“Waaah!” Aegis' wails resounded into the next room, where his parents were sleeping. Wake up! I gotta piss! “Waaaah!”

“Honey, go get Aegis... He must want his mommy...” Ariadne yawned as her arm gently push at the bear sleeping next to her. “It's about time.... sleep... nights... Let cry it out... I'll get him... doesn't stop soon...” Roston's voice rumbled as he pulled his wife in closer to him. “M'kay...” “Waaah!” Where the fuck are they! Pee! “Waaah! Wa-” Are they? Those fuckers are ignoring me aren't they!? Mommy wouldn't dare ignore me! This must be Dad's idea! I'll show that asshole who's boss around here! Motherfucker's probably thinking that I need to start sleeping through the whole night doesn't he!? Well I would be if you fuckers stopped treating me like a normal baby and had just let me sleep earlier! You don't always need to stuff my face with tits! I'll eat when I'm hungry! In the next room, a satisfied smile appeared on Roston's face. “See honey? Just like I said.” When have I ever cried for no reason!? Not once! This treatment is completely unwarranted! Aegis sat up and deftly unlatched his crib. I'll show you... Ignoring me when I gotta piss... The jail door smoothly swung opened when the baby pressed his weight on it and he stared down at his first obstacle, a two foot drop below him. Tonight is the night I conquer you, fear of heights! 2 feet shall mean nothing to me! The baby dragged his pillow and plopped it onto the ground beneath him. Uhh... Still high... He eyes turned towards his blanket and then back to the floor. I'm sorry blanky. I'll always love you. This is for the greater good. He stretched his arms out, dangling his favorite cloth over the great abyss below him. Sniff, I can't look! Aegis shut his eyes as hard as he could while felt the soft fabric slip from his loosening hands. Blanky no! I was wrong! I'm sorry! I'll just pee in my daiper! But it was too late. As the boy opened his eyes, trying to grasp for his beloved. He could only watch in despair as it fell out of his sight and into the dark void that was the floor. NOOOOOO! BLAAAANKYYYY! *puff,* the blanket landed on the pillow. Ahem. I don't know what came over me just now. It's just a stupid blanket. Still, he looked down to make sure it was okay. Well then, I'll just carefully slide down the side of this crib here aaannnd... Where's blanky? The baby kicked his legs back and forth, trying to feel out his companion, but was met only with empty space as he dangled from the side of his crib, his feet hanging only a couple inches above his makeshift fall-softener. Fuck that. You win today two foot drop. I'll just climb back up and cry-y-y- Aegis' hand slipped as he tried pulling himself back up to his crib and he landed squarely on his bottom, his blanket and pillow gently catching him. Haha! Take that two foot drop! You have been conquered by a baby that doesn't even know how to walk! How does that feel? Pretty shameful huh? Well no worries, I am quite a special baby, there's is no shame in losing to one such as I. Aegis' round face fired a smirk back at his defeated foe and continued his quest with his companion, Blanky. Why did I want to leave my crib again? “Mmm, Roston? I think I heard something fall in Aegis' room.” “It's all in your head sweetie, you're just worried. You hear that? Nothing. That's the sound of a sleeping baby.” Aegis crawled to the entrance of his parents' bedroom, but before him stood an impenetrable device of solid wood that reached into the sky... or at least a couple feet below the ceiling. This night, I will finally defeat you my old nemesis, Door. The door said nothing as it stood over him, its handle gleaming a reflection of the moonlight, taunting him for his inability to reach it. I'll show you door! You will rue this slight within the hour! The baby turned back towards the living room down the hallway to search for a tool. I need something to pull down on the handle, but what? Aha! Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the last embers of the fireplace. That metal stick thingy! It has a hook! He had seen his father and mother use it to mess around with the logs in the flame. I always wondered what this thing was used for. We had one in our house during my first life, but a fake fireplace meant that it never got used. Aegis laid Blanky out below the tool rack and tugged at the hooked stick thingy, shaking the iron until it finally came loose of its rack and landed with a muffled thud onto the blanket. Using his companion as a sled, he managed to drag the iron hook across the wooden floors and back to his parents' room. Door, I'd like you to meet my liiittle friend. Metal stick hooky thingy, meet door, my rival. Door, meet metal hooky stick thingy. He's gon' fuck you up. Aegis wrapped his pudgy hands around his newest ally and... nothing. He was a baby, how could he even lift a piece of iron almost 3 times his size? Hooky thing? C'mon, I need your help. Just let me lift you. Aegis tried again, but could barely lift it a couple inches off the ground. Hooky thing, you're embarrassing me in front of Door. ... What? Is this about me not knowing your actual name? That's not important right now. ... Listen, now's not the time. I've been holding it in for the last 5 minutes and- ... Yes, I know that names are important, but I really don't know what you are. I mean look at you, are you even deserving of a name? You're just an iron rod with a hook at the end. ... Yes, you're right. Can you help me open Door now? … No I'm not avoiding the conversation, it's just that I'm kind of on a time limit here; my bladder can't endlessly expand- ... Are you going to help me or not!? Is Hooky thing not a good enough nickname for now!? You don't like my naming sense!? Well if you don't get up there and pull that fucking handle I'm not returning you to your rack by the fireplace. You can stay in this cold, dark, hallway that's filled with spiders and monsters and other creepy things. Maybe a pirate will come out of the shadows and saw your bottom half off, making you waste away your days as his new nose picker. How do you like that thought? … No? Good. Then we'll use some good old fashioned physics to help me bring you up. Aegis tied Blanky to the top of Hooky thing and then put his foot at the base of the metal rod. Using the extra leverage he had on the iron, he managed stand it up before directing it to fall onto the door's handle. Relying on the weight of the tool, Aegis managed to push open the door with minimal effort and left the tool to hang on the handle. Now is the time for revenge! Aegis took a deep breath before letting out the loudest wail he could on Roston's side of the bed. “Waaaahh!!!” Nearly jumping out of the bed, Roston looked around the room in a delirious state, not understanding where such a horrid noise could come from. “Aegis? Boy, how did you get in here?” He asked in disbelief. “Aegis?” Ariadne saw Roston pick the baby up from the floor. “Roston, did you bring him in here?” “No, I was asleep. Really, how did you get in here?” Roston lifted the gleeful baby up to his face when suddenly - “AAAHH! My eyes!” Yes! Fear me! This is the consequence of your inaction! This is your punishment for not responding to my summons! I am the master of this household, now accept my mark! Aegis gave a perverse look of contentment as he pissed on his father's face. Blanky, Hooky thing, Pillow, I thank you all for helping me to complete my quest. Despite the dangers of the 2 foot drop and the unyielding obstacle that we call Door, we were successful in dealing out retribution to the wicked. No longer shall my cries to pee go unanswered! No longer shall any cry go unheard! I am the black in the night! I'm Batman! ---

