Chapter 001:

The darkness continued when Anton’s consciousness resurfaced, yet there was nothing awaiting him.

How much longer? I died, I can figure that much out. Is this what people are left with? Just unending darkness until I go mad?

Anton had expected that at least something would have happened once he had died. Something; a white light, a person to judge his sin, even the fiery pits of hell would have been better than this.

Perhaps this is purgatory? I’ve never been a religious person but if they could tell us…

Anton’s thought was interrupted by a noise, he wasn’t sure what. Despite inwardly groaning for some time, only now did Anton truly become aware that he was lying down and had his eyes closed.

If I’ve been half-asleep mumbling…

He opened his eyes and rewarded with more darkness.

Great, either I’m blind or I’ve died. Or I’ve gone crazy in the last half hour.

That last thought gave him pause. How had he known that? It wasn’t a good sign for his sanity. He pulled himself upright, and noticed something disturbing; his body was illuminated. He was still wearing the same clothes when he died, except every tear had been repaired. It looked brand new.

Odd that I didn’t notice that.

Despite being illuminated himself everything else was dark.

“Hello?”

Anton felt slightly stupid for saying something like that but nothing else came to mind.

…Silence.

“Figures.”

“Oh…Hello.”

The reply jolted Anton. It sounded like an old man yet it sounded like it came from everywhere at once.

“Um… could you please…?”

“Hold on a second, I don’t want you to have to repeat everything when I get there.”

Anton waited a moment, finally hearing footsteps on whatever this floor was made out of. It had no texture or temperature yet its resistance was still present.

Eventually, an old man emerged from the darkness. He wore what could only be described as a toga with a purple sash. He was quite an odd sight; his face was round yet his eyes displayed a clear wisdom, with grey swept-back hair and a well-toned body despite his obvious age. He looked a senator of ancient Rome. He offered an old hand to Anton. Anton took the hand and rose to his feet. It was still surreal to him that he could stand in this place. The old man continued to look straight at Anton, his inane smile reminding him of Janet’s.

“I thought they got everyone. Looks like that wasn’t true.”

The old man rested his hand on his chin, looking down as if in deep thought. Anton couldn’t respond, shocked by what was happening in front of him. The old man started to agree with himself, nodding all the while. His eyes darted up towards Anton.

“Oh, so sorry. My mind does tend to wander at the most inappropriate times. My name is Stratos – God of Storms.”

Stratos, as he called himself, bowed dramatically. It took him some time to right himself with considerable groaning.

“Well, it looks like you missed that boring induction thing.”

Stratos nodded over his shoulder. That section of darkness receded slightly. Figures emerged from the darkness coming into focus. People, many people. Some of them looked familiar; hoodies, suits, uniforms and a silver ponytail.

Finally, some people that I know. Although there are more people that were on our bus. Did we take out another?

“Ah.”

The people faded, rippling back into the darkness.

“Hey! What happened?”

Stratos looked bemused before looking over his shoulder again.

“Oh, is that how long has passed? Um, how to put this,” Stratos turned back to Anton, putting his hands into his toga, “You’ve just missed it.”

“Missed what?”

“The summoning of course. That’s why we grabbed you guys”.

Anton looked on without an expression. Stratos cocked his head, still smiling.

“Well, we kind of needed foreign souls.”

Stratos eyes beamed with a fiery intensity.

So that’s meant to explain everything?

“Um, okay. Perhaps we should start from the beginning.”

Stratos gestured to his left. Surprisingly, there was a large round white table with four chairs. Anton was sure that it wasn’t there before. It appeared to be made from the same texture-less material as the floor. Anton was no longer surprised by this, he simply took a seat, Stratos taking the one to his right.

“So…,” Anton began, “I take it that I’m dead and this is some sort of afterlife?”

“Well, sort of. You’re dead alright. I saw you get shredded and then exploded.” Stratos imitated the explosion with his hands. “There’s no way you survived that.”

“So why am I in my body before the accident and why are they intact?”

“Because we are gods?”

“That’s…”

“To be honest, we don’t really understand everything we can do. Just because you can use it doesn’t mean you know exactly how it works.”

Hmmm, like electricity. I don’t understand exactly understand how electricity works but I could still use light switches.

Anton nodded.

“So where’s everyone else and where is this?”

“That’s a good question.”

Stratos didn’t appear to be lying. He leaned back in his chair.

