The Messiah swallowed the greasy strip of grilled meat offered to him with relish. He watched the squirming female bonded and gagged to a rock stab been carved up by the Elders and grilling the meat over the fire like a live bbq station.

Some of his people were dancing and singing to the musical instruments either salvaged or handcrafted. He smiled at the scene, totally oblivious to the suffering and dying female before him.

Suddenly, continuous thunder could be heard rumbling away in the distant. He frowned as he was pretty sure the skies were clear earlier in the evening. He ignored the storm as females members of his Pact invited him to dance with them.

Just as he was enjoying himself, his men suddenly appeared beside him and whispered the news of his people getting massacred by the strangers.

He stopped his revelry and stormed off towards his tent with his men in tow. "What exactly happened?" He asked as he entered his tent.

"Elder Samu left with his cadre to invite the strangers to our feast..." The man reported. "He wanted to trap them here with all our people... but somehow they failed and a battle started."

"How many people did Elder Samu brought along?" The Messiah was surprised at the turn of events.

"Over a hundred..." The messenger said. "None returned."

"Over a hundred of our people?" The Messiah stood up and shouted in anger. "ALL DEAD?"

"Yes, Messiah," The man replied. "The strangers appeared to either have the help of the Oerkins with their thunder smoke weapons or they possessed similar weapons!"

"What?" The Messiah paced around his tent as his mind processed the news. "Those savages!"

"Since they forced our hand..." The Messiah's expression darkened. "Send word to the other two factions. Tell them to attack the Oerkin and I will cede to them control of a water point each!"

His Pact has controlled all the usable wells and most of the region of the ruins. All parties must pay in warm bodies and most of the time, they demanded youngsters as their flesh was more tender.

"Go! Burn and feast on the Oerkins, my children! Destroy them all!"

-----

Turok, Chieftain of the Wolfmasters clan after the demise of his father, now the leader of all the remaining Oerkin clans, sat on the barricade made out of earth filled sacks and watched the strangers sort out the bodies of the Pact. He came alone under the invitation of these ... Mar-eens as they called themselves.

The leader of this small but powerful force had enquired about the events that had happened here. Seeing no point to conceal anything, Turok had explained how his clansmen fought against the Great Evil and in return, the majority of their forces had been decimated.

Least than a tenth of the warriors survived, while almost every shaman had burnt up their life force to find against the Great Evil. Even all the ancestral warriors were defeated by the Great Evil in the end.

If Turok had not ordered the remaining forces to scatter, he doubts there could be any survivors against the Great Evil.

What remained of the Oerkins' major clans were a bunch of young, old, and weak while other lesser clans and tribes were scattered all over the plains. They had banded together under the suggestion of Turok who managed to survive the battle.

Now, the Head Chieftain of all the remaining Oerkin clans, he was placed in a position of the great responsibility that he once craved for. But he realized with such great responsibility, eery action or order he made could lead to the deaths of hundreds of his remaining kinsman.

While the scarce amount of resources in the area and the majority of the creatures been frightened off by the great battle that occurred here, his people struggled to survive in this cursed land.

They were better off compared to the soft skins as they knew the ways of the plains. He wanted his people to head off to better grounds, but the travel will kill many of the young, weak and old.

He did not have the heart to abandon the weak and old even when they volunteered to do so for the greater good of the Oerkins.

In the end, he and his people stayed on, making the best use of their skills to hunt for food and gather water while defending an uneasy truce with the hostile Pact and the ex slaves.

He was grateful to these strangers who gave him people some of their supplies of food, despite it barely able to feed all his people for a day or two.

When Rathia the leader of the Mar-eens offered him an option for the salvation of his people, he was worried that it might be a trap by these Mar-eens and their United Nations.

But after seeing the power of their weaponry, inside his heart, he knew he found the answer for his race survival and he pledged his service to them in exchange for saving his people.

Suddenly a wind wolf bearing a rider rode up to the gate and the guards stopped the rider. "Halt! State your business!"

"Me bear critical news to my Chief!" The young Oerkin rider panted as he hopped down from the back of the wolf. "Need see chief at once! Much importance!'

"I am here?" Turok walked over quickly. "What urgent news you bear?"

"The Pact and the other factions!" The message bearer cried out. "They are attacking us!"

Turok jerked his head up and turned to look towards the direction of his people. He vaguely could hear some rumbling of thunder but he hasn't paid much attention to it before and his face paled. "We need to return at once! Wait here!"

Turok turned and found Rathia directing his men at one corner. "Lord Rathia! I must leave at once! My people are under attack by the Pact!"

"What?" Rathia paused at his work and looked at Turok in surprise. "Can your people hold them off?"

"If it is just the Pact," Turok nodded. "Yes. But if the other two groups join forces with the Pact. Maybe yes, maybe no..."

"I will send some men to help you then!" Rathia quickly made a decision.

