Want to take your character back in time or create a new character, perhaps an ancestor of you character now? Here's where to do it. The times were wild, the ages of Kings and Queens, castles and crusades. Want to meet the fabled creatures that you see in Darker Realms present, you'll see them as they were in the past.
About Darker Realms / Darkside Wrestling Federation
Freeman suddenly didn't feel like he was in the water anymore. In fact, it felt like he was on the ground somewhere and the air felt humid. Was he dead? He wasn't sure.
Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in what appeared to be a jungle, kneeling in the high grass, the sun burning bright in the sky high above. His scuba gear had mysteriously disappeared, leaving him completely naked, except for the necklace he had found. It was still around his neck and the pendant was very hot for some reason.
He didn't understand what had happened. He had gone from being trapped in an underwater chamber about to die to the middle of a jungle. Maybe he had only been knocked unconscious by the falling stone floor and now he was just dreaming until he was finally dead. He didn't think that was it though. Everything about where he was now seemed too real to simply be just a dream.
Standing up, he took a better look around the area. There didn't seem to be anything special about it. He was pretty sure he wasn't in Greece anymore though; South America perhaps.
Not really knowing what else to do, he began walking in a random direction, hoping to stumble upon some sort of civilization eventually. He occasionally called out for help as he moved. He never got any kind of response though and gave up on it after a while. At one point, he heard what he thought was a roar. He didn't know what kind of animal produced the noise, but he hoped he didn't run into it. He also thought he heard movement nearby several times.
He really wanted to know where he was and how he got there. And the more he thought about it, the more he suspected that it had something to do with the necklace.
Eventually, he came across a field and standing in it was one of the last things he had expected to find there: a group of grazing triceratops.
Freeman: "...What the hell?"
He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Had he really been teleported or whatever not only out of the underwater chamber but to a different period in time altogether? Or was he in some land that rest of the planet was unaware of?
Whatever the case, he began to carefully make his way through the field, avoiding getting near the creatures. In books and movies, he remembered that triceratops were always said to have only eaten plants, but he didn't feel like testing that theory out. Besides, even if they really only ate plants, now he had to worry about encountering a dinosaur that preferred meat.
He was nearly to the other side of the field when he heard a loud screech. Looking up, he saw a couple pterodactyl flying around. Quickly, he went into the trees and watched them. They seemed to be circling. Maybe they had found something they wanted to eat. Not wanting to find out if that something was him, he continued moving through the trees.
As he did, he held the necklace's pendant in his hands, touching it in different ways, trying to make it do something, anything, hopefully involving taking him away from there. He had no idea how he'd activated it before though. He wasn't even sure it was the cause of him being there now and that it being the only thing he had with him still was just a coincidence.
After walking for what felt like hours, he heard the sound of moving water and, finding his way out of the trees again, saw a river ahead of him. On the other side of it were several brontosauruses eating on the trees. And coming to eat them was a tyrannosaurus rex, its mouth partially open, revealing its many sharp, jagged teeth. Freeman started to back into the trees. Even though there was a fairly big river separating them, he was sure that the t-rex would have no problem getting across it.
The t-rex then stopped in its tracks and turned its head to look at Freeman. It had spotted him and, turning the rest of its body towards him, proceeded to step into the river, water splashing up around it from its large feet. Turning around, Freeman ran into the trees, hoping to lose the t-rex in them. Crossing the river in only a few steps, the t-rex followed after Freeman, knocking trees over as its large form moved.
Tripping over a root, Freeman fell face first onto the ground and within a few seconds, the t-rex had caught up with him. He rolled over onto his back as the t-rex stood over him, having almost stepped on him. It lowered its head towards him, mouth wide open. Its breath smelled of rotten meat, nearly causing Freeman to throw up. Then, the necklace's pendant began to emit the white light again and like before, it made him vanish into the thin air, confusing the t-rex with the sudden disappearance of its intended food.
Red and Gojinn were trapped in darkness… sealed into what some may have considered hell, for what felt like an eternity of ripping, tearing on their bodies, torturing their souls as they passed into the energy cloud, unsure of what was to happen to them. Gojinn had given up hope of living in the real world again. He felt like he was on fire, inside and out, and yet freezing to death. He had uncased his wings from his back, and hoped they would help him escape, but even that had no effect. In fact, he could feel his wings constricting and breaking, and being shredded and torn, and ripped and burned, and frozen and cut, and healed all at the same time. He couldn’t speak or breathe, but he couldn’t die either. The pain was agonizing for him. He couldn’t see Red, but he could sense him, and felt that he was in just as much pain as he was, suffering the same fate as he would. They would both die right here, in this realm of nothing. Time had ceased, and life was nothingness. Pain existed, but was counteracted at the same moment. Gojinn didn’t know what to do, until finally it all stopped, and he could breathe again… and that first breathe…
His eyes shot open, and the pain he felt was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Even Red could be heard screaming not far away. Gojinn looked around, not moving anything but his eyes. He saw white sand beaches all around him, or at least where he could see, and an ocean, stretching off into the distance. One of his wings was draped over his arm, tattered and destroyed. He could barely breathe now, or move for that matter, but he needed to get up, and he forced himself to. He looked around, and not far off in the distance, golden stone walls stood, tall and sturdy. He saw Red, not too far either, looking like he’d been set on fire while he was in that portal, practically smoking as he stood there in the sun. Gojinn suddenly realized that he too, was smoking somewhat. It must have been the energy cloud’s effect on them. Both men were clearly in a weakened state as it was, and it worried him, that he saw men with swords and spears making their way towards him.
His stomach sank, as they charged for the men…
Red….
Oh fuck….
Yeah….
Both men stepped back, as the men charged, raising up for an assault. Gojinn braced for death, as did Red, but the men stopped, and simply beat them to the sand, and held them there, questioning them in some language neither of them understood!
I don’t know what you’re saying!!
Speak English!
What the fuck do they mean!?
FE-RAOO AENAH OHOOEE?!
What the fuck are you saying!?
Jesus dude, we’re gonna fucking die because these asssholes can’t speak English!
I guess our wish will come true then…
FE-raoh aenah ohooee eay-ha Atlantis?
They sat Gojinn on his knees, and pulled his arms outright, sticking the sword to his throat as they shouted more and more.
Maybe this will be good, after all.
Fuck you!
The man who looked to be the leader of the army or general of sorts, pulled back on his sword, and then stabbed Gojinn in the chest, but not very deep, more so to provoke him into talking to them, and not so angrily.
Red didn’t know what to say or do. The soldiers were quickly getting more impatient.
“FO-ret! CA-nook de-sa!!!”
The soldier started to swing his sword.
“Fuck this…”
Red shot upwards, tearing out of the soldiers’ grip on him, and landed a punch of the soldier swinging the sword’s face, knocking both him and the sword to the sand. The other soldiers almost immediately reacted as Red reached for the sword. They beat him down onto the ground with their fists and the handles of their weapons. Once they were satisfied, they pulled him back up to his knees. Fresh blood dripped from his mouth and nose, but he was still alive. The soldier that got punched climbed to his feet and picked up his sword, an angry look on his face. He got ready to try and swing it at Red again.
“AM-dus!”
The soldier stopped in mid-swing, a disappointed look now on his face. Several more soldiers walked out onto the beach towards them, carrying shackles. They attached them to Red and Gojinn’s arms and legs and began escorting them off of the beach to a strong wooden gate that was built into the stone wall.
“Well, at least that seemed to have delayed my death.”
“What they might do to us now could be worse than death. Who knows what kind of weapons, devices, and powers these people have.”
The gate slid upwards and they were taken into the city, the gate shutting behind them. They passed many stone buildings and pillars and also what appeared to be a marketplace. People stopped what they were doing and stared as the two foreigners passed.
“IF we can escape, any idea how we can get back to our time?”
“Maybe we can find another portal somewhere.”
They went by a giant stone statue of someone. Red was guessing it was the leader of the city or maybe some kind of god they worshipped. He could smell something, perhaps food cooking.
“You do know that if we ever get out of here, I still plan on killing you, right?”
“I wouldn’t expect any less from you, Red.”
They kept walking, having no clue where the soldiers were taking them. Red figured it’d end up being either a prison or a courtyard to publicly execute them in.
This fucking advanced ass city. It’s like they came out of nowhere. How do you go from scratching your ass with a stick to making golden walls, and burning ….HUMANS?!?!?
Gojinn gasped, as both men looked at the burning bodies of several men and women in what looked to be the town square. That was the smell he’d picked up earlier. Still, the men dragged them along, unable to fight back.
Both prisoners tried to attack each other, but the soldiers quickly separated them, throwing them to the ground as well, and stomping them to get cooperation. Once Gojinn and Red had stopped fighting back, the men lifted them up again and dragged them off. Gojinn struggled, trying to free himself of the chains. They walked through the town square, past the burning flesh, which Gojinn noticed Red staring at, almost wanting it.
For fuck’s sake you sicko… can we just focus on LIVING right now?!
Fuck you! I’m hungry!
XEEEAYAH-DE!
Gojinn looked around, and then noticed the center of the city was a giant pyramidal building. The stairs led up halfway into the building where a black opening sat. Red and Gojinn looked around. The top of the pyramid was missing, but up there, four men with large axes stood, blood stained and ready for killing. Gojinn and Red immediately stopped, but were shoved and dragged before they could run. People began chanting from nearby, and swarming the pyramid. Gojinn and Red felt uneasy about this now, as they were dragged up the stairs, desperately trying to break the chains, but couldn’t with how weak they were. Stair after stair they were dragged up, and finally, they were thrown into the main chamber, before a throne that stretched up about twenty feet.
The tall man stood, removing himself from the throne, and raised his golden scepter, slamming the pole down in anger. He didn’t know what to do, and anger filled him, looking at the two outsiders, who were cracked in their heads, and forced to lie down on the cold golden floor.
Oh fuck that! I don’t bow to anyone!!!
Got a better idea asshole?!
Why the fuck am I surprised you haven’t thought of shit yet, either?!
Hey fuck you! I’m not the one who sent us here!!
Scoffs YES YOU ARE ACTUALLY!!!
Both men go to attack each other, but the soldiers step on them, placing their spears at his neck. Their armour is strong, and looks advanced. Could Atlantis really have been ahead of it’s time so much?!
You’re so gonna wish you were dead sooner than later.
Not really. If it’s not me trying to kill you, someone else is.
by ??????????
The general of the Atlantean army approached the king and they began whispering to each other.
“If they’re whispering so we won’t hear what they’re discussing, they might as well talk out loud then since we don’t know what the hell they’re saying anyway.”
“They don’t know that though. They probably think we’re speaking in some kind of secret code or we’re just crazy. Besides, I’m sure whatever they’re discussing is something important like should they decapitate us or stick us on that body bonfire.”
Red grimaced at the thought of becoming part of the charred flesh he was practically drooling over before. He looked up at the king from his position on the floor.
“Hey, you, king, how about you kill the asshole I came here with and let me go?”
The king looked at Red for a moment.
“You know, kill…uhhh…ca nook desa?”
The king turned his attention back to the general.
“RED! FUCKER!!!”
“What?! It didn’t hurt to try!”
They would’ve started fighting again if it wasn’t for the soldiers holding them down onto the floor. One of the soldiers with a spear at Red’s neck jabbed him with it, cutting his skin and drawing a small amount of blood, forcing him to look back down.
“I’ll turn you into a fucking shish kabob with that spear!”
“AE-tyup lozk!”
Red attempted to lift his body up a little bit, but he could barely move at all and him trying seemed to cause the soldiers to increase the pressure on him with their feet.
“I wonder, do they treat all outsiders like this or just ones that fall out of portals?”
“I’m going with all, or at least ones that can’t speak the language.”
The king and general stopped talking. The general started to walk away, but paused in front of Red. He pulled Red’s head up by his hair and punched him in the jaw before letting go and allowing his head fall back to the floor.
“What the fuck was that for!?!”
“IK-lohp wem-paq!”
The general continued walking. Red wasn’t sure if he left the king’s chamber or just went somewhere behind the two prisoners where they couldn’t see him.
“Maybe you insulted them by trying to talk to their “king”.”
“Yeah, well, this is bullshit! We’re prisoners and we haven’t even done anything wrong yet!”
“I would’ve thought you would be used to being a prisoner by now though.”
“Fuck you!”
The king slammed his scepter down again, making Red and Gojinn stop and look back up at him.
The soldiers pulled the two men up as the king sat back down on his throne. Red turned his head to look around the room while he could. There were many statues of different sizes and a couple doorways besides the one leading back outside. He could see a few dents in the floor in front of the throne in the shape of the bottom of the scepter. It made Red wonder if the king had ever accidentally broken a scepter by slamming it down. The soldiers made the two men walk again, keeping the spears aimed at their necks and backs…
Gojinn was unsure of what to do. Red was pissing them off more and more. Maybe he could get them to kill Red, or try, and he could escape. He wasn’t sure how he’d get them to fall for it, but that didn’t matter, as Red and Gojinn were shoved in different directions, towards doors on the opposite side of the pyramid. Two men on either side of the throne began turning cranks, and the throne slowly rose higher and higher. The flat topped pyramid opened as the cranks were wound, and the King surfaced up top, as the cranks stopped, and left a huge pillar in the center of the dark pyramid. Gojinn and Red struggled with their lack of guards now, but were still too weak.
I still want you dead!
Here’s hoping they throw you in a lava pit!
And you onto………………….. a bed of long spikes to rot for life.
Creative.
Not really…
Suddenly, Red realized why Gojinn had stuttered slightly, as they exited out the small opening of the pyramid and overlooked a large bed of spikes. Gojinn and Red froze, unsure of what would happen, but both men were turned, and escorted up a long set of stairs. At last, they reached the top of the pyramid. A bell was ringing at each corner of the city, and as both men were escorted to the edge of the top of the pyramid, they saw the entire city of Atlantis. Such an advanced city…
And all of the inhabitants were standing and cheering from the bottom of the pyramid! Red and Gojinn looked at each other, and then were yanked back, and kicked down to their knees. Pissed off, they again tried freeing themselves, but were slammed down onto their forearms, bowing at the crowd practically. Two masked men with enormous axes took a step towards the two downed men and raised them high. The King stood, raising his staff. Gojinn and Red looked at each other, they knew this was the end…
And then the worst happened.
