The Rift
I awoke in a dark cave. My body was half soaked in
water, with my hands hanging on to a
rock. I could not remember what I was, who I was, or
where I had come from. I stood
there for hours, thinking, wondering, looking at the
walls of the cave, with a few glowing
mushrooms providing enough light to see a rough
outline of the place. Finally, when
nothing came to me, I decided there was time for me to
do something. I looked around
but there didn't seem to be any kind of exit. I let go
of the rock and dived under water. I
swam to the bottom and looked around. there was a
tunnel to my left. Other than that,
there didn't seem to be anything. I came back to the
surface, took a deep breath and
submerged again. I swam straight for the tunnel. After
about a minute I came out on the
other side and swam for the surface. I looked around,
and there was nothing but water in
every direction. A piece of wood floated by. I grabbed
it and climbed on top of it. Part of
a metal inscription was left on it, which said: "SH O
TH DA ED". I did not understand
what it meant, and watched the sea untill the sun set.
Then I fell asleep.
I was awakened in the middle of the night by
terrifying screams. I got up and looked
around. In the distance I saw a huge ship made out of
bones. The cabin was a huge skull.
Orcs swarmed the deck, drinking and eating. I felt
dizzy and my vision clouded...
...I awoke in a village. Screams were heard all around
me as the village burned. Orcs
and minotaurs were killing everybody in sight. I had a
sword in my hand and was fighting
my way through the slimy bastards. I chopped off two
heads before some of the orcs
noticed me. They all charged at once, and everything
went dark"
I looked at the ship. Suddenly the noise stopped and
everybody was looking my way. I
panicked. The ship changed course towards my "raft".
They started screaming again, in
their hellish tongue. I could not understand them. The
finally came close and two orc
grunts jumped on my raft and grabbed me. Somebody from
the ship dropped a rope
ladder. An orc took out a staff with a skull on top of
it and hit me in the head. I knew no
more.
I looked at the ship. Suddenly the noise stopped and everybody was looking my way. I panicked. The ship changed course towards my
"raft". They started screaming again, in their hellish tongue. I could not understand them. The finally came close and two orc
grunts jumped on my raft and grabbed me. Somebody from the ship dropped a rope ladder. An orc took out a staff with a skull on top of it and
hit me in the head. I knew no more.
I opened my eyes. A beautiful woman was sleeping next
to me. I had a cold wet cloth on
my head. I looked around. I was inside a strange cell,
with rusty metal bars keeping us
prisoners, skulls and rotten meat were everywhere. The
only thing that provided any type
of light was a torch on the wall. A short old man with
a huge white beard slept across
from us. I slowly got up and went for the bars. I
poked my head through them and looked
around. There was a long hallway, filled with bones,
and cells similar to mine everywhere.
Far to my right, an orcis guard was sound asleep,
scimitar in hand, ready to kill if he had
to and, maybe, ready to kill whether he had to or not.
I went back to sleep.
"Wake up sleeping beauty..."
I saw the woman smiling at me. She got up and brought
back a bucket full of water.
"Sorry, that's all we get."
"Where are we?" I was not happy. I was getting a
strange feeling that I was in extreme
danger.
"Orcis juggernaught. We're prisoners." she replied.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"You must have lost your memory after the storm. First
time I heard about it happening to
an elf. Anyway, I'll try to explain it best I can..."
She put her hands on my head and closed
her eyes. I tried to stay conscious but she pulled me
into a strange world. We were on a
beautiful opening in a forest, with flowers and trees
everywhere. A small spring lay next to
us. The woman who was previously wearing a dirty
travelers' cloak now wore a beautiful
white dress. "This is Silvermyr. My home. I know not
exactly where you come from, but I
know what you, me and Thunder Maul must do."
"Who's Thunder Maul?"
"The man you saw with us in the cell. He's a dwarf."
"What's a dwarf?"
"A short race for a start. Most of them are fat,
greedy and have long beards. And they
smell like beer. But they're sturdy, work hard and can
be counted on to be very good
fighters. They are also very good smiths and create
many wonderous things. Not as
amazing as your own high elves do, but still, very
good."
"Why are we here?"
"We were not informed very well. The high elves, wood
elves, and dwarves up in the north
are being sieged by great and fierce beasts. Great
wars are being waged upon the
invaders even as we speak. Our great leaders believe
that a mysterious gate was opened
and brought the invaders in a place where we expected
no attacks. We were taken by
surprise. Both dwarves and high elves suffered great
casualties. My people were spared
the blood only because they had to get through the
high elves to lay siege to Sylvermir.
Fortunately, it did not happen. We were sent to locate
the gate and try to close it. I know
not your real name, nor Thunder Maul's. We were given
new names depending on what
we do best. Your name was Wind. Mine is Shade."
"So you know nothing of my own past?"
"No. We embarked on a fleet of ships, to be taken to
the great dwarven citadel of
Drak-Dum. A storm forced us to strange lands. We were
attacked by roaming undead and
all that survived were sent off to die at Bane's
citadel. Orcs however destroyed the
undead ship and we were taken prisoner. We were afraid
you were lost."
"I must have fallen out."
"Shall we return to our cell? Thunder Maul must be
worried sick to see us like that"
There was something about Shade's story that was not
right. I did not know exactly what
at the time, but my suspicions would soon be proven
right.
As we came back from the vision, we saw the dwarf
drinking from a mug and singing in a
tongue we did not understand.
"Yes, he's worried about us. Worried sick."
"Whealchom back! Orcis ale anyone? It may taste like
piss, but at least it's good piss"
"Uhh, no thanks. Anybody have any idea on how to get
out of here?"
"Elf not go anywhere."
I turned around. The orcis guard was looking at us.
"Chieftan wants woman. Him said elf make good mating
partner. Him want to create new
race: magic orc. Chieftan very smart. Chieftan set
deck on fire to light our way."
We looked at each other. Shade looked terrified.
Thunder Maul started laughing
histerically.
The orc was getting impatient. He said something in
orcis, and the bars disappeared. He
grabed Shade, rematerialized the bars, and left.
Thunder Maul went on with his drinking. I
looked at the exit of the hallway and saw that flames
were creeping into it. I cursed at orc
stupidity, grabbed Thunder Maul, kicked the mug out of
his hand and smacked him.
"We don't have time for this!"
"First time I see an elf smack somebody. But nobody
smacks a dwarf!"
Thunder Maul punched me. I barely felt it, but the
punch sent me flying into the bars. A
web of lightning formed and I blasted through them.
The dwarf started laughing.
"Elves make good mortar bombs."
We ran outside. Orcs were screaming in terror and
running in every direction. The chieftan
had tied Shade to a pole and was tryuing to take her
cloak off. Instead of using the button,
he tried to rip through a mithril cloth that was
enchanted by the elf queen herself. We
stood and watched in amusement for a few minutes,
untill Shade saw us and yelled at us to
do something. I jumped and to my surprise flew
straight into the chieftain, knocking him
back and nearly sending him off the deck. Thunder Maul
cheered and went for Shade. He
ripped off the ropes that bound her then charged the
chieftan. Two orcs came at him out
of nowhere, scimitars in hand. I almost lost my head
when the chieftan charged me from
behind. I jumped up and remained suspended in the air
above everybody. The cheftan
looked up and threw his blade at me. He missed and I
let myself drop with a kick. The orc
flew back and this time he did fly off the deck.
Thunder Maul was sitting on one orc's
head, while holding the other one up with one hand and
punching him in the face with the
other hand. The ship started sinking. Fortunately, an
island could be seen nearby. Shade
steered the ship in its direction and we waited,
hoping we would get there in time.
