Korgig grunted as he shifted in the hammock, which caused the infernal contraption to overcompensate for the movement. It had not been a smooth night for the orc. Finally, he opened his eyes, yielding to the idea that he wouldn’t be able to sleep. And who could? The inn lacked walls and he was unable to shield himself from the light of the moon. A moon that seemed larger than he had ever seen.

After a snort, he exited the hammock and landed on the wooden floor of the hut to retrieve his equipment. Perhaps a walk would help to calm him and allow him to think about what was causing this shipwrecks. Venzolo’s theory was that an elemental was to blame. It wasn’t such a far fetched scheme.

Slow, yet loud, footsteps brought him down the wooden steps to exit the inn. As he walked toward the sea, it was no calmer now than it was easier. The swells and waves created quite a racket. As he moved along the pier he looked out over the “angry sea” as the troll called it. He could understand why it was deemed so.  The Mag’har was impressed by the sheer power held in nature. It was one of those things that was impossible to stop. A rumble lay in his throat as the moon caught his eye once more. It’s light provided an interesting backdrop against the remnants of ships that littered the water’s surface.

“You can’t fight the sea.”

A voice entered his mind, one that had become far more familiar since his return from Ashenvale. One he was growing to despise. “Don’t tell me what I cannot do!” The Mag’har’s Ire rose immediately, he was not a man who accepted failure before the first attempt.

"Attacking the sea. It's a fool's errand."

Korgig did not accept that, of course as he snapped back at the voice, "Coming from a dead man who tossed his life away? That's a fool!" The mag'har chuckled and shook his head, quite pleased with himself. "If I hadn't Keenblood, and many others would've fallen that day." The voice's response was not a pleasant one and it caused Korgig to clench his jaw. This had been the way things usually went between the two. Arguing and stubbornness.

"The sea reminds me of myself. It also reminds me of you, orc." The Mag'har looked to his left and growled, though there was no one standing there the voice seemed to be coming from that direction inside his mind, "I am not wet!" He snorted at that finding it to be a stupid phrase.

The voice remained silent for a moment. Perhaps not wishing to get into a shouting match, or trying to quell its own anger for the moment. "You see the waves. The power to tear ships asunder? Much like you. Strong." A grin started to form on the Mag'har's lips, quite enjoying the flattery that came from that. "Strength! I am strong! I'm the strongest orc I know!"

The voice almost sounded as if it made a thoughtful sound, "And for all that strength and power, the waves are not where the greatest danger lies in the sea..." This made Korgig's brow furrowed as he attempted to understand the meaning behind that. "You mean the sharks." the orc nodded matter-of-factly, agreeing the sharks and others beasts within the waters could be more dangerous than the waves.

"Wh- No. Not sharks. Though the power does lie beneath the surface." Korgig grumbled at the voice, both the confusion and the riddles it spoke were frustrating and annoying. He could've just said what he meant, but instead he spoke around corners. The Mag'har knelt down at the end of the pier and looked to the sea below, as if that would provide some sort of answer. It provided little aside from his own dark reflection. "Large turtles?"

There was another long silent pause before the voice continued, "Currents. The currents that reside below the water's surface. The ones that can't be seen. Undertow." The orc snorted and nodded, that was to be his next guess. At least that's what he told himself, "The waves are more damaging than currents!"

"The waves can destroy ships, but the undertow drags sailors to a watery grave. It is a force that is near impossible to fight once it has a hold on you. Much like your own. It pulls, drags you down, unseen." Korgig was suddenly more confused than he had been a few moments ago. Perhaps the spirit was drunk. He didn't know if spirits could be drunk, but this one made little sense to him. "Explain?"

Finally seeing the orc fall into a calmer, more thoughtful state it decided to continue, "Those you have failed. The weight of those failures will drag you down until it feels like you can no longer draw breath. It's already started. Those elves? It started there, and it will continue."

Korgig rose and a rumble started in his chest, "There was no failure, I just need a bigger shield!" If he had a bigger shield, he would've been able to survive the sudden attack by the bear man, it was definitely the shield's fault and not his own.

"Hotah. Muuran. Okunn." Three names which immediately sent the orc into a frenzy of anger, "Do not lay their weakness at my feet! They fell because they were weak!"

"If you had still been standing...Perhaps then the guilt wouldn't be dragging you down."

Korgig grumbled at that, deciding not to look at his reflection in the water any more, "That is not my burden to bear." He had fallen into lying to himself about it, though he couldn't deny it. Those thoughts had been eating away at him and he found the best way to avoid them was to keep himself occupied. Idleness allowed it to creep into his mind.

"It is a burden you chose when you accepted Gar'mak as your own." the orc's shoulders rolled as he glanced down to the sword hanging at his side. He remembered what the elder told him months ago in Ashenvale when it was inspected. His message was cryptic, but the orc understood it far better in this moment. "Blade or no blade, it's not a burden I want!"

The voice remained silent for what seemed like an eternity to Korgig, though it finally cut through his mind once more, "If that's true, why shield a tauren? That was a choice you made. Whether good or bad, it was your choice." The Mag'har didn't respond to that remark. It was a decision he made and one he wouldn't have done differently if given the opportunity. Even with the injuries and failures that followed, there was a brief moment where it felt right. Something beyond shielding a clan's warchief, in his mind.

As he looked at the wooden boards beneath him something caught his eye and he reached for it, "If you had an ass I would kick it." He retrieved what appeared to be a large triangular tooth, possibly from a shark or an orca. He assumed it was left here by Shadowprey's fishers. The voice finally fell silent, and Korgig took that as a victory, though it didn't feel like much of one. He took another glance to the sea as it raged, and lowered his gaze as if in an attempt to see the currents below. He couldn't, but he imagined them in his mind's eye. There was value in this lesson, though it wasn't a lesson that left him any less troubled. If anything, moreso.