On all sides of the pyramid, Earth shifted, and dirt began to jump and shift. The King crouched slightly, trying to keep his balance, while the other men desperately just tried to stand. Gojinn and Red both sat upright, and threw themselves back down, trying to keep from the edges.
It was an Earthquake and the entire island was shaking. Gojinn and Red knew their history, or at least enough to know what was about to start happening, and they cursed themselves for the shit luck they were having tonight. Gojinn spread his wings, or rather, the ragged, burnt skin, and bones, and slapped the few guards around him back. He stood, sweeping his wings, knocking the remaining members down. The King lifted his staff now, pressing a hidden button that shot a dagger out, and tried to stab Gojinn!!!
Red moved in the way though, and the dagger slammed the poorly constructed shackles, breaking them to pieces. He turned and leveled the king with a good shot, and kicked another guard off the top of the pyramid!! The bastard rolled and slid down the thing until he slammed onto the bed of spikes on the outside….
Gojinn crouched on his knees, definitely tired as hell, and drained of all energy. He looked at Red, who started to walk away.
Hey, hey, hey!! What the fuck?! Get your ass back here!
Enjoy life.
Oh… look out behind ya dickhead!!
Grinning, Gojinn watched as a guard raised his sword, and sliced at Red, catching his shoulder as he ducked forward thanks to Gojinn’s advice. He spun and grabbed the guard around his throat, completely tossing him with one hand through the air off the edge.
There are THOUSANDS of people on this island! We both know it’s about to sink! We need to get the fuck out of here now! You need my help! I need yours!
Red looked around, seeing soldiers inside of the city panicking, cutting down whoever was in the way. The people of Atlantis were running everywhere, and no one knew what to do. Fires were starting, buildings were crumbling all around. He turned and looked at Gojinn, who was standing now, and Red punched him in the stomach, and reached over his back, grabbing a mans hands, clutched around a sword. Gojinn brought his wings back… what was left of them, crushing the mans neck, breaking it instantly. He stood back up, looking at Red with a red face… angered.
Thanks I guess….
He grabbed the chain on Gojinn’s shackles, and yanked away, shattering it to pieces. Gojinn stretched his arms and legs, and swept up a sword, nodding to Red, who turned and began to the next floor. Gojinn stopped for a second, and turned, seeing the King stand with his staff, pulling it into two pieces, revealing a sword blade now. The REAL King grinned, and stepped, kicking the sword from his hands, and grabbed the King of Atlantis by the throat, lifting him off his feet high into the air.
Bow down to the KING!
He pulled the blade back, and forced it through his stomach, allowing the King to gasp and choke on his blood, spraying it everywhere. Gojinn lowered him, and then stepped back, and then forward, kicking him in the chest, pulling his sword back, and spinning, cutting off his head, as the King flew off the pyramid…down…down…down into the spike pit. Red was fighting down the stairs, and Gojinn leaned over the edge, seeing him struggling. Gojinn swept up a spear, and jumped onto the edge of the pyramid, sliding down the side…
He pulled the spear back, when Red was about to bite it, he pitched the spear right at the man ready to lop his head off his shoulders. The soldier flew back and down the stairs, as Red kicked his other challenge down them, and ran down the rest, trying to keep up.
COME ON!!! THE WHOLE ISLAND IS GONNA FUCKING SINK! WE NEED A GODDAMN BOAT!!!!
Red laughed, as Gojinn threw his sword at a solder waiting with a spear. He went down, and Gojinn pressed off the pyramid, flipping out and onto the ground. They would need to fight their way put of the city to the beach now. Soldiers and towns people had armed themselves, and they were screaming things at them, clearly blaming the newcomers of the island for its destruction.
Gojinn and Red needed to fight, and the King swept up a new sword, and a spear, which he broke in half for easy usage. Red stopped beside him, as they stared at the gate to the pyramid, watching their enemies pour in.
Yeah, they’d love to hang you from a meat hook and cut you into tiny pieces
by ??????????
A wave of people charged at Red and Gojinn.
The first one that reached Red was a soldier with an ax for a weapon. The soldier started to swing the ax right at Red’s head, but he managed to catch the ax’s handle in mid-swing with one hand and slammed his fist into the soldier’s face with the other, causing the soldier to let go of the weapon and fall backwards onto the ground, his nose busted open, possibly broken. Red raised the ax over his head with both arms and brought it downwards to soldier, sinking the blade deep into his chest, blooding oozing up around the metal. Using one of his feet to hold soldier down, Red removed the ax from the soldier’s body and hit him with it one more time, cleanly decapitating him. Blood sprayed out of the top of his neck, painting the ground crimson.
Red looked up to see another soldier aiming at him with a spear. The soldier tried to jab Red with it, but he cut the long, wooden handle of the spear in half with the ax before using the ax on the soldier, splitting his skull in half. His lifeless body slid off of the ax and collapsed to the ground.
Even more people surrounded him though. He hacked at them with the ax as well.
Meanwhile, Gojinn was doing his own battling with them. He slit one’s throat with the sword, sending a ribbon of blood into the air, and impaled another on the spear. Two more came at him and with one quick swing of the sword, he sliced open both of their abdomens, spilling their blood and guts.
Both men were slowly getting closer to the pyramid’s gate, leaving a trail of dead bodies behind them. The ground continued to shake, sometimes harder than others. A thick, black smoke was rising above the city from the fires as well as dust from the building’s collapsing. If they could just get past the gate, then they could move quicker through the city’s streets.
One of the town’s people was swinging a chain over his head and tried to strike Red with it. Red used the ax to block the chain though, making it wrap around the handle, and whipped it back into the man’s face and ripped away a strip of flesh, revealing glistening muscle underneath. The man fell to his knees as Red got the chain off of the ax, dropping it to the ground, and finishing the man off with the ax.
Another soldier attempted to stab Red with a spear. Red managed to sidestep it, although not completely. The tip of the spear grazed his side, drawing fresh blood. Before the soldier could try again, Red swung the ax into the side of his ribcage, knocking him sideways into others.
Even though the people greatly outnumbered Red and Gojinn and the soldiers had armor, they were still no match for the two outsiders.
Turning around, Red saw yet another soldier with a spear getting ready to attack him. The soldier abruptly stopped though, his eyes widening and the rest of his body starting to spasm as a spearhead punctured the back of his skull and protruded out of his mouth, blood dripping out of it and off of the spear. The spear was pulled back out and for the couple of seconds that Red could see through the new, gruesome hole in the soldier’s head before his body crumpled to the ground, Red saw that Gojinn was the one behind the soldier, holding his sword and spear, both coated in blood.
“Thanks…”
Gojinn nodded and was about to kill the next closest enemy when Red shoved Gojinn out of the way and lopped off the top half a citizen’s head with the ax who had been inches away from stabbing Gojinn in the back with a dagger, revealing the man’s brain. Blood and other fluids spilled out of his head as he fell over, already dead.
They were almost to the gate now. But suddenly, the gate began to lower. Both of them saw it and began fighting and moving faster, neither wanting to get locked inside the area.
Taking down three more soldiers with the sword, Gojinn ran, making it through the gate, and looked back to see that Red was having trouble. Red had driven his ax into the back of a fallen, but still alive soldier, and while trying to get the ax free, a citizen tried to get Red from behind with a soldier’s sword, forcing Red to temporarily forget about the ax and use his hands to fight off his attacker.
“Shit!”
Carefully, Gojinn tossed the spear, the shortened weapon rushing past the side of Red’s head and drilling itself into the center of the other man’s forehead. Red let go of the man, allowing him to drop to the ground, and retrieved the ax.
“Run!”
Seeing that the gate was nearly completely closed, Red did as Gojinn said. Along the way, a soldier with a sword tried to stop Red. Not even pausing, Red threw the ax, the blade hitting the soldier in the face and sending him to the ground. Reaching the gate, Red quickly rolled under the steadily narrowing gap, climbing back to his feet as the gate finished closing.
“Well, that was a close one.”
“…”
The people left inside of the closed off pyramid area were trying to escape, but most people on the outside were just trying to save themselves now.
“Naeeay-kuah de-raah kukae-deah!”, several people behind the gate shouted.
“Let’s get the hell outta here.”
“Let’s.”
They began running down the nearest street, heading back towards the beach area where they might be able to find a boat. Trying not to lose their balance because of the ongoing earthquake, they fought off and usually killed any people who got in their way, Gojinn using the sword and Red using his hands.
Soon, they reached the town square where the burning bodies were at. Red stared at them again.
“Mmm…”
“Dammit, now is NOT the time for you to satisfy your fucked up appetite!”
“Come on, just let me get one little b-”
“No!...Actually, you know what? You wanna stay here and die just so you can eat then fine! I’m going though!”
Sighing, Red reluctantly continued running with Gojinn. They didn’t get very far though because a group of twelve soldiers rounded a corner and, seeing their two prisoners, ran towards them, their swords and spears raised.
“TEEAYAH LUEEN-KUAH-TE KU-DENAE-HA-KUKAHN-KU!”
“Uh…”
“Yeah…”
They spun around and ran back to the town center, going into it, the soldiers chasing after them. Red picked up a piece of wood with several nail-like spikes sticking out of one end.
The soldiers reached the town center and circled around Red and Gojinn.
“AE-DE-DEAE-LU-GE!”
One soldier lunged at Red with a sword. Red swung the piece of wood twice: once to block and knock the sword out of the soldier’s hands and then to smash it into the side of his head, the spikes popping through his skull and into his brain.
Red shook the soldier’s body off as two more moved in to attack. He kicked one in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards right into the burning bodies, causing him to get set on fire. The soldier began screaming in pain, not sure what to do.
“RAAHM-BAE SEEAH!!!!!!!!!!”
The soldier staggered around for a moment, continuing to scream, before he finally succumbed to the flames and fell to the ground, still burning.
Red slammed the wood into the gut of the other soldier, the spikes tearing up his flesh and sending him to his knees. Bringing the makeshift club up, he then brought it down onto the back of the soldier’s head, the force of the blow snapping his neck.
Gojinn cut two soldiers down with one sweep of the sword, blood misting through the air, and severed another’s legs at the knees before ending him by slicing his throat, going deeper than intended and almost decapitating him.
A soldier with a spear was next, trying to blindside Gojinn. Gojinn turned just in time though and struck the soldier’s shoulder with the sword, the blade going through armor, skin, muscle, and bone, finally stopping halfway in his chest, several organs in two pieces and blood running out down his body like a waterfall. Pulling the sword out of the soldier’s body, it started to peel open where the giant cut was before falling over.
Swinging the piece of wood into the side of another soldier’s head, Red ended up ripping this one’s head right off of his shoulders. Blood spurted out of the neck and the head stayed attached to the spikes on the wood, strings of meat hanging from the bottom of it.
Sliding the head off of the spikes, Red hit another soldier in the chest with the wood, knocking him down. He then proceeded to beat the soldier with the weapon until he didn’t move anymore, leaving his chest and head a bloody, torn up mess.
Gojinn quickly finished off the three remaining soldiers, hitting each just one time with the sword and moving on to the next one in line before the previous one even knew what had happened.
Looking around to make sure that no one, but he and Red were left alive in the town center, Gojinn said, “We better keep moving before anymore of them show up.”
“Too late…”
Gojinn looked in the direction that Red was staring and saw another group of soldiers approaching, this one with more people than the last.
“Oh fuck…”
The soldiers were almost to the town center when suddenly the earthquake picked up in intensity for a moment and a large gap opened in the ground. All, but one of the soldiers fell in, the lone survivor barely managing to keep his balance. Chunks of the surrounding buildings started to fall off of them, some of them falling into the giant crack and others landing on the street or other shorter buildings. It didn’t really matter that the soldier avoided falling to his death though because one large piece of debris crashed down right on top of him, crushing him to death and sending a radial spray of blood out onto the ground.
“Nevermind then.”
Red and Gojinn moved on, noticing a lot more cracks in the ground now, most being small, but some getting bigger…
Gojinn and Red looked around carefully, as they came to a stop near another intersection. They were trying to remember how they had gotten to the pyramid in the first place, and where they could escape these damned city walls. Gojinn looked at Red.
If we don’t hurry, we’re going under with this place, and I don’t know about you, but an eternity in a watery grave to never be discovered is not my idea of a happy life.
Agreed. So now, how the fuck did we get here?
I don’t know. That way?
You’d better be right.
Hey, worst case scenario: we just lose time.
He headed off in that direction past Red, twirling his sword in one hand. Red picked up a jagged metal pole, which must have been some form of a mace. Eyeing it, he spoke.
Or our lives.
So what else is new?
Red let out a scoff, and both men dragged their weakened bodies down the street, as people fled their homes. Gojinn cut down a man trying to attack him from a window up higher. His body simply landed on the blade, as Gojinn sidestepped, and lowered him to the ground with a loud ‘thud’ and a puff of sand. Red laughed, and turned, smashing his accomplice over the forehead with the club. The man slumped straight down, dropping the hunting knife. Red quickly swept the knife up and pocketed it, knowing he’d use it later. Gojinn, meanwhile had continued ahead, and rounded a corner. Seeing him disappear in a quick jog, Red scoffed, thinking he was trying to lose him and escape. He jogged after Gojinn, still feeling the effects of the portal and the fight they’d had.
Suddenly, Gojinn came sprinting back, a look of horror on his face! Red stopped dead, as Gojinn yelled!
Other way! Go!! GoGoGoGoGo!!!!!!!!
Oh, what the fuck now?!
Gojinn rounded Red, and just as Red turned on his heels, he noticed an army of seven foot tall soldiers, well built, and wearing heavy armor. They marched out of the alleyway, and into the street, lifting their spears and swords. Red would have screamed and cursed, but his heart had leapt into his throat, and he could was started to get winded from all this fighting and running anyway. He ran after Gojinn, who had made it back to the intersection. He signaled down another alley and took off without Red, telling him it was clear. Red checked behind him. The marching soldiers had begun running. He tried to scream up to Gojinn but he heard none of it. Red circled into the intersection with a soldier in hot pursuit. He looked down the alley Gojinn signaled to, and ran for it, head down, arms pumping away, club in hand in case.
FUCK YOU!!!
