A Gift from Dead Gods, 11.

Nathaniel woke up in what looked like the inside of a tree. He sat up on his haunches and looked around. Some light shone in from high overhead, but he couldn’t find from where exactly. He turned quickly when he heard something move behind him. A slender elf girl smiled weakly at him. “Please don’t hurt me.” Nathaniel sighed and smiled back at her, “I’m not going to hurt you. Who are you, and why are you here?”

---

The wards had been silent all night. Luno stood watching the dawn, his swords held tight in his armored hands. He heard Fyanha move and he turned to look at her. Her long dark red hair was messy from sleeping on the ground. She opened her eyes slowly and yawned. She smiled as she looked at him, “Good morning, Champion. I see you are ready to kill?” He grinned back at her, “I am. I hope you are too.” Getting up, she straightened out her dress and slipped on her boots. “Just some breakfast, and we’ll be off.”
The champion and the sorceress stood at the edge of the forest, their heads bowed. Luno chanted a quiet prayer to the Lord of Blades. When it was done, they set off. Their progress was slow at first as they picked their way through the forest carefully. As they got further into the forest, they picked up the pace. Finally they came unto a clearing, circles of chanting dryads dancing around. When they spotted the invaders, they screamed in unison, the trees around the clearing closing the gaps between them with their branches. Luno raised his longsword, pointing it at the dryads. He raised his voice, “Hear me, dryads! I am the Champion of Murder! Your time upon this world ends here!”
The tallest of the dryads, their leader Luno guessed, stepped forward. “Champion of.. Murder. You disrupt the natural order of things. You and your pet demon shall not leave this place.” Fyanha laughed. “Pet demon, dryad? I am no pet, and we shall leave.. After you are all dead!” Luno looked for a moment as the small girl lifted into the air, black markings appearing all over her skin. Her usually red eyes glowed with an inner fire. She grinned at Luno for a second, “Kill, champion. Do you duty!” With that, she hovered away towards the center of the clearing, hurling fireballs left and right.
Luno charged, his blood rising. Vines gripped him from the ground, but he stomped on. His swords sang a deadly song as he rampaged across the clearing. Dryads screamed everywhere, their wooden skin on fire, their limbs hacked off. Luno laughed as he charged another dryad, smashing through the wooden growths she erected in his path. His armored shoulder connected and the dryad was hurled through the air.
A great roar came from beyond the trees, and some trees opened their branches. Hulking figures appeared, their steps heavy. “Males!”, Fyanha called. “Champion, I will finish these wretches, kill the warriors!” Luno nodded and advanced on the male dryads, the warriors of the woods. His stance was wide, blades held low. The charge of the warriors thundered across the grass.
Luno focussed his thoughts, gathered the energy he felt around him. Between the killing done in this place and Fyanha hurling magic fire around, a lot of background power had built up. When the warriors were a few steps away, he released his spell and shot forwards like a cannonball. His armored form tore through the first dryad, his blades impaling the second. The kills rushed through his veins, throbbed in his head. Another warrior fell, another throb, the rush of the kill, a red fog enveloping him.
The next thing Luno knew was Fyanha yelling. “Champion, what are you doing?” He stopped and looked around him. The warriors lay around him, their limbs hacked off, their bodies broken. His helmet was embedded in the chest of one of them. He took a step back, and the tree he had been hacking at toppled over, smashing into the ground. Fyanha climbed on top of it, walking along its length to stand besides him. She looked at him, her gaze questioning. “Champion, what were you doing? You howled and screamed like you were insane. You did kill them all though.. I am impressed.”
Luno shrugged. “I cast a spell, one of the spells Irune taught me. I felt the kills, and I.. I don’t remember.” Stepping over to one of the bodies, he pulled out his helmet. The corpse twitched, and he quickly stabbed it. “Well, we’re done here. We go back to the city?” Fyanha shook her head. “No, champion. Deeper into the forest more dryads dwell. We should probably find a village nearby first, find some supplies and a place to stay.” She turned, her hands afire. “Whoever you are, I hear you. Show yourself!”
From the trunk of the tree Luno had hacked apart, a giant figure pulled himself into the light. He was smiling, “Can’t hide this time, can I?” He turned and sank to his knee, pulling a girl out into the light as well. Putting her on his massive shoulder, he looked at Luno and Fyanha. “Champion of murder, Sorceress.. I am Nathaniel. This,” he inclined his head towards the girl, “is Nera. I suppose we should thank you for freeing us.”

A Gift from Dead Gods, 10.

“Show yourself!”, Luno shouted. No answer came. For several minutes, Fyanha and Luno looked around searching for the owner of that voice. Finally, Luno laid down his blades and sat down. He shook his head, “Coward.” Fyanha shrugged and sat down across the fire from him. “What he said was true though, champion.” She smiled. “Now we should rest. We have a lot of killing to do in the morning.” Luno nodded, “I’ll set some wards, in case that coward returns.” She smiled at him and laid down, pulling a blanket from her pack. “Good night, champion of murder.”

---

Nathaniel ran through the forest to where he had left the gear he had stolen from a store in Adnar. Although he was over twice the size he used to be, he was still a thief. He hadn’t found any armor that would fit, so he had taken only food, water and some clothes, which he barely fit into. He still prefered it to running around completely exposed. On his way to the forest, he had stopped by a small farm, taking some of the more vicious farming equipment. If he had to use weapons, he could at least used weapons which were more his size.
When he reached the rocky hill he had left his messy pile of things, he stopped and crouched. Listening for a moment, he concluded the area was clear. He jumped on top of the hill, rummaging through the pile and picking out some fruit. He sat down and looked at the row of tools he had laid out. He had to attack tonight. If that champion of murder and the demon-girl attacked, they wouldn’t leave any dryads for him to interrogate. Picking up a sturdy looking pitchfork, he ran off towards the clearing where the dryads gathered.
As he entered the clearing he stopped. It was empty, the dryads weren’t there. “Hello, Nathaniel,” said a voice behind him. He turned and stared at the black-robed figure. “You,” he growled. “You’re the one who changed me.” The man threw back his hood and smiled. His skin was pale and his features sunken. His head was devoid of hair, except for a thin strip of hair on the side. He was smiling. “No, Nathaniel. That was my brother. Now, sleep.”
A familiar blackness filled Nathaniels head and he fell to his knees. He shook his head to shake of the veil and charged at the man, roaring ferociously. The man staggered backwards, “No! No! You must sleep, Nathaniel!” Nathaniel felt the darkness grasping at him, but it didn’t seem to hold. He grinned and roared again, the distance closing quickly. From behind a tree stepped another figure in black and before he could respond, the figure threw a bolt of lighting which caught him on the shoulder, his momentum hurling him to the forest floor.
When Nathaniel looked up, the men were gone. He had been so close. He stood up. Before he could turn, two sets of arms grabbed him. A soft voice came from just behind him, “Look what we’ve found.. A thief. Now, Nathaniel, it’s time for you to sleep.” He laughed, “Those sorcerors tried that too, it didn’t-“ His sentence was cut short by a hard blow to the head, and he fell into unconsiousness.