《Overlord Fall of the Dwarf Empire》


 Chapter 1

    The destruction unfolds without further ado, it has no harmony, there are no orders that are worth anything, nor logic or common sense, they are stupid mercenaries who want to kill, they did not ask themselves why or why they were paid to invade a forest that nobody cared about before, they would receive money for objects that the night elves kept, for the ears of their enemies, for the heads of their leaders, and I made sure that this was not easy!


    I can see the panorama from all sides, inside the forest the huge mushroom stalks hide enemies and allies, the reports they read or shout in a hurry give me strength to keep hammering in the forge, the shields are coming out little by little, the armor with rivets and their helmets are made imitating my techniques, They are not even close to what I can do with a bit of iron, but at least they are not only protected with magic resistance, there is a +5 defense against physical damage, but I can hear the screams of agony of the dead, of those wounded with the belly opened by a sword or with limbs cut off by axes, But more than that, I hear the screams and curses of those who entered unknown territory, full of ambition for the prize, not distinguishing between the various creatures that sought refuge here, not only because it was a forest where, as a manticore, it would not be attacked, but because there was magic there, magic that they had not felt in the plains, For creatures limited to their physical strength, to be able to use magical fire, petrifying wounds, poisons, not to mention camouflage, it was understandable that they would try to defend this bastion, and they did defend it, I am sure of it, this is a dream.


    My body tenses as I admit the fact, I know what is coming next, I don''t want it to happen but there is little I can do, suddenly I felt a terrible amount of magic released, then something unpleasant, sick, something had happened, the Dark Lord didn''t want us to accompany him, we couldn''t go if we expected to find people alive when we returned, Lilith was in charge of whipping the enemies into desertion, if necessary she could kill many, but she prefers them not to fight, I prepared and repaired the armors as soon as they were brought to me, but Lilith''s scream, her magic field expanding so quickly, blocking the way for all those who did not have skills above +10 magic resistance, seeing how many of the enemies were thrown out of the forest, something similar to a feeling of admiration for the enormous power the succubus queen had, but I did not have time to celebrate, if the previous dreams were correct, now it begins.


    It''s a fire, it burns from the belly, the wailing, he accuses me of killing people, of killing his children, I scream at him, I tell him that they were evil fugitives in the guise of the sacred, that they killed and harmed everything that nature had given life, not to mention the creatures the elves had created, While this is happening he shouts that I am being punished for denying it, at that moment I see everyone, the dead, the living, take a breath, I run to look for the Dark Lord and a human crosses my path, a very slow sword, without thinking, without seeing it well, I throw a hammer to the solar plexus, not very strong, I don''t want to kill him if possible, I don''t want to kill it if possible, maybe it''s a novice, I don''t know how, but the hammer breaks its ribs, I can hear it with terrible clarity, it''s louder than the screams of an offended god, than the beating of my heart, then in the middle of this silence a groan, guttural, the creature hadn''t even fallen, it lifts its sword and I see it doesn''t have the other arm, An arrow in the neck is something that dwarves do not appreciate in a human who is 50 centimeters taller than them, I cover myself with the shield, the sword bounces without problems, but I felt the blow very heavy, more than the one that could have been given at that speed, but it is not the only one, the screams have gone from attack to terror.


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    From then on I don''t remember much, nothing of the organizations, the defenses, the evacuation of the troops, the hundreds of fallen warriors, the countless corpses that rose from their graves, not only of this battle initiated by greed, but of centuries of dead species, of elves that were destroyed by their fellows, of species that no longer existed on our continent, if not for the shields of the fortress and the fact that many of the elves began to climb trees, only I would have survived, Though in this dream the god Phaladine is careful to make me wish I hadn''t, he shows me all the skeletal claws coming out of the ground, all the men and women being attacked by their dead comrades, me running like crazy, not looking to see if I can help anyone or anything, I''m just a little black glowing lump, he doesn''t show me my battles, I''m sure he wants me to feel bad, so all the blood, all the agony is shown to me, it''s so much suffering that I want to wake up, but I don''t, not because he''s keeping me in the dream, but because I''m looking for answers.


    The sun hits me behind my eyelids, it''s a beautiful morning, but I can''t appreciate it, I have only one wish, I curse this god of justice, then I drink from my wineskin and the wine diminishes the taste of fear in my mouth a little, the nightmare (which is not such, because in reality I pass) is diluted a little with the dawn, I''m close to the mountains, thanks to Lilith I can leave the castle (I use a kind of shield that repels the undead within 500 meters), I would have liked to go after the wolf clan that left all the humans traveling with them as cannon fodder, But I could not do it, not after the messenger who arrived before we sent our forces to destroy all the undead in the area and recover the villages that had been founded, reached my ears that a very wounded dwarf was in the southern part of the castle, He spoke, but no one understood his language, when I went to him, he was suffering on a bed at the entrance, his armor was a mess, his words in dwarven were not understood by the elves, he kept saying "bring the leader of the wolves, or the elves, we are dying in the mines. .... the dead are destroying us, without saying a word to anyone, I left the Alcazar, I recognized the inscriptions on the armor, tracking I found other companions of the fallen, some were already getting up, I had to eliminate them, give them a rest, further back I found the cargo, they brought more than forty ores of black iron and several magic amplifying jewels, a mineral so expensive and so rare together with all these precious stones could only come from the mines where I was born. Even though I wanted revenge for my son''s death, I could not let all those poor bastards die without a fight.


    At least I didn''t leave without good news, our lord was alive, badly injured by the battle, at the moment he hadn''t regained consciousness, but the succubus queen was already taking care of the matter, learning magics that could eliminate those scum instead of crushing them into a bloody mass, I am ashamed to admit it, but Lilith will be a much better support for the dark lord, I use the ores to teach the elite elven warriors to prepare their armor, to put an iron bath on the enchanted wood, to have a better chance against what awaits them, I load some supplies, and finally I leave for the black mountain, home of those poor dead dwarves, my home of birth.

 CHAPTER 2

    As soon as I feel the sun I wake up, thanks to a little practice we can ask for help to the trunks of these mushrooms to cover us and provide camouflage while we sleep, the dark elves are not entirely magic users, but we have a closer communication with all magical creatures.


    While I check the surroundings for a dead or an enemy, my eyes notice a small figure, it was very well hidden in the night, so much so that I reproached myself for not having seen it, I looked for my cajac to try to give it an arrow between the eyes before it advances any further, the creatures that attacked us are like that, very trusting, we have made them pay dearly for their mistake, just at that moment a shine is reflected in its armor, it is not like any other, I am sure I recognize it, it belongs to the one who saved my life.


    A few nights ago my team was eliminating humans, they are not very smart, in a dark place only idiots wear black, the black stands out in the black, we were the first hunters of the dark elves, the armor was made of leather to not be heard and to keep us fast, our arrows had claimed more than thirty enemies when chaos broke out, several bodies began to rise, It didn''t matter where they were, how many pieces were left, if their entrails were still hanging, at that moment we weren''t afraid, not yet, but I saw mine fall, by the hands of the bodies of enemies and allies, the shadows made them terrifying, some humans joined and fought against them, I was ready to leave them when I saw myself surrounded by the enemies of my enemies.


    Several corpses were close by, in these places it''s stupid to use a bow, I took out a cutlass, it''s not as good as the one the humans bring, but it''s sharp, with one slash I cut the throat of the closest one, I only feel a wet impact, the head falls backwards, but the enemy is still behind me, the others are close by, I can hear their gurgling, They are not speaking, nothing I recognize, slowly but surely they surround me, my unit has turned them into pincushions, they all managed to climb the trees, at least I hope so, I yell at them to stay there, there is no point in losing several elves to save one, although that one was me, then I heard it.


    Today he looks small in the light of day, but at night, between the screams of fear and the confusing orders, his voice echoed through the forest: "Get away from where you are! Wizards, what the hell are you doing? creating these aberrations! "I immediately saw explosions left and right, some were from the human mages, more flames than heat, but here and there, as if something was zigzagging forward, a bolt of lightning, an intense red glow, crackling sounds produced by someone with incredible strength made me think of some level ten mage, some ancient elf who suddenly took an interest in the maces, but what I saw was something else: A dwarf, his eyes were fierce, his movements were determined, he was running, towards the castle, but in his step he was eliminating, everything that came out of the earth was returning to it by means of his blows, his one-handed hammer was too small to make the noises he made, but when he swung it, it seemed like a huge gong rumbled, the creatures were thrown away while they were on fire, I could finally see the dwarf, he was one of our dark lord''s allies, his black armor was dented and some scales were floating around him, his arms were shaking from the effort, his face was sweating profusely, but his expression was not one of fear, he was the only one without fear, he was angry.


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    The rest of the night I coordinated the retreat to the villages closer to the castle, when the resistance field was activated by Lilith (another of her allies) several of those creatures were expelled that allowed us to load all the wounded, that dwarf, no one knew his name, was a deathbringer that brings death, so I was told by those who hurriedly carried the people, but I saw something different, I saw a protector, all the retreat he defended us, the miles that were left when we finally crossed the gates of the castle, He didn''t say anything, he didn''t ask for a single reward, neither food nor water, he just withdrew, everyone was happy, we survived a huge catastrophe, even some thought it was a magic of the Dark Lord''s allies, I didn''t believe it, Inside the walls I saw my people and some animal allies, everyone had fear painted on their faces, no one could believe that we made it, when our leader told us that this was not the work of the Darklord, I went into despair from fear, would we fall before the elves again? Would we be slaves again?  The unanswered questions swirled around me.


    The following months I hardly saw him, he was always silent, when he was accompanied by Lilith or that beautiful phoenix who serves the succubus queen, I did not have the courage to accompany him, then I was sent to the night guards and I was denied the opportunity to thank him, today, when I arrived at the shelter, it took me a long time to recognize him, but I must tell him what I feel, he is someone so strong, so important, he saved my life and that of my companions, he cannot leave like that! Like an outcast, at that moment I see a small speck of black light that comes to me, it is a tiny phoenix, I put my hand so that it can sit there, but it transforms into a feather, it is a message, "go with him," the female voice booms, "in your post we left food and drink for a long time, be his shadow, Help him and you will help your people" I couldn''t believe it, in fact, after searching a bit in the shelter I found some saddlebags with dry food and two rune lamps, I don''t know where he is going, I don''t care, I owe him my life, as a team of the Hunter Clan I will honor his help and follow him, to the end of the world if necessary!

 CHAPTER 3

    The path is slow, tiring, my arms tremble as I tighten the hammer, it''s not that I don''t have the strength to wield it, it''s just that I need the rage and my fatigue disappears, this particular enemy needs my courage, he''s one of the walking dead of the steppe wolf clan, elite among their ranks, He couldn''t stand against the arrows of the dark elves, and now because of that damned opening in the elven citadel, he stands there with a tenth of the speed but more than twice the strength, he must not stand a chance, no matter if there is a cure, if the Overlord manages to fix it, this idiot must die!


    My hammer smashes into his knees, shattering them, he falls face first, just enough to hit the side of my shield, it cracked, it was beautiful, he was dead again as he fell, and when I noticed that, tiredness overcame me again, I''m sleepy, very sleepy, my eyes are burning from exhaustion, but I can''t sleep, not with this damned god ruining my rest, even in the best of physical condition it''s exhausting to face him, now at the limit of my strength, with more than four hundred undead or whatever they want to call them, burned or torn to pieces behind me, with few provisions, carrying the weight of my tools and a few ores, I feel like I''m living in a walking nightmare.


    The first ten hours were no problem, a few enemies, dispatched, reach the shelters of Lilith, where humans continue to feed succubi and incubi according to their tastes, stock up on food, another two days of walking, eliminating, dodging, dozing, there began the torture, still asleep and half deaf to the cries of the God of Justice, I can hear his feet dragging, now I faced not only the few who arrived inside the forest, these days I face every warrior, every mercenary, every elf, every beast that did not survive the attack of the Lich King''s army, I manage to get up, the anger overcomes me because they have denied them their eternal rest, I finish them off and end up only a little more exhausted than the last time, but I do it again and again and again, I am at my limit, I need sleep, some protection, something.


    After another day of wandering, I keep finding the remains of the convoy, it must have been big, with pain I saw warrior dwarves that I also had to eliminate, I am convinced that they did not suffer, at least in my hands nothing like that happened, all their pain they lived in the hands of other unpleasant beings, Finally I see the exit of the forest, I think that to the south this forest is even bigger, but I begin to see how scarce it is little by little, just before the exit to the plains, I see another cave like the one where I took refuge long ago, at the beginning of my adventures.


    It is small and made of clay, perhaps it served as an outpost for human hunters or species of the same size, after knowing the Nagas I don''t want to think that it belongs to them, but a glance convinces me of the lack of hair, as well as scale residues or odors typical of some of the many magical species that surround or live here, With great economy (partly due to physical and mental exhaustion, but above all due to anticipation) I introduce myself and immediately the murmur of the forest fades away, no doubt that I am a little big, it should be a cave of provisions, but with the ones I carry I could hardly fill a few cubic centimeters of it, and they will be even more reduced since I have not eaten for almost ten hours.


    My stomach growls at the scarcity of food, a little dry bread and cold tasajo are food, I have only two wineskins left, so I drink water that I got from the last stream, sad, I long for a beer, the same that I cannot get even if I could, I should not if I want my revenge, before I fall asleep, several thoughts shake me, even a few shudders bring me out of the stupor and I fall asleep again.


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    The dream I have is similar to the others, but its end is the one that wakes me up, knowing that I can expel attack magic as an unconscious measure against the onslaught of the "good" god, I have stored everything in bundles of lava lizards, so I am not in a hurry to find myself with coal from my tools or something, but no matter, not after the words of that stupid god warn me:


    "Your revenge, if you want it, awaits you in the north, your brothers in the south, you can only choose one of them, I predict that if you choose one, I will personally see to it that you lose the other forever.


    As I search for the damage I could have caused, I notice the circles of heat that marked the cave, the clay creaking as it cools, it is obvious that I have slept almost a day, the sun hits me in a sunset between the large mushrooms that today are the trunks of a forest that is only a shadow of what its inhabitants had, only this time they will defend it.


    As I leave the cave, an aroma distracts me, it''s delicious! Meat, vegetables, broth, someone was cooking an animal stew (I could not tell what it was by the smell) at the top of the cave a pot bubbled in the heat of the cave that I held as if it were a stone oven, around the cave a handful of undead lay, an arrow between his eyes and several sword cuts betrayed that they had not come to die, someone took care of them.


    A whistle distracts me and immediately I feel the air, my scales could take care of it, but it is not the intention, so I raise my hand and stop the arrow with my hand, while the hammer hangs from the strap at its base, I see a tip with blood, they had used this arrow before, before it came to charge my runes, I realize that I could not have stopped this arrow before, not with the intense fatigue I had, so someone was watching my back, anyway I could only do something while they decided whether to be friend or foe, I drop the arrow and yell "I''m going to kill you! I drop the arrow and call, "I''ll drink this stew, if you want I''ll share it with you, it wasn''t very nice to use me as a stove, but a few bites of food will cover the payment for my work," they don''t answer? Perfect, with one hand I hold the mace, it''s already loaded, with the other I take the cueco (wow, it''s hot) and take a few sips, waiting for, I don''t know, a strange taste, something that would indicate the use of poison, but a few seconds later I forget the caution, it''s delicious, it''s a rabbit stew, of a quality I didn''t know before, its seasoning is soft, but still I can identify many complexities, a real meal to identify who prepared it.


    Just as I start to see the end of the pot I feel another arrow on its way, this one I don''t even dodge, it comes loaded with a +2 magic missile, but that doesn''t work against my scales, at a signal they detach from the shoulder pads and start to float, waiting to intercept, they do it well, the scale that stopped the arrow didn''t even suffer a dent, but it still doesn''t finish the impact when mine goes, the hammer comes with tremor impact magic was originally, but this time it goes together with one of speed and one of resistance, The impact hits the trunk where the arrow came from, a high pitched scream sounds and a very well camouflaged figure falls, I approach without haste, it''s a dark elf, I can''t judge well but he looks young, several bags hang from his shoulder and a miraculously intact bow, I know I have to respect them because that''s what the darklord wants, but if he tries something stupid again I''ll have to kill him, since he''s one of us it will be a quiet death.


    By the time I get to where he is, he is already incorporated, he checks his belongings and decides that he will be able to dedicate some of his time to me, he turns his face to me, a face all smiles and brightness in his eyes, "I am Moon''s reflection, his greatest admirer! I will help you on your journey" Maybe it wouldn''t have been so bad to kill her before she said those stupid things.

 CHAPTER 4

    Little by little these night elves imitate me, under the moonlight the runes shine softly, they mark themselves on skull and spine, those who still have skin remain tattooed and dry, those who are only bones mark a chain on the withered whiteness of their bones, this is graveyard number twenty, only humans, most of them died during the first raid, Most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid, most of them died during the first raid


    The magic of the runes is not difficult, but it does require magical power, it is to trace your will, line by line, no matter what language, it must only be understood to fulfill its purpose, I write in human, the elves in a vulgar variant of their own language, trace over this contingent while I do the same in their leader, a small human, by all accounts quite intelligent, that is important.