Gojinn hadn’t run down the alley! He’d hidden around the corner that Red had just run out of! As the first soldier emerged, Gojinn swung his sword, and clotheslined the first guard, decapitating him! His club dropped, and Gojinn tossed his sword up, catching the bladed end. He looked at the next guard and quickly threw it like a throwing dagger, hoping it would have some effect. It did however, as it bounced off the first guards shoulder, and turned enough to cut right through the next guards visor, piercing his face, right into his skull.
Red turned around, and saw this, and came back, as Gojinn lifted up the guards club, and ducked under the next guards attempted beheading by an axe. With the soldier off balance, Red brought his club down across his forearms hard, forcing him to drop the axe he’d wielded. Unfortunately, Red had counted on the club to hit harder, and smash and break his forearms. When this didn’t happen, the guard lifted his arms and flung Red’s club up and over his head, though he still held tight. Gojinn suddenly appeared behind the guard, and smashed him in the back of the knee!! Red caught hold of the club enough and planted his feet, quickly bringing the club down on his skull!!! The resonating “CLANG” was so loud, it had to have scrambled his brains! He dropped to the sand, and Gojinn turned in time to swing his club at a spear that had rained towards him. Red stepped in this time, twirling with his club, and backhanding the skull of the guard. He stumbled, and Gojinn jumped forward, swinging his club like a golf club ironically, and upper-cutted him. The sick sound of bone breaking under the helmet was enough to satisfy the duo, as blood spilled down, and a gurgling noise was heard behind the armor.
Feeling better about this fight, they took on the next of the guards, only they hadn’t counted on three of them emerging simultaneously. The guards spread out before Red and Gojinn had a chance to keep them bottled in the alley exit. Gojinn kept his eye on two of them carrying swords, while Red kept his eye fixed on the soldier with a slightly larger version of a sword, longer, and thicker. He’d call it a broadsword, but it wouldn’t do it justice. It had to be six to eight inches in width, and at least five feet long. The beast of a blade loomed over the soldiers shoulder, as he gripped it with one hand. He was definitely larger than the other guards, and his armor was pure black. Knowing that it meant something significant, Red didn’t play around, and swung for the arm carrying the sword. Gojinn mean while had jump kicked the first guard he saw, and pressed off, turning around to parry the other soldiers sword. The sword dipped low towards the sand, but the skilled soldier used this momentum to swing it back around and grasped tightly as he plunged it for Gojinns skull. Gojinn side stepped, using his club to again parry it, and force him to bury it in the sand a moment. The other guard stepped back towards them, having regained his balance, and swung horizontally, only Gojinn ducked low, and grabbed his hands, forcing him to swing hard into his partner’s arms.
Angered, his partner turned and tried to scalp Gojinn, but quickly using the other soldiers’ sword to block; he swung his club down atop them, and shattered the blades on the soft, but packed, sand below! Both soldiers looked puzzled at how the blades had just broken that way, but knowing they were poor to begin with, Gojinn used his club to slam into the neck of the first soldier, knocking him down! Before he could get the other one, he grabbed Gojinn by the throat and tossed him into a stone wall!! Red landed beside him at the same time, having no luck with the behemoth of a man he was facing. Breathing heavily, they looked at each other.
Switch?
Switch.
Gojinn pushed himself up the wall, as Red climbed up on his hands and knees. Gojinn’s broken wings still hung behind him, and though he tried to heal them and conceal them again, something was wrong, and it wouldn’t work. Ignoring it for now, he stumbled forward, and twirled the club, ready to fight. The massive man hadn’t even swung the enormous sword yet. Red had simply fought the man while he was one handed. Gojinn followed in Red’s footsteps, and aimed for the arm carrying the sword, but as Red had discovered earlier, the man was fast, and side stepped, catching the smooth part of the club. He forced the club over Gojinn’s head and behind his back, but Gojinn wouldn’t let it go. Like Red before him, he was kicked hard in the back against another stone wall. Slamming against it hard, he spit up some blood, and turned just enough to see his free hand come down upon it, cracking the stone.
Shouting in pain, he moved, and swept his club back up, swinging for the fences. The brute simply blocked the blow with his own armored forearm, and stepped close, kicking Gojinn in the chest. Red was several feet away, and caught him, tossing him aside, to parry one of the guards attacks. Gojinn used his club to strike one guard down onto a knee, and Red ran in, cracking him in the face as hard as possible. The shot was so hard, the spiked club finally managed to pierce the armor plating, and destroy his skull. Blood ran like a river, as Red pulled the club away. He focused on the last guard, as Gojinn ran back up to the brute…
I said they. I’d do something much worse than that.
by ??????????
Red swung his club into the upper part of the soldier’s arm near the shoulder, the spikes simply bouncing off of the thick armor, leaving several dents in the metal, but sending him stumbling sideways.
While he was sure that these soldier’s armor being stronger was part of the reason he and Gojinn’s weapons weren’t penetrating as easily to the bodies below it, he thought that him and Gojinn being tired from all of the fighting they had been doing, even before they fell through the portal to Atlantis, was why too.
The soldier came charging back at Red with a dagger that had been concealed somewhere on him. Red sidestepped the soldier and brought the club down onto his hand holding the dagger. Since the armor was weaker and there was less of it on the soldiers’ hands, the spikes tore up the flesh underneath and the force of the blow crushed the bones with a loud crunching sound, forcing the soldier to drop his dagger to the ground. Red pulled the club away and blood dripped out around what was left of the armor on the soldier’s hand, staining the sand. Only able to fight with one arm really now, the soldier tried to punch Red in the head with his other armored hand, but Red drove his knee into the soldier’s gut, actually managing to bend the metal, and knocked the soldier several steps backwards. Then, Red slammed the club into the side of the soldier’s armor on his chest area. Once again, the club didn’t do any damage to the soldier.
Suddenly though, the front and back parts of the armor on his upper body fell off to the ground, exposing his nearly bare skin underneath. Red must’ve hit some kind of weak point on the armor.
“OO-ra fuee-lu-ge…”
Not wasting any time marveling over this new discovery that could help him and Gojinn while fighting other soldiers as they made their way out of the city, Red drove the club into the center of the soldier’s chest, cracking and breaking ribs and the spikes puncturing several vital organs. He let the soldier collapse to his knees on the ground before swinging the club into the chest again, the weapon striking him hard enough to snap a normal sized man’s spine, killing him.
Red wondered if all of the soldiers’ armor had that weak point or if he’d just gotten lucky with that soldier. Turning around, he saw that Gojinn was still fighting with the larger soldier.
“Try going for his side!”, Red shouted at Gojinn, but he wasn’t listening, distracted by dodging the soldier’s sword, narrowly avoiding the huge blade a few times. Gojinn tried to hit the soldier in the head with the club, but he let go of the sword with one hand and raised that arm to block the shot, before elbowing Gojinn in the side of the head, sending him down onto one knee. The soldier then wrapped his huge free hand around Gojinn’s head and pulled him up into the air, about to toss him into a wall. Realizing that he still had the club in one hand though, Gojinn grabbed it with his other hand as well before raising it over his head and driving it down on top of the soldier’s head, the spikes going into the metal, but not deep enough to injure him. The soldier dropped Gojinn to the ground, who immediately rolled to his feet, as the soldier tried to remove the club that was still stuck in his helmet.
The soldier eventually got the club free, but before he could do anything with it, Red ran up behind the soldier and swung his own club into the soldier’s back, knocking him forward and making him fall to the ground, Gojinn’s club rolling out of his hands. Gojinn quickly swept up his club and both he and Red began attacking the large soldier as he attempted to climb back up to his feet, his sword still in his grasp. They swung both clubs at the soldier’s head, the weapons hitting there mark at almost exactly the same time, the combined force of both blows being strong enough the crack open the soldier’s helmet and skull. The soldier’s body hit the sand, blood oozing out of the helmet.
“I hope that there aren’t anymore like him.”, Gojinn said as Red reached down and pulled the soldier’s large sword out of his lifeless fingers. He examined the sword for a moment and even thought about taking it with him, but he decided against it and dropped it back to the ground. He was starting to really like the club anyway. He’d have to get another one for when he went on killing sprees if they ever made it back to their time. If. What the hell was he thinking? Of course they were going to make it back. They’d already killed a lot of soldiers. There couldn’t be too many more left, could there? But there was still the problem of actually finding a way back. He’d have to worry about that later though because he saw four more of the seven foot tall soldiers approaching. He was relieved that they weren’t more of the brutes though.
“Shit, here come some more.”, Red told Gojinn since he hadn’t noticed them yet, nodding in the direction they were coming from. Gojinn looked and saw them.
“Fuck. We can’t catch a break, can we?”
“Nope. I’ll take two of them and you take the other two.”
“Ok then.”
The soldiers began running at Red and Gojinn as they ran towards the soldiers, meeting them halfway in the street. Red knocked one aside for a moment with a strike to the head with the club. He brought the club up just in time to block the sword of the other one. He kicked knocked the soldier back with a kick before swinging for his side with the club, hoping to make the armor fall off of his upper body like what happened with the other soldier. This soldier managed to move out the way though and the spikes just scraped against the armor on his arm.
Gojinn took a slightly different approach with the two soldiers he was supposed to fight. Instead of getting one of them out of the way so that he could fight them one at a time, he decided to take them both on at the same time.
One of them had a spear and tried to stab Gojinn in the neck with it. Gojinn ducked it and snapped the spear in half with a smash of the club across the handle of it. He then slammed the club into the side of the soldier’s neck, managing to break it.
As the soldier’s body fell to the ground, Gojinn spun around to see the other soldier’s sword swinging down at his head. He dove out of the way, landing on his feet to the side and slightly behind soldier, hitting the soldier in the back of his armor, sending him to the ground, the sword falling from his hands and landing several feet away. The soldier rolled over onto his back and tried to get back up, but Gojinn planted his foot on the soldier’s chest, keeping him down. Bending over, the removed the soldier’s helmet from his head and bashed him in the face with the club, pulling it back up in a way that tore part of the soldier’s face right off. Blood dripped from the floppy piece of flesh back onto the soldier’s body as he screamed in pain. The face hanging from the spikes of the club reminded Gojinn of Red’s flesh masks. Shaking the face off of the club, he finished the soldier off with one more hit from the club.
Meanwhile, Red quickly ended the soldier he was fighting by knocking him to the ground with a hit to the legs with the club and then repeatedly struck him with the club until the spikes went through the metal and into him.
The other soldier was just starting to climb to his feet, his sword in his hands. He charged at Red, attempting to impale him on the sword, but Red simply did him like the first soldier, knocking his legs out from under him and hitting him with the club several times.
With those soldier’s out of the way, Red and Gojinn continued moving in the direction that they were hoping was the right direction as more soldiers approached the area…
Gojinn and Red moved on, praying they headed the right way. Soldiers and citizens were flooding in behind them, carrying all sorts of weapons. Not wanting to particularly get into another war, they avoided the situation by fleeing as fast as possible.
We need to get the fuck out of here!
There! Go!
Both men sprinted for the giant front entrance. The giant doorway was wide open, smashed by so many people trying to escape easily. The white sandy beach lay beyond; stretching out forever it seemed like. Just beyond- the blue ocean could be seen, but no boats…and no people!
Gojinn and Red stopped when they hit the beach, and stared off around. There wasn’t a single person to be seen anywhere. Footprints led off in every direction, but not a single soul was present. Red twirled the club and looked around, wondering what was happening. Gojinn walked a few steps further out and threw the club, grasping a golden handled sword, beautiful in design. A small red ruby glistened on it, and attracted him. The blade was lengthy and shimmered bright in the sun. He yanked it from the sand and swung it around, laughing. He turned to Red, and Red looked at him. What little happiness they had they escaped the city walls faded, when they heard the battle cries.
They ran for the doors, and slammed against them, one on each. Using all of their energy, they shoved and shoved, and managed to close them a good distance, far enough that the soldiers would take a good time to open it.
Both men stared at each other now, not sure what to do.
Where the fuck is a boat?!
I think the better fucking question, is “Where the fuck are the people!?”
All you had to do was DIE Gojinn! Then we wouldn’t be here!
Hey, fuck you!
SLAMMMM!!!!!
Both men suddenly dropped their quarrel, realizing the army about to bust down the walls of Atlantis. They sprinted for their entry point on the beach. It was completely clear and devoid of life… where the hell was everyone?!
They ran and ran, not saying a word to each other as they did. Still they saw nothing. Gojinn, winded, slowed down and came to a halt. Red stopped and turned. He seemed furious.
Let’s get the fuck out of here!!!
Go where, Red?!?! There’s not a fucking soul around! There’s not a goddamn boat anywhere! Where the FUCK are we going to go?!?!
It suddenly seemed to dawn on him, that the two men would die right then and there. The island was still rumbling, and coming apart. The sand shook and gave way, cracks formed and spread apart. Parts of the city could be seen literally falling down, beneath the tops of the walls. The walls themselves cracked and spread apart, leaving an open view into Atlantis, as it slowly faded from existence. Screaming in anger, Gojinn raised the sword and collapsed to his knee, stabbing the sword through the sand, and into the earth.
Red stared off into the distance. Even he had no idea what the next move was. Gojinn sat there, and just stared into the sand, not breathing, not thinking, not moving…
SSSSSSSMMMMMMAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH
The city doors came crumbling down, and the soldiers flooded out in numbers. Red clutched the club tight and raised it back, waiting. Gojinn stood up and ripped the sword from the sand, turning with a look of fury. Red stepped up next to him.
Ready?
Are you?
Both men turned their attention from each other to the advancing armies and ran, charging in….
Well that took you long enough. Have a nice vacation?
by ??????????
Impaling a soldier gut first on the sword, the tip of the blade coming out through his back in a splash of blood and severing his spine, Gojinn pulled the sword out through the soldier’s side, nearly ripping him in half and sending more blood through the air.
As that soldier’s body crumpled to the ground, Gojinn attacked the next one in line, slashing at him several times and knocking his own weapon out of his hands before executing him by slitting his throat, blood pumping out like a fountain as he fell to his knees, his hands around his neck, trying to stop the bleeding.
Even though the soldier was going to die anyway, whether it was by bleeding to death or by getting crushed or drowning while Atlantis continued to fall apart, Gojinn didn’t want the soldier to live any longer.
