Sudden Saviours

"If we are to survive, a new balance must be found.

''In normal times evil will be fought by good.

But in times like these..

It should be fought be another kind of evil."

- DJ Hidden: Times Like These.

Sudden Saviours.

Days had passed since the encounter with the Elf. At least that was what Azai could remember. Since the day he had arrived in the Plaguelands his memories had started to fade. He had started to forget things and remember less. The filth of the damned forests started to take it’s toll on Azai. Day by day he had became increasingly paranoid, hearing whispers everywhere. The once laidback troll was being pushed to the edge, consumed by anger, hate, fear and frustration. Why.. Why had he come to this place? How long had he been here? Questions, questions, but no answers..

Since Azai had entered the Plaguelands he had managed to stay out of trouble, avoiding the Scourge patrols in the region (he could easily hear them coming). He had travelled light and avoided the roads, moving cross-country, in an attempt to evade any undead villages. But now his plan backfired, he was lost.. Lost.. In the epicentre of the Scourge.. Panic and paranoia were creeping up on Azai as he started to realise he had ran into the hands of doom. Suddenly he remembered what Bamboo’Chaa had said.. “You’re blood is rare..”, but had Azai listened to the Shadow Hunter? No! He hadn’t listened and this was what happened. Frustration, anger, shame, hate and disgust rapidly followed each other. Short memory flashes thundered through his mind at an absurd rate. Azai fell to his knees, grabbed his head.. “My blood! MY BLOOD!”, he yelled. And all of a sudden Azai remembered the reason for this voyage.. “In search of ma’blood..”. He had ventured into these gardens of death and decay in search of his kin, his original tribe.. The Mossflayers..

But Azai’s scream had attracted nearby undead. As he sat on the rotten soil, he could hear a trembling sound. Within the blink of an eye, Azai was back on his feet. He quickly scanned the surroundings for any sign of danger. There he saw an enormous humanoid appearing between the trees, accompanied by three undead soldiers. The band of undead hadn’t seen him, yet.. The troll quickly turned around, and started running away from the Scourge patrol. Now the undead had noticed him, the massive humanoid clearly quickened its pace as the trembles started to follow each other more rapidly. The undead soldiers also raised their tempo. Azai ran as hard as he could. Branches of dead trees smacked him in the face as he sprinted through the foul forests. Those same trees were broken as twigs by the lumbering abomination behind him, the lumbering brute literally ran (more like fast walked) through the forest.

Without noticing, Azai quickly crossed an road and continued his escape through the woods. He didn’t dare to look back, cause he still felt and heard the abomination chasing him. As well as the sound of the undead soldiers, attempting to keep up the tempo. Azai soon felt he was getting tired, but the enormous amount of adrenaline and determination to survive kept him going. But all of a sudden there were no trees anymore and Azai was standing with his feet in the water. An lake, an damn lake! The young troll didn’t waste any time and quickly went left. He started running again. Still he heard the undead, however Azai’s stop had caused them to catch up with him. He could literally smell the foul stench of the abomination.

Azai ran for his life. For his blood. For his tribe. During the run, Azai repeatedly prayed to the Loa for help. Fatigue struck Azai and he knew it. The run was taking it’s toll as the troll tripped and fell to the ground.. The trembling came closer, in a slowed pace. The sound of mail armour appeared behind him.. This was the end.. The end of Azai’Zao..

But strangely enough the sound of mail and plate armour also appeared in front of him, followed by a war cry in a language he could not understand.. Azai quickly looked up.. He saw eight human soldiers, charging at him. Behind him he heard the undead soldiers unsheathing their crude blades. The humans completely ignored Azai, running passed him, charging the undead. Azai looked behind him as the humans started fighting with the rotskins. They were obviously hardened veterans, knowing what they were doing. With a smooth, but brutal move one of the humans decapitated an undead. The first undead fell to the ground, within minutes the other undead followed. Now the eight soldiers teamed up against monstrous abomination. Surrounding him quickly, one of the soldiers screamed an order and all footmen attacked the lumbering beast at the same time. The monstrosity was obviously not very cunning and panicked as multiple iron blades sunk into it’s rotten skin. However the abomination was massive, and did not go down easy.

While Azai watched the humans battle the disgusting monstrosity, he realised that the humans wore a red-white uniform. He couldn’t remember where it stood for (Azai’s knowledge of human culture is very limited), but he did knew it wasn’t anything good. Azai quickly stood up and immediately took off into the darkness of the forest. Away from the humans and the undead.. He needed to do where he had came for.. Visiting the Mossflayer Tribe. Although he had no idea where he was, he decided to go north...