Hooh boy, here we go.

In the months leading up to "The Pale-Blood Incident", humans and orcs were having trouble getting along. By “having trouble getting along”, I mean that orcs kept beating humanity in skirmishes for resources, leaving the humans pissed off. Pearls had reigned as the gem of choice, but when humans saw orcs wearing shiny silver and gold armor with pretty, sparkly diamonds, envy took over. Since orcs aren’t the type to share, humans decided to fight for it.

They lost.

A lot.

Thus to stroke their bruised ego, humans started hunting Drakae to dangerous levels. They also began semi-training sorcies for combat (by “semi-training”, I mean “forcibly conscripting under threat of death”).

The battles using sorcies resulted in devastation toward not only both parties, but nature as well. Rather than let orcs win resources from their challenges, human commanders would destroy the coveted area out of spite so that no one would be allowed to have it. To do this, they commanded sorcies to siphon all the magi out of the area. Nature without magi becomes lifeless. Flowers wither, fairies become dormant, and the vibrancy of life fades. When used in excess, the body of the magic user also began to change. The eyes became yellow, the skin became ashen, and the blood became a dull, reddish gray color. Sorcies afflicted with this condition became known as Pale-Bloods. The magi would regenerate eventually, but the process took years. Orcs slowly began to realize two things about humans:

1) Their strength was growing exponentially for some reason.

2) Human pettiness knew no bounds.

As humans hunted the Drakae and destroyed more and more nature, the orcs decided to call for a council.

Orcs never talk things out. Things got that dire.

And so one morning, in a little town located near a prospective mine, human and orc leaders decided to meet. It was supposed to be a simple discussion about not killing everything in return to mining on the mountains.

Here’s why that didn’t happen.

Orcs pride themselves on shows of strength, so their delegation brought along the usual warriors and two of the Drakenguard. It sounds like a lot, but in reality that was about fifteen orcs and two fire-drakes.

The human lord, not wanting to take any chances, brought along three-hundred and twenty knights, not including a few dozen warlocks. The talks began a little outside the village in a farm.

Now what happened next depended on who you talked to. Unfortunately, I could not be there thanks to being temporarily turned into a baby (don’t ask), so feel free to make your own judgements.

According to the humans, the fire-drakes that had been outside started to grow irritable. They began attacking the farmer’s livestock. When the farmer’s kids tried to intervene, the orcs stopped them and pushed them away. When the oldest son again tried to stop the livestock from being eaten, the orc signaled the drake to murder the children, forcing the human warriors to act. As a result, the drakes went on a rampage. Instead of trying to calm their animals, the orcken warriors started slaughtering the knights for trying to kill the drakes.

According to the orcs, a group of human children began pestering the creatures. They threw dead rats and other vermin to try and get the drakes riled up. A warrior confronted the children and tried to intimidate them into stopping. One of the children ran to a knight, saying that the orc had been harassing them. When the knight confronted the warrior, blade drawn, the drake immediately rose to protect its owner. The knight, seeing this action, called for help, and a fight ensued.

Both claims have valid and exaggerated points. Orcs would intimidate, but wouldn't purposefully antagonize during important meetings involving their chiefs. Knights, while still fearful, had enough training and caution to know better than to go in swords a-swinging. And not all children are little bastards, just most.  

Whatever the reason, a large-scale battle engulfed the town. By the end of the day, both fire-drakes had perished, as well as eight of the fifteen orcs. Including those in the village, two hundred and eighty-three people died. The magic used by the warlocks had grown wild, engulfing the town and surrounding area. The survivors of the destruction slowly developed an illness from having their magi sucked from their body at an increasing rate. Doctors who came to help the wounded reported watching the blood seep from their bodies change from vibrant red to pale. Even orcs, a species unable to contain and manipulate magi, reported their skin becoming more ashen, and their blood changing to gray. Hence the entire incident became known as "The Pale-Blood Incident".

Many later fights brought on even more devastation, but it was this incident right here that changed relations between the two races forever. After this, neither side became willing to talk with one-hundred percent faith. Maybe there could have been a resolution made. Maybe things could have been talked out eventually.

But it didn’t happen. Why?

Even with all that devastation, humans believed they had succeeded in finally winning over orcs. That tiny bit of satisfaction? That was all you needed to eventually take over the world.