It was the stench that burned her nose, and dragged her mind back into reality. Asleep in the hollow of the massive Tezki tree, The young girl popped out of the hazy safety of the dream world. Momentarily confused, A needle of panic gripped her heart as she ascertained what was going on around her. Realizing that she was in no direct danger, Nula's fear was quickly replaced with anger at herself.

"Emperors Tears" she cursed under her breath. Asleep on watch. This was not the time or the place for youthful folly. "youthful folly" would have little solace for those killed by the green skin menace. Dead was still dead. Even this train of thought was not to be a permanent fixture in her mind as yet a third more pressing thought interrupted her. What was that stench?

At only the age of 13, Nula was not imposing to stare at. No one had ever looked at her in terror, or retreated from her gaze as she surveyed a room. In fact it was a rare moment when she was noticed. The daughter of a quarry worker on the forgotten moon of a minor planet at the farthest reaches of imperial space, she was nothing more than just another child in the small cliff side village, destined to either raise a family, or take up trade. That was, until the greenskins arrived.

Even the arrival of such malice was seemingly non-chalant in the grand scheme of things. There had been no cataclysmic event, no sundering of the sky, no eruption from a rift, nothing akin to the historical texts in the community library with which she had so often kept herself entertained. The evil that was systematically butchering or enslaving her people had simply just shown up one day. There were not even hints of it's genesis in the rumor mills. The terror of their arrival showed up in the silencing of trading partners, the reports from hunters of destroyed villages and outposts, and the Crawl.

The Crawl was the term for the slowly spreading destruction that they witnessed over the course of several months. Her village was carved into the sides of a massive cliff face atop the tallest mountain she was aware of. It gave her people a view of the land, which unknowingly to them, was unparalleled throught the galaxy. From the base of the massive cliff the Eternal Forest began, and spread out in every direction as far as the eyes could see. The Crawl was the slow destruction of the forest as the greenskins spread across the land. The first sign had been a raging forest fire at the edge of the horizon. Memories of the billowing smoke as it blocked out the sun still caused her heart to ache. The fires raged for over a month, and by the time the smoke had died down, a significant portion of their glorious forest was been consumed, leaving a massive scar in its wake. The scar stood like an ever present reminder that something was wrong for her people as they continued on with their lives. Soon after the hunters would begin the reports of destruction. Soon after that the scar would begin to grow, this time without fire, and would gain its name.

The first encounter with the greenskins happened after several weeks of growth from the Crawl. A hunting party had been near decimated. Only two men had returned, one of which had succumbed to his injuries the next day. Being young and uneducated they reported a battle with massive green deamons with monstrous teeth.

Nula had been among the first to truly recognize what that meant. Her time with the books left a name in her memory which sprung like a trap at the first reports. Orks. They were under attack by Orks. It was in that moment that she first understood fear.

The effect of the Stench was to bring her out of the painful memories, and back into the moment. Only one thing was capable of such on odor, and its presence filled her with terror. Careful not to make a sound, and thankful her earlier curse had not drawn attention, Nula shifter her weight and slowly leaned forward, between a split in a branch to see what lay before her. About 15 feet below her stood a massive hulk of muscle, rotting cloth, and scrap iron.

The Ork was small for its kind. For all its time invading this land, the Ork had seen very little conflict, and as such had grown very little. This was no solace to Nula, whom in comparison was dwarfed by the massive frame. It was bare chested save for a ragged cloak sewn in a checker board pattern, and a massive rusted piece of scrap metal chained into the semblance of armor. The imperial eagle was stamped into the iron, and had been more than defiled by crude Ork glyphs.

While she had been raised in relative solitude, Nula had once before visited the capital city of her land, a massive city of over twenty thousand people which spread over ten to fifteen miles. How so many people could live in one place was beyond Nula, but in her travels she had seen many things, the most relevant off which was the wonders of imperial technology. She had been especially impressed with the Imperial guard and their war machines. Tanks they had been called. What scared her now was that the last time she had seen an imperial eagle of that nature, it had been pressed into the hull of one of the seemingly invincible war machines. At the time she had been certain that nothing could overcome one, but here before her stood evidence of a beast which wore its carcass as armor.

She reached down and felt for the handle of her knife. Finding comfort in its presence, she studied the monster below her. What was her obligation in this moment? She was a scout now, whose goal was advanced notice and warning of approaching greenskin threats. Being exceptionally intelligent and extremely agile, the elders had seen her potential and agreed to allow her service. She was now on the front lines of the defense.

Her job was simple. Alert the village if any greenskin came within eyesight. The Crawl was still miles away from the base of their cliff, and a carful reduction of smoke at day and fire the occasional electric light at night had so far kept their home, as exposed as it was, out of greenskin attention.

Now however, one of the beasts sat below her. It was something they all expected, and a scenario she had prepared herself for. As terrifying as it was being right above something so violent and deadly, she kept her calm. She had no reason to be seen, and was not expected to expose herself to its attention. In fact, it was completely acceptable for her to curl back up in the hollow of the tree. Still, she was exceptionally curious about the ominous threat which had plagued her people for so long. It was one thing to hear about the Orks, to have the idea of them hanging over ones head for such a long time, and quite another to actually see one.

The beast was surprisingly like the descriptions she read of in the library. It towered over her at a massive 6 feet, and it seemed to her that it could be taller if only it would stretch its neck out of the hunch it seemed to naturally stuck to.

A glance to its side dampened her curiosity. What could be called a knife in name only hung lazily at its side. Had it been day time, the sun would never had been able to glint of its blade, as it covered in rust as it was. Crude teeth were riveted along the edge, and in the faint light she thought she could make out the red stain of blood. Sympathy pains shredded her imagination as she envisioned being struck by such a weapon. She felt sick inside.

The beast seemed to perk up, as if something had caught it attention. It looked up the face of the cliffs, as did she. Suddenly she saw a flash of light, almost as the sun would reflect of a glass during the midday. The beast snarled in recognition and grew a cold sneer on its face. It took but split second for her to realize what had just happened. Regardless of the cause, improper light discipline had just revealed the existence of her home. In that moment, the weight of responsibility made her feel suddenly, and uniquely alone.