Trial of Sacrifice: Nilheon Direfrost

[Nilheon]

Sitting at what was once his old dining room table, Nilheon stared down at an object twinkling in his hand...

It glimmered and danced in the candlelight, contrasting the pale and still figure that held it. The elven death knight continued to stare... blinkless, icy-blue hued eyes fixed a gaze upon the reflection that was cast upon the golden wedding band.

Himself... It was all he could see.

There was a time when he looked upon this ring with pride and it filled him with joy... Memories spun through his mind the longer he glared.

An elven man, roughly 30 human years of age in looks with long black hair tussled and matted about him, slowly trundled down the ship dock after being at sea for many moons, catching sight of his beloved fiance, ready to greet him as he arrived. They hurry to greet each other with a kiss.

"It has been awhile Nil...", she said.

"What? Come on... it was only two full cycles. What's that to us?", he said with a smirk slowly forming on his face.

Her excited face was quickly replaced with one of concern and worry, "Every single day you risk your life out there, carrying on like some hero trying to save the world with just a sword and shield-

"And divine phenomenal power, don't forget holy justice!", he interrupted.

"Would you be serious for a moment? Can you think about just... at least relocating stations within the Paladin clergy? You were so far away and I feared the worst... I do my best here but I need your help."

For a minute he stared at her. Ignoring her words for a moment to take in the full sight of the woman he had not seen for quite some time. Finally he spoke, "... Okay... I'll speak to my superiors and explain the situation... For you..."


----

Another memory crept up... Wedding bells and a sunny day. A church is filled with paladins, clergymen, aristocrats, friends and family, mages, people of all races and trades. The happy couple stand staring at each other as wedding vows are spoken...

Nilheon spoke with a nervous pitch that eased throughout the speech, "Atty... I don't know how I became so lucky to find you in this world... you are my heart, my will, and my soul. Because of this, you are the most important entity of my life, and I will do everything to protect you. You are my anchor, holding me steady and strong so that I can weather any storm. I want you to know that as long as I am standing... I will shield you."

With a smile on her face, Atty responded, "Nilheon Direfrost, you are my light, my beacon, my stubborn and carefree spirit... But it is that spirit that allows me to look at the future, that beacon that guides me so that I may continue moving forward, that light, that illuminates the night and shows me everything that is beautiful in the world. I promise to do everything in my power to stand strong and face whatever may come, by your side, and to bail you out when you get in over your head."

The crowd laughs.

The priest then speaks, "You may now kiss the bride..."

The memory fades....


----
A turbulent memory then comes...

War drums sound as Nilheon stared at the seemingly endless armies of the scourge. His unit was summoned to war through orders of Lady Liadrin and they had been in Northrend now for the better part of two months. The horn sounds and the armies rush toward each other with thunderous force. The Blood Knights fight to gain ground but are overwhelmingly surrounded by the sheer numbers of undead.

A comrade of Nilheon's falls nearby and in an effort to save him, grabs him and attempts to drag him back to base, fighting off undead with one free arm. Unfortunately, this proves to be foolhardy, as he ultimately gets surrounded, a sword goes through his back, sending a sharp sense of pain and then numbness up his spine. He stares down at the blade protruding from his body, the reality closing in on him like a crushing wall:

I'm going to die here...

He falls to his knees and the world goes dark...

His mind struggles to remember anything about what happened next. Glimpses of memories flicker here and there, he sees himself killing innocents, he sees the face of the Lich King staring down at him with a fearsome presence. He sees...


Her...

----


The man sitting at the table finally moves, and looks about the room as if trying to avoid looking at the memory he can't unsee. It follows him everywhere...



His memory returns to vivid form where the Knights of the Ebon Blade have retaken control of themselves. How long was he gone...? How long has it been...? The hunger... it begins to gnaw at him... so strong it overpowers the normal arcane withdrawal plaguing most elves whom do without. It must be sated. Luckily, the answer lies in Northrend, among the very kin whom brought him to life again. But before he left... there was someone he had to see first.

