Rebrath Earthshatter

Rhine awoke with a start. The joyful sounds of children playing had shattered her sleep. She could hear the familiar clanging of blacksmiths outside the tent; the craft was being done in the open space in front of the chapel. She was now in her own bed. Shaking her head to clear her hazy consciousness, she wondered how long she had slept. As she stretched her arms, a sharp pain sent a shiver down her spine. The injury on her right hand reminded her of what had happened yesterday. Rhine sighed deeply. She had thought it was a dream, but it was real: a plate-armored Undead Warrior, a robed Death Knight, and a nimble Undead female Stealth. She herself had fought that Warrior, and she had lost.

She rolled up her sleeves and saw that her wounds were already bandaged several times. Besides that, there were bruises and small cuts from parrying attacks. Her memory was hazy and sluggish from just waking up. She wrapped herself in a robe and walked out of the tent.

She found her Tauren friend, Rebrath the Earthshaker, negotiating the price of repairing his shoes with a blacksmith. He was always elusive, wandering the dangerous Plaguelands, but Rhine was still happy to see him. Like her, Rebrath wasn't a formal member of the Argent Dawn; he came from the Shaman organization Earthen Ring and was a powerful Shaman. Seeing Rhine, Rebrath ended his conversation with the blacksmith and slowly walked over to greet her.

"Thank you, Elements, you seem to be alright," he said. Rebrath's low, slow voice carried a sense of relief and concern. Rhine blue eyes looked directly at him, just as they always did. In response, she smiled and covered her mouth with her hand, surprised that her injury seemed to no longer be a secret.

As she ran her fingers through her emerald green hair, her eyebrows arched as if asking a question.

"You already know? But I probably won't cry about being hurt."

"Everyone who saw you said you were injured. You were asleep when I got back. I checked your injuries, and the elementals told me you encountered Undead, but it wasn't an ambush." Rebrath blinked in disbelief. "You recklessly attacked them, didn't you?"

"I should say I encountered them," Rhine replied. The hazy memories slowly became clearer. "I encountered them on the main road back." She shrugged and shook her head slightly. "They were very strong; they were definitely not ordinary Undead."

"I don't know exactly what you went through," the Tauren replied. "But it's fortunate they didn't kill you." Rhine smiled; she had guessed what Rebrath was going to say.

The Tauren scratched his back lightly with his thick fingers. "But why would there be Undead on the main road? This doesn't make any sense at all."

Rhine looked at his injured arm and frowned. "It is indeed very strange, and you know what, Rebrath, the three Undead I met were really special. They were not mindless corpses. They knew how to fight, had their own thoughts, and the way the three of them were together was like... like travelers."

The Tauren looked at her questioningly. "And then?" he asked.

"Hmm..." A hint of doubt crossed her face as she said, "Just when I was about to be defeated, one of the Undead stopped the Undead was attacking, saying something like, 'Keep your distance.' The one who wanted to attack me immediately stopped."

Rhine knelt wearily on her ankles. Memories of the violent conflict washed over her again. Rebrath's gaze fell on her crystal-blue eyes, and he nodded solemnly.

"It seems they never intended to hurt you."

"But... why?" Rhine asked, puzzled. "Isn't the purpose of the Undead to annihilate life?"

"That is indeed strange." Rebrath stroked his chin. "Perhaps you should tell Maxwell about what happened to you."

"What? Why?"

"I spoke with him once," Rebrath replied. "I asked him if the duty of the Argent Dawn was to exterminate all Undead creatures. He immediately denied it."

"And what was his answer?" Rhine asked curiously.

"He said the Argent Dawn is dedicated to resisting the invasion of evil forces, and for this, they will unite all forces that can be united. At first, I didn't think much about this statement, but your experience has made a connection between the two, and I think... you should understand what I mean."

"You mean..." Rhine stared wide-eyed at the Tauren. She felt her thoughts freeze for a few seconds, as if she were breathing. "But how is that possible?"

Rebrath's powerful jaw tightened noticeably. "There might already be a problem at this point. The Argent Dawn has embraced people of all races." He said, his gaze shifting to another direction, where a Dwarf and an Orcs were flexing their muscles.

"I approve of this approach, but being too enthusiastic can cause problems. Some people will never be able to stand on the same side as us," Rhine said coldly.

"That's an inadequate statement. Don't forget the deep-seated hatred between your people and the Orcs during the Three Great Wars," Rebrath echoed with a smile. Rhine's home was also in Ashenvale, where she had fought against the Orcs, standing up to resist when those green-skinned behemoths began cutting down trees. Now, times had changed, and she could allow herself to fight alongside her former enemies.

The Night Elf shook her head. Despite her sympathy for the Undead who had fallen to the Scourge's clutches, she still didn't understand, and she suspected this kind of thinking would lead to disaster. "I know what you mean, Rebrath. Orcs were once controlled by demons, like those resurrected martyrs now, but can their fate be the same as the Orcs'? Can they break free of the Lich King's control? Can a figure like the Warchief rise to lead them?" Rhine asked anxiously. "And... are the living willing to fight alongside the dead?"

Rebrath sighed deeply, slowly raising his head as several birds flew overhead. "This isn't just your question, Rhine. If some Undead have broken free from the Lich King's control, if there's a powerful leader to guide them, that's something he has to consider too. This is the world of the living. The Undead exist in a twisted form of death, their appearance and the disasters they bring to this world disgusting to the living. Yet, they were once good, and there might be a possibility of them regaining their true nature after death, but that hope is extremely slim, not because they are Undead, but because the living might extinguish their hope."

Rhine blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It's incomprehension, it's rejection," the Earthshaker said heavily. "If you were resurrected after death, not controlled, but simply existing in a different form, your respect for the Elune would remain as pure as ever, and your love for nature would remain the same. But when Elune no longer responds to you, when nature refuses your touch, how would you feel?"

"I can only pray that things don't turn out that way," Rhine said earnestly. "I can't imagine it. That kind of despair is truly cruel."

"Yes," Rebrath replied.

The Night Elf and the Tauren fell into a brief silence as she pondered the conversation. Suddenly, she remembered a question that neither of them had been able to answer at the beginning: why did those three Undead spare her?

Rhine felt her heart pounding, a terrifying thought racing through her mind. Rebrath had suggested she perhaps tell Maxwell about her ordeal. The Night Elf Druids was now certain she really should speak to the leader of the Argent Dawn.