Light smoke drifted up from a figure walking through the plains of Erbadon, with a small beast trotting at the figures side. It appeared to be a wanderer or a vagabond, based off of the rags that it was wearing. Lok’Ruc couldn’t tell the make of the clothing, but he was intrigued by the item the vagabond kept bringing up to his mouth. The vagabond would inhale from it, and then exhale smoke into the air. Lok’Ruc was the smartest in his band, but even he could not figure out why the vagabond was willingly inhaling smoke. Lok’Ruc grunted, coming to the conclusion that it was a method to make the lungs stronger in a person. Lok’Ruc, like most of his kind, respected strength. He was the mightiest of his band, the only of the Lok’Sharush people to gain the might of the Earth. He smirked, feeling the subtle shifts in the ground beneath him. The very plains were under his command, and he would take what he wanted. He would test this vagabond, and if he was found wanting, Lok’Ruc would have those smoke-sticks for himself.

Jake flicked the butt of his smoke into the grass, and looked around. He had been wandering these plains for the better part of the day, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to go into the town, since he had no money or nothing to trade with besides the pelt of the deer he had killed last night. Even with that, he probably wouldn’t get enough money to buy anything more than a beer, if they even had beer in this world. His stomach rumbled, and he looked down at Mizutsune. His fox had occasionally run off into the brush, coming back with small rodents that it quickly ate. Mizutsune was currently holding a mouse in its mouth, and as he saw Jake staring at him, he ate the mouse quickly and quirked his head at his master.

“Don’t give me that look. You’ve been eating constantly for the past four hours. If I thought that those cow-birds weren’t being watched, then… wait, what’s that?”

The earth under his feet began trembling lightly, as if a large beast was walking around. Jake quickly scanned his surroundings, but couldn’t see anything and didn’t sense anything with his [Scent of Death]. Suddenly, a giant stone hand appeared from underneath him, grabbing him from the shoulders to his feet, crushing his arms to his sides and thrusting him into the air. “FUUUCK!!!” Jake struggled, but couldn’t move. He latched onto the darkness, and attempted to halt the fist that was holding him. Tendrils of shadow wrapped around the arm, and began constricting, trying to shatter the stone arm. The stone wouldn’t break, so Jake focused on the air next to his body within the closed fist. He screamed as pressure built up, crushing his body even more. In a burst of stone and rushing air, the fist exploded violently from the pressure, sending shards of stone far into the distance.

Jake crashed into the ground, getting the air knocked out of his lungs. Gasping for breath, he slowly got to his feet and looked for Mizutsune. The fox was darting back and forth, dodging stone spears that were appearing underneath its feet. When one was bursting from the ground where Mizutsune was about to land, his body glowed for a second and an ice pillar appeared beneath his feet, raising him above the ground and the death trap of spears.

“Haha! Good!” Deep, bellowing laughter echoed within the plains, Jake looked around, and saw what could only be described as an Orc. Light green skin, large rippling muscles, and writhing lines of black ink depicting runes wrapped around his body. A wolf’s pelt was draped over his right shoulder, and the noon sun glinted off of a necklace of metal, bone and teeth wrapped around the Orcs neck. A savage grin was splitting his mouth, sharp teeth enclosed by a pair of long tusks. He had long white hair, and a beard styled into two plaids running down each side of his chin, underneath his cheeks. He was holding onto a large Warhammer, resting on his shoulder.

Holy shit, it’s an old Thrall. I am so fucked. Thinking this, Jake began forcing mana into his surroundings, making the shadows far longer than they normally would. Tendrils exploded from the rising darkness, rushing towards the Orc. The Orc’s eyes widened for a second, before a wall of stone thrust into the air before him. The shadows slammed into the wall, and were unable to break through. Retracting them, Jake moved farther back, and looked up at Mizutsune.

“Mizu, keep it distracted!” Jake called to his pet. Mizutsune began glowing white, and with a howl that sounded like a woman screaming, unleashed a torrent of ice and biting winds from his mouth. The strength of the attack shattered the rock wall, clouds of dust and shards of ice rising into the sky. Mizutsune stopped his scream, and waited on top of his ice pillar for the dust and debris to clear.

Jake quickly grabbed a cigarette, and lit up to help him regain some of his mana. He retracted the shadows, and formed them around his left arm. Inky black tendrils squirmed around his arm, forming into what appeared to be a gauntlet made out of obsidian. Four long tendrils extended from where his hand would be. He extended his un-armored hand towards the dust cloud, blasting it away with a gust pressurized air. The Orc had disappeared from behind the wall, and was nowhere in sight.

Jake took another drag from the cigarette stuck in his lips, exhaling the smoke through the corner of his mouth. Where is this fucker? The earth began to tremble again, and Jake slammed his armored hand into the ground, forcing the tendrils to expand. He was pushed violently into the air, seconds before another stone hand reached out to grab him.

