“Wait! What about the mission?” Trantor has a confused demeanor.
Jinmu looks at him. “I am not sure we will be able to perform your mission. You are welcome to stay for the party. We can discuss the mission afterward.”
Perzey links her arm with mine, walking on the opposite side of me from Jinmu. Pulling the party charm out from under her armor, she lets it lay prominently on the impressive bulge in the chain armor covering her chest.
Trantor has a decidedly irritated look on his face as he follows.
“Tarna. Crystal. We are having a party tonight. Get everything ready.” Jinmu's words are directed at two women, who seem to be in charge of the food preparation.
“Oh? What's the occasion, Bushou?”
Jinmu puts his arm around my shoulders. “My good friend, Brand, has completed his training as Smith, and now, he has returned to us.”
Trantor stiffens, behind me. When I glance over my shoulder, he is glaring at me, but he quickly wipes the expression off his face.
The man who was forging the sword stops his work and walks over. “Hi, I'm Carlson. I'm Divine Wind's Smith. Where did you train? Who trained you?”
Carlson is red haired, freckled, six inches shorter then me, and wiry. He looks absolutely nothing like what you would expect a Smith to. Still, he has an aura of strength and power in every move.
“Roderick of Tallifer.”
Carlson's face turns cold and hostile. “If you don't want to tell me, just say so. There's no reason to lie to me.”
Perzey bristles at my side, but when I put my gauntleted finger over her lips, she does not say anything. After looking into my eyes, she tilts her head slightly, smiling.
Carlson looks ready to explode, when I turn back to him.
“Believe me or not, I don't give a fuck. I don't any reason to waste my energy lying to you.”
Carlson's eyes shift from myself to Perzey and back again. “Roderick can spot a player, when they walk in the door. He won't train players, and he won't even do work for them. You're a fucking liar.”
Why is it that some males, I am not sure if they qualify as men, get upset seeing Perzey hang on me the way she does? She is on the better side of average. Pretty, but not the kind of pretty to make most men stupid. Of course, the way she is now, you would have to be a faggot to not get a hardon just looking at her.
My grin is nasty. “I'm not a Possessed. This my real body. I came to the Battleground from Earth by choice.”
“Do you think you can lie to me? I'm a Smith like you. I can see patterns.”
“Have you looked at mine?”
Carlson mumbles under his breath. I cannot understand the words, but it has to be his secret. A faint glow touches his eyes for a second, before disappearing. As he stares intently at me, his mouth slowly falls open.
“No fucking way! You're like Jinmu.” Even whispered, the intensity in his words cannot be missed.
“Do you know how to get back to Earth? Can you take us home?” His shout echoes from the walls of the courtyard.
My derisive laughter is louder than Carlson's shout. “I don't know and don't care how to get back to Earth. I like this place. Why would I want to go back to that fucking cesspool?”
Everyone around the courtyard stares at me. Their faces showing a various mixes of disbelief, outrage, anger and hate. You can take the Earthlings out of the Earth, but you cannot take the Earth out of the Earthlings.
Only Jinmu and Perzey have differing expressions. Perzey is thoughtful, not something I have seen much of in her before. Jinmu's face is a non-expressive mask.
“You dropped out of the party.” Jinmu sounds surprised.
“Perzey's party charm was lost. When I bought her a new one, I made a new party, since I couldn't invite her to yours.”
Perzey hold up the gem encrusted star, with a wide smile. “The first present Brand bought for Perzey.”
Jinmu looks from one of us to the other. His face has a complicated mix of emotions I cannot decipher.
“I will have someone find you a room. We will have the party tonight, but I have business I need to attend to before then.”
I nod and watch Jinmu's back, as he walks away.
* * * * *
A company member brought Perzey and I to a room. If the girl mentioned her name, I did not notice. My mind was focused on how odd it feels to be in this keep, surrounded by these people. This is Jinmu's company and the members are all his people. I am not one of his people. I do not belong here.
Inside our room, Perzey strips naked, only keeping the bracelet and pendant on. Her fingers are gently caressing the pendant.
“Perzey wants to say thank you. Brand should get naked too.”
I laugh once, and undress.
