War

Two days later, the young orc left for their two months of training. However, this time something told me it wouldn't go how it was supposed to. I could feel it in my guts. Something wrong would happen, so I warned them and told them to look out for any danger. However didn't take me as seriously as I thought, telling me we always need to be on our guard inside the forest. It's only after firmly insisting that they took me a bit more seriously. I then went for Vae, who was also participating, but she will be assigned to protect some young orcs during their training as a protector.

Fortunately, she took me a bit more seriously.

" Alright, rest assured I will take care of them ! Zala also told me to be very prudent for the following months. If the two of you feel the same, it can't be a coincidence."

'So I'm not the only one feeling restless !'

This day I came back to egghead very frustrated as I couldn't do anything.

...

A month passed, and nothing happened, But what was bound to happen happened. I was training to improve my intent when someone ran into egghead.

" Quick, everyone, come with me to the village center. They came back !" said Vorl.

" Who came back ?"

" Everyone, the hunting team with the new adults !" Before I could ask for more, he turned back and ran to the village center.

I looked at the other orphan, who looked back at me, frowning.

'They shouldn't be back this soon. It has only been a month !'

We all rushed to the village center, which was crowded. I had my way through the orcs to see what was going on. Once I got past all the obstacles, I froze. Chaotic. The whole place was messy. There was a lot of blood. People were running here and there. A lot of orcs were wounded. When hunting, an orc could be injured or even die, but these cases were small and rare. However, here there were fifty-one put on temporary beds.

No hut was large enough to welcome them all, so they had to stay here for now. I sighted Ushha, who was one of the few trying to tend to their wounds. I counted 37 lightly wounded and 11 seriously injured, and 3 in a life-or-death situation. Ulga was trying to save the life of the most seriously injured.

We were apprehensive, and all looked for our friends. But we couldn't find them. We moved through the crowd, hoping to see them. We could have asked Ushha, but we didn't want to disturb her during her work.

It was Trosh who found someone first. We followed him, filled with hope. We arrived at a place on the side far less. I was relieved when I saw Yurim, but my excitement was short-lived when I noticed what she was standing next to. It was an orc corpse. My heart started to race.

We came closer to see its face, but it was too bloody to be recognized. We all looked at Vaela, expecting the worst.

" He thought valiantly, but ultimately his opponent was stronger !" She sighed.

" Who was he ?" asked Shufa, afraid to hear the answer.

Vaela looked at our worried faces, and something clicked in her mind as she said :

" Oh, Don't worry. Yurim, Wolfteeth, and Rorm are alright. Well, Rorm is seriously wounded, but he will survive. This orc was one of the new young orcs, but he died because he was at the front when it all started."

We all sighed in relief. Vae stood up and started to walk away.

"Come with me to see them."

We followed Vae until we stood before a hut.

" Uh ! What are you doing before my teacher's hut ?" said Trosh.

We all curiously looked at Vae.

" Come in. You'll see."

We went inside. In one room, I could see five orcs looking asleep, and one of them was Wolfteeth. Yurim and Rorm were there, too, waiting next to his bed. Rorm looked pal. He had a big bandage all around his chest.

" What happened to him? I thought only Rorm was seriously injured ?" I said.

" That's right, Wolfteeth's case is different." Said Vae.

" Yes, what Wolteeth experienced is an ovzgûn overload." completed Yurim.

We waited for her to continue.

" It means that he used too much ovzgûn, and his body couldn't keep up. The overload tetanized his body. He couldn't move from an inch. Grukk, Trosh's teacher, gave him a potion to help him recuperate." She explained.

I was still frowning as I didn't understand how it could happen. ' He can have overload from using silent step ? There must be something else.' Although it could be said I'm well-versed regarding symbols and intent. I knew very little about its other use. There must be different ways to use our ovzgûn than for our skill.

Since everyone seemed to have calmed down and our friends were safe, it was time to learn what had happened.

" What happened ?"

It was Rorm who started to explain.

" The training was going well. We learned a lot about our abilities, the system, and battles. All the hunting team had rejoined to share a big meal as the hunt was very successful. From what I heard, it was a tradition, some kind of reward after the first month of harsh training. But it was also the time were our vigilance was at its lowest. Nothing happened during the evening. The next morning, this morning, 2 hours before sunrise, those shameless bastards attacked us. If it weren't for Vae, our loss might have been far worse. She was the first to notice something was wrong. She wasn't the only one to watch over, but they were either drunk or too tired to do their job."

Vae intervened.

" I was on high alert since the two of you told me you felt something bad would have happened. That's when I noticed night was too quiet. I woke Yurim and the boys up before carefully going out to see what was going on. While they were emerging, I had the time to walk stealthily for about three hundred meters stealthily. That's when I saw an enemy orc from the bear tribe. I gave the signal to Rorm to wake the other up."

Rorm continued.

" So with Yurim and Wolfteeth, we discreetly woke up a maximum of orcs. Only half of them were ready when the attack started. Chao arose, there was about the same number of enemies as us, but we were at a disadvantage in the first few minutes. We had to fight two orcs at the same time. They were far more experienced and stronger than me. I barely hold them back. Side by side with Yurim and Wolfteeth, we fought desperately, waiting for reinforcement. And it came, but not before I received my wound in the chest. Wolfteeth passed out soon after."

Yurim took the floor.

" When the both of them became unable to fight, our opponents were fighting our seniors Vaela also came back and told me to bring them to the backline which I did. Then I return to help Vae. The fight perdures till the first rays of the sun. The enemy retreated back into the forest. The camp wasn't too far from the tribe so we decided to rush back to the tribe to heal our wounded without having to be on guard against another attack that could be fatal. Then we waited there till you guys just came in."

I was relieved no one was permanently impaired.

" So it's war !"