By the time everyone was too tired to fight any longer, the battle on The Isle of Dancing Flame had devolved into nothing more than an overzealous mud fight. Magic exhausted by the participants, well before their will to admit defeat buckled, the students and angels turned to scooping up massive handfuls of colored mud and throwing it at each other. By the time everyone was exhausted to the point of giving up, the whole isle looked as if it had been tie-dyed.

Spoiler: Some art which reminded me of this scene

Flopping to the ground, still laughing, Michael snuggled up between Le’Nara and Crystal. “That was…” Half-shrugging, he held up his hands to indicate he didn’t have the words to describe it.

“I’m still mad at you,” Le’Nara reminded him, sullenly laying her head back against his chest.

“I know, and I’m sorry.” Wrapping his arms around her, Michael gently caressed her. “I’m afraid I’ve just got to be who I am, even if you think that’s being selfish sometimes. Personally, I know the world has slaves and such all in it,” Michael admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I have to endorse it or accept it. I never would’ve purchased Crystal on my own, and I think you know that. That’s why you bought her for me.”

“Well still…” Le’Nara started, but was interrupted when Michael put his fingers on her lips and made a slight hushing sound.

“I wasn’t finished yet,” he told her gently, “and you don’t have to try and take everything on yourself. If you take a break from being my sales partner, the world isn’t going to end. If I take a break from making and selling stone whatnots for a year or two, the world isn’t going to end. There’s no reason why we can’t relax and let things come to us in their own time – or have you forgotten how you always put off Father’s lessons here just so you could frolic and play with me instead?”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Le’Nara quietly admitted. “But we’ve graduated now. We’re supposed to do something with our lives. Make something of ourselves. We have expectations to live up to…”

“Whose?” Michael asked pointedly. “Our parents? The kingdoms? The worlds? How about we only worry about living up to our own expectations,” Michael suggested. “I’ve already lived and died once. What more can anyone expect out of me? Shouldn’t I deserve some time to just relax and enjoy life for a bit?”

“Well…” Frowning, Le’Nara bit her lower lip slightly, then suddenly turned and kissed him passionately. “Fine,” she agreed, once she’d finally unlocked her lips from his, “you can goof off and be a nobody at the school for a while. We’ll work something out, somehow. What you’re not going to do,” she demanded, “is toss me aside again and run off on some other adventure without me.”

“Another adventure?” Laughing, Michael shook his head vehemently from side to side in denial. “No more adventures for me! I’ve died enough times for anyone! I just want to kick back, relax, and enjoy the easy life for a while.”

“An easy life with me,” Le’Nara insisted.

“Me too, I hope,” Crystal added, quietly.

“Yes,” Michael laughed, pulling them both up tightly into his arms. “A nice peaceful life with the three of us. I’m certain we can work that out somehow!”

“Human scum not be here. This Red Skull land! Kill human scum!” Growling and shaking a long spear in its massive hands, Red Skull pointed down from the tall mountaintop at the singular human male daring to brave the narrow pass below. A ringing howl of anger rippled from hillside to hillside, as dozens of orcs leaped from their places of hiding and rained a wave of spears into the figure.

Staggering under the onslaught, the man took several steps back, then slowly sunk down to his knees. Screaming, “Human no allowed here!”, Red Skull stepped out from behind the rock that concealed him and hurled his spear towards the figure.

In a long, graceful, powerful arc, the spear blazed down the mountainside, struck the figure in the center of its forehead, where it unexpectedly fell off the man’s shoulders. Slowly rolling and bouncing down the hillside, the head finally came to stop face up, leaning against the base of a rotted tree stump. Dead, hollow eyes gazed lifelessly up at the sky, and a startled silence descended over the orcs.

Nervously, dozens of orcs looked to their chieftain. Hunters, raiders, and warriors all their lives, none of them were novices in the art of war. They’d seen skulls split open before. They’d even seen some which had seemed to explode when hit with enough force in the past. But never once, however, had they seen a spear to the forehead decapitate a corpse.

“Wah-hahahaha!” An eerie cackling echoed throughout the mountain, bouncing from one hillside to the other. Glancing around, hair standing on end, with a sense of dread slowly building, the orcs tried to pinpoint the source of the raucous laughter. When the first one realized it was the headless skull making the strange cacophony, his knees grew weak and he shouted in fear.

Others, drawn to look where he was pointing, suddenly threw their remaining spears and turned to run – but it was too late. Standing tall, pierced almost till he resembled a porcupine, was Dino -- dark purple glow emanating from his hands, creating a dark fog which drifted upwards and covered both sides above the mountain path.

When the fog slowly settled and dissipated, the hunters of the Red Skull tribe were all dead. Dozens of corpses slowly tumbled from the peaks to crash and bounce down the hillside, landing on the same path Dino’s headless corpse was standing upon. Slowly, ignoring any damage from their broken bones or twisted bodies, the corpses stood and shambled over to kneel before Dino.

“Wah-hahahaha!” The eerie cackling echoed throughout the mountain a second time, as Dino’s corpse slowly pulled the spears out of its body, discarding the on the ground one by one, and then went over to pick up its head and place it loosely back upon it’s shoulders.

“Come my children,” Dino commanded, causing the orc’s bodies to stand at attention. “We have much work to do. I must meet your neighbors and invite them all to join us. Our family is small, but it’s time for us to grow. I shall retake my rightful place as master of this world!”