Hector sat back in his tent, inhaling a deep breath before slowly releasing it as he melted into his chair. The day's march had been particularly brutal. They were suppose to have had an easy time crossing a stone bridge that had been marked on the map, but when they had arrived, they found the damnable thing had collapsed. Many hours and lots of angry yelling later, they finally found a suitable crossing. Well, suitable was the wrong word. They had found a barely acceptable crossing that drained everyones energy before making a 24 mile forced march to stay on schedule. Why the hell am I doing this? A low rumble resounded throughout his tent. Ah fuck, I'm so damn hungry. Hector reluctantly pushed himself out of his chair and hobbled out of his tent.

“Sir!” A green recruit stationed to guard his tent gave a stupidly sharp salute. “We're going to eat, come with me kid.” “Sir, yes sir!” bellowed the guard at the top of his lungs. Hector winced. Fuuuck, this is why I hate greenhorns. “Boy, how old are you?” The two started walking past the myriad of pitched tents on their way to the mess. “16 sir!”

“Stop yelling. So you just joined the army?”

“Yes sir.”

Great conversation... “What work you do before?”

“Farming sir.”

“So a farmer decided to join the army?”

“Yes sir, crops wilted and me Pa told me to join so we had enough cash at home.”

“Dumb idea. Should've went to banditry, more profitable.”

“Sir?”

“You got a name kid?”

“Dolon sir.”

“Got siblings?”

