Conquering the World! - for starters

Chapters

Arrival of Man
Duel of the Fates
from Dusk 'till Dorne
Fresh Meat
A Hero without Might but with a little Magic
Street Patrols and broken Bones
Tuesday mornings are alright for fighting
Rest and Exposition
Growing Struggles
Boss
Lord of the Sands
Dangerous Paradise
Starry Starry Sky
The Bugs Apprentice
Getting Sucked the Wrong Way
Mountains of Peril
Holding out for a Hero
Rain in the Mountains
Everything but Fabric Softener
Tears under Heaven
HDRLT
Continue?

Arrival of Man

'Why did this happen to me?' I had only this question on my mind at the time, being ported straight into this hell of a wasteland Isn't my usual Sunday routine. Currently, I have no idea where I am and how exactly I came here. And I'm telling you I don't have the slightest piece of explanation either. My head hurts, my the rest of my body feels like I've been riding the nuke like major Kong... That comparison sucked, but hey, I've got nothing better.

I have been sleeping soundly, 'till a few hours ago. If it had not been for the sudden Sandstorm that had to fuck me right in the face and wake me up in the most confused state I have ever been.

So I woke up, In the middle of nowhere, completely confused about how in the Hell I could have gotten here, and to top things off, I was lovingly greeted by a nice and gentle sandstorm.
Of course, you don't know how to react to that. But my evenings watching Bear grills survive in the most surreal scenarios has paid off, so my first step was to improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

I failed, horribly

Being blinded by the sandstorm did not help either; the sand was getting into my eyes and in my mouth and, ugh, just everywhere. I curled up into a ball and waited for about an hour, then It stopped.
The first positive thing about this fucking day. I dug myself out and began to check myself.

After I found that I'm quite alright if you don't count my burning eyes and dry mouth.

My first objective was to find some water because I found out the hard way that drinking your piss is not as easy as ol' Bear makes it seem. There must be something to drink somewhere, or else I'm fucked. So I started walking and walking

As the minutes turned into hours, the scorching sun turned unbearable, and I mean, there is literally nothing but small rocks and beige colored dirt around me, not even mountains or some shit, and no watering hole or oasis. I seriously doubt that I'm going to survive this bullshit scenario. To describe me... Well, there's not that much to it. I am average height, actually a little short and a little overweight Latin American guy; yeah, that's It, as I said, not much to it. It's getting late anyway, might wanna look for a place to sleep.

Let me recall how I got here in the first place...

It all started with the desire to make a change. It was Saturday night, and homework, as always, has been absolute shit. So I was there, bored out of my mind. I liked to do good in school, but I wanted to enjoy my weekends to the fullest, so I wouldn't say I like homework. But there was just nothing I could do. No party's going on; I thought maybe Felix wanted to hang out; he is my best friend after all. But a quick look to my watch quickly let that thought die, like hell he's going to hang out at 4 am.
I laid on my bed and took a look throughout my room.

'Nothing exciting left to play,' I thought to myself as I looked to my abandoned PlayStation and PC, thought about ways to quench my desire for entertainment. It was too late for the good shows, so I decided not to watch TV either.

Do you know that feeling when you just want to do stuff, but there simply is nothing, kind of depressing actually that I don't really have anything to do except playing video games or watching porn. I never had a girlfriend either. I'm super-cool with any of the dudes. I mean, I am so good at befriending guys you wouldn't believe, but sadly the same didn't go for girls; everyone I ever liked had either rejected me cold or started going out with one of my friends before I could get a chance. I guess it comes naturally when every other boy in your class is a hunk and is 5 Inches taller than you. To give you a picture, I'm 5 foot 4.
And to top things off, I'm also pudgy and lemme tell you, that does NOT help. After thinking about my life for a minute, I came back to the main problem.

What to do?

So I just thought and thought and some time went by until the sun started to rise... Holy shit, it's dawn already? I stayed up longer than I thought. I rarely ever experienced a nice sunrise, so an idea hit me...

I can go on a walk! I know, I know that sounds anticlimactic and awful. But keep in mind that I have no clue what else to do.

For the first time in my life, I wanted to do something as boring as taking a walk; seeing the sunrise may help my mood better than to linger in my room. So I quickly got out of my pajamas and went to grab my coat since It was quite chilly outside. I put on my shoes and opened the door, went outside, and walked down the street.
I was headed for the park just down the next street. I looked at a nearby clock to tell the time... 6 am huh guess I really stayed awake a long time today. The fresh cold morning air filled my lungs and kept me wide awake and refreshed as I walked past the blocks of this district.

The sky was a tone in a beautiful orange color.

"I really made the right decision; I need to enjoy the small things in life more." I smiled as I started to walk slowly again. I didn't really say something so corny, but I can't really remember, so yeah, you get the idea.

Heading towards the park, I saw many people rush to their work or getting a coffee.
I don't exactly know why I had this desire to go on a walk, but it just felt like the right thing to do...

I let out a loud yawn. "Fuck I'm getting tired." Past me said.

After a few minutes of walking down the boardwalk, I finally arrived at the park. I've never actually been to a park by myself; I walked down the path, admiring the beautiful color of the leaves as they dropped and landed on the ground.

Long story short, I ended up seeing a hill and thought for it to be the perfect place to start looking at the sunrise.
As I went up, I suddenly felt exhausted. I didn't know why it happened so rapidly or so suddenly, but this feeling of tiredness just overcame me. I blacked out. I don't remember anything after that...

And I'm not bullshitting you; that is how it happened.
Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of fucking nowhere and without any orientation as to where I'm headed.
Well, there you have, my half-assed backstory, I know, but that's what happened.

About 7 hours passed, and I still can't find any goddamn water. I feel like I'm going to die soon.
But I didn't give up yet. I want to survive and to find the fucker or whatever it is that brought me here.
I'm so gonna murder the shit out of the first living thing I see; I am so fucking angry. Then I saw something, a tree. A tree in the desert that can mean only one thing... Water.
I mustered up all of the strength residing within me and sprinted like I never did before; the dunes giving in to my stomping feet don't make it easier, actually.

I ran as fast as my tired feet could carry me until the shining body of water was in the line of sight.
There it was, a nice clean puddle.

Without question, I sank my head as far as I possibly could in the refreshing delight in the form of water.
I spent about 30 seconds drinking without worrying about breathing or anything of the sort, really, that is until I opened my eyes after finishing my last gulp.

3 massive bulls were staring at me, faces of disbelief and shock. They had an appearance like a Minotaur, but that would be silly a Minotaur? No way... unless I'm finally descending into madness. However, that was not the case since one of them began to speak.

"Oi Terry, what is that thing?" The largest one of the group asked, his eyes not departing from my face. He had black fur and curved horns, green eyes that shined like the brightest of emeralds, and he also had a giant sword bound to his back.

Terry responded, scanning me in the process, "I don't have the slightest idea, War, though it might be some kind of ape. Looks like half a Centaur if you ask me."

He was covered in brown fur with red eyes. He was the smallest one but had enormous horns. A big scar ran across his left eye, creepy. I am legit about to pass out like I'm petrified.

"What are you waiting for then? Capture it! It might be super rare!"
A white Minotaur with short horns said I'm presuming she is female because of the slimmer body build and the feminine voice. Suddenly, before I could react, The one named 'Terry' lunged at me with his all of his massive body.

My eyes went to pinpricks as this giant bipedal being threw itself at my dehydrated form. Out of pure instinct, I rolled over. He fell to the ground with a thump and a grunt. His eyes went back to me, now having stood up to my full size, I noticed something... I'm taller than him. It seems as if my eyes have deceived me considering the size of these three; well, given my perspective back then, that was quite understandable. That didn't change the fact that he was still big and full of muscles. I needed to think of something fast.

"That thing is Huge!" The black one commented, his gaze full of newfound concern.
I stand there now, holding a somewhat clumsy posture and probably looking like an Idiot.
Then the best Idea of the day hit me. Why not try talking to them.

So I opened my mouth and said the best thing I could come up with to sound like a sentient being.

"Wow there fellas, surely there's no reason we can't be civilized about this." Ah, brilliant, quoting master Kenobi at a time like this. So like me, to do that.

The Bull stopped Its charge at me, and its eyes opened wide.
"Steel, It talks!" He said, aghast. Now he was observing me with his eyes and slowly unsheathed his Falchion.
Terry's look hardened, and he took a stance.
"Who are you, and where do you come from?" He asked with malice hidden in his voice. Before I could respond, he opened his mouth again. "And for starters, what exactly are you mate?" He stopped so I could respond.

"First off, what's the big deal? Why so hostile?" I asked first before backing away slightly.

"The deal? In the bloody hell would someone that is not a spy or an assassin do so far out in the howling desert?" He came closer again, threatening me with his Impressive sword.

I had no idea, and I felt that that answer would not suffice.
"Well, first off, I'm a human; I don't know If you've ever heard of us but back where I come from, we are the dominant species." I quickly searched for more to say.

"The reason why I'm so far off in the middle of nowhere is that my caravan got attacked." Nice one, man, bring up even more questions. Sweat was beginning to flow down my face.

"I'm the only survivor, and I am unarmed, so there is no need to threaten me," I said with a stern tone, trying to intimidate my opponent a little bit.
Looking into his eyes, I see that it did not quite work. He instead hardened his gaze.

"Is that so? Attacked, by whom?" He asked, raising his blade against my chest and staring me down. I've never had my heart pound so much in my life. The thought of dying after enduring that hell was not welcoming at all.

"To be honest with you, I was knocked out by whatever it was Immediately, the only thing I heard was the blurred out battle cries of the other guards and whatever attacked us. Luckily enough, I was unharmed and escaped with a few bruises." I said with as much conviction as I could.

"Hmm, alright, so you're a man of the military then? May I ask your rank?" He finally put his sword down
"And you forgot your name, boy, you better spill it, or I won't trust you." Great, that worked out. I guess that is a little bit of luck to compensate for the shit that has transpired today.
I have to make up a name, hmm but what.
"Sergeant Melkor of the 3rd Division under the Kings banner," I replied after thinking about it a good 10 seconds. God, I'm so gonna die in this place. Using the name of my favorite Villain blended in perfectly.

"Well, it's certainly good to know you're not a spy, Sergeant." He sheathed his sword and started to walk back to his comrades. Which was still staring me down? I sat down as a sign of relief and let out a sigh.

"Can you show me the way to the next town? I won't make it alone, I'm afraid," I asked the group, seeing that as my best chance of survival.
"Uuh, I don't know Terry, I don't trust him; he's completely alien to us." The Black one said. He turned to me, looked me dead in the eye, and said.

"Prove that you're a soldier and you can stay with us; however, If I find that you lied to us, I will rid you of your spine." I was about to panic; goddammit, I knew this was too good to be true. Well, better prove it to him than to die alone in the desert.

"And how would you suggest to prove myself?" I asked, fearing the possible answer that would surely not be a good one. If watching Medieval films had any kind of effect, then I think I know what's coming.

He stares at me with his green eyes and slowly begins to smirk until he says...

"By a duel..."

13 weeks later in a land far away from the recent happenings...

[Canterlot Palace]

Three Princesses were consulting in the celestial throne room.

"We have to send scouts and search parties to look for Chrysalis; if we don't find her in time, we might have a way bigger problem in a few months," said Princess Twilight

"T'is true sister, we have sensed a big increase of magic in the outer sectors of the changeling badlands." said the second alicorn in the room.

The light in the room was dim as the oldest of the three began to set the sun. While she knew this was not something to be dealt with lightly, the issue was pretty much over. And a new uprising had begun in the lands far beyond her borders. Something she had feared for long.

"Dear sister, Twilight, you know that under Thorax's rule, the changelings have all reformed. Without them, she is powerless, and we also have to focus on more important tasks at hand."
She said without turning to look the other two Princesses in the eye, instead focusing her gaze into the west.

'Much more Important...'

Author's Note

My first chapter, hope you enjoy the story so far :)

If you have questions or suggestions please tell me.

Duel of the Fates

"By a duel..." Said the black beast I just now met.

How nice, I, the luckiest guy on earth, literally have not just woken up in the most hellish environment possible, wandered around for who knows how long, and just lied out of the deadliest situation I've ever been in.

NOOOOO it just has to get better. I mean, sure, you have to have some kind of proof, but a flippin' duel? What happened to the whole I share my backstory with you, and we Instantly become best friends? I guess we'll skip that today to make my current hell of a situation even worse.
Being the collected and calm being that I am, I'm sure I can get myself out of this situation.

"I beg your pardon?" was my actual response, in a somewhat shaky and stuttering voice, though not so much that you could actually tell I was pissing myself just now.

"You heard me, let's duel, just me an' you right here right now." He started to grin, and his eyes became even more fierce.

"Look, you even have my sword since you're such a big one. I'll just use Terry's." He wiggled his eyebrows; I bet he thinks I'll just pussy out on his challenge. Fucking asshole, I bet he thinks I'm a pussy. You know what? FUCK IT. If I end up dying anyway, I will go out with a bang; maybe I'll win. Ha, not likely, not likely at all.

"Alright, let's do it, you and me right now. No lethal cuts or stings though, I actually like being alive." I said, trying to sound as though as possible.

It probably won't have the same effect on someone like me as on someone who is actually tough. He nodded and then threw his sword to my feet like it was a stick. He then walked over to 'Terry' and yanked his Falchion out of its sheath with his powerful arms. God, even his veins have veins.

I proceeded to take the great sword out of the scorching sand and grasp it firmly. You might not believe it but I actually have experience with sword fighting, not such big ones usually, but as long as we don't fight to the death it will be fine, I hope. I started to stretch a bit and looked around, nothing but desert for miles and miles to come. The other two minotaurs looked at me as if it was already the day of the funeral. Anyways, I can't get distracted now, War looked at me like I look at a nicely done steak, which is probably not a good sign. Do these guys eat meat, I hope not.

So after a minute or two, we were facing each other, I raised my mighty greatsword and went into a sideways stance, to have full power, at little energy cost, cause fuck me that thing was heavy. Whilst my opponent had no problems of the sort, none at all, he looked like he did this at least every Tuesday. The anxiety coming over me right now, oh lord help me.

He was wearing light leather armor, a loincloth, and sandals, nice combination if you ask me, gotta get some armor myself when I'm done with this shit. Gotta survive somehow, might as well make sure you stay unharmed.

"Are ya ready?" He yelled, taking a stance of his own, seemingly getting ready to charge. Oh, what have I gotten myself into? Why

"As I'll ever be." Was my reply. I was scared, like legitimately afraid to face off against this beast. Well, if I strike first maybe I'll actually be able to hit him and win.
He was getting ready to take a big swing at me. He then proceeded to jump forward towards my still standing figure.
Oh boy.

I had an idea that could counter this attack, he was open wide and his arm was too far drawn back.
So my first step was sidestepping in to close the distance between me and him.
I swear if this works...I'm buying this guy a drink later. He seemed taken aback by my course of action, and his eyes focused on mine, a little unease in them.

So I jabbed the knob of my sword with all the power I could muster, and I hit directly in the nose, giving off a crunch and a little drizzle of blood, while the power of my attack and the fact that he was jumping me like a buffoon, caused him to drop to the ground a few feet away from me.

