He had never imagined he would be struck by lightning!
No one willingly traveled in stormy weather, but like everything else in life, it often came with inevitability. No one cared if you worked too late; the heavens didn't avoid thunder and rain because of it. This thunderstorm was particularly abnormal; the dark clouds hung low, and the lightning streaking across the sky was a vivid purple, silently striking with a eerie and chilling aura.
How could one outrun lightning, no matter how fast they were? Being struck by lightning seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
He felt himself floating in the air, weightless, and in that moment realized... he was dead! The soul indeed existed in this world; he had become a ghost, but where was he to go? Was there really an afterlife, heaven, or hell?
He had been an orphan since birth, raised in an orphanage without family, witnessing the world's indifference and bitterness for over twenty years. Perhaps death was a release; when he encountered the King of Hell, he would surely plead for a better life in the next world!
The dark clouds in the sky didn't dissipate; instead, they seemed to boil and churn, forming a dark and mysterious vortex in midair. Not a single leaf or raindrop was drawn in, only lingering souls, being sucked into the vortex... and in the next moment, the dark clouds dispersed, revealing a bright sky and a new moon, as if the thunderstorm had never occurred!
As consciousness slowly returned from the haze, he was tormented by unbearable pain. Memories, forcibly stuffed into another completely unfamiliar soul, the two souls entangled, repelled, attacked, devoured... merged. It felt like being scraped to the bone with a steel knife, a fate worse than death! The memories of two souls forcibly stuffed into one mind, instinctive, frenzied attacks, they were like biting, devouring each other. In his mind, two orbs of light tangled together, intermittently flickering.
Who knew how long the mad struggle lasted, both of them injured. Whether it was the original owner of the body or the one who crossed over from Earth, they gradually couldn't distinguish. They forgot some things, gained each other's memories. At some point, when they suddenly regained consciousness, the two souls had completely merged, no longer distinguishable! From that moment on, he was known as Barlok!
"Barlok, Barlok, wake up, wake up!" A distant and anxious voice echoed, seeming somewhat distant and blurred. He suddenly opened his eyes, only to be frightened. A snake, as thick as a thigh and covered in gray scales, was slithering towards him. Its forked tongue flickered, and its eerie green eyes emitted a cold light.
He suddenly burst with strength, rolling on the ground a few times before scrambling up and running away in panic. On a solitary boulder in the distance, two figures perched urgently shouted to him, "Barlok, get up there! The sand snake is coming!"
He was lucky to reach the boulder before the gray snake caught up. One of the two people grabbed his arm and lifted him up. The food in his mouth slipped away, and the sand snake, enraged, whipped its tail on the gravel, its seven to eight-meter-long body pouncing towards the boulder.
A stout animal bone slammed fiercely on the snake's head, sending it flying far and smashing onto the rocky ground. The snake shook its head as if unharmed, though it emitted angry hisses. But it seemed to realize it couldn't easily defeat the three people on the boulder. It continued to lurk around the boulder, seeking an opportunity.
"Phew, Barlok, you almost got swallowed by the sand snake. I told you not to take risks. We can't outrun the sand snake." One of the men trembled, his voice filled with fear.
Barlok finally took a closer look at the two companions and was startled. These two were very young, appearing to be only thirteen or fourteen years old. Though humanoid, they were vastly different from humans. Their furry ears stood erect, resembling those of wolves or cats. They had facial whiskers unique to their species, with three on each cheek. Their eyes were blue, with vertical pupils more akin to beasts than humans. Despite their lush silver-gray fur, they looked somewhat unkempt!
Reluctantly accepting the answer from his memories, he had no choice but to acknowledge... they were orcs, and he himself had become one. The only consolation was that, despite being orcs, their appearance wasn't of the terrifying kind. Aside from the translucent silver-gray fur covering their bodies and the rough, dirty orcish clothing, the two orc youths before him were quite handsome and robust! Barlok consoled himself in this way!
"Barotan, Barsawar, is our food still intact?" Barlok called out their names. He had absorbed the memories of this body—well, he couldn't say he absorbed them; the memories from Earth and the primal body's memories were now indistinguishable. They had merged into one.
The young orc who had just smashed the snake's head dragged out a dirty fur sack from beneath the boulder, and it was empty. Barlok felt nauseated... five or six fat rats, each weighing seven or eight kilograms, and two-foot-long sand lizards, were what they had caught day and night, but this was life-saving food.