“Yes sir! Three younger sisters and four little brothers!”

Of course he does... Eldest boy in a farming family watching out for his siblings blah blah blah... “Where's your home at?”

“A village called Gin sir, we went by it a few days ago.”

“What!? We've been dropping soldiers off at every town we've come across to help them rebuild! Why didn't you request to be left there? You could have visited your family.”

“I wouldn't dare sir. His lordship, the Marquis, sent a personally written letter to our barracks the night before we sent out. At least one of me and my squad mates must be guarding you the entire time during your mission.” That explains why all my guards so far had such stiff walks. I thought that they were just pompous assholes. “And I assume your squad mates only recently entered the armed forces as well?” “Yes sir! They're all greenhorns! I'm the most experienced one of the lot! I've seen some real action. I went on patrol a couple times before!” Damn you Atreus!!! After arriving at a makeshift pavilion and getting their food at what could only be described as a soup kitchen, Hector gulped down the slop that the chefs for the day had managed to cook up as he sat on a fallen log. It had now been ten days since they had left the city in the midst of its festivities and two weeks since the rain had ended, or what Hector heard the commoners call the gods' tears. Or the gods' blessing. Or the divine rain. Pretty much anything that had to do with religion and water could be a name. Every person of faith that he had come across on their way to the frontier attributed the end of the drought to whatever god they prayed to, warning the heathens of other religions to repent before it was too late. The elves claimed it was Artemis, a band of dwarves making their way north claimed it was Hephaestus, a draconion priest he met said it was Helios. The humans seemed most diverse in their faith. Sailors worshiped Poseidon, farmers worshiped Demeter, and so on went the credit for the drought's end. I'm sure some bat-shit crazy necromancer will say that Hades brought the end of the drought. It seemed to Hector that people just chose to worship whoever could most conveniently help them; you wouldn't find a man in a dessert praying to Poseidon that's for sure. But for all he knew, they could be right. Maybe the gods did send the rain; Patroclus said that none of his colleagues in the capital had any clue as to how the rain came about, so divine intervention was as good a guess as any. “Sir.” A crew cut man wearing blue leathers over his chainmail approached Hector. “Scouts say they've found a route to Thrend. We should be able to reach there by mid day tomorrow.” “Fucking finally! Damned water's made travel impossible! Why the fuck are we going to Thrend anyways?” Hector spat. The journey had been miserable. At first, the men were all a little disappointed to be leaving the city at the high point of festivities, but as they started the journey, he and the soldiers realized they were just happy to be outside. They could breath fresh air, listen to the birds chirp away, gaze at beautiful and bountiful lakes, but the reality had set in again by the first day's end. Every step north had to be accompanied by ten east or west. Sometimes they had to turn around and walk away from their destination for a while so that they could get past the damn water. Initially they had the idea to wade across the rivers and ponds. Hector got angry just thinking about his naivety. 'It couldn't be that deep right?' Hector mocked his own thinking at the time. Wrong, the water's deep and the ground's muddy. Figured that one out when the boys started to sink and couldn't get back out, how humiliating would that have been? 'Atreus, I lost a bunch of men because the ground was wet. Sorry about that.' 'But they had accurate maps complete with all sorts of different river crossings, it's not like those could magically change right?' Wrong, two months of unending rain has warped the landscape beyond all recognition. They would march through a village only to find that it was a dozen miles off from the one they were suppose to be in. They would try to cross a river where the map said it was safe to and find that it was twelve feet deep. Marching through this terrain was a nightmare. Hector regretted even mentioning Thrend to the Marquis. The spiteful part of him even hoped that the village had been wiped out, but he knew that if it was, it would only make him angrier. “Fucking Thrend. Fucking orcs! Fucking gods! Why do you make the simplest of things so damn difficult?” Hector continuously muttered under his breath as he chowed down his meal next to Dolon. ---

Im'rit slammed his fist into the boulder next to him, a sharp crack resounded out before being followed by the stone's surface splintering like a spider's web. Oh Selene, I nearly believed that my hand had broken. I thank you for your protection. The orc was no longer the walking skeleton that he had started out as two and a half months ago. Muscles rippled under every inch of his scarred hide. His once sunken face now carried the vestiges of a handsome warrior and his tusks were sharpened and white. The recovery of the orcs had been astounding, some of the younger ones had even begun their growth spurts, as if their bodies had been waiting the entire time for more food to be available. Im'rit himself was a full 3 inches taller.

