Rune of Oldfyre

Chapter Four

I stood at the front line, viewing the conglomeration in front of me. An army, seven thousand strong, I damn near shit myself. They had orcs, trolls, assassins, cut throats, and even a few dragons. A rider from our side rode out to a spot in between the two parties. He blasted a vuvuzela and spoke loudly. “The coin toss will commence, opponent will choose first.”

A heavily armored necromancer dude in all black strode briskly towards the rider. He was riding a fucking hellhound. There was some whispering between the two. The rider then threw a coin into the air, letting it flip a few times. When he caught it I could hear him say, “Heads! Opposing team will start!”

Without warning a fireball blasted just feet from me, taking out  a wagon and a cabbage salesman; a muffled “my cabbages” could be heard beneath the rubble.

I only had seconds to react, I stabbed the air in front of me. Realizing it to be only air, I quit the futile effort. I did notice, however, that the grass beneath our feet was a bit damp. I glanced at my hands, electricity now arcing around my fingers. I touched my hands to the grass and let the energy flow.

The entire front line of the enemy vanguard began convulsing violently and several were starting to smoke. Many fell dead after a few seconds. It was my first kill with lightning. The fighting ceased. Both sides staring blankly

At me.

I was forcefully dragged into the king’s large pavilion. I had forgotten a minor detail that should have been important knowledge to me. Lightning magic was banned from use in war, three-hundred-and-fifty years ago. Again, that information would come in handy for a person trying to master lightning. You know before I had committed a war crime.

I was placed in a small cage next to the pavilion. From my view I could see the king ride out and apologize to the enemy. When he arrived back in his pavilion, the battle recommenced.

The battle was going well for us. If by well, you mean a gigantic cluster-fuck. I’m happy I was placed further back from the front line, they were getting decimated. they had to deal with dragons raining hellfire from above, the goblins delivering swift uppercuts to the nether regions, and orcs crushing their skulls with hammers (none of which were blocked or slowed by the the wooden rods). I began to think through all the decisions in my life that brought me here. I was disappointed with how stupid it had all been.

Before I could hate myself even more, a fireball crashed near the cage with enough force to throw it into the air. It came down with a crash, flinging me several yards through the air.

I was now, free. I ran up to a hill overlooking the carnage. Sitting and enjoying the view were Al and Anya.

“Hey guys.” I said.

“Hey Ardy,” Anya said.

“Dude, that lightning thing was badass!” Allister yelled.

“Yeah, it was. Too bad no one else thought so.” I said.

“Yeah, well they’re a bunch of phonies.” He observed.

We sat staring at the scene for a while. A stampede of orcs crashed through one of the lines. I could vaguely hear a cry of “my leg!” before the war chants of the orcs drowned it out.