Chapter 019:

Anton and Verona remained in their embrace for some time, Anton felt it was almost a minute before they broke. All the time, Verona was quietly sobbing tears of relief and joy into his chest.

When she finally stopped she leant back. While her power had receded, her eyes were still red from crying and her nose was starting to run.

She wiped away her tears with what little of her clothing was not drenched in blood.

“Did we really win?” she asked, her arms feeling weak in his own. “I just want to make sure this isn't a dream.”

Anton looked around. Everywhere was covered in blood and bodies. Those goblins that had fled, only about four hundred of the original eight thousand, had almost disappeared over the first ridge. Most were injured yet they were able to hobble away at great speed.

None had tried to return to attack again. They had been so terrified by Verona, especially when she summoned a dozen spears at once, that self preservation took hold.

When he saw her take that gamble his heart skipped a few beats. If it had failed things could have gone considerably worse.

“Yeah. For now, we've won.” He picked her up and got her to stand. This time he was the one to help her walk.

The other villagers wore a bewildered look, like they could still not believe that they were alive.

“We...We did it.” A shield bearer yelled out. He, like everyone else was battered but not broken.

Cheers erupted throughout the wall. Villagers jumped up as they laughed and cried in joy.

Even Avery looked quite bewildered.

“Everyone....return to the village.” Anton said. They slowly hobbled back inside the village. There would be time later to salvage any valuables.

The villagers inside looked a little better, though not by much.

“Anton!” he heard Jeff yell as he ran towards him. Behind him was Sam, Jonathan, Zac, Bertram and Sybil, all a little banged up but still in one piece.

“That was awful....but we won!” Jeff said, quickly followed by a cheer amongst the villagers.

“It was.” Anton replied. “By the way Jonathan, where are your kids? Are they still in one of the barns?”

Jonathan nodded, his blacksmith body covered in blood.

“At the moment they are still in the barn with the few fighters that decided to stay behind. I had better go and check on them.” He quickly ran off the center.

Anton led them to the side, putting a relieved Verona onto a box so she could sit. Everyone could see how tired she was.

“How many do we loose?” Anton asked. During the fight he had seen some villagers go down, he had no idea how many were dead. He took out his fifth Karak fruit and bit into it. While he started to feel sick, it was not to the violently ill state like before. Now he probably had a quarter of his mana left.

Jeff looked a little sad and regretful. He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.

“We have had a few deaths, not as many as we expected though. About seventy are dead, with another hundred or so really close. I hate to ask this of you, but I need you to heal as many as you can.”

“Okay,” Anton replied, “I don't think I'll be able to completely fix them up, just to stop them from dying. Just give me a moment.”

Anton sat next to Verona, who moved over, and took several deep breaths.

“This may be an odd question, but what will you do with the dead?” Anton asked, trying to focus on something other than his exhaustion, “Are they buried or cremated?”

“They're burned.” Zac replied. He had many deep cuts but they refused to bleed any more. “We'll use quite a bit of wood from our stores...but it's the best way to send them off to the gods.”

Everyone here uses the word 'Gods' as part of some sort swear. I wonder how they will match up with my current ones.

“After that's done,” Jeff began, “We'll all need some of that booze. Zac, you might want to bring some out for dinner.”

Zac was about to speak when Anton raised his hand to cut him off.

“You may want to hold that off for now.” The others looked confused but waited for him to continue. “There are still four hundred or so Yellow Goblins still alive, plus who knows how many others there are. I hate to say it, but we need to stay alert and not relax just yet. Tomorrow, we should attack them again, when all of us have some energy back.”

The others wanted it to be over, but knew it was nor yet.

“That means that anyone that is still relatively okay needs to be on scouting for now. Everyone else needs to go to sleep right away. Oh, and someone needs to recover their commanders body and armor. I want to see what they're made of, both of them.”

Jeff sighed. “I'll get that ready. I need you to start healing people before it's too late.”

“While you do that, we'll start the clean-up.” Bertram said, taking everyone except Jeff with him.

He stood up, Verona following, and started moving to each wounded villager.

