08-30-2015, 06:02 AM
Raal's horse stepped out of the portal slowly, the portal's face shimmering with an eerie light as Raal passed through it. The process might have caused dizziness if Raal wasn't already intimately familiar with travel through portals.
Raal's eyes went from left to right, surveying the frozen wastelands he now found himself in. a small trail of steam burst from his eyes, as the pelting snow struck them. The wind screeched and howled around him, drowning out all other noise, and Raal noticed a thin layer of snow already forming along his truncheon, the weapon's natural oaken colors slowly being overtaken by a fuzzy white as snowflakes clung desperately to it, like Humans grasping onto a sinking ship.
Raal realized that, given this was a new world, there were probably at most only a few humans here - certainly, they must at least be as spare in numbers as the orcs. The thought was comforting - if he never saw another race of the alliance in his life... it'd still be too many.
Raal pressed his heel against the bones of his horse, the animal taking off like a bullet almost immediately. for any normal being, a storm of this magnitude would be deadly. For Raal, who's corpse of a body lacked feelings of heat or chill, the blinding torrent of wind and snow was merely good cover. Of course, it made finding out anything about this strange place even more difficult for him...
Raal's vision seemed to be of nothing but snow for a long time, but eventually the blizzard began to lose its intensity, after what could have been minutes or hours. Raal's eyes began to pick up dunes of snow and ice all around him, a vast desert of snow and ice, white that contrasted with the pale blue of waterborne ice. "I'm on a coastline, then..." Raal realized. This was good. While the pale realm Raal had found himself in seemed to defy physics as he had known them, more similar to the Twisting Nether than a true part of time and space, this place was far more reminiscent of Azeroth or Draenor, as he knew them. Of course, those places had actual inhabitants, while this misbegotten realm seemed to…
Raal paused mid thought as a small igloo came into view in front of him. The glacial structure was small, certainly too small for Raal’s body to fit comfortably into, but the ice that formed it’s carved structure was too smooth and too solid to possibly be a natural occurrence. Though, Raal supposed the small chimney tilting to it’s side was probably the far more obvious clue. It appeared this place was inhabited after all.
Raal urged his horse forward, attempting to survey the hut for himself. The unmistakably loud sound of Hooves striking ice gave ample hint to his presence, and it didn’t surprise the death knight when a figure stepped out of the Igloo in response, Raal now only a few meters away from the entrance.
Raal’s eyes almost immediately recognized the creature that stepped out of the igloo, and he had to resist the urge to unleash all his power right at this moment. A Dwarf, lightly armored in rough leathers and furs and carrying a hammer the color of moonlight with a broad head, had stepped out of the igloo, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What’re ye doing so far from Darkshire, skeleton?” The Dwarf asked warily.
The Death knight had to fight the desire to simply strike down the ugly little wart of a man the moment his blasphemous words left his mouth, but managed to curb his own wrath… for now. What was of more interest was that this Dwarf wasn’t intelligent enough to attack him on site… Though, perhaps he’d never seen a Death knight before. Perhaps he came from some other world of dwarves, even. The thought of the alliance races existing in even more realities still would have made Raal retch if he still retained the physical capacity, but he had to admit the idea wasn’t so far-fetched.
For now, Diplomacy, Raal thought to himself. His main goal was still knowledge, and this short excuse for a man potentially contained answers to his questions.
“I’ve never heard of such a place.” Raal answered in the least intimidating tone he could muster. With the deep timbre the unholy echo of his voice, it wasn’t much of an improvement.
“Please, fisherman.” Raal pleaded, guessing that there was no reason for an igloo to be built so close to the waterfront - by a Dwarf, no less! - unless they were looking to utilize its main natural resource. “I’ve travelled far and long since being brought to this plane. I’m just trying to find my way home. There seems to be no sense of time or direction in these wastes.” Raal stated, hoping he sounded desperate. “what is this place? Where am I?” he asked.
The Dwarf’s expression softened slightly, but his grip on his hammer remained strong, and his eyes never left the weapon that Raal procured. “Welcome to the Frozen Fields, dead man. You’ve picked a hell of a vacation spot. So, you’re a new prime, I’d guess?”
“Prime?” genuine curiosity peeked into the warlock’s voice. He didn’t expect a simple fisher to know anything of the subject.
“Did’ja see a man with white teeth, glowin’ like the bloody moon on your way into th’ Omniverse?”
