Out of Time

[Darkblade]

(I added a bit to the beginning of this, to help explain a bit better of what is going on. The current timeline for this is a couple of months in the future)

The city of Andorhal was wrecked. This is nothing new. Burnt out husks of buildings, crumbling stonework, and legions of Scourge occupy what was once a thriving city.
Nothing appeared out of place. This was not the reality of the situation, however.

Two Forsaken stepped outside of one of the more sturdy ruins in the city. To the two of them, they had only recently arrived here. A quick chat with Chromie after finding themselves returned to the Caverns of Time, following a daring rescue of one, by the other, in the past.
As was typical in the ruins of Andorhal, some of the nearby Scourge attacked. Between the two Forsaken, they easily dispatched the few skeletons and ghouls.
The rogue knelt down to one of the corpses, rifling through it for a couple of runecloth scraps. The priest stood there for a moment, looking off into the distance.
"See something?"
Startled back to reality, the priest glanced at the rogue whom had just spoke. He simply shook his head. "No. Something just does not...feel right."

"The renegades are here!"
The two Forsaken quickly turned toward where the voice yelling those words came from. Materializing in front of them, the two saw an Eye of Naxxramas appear.
From their experiences inside the burning city of Stratholme, they both knew to dispatch the shadowy creature right away. The rogue ran at it, only to find it dissapate, as a Mind Blast from the priest destroyed it.
Kneeling down to examine the corpse, the rogue asked, "What was that doing so far away from Stratholme?"
The priest shrugged. "I don't know, but I still have a bad feeling about this place. We should leave. Now."
The rogue stood up. "Agreed."

At that instant, several bolts of black lightning struck the ground around them. A flash of darkness surrounded them, making them both briefly unable to see. When it quickly passed, they found themselves surrounded by large spectral creatures, similar in shape to those wandering "eyes", but much larger. Electricity coursed around them, sparking in the air.

"You could not hide forever."
"Forever? We've only just arrived."
The rogue's response to that statement was a shadowy bolt from the speaker which struck her square in the chest, knocking her back several feet and leaving a scorch mark on her armor.
"For months we have searched for you two, and now we have found you. Our command is to bring you back."
The priest spoke up, "Back where?"
The sound that followed was so loud and deep, the two could feel it vibrating inside their own bodies. The creature was laughing.
The rogue got to her feet, and moved back to the side of the priest, where she quietly mumbled to him, "I think we're in trouble."

[Nadea]

((so excited to see you active again! <3 you and miss you!!))

[Darkblade]

Drawing her two swords, the rogue prepared for battle. A protective shield popped up around the priest, whom then went into his shadow-form.

A low reverbarating sound could be heard around them. The specters were laughing.
Darkblade lept at the one shadowy creature that had been speaking. Bring the end of one of her swords around she attempted to incapacitate the creature as she usually did. However, both her weapon and then herself passed through the smokey substance which substantiated the creature. It's essence seemed to dissipate as she passed through it, and then formed back up again. Darkblade landed, and deftly spun around, to face her target again. She swung a couple of times, both passing harmlessly through the fiend.

Meanwhile, the shadow priest commenced a mental assault on the creature. It howled out in pain from the blast, and turned it's attention to the priest. Seeing the creature distracted, Darkblade swung her blades again, only to find them again pass harmlessly through.

The priest held out a hand toward the shadowy creature and a beam of mental energy appeared between the two, damaging the specter. The creature shot a hand forward and the priest went flying backwards, his mental assault interrupted.

Seizing the opportunity, Darkblade tossed a grenade at the creature, hoping at least that would damage it.

The resulting explosion caused the creature to dissapate completely.
On cue, the other apparitions attacked. Two went after Darkblade, alternating lightning bolts, repeatedly knocking her backwards from the impact.

The remaining ones went after the priest in a similar fashion. Within moments, the two Forsaken were beat. The remaining creatures' essences seemed to combine and gather around the two nearly-dead undead. Struggling to get to her feet, Darkblade felt a coldness as the spectral essence gathered around her. Then the black lightning commenced again, centered on the two prone figures.

