The Seven Halves Prophecy

The group of outlaws had been riding at a steady pace for three days, three nights. In ordinary circumstances the horses would not have survived such a physical ordeal without rest. However, Dominic had cast a magic spell enabling them to have an extended amount of energy and durability.

Ever since the escape from that deadly giant worm nothing much had occurred along the trip, to which the destination still had not been revealed. The noise of the carriages could be heard from afar, they certainly were not trying to make a stealthy approach.

Inside the carriage carrying all the blankets sat Mal, Jacob and Adonis. Mal was in a deep sleep, the stress of the latest events were all getting to his head, making him more tired than usual. Jacob however could not sleep, a twinging sense of remorse filled him regarding his actions.

Having to speak of them to ease his mind he said, " I’m sorry for leaving you like that, I was a coward. But I am but a simple blacksmith, what could I have done?"

Adonis padded him on the shoulder in an reassuring fashion, " I understand, if I had been in your shoes I probably would have taken the same actions you did. But I wasn’t, therefore I had to take the risk."

Jacob smiled at this, " Your sister is very lucky to have a courageous brother like you looking after her, not anyone would go through all this trouble to rescue her."He said more but Adonis did not hear his words, the loud noise of the carriage wheel also disappeared as he returned to the night his sister was taken.

He stood flat against the wall, bed pinning him so he could not move. The demon had him at his mercy, fear coursing through every inch of his body.

Jolene yelled, " Run!" The part he detested the most of all was the fact he actually did run. He ran as far and as swiftly as he could, tumbling through the moist dense thickets of bush, ignoring all the cuts from the branches. He had forsaken her.

He now wished the demon had killed him in his sleep and that all this suffering would have come to an end. The demon fell to the ground as Jolene hit him in the side with the axe, digging deep in his side.

He was shaken out of this dreamy state when Dominic came to Adonis and said, " We’ve arrived Adonis, snap out of your daydreaming and follow me."

He followed Dominic out of the carriage into the serene night. The full moon looked down upon the earth shining as yellow as Ares’ eyes, stars peppered the sky beautifully forming beautiful art pieces in the sky. As Adonis followed Dominic he breathed in the fresh air, feeling the gentle breeze against his skin, this was indeed the perfect night.

However what he seen ahead was the last thing he ever would have expected to see. A large orc outpost stood in the middle of the desert, large walls made of logs. Orcs could be seen going along with their business sharpening their arsenal and homing their fighting skills.

Jacob and Mal followed Adonis, seeing the Orc outpost Mal said nervously, " What are we doing here? We just got away from a giant worm made of stone that nearly killed Adonis, not to mention that psycho demon from hell. And now you bring us to a pack of Orcs?"

Dominic smiled and retorted, " Aye, that’s exactly what I am doing. Not planning on running off like a chicken with no head again are ya? To put your worries at ease I have a friend here that will assist us."

Jacob asked in a scrutinizing unconvinced voice, " An orc friend? Are you hearing yourself talk? Orcs are nothing but living killing machines."

As the outlaws began to relax, setting a defence perimeter and sleeping arrangements. Dominic faced them, " You didn’t let me explain. Seven demons of different personalities were chosen from hell and infused with seven corporeal beings, creating seven half demons."

"You have already met two of the seven, that psycho demon from hell was one of them, he is a unique one, being cursed an all. I am the first of all hybrids."

The bit of information about Dominic’s demon half did not surprise them that much, having seen him in action. " There is also a hybrid orc, hybrid elf, hybrid dwarf, hybrid gibbering cat and a hybrid vampire. The dark Emperor created us seven; we were meant to start a new generation of soldiers. However we were dispersed throughout the world the moment we were infused with our demon halves."

"Obviously that wasn’t part of the Emperor’s plan, and last week I learnt the location of of the hybrid orc, Kulos the butcher. If he is here he will have sensed by presence by now, I sense his."

Suddenly the silent calm noise was disrupted as grunting noises surrounded them, torches lighting one by one around. Dominic smiled at the others reactions, he had smelt and heard them a long time ago, scrummaging just out of the outlaws senses and setting their own trap.

He knew they would not attack immediately, the outlaws raised their weapons, as did Adonis but Dominic placed his hand on his arms and said to the entire group, " No fighting, put the weapons down."

The orcs came in closer, swords at the outlaws throats, archers farther off had their deadly arrows notched in their bows, pulled back and ready to release in a split second. The ground shook slightly as two armoured cave trolls approached, giant swords in hand.

