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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/This-Ocelot-646 on 2024-10-01 16:43:59+00:00.
Every species had a gift. That was the way of the Gods’ will, that was the way of nature’s flow.
The Dwarves, short and stocky, were gifted by the Mechanical God with the gift of creation and innovation. Their small, calloused hands worked swiftly, creating large monuments to their crafting prowess, castles nestled within mountains, large machines and weapons the likes of the other species had never seen before.
The Elves, tall and slender, were gifted by the Magician God with the gift of wisdom and magic. Large, towering libraries and spires dotted forest landscapes, a testament to their abilities. They weaved tree trunks like twine to create large castles, conjured up the tastiest foods, one even raised the dead, but that was very quickly outlawed.
The Orcs, large and broad, were gifted by the War God with the gift of strength and ruthlessness. Thundering, war hungry brutes that were natural hunters and battlers. Their Orc shamans used powerful blood magic and runes to strengthen their troops and weaken their enemies. While their civilization was primitive, they were still powerful enough that given the chance they likely would have taken the full continent. Had it not been for the humans.
Ah… the humans.
The humans were not particularly tall. Taller than dwarves, but shorter than elves and orcs. Average. They were not particularly strong, or durable, or in tune with magic. They were… quite average. They had quite a bit of innovation, and the dwarves thought that perhaps humans were taller descendants of them, but they were not as mechanically gifted as a dwarf. No, while they had blacksmiths, for a while the humans could only achieve the works of basic steel armor and weaponry. They were average. Even the one thing they excelled at, which was their stamina, endurance and hunting prowess could be outdone by a bloodlusted orc or even a lowly centaur.
What the humans did excel at, more than any other, was speaking. Perhaps not their gift, but the humans were certainly gifted in the ability to negotiate and broker even cross species. They convinced the dwarves out of their little mountain castles, negotiated, traded, and formed alliances with them. They paid for the dwarves’ gift, receiving in turn machinery and well forged items in exchange for servitude and livestock. Soon, humans were as well stocked as the dwarves, equal if not exceeding.
They spoke well with the elves, brokering a deal with the machinery they had just received from the dwarves. The elves had never before seen dwarven works, and were fascinated. They managed to trade this to learn the magic of the elves, and soon some humans managed to excel above even the elder elves and weave wooden webs with trees like a spider. Soon, the humans were powerful magicians and healers like the elves, equal if not exceeding.
The human’s most difficult challenge, however, were the orcs.
At first, the humans tried the same approach as they did the elves, offering dwarven machinery, armor, weapons. The orcs refused, their bone clubs and blades would do just fine.
The humans tried to teach them magic, the art of wood weaving and healing.
The orc shamans scoffed at the pitiful display. Their blood magic could leave battalions bleeding from every orifice of their body, they had no need for wood weaving.
Instead, the orcs wanted a display of strength. They took their most powerful orc soldier, Al’Thrakk, and demanded a human jump into the orc gladiator pit and fight. Defeat him, and the orcs would ally with the humans. Fail, and the orcs would slaughter the humans.
The humans sent their most powerful warrior into the ring. A man named John.
John, like all humans, was deceptively average. He was average height, build, strength, intelligence. Maybe the most average human of all time. And yet, when the fight commenced, this ‘John’ fought with the bravery of an orc battalion, and the fierceness of one. Kicking groins, darting below punches, climbing up Al’Thrakk’s back and putting him in a headlock, the audacity! The human fought like rats, dodging blows and only striking when his opponent was off balance. Al’Thrakk threw a punch at John’s head, which he ducked under, overextending his stance. John delivered a swift kick to the leg, and Al’Thrakk fell like a tree. John stood over his groaning opponent, who may never be able to sire children with the amount of blows his privates received, and raised his hands into the air, victorious.
And so, the orcs respected the humans. They traded with them, taught them orc battle tactics, blood magic, and trained them. Soon, humans were feared warriors like the orcs, equal if not exceeding.
