End of Slyph, Final Song, The

OOC: There comes a time when every character dies. There always is an end. These stories were inspired by the Marvel End series, that showed the ends of Wolverine, the Hulk, the Punisher, and many others. Now its your turn, ER. How does your character go out? A blaze of glory? Alone? With friends? Leaving behind a legacy of children and grandchildren? Tell me how your character.... ends.

IC: Slyph. Unknown distance in the Future.

Final Song
 * -''by Slyph

Dawn. A beautiful beginning to the day, thought the gigantic warrior. He looked over the horizon, and saw what would strike many mortals with fear. He saw the army of the Alliance, their forces marshalled to retake what land had been lost to the Horde. Thousands of them. The warrior's death's head grin grew wider. Outnumbered. As always, it seemed. Little did the Alliance know that they were walking into a trap. No one knew Silverpine forest like the Forsaken. The alliance had camped near Dalaran, readying for an attack from Fenris Isle, to the shores, and onto the Undercity.

Slyph could see the boats getting ready for the assault on the beaches. The murlocs had already cleared out, not wanting to be part of this engagement. The slimy bastages were survivors, that he could give them credit. A whispery voice sounded behind him, and if the warrior had been capable of showing emotion on his skull, his face would be written with happiness.

"Slyph. Everyone is in place, except you. Why do you stand on the beaches, in plain sight? Are you mad?"

The warrior chuckled, and turned to see a slight figure, so skinny and so pale. Her eyes were gone, yet somehow she was always able to see through him. Clad in leather, covered in mud, no one more beautiful existed, thought the warrior.

"You know me, Elena. I cannot wait for the battle to begin."

"Perhaps they would come faster if you did not stand here waiting for them. They know of you. and it worries me."

"My dear, with you at my side... how can anything bad happen?" The gigantic warrior ran a hand through her dirty blond hair.

She smiled, but it quickly disappeared. "Come on.... we've got to get back."

"Very well.... but only if you walk with me and don't disappear."

She smiled again, and this time it stayed. Gods, he felt as if his heart was beating again. They turned from the beaches of Lordamere lake, the sounds of warboats getting ready... and into the forest. Hundreds of warriors, rogues, druids, warlocks, mages, and others were hidden, just waiting for the right time to strike. Overlord Saurfang's protege, Warlord Gartok, commanded these troops.

The Alliance was playing right into their hands...

The alarm sounded. The first of the alliance boats had reached the beaches. A full battalion. They cautiously entered the forest.... leaving the supposed safety of the beaches. At once, the war drums of the Horde sounded, and every warrior in the forest roared their battle cry. Slyph and Elena emerged from the forest, him with his sword and shield, she with her daggers. He provided the warriors with a target, and she finished them off.

Slyph was in awe in how she moved. It was like watching lightning dance. It was like her voice, like an angel, only given the edge of violence. Beautiful, in everyway. Her long blond hair mixed with blood as they watched each other's backs, protected each other from any swift blow that would render them at the spirit healer, or worse... permanent death.

Moments seemed like hours, and hours seemed like moments. Through the din of battle, the battle horn sounded, and the Alliance retreated, back to their boats, trying to return to the safety of the isle... except that a hundred forsaken were waiting for them at the beaches, already having burned their boats. Hiding under water, using their gift of unlife to hide under the water all night.

The battalion was obliterated, no prisoners taken. A cheer sounded throughout the forest, until another horn sounded. The Alliance were returning, and the element of surprise had already been lost.

Gartok roared to the troops, "Prepare! Fight with Honor! We do not die for the Horde, we make our enemies die for us!"

The warriors roared in agreement, a din in the normally quiet forest. The alliance was unperturbed at their losses. Hundreds more boats were coming and landing on the beaches. Slyph took up his sword and shield again, and Elena poured more poison on her daggers.

"We shall fight on together, Elena?"

