Part I
There weren't many things in this world that the large orc feared, or hated, more than the Lich King. In fact, that dread master was possibly the ONLY thing he feared. It was with this in mind that the ebonsteel clad orc walked the dark halls of Icecrown Citadel, making his way to the central chamber to be teleported to the Dark Master's throne room. He did not know for sure why his squad of Bloodknights had been summoned to Icecrown. Talk among the other sentient scourge was that both Horde and Alliance forces had made land and set up forward base camps along the coast of Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra and were planning an eventual assault upon the Lich King's icy fortress once the faction's main armies had landed. That and the fact that his squad of Bloodknknights were responsible for the Scourge's failure at defending the Borean Tundra from the Alliance's landing party.
The death knight hoped it was because of the former.
He couldn't remember anything of his previous life as an orc other than he was Warsong and had what appeared to be a family symbol tattood to his left forearm but even then, he knew that his hunger for blood while alive was enhanced exponentially in his present state of undeath. Any chance at slaughter and meyhem was enough to get him frothing at the mouth in the anticipation of bathing in the blood of his enemies.
The orc stepped up to the teleportation rune and was immediately re-materialized in the Lich King's throne room. Living in a state of undeath, the orc was not bothered by such petty things as heat or cold but what he felt the first time he was in the Lich King's presence was unnerving. Immediately upon re-materializing he couldn't help but shudder at the deep icy chill permeating from the Lich King's throne. It slowed his movement and addled his brain as he began to walk forward.
"Bloodknight Gharruk," a voice that could only be described as the sound of death itself hissed out at him from atop the frozen throne, "after your latest... failure...you are indeed fortunate that you serve a merciful King."
Gharruk knelt at his master's feet. Mustering as much strength as he possibly could to stay rooted on the spot. His was a terrifying master to behold and even more so when given a reason to be disappointed.
"With your Bloodknights all but destroyed, you have found yourself with no troops to lead." the Lich King continued, "The Acherus is a training ground for my acolytes in the Eastern Plaguelands whose sole purpose is to train a group of Scourge to wipe out the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn. I am directly overseeing it's command and you have been chosen to accompany me to hand pick your new squad of Bloodknights. Along with Highlord Mograine and his subordinates, my Scourge will soon mount an assault upon the living to once and for all purge this land."
The orc was not so foolish as to question his apparent stroke of good fortune. Bowing his head in submission, Gharruk said "My blade is always at your service my king."
He hated being powerless to control his own path. Hated it more than anything he had ever known before but the Lich King's hold on his minions was too strong to break. Gharruk's only form of comfort since having his body reanimated in undeath was knowing there would always be foes to fight. He reveled in the thought of the bloodshed to come and for some reason he couldn't quite explain, the opportunity to kill humans was all the more exciting...
Months Later
The steel clad human soldier was patrolling the path, halfheartedly keeping his eyes on the road as he was lost in thought. His commander had been drilling defensive maneuvers into the soldiers for months now. Between the Scarlet Crusade's constant hit and run attacks on the Argent Dawn's outpost and the ever-looming threat of the Scourge, Geoff was glad to finally have a quiet, peaceful day that consisted solely of patrol duty. His fellow squad member Alek grumbled under his breath when the sky suddenly opened it's arms and rain begain flooding down from the sky.
Neither patrolman was particularly fond of having to finish their route in the rain but it was still better than- thick purplish tendrils suddenly wrapped themselves around Geoff's neck that immediately yanked him backwards, back into the deadly sharp end of an ebonsteel clad orc's glowing runesword! Wave upon wave of animated corpses shambled out of the trees and into sight behind a squad of heavily armored Death Knights.
Before Alek could even give out a wimper of surprise, he was driven to his knees in pain. Holding his head in both hands, Alek saw the boots of the orc that so swiftly ended the life of his friend appear on the ground directly in front of him. By this point the pain in his head was getting unbearable. He began to lose his vision as everything went crimson.
Gharruk sneered at the pitiful human from beneath his plated helm. The insignificant creature had no chance of escape as he was driven to his knees. The soldier ripped off his helm and held his head in his hands. The human's face was turning purple as blood began streaming out of every pore of the unfortunate man's body. The orc gave one twist of his hands and glowing runes flashed around him as the human's body exploded outward! Chunks of bone, gore and streams of blood going everywhere.
