Fight over Darkingstone 648 In the Orcish Backline

“Dammit!”, Donovan exclaims as they strid down one of the secret tunnels deeper into the abandoned mines of Skull Mountain.

“I think we got rid of them.”, Arkevh explains and looks up, the Tunnel they went down to escape the orcs that tried to catch them. His legs still hurt, instead of Donovan's well crafted steel armor, decorated with the golden Cross on his chest he just wore an old black dyed wool robe with a torn cape. Nothing that could hold off an orc weapon by any chance.

However he never needed to be on the Frontline, his Magic worked better when he was behind Donovan, who could tank a lot more hits thanks to his Armor, Holy Magic and his sturdy body.

“That's the problem, we are behind enemy lines and should find the Shaman and now they are already allerted.”, Donovan says annoyed and kicks some rocks further down the old mineshaft, who echo as they fall deeper down in the dark.

“Bloody Hell, we should have just killed the orcs, and move on.”,

“That would have been a stupid idea.”, Arkevh  interrupts his companion, and cleans some dust off his robe.

“Think about it. The other two were caught in the crossfire, if you would take the time to kill them even more orcs would have come to replace them. We are deep in the orc territory. I know you don’t like them but blind rage won’t help us, people died for us, to hold off the ritual, I won't waste more lives in this war.”, Arkevh explains.

“I hate them but I guess you’re right, you are our strongest weapon, we need to hurry up now, otherwise the orcs may warn their leader and this operation is doomed.”, Donovan reminds himself and takes the lead again.

Together they continued their way through the deep Mines of Skull Mountain, with the help of Donovan's magical light he quickly created. They walk past the old wooden planks that support the weight of the ceiling, covered in moss, symbolizing their age.

Donovan and Arkevh were in the mines, located in the highest Mountain in middle Ljus and in the Darkingstone Mountain Range, marking the border between the orcs and Human Lands.

However 200 Days ago the Orcs started their siege on the border fort of Darkingstone prompting a lot of drafting into the Kings army,  like Arkevh and Donovan who got drafted with the Age of 19 and 21. Donovan was an adversary of the Church of Ljus who had a lot of control over the King's court and Helgria as a whole, Arkevh however was just a student in the University of Helgria who was lucky enough to be blessed with the gift of being someone with extraordinary amounts of Mana, and a type of Magic no one really saw before.

Thanks to Donovan he was able to leave the Orphanage and learn in the University, strengthening him, however the only thing he wasn’t thankful about were Donovan's other  ideas, like drafting him into the war as a secret weapon.

Reinhard, the General over Darkingstone was interested in Arkevhs magic like Donovan, so they promptly created a squad tasked with eliminating an orcish ritual that gave their enemies more strength. Indicated by the red glow all over the orcs body. One Strong Magic burst from a skilled magician and the orcs triumph card was eliminated.

This wasn’t Arkevhs war however but Donovans, and he hated it.

Everytime he returned from the Church of Ljus from the north he seemed more keen on the idea that Arkevh was the one that could make Helgria to the most powerful nation in Ljus, getting rid of the orcs who murdered for their amusement and once burned down Donovan's Home. Maybe even Arkevhs, he didn’t know who his parents were. He grew up in the Orphanage after all.

Revising what led them to be here, Arkevh almost misses the natural light coming through the Tunnels, resulting in Donovan shoving his arm in front of Arkevh to stop him. He falls to the ground and looks back, they’ve walked upwards again, soon they would leave the Mining Tunnels the Humans and Dwarfs left as the war broke out. Returning to the hollow halls in the middle of the Mountains the orcs seemed to occupy, stealing the golden Statues that the Dwarfs once placed here before they migrated to the Western Mountains.

“Peak out real quick, you are shorter than me, I raise you up a little bit”, Donovan explains and points to a small air shaft that was carved into the tunnels, a few feet away from the air shaft seemed to be a gate connecting the Tunnels with the Hall in the middle of the Mountain.

Arkevh nods and looks at his companion for a while, even with Donovan's light extinguished the Holy Knight still had a weak glow around him, coming from his blind eye, whose pupilles looked like a white fog was roaming inside of it. His other eye was dark blue while his hair was brown, cut shorter for now like his beard which got freshly trimmed alongside his mouth and cheeks.

Arkevh however kept his long hair that sometimes blocked one of his eyes, hiding his unusual violet Eyes, that reminded Donovan about his teacher Helland. He never saw before , even though Donovan wanted to introduce him to Arkevh one day.

Arkevh stops his consideration and moves up to Donovan who lifts him up to the Airshaft. That also functioned as the Mouth of a Golden Statue who depicted Alexander I, a famous Emperor who stood Against the Orc invasion. It was one of the few remaining Statues, Arkevh was able to see a Statue depicting a Dwarf, being already dismantled in its parts, the orcs really seemed to want this gold for something, even though they normally don’t hunt treasures, maybe they sell it somewhere, maybe for Echsanos Technology? No matter what their plan was he was happy that the orks have not seemed to find the secret entrances to the mine shafts yet.

Donovan and Arkevh just escaped into them barely one blinding light from Arkevh was enough time for him and Donovan to quickly press against the wall and vanish into the mineshafts, thanks to Reinhard's explanation of the Tunnel system they survived, he however couldn’t say that to Warin and Rivh, a Human Warrior and another Mage who sadly made it. Arkevh was still shocked about the orcish brutality and tries to forget the pictures of the orcs brutally murdering their companions. Donovan did not seem to show any grief however Arkevh knew that this probably continued to fuel his hate.