    After two exhausting hours we are ready, at my command all the elves begin to charge the runes, they are basically instructions to his body, information of who must obey, their souls trapped after the reanimation of these bodies begin to enter, they look at each other in horror, some feel what in other times were cheeks, arms, eyes, it is time, I spoke first with the soul of their leader, he agrees, so I proceed to activate my own runes, his body rises with ease, although he lacks an arm that we can not find "! Few remember how they died, it was too much of a surprise, but if they remember the shouts of command, they all assume a vaguely firm position and he strolls between the ranks, picking up weapons and placing them in his decrepit hands as he shouts:


    "Men, we have fallen, the war now being fought is not as stupid as that for money or prestige, it is for honor that we fight! "The few human refugees from the plains and even some who escaped the massacre where we perished are nearby, this terrible looking lady has granted them a place in this forest to farm and survive, but they cannot do it alone, the hordes of agents of the King of the Dead are coming to kill them, the runes they see on their skin and bones is what keeps us from rising up under their orders, from killing and eating our own, let''s take this opportunity! Let''s give those stupid dead a taste of why we are the best of the tundra wolves...what do you say?"


    I don''t stay for the cries of loyalty, it''s disheartening, their troops actually wanted to flee, but the runes we carved into them are more of an affinity for their fellow man, something those vicious tundra wolves never had alive, when we found them they were ransacking a bloody Coin Warrior supply wagon.


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    When all the reanimates are armed and on patrol, the dullness hits me, in this week I have raised dozens of them, now that the elves can imitate me they will take care of the rest, a defensive circle of humans defending their own, this maneuver did not please our lord, but he admits it is the best, saving as many villages as we can, We bring them here, we give them territories and skeleton warriors to protect them, in exchange they cultivate, and when the human soldiers come to overthrow us, they think twice when they see that there are no slaves or anything like that here, it is a delaying measure, since the real evil is still out of my reach.


    The Alcazar still looks imposing, even though the siege weapons have hit it once or twice, I knew little of this, the leader of the dark elves was in charge of the defenses during the terrible week I spent healing the Darklord.


    I arrived half dead, the phoenix did not look better, I spent days and nights healing them, healing physical and magical wounds, the potion prepared by the darklord restored my magic but not my concentration, so I had to stop several times to reread data on medicine, magic, control, I even wrote some that now serve as a basis to fight the corruption spreading throughout the continent.


    At the entrance a phoenix feather awaits me, even when he asks me to give him a name I do not dare, he is a free being and I should choose a name for him, but he assures me that he will serve me faithfully, even to death if necessary, which he almost achieved by saving my master, the message is funny, he is a relaxed being when he does not have a mission, still the message is not encouraging, my master continues reading.


    When he was able to integrate, he began to read everything he had not reviewed before, then he went down to the underground libraries where he first found these miserable elves imprisoned by their cruel masters of the same species, now he visits what he calls the "reality of the dream", it always worries me, I wish that before reaching the library a very strong aura is noticed there, his magical field is so intense and at the same time so delilcado that he is able to use it so delicately that I do not feel it, Even with my field surrounding me I have to be very perceptive to feel that someone is here, when I enter I see him floating, he is still asleep but still reading and learning, these are books that cannot be opened under normal conditions, to do so would only find blank pages, they were among the things the dwarf king left in his tomb, so they had not been plundered, but in these realms with the right strength and knowledge it is possible to access a whole world of knowledge from eons ago.


    I let him be, since the lost battle against the lich and the queen of chaos he has thrown himself into a feverish search for a way to confront the dead king and eliminate the threat of the rift between realities, he barely sleeps a few hours, the rest of the time he reads or rehabilitates himself to regain a strength that I did not believe was possible in humans, let alone those with the injuries he suffered.


    Something wakes me, it''s an intrusion, a big one, it''s so strong that it makes my field wobble, I barely keep control of the shield that keeps the undead and some of the weaker humans away, after five seconds the presence calms and stabilizes, it''s the shield of someone I wouldn''t stand a chance against, it''s anger, hate, So concentrated that I have to clench my teeth to keep from screaming, I run to its source, it is in my lord''s chamber, when I enter I can''t believe my eyes, on the floor an elf, an elf of the ancients, equipped as an assassin, armed with hundreds of protections and a sword, dead, a hole in his chest where his heart used to be, standing next to the body, the darklord with a wound that has torn out his eyes!

 CHAPTER 5

    Most of the books are far beyond my knowledge, not for nothing the elven race is one of the oldest, the books that appear before me are like a huge puzzle, I fit a letter, an intention, an emotion and little by little books that only exist in dreams begin to give meaning, many of them are just trash, ceremonies of the pinnacle of snobbery, imperceptible movements that only those who read the same book would know that it is a person more intelligent than others, what do I say intelligent! Refined is the word, they were absurd battles of gestures full of pomposity to demonstrate who had been able to read the books that indicated the excessively complicated gestures, every book was like that, they were not a waste of time, but the difficulty of reading them entailed the information that could be obtained.


    This was my fifth book of the day, I still could not move so fast after the fiasco in the sacred lands of the high elves, I can still see his face, that mixture of smugness and self-sufficiency, difficult to achieve in a dead body, but every corrupt part of his being was flowing, the demented smile of my beloved, before opening from the center, before being consumed, turned into the door from which the minions of whatever possessed her began to emerge, fragmented images, pain, decision, my decision, to use the ultimate magic, I don''t know what I did, how we got there, if I fed it, if I actually died a few times, but one day I woke up within the walls of a typical elven building, I was in the closest thing to my home.


    The weeks were difficult, walking, moving, breathing was painful, the healing magic always worked on me, it''s a gift those damned gave me, they didn''t want me to die without accomplishing their goal, but the attack I launched, the one they stopped and returned to me was different, it wasn''t designed as a force, it was designed to disintegrate life forms, he wasn''t alive, that''s why he stopped it, that''s why he returned it, that''s why my weakness, This magic breaks down the cells, little by little, the healing magic heals but does not return what has been lost, one day I lose a little stomach, another day a little liver, they heal me but it is difficult to guess when the damage will continue, the dispel magic does little because it is inside my being, it is not an external effect, when I think of the damage I could have done to my beloved with this magic, I guess it is just a payment.


    Lilith ran around looking for a book that could help me, not knowing how to read at all and less elven runes, the necessary magic was unknown to her, so between the tortures one day she left a blank book on my table, while I was delirious I fell into a dream and saw it, full of texts, things I did not know that the elves did, frightened I examined it with fascination, It took me all night, but in the morning I asked her where she had found it, she told me that in the dwarf tomb, only at that moment I could understand the extent of the perfidy of my former masters, the dwarves did not read elven, less sleep runes as I have decided to call them, however the gifts that these beings made were useless things for those who gave, but useful to keep their rivals of the discoveries away.


    After some futile attempts I managed to find some special magic, it was painful but worth it, I cut a little where the enchantment still affected me, I think it was the intestines the first time, then on the bleeding flesh instead of healing like the healing magic does, I made tissue regenerate, unfortunately the information was not in a single book, Three months after I started this, almost all of my body is free from the effects of this forbidden magic, but the pain has turned part of my hair gray and hundreds of wrinkles, I could not use anesthesia and I was the only one who could do these incantations, the pain of reciting them while cutting myself with magic makes me grimace even today.


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    The books come with various macabre explanations, some must have been written by the madman who let these hideous creatures in, he says they are misnamed "Creatures of the Mark of Chaos", they are ancient, very ancient, they seek chaos, destruction and pain, in any order, they are mad and their leader even more so, they seek normal environments to pervert them (I don''t want to imagine how perverted a world like the one we live in today can be), But he is not looking for that, I know, someone capable of achieving what some writings define as the king of the necromancers, I doubt that he just wants to plague this continent with madness, he must be looking for something, the reason is far away, months away and he is so close to his goal, but if he did not cure me I would be dead by now.


    The book I deciphered at this moment is about the customs of elven beauty, anyone would give up if they thought it was rubbish, I was on the right track, but here is something about long term regeneration magic, something like healing every two, three or five seconds for almost ten minutes, that''s enough to finish a fight with some certainty that you will still be alive at the end, the last letters are slowly but surely being adjusted, just at this moment I feel the air being cut off, I fall from my floating position, no time for niceties, someone is attacking me!


    I can barely hear his clothes, I know I shouldn''t open my eyes, if he could penetrate the magic fields, the dead and the animas, I''m sure human eyes would be easily tricked, the amulets he carries are priceless, none of the military elves ever used them, they probably belong to an assassin, but for an assassin to possess them, he must belong to the elite of the elven king, not the stupid ones who live around here, the real stupid ones who took refuge in the sea.


    My sword is far away, a meter away, enough for me to die if I put out my hand, at least I''m wearing my armor, so no vital organ will be affected, another whistle, very soft as silk when it falls, it''s at my neck, I use the arm guard to stop the stab, instantly it disappears again, I''m conscious, I can''t talk to anyone, even less if I want them to stay alive, I have few alternatives left, I''ve just kept retreating, I don''t know how much time will pass before it attacks my skull or some place I can''t defend, but at that moment I realize, a stab shouldn''t have so little power, it doesn''t matter that with a sword it feels more penetrating, it''s obvious it''s using a knife, it doesn''t smell of poison (a way to hide its presence) I cross my arms over my face, leaving my eyes exposed, I have the magic ready, the connections are made, even if I miss it it won''t matter, it will be for the best, I open my eyes.


    I force my mind to ignore everything it sees, the moving visions, the aberrations, whatever it is that makes my eyes tell me I''m in a hundred realities with enemies everywhere, that''s just an illusion, expensive charms indeed, just as I feel my eyes burning, I knew I''d try! I load my hands with magic and close them like scissors, I hear him scream, but he is not the only one, too late I hear the scream of Lilith, maybe he came to see me at night like so many other times, looking for me to rest.


    Before I turn around I make sure my eyes are fine, not the ones that burst because I knew they were the price to pay, a bitter laugh comes from my chest, "you see -I tell Lilith - now I am the true Darklord" I look at the world with my new eyes, An arrogant bastard lies on the ground, I expected to see an elf, but he is a human, his face is tattooed with the logo of the Wolf Clan, so they have allied themselves, in their petty greed, humans have agreed to ally themselves with those who have brought them to the brink of extinction.


    After a few moments of reflection I finally turn to see her, without enchantments, without any magic, these eyes allow me to see the beings in their pure form, as they were originally and as they are now, superimposed, an innocent girl and a voluminous she-devil, there is nothing to think about what I should do, first I must talk to her, I must choose my words, they call me Overlord, yet after tonight''s events it is clear, I need help.

 CHAPTER 6

    The thrift shop tells me when it was, you would think these bastards would have some qualms about buying novice clothes as well as their staffs, but the truth is no, since this war broke out, since the elves returned with words of peace some time has passed, the city subsidizes those who want to start as healers or priests, But even if they have free level one courses, even if they have baggage are only three out of ten who reach level five and even fewer who excel to become guild leaders, most end up like this one I''m looking for, they bought them for a silver coin equipment paid by the city council around 50 silver, as they did in their missions, I know, I did better, but wow I know.


    I find the first one back at school, he is no good to me, he will only go to learn more things, he probably had a group that went on some simple mission, he did not win anything, all the time they harassed him if he knew how to heal or not, they forced him to heal the animals they hunted and then killed them and demanded him to revive them, this boy is stupid, he will learn more but never the important things, his self esteem will never return.


    The second I find him in a corner, the traders of this area have sold him something, he is in a kingdom from which he will not return, they did not want witnesses, so for his coins they gave him the most devastating thing, that which would take them to where life would be less hard, maybe they were beaten, raped on the way, even if I heal them they have nothing to do in this world.


    I see four of them walking through the square, they walk with their wooden baculos, no cloth armor or anything, they just walk with anger, stomping, it is certain that they were elite, they were probably assigned to guilds where they were insulted, despised, they took their share of the reward, they will demand their rights from the guild leaders for having healed and protected their people, I pass them by, I will find them dead or drugged in the dock tomorrow.


    The one I am interested in, I see him in a bar, he is drinking with determination, the firm determination of someone who is looking for an answer, someone to tell him that everything will be all right, he is not wearing clothes or weapons, he just sits there drinking his hope, his dreams, the limits he could not cross, He was probably just overwhelmed, he knew he couldn''t ask for justice, he didn''t have the strength, the influence or the knowledge to achieve it, he was brooding, he knew he had chosen the wrong profession, a profession with no future, no power to defend himself, just to be the bitch of every guild he joined, he is exactly the type I need.


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    I go to his side and don''t say anything, it would be pointless, it''s very hard to pull someone out of their self-absorption without consequences, I want his first impression of me to be useful, so I stand up and yell:


    "The mercenaries feel so brave against the priests, don''t they? Why don''t they come against me, cheer up if their beards don''t itch under their skirts!"


    I would like to see his face, but I don''t have the time, some barbarians have risen, looking for a fight, these guys don''t need culture, they don''t want to think, they just want to satisfy their anger, I just whisper to him, so he can hear, "Would you like to be a priest capable of this? "Then I activate a shield, they all smile, they know I''m a priest, they know that a shield only withstands as much damage as it can maintain its magic, even if it withstands a lot of damage the maximum activation time, some hit amused to be able to do it without charging the furniture, these are so brutalized that they don''t notice the effect of the shield, now with a calm that I don''t feel at all I say, "the staffs are not only used to conjure, I hit the two closest to me and they collapse without a sound, the funny thing is that the others think that my blow was so devastating that when the repel effect does the damage, it does not bounce back to them in the form of targeted hits, but their whole body takes damage (this is limited to the power of the user, but at least returns two out of ten damage), just as my shield is about to fall, I activate my second magic on this one, I call it wholeness.


    Thin layers and layers of solid magic cover me, a little less confident, two more approach me, a grimace on their lips tells me that they feel the effects of the damage they tried to do to me, before they warn anyone I knock them out, most of the unruly ones are gone, there are only two left, One looks hesitant, I put a light sleep on him, his body looks like it ran out of bones and fell to the ground, the other had wasted no time, he threw himself at me, his two-handed sword struck my chest, everyone expected to see blood and guts, but his sword slipped on the surface of magic, breaking one of the twenty-four layers of magical protection, his look was one of anthology, then I shouted, "watch out citizens of storm hammer, the priests are no joke, we are warriors like everyone else, we will fight by your side and against you if you underestimate us, stop attacking me, You don''t understand what''s happening, brute, of course everyone ran away, everyone except him, the priest I came for, who came to the tavern looking for answers, I came to give them to him, he just looks at me, I ask him "do you want to learn" I pay the bill and leave the place, I don''t need to turn around, I know he''s following me. ... one more for the priest troops leaving the sacred branch and joining the new disciplinary branch.

 CHAPTER 7

    Doubts swirled in my head, it''s obvious that I''m going to follow this guy, covered as he is by the hood I can''t see his features, but for the mere fact of having stopped hooligans similar to the ones who did this to me, the ones who attacked me, I''m definitely going to follow him, I need to be able to defend myself.


    We continue through the wizard district, it''s a bit impressive with all the trinkets for spells, most of the quests looking for animal or plant parts guarded by enemies are bought by the wizards who process and sell them to soldiers as healing potions or to blacksmiths and even to hunters and assassins, The intense fumes of this guild mix with the less elegant fumes of the alchemists, but we are far from the priest zone, we go to places used only by the poor, nothing so different from the house where I live, when I turn a food corner I see a large half-built house, I think this is where we arrive.


    As I pass through its doors I hear the murmuring, it is not like in the healing classes, here they are not all in chairs, there are no armchairs or blackboards, in all the rooms there is a priest in robes and on the floor there are several people dressed very similar to me, in each room I hear different things, "It is important to know the effect of magic on you," said one, while from his hand came a holy whip of good thickness and manufacture, "do not forget it is not necessary to invoke any god, because they do not know the body of those you heal or defend, you should only learn not to kill while healing" that was not strange, it is one of the first lessons taught, but my guide says nothing and only leads me to the backyard.


    When I go out I see ten little boys, not more than thirteen years old, all raising sacred shields, in front of them boys or older gentlemen throw stones with hands wrapped in bronze gauntlets, the stones bounce instead of falling due to the absorption of movement that is characteristic of the sacred shield, after twenty throws the shield disappears and the boys run to remove the gauntlet of those who threw it, showing bruised hands and in some cases a very misplaced finger, immediately healing them.


    "As you can see, life and training are very useful for us, but only for those who receive these benefits, for us, those who are always one step away from exhaustion, those who are always looking for ways to repair damage by blunt weapons, by cutting, by claws, teeth and poison, for us a painful climb to nowhere awaits us, We will always be the necessary sheep in the missions, useful when it can carry, when it can give us its fur, but also useful when it wants to collect its share and is sent home with a kick in the ass, or even worse, it is devoured right there, I am a high level Gamal priest, I assist in category A missions, my rewards are the ones that keep this place running. ... oh, and I''m the head of the new Healing Magic branch, any questions? "


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    Of course I have doubts! Before I knew it, I began to tell him about my life, what made me follow him, all the time I had been living, watching my parents barely pay for our miserable life, when I found out that they were subsidizing the Healing Magic classes, that the profession of priest was the most sought after profession in the guilds I joined, we all did, Only to discover the stupidity of the weakness of my skills, after much suffering we eliminated a band of vermin in the dark forest, just started looting and everyone said that as a lv1 priest I could not ask for any reward except those of a priest, no money or anything, I would get my reward in experience and some trinkets.