Fuck this. Jake manipulated the shadows, creating eight long tendrils from his back that snaked to the ground. He hardened the shadows, keeping him aloft like a long-legged spider. He began sending tendrils down onto the arm, cracking against it like whips. Mizutsune began sending shard after shard of frost and ice at the arm, attempting to kill it before it injured its master. The stone began to crack and break away from the blows, but they appeared to regenerate rather quickly. Making a fist, the arm slammed into the ground, and large spears of earth shot out towards Jake. Maneuvering the shadows, he dodged in between the spikes, barely able to keep himself aloft.

Noticing that its attacks were being dodged, the giant arm swept through the air like it was swatting a fly. A wave of dirt and stone roared into being, crashing into the spider legs with the force of a tsunami. His shadows exploded, sending Jake falling back towards the hard earth. A second stone arm appeared beneath him, reaching out to crush him in its death grip.

Mizutsune screamed, and a growth of slick ice appeared between Jake and the arm, angled downwards and away from the two arms. Jake slammed into the ice, and was hurtled down to clear ground. Mizutsune soon followed down the slide, and landed next to Jake with a quiet grunt.

The stone arms slammed into the ground again, and bending at ninety degrees, began pushing against the earth. The ground rumbled even more, and a giant stone construct slowly pushed itself from the stone. It looked like a clay doll, completely made out of solid stone. The stone-doll moved its eyeless face towards Jake, and began slowly rumbling towards him.

Shit. Jake encased both his arms in the shadow armor, and thrust both hands towards the approaching golem. Tendrils wrapped around the construct, and attempted to hold it back. The giant slowed, but continued walking towards him. Gritting his teeth, Jake created more tendrils from his shadow, knowing that his mana was falling too quickly for him to regenerate even with the help of his smokes. He needed to kill this thing, fast.

He spat the cigarette to the ground, screaming “Mizutsune!”

That beautiful specimen of a fox didn’t disappoint. Glowing like a white dwarf, he howled again. A beam of concentrated ice shot forward and slammed into the chest of the golem, encasing the entire creature in ice within seconds. Jake contracted the shadows surround the ice sculpture, and it shattered into thousands of tiny splinters. Panting, he grabbed another smoke with shaking hands. Using that much mana in a short amount of time left him light headed and unable to focus. The sounds of light whimpering coming from his pet told him that Mizutsune was not doing any better.

Deep laughter followed by slow clapping startled them both from their stupor. A fissure appeared in the earth in front of Jake, and the Orc rose out of it. It was smiling in a friendly sort of way. As friendly as a mouth filled with sharp teeth and tusks could be, at least.

“Well done, youngling. Well done, indeed. It has been a long time since I have found a Shadowmancer with such potential.” The Orc stopped clapping and stared at Jake for a few seconds. Grunting to himself, he continued. “I am Lok’Ruc, called Earth-Breaker by my people. I honor you with knowing my name, and wish that I would receive the same honor from you.” The Orc raised his head to the sky, looking down on Jake.

Jake glared at the Orc, still slightly panting. He stood strait, coming even with the Orc in height. He tilted his head the same way as the Orc, and remained silent. Minutes passed, neither of them backing down.

Finally, the Orc grunted and, smiling, lowered his head to look level at Jake. “It seems this pup has some balls to it. If I was my younger self, I would have struck you down and slept with your woman.” This he said with a shit-eating grin. “But, along with my white hair, age has granted me wisdom. You are young, and powerful. But I sense something about you. There is a… certain flavor, you could say. Like, you are some great change coming to this land. I would like to know more.”

Jake quirked an eyebrow at the Orc named Lok’Ruc. Grabbing a smoke from his pack, he placed it into his mouth and lit up. The small purple flame made Lok’Rucs eyes wide. “A twin-magi? I have only heard of your kind. I believed that the only ones who were able to control two elements would be rulers in this land.” Jake stopped smoking, and stared at Lok’Ruc. Mizutsune slowly walked up behind Jake and laid down, staring at the Orc with his sapphire blue eyes.

Rulers? So it seems that Giggles was telling the truth. Not many people have the ability to control more than one. This is good information. He saw Lok’Ruc staring at his cigarette with a confused and somewhat wanting expression. Shrugging, Jake grabbed another one and offered it to the Orc.

Lok’Ruc carefully took the cigarette with his large meaty hands, and mimicked Jake as he put it in his mouth. Jake lit the end of it, and watched as Lok’Ruc inhaled the smoke. The Orcs eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he slowly exhaled a small cloud. The Orc took another much slower drag, and let it out with a low grumble. He had a blissful look on his face as he gently puffed on his bummed cigarette. After a few minutes of companionable silence while they smoked, Jake flicked the butt into the grass, with Lok’Ruc mimicking him. The Orc sighed, feeling the most content that he had ever been without being with a woman.

“Brother, what are you doing here? There is nothing around here besides the plains my village, and my people are not welcoming to outsiders. They are too young, too much Fire in their blood.”

Brother? Shit, shouldn’t have given him a smoke. I didn’t know that he would have this big of a reaction to nicotine.

Jake looked out into the distance, thinking of what he could say. Shrugging, he said the only thing that would come to mind.

“I’ve been sent here to take over the world by the All-Mother, Giggles.”