The Orrian Champion

Hey guys, this is my first look so go easy on me! I wanted to submit something like a resurrected Orrian champion who fell defending the gates of Orr. I started by creating an image revolving around use of alternating light and dark particles but ultimately combining everything to fit the theme of an undead badass kept alive and reanimated by mystical energies. Admittedly, the entire thing is a tad particle heavy but I like to think that it's not too heavy and that there's enough thematic fidelity to bind the whole thing together.

His last memory was of battle.

The cacophony of combat rose in a din all around him. The clash of steel on steel amidst the screams of the dead and dying. Grenth would greet many this day. Enthralled within the danse macabre he moved as a blue and black blur. He was no stranger to the rhythm of combat, he moved with the grace of one accustomed to the dancing steps of war. A flurry of blows, the shrieks of ravens. Red and blue streaks punctured the night sky and found their marks amongst the ceaseless hordes of Charr. No matter the instrument, all were equal in the death god's embrace.

Yet it was not enough.

He recognized many of the mangled bodies which now littered the mud of the square. Friends and guildmates. Brothers and sisters-in-arms. Stalwart defenders of Orr who had given their last in defense of their city.

They had paid a high price to defend the city gates. Fully a third of the Orrian troops had been decimated by the first wave of the Charr onslaught. This was now the fifth. And now, though few remained to hold the gates, each man that still drew breath carried within him grim resolve to hold the line. Each held the knowledge that the Charr would take no prisoners, would show no mercy. Each knew that the droves of women, children, elderly, and infirm who had flocked to the various temples within the city seeking solace would be unblinkingly slaughtered by the remorseless Charr war machine.

As the battle raged on they dwindled in number until at last he found himself back to back with the last of the defenders. Encircled by Charr, he and his comrades prepared to sell their lives dearly even if only to buy precious seconds for those within. As though of one mind, they Charr advanced, their weapons glinting of cruel steel and their eyes hungry for the kill.

Suddenly, the crack of thunder filled the night sky and the earth beneath his feet trembled and split open. Charr and human alike hurtled through the darkness amidst the corpses of the slain. Off in the distance came the sound of crashing waves and splintering rock. And beneath him, far below, the roiling of the boiling seas. A symphony of destruction abruptly ended by an overture of absolute silence and darkness...

He awakens now, centuries later, to find his people long dead and his homeland shattered. His only clue as to the reason for his return lies in the form of a slain elder dragon amidst the wreckage of strange machines of an origin and make he does not recognize. Though the world is much changed, he feels a comforting familiarity in the weight of his weapons as he takes his first steps into this strange new land...