Each healing took quite a bit out of him, just enough to stem the blood and allow the healing salves prepared from their trip south to the Thumper fields to do their work. By the time he finished the thirtieth person his vision was starting to blur and his balance was almost starting to go.

Despite being dead tired herself, Verona ran and got Anton another Karak fruit. This time he did not vomit but he was certain the next one would.

By the time he had finished he had almost passed out.

Fifteen had died before he could get to them. There was some anger from friends and family but Jeff managed to calm them down, reminding them Anton was just a human and had limits like the rest of them and despite that he saved many lives. Most apologized, admitting their feelings of hopelessness as they watched them die, though Anton was so tired that he barely heard them.

The last thing he remembered was walking with Verona into the Main hall and slumping onto the bed, still in his clothes. Verona moved the chair infront of the door, acting as a crude door stop, and crawled onto the bed with him. She curled up in his arm and within seconds both were fast asleep.

---[]---

When Anton finally awoke, the light outside told him it was very early in the morning, even before dawn.

Every part of him felt sore, to such a level that he had never felt before. As he stretched, he felt every bone and tendon creak and groan. However it felt like his entire mana reserve had recovered.

So, every day I can basically flatten a small army...How rare must mages be?

Again, no one had got them during the night so he hoped that everything was alright. By the end of his healing he was so tired that he was not sure whether or not they would all make it. Though, with the mana connection, he could feel when the life of another would snuff out, and could not remember one that he let go.

In the far distance he could hear noises. It sounded like a heavy cart rolling through the village, trying its best to remain quiet.

While he wanted to go back to sleep, he knew that he had to finish the fight with the Yellow Goblins. He started to move to get up, but found Verona curled up with her head lying on his chest.

Verona, still in her bloody armor, was woken by his movement. She stretched her body out, moaning slightly as she rubbed her arms.

“Morning Anton,” she rolled completely onto his body. “Are you feeling rested? I know I am.”

All of the fatigue on her face from the other day was gone, replaced by a beaming smile.

You certainly recover quickly.

“Yeah.” he replied as he straightened up, bringing her with him. “I'm still pretty tired, but I can use my magic just like yesterday. I just wonder how the others are faring.”

She nodded, jumping off the bed and helping Anton up.

“Oh, we've got a problem.” she said, pointing at the bed.

Anton looked back and saw her problem. As they were both dead tired, they had not cared about the state they were in. The fur covers was covered in dried blood where they lay during the night.

“I think we'll worry about that latter.” he said to her, grabbing her spear that was leaning against the wall.

I really don't want to have to explain that one.

They walked as silently as they could through the Main Hall hoping not to wake Bertram and Sybil.

As they exited they saw the source of the noise. It was a cart, loaded with Yellow Goblins corpses. Otherwise the village plaza was completely abandoned with not a villager in sight.

The villagers waved to Anton as they continued to the south. He presumed that they would be unloading the bodies at the bone pit.

One of the villagers peeled off, walking up to Anton.

“Hey, Jeff's waiting at the northern gate. Looks like he as a few hundred people ready for that attack you were talking about.”

Anton gave his thanks and continued walking.

Jeff and almost two hundred armed villagers greeted him at the still destroyed northern gate. These all wore the best armor, the green Bosciycium armor had very few scratches. As he walked past the last few buildings he saw villagers sleeping outside. It made him feel a little guilty about sleeping in his bed, but he put the distraction to one side.

“Early morning to you Anton.” Jeff said, walking quickly up to him.

“Do you even need to sleep?” Anton genuinely asked.

“Yes.” Jeff replied, without a hint of sarcasm. “We've all been sleeping out here, so we could respond if something went wrong.”

“I feel a little bad now, actually going to sleep in a proper bed.”

“Don't worry about it.” Jeff looked towards the awaiting soldiers, “Most of them have had someone important saved by you. We're all eager to see this thing through.”

“You want to come this time?” Anton asked.

“I wanted to go the last time.”

“And Sam's okay with this?”

“Sam's right here!” she called out from the crowd, pushing her way through. “By the gods Verona, we just cleaned you.”

