Burning Bridges

[Gridish]

Present day


Late afternoon light shimers through the window, iluminating the old, stylish room, walls covered in bookcases and the center of the room occupied by a large spiral staircase, guarded by the remains of a aviant dinosaur that are hanging from the ceiling. Occupying a desk by the window is a heavily bandaged orc, reading one of the many books. He slowly flips through the pages, reading them as he goes. "Gridish, your food is ready. Come and get it while it's still warm." The orc sighs, closes his book, gets up slowly and starts making his way down the spiral staircase of the tower.


Just like the upper floor, the other floors' walls are covered with bookcases, filled with books. Gridish makes it downstairs and takes a seat at a table that is prepared with a meal. "Ah there you are Gridish. Did you learn a lot today?" The human asks. Gridish grunts lowly as he eats, hardly acknowledging the question at all and the human sighs in response. As they continue their meal, Gridish slowly looks up at the human. "How did they die?" The human nearly chokes on his food at the question and looks up at Gridish and looks at the orc suprised. "You know the answer to that question. You've asked me that question every meal since you've been informed.." Gridish grunts and continues with his meal, sighing softly.


A few months ago


"He's still in his coma.... How long do you think it will last?" Gridish teacher asks the human mage. "I'm not certain. His wounds need to heal. They can only heal properly if he's in this state." says the mage softly and continues " I'm fully aware you have tasks to furfill. I'll take care of the orc as if he was one of my own. That I promise you. I will send a message for you when he awakens." The mage and Gridish's teacher nod slowly to each other before the teacher leaves.


A few days later Gridish slowly awakens, before trying to jump out of bed, attempting to grab his blade and get ready to strike. Instead he  slams onto the ground as he notices he doesn't have any strength in his legs. After hearing the loud thump of the orc hitting the ground, the human rushes up to check on the orc. "ah.. you are finally awake, Gridish. Do you remember me? Maybe you remember this place? No?" Gridish stares at the human. "yes, it's me.. the poor mage you and your orc friends attacked on your trip in red ridge. This very tower you besieged. It's alright though. I promised our teacher I'd take care of you." The mage nods slowly and walks to Gridish, helping him up and helping him back to bed. Gridish looks around, not certain with what's going on. "you got ambushed by ogres a month ago... You lost the fight, but your teacher and some of his pupils rescued you and brought you here. You've been asleep since then."


Gridish slowly looks around, checking his surroundings. "where is the tribe?" Gridish asks and looks up at the human. " oh...well, an army of ogres ambushed Garadar.. The troops of Shattrath were to late to do anything. No orc survived. I'm real sorry for your loss." Gridish grunts and looks away in disbelief.  "your teacher would like you to stay here until he returns. My house is your house. I'll give you some time." The mage nods slowly and walks down the spiral stairs.



The present day

"You didn't answer my question" Gridish grumbled as he looked up torwards the human. The human mage nods slowly. "The Red Blades died to an ogre attack on Oshu'gu-" Gridish jumps to his feet and slams his fists on the table, interupting the mage. "You said they died in Garadar. They aren't dead.. are they!?" The mage also jumps to his feet and stares at Gridish, seemingly a bit nervous. "t-that.. thats what I meant.. Ga-" Before the mage can finish his sentence, Gridish slams the table asside, clearing the path between him and the mage.


"Where... Are... They!?"  The mage takes a few steps back. "they are dead!" Gridish lets out a loud roar, conjures a frostbolt and casts it at the mage. "Where!?" The mage hastily dodges the frostbolt, but trips and falls onto the ground. "Alright! Last I heard, they went through the strange dark portal... Something strange happened to it and the Red Blades went through it. That is the last report I've read from your teacher's student... Please don't kill me." Gridish stares at the mage that is shaking on the floor. "I won't kill you. I will let our teacher decide what to do with you. You haven't just lied to me." Gridish spits on the floor beside the mage and walks off and opens the door. "step through that door and you won't be able to return. What would your teacher think of you." Gridish looks over his shoulder and grunts. "The only one that needs to worry about him is you and what he'll do to you. Gridish snorts walks through the magic barrier into the wilderness of Red Ridge.