Victory Writes History

A fragment of Agamaggan's soul turned into a ray of light and merged into Rend's body. Rend felt no resistance at all; he only felt his strength growing as the light entered him, while his skin seemed to become much tougher.

He picked up a small stone from the ground and crushed it into powder in his hand. Before, Rend could at most have cracked a stone. The blessing of Agamaggan's power was clear to see.

"Agamaggan chose you, so he must have had his reasons. Congratulations, Rend." Hamuul was the first to congratulate him. Although the other four had also received Agamaggan's blessing, theirs was only bound to the area and would lose its effect once they left Razorfen. Rend's blessing, however, was permanent. Agamaggan had directly bestowed a portion of his soul's power upon Rend, and it would remain unless it was forcibly stripped away.

"Congratulations, Rend. I thought the demigod Agamaggan would choose me, considering he already agreed to become a Loa of the Darkspear Clan. What a pity." Rokhan was as lively as ever, treating everyone equally. Otherwise, despite his formidable strength, he would not have so warmly served as a supporting player commander at the garrison. He was not truly envious when he said it. Although he was a Loa of the Darkspear Clan, Agamaggan had blessed an Orc. Other Darkspear Trolls might have had other thoughts about that, but Rokhan felt that as long as someone was a friend of the Horde, there was nothing wrong with it.

"Congratulations to you too, Rokhan. You know, no one has ever heard of a natural demigod choosing to become a Loa. Though you have Bwonsamdi, the god of death, helping you, wouldn't having another god closer at hand be even better?" Before Zandalar, Bwonsamdi rarely acted personally and had always been a mysterious presence. It was only after arriving in Zandalar that Rend learned that the mysterious and powerful god of death was actually such a foul-mouthed clown. Countless times, he had screamed in his heart, Bwonsamdi, just die already! Give me back my angel sister!

Perhaps because Bwonsamdi had no physical body, he could not help the Darkspear Clan from too far away. Or perhaps he simply did not want to help. Even Vol'jin had only used Bwonsamdi's power a few times, relying more on his own strength and witchcraft. Rend did not know whether Bwonsamdi would be unhappy over the Darkspear suddenly gaining another god to compete with him for believers, but Rend could not wait to cause that damned fellow more trouble.

Of everyone before him, Rokhan was the one Rend clicked with best. He felt a certain distance between himself and the others, people like Thrall. After all, he had once merely been a player character, while Thrall and the others had always been his leaders. Even now, he still felt a barrier whenever he met them. It was different with Rokhan. Though Rokhan was also a veteran, he was much closer to players, especially during Warlords of Draenor. Rend had spent most of his time holed up in his garrison, while Rokhan had always affectionately called him "Commander, Commander." The garrison was territory players had truly fought for and built with their own hands. Rend had always regarded it as home, and Rokhan was like the closest brother in that home.

And in reality, Rokhan's personality was very similar to his personality in the game. Though he was a Darkspear Troll, he immediately got along with Rend, an ally he had never met before, without the slightest hostility or distance between them. He truly treated the Horde's other members just as he treated the Darkspear Clan's own people. Moreover, Rokhan was genuinely approachable. His real strength far exceeded Rend's; he was the Darkspear Clan's second-strongest warrior after Vol'jin, a man who stood above all but one. Yet he was willing to serve as Thrall's direct scout. Even when facing the ogres under Rend's command, who no longer even had a lord, he showed not a trace of arrogance. Azeroth valued strength above all else. Other powerful figures, even Thrall, carried a certain pride. It might not show in conversation, but Rend always felt distant from them, unable to truly approach them.

Thrall aside, the other powerful Orcs were even worse. Orcish tempers were incredibly proud. Grommash still held hostility toward Rend, and every time he revealed even a hint of killing intent, Rend stayed far away. He knew Grommash would not really do anything to him, but the feeling of being watched by a powerful predator was simply unbearable. Rend had feared no one so far, yet he was especially, terribly afraid of Grommash. Perhaps every creature had its natural nemesis.

Among the Orcs, the proudest one Rend knew best was Warchief Varok. Rend truly admired him, but he simply could not stand that temperament. Varok was always criticizing him from the position of an elder. So long as Rend disagreed with him, Varok would say Rend was wrong and he was right. Many times, that was indeed true, but Rend really could not get along with someone of Varok's temperament. Then there was his endless talk of the Horde's glory. But Rend was not a true Orc; his soul bore the consciousness of another world. What the hell is glory? As a die-hard Horde fanatic, shouldn't he do whatever it took to seize victory for the Horde? Warriors were supposed to die glorious deaths? If another method could directly wipe out the enemy, Rend would definitely support it.

Since ancient times, China had claimed to win people over through virtue. And what had that led to? Those little brothers who submitted when they were strong turned into hungry wolves when they weakened, eager to tear every bone from their bodies. In reality, strength was the only hard truth. History was written by the victors.

Even the Heavenly Khan, Tang Emperor Li Shimin—the Tibetan Empire had invaded the Tang Dynasty first, and only sought a marriage alliance after realizing it could not win. With a grand wave of his hand, Emperor Taizong sent Princess Wencheng to Tibet, bringing advanced technologies that greatly improved Tibetan food production and weapon forging. And what came of it? It proved they had raised an ungrateful wolf. Throughout history, the Tibetan Empire had remained in constant conflict with the Tang Dynasty, invading it countless times and even capturing Chang'an City, then the world's greatest metropolis and a treasure of the world. From then on, it never recovered.

Rend had once been an avid history enthusiast and deeply understood what reality meant. What left the deepest impression on him was the so-called generations of wise Qing Dynasty rulers, the so-called Kangqian Golden Age, while the Ming Dynasty was portrayed as being full of incompetents. Was the Qing Dynasty truly so good? Was the Ming Dynasty truly so corrupt and foolish? Growing up, he had only watched three grand historical dramas: Kangxi Dynasty, Yongzheng Dynasty, and Qianlong Dynasty. They praised how wise and capable those rulers were, and Rend had once admired them deeply. But after learning the real history, he understood how false it all was. The Twenty-Four Histories were merely tools Qianlong used to consolidate his rule. The victors wrote history. The Qing Dynasty had won, so they degraded the Ming Dynasty until it was worthless. From the official histories, people could see only the Ming Dynasty's incompetence and the Qing Dynasty's prosperity.

Therefore, as for Warchief Varok's so-called Horde glory—if the Alliance became the victor and wrote the history, they could paint even the most glorious Orcs as the most despicable ones, leaving them cursed for all eternity. So glory could go to hell. Rend resolved that from now on, he would be someone who did whatever it took to achieve his goals. He only wanted to be a hero of the Horde, not a hero of Azeroth. Everything he had would be devoted only to the Horde.