Verona looked at her clothes and armor. She sighed lightly at the sight.

“I'm going to need another bath. By the way, do you know how to get blood out of clothes? I went to bed like this.”

Sam feigned a gasp but still smiled. “After this, we'll have to have another.”

Verona chuckled nervously as she shook her head. “Not for a while I think. I have other plans.”

She held onto Anton's arm, her face turning a light shade of red. Sam chuckled and turned to back to the villagers.

“Where's the commanders body?” Anton asked.

“It's been moved to one of the barns, you want to see it yet?”

Anton shook his head. “No, let's just finish this first.”

The villagers seemed quite relieved as they started to move through the burnt field. Anton, Verona and Sam stayed at the back while Jeff led from the front.

Everything still smelled of old burnt grass and flesh, the craters were a reminder of the power that Anton held within him. The villagers laughed as they walked past, Anton heard they were almost felt sorry for the Yellow Goblins that were caught in the flames and lightning. Almost.

After reaching the top of the first crest, Jeff held his hand out, bringing everyone to a halt. Anton and the two women walked with him to the front.

In-front of them, between them and the next crest, lay several dead Yellow Goblins, almost twenty. They looked like they were the worst wounded from the flames and lightning; their limbs and face charred and useless. However, it was not just the fact that they had been apparently been abandoned, it was what else was there.

A pack of grey wolves, ten in number, with their distinctive glowing green eyes, were feasting upon the dead. Several gathered around a single goblin and grabbed its limbs, one each. They pulled, snarling and twisting at the limbs, before they ripped free. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“Any idea?” Sam asked.

Jeff coughed, “I'm guessing that these are the ones too injured to move and were left behind.”

He looked towards Anton, who let him continue.

“But, the wolves here are just feasting on their corpses. These could even be the remnants of the pack that you killed at the lake.”

Everything has to eat I suppose.

“It's just a question of where the rest of the goblins are.” Anton added.

Verona bumped Anton in the side then pointed to the vials hanging off her waist. They were full of the remains of old blood, so old and decayed that it was useless.

“That many Grey Wolves are a little too much for you without your power,” Verona started to pout but Anton continued regardless, “But, for know you'll just have to use mine.”

Anton held out his hand, allowing Verona to make a small cut. Sam, and several of the others gasped and covered their mouths. Most looked confused, while others looked concerned at what was happening.

After bringing up two vials full of his blood she stopped, Anton healing his wounds.

“So that's where she gets it.” Sam said, still a little concern on her face.

Verona smiled, bringing the blood out of the small holes and forming spears. She ran fast and low, straight at the wolves.

They noticed her, probably from the sound she made running across the grass, and clustered together. It was a very bad decision on their part. She flung both spears as soon as she could, impaling and killing three wolves.

The others yelped in surprise and panic before running away with their tails between their legs. Anton expected Verona to give chase, but she remained still. Blood slowly poured out of their bodies and floated into the air, completely filling all six vials she carried with her.

It would be better if we could build the vials into her armor, or at least make them a lot stronger and perhaps larger. Right now they are just clay pots held on by some string.

Verona ran back, looking quite proud of herself. She said nothing, nor asked for anything as she moved back next to Anton, the blood marks' glow receded back to nothing.

“Well,” Anton said awkwardly, “Jeff, let's keep this thing moving.”

---[]---

Anton and Verona moved to the back again as they continued to advance on the mountain. Each crest the crossed revealed a new batch of dead Yellow Goblins, each about twenty or so in number, all lying at the bottom of the crests.

More packs of Grey Wolves were feasting on the corpses. They had seemingly been alerted to their presence and fled over to the next crest the moment they saw them.

As they reached the bottom of the final crest, something along the northern skyline caught his attention. With the early morning light it was hard to see, but now that an almost an hour had passed. He could see more smoke coming out of the mountain.

The other day when the Yellow Goblins attacked, the smoke had all but disappeared. Now it looked like it was burning again.

“Why is there smoke?” Verona asked, seemingly reading his thoughts. The other villagers seemed to wonder as well. “It was barely there the other day, so...it should have gone out by now.”

