Saturday, January 20, 2024
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
My latest book is now done!
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Salvation Through Death: Chapter 4 – A Righteous Kind of Suicide
Chapter
4 – A Righteous Kind of Suicide
I am dropped off at a seemingly
abandoned church that has overgrown vegetation on it by the representatives of
Corvus.
“In death, there is salvation,”
they say to me before bowing their heads and leaving.
I say the same back and head into
the church. Looking around at the outside, I see that the vegetation is all
thorny, which reminds me of the plants back home. Further inside, the artwork
depicting death, crows, and decay is also of Corvus. To be honest, I was
unaware that we had our own churches outside of our kingdom since it was agreed
among all kingdoms that we’d attend the local churches and not carry over
foreign ones so that we don’t fight over semantics, especially since the
liturgy between all cultures is the basically the same and all masses said in
Latin. In the back of the church lies a sealed doorway. Beside it is a large key-like
hole. Hmm. The keyhole is a weird shape. I could probably put my entire arm and
then some in it. Ah! I think I know what the key is.
Using my sword as the key, I can turn the lock and open the door at the same time. Trying to get my
sword out results in the door closing so I’ll have to leave my sword in the
lock for now. Here, I find penitents and more of my own people who are praying,
cultivating little bits of fruit and vegetables in the inside gardens, and keeping their weapons
sharp. When they see me, they bow their heads. It surprises me to see more of
my people here. Their presence here must mean that there’s something incredibly
important here besides the monstrance in the adoration room.
Two of my people completely cloaked
in black at the end of the long hallway silently point me to the door behind them
while they bow their heads. Going into the room, I find a guillotine, nooses,
crucifixes, swords, and all manner of weapons of execution. The two people who
were by the door close the door behind me as I understand what is going on. I
go to the guillotine, kneel by it, and put my head through the hole where my
head is supposed to go.
“When I bring down this blade, so I
pray that this poor sinner will merit the grace of eternal life,” one person
says behind me before the blade comes down and cuts my neck.
I remember everything I went through in this moment that feels like forever. All my mistakes, the opportunities I
could’ve taken to do better, and the times I was less than charitable, repent of all of them and then feel a weight lift off me as if my entire body
was weighing me down. With my death done, I remove my head from the hole and stand up as a new man.
“Congratulations on your death. May
you now live as a more perfect vessel for God’s will,” both people cloaked in
black say to me with their heads bowed.
I bow my head in return and walk
past them. Everyone in the church is on alert and arming themselves because of
some approaching danger. When they see me, they bow their heads and
walk behind me as I lead them to meet whatever or whoever is here. What I find
meeting us is a large group of bandits comprised of beastmen, ratmen, orcs, and
other rogues from other kingdoms.
“If you are here for any other reason
than to repent, then you should leave or your only mercy will be an agonizing death
that will make you regret your sins,” I say.
My words have only seemed to amuse
the rogues as they laugh at me.
One of the men approaches me with a
confident expression on their face and says, “Hah! We’ve come to erase this
church and the people within it since you’ve been causing us and our friends so
much trouble, and uh, don’t you think you should have some kind of weapon on
you before you threaten us, mister one-arm?”
“I am the weapon, a weapon of God.”
The armor falls off my remaining right arm. I plunge the decayed arm into the ground and make thorny vines that are larger than horses come out of the ground and strangle the sinners around us. From the thorns also come poisons and armor and flesh-eating acids both of which give them equally painfully slow deaths. As for my people and I, we are unaffected by the poisons and praise God for this ability they have given me to use to protect us and ask God to give these sinners the humility to repent, to sacrifice the part of themselves that is full of pride and sin because, in death, there is salvation.
The End
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Salvation Through Death: Chapter 3 – A Hero Even in Horror
Chapter
3 – A Hero Even in Horror
I come across a band of orcs along the way to my next destination. They ask me if I know about a group
of rogue orcs and I tell them about the one that I took out with Fadil. The orcs
moan, yell out, stomp, and hit the ground in frustration at this until their
superiors calm them down.
“This is our just punishment for
not keeping those people in line,” an orc commander says before turning to me. “Thank
you for putting down our lost and delivering justice to them. What is your
name?”
