The leather bound journal has accompanied Orvillius since before the assault on Icecrown Citadel, but has seldom been written in. As troublesome dreams plague the paladin in the wake of Horde assault on Theramore, Orv begins to record his memoirs.
Since the destruction of Theramore my sleep has been troubled. I’ve been dreaming of days long gone by, of the destruction of another city. Somehow the two feel similar, the feeling that everything we know is about to change again. Last night I dreamt of watching Arthas outside of Stratholme... Light was it only 12 years ago? I remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday, but it feels like a lifetime ago. I was full of anger at Arthas. I wanted Uther to put the young prince in his place. We are Paladins, Champions of the Light. It is a sacred calling. It can be a heavy burden but it is our burden to carry. The citizens of Stratholme deserved our best, and Uther was our best. Could Uther have wielded the light to cleanse the plague before it claimed their lives? Could Uther and Arthas and all of us gathered there that day struck down Mal’Ganis before he could flee to Northrend? These bleak thoughts and the change I fear is coming make me feel weary. If change is coming, if we face dangers yet unseen, as we did after Stratholme, I know I the Light calls me to stand as a shield for the good people of the Alliance. I wish this burden would fall upon younger shoulders, but unlike Arthas, I know it is my burden to carry. I never wanted to be a hero, perhaps a strange thing for a paladin to say. The Light called me, I knew there could be no other path, but I never expected to lead me where I am today. In a way, Stratholme was where that path started.
After Uther could see that I was troubled when he led us away from the city. I confessed that I had wanted to strike Arthas down, that I had wanted to see Uther strike him down. For the first time in my life my loyalties felt divided. Was I a paladin first or a citizen of Lordaeron? Did my duty to my Prince supersede my duty to the Light? I needed time to answer that question and so Uther sent me to Ironforge. I had hoped to find Muradin there, he had seemed so level-headed when I met him in Lordaeron, but he was gone to Northrend, investigating what we came to know as the Scourge, and would not be heard from again until we found him in the Storm Peaks, years down the road. So it came that I was far from home when Arthas returned as a Death Knight. I did not see him strike down his father. I sat safe and comfortable in Ironforge, sharing a drink with the fine dwarven paladins in the Mystic Ward or practicing my craft as an armorsmith. Word was slow to reach us there, and when it did I was far too late to help my homeland.
I spent years with the dwarves before traveling to Stormwind. There was trouble in Elwynn Forest and Westfall with the Defias... trouble with the scourge in Duskwood, orcs in Redridge. Bolvar was doing his best to keep order in the kingdom, but Stormwind needed its king. I travelled to Theramore, following up on leads that the Defias in Westfall and the Stockades beneath Stormwind had dropped, but hit a dead end there. So I returned to Ironforge to work on my craft, occasionally helping out at with the fighting across Thandol Span, and throughout Arathi. Stromgarde had been staunch allies of Lordaeron once, and it pained me to see the kingdom in such a state. I felt like I was doing good work, but never as though I were a hero. Just one more small cog in the wheel.
Lady Prestor was revealed as Onyxia and chased from Stormwind. King Varian returned. The Dark Portal was re-opened and I couldn’t have been less involved in any of it. I was happy where I was, trying to make a small difference day by day. News flowed back slowly over the next year... Illidan hunted down and killed. Kil’jaeden’s plan foiled, the Sunwell reignited. All good news, but nothing that convinced me to alter my simple life. Perhaps I am being too sentimental here, it is true that I was never fully content. I wanted something more... more meaningful, but I trusted the Light would guide my path. So I crafted armor, and I chased orcs and trolls around Arathi, and I tried to ignore the pain of a lost home.
Then came the Scourge sweeping down from the North. The call went out for brave souls to travel to Northrend and prepare to face the Lich King and it was as though a fire was lit within me....
The paladin closes his journal as a message arrives to tell him that Varian Wrynn is calling for adventurers for a special mission...something to do with the presence of the Skybreaker above Stormwind Harbor. He packs the journal back into his bags, trusting that he will find time to continue his story.
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