Four hours later~
Jeyd approached the unconscious Vernus, his limbs gone. They had laid the body over a table inside one of the nearest buildings, the Warlords stood by her side as they awaited the next kin inline. Each was silent, unable to discuss matters of war without each Warlord present and due to Vernus’s condition his status as such was forfeit.
Suddenly the wooden door was smashed aside as a hulking form stepped through, another Orc with similar feature’s to Vernus, his son.
“Verlak, you’ve come.” said Jeyd as she turned to face the young Orc, wearing a full set of spiked plate-armour and heaving a large two-handed axe Verlak’s face was the only skin visible unlike most of his kind but also no scars, bruises or injuries of any kind were visible again unlike most of his kind.
“Father…” Verlak mumbled as he approached the table, eyes wide and teeth grinding “How…did this happen?” he spoke in almost a whisper.
Jeyd grasped the Orc’s left shoulder with her right hand, clenching it as she spoke “He stepped against a stronger foe, they did not finish him off.”
It began as a growl but quickly moved on to a roar as Verlak stepped towards his father’s body, shouting as he heaved his axe up “Disgraceful!” slashing down right above the shoulders and instantly beheading him while crushing the wooden table into two.
Verlak stepped back, dragging his weapon on the floor as he turned to face Jeyd “How, how did they step out of the village alive?!” he roared out in demand, his eyes wide with fury “Who!? Who insults our tribe!?” he glared straight into Jeyd’s calm eyes.
“Someone…No something, you cannot kill alone.” Jeyd responded coldly, to which Verlak snarled “You will carry the banner now?” she asked, still calm.
“I do, now tell me who cause by Odin I will bring this entire building down if you do not!” Verlak growled back.
Jeyd met Verlak’s vicious gaze, she would have at least flinched before but now…she’d seen worse “A summoned Hero, a Spirit demon.”
Verlak’s rage briefly turned to confusion before rising back once more “And what does this…Hero, call themselves as?”
“Kyle Dean, although inspecting it read Kyllix. He is a Lord, a member of some mercenary guild and a descendant of Kori.” Bitterly answered Tellin, the Northern warlord as she sat at the end of the table sharpening her blades.
Verlak glanced over at her and snorted “Then I’ll be back with the last of their heads!” he announced before suddenly moving to storm out of the room.
But Throk, a much larger Orc and warlord of the west, stood in his path “Don’t be a fool, you’ll be hunting a ghost. We nor you know where they are, and we all know the stories.”
Verlak snarled as he glared up at Throk “Out of my way old man!” to which Throk snarled back.
Vee stepped away while snickering “Stupid gorillas…” he mumbled under his breath.
Verlak heard him, briefly glancing at the Hobgoblin that turned to sneer at him. Verlak growled but knew better than to make beef with a Hobgoblin, he wasn’t sure he could finish Vee off before he ran away. Never fail to finish off a Hobgoblin, this was something everybody knew as fact better than the sun is bright or the night is dark here on Hasharr.
“Enough!” Jeyd shouted at the top of her lungs “We discuss now, the horde must stand together.”
Tellin sighed “Our demons are back, even if only one of them…The Empire lies to us, nothing new but still bothersome. Chief what do we do? We stand with leaf ears and against fox or with fox and against Empire?”
Vee shuddered “Me say remove fox, he come back soon no?”
Verlak immediately turned away from glaring at Throk “He’s mine!”
Vee gestured at Verlak “See! Ver kill fox! Problem solved! Vee smart!”
Jeyd sighed in exasperation “Vee you were there, you saw what it did to Vernus! No one move, no one could! We fight we die, I will not be remembered as last Chieftain!”
Verlak chuckled “You afraid?” he asked while glancing at them all “You all afraid! Afraid of scary stories told to children! Afraid of legends! Tales!” he mocked each one of them except Vee “I not afraid!”
Tellin snorted “Your father was not afraid.” She pointed out while pointing a dagger at Vernus’s collapsed and headless body on the shattered table.
Verlak was about to move on Tellin but Jeyd stood in his way “Afraid or not who cares!” she grabbed Verlak by the shoulders and turned him to face her “Verlak listen to me. Big war is coming, powerful enemies from other place not Chaoz. We can not afford to fight Empire or Alliance! If lose the war we do, not just Orcs, not just Hasharr but all Chaoz be gone!”
