by Edward Brody
As we made it further into our journey, there were multiple remnants of Scourge camps near the side of the road that had been torn down and demolished. Dead orcs and goblins surrounded many of them. And while the camps closest to the road had been taken out, there were just as many active camps that were set out further from the road. Thankfully, most of them were far enough away from the road that we’d have a decent head start if any Scourge decided to break away from the camps and give chase.
Halfway to the Wastelands, we spotted a large, flat wagon parked near a thrashed Scourge camp. Attached to it were four silver horses, and it was being guarded by just as many Highcastle soldiers. Atop the wagon was a large pile of orc and goblin corpses, and each of the soldiers guarding it were heaving more bodies up and throwing them onto the pile.
We slowed down and curiously eyed the cleanup crew as we rode by.
One of the soldiers noticed our pace and raised his chin to us. “You need something? You lookin’ to help?”
“No,” I said, “we’re just passing through.”
“Be on your way!” the soldier spat. “It’s dangerous out here!”
As we left the scene, I noticed a small home not too far from the road. It had been scorched down to nothing but a blackened frame, and on the lawn were two burned and twisted corpses, charred so badly that it was unclear if they were human or not.
It made me shudder to think of what the homeowners might have gone through, assuming the bodies weren’t orcs or giga-goblins. I could only imagine a Freelander tending to their garden or making dinner only to hear thumps of flaming arrows landing onto the roof of their house and Scourge bursting in with rage in their eyes.
That sight made me think of Conrad—the gardener in the Freelands whom I had helped with a quest early on in my adventuring into Eden’s Gate. He was one of the kindest, gentlest people I had met in the world so far, and he also lived alone in the Freelands. If the Scourge had reached his house, I wasn’t sure if or how he could’ve survived.
A bit of a knot formed in my throat at the thought. I had told him multiple times that I would visit him someday just to relax, have a chat, and enjoy some of the food concoction he liked to prepare over his fireplace. Had I missed the chance to fulfill that promise? Had he met the same fate as Satorin, Maleena, and Tsarra?
I looked in the direction of Conrad’s house and wondered if I should go check on him, but with Trynzen in tow and orc camps darting the horizon, it clearly wasn’t the time to risk it. I’d have to make the journey there later on, when the Scourge numbers died down and I didn’t have an unpredictable Barbaros behind me.
As we got closer to the Wastelands entrance, I could see the outline of Newich far to the south. It looked much like I remembered it, but smoke was billowing from somewhere within.
Set off a bit east of Newich and further away from the road was a small structure built of thick, crude logs, arranged to form a tall, square fortification. All around the outer edges of the site were logs that had been sharpened at the tips. The outer logs were rammed into the ground with the sharp end pointing outward at an angle. Ropes were used to prevent the logs from falling over, and there was no entrance visible from where we were standing.
Atop the fort were at least six orcs with longbows.
I was reminded of games I had played back on Earth as I took in all the scenes of war. There were sometimes arranged events that, overnight, would completely alter the landscape and make drastic changes to the environment. What had happened to the Freelands seemed very similar, but as far as I knew, Eden’s Gate functioned organically, so this wasn’t preplanned by any game master. What was happening occurred due to a chain of events rather than a predetermined adaptation. Further, the trees of the fort had to actually be chopped down from somewhere, the logs brought into the Freelands, and someone had to take the time to build the structure. It didn’t just spawn overnight.
I still wasn’t sure exactly what triggered the Scourge to suddenly attack the way they had, but there had to be an explanation other than a sudden power grab.
“Check that out,” Sung said with a raise of his chin.
I turned to where he was pointing, and further up the road and off to the side were three Highcastle soldiers fighting a group of four orcs. It looked like the soldiers may have experienced a sudden attack, as one of the soldier’s horses was dead on the ground. Their other two horses were running around wildly nearby.
Two of the soldiers were locked in a close swordfight with one orc each, and the other soldier was defending himself solo, blocking attacks from two orcs at one time, just trying to get away with his life.
“Shit,” I grumbled. “They’re going to get killed.”
“Should we help ‘em?” Sung asked.
The plan had been to avoid any confrontations on our way to Barbarosia, but it was pretty hard to ignore the men in need of help. They were only outnumbered by one, and there weren’t any other orcs or goblins close enough to pose a threat. It would be easy enough for Sung and I to help turn the tide, and it felt like the right thing to do.
I groaned a little before turning to the side a bit to make sure Trynzen could hear me. “Stay on Sora, and don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“Trynzen go where? Trynzen stay? Not go Jenzyn?”
I groaned again. “We’re going to help fight those orcs.”
“No fight orc. Orc and Barbaros peace.”
I nodded my head at him. “Right. Just stay on Sora, Trynzen.” I projected my mind to Sora and said, And look after him, okay?
I’ll try, Father.
“Let’s go!” I ordered. “Hurry closer!”
