Two-Headed Ogre

"Is everything ready?" Gul'dan asked impatiently. Not far away, Cho'gall shook his head twice. The enormous Ogre grunted, his powerful arms holding up the last fragment of Rune Stone.

"Now it's all right!" he shouted, placing the Rune Stone in the designated spot and rubbing his shoulder with one hand.

Gul'dan nodded. It had taken several hours to dig out a single Rune Stone. Breaking it into five pieces and then getting to this clearing had taken even longer. Fortunately, the Doomhammer allowed him to use some Ogre to accomplish this, and Cho'gall could command his one-headed, foolish brethren more easily than any Orcs. The Rune Stone fragments were still enormous and heavy; it took two Ogre to lift one. Gul'dan pondered absently how the Elf had initially moved the intact Rune Stone back to their original positions. Perhaps magic, or perhaps tools.

The stones were finally placed in the correct position, forming a five-pointed star. Gul'dan made a gesture, and the other three Orc Warlock each took their place beside one of the Rune Stone. As always, Gul'dan believed in the possibility of success, but he couldn't guarantee that nothing would go wrong. However, he was completely confident that if it failed, he would survive unscathed.

He nodded to Cho'gall, who then yelled at the Ogre who had gathered together. After a shoving and grumbling, one of them stepped forward. Cho'gall roared orders at the Ogre, who listlessly shrugged and walked into the clearing between the stones. He stood in the very center of the pentagram and waited, motionless. One advantage of Ogre is that they don't make any unnecessary movements after executing a command. If there are no other orders or they aren't hungry, Ogre can stand still for hours, like statues. This is also thanks to their low intelligence.

Gul'dan raised his arm and began to summon the dark energy bestowed upon him by the demon lords. This energy filled his entire body, and he poured it into the Rune Stone directly in front of him. Cho'gall stood at the back, and he and the other Warlock each chose a stone in front of them to infuse with energy. When all the stones were filled with power and began to vibrate, Gul'dan concentrated and recited a short incantation. More energy arced from his fingertips into the Rune Stone, but this time, the energy flickered through the stones in front of him and leaped to the nearest stone to his left. It continued to leap to the next one, and then to the next, and then to the next, until it returned to the stone in front of him. All five stones were connected. The sky above the altar darkened, gathering heavy energy that then formed a massive storm, but the Ogre remained motionless.

Now, Gul'dan channeled the power from these stones into their midst, surging towards the towering creature. The dark energy struck the Ogre squarely. A black halo enveloped him, and to the naked eye, the Ogre almost vanished. Gul'dan exerted more force, more energy swirling into the sphere, until he could only vaguely make out the Ogre's outline. His arms trembled from fatigue and mana depletion; Gul'dan was barely holding on.

A few minutes later, the halo began to dissipate, and the creature standing in the center, instead of vanishing into thin air, slowly revealed itself. Before everyone still stood an Ogre, except for Cho'gall. However, this creature had changed; it was larger than before, its arms stronger, and its legs less bent, making it appear more agile. Then, the most significant change was that it now had two heads.

Two-headed Ogre are extremely rare in Draenor. They are larger and stronger than their kind. Worshipped by other Ogre, Cho'gall was one of them. He proved to be intelligent enough to be a mage. Gul'dan found this two-headed Ogre when he was young and trained him diligently. Cho'gall was a reliable assistant and a powerful Warlock, accompanying Gul'dan to this day. Now, Cho'gall is no longer unique.

The new two-headed Ogre turned and stared at Gul'dan, seemingly indicating that he was the leader here.

"What am I?" he asked, as one head spoke while the other looked around.

'His language skills are far superior to those of the average Ogre,' Gul'dan thought. 'You are an Ogre,' the Warlock leader replied. 'Or perhaps an Ogre Mage.'

"An Ogre Mage," the other head asked. "What does that mean?"