“Dunmire,” I say.
“Thank you, Dumire. Even though it
is our tradition to take care of our own mess, we thank you again and again for
your help and will reward you for your help.”
I agree to take their offer and
head with them back to their camp. The camp has walls of stone that protect it
and buildings made of both stone and wood. Its inhabitants are mostly sparring,
tending to their equipment. When I walk into the camp, I hardly attract any attention
other than just a passing glance to acknowledge my being here. The orc
commander gets me a plate full of meats, vegetables, and a side of large fruit
and then asks if I would like whiskey, vodka, wine, beer, or just plain water.
“Just water. I’m not in the mood to
drink since I have to be on my way. Oh, and I’m sorry that I won’t be able to
finish eating all of this. I only have the stomach to eat the plate of fruit,”
I say as I sit down at a table with the orcs.
“Huh,” the orc commander says while
the other orcs around me look confused. “To us, this is considered a meal that
will carry you through long battles. Does being part corpse mean that you have
a small stomach?”
“Yes, it does.” The orcs look even
more confused at me as if they’re trying to see if I’m being serious or not and
whispering about if I’m being offensive. “These are some pretty large fruits.”
“Everything in Bernhard is larger
than what you can find here. Its people, food, churches, armies, and so on. I
can see that both our peoples have a common love of large weapons.”
“Yes, but the quality varies.”
“Excuse me?”
“A weapon like mine could kill me
if you cut me enough times with it. Yours? I’m not too sure. Simply hit my
fleshy left arm to see.”
“My pleasure,” an orc says as she
picks up an axe.
I hold out my left arm and the orc
strikes it. The iron from the axe bends but doesn’t break and I exhale from the
impact. Looking at my arm, I see a visible cut, which will heal in an hour.
“Impressive. The weapons I’ve been
hit with since coming here haven’t had the slightest effect on me until now,” I
say.
“That goes to show the quality of
orc weapons,” the orc commander says.
The orcs have always been an aggressive
people who would go to war at the slightest provocation even before they were
transformed into the muscular green people with jagged teeth they are now.
Seeing them now makes me wonder as to what they would do in times of relative
peace where there are hardly any battles to fight.
“What is the purpose of this camp?”
I ask.
“To eliminate rogue bands of orcs,
to aid nearby human and elven settlements, and whatever else our general
commanders ask us to do,” the orc commander explains. “What about you? What’s a
corpse like you wandering around these woods?”
“I’m on a path of death that will
kill part of me that is weak to sin,” I say.
“But why specifically out here?”
“God only knows. I follow in the
vague direction that I can interpret from the silent voice of God.”
“I don’t think I would be able to go
on a quest like yours. I don’t think any of us could. Orcs like us need certain
objectives and goals rather than something vague.”
“It also has to include fighting!”
another orc interjects.”
“Yes, and it has to include
fighting. God blessed us in particular above all other human races to be
tougher for the war we are fighting against the forces of evil whether they’d
be traitors, beastmen, ratmen, humans, or elven. It doesn’t matter who the foe
is. If we are commanded to fight it, then we will for God and country.”
The words of the commander excite
the orcs who chant about fighting for their honorable cause and appear to be
fighting better in their training and are getting their weapons and armor ready
faster. Even the commander is getting involved in the chanting while I continue
to sit and finish the plate of fruit and drink my water. Looking back at me,
the commander settles things down as much as possible before sitting back down.
“I’m sorry about that. We can
easily get excited,” the orc commander says.
“I don’t mind. I’ll be on my way
now anyways,” I say as I get up.
“Is there anything else we could do
for you? Since you didn’t finish your meal, we have to give you something else.”
“I don’t have anything in mind nor
do I have a destination that I feel that I’m being pulled towards. Perhaps you
could bring me on your next mission. I typically find my purpose during and
after a battle.”
“As do we. Very well, you can join
us in our next battle. Given these times, you won’t have to wait long. My name
is Hedwig by the way. Commander Hedwig.”
Sure enough, Hedwig is right as we
only had to wait for a few hours for a messenger to come with an urgent mission
for us, a mission that the orcs, unfortunately, don’t like, an escort one.
