Shortly after asking myself that question, I realized how much of an idiot I was being at the moment. There were two armies that looked hell bent on killing each other and I was just standing stupefied in the middle. I had to get out of there. Bursting into a sprint between the two armies to get out of the way of the inevitable clash, I pushed my legs as fast as they could carry me. It felt like a scene in those action movies where the hero is trying to escape a corridor that is slowly closing in on them, threatening to crush them flat. Only unlike the movies, I wasn’t going to make it in time, and that was before a damn fireball exploded right next to me.
I'm not talking about something like a siege engine firing a flaming boulder, or even one of those Hollywood type explosions. It was an honest to God fireball that caught my attention as it flew in front of me and impacted the ground slightly to my right, throwing dirt and a scalding amount of heat through the area.
I stumbled, completely caught off guard by the explosion. That was just the beginning of it as all hell broke loose. Fire, boulders, and even waves of water rose out of the ground to sweep the feet from under their foes. Pure chaos, and that was before the two sides even collided.
Both armies crashed into each other with enough force to shake the earth. Therewas the sound of metal clanging together, guttural screams, and ferocious battle cries. Blood and bodies went everywhere as the monsters began to tear into the infantry line of the opposing side. A minotaur gored a man and sent him flying with a toss of the head only to be hit full force with a fireball and engulfed in the flames. The lizardmen attacked with a variety of mismatched weapons and cobbled together armor scraps. When weapons failed them, they turned to claws and teeth, biting and rending through whatever soft parts they could reach.
Moving as much as I was able, I kept low and did everything I could not to be crushed underfoot. From my low position I saw the short goblins darting around between the legs of larger monsters and people alike, stabbing and cutting at their enemies with knives and spears.
Was I not considered a threat because I was unarmed, or did no one even register my presence due to me essentially crawling out of the thick of the fighting? A yell penetrated the roar of battle and was echoed several times across the field. The monsters held up shields or hid behind their larger armored friends. Following their gaze, I looked up to see a rain of arrows falling from the sky. With all the monsters and what I assumed was magic, something as mundane as arrows almost seemed out of place.
Realizing that there was no shelter from them, and doubting that one of the monsters would be willing to let me cower behind them, I stood up and started running, trying to get out of the area the arrows would land in. There was no way to escape in time as the angry rain landed all around me. Some of the monsters got hit and howled in pain, others dropped immediately without so much as a sound. The dull impact of all the arrows landing around me or clinking off armor and shields drove my already elevated level of adrenaline impossibly higher.
That was when something hit me in the back, knocking the wind out of me and driving me to the ground. I tried to refill my lungs, but I couldn’t, I tried to get up and run but I suddenly didn’t have the strength to. What happened? I can’t move. My vision started to fade again. No, no, no don’t fall asleep, you have to move. I could barely reach out and tug at the soft earth in a vain attempt to pull myself to safety. My consciousness was fading fast, I couldn’t think straight, and eventually, I couldn’t think at all as everything went black.
Suddenly finding myself in that dark void of nothingness again, my mind was barely aware of what was happening. Everything felt almost weightless, like I was lazily drifting along on a current of air like some sort of balloon. What’s going on? What’s happening to me? There in the inky nothingness, I drifted with no real sense of anything. A voice sounded out from the void in seemingly every direction at once. It sounded soft and warm, yet inhuman and ethereal.
Do not mourn that which is lost, for in its absence there is room to grow. Shed the skin and begin again.
Wha...
My eyes shot open, and I gasped like I had been starved of oxygen for all my life. The sounds of chaos and death filled my ears once more as I found myself in the mud and blood of the field, surrounded by arrows embedded in the ground. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious, but it must not have been much time at all as the battle was still raging around me. Pushing myself off the ground, I started moving again. There was no way to know what knocked me out, but I didn’t feel injured, so I would find out later.
It seemed my streak of anonymity would come to an end as one of the monsters, a lizardman by the looks of it, came charging at me from the side. I put up my hands and tried to reason with it, it was only defense I had. “Wait, I’m not...”
The scaly being didn’t even hesitate at my gesture or the words and thrust what looked like a fishing harpoon at me. I twisted out of the way as best I could, but the makeshift spear cut into my side sending a wave of pain through me. I tried to retreat, all the while still making a desperate plea to be left alone. “Please stop, I’m not fighting, I don’t...”