Damn, guess I'm buying him a drink if I have the money for it. But that must've hurt, I'm a little shocked it had this much impact, I mean he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
He got up, wiped his nose, and threw the blood on the ground.

Ok, ok so he got up, worrying but only slightly. I held my stance and glared at him, now feeling a bit confident, I mean that was awesome wasn't it? Ok, don't get cocky now.

"That all you've got?!" Dammit can't I keep my mouth shut for once. Well, It does feel good.

Then I saw the sight that chilled me to my chubby core, that motherfucker was wearing a huge, shit-eating grin on his face. Fuck me he's enjoying it so far isn't he?

He said nothing, instead decided to charge me again, this time much faster though, I swung my blade in hope to catch him off guard while running, I missed though, or rather the guy dodged my blow with a swift movement towards the ground. I had no time to react after that, he swung his massive arm towards my abdomen.

Did you ever get punched so hard it made you wanna throw up? I definitely didn't, I instantly hurled as his fist shoved itself into the lower regions of my belly like a hammer into foam. There wasn't any vomit though, probably because I haven't eaten in forever, so I guess that could've been worse? I was just gasping for air right now.

No time to think about that though, I can't get distracted now.
After a second of doing nothing, I decided to fucking knee him in the chin since he was bent low.
The blow connected with a solid thud and my opponent went staggering back a few inches, falling on his hairy ass. Finally taking a deep breath.

God my belly is on fire, the pain is almost enough to make me throw this right here and now.
But mama raised no coward, so instead, I gave my best war cry and charged him this time. I ran towards the sitting Minotaur who was just getting up, seemingly surprised to see me, since he did not dodge my strike towards him.

I raised my massive sword over my head and slashed down, with the broad side of course.
It connected with his thick skull and let out a metallic ringing sound. That has to be it, I mean that HAS to be it.

I was once again proven wrong by the universe.
He was of course stunned after that, but then after some, time he stood up again like it was nothing. Except for the fact that there was blood coming out of his mouth now too.

"Good one," He said, huffing and puffing "actually gave me a headache there." He now swung his sword at me, using his full body weight for support.

I swiftly brought my blade against his, the loud impact of the clash was ringing through my head.
Both of the blades swung back, I took the initiative and went for a low swing towards his right side, he swung also, deflecting the blade just before his torso. That left him open, so I decided to try something and side kicked his rib cage.

Somehow that worked too, it did help that he was so short though.
He once again staggered back, can't he just drop already?
The raging bull however did not intend on doing so.

I slashed downwards with the great sword, trying to end it for good.
Then he did something unexpected, he bashed it away with his blade, using his momentum to shoulder tackle me backward. Then he brought his sword up diagonally across my chest, slicing through my cloth and skin. I actually couldn't believe it. He cut me open, not so much that I could suffer serious effects, but I was bleeding and everything.

I was mad, literally livid right now, not only did it hurt like a bitch but he also broke my terms.
He is going down. I don't care about proving myself anymore, no I'm winning this.

That black piece of shit was again wearing this shit-eating grin. He let his guard down, he was getting cocky.
I just sprang in front of him, faster than I could've hoped and punched him in the throat, as hard as my flabby arms could muster. Which was surprisingly much?
He coughed and wheezed madly, understandable of course, but I'm not showing mercy now.

I smashed the handle of my sword against the side of his skull. He fell, still wheezing.
The pain in my chest, the mad rage I'm in right now and I currently had the upper hand, gave me another rush of energy.

This is awesome, I don't know why, but this is somehow fun, I've always wanted to fight someone with swords. The thrill, the pain, the satisfaction of beating the shit out of somebody. Yep, absolutely going Insane.

My opponent managed to get to one knee and started to laugh

"HAHA! Now you're fighting for real boy!" He said between laughs and coughs. Then, the massive mountain of hairy meat rose again, showing his bulging muscles and bleeding face.

"Come on! Bring it then!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Getting ready to charge again, and most importantly abandoning all reason and sanity.

"Aye Sergeant!" We both began to run at each other with as much that was left in us. The sweat that had build up on my forehead, now streaming over my whole face.

He charged again like a train on steroids, but silly me who was into it now did the same.
I spun around and let momentum carry my blade, it flew with speed and ferocity towards the charging beast.

He reacted just a split second before catching the blow with his sword. And thus our swords clashed. We stared each other down like two predators fighting over territory.

I released the hold, hopped back, and swung downwards with the Claymore.
He again caught it just before it could impact him.

He attacked from below, but I somehow managed to dodge his sword and land a kick in his stomach, though he seemed almost unfazed by it. Then the burning in my chest became more and more intense.
Now the hard part started, defending.
He started to pour down a barrage of attacks on me, left, parried, right parried, down, dodged that one, his swing from downwards came close to cutting me again, just gracing the remains of my shirt.

It was when he wanted to attack left again, that an idea hit me. Just as he was about to strike, I rammed my sword handle against his hand, disarming him. I reacted quickly, I kicked him in the gut again, so he was stunned.

Then I took my great sword and plunged the tip into his right shoulder, piercing his armor and flesh, earning me a yell of pain from him.
I then proceeded to throw myself, including the blade at him, so we both fell over.
He was still yelling, when I was on top of him and held my Claymore against his throat, putting just enough pressure against it to prove a point.

I then said. "Stay. Down." Nice, I always wanted to say that.

Fucking hell my whole body was aching. If I ever manage to get home somehow, I will tell the tale of how I, the dorky, short fatso have bested a beefed-up steak in battle.

Then I stood up and reached out my hand to the beaten warrior. He grasped it and I pulled him up.

Then, looking me in the eye again, he let out a hearty laugh. He then proceeded to hug me.

"Terry I like him, got a real fighter's spirit." He continued to crush my bones with his packs.

Oh happy day, just what I need after a beat down a sweaty, hairy man hug.

"Welcome to the squad, mate!" He finally let me down. Thank god almighty, I live another day.
"Aye," Said the now quite shocked looking fellow Minotaurs

"Well then, shall we make our way to the next town?" I asked out of breath.

"We most definitely shall! And now that you're joining us, we can take you to our camp Melkor! I bet the boss will have great use for you. " Said Terry and an optimistic tone in his voice.

Ah, nice. It seems all you need to do here to get people to like you is to beat them to a pulp.

"Wait, join?-"

And that's how I somehow became a mercenary warrior.

Author's Note

Chapter two, hope you like it.

And everyone who likes my story, thank you all so much, I was afraid it would not be well liked but I was proven wrong :heart: :pinkiehappy:

from Dusk 'till Dorne

I hate walking a lot. Now more than ever, considering it's been another 2 hours since we've set foot on the blazing horizon. Thankfully though, they have supplies like water, and I even got to eat some bread; now, I finally learn to appreciate small things. My flesh wound has been sloppily bandaged with some alcohol and some herbs I have no idea about, but let me tell you, It does not feel like putting on a fucking plaster. I have also abandoned my shoes and my shirt, the shoes because they were drowning in my gross sweat, and the shirt because it was hot enough already.

We came by some places that looked like they weren't designed to end your life, but instead seeming like life could and will flourish there. A mountain pass to our right, which had dirt and grass to some extend, a little stream that flows down the brown, smooth rocks. That was nice for a change.

But back to my problems!

I still don't know where I am or who these 'people' are exactly. Maybe I should ask. Yep, I'll do that; why didn't that come to mind earlier It's been like 3 hours already since I've met them.... and beat one of them half to death.
The heat was almost unbearable, and the sweat that was dripping into my fresh wound, making it sting like crazy, didn't help either.
I decided to break the ice with these guys and ask them about our current situation. Hey, What could go wrong? I mean, they willingly accepted me into.....whatever this is.

"So, I have several questions," I said.

"Aye? Oh well, ask away, we've got time." The brown Minotaur said while turning his head towards my direction.

"First of all, who exactly are you?" I think that question was appropriate, considering I would probably spend some time with these fine gentlemen.

Turning around with a smile on his face, he hit himself on the head; then, he got ready to answer the question.

"Of course, how could we forget to Introduce ourselves? Let me fill you in on the team! Well, there's the big guy with a hole in his shoulder, named Raging War. The best warrior of the Squad and our professional for heavy weapons. " He pointed to the black minotaur of the group.

The fellow he talked about didn't say anything, just weirdly smirked at me.... this guy seriously gives me goosebumps, and not the kind you'd want.

"Then we have Durant Steel." He gestured to the female walking beside him. "She is the one responsible for any kind of ranged combat. She has all of the bows and arrows and one heck of an aim."

She looked over and wore a big smile, "Nice to officially meet you, new guy!".

"And lastly, there's me, Reigning Terror, the brain behind the team, just lemme do your thinking, and all should be fine." He gave me a genuine smile; actually kind of nice to know these are decent people, I was kinda worried they would eat me at some point, but I think I can sleep at night without having to worry for my bowels.

The breeze that was slowly brushing against me and the others was actually relaxing and comforting, a nice exchange from the hell resort that I have been through these last few days. Having someone to talk to while also feeling protected is a really nice change of pace and one that I gravely needed.

We have walked for quite some time now again; the sun was slowly setting, the orange glow emitting from the distant horizon complimenting the distant mountain lines to our left. I have to give this place some credit for Its beautiful weather and sky; it surpasses the one I know.
Terry signaled for us to make rest near some trees that gave a little shade. Hell yeah, finally some shade on my aching loins.

War sat down and brought out his claymore. To no surprise, he started to sharpen it with a whetstone.
Steel just leaned against a tree while also checking her equipment and taking out something to nibble on.
I just rested on the ground next to a bush, which smelled pretty good. Like, an exotic flower, kind of hard to describe.
At least I'm traveling with the company now; this could have all turned out a lot worse.
Terry sat down beside War and pulled out a map, which immediately brought up my interest in the second question that I had.

"Where are we?" I know, I know, pretty fucking smart question. But I gotta learn about my surroundings somehow, don't I?

So he whipped around his map and showed me our current location. We are near some sort of river, and we are almost at our destination, it seems, hence the big red X marking our target. Nice, I could use some actual beds and hygiene.

"The place you are currently In Melkor is the land of refugees and outlaws, the great land of Orin, ruled by Diamond dog organizations which are hated by everyone with a burning passion" He then spat on the ground. "Fucking greedy bastards. We are currently traveling to the town of Dorne, the filthiest piece of land you'll ever find anywhere, But It's our home, which lies an hour or two north-east. Once we are there, we'll meet up with the rest of our Warband, and you can officially join us in our mercenary quests. As of now, you are not hired yet; you'll need to prove yourself to the chieftain, but don't worry, we'll handle that for you." Terry said, smiling at me.

"When you are assigned to a squad, you can choose a weapon and a set of armor, we look out for each other, kid, and once you're part of the family, we will protect each other until the ends of the world."

He gave me a reassuring look, with a stern look in his eyes.

Somehow I kinda liked the thought of a life like this, friends everywhere and watching out for each other, meanwhile getting to live the adventures I have always dreamed of.
And of course, I can use them for my success and stuff; I think I will enjoy my stay in this world from now on. My motivations are simple, live my life to the fullest.
I reached into the bag they gave me and pulled out a bottle of water; I had a sip and stared into the distance and the setting sun, ah how I enjoyed this little moment right now.

Weird feeling being in a new land and all that stuff, but you know, I just gotta roll with it for now, and the idea seems pretty fun. My chest pain was almost gone too.
I wish I had a guitar to play in moments like this, but sadly I never really learned it, a shame really; I love the guitar, hmm, maybe someday. But as of now, I'll have to be content with what I've got.

It has gotten dark by now; we packed our stuff and got ready to move again; it actually wasn't that cold, considering the nights in a desert are supposed to be freezing.

Terry took out a torch and held his hand above it.

"Ignite" Just when he said that, his hand lit up, and a small fireball came out, igniting the torch. What the actual fuck?

I was just standing there with my jaw on the ground; he turned to me and let out a snarky laugh, "What's the matter, kid, never seen magic before?" He asked me in a joking way.

"No, I didn't believe it existed; where I come from, there is no such thing as magic. A legend at best." I just was at a loss for words.
I wanna learn that. I soooo want to learn that.

So, of course I was instantly in his face.

"Can you teach me?" I said in the most hopeful tone I could possibly muster.

"Huh? You wanna learn magic? Most people look ill upon it, you know?" He said, his voice concerned.

"I was never so sure about anything in my life!" I was bursting with envy and enthusiasm.

I always had a thing for magic back in America; oooh, the days of Skyrim being just a dream are finally over; I'm gonna git gud in this world! This is literally a dream come true for me. Imagine all of the possibilities.

"Well, if you're this determined, who am I to deny a young novice his wish?" I could kiss this guy right now, but I should probably not, I doubt these guys are Italian.

"Thank you, Reigning Terror!" I said as genuinely as I could and gave him a warm smile.

"No problem, kid!" He gave me a smile in return. "You can call me Terry, by the way."

We then marched into the night and onto our destination, the moon, which I saw surprisingly little during the rest of my stay here in Orin, funny actually since I am a person who enjoys a night when it's at its best the stars ignite the sky.

Huh...
Where is all this poetry coming from? Sometimes I surprise and scare myself.

As we walked, we once again wandered through seemingly endless hills and hills of sand and rock, nothing but sand and rock and occasionally dirt. But as we walked, flora and fauna grew richer as we went by land.
More interesting sights to see, like a formation of rocks, housed a cave full of glowing mushrooms or some fungus. We walked further and soon came across a small stream that was filled with all sorts of amphibians, like toads or snakes. It's Interesting how lively it becomes once you change the habitat.
I drank some of the water while also looking out not to swallow any lifeforms.

We continued along the river, and It was pitch black now, except for the occasional star.

At some point, I began to see some lights glowing not so far in the distance, must be a campfire, so I told my companions about it.

"Guys, there's a campfire to our left, it could be bandits or something like that." I pointed out while tapping on Terry's shoulder

He turned around and looked me in the eye; not sure what to make of this situation, I kept quiet.
He seemed to think about the situation, about the pros and cons, you know what I mean.

"Good thinking Melkor, if they spot us, they might chase or hunt us down; it's best if we surprise them. Thought like a real mercenary kid, you're learning fast!" He unsheathed his falchion while War just grabbed his claymore, and Steel took out her bow.

"Guys, do you have a spare weapon?" I asked the group.

"Here, you can have this." War just tossed me a katana, a slightly short one, but I won't complain.

"Give it back though. You'll get your own weapon once we're back home, brother." He gave me a wink... ugh.

Terry signaled for all of us to get low and slowly move over to the bonfire.
We covered the ground between us and the camp pretty slowly.

God above, am I really gonna experience my first real fight right now? I am scared and anxious, but also pretty excited.
I just gotta try and take out some of these guys stealthy, as Solid Snake would.
And no stepping on twigs or something like that, clumsy as I am, it wouldn't surprise me, though.

Steel positioned herself about 25 meters away on a hill where she had a perfect overview of the camp.
While we still crept forward towards the campsite.

We lay down in the sand, and we saw the full site.

Terry and War analyzed the situation.

