It’s the twelfth day now

I’m on my usual break, waiting for my mana to regenerate back.

Something I’ve been forced to do after tirelessly building the wall

Building, resting

Building

Resting.

And I have to say, building the wall has been going...

Okay.

I’ve got proficient enough to build the wall without wasting to much mana.

Making it noticeably easier to build

But ehm.

I really don’t see me building a wall big enough to fit a few thousand centaurs.

And don’t even think about the fact that I’m supposed to make it big enough for a hundred thousand

How do they expect me to do this?

Even trying to ask for some help makes them look at me funny.

Like I’m stupid for asking.

You are stupid for being stupid!

Anyway.

Speaking of stupid

The army has grown bigger

Groups of centaurs has been steadily streaming in for the past twelve days

Making me steadily lose faith in how I’m supposed to build the wall

And growing the numbers of centaurs from a thousand, to multiple thousands

Maybe even tens off thousands

It’s hard to count when there’s no official leader or government.

Oh yeah

They have no central leaders.

No Government

No way to organize a defence against this

Swarm?

...

“How are you guys supposed to defend this stepp?”

I asked the silvery centaur for the fifth time.

Receiving the fifth same answer.

“We have the- you call well?”

She stretched in place, answering nonchalantly without focusing on me.

“It’s called a wall. But I mean, just having a wall won't help you, if you can't organize a proper defence.”

She stopped her stretching, looking down on me with a funny expression

One where you found the individual talking incredibly stupid.

A look I’ve grown accustomed too during these twelve days.

“God say we need wall. No mention of orgonoise”

My face turned gloomy.

“I understand, but your god also told you to defend step at all costs, right?”

“Yes”

Fiddling with her hair as she absentmindedly responded

“Okay, then should you guys not use all means to make your defence better?”

Still playing with her hair, she answered without looking to me.

“Yes”

“Sooo, can't you guys form a solid plan on how to defend the stepp and work together?”

“No”

Still playing with her hair, not looking at me

Looking at her hands.

Making me fume a little on the inside

Something that has not been a first for me.

I’ve learnt that trying to have a proper conversation with her only leads to suffering.

I’ve probably aged a hundred years during these twelve days

A moot point when you consider I’m immortal now

I think.

I let a big sigh seep out, letting my eyes rest on her silvery armour.

“Why not”

I asked, letting a bit of my frustration seep out

She, in turn, looked at me like she had teased her parent.

But quickly switched to a serious expression.

“We have no leaders, we are free individuals of free mind.”

She turned to look around

“We here only to defend. Our choice. ”

Then looking down to me.

“We not work togheter, choose to fight ourselves.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She says this, but she’s obviously some sort of leader.

Whenever she says something, the other centaurs follows

Whenever she moves, others follow her.

She even gets respect from those that have come from outside, the smaller groups.

Her words sound very

Hypocritical.

“Then why is everyone here?”

“To defend stepp”

“It was a rhetorical question. No, they are here because their god has told them.”

“Yes”

My eyebrow rose up

“Then how can you say that they do it off their own free will?”

She rose an eyebrow in response

“Because they do”

“No, their god told them”

“Yes”

“Then they did not do it of-”

“They did”

Aaarg!

I don't understand her!

How can she not understand what I’m saying?

She’s so goddamn stupid

How am I supposed to unite their clans if their leader is too stubborn to even know she’s a leader?

I took my eyes from her, looking around with furrowed brows.

Seeing the surrounding centaurs in groups

Talking amongst themselves, actively ignoring each other

Or glaring at one another.

I let out a big sigh.

At least, don't start fighting each other

I have enough with building this wall.

I don't wanna have to try to stop in-fighting.

Walking away from the silver centaur without a word

I left to search for my human friend.

Who seemed to thrive in this environment

Going from one group to another

Talking, laughing

Or, weirdly enough

Fighting.

But her fights always ended with laughter or a joking punch to the chest.

Although the first time it happened, I’m embarrassed to say, I over reacted.

Creating a section of the wall that was not connected to the rest

And making some look to me with

Awe in their eyes?

Or maybe just anger

Hard to tell.

After walking around for a while, asking some centaurs for the location of a certain human

I finally found her.

Being in a position that I should be surprised about

But were not.

For I saw her arm wrestle with a centaur.

How?

Well

The centaur was lying on its side, making it possible to use the ground as leverage.

Why?

I wanted to ask, but felt like I would get a stupid answer in response.

So I merely stood back and watched.

Both of their faces had turned a bright red colour.

Arms swelling in size.

Weins popping out on both of their arms

And their expression looking comical.

One looked to the sky with a mouth firmly closed

And the other seemed to try to break their teeth while their eyes almost popped out.

Both were drenched in sweat

Almost forming a small puddle in-between their arms.

I leaned forward a bit, closing in on a nearby centaur who was watching

“How long have they been at it?”

