Arthas

Stella Lin

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Words Checked: 2416

Words in Oxford 3000: 93%

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Contents

About the Author 4 Synopsis 5 1 A new king 6 2 The Fake goddess 15 3 The journey begins 23 4 Muranda & Sylvanas 28 5 The King, Arthas 34 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 36

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Author

Stella Lin was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

in 1990. This is her first novel which she wrote when she was the fourth year student in Wenzo Ursuline College of Language. Arthas was based on her childhood which she lived with her nanny. Her nanny used to create her own stories and share with Stella as her bed time stories. As she wrote this novel, she was constantly reminded of her happy childhood.

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Synopsis

“We agree with this journey. If you can bring back the mask, there is no doubt that you should be our king!” said the elders The young prince, Arthas, decided to take the dangerous journey to prove his capability of being a king. However, was it really a journey to become a king? Or it was just a huge trap that will kill everybody?

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1

A new king

The birds soared and wheeled in the

cloudless sky. Beneath the sky laid the

valleys of rich green and white-topped

mountains. A crystal-blue sea shone in the

distance. The great kingdom loomed in the

middle of the sea. It was named Azero.

The king of Azero, Terenas looked at the

sky with gloomy eyes. “Birds were the

messengers between the world of living

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and the realm of dead, the king cried, ‘and

I have been told my day is going to end.”

“NO, father, you are still strong and

healthy. There is no sense for you, such an

honorable king to die in the …..” the

prince, Arthas remarked softly. After one

month, winter was fast approaching. The

freezing wind blew through the country,

and overhead snow clouds moved across

the sky.

One night, the wind blew so fiercely that it

sounds like a terrible scream. Everybody

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in the palace felt something was wrong

when a servant shouted with a frightened

voice.”Help, help! The king isn’t

breathing!”

Nobody knew how the king died. When

the prince rushed into his room, he only

saw his father lying on the bed with his

eyes closed and peaceful smile on his

face.

The prince kept silent, but tears dropped

from the corner of his eyes. The courtiers

and the elders immediately held a meeting

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after the king died. They were discussing

who would be the new king. “According

to the law, the prince should succeed to

the throne” one courtier declared. “We

know it, but the prince is still too young,”

an elder spoke up, looking worried. “You

are right; he needs to be as wise as his

father, as majestic as a king should be.”

“He needs more time.” Everybody nodded

in agreement. When the prince was still

feeling miserable about his father’s death,

the discussion was told to him.

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“Oh, my dear father! Did you hear what

they have said? ….Probably they are right.

I am not as wise and brave as you are, but

how can I be an honorable king like you,”

he cried gloomily.

At this time, a mysterious sweet-smelling

incense flew into his nose and all of a

sudden he heard the word “follow me”.

He walked out of his room but there was

nobody outside. However, the incense

grew stronger and stronger and it showed

a clear direction where the prince should

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follow. Arthas hesitated for a while. Then

he looked up to the full-moon in the sky

and said, “I hope it’s a sign from you.” He

followed the alluring scent and

disappeared in the darkness.

Under the moonlight, the prince stood in

front of the sacred temple of Azero.

There is only one woman who was

standing on the gold-decorated platform

with seven black wildcats around her.

“Who are you?”Arthas asked. “My prince,

I am the priestess, Muranda.

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What happened to you? Your face looks

gray, your eyes looks spiritless,” she said.

The prince told Muranda what had

happened in the palace, “I am the rightful

heir to the kingdom. But they don’t have

confidence in me. I need to be stronger

and more powerful. This is the only way I

can convince them.” Muranda winked at

him and said, “Prince Arthas, be honest to

yourself, it’s you who look down on

yourself even though you are the wisest

man I have ever seen. You always have

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plenty of ideas in your mind, but you

never bring them up because you don’t

want to get into any trouble. In other

words, you would rather to be a prince

than a king, right?”

The prince was extremely shocked. He

couldn’t believe that the woman who he

just met could know so much about him.

