Tales of Snow

work in progress...

2011-12-09T20:59:00.002+01:00

2011-11-18T23:28:00.000+01:00

LO4

2011-11-14T19:36:00.000+01:00

A hero approaches...

2011-09-30T20:29:00.002+02:00

Without Words

2011-08-01T14:27:00.002+02:00

2011-05-30T17:23:00.000+02:00

pirate

2011-05-27T20:57:00.002+02:00

2011-01-25T17:33:00.001+01:00

2011-01-25T17:31:00.002+01:00

Loreena

2010-10-02T09:46:00.001+02:00

Blue Fairy

2010-07-06T22:53:00.000+02:00

Chapter 5: A Path Unknown

2010-06-22T12:46:00.001+02:00

‘Seems you made it through without a scratch, were you successful?’ A night elf revealed herself, just as Joe had made his way out of Stormwind. Her silk-like hair danced in the wind, making her brush it out of her eyes repeatedly before she gave up and let it fly freely.

‘I thought I told you NOT to sneak up on me? I made it, although I’m not sure the message came through, she still doesn’t trust me.’

‘Clearly you didn’t persuade her properly, want me to go in there and “talk” to her?’ She rubbed a red rose against her lips, with a sinister smile upon her face.

‘Don’t tempt me, but Calora isn’t our enemy here, even if she may see me as hers.’

The night elf lowered the rose from her lips and turned her smile upside-down, giving Joe a disappointed look, then dropped the rose upon the ground.

‘I thought you only gave roses to people you killed, Zaria?’ He said as he tried to see where the rose had landed in the pitch black darkness. As he had feared, there lay the body of a young Stormwind guard, lifeless.

Forcefully, Joe flew forward with great speed and slammed Zaria against the nearby wall by her neck, keeping his hand around it. ‘I strictly told you NOT to kill anyone! Is that so hard to understand!?’

“Only if absolutely necessary”, ‘is what you said, besides, he found me.’ She said as he let go of her neck. The innocent yet sinister smile had returned. Afraid that the guards might catch up, Joe decided it was time to leave. ‘Come on, lets get back to the ship.’ She just nodded and replied, ‘Ay ay, Captain.’

They mounted up on their horses and headed westward across the deserted plains of Westfall. Sunlight shone through the clouds, revealing the path ahead of them. Up until recently, it had been a darkened path, lit only by the faintest moonlight.

Joe rode up alongside Zaria, ‘this was the proud lands of farmers once, until Van Cleef and his gang began slaughtering them. Now there’s nothing left, just abandoned houses, screaming of a forgotten past.’

The ship came into view as they approached shores. They jumped off the horses and Joe whispered something into his steed’s ear. ‘What are you doing?’ Zaria wondered, puzzled.

‘Telling him to go home, we can’t take him with us’, Joe said. ‘And he understood that? There’s more to you than I ever knew about cap’n’, she seemed quite surprised. They both unsaddled their horses and sent them on their way. The found a dinghy resting on the shore. It had been left there for them.

After tiresome rowing, they arrived onboard the ship. The crew had gathered for a meeting. Joe paced back and forth across the room before suddenly stopping, ‘We need to return to Valandil, he’ll have more information. What’s the status on the cargo?’

‘Cap’n, we’re low on supplies,’ one of them answered. ‘The rum is gone!’ another one added.

‘Well we can’t have that now, can we? Helmsman, set a course for Menethil Harbour, we’ll restock on supplies there and then head to Darnassus.’ They raised their heads in joy. ‘hurrah!’ they all yelled out. ‘Now, hoist the sails, and send this beauty of a ship to Menethil!’ He bellowed. ‘AY AY CAPTAIN!’ The entire crew burst out in a loud roar. Nothing could motivate them more than promises of rum. The sails raised high and the anchor lifted, the ship begun sailing towards Menethil Harbour.

The captain’s cabin became a source of silence, Joe sat on his bed, pondering over the events of the day. ‘What’s on your mind cap’n?’ Zaria asked, she had followed him to his cabin after the meeting. ‘I’ve always hoped to be able to return to Stormwind again, but every time I do, something gets in the way.’ Zaria stood in the doorway, leaning to one side, ‘you’d like to be able to visit your daughter without being chased by guards?’ Joe paused before answering, ‘Yes, but somewhere along the way, my allies were corrupted by greed, now they hold on to a lie, a lie that is keeping me out. I met her you know, I met my daughter.’ ‘And yet, you insist on being nice to them’, she patronised him. ‘You wouldn’t understand, they may be scared, but inside they’re as good as anyone else, at least I hope they are.’

