“Thunk…” I come to a stop hearing the sounds of a catapult in the distance.

“Thunk…Thunk…”

“What the Hell.” I mouth to myself as I start walking forward. The sunflowers are just high enough to block my view of the palisade, but on this side of the flowers, the edge of the battlefield is coming into view. The fighting is as much or more than it was before.

Sometimes you just have to realize that what you’ve been doing, isn’t doing anything.

I was so intent on doing something, it blinded me to the fact that I was just doing something to make myself feel better.

I guess doing something to make yourself feel better is fine. I just needed a reality check, we might need a few decades before there’s enough carnivorous plant life out here to make a difference. Even then, a few machetes and some fire go a long way in clearing a path.

As if on queue, I hear a dog whimpering ahead and know that something was caught. Walking towards the sound, I find a goblin wrapped up in what looks like a Fire vine about twice its size. There are half a dozen concerned goblins watching, but without any weapons, they don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.

“Heal.” Commanding at the goblin before I unsheathed the Black Blade. “Hold still.” Was a stupid thing to say. The other goblins only hoping that I was trying to help and not kill.

Slicing a couple of the Fire vine roots at its base is enough to set it free. “Ah hahaha,” The goblin laughing and rolling himself free.

They pause, looking up at the sky and I think waiting for me to follow. When I don’t, they jog for a few paces looking back at me, then sprint away following the side of the palisade.

“Life and Health. Grow and Prosper.” I bless the fire vine after I step around it, getting on the other side where I was before. “Good enough,” I say to myself with a smile as I watch the now four Fire vines start writhing and take root. Another lesson learnt, the first was not to bless seeds still in your hand.

Looking up, I see what the goblins were looking at. I’m not sure what they are, but a flock of something is circling above the battlefield. Vultures or carrion birds come to mind.

Coming to the edge of where all the flowers and plants have been trampled, I get a clearer view of everything. The soldiers are still at the camp, watching, but not coming closer.

A bear is being dragged on its side like a carcass. A chain is wrapped around the center of its body, the other end hooked to an M-Troll dragging it at a slow steady pace. A sleuth of bears is fighting the procession, but there are too many other M-Trolls knocking them away with clubs for it to matter.

“Heal!” I step forward. I don’t know if it’s dead or if it will work on bears.

“Thunk…” The sound of a catapult resounds and it brings up unwanted emotions.

“Heal!” I don’t know where the catapult shot landed. The chained bear moves and starts to resist the pull of the chain.

“Heal!, Heal!, Heal!...” I target the other bears as one of the M-Trolls is taken down, one of its legs ripped off.

“Heal!” The bears fight with a renewed ferocity as the one bear that was being dragged is now up on its paws resisting, bringing the M-Troll to a near standstill in the tug-of-war.

As I step forward onto the edge of the battlefield, a small section in the side of the palisade opens like a gate. The largest white M-Troll that I have seen steps through. Holding a large hook in its hands, a Goblin Commander on its back yelling commands over its shoulder. It walks through the bears and up to the M-Troll hitched to the chain. Raising the hook over its head it skewers the M-Troll over and behind its shoulder, though its back. Holding the large chain that was attached to the hook, the Goblin Commander yelling, the White M-Troll now pulling the M-Troll and bear it is hitched to.

“Heal!” Bears that were clubbed charge back into the fray. M-Trolls are being brought down one at a time and in a faster succession as more bears can engage each M-Troll.

I watch as the Goblin Commander is swatted into the air and then mauled.

The slack of the chain on the hook becomes taught as bears maul and tear into the white M-Troll. Something I cannot see continues to pull the chained bear forward.

A few bears attack the chain and help resist its pull. The others almost look intelligent as they drive into and beyond the palisade.

“Heal!” I’m keeping myself on the other edge of the battlefield. Not wanting to get any closer to the rampaging bears. A quick look over to the camp shows the soldiers still watching and where I’m going to run if any of the bears come towards me.

The rampage continues as I watch the bears fight and claw against the pull of the chain into the palisade. The roar of bears accompanied by the cries and shrieks of their victims brings a fearful pounding in my chest and a slight smile to my lips as I watch the destruction. “Heal!”

A new respect for bears. I’ve been to the zoo but never seen them in the wild. Watching them go toe to toe and smacked around with those tree-like clubs the M-Trolls use. Only to get up again and again after taking a crushing blow or being sent flying through the air is really impressive. “Heal!”

Structures are starting to fall. Sections of the palisade are being battered out of alignment. War cries and now war horns are sounding. I see a standard raised into view, only to topple moments later with roars coming from that direction.

I’m moving closer as I start to lose my line of sight of the bear being dragged through the palisade. “Heal!” On any bear that looks to need it. Enemy of my enemy.

Cautiously approaching through the palisade, it’s wide open with destruction. The fighting well into the city beyond me. From all the kills, I can feel the weight of the essence around me, strengthening me.

The city looks as if it could be in a revolt or it’s just a mass of chaos of unorganized fighting. The chain that’s dragging the bear can be seen leading up to a large platform or stage in the distance. Things larger than the M-Trolls can be seen there. Spells light up like bolts from the backs of Whites. M-Trolls are falling and being cut down by large humans with double-sided axes that look like bat wings. The way they’re swinging the axes, it looks more like trying to cut down trees. Goblins and animals run chaotically. The roar of the fighting has grown and overwhelms any ability to hear anything but. A few fires burn, but nothing dangerous or spreading.

