The dust and steam finally began to settle after the lightning strike. The violent column of power had scorched a deep, smoking crater into the earth where Jason had stood moments earlier.
For several long seconds the clearing remained almost silent except for the soft hiss of cooling rock and the distant lap of lake water against the shore. Charred grass crumbled under the faintest breeze. The air still carried the sharp scent of ozone and burned soil.
Thar lowered his axe slowly, chest still heaving from the effort. A grim, satisfied chuckle escaped his throat. He had done it. The abomination the council feared, the monster who had walked through an entire army without effort, now lay face-down in the dirt at the edge of the crater, completely still. The orc allowed himself a single breath of relief.
Then the snoring started.
Loud, deep, almost theatrical snoring.
Thar’s expression froze. The sound was unmistakable and deeply insulting. Jason was not unconscious from damage. He was asleep—or, more accurately, he was pretending to be asleep in the most deliberate way possible. The orc’s grip on the axe tightened until the wooden handle creaked under the pressure of his fingers.
Jason’s shoulders shook once with quiet laughter before he pushed himself up from the ground. When he rose fully, the casual, mocking air that had surrounded him earlier was gone. His posture was straighter. His eyes were sharper. The playful grin had vanished, replaced by something colder and far more focused.
"You want a real fight?" Jason said, voice low and steady. "I will give you a real fight."
The ground around him trembled. Thick roots exploded upward from the soil in a violent surge of green and brown. Trees that had not existed moments before erupted into full growth within seconds, trunks thickening with audible cracks, branches spreading wide and dense.
Leaves unfurled with unnatural speed, creating a sudden canopy that blocked out much of the fading daylight.
Within the span of a few heartbeats, a small but dense forest had risen around the clearing, cutting off escape routes and filling the air with the heavy scent of fresh sap and living wood. The earth itself seemed to breathe under Jason’s will.
Thar’s eyes widened in genuine shock. This was not in any of the reports the council had compiled. Jason’s known abilities revolved around the marrow, overwhelming physical power, and the Marrow Lords. Nothing about life magic. Nothing about dominion over plants which showed it was an ability Jason hadn’t used since he conquered the Marrow.
The orc raised his axe defensively, lightning already beginning to crawl along the blade again as he prepared for a serious exchange.
Jason did not charge. Instead, the newly grown trees answered his will with precise aggression. Thick branches lashed out from every direction, not simply to crush but to obstruct and harass. They whipped across Thar’s line of sight in coordinated waves, forced him to slash and deflect continuously, and constantly shifted position so that he could never keep a clear view of his opponent for more than a fraction of a second. One branch would come high while another swept low. A third would suddenly thicken and attempt to coil around his legs. The orc was strong and skilled, his enchanted axe cutting through wood with explosive bursts of lightning, but the constant interference demanded nearly all of his attention and stamina.
Bark and splinters flew with every swing. Thar roared as he carved through another cluster of branches, only for more to take their place instantly. The forest itself seemed alive and hostile, responding to Jason’s slightest intent.
The orc’s boots sank slightly into soil that had grown softer and more treacherous under the influence of the roots. Sweat began to run down his temples.
He never sensed Jason moving.
One moment Thar was cutting through another dense wave of branches with a wide, desperate arc. The next, a quiet voice spoke directly beside his right ear, close enough that he could feel the faint warmth of breath.
"Damn. It is that easy?"
The orc spun with a furious roar, axe swinging in a wide, killing arc that would have split most men in half. Jason was already gone from that spot. He stood several paces away with his hands loosely at his sides, watching calmly as the severed branches fell and the living wood began to knit itself back together. The message was unmistakable and deeply unsettling. If Jason had wanted to end the fight at that moment, Thar would already be dead, and he would never have seen the killing blow coming.
The realization hit him eventually. Thar’s arms lowered slightly, the lightning around his axe flickered and then died completely.
Something in the way the trees had grown, the way the roots had moved with such precise and almost gentle control despite their power, stirred a memory he had tried to bury for months. Soft hands guiding young seedlings into the earth.
Quiet laughter under a canopy of leaves she had grown herself with the same affinity for life.
A voice that used to tease him for being too serious when he came home covered in the blood of their enemies.
It was his wife.
The axe slipped from his fingers and thudded heavily into the dirt.
Jason watched the change in the orc’s face carefully and understood immediately. The roots and branches slowly, almost respectfully, retracted into the ground, leaving the clearing open once more. The sudden forest sank away as if it had never been there, the only evidence of its existence being the disturbed soil and the lingering scent of sap.
"Why aren’t you killing me?" Thar asked, voice rough and quieter than before.
Jason shrugged and walked back toward the edge of the lake, still completely unbothered by his own nakedness. Water lapped at his calves as he stepped in.
"Man, you are a good lad. You might be thick-headed, but your heart is in the right place. I know how you people see me. I understand. But I didn’t come here to defend myself. I came here to stop something that threatens this very world."
He stepped deeper into the water until it reached his waist, then glanced back over his shoulder with a more serious expression.
"And after that, I will gladly serve my time. But I’m afraid my wives won’t let me." He chuckled quietly at the thought, the sound carrying a hint of genuine fondness.
Thar stared at him. "You are married?"
"Yup. Not officially, though. But I understand that my wives are the most important people to me in this world." Jason left out the part about the pregnancies. That knowledge was still too new and too private to share freely.
He studied the orc for a longer moment, taking in the scars, the weight of years, and the fresh grief still sitting behind the anger.
"What about you? Any wives? You look like you have more years lived than years ahead."
Thar’s jaw tightened. For a long time he said nothing, staring at the place where his axe lay discarded. When he finally spoke, the words came out low and heavy, each one carrying the weight of something he had not said aloud in a long time. "I had a wife. She died during the first disasters... the ones that began when the Marrow was released."
Jason went completely still. The water around him suddenly felt colder. He did not look away or try to soften the truth with excuses.
"I see. Your wife died because of what I did."
There was no defensiveness in his voice. No attempt to shift blame onto circumstance or the Marrow itself. He accepted the full weight of the consequence.
"I’m sorry," Jason said quietly, and the words carried real weight. "I truly am. But I cannot allow you to kill me." He met Thar’s eyes without flinching. "With what I’ve seen... who knows. There might be a way to bring her back."
Jason also wasn’t one to utter such thing so carelessly if he didn’t truly believe so.
Thar’s brow furrowed deeply. Death was final. Everyone knew that. Resurrection on any meaningful scale had been lost to myth and forbidden texts for centuries. Yet the human standing in the lake had already done too many impossible things for the idea to be dismissed outright.
The orc said nothing, but he did not reach for his weapon again.
Even Thar knew in this moment that there was no point in fighting Jason because there was no way someone so evil would have access to magic that controlled life, just like his wife.
The two of them stood in silence as the last of the dust drifted away on the evening breeze. The lake reflected the sky in perfect stillness. Somewhere in the distance, a night bird called once and then fell quiet. The fight was over, but something far heavier had taken its place between them.