A Nerubian's Journey
Chapter 7

Fortunately, Krivax was correct about Masruk already being informed about their imminent adventure. When he arrived at the Warrior compound, his friend was already fully geared and ready to leave. After quickly double-checking that they both had all the necessary supplies, the two of them left the compound and started making their way to the city’s portal station.

As the two of them made their way through the crowds of nerubians going about their day, Krivax went over the route they would take and the potential dangers they might face. While they had already talked about it extensively, it was worth repeating.

Krivax was not expecting the route to be particularly dangerous, but those expectations were built on research that was already centuries old and imperfect metaknowledge. The worst things they should encounter before they meet the Tuskarr are shoveltusks—which they should easily be able to handle—but one could never be too careful.

Fortunately, the portal station was located relatively close to the Warrior compound, so it did not take the two of them long to arrive. The building was guarded by armored guards and administrators could be seen inspecting anyone coming and going from the portals.

Following the helpful signs that pointed them in the direction of the correct portal, Krivax and Masruk skittered past a few of the busier portals until they reached the correct location.

The portal itself looked like a tear in reality with its edges illuminated with a violet outline. With his magical senses, Krivax could feel magic being diverted from the nearest leyline, through the building, and into the portal in a constant effort to keep it from closing.

“Greetings, are you two Initiate Krivax and Neophyte Masruk?” asked the bored-looking administrator, who was presumably assigned to this portal.

“Yes. Yes, we are,” said Krivax, speaking for the both of them. Reaching into his spatial bag, he retrieved and presented his identification disk.

“I see,” said the administrator as he inspected the disk with his magic. “Barely anyone uses this portal aside from those assigned to maintaining the outpost, so your names caught my attention.”

The administrator spoke with a questioning tone, but Krivax simply pretended he couldn’t hear it and responded with the nerubian equivalent of a smile.

Seeing that he wouldn’t be getting any interesting gossip out of Krivax, the administrator seemed to lose any interest in the two of them and quickly finished processing them.

Stepping through the portal was an incredibly strange feeling for Krivax. While the transition from one location to another was far more seamless than it would have been if he was teleported, the abrupt changes to all of his senses were still very jarring.

From one moment to another, everything from the lighting to the air to the ambient magic was suddenly different. Krivax idly wondered which parts of the environment the portal was designed to filter as he and Masruk adjusted to the changes in their senses.

After they finished adjusting, they once again presented their identification to an administrator and waited patiently as they were processed. After they were done, Krivax was surprised to hear that the outpost’s Gatewatcher had sent a Warrior to escort them to the entrance to the surface.

As the silent Warrior escorted them through a dizzying maze of tunnels, Krivax could tell that the outpost was manned almost entirely by Warriors.

Soon enough, Krivax and Masruk were brought to the most heavily guarded portion of the outpost. The entrance to the surface was swarming with Warriors and protected by a fearsome gatekeeper.

Krivax had occasionally seen Spiderlords at various points over the past four years, but always in passing. The Spiderlords held positions as leaders, guardians, and enforcers of the law in Azjol-Nerub’s society, so as a young Initiate of the Circle of Viziers he’d never had reason to meet one in person.

Until now, that is.

The factors that determined the highly variable size of the Spiderlords were unknown to Krivax, but this one was truly massive. Standing at what he estimated to be at least eighteen feet tall, the giant beetle-like nerubian had a brown carapace that looked thick enough to shrug off any blade and two large scythe-like arms that could easily tear a fully grown man in two.

As the giant nerubian blocked the way and looked down at him with a searching expression, Krivax couldn’t help but feel that both the Scourge and the Vrykul must be truly powerful to defeat such terrifying killing machines.

“You must be Initiate Krivax and Neophyte Masruk. I am Gatekeeper Gruth’ib” said the Spiderlord in an extremely deep voice. “Vizier Hadix has secured your passage through these gates. Beware, young ones. The surface is teeming with danger, and once you pass this threshold your safety is nobody's responsibility but your own. Are you certain you wish to continue?”

“Yes, Gatekeeper. We are certain,” Krivax said with confidence. For a normal nerubian, this would likely be a truly daunting moment, but all he felt was an eagerness to take his first look at Azeroth’s sky.

The Gatekeeper turned his gaze to Masruk, who simply responded with a silent nod of agreement.

“Very well. Present your identification and I shall open the way.”

Krivax made to hand over his identification for the third time in the past few hours, only to hesitate.

He doesn’t have any hands… how does he expect me to hand it over?

Just when he was starting to feel awkward, the sound of chittering at his feet drew his gaze downwards.

A dog-sized beetle was wildly chittering at him and waving its two front arms in a grasping motion. Krivax turned a questioning gaze to the Gatekeeper, but the Spiderlord responded with nothing but an amused expression.

Well… okay? I hope I’m not about to make myself look really stupid.

