Melkor's Story

[Music: Jo Blankenburg - Imperatrix Mundi]

Endless, infinite darkness...

No sound, No smell, No light, Nothing... Simply nothingness laid before him the moment he awakened.

He could not move nor could he feel, He could only think. And yet, he knew nothing, no name, no language, no memory, no knowledge. He laid there for a long time, he thought of nothing as if a dreamless sleep stretched for eternity.

And then... He remembered...

Blinding radiance covered everything as he came to life. He saw a perfect and almighty being and was enchanted by its grand presence. The being held a flame that shone with indescribable and transcendent colors in his palm.

The being waved his hand and he then knew as if remembering something already learned. The being was Eru Ilúvatar.

He realized that Eru had created him and beings like him, brothers, and sisters; He looked at Eru like a son looking at his father.

A while passed as the Ainur came to be... Melkor was the first and greatest of them all. And yet, he was not satisfied. He felt the need to be even better and he realized that he was Below one and above all so he merely gazed at Eru in thought and wondered...

Then they saw a vision, Stunning, breath-taking, sublime, and mesmerizingly beautiful. They learned to realize that vision, they had to create a piece of music.

And thus began the Magnum Opus of Eru, the Ainur sang as Eru led the way... The music was magnificent and glorious until Melkor felt something and his thoughts changed the music. Thus he broke the rhythm and sang his own song and then began the conflict...

Manwe stood up but even he was not Melkor's opponent. Only Eru and Melkor remained as the two continued the music, each in their own way and eventually, Eru won.

Melkor felt a strange desire, he wanted to overcome his limit and emerge victorious against Eru, and yet he was too small to even consider. He was a being formed merely by Eru's thoughts... How could he possibly win against him?

The music came to end and the flame imperishable within Eru's hands became a heart for the world that emerged.

Melkor saw the flame and he instantly knew that if he obtained it, he would become like Eru, the desire began consuming him but he was helpless as the flame was the heart of Arda, how could he take it?

Among the Ainur, he desired Varda and yet she became the companion of Manwe; Jealousy and fury began slowly creeping root as Melkor's desires were crushed.

He decided to take what he wanted and dominate all Arda and eventually become like Eru. That was the beginning of many wars to come.

And he descended upon Arda in power and majesty greater than any other of the Valar, as a mountain that wades in the sea and has its head above the clouds and is clad in ice and crowned with smoke and fire; and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold.

Ages passed and eventually despite trying his hardest, Melkor failed and fell from his grace. He lost everything and even his life was forfeit. But he was immortal so he would one-day reform and for that reason, the Valar that were the greatest of the Ainur bound him once more with the chain called Angainor and cast him into the great void; Banished for eternity.

As memories returned, Melkor felt no rage or regret. He felt nothing. He was numb. He laid there for a very long time and eventually he thought, 'If I had one more chance...'.

And then he felt something beside him in the void. It was a being born of the void and for some reason, it destroyed the chains and said, "Come.". And he followed.

He soon came upon a different universe within the void. It was bigger than Arda, much bigger. He felt a new door opening in front of him, a door of endless possibilities.

Melkor eventually learned that the being had mistaken him as one of its kind, a void lord. He was not surprised as he had reformed in the void and thus resembled them very much.

He learned of this new universe and its cosmic forces and realized that he had to be cautious. He barely had 1/5th of his power and even in his peak, he couldn't defeat the cosmic forces without sacrifice.

He continued to live as a void lord and observed this universe. He learned many things.

He realized that size was not what defined a universe's greatness, rather the power of the cosmic forces did. And based on his understanding, the two were equal and that was only because of Eru who was unmatched.

He recovered his power but concealed it. All was going normally until he found a world within this universe called Azeroth and began observing it.

At first, he did not care much but that all changed when he saw a young prince ruin the world. He saw himself in the prince, for the prince was once good and then grew evil and fell. Melkor did not care that the prince was controlled by another will, in his eyes, the mortal one's fate was like his own.

Due to interest, he realized something when he saw the sword absorbing souls. 'Could I devour souls and grow more powerful?'

The idea took root and eventually, Melkor decided to create a sword just like that and he began forging.

The void trembled as it emerged, he had forged a Runeblade, with functions similar yet different.

Melkor did not wish to face the cosmic forces of this universe so he decided to search for another universe that was weaker and hunt there. If there was 2 then why not 3?

But before he left, he descended upon the Maw forcefully and made a deal with the prince and took him. Melkor had already begun planning and scheming for his return and revenge.

He searched and searched... and then he found it; A universe. Earth was in this universe. It was even bigger than the other two he had been to before however, the cosmic forces had fought with each other so much they had weakened.

He let Arthas onto a small world after taking his memory and began his hunt.

