Dark Elf's Chosen: Season 1 Episode 10

Chapter 1 - SAVANNAH

Merriment seeps through the floorboards, rousing me from a haze of sleep—my head pounds with the rhythm of my heartbeat, a reminder of the wildfire's potency. I push myself up, the room swaying as I steady my feet on the cold wooden planks.

It’s Zulgrim and Julius—their voices coarse with revelry and something akin to brotherhood. Confusion comes over me as I catch my reflection in the mirror, clad only in my undergarments. Did Julius undress me? No recollection surfaces, the wildfire's embrace too emotional, its flames licking away at the memory.

'Oh dear,' I mutter, scouring for clothing scattered like casualties across the room. The shock of the night's forgotten offer slams into me, one where I'd been bold enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to suggest an intimate act – my mouth on Julius' cock. But now, as the blush of inebriation fades, a simmering desire reaffirms that even sober, I'd eagerly kneel before him. Own your decisions, Savannah.

I grab my dress, which has been neatly folded over a chair, I assume, by a kind and respectful Julius. Its fabric is soft against my skin. I take a deep, steadying breath – the scent of a warm night flavors the air.

There could be more wildfire to be had, I muse. It would appear that the night is still young, listening to the cheery voices of Julius and Zulgrim downstairs.

Outside my window, the cloak of night still guards the world, promising further exploits with each echo of laughter rising from below.

I leave my room and close the door behind me. I travel down the twisted stairs, each step a drumbeat in the raucous symphony of laughter below.

My eyes dart to the scene unfolding in the low-lit common room, where Zulgrim stands with Julius's arm slung over his broad shoulder.

'What has happened?' The words fly from my lips before I can rein them in, curiosity clawing at my insides like a caged beast.

Julius turns to me, his face alight with incredulous joy. 'This orc saved my life. Can you believe it, Savannah? An orc saved my life.'

'I would never have doubted it,' I reply, my tone smooth as the wildfire that still whispers its siren call from the recesses of my memory.

'Come now, you would have done the same for me,' Zulgrim rumbles, his voice deep and resonant like thunder rolling off the mountains.

'Of course,' Julius responds, although I very much doubt it. ““I owe my life to an orc and will treat his kind better in the future.' There is a pause and then a mirthless chuckle. 'Unless, of course, they start trouble first.' Julius lets out a belly laugh, which would seem a vain attempt to hide the truth of his words.

The camaraderie crackles between them, and a wicked idea seizes me. 'Let's all have some wildfire, shall we?' My suggestion slices through the air, snaring their attention.

Agreement sparks in their eyes, and we converge upon the oversized chairs by the hearth, which has suddenly appeared again.

As we settle, the weight of the night’s earlier events presses against my chest, begging for release. 'So, aren’t you going to tell me what happened?' I ask, curious to know the details of the event that formed such a bond between them.

Julius leans forward, his eyes haunted shadows beneath his brow. 'It was a wudrosan,' he confesses, and the word falls heavy, dense with dread.

'A wudrosan?' I echo, my pulse quickening.

'The most terrifying creature I have ever seen,' Julius says in a hushed voice.

“Oh my,” I remark.

'More horrifying than you could imagine,' Julius murmurs, his gaze piercing the dancing flames.

I lean back, bracing myself against the leather of the chair, the image of the wudrosan clawing into my mind, monstrous and hungry for carnage.

“What do you say on this matter, Zulgrim?” I probe, eager to find out more about these strange and frightening creatures. They seem the thing of stories told to frighten children off from wandering into the woods.

Zulgrim's heavy brow furrows and I see the weight of his people's history in the lines of his face. 'Tales of their wickedness grow by the season. They used to keep themselves to themselves, mostly up in the forest mountains. They would make raids into the villages now and again for woman folk,' he laments, his voice a boulder rolling down a hill.

“Women folk?” I ask, not really wanting to hear the answer.

“Yes, they take them as mates, sex slaves. Their lust for human women is unrelenting. I do not have the stomach to repeat the stories I have heard about what they do to them,” Zulgrim says.

“Well, you could perhaps indulge us a little?” Julius asks.

“Julius, no!” I snap.

“Sorry,” Julius replies.

“As the wudrosan hunger grows, the more their rage does too. And the closer they get, the darker times will become,” Zulgrim adds.

'Damnable creatures,' Julius spits, fury sparking in his eyes like flint. 'Is there anything that can stop them?'

I lean forward, elbows on my knees, fingers laced together in anticipation of Zulgrim's answer. His words are the key that might unlock a quest, a call to arms that sets my heart racing with purpose.

Zulgrim's eyes, green as a deep forest, meet mine with an intensity that borders on pleading. 'These beasts know no honor. They'd slaughter woman and child without a second thought. I can maybe defeat one, even two, but an army of these things, it would take a thousand of me to defeat.'

“Will the evil of this damn world ever end,” I say, taking another swig of wildfire.

Zulgrim shakes his massive head, the muscles in his jaw clenching like iron traps. 'In the days of my childhood, my mother would warn,' he begins, his voice a guttural whisper that sends shivers down my spine, 'When the wudrosan come, all must run.'