Author's corner:

Here you go with chapter 5. Enjoy :)

“My new name is Lethia.” Was her answer while she smiled at me. “From now on you have the right to wear the additional name of ‘di Contetia’ because you are a member of my clan and a resident of my mansion. Now pledge your allegiance to me!” I said while stretching my arms to my sides like i want to hug the entire world. With my last words the shadows behind me began to move and seem to build a cloak that made me look like a living shadow while  only my face could be seen with glowing red eyes.

She kneeled in front of me with her head facing towards the ground. “My Lord, I will vow my eternal loyalty to you and only you. I will always follow your command because you gave me the chance to live!” I let her kneel a few more seconds before turning around and dispersing the shadows. “Very well, very well indeed. Now follow me, Lethia.” With these words I walked towards a giant wardrobe near the well. “If there is an armor that would suit you it would be in here. Let’s see.” I opened the wardrobe. “Hmmm. Plate? No. Not suitable for an archer. Maybe this cloth armor? Oh nevermind. This armor is a joke. Who would enchant a light cloth armor that it just weighs half its weight? Haha. What is this? Hide? No no, we don’t want you look like a barbarian. Don’t we have some leather armor in here? That’s sad. Really sad.” And with this I closed the wardrobe. I pondered a few minutes with my hand scratching my chin then my eyes lit up. “That could work!”

With a few big steps I made my way towards another wardrobe. This wardrobe was a lot smaller than the last one. I opened it. Inside were assassin like clothes made of cloth. I quickly grabbed one made of black cloth and gave it to her. “Here, change into this. It won’t give you high protection but the enchantments higher your agility and your stealth ability.” She took it and began changing into it. The outfit consisted of black cloth shoes with a soft leather sole to reduce the sound while walking. Tight, black trouser with three retainers for throwing knives on each side and a retainer for a dagger on her right lower leg. Her upper body was covered by a tight, black cloth jacket that had a hood attached to it. On the inside of the underarm were on each side five retainers for throwing needles. On the right breast side were another three retainers for throwing knives. Around her waist she now wore a leather belt with a lot of pockets and holders for weapons attached to it. The outfit was finished by a pair of black gloves with lead inlets above the knuckles to give her punch a little extra. “Yes this will do. Is it comfortable?”

“Yes it is. I can even feel that my muscles are more elastic than before and contain a explosive power that allows me to jump higher and wider than before!”

Good. Now that we have your armor we need a weapon. And I have exactly what you need! Follow me. I don’t have normal weapons in here so I won’t give you a dagger or throwing knives or a short sword.”

I made my way to the other side of the cave where the weapons were. “Since a long time ago it is a tradition that the nobles of the two clans use special weapons. The discovery of them is irrelevant. But the important part is that these weapons are forged under the influence of a Blood rite. Up to ten sacrifices can be made in the forging process. But the more sacrifices are made the higher the chance that the weapon gets destroyed. I and my sister, as the heads of the clans, have weapons forged with ten sacrifices and as such the most powerful ones. Don’t ask how many times we tried until it finally worked haha. The average noble gets a weapon with three sacrifices. These are considered easy to forge and normally take to three tries to forge. If a noble shows himself worthy enough than a better weapon can be given. Now the interesting part. You are a hunter so your weapon should be a bow. This is the first time I give it to someone. Normally no one wants a bow. So I only have one. But I must say it is a beautiful piece of smithery.”

I opened a showcase with a recurve-bow in it. It was almost 1,5 m long.  The limbs of the bow were made of a red metal and had engravings of thorny vines all over them. The grip was made out of a almost black wood with golden runes on it. The bowstring was made of the black, silky thread of a titanspider and as hard as steel but silky and elastic like normal spider thread. “This bow doesn’t need arrows, which does not mean it can’t use any. It only has the option to use the life force of the user to conjure arrows. It is a little amount and you should be able to fire up to 150 arrows before you feel exhausted. All you have to do to be able to use it, is to smear a little bit of your blood onto the limbs and insert some mana into it. This seals the blood bond and this weapon will be yours until you die or cancel the bond. Now take the bow. My first command is that you are to hunt down every single orc that is in the open. I will personally clean the mansion. I think there will be the leader.”

“As you command, my Lord.” And with these words she took the bow, bit in her thumb and smeared a little of her blood onto the red metal that absorbed the blood in the blink of an eye. After this she made her way through the door into the night beyond.