So he was not unique in seeing that man. Raal realized this meant that quite a few different beings must exist here. all with a similar ability to grow in power. At least some of them would likely prove to be obstacles, as well. Seeing no immediate advantage in lying, the Death knight answered with the tone of a much humbler man.
“I recall seeing him, yes. He spoke of much, but I understood little.”.
“Well, to explain what he didn’t, beings like ye, who can die and come back as much as they want, are called primes. There are other beings here, though, summoned by other primes. These ones can die all they want, an’ they’re called secondaries. Don’t ask me what group I fall under.” the dwarf explained, his chestnut beard seeming to sway with each word. Raal was silent for a few moments after that, trying to figure out how to phrase his question just so…
“What if a prime was destructive, then. Could he not slaughter without pause? The thought is… Disturbing.”
“Disturbing, undead, or enticing?” The Dwarf asked, suspicion evident in his voice. “Banishment is still a punishment for primes who get a little too cocky with their immortality and decide to do things like purge a town from existence, or somethin’. If ye want to be literally sent to hell, you can go ahead and be my guest, but I imagine even a corpse like you wouldnae be able to handle that place. Certainly, if ye found your way back, you’d be the first. Ever.”
The old warlock considered this for a moment, a skeletal hand tapping thoughtfully on his horse’s torso. So he still needed to be careful. He was immortal here, but far from invincible. “So this place is the realm of the dwarves, then?” Raal probed.
“We’re the main force, ye can bet, but no. We are prob’ly the only creatures who live here that don’t try to kill you or eat ye on sight. Or both… There’s snowbeasts, further inland in the caves, by the name of wampas. those furry abominations are bigger than an ogre and somehow more stupid. And then there’s the trolls…”
“Trolls?” Raal asked… A little too hurriedly. “You fool!” he cursed to himself. Perhaps it wasn’t just his body rotting. The dwarf didn’t seem to have caught the slip, but Raal knew he wasn’t dealing with an idiot. He wouldn’t get a free pass again.
“Aye, big, tusked, and what I guess ye’d call intelligent. I’ve had to bash in more than a few o’ their skulls. they came here after the kingdom put em into exile. Of course, it’s not like the Kingdom’s willing to come and clean up the problem, either. The Trolls were pushed into our land, and since they’ve came here it’s been war. They want revenge against the kingdom, but since we were associated with it… They feel it’d be just fine to bash some dwarf skulls as a warm-up.”
“Terrible.” Raal said. “What areas must I avoid to stay away from these creatures?”
“Lad, nowhere is safe from them here.” The dwarf answered. “and I certainly don’t know where their settlements are, either. Besides… Why would I be willin’ to lead you to your allies, You Orcish dog!”
Raal realized two important facts in this moment.
The first was that he had been played for a fool this entire time. The Dwarf in front of him had known exactly who he was, and had been leading him on this entire time.
The second was that he had somehow not noticed the Dwarf slowly moving himself closer to Raal during the entire exchange, until he was at the perfect range for his hammer to cave in his mount’s skull.
Springing from the back of it as best he could, he landed clumsily a few feet away, the hard ice threatening to shatter his bones as he did. His only saving grace was the protective runes along the back of his robes, cushioning the blow. “You dare...
“seems I might have to warn the rest of the dwarves in this area of you. though if this is really the extent of your abilities, demon-worshipper, I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.” The Dwarf snarled, and he charged forward.
Raal’s hatred burned in him. He would not be humiliated! He could handle losing to a paladin, a ranger, a mage… but he was a death knight. for this malformed stubby excuse for a sentient to damage his mount, knock him to the ground, and raise his own weaponry against him.
“You’ve signed your own death warrant, you pint-sized fool!” Raal yelled, spite evident in every part of his voice. Raal’s anger grew, and he focused it, channeled it, and charged every fiber of his body with it. His anger stirred something else inside him, the fel magic inside him, and Raal directed that magic now, black energy forming like a glowing hot flame around his palm. A simple shape was remembered and formed, and Raal for the first time in a long time fired the simplest of Death knight incantations at his opponent. The touch of darkness flew like a missile at the Dwarf, and the Death knight praised his luck that this one seemed to be of average for his short-legged race. Where a human or elf would have likely already managed to trample Raal with a charge, the Dwarf was stopped just a few feet away from Raal, as the bolt struck his chest and knocked him off his feet.
Raal noticed telltale hints of breathing and realized he had little time. Racking his brain for simple spells he could still perform, he allowed his magical senses to briefly check the ground, looking for corpses.
