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Two. Hundred. Fucking. Skeletons.

Was this dude for real?

Zell turned and looked around as the shouted proclamations began.  Citizens began emptying out of their homes with sacks of their most precious belongings. Hasty. Scared. Crying.  Atop the din was the ever-ringing alarm bell.  Zell drew the sword off his back once again, this time with a sudden urge to test the edge of the blade, or more pertinently, test the integrity of his flesh.  With one finger caressed the keen edge of his sword and recoiled with the slight pain.  A little blood dripped where the blade had cut him.

"Holy shit," he said aloud.

This [i]was[/i] real.  This whole entire clusterfuck was real.  All the mounting questions he had - dozens of questions - whatever the answers were... they'd be real.  Inhaling a big breath, he turned back to the young guy who spoke up first about the request (The 'Contract' - another mystery.)

He spoke bravely, Zell was impressed.  And too the French girl was in agreeance.  He caught her eye for a second and his trademark, cocky one-sided grin appeared as she scowled at him.  [u]Jerk.[/u]  That made him chuckle.  He was a bit of a jerk, he could admit that about himself.  And she was even cuter when she was flustered.

The American farmer and the European woman went the opposite way to the rest of the group.  Zell assumed they were evacuating with the citizenry.  Smart move really.  What business did they have fighting god-damn skeletons and ogres.  Still, Zell's pride would not allow him to flee while the others were going to help, and so he twirled his sword around him like something one'd see in a movie, gained confidence from his confirmation that he had the skill to do it, then sheathed his weapon and ran after the others toward the eastern gate.

He was close enough to hear them introducing themselves.  "You can call me Zell," he offered as he ran past them and jumped the first eight rungs of the palisade ladder and started climbing up top.  "Cheers James!  Much appreciated!" he shouted down after the man explained his sudden rush of energy and mental fortitude.  [i]One mystery down, ninety-nine to go.[/i]

Atop the palisade he finally saw the reason for the evacuation and fear coursed through his veins amongst the adrenaline.  Terror, in fact.  It was all he could do not to show it.  He walked slowly along the palisade wall, past a few townguard posted with bows, looking out across the vista at the slowly approaching horde.  The ogres were [i]huge[/i]!  Zell's heart was racing.  His teeth were clenched.  There was no more 'cocky frat boy.'  Just a man with a sword who's pride wouldn't let him run even though his brain was screaming FLEE - A man who's mind was racing with thoughts of what these monsters would do if they caught those citizens.  Those [i]children[/i].  He [i]had[/i] to steel himself. He [i]had[/i] to stop them.

"You were right Commander," he said loudly to the Commander in earshot.  "Seems no one knows how we got here..." it was really an effort to keep the tremble out of his voice.  "...but we're here now, and there's innocent lives on the line."  The rest of his words seemed like they were more for himself than anyone else.  "I've spent my life being a selfish asshole, tee-bee-hache... time to do something [i]worth[/i] my time!  Wooo!"

The Ric Flair sound-off was unnecessarily loud but Zell didn't care.  He had to let off some steam before he burst into bloody flames.  He drew the sword off his back and pointed it at the coming horde.  "Let's go motherfuckers!"