Gojinn kicked the soldier’s helmet off before raising the sword up over his head and swinging it downwards onto the top of the solder’s head, cracking his skull open halfway down his face as the sword tore into it. He removed the sword from the soldier’s head and let his body fall forwards, able to see brain and strings of some sticky fluid mixed with blood between the two halves of his head.
Turning away, Gojinn quickly raised his sword to block the sword of another soldier, shoved the soldier backwards, and decapitated him when dropped his guard, his head and headless body falling to the ground, blooding dripping out of the head and squirting out of the neck.
Gojinn continued fighting and killing soldiers as Red battled his own share of them. Red tried to go for headshots when possible with the club, its spikes easily punching into their skull and brain and coming back out just as fast. In the short time that Red had been using the weapon, he had become very skilled with it. He was almost as good with it as he was with his chainsaw.
Red’s chainsaw. He couldn’t even remember where the hell he left it during their fight while still in their own time. It would be useful right about now though. He could easily cut apart all of the soldiers they were fighting now in less than a minute.
Suddenly, the ground started opening up right where they were fighting, sand and soldiers falling into the seemingly endless large gap. Water from the ocean began pouring into it, quickly filling up and flooding out onto the ground.
Red, Gojinn, and the remaining soldiers moved across the blood stained beach away from the new still opening fissure, a few soldiers stuck on the other side and looking for a way around.
They all heard a loud crash followed by an explosion come from somewhere inside of the city; a large building had collapsed from the constant earthquake.
Red swung the club at one soldier, catching him in the chest with it and knocking him into two other soldiers.
Several more gaps began opening up around them and a few more soldiers tumbled into the darkness. Red and Gojinn spun around and began running, not wanting to fall in as well. Another crack started opening in front of them. They leapt over it before it got too wide, landing on their feet, still running.
When the ground stopped coming apart around them, at least for the time being, they slowed down until they were barely walking. They then looked behind them and saw that only four of the soldiers were left, trapped on a small island of unbroken land and trying not to fall into the gaps like their comrades, more water flowing into them.
They turned back around and saw more soldiers approaching them, being led by another one of the large guards with black armor, this one carry a double bladed ax. They had gotten onto the beach through another entrance built into the wall.
All of the soldiers except for the big one charged at Red and Gojinn. They took out the soldiers as they reached them. A slash of a sword here, a smash of the club there, they’d soon killed off more than half of the dozen or so soldiers.
Red hit a soldier in the face with the club, a spike hitting one of his eyeballs and ripping it right out of his head, the optic nerve trailing behind it.
That was when the large soldier ran towards them, his battle ax raised above his head. He swung it downwards at Gojinn’s head, forcing the smaller man to roll out of the way.
They kept fighting the regular soldiers, avoiding anymore shots from the large one’s ax, planning on dealing with him last.
There was only one regular soldier left when gaps began to open up on the beach again with a rumble.
They tried to keep there balance and not get struck by the ax or the other soldier’s sword at the same time.
The regular soldier fell and the large soldier happened to have the ax raised up again and the weight of the weapon caused him to lose his balance and fall backwards into a gap that was behind him, letting out a scream at he plummeted down, leaving Red and Gojinn to just try and not join them. When it stopped again, Gojinn looked around to see if anymore soldiers were coming, but Red peered down at where the large soldier had fallen.
Gojinn laughed. Another wave of soldiers appeared not far off. There must have been about seventy five of them strong. They marched with a purpose, and raised their weapons up high. Gojinn twirled the golden handled sword about, and crouched, staring at the advancing men, as Red wielded the club tighter than ever before. The laugh Gojinn had let out was long gone now, a look of serious anger and worry replacing it. Red seemed to almost be the same way. The island was crumbling beneath them, and Atlantis was sinking, or something… and was going to be gone forever soon, and they too would die and disappear if they didn’t get out now.
The soldiers formed a long line and began curving, hoping to encircle to the duo and tear them to shreds. What they hadn’t counted on, was Gojinn snapping. He clutched the sword tight, and sprinted towards them, spinning the sword on each side of himself, cutting down enemy after enemy!!! Red caught a few distracted soldiers off guard, spiking them in the chest and head with his massive club, as he too worked to kill off the soldiers. Gojinn was a good distance into the crowd now, simply cutting down everyone who opposed him. Eventually, some of the soldiers smartened up, and blocked his sword, knocking his momentum off, forcing him to stop and turn. However, he managed to take out a cluster without falter, as he used his stopping momentum to swing about, duck and spin, cutting the legs of his victims off below the knee. They fell to the sand, disarmed, and screaming for mercy.
Gojinn quickly stood and ran from them, not having the time to show them compassion and end their lives. He began battle with a small group that had spread out and circled him. Still charging, he leapt at the first one he saw, parried his blow, and came down, driving the sword into his foot!!! Leaving it there, he stood, stole the soldiers own sword, and spun, blocking a rear attack from his nearest foe. He cracked his wrist to the right, sending his enemies sword into the air, and plunged the sword into his chest. Gojinn ripped it back out and used the handle to crack the soldier whom he had just impaled in the foot, in the face, knocking him to one knee. Noticing two more heading his way, he spun full circle, lopping the head off of the wounded soldier behind him, and swept up the golden sword at the same time, dual wielding them as he rushed the bastards….
Meanwhile, Red had been surrounded, unable to keep up against the swarm that Gojinn had missed in his rush away.
I need your help you asshole! Way to leave me stranded here!!!
WYH ATLANTIS!!!!
GUCC DHIL!!!!!
Fuck.
Gojinn saw Red in trouble, but was busy himself…
Red clutched the club, and then spun, taking out two guards simultaneously!!! One he caught in the face, and crushed his skull, peeling a chunk of flesh with it, as he spun away and crumbled to the ground in a bloody heap of himself. The other he caught square in the face, and crushed it in so much, he didn’t even die right away, but simply suffocated in agony!!!! He clu8tched at his throat, as his face sprayed blood everywhere, and he tried reaching out, but couldn’t see or hear anything!!! Red twirled the club, and brought it down again, caving the rest of his skull in, killing him. He felt a sharp rip on his shoulder as he turned, and realized he narrowly avoided a spear attack. Pissed, he upper cutted the man, severing his jugular, and tearing a good portion of his neck and jaw away, as he flew into the air, and slammed down hard onto his back, dead.
Two soldiers grabbed him from behind, holding his arms!!! Red tried to pull them in front of himself, but they kicked him down to his knees, as another soldier pulled back on his spear!!!
FUCK YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!
Unable to move his club, or escape, Red simply tried to wiggle away, and get up, but the soldiers pinned him hard on his knees, and the soldier holding his spear smirked, ready to end him!!!
Suddenly his eyes went wide….and then rolled into the back of his head, as a spray of blood showered Red and the soldiers around him. Red was shocked, as the soldier sank into the sand, and saw Gojinn off in the distance, leaning towards him, having used the second sword he’d acquired from the other soldier earlier. Breathing heavily, he looked at Red, and smirked, as Red suddenly jumped to his feet, and swung the distracted soldiers off of him, spinning with the club again to completely smash in another soldiers head. He stabbed the next one in the chest, and then looked at Gojinn, who was standing up straight now, catching his breath.
And then he went flying off to the side….
GOJINN!
Red couldn’t see him anymore, as a wave of soldiers closed the gap between them, and began encircling Red again. Annoyed, he grabbed the nearest soldier with his bare hand, and pulled him in, headbutting his unarmored head, and then kicked him in the knee, shattering the knee cap, and forcing it out of the back of his leg! He screamed and fell to the sand, spraying more blood, as another soldier tried to take him on! He raised his sword up, and Red turned, balling his fist up, as he back handed him, and then swept out both legs with one kick, using the club to crush his chest kill him as he hit the sand hard. Two soldiers appeared again, and slammed into him, knocking him to the sand on his back. They began trying to stab him, as he rolled away. His club was missing now, and angered by this, he grabbed a handful of sand, and turned, whipping it into their eyes!! Both soldiers screamed and stumbled back, allowing Red to climb up, and spear them to the ground!!!
While they were down, Red back handed one, and then began smashing the others face in with his bare hands, punching him with lefts and rights as hard and fast as he could!!!! His face turned into a bloody mess, as he stopped even trying to fight back, and went limp!!! The other soldier pushed him off, and grabbed on, trying to fight him, but Red quickly used him as a human shield, as three more soldiers pitched spears through the air, and they landed all around!!! He tossed the dead soldier off of himself, and ripped a spear from the ground, grinning sadistically. He snapped it in half, and spun the sharpened ends towards his enemies, as they drew swords to fight him with.
By now, the soldiers had decreased in numbers dramatically, and the sound of fighting off to the side meant that Gojinn had to be alive and fighting…hopefully.
Red pitched the shortened spear as hard as he could, and managed to actually catch one of the soldiers in the heart!!! He spun away and dropped right down on it, pushing it right through his body as he sank into the sand and died!!! The other two looked and actually dropped their swords, and turned and ran! Red laughed, and laughed even harder a second later, as the men were swallowed up by the island, as a huge gap formed, and they fell right in unsuspectingly.
Gojinn!!!!!!!
Calling out…he hoped for a response, and got one, when a crowd of soldiers dropped to the earth once more, leaving a single man standing, golden sword in hand….
Figures………I save………you……….and get stabbed for it………..fuck……..
Red saw him holding his left side, blood pouring him it. He could barely breathe, meaning they had to have hit his lung, and if his powers were truly lacking, he would be dead faster than they could escape…
There’s a cave this way!........Might……..might be a …..boat there. Like……a shore house……or something….
Red nodded. They set off towards it, not knowing what lay ahead of them….
Hell? No, Hell is much nicer than this place. I should know…
by ??????????
For a couple minutes, their trek down the beach was peaceful, aside from the constant rumbling of the entire city. Both of them were limping, sore and tired, especially Gojinn who coughed several times, some blood coming up the final time.
“Fuck…”, Gojinn said as he spit more blood out of his mouth onto the sand.
“Need to rest for a moment?”
“And get…ambushed…by some more of…them?...No thanks…”
About thirty seconds later, another group of soldiers appeared. Red and Gojinn didn’t have to tell each other about these soldiers because they both saw them.
“You okay to fight some more?”
Gojinn raised the golden sword up a little bit.
“I’ll manage…let’s do this…”
The soldiers charged at the two outsiders. Red and Gojinn swung their weapons at the first few soldiers who reached them, taking down four of them in one go, but only one was permanently down, Gojinn’s sword having sliced open the soldier’s throat. Blood squirted from the soldier’s neck, but he just laid there on the ground, not even trying to cover the wound with his hands, and bled to death. Red struck two more soldiers with his club, battering one’s helmet to scrap and breaking the other’s left arm. The soldier with the broken arm had the bone protruding out of his flesh just above his elbow, blood dripping off of the jagged tip, and was screaming in pain. Red finished the soldier off with a blow to the side of his neck. The soldier with the ruined helmet was struggling to pull in off of his head and was unable to see as Red raised the club over his own head before driving it down on top of the helmet, smashing it all the way back down and then some onto the soldier’s head, cracking open his skull.
For a man who was very weakened and on the verge of death, Gojinn was fighting his own share of soldiers surprisingly well. He kicked one soldier to knock him down onto his knees before shoving the sword through the visor on the soldier’s helmet, the blade going through his eyes and the bridge of his nose and deep into his brain. Pulling the sword out of the dead soldier’s face and helmet, Gojinn swung the sword at another soldier, hitting him where his neck and one of his shoulder’s met, digging halfway into his neck, causing his head to flop over slightly towards the side where his neck was still whole as his body fell to the ground. Gojinn turned around just in time to find a soldier with club running to attack him. Reacting quickly, Gojinn held his sword straight out and the soldier, whose reaction time was apparently slower, impaled the sword through his own abdomen. He stared up at Gojinn as he slid off of the sword to the ground.
With about half of the soldiers already disposed of, Red and Gojinn moved back together, waiting to see which soldier would attack next.
“You’d think they’d forget about us and try to save themselves instead of continuing to fight for their dead king.”
A soldier swinging a somewhat small battle ax came at them. Gojinn intercepted the ax in mid-swing with his sword and kicked the soldier back before drilling the sword straight into his chest, right where his heart was. The soldier collapsed, quickly dieing, blood oozing out of his mouth.
“Behind you!”
Gojinn spun around, swinging his sword, and decapitated a soldier that had been coming at him with a spear.
Red was dealing with the last two soldiers when the rumbling intensified momentarily, causing part of the city’s wall to collapse nearby. With the soldier’s distracted, Red bashed both of them in the head with the club, sending them to the ground. Fresh blood dripped off of the spikes on the club.
“We better hurry up. This place seems to be falling apart even quicker now.”
Gojinn nodded and they began moving as fast as they were able to, Red slightly ahead of Gojinn.
“Shit!”, Gojinn said after a couple more minutes.
Red turned around to see that Gojinn was leaning against his sword, almost falling over. Gojinn’s stab wound appeared to be bleeding even more. Red ran back to where Gojinn was and helped him back upright. They then continued to the cave.
Without anymore interruptions from the soldiers, they were soon able to see the entrance to the cave.
“There…it is…”
“Come on, let’s get inside before anymore of them show up.”
Gojinn shook off the dizzy feeling that was coming on, and Red let go of him, as they walked through the cave now, blind as bats nearly. The sunlight lit parts of the cave up, where there were holes in the ceiling, but not much more than that. Both men stopped for a minute when they heard something that made their faces light up….
WATER!
WATER!
They immediately picked up their pace, as Red grabbed onto Gojinn again, helping to carry him at a faster pace. Gojinn breathed heavily, a coating of blood along his teeth. Red grunted, exhausted from the fighting by now, and having to heave a 265 pound man along with him, and carry a weapon, wasn’t his idea of fun. They heard sounds up ahead, but the sound of water gave them promise of an escape route, and possibly a boat. Gojinn’s eyes relaxed a bit, and a half smile escaped onto his face when he saw a watery reflection on the walls of the cave!! It must have been an exit! They hurried even faster now, practically sprinting down the slope towards the source of water!
However, what they found was something much worse, and it was too late to turn back. What seemed to be a sea of soldiers stood facing away from them at a boat, and the exit to a cave. The soldiers though, were not much different from the larger soldiers Red and Gojinn had fought within the city walls. It was over. Their one way out…
PLAY
We can’t….fight them….all…
We just need to get to the boat….
