20 of the rangers posted themselves in the trees (10 archers and 10 gunners) along the semi-circle tree line facing the cave. Another 10 with Captain Rilitar sat by the boulder outcropping on the canons waiting to be wheeled up to fire. The squad plus the remaining 20 rangers spread out along the center of the clearing facing the cave entrance as they sat behind the thicket of fallen trees and dead bushes.

  Desmond looked over at Keely for any sign of movement from her scope. She replied in a low whisper, “So far only two of the ape men guarding outside looking beyond bored. Did not know they wore togas.”

  “I did say that they aren’t entirely primitive and stupid. They are civilized all things considered,” Nikolai whispered. “Besides, we still have the advantage for now… Just need to draw them out.”

  “When,” Kale asked.

  Nikolai shrugged as he looked to Desmond who was focusing on the cave entrance.

  The two Ape men were sitting by a large fire as a line of torches lined the inside of the cave disappearing into the dark cavern. Both of them had obsidian spears. One was bored and dosing off to sleep as he sat down in a low squat. The second one was pacing side to side in order to stay awake.

  Skivvy tapped Audra on the shoulder silently asking if she was fine. She gave a minuscule grin and then lowered her visor. Ator was tapping the handle of his great axe as he was slowly breathing waiting anxiously to charge in. Nikolai tapped him on the side and gave him a thumbs up. Ator gave an okay sign back in return. Kale was next to Keely with two arrows notched as he was murmuring to himself to remain calm. Keely was anxious chewing gum she took from a one of the elf rangers. Aurora was wanting to charge in immediately. Desmond held her arm as to make sure she waited for the right time.

  Nikolai whispered to Desmond, “LT? I think we should walk ahead?”

  Desmond stayed quiet. He looked back at the 20 rangers waiting in position. All gave a thumbs up to him. He nodded his head and walked forward. The rest of the squad followed after spreading out in a wedge formation. Audra walked in the center behind Desmond and Aurora setting a green flame to a torch illuminating the squad like a road flare. Desmond walked ahead and held his hand up. Everyone stood still at the ready and as intimidating as they possibly could be. The two Ape men immediately shot up pointing both their spears forward baring their fangs and teeth. Everyone pointed their weapons forward at the ape men.

  Desmond motioned to Audra for the bag of holding. He pulled out a broken obsidian spear. He stabbed it into the ground whilst unsheathing Light Wielder. He banged his breastplate a few times and yelled out, “You attacked us! Now, we want to return the favor! Come forward and face us! I challenge your leader if he has enough honor in him to do so! Face to face! We at least are not cowards who ambush!”

  The two ape men looked at each other for a moment. One them grunted out something and the second one ran inside the cave.

  Rilitar peered over the boulder and whispered to himself, “This better bloody work.”

  A minute passed as an obsidian knife landed next to Desmond’s feet nearly hitting his toes with scary accuracy from the darkness of the cave. Slowly, yellow eyes glowed out. Soon, Argonak and the rest of the ape men with him came out all holding various obsidian weapons and clubs. Argonak carried two obsidian axes as he pulled his wolf cloak off him revealing a heavily scarred and muscular body. He walked through the flame of the small fire feeling nothing. Soon after he stopped within 40 feet of Desmond and the squad. The ape men made a half circle facing the squad as they stuck multiple large torches into the ground for better lighting.

  Argonak stared through Desmond noticing Light Wielder’s glow. Audra quickly put the green torch out as she pulled out her scimitar and shield. Aurora stood next to Desmond with swords at the ready. Argonak sighed and asked in a harsh, gravelly voice in common tongue, “You come seeking vengeance?”

  “Yes.”

  “For the fort? For the ambush?”

  “Yes.”

  “You have that right… I know that you also come here to kill the rest of us off, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “The other human force that moved through here was smart in staying away from us… You decided to march forth into these lands that are not yours to begin with. We are beckoned by him to face you.”

  “And you are the judge of those who can and cannot,” Desmond asked rhetorically. Argonak growled gritting his black teeth. He cracked his knuckles and stepped forward with an alarming calmness in his posture with hints of rage boiling up.

  Aurora stepped forward and yelled in Elvish, “You killed multiple innocents and harmed enough for too long! You and your kind will die tonight! I swear it!”

  Desmond pulled Aurora back with the rest of the squad anxiously waiting.

  Skivvy and Kale looked to Nikolai for when the signal was to be made. Nikolai mouthed “One sec! Wait for LT!”

  Argonak looked at the night sky noticing the crescent moon. He, in that moment, thought of his son, Vorgaka, when he was a newborn. Argonak held Vorgaka looking at the moon. Argonak was proud of Vorgaka and thought of how he would become a great leader one day. A leader that will not be dictated by darkness or demon pacts. One that will lead his kind into the light. Argonak thought of the innocent green eyes Vorgaka had as Argonak nestled Vorgaka in his left arm.

  Argonak snapped himself out of it. He looked down closing his eyes relaxing his shoulders. He said quietly himself, “I’m sorry Vorgaka… My son… Forgive me in the next life. I’ll see your mother soon… A pact is a pact.”