After the flash of blackness passed, Andorhal was as it had been, devoid of anything save ruins and wandering Scourge.

[Darkblade]

When the darkness passed, Darkblade found she was no longer in Andorhal. The brightness of her current surroundings caused her to blink a few times, as her eyes adjusted. As she adjusted, she took note of where she was: strapped to a table in the center of small room. The room was bare aside from this table, and a heavy door marking the only exit.

Darkblade tugged at her bindings, finding them quite secure. Alone with her thoughts, she tried to remember how she came to be here. She remembered the fight in Andorhal alongside the shadow priest, Verzhud. She remembered that they had apparantly actually killed one of the spectral creatures which had surrounded them, and that set the others off.

She remembered lightning and darkness.

She vaguely remembered a face, peering down at her: human, but with pale skin, almost like a corpse.

She blinked again from the memory, and the image in her head was replaced with an identical image in reality. Staring down at her was that face, taut skin so tight it looked nearly ready to split.

"Ssso, little rogue. It sseemss there iss more to you than we firsst thought."

"Who...who are you?"

The pale being leaned back, straightening up. "Who I am iss not important. Ssufficcce to ssay, I am an information gatherer, amongsst other titless." He leaned back over, staring intently at Darkblade. "And I need to gather information from you." A wide grin appeared on his face.
Darkblade coughed as some ichor slipped into her throat. "I have no information you need."

"On the contrary, you have ssome very interessting information to give." The captor's grin disappeared, and a serious tone overtook him. "Ssix monthss ago we were about to capture you, and you disssappeared along with your priessst companion, only to appear reccently. How did you do thiss?"

Darkblade gritted her teeth. "I don't know what you are talking about."
The figure snarled at her, and shot out a hand, grabbing her by the throat. "Oh, I think you do, Forssaken." With that, he produced a vial which he poured into Darkblade's mouth, open as she was gasping for air. "I think you do, and I think you will tell me."

[Darkblade]

"Progress?" The voice of the armored death knight reverborated through the small laboratory. Vials, burners, glass tubes, and other manner of alchemy devices adorned various tables.

A pale humanoid, intent on scraps of notes before him on the desk he was seated at looked up. "I am giving the rogue time for the toxin to take effect. Sshe will ssoon tell uss what we want."

"What of the priest?"

"That one...sshall ssoon be ourss. Hiss own inner darknesss makess him quite sussceptible to our methodss. If the rogue continues to ressisst, it will not matter oncce he iss ourss."

"Excellent. Keep me posted." With that he turned and left the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

[Darkblade]

Darkblade blinked her eyes, attempting to focus. Whatever foul concoction her captor had forced down her throat caused her severe pain, and eventually she blacked out.

Now the pain was gone, but she still felt drugged.

"Well, rogue, are you going to be more cooperative now?"

Darkblade turned her head to look at the pale-skinned human standing near the table she was strapped to. "Doubtful."

Another voice came from the doorway to the room. "We don't need her, anyway. I will do more than tell you...I will show you."

Darkblade recognized this voice. Craning her neck to look toward the doorway, she was momentarily taken aback.

The pale humanoid near the table clapped his hands in excitement. "Exccellent!"

The figure in the doorway walked over to Darkblade and looked down at her, chuckling. "We don't need this wretch any more."

The betrayal hurt Darkblade more than the toxin she'd ingested, and the torture she received at the hands of the death knight during her incarceration. She managed to spit at the undead priest standing there.

Almost on cue, the heavily armored death knight entered the room as well. "I am glad to hear you say that, Verzhud." He strode through the room, armor clanking as he moved. "Darkblade, I have been looking forward to killing you."

With that, he reached down and grabbed her. Pulling fiercely, he yanked her off the table, snapping the restraints as he did. Once free, he hurled her across the room into the wall. The rogue fell to the floor, and struggled to get up.