"Yup, rouge diamond dogs, carrying gold and gems around. About eight of em'. We can take them easily, if Steel gives us to cover, It will be a breeze." Said our tactical leader.

There was a lightly armored dog standing guard next to the fire. The rest were sleeping in their tents or resting against the treasure.

"Steel will take out the guard; if he alarms the others before he dies, use the confusion and kill as many as you can, got it?" He looked at me, waiting for my response.
"Got it" I nodded with eagerness.

Then it all began; I drew my katana and waited for Terry's signal.

He raised his hand, and Steel shot her arrow; it soared through the sky so fast, it was almost impossible to see.
It hit its mark, with a gross wet sound the arrow pierced the neck of the canine, and he released a horrible sound, before falling with to the ground like a wet sack.

Then we started our offensive.
I jumped up from my position and hopped over the dead guard, and I locked onto my target.

I sprinted towards the one nearest to my position; he was just waking up. Poor bastard, I jumped up with my katana facing downwards; he only got one glimpse at me before I penetrated his chest with my stab, leaving him breathless and dead before I knew it. Holy shit, I just killed someone! No time to think about it! Stay focused.

I sheathed my short blade and took his bastard sword, which had a better weight and length.
War was in a fight with two of them, while Terry tossed aside another dead one.
Now the whole camp had been woken up, and this was the part where things got fun.

I quickly rushed to the help of War, as I got tackled by a brown mutt, with some heavier armor on; this one was made out of strong leather. He pinned me to the ground, and my arms tried to hold him off, but he was too heavy, like for a dog. He tried to bite my neck and shoulders, but I was holding against him with my sword.

"You bastards attack our camp? Those are our gems! You will die!" He screamed at me while his breath and saliva made me nauseous.

I reached to my side and found my katana in its sheath; while he tried to chew my face off, I grabbed the blade and rammed it into the side of his ribs. He howled in pain and lost focus of the moment; that's when I kicked him off me, he crashed into a tent.

I quickly got up and ran towards him, he shook the blow off, but I was too fast this time, I gave a good slash with the sword. I hit the throat of the bastard, and blood was gushing out like crazy. He tried to fight back, but then he just fell over dead. God, I have a talent for this. Or these guys are just shit; it could also be the case.

I quickly shrugged my morals off and turned around to see that War was grabbing one of the dogs by the windpipe.
The other one of the attackers had an arrow stuck in his back. As I searched for Terry, the gruesome sound of a windpipe being crushed filled my ears. Dammit, I didn't want a bloodbath this early; I just thought we should make sure they miss us.

Another one rushed towards me, this one white, he held a spear in his hands.
You could really tell he was about to shit himself; genuine terror was written all over his face.

He poked the tip towards me, but I sidestepped it and brought my sword down, slamming it to the ground.
Looking down, he gulped and ran towards me, screaming all the while.

As he got closer, I readied my sword and stepped forward, Impaling the poor dog.
The bandit didn't realize he was being pierced by a sword and just tried to get to me, so I pulled the sword out, and he tried to lunge at me again, his guts and blood now showing.

That normally works in video games, but he's still alive.

He coughed up blood, and his march came to an end. While letting out a ghostly whiff, he too fell to the ground.
Terry came from the back of the big camp and brought out a severed head; oh god, come on, this is tasteless!

"That's all of em!" He said. "Good job, team! Especially you, Melkor. Are those tactics from back home? You're a natural." He smiled at me. And then he broke my back with his hand, no I'm just kidding, but the pain from that back pat was Insane.

I have to say, accomplishing something like this really fills me with confidence, fear, and, somehow joy.
And knowing that I'm not going to be all alone makes this a lot easier to adapt to.

War came out of a tent, looking down.

"I only got one kill; what's the deal with that? And they were total pushovers! I alone could have taken dozens of these babies down! Damn diamond dogs, it's like I'm fighting children!" He was pretty frustrated about that, huh. You could see on his face that it actually bothered him; this guy has some issues to figure out yeesh.

Steel joined us too, and we began to loot.
There was quite a bit of gold and jewelry, we split them. I got about a hundred pieces of gold, and all the rubies, which were 25.

"Come on guys, Dorne is just behind that hill back there!" Steel gestured to a certain location, and we then continued our journey. The coolness of the night began to slowly fade away, and the blood on my body began to dry.

The sun was rising, and the warmth of the day came back to us, filling my spirits with energy, although I am pretty tired from walking and fighting so much. I have fought now with these guys, and I will continue my story from here on, with them probably. I really hope I can trust them.
We then climbed the hill, and we saw the city of thieves and criminals.

"There you have it, kiddo, Dorne, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Said Terry, in a weirdly familiar way. We then proceeded to walk towards it.

The city stretched pretty far for a criminal hive; it seemed like there were at least a few thousand lowlifes located here.
There was a crude wooden wall around it, and the gate was guarded by dogs clad in armor that looks like it has been in use for quite some time already. Overall these guys did not seem motivated OR qualified to be on guard, as half of them weren't even paying attention to us approaching.

After a few glances and stares from the guards, we entered the city gates. I was immediately reminded of the slums in India or Brazil, not the kind of place where you'd raise your kids but also not the worst thing possible, but one could tell that this particular town was filled with a lot of shifty individuals.

Somehow I didn't feel as uncomfortable as I probably should have, which may sound weird but I have definitely seen worse, ever seen a german public bathroom? Ugh...

Of course, when you are the only human around you get all kinds of weird stares pointed at you, overall I had a bad feeling about this place. Just a big old uneasiness creeping down my spine.
We made it into a dark and shifty alleyway. Great, this is how robberies start, BUT then again we are armed.
We didn't get much to see of the cities at all except the dirty streets and the smelly bars until we've reached our destination.
Before I stood a pretty big building, like an old Mexican villa but very worn down, and decorated to the brim with trophies and skulls and other charming decors.
We then entered, and it didn't take long before I was immediately greeted by about 50 other Minotaur's who stared at me like I was the next big attraction at the zoo.

And I thought, well this is going to be fun!

Author's Note

Thank you guys for your support and sorry for the long wait! 💖
And if you spot errors or have any complaints please tell me :D

Fresh Meat

As I continued to be stared at by a few tons of weapons and muscle, a certain kind of fear has overcome me, the kind of fear you only get when being stared at by someone who seems suspicious of you. Now imagine that fear times fifty, and each one of them could easily kill you.... yeah what fun. I have been in these types of scenarios before just never this, well intense. Goddammit, what have I gotten myself into again? Do I have some sort of death wish? Well, I guess this would be better compared to slowly starving and, or dying of thirst way out in the desert. It was my idea in the first place to join the talking cows, good thinking you fucking idiot! *sigh* I just hope I'll manage to survive today.

Think about it, how could I, a complete foreigner, a species of which they have never even heard of nor probably ever see one, compelling to these brutes? I gotta think of something clever, something dashing, something only a genius could think of!

I didn't have anything.

'Dammit!'

So after a few moments of silence and quite a lot of awkward tension and menacing stares, Terry started walking towards his fellow minotaurs, and somehow I felt relieved, would he stand up for me? Will he protect me from the quite possible mauling that awaits me? I'm sure Terry has got a solid plan to explain this situation and introduce me to the gang, after all, they might just be wary because they have never seen someone as handsome and charming as me, yeah that should be it.

As a deafening shout filled the halls...

"WE HAVE BROUGHT FRESH MEAT FOR THE HORDE!" Terry stated in a pretty calm manner. dude my ears!

Great, wow just feed me to them already, they look hungry enough! Fucking asshole, what a great senpai he is...
there is no way that bullshit will work though-

My line of thought was suddenly interrupted by an enormous cheering and chanting from the entire hall.
"BRING THE LIQUOR!!" They yelled

Well, guess I was wrong.

After a few hours of drinking, shouting, and getting to know each other, Melkor did seem to fit in well enough, he was damn tall, the Minotaurs were also pretty tall. He liked fighting, the Minotaurs liked fighting. It was because of this that the tension was easy to break and fun was allowed to be had. He made a few new acquaintances. Like Jerb the Rock, who was by far the tallest of the bunch and towered over Melkor like a, well like a tower. He was big and gray, and also the leader of his own squadron, just like Terry.
Jerb and Melkor instantly liked each other and they drank like no other in the mansion that day.

Our protagonist did quite well for his first impression, he even got challenged to a duel by the master of arms, after he had heard of War's defeat at the hands of young Melkor. Of course, both Melkor and Sheathed Blade were quite too drunk to hold a proper duel so it was rescheduled. Terry, War, and Steel did take quite a liking to the Human over the past few days, he had guts, was quite capable, and he had manners. It was that night that Terry went to the boss and signed up Melkor for the horned Dragon mercenary association, as a member of his Squad. And so he finally belonged to the group.

The next morning was quite tough for our hero though.

"Goooood fucking, Jesuuus, what was that brown liquid? I never thought I could get this drunk!" He complained to no one in particular.

"I'll never drink again." He stood up and took in his surroundings, most minotaurs had gone somewhere else or were cleaning up the mess they had made, the big hall was in quite a bad shape after the occasional roughhousing of tonight's activities. But worst was definitely the smell, the smell was quite bad. The scent of alcohol, sweat, and vomit did not mix well together.

The boy took a look at himself and was quite surprised. "Where the fuck are my pants!? Oh god nooo..." he had feared the worst or rather the wurst.

He started to look for something to hide his magic sword. The Hall they were partying in just a few hours ago seemed to be quite massive. He had not noticed its entire scale before. The decorations were a bit strange, to say the least, these guys sure liked to stuff large predators and collect all kinds of weapons in their hall, Melkor ended up finding a pair of shorts that somewhat looked like his, only more torn and ripped, and kind of wet, ew.

'better than walking around with my junk out and about' he thought and put on his trousers to hide his shame.

He then sat down and poured himself some water. Shortly after he had found his pants, Terry walked in and looked at him with the kind of smile that would immediately piss you off.

"Well, well, it seems like you have finally awoken youngling. How are ya holding up?" He said with a laugh

"Oh shut up you old mule, I'm just not used to the strong liquor you guys have got, it's way too strong for me to handle right now, I've never drunk anything like it! Especially that brown stuff. What's it called again?"

"Brinsbury Whiskey, the best kind in all of Orin. Be grateful you could have any, some folk would kill for this stuff." His tone was quite hurt, maybe even insulted.

"Yeah alright, I'm sorry Terry. I did not think you guys were suckers for the fine stuff." Melkor said jokingly.

"Not a problem kid, you're a horned dragon now! We'll take missions again starting tomorrow!" Terry said gleefully.

"Oh that's right, I'm an official member now! When do I get my equipment?" He was quite excited about having some adventures with his new pals. How could he not? This was always the sort of life he had wanted back home, he envied the heroes in movies who would go on epic quests and fight grand battles.
For him, this was a dream come true.

"Right now, that's why I'm here to pick you up kiddo," Terry said. "We are heading for the armory, I'll buy you some new armor, but you gotta pay for the weapon yourself, that clear?"

"Chrystal sir!"

They walked through the place and had a little talk about the town. It was known for being a hive of outlaws, crooks, bounty hunters, mercenaries, and other types of scum. "There ain't no one in this town who can't kill someone" that's how Terry phrased it.

The horned dragon association was the only Guild who was approved of by the town lord, Dreyfuss Rex, a corrupt ruler who did not give a damn about Dorne and ruled with an iron fist. He has quite a defensive force stationed at Dorne due to it being quite far away from the next big city and also near the border to the neighboring country, which Orin was apparently at war with, a country run by centaurs and satyrs or something, either way, Melkor didn't care.

He and Terry entered the armory and encountered Sheyla, a female griffon who ran this smithy which was also kind of a weapons shop.

"Terry, what is that bird doing here?" Melkor asked him quietly.

"Never seen a griffon before have ya?" Terry whispered back "That's Sheyla, she runs the armory and happens to be the best blacksmith in town." He stated boldly.

"And you better remember it!" She said. She had a pretty gruff voice for something so feeble.

"Melkor, the newest member of the Terror assault squad, nice to meet you." Melkor bowed 'since when can birds talk? This place is getting weirder and weirder, what's next, talking magical unicorns?'

Terry interrupted his train of thought "The boy needs a weapon."

"How much has he got?" She eyed him up and down.

"About a hundred gold pieces." He pulled them out of his bag.

"That's about enough for some standard swords and maybe a bow, nothing special though," Sheyla said in an unenthusiastic manner.

"I have also got these rubies" Melkor proceeded to take them out.

"Now that'll get you farther, with that much you could have any weapon I have in store." She smiled at the sight of the shimmering gemstones.

"I think I'll have the finest sword you have right now." He said confidently.

The griffon walked to the back of her store and brought out a pretty big sword in a pretty unique style, with a nice handle to protect the hand and a shining silvery blade. Despite its design, it is quite large and has a grip capable of being gripped by two hands.

It was indeed a beautiful sword made with passion and personality. Melkor did enjoy looking upon it, and he could already picture himself with it.

"This is my personal creation, it will cost you all your rubies and fifty gold pieces." She said proudly.

"DONE!" and so Melkor did indeed buy himself the finest sword in the shop, ready to be tested out.

Terry looked at him and smiled. "I hope you don't lose that thing, it was quite expensive after all but damn if it isn't impressive" he eyed the blade once more "We'll be going now feathers!" And so Terry and Melkor left, while Sheyla threw something after them, perhaps she did not like the nickname given to her by Terry.

After getting his new weapon, and meeting a new species, Melkor had already forgotten about how badly this day started.

"I really like this sword, I think it suits me." He commented towards Terry.

"It does, it is unique, so are you. By the way, how do you like it here? Is this place much different than where you are from?" The bull asked, "I imagine it must be quite...... difficult getting used to 'us' hehe, you did well last night though!"

"Oh shut up, I'm doing juuust fine. Dorne is quite like a few places back at home, though it can be a bit smelly in comparison."
The Human started to look a bit downcast after thinking about home, it was a very quick change of pace and he never really said goodbye, he could never go back and talk to his loved ones. He could never see them again.....

'I just have to forget who I was and I'll be fine. I am Melkor now and I'll make the best of this new life, maybe I'll conquer the world or something haha.'

Terry seemed to notice the obvious frown on Melkors face, when an Idea hit him, "Haven't I promised you to teach you magic? I can evaluate your proficiencies back at the old magus tower if you want."

"OH sure, I totally forgot! Alright, let's do some magic n' shit!" Melkor instantly perked up and swung his shirtless, now pretty firm body towards Terry, perhaps with a little too much excitement as he nearly tripped.

Feeling down was a daily routine back at home for him, he had not been the most handsome, he was quite short, not to mention all the vicious friendzoning he was a victim of. He was really looking forward to learning about magic, and getting new clothes, but mostly magic.

"Listen, Terry." He said.

"What is it, kid?"

"I just want you to know how grateful I am for taking me in and everything, I've lost my people, my stuff, even myself in that desert, if it weren't for you I would have never made it. So thank you, Terror."

Terry just looked at him and smiled, he had not expected such a comment as of now.
"Since when were you this gay kiddo?" He let out bluntly.

"Fuck you old man," Melkor replied with a smile.