“Where the fuck are they!? He roared at the sky. There hadn't been a single trace of the Tu'lu'min's passing within a two week radius of their home. Im'rit could understand that the rain may have washed away signs of a camp, but the flooding had begun three days in. The traitors would have taken shelter in dry, raised locations, but there was nothing.

“En'ki.” He looked at the young orc, grilling a spider leg over a fire. He had grown almost a full foot during this time and was almost as tall as Im'rit now. Normally Im'rit would be happy for him, but En'ki had become uncoordinated in his new body and it was a risk. The normal hunting parties of three generally had four if the young orc was taken along.

“Yes Im'rit? Do you want some? I found that the thinner bits are really tangy. Try it.”

“Any word on where the Tu'lu'min may have passed?” “I don't know anything more than you do. We've both been waiting here for the others all morning, there's no use getting impatient. I know you want your revenge; we all do, but know that we'll get it in time. Be more like this spider. Cast the net and be patient. Well, not this spider. This spider was stupid.” He chomped down on a meatier part of the leg.

“Then let's go hunt, just the two of us. I need to do something.”

“We've got plenty of food now, you don't need to hunt. It'll start to rot.”

“Then let's spar, you've been uncoordinated and we need you to get back into fighting condition.”

“I'll get adjusted with time, you shouldn't rush these things Im'rit.”

“Stand up youngest.” Im'rit grabbed a couple of staffs from a hut nearby.

En'ki accepted the staff thrown to him, keeping the leg in his mouth. “M-m-mph”

“Spit it out.” Im'rit stared at him, annoyed.

“Mm-mm” En'ki shook his head. “Ish shoo goo. Jush waish unshil I inish.”

Im'rit twisted his left foot outwards, stepping forward with his right as he let his hands slide to the end of his staff while swinging it overhead. His entire body's strength was put into this blow as En'ki scrambled up to try and step in to block it with a horizontal push. Just as the two staffs were about to make contact, Im'rit yanked his staff inward, shortening it just enough to miss En'ki's block. And before En'ki even realized what happened, Im'rit reversed his footing, stepping forward with his left and put his entire weight behind a jab to En'ki's chest.

*Cough cough cough* The air was knocked out of En'ki and he was forced to spit out his food as he crumbled to the ground.

“One blow, youngest. That's all it took to bring you to this state.” Im'rit said as he placed the butt of his staff against on his brother's back.

“Fuck off!” En'ki managed to wheeze while on his knees as he picked up his staff and tried sweeping at Im'rit's feet. But Im'rit simply stabbed his own staff into the ground in front of him, deflecting En'ki's attempt and once again disarmed his opponent as En'ki's staff reverberated and shook itself out his the orc's hand. “I knew it.” Im'rit shook his head as he gazed down on his brother.

“Know what?”

“Pick up your staff. Stand up.”

En'ki stood and tried to catch Im'rit off guard with a quick thrust. Im'rit simply took a step back as he parried the blow with his staff still placed in the ground. He followed up by kicking the bottom of his staff up and slamming it into En'ki's side while he was still off balance. En'ki was thrown into a puddle by the blow, water sputtering out of his mouth.

“Pick of your staff. Get up.” En'ki spat out muddy water. “Why? So you can beat me again? It's useless Im'rit, go practice with one of the more experienced.” Im'rit jabbed his staff at En'ki, forcing the orc to roll out of the way and come to a stand. Im'rit threw his staff to the other orc and picked up En'ki's. “Remember before the drought, when Ug'rit and I were sparring with each other?” He continuously thrust at the younger orc, goading him into a fight.

“You came up to us, begging to be taught how to wield a weapon. Your tusks hadn't even left your mouth yet and you wanted to spar with us, who were twice your size. I remember laughing and trying to shoo you away.” En'ki had enough of Im'rit's prodding and stepped in with a snarl, putting every muscle in his body into an overhead swing, but Im'rit stepped right up to him while knocking the blow to the side, making it impossible for En'ki to utilize his strength to the fullest before slapping the staff of out En'ki's hand with an underhanded swing.

