The room was like a small cluttered library with countless books lined against walls on the tens of bookshelves that stretched up all the way up until the ceiling. All sorts of books and parchments were stacked on top of each on the floor unsteadily or thrown into a pile somewhere on the ground. Even a few of the smaller bookshelves dotting the room had toppled over, breaking, or inevitably being covered by a layer of books and papers.

And in the center of this mess sat an Orc, an Orc wearing a purple wizard robe more than a few sizes too small and a wizard’s hat on its bald green head. It sat there cross-legged uncharacteristically flipping through a thick leather bound book with his massive fingers.

As he heard the door behind him slowly open up, he turned his head to find several Humans blankly staring at him. He shut the book in his hands and threw it into one of the piles of books in lying around before standing up.

The Heroes stared at the Orcs towering figure which forced them to raise their heads so they could meet his eyes. Even the old knight, the tallest of the four of them at 6’3, was forced to raise his head to maintain eye contact, and it was exceedingly difficult for the mage to do so as she was by far the shortest of them all at only 5’1.

The Hero turned to his companions puzzled, he leaned back and quietly whispered, “Don’t tell me he’s the wizard? There’s now way, right?”

The rogue turned to him and shrugged, “Who knows, we hardly know anything about the wizard as it is. He may be a living legend, but he’s been around for centuries. Most records describing the Wizard of the Tower have always been vague or have long since been lost to time.”

“Then he’s actually…”

The rogue nodded, “Probably, the records never mentioned if the wizard was a man, woman, demon, or a human so he very well could have been an orc.”

“But have you ever seen an Orc older than forty or fifty? I’ve only ever heard of them living up until they were sixty or seventy, and that’s only a myth and you’re saying this Orc standing before us has lived for centuries?”

Suddenly a long wooden staff struck the back of the Heroes head, “You two are being rude. The concept of time doesn’t effect powerful mages like it does normal Humans or Demons or any other race.”

The Hero rubbed the back of his head, and turned to the Orc, “So he really is the wizard?”

The female mage nodded, “He has to be, who else would be up here”

“His assistant”

“What mage would have an Orc as an assistant”

The Hero laughed, “Well with our luck, the one we’re looking for”

Once again the female mage struck the Hero with her staff before stepping forward. You could hear an audible gulp as the female mage began to steady her breath and calm herself down. She carefully strode forward, trying not to knock anything over and make the room messier than it already is. Eventually, she stopped several yards away from the Orc before kneeling down and politely introducing herself, “Great Wizard, this mage of humble beginnings greets your excellency. I am Marie Sitrase, Grand Magus of Fire and Ash, appointed Royal Mage by the Kingdom of Lor and current head of the House of Sitrase.”

The Hero and his companions exchange glances before stepping forward as well. The old knight stepped to the right, kneeling down he said, “Greetings Great Wizard, your excellency I am Lord Orville Diholve 22nd Head of the House of Diholve, appointed Royal Knight Captain by the Kingdom of Lor.”

The Rogue kneeled down, and made a simple greeting, “Noe Iole, S-Class Adventurer of the Adventurers Guild”

And finally, the Hero took a step forward, pulling out his holy sword from his glove. He held it with both hands, the tip of the sword pointing towards the ceiling and the hilt grasp firmly in front of him a little above his waist. He said proudly, “I apologize for earlier, Gail Goodwin Holy Knight and Hero of the Kingdom of Lor.”

The sword in the Hero's hand began to shine with a golden light, his cape began to flutter in the air despite the lack of wind, and his battle-worn armor began to be coated in a brilliant silver light. The Hero smiled proudly, and the golden circlet on his head began to once more form a golden halo that began exuding a brilliant golden light that began filling the entire room.

The Hero, Gail Goodwin, was or rather has always been a rather proud man to the point of being arrogant. He would always act with great confidence even against foes far greater than him in strength. This lead to his abysmal defeat when he charged up against the Tower just earlier, and although he was aware of how powerful the Tower was and how amazing his feat of standing up against the Tower for so long, he couldn’t help but think his defeat was a stain in his honor.

And the Hero couldn’t stand this. But he knew this Orc in front of him wasn’t someone he could provoke, so instead, he chose to show his worth as a Hero. He put on a full display of three of the four holy items in his possession. These were proof of his prowess, and even though it was a bit of a waste to use them in this fashion if it would wipe away that stain to him it was worth it.

But then the Orc turned to him, and with his deep and dry voice he said, “Turn it down, that’s too bright.”

The Hero paused in astonishment, and immediately stop releasing that brilliant golden light, “I apologize.”

The Hero quickly retracted his halo returning it back into a circlet and returned his sword to his glove. The Hero cleared his throat before once again speaking, “Oh Great Wizard, I have traveled far and wide to come to your great tower to ask of you of one thing.”

The Heroes face twisted and turned grim, while on the corner of his eye you could see a small drop of water reflecting the light mysteriously falling from the ceiling illuminating the room.

“Those wretches Demons have united under an accursed King to bring death and destruction to these lands once again. The time has come to once more continue this age old battle between Demons and Man! But Humanity has grown frail over the years. We’ve faced famine, droughts, disease, and war. And as we were still weak and frail, having just started to recover from the depths of despair and having only quelled the internal strifes within us, the wretched Demon King invaded!”

“Those he’s killed number in the tens of the hundreds, and the number of Humans he’s enslaved easily number in the hundreds of thousands. The Demons have already conquered several of Humanities kingdoms and have destroyed dozens of our strongholds. And even after we gathering these Four Holy Items we have still been locked in battle for three years unable to step an inch further, and instead forced to take an inch back.”