‘Whatever plan Valandil has, it has to work. He didn’t seem too cheerful about his vision.’

A worrying gaze set in Joe’s eyes. ‘He’s a tree hugger, he doesn’t look cheerful any day of the week’, she said, trying to bring Joe’s calm attitude back. He managed to crack open a smile, ‘yeah, you’re right, but he’s on to something, and we need to act on it.’

Their conversation was cut short as one of the crew members rushed in the room. ‘Cap’n, we’ve got a problem upstairs.’ Confused, he asked ‘What kind of problems?’ ‘Deadly, sir’, the crewman answered with a serious tone. Joe reached for his hat and headed upstairs. Lanterns had been lit along the sides of the ship, giving out a hint of light in the suppressive darkness. Joe and Zaria gazed out to see what the crewman had seen, the view was both terrifying and chilling.

Silieth

2010-06-09T13:39:00.003+02:00

2010-06-06T21:28:00.002+02:00

The Hunter

Practiced posing arms/hands and adding a weapon. Quite happy with those things, but the legs weren't great. Something to work on I suppose. :)

2010-06-06T21:24:00.002+02:00

The Spirit Healer

I made this to practice drawing folding cloth, turned out quite well I think :)

CHapter 4: The Ballad of John and Loreena

2010-06-01T10:08:00.000+02:00

The room had grown silent as the last of the Death Knights fell to John’s blade. Blood was everywhere, on the floor around him, the armour he was wearing and the sword he had used to slay them.

‘I feel my doubts in you were unfounded, John. You have proven to be just as brutal as you were designed to be.’

With a stunned look, John stared up at Arthas who was standing above him, looking down upon him as a bird looks down upon its prey. This made him feel very uncomfortable, despite the fact that he had just slain eight Death Knights on the Lich King’s command.

‘You see it now, don’t you? There is no escape John, you will become one of my Champions of Death, and you WILL fight for me. There is no escape.’

The doors opened again and several ghoul servants hurried towards John bringing chains and cuffs. The cold metal cuffs made his blood freeze even more as the servants attached them to his hands and feet. As they lead him back into his cell, he could see several other Death Knight initiates. They were all pale, their faces filled with sorrow and remorse. The ghouls shoved John into his cell and removed the cuffs. A cold breeze flowed through the room as they shut the door. Complete darkness filled the room, he couldn’t see, hear, or speak. As his hopes faded, Arthas’ will took him over more and more. John lay down in his coffin and closed his eyes having only one thought pass through his mind, “Save me” as the lid closed shut.

--- o ---

The crashing sound of a house collapsing awoke Loreena, dazed and confused she looked around to see where she was. Her memory gradually returned, the brutal massacre that had befallen the villagers of Adalaine’s encampment and their lucky escape flashed before her eyes. But of John’s whereabouts, she knew nothing, this fact lay heavy in her breast, as if a blade had pierced her heart. She gathered her strength and stood herself up.

‘Do not lose hope, my child’, one of the other priests said, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

‘We need to be strong, for the others. It is at times such as this that our faith is truly tested.’

She turned around, tears flowing down her cheeks to look at her fellow priest.

‘What God would let this happen? Why must we suffer?’

‘There is always a plan, my child’. He closed his hands around hers and said, ‘Right now we need to keep our faith strong, the villagers will be looking to us for comfort, guidance and support. We can give them that, we WILL give them that’, He emphasised.

‘If I do that, I will be lying.’ Her head had tilted forward, she felt her gaze dropping down towards her feet.

‘Maybe, but it will keep them safe. Faith is a powerful thing, my child. You’ll learn in time what is best, for now, trust in me’, he said. The words flew through her mind, she could see the logic in keeping up the morale in such dark times.

‘I will, for our people.’

He nodded to her and repeated, ‘For our people.’

--- O ---

John drifted into a dream state, passing through past memories. He sees Loreena and himself, sitting in the grasslands, a memory. He could almost feel the warm winds that whirled around them, throwing Loreena’s hair around, as if it had a life of its own.