"But... your men..." Turok eyed the small number of troops in the camp.

"Don't you worry about them!" Rathia gestured to his aide at his side. "We are allies after all, and we don't leave our allies behind!"

-----

Oerkin Camp

BAAAM!

A mightly flash stabbed out into the darkness followed by a large dirty cloud of smelly smoke. The surprised face of a charging elf was lit up momentarily, his expression showing shock and pain as the bullet of the large caliber hand cannon of the Oerkin slammed into the elf, sending him flying back with a large hole in his body.

As if the firing of the hand cannon was a beacon, dozens of fist sized rubble were thrown at the muzzle flash hammering at the Oerkin who fired. He yelped in pain as he was peppered with dozens of stone flung by the mob besieging his camp.

The Oerkin fell back behind the wooden stockade under the heavy rock barrage while other Oerkins bearing shields came up to help shelter their brethren.

This method of attack continued on, and the Oerkins defenders barely a hundred strong couldn't stop the flood of elves rushing up to the wooden walls and hacking away with felling axes.

Soon breaches along the wall appeared and mass of elves cheered wildly and rushed into the camp. The Oerkins tried to stop the attackers and bravely counter charged in the thick of the mob, their heavy melee weapons sending body parts and blood flying into the night air.

"KILL! KILL! KILL!" The mob screamed for the blood of the Oerkins while the Oerkins gave ground slowly and steadily, reaping a great price against the attacks for each foot of ground given up.

Bloodstained the grasslands as the people vented all their frustrations, fear, hatred onto the Oerkins. One Oerkin swinging a great ax in the middle of the mob had a rock slamming into his left eye, stunning him for a second.

It gave an opening to the mob as they surged in with crude blades and sharpened sticks, stabbing at the bellowing Oerkin till he disappeared under the crowd and someone hacked his head off and leaped upon a pile of logs waving the grisly trophy for everyone to see.

The mob feeling empowered, screaming in ecstasy at the sight of the Oerkin head and pushed hard against the defenders. "KILL! KILL! KILL!"

Pressed from all sides, the remnants of the Oerkins fell back to the young and old. The Oerkin young and women folk piled crates and any objects they could get their hands on and created a barely adequate ring of barriers between themselves and the surging mob.

Surrounded by a ring of crazed bloodlust mob who constantly pelt the defenders with stones gathered from their surroundings, the remaining Oerkin warriors bravely weathered the missiles to protect their families.

Suddenly the mob parted and person in white robes flanked by members of the Pact in red appeared and a hush fell upon the mob.

"My friends, we now stand at the point in history where we will be remembered by all," The Messiah's mellow voice spoke clearly and loudly for everyone to hear. Those further at the rear had his words repeated by the persons at the front. "These vile Oerkins has tormented us for years. Treating us like animals and to be whipped and beaten upon their whims."

"Now we cast off the yoke of their tyranny and reclaim our pride as people of the land!" His voice rose higher. "Today, we regain our freedom from the chains of Oerkin tyranny!"

"KILL! KILL! KILL!" The mob chanted as one as they stepped forward with each chant of, "Kill!"

The Messiah smiled under the glow of the burning brands held by the mob around him and ordered, "Kill them! Burn them! Destroy them! FOR THE PEOPLE! FOR OUR FREEEEEDOOOOM!"

"KILL! KILL! KILL!" The people filled with bloodlust charged forward and screamed wildly as they ripped the crudely built barricades down with their bare hands, ignoring the hacks and slashes of the defenders. "KILL! KILL! KILL!"

The Messiah's smiled became wider as he watched the people hurl themselves with care at the Oerkins, dragging any unfortunate Oerkin out from their flimsy ring of defense, where the mob tore the unfortunate Oerkin up.

He suddenly frowned as he felt a shift in the tension of the air. He turned his head to one side where a different kind of scream sounded and the mob suddenly paused in their attacks as they turned their attention to the cause.

A sudden thunderous roar erupted from the side and the screams intensified. Panic appeared to spread like ripples on water and the mob pushed away from the source, revealing a pair of monstrous glowing eyes that appeared to lit up the entire area!

Dozens and dozens of broken bodies laid before the pair of eyes that blinded anyone looking directly at it. Suddenly something growled and rumbled as more pairs of glowing eyes appeared from the dark and they all eyed the frightened mob.

The mob screamed as they saw more monsters appearing from out of the dark and broke. They dropped whatever they were holding and scrambled away from the monsters in fear, all thoughts of murder gone instantly.

The Messiah's eyes widened as he stared at the monster eyes glowing in the darkness. He shivered excitedly and felt his manhood hardened as he stared back at the blinding lights. He spread his arms wide out in welcome and laughed madly, just as thunderous roars and flickers of fiery darts burst out from the heads of the monsters chasing the running mob and lighting up the entire area.

"LIVE TO EAT! LIVE TO BE EATEN!"