    I discovered a golden chest behind some stones, I warned everyone to distribute it to show that despite everything I was a member of the group, only to receive murder attempts by the team members, all for a priest medallion that gave +10 Spirit, his promise said that it corresponded to me, but something like that would be sold in almost a gold coin, I saw it in their eyes, Greed had blinded them, but I did not join the priests only because of my devotion to the healing of my people, I was a member of the gangs, I fought every day, in the slums is the best way to contribute something to the house, adults have bad jobs and poorly paid, we young people depend on what we can steal from others, so I could defend myself against their attacks, The whips of sacred magic do not attack humans because they consider them friends, but I healed myself, I hit and ran, fleeing after eliminating a horde of goblins, now I was fleeing from my companions, those who shared bread and wine with me, so much I ran that without noticing mine began to be surrounded by more goblins from another village, Then began what took me to the bar, everyone as if it was a joke started telling me "come on we were just joking, why don''t you be good and heal us while we kill all these little monkeys and then we''ll go have some beers" I just started running, I was a little ahead of them so I could hear their screams of pain while a much larger number of enemies began to eliminate them.


    I could have saved them! They could have won if they had not been beaten by me, tired of chasing me, telling me what I did wrong? How can I look the survivors in the eye? How can I go back to work in a profession that makes you mistrust your own? My eyes do not see well, I have been crying for a while, when I look up I see that Gamal has lowered his hood, in his face I still see that of a child of no more than fifteen years, but his eyes are those of someone who lived what I did, or maybe worse, but I do not imagine that it could be.


    "Power, my dear priest, you lack enough power to defend yourself, to heal and if necessary to knock out all those who accompany you, to get out alive from anywhere, even if you are alone, here I can give you that knowledge, but the preparation, the willpower, the courage depend only on you, no one will tell you how much to follow, no one will prevent you from not doing it, but if we see you determined, we will push you until we see that you achieve your goals, we are not holy, we are pragmatic, realistic, fighters, here the priests are from the branch of discipline.


    You will begin your lessons today, I need you to imagine a series of layers that surround your clothes, your face, your hair, imagine it well because you will have to put a layer of magic over the other, this is your first lesson is called armor of magic, but it is invoked with the word entereza begins".


    So he lived what I did, it''s ok, I will work hard, I will learn a lot and no one will believe that they can compete against me, he says that the classes begin today, so be it and I concentrate.

 CHAPTER 8

    The city is in a slow chaos, everyone is in a state between terror and fascination, none of those who live here remember the terrible days when we were little more than experimental cattle for the elves, but those who are old live in a cold sweat every time one of them passes by, seeing them reminds them of all the years of fighting, all the deaths caused by the now so-called "saviors", "high elves", "beautiful people", this is garbage! Worse, many of my followers are with them.


    Their arrival was terrible, riding on sea creatures or mystical wooden ships, singing songs of pain and sorrow, they came when the chaos was at its peak, not in the cities of course, but wherever Death forgot the souls of the fallen and raised them to the service of those who sought only death, In almost none of the places under the Capablanca''s protection did this happen, the main reason being that the corruption filters we use to keep the air clean also keep the undead enemies away, despite all that, I had more pressing problems, my personal secretary without warning me, in the middle of a meeting with the other magicians, had just despised my teachings and created a new faction called Capanegra, dedicated to pure magic for destructive purposes, for the first time I realized where I was standing, so many years living alone in the inventions and I left all the teachings in the hands of a madman, He said it was a way to take revenge for all the losses, including that of his son, at first this and his passionate arguments made me accept, the Caparoja were happy to take away my power and take a more belligerent stance, none of them listened to me.


    With the departure of the Caparoja, a large number of my secretary''s followers left with him, leaving me with only a few low level magicians and many idealists like myself, with no real knowledge of what is happening in my city or the surrounding area.


    I had just started to organize this place when a call came, my crystal was passive, only receiving the energy fluctuations that were going on in my town, I had called all the Capablanca mages of the surrounding towns trying to get support, so when the receiver glowed I thought it was one of them, but it was not, with an intense blue light the mirror reflected a beautiful creature, richly dressed, dazzling, He introduced himself as the King of the Elves and asked my help to eliminate the threat of a being so perfidious that he had even unleashed the forces of the Signs of Chaos in our world, who was a false creature called himself Overlord and by his subjects as Darklord, the Elven King said he would send envoys for a meeting on the shores outside my city, for which he asked me (against payment) a considerable amount of material and human resources, he assured all would be rewarded, I immediately realized that I was not the only voice in my study, As I approached the windows, I could see that a mirage in front of my city was giving the same invitations to the people that I was afraid would make me angry.


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    The days for the meeting are approaching, feeling guilty but doing it anyway, I began to explore the city of Stormpike, under its surface there was corruption, the police acted badly, causing pain, discomfort, many of the mercenaries damaged entire ecosystems for rewards to the extent of eliminating entire species or destroying trees for the greedy merchants whose greed never had full, so there is not much I can do! I don''t care who says what, I have them recorded in several books written by trustworthy humans, which speak of indescribable evil, only achieved by centuries of time and power, I am still reluctant to let the people go, but if I don''t give them permission, they will most likely leave the city and expose themselves to the dubious protection of the elves.


    Although the person in charge came with pompous documents, despite the assurances of the mercenaries who were paid in jewels to guarantee that no evil would happen during the visit, I do not trust them, not only because of the readings, the communication mirror gives me the reason, the power they sent to activate it was not regulated, a burst of magic of that level shattered the mirror, something like that says that they do not feel what they say or do not consider that after all these years we have evolved and are dealing with monkeys or primitive farmers.


    Finally I went to one of my closest students, young but old and venerable appearance for so many hours of magic and sleeplessness all nicknamed BarbaGris, his clothes are always stained with dirt and stink of snuff, he did not seem upset at my request to come to spy, even agreed to wear a small visor that would transmit to me what he saw, perhaps so many years living in magic had made him want to be something else, His activities there would be more those of a spy than of someone devoted to the arts, but that was exactly what I needed, a person who would investigate things out of curiosity, greed and avarice have damaged my city, they have weakened it, but that is not necessarily bad, while he travels I will take advantage of what must come, all those who want to eat for free or see a show will leave, who will be convenient for them to return?

 CHAPTER 9

    When I lost my place in the council, I felt no anger, I had not been put there by my will, but because of my magical abilities, then I was banished, the order for this did not even come from the pen of the leader, his secretary signed everything, so I ended up in a small village, although my magical field could extend several kilometers, I was destined to a place of no more than thirty houses and their stores, a village between the cities of Bloody Coin and Storm Hammer, as I said, I was not complaining, I had plenty of time to study, to understand the magic and the history, to be a little cunning, to regain my old life as an adventurer.


    When the crisis hit, only those of us who are Capablanca understood the nature of the attackers, they are sensitive to fire magic, light magic does nothing to them, elemental magic damage works but on a low scale, although there is the so-called sacred magic of the priest is a combination of light and fire, so its effects are less than what the leaders assume, however, keep them away from our population is easy, the field we used to serve, That is where my city became famous, from a place rarely visited except by those who had families in the big cities, it suddenly became an oasis among all these enemies of the living, my camp expanded to its limit allowed me to increase the population, serve as a refuge for wildlife and even launch some sacrifices to the distant cemeteries that had to be cleaned to give shelter to countless soldiers who perished during the first waves.


    Fortunately, a priest who is smarter than those who serve the Phaladins or those who live in my hometown has managed to place some inscriptions that I do not know on the bodies of the dead so that they no longer rise, at the moment only his group of priests know how to do it, but he has taught the weak mages who come to my town to perform their social service to record these marks when I told my superior he did not believe me, Even now, when the call of duty came in the hands of one of the powerful Capablanca, they did not ask or ask for details about this revolutionary way of keeping the dead at rest, they only indicated that they had come to replace me, inside the envelope came the details, I had to accept and attend the next day to an event, the escort, horses and food were waiting outside.


    I asked them for an hour to pack my luggage, while everything was sorted (in a bag anyway, except for my books that I always carry in a backpack and a wineskin on my shoulder) I read the note, the Supreme Chief of the Capablanca wants me to infiltrate a meeting of some supposed "high elves" where all the people of my city will go, there will be food and protection for everyone, so I did what they asked me, but in my way, just as I was leaving the city the two envoys realized I was not there, I hate ceremonies.


    The road is easy if you know how to move, my experience as a traveler allows me to find the most elusive routes, added to my little or unknown ability to reduce my field until it practically disappears, so I travel as an old man, an old man who tells stories among the travelers, someone to whom they talk about how things are going in the village, in their lives, their dreams and fears, someone who will have a very serious word with the leader once I go to him and talk about how stupidly mismanaged everything is.


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    I arrive with plenty of time, in the forest large magic lamps light a path, on the sides of the same mercenary troops of the tundra wolves, armed with equipment that has obviously been given away, because you can tell by their posture that they do not know how to use it at all, Arriving at the coast, I can admire the boats of the elves, despite the rumors that they came on mystical creatures, I only see some deep draft boats from which some humans and dwarves come out, from here they seem to be fine, but it''s hard to say at this early hour.


    Dinner was sumptuous, we all ate well, except for our hosts who curiously stayed away from the food, a shiver ran through my body, fearing to find poisons I tried to clean myself very discreetly, holding as best I could a tiny soul stone, that was the utensil I was given to spy. The stone even stores the remaining magic, it has engravings in small characters, they are the instructions for which it was cut, it will project what I see and it will do it directly on the crystal of the chief Capablanca, strangely it did not contain any poison, only a substance which I poured into a vial, just when the wine began to flow abundantly and the people had forgotten the reason why they had come, the "king began to speak".


    I''m on my way to the master''s tower, I''ll have to avoid all the mercenaries, but while I''m doing it, I can''t forget what happened there, not the miserable elf who spoke on the podium, he just gave a demagogic speech, assuring the evil of a human who betrayed the elves'' attempts to vindicate their past, even accusing him of all the evils of the present world, the people looked at him with a convinced expression, This is not normal, we the citizens of Stormhammer are not people who are guided by speeches, simple but always looking for our interest, the concept of universal good does not apply here, that''s why they chose the city inhabited by a capablanca, all comforts zero restrictions, except for the civil ones, but the police chiefs are corrupt so there are not many restrictions.


    I just finished another patrol in the dark, I will definitely have to talk to those who designed this, I just finished the speech in which he asked those who wanted to know how strong they were to get a tattoo on their neck that would change color depending on the level of the wearer, At that point I looked at all the mercenaries present, all of them wearing that crap that looked more like a slave collar, then he said that those whose tattoo turned red would be paid for fighting the traitorous Darklord and that they should do it for the sake of saving the races.


    I had just taken out one of the scouts, I should be no more than five kilometers from the city, but this seems an impossible distance to me because of the enormous amount of enemies surrounding me, just as the speech ended I saw a starving animal enter, a wounded and injured hippogriff, its skin raw and its beak broken, but the whole audience reacted as if a magnificent and completely mad beast had appeared, The hippogriff was frightened, not angry, it flapped its wings almost without feathers and made little screams, suspicious but still eager to confirm it, I took a small sip of what was in the food, then I saw it, no animal of this species would grow so much, they had no red eyes or sharp teeth, they used a beak, how do people think they have teeth? When I looked back I saw the speaker again, only this time he was magnificent, every fiber of my being was happy to hear him, when he told us that the elves would defend us and help the families of the city, I almost screamed with the others, but luckily I used very little of the potion, just as everyone was running to line up to be marked on the neck as a loyal follower of that vile and manipulative race, the jewel I was wearing began to glow, so much so that it was a flash of light in the middle of the darkness of the night, immediately cries of alarm sounded, it is obvious that no one with magical knowledge should be there, I immediately went out and lost myself in the night.


    The stone still shines, it is a proof that they use some magic of revelation, not to waste any more time, I take it out and look at its engravings, I send a summary to whoever is on the other side, then I tell him my plans, I will go to the Dark Lord, if he is so hated by the elves, I must discover everything possible... I do not know, perhaps he is a potential ally.

 CHAPTER 10

    The tattooers are still working, it is true that some of them have accepted to be tattooed, the magical ink will help me to select those who will serve as shock teams, most of them will be cannon fodder, to be fair to these humans, all of them show magical potential, so if necessary we will equip them with some offensive magic enhancers, I must admit that the spectacle of eliminating that filthy hippogriff helped us gain their trust, had it not been for that meddling spy, the formula would have taken full effect and we would have half a city of slaves ready for our tests. ... sorry they are allies now.


    The night before was a contained disaster, placing a containment field in the area where we made this trap was the second great success of the night, the first was the drug, it could not fail, it was in the torches, in the food and drink, even those who accepted clothes had doses of it, however we anticipated there would be some spies so my mercenaries were alert, The interesting thing was not to find the spies of the guilds, that was to be expected as they were not amused that we took so many of their members, but a light, something as intense as only true magicians could cause, the bad thing was that it was far behind the ranks, enough to be able to escape ... ... it doesn''t matter! The Elf King of this continent is me, my father won''t find out.


    This farce was very convenient for me, on the island I drowned, my sister was used, as it should be, because she was a fool, but I would not allow them to use me, I did not have excessive magical potential, but that allowed me to replace it with skill, I reviewed the elven magics, the powerful spells and simplified them, After three hundred years I could use high level spells without consuming practically any of the magic of my soul stones, but nothing with my strength until a year ago when the expected event allowed me to use it, to continue using it I had to use my brain, the result was the best of ideas.


    When the King made his plan to return magic to us, he did not inform his people, we all expected a total explosion, to return to the continent and see giant craters instead of the cities of one of the people who abandoned us after millennia of begging for the crumbs of our magic and technology, but one day we woke up and there was our magic again, We all wanted to go out and use it, to move, to create huge waves, to do a lot of damage to those who laughed, but he stopped us, he was there, the most powerful of us, all his potential made him look like a lighthouse that morning, but I knew something was wrong, I remembered him from before, he did not have all his magic back.


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    So while everyone was casting spells they stopped practicing long ago, I probed my own power, I found it incomplete, yes it was beyond the limits I grew up with, however at that moment I realized I needed something useful, get out of here, or I would waste my power, as soon as I heard he needed a contingent to deploy to the continent, I had an idea, it only took me two months to develop.


    Typical elven plans involved taking everything by force, our armies threw away thousands of lives before, it was never worth taking hostages, they had nothing that interested us, we could not need more slaves, but now, now those beings that lived our massacres by their own biology are dead or dying, that is why and because we need to not lose that magic we have to achieve a reuse, something that none of the elves consider, but I know exactly what I have to do.


    When I explained to my father, I did not tell him that magic is lost if it is used, that is something he must not know, I chose four hundred of the young elves, the king could not be happier, all the wise men, the warriors of his armies would not come, I would pay all the money for the expedition, after telling him that I will use my troops and take a foot of continent to eliminate the existing threats, no one had anything to object, the high council was guided by the great elf king, they always did, that''s why he chose them, being the only candidate for the throne there could be doubts from the others, but my father did not want to inherit, no elf does, normally we kill to receive, we live an average of a thousand years, the children are adults at two hundred, only the king has lived without being killed, but I do not want his throne, that''s why I left, that''s why all the stratagem.


    When the humans leave in the morning with their "power tattoos" little do they know the reality of those objects, the ones that have no color and stay black is because they have very low levels, they will provide us with magic without realizing it, while they live their lives, the runes will send the magic to the containers of each recruitment center, in each city, so we can use the magic without problems, all the time, We will always have more, much more and if my old father comes he will find an army that responds to me, Hojaverde will avenge his sister with the death of a stinking aristocrat, after doing so I will direct my weapons to the elves who want magic and all those who believe me king against that bastard Darklord who following my father''s orders condemned an innocent elf to hell where she is now.

 CHAPTER 11

    The plans are progressing fast, at least from here you can breathe more power than inside that damned Tower of Peace, the creation of the Capanegra has been a little less successful within the terms I had for a society like this, as leader and former secretary Capablanca I achieved the goals as they were presented:


    First: I took advantage of the death of my son to separate our group from the rest, by doing so during the emergency meeting of all the magicians we ensured that we had the support of the Caparoja, otherwise we would have had to give up many of our own, just remember the face of the useless leader we had, young, excited about tomorrow without seeing that the future was mine.


    Second: I convinced the most impulsive magicians, the most destructive within the Caparoja and Capablanca, it was my right to recruit them, not to mention some of the most destructive books that the Capablanca possessed, I assumed that having the people and the power I would be assigned a city in my care.