To his amazement, however, he felt the knowledge of how to use the spell… almost shifting, within his own mind. A different version appeared in Raal’s head, and somehow he knew this version was likely the only one that would work here.
Holding out his hand, Raal focused, as the wind seemed to increase around him. chips of bone, seemingly from nothing, appeared along the wind, striking eachother to form a mold. the quiet cracking sounds each individual ivory piece made stopped as quickly as they started, leaving a grinning, smiling skeleton in front of him. a shimmer appeared in the skeleton’s hands, before forming a short, steel broadsword, the shining weapon held firmly in the skeletal warrior’s hand.
“After him.” Raal commanded, feeling the familiar presure and presence of a mind subjugated under his own. The strain was much greater than it once was, but one skeleton was nothing to a practitioner of his skill.
The Skeleton walked as fast as it could towards the dwarf, raising the sword just a little too high to be practical. The Dwarf, unmoving, appeared to be ready for the coup de grace. Raal knew that this dwarf was far too clever for that though. No… This was no moron.
“Therefore, I must take the most convenient solution available to me…” He thought to himself.
The Skeleton twisted the sword in it’s hand, intent on making a coup de grace. it’s bony hands silently gripped the blade as it plunged it into the dwarf’s sternum as hard as it could.
Or, at least, where the Dwarf’s sternum used to be.
“This bag o’ bones ain’t worth my time.” a cracking sound was heard, the skeleton’s blade stuck into the ice, before it shattered, the unmistakable sound of pulverizing ice punctuated with a soft “sploosh” as the skeleton fell into the water below.
Raal grimaced. He didn’t think the dwarf would finish his skeleton quite so easily. Raising his truncheon, he attempted to blast his opponent with another touch of darkness. Dodging to the side, the dwarf returned fire, throwing his silver hammer, and Raal knew, as he saw the attack coming, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the strike.
Raal felt the bones on his left ribcage crunch, as the hammer struck true, and his world went violently spinning as he felt himself slide across the barren ice. Raal’s hood was gone, ripped off by the sheer force of the strike, and his skull’s visibility fully exposed.
The thundering steps of Dwarven feet soon followed, and Raal knew his opponent was going to try to capitalize. Beaten to death by a dwarf’s bare fist… Raal felt something in his hand, and he realized he hadn’t lost the truncheon even now.
A smile bared across his face, despite the pain, and Raal knew the perfect spell to end this battle.
“You’re lucky, dwarf.” Raal muttered, concentrating his energy even as he knew the dwarf was already close enough to attack him. Hurriedly, he concentrated, green energy shimmering and swirling around the jewel adorning his truncheon.
The dwarf came into view, raising his leg in preparation to stomp on Raal’s skull. the dwarf was powerful, physically, and Raal knew he was more than capable of caving it in.
If it had reached Raal's face in time.
“It looks like I won’t get the chance to torture that loathsome attitude out of you.”
the snake of green energy swirled rapidly around Raal’s magical truncheon, and he used both hands to raise it up, Both the truncheon and Raal himself wrapped in an ethereal light as he released the bolt, a brilliant bolt of death energy the size of the dwarf's head. The Bolt enveloped the area with a sick, yellowish green illumination, and Raal could barely see through it to the shock on the surprised dwarf's face.
The beam struck true, the energy seeming to fade through the dwarf’s body as a sickly yellow glow permeated his very being. He stumbled backwards, his face pale, and Raal took the opportunity to sit up, using one hand to prop his shaking body upwards. Raal’s ribs were gone, and while for him this was not a mortal blow, every movement sent messages of pain through his body.
The Dwarf was pale, the pale of death, but his eyes were still animated and moving, though now fear occupied them.
It was as it should be.
“Drown in the depths, dwarven filth. And know all you accomplished here was your own foolish demise.” Raal said with a smile, his truncheon pointed, not towards the dwarf, but towards the thin ice he’d stumbled upon.
Shame and regret filled the dwarf’s features, but even now, bleeding and broken, he refused to cry out. Raal, from some emotion resembling respect, decided not to draw out the dwarfs agony.Raal fired once, then twice, the first shot merely causing the ice to shudder. The second shot… Raal’s eyes couldn’t even process what occurred next. There was simply ice one minute, and the next an explosion of water had simply replaced it, and the dwarf.
Crawling back towards what seemed like solid ground, Raal felt incredibly lucky. He’d underestimated his enemy, and it had very nearly cost him his life. Pulling his mangled body onto the ground, he realized just how dangerous a world he now inhabited. Perhaps more dangerous than Azeroth ever was.
