[Year 344, The month of Flame, day 18]

“Ahhhh!!”

“Nooo!!! Zander!!”

‘’Leave him!! there‘s nothing you can do now”

I half-dragged/half-carried the remaining twin away from the one that had been captured. Even as we ran, I could hear the visceral sound of the poor bastard being ripped to shreds by the ogres chasing after them. If they lived through this, the sound of wet slabs of flesh falling to the ground would haunt me for months. However, the guilt I felt for the kid’s death and the relief for the distraction said death caused would haunt me till the end of my days.

As the remaining twin, Garrick, and I entered a dead run in the brief reprieve we’d been given, I reflected upon how things came to this.

A couple of days ago everything had been going on as planned. After leaving the village and gathering our equipment the three of us set off on the day and a half long trek towards the cave the ogres had come to inhabit.

It was like they’d been on a camping trip, with the twins asking about any and everything that caught their attention and me happily imparting my knowledge on to them. After setting up camp a good distance away from the ogre’s cave they got to work scouting the area and preparing traps. Things seemed to have been going fine as they baited and trapped their first couple of ogres, but on the morning of the seventh day, I began to feel that something had been off. By that point they’d killed five orges yet more of them emerged from the cave and in larger numbers.

“Garrrraaaagggghhh”

The roar behind them us me back to the present. They’d been running for a good hour now and it wasn’t hard to figure out whose stamina would wean first between us and the fifty or so ogres chasing them.

It was only a matter of time before the two of us met the same faith as Zander. Out of sheer desperation, I frantically looked around for a safe haven or a way out of this situation. As tree after tree flew by a small ray of hope appeared in the corner of my eye.

Taking hold of Garrick’s arm I made an abrupt left turn.

“Hey!!!”

“Shut up”

I silenced Garrick’s complaint in a hushed tone before tossing him into a natural trench I saw. After leaping in myself, I started rubbing the moist mud over my body.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to stay alive, and if you want to do the same hurry up and hide.”

Barely restrained anger was visible on Garrick’s face but he shut his mouth and started copying me. In a matter of seconds, the two of them were covered head to toe in mud and foliage, laying flat on the ground.

They’d completed their camouflage not a moment too soon as ogres stepped upon the trench's rim mere seconds after they had laid down.

While my view was obscured a bit by the foliage covering his face, I could still see them from his position. There was also a clear difference between the ones we had been killing and the ones that started to come out of the cave two or three at a time.

The ogres they’d been dealing with had been around six feet tall, had biceps the size of my thigh, and had puffs of hair covering their yellowish skin. The two thirty centimeter-long fangs that grew from their underbite were rather dull and their beady red eyes were rather unremarkable and unfocused.

While they might have been physically intimidating they weren’t all that difficult to deal with, in fact, trapping and killing them made me question why the village considered them such a threat.

It was only when our base camp was attacked did I realize the true terror we faced. The sun hadn’t even appeared on the horizon when the perimeter alarm went off. I barely had time to notch an arrow before the ogres descended upon us.

Except those ogres had been an entirely different from what they’d faced, their limbs were wrapped in thicker taut muscles, their fangs sharpened by extended use, and their frame stood almost twice as tall as the ones that preceded them. It’s almost as if they’d been dealing with chi⎯

“Garrraagh!!”

A shudder ran down my spine, but it wasn’t because of the ogre’s roar. The ogres scanned the area a bit more before they left, their camouflage had done its job.

However, the two of them remained motionless. It wasn’t until the combination of fear and tension drained from their bodies and about twenty minutes had passed did we stand up again.

“By the ancestors what have we done…”

My voice trailed off as the full brunt of the realization dawned on me. If he was right then the ogres wouldn’t stop until they were dead.

“What have we done!? What have we done!!? We have done nothing!!! You did this!!!! You got my brother killed!!!!!”

Garrick’s temper flared when he caught wind of my mumbling.

“Be quiet, do you want them to hear you?”

The ogres were still searching for them in the area and now was not the time or place to deal with his hang-ups.

However, Garrick had been pushed beyond his limits by the loss of his brother.

“We did everything you said! We put up with your abuse and did everything you said, but what did it get us!? “

“Shut up!! Things weren't supposed the happen, but whining about it won’t solve anything. We ne⎯"

“You killed my brother!!! I’m through listening to you!!!”

Garrick turned his back on me and started to walk off.

“Just where do you think you’re going!?”

