Frostbound

Marcus

The fear fell away and he fought to keep it that way. He was no coward and he was better than that. He'd fought tides of insects and killed hundreds of Orcs, he wasn't about to be paralyzed in fear just because of one, extremely strong Orc.

An Orc that could most likely kill him in one or two blows. An Orc that looked like he could...

No! He admonished himself and fought to keep the fear at bay.

His feet were freed and he hesitantly took his first step forward. Toward the danger. Toward the Orc. That step shook off some of the paralyzing fear and the next diminished it further.

But while he had taken a paltry few steps, Chris had charged forward like it was just another enemy to face. Like this War Leader was no different than the Orcs that attacked at the start.

The lack of fear, no, more than lack, devoid of the idea, startled Marcus. Every living thing had a fear response and while Marcus' was screaming at him to get as far away from the threat as possible, it was like Christopher's was broken.

Shattered to pieces like the mountains of bodies at his feet.

Christopher didn't even know they were there! He hadn't turned and Marcus doubted he was in a state to see anything further than his eyes took in. He saw the enemy and he charged the enemy, not even realizing he had allies that had come to help him.

Marcus could tell he wasn't thinking. His eyes were wild and unfocused. His aura was the same. He'd felt Chris unleash it a few times on the boats and it was always steady as a rock. Or a glacier in his case.

It was heavy and unmoving while also bringing a nipping chill along with it. If Marcus were weaker, that chill would have bit into his skin and sought to freeze him from within, but he could fight that off.

Now, that image of a giant, unmoving glacier was replaced. In its place was a wild, fluctuating area of pure desolation. The warmth, the small piece there used to be if it could be called that, was long gone. It used to be like the cold nip of a dark winter night.