Part 1

In the night sky the moon was waning, the lazy clouds slowly encompassed the silver light.

Underneath the scene a large fortified town lay, it's massive thick walls were crumbling down releasing a thick cloud of dust, plumes of smoke and orange flames billowed wildly against the chilling wind, as cries and screams enveloped the once calm atmosphere.

Hairless creatures in green covered in thick muscles, and adorned by rugged fur pelts growled loudly as they poured into the the town. Soldiers in silver armor clashed with the endless horde of green, the clash of steel, the sound of crunching bones and the screams of death drilled itself into my ears.

The creature known as an orc stood 6 feet tall, and carried a battleaxe, the axe was wet with blood, fat and oil, a single powerful swing, crushed a man's helmet and carved a hole in his head, the fleshy material leaked out and the man fell helplessly on the floor.

I slammed the edge of my blade into it's left arm, crushing bone and rending flesh, the creature growled in anger as it swung it's axe downward from it's right arm, but it was too late, as I pumped more strength into my body, the sword continued digging into the orc, it took off his arm and started to rip apart it's rib cage, eventually cleaving the creature in two, all done before it could even finish its attack.

The red blood poured unto the street, as well as it's insides, the raw smell floated into my nose, and the sight of the entrails leaking out made me smile, it was a beautiful sight. The thrill of living could especially be felt by those courting death, the thin line that separates them were quite exquisite, death added value to life.

The once passionate eyes that burned with ferocity and life stared at me blankly. I looked at those lifeless eyes and grinned, there was a saying that eyes were the window to the soul, they reflect the innermost nature of a person, when I saw my own eyes reflected in those dead pupils I laughed, my eyes showed a trace of madness.

More and more orcs swarmed into the main road I was stationed at, with each swing of my sword, a neck was severed, a heart was torn out and a roar of despair entered my ears, I was in ecstasy.

The death of my comrades as they were hacked to death, the cry of terrified children as they bear witness to savagery, It made me so happy being here it reminded me that I was truly alive.

The battle raged on and the thick smell of blood entered my nose like perfume, the streets flowed red and the night never grew silent, I wish this wonder land would never end.

A loud trumpet blew in the distance, and a new deafening roar sounded , the man beside me shouted in joy.

“Reinforcements arrived, We're saved!”

In the far distance a vanguard of heavy cavalry dove into a line of arcs cleaving the horde in two, horses grunted and orcs flew, as the vanguard cleaved deeper and deeper, followed by a rain of enchanted arrows that exploded on impact, creating the acrid smell of smoked meat.

The orcs that charged into the town were now cut off, from the main force, effectively isolating them in enemy territory.

I could only stare in a daze as the orcs pulled back, and my comrades pushed forward with a electrifying surge of morale, my night of pleasure ended.

Part 2

My name is Bayard Laylin, a sword for hire. My shoulder length brown hair was dirty and filled with oil, my face looked thirty years old, and haphazardly shaved. In a way I had average looks, and could blend into a rough crowed easily.

If I had to point out one good thing about me, it's my exceptional constitution and battle sense.

My fascination for blood developed when I was twelve, at that time my family was still alive, mom kept telling me that I should always live properly. Always smile, always be polite and always be happy, by following these precepts I would eventually find true happiness.

Her chubby face always smiled, and she always acted happy, but behind closed doors, she was crying, and she always cursed. Dad would sometime come home and beat mom senseless in a drunken rampage, at the time I could only think, will mom eventually be happy?

One morning when i came home from a friends house, I noticed a loud clattering sound in the kitchen, when I snuck in to see what was going on, dad was on top of mom's still and frozen body. His heaving body breathed laboriously as he removed his hand from her red throat.

Seeing that scene something inside me snapped and my consciousness sunk into a muddy abyss, the moment my eyes became sharp again and my mind cleared up, I found myself holding a knife, stabbing into a piece of meat over and over. Warm liquid flew out and covered me like a warm rain, it felt oddly relaxing and made me feel a warmth my parents never gave me. The blood that splattered on me, was part of me as well, the blood we shared as family, made me feel connected to them.