An M-Troll twitches lying prone. Pulling the thin sword, it triggers as I drive it through the base of its skull, filling me with the essence of the kill.

Wiping the blade clean I hold it to my side as I continue a slow walk, keeping pace with the bear being dragged. The bears look back at me and I hesitate a step, then continue my pace as they return their attention to the chain. I stick anything in my path that even looks like it might move, being rewarded with additional essence when something isn’t quite dead.

The fighting intensifies as the bear is pulled closer. More humans with axes have joined and I don’t see as many of the bears. “Heal!” I would have thought that this would have ended long ago. But the bears have proven themselves, at least in my eyes, extremely resilient.

Now that I’ve come closer, I can see what the M-Trolls have been modified from, Ogres! Three of them, standing in a defensive position before the platform, each swinging massive a club back and forth to keep the area in front of them clear. The chain running between them.

“Olff…” A bear lands about twenty feet in front of me. Its arm, leg, and side are crushed and bent at wrong angles. “Heal!” Like a bad “B” rated zombie movie, its limbs twist and pop as they straighten and move back into place.

The fighting continues. The Ogres don’t seem to tire, but neither do they regenerate. The first Ogre falls after he breaks his club crushing a bear into the ground. “Heal!” The axes are now able to get closer without the club keeping them at bay.

Apparently giving up on resisting the pull of the chain, the chained bear surges forward between the Ogres and continues to run around one. It is the other Ogre that falls next, as it turns its attention to the chained bear and neglects its defenses.

The final Ogre is simply overwhelmed, damaged, and mauled until there is nothing left of it to fight back.

First, a few, then many bears swarm the platform and start loud sharp snorting, woofing, and huffing sounds almost in unison. I’ve never seen anything like it. The one bear is still chained but no longer being dragged.

Most of the bears disperse off the platform and head deeper into the city. The cries and screams I hear tell me it would be best to leave now.

Taking a few quiet steps backward and continuing to face the bears, they all seem to turn and look at me at once. I freeze. A few moments and their attentions turn back to the bear chained.

Slowly back peddling again, I get a good fifty feet before I see the bears drag someone back to the platform and drop them near the chained bear.

I was glad to see the chain fall away. I had a general concern for my safety when I saw the once chained bear bite and rip that someone’s head off. I near S**T my pants with fear when I see the entire sleuth of bears turn as one and run at me like a herd of horses.

My heart is racing and I’m momentarily stunned as my perception is high enough, even at this distance, to have eye contact with the bears running at me.

I half trip over my feet a step as I picture in my head where I’m going to run. Sheathing the thin blade, the fight or flight instinct takes over to move me in the right direction and run.

A glance back over my shoulder as I passed through the palisade was the absolute wrong thing to do. They’ve covered far more than half the distance between us, to the point where I think I can hear their heavy breaths. I explode into a fear panicked screaming sprint with images of being mauled and my head ripped off.

The soldiers are scattering as they see us coming. “F*****g Cowards!”

Almost reaching the camp, I trip or my feet are swiped out from under me. A Massive paw to my back drives me face first back into the ground. Shifting its weight to the side, claws into my side, it rolls me over and plants its paw onto my chest with such force that I can neither move nor breath. “RRROOOAAARRRrrr…” Its Mouth open and Bloody Teeth Slobbering all over my face as I crap and piss myself in fear.

Moments must have passed as I come back to myself, realizing that the weight is no longer on my chest and that I can take a breath.

Cracking my eyes open, the world is a blur. A man standing over me comes into focus.

“Heal..” I say to myself, not knowing how hurt I am at the moment.

“Then it was you!” His voice is deep and loud.

A massive hand on each of my shoulders, he grabs and picks me up like I was a child. Digging his fingernails into my flesh and what feels like down into the bone. “I mark you as friend!” He sets me down to stand on my feet. “If you are able, come! You will find us in the mountain pass.” He’s pointing to something distant that I certainly can’t see.

Not until he set me down did I have to look up and realize how much larger of a man he is than me.

Motioning to one of the men, he takes a double-bladed ax and turns to me with it. Looking at the size of the blade and then at me, we both know that I probably can’t lift it.

He smiles, “I cannot leave without giving you something.” Grabbing hold of his thumb with his other hand, I hear something give a loud “Crack”. Did he just break his thumb?

I take whatever he is handing me without looking at it. “Thank you my friend. Be strong. Be safe. I must go.”

All the men standing there turn as one and start to run. I hear bone, joints, and ligaments pop and break, reforming themselves. I watch as men change into bears!

“Oh God! F**K this place! I want to go home!” Looking around, there is no one. I can’t see or hear a single soldier. Looking back at the city, there’s smoke rising in a few places. I’d bet money no one is alive there.

Walking over to where the excess gear was being collected, I unbuckle and drop my gear. I look at what I was given. A bear claw, longer than my hand, thicker than any two or three of my fingers. I just put it down with the rest of my gear.

Finding some “like-new” pants, I strip these off and clean myself up. Gearing back up and heading back to the tear, I don’t get more than about twenty feet before I change my mind and decide to go sit back on the platform. The essence was thick with all the killing, maybe it’s still there and I can take it.