“That's a very, very good question.” Anton replied. “I doubt they're dumb enough to set another fire inside the mountain. I honestly don't have an idea. But, we'll soon find out.”

When Jeff, who was at the front, poked his head over the last crest he froze. He thrust his hand back, quickly waving down. He and everyone else dropped down and fanned out so they could all see while only exposing their heads.

“What have we got?” Anton asked as he crawled up to Jeff.

“Something I don't understand. It's a mess down there.” Jeff said as he glanced back at Anton, making room for him.

The villagers had the same expression as Jeff as they looked towards the mountain. Verona moved along side him and looked over.

The mountain's base was several kilometers away, open grasslands in between. At the base, near the entrances they saw after the raid, fires and smoke raged. In-front hundreds of yellow creatures ran about. But there were other colors moving either side, and it was not from wearing armor.

Other monster groups had taken advantage of the Yellow Goblins weakness. With their strength gone, other creatures were trying to take their territory.

While some of the Yellow Goblins were in armor, most wore the rag dresses or loin cloths. They were screeching and yelling but there was no order to their actions.

Packs of Grey and White Wolves attacked from the south, corralling and attacking the Yellow Goblins, forcing them away from their larger groups. Sprays of blood flew into the air as they fought amongst themselves for their food.

Grey brown creatures, smaller than the Yellow Goblins, attacked from the north western side of the mountain, hundreds if not thousands of them. They looked like Rock-Rats, perhaps trying to expand their territory or taking revenge. Not that Anton could tell. Most of the armored Yellow Goblins were fighting there.

Finally, to the east were a few hundred vaguely humanoid green creatures attacking. They wore very little but where crushing the Yellow Goblins. With the majority of the fighting Yellow Goblins fighting the Rock-Rats, there was nothing but unarmed goblins to stop them.

“Huh.” Anton said aloud. “So...we've got a four way battle between Wolves, Rock-Rats, Yellow Goblins and....what are those?” He asked pointing to the green humanoids.

“They look like they might be Orcs.” A villager to his right said.

“But they look a little small.” he said, scratching his arms, “They should look like three strong people thrown together, but they are about our size.”

“Are they young adults? Striking out on their own?” Anton asked the villager.

“I...I don't know.” he admitted. “But they should be bigger. Like they're the runts.”

Anton turned to Jeff, hoping he had some of the knowledge his father had.

“Are there any Orc settlements nearby?” he asked Jeff.

He shook his head. “I don't think so.”

Anton sighed. Knowledge was key to everything and he had so little about this world. He vowed, the next city he arrived at he would buy as much information as he could using their new-found wealth.

“What's our plan?” Verona asked, bringing her head close to his.

“Same as the quarry. We let them fight it out and take out the survivors.”

They watched the slaughter unfold infront of them. It did not take long.

The wolves, grey and white, seemed only interesting in eating. After killing quite a number of Yellow Goblins, they howled and ran off the the forest to the west. Anton was glad they did not meet them during their raid.

The Rock-Rats were not as successful. They were even weaker than the Yellow Goblins but numbers did little to help them, finally forcing them to retreat back around the mountain and fleeing to the north.

With both groups having done serious damage, it allowed the Orcs to advance. The last of the armored Yellow Goblins fell down, the green tide pouring over the yellow. Screeches of panic and terror erupted for the Yellow Goblins.

“Hah,” Jeff cried out, “They get what's comin' to 'em.”

“Speaking of which-” Anton pointed to the Yellow Goblins.

Now they were running towards them. He could see that the females were carrying something, children he presumed. The Orcs were on their heels, striking and picking off those at the back.

Within a few minutes they had almost reached the bottom of the crests, the Orcs were having some fun picking them off.

Anton stood up and summoned a dozen large fireballs, the other villagers looked confused at him.

The Yellow Goblins saw him as well, stopping in their tracks while the Orcs continued to advance. They knew what he was, what he was capable of. The few survivors would have told them.