“We think that it’s some sort of old dimension. There should be someone here to keep the natives in check but they’ve long since died out. For the meantime, we use it as sort of a way-station between worlds.”

“There are more like you?”

“Yeah, most of them aren’t as cultured as me though.” Stratos burped loudly and re-adjusted his crotch.

That was on purpose, but to what end? He might just be an eccentric god… wait, what?

It was something simple stated at the beginning which had been overlooked, this old man said he was a god, but was it true?

Before Anton could ask, another sound echoed throughout the darkness. This was clacking on the mysterious floor substance. Heels emerged from the darkness before the body. Red high heels with straps tight halfway up her long legs. The rest of her emerged from the darkness and it took Anton’s breath away. She wore a short red dress with rubies embedded as though they were sequins, slits on either side showing off what little of her legs it didn’t cover. Anton’s eyes travelled upwards. The dress barely covered her ample breasts yet there were no straps to hold it up as if it was being held up by magic. Beyond that her face would have been called handsome rather than beautiful, the sharp edges more befitting a warrior. What stumped Anton was not her blood red eyes but her hair. It was the same red as everything else but it flickered like a flame, wisps flying off as it swayed then disappearing into nothing. It was quite hypnotic to watch. She continued her approach, hips swaying with every step.

“Hello…. Stratos.”

Stratos slowly turned towards the red woman, obviously trying to irritate her. He saw her as she walked and stopped. Anton could see his mouth turn up in a smile.

“Really, you thought wearing that was a good idea?”

The red woman looked at her clothing, tracing her hands over them.

“I think it looks good.”

Not just good, though if you’re like him what are you trying to achieve?

“And how many souls do you manage to ensnare?”

Her face twitched violently. She let out a sigh.

“None, just like the last time. And don’t say ensnare, you make me sound like her.”

She continued walking without the swaying of her hips and took the seat opposite Anton, swinging her legs onto the table. Her dress didn’t leave much to the imagination.

“You can be somewhat unapproachable wearing something like that, they always seem too scared to talk to you.”

The red woman frowned before retracting her legs.

“And look at you, you’ve got no-one”

“That’s not true!” Stratos said with sarcastic shock, “I have….er….what was your name again?”

“Anton, and you didn’t ask.”

She smiled at this and started chuckling. Stratos shuffled to hide his embarrassment.

“Well, go on, tell him your name.”

Stratos appeared quite grumpy.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so rude, although the red woman appears to be enjoying it.

She was still looking straight at Stratos squirming with a happy expression.

“My name is Esperit - God of Flames. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Esperit reached over and shook Anton’s hand. He had to focus very hard to keep his eyes matched with hers rather than falling down.

“So, what have you told him?”

“Nothing much yet. Still waiting for the other one.”

Esperit glanced over at the empty chair before return her attention back to Anton.

“She’ll still be a while. Something about needing to look appropriate.”

Stratos and Anton glanced at each other before looking back to Esperit. She appeared to understand the look. Her dress began to glow, extending back over her legs and covering her chest and extending to her neck.

“That’s better.” Esperit put her legs back onto the table again, though she was still wearing her red high-heels.

“So, shall we start then?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Stratos cleared his throat.

“Well, since we don’t have much time I’ll keep to the basics. We stole, salvaged, your soul and everyone else’s in that crash. Your world’s gods don’t like it when one of their toys have been taken. Very dangerous but we needed to. Our world is being over-run by demons. They’re killing everyone and everything in their path, including our followers and disciples.”

"So why was I not taken, ensnared, by those other gods?"

"Well," began Stratos, "You were mangled in that crash. I mean really mangled. It's just that your soul and body are linked although something that damages one can only temporarily hurt the other. In your case, you were hit the worst. We didn't know that you were even there, we just grabbed everything."

“Right. Though you have to do this whole thing...I take it that you can’t interfere directly?”

Stratos nodded.

“Correct. But if we all band together we can forcibly drag foreign souls through this place. It is filled with mana, though souls from our world seem to slip through while yours drag bits with you. Think like a sponge soaking up water and grime.”

“I can use magic then, that’s pretty cool.”

“Yes, but you’ll still need some help.” Esperit said, “Though that’s the least of your concerns now.”

Esperit gestured behind her. In the darkness there were pairs of eyes and teeth, not joined but circling, coming closer. Anton flinched reflexively.

