Rise of the Horde

The leader of their group towered over Siroh with bloodshot eyes as he brought his blade downwards to end the life of the man who he convicted as a traitor with no proper evidence to back his claim. With a victorious smile on his face, he brought his blade down with full force as he planned to stab through the skull of his target.

Khao'khen finally hurled his enormous spear, which he had been holding steady for some time as he aimed at his target and waited for his chance to have a clear shot. His arms were already feeling sore as he was holding his heavy weapon in his hand steady as he waited for the opportune moment to release it.

A loud howl of the desert wind echoed as dust and sand danced into the air and some rocks atop the boulders rolled off from where they were at and crashed down to the ground as they landed softly on the sand or shattered to pieces after crashing against the other rocks that were scattered all over the place. The crescent-moon spear of Khao'khen cut through the air as it soared towards the target of its hurler. Its trajectory never changed, as he threw it with so much force that the passing wind wasn't able to knock it off its original path intended by the orc.

"This is your end, you traitor!" the leader of their group shouted as he felt assured that his opponent wouldn't be able to escape his attack anymore. He felt the passing wind as it ruffled his long hair behind him and his clothes and also he could hear the scream of the desert wind through the gaps in his helmet right where his ears were at. When his blade was less than an inch away from the skull of Siroh, something struck him in his right sight.

"Ack!" a groan of pain escaped his lips as a bulky yet sharp objects puncture through his armor that they the members of the Ereian Royal Army were so proud of. It made them almost invincible in battles as the weapons of their enemies simply just bounced off from their thick metal armors.

The weapon of Khao'khen carried his target a few inches off the ground and over ten meters away from where he stood at before. Bits of flesh, blood, and chips of metal came off from the right side of his target after his weapon struck true.

The leader of the group stared in disbelief at his torn right side with the bulky spear embedded in it. The weapon almost demolished entirely his right side, as some parts of his armor that he was so confident at were also buried inside his body. Shrapnels from his armor cut through some of his organs. His intestines were out in the open as they escape from their confines through the vast hole by the weapon that was stuck on his body.

He could feel his breathing getting heavier as pain was assaulting him from the inside out. His lungs, he could feel them being pricked by something sharp, well what remains of it. Blood was also flowing out from the hole in his side like water in a dam's floodgate. Staring further, he spotted a blackish thing covered in blood just a few feet away from him. 'Must be a part of my liver or my entire liver.' he thought. Turning his head to one side with difficulty, he saw his fellow member of the Ereian Royal Army staring at him with disbelief.

His jaws were hanging low and you could probably fit an entire egg inside it without a problem and his eyes were almost threatening to fallout from their sockets, his face turning pale despite his dark skin complexion and his forehead covered in huge beads of sweat.

"Kill..." that was all he could say as his finger that was pointing at Siroh fell weakly to the ground. He stared at the sky and appreciated its clearness. The noisy howl of the passing wind sounded like a piece of calming music to his ears. His eyelids felt really heavy, which was forcing him to quickly blink a few times. The pain in his chest was fading as he was starting to feel numb to the pain. His limbs were no longer listening to his wishes as he tried to move them and try to get up. He stared blankly at the clear sky until everything went dark. He had fallen to the embrace of death.

Khao'khen shook his head as he slowly walked towards Siroh who was staring at him in disbelief. He just almost shattered the entire body of a fully armored man with just one attack of his. Khao'khen glanced towards the last Ereian, who was trembling all over as he stared at him. His eyes were shaky and his forehead was flooded with huge beads of sweat that trailed down his cheeks then down to the hot sand and rocks on the ground.

"What!?" Khao'khen snarled at him, which frightened the trembling man and made him back away a few steps as he raised his trembling right arm and pointed his index finger at him in a slightly crooked manner.

"M- m- mon-monster..." the Ereian mumbled as he brought down his arm quickly after Khao'khen showed him his sharp teeth when he grinned at him like a devil staring at its next prey. Like a frightened little girl, the Ereian scampered away as he flailed his arms in the air and after a few steps, his weapon fell off from his grip, which he didn't bother to try to retrieve as he continued to run away. Probably feeling the weight of his shield which was slowing him down, he cast it aside and glanced towards the huge orc who was just watching him as he escape.

After feeling that he was far enough already, the escaping Ereian turned around and stared at the huge orc who was still watching him. Finally calming down after he felt he was already safe enough from the reach of the monster, he gathered his courage.

"I'll be back! And I'll bring all my friends with me! You hear me!? You damn monster! I'll be back!" he shouted before turning around and continuing on his escape. He felt lucky that he was practically ignored by the monster as he ran away, but what he saw after going through a corner of the rocks made him almost soil his pants.

Right in front of him was a group of twenty trolls with javelins in their hands, and they looked like they were just chilling. He could hear their chatters but he couldn't understand a word that they were saying. Moving his gaze upwards on top of the boulders, he saw many trolls who were looking at him with smirks plastered on their lips.

Slowly, he backed away without turning around, but one of the trolls shouted something and pointed the sharp end of his javelin at him. The other trolls who looked like they were just chilling turned their heads and stared in his direction. They were muttering some words, but he couldn't understand any of what they were saying.

"Yo ded mi mon!" he heard one of the trolls on top of a boulder shout at him as he used the kill gesture with his finger moving from one end of his neck to the other as if he was slicing his neck with his finger as the blade. He may not be able to understand the words of the troll but that gesture, he knew it very well as their commanders and the prince used it many times to signal for them to kill somebody that displeases them.

Quickly turning around, he sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him. He turned around and caught sight of almost all the trolls aiming their javelins at him, which prompted him to run even faster as he mumbled his prayers. The sound of the javelins soaring through the air increased the nervousness that he was feeling and his heart was beating so fast and hard as if it was trying to escape the confines of his chest. He wanted to turn around to see the incoming javelins and attempt to evade them, but he was so scared of what he might see, which is why he just continued running.

A javelin just pass by his side as it got impaled on the ground a few meters in front of him then followed by another, then another. Javelins kept safely passing by him, which made him think that he must be really lucky or the trolls just have a really poor aim that they can't hit him. He smiled, but his smile didn't last long as the searing pain from his back erased it, the sudden increase in the weight of his back. A javelin was stuck on his back, but after a few feet of continuing on his sprint, it fell off from his back as it was just impaled shallowly on his back.

He thought he was still lucky and hoped that he could still live, but all his hopes of living were crushed to pieces after javelins struck his back one after another. Multiple javelins were stuck on his back and some of them were, even so, close to each other, creating a bigger wound than they were supposed to do.

The Ereian was turned into a human version of a porcupine, with the javelins serving as the spikes on his back. He crashed down to the ground hard, but he was still stubborn and refused to give in as he started crawling to escape. Javelins kept landing on his immediate surroundings and some even on his thighs, calves, and foot, but he kept on reaching out his hands forward alternately as he dragged his body. He was still hoping that he could survive and will escape until a javelin landed on the back of his hand and pinned it to the ground. Then his other hand also suffered the same fate. Using his elbows and shoulders, he tried to move forward, but his body felt really weak already, and his vision started to go blurry.

"I- I still want to live....I...." he muttered weakly as he tried to move forward once again, but his vision darkened and his head that he was raising from the ground fell. Life escaped from his eyes as he continued to stare into the distance.