They dropped to their knees, dropping whatever they held, even their children, onto the ground. He swore he could see the look of despair on their faces.

A minute later they were dead, the Orcs crying out and raising their weapons in triumph. They killed each adult with a single swipe from their clubs and stomped down on anything that survived. There must have been about three hundred remaining, they had taken some losses.

They stopped as soon as they saw Anton and the glowing fireballs above him. One pointed towards him.

“GRAHH!!!” It shouted towards him, quickly spreading throughout the rest.

They ran towards him, swinging their weapons to attack, still riding the high of their victory. The moment they were in range Anton threw the large fireballs. Light and heat engulfed the Orcs, emitting the same screams as the Yellow Goblins the other day.

As the light and fire burned down, very few survived. Shock and bewilderment was plastered over their faces.

Anton summoned lightning bombs and flung them once they were in range. None were able to get close, he swore that Verona looked a little disappointed.

“That was disappointingly easy.” Jeff complained as he and the other villagers stood up.

“I'm sure that you wanted to go up against three or four hundred of these Orcs with just us.” Anton replied sarcastically.

Jeff laughed.

They walked slowly forward, still wary that one of the Orcs might be alive.

Anton stopped at an Orc that was in relatively good condition, Verona stabbed her spear into its heart just to be sure. To Anton, it looked like a good average of the Orcs.

They looked just looked like green humans with more Neanderthal properties, a more prominent brow and nose. Unlike a Neanderthal, there was not a single hair on its body. Not even eyelashes. It had a decent set of muscles on its body but looked that it was starting to suffer from malnutrition.

The green skin was not entirely uniform in color, like it was painted on. He touched the skin on the face, finding it quite rough to the touch. It's ears were gnarled and deformed. They had gone through quite a bit of fighting.

He, using a knife, opened the mouth. Its teeth were oversized for its jaw. The bottom row over-layed the top, which were also too large, and pushed its jaw forward, giving it the impression that it was stupid.

The stench from its mouth was unbelievable, like the worst rotting flesh he had ever smelt. Despite that it appeared to be in a good condition.

Its hands and feet appeared to be human except for the color. They had slightly yellow and long nails, easily suited for tearing and ripping like those on the smaller and weaker Yellow Goblins.

With the knife he lifted the single piece of cloth from its groin. He was surprised, but by an absence.

There was nothing there.

It was clearly a male, at least structurally, but it was missing a key component. And it was probably not female either.

“Ugh,” Verona said, “What happened to it?”

Anton shook his head. “I honestly have no idea.”

Jeff, Sam and some of the other villagers started to crowd around. They seemed interested in what he was doing to its groin.

“It doesn't look like it had been removed,” Anton continued, “Almost like they never had them in the beginning. I guess it urinates through that, but there should be more.”

His eye was brought to a nearby dead Orc. It was missing an eye and ear, in the same way the current Orc, like it never had it in the beginning. He shuffled over and removed the cloth, seeing a similar absence.

The villagers seemed a little shocked.

Anton turned to the villager that said he knew of the Orcs.

“You said these were not as large as you expected the Orcs to be?”

He nodded, “I saw them in a book once, they were nothing like this.” His hand pointed towards its groin. “Or like that.”

“Does it say anything about their society?”

“I'm not sure. I...can't read. I only saw the pictures.”

The villager looked quite embarrassed but Anton shook his hands to calm him down.

“Well if their communities are getting very low on food, maybe through humans or over hunting their animals, it could be reasonable to get rid of those that could not contribute to the future generations. And it would be easier to get rid of those already disfigured, the outcasts. These may have been trying to make a place to live.”

Anton pointed to the whole field full of dead Orcs. Deep down, he could not help feel a little bit sorry. They, unlike the Yellow Goblins, had done nothing wrong to the village. However their individual strength would be nothing like the goblins and could lead to their deaths.

“So, what now?” Jeff asked. “We going to leave them here?”

“Yes. Everything has to eat.” He looked towards the west. The wolves had already left, but they may be back. “But now, we should at least have a quick scout through the mountain. To make sure there's no Yellow Goblins left and to see if there's any treasure left inside.”

