Heart of Ice

4 days earlier...



Pain...darkness...wet?



Lyeald's eyes snapped open and she realized she was under water. Pushing down the initial panic, she quickly cast a spell to keep her breathing under water and kicked instinctively up. As luck would have it, she was right side up and near the surface of the pool which she had mysteriously woken up in.



She was in a chamber, she couldn't tell how large as the light wasn't all that bright in here. Light from where? She couldn't see a source, must be from above. She looked up and saw a long shaft going to impossible heights and she remembered the bomb, falling back and blacking out. How had she survived? Hitting the water from that height would have surely killed her, even if it was deep.

Looking down, she was amazed at how shallow it was. Just a small pool.



It was then that she saw something glowing under the water, only a couple of feet below her. She ducked her head back under to get a better look at it, but was still perplexed. It looked like an organ, a piece of flesh, but with a sickening glow to it. She dove a little further and quickly decided it was a heart, an organ which she had used for summoning in the past.



Without thinking, she reached out to touch it, but was hit with a shock of pain when she did. It was like nothing she felt before and her first thought was “You shouldn't have done that, now he'll know.”



She realized that the thought wasn't her own, there was someone else here. She kicked back up to the surface and looked around the chamber. She peered into the darkness and realized for the first time that there were figures, shambling around a ways off. They didn't seem interested in her, but they sent a cold feeling down to the pit of her stomach. There was something not right about them, which in Icecrown was saying something.



“Over here,” the thought came again and she spun around and saw there was a young boy standing on the edge of the pool. He was a human, dressed in peasant clothes, seemingly unfazed by anything around him, but was looking at her expectantly. She came up out of the pool and quickly realized that he was a ghost, his form giving a way a sense of translucence. Well that was at least something she could expect in Icecrown, the dead were everywhere, why not a child ghost.



“I saw him throw that in,” he said, “now he'll know you've seen it, you need to hide yourself.”



Lyeald swallowed, she didn't have to think hard about who he was talking about. She knew that it was a heart, of course he would have gotten rid of it. Although undead wasn't her forte, she had spent enough time with the Forsaken to know that the heart was often the first thing to go. Cold fear gripped her, it was one thing to be an agent contributing towards the Lich King's fall, it was another thing entirely for him to have an eye on your.



“Kill the faceless ones,” he said pointing to the shambling figures in the dark, “bring me their blood, and I can hide you and send you back to the surface.”



She looked over to them, and sighed as she began the summoning ritual for a demon to help her.



18 months earlier



The demon summoning ritual completed, and her fel hound emerged from in a haze of unholy smoke. It growled at her but otherwise showed complete loyalty. She smiled at it, knowing that while it may hate the idea of being in servitude to her, it would at least enjoy their job, which she found was the best way to get the easiest cooperation from these creatures.



The trolls in Raventusk Village stood back, some looking at her with suspicion, others in awe. Trolls weren't interested in demon summoning, but had enough of their own dark magic to not be especially judgmental, most of the time. She turned to the one who had offered her the job, and confirmed that she would take it.



“Hang on just a second mon,” a voice said behind her. She turned and saw a large troll standing behind her smirking. He wore heavy armor, and a vicious looking sword strapped to his back. “Are we sure dis lil lady can handle, de Vilebranch are a mean bunch, and Jin'thalor be no place for such a pretty lil elf.”



She bristled. Blood elves weren't fully accepted by the Horde rank and file yet, because they were deemed too fragile and haughty to really get down and dirty with the rest of them. She was being tested she knew, and would have to prove herself to this arrogant troll, something which she found utterly boring and annoying.



“I'm not worried,” she said, turning her head up defiantly, “what's a few trolls with delusions of grandeur?”



He laughed good naturedly at that and said, “Dey be crazy yah, but dey also be dangerous. I think I go wit you to make sure they don't mess ya up too much.”



“I can take care of myself,” she said sharply.



“Alight,” he said with a sharp tooth smile, “but truth be told I'd like to get on killing dem too. So I be goin wit you all the same.”



She sighed in frustration and began summoning her steed which appeared beneath her amongst flame and shadow.



“Well hurry up if you insist, I can't wait around for you.”



“Cer'ango,” he said summoning his own mount, “my name be Cer'ango.”