Excerpt: For King and Country

Dark Magic called out to Gremkarc.

Normally, a statement such as this would provoke dread, despair, and distrust. But magic on Eggsic was different. It existed as part of the atmosphere, just as much as oxygen and water, and it didn't very much care about how it was used - for what purpose or who by - just that it was used. It hungered for action, and this hunger overtook the instincts of each particular type of magic. It meant that if the darkest of the dark had to work for the kindest of the kind, then so be it.

It was not even as though, when the skin was stripped from the bones, that there was anything particularly unpleasant to find. To complete their creation, the orcs and goblins had been infused with the power of the Dark Lord Crogg, but it was his power to give - power he had harvested from the various black lands he had been to. There was a reason why nefarious types favoured the night. The night was cruel. It was the dying of the day. But the Dark had always been related to crime and illicit activities, too. The night-time gave the cover for robberies, assassinations, and experiments to be carried out.

Gremkarc was a darzard. They were the practitioners of this dark magic. In running with the borrowed and logical nature of the newly reformed goblin and orc races, naming conventions tended to be compounds and meshes of words. The word "wizard" had been stolen and affixed with a new beginning, to make the differences clear. Never before had the green-skinned races explored their magic. Under the rule of the Dark Lord dynasty, it had been frowned upon as an unexpected side-effect which was similar to how Crogg had lost most, if not all, of his own magic. Those that had benefited in mind to his dark magic and not just in existence were ordered not to use their "gift." Axes and swords were more reliable, and didn't give way to false delusions of grandeur.

But as if with every other aspect of greenskin "society", that had all changed. Free from their restraints, the orcs and goblins could now experiment. At first, that had come in the form of a few test subjects being sent to the Wizard's Heart in Idlewind, greatest city in all of Eggsic, to see if the mages, magicians and sorcerers could figure out the intricacies and potentials of this magic. But similarities were far and far between, and the conclusions all agreed: this was a very different kind of magic to what people were used to.

Despite that, the fact remained. When Gremkarc cast a healing spell, it was just a healing spell. Yes, dark and rasping tendrils would emerge from his hands, and at varying paces towards their target, attaching themselves with a cold, moist stickiness which would then begin to crawl around the body. but apart from that (and yes, it was a very big "apart from that", admittedly) it was just like a spell that a dryad, or a monk, would cast.

With that reassurance that nothing would go horribly wrong, coupled alongside the determination to radically change his people into a race which was a force of good for the world, Leader Opop had ordered Goblin City's very own Association of Heroes to be set up. It was an initiative that appeared in most nations these days, and was the first port of call in any city for wandering heroes to visit, in order to train, to find local news, and to help in any military efforts. What was special about this one was that it included a branch dedicated solely to discovering more and more about this magic - and this caused many more orcs and goblins to take up the powers of the dark.

'Go on,' murmured a high-pitched voice from beyond Gremkarc's closed eyes. This was not the voice of the dark. This could be surmised by the squeak to the tone. 'If you seek to be a hero and a credit to this nation, then imbue me. Heal my cut hand. You'll do it time and time again when we send you out into the wilds.'

The order roused him from his sleepless slumber. It had been giving him some comfort away from the reluctance to put his magic to the test, but no longer. He opened his eyes, and saw, a few steps ahead of him, the impatient but understanding face of Darzard Colnoc. He had been amongst the first of the casters to fully comprehend what this dark magic could really do. With that knowledge in mind, he had devoted the rest of his life, soon to end as it was, to teaching it to others. Gremkarc was going to be amongst a group of firsts, too. Goblin City was preparing to release the first bunch of its heroes out into the world.

'Alright sir,' replied Gremkarc,