“So, you have a plan I take it?” Moon Flower asked sarcastically, quirking a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me.
“Oh, do I have a plan.” I said, waggling my eyebrows up and down at her.
TRACK 3 – IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA
The sun was just starting to rise and normally, would have been turning the night sky into beautiful shades of pink, orange, and purple. Instead, huge dark clouds had appeared and covered the sky in all directions. If anything, it cast the world into an even darker gloom than the night itself had been. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning flashed, but judging by the delay of the two booms, and the distance of the flash, it was still quite a way’s away. What a contrast to the beautiful night sky we had just hours earlier.
I was still trying to decide if the rain was a going to be a good or bad thing. I stood atop the berm, of the hastily created defensive earthen wall we had just finished erecting. Not only were the Jicarilla excellent stone workers, that ability extended to earthworks as well. I thought back to the council we had held in preparation for this, just a few hours ago. It seems like such a short time, but so much was accomplished in that small span, that it made it feel like days.
“First of all, do we have a map of the area?” I asked the room. I had my mini-map in my head but that wouldn’t be available for the rest of them. Add the fact, that I didn’t know the area, so the data was going to be off.
Cunning Wolf looked at his Chieftess. She sighed and shook her head.
“No more secrets, we are all in this together.” She said, nodding at her Shaman.
“Everyone, please follow me.” He said, nodding back to the Chieftess, then turning and leaving the room.
I shared a glance with Moon Flower, then hurried after the old man. The rest of the room burst into motion and everyone quickly followed on my heels. Cunning Wolf led us through a series of corridors and stairwells, hewn directly into the rock, and lit by torches, ever upward. After a few minutes we entered a huge chamber that was open to the night sky.
I looked around and saw that the room was at least a hundred feet in diameter and the perfectly smooth rock walls, rose a hundred feet up as well. The open-air chamber shone in the moonlight. The walls polished to such a degree, that the soft moonlight reflected off all the surfaces, lighting the room up in an enchanting white glow, and giving the whole chamber an ethereal feel.
While all this was amazing in and of itself, it wasn’t what stole all my attention and took my breath away. In the center of the perfectly round room, was what looked like a replica of Stonehenge, made completely out of polished dark black rock, that gleamed like obsidian. I stared in awe, as I studied the edifice. It looked like what I imagined the real Stonehenge of our time, both the one in New Hampshire and the more famous one in England, would have looked like, if they were maintained and new.
There were no pits or cracks, no seams could be seen from one stone to the next. It was sharp and shiny, none of the edges had been dulled with time, disuse, or damage. The other main difference was that it was smaller than the others were. Even though the room was a hundred feet wide, the monolith was only twenty feet in diameter. My periphery began to flash, so I accessed the message.
ANCIENT MEGALITH
In modern times known by names such as Stonehenge, these intricate structures are found around the world, from the jungles of the Amazon, to the deserts of the Sahara. They have been found in Australia, and in various places in Asia, all in varying degrees of decay. Much speculation has been made about what they were used for, calendars, astrolabes, sacrificial alters, even portals to another world.
I dismissed the message and watched as Cunning Wolf walked into the center of the structure. Then, he began chanting under his breath, dancing, and motioning just as he had in the main room. As he moved and chanted, the ground beneath his feet began to change, it started to glow with a soft yellow light. I watched in fascination as the ground, polished black stone, started to morph and move, forming and reforming into different shapes.
It looked like I was watching one of those giant metal pin things that you always see at science museums. The difference here was, that this was glowing with a light-yellow aura, was stone and not metal, and we were five hundred years in the fucking past, not at some science museum playground. All of us spread out around the circle, quietly watching as Cunning Wolf worked his magic. He sang the loudest yet, stepped out of the moving stone, cried out one last note, and went quiet. The stone roiled one more time and stopped, going still.
It had finally finished and resolved itself into its final shape. I nodded in satisfaction, grinning widely to myself.
