It was a few nights later after the priests had left that I woke to the feeling of cold steel against my throat. Immediately, I started sending healing magic through my body in preparation for getting my throat slit. I also prepared a burst of fire to throw at my attacker as soon as I located the person. Next, I switched out water magic with metal magic and was about to melt the weapon down.

“Stop using magic or I’ll slit your throat,” a hoarse voice said in orcish. I looked to the side, but Shenerah was gone. Had they already taken her? No, I would have woken if they had taken her by force.

Since I had already been prepared to have my throat slit, I did not stop channelling my magic. My attacker was situated to my right side. Just as I started forming the fire magic it was snuffed out. I tried again, with the same result. However, despite my attempts at forming fire magic my throat was not slit.

“You’re too reliant on your magic,” the figure said, now without making herself hoarse, I recognized Arkoshta.

“What’s the meaning of this?” I demanded.

“Since you and my father are content to turn me into a whore against my will, I will have to take my revenge in another way,” she said with a frown before removing the dagger from my throat.

Now that the dagger was not against my throat I sat up, sending a glare and scowl in her direction. However, it was dark, so I was not sure that she saw it. With a single thought, I switched out what magics I had in my system and made a small globe of light appear in the corner of the tent, allowing me to see my assailant.

“What have you done with Shenerah?” I demanded to know.

“Out taking a piss had to wait half the night before the bitch left.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you hope to achieve?”

“To pay you back, obviously.”

“For what? I’ve done nothing to you,” I asked with frustration evident in my voice.

“Nothing?” she practically screeched. “You’re going to fucking rape me!”

“No,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “I’m not raping anyone, I just have a need of your power.”

“You’re going to forcefully make your way into my soul and take what you want from me, despite the fact that I’ve denied you? How is that not rape?”

All I had was a lame excuse of, “It’s not the same.”

“You’re right, it’s a soul rape, much worse,” she countered. “You’ll forever sully and change my soul, but if you had just raped me normally, at least I would be able to heal from that in time.”

Thinking about it, I realized how it would feel to her. However, her power was of the utmost importance to me. I wanted to have it. Especially, if it was her that had just snuffed out my fire magic. All priests’ magic came with two aspects, except for the Beastkin and Fae, but that was because they shared the same Goddess.

Once more I lamely denied her accusations, starting to feel ill.

“Lie to yourself all you want, but I want nothing of your lies. It might not be a physical rape, but it’ll be a soul rape,” she replied with a huff. “However, since my purity has been sold so cheaply by my father, and I’m a good orc following the wishes of her clan, at least I need to make sure you can actually win the fight against .”

“Oh, I can fight. Don’t worry about that,” I replied, feeling a bit defensive about her accusations.

“You rely on your magic, you’re weak,” she countered and strode out of my tent. I just sat there staring after her, my mind in turmoil. I had not actually formed the bond with her yet. However, if I did that now, it would be the same as raping her.

I had always been a man of questionable moral fibres, but one thing I had always held on to was the fact that I never took anyone against their will. Now I was doing that with her soul, and I was considering impregnating another orcish woman by force. They might claim it was their culture, but that did not mean it was okay.

However, it was necessary for me to do it. There was no other path I could see to assure safety for my family in the end.

“God, you sound so lame,” I whispered to myself in the dark. The fact was that it was the easiest way to get to what I wanted, and I had jumped in feet first, no hesitation. I was losing my sense of self. So what if I could not see a path to my goal, it had never stopped me before.

After ten minutes, Shenerah slipped back into the tent, and into the bedroll next to me. I enveloped her in a hug, clinging to her like a drowning man to a piece of flotsam. Our marriage was rarely one of sexual nature, but it was one of emotional support and love. An almost purely emotional relationship.

Troubled by my thoughts I drifted to sleep.

“Why did you let Garion die?” Lily screamed at me. I was standing in front of a mass grave, all my children, and some other face- and genderless bodies of children lay in it. “All you had to do was to follow through with the plan! If you had just followed the plan, this would not have happened.”

Behind her the other wives and Milly appeared, all sobbing, all wounded in some way. They flocked around me, all asking with a wail, “Why did you not protect our children?”

“I did everything I could!” I lamely said, trying to defend myself against the blame that they lay at my feet. “I fought hard against the human Gods! But they’re Gods, how do you expect me to win? I’m just a man.”

The scene froze, when a voice rang out, “Then become a God.”

The mysterious woman manifested outside of her glade for the first time. I looked accusingly at her. “Is this your doing?”

“No, it’s your doing,” she said gently. “Or to be more precise, the most probable outcome if you divert from the path in front of you.”

“You want me to soul rape someone? Then rape and impregnate someone else? How will this keep my children safe?” I asked angrily.

“The Destroyer has aligned itself with one of the human’s Gods. You won’t be able to stop her on your own,” the mysterious woman said.

“Which one?” I demanded.

