America
The Sumner Bar
“Rey!” Beth yelled from the counter. Many faces turned to the entrance of the bar to see Audrey walk in.
There were many people in the bar but only a few walked up to say hi or hug her. The others nodded to her in acknowledgment and she nodded back.
The bar itself was more of a mini rock and roll concert venue, the dim lighting and the sounds of music from the speakers felt like a second home to Audrey.
“Hey Beth, where’s the band?” Audrey said after she ended the small talk with the people that went up to her. She sat on the stool in front of Beth.
“Gerry had to go grab another guitar from home. He’ll be back in a few minutes.” Beth grabbed an empty glass and started to pour a drink into it.
“Here, Rey on the house. I don’t have to ask how you feelin. Just know if you need anything, I’m here.” Beth placed the drink in front of Audrey, who in turn chugged it down in a few gulps.
“Well, I need a job pretty badly right now.” Audrey placed the glass back on the counter and gave Beth a face of “more please”. Beth shook her head with a little smile and started to pour alcohol into the glass.
“I’ll try to speak with Vito but he still doesn’t trust you. You already worked here and got fired. What did you even do to get fired at both your jobs?” Beth asked.
“I fought a pervy customer in one and punched a coworker in another,.” Audrey replied with an embarrassed look on her face.
“So, the same reasons you got fired from here.” Beth sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. Vito will come around, especially with what happened to you the last couple days. Oh, where’s Hank? I assumed he was with you and didn’t need to call him.”
Audrey's heart sank at the mention of Hank's name. “He broke up with me…same day Allie died.”
Audrey wasn’t a typical sane human, she followed the beat of her own heat and did what she thought was the correct decisions. Compared to the average human, she had a lot of courage in her soul. She spoke her mind and never let anyone disrespect her, using her fists, she was abnormally strong and took out many people of all shapes and sizes.
Yet, like everyone in the world, she wanted to be loved by a significant other and her rough exterior and attitude scared people away. A common trait amongst delinquents.
Although they only started dating four months ago, Audrey was single since she left high school five years ago. Hank was one of the only few people that wasn’t scared of her and tried his best to understand her. To her, it was her fault he left, her attitude and not wanting him to be a man and protect her and help her.
When she thought about him, she thought about her mother and father. How her father left them because of how her mother acted. She had told her mother that she would never be like her.
Yet Hank left her the same way her father left her mother. And it was her fault that Hank left. Was it also her fault Allie left?
Audrey just wanted to be loved and understood, yet how could people understand her if she didn’t even understand herself? Only Allie did.
“It's okay, Rey, you'll get through this,” Beth said, rubbing Audrey's shoulder. “Oh, look. Gerry and the boys are back. Why don’t you head to the stage?”
Audrey looked at the stage and then looked at the glass on the counter.
“Could I get one more drink before I go?”
///
Elysium
Damaris looked a lot more well rested after the power nap she took. Zhong Kui had sent one of his ghosts to retrieve her.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It seemed that Zhong kui had finally found a human he wanted to evaluate. It was so exciting to her; many of the deities she met and interacted with acted exactly as the deities in Eden portrayed them as.
Damaris was only allowed out of Eden during Tryfings, as the support judge she didn’t have much free time so moments like these, where she got to spend time with the other deities, were always something she looked forward to.
Just as she was about to leave, Nuada asked her to talk before she left. He wanted to submit where Joáo would start in the world.
“Son of a noble family, an easy life that will allow him to learn and grow. Then, he will head on a conquest to conquer other areas that wronged his family. Does that sound right?” Damaris said.
“Yes, I want him to be the same age he was as a human during the starting year twenty-nine. And to have his consciousness enter at sixteen,” Nuada replied.
Damaris gave him a cute reply and started to input the information into her tablet. “Thank you, Damaris.” Nuada gave a slight bow and warped away. As Damaris stood in the office a shadowy figure was near, undetected. The figure’s face twisted into a devilish grin, that of a cunning trickster.
The figure started to shaped itself, changing the way they looked until they were taller, as tall as Nuada. The figure walked out of the shadows and went up to Damaris. When the figure got close to her, she turn and smiled.
“Did you forget something, Nuada?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Damaris, but I want to change where my retainer will start,” they said. He looked exactly like Nuada only missing the crown on his head. “I decided that an easy life would be a detrimental to my retainer and my chances to win.”
The Nuada lookalike gave a trickster's grin.
“A true warrior needs to have hardship if they want to win the Tryfing.”
///
America
Outside The Sumner
Zhong kui floated above the bar with his arms behind his back. A ghostly figure appeared next to him and bowed.
“My lord, I just informed lady Damaris and she should be here soon,” the ghost said.
“Thank you, Jeremy, take a rest for the time being during the Tryfing. I will be appointing you as head ghost for my retainer,” Zhong kui said. The ghost’s ghoulish eyes widened in shock. “My lord that honor is too grand for someone such as me, I only recently became a part of your ghost army I—” Zhong kui lifted his hand up with his palm out to silence Jeremy. “No excuses, you have proven time and time again to be an exceptional member of the ghost army. I don’t make decisions lightly. You earned this, Jeremy.”
