Author's Note: The Earth Warder talks to a human warrior about his view of Azeroth and her people. Yes, based off that song from the Disney movie. I heard it on TV today, and just had this vision of these two having a conversation like this at some point. Songficish. Lyrics are not mine. Semi-AU.
All You'll Own is Earth
A human warrior walked through the now-safe, beautiful forests of Elwynn. The defeat of Deathwing had brought about much peace lately. At least, within the human kingdom of Stormwind. There were no more raids on that monster. The monster that had taken the power of both the savages in the horde and the noble alliance to bring down. And, of course, the dragonflights themselves. Deathwing would still be ravaging the land were it not for them.
The warrior had felt the power of the Earth Warder himself when he had faced the monster head on, with other heroes of the alliance. Jaina's strained face came to mind. The mage had suffered severe injuries, but it was nothing the druids couldn't handle. After handling Ragnaros in the Firelands, Malfurion had gone in to battle along with the rest of the Cenarion Circle and the Earthen Ring.
Even that...savage...Garrosh had had the Earth Warder's power flowing through him when Deathwing's time finally came. Even without the blood curse, the warrior had seen the blood rage that came upon the orc as he faced the monster that killed so many of his savage race.
Garrosh had slaughtered so many of the human's race. His people. The horde had killed them. Whether by proxy via the Banshee Queen, some vile general in Stonetalon, the supposedly "traitorous" Grimtotem tauren, the magic-addicted blood elves, cannibalistic trolls or the greedy goblins, the horde constantly sought to kill innocent humans and night elves, simply because they were alliance.
"Is that what you think, human?"
The warrior jumped and spun, drawing his blades as he did so. No one ever got the jump on him like this. His heart pounding in his chest as he faced his possible attacker, he recognized at once the Earth Warder. The one without whom Deathwing would never have fallen. Still, old hatred dies hard and he could not force himself to put away his blades.
Forcing himself to speak calmly, he addressed the Earth Warder, "What do you wish of me, Defender?" He deliberately 'forgot' to call the being in front of him an Aspect, instead calling him simply defender, since that is what he honestly thought the creature was. The last defender of Azeroth, not a true Aspect, despite his insane power over the elements, the earth.
The Earth Warder sighed. "I see. You do think that way, regardless of all that has happened, your mind is a hard one to change, human." The Aspect waved a hand. Copper light flew from his grasp, settling upon everything around the human.
"You think I'm an ignorant savage
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
How can there be so much that you don't know?"
The human pondered the creature's actions and words. So much that he did not know? It was true that he was not skilled in magic, arcane or earth-related, but that didn't seem to be what the Earth Warder was attempting to get across.
"I don't know? I think I know far more than you. No matter what powers the true Aspects gave you, you're nothing more than a savage. One of the people responsible for the death of my father, and so many other peoples' families." The warrior, no longer caring if he offended the creature, turned his back and started to walk away.
A thick tree stump in the warrior's path began to glow with the same copper light on the grass and living trees. The dead tree changed shape, almost resembling a...large hammer, or mace of some type. Whatever it was, it stopped the warrior. Almost rooting him to the spot, but not quite. It was well within the Earth Warder's power to truly root him to the ground, but for some reason, he was not employing those tactics and seemed as if he were trying to teach the human a lesson. "You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name."
"So what, shaman? Claim to be Aspect all you want, wield the powers of one, and you're still nothing but a shaman. A filthy orc shaman. A greenskin who does nothing but slaughter. As for owning the land we land on, what about Durotar? What about AZEROTH?" The human was spitting with rage now.
The shaman shrugged slightly, completely unconcerned with the human's anger, "You know of the blood curse. What it did to the orc race. We are not blameless. We accepted the blood of Mannoroth. We suffered for that. I myself did not drink of the demon's blood, but a dear friend did, and paid with his life. Many friends did. If they did not kill themselves in shame and horror, they relive those memories, every day of their lives."
The Earth Warder traced a line of copper on a nearby rock. He was kneeling in the dirt, looking every bit the ignorant savage, in the human's opinion. "I can feel your disgust, human. How can you live every day with such hatred and ignorance?" There was a light smile on the orc's face. To the human, it did not look like a smile at all. "You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew."
The human drew his blades again. Aspect or not, he was willing to fight this hated orc. Those piercing blue eyes, so uncommon for an orc, simply stared at him calmly, completely unconcerned that he had drawn deadly weapons that had helped take down his predecessor, Deathwing.
"Why would I want to walk in your footsteps, greenskin? I have learned tolerance, MUCH tolerance, of late, but I would never want to put myself in the shoes of a savage. If your kind even wears shoes. Why would I need to know anything about the earth, the elements? I have my blades. Blades that slew the former Earth Warder, a great dragon Aspect, not some orc monster."
