Krivax glared at the village of murlocs—situated on the smaller island south of the Isle of Spears—as he stood safely behind Masruk and the band of tuskarr composed of warriors from both Kamagua and the nearby village of Iskaal.

Thankfully, they had been able to successfully ambush the group of patrolling murlocs and hide without attracting attention. However, they did not have much time before the murlocs discovered something was wrong, so they would need to act soon.

The White Shark Tribe’s newest leader had recently been leading the murlocs to attack Kamagua’s fishermen, and several tuskarr had already been killed. Murlocs had always been one of the deadliest threats that Kamagua and Iskaal faced at sea, but that threat had grown enough recently that the tuskarr had decided to launch an attack on the village that housed the tribe’s Chieftain.

While Krivax and Masruk were not necessarily required to participate, Krivax found himself wanting to help despite the danger to himself. The tuskarr had treated him well, and Masruk had even become acquainted with one of the fishermen who had been killed. As far as he could tell, the murlocs had no other intentions other than killing fishermen and stealing their food and equipment.

When Krivax had asked Wumni if diplomacy with the murlocs was possible, the shaman merely looked at him strangely and told him that all the attempts that the tuskarr had made in the past had failed due to the frogmen’s constant hostility.

Krivax believed that if diplomacy were possible, then the peaceful tuskarr would have found a way to negotiate an agreement with them a long time ago.

Since peace was not an option, then Krivax might as well help them fight. Besides, Kamagua had agreed easily to arrange an introduction to the Moa'ki clan without asking for anything in return, aside from the continuation of their trading agreement, so Krivax felt like he owed them one.

Krivax could feel his tension increasing as Kagonut and Chieftain Atuk quietly gave instructions to the group of grim-faced tuskarr warriors. Once the tuskarr was sufficiently prepared, Kagonut turned his attention to Krivax and, with a determined expression, gave him a single nod, signaling that it was time to start the assault.

Krivax returned the nod and telepathically directed the two flyers that were by his side to fly over the village.

Once they were there, Krivax instructed them to drop the arcane silk bombs they were carrying, which resulted in an explosion of arcane energy that managed to injure several murlocs and tangling up more in webbing. Krivax had spellwoven much more magic into those bombs than the ones he used when sparring with Masruk.

While the murlocs were disoriented and screaming amongst themselves in their strange language, Chieftain Atuk released a bellowing war cry and led the tuskarr warriors’ charge on the village.

While the Chieftain was not Kamagua’s most powerful warrior, his leadership greatly increased the morale of the warriors present.

Their speed increased dramatically as Elder Wumni pounded her gnarled staff onto the ground and cast magic that increased the strength of the tuskarr warriors. Once that was done, the elderly woman began to throw bolts of lightning from her hands that instantly killed any murloc that they hit.

Masruk stood back to wait for an opportune moment. He would be able to charge much faster than the tuskarr, so it would be wise for him to wait as support.

The charging tuskarrs smashed into the confused murlocs like an unstoppable wave of violence.

The much heavier tuskarrs pushed their way into the center of the village and began skewering murlocs with their long spears or simply trampling them with their weight. While murlocs were extremely dangerous and agile in the water, they were much less of a threat while on land.

Krivax was casting Frost Bolts in the direction of the murloc spellcasters when he felt the murloc Chieftain exit his hut and step onto the battlefield with a gurgling war cry. The murlocs who had been panicking and were moments away from fleeing into the ocean suddenly attacked the tuskarr with a savage ferocity.

The murloc shamans also cast their own spells to increase the speed and strength of their own warriors, enhancing their own forces with magic while also blasting at the tuskarr with water and earth spells.

Every tuskarr suddenly found themselves defending against two or three murlocs who jumped at them with primitive weapons and razor-sharp teeth. The murloc Chieftain himself was a hulking creature who wielded a well-crafted harpoon that had obviously been stolen from a tuskarr.

Chieftain Atuk and Kagonut immediately focused on trying to kill the murloc Chieftain, and Masruk charged at full speed and spear first into the largest group of murlocs.

From there, Krivax lost himself in the tide of battle as he frantically cast Frost Bolts at any murloc that he could. Several times, murlocs turned their attention to him only to find themselves fixed to the ground by a well-timed Frost Nova and then quickly killed by Orfus, who had been assigned by the Chieftain to protect him.

Krivax distantly noted that the flyer he had sent to distract the murloc Chieftain during his battle had been killed.

Finally, just as he was starting to tire and his Ice Barrier was beginning to strain from absorbing stray hits, the murlocs broke and began wildly running to the ocean. Krivax turned his attention to the murloc Chieftain, only to see his corpse hanging from the end of Kagonut’s spear.

Krivax pushed down the bile at the back of his throat and made his way to Masruk. Once he verified that his friend was alright, Krivax moved to assist the tuskarr in tending to their wounded.

Thankfully, nerubian silk made for good battlefield bandages.

A part of him had been expecting the tuskarr to celebrate their victory, but he saw nothing but solemn expressions on the tuskarr as they tore down the murlocs’ huts, recovered their stolen items, and collected their dead and wounded.