The death knight strode toward the prone rogue, preparing to finish her off.

Darkblade glanced up to see her former ally and the pale human walking out of the room. Turning her attention to the death knight, she saw he was almost upon her.

She lept to her feet, and dashed straight at the death knight. She jumped over his head, flipping, and jamming her thumbs into his eyes. He was momentarily stunned from this, which was all the time she needed to bolt for the door. She didn't know where her gear was, but she assumed it was gone. Verzhud, however, looked like he was wearing his own clothing again. Darkblade exited the room, and saw where the two she was pursuing were walking, and stealthily snuck up to them.

"The rogue is gone!" The death knight's shout echoed down the corridor. Both Verzhud the formerly-Forsaken shadow priest and his pale-skinned companion stopped to turn around.

That was just what Darkblade was waiting for. With their attention focused back down the hallway, she snuck up behind Verzhud to pickpocket him. Quickly finding what she was searching for, she snuck back to the shadows, getting some distance.

"We've no time to lossse. Sshe cannot stop uss and will be found. There isss no placce sshe can go here."

The death knight caught up with the other two, and the trio continued down the hall and entered a large open room at the end. From the shadows, Darkblade watched.

The room was full of Scourge soldiers, abominations, crypt fiends, and other creatures that Darkblade have never seen. This was clearly an attack force, and a strong one at that.

Several heavily-armored Scourge gathered near the front of the gathering. "The necropolis has arrived. Death for Kel'Thuzad! Death for the Lich King!"

Darkblade felt the floor begin to vibrate, and soon the entire structure seemed to be vibrating. A low-pitched hum started to be heard which culminated with a bright flash emenating from the center of the large area. Blinking, she saw that the room was now mostly empty. The attack force was gone, and a few wandering Scourge patrols were all that were left.

The few wandering Scourge patrols were also looking at her. The bright flash had given away her hiding spot. Shouts came up. "Get her!" "Kill the rogue!" "Death to the Forsaken!"

Reaching into her pocket, she fumbled with the item she had pickpocketed off of Verzhud, the betrayer: his hearthstone. She quietly spoke, while waiting for it to work. "Come on, come on."

A crypt fiend shot a web at Darkblade. It passed through the empty air as the hearthstone took effect, sending Darkblade to the Undercity.

As the Undercity appeared around her, Darkblade was shocked at what she saw. The place was destroyed, with Scourge wandering around everywhere.

She tried to piece together what she knew. In her timeline, she had only been away from the Undercity for a short period of time. The changes she saw before her, however, obviously were long-standing. Verzhud had led the Scourge to the Caverns of Time.

Somehow, they had changed history. The Scourge had won, at least here in Lordaeron. Darkblade could think of only one person that could help now. Darting from shadow to shadow, the rogue snuck out of the Scourge infested ruins of Lordaeron, heading to Andorhal.

[Darkblade]

The Tirisfal Glades Darkblade saw looked like the Plaguelands she remembered...infested with Scourge. What she didn't see here, however, was the resistance.
The Scarlet Monastary was burned and gutted. The Bulwark appeared to have never been there at all.

It was becoming obvious that when Verzhud led the Scourge to the Caverns of Time, they had altered the past in some severe way. The resistance forces either lost, or never existed at all. Darkblade had no idea which explanation was the proper one, but she was gambling that the bronze dragonflight would know, being the keepers of time. Chromie was her only contact with them, and to Chromie she was heading.

Andorhal looked the same as it always had:ruins and Scourge. So far everything Darkblade had seen since she used the hearthstone she stole from the corrupted priest, Verzhud, looked that same way.

The ruined inn, in which Chromie made her residence, was under siege. A large number of Scourge forces were gathered outside, trying to make their way through the doorway. From time to time, a blast of fire would shoot out the entrance, incinerating any of the Scourge in its path. Some, however, were still managing to get through.

