New Species

This was a wild, untamed land, the scorching sun baking the earth. The sweltering heat tested the resolve of the creatures that inhabited it, except for Nathanos and his retinue. He felt no warmth... not even when he placed his hand on the ground. The temperature here had no effect on them. When night fell, they needed no sleep; they could continue their journey. It was as if death offered some benefit, but those who accepted death felt nothing. Limitless energy did not equate to great patience.

"We've been wandering around here for days..."

Veronalara followed behind Nathanos, having mustered considerable courage to utter the words, and her choice of words was precise. Wandering? It sounded as if they were lost souls, aimlessly roaming the wasteland.

"Has anyone gone missing?" asked Nathanos, the leader.

"No, why are you asking this?" Veronalara stared at his back, misinterpreting his meaning and thinking that Nathanos would hunt down those who defected midway.

"Keep an eye out, and if anyone suddenly disappears, tell me immediately."

"How will you deal with those who might defect?"

"Bring them back."

"Then torture them, make them pay the price?"

Nathanos grew tired of Veronalara's questions, but he didn't tell her to shut up; his answer might reassure those who wanted to escape.

"I won't do anything unnecessary, I'll just bring them back."

The army marched for some time before stopping before a forest. Calling it a forest was a bit of a stretch, but Nathanos couldn't find a better word. The trees ahead were gaunt and strangely shaped, resembling menacing monsters in the twilight. Their leaves were sparse and thorny. Interestingly, despite the barren land, the trees grew remarkably densely.

"Be careful, we don't know what potential dangers are in this woodland."

"Danger?" Ranger Enya dismissed Nathanos's warning with disdain. They hadn't encountered any attacks in the past few days, nor had they seen a single living creature. "I don't see any danger. If there were, they would have been scared away by our appearance long ago."

"Shut up," Nathanos whispered, and was the first to enter the forest. Whether the others wanted to or not, they had to follow.

They came to a clearing and set up camp. This was an interesting decision. Nathanos sat on a rock, pondering why they were making such a pointless decision again. The Undead didn't need rest, yet they had stopped, like a living person needing time to recover from muscle aches. Nathanos had almost forgotten what fatigue felt like.

"Lord Nathanos."

The only person who would address him that way is his squad member Liana, the Dark Ranger who is the most polite to him.

"I've found something really special that I'm sure you'll be interested in."

She did find it; she found what Nathanos most wanted to find—the native inhabitants of this continent, even if they were just the remains of a corpse.

The others kept watch around, while Nathanos examined the skeleton that Liana had discovered by the dim light.

"Look at this." Nathanos cradled a skull in his hands, twice the size of Elf or human skull, complete with horns on either side. "This skull looks...like a bull, but its body is more human-like. Its hands and feet are different; it has three fingers, and its feet are hooves. How fascinating!"

"This... is this the creature from Kalimdor? A thing with the head of a beast," Veronalara quipped with amusement. The skeleton on the ground was enormous, at least seven feet tall, with thick, robust bones, making one wonder if such a creature truly existed.

Nathanos clapped his hands and stood up. "We need to be careful now. This guy can be proven not to have died of natural causes; he was probably attacked."

"It's clear his ribs are broken, and his left hand also appears to be fractured." Veronalara glanced again at the hand bones, which were completely separated from the body. "His other hand seems to have been severed."

"Now I might understand why you're the Ranger-Captain." Nathanos forced a smile. "But I'm more concerned with what killed him than how he died. This... Tauren," Nathanos thought for a moment, deciding to call the new species they'd discovered, "He looked like a strong fellow, at least he could wield this stone-forged weapon."

A weapon? Veronalara's gaze focused on a cylindrical stone lying not far from the corpse. It bore intricate carvings and strange colors. Veronalara initially thought it was an ornament or a totem, but Nathanos insisted it was a weapon.

"To be able to take down such a strong guy, it seems his enemy is just as formidable."

"At least we can be certain that the person who killed him was on horseback; besides the Tauren's hoofprints, there are also a jumble of horse hoofprints here."

"A horse?" Nathanos asked, puzzled. He turned to look at Veronalara, whose silhouette in the night resembled one of Nathanos old acquaintances. "This is a woodland, and the roads are rather rugged. How could anyone be riding a horse here? Let alone fighting on horseback?"

"It is indeed strange, perhaps..."

The high-pitched, piercing sound of the horn shattered the Tranquility of the night, startling the birds perched in the surrounding trees.

"That's the sound of Orcs horns!" Veronalara shouted, alerting those around her to prepare for battle. Everyone except Nathanos had already drawn their weapons. Elf are normally sharp-hearing, but in the forest, sound propagation was chaotic and there were severe echoes. Veronalara bit her dark red lips; she couldn't pinpoint the enemy's location.

"Put down your weapons." Nathanos looked up, his voice easing the tension, but Veronalara still dared not relax.

"Why?"

"The horn sound didn't sound deep enough, which proves that the source of the sound is quite a distance away."

"So, we weren't attacked."

"Weren't you standing there perfectly fine?" Nathanos said, then walked in one direction. Veronalara guessed he must be heading to where the Orcs were blowing their horns, but she was curious how Nathanos had determined that.

How did you know it was in this direction?

"The birds in the sky will tell you the answer."

Veronalara looked up, noticing the hint, and suddenly understood Nathanos's meaning. These birds had been startled by the horn's sound, and they must have taken flight in the direction of the sound, trying to escape the noise. Therefore, by following the opposite direction of their flight, they would surely find traces of the Orcs.

"What should we do?" Enya asked as she walked to her side. The two of them looked at Nathanos's dark back at the same time.

Veronalara sighed, "Following him will at least prove that this person has a good sense of direction, and maybe these past few days... we haven't been wandering aimlessly."