‘Why do you fear the darkness, John? What has made you so scared?’, Loreena said, laying her hands on his.

‘I fear what it may turn me into, my love. I fear that I will lose control of myself once again, that I will harm you. I couldn’t bear to lose you, my love. Without you, I would have been lost long ago.’

‘I have faith in you, John. You are a good person and you can free yourself from the darkness. I will help you, protect you.’

‘I do not know why I have been blessed with your love, Loreena, for it is more than anything I could ever wish for.’

‘As long as we’re together, we will keep each other safe, nothing will keep us apart, together forever, my love.’

John picked an Arthas’Tear from the grass and placed it in Loreena’s hair. Its ocean blue colour almost glows in her black obsidian hair.

The images fade. Both he, Loreena and the lavish grasslands were no more, he awoke back in his coffin once again.

He felt nothing, nothing for his beloved. The Lich King has taken his emotions away, no fear, no love, no hope at all. All that was left, was hatred. The dark blue fire raged within his eyes.

--- o ---

‘Lady Loreena, are you ready?’ A young squire asked. She broke her trance, with a sigh.

‘I can’t find him’, she said.

‘Find who, My lady?’ The squire looked confused. ‘John, I fear for him. All I can feel…Is a dark presence, we are being followed.’ The squire’s eyes widened with fear.

‘I shall tell the others to pick up the pace, we can’t fight, but we can run’, he dashed off to alert the rest of the group.

The group gathered at the foot of a mountainside, in a cramped cave leading into a narrow path that runs deep into the mountains. One of the priests, Brother Richard, assembled everyone around a fire.

‘We can stay here for the night’, He said. ‘We’ll be safe here’, another one added.

Most of the villagers lay down to try and get some sleep, the priests and strongest in the group decided to keep watch for the night. Wandering around the camp site, Loreena found herself longing to be with her beloved. Her eyes searched the horizon, but nothing could be seen.

‘Where are you John?’ She whispered, but she got no answer. Snow began to fall, covering the ground with a white blanket. Then in the distance, a small figure began to take form, still too far away to see what or who it was, she went closer, leaving the safety of the cave. Could it be? ‘John!’ She called out, ‘Is that you?’

The group had heard her yelling and had speedily rushed to find out what was going on. What they saw frightened them all. The figure had not been John, it was a scourge scout. It lay, knocked out, in the snow. Loreena has bashed its head with her stave.

‘They found us’, She said, ‘They are here.’
Winds whirled wildly, winter was coming. ‘Follow me, we have to keep moving!’ Loreena yelled to her followers. The Lich King’s armies couldn’t be far away. After their escape from Adalaine’s encampment, the villagers had turned to Loreena for guidance. Being a priest she did what she thought was right, and fled. They weren’t fighters, barely a handful of them were capable of wielding a sword, and none of them had ever had any real combat experience. Their best chances were to flee, flee far away.

The winds grew stronger and fiercer, forcing them to slow down, slower and slower.

‘Come along people, we cannot rest until we find somewhere safe to hide, the storm will only get worse if we wait’, she said, trying to rally them.

‘We’ve got no more strength left, my lady, the old can barely walk at all, and the young freeze.’ ‘We have to make camp here’, one of the younger men responded. ‘What are the chances of The Lich King finding us here?’ ‘In the middle of nowhere?’, he quickly added.

‘I found one of their scouts yesterday, if they can find us, then so can the rest of the Scourge. You can not hide from him, no one can.’, she answered.

‘Then why are we running m’lady, If there is no hope of survival?’ He questioned. The entire group had now stopped moving and heard their conversation and everyone’s eyes had turned to Loreena.

She took a deep breath before speaking again, ‘Because we must not give up, there is always hope, there’s always a chance to survive, there are people out there fighting for us right now, I have no doubt about that. But we will NOT give up!’

‘Hope, heh?, there is no such thing as hope.’ A dark voice echoed as if it came from within their very minds.

The storm calmed, making it possible to see, although what they saw was not what they had hoped for.

‘Arthas…’

The earth began to rumble as corpses crawled out of the ground all around them

‘You, priestess, you will come with us’, Arthas said pointing at Loreena with his sword, Frostmourne. ‘We’ve got plans for you.’

‘Never. I’ll never go with you, murderer!’ she gripped her stave close to her chest, preparing to attack, but for nothing. Arthas dashed forward and caught her by the neck and threw her aside.