He felt as if he were naked when she

looked into his eyes. “It seems that you

know everything about me, so then tell me,

how should I govern my country?”

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The priestess looked at him and suddenly

a brilliant idea came to her mind. “You

should talk to the elders and courtiers face

to face, and prove to them you are able to

be the king! So the prince went back to the

palace and asked his servant to inform all

the elders and courtiers a mandatory

meeting would be taking place tomorrow

morning.

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2

The Fake goddess

The air in the palace was frozen, nobody

dared to speak. The elders and courtiers

only used eye contact to communicate.

“What a lovely morning, my loyal

courtiers and honorable elders. Today we

need to discuss about the inheritance of

our nation. As we all know, I am the only

son of my father. In this case, I am

supposed to be the next king. However, I

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have overheard your opinions about me. I

can understand your concern but I want

you to give me a chance to prove I am

able to govern this country.” They peeked

to each other and look confused because

the prince’s reaction is far beyond their

expectation. One of the elders finally

spoke up, “We could ask advice from god.

Let’s go to the temple and priestess

Muranda might help us with this.

“Everybody nodded in agreement while

Arthas snickered secretly in his heart.”

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When they arrived at the temple, Muranda

was already standing in front of the temple

and greeted her guests. “Muranda we need

your help. As you know King Terenas has

died and we need a new king.” continued

the elder. Muranda listened carefully and

facing the prince said, “It’s my honor to

help, but please prepare a glass of olive oil

and some laura for me. I will ask help

from the god for you. This will lead you to

the right decision,” said Muranda.

After the preparation, Muranda asked

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everyone to eat the laura which was

soaked in oil. “It will help you to

communicate with god,” said Muranda.

However, it was also a trick. The people

who ate the laura came under the spell that

Muranda was a god.

A bright sacred light shone on everyone’s

face, Muranda smiled to the people and

said, “I know what you’re concerned

about. The prince must take a journey to

prove his ability. In this journey, Arthas

would need one hundred men to

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accompany him, and he should bring the

magic mask from Sylvanas.

She is a cruel witch who possessed the

mask. Arthas, you can prove your bravery

and intelligence by taking away the mask

from Sylvanas. Just sail to the east and

you will find her.” Suddenly it began to

rain, and the spell of the god disappeared

at the same time.

The elders and the courtiers gathered

around and whispered to each other. The

prince stood beside Muranda and

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whispered anxiously, “Are you going to

help me with the journey? What cruel

witch? You didn’t tell me about that…..”

One of the elders then spoke up, “We

agree with this journey. If you can bring

back the mask, there is no doubt that you

should be our king!”

The next morning, the courtiers selected

one hundred men who were only 20 to 30

years-old to form a team for the journey.

At the same time, the prince went to

Muranda to ask about the next step of

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their plan. “First, you have to know who

Sylvanas is. She is a cruel witch who lives

among monsters on the Unmanned Island.

You must be careful with the monsters. I

don’t know what they look like. However,

I know their sense of smell is more

sensitive than any other creature in the

world, but at the same time they are blind.

The second thing is don’t trust Sylvanas.

No matter what she says, just don’t listen.

And the most important thing is you

should never give up. If you succeed then

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after this journey you will become the new

king of Azero! ”

said Muranda. “I will take this challenge. I

hope god will bless my people and me,”

said the prince.

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The journey begins

Everything was ready. The group of

people started their journey at sunrise. The

sun shone and the wind blew gently. The

people on the boat were happily singing

and dancing but they didn’t know what

they were going to face. Only the prince

stood on the bow and observed carefully

looking out at the sea. Three days later,

there was no more singing and dancing,

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not even talking. Everyone felt anxious

and homesick because there had been no

sign of their destination. Still, they kept

sailing to the east.

On the fourth day, the prince woke up

earlier than usual. When he again stood at

the bow, it started to rain. Their boat was

engulfed in mist. It was difficult to see

anything, but the prince noticed the waves

had become smaller and smaller. He woke

up his people, and everyone was excited

to see their destination. The appearance of

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the island was getting clearer. All they

could see was a desolate plain. The trees

were left naked with leaves and the huge

rocks seem strangely arranged. “My

countrymen, we are here to kill the witch.