“I… Need to get stronger.”
Raal's eyes went from left to right, surveying the frozen wastelands he now found himself in. a small trail of steam burst from his eyes, as the pelting snow struck them. The wind screeched and howled around him, drowning out all other noise, and Raal noticed a thin layer of snow already forming along his truncheon, the weapon's natural oaken colors slowly being overtaken by a fuzzy white as snowflakes clung desperately to it, like Humans grasping onto a sinking ship.
Raal realized that, given this was a new world, there were probably at most only a few humans here - certainly, they must at least be as spare in numbers as the orcs. The thought was comforting - if he never saw another race of the alliance in his life... it'd still be too many.
Raal pressed his heel against the bones of his horse, the animal taking off like a bullet almost immediately. for any normal being, a storm of this magnitude would be deadly. For Raal, who's corpse of a body lacked feelings of heat or chill, the blinding torrent of wind and snow was merely good cover. Of course, it made finding out anything about this strange place even more difficult for him...
Raal's vision seemed to be of nothing but snow for a long time, but eventually the blizzard began to lose its intensity, after what could have been minutes or hours. Raal's eyes began to pick up dunes of snow and ice all around him, a vast desert of snow and ice, white that contrasted with the pale blue of waterborne ice. "I'm on a coastline, then..." Raal realized. This was good. While the pale realm Raal had found himself in seemed to defy physics as he had known them, more similar to the Twisting Nether than a true part of time and space, this place was far more reminiscent of Azeroth or Draenor, as he knew them. Of course, those places had actual inhabitants, while this misbegotten realm seemed to…
Raal paused mid thought as a small igloo came into view in front of him. The glacial structure was small, certainly too small for Raal’s body to fit comfortably into, but the ice that formed it’s carved structure was too smooth and too solid to possibly be a natural occurrence. Though, Raal supposed the small chimney tilting to it’s side was probably the far more obvious clue. It appeared this place was inhabited after all.
Raal urged his horse forward, attempting to survey the hut for himself. The unmistakably loud sound of Hooves striking ice gave ample hint to his presence, and it didn’t surprise the death knight when a figure stepped out of the Igloo in response, Raal now only a few meters away from the entrance.
Raal’s eyes almost immediately recognized the creature that stepped out of the igloo, and he had to resist the urge to unleash all his power right at this moment. A Dwarf, lightly armored in rough leathers and furs and carrying a hammer the color of moonlight with a broad head, had stepped out of the igloo, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What’re ye doing so far from Darkshire, skeleton?” The Dwarf asked warily.
The Death knight had to fight the desire to simply strike down the ugly little wart of a man the moment his blasphemous words left his mouth, but managed to curb his own wrath… for now. What was of more interest was that this Dwarf wasn’t intelligent enough to attack him on site… Though, perhaps he’d never seen a Death knight before. Perhaps he came from some other world of dwarves, even. The thought of the alliance races existing in even more realities still would have made Raal retch if he still retained the physical capacity, but he had to admit the idea wasn’t so far-fetched.
For now, Diplomacy, Raal thought to himself. His main goal was still knowledge, and this short excuse for a man potentially contained answers to his questions.
“I’ve never heard of such a place.” Raal answered in the least intimidating tone he could muster. With the deep timbre the unholy echo of his voice, it wasn’t much of an improvement.
“Please, fisherman.” Raal pleaded, guessing that there was no reason for an igloo to be built so close to the waterfront - by a Dwarf, no less! - unless they were looking to utilize its main natural resource. “I’ve travelled far and long since being brought to this plane. I’m just trying to find my way home. There seems to be no sense of time or direction in these wastes.” Raal stated, hoping he sounded desperate. “what is this place? Where am I?” he asked.
The Dwarf’s expression softened slightly, but his grip on his hammer remained strong, and his eyes never left the weapon that Raal procured. “Welcome to the Frozen Fields, dead man. You’ve picked a hell of a vacation spot. So, you’re a new prime, I’d guess?”
“Prime?” genuine curiosity peeked into the warlock’s voice. He didn’t expect a simple fisher to know anything of the subject.
“Did’ja see a man with white teeth, glowin’ like the bloody moon on your way into th’ Omniverse?”
So he was not unique in seeing that man. Raal realized this meant that quite a few different beings must exist here. all with a similar ability to grow in power. At least some of them would likely prove to be obstacles, as well. Seeing no immediate advantage in lying, the Death knight answered with the tone of a much humbler man.