As Krivax made his way back to Kamagua with the rest of the group, he couldn’t bring himself to stop thinking about the corpses of the dead murlocs and tuskarrs. It didn’t help that some of those murlocs had been killed by him personally.

The moment Krivax realized where he had been reborn, he started to mentally prepare himself to witness scenes of violence, but watching a murloc bite off pieces of a tuskarr was not something he was ready for.

“Krivax, are you alright?” asked Orfus with a concerned expression on his face. “I am not well versed in your people’s body language, but you seem uncomfortable.”

Masruk walked to his side, offering his silent support.

“I’m alright, Orfus,” said Krivax, attempting to reassure the tuskarr warrior. “I just… was not fully prepared for that.”

“Was this your first real battle?” Orfus asked sympathetically.

“Yes, but I’ll be fine. I’ll just have to get used to things like this.”

“I understand,” Orfus said kindly. “Some of the younger warriors have trouble adjusting after their first battle as well. You’re doing very well for your first time.”

“Thank you, Orfus.”

“Just remember, while we should always strive for peace, sometimes there are no other options other than to fight,” said Orfus. “When those times come, we must push aside our reservations and fight with all of our might to protect what we hold dear. The world would be a better place if more people were as empathetic as you, Krivax, but that is unfortunately not the world we live in.”

Krivax took a moment to absorb those words before thanking the tuskarr and turning his attention to his friend.

“How are you feeling, Masruk?”

“I am well,” Masruk said evenly. “Warrior Nishalmis made considerable efforts to acclimate me to such violence before I was allowed to go to the surface.”

Krivax didn’t like the sound of that, but it was to be expected. Even though the Warriors of Azjol’Nerub had not experienced war for millennia, they still made active efforts to be ready for anything and dealt with the occasional outbreak of unfriendly underground creatures.

According to Masruk, the Warriors had even increased their training in recent years, though he did not know the reason.

Soon enough, their group made their way back to the village and the surviving tuskarr warriors reunited with their worried families while the Chieftain informed the families of the deceased about the fate of their loved ones.

Thankfully, natural tuskarr hardiness meant there was nothing among the wounded that was so serious that required Wumni’s magical attention at this time.

Krivax knew there was nothing for him to do here, so after telling Masruk where he was going, he decided to follow Wumni as the old woman made her way to her home since she had not spoken at all after the battle was over and he was a little worried about her. Mana exhaustion was not an unknown thing among nerubians after all, and given her advanced age, it might mean that Wumni was very tired out after helping in battle.

As he made his way through the village, Krivax made note of all the changes that had come to Kamagua over the past month.

Many of the villagers were now wearing clothing that was partially composed of Flameweave silk, and some of the buildings had even used silk to reinforce their structures. Krivax could also see many more metal tools than he remembered there being when he first arrived, and nearly every single boat near the docks contained nets and ropes made of nerubian silk.

Most importantly, those nets helped dramatically increase the amount of food that the fishermen could bring in.

Until today, Krivax had watched as the tuskarr steadily grew happier as their standard of living increased due to their ability to trade with the nerubians. The shellfish were well received by the leadership of Kilah’Kuk, and Hadix had assigned most of his Division’s idle administrators to handle trade between Kamagua and Kilah’Kuk. There was even some attempt to expand upon the goods that were traded with the surface world in the form of useful herbs and other potential alchemical reagents from local flora and fauna.

The skitterers that had been sent to Krivax were now almost permanently running spatial bags to and from Kamagua, and the Surface World Research Division had more funding than ever before.

It was a shame Krivax’s status as a baseline nerubian and his relative inexperience limited the number of flyers and skitterers that he could reliably control, even with the artifact. He would feel much safer if he had a swarm of the creatures protecting him at all times.

There had been an attempt to use flyers to transport goods, but after the first few spatial bags were lost to wandering proto-dragons, Krivax decided it would be best if they stuck with the skitterers.

Only time would tell how far this relationship would be able to grow.

Krivax entered Elder Wumni’s home without announcing himself, as he had learned that the shaman was able to sense his approach. Once he saw her, he could see that the Elder had just finished drinking some manner of potion and seemed to be gathering what looked to be items for a ritual.

“It seems like you’ll be able to watch one of our funeral ceremonies before you leave,” said Wumni after a moment of silence.

“Leave?”

“The spirits have informed me that Green Island will be arriving tomorrow,” said Wumni. “You have learned our language and earned our trust. Once Oomailiq has finished his preparations, you will leave for Moa'ki Harbor. Orfus will accompany you to facilitate the introductions.”

Krivax recognized Green Island as the name for the giant turtle that facilitated travel between Kamagua and Moa'ki Harbor. He didn’t know who Oomailiq was, but he assumed that they were the person who steered the turtle boat. Orfus being sent to accompany him was also no surprise.

After the tuskarr understood how significant establishing trade relations with Kilah’kuk would be to their village, Orfus decided to engrave a spider in his tusks to commemorate their first meeting.