Dominic raised his hands as a sign he would not fight, they were only 80 against who know how much orcs. " Kulos the butcher, Kulos the mighty, Kulos the hybrid. Show yourself you half fiend you, your foster brother has come for your hospitality."

From behind the two cave trolls appeared the tallest orc Adonis had ever witnessed with his mortal eyes, not that he’d seen orcs previously in his life, but there were plenty of short slouching orcs to compare him with.

He stood an entire nine feet tall, rippling pure muscles with teeth sharper than those of a shark and eyes as red as blood. He walked right up to Dominic, dwarfing the dark elf. Dominic looked up and smiled, Kulos asked, " Dominic, why have you come after all these years. You have a death wish?"

Smiling his arrogant smile Dominic replied, " No, there are much nicer ways and places I can go for that. I am here as I said to your oh most respectable orc underlings for your hospitality and to ask for your help."

Kulos examined Dominic to see if he was being truthful, although his orc side was quite dim-witted his demon half was very perceptive, " Why are your eyes not red?"

Dominic shrugged, " No biggie, a little charm to change the colour of my eyes. Are you willing to help your foster brother? Remember the seven halves prophecy, I think this is the one."

Although very well concealed by his brutish looks Dominic could see a look of disbelief on Kulos’ face. He walked to Adonis, making him seem like a hobbit’s child, grabbing him by the collar he looked him over like a man looking over a dog and placed him back on his feet and said, " I believe you are correct for once, this is indeed the one from the prophecy."

All this talk about prophecy was confusing Adonis, not even a week ago he’d been nothing but a farmer doing menial chores. He had a feeling even if he wanted to he would never be able to return to his old life, " What prophecy? What is this "the one" business?" If I am important I want to know."

Ignoring him Kulos motioned for the guards to lower their weapons and ordered to the entire group, " If harm comes to any of these humans the ones responsible will be hung by their big toes until death."

He walked off with Dominic into the largest tent, leaving the group surrounded by the ragged orcs and two very intimidating cave trolls. Mal whispered to Adonis, " What are our chances of escaping from their disgusting, warty hands now. I just knew right from the start that we couldn’t trust Dominic, but did you listen to me, nooo, no one ever listens to little ol Mal"

Adonis glowered annoyingly at him, " We are not being betrayed you dim witted criminal, he is helping us. Stop being a pessimist, I am sure even as we speak they are discussing how to free my sister."

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Dominic sat on a hide chair, sitting in a relaxed fashion with his feet on the table. Finding a pipe with some exquisite tobacco. Crushing the weed within the pipe he took a puff, blowing out smoke in the form of a jester with a laughing grin.

He asked, " I had no idea orcs had such great taste in tobacco, however I suppose there are more important things to discuss." Taking another puff he blew out smoke formed as a flying dragon, " Do you know the location of the other hybrids? I already know the location of Ares, we had a little encounter. Do you know where the others are?"

Kulos nodded, " I know where Celestria the hybrid elf is as well as Gomlin the hybrid dwarf. But alas, I know not the locations of the other hybrids. You mentioned an encounter with Ares, is he still Coronian?"

Dominic sighed, " Afraid so, when we were all dispersed Ares was unlucky enough to not disappear as we did, he is extremely loyal to the Emperor."

This was indeed bad news, " How difficult will it be to convince Ares to join us. If he does not the seven halves prophecy will not be fulfilled, if that does not happen..."

Dominic waved him off in a manner to put him at ease, " I reckon we can save him for last, once we have found all the other hybrids it will be easy to convince him. Anyway, I think Loki will be just as hard to convince so Ares isn’t our biggest issue."

Kulos nodded in agreement, " What of the boy Dominic? It is absolutely imperative that he remains alive or all we do will come to no avail."

Blowing smoke forming a tornado Dominic replied, " Of course I know how important the boy is, I am protecting him with all my might. Honestly, do I look like one of your dim witted cave trolls. We must train him in the use of magic and sword play if he is to survive."

Finally done with business they got out of the tent when one of the orc scouts came riding on a large wolf into camp, " Sir, a legion of Coronian troops is on their way here, I counted 6000 in total sir."

Kulos ran by him, yelling in his loudest voice, " Troops move out! We have a legion of Coronian scum coming to us, we must reach the remainder of the battalion!"

