It happened in an instant. One moment I was in my Tabula designed stylish lair, and the next I was here. A great colosseum surrounded me. I stood on the reddish sand at the center of the two hundred meter oval that was the arena floor. All around me the auditorium seating rose impossibly high, disappearing into the churning orange clouds in the sky above. There must have been a hundred thousand people roaring there. Could this be the place Ogrun's faithful ended up?
I brushed those thoughts aside. There was no doubt I was about to be in a fight. I tried to call up my inventory, but nothing happened. Worse, when I waved my hand in front of my face I noted that my forearm was bare. I felt the weight of my body a little more without the benefit of my gear, but it seemed my baseline stats were unaffected or maybe even a bit inflated. I was naked, literally. I could also feel that my transformation skills were locked out. This would be a plain old schoolyard brawl. The thought was surprisingly agreeable.
“Lamenting the loss of your cripple’s crutches? In my realm, all war and all warriors are equal and free to battle to their soul’s content!” Ogrun’s voice heralded his appearance. He was also nude, but only seemed more fearsome for it. He was also now roughly my size. I had either grown or he had shrunk. “To clad yourself in the borrowed might of artifice - it is unbecoming of the legacy you bear.”
“Wrap it up, Sloppy Shakespeare.” I rolled my shoulders and gave my muscles a flex and stretch, confirming that they would behave reliably. “You’re not getting paid by the word.” I began a stalking walk in Ogrun’s direction.
“Even stripped of your precious artifacts, you have the audacity to condescend!” Ogrun’s eyes erupted into orange flame. “Very well Polemi- OOF!.”
My forehead hit him just below the sternum as my hands each cupped behind one of his knees. The classic drive through double leg takedown is a thing of timeless elegance. Hit them everywhere they bend, and watch even the strongest opponent fold like laundry. Ogrun’s back hit the dirt and I stuck to him like glue. I may be weaker without my trusty gear, but Ogrun seemed to have overlooked a vital piece of information.
“I’m not the best because I have the strongest gear.” I scrambled around his body as he struggled to rise, and planted my knee hard into his lowest rib, eliciting another grunt. “I have the strongest gear because I am the best.” I intercepted the predictable swinging fist by blocking it at the elbow with my forearm. “Someone that supposedly knows me would remember that.” I punctuated the sentence with the most savage headbutt I could deliver, which from this particular position was both clean and hard.
Cartilage crunched as his nose flattened. I went to pull back, but a powerful hand blocked the back of my head and held me close. I felt an explosive punch on my lower right side and a familiar rush of agony spread from it. Liver shot, fucking classic. If you’re not familiar with what happens after a hard shot to the old booze filter, be very grateful. It’s a wave of pain that literally turns off your body for a moment. Hot breath assaulted me as my opponent growled out a laugh.
I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to disengage. Proximity was my friend, separation would lead to a standing fight which I knew by instinct was a bad idea. I took my knee off of his rib and used it to intercept the next predictable body blow. The groan of surprise and pain was music to my ears as Ogrun’s pinky knuckle cracked.
The grappling and ground and pound battle pitched back and forth from there. Ogrun grew frustrated as the minutes wore into hours. Both of us possessed unnatural stamina and regeneration. The difference was that while Ogrun was becoming more and more agitated, I was having the time of my life. This kind of flow state in a fight is so rare, and takes such a high level of skill and specific chemistry between fighters that it’s no exaggeration to call it a miracle.
I surrendered to the flow of the struggle, and felt free and truly alive for the first time that I could remember. Don’t be mistaken. Ogrun gave as well as he got. Those punctuation marks of a cracked rib or shattering orbital bone only served to sharpen the experience, providing thrilling waterfalls along the surreal river that was this battle.
Time became irrelevant. Both a child at play and an old man restoring his dream car will look up at dusk with surprise that a day has slipped past in what feels like a moment. Thus was my surprise as my opponent shouted out in exasperation.
“Enough!” Ogrun’s roar shocked me back to reality, and I was thrown back violently by a kick to the chest.
I kept my eyes locked onto Ogrun as I flew back, this separation was what I was trying to avoid. His right arm glowed fiercely as it tore through the air and struck the ground. A line of stone spikes erupted from the sand, glowing red hot. It was a scary attack, but egregiously telegraphed.
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I finally touched down with a full tenth of a second to spare and dodged the spikes. I didn’t even need to look to know a second line would follow the first and I was in motion before his second fist hit the ground. I used the first line of red hot spikes as a handhold to launch myself back at Ogrun, growling away the searing pain where my fingers sizzled like bacon in a skillet.
I should expect a third part to his attack. If I were designing his attack patterns, there would be a cone attack like a breath weapon to intercept a player leaping over the spikes. I was ready to roll to the side, but all Ogrun had to offer was a stupid surprised face as I rocketed toward him with my fist swinging in hard.
Both of his hands were buried in the sand, and I watched his mouth begin to open at the last moment intending to catch my fist in his teeth. Too bad, asshole. You already pulled that with Jade, did you think I’d forget? I altered the trajectory of my punch and stuck my thumb out like a hook. It slid along the inside of his cheek and I used that fishhook to yank his head sideways, exposing a lovely broad target in the god’s square jaw. My left fist cracked in so hard that I felt the jaw bone give, and heard molars eject. Ogrun’s eyes went glossy and he slumped as my momentum carried me over and past him.