When we get to the shore, we must be

careful,” said the prince. “Should I tell

them about the monsters? What if they are

too scared to fight and run away? ” The

prince thought so he decided to kept quite.

As they stepped ashore, terrible things

began to happen. The rocks started to

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move. In fact, they were not rocks. They

were the creatures with four feet, two tiny

ears, a huge nose and no eyes. “They were

monsters!” cried the people. All the people

were shouting, screaming and running.

The monsters were chasing after them.

Some of the countrymen were eaten alive

or badly hurt. As for the prince, he was so

scared that he kept running until there

someone shouted “Here!”

The prince didn’t hesitate and followed

the voice. When he calmed down, he

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realized he was in a grotto.

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Muranda & Sylvanas

“Who are you?” a voice asked from the

inside of the grotto. “I am prince, Arthas.

Are you Sylvanas?”cried Arthas.

“Sylvanas? Were you sent here to kill

me? ” A woman with a veil on her face

and dressed in black walked out from

inside replied. She stared at the prince in

anger. “Isn’t it?” “You are not Sylvanas?”

asked the prince. “Of course I am not the

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evil witch. I am Muranda, a priestess of

Azero.” “It’s impossible. Muranda is in

the palace right now. You are the evil

witch. I am here to take the mask.” “You

silly young man, you were tricked. The

woman who was in the palace was the real

witch Sylvanas. She took away my mask

fifteen years ago. When my father died, he

left me the mask. And she used her magic

powers to take it away from me. Also, she

imprisoned me on this island. I believe

you have already seen the terrible

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monsters outside. They are under her

control to kill me.”

The prince was totally shocked. He didn’t

know whether what he was being told was

true or not. “If it was true, that means I am

in a trap. But what if she was lying?”

Thousands of question rose in his head.

“How can you prove you are Muranda?”

asked the prince. “I am the one who

knows how to control the power of the

mask.” “What was the function of the

mask?” asked the prince. “You can

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transform in anything you want if you

wear the mask. In this case, you should

know Sylvanas was pretending to be me

with the mask. Help me to leave this

terrible place and I will help you reveal

the truth.”

So, they carefully left the grotto. The land

was covered in blood. The prince felt

guilty and miserable about his people’s

death. However, the monsters were still

moving around. “How should we get to

the boat without being eaten?” whispered

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Muranda.”

“The blood! Muranda do what I do and

follow me,” said Arthas. The prince

smeared the blood on his clothes and body,

and so did the priestess. In this way, the

monsters could not identify them with

their nose. They quickly went back on the

boat and started to sail back to Azero. “I

undertook this journey to seek the way of

being a king. But what have I done? I

killed my people! I didn’t protect

them….”cried the prince. “No, they died

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for you. Through their sacrifice, you

should learn how to be a king. Don’t give

up. Your people still need you to lead

them to a good life,” said the priestess.

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The King Arthas

Six days later, they finally arrived home.

The prince explained what had happened

to his people and the courtiers. After that

they immediately went to the temple to

find the fake Muranda. However, she had

escaped. Someone had said that she

transformed herself into a black wildcat

and now only appeared at night. As for the

prince, he finally realized the way to take

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charge of his country. For the last hundred

years, Arthas has ruled his kingdom well

and his people honor him with their

highest respect.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

etc.usf.edu/clipart/2100/2114/crown_1.htm us.profile.myspace.cn/index.cfm?fuseaction

=us...

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http://www.ameniatha.dk/AmeniathasDrawings/pages/priestess2_jpg.htm

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“We agree with this journey. If you can bring back the mask, there is no doubt that you should be our king!” said the elders The young prince, Arthas, decided to take the dangerous journey to prove his capability of being a king. However, was it really a journey to become a king? Or it was just a huge trap that will kill everybody?

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