[Short Story] Woeherald: The Ultimate Ambition

Post by Behelich

It is the year 15 since the Destroyer's Fall. The world of Azeroth is still rebuilding after the war against the fallen Aspect of the Earth, and despite relative peace, conflicts keep appearing every so often, bringing heroes and villains into a struggle against each other.

One notable example comes to mind - the death of a notorious orc warlock Dag'rema, who met her demise at the hands of a group of adventurers who in other circumstances would be very unlikely seen working together. Whether it was fate or chance that has brought them together, remains to be seen.

The heroes are celebrating now, unaware that their victory over Dag'rema set a multitude of events into motion. They are celebrating - and halfway across the known universe, a dimensional fortress is drifting somewhere in the Great Dark Beyond, its owner watching them, and biding his time.

A gargantuan starship tilted slightly to the left, adjusting its course. The control panels of artificial gravity generators glowed with an alarming yellow light for a second, before returning to their usual green. Several dozen members of the crew - mostly mo'arg and ethereals - relaxed noticeably for a few seconds before returning back to work, for nothing but the readings indicated of the colossal mass of metal's shift.

The Voracity, as the ship was called, at a monumental 1,600 meters in length and 36,000 metric tons in cargo capacity, served many purposes - the first and foremost of them being a dwelling for its creator and owner, who was now sitting in a large observation chamber situated at the aft section of the ship, atop a fin-like spire.

The chamber was circular in shape, bisected into two unequal levels by a short but wide burnished staircase. In the higher part a single large black throne was standing, facing the window that comprised the entirety of a half-circle. Its high backrest loomed over the seat, and were it not for slender hands, the color of ivory, emerging from the loose sleeves of a black gown and resting on each arm of the throne, an accidental beholder was unlikely to know if someone was actually sitting on the throne, or not.

One of the numerous buttons located on the armrests began to blink with red light. The throne slowly spun around, now facing the single door leading into the chamber. Nathaniel Wooster's white, soigné finger landed softly on the button, sinking it into the black material of the throne. As an image of a female draenei appeared in the middle of the room, Nathaniel Wooster's thin lips parted, briefly baring Nathaniel Wooster's pearl-like teeth, and a deep voice of baritone register echoed across the chamber.

"I'm listening," spoke Nagorm Woeherald, a death knight of the Old Horde and the owner of the Voracity. The draenei - the ship's chief engineer, by the name of Aluri, - pressed her fist against her chest and bowed her head deeply before replying, "It is done, messere. The preparations are over."

"Well done," Nagorm nodded. "I'll be joining you shortly."

"Messere."

Aluri bowed her head once again and cut the transmission. The old knight - the eightieth anniversary of his birth to the Bonechewer Clan came some several weeks ago - mechanically raked his hand through steel-gray hair before standing up, his simple black robe flapping around his feet. He went down the staircase and stepped into his shadow, emerging at the entrance to the Medical Bay1. Two Darkbone Praetorians2 guarding the door tapped their Bone Pillars against the floor in a salute, receiving a brief nod of acknowledgment in response as Nagorm walked by. To his sides, numerous tanks filled with regenerative serum and containing various body parts, ranging from a slightly twitching hand to a human in anabiosis.

Eventually, Woeherald reached one of his laboratories, its main point of interest being an elliptical runic circle carved into the floor, with two beds standing in its focuses. On the right one a human was lying, his eyes closed, with numerous cords and tubes connecting him to a large, eerily looking machine, operated by an ethereal in crimson robes. At the left one a forsaken male was standing, his face bearing but minor traces of decay - as well as an uncanny resemblance to human's. Both the human and the undead were wearing nothing save for hygienic underwear.

"Report the blank's state," Nagorm commanded.

"All body functions operational. Brain activity - null. Status: ready for overwriting," spellbinder Al'Zavur, Nagorm's right hand in this operation, and the one responsible for the technical part of it, replied.

"Good."

The death knight approached the forsaken and spoke softly, "Are you sure about this, mister Lannus? This is a very dangerous experiment, and no one will judge you for retreating. Of course, as I have mentioned before, you still keep the money."

"What's a risk of dying to me?" Steven Lannus shrugged, looking defiantly into Woeherald's eyes. "How don't you understand? Having a chance to live once again outweighs any risk."

"Of all people, I think I'm the one to understand you most, mister Lannus," Nagorm replied, and rolled his shoulders. He motioned at the vacant bed and Steven, after pausing for a few seconds to recollect himself, climbed onto it.

"Will it... hurt?" he asked suddenly.

Nagorm shook his head. "I don't know."

"Then get over with it already," Lannus closed his eyes.

Nagorm rolled up his sleeves and began chanting quietly. Soon, his forearms began glowing slightly, and became partially transparent.

"On the count of three," he told Al'Zavur, who fastened his grip on one of the handles and nodded.

"One. Two. Three!"

The death knight thrust his hands right into the chests of two men to his sides, his fingers somehow meeting no resistance as they went through the flesh and closed around Steven's and the 'blank's hearts. Nagorm spat out a word of power.