Anton turned to Jeff. “I hate to ask you, but do you have torches?”

Jeff nodded, several villagers bringing out torches.

“Okay, we'll stay in a large group and just do a quick sweep. Then go home for some much deserved rest. Someone try and find an entrance that's not on fire.”

---[]---

They found and entrance and headed in.

Anything of value that the Yellow Goblins had brought out had already been destroyed in the fire.

As they traveled deeper the smell of smoke became stronger. Every so often, on their fifteen or so minute journey, they found a group of Yellow Goblins. Dead and contorted into horrific shapes as they had chocked to death. There were some young amongst the dead.

Nobody said anything, continuing until they reached the main chamber.

It was an awe inspiring sight. Anton had no idea how large the cavern was but it could easily hold several thousand Yellow Goblins. Judging by the state of the floor and what materials remained behind, this was their main living area.

Jeff brought everyone to a halt. Even though it was cut off from the light of the outside world, the whole area was easily illuminated. The evenly cut rock reflected the light into every nook and cranny.

“Okay. Bunch off into groups and have a look down the caves, see what's there. If there's something good, come back here.”

The villagers nodded and separated, into groups of about six. Anton and Verona, and a few other villagers stayed in the chamber.

Very quickly they returned, some carrying some gold and gems but nothing else of value. After doing a quick count it was clear that one of the groups had not returned, the one that headed to the furthest cave to the north.

“Well, we can't just leave them there.” Jeff said. “I'll-”

“No,” Anton cut him off, “We don't know how many tunnels there are. We don't want to loose you.”

“Okay. Let's go find them.”

They headed to the cave that the lost group was seen to enter. Anton grabbed a loose rock and scratched a mark on the wall. A few meters down he saw that the cave branched into three and seemingly divided again down each passageway.

“So, which way did they go?” A villager asked.

Anton knelt down, checking the rocks for any marks but could fine none.

With a sigh, he stood up. “No idea, there's no marks on the ground. Guess we will have to split up. Everyone take a rock and if you get to a split, mark an arrow to the direction you came from.”

The villagers grabbed their rocks and slowly and carefully headed down their caves. One was left for Anton and Verona. They seemed to think they would be strong enough on their own.

They moved slowly, hoping they would not slip.

A few minutes later they both heard something. Verona activated her power, drawing out a blood spear.

They entered a small cavern, not unlike the one they found the captive women in. It may have been the previous cave as there were still carpets and cushions everywhere. But, there were moving yellow creatures amongst them.

“There they are.” Verona whispered, pointing to the back of the cave. There were the six villagers, huddling in a corner and desperately trying to not make a noise.

“There must be thirty Yellow Goblins. Why are they still here?” she asked, Anton did not have an answer.

The villagers held something between them. It was red and silver, but Anton did not know what it could be.

“Something's wrong.” Anton whispered aloud, Verona turning her head up to look at him, “Why haven't they attacked. The goblins look like they can't see them properly.”

The Yellow Goblins were swaying either side, every so often raising their hands and swiping at the air. Slowly they were closing in on the villagers while they remained frozen. The villagers had seen Anton and Verona, now looking quite relieved.

“Verona, can you deal with this one?” Anton asked.

Verona nodded, bringing out six blood spears. The moment she came into view the Yellow Goblins noticed her and turned to attack. Anton saw the glow from her marks reflected across the rocks.

She killed all of the goblins with virtually no effort, barely even moving her body. Their bodies crumpled as they were were struck in the chest or head. Some she missed, though Anton thought it might have been on purpose, and used her spear to kill them. Their flesh and bones were separated with ease with the new blade.

Verona seemed to be getting a penchant for striking with swings rather than thrusts. In the future, she may want a different weapon. Although, I don't know if anything's going to be sharper than what she has right now. She seems to know how to use it well.

“Are you okay?” Verona asked, after making sure everything was dead and still.

“Yeah.” replied a villager, “We found this place and started rummaging around. After we picked this thing up, we bumped something over and all those goblins woke up. We didn't even know they were there before.”