The orcs quickly went into motion, forgetting all about the outlaws they began to run furiously east, Dominic ran and unhitched the carriages from the horses and said, " Outlaws, follow suit and move out! We go with them, get on your horses and get your cowardly selves moving!"

It was hectic in the air, orcs running with incredible speed and endurance followed by the horse riding outlaws. Adonis only hoped it would be fast enough to get away from the large oncoming army. Casting the same enchantment on the horses they would be able to ride for several days without rest, because in their current size they would never stand a change against the legion.

Days of relentless riding and running went by, the quiet surroundings of usually peaceful wilderness was disturbed by the shaking of the ground under the impact of the many tireless orcs and the trampling sound of hooves against the ground gave a hypnotizing rhythmic beat.

Adonis’ ass was sore from all the never ending horse riding, they had not stopped once for a break. He was exhausted but the adrenaline surging through his body kept him awake and aware. He was relieved when they approached a large rock wall with two giant solid oak doors.

Stopping for the first time in days Kulos yelled, " Open the gate and fetch General Maltrig!"

There was a loud noise as the doors were pulled open by two cave trolls, showing the largest military installment Adonis had ever seen. In the centre of it all stood a stone fortress, it was not very attractive as most castles were presumed to be but was very solid.

Around it were many large rectangular buildings probably housing the troops, for the base itself was filled with many orcs parrying together with swords, in another section they were practising ambush tactics.

They were professional, in all the stories Adonis heard they were not but a bunch of stupid creatures created to be the canon fodder for evil masterminds such as Gronados, Sauron and such evil conquerors from foreign lands.

But this demonstrated otherwise, Adonis seen Kulos whisper something to Dominic. They both seemed to come with an agreement and Dominic walked to him, " Your going to get some rest and then your going to train."

As he was led to a cabin the orcs were rushing, archers began to cover the wall and ten giant catapults were ready. All orcs were being given armour and weapons, finally Adonis entered one of the cabins.

There was a row of a hundred small beds per side, Adonis could only guess how many orcs there were in total but there must have been many. Settling himself in one of the hay beds he quickly found sleep.

Entering the small village the familiar smell of farming filled his senses with an old sense of how his life had once been.

The smell of hay, children were playing in the streets, giggling with joy and energy. This was a very small town, only a small square, probably less than a hundred inhabitants. The sun was bright, looking up Adonis could see the fluffy white clouds.

They shaped horrible things, one was shaped as a skull, one as an infant with a dead infant. Looking away from the clouds he began to explore when he heard a shrill scream of fear.

Turning swiftly there were multiple Coronian troops charging in, swords drawn with blood thirsting yells. Leading these was his sister, Jolene, with Coronian armour and a demon slayer sword.

Without mercy the guards bashed the doors down and killed anyone who happened to be in the house. Jolene stood and watched, suddenly a small girl escaped from one of the guards and ran right to Jolene, hiding behind her.

Jolene knelt down and faced the child in the eyes, saying gently, " Don’t worry little one, everything will be ok, do you have a name?"

He could hear women screaming in pain, see the guards coming out of the houses with food and anything of value. The little girl however was soothed by Jolene’s voice and said, " Kanala, the bad man killed my mommy. He killed her in front of me, he bad."

Jolene brushed her hair with one hand, as she did so her other hand reached for the dagger on the back of her belt. Adonis could not believe she would do that, " Don’t worry, she’s in a better place. Do you want to pray for your mommy?"

The little girl nodded and Jolene said, " Dear Lord" She was now holding the dagger in her hand, " We pray on this day of turmoil that you take Kanala’s soul in your hands." Her hand moved up, the girls eyes were closed as Jolene slit her throat in one quick motion.

The little girl fell to the ground, blood gushing out of the open wound Jolene finished, " and that of Kanala’s" Adonis knew this was but a dream, Jolene never would have done such a thing, she was a loving person. But in her eyes all he could see was a cold blooded and yet very present stare, she looked straight at him eyes flashing yellow for a second she grinned.

" Adonis, they have arrived, get a sword and armour and then meet me and Kulos." Adonis quickly got up, lately he always woke up in this fashion. Always skipping the tired phase he woke up alert, ready to move into action.

Finding armour that barely fit and a sword he joined Dominic and Kulos. The archers were ready, Dominic said to Adonis without facing him, " The best way to train you is to plunge you straight in the action, we are going to war."

He looked behind to see a large army formed in a very orderly fashion, gate doors open Adonis, Kulos and Dominic led the army to face the awaiting Coronian army awaiting in the distance.

