#hhn ranking

[phone-in-the-attic]

HHN 32 personal house rankings (most favourite to least favourite):

Universal Monsters: Unmasked

Dr. Oddfellow's Twisted Origins

Yeti: Campground Kills

Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate

The Darkest Deal

Stranger Things 4

The Last of Us

Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings

The Exorcist: Believer

Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count

I'm pretty sore about Chucky considering it's my favourite franchise atm, and they had a whole year to make it great (since it was the first house announced) but they totally missed the mark :0[

[greetings-movie-goers]

/// SO TODAY IS MY 500 DAY MARK OF BEING THE MOD ON THIS BLOG, AND I JUST WANT TO SAY, THANK YOU SO MUCH, OMG!!!

thank you so much for all of the love that Julian and I have gotten, the HHN advice for when I got overstimulated by big noise (lol), the love for my pets, and for creating so many lovely stories with me over these past 500 days, that I will cherish for a long time to come.

I have met so many great people on here, including but not limited to, @oughtabeinpxctures @spoop-doll @jack-the-clown @thecarnivalofcarey @resurrextion @runchainsaw @deadxtalks @distorted-rp @hhnforeversblog @captainkelsohub @violetxsilverxstark @monsters-and-mayhem

And a special thank you to @clownqueenofcarnage for inspiring me to create this blog. I don’t think you’re up and running any of your HHN blogs rn, but thank you so much for inspiring me, and taking me under your wing when I first joined this wonderful community.

Maybe as a little special things, I might give a Halloween Horror Nights first timer’s tip list, from someone who just went for the first time, with a ranking of HHN 31’s houses!!! If there’s something else that you’d rather see, or want to see along with it, please let me know!!!!

I love you all, thank you for a wonderful 500 days,

- Mun Vinn

[deathprocession]

hello, would you like to rank the icons in order of transgender swag please

Oof tough question

I actually have a little chunk in my notes app talking about more queer/identity related thoughts involving the icons that I wrote a few months ago so I was going to go off of that, but funnily enough Julian's doesn't? Say anything? It's just blank which kinda fits to me aodjwidksk he's not a man or a woman, not cis or trans--he's Julian.

Tbh I feel like there's not really a way to "rank" something like that, ultimately something as fluid and vague as hhn can only really mean anything because of how you choose to interpret it, I feel? While I personally see some of the characters as obviously trans and/or genderqueer in some way (Lady Luck, Chance, etc) theres always going to be someone to disagree with me, while there's always going to be people saying that same thing about other icons I don't see that in.

I know you wanted primarily my opinion as the ranked list but I just wanted to say that bit, so yeah uh

Lady Luck

Paulo

Chance

Bloody Mary

Julian

Eddie

Albert

Jack

Elsa

[ionlycareabouthhn]

Last hurrah for the season at HHN with my mom tonight! We were definitely blinded by the lights. Now to think about my rankings...

[uuopodcast]

Who's heading out to HHN this weekend? Don't forget to send us your house rankings, best to worst to podcast@uuopodcast.com. * * * * * #unofficialuniversalorlandopodcast #universalorlando #uuop #universalstudiosflorida #usf #uor #universalmonsters #universalorlandoresort #hhn31 #hhn (at Universal Studios Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci4imssotUj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[l8rhader]

START OF THE RUN

(You'll see this updated periodically)

Zones

Lights Camera Hacktion Eddie’s Revenge

30 Years, 30 Fears

Crypt TV

Seek And Destroy

Gorewood Forest

Houses

Netflix The Haunting of Hill House

Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience

HHN Icons: Captured

Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth

Wicked Growth: Realm Of The Pumpkin

Beetlejuice

Welcome to S-Carey: Horror In The Heartland

Universal Monsters: Bride of Frankenstein Lives

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Revenge of the Toothfairy

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is so low on the list because there is a lot of dead animals. A lot. Like, taxidermied and props-made but it's a lot. And there's a big one that you almost trip over. I really wanted to like it.

[thetuboflove]

All 4 Purge movie ranked from worst to best! Where does the latest offering The First Purge rank?

[magicalserendipity]

HHN ORLANDO HOUSES RANKED! 🥺❤️‍🔥🎃 Here’s my defining list from BEST TO LEAST! What’s your ranking? 🏠Haunting of Hill House: I have never been scared so many times in a maze. I felt everyone was coming for me.. AND THE TALL HAT GHOST IS THE MAN OF MY NIGHTMARES! Everything I loved about the show transcribed so well into the maze. I can’t believe this house was so excellent to me. 🎃The Wicked Growth Realm of The Pumpkin: WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED FOR MY LIFE!!!! Literally the pumpkin spooky king spit in my mouth and I think that’s why I’m so in love and ready to come back to this maze over and over again. MY GOURD IT’S SUCH A FANTASTIC MAZE! ❤️‍🔥 HHN ICONS: Captured: BAAAAABBBBEEEEE!!! I was grinning from ear to ear! Seeing all the ICONS highlighted and rightfully worshipped feels so good! I was SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM! Begging for a scream and greet with all the icons. 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 🧟 The Bride Of Frankenstein Lives: Let’s just commend THE WOMEN!!!!!!! The power this house holds is insane. It’s immersive and captivating. Albeit she was only in the movie for 5 minutes, this feels like a direct sequel to her story. And wow. Bride is truly that HBIC! 🪆Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience: MY HAPPIEST UNDERDOG! I was throughly SURPRISED how good the maze was. I think I almost ended up on the floor with this one.. 🧛🏽 Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth: I can’t explain it. But I loved it. The storytelling was seamless to me. It made you connect the dots but it didn’t help because all the monsters are insane! 👻 Beetlejuice: YOU ARE IN THE MOVIE! I think what made me so happy is that it felt like the scenes of the movie. I was having so much more fun rather than being spooked. 💚💜 🧚🏽‍♂️ Revenge Of The Tooth Fairy: This house was so beautiful. It’s horrific, gruesome, and you can’t discount how great they all are. ⛓ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: It smelled so bad in here but that transported us in the story. I felt spooked, ready to run out, and never wanting to come back. 👽 Welcome To Scarey: Bestie, she had some spooks. It’s definitely made for the fans. But Uhm. I was lost. #HHN30 #HorrorNights (at Halloween Horror Nights - Universal Orlando) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTnioQPPsPP/?utm_medium=tumblr

[halloweenhorrornightsnerd]

Which year of attending HHN would you say was your favorite mun?