This was a barren wasteland of gravel, arid and extremely water-deficient, with sparse vegetation and harsh living conditions. Without the relatively abundant desert rats, sand lizards, and sand worms... not to mention desert dates and desert potatoes... the orcs living here would have starved to death long ago. However, even to obtain these, they had to risk being devoured by sand snakes, stung to death by poisonous sand scorpions, or swept away by raging sandstorms. Survival was nearly impossible if they encountered terrifying beasts like sand pythons or venomous fire scorpions.
Barlok's orc settlement housed only thirty-some people, hardly even qualifying as a tribe, let alone a clan. The harsh environment made life in the village difficult; without occasionally stumbling upon precious ores on the gravel plains, which they could sell to human merchants or dwarven blacksmiths in exchange for food, it wouldn't last long.
The scarcity of ore and the dangerous environment meant that noble humans and proud dwarves wouldn't waste their time on such trifles. They didn't rely on these minerals for survival. Only the orcs were in desperate need, so it was no surprise that the price of ore was driven extremely low. Each time they exchanged the ore for food, the haul was limited. Every orc in the tribe had to stay busy. Even youngsters like Barlok, Barsawar, and Barotan, aged thirteen or fourteen, had to go out and scavenge for food.
Despite their small numbers, they still referred to their settlement as a tribe. A fortnight ago, the only five adult orcs had gone to the human village to exchange the ore for food. They should have returned by now, but there was still no sign of them. With the food supply exhausted, the tribe was in crisis.
Among the thirty members, there were seven adults (five of whom had gone), six children, nine women, and the remaining eight were elderly. Barlok was the oldest of the six children in the tribe. The others were much younger. So, apart from the elderly and the three young orcs, everyone else had gone out to search for food.
Initially, they were lucky to catch two small sand lizards and find a nest of sand rats, yielding five or six fat specimens. But just as they were about to head back, they ran into the giant sand snake before them. Though not a demon beast, this creature was immensely powerful. Its skin was as tough as iron, and its teeth were venomous. Even a fully grown orc could easily be killed and devoured if bitten, let alone three orc youths.
Fortunately, they managed to jump onto a large rock in time, brandishing their bone clubs to fend off the snake's attacks. Just now, Barlok had attempted to sneak down from the rock's rear to seek help, but the snake, cunning as it was, detected his movement and swiftly pursued. Barlok stumbled on the gravelly ground in panic. It may have only been a few seconds, but when he stood up again, he was no longer the same person!
After instructing Barsawar to carefully stash away the food, Barlok stared at the slowly slithering sand snake beneath the rock, frowning in silence. Of the three, Barlok had always been the leader because of his intelligence. Although Barsawar and Barotan were stronger, they still listened to him.
"Barlok, what should we do?" Barotan, who was already one meter eighty tall at the age of fourteen, asked softly. He was rather timid and seemed frightened by the sand snake.
"We have no food left in the tribe. We must return today," Barlok gritted his teeth, glaring at the snake. "We'll have to fight. That damned sand snake dares to block our path. We'll kill it and bring it back for a feast!"
"Ah...!"
"Ah..."
Barotan and Barsawar exclaimed together, "Are you crazy? Even Uncle Bata, who's so powerful, wouldn't dare to face a sand snake alone. How could the three of us possibly kill it?"
Barlok stood up and surveyed the surroundings, pondering the available resources. Gradually, he formulated a plan. He called his two companions over. "Here's the plan: I'll distract the snake. When I jump down, you two run towards that direction. Remember what I said earlier...!"
Barotan and Barsawar, though daring, still had pale faces. "Barlok, is this really going to work? We're already unlucky enough to encounter this sand snake. If we provoke that thing again, we might all end up dead here!"
Barlok glared at Barsawar, who had spoken, then retorted, "Staying on the rock is just as good as death. Do you think the sand snake will simply let us go? We all know how cunning and tenacious they are. In the past, our tribesmen were trapped on a rock for over ten days, and by the time they were found, they had starved to death."
Barsawar fell silent. The three of them picked up their makeshift weapons, each wielding a large thigh bone of some unknown beast. Barlok stood on the edge of the rock, taunting the snake and successfully rousing its anger. It began to thrash about, its tail lashing and emitting hissing sounds, its eyes fixed on Barlok.
Without looking back, Barlok whispered, "You two, pay attention. When I jump down, you run towards that direction immediately. Remember what I said earlier...!"
With that, he picked up a large stone the size of a head and hurled it at the snake's head, catching it off guard and causing it to reel. Then, he leaped off and dashed toward another large rock several dozen meters away. The sand snake quickly recovered and pursued like an arrow!
Seizing the opportunity, Barsawar and Barotan immediately jumped off the rock, running left and right towards the other side of the boulder!
In a gravelly sand dune several hundred meters away, there was a nest of sand scorpions...!