Yaaawn~
"Man, that was the best five hours of sleep I think u have ever had."
Drak had just woken up from sleep and was sitting in his makeshift cot.
"When did they say the tournament started again, I think it was around lunchtime right? well, whatever I'm sure I'll find out soon." shrugged Drak
There was still plenty of time to go before the beginning of the tournament considering Drak had woken up about an hour after the sunrise.
Drak finished his morning stretch and pulled the covers off from over him and got out of his bed.
He walked over to the area where he keeps his animal skin clothes and leather arm guard and put on his clothes.
As he fully pulled up his pants, he started moving towards the entrance to the small hole he calls a room while attaching his leather belt to his waist.
...
Drak walked into the eating area of his "clan's territory" which as of right now was only inhabited by Drak, his parents, and siblings, hopefully, that will change after the day of Clan Selection.
Clan Selection is a day that is held every 2 years in which orcs who for whatever reason do not belong to a clan, can get selected by one and will undergo the clan induction ritual, a ritual that is many times older than the tribe itself, one whose origins is still unknown.
The last Clan Selection was before Drak was "born".
It was then that Tarnuk, Drak's uncle and the chief of the tribe, had undergone the ritual that allowed Grak to create his own separate clan, as opposed to a branch clan/cadet clan.
After Grak became the patriarch of his own clan, he had to either choose a name, depending on the nature of the name a clan insignia that matches the name would appear on his chest over his heart.
Or, he could go out to hunt and try his luck at felling a beast that would give him a cool name and insignia, and as you can tell by the previously mentioned name, Grak went out the next day and slew a dire wolf.
Drak recently learned that the dire wolves in this world grow to size around 152cm tall and 244cm long, these large proportions initially shocked Drak, but he soon after learned that the reason for their size is due to them being one stage above forest wolves in evolution, who in their own right were quite large, around the same size as a Timber Wolf back on earth.
However, it wasn't an easy hunt for Grak, the Dire Wolf he had fought was an outcasted beta, who was in all respects weak compared to a normal Dire Wolf, especially compared to an alpha.
Despite the status of the wolf, it was still a great achievement, one that Grak can proudly say he is the only one to achieve in 100 years!
(A/N look up a picture of a timber wolf next to a husky, the size difference is crazy!)
...
Once Drak had made it to the usual spot where his family eats, he was surprised to see not only his parents already awake and eating but also his little siblings, Atiga, Drak's younger sister who is a little over one year old now, and their little brother, Radak, the 7-month-old boy.
"What are you all doing up so early?" asked Drak curiously with a hook brow
"Well, it would seem that these two could barely sleep last night in anticipation of the tournament today, so when your father and I got up to eat, they soon followed suit." laughed Atika, Drak's mother
"Haha, yes, it would seem these two have taken a keen interest in their older brothers fighting skills." boomed Grak with his hearty laugh like always
"Yes yes yes, I can't wait to see big brother kick those losers' asses!" exclaimed Atiga excitedly while jumping in the air
"Hey, language!" said Atika
"Sorry, mom," said Atiga with her ears drooping like a puppy who was in trouble
"You know, I blame you Drak, because of that foul mouth and your constant training, my sweet little girl has become quite vicious, and she is only one!" said Atika while glaring at Drak
"u-uh yeah, sorry," said Drak a little embarrassed to be scolded for such a reason by an orc
"But wait, weren't you quite the berserker before I was born mother?" asked Drak trying to turn the tables on his mom
"Well of course I was, I ripped humans' heads off every time they attacked us, I even got an elf once, poor bastard didn't see my axe coming," said Atika while reminiscing
Seeing how his mother reacted to his question, Drak felt a shiver run down his spine hearing what she said.
"But I am 22, your sister is only one, she still needs to grow," said Atika
"Sigh, yes mother." chuckled Drak
"Come, boy, let's go get some final training in, we'll call it a warm-up." smile Grak
Bam!
Grak narrowly sidestepped an incoming stone axe that was thrown by, you guessed it, his loving wife.
"Hurry up boy, I think it is that time of the month!" yelled Grak as he ran away, escaping from the seething female orc who had her hand on the next stone axe to be thrown
Atika slowly turned her head towards Drak, and with a smile that would send shivers down your spine, she said.
"Oh dear, it would seem my hand slipped."
'Shit I need to get out of here fast!' yelled Drak in his mind as he fled from the scene
...
