I fell at the base of a leafless, black tree. The muck of the swamp quickly covered me. I was exhausted. For three days I had fought and saw no change. The monsters controlled this land and nothing I could do would stop them. The recruiters had made this seem like a noble and lucrative pursuit, but no amount fighting by the wagon loads of inexperienced, poorly trained warriors or the battle scarred veterans, so bitter and bored they killed the fresh without hesitation, could stop the onslaught. Additionally, what I was fighting for grew more vague daily and I still know little about the institute. Still, the pay was better everyday.

My tireless companions, the two standard issue Demons, stood guard as I rested. Loyal to the death they beat down any of little green devils that came to harass me. Though identical, I named them "Hammer" and "Sickle." I would have congratulated Hammer on the breaking of one devil`s jaw but it couldn`t acknowledge such praise. He would kill any monster that came near him, regardless of whether that monster was many times more powerful than he. My pets, while perfectly focused on butchering, could not think and I thanked my Gods for this. When we are possessed I can sense their clarity and strength but if I were to feel their thoughts I would surely lose my mind.

Noise broke my train of thought. To the south I could hear, the clashing of blades, many feet stumbling in the mud and bodies falling into it, all soundtracked by pained mooing. Soon I could see them, a whole herd  of the huge, bull-faced Ogres, stampeding towards me. I jumped to my feet and had my Demons possess me, a rush I was starting to enjoy. I had almost died when I struck by their massive blades yesterday but felt confident enough now to stand my ground.

The first one came at me hard but I parried the blow and slashed at the beast`s stomach, drawing blood. The next strike hit me in the back but as I had predicted, it felt much lighter than the near fatal blow from yesterday. A few more exchanges and the creature was on the ground. Preoccupied with the fighting and unable to see past the towering blue body, I had failed to notice that all but one of the rest of the herd was lying dead on the ground already. Still ready for fighting I advanced on the last Ogre but before I could get to it a veteran appeared on the top of it`s hunched back. He pulled one of the ogre`s horns to one side and with his sword sliced the beast`s head clean off.

He slid down the falling corpse and held the head to his face, "Thought you could get away from me?" He laughed, threw the head to the side and looked my way.

I wasn`t sure if I should run. He could obviously murder me before I could run but not every veteran was a sociopath. He was dripping ogre blood. His visible skin was covered in scars, many shallow, some very deep and his armor was dented, and rusting in some places. Though he was ugly his sword glowed hypnotically and I was awed by the speed with which he killed.

"You killed all of them...so fast." I said, sounding much more naive than I`d hoped.

"Not all of them." Pointing with his sword to the animal at my feet "You killed that one. I saw it." He laughed, surveying the damage. "But I did do pretty well, didn`t I."

"I actually missed it. I was too busy fighting this one."

"That`s terrible technique. You must pay attention to everything near you." he said while picking thru whatever bounty could be taken from the dead. Frustrated with what he found he looked at me and asked, "Want to learn my technique?"

I did.

-There`s more. If people liked this I`ll post more.