Still stunned, Jeremy opened his mouth once again to change his master’s mind. “But I’m not of Chinese descent. I do not deserve to be at such a high position when other ghosts who hav—”
Again Zhong kui lifted his hand to tell Jeremy to stop making excuses. “It doesn't matter how long you've been in my service or your origins when you were alive. Know that I chose you because you deserve it Jeremy. End of discussion.” Zhong kui said with Authority, yet even in his tone of authority you can feel the warmth and love coming from the big burly deity.
“Thank you my lord, I’ll do the best I can.” Jeremy thanked him and disappeared back to the underworld section that Zhong kui governed, which he called Diyu. A bit more time passed and Damaris still didn’t appear. As he was about to call out to her, a pink cloud explosion appeared in front of him.
“Sorry about the wait, Warden Zhong kui! Was taking care of some final preparations with Nuada,” she said as she posed to the Warden with a peace sign.
“Ah, so Nuada found someone, excellent. You truly have your work cut out for you. It always surprises me how much work you angels do on a day to day basis to keep Elysium running,” Zhong Kui replied, also giving her a peace sign in response.
She giggled at the sight of Zhong kui giving her a peace sign. “So, where is the human you wish to see?”
He pointed down to the Sumner bar. As she looked and read the sign, she gasped. “OMGOSH! It's a live house! They play live music there, I was never allowed out of Eden but Seraphiel would go and get me stuff from Earth. He would bring me music that humans would make.” She looked at the building with awe.
Zhong kui couldn’t help but smile at the young angel. There was a time too that he enjoyed listening to the music the humans crafted and understood how significant it was to Damaris’ semi-sheltered life.
“Why don’t we ask Achilles or one of the tricksters to help change our appearance and see for ourselves this live house?” Zhong kui said with a big smile under his cloth-covered face.
“CAN WE?! I’ll ask Achilles.” In seconds she disappeared and then reappeared. “With the help of Papa’s power, Achilles has allowed us to walk around the human realm, as long as we don’t cause trouble!” Damaris was beaming with joy.
“I promise not to cause any problems in the human realm for you,” Zhong kui replied with a hint of irony and seriousness.
The two flew towards the bar and as they floated outside, Damaris looked around the building and at all the posters that lined the wall. She also watched some of the people who entered the bar and how they looked.
“Ah, okay so the vibe seems to be rock and roll with a bit of edge and emo.” Damaris spoke out loud, lost in thought as she scribbled on the tablet she held. Zhong kui tried to see what she was doing but she was moving around playfully to surprise him.
“OKAY! Time for our disguises.” As she pressed the tablet, her and Zhong kui’s appearances and clothes changed.
Damaris wore a white top and a black mini skirt with leggings on. Over those leggings she had tall black boots with pink laces on them. She wore an oversized leather jacket, with her wings stitched onto the back as a design. Her nails were semi long and painted black and pink, every other nail.
Her hair was now jet black with pink highlights in the fringes that covered her forehead. Black eyeliner and lipstick was visible, and she had a few pierces on her ear. One of the piercings dangled on a mini chain and had a charm that looked exactly like Michael’s blazing sword.
Zhong kui looked like a biker; he wore a leather vest that read “Warden of Hell” and had a stylized face of Warden Hades on it. He too had a white shirt like Damaris, but instead of a mini skirt he wore straight cut black jeans with brown cowboy boots.
Completing his look he wore a black face mask that covered his nose and mouth. For some reason, he also had a cowboy hat on and black sunglasses, which perplexed him. “I just thought you would look cool in it,” Damaris said, giggling. “So, what do you think? Pretty stylish and appropriate for our infiltration?”
“Yes, I think so, maybe not the hat per say,” Zhong Kui said as he examined it. “But everything else is perfect, Damaris.”
Damaris gave the devil horn hand sign to Zhong kui as she stuck out her tongue to him. “YEAH, LET'S ROCK! I'M DEPRESSED BUT FEEL POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING, SO I'LL JUST SING ABOUT IT INSTEAD.”
Damaris laughed at her little joke only she understood before turning to the direction of the bar. “Let’s go meet this human, Warden Zhong kui!”
Zhong kui nodded and started to float down onto Earth. Even if this human wasn’t what he was looking for, at least he got to see Dama— Emo Damaris having the time of her life before the Tryfing ended and she needed to return to Eden until the next Tryfing.
After the events of the Great Rebellion, nothing mattered more to Zhong kui than to see his fellow deities and angels happy, even if only for a fleeting moment.
3rd Tryfing
Official judge: Heroic Greek deity, Achilles.
Support judge: Angel, Damaris.
Chosen deities:
Ra: Demi-God: Darren Donaldson
Lugh: Knight: Ariel Morales
Zhong Kui: Exorcist
Inari: Polymath: Kento Sanosuke
Freya: Assassin: Charlie Wilson
Nuada: Conqueror João Machado
Minerva: Tactician ???
Team Arc-Angel: Hero Luther Satenly
Fantasia world: The world known as Helioan
Starting year: not yet decided.
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