And as the men slowly comprehended the scale of the loss, Nal'zuk inspected the remains of the plundered settlement, and as he walked through the grassland, he saw a dry pine in the middle of the field where the villagers tried to escape during the raid.

  The tree was completely withered, void of a single green needle, and as he approached it, he saw the bodies of the men impaled on its branches, tied together with a rusty iron chain, as the meat hooks held their twisted limbs pinned to the wood.

  Their faces were massacred and torn, their guts spilled open, and their bones broken. Some of the disfigured corpses were beheaded, and their heads were impaled on the wooden stakes around the tree. Among the men, he saw many corpses of women and children, charred and burned like black coal, with their forms disfigured by the blades. Their wounds told the tales of violent deaths, much like their shocked faces, With their mouths gaping like their staring dead eyes, he saw a half-torn flag of the Kingdom that waved on the wind above the pine. As he approached, he laid his hand on the still warm forehead of one of the corpses, and he could hear one of the men gurgle the blood, seemingly still alive, and some of them still twitched. Witnessing that, his heart was filled with ecstasy, as he could see the world change before his hand.

  He turned around towards his guards, unsheathed his sword, and yelled,

  "The reign of men is coming to an end!“ With a growling voice, he swung hard towards the bodies as his blade ripped through the neck of one of the corpses, and the fresh head fell on the ground.

  A couple of moments later, the warchief reached the town, and he could see his forces plunder what can be plundered, from food and other resources to slaves for exchange for troops. And among the ur'glun scavengers there stood Morkaag in his thick black armor, with his enormous sword still bloody from the battle before, and around him a couple of dead guards with their helmets caved in and their shields shattered.

  "So what do you think, brother?“ The large ur'glun questioned as he leaned on his sword and held a plundered mug of ale in his hand, with a small barrel under his foot.

  "Good, add that to your count, Nal'zuk replied.

  "That's not what I am talking about, Nal'zuk! We should pick the strongest and largest of the ur'gluns from your armies, forge thick armors for them, and equip them with heavy two-handed swords, and I'll lead them into battle to break the human formations and make way for our hordes!“

  Nal'Zuk was quite surprised that Morkaag actually had a strategic plan; it was easy to forget that he was more than a simple brute, as he was a leader of his clan for many years. And the large ur'glun approached the warchief and said,

  "It wasn't hard to deal with the militias earlier; they were made of the poorly trained village guardsmen, feeble! A simple charge was enough to break them apart and overrun them, but our new foes are much more organized, trained, and equipped, and their formations are not as easily broken.“

  "I agree with your plan, brother!“ The warchief replied,

  "Send a scout to the ruins of Lindenrow to inform the smiths!“ Nal'zuk shouted with a sharp, commanding stare and walked away.

  In the meantime, the argument could be heard from Alwin's tent in the human encampment.

  "Eleanor! Put that rapier down, and that mask too! Before someone sees you like that!“ Alwin yelled, and the girl replied,

  "Our forces have suffered heavy losses; the ranks need to be filled with replacements for the men that fell.“ She proclaimed seriously as she stood in the middle of a tent while wearing her dark blue cape with a hood almost as dark as the night skies, her white mask, and a sword in hand.

  Alwin groaned, "I should have listened to the bucket man.“ He thought, as he walked aimlessly in a tent, contemplating what to do.

  "I knew it...“ Nogryl told Henry while they sat near the tent and overheard the conversation.

  "It's too late to do anything now...“ Henry replied and sharpened his blade with a whetstone.

  "So you think we should just let her do something dumb and get herself in danger?“ The knight asked, and his friend replied,

  "I am simply aware that we cannot stop her.“ After he spoke, he stood up and inspected his blade before sliding it into the leather scabbard, and with boldness in his voice, he proclaimed,

  "Don't mind the girl; the fate of humanity is in question, and there is only one person that the prophecies have named our savior, Lead us all into victory.“

  "I don't believe in such tales, a dying priest's last words that named me a savior, allegedly spoken by Xorael himself? Man could just have been out of his mind."

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  "And what about the men right here that believe in you?“ Henry shouted with ire in his voice.

