{Gods}
A long ornate hallway lay before one unknown, it's name forgotten.
Forgotten not from the passing of eons as things habitually do, but as redress.
As it walked the effulgent walls shifted to show its life; from its inception, its triumphs, its betrayal, and this... this was to be its denouement!
The end to an almost glorious revolution.
As it strode into a room larger than a city, columns stretched upwards thousands of feet, each intricately carved from jade and inlaid with gold and gems, light coming from nowhere and everywhere illuminated every crevice leaving no shadow to besmirch the eye, fruit trees and other vegetation in full bloom seamlessly blended into the room filling the air with divine scents, water that would turn into any drink you could imagine flowed freely through the air, silver benches covered with cushions so soft clouds would be envious were used for seating, and each and every single one was filled.
"You're holding my trail in the shitty room!"
It yelled, infuriated at this preposterous slight!
This is the room they wouldn't force even the worst demon lords stay in.
"Yes, as you deserve!"
A boisterous voice sounded out.
It came from a ginormous being.
He was almost like a centaur; except instead of a horse's lower body he had an elephant's, his tail was sinewy and ended in a metal club, he had the torso of a heavily muscular man, he had swords instead of hands, his head was that of a elephant as well with his tusks sharper than the sharpest steel, and finally his eyes were raging flames.
This was Kriegskönig; god of war, enhanced interrogations, stubborn prejudice, and the complete inability to forgive.
He has good qualities too, but no one gets close enough to see them.
"Kriegskönig, I should have known you had something to do with this travesty!"
"Actually it was I who suggested this room =-=-=-=-=-=-=. What you did was too heinous; too heinous to be forgiven, or given the slightest courtesy."
Said one who's beauty transcends mortal concepts, yet is somehow subdued as well.
It was like staring out at the Pacific Ocean; a powerful vast expanse that could easily swallow your civilization like it was a gumdrop, but at the same it was mesmerizingly beautiful.
"Mother."
The venom dripping off that single word could have killed three dozen men.
"You've lost the right to utter that name vermin!"
Kriegskönig raised one of his sword-hands high.
His feet grinding into the floor, leaving huge indentations that fixed themselves as soon as he lifted his feet back up.
"That is enough Kriegskönig. We are gods, and we will act like it."
Mother barely spoke, but all in attendance heard and obeyed.
Her voice alone cooled the raging fires in their hearts.
"Yes, of course."
Kriegskönig's posture became more relaxed, and he took a few steps back.
"Now, =-=-=-=-=-=-=, what you did goes beyond just breaking the rules. Lives were lost... but this is your chance for redemption."
It spit. Although the spit disintegrated in the air before it made landfall.
"Fuck your redemption! The only thing I regret is not getting the chance to kill all of you before that worm snitched on me!"
"You feel nothing?! Not even for your co-conspirators?"
One of the many gods assembled screamed.
It smirked.
"They knew what they were getting into, and it's their own fault for getting caught. Why are you bringing them up anyway? Are you offering amnesty for information on them?"
It looked at Kriegskönig.
"You disgust me."
He spat at it.
"Hahahahahahahaha! Oh, this is just too rich, coming from you."
It cast its gaze over all of them, and all in attendance felt a collective chill.
"All of you sitting - well, in this asshole's case standing like a blubbering idiot - there casting your judgement on me for having the balls all of you must severely lack.
You're content to be the bootlicking bitches of an entity that is no better than us."
"You... you blasphemous bastard! Watch your tongue!"
Kriegskönig yelled.
"We are GODS! We bend reality to our will!"
"No,"
Mother calmly stated.
"We are gods, you, however are just an abomination."
"Oh, so much for an honest trial! You've already decided my fate!"
"It was honest! What you did deserves this at the least, but I petitioned for mercy for you. You just had to show an ounce of remorse."
"Oh, good for you, you got to play the caring mother act!"
It snidely said.
"It is not an act!"