“Don’t worry, they can’t get at us yet. Give them about 20 minutes and they’ll tear you apart.”

“That’s the other reason why you aren’t popular Esperit.”

“Shut-up Stratos.”

“So those are the residents you were talking about?”

Stratos looked at the swirling teeth and eyes and merely chuckled.

“They’re harmless to gods.”

Again, I’m not a god.

“Anyway, we usually summon a group and they can choose their god.” Esperit turned her nose up at this point, “It’s just that most go for this Elven goddess and her friends, tend to leave us by the wayside. After Stratos heard you, well, we thought that we could become your patron gods.”

This seems good then.

Stratos and Esperit smiled, they must have seen Anton’s expression change.

“All right, I’ll take you as my patron gods. This means I get lightning and fire powers?”

“You’re going along with this quite easily.” Stratos looked concerned.

“Either this is some crazy dream and my death is a part of that dream or this is real and I should take everything I can.”

Esperit nodded while Stratos smirked. The residents were getting closer, their teeth were gnashing as though the invisible field around them was shrinking and weakening.

“Well, let's get this underway.” Esperit swung her feet off the table and both stood up, gesturing for Anton to do the same.

“I thought you two hated each other?”

“More…dislike. Although our circumstances…” Stratos and Esperit looked at each other and smiled.

Stratos took Anton’s left hand. It burned slightly. Before he could inspect what happened Esperit grabbed it as well, once again burning. When she removed her hand he saw two marks, one was orange and red like a flame and the other purple and white in the shape of a lightning bolt.

“Those are our “Glyphs” or marks. Just imagine and focus something like fire or lightning and it’ll come into being.”

Esperit snapped her fingers, a tiny flame erupted. In a second it grew to monstrous size then back to a flicker.

Anton looked down at his own hand, imagining a small flame. It burst out then disappeared the moment he wished it to.

This is pretty awesome. Although I do feel a little tired.

“Do be careful,” Stratos began, “Most people have their whole lives to get used to the feeling. You’ll only have a few minutes before you’ll be using it.”

“What?”

Esperit breathed to speak. A white shape moved behind her. It clanked slightly as it moved. Esperit picked up on this.

“About time Tethra. We’ve almost run out of time. Where have you been?”

She didn’t answer Esperit, continuing to clank her way towards Anton. The white shape turned out to be a large white nun outfit, her face and limbs where covered. She made her way towards Anton, not stopping and hugging him tightly.

“Wha…”

Tethra didn’t answer but did loosen her grasp.

He could feel her body but it wasn’t soft. It felt like there were metal chains underneath covering her whole body. She looked up at Anton. Her face covered by a steel mask, only allowing glimpses at her fair skin. Anton was about to speak but silenced by Tethra as she placed a steel chain covered hand over his mouth. Both her hands held his left, again burning slightly. When she left he saw a white pair of hands locked in prayer.

“Thank you, Tethra.”

“Tethra here is the god of Prayer. Recite a prayer and it’ll happen. It uses a lot of mana but it can do anything.” Esperit looked quite happy while Stratos’s eyes were trailing all over her body.

He couldn’t tell for sure but he was sure that she was smiling.

“What took you so long?” asked Esperit.

Tethra didn’t speak, or perhaps she couldn’t and reached into a fold of her white clothing. She brought out a small triangular white crystal.

“Oh, do you think he’s good enough?”

Tethra nodded, her chains clanking as she did so. Before Anton could say anything she grabbed Anton’s right hand and slamming the point into the centre.

Ow! What the fuck?!

Anton collapsed under the instantly blinding pain but after a second it was gone. There was no sign of blood or damaged skin. The tip of the crystal sticking out. It was long enough to go through his hand but his palm was completely undamaged. Tethra, despite having chained skin, tenderly held Anton’s hand as he regained his feet.

“Well, he’s alive. That’s a good start.” Stratos helped Tethra getting Anton to his feet.

“Why…”

Esperit smiled, “Hopefully it’ll help.”

A jaw chomped down near Esperit’s back, causing her to jump forward in surprise.

“Right, we’re out of time. Anton,” Esperit grabbed Anton’s cheeks between her hands. “We’re going to send you as far away from the demons and the New Heroes as possible, give you something at least. When you wake up you’ll need to be moving pretty quickly. Okay? Good.”

Before Anton could ask anything more, Esperit ‘pushed’ Anton down through the darkness, with the jaws chomping where he had just been. The darkness crushed Anton, enveloping his body and lungs, bring flashes to when he died.