I'm assuming you mean just the Orlando event: That's a really hard question, I love so many of them and I've attended many MANY years.

2000 - 2009 were "The Glory Years" imo, but 2015 and now 2021 are also in my top favorites.

Sorry I just can't narrow it down any further unless I categorize in which ways they out rank eachother and split hairs to give you a list rewarding each a title of "favorite marketing year" "favorite icon year" "favorite lore year" "favorite house line up year" etc etc. For the Hollywood event, 2010 and 2018 were probably my favorites.

[feverhalo]

Oh!! Love the character hiding injury until they can't trope! Would love to read our beloved not-short(!!) Ed trying to hide a gunshot/stab wound or something like that! Love your stories ❤❤

Ye yee. Gotcha. This got a little longer than a drabble, i wanted to put in too much context. Thanks for requesting! Hopefully its enjoyable to read c:

"'Scuse me," Ed slid between the chair of another officer and the wall. He squeezed and sidled his way to the seat saved for him by Mustang and the group.

He noticed the second seat with a placard saved for Al on Riza's side. The third empty seat by his for Winry made him flush to the tips of his ears. He pulled out his seat and lowered himself down carefully.

"Jeeze, you're still really gunning to get me back huh?" Ed whispered. His breath hitched on the end as he repositioned himself.

"Just like last year, and the year before, the answer behind the snark is 'yes'-" Havoc leaned across Winry's empty chair to give Ed's shoulder a shove.

"Quiet you two. Speaches are starting soon- where are your brother and finaceé anyway?" Roy cut in with a side glance.

"Ah-" Ed shifted again, "That is what I was trying to call about. We ran into one of your naysayers and Al overdid it a little. Alchemy still causes him some sensory overload, Winry is taking him back to the hotel."

"I want the full story after this. I hope he is well, though-" Roy was cut off by the first clang of cutlery on glass as the military gala's flourish of ass-kissing began.

----

By the end of the dinner Ed had paled considerably, and was leaning into the arm of his chair rather heavily. Roy watched Winry slide Ed's glass of wine away with a roll of her eyes and a hand on the back of his neck.

The soldiers began to mingle, and the music started up in earnest as the last of the dishes were cleared away.

"Can you manage a twenty minute cycle of the room before the wine gets the best of you?" Roy asked as he and Winry supported Ed to standing.

"Not the wine. Just- probably just a pulled muscle."

"Right," Roy's eyes flicked to Winry's as Ed straightened and took a breath. "What happened anyway?"

Riza intercepted one of the higher ranking officers who was circling over to speak to the Flame and former Fullmetal alchemists. She redirected him a little ways away into the crowd, leaving the other three in their own pocket of privacy.

"Someone unhappy with the reforms and revisions you're putting forward. Trying to sneak in or cause a riot or something," Winry shrugged.

"He was trying to start shit, I wanted to grab his shoulder and tell him to f- Tell him off. But there was that memorial vigil still going on." Ed winced.

"Ed?"

"Al was pulling the sidewalk, discreetly. He did really good, honestly. But, well, I guess I still have the same baby face or something, 'cause he knew who I was and was pissed about it. We got him away from the crowd and- nnngh"

Ed's legs buckled and he clamped his hands over his side.

Roy reached out, but Winry had already caught him and lowered her wonderful, stupid, fiance to the floor.

"Seriously?!" Winry whisper shouted as Roy ducked down as well. He waved Riza over and she quickly weaved her way through to them.

"Ed? What happened?" Riza took to her knee beside the three of them.

"He did hit you! Oh, Ed!" Winry moved to give Ed's arm a shove like she did when they were younger, but stopped short.

He pulled open his waistcoat and hissed as the air hit the darker stained wet patch above his hip.

Without hesitation, the other three sprung. Winry pressed her hand over the wound, her ivory dinner gloves soaking up the stain immediately. Roy worked himself under Ed's other shoulder and worked with her to haul him up. Riza worked on parting the crowd.

"Al's gonna be pissed," Ed chuckled as they limped into the hallway.

"I'm gonna be pissed once you're okay, you goof!" Winry's voice was tight and strained.

"Come on, its just a little one. I've- hhn- definitely had worse. And waited longer." Ed was still getting paler, no doubt the thick wool was absorbing blood still.

"He has, but thats no point of pride. You're too old for this shit. I'm too old for this shit." Roy groaned out.

"I'm getting the car." Riza grabbed Ed's chin in her hand and gave him a quick once over. His stubble scraped her hand and she let go, "No passing out or dying in my car. Thats an order, Ed."

"Yes, ma'am."

[phone-in-the-attic]

personal rankings of the hhn houses i got around to this year, least-liked to top 3:

7. Descendants of Destruction 6. Spirits of The Coven 5. Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake 4. Legends Collide: The Mummy vs The Wolfman vs Dracula 3. The Weeknd: After Hours Experience 2. Horrors of Blumhouse: Freaky/The Black Phone 1. Halloween

[scare-theory]

Have you ever seen house of 1000 corpses?

I have!