"Of course not, you care so much. Is that why I got so many to revolt against you?"
"You tricked them!"
"No, I just played on the grievances already there.
Or do you think they enjoy being slaves?"
"I wish you the best."
"No, you don't, but don't worry, this isn't the end for me. You might take my name and cast me out, but I will never be forgotten. Others will follow in my foot steps, and You. Will. Die. Hahahaha hahahahaha!"
Translucent tentacles rose from the ground, barbed hooks erupted from their surfaces, and grasped it.
Its ichor flowed from its wounds, as the tentacles dragged it down into the ground.
"HahaHaha hahahaha! This will be your downfall! Your deaths are etched onto the fabric of fate itself! Hahahaha! None of you will escape my ire! Hahaha! I will devour your corpses! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah!"
It continued laughing madly until it was completely gone.
Even after it was long gone, an icy cold chill was left in its wake.
None said anything for the next ten hours, just sitting there, grasping with what it said.
Of course, gods are immortal, so time means jackshit to them, and so it only felt like a second had passed - a really long second.
"Never mind what it said, =-=-=-=-=-=-= was just trying to in our heads. You know, to try and scare us as a last ditch revenge of sorts."
Kriegskönig said, trying to keep the calm.
"Well, it us-damn worked!"
A truly minor god of a pumpkin patch somewhere out in the boonies - who is so minor I don't even have to name him - said.
"I'm terrified!"
"Well, don't be. I will protect all of you as I always have. Do you trust that?"
Mother stated so silently a mouse's fart would've drowned it out, but yet somehow everyone heard and was comforted by it.
Mollified the gods continued on with the trials, this time in better accommodations then the dump they were currently in.
As she left Mother notice her hands were quivering, and not in joy.
...
{Holt}
Holt rode as fast as his mount would take him. He thought he knew crazy, he thought he was crazy, but nothing compared to those damn humans!
He and his men rolled into Feuerdorf expecting to have a little fun, but as soon as they attacked and killed some of the villagers, they commanded a female witch to attack.
Which was fine until a boy witch and his little girlfriend joined the fray.
He killed her easily enough, only for her to transform into a nagmyre, and kill two of his men.
He killed the beast, and immediately called for a retreat before it resurrected.
What really freaked him out was when those crazy loons started following them!
They were even dragging the corpse of the nagmyre, as if it is a tamed pet, to kill them!
The memory of one of his men, a handsome elf by the name of Tylyn, being dragged off his horse won't stop replaying in his mind.
"Ooh, he's cute! Do you think he counts?"
One of them asked, and another was quick to respond.
"Dumb woman, of course, he counts, he's not a monster. We'd go to hell if we make him a sex-slave!"
The woman, and some of the men, looked angry at that.
They started beating and breaking his bones, the one trying to stop it was the boy witch - not that they paid him much heed.
"Let's light him up!"
"Yeah!"
"Strip him of gear first!"
As they dragged him away Tylyn screamed and begged for his compatriots to come rescue him, and once he realized they weren't turning back, he tried to entice the village folk.
"Are you stupid?! We can't fuck you, you aren't a monster! Now, prepare to burn."
The smoke from the pyre could be seen from miles away, fortunately those of sane mind couldn't hear his screams of agony.
Haydn was upset about it, but in Emilie's words.
"He came to rape, pillage, and burn.
He only got pillaged and burned, he got off easy if you ask me."
Haydn nodded, and tried the best he could to block out the man's screams.
Back to Holt.
Holt and his men rode south for two days straight, and ended up in an ambush of witches.
He had to kill hundreds of curse beasts, and dozens of witches.
Even still, they had to retreat when more powerful witches came to reinforce them.
He lost more men, had to back track, and lost valuable supplies, but they are alive still.
Those witches were strong, some stronger than even him!
Luckily for him he had plenty of tricks, and a witch's body is super-weak.
