Traversing Azeroth

Before plunging into total darkness, the last words Malone heard were: "Strive, foolish mortal. Having been granted power, you may now be considered one of my subjects! When you... perhaps you may return to this world..."

"When I what? Speak clearly, you bastard!"

Although Malone wanted to scream, he could no longer control his body. As his consciousness faded, his hands went limp, and he collapsed onto the floor, losing all sensation.

He did not know how long he had been sinking into the darkness before he finally regained control of his body.

He opened his eyes the very first moment he could, only to be met with a sky full of stars.

"Where is this? Where am I? What about that man? Where is my bed?" Malone muttered to himself as he struggled to stand up.

Suddenly, Malone felt a chill. He looked down at his body and discovered that he was not wearing a single stitch of clothing.

No wonder it's so cold... Malone thought, while...

Suddenly, Malone's eyes widened—this was not his body!

Malone held his hands up before his face. Even in the night, he could be certain that his original hands had never been this large, nor would they have had so many calluses on the fingertips and knuckles!

Malone shifted his gaze to the rest of his body—there was no doubt, this was definitely not his own. Every organ seemed to have been scaled up a size, even his "little brother," which Malone had already been quite proud of before.

"A mirror, where is a mirror?" Malone scrambled about on all fours, desperate to know what his face looked like now.

For a moment, Malone even forgot to verify whether the world he was in was still his original one.

"Maicomarlon, what are you doing?"

In his panic, Malone heard someone speaking to him, but he found it hard to believe that the speaker was human, for the voice... was truly hideous, as grating as two dry conveyor belts rubbing against each other.

"Who's there?" Malone looked up guardedly toward the source of the sound, and then...

Good heavens, what was he looking at?

Before Malone, illuminated by the bright moonlight, stood a tall figure.

The figure walked toward Malone step by step, raised his gauntleted right hand, and pushed back his hood.

Malone could not help but scream in terror upon seeing the man's face. His features might have once been normal, but they were no longer.

His skin was a pale, dark green, and it had split at the junction of his ears and jaw, with a glistening secretion flowing down his cheeks.

His shattered, dark purple lips were sunken deep into his skull, forming an eerie grin. Wisdom and malice coexisted in his eyes.

"Who... who are you?" Malone shouted, scrambling backward on his hands and feet.

"Maicomarlon, has your brain rotted? I am Gorefiend, Teron Gorefiend!" The ugly creature stepped toward Malone, but stopped when he saw the latter cowering in fear.

"What Gorefiend? I don't know..." Malone was about to say he didn't recognize him, when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind...

Could it be... that Teron Gorefiend?

Teron Gorefiend, the first death knight in the history of Warcraft. He was originally a member of the Shadow Council, an orc warlock under Gul'dan, who was later killed in a conflict by Orgrim Doomhammer, only to be summoned back to this world by Gul'dan to inhabit a human body as a death knight.

Malone retrieved the information he knew about "Teron Gorefiend" from his memory.

Could it be that the guy standing in front of him was the legendary Teron Gorefiend? Had he really come to the world of Azeroth? That man in white wasn't a lunatic, but a true... God of Video Games?

With this doubt, Malone tentatively asked: "You... are you a death knight?"

"Death knight? Hmph, indeed, that is what Gul'dan calls us..." Teron Gorefiend recalled. "But Maicomarlon, what is wrong with you? Is there something wrong with your body? Do you need to go see Gul'dan?"

"Death knight... Gul'dan..." Malone was dazed for a moment. "It's all real... I really have come to Azeroth..."

"Of course it's real, Maicomarlon. Are you alright? We have naturally come to Azeroth, and not only that, we are going to conquer this world—under the leadership of Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer," Teron Gorefiend said proudly.

"I... we?" Malone suddenly realized something unusual in Teron Gorefiend's words. "We? You mean I... I also..."

Malone subconsciously looked at his own arms—although this body was strong and tall, it was clearly a human body. So... why would he, a human after crossing into Azeroth, be having a face-to-face conversation with Teron Gorefiend? Moreover, he seemed quite close to him. Could it be... that he was part of the Horde? But he clearly wasn't an orc!

"Maicomarlon, your body really does seem to be acting up. Are you still not used to a human frame? I think you should have Gul'dan look at you tomorrow morning!" Teron Gorefiend seemed genuinely concerned about Malone's odd behavior.

"A human body?" Malone murmured, repeating Teron Gorefiend's words.

"Yes, a human body. Didn't Gul'dan say? We death knights are powerful warriors formed by transferring the souls of warlocks like us, who have died, into human bodies," Teron Gorefiend explained.

"Death knight? We death knights? You mean I... I am also... a death knight?" Malone asked in a trembling voice.

"That's right, Maicomarlon, have you forgotten? We were all killed by the Warchief in that conflict, but now we have returned to this world, stronger than ever, to fight for the Horde! This new body is indeed much stronger than our previous, frail warlock forms, but it is normal for you to be unaccustomed to it. I..."

"I am a death knight? I am a death knight?" Malone shouted, barely able to believe the fact.

Setting aside the death knight business... and not even considering the faction, Malone simply could not imagine himself becoming a death knight, let alone a first-generation one...

If one were to ask why... Malone, in his panic, took one more look at Teron Gorefiend's mangled face, which looked as if it had been smashed by a battering ram, and wailed: "A mirror, is there a mirror? At least... at least let me see how ugly I am now!"