[Durdanios] (Short Story) The Beginning is the End is the Beginning
Warsong Hold; Borean Tundra
Duo shivered and pulled the heavy woolen cowl tighter around his tiny frame. The cold temperatures in Northrend were brutal on his small body and he had made sure to dress in several layers before heading out. But it was still gods damned cold. Storm snorted and as he walked; the skeletal steed was unaffected by the cold and he happily plodded along pulling a wooden crate along behind him.
Stopping at the outer gates of the Warsong Hold compound, Duo looked up at the massive steel structure. It's imposing form seemed out of place on the flat sparse grounds of the Tundra. Inside of the gates, the few remaining soldiers and civilians who maintained the fortress wandered about doing their daily routines. Several burnt nerbuian husks still sat laying against smouldering pyres as the only reminders as to the siege the fortress used to endure.
Duo sighed before nudging Storm down the packed-earth ramp and towards one of the side entrances of the hold. It was a long journey both in the physical and mental sense.. not just to arrive here in Northrend, but the events of his life over the past few months. And it was here at Warsong Hold where the latest chapter in his life would close, and a new one would begin.
Hooves clopped on the wooden floor boards as they rode inside, the wheels on the cart behind them creaking lightly from the weight of it's cargo. The undead horse was pulled to a stop aside of the massive forge that ran along side one half of the hold. The forge not only served the usual purpose of smelting metals, but also to keep the massive building at a comfortable and cozy temperature. Duo smiled and removed some of his thicker winter garments and laying them over the bony hindquarters of his steed before hopping off onto the ground.
He had come all this way just to use this forge. It was the only easily accessible forge that he could find large enough to serve it's purpose
without risking his life. Sure there was the massive forge in Ironforge.. but yeah there was that whole Alliance issue to deal with. And he remembered there was some pretty good sized forges within Blackrock Mountain but he didn't want to deal with the hostile natives nor get lost within the place has he had done many times in the past. So he set out on the trip to Warsong Hold.
After securing Storm to a post he went to the crate and used a crowbar to pry it open. Nestled inside were various pieces of plate armor among the straw used as packing material. Slowly he began to lift out the individual pieces and sort them into three separate piles. Each armor piece had already been stripped of gems, the cloth or leather inner-linings and anything else that wasn't metallic.
He lifted the chest piece to the first set of armor and moved over to the forge. The armor was silver and golden in color resembling the
colors of the Argent Crusader. It was brand new having never seen battle. With a grunt he hefted the massive plate piece over his shoulder and into the forge in front of him, quickly hopping back as to not get splattered with the molten material. As the chest piece began to melt from the intense heat, he began to slowly add in other pieces. Leg plates. Gloves. Boots. Bracers. He watched as the material began to slowly melt from finely crafted plate into a silver and gold swirled liquid. Once the items had completely melted, he slowly pushed the forge over to the molds and pulled on the chain. The giant pit slowly tilted, spilling the molten liquid into the bar-shaped molds.
After the pot had emptied, Duo reached up to rub the sweat from his forehead. He had used forges hundreds of times before to smelt small pieces of ore he found along his travels, but he had never melted entire pieces of plate armor before and the heat from the combined larger forge and the amount of material being melted was making the immediate area warmer then he was used to. Next he turned to the intricate purple and white colored dress uniform he used for special occasions. That too was fairly new, but he had managed to wear it at least a few times and was always amazed that he never tripped over the plated skirt. Having been made mostly for show, the plate was thinner then anything used for combat and it was quickly melted down and poured into purple and silver colored bars.
With a sigh he took a step back to take a break from the heat, and he let his eyes travel over to the final set of armor waiting to be melted down.
The iconic red and black armor and shield of the Blood Knights.
He had worn that armor proudly for over ten years, and at one time would have fought to the death to fight over the ideals it stood for. Unlike his other two sets of armor it was beaten up and worn, with dents and deep gashes that had helped save his life on more then one occasion. Duo's eyes closed as he thought back on his years with the Order. They were some of the best years of his life. Dawnblade had his obvious and glaring faults, but at least he knew how to handle running a regiment. After his departure everything crumbled and even Duo himself could not save the Silvermoon regiments from collapsing in amongst themselves. Now, he could barely look at the armor without feeling a twing of disgust at what the regiment had become after Leon had left.
Durdanios walked over to the armor, lightly tracing his fingers over the weathered armor. Then without a further thought he lifted the chest piece up and dumped it into the molten pot. Then came the bracers, the gloves, the leg plates and the boots. He picked up the shield and tossed that in as well. Finally, he returned to the cart to remove the last item from inside.
Laying at the very bottom of the cart was a scythe.The wicked curved blade was polished and as sharp as a blade could be, but the wooden handle was old. Carefully he lifted it out and held it in his hands before swinging it in an arc one final time. The weapon was older then even his Blood Knight uniform. It had ended up in his hands in his beginner years as a Farstrider. Many had fallen to the blade, including those who did not deserve to die. Slowly he drug his thumb over the sharp part of the blade, slicing through the flesh and allowing his blood to spill onto the blade. He winced a bit before turning and tossing the scythe in with the remains of his Blood Knight armor; the handle bursting into flames almost instantly.
The flames danced on top of the molten metal for a moment before vanishing. Memories both good and bad burned away as the last of the metal melted into the liquid pool. It felt as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders and Duo let out a long sigh before moving over to begin pouring the last pot of molten metal into the bar molds.
Perhaps he would have Gustav use the bars to craft him some new weaponry.
When the bars were cooled down enough he removed them from their molds and placed them back into the crates. Only this time he gave the crate to a nearby orc peon with instructions on having it shipped back to his home. Untying Storm from the post, he quickly climbed into the saddle and galloped out of the hold. The Light of day had fallen, leaving only the darkness of night overhead.. the darkness embracing both horse and rider as they slipped unseen into the shadows.
~End~
((And thus it is now official. Durdanios Duskreaper's days of a Paladin of the Light are gone. A new dawn as a Rogue begins.
))