Darkblade snuck up behind a particularly decayed skeleton. She reached forward and grabbed the bleached skull and sharply yanked back on it. The decayed bones broke, and she yanked its head completely off. In a swift motion she grabbed the sword from its loosening grip and spun with it, slicing open a sizable gash in a nearby ghoul. The skeleton, its life ended, collapsed to the ground in a heap of bones. Armed now, Darkblade hacked at the ghoul some more, resulting in another headless Scourge.

Her actions were starting to draw attention.

A couple of nearby skeletons noticed the action behind them, and turned to attack Darkblade. She parried one of the skeletons' sword swings, and with a quick flip of her own blade, knocked the weapon from its hand. She managed to just barely sidestep the swing from the second skeleton. She dove to the side and rolled, grabbing the weapon dropped from disarming the first. Coming to her feet, she sliced both at the first skeleton, breaking some of its rib, and finally cracking the side of its skull, where trickles of greenish icor began to appear. The second skeleton continued its attack, and Darkblade dropped to the ground, avoiding another swing. She kicked out her feet, tripping up the skeleton, and impaled a sword into an eye socket as it fell. The sword stuck, and when she lept back to her feet, the skull of the creature came up with her. She spun about, and flung the skull at another skeleton which was approaching rapidly. The two skulls collided, causing the new attacker to stagger back. That was all Darkblade needed to leap on the creature and drive her two swords down into it's shoulders, neartly removing its two arms. A quick kick while she was perched on top of it set it's head flying, and the bones collapsed beneath her.

Because of the commotion, easily half of the Scourge trying to enter the inn were now intent on the lone Forsaken rogue. Running out of tricks, Darkblade ran at the group and lept on top of the closest ghoul. Briefly touching down on its head, she lept again, soaring over the clustered group, and landing in the doorway of the inn. She kept running and turned the corner, and then slid to the floor as a belch of fire passed over her, torching the quickly responding Scourge behind her. Inside the main room of the inn she saw a small dragon being attacked by several undead.

It roared in a bellowing voice, with a hint of Gnome, "Darkblade! You must prevent this from happening!"

With that the dragon spun about, it's tail knocking back the gathered undead. Darkblade ducked under a flying skeleton which smashed against the wall, and hurried over to the dragon.

In an instant, the dragon's form shimmered and changed into that of a small gnome.

"Chromie, what has happened?", Darkblade inquired.

The small gnomish figure was cut and bleeding from several spots. She collapsed to a knee, struggling to speak. "No time. Take this. Stop the past." She held out a small package to Darkblade.

Darkblade quickly grabbed it as Chromie continued. "Go, now." With that, the Gnome changed back into its dragon form. It grabbed Darkblade in its mouth, and threw the rogue up at the ceiling, where she passed through a hole and landed on the roof. The dragon's voice bellowed up at her, "Save us all!" With that, the dragon roared, and a blast of fire shot out through every opening in the building.

Darkblade lept off the roof at the back side of the inn, and ran off, the sounds of a dying dragon echoing behind her.

[Darkblade]

Finding a temporary refuge from the Scourge infesting the region, Darkblade was able to pause and examine the package Chromie had prepared. A note was the first thing she looked at, reading to herself.

A turn of events most foul - this is what you must deal with. Even now I can see the deluge of change coming from the past, sweeping over everything we all knew to be true, flooding it in what should not happen.

As in all matters of time, removing the one small catalyst can stop the river from meandering from its true course. It pains me to write this here, Darkblade, but I can see no other option. The Scourge will win their victory because of Verzhud, but they only persued the two of you because of his historical rescue of your earlier self. The reason for his rescue has been secured, so you need to prevent that rescue, now.

Darkblade, you need to travel back in time to that event and stop Verzhud from saving your earlier self. If you do not do this, I fear that the Scourge change of history will destroy everything. As you read this, it will be evident whether what I invision is true or not. As I write it, the future is uncertain, but I feel a dread swiftly approaching.

