Author's Comments: This is just a short piece unrelated to any of my other work that I wrote because the idea struck me. So without further ado, I give you...


The Holy War and the Genocide
A Story from Two Perspectives

The Paladin

    "Rise, Sir Galen!" The king called out.

    The knight in question kneeled before his king, awaiting the orders that he would be given.  It had been mere months since he had been knighted, and ever since he waited eagerly for a quest to do for king and country.  Hearing his king's command, he rose to his feet and continued to wait for his instructions.

    "You have proven yourself competent in your training, and I was proud to include you in the knighthood.  Today, however, you shall prove your worth," the King said, his voice carrying an undenyably regal quality to it, "There is an infestation of goblins in the southern forest.  Usually, we would ignore them since they are not a very powerful evil, but they have been disrupting the merchants who use the trail through that forest as a trade route.  Your quest is this: eliminate the unholy goblins so that the merchants will no longer have to fear for their lives."

    The knight bowed, and said, "I accept the quest, my leige.  I shall go forth today and destroy the evil goblins in the name of God."

    "You are dismissed, then," the king said.

    The knight turned on his heel and left the throne room joyfully.  He had a quest from his king, and he intended to perform this task to the best of his ability.  He returned to his quarters and retreived his armor and his mace.  He donned his armaments, and left for the stables, where his steed awaited him.  At the stables, he mounted his steed, and rode forth to the southern forest to rid the kingdom of those evil goblins.

    Sir Galen dismounted as he came to the entrance to the forest, and tied his horse to a tree by the side of the road.  He drew his mace and a phial from the pouches that his horse carried.  He chanted softly, and the phial became lit from within, giving off a pale glow.  The knight found himself ready, and so he strode forth into the forest to do battle with the agents of darkness.

    The forest was thick with foliage and dark.  The knight could almost feel the evil of the goblins filling the atmosphere of the forest.  In his right hand, he held his mace, ready to slay any evil thing that he came across.  In his left, he held aloft the phial.  He could see the shadows of things moving about in the forest, but nothing dared to show itself before him.  He proceded forward through the wood, using the phial to light his way and reveal those evildoers who would hide in the shadows.

    As he made his way through the forest, a certain shadow caught his eye.  He moved the phial to more fully reveal that which hid, and discovered a small band of the trecherous goblins!  Sir Galen lifted his mace, and brought it down upon one of the surprised goblins.  His righteous fury tempered the power of his swing, and he slew the goblin in a single swing.  The other goblins revealed their true natures and shook in terror of the mighty champion of light.  A few were fixed in their place by fear, and Galen slew these creatures of the darkness as well.  The remaining goblins fled back to their village, and the mighty knight followed them.

    After chasing the goblins through the woods, the knight saw the goblins flee into a dark cave and disappear into the gloom.  The knight gave a triumphant cry, for he had found the goblins' lair, the vile place where they concocted evil schemes and plotted the downfall of the rightous.  He followed them in, always holding aloft the phial to pierce the darkness.  At first, the cave was a narrow tunnel, but after a short trek, it widened into a large room.  In this room, Sir Galen saw the outlines of huts, and in the center of the room he found a great mob of goblins.

    The goblins bared their teeth and brandished their foul weapons at the knight, but he simply laughed at them.  After all, he knew that the God was with him.  The knight strode forth toward the mob of goblins, phial aloft and mace ready.  As he neared the goblins, he lifted his mace and let out a great battle cry before bringing it down upon one of the foul creatures.  The mace utterly crushed the dark being, and the goblin fell to the ground, dead.  The other goblins hissed loudly, and rose up as one in response.

    The knight lifted his mace time and again, bringing it down each time to smite another goblin in the name of God.  The goblins attacked him with their knifes and spears, but each of these weapons bounced harmlessly off his plate mail.  Seeing that their weapons were too dull to make more than a dent in the knight's armor, the horde of goblins set to dragging him down to the ground where they could kill him with rocks and other simple blunt weapons.  They rose up, each grabbing onto a different part of him to pull down the knight.  

    However, Sir Galen continued to wield his mace, killing goblins with each swing, and made the light of the phial more intense so as to confuse and ward off the evil creatures.  As they crowded around him to drag him down, he simply started to swing his mace in a wide horizontal arc, knocking back multiple goblins with each stroke.  His enemies fell with each stroke, and the wave of goblins thinned out as he continued his attack.

    In time, the goblins looked around them, and saw that their efforts were in vain.  In terror, the goblins fled, each running to his own hut, a few running toward the exit.  The knight saw this, and gave chase.  He followed the goblins to their foul hovels, and slew them there as they hid like cowardly rats.  Many huts were gathered in a cluster, so the knight employed the magic of the phial to destroy these huts in a holy fire.  He watched the huts burn, and contented himself with the knowledge that the land those hovels occupied would soon be cleansed of the filth and evil that the goblins had brought with them.

    The knight made his rounds through the cavern. As he was illuminated in the pale light of the phial, he appeared as an angel sent by God to cleanse the earth of wickedness.  The goblins fled before him, unable to endure his aura of righteousness and holy wrath.  Soon, the entire hive of darkness was destroyed, and the knight strode out of the dark caves.  He returned to the castle where his king reigned, and delivered the news of the goblins defeat to his leige.