  Argonak then stared forward at the squad. He flared his nostrils a few times as his anger and rage began to boil inside him like a steaming kettle. His muscles tightened and his stance lowered. His grip on the axes tightened creaking the leather handles. The squad noticed this and everyone stood ready to charge with nervous anticipation. 40 feet separated the squad from the Ape men. Argonak let out a loud, blood curdling roar that deafened the ears of everyone nearby and then charged forth like an angry bull with the rest of the ape men following him.

  Desmond cried out, “Rilitar, NOW!”

  The squad jumped back as Audra cast a blue shield around them just as Argonak and the ape men were roughly 20 feet away, some of which were mid-air sprinting or throwing their spears. Argonak mid-jump looked to his right with his peripherals and realized what was happening. Rilitar and the 10 rangers wheeled out the canons and fired directly at the mass of ape men with grape-shot and canister fire. Once that happened, the rangers in the trees opened fire with their arrows and rifles. The 20 rangers from behind the squad fired their arrows in an arc hitting the mass of charging ape men as well.

  In a split second, 35 of the ape men were hit and shredded by the canon fire, rifle fire, and arrow fire in a cacophony of direct firing from nearly all around the mouth of the cave. Argonak was hit a few times in the chest by rifle fire along with one of the grape-shot balls ripping off his right arm. One arrow was embedded in his left side. In a cloud of dust and blood, the ape men were taken down. However the remaining 15 left standing still charged forth as Audra dropped the arcane shield and the rest of the squad charged at them with reckless abandon.

  Ator swung his great axe into one ape man as a second knocked him down with a club and Ator found himself fighting with his bare hands. Nikolai ducked below a spear thrust and was able to slide underneath the legs of one and stab his gladius into an ape man’s thigh and lower back.

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  Keely blasted a grapefruit sized hole into the chest of one and threw two throwing knives at one that charging Kale after he shot it with 4 arrows. Kale proceeded to use his short sword to finish him off only for another ape man to tackle him and start punching him in a berserk-like rage.

  Skivvy immediately pounced on the berserk ape man and stabbed it in the head as Kale was stuck underneath the now dead ape man.

  Audra blocked a spear and flipped over a swinging club in an effortless backflip landing in the splits and then rolling away from a downward club strike. She sliced at the ape man hitting it in the arm. She then got her left foot grabbed by the ape man as he dragged her to the floor where he proceeded to try to bite her face off but was held back by her shield. Her right hand glowed red as she grabbed the ape man’s side and set him on fire along with another ape man who happened to be nearby.

  Aurora ran forth and was dueling an ape man with an obsidian axe blocking every strike from him. However, this ape man was dodging and blocking her strikes as well despite his large frame. She was rather impressed by his nimbleness, but her rage and anger took over her as she endlessly struck at him tiring the ape man. She saw fear in the ape man’s eyes as she sliced the wrists making him drop his axe. He went to cover his face as she thrusted both her short swords into him. He was not dead from this; only wounded badly and scared.

  He gurgled out in broken common language nearly pleading with her, “Please! Spare! No die! Scare! Please!”

  Aurora hesitated for a moment hearing his pleas. She was immediately reminded of a time in which her human father talked to her about being afraid in battle. They were by a beautiful pond mid-day and little Aurora was confused by why her dad said he was always scared when fighting. He calmly said as he brushed back his dirty blonde hair, “All knights are scared in battles, love. It’s normal. No shame in it.”

  “But you aren’t supposed to be scared. You’re the leader.”

  “Ah, sweets… When you’re older, you’ll understand… Your mother told me you had a fight today at recess with a boy?”

  “He started it!”

  “Sweets… Why did you fight him?”

  “He was making fun of me for not being pure-elf and was mocking mom for marrying a human who was going to die quickly from old age… So I hit him to shut him up.”

  “Sweets… You remember what your mom and I have told you, right? No fighting no matter what. His father is beyond upset by this. That boy is the Duke’s kid.”

  “Well he should’ve been raised better.”

  “Aurora! No lip… Aurora,” he said calming down as he took a deep breath and Aurora was tearing up slightly for upsetting him. “Aurora… You know he was afraid when you were punching him, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you keep hitting him when he was begging you to stop?”

  “I don’t know… I was angry.”

  “Sweets… What fears me most in this world is for you and your mother’s well being if anything bad were to happen. I don’t want to be reminded or told about issues in which you lose your cool on others. Yes, that boy was annoying and was deserving of it. But you never let your anger control you. You need to control it or you become a monster and you’re far from being monster. You’re my princess and I know that you are a sensitive one… Now, let’s go apologize to him and his family. Okay?”

  Aurora found herself back at the cave entrance about to kill the ape man. He was wounded badly begging to be spared. Aurora slowly backed up breathing heavy realizing what she was doing whilst withdrawing the swords from him. The ape man was confused and slowly sat up scooting backwards in pain as he held his chest. He looked at Aurora like a scared child reminding her of that moment in recess. She could not force herself to attack or move forward. The ape man saw her hesitation and felt slight relief as if he was going to be spared.