It wasn’t listening to anything I was saying as it pursued me with the intent to kill. Another thrust came my way as I tried to twist my body again, but evidently it expected this and adjusted accordingly. My eyes widened as the harpoon ripped through my shirt and sunk into my gut. A cry of pain escaped me; a sound that was drowned in the sea of misery that surrounded us. The harpoon was wrenched from my body as the wound began to bleed profusely. My hands clamped down on the wound in a desperate attempt to stem the bleeding. The lizardman pulled back the harpoon for another attack. I meekly raised a blood covered hand to try and protect myself. As you might imagine, trying to defend yourself against an aggressor with a weapon when you are barehanded is not effective. The spear bypassed my hand entirely and stabbed into my chest.
My eyes went wide as I could barely register the fact that I had been impaled. An unprompted cough came with an accompaniment of blood. That’s not good. Understatement of the century, but my mind was broken. The harpoon was removed from my chest as I dropped to my knees and flopped onto my side. My aggressor turned literal tail, which was tipped red, and sought out a new target. Shock was setting in quickly, rendering me barely able to breathe. When I did, it came with another cough of blood. I was losing copious amounts of the stuff by the second and it left me feeling cold. Eventually my vision darkened, fading entirely as I lost consciousness.
Inky black, barely able to think, can’t feel anything. Why am I here again? Am I actually dead this time? The voice returned with one simple word.
Again.
Waking with a start, I found myself in a prone position. My hands shot up to my body and felt around where I had been stabbed. There was nothing there, no injury or damage whatsoever. What the hell? Did I imagine that? No, that couldn’t be it. My shirt still had holes in it and was soaked with blood. Looking at my hands, they were also painted red with my blood as they had been before I passed out. Something weird was happening. Was this some sort of drug fueled dream that I couldn’t wake from? Was I abducted by some government agency to have experiments done on my brain that made these visions seem so real? As ridiculous as all that was, it seemed far more likely to me than what was currently happening.
A corpse landed right next to me, reminding me that I was still in the middle of a war zone. I got up and started running again, trying to make my way closer to the human side of the battlefield. My odds were probably better over there than with the monsters. A tangled mess of bodies blended together in the middle of the two armies, and I was trying to work my way through.
Sidestepping combatants from both sides, I kept moving as fast as possible. My focus was solely on what was in front of me, I had no time to look around or divert attention from simply running. Breaking through the battle line and onto the human side of the field brought a certain amount of relief but didn’t stop me from continuing to run. A hand shot out and grabbed hold of my shirt, stopping me, and turning me to face its owner. Most of the soldiers' features were obscured by the uniform armor that they were wearing. It looked very well made and even afforded some decorative etchings in the metal. The soldier started yelling at me.
“Aug yorlon mal’sethen karthrus!”
“What?” I replied dumbly. What language is that? As I listened to them yell at me, I began to hear a ringing in my ears, like I had a bad case of tinnitus.
“Nal volus tren helren sekt and you're standing around like a damn idiot! What in the name of Alcrith are you doing here?!”
I blinked as their strange words suddenly became understandable. “What?” My brain was most certainly working at maximum capacity right now.
“Have you lost your mind? Who let a damned civilian onto the fucking battlefield?”
“I... I don’t... what is...”
The soldier’s head snapped back to the battle. “Move!” He shoved me out of the way just as another lizardman started to engage them. Stumbling back and falling on my ass, eyes wide, I stared at the pair fighting in melee with one another. A roar came at me from the side. I turned my head to see an orc, skin of earthy green, sprinting at me with what looked like a sledgehammer in their hands. Desperately I tried to push myself away from the orc as it raised the hammer above their head before bringing it down towards my face. Oh shi... I couldn’t even finish the thought before everything went black.
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Again.
My eyes opened and I yelled before throwing my hands up in front of my face in a very late attempt to block the blow that had come and gone. Reaching up to feel at my face I found it still intact and not leaking brain matter all over the place. The orc who had been attacking me was now fighting the soldier who had apparently killed the lizardman and was now in the process of doing the same with the orc. A quick deflection followed by the thrust of a sword into the orc’s throat ended the fight.
Standing up caused the soldier to snap their attention back to me. “How the... Your head was caved in, how are you alive?”
What? I... I was actually dying!? “I don’t know, I don’t know how I got here, I don’t know what’s happening!”