The villagers walked forward, careful not to tread in the blood, and handed the strange object to him.

It was a red gem, about the size of both fists held together in the shape of a cube. While the small gems, that were worth only money, were a uniform red, this had fractures and lines running through it, though it still seemed to be solid. On the outside were two large silver circles of metal on opposite sides, small lines of the metal linking the two. The metal had no marks and was incredibly smooth to the touch.

“Oh, we found these books with this. Might be useful.”

The villager handed Anton several books. They did not have the same marks as the journal but they looked quite well made and might be of some potential value.

“Why didn't they attack you?” Anton asked.

“I don't know. I'm just glad they didn't.”

There's going to be a connection between that and this strange gem. There can't be any other possible explanation.

Anton frowned. “You were in plain sight. There's no way they could no see you....we can't exactly ask them. Did you find anything else of value?”

The villagers shook their heads.

Well, we got something interesting out of this.

When they made it back everyone else had gathered back in the main chamber. Everyone looked happy to be reunited.

“Good. You found them.” Jeff said at seeing them. “Now that we're all here, I can tell you we found something interesting on our little travel.”

“More interesting than this?” Anton replied, pulling out the red gem from his pocket.

“Umm...probably not, considering that. But we did find an passageway that we think leads to the other end of the mountain. Do we want to have a look?”

We don't know what's really to the north of this mountain. When we went on the raid we were more concerned with getting back alive. Finding if there are any Rock-Rat or Orc settlements to the north will be very useful.

“Sure.” Anton replied.

They all traveled down the central tunnel for some time, Anton guessed almost half an hour, before they saw light at the end of the tunnel.

As they emerged into the sunlight they saw a mountain range running along to the entire northern horizon. The mountains extended and merged with the forest to the west, while they merged with the horizon to the east. Just like the mountain they were currently in, they were tall enough to have snow on them.

Open grassland lay between them. Anton could see herds of Razor-Pigs, wild Ix and horses frolicking about. Other creatures, like giant chickens and lizards ran with them, though Anton would not try to guess what they were called. He did not have the mental strength to ask. There were probably hundreds of different species living out there that he could not see.

I wish I had a pair of binoculars or a spyglass. I can't see any settlements on the plains, but they might be living in the mountain's in the distance.

Jeff was the first to speak. “It looks like we're safe this way. I wonder where the Rock-Rats came from. And the Orcs.”

As if to answer his question, far in the distance, a small furry creature was tossed into the air by a pack of Ix.

“Ah,” Anton said aloud, pointing towards the sight, “Unfortunately, it looks like they live in the mountain range. Lots of rocks and boulders for them to build in. Still, no sight of an Orc settlement though.”

“Well,” Sam pushed her way through the villagers to the front, “Now that we've done with the sight seeing, can we go home now? We've done more than enough and I really want to get some sleep and another bath.”

All of the villagers looked towards Anton. He did not even have this planned, this was just to sate his curiosity.

“Yeah.” Anton replied. “I think that it's safe to say that the Yellow Goblins are well and truly defeated.”

Cheers rang throughout the villagers.

“Let's go home.”

---[]---

It had just passed lunch when they returned. The villagers still at Atros wanted to know what happened, they were all concerned with hearing about the Orcs trying to take the mountain, the Rock-Rat's less so.

Anton had asked Jeff to organize a special council meeting that would double as their lunch. While he had not said exactly what it was for, he had mentioned that it was to assess the nature of the weaker Orcs and determine what path Atros should take in the future.

What Anton really wanted to tell them was the truth about his past and how that would change how they thought and interacted with him. Verona had taken it well, but she always thought that he was weird, acting and saying things that no one else had even done before.

It would not be long before they would meet and Anton was feeling nervous, like it was his first date or an important job interview. Verona had noticed and was starting to look nervous herself.

“Anton, you need to calm down.” Verona said, pushing Anton to sit on the chair.

“Thanks. I'm just nervous.”

“I'm sure it'll be fine.” she walked around and hugged him from behind. “Just take a deep breath and you'll be fine.”

