Ak’Mi’s perspective

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE’RE LEAVING!”

God’s damn it, I knew she would act like this. The moment I had told them we would be leaving for the Asatru clan, my first wife Mur’Ten acted just how I expected. She flew into a rage.

“LEAVE MY CLAN? ARE YOU INSANE!?”

She kept throwing stuff at me, luckily, nothing that really hurt me or would break. Bags, sacks of food, food itself and various utensils, she kept chucking at me in a fit of anger.

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!? YOU WANT US TO LEAVE BASED ON THE WORD OF A CHILD!?”

I tried to speak but she cut me off once again, “NO MISTER, SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME.”

I exhaled loudly, rubbing my face in my palm as I slowly zoned out of her tirade and her long ranting. Why is my first wife so damned stubborn? The quintessential orc matriarch, fiery and stubborn. Sure, that was why I married her, but still! Why did she have to question my decisions! Pandar have mercy on my soul!

Thankfully, my second wife, Mu’Sei, was much more reserved. She was more demure and reserved, ironically, she was also the younger sister of my first wife. They were like polar opposites. The elder sister being fiery, passionate and a warrior, with the younger sister being calm, reserved and content on being a homemaker.

She seemed to be deep in thought, most likely contemplating the fact that I had basically told them to leave the clan and move to a new one, all based on the word of the boy. Amidst the tirade that my first wife was giving me, she began to speak, not shouting, but in a loud tone of voice, able to cut clear through my first wifes shouting,

“Perhaps we should listen to Ak’Mi, sister.” She said, causing the first wife to stop her tirade and look back in shock, “Look. He claims to have received a vision from Pandar for him to join the boy. As Pandar is the god of the Orcs, should we not heed his word and follow him? Have some sound logic sister.”

Mur’Ten paused rounding on her sister, “But to follow a child! A mere child who has not yet hit the age of 6! A CHILD!” She roared in the face of her sister, but her sister nonplussed, continued to speak,

“A child of the age of 4 that leads his own war squad, is the son of the chieftain of one of the largest tribes in this area and also boasts immense wealth. Many of our own clansman are talking about how he single handedly defeated many high caste orcs in spars all by himself, those who were far larger and older than he was. Surely this indicates he might at least be chosen by Pandar?”

Mur’Ten paused for a second, you could almost see her thoughts swirling around in her head. My wife, though beautiful and fiery, was no intelligent woman. She seemed to be in deep thought, considering all her options. As my first wife finally shut her mouth, I took the opportunity to speak,

“Look. We can tell the kids later, but right now, all three of us have to agree to move to the Asatru tribe. Alright? The child, Simba, is incredibly powerful even for his age, he has to be the prophet that Pandar was telling me about. There’s no doubt about it, please Mur’Ten, my love, think on it!”

I took the opportunity to cup my hand on her chin and stroke her cheek gently. Perfect. This was one of her weaknesses! Of course, just like that, she dipped her head down and blushed furiously, muttering something that I couldn’t hear.

“Huh? Could you say that again?”

“I SAID, FINE! HMPH!” She stormed out in a hurry, obviously flustered that I had managed to embarrass her and use her tricks against her. I looked at my second wife, both of us flashing a grin and sharing laughter.

“Well then! That’s that then, so, how about we get to business…”

“Oh, I quite like where this is going.” My second wife replied with a wink, before closing in to give me a kiss.

_______

Mur’Ten’s perspective

Damn that husband of mine! Always triggering my weak spot just to win an argument, that bastard ought to be put in his place! I was fuming of course, storming through the large encampments and onto the outskirts near the Thunder Stone. I wanted to clear my head and the fact that it was early morning meant that it was unlikely for people to be there.

Sadly, I was wrong. It appeared an orc child standing at around 4’4 or so was doing some odd motions. I paused for a second, deciding to close in to get a better look at them. However, hopefully not close enough to the point they could detect me.

Upon closer inspection, I managed to make out what the orc child looked like. A male orc child, who so happened to be that Simba, the one who caused all this mess and the whole surprise. I didn’t know what the fuck was so special about him. Sure, he was larger and taller, smarter and also a better fighter than most 4 year olds. But how does that make him the supposed Chosen one?

There have been plenty of other orcs that check out on all the aforementioned traits but were never supposedly the “Chosen One”. What makes him so damned special? On closer inspection, he was doing some weird kind of dance or ritual in front of the thunder stone.

He appeared to be wearing nothing except his lion fur pants and boots, having his shirt wrapped around his waist. But was going through odd motions that seemed to be partly a dance and fighting? He was punching and kicking the air in solid but explosive motions. I could hear the shirt jostling around it, almost creating a crack due to the amount of speed he put into the motion.

He was doing odd movements that I had never seen as well, using the edge of his hands to strike an imaginary tactic while violently thrusting his hip and twisting his lower body, which is why the shirt wrapped around his waist caused the cracking noise, due to the motion. Or so I think anyway. He didn’t just do that as well, also using his elbows and throwing round kicks. Instead of striking with the foot, it seemed he was trying to strike with the shin bone. His elbow strikes were done in a various of motions. Swinging down from upward, from the bottom, thrusting forward and thrusting downward. It was like his elbow was an axe, being swung this way and thatl.

He did the motions with incredibly explosiveness, though he moved slowly, but each technique was executed with perfection. That was probably why he was so good at hand to hand combat and pretty much beat every chieftain’s heir from the Afwan river all the way to the northern mountains.

He was dripping with sweat, probably having done this for maybe up to an hour by now. His movement was rapid too, he was incredibly agile, almost like a leopard. He darted this way and that, with quick movements, staying on the balls of his feet. It was like watching a mesmerizing dance, the motions encaptivated me. I really couldn’t help but stop and stare, his movements were so fluid and dance-like. His motions were clean and precise, not a single error or flaw in his steps, even though he must be quite tired by now.

