Aurelius' body grew tense with nervousness as a heavy air slowly enveloped the two warrior figures as they locked eyes with one another. Beads of sweat dripped down the elven prince's face as his fingers gripped tightly around the hilt of his weapon; turning his knuckles white as the blonde-haired teenager moved his body to match the wary, yet confident movements of his grey-skinned adversary.

At first, the two figures kept a healthy distance from one another, but as the wary fighters continued to eye their opponent, the two of them drew closer towards one another with carefully placed steps.

Time moved at a sluggish pace for Aurelius as he took several deep breaths to clear away several strands of his golden blonde hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. His vision was slowly starting to become obscured by the sweat drenched locks of hair as it drifted downwards over the top of his sight, and the young prince recognized that there wasn't much for him to do about it in his current predicament.

If he wished to fix the issue regarding his hair, then he would need to strike down the heavily scarred beast standing before him, and as his eyes continued to scan the orc for any openings, Prince Aurelius realized that such a task would prove quite the challenge for him.

Compared to the young teenager, who had turned fifteen years of age just a few short months ago, the orc that stood before him looked to be the complete opposite of the elven prince.

Whereas the young prince was barely able to speak for very long before hearing his voice crack in adolescence, the orc appeared to be in the prime of its life. Muscles were abundant upon the beast’s mighty form as each movement that the orc made, forced their well-toned and powerful forms to flex with immense strength. Countless scars were scattered throughout the creature's body that turned portions of the beast's skin into white blotches of scarred flesh, telling the elven teenager that his opponent had experienced countless battles. The orc's posture gave off an air of confidence that told his would-be adversaries that he knew how to handle any situation given to him. The aura that surrounded the mighty creature was in stark contrast to how the young prince felt about his own set of capabilities.

With such unspoken praise for his opponent, Aurelius couldn't help but feel as if he was about to get into a fight that was way over his head.

"Iskra," Prince Aurelius whispered towards the human girl that stood somewhere behind him, gesturing with a twist and nod of his head that she needed to stay clear of the upcoming fight. If the two of them were to get in each other's way and trip over one another, then the pair of teenagers would have their doom towering over them with a sinister glare in its eyes.

'Backs against the wall and with nowhere else for us to go, our only option is to push forward.' Aurelius' thoughts turned inwards as his mind slowly began to form a plan on how to best defeat his adversary.

However, the prince didn't have much time to think as the orc's deep, booming voice drew the elven teenagers' attention back towards reality.

Bringing his attention back towards the orc, Prince Aurelius watched on in silence as his opponent lifted his burly arms and spread them out wide into the air. The prince's confusion continued to grow as the grey-skinned creature turned its back towards the pair of teenagers and widened its arms into the air, bringing its muscular limbs as high as they could go before slowly bringing them back down to its sides.

As if it had planned to mock its opponent, the orc looked back towards its prey and gave the pair the two teenagers a wicked smile. Its yellowed teeth greeted the confused children as a chuckle broke its temporary silence.

The beast's language was guttural, chaotic, and a terror to the ears of the two teenagers who now bore witness to the bizarre actions of the orc.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Time appeared to move at a snail's pace as the orc continued to speak in the heinous speech of its people's language. Although Aurelius felt a sensation of revulsion towards the guttural speech, he couldn't help but feel mesmerized by what the orc had to say. To the inexperienced prince, it was as if the creature's black speech had put a spell on him, and nothing could stop the elven teenager from listening to what the foul beast had to say. Even if he had no idea as to what was being said.

Eventually, the orc slowed its words and looked towards the blonde-haired teenager as its lips finally came to a close. The creature waited as the young prince said nothing in retaliation towards the speech that it appeared to be so proud of.

Time passed by quickly and the orc grew irritated by the elf's silence, to the orc it was as if the young prince was mocking him by staying quiet and ignoring the grey-skinned warriors' speech.

Aurelius shook his head to clear away whatever it was that had forced him to become so enthralled.

"Um-Uh. Hmm," The elven prince muttered as an awkward smile appeared over his lips. He was unsure of what to say, and there was very little that he could do to fix such a predicament.

It quickly dawned on the orc that his adversary hadn’t been able to understand the greatest speech that it had ever spoken. A shame that there were none present that would have been able to understand his magnificent words.

