Kronos looked down at the corpse of the leader goblin sneering in contempt. He felt satisfied and strangely tired, as he had used the last five years getting used to his abilities. Except this time it seemed as if he couldn’t sustain his abilities for as long. Asmodeus ran up beside Kronos noting the strange glaive lying on the ground. He decided to investigate so he bent down to pick up the glaive, noticing the usual heaviness of the weapon. Upon further inspection he took note that this metal had unusual characteristics not seen in their world.
“Kronos you should see this I don’t recognize the alloys used in this weapon.” Asmodeus said with a pondering expression.
As Kronos turned towards Asmodeus he saw Atlas walking towards them. When he faced Asmodeus he finally paid more attention to the glaive in Asmodeus’ hands. The glaive gave off an unusual pressure not usually seen on weapons.
“Hey Asmodeus let me see it.” As if a command Kronos told Asmodeus.
Smirking as if he knew more than he let on he replied, “Alright future boy let’s see if you recognize the alloy.”
Kronos took the glaive from Asmodeus hands noticing that it was heavier than it appeared. After few moments of examining the glaive the heaviness seem to fade. It got to the point where it no longer felt heavy to Kronos. Taking a liking to this type of weapon he told Asmodeus and Atlas, “This is mine now.”
“Ahhhhh man I wanted that.” Atlas replied with a disappointed gaze.
Asmodeus had a look of exasperation at the attitude of Kronos shaking his head and letting out a sigh. It was not worth the effort to argue with him. “Why don’t we head to the fire pit that the goblins had set up so that we can recoup and rest?” Asmodeus suggested. “Sounds like a logical plan of action.” Kronos said as he nodded his head in agreement. With a content expression Atlas answered back, “That sounds good, that fight was waaay more brutal than usual.”
Before heading toward the fire pit in the distance, both Atlas and Asmodeus decided it would be best to be armed. Asmodeus spotted a crude quiver and bow on the back of one of the defeated goblins, wondering why it wasn’t used during the fight he came to the conclusion that the goblin must have died too fast and as such wasn’t able to use it. He felt that the bow would serve as an appropriate weapon as he had honed his bowman skills over the past five years by hunting an assortment of game.
Atlas preferred a simpler approach as he had practiced mostly close quarters Martial Arts in the past. Since he decided to go for a simpler style of fighting he walked over to another fallen goblin looking for a weapon. Noticing that it had a dagger in its hands he forcibly pried it from its dead, cold hands. Bringing the knife closer to his face to observe its edge he noticed that the dagger was relatively crude with a pattern similar to shark teeth along its edge.
Pushing their way through the bramble in the dark forest it didn’t take them long to find the familiar glow of the fire pit. The river flowed past on the right with a soft sound, the pale Moon reflecting and rippling across its surface. Leftovers from the goblins presence was scattered around the fire, mostly bones of animals and bits of left over flesh from their meals. As Asmodeus cleared away all the garbage with a burst of gravity away from them Kronos walked towards the fire to check if there was enough fuel to last the night, satisfied with what he found Kronos went towards a boulder on the riverside to take a seat. He was surprised at how tired he was considering how little he used his abilities.
With a curious stare Kronos asked, “Asmodeus did you feel a difference when you used your gravity manipulation?” “As a matter of fact yeah. It did feel slightly off when I altered the gravity around that leader goblin.” Asmodeus replied taking note of the large amounts of energy he felt missing. “When I slowed down the time for the goblins, it felt as if my energy was being drained alarmingly fast. I think this new environment is putting a higher strain on using our powers.” “Yeah I know what you mean, when we got here I felt really off, as if my internal energy changed somehow. I have no idea why though but I’d like to know because if this continues this could become a problem.” Asmodeus replied.
Chiming in Atlas said, “Let’s not forget that we just fought goblins, you know those things that are supposed to be fairy tales!”
Both Kronos and Asmodeus silently nodded their heads in agreement. Kronos started to form a plan of action for tomorrow, going over any possible scenarios in his head. Asmodeus stared to extrapolate a reason as to why they were more exhausted than they should be from such a light usage of their powers. While Asmodeus and Kronos were focused on future problems, Atlas being completely oblivious to his surroundings, happily hummed a random song as he bobbed his head side to side. One after another they eventually fell asleep, with Atlas falling over and beginning to snore very loudly, limbs in every which direction.
