I was on my truck, riding through the darkness, waking up the entire road with that monstrous engine. Two wheelers and a hatchback truck were on me, they matched my truck and pushed from the side. I drifted onto a short road and lost one of the wheelers. The other one climbed the wall and tried to tear open my truck with its spines. I struck against its side and let it ride past me. By that time, the hatchback truck had grown near me. The tailgate slid open, and an armoured knight came through it and climbed the roof carrying a long metal arm.
He made a giant hole in the door on his first try, the edge was outlined with a red glow expanding like a burning leaf. I twisted the wheels and raised the engines when he reloaded for the next round.
With forty to sixty yards between us, with very less chances of getting caught, my heart stopped when the wheeler slid between the road and tossed my truck in the air. The element cylinders scattered and blew every spot it hit. The truck finally strike the road, crushing me like a nut within the shell. I was hanging downward with eyes barely open, collapsed on the ceiling when a large thick pair of metal boots approached me. He bent down and peeked through the burning window with his usual grin and called out that I was dead.
I heard voices begging and cursing, crying for life, some scared, some aggressive. The knights had dragged me to the centre of the testing ground and had put me on my knees. Centre again. The magic was completely broken and appeared like water floating on the ceiling. The gnomes and dwarfs came crowded from the stairs and led in a long queue. The whole inventory was down supported by the cliff, only the edges of the storeys remained and the knights filled them all. I could see machines, floor plates, tracks and trams swimming between the edges. On the ground, there were dwarfs, gnomes and even knights lying in their blood. There were even arms, must be the empty ones I assumed. Through my blurry eyes, I recognised the two figures kneeling next to me, one was Armdan of course, but the other one was strange. Why did they capture Ellmut?
"I'm sorry boy," Armdan said in a voice overflowing with sadness. "I was too late."
"Look who's back," the Commander returned with a pair of knights alongside. "Clint Orzaghmen."
I didn't see that face before, it might have been hidden by some worries, or it was the face of triumph. But I recognised it then, I recognised the grin, I recognised the charm.
"It was you, who made me dead, ain't you?"
"Ahhh… I wondered whether you would remember me," he said. "A man who saved your life." He walked around us flushing, probably reliving his memories. Then his face suddenly changed, the charm was gone, blackness filled, accompanied by deep emptiness. "As a reward, it earned me the name 'Demented'," he said followed by a chuckle. "But good for me, after six years you came back to prove them wrong, and lead us to the great Edwin Wilburt.
"You did a huge favour, Clint, and I always owe you for that. If a small bait can take us to Edwin and his most wanted arsenal, then the same bait can bring Orzaghmen to us. Worry nothing cousin, we keep you alive till we catch them, until then we carry our burden."
"You catch none," Ellmut snapped.
"Ahh… this one here, said he's a friend, so I saved him for you to witness." He slid his hand back and received a Bulldog from a knight in the pair and aimed it towards Ellmut.
"No-"
The story went completely dark, there was no burst. A knight ran towards us unsteadily, slowly bright red light started to flicker.
"Orzaghmen is here," he spoke.
A noise broke out, and a massive piece of stone the size of three orcs put together, burst into the storey.
"The beast is here for the cub," he turned towards me and chuckled again. He showed his charming smile as he shifted the canon slowly towards me. I took a last glance at Armdan and closed my eyes tight as the lead popped out. Everything went dark and someone pushed me down.
"Run," Armdan screamed.
Ellmut lay dead with the lead reserved for me, stuck in his head. It slowly melted like summer snow, the commander cursed, clenching his teeth, his arm shifted to Armdan; his head exploded as he yelled again at me to run.