Strangely enough, I felt closer to my family than I ever felt before, if this continues, will I feel closer to everyone else, mom was right, I did find happiness, and so a pure bright smile enveloped my face, and ever since then I would continue to seek true happiness.

Part 3

Two weeks later another battle raged on, our left wing broke apart and the central force was flanked, faced with a two front battle, the right wing held on and battled for a strategic position atop a hill. A lot of soldier and mercenaries were forced on an offensive to root out enemy positions fortified in the forest. Apparently the Redeit Republic could not spare any army Wizards, so we could not rely on magic support.

I was part of a detached force sent to sabotage supply lines, coming from the north, the orc horde had stretched itself thin by pushing too deeply into republic territory, therefor food, ammunition and supplies were running low for the enemy. It was only a matter of time before they collapse, so in order to speed up the process several detached forces were sent, originally they would not trust a mercenary for this job, but the mercenary corps I belonged to had financial backing from a local lord. In short it was a private army disguised as a mercenary crops, to hide real numbers from rival lords in other territories.

We hide near the cliffs surrounding the high ways, a small convoy could be seen heading past us, a giant creature that looked like a cross between a bear and a rhino lumbered past, carrying a cart of food and weapons. The driver looked like a small orc with brown hair tied in dread locks.

A small whistling in the air could be heard, with a loud thud the arrow pierced the orc in the head, the lifeless body tumbled out of the seat as we charged in under the cover of arrows at the escorts mounted on giant wolves. I ran down the slope as fast as I could, the loud howl sent shivers down my spine as a giant wolf leapt my way, I side stepped and brought my sword down aiming for it's neck, the mounted orc thrust his spear aiming for my chest, I grabbed the spear with my other hand and yanked him down with my immense strength, coupled with the momentum of his thrust.

As the orc fell I bisected him, the wolf bit into my hand taking off a few fingers and drinking my blood, I smiled at the immense pain and buried the spear into it's neck, it chewed my hand harder, but I already ravaged it's fury head, eventually it's jaw slackened and I took back my disfigured hand.

As soon as we burned the goods and salvaged what we could use, we made a retreat, over the course of a few weeks, the orcs offensive gradually ground to a halt, with the lack of supplies and reinforcements, they were eventually pushed to the border territories and made a stand at Galbero fortress near the borders.

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Part 4

On my time off I wandered the camp built in an open field, covered with wooden fences and several campfires littered the wide landscape. I chewed the tough and coarse meat, while taking in tasteless soup made of roots and herbs foraged in the area. As I continued the wretched meal I overheard a lore being told near the open flame by two men sitting beside me.

“In an age old tale, a war between the over realms and under realms were waged, allied by various factions and races in the mortal world, the terrible war caused the world to burn, the sea dyed red and the wildlife to extinguish, during that ancient war a mysterious entity came upon the world, and sought to massacre the devils and angels.

The onslaught brought forth terrible loss to the army of angels and devils forcing them to join together against the third force. The battle was massive and lasted decades, after many intense conflicts the war ceased and they all pulled back to lick their wounds. The forces of the over realm suffered the death of many high ranking angels, and even the death of three elder gods.

The under realms suffered a loss of arch devils, arc fiends and even two ancient devils , the third force not only clashed with Under and Over realms, but also with the other mortal races living in this world, no one was left unscathed.”

I got bored of this tale, in the end it was just wars that didn't include me, I decided to go back to the out skirts and do my business near the small woods. As I approached a spot to relieve myself, I noticed a young woman adorned in a long black coat, her sword glowed a dark purple and her brilliant red eyes shined like rubies.

She stabbed her sword into a man's throat and tore it open, two more men charged her from her flanks, with their swords trying to slash her from right and left, she charged into one man and slammed the hilt of her blade into his face causing it to rupture and bleed, when he was stunned she grabbed his sword arm and threw him into the other with inhuman strength, casing them to crash into a tree.

Five more men in armor circled her and charged from all sides, she slashed the space in front of her, the black light ate away at the world creating a tear in the space itself, jagged spikes escaped the black wound floating in the space and shot forth, crushing armor and penetrating bodies.