Yeah, and then……..set sail…..without…..all of them……hacking…….. it to pieces…….or hopping on ……..and killing ……..us while we …..try to sail away…
Fuck it. We’re dead either way.
There’s….gotta be…
This big fucking island is falling into the sea! Where the fuck are we gonna go Gojinn! We have one shot! That boat!
As if enough of the soldiers hadn’t seen them, their loud discussion had echoed quite a bit, and now the entire army saw them. Gojinn and Red ignored them though, and, on one knee, Gojinn looked up at a determined Red, who glared back at him. He turned to the army and grinned.
Out….with a bang….I guess….
Red ran down the hill at the first approaching guard, and with the higher ground, swung his club like a golfer, cracking him hard in the forehead, impaling through his thin metal helmet, and killing him instantaneously. Grinning, Gojinn stood, and spit a mouthful of blood to the Earth. Leaning back, and let out a tremendous roar that echoed through the cave and was loud enough for all to hear. A huge beast emerged from the bowels of the boat. Standing at the tip of it now, it raised it’s enormous axe into the air, and it too, released a roar that was equal to Gojinn’s. The soldiers screamed in support, and began a charge up the hill towards the two men.
Gojinn limped towards a soldier trying to ambush Red, and took a small leap off a rock, coming down with his sword in a quick stabbing motion that nailed him right in the neck, dropping him where he stood. Without missing a beat, Gojinn landed on his feet, and continued walking, whipping the sword around one handed, holding his wound with his other. After cutting down two soldiers, he turned and saw Red fighting off a group of three. Grinning, he watched his partner in crime simply shove all three men back, and proceed to hit one so hard in the chest that he caved it in, and forced his rib cage right through his back.
Turning back to his own enemies, he raised the golden sword high above his head, which caught the attention of the beast. Gojinn didn’t know what it was….but it looked to be a cross of several species. Almost a garou like creature, with a faint look of vampiric qualities, and even some pure human traits. What the hell was it?!
Not caring at the moment, he simply caught a glance of the creature hopping off the boat, and disappearing into the crowd of soldiers. Changing his attention to the men he was fighting, he impaled a younger soldier, still huge in size, right through the chest. His eyes went wide with shock, but he did not die just yet, and raised up his weapon!!! Gojinn pulled his sword back, and kicked the man in the chest and down the hill, but he’d had enough time to whip his spear, and it caught him right in the shoulder! Gojinn roared in agony, and grasped the broken handle of the spear. He yanked it from his left shoulder, and spun it, throwing it down at an advancing enemy.
Somehow, for as large as they were, they were dying faster than Gojinn and Red remembered them dying inside of the city, and they liked that idea. Red was continuing his simple assault, bringing the club down on his enemies heads and necks as they marched up the steep hill at him. Every now and then a spear flew by that he managed to duck or dodge, but mostly swords and axes came his way. A sea of weapons was slowly building up, along with bodies, at the base of himself. Soldiers that were trying to attack found it nearly impossible, as they tripped over their own dead, and fell right into his attacks. It was so simple.
Gojinn, having trouble breathing at this point, was still fighting rather well for what appeared to be a dying man. He grabbed a young soldier, scrawny and weak, and yanked him close, biting his neck, and tearing at the flesh. Feeding on him, he felt some of his energy return, and his wounds closed slightly. Still, with his heart rate that high, blood was pumping out faster and faster, and the battle had barely begun. Grinning, he threw the child soldier through the air like a rag doll, using him as a battering ram against the heavily armored soldiers. Many toppled over, and rolled down the hill, taking out more and more. Red laughed, as did Gojinn, knowing this would buy them some time.
Both men stared down now- watching as the creature from the boat screamed and roared, rushing up the hill with it’s huge axe.
Fuck…
When the fuck are we gonna catch a goddamn BREAK!!!!!!!!!
The roar that Red had let out, combined with the beasts roar, and Gojinns sudden scream of adrenaline, caused an echo that shook the ceiling of the cave!!! A giant portion of the ceiling gave way and came crashing down, RIGHT ON TOP OF THE BEAST!!!!
Holy….
Whoa…
Got…your answer….now?
Red scoffed, shocked by the event. The other soldiers who were still alive, stood, and in a fury, charged, obviously upset by the sudden death of what appeared to be their leader. Gojinn picked up a small throwing axe, and whipped it down, catching one soldier in the face, ripping through his helmet, and tearing into his skull without mercy. Lifting up a larger axe now, Red readied his weapons, and began slowly walking towards the boat, mowing down soldier after soldier, by cutting them down with the axe after sweeping their feet with the club. The combination of the weapons was deadly, and effective. Gojinn followed on the far side of the cave now, and began pushing the line of soldiers back, forcing them down the hill to the boat. But then the island shook again, and everyone lost their footing….
Gojinn rolled down the entire hill, weakened and unable to stop himself. Red had rolled a distance too, but stopped himself, and then climbed up, quickly defending himself from a group of soldiers that had surrounded him. Gojinn felt tired, and weary. He couldn’t rest yet though, and pushed himself up, seeing he was face down in water. He was right next to the boat!!! The soldiers began teaming up, charging at Gojinn, as he stumbled towards the ramp to climb aboard! Gojinn waved the sword about, parrying attacks that aimed for his neck, and swept other weapons away, kicking them to the ground, but could not kill any enemies. Knowing this was a problem, he backed off, trying to breath, yet could still not find the air he needed. A moment later, his dreams were shattered, and he heard Red scream in a furious rage…
The soldiers had begun torching the boat. If they could not escape, neither would Red and Gojinn.
Gojinn suddenly found such a burst of pure hatred, that he drove his sword through two soldiers armor, and tore it from their sides, before running forward, cutting down another soldier just as easily. Red had worked his way to him, and now the two stood back to back, fighting off the circle of soldiers that had surrounded them yet again.
What now?!
Beach. If this….goes under…..we’re trapped……at least out……there……we have a chance…….to swim…….or float……..Here………we get dragged under……….forever.
Red couldn’t disagree entirely with Gojinn’s words, but he didn’t like the idea of fighting in the open again. At least in here they could fight off their enemies from higher ground, and make sure none blind sided them, as the walls kept them locked to one area only.
Unable to figure out another way, they began upwards, fighting back towards the entrance, and once they’d cleared enough guards from the way, Red dropped the club, keeping the axe. He grabbed Gojinn and began dragging his half dead body up the hill, as he fought off the guards that still tried their best. The island shook again….
Both men slipped, and fell. The cave itself began breaking apart now. The angered soldiers rushed up the hill, and Gojinn stood, beginning to fight them off.
JUST…….FUCKING…….DIE!!!!!
He stabbed down into a soldiers chest plate, and then removed the sword, kicking the lifeless corpse down to the jagged, rocky earth below. As two more came up, Gojinn leapt on them, tackling them to the stone. He raised up the sword, back handed one of the soldiers, and plunged the blade into the other soldiers face. The soldier who was still alive tried to hit him, but Gojinn blocked the shot, and ripped his helmet off, biting his neck for more blood. Once he got a decent amount, and saw more enemies, he snapped his neck, and stood, removing the bloodied blade from the dead man.
Feeling rejuvenated, he raised the blade high, and the red ruby caught a glimpse of sunlight that reflected everywhere. Gojinn screamed louder than he ever had, and as the cave was crumbling to pieces, he let out one last telekinetic shockwave, that made the roof shake violently….and then everything ceased….
The soldiers stopped their movements, and looked about, worried and scared. Red had made it to the top of the hill, and had fought the last of the soldiers trying to block their exit…..
Gojinn looked back to Red, as he fell to one knee, and spit another mouthful of blood to the ground…
Go.
What?!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
He turned and cut straight through a soldiers chest plate, and kicked him back, yanking his sword from the armor. Red turned and ran through the opening to the cave, as the whole goddamn island seemed to come to life again, and crumble. The cave walls were falling apart now, and the roof was crumbling!!! Gojinn looked at the way Red had run, and followed now, sprinting, unable to breath! Red stopped and turned around, having made it a decent way down the tunnel… and looked for Gojinn.
Gojinn made it to the top of the hill, and collapsed to his hands and knees, quite literally bleeding from his mouth at this point. The wound on his side was still bleeding, and anyone else would have died at this point, but Gojinn still dragged himself, crawling to escape.
Red looked at the man, and started back, but suddenly Gojinn stopped, and sat up on his knees. Red stopped, and looked at him too. They both saw the roof… and Gojinn just looked at him one last time…
To be….. continued…!!!
Then the whole section of cave crumbled in, and blocked off a way to one another. Red knew digging through would be pointless, as it would kill them both. He turned, hoping Gojinn would find another way out at this point…..
Yeah, you should go sometime, if you don’t mind the extreme heat anyway.
by ??????????
Red stepped back from the cave entrance, unable to hear anything that was going on inside of it now.
“Fuc-”
The ground began to shake even harder, causing him to start to fall over, but he managed to keep his balance. It didn’t subside after a few seconds though. The face of a nearby cliff started to collapse, broken stone crashing onto the beach. It was time for him to either find another way to escape the island or die with it and everyone else there.
Hours ago, he started out trying to kill someone he once considered a close friend and now, that had all changed. He hoped that Gojinn managed to get out of the cave and escape the island too. And hope was all he could do for Gojinn now. Well, he supposed that he could try to find a way to swim back into the cave, but that would take too long, especially since he didn’t know how far he’d have to swim until he found the opening in the water.
He looked up and down the beach, unsure of which way to go. He still had the idea of finding another portal to go through back to his own time. Going back the way he and Gojinn came, to the point on the beach where they first arrived in Atlantis, seemed like the most logical place to go if he wanted to find another portal, but it would be hard to get back that way because of all the gaps that had opened up in the ground, although the other way could be just as bad, if not worse.
Deciding to go in the direction he hadn’t been in yet, Red started to run, or moved as fast and as best as he could anyway. His entire body ached with pain and was covered in sweat and blood, some of it his own and the rest of it belonged to others, including Gojinn. The ground in this direction was slightly less torn up, but he knew that it wouldn’t stay like that for long. Maybe he would even discover another boat.
He hadn’t even gone far enough for the cave to be out of his view yet if he turned around to look at it when another group of soldiers showed up. This group was a lot smaller than the previous ones though and they seemed to be less organized too. The Atlantean army must’ve been running very thin at that point. Red figured that he and Gojinn had to have wiped out at least half of the army during their fighting against them, probably a lot more. Plus, some died by falling rubble landing on them or by plunging to their death in one of the gaps in the ground.
“OHooee'nah teahae-te, ooee-de-kueay-teahn!”
“I’m getting real sick of this shit!”
He brought the ax up and swung it into the chest of the nearest soldier, ripping through his armor, skin, muscles, and organs and breaking ribs. He pulled the ax from the soldier’s chest, blood gushing out of the large, gruesome hole, and turned to slice off the arm of another soldier, blood squirting out at the cutting point and the fingers of his lost arm still wrapped around the handle of his sword. He then struck the soldier in the face with the ax, the blade sinking into it vertically and almost directly in the center of his face. Removing the ax, a line of blood dripped off of the tip of the soldier’s chin and he fell to the ground. Taking down two more soldiers with one swing of the ax across their necks, blood spraying from both throats in unison, he finished off the last soldier just as quickly with a blow to the top of the head with the sharp pointed back end of the ax, punching a hole into his skull through his helmet.
Not wanting to waste anymore time than he had to, Red continued running, going by more opened cracks in the ground and crumbling city walls. There had to be something, anything, to prevent him from going down with this hellhole. But there was still no sign of any other boats and his yearning for a portal to appear was looking more and more hopeless with each passing second. He’d also begun thinking about that if he did use another portal, would it really take him back to his time or would it take him to another time that he didn’t belong in? He was pretty sure that no other time periods could be as bad as this one though.
Suddenly, a gap opened up right in front of Red, causing him to almost run right over the edge of it and quickly getting wider, too wide for him to jump over. He didn’t see a way around it either. It had taken up the whole width of the beach and part of the city too, water flooding into the gap.
“No! NO!!!!!”
He fell to his knees, letting the ax fall to the sand. He was doomed. There wasn’t enough time to find a way back into the city and then navigate a way around the gap. He could almost feel the entire island getting ready to just start completely sinking all at once. He was going to die alone, forever lost in time. Or maybe dead in time was more fitting. Either way, he was fucked. He hoped that Gojinn was having better luck than he was.
He wasn’t as alone as he thought though. Behind him, more soldiers were approaching. Red heard their piece of armor clanging together and stood up, spinning around, ax in hand.
“Ah fuck! Well, at least I’ll go out fighting, even if it’s fighting you assholes!”
He charged at the soldiers. There were about twenty of them. Red didn’t feel like fighting anymore. For a second, he had even considering just letting them kill him, but he decided that he might as well make his final moments count. He began to swing the ax in a semi circle, cutting down five soldiers in just the first few swings. Then, one of the soldiers threw a spear, sending it into Red’s leg at the thigh, causing him to fall to one knee.
“Shit! You bastards!”
Red ripped the spear out of his leg and threw back at the soldier who attacked Red with it, the weapon drilling through the soldier’s chest. His rage was so high at the moment, he didn’t care about the pain he was in, especially in his leg, or the fact that that leg was now bleeding profusely. He climbed back to his feet and took out four more soldiers, sending blood and chunks of flesh flying through the air.
The islands rumbling got even greater and the soldiers suddenly stopped fighting Red, staring at something behind him. He realized this and turned around too to see that another portal had formed right over the gap.
“Son of a bitch…talk about fucking luck!”
Red began running for the portal, completely focusing on it and ignoring everything else. At this point, he didn’t care what time period it took him to. The soldiers snapped out of their gaze and saw that Red was running away from them.
He leapt off of the edge of the gap, nearly tripping, and went right into the portal. A few of the soldiers that chased him tried to jump into the portal as well, but it had already disappeared and they fell into the gap to their deaths instead.
For Red, the darkness and white hot pain was back. He didn’t care about it though. He’d done it. He’d escaped Atlantis.
Red felt his self falling and opened his eyes to see a partially cloudy, bluish-purple sky above him. He then landed, hard, in some tall grass, his eyes closing again. He could feel mud underneath his body. He just laid there for a few minutes, his body burning from the portal again, but he didn’t scream this time. He didn’t have the energy for it.
