The final clouds of winter hid the sun behind them, threatening one final storm as the orc with his missing arm was carried inside the camp, I ran to my tent feeling the adrenaline immediately course through my veins as entered it. My spear and axe resting near my bedroll I rush to grab them.

Humans, and judging by the orc's reactions when they heard about a champion, it seemed to be a powerful enemy...but at the same time, wasn't this perfect? The opportunity to help Maeld return to the hands of her race and leave life in this camp.

But did I want that anymore? A glimmer of hope sparked inside me as maybe, I could convince them to not kill me the moment they saw me. With Maeld's input, and my ability to speak there may be a chance for me as well to leave this life that slowly drains what little sanity I have left.

"Again with that idiotic reasoning, are you delusional?! There is no other path for you to take other than this!"

I...I know. I have thought about it for so long, every time I glanced at merchants carrying their goods on the roads, or lone hunters resting in the middle of the woods, I considered the chance of speaking to them, of risking it and hoping to leave the wilderness...to live as a human.

I hope Maeld takes this chance to leave, even if it pains me, I want her to be free and return to her people.

"HAHAHA! Now get out of this tent, and use me"

Exiting the tent I see the orcs gathering close to each other, some with shields and axes but most with large maces or two-handed weapons. One of them blows a horn far more deep and powerful than the ones guards had.

It's at that moment that I see them. On top of horses, they ride forth toward us, a dozen of guards or more, on their tabards the symbol of a shield with two purple roses, its thorns big and pointy. Thanks to the barricades they are forced to go through one entrance only and as they pour inside the camp the orcs charge at them, warcries, horses, and the sound of metal drowning any other sounds.

I put the head of the wolf on, like a hood it covers half of my head, but it does so much more than that. I can feel the influence of the demon with no name as it digs its claws deep and my blood boils. I can't stop feeling regret for the lives I take, I can't ignore the doubt and fear in my heart.

But with him, it is different.

I run with the spear in hand to the closest enemy, half of them already have either been dropped from their horses or lost by a clean cut to the head or the smashing of a leg.

The first foe is on foot, I pierce his back with my spear as he fights against an orc, a confused cry escapes his mouth as I pull out my spear and catch a glimpse of his shocked face when he sees it was me who did this, a goblin who killed him.

I find another guard occupied with an orc, except this one kills him before I can get to him, and focuses his attention on me, a confident grin on his face as he raises his shield and prepares to cut me in half with his sword.

Or so he hopes.

Like when I attacked the caravan, it is easy to dodge and use my lower stature to close the distance and attack him from below, this time digging my spear deep inside his skull as the blood gushes out of the wound and dirties my face.

"Yes!" his voice is clear amid the chaos, and coarse, full of primal rage "YES! This is it dumb fuck! This is what I live for! HAHAHA!"

With him, I feel more connected to my arms than ever before as I thrust and slash away, with strength and speed, savagery and precision in perfect harmony. I jump at someone on a horse, and I take the guard by surprise as my spear shatters with the power behind my thrust when I pierce his heart and he falls to the ground.

"AHHH!!"

A scream of anger, but also fear, and tiredness. I know this voice.

I look in its direction and I see Dubby, spear in hand as he runs towards one of the humans, but not a guard like rest, it is a tall man on top of an imposing black horse, covered in steel plate armor and with a strange sword in hand.

Half a dozen orcs mark a path behind him, their heads cut off or large cuts on their steel plates and chainmail make it obvious this is the champion they spoke of, and someone Dubby has no chance against.

I take the reins of the horse and taking out my hatchet I dig its pointy end on its side, the horse screams in pain as it gallops towards them, I scream his name, and Dubby halts its advance, his face trying to hide the fear he must be feeling.

The knight looks at me in shock for a fraction of a second before he makes his horse charge to meet me head-on. But I don't plan on staying here to get cut in half by his blade.

I stab the horse on its head, a quick and painless death as it collapses in front of the knight, I jump off and fall to the ground hard as feel the full force of the impact on every bone of my body, but there is no time to feel pain.

Spitting blood out of my mouth I stand up, Dubby rushing to my side as I look at the knight, whose horse is now laying on the ground in pain, raising to his feet, his helmet nowhere to be found letting his black hair with wide white strikes show.

"Run away Dubby!" I shout at the goblin next to me, startling him as he shakes his head "You will get in the way! NOW LEAVE!" Was it I who said that last bit, or was it the demon who spoke through me?

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Either way, Dubby runs away. So I focus my attention on the knight.

As the battle rages on around us, with animalistic growls and hateful screams, my golden eyes lock with his green one, the other a ghostly white thanks to the scar along his face.

"Goblin" he whispers as anger builds in his face right before making a war cry and running towards me with a speed I didn't think was human.

Taken off guard, I immediately take my dagger in my other hand and we begin to exchange hits, the steel and whatever material his sword is made of clang away as I barely manage to defend myself from his barrage of slashes. This is a fight like none other I have ever been in.

His slashes are precise and spark fly as I'm forced to protect my body with my weapons, each hit so strong it doesn't matter if I defend from it, the strength behind it pushes me away and forces me to jump to the side as the knight doesn't let those chances go and pushes more and more.

I can't land a single hit not only thanks to his armor, but every time I think I see an opening he negates it and uses any attack I do against me. Even with the speed of his attacks, I can see there is a stance he has, a set of moves he follows.

This is an enemy that I cannot compare to.

"No! Hit harder! Push your limits and prevail or DIE trying!!"