Civilization after Civilization, World after World, Race after Race were annihilated as Melkor took all the souls and grew stronger and stronger. Billions upon billions of souls were devoured by the sword. A once flourishing universe filled with life had turned into a desolate one. The planet was only spared for Arthas was there due to the deal. The prince had already lived more than the amount needed so Melkor came to collect.

He returned to that small world and saw that the prince had already lived more than a hundred lives on the little planet, all of them forgotten in reincarnation but the last.

He left that universe, however, legends were formed around him as he interacted with that little planet a little. Lucifer, the Devil, Ahriman, and many more...

He returned to Arda and immediately, he began his plans. He used all his power and borrowed the rest he needed from the souls and cast a spell on the timeless halls of Eru. The spell froze time there. The timeless halls were eternal and time could never hope to affect it and yet due to the immense might of the spell, time nearly stopped there.

Melkor knew he was no match for Eru even with all his power so he had planned to delay him. He needed to obtain the flame imperishable and destroy the Valar before he faced Eru to gain victory.

In the last war, He had given his power to his army and that left him weaker than he was supposed to be so the Valar beat him; this time, he did the opposite, he devoured all the power he could to face all by himself.

Time slowed to the point, that a blink would last 100 trillion years within the timeless halls. Melkor knew that it wouldn't take long for Eru to notice and instantly break it but even that infinitely small amount of time within, would buy him many years outside, decades to centuries. However, he had to enforce the spell a bit more to get the most out of it so he sat there and began doing so...

He easily tore the walls of the universe for they were in fact nothing in front of him and created a body and put Arthas's soul in it and the sword in his hand, bound to him. He also planted a seed to decimate Arthas's soul in case of betrayal and sent him down to Middle-earth.

His reason was fairly simple; He thought people would despise Arthas due to the darkness and evil of the sword and corner him as an enemy. Arthas would be forced to defend and enmity would form that would lead to conflict and war. The Sword had Necromancy, the vilest of evils after all.

The sword held enough souls to empower Arthas and let him fight against the likes of Manwe by himself if he willed to borrow it at the cost of corrupting his soul beyond redemption. Melkor knew he would eventually be forced to become lich king again but this time, of his own free will.

Melkor was cautious and did not want to leave anything to chance, even his former follower, Sauron, he now considered his enemy. He sent Arthas to take the world by storm and lay it to ruin and weaken it for his coming but that did not happen. He did not want Arthas to die so he had made an immortal body for Arthas.

Arthas somehow gained powers of light and rose to become a hero. Melkor was shocked to see the powers of Arthas and he realized instantly that Eru had made a move. Arthas's light powers were somehow related to Ilúvatar who had noticed Melkor's scheme.

Eru had to increase his perception in order to break the spell and Melkor began interfering and enforcing the spell. Melkor was stuck and forced to watch Arthas grow from being a prince to become a king. A flawed king with unique ideals but still better than most Mortals who dared claim the title.

Years passed and Melkor began to feel fury. His scheme was so easily defeated...

He ignored the consequences and descended upon Arthas, momentarily leaving the spell which caused Eru to almost break it, he gave Arthas his memories to stop his foolish actions and do what he was meant to do as his champion.

Melkor enforced the spell and realized he would soon be free and descend upon Arda and Valinor as the spell despite the recent setback was nearly perfected. Eru wouldn't be able to free himself for a few years and that was more than he needed. Of course, for Eru who was within the effect of the spell those few years were infinitely small lapses of times billions of times shorter than a second within which he would break the spell.

Melkor seethed with wrath as Arthas refused to do so and chose to walk on his own path. He not only defied him but also got rid of the seed he had planted by utilizing a trick and using his own power against him to remove it.

Arthas was essentially free of Melkor if the latter did not personally go to him. Melkor smiled coldly as he saw Arthas defeat Sauron at the same time the spell was complete. Arthas did not know these things, he only knew that Melkor was a void lord, and based on his own speculation, couldn't enter Arda. That was what Melkor wanted Arthas to know.

"I saved you from eternal damnation and this is how you pay me? I shall put you in eternal darkness within a Void prison inside the sword and use your soul like the rest, betrayer. You wanted to walk your own path, free of spirit? then walk the path of damnation."

Thus Melkor descended upon Arda, he possessed Arthas's body instantly and followed through with his promise. Arthas's soul... This brought an evil smile to Melkor's face as he felt his fury vanish. His grand moment had come.

He turned to look at Varda with the same smile...

The sun turned black, the moon stopped shedding light, the sky turned dark as night in a single moment as the stars vanished, evil and sinister air filled the world. From the great distance above the waters, The Host of Valinor descended upon him as a searing flame, white and terrible.

Eärendil returned from the sky, atop the forces of Valinor were visible the Valar, Maia, and others... among them were Eönwë, Túrin Turambar, son of Húrin, and Tulkas.

Dagor Dagorath had begun, the final battle of the end.

What will become of Arthas? What will be his fate?