When I’m told about this and if I want
to go, I say, “I’ll go. I have recent experience in escorting. Who are we
meeting anyway?”
“Nobles. We’ll escort them from the
town, take them to the nearby capital, wait for hours on guard, and then take
them back home. You might as well take a pillow and blanket instead of that
sword for this mission. It’s going to be all politics.”
“I hope someone causes trouble to
make things interesting,” another orc soldier says.
Hedwig hits the soldier upside the
head and then says that we shouldn’t wish for that no matter how much we would
like some action or something interesting to happen, which I have to agree
with. Going along with Hedwig and a portion of his troops, we make it to the nobles
and bring them to the capital city. On the way to the capital, the nobles are
confused as to why I’m here among the orcs and Hedwig explains why. Later, I
hear them whispering that they’d rather have more of me than orcs because of
their temper. Looking at the other orcs, they seem to have ignored what was
said or didn’t care for it. I’m sure they’ve heard it said about them before
and it’s probably one of the reasons why they don’t like escort jobs like this.
When we make it to the capital, I
see that it’s one of the few cities from the past that was refurbished for
the most part. The buildings reach up to the sky almost block out with their tall heights the sun
and their designs are unlike any I’ve seen. They all look as if they could be clock
towers, churches, castles, or places where nobles live and do business and
decide on common laws. The people in the city dress like they are all going to
fancy dinners or important ceremonies, even the orcs and men of Canis who are
known to mostly dress in battle attire. I even see people from Corvus, my home,
who bow their heads in traditional acknowledgment of the quest I’m on.
Even after we escort the nobles to
their meeting, I wander the halls of the building that I’m guarding and drink
in the luxury and wonder of it all. People must think I’m strange walking
through these halls with the orcs, especially since I’m a light-armored normal
human with a large sword whereas they are medium to heavily armored and armed
orcs. After some time passes and the sights and sounds begin to lose their luster
from seeing them for so long, I stop by Hedwig who is guarding the place where
kings, queens, bishops, cardinals, and other people of notable status are
meeting.
“You look like you’re going to fall
asleep standing up. Do you want to guard the hallways while I guard the door?” I
ask.
“As much as I want to, I can’t. Us
commanders need to be nearest to our leaders behind this door. You can listen
in if you want. It doesn’t matter to me since we can’t argue with anything
said in there,” Hedwig says.
Curious, I take Hedwig’s offer and
stand by the door to listen in to the meeting and hear different people going
back and forth.
“Now, with that done, let us talk
about the threat of the ratmen and other rogue bandits.”
“What of them? Haven’t we gone over
this topic enough? We have bands of orcs, soldiers, and guards who can take
care of the traitors and rogues while the same can be said of the ratmen.”
“But we don’t have any forces to
specifically face the ratmen threat.”
“We do. Both Bernhard and Canis are
sending their best to face them and have had great success. The last thing I heard
from the frontlines was that the orcs had retaken Constantinople. Oh, and
speaking of the ratmen threat, do you mean the ratmen among us in this meeting
or that of Pope Sylvatic?”
“You know what I mean. I have no problem
with the honorable ratmen here.”
“We can speak for ourselves,” a raspy
voice says who I presume is a ratman representative. I’ve heard of honorable
ratmen, but never thought I’d be near them since their number is said to be so small.
“And we agree with the sentiment that Pope Sylvatic’s forces must be dealt with,
which is why we’ve come up with a plan. The people of Corvus, Canis, Polypus, Bernhard,
and elves of the Holy Land can walk in the poisonous wasteland of
Eastern Europe and face the threat head-on.”
“Then you should talk to them since
they don’t involve the rest of the West.”
“The concerns of one side of the
Church are the concerns of all of it. What of the Eastern kingdoms? Phasianus
and Draco? They aren’t even able to be represented in these meetings because of
the divide that Sylvatic has caused between the West and East.”
“How about we all come to a
compromise then? Let’s strengthen our own forces, take care of the beastmen,
ratmen, and bandits in our own kingdoms, and then face Sylvatic’s forces.”
“But what of the forces building up
in the wasteland?”
