Sunday, August 12, 2018

Bitter Recollections - A World of Warcraft Fanfic by Jim McCoy

(Author's Note: A bunch of what follows is copyrighted by Blizzard Entertainment and has been used without permission. All intellectual property remains under their ownership.No infringement is intended. Battle for Azeroth starts tomorrow though, and I'm geeked!)

With a flourish of wings and the sound of hooves hitting pavement, the Forsaken Warlock grabbed his skull topped staff and hopped off of his mount, headed indoors to the Filthy Animal Inn. His purple, skull adorned robes and accessories swirled around him. As he headed into the bar, he was greeted by an Orcish female.

"Netherlord Capellini, welcome back. How goes the fight for the Burning Throne?'

Capellini saluted with his staff and spoke in a voice both harsh and scratchy, "Uda the Beast. I thought I might never see you again. I thought I'd never see any of you again. We killed him though. Argus is dead. Antorus is captured. The Legion no longer presents a threat."

Uda smile. "Such great news! For the Horde!" She spun around. "Great news!" she cried "Capellini has returned from the battle on Argus! We are victorious! For the Horde!"

"FOR THE HORDE!!!!!!!" The return cry was deafening. Drinks were lifted. Toasts were drunk. Everywhere there was merrymaking.

"I wish I was in the mood for a party." Capellini shook his head. "I need a drink. Have you heard the latest from Kalimdor?"

Uda shook her head. "No. What happened?'

Capellini grunted. "Darnassus has fallen. The Horde stands victorious there as well. The World Tree has been burned to the ground. Nothing remains of the Night Elf city. I was there. I used my magic to help ignite the fireballs that did the deed."

Uda took a step back, a shocked look on her face. "That makes sense. We received word this morning that there was nothing left of Undercity but a smoking hole in the ground."

Capellini's head dipped forward. He looked almost embarrassed. "I saw that as well. It was terrible. The fighting was fierce. The butcher's bill was too high. My home is gone. My people are scattered. Dark Lady watch over us all."

Uda nodded. "You've been busy."

Capellini shook his head once again. "I'm tired. It's been a long flight. I'm going to find a seat at the bar." So saying, he moved across the room. Many people stopped him along the way. Orcs, trolls, other Undead, Goblins, even the occasional Pandaren. Everyone wanted a chance to congratulate the Hero of Argus. Capellini just wanted to sit down.

Finally after much back slapping and rejoicing, Capellini managed to sit his old bones down on a bar stool. "Mato, old friend. We meet again."

Mato, a green-skinned male orc, nodded, "Welcome back, Cap. What are you having?"

Cap nodded, "I'll take a mug of Highmountain Tiswa and a slice of that food-burning Pandaren in the back."

Mato gave an orcish chuckle. "I wish I could, Cap. I'm afraid I can't be letting people eat my cook though. They'd get awfully hard to replace that way."

"Fair enough," Cap allowed, "I'll take the smoked elderhorn instead."

Capellini watched as Mato poured a glass of the brew out of a tap and headed back to the kitchen to grab the food. Cap drank and stared at the wall while eating his dinner. He was well aware many people found watching an undead eat unnerving. He was just past caring. The last few days had not been pretty. After a few minutes, he realized Mato was addressing him by name. "Sorry. Missed that."

Mato looked back at Cap. "Don't worry about it. I was just asking if you were okay. You're looking pretty rough right now."

"Another drink." Cap shook his head. "No. No, I'm not okay at all. I need a break. Do you realize what it's like to be a so called Hero of the Horde?"

Mato nodded, smiling. "Oh sure, I get it. Pretty girls chasing you all over. Piles of gold looted from dead enemies, glory, honor, respect. You've got it all."

Cap smirked and watched Mato take a step back in response. "Again: No. Do you know what I've seen? Do you know what I've done?"

Mato's eyebrows twitched, "Sure. You've taken on all comers and won. You're Capellini. The Netherlord. Slaughterer of otherworlders and Alliance alike."

Cap wiped the remains of the Tiswa he had just chugged off his lip. "While you're refilling this, I'll tell you what I've done. I was human once. I was killed and then resurrected in a graveyard just outside of Lordaeron. I fought my way across Azeroth. I've killed and eaten more enemies than you probably think exist." He quaffed his fourth Tiswa and spiked the mug on the ground. "Another."

