Fear

"Maicomarlon, what's wrong with you? Hey, hey!" A series of loud shouts pulled Malone back from his daze. He focused his eyes to see Teron Gorefiend shaking his shoulders vigorously.

"Wha... what is it?" Malone stepped back, breaking free from Teron Gorefiend's grip, and asked with a frown.

"You're the one with the problem! Maicomarlon, what just happened to you? I called you over and over and you didn't respond, just like a dead man." Teron Gorefiend said earnestly, seemingly forgetting that death knights were dead men to begin with.

"I..." Malone opened his mouth, but felt only a bitter taste within—what had happened? He himself wanted to know the hell out of that!

The series of conversations with the "God of Video Games" made Malone understand his current situation.

--He finally realized that whether it was being thrown into another world or the magical power he had obtained, in the face of true punishment, he would always be nothing more than a tiny, powerless mortal.

The situation was clear. From now on, he would live in fear—Malone told himself—because he didn't know when a group of Bronze Dragons might appear before him, tear him limb from limb, or simply make him vanish entirely.

The only way to avoid such a fate was to play the role of "Maicomarlon" perfectly, so as not to cause any changes to the timeline of the world of Azeroth.

But the problem was that Malone had no idea how he was supposed to do that.

--Had Maicomarlon participated in this war? What role did he play in it? Malone didn't know how to replicate such a character, especially when he had no idea what Maicomarlon had actually done.

Even if he knew, it would be difficult—how could one person completely become another?

Malone knew it was simply impossible.

Even if he knew how many human soldiers Maicomarlon had killed in the great battle of the Hillsbrad Foothills, was he supposed to do the same?

Even if Malone could overcome his conscience to protect himself and strike at the humans of Azeroth, would he just stand there like a fool on the battlefield after hitting the required kill count? Could he even perfectly replicate how many people to kill at exactly which minute after the battle began?

More importantly, what if Maicomarlon died—Malone didn't know what Maicomarlon had done, but he could confirm that the first generation of death knights were not long-lived; at the very least, they wouldn't live until the time Arthas became the Lich King.

Even if Malone succeeded in the one-in-a-ten-thousand or one-in-a-billion chance of replicating Maicomarlon's life without causing any timeline changes, would he also die when Maicomarlon was supposed to die?

Of course not—Malone wasn't that stupid—but if he didn't die at that time, what was the point of everything he had done before? Things would change sooner or later anyway.

Malone understood what his punishment truly was—just like those low-level characters leveling up in Stranglethorn Vale, never knowing when they might be killed by an opposing faction dropping from the sky, he too would live in eternal fear until his presence created a "butterfly effect" that altered a point in time, leading to his total eradication by the Bronze Dragonflight.

"Heh..." Malone let out a mocking laugh, laughing at his own previous naive thoughts.

Helping humans defeat the orcs? Saving Anduin Lothar from death? Stopping Arthas from purging Stratholme? Preventing the Scourge from spreading across the world of Azeroth?

All of this seemed like bullshit now—Malone knew that not only could he not be a "savior," but he had to... sit by and watch it all happen, because it had to happen.

Malone knew all the important events that had occurred in the world of Azeroth, and he also knew what he could actually do now.

Two paths—Malone thought of two countermeasures, perhaps he could delay his doom as long as possible; as for the end of this world, Malone couldn't care less about that.

The first option was to intervene in these events, doing everything in his power to ensure they proceeded smoothly; for example, with Anduin Lothar, Malone had to ensure that Orgrim Doomhammer could kill this commander of the Alliance here at Blackrock Mountain; for example, with Arthas Menethil, he had to ensure that Arthas could carry out the purge of Stratholme, and before that, Malone would have to ensure the plague-ridden grain was transported into Stratholme, all while knowing exactly what it was...

It sounded too terrifying, and Malone felt he couldn't do it; yet this was an active choice, and only by doing so could the Bronze Dragon Nozdormu believe there was no need to correct the timeline here.

Setting aside the burden on his conscience, Malone also knew this would be very risky; while he could maintain the initiative, he might also overplay his hand and end up causing the very timeline changes he feared.

The other option was passive—Malone could distance himself from everyone.

Stay away from the Alliance and the Horde, stay away from all conflicts. After all, he was a death knight; he shouldn't need to eat or sleep, so he should be able to survive even if he left everyone behind, right?

Just do nothing, participate in nothing. The Alliance and the Horde, the Burning Legion and the Scourge—none of it would have anything to do with him. He would just avoid everyone and live a lonely life in the deep mountains or the wilderness.

Doing this would surely minimize the changes to the timeline—Malone thought—and perhaps after decades or even centuries, the Bronze Dragons would never discover his existence.

The world of Azeroth would remain as it was: conflict, peace, slaughter, alliances... everything would be unrelated to him, and he wouldn't even be a bystander.

But if he did that, could he really survive?

There were no televisions, no internet, no computers in this world, nothing at all... living alone was far from as easy as it was for those shut-ins back on Earth.

That kind of loneliness might drive him insane long before the Bronze Dragons ever found him—Malone thought.

"Teron..." After thinking for a long time, Malone finally spoke.

"What is it?" Teron Gorefiend looked at his companion with concern.

"Nothing." Malone shook his head.

In truth, Malone had wanted to ask Teron Gorefiend what he would choose between life and death; however, he quickly realized there was no point.

Not to mention that this guy might just say something like, "For the orcs to live better, for the Horde, I can gladly die," what was the point of asking others about such topics?

Malone decided to make his own choice—he would survive, and he would survive in the safest way possible; he decided to leave, right now, immediately. He would leave Blackrock Mountain, leave the orc camp, and contrary to his previous plans, he would head south, to Stranglethorn Vale or Elwynn Forest, and live forever, all alone, like a hermit in the secluded jungles.