Verlak smirked as he pulled away from Jeyd “Empty promises Chieftain, you first promise big war with Ogres now you promise big war with enemy not from Chaoz? Hah!” he bellowed with amused laughter “Now I say enough!” he stepped to Jeyd glaring into her eyes “Kolak Tribe fights tonight, you stay here and cower in fear.” He stepped away and turned around, glancing at each warlord in turn “Who wishes to fight with me, come now.” He stormed out of the building.
Jeyd watched as Vee chuckled and ran after Verlak shouting “Kill fox! Problem solved!”, she calmly watched as Verlak stood outside facing the crowd that awaited news.
Verlak bellowed for everyone to hear “We feast! We drink! Come to the east and tonight! Tonight we shall have war! Tonight we trample the giants!” many among the crowd roared out with eagerness, yet just as many watched quietly, awaiting the Chieftain.
Verlak looked disgruntled but quickly regained his grin, walking off and into the crowd as dozens followed behind him including Vee.
Throk turned to face Jeyd “What now?” the grizzled Orc asked.
“If only South and East fight, they lose and we have no choice but surrender.” added Tellin with a prolonged sigh.
Jeyd slammed her staff onto the floor with frustration as she glared out at the road, watching as many followed after Verlak “I must meditate on this.” She glanced between the last two Warlords “I will call for you.”
Tellin only sighed while Throk nodded and stepped out of her way, Jeyd left through the smashed door alone. The horde watched her step out, awaiting for her to speak even after she moved away without doing so. Jeyd had nothing to say, she didn’t know what to say. The Chieftain moved through the crowd, ignoring their impatient stares.
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Three hours of walking~
Jeyd arrived at her destination several hours later, having walked to the complete other side of Moss Village she arrived at her home. Simple like any other building in the city, only a bit larger and with a second floor. Jeyd stepped into the building which unlike the rest had a stone flooring, not dirt or sand and a wooden ceiling on the first floor only.
She set her staff aside then grabbed a metal bottle from the table at the entrance, quickly chugging it down before dumping the rest into the pit fire at the centre of the room. The flames crackled and burst up briefly, before calming down to a higher flame than before.
With bottle in hand she stepped to the side of the building, where a staircase taking underground lay. She descended the stairs lit by torchfire, a circular descent that took to another room carved out of stone like a hand-made cave. Jeyd moved to stand to the centre of the room, holding the bottle in one hand she took out a dagger with the other.
Jeyd slowly and carefully cut open her left arm with which she held the bottle, opening a long mildly deep cut. She put the dagger away and closed her eyes to focus, when suddenly the blood oozing out of the cut began to flow out quicker, almost gushing out momentarily as it rose bent by her will and entered the bottle.
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Jeyd raised her free hand over the wound once she had collected enough blood and spoke a chant “Coagulate.” Suddenly the blood still oozing out of her wound solidified as if several minutes had passed.
She sighed in relief then moved on, starting to move in a circle around the room as she willed the blood out of the bottle slowly and began to draw on the flat stone floor. Several tendrils of blood flowed out of the bottle as she walked, drawing several lines that intertwined like vines creating a ring of spiralling lines on the floor.
Once the ring was complete she threw the bottle aside, empty it briefly rattled on the stone before coming to a still stop in the corner.
Jeyd moved to stand in the centre of the circle of spiralling blood, still and straight as she closed her eyes and raised her hands to her head. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, speaking a chant “Spirits of the fallen, Souls of the forgone, Wills of the dead and damned. Show me truth, Show me what is written, Show me destiny. Fate’s sight!”
The ring of blood around her began to glow a sinister red hue and tendrils of dark green energy began to ooze out. The tendrils were misty but ethereal, signs of the Spirit mana sub-type. They danced around, wriggling like serpents preparing to strike before altogether they did. Jeyd suddenly leaned back as the tendrils flowed into her forehead, first forcing their way in without doing physical damage but then as if being sucked in themselves.
Images began to flow into Jeyd’s mind, her expression grimacing and squinting as the magic drew out her strength causing severe pain.