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He just wanted to end this war, there was no reason for him to fight till death, even though he didn’t knew Warin and Rivh for long, he wanted to end it in their name and for all that died in this battle over a stupid mountain.

He looks further down the giant Hallways that were built before his time, gigantic Pillars holding the ceiling that got painted with pictures of the creation and heaven while the ground was covered in blood. He looks further to the right and sees another orc that peaks his interest. An orc covered in Bones and red painting that sat on a wooden throne that seemed to be meditating. Like a lot of orcs he possessed green skin, other than the other orcs however he was way more skinny and had a different head, it was unusually laid forward and covered with a vulture's skull. In his left hand he held a poorly crafted wooden staff that held a red crystal on the top, that radiated in its colour. Definitely that was a Shaman and the one they searched for, however he seemed to be guarded by other fierce looking orc warriors.

“Let me down.”, Arkevh explains to Donovan who listens and lifts him down again.

“What did you see?”, he asks, intrigued about whatever happened on the other side.

“We are lucky, the Shaman is right around the corner if we take the next exit outside of the secret tunnels, but let's be careful he is surrounded by guards.”, Arkevh answers and looks toward the Magical wall, which was marked with a red X from the Inside of the Tunnels. Arkevh remembers once again what Reinhard had told them in the Camp.

“Listen up Soldiers, you have an important tasks, get behind the orcish line with the help of the secret tunnels and eliminate their Shaman, after that we will start our burst through the Hallway and the tunnels as well, they think our main Army hasn’t arrived yet but it's just hiding for now. So hurry up, remember every 10th Golden Statue has an Air Shaft in it and an Entrance to the right, some of my men will help distract them. I believe in your success.”, Arkevh remembers the General's voice echoing through his head.

And now it was time to finish that operation with the hope he could finally leave this place, he just needed to get rid of that one Orcish shaman and nobody would want him again for this kind of battle, maybe he didn’t even need to kill him.

Together Arkevh and Donovan press against the Wall one last time and get transported through the magical getaway, a way feet away from the Shaman and his guards.

Quickly the Shaman notices them, probably because the thick layer of Stones didn’t block his sense to detect Mana anymore. Quickly he and the guards turn around, realizing the Magic Missile consisting out of Light magic, flying towards the Shaman. Right before it was able to hit its target the Attack puffs away as the Shaman stomps on the ground with his staff, creating a red bubble like shield around him and also lets his guards glow in a red light.

“You dare to attack me Human?”, the Shaman says in a creaking Human language. 

“What else, beast?”, Donovan provokes him and draws his great sword.

“That one is on to you, Arkevh I can't penetrate that shield fast enough.”, his companion explains and covers him.

“I will cover you as long as you need, don’t let me down now!”, Donovan says once again and faces the two orc guards that started to attack him. He dodges and parries the Swings of the orcs axes and is able to find a hole in one orcs defense and rams his sword in the orcs chest. To Donovan's surprise the Sword gets stuck in the orc’s body, and did not seem to cause any harm to his foe.

Quickly he jumps back as another blade of an axe, misses him by a small distance, strapping his left cheek, causing it to bleed.

The Effect off the Shamans spell seemed to be stronger closer to him, if that wasn’t enough more orcs started to swarm in from the sides, equipped with all sorts of weapons especially bows that were targeted on the two Humans.

To taunt Donovan the orcish Guard, rips out the bloody sword from his chest and throws it in front of Donovan's feet.

“You die with Weapon, not like coward”, the Orc explains smiling, revealing his rotten teeth.

Not sure what to do, Donovan stretches out his Hand and creates a dome out of Light Magic around him and Arkevh, with the Aura of Defense. The orc archers loosen their arrows and Donovan sights relieved as his defensive spell seemed to work. At Least for now, he could feel that his Mana was rapidly depleting with every arrow and every Weapon that hammered against the dome.

The two Guards of the Shaman however seemed to do nothing, both of the grey skinned orcs with their rusty iron armor and Sabertooths just stood there, not approaching the dome while the red light still surrounded them.

Intrigued, Donovan looks back at Arkevh.

“Arkevh, that is indeed a demonic ritual but I believe you can do it.”, Donovan motivates his comrade, who could not hear him anymore. It already had begun.

While Donovan held off the Orc guards Arkevh already had raised his staff into the direction of the Shaman, who now slowly seemed to retreat behind his line of Soldiers.

“What are you standing here like idiots, attack them, make that boy stop!”The Shaman exclaims furiously and points towards Arkevh, while he flees further into the Frontline, while Arkevh starts to change.

He starts to shine in a violet glow that fills the dome until a third eye with violet pupils suddenly appears on his forehead, and something formed from his wooden staff, a similar eye like sing carves itself in the wood as it begins to glow brightly and a giant ball of energy emits from the top. Faster than Donovan could realize, the ball of energy shatters through his magic barrier, with rapid speed and continues its way towards the hallway and the Shaman. An ear ringing sound appears as it continues its way down the hallway, vaporizing every orc in its path until it hits the Shaman and blows off in a gigantic explosion that erupts the whole hallway. Before Arkevh himself can realize what happened, he collapses to the ground, his staff broken in half by the force of the attack he just unleashed and by all the souls who just entered the Maelström.