"Brain activity increasing drastically. Status: writing memories. Warning: danger of brain overload. Brain overload probability: 70%. Pausing transmission. Splitting the flow. Redirecting threads to storage. Brain overload probability: 50% and falling. Brain activity: acceptable jumps. Status: redirecting threads back to the brain..."

The 'blank' began to flail madly and choke. The only reason not a drop of sweat appeared on Nagorm's forehead was his sweat glands not functioning for almost four decades. He gritted his teeth and uttered, "This time, I will succeed."

"Status: complete," came Al'Zavur's voice. Nagorm immediately took a step back - and not a moment too soon, for the living body sat bolt upright, gasping for air.

"I'm... I'm breathing!" Steven Lannus cried. "Thank you... thank you so very much, my lord, thank you," he repeated. Tears appearing at the corners of his eyes, he slumped on the floor - luckily, the cords' length allowed it - and grabbed the hem of Nagorm's robes, whimpering, "My life is yours, I owe you everything, thank you, thank you, my lord..."

"Rise, Steven Lannus, and listen."

Nagorm placed his hands - which were not glowing by now - on Lannus's shoulders and urged him to stand up.

"It is you who should be thanked. Without you, your good will, my whole reason to exist would become void."

"How can I ever repay you, my lord?" Steven asked quietly.

"Staying here for now, Steven. I need to know if everything is alright, so you'll be monitored by my medical officers."

"Yes, yes, anything that you ask," Steven began nodding.

"Sar'kumhan!" Nagorm said without turning his head. One of the Darkbone Praetorians - who looked exactly like the rest of the Cohort - standing at the door to the laboratory marched up to the death knight.

"My liege."

"Lead Steven to his room, please."

"As you command, my liege."

While Steven, crying from joy, was led away, Al'Zavur stood up and walked to Nagorm.

"Nicely done, patron," he said approvingly.

"Better than I expected. Who would have known that constructing a fully functional body with no personality, but working muscles and overwrite-able brain would be the easy part?" Nagorm chuckled.

"That glowing hands trick?..." Al'Zavur left the question unfinished.

"The pinnacle of modern necromancy, something I've been working on for decades."

"So, how exactly are you planning to become alive yourself, if the only one capable of performing the operation is none other than you?"

"Only one, yes - for now," Nagorm grinned mysteriously.

"Looks like you have a plan, patron," approval in Al'Zavur's voice rose notably.

"Oh, you'll meet him soon enough, I hope."

"The plan?"

"My apprentice."

The reason behind Nagorm not shadow-stepping straight to his point of destination was, in fact, quite simple. The death knight spent almost a month, carefully adjusting the ship's ley lines. As a result, several places of importance became connected in a network of sorts, making transportation between any of the two of them so easy and so economical in terms of mana conserving it was almost always better to take a short walk, as opposed to wasting significant amounts of arcane energy.
The Darkbone Praetorian Cohort are Nagorm Woeherald's elite bodyguards, handpicked by him over nearly forty years since the opening of the Dark Portal. In a somewhat cruel callback to his comrade death knights' nature, Woeherald cut out their hearts and placed them into nigh-indestructable Bone Pillars - adjustable staff-like weapons the Praetorians are using. The trick is, the hearts are still beating, meaning that as long as the Bone Pillars are intact - or as long as Nagorm, whose sorcery is the only thing keeping them going, is alive or undead - the Praetorians cannot be truely defeated.

Post by 355559

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Patty

A couple of typos/relatively weak uses of words, but especially considering that English isn't your mother-tongue, this is quite excellent.

Post by Behelich

Been a while since we got anything from you, you've done well with the dialogue. Nice, and an opponent on which Star-Pelt can bring his full resources around onto, nice nice. It basically sums up to him wanting to return to life?

Yes, he wants nothing else (or, at least, nothing nearly as strongly), and he needs someone equal to him in power to help him. And considering that almost everybody who match him now either will kill him on the spot just for being what he is, or are aligned with the Legion/Old Gods/whatever, he kinda has no choice but to groom a successor.

And I wish I knew if Star-Pelt still wanted to kill Nagorm provided the worg knew of the death knight's actual goals.

A couple of typos/relatively weak uses of words, but especially considering that English isn't your mother-tongue, this is quite excellent.

Well, I'm trying ><. I'd appreciate you pointing them out.

Post by Skreeran

Very interesting.

It will be interesting to see how Gurka's imaginary friend will react to Ga'Crane's imaginary friend, should they ever meet... :P

Edit: And now I want to write a story set in Aftermath's canon.

Post by Behelich

It will be interesting to see how Gurka's imaginary friend will react to Ga'Crane's imaginary friend, should they ever meet... :P

You mean Kitanga?