Mato blanched. "Cap, do you really think that's a good idea?"

Cap sneered, "Do you really want to be known as the bartender that refused to serve a Hero of the Horde at the only bar in Windrunner's Sanctuary?" In no time flat, a full mug appeared on the counter in front of Cap.  He quickly drained this one as well and shattered the mug against the wall. The bar went silent. "Another."

The look on Mato's face was pure shock. "Mugs cost money Cap. You can't just smash them. It's not right."

Cap threw a stack of gold coins down on the counter. "Oh, so you want gold? Here's more gold than you'll make in this place all month. Take it buy more mugs, but GIVE ME ANOTHER DRINK." He turned his right palm upward. A green flame glowed within it.

Mato stammered. "Su...Sure thing, C-Cap. Just don't do anything crazy. We're friends, remember?"

Cap shrugged. "Friends, yeah we're friends. But understand this. You don't know me. You don't know what it's like. I've defeated Ragnaros twice. Have you ever been that close to the God of Fire before? Have you ever forced yourself to get closer even though your skin was burning and seen your sword wielding comerades patting on the flames on their clothes just to continue fighting? Were you there when Persifinee burned to death screaming in the Sunwell? Did you see Troof fall at the feet of Illidan and then have to work with him years later to contain the Burning Legion?" He tossed back another Hightmountain Tiswa and slammed the mug to the grounding, sending pieces flying. Mato obligingly put another one on the bar without being told to.

Cap gave a very un-Forsaken like giggle. "You're looking at me like I'm crazy and you're right.  I'm an Undead Warlock what else am I supposed to be? Do you know why though? I fought Kael'Thas Sunstrider in his own lair. I watched the weapons animate themselves and attack us. I watched Calindra fall under the blades. He was a hardened warrior, veteran of a thousand battles but he just couldn't understand what was going on. Then we had to pick up those weapons, still wet with our own blood, and use them to fight the elf. We barely beat him. I still don't know how we did."

Cap lifted the mug, then changed his mind. "Then the whole world lost its mind. Lordaeron fell. The Lich King enslaved my race. We fought him across a continent. I fought at the Wrathgate. I battled beside the Dark Lady and into Icecrown Citadel. The horrors we faced there. Diseases. Dragons. The airship battles. Our paladin got bitten by Blood-Queen Lana'thel and converted two others into vampires before regaining his wits. We had to kill the two people he bit when they freaked out and came after us. We killed everything that moved. I watched Varok Saurfang carry his dead son away in his arms sobbing and I couldn't cry. I don't have tear ducts. Then we slew Arthas himself in his throne room. I took the reins of his personal mount into my hands. It's tethered outside. It's a good thing the master wasn't quite Invincible."

Capellini unceremoniously murdered another drink, this time simply sliding the mug down the counter bottom first. "And do you know what came next? I had to stand next to that same paladin while he talked to each of the people who had been closest to Arthas and they cried about his death. Did you hear me, barkeep? They cried over the man that I had spend years chasing. He was the monster that they had created. He was the MAN WHO HAD ENSLAVED MY PEOPLE. And yet they stood there, weeping like a schoolgirl who had just had her advances denied by her crush, while I stood there, looking at the lifeless body of my friend Gumpystone. WHERE IS MY NEXT ROUND?"

After receiving another Tiswa from Mato, Cap went on. "Instead of getting better after that, IT GOT WORSE. The world was ripped asunder. Death cultists came out of nowhere. It was the Cataclysm. We spent month after month chasing Deathwing before we finally cornered him inside of the Maelstrom. It took Thrall and the Aspects to knock him out of the sky so that we could even fight him. When the fight ended, we looted the dragon's hoard and I buried my friend Norien. He was a druid. He said he was going to talk about meeting the Aspects for the rest of his life. He was right. He was dead two hours later. But we did it. We killed Deathwing. I rebuilt the World Pillar. The world kept existing. Then one day, a fleet gets lost..."

