At Spark, John Adams was pacing around in the presidental chambers. "I just can't believe how Phil Smith is ridiculing me all over Odox. He called me an orc-lover for not finishing my Dark Orc Law fast enough. He doesn't understand that I don't hate the orcs as a species but that I want to keep my people safe from any Dark Orc worshippers. There's a big difference between a common orc and a dark orc."

Feandra Riverwing stood a little further in the room, watching him getting all worked up. "Sir, while Smith may call you a weakling, many other species see you as dangerous because of your controversial views. If I may so blunt, some people even compare the two of you. Unfair, I know, Smith is far more radical than you are. But perhaps it would be wise to make a peace offering to the orcs?"

John Adams chuckled. "Oh Feandra, this is exactly why the people wanted me to replace you. No one is waiting for a peace offering. The people want the orcs to prove themselves as pacifists. From there, trust can be earned. Years ago creatures like the naga and the werewolves proved their worth and despite living underground, they are generally accepted by all. Even the vampires are tolerated. Not exactly my favorite race but at least they are trying to co-exist with us."

After frowning heavily, Feandra sighed. "You know, John, sometimes I think you will only be satisfied when the orcs decided to go live in the downworld too." John chuckled softly. "Don't be ridiculous. You know they would shred the vampires to pieces. And that would leave us with one less ally."

All of a sudden an alarm went off and two heavily armed men came into the room. "President Adams, Minister Riverwing, we have a situation. Please let us escort you to safety." Seeing the confusion on their faces, one of the guardsmen elaborated. "Orcs, sir. And not the kind that is willing to talk." John's eyes widened in fear. "Zuxzut." he whispered. The guardsman nodded to confirm. "And sir, there is more. Phil Smith has been alerted and he gathered a group of men that wants to fight the orcs." Both John and Feandra sighed deeply. "I know he only wants to protect the people but that fool is going to make everything even worse. I bet he is live broadcasting this as we speak."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meanwhile at Blind Hill

Kjolmar walked up the ladders to follow Ithnesi, while keeping an eye on Dagny in case she should try to run. 
"I recognize this neighbourhood. As a lawyer, I often have orcs as clients. One of them lived right here in Blind Hill. Unfortunately, she has passed away of old age recently."

Unknown to the group, they were being watched from a distance. A soft growl was followed by some saliva dripping on grey'ish fur. Kain had disobeyed Shadow's commands and followed the group in order to get his teeth into Kjolmar's neck. There wouldn't even be a struggle, considering that the elf had become addicted to the werewolf venom. Just when he wanted to step out of the shadows and approach the group, he was pulled back by Shadow. "What are you doing up here in your wolf form? You should know better! Listen, there's a live broadcast about an orc attack on Spark. We cannot be above the ground right now. Let's head back!"
Kain morphed into his human form and followed Shadow back towards the underground, frustrated that he couldn't get a little elf bite.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Kjolmar paused for a second. His gaze turned to the bushes where Kain used to be a few seconds before. Kjolmar didn't see anyone but he felt as if there had been something or someone he should have noticed, like a gut feeling drawing his attention to that spot. The feeling was similar to when he entered the tunnels. He quickly shook it off and focused back on his fellowship. 

A lot of commotion started outside. Kjolmar peeked outside to see what it was about and noticed how some humans and orcs were gathering around some sort of screen. It was nice to see them all get along but he was also curious what was on the screen that got them so worked up. Having great hearing, he focused on the broadcast.

[i]"...Spark... under siege ... massive battle ... unclear how many wounded or deaths ..."[/i]

Those where the words he picked up. Kjolmar quickly glared at Ithnesi and Dagny. "Something is going on." He rushed back out of the treehouse and towards the screen, motioning for his company to follow him.

"What is going on?" he asked the crowd. They all had very troubled facial expressions. A human woman explained: "A gigantic assault on Spark by radical orcs. They say the president is murdered!" 

An orcish woman shook her head and sighed: "I wasn't a big fan of him but no one here wished him dead. This is going to be bad for our kind too, those who already distrusted us will blame us for the work of these radicals. And Blind Hill is a symbolic place of coexistence. I'm afraid we'll not be safe here anymore." 
Another orc replied to her: "This is the safest place we can be! Alphastream is dominated by radicals, they will hang us for living side by side with humans. No, we must stay here!"

While they debated on the outcome of the presidential assassination, some human troops -clearly armed- approached Blind Hill. It was just like the woman said, they would come for revenge. But no one expected it to be so soon. "Avoid human casualties if you can! They might be traitors but our prime target are those savages!" their leader yelled while the troops attacked. 

Kjolmar was unsure what to do next. Do they run? Do they fight? Who was the real enemy? Next thing he knew, things were escalating: houses on fire, lots of wounded, chaos everywhere...