The darkness swirled around me for a short while. Each revolution made me feel more and more anxious than the last. Looking at the darkness felt...wrong. It's like it shouldn't be something that I'm allowed to see.
The darkness suddenly froze in place and began to sink into the ground. I-is it over? All of a sudden, dark masses of varying sizes began to rise all around me. As more masses appeared, the already existing ones became more and more refined.
"W-what are tho-monsters!?" The realization had hit me. I was now standing dead-center in an army of monsters, straight out of a fantasy. But, monsters aren't real, they can't exist, right?!
"This can't be real, it can't be...."
Hundreds of Goblins, Orcs, Zombies, Skeletons, Kobolds, some brandishing weapons. This is hell, it has to be, there's no way for me to survive this. It's completely unfair from where I'm standing. I began looking for any way to get out of this and settled on-oh who am I kidding, there's no getting out of this!
It seems the only purpose of me being here, is to be slaughtered. This is so unfair.
A goblin charged me with a dagger, but I dodged its attack pretty easily managed to punch it square in the jaw. It dropped its knife which I immediately grabbed. I'm terrible, it feels like I just punched a little kid.
"Dempf et!" The goblin had said something, but I couldn't understand.
It made several more swipes at me using its arms. Its nails were pretty sharp and I couldn't dodge all of its swipes. My shirt looked like it had been chewed to all hell, and I was bleeding from several lacerations all over my body.
"Hey, knock it off!" I didn't want to take any drastic actions, I'm not some killer.
I punched the Goblin once again. It did a tailspin and landed on the ground face first. It stopped moving. I noticed that none of the monsters surrounding us had gotten involved during our fight so far.
The Goblin didn't get back up, and it dissipated into dark mist. The dark mist swirled and seemed to phase inside of me.
What just happened? I feel strange. It's like this is some twisted videogame. One of the Orcs began to laugh, then stopped and gave a command to the army of monsters. This one seemed larger than the other Orcs and it was red in complexion.
"Sulj mir, ni kobald agh ni kupal kigiji ekko!"
A Kobald wielding an axe stepped in front of me as well as a Goblin that was brandishing a knife similar to the former Goblin.
The Kobald swung its axe at me, which I managed to parry while dodging sideways. I staggered back from the sheer force of the attack. My arms were shaking from the shock. I have a feeling if I hadn't had grip lock on my knife just now, it would have been over then and there.
I can't go on like this. It's my life or theirs, and it's not going to be mine. The Goblin charged at me, again I dodged, but immediately went for the kill after that. I made a slash at its neck; the Goblin collapsed and burst into a dark mist that entered my body again. I felt stronger than before.
The Kobald growled at me, then charged. This time it threw out a flurry of attacks. I knew not to parry this time around, so I focused solely on dodging until I got the opportunity to counter. After about 2 minutes of constant dodging, I slashed at the Kobold's wrist on its right arm.
It lost its grip on its axe. It desperately tried to pick it up again but couldn't. I dashed toward the Kobald and drove my knife into its chest. It swiped at me with its left arm one last time leaving a deep gash across my right cheek, then it too bursts into dark mist.
Its particles began flowing into my body, and I felt different. Stronger, somehow. The wounds on my body were beginning to mend, and the soreness was disappearing.
"T-this is...my body?" I asked myself.
I looked back up at the larger, red Orc. It began to bellow. But it wasn't anger, it was a bellow of joy. It clapped its hands together which emitted a thunderous sound; each palm was easily the size of my body. The Orc leaned down and placed its club on the ground which had be on its back. It then began approaching me.
The other monsters began closing in too, but the Orc gave a quick wave of the hand and they stopped in their tracks.
The Orc stopped in front of me.
"Who are you and what is this place?" I directly questioned the Orc.
The Orc cleared its throat.
"I am Sonahg and I rule over this domain of monsters as their Demon Orc General!" I have to admit, I didn't really expect an answer, but this...
"Domain of monsters?" I inquired.
"That's correct, human. This is the Moon Light Field and you are my opponent, state your name and position"
"I'm Milo and I'm a recent college graduate."
"Very well, Milo come at me for I am your opponent now!"
I laughed, placing my head in my hands. You have to be joking, there's no way in hell I can beat this guy.
Looking back up, Sonahg was no longer in front of me. I felt a presence coming from my left and turned my head only to be met by a huge fist coming straight at me. I leaped backward, staggering a bit on the landing.
"You dodge well for a human." I was complimented by the monster trying to kill me. I feel like I'm being toyed with.
"Tch...."
"You truly are an amusing one."
Suddenly, I was sent flying through the meadow kicking up dirt and grass until I came to an abrupt stop as a foot slammed down on me. I couldn't breathe in or exhale. I laid there struggling for life. I pushed back against the force of the foot on me.
My hands and knees began digging into the ground from the absolute power that was before me. I knew he was a monster, but he's a monster among monsters. Sonahg delivered a swift kick to my left side, I blocked with my left arm resounding in a sickening crunch.
Again, I was sent hurling through the grass, rolling until stopping. I felt for my left arm with my right. My left arm had been shattered. I pushed myself back up, holding my dagger in my right arm. Damnit! Everything hurts like hell, am I really going to die again?
As I thought this, I was reminded of when I had been bleeding to death in the filthy alleyway of my hometown. No, not like this, I can't die like this. I charged the hulking mass of muscle before me, it didn't move.
I rolled between its legs, slashing at its Achilles tendon. Not even the strongest would be able to stand after having their Achilles tendon severed. Yet, my blade didn't even break the skin of the Orc. Damn, it really was toying with me.
Sonahg picked me up with one hand, then began crushing me. I screamed in pain as I felt my ribcage giveaway under the pressure, the remaining bones in my arms were completely crushed. Blood pooled out of my mouth due to internal hemorrhaging.
I was then dropped to the ground and left to die. I looked up the moon, paralyzed from pain and a shattered body. That's when the most peculiar thing happened. The moon turned crimson red.
Sonahg defeatedly stated "It would seem our time is up. This was rather disappointing."
Sonahg turned its back to me and began walking back to its army. It gave a wave of its hand and all of the monsters began seeping into the ground as black masses.
This was the second-worst pain I'd ever been in. The first was when my little brother had finally succumbed to his cancer and passed away at only 7 years old.
I laid there bloody and beaten, staring at the crimson red moon. I turned my head to where Sonahg had gone. He looked back at me before seeping into the ground as well. Despite the condition he left me in, he didn't seem all that bad.
My vision began to fade was more before I could only see black. This feels different from the death I experienced earlier. It's neither warm nor cold, yet I can still feel. I can't open my eyes or move for some reason, but I at least know that I'm not dead.
Reader's Bonus
Name: Sonahg
Race: Demon Orc
Weight: 756lbs
Height: 292.6cm (9.6 feet)
Complexion: Red
Hair-Color: Black
Eye-Color: Yellow
Status: Alive
Location: Moon Light Field