Images of the reunion between him and Atty filter through his mind... The crying, the pained look in her eyes at seeing the walking corpse in front of her. The disbelief... How could a scourge, whom attacked their homeland some years earlier, be standing here in the form of her husband, of sound mind?

Finally... the acceptance... He was back in her life... and she would take him any way she could.

----

A final memory surfaces... one that he tried to repress for a long time...


Once taken back into the fold of the Horde, Nilheon was defending an encampment from scourge attacks located in Icecrown. They were deep into enemy territory. This time his wife traveled with him, as the crusade called on all able-bodied people.

Atty positioned herself in a guard tower as to be able to conjur magics from above.

As the overwhelming numbers poured into the camp, she and the other mages routed them via ice walls into allied forces and rained icy death into undead that were not near friendly units.

However, while everyone was distracted, undead archers climbed onto the mountainside and rained arrows into the encampment, focusing on the guard tower first... It was here, the most painful memory returns.

The scream... The scream that haunts him to this day, came back. It bore through his mind like carnivorous worms, shitting out bits of himself, and just leaving it there to fester.

It was enough to make his deathly still glance wince while he stared at the ring...

Atty screamed in pain and it rang through his ears like the loudest alarm he had ever heard, and he glanced at the tower behind him long enough to see her and the other mages fall to the ground.

Fear, Anxiety, Hopelessness. Three emotions that are so powerful, they are believed to be the true forces that can temper a man's character... or break it. Nilheon experienced all three, and they were so intense he could feel it even through the numbing sensation of undeath. In a panic-induced state he ran and climbed the tower, being shot into by arrows the entire way, but too adrenaline-fueled to slow down. At the top, he froze a wall around him and his dying wife... whom was coughing up blood, but managed to focus on him as he shakily placed a hand on her cheek.

"ATTY STAY WITH ME!"

"I.. I can-"

"Stop talking! You need to rest okay? OKAY!?" Save your strength, we'll get through this! I'll get you through this."

"You... you know that isn't happening... Nil... "

"It IS happening!"

Nilheon screamed across the camp under attack for help, but his cries came unheeded, for there were so many injured already, and help was so few.

"... I can bring you back... I'll bring you back Atty!"

She gave him a small smile and slowly shook her head, "You once told me that living in undeath was one of the loneliest feelings in the world... That no matter how hard you pretend... You're not like the others. The world is cold and numb. That doesn't sound like a life I want... I want to remember you with full.... feeling... I love you..."

Her body goes limp and heavy.

The feeling of sadness had overpowered his senses and tears streamed down his cheek.

"I was wrong Atty... This is the loneliest feeling in the world..."




Nilheon takes the ring and gently places it into a box. This box bares his old family crest, the shielded pheonix, and a note is attached.

The death knight walks into the halls of the Grim and places the box at the requested designation.

The note loosely attached sits there, tattered and unelegant, reading:

You can have my anchor.

-Direfrost

[Qabian]

Qabian paced in front of his desk, the ring box and its note sitting in the center of it. He frowned. It was odd to have to go searching for the combination of name and crest and history to find the meaning behind the symbol, rather than have it laid out for him, but Qabian wasn't all that put out over it. There was something meaningful in simplicity, even if it meant more work for him.

What made him frown was that this was another symbol he couldn't simply return if it was to have the intended effect, so he had to find somewhere to put it. He considered having it melted down into something else, some other artifact, that he could give back or otherwise get rid of, but that still seemed to diminish the intent of the Sacrifice.

Qabian sighed. He took the small box and its note, and placed it in the shelf-hidden safe next to Duskheron's horn's pouch, and wondered if he was going to need to invest in a display case.

He folded up a crisp new tabard, attached a much tidier note of his own that read simply "Peace through Annihilation," and readied it to be delivered.