How did a mere 4 year old child come up with this system of combat all by themselves? Seeds of doubt began to grow in the back of my mind, perhaps he really was a chosen prophet of Pandar after all? Perhaps he really was the young talent that would rival all the other young talents and truly the fulfill the prophecy?

My train of thought was cut in half as the Orc child stopped doing his combat motions, seemingly turning towards the Thunder Stone and bowing towards it, before standing up straight and turning to walk back to the encampment.

Huh, it might’ve been a ritual after all? I mused to myself. But now wasn’t the time, because it was obvious he got a look at me and instantly deduced I was watching him. He strode towards me in a confident manner. It wasn’t elegant or dignified, considering he was most likely quite tired due to having practiced those odd dance like fighting motions for a while. But despite his visible fatigue, he still held himself in a confident manner. His robust and angular features made him look more mature than your average orc child of his age.

He paused in front of me, looking at me up and down before speaking in a surprisingly deep voice, for a child anyway,

“So. What do I have the pleasure of being watched by a beautiful woman?”

So young and already he had a silver tongue, he must be taking after Ak’Mi after all. But, in my usual fashion, I couldn’t help but feel the corners of my mouth tug slightly.

“Oh no, I was just admiring your hand to hand combat skills. It makes sense that the young lord of the Asatru tribe was proficient at defeating every other young lord from the various tribes gathered for this great festival. Might I ask how did you come across these techniques?”

He seemed to pause for a second, obviously deciding whether or not I was trustworthy before answering me, “Oh. These techniques were all revealed to me in dreams since I was very little. That’s how I have come to learn and master them.”

My eyes opened wide, he learnt these completely new techniques purely based on dreams? That he managed to create a whole new comprehensive combat system due to revelations? By now I was convinced, he definitely had to be chosen by Pandar. It was simply impossible for any other being to simply dream about new combat techniques. It must have been revealed to him by Pandar himself.

“So, what do you call these sets of moves then? I know our old wrestling art is called Wrevkalum, so what about yours?”

He paused before giving a response in a language or word I had ever heard before.

“Kenokogeki. The Killing Strike.”

Even saying those words gave me a slight shudder down my spine, it was as if those words had some kind of mystic power behind them that gave it their own unique ability. It truly seemed to be an art of combat divined to us by Pandar. I steadied myself for a half second, before speaking once more,

“So. I heard from my husband that you are the Chosen One or the prophet of Pandar.”

I didn’t elaborate any more on the statement, simply letting it hang in the air as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

“So, your one of Ak’Mi’s wives then I presume?”

“Yes.”

“I see, so, what are your thoughts then? After the impressive display that I put on?”

It was obvious. He was definitely testing me, he wanted to know my opinion regarding the suggested move back to the Asatru tribe. I had to choose my words carefully, having taken a couple seconds to think, I then answered under the watchful gaze of the little lord,

“Well. It seems like you truly are chosen by Pandar after all. There is no other person in the history of orckind who had a whole new combat system revealed to them through dreams by Lord Pandar. Truly, you must be the chosen one!”

He nodded, seemed satisfied with my answer and then walked off. I glanced back in his direction as he made his way back to the main camp. My heart was set, I would go and join the Asatru tribe with my husband and children.

_______

Mu’Gen perspective

I yawn loudly, wandering around the fighting pits in the festival. There wasn’t much interesting going on today. I wonder when mother, auntie and father were off doing. Apparently they had been discussing something very important this morning so they kicked both me and my younger brother So’Tek out of the hut.

Apparently it was something to do with moving to another tribe and Chosen of pandar or whatever. Those were the two main things I managed to catch out of the conversation. But right now, I was focusing on the fight in front of me.

Apparently from the Asatru tribe, a few of the high caste warrior children have managed to create their own unique combat system. So far, I hadn’t heard of the name for it, but the rumors were spreading like wildfire. Where Simba, the heir of the Asatru tribe single handedly defeated every single one of the heirs of the other tribes in one on one combat, in a row! Even by the end of it, it had only taken no more than 15 minutes!

Right now, I was at the fight pit to watch one of those said warrior children of the new combat style fight. Apparently his name was Og’Dei and his movements were fluid and insane. His stance was quite odd, almost like he was a leopard in a pounce. The other warrior children had seen him fight and were wary of him.

His opponent was around his age and height, though seemed to be far larger and stronger in terms of muscular size. But Og’Dei didn’t seem afraid, simply not making a single motion, waiting for the opponent to attack. Jeers and cries filled the air as the crowd wanted the fight to hurry faster.

I didn’t bother joining in, it was quite early in the morning and I was tired. But it seemed the crowd's cries got to Og’Dei’s opponent. Though it was over as fast as it had begun. As his opponent charged in, he snapped his leg forward, jamming it into the person's throat.

In an instant, the opponent fell to the ground clutching his throat and gasped for air as he writhed on the ground. Almost like a live fish struggling on the floor after it had been fished out of the lake.

Og’Dei glanced down at him before speaking, “Don’t worry. You’ll live.”

He then turned and walked out of the sparring ring and disappeared into the crowd. I was shocked, the fight had lasted only around 5 to 10 seconds! My jaw dropped as my eyes widened. For my mother Mur’Ten, I had to learn this new skill to make my mother proud!

I immediately ran after him, excited to learn this new combat skill from this mysterious warrior child from the Asatru tribe

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Feedback/comments are appreciated as always. If you enjoy, please upvote the post, thanks! Oh also, any speculation about the future of the story? Feel free to leave that in the comments too, I fucking love that shit.