The Rage

... the coast of Hillsbrad was still. At dusk everything calms down, form nagas to seagulls. The only person was still active was Angst Ironboot, walking to and fro near the entrance to Dun Garok, dwarven hold, carved into the mountains which formed a border between Arathi and the Foothills. 'What's taking Ulgarf so long?' wondered Angst. Ulgarf didn't belong to the type of people who missed important meetings. And the one which should have started by now was quite an important one. ... The sun sank itself into the Waters of the Great Sea, and gnolls, whose camps were located nearby, were wailing. There was still no Ulgarf present. And that wasn't good at all. "Sir? Is everything okay?" - said a shy voice behind Angst. "Nae, Hoji, nae at all. We seem to 'ave lost Ulgarf somewhere." - replied Angst. The gnome mountaineer sighed and walked back into the hold. Angst stroked his beard. Ulgarf's words of a feeling that he parted with Angst for the last time disturbed the Colonel's mind. Time for a search...

"Sir, ah haven't found anythin' suspicious in Southshoor" - reported Sigrid. Angst turned to one of the gnomes, Gutzy. "Anythin' strunge at tha east?" "Well, nothing Sir. Farmers are watering their orchards, and builders are reconstructing the Thoradin's Wall. Noone saw anything.

Thoradin's wall? "What'd ye mean reconstructin'?"

"Moving some heavy blocks, Sir, they are groaning so loud it can be heard for miles away".

Angst sighed. "Noone's ever gonnae rebuild tha Thoradin's Wall. That's Ullie"...

There are a lot of ways to lose control of yourself. Some work for a short time, others last for long. But the easiest way to lose oneself is fall into rage.

That's quite easy to do when you see someone cutting your friend's fingers off.

Rage is unnatural. When your mind becomes a mere observer to the actions that should be performed by you, and you alone, it quickly stops trying to change the state back to normal. After all, why should it? There is a human and an elf, both dressed in black, standing near your friend, who is chained to the floor. And they are torturing him in a way the follower of Light would never think about. Should there be any decisions? Should the precious time be spent on useless thoughts? Of course not. Angst didn't hear the voices of his comrades. Why should he pay attention? His enemy was in front of him, cowardly wrapping herself into a cocoon of protective spells and his hand was aching for a strike.

The elf female dodged, purple rays around her sucking the force of the blow. Angst moved forward, but the caster had dissapeared. The human was still there, yelling something.

Strange. If the longear disappeared, why doesn't anyone attack the man? Hoji should have his gun reloaded by this time, as well as McPhee, a friend of Ulgarf. And where's Sigrid with her poisoned blades?

Angst quickly pressed the man to the wall, pushing with his shield. Now he was defenseless, and all that Angst should do is crack his scull with his trusty mace. But for some strange reason the mace dropped at the dusty floor.

Angst's fist was still there, though, and Hejin got hit a couple of times before Angst realized it was charred to bone. Charred by the magic of the Shadow, the power of evil. The hand drew so much of the dwarf's attention that the human freed himself. It was no longer the human who Angst should worry about.

The elf was here and she whispered a word.

Egg-headed physicians state that rage increased the amount of pain one can bear. For Angst, it was Light guiding his actions and supporting him in the fight against Shadow. He moved closer and closer until the witch cursed and disappeared into thin air again.

There was no proof she wouldn’t return, but rage is a state when you cannot have a rest. Moreover, that human almost reached Ulgarf and was now standing at the edge of the wall. Angst charged him and they fell down together.

That must have been the pain barrier for Angst. Rage vanished, but the only command his tired mind could make is to turn off the light. Angst was brought a league south along with Ulgarf. The tortured was already being healed when Angst unwillingly opened his eyes to find himself in the safety of Dun Garok. " Ye said it was a feelin' that you won't see us for a lon' time, Ullie?" - said Angst, seeing Ulgarf's middle fingers lying in a box of ice. " That wasn't a feeling. Ye just eat too much fungus".