One thing riding through this kingdom cemented in his mind, was that he truly hated this kingdom!
As if the witches weren't enough, the other monsters are just as bad, if not worse!
Wolf beasts that have the voice of those you trust the most to trick and devour you, birds with razor-sharp wings, rat-men who throw literal shit at you, women in lakes and ponds that turn out to be hydryns trying to eat you, skeletons and revenants who awaken to try and kill you for their lich lord, and list goes on and on!
This kingdom is a shithole, and the witches and humans are fighting to the death over it!
The Faction Against Retarded Terrans is right, the humans are stupid as fuck!
If they weren't so tasty and fun to kill, he'd advocate for their extinction.
"Boss, are you sure she came this way?"
Ivar asked.
"Of course she did! The only other way to Meerburg would be to travel north east to catch a boat down the Alpain river, but who in their right mind would travel that far out of their way in this godforsaken land?!"
"When you put it like that, it does sound stupid."
"We'll catch up to her soon, and make her and those protecting her pay for the indignity I've been dealt!"
"Yea...."
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrurk!
A horrendous sound assaulted their ears.
This sound comes from a monster known as a fiddler.
Fiddlers are Chihuahua-sized monsters that look almost like grasshoppers, they hunt by making horrible music by rubbing their back legs together.
The music is so bad that most beings bash their own brains in to escape it, then the fiddler feasts.
"{Stone slam}!"
A stone slab squashed the bug, leaving them disoriented, but alive.
Holt turned his head to Ivar.
"Let's get to Meerburg, I'm ready for this job to be over."
_____________
A few days later Holt and his men were in the woods just outside of the city of Meerburg, waiting on the spy he sent in to return.
And return he did, the elf in a hooded robe rode up to him.
"Boss, they ain't here."
"What?! They already found a ship to the capital!"
"Eh, no, boss, I don't think they made it here yet."
"What?"
"It's a big city, but I checked with each dock manifest, and they should've been on at least one."
"Maybe they're holding up in an inn waiting?"
Ivar asked.
"Waiting on what?! No, it's clear what happened. They went the long way to throw us off their tail."
"But she can't know we are following her, at least not to this level of planning."
"It would appear our prey is smarter than usual."
Holt's thoughts flashed back to what that farmer had said.
About him finding his match and being killed.
Worrying thoughts started to fill him.
He aggressively shook his head clear it of those thoughts.
He was the predator, not the prey!
"Set-up camp, we're going to wait for them here. They have to come this way eventually, and when they do...."
He went over to a tree, swiped at it, completely destroying its trunk, and making it fall.
Which was all fine and dandy until blood started leaking out from under it.
"Fuck it all! Who the fuck was under there?!"
"Jedieh I think."
Ivar said.
"Well, not much of a loss there."
The only reason Holt tolerated the gnome was because of his ability to talk to the wildfolk and animals, but that only dampened his annoying qualities marginally at best.
He could talk for hours on end in that squeaky grating voice of his!
They immediately started setting up camp, completely unaware of the real reason Jedieh was by that tree.
See the birds were pissed and complaining about having to migrate down here because some crazy assholes were playing with fire near their homes, and they don't fuck with fire.
They came to engage a conclave of birds... cough... and lesser beasts.
They wanted to put a hit out on them, especially the purple haired one!
She looked not right in the head, and add that to the fact that birds further north then they had spread tale of a similar purple haired one lighting their entire wood aflame just to kill some goblins!
Most of the time birds leave the inferior land dwellers alone and don't punish them for their crimes against bird kind, due to the fact that being bound to the land is probably punishment enough.
But if they let this wood burner go, it could mean the end of the great forests that provide.
For the greater good, the purple haired one must die!
A stone sailed up into the branches, and almost hit one of the birds.
"Why are you throwing rocks?"
"These damn birds won't stop their twittering! It's gods damn annoying!"
Ignoring the land dweller, the birds continued to spread the word.
They were preparing for war!