Awakening

“Mister John!” the female Gnome known as Lask called after the Gamer when he left the tent. Despite being so small and having such a softness in her words, her voice managed to carry quite well as John quickly outpaced her. She tried to run to catch up to him, with her little dress fluttering and flipping about when she kicked it as she ran, but unless John slowed or stopped, she couldn’t follow him in her outfit. Thankfully, he didn’t get very far before another voice called out to him. One that actually made him stop.

“Alpha…” It was barely louder than a whisper but familiar enough that John stopped for the Orc while **** and mage alike rushed after the man who was no longer bedridden. “Get off me,” Mub grunted as the healers from the tribe and Bulgebottom tried to pull him back to bed, shoving their hands aside as he limped over to John. One of his arms hung limply and the skin was so dark that John had to look away as the Orc approached, but turning his head only brought his attention to the herd of Gnomes, Dwarves, and Goblins following after him. “You are alive,” the Orc stated, and John gave him a silent nod.

“Tyrea…?” John asked, and when he was met with silence, he had to pull his gaze back to the Orc long enough to watch him shake his head. The Gamer barely managed to fill the silence that followed by speaking up as quickly as he could. He had to get past the solid lump that formed in his throat when he tried to talk after that, but he figured that rushing through the conversation was probably preferable to actually addressing it. He didn’t tear up and cry. He didn’t break down. For the most part, he just… he felt like it might not have been true. Mub didn’t seem like the type of person that would lie to him about something like that, but he couldn’t dismiss the thought that it was wrong regardless. If it was true, Mub and Tyrea had been close, and he would not have blamed the Orc if he had been mad. “I’m… sorry.” He swallowed, but it didn’t help to remove the feeling he had that something was blocking his airway. “You have to rest, Mub. Let the Gnomes heal you.”

At the mention of possible help, Mub growled loud enough to make John jump and take a step back. He looked up at the glaring, one-eyed face of his tribesman, and nearly backed out of the conversation before the frail warrior tried to attack him. Fortunately, the Orc didn’t make a move. He just stood there and growled. Eventually, when blood started to drip from the bandages covering Mub’s torso, John stepped forward again.

“Do… Do you trust me?” he asked… and watched as the Orc slowly allowed himself to nod. Something about the idea that Mub actually trusted John surprised him. “Then believe me when I tell you that the magic they’re trying to use is not the same type that made the Hallowed. It…” he stopped himself before he finished the next sentence. Even with his mind drifting off to think of Tyrea or Urga, John found himself barely conscious enough to not say that the Gnomes were trying to help the Orc. The tribe had traditions for refusing help when it came to recovering from battle, even from their own people. “... It’ll make it so that you can heal on your own enough to keep your arm.”

“Let us aid-” Ms. Lask started saying before John whipped back around to face her and let out a growl of his own.

“I’ve got this,” he snapped as she tried to accidentally imply that Mub needed help, and watched as the Gnome recoiled away from him.

“I-I was just…” He turned away from her stuttering form as quickly as possible to try and lessen how much he was intimidating the small Gnome, but the action had already been done.

“My Lady,” Kennedy interrupted her the second time. He gave her a small reassuring nod and a smile and held her gaze for a long moment, refusing to blink or turn away. It took a couple of seconds, but eventually, the Gnome woman seemed to catch on to whatever it was that Kennedy was trying to silently tell her and relaxed enough to step back into the group with the rest of her fellow noblemen and women.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter how much Ms. Lask had said. Mub didn’t care about what kind of magic it was. It didn’t help if the result of the spells would help him or not; if it came from magic, then it was wrong. The idea of someone using it even to help him caused the Orc to let out a soft growl and shake his head.

“Magic is magic. I-” he started, and John barked loud enough to make the Gnomes around him jump at the sound of his voice.

“Magic is fine, Mub!” he snapped, and watched as the Orc’s eyes widened… and then hardened into a sharp glare. John immediately returned the look with a growl of his own and set one of his fists aflame. The sudden flash of light ripped out a chorus of yelps from the immediate onlookers, but the Orc refused to even flinch. “If you do not let it happen, Mub, then I will put you to sleep until it is already done.” Mub didn’t even hesitate. As soon as the words left John’s lips, he had already started forming fists of his own… except only one of his arms obeyed him enough to do that.

“Is that a challenge… Alpha?” the Orc growled, and John watched as the Orc straightened up to try and be as tall as possible. The effort that went into doing just that caused beads of sweat to begin pouring down the Orcs face as he stared John down… but he wasn’t able to keep it up for long. Eventually, the Orc stumbled and fell against a nearby tree, dragging all the servants and Gnomes who had been trying to help him down with him and growled as he slid down into the dirt. Mub’s face paled suddenly until his skin somehow seemed more white than green for once, and John stepped close enough to hold him in place before he gave a curt nod to one of the nearby healers. “No!” The Orc barked again. “Magic is-”

“Magic is already in you, Mub,” John grunted as the Orc pushed back… and swallowed when he realized that the warrior nearly pushed out of his grip even while in such a weakened state. “It’s in the blood of every Orc. I noticed it back when I first met the tribe.” There was a beat of silence as the man turned to look at John… and then shook his head. He opened his mouth to argue with John, but the Gamer was quick to cut him off. “You would not have survived the fight with the Hallowed if you didn’t have it.” Again, Mub growled, and John continued interrupting him. “That thing that makes your heart race and doubles your strength… that makes you move so quickly that it hurts you, Urga used that against me when we first met. That comes from magic, Mub.” Once again, however, that only made Mub fight back harder. He shoved John’s hands off himself and began to stand up once more before John snapped at him again.

“Damn it, Mub! Do you really think I won’t knock your ass out to help you after what you did to help Dofi and Urga? Lay down!” he snapped, and when Mub opened his mouth to argue again, John reared a fist back to finally hit him. “Now.”

“I didn’t help Urga,” Mub grunted and blinked, and John stopped. The Orc’s face softened slightly as he spoke. “I couldn’t get to her, Alpha.”

“When I found her… she was standing amongst the dead already. It was too dangerous to even get close.” The Orc paused as John fell back onto his ass and his head dropped, and the Gnomes around them went deathly silent… or perhaps the Gamer just stopped hearing them. “I tried, but… I had to leave her there with the bells.”

“Wait…” John’s brow furrowed. “... ‘the bells?’ What?” Mub only nodded.

“It was a part of her field of bodies, Alpha. There were bells for every arrow she had fired. I couldn’t get close enough without her shooting me too… no one could. She saved herself, Alpha.”