“But Ug'rit, Ug'rit decided to teach you and proceeded to beat you black and blue the entire day. You went at it for nine hours.” He pushed En'ki, who was nursing his injured hand in the direction of his staff.

“You didn't take a break once. You refused to give up. Do you remember what he kept repeating? 'Never let go of your weapon. Never let go of your weapon. Never let go of your weapon.' By my count, you've already dropped it four times in the last five minutes.”

He slapped En'ki's ass with his staff as the younger orc bent over to pick his up. Humiliated, En'ki grasped his staff and with a growl, charged Im'rit, intent on knocking him over. Im'rit stayed his ground, leaning in to catch En'ki. When the two slammed into each other, Im'rit used his staff like a sea-saw against En'ki's and ended halfway behind him. He reinforced the younger orc's momentum with his own, and flipped him over with his outstretched leg, sending En'ki sprawling on his back. “And after the first few bouts you never did. No matter how hard he kicked you down, you held onto your spear as if your life depended on it.” He walked up to the defeated orc and knocked the staff out of his hands.

“Five, youngest.” Im'rit stood over the half berserk orc and set his foot on En'ki to keep him in place. “I respected you after that. No one else could possibly keep fighting with someone twice their size, twice as strong, twice as fast, and twice as experienced without giving up. And know that Ug'rit was trying to make you give up the entire time. He didn't hold back once. He wanted to put you in your place. At the end of the day, after nine hours of fighting, he was the one who ended it. He gave up.”

Im'rit stepped off and kicked the staff back to En'ki. “But now, when I'm around you... I smell fear.”

“I'll show you what fear is!” En'ki roared and continually stabbed at Im'rit, putting him on the defensive.

Im'rit jumped back and slapped at En'ki's staff, intending to send it flying again, but En'ki pulled back and followed Im'rit's movements, forcing the staff to twist out of Im'rit's hands and sending it clattering a few yards away. “Your coordination is fine; we grow up fast and our bodies are built for adaptability.”

En'ki backed up, thinking Im'rit was going to grab his staff. But he only approached En'ki with his fists raised. “Are you fucking looking down on me!?” Enki swung down at him, but Im'rit let the staff slam into his left shoulder and caught it. He wrapped his hands around the staff and yanked it out of En'ki's grasp as the younger orc stood there dumbfounded.

“Six youngest.” Im'rit raised the staff and struck at En'ki's shoulder, forcing the younger orc to kneel as he howled in pain. “You flinched when I made my first swing.” Im'rit bent down by En'ki's side and whispered. “Flinching is fine, it's a sign that your body is reacting before your mind does. It's good for survival. No, what's wrong is that after you flinched, you closed your eyes. You closed your eyes and hesitated. You wanted to run. You were afraid of something that you know you have no reason to be afraid of. You've been beaten up by staffs countless times...”

Im'rit stepped away to pick up both of the staffs. “That time in the forest, the first days it started coming back to life, that slime. I keep going over it in my head, but we had split up a decent amount. It shouldn't have been able to swallow both you and In'til at the same time, even if it was huge.”

He tossed a staff in front of En'ki. “In'til was deeper in the slime, he was swallowed first. But you... you froze didn't you?”

En'ki's pupils constricted as he heard what Im'rit said. Not daring to look at his senior's face. “You were scared and let that fear control your actions. You could have hollered, but you were too afraid to even make a squeak.”

“I-”

“Pick up your staff. Get up.”

They exchanged a few more blows before Im'rit knocked En'ki down again. Im'rit squatted down and lifted his brother's head to look into his eyes. “Stop thinking about that time. Half of us had the same experience during our first real fights. We froze. Or we messed up. Or we ran. It's normal; what's not normal is letting the fear linger, letting it stop you from moving forward. Learn what you can from your battles and throw yourself into more, that is the way of our kind. Not avoiding the inevitable, that only makes you weaker.” Im'rit stood back up and held his staff in a ready position.

“Now stand up En'ki.”