Crouching down, Krivax handed his identification to the beetle, who immediately grabbed it and skittered away toward the Gatekeeper. Gruth’ib spent a few moments examining this disk before turning to address his subordinates.

“Open the gates.”

Krivax watched the Warriors open the gates as the beetle returned his disk. While the large black and gold gate was quite impressive, he couldn’t help but focus most of his attention on the magic flowing through the walls. Krivax was not skilled enough with enchanting to understand what purpose the magic served, but his instincts told him that any attempted invader would replace themselves quickly regretting their decisions.

Without further comment, Gatekeeper Gruth’ib moved aside with steps quieter than an eighteen-foot insectoid killing machine that weighed thousands of pounds should be allowed to have.

Seeing no reason to delay, Krivax bowed politely to the Spiderlord and started making his way to the surface with Masruk.

“Are you nervous, buddy?” Krivax asked his friend in an attempt to calm his nerves. While he should be feeling nothing but excitement, he had been working towards this for several years and now that the moment was finally approaching, Krivax couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. “This is a big deal, you know? This is the first time we’ll be on our own.”

“I believe you are more nervous than I am,” Masruk said evenly. “We will protect each other, and if necessary we have both the emergency communication device if we need help and the scrying crystal for non-emergency situations. Everything will be fine.”

The emergency communication device was a magical tool that would send his location to Hadix along with a request for immediate assistance. The scrying crystal, on the other hand, would allow him to communicate with Hadix after performing a lengthy magical ritual.

Damn it Masruk, aren’t you actually four years old? Why are you so much more relaxed about this than I am?

The two of them made small talk as they climbed the winding tunnel upwards until suddenly, the two of them took a turn and laid eyes on the surface world for the first time in their lives.

When Krivax saw the end of the tunnel open and saw the stars glittering in the night sky, he couldn’t help but completely freeze. Only the impatient prodding of Masruk to move so he could exit the tunnel as well was enough to bring him back to reality again as it truly hit him how he was on a completely alien world than the one he recalled in his first life, as evidenced by the two moons hanging in the sky.

At least Masruk was soon struck by the alienness of the surface as well, if for a completely different reason.

“How high does the ceiling reach?” he suddenly asked, honestly curious.

“Those are celestial bodies, not crystals in a cavern ceiling. They can go on far beyond our ability to comprehend.” He reminded him, still dumbstruck in his own way.

“Of course…” Masruk returned as they sat in a comfortable silence for a moment and simply took in the world around them. “Krivax, what is that?”

Krivax looked to the sky in the direction that Masruk was pointing, only to see a giant eagle—far larger than any bird that could be found on earth—flying through the night sky. If he still had the vision of a human, there would be no chance for him to spot the bird in the darkness, but nerubian eyes were well-adapted for the dark.

“That is a Duskwing Eagle,” said Krivax as he looked at the giant bird with faint awe. Even after living in Azeroth for four years he was still easily affected by such fantastical sights. It still sometimes amazed him to see the various giant bugs, spiders, jormungars, arachnathids, and other such creatures in the Empire.

“Is it dangerous? Will it attack?” asked Masruk, gripping his spear tightly.

We’re two giant spider people. I doubt there are very many predators stupid enough to attack us.

“No, I don’t think so. As long as we don’t threaten it I doubt it will bother us,” Krivax said reassuringly.

Once the two of them adjusted to their new surroundings, Krivax decided to take a look at his surroundings to see if he could replace out which direction they needed to go. Fortunately, there were a few landmarks that gave him a decent idea of where he was, namely the Whisper Gulch that was visible from the tunnel’s threshold.

That location was understandably marked with notes that read ‘do not enter’ and ‘hazardous’ on the map Krivax had drawn using a combination of the Circle’s research and his own metaknowledge.

The faint sound of waves, the scent of the ocean, and the occasional seagull also served to make the direction of the coast fairly obvious. It only took a few minutes of walking in that direction for the two of them to reach the edge of the tall cliff that overlooked the nearby ocean. This triggered another long moment of dumbstruck staring that only ended when Masruk started to ask questions about the ocean.

“So it's full of salt?” Masruk asked in astonishment. “How does anything live in it?”

“They are built for it, just like we are for the underground.” Krivax shrugged.

Now that he knew the location of the ocean and the Whisper Gulch, it was only a matter of following the edge of the cliff until they spotted the Ancient Lift that connected the Isle of Spears to the rest of Northrend.

Given they were both well rested—and it was still nighttime—it would probably be a good idea for them to both get moving. Unfortunately, Krivax was not quite certain how long it would take them to reach the village, so he had prepared a few supplies that would make the journey easier.

Reaching into his spatial bag, Krivax pulled out two vials filled with a gold-colored liquid. Krivax was fortunate that he could earn a decent amount of money through magical silk crafting because stamina potions were truly not cheap. A part of him believed he would have enjoyed learning alchemy himself… but it was more important for him to prioritize his time.

