The Rise Of A Porter

Arnold patiently waited for Lorcan to get over with his commitment, and by then the report of Arnold's patience reached the ears of the other leaders as well. Thus they hurried into the zone where Lorcan and his men were busy evacuating. 

They came under the guise of backup, but their true intention was to see for themselves whether what they had heard was true or not. Much to their surprise, it was true. In fact, Arnold was even helping Lorcan to lift collapsed buildings which they couldn't do on their own. 

None of them could believe their eyes. Whatever they had heard and witnessed about the heretic god seemed to be false. If he was truly as heartless as Aimon had told them, then why would he be helping them rescue the elves rather than taking advantage of the situation? 

"Don't be fooled by this display, brothers and sisters!" One of the leaders yelled his lungs out, "This is nothing but a tactic to catch us off guard! Why is he helping us now after causing all this mess in the first place, can someone tell me that?"

The elves were now feeling a bit conflicted. It was true that Arnold had already killed hundreds, if not thousands of them and helping them now would not resurrect the fallen souls. It felt much believable that the heretic god was trying to catch them off guard rather than to have a change of heart in the middle of the battlefield. 

They drew their arms out and were about to charge right into Arnold when suddenly Lorcan and his men jumped in between them.

"Anyone who wants to confront the lord will have to go through me and my men first!"

Much to everyone's surprise, Lorcan proudly proclaimed his allegiance to Arnold. The other leaders had not expected this to happen. After all, Lorcan wasn't someone who would bow his head in front of someone. Even if they were a god. 

But for him to jump in like that, the other elves saw it as heresy. He was not only betraying them but also betraying their goddess as well. 

"Lorcan, have you turned into a heretic as well?" Yet another leader questioned him.

But this time Lorcan was not afraid to show them whose side he was on. He walked right up to the leader who had just proclaimed Lorcan to be a heretic. However, he did not do anything else and yet the leader's knee started to feel weak all of a sudden. 

In the presence of a bigger threat, all of the elves had forgotten just exactly who Lorcan was. He was the only tribal leader who had not been defeated ever in a battle. Even an alliance between the Light elves and the Dark elves was not enough to bring this elf down, and the leader thought he could simply berate him like that?

"It seems you all have forgotten who I am?" Lorcan said before flexing his neck in front of them, "I got tame for a second and here you all are thinking that you are some big shot-"

"Lorcan, was it? I thought I told you to focus on evacuation so that we can resume our fight. Then why are you wasting your time here?" Arnold said without even bothering to look at the other elves, "As for them, they can fight me if they so desperately wish to die today."

With a snap of his fingers, Arnold knocked them all away and it was just the beginning of his show of powers. If they wanted to fight him, they could do so, but first, he needed to make one thing clear. 

"Before I start killing you like insects, let me tell you one thing." He said with a poker face, "I am not here to kill you. As long as your goddess appears in front of me and fights me, I'll be content with leaving you alone."

"However, it does not seem like she cares enough about you to actually help you out. In that case, she leaves me no choice but to kill all of you for wasting my time. With that out of the way, why don't you come at me?" 

Arnold issued an open challenge to them, yet none of them even dared to take a step towards him. It was strange to see something like that. After all, mere moments ago they were boasting about defeating him and now they were cowering away in fear?

'No... they aren't afraid of me.' Arnold thought as he read their faces, 'It's something else, something they know to be afraid of.'

Then he saw what they were looking at. Up in the skies. He looked up as well and realised something was coming. 

The skies had turned the darkest shade of black he had ever seen. However, a moment later he saw something within those dark clouds. A ray of light that resembled more of a rainbow... It took him a moment to realise exactly what it was and jumped away at the last possible moment to avoid getting hit by the beam. 

Huge clouds of dust rose in the air as multiple buildings were knocked down as if they were made of twigs. The elves who had been sitting there a moment ago could no longer be seen. It seemed the violent shockwaves knocked them away along with the buildings. 

"I was expecting a god to show up," Arnold mumbled as the dust around him began to settle down, "but I had never thought you would be the one to show up like this."

"Shut your trap. I am not here to chat with someone like you." A thunderous voice echoed throughout Alfheim, "I am here to avenge my beloved..." 

"You live up to the folklore I had read about back home," Arnold replied back before dawning his armour, "Thor, the god of thunder and an arrogant prick. All that aside, your entrance was nothing short of epicness-"

Before Arnold could even complete was he was saying, Thor hurled Mjolnir at him. However, much to Thor's surprise, Arnold managed to dodge his strike effortlessly. 

"Hmm... you might not be the one I was looking for, but you would surely make a better plaything.." Arnold said as he banged his fists together and got into his battle stance.