“I can’t say that. If you gain too much knowledge, it’ll inform your decisions, change the outcome of the path that lay before us.”

“You won’t tell me who the fuck you are, why should I trust you?”

She gave a small smile. “All it requires is a leap of faith.”

“Then tell me how me ruining two women will keep my children safe.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment. When she answered it was with great care as if she were treading a delicate path. “The difference between a mortal and a god is smaller than you think. You’ve several times been as strong as a god.”

She stopped her answer there, letting me think for a moment. The answer was obvious to me. “When I broke the barrier on my mana pool.”

“Exactly,” she said with a small smile. “That’s the difference between mortal and gods. They’ve access to a constant stream of mana. Well, and the fact that they reside in a higher plane where their souls exist without a physical body, because the physical body can’t handle the flow of constant mana for long.”

“Is there a way to shed your physical body?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

She shook her head. “No, you’ve to be created to do so—”

Her voice dropped to a whisper, “—or consume the soul of a god.”

“Can I consume yours?”

She laughed at that. “Even as a god, you would not be powerful enough to do so.”

“Meaning you’re stronger than a god. You claim not to be the Destroyer, so you must be the Creator,” I said.

“I guess I must,” she responded with a smirk.

“Unless you’re lying to me.”

“You know that the weapons that killed Yathanae came from the Destroyer, they came close to killing you. I don’t want that,” she said. “I need you alive.”

The mention of Yathanae’s death was like a blow to my stomach. “Why? What do you want from me?”

“To disrupt the Destroyer’s plans, I thought that was obvious,” she replied.

“Fine, be mysterious, but we got sidetracked. How does raping someone keep my children safe?”

“You humans were crippled when you were summoned. You got summoned without your full power because it was divided into too many pieces because you were summoned many more people than intended. The only reason why you got the powers you have is because of me. I managed to keep hold of a small sliver of what you should have received when you got summoned,” she slowly explained. “To defeat the sliver of the Destroyer there is here and her ally, you need the help of all the other races.”

“You’re saying that the other races’ summoned heroes are stronger than me?”

She shook her head. “No, you’ve crashed through the hurdles created by the Destroyer’s interference, and then some. I’m very proud of you.”

“Gee, that makes me feel so good,” I sarcastically said. “So you’re saying that the only way forward is the path Barka set me upon?”

“Only way to get the orc heroes summoned in the immediate future. Summoning the heroes is a last-ditch resort for the orcs, culturally,” she answered. “For them, summoning their heroes is the same as admitting they’re too weak to handle themselves.”

“So, raping someone,” I said defeatedly.

“It’s the orc mating ritual for powerful females. They don’t want someone who’s too weak to handle them,” the enigmatic woman replied. “So don’t feel bad about it.”

“Any other advice?” I asked irritatedly, she had effectively told me the only way forward was the easy one. The one I did not want to take.

“Yes, you’re not using your healing magic to full effect, I’ve several suggestions on how you can improve yourself,” she said. Her suggestions were both horrifying and interesting. How to make my muscles more efficient for starters to an extra heart tucked away to act as a backup.

When I woke, Shenerah was still sleeping. I kind of wished that it was one of my other wives because after the talk with the dream lady I really needed some physical love to centre myself. I immediately felt bad for thinking that. I cared about Shenerah a lot, she more than the others, helped me through the loss of Yathanae.

I slipped out from beneath the covers without waking her and got silently dressed. As soon as I exited the tent I was met with a piece of wood flying at my face. I conjured a shield of stone to intercept it.

“You just got mobbed by thousands of orcs including their shamans for breaking the rules of the duel,” a voice sang out in human, but the one speaking was Arkoshta. It seemed she had been hiding the fact she understood and spoke human.

“What’s the meaning of this?” I demanded, looking at the wooden replica of a throwing knife.

“This is training, you suck at fighting.”

“I beg to differ, I’ve killed thousands upon thousands of people in combat,” I said with an irritated snort. I looked up at her. She was standing there, with a thick long staff in each hand. The Wolf Guards were keeping a close eye on her.

“Yes, with magic. But if you use magic in your fight against Rikasta, the rest of her clan will attack, even if it’s just a bit of healing magic to numb the pain. Or one of your links to help you aim or keep track of people,” she said. By the lack of reciprocating attacks by the Wolf Guards around my tent, I reckoned she had cleared her surprise attack with Nishka first.

“Even without magic, I should be able to beat her, I beat your father without magic after all, and I’ve become a much better fighter since then,” I said while silently correcting myself, ‘Almost beat him, used a bit of magic.’

“And Rikasta beat my father in just three moves,” Arkoshta countered. “If you can beat me without using magic, I’ll concede your point.”

Without preamble, she threw one of the staffs to me. I caught it and hefted it. “I usually fight with sabres.”

“The challenged choose weapons. Rikasta prefers a bladed staff.”