After she was gone I went to a corner of the cave where the shadows were almost solid. I merged my shadow with these and forced them away. Behind those shadows was a stand with a set of black leather armor, consisting of a black trouser, armguards, shin guards, shoes, and gloves, on top of it. (I don’t know how to describe it so here is a link so you can get an impression:[/url] [url=http://images.maskworld.com/is/image/maskworld/bigview/daemonen-lederruestung-mit-beintaschen-schwarz--mw-302195-1.jpg]http://images.maskworld.com/is/image/maskworld/bigview/daemonen-lederruestung-mit-beintaschen-schwarz--mw-302195-1.jpg)

Next to the stand was an empty holder for a sword. As I looked at it I swore to myself that I would find my sword that was stolen the day I was forced to go to sleep and I would annihilate everyone that is standing in my way! I don the armor and could feel the power it gave me rushing through my whole body. This armor is more than a normal leather armor. It has more defensive power than the heaviest normal knight armor and on top of that it functions as a catalysator for shadowmagic.

The moment I stepped out of the corner the shadows flowed back into position and hid the now empty corner. Now I only need a weapon. I went to the wall were the weapons with up to level 8 were (level = number of sacrifices). There I grabbed a bastard sword with a red blade. The guard looked like it was entangled with thorny vines with red tips. The pommel was a octagonal shaped onyx. I closed my hand around the blade and cut into my flesh. I felt the sword drinking my blood and absorbing my mana. After this I could feel what the sword could do. It had enhanced sharpness to the point where it could cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. It also aids in the regeneration of the wielder by absorbing the life force of an enemy that it cuts and giving it to the wielder. It also is a lesser catalysator for shadowmagic.

After I was done I went out of the cave and closed the door behind me. The sword in the right hand and a grin on my face I clad myself in shadows and walked towards the mansion. I entered through a window in the back and stood in a large room that was a study room from the looks. Everything was a mess. The stucco was ripped from the wall and ceiling. The drawers were ripped open and the content was on the floor. All that looked remotely expensive was missing. I made my way out of the room into a hallway. The same sight as, I supposed, everywhere in the mansion. Anger welled up in me. How dare they destroy my home? Not one orc will leave this mountain range or, as long as I reside here, set one foot into it ever again. But first I need to focus on killing all inside this mansion.

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Further down the hallway was a large double door. Behind this door was the large entrance hall which was two floors high. If my guess is correct then there should be the place where most of the orcs will reside. The leader will most like be in the audience room in the third floor. But let’s find out. And with a wide grin on my face I opened the double door and looked into the faces of almost 50 orcs.

Before they even realised what happened I was in the middle of them and with one swing of the sword I cut two orcs in half. After this I instantly vanished from the spot and appeared behind another orc cleaving him vertically in half. After this I made a large swing from left to right with the sword and a large shadowy arc appeared in front of me, flying towards the orcs, killing another five. Then I rammed the sword into the ground. “Guardians of the Shadowforest, hear my call and come to my aid.” I uttered under my breath and the shadows around the room seemed to solidify in the form of four wolves with a shoulder height of 1,5m. “Kill them! Kill them all! Don’t let even one orc in this room alive!” I didn’t even wait for the wolves to start and pulled my sword out of the ground and leapt at another orc.

Now they had overcome the original surprise and put up some resistance but it was futile. I was way too fast and the shadow wolves were, well shadows. Normal weapons stood no chance against them. The wolves ripped open their ribcages and abdomen and threw around the innards. I cleanly severed heads, arms and legs and switched the position before the blood even came out of the wound. The battle was over before it even begun. The whole room was now painted in the red blood of the orcs. The guts of the orcs decorate the walls and the floor and the orcs were either dead or dieing because of severed limbs. A painful groan and an awful smell filled the room. Disgusted I looked around and made my to the curved stairs that lead up to the second floor. “Kill all the orcs in the right and the left wing. After that you can go back to your plane.” I said while waving my hand at the wolves.