DISCLAIMER: As I mentioned, before I get into this I should say I’m not really a fan of Rob Zombie's films (his music, I enjoy, for the record). Though I’m not averse to gore or disturbing films, I prefer a psychological edge to my more disturbing films rather than repetitive hyper violence and disturbing visual scenarios. Disturbing sexual scenarios in particular are not something I like watching in my movies at all. I understand the appeal, and can see why some people enjoy his films, but they do not rank highly for me.

That being said, House of 1000 Corpses is my favorite of his movies. 

The tone is really nice to me. It feels less mean (for lack of a better word) to me than his other films, and the goofier aspects of the film (the ride, the décor, Spaulding to a degree) balance out some of the darker moments, and dark comedies are consistently some of my favorite horror movies. It makes this particular movie a lot more palatable for me than others of its ilch. 

The ride scene is so, so much fun. I really enjoyed it, and the whole Dr. Satan montage was trippy and fascinating. It’s easily the best thing in the movie, and maybe my favorite part of any Zombie movie.

The performances are AWESOME. Sid Haig is phenomenal in this movie, and Spaulding is so uniquely fun and disturbing all at once that he carved out a space in my mind among some of the horror greats. Also Bill Mosely is... Bill Mosely (read: Fantastic) and Rainn Wilson is a standout member of the cast also, and he bolsters the film in his own way. 

Also, just a thought, the HHN house was mindblowing. I wish I could have been there. 

All in all, it won’t make a favorites list of mine, but it was fun!

[mrnerdteacher]

Every “Universal Studios Hollywood: Halloween Horror Nights 2019” Maze, Ranked

This year Universal has put together a varied and entertaining set of mazes, and although it has more than ever before, the cracks are starting to show as the park attempts to pack more and more people into its biggest event. Here are all the mazes, ranked from worst to best.

Note: My friends and I purchased the front-of-the-line passes, and even though we went on a Sunday night, we still would not have been able to complete every maze without it. Expensive, but the only way to get the full experience.

Honorable Mention: All Hallow’s Evil Not a maze, but rather an outdoor enclosed scare zone that is harvest and autumnal theme. Some great costumes and a cool premise.

Dishonorable Mention: Toxic Tunnel

In years past, a short tram ride took you to remote parts of the lower backlot. Now, you hoof it on foot for about a quarter mile, walking through a wide-open tunnel filled with strobe lights and rejects from the Toxic Avenger. It’s as annoying as it sounds.

On to the list!

#10 The Curse of Pandora’s Box Easily the worst maze of the night, the designers attempted to create a sense of chaos by contrasting dark hallways with neon colors, but the costumes felt generic and the scares non-effective.

#9 The Walking Dead Attraction

Familiarity is the enemy of this maze, but if you’ve never done it before, it makes a good first impression. I just wish they would add something new, or at least increase the number of scare actors during HHN.

#8 Stranger Things 2 & 3

The surprise flop of the night, this maze at times had a queue that was 4 hours long. But once you finally get inside, you are treated to the same easily telegraphed jump scare about 8 times (not an exaggeration). There are some nice set pieces, but overall it lacked wows and scares.

#7 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man Nothing technically wrong with this one, but it failed to create many memorable moments. If you know the story of either character, you know exactly what to expect, and the maze delivers on that promise and little else. (Note: the finale in which the monsters literally jump off the screen was pretty damn clever).

#6 House of 1000 Corpses

This maze originally made its debut years ago, and while this year’s iteration delivered on tension and scares, it was missing several elements from its original incarnation. A thrill, but a slight step down from its former glory.

#5 Creepshow

This maze had an uphill battle, as the original film is slightly obscure and the new series hasn't been released yet. Despite these limitations, it delivered several effective scares and featured a well-developed premise.

#4 Killer Klowns from Outer Space

This maze, perhaps better than any other, authentically recreates iconic moments from its titular film (even before you enter the maze proper). The scare actors also wore full-body costumes that were imposing due to size alone. One complaint though: enough with the squirt guns!

#3 GhostbustersAs a life-long fan, I thought this one would take the cake, and it was indeed quite good. However, some missed opportunities and an over-reliance on static figures kept it from soaring to the #1 spot. Spooky, not scary, but very very fun.

#2 Us

It starts with an impressive, full-size facade at the entrance, and from there the immersion goes even deeper. I wondered how Universal would convey the terror of a clone attack, and their delivery is truly one of their better tricks; instead of giving scare actors masks of Lupita Nyong’o, they hired a dozen or so women who look remarkably like her. The end result is the feeling that the scissor wielding psychopath really is everywhere. And their eyes will haunt you all the way home.

#1 Holidayz in Hell

The surprise hit of the night, this brand new original maze is a concept that I have seen attempted before: holidays run amok. However, what sets this maze apart is the amount of thought and creativity that went into it. From “champagne bubbles” that rained from the sky to the simulated fireworks, this maze kept surprising me. My favorite part, however, was the end. You think the maze is over, when all of a sudden you realize that the final part of the maze IS out in the open streets. And it’s a mad dash for safety through a gauntlet of killer Christmas gifts. Oh what fun.

[ionlycareabouthhn]

Every HHN House I Have Ever Done: Ranked

Yes, I’m a lunatic. This list grows larger and larger each year. It’s always interesting to see how things shake out....apparently I hit 101 houses this year. Woo! Here goes nothing....

