Daesalliss covered his eyes at the light hovering over him. He could make out the large morning star clutched between both his hands, slightly shaking. He wondered if it was in anticipation or hesitation. He quickly got his answer as the light began to fade from the figure. Daesalliss jerked his body upward instinctively at the sight of the man's face.
"Donovan!" He gasped through the numbness. Donovan lifted his leg up, and with great force, brought it down upon Daesalliss. Black fluid ran from his nose as he struggled for consciousness. The paladin turned his back and dropped his weapons, falling to his knees. His hands planted deep into the snow as he began to yelp. Tears began to melt the snow under his face.
"I ask for nothing. Nothing. Grant me this one wish!" He said, chest heaving openly in the now dim night. After a moment's silence he bashed his fists against the earth, snow floundering up around him.
Daesalliss watched on in wonderment. Surely this gaunt human before him could not be the noble and strong paladin he had watched from the twisting nether? Yet he had no choice but to accept it was he. He had a large cross on his back, he noticed. It had to be a great burden carrying it around, as the cross was almost the same size as the man.
Donovan rose up and began to stride once again towards the un-living elf. Daesalliss noticed the wrinkles of age and repression under his eyes, an obvious weariness painted across his now exaggerated features. He had turned pale where there was vitality, his cheekbones prevalent and sunken where they had been previously unknown to his face. His every mannerism suggested constant struggle. He reached down and clutched tightly the white hair of the death knight, pulling the face close to his own.
"Know this, that you are very fortunate among your kind. To walk away from me unscathed in nothing short of miracle, vile creature." He spat at the elf. The rage began to swell as two auras conflicted intangibly in the night. Daesalliss could feel his own anger creeping up through his throat.
"And you are so better, human? You who also serves a master of similar ambition?" he said. Where there was weakness he now exuberated a maddening strength. The familiar black lightning circled around his equally dark eyes, sucking the light out of the air, making long shadows that gasped across his face.
Donovan threw the elf's head down to the ground.
"I do not serve, I act in compliance. I fight of my own accord, and my battles, I assure you, are my own. That is much more than can be said for you and your despicable kind. You and the nether itself are nothing more than long shadows cast out by the light."
He began to walk away before the elf began to speak.