Grock didn’t allow himself to be overwhelmed; instead his mind came up with another solution. Suddenly he opened his mouth slightly, revealing rows of crooked, sharp teeth. His green putrid tongue moved like it was suffering a seizure as his mouth opened and closed rapidly. Cada Varl still showed no emotion, yet he was confused as to what his opponent was doing.
“He’s using Orc magic!” Juruz called out desperately.
Grock smiled, the revelation had come a second too late. Cada Varl didn’t even have time to look over his shoulder at Juruz. A foul smelling black mist appeared in the air, it was without visible source but knew its purpose. The mist surrounded Cada Varl on all sides before wrapping itself around him like a demonic cobra. The mist then became solid, made from a metal that could only be forged by magic. Cada Varl glanced down at his imprisonment and when he looked back to Grock, the King Killer was smiling. Cada Varl may have been a powerful fly, but still he had been caught in Grock’s web. Even Juruz gasped at seeing this, he didn’t know the rhyme or reason of Orc magic. All he knew was it was dark, ancient and very powerful.
“You’re strong,” Grock began. “But rarely does strength alone win you victory.” He waited to see fear yet Cada Varl showed none, Grock was hoping he was about to change that. He lifted his sword noticing his grasp was now steady. “I am going to make you ask me to kill you a thousand times, before this is over.”
This magic black metal amazed Cada Varl, he had never seen anything like it. The fact that his tremendous physical strength wasn’t enough to break it proved how powerful it was. Juruz was panicking on the inside, he didn’t want to force his two dozen troops into a suicidal situation but he couldn’t just stand by and watch Cada Varl get killed. Cada Varl looked back to Grock who was approaching very slowly, savoring every moment of the torture that was about to take place.
Cada Varl didn’t want to have to use it, but he knew it was the only way to save himself. Grock was the first to notice it and stopped in mid step as the air before the red eyed man began to shimmer as if controlled by the heat of a flame. Juruz was the next to notice it for it was hard to see at first. Torin was puzzled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. This was the dead of winter and yet he was sweating. Collectively it seemed everyone noticed how hot the air had become. The shimmer in the air was now joined by a very faint metallic red light, like Cada Varl was standing in the middle of an oven.
“What are you doing?” Grock couldn’t help but ask, his smile twisting into a snarl. Cada Varl didn’t answer with words but with action. His eyes began to glow that metallic red and seeing this Grock felt afraid. The red energy now appeared to attack the black prison and before the moment was over it had destroyed it like a hammer to glass.
“This cannot be!” Grock gasped out, his fear choking his own words. The energy remained faint around Cada Varl as he stared at Grock with glowing eyes. “What lie is this?” Grock demanded, the black metal was summoned to be indestructible, what power was Cada Varl using? He looked into those red powerful eyes. Grock was rarely afraid, he hated the feeling but his fear would not be denied. This Cada Varl, whoever he was had to die and die now.
Ignoring the extreme heat, he rushed towards Cada Varl, his weapon at the ready. He barely saw Cada Varl move, before he couldn’t see anything. An Orc was the first to gasp, because no one could quite tell what had happened immediately and then it became all too clear. Not only had Cada Varl cut through Grock’s sword he had cut his head straight from his shoulders. Black Orc blood could be seen momentarily in the air before evaporating within the heat of Cada Varl’s faint red energy. Grock’s body fell lifelessly before him yet Cada Varl paid no attention, unlike everyone else he knew exactly what he had done.
“He killed him as easily as a lion killing an ant?” Torin blurted out.
The Orcs watched on terrified and dumbfounded not believing Grock was dead. Instinct took control of one specific Orc and he jammed the horn to his lips and blew it soundly. The noise it emitted echoed all throughout the ranges and brought everyone back to the moment at hand. Though still shocked by what Cada Varl had accomplished Juruz thought clearly enough to know what this sound meant. Grock was dead but 500 Orcs were alive and capable and in only a few moments thousands more would be arriving on the scene. He motioned to speak but was brought to silence as seemingly every peak began to tremble violently. The horses struggled against the now quaking earth as every soldier searched for the source.
“So many Orcs are marching the mountains tremble under their weight!” Ulka cried, as his horse desperately wanted to flee this place.
“No…” Juruz said, with an eerie calm. “It is something else,” he knew the march of Orcs well and therefore knew they were not the cause of this. “The mountains are afraid…” Juruz added, his gaze distant.
“Afraid of what?” Torin asked. Instantly when his words were spoken the red energy intensified around Cada Varl like a match head being violently lit. Juruz and Torin glanced to one another, knowing the question had just been answered.
“What’s he doing now?” a soldier said, asking a question they all feared to know the answer to. The earth continued to quake as the red energy began to rise furiously and move within itself like lightning in a storm. The mass of energy moved to his sword before ascending like a towering inferno. The ascending energy reached the sky before the moment was over burning through the clouds like flame to cobwebs. With the pillar still burning, the world was grasped by the light of the sun.
In spite of the collective fear, in that second Ulka was grateful for what Cada Varl had done, he could see the sun clearly. It was an eerie yet awe inspiring sight, one that they each silently marveled at. This wrath of energy felt like it had the power to cut the very world in half. They all wanted to run to the very edge of existence if they had to, but no one could bring himself or herself to move for terror and wonder grasped them all. However Cada Varl wasn’t struggling under its power, he had complete control of it. With a blood red glow consuming everything in sight Cada Varl’s arms moved swiftly as he hammered the energy down through his sword. It crashed like a gigantic wave upon the mountains and the Orcs were caught right in its center.
The explosion was more powerful than any storm that had struck the world, causing everything to shake violently, many were terrified the world would be rattled into pieces. The bellowing sound of it could be heard for countless miles, echoing warnings of its power a thousand times through the mountains. It was over in a second but was so shocking that Juruz and his soldiers felt like they were trapped in a hell that lasted ten years. The red light remained after the explosion had taken place for a few moments, then it was followed by a deathly silence.
The Soldiers of Ebulon’s hearts were beating fast enough that they could actually hear one anothers’ heartbeats; together it sounded like a chorus of fear as they looked to the destruction. Many peaks that had stood for a hundred thousand years were no more, completely incinerated by the wrath of destruction. What had once been a clearing was now more like a crater, the once white of the snow had been replaced by a scorched black. In the middle of it all the Orcs still sat upon their Wargs. Although now they were completely still, scorched beyond recognition like the centerpiece of a demon’s dinner.
At the least the earth was still once again and the soldiers were grateful for it. Several horses had fainted, their senses overwhelmed by what had happened, trapping their riders underneath their bulk. Ebulon had its fair share of legends and yet no hero Juruz had ever heard of was capable of anything like that. In that moment, he wasn’t afraid though his heart still raced and his entire body trembled. He was grateful that Cada Varl had come to help the city and not to destroy it. Because an attack like that could easily bring down a city wall in a shard of a moment.