The early morning has turned into an afternoon by now, and it has come that all the leftovers were eaten, the last cups were drunk and even the tiniest bit of remaining vomit was cleaned from the halls. Melkor made a lot of plans deciding what to do with his magical powers and imagined where his true potential would lie within this world.

He also made plans to get a new set of clothes tailored, his pants were gross and his shirt just a torn piece of cloth by now.

Melkor gazes into the future with confidence and hope.
Oh if he only knew what would await him

Author's Note

Thank you for reading so far. I am also looking for an editor, so if you like the story and would like to contribute, i would gladly accept any help :)

What magic will Melkor be able to cast?
What challenges will he need to overcome?
And what dumb references will he make next time?

find out ;)

A Hero without Might but with a little Magic

Well to start this off, Melkor did not have the slightest idea of how magic worked in this world, for him, magic was about pressing a button and then seeing how the character on the screen did some magical stuff, so he went into this kind of thing without any prior knowledge of anything, although he had no lack of excitement that's for sure. He almost lost his cool on several occasions, I mean, he rarely kept his cool anyway. Overall he was just trying not to look like a little kid inside of a toy store filled with free stuff.

And so Mel and Terry walked towards the magical tower or as much of a magical tower as you could get within this shithole of a Mansion. One could describe this place as dusty and run down, looking at the old paintings and the cobwebs all around the place, perhaps one could even say it was forgotten at some point. Walking through spiderwebs, walls of dust and filth would certainly scare some people off. The human didn't care about all this though, he just wanted 'ze magicks' and he wanted to use them in an epic fuckfest of explosions and gloriousness.

'I really hope I get something cool, maybe dark powers! Or zapping people with Lightning!.....In time you will call me MASTER!' His thoughts trailed off, while he was grinning from ear to ear. Mel started to get a slight spring in his step, bouncing up and down, while doing his best not to giggle like a little girl. A few odd glances were all he received from his new teacher. Terry was, to be honest kind of awkward around the frilly human, he was really not the best at magic and most definitely not the best at teaching. He had spent many years studying the blade to such a masterful degree, that he didn't need magic to kill someone, so he used it very sparingly. There is an overall disdain towards magic in Dorne and the surrounding cities.

They climbed the stairs for a while, and soon found themselves at the top. "This is some tower you have here."
Mel said, while also trying not to let the Minotaur catch on that he had to catch his breath. A nod was all he got as a response though. He went on to look outside the window, gazing at the city down below him.
He was up quite a bit, at least thirty meters or so, luckily he wasn't afraid of heights. While looking down he also noticed that the streets were mostly abandoned, strange for such an urban town he thought. 'Well, I mean, could be normal for this region or this world I don't know their lives.' he shrugged it off and waited silently for Terry to open the door.

Quite a minute passed while Terry was looking for the keys to the door, and an awkward silence was unavoidable.
Then after a little while, the daydreaming human had heard a lock turning and the cracking of old wood, it seems Terry did find the required key and had opened the door while Melkor was thinking about his cool new magic powers.

As they went inside, quite a lot of rats escaped the room and startled poor Melkor, who cried out in surprise. "WAAah!" He let out a manly yell of manliness.

"You alright there kiddo?" Terry asked.

"Yeah, yeah sorry. Just slightly nervous and a bit pent up about this whole magic thing n' stuff hehe. Where I come from, there is zero to none of it and it is generally believed to be a myth, so you'll have to excuse my excitement, Terry. Are you certain I could use it?" The Human sheepishly grinned hoping for a positive answer.

There was a long sigh. "Kiddo I don't know jack about your species so we'll just have to find out." He stepped inside the mysterious room and lit a few candles with a match. It had been abandoned for quite some time it seems. "I and only a few others are the only ones who have any interest in the subject of magic so our old magus tower soon was abandoned. You'll have to excuse the spider webs and the many books lying around." He then found a chair to sit in and opened a very old looking book. "Here, this thing is called Magic for everyone." He coughed a few times and put on some reading glasses. "Take a seat son, this might take a while."

So Melkor sat down with high expectations.

"So basically, there are two kinds of magic users in this world, the channelers and the bound. The channelers have some sort of object or body part, from which they channel their magic. Unicorns for example, or changelings. The bound are you and I, the casters bound to the restrictions of their bodies and affinity for magic. Your affinity determines the magic you can cast. For example I have an affinity for earth and fire magic, that is a double affinity, not rare but most people only have one. Channelers are not bound by these restrictions though, because they can use their channeling object, understand?"

Melkor nods vigorously.

Terry just rolls his eyes and continues. "So to test your affinity, you have to place your hand on this." He pulls out a giant glass sphere from out of nowhere and puts it on the ground. "This will sense your magical energy and tell you which kind of magic you can use."

Melkor went forth and gulped for a second. "This is not going to hurt is it? I have a gut feeling that this could hurt." He turned around to face Terry who just took his hand and slammed it down onto the globe and immediately you could see sparks flying everywhere, as well as an electric sound that came from the orb.

Melkor cringed at the sudden forcefulness and he yelped as the glowing sparks went flying towards his face. Shortly after he opened his eyes again and saw that the orb was glowing in a crimson red, while being surrounded by small bursts of red electricity. Melkor just stared in amazement.

"Terry what does this mean exactly?" He tried to figure out which element could be related to such a pure red.

Terry just looked in disbelief. As he tried to get a better look inside the bowl, he scratches his beard.
"Judging from the Lightning and the clouds, this should be storm magic. But the color isn't right."
He just got up and started to look around in the massive assessment of books that were just laying around.
There had to be something related to this. Right?

As Melkor grew more and more worried and even annoyed, the orb started to shake, and the glowing and lightning started to intensify.

Terry came out of the pile of books, holding a particularly dusty one in his hands.
"Found something, that could help." He opened it and pointed towards a page, while also putting on reading glasses.

"The issue is simple, you are experiencing the rare phenomenon that your magic is fused," Terry says as he continues to point at the orb. "You clearly have an affinity for storm magic, but also for fury magic, so both of them, somehow fused together."

"So what you're saying is... I can shoot angry lightning?" Melkor looked confused for a while, but then his expression brightened again. "Angry lightning sounds Awesome!" He proclaimed.

Terry just sighed at the presentation of stupor unfolding before him. "No, dumbass it means that you both have storm magic, and fury magic, but both are connected and thus enhanced!"
He takes a breath and calms down, this time speaking with less power in his voice.
"Storm magic is the evolution of lightning magic and thus, is really powerful and can be used for offense. Fury magic is the evolution of rage magic and is very rare, it basically strengthens your body and enhances your strength, the angrier you get, the two are connected somehow, I just don't know what the effect will be." Terry shrugs and closes the book.

Melkor just looks like he has heard the most awesome news ever. Well, this was the most awesome news ever to him! He was a mage, with powerful lightning and stuff!!

"Oh god, I just don't know how to process this... How do I do magic exactly?"

"You start out by Imagining the desired effect of your spell, the next thing you do is assigning that spell to a word from which you shall release it, at least for your storm magic, the fury magic should activate on its own, now that you know of it. The power or effectiveness of your spell depends on your will or your emotions."

Terry raised his hand and focused. Melkor started to watch closely.
There was a glow coming from his palm, that grew bigger and bigger, then Terry said "TORCH," and his hand was ablaze with a great flame, that burned with passion.

"This is pretty much the extent of my magic power since I rarely use it, but you, you have potential kid." He smiled at Melkor.

Melkor was just amazed, and he started to grin widely. "I want to try." He got up from his chair and focused his mind...

He Imagined the lightning striking forward, in a powerful zap. As he felt it was ready, he yelled "Shock!" and the lightning went loose, or so he wanted.

What came out of Melkor's palm was little more than a cute, little spark, that singed the wooden floor a bit.
Terry wanted to laugh a bit but tried to hold it in. A few chuckles were still heard.

"Hey quit it, I'm just starting out, you prick." The laughing continued, as the minotaur in the room kept growing louder and louder.
"hehe... sorry. That was just so SHOCKING." and now he just fully went bananas and lost his cool. He was laughing like crazy now, how dare he? This actually made Mel angry.

"Fuck you, old man." Melkor hadn't noticed that his skin started emitting steam and that his body grew hotter.

"Whoa, there cowboy you should watch your temper." As Terry noticed his new pupil was steaming from his body, and emitting quite a bit of heat, he stopped his laughter and held his hands up defensively. "Calm down, I didn't mean anything by it."

Melkor was confused as to why the old man had started backing down until he saw his image in a mirror, and gasped in awe. 'I look handsome when I'm angry, lemme try something...' Melkor then turned around and fixed his gaze upon an old dresser, that was pretty much empty.

"What are you doing kiddo?" Terry asked worriedly.

Melkor just took a breath and raised his hand. He brought it down with superhuman speed, and the old wood of the dresser gave away beneath his strike. He also shouted something stupid while cleaving the dresser in half.

Upon seeing his new strength, Melkor was overcome with joy, and all of his anger instantly vanished.
"DID YOU SEE THAT??!!" He yelled with too much ecstasy escaping his throat.

"Yeah, that was awesome, but why did you shout...ora while doing it?"

"You wouldn't get it, Terry, that is reserved for people with good taste, who can also punch things."
He just smirked, knowing that reference was stupid, but he owned all of the references from back home, so he had to respect some of them.

"Okay... let's just go down and grab something to eat, shall we? You can train more than enough in your spare time, you've also got that duel with Sheathed Blade coming up tomorrow, so be sure to get ready."

Oh shit, he totally forgot to agree to duel the biggest and worst minotaur of them all, of course Melkor didn't think twice about the issued challenge when he was drunk. That which hath made him drunk hath also made him bold, and stupid. So he was dreading tomorrow.

Melkor just kept silent as he followed Terry in shame, oh what a day it had been.
And what a day tomorrow shall be.

Author's Note

Sorry for my long absence guys, had to struggle with college, but I hope to be getting back on track with this story, I also corrected most of my grammar mistakes, thank you all for your support. :) <3

Street Patrols and broken Bones

So, Melkor has magic, it is also magic that can be quite powerful when used in the right manner, he thought about it all night, while also trying to conjure more than just a few sparks out of his hands.
To be honest, he was quite overwhelmed by the whole situation, he knew he wanted strong and awesome magic, so why was he so confused as to what to do with it? Yesterday had been quite a lot to take in, him having some type of super rare magic effect, that no one in the whole association had any idea about, and the Whole affair of him having to fight Sheathed Blade. Not to mention the god awful food that evening, he absolutely despised Brussel sprouts, and guess what, dinner was ALL Brussel sprouts. Overall, an interesting day for him, but also not too great.

He didn't get quite enough sleep either since he was a little overeager to master his powers. Of course, it's stupid to think that he can master it over night, but let him dream.

Other than the problem of doing magic right, was how to survive today, Melkor hadn't planned to be fighting again today, at least not against the master of fucking arms. So he woke up and immediately greeted the morning by punching a wall. He wasn't in super angry power mode, so it hurt quite a bit. "OW fuck." He muttered angrily. He glanced around his room a bit.

It wasn't as bad as you would think, it had some nice dressers, a few shelves for books and quite a lot of pots for plants he did not yet have. There was also a cozy bed and the fact that he didn't have to share it with one of his new brethren.

After waking up Mel decided to do some morning exercise, which continued for some time until he was exhausted and gasping for air. He got up and wiped his sweat with a towel, before brushing his teeth. Yeah, imagine how surprised he was to find out these savages cared for their dental hygiene.
"Man, I still don't know shit about this place."
He looked at himself in the mirror before taking a small razor out of a drawer.

Clean-shaven, and exercised, he put on the new clothes Terry gave him. They were way too wide for him now, but at least it was better than the naked alternative.
After putting on the rest of his new armament, and attaching his new sword to its scabbard, he went downstairs towards the main hall of the Horned Dragon Association.

In the dining area there was not as much commotion as he expected to be. Actually, apart from the five other people, there was only his new friend Jerb, sitting in silence.

"What's up big stuff," Melkor called out to him. He strolled over to the giant grey minotaur and sat beside him, with a plate full of corn and bread.
"Hey Melkor, what's up?" He greeted the human with a big smile, seems he was all alone until now.
"Nothing much just woke up, did some workout, you know. The usual. But what's going on here? Where is everybody? Isn't now supposed to be breakfast time?" He looked around again to confirm his suspicion.

"Well, most members have some type of job to do, or they are on assignments. My squad is currently being treated in the medical wing after that incident with the Griffins of west Dorne. Nasty stuff I tell ya, never ever steal a griffin's eggs, especially not the eggs of a group. Never seen anything move so fast in my life." He shudders and shakes, probably imagining the horrors he saw in that situation.

"I think, it's better if I don't hear about it." Melkor just took a bite out of his cob of corn. "Why were you stealing eggs anyway?" He wondered while chewing.

"Money of course, city consul Dreyfuss wanted those eggs so he could raise them for his troops." He took a mouthful of his food, which seemed to be some sort of stew then continued to speak afterward,

"They make great warriors if they are trained properly. Because of their ability to fly and their talons and stuff. A force with griffins is superior to a force without them. So he paid us about 500 gold for each egg we managed to deliver to him."

Melkor chocked after hearing the price. That was a lot of potential money from just one job. He had to cough a few times to speak again. "So how much did you get in total?" He eyed his grey friend with interest, while also trying his best to chew his food with caution now. He had no interest in dying to corn, at least not yet.

"3.000" Jerb answered nonchalantly while also continuing to eat without sparing the impressed Mel a glance.

The human just gulped, that was actually quite a sum. He imagined what kind of awesome gear he could get himself. He just had to make some money and train so he could live a great life. God knows he had no intention to stay in this shithole of a town, which was also in the middle of a bloody desert forever.

"Yeah, it was a good job offer, but quite the risky one. The reward could have been higher if you ask me." His gaze shifted over to Melkor, who was still deep in thought and stroking his stubble.
"Anyway, what about you? Has your team got any assignments yet? The Terror squad has always been great at causing chaos wherever they go. And you seem to be as at least as destructive as the other ones." He then smiled and gave Melkor a pat on the back that knocked him back into existence.

"Oh, yeah I guess so. Back home I was a simple Seargent who accompanied caravans and stuff." Melkor had to make all of this backstory shit up on the go since he had to have a believable story, he couldn't just do the old 'I lost all my memories' bit, although some of these buffoons would probably fall for it.

"This kind of work suits me a lot better I think. It's also a lot more exciting." He then gave Jerb an ambiguous look and clenched his fist.

Jerb then laughed with his thunderous voice that could rival that of any movie trailer voice ever. After regaining his composure after a few moments, the bull stopped and put his massive hand on Mel's shoulder.
"I'm just glad you took this change of pace so well shorty. I hope we'll fight alongside each other many times my brother." He then got up and began to strap his weapons back on, by god there were a lot of weapons.

"Well, I gotta go on my patrol now." He started to walk out. "WAIT!" Melkor called out louder than he wanted. "um, could I accompany you? I have to kill some time until my duel tonight, and I actually wanted to see the city and go outside for a bit, If that is ok with you." He asked kindly.

Jerb casually smiled and then gave a nod.