Capellini picked up his drink, sneered and threw it, still full, onto the ground. He was fully aware of the sounds of the bar emptying behind him, but he just didn't care. He had too much booze in his bloodstream and too much rage in his heart. "Pandaria. We had just found Pandaria. You'd think we would get some downtime after saving the entire freaking world, but no. We have to go conquer an entire continent full of whining Pandaren and Sha. It was the Sha of Fear that did Deathbrain in. He never had a chance. The Thunder King was even more powerful than we had anticipated. Twenty-five of us went into combat against Lei Shen. Twelve were left standing when we finished him off." Cap looked up.  "Really? Where is my next round? I gave you enough gold to buy the place."

Cap grabbed the next mug by the handle. "Then came the Siege of Orgrimmar. I respected a lot of the people I killed that day. Never was there a more loyal Hero of the Horde than General Nazgrim. I don't know why he chose to back Garrosh, but he died screaming, my green flames igniting his armor. Then do you know what we did? We kept going. He was one of the greatest generals ever and we left him there and kept fighting. I never even found out what happened to his body." Cap took down about half the mug and wobbled. "Then came the big fight against Garrosh. We got pulled into this weird nightmare place. We were in this weird place that looked like Stormwind but wasn't.  The leaders of every HORDE RACE were hanging from the walls. When he died, his bloated purple corpse fell on my friend. I never even knew his name. He just called himself "Demon." It killed him. We had won the war. Garrosh was dead and one of my best friends would never rise again."

Cap gave a tearless sob, his chest jerking. "It seems like it was only five minutes after Garrosh died. Orgrimarr wasn't rebuilt yet. The Dark Portal opened anyway. Once more, Orcs poured from it. We had to go through them one clan at a time to win that war. Somehow, and I'm not sure how, we ended up locked in battle with the demon lord Archimonde and I had to kill him for the second time. He took two friends from me. RIP Xenira and Resta. The Horde is weaker for your loss."

Cap grabbed the side of the bar to hold himself up. Mato reached over to help steady him. "And then came the Dark Shore. We damn near lost the whole Horde that day. Sylvanas saved all of our asses when she sounded the retreat. We were outnumbered and surrounded. They were still bringing in reinforcements. The Alliance was pissed because Varian died, but who gives a rip about some human king anyway? Invasions were everywhere. We couldn't kill them because they kept resurrecting. We've fought our way across these islands and onto another planet. I watched Ysera, my ally from the Deathwing fight become corrupted. I had to help kill her. I was part of the expedition that rescued Malfurion from Darkheart Thicket only to see him slaughter Horde troops at Darnassus. We went to Argus to take the battle to the enemy . We won. It should be over, and yet..."

Cap put both hands on the bar, very obviously struggling to keep his face from crashing into it. "Now this war starts. Darnassus has been destroyed. Lordaeron is a crater. Years of battle to keep that dog Genn and his followers out of our home wasted. Who knows what comes next? Who knows who we'll lose this time?" The Netherlord looks Mato straight in his face. "What if it's me? I've been around a long time. I could be the next one down. It's war. You just never know, do you? Second death could come for me at any minute. I'm not scared. I know what the consequences of a life of battle are. That doesn't mean I want it to be me."

"All of this," Capellini gave an unearthly sounding hiccup. "All of this for my warchief and my Horde.  And I'll be right back at it again tomorrow. Do you know why, Mato? Do you know why?"

Mato nodded, "For the Horde."

"For the Horde." Cap nearly fell over. "I think I need to lie down now."

Cap began to stagger toward the door, then changed his mind and turned back toward Mato. "Take this." Cap tosses Mato a bag of gold coins. "The whole crew will be here in a bit. Myronath, Kaestell, Zenjah, all of them. Make sure they all get good and drunk. I don't want to be the only one hung over on the trip to Zandalar tomorrow. I'm gonna go get a room at the Ledgerdemain. Oh, and could you feed my mount out of that?"

Mato nodded, his eyes googling out of his head. Capellini, Exalted Argent Champion of the Horde, Liberator of Orgrimmar, Light of Dawn and drunk undead shuffled across the street to sleep off the worst drunk in the known history of Azeroth.

Battle for Azeroth
Blizzard Games, 2018
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