When he finally sat up and reopened his eyes, he realized that there was a dense fog. It was dawn. In the far distance, he could barely see the elevated section of a highway. At least he thought he could. He was back in his own time. Hopefully. He tried to stand up, but couldn’t because of his injured leg so he just laid back down, eventually succumbing to his tiredness and pain and passing out…
Saunas aren't my thing. Thanks for the advice though.
by ------------------------------------
Not dead….yet….not….dead yet……not…… DEAD!
Fury, anger, sorrow…..all burned behind the eyes of Gojinn, and deep within the once proud King’s heart. His once proud best friend had tried to kill him, all because their own greed got the better of them. Things had changed, and they ended up here because of their intense hatred, and they couldn’t even put it behind them. Like children, they bickered and argued, and kept the fight going. All they had to do was just admit their faults, and walk away, or patch things up. Instead, Red had tried to track him down and kill him, while he was weak.
Weak….
He defined weak as not being able to compete, as being unable to fight well.
What a joke that was. Right now, he was on his hands and knees, unable to breath easily, to stand, or to raise the damn sword he had taken. He could only assume it had some royal significance. He stared at the blade, and slammed it into the rock, embedding it there. He grabbed the handle, and used both hands to raise himself to one knee, and then stand up completely. He turned around entirely, sweeping the sword from the Earth, and stared at the men who began to climb to their feet to fight. They glared at the man who had just sealed them in a watery grave, and raised their weapons from the ground. They pulled up shields, and some even took off armor to fight faster, and quite possibly hope to swim away.
Grinning, Gojinn tried his best to stand up straight. He knew what he was about to get into, and fighting alone now, with two wounds that were bleeding, he’d need to end this fight fast if he planned to survive. He spit one more mouthful of blood away, and raised the sword, taking a stance, as he listened to the serenity of the water, lapping on the rocks…
And the island suddenly came to life again, drowning out the sounds, and making Gojinn and the soldiers charge one another.
The army was thinned down in the cave, but it didn’t mean there was only a few left. In fact, Gojinn simply rushed into a sea of men, carrying the sword at his chest level. He slashed down a few men, before rushing head on into a group of shields. Having his sword bounce off the heavy metal, he quickly used his free hand to grab the shield and move it aside, hoping to thrust into his enemy with his own sword, but he failed, and instead, had a sword thrust his way!! He side stepped, and then ducked, as a club flew over his head, cracking a soldier right in the shield, causing him to become distracted. Gojinn used the opening to stab him, and then pull the blade through his side, placing it in the soldier next to him. Both men froze with shock, and then collapsed in agony.
Gojinn let out a cry of pain and victory having taken these men down, and turned slitting the open throat of a man holding nothing but a heavy rock. Blood sprayed into the air, and showered many a soldier, and Gojinn as well. He fell to his knees, at which time, Gojinn diverted his attention elsewhere. Three heavily armed soldiers stepped up, wielding a club, axe, and what looked to be a lance. They raised their weapons, but only fought one at a time! The club bearer was first, and brought the club down with such force, it cracked the rocky cave floor. Gojinn had hopped down the slope a bit, and caught a nice level part. Slowly he backed up, allowing his enemy to step down as well.
Face to face, they dueled. Gojinn stabbed with the sword, which the soldier moved out from enough to simply be scathed by it. He brought the club down, and slammed Gojinns blade to the rock. Not wanting it to break, Gojinn ducked with the blade, and let it slam down, quickly standing up without it to grab his enemies weapon. He placed both hand on it, and leaned toward him, smashing him with his shoulder, trying to dislodge it from his hands. The soldier shakes Gojinn off though, and thinking quickly, Gojinn ducks, as he simply heaves the club at his head again, trying to crush the King’s skull.
Gojinn sweeps up the sword, and as the soldier follows through with his heavy swing, Gojinn stands and plunges the blade into the small slit between his shoulder and chin, severing his jugular. He pulls the sword back and moves, as the man stumbles about, pouring blood all over the armor…
The soldier wielding a lance stepped up next, but the island again shook quite violently, and a crack opened beneath them all!! Gojinn dove, and cleared himself, but the other two were far too slow in their heavy armor, and fell in!!! Water began pouring down into the cracks, which made Gojinn worry. If the island was sinking, then why was water leaving….and not coming back in?! He had just about figured it out, when a huge chunk of rock went flying by him.
It slammed into his sword, and while he wondered where it had come from, he didn’t have time to wonder…
Because now a bigger problem had arisen. Gojinn was weaponless, and the army was still in strong numbers.
The island shook again, and Gojinn took off, diving for the sword that had begun to slide into the crack. Not wanting to lose his only chance of survival, he quickly stood, blood still pouring from his wounds. Gasping for air worse than ever before, he hunches slightly now, taking a defensive stance.
COME ON!!!!!!!!
The soldiers slowly regrouped and formed a line, and Gojinn began to panic. He was outnumbered and cornered on every side. He was surrounded by men with weapons, and was bleeding to death fast. He didn’t know what to do. His powers were useless, and he was too weak to fight off them all to escape. He could never swim out of the cave at this rate, and besides, bleeding to death in the water, when sharks could be about, was not his favorite option right now. The soldiers began throwing spears and Gojinn scoffed, knowing this would end horrifically. He batted a few down with his sword, knocking them to the sides effortlessly. He side stepped others, spinning around and ducking, using the sword as protection. It still wasn’t enough. The blades of the spears rained down, slicing his arms, cutting his legs. Once they seemingly stopped, he turned, only to find three men had held fast, waiting, and with Gojinn shocked, they whipped their spears. Obviously trained well, two of the spears struck him in either thigh, and he dropped to his knees in agony.
Roaring with pain, Gojinn raised the sword, but had forgot about the third spear, which was more delayed than the other two. This one came down, and struck him in the left shoulder again. Gasping in pain and shock, he simply slumped to the ground. That was it…
The sword slipped from his hand, and he laid there, gasping for air, as he tried to drag himself from his enemies with his right hand. They slowly gathered and raised their weapons… and Gojinn gritted his teeth…
Go……………to Hell….
The island quaked again!! The soldiers tried to stand their ground, and Gojinn used his hand to pull himself to a sturdy looking rock a few feet away, and latched on with his arm, clinging desperately. The crack that had opened before, exploded to pieces, and in the soldiers went! Gojinn held tight, as the gap stopped not far from him, yet the island didn’t stop quaking! The water level dipped again, and Gojinn felt a slight shift of his weight to the right side.
The island was sinking! The cave was slowly surfacing, as the island sank elsewhere, tilting it out of the water! He sighed with relief! He might have a chance if he could swim out of the cave, where it had raised high out of the water! The relief he felt allowed him to reach across his chest, and grasp the spear tightly. It had gone through him…, but he pulled and yanked it out. The pain was overwhelming, and he felt nauseous, but the overwhelming adrenaline from the fear of dieing and the will to live allowed him to reach down now, as he slowly sat up, and grab each spear. He pulled up and out, yanking both from bone and tissue, tearing his legs apart. Blood squirted everywhere, but he ignored it, as it quickly stopped, whether from a lack of blood to spare, or it had simply clotted somehow. He gave himself another minute, and another violent island quake, before he began to stand.
The pain was his main focus though. He fought it off, with every stumbling step. He reached for his sword, but soon realized it had been swallowed in the last quake. The cave was empty finally…the soldiers dead…
One last thing to do then: Escape.
He set his eyes to where the boat was, still burning away. Grinning, he felt victorious. He just had to get away now, and he could meet up with Red on the beach, and find a way out before it all went to hell. He could do it!! The burning boat covered a decent portion of the water, meaning Gojinn would have to go under and swim out if he even had a shot at escaping. He couldn’t resurface for air, for a while at least. The boat was massive, and what he didn’t see, was the fleet of them just beyond. Small paddle boats, Viking looking in their design, floated there burning to nothing throughout the cave entrance.
And then the worst happened, his weight re-shifted…and he heard a terrible rushing noise that made him dive and then paddle and kick like a mad man. The cave or at least a portion of the island snapped apart, and now the entire thing was sinking again. The enormous gap where he’d fought all the soldiers was filling with water now that it was submerging slowly. The cave filled back up, and the once somewhat calm boats covered in fire, began floating all over, back and forth across the cave entrance.
The island quaked!!! The cave itself shook, and crumbled! Chunks of wall began falling apart, the ceiling was giving way and stabbing down into the water with its jagged structure!
Ca……n’t….d…..ie…..ye……..t….
Gojinn could barely breath at all now. It had become so shallow, that the “running” he was picturing himself doing along the cave wall, grasping at the sides, was him pulling himself along the wall with his right arm only now. His left arm was so damaged in his muscles, he could barely close a fist at this point. The water was so cold and rough too, that it was freezing him, and it was too much for his legs to kick against. His face had lost all color, but he kept on. He had to…….
A small opening! Day light!!!
STOP
PLAY
He pulled himself further, and watched as the exit to the cave the boats had once used, fell to pieces, and not a speck of light passed through. His heart sank, but there was still light in the opening ahead! He pulled and pulled, and finally made it. He grabbed the edge, and dragged himself with his right hand now, barely using his legs to push himself towards the light shining in the tunnel. The roof above him was giving way. The entire cave was crumbling at this point. He crawled some more, and then he heard the way he came in fall apart, and the opening to escape was jagged and small. He hadn’t a chance to go back, not that there was anything left back there…
Gojinn hurried on, pushing himself with his feet every so often, as he dragged onward with his hand. And then the light faded…. Leaving a single candle to light the room he was in. The tunnel off in the distance must have too caved in, or at least flooded from the sinking. The candle had been lit by a soldier whom Gojinn stared at. A large piece of jagged debris had broken loose at some point, and landed on his shoulder, tearing through his chest, killing him. Gojinn too would face the same fate now…trapped forever in this fucking hole, doomed to sink to the bottom of the sea.
He had started out this Halloween Night in the attempt to retain Gold. Now all he wanted was his life, and even that was forfeit. It seemed everyone had gotten their wish. They had dethroned him, and taken his life. He hadn’t a chance… and deep within the cave it finally clicked with him that this was it, and he was sitting in his final resting place.
He sighed, and laid back against the wall. The sound of rushing water was all he heard, as he propped himself upright. He closed his eyes, and tried to keep breathing, but even that was becoming increasingly difficult. His heart rate was so high, and the blood pouring from him was too much.
His eyes shut against his own will. He felt cold begin to take him over, and work its way up his body, until he could no longer breathe. And in the cold darkness, Gojinn let out one last breath of air, and finally slept… forevermore….
Throughout the medieval period, the countries in Europe were always on the brink or at war. Sometimes it was isolated but often times, war would break out in one place after another, so much so that it became accepted as the norm and in turn, the aristocracy continued to entertain and celebrate one social occasion after another in light of the bloodshed that was going on around them.
The Church also celebrated their religious holidays, baptising infants and preaching of love towards their fellow man while they promoted hatred and intolerance upon any who would not accept their teachings. As they baptised and saved babies with holy water, their soldiers condemned and baptised the ground with the blood of children. The Holy Inquisition at it's finest.
At this particular time neighboring France is at war, amongst the living, and the dead. The Fourth Crusade had given way to the Crusade against the Albigensians, pitting the French and Toulousain Knights and soldiers against one another. At this time, religious ferment and political ambition went hand in hand with each side calling the other heretic and unfaithful.
And all the while, Holy men celebrated whilst Undead pilgrims and their living companions camped in the forests, vulnerable to rogue crusaders and Garou.
It was said that the vampire Anatole was the new savior during this time, traveling through Paris and throughout Europe with a following as faithful as the Nazarene's. Anatole preached the word of God to the Damned. It was unprecedented but many turned out to meet him just the same, many listened and many came to revere him. Some however, called him a holy madman.
He was not alone as fanatics of the Cainite Heresy also descended and preached that the Father, Caine himself walked amongst them.
Two visitors from the future had traveled back in time once again to find out for themselves which Anatole was, and perhaps bring him back with them.
In the meantime, they found ways of biding their time as they searched....
The wedding ceremony was grand, and for the two uninvited guests that followed Anatole's trail to this region, it was a return to the opulent days of genuine Monarchs and Noblemen. With the nuptials now finished, it was time for the reception. It was as magnificent if not moreso than the wedding itself as the guests mingled in their masquerade costumes, each one more extravagant than the next.
The masks of pure gold or silver were encrusted with precious jewels and just one of those masks alone could have easily fed a peasant's family for a year The costumes were just as lavish, made of the finest silks, satins and lace, the men regal in their attire, the women queenly in theirs’.
Tradition dictated that the wedding party was to be held in a very respectably sized Keep, as grand as the Noble could afford. Some were far grander with a far greater amount of servants and peasants to work the land as Land was power and if a Lord, Lady, Baron or Baroness could fill that land with workers, they were afforded more influence and respect as well as the monetary gains to come from it.
Before their family, friends and guests, the groom had just taken the ceremonial knife that he was going to use to slice into the cake and instead unexplicably sliced into his new bride's throat! With one fell swoop, he had severed their wedding bond and her windpipe. The blood that sprayed was a sight, a veritable geyser and the look in her eyes was even more entertaining for the two uninvited guests. It was that of surprise, shock and the realization that she was dying and would be dead within seconds.
The slaughter was a beautiful thing to watch, at least for Hawke and Viper who feigned the very real shock and horror that the invited guests were witness to. It was Dementation at it's finest. And as the chaos ensued, Viper and Hawke made their way over to a buffet table that had been generously splattered by the bride's blood and unseen by anyone, picked up a couple of hor douvres soaked in it and proceeded to eat them.
"Fancy that, she was a virgin"
"Good times luv, so many virgins to be had"
That remark raised an eyebrow from Viper prompting Hawke to savor the next hor douvre. "For our kind, to feast upon" he grinned, realizing where her mind had gone.
"Mmmhmmm, nice save m'luv" she smiled back as she helped herself to one more.
"Wasn't it?" Hawke chuckled then picking up a clean linen, he wiped his hands and dabbed his lips before withdrawing his sword from the scabbard on his back."Shall we finish this?"
Drawing her own sword from the sheath hidden beneath her cloak, Viper smiled a sadistic smile as she gazed up through feral eyes into Hawke's "Thought you'd never ask"
The year is 1522. The place is somewhere in the east of what would now be called Germany.