“What of them? Like you said, the
southern, elven, and orc kingdoms are the only ones who can face them there, so
let them. As for us normal humans, we could have ratmen living beneath our feet
or did you forget the day that Sylvatic reintroduced himself to the world when
hundreds of thousands of ratmen spewed from the ground and killed men, women,
and children alike and took who knows how many people to places unknown for
horrible experimentation and torture. Is it not important to protect our own homes
first? Is it wrong?”
“No, it isn’t.”
The room goes completely silent for
what feels like minutes as if the meeting has concluded. I hear someone about
to speak until I begin to hear the sounds of multiple people choking and dying.
Hedwig, the other orc at the door, and I barge into the room to see some of the
representatives bleeding from their eyes, nose, and mouth.
“They’ve been poisoned!” the ratman
representative says.
“How could this happen?” a high elf
representative asks. “Our security is second to none, which must mean we have a
traitor in our mist.”
Panic begins to settle into the
room as we try to get everyone to safety, but no one wants to move since they
don’t trust one another.
“Get away from me! I won’t leave
without my personal escort!”
“Maybe this panic was part of their
plan?”
“Maybe they’ll kill us all in this
room!”
“Calm down, everyone!”
“This is what I was talking about!
We need to think of our own safety first!”
“That ratman probably has something
to do with it!”
“Me? What about you? I’ve seen you
go into the kitchen before the meeting!”
Having had enough of this, I raise
my fleshy left arm and say, “Let the blessing of decay decide who is worthy to
die and should die an agonizing death.”
Flies, hornets, and all matter of
flying insects begin to come out of my arm, fill the room we’re in, and eat those
they know are guilty from the inside out. Now with something to truly fear, the
representatives and guards run out of the room as the insects also fly out of the room and
into the city. Everyone has run away except for my fellow countrymen from
Corvus who bow their heads as I pass by them and Hedwig.
“Dumire, what is this? Explain
yourself!” Hedwig says with his two axes drawn, which are both as big as me.
“This is a magic power accessible
only to my people and me. It releases a swarm of various insects that can judge
between innocent and guilty and rightly execute those that deserve it,” I say.
“It’s already killed many people.
Can’t you stop it? It’s spilling out all over the city!”
“It stops when it wants to, or
rather when God allows.”
“You really can’t stop it?”
“No, he can’t,” one of my people
says as they stand behind me.
Hedwig is unsure of what to do at
this point and just looks at me.
“You’re a good man, Dumire. I guess
I’ll trust you on this and that there’s no ill intent with this plague that you’ve
unleashed,” Hedwig says before putting his axes behind his back.
“Thank you, Hedwig. You’ll see that
this plague will bear good fruit.”
With my people and Hedwig behind
me, we walk through the halls of the building seeing people praying or cowering
in fear while others are eaten from the inside out by the insects. When we get
outside, we see that the insects have uprooted a small group of ratmen that
were under the city and various kinds of beastmen both flying and agile on
their feet, both of which lay dying on the floor in agonizing pain.
The once clear sky is now brown and black as the swarm of insects blocks it out
and moves to feed on the infrastructure of the city taking away its beauty, monuments
of art, and whatever other physical possessions they can find. Some time passes
until the swarm dissipates into nothing now that their God-given purpose is
done. My left arm has also dissipated along with it as part of the cost of
using such a great power.
“Remind me never to mess with you,”
Hedwig says.
“Ha, I will,” I say.
“Are you okay?”
“I am. My arm will regrow in time.
Thank you for bringing me here today.”
“Do you think the insects ate the
people that poisoned the representatives? Do you think we’ll find out?”
“All I know is that God has brought
justice to this city. That’s all that matters, right?”
“You’re right. Still, I wish I had
some reassurance that this was the right thing to do besides the ratmen and
beastmen being flushed out of the city’s depths. I can’t imagine that your
people will be viewed any more favorably because you executed without proof of
guilt.”
“We are used to being viewed
negatively. It hasn’t stopped us from doing what needs to be done,” a Corvus representative
says.
“My people and I can relate to
that.”
