11-17-2008, 03:59 PM
I walked my steed Musty up the steep mountain trail in Northrend. The mountains were lovely...like nothing I had ever seen before. There so high above the world everything was peaceful. It was as if I had never died. The alter stood there at the very peak. I had been sent there by a newfound friend of the great Taunka tribe.
"You must go there and cleanse your spirit." He had said, as if anything could do such a thing.
"How will I do this?" I had asked him, almost tempted to remind him that the creature he looked at was dead...an unclean thing created by magic and held together by a sheer force of will.
"You will confront your inner turmoil. That will be the test."
And so I had followed the path he lay before me, and the trail led up and up further into the heavens and I felt joy in my breast...in a place where my heart would have been had I lived.
The alter was there, as he said it would be, it's magics glowing quietly and reflecting off the snow that surrounded it. I would do as my friend had requested and so I touched it. I would confront my inner turmoil.
Then she was there. The White Lady.
"Do you think you will be rid of me so easily Caroline? You will NEVER be rid of me!"
"You...you are not real...I do not fear you!" I tried so hard to convince myself. I almost believed...almost.
"I am that which lies just under the surface of your spirit. It would only take a nudge to allow me to take over. Just a nudge and you can be free. No longer in despair...no longer concerned over the affairs of your tribe. Just a nudge."
"I will not give in to you." I declared. And then she drew her blade and swung it down upon me.
I was never much of a duelist, but my human father had taught me the use of a blade and so I drew and deflected her blade to one side. I extended my hand to unleash the fury of my magic, but the spell would not come. The White Lady laughed and swung again, and again.
I deflected her blows and delived a few of my own. Around and around we went there on the mountain top. She jumped to the top of the alter. I swung at her feet. She jumped to avoid the swing. She whirled her cloak and spun herself back to the ground as I dodged and tried to deflect her swing. I missed and her cut was deep, but I had no blood. I did not bleed, for I was already dead. I felt weak.
She laughed and mocked me. "Oh Caroline," she taunted, "you were never good at Fathers war games. I bet you wish you had paid more attention to his lessons now. You won't always have magic to protect yourself with. He was a fool anyway, our father, it is good that he is dead. It was your fault you know!"
"No...do not say such things!" I begged.
"He was trying to rescue his little girl...but we were already DEAD! He saw you didn't he Caroline? He saw you before the Black Wizard struck him down. It was you who distracted him. He could not believe what an abomination you had become. He saw you and he froze and that was when Walter killed him. You remember now don't you?"
"No no no!" I shreiked. I flew into a rage and swung a flurry of blows at her over and over. Thinking back I am sure Valtrinity would have been proud. Two of my blows landed and the White Lady recoiled and smiled her terrible smile.
"Daddy dead! Who is next? How about Sreng? Troll daddy Sreng? Father...pah! You can never be a real daughter...you are more of a pet to him. Your precious tribe knows that he only pity's you. He would make a fine Death Knight to serve the cause! We cooked his hide pretty good in Naxxramus didn't we?"
"I will never let you take him!"
She swung high and I ducked under her swing. I felt the wind from her blade whoosh past as a lock of my hair fell. I spun and returned in kind aiming for her throat, but she read my move easily and countered it.
She grabbed my wrist, and I grabbed hers. Our blades were locked. We struggled. 'Round and 'round we went until I fell back against the alter. She was bearing down on me.
"Oh Caroline...Lady Caroline...Lady Dis-pay-a...we are so close now. Closer than we have been in a long while. Closer now than the time we tried to kill Zema!"
"Do not dare even speak of her!" I commanded! I kicked her back away from me and lunged with my blade. It found it's mark and I drove it through her breast.
She did not die. How could she die? She was already dead. Dead such as I. So she smiled again and laughed.
"Sweet Caroline...Daddy's girl...little Caroline White. General White's daughter and now an undead thing who terrorizes children in the night. You are the thing they fear when they see the dark. You are the very definition of monster....Caroline!"
She spat her horrible words at me and I knew they were true. What would Father think of me now...of what I had become. I was a monster and so I shall ever be a monster. I can never make amends. I can save the lives of innocents. I can fight for my tribe, but I can never truly be happy. I can never live again, or feel the beating of my own heart, or the kick of my baby as it grows inside me...or the warm touch of a husband.
I am a creature. A wight...an undead thing. The villagers had never called me White Lady...I remembered now...it was WIGHT lady...The Wight Lady...daughter of the general, a general long dead. I had killed and terrorized the villagers and so they had named me. And when the Scourge swept over Lordaeron, I heard their call and joined their army. I rose in their ranks until I commanded a full legion. I reigned death on the world for I hated all things living, because they had something I could never have again. Life.
I was the White Lady and I was damned.
My thoughts raced as the apparition before me caused me to relive my time as Scourge over again. I tasted every death, I relished every life I took. I made the world suffer because of what it had done to me. I closed my eyes and I screamed.
When I opened them again the White Lady's face was close. She pulled me to an embrace and she kissed me. "We are sisters you and I..." she whispered. "...and the one who made us is close now. He wants to see us again Caroline...and when he calls we will go."
Then she was gone.
I knelt there in the snow and looked down at the dagger that was now protruding from my own chest.
MY dagger.
If I had a heart the blade would have severed it, but I felt no pain. I did not bleed for my heart was taken long ago by the one who made me.I grabbed the blade and pulled it free from my chest. My undead flesh quickly healed over the wound and closed it.
I collapsed into the snow and wept, until my tears turned into ice and froze to my face. I do not know how much time had passed before Zlinka found me.