Sora sprinted towards the fight, and I grabbed my staff from my back as we approached. When we were close enough, I tilted the tip of the staff towards one of the orcs fighting the man on the defensive, and dirt and rock began to quickly conjure and form a hard ball in front of it. As soon as it was fully formed, the ball sped towards one of the two orcs fighting the outnumbered soldier, bashing it in the back of the head and exploding into several rock pieces all around. The orc fell forward from the blow, grabbed the impact point, and undulated in pain on the ground.
The soldier fighting the orcs was surprised and paused to find the source of the sudden attack, and in his brief hesitation, a hard swing of an axe found the side of his plate chestpiece, sinking deep past the metal and into his body.
The man cried out loudly and dropped his weapon as the orc jerked back his axe and hammered it down, finding the man’s shoulder and completely severing his arm.
I hopped off Sora and shot a Fireblast at the attacking orc as the injured man screamed in agony.
The orc jerked back at the fiery attack that landed in the center of his chest and grunted wildly as he swatted at the residual flames.
Sung ran past me in a blur towards the same orc, and when he was almost in reach, he fell into a slide. As he slid through the orc’s legs, he held his dagger out at an angle and made a precise slash across the inner meat of the orc’s exposed thigh.
The orc grabbed the cut and fell to one knee, but rather than finishing the orc off, Sung ran for the orcs fighting the other two soldiers. As soon as he was in range, he positioned himself low and made a single fast cut to each of their hamstrings, forcing each of them to drop to their knees.
I hurried up to the first orc that Sung had downed and fired an Arcane Missile at its face. When it reached up and clawed at its aching eyes and lips, I swung my staff at its head, then repeated with three more swings until the orc fell over and stopped moving.
You have gained 1300 XP!
A soldier drove his sword deep into the chest of one of the orcs Sung had immobilized, and the other soldier swung his sword in a circular motion, finding the neck of the orc and gruesomely beheading it. I instinctively flinched and looked away as I saw it happen.
One of the soldiers immediately turned and ran for his injured comrade. “Smith!”
“My arm! My arm!” Sm
ith cried hysterically. “He fucking got my arm!”
“Relax, my friend… relax!” the other soldier said as he closed in on the man.
“Don’t let it run!” the other soldier yelled and pointed.
The surviving orc was scrambling to his feet, turning around, and attempting to run away.
I held my hand out and lifted a Fire Curtain in the orc’s movement trajectory, but the orc was so eager to get away that as the flames rose from the ground, he just ran through them, lighting himself on fire in the process.
I started running after the orc and cancelled my Fire Curtain at the same time.
The burning orc fell to the ground and rolled as he grunted, putting out most of the flames, and when he got back to his feet, he continued to hobble forward in his charred and battered state towards a flipped over wagon that was near the side of the road.
Clumsy I thought, and as soon as I heard the twanging noise in my ears, the orc tripped on his own feet and fell hard and back to the ground. He scrambled again, climbing atop the wagon, then falling down awkwardly on the other side.
I held my hand out as I approached and circled the wagon, then released an Arcane Missile when I was right on top of the escaping orc. It jerked and groaned when the attack struck but roared loudly when I used my other hand to release a Fireblast right into its face.
The weakened orc made slow, futile movement to quash the residual flames, but it was clear his injuries were too extensive to be helped. I grabbed my staff and slammed it against the side of the orc’s head, then lifted it high and jammed the sharp bottom tip into its unprotected chest.
Surprisingly, I hit the orc hard enough that the tip of the staff broke through ribs and pierced into the chest cavity of the orc. It didn’t sink deeply into its body, but the damage was brutal enough to finish him off.
You have gained 1900 XP!
I yanked my staff out of the orc and looked back to make sure everyone was okay.
The two uninjured soldiers were still helping Smith, and Sung was already atop one of the dead orcs, searching for loot.
I looked down to the orc that I had just killed and noticed that it was wearing a shiny necklace with a pale blue amulet attached. I kneeled and yanked the necklace off only to be disappointed by its stats.
You've received: Axe Wielder’s Charm. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg. +3% Axes Damage
I began touching the orc’s gear to see if there was anything that may be useful, then started searching his pockets for gold or other valuables.
You’ve received: Crude Gold Ring. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Poor. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg.
You’ve received: Amber. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Great. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg.
As I was searching the orc, I heard a strange sniffling noise, then what sounded like a faint, muffled cry.
I tensed at the sound, then paused to listen for the source. Noticing nothing immediately, I waddled in a sneak mode around the overturned wagon, before seeing a large gap where someone could hide—the only obvious place where the sound could’ve originated.
I held my hand out, ready to release another Fireblast, and leaned over to look into the gap. To my surprise, there was yet another orc hiding underneath.
The orc looked terrified. It kicked its legs out fruitlessly, trying to push itself deeper into the darkness under the wagon while clutching something tightly in its arms.
But what was remarkable about the orc was that it was a female. Its face was far softer and more feminine than other orcs that I had seen and its body slenderer—albeit still thicker and more muscular than humans—and it had a leather and fur-etched chest piece cut short, showing off muscular abs and cleavage. Thick leather boots rose above its ankles and its jet-black hair was tightly braided and pulled back into a tight ponytail.
