Memoirs of Light

“I remember clearly the moment that the Light first called to me. It is a moment that will forever be etched in my memory. It came not as a song, not as a flash or blaze of power, but as a glimmer of sunlight slanting down through the smokey fog of war. In a last stand against the Scourge at Fairbreeze Village, I saw the sunlight and was moved to stand within it. Though I was but a simple artisan fighting for my family, my children, and my lands, I felt the sunlight on my skin and I knew then, even in the darkest moment of my life, that I would always walk within it.

How odd is it, that one's loved ones can be snuffed out like the flame of a candle? That one necromantic spell can slay innocent children and wipe away brave defenders whose cause is just? How can a moment set one's heart to stop beating, and yet also force one to live on? The sunlight, the beam of Light from the heavens above was the only place that was safe, and of all I cared for, none were left to retreat to the Anchorage with us.

Was I bitter as I watched the coast of our nation slip away, leaving my fallen to the enemy? Bitterness cannot even describe it. Pain is not a suitable word. It is something you forever carry, and it taints you as it spreads. I was indeed bitter. Bitter enough to want revenge. To dedicate my being to that righteous cause. Though I knew nothing of warfare, nothing of strength, when Quel'Thalas died I knew I would do anything to bring those who had done this, who had taken my family and my life from me, to justice.

Even as I walked a new path, even as I gained strength at arms and joined the newly founded Blood Knights, I still felt the sunlight within me, warming a single point within the black abyss that my heart had become. As I brought my blade against darkness, as I strove each day to force the Light to my will, that little bit of warmth grew. I knew it was there, though I denied it for so long, for how could I not? How could I so easily give up my revenge, the only thing left to me?

And then it was over. The fighting, the struggle for survival. We had won, and the Sunwell was restored. I could feel it deep within me, feel the Light as it came to me not because I forced it, but because it had always given of itself. It had always been there, I had simply been too consumed by the evil I let lurk in my heart to see it.

I heeded its call again. I know now that I was spared for a reason, a purpose greater than revenge. My family did not perish in vain, but died so that I could learn this most valuable lesson and bring righteous justice and the warmth of the Light to those most in need.

I found others like me, others who had taken up the call. They came from every land, from every people. They gathered together in the dawn, they raised a new banner of hope. They marched to war on the tides of death that had already claimed too many nations. I marched with them, and set the Crusade above my own petty needs and thoughts.

The men and women who marched beside me became as my brothers and sisters. When they could not pronounce my elven name, the humans amongst them named me Britany, and I took up this new name in the spirit of camaraderie that bound us all together. We fought, we laughed, we grew into a fighting force of Light that nothing could stand against, and we threw down a King.

I walk now always in the sunlight, in the bright warmth that first called to me on the blackest day of my life. Though I will always mourn those who have passed on, I will always be comforted by the faith that has seen me through it all, to the point where justice has been done at long last.”

~An excerpt from the memoirs of Britanielle 'Britany' Dawnblaze, Paladin of the Argent Crusade.