For some reason that Krivax did not understand, that seemed to be enough for the tuskarr Elders to favor sending him to deal with nerubian related affairs.

The day after Hadix had ordered Krivax to make finding evidence of the lands across the sea his priority, he had gone to Wumni and the Chieftain and requested their aid. While Wumni was a bit suspicious and insistent on Krivax learning their language, they both had ultimately agreed to arrange for introductions with the Moa'ki clan so that he could ask them about the foreigners who they traded with.

Unfortunately, neither one of them knew exactly when Green Island would return, since it left not long before Krivax and Masruk showed up. Apparently, it took representatives from the other tuskarr villages home after a visit to Kamagua, so he had been forced to wait in Kamagua until the turtle arrived.

Thankfully, despite his earlier intensity, Vizier Hadix seemed willing to wait and was much more patient than Krivax expected. However, he had not forgotten the Vizier’s threat to find the evidence himself without giving any regard to their relations with the tuskarr, so Krivax had been growing more and more anxious with each day that Green Island failed to arrive.

But now, the turtle boat was finally about to arrive, and the time for Krivax to depart from Kamagua was fast approaching. It was a bittersweet feeling.

He would miss giving rides to Karfu and relaxing with the peaceful and kind villagers, but he knew that it was time for him to move on.

“Thank you,” Krivax said in gratitude, bowing despite the shaman’s distaste for formality. “We appreciate the help you’ve given us, and both I and Masruk have enjoyed the time we’ve spent in Kamagua.”

“You say that as if you’re never going to return,” Wumni said with a scoff. “With trade between our people continuing to increase, I doubt this is the last we’ll see of one another.”

Krivax sincerely hoped that to be true. If it were not for the looming threat of the Lich King, he wouldn’t mind continuing to spend time in Kamagua.

One day, I’ll come back here, Krivax vowed to himself.

“Come with me,” said Wumni as she began to walk out of the house. “You fought side by side with our warriors. You should watch as their spirits are guided to their statues.”

Krivax followed the shaman as she slowly walked through the village and made her way to the families of the deceased. He watched as Masruk and the surviving tuskarr warriors helped the families gather some personal effects to place next to the large stone head statues of the deceased. The bodies themselves had already been taken elsewhere so that the families were not forced to see them.

Tuskarr believed that it was not good for families to see the bodies of their loved ones if they were in poor condition. They instead preferred to visit them at their statues and remember them as they were.

The walk to the statues was a short one as they were placed in a nearby quarry so that the villagers could more easily reach them. It also helped that the materials to build new statues were also within reach.

The closer Krivax got to the statues, the stranger things started to feel to his magical senses. The energy that was given off by the statues did not feel like anything Krivax had ever felt before, and it gave him the impression of almost being… alive.

He could even feel one of the statues in particular scrutinize both him and Masruk as they drew closer.

He dearly hoped that the tuskarr ghosts living in the statues had a good impression of him.

Thankfully, whichever spirits were responsible for guarding this place had either already been informed about him and Masruk, or they were able to sense the lack of hostility the living tuskarr had towards them.

Once everyone arrived at the quarry, Chieftain Atuk did not waste any time before starting the funeral proceedings.

The first parts of the funeral were remarkably normal, in that the families were invited to say good things about the departed in front of everyone and then present the sentimental items that would be placed next to their statues.

Krivax was half expecting the objects to be favored weapons—given that all three of the deceased were warriors—but Orfus informed him that their weapons would be left for their descendants. Until recently, the tuskarr did not have enough metal for them to be able to justify losing perfectly good weapons and tools.

Once each of the families was finished presenting their items and telling stories about their loved ones, Elder Wumni stepped forward to oversee the next part of the ceremony.

The bodies of the deceased—who were covered with blankets made of animal hide so that the families would not see them—were brought before the old shaman as she prepared her ritual tools.

Krivax watched with rapt fascination as Wumni began to chant in a strange rhythmic language that he did not recognize. It sounded nothing at all like the tuskarr language, and Krivax felt himself grow curious about its origins. The only part of the chant that Krivax could understand was the frequent calls to Karkut, the tuskarr god of the dead.

He couldn’t help but feel distinctly uncomfortable as translucent figures began to rise from the corpses of the deceased and floated into their respective statues.

Krivax found himself wondering what, if anything, separated this from necromancy.

Once the ritual was complete and the spirits were safely transported to their statues, it felt to Krivax as if the entire quarry was gleefully welcoming the newly arrived tuskarr.

As the families went to speak with the statues of their loved ones and Krivax and Masruk followed everyone else back to the village, Krivax felt conflicted. Although attending a funeral was a morbid end to his stay in Kamagua, he was grateful that he had been allowed to attend.

Not only had the unusual ritual been strangely beautiful in its own way, but it had shown him that despite his metaknowledge, he truly knew little about this world and its magic. Krivax wished he was able to stay in Kamagua longer and learn more about their magic and statues.

I really hope that I’m able to keep my vow to return here one day.