‘The Silverclaw continent…’ a familiar voice had spoken, opening my eyes, and I found myself in a void of light and color. All was black, a familiar black.

“Earl?” I called out, and in response, I received a sharp pain in my chest. I fell to my knees, trembling on the ground, moaning and crying empty tears.

‘Even in your dreams you’re still dry.’ Said Earl, suddenly appearing into my vision as he approached me.

Part of me seeing a familiar someone gave me slight consolation, and the rest of me made my heart race as my insides boiled.

“Why haven’t you helped me? I haven’t heard from you in so long, Earl!”

‘It is growing hard to communicate with you, so let’s cut the tal-’

“Shut up and help me-” Before I could finish my complaining, Earl slapped my face. Although I didn’t really feel pain from the slap, I felt a chill run across my face.

‘Let me finish.’ Earl turned his back to mine. ‘You’re in the Silverclaw continent. I’ve traveled here a few times- but one thing you must know is that this land is inhabited by very dangerous people… and things…’

“Like what?” I asked, receiving another unnecessary slap across my face.

‘That thing you saw when you first awoke on the shores- that was a Raider. They’re small squid-like creatures at first- they’re as big as your head. These creatures do not have bodies of their own, and they crawl all around the Silverclaw continent,’

“I see where this is going…”

‘And because of this, they attack animals, including humans, tearing off their heads and-’

“Yeah… yeah- I get it…” I waved him off. “I just need to know what I should do. I enrolled in a sch-”

‘The last thing you should be worrying about right now is school. And so is that… girlfriend of yours.”

I didn’t feel flustered when he called Celie my girlfriend, I felt more concerned about getting back to our continent, Osane, and going back to my adventures with Celie. After all, I had little time to play classroom drama games.

‘I can only tell you one more thing, and that should be the ring and the orcs that inhabit this land.’ Earl turned back to me, and almost as if he had a face, he pierced his eyes through mine. ‘Mostly orcs inhabit the lands of Silverclaw. Many are aggressive, rarely would you find any reasonable orcs. Also, I forged rings around Varyn, and that one that you have currently, that was my last work. I knew someone was going to use me after I died, and so I binded myself to that ring. That’s exactly why he failed.’

“That’s a nice history lesson, but what does it do to help me?”

‘Find the two rings in Silverclaw, and only then will you be granted great powers. Great… great powers.’ Earl emphasized the word great.

“Great powers?” I asked, but Earl would soon minimize as light began to envelop the darkness. “Wait! Where do I find these rings-” And so, now awake, I sat up, a pain striking down my spine, bringing me back to laying down.

I would find myself in a new setting, a tent made of animal skins and held up by wooden poles.

Shortly after, it occurred to me that I was laying in a soft, wooden bedstead, and being covered with two heavy blankets. To add to this comfort, my hands were now free from the cuffs; however, they left a mark on my wrists.

Next to me was a bowl of soup with corn, beans, and squash.

I wasn’t sure if the soup was for me, but I forced myself up and ate the whole thing.

I felt like I was caught in the act when a purple, orc looking woman came into the tent, looking at me with strange eyes.

I wanted to drop the bowl of soup but I kept eating, and after I finished, I wiped my mouth and leaned against the back frame of the bed, and we both stared at each other.

“___?” she sounded as if she was asking me something, but I couldn’t understand anything she was saying, she was speaking a different language.

“I don’t understand-”

“___!” The woman shouted outside the tent, and immediately, a big man with a spear and two other women rushed into the tent.

The orc man stood by the entrance and the two orc women attended to me.

They all had this unearthly stench but large breasts. I couldn’t weigh their unattractive smell against their attractive boobies to decide whether they are overall attractive or not, but nonetheless, they had nice boobies.

__

About a week has passed, and the two orc women took very nice care of me. The same orc man came by everyday to watch them. He’d catch me taking sneak peeks at those voluptuous, purplish jugs those women had to carry everyday.

The first time I was let back outside was when I was introduced to a whole new village look.

Dome huts and tents littered the area along with a dumpster scent. Orc children were constantly at play, orc men were constantly at laboring work alongside a few large orc women, and the rest of the orc women were either conversing as they carried things like foods, waters, and orc children around the village or tending to their huts and tents.

All of these purplish orc people had saber teeth like the purple orc men that kidnapped me.

I was led to a new, larger tent that had many beds.

I stood there for about another week.

During the span of that week, I met a new purplish orc man who looked thinner than the other men.

He conversed with me frequently, and although I couldn’t understand anything he was saying as I was sure he couldn’t understand me, it was nice to actually have someone to talk to.

I assumed that he was there to be an interpreter and help me learn his language.

A month had passed, and I felt as if I recovered all of my strength. I played with a few younger kids when I was still recovering in games like tag and such, which caught me by surprise to see that people from another continent knew of a game from both my home in my previous world and Dunwich.

I would still have nightmares of the voyage on the seas, and not necessarily the monster, but the things I had to endeavor in that ship.

We were all packed in such a small space like sardines, and it probably left an everlasting mark on my brain.

But still, every one of those nightmares ended with those big red eyes that I saw below the ship.

Another month had passed, and there was nothing notable at all since my arrival in this village. I still had a hard time grasping this language, but I know how to say “Hi!” and “Goodbye!” now.

I sighed, getting up from my bed and fixing myself before taking a stroll around the village.

And then… almost like no matter what peace I may find, a new threat rose…

Shouting…

Screaming…

Crying…

The very first sharp scream I heard in this village brought me to my knees. I had not known of the very cause of the scream, but hearing it’s tone brought me certainty of one certain thing.

For a moment, I swore I saw Ceday and my friends dying again in front of my very own eyes, and I had wished yet again for it to end.

Snapping back into reality, someone slapped the back of my neck, yanking at the collar of my tunic, pointing down the road where purplish men lined up with spears and round shields the size of their huge chests.

I ran along with this someone, who turned out to be another orc kid I once played with, but I felt happy that he was considerate enough to break me out of my trance and lead me to safety.

I took one glance from over my shoulder, and standing on a tall hill that watched over this small village, was many other purple orcs wearing silver cloaks, holding longbows and short swords.

Amidst this line was a very, very large purplish orc. And by large, I mean large in width, height, and muscles.

This monstrous orc had two large wrought iron double-bitted axes, each the size of Hardstone’s ax, and he brandished them as he moved along the lines of the bowmen firing at will at the village. The orc swordsmen had no shields, but they all chanted and slammed their swords against one another, emitting a resounding clanks and chants which sought chills down all our spines.

Now behind the lines, I clenched my fists, craving battle and revenge against these orcs if they were to be the ones involved in my capture.

I didn’t care how these friendly orcs would treat me after seeing my power, all I wanted was to establish a name for myself.

I felt a craving to assert dominance.

A familiar feeling, a feeling I once had when I had flashbacks of Earl’s past when he was at battle.

Maybe he was turning into me, but one thing was for certain.

I was out for blood.