Gharruk dipped his sword in the blood of the fallen soldier as mounted death knights thundered by him, leading scores of scourge to the battle that would soon be raging at Light's Hope Chapel. The orc mounted his undead worg and lifted his blade high, screaming that famous Warsong battlecry as he rode to battle.
--
The orc's worg leaped into battle, snapping left and right at those foolish enough to get within melee distance of his powerful maw. As a Death Knight capable of commanding the necrotic rune magics of blood, frost and decay, he began drawing runes in the air as he became surrounded but spearmen. As one, the spearmen advanced on him and drew back their arms to deliver a final killing blow when Gharruk completed the last rune. They circled around him, glowing blue and forming a solid ring. The ring exploded outward, lifting the soldiers off of their feet and into the air, their bodies solidifying right before they came crashing down onto the ground, splintering apart on impact.
Gharruk's sneer was wiped from his face as he was blasted off of his mount by a beam of holy light from a nearby priest. Bathed in the searing holy light, Gharruk writhed in agony on the ground. Seeing his master threatened by the soft pink man creature, Gharruk's worg leaped into the air to come crashing down upon the priest. Causing him to lose his concentration long enough for Gharruk to regain his footing and see his loyal worg rip the priest's head from it's neck with a wet ripping sound.
Gharruk had but a moment to regain his composure as he was once again thrown back into the fray. Two soldiers came at him from the right as a hammer wielding Paladin advanced on his left. The orc flicked his wrist at the paladin and lifted the human into the air, invisible hands around his throat choking off his supply of air. With the paladin squirming in the air to his left, Gharruk turned to the two advancing soldiers. Parrying a jab to his abdomen, the orc reached out and pulled the second soldier to him, using the poor guy as a shield to take the brunt of the second blow. The soldier's sword bit deep into the neck Gharruk's 'shield' causing the man to crumple lifeless to the ground.
The Death Knight felt another sting of holy light as he was blasted in the back of the helmet by the no longer choking paladin. Gharruk shook his head to regain his composure and parried a second blow from the warrior, this time grabbing the blade with his gauntleted hand and pulling it in hard, positioning his sword so that the soldier impaled himself on it. With the paladin closing into melee range, Gharruk grasped the hilt of his sword and gave a mighty tug, ripping it from the dead human's body with a sickening screech of runeblade steel on platemail.
The paladin gave a mighty overhanded swing and brought the mace crashing down upon Gharruk. The orc barely managed to duck and lunge to the side in time to avoid the blow. The orc used both hands to swing his blade in a long arc in front of his body to try and cut the pesky human in half but the man was surprisingly ably to deflect the blow from hitting his torso with his left arm, but at a great cost. The paladin howled in pain as the sword bit through plate armor and bone, neatly severing the man's hand from his arm. The resistance of the block was enough to slow the blade so that it did no real damage to the human's torso and only left a dent in the armor.
Thinking he would easily dispatch the injured man, Gharruk lifted his sword high to deliver a killing blow and brought the sword swinging down. The paladin's remaining hand began to glow brightly as he reached up his hand and stopped the killing blow, holding the sword in mid-swing. The man's hand glowed brighter and brighter and cracks started to show on the orc's sword. Light seeped fourth from the cracks as if the paladin was attempting to purge the sword of it's runemagic by the power of the 'holy light' he wielded.
The death knight pushed down harder and the paladin's light glowed brighter and brighter when suddenly, the blade exploded! The force of the explosion instantly killed the paladin and sent Gharruk flying through the air and slamming him onto the ground some yards away. The destruction of his linked runeblade caused Gharruk to feel a pain unlike any other he had ever experienced. Not even his death had been as painful.
The battle around him had begun to be lost some time ago and the orc saw Highlord Mograine kneel before Tirion Fordring in defeat. Mograine, the coward! His vision went in and out for a few moments but he soon saw the Lich King himself appear upon the field of battle and the foolish human soldiers rush at him. As the Lich King blasted the bodies away from himself, Gharruk succumbed to the overwhelming pain and at last closed his eyes and knew no more...