The ogre general looked in the direction of the forest. The smell of ash in the air, and the smoke rising on top of the woods foretold troubles soon to come. “Yabadoth is sure taking his time.”
“And he was so confident too,” a blue ogre with five necklaces laughed. “He couldn’t have gotten himself killed, now could he?”
The purple ogre cracked his neck and back before standing up. “Someone go ask the Shaman Lord to come with us. We might need him.”
One of the three-necklaces ogres stood up and bowed, “Right away, general.”
The blue ogre entered through the giant main gates while the general stood waiting along with his officers. Half an hour passed, and the purple ogre’s patience was growing thin. He tapped his legs in annoyance before looking at the blue ogre standing to his right.
“That shaman really takes his time. What could be taking him so long?”
The five-necklaces ogre laughed, “Probably wearing his clothes. You know he likes to stay naked with rosen maidens all day.”
The general shook his head in disappointment, “To have so much power and just laze around all day. What a waste.”
“There he is,” the blue ogre gestured with his head toward the main gates. Next to the three-necklaces ogre were four humanoid-looking figures. They appeared tiny and ant-like walking next to the humongous figure of the monster next to them.
“I hope I did not send my men to you at an inopportune time.” The purple ogre general walked toward the tallest of the tiny creatures. It had a dark purple skin, and its facial features were similar to those of goblins. However, it was much taller and exuded a more majestic aura than even that of the ogres.
“No need for useless pleasantries. Let’s go and finish the business you have called me here for.” The Shaman Lord took out a black grimoire from within his red robe. The book was unusually large and had magical symbols inscribed all over it.
As the group walked with a relatively leisurely pace through the forest, the general looked at the three young purple goblins behind the Shaman Lord. “To think that the day would come where I would see three candidate Shaman Lords. Our tribe is truly lucky.”
The Shaman Lord looked back to his apprentices with a smile on his face. “This is all due to the blessing of our great king and those gods that sent us here.”
While the two were having a conversation, they soon reached a part of the forest that was engulfed in flames. Monsters, goblins, and ogres were screaming from within the raging fire, but none of the general’s group batted an eye. Death was normal and mundane, and those who were weak were doomed to die.
“Clear out this mess. I don’t want my robe to be covered in ashes.”
The purple general nodded at the Shaman Lord’s words. He took a stance in front of the forest fire and gathered wind into his fist. He closed his eyes for a few seconds as he mustered up his power. When he opened them, he threw out a punch that obliterated the forest in front of him. The wind and shockwave from his fist uprooted the trees and splattered the dying monsters into a goo of blood and charred flesh.
As the dust settled, the blue ogres could see the extent of their general’s power. The fire that was raging on was extinguished and a path of a hundred meters was opened up in front of them. It was as if a tornado or a natural disaster had struck the forest.
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Among the destroyed trees, uncovered earth, and the remains of dead kin, was an ogre with three necklaces. He was laying on the ground unconscious, with charred skin, a relatively deep wound on his chest, and a missing eye.
The Shaman Lord walked toward Yabadoth and opened up his grimoire. Incantations from an alien language flew out of his mouth at an inhuman speed. The more he talked, the more a green energy seeped from within the grimoire to the wounded body of the blue ogre.
The charred flesh regained its natural color the deep gash on the monster’s upper body rapidly closed. Only the ogre’s left eye did not return and left a gaping slit where his pupil once was.
Yabadoth coughed out blood before finally awakening. He looked around to see what was happening only for his eyes to meet the general’s.
“Yabadoth, what in the world happened? How could you lose in such a pathetic fashion.”
The blue ogre’s right eye opened wide with shock, before his expression contorted into a blind rage.
“I was tricked!” He roared. “Those buglike humans tricked me! They are weak and have no honor.” He then looked at his general with a resolute expression. “Please let me go get my revenge. I will bring you their head without fail!”
As Yabadoth finished his speech, the Shaman Lord cackled, “An ogre getting tricked, a tale as old as time.” His smiling eyes then turned cold and his word venomous as he stared at the ogre he had just saved. “It is fine for you to lose due to your stupidity, it is not that you forget our king’s words. We have a treaty with that moon-eyed wench, you understand? None of you who have crossed the barrier can go into her territory… At least, not yet.”
* * *
Roy looked with concern at Jaimie, “What? What did you do a lot in your dream?”
“Yeah, you said that before,” Robb added. “You said you were fighting monsters in your dream. What was that about?”
Jaimie looked down at the ground and sniffled. His lips were going up and down as he tried to force himself to smile. But he couldn’t. His sniffling became louder and tears welled up in his eyes.
Roy’s instinct kicked in and he immediately hugged the young boy. “It’s okay. It’s all good now. Tell me, what happened? We’re here for you.”
Jaimie looked up at Roy with tears in his eyes. “I was in a forest, alone, with those monsters. So many monsters. They killed me. They stabbed me in the stomach, in the throat, in my eyes, everywhere! It just never ended.” He then sniffled and took a deep breath. “I killed them too. I thought that if I killed them, maybe everything would stop. But no, it didn’t stop. I killed them, and more appeared, just stronger and faster. I kept killing them again and again, I just didn’t stop killing them, but they kept coming. I thought I was going crazy, I really thought I went crazy. I was just alone. I killed them and they killed me, and it never stopped.”
Jaimie tightly hugged Roy back and sobbed. His hands clawed at Roy’s oversized jacket as if he was afraid that the latter is going to magically disappear.
Roy, who never thought that Jaimie could have experienced something this traumatic, stood in a daze for a few seconds. He then looked down at the young boy and caressed his back, “You’re not gonna be alone. We’re not gonna let you be alone...”
Roy kept hugging the young boy while the latter cried in his arms. After a few minutes, he finally stopped sniffling and took a deep breath. He let go of Roy and looked up at him with a weak smile. His eyes could barely open through the dried tears.
As his two friends finally broke off the deadlock, Robb walked to Jaimie and patted his hair, “You had it tough, brother. All of that is just a dream, we will never leave you. Don’t even think of it.”
Robb tapped the young boy’s back while gesturing to Roy with his head. “Why don’t we take the afternoon off? We can help Alfonse and the rest later at night.”
“That’s a good idea,” Roy nodded. He then looked back at Jaimie, “What do you say, wanna go back and relax for a bit?”
Jaimie nodded back, “Yeah, I wanna do that.”
With their plans for the afternoon set, the group made their way back to the village. As they climbed up the steep hill at the side of the village entrance, Roy looked back at the war that was about to end. The blue ogre that was rampaging at the start had already breathed his last and was now laying dead on the ground along with a pile of other goblins.
The knights who had all the momentum on their side were killing the monsters at incredible speed. Even though a large portion of their forces had already died, the rest of them did not have low morale as they could see victory. Among them, two knights were especially ferocious. The first one was obviously Davis who had excellent swordsmanship and masterful aura usage. The other was Floyd, a knight with the power to control lightning on his blade.