A tribe of nomads came across a large cavern, large enough to house their entire clan. The tribe's leader, Gaern Krieger ordered his son, Artix to go out with a few men and hunt for food. After getting a group together, Artix and six others went in search of anything deemed edible. After a while, they came across a hidden grotto where a small herd of deer had bedded down for the night. Silently, the hunters positioned themselves around the grotto, each one picking a single deer for his arrow. With a sharp whistle, Artix commanded the group to loose their bows and all but one found its target.
The hunter who had failed walked out into the now deserted grotto with a look of utter shock on his face. His arrow may have missed the deer, but it had penetrated the leather jerkin, flesh, bone and heart of Artix. The others fled back to the cavern to tell their leader what had transpired. The unwitting murderer was frozen to the spot. Partly due to the fact that he killed the chief's son, partly because he was petrified by a dazzling set of green eyes that seemed to penetrate his soul. Against his will, his arm reached down to his belt for his dagger. Still, he could not move or even scream for help as he lifted the blade to his throat and dragged it across, leaving a gaping wound behind.
With his blood spilling down his front, he still couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Couldn't die.
At least he thought.
The source of the eyes walked into the clearing, revealing a beautiful woman with a mane of brilliant red hair. She pulled the hair from Artix's neck and sank her fangs into him. At once, he let loose a cry of pain that turned into the last breath of a dying soul. The woman pulled back and made an incision along her wrist with Artix's dagger. Quickly, she pressed the wound to his lips and to the suprise of the petrified hunter, his leader began to drink. Moments passed before the woman drew her arm back and dissapeared into the night.
The hunter still stood in the clearing, watching his leader stand. The look on Artix's already pale face was one of grotesque beauty as the moon reflected off. The last thing the hunter saw were the ice blue eyes of Artix Krieger, before his throat was removed.
END OF CHAPTER ONE
Next Chapter: Artix returns to the cavern, The woman reveals her name, The Realization of Eternity.
We open on the peaceful English countryside….when suddenly….a sound of thunder rolled over the horizon…..but this sound did not come from the dark overcast……instead coming from a horse and carriage barreling full speed towards it’s destination….
“Quickly now…we must arrive before nightfall or we’re finished!”
“!!!”
And with a snap of the whip and neigh of the horse…they race even faster…the wheels cracking as the carriage bustle and bumps along the path…..leaving a massive cloud of dust in their wake….
“THERE IT IS!! THE CASTLE!!! MAKE HASTE!!”
A mere moments later the Carriage had arrived in front of the castle gates….
“THE GATES!! OPEN THE GATES!! THERE IS PRECIOUS LITTLE TIME!! I BESEECH YOU TO OPEN THE GATES!”
Soon the gates creek open and in races the carriage as they close solidly behind it…The guards encircle the carriage....and one shouts out to it..
“What is wrong? Doest creatures of the night pursue?”
Suddenly…forcefully…the door to the carriage bursts open….and there….arms outstretched stands one man…..Ulric Astortin the third!!...
“Not at all my fine sirs….but I hath need of thine facilities…”
With that Ulric heads to the nearest outhouse with great speed….leaving the Guards to converse with his confidant…Francois…
“…”
Yes....I am cruel...giving you only a snippet of the epic tale to come....but ya just have to be a showman...you have to...
Astin - Yes this is related to my destiny and becoming the King of the Ring. I'm getting to that part.
Frank - "..."
Astin - Shhh...reading from the tome of Astinian Legend is a near religious experience. You must let it sink in before absorbing too much.
Frank - "..."
Astin - Anyway...my ancestor Ulric Astortin the third. Having done his business...exited the outhouse.
Frank - "..."
Astin - No...a piece of tissue wasn't stuck to his foot!
Frank - "..."
Astin - Alright..let's just skip to the flashback part...you're annoying the hell out of me.
Astin twiddles his fingers at the camera as the image begins to blur!
Deedeedeedodeedoodeedo
The guards quickly stop their chillin' with Francois...and get back to their questioning of the Medieval Tinman.
Guard - Oye, Whatcha peddlin da tele Ooooorigh?
Ulric - Oo?
Francois - "..."
Guard - Whuz he pippin on govna?
Ulric - I don't understand a word he's saying.
Francois - "..."
Guard - Me neither mate.
Ulric - Oh...you thought I meant Francois? Nah..he's just speaking Co...erm..French...yes..
Guard - WITCH!
Ulric - No no no!
The Guard runs around in circles screaming at the top of his lungs!
Guard - Tis gonna keel us all, tis! I SAYETH WE FRIAR IT!
Just then, the second guard bops the first one over the head.
Guard 2 - Don't mind him, he's pagan.
Francois - "!!!"
Guard - Burn fire, burn bright, Pure vision come to me, Guide my path tonight With your strength and light.
Guard 2 - Craaazzzzyyyy
Guard - You shant think me crazy once I get mine hands on a virgin! HER BLOOD SHALL BE SPILT AT TWILIGHT! THEN! THEN YE SHALL KNOW THE WRATH OF BELENUS!
Ulric - Oo.
Guard 2 - Annnnnywho.....why are you here? Other then the use of our crop storage as an outhouse?
Francois - "!!!"
Ulric - We journey from afar. We tire of our journey. We wish for food, drink, sleep, a selection of your finest wenches...oh and maybe some of the royal treasure...any of that you have laying around.
Guard 2 - Well I wish for a day where we can bring tiny bards with us everywhere, in the palm of our hands!
Ulric - Ah..you mean an iPOD
Guard 2 - Wha?
Ulric - You know...you lure a bard into a magic inchanted Pod...it shrinks him down and you can carry him anywhere. I got three GB on mine now.
Guard 2 - GB?
Ulric - Great Britons.....*shifty eyes*
Guard 2 - Still, Inchanted is not spelt with an I.
Ulric - Ye Olde Meh.
Francois - "..."
Guard 2 - Still, you shant be getting any of your requests.
Ulric - Why not?
Guard 2 - Because.
Ulric - I see...But I rule you...so you must do as I say.
Guard 2 - But!
returns from flashback
Frank - "..."
Astin - It goes on like that for quite a bit actually
Frank - "..."
Astin - Fine...Long story short...Ulric finally met the King....and instead of being beheaded...he offered up an idea...
Frank - "..."
Astin - Oo! Don't test me.
Frank - "..."
Astin - Anyway...the idea was....Kings from all over would put their land on the line...in the very first King of the Coliseum tournament.
Frank - "!!!"
Astin - Yes...the precursor to the KotR.
Frank - "..."
Astin - It is amazing..I agree.....anyway....the winner would go on to earn the right to call himself the absolute Ruler over the land...
Frank - "..."
Astin - And so....Ulric fought long and hard....against the greatest warriors nobility from every continent could muster. He fought against Valkyrie, he fought against Black Knights, against Knights Templar and all that jazz...
Frank - "..."
Astin - I don't care if him fighting Valkyrie in the tourney wouldnt make sense...he did....he even took on the moon!
Frank - "..."
Astin - BAH!...He won anyway....and then the noble King Arthur...the one who had denied him his wenches.....was forced to find a new job....leaving a cheesy fairy tale to cover the truth.
Astin - All the while...the evil Tyrant Ulric Astortin the Third ruled over the land with an iron fist!...Well actually a Tin Fist...but that sounds less imposing.
Frank - "..."
Astin - So you see....I must win the KotR.....it's in my blood!
Frank - "..."
Astin - Al Pacino as Francois in the movie version? Nah I don't see the connection...Gill from Finding Nemo maybe.
Frank - "!!!"
Astin - That is so not racial typecasting.
Frank - "..."
Astin - Whatever. Matthew McConaughey is a lock for Ulric...or maybe Heath Ledger.....or perhaps even Gaspard Ulliel.
Frank - "..."
Astin - JUGHEAD!! JUGHEAD!! Oo! That's it....I'm not talking to you anymore!
The fun thing about being the hunter, the killer is the seduction, the hunt. It was a game played for thousands of years, a game played out on different killing grounds all around the world. There was even fun in those moments of intimacy that occured right before the end. Sometimes it lasts seconds or minutes as the rhythm of your heartbeat, mortal or preternatural, matches the target's motion.
Suddenly, with a percussion that sounds like a mass of compressed air, your weapon or sometimes yourself, being the weapon. hurtles at subsonic speeds towards the target and lands with a sting so fast the victim doesn't even have time to contemplate his or her shift from life to death.
One heartbeat he's walking along the road, riding along a path or dancing in a club, the next he's in front of the pearly gates trying to tell St. Peter exactly why he should let his sorry corrupted ass into heaven. Most people that get nixed aren't the kind that go to heaven anyway. Neither are the killers going there either. Not that he or she would want to, not with the Earth as their own personal and eternal hunting ground.
Riding along the road on their horses, Hawke and Viper conversed, albeit silently as their horses trotted at a steady pace alongside the other. Passing gorges hidden behind small forests but through this passage, the distant sounds of battle brought them to a halt and as they scanned the landscape, their preternatural eyes functioning like infrared heat sensors, detected a large number of men just through the wood. Human. The red glow distinguising them from a band of Garou, demons or other kindred.
Dismounting her horse, Viper took a few steps forward with Hawke right on her heels as she made her way through the glade of trees then up an incline, crouching lower as she came to the edge, the top of the hill giving way to a small valley below. There they were, two groups of men, one smaller than the others but by their white habits with the unmistakeable red crosses on them, they could be only one thing.
Bloody 'ell luv, Templars, we 'ave to go and go quick"
"This is just unreal Hawke, look at them"
"I am, which is why we must go"
Then it happened, the larger army though on the retreat were in fact leading the Templars into an ambush and as this new onslaught took place, Viper watched with morbid facination as once again the Templars regained lost ground, but not without casualty, one had taken a severe blow and was knocked from his horse by a massive barbarian who immediately thrust his sword into the Templar, dealing him an injury he would not survive.
Templars trained for this, they took vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience but it was their cardinal rule of never surrendering. They simply would not leave that battlefield till the end even if it meant their own. Their belief in their faith so strong, their honor so unshakeable, that they had made their peace with the very real prospect of death as they knew they would be rewarded in the afterlife.
"Hawke, imagine if we had a Templar on our side, we would have someone on the inside of a very elite group, of a very well connected group, an ally in these times. Their excellent training and heavy armament...Hawke I must"
"Luv leave him.." Hawke warned "It could serve us no good in the long run and we won't be here for very much longer" "Then there's no harm to be done, it would mean one less Inquisitor to persecute our kind"
"Luv...no, you..can't.."
It was too late, as the dust settled from the departing Templars, Hawke saw Viper already on the field and approaching the fallen man. He glanced up at the sky and cursed under his breath a moment before he set off after her. Viper however had already crouched down to one knee beside the dying Templar. Her eyes glancing over his wound, examining it before letting her gaze drift to his blood splattered face, his eyes were semi closed and his face was a grimace of pain, a cold sweat already breaking out across his forehead. She knew as he did that he would not live much longer.
"So heroic..so faithful and much to young to have your life cut short like this. You should not die" Viper whispered hesitantly, smiling a bewitching smile that drew his gaze to hers.
The Templar attempted to focus his eyes through the sudden fog that had enshrouded the valley floor, his vision clearing regardless and taking in the face of the one speaking to him through the haze. "I have accepted my fate and honored God" He stammered. "My duty is complete"
"Your duty was to die alone on this field? To let the worms make nothing of a life that you toiled all those years to make? Of a life you have yet to live? Is this what you truly want?" I cannot believe that your God, did not have more meant for you than this"
"I---I do not want to die" he coughed as his breath grew more labored and his death drew nearer "But there is nothing to stop it now" he resigned himself.
"Not as you are but if there was a way, would you take it? To live a full life of your choosing, a life without end. I can give that to you Templar, right here and right now."
"How is that possible, you are not God" The Templar stated with conviction.
"No, i'm not your God, he would let your life drain into the Earth. I, on the other hand offer you life, I am something better" She cooed and with a fiery glint in her eyes, descended on the Templar's neck, sinking her fangs into his flesh and drinking deeply from him. The warrior gasped as he felt his body weaken further, the mingling of pain and ecstasy as she gave him the Kiss. The Templar saw images of his own life flash before his eyes in rapid succesion and as his eyes closed, Viper's eyes became red as she drank, seeing the same images of the man's life and experiencing his memories. He was of noble birth this Michael and his spirit was of a warrior. A man of conviction and a man who was a survivor.She saw it all, felt it all.
And then, it stopped.
The Templar struggled to breathe, his throat already constricting and his body shivering from death's icy touch.He looked up through his fear flecked eyes, widened at the blasphemy his ears had just heard and the sadism he had just experienced. With a hard swallow, he attempted to speak again, pausing a few moments to gather what little strength he had left. "What...what would I have to do?"
Viper smiled and she slid down to both knees, carefully placing the dying Templar's head on her lap. "Just take my hand" she enticed, just like the legendary Serpent in the Garden of Eden itself, she offered the Templar the taste of the proverbial forbidden fruit when she swept an elongated nail across her wrist and held it over his lips letting a couple of droplets of blood fall onto his lips.
"Drink if you wish to live"
Turning his head to one side, he pushed her wrist away in resistance, but the Templar didn't let go completely.
"Drink.."
The Templear gazed back up and seeing the thin trail of crimson across the silky skin of her wrist, the Templar brought her wrist down and pulled it to his mouth, feeding hesitantly at first then causing Viper to let out a sigh as the man fed from her more voraciously. The Templar's eyes closed as he felt the hammering of his own pulse as he fed. He broke contact with her long enough to open the thin wound further, shearing the soft skin and pressing his lips to her again, drawing forth even more of her blood..
"Enough" she ordered but he kept drinking causing another sigh to escape.It was then that Viper pulled her wrist away forcibly and began to seal her own wound while Hawke moved forward, placing his boot on the man's chest.
Glancing at the Templar, she smiled inwardly. His lips and chin stained crimson from feeding and his now dark soul was linked to hers. Hawke maintained his stance as Viper rose and then, both stepping back, she watched him writhe on the ground, his body shuddering with convulsions as his mortal body died, but as it did, it also regenerated itself, transforming itself.
