"Carl? Is that you?" Came the voice again.

"Yeah, it's me, Jimmy. Come on out here." Carl said.

A man wearing red robes walked forward and into the dim light given off by some kind of glowing moss that was growing on the walls.

"What the hell are you doing down here? I thought you didn't want to join us?" Jimmy said.

"I don't. I was just joining up with these guys and they aren't fond of what you're doing here. Figured I'd tag along to watch the fun." Carl said.

"Fun? You mean where they try to beat the crap out of my congregation?" Jimmy said.

"Congregation, fanatical followers, whatever terms you want to use I suppose," Carl said.

"We are not fanatical! We are devoted to Zalandar who was called out of his thousand-year slumber to bring about the apocalypse!" Jimmy yelled seeming to get angrier as he spoke.

"Then why has no one ever heard of Zalandar, eh Jimmy? They had history a thousand years ago and nothing ever talked about and Zalandar or any other all power being that needed to be worshipped." Carl said.

"Just because you and so many others are ignorant of the master's glory doesn't make him any less real, Carl!" Jimmy continued. "He is the all-powerful being who has returned to give us the powers that we now control. And you are naive in your scorn of his blessed gifts!"

"No, Jimmy, the Grand System gives the gifts. It was right there in the tutorial, you complete and utter fuckstain." Carl said.

"And where did the systems come from, huh? That's right it is the great Zalandar's vessel of power!" Jimmy said.

"Wrong again, Jimmy. There are administrators that run the System. Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean your 'god' created it" Carl said making air quotes around the word god.

"Surely his greater followers and I will rise to the level of administrator eventually through praising him and bringing him more followers!" Jimmy went on.

"There's no talking to you Jimmy. So we should just get down to the fighting now I guess. I'm gonna enjoy making you shut up." Carl said.

"Oh, nay nay. It is you who will be doing the shutting up, Carl. For Zalandar has given me an additional gift. And that gift is the control of one of his ancient beasts. COME FORTH MIGHTY TYRANTUS!" Jimmy screamed at the end of his rant.

The ground shook slightly as something heavy stepped down.

"What the fuck was that? If I had a glass of water I think it would be rippling right now." James said.

Again, the ground shook, and again, and again, as something came closer. Then from the far end of the room, a beast stepped into the room and opened its jaws wide as it roared its defiance at all those present.

"IS THAT A FUCKING T-REX!?" James screamed.

"Well....shit," Carl said.

Everyone around them in black robes ran away almost giggling.

"Behold the beast of Zalandar, Tyrantus! He will crush you and devour all those who do not believe!" Jimmy said.

"It's a fucking T-rex. How the fuck did he get a T-rex?!" James asked almost frantic now.

"Shut up James. It's not any bigger than the last monster we took down. We can handle this." Tom said, only half believing the words he was saying.

Tyrantus:

This mighty beast is summoned to this plane to do the bidding of its master. It is a greater summon that can also breathe fire to toast its snacks before it devours them.

HP: 3570/3570

MP: 500/500

SP: 2960/2960

Attacks: Bite, claws, fire breath

Just as Tom finished using Inspect on the creature, the beast put one foot forward, opened its mouth at the party, and breathed a stream of fire at them.

"IT BREATHES FUCKING FIRE TOO!?" James screamed as he threw his hands over his face to fend off the attack, however futilely.

Briana was ready with a shield that stopped the fire and caused it to spread to either side of the party.

"Well, that complicates things," Derek said.

"FUCK THIS!" Tom yelled as he stepped forward. He used his skill Corruption, then used Fear right after it on the beast.

The T-rex first stopped, then took a step back from the party.

"SIT!" Tom screamed at the beast, and, to the shock of everyone present, it did.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"How are you doing that Tom?" Derek said out of the side of his mouth to Tom.

"HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" Jimmy yelled.

"I figured if you were controlling it, it's some kind of summon. And who is better at summoning than a Warlock?" Tom called over.

"What!? It's not a summon, it's a beast of Zalandar! Only his chosen should be able to...." Jimmy began and then paused. "Wait, do you worship Zalandar?"

"No, of course not," Tom said.

"Then you shouldn't be able to summon..." Jimmy stopped and put his hands over his mouth.

"AHA!" Tom yelled. "I knew it!"

"Well, no matter. The cat's out of the bag. But if you can control it that must mean your Charisma is stupid high." Jimmy said.

"It's my highest stat currently," Tom said. "What I don't understand is why your creature is so big when mine aren't."

"What do you mean yours aren't?" Jimmy asked.

Casting his summon spell, Tom called forth one of his creatures. This time, as opposed to an abyssal chicken or a dretch a creature that appeared to be half man half elephant with long tusks protruding from its elephant-shaped head, appeared on the ground next to him.

"What the fuck?" Tom asked surprised at the new summon.

"Seriously? Those are your creatures?" Jimmy asked.

"Well, this isn't what normally happens, but I still wish it was something that big," Tom said pointing over at the now cowering T-rex.

Demonic Mastadonian:

This half man half elephant creature comes from a distant plane that prizes strength or arms over all other skills. They long for the call of a battle to prove their strength against their enemies to be able to destroy any foe that challenges their might.

HP: 1025/1025

MP: 750/750

SP: 840/840

Attacks: Can wield weapons, tusks

"This really isn't fair you know," Jimmy said.