The sun shone brightly over Dorne on this morning, much too brightly if you asked Melkor. High heat was not something he was particularly fond of, especially when combined with walking and wearing thick clothes. The streets were actually not that active this time of day, of course, he saw a few patrols of the local diamond dog consul, but other than that, inhabitants were a rare sight. Even if he saw someone, he was met with either an intense stare of hatred or just plain confusion as to what the frick he was. The people he actually saw weren't talkative either, they mostly just sat in silence at their market-stands or just walked hastily down the street, only to make a turn into one of the many alleys and hidden passages that graced the city. Infrastructure was not something you could expect in Dorne, the place was a mess, confusing street layouts, organized as well as unorganized crime everywhere and the buildings just looked like they could fall down any moment. Dorne was a filthy place, and that was putting it kindly.

Melkor and Jerb had been walking for just five minutes now and already he regretted his decision of patrolling with him. He was particularly shaken when he learned that these patrols Jerb takes, could actually take multiple hours. Because he would get lost without the big guy, the choices were to endure this boring stroll through filthy and unfriendly streets, OR get buttfucked by strangers in an alley.

Both options were awful in their own right but Melkor decided to follow the minotaur and keep walking with him.

"Sooo Jerb," Mel was trying to start a casual conversation. "how long have you been part of the H.D.A?"

The tower glanced over his shoulder and down to Melkor, while also maintaining his pace. "Well, I don't exactly remember when I joined, I was but a young lad back then, about your height." He answered with a snicker.

"Oh haha, very funny you tall freak. You and that drunkard Sheathed Blade are the only ones that are actually taller than me, so you must be an abnormality to the others." Melkor countered. He hadn't exactly noticed but he did seem a bit taller than he was back home, his arms and legs seemed longer than they have been, his whole physique also seemed... longer. He didn't think of it other than just his imagination or that everything in this world was just smaller than on earth. But maybe this strange dimensional rift or whatever it was, made him taller somehow? As weird as that sounds.

Melkor was lost in thought, so he didn't manage to catch everything of the story his friend started to tell him.
"When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs, every morning to help me get large. I just wanted to be the strongest guy around, it has been my dream and goal since I escaped my mother's womb. When the blazing heat of Orin touched my soft fur, I didn't cry no I shouted a warcry louder than a dragons roar." He told this with such intensity and passion that he lost himself in his story and didn't notice the merchants stand he walked right into.

A loud bang was heard, and dozens of nice pots and other fragile merchandise was shattered and spread all over the rough ground beneath.

Jerb just froze and opened his eyes. "Um, oops?" Melkor couldn't believe the destruction his companion had caused by just walking. He just bumped the stand and everything was immediately annihilated, it was honestly the most impressive thing he had seen in a long time.

The merchant behind the stand was smart enough to dive out of the way before the impact, otherwise, he maybe would have experienced the same fate as his pots. But now the guy was fuming. He stood up and Immediately started screaming and clawing at Jerb. The merchant in question was some sort of feline anthropomorphic cat with fine clothing and some jewelry.

"Oh fuck. Jerb, look at what you did. That poor cat has no more stuff to sell." Melkor tried to sound concerned but he couldn't help a few chuckles escaping his stoic expression.

"Look, sir cat. I am truly sorry for walking into your....uh your stuff, could you please stop ruining my clothes now?" He didn't sound as if he actually gave a fuck.

The cat guy spoke up. "You will pay for ruining my precious antique vases. I will kill you where you stand, buffoon." He didn't stop his clawing while speaking, he just went on and on. Jerbs clothes were really messed up now and his expression grew more and more annoyed.

"Ok, I tried being nice, but if you don't stop scratching me with your pathetic claws, I will break them AND your arms." He now looked down at the attacker with a menacing stare.

"You would have to catch me fir-" Before he could finish the sentence Jerb had already grabbed his arms.
He then gave a wicked grin, and looked over to Mel.

"What do you think Melkor? Should I teach this little kitty cat a lesson about manners?" He asked friendly, seeing Jerb mad was actually quite scary, not scary like a ghost or something paranormal happening, but actual 'run for your life scary'.

Melkor kept his cool though and just answered in monotone. "I don't care, go ahead." He did care, he didn't want to draw that much attention, but he also knew that it was not wise to deny Jerbs wish of breaking some bones, lest it might hit himself. That would be most catastrophic.

A sickening crunch resounded through the streets and shortly after, an ear-piercing scream of agony filled the air.
It seems our short-tempered friend has made short work of those puny feline arms. The sound alone was enough to make a grown man cringe. Melkor had luckily averted his eyes, so he didn't have to see that display.

The cat merchant now lay on the ground, still twitching and writhing in pain, while also mumbling that he'll let his assailant be burned on the stake, you know, the usual revenge talk. Though he was tough to understand him with all the foam that was coming out of his mouth.

"Ok, had enough big guy?" Melkor sternly asked. It didn't have to come to this, of course, he knew Jerb was short-tempered, but this was a tad much.
His friend, however, was in a really cheerful mood, with a smile as bright as the sun. Weird. He turned to look at Melkor and just have a thumbs up, still retaining that bright smile.

"You know that this could have some consequences..."

'It definitely could.'

"Don't worry about it. He got what he deserved, I even apologized to that little shit licker. Ah well, I'm certain there won't be any trouble-" Jerb continued, starting to resume his march of doom.

'There is gonna be soo much trouble' Melkor just groaned internally and also continued to walk alongside his patrol partner.

Melkor had now been patrolling these streets for more than three hours, and Jerb was showing no signs of intending to stop anytime soon. After that whole merchant business, nothing of interest really occurred, aside from the few glances Melkor got from the guards that passed the duo from time to time. It was now around noon, so the heat got even more intense than it had been before, which also served to sour the mood of our human further and further.

"Hey...Are we gonna be done anytime soon? This heat is driving me crazy. Can't we at least take a break, I need some water or I'll die of thirst." You could hear in his voice that he had enough of walking these sheer endless streets. Whenever you think you've reached the end of a road, there was another turn into another road, which also led to more alleys and more roads. Fucking diamond dogs man, can't build cities for shit.

"Hang on you baby, we're almost done anyway, so let's keep moving. Any water you're gonna get here won't be drinkable anyway." The endurance of this guy was just astonishing. How he had been able to walk this far in this crazy heat, had been an enigma to the dried up Melkor. Then again, he was probably used to stuff like this.

So they continued marching. Onward and onward, with no visible goal in sight.

Overall, the experience was dreadful, the only saving grace was hearing Jerb tell all of his crazy war stories and ridiculous tales of his childhood.
He even claimed to have wrestled a dragon into submission, and that was only the second most unbelievable thing Melkor had heard from his friend. While complete bullshit, these stories were entertaining, and even somewhat educational.

Melkor had learned that there are indeed far more continents than the barren wasteland of Orin. There were quite a few, but the most interesting he had heard of were Pleona, home of the great jungles and Lizardfolk and Ursupan, known as the mountain land up in the far north was also home to many species, Including the griffins.

But indeed the place that left him the most baffled, was a continent called Equus. Apparently, the whole continent was pretty much ridden with kingdoms and principalities run by ponies. Melkor had seen and heard some shit in these past few days in this world, but this took the fucking cake.

"So you're telling me, that there are ponies, that run whole Kingdoms. Proper, organized kingdoms?" Melkor asked again to be sure.

"Well, I've never seen one myself. Word says they are not too keen on visiting diamond dog lands, especially this rotten Place. The whole land is at war actually, we're just in neutral territory."

"I still can't believe that these ponies have whole kingdoms and stuff. Crazy if you think about it. And what are they like? Do they walk on all fours or are they some sort of weird bipeds like the diamond dogs ore that weird cat guy back there?" Melkor's interest was piqued, if only a bit. This topic was by far not as entertaining as the other stories Jerb has told. But it was just interesting to Melkor, he had seen and known ponies back home, so how was it that they also existed here?

"Like I said, never seen one. They do say that they are pacifists who think themselves superior to other species. Assholes." Having said that, He spat onto the street to truly show his disdain.

"Yeah, they sound horrible from what you've told me, big guy. So... how long are we gonna keep patrolling for? My legs kill me and the sun will burn my skin if I'm not careful, not to mention this incredible thirst that I've built up this entire time. There doesn't seem to be any trouble around so-" He then suddenly felt a hand on his chest, that held him back from walking forward. It was Jerb who stopped his advance, and his glance was focused on the nearly empty street before them.
The reason for their stopped march was standing right before them.

"Well well, look who it is. The giant cow that attacked the young master." A group of the same race as that merchant earlier took up almost the whole street. They wore torn cloaks and scarfs that covered their faces, there were about seven, and every one of them had at least one weapon. This was not good.
The one that spoke before stepped forward and drew his dagger.

"So, the boss want's you dead, understand? The monkey can leave, he only wants you." He then went into a stance that seemed like he was ready to pounce.

'He did not just call me monkey' Melkor internally raged. How dare that pussy call him a monkey? Ape, fine yeah, he could see some resemblance. But he was not a fucking monkey.

"I told you there were gonna be consequences Jerb..." Melkor just said in a deadpan voice, while also exhaling through his nose.

"I know. I need to watch out whose arms I break next time." Jerb said, his voice showing no actual signs of regret.

Mel breathed in calmly.
"OOOOH YOU THIIINK?"

Author's Note

Join us next time when this dilemma needs to be solved. Will it be bloody? Probably.
Will it be fun? Most likely.
Will it be stupid? DEFINITELY!!

Thank you all again for reading my story.
If you enjoy it, I would be glad if you left a like or a comment. 💗
If you don't please tell me where to improve.

Tuesday mornings are alright for fighting

Melkor and Jerb stood surrounded by at least seven of those weird cat-like people, who circled them like hungry sharks around a bleeding seal. It was quite obvious that something would happen after the big klutz decided to go ham on the poor merchant, but such is the way of the minotaurs, break first ask later. Their leader, a big grey one with spotted fur, looked like he had seen quite a few fights in his nine lives, indicated by the lots and lots of scars and rashes on his fur and skin.
He got into position and readied himself to pounce upon Jerb who had now drawn his massive battleaxe which resembled a minotaurs head, the horns being the blades and the hilt being the face. He looked calm, and Melkor could see a smile forming on his face, oh yeah he definitely waited for something like this to happen so that his day would get a little spice.
The minotaur readied his swing and Melkor drew his new fancy sword, this being his first fight in daylight, he had a nervous look upon his face as he pointed the blade at the cats.

"Listen here, suckers! I am the Grey Tower of the Horned Dragons, one of the six great squad leaders! No one has yet stood in my way and lived to tell the tale." Jerb boasted loudly to the group of attackers. "My axe has split mountains in two, what do you think it will do to little kittens like yourselves." He then gave a big smile which gave some of his audience quite the nervous feeling.
"At my side is the notorious Melkor last of his kind, who tamed the great desert like it was a pet lizard... So you best go and run back to your mama's TITS!" He said the last part with more effort than was needed.

Melkor just gave him a look that yelled 'seriously? Did you just say that? ' but it was too late for intervening, the cat people had already taken offence to the words of the grey minotaur, and the leader leapt with great speed and agility towards Jerb, while three others followed him.

Melkor barely noticed a small ball of flame that was aimed at him, which he managed to dodge by an inch or less. It seems there was a mage in the ranks of the enemy, he wore clothes fancier than the others and had a hood which covered his face.
Melkor didn't immediately realise what happened as two more assailants rushed him. He swung his sword at one of them, but he easily dodged under it and went in to sweep Mel's leg, without success though as he was too steadfast to be tumbled down by such a-

Never mind he fell...

"UGH!" Melkor crashed to the floor as his leg was kicked away and he lost his balance. The cat was on top of him before he could come back to his senses. 'Fuck, what do I do?' he was at a loss, pinned down now he was vulnerable to the attack of the said bandit, which now plunged his dagger down with a manic look in his face.
Melkor's heart raced at the thought of being killed, so much he didn't notice his skin sizzling.
As the dagger drew closer to his heart, the grounded human brought his fist up and punched the hand which held the dagger.

*CLANG* there was a brief silence, as the dagger shot through the entire street. The cat yelled in pain shortly afterwards, for his hand had been shattered.
Melkor finally realized that he had summoned his magic power, and he was really fucking excited.
His assailant went to claw at him, but he was quickly riposted by a quick kick that sent him flying quite a distance and crashing into a building, leaving a sizeable hole.

Jerb was having a little trouble, the cat leader continuing to slash at his fur with his daggers while he also had to fend off the minions, was proving to be not so easy.
He swung his axe a few times, but the cat men proved too nimble for him to hit easily.
"You have no chance against us, you absolute buffoon!" Yelled the scarred cat while climbing on top of the giant.
"We are too many and too skilled for you to-" His sentence was cut short by a big hand that suddenly grabbed him by the throat.
It seems that in his boasting, this guy let his guard down.
You could feel the air grow colder as the Tower of Dorne tightened his grasp, and the little kitty squirmed and struggled.
"No, it seems you have made quite the mistake my brother...." a loud whoosh of air could be heard, followed by the sound of metal cutting through flesh and bone.
The lower body of Jerbs victim fell to the floor while the rest of his guts and the upper body followed shortly after. The cats could not believe their eyes, their leader; an expert assassin had been slain in mere seconds. Enraged they charged forward with even more resolve in their attacks.

Jerb stayed cool and swung his axe faster and heavier than before, creating small gusts of wind anytime it soared through the air.
The third swing hit its mark, and another of the attacker was split in half through the middle, like a hot knife through butter as they say back on earth.

Melkor noticed the change in the atmosphere, he looked over to his friend who was happily slashing at his two remaining opponents, and he knew the tide of battle had been turned.

He watched as the cat mage moved his hands and formed another fireball, while the second rogue sprinted at him.
Thinking fast was not one of his strong suits, but in this situation, he had no real choice.
Letting out a roar, Melkor rolled forward and picked his sword up, going into a full sprint afterwards. The fireball now approached him with great speed, and dodging seemed impossible now, so he brought his sword up and smashed the spell with all of his might.

There was an explosion as the blade struck the ball of flame, and Melkor, as well as his opponent were thrown backwards.
Once again, Melkor landed on his back...now hurting, he looked to the side and saw his sword shattered into pieces and his arm burnt black, possibly broken.
He screamed in pain, as his rage now fueled his magic, even more, there were small arcs of red lightning across the ground where he lay and on top of his skin, which now took on a slightly reddish hue. There was steam coming from his body, but all of that didn't matter right now, the only thing that mattered was to let out this anger...

"FUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOU!!!" He roared a mighty roar and gritted his teeth, saliva coming out of his mouth all the while. He used his left arm to stand up, his pain now gone thanks to the adrenaline pumping through him.
Melkor looked at the situation, his right arm was useless, and his vision was blurred. The blast had ruined his whole outfit; he looked quite shite if I can be frank with you.

Jerb coughed as the dust settled, the roar of his buddy had deafened the sound of battle in this street. Though he had no time to focus on what was going on, he fought his own battle, and punched the nearest cat right in his nose, knocking him to the ground and following up with a stop on his head. The brains of the aforementioned cat spilt out of the now cracked open skull, as the warrior now focused on his last living target.

The Mage began to panic, he didn't have that much mana left, and the hairless monkey didn't show any signs of letting up or being defeated.