The soldier looked around the battlefield for a second before reaching out and grabbing me by the shirt again. “You’re coming with me.”
Anywhere is better than here. I followed along as the soldier led the way back through the tide of bodies. The more intense sounds of combat began to quiet a little as we moved away from the epicenter of the fighting. This allowed my body to relax a little as I didn’t appear to be in mortal danger anymore.
There were a million questions running through my head, the least of which was wondering where I was. Also, the whole dying but not being dead thing, unless everything and everyone here is just lying to me and I'm in a hospital right now having a mental breakdown and tripping on some hard-core drugs. Anything and everything was on the table at this point, and I was not about to disregard any possibilities until someone started explaining what was going on in a way that made sense.
We were walking toward the hill that the human army came running over when the battle first began. Now the hill was only occupied by five mounted individuals and a couple of soldiers bearing standards that flapped lightly in the breeze. The banners were all the same, a silver base with gold trimmings and an artistic representation of an elongated dragon being run through with a sword. Its style seemed to be a combination of Norse and European depictions.
The riders on the top of the hill were probably lords or kings or something of the like as they did not appear to be preparing to ride into battle and just sat upon their steeds overseeing the carnage. It was then that I noticed that one of the horses was not, in fact, a horse. Is that a unicorn? The equine in question did in fact have a foot long horn jutting from its head. It didn’t look like it was a decoration or part of the barding that was present on its main body. The fur of the animal practically gleamed in the sunlight as the stark white color seemed to reflect everything.
The rider of the unicorn was adorned in armor that seemed ceremonial rather than functional. It had so many etchings, adornments, and superfluous additions, all in gold mind you, that it was approaching garish levels of decoration. I was mildly aware that my jaw was hanging open as I gawked at both the unicorn and its rider.
The soldier dragged me up the hill until we were both standing before the mounted individuals and then released me so that he could kneel before the one on the unicorn. The rider regarded the kneeling soldier and shot me a quick glance before returning their gaze to their subordinate.
“Captain, why is this blood-stained peasant standing before me, and for that matter why are they even here? This is a military operation, not a sightseeing tour. Was he a prisoner of these beasts?”
Peasant? That’s kind of rude. Granted, I did look like I walked through a slaughterhouse, took a blood bath, and then rolled around in the mud to complete the look.
“My king, I found this man in the middle of the battle and have no idea how he got there. He claims to have no recollection of how he ended up in the middle of the fight but there is something odd happening with him. It may sound strange, but I witnessed him die. His head was smashed by an Ulgor and yet when I finished dispatching the savage, I watched as he stood up without any sign of the damage that had been done.”
Hearing someone talk about my death while still being alive to hear it was a strange concept. In fact, it was such a bizarre feeling that I felt like I might be having a stroke. Another thought occurred to me. How can I understand them, how can they understand me? The captain spoke that weird language before he suddenly started speaking English. Something was happening to me, and I couldn’t even begin to figure out what. The king, another weird concept, turned his helmeted gaze towards me.
“Hmm, interesting. Captain, assign this man a personal escort and then return to the fight, we must clean up this mess here before we can do anything else.”
The captain stood and gave another bow before jogging off in the direction of a regiment of soldiers who looked like they were in reserve. He talked to two of the soldiers and pointed up the hill at us. After the apparent orders were given, the two soldiers rushed up the hill and took up positions around me. The king gave a little nod of the head in apparent approval.
“There, now you are secured. When this battle is over, we will return to the city and give you a proper welcome.” The king then sat up a little straighter and cocked his head slightly. “My word, I only just noticed but what happened to your ears?”
“My ears?” With panicked urgency, my hands shot up to feel at my ears, expecting to find part of them missing. They were still there, and they were still whole. I looked back at the king in confusion.
“Did those savages clip your ears, or perhaps it was simply how you were born?” The king continued, not registering my look of confusion.
“I don’t really understand. I mean, they are how they always were.”
“Ahh, I see, a birth defect then. Minor as it may be, it is still unfortunate.”
Despite my confusion, it was best to keep my mouth shut. There was no need to push my luck when things were starting to look up. I turned back, looking at the ongoing battle. From the elevated position on the hill, it was easy to see the scope of everything that was going on. The human army held a close formation and did their best to fight near one another to prevent flanking, while the monsters spread out in a chaotic formation and attempted to poke and prod at the line. The larger and or stronger beasts were able to crush through the defenses in some parts, allowing a brief incursion into the opposing lines to attempt some damage, but they would quickly be repelled by reinforcing numbers who filled in the gap or magic that slammed into them and pushed them out.
