“Damn that boy!” Exclaimed Razh as he slams his mug onto the table.

  “Your son again?” Asked his friend sitting next to him on the table.

  Carmul’s alehouse is one of the few places that locals use as a gathering place. It's a place for the low class to socialize or get together with friends like Razh is right now with some of his friends.

  “The boy ain’t my son.” He said as he gave his friend a side eye. “No child of mine is a freak.”

  “That so?” His friend said as he turned to look at the others on the table, exchanging looks of exasperation with each other. “What’d the boy do this time then?”

  “Brought a rotted rabbit to my house. Stank the whole place up!”

  “Hahaha. Must’ve thought it’d make a good meal.”

  “A rotting meat? Get real.”

  “Well? What now? Going to rent a room here?”

  “What other choice do I have?” He said with a sour tone. “Damn it. Haven’t got much coins left as it is.”

  “Well, if you want to. There’s something you could do ‘bout the smell.”

  “You know how to get rid of the rotting smell?”

  “I’m a hunter, no? I know how to deal with meat.”

  “Well tell me then.”

  “Well, you know. Me throat’s feeling a bit dry, you know?” His friend said as he rubbed his finger along on his mug.

  “Oh piss off.”

  “What? It’s still cheaper than a night’s stay.”

  “Just tell ‘em to put it on my tab.”

  “Haha. Well then, you could just go into the forest. Get something from the herbalist, yeah? I usually get some mix from him to clear up most smells.”

  Razh replied with a click of his tongue. “Don’t like the guy.” He said as he thought back on how the herbalist brought his son back from the forest half dead. “Him and the wanna be hero.”

  “It’s either some herbs or a night here.”

  “Fine…”.

  The man then brought his mug up and downed the rest of his ale. And since he has finished a few mugs before this one, he’s starting to get a little tipsy and tumbled a little when he got up to make his way outside.

  “Oi, Razh!” someone called out to him.

  He turned his head around to find the man who called his name and found a burly man carrying a couple of mugs filled with freshly poured ale in his hand. It’s the owner of the alehouse on his way to serve a table.

  “What’dya want?!”

  “Pay up!”

  “Put it on my tab! I’ll pay next time,” the man said before turning again towards the exit. When he got to the door, he put a hand on the handle and pushed it open to let the night breeze come in, but was stopped before he could take a step out.

  “You got an idea how much you owe me, fool? I ain’t putting anymore on your tab,” his grip firm on Razh’s shoulder.

  “Damn it!” He said as he reached for the pouch on his hip.

  “Hey! Don’t forget to pay for mine too!” Said his friend from his table.

  “Shit–here.” He said as he handed some coins to the alehouse owner.

  “This ain’t enough.”

  “I ain’t got no more! I’ll pay you back after the harvest.” He said, patting the now empty pouch on his hip.

  The alehouse owner then let out an exasperated sigh and gave up. “Fine, but don’t you show your face here before you get more money.”

  “Fine-–but, hey, I’m goin’ to the forest. Mind lendin’ me a lantern?”

  “As if! Piss off with you!”

  “Alright, fine! Fine! Stop pushing me, you old shit! Damn.”

  Kicked out of the tavern and much lighter without any coins with him, Razh makes his way back to his house. When he got there, as he had expected, the smell still lingered and he had to cover his nose to ward off some of the smell. Inside, he quickly grabbed a lantern and bolted out into the forest to get away from the smell all the while cursing his family who were nowhere to be seen.

  Sometime into his walk, he finally reached the river with the lantern in his hand burning bright to light the ground beneath him. Though it helped him easily find his way here and will help him make his way to the herbalist through the uneven forest ground, it hindered his vision of anything beyond the reach of the burning flame.

  Even though his wife is just a little further down the river, he can only make out a silhouette and ignored her with their son on her arms altogether as he pushed on across the river.

  After crossing the river, the herbalist’s house isn’t much further away. The forest at this side of the river is much more lush compared to the village side of the forest. So much so, that people would definitely lose their way even with the sun lighting their way. That is, if they hadn’t known about the dirt path that runs from the river to the herbalist’s house.