She knelt and wiped the ice from my face. Zlinka...she was so kind...always so kind. She told me that a Shaman had sent her here to face her inner turmoil. She asked why I was here, and so I told her that I had faced my inner turmoil also, but I could never be free of her.
For she is me.
"You must go there and cleanse your spirit." He had said, as if anything could do such a thing.
"How will I do this?" I had asked him, almost tempted to remind him that the creature he looked at was dead...an unclean thing created by magic and held together by a sheer force of will.
"You will confront your inner turmoil. That will be the test."
And so I had followed the path he lay before me, and the trail led up and up further into the heavens and I felt joy in my breast...in a place where my heart would have been had I lived.
The alter was there, as he said it would be, it's magics glowing quietly and reflecting off the snow that surrounded it. I would do as my friend had requested and so I touched it. I would confront my inner turmoil.
Then she was there. The White Lady.
"Do you think you will be rid of me so easily Caroline? You will NEVER be rid of me!"
"You...you are not real...I do not fear you!" I tried so hard to convince myself. I almost believed...almost.
"I am that which lies just under the surface of your spirit. It would only take a nudge to allow me to take over. Just a nudge and you can be free. No longer in despair...no longer concerned over the affairs of your tribe. Just a nudge."
"I will not give in to you." I declared. And then she drew her blade and swung it down upon me.
I was never much of a duelist, but my human father had taught me the use of a blade and so I drew and deflected her blade to one side. I extended my hand to unleash the fury of my magic, but the spell would not come. The White Lady laughed and swung again, and again.
I deflected her blows and delived a few of my own. Around and around we went there on the mountain top. She jumped to the top of the alter. I swung at her feet. She jumped to avoid the swing. She whirled her cloak and spun herself back to the ground as I dodged and tried to deflect her swing. I missed and her cut was deep, but I had no blood. I did not bleed, for I was already dead. I felt weak.
She laughed and mocked me. "Oh Caroline," she taunted, "you were never good at Fathers war games. I bet you wish you had paid more attention to his lessons now. You won't always have magic to protect yourself with. He was a fool anyway, our father, it is good that he is dead. It was your fault you know!"
"No...do not say such things!" I begged.
"He was trying to rescue his little girl...but we were already DEAD! He saw you didn't he Caroline? He saw you before the Black Wizard struck him down. It was you who distracted him. He could not believe what an abomination you had become. He saw you and he froze and that was when Walter killed him. You remember now don't you?"
"No no no!" I shreiked. I flew into a rage and swung a flurry of blows at her over and over. Thinking back I am sure Valtrinity would have been proud. Two of my blows landed and the White Lady recoiled and smiled her terrible smile.
"Daddy dead! Who is next? How about Sreng? Troll daddy Sreng? Father...pah! You can never be a real daughter...you are more of a pet to him. Your precious tribe knows that he only pity's you. He would make a fine Death Knight to serve the cause! We cooked his hide pretty good in Naxxramus didn't we?"
"I will never let you take him!"
She swung high and I ducked under her swing. I felt the wind from her blade whoosh past as a lock of my hair fell. I spun and returned in kind aiming for her throat, but she read my move easily and countered it.
She grabbed my wrist, and I grabbed hers. Our blades were locked. We struggled. 'Round and 'round we went until I fell back against the alter. She was bearing down on me.
"Oh Caroline...Lady Caroline...Lady Dis-pay-a...we are so close now. Closer than we have been in a long while. Closer now than the time we tried to kill Zema!"
"Do not dare even speak of her!" I commanded! I kicked her back away from me and lunged with my blade. It found it's mark and I drove it through her breast.
She did not die. How could she die? She was already dead. Dead such as I. So she smiled again and laughed.
"Sweet Caroline...Daddy's girl...little Caroline White. General White's daughter and now an undead thing who terrorizes children in the night. You are the thing they fear when they see the dark. You are the very definition of monster....Caroline!"
She spat her horrible words at me and I knew they were true. What would Father think of me now...of what I had become. I was a monster and so I shall ever be a monster. I can never make amends. I can save the lives of innocents. I can fight for my tribe, but I can never truly be happy. I can never live again, or feel the beating of my own heart, or the kick of my baby as it grows inside me...or the warm touch of a husband.
I am a creature. A wight...an undead thing. The villagers had never called me White Lady...I remembered now...it was WIGHT lady...The Wight Lady...daughter of the general, a general long dead. I had killed and terrorized the villagers and so they had named me. And when the Scourge swept over Lordaeron, I heard their call and joined their army. I rose in their ranks until I commanded a full legion. I reigned death on the world for I hated all things living, because they had something I could never have again. Life.
I was the White Lady and I was damned.
My thoughts raced as the apparition before me caused me to relive my time as Scourge over again. I tasted every death, I relished every life I took. I made the world suffer because of what it had done to me. I closed my eyes and I screamed.
When I opened them again the White Lady's face was close. She pulled me to an embrace and she kissed me. "We are sisters you and I..." she whispered. "...and the one who made us is close now. He wants to see us again Caroline...and when he calls we will go."
Then she was gone.
I knelt there in the snow and looked down at the dagger that was now protruding from my own chest.
MY dagger.
If I had a heart the blade would have severed it, but I felt no pain. I did not bleed for my heart was taken long ago by the one who made me.I grabbed the blade and pulled it free from my chest. My undead flesh quickly healed over the wound and closed it.
I collapsed into the snow and wept, until my tears turned into ice and froze to my face. I do not know how much time had passed before Zlinka found me.
She knelt and wiped the ice from my face. Zlinka...she was so kind...always so kind. She told me that a Shaman had sent her here to face her inner turmoil. She asked why I was here, and so I told her that I had faced my inner turmoil also, but I could never be free of her.
For she is me.
Sing True Ironsong!