Perzey moves closer but keeps a slight distance. Her free hand caresses the scars on my chest. She does not quite meet my eyes, looking at my mouth or chin.
“Brand should feel more than pain. Brand is already strong. Brand deserves to feel good sometimes. Perzey wants … I … I am Perzey. I . . . I want to make Brand feel good.”
Perzey looks up at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. She is trembling, and something seems to be breaking lose inside her. “Brand will . . . you will always grow stronger. Even if you have more than just pain, you will get stronger than everyone.
“I am not like Brand, like you. I want to get strong, but I am scared. I don't want to give up everything. I want to feel good. I want to be held and caressed. I want to feel love.”
Perzey's tears start to fall. “I'm afraid. I'm always afraid. You're strong, but you won't be here forever. You will throw me away, when you don't want me anymore. I am afraid of being alone. I am afraid I won't be strong enough to survive.”
The hunger, the wildness, and the madness are still in Perzey's eyes, but now, there is more. One thing is not there. The one thing that every woman or girls has is missing. Even though she is afraid, she still does not seem to be disgusted by my scars.
I do not know what to say to Perzey. I did not expected this was hiding behind her voracious need for strength. I never thought she had these insecurities and fears. I do not know where my path will take me, but I do know that I will never settle down and play house. I do not say anything.
Perzey trembles, when I put my hands on her cheeks. She hungrily returns my kiss and clings tightly to me. I sit down on the small bed and draw Perzey onto my lap. She moans as I enter her, but the silent tears are still rolling down her cheeks. I do not think we are making love. We do not love each other. Still, we are not fucking like animals, the way we normally do.
Perzey clings to me when she orgasms.
“I love you!” The fierce whisper seems to thunder in my ears, as the tears fall on my neck and shoulders.
* * * * *
Leaning against the wall in the keep's main hall, I watch the ribaldry and antics of the Divine Wind members. Most of them have already had far too much to drink or done far too many drugs. They are acting like fools. The low tables piled with food are the only furniture in the hall. Anyone sitting is sitting on folded blankets, furs, or cushions.
Jinmu had Perzey and myself seated at his table on the dais, along with his consort, Delilah, and Trantor. Jinmu and Trantor are busy discussing Thug Horde's current activities, but I am not really paying attention.
Delilah is leaning against Jinmu, who has his arm around her waist, but she is not paying attention to the conversation. She gives the impression that she is watching and cataloguing the activities of everyone in the hall, especially who is talking to who.
Five of the Divine Wind members formed a band, and they are not bad. The woman singing for them is more than plump, but her singing voice is amazing. At times others have performed acrobatics, juggling, and knife throwing to the cheers or jeers of their compatriots.
The male to female ratio in is about two to one. Several pairs of the females seem be homosexuals and are busy undressing and fondling one another in between mouthfuls of f
ood and alcohol. More than half of the rest of the females seem to be playing two or more men against one anther, or engaging in group fingering, licking and sucking with multiple partners. Xenia is among them, but I do not see Sigurd anywhere around.
The remaining half of the females are either paired up with a single male, or gathered in groups trying to not get involved in the sexual antics.
I notice Delilah squirm around until she can comfortably slide Jinmu's hand through the split skirt of her dress.
Perzey is wearing one of the near transparent dresses she took a liking to in Tallifer, and most of the males without any female company are eyeing her impressive tits.
*The castoffs are staring at your tits.*
*Perzey doesn't . . . I don't care. Let them drool. They cannot touch me.*
Perzey slides her hand along my chest. I am only wearing pants, boots, and a vest.
* * * * *
When I tried to dress in my normal concealing clothes, Perzey became upset. She was almost crying, while holding a vest out to me.
“Brand hides Brand's scars. Why? Is Brand ashamed? Brand's scars show how strong Brand is. Weak people hate Brand, because they fear Brand. They see Brand's scars and know they are not strong enough to survive Brand's pain. Helen was like them. She feared Brand, and hated Brand, because she feared him. Don't hide. Let everyone see how strong Perzey's man is.”
When I put away the other clothes and took the vest, Perzey's kiss was so hungry we wound up back in the bed fucking like animals again.