“Back to the village, where else!?”

I was beginning to regret my decisions about all of this more and more by the second. With my irritation barely in check, I grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to look at me.

“Are you an idiot!? The ogres are still after⎯

“Garagh!!”

“Fuck!!”

That roar originated from close by, Garrick’s shouting must have brought them back. We had to get out of here.

“Gaah!”

Before I could do anything I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. Looking down I saw the short dagger stuck in the right side of my abdomen, the blood already starting to flow in generous amounts.

Looking up, I was met with Garrick’s cold-blooded glare.

“You deserve everything you get and more.”

With that simple send off Garrick yanked the dagger from my chest and started running off in the village’s general direction. I watched his figure fuse into the horizon while I slumped down into the trench with a hand over my wound.

It wasn’t long before the ground began to tremble. One after another, large shadows flew over my head in pursuit of Garrick. The ogres used all four limbs to run, moving in a jagged but somewhat effective running cycle.

At first, I thought they’d simply ignore me, but today just seemed to be the day life wanted to kick me while I was down. One of the ogres broke away from the pack and headed in my direction.

“What only one, why don’t you toss in a few more of them for good measure?”

I didn’t even know who I was talking to anymore, but what I did know was that death was charging straight at me and my options were limited. My vision was becoming more unfocused by the second and ogre was only a couple yards away, swiftly closing the distance.

However, I wasn’t afraid. Death was mere moments away, but the only thought that crossed my mind was how thankful I was for mandatory magic training.

“Raeps ym sa htrof gnirps, ssyba nezorf eht morf.”

A foot in front of me a large jagged icicle rose out of the ground. The ogre recognized the danger all too late. It tried to swerve out of the way, but the momentum of its charge was too much overcome at the last second.

“Gyaooun…”

With a gush of blood and the sickening sound of flesh and bone giving way to a foreign object, the ogre let out a pained wail as it impaled itself through the chest. Even if it somehow freed itself, the blood loss and the new hole in its chest should kill the ogre.

“Uggh…”

While ice wasn’t an all too common magic affinity, I couldn’t have been more thankful of possessing it now. The versatility of the magic was only offset by the amount of mana it took to produce and shape the ice.

But, all I managed to do was delay the inevitable. My wound was still bleeding out at an alarming rate and fatigue was taking its toll on me. I could feel my conscious fading away by the second and knew I wasn’t long for this world.

My bid had failed in the worst way possible and I wouldn’t be surprised if Garrick ran my name through the ground if he managed to make it back to the village. There were many things I regretted about my life, but the largest of them would have to be leaving my family to fend for themselves.

“I’m sorry…”

With a final felting apology, I closed my eyes and awaited the end.

…

..

.

[Papaaaaa!!!!]

“FuuccccccK, that stupid fool!!!”

I’d been so occupied with my own self-pity I’d forgotten that Garrick was leading an enraged pack of ogres towards the village. Even if they killed him before he reached the village, it wouldn’t be enough to quell their rage. The village was in danger, my family was in danger.

I hastily tried to stand up only to fall on my face.

“Damnit”

My legs had already gone numb and the rest of my body wasn’t that far behind.

“Get up!”

I tried to stand once more but my legs wouldn’t move.

“Get up! Get up!”

It was no use, I wasn’t going anywhere. I’d lost too much blood and was too tired. I pressed down on my wound even harder and laminated have received it.

“Fucking close already!!! Wha aaah!!”

Out of nowhere, it felt like a fire ignited within my wound, burning its way through my insides and exploding once it broke the surface of my skin. The sharp pain spreading through my body drove away the numbness that had overtaken me.

“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!”

I could hear my own screams as I leaped to my feet in a vain attempt to make the pain stop, however, it was minutes before the pain would subside. Everything hur⎯ wait, the throbbing from my wound had vanished. Looking down, I saw that the wounded section of my abdomen had been covered in a thick layer of red ice.

How?

I could barely move much less control the flow of my mana.

“... not important now.”

With a shake of my head, I cleared out the unnecessary things. Right now, I had to get back to the village. Before I left, I cast another look towards the impaled ogre. It stopped moving some time ago and now only dark red blood streamed down its body, but it was still breathing if barely.

“If I was in your position I would do the exact same thing as you, so for your brethren's sake pray that I don’t end up in your position.”

Not even knowing if the beast could hear me anymore, I spoke my piece and began limping my way towards the village.