"Hey, Ricky... make sure he stays away from me... I'm too valuable for the boss to die here." He said in a shaky voice

"But...but did you look at the guy? He looks like a freaking monster!" Ricky now gulped, he had been hired as extra muscle for the crime syndicat about a week ago, but he still knew what the boss would do to him if he let one of his mages die.
"Fine, but hurry up another of your spell things!" He exclaimed hastily. "And please, not another fireball... I barely dodged last time."

"No problem Ricky, I'll shoot him with another spell." 'I can't let it be known that I know only this one spell' He thought to himself, before seeing something that made his blood run cold.

Melkor was now in a full-on dead sprint, covering much distance in a few seconds, he was like a speed train of doom, leaving a charred path behind him.

Ricky jumped at him with his dagger, he plunged the blade into his right shoulder, but the human did not care nor did he stop as the cat clung to him. He did not stop his run of death, seemingly not affected by the extra eighty pounds that were on top of him by now. He went straight for the mage, who conjured up yet another fireball.

Ricky now grabbed his dagger again, preparing not to miss anything lethal with his next stab. He felt a cold sensation running down his back as he felt a powerful grip on his tail. Before he could look at the problem, he was already flying through the air at great speeds. It seems that Melkor has used his left arm to throw him off.
Before Ricky could see where he was going, an orange light showed him that he had no time to worry about what would be...

There was another explosion as he collided with the last fireball of his companion, who looked traumatized by now, I mean, who wouldn't, after this whole situation.
Nothing, really nothing had prepared him for two maniacs such as these....there was little left but a burnt pile of flesh, cloth and bones left of his former guard and comrade. Adrenaline rushed through his body, and he began to book it as fast as his legs could carry him over the streets now filled with blood that stained the sand, of course, he couldn't report this or seek refuge with the city guard, as they would immediately recognize him. Sweat runs down his forehead and tears well up in his eyes, thinking that he will meet his end here. His departure has of course not gone unnoticed by his enemy...

Melkor was chasing the magician at top speed, so fast he left a small dust cloud every time he set his foot on the ground, he had a lot of ground to cover though, and his energy began to deplete more and more by the second.
A loud booming sound stopped him after the cat turned a corner into an alleyway. Smoke filled his vision, smoke so thick you couldn't see your own hands through it. He still marched trough with an iron will to pursue his foe.
The smoke ridden air filled his lungs and he began to cough, it was so severe that he had to stop and bend over.
Something was not right, this smoke was not ordinary, it hurt to breathe and it felt to him like he would choke any moment now, he has fallen for an obvious trap.
A firm hand grabbed Melkor by the collar and yanked him out.
Jerb had realized the severity of the situation and decided to help his friend, who now lay on the ground, wheezing.

"You're a stubborn fucker, that I gotta give ya" Jerb only continued to watch as the human writhed on the ground, obviously in pain.

As he took the first breath of fresh air, Melkors vision returned to him, and other senses followed suit.
His magic had worn off, as has his adrenaline, the pain he felt was like nothing he ever knew, being a city kid who never got into any sort of trouble other than stealing some pastries that one time, he did not have a high pain tolerance.

"Aaaaaaarghh!" His screams filled the air, he was horrified to see his arm in its crippled state.
He lay there and tries to catch his breath between the shouts he gave, what a turn of events.... the day started off fine, it grew more boring sure but he didn't want this. Oh, boy, did he hate it, the pain and the feeling of 'what have I done' really ate at him while he was still just on the ground.

Jerb, who had seen enough now and didn't want to see his comrade like this, took Melkor in his arms and bandaged his arm with some of his torn cloth. "You know..... I am really grateful for what you did, not many people would have stayed and fought. But you, Mel, you did something I really didn't expect, the bastard told you to leave and you had every right to, seeing as this was all my fault. Half of my squad would've abandoned me were the odds against us by this much." He gave a light chuckle, before giving Melkor a determined look "If you, my friend, are ever faced with great danger or a perilous situation, you can count on this ol' bull to be there by your side." He ended his speech with a smile, before facing forward again, he didn't speak for the entire backtrack, there was nothing but the silent chatter of the street, that soon turned into the bustling noise of a market again.

Melkor's screams had stopped during the speech, he still winced and grunted with almost every step, but he tried his best to listen to what the minotaur wanted to tell him.
It was hard for him to get used to this strange place, it was cool without a doubt, and he had magic. Moments like these though, where he lived the life of a soldier without being trained as one, damn was it hard, first his fight with Raging War and the diamond dog ambush, and now he has barely survived.
But even though his arm was shattered and his lungs burned like hell, he couldn't help but think... about how awesome it had been to use his powers in battle and fight side by side with his first true friend in Orin. And hearing those words coming out of Jerb's mouth, sure helped to numb the pain....

He had a lot to talk about with his squad tonight

It was, as he says it...."One hell of a day"

Author's Note

Okay, the lockdown has got me on my feet again. My finals are over and I have decided to continue once again, I have some great ideas on how to continue the saga from now on, thank you all again for reading my friends :)

Rest and Exposition

The sun set over Dorne in the late hours of the day, sending the honest folk, if there were any at all, to sleep. But a true Dornian knows that life here begins only after sundown. The numerous petty criminals that were hiding in the shadowy alleys now had the cover of darkness on their side to help with their devious deeds.
The city was divided into a lot of gangs and clans that each dominated a part of the local underworld. The consul cared little for the locals, as seen by his lackluster effort to keep the streets clean and the pedestrians safe. To say that Dorne was a city delved in chaos was the understatement of the century, for every guard there were ten criminals armed to their teeth. The city was still a pretty important place for the land of Orin, as it was the only place to overlook the grand desert in the south and a place for the Orin-militia to rest their heads, should a current war or conquest require it. Such a day was today, as a large Orin force was approaching from the western steppe lands and cities, leaving a large dust cloud in the dry sands they crossed, it seems it was time for war.

In the headquarters of the horned dragons, a certain human was getting some much-needed rest in the medical wing. Well, if you could call it that, it was as unsanitary as the rest of the filthy old building, and the smell could drive out the most vicious of beasts.
Melkor lay in a makeshift bed, with bandages across his body and an old, wet towel on his head to lower his temperature. By his side stood a pretty worried Durant steel, who looked over her newly assigned comrade, and tended to his wounds. Since the minotaurs weren't very good in medicine, they usually just sent one of their own to watch over a crew member to make sure they don't die. Basically, their way of treatment is to 'sleep it off'.

After a few hours pass, a very exhausted and bruised Melkor opens his bloodshot eyes. Looking around the empty room he noticed that someone placed a little vase filled with flowers on his bedside, he grimaced at the idea that these meatheads have a cheesy side to them.

Steel shifts and quickly hands him a keg of water. He grabs the beverage with his good arm and takes a few deep sips, spilling a lot of water in the process.

"Oh, he-" The human couldn't finish his sentence, he was cut off by the massive pain in his throat.

"Don't strain yourself, the gas you inhaled yesterday was a pretty nasty poison." She then smiled at him and took the water.
"You should be able to speak, just keep your voice low and stay hydrated." She earned herself a smile from him, followed by a pained groan.

"What the fuck, happened?" Melkor asked in a low and pained voice, his burns had almost healed overnight but his broken arm would still need time to fix, he displayed an unnatural healing factor compared to the other residents of the hospital, while it is different from species to species, and the magic power of the being plays a good role too, it was still a bit uncanny.

"Well, it seems you and Jerb have pissed off the wrong cats. The Pawfright-cartel is a pretty large organization of drug lords and thugs, and it seems your buddy broke the arms of the boss' son. Which is never a good thing to do, thank goodness it ended this well for you, could have been a lot worse trust me." She gave him a stern look after her sentence was finished.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who went berserk. Blame the big guy, he started it, I just helped when shit went down." He sat up against his rock-hard pillow, the long period of laying in bed made his back sore and his joints hurt worse than they already did.
"But yeah, I guess I'll be more careful next time. Your name is Durant Steel right?" He asked his makeshift nurse.

"Yes, that is my name. You can call me Steel if you want, we minotaurs have such long names, get's confusing sometimes." Melkor smiled at that.
"Thanks, I'll remember it. Back where I'm from, we also have another name depending on the family you're from," He always found the names in this place to be kind of weird, they were just adjectives and nouns.
"Oh, so Melkor is not your full name?" She asked, a sudden spike of interest in her tone of voice.

'It's not even my real name' He thought to himself while quietly snickering. 'Fuck, I gotta come up with a family name now, good job man'.

"I abandoned my family name after I joined the army, it's kind of a tradition where I'm from. So I'm just good old Melkor, nothing more, nothing less." 'Good save man, good save'.

Durant Steels' eyes widened and a little spark could be seen in her eyes.
"Where are you from exactly? What kind of place is it?" She asked while inching closer, since Melkor seemed to have a growth spurt since arriving in this land, she was a bit smaller than him but still muscular and strong looking, the sight of minotaurs was something he would still have to get used to.

He swallowed hard and gave himself a metaphorical facepalm. He couldn't just say he was from another dimension or something, these knuckleheads probably wouldn't understand a thing he is saying, so he had to make a backstory up from out of nowhere, oh boy.

'Great, how do I get out of this one?'

"Well, it's a long story, you sure you wanna hear it?" He asked with a sheepish smile that absolutely gave off the 'I don't want to be here right now' vibes.

Durant Steel nodded her head very hard, the spark in her eye seemingly getting brighter and bigger.
Melkor wasn't getting out of this, so he sighed and began to weave an epic tale of where he was from.

"Well, I am from a land far in the north, where no cartographers of you or the other species of this world have ever been. My home is the uuuuh... isle of Menkaind, where our glorious Empire was founded over ten thousand years ago!" He began to speak in a tone that you would expect from a BBC documentarist, him doing it was very underwhelming though, and very harsh on his throat so he gave that up quicker than the french did Paris in 1940.

"We are a peaceful people, who live inside a sea that is ridden with storms and destructive winds, so no one ever visited Menkaind. We spent our years believing we were the only intelligent beings in this world, and without rivals or interference, our land and our race thrived. We began to build large cities and ports and cultivated the land, we developed a culture of beauty and art. We never knew of magic or anything so we focused on developing our gear and technology. We built the best weapons and armors imaginable, water delivery systems and heated floors!" Steel gave him an odd look at that one.

"Until..." Melkor's look darkened and his head sank, he didn't spend 5 years doing amateur theatre for nothing!
"Vile beasts as large as a mountain came crawling out of the ocean and devoured our people like there was no tomorrow. A hundred years later, we drove them back finally, but the cost was simply too great. Our Cities destroyed and our leaders broken, in the end, we numbered less than five hundred. And Menkaind was a barren wasteland covered in death and the diseases these leviathans brought. I was part of those who were tasked with finding new horizons, along with my captain and two hundred soldiers, we sailed in a large ship, to the unknown." He underlined his speech with pretty solid acting and some crocodile tears, whom he summoned by not blinking for a minute.

"And you pretty much know the rest, we landed in this land and were lost to the desert. I am possibly the last survivor of this expedition. But I found new purpose, and will continue to live my life to the fullest." He wiped the tears off his face and gave Durant Steel a heartfelt smile. 'I should get an award for this' he thought, his imaginary shit-eating grin growing wider and wider.

One look at his comrade confirmed that his roleplaying was on point, the look of terror and sadness on her face was priceless. Give this man an award already!

"My god... Melkor I am so sorry, that is such a horrible thing to experience!" She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sad look.

"If there is anything I could do for you, please tell me." He thought about the Idea, he was pretty bored and wanted to get out of bed as soon as possible.

"Are there potions in your land? Or rather, in the guild?" He asked her very nicely, rubbing his broken arm. "I can't stand to be in this bed any longer, and I clearly need some training since those cats want my ass now. Do you think you could get me something to speed up my recovery?"

She rubbed her chin and drifted off into thought. After a small while, she seemed to have gathered an Idea.

"Well, the boss has a few magic potions that speed up the body's recovery rate, but he doesn't give them out lightly. You would have to take on a personal mission to pay that thing off. And by that I mean alone, he gives those things only to those who can prove themselves to him. Terry did one once, and he barely made it out of that sandwraiths cave. I think if you are willing to do something like that he would give you a potion."

The human didn't quite listen to the part where this mission is supposed to be life-endangering and difficult to accomplish, all he heard was 'magic potion' and 'recovery'
Melkor didn't really think hard about this, it was a no-brainer to him. Spend a month in bed or get out of bed and do a little chore, easy. The faster he could get out of bed, the faster he could go after that asshole of a wizard that broke his sword and his sword arm.

"Deal, I'll do it." He said without any hesitation, not thinking about the fact that he might end up more beat up than he currently is afterward.

Steel just stood there, baffled at the lack of hesitation he showed. The missions given by the boss were indeed ruthless and resulted in the deaths of many who took them too lightly, this man was either stupid as hell, or one of the bravest guys she ever met, then again, after what he told her about his war against the leviathans, she could guess that he has seen his fair share of threats and could know what he was doing. She could respect such courage.

"Alright, I will bring him the information, but I hope you know what you're doing. It would be a shame to lose you." She punched his shoulder, earning a pained expression on his face, but he kept himself from making any unmanly noises or shedding any tears.

"Thank you Steel, I owe you." He gave her a nice smile and rested his head on the pillow again, sitting up was not as easy as previously thought, and the conversation had been lasting for an hour or so.

"Don't mention it bud." She then walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. The atmosphere quickly grew quiet again and Melkor thought about all the bullshit he made up and any more possible stories he may have to come up with.

'I sure hope Jerb is doing fine, then again, the guy is a mountain of muscle and fury. He'll be fine.' with that thought, he tried to lay down more comfortably, which was a chore on its own. He never actually felt this much pain in his life, and the actual fight was more difficult than anything he had done before, but it somehow brought him joy seeing what he could do now, and he was eager to test the limit of his abilities once he was out of bed. And he still had to deliver on that promised duel with Sheathed Blade. He also thought about home and some things that he missed, well-cooked meals and tv, as well as the internet or hanging out with human friends. But things here were different and in a good way.

He looked outside of the window and gazed off into the distance, the city was dark, but you could hear a lot of things. Cries for help and people running rampant in the streets, as well as the distant clashing of blades or the occasional spell being fired.

"This place is a mess, I'm glad that I'm not down there." He sighed and tried to blend out the noise.
The candle by his bedside was slowly dying out, and the wind coming in through the window quickly snuffed it out a few moments afterward. Or was it the wind?

A sense of uneasiness overcame the lone human in the dark room, who wouldn't be a bit paranoid after yesterday's events?
He looked around and saw nothing but the yawning emptiness of the medical ward, which surprisingly had no other residents than him. It was very quiet, almost too quiet, and he couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched.

He concentrated on hearing something, anything. In his current condition, he wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight anyway, the best thing would be to logically think about this.
Calling out for anybody might get him killed before help could arrive if there was indeed an intruder in here. There was of course still the option of his mind playing tricks on him, which could very likely be the case, the dark leaves much for the imagination.

