A death knight in the time after Arthas

[Grawlix]

What remains for a warrior who has completed what was to be his final mission?nnEven as strange and ominous events overtake Azeroth, I find myself searching for a place in this world that makes sense. nnThe battle with the Lich King is finished and life has prevailed. Where does that leave one who no longer lives, who was stripped down to an empty husk and rebuilt as a willing and eager participant in a massive effort to exterminate all life? nnHere's what it's like for a death knight. The Lich King's will was our own. Most of the undead servants of the Lich King are completely mindless. The masses of zombies, ghouls, and abominations that are the shock troops of the Lich King's army don't think any more than a mechanical toad. Death knights have a tougher job, and are given more tools to complete that job. Not only do we think, but we even feel. How can you anticipate your enemy's tactics if you can't empathize with his courage, or sense his fear? That ability to think is what makes a death knight a formidable opponent. The will of the Lich King is the will of a death knight, but death knights can choose the best way to respond to the Lich King's commands.nnWhat the Lich King takes is the moral compass. Concepts like "right" and "wrong" disappear as things you respond to emotionally. You can understand them at an intellectual level, but the impulse that pulls you forward is your sense of how well your plan will serve the Lich King's needs.nnThe Battle of Light's Hope Chapel severed us from that pull. We no longer feel the Lich King's presence in our minds. But the moral soul that the Lich King took away was not been restored. Not when we were liberated at Light's Hope Chapel, and not when I saw the Lich King lying dead at my feet. When I was single-mindedly pursuing my goal of destroying the Lich King, I didn't miss that moral soul. But without that quest, that mission, that single-minded obsession, the path forward seems obscure.nnWhen you've participated in countless campaigns fighting the armies of mortal beings, burned towns, assassinated officials, retrieved items of power required by the Lich King, it's hard to return home and settle down. There is liberation, but there is no redemption, especially among those who have never been to Northrend and seen the fate that would have befallen all of Azeroth had we failed. No hero's welcome was prepared for me. A former death knight can never truly appreciate such a thing anyway.nnNow I go forward, still filled with the will to fight -- that, apparently, is a permanent gift from the Lich King. What I seek is a purpose. Since the fall of the Lich King, I have been searching the world for that renewed purpose. I have fought the Alliance under the banner of the Horde in countless petty battles. I have quested throughout Outland, communing with the Aldor in hopes of being warmed by the light of the Naaru. I have sought out those in need of my unique skills and offered my help seeking nothing in return.nnEven so, having seen the end of my mortal life and fulfilled what I thought was my immortal destiny, a renewed sense of purpose eludes me. Lately, though, the fires roaring through Orgrimmar day and night lead me to believe that I will be called to a new mission soon enough.