  A loud rifle shot was heard from the boulder outcropping as the ape man was shot in the chest by Rilitar who was mid-reload. The ape man slumped backwards as the light in his eyes withered away. The rangers from the trees moved forward encircling the cave entrance. Aurora was still frozen staring at the now dead ape man.

  Desmond found himself facing Argonak, though wounded, stood tall and proud. He lunged forward as Desmond swiftly slid from the first strike and jumped away from the second strike. Desmond went to thrust Light Wielder into Argonak, but Argonak quickly redirected Light Wielder by hitting Desmond’s forearm with his axe and then he proceeded to kick Desmond in the chest disarming him from Light Wielder. Argonak then kicked Desmond 10 feet towards the cave.

  Argonak jumped forth and stood atop Desmond roaring loudly, “You are the hero of the humans and yet you are about to die! Thought you were a better warrior with how slow your movements are!”

  “Fuck you!”

  “They all say that.”

  Desmond held his arms up instinctively absorbing the blow from Argonak’s axe and body. His left forearm was cut into, but the vambraces were doing their job of preventing the obsidian axe head from going further. Argonak pulled back and kicked Desmond once more in the chest causing him to lose air as Desmond was dug into the ground by a few inches. Desmond was nearly knocked out from this.

  Aurora saw this once she snapped herself out of her funk and screamed, “DESMOND!”

  Argonak went in for a final strike saying, “Though you are slow… Respect, hero, for the challenge… NOW DIE!”

  In that moment, Desmond found himself in a green field near a white, soft sand beach with light blue ocean waves crashing gently into the shoreline. The grass was soft, the air was cool and pleasant, and the water was clear, nearly mirror like, reflecting the endless blue sky. Desmond felt a sense of warmth and calmness that made him feel at peace. There was a beautiful light, blue skinned woman in a blue, silky dress embroidered with blue flowers and a blue rose crown as she was skipping smooth stones across the water. The dress stopped just at her knees and she was cheerful in how she managed to get 10 skips of a rock in.

  She jumped around noticing Desmond in his bloodied armor with his right hand glowing bright. She smiled with exuberance as her right palm was glowing white as if a small, pebble size part of her was cut out of her hand. Desmond looked down at his right hand noticing the blue light glowing intensely. He was beyond lost when he looked around realizing where he was. He looked at her shocked and amazed hoping for some answers. Yet in his heart he felt a familiarity to the woman was staring at.

  She happily said to him in a bubbly yet soothing voice, “Not yet my dear. Let me take control for now.”

  Desmond’s eyes glowed a bright blue as his right hand caught Argonak’s obsidian axe head stopping all momentum in Argonak’s swing. Every noise was muted for a brief second once this happened. Argonak’s eyes widened in shock. Desmond’s right hand turned a bright blue as it made a fist disintegrating the axe from Argonak’s hand into a blue dust with a thunderous crack that sent a shockwave to scream around. In that instance a blinding, blue light shot out everywhere blinding everyone momentarily. Desmond arose almost floating off the ground and summoned Light Wielder to his right hand as it flew into it like it was magnetically drawn to him. It appeared to everyone that Desmond arose like an ethereal ghost from the dead.

  Argonak responded in fear, “It’s true! NO!”

  Desmond went in for a quick and efficient slash slicing Argonak into two halves from a diagonal cut from the right shoulder to the lower left leg as if his flesh was paper.

  In that instance right as he was accepting his death, Argonak thought to himself, “Well played, warrior…We’re free from this pact now. I’m sorry Vorgaka for everything. You were right… I shall wait for you son… I love you.”

  His final thoughts were of him playing with a toddler version of Vorgaka in a grassy field missing the innocence in Vorgaka’s young eyes. Argonak’s wife was sitting beside him admiring their son.

  The blue, ethereal woman Desmond witnessed stood in the field and said to Argonak, “You were never a bad soul. Just forced a bad hand. Still shining bright despite the pact you made. I’m sorry for ending you. I hope you understand.”

  “I understand,” Argonak said as he sat on a log with teary eyes. “Tell me… Is this heaven?”

  He looked out into the field seeing his young son play with his mother. The woman smiled and replied, “Just last second memories. Very cute family. Come now. Let me escort you to him. He’ll take you to the beyond.”

  “Okay,” Argonak replied softly.

  There was a tall, nearly human-like shadow of a man with no features standing at the edge of an iron door that was standing in an empty field. He was pitch black nearly looking like an inked out cutout of the world. Argonak sighed and nodded at the dark figure.

  The blue woman said to the figure, “He’s not a bad soul. Though I know father judges harshly. At least let him know I said this, okay? Don’t be weird with it again. Okay bro?”

  The dark figure nodded and opened the door as a blinding light shined from it. Argonak walked in along with the dark figure.

  Argonak’s bisected body fell with a loud thud as the rest of the ape men were killed by the squad and rangers. Argonak’s body had a thin black cloud evaporate from his mouth as his teeth turned white.

  The fight was over.