---

The Genocide

    The day had started off well.  It was a lovely day in the forest.  The weather was pleasantly humid, and it wasn't obnoxiously cold.  Gor and his friends decided to spend the day gathering berries and medicinal herbs from the nearby forest on such a wonderful day.  By a little past noon, they had each gathered a small satchel full of berries and herbs, and were about to head back when that demon appeared.

    They were most surprised.  One moment Gor, Yll, Ban, and the others were searching through a bush for any berries that might be left, and the next a giant appeared behind them wielding a giant club.  They saw that he held a globe of unholy magic that hurt their eyes with the glow of its infernal fire.  At first, the fear that they all felt had glued each of them to the ground.  Then, the giant grinned savagely and brought his club down on Ban's head.  Gor heard a sickening crunch as Ban's skull split open, and he cried out in horror as his good friend fell lifelessly to the ground.

    The giant was not content with killing just Ban, though, and it did not appear like he was hunting for food.  No, he was a demon out to destroy all living things out of hatred.  Ban had barely hit the ground before the giant let out a horrible howl and fell upon the rest of them.  Vil and Cos were attacked next.  The demonic giant came after them with his club, and crushed their skulls like he had crushed Ban's.  While the was distracted with killing Cos, though, Gor and Yll managed to quietly slip away.  Once they had a few bushes between themselves and the giant, they broke out into an all out run, hurrying back to their village to warn the others.

    The forest flew by as the two ran.  It seemed to take forever, but at last they were back at the entrance to their subterranean village.  They ran into the cave and toward the village.  Life in the village of Phal was normal for now, but everything stopped when Gor shouted, "A demon's come to kill us all!"

    For a few seconds, the others laughed at him.  After they saw the look on Gor and Yll's faces, though, they believed, and then all hell broke loose.  The women ran back to their houses, dragging their children behind them, and locked the doors once safely inside.  The village warriors rallied the other men, and led them to the armory to arm everyone who could hold a short sword or a spear.  Soon, all the men of the village were armed, and they gathered together in the village square to make their stand against the demon.

    The men of Phal stood ready, swords and spears glinting in the light of the torches, and they appeared as a mighty army ready to do battle with any who would attack their homeland.  Then the giant appeared with his giant club and magic fire, and every one of those men in the village quaked in fear.  To their credit, however, not one turned and ran, and so they stood as one before him, ready to protect all that they loved from this demon of destruction.

    The demon fell upon them, swinging his mighty club, and the men of Phal resisted him.  The first one he attacked was Keni, one of Gor's drinking buddies.  Gor shrank back a little as he heard another crunch signal the end of another of his friends' lives.  The other men were shocked at first, and yelled insults at the giant for his bloodthirstiness and audacity, rattling their weapons at him in a feeble attempt to make themselves feel brave.

    "Murderer!" one yelled.

    "Demon!" another called out.

    "We'll kill you!"

    "Bloodthirsty ogre!"

    "Kill the giant!"

    "You killed Keni!"

    And on it went, at least until the giant attacked another of their number.  Then, they attacked him together.  Swords swung, and spears were thrust, all with lethal intent.  Even their best weapons, though, were reflected by the giant's rock hard skin.  They managed to bruise him in places, but that was all.  A few cried out in despair, but many tried to tackle the giant.  Individually, they might be useless, but together perhaps they could pull the giant down to the ground where he would be easier to kill.

    The giant laughed at their feeble attempts, though, and continued to swing his club in wide strokes at them, knocking back several men with each swing.  Gor looked around him, and saw the ground littered with the dead bodies of his friends.  Rage welled up within him, and Gor launched himself at the Giant, seeking to help bring down the hated one.  

    It was useless, though, for the giant simply intensified his magic fire, and it burned their eyes.  He slaughtered many in cold blood while they were blind and helpless.  Gor couldn't see this, but he could hear the screams and death rattles of his friends and family as they were struck down by the murderous demon.  

    When Gor could see again, he found himself in a dark corner of the village.  The giant was lumbering through the village, knocking down the doors of individual huts and heartlessly killing even the women and children within their huts.  Then he found the larger groups of houses, the compounds where the larger families of the village lived.  These he lit with his magical fire, and grinned while he watched the houses burn with their inhabitants still inside.  Any who escaped the flames were killed by the giant's club.  

    Gor found that he could do nothing but sit helplessly and watch as this atrocity took place.  The giant was actually enjoying this slaughter, even though he could hear the screams and crying of all who called this village home.  At last, all the houses of the village were on fire, and the giant left, apparently content with the chaos and evil that he had caused this day.  Gor waited for what felt like hours after the giant left, until he could take it no longer and fled from the ruins of his home.

    As he made his way out of the cave, Gor felt certain that the giant was waiting for him just beyond the mouth of the cave.  Gor braced himself, and stepped out into the light.  He found nothing but the forest outside, and at first he laughed with joy at his own good fortune.  Then he remembered his friends and family who had all died that day at the hands of the murderous demon, and he wept.  Gor sat there by the mouth of the cave and wept for all who had once lived in the peaceful village of Phal before the giant came.

    Dark clouds gathered overhead as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon.  As a sunset as crimson as the blood that was spilled that day filled the sky, rains came down.  At first, it was a light shower, and it grew progressively heavier.  Gor crept back inside the mouth of the cave to escape the rain, but did not go very far back.  He watched the rain, and was comforted by the fact that God, too, wept over the destruction wrought that day.  As the rain fell, the sun continued to set, until it had competely disappeared from the sky, making way for the moon to rule.  Darkness fell.