There were losses on both sides, that much was obvious, but the monsters were losing more than the humans. There wasn’t a whole lot of magic from the monster’s side of the field, and it seemed like a tactical disadvantage to not have a lot of magicians. They sort of made up for it with their physical advantages, but magic just seemed too strong.
The monsters eventually suffered too many losses to continue fighting and a horn sounded out from somewhere beyond the opposite hill. Any of the monsters that could do so, turned tail and ran. The victorious army started celebrating, yelling, cheering, and taking pot shots at the retreating creatures until they were all out of sight. The battlefield was littered with corpses on both sides and the mass loss of life made me feel bad. I didn’t know any of them, and I didn’t know what they were fighting for, so I just hoped that their lives and their deaths had meaning to it.
A figure started to climb the hill toward us, and I recognized them as the captain by their armor. It seemed the regular rank and file soldiers didn’t have engravings in their armor but those who held officer positions did. The captain's armor was covered in a bit of blood that was acquired between the last time I saw them and now.
As the captain climbed the hill, he started to remove his helmet. Once the straps were undone, the helmet slipped off his head to reveal neck length dirty blond hair. His features were angular and noble with a hint of weariness in his eyes that seemed deeper than just exhaustion. His skin was a golden brown, well-tanned, which could mean that he spent a lot of time working outside. However, the feature that caught most of my attention about him was the fact that his ears were at least two inches longer than mine and pointed. My mouth dropped open again as I realized that he wasn’t a human, but an elf!
The comment about my ears started to make a little more sense now as more people started taking off their helmets to reveal pointed ears. This entire army was probably comprised of only elves. The captain stopped before the king again and gave a bow before delivering a status report on the aftermath.
“My king, the enemy is in full retreat, we are picking off stragglers and finishing the wounded. Our injured are currently being taken to the apothecary’s tent for treatment and the wounded officers are being sent to the healers.”
“Good work captain, I expect no further problems and a clean wrap up to this battle. Report any further incidents to the general should they arise. I will retire for the day.” The king then turned his head toward me for a moment. “Set this man up in an unused tent and post a watch over him.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I’m being watched? Does that make me a prisoner? I guess I did kind of get involved in a battle I had no business being in. Maybe If I explain what happened they will let me walk away without much fuss... Do I even know what happened? It occurred to me once again how ridiculous this situation was, and I still wasn’t entirely convinced that this wasn’t some sort of hallucination.
Those on their mounts turned and rode them back down the other side of the hill while the guards on either side of me placed a hand on my shoulders and started to encourage me to walk. Having no other option, nor any idea where to go if I did have another option, I started walking. Not a word was said by anyone on the trip as we all continued at a steady pace.
After a few minutes we crested another hill, and I laid eyes upon rows of tents spread out across the field. Most were of a small size, fitting one, maybe two, individuals inside. Closer to the center the tents got bigger, probably for officers or the aforementioned medical tents.
We walked down the center of the rows of tents. The elven soldiers who were present parted before the king and his entourage. Most who weren’t in a hurry somewhere bowed their heads to the king before quickly returning to their patrol. As we got closer to the middle of all the tents the king stopped at the head of the group and made a gesture at one of the tents. The two guards behind me directed me toward it.
It was a medium-sized tent, big enough for me to have room to move around inside at the very least. When I pushed aside the flap in front of the tent and entered, I found a raised cot and small table with a stool next to it. It was very bare-bones but probably nicer than some of the others. The guards remained outside the tent, and I heard the rest of the group trot along deeper into the forest of fabric.
Sitting down on the cot I finally had a moment to think. This is really happening, isn’t it? It certainly felt real, it looked real, sounded and smelled real too. All that was left was for me to eat something and then there would be no more doubt. I was a mess, my clothes were torn up, covered in blood, mud, and I had no shoes. I really wanted a bath but didn’t know if that was even a thing out here in the middle of nowhere in a very military style camp. Sighing, I resigned myself to simply lying down and waiting for something new to happen. I was exhausted, clueless, and more than a little afraid. I doubted that this place was on Earth, or at the very least not an Earth I knew of. Sleep did not come easy, but it came eventually as my weary body’s needs finally won out over my concerns and I slipped away for a brief nap.