    Just as I was about to take my place in the tower I found myself chatting peacefully with the two leaders, both sounded happy, when I entered and gave the order to leave my new headquarters I was greeted with laughter, they told me it was fine that I wanted to be a farmer but none of them asked or lived at the expense of the others, all the wizards built their cities and I would have to do the same, that was a big setback! Full of anger I asked them with all the sarcasm I could muster if there was any city they did not protect where we could offer the version of vengeful magic that only the Capanegra had, I knew that the Capablanca could cede any of the smaller cities, Celestial City, Arboleda, Tormalina even, with their inhabitants and mines any of them would mean a little more than a consolation prize, giving up Hammerstorm was not in my plans but I had no say... yet.


    "We''ve assigned you a city whose character suits your style of magic very well, it''s called Midnight Raven, an exotic name, don''t you think? We give you a scroll of invitation and arrival, the other cities you want to protect must accept by mutual agreement, if one of ours decides to do so, we will not oppose."


    How many illusions I had! Although I did not recognize the city at all, I knew that it belonged to the extreme south of the continent, my attention was always focused on the great human sites, I did not give it any importance, but when I asked some questions, I was told that it lay at the foot of one of the important mountains of the dwarves, that there were many magical creatures, enough to set up a laboratory of selective breeding, Just thinking about it rubbed my hands, so I accepted, I packed all my books and a few that nobody noticed from either place, just titles like "Offensive Magic", "Research on Immediate Damage to Creatures" and the most important "Words of Death" written by one of the elven slaves, with specific spells that I heard their masters recite when they were bored of their subjects.


    The journey was epic, all the cities we passed to equip ourselves saw us as the parade of their lives, some of the novice mages left their classes and joined us just to see our clothes, all made with enchanted thread capable of absorbing the light, then it seemed as if from the absolute darkness emerged young and determined faces, the bearers of the power capable of destroying the dark lord, the acrobats listened as well as the minstrels, all trying to understand the message, to make a ballad of our movement, of the power we brought.


    The city itself was a disappointment, a bunch of poorly built houses, stones piled up without mortar, no wood, just lifeless rocks, the mayor of the place received us without ceremony or anything, we were not needed there, it was the place of the quarrelsome mercenaries rejected by their guilds, people who not only killed when they should, but when they were bored or just looking for their weapons to keep their edge, still the cards we brought gave us access to a few acres of a church in ruins, Some idiots (the first three groups at least) tried to rob us, they were armed with small enchantments and some even brought elemental weapons from their looting of the dwarven wagons, But they fell before tidal waves of pure magic, all attacks are started by me, something I have to correct, because I need people who can kill and not just keep on killing, finally the third group understood the uselessness of their actions and started to work, I paid them with the weapons of those who did not.


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    Supplies are another matter, there are no fields, food must be brought from distant villages, most of them did not want to sell, since these mercenaries obtained what they were looking for under the method of killing and beating everyone until one of them remembered to say what they were looking for... more than mercenaries were bandits, we had been appointed to a city that had no law and all were rogues, they thought that would stop us, as it is seen that they do not know me, they do not know the Order of Capanegra!


    I made a very reasonable document, where I indicated to the farmers that we will buy their wagons with food and we will protect them from the bandits, adding that if they did not accept the offer, there were other cities that would accept it and they would lose the protection that the assault magicians could offer them, but I just perceived something magical that penetrated my magic field, It is a simple one, it protects from physical attacks of magical creatures, I also managed not to energize any of the runes of the rebel weapons, only those who served the order would have their weapons charged, the entrance was weak, a pair of enchanted birds, ephemeral, have no attack potential are only invoked by people who like the beautiful, the spell to send them to where we are was very complex and useless, my shield will tear them apart before they reach my office.


    In fact I can see them, they come disintegrating, their blue color is beautiful, even if the red areas indicate the damage they suffer, for a moment I wanted to remove the field to save their existence, but I am sure that it could be used by those who created them to attack this headquarters, so helplessly I see them disappear a few meters from my window and some gems contained inside enter breaking the glass.


    For a moment I don''t know how to react, they are soul stones, capable of containing, generating and even performing minor magic, but before the others arrive I must find out what they are, annoyed at having to use white magic I extend a containment field, my baculum is made of magical iron, It''s very heavy but I don''t use it much, I have about twenty magic stones embedded in it and only two fragments of soul stone, the two that are there would serve to give it a power of +10 in the arcane, but I still have to activate its magic, once this is done the stone will be smooth and I will be able to use it.


    A light is activated, an image materializes in the air, I do not know him, but he is undoubtedly an elf, he looks at nothing while introducing himself:


    "I am Hojaverde, lord of the true elves, I greet the leader of the Capanegra, we are very sorry for the distance that your city assumes with respect to our arrival, we understand your desire for revenge and we share it, these stones are a gift, we seek an alliance with you, we have a common enemy, but I regret to tell you that with your current power the Dark Lord is beyond his limits, Do not be angry, with training (which I readily offer) your students will be as deadly as any level 10 wizard, not counting all the amulets and weapons they will have at their disposal, but the Darklord is not an ordinary wizard, if I could classify him in your human terms, he reaches level 50. "


    This revelation falls upon me like a bucket of cold water, no one knows the power of this wizard better than I do, I managed with much effort to summon the last actions of my son, he fulfilled the lich king, they only had to kill one wizard and he was very strong, still it was not enough and he died without pain or glory, the magic that killed him did not make a dent in this dark lord, But to think that he has so much power is something sick, I sit while I think, yes with level 10 mages I could attack him, but my son''s people were more powerful than a level 10, they were the elite of the elite and they were swept away, I am about to call the others to inform them that we cannot attack with some medium damage magics and that we have to rethink the whole company, but that was not the end of the message.


    "Bravo mage, I understand your turmoil, I share it, but don''t worry, you must leave the confrontation against this renegade sorcerer to us, all the preparation we gave you (including equipment for a party of twenty people) is to weaken the forces of the dark lord, in the elven alcazar is his second in command, A renegade witch who eliminated the city of the Phaladines, she is very powerful but she has no preparation, this is the guideline, learn, improve and you will be able to capture her, the high elves will take care of the human aberration, you capture her and the power to rule over the other circles of magic will be given to you for free.


    Good day"


    I still do not believe anything of what has been said, nevertheless, I bend down and take one of the two stones that I embed in my baculum and feel the power expand, I need to study a little more about these elves, we will take the job, it is less dangerous, but I need to be sure that this will not be something counterproductive, I will talk to my trusted men, the elven alcazar has a lot of magic, it will be a good prey, but it will be one that we will go to when we are ready.

 CHAPTER 12

    The journey took several days, I''m sure I could have reached the Gates of the Dwarven Mountains in less than two days, but after so many questions, from this elf annoyance, from the hunting stops, from the undead that don''t stop attacking at different times, everything has become a nuisance, I''m getting angry, annoyed, worried, but also fatter from all the food, so I''m grateful to be fighting with these stupid zombies.


    The undead attacks are quite unpredictable for me, if I was on my own I''m sure I''d have them within five meters before I''d notice them (unless they stumble, groan or do something that gives them away), but with the Slayer''s company it becomes monotonous, suddenly she stops and climbs up the trees, she comes back and says calmly "fifty are coming our way, it''ll take an hour to get there", normally I''d give a stale mug of beer for that information, I could run ahead, only that when I''m sleeping, when I''m defecating, when I''m talking, I prefer to eliminate them and continue on my way, so I prepare some previous snacks, I drink water that comes from I don''t know where (I still don''t trust her, so I clean it without her noticing, nothing has appeared yet, but I won''t neglect myself), I do calisthenics so that my bones feel warmer than the rage that consumes me, and I wait for them. After eliminating the enemies (humans, peasants, soldiers or even some animals that fell prey to this plague) I put everything away and we continue on our way, this situation would not delay so much but apparently it is an elven custom to eat three times a day! I, who ate once in the city and spent days on the road with nothing but a bit of dried meat, am suddenly feted with berries, seeds, stews of various meats, tree sap with sweet flavors, in short, my muscles have a little more resemblance to those of the dwarves and less like a stump with arms.


    At the end of the third week, I saw the first watch posts.... Empty, I am not surprised, these outposts are built of local stone to protect the various cargoes, they were not intended to be habitable beyond a night or two, they had a spring, a few threadbare blankets and perhaps a rustic forge, With a lump in my throat I look at broken hammers, saddlebags with nothing in them, wooden wagon wheels, many dwarves passed through here, but they no longer do, though I do not like it, I know the reason, the surviving dwarf kings must have raised taxes.


    When I am a few kilometers from the entrance I turn off the main path, before the barrage of questions I answer my admirer that there is a cheaper entrance than the main one, I have almost thirty gold pieces product of looting the pockets of the attackers, but I do not know if they appreciate human money here or worse, if there is still law, which when I left this place was already an illusion in itself.


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    At the entrance for the dark dwarves, as humans and even other dwarves liked to call us, was occupied, but it was not by people from the villages, in this case they wore cast iron armor and scarred faces, that and the drawing of the crown of five peaks told me a lot, inside I cursed everyone, my anger in itself great increased a few degrees more, I''m afraid I can''t avoid killing dwarves who steal the freedom of others.


    Just as I began to see how to eliminate two hired musclemen without being seen that I was going to eliminate them, I felt a breeze next to me, immediately I could see how their bodies collapsed without movement, curious I approached to find them unconscious, in fact their "royal" shield belonged to the dwarf king, they had privatized the exit of my people, Those who sought the open air, those who could not leave through the main door, made do with the air that gives this ventilation tunnel, or like me when I fled, crawled through it, are beings with more need to be free, from nearby I see the darts embedded in their eyes, I was very quick to load their weapons and incapacitate them, they were also one-eyed, However, these "guards" can remain at their posts as long as they have weapons to support them, so my hammer reddens from the melted rune, with four blows I break a couple of low quality axes and the breastplates, I am concerned that their skin has no traces of melanin, which indicates that they are not upper class dwarves, they are middle class warriors, they should not have fallen to these posts, Those who worked here were laborers, simple people who did this to earn a little food by letting the dwarves who wanted to escape, most of them returned for fear of the immensity, but we did not return, my wife and I escaped from this hell for the cost of a piece of boar meat, but now you can clearly read the price list as if it were the traditional exits, the words are marked in my mind as I say:


    "Gate to the mines, price list on XXX of the year 1XXX:


    -entry leave with the guards three ores of iron or its equivalent in weapons


    -Exit: one silver ore


    Note: The tunnels have dangerous beasts and toxic fumes, we are not responsible for the death of those interested in entering, the company will take any belongings left by the body and will be used to feed the scum".


    Barely ten meters from the entrance, with a faint clarity in the walls of a vent no more than one meter eighty meters high, I find one of those who did not manage to escape, tormented by the toxic fumes coming from the city that mistreated him to the point of wanting to flee, In his hand he holds his only fortune, a piece of copper and a stone knife, he says nothing, his gaze goes out while he sees something behind me, I thought I saw the elf, but when I turn around I see a sign that was not in my time fifty years ago:


    "So you want to leave, you miserable dogs! To get out of here you will have to pay with everything you have of metal and face the guards, if you survive you will have the right to flee you cowardly traitors to the king!"


    Sick, weak and with stone weapons against two dwarves... this place holds horrors beyond what I expected, the help they ask for should not only be against the enemy but to save them from themselves.

 CHAPTER 13

    When I smell a pestilential odor, I prepare myself, before entering I instructed the elf what to do, inside the ventilation tunnels circulate all the pestilence, all the smells of entire underground cities, the emanations of the mines, the forges, the kitchen, are toxic to the highest degree, That is why most of the tunnels lead to the top of the mountain, where disguised as craters they give the impression of active volcanoes and keep the creatures away, only this tunnel and the main entrance are at the edge of the earth, for when the fumes attack us both, we have set up a filtration field similar to those used in human cities, The air can come in, but anything that is not breathable (the runes are simple, but it is necessary to maintain them) goes out through some pipes that I included in the original design so as not to stain our clothes, but the air is stale, when it has just left a small sprinkling of toxic waste in liquid form has formed puddles at our feet, then comes breathing, this tunnel still manages it mechanically, those on the peaks use air pressure systems, but the poorest areas depend on this ventilation system, which is clearly insufficient for the number of living beings that survive here.


    As I continue, I see the degeneration of the site, the tunnel supports are worn out, there is nothing that I recognize as new or at least half new, signs covered with tar and slag warn those who arrive of the need to buy purifying masks sold at the checkpoints... that is new, not the masks, these besides being useless because the filters are plugged in a matter of hours disable the peripheral vision necessary to get out of here.


    When I get to the middle of the tunnel I meet the mentioned control, they have dug in an absurd way some booths protected by dirty crystals, from where a dwarf watches me, he demands me money to use the masks and for a little more some oxygen stones, the trick of this is that both, the filters and the stones are of limited life, I ask him how many posts there are in this tunnel and he answers that the proud low king installed five to avoid the leakage of work and make money to reach the coffers, I tell him that I will not use any, this without blinking says that then I will not reach the next, I have not advanced ten meters when I see some quartz monsters, they are strong and common in the remote tunnels, These have a greenish hue due to the pollution, I want to destroy them soon, it is rare that they exist in this tunnel, they are not carnivores, they only attacked the miners when they came too close to where they lived, they hate the pollution that the dwarves produce, at that moment a pair of magic arrows pierce the beasts'' core and they crumble, I approach to see what they ate, many of these were opportunities to get rich if you managed to beat them, inside they contained many alloys that were generated when they ate precious metals, but this one only had some copper, it seems to me that it was poorly fed, it was easy to break its structure, I did not even use runes, while I was thinking this, the elf shows me something she found.


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    In one of the walls of the tunnel, hidden at first sight, there was a door and a chamber, you could see where they had been crowded, they were traps for those who did not pay the king? I''m furious, I want to destroy the huts in front of us, for traitors, for insulting, for denigrating what it means to be a dwarf, but before I can think about it, she stops me, she shows me the supports of the cave, in fact, if I unleash some mid-level magic, the whole structure will fall down, but I don''t need to throw that away, just stop the stupidity, We take advantage of the next emanation of garbage to approach the hut, a small blow of my hammer or one of the knives that the hunter brings and the protective glass generates a crack that will not be seen immediately, but they will be dead or very sick by the end of their turn and so will all those who want to profit from the efforts of my people.


    In the booths four and five also had resting places, which informs me the hunters are nothing more than holes where there is active a rune of minor purification and only for three hours at a rate of five silver coins, so I was with a stone weapon, perhaps began the journey as a moderately wealthy blacksmith, but as he progressed he had to pay for comfort and then for survival, in the end he was alone, poor and dying, what an end for wanting a better life, he suffered a lot, no one should do it.


    When I arrived in the city I was surprised by the filth, Rocaceleste was the first settlement of miners and as the population expanded it became a place of small merchants, the lapizlalizul veins gave the name to the cave, which always had a dim light from the rune lamps, made with semi-precious metals, rivaling even the main city where the king lives, But now there are torches with much pestilential smoke, I see neither the roof nor the beauty, dark dwarves and some warriors fight for an iron axe, but my attention is in front, some fools are waiting for me at the entrance, they carry stone mallets and judging by the shine of their blades, they take such care of them that I doubt they will use them, I have barely taken a step into the cave when one of them shouts, "I''ll fight for the breastplate," at the same time they raise cries of allegiance over my shoulder pads, my shield, my helmet and my boots, they are so engrossed in the bidding that they do not notice my companion who has already taken refuge in the shadows, The look of greed in these fools is the only thing that has not changed, they are scavengers who want to win, they are similar to those who took everything from me when I lived here, children perhaps of those who drove me to reach the Storm Hammer, the rules are simple, whoever beats you gets what they claim, even if it is twenty against one, they only have one rule: The one who persists wins, so I claim "! I fight for her life!" as a scream comes from my chest, a small part of me is glad... I''m home.

 CHAPTER 14

    At the moment of conflict I hide, we had already talked about it, Chapatrueno must be the first to confront these thieves, if he is a dwarf there is a chance to start on the right foot in this crazy world he once called home.


    The hammer blows up another shield, from here I can see the poor workmanship they have, for dwarves famous for their blacksmithing this is disappointing, seeing one of them thrown into the air by this dwarf warrior''s shield I lose interest, I identified the supposed rivals as something more harmless than some of the beasts of the dark forest, nothing to worry about, except for one dressed in iron armor, looking at everything with a grimace of displeasure and greed, Chapatrueno had told me about them, they are the famous "mediators".


    That''s stupid! I told him the day before we entered these caves, how can they fight over what someone else made! How can anyone survive in such a situation? It was night and he had fought hundreds of these beings animated by dark energies, the hidden moon leaving the illumination in a state that only creatures accustomed to darkness could take advantage of. I could hear him, he was not sleeping, what he always did when tiredness overcame him was not sleep, it was a lethargy, something similar to death, even his breathing was slow, as if he was reprimanding himself for each inhalation, finally he began to speak.


    I come from hard times, the mountain was a place where no one should live, when I was young I learned of the misery of the place, I could not believe it, the forest elves had a terrible time, but we were united among us, even after we were abandoned, we sought all means to make our survival something more comfortable, not there, it still resonates in my head what I now see in person.