"Fuck fair. I play to win." Tom said and motioned for the Mastadonian to attack Jimmy.

Launching itself across the room it jumped on Jimmy who went down in a flailing ball of screaming man and elephant. Punching and kicking at him, the Mastadonian beat the absolute shit out of Jimmy until he finally used a spell to throw the creature off of him.

"I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY THIS...THING!" Jimmy screamed.

"What about that one?" Tom asked.

Jimmy turned to his right where Tom pointed to see a Dretch standing beside him and let out a girlish scream. The Dretch smiled at him as it let out one of its toxic farts.

"OH MY GOD IT SMELLS SO BAD!" Jimmy said trying to cover his mouth and nose with his robes.

"Well, I've had just about enough of this," Carl said as he ran over to Jimmy and hit him in the head with a baseball bat.

Jimmy fell to the floor unconscious and the T-rex vanished as soon as he did. Everyone stood there for a moment. No one speaking.

"Soooo...what do we do now?" James finally said unable to bear the awkward silence.

"You have beaten the beast of Zalandar," One of the people dressed in black said from the side of the room.

"Sure, why not," Tom said.

"You must be truly powerful indeed. What god do you hail from?" Another asked.

"We don't hail from a god. And neither did that turdburger." Tom said. "He was just some power-hungry piece of shit."

"Then...what do we do now?" Another asked.

"You go back to your homes and try to get on with your life. You can't really be so gullible that you needed to follow this queef cloud around are you?" Kiera asked.

"But...the apocalypse. We don't know what to do now that it happened." Said a man who walked in front of the others.

"You do what we did. You form a guild and you bring people together to get stronger. You don't worship some made-up being in hopes that they will smile favor down on you or shoot rainbows and sunshine up your ass or whatever." Tom said. "You try to work together to make this place a better place for everyone. And Jimmy was not doing that."

Looking at each other, the thugs all shrugged slightly and then looked at Tom.

"Do you have a guild?" The one in the front asked.

"We do. But it's in Dallas." Tom said.

"We could go to Dallas," The man said looking to the others who nodded at him.

"Well...You really want to go that far?" Tom asked.

"We don't know how to run anything like this. We are better suited to following. Could we join your guild? You seem strong." The man asked.

"I mean...I guess? You'll have to be vetted by Brian, our chancellor. But if he thinks you are good enough then I don't see why not." Tom said.

"Is this Brian your boss?" The man asked again.

"What? No. He's the chancellor. Kind of like an HR person." Tom said.

That seemed to make sense to the meatheads.

"So, what do we do with Jimmy over there?" Derek asked.

A shot rang out from where Jimmy had fallen.

"Took care of it!" James said.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell, James?!" Tom yelled at him.

"What? You wanted to do it?" James asked.

"NO! I meant why the hell did you just shoot the guy like that?" Tom asked.

"Oh, because we couldn't do anything else with him. Jail isn't really a thing. I figured better to end it now than have him pop up on us later." James said and he put his gun away. "I always hated those characters the good guys let go and he kept coming back later in the story with a new plan to kill them."

The party all looked at each other, each expecting the other to have some kind of argument against it.

"I mean...we can't just go shooting people like that can we?" Tom asked.

"After everyone I've shot and killed this far, this is where you draw the line?" James asked. "what a load of shit."

"I mean...I guess?" Tom said.

"Come on, let's see if he has anything and then get back to the vehicles. We have places to be people!" James called.

The black-robed thugs moved over and searched Jimmy's body for the team, seeming to see Tom and his people as their defacto leaders now. They brought over what they found and Tom took it from them. Still a bit confused as to what was happening.

When they had finished gathering everything up, one of the thugs approached Tom.

"What do we do with the treasury?" He asked.

"Treasury?" James asked his ears perking up.

"What treasury?" Tom asked.

Motioning for them to follow, the thug led them to the back of the large room and opened a hidden door. Inside were weapons, armor, gold, monster cores, and jewels stacked almost to the ceiling.

"Jackpot!" James said moving into the room.

"Holy shit. Where did all this come from?" Derek asked.

"We had been gathering it. Jimmy said we needed all this stuff for Zalandar's return and we should have it ready for him." The thug said.

"Well, we should take it with us I guess?" Tom asked looking at Derek.

"We can't leave it here. Well, the gold is probably not worth much now, but maybe someone back at the guild can find something to do with it." Derek replied.

They gathered up the items and added them to their inventories and then left the room. The team along with the followers of Zalandar, walked back down the tunnels and to the manhole that they had left open. When they climbed up they looked at each other.

"If you are serious about joining, then head to Dallas. The Trammel Crow Center is the guild building we have. Tell them that Tom sent you and they will help find a place for you. Otherwise, you can form a guild here and try to help people." Tom said to the man who had shown them the treasury. "I never got your name by the way."

"It's Jack," The man said. "We will go to Dallas. You seem like someone that knows what they are doing."

"Not necessarily. I just try to do right by people. The rest is all from people working with me to help make things better." Tom replied.

"Well, however, you do it, we can help," Jack said extending his hand.

Tom took the hand and shook it.

"Alright everyone, time to load up. Next stop, the Grand Canyon....hopefully." Tom said.