Post by Patty

In terms of typos;The old knight - the eightieth anniversary of his birth to the Bonechewer Clan came some several weeks ago - mechanically raked his hand through steel-gray hair before standing up, simple black robe of his flapping around his feet. Seems like one, it looks as if it should be "the simple black robe of his", or more simply and less waffle-y "his simple black robe".
At the left one a forsaken male was standing, his face bearing but minor traces of decay - as well as uncanny resemblance to that of the human. Bot the human and the undead were wearing nothing save for hygienic underwear. "an uncanny resemblance" and "Both" is what I'm assuming you meant. :) Also, cutting "that of" in "to that of the human" would help, as it's not really necessary.

But by 'weaker' phrases, a hell of a lot of this is probably subjective.

The control panels of artificial gravity generators glowed with an alarming yellow light for a second, before returning to their usual green. 'A second' being what I'm seeing as the weak link. 'A moment,' 'instantaneously', or something like that would probably maintain the strength of your writing that is kept throughout, which I genuinely can hardly fault.

I know that a second is the unit of time, but sometimes it's better to avoid arbitrary units. It's factual, but it doesn't really come across as narrative (<----- that makes no sense. Derp).

The only reason I'm nitpicking so meanly is because the rest of it is so good, the little niggling bits became more obvious. Well done though. :D

Post by Monday

I'll check this out later, don't have time right now.

Post by Behelich

Seems like one, it looks as if it should be "the simple black robe of his", or more simply and less waffle-y "his simple black robe".

Yeah, this one is kinda pretentious is retrospect.

"an uncanny resemblance" and "Both" is what I'm assuming you meant. :)

"as well as an uncanny resemblance" probably is the one. And yes, lame typo is lame.

Also, cutting "that of" in "to that of the human" would help, as it's not really necessary.

I'll see what I can do.

'A second' being what I'm seeing as the weak link. 'A moment,' 'instantaneously', or something like that would probably maintain the strength of your writing that is kept throughout, which I genuinely can hardly fault.

Ah, I see. I actually don't know how to phrase it, but the machinery glowed for exactly one sixtieth part of a minute.

Thanks a lot, Patty, I'll try to have that in mind should I ever write anything else.

Post by Skreeran

Post by Behelich

Bah, I'm soooo lame.

Should probably sleep more than three to four hours a day.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Post by Patty

Ah, I see. I actually don't know how to phrase it, but the machinery glowed for exactly one sixtieth part of an hour, which is how long the turn lasted.1/60 of an hour is a minute... :P

If you mean it was literally and exactly 1/60 of a minute, then "second" would be the appropriate word.

It's appropriate, but again in my subjective opinion, arbitrary units other than like, machines, just seems weird in fiction when used to describe things, lol. It doesn't help that second is always used incorrectly in slang, too. :P If you meant the actual time unit, then I would still say something like "fleetingly" or "a moment" or something like that, it just sounds.. more "right". >.> However, I really can't understate how well you've written this, it would be unfair not to, considering I was so harsh and precise with the criticism. :P

Post by Behelich

However, I really can't understate how well you've written this, it would be unfair not to, considering I was so harsh and precise with the criticism.

Again, I'm thankful for both the praising and the nitpicking parts=P

Post by Skreeran

No, I mean it would be appropriate if it gave more information about the machine.

In Alucard's exlpanation, it came across to me that he meant that the cycle of the machine lasted exactly one second because of the nature of the machine. Sort of like how the machine guns on early planes were mechanically designed to fire between the propeller blades, or gears in a clock can make a bell ring an exact number of times at an exact time, I took it to mean that the gravity controller of the ship was mechanically rigged to a timing mechanism that caused the glowing for exactly one second, in which case the term second reveals more about the nature of the machine than "moment."

Post by Monday

I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I like the sci-fi theme, but that's just personal preference.

Also,
"Will it... hurt?" he asked suddenly. Nagorm shook his head. "I don't know."

Should be a line break between those two sentences, as it is somebody new speaking.

Post by Aimsyr

The control panels of artificial gravity generators glowed with an alarming yellow light for a second, before returning to their usual green.
'A second' being what I'm seeing as the weak link. 'A moment,' 'instantaneously', or something like that would probably maintain the strength of your writing that is kept throughout, which I genuinely can hardly fault.

I would definitely have to agree with Patty. 'A second' feels almost contrived when used in that context. 'Momentarily' could potentially be a possible replacement for 'a second,' though it would require changing other parts of the sentence.

There may be a few minor mistakes in there that I did not pick up on, but if there are then it has no effect upon the way the story is interpreted.

Criticism and the like aside, I thought it was brilliant.

Post by Morec0

Flying fortress filled with demons and minions: evil.

Everything else: not so evil.

An excellent read though. Provides much backstory to the character.

Post by 355559

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Morec0

I don't think woeherald is supposed to be 'evil' though.

Know that. 'Twas yet another of my jokes that went over poorly.

Post by Behelich

/bow.

I do what I can to depict Nagorm's morality as ambiguous rather than outright evil. Whether I succeed, remains to be seen.

[Short Story] Woeherald: The Ultimate Ambition

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