‘Take her away!’, Arthas yelled fiercely. The villagers, scared, just stood there, frozen in fear. A hungry looking ghoul scuttled over to Arthas.

‘Master, what about the others?’, the ghoul spat out. ‘Feast upon their flesh!’, Arthas bellowed.

As they dragged Loreena away, she witnessed the ghouls clawing, ripping the defenceless villagers apart. Blood sprayed everywhere turning the white winter snow to a dark shade of crimson red.
Within the Necropolis, time passed by silently, although completely oblivious to John. His perception of time had been lost along with his will. He looked more and more like the other Death Knights he had seen, pale, dark, much like the Necropolis they were in. An absence of happiness filled the quiet halls.

A flickering light approached as the coffin opened and the heavy metallic door slid open. A small figure, about half of John’s height, came towards him. John slowly recognised him as Cedric, who had been there the day before. As the ghoulish figure came closer he reached out his hand, in it was a note. John began to read it.

“Greetings John Flame,

The ghoul I have sent to you will be your servant. In time, you will see ghouls have their uses in more areas than mail delivery.

You are to follow my instructions to the letter, if you do not, then a fate worse than death awaits you.

M.S.”

After staring at the letter for what felt like an eternity, John got to his feet and put the letter into his right pocket. His servant, Cedric, stopped gnawing on his nails as he noticed that his master had finished reading.

‘So you will follow my orders, ghoul?’ John said with an agitated voice.

‘Yes sir, anything you say’, Cedric answered with a surprisingly clear voice for a ghoul.

‘Well, I guess its time we paid a visit to the Scarlet Crusade and showed them what fear truly is!’

The doors to the cells opened and the Death Knights, now ready for their trials, lined up in two columns and headed to the armoury. It was time, time for war.

--- o ---

Below the Necropolis, all kinds of ghouls, ghosts and abominations were charging towards the Scarlet’s bastion, Tyr’s Hand. As the Necropolis hovered into view, fear gripped their souls, hardly any of them had ever seen anything like it. The gigantic machine dropped off monstrous abominations all over the town, in a matter of minutes, the whole city was overrun by the scourge.

The Death Knights rode on Skeletal Gryphons and started clearing out the houses as the Necromancers began reanimating the dead. Death had rained down upon them and rendered the city helpless in a matter of minutes. Led by John, the Death Knights cleared out the houses one after the other, their goal was to find any higher-ups and hand them over to one of the San’layn who would extract any information the Lich King demanded and afterwards, slaughter them.

As they approached the inner sanctum of the scarlet bastion, a voice yelled, ‘John, Come here.’ John let his group move on and left to see who had called for him.

John knelt down as he spotted one of the overseers. ‘Yes, Master, How can I be of service?’ The overseer looked down on him. Their eyes both glowed with the ice cold blue. He seemed angry, after several minutes he spoke. ‘The Lich King wants you to slay the prisoners in the barracks, the torturer is done with them. Once they’re dead, the Necromancers will turn them all into ghouls.’ John, confused, pondered why he had been given such a simple task. ‘Why don’t you just have one of the Necromancers slay them?’

His question didn’t please the Overseer. ‘Because the Lich King has…’, he paused for a moment as if making sure he won't reveal anything. ‘He has something, special, planned for you John.’

The barracks weren’t far off, he marched on with his sword held high, what was left of the kind man who once occupied his mind was gone, what was left was a murderous killing machine.

--- o ---

The actions of the scourge flashed before Loreena’s eyes, the people, her people, cut down, eaten alive. A loud scream awoke her, she hung in shackles, her dress dirty and ripped apart. She opened her eyes slowly, looking around the room, she wasn’t alone. Several others hung along the walls, bound by their hands in manacles. They all seemed so lifeless, hanging there, without hope. Light-headed, she looked up again, as she tried to determine where she had been taken.

Loud footsteps came closer and closer, a tall figure had entered the room. They all hung there, staring at door. Loreena lifted her head once more to see what it was, who it was. At first her vision was blurred, she blinked a few times, she dug deep to find some energy left in her and cleared her sight. It was a Death Knight, his sword tightly gripped. Shocked, she saw who it was through the helm, with the little strength she had, she spoke, ‘J…John?’