1.      The Shining

2.      Halloween

3.      From Dusk Till Dawn

4.      Silent Hill

5.      Catacombs

6.      25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem

7.      Saws n’ Steam

8.      Nevermore: The Madness of Poe

9.      Poltergeist

10.  Nightingales: Blood Prey

11.  Silver Screams

12.  Universal Monsters

13.  Dead Waters

14.  Gothic

15.  Carnival Graveyard

16.  Slaughter Sinema

17.  House of 1000 Corpses

18.  Krampus

19.  Hive

20.  Dollhouse of the Damned

21.  Dracula: Legacy in Blood

22.  Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience

23.  Yeti Terror of the Yukon

24.  Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin

25.  Beetlejuice

26.  Body Collectors: Recollections

27.  Ghostbusters

28.  Graveyard Games

29.  HHN Icons: Captured

30.  Walking Dead: No Safe Haven

31.  Evil Dead

32.  Scarecrow: The Reaping

33.  Seeds of Extinction

34.  The Bride of Frankenstein Lives

35.  Case Files: Unearthed

36.  Insidious

37.  Cabin in the Woods

38.  Revenge of the Tooth Fairy

39.  American Horror Story vol. 2

40.  American Horror Story

41.  Texas Chainsaw Massacre (16)

42.  Alice Cooper: Welcome to my Nightmare

43.  Havoc: Dogs of War

44.  Winters Night

45.  Tomb of the Ancients

46.  Dead End

47.  Leave it to Cleaver

48.  Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned

49.  The In-Between

50.  Stranger Things

51.  Trick r Treat

52.  The Haunting of Hill House

53.  Nightingales: Blood Pit

54.  Lunatics Playground

55.  Freddy vs Jason

56.  Us

57.  Giggles and Gore

58.  Ghost Town

59.  Havoc: Derailed

60.  House of Horrors

61.  Roanoke: Cannibal Colony

62.  Depths of Fear

63.  Stranger Things 2

64.  Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After

65.  The Exorcist

66.  La Llorona

67.  Welcome to Scarey: Horror in the Heartland

68.  Killer Klowns

69.  Horrors of Blumhouse

70.  Halloween II: Hell Comes to Haddonfield

71.  The Orfanage

72.  Saw (17)

73.  Dead Exposure: Patient Zero

74.  Run

75.  Zombiegeddon

76.  The Thing

77.  Legendary Truth: Wyandot Estate

78.  The Forsaken

79.  Texas Chainsaw Massacre (21)

80.  The Walking Dead: End of the Line

81.  American Werewolf

82.  Halloween 4

83.  Dracula Untold

84.  Alien vs Predator

85.  The Fallen

86.  The Walking Dead 5(2016)

87.  The Walking Dead: Living and the Dead

88.  Penn and Teller: New’ked Vegas

89.  Blumhouse 2

90.  Asylum in Wonderland

91.  HR Bloodengutz

92.  Ash vs. the Evil Dead

93.  After Life: Death’s Vengeance

94.  Walking Dead: Dead Inside

95.  Psychoscareapy: Echoes of the Past

96.  The Hallow’d Past

97.  The Purge

98.  Resident Evil

99.  The Wolfman

100.  Hades: Gates of Ruin

101.  Saw (09)

There it is. I said what I said.

[theuniversalcritic]

HHN29 Top 5 Houses... I enjoyed most of the houses this year, and the ones I did enjoy I wish I could walk through over and over again. I usually skip most of the houses when I went past years but I wanted to rank them all. I was pleasantly surprised, disappointed and amazed by some of these houses so I am glad I did them all. 5: Killer Klowns... From the neon, to the puppet projections and the amazing scents this house was non stop fun. It could have been more scary but I think it fit the movie well and was more comedic than scary which is fine by me at an event filled with blood and gore, this was a nice break from that. 4: Stranger Things... I was a bit disappointed by this house and the fact that it rushed through season 3 and it’s most iconic scenes. I wish they would have waited the year and made another house with the newer season and not rushed through them all and missed so many amazing scenes, including the Starcourt mall. I was so disappointed with it just being one tiny room at the end and not being able to really feel like we were immersed in the show like they did with season 1 last year. 3: Universal Monsters... one of the houses I’ve wanted to see for years, it did not disappoint. With a dedicated room to all of the Monsters we know and love, to even a couple surprise ones I didn’t expect to see, it is just so good and I wish they’d bring them all back every year. They fit the event so perfectly that I wish they’d just leave this house how it is year after year for HHN. 2: Yeti... I wasn’t expecting to like this house as much as I did. Fully immersing you in the frozen tundra being surrounded by Yetis even swinging at you from above, this house is just amazing and by far the best original concept at the event this year. 1: Ghostbusters... following the story of the first movie perfectly, from Slimer running through the walls to the Stay Puft Man, where you can literally smell the marshmallows. This house is just as amazing as you’d expect it to be. I’ve waited for years for the Ghostbusters to come to HHN and it finally happened and it is one of the best houses I’ve ever been into and definitely the best house at HHN29. I hope they bring the Gho https://www.instagram.com/p/B3haO5tAAqA/?igshid=k48zr0y6uw0s

[kieranoruadhain]

Awakening

Short story WIP, parts 1 through 3. Mature content warning.

prologue

For the first time, the nameless man woke up. 

He felt his lungs filling and emptying. He felt his pulse, rapid and heavy behind a shallow chest. His fingertips brushed the stone slab where he lay and moved to his body, naked and slick with sweat. His eyes burned when he tried to open them. His ears were ringing and he strained to listen.

The world sounded muffled at first, as though someone was speaking to him through thick fabric. Shapes formed in his eyes, then color. White and grey and blue. A ceiling, walls, and windows. Then, he saw two faces, leaning over him. A woman and a man.

“Say something.” The female one spoke.

He recognized the words, but he couldn’t find his voice. Something felt strangled in his throat as he forced breath from his lungs. “Hnnnghh.”

“That’s a start. Try again.”

“Hhn… hello…”

“Good. So you understand me.”

He nodded.

“Welcome back, Kyrahn Oisin.”

He blinked the blurs from his vision and answered, “Mmmhname… my name…?”