Jeyd saw the two suns of Chaoz disappear beneath a snow covered horizon, she watched as the world went dark before a moonless sky. Jeyd gazed up as the sky tore open, cut agape as if an invisible blade had slashed through a tender cloth. The tear spanned further and further, a complete circle around Chaoz it did before melding into the other end. The tear was bright, shining like the suns’ light it blinded her.
The light faded away as a different scene presented itself to Jeyd, she was suddenly surrounded by darkness, an empty place void of light. Yet she could see, through the darkness she could see it. Several dozen long furry tails, two long furry ears and a snout of dark fangs. It’s eyes were a cold blue, it’s size several hundred times larger than Jeyd.
She gazed up at the massive black fox, it’s blue eyes afire with black flames.
Then she woke from her daze with a startled whimper, quickly moving to anger as she pulled at her own hair in frustration. This had happened before, she caught a glimpse of a single scene then only the black fox and nothing else. Before she could at least get three to four scenes but now this was all it allowed, it was all the black fox let her see as it blocked her sight.
“Hmm…” hummed in thought a cold voice from the room’s shadows “Have I arrived at a bad time? I can’t exactly come later.”
Jeyd immediately turned to the voice, wide eyed and surprised as she was met with Kyle’s dispassionate expression “You…”.
Kyle smiled, a cold uncaring smile “Time’s up. I see your Warlords got tired of the wait, several thousand are moving on the nearest Ogre town. Is this your answer, Chieftain?” several hours had passed since the mercenaries first set foot into Moss Village, Jeyd’s trip also had taken several more.
So Kyle was now here, right on time for her answer.
Jeyd grimaced as she stepped away from the Spirit Beast “I need more time! The East and South won’t listen easily! The North and West will not move without my say so!” she growled back.
Kyle rolled his eyes “So you’re telling me you’ve not only run out of time but out of uses?” he suddenly surged to stand in her face, his eyes glowing a cold blue “I dislike wasted time.”
Jeyd flinched and took several unconscious steps back “No they will listen!” she quickly responded, panic clear in her tone “They-”
Kyle chuckled coldly, cutting her off “Oh they will listen, to my voice as I pull the life out of them. You’ve had your chance, I’ve given you enough time. Now make your choice, will you stand and die with the rest or bend the knee and survive?”
Jeyd made the mistake of looking into his eyes, a dazzling silver that glowed with a blue flame. She felt her insides grow frost, she knew exactly what this creature could do to her. Not just torture or a slow death, she knew Spirit Beasts could destroy or devour a being’s soul. She knew he could end her very existence.
She briefly glanced around the room, looking anywhere but his dreadful gaze. When she suddenly noticed the ring of blood…mostly dried up but, it didn’t matter to a Hemomancer. Jeyd looked up and at Kyle once more, again feeling her chest grow colder. She thought she could kill him, end the fox and their problems were solved. She cursed herself for thinking like Vee but for once, she couldn’t deny that he was right.
Jeyd didn’t believe she could hold her title as Chieftain if the horde split, less so if half the horde died under her watch. And there was no such thing as stepping down as Chieftain, only forcefully removed and replaced.
Yet suddenly all those thoughts were frozen solid in their steps as a chilling laughter broke Jeyd out of her mind, she looked up to find Kyle mere inches away from her face. She looked into his cold eyes, hollow and empty.
“I can taste your bloodlust, Chieftain. I can see your greed, I can smell your temptation and hear…” Kyle raised his left hand to her throat as a tame Frostflame lit up in his palm making her whimper at the sudden chill “your fear. How couldn’t I? It is I after all, go on, attack me. You’ve seen what I did to…Ah…whatever his name was again.” His smile widened “Are you a gambler, Chieftain? Because you don’t have much of a pokerface.”
He suddenly surged back, now standing several feet away from a much paler Jeyd as he spoke “So go on, continue processing that thought. Let us see where that takes you.” He turned around, giving her his back. Kyle waited, silently and motionless he waited.
But Jeyd had lost all sight of her previous thought (“He knew…and he still gives me his back?...Just what…is this creature?”) Jeyd only wanted one thing, to get as far away from Kyle as quickly as possible. Her instincts told her to run, her better sense told her to run yet her fear deprived her the bodily control to do so.
