Lithola The Shadow Bearer

[Lithola]

I can not remember much from the Great Awakening.

I remember flashes of consciousness on the battlefield and hearing the sweetest voice whisper to me "Remember. Remember who you are. Who you were meant to be. Remember".

It seems the moments of consciousness started to come more often and last for longer periods of time. Every time it happened I remember seeing a beautiful Undead Elf and I knew the voice was hers. She would seem to be floating through the battlefields whispering in the ears of all who could listen. Aside from hearing her voice I would also see the death and destruction I was bringing to a place that seemed so familiar yet very distant, and then just as fast as the clarity came, all was black again.

The flashes seemed to go on for quite awhile until one night while we were supposed to be sleeping I suddenly sprang to my feet, fully awake and terribly startled. I felt a strange pain in my legs. I looked down, my legs were covered in rotting flesh and my bones were exposed. I thought I was having a horrible nightmare. I looked at my hands, more of the same decay. Frozen in shock I could not move but I knew this was not good.

"Do you know who you are?" The sweet Elven voice whispered to me.

"I am not sure, I don't know what is going on, Who are you, Where am I?" The questions started pouring out as fast as my tears. It was hard to speak out loud, it was as if my jaw was broken but I felt no pain.

She answered none of my questions but she handed me a faded photograph, "Look at this and tell me how it makes you feel". With my hands shaking I took it from her and suddenly I felt warm and alive. My whole life flashed in front of my eyes. The photograph was of me, Iliana "Lilly" Masterson at age 17. Taken after my great pilgrimage to Stormwind (the sister city to my beloved home of Lordaeron) to become an ordained Priest of the Light. "Please tell me what is going on! Where are we? What AM I?" She told me to keep remembering and get some rest. She would come to me again the next night.

Everything that happened the next day was so bizarre to me I can hardly describe it accurately. The dank dark ruins that were our living quarters were so familiar to me but I just could not find the connection. Everyone around me seemed to be mindless undead zombies, moving as a single unit, following orders that were being barked at us. I knew it was best to go along and not show any sign of consciousness. Is this what I have been doing? How many months had it been happening? Had it been years? Was I dead? The last thing I remembered before all of this was being kept in quarantine in the underground of Lordaeron because I had contracted the deadly Plague that had been unleashed upon us and had swiftly destroyed our homeland. I went through the day as best I could trying not to show a single emotion. I will never speak of the things I saw that day or in the weeks to come. Horrors that are too vile to ever be shared with others. What makes it all the more horrible is knowing that I was out there just days before, doing the very same things that now make me sick to remember.

That night the Undead Elf came to me.

"How are you feeling Iliana?" She said while placing a cold hand on my shoulder. Instantly I started sobbing telling her of all the horrors I had seen. After comforting me she said, "You still do not know who I am do you my child?". I shook my head. I wanted to know if she was responsible for my sudden consciousness and flood of memories that made no sense to me. I so badly wanted to know who she was and why this was happening. "Dear Iliana, I am Lady Sylvanas Windrunner". I felt my head spin and I felt so sick I thought I would vomit. Nothing made sense to me. She saw the obvious confusion and anguish running through my body.

She told me all about being captured and brought to Arthas, about all the torture he put her through and how she eventually regained her body and consciousness. Hours passed while she told me stories of battles and the vast amount of death and destruction. She even told me that we were in Lordaeron, or what was left of it anyway. It was mainly just the undercity, where we had all been locked away when we contracted the Plague. I came to understand that I was one of a handful of undead to show consciousness and free will. She felt that Ner'zhul's and ultimately, Arthas's powers were beginning to weaken. This is what had been holding us all as prisoners. It was her mission to free us. In the next few weeks, as I helped her assemble an army which she would call "The Foresaken", everything came back to me.

((to be continued but feel free to comment))

Edited February 23, 2008 by Lithola

[Lithola]

((continued))

I grew up in Brill, a small town just outside the gates of Lordaeron. After my parents disappearance one night when I was 10 my brother Thomas and I were sent to live in the city orphanage until we were 16. Shortly after our arrival Thomas contracted an illness and quickly passed away. Months later, some thought since we were from Brill it might have been an early strain of the Plague that Kel'Thuzad was perfecting while living there. There were also rumors going around that this would explain all the ddisappearances in Brill, including that of my parents.

A few years after they disappeared the story that was being told was that Kel'Thuzad was moving all of the bodies to the small island in Brightwater Lake. The lake was a place I remember fondly from my childhood, everyone from Brill went there in the summer for swimming and family picnics. One day the lake fell dark and silent. All of the trees fell, rapidly decaying, and the whole area just went cold, year round. Everyone was too scared to approach it's shores after that.

Once I turned 16 I realized I wanted to be a Light Bearer, a Priestess for my dear Lordaeron and the Alliance. In these dark times so many were running away from the Light and all I wanted to do was embrace it and help our forces in battle. I became what was called a "front line priest". I went straight into combat with our enemies, face to face, hand to hand. It was my responsibility to use the Light and protect our fine army. Apparently I was very good at this and creating quite a name for myself.

Two years after being on the front line I was hand picked by the King to be a personal protector of Nathanos Marris, the first and last human ranger lord who was responsible for many alliance victories. He was a disciple of Lady Sylvanas and was trained by the High Elves. I had never met Lady Sylvanas myself before her capture and alleged killing, but I listened eagerly to the epic tales of her and her sisters that Nathanos would tell us. You could easily say he was the brains behind many of our greatest battles and it was our duty to protect him at all costs.

We were a group of three who traveled with him at all times, a rogue, a priest and a mage. After our first year of service he told us to throw out our family names because now we were a family. I became known all over Lordaeron (and all of the Alliance Kingdoms) as Iliana the Light Caller, protector of Nathanos. We were with Nathanos for the 5 years leading up to the great Plague.

Our time together as a family, ended while leaving the burning ruins that had once been the legendary city of Stratholme. Even though the Plague had already hit the once great city and Arthas had burned it to the ground, Nathanos insisted that he hand deliver battle plans to Jaina Proudmoore while she was visiting the ruins with Uther the Lightbringer. He would not tell us what the plans were for, which was unusual, as we kept no secrets from one another. He never knew I heard this but when he went to hug Jaina farewell I faintly overheard him say "At all costs get these to my dear Lady Sylvanas if she ever comes back... in any form". At that very moment I knew Nathanos feared this would be the end and it was quite possible that he had lost his mind! The chances that Sylvanas would come back? I instantly knew the plans had something to do with Northrend. Once we returned to his home he banished us without explanation, told us never to return, told us he was sorry. Once I returned to the great city I was put on field duty, healing the warriors out on the field. This is how I contracted the Plague. Since the awakening I have not seen my companions and pray they are peacefully resting, untouched by the scourge.

((To be continued))