The centaur answered without looking back

“The past ten minutes”

Ten minutes?

Wow, either they are both very strong.

Or very weak

Hard to tell from here

But one thing I knew, both of them must have a huge amount of stamina.

A few minutes later, and the human crumbled beneath the big centaur

Seemingly falling down on her face

Looking a bit shocked.

The centaur in turn lept to the air, shouting out a victories cry, getting the surrounding centaurs to join in on the shouting.

She quickly got up on her feet and shouted for a rematch

But got funny looks from the gathered centaurs

And a smug smile from the victories centaur.

I moved up, letting a hand rest on her shoulder.

But she seemed to not notice, a big frown on her face.

“It’s not fair! My hand slipped, I demand a rematch!”

The victorious centaur spoke up, sporting a big smug smile.

“Humans are weak, centaurs are strong.”

To that response, she seemed to fume by the ears.

“No! Humans are not weak. I’m just not the strongest! If I had put more time in training strength, you would have been spaghetti!”

“Human just speak weak talk, I’m too strong for you. ”

“NO! I said I slipped, this does not count. I’m not weak! REMATCH!”

“Human is weak, no rematch”

“I wan-“

They continued back and forth.

No one really saying anything worthwhile.

But both talking nonetheless

Oh

It seems like this was not just a friendly arm wrestle match.

But some sort of species vs species match?

I think

At least judging from the surrounding centaurs

Who seemed oddly invested in the arm wrestle match.

They had also moved behind the victorious centaur

Taking positions that isolated the human

As the group mimicked the victorious centaurs smug smile.

And believe me

Seeing a hundred smug faces looking down on you is not

A nice experience.

“Human, we can have race”

The victorious centaur spoke

Getting a whisper of yes’es from the group behind him.

“NO! You guys are cheaters, you have four legs th-“

“Cheaters? you call us dishonorable”

“No, you are just chea-“

But before she could finish, I felt a change in the atmosphere.

Some word seemed to have turned everything from a fun game.

To a deadly match.

I need to stop this.

“Hey, calm down. Let’s just walk away from here and take a breather”

I said, letting my arm on her shoulder squeeze harder.

Which finally made her notice me

Looking angry, seemingly not bothered by the hundreds of eyes on her

And seemingly ignorant of how she changed the atmosphere.

“You stay out of this! This is a matter of pride. ”

“Yeah, maybe it is, but you lost fair and square.”

“I did not! I slipped!”

Turning back to the victorious centaur

Who stared back, moving forwards with vicious eyes.

And speaking before the human could

“Are you calling me cheater?”

Hand resting on the side of a sword, smile smug, eyes glaring.

I took a step back, bringing my bow forwards, slowly

The gathered centaurs seemed to notice the shift in atmosphere.

Some even bringing their swords out

But

The human failed to notice.

“No, I slipped, we have to do it again!”

She said, repeating her words like a lunatic

Eyes angry

But holding her arms comically on her side.

Not really taking the situation serious

But failed to see how serious the situation was.

In a flash, faster than most would be able to perceive

The victorious centaur frowned

Raising his arm with a sword in hand.

But I was faster.

Bringing my bow up

Arrow on hand, ready to let loose

Everything happening in the matter of a second

But

A strong wind swept into the gathered centaurs

Making everyone fall over, swords clattering to the ground, shouts of confusion

The only one standing was the human who just looked around confused.

And me, bow still in hand but arrow far, far away

Then a familiar voice.

“No fighting the human. She is propheciesed to help with flat mountain.”

The silver centaur strode into the small clearing.

Which had formed to a semicircle by a vast amount of centaurs

Gathered by the loud commotions.

A few seconds of silenced passed

But eventually, the victorious centaur rose.

Eyes red with anger, but also

Anguish.

“The human call me cheater! She bring me nothing but shame in the face of defeat”

The silver centaur looked down on the human

Asking a simple but powerful question.

“True?”

In which she looked up

A bit confused, but seemingly understanding that she might have messed up.

Or she’s just very confused.

Either way, her response was the same.

“No, I just wanted a rematch because my hand slipped”

The silvery centaur looked back to the victorious centaur

“Why you can't fight again? Humans are very much weaker than us, there should be no problems.”

The victorious centaur took his eyes from the human, looking towards the silvery centaur

Bending down, hands clasping around the dropped sword

Eyes narrowing, looking between sword and centaur, sizing up.

Measuring.

“You calling me weak?”

The silver centaur yawned, looking like she’s been through this a hundred times

“No, I’m calling you coward”

Then, in the span of a second

She brought her sword up, faster than even I could perceive

And knocked the sword out of the victorious centaurs hands

Making him stumble backwards, both eyes going wide

Looking, startled

And a bit terrified.

“This human is under my protection. She is weak.”

“Hey!”

The human responded, but getting ignored.