He slowly stood up, as silently as he could manage, it took him a lot of effort and nearly a minute, his whole body was on fire, literally. The magic that lies dormant within him seems to react to his heart rate or something because he was giving off a cloud of steam again, he couldn't turn it off either since he is not really in control of it yet. He silently cursed to himself and grabbed a pair of scissors that lay on the nightstand beside him, they could be useful he thought.

'Nothing is in here, there is no one here, calm the fuck down!' He violently repeated again and again in his head. He so desperately wanted to believe that everything was okay but his body wouldn't let him.
Now every other noise that was inside seemed to die out to the noise of steam coming out of him.
A curtain moved and he quickly turned around, too quickly, as one of his damaged ribs seemed to crack.

He let out an involuntary groan and almost fell from the pain. He swore he heard the sound of something on the floor, there was someone in here. There had to be!

He was ready to bolt to the door, he knew it would be painful but what else could be done?
He began to count down from three

'one'

the room seemed to get wider and wider as he looked that the door, Melkor felt a fear he hadn't in a long time, a fear of the unknown.

'two'

It hadn't grasped him that hard since his first days in a room without his parents when he was a small child.

'THREE'

He slammed his foot on the floor and started to run towards the door with all that he could, the wood beneath him gave away to his empowered foot and the heat coming from his body was increased tenfold. Every step hurt, and he could feel his body growing weaker with every millisecond.

He reached a hand for the door, but it was opened before him, a very concerned-looking Durant Steel on the other side.
The opened door flooded the room with light and the sight of his comrade gave Melkor some much-needed relief.

"What is up with you? You need to be in bed!" She very sternly said, almost having a motherly tone in her voice.

Melkor turned around and saw that the room was indeed empty of intruders or living things. He sighed with relief and almost collapsed from the pain this little escapade gave him.

"I.... just have to go to the toilet, really bad." He said through clenched teeth, trying to hide his pain.

"Don't scare me like that." She crossed her arms and shook her head. "The boss accepted your proposal and will give you a task in the morning-" She showed him a small vile filled with a bronze-looking liquid. "Drink this, it will heal your arm and the rest of your body overnight, this is one of the better potions so be ready for some hard work, now go and relieve your bladder before you die on me." She said with a slight smile and waved him outside of the room.

Melkor thanked her and limped out of the room, on his way to fulfill what he had told her.

The female minotaur walked over to his bed to place a cup of warm milk on his nightstand, blushing a little bit, hoping he would notice this little act of kindness.
As she turned to leave the room, however, she noticed something odd.

The vase that adorned his nightstand from before was gone.

Author's Note

Back from the dead! :)

Growing Struggles

A warm breeze entered the room where the sleeping human was having a very uneasy and unpleasant sleep. It carried with it a few grains of sand and a smell of piss, which both decided to embed themselves into Melkor's face, resulting in a less than pleasant waking up.
This night hadn't been very restful, quite the contrary actually. While he knew that nothing was actually in this room with him last night, the feeling of uneasiness and his growing paranoia made it almost impossible for him to sleep.

The potion given to him last night had kicked into effect, Melkor awoke without the immediate desire to end his life, the pain had actually faded and his burns have healed nicely. He tried moving his right arm and it obeyed him without any issue. A feeling of joy overcame the human who then burst out of his bed with the energy of a child that had discovered red bull for the first time.
As he sprung up he noticed that he was still fatigued, very much so actually. The potion must have had its limits, all these things are still so alien to him, Melkor actually spent the next ten minutes or so admiring his newly healed body in the sole mirror that hung in the room.

"This is crazy..." He turned around a few times, it seems everything was absolutely fine, a reason to celebrate and start the day with a smile. "I still can't believe some of the things that are possible here! I wonder if this works with severed limbs as well." He trailed off in thought and decided it would be better to not experience that firsthand.
He was hungry as hell and could really go for some food, hopefully, it wasn't another sprouts day.

Downstairs there was a large gathering of minotaurs of all shapes and sizes. He had never seen the gathering room this full before, it seems that today was some sort of occasion he had no idea about, he walked down the floor and into the large room.
As his feet carried him into the hall, he could already smell what had these cows so excited, this foul stench that filled the air and brought tears to his eyes.

Melkor sighed and slumped his shoulders, this could only mean one thing- "Sprout day." He hissed under his breath. The other members of the association couldn't get enough of them, it was some sort of delicacy for these people.
The human wasn't having any of it though and proceeded to walk over to the table containing his squad comrades.
The table was filled with familiar faces, Terror, War, and Steel all sat down and happily ate their sprouts with strong beer and what seemed to be the Orin equivalent of tequila.
The smell almost had him throw up in his mouth but he managed to suppress the urge and rather sit down with his colleagues.
All eyes fell on him as he sat down in his fresh white and grey clothes, seemingly unphased by the fight he and Jerb were in.

"Good morning fellas, how do you do?" He gave Terry and War a shit-eating grin and a small wink towards Durant Steel who was blushing a bit under her fur.
The old minotaur dropped a sprout he held in his hands- "How the fuck are you walking?" a bewildered look could be seen in his eyes.
War opened his mouth next. "You were supposed to be out for three weeks at least brother, that damage couldn't have healed overnight!" Unlike Terry, the black minotaur didn't stop eating while talking, he rather proceeded to stuff his face while doing so.

"Is your species regenerative or something? I mean good for you, but you could have told us earlier." Terry finished his sentence with a light chuckle. The female minotaur at the table shifted a bit uneasily and tried to hide a sheepish grin, which in turn got noticed by the squad leader. "Steel, you had your hand in this right?" He raised a bushy eyebrow.

"Yeah, sorry Terry. I just wanted to help, and I told him that favor from the boss requires a favor in return! It's not like I said everything will be fine and all your worries will wash away, I specifically said that the boss will have a mission for him if he wants that potion." She made her point, it is as said, she warned him of the danger and he accepted it without any hesitation.

"I should have known, no one likes to be bedridden for long and the idea of having all of your pain go away overnight almost seems too good to be true for some. But listen to me Melkor, what you have done is not something to be taken lightly! The boss is a strict man and he demands that all of his requests be met, if you fail your mission that is it, he will sell you off into slavery or have you executed for wasting his materials. The quest that will be given to you is going to be hard and will probably take time to complete. There is no turning back now boy, so you better pray that your task will be doable!" Terry raised his voice and increased the volume as he went on with his monologue, it seems that his own task left him with quite the impression.

"Wow, I didn't think about it like that Terry, I guess I was desperate to feel better... I hated the fact that I was chained to my bed while the guy who did this to me is probably off somewhere getting a reward. My sword got annihilated, and he threatened to kill my friend Jerb, so I guess my rage blinded me. Maybe it still does."
Melkor tried his best to sound sincere, the truth is that he actually didn't listen well enough to Steels explanation of the situation.

Terry gave him a look of understanding and patted him on the shoulder. "You're young and full of energy, revenge is something young warriors constantly think about, so don't blame yourself. The reason you had was valid to you, and that's what makes it the right decision on your part, no one else can make decisions for you kid. I also took the favor of the boss once, I nearly died back then but it also changed who I was. This quest will be a test of your skill, but also nourishment for you, it will give you room to grow. I do not doubt your skill Mel, and I have no doubt you can do it." He looked at the human with a melancholic smile and once again patted his back, before returning to his now cold plate of sprouts.

Mel then looked on the floor, a feeling of shame overcame him, had he thought about this more carefully he wouldn't find himself this deep in the shit. A few weeks of bed rest compared to a mission that could very well spell out the end of your life. Revenge wasn't worth dying, and the chance that he was to find his attacker is microscopic. His mind started to race and his vision became blurred. Thoughts about his situation started to shoot through him, growing darker and darker by the minute. What would happen to him now? Would he fail, and what if he failed? He didn't want to die or to spend his remaining days as a slave. His breaths became shorter, and his heart rate spiked.

A few moments later, after almost everyone had left the dining area, Melkor still sat there, lost in thought. A large sweat had built upon his forehead and his body temperature was almost at the point of producing steam again. It was almost time for him to receive his mission, what would it be?

A concerned black minotaur approached the human.

"Mel, is everything alright?" Raging War sat down beside his comrade, using the absence of his friends to get some time to talk to Melkor alone.
Our hero snapped out of his trance as he felt the vibration of War sitting down next to him.

"Hmm, what?" He asked quickly, turning his head frantically to the minotaur.

"You're not looking too good buddy, is it diarrhea? If so then you should eat-" War found himself surprised at the hand that clasped over his mouth.

"No it's not diarrhea you idiot," Melkor said, trying not to think about the subject, "I am just worried that I won't make the mission, and that I'll fail. I left Terry and Steel worried and I can't help the feeling that I let you guys down."

Raging war just gave him a look of sympathy.
"You know, I was the one who first noticed you back there in the desert. At first, I thought you might be a wild creature coming to eat us, so I instinctively tried to attack and murder you. When I found out you were smart and could talk, I was still on edge about whether or not I should trust you, I have had bad experiences with trusting people too fast. But I felt something when you pierced my shoulder with my blade that day... you had something that makes a warrior, you showed initiative and some unorthodox movements, and I respected you after that. But what really makes you great my friend, is your team effort, you plunged into that diamond dog camp with us and threw yourself in the fight without hesitation, willing to put everything on the line for a group of strangers that you've met in the desert, that is when you earned my trust."

He gave his friend a large smile and looked him in the eyes afterward. Melkor was a bit baffled that the guy could form such long sentences when all he previously heard from him were one-liners, battle cries, or insults.

"And what happened in the streets during your patrol was something that impressed many of us. You showed selflessness for a friend, you risked your life and fought like a madman just to help Jerb get out of there. That was the moment I realized trusting you is not good enough, you are someone I admire. After Steel told me what you have been through I was even more impressed by you Melkor, and I want to tell you, that you are a man I would be proud to call my shield-brother."

After finishing his sentence, Raging War took his jug and downed his drink in one go, it seems to talk this much had exhausted him as well as dried out his throat.

"Wow man, I don't know what to say except thank you... I didn't know you could be such a softie." Melkor punched the shoulder of his friend and gave him a big grin. This was a confidence boost he direly needed, he has indeed shown some weird mannerisms and behaviors to these people. It was very unusual to adapt as fast as he did, but for him, this was always something he'd dreamed about. Magic, adventure, and a thrilling life were all the things he longed for when reading novels and books back home.

'He's right, I can't doubt myself, I am not a small boy anymore, I am a magic-wielding mercenary, fighting in a land of criminals!' He slapped himself on both cheeks really hard and regained his senses.

It was like a train had hit him in the head and made him realize what a bitch he had been. He would pull this thing off, and no one would be able to stop him.

Melkor stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead, before turning to his friend War and giving him a sly look.

"Wanna spar for a bit?" He asked in a confident voice while giving War a look that screamed, come at me.
The minotaur responded accordingly and narrowed his eyes, a large toothy grin forming from his mouth.
"I thought you'd never ask."

This time, Raging War wasn't going to hold back at all.

Author's Note

A little relaxed chapter, and Melkor having to deal with some shit. Look forward to the next time, where we get a rematch between our eager human and a minotaur that will probably go all out this time!

Boss

A few moments later, Melkor and War walked outside to the H.D.A's training grounds, and they each stood at one end of the fighting ring and started to stare each other down like two starving jackals about to maul each other for some food. The makeshift fighting ring was filled with dried blood and stank to all heavens, the perfect place for a good old-fashioned smackdown.

The two of them had, of course, donned some heavy, padded sparring armor, and would only be using wooden weapons for this fight, to avoid any potential heavy injuries. It was rare to see the arena this empty but it was a Thursday, which is a rest day for most of the minotaurs, had to do something with religion but Melkor didn't really seem to care all that much, the minotaur customs were quite strange to him after all. The human thought that the outfits looked ridiculous but didn't complain, knowing that fighting without these might end with them in the hospital ward again, and nobody wanted that.
The sun was glaring down mercilessly today and Mel already had built up a little sweat from standing outside in that heavy armor, War on the other hand was fine and already doing some stretches to get himself into fighting shape.

The human followed suit, and though it was a nightmare to stretch in these clothes, he knew he should try stretching more often if he is going to go through with this lifestyle.
Back on earth he always used to suck at P.E and would always get an A for effort but a D for execution. But the week in this environment and the total lack of fatty foods, not counting the time he didn't eat anything, made him a little more fit. Not to mention that his body had also changed since he got here, with him now being more slender and longer than before. He didn't sport any abs jet, or any significant muscles in general, but the requirements for both were certainly there now.

"So, big guy, are you ready for a beat down?" A very hyped-up raging war shouted to his opponent. He was jumping from side to side, while also having a few practice swings with the giant wooden club he chose for a weapon. It was a sight to behold honestly, this mountain of muscle and black fur, clad in heavy training armor and holding an oversized weapon in one hand could be something straight out of a video game.

"You're the one that's going to get beat down, SUKKA!" Melkor now also began hyping himself up, jumping up and down a few times, and swinging his wooden sword around as he'd seen in all of the star wars movies. He began taking a stance that pointed his sword straight towards the minotaur, while also bending his right knee and extending his left leg forward.
Melkor was pretty calm this time, he had fought Raging War before and knew that he was slow but hit like a truck, so he just had to be swift and hit him in his weak spots. Being agile in these clothes would prove to be a rather hard thing, but War had the same problem to work with so it pretty much evened out.

"And remember, do not use your lightning! You can use that thing where you get angry if you want, makes it more fun for me!" The bull reminded him. Boasting as if he would win this battle if Melkor didn't rely on his magic. And he took that personally.

"Pfff, eat my ass you shit-talking cow! I don't even need magic to drive you into the ground!" Melkor proclaimed jokingly, but also very vigorous. If you looked very closely, you could see a small flame flickering in his hazel eyes.
The minotaur now grabbed his club tighter than before, and his trademark creepy smile slid onto his face again.

'Man this dude has a weird thing going on with fighting, next thing I know is that he's gonna be rocking a full hard-on every time he fights.' Melkor shuddered at the thought, fighting was cool, yeah and it gave him a thrill as well, but the way War viewed it made him just a tiny bit concerned.

Without much time to think about it, War suddenly charged forward, breaking into a dead sprint and coming straight towards him. Suddenly Melkor lost that easiness he had before, the guy was faster than before and if that club did hit him, it would be a very short match. He braced himself and readied himself to strike or dodge, whichever was more appropriate
His sight became focused on his sparring partner.

War came closer and closer, Melkor barely had time to react, as the black minotaur swung his massive club at him from above, creating a loud noise as it pushed through the air. He sidestepped ever so slightly to the left and barely managed to dodge the club, which now hit the ground at full speed and collided with a loud thud, kicking up dust around the area of impact.

'He wasn't this fast last time' Melkor thought and swallowed hard before having to dodge another strike coming from his right, this one just as fast and strong as the first one. Jumping back, the human felt a breeze as the club swung past him.
His comrade had a look of pleasure on his face as he continued the onslaught, but never once did he seem unfocused or like he didn't put thought behind every movement.

