The day was long and fun. We visited some friends, went and ate some exotic foods brought in by some merchants, went swimming in the lake, and showed off the items I got to some adventurers passing through. Overall, it was a good day, and it was getting close to evening, so we headed home.
Walking down the road to our house, we heard a scream from a different part of the village.
Dad said he would go and see what happened, and both Mom and I kept walking home.
A few minutes later, he returned home, rushed in, and yelled, "Orc Raiders are attacking the village!"
Mom's face paled. She asked where they were so far, and he said on the eastern side of the village. We lived on the west side.
Mom told me to grab the emergency bag and other necessities and prepare to run in case of emergency. She ran upstairs to grab her things, and Dad came over to me and told me to be brave and stay safe, but they had to go and help defend the village.
I nodded and went to grab my wand, dagger, and spear, and packed a bag of food and blankets while Dad grabbed his gear.
When we all got back, I saw them in their best gear. Mom was wearing a red robe and holding a large Mage Staff with a red crystal on the end.
Dad was wearing some leather armour and chainmail and holding his greatsword, with potions and smoke bombs strapped to his belt.
I had put on a black hoodie so I could blend in with the darkness better, and a satchel with some food, potions, and bandages in it. My dagger was strapped to my belt, my wand was in the bag, and my spear was held in my hands, shaking.
They told me to stay in the house, but if I saw any orcs, to hide, and if they tried to enter the house, to leave immediately through the other door or window.
Before they left, they turned to each other, turned to me, and both said, "We love you." Then they closed the door and ran towards the chaos.
I don't know how long I stayed there, hiding in a corner, shaking, but it felt like hours.
Orc Raiders that attack villages are known to be savage and powerful fighters, but they won't attack if they think the village can win.
I sat there for so long, hearing screams and fire, explosions and fighting, slowly getting closer and closer.
Then I heard someone trying to open the locked front door. After they couldn't open the door, they tried knocking on the door, and I heard a man ask if anyone was inside.
I stayed silent, not uttering a word. I didn't recognize the voice.
They said they were here to lead an evacuation of the village. The fighting was getting close, and people were in danger.
Hearing that, I got up and walked over to the door, unlocked it, and opened it.
Standing in front of me was an 8-foot-tall orc.
He was extremely built, with arms thicker than my body. He had dark green skin reflecting orange light from the fires in the village, rust-coloured eyes, and black hair tied into a ponytail. Blood was splattered all over him, but he didn't look injured.
He didn't wear much clothing, just some shorts, with his upper body completely bare aside from a few pieces of leather armour on his shoulders and arms. His long black hair was tied in a strange braid with beads woven into it.
He had tusks protruding out from his lower jaw and was holding a large wooden club, clearly designed for smashing.
He smiled, seeing me open the door, and I froze. He laughed and went to grab me.
I pulled out my dagger and stabbed his hand. Thankfully, even though orcs have tough skin, my dagger is strong enough. Then I turned and ran for the back door.
He yelled out in pain and surprise, then tried to give chase, but due to his large size, it was hard for him to get through the door.
Thankfully, I managed to unlock the back door and run. I started to run through the streets towards the forest. I saw both people and orcs dead all over the street. It seemed like the orcs came from both sides of the village. I knew several adventurers lived in the village, so they must have helped with this. Thankfully, I hadn't run into any orcs yet while running.
As I got closer to the edge of the village, I saw an injured orc leaning on the wall of a building. Its left arm and leg were cut off, but when it saw me, it started to hop towards me with a smile on its face.
When I saw that, I turned to run down an alley, but before I did, an arrow pierced through its eye, and it fell over, dead.
I looked over at where the arrow came from and saw a lizardman holding a bow. He told me to keep running, to make it to the forest, and try heading downwind. I nodded and continued to run.
Finally, I managed to get out of the village. When I did so, I slowed down and started to look around. The orcs could be scouting around the edge of the village, and if they spotted me, I might be screwed.
By now, it had gotten dark enough that you needed a light to see clearly, but still bright enough to where you could see where you were going.
I didn't see any, so I started to slowly move toward the forest, making sure that no orc would see me.
Just before I entered the forest, two orcs stepped out from behind some large trees. Both were female and wore the same clothing as the orc from my house. This time, though, they had on metal bras to protect/hide their chests. One was holding a large axe, and the other was holding a flail.
They smiled at me and started walking forward. I gripped my spear and held it out in front of me, shaking. They both laughed and continued.
The one with the flail swung it and wrapped the chain around my spear, pulling it from my hands and disarming me.
The other swung the axe, but I managed to dodge it. I did get cut on my chest, but the wound wasn't deep.
They both swung at me again, and I tried to dodge again but fell over. They both laughed and said something in Orcish to each other. Then the one with the axe lifted it again as I closed my eyes.
Suddenly, I heard a clang, but didn't feel anything. I opened my eyes and saw my father attacking the two orcs with his greatsword. He had a cut on his arm, and it was bleeding pretty badly, but he didn't give them an opening.
He pushed them both away, grabbed my spear, threw it at me, and said, "RUN, JACK! RUN! I will meet you at your aunt's house!"
I nodded, grabbed my spear, and ran. I looked back at Dad and saw tears in his eyes and a red glow on his sword. I didn't know what that meant or what happened, but I know that battles like this must be hard on everyone.
I managed to get into the forest and headed downwind for a little bit. This way, if the orcs had a way to track me by scent, it would be harder. Then I turned right to avoid being choked by the smoke and continued towards my aunt's.
Soon, I managed to find a moving river. I got in the water and followed it upstream, then got out to prevent them from following my footprints. When I finally calmed down, I decided to take care of my wound.
I had been using my sweater to keep the wound from bleeding too much, but I needed to take care of it soon.
I poured some water on it, cleaned the wound, and tied a bandage around my chest. It's not perfect, but I don't know herbs and have no way of properly treating it. I took a small healing potion to help heal, but I only felt exhausted afterward. I could keep going, but I would need to rest soon.
I continued through the night, walking slowly. The good thing is that one of the potions I had was a monster deterrent. It smells really bad and keeps most monsters away for a few hours, but it isn't perfect. Thankfully, I didn't encounter anything else that night, but as I continued, I felt more and more tired.
Soon, just before dawn, I entered a small clearing and saw a man looking around, confused. He stood there in a red librarian uniform and had brown hair and amethyst eyes.
I knew who this was and said his name, "Brakos?"
He turned around and smiled, but when he saw the state I was in, he rushed over and asked what happened. I was too out of energy to answer and just passed out, saying just one more word.
"Help."