    The city is large but in a dilapidated state, the buildings are made of stone, stacked on top of each other, this is because of the lack of drinking water and the monopolization by the rich who have land on water reservoirs, they have not invested in technology except for a well hole and a few buckets, the rest they have in hiring mercenaries or owning more and better weapons, those who fight are only a minority, most of them I see hidden in the doorways of the houses, they wear dirty t-shirts, I move behind the buildings while listening to the screams of the attackers, they are stubborn I have to admit, but they also have different characteristics than the rest, their skin tone for example is of a light dusky color, proof that they bathe from time to time, but also contrasting with the dark red tones of those who only carry weapons, these are poor dwarves like Chapatrueno explained to me, they are people who have no income or food, but in the caves grows a fungus very easily and is edible, so they venture into abandoned sections of the mines to collect that food, the weapons are not to make war on others, it is to deal with the fauna of those sites, fight for food.


    The fight continues for half an hour, the idiots who fought are already on the ground with various parts of his body in strange directions, they are not dead, at least not all of them, the final battle is given by a blow of the shield against the hammer, an out of tune "gong" product of poorly made metals.


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    He approaches my dwarf (I must be careful with these thoughts, he is not mine and maybe he would kill me if he knew what I think, what I feel), from here the conversation is not very understandable, this mediator extends his hand in a typical symbol, he asks for money, Chapatrueno points to the fallen, but the dwarf refuses and extends his hand again, at that moment I can hear the conversation of one of the dwarfs who is hiding:


    "Damn appraiser! Surely he wants gold for what this warrior has earned, what did a dwarf come from the surface for? Here they will want to declare him a loser because of the level of his weapons, and look, if he now asks for money or to give him some of his tools, they are precious! This warhammer could be better with good mithril, look how angry the dwarf gets, it''s strange, I don''t remember someone from this town using so much luxury, but this dwarf is from here, his beard braid identifies him as born here, who could he be? Anyway, if he''s from here, he knows he only came to lose his belongings, the appraiser uses magic, he doesn''t fight fair..."


    I stop paying attention, not because they don''t say useful things, but the mention of magic worries me, Chapatrueno is good with magic and does more damage than anyone I know (except the Darklord himself), at that moment I see the Deathbringer laughing, it''s crystal clear, I hadn''t seen any other grimace than anger and hunger, but he laughs, Honestly, every time his armor rings with laughter, the mediator''s face darkens more and more, finally he shouts that if he doesn''t want to pay, he can''t take anything, that it is possible that he won''t take anything at all, since he has committed foul play, foul play against more than two dozen men who jumped in without asking permission?  Now they are writhing on the ground, but they came very brave and greedy, my companion doesn''t say anything, he just keeps laughing, the other one puts his hands inside his cloak and takes out a two-handed steel mace, it''s a dangerous weapon, but it doesn''t have any runes or anything, I don''t understand how they say he will use magic, At that moment I see a shadow moving on the roofs of the house behind Chapatrueno, I approach stealthily, there I see three of the warriors belonging to the group that has already been knocked down, they carry several blowguns, a not very effective weapon at this distance but there is no wind so I guess they expect their poisoned darts to hit him in the neck and face?


    Is this their magic? It is clear that Chapatrueno does not want them to discover the magical properties of his armor or his scales, so I come from behind the ambushers, he did not kill his enemies, but I am not him, and the two dwarves fall with their necks cut before they see that I hit them, below the scene is even more comical, Now I understand why Chapatrueno was laughing, he knows I''m here, he has only one enemy to worry about, clearly I see that the mediator, when he runs out of the element of surprise (although he doesn''t know why) begins to retreat, he babbles something about the king''s tax collectors coming and that he better not keep anything. ... He insults him, calls him berseker, red, in spite of everything he continues to advance in a frank retreat, at that moment Chapatrueno raises his hammer, it lights up, the rune is molten, he shouts at him:


    "I am Chapatrueno de rocaceleste, the new ruler, and I declare that there will be no more stupid fights, no more duels! There are more deaths in our ranks than those caused by the enemy... and your appraiser (he spits out the word) you have just violated the law of this city, here we do not care about the king! (at this moment I see his hammer fly, the dwarf tries to defend himself with his shield, but it is a piece of bronze garbage, the impact tears his arm off and the heat burns it) I will keep the weapons and armor, they belong to my people and as compensation for the trouble your person has caused in the last decades I will keep your arm... as well as the life of anyone who raises a hand against my people".


    I see the assessor flee, Chapatrueno remains motionless and watches his enemy leave, the other inhabitants look out, there is a color in their eyes, it is the same as we had when the Dark Lord came, it is a glow of hope, much to my regret my heart turns over with this image.

 CHAPTER 15

    Miss Lilith is making me lose my patience! Since I came to instruct her in the art of defensive magic, I have encountered many problems: first, she is a powerful magician to the point that not even our leaders would stand a chance, it is not only her human ability (augmented by all the deformations courtesy of the elves) if not her ability to mold her power into so many things that only someone who has suffered its horrors can understand, every holy shield, every resistance or healing magic she finds something similar with which to imitate me, more powerful but of no use to anyone except those of her new species.


    Yesterday I discussed the problem with my leader Capablanca, he indicated that everything in the city is ready, so I will soon be called to serve in the defense of my hometown That afternoon she had taught healing magic, which since they don''t wear much armor is a great addition to their abilities, Apparently she was a student of the priest in the beginning, so she understands the concept of "forcing the cells" to gently insert the magic between our wounds to activate all the systems of our body, create tissue, stop the bleeding, create more blood, all in a single instant while thinking about how to attack and of course how to defend, she understood my theory well, but just as we were testing the theory (me on a beast of the huge black forest and her on one of her companions) the white light of healing shone in my hand but nothing formed in hers, for a moment I thought I saw a light but it faded, with a grimace of frustration she tried three more times, then with a gesture of annoyance she left the room, until I followed her I noticed the noises outside, Apparently a drunken orc was attempting to mate with one of the many peasant women in the area, from what little I know, orcs can mate with almost any humanoid species, while they have almost no females, which is what causes the attacks on the villages, but the orcs of this place have fertile females, apparently the present does not forget their games of yesteryear.


    Tonight, even with my eyes closed, I can remember the scene, she runs and marks with her hand the cheek of the brute, this mad with lust and humiliation throwing a slow claw that she eludes, so for a few minutes, he slaps me while attacking and she slides smoothly between his clumsy movements, until finally from the mouth of the brute begins to gush a little blood, the orc notices it and screams inarticulate, He throws a blow and she graciously moves to the left, only this time the warrior had learned Lilith''s movements, expecting to cause a huge red mark that appears on his back in the shape of those filthy and broken nails, everyone wants to intervene but while he laughs she just smiles a little, she told me she would show me how her kind was healed, then she throws a single rune leech life, something so terrible should not exist! The line of magic advanced like an arrow and embedded itself where the wound was, from there blood began to flow, a lot of it, it traveled in a cadence to the back of the succubus queen where it rested, it covered her, caressing her, closing her wounds, her color began to look intense, it could be seen that her magic was active, the orc was surprised at first, then annoyed, the expression turned to terror when he tried to move, he realized how much blood he had lost, this was more than an attack, it was an execution.


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    It took her five minutes to empty an orc of two meters, but not only that, when she was done, her wounds were healed and she was still gathering a huge ball of blood in front of her, when the first friend of that orc came out to oppose her, she just told him that she had fulfilled her promise, the orc screamed madly, I thought I was going to see a repetition of such a Dantesque event, but she just smiled and the sphere grew longer, it continued to take shape until it reached the size of a baculum, but instead of a magic stone it was a terrible spearhead, we all saw it harden, from an intense red it changed, no, it solidified to a brownish tone, In front of us, in the middle of the scene, I realized that her ability had nothing to do with any of the magics I could teach her, at least not the sacred ones, so I better disappear for a few days while I searched for books of power, destructive magics, things that would be useful to her, but when I showed them to her, she rejected them with an indifferent look, I need to understand how the mind works, how to shape what surrounds the thoughts, not just cloud the consciousness, make people see what is not there, you are good at hiding, but I want to understand how to do it, take it to a new level, my own".


    That same night I go to see my boss, if I teach her it is very possible that no one can face her, I walk the paths with an open mind, my magic field is not so showy, but that serves me, I shape it to the protective field that Lilith has, slowly I advance, going around the paths and small new villages, I walk all afternoon and at night I am close to the advance camps, from there I communicate with my boss, the image distorted by the distance and by the precaution so that no one detects my magic field prevents me from seeing his face, But he sounds tired, he tells me that I have to help him, he gives me several places where he knows that some dark books were kept, when I ask why so much support for someone as ruthless as the most hardened caparoja, she tells me that it is for reasons I do not understand, she only asks me to help her, that a great conflict against the high elves is coming and it is better that most attention is given to her people than to our beloved Storm Hammer. .. As best I can, I write down the information she dictates to me, thinking over and over again that I am lucky to be far from being the only city that openly rebels against the magic and attack style of the elves and caparojas, and declares itself neutral towards the people of the Alcazar.


    When I returned to the outskirts of the castle I could hear an orgy going on, with a bit of disgust I pricked up my ears a bit, I could hear orcs, their animal growls were unmistakable, I was afraid that they were raping more people from the village, I hid in the shadows while I approached, from there I watched the scene, some orcs, just out of puberty, are fornicating with a pair of succubi, the color of their skin indicates that they have been doing it for a while, while in the background a bag of what is unmistakably gold passes from the hands of Lilith to one of the shamans, her words are clear and painful:


    "I regret the death of the father of these boys, they will be welcome in my shop on the outskirts of the city, I want to arrange a way for your people to reproduce without harming my inhabitants, this will be a new civilization and we can''t start doing what we want without thinking of others".


    So I don''t postpone anything, I come out of the shadows, but she doesn''t seem surprised, it''s as if she knew I was there and that''s why she told me those words, with groans in the background I tell her everything I''ve been informed, even that she''s about to be attacked, She only told me that she had already collected all the titles, but that she didn''t understand them, and that if I read them for her, she would finally learn something useful. .. I definitely can''t stand her! But at least I understand her better now.

 CHAPTER 16

    The population is restless, every day they have seen changes in the color of the field surrounding the city, the notices placed in every corner of the city warn of a new use of the field, the cleaning fields have failed a bit, but no one knows the real reasons why this has happened, today, after months and months of preparation, I must begin my part of the plan.


    It''s been almost a year since the elves returned, at first I saw it with horror, the elves in almost all the treaties I read talk about massacres, raids, slaves, the destruction of entire cultures, recently I asked my most rebellious member to infiltrate, the results of his investigations convinced me that besides everything I knew now I had reasons to hate them, they recruited humans, they tattooed them like cattle, some marks that for most only mean a lot of money for fulfilling missions that seem unimportant to them. .. The reality is that from the first day they came here I realized that this rune had something to do with it, it was not possible that they trusted them just like that, the recruitment centers that were set up here disturbed my field, it was not much, a few destabilizing movements, but that was only until I received a contact from what they now call "dark forces", But it didn''t seem to me that they were looking for anything from us, in fact they came to offer me guidance about the elves, some information that I had to confirm (apparently I wasn''t to trust just because they didn''t kill my emissary), that was the origin of the first changes, but now that I know, I change to give a total rejection to this betrayal of society that they call alliance.


    From the top of the tower I can see everything, now with the filters in my field I can see the thin lines of power, they are very thin because they come from small magicians or from simple people with limited magical potential, everything was concentrated in the same recruitment centers, that''s garbage, they exploit them, take out their potential as if they were mines, it doesn''t surprise me all the power they show, I knew they didn''t have regenerative power and I wondered how they faced the fact of constantly consuming resources for this stupid campaign to hunt the Darklord, I am the first one who hates the title but I recognize that it will be necessary, my people are very impressionable and when I tell them that someone with great power will help them get what they are looking for, most would be plagued by greed, I hope to teach them that they have to work for what they long for, but now we need a lot so that this city does not end up as a mine of people.


    Then through contact with the other towns my allies Capablanca, after explaining what is happening most were horrified, feeling their support reminded me that my secretary is not the only one, nor are they treacherous, at least not with me, training them took me more than two months, most understood the concept, of course, but that''s not important, some had not even seen members of this alliance, It was extensive, some even traveled here to see it, after that all that was left was to work, under the pretext of protecting the villagers from the hordes of undead, we warned that we will improve the protection, at least I did the first time, but tomorrow will be the time, the lines of runes were understood by all, the concept was accepted, but I still lacked the hardest part.


    The night passes slowly, this is just another routine for me, since the crisis with the murderous dead the night was a time of peace, the multicolored field that protects you dear city will not be limited for the obvious enemies, if not for those who play with the ambitions of your citizens, my biggest concern is the risk posed by the clans of the largest guild of all Green Leaf, the same that only want power, the wolves have many people involved in the alliance, So for this to work I have worked a lot with the dwarves of my home, each forge has shone at night, each weapon, designed by them, with my specifications, only in this way we could work, they appreciate very little to their king, who according to history was killed and his descendants enslaved, none of this we can prove, but I will not have time to do it, since it is known this morning that nothing works, everything will be chaos.


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    At six o''clock the ovens of the bakeries begin, a little later the stench of the slaughterhouses and the noise of the various carriages with visitors, merchants, not forgetting the numerous adventurers returning from their journeys in the lower levels of the dark forest, distinguished by the garbage of their equipment, The ones who interest me, the ones who will know if this operation is a failure or not, are the others who arrive after noon, with their elven weapons gleaming, their armor protected by impressive enchantments for wearers of such low skill, but it is not yet time, not yet.


    The recruitment centers are run by humans, so they don''t notice the soulstones, those precious gems the elves use to store magic, in larger quantities than one or two of the little mages who play at being adventurers, but no more, there is no food to accept, none of the warriors or soldiers of this alliance will send magic, no one in my city will do it, at least not within the walls of my power, we do this in every city, while everyone ran after the most visible enemy, my colleague Capablanca elaborated powerful defenses that, as in this city, will prevent any attack or retaliation.


    As the city began to enjoy what was called "happy hour," as the adventurers had drunk enough to show off their skills, most of them using enchanted weapons, I didn''t mind charging their runes, it was something I couldn''t avoid, until now. While on the esplanade, some of those who had timidly arrived at the planices began to use explosions of fire and ice, the experienced ones kept to the reserve, as it was not necessary to show off skills, armor capable of withstanding the impact of cutting weapons, the exhibitions continued until a paladin, one of those their faith commands them to do so, After these crazy years I have lived, I think I would rather forgive a crazy warrior of the plains who kills for the rewards or the beauty of the battle than for some "something" that only he sees tells him who is worthy to be killed or not. The fat paladin had been shaking his head for a long time, in his little mind he was probably drunker than the rest of his group, of power, of decisions, the point is that he wanted to prove that his god Phaladine was so powerful.


    Not knowing that his mace had elven runes and not ecclesiastical ones, that the runes have the power to strike and shatter bones, he charged with a prayer, the square has several strikes on the stone, the same that the clans pay to always have to show their skill, but that did not happen, a great two-handed mace of pure iron bounced with a dull clang, suddenly no show was so applauded, all except those fighting at his side, A great two-handed mace, of the purest iron, struck with a dull clang, suddenly no show was so applauded, all mocked him, except those who fought at his side, who by seeing him eliminate vermin in the mountains recognized that he was a mad zealot, but a very powerful one, the murmur of them will be accompanied by the murmur of many. By the end of the day, when the recruiters return to their tents and the elves have not received their reward, they will come, by then they will know what I have proposed, but by then everything else will be ready, mine will be the first city to turn against the Alliance, the rest of my guild will follow these steps, but only mine will be neutral to the people of Lilith for the time being, if he proves right, then the danger we face will be so great that not even the worst of the Elven Age will compare to it.

 CHAPTER 17

    The crisis was unleashed two days ago, now stuck on the table of an extinct wood, I consider my options. The first part of the plan was a complete success, in less than two months we recruited 10% of the population, mostly just pathetic humans with little magic, but those little ones were enough to gather all the magic we use for exhibitions in other towns and cities, then began to arrive those we expected, greedy warriors, eager to belong to our alliance, the so-called bloodthirsty elves were excluded for two reasons:


    1.- they do not generate power, so even with the tattoos we would not get more from them than worn and low quality scrolls.


    2.- we had to get rid of them, during the centuries they lived here they lost the pride of our superior race, they humiliated themselves to feel great for their money and what they could get, so if we wanted to be something different, acceptable by society, they had to be out of our ranks.


    Humans with potential gave us a lot of magic, so much so that most of my guards were seen in the streets with halos of fire or moonlight, as if we were still living in the precincts of the King''s Palace in Green Leaf, which made our supply of soulstones full, we began to go on expeditions to gather materials for blacksmithing or fur, because we had to offer not only power but also prizes for their obedience.


    The different guilds of the Alliance, here on the coast, in front of everyone, the flag of the Alliance flies with an elegance that can only be achieved by some kind of magic, in the middle the baculum of the king, a huge orb, a soul stone so exquisite that we had to destroy the mine where it came from so that only this quality was present in it, on the right the Caparoja guild, with their stupid logo, intimidating according to them, but who could be afraid of a red cape with the embroidery of an explosion about to happen? On the left, the only ones recognized by us (the others despise them, as it suits me), "fearsome" humans, trained little by little by our skills, a black fist raised with the intention of showing their worth, the Capanegra did not come from a village on the edge of the mountain, But they were almost ready, they were powerful and the amount of magic they provided us with was impressive, but we hardly took anything from them, we needed them to be whole for what I had in mind, even among all of them a withered tree with few leaves, these were our forest elf brothers.