After getting a few good hours of sparing in, the time finally came for the first round of matches between the young orc competitors.
"Phew, I can't wait, I am so pumped!" yelled the muscle-headed Larek
"Sigh, I just hope you don't make a fool out of yourself along with our clan." said the more intelligent of the twins, Warek
"Tch, you better not lose you, weakling, remember when I kicked your ass in training last week!" replied Larek with a haughty smile
"You beat me in a fist fight only you muscle head, if we had weapons I would've wiped the floor with your ass, you bumbling fool!"
"Just wait, once we meet in the tournament, I'll wipe that stupid smile off of your face. replied Warek with a fiery vigor
While the two brothers were bickering back and forth about who was going to kick who's ass, another pair of twins, two girls, walked up to the arguing duo.
"What the hell are you two sissy's arguing about now?" asked Recik as she walked up to the two brothers and clasped their shoulders with a strong grip
As her hands and nails started digging into the boy's shoulders, the two previously bickering idiots started to whimper like hurt puppies as Recik's nails started to draw blood.
"U-uh, Recik, I think that is enough," said Ansek meekly
"Ugh, fine, you are too nice Ansek, you are an orc! start acting like one!" boomed Recik
"S-sure, of course, sister."
"tch."
"Hey, I see you all made it here before me huh, that's surprising." chuckled Drak
"What's wrong with the two idiots?" asked Drak while looking at the brothers who were clutching their shoulders with tears in their eyes
"Oh them, I just gave them a "nice" reminder on not arguing all the time," replied Recik while glaring at Larek and Warek
"Haha, those two do fight quite a bit huh."
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's enter," said Drak
...
The group of five entered into the massive cavern where the tournament will be held
Within the cave they saw the area in which they will be competing in their fights, just like how he had been told, the "ring" was a dug-down area so the fighters could go all out.
Around the fight "ring" there were bleachers of stone carved out to where the spectators could sit and see, no matter how many orcs there were everyone could see.
In total the caver could host around 300 orcs, this was plenty of room since only 200 or so out of over 500 orcs resided within the cave system, the rest were made to stay just outside of the cave and act as the first line of defense as well as fodder in the case of an attack.
Whistle~
"Wow, there's quite a lot of orcs here today," said Warek while looking around
Seated on the stone bleachers were all of the various clans that were fortunate enough to inhabit the cave system.
The clans were split up into cliques and different groups depending on the relations between the clans, Drak's family, the Direwolf Clan, were sitting with Yongrik, his son the Patriarch of the Stone Spear Clan, along with some of the higher-ranked members of the clan.
Drak could see his little sister anxiously waiting for the fights to start, while his mother was scolding her because of how loud she was, next to his mother was his father who was messing with Radak while poking him in the stomach and chest just fast enough that the little orc could catch Grak's finger.
He could only laugh at seeing his family acting like this, it really reminded him of a human family, and if he didn't know better through the stories he has heard, he would've thought all orcs were like humans in every way except for looks, but boy was he wrong.
The orcs here, although cordial with their own people, were quite vicious against those who they attack.
When Drak heard the stories of the raids his parents had been on, he was extremely surprised to hear of the brutality that the orcs committed against the common village peoples, but when thinking about how many of his kind, the orcs, had been slaughtered in raids by humans, he forgot all about the fact that the villagers were innocent.
Coupled with his previous contempt and hate for the humans back on earth, he couldn't care less about the lives of the humans here, if he was on a raid then he would mercilessly slaughter all humans in his way.
Back to the present.
Drak gave a short wave to his family and then walked towards the waiting area for the participants of the tournament, where he would be given his first match.
Luckily for him and his impatience, Drak was slotted for the third fight of the first round.
The orc he would be going up against was just some kid from a clan he had never heard of so Drak gave it little mind, all he was thinking about was the later rounds, he couldn't wait to see what the strongest orcs of his age were like.
Plus, it didn't hurt that he might be able to fight Tarnak again, and this time, he could kill the asshole.
That's right, in the last round before the championship, the rule of no killing was lifted, no matter what clan they came from, you could kill the other orc as long as you had the ability to.
Although weak compared to Drak, he had to give some props to Tarnak, the bastard was one of the strongest of their age group, and yet, he was still going to be killed like a beggar in the streets if he meats Drak in the ring.
The sound of a roar rang out in the cavern that gripped Drak's attention, the first fight had officially started.