* * * * *
*If Brand wants me to sit here naked, I will take off my dress.*
I look around the hall. *This trash doesn't deserve to see you naked.*
Grinning Perzey climbs into my lap, with her back to the room, and slips out of her thin dress. After dragging my vest off, she snuggles up against me.
*Now, they can only see my hair.*
*What was Helen like?*
Perzey frowns. *Perzey doesn't want to think about Helen. She was short and fat. Helen was only 5'2” and weighed over 170lbs. She hated herself. She doted on her sister. Rachael was a slut, who fucked all the men Helen lusted after, but Helen loved her. Helen was weak. Perzey is happy Helen is dead. Perzey will be Perzey forever.*
I do not want to know anything else about Helen. She was typical of the weak, bullied victims of Earth, the people I always hated. Earth culture twists everything that lives under it.
“Brand, I know you like beer but try this.” Jinmu is holding out a ceramic jug with a paper seal on top. Another open jug sits on the low table between Jinmu and Trantor.
I take the jug from him. Breaking the seal, I smell herbs and strong alcohol.
“What is it?”
Jinmu smiles. “It is from my personal supply. The taste is very much like sake, with some very spicy herbs mixed in.”
I like spicy food. I take swig, and feel like my mouth is on fire. I cannot identify the herbs, but they add a heat like Thai peppers.
Perzey grabs the jug and takes a deep drink from it. After a few seconds, her face turns red, and she nearly spills the wine, before I grab the jug from her.
Jinmu's booming laughter fills the hall, and Perzey glares at him.
I lean back against the wall again, sipping from the jug now and then. Every time I take a drink, Perzey drinks too. She glares at me, when I laugh at her.
While from time to time, Divine Wind members have sat at the high table talking to Jinmu, Delilah, and Trantor, not a single one has approached Perzey or myself. Now, looking around the hall, I seen a number of them staring at me, with secretive smirks. I get the feeling they are sizing me up, but I do not understand the smirks.
I am not sure how much time passes, before the hall begins to shake and a thunderous rumbling hammers the world. The upheaval does not stop.
I try to circulate my ki throughout my body, and find that I cannot even touch it. It is almost as though someone has complete cut me off from my ki. How could that happen?
“Steel is cruelty. Steel is pain.” Nothing, I cannot even control my mana to activate my sight.
*Perzey use the wind to get to your feet*
Perzey's eyes go wide, and fear is all over her face.
*Perzey cannot use her Power! What happened to Perzey!*
No one else in the hall seems to having the same problem. They are unstable with the continuous tremors, but their Power seems to be working. Why?
My eyes move to the jug of wine on the floor, before fixing on Jinmu. He is staring at me, with a complicated mix of emotions on his face, but he can obviously use his ki.
I suddenly remember something from long before the Great Fuck Over. I saw Sulius once. He was friends with Herodotus, one of the leaders of the Rainbow society. They were the best of ass-buddies, and Herodotus showed himself to be a traitorous piece of shit after the Great Fuck Over.
What is happening with Jinmu? Have Sulius and Trantor manipulated him into doing something he does not believe is right?
The disturbance goes on and on, for more than an hour, before abruptly ending.
Everyone is looking around in confusion, myself among them.
“What was that?”
“Was that an earthquake?”
“What the fuck is going on?”
The stream of random questions are all in the same vein, with no one having any answers. Jinmu is whispering with Trantor, and both of them look pale.
*Come on. We're going outside.*
Perzey leaves her dress lying on the floor and clings to my arm. Even though we could be in real danger, why is it I just want to throw her on her back and fuck her?
In their confusion and near panic, no one is paying attention to us. We slip quietly through a side door out of the hall. The passage is empty, and we race to the courtyard.
The door into the courtyard is closed, but there are people outside talking.
“It doesn't matter what that was. The DokkAlfar citadel is almost here. Go let Bushou know his guests are coming.”
DokkAlfar guests? What the hell is going on?
The door rattles, as someone pulls the latch handle, and I push Perzey against the wall.
The man in chain armor does not notice use, until he is already closing the door. As his eyes widen and his mouth opens to shout, my foot shoves the door closed, and my fore knuckles slam into his throat. The man falls to his knees gasping for air, and I apply a choke hold to his neck. Even without control over my ki, my strength far outstrips the man's.
