Chapter 11

I looked in the direction the sound was coming from, my gaze somehow pierced the cover of darkness. I saw shadowy silhouettes moving between the trees, forcing their way through the bushes.

I was frozen by a dreadful, unwanted memory. -’ Why the orcs again? ‘ A whining complaint resounded in my mind, past events vividly refreshed by the approaching brutes.

-” Reed! “ Suddenly, I heard a commanding shout, it seemed to project calmness and assurance, making me snap out of my stupor. -” Procure some light spell! We need to counter their night vision! “

-” Erh…? “ A stifled, confused gasp escaped the nerdmage. -” I...I-i don’t… I mean light spell… “ He was stuttering and gesturing in panic, he looked like he couldn’t recall or didn’t know any such spell. -” F-fireball… “ He whispered under his breath.

-” Damn, too late, goblins already on us! Be on guard everyone! “ Alerted by Kayden’s command, I looked around, only then I noticed small silhouettes that had gotten really close under the cover of the bushes. They were stunted, wrinkled and ugly, I inadvertently noticed that they had a really big noses.

-’ And spears! ‘ A panicked thought appeared as the nearest, and seemingly the meanest, goblin looked at me with a small, beady eyes. We looked at each other measuringly, both seemingly alerted by each other’s appearance.

In the corner of my vision I noticed rogue throwing something in the air and the standstill was broken.

-” Cover your eyes! “ Kayden shouted just before a blinding light erupted from the sky, bringing out screams of pain from me and the goblins. -” Get as many you can while they are down! “ I fell helplessly to the ground, my eyes burning from the flash of searing luminosity.

-” Already on it! “ William’s calm voice was punctuated by a whooshing of his sword coupled with a sickening sounds of cleaved meat and bone.

Inhuman, high pitched screams resounded from everywhere while I struggled in panic, scared by the blindness. Sloshy and crunchy sounds of the goblin massacre should be sickening, but somehow that was not the case. A strange, inciting feeling arose from somewhere deep within me.

Led by impulse I arose to my feet, my fear forgotten, drowned out by the unknown, inciting sensation. I licked my mouth in anticipation, some sort of craving was rising within me.

-” Airgh!… “ Scream of a dying goblin suddenly awoke something within me, my blind gaze instantly focused on a dying monster. My unseeing eyes somehow retained some sort of vision, I could still perceive a strange. glowing mist hanging in the air.

Obeying the strange impulse I ran to the mist…

...and bit it.

A foul taste spread through my mouth. -’ A goblin...er...wait...what?! ‘ For a brief moment I regained a semblance of sanity, but it was drowned out by an energizing, exciting sensation that rushed through my body. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but a craving to just get more of the addictively energizing mist made me forget everything. Unthinking, I continued to gnaw on the mist, oblivious to what was happening around me - only the exhilarating feeling of consuming it mattered.

Abruptly, it ended. I consumed all of it, but one unseeing look around made me realize that there was much more of it just lying around. I rushed to a freshest and juiciest one, biting at it vehemently. It was thicker and stronger, a corner of my mind screamed something about an orc, but I paid it no mind.

-” Awk! “ A gasping sound suddenly penetrated through my feeding frenzy. By an utmost effort of will I looked up, noticing a golden, magnificent halo in front of me. My eyes were blind, but urged by a thought that it was really important for me to see I tried to focus on the thing before me.

To my surprise, an exhilarating feeling within me suddenly obeyed and my eyes were engulfed by a warm sensation.

My eyesight returned abruptly, showing me a terrified expression on Lylah’s face, who looked like an angel due to a golden halo surrounding her. My mind went blank as I tried to comprehend the situation. I was grasping a dead orc, more than thrice my size, and I was gnawing at its skull, while Lylah’s blade was still buried in the neck of the monster.

*Crack*

The time seemed to stop when the thick skull suddenly gave way and caved in with a crunching sound, I haven’t realized that I kept trying to bite through it. Lylah’s face turned green and she fell back to her knees and to retched; her blade left forgotten.

Like in one of those enchanting moments, where time seems to slow down to a crawl, I looked around, trying to disbelieve the situation I was in. But the reality was far from enchanting. The orc, the goblins and the aftertaste, they didn’t want to disappear, and at the same time I felt something akin to a loss - that I could feel no revulsion, despite all the gory, revolting things that were happening.

-’ Things which I was doing… ‘ Distraught with the thought I tried to focus on anything else, to take my mind away from the dreadful reality.

William was beset by three orcs, but he gave no ground. With a mighty swing he cleaved an opponent's head, and quickly twisted to skillfully block a blow from the other opponent’s axe, the shaft impotently bounced off the sword just above the hilt guard.

Third orc tried to use the opening to strike at William’s exposed side, but a nearby shadow suddenly sprang upward, extending a gleaming blade that struck the orc in the armpit, swiftly piercing its heart. As quickly as he appeared Kayden fell back down, turning into a low shadowy object, that was really hard to keep a track of.