A long moment later, Kyle began to coldly chuckle “How about you solve a problem for me then?” he asked while turning around to face her again “You see I have this dilemma, if I kill the entire horde then that’s soldiers off my side of the coming war. I could kill half but then, the other remaining half will hate the alliance and the empire. So same outcome.”
Kyle sighed dramatically, then suddenly raised his finger as if an idea had popped into his mind “But a third option suddenly comes to mind!” Slowly, painfully so he lowered his finger to point at Jeyd “What if…Oh what if, you killed the other half?”
Jeyd shuddered as Kyle’s smile grew into a wicked grin “Me?” she instinctively asked in confusion.
He opened his arms wide “But of course you, who will there be to blame if you do it yourselves? Alas it won’t be just you, obviously I cannot have the horde destroy itself either! We will help you…somewhat.”
Jeyd said nothing, afraid of cutting him off as he continued to speak “Obviously you will gain from this too! Your race will continue to exist for one.” He briefly paused, letting that sink in “Then…Ah I guess you stay as the Chieftain.” He chuckled “If you can…Oh but you’re Orcs, you fight each other all the time! How difficult can that be?” he asked, having to gesture for her to speak and raise his brows in question.
Jeyd stared at the being standing in front of her, disbelief in her eyes “Yes…we’re Orcs. We fight, we argue and we fight some more!” she growled at him, seemingly his words having hit a vein inside her “But that doesn’t…that doesn’t mean we’d commit to warring ourselves! We’re all a single people! We-”
“Ah ah ah, let me stop you right there.” Said Kyle, cutting her off “You…wouldn’t war yourselves? Oh how naïve, it’s almost adorable.” He stated mockingly, Jeyd looked at him in confusion added to her disbelief “Oh you don’t know? Oh of course you do not, they wouldn’t have been able to control you for so long if you did know!” he exclaimed in amusement.
Jeyd took the bait “What…what do I not know?!”
“Oh not just you! Your entire race! Your people!” Kyle exclaimed “Tell me, Chieftain. How in the hell would a muscle-headed race like yours ever think of joining up together as a single people? Why would so many different tribes, fall in line under a single culture?”
“Because…” Jeyd had no answer to his question, nobody did…nobody should have. The Hasharrians had been asking themselves the same question for generations. Why did the tribes merge? Why was Moss Village built? Why were the laws of conduct created? Why was there a single Chieftain reigning over the Warlords?
Kyle smiled, satisfied with his contacts “I know...or I should say I can speak with people that were once known. I know what you seek to know, I have the answers to every question your kind has ached to answer for several generations. I also know several other things your people would…greatly flourish with knowing.”
Kyle watched as her eyes widened, he noticed her twitching fingers and pursing lips. Kyle sensed her lust for knowledge, he felt her thirst to know more. He played on it, carefully tying his strings to her “This is my offer, Chieftain. Your race survives, your people get their oh so awaited Ragnarok. You retain your position and I will unleash all my knowledge to you.”
Jeyd swallowed her saliva “And in return you…you ask for half the lives of my people?” swallowing her pride with it.
Kyle did not respond, he knew she knew the answer to at least that question.
Jeyd stared him in the eye one more time (“So…here I stand, selling the souls of half a population to the Demonking himself.”) she bit her upper lip in frustration, he was offering her everything she wanted, everything she needed. A way out, a way to survive and retain her title. Alongside the truth behind her people, be it mistakes or honour that their past was made up of, Jeyd wanted to know either way.
Jeyd clenched her fists, lowering her gaze as she now swallowed her morality and compassion “I-”
But suddenly Kyle cut her off once more “Oh and one last thing, almost forgot from the excitement of new comradery!” he exclaimed sarcastically “What you were doing earlier, I want a peak at that too.”
Jeyd grimaced at his request “It may not work, I’ve been unable to go far in the past weeks.” She warned him.
Kyle shrugged “Work or not, I’ll give it a shot.” He surged, now standing a few feet away from where she stood and forwarding his right hand to her “So, do we have an agreement then?”
Jeyd glanced at his clawed hand, then up at his emotionless smile “Yes, we do.” She shook the hand, marking the lives of half her people as forfeit. Certain that, she had sold them to evil incarnate.