She smirked, and she flipped her daggers end over end. "Of course, Slyph. I wouldn't have any else at my back."

The alliance lines rushed forward, human meeting undead, dwarf meeting orc, elf meeting Tauren, and gnome meeting troll. The seemingly limitless numbers of the alliance pushed the Horde back, slowly, each inch the alliance paying in blood. Archers landed on the beaches as soon as the front line troops had pushed the main force far enough back. Arrows began whizzing through air, cutting down many Horde forces.

An arrow nicked Slyph's skull, and he immediately jerked away. He grinned, and yelled to his back, "Close one, eh?" After a moment of silence from Elena, he turned back to her, diespatching the elf in front of him with a solid kick to the throat. "Elena?"

She was on the ground, face down. An arrow stuck out of her back, and before he could do anything... a human thrust his sword through her head.

It was as if the bottom had fallen out of his world.

"NO!" he screamed, and Slyph's sword cut the upstart human in half. Quickly, he picked up Elena's slight form with one hand, and threw her over his shoulder. He ran faster than he had ever run before, for the back lines. He screamed, "Priest! Priest! A druid! A shaman! Someone!" Finally, he found a Forsaken dressed in white robes, tending to an orc. "Help me, sir! Help her!" He laid Elena down as gently as he could...

The priest took a long look at her, and summoned the holy energies.... only for them to fade. He shook his head. "My son.... she is gone. There is nothing more we can do..."

Slyph shook. He reached up to his face, and found wet, salty tears. His first tears. He yelled out in helpless rage and terrible grief. "it... it can't be..." He beat his hands against the ground, and screamed at the priest. "BRING HER BACK!"

The priest shook his head again, and returned to tending to the wounded. Slyph stared at Elena, her pale skin seemed to still be animated... but he knew that it was not the case. He could feel, in his soul, that she was gone. Dead. Just like he was, now.

The massive warrior stood. He tossed aside his shield, the heavy metal fell with a thud on the dirt. He called his horse, and reached for a bag he swore to Elena he would never open. He felt the whispers, the familiar whispers from long ago... Icerage questioned him. Was it time, master? Are we going to sing again?

Before he responded, he thought back to her.

They were walking through Brill, his arm around her shoulder, her head resting against his chest.

"I don't like it when you use that sword, Slyph... it makes you a different person."

"Elena.... it was who I was for a long time. I just can't give it up."

"But it's not you any longer. You're a different person now. A better person."

"True.... but-"

"No buts, Slyph. You know it's the right thing to do."

He had nodded... and he had not used Icerage for a long time.

"Yes, old friend. It's time to sing another song. One last song," he said to the sword. "I'm sorry, Elena."

Slyph charged back towards the battle, abandoning all caution for his own safety, giving into the hurt and grief and rage. He plunged himself into the thickest of the alliance, a tornado of steel and fury. His two blades sang a duet, a song of loss, grief, violence and bloodshed. Alliance members were cut down, but more kept replacing those who had fallen. A sword pierced the plate armor, stabbing him in the chest. No matter, he cut that elf down.

A fireball blasted him across the face. It meant nothing. He put on a burst of speed, and sliced the gnome in twain. More, and more kept coming... and he faltered. Blades began piercing his armor, spells hammered at him from afar. He stamina was spent. He slashed blindly, until he realized that he had lost his right arm and his left hand. He continued, fighting, kicking, biting, screaming in wordless grief that the only thing that had felt real to him had been taken away.

More and more warriors began hacking away at the beserk giant, even when he no longer moved. All that was left was bone and mutilated flesh. The skull's unholy eyes lost their glow, with four words coming between the broken teeth.... "I love.. you.... Elena...."

The battle raged on, his words forgotten, the dead rogue and the insane giant mere faint memories to the few that survived.

Years later, if one could see ghosts.... they would see two spirits, walking up and down Silverpine Forest, one slight spirit, and one giant wraith... talking and laughing as they walked, arm in arm.