“I recall seeing him, yes. He spoke of much, but I understood little.”.
“Well, to explain what he didn’t, beings like ye, who can die and come back as much as they want, are called primes. There are other beings here, though, summoned by other primes. These ones can die all they want, an’ they’re called secondaries. Don’t ask me what group I fall under.” the dwarf explained, his chestnut beard seeming to sway with each word. Raal was silent for a few moments after that, trying to figure out how to phrase his question just so…
“What if a prime was destructive, then. Could he not slaughter without pause? The thought is… Disturbing.”
“Disturbing, undead, or enticing?” The Dwarf asked, suspicion evident in his voice. “Banishment is still a punishment for primes who get a little too cocky with their immortality and decide to do things like purge a town from existence, or somethin’. If ye want to be literally sent to hell, you can go ahead and be my guest, but I imagine even a corpse like you wouldnae be able to handle that place. Certainly, if ye found your way back, you’d be the first. Ever.”
The old warlock considered this for a moment, a skeletal hand tapping thoughtfully on his horse’s torso. So he still needed to be careful. He was immortal here, but far from invincible. “So this place is the realm of the dwarves, then?” Raal probed.
“We’re the main force, ye can bet, but no. We are prob’ly the only creatures who live here that don’t try to kill you or eat ye on sight. Or both… There’s snowbeasts, further inland in the caves, by the name of wampas. those furry abominations are bigger than an ogre and somehow more stupid. And then there’s the trolls…”
“Trolls?” Raal asked… A little too hurriedly. “You fool!” he cursed to himself. Perhaps it wasn’t just his body rotting. The dwarf didn’t seem to have caught the slip, but Raal knew he wasn’t dealing with an idiot. He wouldn’t get a free pass again.
“Aye, big, tusked, and what I guess ye’d call intelligent. I’ve had to bash in more than a few o’ their skulls. they came here after the kingdom put em into exile. Of course, it’s not like the Kingdom’s willing to come and clean up the problem, either. The Trolls were pushed into our land, and since they’ve came here it’s been war. They want revenge against the kingdom, but since we were associated with it… They feel it’d be just fine to bash some dwarf skulls as a warm-up.”
“Terrible.” Raal said. “What areas must I avoid to stay away from these creatures?”
“Lad, nowhere is safe from them here.” The dwarf answered. “and I certainly don’t know where their settlements are, either. Besides… Why would I be willin’ to lead you to your allies, You Orcish dog!”
Raal realized two important facts in this moment.
The first was that he had been played for a fool this entire time. The Dwarf in front of him had known exactly who he was, and had been leading him on this entire time.
The second was that he had somehow not noticed the Dwarf slowly moving himself closer to Raal during the entire exchange, until he was at the perfect range for his hammer to cave in his mount’s skull.
Springing from the back of it as best he could, he landed clumsily a few feet away, the hard ice threatening to shatter his bones as he did. His only saving grace was the protective runes along the back of his robes, cushioning the blow. “You dare...
“seems I might have to warn the rest of the dwarves in this area of you. though if this is really the extent of your abilities, demon-worshipper, I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.” The Dwarf snarled, and he charged forward.
Raal’s hatred burned in him. He would not be humiliated! He could handle losing to a paladin, a ranger, a mage… but he was a death knight. for this malformed stubby excuse for a sentient to damage his mount, knock him to the ground, and raise his own weaponry against him.
“You’ve signed your own death warrant, you pint-sized fool!” Raal yelled, spite evident in every part of his voice. Raal’s anger grew, and he focused it, channeled it, and charged every fiber of his body with it. His anger stirred something else inside him, the fel magic inside him, and Raal directed that magic now, black energy forming like a glowing hot flame around his palm. A simple shape was remembered and formed, and Raal for the first time in a long time fired the simplest of Death knight incantations at his opponent. The touch of darkness flew like a missile at the Dwarf, and the Death knight praised his luck that this one seemed to be of average for his short-legged race. Where a human or elf would have likely already managed to trample Raal with a charge, the Dwarf was stopped just a few feet away from Raal, as the bolt struck his chest and knocked him off his feet.
Raal noticed telltale hints of breathing and realized he had little time. Racking his brain for simple spells he could still perform, he allowed his magical senses to briefly check the ground, looking for corpses.
To his amazement, however, he felt the knowledge of how to use the spell… almost shifting, within his own mind. A different version appeared in Raal’s head, and somehow he knew this version was likely the only one that would work here.
