First Arc: The Orc: Chapter 1

It was cloudy that day. The ashen sky looked like it wanted to wage war with the graveled ground. The muffled sounds of battle reverberated off the mountain side, while the crashing and clanging of weapons echoed throughout the leaf-less mountain forest. The human troops were rallying after making a successful flanking maneuver on the orcs, who were now on the run. The orcs were retreating back up the steep mountain, through the dead woods, toward a cave that they had been making raids from on smaller villages in the area.

The chief orc gritted his teeth angrily as his warriors retreated, many falling to his human foes. He pulled back his deadly bow and sent another arrow flying through the air…

"Thwack!"

The arrow lodged itself deep into the breast plate of an unlucky human. His blood poured out his back and chest plate like a river during a monsoon. The unlucky human's body fell over instantly dead, shot through the heart.

"Fall back to the cave!" The orc chief bellowed to his troops as they continued their retreat.

The orcs made a brief break in their shambled defenses as they scrambled to escape the humans in the cave's labyrinth of tunnels. The orc chief guarded the backs of his troops, shooting and killing any human within range with his fearsome bow.

Finally, the last orc limped into the cave, his leg almost severed off. The chief looked on with distain as a blood trail followed the hapless orc. Rivulets of blood dripped, unchecked down his leg and onto the stony ground. This orc wouldn't live long.

The humans quickly surrounded the cave's entrance. They were now prepared to make their final attack to finish off the orcs, but now only the chief stood in their way. He fired his last arrow at a human who ventured too close. The shot resulted in striking the human's shield with such force that it knocked the human onto his back. Yet the humans were relentless and pressed forward.

He threw his empty quiver at the charging enemy and broke his bow over the head of one of the humans, who crumpled into a pile of unconscious metal and flesh. The chief roared angrily at the rest of the human forces; he wasn't defeated yet! Backing way skittishly the rest of the humans kept their distance to avoid the maddened orc.

"Who's next?!" Roared the chief as he pulled out his massive black scimitar from his back sheath.

"That's enough men. I'll take this filth on." Announced the captain of the humans while stepping forward from behind some of his men. "This will be quick and then we'll take out this orc infestation and its cowardly chief, who seems to have run away into the mountain and left this sucker to fight in his place." The captain said smiling and pointing his broad sword at the orc with mock pity.

All of the men chuckled wickedly, ready for a show of slaughter. For they knew that their captain, though a bit cocky and not the tallest of men, was an excellent swordsman.

"Well, looks like you're a stupid human and soon to be a dead one as well." The orc quipped challengingly. The orc then said while gripping his scimitar tightly and aiming the blade at the captain's head, "Killing you won't take long."

"Oh, I'm stupid? I'm not the one loosing this fight or am I missing something here?" The captain said giving a smirk and looking around at his forces.

The soldiers were laughing a little harder now and starting to feel more confident. Edging forward cautiously, they looked for an opening to strike and kill the orc.

"The chief is not hiding in the mountain; he's standing right here in front of you. You stupid cur!" The chief growled as he hefted the scimitar with both hands in front of him ready to fight. "And now you'll all die!"

The chief orc lunged forward at the captain trying to skewer him through his middle. The captain jumped back caught off guard by the orc's sudden assault. The orc slashed at the captain again and again, while the captain backed hastily away from the orc's furious assault. The captain was only just barely able to dodge and parry the ferocious onslaught.

The captain was backing away from the chief's advances, slowly leading him further away from the cave's entrance. He smirked as he gave a small glance past the orc. Catching the captains gaze, the chief quickly glanced over his shoulder.

A few human soldiers had slipped behind him and were starting to enter the undefended cave entrance. The orc chief, in desperation, swung his scimitar at the captain as if to cut him in half, forcing the captain to jump backwards. With that same swinging motion, the orc chief used this momentum to swing around and attack one of the undefended backs of the human soldiers who was entering the cave.

His scimitar made bloody contact with the unfortunate human's side, nearly splitting him in half. An instant kill.

"No one enters this cave alive!" Bellowed the orc.

Then placing his foot on the dead humans side, he pulled his blood-stained scimitar from the lifeless body. He then turned quickly swinging his scimitar into the faces of the soldiers, who in turn quickly jumped away from the entrance to avoid being killed by the enraged orc.

Then the captain saw his chance as the chief turned his back away from him. He smiled with triumph and charged at the orc. He was just about to stab the orc in the back, when the orc suddenly spun around with blurring speed. With a downward arc, the chief slashed the captain across his face from his left temple, across his right eye, down through his nose and jaw!

Warm blood poured freely across the captain's shocked face; he fell to the ground screaming in pain while clutching his face. His sword clattered uselessly to the ground. Victoriously, the orc stepped forward to finish him off, kicking the captain's sword out of reach. The chief orc raised his scimitar above his head with both hands to strike and swung down without hesitation to cut off the captain's head!

But, just at the last second, the captain rolled out of the way and the scimitar crashed deep into the gravely ground. Rock fragments and dust flew in every direction at the scimitar's massive impact. With a scrambled, desperate crawl the captain tried to put some distance between him and the orc.

"Well, you're a lucky one." The chief orc said giving a heavy sigh while pulling his scimitar out from the ground. "But I guess you were all bark and no bite."

The captain backed further away as some of his men ran forward to protect their captain from the orc chief's menacing blade. An evil grin spread on the orc's face as charged the men, blade first. Their heroic actions were quite futile. They fell before him like wheat before the sickle, however, their loyal actions gave the captain a chance.

He was able to find his sword and catch his breath. As he collected himself, all the wounded captain could do was watch in shock as his loyal men died-one-by one in battle.

Blood had flowed over his right eye, blocking most of his vision. Metallic tasting blood drained down through his nose and into the back of his throat before going into his mouth. He could barely speak, much less fight in his condition.

Seeing this, one of the men yelled out for a retreat. What men were left, retreated out of the chief orc's reach. Several bloody and mangled bodies lay on the stony ground around the orc's feet, never to rise again.

"Was that all you pathetic humans could throw at me?" The orc chief yelled breathing heavily. He had a few cuts and scrapes from the battle, but such minor injuries wouldn't slow him down.

"I'm not done yet!" The captain yelled back, as he wiped away some blood dripping from his face. He grimaced as the pain stung him worse than anything he had ever imagined.

"So, it would seem." The chief said kicking a dead human out from under foot.

The chief was about to pursue him but stopped when a deep throated horn groaned from deep within the dark cave. The orc spat at the captain and gave the captain a look of disappointment. It was almost as if he was upset at not being able to finish the fight.

He turned to retreat into the cave, but before he did, he glared at the bleeding captain and boasted in his deep, gravelly voice, "Your overconfidence will get you killed. So, enjoy that new face I gave you. We will finish this later. Remember my name, Chief Helgrath the Defiler of the Kamawzan tribe and fear it!"

He then slipped off into the cave's mouth, disappearing into its cold darkness. The captain fell to his knees clutching his ruined face, as more blood blocked his eyes, mouth and throat. His blood had an overwhelming taste, like iron juice, that was causing him to gag.

He was about to cough out the command to pursue the orcs, but suddenly, without warning, the cave entrance exploded! Sending out a shower of dirt, rocks and boulders crashing with great devastation into the human ranks. A massive rock sped right toward the captain's face and then…!

"Ahhhhh!" The captain screamed as he bolted up out of bed breathing heavily. His whole body was now covered in a cold sweat. He sat shaking in the bed, with his clammy hands wrapped around his head trying to calm down.

"It was just a dream this time! It was just a dream this time!" His shaky voice was all that could be heard as it echoed in the dark.