All of them succumbed and lay twitching on the ground, one man rushed at her from behind, she did not turn back, she flipped her blade backwards and side stepped, the man's sword cut air, and his momentum plus her back handed thrust caused the black sword to bury deep into his heart.

She moved like a black whirlwind, blood danced around her like petals of a beautiful rose, men screamed and cried as they split apart, a woman could be adorned with jewels and gold to look beautiful, but the blood that adorned her made her truly fascinating.

The woman turned back and wiped the fresh blood from her face and said in a calm voice,” Is that all Lenal?”

I could see a blue orb floating next to her, “Yea, that should be all of them, but despite being an amateur, you were pretty overwhelming, your race truly does have superior innate talents.”

“.....did you sense anything from the orc's side?”

“No, only from the human's side.”

During the conversation the woman's eye shined red, when i noticed a subtle change in her expression I hid behind a large tree, she glanced where I had been with her sharp red eyes, like a hawk.

Lenal turned to Luna and asked, “See something?”

“I thought I sensed something, but I could be wrong.”

“Well no matter lets go, I need to recharge a bit after materializing you, so we have to find a safe place to hide.”

Part 5

Such inhuman power, such grace, her image burned itself into my eyes. “Ah, I want to fight her.”

But when I followed her, she already blended into the shadows and disappeared, like a ghost.

In the end I went back to camp and had a good rest, I normally don't have dreams but today, my dreams were vivid and exciting.

Afterwards we were forced into a harsh march towards the plains where the horde has been entrenched, General Reinhart was leading the campaign with over 50,000 men in the center, 20,000 on the left and right wing, led by commander Mason and Lanslow,

The horde entrenched in the plains number roughly 110,000, giant creatures standing several feet tall, with bronze skin formed a large front line, they were ogres, carrying behind them something like a sack that looked to be an improvised catapult.

A small detachment of equestrian long bowmen rode forth to harass the flank and try to circle the rear, the central formation 50,000 strong moved forward, sectioning off until only 20,000 moved. The left and right flank sent a majority of their force, keeping around 5,000 to respond to emergencies.

The war cries and shouts caused the entire plains to rumble, boulders flew out and smashed the earth, armed Calvary charge forward to break the line of ogres. Orc pike man charged to the front to form a phalanx formation to meet the charge, countered by a rain of arrow by heavy archers, the volley pierced eyes and and savaged faces.

The swarm of metal and flesh collided with each other as the infantry met head on, the light mounted archers attacked and retreated, looking for gaps to pierce, and running when engaged. Once the armies clashed the ogres were moved back to decrease friendly fire.

Shouts and orders echoed throughout the battle.

“Calvary aim for the ogre's legs!”, A man shouted as he lead the armored division into the throng of ogres.

A man seeing the charge led his infantry division to force an opening, “Squad 8 to me, cover the charge and prevent them from being flanked!”

General Reinhart was atop a mounted war horse, covered in heavy armor, which glowed with silver, it had runic carvings engraved in the horse and armor. He was approaching fifty and had a clean shaven face, the man's brown eyes looked clear and placid, he turned to his attendant standing next to him.

“Have the Gryphon lords sent their armed division and archer division yet?”

“Last I heard they were still in negotiation on war funds, but they did pledge five squadrons.”

The general nodded his head as he watched the two armies devour each other, the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly, it was good day for drinking wine at his villa, a shame it had to be spent watching the scenery of horses being crushed by ogres, and armored cavalry crushing an orc under it's hooves.

A heavy sigh leaked from his breath, when the battle unfolded, husbands will be lost, fathers will die, and sons will have their future closed. A single sentence and many more will die, life was truly short, but a man's life at his final moments, truly burned the brightest.

He uttered a single sentence, “Second wave, charge!”, and more lives will soon be extinguished.

Life truly was unreasonable and often times a ridiculous affair, and in some cases, so is war.

Notes: I'm taking it nice and slow, so if you're confused on whats going on... yep, that's how it is.