It was dark when the small figure crept from a squat stone dwelling and out into the moonlit streets. A young woman, by the size of her, jogged gracefully along a village lane. She knew well where she was going, and the smile on her face was evident as she moved in and out of silver patches of light. Galina was going to meet Roldolpho, and tonight they were going to run away together. It had been a whirlwind romance from the beginning. Galina wasn’t the prettiest girl in the tavern, but she had most of her teeth, so she wasn’t the worst looking either. Roldolpho had seemed so suave and charming when he had sauntered in. He looked so exotic to her, his dark skin and long hair. Thoughts of him made her heart race and her soul giddy. Oh her parents would be so angry when they found her note, but she didn’t care. Her and Roldolpho were in love and her heart belonged to him. He had instructed her where to meet him, and as she got closer, Galina slowed her frantic pace. She had to look calm when he saw her, and then they would ride away. Just as Roldolpho promised, they would have a huge wedding back in his kingdom. The thought alone would be enough to sustain her until they got there. With a smile Galina rounded the bend of the country road and found herself near the graveyard. The red headed woman frowned as a horrible smell invaded her nostrils. Her stride slowed, then stopped as the smell became worse. With the back of her hand to her nose, Galina held back the urge to be sick.

“Roldolpho?” she coughed out, the sound of buzzing flies invading her senses.

With no answer, Galina ventured a few steps more before stopping to be sick. The stench was getting thicker the farther she walked. The buzzing sound intensified suddenly as Galina stood and wiped her lips. Suddenly, this all seemed like such a bad idea. Before she could turn, the feeling of a few flies buzzing around her head caused her to stumble back as she swatted at the pests. Taking her swats, the flies began to swarm, angry and buzzing. Galina didn’t know they were locusts until the first one bit her. By the time she could scream, the insects invaded her mouth, choking the young woman. 

Her body was found the next morning by a local merchant on his way to market, her body was covered in bites and welts from the insects, and her blood had been completely drained. Her parents mourned their daughter, bewildered that she would be caught somewhere so dangerous in the dark of night.
Galina’s pale body was carried to the undertakers, and dressed for burial, and the next morning when the coffin maker went to measure the dead girl, he found her missing. Three bodies within the same month all seemed to just disappear. Undertaker John had kept his windows and doors locked day and night, fearing body snatchers wanting to take the bodies for nefarious reasons, but none of his locks looked broken when he would discover the random bodies missing. It followed no pattern, the thief didn’t seem to care whom he took. And it was becoming an increasing problem for the undertaker.

In the darkness something had come for the girl, something that didn’t need to use doors to enter a home. It was smoke and darkness combined, it slipped through the cracks and broken seals and awoke the maiden. The corpse sat up, it’s once green eyes a dull and lifeless gray. Her skin was sickly pale save for the welts of thousands of locusts bites. The minion walked awkwardly, as if she had forgotten how to use her legs, stumbling into this and that. But once she became accustomed to the feeling, the corpse was able to open the door and simply walk away from the Undertaker. The pale corpse walked and walked, through the hills and woods in the darkness of night, and just before morning, the zombie of Galina emerged into the caverns that would lead her to the Necropolis, to be with her undead breatheren. 

Here below, this place was known as Zul’ Naxxar, or ‘Death Place’. Darkness clouded most of the buildings, the stench of death could be smelled within the caves. Rotting corpses lay strewn about the dark ground, rich soil going to waste underground. Galina groaned as she slipped down a steep wall from the cavern exit she’d taken leading her into the main chasm. Thousands of mindless undead moved the cavernous place, digging instruments and chunks of rocks being carried away with them. The screaming of unlucky victims could be heard all around the Necropolis, and to Galina’s dead ears, they didn’t even register. Her body swayed on unsteady legs as she shuffled into one of the larger ziggurats. A foul liquid bubbled in a pool in the center of the room, throwing the inhabitants into a sickly green glow. Nothing was said to Galina as she was directed up a flight of winding stairs by a man wearing a skull like a crown. 

Her legs moved mechanically and when she reached the top landing, twenty other zombies greeted her. All of them knelt as if in prayer in front of a giant stone statue. The statue seemed to hum and throb with dark energy, and the undead around it seemed to feed off of it.