“Yes. That’s your name.”

It struck Kyrahn in that moment that he was naked, and there was a woman hovering over him. His hands moved to cover himself and he averted his gaze from her.

“C…clothes…?”

“Yes, of course. Here you go, then…”

He felt fabric fall over his body. A blanket. It was silky smooth, thin, and blue. He noticed how it draped over a single leg and realized he was missing the other. His left leg was gone below the knee.

“Do you remember anything?”

Kyrahn stared blankly at the woman. As his vision became clearer, he could make out her figure. She had long, corkscrew locks of brown hair framing a severe face. She was lithe, muscular, wearing blue and gold robes. The man was younger, smooth-faced and rotund.

The woman spoke next. “My name is Janice Steele. I’m a healer with Northshire Abbey. We found you half-dead in the woods. Can you tell me if you remember what happened?”

Kyrahn still didn’t speak for a long time. He reached up to touch his own face. He had facial hair. It was short. And the hair on his head felt long and oily.

“I don’t remember anything.” He answered. “You told me my name is Kyrahn. I don’t know anything else. Do you know what happened to me?”

The woman smiled, but Kyrahn could tell it wasn’t a happy smile. He didn’t know why. “I don’t.”

Kyrahn fidgeted under his blanket, staring blankly.

“Do you know what Stormwind City is?” Asked Janice.

“It’s in Elwynn Forest, capital city for the human race.” Said Kyrahn.

“So you do remember something.” Janice said, a smile in her voice, but not on her face. “Where are we right now, do you know?”

“Azeroth. Eastern Kingdoms.” Kyrahn continued.

“So you remember basic geography. Good.” Janice mused. “Now. What about yourself do you remember? Where, exactly, were you born? Do you have any parents or siblings? Do you remember your job before you came here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Unfortunate.” Her tone was strange. Hollow. For some reason, her response made Kyrahn uncomfortable. “So while you have nothing to return to, as far as you’re concerned, you’re now a member of the Northshire Abbey priesthood. You are Kyrahn Oisin, born and raised in Stormwind City, and it is your life’s goal to become a healer.”

Kyrahn didn’t know what to say. He just nodded. Janice walked to a shelf and pulled down a few things. He saw a wooden stake in her hands. “Unfortunately, your left leg was badly infected and had to be amputated. We’ve had you fitted for a new one. Brandon, please, help him with his leg.”

The other man retrieved the prosthetic and brought it to him. “Here, I’ll show you how to put it on.” Khyran stuck his leg out, letting the other man attach it for him. Then, he was brought a change of clothes. “We will let you get dressed. When you’re ready, meet us outside.”

The two left Kyrahn alone with his empty thoughts. one

"He was talking in his sleep again."

Dinnerware clinked in the dining hall. Several apprentice priests in their white robes sat over their bowls of red bean soup, chattering about him as if he wasn't even sitting right across from them in obvious earshot. He might as well have been an unoccupied chair.

"What did he say this time." A gruff one with beady eyes said, bored.

Not that it mattered that his peers were talking about him. He never acknowledged their existence, either.  He ate his stew silently.

"Oh, nothing I could make out. A lot of mumbling and snarling. Sounded almost like a dog, he did." Tanis always loved using him as a conversation starter. It was annoying sometimes.

"Wonder if he'll do tricks." A younger one, a blond, said. He picked up a bread roll from the table, laughing. "Oi, Kyrahn! Fetch!"

The bread roll bounced off the side of his head while he ate his stew patiently.

That got a few giggles from around the table.

"Now, now, Jackie. Some dogs ain't that smart. You gotta beat 'em to make 'em do what you want." Said the gruff one.

"No, no! Gotta try positive reinforcement first!" Tanis retorted, picking up a piece of ham out of his stew with his piggy fingers. "Here boy!"

The ham, tossed in his general direction, fell short and landed a few inches from his hand. Kyrahn still sat patiently.

"He won't do a thing. Boring little oaf." Tanis muttered.

"Dogs usually get boring when they're neutered, you know. It's only natural! Not his fault." Said the blond.

More giggles.  Kyrahn's fingers tightened on his spoon. The bean stew was looking very red. He could almost see his reflection in it.  He stopped eating.

"What are you going to do, Kyrahn? Go cry to Janice again?"

"Oh, come now. He doesn't have the balls for that."

The table erupted with laughter from the three other men. Kyrahn stood abruptly and walked away.

"Poor puppy has his feelings all hurt."

"Pansy."

"See ya, Ms. Kyrahn."

Ever since a rowdy bunkmate forcefully tugged a towel from his waist on his way back from the baths two weeks ago, Kyrahn found no escape from the teasing. Two weeks ago, he never fully cared that a piece of his body most other men proudly carried was gone.

Why was he castrated?

The unanswered question bothered him more than the most cruel of insults.

He laid awake, listening to the snoring of his peers in the dormitories. A full moon cast a bright, pale shaft of light through a single window. A whip-poor-will outside sang sonnets with a distant chuck-wills-widow. Normally the birds would have lulled him immediately, but tonight, he couldn't stop thinking about red bean stew and forgotten dreams.

He didn't remember falling asleep.

For him, it was reality. The taste of copper in his mouth was tangible. The smell of blood that hung in the hallways around him was so strong it stung his eyes.

There were shackles on his wrists and the chains were so heavy he couldn't stand. He was staring up ahead, at the ceiling and walls, because he was afraid to look down. He knew what would be at his feet and covering the floor.

"You can't face it, can you. Coward! Look down!" It was his own voice, somewhere outside his body. He was many things, but not a coward. He looked down.

A faceless dead child stared back at him.

The chains felt heavier with each passing second. Kyrahn struggled to breathe as his upper body was dragged down, down, down by his scrawny arms. The pool of red was inches from his nose.