The enclosed rune stone should allow you to transport yourself to the Caverns of Time. I do not know what you will find when you arrive there, so be on your guard. The enclosed envelope must only be opened once you are inside. I have no time to prepare a new destination, so you will have to travel the same way Verzhud originally did. This is why you must prevent the rescue, as there is no time to stop it elsewhen.

Ironic that with the powers afforded our flight that now we have run out of time.

Be swift; be safe. The world's history is relying on you in this thankless endeavor.

Darkblade folded the note. So that was it. The only way to set things straight was to travel back in time, to the moment when Verzhud rescued her from the powerful Scourge horsemen, and to stop him. She must condemn herself to be taken by the Scourge, and history would repeat itself.

Knowing what she had to do, she pocketed the sealed envelope and picked up the rune stone. Running a thumb across its etched face, she felt a slight tingling sensation. A glow surrounded her briefly, and then she was gone.

[Darkblade]

The Scourge had a fortress built around the Caverns of Time. Getting inside there was going to be difficult.

Sneaking in to places, though, was Darkblade's specialty.

The opening to the caverns was sealed, and Scourge forces patrolled in front of it. Walls had been constructed on top of the existing rock formations, and a large barred gate occupied the Western side, where passage used to be clear. Scouting around the mountains to the East, Darkblade discovered that that area was left mostly alone. Obviously they were only worried about protecting the caves from a frontal assault.

Darkblade knew a side passage. This side passage seemed to have been left intact.

Creeping around the Southern side of the fortification, she found the path she was looking for, which led up into the mountains. At a point two thirds of the way up, she had to use some fancy footwork and scaling techniques in order to proceed. This was the point that kept nearly everyone from proceeding. Persistence got her past it.

She would climb up, then slide back, and try again. For what seemed hours she worked at this until she managed to pull herself up, and could then continue.

She skirted around the outside of the ruined tower there, apparantly Elvish in origin, and slowly crept around to the Western side of it. Now she was standing on the rock face directly above the cave entrance. Slipping back toward the ruins, she found the crack in the rock she was looking for. As quietly as possible she slipped inside.

The interior of the Caverns of Time looked identical to when she had seen it last, returning to what was her present after Verzhud rescued her in the past. And now she had to go back to that same time and stop him.

Pausing briefly, she pulled out the sealed envelope she took from the package Chromie had given her. Opening it she found a small note inside. As she read the note, the cave wall to her side cracked and fell open, creating a new portal. As Darkblade looked at this new opening, she almost thought she could see a ghostly image of Verzhud passing through. Perhaps it was some lingering image, as she had no opened the exact same portal that he had. Not wanting to waste any more time, Darkblade passed into the opening and into the past.

[Darkblade]

(a couple of months ago)
The sun was out, somewhere. The orange glow of the sky over the Plaguelands revealed that. The sun itself, however, could not be seen through the haze.
Destruction lay all about her.
Just south of Stratholme, a Forsaken rogue was embroiled in battle with a large abomination.
The battle raged. Finally, the rogue shoved one of her swords into the gaping mouth of the beast.
"Taste my blade!"
The abomination focused its eyes on her. Darkblade went to pull her sword out, expecting another swing, but the blade was stuck, partially exiting the back of the creature's skull. A blast of putrid air bellowed from the creature's mouth, but its other limbs stopped moving. The barely attached third arm dropped it's weapon.
The abomination blinked its eyes, and fell backwards, pulling the sword from Darkblade's hand as it went.
A cloud of dust erupted as the abomination fell. Brushing herself off, she moved forward to retrieve her weapon as she heard the sounds of hooves behind her.
Cautiously, she turned slowly. Before her now, she saw four mounted riders. The mounts were like none she had seen before. Skeletal horses, but much more...sinister. The riders, too, looked like nothing she had seen before. These were not Forsaken riders.

"Well played little one, though you seem to have lost something."

Darkblade reached down, grabbing the hilt of her impaled sword, eyes never leaving the four horsemen.

The same rider spoke up again, "Wouldn't you say so, Korth'azz?"

