There is only a single magic that is always a bad decision, demonology. A demon has only one goal to consume everything that is not itself. If they cannot consume somthing then they will taint it so that it will become a demon. There is no way to fully control them. This is the magic that forced us to throw the other mage sects out of the world. It offers power but will also destroy you and turn you into a fallen being trying to destroy all. - An excerpt from the journal of an unkown mage.

Adrian

I stand up and move to the door, maybe I can flank those that the others can’t get a shot at. After opening the door, I proceed to look over the entrance to the store, the front door has been broken down. Outside there are a few dozen of the orcs? fighting with some other group. There are about twice as many bulky taller figures than the other thinner group. The interior of the store itself is clear, should I enter the fight outside? I’ll turn on the outside lights to see who is fighting before deciding.

I rush down the stairs, and quickly arrive at the switches near the front door. I’m not sure which of these is it so I just start flipping them all onto the on position. The exterior light at the entrance and parking lot turn on, there are about two dozen orcs fighting some thin, fair skinned, humanoids. Dozens of dead orc and some of the humanoids littered across the parking lot turned battlefield.

The frail looking humanoids are moving quickly but only getting glancing blows against the orcs. I see an orc manage to cleave through one of the humans. I glance at Bryan, he’s keeping a watch over several of the windows, but doesn’t have a shot at anything. I move to take cover behind a broken window.

I now have a clear view of the fight outside, there are four people still fighting the orcs. They are dodging the attacks from the orcs while trying to get glancing blows against their foes. They are too outnumbered to win, surrounded by multiple orcs each. Should I get involved or wait for them to come to us? It's better to join now and have help than wait for the orcs to engage us after finishing off the other group.

I take aim at one of the larger orcs, I have thirty shots loaded, and a loaded magazine with me; these orcs are a bit bigger than the one I fought. If they are just as hardy I can’t waste any shots.

My shot gets him in the chest. He is moving too much for me to get a headshot, and unless I get a few holes in each of them I don’t think that it’ll kill one. The orc looks shocked at the injury that appeared in its chest. Since it stopped moving I fire another putting a hole in the other side of its chest, I think both of its lungs are now punctured. The other orcs don’t seem to notice my interference, those humans however seem to be talking to each other as they keep dodging.

I change targets and repeat, two more bullets pass through the chest of my new victim. Once I do the same to a third target some of the orcs not in direct melee begin to look around. Guess I don’t get too many more easy hits. I probably shouldn’t take out one of the ones looking around, that’ll point them to me. One of the orcs isn’t walking, just turning its head. I can probably kill that one.

The next bullet enters its skull, their bones aren’t thick enough to stop it. That orc collapses, little more than a vegetable now. The tallest of the humans skewers one after the orc I shot earlier collapses drowning in his own blood. The orc next to the one I just shot notices me, he points me out to three others who are not currently in melee with the other humans.

The four of them begin to move towards me, eight bullets left in this gun, not enough to kill them unless I get lucky. No point in waiting until they get closer, I send three bullets at the orc who noticed and pointed me out. All three enter his chest, he is still moving towards me but is now spitting up some blood, I can write him off.

The other three are now forty feet away. I manage to get three more shots into another before they managed to reach the window, two were chest shots and the last took out a knee. That orc collapsed to the ground.

The remaining two jump through the window as I rapidly back up. Two shots left in this gun, I unload them into the orc on my right, having a slightly easier shot from how I am holding the gun. The top of the pistol does not move back into the ready position.

What is that piece called? Not the time to think, the two shots were to its chest but both were on its right side. He’ll bleed out but it’ll take a while. The orc on my left wields a longsword, rusted but lethal. I manage to sidestep the first swing of his weapon.

The orc on my left moves to flank me, but is moving slower than his companion. I notice the first orc of these four get caught on the window as it tried to jump it, he hit the floor and isn’t moving. I have a few seconds before I’m flanked. The orc has longer legs, running to gain distance will let him chase and cut me down. I drop the empty pistol and draw one of the knives, I’ll have to get inside the reach of his blade.

I hesitate too long, on thinking of how to survive, I feel a club come down on my left arm. A crack of bones breaking, a flare of pain comes from my left arm then it goes limp. I can’t feel it, I’m either in shock or a nerve was severed. My throat hurts, I must have screamed. The sword orc in front of me is swinging from the side trying to decapitate me, a high blow easy to dodge, I duck and take a step forward, I’m now inside his reach.

I feel pressure from my left, something struck me, as I stabbed the knife into the orc’s upper left breast. Let’s see if their hearts are near where they are in humans. I focus and will electricity to the blade. The orc starts to have a seizure, before collapsing onto the ground taking my knife with it. Its unconscious or dead. I hear its sword fall to the ground, I turn my head sidestepping a club as I pick it up. I see my left arm has a gash across the bicep, its bleeding but not too much.

