image [https://i.imgur.com/j2CpkHf.png]

The sharp rattling of the keys woke Junk, the dwarf, from his slumber. He let off a loud and surprised yell that prompted the orc, De’nan, to follow suit.

Immediately realising the mistake and knowing that any delay would mean the difference between life and death, Renna and I sprang into action. Before they could get their bearings and react, Renna jumped up on the table behind her to get a clear shot. I rushed at De’nan, my rusty iron blade at the ready.

Although Junk was the brains, De’nan was the brawn. We both knew that he was the bigger source of danger in this situation. With his size and strength, it would take a lot to bring him down.

Renna aimed down the sights of her exquisite rifle, held her breath, and took the shot. The bullet struck him deep in the side as he was just getting up. Such a hit would topple most beings, but for the orc, it only slowed him down.

The hit sent De’nan back down on his knees. When he went down, I got alongside him and stuck my old blade into the opposite side, right under his arm.

As hard as he got struck, it didn’t stop him. The two hard blows only served to make him angrier. De’nan got back up and unsheathed the quarterstaff from his back. I, being the only one in range, was the first to feel the impact of such a solid weapon in the hands of an enraged orc. He took a large swing with both hands at full force and knocked me right in the chest. The strike launched me into the air, and I smashed into a bunch of barrels that had been sitting against the wall besides me. The blow was so strong that it completely knocked me out. One and done, that was all it took. I felt like a mouse getting tackled by an elephant.

By this point, the dwarf was battle-ready and on his feet. He pulled out two daggers, much sharper and shinier than my own, by all accounts. He let out a wail in rage and tried jumped onto the table to rush Renna. As luck would have it, he tripped on the way there and stumbled to his knees.

Lucky for Renna, that gave her the time she needed to line up her next shot. With Junk distracted, even for a brief second, Renna readied her rifle once more.

She had seen me go down and realised the threat De’nan posed. Without hesitation, she held her breath and took her second shot.

The second bullet flew through the air and struck the orc straight in the chest. It was a direct hit. He toppled over and struck the ground so hard you could feel the shockwaves in the table, or so Renna told me later.

There wasn’t any time to celebrate this victory, however. The battle was not yet done.

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Not one to be made a fool of, Junk leapt back to his feet. Seeing what had become of his crewmate, he flew into a wild rage and launched himself at Renna. She heard him coming and spun around to meet him head on. He stabbed at her repeatedly in a flurry of savagery, but Renna was quick. She was able to dodge most of the strikes and emerged with only nicks in her armour. After a time, Junk’s attacks faltered, and Renna saw her opportunity.

Renna, being a priest trained in the Kingdom of Bun, had a few tricks up her sleeve. While most might think of priests as healers of the sick and servants of the god, Bun’s priests work with a slightly different set of skills. Priests from there are trained to hurt and heal in equal measure—something that Renna was about to demonstrate.

As soon as she saw her opening, she leapt off the table and positioned herself right at the centre between Junk, myself, and the severely wounded De’nan.

Junk would have watched as she outstretched her arm, and a sphere of pure blinding light formed in her palm. He might have even been confused as she lifted this sphere above her head and held it in place for the briefest of seconds. He would have then felt some sense of helplessness, I imagine, as she crushed the sphere in her hand and sent a shockwave of light out in all directions around her. And next, well, I am certain he would have smelt his beard start to sizzle as his body erupted in pain and his orc friend started to smoulder.

The same light that burns may also heal. The energy from that shockwave actually healed me. I just remember my eyes opening as everything faded back in from darkness. I wasn’t in the best of conditions, but I was able to stand again. And if I could stand, then I was gonna fight.

By the time I got back up, Renna was already lining up her next shot. The dwarf barely had a chance to recover before she started shooting again. Sadly, I think he saw it coming and managed to duck out of the way just as she shot. He was a quick one; I’ll give him that much.

He closed in on her, realising that his best chance was to not give her any range. With a knife in each hand, he took swipe after swipe. However, as fast as he was, Renna was quicker. Each swipe he took was avoided as Renna tried to get away.

She was keeping him at bay, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to keep that up forever. I had to get him to back off so she could get another shot. While he was distracted with her, I climbed up on the table, grabbed my old dagger with the tightest grip I could muster, and took a leap towards the dwarf. My blade struck him deep in the back. Owing to the condition of the dagger, though, I couldn’t do much damage to him.

He whipped around to face me, and I could tell by his eyes that Renna was the last thing on his mind. I was too injured at that point to be any kind of real threat to him—I knew that. He was badly injured at this point but still had a lot of fight left in him, and he was going to give it back to me hard.

And that’s just what he did. He pulled both arms back and thrust his knives towards me, piercing my stomach and dropping me right back to the floor. I’ll be honest with you, right then and there I thought that was my time to go.

Thankfully, my little ploy gave Renna the time she needed. By the time Junk had spun back around to face her, the second sphere of light was already held high above her head. She looked him right in the eyes and saw something new—utter fear.

She crushed the sphere in her palm, and a second shockwave shot out in all directions around her. Junk screamed and dropped. He started twitching and then finally went still. He was done, and the battle had been won.