In a sector scorched by war, Hurkel Spawn-smaka and Gorton Ghost-bustah led their Brotherhood of Silver Orcs to a great brawl with the Daughters of Darkness amongst the ruins of a profane temple. Unlike pansies who would hide behind rubble and waste time running around to do a ‘flanking maneuver’, the daughters and brothers alike rushed into the fray. Outnumbered just the way they like, the Zap-hammers of the brotherhood were more than a match for the Blood-blades of the Daughters that danced across the rubble.
The daughters had to get tricky. They pretended to be retreating from the swing of the hammers, the illusion of them missing just barely, but the ruse was to lure the orcs apart from each other so that they could be torn down individually. Unfortunately for them, the boys were prepared for such a plan. They raised their hammers in the air and chanted. This spell would use those who cast it as nodes to anchor itself upon.
With his boys spread apart, Hurkel’s barrier grew far larger with the widespread nodes and burnt away all the dark ones trapped within.
“How is that an actual thing?” lamented Four-Leaf. He had taken his break time to play BattleMace 50,000 with Lanying on a table they set on the grass. Teumess showed him the rules for the Silver Orcs that made it an actual thing much to Lanying’s glee. “This game sucks,” said Four-Leaf.
Todd had been finishing his report—in hand-writing—on themes of fire, life, and rebirth in the major world religions. He had not expected that he would be doing school work when he joined an insurgency. But then, he had not expected many things so far. Todd only connected to the Buddhist interpretations of fire, but this report was meant to guide others who were born with the same affinity—or at least, reignite the field of study.
It was a big ask to expect someone who flunked high school to reinvent a knowledge domain but he guessed that was what Auntie Chen was for.
She was on her tablet where she made a—digital—record of the results for the teams that cleared out different buildings with Little Birdie on her shoulder to give her live updates. Next to her was Delsin Rowe, who used his control over Earth to create the different buildings that the teams were meant to clear out. This training was meant to simulate the operation to rescue both Uncle Deimos and the prisoners in Tartarus.
They knew the makeup of Olympus. Tartarus was the mystery, especially when it came to what unstable magical powers they would have to deal with. The plan is to hold the staff hostage and use them to safely transfer the prisoners but that was easier said than done. The plan for Uncle was meant more as a distraction to keep the pressure off the Tartarus team. The Olympus team was smaller, intended to destroy the drones in their cradles, and would stall Fatman and GalvanGal.
“Oh, you’re done,” said Auntie Chen as she was handed the papers, “I’ll look over them after this.”
Todd stood at their side to watch the actual war game play out. The ‘prisoners’ from the building were brought through Chen’s glass portals nearby. They were to be received by the troops on stand-by who themselves had all the best gear: fully clad in gargoyle armor topped with kevlar vests for extra cushioning against bullets, and armed with plasma carbines to punch through any defenses of the enemy.
Angel would be on the stand-by team with his own statuesque gargoyle armor. This team would relieve any forces that find themselves pinned down. As long as they don’t get dragged down into a slug match they should win.
“Is what the enemy is thinking,” said Auntie Chen, “We are so being baited here, but, as Uncle would say, we just got to roll with the punches. But what about you, Todd, I’m sure you are worried about what this means for your brother. He might be in the line of fire after all.”
“That’s…” Todd paused to collect himself. “Kenny wanted to be a hero. But his idea of a hero is so caught up in the Pantheon that he can’t imagine it any other way. That’s what I was thinking about. It’s about the social scripts that become so engrained everyone, starts to accept them as natural. For the Pantheon, it's about being positioned as a necessity for society going forward. In order to save people like my brother, we need to show them that those subconscious assumptions they take for granted are wrong. For now, that means destroying the Pantheon in a way that shows they were never needed to begin with. If my brother gets in the way of that… then I hope can at least make sure no one ends up like him again.”
“Oh ho,” guffawed Delsin as he spun around, necklaces jangling, and drink sloshing, “that’s some big talking there. Easy to say when you’re not looking him in the eyes, isn’t it?”
“Well, I also don’t really expect them to send a kid in the… field… what’s up with the necklaces? Is that… are you drinking holy water?”
Delsin Rowe was wearing: a cross, mala beads, a star of David, the eye of Horus, Mjölnir, a torii gate, the shahada, a khanda, and…
“Is that a swastika!?”
“It’s a manji! When my grandma raved about spirits, I just thought it was drunken rambling. I’m trying to cover all my bases here.”
“Dude, no. I know, but no. It’s a bad look for our brand. Speaking of brand, if we’re going to war, aren’t we supposed to identify ourselves or something? If we are going to replace the Pantheon, we’ll need legitimacy.”
“That’s right,” said Auntie Chen, “The patches are being woven as we speak. I used your skull as our logo. From henceforth, we are the Immortals: our souls rooted in eternal magics.”
“And there is none other who could tend to this meadow but you, madame!” said Delsin, “ ‘ In a chariot of light, from the regions of day, The goddess came, Ten thousand celestials directed the way, And hither conducted the dame. A fair budding branch from the garden above, Where millions with millions agree, She brought in her hand, as a pledge of her love, And the plant she named, Eternity. ‘ “ He sang.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Thomas Paine; you have time to read poetry in prison?” she asked.
“Adjusted, and plenty. ‘ The celestial exotic struck deep in the ground, Like a native it flourish’d and bore: The fame of its fruit drew the nations around, To seek out this peaceable shore. Unmindful of names or distinctions they came, For freemen like brothers agree; With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued, And their temple was Eternity! ‘ “
“What did you go to prison for anyways?” asked Todd.