After handing one of the potions to Masruk he opened the vial and quickly downed the potion in one quick gulp. Potions often tasted incredibly strange, so it was best to drink them as quickly as possible. Immediately after Krivax finished drinking the viscous liquid, he felt a surge of boundless energy that to him felt inexhaustible.

Intellectually, he knew that the potion would only last for the night, but he still felt as if he could run at a full sprint for days.

“Let's go,” said Krivax after putting away the empty vials. “It’ll be best if we travel as far as we can during the night while most of the animals are asleep. We can set up a nest in one of the trees after the sun rises.”

Once Masruk nodded his agreement, the two of them started to move at a quick pace while following the edge of the cliff. One thing that was definitely not captured in the Warcraft franchise was how quickly nerubians were able to move due to their large size and multiple sets of legs, especially when they didn't need to worry about their stamina.

Honestly, being a giant spider person who was larger than an adult human and also able to run nearly as fast as a horse had its benefits.

As they traveled, Krivax did his best to answer Masruk’s frequent questions.

The young nerubian seemed to be interested in everything, from clouds to trees to the random wildlife that hurriedly moved out of their way. For Krivax, it was interesting to see all the animals that were present in this location that did not exist in the game, from stuff that wouldn’t be out of place back on Earth to things he didn’t even have names for. After a few hours of running, Krivax had seen rabbits, dragonflies, a strange fox thing with tiny antlers, squirrels, a few deer, and even a herd of shoveltusk grazing in the distance.

Thankfully, it seemed that he was right to assume the wildlife wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack two large predators for no reason.

Like this, the two of them managed to cover a deal of great distance as they traveled the rest of the night without interruption. It was only when the sun started to peek over the horizon that their pace started to slow.

While their potions still had a small amount of time before they ran out, the two of them could not help but be entranced by the sight of their first Azerothian sunrise.

As the darkness abated and the animals began to grow more active with the early morning light, the two of them decided to replace a tree they could build a nest in and use to get some rest. After all, it had been a long evening for the both of them.

The terrain was mostly flat and not heavily forested, so they would likely be able to see any incoming danger regardless of which tree they chose. Seeing no reason to pick one giant tree over another, the two nerubians made their way to a tree that resides on a small hill.

As Masruk started to prepare their rations so they could have a quick meal once they finished spinning their web, Krivax began to inspect the tree in order to make certain no Duskwing Eagles had already made a nest in it.

He had only just finished determining that the tree was unoccupied—and thus free for them to use—when he heard a strange bellow that sounded something like an angry boar.

Startled, Krivax turned his attention to the direction the sound came from, only to see a large shoveltusk charging the two of them and several smaller ones behind it nervously huddling together.

Krivax frantically began casting a Frostbolt while Masruk charged spear first at the incoming stag. While the adult shoveltusk was very strong, it had no chance of standing up to Masruk and Krivax.

Masruk’s spear expertly kept the territorial creature at bay and Krivax’s full-strength Frostbolts constantly smashed into the shoveltusk’s side and left it slow and injured. With a quick thrust, Masruk buried his spear into the side of the creature, causing it to collapse and spit out blood.

By the time they put the shoveltusk out of its misery, the rest of the herd was already running off into the distance.

“Good job, Masruk,” said Krivax as he looked away from the animal’s bloody corpse. It was his first time killing another living being and even if it was just an animal, he couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.

It’s fine. People go hunting all the time back on Earth. I already knew I was going to have to get used to stuff like this, so there’s no point in making a big deal about it.

“It was easy,” said Masruk. Krivax felt like he could hear some disappointment in his friend’s voice. “The shoveltusk was not very intelligent. It continuously charged into my spear even after such tactics failed already.”

Krivax ignored his battle-hungry friend’s disappointment and started to wrap the animal’s corpse in webs so they would have an easier time dragging it away. After all, it would be unwise to leave a corpse near where they intended to sleep when it could attract scavengers.

Once the two of them pulled the shoveltusk an acceptable distance away, they quickly climbed up the tree and began weaving their temporary nest.

When the tree was nearly fully covered in webs that would entrap any approaching predator, Krivax and Masruk unpacked their rations and turned to watch the sunrise. After they finished their meal and were preparing to go to sleep, Masruk decided to climb to the very top of the tree to see if he could spot any potential threats.

“Krivax, what are those?” asked Masruk, interrupting Krivax as he was busy trying to make his sleeping cocoon more comfortable.

With a slight huff of exasperation, Krivax climbed to the top of the tree so he could explain whatever this new sight was to his friend. For a moment, after he saw the strange shapes floating back and forth in the distance, Krivax had no idea what he was looking at until he suddenly remembered a particular Tuskarr tradition.

The Tuskarr flew large kites over their settlements as a way of signaling their location to one another.

Well alright then. I guess we’ll be making first contact faster than I thought.