The Lord and the Wizard

Once upon a time there was a young and arrogant elven nobleman, a son of one of the lords of Quel'thalas. He ruled from his palace in the woods and was well known to people in and outside his domain as a boor and a snob, not to mention a dangerous minor tyrant who wielded his influence as if he was a petulant child.
One day, the lordling was chasing after a pretty young maid who caught his fancy when he stumbled upon an elder Quel'dorei slowly making his way to a nearby village. Angered that the elder had spoiled his sport, the lordling shouted curses at him and kicked the old man in the mud. "You old cripple!" he screamed, "How dare you stand in the path of your betters?! Where the lords go, the rabble kneels and gets out of the way!"
The elder pushed himself calmly up to his feet and uttered the words of a curse, pointing a finger at the lordling. "A true noble would not waste te day chasing women who don't want him," he said, "A true noble would not abuse those who would be his subjects," he continued, "You are no lord, you are a monster!" Then the curse was upon the lordling, transforming him from a handsome young elf to a hideous monstrosity, completely unrecognisable from his former self.
Horrified, the lordling fled straight to the palace, his home. The guards, however, did not see their master, but instead a screaming madman, hideous and twisted, demanding to be let in. They barred the door against his entrance and treated him like an unwanted vagrant. For days, the lordling lived in the shadowy corners of his own domain, begging for scraps and trying his best - and failing - to convince his house staff to let him home. He had lost everything and was overcome with despair.
One day the twisted wretch who had once been the lord overheard some of those who had sworn loyalty to his house speak about his disappearance. "Good riddance," they said, "The boy was a tyrant in the making." Soon after, the lordling was approached by the very wizard who had transformed him into a monster. The wizard said he thought the lordling had been punished enough and offered to change him back.
The young elf refused. He claimed he now knew he did not deserve his post and Quelthalas was better with him absent. The wizard took pity on him and reversed only most of the curse, transforming the lord's visage from monstrous to simply scarred and blemished. He then bade him to go into the world and that as he proved himself more worthy the scars and marks would fade, eventually restoring him to his former appearance when he was truly ready to accept the mantle of an elven lord.
Category:Story