He took off his helmet, She could see clearly that it was him. ‘John, what are you doing?’, she spoke again, a little louder this time.

He gently lifted her head and looked into her eyes, she saw the burning blue glow from his. She tried again, ‘John, it's me, help me get out of here.’ But he just stood there, as if he didn’t recognize her. Taking out the Runeblade from its sheath he raised it high above her head.

Loreena was now panicking inside, ‘John, what are you doing? Don’t you recognize me? It's me! Loreena! Your wife!’ He lifted the sword up high preparing to strike. ‘I must… Obey!’ He said, and swung the blade.

Chapter 3: Close is too close!

2010-06-01T10:07:00.000+02:00

Lienna swiftly threw her cape over Joe to cover his face and then rushed him into a corner. “I’ve got an idea, just lean forward and pretend you’ve got a crooked back,” she whispered. Joe did as she told him, without question. The guard approached them shortly, and spotted Lienna.

“Hey, Lienna!, so this is where you’ve been hiding, you never came back to the keep before my shift started, is everything alright?”

She made sure Joe’s face wasn’t visible and then turned round. It was Rugal Florence who had surprised them, the city guard who was supposed to have replaced her over twenty minutes ago. He had a crush on Lienna and often made sure that they were either on the same shift or close enough so that they ran in to each other. Lienna knew that she could use this to her advantage.

“Oh Rugal, I was just helping this old man. He lost his glasses and you know how it is in the mornings, there’s no way the glasses would survive the stampede of people.”

Rugal knew she was right, there’s usually a rush of people in the morning to the market.

“Yes but, we’re supposed to report all who walk around the streets late at night, Lienna. No matter how insignificant it may be.”

“Do you really think that’s necessary, sweety? Cause it’ll just be another boring report for the chief to read, and you know he hates when his time is wasted on pointless work.”

There was a short moment of silence before Rugal spoke. The mere thought of angering the chief made him shiver in his boots.

“Uh…I...I think maybe we should just leave it as it is, he…he hasn’t done anything wrong now has he? W... would you like my help in finding his glasses?”, he stuttered.

Rugal slowly approached them, but was quickly stopped by Lienna, she didn’t want him to get too close, or he might discover who it really was under the cloak.

“Thank you but that’s OK, I think he found them now”, she said as she gave Joe a slight kick.
“Why yes, here they are, thank ye kindly lass”, Joe answered, coughing and scratching his head.

Joe pretended to put something into his pockets, tricking Rugal into thinking he had found them.

“I guess I’d better be off then, coming with me, Lienna?”. She looked over at Joe and then back to Rugal.
“I think I’d better make sure he gets home safely, but I’ll see you later Rugal.”

“Oh, alright, probably wise I suppose. I’ll let them know you’ll be coming in a bit late.”
With that said, he went back on his patrol.
Lienna and Joe waited until he had left the lower district and moved on far enough so that they could speak privately again. “Sheesh!, that was close,” she began. “Clever girl, that was some quick thinking there,” Joe replied, clearly impressed.

“Rugal I can handle, we were lucky it was him and not someone else. Now tell me about this plan of yours”, she said, changing the subject.

“It's like I said before, I need you to help me gain entrance to the Supreme Chancellor’s chambers, that’s all, as long as everything goes according to plan.”

“What if it doesn’t? I’ve got a family to take care of, I can’t go risking my career for nothing.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s not for nothing. If I succeed, if we save everyone from Arthas and his Scourge, we may be a family again.”

“I’d like that Father, we all would, especially Joanna.”

Lienna took off her left gauntlet and reached into it, revealing a picture, she walked closer to Joe and gave it to him.

“When was this taken?”, He asked as he looked at the picture of Joanna on the grass in front of Lienna. It was filled with joy and happiness, something he longed for.

“A couple of weeks ago, I always keep a photo of her with me as comfort, you should take it, we’ve got more at home. Maybe it will comfort you as well.”

“Thank you, She grows more beautiful every day, just like you dear”

He put the picture into one of his inner pockets then took a few deep breaths to clear his mind. The sun had long since vanished from the skies, it was time to act.

They hurried out of the lower district and made their way through the streets, carefully avoiding the other guards that were patrolling the area. As they approached the gates into the council chambers swiftly, Joe hid himself behind a couple of ale barrels while he waited for Lienna to make her move.