For a time, the species lived in a balance, with the humans at the epicenter of it all. They negotiated treaties between the others, negotiated trade terms, negotiated the Union of Species. The world thrived under their influence.
Unfortunately, under the ground, in pits and deep caverns, evil finds its way to brew. The Demon God, Malfalst, hated prosperity. Hated the Union. Above all, he hated the humans. He hated their diplomacy, hated their kindness, hated their determination. He vowed to take the world, and when he did, he would wipe the human species off the planet.
Rising out of every pit and cavern, every sinkhole and cave, the hordes came. Thousands of demons, creatures, aberrations of life that should have never seen the light of day. They crossed the horizon like a tsunami of destruction, closing in on Union territory.
It was the dwarves they slaughtered first. Holed up in their mountain castles, all the machinery in the world couldn’t stop them from destroying the front gates and battalions. Malfast turned the dwarves’ gift against them, taking over their machinery and besieging their castle. Plague demons swept disease throughout the defending dwarven forces, culling their numbers. Eventually, the horde broke through, tearing apart the remaining dwarves and hanging them off the machines they had created, making horrible half mechanized, half biological creations.
With the death of so many living creatures, the flow of nature was out of balance. As such, Elven magic began to malfunction and corrupt. Powerless without their gift, the elves were where Malfast attacked next. The elves had for far too long relied on their gift, and as such had lost much of their bodily strength and working ability. The pitiful army the elves sent out to meet the demon horde were quickly slaughtered. The forest burned with the flames of hell as Malfast destroyed the elves and their homes, taking their magic and goods for himself. A black cloud of remains and ash floated above the forest, billowing into the air.
The Orcs of course, noticed this. They sent a battalion out to investigate the smog, delving into the elven woods. When that battalion did not return, they sent another. And another. 5 battalions went and left before the orcs processed that perhaps they had not gotten lost in the woods but rather defeated. The orcs, unable to accept this defeat, sent the full bulk of their army towards the demons. Ready for vengeance, the orcs charged into the forest. Malfast took advantage of their gift, which was also their weakness, leading the unwise and bloodthirsty orcs into a series of traps, culling their numbers bit by bit. He burned the orcs bodies afterwards, so the blood shamans would have no magic to call upon in the heat of battle. The last of the orc battalion were surrounded, rounded up like cattle and slaughtered like such as well.
With the final obstacle crushed, Malfast turned his sights to the ultimate goal. The humans. Their houses and castles nestled in valley hills, Malfast was set on exploiting the human’s gift to crush them utterly. But the more he researched, the more he looked into the characteristics of humanity, the more he became confused. Humanity had no gift. They were average in every regard, they had no one thing that they excelled at. They had no strengths… and no weaknesses.
Malfast decided anyway to attack the humans, sending his horde of demons to the human settlements. Thousands of claws smacked the ground as they charged at the human walls.
The humans were not ill-prepared however. They had seen what happened to their allies, and they were determined to crush the demons for what they did. Thousands of arrows flew over their castle walls, spearing demons out of the sky. Thousands of swords slashed in unison, tearing the hides off demons and slitting their throats. Malfast tried all his tricks. Tried to siege the human castles, but the humans learned from the dwarves, and sent a group to attack from behind the sieging horde, destroying them. He tried to burn the human crops, but the humans learned from the elves, throwing water on the burning fields. The water evaporated some demons, and the humans learned from that, incorporating water into their counterattacks. He tried leading the humans into a trap, but the humans learned his traps and created their own, elaborate pitfalls and rope traps and tactical retreats into large ambushes. At each turn, Malfast was bested.
The humans beat back the demons, pushing them back into the forests, then back into the mountains, and back into the caves. They pushed the demons back to hell, cornering Malfast. In a desperate final gambit, Malfast offered his servitude to the leader of the humans, in exchange for his freedom. He offered them the gifts he had stolen from the other races, the g…
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