“Those that choose to fight her do so with the knowledge that we centaurs are superior in every way. Any faul play will be looked down upon and every loss shall be treated with respect.”

The silver centaur spoke with a practised authoritarian voice.

Getting a chorus of yes and nods from the gathered crowd.

Who seemed to have moved away from the victorious centaur

Instead, inching their way towards the back of the silvery centaur.

“Anyone does anything else and I will personally fight them to the death.”

Letting the last words settle in before she turned around

Human close behind

And me gawking for a few seconds before also running close behind.

“Do you have to be so dramatic? It was just a game.”

The human said, face beet red and looking down to the ground

“Yes, it’s more fun like this.”

The centaur spoke back, a big smile on her face.

“But why the death threat? I mean, can't you just tell them off?”

I said, getting a raised eyebrow in response.

“I already said, it’s more fun”

The silver centaur spoke, looking down on me with that familiar expression

As if seeing someone stupid and feeling sad for them

You little..

But just as quickly as she held that expression

It turned childish.

Forming into a wild smile, almost spitting before me

“No just joking little funny homan. I merely want them to know that I’m the strongest.”

My face turning a bit exasperated.

And wide

As this was the first time she had joked with me.

A joke that felt a little

Silly.

I quickly shook myself from the joke.

Pretending to have not heard it

“What if someone called your bluff?”

“Bluff?”

She asked with wide eyes,

As if something like that was out of this world.

“I mean like, joking with me, lying to them... Making them believe something that you would not actually do”

Her face turning from confusion, to a bit more comprehending

“Oh no. I not bluff. I kill if they try anything.”

I stared up at her

Searching for a joke

Not seeing one.

But then...

What was the joke?

But before I could ask

I realised something.

Something that should have made me scared

But made me merely confused.

“What? You would kill one of yours?”

“Yes”

“Why?”

I asked quickly.

“I’m free to do what I want. They are too”

And got a quick response in return.

Turning the conversation quiet

Making me think

Think of one simple thing

Their culture is weird.

No

It’s horrendous.

There is no control.

No government.

No security.

Just...

Anarchy?

Or would they call it freedom?

I don't understand it

How am I supposed to help them when I don't understand them?

There's so little I-

But before my thoughts could form properly.

The human came forward.

Giving me a light, but empathic pat on the back.

“Dont think too much about it, they are nice.. Horses. Just accept their weirdness and you’ll have a nice time.”

She said, looking at me with a wide smile.

Making me smile back

Hehe

Thanks

Sometimes, it’s nice to just

Not think.

I guess?

“Thanks”

I quietly said, almost a whisper.

She smiled wider.

“Hehehe, dont think about it. This place is weird, but it’s still fun. And all this talk about Swarm and the upcoming death and blabla just makes me nervous.”

She looked up to the sky

Eye’s wandering through it

But body staying still.

“So you know what I do?”

Letting her eyes rest on the sky,

But hands dance above her head

Forming small circles in front of her eyes

“Sometimes you just gonna live in the moment, you know.”

She said

Still looking up

Seemingly.

Searching.

“Life can shoot weird arrows at you, but you just got to take them, dance with them, feel their rhytmn as you continue marching forwards.”

She then looked down.

A wider smile than before

Eyes almost glittering

But looking a little moist.

“I’m really thankful for being here, with you, with every centaur here. Even if the danger is coming, I’m still happy that I’m here.”

She let her hand go up above her head.

Resting behind her head, leaning backwards into an invisible wall.

Eyes closing.

“Dont think too much about it. If the wall is made, awesome. If not... eeeh. Uniting the clans? What if we fail? It’s not like we are responsible for their entire race’s fate.”

She then looked down on me

Eyes locking into mine

Making me shy away

Looking down to the ground.

“I’m just happy we are together. I’m happy I’m alive. I’m happy that I’m not alone.”

Eyes seeming heavy

Thoughts heavy

She stared at me

Smile wide

But not meeting her eyes.

“Oh hehe sorry. Just, tell me when you need help. I’m here for you!”

Saying that, she moved forward

Jogging a bit further ahead

Past the silvery centaur, waving at a centaur up front

A centaur I recognised

A very handsome looking male centaur

Who seemed to be extremely happy at being seen by the human.

Waving a little too fast, before awkwardly pulling it down fast, looking around himself to see if someone saw his unmanly performance.

And meting my eyes

Narrowing as he tried to see if I had seen

Which I had.

Smiling smugly at him

Getting a horrified response in return.

Hehe

Maybe she’s right

You gotta take pleasure in the small things.

Yeah

You should...

I should.

Entertainment is not forever

And you never know when you find yourself drowning.

Drowning in your own mind.

Something I would find quiet common in the coming weeks

An experience I would wish I would have never found.

Small things seem unimportant

But you would be surprised by how much you remember.

Even those that seem bad.