It doesn't matter even if I want to run away, turning my back on him is a death sentence. I try my best to keep the slashes from ending my life but I can see that the sword doesn't only look weird, its resistance is otherwordly, and its sharpness impossible as I can see my hatchet and dagger already dented and even cracking.

There is only one thing I can do.

"Yes! Follow ME!"

I push forward! Closing the distance and using both of my weapons to stop the knight's swing as it pushes my entire body against his inhuman strength, but then he moves it away, intending on swinging again and ending this fight.

And I duck.

The full swing misses me by an inch, cutting the tip of one ear from my hood. Before he can swing back I jump forward and use his own body to help me push even higher, practically walking on his chest plate as I raise my damaged weapons, even if about to break I can still dig them deep inside his exposed neck as we lock eyes, I raise above him with a warcry and bring down my arms.

But they do not hit his flesh.

A red circle of fire with strange letters appears between us and when I hit it, there is an explosion only from my side that sends me flying far away and hitting the ground hard as my ears ring and everyone seems blurry.

I look back as I lay on the ground, I can see Maeld standing outside Makur's tent, she looks at me with what I think is a concern, but I could be wrong. Then she focuses on the knight, I wonder what she is feeling, what she is thinking. Go, leave this woods, and return to civilization.

But she is not leaving, she is shaking, and I can see the doubt in her eyes, what are you doing? Why are you walking backward? Why would a human not run at her savior?

"You see everything wrong, fucking idiot. You are blind"

I can hear the sound of heavy footing as I look at my feet and see the knight stand there, his sword raised, ready to end it all.

Ismeina, I hope I see you again.

But then, he jumps back, an arrow whizzing through the air, soon followed by a few others. My senses return to me I shake my head and stand up, picking up a nearby sword from the corpse of a guard.

"OROKUR!!" Makur screams at the top of his lungs as he runs into view from the woods together with the rest of his men.

Orokur, wounded and bloodied, runs towards him and swinging around the heavy war hammer a few times and throws it at him, it flies high above and reaches Makur's hands just as he shoots a final arrow at the knight, who ran towards him at the same time, throws the bow away, jumps and grabs his war hammer bringing it down on to the dirt as it sends an explosion of dust and air in all directions with his sheer power.

With the loudest warcry of them all, Makur strikes at the knight again and again, with a masterful technique he hits the sword of the knight without mercy, I see the human in the position I was in mere moments ago as he is forced to constantly step back against the unrelenting force that is Makur's wrath.

Even when Makur seems about to deliver a deadly blow and the fiery circle appears once more, it turns out to be a faint, as he throws his entire weight on a tackle and continues the momentum of his hammer he hits the side of the knight with one mighty swing avoiding the magical circle completely, sending him flying away like a weightless doll.

A pair of guards who seemed to think about aiding the knight, cower at the imposing sight of the orc and run away. Makur then looks back, I think for a brief moment that it is to me, but no, his eyes are full of worry and I follow them, to see they rest on Maeld, who similarly looks at him.

But things are not over yet.

I see Maeld take her hands to her mouth as something above captures her attention, I look around and see swords flying toward both the knight and Makur, they are set ablaze in blue flames. Both targets use their weapons in hand to strike at the swords that explode and vanish as if they were never there.

Only then do I see the hooded figure of a woman fighting against two orcs and two guards, she kicks them with an inhuman strength that sends one flying as blood spills out of his mouth, while hitting the other two with her fists, In the blink of an eye they have all been defeated.

The hooded figure wears a mask around her face and she runs so fast that I almost can't follow her, much faster than the knight, and she joins the brawl against Makur and the Knight.

It becomes a complete mess of a fight, the moment one lowers their guard or has to defend against an attack, the third one joins in and focuses on either of the two. Forcing them to separate, close the distance, exchange a few blows and then jump away only to repeat the cycle, the hooded woman someone pushing Makur the same way he pushed the Knight.

Then, an explosion of blue and red fire above them let me finally see those behind the magic circle that pushed me away and the swords that attacked Makur. Two women at opposite sides of the camp, one shrowded beneath the shadows of the trees, with a black cloak and a circle of blue fire in front of her hands, and the other with a white tunic and a few pieces of plate armor, a circle of red fire in front of her hands atop her white horse, with a pair of guards next to her.

I stand in awe at the display of prowess, incredible might, and masterful technique in front of me. I am leagues away from any of them.

"USHKUR!" Makur yells as he exchanges hits with the knight, finally taking a moment to look at me as the hooded woman forces the Knight away from him "Take her away! Orokur will guide you to a safe place! GO!"

I look back and see Orokur, still badly injured, atop one of the horses with the cart full of supplies, the rest of the horses are the same, Fogosh stands up on top of the barrel on one of the carts, looking at the scene in front of him with a stone cold face.

"U-Ushkur!" Dubby shouts, he follows the carts but is not on one of them, he looks at me with worry as he tells me to come with his arm.

"USHKUR GO NOW!!" Makur screams as he is forced to focus on the hooded woman once more.

I rush to Maeld's side and we exchange a look of confusion, probably asking the same question, why is she still here? But I can't wait any longer, I grab her hand and we run to the closes cart where she jumps on top of it and helps both me and Dubby to get on top as well.

I look back at the camp, countless corpses of both orcs and humans litter the blood-soaked dirt and what little snow is there left. Soon, the battle is lost from sight as only the sound of yelling and explosion is heard, and soon that too is gone.