Chapter 2: The Master's Voice

John’s vision was blurred, last thing he recalled was kneeling down in front of Arthas, and then everything faded to black.

His strength slowly returned, he could move his fingers, hands, toes, feet again. He tried to reach out into the pitch black darkness, all he could feel was wooden walls all around him, that’s when he realised where he was, where he had been placed, John was in a coffin.

“Is anybody out there?!, let me out of here!”, John screamed with a fierce voice.

“Well, well, well, so you’ve woken up new one.”

“Who are you? Why have you taken me captive?”

“You are mistaken human, you’re not a captive here…”. The voice paused for a second before continuing. “You are a servant to the Lich King, he is your master now, you have no choice but to answer to him.”

“To hell with him! I got a will of my own, fiend!”

“Once again, you are mistaken, human. Your will, is his. He is in your mind, controlling you, the more you resist, the stronger he gets. The Master is unstoppable.”

The mysterious voice opened up the coffin and a corpse appeared in front of John, leaning over him in the coffin.

“Time to begin your training, human.”

“My training?”

“Yes, you are a death knight now, the path of destruction lies ahead.”

“I won’t…”

John suddenly couldn’t speak, it was as if the very air in his lungs was trapped. A dark figure approached him. The corpse-like person that had released him kneeled down.

“Master Darion, I have prepared him for you.”

“Good Cedric, now be gone with you.”

He rose swiftly and ran out of the room and closed the door behind him.

‘”You are John Flame, correct? Oh, what’s that? Can’t squeeze out a sound?”

He tried to answer but nothing came out of his mouth, Darion laughed loudly when he saw John’s unsuccessful attempts to speak.

“All you need to do when I ask you anything is to simply nod or shake your head. Your voice will be returned to you when you’ve proven your allegiance. So, I ask you again, Are you John Flame?”

He nodded. John knew there was nothing he could do against this being, he was far more powerful than he could ever imagine.

“Good, follow me John, there is much work to be done.”

Darion reached for the door and unlocked it, allowing John to leave his cell.

“This is the Prison block, it’s where all new Death Knights are placed, we keep them here until they’ve lost all of their moral, faith, hopes, and then their training begins. But you John, you’re different. We do not have time to break you, which is why the Lich King himself is keeping a strong watch over you.”

They left the prison block and moved down a hallway into a big round room with a pit in the middle. Once they got closer, John could see there were people chained to the pit, humans, orcs, elves, and all kinds of races. They all looked pale and weak, as if they had been there for months.

“Welcome to the Death Pit, this is where all failed Death Knights are placed until they wither and die, slowly and painfully. However, to prove your allegiance, you will need to slay one of them in cold blood. After that you’ll need to kill another and another until you’ve covered the entire pit in their blood!”

John froze, the very blood in is veins seemed to stop, he felt a presence near him, the same presence that he had felt atop the mountain, it was Arthas.

Weapon racks appeared along the walls of the room, he could feel his anger growing, strength returning. Darion slowly moved out of the room backwards, when he reached the door he looked towards John and yelled.

“What are you waiting for? Get in there, death knight! Knock on the door once you’re done.”

With that said, the closed the door with a loud bang. Now it was only him, the weapons and the task at hand.

Walking over to one of the weapon racks, John took one of the swords hanging on the them and gripped it firmly, it was a two handed sword that had a skull right above where the grip was and it was almost two metres long and completely smeared in dried blood from previous victims. However he felt it suited him, somehow he had bonded with the sword, and it was as if something told him that this was his.

He turned and walked into the middle of the room, looking at all the prisoners he was about to slay, but then, suddenly a loud metallic noise filled the room and the roof opened up revealing a second level to the room, John gazed up, afraid of what he would see, there he was, Arthas.

“Hello again, John, It is time for you to show what you’re capable of.”

Arthas snapped his fingers and all the shackles, that had rendered the prisoners defenceless, suddenly came off. They quickly armed themselves and surrounded John.

‘”Prisoners, you’ve been sentenced to torture and death, however, this man is your second chance to fight alongside the other death knights, kill him and you go free. Failing to do so however, will result in death, or worse.”

John gripped is sword tightly as the prisoners looked manically at him. As he stood there, about to charge at them, one thought crossed his mind, “For Loreena!”, he thought then took a swing at them.