“I killed my wife and her lover. Turns out I’m really good at it so I made deals to kill other inmates. Now I’m getting paid to kill people for a worthy cause. Ain’t life grand?” Delsin threw his arm over Todd’s shoulders and pulled him away from Chen and back towards the tabletop. “Now I know what you’re thinking: ‘What is this psycho doing here, I should barbecue this idiot. No need to fear! I have no plans to interfere with your ‘legitimacy’. I had an idea to help you out, even: you should join the Tartarus team. You can raise the heat or even start a fire to suck out all the air in that enclosed space; either way, you could quickly incapacitate a lot of people. We might even need you to get some mutant powers under control.”
“I don’t know about that. It seems risky to do that on a large scale. I don’t know what would happen if things got out of control, especially for an important mission. What if a fight broke out?”
“Yes, it would be intense,” said an Angel on iron wings that came down toward them, unmasked to reveal his beauty, “but that’s exactly what you need as I’m sure Uncle would say. This is a chance to prove yourself. We’ll be right behind you. Or they will. You know what I meant.”
At the table now were Philip Benz and Anthony. Philip was covered in bulky bone carapace which he soon shed to show the slimy gargoyle armor underneath that gave him the strength to support that carapace. He peeled the gargoyle armor off as well. Angel was right: if Philip was ready to test out his refined abilities in the field, then Todd was ready to do the same.
“But still,” Todd thought aloud, “you guys are pretty calm about all this. Even if you’ve been on missions before, this is, like, the big one right?”
“There’s not much point getting into your own head about it,” said Four-Leaves, still in a serious battle of wits against a child in a board game, but now with his clones out to get a proper view of the battlefield, “just treat it like any other job, that’s how I’ve seen it since the beginning.”
“Since the beginning? Like when you got recruited?”
“Yep. I got injured on the job. Got a prescription that turned into addiction. Got fired. A man in black offered me detox and a job. I worked my way up from there. Sounds almost boring when I put it that way.”
“Boring is good!” interjected Delsin, “Boring keeps the wheels turning and the feet grounded.”
“And the part where you start shooting people, that’s just another part of the job?” asked Todd harsher than he intended.
“I guess. I just did what I was told. It seemed like a good cause with even better pay so I never really thought about it… hey Teumess, am I a psychopath?”
While the teams in the building used paintball guns to simulate combat, Teumess’ rifle shot rang through the air. She killed a bird that Little Birdie informed her to be an agent sent to spy on them; at least, that is what she claimed before. Those claims were neither corroborated nor contested by Little Birdie.
“Nah, I think you’re good,” she said as she came back to the table.
“What about the rest of you?” asked Todd, “Is this just a 9-5 shift for you guys too? I’m starting to wonder if I’m the weird one.” Angel put his finger and thumb under his chin, then laid in the air on a bed of his feathers.
“When my dad found out I was a mutant,” said Angel. “he put me to work making hits. One day, this American girl with fat titties came to us with money paid upfront to have me take a hit on the other side of the country. The pay was so good, my dad shipped me away without a care if I came back. That hit was on the Gator himself, so you can see how that turned out. When he did bring me back to see my dad, there weren’t even bodies left,” he plucked a single feather from his bed, “back then, I only had one plume,” He sat up as his feathers raced behind him into wings that unfurled toward the heavens, ”It was our Uncle who taught me how to fly.”
“Oh, we’re having a share circle, are we? Getting it all out there while we still can?” Teumess sat up on the table. “Once upon a time, there was a scared little girl who grew into a scared young woman. Her father touched her and her mother beat her for it. Every day was midnight without dawn. One day, they realized that girl was a mutant. Her parents planned to sell her—and they did. But the person they sold her to, brought her back home. That person had the girl watch her parent suffer and when the time came,” twisted at her hip to stretch out over the table, “that person let her kill them with her own hands. They showed her just how craven her parents were and just how strong she could be. With the moonlight to guide her through the dark, she forgot what she was ever afraid of.”
Everyone else, including Lanying, looked at Teumess in blank silence. Teumess hopped off the table.
“Hey. Why aren’t you saying anything? I just poured my heart out in a way I thought would be cool, but now you’re making me feel embarrassed. Was it that lame?”
“No, what? Is that what you’re worried about? Unless Philip wants to surprise us, I think you win the backstory contest,” said Angel.
“I only got the spirit world thing and I thought that was the same for everyone else, so this is a lot for me to take in suddenly,” said Todd, “are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m more than okay: I was inspired to help bring moonlight to those scorned by the sun. That is why I follow our Uncle. But yeah, what about Philip? You grew up with the boss, right? What was he like? I asked Auntie but she dodges the question.”
Philip had just pulled Anthony’s tail out of Lanying’s jaws.
“It’s not much different from now, I think,” he said while he struggled to hold Lanying down after she had acquired a taste for monstrous blood, “he goes and beats people up until the problem is solved. No matter who he was up against, or even how many, he always won. I thought he was the strongest guy in the world and it's starting to seem like I was right. Although…” Philip looked at Lanying who had calmed down, then at Todd, “when I was a kid, he didn’t want us anywhere near that life. I guess this is different.”
Teumess had made her way to Todd and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t know what the streets of Lerna were like, but we have been brought together to change the future of the world. In order to change the future, we need to change the children. That’s what he says.”
“I guess that makes sense,” said Philip, “still, I don’t feel great about going against Aaliyah. When I think of her getting hurt, it makes me feel like the bad guy. It must be the same for your brother.”
“Yeah, I already thought about that. I hope it won’t come to that, but it is what it is. I doubt he would ever be a real threat or anything, but I hope none of you hesitate for my sake,” Todd flexed his arm, and his fist was engulfed by pixelated flames, “this is all for a better future.”