Penulis : A. Rosenberg & C. Golden
Tahun Terbit : 2008
Format : PDF
World Of Warcraft Trademark
An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS
Copyright © 2008 by Blizzard Entertainment
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Password : www.chenkwang.blogspot.com
Cover :
Main characters
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Supporting characters
Minor characters
Note: These characters were only mentioned or had little to no role during the story.
Aramil - Farrol
FergunBtDP 295 - Lavin
Leoroxx (mentioned) - Isiden Perenolde (mentioned)
- Randal
- VannBtDP 72
- WillamBtDP 72
Lirath Windrunner (mentioned)
PROLOGUE
Throw down!" "Shut up!" "Throw down, damn you!"
"Fine!" Gratar growled, half-rising, his powerful shoulder muscles bunching. One arm whipped forward and down, fist descending in a blur—and his fingers opened, the small bone cubes spilling from them to clatter upon the ground.
"Hah!" Brodog laughed, tusks jutting up as his lips pulled back in a grin. "Only one!"
"Damn!" Gratar sank back down onto his stone, sulking as he watched Brodog again gather the cubes and shake them vigorously. He didn't know why he kept throwing against Brodog—the other orc practically always won. It was almost unnatural.
Unnatural. A word that had nearly stopped having any meaning for Gratar. He glanced up at the stark red sky that
filled the horizon, the sun a burning globe of the same shade. The world had not always been thus. Gratar was old enough to remember blue skies, a warm yellow sun, and thick green fields and valleys. He'd swum in deep, cool lakes and rivers, blissfully ignorant of how precious a thing water would one day become. One of the most basic needs of life, uncontaminated water was now brought in in casks and stingily parceled out.
Rising, Gratar kicked idly at the ground before him, watching the red dust puff upward, parching his mouth, and he reached for the waterskin and drank sparingly. The dust covered his skin, dulling the green hue, lightening his black hair. Red everywhere, as if the world had been drenched in blood.
Unnatural.
But the most unnatural thing of all was the reason he and Brodog were stationed here, whiling away the dusk- clogged day with idle games of chance. Gratar looked past Brodog at the towering archway just beyond them and
the shimmering curtain of energy that filled it. The Dark Portal. Gratar knew that the strange mystic doorway led to
another world, though he had not passed through it himself—none of his clan had. But he had watched as proud Horde warriors had entered the portal to win glory over the humans and their allies. Since then, a few orcs had returned to report the Horde's progress. But lately there had been nothing. No word, no scouts; nothing.
Gratar frowned, ignoring the clattering sound of
Brodog's tossing of the bones. Something about the portal seemed . . . different. Gratar stepped closer to the towering gateway, the hairs along his arms and chest tingling as he approached.
"Gratar? It's your turn. What arc you doing?"
Gratar ignored Brodog. Squinting, he stared at the rippling veil of energy Whal was going on beyond i:. on that strange other world?
As he watched the curtain's undulating shimmer grew and became more translucent, allowing Gratar to see through it as if through murky water. He squinted his eyes, peered intently—and gasped, staggering back.
Playing out before his eyes, as if he were watching a ritual enactment, was a fierce and violent battle.
"What?" Brodog was beside him in an instant, the game forgotten, and then he was gaping as well. They both stared for a second before Gratar regained his wits.
"Go!" he shouted at Brodog. "Tell them what's happening!"
"Right—the commander." Brodog's eyes were still glued to the scene before them.
"No," Gratar replied sharply. He had a gut feeling that what was about to happen would be more than his commander was prepared to handle. But one orc he knew might be. "Ner’zhul. Get Ner’zhul—he'll know what to do!"
Brodog nodded and took off at a run, though not without glancing back a few times. Gratar heard him leave, but still his gaze was riveted to the battle that was so violent but so oddly veiled. He could see orcs, sonic of whom he thought he recognized, but they were fighting strange figures, shorter and more narrowly built but more heavily armored. The strangers—they were called "humans," Gratar remembered—were quick and as numerous as gnats, swarming over the beleaguered orcs and overpowering them one by one. How could his people be suffering such a defeat? Where was Doomhammer? Gratar saw no sign of the massive, powerful warchief. What had happened on that other world?
He was still watching, sickly enraptured, when he heard the sound of approaching feet. He tore his gaze away to see that Brodog had returned with two others. One was a massive figure, larger by far than any orc and much stronger, with pale milky skin and heavy features. An ogre, and a mage, by the cunning Gratar saw glinting in his small, piggy eyes. More important than this towering figure was the orc who accompanied him, pushing his way forward right up to the portal itself.
Though his hair was gray and his face heavily lined, Ner’zhul, chieftain of the Shadowmoon clan and once the most skilled shaman the orcs had ever known, was still powerfully built and his brown eyes were as sharp as ever. He stared at the portal and the vaguely glimpsed disaster unfolding behind its shimmer.
Regards,
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