"You have a good appetite" she smiled darkly. She had always suspected that these warrior monks were as blood thirsty as those they would eventually drag to the inquisitions and she had been right.
"Now, Michael," she said. "On your knees. You have fed and now you pulse with life. I desire your knowledge and your services"
"My Queen" the Templar bowed his head in reverence and in obedience. The words seemed to come from somewhere far away in his mind, at first barely sure they were his own but looking over his perfectly healed body and taking in everything with his new senses, he seemed to come alive and pulled his tunic from his body.
"Come" Viper entreated, motioning the Templar from his knees to follow her and as she joined Hawke, she smiled at him speaking to him telepathically. "Cake"
"I hope you know what you're doing luv" Hawke sent back telepathically.
"I always do m'heart, I always do"
The fog grew even more dense as the three made their way from the field, vanishing into the fog that provided them with cover and protection.
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... sorta but no...
by
In what had been dubbed the dark ages another land on the other side of Gaia had held a great deal of grandure and a world that some have argued been more primitive than Greek and Norse history. This tribe was a long forgotten one called the Shesosa, lost in the ages of time to many of the reasonings that historians have come to gather their own conclusions to.
His tribe had been a very humble people. The women cared for the children and raised them with good strong values. Bringing them up with open minds and open hearts. Welcoming strangers with open arms and embracing friends and family.
He was called Spirit of the Hunting Wolf (Ishnowakee). The medicine man of his peoples. He was very wise for his years and many elders held him in high regard. In his years he had many visions and knew of the day when he was about to pass on to be with his ancestors and learn of their wisdom in the Happy Hunting Grounds.
But on this day he awoke from a fitful sleep and spoke with the elder council of his tribe.
Neeshowakoom (Tall Bears) listened to his words.
" I saw the wolves of the north attack our people but we perservered and sent them back but it was all at a great cost. I saw my life ended that day. But this woman stood before me and her hair was as gold as the grassy fields on a bright autumn day. Her eyes were as blue as the crystal and bright like the waters of the springs we drink from. But she was like no other woman because she had wings greater than the eagles. But her beauty left me breatheless."
Neeshowakoom nodded sagely as he lifted the pipe and watched the fires burn. " This troubles you so and yet I have nothing that can offer you aid or understanding. But if there is more for you to speak then please go on."
Ishnowakee nodded. " I watched her protect me as they were about to do more harm to my spirit. And they tore her wings off and cast her into the great fires of their lands. But they spoke to me and told me that to save her it will be my task to help her find redemption if it should come to that."
Neeshowakoom smiled. " This woman from far away may very well know your plight and may actually be the strength you must draw from for the both of you to finally know what it is that both of you are longing for and looking to understand. Maybe even it is just an imaginative dream you came up with on your own Ishnowakee. You commune with spirits on a daily basis and have often done a great deal many things for our people. Maybe this is just the spirits way of telling you that for your youth and young years your very wisdom may also be blinding you to that which you not know. None of us are to always know all. For when we do..."
" We pass on to the next place."
" Very good Ishnowakee. Now let us smoke and pray for that our understanding now is all we need."
Riding away from the town, those fifteen or so minutes seemed to stretch out longer as the day had grown colder and the trees would soon shed their coats. Fall would soon be here as in their own time and they had to get back to their world as soon as possible. Time was of the essence and the longer they stayed here, the more they ran the risk of being discovered and without having made any allies just yet, it would be very bad.
As they entered the next town, the shops and pubs seemed to be emptying as the townsfolks hurried back to their homes in fear of the incoming chill and night. Back in their own time, it wasn't unusual to find the children all hiding inside when the cold weather fell. During this time, they were well inside before the first wave of darkness fell at any time of year, moreso at this one..
Finally making their way to an inn and to their room that the innkeeper led them to. The entire room was lit by sconces and candles making Viper silently curse this time's lack of electricity and heat. No oil, no gas, no electricity, none of the luxuries she held dear. Once the keeper left, Viper shed her scabbard and pulled out a coat she had packed in the saddlebag and wrapped it around her whilst Hawke added another log to the already lit fireplace in their room. Thank the dark gods for small miracles she thought, and began to conjure up two huge mugs of hot chocolate. Hawke didn't enjoy the beverage as she did so she had made sure to bring what he did enjoy, a few bottles of favorite whiskey from their time. Nothing warmed his blood with lightning speed he'd say as a few sips of that potent liquor did, albeit one thing.
Even from this refuge, she could hear the wind screaming against the windows as it battered the inn. With a "Be back in a tic", Hawke had gone outside to get more logs and to check on the horses in the barn, leaving Viper to settle on a seat in front of the now roaring fireplace. She stared into the flames and waited as the sky grew darker, occasionally sipping her steaming liquid. It may have been minutes, but it felt like hours that she waited, her drink slowly diminishing and the fire slowly dying.
She jumped up when the door burst open and blew the candles out that were placed throughout the room, revealing a dark figure looming in the doorway, his long coat swirling in the darkness as the cold rushed into the once cozy room. The empty mug had fallen silently on the rug as she stared at the intruder with her sword drawn in one hand and her dagger in the other, the only light coming from that near pitch hall were from his eyes glowing an ominous blue from under the veil of darkness and the light from the fireplace behind her. The wind continued to roar into the room, causing her now goose fleshed skin to prickle while a chill ran up her spine that was until he moved closer and the light from a window revealed his identity..
"You," she whispered both angrily and relieved, lowering her weapons and wrapping her arms around herself.
"Me," Hawke growled in a feigned menacing growl, his eyes growing brighter with amusement as they drank in her now relaxed body. He took a step forward, the floor creaking in protest beneath his weight and that of the logs he carried, his pace stopped to slam the door close behind him with the sole of his boot. The room became still once again as Hawke throw a few logs into the fire, stoking it to last the night.
Once he was satisfied with his work, he strode towards Viper, stopping only inches from her face as her eyes turned to look at him once again. She simply looked at him with his wind tangled black hair cascading over his stormy blue eyes. His scent invaded her nostrils, a mix of fire and earth, blood and flesh. His smell was so intoxicating and his eyes, those captivating blue orbs that glowed so fiercely, had frightened her, but she found herself unable to look away.
Their eyes fought a silent battle until she was forced to shake her head with a smile.
"If you ever do that again..."
"Scared you didn't I?" Hawke gloated "I still got it" Hawke chuckled incensing Viper further till she was staring at him through narrowed eyes. He simply gazed back with an intense smile on his angelic face, though he was far from an angel.
"Imma going to get you for that one" she finally laughed and walked over to kneel before the fire, warming herself after that little stunt and conjuring another mug of hot chocolate while Hawke opened his bottle to take a healthy swig.
And as they sat before the fire, a remote part of her, the Beast within all kindred, wanted to go out and explore the nightlife, but in this age and being in such an unfamiliar place, she opted to fight it back to keep a low profile from the denizens of the night, for now at least. She and Hawke would need to save their energy and discuss their plans. Tomorrow was another day and they still had work to do..
Entering, all eyes fell on the pair once they crossed through the doors. They were strangers, understandable but the way they carried themselves, the air about them as well as the look in their eyes as they scanned the room gave delivered the unmistakeable warning of caution in approaching.
Candles and torches were the only sources of light in the tavern, it felt warm and inviting despite the very real danger of those wild and primative times. And as they walked through the inn slash tavern, Viper's gaze fell upon the entrees that met her from every direction. She could feel her appetite pique by the scent and sight of a Pheasant in cream sauce, fresh baby vegetables with a pat of real butter melting in golden streams, oh and the bite-sized spicy meat pies. And that was the food alone, the patrons were another enticement altogether.
Peasants for the most part were a healthy and hearty lot. And between the sounds that their warm blood made when it rushed through their veins to the smooth even heartbeats pulsing just below the surface of their skin, Viper involuntarily licked her lips. "Luv, let's 'ave some ale then a bite to eat, later" Hawke whispered with a smile, picking up on then breaking her out of the sanguinary feast she was now envisioning.
"Ale would be good" Viper responded with a smirk, her eyes continuing to take everything and everyone in this place. "Straight from a peasant's throat" she added telepathically causing Hawke to do a double take.
She would have to use every ounce of willpower she had to maintain the masquerade, but oh how she hungered for one plump peasant. Maybe the fat man that was gorging himself on a plate of the pheasant. He had a good appetite she thought along with rich warm blood...
Hawke did a double take then chuckled, placing a few coins on the bar to pay for the drinks. "Luv, your ale" Hawke whispered, offering her the cup that she raised to her lips and took a long drink from which had been a bad move on her part, that stuff was bitter! Viper held the mouthful for what seemed an eternity, her face refusing to belie her with the bite of the strong drink and her body refusing to shudder from it as well.
"Good is it?" Hawke smirked, reading her like a book. "Ave another sip" He urged drawing a look from Viper. When she finally swallowed, she lowered her cup as they located and casually wandered towards a table by the wall, it was perfect. They could see the entire room and there'd be no chance of anyone sneaking up behind them with the wall of the tavern to their backs.
Viper could hear the soft sounds of music playing from across the room, a guitar like instrument perhaps, and what might be a flute along with some other instruments she couldn't identify. For the span of a half hour or so, they enjoyed eachother's company and the atmosphere of the tavern. It was exactly as she had imagined but better, she could hear the conversations of the time in the dialect they were spoken, she could smell the food, the scent of the wood burning in the fire, the scent of danger in the air. The chance for sport.
Then she glanced up when she spotted a sketchy character wander into the place, the man moved about the crowd as he worked his way towards the bar and after tossing a few coins on the counter, contined towards a table. The guy was kindred and possibly Ravnos by the way he passed by the patrons and made off with their monies. Clever little thief she noted as her preternatural eyes caught every move he made. Newly turned, she considered by not having sensed her right off as she had, him.
But she and Hawke didn't need to speak with a Ravnos, they needed the information that only a Nossie could provide but no Nossie worth his ugliness in gold would be so bold as to come into the light like this let alone in a mortal establishment. A mortal would have to do for now and for the time being, they listened to the towne's poet regale the patrons with tales of the kingdom's heros and stories of the Lords, Ladies, Barons and Baronesses of the land.
Setting her sights on just such a one, Viper slowly got up as if to go to the bar to get another round of ales when she found herself being followed by some amorous drunk. This was going to be too easy she thought and sliding her arm along the counter top, Viper grabbed a copper pot and turning suddenly, smashing the overly friendly farmer square in the jaw!
The drunk flew onto and through a table sending the previous occupants scattering amidst the shower of gruel and ale. Waiting for the man to get up, the drunk's companion came up behind Viper and attempting a bad bearhug,Viper drove her elbows into the man's ribs then grabbing his head in a lock, dropped to the floor giving the man a medieval stunner!
Hawke had already risen and was enjoying unleashing hell on a number of the tavern patrons which only prompted more of the patrons to start swinging at each other as bodies flew and smashed into others. An all out brawl had begun and Hawke and Viper were right in the thicke of it. Enjoying the game they were playing in firing up these townsfolk into their entertainment for the evening.
Another man came at Hawke from behind and found himself on the floor in front of the malk from a snap flip executed at an instant. Viper was faring just as well as Hawke spotted her on a table top and driving the heel of her foot right into the face of a heavy set blacksmith then jump a swinging chair and kick it right into the face of her assailant.
With the brawl in full swing, the pair slipped from the melee and made their round to the front where they had left their horses. But as they came around, they spotted the little thief again, this time daring to rob them of the contents in their saddlebags!
No more than a glance had passed between Viper and Hawke when they were on the little thief, the silence from the shock and the thief's voicebox being crushed in Hawke's hand was broken by the sound of steel rasping on leather as Viper freed her blade from its scabbard and looked down at the thief, her expression unreadable and then the blade plunged deep into his chest, puncturing his heart. The Ravnos let out a gurgle of blood then dissipated into a small explosion of dust and bone fragments.
"We should find a place to sleep" Viper remarked coolly as she wiped the blade clean on a rag she pulled from her boot.
"Luv, i remember these parts, there should be a town less than 15 minutes ride. No one asks questions there out of fear."
"It's perfect, come on before those silly fleshbags end their fight"
"Luv, we brought it about" Hawke chuckled as he helped Viper up on her horse then climbed aboard his own.
"So we did" she smiled as she wheeled her horse around and followed Hawke's lead to the next town, their horses kicking up a dustcloud as they left yet another bodycount in their wake...
The leap through time had gone as well as they had hoped it would have. It was still day and given the superstitious times of this period, no one would have thought them anything more than two fellow humans riding along the dirt roads instead of the fiends that they actually were. Who would have known that kindred could move during the time of the day as easily as they? Then again, most weren't as powerful as they, of generation so close to the first children of Caine himself.
The only thing that might have raised a brow was that they were both baring scabbards across their backs. While it wasn't uncommon for men to ride like that given the presence of warlords, warriors and soldiers, Viper was a woman and outside of the sword, she was attired as such except for her arm bands and that the hem of her skirt reached just above her knee with a pair of flat leather boots perfect for riding and fighting.
As they slowly made their way past villages and camps, the pair scanned the lands for anything they may need, making mental notes of where they would find it, then return to get them. Of course they were in need of some monies and finding a rather unprotected village on their travels, they took it righ there and then.
They rode through, casually at first then without any warning, withdrew their swords and began slaying everyone they could and chasing down those that ran for their very lives. Men, women and children, their blades bathed red with the blood of the villagers, and those that they hadn't completely killed, were bled dry as appetizers when they dismounted.
The Fiends gorged and took what they needed, and when they had finished their decimation of that village, they set it on fire. A blaze in the horizon, a blaze that would most likely be blamed on robbers or some rogue army. Hawke made makeshift torches from the fires that were burning in pits to heat water and for baths, Viper however used her Disciplines and cast huge volleys of fire from her palms, igniting the wood and straw houses erected everywhere with wicked glee.
For any dying villager, their last images of this life would be of the two "demons" with glowing eyes that rode through and out of the burning village, their features obscured by the smoke and raging flames.
~~~~~~~~Less than a quarter's day ride~~~~~~~~~~
When they finally reached a main town, they rode through and dismounted in front of the town's tavern. Their eyes ever watchful as the eyes that watched them in return, Hawke and Viper could have been mistaken for mercenaries by their appearance and that's the part they would play if only for the night.
Darker Realms
