There is only this...War.

With the death of the Lich King... all I have left is my duty. There is no family, there are no friends... there is only this.

War.

Independent Koltira Deathweaver Written by Wulf Carrd

The question caught him off guard, finding himself looking to Nylnysa for clarification after she had spoken. It was such an odd question, considering what they were. Knights of the Ebon Blade were no strangers to combat, and he had already been to battle under her orders! Perhaps this was just another way of confirming her choices? But she had never required such reassurance from him before, why would she seek it out now? Strange, how five little worlds sent his mind into a buzz, questions rattling around inside of his skull that he would not ask, and all in the space of a few moments. But despite the questions, he already knew his answer.

She had said that she merely need a moment in the tower, searching for something the previous occupant had left behind. What was odd though, is that she bid him wait outside. Perhaps she had something to hide, or it was something personal to her? Curiosity burned within his mind, trying to figure out what it was she hunted for in this abandoned tower she had sought out. Koltira waited patiently though, finding no need nor desire to intrude upon what it was Lysirae was doing, though he found little to do as he waited, finding himself just surveying the landscape in the time that he had.

Perhaps he would have been lost to the view for quite a good deal longer before he heard Lys calling out to him, obviously from the balcony of the tower considering he could barely hear her. Turning about, his gaze ventured up the tower to indeed find her standing near the top, leaning over the balcony for a moment before disappearing and leaping off of it!

Panic immediately gripped his heart, blue eyes going wide as he immediately tried to figure out how to catch her, about to bolt and try to position himself to catch her, only to finally notice she was descending much slower than a person should! A sigh of annoyance slipped his lips when he remembered that she had the float spell on hand, of course, she would leap from the balcony instead of walking down like a normal person would. He was half tempted to let her float into whatever mess on the ground she was over, but before she was even close he had begun to move. Turns out, he wasn't willing to listen to her complaints about not catching her as he should have.

It was...strange, to be back in Northrend after everything that had happened. After the fall of the Lich King, he had half expected to never return to this wasteland, and yet here he was. Even with Bolvar having taken the mantle of Lich King, the scourge was still a threat, still needed to be contained and culled. And Koltira was certainly one of those who could do the job. The Ebon Blade would do the job. They did what the living could not.

Today, saw them just inside the bounds of Icecrown, coming up from Dragonblight, though they avoided the Wrathgate. Using the Argent Crusade positions as fortifications for their own lines, the Ebon Blade soldiers kept pushing on, slicing their way through the scourge with relative ease. Koltira pushed ahead with the Vanguard, finding himself almost enjoying the work. That near insatiable need to cause pain was lessened as he cut through the risen dead, relief flooding his system like a drug the more scourge he cut through. It was something all Death Knights suffered, that need to cause pain, and they did it for a greater cause, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it when he got to release that hold. It seemed the day almost won when there was a sudden explosion of magic from the right. Koltira could feel something impacting his armor, launching him into the air unexpectedly, and coming to a skidding halt some fifteen yards from where he had been standing. His ears were ringing, the sounds of battle gone completely as he struggled to even lift his head from the ground. His vision swam, lichfire eyes struggling to focus as he started to bring himself to his feet, only for strange tendrils of dark energy to wrap around his arms, pulling him back to the ground and restraining him! Panic rose like bile in his throat, pulling at the magic bonds that held him, occasionally lifting his gaze to see what was happening around him.

It took only moments for his vision to clear, and show him a figure in armor he had hoped never to see again. His struggle against the bonds that held him ceased, those blue eyes widening in shock and horror, both in equal parts. The man before him was one he had thought dead, properly dead, and yet here he stood. If his heart hadn't already been stopped, this would have been the instance to do it for sure. A name dripped from Koltira's lips, spoken quietly as if he couldn't believe who he saw before him, unable to look away from the field.

This was a disaster.

For a time, the Ebon Blade held the line against the demons, wave after wave of the creatures crashing against their blades and faltering. But even in the face of their continued success, Koltira had felt something...off. A hint of intuition that hadn't left him in death, telling him that the tides were about to turn, and not in their favor. For a time, he had tried to ignore the feeling that hung over his head like a guillotine, but that proved to be a mistake, as a Legion ship suddenly just appeared overhead. Koltira had barely had time to yell at those around him to find cover before the blasting began, fire raining down from the ship above.

The line broke at the arrival of that ship, sending both Horde and Alliance racing for cover, Koltira counted among that number. While the Ebon Blade had no qualms about fighting the worst of things to give others time to flee, there was no fighting a ship like that, not from the ground. Koltira raced towards cover but found himself short of protection as another shot impacted the ground not far behind him. The resulting explosion sent the Death Knight hurtling through the air, crashing some fifteen yards ahead of where he had been standing, and dazed to boot. It took him a moment to haul himself to his feet, ears ringing so loudly that the battlefield was eerily quiet.