As they neared Dominic got a better view of the army with his keen eyesight, looking at the army with the pink background of the sun down. Leading the large legion was Ares himself and a girl Dominic recognized instantly as Adonis’ sister, she looked exactly like her mother.

When both armies were close, facing each other in two adjacent lines. Kulos had at the moment four thousand orcs all clad in armour and armed with the strongest iron weapons. Ares was commanding six thousand men and had equal armour and weaponry.

Dominic, Kulos and Adonis galloped ahead to meet their enemies’ leaders half way to engage in negotiations. Ares and Jolene met them half way, although scarred from her recent sackings Adonis recognized her easily, for a brief second he seen her killing that little girl again, "Jolene, thank God you are still alive. Why on earth are your riding with this cursed demon?"

She looked at him stone faced, not even smiling at the meeting of her brother; he seen the same look in her eyes than he had seen in his dream. Ares snickered and replied for her, " Look who’s talking, your standing between two demons."

Turning to Kulos he said, " Come to your senses foster brother, Kulos the butcher. You who have conquered over so many and have no fears. Why join forces with Dominic and his outlaws when you can have the full power and arsenal of the Coronian Empire on your side? You are a great leader, our forces combined can be unbeatable."

Kulos spat to his feet and replied without hesitation, " The seven halves prophecy must be fulfilled, it is you Ares the pet who must come to your senses. If we do not join together the whole world will fall into darkness."

Ares laughed maniacally at this, leaving everyone confused, " That darkness you say the world will fall into, I will be leading that darkness. Leading it as it spreads through the world, its tendrils reaching all four corners."

" As your name fades from history in a long forgotten time that once was where people were granted too much freedom, my name shall reign for an eternity. Surrender now and I will even forgive Dominic, all I require in return is Adonis. I am fulfilling a prophecy as well, my own prophecy."

Adonis paid no heed to what he perceived as mere power bickering and gloating; he was far too confused as to why his twin sister was riding with the demon that had kidnapped her and killed their mother wearing their armour.

Kulos said in a solemn voice, " Here is our deal, Adonis fights with Jolene until one of them is knocked out. Whoever should lose this duel will have to surrender and do whatever the winning side wills."

Ares grinned and said mockingly, " Is this how you conquered an entire nation with not but ten stupid cave trolls? Talking? I accept your little conditions."

Jumping off her horse she drew her demon slayer and awaited for Adonis to advance. As Adonis tried to contemplate the situation he had been thrust into Jolene said, " Brother, I will kill you for your treachery, I hope you enjoyed the gold."

Ares said calmly, " Now, now Jolene, calm yourself down. I love to quench my vengeance as the next guy but if you kill him it will put a sabot in our gears and that is not acceptable, the plans will fall to ruin. Subdue him only, make sure you hurt him a lot however."

Adonis jumped off the horse, now understanding why his sister had turned on him. He had wondered what the gold was about, and now he knew the truth and understood the plans that had been born of Ares’ cursed mind. " This is all a deception, I did not kill mother. I do not know who did, most probably your demon friend with the yellow eyes. I was hiding in the woods, I swear to God I had no implication..."

His babbling was stopped as she plunged at him with her sword; using a diagonal slice he rolled to the side barely dodging her first strike. He pulled out his sword just in time as Jolnene was on him again, this time going for a horizontal slice.

The blades resonated as he blocked the strike, he had no training to support him and refused to hurt his sister. However, she kept coming at him. Swinging her sword in intricate patterns and using excessive force. Just as he parried her shots using not but pure fighting instincts she came at him with another strike.

As he backed in a defensive stance he knew he was losing energy far too quickly, natural instincts could only bring an untrained body so far. However he was a farmer and resorted to farmer tactics. As she went for a deadly strike to his abdomen he tackled her in the gut, sending her to the ground.

He hated doing this but he was left no alternative, he refused however to use the sword on her. As she pushed him off he grabbed her foot and swung her into the ground, she was good at fighting but if you did not leave her time she could not get her fancy moves going.

As she began to jump up she received a punch in her unprotected side, Adonis was using all his force but Jolene was a tough warrior and kicked him in the armour, sending him landing on his ass. She went right away, bent on revenge she snared at him and suddenly she was no longer Jolene.

It had all been an elaborate deception, for in her place stood Ares. He wondered why he was so weak but did not question his good fortune and really put his heart into the sword fight. He could recall all the harm and distress Ares had introduced into his simple farmer life and his hatred drove him into a rage.