“Why not give me one of those then?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t want you to accidentally hurt yourself, or make you bleed and squeal like a stuck pig,” she said with a vicious grin. Then she attacked me. I resisted the urge to create links to the ends of her staff and her clothes so I could keep an “eye” on her.

Her opening attack was almost pathetically easy to intercept. A blow coming from my left. With a snort of contempt, I moved my staff to block it. She was quick, I’ll give her that. Before I could react, I felt a stabbing pain in my balls. I immediately sent healing magic there, mostly to deaden the pain.

“You just got us all killed!” she hissed.

“You kicked me in the balls!” I roared angrily.

“So what?”

“It fucking hurts!”

“Stop being a crybaby, power through it. You can always heal it after you’ve won,” she countered. “Again.”

This time she waited for my attack. I grumbled a bit but gritted my teeth. Swinging the staff around experimentally, getting used to the flow. She sent me a mocking smile. “Are you going to try and impress me with your non-existent skills for much longer?”

“Shut up,” I growled and stabbed forward as I would a spear.

Contemptuously she deflected with one end first, then swinging the other end upwards toward my elbow. I stepped back, making her miss with just a hair’s breadth. She did not let me get the chance to reposition my guard, she followed up, by transitioning the swing sideways towards my head.

I dodged low with a spin, trying to sweep her legs. She did a little jump, which I had hoped she would do. However, she did not do it to dodge the sweep. She landed on my knee. The snap from it breaking was one of the loudest things I had heard in my life. So was the scream I let loose.

I started healing immediately. Arkoshta let out a sigh. “You just got us all killed again.”

“You fucking broke my leg!” I shouted at her.

“He’s done that to me several times,” I heard one of the Wolf Guards whisper to another one. I sent him a glare.

Arkoshta glared at me. “Stop being a wimp, take the pain, don’t fucking heal it when you receive it. However, since you’ve done so, again!”

Another five bouts ended pretty fast, with me using magic to block or heal myself. Arkoshta got more and more vicious, and I had to admit she was a damn good fighter. She was right, I had come to rely on my magic, it was just pure instinct when I did. Especially when I got hurt.

“Why is it so hard for you to stop using magic? Just fucking grit your teeth through the pain and be a man about it!” Arkoshta exclaimed frustratedly. “Don’t you want to win the duel against Rikasta without getting everyone killed?”

“Of course I want that. It’s not exactly easy. I’ve been here for almost three cycles, I’ve had to turn my world view upside down and learn to use magic, it’s hard to unlearn again!” I grumbled with a pout.

“It’s because you’re doing it wrong, orc” Shenerah suddenly said loudly to Arkoshta, the orc part sounded like an insult.

“What do you mean, elf?” Arkoshta shot back, with the same contempt and venom as she was presented with.

“When I grew up, I was thought to ignore pain. It was easy. However, the problem is that he can heal himself,” Shenerah responded. “Can you keep his magic from healing him?”

“With the help from a few other shamans of the Goddess, even his powerful magic should be kept in check. We might need a lot of mana crystals to recharge with,” Arkoshta answered with a huff. Like it was a given that she could repress my magic.

“Go get them then.” Shenerah turned to me. “Karth, could you make a big column of stone in the middle of your training area.”

I shrugged. “Sure, no problem. How thick?”

“About half a metre in radius should be fine. Make sure it’s smooth,” she replied. I did what she asked, though curious about what she had up her sleeve. I saw her whispering something to Nishka who went into Shenerah and mine’s tent.

In a minute flat, I had the pillar up and about. I looked at her. “Happy?”

She replied in elvish. “Almost, I need you to make a crystal that anyone can power that will block all sights and sounds of what happens here next.”

I stared at her, not sure why she shifted to elvish. I responded in the same language, “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“No, but do you trust me?”

“Implicit,” I said truthfully and without hesitation.

“Thank you, please send all the Wolf Guards away, only Nishka should stay to keep an eye on the orcs.”

I did as she asked and soon only Shenerah, Arkoshta, Nishka, one of the healers, and the shamans Arkoshta had gathered were left in the small area around my tent, which was visual and soundproof. I could hold an orgy if I wanted. Not that I would do that.

“What do you want next?” I asked her, in the human language so everyone could follow. Or at least everyone who was not orcish could.

“Take off your clothes, all of it, put your arms around the pillar, and let Nishka tie you up.”

I groaned. Not because I had a problem with any of this. It was what followed I would have a problem with. I was pretty sure what she wanted to do. “You had Nishka fetch you your whip?”

She nodded. “The orcs will make sure you don’t use magic. I’ll start whipping you twenty times. If you use magic for anything, we’ll start the count over.”

“Fuck me,” I mumbled. Then I gritted my teeth and put my arms around the pillar. Nishka stepped forward to bind my wrists.

Shenerah stepped up, taking a few practice swings. Before the first time she hit me, she said, “Remember, I do this because I love you. I’m only doing this to help you.”