His reflection stared back at him as he knelt by the pond’s bank, washing the blood off of his hands. In the past, he had always worn his hair down to cover his ears. Now, he wore his hair pulled back, braided into two ponytails, exposing his ears. His right ear was rounded on top, a human trait he received from his father. His left ear came to a point, reflecting the elven lineage from his mother. In this world’s day and age, he wasn’t accepted by anyone, only his parents, but now, they were gone. He was completely alone.
He stood up and wiped his hands dry on his pants, still staring at his reflection. His mind was racing from the attack he had just narrowly survived. Several drow elves had encircled him while he was sleeping, slowly making their way in. One of them carelessly stepped on a small tree branch lying on the ground. The sound of the branch snapping startled him awake.
As soon as his eyes popped open, all of his senses rushed to him all at once, allowing him to appraise the situation in a split-second. He could feel the intense negative energy in the air. The type of energy that could only be given off by the extreme hatred of the drow. His ears picked up their breathing, there were eight of them.
Knowing their advantage had been compromised, they all rushed in for the kill. Terriel threw his blanket straight up into the air and popped to his feet. Two drow approaching from the foot of his bed got entangled in the blanket. Terriel quickly made a front flip over the entrapped drow, twisting in mid-air. He thrust forward with both arms, sending his scimitar through the back of one elf and plunging his dagger into the back of the head of the other.
Terriel jumped up and kicked the two dead drow with both of his feet, sending them crashing into two more drow coming in from the opposite side. The force of the kick projected Terriel backward, away from the oncoming drow. Terriel landed on his back and rolled to his feet. He was now a safe distance away from the remaining six elves; however, his weapons were both still protruding out of the two dead drow.
Terriel tripped the switches he built into his boots with his toes, releasing short, hidden blades; one in the front of his right boot and the other in the back of his left. Both of them were tipped with poison that only took seconds to work their deadly magic.
Four drow came rushing in, while the other two scrambled to their feet after being knocked down by their dead companions. The lead drow took a swing with his short sword. Terriel turned to his left, missing the cut of the blade, then dropped to his back bringing his right foot up, catching the drow in his heart with his bladed boot, instantly killing the drow.
As soon as Terriel’s back touched the ground, he bounced back up in anticipation of the contact and somersaulted over the drow he had just killed. As soon as he landed on his feet, he swung his left leg in a roundhouse kick and caught one of the elves in the back with his poison-tipped blade.
The other two elves came in with a flurry of thrusts and swipes, coming dangerously close to catching Terriel, but never landing anything serious. Terriel twisted, dodged and turned through the whirling blades, waiting for the right moment and then it appeared. Terriel struck out with both fists, staggering the two drow back and then jumped up in the air into a side-split kick, catching the drow under their chins with his poisoned blades.
Terriel landed gracefully on his feet. Only two more to go.