Perzey is staring at me, with a grin and hard nipples. She runs the tip of her tongue over her lips.
“If you make too much noise, I will kill you. When I loosen my hold, you will explain about the DokkAlfar. Nod, if you understand.”
The man jerkily nods. As I release the pressure on his throat, the man twists his head around a little.
“Talk.”
“The DokkAlfar are the ones who have been paying us to hunt Thug Horde. They're coming here to collect a package.”
“What package.”
“I … I don't know.” Something in the man's voice sound odd.
“DENIZEN'S OF MY BATTLEGROUND OF SLAVES HEED MY WORDS! KNOW THAT ALL WHO ARE WITHIN THE BATTLEGROUND CAN HEAR ME!” The booming voice seems to come from everywhere and nowhere, at the same time. It is a voice, I have come to detest hearing.
“What the fuck is that?”
“How is he projecting that huge image?”
“What the fuck is going on, tonight?”
I choke out my prisoner and drop him to the floor.
Cracking the door, I see over twenty men in the courtyard. They are looking and gesticulating at a giant figure floating in the night sky.
Dressed in grey leathers and a brown hooded cloak, the translucent image of The Nameless floats in the sky. The hood is concealing all of his face, except for the mouth and chin. In his left hand, he is carrying his ever present staff, the runes glowing with a deep blood-red light.
&
nbsp; “UNTIL THIS DAY, I HAVE MADE NO DEMANDS OF YOU, BUT THAT CHANGES AS OF NOW. FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, YOU EITHER SERVE ME, THE NAMELESS GOD, OR YOU WILL ENSLAVED OR EXTERMINATED.”
When the voice pauses, the men in armor look at on another in confusion. They mumble questions at one another, but no one has any answers.
I wait for The Nameless start speaking again, so that I can use his voice as a distraction.
“THIS NIGHT, I HAVE ADDED A NEW REALM TO THE BATTLEGROUND, THE WORLD CALLED EARTH. POSSESSED, BE AWARE, THIS IS YOUR HOMEWORLD. YOUR BODIES ARE DEAD, BUT YOU STILL KNOW HOW TO USE THE MACHINES OF YOUR HOME. MY PRIESTS AND ACOLYTES WILL MAKE THEMSELVES KNOWN TO YOU. THROUGH THEM, YOU CAN SWEAR FEALTY AND PERFORM OBEISANCE TO ME. THOSE WHO DO SO WILL RECEIVE PREFRENTIAL TREATMENT. YOU WILL BE GIVEN WEAPONS OF YOUR HOMEWORLD AND BECOME THE VANGUARD OF MY CHURCH'S NEW ARMIES. THOSE WHO DO NOT SWEAR TO ME, WILL BE TREATED NO DIFFERENT THAN THE COMMON TRASH OF THE BATTLEGROUND.”
Perzey and I are at the ramp leading to parapets, by the time The Nameless pauses again, but our luck has run out.
The main doors to the keep are thrown wide, and Jinmu walks out, with the partiers from his Divine Wind at his heels. Most of them are still half or entirely naked. Some are stumbling, nearly overcome with the effects of too much alcohol or drugs.
Xenia is among them, her body and hair spattered with yellowish-white patches of dried cum. She looks around the courtyard, until her glare locks onto Perzey.
“There's Brand and the whore! Don't let them get away!” Her voice is a shrill, hate-filled shriek.
The men in armor we were passing behind, turn around and stare at us in surprise. Several of them are more interested in staring at Perzey's naked tits, than much of anything else.
“YOU WHO ARE NOT POSSESSED, YOUR KINGDOMS ARE HEREBY DISSOLVED. IF YOU DO NOT SWEAR FEALTY AND PERFORM OBEISANCE TO ME, YOU WILL BE MADE SLAVES WHEN MY FORCES SHATTER ANY PATHETIC RESISTANCE. LOYALTY, SLAVERY, OR DEATH, THERE ARE NO OTHER OPTIONS!”
Betrayals
*** Tallifer (Divine Wind's Fort) - Battleground of the Damned ***
Return: Day 136
Path of Transcendence 1: Ultimatum of the Nameless God Page 38