    We chased them for many miles through the forest, as far as I know the blood elves made them go through some bitter experiences, when I finally contacted their elders they agreed to belong to our alliance, the reason for having them is the same as keeping the blood elves away, the forest elves are useful hunters but have no offensive power, magical ability or intelligence, they only exist to demonstrate that this is an inclusive alliance, for the moment is what is most convenient, or at least that seemed to be the case.


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    Today in the afternoon, the largest recruiting centers are located in the city of the soft-hearted Capablanca, leader of his guild and the only one who did not accept to join the Alliance but remains neutral to it, from there comes the largest number of recruits, magic, but not this time, they came with one or two brats for whom any weapon represents more danger to them than any enemy, To this cannon fodder we give them a sword and a bronze shield, they will always be the ones to receive the frontal attack of the battles in raids, if they have not died after their first mission, then they can be trained and become a group of warriors moderately useful to my interests, the recruiters gave me the stones when those rednecks left, but there was nothing there, not a drop of magic, nothing.


    Angrily I scold the misers, surely they spent the resources on some stupid exhibition! Confused, they claim not to have touched anything, but the damn coin recruiters arrive and they come loaded with magic, I call the guards to arrest these lazybones, but then representatives from other towns arrive and it is clear that something is wrong, none of the stones from 25 small and medium sized towns brought magic, I was still awake after midnight, trying to understand what had happened, it could only mean that the tattoos were not working, but if that was the case, no city should bring charged stones, and the ten cities under the protection of the caparojas had no problems, so I decided that I had to go to the city to find out what was happening.


    When I arrived in the city I could not but be amazed by the garbage that they called "white city", I could see perfectly how all the dirt was absorbed in the surroundings of the magical field, this condensed it and by means of channels they gave it exit to wells organized in the outer part, I remembered that its clear and milky color was only perceptible from the outside, but when entering my eyes continued to see a little blurred, as I imagine the inferiors must feel about their problems. I extracted a stone, I had to make an exhibition, call the recruits inside their gates, make that being assembled allow me to see first hand the operation of the runes, I concentrated on achieving a low and soft voice that all users of these commercial places and made them the call to dictate the new missions, A little bit of knotty leather for the hunters, some reptile scales and insect shells for the armor of superior power, normally I paid with some minor weapons that we brought from our arsenal, but instead of my harmonious voice to travel the field, this was heard only in the normal way, a slightly shrill voice, When I looked at the crystal, I noticed that it was still charged, but no magic was going in or out, then an image appeared in the field, it was that of Capablanca as an old man (despite his ridiculous age of 50) greeting all the villagers, notice that from now on the town declares hostility to the Alliance, for all people as individuals are welcome to the blacksmith and restaurants, but the missions of the Alliance are not those of Capablanca, added that the dwarves have worked to offer exclusive weapons to those who are honorable to their people and the villages that belong to the guild . ... son of a whore! You want to declare war on me? So with the power that I represent ... that I represent from the field, mmmm cunning, I will go to him to persuade him, because I will not let an old man decide on our source of magic, you bastard Capablanca.

 CHAPTER 18

    I just used my new mace, not the best way to do it, but again I can''t think of anything better to do with it than to hit that smug elf''s arm as hard as I could, except maybe hit him in the head.


    I went to buy a mace in the morning, in the blacksmith where I get it there was a new range of tools, most with affordable prices, but with a number on the side, I asked what it was for, the blacksmith said that this number would glow if I did quests for the Capablanca, I was puzzled, I remember doing some, So I asked him to show me a mace that I could buy, and there it was, made of steel, with runes of protection, a beauty, and when I thought that it would be very expensive, he told me that the city gave it to me for my services rendered, with skepticism I checked it from end to end, but in effect, Except for the runes related to my position as honorable for the Capablanca, I did not ask or restrict more, I went out with my mace raised, when I saw a stupid man throwing one of the students of magic, dressed in very elegant clothes, and knocking on the doors of the main tower in the city, there is no time for more, This is not a foolishness where I can think of the reasons that brought him here, I insult him while he turns around I have already invoked three layers of magic to protect me from harm and I am with two enchantments, one that would make him lose sight of me and another that would make him blind. .. All I need is a provocation from him, but a friendly voice stops me, it''s Mr. Capablanca himself.


    He is greeting the elf, it seems to me that he is the elf king himself! Many of the priests I train were tempted to go, to be recruited, I think some of them left, but none of them had enough knowledge about what a discipline priest is, so I don''t think they were a big loss, but seeing him here I understand why I didn''t want to receive anyone outside the city, even after I reached the level to train with my master and I did some of the recruiting on my own, after the appearance of idiots armed with elven instruments we withdrew a bit, The missions were easier but the risk to finish them, greater, until I interrogated one of those who were still conscious, after trying to keep my part, after that we only had to see, as now, where were the elven runes on his body, most of them were on his neck or face, this "king" has one on his wrist, seen in the traditional way only indicates that whoever wears it absorbs, but in this rune there are other very small ones that make it up, and are not active, this king is demanding that violence against the Alliance cease. .. I think, without understanding the whole story, I understand that the old man is finally doing something useful, even if I didn''t like him, he always seeks the best for his people within his territory, that''s why we live here.


    The sky did not show how long the discussion lasted, what started as a civilized "for the good of the alliance..." ended with a "you are a selfish facist that I have to eliminate" with incredible speed and strength for someone so thin, he pulls out a sword and throws a downward slash, my mace hits him in the chest, but it was not necessary, a bastos, I do not know where it came from, stopped the blow, so mine hits him without any defense.


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    I see the king fall, although I did not activate the runes, my blow must have been strong enough, because he gets up alone after a few not very elegant touches, when he looks at me, I understand what my teacher had told me in all his stories, the elves who claim to be the saviors are full of power, Greed and evil, there is only one desire, like when you see a cockroach near your food, it must die, disgust and repulsion, all in eyes that would otherwise be considered beautiful, he stood up and lost all contact with his supposed role of savior, I parry the blows of his sword more by luck than by true combat skill, we priests are not designed for this, but when the fifth attack overwhelms my defenses, the layers of magic I have placed under the name of Entereza stop the impact, but he continues to attack, he does not stop to see if he has hurt me, One by one these layers fall, when I think that the supreme Capablanca will help me, I see that the king was not alone and now his guards are fighting with the maximum representative of human magic, I hope he doesn''t see what I''m going to do, no one in the city must see these magics that he taught me? Lilith.


    I met her while I was meditating, with whispers she explained to me that the Priest of Discipline''s enteresa were good to survive the attacks of theirs, but what would I do when the attackers were not human, when my life depended on saving me while everyone was wounded or dead, So he taught me, in dreams I learned words I didn''t know had that explanation, his eyes always look at me, the severity of his gaze (even in dreams) compels me, spurs me to be much better than I ever was, what I''m going to do to him doesn''t exist in any book I''ve ever read, blind! Immediately some spots cloud the elf''s sight, the screams were impressive, then I use a holy whip, this is a normal priest, what follows is not mental torture, I don''t know where it came from, but when I understood what I was doing my stomach turned, but when I saw him twisting I didn''t feel guilt, but rather satisfaction, a scream lets me understand that he is not the only enemy who is disabled, but the other one comes against me, His broadsword shines under the magic light, my mace is not a good weapon against a sword, but I remember that it is enchanted, I introduce magic and it forms to my hand as if it were part of it, the backhand I give him quickly, more out of desperation, the guard covers himself with the shield, but the blow bursts into flames on contact and envelops him in a storm of fire, leaving him on the ground, agonizing.


    People surround us before I realize what is happening, all the Alliance warriors threaten me, but a shrill cry interrupts them, "This man saved my life! "the confused people look at the elven king walking away, at the limp bodies of the guards and do what they do best, they rush to see what they can get out of the bodies, in the confusion someone takes my hand and pulls me into the tower, as the doors close I see the leader capablanca, his face is a mixture of fear and suspicion, He asked me where I got the magic from, that it was forbidden magic, only a few magicians knew it, how could a priest know such a thing, I told him that I was the first of many, that I was tired of being just the support of the games, of being scared rabbits that were robbed, we were ready for the attack, he was a dark priest. He just smiled with his mouth and asked me if a "friend" had taught them to me... even when the terror overwhelmed me, knowing I was discovered, I told him:


    My skills are for the city, for my people, for those who defend beyond appearances.


    He gave me a long look and replied, "I knew my magic was not wrong, you are honorable in the Stormhammer, you always will be.

 CHAPTER 19

    The training progresses in an impressive way, the books keep coming, destructive magic is learned from the lowest of us to the circles of power where I am, the capanegra have been preparing for almost a year, soon we will be ready to destroy that abomination of the dark forest.


    While I prepare the new weapons needed and new incantations of the fire elements, a new sensation comes to my field, this time is not something small, a huge magic just reached my defenses, I suspect it is an elf, I know the sensations caused by humans and the Overlord I remember, these are elves, what do they want? I make them go to the main room, the church is completely rebuilt, the main room is now a practice yard for advanced magic, it is full of stones, mannequins and broken wooden targets, at the back are some chairs for the purpose of evaluating the students, I sit them there while I give orders to show the best of their magic, they seem to be somewhat impressed, the two elves and the soldiers accompanying them have a smile on their face, a little presumptuous perhaps, but a big smile.


    When everything is over, I take them to my office, there I explain to them how we have divided ourselves into the different types of elemental magic, as well as dark magic, each one mastering the basics of an elemental magic to its maximum destruction and dark magic, creating enough damage to eliminate hordes of elves without mentioning our goal... they interrupt me, I think they know what we are capable of, but they are looking for something else, so I ask them to explain to me how they come to my doors, as they have never introduced themselves before.


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    For thirty minutes I listen to them... it is unbelievable! My old master, that old fart! He got rid of all the allies, all the allies were kicked out of their cities, he set up a whole honor system, he set up missions that were not paid with money, but with points, and if you collected enough points, you got weapons and armor that could only be bought with obscene amounts of money, the poorest are doing missions that put them in teams at our level? unacceptable! I must liberate my city, give it the power to decide, and make sure that people with real merit have access to the tools, not just some peasant with heroic pretensions!


    Excuse me, I''m sorry, thank you for informing us, we Capanegra take our role in the alliance very seriously, just inform us when we go out... aren''t we going to war against the Capablanca? Do you have another idea for us? What are you carrying in those saddlebags? It is unbelievable, each one of these sticks, these tunics are far beyond my financial capacity, are you giving them to us as a gift? No, sorry, you surprised me, it means that this equipment is to go against the Vixen of the Castle of the Black Forest, you will be happy, we will capture her and you will see the suffering that awaits her, we will use her to test every magic that we can think of, rest assured in the name of Relch leader Capanegra that we will fulfill our deal.

 CHAPTER 20

    The months of study, the time to get used to my new "eyes", the training, not only to be as strong as before, but even more, to turn my aura into something that is always concentrated around me, even when I sleep, all this will be useless if I don''t reach the enchanted woods of the forest, a somewhat ridiculous name for the backyard of the elven palace, but it described exactly what it was and very wrongly what one expects.


    The wolves were a great help on the journey, they allowed me to advance without having to worry about my safety, I ran as training, I strengthened my joints again and again, I molded my armor, with its impossibly light weight, with my scrolls, my weapons, the despair of lost time, despite everything, I drank, ate, rested at least two hours every eight, the wolves took turns, The wolves took turns, some left to hunt, others kept the reanimated dead away from me, which was difficult, I would prefer to eliminate each one, but they will continue to leave, while the creatures of the Mark of Chaos continue to spawn and eliminate innocent living beings, the answer to everything is in that palace, but the last stretch I will have to go alone.


    The entrance to the palace of the elves is wedged between two huge walls, from the top of them (collapsed by the passage of time) are the nests of the false dragons, perverse creatures, half lizards with dragon genes, I read they can spit acid, they have advanced magical resistance, a lot of intelligence, they do not leave this area because there is always someone to eat, often they hunt the other defenses placed by the high elves so that no one could enter, the main entrance has many magical defenses, The main entrance has many magical defenses, including some that I fear would destroy all records, but the back part is not a service entrance, it is the "Graduation Exit" or "Penance Entrance", when someone wanted to escape the elves'' attentions, they would leave this way, going through five kilometers of forest and caves, unarmed, only the strongest would try it, like the old generals of their armies, who after centuries of bloodshed got fed up and tried to win their freedom. ... of all of them I know of none who have succeeded, even in the elven records there were references to the false dragons devouring them, usually coming against them mutilated and poisoned, so it does not surprise me that even when they were large they ended up feeding these beasts.


    The beasts don''t attack me, I guess they only do it if I have to turn around or if I go too far in, I doubt the elves were confident enough to prevent a full blown attack, I make a slight backward movement at the edge of the forest and immediately I hear them growl, it''s the warning I was expecting, they know I could die in there but they know if I don''t want to try they have food, at least they think so, but I didn''t come to play so I go in.


    The fog on the ground is poisonous, not much, just enough to numb the reflexes, the forest itself is not that high, but in the upper trunks you can see a herd of baboons, that coupled with the bright webs of poisonous spiders give you an idea of what awaits me if I happen to walk through the trees, at ground level there were no more than a few poisonous plants and snakes, But I have expanded my field to a radius of about thirty centimeters, which gives me an angle of displacement over mechanical traps not necessarily of magical nature, with my eyes I can see the thousands of corpses, this ecosystem does not exist, it is only an eternal battle of eat or be eaten, the plague may not be magical, but a mist of hundreds of decomposing bodies.


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    As I go deeper I understand the garbage of the beings that were capable of all this, the caves, the fountains, the plants with tempting fruits, they were carriers of parasites, poisonous or simply had such a putrid taste that to eat them would give away their position and they would be too weak to defend themselves, even the weapons, I have come across several swords of cheap metal, corroded but with very elegant designs, to examine them thoroughly you could see how they stored acid in capsules concealed in the hilt, so to stop a blow or attack this would melt their hands.


    When I reached what I estimated to be half of the route, the attacks began in earnest, from mutated bats that did not eat meat but still tried to spread rage, some jaguars and gorillas of mist, mangy but with a fury that only madness provides, the first attack makes me use my hands, for this one where there are two gorillas, a koatrice I draw, my baculo has stored magic in its stone, All the time I traveled I loaded it for this, a few jets of lava on his way will keep them away, only the koatrice to be magical must die, with his appearance of giant chicken, possesses one of the most exotic poisons, the petrification, his whole body exudes it, when the person feels that it is not worth fighting with the bug it is too late, this has already caused some small wounds that turn into rock, I do a feint and his myopic eyes focus on me, shooting a stream of poison from a forked tongue, instantly the area near me is like a stone floor, not wanting to be attacked from behind I turn my weapon and activate the Rune of Emptiness, I don''t dodge the next shot, a blow from my weapon and the liquid returns to its owner without touching anything of mine, I suspect that its skin has the antidote, so the cut not only returns the attack, it inflicts a wound in the animal''s chest, this with its huge legs begins to run from one side to the other, the petrification has begun.


    I leave it there, flapping its wings and screeching, I could kill it, but I want the other animals of the place not to look for trouble, I want those who think twice or three times before coming, that allows me to move forward without having to fight constantly, The screams of the beast accompany me for several hundred meters, suddenly they stop, maybe it is completely petrified, maybe a more dangerous beast found it, from the records I know that there are things that exceed in evil to this overfed bird, I speed up the pace, I don''t want to face one of those, not yet.


    For a while I think that the only enemies here are the ones placed by the elves, but just when the night begins to come (I have to go through it making detours to avoid the lizards and more fearsome threats) I can still see the walls a little distant from my position, but I''m close, Plata Liquida, the elf who designed this, also explains the easiest way, Not to help the poor people who dared to enter, but so that the elves who bet on it would know when their bet had a chance and when it was not worth even thinking about and better to return to the bar for another drink, from him came the twisted idea that this was a labyrinth that went in different directions if you came into the castle or wanted to leave it, I was right, I would have ended up exhausted if not badly injured if I had ignored the advice of the bastard.


    When there were still a few hundred meters to go, I came to the end of the forest, the "Gate of Repentance" that was written at the entrance, it said here before passing through it, "Repent for having disrespected your superiors, ask for forgiveness" by this time, I am annoyed and tired, how many died over the millennia, how many will be revived by the lynching, how many will be revived by the lynching? I know that if I don''t say it, I''m setting a trap, but to hell with this scum with pointed ears and evil intellect, I cross in silence, a red light replaces the peaceful blue light of the welcoming courtyard, there was food there, to celebrate the winner? to welcome him with mockery? was it poisoned? No matter, I prepare a welcome for the squeaks I hear in the distance, the false dragons are coming to finish me off.

 CHAPTER 21

    "Eliminating those lizards was a piece of cake, at least it is more than that," the voice sounds annoyed, also weak, I imagine that the distance from where it is communicating is very large and very charged with residual magic, despite receiving the message as if it were the complaint of a disinterested and banal person, I know it is not so, the voice belongs to the Dark Lord, which means it is under great stress.