A grunt was all that the speaker received in response from its companion. Darkblade pulled on her sword, finally freeing it from the slain abomination.

Another of the riders was clad in a hooded cloak. A clawed hand reached up, pulling the hood back, revealing long white hair, tangled, now draping about it's shoulders. This one spoke with a voice that was obviously feminine, despite the coarse grating. "She has a fire, indeed."

Darkblade straightened, holding both of her swords out before her. "Who are you?"

The first rider chuckled. "Who we are is not important. Our mission is simple. We have come to cleanse this land."

The female continued, "Cleanse this land of the wicked and wretched."

A third picked up where she left off, "Wicked and wretched souls whom would defy our master."

The forth continued in form, it's voice scarcely more than a raspy whisper, "Defy our master, Kel'Thuzad. We shall purge the living."

The first spoke up again, "We would welcome you back."
"Back to the fold."
"Back to the Scourge."
"Back to the lich king."

Darkblade gritted her teeth. "I don't think so."

The first rider laughed loudly, and then the female spoke, "We weren't asking."
The fourth rider dismounted, and strode toward Darkblade, removing his riding cloak as he moved. He was clad in black armor, with razor sharp blades attached all over. From his back he pulled a large, jagged, two-handed sword. As he held it, the sword seemed to flare to life, an unearthly bluish flame coming from it. With a large overhand motion, he swung at her.

Darkblade deftly dove to the side, rolling and coming back to her feet. Before she had a chance to respond, she was forced to leap backwards out of the way of a strong horizontal swing. Her adversary continued the swing in an arc, and again brought an overhead attack at her. Holding her two swords up, Darkblade went to parry the attack.
The force of the parry shattered her swords and sent her tumbling backwards, stunned.
The armor-clad behemoth moved up close to her. Its raspy voice hissed at her, "No escape."
Recovering, Darkblade thought to escape. She threw a packet of flash powder to the ground, and attempted to dash away.
The first rider, still mounted and watching the spectacle, drew his own large sword from its sheath, and aimed it at the rogue about to flee. A bolt of magical energy shot from the sword to Darkblade. She had thought she'd be untrackable, at least for a few seconds. She was wrong.

Darkblade had never before, neither in her life among the living nor the dead, experienced the horror she now felt. Unable to act, her mind reeling, she froze in place.
Her unexpected shock of horror was replaced by another, when she looked down to see the end of the combatants sword protuding from her chest.
She could feel her life being drawn into the sword.

Darkblade watched the spectacle from a safe vantage point. She had experienced this fight first-hand, and it felt surreal to her now, watching the image of herself go through the same motions again. She remembered it well enough, as to her, her future self, she went through this battle only days ago. She knew that at this point her so-called savior appeared on the scene and saved her from the Horsemen.

Now, she had to stop that from happening. She quickly moved to where the priest would be, and saw him preparing a spell. Darkblade quickly moved behind him and put a hand over his mouth, and with her other hand restrained his arms.

Not expecting this, the Forsaken priest spun, freeing himself from Darkblade's grasp. He blinked, seeing before him a duplicate of the person he was sent to save.

"I don't have time for a long explanation. Chromie sent me to stop you." The words were hard for Darkblade to speak, because she knew what they would result in.

"But Chromie sent me to save you..or, her." He motioned to the Darkblade beset by the four horsemen.

Darkblade swallowed, and quietly relied. "I know. But you can't save her...too much is at stake." With that she pulled out the folded note from Chromie, which detailed what she had to do, and handed it to the priest.

He quickly read it over. "What have I done...or what will I do?"

Darkblade shook her head. "It's not important right now. We just need to leave. Perhaps you'll never need to know."

Verzhud looked back over at the other rogue in the distance, then turned back to Darkblade. "So be it."

Darkblade looked back at her former self, and for a brief moment, their eyes met. Images flashed into her head...visions of a future that she never had to experience, but this other Darkblade was about to.

With a tear in her eye, she turned away, and stepped inside the awaiting portal, leaving her past self behind and returning to her own future.