Holding out his hand, Raal focused, as the wind seemed to increase around him. chips of bone, seemingly from nothing, appeared along the wind, striking eachother to form a mold. the quiet cracking sounds each individual ivory piece made stopped as quickly as they started, leaving a grinning, smiling skeleton in front of him. a shimmer appeared in the skeleton’s hands, before forming a short, steel broadsword, the shining weapon held firmly in the skeletal warrior’s hand.
“After him.” Raal commanded, feeling the familiar presure and presence of a mind subjugated under his own. The strain was much greater than it once was, but one skeleton was nothing to a practitioner of his skill.
The Skeleton walked as fast as it could towards the dwarf, raising the sword just a little too high to be practical. The Dwarf, unmoving, appeared to be ready for the coup de grace. Raal knew that this dwarf was far too clever for that though. No… This was no moron.
“Therefore, I must take the most convenient solution available to me…” He thought to himself.
The Skeleton twisted the sword in it’s hand, intent on making a coup de grace. it’s bony hands silently gripped the blade as it plunged it into the dwarf’s sternum as hard as it could.
Or, at least, where the Dwarf’s sternum used to be.
“This bag o’ bones ain’t worth my time.” a cracking sound was heard, the skeleton’s blade stuck into the ice, before it shattered, the unmistakable sound of pulverizing ice punctuated with a soft “sploosh” as the skeleton fell into the water below.
Raal grimaced. He didn’t think the dwarf would finish his skeleton quite so easily. Raising his truncheon, he attempted to blast his opponent with another touch of darkness. Dodging to the side, the dwarf returned fire, throwing his silver hammer, and Raal knew, as he saw the attack coming, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the strike.
Raal felt the bones on his left ribcage crunch, as the hammer struck true, and his world went violently spinning as he felt himself slide across the barren ice. Raal’s hood was gone, ripped off by the sheer force of the strike, and his skull’s visibility fully exposed.
The thundering steps of Dwarven feet soon followed, and Raal knew his opponent was going to try to capitalize. Beaten to death by a dwarf’s bare fist… Raal felt something in his hand, and he realized he hadn’t lost the truncheon even now.
A smile bared across his face, despite the pain, and Raal knew the perfect spell to end this battle.
“You’re lucky, dwarf.” Raal muttered, concentrating his energy even as he knew the dwarf was already close enough to attack him. Hurriedly, he concentrated, green energy shimmering and swirling around the jewel adorning his truncheon.
The dwarf came into view, raising his leg in preparation to stomp on Raal’s skull. the dwarf was powerful, physically, and Raal knew he was more than capable of caving it in.
If it had reached Raal's face in time.
“It looks like I won’t get the chance to torture that loathsome attitude out of you.”
the snake of green energy swirled rapidly around Raal’s magical truncheon, and he used both hands to raise it up, Both the truncheon and Raal himself wrapped in an ethereal light as he released the bolt, a brilliant bolt of death energy the size of the dwarf's head. The Bolt enveloped the area with a sick, yellowish green illumination, and Raal could barely see through it to the shock on the surprised dwarf's face.
The beam struck true, the energy seeming to fade through the dwarf’s body as a sickly yellow glow permeated his very being. He stumbled backwards, his face pale, and Raal took the opportunity to sit up, using one hand to prop his shaking body upwards. Raal’s ribs were gone, and while for him this was not a mortal blow, every movement sent messages of pain through his body.
The Dwarf was pale, the pale of death, but his eyes were still animated and moving, though now fear occupied them.
It was as it should be.
“Drown in the depths, dwarven filth. And know all you accomplished here was your own foolish demise.” Raal said with a smile, his truncheon pointed, not towards the dwarf, but towards the thin ice he’d stumbled upon.
Shame and regret filled the dwarf’s features, but even now, bleeding and broken, he refused to cry out. Raal, from some emotion resembling respect, decided not to draw out the dwarfs agony.Raal fired once, then twice, the first shot merely causing the ice to shudder. The second shot… Raal’s eyes couldn’t even process what occurred next. There was simply ice one minute, and the next an explosion of water had simply replaced it, and the dwarf.
Crawling back towards what seemed like solid ground, Raal felt incredibly lucky. He’d underestimated his enemy, and it had very nearly cost him his life. Pulling his mangled body onto the ground, he realized just how dangerous a world he now inhabited. Perhaps more dangerous than Azeroth ever was.
“I… Need to get stronger.”