The chains plunged him into the red pool. He writhed. He tried to scream but blood rushed into his mouth instead. He felt arms reaching down into the pool and he struggled wildly. More arms came and held him down. It was the vengeful dead, dragging him under, screaming his name.

His eyes snapped open. He was tangled up in his sheets on his bed, staring up at Tanis and Jackie's faces.

"I swear on the Light, if you wake us up screaming one more fucking time...!" Tanis gasped, his pudgy face red with anger. He didn't finish his threat.

"What the Fel is wrong with you, anyway?! Aren't you going to say anything for once?!" Jackie sputtered.

What was there to say? Kyrahn just stared back.

"You're insane. I thought Janice brought you here to fix you."

"Aye, he's fixed alright," said a gruff voice from a bed across the dark room.

Too annoyed to laugh, the other trainees left Kyrahn's bedside, muttering to themselves.

He laid awake for the rest of the night. two

The first few weeks of his residence at Northshire Abbey had been a blur. First, he was assessed for his ability to wield the Light. His raw potential shocked the ranking priests, but it soon became clear that he was no healer. He was instructed to “heal” a wooden human dummy, and succeeded in blasting it with a spell so violent and blinding, it seared a hole right through the dummy’s chest. Despite how many times he was asked, and how hard he tried, he couldn’t do anything different. Janice said they’d keep working with him, and eventually he’d be able to do it. She reassured him, before squeezing his shoulder and leaving him to his fruitless endeavors. Despite his frustrations, he worked as hard as he could, to no avail. Two weeks later, however, he was told to attend a particular seminar. Janice seemed sure that he would learn something significant from it. He was dispirited, but attended, all the same. He had entered an auditorium filled with Brothers and Sisters, feeling immediately out of place. Even so, he focused his attention on the center of the room and waited for the professor to begin. 

“The Holy Light is born of righteous thought and feeling,” Professor Heather explained as she hovered over a wounded soldier on a stone table. The trainees gathered around the table all did their best to focus, though Kyrahn could tell they were bored. This was a rather basic lecture- what was so new about it?

“This is why we pray daily, to center our minds and hearts on what is righteous and good.” The healer swept her hands up and down over the soldier’s body. Kyrahn grimaced as his gaze fell once more on the man’s bruises and bite wounds. They said gnolls got to him- he barely managed to hobble back to the Abbey.  

The trainee priests fidgeted, nodding distractedly as they watched Heather the Healer work her glowing hands over the wounded soldier’s bruises.

“It is in righteousness that this man be healed, in the name of the Light. Evil struck him in the forests of Elwynn last night, but the holiness of the Light has seen that he be brought here to have these wrongs corrected. Without balance like this, Azeroth would descend into chaos. For everyone here, we have the unique mandate to restore that balance where it was once lost. All actions in this world must have their consequence.”

The light from her hands faded, then she looked up at her bored students. “…Of course, this isn’t new to any of you.”

“Yeah, uh… what’s the catch, professor?” Asked one of the female students. Kyrahn never noticed her until then- he spent most of his time segregated in the men’s dormitories when he wasn’t training.

Heather straightened from the sleeping, wounded patient and snapped her fingers. “Guards? Bring them in.”

The doors to the central chamber opened, and in walked three armored Stormwind guards, tugging heavy chains. A long string of gnolls entered behind them, their furs matted in blood and their desperate snarls echoing in the wide chamber. There must have been twenty of them. Among the usual male warriors, some of the gnolls were distinctly female. Some were greyed and grizzled with cataracts in their white eyes. Others seemed too young to be dangerous, with their frightened puppy eyes and whimpers.

Kyrahn’s heart sank when he saw them. He looked over at Heather, eyes wide.

“Today is not your usual healing lesson.” The professor continued. “Today, we will learn how to wield the Light to bring justice to the unrighteous.”

“You brought their women, elders and children.” Kyrahn blurted before anyone else could speak. Some of the students quirked their brows at him. Most of them never even heard him speak before. The ones that have knew he never said more than one word a day. Usually “yes” or “no” in response to questions, but never an entire sentence. 

Heather smiled when he spoke up.

“This is some sort of test, right?” Jackie said where he stood near Kyrahn.

“We must focus our hearts on righteousness. Just as the Light can heal in righteousness, it can kill in righteousness. It can sear through flesh, cut through sinews, dig its way into organs. It can build up bodies or tear it away. It is up to you to determine what is righteous here.”

She waved her hand towards the chained and struggling gnolls.

“I’ve assigned each gnoll a number. Now, come here. Take a paper out of this bowl. The number you receive is the gnoll you are to deal with.” Heather proceeded to place a small bowl upon the edge of the stone table where the patient still lay sleeping.

Kyrahn felt a droplet of sweat on his brow. He looked up at the gnolls, now noticing the brands burned into their foreheads.

One by one, the students walked up to retrieve a folded paper from the bowl and opened them.

“Now, go and introduce yourself to your gnoll.”

The number “3” looked up at Kyrahn from the paper. He swallowed thickly, then walked up towards the line of chained gnolls with the rest of his peers. The gnolls thrashed in their chains as they watched the priests. Some of them snarled and drooled.

Number 3 was perhaps the youngest gnoll Kyrahn had ever seen. It reminded him a little bit of a Labrador puppy he saw someone bring into the Abbey once. It had mottled brown-and-black fur framing huge, terrified eyes.

He swallowed, but his mouth was dry and his throat hurt with the effort. All the priests around him just stood and stared at their gnoll.

“All these creatures have a basic grasp of Common dialect. They are not unintelligent savages. They have their own culture and their own societies. However, these beasts continually harass Azeroth as well as their own kind. They do not live in harmony with themselves or the world. It is debatable if they are even capable of feeling love. Instinct, perhaps… but not love.” Heather spoke as she walked up and down behind the students, pacing slowly.