“Dunmire, is it?” a representative
says. “We see that you’re on the path of your death. Since there’s no reason to
keep you around here, we can transport you to your next destination. We know of
a special place for our people in these lands that will help you execute a
weakness for evil in yourself.”
“I gratefully accept your offer.”
“Let us be on our way then.”
After saying goodbye to Hedwig, the
representatives of Corvus take me to their carriage that is being pulled by two
skeletal horses. They drive the carriage with me in the passenger seat and begin
to take us out of the city. As I take in the destruction and decay that I helped
cause, the sights remind me of my homeland. I hope that the people here will
one day realize the blessing that this is in the same way that my people do.
“Glory be to God,” I say to myself.
The representatives say the same
and look back to nod at me before taking us out of the city’s walls.
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Salvation Through Death: Chapter 2 – Rivals Versus a Common Enemy
Chapter
2 – Rivals Versus a Common Enemy
Bovis and I encounter no trouble on
the way to the blacksmith where he works, but also, he doesn’t say a word to
me probably because of what I did and spoke. We stop outside of the shop and
start bringing the crates of materials inside and get the other servants to
help us who are at first startled by my appearance. Who I presume to be the owner
of the shop appears startled not by me but by Bovis.
He says, “Bo-Bovis! I’m glad you made
it back in one piece with all the materials in tow.”
“It’s all thanks to my friend here
who’s a native of Corvus. His name is Dunmire,” Bovis says as he sets down a
crate. “Can you explain to me again why you didn’t let me go there without any guards?
If it weren’t for Dunmire, I would’ve been robbed or died or both!”
“You know I need as much help as I
can get here and that I already have other carriages that are being guarded
that haven’t returned yet. Besides, you’re back home safe without a scratch on
you and with a new friend.”
I look at him as I evaluate his
words and judge their truthfulness in light of everything that’s happened and
what I know of Bovis. The owner looks at me with the attempt of a smile on his
face and I know that he’s not smiling uncomfortably just because of my
appearance. He starts to back away with his hands up and a fading smile that he
struggles to keep up.
“What? It’s the God-honest truth,”
the owner says.
“I thought an inexperienced young
carriage driver into a dangerous land with no one to protect him was strange,
but the fact that you were surprised to see him makes it more suspicious. It
also doesn’t help that we were ambushed by thieves on our way back near the
border between our kingdoms,” I say as I walk closer to him.
“What? Are you saying that I expected
him to die and sent the thieves after him to steal the materials I sent him to
get?”
I reach back and grab the hilt of
my sword, which makes the owner stumble and fall out of the shop. The public
around us stops what they're doing and watches us.
“I’m saying that all these things
bring me to that conclusion. It’s either that or you’re a very careless man,” I
say as I draw my sword and point it at the owner who now has his hands up.
“What would I even gain from him
dying and being robbed?”
“One less worker to pay and getting
the materials would be very profitable since the materials found in Corvus are
more valuable than most found in the rest of the world. It would all be a net
gain even if Bovis was killed before completing his deliveries since I presume
that you would have the thieves pick up where he left off.”
“Okay, Okay. I confess! Everything you
said was right including the part about me being careless. Times are tough, what
can I say? Next time, he won’t go out on dangerous deliveries alone and I won’t
get any more thieves to do anything, I swear!”
“You’re right that he won’t.”
With one quick swing of my sword, I
cut one of the owner’s hands off. He screams and writhes in pain while holding
the stump where his missing hand is.
“Look at that hand the next time
you think of sinning. You should be thankful I let you keep one hand. Where I’m
from, both hands and feet are cut off,” I say as I pass the owner. Turning around
to Bovis, I say, “Thank you again for bringing me to where I was meant to go.”
“S-sure,” Bovis says.
As I make my way out of the town, two
guards in light armor stop me by putting the tips of their spears on my chest.
“You can’t just go around
administering vigilante justice when you want. Who do you think you are?” one
of the guards says.
“I’m just a simple servant of God,”
I say as I push their spears aside and continue to walk past them down a road
with forests on each side.
“Hey, hey!” I can hear one of the
guards scream in the distance. “I can’t stand those people from the southern
kingdoms who just keep to themselves and do what they want even in our homeland.”
