Chapter 43: The Doom Axe

I turned and saw Orgrun approaching.

"Chief! Chief!"

The goblins greeted him as he approached, but Orgrun didn’t respond.

He walked straight toward the dwarf and stopped a short distance away.

"Oh..." Thors grinned, seemingly impressed by the goblin’s confidence. He probably hadn’t expected Orgrun to remain so calm in the face of his threat. Although, there was no way I could know what the crazy dwarf had been expecting in the first place.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Thors asked.

"I am the chief of this clan. If you want to challenge anyone, it should be me."

The dwarf eyed Orgrun from head to toe before his grin widened.

"Sure. No matter. If you want to go first, I’d accept with open arms. The outcome would be the same either way."

"The offer still stands, right?"

"Of course."

"You will leave with your men if I win."

"I promise on the honor of my ancestors."

I shook my head. I didn’t think his ancestors cared much about honor. They were most likely in hell, suffering for all eternity.

Although, now that I was dead and living in this world, I wasn’t even sure hell and heaven existed. Who knew? Maybe they had been reborn on Earth as humans.

Now that would make for an interesting story. It just needed the right element.

"Chief, you cannot take him on," Talia suddenly said as she approached Orgrun. "Let me do it. I was going to accept his offer before you arrived."

Orgrun turned to her, his expression softening slightly.

"I’m the strongest one in the clan. If you believe I cannot win, what hope does the rest of the clan have?"

Wise words. If anyone in the clan had a chance of standing against that dwarf, it was the shaman.

Talia still didn’t seem convinced, so Orgrun leaned closer and whispered something into her ear. As he spoke, her eyes briefly fell on me before she quickly looked away.

Once he finished, Talia walked toward me with a somber, frustrated expression. She stopped beside me but didn’t say a word.

I couldn’t help wondering what Orgrun had told her. I knew it had something to do with me.

"Are you ready, old one?" Thors called out, stepping forward. "You can’t take all day to prepare. I’ll take you on whenever you’re ready."

Orgrun harrumphed and twirled his staff in his hand.

The strange markings tattooed across his body began to glow, and I immediately realized they weren’t ordinary tattoos.

Thors grinned excitedly at the sight and reached for his axe, gripping its handle with both hands.

I was eager to see how the fight would unfold, but before I could settle in to watch, Talia grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

"We have to go."

I stared at her in disbelief. "Go where? We cannot just leave."

"We’re not leaving."

That only confused me further. "Where are we going, then?"

"Can you stop asking questions?"

"I can’t do that when you haven’t given me a single reason to follow you."

"Just trust me. This is necessary if we’re going to win."

Her words didn’t make much sense, but instead of arguing, I decided to follow her and leave the battlefield behind. To some extent, I trusted her. At the very least, I trusted her enough to believe she wasn’t taking me somewhere to kill me.

We headed toward the chief’s huts, though I couldn’t think of a single reason Talia would bring me there while Orgrun was about to fight Thors. Whatever she had in mind, it had better be worth the trouble.

Once we entered the chief’s hut, she released my arm and hurried toward what looked like an altar.

The room was larger than I had expected, with thick wooden pillars supporting the roof and animal hides hanging along the walls. Clay pots and wooden shelves filled the corners, holding various tools and other belongings. The faint smell of smoke lingered in the air, coming from a small fire burning near the entrance. At the center of the room stood a stone altar, its surface covered in strange markings.

Talia reached for a box and carried it to the altar before placing it down and opening the lid.

Inside lay what appeared to be an axe wrapped in cloth. She carefully removed the covering, revealing the weapon beneath.

It was indeed an axe, but it didn’t look ordinary. Its dark metal head was broad and slightly curved, with strange runes carved along both sides.

The markings glowed faintly, giving off a dim red light that stood out against the black metal. Its long wooden handle was wrapped in dark leather, with metal bands near the bottom and just beneath the head.

There was something about the weapon that made it look enchanted.

"What is this?"

"A weapon."

"No shit! I can see that."

Talia sighed. "It’s called the Doom Axe. A weapon that grants its wielder immense power. According to a prophecy, whoever can wield it will be the one to liberate us all."

Again with this prophecy nonsense.

"And you’re handing it over to me because you believe I’m the one?"

"The chief believes it’s you, so I believe it too," Talia replied.

"That doesn’t sound convincing."

"Listen." Talia grabbed me by the neck and shoved me backward. "Just like you, I don’t believe you’re the one. But our clan is in danger. The shaman is in danger. My father is in danger."

She released me, and I took a small step back. I had to admit, her sudden outburst scared me a little, but it also showed just how serious she was about this.

"So... I need you to pick up the axe and wield it. It doesn’t matter if you’re not the one. As long as you can wield it, you can save us all."

"I don’t think saying it will make..."

"Don’t argue."

Talia picked up the weapon and held it out to me, leaving me with little choice but to take it.

I felt a strange pressure building in my chest.

Was this what they called performance anxiety? I had never been in a situation where so many lives depended on me, and now that I was standing in front of the weapon that was supposed to save everyone, I suddenly didn’t want to fail.

If I couldn’t wield it, I would feel as though I had betrayed the entire clan.

"Take it," she urged, leaving no room for refusal.

I reached out with both hands and grasped the handle.

"What are you two green bastards doing?"

A voice rang out from the entrance just as I took hold of the weapon.

I turned my head slightly and saw the swordsman from earlier standing at the doorway. He must have noticed us leaving the battlefield and followed us here.

Before I could respond, a violent jolt ran through my arms.

Drako, who was on my shoulder, flew off immediately.

Electricity surged from the axe into my body, making my muscles seize as my vision blurred.

I struggled to maintain my grip, but the weapon seemed to have a hold on me as well. Strange images flashed through my mind, appearing and disappearing so quickly that I could barely make sense of them. It was like watching a video sped up ten times, with each image vanishing before I could focus on it.

Gradually, the images became clearer.

I saw fragments of my past, my death, and the moment I had appeared in this world. Memories of everything that had led me to this point flashed before my eyes, one after another, until the visions finally stopped and I found myself back in the hut.

The runes along the axe’s head began to glow with a strange bluish light, replacing the faint red glow they had given off before. Lightning crackled around the weapon, crawling over the metal and dancing along its handle.

I could feel something connecting me to it, as though the power within the axe was responding to my presence. It was an unfamiliar sensation, but deep down, I had the feeling that I could command the lightning if I wanted to.

The swordsman took a step toward me, his expression darkening as he watched the strange display.

"I asked you what you’re doing!"

Talia immediately moved to block his path, but he struck her aside with a swift blow before she could stop him. She crashed against the wall, and he continued toward me without hesitation.

He reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

The moment his hand made contact, lightning erupted from my body. A bolt struck him squarely in the chest, sending him flying backward. He crashed to the ground several feet away, his body twitching from the remaining electricity.

Talia slowly pushed herself to her feet. The moment she looked at me, her eyes widened. She hesitated before taking a few cautious steps in my direction, staring at the lightning crackling around my body and the axe in my hands.

Suddenly, she gasped and covered her mouth.

"Orgrun was right. You really are the chosen one."

I could feel a surge of power flowing into me, growing stronger with every passing second.

Was this what it meant to be the chosen one?

I raised my free hand, and lightning crackled around my fingers. The energy responded to my movements, twisting around my palm as though it were alive.

Before I could make...