“This is the entirety of a small tribe that was once camped several miles north of here, in the woodlands along the sea. Their chieftain has already been slain, which threw them into disarray. Before his death, this tribe was responsible for kidnapping and killing ten Stormwind soldiers to our knowledge. If this tribe is allowed to live, it is likely they will assimilate into a different tribe, and continue their violent way of life. They are a threat to the safety of Elwynn.”

Heather stopped pacing when she was centered with the group, her arms folded behind her back.

“It is only just that they are slain before they can continue their lives of violence. Reach into that justice, and smite these creatures with the Light’s holy wrath.”

Kyrahn looked around, sweat now dripping down his forehead and long nose. Some of his peers were staring into the eyes of their gnolls with a fierceness in their faces, their breaths quickening in a rage as their hands began to glow.

Others stared at their gnolls uncertainly. The women, the elders, and certainly the babes.

Standing right next to him was the blond, Jackie, his gnoll a young female with a bulge in her belly. He looked about as uncomfortable as Kyrahn felt.

“Me no want die.” He heard a gnoll whimper.

“No die. No die. Take to human prisons. Chain forever. No die.” Another female cried.

“Aaygh, aaygh! No prison. Kill, kill instead.” One of the males growled. “Kill, now. Get done with."

Heather said absolutely nothing. Some of the students looked over their shoulders, as though waiting for further instruction, but Heather gave none.

Then, one of the students cried out in a rage, his hand shooting out into his gnoll, grasping it on the skull. The Light burned and seared into it and it howled. The room filled with the sickening scent of burning hair and flesh. In moments, all the flesh on the gnoll’s head and muzzle was seared off, its eyeballs falling from whitened sockets as it slumped in its chains.

The initiative he took seemed to encourage other students to attack their helpless gnolls. One by one, they began dropping like flies. Some of the gnolls whimpered and wailed as they watched their families die. All the men fell. Two elders were killed. Three women.

But there were a few priests still standing, staring at the remaining of the women, the children, and the elderly.

Kyrahn’s breaths were coming in quick, desperate gasps as he looked at his fellows in the room.

“Well, you heard Heather!” Growled the man who had first struck. “Kill all of them! These creatures will bring suffering to Elwynn!”

“But some of them haven’t even done anything…” Muttered a nearby woman. She must’ve only been in her teens. “I mean… look at her. She’s so old… she couldn’t hurt anyone…” The girl looked over at Gnoll 17, her grizzled white fur so long it fell in front of her silent face.

“I bet she hurt someone at some point in her miserable life.” The gruff man responded, walking up to his peer briskly. “Here, I’ll do it for you!”

“No-!”

But it was too late. A flash of light filled the room and the elderly gnoll fell.

The gruff priest-in-training was taking steps towards Jackie now. Number 4, the pregnant Gnoll, looked wildly towards the approaching menace. She struggled in her chains, moaning, “no… no…” Number 3 began wailing and reaching for the pregnant one, his grubby paws tugging at his chains as he blubbered.

“Hey, back off, Derick!” Jackie said, standing his ground as his peer approached, shouldering past the stunned and silent priests.

“Either you kill her or I’ll do it.”

“Stop it!” Jackie protested.

Derick raised a hand to strike, but he wasn’t aiming at the gnoll, nor was his hand glowing. He hit Jackie square in the face. “You’re all cowa—"

Derick stumbled backwards, a smoking mark on his face.

Kyrahn lowered his hand. He hardly realized what he had done until moments later. He had struck a classmate with the Light.

And he didn’t stop there.

He struck again. And again. Each searing slash of light hurtling towards Derick, hitting him in his body, his face, beating him down.

When the others realized what was going on, they started to shout. “S-stop! Stop him!” 

“No. Don’t stop him.” Ordered Heather in a loud voice. “This is a lesson on justice, after all.”

Kyrahn stopped attacking Derick when he realized the other priest was raising his hands in surrender, but he couldn’t speak, for he was spitting at blood. Kyrahn didn’t give the man at his feet another look, instead, he turned to the chained Gnolls and grabbed at the iron rings.

They began to melt in his hands, pooling in a shiny silver on the floor.

“Go, get out of here!” He told the gnolls.

The female gathered the child up in her arms and ran. The guards started to stop them, but Heather raised her hand in a signal to stay.

The gnolls didn’t look back as they left.

three 

Neither Kyrahn or Derick were penalized for their actions that morning. Both of them received very good marks.

Kyrahn sat in the hospital wing next to Jackie and his broken nose. He was pinching it with his thumb and forefinger over a silk cloth while they waited for a more experienced healer to look at it. The healers were currently busy patching Derick up- Kyrahn was trying not to think about it.

“You’ve got balls, after all.” Jackie said.

Kyrahn fidgeted.

“…You didn’t have to stand up for me like that, you know.” Jackie murmured, his voice decidedly nasal.

Kyrahn shrugged.

“But we’ve- I’ve… I’ve been a real jerk to you.”

Kyrahn didn’t say anything.

“You know…” Jackie said with a weak chuckle. “This whole time I thought the only words you knew were ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Why don’t you ever talk? You’re fooling us all with all your acting stupid and stuff…”

Kyrahn opened his mouth, then shut it and shrugged. A silence fell over the hospital wing.

“Where did you come from, anyway?” Jackie asked quietly. “I mean, most of us are here because our parents sent us, or we got drafted, or we just genuinely want to study the Light. I mean, personally, I came here because my parents are assholes and I wanted to live somewhere else, you know? But you…” He hesitated, looking over at Kyrahn’s sunken features. “Janice brought you here out of nowhere, wouldn’t tell anyone where you came from or why you were half dead when you were dragged in.”