She knew exactly how to distract them. She looked up at the gates, there were only two guards there, talking. A couple of minutes later, one of them started patrolling the area again.

She approached the remaining guard slowly, once she had come fairly close, she pretended to faint, falling to the ground. The guard hurried to her aid.

“Miss, are you alright?”, the guard asked carefully. Lienna played along with the role she had come up with, “I’m…wha…what happened?”
“I believe you just fainted, wait here let me get you some water.” He said and ran off towards the gates and opened them, then vanished inside.

Joe took the opportunity at hand to enter the chambers, quickly hid himself in the shadows as the guard returned.

He locked the door and then went to give Lienna the water. She drank some and then looked up at her “saviour”.
“Thank you”, she said. The guard seemed relieved, “You’re welcome, is there anything else I can do?”
“No, I think I’ll be alright now, just need some rest I think.” She made her way back to the Keep, meanwhile Joe had already found himself outside the Chancellors Chambers. He took out his lock picking set and he started working on the lock.

Palms sweaty he moved the pin slowly and unlocked it. A loud bang was heard as the door revealed a second lock behind a piece of wood. He could hear guards coming his way, he had to act fast or he would be trapped. The clamping of feet grew louder and louder, Joe moved on to the second lock, in with the pin and started wiggling it into place but then, with a snap, the pin broke. The guards came closer and closer, now only seconds away. Joe reached into his backpack and pulled out a big round metallic plate with a green glowing centre, it was Seaforium, enough to blow up the door, and more. He took up his sword, prepared to defend himself as the door opened up. Calora had heard him and curious, opened the door.

“Joe Snow? Since when did you become a petty thief? Fiddling with locks, isn’t that against the Paladin Code? Oh right, you’re not a Paladin anymore”, she said, clearly enjoying the having the upper hand. His face turned serious and said, “We need to talk, let me in and tell your guards there’s nothing to worry about.”

Confused, she confronted his gaze, “Now that’s where we no longer understand each other, Snow. Because I doubt you have the power to take down all of my guards.”
“Not alone, no. But this Seaforium should take out most”. He tapped his fingers upon the mental plating of the Seaforium mine that he had stuck on the door. A smile came upon his face as he saw her reaction, “So, how about you let me in, “Chancellor?”

Calora frowned, she hated being beaten, especially by people she disliked. She stepped away from the door to let him in, then, when the guards arrived she told them off and closed the door. Joe sat down at a small circular table with cups and kettle filled with tea as well as a round bowl filled with all kinds of pastries.

“Speak, Snow, I haven’t got all day”, Calora said, angrily. Still annoyed how he always seemed to have a backup plan for everything.
“I’ll get to it, but first, hand me that kettle will you?”. Joe began pouring a cup of still somewhat warm tea.
Calora found herself a chair and sat down in a posh kind of way, with her left leg resting over her right, “You came all the way here, for tea? You know, there are easier ways to obtain it. It is, in fact, transported from Booty Bay all the way up here. Why don’t you go there for your tea instead of disturbing me?”

He followed along with the joke, “Well, me and the goblins…let’s just say we have history, they don’t like me very much.”
“Amazing, I never thought I’d share something with the goblins, but I certainly agree with them.”

He let out a faint chuckle and continued, “Charming. Let’s get to the point why am here, shall we?

“If it’ll make you leave earlier, please.”
“I spent several weeks up in the northern regions of our beloved Eastern Kingdoms, there’s something you need to see.”

Joe took out an envelope from his pocket and threw it on to the table. Calora opened it and found several photographs inside.

“That is what Arthas has done with our people and he will continue to do so until we stop him”, Joe wandered across the room, looking out at the town through the window-covered walls.

She looked at the photos, it reminded her of one thing, Stratholme, the houses were burning, death knights patrolling everywhere, the dead reawakened as undead slaves.

“You must send troops to the north, Chancellor. It is our only hope.”
“Supreme Chancellor”, she corrected him, “and no, these are obviously fake.”
“FAKE?” Joe spat out his tea, shocked at her response.
“I know you hate me, but do not make the mistake of calling this a fake. This is our chance, our only chance to strike back!”
“I’ll make it simple for you Snow, I don’t trust you. However I will send a scout to investigate.”
“A scout, that’s not enough, we need troops up there, NOW!”
“Silence! You may have been able to sneak in here, but I will not follow your orders just because you say so.”. She tossed the pictures at him.
Joe Shook his head in disbelief, “You’re making a very dangerous mistake Calora.”
“So did you when you came in here. I’ve got ten guards outside waiting to arrest you. You won’t get away this time.”
“Still forgetting who you’re up against, Cal.”

