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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 355318" data-attributes="member: 1674">A sort of homecomingWhen Charkowar returned from his trip, he expected a welcome that was quite different from the one he would get. As he had been travelling around the globe, encountering more new cultures and new dangers than most mortals ever had, there was always one thing that kept him going: The thought of home: Hor'Kung.It had been the same everywhere: In Termana, where the Charduni had captured him it was the thought of home that kept him going. Likewise, when the princess of Indrisa had offered him her hand and her kingdom, he had to tell her that he could never settle down anywhere but home.Charkowar had left Hor' Kung when he was merely twenty years old, and now he was fourty, which was already old age for an Orc. In spite of the years, though, he was still in good shape, and his tusks were still strong and even. And even though he didn't look like the scrawny young wizard apprentice he had been twenty years ago anymore, the change to his outside was nothing compared to the changes within him.He was most likely the first orc, if not the first mortal, who had travelled around the entire globe. The knowledge he had gathered in the meantime was far beyond that of any of his contemporaries, and the arcane arts he had mastered by now where second to none.However, as he was flying low over the water on his flying carpet and he saw Thalien's mountains appearing over the horizon, he sensed that something wasn't as it was supposed to be. He stopped the carpet and cast a spell. Immediately, there were over a dozen of semitangible orbs hovering around him. He gave each of the orbs instructions to scout a part of the island and return to him afterwards.After a few hours, the first orbs were back. With each of the orbs that landed on his palms, he absorbed what the "prying eyes" had seen. Soon, he knew why there were no sign of his people at the edge of the islands- no fisherboats, no young couples picknicking by the lake and no other signs- There were no orcs left...He saw that there must have been a big war on the island. Hor'Kung, the city that used to be a home for over onehundredthousand orcs was destroyed. It's proud walls that were build with boulders that were the size of houses were torn down and all there was left of it's beautiful white marble houses was rubble.Charkovar was stunned. He didn't know what to make of it. He remembered that the city state of Hor'Kung had been in constant trouble with a growing human empire on Ghelspad. But he never thought that the humans, who had always seemed to be a tad helpless to him could manage such a feat.For a while, he considered jumping into the blue ocean under him. After all, there was nowwhere left for him to go. Each and everyone he ever knew here was dead. The alleys, the parks and the marketplaces where he had played as a kid were all destroyed. Likewise, everyone he knew here was dead, as well. Ending it all looked very appealing to him now.Charkovar had never considered giving up before. Neither  when he was suddenly attacked by a red dragon in the Qu-Wack desert nor when he overheard his Charduni captors discussing whether they would kill him outright or sacrifice him to Chardun. But now, there was simply nothing left to do and nowwhere left to go. All that had been dear to him was gone.He might have been about to jump off the carpet as a last eye returned to him. Absentmindedly, he opened his fist, and the small orb landed in his palms. Within seconds, it transmitted to him what it had seen in hours.And all of a sudden his life had a purpose again.The humans who had destroyed his home had left four small forts behind. Most likely they were to make sure that Orcs would never return here. In each of the forts, there were hundred soldiers, and the banners of the Ledean Empire were flying proudly in the wind on top of the masts.He now knew what he had to do, although he was feeling nothing. He flew into a small forest where he spent the night. The next morning, he methodically prepared the spells he needed for his revenge. When he was done, he walked to the first camp, which was to the south of the ruins of Hor'Kung. He had almost left the forest, as he was hailed by a patrol of six soldiers. In spite of his archmage robes, the soldiers seemed to mistake him for a harmless survivor. He stopped, and their commander walked up to him, his selfconfidence showing with every step:"Now, now, now. What have we here... Another Orc... Well, we can take care of him right here, right now, can't we boys?"Before the "boys" could answer, however, Charkovar answered instead by shooting lightning through the officer which then flashed over to the other soldiers, killing them all. He stepped over the bodies and left the forest. There, he saw the fort with his own eyes, some hundred yards ahead of him, right in the middle between the wood and the ruins of the city.He summoned an elder Earth Elementar. It looked like a walking hill, and as it shambled towards the fort, the defenders' arrows bounced off it's rocky skin. It ignored the futile attacks of the soldiers as it destroyed the fort and killed each and everyone therein, just like a child with a cruel streak might ignore the desperate ant-attacks while he would destroy their hill.Charkovar cast another spell, and he and his flying carpet turned invisble. He visited each of the three remaining camps like an invisible angel of death and most of the soldiers died without knowing what had hit them. Then, he hunted down every remaining human on the island and killed them all, men and women alike.The whole operation had taken him merely half a day, and now, at last, the time had come for the mourning and loneliness to get a hold of him. For days, he walked aimlessly through the ruins of his city. He saw skulls and corpses everywhere, and eventually, he used his magic to animate the corpses so that they would collect all bones they found. Finally, when the corpses where done and they had built a huge pile in front of the great pyramid, which served as the main temple to Khadum, they laid themselves on top of the pile.Now, as the sun was setting, everything that was left of the former inhabitants was piled up in a form that mirrored the pyramid. Charkovar summoned several fire elementals which burnt the bones to ashes and then they burnt the ashes until nothing was left...Charkovar didn't watch the pyre. Instead, he walked up to the top of the pyramid. He wanted to check whether the secret door that lead inside was still untouched, but before he could enter the small building on top, he saw something white among the rouble to the east. Since he wasn't able to see what it was, he used magic to get a better picture, and to his surprise, he saw that there was still a statue of "the angel"."The Angel" was a mythical figure. On pictures and statues, she was always depicted as a beautiful orcish woman with an even face and small ebony colored tusks. She had white swanwings and she was always holding her orcish doubleaxe that she used to punish those who harmed her charge: Orcs. Noone knew where she had come from, but it was widely supposed that she was a daughter of Khadum and one of the gods... Among the orcs, she was widely revered as the founder of Hor'Kung and the bringer of civilization.He flew down to it. The statue was about eight foot tall and half buried under some rubble, yet it had survived the ravaging humans without a scratch. It was a miracle.Charkovar animated some of the bigger rocks, which grew arms and legs, and he had them drag the angel up to the pyramid. There, he went into the small building that was really just four giant slabs of rocks as walls and another one as a roof. To his great relief, he saw that the humans had never discovered the secret shaft that lead into the interior of the temple.He climbed down into it and activated a mechanism that moved some rocks in order to hide the shaft again. After that, he made sure that the statue was placed in the deepest room which also held the city's stock of antidote against the plague that had devastated the lands a century earlier.The Orcish archmage then added a picture of the end of the city to the pictures that were lining the long corridor that lead to the core. The pictures showed several scenes from the history of the city, starting with the foundation. And after looking into the future, he also added a picture about the events that would take place in a year.Then, he sat down on a chair that was facing the shaft, straightened his purple robes and slashed his wrists.This is also where the story would end, if the soldiers had not sworn an oath in the name of Chardun...</blockquote>

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