I hear a gunshot and the orc falls forwards; Bryan killed it. Or maybe Abagail? I drop the sword, don’t need that since there isn’t an orc next to me. I draw the other pistol, no way to reload without fixing my arm first. Turning back to the fight outside there is now only three of the humans alive, thirteen orcs fighting with them. None of the thirteen have bullet holes in them, the few I shot before must have fallen and now are part of the dozens of dead bodies out there.

I focus on stemming the bleeding while taking aim at one of the orcs. One of them that is going five on one against the tallest of the humans. The cloaks of the humans are now tattered, I can see blood over their armor, the three still alive have bulges at the top of their chests.

Armor design, or females? The armor itself looks like chainmail draped over something else. I put two bullets in the chest of that orc before another got in the way taking the third bullet I shot.

Should I injure and weaken most of the orcs or go for a kill? A dull pain begins to emerge from my broken arm, must have been nerve damage. I stop healing it, and begin to focus on spatial aim. Let’s see if I can get every bullet to hit.

I empty the rest of the magazine, three bullets in five different orcs, two of the orcs on the tallest human the other three fighting the two humans who are fighting in tandem. Lacking any ranged weapon, I lay my second empty pistol on the ground as I pick of the rusted longsword.

It’s a bit heavy and feels lopsided but I hope this will work. I quickly walk out the front entrance, and begin to focus on electricity; willing it to arc around on my blade once I get out of Bryan and Abagail’s sight. I don’t want any backlashes from magic in front of them.

I walk out of the doorway and the blade begins to crackle with the lightning, I didn’t think that it would make this much noise, games never depict the noise of electrified weapons to be more than a hum. Two of the orcs break away from the duo, an injured one whose eyes are bloodshot, they both are using swords of their own, even if they are blunt. Maybe they’ll try to parry me and get shocked, I can’t count on that though. The injured orc seems furious, far more than it should be. It's completely ignoring the wounds it has.

The angry orc rushes at me faster than the other, I jump to the side from his charge and extend my sword hoping for a glancing strike. It worked I hit the orc, but it didn’t respond to the cut or electrical burn now on its torso. Must be some sort of barbarian rage. Disabling strikes then, luckily it's unarmored. The orc is now a few feet behind me as the other arrives in front of me with its own charge. It made a chop at my left side, I throw my left arm up most of the strike is delfected even I hear more bones breaking.

The orc is now too close to me to stab it so I slap its side with the flat of my blade. The orc yelps in pain taking a step back an electrical burn across his right side. The orc behind me has probably turned around, I hear its heavy steps behind me and once more jump out of the way. The angry orcs charge ends up skewering his ally. I smile, best result possible. Raging orcs can be manipulated into killing each other.

Now I have to deal with him, he is looking confused at the corpse of the other orc. I stab with the long sword aiming for the spine. I don’t manage to hit the spine but the sword is now sticking out of his front. The crackling of lightning still ongoing, I release my grip on the sword and the electricity stops. Still the orc falls to the ground, I turn to look at the others fighting.

The tallest of the humans has slain the orcs with which it was fighting and has moved on to the other two. There are now four orcs left, I’m breathing heavily. I draw the second knife that I carry and get ready to throw it, I managed to hit the orc I aimed at just not with the bladed edge. It turns and snarls at me. I hear a gunshot from behind me and one of the orcs gains a new hole in its chest. Bryan or Abagail must have moved forward.

A second shot rings out and I lean against my knees to catch my breath. An orc falls from the gunshot and another gets decapitated by one of the human fighters. The last one begins to run away but also get shot then finished off by one of the three humans. I stand back up.

“Are you friend or foe?”

“Amin naa talia ya naa lle?” speaks one of the shorter people while removing a helmet; revealing an effeminate face and pointed ears poking out of red hair. Feminine voice, they should all be female then. I smile at the trio.

“I don’t speak your language. But your clearly friendly.”

Kythia

The young male in front of me stands, his speach not understood. His physique not one that I would call a warrior but one who could become one. Tall for a youth not of the packs with dark hair and some shade of brown in his eyes.

“I don’t think this man is hostile.”

“He is clearly a mage of some sort, the strange wand he used early created small but effective injuries from a distance” responds Talia.

“His sword work is poor.”

“He is dressed as the other natives we saw dying to orcs earlier.”

"Do we have any means to comunicate with him?"

“I have enough mana for a translation spell, but I won’t have anything left afterwards” adds Lysan.

“Do it, target the man so we can all hear him” responds Talia.