Quick as a fox he gripped her hand and took out his Seaforium remote and pushed it into her hand, pressing down her thumb upon the detonator.

“If you release the pressure on this button, my Seaforium Charge will detonate, blowing this place to oblivion, however your engineers should be able to disarm it, but not before I’m gone. Oh and don’t leave the room, that’ll trigger the same thing.”
“Bastard. You think I’ll do as you say? After this?”
“Do what you think is best, but remember, how many times have I lied to you? Are you sure you could risk the safety of the entire world just because you don’t like me? Hopefully you’ll understand that I’m on your side.”
“Just go, Snow”, she shooed him away.

Joe opened one of the windows and climbed down to the streets. She looked down at him, watching him run off into the shadows of the city and whispered, “You may have won this time Snow, but I’ll get you, one day I’ll get you good.”

Chapter 2: The Master's Voice

2010-06-01T10:04:00.000+02:00

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.

Chapter 1: Familiar Grounds

2010-06-01T10:01:00.000+02:00

Meanwhile, far south of where Arthas and John were, the sun was setting over the capital of Stormwind, the winds had grown silent during the evening as Lienna walked through the streets. It was a tiresome job to be a city guard, but an important one.

It had been surprisingly quiet the whole day and as the night came closer, people had left the streets and gone back inside. Lienna had almost finished her last round through the trade districts and was looking forward a long night’s sleep.

“Finally some rest”, she said. “Even if less commotion is a good thing, it made they days go very slowly”. As she passed a corner she heard something, or someone, whispering.

“Who’s there? Get out here in the open and you won’t get hurt!”, she yelled with a strong voice and reached for her axe.

Slowly, with hands held high, he stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

“F…father? It’s you! Come quickly, you can not be seen here!”

She swiftly sheathed her axe and dragged him down a narrow path into the lower districts then turned to him. “You’re banished from the city, you can’t just go wandering around here! You’ll be thrown in the stockades!”, she whispered angrily.

“I came because I wanted to see my daughter again, is that so much to ask?”
Lienna looked around the area before answering.
“But that’s not why you’re here, is it? You’re in trouble again, aren’t you?”

“No, well, not yet at least. I need to relay some information.”
“Information?”
“The Scourge are wiping out village after village and yet nothing is done to stop them. “Anyone who stands in his way is either slain or turned into a Death Knight by Arthas himself, he is turning our own people against us!”
“I didn’t realise it had become so bad. But isn’t the Council doing anything about this? They can’t just let Arthas wander up to their doorstep without putting up a fight.”

“Less then a year ago I was banished for something I hadn’t done, and this is the result. I was the only person that dared to act, the one that could get the Council off their lazy behinds and get them to do something about this war, because this IS a war and if they take too long to realise it, there won’t be anything we can do to stop him.”

“I’ll help father, but I’m just a city guard, there’s little I can do to influence the Council.”
“You won’t need to, all you need to do is to get the guards away from the Keep, so that I can get inside…”

Lienna gazed into his eyes with a confused look on her face.

“You’re not suggesting I help you assassinate the Council do you? That’s insane, I would never do such a thing!”
“Calm down, of course I don’t want them dead, although the thought has crossed my mind. No, my plan is to get inside and talk to the Chancellor. She is the one that framed me after all, I'm sure she’ll be happily surprised by a visit.”

“Supreme Chancellor these days”, she corrected him.

Joe Frowned upon her response then continued to brief her on his plan.

“Right, hopefully I’ll be able to persuade her into sending troops to the front lines. Wait! Did you hear that?”

They heard footsteps, faint at first but growing louder, then suddenly a lantern appeared, one of the guards had heard them talking.

“City guard, you know you’re not supposed to be wandering the streets at this hour, get out here!”

The Prologue

2010-05-31T19:37:00.000+02:00

He stood up grabbing his backpack, taking a quick last look at the burning village behind him that he had recently left. ‘It wasn’t my fault’, he thought ’How could I have known that they were after me? It couldn’t have been avoided’, he said in an attempt to comfort himself. He continued his journey northward over the hills of the Hinterlands into the Western Plaguelands. Whatever it was that was seeking him, it was something strong, powerful and would go to great lengths to find him.

