Plight

With a bullish roar, the warrior lunged forward. Legs and arms grabbed and fiercely kicked him. Hands pulled and repeatedly seized at him in an effort to drag him down. Still, with the fury of a maddened beast, he struggled against them...

The night before now, before this strange moment of struggle and death, had been so serene. The scent of the coming of dawn could be sensed in the air. What had happened?

He had felt the feeling of sweet grass on the fingertips. He had witnessed another vision of peace, even if the vision's meaning was never all that clear to him.

They summoned forth iron nets. He saw now that they intended to surround him...

Damn them, he thought.

With a furious twist, he whipped about and frantically smashed a free hand into the face of one of his attackers. Immediately, and without hesitation, he shot forward and cleaved his axe deep and into the soft belly of another. Warm, red, fluid sprayed the lengths of his powerful arms. Entrails splattered the ground at his feet. Hefting a body clean and into the air, he dashed it against the mountain rocks as easily as a child would toss a pebble.

Why do you continue?

Still, his arm descended upon them like a hammer, and his heart beat heavy. The crunch of breaking bone split into the forest night...