The next morning Asmodeus woke to the sound of birds singing above in the trees. Looking around he saw that Kronos was already awake sitting upright with his legs crossed on a boulder as if in meditation. Deciding not to disturb Kronos he continued to look around trying to figure where Atlas had slept. Or rather he would have if not for the fact that Atlas was snoring loud enough for it to echo clearing telling others where they were. Growing annoyed with Atlas’ loud snoring Asmodeus quickly stood up and started walking towards him. Stopping dead in his tracks right next to Atlas with his leg brought all the way as he prepared to kick Atlas. Unleashing his kick as forcibly as possible he planted his foot into Atlas’ side immediately waking him. Upon feeling a kick into his side Atlas’ exclaimed “Ow!! That hurt, what the heck just hit me.” He quickly looked side to side puzzled as he tried to find the source of his pain.
“Quiet down idiot, I hit you in order to stop your obnoxious snoring.” Asmodeus snapped at Atlas incredibly annoyed.
“Shut up the both of you!!! I am trying to concentrate here.” Kronos told them with an aggrieved look on his face while sending an angry glare their direction.
Asmodeus sighed annoyed at the situation he found himself in, replying in an irritated tone, “Mind your own business and go back to your Meditating.”
Ignoring Asmodeus' comment, Kronos hopped down from the rock and walked toward the fire stopping by the river to catch some fish in order to cook them. Atlas ran over in joy when he saw the fish as he had not eaten anything the day before. Still slightly annoyed with Kronos he decided to ignore him, following Atlas towards the cooked fish.
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“Once we finish eating I think it best that we head out. We should follow the river to see if we can see some form of civilization.” Kronos explained.
“Ehh, might as well” Asmodeus lazily answered back not feeling like arguing with Kronos right now.
“Anything’s fine with me.” Atlas replied having no concerns about following that plan.
When they had finished their meal Kronos stared to kick dirt into the fire to put it out. Asmodeus went to pick up his bow and arrows slinging his quiver across his shoulder. He held his bow at the ready with his right hand knocking an arrow onto the slack bow-string. They began walking along the river with the sun still high in the sky.
As they walked birds that looked like nothing they had ever seen before flew overhead, darting from one branch to another. Occasionally a large bird would swoop down from the sky scooping a fish out of the water. Hours passed as they continued to walk along the now roaring rivers. The sun now hung at its peak in the sky, not a single cloud in the sky signaling that it was now high noon.
All of a sudden Atlas sensed a powerful presence nearing them. Before he could tell Kronos and Asmodeus however a gigantic creature walked out of the forest in front of them. It cast an imposing figure, standing at a towering height of three meters tall. At first glance it resembled a bear but upon closer inspection one would notice that instead of fur it had triangular shaped spikes extruding from all over its body. The pattern of the spikes resembled that of a medieval suit of armor as it gave off a silver metallic sheen in the sunlight. It turned its head toward them showing its eerily red eyes.
The group just stood there motionless for what seemed like an eternity, finding themselves suddenly gripped by a feeling of dark dread. Kronos held his glaive with the blade at the ready, steadying himself with all of the Martial Arts training he had done during the past five years. Asmodeus fully notched the arrow in his hand drawing the bow fully as he prepared to fire at the slightest hostile movement. Atlas widened his stance holding onto his dagger as he lowered himself in order to be prepared for anything.
When the beast fully noticed them it let loose a heart-wrenching roar with a half-crazed and bestial expression. It then proceeded to charge at them with reckless abandon, as if not caring about anything this prey in front of it could do. Asmodeus let loose an arrow aimed at its left shoulder while increasing the arrow’s weight, rapidly increasing its power and speed as it was released. Mid-flight Kronos further increased its speed by accelerating the arrow’s time causing it to move even faster. The arrow slammed into the beast with a sound similar to a sniper-shot as it embedded itself into the beasts left shoulder. Surprisingly it barely slowed down the beast only causing it to release another terrifying roar, enraged at the injury caused by this prey.