'So this is what he is like when he gets serious, I need to be careful.' Before he finished his thought a swipe from below almost made him lose balance, and he had to catch his feet. The minotaurs gaze never left him, and he quickly rushed toward Melkor again, seemingly getting faster and faster.
The next swing came from Melkor's left, and the human ducked down quicker than he ever had to before, watching as the wild strike went above his head. Now was the time to move, so he used his momentum and stepped forward before rising from his lowered position and thrusting at War's head.

The minotaur saw it coming though and tilted his head to the side, avoiding the attack and bashing the wooden blade away from him with his other hand.
Melkor stumbled backward and breathed out heavily, this was going to be harder than he thought. This time, it was him that charged, always keeping an eye out for that oversized weapon.
He barely dodged another wild swing and slashed at the minotaur's chest this time. The blade hit with a small smack, but he was met with a lot of resistance because of the heavy armor.

"You call that a strike?" War asked in a mocking tone, and cocked an eyebrow, "Maybe you wanna use that magic after all." He smirked before bringing his fist towards Melkor, catching him by surprise and hitting him in the face, sending him flying backward in the process. He hit the ground hard, and his face was in a lot of pain, the saying of seeing stars when being hit very hard was very much true as the human found out.

He had no time to wail though, as the minotaur quickly followed up with another attack coming from above. Melkor's eyes went wide at the image, his instincts took over and he rolled to the side, again, narrowly avoiding the club. He tasted iron in his mouth, it seems that punch had caused him to bleed a bit. He took the opportunity of his opponent missing to quickly stand up.

"No way am I gonna use magic, it wouldn't be fun that way." He said that, but his sentence was also interrupted by a lot of short and exhausted breaths. He took on the same stance as before and wiped the blood from his mouth.

War smiled and attacked him again, this time Melkor didn't dodge but he used the lighter weight and quickness of his weapon to strike the arm which the club was held in, causing the minotaur to stop his attack and rebalance. He used this and quickly followed with another swing, this time going for the back of the knee, which was mostly unprotected.
The wooden sword cut through the air and hit its target with as much force as he could bring up.
The impact wasn't as strong as he would have liked but it was enough to throw war off balance for a bit and force him on one knee.

Melkor now smirked as he saw his chance, War swung his weapon again, but without the support from his legs, the swing was much slower, giving our hero enough time to kick at his arm and stop the attack again. The minotaur almost fell and needed to rebalance again, but Melkor didn't give him the time to recover. The wooden sword now aimed for the head and connected with another smack, the impact this time could not be denied as you could hear a slight crack underneath the protective helmet.

Melkor quickly jumped back, not wanting to risk getting too greedy. He was also very exhausted, breathing heavily and fast, sweat running down his face and into his eye. The burning feeling inside his mouth became stronger, and his body grew heavy.

'Fuck this piece of shit armor, I hate it. I hate the SUN.'

As his opponent got up again, he noticed that there were a few minotaurs standing on the balconies of the building, watching and drinking all sorts of alcoholic beverages before noon.
'Seems like watching duels is a pass time here, figures. What do I expect from barbarians who eat sprouts'

His focus quickly returned to War, however, as he did not even need a full second to get back on his feet. The bull now grinned even wider, and in his eyes, there was a faint glow. Melkor didn't know how long he could do this anymore, he tried to read his opponent to see what he will do next, what he didn't expect, however, was for his opponent to throw his club at him.

Melkor didn't have time to dodge so he tried to block it off with his sword as best as he possibly could, there was a loud clank as the club hit his relatively small sword. The defense did not hold up well, as the impact still reached his chest, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to take a few steps back. Before even processing what had just happened, a blunt impact hit his stomach area. He never saw War sprinting towards him as his eyes were on the club, so he had no time to react to the punch that was now sending him flying backward again.

He gained quite the amount of airtime, as War finished his uppercut. The human landed hard on his back, leaving him lying in the dust, snapping for air.

The small crowd that had gathered now began to cheer and drink more violently, as this match seemed to be over.
The minotaur clad in armor looked down and his heavy breathing friend, perhaps he had overdone it, after all the lad barely had any muscles on him.

'Fuck this hurts, I'm gonna throw up. No, don't, keep it in. What the hell happened? I didn't see a thing'
His vision was blurred and his hearing was like being underwater, this clearly left a number on him.

'This asshole, did he have to go that far? Fuck him, fuck this shit! I need to get stronger, I need to fight!' His mind started to race again, this time with violent and furious thoughts. Time seemed to slow down as his thought process became faster.
Pain, embarrassment, humiliation, and weakness were things that ran through his head at the time. He couldn't focus on one thought as they all shot through his head and took turns being dominant. They had one thing in common though, they fueled his anger, seeping into his brain and unconsciously activating the seal that lay dormant in his body. It starts with a tingling in the head, then it goes through his limbs, the sensation getting more intense by the second, it felt weird but good.

The more he thought, the angrier he became, soon his blood started to boil and his breath became hot. His skin again took on the red hue and steam soon started to rise as the fury magic covered his whole body.
He began to twitch, as jolts of electricity shot through his body, making him assume weird poses on the ground before they clear his thoughts and he regains his focus. He was in control now, this happened before, this was nothing new, but every time felt so alien to him.

He rose to his feet slowly, his head hanging low until his body was upwards. With a quick motion, he now stared at War again, who had picked dusted himself off and picked up his club by now. It was an intense stare, one that would have little children scream for their mom. War returned with a stare of his own that he directed at the human, his eyes sparkling with joy. A feeling of excitement washed over him as he sensed the new threat of an angry Melkor.
He hadn't seen this sort of magic before, and would most likely frighten him if he wasn't so damn excited to throw hands with the human.

"Looks like you finally realized you won't come far without your rage." The minotaur gave a hearty laugh and smiled at his now literally fuming friend.

"Shut up." Melkor didn't say much, he didn't need to. His actions would talk louder than any words he could possibly think of.
The crowd had grown quite silent, you could cut the tension with a knife so to speak. If there was popcorn around here, I'm pretty sure it would be eaten by these guys by now.
The human leaped forward, creating a small shockwave and a large foot imprint on the ground that he launched from.
He was fast, much faster than before but that was a given in his current state.

War prepared to swing his club as Melkor flew straight at him with a cocked back arm.
He swang the mighty wooden tool with as much force as he could muster, reaching a speed that could barely be seen by the naked eye.

The human swung his fist equally fast and the two objects collided with amazing force, creating a loud bang in the action.
Splinters flew through the air, and both Melkor and War had been knocked back from the impact.
War barely managed to catch himself before falling by driving his free hand into the ground. His opponent had been knocked on his back again, but he quickly kicked himself up, before pausing and looking a bit dumbfounded.

"I did not know I could do that-" He said, pretty baffled. It's something he always wanted to do, he would definitely do that again when he had the chance.

BACK TO THE ACTION

Melkor scoffed and frowned at the realization of just how much that armor impended his movement, so he grabbed it in the middle and ripped it apart, and took off the helmet leaving him bare-chested. He took a deep breath and cracked his neck loudly.

"Hey, those are expensive!" Yelled someone from the crowd, breaking the silence.

"Sorry, I'll cover it!" Melkor responded, grimacing as he remembered he was pretty much broke after buying that sword.
He got back into position and started sprinting at his opponent, who had also regained his balance by now.
The minotaur also began sprinting, and they both clashed in the middle, the club was pretty damaged from before, so Melkor's first swing at it broke it in half completely, leaving War without a weapon now. He did not seem to mind though, as he immediately swung his fist at Melkor, hitting him in the chest. The punch had more force than the ones before, and even though he was amped up, hurt the nimble human quite a bit.

"You were still holding back before you bastard." He glared at his friend who was chuckling to himself at the moment.

"Of course, I didn't want this to be over too soon." He gave the biggest shit-eating grin ever to be seen by anyone and went for another punch, this time directed at the face.
His fist was met by that of Melkor, who by now wore a grin of his own.
War and Melkor then engaged in a flurry of blows to one another, their fists often colliding with audible smacks and crunches, seemingly increasing with speed and power as time went on. It was quite a spectacle to those who watched, both were very fast and left almost no opening to the other,

The crowd was now full-on cheering and excited, there were people making bets, and as I foretold it some had brought snacks to nibble on as they watched the two go at it.

A punch of Melkor managed to bypass War's defense and hit him straight in the liver, sending him flying into a part of the arena fence. The large bull smashed through the barricade, but even after that, he managed to pick himself up.
He was hurt badly of course, but it was in situations like this that he felt true happiness and ecstasy so you won't hear him complaining.
Melkor continued to sprint towards him, but War managed to dodge his first punch and countered by using the momentum to grab his arm and throwing him into the ground.

The human gasped as he collided with the hard arena floor, a widespread pain shooting through his back. He hit the ground so hard he even bounced a bit before falling down again. There was dirt in his eyes, and he was beginning to feel tired again, he had to make this quick now. He struggled to get up and looked at his opponent who was clutching the spot where he had hit him before. The guy was obviously hurt and didn't have that much fight in him left either.

He used the last of his strength to run at Raging War one last time, kicking up dust and sand with every step. The bull got into a fighting stance and swung a left hook at his assailant, who took the hit but didn't stop his charge.
Melkor's face exploded in pain as he was hit, but he powered through it, he could do it.
Using the speed he had built up, the charged-up man now plunged his elbow deeply into the abdomen of the Bull, knocking him back and causing him to spit up a bit of blood.
Melkor then prepared to deliver a finishing blow to his now-flying opponent. He jumped up so that he was above the minotaur and twisted his body, creating the right position for a well-placed roundhouse kick.

The kick shot downwards at high speed, hitting War in the chest and knocking him into the ground with impressive speed. There was a loud crack and a huge cloud of dust sprang up as he made contact with the floor. He was very lucky to be wearing that soft padded armor.

Melkor didn't have the time to land gracefully so he fell and hit his shoulder, again knocking the wind out of him. He now realized that he had spent all of his energy and the magic again drained from his body. There was as per usual, a lot of pain, but this was not even comparable to the last incident. He didn't scream but there was a fair share of groans and pained breathing. But all of those noises were drowned out by the crowd having the time of their life and going wild over the match.

The human took quite a while before he could stand up again. Looking at War confirmed that he was still conscious and laughing his ass off like there had been a good joke.

"I gotta tell you, that was amazing Mel!" He groaned once in a while between laughs, but it was clear that he enjoyed this more than the pain hurt him.
He stood up and sat down next to his friend, who was still on the ground and breathing like a dog.

"How.... are..... you still this talkative?" He coughed a few times, and tried to regain his breath, "I just slammed you into da ground, my guy..... you went all boom!" As hurt as he may be, Melkor has still got energy for jokes.

"Oh no I definitely felt that, and I gotta say you pack a mean punch. The armor did help to absorb the impact though...if I didn't have that, things would be worse for me." He then coughed up a bit of blood, which landed on the ground before the human. "Just ignore that. I'll say we call it a draw" he smiled at the human and extended a hand to him.

"No way man, I beat your ass! You ain't got.... nothing on me...." His sentence was followed by a lot of coughing and reeling in pain.
"Alright fine, draw." That got a chuckle out of his friend, who now helped him stand up.

"That's what I wanted to hear! So, how about I treat you to a drink?"

"Sure, that sounds grea-" His sentence was cut off by the sound of a lot of minotaurs going to one knee. Looking up he realized they were all bowing, sure the fight was great but he didn't expect this kind of response from the audience. His thoughts were then interrupted by War following the example and going down to a knee. Melkor was confused, what was happening?
He looked around and saw that a large double door leading into the training grounds had just opened. And something was coming out, something big and lizard-like.

The creature looked almost like a komodo dragon but with yellow color and black spots all over its body. It was also much larger, and by that, I mean really huge, maybe twice the size of a saltwater crocodile. The thing had six legs and horns on its head, Melkor almost would have freaked out if he hadn't remembered that such things were probably common around here.
He just continued to watch in awe as the thing slowly crept towards his and War's position, almost carrying itself with a form of dignity.

As it came close, he noticed a relatively small figure on its back, clothed in fine blue robes and all sorts of medals around the neck. A hood covered their face so he couldn't make out more detailed features.
Melkor felt chilly, the air around him almost seemed to grow colder by the second, he dismissed the thought, thinking that it was just him being nervous, who wouldn't be?
He swallowed hard, why was everyone bowing? Is this a bad thing? Is something bad happening right now?

The lizard stopped to a halt a few meters before him, and the figure climbed off. They were quite small, about the size of a cat person he had met, so they reached his chest area. As they got closer, he noticed that he was not just nervous, the air was indeed getting colder, he no longer felt the sun burn his skin, rather, he felt actually cold.

The figure took off the hood, shedding light on the mystery of who it was that the minotaurs bowed to.
The hood gave way to light grey fur and piercing purple eyes before him stood a delicate female minotaur, smaller than any he had met, but also with an aura that would make someone feel uneasy if they were in the same room as them.
She had a pretty stern look on her face, but in all honesty, Melkor couldn't take her that seriously, she looked like a child compared to the others, he would even go so far as to call her 'cute'.

"Is it not custom to bow before one's superior in Menkaind?" She asked with a certain coolness in her voice, she seemed calm, relaxed almost. Melkor had now finally grasped that this was not a random child but probably an important person around here, so he blushed and mentally slapped himself for being an idiot.
He now bent the knee like his fellow brethren did, looking towards the ground, and trying to hide his shame.

"I am deeply sorry milady, I did not wish to offend you in any way." Nice, he worded that in the most pretentious way possible, if he was not a manchild cracking jokes, he was a bootleg knight.

"Milady?" She then chuckled for a bit. Her voice was actually quite nice and calming, not at all like the gruff and booming voices of his co-workers he had become accustomed to.
"No one has ever addressed me like that. Everyone calls me boss, you will do so too, of course."

'Of couuuurse she is the boss! Sure a noble lady or an aristocrat or something, but the boss of this band of cheese dicks, really?'

Melkor couldn't help but wonder how someone so small and delicate could actually be the leader of a hardened Warband, but he dared not ask, this chick gave him the heebie jeebies.

"Of course boss, I will do as you ask." He kept his head lowered, not daring to look her in the eye. He knew a mistake or one wrong move could end with him being 'human flambee' by the end of today.

"Good, at least you seem to possess a tad of intelligence. Your name was Melkor right?" She lifted his head up with a gloved hand, and then looked straight into his eyes. He didn't manage to croak a word out, as his heart was pumping really fast and for the first time in a long while, he was actually nervous. Instead, he decided to nod.

"What an interesting thing you are...." She almost seemed to trail off, looking deeply into his eyes and looking at the rest of his body. "But that is not the reason I am here, you have received my favor. I trust you know what this means?" She asked smoothly, her voice caressing his ears in an unnatural way. This was all kinds of wrong, this girl gave him all the wrong vibes.

"O-of course boss.." The nervous human managed to croak out, "You will give me a task, and I will complete it." He managed to say his last sentence with a bit more confidence, not sounding like a total fool this time.

She finally let go of his chin and began to smile.

"Good boy, I have the perfect job for you."

'Oh fuck'

Author's Note

My longest chapter yet, and I'm pretty satisfied with it, I have found new inspiration and now actually know where I want to take this story.

I really wanted to do a rematch between Mel and War, without the latter holding back. Let me know what you think in the comments :pinkiehappy:

Lord of the Sands