I had never considered orc gender up until then and never really thought about what a female orc in Eden’s Gate might look like. Hell, maybe I had subconsciously thought there were no female orcs or that all orcs in the game looked relatively the same, female or not.
This orc, however, was nothing like I had seen before.
The orc shook its head ‘no’ repeatedly as it tried to distance itself from me.
My wonder and confusion at seeing a female orc for the first time caused me to hesitate at acting. I wasn’t opposed to killing a female enemy, but the fact that the orc appeared vulnerable rather than an aggressive attacker made me question things. Perhaps some subconscious ideology had passed onto me from Earth that men shouldn’t harm vulnerable women, even though the female in question wasn’t human and might have killed me given the chance.
I released an Arcane Missile at the orc’s head, and it managed to duck away, but as soon as it ducked, it looked back up at me and shook its head again. Once more, I wavered as the orc’s behavior was nothing like I had come to expect of orcs. Usually, they seemed full of rage and ready to unleash fury on anything big or small, but this one was clearly terrified.
The orc swallowed hard before moving the small item it was holding in its arms a few inches from its body. It tugged at the cloth wrapped around it and turned the object to face me.
Sitting in the orc’s arms was a small orc child, no bigger than a human infant.
With its thick, dark hair, it looked a lot like a human baby, except the head was a little more angular, and it had green skin and two sharp teeth poking up from its lower mandible. Overall, however, it was just as cute, if not cuter than a human.
The baby yawned and sniffled. Its eyes were closed, and below its eyes were hints of red as if it had been crying heavily.
The orc woman squeezed the baby and pulled it back towards its chest before shaking its head again.
“Watch out!” one of the soldiers yelled in my direction. “There was another one running around with this lot. A female bitch… she must have run off somewhere.”
“Oh, just fucking forget her,” the other soldier cursed loudly. “We need to help Smith!”
“Hell no!” the soldier countered. “We need to kill each and every one of these green bastards to teach them a lesson.”
“Oh, fuck it hurts so much! I can’t breathe!” Smith wailed. “It hurts so much! I’m going to die!”
I swallowed hard as I took another look at the orc and her baby. I could’ve killed them right there or even left them for the soldiers to finish them off if I didn’t want their death on my conscience, but another part of me felt like doing so would be wrong.
I didn’t know exactly what orcs were in Eden’s Gate. I mean, I knew that they were a race in the game, and I knew that they were considered “bad” to most other races that I had encountered thus far, but were they just monsters? The fish-like humanoids I had fought in Gramora, for example, seemed like stupid, wandering baddies—more monster than human, even if they were humanoid.
But, according to Darion and others, the orcs had once lived hand-in-hand with humans and elves. Darion even described them as a political faction vying for power. And when I considered dark elves, who were often treated far worse than they deserved, it made me wonder if the orcs were getting an even crueler treatment. Was there something more to orcs that I didn’t know?
The baby lifted its tiny hands, and a small cry escaped its mouth before the female wrapped a palm around its mouth and pulled it hard into her chest. Again, I could hear the muffled cry of the child, but it was quiet enough that it didn’t carry far from the wagon.
The female orc looked up to me in absolute terror, and I saw tears swell in her eyes.
I stared at the orc a few more seconds as I contemplated what to do, but each time I considered the possibility of killing the pair, I found my stomach turning in doubt and disgust. I just couldn’t do it, and even if I allowed the soldiers to do it instead, I knew I’d feel terrible for a long time.
I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and finally held a finger up to my lips, silently telling
the orc to remain quiet.
The orc looked at me in disbelief, but soon gave me a subtle nod, pulling the child even closer to her body.
I stood back up from the wagon and looked across the field to the soldiers. “Nothing much over here. None of them were carrying anything good.”
“Their loot is worthless—all crummy Scourge trash,” one of the soldiers spat.
“C’mon Smith,” the other soldier said as he helped up the man with the severed arm. The man groaned as he stood, and he now had a thick bandage wrapped around his wound.
“My arm!” the man whined. “I need my arm! We can’t leave without it!”
One of the soldiers picked up the severed arm while the other walked the soldier towards the road. He stuck two fingers in his mouth, whistled, and one of the roaming horses perked up and started running for him immediately.
“Help me get him up here,” the soldier said as the horse approached.
“Yep,” the other intact soldier said. “You can get him back to Highcastle, right? I’ll inspect the wagon and see what I can find.”
“Yes, sir,” the soldier said. “Hang in there, Smith… We’ll get you taken care of.”
The two kneeled down and started to hoist the injured soldier onto the horse.
After hearing the soldier’s plan, I knew then that any loose idea I had to leave the orc where she was until the soldiers left would fail. The remaining soldier would scour the area, and as soon as he found the orc under the wagon, he’d kill both the mother and child. If they stood any chance of survival, they needed to get away before the other two soldiers set off.
I gulped as I struggled with what to do, as things were getting more complicated by the second.
Sung was checking for loot on another of the orc bodies, and nearby, I saw Trynzen sitting with surprising patience atop Sora. He was parting her fur with his claw and inspecting it closely for some reason.
Sung’s horse was right beside them.
