The tension in the air ceased a bit after both sides introduced themselves. Since she had made up her mind to follow Xzavier to witness the demise of the orcs, they both chatted more freely as they journeyed having gotten each other's names.
"So, you said your family were really killed by orcs?"
She nodded firmly. And with a faraway look in her eyes she added;
"I was a child then. It was a really traumatizing event. The orcs stormed our small cabin and slaughtered my entire family."
She trembled ever so lightly as she narrated;
"My poor mother was raped bloody right before my father's eyes. It was the last thing he saw as he bled out from the wounds inflicted on him by the orcs."
Xzavier shuddered at her recollection. He asked her gently;
"But how did you survive the attack as a child?"
She used the back of her hand to wipe a single tear drop trickling down her face before answering him in a sorrowful tone;
"As a child, I always loved the riverside. On that particular day, by some random act of fate, I had ignored my mother's warnings and went down to the riverside to play…"
She paused to catch her breath as she relived the painful memory yet again.
"By the time I got back, I found my bits and pieces of the flesh of my father and older brothers scattered all over the bloodied house. My poor beautiful mother was bleeding profusely from both of her lady parts after being raped by multiple orcs."
Xzavier listened on. Her pain was evident.
"My mother's jaw had been dislocated because the orcs had forced their large organs into her tiny mouth down her throat. She was barely breathing when I found her.
"Her belly was swollen with liters of semen the orcs had discharged in her. She was soaked in a pool of her own blood. Crying, I held her in my arms as she took her last breath."
Xzavier now had an inkling on the sort of past Adalia had lived. The short but brief history she had given him showed him that her hatred for orcs ran deep.
He finally understood why she had been in shock when he found her. Adalia's family members had been brutally slaughtered by the orcs, so it must have been a real terror for her as the orcs prepared to have their way with her.
Xzavier knew that the nightmare must have had plagued her for years, so it was understandable why she hadn't moved an inch long after he had killed the first orc. Instead, she had chosen to remain in the midst of the carnage.
Surrounded by the dead bodies of the soldiers who had been gored by the orcs, Xzavier knew that she had been forced to witness again a horror that she had fought to repress.
He couldn't help but commend her mental strength;
"You really are a brave girl Adalia. There aren't many people who could have endured what you have been through, and participate in hunting orcs."
The beautiful blonde shook her head sadly and smiled a bitter smile.
"Please don't call me brave Xzavier. A brave girl would have been there to defend her family. A brave woman would have at least put up a fight when surrounded by horny orcs looking to rape her… "
Xzavier kept mute as she paused.
"I am just a timid girl sir. I have been through a lot, buy I have also taken away a very important lesson from my experience as well.
Hatred and blood have taught me that tears and anger are the most useless things on earth. Survival is the ultimate battle and I must win at it."
Xzavier couldn't help but bitterly remember Miss Mary, the lady who had committed suicide after being raped by the orcs. He assumed that most women would pick suicide after experiencing first hand a sexual assault by orcs.
But Adalia had proven his assumption wrong. She had picked survival over suicide. Xzavier thought to himself;
"This world really is a terrible place for women."
The duo had been walking quite a distance now. They had covered a decent five miles since they had begun their journey together. The intensity sun overhead had increased from the warm morning glow of sunrise, to the oppressively overbearing heat of noonday.
It wasn't just the humidity, it was also the fact that both of them hadn't slept a wink all through the night. Xzavier was a trained soldier who had been conditioned to withstand less than unfavorable situations.
But his female companion clearly wasn't built for the stress. Adalia had spent much of the previous night running from her pursuers, so she hadn't slept a wink throughout the night.
In addition to that, she had trekked a good five miles on top of her already fatigued mind and body. So, her countenance grew deathly pale. She managed to hide it for sometime. But she soon started to lag behind.
Her steps slowed down and she began to stumble. Once or twice she almost fell. That was when Xzavier began to notice that Adalia was exhausted. He observed her closely and saw that she displayed all the signs of fatigue.
There was no doubting the fact that Adalia had a resilient mind, but her resilience just couldn't support her frail body. Xzavier rebuked himself inwardly for his insensitivity.
"Of course!" He thought to himself,
"I should have known that she would be tired already."
Xzavier wasn't a fan of telling women what to do. So he deliberated on how best to approach the issue. The ever perceptive Adalia read his mood and asked him what the problem was;
"I see you stealing glances my way Xzavier. Is there anything you would like to share?"
Xzavier smiled at her quick thinking. He replied her;
"I was just thinking, we've been at it for a while now. Maybe we can rest for a bit and catch our breath."
Adalia narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously before she countered him;
"You don't look like you're tired. You look fine to me."
Xzavier made a move to present his case;
"Well…I was just thinking…"
Adalia suddenly got where he was heading and flared.
"Hold on! You're not suggesting we take a break because of me right?"
Xzavier exclaimed defensively;
"Hey! I didn't say that. I…"
She cut him off before he could land another excuse.
"Good! Because I am good to go! Now no more of this monkey business okay? I don't need to rest."
She said stubbornly and continued to march on. Xzavier knew that she was a stubborn soul. But it was also evident that she was exhausted.
He couldn't force her to take a break. While in deep thought, Xzavier got the surprise of the week- the military system finally spoke. Like someone who had seen a ghost, Xzavier stopped dead in his tracks and listened carefully to the systems utterance.
"Major Xzavier Mace, please be advised, you have killed a total of seven orcs and received six hundred and ninety eight points. Also, you have received a total of seventy five experience points."
Xzavier waited for the other shoe to drop. But it seemed like that was all the system had come to do at the time. He was used to the military system dropping in unannounced with crazy missions at the most awkward times.
So when he heard it at the beginning, he held his breath in anticipation of whatever absurd mission that would be handed to him. It was indeed a surprise that the system had simply come to him to remind him of his new points.