The filth ran from him. Even now, cornered as he was, the craven human had found new and innovative ways to escape consequence. Using a distraction, the man had slipped into a portal and away from the reach of the orc through a portal.

  The orc nursed his broken knuckles, courtesy of the girl that lay dead at his feet. Thoughts came slowly to him even as the rage poured through him like white water rapids. Eroding the stone of his already cloudy mind. It shouldn’t be this hard to think. It wasn’t this hard to think. What had the man done, what had… What had he done!?

  The orc raised his head to the air and roared. It was a glorious roar, a roar of pride. Pride in himself. Pride in his people. Even as those concepts began to leave him.

  What was happening.

  He stared over the horizon and what he saw filled him with something primordial, something wholly unfamiliar. It wasn’t fear of course, it couldn’t be, he had never felt fear before and now was not the time, he decided what he felt was unease. Unease as he watched the world unravel, strings of earth flowing down into nothing. He had nowhere to run.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  He stared at the closing gateway. He must chase that man. He began to move toward the gate but his legs refused to answer him. His rage was failing him, and he looked back for just a moment and saw the world behind him disappearing. What left his mouth next wasn’t a roar of pride, but a scream. He grabbed for the dead girl and in that moment he felt something, a prick of energy emanating from her. It was desperate just like him, and it wasn’t going to die here.

  With a final burst of strength the orc leapt for the girl's body, landing atop it and trying desperately to seize a power that he didn’t understand and the power reached for him too. As the void came to consume them both, they met, and in a blinding flash of light, they were gone.

  The orc awoke in a place that was not his home. He felt different, but he didn’t have the words to express it. He reached for his memories but they eluded him. He only felt the anger he had felt before, like a bubbling well at the core of his being, a volcano ready to erupt at any moment. He looked around, allowing his gaze to move over the lush greenery. He had been in a place like this before, that much he knew, and it felt bad. Without questioning the instincts that drove him the orc began to walk, feeling weight disappear from him as his broken armour sloughed off his body. He didn’t stop to pick it up. After a long walk he stumbled upon a break in the treeline, and in that break was a town. And as he took his first step into this bizarre place he felt his legs buckle, and he fell into a deep unconsciousness.