  After crossing the river, just follow the river downstream and a dirt road could be found from the edge of the river. He then just needs to follow the road to find the herbalist’s house.

  A little into the forest, Razh’s nose started picking up a foul stench much like what’s stinking up his place. The unpleasant smell of rotting meat fills the air around him and makes its way into his nose, causing his face to scrunch up more and more with every step he takes.

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  Shrugging it off as just a dead animal somewhere on the side of the road, he pressed on, not knowing that he’s now close to the herbalist’s house. In fact, he’s actually arrived by the door already.

  “Excuse me!” he said while covering his mouth and nose.

  The sun had already sunk, but it hasn’t been very long since it did, and most people are not yet in bed at this time of night, so he reckoned it’s still fine to call out for some service even at this time.

  But even after some time knocking and shouting, no one opened the door for him.

  Irritated by the lack of response, he then went to take a look around the house and found the windows open. But even though the sun had set some time ago, there’s no light seeping out from inside the house.

  Odd that it is for a house to be left with their windows open, the lack of lighting inside could only mean that no one was home.

  Making his way towards the back, he now found an open entrance into the house. Peering in, he couldn’t find anything that showed the herbalist is in, but he tried his odds and called out for him anyway.

  After he did, he then starts hearing footsteps coming from the other side of the house where he just was moments ago. With a bit of a rush, eager to leave this place that stinks of rotting meat, he made his way around the house thinking that the herbalist just returned.

  But when he turned the corner to the front side of the house, his lantern lit up a creature whose footsteps he heard. What he thought was the herbalist who just came back from foraging in the forest was instead, a giant.

  The giant’s legs are thick as a tree log and those sturdy pillars bore the weight of a massive body, swollen with fat—most notably in its bloated belly that sagged heavily, much like a sack of grain ready to burst.

  On its shoulders is a gaunt head with skin stretched tight over sharp cheekbones, eyes sunken and glowing faintly with a malevolent light. And from its snarling mouth jutted a pair of jagged tusks just like that of a wild boar’s often eaten during festivals in the village. All of this—the entirety of its body is covered in dark green skin.

  Only one creature Razh ever heard of fits this description. A ferocious maneater told in tales by the travelers that frequent Carmul for trade. An orc.

  While he struggles to process the terrifying sight in front of him, the orc suddenly reaches out an arm to grab the man half its height. Its movement is slow, not only because of the fat it’s accumulated, but it was relaxed as it tried to grab the man’s head.

  Quickly snapping out of his confusion, Razh let out a scream and immediately burst into a sprint, back to where he came from. When he did, the orc’s relaxed attitude was no more. With a loud bellow, it kicked on the ground and ran after the man.

  Behind him, it moves fast—much quicker than it should have been able to move. Its as if all the fat ladening its massive stature weighed absolutely nothing.

  Just as their distance is closing to a worrying amount, Razh finally reaches the open entrance at the back of the house and quickly makes his way inside. Under the door frame, he trips over something he didn’t quite catch sight of and finds the ground quickly approaching his vision.

  After falling face first, he quickly scrambled to look back and found the orc just outside the door. Its arm is reaching through to grab his leg and he quickly drags himself away from the door, before then getting up when he’s sure he’s out of the orc’s reach.

  Now out of reach, the orc pulls its arm back and seems to have given up on his meal. Feeling safe inside the wooden structure, Razh let out a breath of relief and relaxed his legs for the moment. But unfortunately, it seems the orc had yet given up on its dinner.

  The door is indeed too large for the monster’s whole body to fit through, but really it just needs to duck under the door to get inside the house. It’s the obvious thing to do when one was too tall to walk through a door, but considering how tall the orc is compared to the door, it hadn’t come into Razh’s mind that it could have fit through.

  Though visibly struggling as it bumped its head at the door frame, it’s still able to somehow squeeze its large body through the entrance, sending Razh into another panic fit as he turns around to make his way deeper into the house.