The Hero gripped his fist and began to sob dramatically. The old knight Orville raised his head and continued, “The Demon King's armies outnumber us 6 to 1, and if it weren’t for the fact that the Demon King was also assaulting several other Kingdoms at the same time we might not have been able to last as long as we have. But recently one of the Demon King's generals has taken the Kingdom of Thylania further worsening our grave situation.”

The Hero fell to his knees, and with his arms, on the floor, he lowered his head down to the ground and begged, “Please Great Wizard guide us ignorant fools. We’ve no other choice, but to rely on you!”

The rogue turned to the Hero and whispered, “Could you be any more dramatic?”

The Hero smiled, and whispered quietly with his head still on the ground “I haven’t even gone all out.”

The female mage sighed, “Noe, Gail not now…”

The Orc stared at the four of them kneeling on the ground, “Why don’t you just kill the king then.”

Orville turned to the Hero on the floor, before raising his head and saying, “Great Wizard with our army there’s no hope in breaking through let alone slaughtering a path to their King.”

“You don’t need an army to kill a single man”

“But then who will hold back the Demon King’s armies?”

The Orc yawned, picking up a random book he said, “Do you think you four can hold back an army several times the size of your own?”

“That’s…” Orville paused, the four of them have been able to push the Demon King's armies back time and time again, but that was solely due to the fact that the Demon King didn’t view the Kingdom of Lor as a major threat and the Kingdom of Lor has taken in thousands of refugees to bolster their forces.

But with the much more powerful Kingdom of Thylania out of the way, there’s no reason for the Demon King to leave the Kingdom of Lor be. As soon as he occupies and secures Thylania he’ll surely send more troops over to take the Kingdom of Lor.

Noe, the rogue, raised his head, “That’s suicide, of the Demon King's six Generals there are at least two by his side at all times. Even with a small elite unit penetrating the enemy lines, fighting off these Demon Generals alone will be extremely difficult. And then we have to deal with the Royal Guard and the Demon King himself, and as someone who can unite the fractured Demon Clans, he himself is surely powerful. Killing him like this is nearly impossible”

The Orc laughed, “Nearly”

Noe clicked his tongue, “Besides what makes you think that killing the Demon King will change anything anyway. In the large scheme of things, what can the death of one man do.”

“More than you think.”

Noe tightened his fist but didn’t say anything further. The female mage finally raised her head and asked, “Is there no other way? Perhaps there’s an artifact that can make the Hero even stronger. Then perhaps we might be able to break through the Demon Army with his strength and slay the Demon King like in the legends.”

The Orc shook his head, and the female mage sighed. Suddenly, the Hero lamenting on the ground stood up, “Thank you great wizard for your guidance.”

He turned around and began walking out of the messy room, the female mage stood up, “Wait, Gail, where are you going?”

“Back”

Everyone else stood up and followed suit. The rogue asked, “Are you sure we should be leaving? He’s a wizard who's been alive for centuries if we ask him a few more things we might be able to find a better way.“

The Hero laughed, “No, this will do”

The Hero took out another scroll from his bag, when the rogue suddenly yelled, “It’s suicide!”

The Hero laughed, “He’s the Wizard of this godforsaken tower, he wouldn’t tell us to kill the King if there wasn’t a possibility of succeeding. Besides this is how Heroes should be overcoming the odds, standing in the limelight, fighting for the people when all hope is lost! Now that is a Hero!”

Noe sighed, “Narcissistic bastard”

“Narcissistic? If anything I’m a bit too modest! If I were to really show off you’d already be in my bed, and we’d be wed!”

Noe snatched the scroll off of the Hero's hand, “I’ve told you I’m a man!”

“No with that face, and that voice.”

Noe glared at the Hero before ripping the scroll and vanishing from the tower. The Orc standing in the sea of book merely watched them disappear, starring as the scroll silently burned and the embers fell to the floor. He walked over to where the Hero party had vanished and inspected the floor.

Although it was faint you could see a large circle on the floor constructed out of tens of complex characters. But as he continued staring at it the circle eventually disappeared completely, and with nothing to look at the Orc began to climb down the tower.

The Orc silently walked down the stairs, the halls, through cluttered room after room of this desolate tower. Many of the rooms were filled with all sorts of books or scrolls, while others were filled with what appeared to be some unusual machinery or materials.

In one room there were hundreds of different colored rocks, and gems lying on the shelves. In the room next to it there were stacks of lumber and several wooden sculptures. While entire floors were dedicated for some purpose at times.

The orc passed by several floors dedicated entirely to a massive garden with its own artificial sun, and clouds which would at times turn dark and start raining. While half of a floor was dedicated to a massive smithery.

And as the Orc continued to pass through room after room, floor after floor he eventually came across this one peculiar pair of doors. The doors weren’t particularly large, but they were constructed out of metal instead of wood. And hovering over the door where tens of hundreds of bizarre symbols forming a purple magic circle over the door.

The Orc approached the door silently and pushed it open, but as soon as his hand touched the door the purple symbols grew massive and the circle expanded filling the entire wall for a moment before suddenly shrinking down and growing brightly. A blinding purple light gathered around the Orcs large green hand, and suddenly the door violently exploded into a massive puff of black smoke and shrapnel.

“What was that!?”, a voice called out from within the room. The smoke quickly began to vanish as the walls seemingly began absorbing the smoke, and soon enough the room behind this peculiar door became visible.

Inside was a large bed, and over a dozen naked women standing inside. The women stared at the Orc and began muttering when one of the women boldly strode forward in the nude.

She stood there proudly in front of all the other woman, not attempting to hide her voluptuous curves nor was she ashamed of standing before the Orc. She smiled seductively and asked, “Who are you Orc?”