When Kyrahn didn’t reply, Jackie kept talking.

“She disappears a lot, sometimes for weeks. Always studying from weird books when she thinks no one’s looking. Don’t think we haven’t noticed. Most of the guys think you were some kind of unusual patient of hers, like… some of the others she brought back from her long trips into nowhere.”

Kyrahn looked over at Jackie, one of his eyebrows raising.

“The general consensus around the Abbey is that she fixes them. She finds people who are hurt, uh, in the heads. And she fixes them and sends them away. I guess she hasn’t fixed you yet?”

Kyrahn shook his head. “She just told me to stay here and be a priest, so I did. She hasn’t talked to me about my memory loss much.” Jackie frowned. “So it is memory loss, then?” Kyrahn nodded.

“Damn. I’m sorry to hear that.” Jackie breathed, leaning back in his seat. “Man, what I wouldn’t give to lose some of my own memories…”

Kyrahn looked down. “It isn’t pleasant.” He replied. “Sometimes I still have dreams, but they don’t make any sense.”

“Yeah, you talk in your sleep all the bloody time."

Kyrahn frowned. “…I keep having the same dream.” He began carefully. He didn’t follow up with an explanation. This was more than he had spoken to anyone in this Abbey since the day he woke up, and he wasn’t sure if he felt like talking more.

“What’s it about?” Pressed Jackie.

Kyrahn didn’t respond for a while. The sounds of the healers working behind the closed door in the waiting room were all they could hear. Five minutes passed before Kyrahn finally spoke again. “I’m angry about what happened with those gnolls.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“The world is very black and white to me.” Kyrahn said. “But what happened back there. It felt evil to me, but to many of the others, they thought what they were doing was right. And both of us could use the Light through that. I thought the Light only worked in righteousness, but I felt that Derick was being very unrighteous.”

“Scary, isn’t it.” Murmured Jackie. “Yeah, I… I’m bothered by it too. It seems like if we believe we’re justified in what we’re doing, we can use the Light. Doesn’t matter if it’s really justice or not.”

Kyrahn nodded wearily before slowly beginning to speak. “I can’t stop thinking about it. What if they all deserved to die? What if that female and her pups would grow up to kill someone because I let them go?”

“I dunno, Ky.” Jackie paused. “You mind if I call you Ky?”

Kyrahn shrugged, staring off at the wall. A disturbing series of thoughts crept into his mind. What if he had just enabled further murder by saving those helpless creatures? And he had attacked a student to save them, too.

He looked down at his palms. Unscathed, pale flesh looked back at him, but he couldn’t help but to imagine them covered in blood. Red, dark, dripping ceaselessly to the ground. A sudden thought pierced through his consciousness like a spear. The dead in the red hall.

You know what justice should be? You should be dead.

Kyrahn flinched as though struck. Justice for what? What did he do? Why did he keep having that dream? And why did this… overwhelming feeling of shame wash over him? He felt as though he had gotten away with something he should not have done, but he did not know why.

A pang of self-hatred needled into his heart. He must have been shaking, because Jackie spoke to him then.

“You ok?” Jackie asked him.

At that moment, one of the healers opened the hospital door, and a rather disgruntled Derick stumbled out. He gave Kyrahn a rude gesture before stomping his way down the hall.

“Next!” A healer spoke, and Jackie was gone.

The teasing stopped, but Jackie couldn’t be bothered to speak to him in public. Kyrahn supposed it was because he was afraid of losing status with his friends. He didn’t blame him for that.

Besides, poking fun at him was bound to get old eventually. Kyrahn relished the silence that followed, and he was back to being treated as he was after he had woken up and assimilated into their society: completely ignored.

At least, that’s what he thought, until the whispering started.

Occasionally, as he was making his way between classes and prayer sessions, he would hear some of his peers murmuring in the halls. This normally wouldn’t be of importance to him if he didn’t hear something that sounded distinctly like his name among their hushed voices as he passed. They always grew silent when they saw him.

Sometimes, he would intentionally hide behind a corner to hear if passer-bys were talking about him. More often than not, he was just wasting his time. He’d hear gossip about this girl or that, some reports about murlocs or brigands,  or general how’s-the-weather talk he had come to loathe about social types.

But some days, he would get lucky.

He heard several voices, mostly women, talking as they made their way back from the dining hall.

“I heard that Janice has the power to erase memories.”

“Really? I didn’t think the Light could do something like that.”

“It can’t! But I hear some terrible things about shadow-magics. You think she might be dabbling in dark arts!?”

“That’s possible. She’s pretty creepy and weird.”

“Anyway, I heard she did it to Kyrahn.”

“Wot, the eunuch?”

“Yeah! I heard he was some kind of trial run for her. An experiment.”

“That explains how strange he is. Poor guy must have his head all empty and blank.”

“But get this. Get this. I heard she did it because he’s some kind of criminal. Some of the boys say he talks in his sleep, says some rather alarming things.”

“Like what?”

“Like… things that sound like ‘are you dead’ and ‘did I kill you?’ Usually stuff about something or someone being dead. It’s like he’s fixated on it, or something.”

“He must have not had his memories wiped, after all.”

“How do you guys even know if any of this is true? I don’t see anyone asking him what he thinks."

The voices came louder as they neared the hall where Kyrahn was standing, listening. He stood until he could not wait any longer before he quickly walked away, hopefully in time for them to turn the corner and see no one there.

When he was safely out of sight, a flurry of emotions welled up inside him. He felt confused, betrayed, and disturbed. Was Janice really the reason he had memory loss, or were these just the theories of bored gossipers? Did he really talk about death in his sleep?

Was he some kind of killer?