  In the main room of the house, his eyes quickly found onto the house’s front door. It’s locked and neither pushing nor pulling on the handle worked. “Damn it!” He spat out before raising his feet to kick the door down. But before he could push his foot forward, loud and heavy footsteps quickly approached him from behind.

  Turning around, Razh found the orc pulling its arm back for a swing. He quickly ducks and lets his body fall to the floor to barely dodge the swing as it goes over his head and finds the door behind him, easily went through, and is now stuck there.

  Seeing his chance, Razh quickly scrambles between the giant’s feet as it tries to get its arm free from the door and he’s able to make his way behind it. Before the monster slams its other hand down on him.

  With all its force, the orc pulls his hand free from the wooden door and sends splinters of wood flying. The sudden release sends its massive body tumbling backwards and this gives Razh the chance to get back on his feet and make his way further inside the house where he finds a room with its door wide open.

  After making his way inside, he quickly shuts the door behind him just as the orc lets out another bellow that sends shivers down his whole body. Trembling in fear, he waves his lantern around the room to find anything he could use to block the door and finds despair.

  There’s blood splattered all over the room and a leg can be found on one side of the room, along with an arm on the other. In the middle of the room, sitting with its back—well, half of it leaning on the bed frame, is what remains of the herbalist. The top half of his body is missing, with his guts spilling over towards the front.

  The sight made Razh sick down to his stomach, and he dropped the lantern in his hand before keeling over to empty his stomach. His face is now pale as a corpse and he can feel his stomach churning, but his will to live had yet to be snuffed out.

  Looking around the room one more time, his sight fell on the open window on the far side of the room. It’s large enough for him to climb out of and he quickly gets up to make his way towards it.

  The moment he did, the door behind him suddenly broke in and the orc’s hand reached out to grab its prey. It finds one of his legs just as he leaped over the window and he fell on the window frame, hitting his stomach and knocking the breath out.

  Looking back towards the orc’s arm, he starts kicking the hand with his other foot. “Let go of me, damn you!” He said as he repeatedly brought his foot down again and again on the orc’s hand.

  In retaliation, the hand grabbing his legs then renews its grip with more force, easily crushing the bones beneath his knee. And it seems to be extremely effective as it immediately stops Razh’s resistance as he screams out in pain.

  The orc drags him back in screaming, pleading for anyone or anything to save him. With tears running down his face, he struggles as hard as he can to get his broken leg out of the orc’s grip, but the strength of men is simply incomparable to that of an orc with their giant body.

  Dragged along on the wooden floor, Razh found the lantern he dropped earlier and immediately reached out for it. Once he gets it, he smashes it onto the side of the orc’s face. The frame folds under the force and the burning oil bursts out onto the monster’s face, setting its green face on fire.

  Razh had hoped that the burn would cause the orc to let go of him. And it did. But it did so by swinging his whole body by the legs and throwing him all the way across the room where his body found the wall there that broke in from the impact and his body then fell limp to the floor.

  While coughing up blood, he tried to put strength into his body but it wouldn’t listen to what he wanted it to do. And it seems like he’s not quite listening to his body either, as the pain on his crushed legs that was driving him into tears just moments ago is now replaced by naught but a dull sensation. It seems like he had hit the wall just a little too hard.

  The open window on the side of the room has dim lights coming through it. The pale lights are so inviting, yet his body is just unwilling to accept the invitation.

  Outside the room, the orc just finished recovering from the burning oil. It had left a part of its face darker than the rest and the monster is seething with fury for it.

  After ducking under to squeeze its body through the door frame, it walks over towards Razh who is now limp on the floor. Standing over him, it raises its massive leg up and brings it down on the man’s unbroken one.

  It’s revenge, and the reaction it got out of Razh brought a smile to its monstrous face. One of his legs was just crushed by the orc’s arm and now the other is crushed beneath the weight of the monster.

  Once its ears were satisfied with the melody that is its prey’s screams and pleas, it easily picked up the man’s limp body and brought his face close to its own. Then, with jaws gaping wide, it sinks its teeth into Razh’s neck, clamping down to devour his head whole.