Zajh

Little is known of the elusive necromancer of the north, Zajh, but to the people of Alterac, his story is an often told oddity amongst their people.

Abridged History
Zajh was born in a long forgotten town in the northern reaches of Alterac, to an unknown mother and father. Stories claim they were secretly demigods, but that's just to excite the children. Zajh, and the rest of his town, were firm believers of the Holy Light, and followed their local church with pride. They were far enough into the mountains to be ignored during the Second War, when the Horde marched through, and had little interaction with the rest of the Alliance, save the occasional courier passing through to Eastweald, what is now known as the Plaguelands. Their peace, however, would soon be shattered.

The lives of the people in Zajh's town was changed drastically, in the man's mid twenties, when his town was exterminated by a roaming band of Scourge fiends. As one of the few militiamen in his town, Zajh fought valiantly, but in the end, he, the other men, and the rest of his town fell. Most would assume that was the end of the tale, a tragedy of innocents slain by evil. Then came the cultist.

Zajh assumed that death at the hands of undead was the end for him, but he was quickly ripped from peaceful afterlife, and awakened, along with a few of his other militiamen. It was but a few days later, however his skin had already begun to peel away, and had turned a sickly white color. The cloaked cultist who had raised them gave one simple task -- survive.

The militiamen quickly fell, either to sloppy ressurection, or the madness that comes with undead. All except Xul. His mind was kept intact by one thing, his family. He wasn't filled with rage, or despair, but hope. Hope that, while he was given another chance, they would have a peaceful afterlife. His will was just what the cultist was looking for, and he quickly set to work with him.

The cultist was many things, in many stories, a former Cult of the Damned member, a secret god, looking for more subjects, one story even claimed it was Arthas himself. Whatever he was, the one thing that held true was that he never asked anything of Zajh, simply spoke. Spoke of his beliefs, those of the tedious balance of the world, and in time, Zajh came to believe him, near abandoning the Light for it.

He was taught necromancer in rather simple ways, but quickly progressed through the cultist's lessons. The stories are fuzzy on what happens next, whether they continued to travel together, if they split up, a few claim they had a secret love affair, but most see that as technical necrophilia. Regardless, they all end as most epic tales do: with a fight.

In the years after the pair's training sessions, there came a day when Zajh found his master, but he was not simply practicing necromancy. He was consorting with other cultists from his former Scourge cult. In a mad fit of rage, Zajh slaughtered the cultists, leaving all but his former master dead. In that moment, the stories split, an epic battle, where in a moment during the struggle, Zajh overcomes the great odds, and shows his great power by striking down his master, or a simple surrender, where the master accepts his death at the hands of his student, a somber and saddening moment.

Regardless of how the stories go, they always add in that sad moment, and detail the necromancer leaving normal society for a time, and wandering the land, telling few people of his own story. Though it has been twisted and changed through the years, legends still speak of a man with a mighty scythe wandering through the wilderness, leaving no impression but the faint smell of death on the air.