Kronos and Asmodeus were astonished by the thickness of the beasts hide as the arrow that had enough force to punch through a blast shield barely hindered it. Atlas charged towards the beast from its right, while at the same time Kronos rushed in towards its left. They were using the same tactic that they had used to take down the leader goblin, as it was an effective three-pronged attack.
As Kronos and Atlas rushed towards the beast, Asmodeus let loose several arrows combined with his gravity enhancements hurtling them towards the beast. Unlike before the beast now knew what to expect from the arrows this time, using its dagger like claws to swipe them out of the air. While it was distracted Kronos increased his speed even further upon seeing that the beast showed an opening. The beast finally realized that Kronos was getting close, causing it to swipe towards him.
At the instant when the beast started to attack it felt an overbearing pressure out of nowhere. As its slowed claw neared Kronos it slowed by an even greater factor when Kronos slowed its time. Even with Asmodeus and Kronos slowing the beast down, Kronos barely slid underneath the swipe. As the beast’s attention was on Kronos, Atlas jumped towards the beast’s right shoulder. With his dagger outstretched it pierced through the shoulder becoming stuck in the process.
In fury the beast flung out a backhanded sweep of its claw towards Atlas so fast that none of them could react. The back of the claw slammed into Atlas sending him flying into a nearby tree knocking him out in the process as he slid down it. As it was finishing its swipe, Kronos swung his glaive horizontally at an incredibly fast speed, gouging out a huge chunk of the beasts flesh leaving behind a gapping wound on its side.
The eyes of the beast revealed a furious and unyielding gaze towards Kronos. It swung once more at an even faster speed, despite its speed and strength being immensely affected. As the claw hurtled towards Kronos’ head, an arrow pierced through the claw flinging it backwards. Enraged it looked towards Asmodeus as it began to charge towards him in sheer fury. It ran towards Asmodeus at an astonishing speed considering its size. Before Asmodeus could even fire off another arrow the beast was upon him.
It pounced towards him knocking him down to the ground after which it began to furiously swing its claws at Asmodeus’ head. Asmodeus barely batted away the claws by using his gravity to send fast punches from the ground. He did this by using his gravity at the last second before contacting the claws to increase the impact of his fists. From underneath the beast he saw Kronos and Atlas running towards him, with Atlas being closer.
He yelled at Atlas, “Jump”. Baffled for a moment, but quickly getting what Asmodeus had in mind he jumped high into the air. As he went up he started to soar high into the sky as Asmodeus decrease his bodies gravity, looking down at the beast he point his dagger at its head. As he hung in the air, Asmodeus was finally able to get free from the beast. He retreated a good distance away by decreasing his weight until he felt almost weightless. He turned around towards the beast to see Atlas about ten meters above the beast’s head. After a brief pause Atlas started to plummet straight down towards its head.
As he fell it felt as if his speed increased even further, which was caused by Kronos speeding up the time it took him to fall. Atlas rocketed towards the beast stabbing through its head like a meteor. He slammed the head so hard into the ground that it caused a cloud of dust to rise. When the dust settled a small crater could be seen with Atlas in the middle on top of the now headless beast. When Asmodeus and Kronos saw that the beast was finally dead, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. As the sense of relief came over their bodies they plopped down to the ground utterly exhausted. Atlas was sprawled out on the beast’s body breathing heavily.
It took them a few minutes to recover and move about normally. Kronos and Asmodeus walked over to the now dead beast. When they got close Atlas hopped off of the beast’s back and exclaimed, “Well that was a bundle of fun.” Rolling their eyes at the comment Kronos then added, “Definitely not what I had in mind for today.”
Atlas had look of sheer joy when he asked, “So guys do you think I can eat some of this thing?”
The reason he asked it this way was because as long as he could remember he had a unique ability. This unique ability allowed him to eat anything while gaining some of its qualities. This was also the reason why he was able to shrug off the beast’s attack like it was nothing. Over the past few years he had consumed some of the hardest metals on earth. This allowed for his body to gain enhanced strength and durability.
Not seeing why he shouldn’t Asmodeus replied, “Sure, knock yourself out.”
Atlas showed an enormous grin on his face as he walked over to the dead beast’s body. He leaned down and started to eat parts of the beast’s body, in particular its brain, heart, and claws.