"Stop, this is stupid!" Gul'dan looked at him impatiently. Did he have to explain to him what a mage was? "It's one of them, something like that." Gul'dan pointed at Cho'gall, then bent down, picked up a leaf from the ground, and handed it to the two-headed creature. "Take this."

The Ogre's movement in handling the leaf was astonishing, indicating a significant improvement in his dexterity. "Now, concentrate on the fire, its heat, and the flames," Gul'dan told the Ogre.

The Ogre's two heads frowned as they examined the leaf. Then they nodded, first the first head, then the second.

"Very good," Gul'dan said gently, not wanting to disturb the creature's concentration. "Now bring the fire into reality. Let it appear on this leaf, let the flames burn fiercely through it, let the heat warm your skin as if it were igniting your fingers."

As he stared, a spark suddenly appeared in the center of the leaf, then quickly transformed into a small flame that spread hungryly in all directions. Within the flame, the leaf withered and turned black, then crumbled into a pile of fragments, which were carried away by a gentle breeze.

"I'm an Ogre Mage, right?" the Ogre said, sounding pleased. One head opened its mouth and laughed. The other wore a slight smile, though it seemed a little slow to react.

"Yes," Gul'dan replied, equally pleased. "You are one of us."

"What do you mean by 'one of us'?" the creature then asked, his other, less energetic head furrowing in thought.

Gul'dan sighed. He had no choice but to patiently explain everything; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to properly utilize this increasingly powerful creature. This took quite a while; it was the first time Cho'gall had seen Gul'dan so patient. As the Warlock explained, the Ogre Mage listened quietly, absorbing everything.

"You created me," the Ogre finally said. This wasn't a question, but a fact. "I will serve you. Your affairs are my affairs. What do you need me to do?"

Gul'dan was overjoyed; this was exactly what he had hoped for. He had a bond with the two-headed Ogre created by his own magic. This creature was completely loyal to him! He gestured towards Cho'gall.

"This is Cho'gall," Gul'dan explained. "He, like you, is a trustworthy assistant and an Ogre Mage. He will explain to you everything we've been doing here, and your name."

The new Ogre lowered his head. "Thank you, Master," the slightly melancholy head said as the creature approached Kog'Gar. Cho'gall instructed the new Ogre Mage before using the altar once more. Each use would create another two-headed Ogre. While converting all the Ogre was unlikely, if even a tenth possessed sufficient intelligence, he could summon another altar and infuse it with the same energy. Gul'dan chuckled inwardly. He could convert all the Ogre in the Horde, and Gul'dan was certain Orgrim wouldn't stop him; for the Doomhammer, these were all more powerful forces. Most importantly, the new servants wouldn't reveal their true allegiance prematurely, unless the time was right. A sinister glint appeared in Gul'dan's eyes.

"Next up is the Death Knight!"

Gul'dan laughed again and then turned and left.

Cho'gall stayed behind to speak with the new two-headed Ogre. There was still much work to be done, and their attention wasn't on their surroundings; even Gul'dan was too preoccupied with the chaotic energy at the Storm Altar to sense the activity in the surrounding bushes. Nathanos had witnessed everything that had just happened, from the moment the Ogre walked towards the center of the altar.

He didn't miss a good show; of course, Nathanos was shocked by Gul'dan's power. That Ogre was the best proof—a Warrior and a mage, magical energy had transformed the Ogre while simultaneously granting him mastery of magic. Nathanos had just conducted an experiment himself, trying to ignite a leaf using Gul'dan's method, but he didn't achieve the same result as the Ogre.

"This is truly a powerful ritual. It seems the Alliance is in for some new trouble."

The humans remained standing, silently observing Cho'gall and the remaining people continue the transformation ritual. Finally Nathanos concluded that the ritual was extremely risky. Of the thirty-odd Ogre, only six survived; the rest were blasted to ashes by the energy.

Cho'gall stopped the ritual only when the power of the Rune Stone was exhausted, and then left with the newly born Ogre Mage.

"It seems there's nothing more to do here," Nathanos said, then slowly retreated and disappeared into the jungle.