In the Hand of Argus, my role was a healer, someone who saved lives rather than took them. Of course, I always had to defend myself; Paladins are well-equipped, and a mace is an effective weapon, but as a healer, my skills were a bit lacking. At best, I was able to daze someone long enough for one of my compatriots to come along and finish the job.
With His power, though… I could feel how much I had changed, how easy it was to heft that runeblade for the first time. When I reported to the front lines, one of the San’layn, Prince Valanar, was there to issue my orders. I was to be part of an assault force that would sack Havenshire, just below Acherus. The orders?
Leave none alive.
You know, it’s just so…
easy…
to take a life after you’ve had a little practice, and the lines of morality blur more and more with each successive kill. I made my first kills as acts of vengeance, taking out my anger for those who betrayed me on the innocents of Havenshire. As the battles wound down, though, and all who remained were only civilians, I found myself killing because I liked it.
I noticed one house that had not yet been investigated, almost completely hidden by a hill and a small grove of trees. I turned and moved purposefully to the door, the ground beneath my feet withering and dying with each step. I wove between trees, letting my fingers brush over the trunks, smiling inwardly as each touch brought a withering death to the life within. As I drew closer, motion in the window made me pause for a moment, and one thought slipped through my mind: Survivors.
Leave none alive!
His voice shook me to the very core, flooded through me like rapture; even if I had wanted to resist, it would have been impossible. I closed my eyes and let that delicious shiver work its way down my spine, biting my lip in sheer ecstasy as it settled just above my tail. Then that smile was gone, replaced by solid ice and a cold stare as I moved the last dozen yards to the small home.
I pushed on the door; of course, it was barred from the inside. I was right, someone was indeed home, and in hiding. I let my hand rest on the solid wood, allowing the frost within me to permeate the door before I spun, runeblade flashing in the sunlight, and smashed the door into frozen shards. I heard the gasp of fear as I stepped through the doorway, and I turned to face the source of the sound.
My cold gaze settled on a young human woman cowering in the corner. Her face was nearly as pale as her hair, and she held a young girl tightly to her, as though to keep her warm in the face of a frozen soul. The resemblance between the two was obvious; this was her daughter, or very young sister. I stepped closer. The woman shook her head as if to deny my existence, pulling the child tighter against her. I pointed at her with my runeblade and said, “Make peace with whichever deity you choose. You’ll be meeting them very soon.”
She begged for me to spare the child, to let the little one escape into the nearby forest and survive. To her credit, she summoned enough rage to suggest that I owed it to her, as the Death Knights had already slain her husband. It was enough to make me pause; she moved the child in front of her, letting me look into her eyes, to see her beautiful face, and asked me again. “Will you please let her go?”
I moved my arm.
The runeblade pushed through the child’s body so easily, so quickly, ending her life an instant before the point pierced the mother’s heart. As her life ebbed away before my eyes, with so much hate and rage in hers, I smiled coldly at her, and said, “None shall live.”