As he came to Adonis he kicked him near the feet, tripping him he quickly got up and kicked him hard in the side, sending him flying in a roll to the ground once again. Getting to his feet Ares went for the attack, however in his rage Adonis was incredible.

He had changed as well, as though he was not even the same person any more. His eyes had changed from a ice blue to completely white, all he could see was Ares. He could see his every moment in perfect clarity, could hear his heart pounding and his blood feeding it substance.

His strikes were as fast and exact as a cobra, landing pinpoint accurate hits leaving Ares scrambling to defend himself. Adonis was taken over by his rage, it was powering him and finally he knocked away the weapon and knocked Ares out cold.

However he was not going to stop there, as he went for the killing move he could not see that it had indeed been Jolene and not Ares. Dominic stopped Adonis, grabbing him by the waist he threw him down. Adonis glared up at Dominic, seeing him as a new enemy.

When Dominic had tricked Adonis into thinking his sister was Ares he had never anticipated this, he knew Adonis was not himself. The reason Adonis was this way now was mysterious to him, but there was only one solution. He kicked Adonis in the head, knocking him out. As he lost consciousness his eyes returned to their ice blue colour.

Dominic turned to Ares and said, " Now you leave." Ares hadn’t anticipated this, grabbing Jolene by the fight he slung her on his horse and rode away as Dominic brought Adonis back with him.

The armies still faced each other, two demons walking out of the crowd they said, " Charge!" The Coronian troops charged at the large orc army and the slaughter began. However, the people getting slaughtered were not who people expected.

Although the Coronian Empire should have had the advantage but Kulos had a surprise coming. As the army approached, the first row of orcs raised their long pikes ahead, the three lines behind were all archers and fired all at once. A large cloud of arrows came down upon them, killing many all at once.

However this was not the victory attack, as they began to get near the catapults fired. But they did not fire rocks as expected, surprising the Coronian troops ten large cave trolls came flying from the sky curled in a ball.

The initial impact killed many, all troops turned as the cave trolls got to their feet and began to swing their giant swords, killing five at a time each. The Coronians all turned to kill the cave trolls before they would kill too many of them.

Kulos turned to his soldiers and yelled, " Kill the lying Coronians!" With their attention on the heavily armoured cave trolls the orcs charged in, swords drawn and they soon went into action.

Some Coronians turned their attention to the orcs but many were far too busy fending off the cave trolls. After an intense hour all the Coronian troops were dead, a great number of orcs had died as well but the victory was theirs.

Adonis was still alive which was the most important, Dominic was slightly troubled by how Adonis had changed in battle but the victory was great and he was celebrating as well as everyone else. Even Jacob and Mal had fought in this battle, all covered in blood everyone cheered.

All but Kulos who stood apart from the group, crouching down he looked over on the corpses of all those who’d succumbed to horrible deaths by metal. Dominic came beside him, laughing he said, " Come one foster brother, come cheer with us, we’ve just won a great victory"

Kulos said in a sad voice, " Killing is nothing to celebrate, I only kill because killing is the only solution at hand. I take no pleasure in it, the moment I begin to take killing as a sport I become a prisoner of violence, I become like you and Ares."

Dominic shrugged, " Whatever, I know what I am. Now we have to get the other hybrids, we will prevail over the treacherous Ares, but we cannot kill the bastard even if he deserves it."

Most of the army had returned into the wall’s safety, when few orcs remained a blue portal formed, the remanding orcs took out their weapons, expecting the worse. Out of the portal walked out a silver haired wizard. No one recognized him, not even Dominic. Dominic taunted him, " Give us one reason not to kill you right now just for the fun of it."

He responded calmly, " I am Tyronis, I have been Adonis’ guardian before his mother was even conceived and I have come to train him. I also am Ares’ true brother and have come to help fulfill your seven halves prophecy. Your prophecy is a pertinent part of the large prophecy in which we are all a part of."

Dominic motioned for everyone to lower their weapons, however they did not listen to his command. Kulos turned to them and howled, " You worms! General Dominic is your leader as well now! Obey him!" They lowered their weapons.

Noticing Adonis unconscious Tyronis asked, " How did that happen, you let him fight in the war? You realise if he had died we would all be dead."

Dominic sighed, " Yeah, about that. He kind of went berserk and nearly killed his sister in negotiations, come with us, maybe you can explain that."