I turned in the air and landed facing him on all fours. I began to rebound back in to keep him from recovering when his slurred voice stopped me.
“Shtop there. I am shatishfied. No other shoul is so gluttonoushly violent.” Ogrun stood and used his hand to forcibly move his jaw into a position that would allow his regeneration to instantly heal it. He opened and closed it like a snake realigning its jaw and continued without slurring. “I relent old friend, call yourself what you will. Raise your hand and declare victory that the conditions of my domain may be satisfied.”
“Oh? Are you saying your domain will keep us here until I agree to my victory?” I asked between gulps of air. I was still buzzing hard from all the fun.
“Indeed.” Ogrun affirmed, and slowly his face grew worried as he belatedly caught onto my leading tone. “Wait. You don’t intend to - OOF!”
The classic drive through double leg takedown is a thing of timeless elegance.
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Nadira stood at the top of the Crusibilis Sanctum’s great crystal dome. From here she could see for miles. Winter was nearly over, and the biting persistent winds had calmed to a rustling breeze. The snows were receding and buds were forming in the trees.
Beyond the natural world visible to anything blessed with eyes, Nadira’s mind was open to the intricate tapestry of invisible forces that permeated this plane. Today those forces were disturbed. Like discordant notes plucked on a cosmic harp, these waves of distress from the world unseen railed against the djinn’s delicate senses.
“The Worm returns.” She read the unmistakable energy signature being reborn far to the south and a deep scowl settled on her face. Of all the distasteful beings she had been made to serve in her long life, she despised him the most.
Should she attempt to snuff him out herself, hoping that he might be in a weakened state? No, there was too much responsibility on her shoulders rebuilding this kingdom to risk her untimely death. Kutris was a foe that required a united front with as many powerful allies as possible.
She hated the thought of relying on lord Gray after all he had done for her, but some things just couldn’t be helped. With a wave of her arm, an opaque portal appeared, and Nadira stepped through.
“Lord Rain.” She bowed before EDEN’s guardian as she stepped through her portal onto the wet snow of the valley surrounding the great magical fortress and found the small bird already waiting for her.
“Hiya Nadira, I told you that you don’t need to do all that stuffy stuff with me.” Rain greeted her cheerily. “Everything okay? You look like you smelled something awful.”
“I bear dire news, I’m afraid.” Nadira stood up straight and explained. “I must report to lord Gray as soon as possible.”
“He’s still not back from his fight with that Ogrun person.” Rain replied without a seeming care in the world. “You can meet with lady Tabula though while you wait!”
“Did you say Ogrun?” Nadira’s eyes opened wide. She had indeed sensed the arrival of one of the exiled gods, but that was not so uncommon. Ahura-Guru in particular was known to travel the world over in search of knowledge but rarely meddled in mortal affairs. Ogrun on the other hand was akin to a cataclysmic force of nature. More than one city state had been entirely wiped out by earning his ire.
“Yep, I’m sure that was his name. I consoled him after lady Tabula rejected his marriage proposal.” Rain answered. “Anyhow, let’s get you inside so I can get back to my rounds. Miss. Raj thinks we should be on our highest alert on account of that Yuther person going crazy.”
“R-right...” Nadira stifled the stream of questions about this supposed battle between Ogrun and lord Gray. Either these people had no clue of Ogrun’s power or she had wildly underestimated the strength of the leader of this place.
“Greetings once again.” Tabula Rasa was waiting just inside the lobby as Nadira entered, holding her trademark grumpy horned kitten. “Please follow me.”
Nadira obliged and followed her to the steel doors of the elevator that would take them to the cosmic hall where all serious meetings took place in EDEN.
“It seems your arrival is well timed.” Tabula said a minute later as they ascended the stone steps to the platform.
Nadira looked more closely in the direction Tabula was gazing, and saw the deep orange portal swirling into existence. It grew to nearly twenty feet in diameter and a hulking dark silhouette appeared within it.
It was none other than the exiled god Ogrun. He wore an off white toga clasped with a gold medallion at the shoulder. Nadira also noted that the god was staggering like a drunk too far gone to find his bed. He took two shaking steps and fell face first onto the stone platform.
A second later, another smaller silhouette appeared. This one was unmistakably lord Gray. Unlike Ogrun he appeared quite energetic, also unlike Ogrun...
“Aww you dick, how come you came back with your clothes on and I didn’t!?” The naked lord Gray swore at the semiconscious Ogrun as his hands flashed with blurring speed. His pants appeared first and Nadira blushed, realizing what she had been staring at. “That’s some petty sore loser behavior right there. I’ll remember that next time we roll.”
“Welcome back, Mr. Gray.” Tabula seemed to be holding back a smile. “I trust your meeting went well.”
“You got that right!” Gray replied excitedly. “You can train and train over there and never even get tired. That was the best roll I’ve ever had. Too bad this little jellyfish broke so fast.”
“T-twelve... weeks.” Ogrun’s hoarse voice was hardly audible. “He... made me fight for twelve weeks straight.”
“Oh yeah that’s the best part! Time is like isolated or something over there so only a minute goes by here for every day there. Oh, Nadira’s here?” Gray stopped his excited rambling when he noticed the bewildered guest. He seemed to realize something and his pale cheeks went red. “I flashed you, didn’t I?”