-” To a depths below, I issue a call! “ I looked behind me, alarmed by the chanted words. The nerdmage was being attacked by an orc and I wanted to cheer for it when it swung its axe down, unfortunately nerdmage was somehow able to sidestep the overhead blow. As an orc tried to backhand the mage in the face, which gave me a really warm feeling, the mage touched orc’s side and finished the chant. -” Flamma Inferni! “

Orc suddenly let out a bellowing scream in the air. An orange flame erupted from its mouth while its body began to shine with orange light. I watched in morbid fascination while the orc was consumed by the fire raging inside it. Orc melted, its eyeballs and skin seemed to turn into a vax and flow down its body, all the while the beast continued to scream in agony, letting out a pillar of flame from its mouth.

A rustle and a sliver of motion on edge of my vision made me alerted to something happening to my side, I was a bit glad for my widened field of view when I noticed that the mean goblin from earlier was charging. I was terrified when I noticed that it was heading for Lylah, who was still helplessly kneeling on the ground.

Without thinking I rushed to intercept the goblin and somehow succeeded in blocking its way. A late thought appeared in my mind. -’ How exactly am I supposed to stop a charging goblin wielding a spear? ‘

But the thought came in too late, the rusty blade struck me and pierced my chest. The pain was agonizing, but nothing compared to the tortures of hell. Forced back by pain and impact I flailed my hand and struck at the painful implement, somehow breaking the shaft.

Certain that I was dying, I lunged for the surprised goblin and lashed at it with my claws. First blow hit the monster across the face, forcing it back, while the second encountered thin arm raised in defense. The second blow shattered the goblin’s forearm, giving off a satisfying crunch.

Before I could mete out a third blow the goblin suddenly reacted and bull rushed me, our collision forced the blade in my chest even deeper. I tried to scratch at the goblin’s back, but my dull claws couldn’t do much harm. I felt despair dawning on me when I felt another blade piercing my side. -’ Damn thing must have a knife! ‘ I thought while redoubling my efforts at clawing.

-” Rghhh! “ The goblin growled as it continue to stab at my belly and side.

I felt hopeless, while the piercing pain continued to come from my body. I noticed that the previous exhilarating sensation was waning, seemingly gathering in the wounds left by the goblin. I could feel weakness and hunger approaching swiftly.

In despair I tried to push the goblin away from me, which produced a surprising result. The goblin was thrown few meters back and gasped in pain from its broken arm. -” Ashhs! “

Our gazes crossed, I could glimpse respect, malice and hatred in the beady eyes of my opponent, but before anything more could happen a sharp pain in the back of my mind appeared. -” Damn imp! Come save...Serve! Your master” Nerdmage’s urgent command forced me to turn back and run to him. I tried to oppose with all my might, but inexorable grasp on my mind didn’t even let me turn my head to see what was happening to Lylah!

I was still in anguish when me and the mage suddenly passed each other. I was confused for a second and tried to understand where he was running, then a group of orcs ran into me, knocking me to the side. Still under the compulsion I rose to my feet and jumped on the back of one of the running orc.

I tried to claw and bite at it, but in my position I couldn’t penetrate orc’s chainmail. The feeling of power from earlier was gone. While I was fruitlessly trying to break through the armor a familiar gentle breeze of power appeared ,entering my veins and strengthening me. I felt my claws growing back, long and sharp, due to the new energy that must have been sent by the nerdmage.

When my new claws found opening in the chainmail the orc tried to shake me off, but my new claws firmly nestled themselves between the metal rings of his armor. With my position secured I used my free hand to slash at orc’s body. With a surprising ease my claws found their way past the armor and the orc stopped its efforts to shake me off. Instead, the orc fell down on its back trying to crush me underneath its weight.

It turned out to be a bad idea because the combined strength of my arms and his weight allowed my hand to fully pierce the chainmail and bury itself deep within orc back. I made a grasping motion inside his wet and soft flesh, a familiar hunger started rear its nasty head again. The orc gave out a final shiver and died, I could feel the familiar, delicious mist hovering just inches away from me, but before the feeding frenzy began an urgent compulsion forced me to untangle myself from under the big body.

I rose to my feet and saw the nerdmage beset by the orcs. There were three crisped orc bodies lying on the ground, another orc just began screaming in agony, affected by the hellish spell from earlier. Urged by the compulsion I started running to help the mage, but at that moment one of the orcs punched him across the face, knocking him out instantly. I was somehow jubilant when I saw the red o the blood mixed with the white of the shattered teeth.

Though I still continued to run, but the distance seemed to stretch out, farther and farther, turning into an expanse, so wast that it was nigh impossible to traverse. At that moment I realized that my summoning must have been undone and I was being forced back into Hell. In the last moments I tried to find out what happened to Lylah, but the reality was stretched at an impossible angles and I couldn’t find her.

Then the sensation of being compressed befell me, together with a feeling of motion. I was pulled across the dimensions, headed straight into Hell.

* * *

I looked around, noticing that I appeared in a familiar room. A despaired yelp escaped my mouth, the pit of tar below me was also familiar…

===========

Hey~, Author's Here~

I hope you liked today's chapter. I seem to have made a blunder with picking the naming convention for the chapters and will need to figure out a new one.

Cheers,

Mea

Ps Comments are welcome.

Chapter 12