“Don’t mind him. Just go get a
doctor for that sorry soul and write a report,” the other guard says.
This land is very different than
mine. It’s warmer and the air seems cold and clear. The grass feels like silk
to me and the sun feels invigorating to look at. As I keep wandering, I am
ambushed by bandits with wolves to aid them. Just like the thieves I
took care of previously, these foes are no match for me, especially since their weapons
and the teeth of their wolves hardly scratch my fleshy left arm. Just remembering
what was in the blacksmith shop and the equipment of the bandits reminds me how
trade between Corvus and the northern kingdoms is nothing more than a gesture
of goodwill since most of the things they offer are of lesser quality. Their
animals are even of a lesser quality because none of them can be used for
sinful purposes, which is not to say that animals can sin, but that the animals
in Corvus act only for righteous purposes and serve only the best of men.
Continuing on, I sense something
cold that reminds me of home. As I look around, I don’t see anything until a
crimson mist suddenly appears from behind me. A humanoid figure as tall as I am
walks to me and stops right in front of me. When the mist clears, I see a
walking corpse, not like the kind of Corvus, but the kind that comes from
Onocrotalus. Unlike the dry bones and flesh that characterize the people of
Corvus, those from Onocrotalus are constantly bleeding, even the ones that
appear to be walking corpses with exposed bones and organs. This one in front
of me wears a crown of thorns and has holes in its hands and feet because of
its stigmata. The only clothing it has is a black loin cloth while the rest of
it is flesh, bones, and a thin layer of bleeding skin.
Before it can say anything, I
quickly cut off its head with my sword. The rest of the body doesn’t move as if
unphased and simply walks over to where its head fell and puts it back on. It turns
to me and walks back to where it was.
“I heard you people were
unkillable. I just thought I’d make sure it was true,” I say to it.
“What is your name?” the thing says
in a surprisingly human voice. It’s said that these things sound like monsters
or have guttural voices, however, this one sounds mostly normal except for its
somewhat deep tone.
“Dunmire.”
“Fadil is my name.”
“What is your purpose here, Fadil?
Why do you keep standing in front of me?”
“The answer to both questions is
the same. Because God wills it.”
“Other than the obvious, please.”
“Your people and mine both know
that the ways of God are mysterious and not always straightforward. I know as
much as you do in terms of my arrival here.”
“I am on the path of death that
will kill a part of me that is still weak, that still wants to sin, and this
path is a wandering one. If you were hoping to get to a particular destination
or accomplish a task, you’ll have to wait.”
“I can do that. Lead on, Dumire.”
I grunt in response and go the way
that I feel that God is leading me with Fadil behind me. When I stop, he stops,
and he follows in my exact footsteps as I continue walking. Night falls and we
rest in a cave. All day we didn’t speak a word to one another and we didn’t
speak for quite a while. Opening my eyes hours into the night, I see that Fadil has yet
to close his.
“Don’t you sleep?” I ask.
“Hardly since I lost my eyelids,”
Fadil says. He barely has any skin on his face, so this shouldn’t surprise me
as much as it does. “I simply sleep with my eyes open if I ever do. I presume
that your people do the same when they’re in a similar state as mine.”
“Mine don’t live as long as yours
does.” A few moments of awkward silence pass as we stare at each other.
“Do the differences between our
people matter?” Fadil asks.
“Not necessarily, though it does
seem like it. One serves God through dying while the other serves through
bleeding. One’s land is dry and reachable while the other’s is soaked in blood
and unreachable by normal means.”
“Do the differences matter to you?
You seem to be uncomfortable with my being here.”
“I am not uncomfortable with you,
just curious, if anything. In terms of differences that matter, our kingdoms
do have a brotherly rivalry since we’re so similar to one another just like the
rivalry between the orcs of Bernhard and the fiery people of Canis, so yes and
no, the differences do and don’t matter to me.”
“I see. Well, let’s have a friendly
competition then to see who can serve God better in combat.”
“Do you want to fight me?”
“No. Do you hear the silent voice
of God? He calls us to battle our common foe.”
I try to concentrate and ask God to
reveal His will to me and feel as if I can hear something directing me somewhere,
but it’s unclear as to exactly where.
