Mercenaries of the Gods: Chronicle One - Stories

The Return of Robert: The Fire Circle

The faint glow of sunset still hangs in the air as the reign of night begins. The only sounds in the otherwise still and serine forest are the quick footsteps and heavy breaths of a lone man. Wearing clothes he doesn't remember, he thinks with all his might about the moment before this only to find he remembers nothing. His blond locks move in the slight wind as his pale eyes search for something, anything, that will help him understand where he is or why he is here. The forest is dense and the stars emerging from the darkness are barely visible through the thick canopy as he stumbles on, not sure where he is going. Finally, he sees what looks like the glow of a fire not far away. His weary form hurries to it, his feet moving nearly as fast as his racing heart. Cautious, but desperate, he soon finds himself at the edge of a clearing. Desperation guiding his actions, he moves from the relative safety of the trees and into the open. 

Stopping as soon as he's in the open, before him is an odd sight. A semicircle of five very eclectic entities, sitting in very fine beanbag chairs, around a nice fire with a single empty chair positioned across from the fire. On the far left sits what looks like a lizardman, but with scales the color of freshly cooled lava with and the orange glow of lava between them. His eyes glow with fire as they focus on the one who just entered the guest. Sitting to his left is a very disinterested woman whose body is made of woven blades of emerald grass and hair is made of amber grain in a simple ponytail. Her rather plain form seems to be far more interested in the bottle in her hand than their new guest and she proves this by taking a big gulp from her precious bottle. To her left is a very regular looking human. Wearing worn blue jeans over his brown and muddy boots and a simple green shirt, his brown eyes glance to his left as he nudges the hulking creature next to him. The largest of the group, he is nearly nine feet tall and four feet wide with the build of a rhino and wears a fine crimson robe with a gold and silver striped trim that seems to move like a snake along the edge. As the black, swirling masses that are his eyes look to the guest, he lets out a small chuckle while the person to his left emits an arousing giggle. Two strikingly purple eyes peer around the hulk as she gives a sexy smirk to the plain clothed man. Like a blanket of silken threads, her hair is long and black with two small ivory horns peeking out. Voluptuous in all the right places, she wears a splendid engraved golden bikini and a knee length black skirt slit on one side all the way to her hip. After he looks over the odd amalgamation of entities, each with a bottle close to them, the wanderer wonders if he just stumbled on some sort of cosplay group. 

 While the very confused man stands in silence, the plain human in the middle smiles at him. "Welcome!" he says warmly. He points to the lizardman-looking entity who is adjusting its brown robe." That's Morothoth. Next him is Rina. I am Alan. This big guy next to me is Thrack, slayer of Yuh'Oilg. That sexy thing over there is Kadlin, daughter of Odin." He points to their guest. "And you are late!" 

The bewildered man takes a frightened step back. "Late. Late for what? Where am I? What the hell is going on??" 

Alan smirks as Kadlin begins to twirl her long, spade tipped tail that matches her knee-high boots. "You were supposed to be here last week, you are in the Woods of the Dryads, the Goddess Hel has nothing to do with this and you are dead. Any more silly questions or are you going to sit and..." 

"This is fucking dumb ass dragon shit!" interrupts Rina in a high voice with hints of rustling grass. "Lets just get this fucking over with so we can all go have a good fucking drink cause I have been sucking on this shitty swill that Thrack over there calls vodka even though I think it's fucking bat guano mixed with pig ass for six Gaia damned days and I say fuck this shit and lets go our asses to the Frisky Dragon so you can all buy my awesome a drink or seven!"

 Kadlin's pristine eyes glow a powerful dark red. The Nordic tattoos that blanket her bone white skin shimmer with magic as her sensual and powerful voice booms "It was me turn ta pick an this is me choice. Now shut it an just wait till we finish this!" 

When Rina replies by Kadlin the finger, a small, annoyed sigh leaves Morothoth. His clawed hand points to the now frightened man and he says in a deep voice that crackles with primal fire "You, sit." He looks to his friends. "Kadlin and Rina, be quiet. We have a new arrival who is obviously very frightened and you two are not aiding the situation." 

The man, to scared to dare go against the order, slowly moves to the empty beanbag and sits awkwardly. Rina on the other hand, goes against the order by stomping her feet in a child like tantrum while shouting "But I need a mother fucking good drink nnnoooooowwwwww!"

 Tired of her acting like a child, Alan looks over to Rina and says a disgruntled "Fine." With a small motion of his hand, a large bottle forms from seemingly nothing. With a powerful glare, he slams the sturdy bottle on Rina's lap. "Wallace Gold Brew. That better be good enough for you. And you better not chug this cause you're only getting one bottle." 

"Bout fucking time cause you could of done that shit days ago instead of making me drink what I think is the ass sweat of a Leprechaun with some wicked curry runs!" Rina grabs the bottle and eagerly pops the top. After taking a long guzzle, she closes her eyes and grins. "Oh sweet nectar of the Gods that's so fucking good that if I had nipples they would be fucking hard enough to cut the Gem of the North." She takes a quick swig. "And my amazing would look fucking sexy while I did it." 

As Alan rolls his eyes, the fire crackles and terrified man slowly raises his hand. As all eyes focus on him, and with a mix of curiosity and fear, he ask with a diminutive voice "Am I in Hell?" 

 There is a small pause before all of them start to laugh. As he smiles from behind his tusks that are not quite as long as his nose, Thrack replies in a very proper British tone "Finite thinking mortal. To think that there is only the good place, the bad place and the mortal coil is ignorant. This is just another plane of existence, one of countless others in the multiverse. We are just other lifeforms attempting to survive in our universe as you apparently failed to do in your previous one. This coil is of a lower frequency than the one you previously called home, so one could argue this is what you might call Hell. My native mortal coil is a lower frequency than this existence, so one could argue that this is my Heaven." Thrack pauses for a second as his swamp green hand moves his five-foot long, deep purple dreadlocks off his shoulder. While the man tries to comprehend the words, Thrack's fingers find a small, golden ring that is pierced through his left tusk and he gives it a gentile rub. "Rather than calling you 'blond guy with eyes full of fear', it seems time to inquire what we should address you as." 

"My name?" The man pauses and starts to think. His mind struggles with the seemingly easy question as the others all await the answer. "It's Rick. Wait Robert. No, that's not right either." He closes his eyes and tries to focus. "I can't remember much of anything right now." 

"Robert it is!" Alan says with a smile. "And forgetting things from one place to another is very common. I can't remember much of anything form my last incarnation. Well, except the part with the big battle when it was just a few hundred of us against a big ass army. I remember that clearly cause that was fucking epic." Alan starts fondly reminiscing as everyone waits for him to continue. When Rina starts to become visibly impatient, Thrack's large and long finger pokes Alan in the side and he snaps back into the moment. "Anyway, you will start to remember more about your past here the longer you're on this coil." 

Robert's eyes fill with curiosity as he locks his gaze on Alan. "My past here?" 

Rina rolls her eyes with a huff as Alan grins. With a tone that draws intrigue, he states "Let me tell you a little story..."