“Well I’ll be, Cunning Wolf, you motorboating son-of-a-bitch! You have a gods damned topographical, magical map, of the whole surrounding area, not to mention your very own mini Stonehenge.” I exclaimed.
“While I do not understand half of what you said, I’ll take it as a compliment.” He replied, grinning back at me with his wrinkly old face. “This is one of the gifts bestowed upon us from the gods and has been in our tribe since its founding. It is one of our greatest treasures and secrets. It is our connection to the gods and the secret of our earth magic. We bring it with us wherever we have gone. It uses the earth magic we all possess and updates from everything the Jicarilla tribe has seen for generations. This is the most updated map we have of the area.”
I stared down at the amazing stone map and studied it. It was a perfect scaled down replica of the Jicarilla home and its surroundings. Its information appeared before me. I felt a strange pull begin to emanate from the stone wonder. My periphery started blinking and I pulled up the screen with a thought.
DO YOU ACCEPT THE INVITATION TO MERGE WITH STONE TABLEAU OF THE EARTH… Y/N?
Well, of course I do, what a silly question. I selected the yes option and watched as my mini-map appeared, then began superimposing itself over the huge stone map.
SKILL UPGRADED…
MAP MAKING (LEVEL – 3)
By combining your Map Making Skill with the Jicarilla Stone Tableau of Earth, you have found the first of an unknown number of Ancient Megaliths. Each Megalith will require physical contact to merge with, and now your personal mini-map will update with each monolith’s information, and each monolith will update with any new information you come across.
Another message popped up and I read it.
MAP MERGED… STEP ONE COMPLETE… BEGINNING STEP TWO…
What was step two? I thought, as my mind exploded, and darkness overtook me.
TRACK 4 – THE GUITAR MAN – CAKE
My eyes shot open but all I saw was darkness. I began to flail around in panic, not knowing where I was, or what was going on. My arms and legs kicked and punched, meeting no resistance. My body spun in place, having no frame of reference or purchase, in the utter darkness. Howls of laughter assaulted my ears, as I spun and fought nothing. Strangely, the added noise, even of someone, or what seemed to be someone’s laughing, calmed me down. I quit flailing like a madman and started taking some deep calming breaths. In a moment, I stopped spinning, and was calm and centered.
The laughing continued, but with it a soft white light began to appear, illuminating the area. I could now see that I was floating above the Jicarilla Stone Tableau of Earth. Below, I saw my friends and family standing where I had left them, before I had blacked out. I did a double take, as I noticed that all of them were frozen in place. I did a triple take, as I noticed that I was down there with them as well. What the fuck was going on?
The laughter still rang out unabated and I turned to the cackling. Anger now replacing the confusion and fear from earlier. There they were, three figures floating with me in the air, doubled over, and wiping tears out of their eyes. Two of them I recognized, Colt and Hasteoltoi, but the third was new to me. I was just about to give them all a piece of my mind, when Colt got a hold of himself and held a hand out placatingly.
“Calm down Law, we were just fucking with you. W
hen you’ve been around for as long as we have, you have learned to enjoy the simple things.” He said, wiping tears from his eyes and grinning sardonically at me.
“Yeah, like watching you flail around like a buffoon, you can tell he’s your champion.” Hasteoltoi tittered, as she held her hand over her mouth, which in no way hid her mirth.
“Will you two get your shit together.” The third member chimed in. He wasn’t laughing like the other two, but his face was smiling broadly, belaying his tone.
“Man, you just kill the fun in everything.” Colt said, sighing and shaking his head. Then he pointed to the unknown man. “Law, meet my older brother Wolf, Hasteoltoi you already know.” He finished, gesturing at the beautiful goddess.
So, that was the god Wolf. I studied him, while he studied me right back, the smile on his face looking very familiar. I could tell Colt and he were related. While Colt resembled Willie Nelson, this guy looked like Johnny Cash. He wore black, on black, on black, man I love that song. His garb, which was very similar to Colt’s, Native American hide pants, vest, boots, and the rest, but his were died a shade of black that was as dark as midnight. A black so dark it was almost blue. The contrast made his tanned wrinkly skin, bright yellow eyes, and extremely white teeth, standout even more.
