The Bigger They Are

Mikuru looked over to where Tanya and Miho came from to see an angry figure slowly walking towards them. Her vision, blurry from the hit, was still able to make out the frame of the hulking orc slowly made its way towards the three girls and still caged harpies. The orc had his massive maul in his right hand. The weapon was the size of a carriage but still looked a bit on the smaller side in his hands. The monster of an orc smashed any barely alive orcs it saw crawling on the ground while quietly saying “Weakling” with contempt in its voice.

“Must...stop…” was all Mikuru could get out as she weakly used her magic to try to disrupt the earth under the orc’s large feet. The minor disruption to the ground beneath the orc’s feet did cause it to stumble and fall to its knees. The orc easily got back onto its feet and saw Mikuru’s hand fall as she could no longer hold it up and cast the magic. The orc was able to put two and two together and knew she was the cause of the shift in earth. It let out an angry roar as it picked up a boulder and tossed it at the three girls and harpies. Mikuru closed her eyes as she knew what was able to happen. I am sorry I failed you, my king. I never got to tell you that I truly do love you. Perhaps in our next lives, I can be honest about my feelings.

Mikuru waited for the impact to happen for a few seconds but did not feel it. She opened her eyes to see the boulder floating in front of her and the orc in the back with a confused look on its face. The boulder then zoomed right back towards the orc. Right before it would have hit it, the orc bashed the boulder with its maul, causing it to shatter into pieces. It was then that Mikuru saw what caused that to happen and she weakly put on a smile before she closed her eyes again. My hero. My...love...

“You hurt my women. I will not forgive that,” John’s mechanized voice said. The orc turned to see John, clad in black armor with a cape flowing behind him, thanks to the wind blowing through the mountain. The orc charged at John, the ground shook as the creature's feet slammed into the ground. John just stood there, not afraid of the mountain of mass that was barreling towards him. The creature raised its maul up high, ready to strike John down when it got into range of him. John merely raised his hand up and flicked his wrist. The orc suddenly went flying into the side of the mountain, part of it collapsing on top of it.

John made his way over to where the girls and harpies were at to make sure they were all ok. Right before he was able to reach down and check on them, however, a loud roar was heard behind him. John turned around to see the giant orc free itself from the rubble, clearly enraged. It bashed its maul against the ground and then charged at John. John slowly walked towards the monstrous orc as it continued its charge towards him. The creature had its maul raised, ready to strike. John, once he decided he was far enough away from the girls and harpies, stopped walking and just waited for the orc to get to him.

Once it was in range, the orc began its attack as it swung down towards John. John remained calm and with a quick movement, simply drew his lightsaber and cut off the attacking arm. The orc yelled in pain as it grabbed its now stumped arm. Its cries of pain did not last long as John jumped over the creature and cut its head clean off mid flip, the head landing on the ground beside its feet. The body teetered for a moment before it fell to the ground with a loud THUD.

“John…” Mikuru weakly said as she saw the orc fall and John standing behind it, with his back facing them. John heard the meek words and turned to face her and the others. He quickly made his way over to everyone.

“Gali will be here momentarily to heal you all,” John said as he took off his helmet. “That thing got the best of you?” asked John, who seemed surprised that the three lost to the orc.

“Miho and Tanya were fighting the orcs,” explained Mikuru, “I was freeing the harpies. I broke the lock when I was hit by the two,” finished Mikuru.

“John, need help,” Miho said between rasped breaths.

“Where does it hurt?” asked John as he moved to Miho and began to press parts of her body.

“AAAAHHH!” screamed Miho as he touched her ribs. “There! It hurts there!” said between tears.

“You may have some broken ribs. What happened?” asked John.

“I-it grabbed me as I flipped over it and slammed me into Tanya. Then it grabbed us both and threw us at sis,” she told John between pained breaths. “I’m sorry I failed you,” a saddened Miho said to John.

“You fought long enough for me to get here. Rest now until Gali can get here and heal you,” John comforted Miho as he patted her head. A smile spread across her face as she felt John’s hand on her head.

“I gots the birds free,” Tanya said as she opened the cage and let the harpies out. “Ya’ll stay here till the elf gets here,” she told them as the harpies slowly made their way out of the cage.

“I’m here, my king!” Gali said as she made her way to the injured groups. She quickly looked them over and began casting healing magic. “My lord, their injuries are great. I do not believe they will be able to help you any more. And we’ll need a guard to protect us from any potential future attacks,” Gali pointed out.

“You are right, Gali. Miho, Mikuru,” John said as he turned to the two, "you'll stay here and be healed by Gali. Tanya, you’ll guard them. There should be enough dead bodies for you to make some zombie soldiers for assistance,” John told his girls.

“Of course, king,” Tanya said as she moved towards the battlefield and began to raise the undead as guards. Meanwhile, John turned to the harpies.

“Listen well, your princess, Idena, is down this path. Any that are healthy and able to move, go down with her. She will protect you there. Any that are injured, stay here until Gali can heal you, then move down to the rest. I shall continue towards your nest and end this, once and for all,” John told the harpies, who said nothing but nodded at him. There was some slight whispering as he turned to head up the mountain, in which John was sure he made out Idena’s name.