Furious that it wouldn't be able to mock his opponent through words, the orc decided to go through a different approach instead.

With a deep breath, the orc closed its eyes and opened its fists, allowing its weapons to drop to the ground with a heavy thud before rolling down the hill and disappearing out of sight. The heavily scarred creature flashed a crude, toothy grin as it cracked its knuckles before doing the same with its neck.

"Uh-" Shocked by what he had just witnessed, Aurelius' looked from side to side as visible confusion grew over his face over the orc's most recent actions.

Aurelius blinked, and the orc was already upon him.

Taking three leaping steps towards relative safety, Aurelius forced his body to give himself enough room to fight on equal grounds, burying his boots within the hilltop's mucus-like mud as his body slid backwards over the slick terrain below. As he came to a stop, his eyes twitched towards the flat of his blade as the young prince's arms moved to parry the orc's oncoming right fist as it drove towards the side of his ribs.

Stars drowned the elven teenager's sight in bright dots of light as his opponent's free hand slammed into the side of his face, effectively blindsiding the young prince with a well-timed feint and forcing a surprised Aurelius to tumble off to the side before finally collapsing onto his right knee. Aurelius struggled to stand with the help of his weapon, but his tired body was too slow to react, and the blonde-haired elf was met with a punishing uppercut to the right side of his ribs.

Winded by the powerful blow and unable to keep a strong grip upon his sword, Prince Aurelius’ weapon became buried beneath the thick sludge of mud as it tumbled onto the ground.

Bursts of wicked laughter escaped from the orc's cruel, smiling lips as it shook its head in awe at how quickly the fight had gone. Boastful words escaped from its lips as the orc planted a muck riddled boot over the chest of the defeated elf. With several more words directed at its most recent prey, the victorious orc slammed the beaten elven teenager down onto the soft earth below.

Snarling at his opponent, Aurelius reached out to grab ahold of the leg that held him down and attempted to push the orc off of his body. Yet, his actions only served to provoke his opponent even further, and he watched on in helplessness as his opponent brought its boot up into the air before smashing its heels down onto the young elf's face.

The orc spoke once again as it stomped down onto the boy's chest for good measure.

"Shut-" The elf huffed with a rising voice as he shakily grabbed hold of the orc's leg for a second time, unwilling to allow his opponent to have such a free reign and do as it pleased. "Up!"

The strength of Aurelis' arms waivered as the orc played with the prince's emotions by lifting its boot off of his chest before landing a harsh blow onto the rattling chainmail below. The sound of bones cracking forced the elven teenager to turn pale as immense pain flooded the entirety of his body.

With victory within its grasp, the orc stood over its prey with a cruel smile and laughed at the elf's misery as it twisted and stomped the soles of its boots against the young elf's broken ribs. It was only when the last reserves of the elven prince's strength could no longer support the weight of his own arms did the orc allow the blonde-haired teenager a small amount of relief and slowly released its boot off of the miserable elf's battered chest.

With a look of disgust towards the pathetic form of its fallen prey, the orc shook its head and squatted down to the ground. The orc spoke to the prince in its guttural tongue as it smacked the elf's cheeks with the back of its hand.

Aurelius gasped in pain as his head twisted shakily towards the orc, taking in the entirety of the creature's hideous features with deep rooted hatred in his black and silver eyes.

The orc chuckled at the prince's defiance before reaching out and grabbing hold of the teenager's bloodied chainmail, forcing the enchanted metal to rattle and clink together as the prone elf was picked up off of the ground and raised over the orc's head.

Pain wracked the elven prince's body as the orc pumped his body up into the air as if he were a child's toy. A defeated Aurelius coughed and spat out blood as he watched his arms drop down and hang uselessly in the air.

Defenseless and unable to resist the crude machinations of the orc, Aurelius could only watch in horror as his rival took the first step towards the pit's edge. Fear forced his fingers to twitch, but even with his strong desire to live, the young prince's arms were still unable to offer the tiniest amount of resistance towards his impending doom. His arms continued to hang uselessly in the air as the two figures slowly made their way towards the cliff’s edge.

Standing at the edge of despair, a terrifying sense of dread washed over the defeated prince's battered face as his eyes stared deeply into the shadowy, massive hole.

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