If I die again after all that….

Once again, consciousness failed him.

…

…

…

Anton consciousness again returned after his second horrific experience. Though this time he could feel something under his hands. It was scratchy and was comprised of many parts. He opened his eyes and looked down. Straw, a massive pile of it. The straw slid out from under him as he struggled free, eventually landing undignified on the dry dirt.

His still wore his old suit. It was strange how they could still be intact, though in a world with gods and magic he no longer knew what could be considered impossible. Quickly rising to his feet he surveyed his surroundings, brushing off the dust. It was a barn of some sort. A single lamp attached to the central beam provided the only source of light. The light flickered against the wood.

This looks handmade…

Anton rubbed his hand along the planks making the wall. It was uneven yet overall straight. Someone had built this by hand with an axe of some kind.

The barn was to be quite long with a single story. The builders may not have had the skill. Something else disturbing was the barn only had the single lump of hay that he had landed on. Otherwise, it was completely barren. Wherever this was, it looked quite poor.

“Gah!”

A cry from outside startled Anton. It was loud and hoarse, someone was in trouble. He turned towards the door and was about to leave when he remembered the god's words. Something terrible may be befalling this place.

It was then that he noticed an odd feeling throughout his body. A thick and heavy feeling. He took a step yet it didn’t feel harder to walk. Perhaps this was the new weight of this world. However, it did stir up a new thought, magic. As a child, he had always thought about using magic but now was his chance. Remembering the words of the gods he focused his thoughts on making a flame at the tip of his finger. The heavy sensation drifted towards his hand. A small flame burst into being, the heavy feeling fueling the flame. He experimented with the size, the Heaviness, as he now called it, flowing greatest when the flame was largest.

He extinguished the flame with another thought, the Heaviness receding and smothering his body again, although it felt less.

I guess that’s my potential then. Still, it’s pretty exciting.

“Run!”

This time there was no hesitation. He had magic and he was sure that he could help those people outside. The barn door was slightly ajar thankfully. Anton started to slip out, trying desperately not to make a sound.

It was night outside. From the barn door, Anton could see around 6 houses, all quite close to one another. These too appeared to be made of wood, perhaps even by the same person. Their walls were made from wooden planks with large upright logs driven into the ground to hold them in place. Their roofs were made from some sort of grass or hay bound together. There were even windows with blinds made of wood that were currently drawn shut.

Some sort of medieval peasant village. I never knew how dark these places must have been.

Other than the occasional light coming from the house and corners, it was completely dark. The stars were visible yet there was no moon of any kind.

“Look out!”

A person collided with Anton, knocking him down. It was a young man and woman. Their faces where dirty and their breathing ragged. They wore thick clothes, the stereotypical medieval peasant garb.

The young man saw Anton’s clothes and visibly paled. Obviously he had never seen someone like Anton. He quickly got to his feet, helping up the woman who was trying to catch her breath. They both stood there for what felt like an age.

His mouth opened to speak but he coughed blood all over Anton. His body became stiff, hands trying to reach his back. The woman didn’t seem aware and just watched him fall. He fell, face first into the dirt in front of Anton, a small axe protruding just below his shoulder blades. The woman gasped then screamed.

The shadows cackled and laughed. Anton’s thoughts went immediately back to the gods’ dimension, and its ravenous teeth. This felt different.

A small creature emerged into the dim flickering light. It was a meter tall and looked like a comically deformed human; its eyes bulged as if its bald skull was too small, a contorted face with jagged teeth and an elongated nose, scrawny and gnarled fingers with had a pot belly. It looked disgusting. Its yellow skin caught the light very well, casting shadows on the diminutive creature, making it more terrifying than it originally appeared. Anton was about to ask the woman what they were when two more equally deformed creatures emerged.

The woman scream again and tried to run past Anton. One of the yellow creatures pulled an axed from its belt and threw it. The axe flew through the air, connecting with the running woman’s neck. Blood flew from the wound as she spun towards the ground. She hit the ground next to Anton with an almighty thud, the axe dislodging itself in the process. She coughed and spluttered for a moment then stopped. The woman was dead.

