storm did not subside while walking back to camp, lost in thought. After what seemed to be hours, he arrived.

“The Justicar has returned!”

Dannath barged into the nearest tent. Every Redeemer inside immediately stopped with what he was doing and rose up to salute. “Sir! We thought you had-…what in Light’s name is that, m’lord!? Is everything fine, sir!?” said one of Dannath’s lieutenants by the name of Nathan Ferrel when he saw the lifeless body of the Death Knight. Nathan’s jaw was lowered in amazement. “So the war has begun…”

Dannath nodded and spoke in a low voice. “This man deserves a proper burial, even a Death Knight as he might have been…see to it, Ferrel. He will be buried in the gardens of the Monastery...I will notify his relatives of this tragic event.” He cleared a table in the middle of the tent without any regard for the items on it and placed Algorath’s body upon it.

“But sir-“

“DO IT, LIEUTENANT, OR YOU WILL BE JOINING HIM!”

“Yes m’lord, right away!”

Dannath exited in the same way and with the same pace he had entered. He dissapeared again into the howling blizzard, fighting back tears.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And it was there where that shared history ended, with me saving his life for the last time. His suffering and death will be avenged, the one responsible for all of this madness will be brought to justice. However, this is not the time for mourning, at the beginning of the war to end all other wars. Now rejoice, Scarlet Redeemers! The blood of the Onslaught will make the snow run red as our path to victory will be paved with their skulls! Onward!

Hmph, the layout looked better when I wrote it in Word, but it will have to do. Stay tuned for moar!