He turned his head to face her. “When did you become so knowledgeable about this?”

Verona chuckled nervously. “Two days ago.”

“That nervous, huh?”

She nodded. “Oh yes. It worked for me, so...”

After taking some deep breaths he found it did work, though some of his apprehension and nervousness remained. Verona gave him one last hug before they headed to the council chambers.

Jeff was standing outside, waiting for both of them. He gave a little wave and opened the door. Everyone, including Sam, Avery and Jonathan's kids, had already gathered. Anton did not really want to have to sit and wait, allowing the nerves to build up again.

“So, what's this all about?” Bertram asked. “If you wanted to know about Orcs you could just ask, and later we'll be having a grand feast in celebration.”

“Surely it can wait 'till after that?” Zac added. If Anton was completely honest it looked like he had already started drinking.

“This is something that I really need to tell you all.” Anton said as he sat down, Verona standing beside him.

“We already know about you two.” Jeff quipped. Everyone, especially Bertram and Sybil, nodded. Anton felt his face heat up a little though he could feel Verona even more embarrassed. He glanced back and confirmed it, she was trying her best to hold her embarrassment in.

“It's...it's not that. Something different.”

The mood of the room changed, they were all quite serious now.

“Okay.” Anton placed his hands onto the table. “I'm not from this world.”

---[]---

It was quite late when they finished. Anton gave effectively the information that he gave Verona, leaving out any potentially delicate and embarrassing things. They had been quite interested in hearing about his way of life; mainly the machines, the lack of magic, and the fact that every day he and the other humans were not under constant threat of being eaten. Hearing of the gods mission for him and why he was sent seemed to completely unnerve them.

They were all silent for some time.

“That,” Sybil began. “Makes a little sense.”

Bertram nodded in agreement.

“You have been saying some weird things.” Bertram added. “I think most people thought you were definitely not from around here, certainly not this country or even its neighbors. But, to think you come from a completely different dimension or world...that's something else.”

“I tried to keep it to a minimum.”

“So why not just say so from the beginning?” Jonathan asked.

“To be honest, I thought that if I started spouting those things as soon as I woke up...I don't know what you would have thought of me.”

“Probably some lunatic.” Zac answered.

“Quite.”

“So, what do you plan to do now?” Sybil asked.

“If I’m honest, follow through with the gods reason for bringing me here. I don't think they would just grab my disembodied soul across the reaches of space, and possibly time, to just plonk me her to mess around.”

Anton smiled and so did the others.

Jeff stood up, holding a mug full of the strong alcohol.

“I think I speak for everyone here, that it really doesn't matter to us if what you say is true or not, I think it is by the way, but you saved our lives and helped us to save ourselves. And for that, we are truly grateful.”

Everyone cheered and nodded in approval.

“Well, thank-you.” Anton said truthfully. He did not expect it to go so easily, though he had no idea what he really expecting them to do.

“As to what I'm going to do next, I would like a drink and a few days to rest my mind and body. After that, I want to head to Maxil with a small box of those gems and coins, start to get a few things for us.”

“Uncle Anton, are you leaving?” Jonathan's kids, Joclyn and Shawn asked, running up and holding onto his legs tightly. Anton swore he could see pangs of jealously in Jonathan's face.

“Not for a little while and not forever.” he told them, rubbing their head. They seemed to accept this and skipped back to their slightly jealous father.

“To what end?” Bertram asked.

“Information and resources. Over the next few days I hope to get a better understanding over your written language. If you could prepare a list of materials before I go, I could get some of it at this town. Mostly though, I want information. I have no idea how big this world and its lands and seas are. With those things, I want to build Atros as the city and a fortress against the evil that descends against this world.”

The others smiled, though Bertram shuffled uncomfortably.

“I'm not doubting you Anton...but where are these 'demons'?”

“...I don't know.”

--------------

Hello,

Very much a wrap up chapter. Answered the question as to what my Orcs look like, like the ones from Warcraft. Also got everyone sort of understanding what Anton's trying to do here. I didn't want to type that out again, as it would be just filling up space.

Thanks for reading.