I Came With an Open Hand.

[Riot 743]

I went to the Beastfolk Protectorate with no steel in my grip.

 

I wanted to show them my arm.

 

runed, star-forged and bound with oath—proof that even broken things can be reforged stronger. I wanted to check on the Kha. To drink tea. To fish. To sit in quiet and remember what peace felt like.

 

Instead, I walked into violence.

 

Two humans stood amid scorched earth and shattered stone—where bodies had once been. One wore heavy armor marked by fire and blade alike. He moved with discipline, every step deliberate. When he spoke, his words rolled thick with a Highlander accent—harsh, foreign, almost northern. Not loud.

 

Controlled.

 

The other man made the ground feel smaller.

 

A giant wrapped in dark plate, towering and silent. When he turned his head, it felt like the air moved with him. His voice, when it came, was deep enough to settle in my chest like a hammer on an anvil. I had fought beside Farfolk before.

 

This man felt like one.

 

And yet—when weapons lowered—we shared tea.

 

Fishing lines cast into still water. Quiet words spoken. I talked as a smith. The Highlander listened like a man who had lived too long at war. For a moment, the world felt calm. Smaller. Bearable.

 

Then Keshig stepped forward.

 

Keshig Yhl’Flaaowni.

 

Not with fear. Not with shame.

 

With certainty.

 

She spoke my name aloud and confirmed what I had already begun to dread. She was a mystic. The power was hers. The path was her choice. The Rex’s notice decliration felt like a bell struck too hard.

 

Urguani law closed around me like a vice.

 

I could not raise my weapon.

I could not interfere.

 

The Highlander reacted first.

 

Steel came free in a heartbeat, his posture snapping from calm to lethal. The giant answered him instantly—no words, just motion. They collided with brutal precision. Blades crashed. Swings that would have cleaved me in half passed by inches. Masters of violence, both of them.

 

Then came the explosion.

 

The sound tore through the field.

 

The Highlander was thrown through the air. He struck the ground hard. His arm took the blast—twisted, shattered, hanging useless as blood soaked the earth beneath him. The giant stepped forward, weapon raised, ready to end it.

 

I shouted.

 

I pleaded.

 

Honor over slaughter. Judgment over execution. Let her live to face the Rex and let the intruder live, two lives on opposing sides, I now pleaded for both their mercy.

 

For one panicked breath, the world held still.

 

Then the Highlander snarled—blood in his teeth, fury in his eyes—and ran.

 

He fled into the wilds, leaving a trail of red behind him, driven by nothing but rage and refusal to die.

 

I turned back to Keshig.

 

The giant loomed over us in silence as I bound my friend with shaking hands. I lifted the old Kha onto my horse. My aurum sword rested at my hip—unused, useless, there only to remind me I was still a warrior even when law denied me battle, even if the sword was usless my plea was heard.

 

I rode hard.

 

At the Horde, I delivered Keshig into the custody of a leader I trusted. They placed her in a cell—alive. Waiting. The judgment would come whether I stayed or not.

So I left.

 

I do not know what fate awaits Keshig Yhl’Flaaowni.

 

I only know that I came with an open hand—

 

—and left carrying the weight of law, friendship, and the bitter truth that sometimes the hardest battles are the ones you are forbidden to fight.

[milksoda 2884]

Spoiler

 another dorin banger 🔥 I really enjoy reading ur story posts ngl

 

[DizzyGrey 1229]

Yhl’Flaaowni would pace, but her hips hurt, and so instead she sat within that cage she had volunteered for, entertaining herself with memories of shooting an overambitious human teenager that had thought he was her match.

 

Spoiler

Someone let Gramma out of her cage, she got knitting to do

 

[Wolfy-D 468]

Cub now knows who he's gotta poke with his claws

Spoiler

Great post, keep up the good work.