“No. I still need practice in that.
Perhaps after I die this next death, I’ll be able to.”
“I’ll guide us to our destination
then.”
“And may the greater victory go to
more faithful man.”
Fadil and I get up and follow him
further into the forest until we reach a small settlement with buildings of
stone and steel that have overgrown vegetation decorating them. Is this one of
the many towns from the past that I’ve heard of or was this recently made to
specifically be like this to be hidden? Regardless as to its origins, we
find a camp full of rogue orcs dancing in rags and jewelry that hardly cover
anything and drinking.
“How do you want to go about this? Quietly
or with full force?” Fadil says.
“What’s the purpose of stealth for
two people who are already corpses?” I ask.
“Good point.”
Blades made of blood form on Fadil’s
hands as we head into the camp. Even though the orcs see us, prepare themselves
for attack, and are naturally stronger than normal humans, they are no match
for either of us as they can neither hurt us nor match the strength of our
weapons. Fadil cuts through their numbers as if they were nothing more than
ants while I kill some and leave others alive with their legs, arms, or both
cut off. By the end of it, Fadil looks confused at the orcs that I left alive
and approaches me.
“Why leave them alive?” he asks.
“It’s a tradition of my people.
They may live and repent of their ways or know that their death is soon,
repent, use their pain as penance, and be saved,” I say.
“Interesting. I disagree with this
method of forced conversation, but I can’t say it’s completely wrong. Let us
see if there are any more bandits left in the buildings.”
Strangely enough, we don’t find any
more enemies to fight. Instead, we find slaves who were tortured and sexually
abused by the bandits. Some of them thank us especially so because they would’ve
been sacrificed as an offering to the false god of these rogue orcs or sold to
ratmen for experimentation. Before we can think of how to help them, a band of soldiers
clad in heavy armor and wielding heavy shields, spears, and crossbows from the
town I was previously at approaches the town. The soldiers are shocked and astonished
by what they see and are especially shocked to see us, two of whom recognize
me since they are the guards who stopped me at the town’s exit.
“This guy again?” one of the guards
says.
“Be thankful that he took care of
these guys for us and that you didn’t end up like them,” another guard says.
The two guards-turned-soldiers look
in horror at the still-living orcs and their attention isn’t turned away from
them until we approach them.
“Get the ones that still live
medical attention. They could repent,” I say to them.
“You don’t tell us what to do!” one
guard says.
“That’s true, but it’s what we have
to do regardless,” the other guard says.
“Tch.”
Fadil and I walk away from the town
and leave the soldiers to clean up the mess and take care of the captives and
wounded.
“I think I took out more orcs than
you did,” I say.
“That’s untrue since you didn’t
kill all of them,” Fadil says.
“Let’s factor in the ones I wounded
then.”
“Your numbers still don’t come
close to matching mine.”
“That’s because you weren’t paying
attention.”
“You’re right. I was too busy fighting,
but even then, I could tell who was killing more. At the very least, I didn’t
get hit as much as you did.”
“That’s true, but it’s not
something that I cared about or affected me at all.”
“I think it did because you’re a
little delusional. Maybe you should rest.”
“I think maybe not enough blood is
flowing through that head of yours to remember exactly what happened.”
Both Fadil and I chuckle a bit as
if we’re trying not to laugh. The same crimson mist that Fadil walked out of
appears in front of us.
“I presume you have to go,” I say.
“Yes. It was a fruitful experience
being with you Dunmire. I hope to see you again,” Fadil says.
As he looks at me, I can see the
faintest smile on Fadil’s face. He disappears and by the time the crimson mist
completely evaporates, there’s not a trace of him left, not even the blood that
leaked from his body.
“I hope to see you and win our next
competition again too,” I say before continuing on my own way with a small
smile that I can feel on my face.
Friday, January 12, 2024
More fun casual decks I've made for you to try out, if you're interested
Thursday, January 11, 2024
New yugioh decks I've made
Exodia the Legendary Defender and the Burning Abyss - https://ygoprodeck.com/deck/exodia-the-legendary-defender-and-the-burning-abyss-421723
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