    During the last nights I have received dreams, I also imagine Lilith, where our Lord informs us about the progress to enter the castle, many of the protections require long elven readings, or to be able to use his magic to energize the runes of doors and locks, the magics he sends us are so that we can use his knowledge, for example the last one he used against the false lizards, I did not believe it existed, a great explosion, I can still feel the tension of his sword in my hands as he cut the head off the last of the creatures, he asked to send some dead controlled by Lilith to recover the scales, which could be a great improvement in the castle, here, before a civil rebellion, they are not even good for breakfast.


    When I wake up, the usual problems await me, nothing to envy any mayor (which I am not), we go out for breakfast, a mushroom stew, sometimes with the meat of some mole they find, from there give instructions on how to prepare defenses, detect their powers, how to use their own magic, then two hours teaching blacksmithing techniques to the young maso, there are still no quality materials, wood for forging is non-existent, Coal and peat is the only thing we have, but we can''t waste it, until we get better minerals, we heat the forge with heat incantations, they exhaust them, but they take turns, so while one improves his handling of magic, another blacksmith, defenses composed of women and elders prevent mercenaries from entering, this is what we have been doing for four months, because the real threat is not in the front, they are in the mines, The party ends here in the rocaceleste, they begin with whispers, they all talk about uncles, grandfathers, children who are waiting for them in the shadows, in the deep parts of the mines, where only our eyes, forced to the limit, can distinguish another passage, the materials for the lamps are expensive, the oil even more, the idea of being with torches in a tunnel like the humans terrifies us, we would be left without breathing! Our tunnels are not big, holes of a meter and a half at most, but from time to time they lead to wide galleys, that''s where we put our dead after cleaning the interesting mineral veins, that''s where the first attacks took place.


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    People were no longer drunk, that night no one tasted beer anymore, it was a moment of liberation, they explained to me that things had been difficult, at least as I remembered them, but the real bad thing happened when the dead added to the problems, suddenly even going to the water wells or picking mushrooms could be a trip of no return, The dead, at least, did not leave the area, but unlike hobgoblins or some of the predatory beasts (after all, the mines contain hundreds of enemies for the dwarves), they were not so easy to eliminate, especially when you had to crawl down a hundred meters on your knees to get to a possible cave, only to discover that someone had buried his family or some long-dead adventurer, whose remains are waiting for you with a rotten beard and an expression of hatred in their sockets.


    From then on things went from bad to worse, the king continued with this custom of robbery, since there was nothing to produce, little by little they robbed the citizens of their utensils, food, hope, but if we want to face the reprisals we''ll need more material, that''s what I told myself that day, I explained this to everyone in the following days, no one objected, now only the most experienced are outside, with weapons, with the knowledge I gave them to eliminate the various threats, with determination, while I face the few mercenary troops that come with the gleam of greed on my hammer, I take them all on, stripping them of their armor and weapons, eliminating the Judge that always accompanies them, the armor we recycle into weapons, so little by little we improve the quality of our defense, all the dwarves, apart from the reddening of their skin as a result of eating those "mushrooms of poverty," have now begun to tattoo runes, The young ones understand and some of them start to use magical shields, they don''t resist much but they prefer them to have a steel weapon, for this we used some of their coal reserves, but being so miserable we needed them to bring more from the mines.


    During the day I keep checking everything, the night elf keeps me informed about the movements of all the enemies, not the ones outside, the few merchants who have paid mercenaries to protect them, they don''t like it when I give things away, I''m sure they want something in exchange for snitching, So I''m not surprised when I feel a breeze behind me, that and the disturbing smell of the forest, funny thing, I don''t like the forest, but somehow it reminds me that there is something to this madness, she tells me in a low voice that there are guests, with a gesture of boredom I ask if there are more mercenaries, she tells me no, it''s an invitation, I''d better go.


    In front of the square, a dwarf with clean and elegant clothes is waiting for me, fragile is the word that comes to my mind, he gives me an envelope and runs away, in the envelope, with golden letters, is the invitation I was waiting for, with a pompous, "engineer blacksmith Chapatrueno" and ends "his loving son of platinum secretary of the king mountain of gold third", while everyone is excited, for me is a feeling of an imminent crisis, but I would not miss it for anything, at last I will meet the impostor king.

 CHAPTER 22

    I am not a king! Every morning I clench my teeth to keep the prayer from coming out of my mouth, even though it is true that I cannot let the guards or the servants know that I have not been a king since the moment I was born.


    My father was a first class wise man, always attentive to his people, no one mattered, his greatest friends built a great monument to his death, the successor was my brother, powerful warrior-magician, no one had the strength of his magic or the handling of his hammer, but oh misery! Seduced by the power of the elves, eager to improve and be number one, he decided to go with them, then my sister was discarded, the best administrator since my grandmother, she made an effort so that the economy was always stable, they brought me to the throne and said, you are the only man left, even with your 45 years you must be king, we were intimate friends of your father, so we can advise you in everything you have doubts, at that time with everything and everything, I still trusted them.


    Then came the reforms, without realizing it, in less than five years, all of my father''s trusted men were replaced by his friends, not to mention the accusation against my sister of having illegitimate desires over finances, from there everything went downhill, fifty years were enough to change the entire mindset of dwarven society, the population became poorer, lost purchasing power, warriors, Warriors, mercenaries and all those who were protected by the great merchants, prospered, but I did not oppose, the coffers continued to receive many treasures, exquisite crafts, amazing weapons of the best craftsmen, but they did not keep any for themselves, as much as I wanted to raise my voice, not only did they not listen to me, then they silenced me, immersed in their power, they devoured the dwarven people as much as they could.


    One night fifty years ago (on my 148th birthday) a voice in my dream frightened me, it was terrible, merciless and cold, slow, painfully mocking, it spoke to me in my dreams for weeks, all the time ridiculing my reign, each time more and more intense, showing me images of my people suffering, of the dwarves fleeing through the tunnels, of all the people abandoning their homeland, When I couldn''t stand it anymore, I shouted at her to give me solutions, not mockery, at that moment the voice stopped, she told me exactly what to do, how to take the power away from those bloodsuckers, I was so sure that it was my father or one of his gods who gave me his permission to rule, there I was still innocent.


    With the suggestions of the one who bothered me in my dreams, I managed to tame these dwarves, although tame is an ugly word, I annihilated them, I used the elite guards against their combat systems, my warriors against all their mercenaries, I did not kill them, I would need them to recover all the riches, I thought I could be better than my father, that with all he would do for my people, this place would be much better, until he came to collect his price.


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    That night I could not forget it, the last of the great dwarf lords had surrendered his house unconditionally to the royal crown, he had taken several of the daughters of each house as servants, bodyguards and lovers, so if they tried to eliminate me they would have to kill their offspring, I went to sleep with a few extra jugs of beer, while I fell asleep I could only imagine myself on the throne, the day when I would look into the courtyards of the palace and all the dwarves would support me, At that moment a clap resounded in every corner of the place, the immense wall with the frieze of my father in warrior posture with his hammer raised now broke without anything to stop it, no one listened to me, everyone was still in the party, sitting without seeing a huge bone claw, when I destroyed the wall, some dead eyes watched the deepest of my being, "you will not forget the payment of the right of the ground. ... little king" the voice made me tremble, it was horrible, bone on bone, no tongue, no emotion, only malice tinged his words, when I managed to ask when I owed, he just laughed "all your weapons and gold stuff little scum, did you think I was helping you for the good of your people, you invaded my home, it is only fair that you pay compensation, I only did what was necessary so that you would have something to pay", as he spoke I could see him unfolding inside the main hall, Its claws crushed the invited dwarves, but only I was horrified, no one seemed to care, I was alone, when I woke up, I saw several dwarf skeletons in front of me, they had their hands raised in the typical gesture of demanding, my fate was cast.


    More than seventy years have passed, I am old and without descendants, what I first wanted to give to my people, I gradually gave to the bone dragon, especially weapons, there was not a single beauty that someone forged in some distant city before these dwarves appeared, pure bone, only demanding what its master was looking for, I tried to send soldiers to look for him, but if I sent them from here to find him, who would defend me? That is why I have been testing this dwarf for months, he is someone who brings death, appropriately named Deathbringer, but I had to be sure he would be up to the task, the dragon must not know that I am looking for someone to finish him off, if I find out, I have tested him and it is time to meet him.


    The meeting ended on a bittersweet note, he did not want gold, he did not ask for the things of his people (which is strange, roca celeste is one of the most scourged by my and the dragon''s hosts), he only said he wanted a duel with me after defeating the dragon, duels are stupid things, it does not matter which head you remove, it matters which ones remain to perpetuate this crap, who would be left as king? The nickel-headed dwarves are greedy, the platian and deepdark dwarves are warriors, no one can reconcile the needs of an entire dwarven race, I cannot allow him to take me out of the way, I know that defeating the dragon will not be an easy task, my warriors will go after him without getting in his way, I tell myself that it is to protect him, to help him, to die for him, but no matter how much I say it, a part of me knows that I only do it to kill him when he is weak, so that after the death of the threats, my kingdom will be reborn as the empire that it was. ... with me as its true king! just as I eliminated all the great merchants so that it would be easier for me to manipulate their houses through their stupid sons.

 CHAPTER 23

    While the meeting with the king continued, I prepared everything for the arrival of the enemies, because we knew they would come, Chapatrueno asked me (me) to wait for the mercenaries of the great dwarven houses who would bring as a mission to eliminate all opposition from the city before the return of the Deathbringer, so they would have plenty of justification to eliminate him and recover all the weapons they have lost trying to do so.


    The main access tunnels are barricaded, the Skyrock Dwarves have been working all night to improve their weapons, the only protection they wear is their helmets and some of them shoulder pads and a small breastplate that only covers the heart, according to what I hear, "so no matter if they get hit or wounded, they won''t die quickly and can continue to wield their weapons", which is something inconceivable to my people, what is the point of eliminating many enemies if you are destined to die? But neither the forest elves nor the dark elves have what the dwarves have, the red color of their skin, caused by a diet of highly pigmented mushrooms, intensifies when they get angry, at that moment they glow, their magic strengthens every one of their bones, At two in the morning, when most of the living beings are resting, footsteps can be heard, it''s a synchronized, slow, heavy march, I guess they all come heavily armed, that means my battle hasn''t started yet.


    Around four in the morning, something strange, here there is no sunlight itself, but they are guided by flowers that follow the sun even though they receive no light or heat from it, they only eat insects and tell the time, at that moment a horn sounded with an impressive bass, called the citizens, told them that it was the High Arbitrator, head of the guild mediator, that since the city was corrupt, the brave warriors of the Chief Engineer Big Horn had decided to bet on the city, We expected something like this, apparently they think they can easily defeat those who live here, there are three hundred dwarves in fighting capacity, they are not many I admit, but if we add that there is only a small opening in the barricade, it is possible that only about ten dwarves pass at a time, I have to be sure that they will resist, their strategy is the same as when they entered the mines invaded by dead dwarves.


    Each mine is closed by a magic field that only the dwarf of the family that owns the mine can open, it is their only possession and when he dies the field disappears, so when they enter and there are enemies they try to eliminate as many as possible, they retreat to the entrance and there they fight, knowing that they could get out of their tunnels to safety but most do not, They fight with the exit within reach, when the hobgoblins, lizards, snakes and other parasites were no threat, the reanimates came, but their strategy also worked well against them, but many of the current artisans were miners who were robbed of their mine in unfavorable battles, so they all know how to fight like this, with salvation at their back, refusing to surrender, frankly they are incredible.


    The first thing I see when I look out are full shields, over a meter and a half, these shields are made of solid iron, they protect the user from arrows, spears, axes and swords, to see a core of ten impenetrable dwarves marching is intimidating, but that is what they expected as far as I can see, Most of these dwarves would come out in blocks and once they were inside they would protect the entrance for the arrival of the rest, this was not the case, as soon as they left the entrance several of our warriors rushed under the area of vision, dwarves without armor run very fast, The blows of their one-handed axes were not aimed at the shield, but at the feet, several blows went through the boots of these invaders, as soon as the screams of pain and rage were heard, some dwarves climbing the walls threw themselves at them, There I stopped watching, the strategy worked, these shield dwarves had a good attack, they used their protection to hit the hordes of enemies, but they were nothing against beings that knew how to counter, there I stopped watching, my battle began.


    I ran to the ventilation exit, the tunnels are small, but it is possible that attacks come from there, that, the main exit (where we arrived) are places where any strategist would attack, so I waited, I set some traps with pieces of sharp stone, they will not resist more than one use, but it is enough, I set several, two hours after the battle I begin to hear the sounds of enemies approaching, for an ambush they are very noisy, that does not matter, what matters is that they do not speak dwarf or any language I know, they are a mixture of grunts and gasps, unpleasant, I take an arrow from my box and wait.


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    The screams of hate and pain echo everywhere, now I know they are small, more than the dwarves, my traps don''t catch their legs, they bury themselves in their stomachs, their language is a mixture of human and something else, it sounds disgusting even when they wail, it doesn''t matter, My battlefield is dangerous, there are three entrances, I have active magic traps only two meters from where I am and some already loaded with fire and ice at the exit of these tunnels, that required me to consume a few potions of mushroom bark from the dark forest, that leaves me only three potions and my magic, I hope it''s enough.


    The first one to come out is a child, something like that, with long arms and yellow skin, his reptilian eyes are bloodshot, he carries a rusty knife in one hand, with the other he grabs at his intestines, it is clear that this is no longer my enemy, but what is it? It reminds me a bit of the goblins with whom there is an alliance in the forest, however, these seem to be willing to flee, they only fight if it saves their lives, even with the wounds and about to die they continue to advance, behind this wretch you can hear all my traps being activated, screams of pain, curses incessant, finally begin to leave those who were not affected, there are many, There are many, more than the 300 that we defend or the 800 that attack us, but my traps are ready, one by one the magic circles that I have traced and energized begin to activate, one of them stops all movement, it could look like a freezing trap, but I do not want to incapacitate, I want to eliminate, fifty traps I have placed along the esplanade to the first house, all go together, inside the tunnels I have placed another hundred and fifty, so there are 200 fewer enemies, When the first one goes beyond the line of traps, my arrow is already on its way, a precise shot between those disgusting eyes, I don''t let it fall, I jump and when I fall, I run to the next house, where I leave the last of the engraved lines and reach the attack circles, One line in each of the nearby houses, inside there are some old women and children waiting for me, I enter and give them the signal, this is a vital part of the plan, my power could only energize these fifty circles for several days, but now that they are emptied they are only stone engravings, or they would be if it weren''t for something I learned from our Lady Lilith.


    It took me several days to explain it, when I found out that the dwarves handle magic (she told me as a vital secret chapatrueno) they can imbue magic in earth and stone, that''s what I taught them, while they charge the runes of the circles I start a frantic dance, I run in and with an arrow I shoot down six of those little bastards, The idea is to keep them inside the area of the circles, a line connects each of them, but they are written so that one is charged first and then the other, there are more than twenty dwarves charging these traps, even if they don''t have much magic they will make it, I do my job, when there are many I take out my swords and start to turn among them, Cutting heads, slashing chests, dodging darts, teeth and knives, all in the center of the plain, my armor has withstood the few hits that reach me, a poisoned dart grazes my arm and I feel it numb, but I do not give up, more fall but I cannot stop them much, so when I see that they have already charged about forty circles I start jumping between them, When I see that they have already charged about forty circles I start jumping between them, avoiding to interrupt the lines of magic or to activate them by mistake, I reach the safe place and there I start to apply bandages with antidote, it is a paralyzing poison, I imagine that this way they immobilize bigger victims to finish them, but with me they failed, now I will see them die while they reach me.


    The fight at the entrance seems to have stopped, I have several wounds in my arms and legs, around me countless piles of frozen and charred remains tell of a bloody battle, the bodies of the dead are scattered there, there are no more hobglobins alive, when we eliminated more than half of them they started fighting to return to their tunnels, maybe they think I am some kind of demon and they will write songs about it? I think their poison is already working, I''m not thinking clearly, I''m sure I used the antidotes, but something must have been left, how come one of them gets up without a head... no, there are several, I must have killed more than a hundred, but they get up no matter what the wounds, oh no! I recognize that look, they are reanimating with the dark magic of the lich! I''m too tired to attack them, the dwarves who helped me must be exhausted, in the end without magic they came out with weapons to join the fight, several fell but twelve of them remain at my side, I''m sure we''re going to die but none of them is determined to let them advance, knowing we''re going to die doesn''t stop us from trying... who knew! I''m a Berseker too.

 CHAPTER 24

    The corridors are limited, my legs that always seemed fast feel like logs as I advance between the primary tunnels, the guards let me pass, in my arm I hold the ribbon that authorizes me as an elite guard in the service of the king, but nothing will have reason to be if I can not return, I know that my companion, stupid elf decided to support the dwarves in an attack that only concerned the dwarves, what am I going to do?