He grinned wider at me, his mouth opening to show me a couple wicked looking fangs on each side of his mouth. I shuddered a bit, my anger having cooled, and realizing that I was sitting suspended in midair. While my body and friends sat down below. Plus, there were three gods staring at me. Maybe I should play the diplomacy card.
“What the fuck Colt!” I practically screamed, gesticulating around me wildly. Good job, really fucking diplomatic Law…
“Oh, quit your whining.” Hasteoltoi said. “We have much to discuss. First though, thank you for the statue of me, I approve, it is worthy of me. Well done on defeating the Skudakumooch as well. We will talk about your reward later.” She gave me a sultry look that promised volumes. I wasn’t quite sure what that promise was, but it’d probably be fun finding out. No! Down boy!
“Ah… well… thank you… um…” I stammered. I mean come on, it’s not every day that a real goddess, who is sexy as hell by the way, hits on you.
“Stop teasing the boy Haste, look how red he’s turning. Now let’s talk Law, time is limited. The three of us have decided to come here and talk to you in person since things have changed again.” Colt said, his tone becoming serious.
“No shit Sherlock. The Barbarians are at the gates, so to speak. I mean, fuck, you said six months, not a fucking week dude.” I snapped. I think I was more stressed than I realized.
Colt made a calming motion with his hands, while Wolf snickered at my outburst, Hasteoltoi just watched with an amused look on her face.
“Can you at least tell me what’s going on? We have a shit ton to do and not a lot of time to do it.” I said resignedly, gesturing to the frozen people and surrounding area.
“That’s my boy!” Colt said cheerily. “So resilient! Anyway, this is a place of power.” He gestured to the mini Stonehenge below us.”
“This, and megaliths similar are located around the globe. The archeologists of your time have found all sorts of them located on every continent. They have only musings and guesses as to their true uses. Some of them think that they are calendars, others time keepers, which they are both, but none of them ever guessed the true uses of these megaliths.” Colt explained. “You’ll be the first human in over ten thousand years who actually knows what they are used for.”
“Ok, I’ll bite… so what are they used for?” I asked playing along
“Seriously Coyote, why play all the games let’s…” Wolf started to say.
“You had your chance brother.” Colt interrupted. “Your way failed, as did yours Hasteoltoi.” He said, stopping the beautiful goddess as she was about to speak. She sat their glowering at the trickster god.
“What do you mean, Wolf and Hasteoltoi already had their chance?” I chimed in again.
“Jesus Christ, he’s been waiting to tell you about this since we got here.” Wolf grumbled, shaking his head.
“Shut the fuck up!” Colt yelled, glaring at his fellow divine beings. “I’m glad you asked Law. Here’s the thing. You are not the first person that has been sent back to try to reset the balance. All my fellow gods and goddesses have tried to change what happened, tried to change the past. Every one of them failed. Wolf was the last to try and his attempt was, let’s say, less than successful. This is our last chance Law. Basically, you are our last hope. It’s this or nothing. Magic is gone from the world forever and our people will be relegated to the past wit the rest of the forgotten. We will become memories and then nothing, castoffs into oblivion.”
My eyes grew round as saucers and I stared at Colt in utter shock. This was it? It was me or bust?
“But… but…” I stammered, gesticulating wildly, while trying to process what he was saying.
The two brother gods and the goddess shared a look and burst out laughing once again. I stared at them, incredulous. Were they fucking serious?
“Really? Fucking really?” I practically screamed. My voice did not squeak. I swear.
The three laughed for a few more seconds as I fumed. When they were done they cleared their throats and wiped their eyes.
“Are you all ready now?” I asked, peeved as fuck.