“Ahhooooooo” After a loud howl they ran towards their destination to fulfill their assignment. I made my way up towards the second floor and from there to the nearest stairs to the third floor. On my way I came across five orcs that heard the noise from the battle and the howl and wanted to have a look. The first orc lost his legs. The second orc tried to block my sword but I cut right through the sword and from his right shoulder all the way out of the left side of his belly. The third got his heart pierced. The fourth managed to attack me with a swing of his mace towards my head. I ducked and kicked against his knee, breaking it. While he was falling I made a 180° turn and deflected the thrust aimed at me from behind. One quick step and I was behind him and kicked him in the back. Breaking his spine and causing him to fall forwards and impale the orc that was falling because of the broken knee. After this I decapitated him with a quick swing with the sword.

I looked down on me and to my great pleasure only my shoes had blood on them. Not even a drop could be seen on my armor. With a smile towards the impaled and slowly dying orc, who looked at me like I was his worst nightmare, I went on and eventually reached the staircase. I slowly made my way up and toward the double doors leading into my audience room. On these previously beautiful adorned doors the orcs also made a few improvements. The painted some sort of skull with brown paint on them. Maybe some sort of tribe crest. I don’t really care. They ruined my door. I worked hours over hours to perfect those doors! And they dared to defile them! The anger I felt from when I first saw my mansion welled up again. I could feel my eyes flare up and emit a faint red glow. The black smoke like shadows crawled up to me and clad me until only my eyes could be seen. My fangs grew larger and my total height was now 2m. The corridor behind me was filled with corporeal darkness.

At this moment I reached the door and kicked it open. The doors fell out of the hinges and slid 5 meters into the room and the darkness flooded into the room, extinguishing every torch in its way until only the moonlight was left. “How dare you come into my land, my HOUSE and defile it with your filthy presence!” I spoke with a booming voice that sounded like it would come out of the deepest presence. I took my first step into the room and let my aura fill it. Every orc present froze in fear. A few even pissed themselves. I looked around the room and could see that there were forty orcs in rusty, heavy plate armor. Where my throne should be standing, was now a armchair and on it sat an orc which was wearing a hide trouser and a hide jacket. He had a warhammer standing next to his ‘throne’ and was covered in scars. He was a bit larger than your average orc and seemed to be the leader. Next to him stood an orc which has to be a shaman. He was wearing a leather robe with a hood. On the robe were burned in runes and he was wearing a cane with a grey stone on top.

“Die, filth!” Once again my voice boomed through the room and all orcs shivered in fear. With a wink of my hand I conjured shadow spikes that through the armor and the orcs and killed them in an instant. Now only the shaman and the leader were alive. I lowered the amount of fear that I emitted, effectively allowing the orcs to move again. They both looked at me as if their worst nightmare was coming upon them. But he was not the leader for nothing. After a few seconds he grabbed his warhammer and made his way slowly towards me while oinking something to the shaman while shivering in fear. I never bothered to learn the orc language so I could only assume what he was saying but I think he said that they should attack.

While they were conversing like the pigs they were I uttered a few words for a spell I haven’t used in ages. “Shadow Dimension.” And in the next moment we were not standing in the audience room anymore. We were in a forest.The only colors in this forest were grey and black. The shadows were moving as if they were living beings. The trees were grey with black leaves. The sounds that could be heard were that of wolves howling, owls crying and other predators of the night joining the concert of voices. And in the middle of all were two orcs that were staring at the scenery with disbelief in their eyes. “Welcome to my world! This is a friction of the world where all shadows are born! Do you like it? Haha” My voice echoed through the forest. I was now one with the shadows of this world. And my voice seemed to come from everywhere. Slowly, the shadows at the edge of the clearing, the two orcs were standing at, filled with all sorts of creatures of the night. On a inaudible command all creatures jumped at the orcs at the same time. The crows and owls peched at their eyes ears and noses while the wolves and big cats mauled on their arms and legs and rats bit open their bellies to crawl inside and start eating the intestines. All this happened to my satisfied laughter and the screams of agony of the orcs.

After the death of the orcs I left the Shadow Dimension and made my way out of the mansion. As of now there were no more orcs in it. It was time to meet up with Lethia to speak about my future plans. We needed someone to clean this mess up and also new red oaks to replace those that were logged by the orcs.

Author's corner:

The next chapter will be about Aryana, or now Lethia, from her abduction up to this point. This means there will be a third chapter of Pest Control but I don’t want to rush it.

I will try to get it out as soon as possible. Preferable tomorrow. But maybe sunday. I don’t know yet.

And as always there may be grammatical errors and misspellings so point them out for me to fix.