    Progressing through everything made me remember how simple life was as a dwarf, it was always fighting, for food, for clothes, for places to sleep, to protect my heritage and my marriage, my beloved wife, she was the most beautiful of all the sky rock, to meet her, for her to accept me, to pay all the dowry for her to accept me, to pay all the dowry for her to be able to live with me, to pay all the dowry so that her parents allowed me to marry her, then when they harassed me and we were living only on poor food we fled, I arrived in the city of people, but she was very weak, in what I raised my business was too late for her, but not for my son . ... now is to save the few that are left.


    To get to the entrance of Celestial Rock is to advance through its tunnel, protected by narrow entrances, but the barricades are down, although apparently many dwarven mercenaries fell to reach it, more than thirty bodies in the tunnel, but the real massacre was at the entrance of the city, there were many people lying there, I saw red marks, I saw red marks, I saw red marks, I saw red marks that showed that citizens of my people had died in the process, but they were buried in hundreds of bodies, legs cut off, but when I counted them, I knew that we had won, when I went into the city, I knew that more people survived than fell, he demanded the annihilation of half the city, there are not even fifty bodies here, we won our right and we will have armor.


    As I entered the city, I listened to the referee, as always after such a significant battle, the representatives of each side meet and there the verdict is given, I wanted to run, but something prevented me, there were some yellow hands of some little ones, so I walked around to get to the tunnel where the elf would be on guard, Indeed, there she was, hugging some children, crying, around her the corpses of enemies and some of the oldest dwarves of the city, including my in-laws, the parents of my friend Limestone, people who fought without knowing how to do it, who killed and died for their place, I waited anxiously to hear the referee.


    In the center of the city are all the inhabitants, there are more than one hundred and twenty, all are tired and with a happy expression, on the other side were at least three hundred, while the pompous of the referee begins to speak the citizens were disappointed, sad, while the mercenaries smiled, I hear him and my head begins to heat up, not only that, my body is burning, I can not believe his dialogue:


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    "After the battle between the merchant houses and the citizens of Celestial Rock, I have determined that the amount of casualties between the two, there is a technical tie, I have gathered them together to tell them that their tactics were not honorable, so I need them to give up half of their possessions to pay for their battle, if not these dwarves may attack first and if they defend themselves without attacking as dwarves they will lose and we will send the imperial warriors to claim by force what is now offered to them in the best way".


    No! I will not allow such stupidity, I rip off my sash and throw it to the center as I scream, everyone turns around, my friends look at me with sadness, frustration, they know they have no chance, but now it is not like that, now I am here, as the sash falls I scream that I am fighting for their lives and I offer mine, The referee doesn''t just accept when my magic is on its way, I will use a version of my master''s magic, he calls it burning wind, but I can''t do that, not with the power I have, so I jump, my mace hits with the blast rune, the floating stone already goes with magma magic, with the wind from the mace I hang a cloud of destruction, The dwarves in front of me, so smiling at first, start to run away, but each blow of the mace, the trail of stone with fire destroys their armor, their shields, skin, flesh and bones disappear, it is a wave of more than ten meters, the metal fragments are also heated, so these three or four horizontal blows have eliminated half of them, My magic is over, but I have one more, a downward blow, this impact splashes burning pieces on the backs of all those who flee and crushes those who stayed in front, the referi''s scream of fear is confused with the war cry of my people, they all throw themselves on those who survived, I leave them, now it is even, now my enemy is here, in front of me.


    He babbles about his power, his authority, holding a small shield badge with a scale, I simply tell him that I have stripped him of his power because he had nothing to offer my people, that we would go against his masters because they mocked us for fighting by their rules, now we would fight by mine, with my hand I tear off his badge, I grab him by his beard (unforgivable insult since you indicate that he has no genitals to hold) and I throw him in front of the elf, I tell her that he is responsible for the hobgoblins, that I am sure that they have dealings with other dwarves and that we will go after them, I see this woman with a look like my people, hate, anger and revenge, she takes her blades broken by use and lets out a sharp scream, I leave her alone, as well as my people who are destroying the remaining ones, only one or two will escape. ... correction my friend limestone has just caught up with them, his body is moving out of hatred, he is tired, he is inept in the use of weapons, but now he is as fearsome as any hardened warrior, forged in pain and despair, he has managed to get out of his fear and now he is unstoppable, I will need him to face those dwarves who dared to make deals with creatures capable of being treacherous and kill the elders, they will have the same end.

 CHAPTER 25

    Ten months have passed, between immediate problems I felt them as days, the battles went on, the threat to the dark forest is not something new, even some of the inhabitants began to adapt their lives to it, every party of enemies, of mercenaries who think they have the right to destroy people or beasts of our forest enter, some heavily armed, others just to try their luck, But the forest is very strong now, there is no more enmity, some orcs still seek special favors, but they were placed near the goblins to avoid injuries, others just to try their luck, but the forest is very strong now, there is no more enmity, some orcs still seek special favors, but they were placed near the goblins to avoid the rapes that humans were subjected to in the past, But the rest of the forest contains magical creatures that have escaped the exhaustive extermination to which their species has been subjected, bounties for claws, fur, feathers, bones, visors, it seems that for any part of a creature that can defend itself, it has some value in the house of the high elves, The Capablanca offer missions more in line with the improvement of life, yes there are hunts, but only of animals that have become a threat to humans outside the area where they live, searches for books that speak of elven evil of times past, in short, the plan on this page is working, I worry about this page, my knowledge, my heart, betray me.


    I have seen Lilith, I have been under her protection for a year, all this time she has avoided death, torture, everything I always thought was typical of a leader as dark as her, but .... However, she has only limited herself to helping anyone who asks for it, within her great network of information, she makes sure that the weakest can escape, she recruits mercenaries, maintains agriculture in this forest, reconciles the various magical beings to avoid conflicts, even so, she has had enough time to learn the magic she could (which she still does not know), but, I know nothing of her past, I think I can still see some of her traces when she retires exhausted after pushing her magical field to the limit, when she has practiced incantations that no one in their right mind would perform days apart if not years, not to mention that several of the magics I know I have seen her migrate in the version of her spells, she is so different from anyone, so painfully similar to a woman.


    The strategy of staying to watch over them is causing me problems, not of knowledge, never what the legends of the dark elves do not tell me, I learn from the gnolls that hardly come, but there are some that consider a good resting place, I translate the first steps of the death bringer a dwarf who lived what everyone, But faced with adversity and the first things he did, overwhelmed by hatred and pain, still he helped a group of subhumans who are considered as a new species, the goblins, they arrived as soon as the Overlord left (another great unknown of reality), They put themselves at the service of the great Lilith, they speak of this dwarf as if he were their master, not their savior, here no one considers the three dark ones as masters, leaders perhaps, but always with a separation from them to their leaders, these books of history, of true history, I write them in such a way that all the information that I pour on the parchment will never appear on the parchment, it will be written in some books that I have hidden and prepared for this purpose in the study room in Storm Hammer, if one day something happens to my being, that the true work of these beings is settled.


    The feather, I leave it in the air, my field is as big as Lilith''s but without the same density, I just feel things, many things have just been felt here, many small flames, they are going out, many lives, my heart feels the fear, are we being invaded by elves? No, they are still gathering and preparing their forces, they are humans, I know that, a lot of magic, small parts of it, they are quite inept magicians how to hide their field, this is like a small light in the night, I go in search of Lilith, she must know what is happening, I find her at the top of the battlement, there she is looking into the distance with eyes of fury, I don''t have her power, I can''t talk to her, she would die! So I conjure some bubbles of water, which I place one by one, separated from the other, concave, it is a magic of my own, an instant telescope, there I see them, they are sorcerers, attacking the goblins, destroying creatures that never had a chance, the lady of the castle begins to give orders, to withdraw the survivors, to take precautions against the capanegras... So these are the famous Blackcaps, I can tell you in advance that they are deficient in the highest degree, they waste magic as if they had it in abundance, each of their incantations is uncontrolled, they are devastating attacks, but they don''t seem to have focused on any enemy, they only want to kill, since the trunks are immune to magic, they only burn the creatures within reach of their powers, but there is no one on this side of the forest who can deal with them, As if she read my mind (which I suspect she does) she opens a communication sphere, she talks to the shaman of the tribe, he says that many of the orcs are not here, that they went out to hunt some mercenaries that attacked their village, so she sends all the young men after them as a practice, although she is angry, you can tell by the black halo that surrounds her, she calmly asks some of her warriors to go and help the goblins.


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    Just as I want to go back to the goblins, the battle cry of some orcs is heard outside, the shaman comes out to see and we accompany her with this strange seeing eye she uses, outside the camp I see a pigsty, even the goblins are not slovenly at this level, but that is not what scares me, an orc celebrates with the body of a goblin in his arm, The little one struggles, I''m sure it''s an adult, but it writhes in the clutches of the brute, suddenly it stops, a machete from one hand has cut off its head, horrified (the shaman, Lilith and I) we watch as the goblins flee and are greeted by the orc brute with weapons in hand, like rabbits after burning a crop, I scream at them, I ask the shaman to stop this, and he tries, he really tries, he casts restraining spells on the younger, less strong ones, but there are still more than a hundred orcs free, in the end the shaman apologizes and goes out to look for more help, too late, a mountain of greenish beings is already in the center of the village, The orcs celebrate, they sing songs about the happiness in the pain of others, the happiness of the light that goes out in the eyes of the enemy, the sensual beauty of a victory without equal, I know what awaits them, but I know that if Lilith does it, she will be damned, I must prevent it.


    The magic of fields is difficult, it is about mixing another property into the magical field, as the Capablancas did with the contamination that is trapped, it took us months to perfect it, considering that the magics that took me years to study, she learned them in days, all of us present understood the difficulty of this ability, but a spell of this magnitude, was thought to punish those who kill for the pleasure of doing so, I turn to scream at her, but it is impossible to stop her, all her magic is concentrated, it is horrible, all the hate I see in a single moment, an embodiment of anger and revenge at the same time, so beautiful and deadly, I only hear her whisper over my cries of warning, the screams of alarm, the approaching footsteps seeking comfort, salvation, bloodlust.


    The spell is extended, it was thought to be a measure of savagery, the spell is for warriors, it gives them pleasure in killing, so much so that they avoid thinking of anything else, they feel no pain and continue to fight even when they are dying, but she gave it another conception, I see it, everyone looks at the image, elves and human generals watch their leader being wrapped in a cocoon of crystallized magic, it is necessary, the range of the enchantment is less, Once crystallized in a gem I watch helplessly as it shoots out into the night, in a few seconds it lands in the orc''s field, with all my strength I hold her vision magic, it is incredibly complicated but I do not give up, like a moth trapped by light I see her there and I see her field expand, so much that even in the night I can see in the distance, red, The screams begin, but I force my legs to run down the stairs, the eye follows me and everyone goes with me so as not to lose detail, the screams are from the orcs, they see the cocoon of Lilith, they attack it, but it is designed to resist as the blood of the innocent turns to acid, it marks them, once this is done the wounds will remain open, they will hurt as if they were just made, they will hurt until they leave the dark forest, that was the nature of the spell, I call it bloodlust so that everyone who sees it will know the fate of the one who attacks a companion, I fade the visor, I have no strength to keep it and there are more pressing matters, in front of me are representatives of the refugee races, I must explain to them, we must go for her, to avoid massacres among our ranks, she has just been defenseless against the capanegra! I must save HER!

 CHAPTER 26

    The last hunter falls, we are the best! The Oghar tribe is elite, my father Oghr is the undisputed leader, he was the one who followed the advice of the shamans and brought us here, to the dark forests where the fun never ends.


    The succubus queen gave us someone to distract ourselves with, they teach us a lot, like the pleasure more than the act, the being more than just appearing, just for that it was worth coming, but this, hunting humans, following them on the back of hunting wolves, But it wasn''t just that, the shamans are training us like never before to avoid getting wounded in battle, the older warriors scoff, they say "that''s human, orcs are strong because they survive their wounds", but I''m not so sure, Avoiding those cuts and the arrows of those who attacked us allowed me to catch up with them and keep my mount alive, something that does not happen with the elders, as I return to the camp I feel a little sorry for them to see my body, it is strong, muscular and with the tattoos of age, It only does not have the first scars of battle, I have not allowed them, maybe they were just very clumsy my enemies, but my body shines in its greenish brown tone, healthy as the most, I must continue to lead those of the new litter, they must be warriors not badly tanned leather.


    Just as we reach the edge of the forest a tired wolf comes out to greet us, although he is hiding I know it is our shaman Rograh, he is very tired, losing two seconds to return to his form, but when he returns I see why, he is wounded, We go to help, although we don''t know how, we don''t heal ourselves, for that we have shamans, but Rograh seems to be beyond salvation, in his mouth words form, a request for help that we don''t manage to hear, so I cry out, to accompany my grief, to remind me that the wise man, as he was, was not immortal, I search in his clothes for something that gives me an indication of what has happened, in his leather clothes I can only see a blood stain, with a piece of metal, I carefully remove it and I distinguish with a clarity that I hate, the tip of my father''s sword, it is the only one that always has coatrice poison, its stench is unmistakable, at that moment something materializes in front of us, it is a human being, I have seen him before, accompanying Mrs. Lilith. Apparently our people have violated the commitment we made when we entered these places, my father knew it! As I ponder what has happened, I see movement behind the human, he tells me that he is traveling in a hurry, that the Lady Lilith is in our camp, being hunted by those who have driven us from our lands, this cannot happen, we will not lose our new home! At my command, warriors attack!


    The trip is hasty, we know the area, we go out to hunt and sometimes domirmos on the outskirts, watching the enemy, how many heads of formidable warriors have been cut off, but now our head is the one that hangs by a thread, the elders with a force that knew many enemies do not want to know of these deals, of the risks of angering the lady of these lands, but that does not mean that disrespect is something I do not understand does not seem appropriate to him, less to attack without provocation.


    A few minutes later I arrive at the esplanade, there the battle continues, on one side I see my father, on his face some marks like those of victory, but these are not made with the blood of his enemies, these are his, they are the marks of two hands that left his skin exposed, his screams resound and mix with those of the other warriors, on the other side I see some humans dressed in black, they do not attack my father, they only raise a wall of fire, the rest attack Lilith with a storm of many elements, The strange thing is that this does not frighten them, even with the wounds in the flesh they would continue to attack, and they do, but they are attacking Lilith, I can see her in the center, she is inside a rock, a diamond, something like that, with iridescent edges, in the center Lilith, I know it is her, even though she always looks like an imposing woman, this looks like a clumsy human, but it is her, it looks like she is very bad, with each blow her face twitches in pain, I must stop them!


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    With a leap I enter the fray, the nearest humans fall like a skein of meat, my sword going up and down without stopping, avoiding the obvious attack patterns, as I begin to see that I am not the only one in the fray, I am glad that the young men do not seem to follow our traditional style, They are like me, cautious, strength has to be in the mind as well, at the back of this group of mages is one in fancy clothes, he stands out from the crowd, so I run after him, the mages try to summon terrible things to stop me, But less than two steps from each of them and maybe a second between each of my blows, he is two enemies away, one, my sword goes down while he raises a metal staff in an attempt to interrupt my attack, but that would not stop him, my fury will not be stopped by trinkets, the impact sounds very intense, unbelievably the blow did not cut the magician in half, who runs away, when I turn I cannot believe it, my father stopped the blow, in his eyes he did not recognize me, now he comes at me.


    The same thing is happening everywhere, I don''t know if it''s enemy magic or the desire to fight, but the great orc warriors are attacking their descendants, I can''t look any longer, I can barely stop the next blow, I throw him, I shout at him to come to his senses, but the swords are coming faster and faster, each time less organized, but stronger, with desperation I see several humans drawing magic symbols around them, a light begins to appear... this is not good! An inarticulate scream forces me to look back, a side sword comes too close to avoid it, still I jump back hoping to reduce the damage, I get my first scar.


    The pain is intense, even with my guard sword, my father''s blade, driven by his madness, has just made a nasty cut on my chest, but he already raises his weapon again, the saliva in his mouth, his eyes unhinged, everything is unreal, so I react as if it were not my father, my sword draws a circle, deflecting his machete, suddenly there is nothing in front of him, At that moment a light returns to his eyes, it tells me that I am already a man, but too late, the humans have finished their magic, in the middle of an intense light they disappear, only the destroyed village remains and the wounded or dying parents look at their offspring who defeated them.


    In the morning the tracking teams left to search for Lilith, I apologized as the new leader of my tribe to all the other villages, no one pays any attention to me, as far as they are concerned, we are just a failure and a betrayal, my father howled horribly when he did not see Lilith anymore, He was barking instructions and all his wild companions were sniffing the air, they left immediately, they didn''t say a word, in the village we made pits for my father''s victims, every time the sweat falls on my wound it reminds me that I have failed, The sage Capablanca said that all my father had to do was to attack the enemies of the fortress and the curse would be lifted, but I doubt that any of them would want to return, after all they were not responsible for us, the Oghar tribe has a new leader, Grunth, son of Oghar, will seek to be better than his ancestors, he will seek to create the most powerful army to defend his lands and sow terror, but most of all he will seek retribution against the people who welcomed us, I myself will free Lady Lilith! Even if it means killing my father.