“Yes… quite… now on to business. What I told you is kind of true. This is our last shot at this. It’s my last gamble. I told you a little bit about it before but now I need to let you in on the whole kit and kaboodle, as they say. All of the gods are joining the fight. They are all sending their own champions, from different eras in time, to fight in this time period.”
“Yeah, I know, you told me that the European gods…” I began.
“No Law, all of the gods, in all the pantheons around the world.” Colt said, interrupting me again, I let it slide this time.
“Oh dude… we are truly fucked…” I whispered.
“Not quite. We have decided it’s a blessing in disguise. With all the old Pan-Asian gods and European and Slavic gods sending champions back…” Colt said
“Don’t forget African and Indian pantheons.” Hasteoltoi chimed in.
“Yes, them as well. Everyone is going to be busy as shit just taking care of their own, that they won’t have time to support other ventures. That means we still have time.” Colt said excitedly. “The whole world is at war. Europe is a blaze, all of Asia is in the midst of fighting Mongols, Africa and the Middle East are at war with the themselves, everywhere is chaos. All the old gods see it as their last chance to affect a change, a last chance to stay alive.
“I guess… that kind of makes sense.” I said, nodding in thought.
“Due to the new developments we are going to talk to the rest of our pantheon. The gods, us and them, all decided to reactivate the Megaliths all around the world. That means all the places of power are back in operation, to varying degrees.
Learn how to use the Megaliths and build your power base. I will try to contact you again when we know more. Good luck Law.” Colt said.
“Trust Cunning Wolf, his great grandfather was a champion, like you. I sent him here to be of help to you.” Wolf said, nodding at me seriously. “Also, this is important. You must head to The Great Lakes and meet up with the Ojibwe, you will need them when you face off with the Conquistadors in Mexico. You must make it a priority.”
I looked to Colt, who nodded in agreement with his brother.
“It’s important, you will see when you get there.” He said.
“I will see you soon.” Hasteoltoi said, grinning at me like a predatory shark. Then slapping my ass and squeezing hard as she walked up. “We have unfinished business.” She whispered in my ear, then licked it slightly. Then stepped back, laughing at my response.
I swallowed and took a deep breath, then looked at the gods. All three of them nodded at me and I was flung downward b
ack into my body. Darkness overtook me once again.
TRACK 5 – COUGH SYRUP – YOUNG THE GIANT
I opened my eyes and a message was the first thing I saw.
STEP TWO COMPLETED… MERGE SUCCESSFUL… ACCESS TO STONE TABLEAU OF EARTH GRANTED… WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCESS MAIN MENU… Y/N?
Strong hands grabbed me and supported me from both sides. The message minimized, and I glanced to the right to see Moon Flower, who held me up and looked worriedly at me. Smiling, I nodded, reassuring her that I was fine, then looked to my left, where Dancing Lion, Chieftess Shining Eagle’s daughter, was supporting me. I smiled in thanks and she flushed, which was a bit difficult to tell due to her complexion, then she looked away.
“Are you ok my love?” Moon Flower asked softly.
“Yeah, just give me a second.” I replied.
The girls let go and I placed my hands on my knees, as I bent over, catching my breath. After a moment, I was good and selected the yes option. A new screen appeared.
YOU HAVE LEVEL 1 ACCESS TO MEGALITH…
JICARILLA STONE TABLEAU OF EARTH
MAIN MENU
AREA MAP
WORLD MAP
EARTH MAGIC WELL
LEVEL 2 (ACCESS NOT AVAILABLE WITHOUT EARTH MAGIC)
I went through each option, starting from the top. The Area Map appeared and superimposed itself on the stone map, on the floor of the Megalith. The two had combined and I studied the new, more accurate map.
This map was way more detailed than the first. Color had been added to the metal and now it looked like a combination of a digital and physical diorama, of what I thought of as the Colorado Springs area and its surroundings. All told, it showed about ten square miles of map. I saw The People’s village at the northern end, while we were at the Jicarilla home in the south.
I Am Gamer II Page 2