War had torn the lands of Lordaeron, the Western and Eastern Plaguelands had long been abandoned by most races of the world. It was now the home of the dead.

Clearing the plains of the Hinterlands, he quickly hurried towards the mountain slope. Suddenly he stopped when he spotted a flower growing all alone in the grass.

“It can’t be…”, he said and rushed forward towards it and kneeled down to take a better look.

“An Arthas’ Tear…”. It was a clover –shaped flower with blue petals. He closes his eyes thinking back, the person who had found him had flower like this one, he tried to focus on that day, before the hate had begun to fill his veins once again…

“Who are you stranger? You... you’re bleeding! Come here I’ll take a look at it.”

“I…I am…”

“Don’t speak, you’re in good hands! Come with me and I’ll take you to my village. I’ve got more herbs and potions there that can help ease your pain.”

She wrapped a bandage around his wound and helped him to stand up.

“Thank you, I do not know how to repay you, I’m afraid I have nothing of value.” “Don’t worry, few around these parts do. I’m Loreena, by the way.”

She opened her heart and welcomed me in with no questions asked, if only I hadn’t stayed, they may still have been alive…

A tear emerged from John’s left eye, running down his cheek. He wiped it off and stood up again and told to himself, “I must move on, I cannot linger here too long or they’ll catch up.”

He picked up the flower and then continued up the mountain with renewed strength.

Climbing over the top of Hinterlands mountain-chain he looked out over the Plaguelands. “There’s no turning back now. It does feel as if I’m guided by some kind of presence, if only I knew what it was”, he thought to himself. It got colder and colder the farther down the mountain he went, after a long while he decided to set up camp.

John felt the wind growing stronger, fiercer. Something must have forced the weather to change so rapidly, could it be the same person that had been trying to find him? Who could ever possess such power? It had gotten late, the sun had gone down several hours ago, he was surrounded by complete darkness. John lay down trying to get some rest, he had a long journey ahead of him and would need all the rest he could get. Whispers in the winds echoed through the mountains. He looked up and saw something tall moving about in the shadows, watching him.

“Show yourself, you cannot hide from me!”, he yelled into the wilderness. A booming voice laughed at him, echoing in the wind. John yelled again, “Show yourself!”. A man, barely recognizable as human, appeared out of nowhere, fully covered in skull engraved armour. The entity charged right towards John and gripped him by his throat.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just crush your throat human!’, the booming voice said. “Nothing? Well then, I shall take great pleasure in watching you die.”

John, still surprised by the attack reached for his dagger and drove it into his assailant’s gut. He let of his throat. John fell to the ground, took out his sword and swung it at his assailant. The assailant pulled out his sword swiftly and not only parried the attack, but also shattered the rusty blade.

He looked down at John who had fallen from the swift retaliation. “You are foolish, to think that you could even get close to harming me, human”. With the dagger still stuck in his gut, he grabbed it and pulled it out without even flinching, then threw it off the mountain side. “You cannot slay me human, I am the god of death. Nothing of this world can stop me.”

John looked up at him and said, “Who..who are you? What do you want with me?”

“Arthas, King of Lordaeron, Ruler of the Scourge and I am here, to claim your soul, mortal.” Arthas lifted his hand at him and said something John couldn’t understand. A bright blue light shot out from his hand and struck him. John could feel he was getting weaker, he could barely stand, his mind was changing, He was changing!

“You shall join my league of Death Knights, you shall do my bidding, I shall be your master and you, my apprentice. Follow me in battle and be rewarded with great powers. Obey me, mortal!”

John fell to his knees and looked into Arthas glowing eyes and said, “Yes Master, I shall follow you, Arthas, Ruler of the Scourge.” As he said this, his eyes begin to glow dark blue, and a sudden need for blood filled him.

“Let us begin, my apprentice…”

A Beginning...

2010-05-31T10:11:00.000+02:00

This is where I will be uploading the fanfiction story, Tales of Snow, among other shorter tales.

These are all written by me, but the Tales of Snow (or TOS) takes place in the warcraft universe, hence why its called fanfiction.

I hope you'll enojoy these tales!

//V