Khel

## Description

normal-ass looking orc in the screenshot tbh

## Humble Beginnings

   "What is honor to you?"

As Khel wiped his brow he cursed the musty heat omnipresent within the cave his mentor called home. It was dark, save for a few torches spread about the walls just enough to provide the barest semblance of vision. Its winding tunnels and maze-like qualities proved frustrating to navigate, but at least the task he had been given was fairly simple: follow the tunnels to the very end and meditate.

Khel pondered the last thing he’d been asked before being sent inside. To pose such a question to your own kindred... was it not obvious?

They are Orcs, among the mightiest of all races on Azeroth. They paint fields of battle red with blood and die gloriously should they fall. They rush over armies of men like a raging inferno and lay waste to all in their path. To be an Orc is to forge your destiny in the fires of war and build an empire atop the ashes. In that at least, there is honor.

But his mentor was not one to ask things so readily answered.

Khel inhaled deeply, silently counting each second as he tried to clear his mind. The slow drip of sweat from his scalp suffocated and dried into dirty stains down his face from the dust he kicked up with each begrudging step. He exhaled and turned a corner.

The honor of Orcs was not the answer.

Before him was a dead end, and sitting atop a pedestal in the center of the path was a small brazier. It was lit just barely enough to give the cave around him a faint orange glow. As he grew near it flickered and waved, hungrily consuming the surrounding air bold enough to exist within its presence.

Of all the elements, Khel thought, surely Fire embodied the Orcish spirit the most. It burned bright and always craved something more to grow its power. But what of the others? Had he neglected them? Was this experience somehow an extension of the elements themselves, craving to be held in such reverence as their cousin?

Without missing a beat, a burst of wind swept passed Khel and throughout the cave. Water worked in tandem with Air and cooled his sweat-drenched figure. As he sighed in sudden relief, the brazier’s flame fluttered and struggled to consume the now violent gust smothering it. Despite its best efforts, it was small and lacked the power to bend Air in its favor. The cave grew dark and still, and only charred Earth remained to tell of what once lived.

Once again Khel was left standing in the same heat that never seemed to loosen its grip over this barren land. For a while he stood, taking in his brief experience and staring at the spot Fire had once called home. Even burnt out it reminded him of his people, of Draenor. An overwhelming force bringing low such a passionate hunger for change was not unlike how Gul’dan and his demons manipulated the clans. He spat at the name as it crossed his mind.

With nothing left but a smoldering pile of charcoal for company, he turned away. This was as much a trial as it was a simple question to ponder, and to return with nothing but a few words would only get him sent back inside.

Upon further exploring the cave system, Khel discovered the quarters of his mentor. It was a meager room, and the only thing keeping intruders out were a few pieces of driftwood tied together with some thatch. A bed sat at the far end, and a table with some alchemy supplies, candles, and parchment littered with notes was positioned nearby.

However, in the middle of the room laid a set of carving tools and a large branch perfectly spread along a ceremonial carpet. Without a word Khel set to work, and over a day’s time fashioned the proper means to answer his mentor: a small totem engraved with the symbols of Earth - the first of four to represent each element that would now and forevermore define his path in life. As he honored them, so too would they honor him, and with it bring teachings of their own.