  "The state simply wants them to believe I am nothing but a word used to raise the morale, Henry. I am just an ordinary man like the rest of us.“ Norgyl spoke and looked around, and he saw the armies of men on the field, resting, drinking ale, and chatting with the others, seemingly unaware of the situation around them.

  "Don't lose hope, Nogryl.“ The young man replied and walked away in the distance.

  "Many men have succumbed to their wounds in the camp; we must have some spare armors somewhere.“ Henry thought as he walked through the camp straight towards the commander's tent, and as he approached it, he could hear the conversation inside:

  "We have lost most of our cavalry; they could attack us at any minute!“ A nervous advisor yelled with a fright in his voice.

  "Enough!“ Lord Anedel shouted before clashing his ironclad fist against the wooden table. But before he could listen to the rest of the conversation, Henry was stopped by two of the guards that protected the tent.

  "Hey! What are you looking for?!“ One of the guards questioned him, and both stood in front of the man, blocking his path.

  "A spare armor“ The young man replied.

  "Don't bother the commander with such nonsense! I'll lead you to the storage.“ One of the guards replied, and the other one nodded, and as soon as he did, the guard started walking towards a nearby tent.

  "Here, Take what you need to replace; if it's damaged, talk to the smiths. The old guard proclaimed and went back to his position. And as Henry moved the heavy piece of linen that covered the tent entrance, he could see a large amount of wooden boxes inside, and some armors and swords that were scattered around, some beaten and dented, some pierced by many arrows, and some shredded with thousands of cuts and stabs.

  "It must be here somewhere." He thought as he rummaged through the armors of those unfortunate enough to leave them behind, and he managed to find a light chainmail hauberk that belonged to one of the slain archers.

  "This one is perfect, slightly larger than needed, but at least it's not too heavy." He thought to himself as he grabbed the armor and walked towards Alwin's tent. And as he walked, a thought crossed his mind:

  "She's not even large enough to wear proper armor, and I am helping her to join the battlefield." The man thought, but then he remembered what he told Nogryl long ago after the battle in the ur'glun cave and what it means to be a hero: to give a life for the cause willingly.

  "Perhaps everyone deserves their chance to prove themselves,“ he thought. And as he walked towards the tent, he realized that Nogryl and Alwin had their own conversation outside, and he managed to pass inside unnoticed. And inside the tent he saw Eleanor sitting on a rug with a resentful frown on her face with her arms crossed, still dressed in her dark blue cloak.

  "Eleanor?“ The young man said, and she shifted her attention towards him.

  "You came here to scold me and to teach me why I should not join the battle, right?“ She questioned with bitterness in her voice. And as he heard that, Henry approached closer.

  "No, I am here to ask you an honest question.“

  "What is it?“

  "The dark times are upon us; humanity needs more heroes. Are you willing to give your life in battle against Nal'zuk's dark hordes, to fight the evil for one last time and perish eternally?“ And as he questioned,she proclaimed,

  "Why do you think I am here, silly?“

  "Good enough. If that is so, I want you to have this.“ He handed her the chainmail armor. And as she grabbed it, the armor unfolded in front of her, revealing a number of iron links woven into a chain, intertwined and connected into the hauberk.

  "It's quite heavy; hold it for a second!“ The girl said, after which she dropped the dark blue cape to put on the armor that was visibly oversized for her, but the leather belt held it around her waist, and the rest of the links hung down, almost reaching her knees, and her sleeves were a lot wider than needed.

  "It is supposed to cover only the upper portion of your body." The man stated with a smile and handed her the cape from the floor, and Eleanor took a leather strap and tied it around her arms to hold the sleeves in place before she draped her cloak.

  "Now nobody could even tell I'm wearing armor", the girl proclaimed and inspected the new addition to her outfit, but as Henry turned around to walk away, having his quest accomplished, Eleanor placed her hand on his shoulder and asked,

  "But what about you? Are you ready to give your life for our cause?“

  "Yes, of course I am." The man replied.

  "Then we shall charge into the fray side by side.“ Eleanor stated before Henry nodded and left the tent.