The yellow creatures chuckled and pointed at her. They moved towards her, the light giving more detail to these creatures. They wore nothing except for a rag around their waist and this appeared to be quite tight around the front. They moved a few steps before stopping, a look of stupefaction on their deformed faces. It was almost if they couldn’t comprehend that another person could be there. The look only lasted a second, quickly replaced by one of anger. Their tiny arms searched around their belts, probably for an axe. They must have used them all before now.

It gave Anton a chance to process what he was seeing. The warm blood from the woman touched his hands. It made something within Anton snap. He knew he had magic and it should be able to deal with these yellow goblin creatures. Before he could rise to his feet the first yellow goblin shrieked and sprinted at him. It bounded with a mad look in its eyes.

Oh shit. Quickly, imagine a fire bolt…wait there’s wood everywhere. Imagine a lightning bolt instead.

He did just that, the Heaviness surging to his hands. The yellow goblin was more than halfway, still charging like a bull. The feeling built and built until his hand tingled. It collected to a single point then it burst forth. A single both of lightning struck the charging yellow goblin in the chest. The bolt disappeared in an instant. The chest of the yellow goblin was burnt and boiled, the skin flayed at the edges exposing the muscle underneath.

The yellow goblin tripped and fell, gliding roughly on the dirt before coming to a halt. Its body twitched slightly and appeared to smoke. Anton looked at his hand, amazed at what just happened. The other goblins appeared to have the same look.

Anton rose to his feet, the Heaviness feeling somewhat less than before yet he could feel somehow that it was growing back. The yellow goblins quickly glanced at each other before charging like their downed comrade.

These creatures are not smart.

Anton felt the surge to both of his hands, a bolt of lightning from each hand strike their respective goblin. Both twitched and fell just like before. The Heaviness was definitely less now. In its place was a confidence he had not felt for a long time. Perhaps he could not beat an entire army but he could take these creatures on one at a time at least. With the goblins dead he could hear clanking and yelling in the distance. He took one final look at the dead people before him, their lifeless bodies bring back painful flashes. He left them as they fell, muttering a few words of comfort to the dead then moving as quietly as he could towards the noise.

---[]--- ---[]--- ---[]---

Half a minute later of moving through this medieval town Anton found himself at a blockage. A cart had been placed across the pathway. There was no planning to these structures so they were very close to each other here compared to elsewhere. There were bodies too. Human and those yellow goblins, all had cuts and blood strewn across them and the ground. The sound of fighting was close now, the grunts yells and ringing of metal was the loudest yet.

The cart blocked his passage but not his sight. He moved around, finally finding a spot to see through between some boxes. There was a fight on the other side; humans and yellow goblins fighting one another to the death, blood and flesh spraying everywhere. The humans appeared to have the raw strength over these creatures but there were hundreds more goblins then humans. They would overwhelm them and soon judging by the look of exhaustion on the human's faces.

His eyes darted around, hoping to find a better vantage point. To the side lay a stack of wooden crates, there were scratch marks on it. This was possibly how the yellow goblins got to the humans.

Anton scrambled his way on top of the house overlooking the battle. He kept low less anyone see what he was doing. From his vantage point he could see the battle before him.

The battle was occurring in a large plaza area. The wooden houses formed a circle surrounding this plaza area. The gaps between the houses had been filled with carts as well, though some had been broken and were on fire.

The battle wasn’t good for the humans. There many bodies on the ground but those that were standing were bloody, their movements were slow and had no energy to them. The goblins were still spritely and picking off wounded and isolated humans.

I can help these people. I’m not going to let these people die especially when I can do something about it. Well, here goes nothing then.

He gathered all the Heaviness he could, the feeling flowed from every part of his body to his fingers. It felt like all the energy from his body was gathering in his hands. His feet felt numb but he paid it no mind.

With an almighty bang the lighting exploded out towards the center of the goblin mass. It wasn’t accurate but each bolt killed everything it touched. In an instant almost all the goblins were dead, their bodies twitching while some had exploded or smouldering limbs where they had been blown off. The goblin survivors looked towards Anton but the humans didn’t.

“Charge!!”

The humans that could still move grabbed their weapons; spears, forks and even sticks, and charged. The goblins were stunned. Those few alive panicked, some bumping into each other as they tried to scramble out of the area towards the broken carts.

Anton felt his mind feeling weak. The Heaviness was gone and so was his sense of balance. His consciousness began to fade once again.

This is becoming irritating…

“Quickly, they were up there.”

Anton saw one of the humans point to where he was still hiding before he felt his body become numb and began to slide down the roof.