The shaman sighed and simply waved his hand again. The copper light turned blue, swirled into a pool of water near the human's feet. The water was sparkling and clear, just like the orc's blue eyes.
"Without the earth, the elements, you wouldn't be alive. Nothing would be alive. Nothing and no one. The original Earth Warder...Neltharion...knew this as well. He helped to shape this world into what it is today. From the forests of Elwynn to the dusty canyons of Durotar...all were shaped by the magic of the earth. Could you go a week without water? Could you cook without fire?"
"I don't see what this has to do with anything. I'm a warrior, not a shaman. Warriors cannot be shaman, nor would we want to be!" The human spat at the orc. He was still held in place by the hammer-shaped totem. A rather obvious looking hammer, to be truthful, the human thought. The Doomhammer of course. The human almost laughed. Of course the Earth Warder's totems would look like that legendary weapon.
The orc just smiled, an almost laughing, teasing smile. "Warriors cannot be shaman, human? You are wrong. I was a warrior, once...just as you were. A gladiator...brutalized and enslaved by YOUR race, human. Tortured, beaten, forced to fight and hate my own kind even. One human girl taught me that all races are equal. All races can feel, can be, anything they want. I loved her as a sister. Even when another human had her head thrown at me in an attempt to break my spirit, I had seen that death isn't the end. I was angry, but mostly, I was sad. The spirit of Life taught me that we are connected to each other. Orcs, humans, rocks, trees...all of us."
The human had never heard this before. From Jaina, yes, but never from the source itself. Never had he heard the emotions in each word spoken by the orc. The sadness when he spoke of the human girl, the anger when he spoke of being brutalized by humans, and the elation when he felt the connection of the spirit of Life, of...Azeroth.
The shaman spun the pool of water with one green finger. The water twirled into the air, a miniature tornado spinning before them. The human thought he saw glimmers of faces within the silver-green tornado. For a moment, he saw his father's face, and his wife's face...the faces of the dead, yet they still lived on within...what?
"Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? You see them, don't you, human? The dead we love never truly leave us. The spirit of Life takes everything within itself. Azeroth's people are never truly gone when death takes them. They're merely a part of something larger. Something most mortals could never hope to understand. Druids come close, but shaman...shaman are the only ones capable of truly seeing into that world. The world beyond the material, human."
Though he could not ever forgive the orcs for their murder of his father and so many of his people, the human was beginning to understand a little. He knew he could never, would never, be a shaman no matter what the Earth Aspect told him. He could understand, but he could never become one. Just knowing that his wife wasn't truly gone...that he would see her again someday, within the spirit of Life, as part of it, made his antipathy for this particular orc lessen, at least a little.
"No. I know you can't forgive the murder of your father. Just as I cannot forgive the murder of the sister of my heart. At the hands of humans. And yet, I do not hate your race. Hatred has no place within the heart of a shaman. Hatred is what makes Azeroth go to war with itself."
The Earth Warder sighed again and stood up finally. He waved a hand. The Doomhammer totem vanished and the human no longer found it felt like he was moving through quicksand. And yet he did not run or charge the shaman. He just nodded at the shaman.
The shaman smiled. "You can own the Earth and still
All you'll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind."
The human looked away from the powerful Earth Aspect. He could never stop hating the Horde, but perhaps he could lessen his hate. Perhaps he could listen to Jaina for once, or even Velen. Neither felt the constant warring on the Horde necessary. Velen was almost a pacifist and Jaina was on friendly terms with the Horde, one Horde member in particular.
"Goodbye, human. Perhaps, just a little, you have learned something this day. Something from the Earth itself. Azeroth has a life and a spirit. Sometimes, you have to look inside yourself to find it."
A flash of copper light and the orc shaman no longer stood in front of the warrior, but a great dragon, gleaming with onyx and copper scales hovered above him. A few people from nearby Goldshire had screamed and come running and were now staring at the magnificent dragon in awe. The dragon bowed its great head slightly at the human and with one flap of its great wings, it was in the air and gone from sight.
The warrior realized he was staring at the place where the orc shaman...the Dragon Aspect of Earth...had once been. He hadn't realized what being the Earth Warder truly meant until now. Seeing that power...that beauty...dragons were not humans, nor orcs, nor elves...and yet they protected everyone. They protected Azeroth.
He would protect Azeroth too. Even if it did mean he had to work with his enemies.
Varian Wrynn, king of Stormwind, summoned his horse and rode back to Stormwind, still thinking of the dragon's words, still seeing Tiffin's face within the spirit of Life.