Unknown City….

“I see,” someone said. “So, he’s progressing. And you expect me to wait for his power signature?”

Mortem shrugged at the figure.

“Rules are rules, I don’t make them. And no matter how powerful you are, it’s meaningless if you don’t impress those who watch.”

The figure swallowed his twelfth beer then smacked the mug on the table.

“Hey pretty lady,” he said to the waitress. “One more. Make it extra-large.” He winked at her. She sighed, cheeks red, then hurried to comply to the man’s order. “I need you to stop beating around the bush on me, fairy-boy. Why do I have to spend so much time in this goddess-forsaken dimension? Point out his location, I’ll kill him quickly then we’ll be done with it. Done with this pointless game.”

Mortem shook his head.

“Don’t argue with the messenger, drunk. It’s the stone-viper game. And you are the Viper. Start acting like it! Hell, you can kill any and everything in this city and no one could stop you.”

The waitress came back with the man’s mug. He patted her ass with a drunken tip of one hundred dollars. Seeing the money, the woman simply smiled then left him to his beer.

“The only thing good about this world is its drink.”

He gave Mortem a smug, drunken, goofy grin that always annoyed him, then chugged the entire drink. His whispered to the entity, “if I wanted to, I can play my cards right and have her in my bed by noon.” He chuckled at Morten’s blank stare. “You seriously need to get laid, Mortem.”

The entity’s eyes widened, unable to react to how the esper-human treated him. Regardless of being a resident of THAT world, he was still inferior. Yet…Mortem just couldn’t hate the guy. He wanted to rip his insides to shreds but agreed that a nice drink to drown away the world’s problems couldn’t go wrong.

“It’s about time I get to moving,” the Viper said, rising to his feet. He stumbled over three pretty serving girls, flipping skirts quickly enough for them not to notice.

He allowed himself a brief glimpse of his stats page.

Name: Aunder.

Level: ???

Type: Antagonist/ Viper. Esper.

HP: ???%

MP: Infinite.

Spirit Sign: Legendary soul.

He pushed away the prompt, already bored. Why couldn’t he have powers based on beer? Beer made the world go ‘round. It was a man’s best friend.

“What are you up, drunk?” Mortem said. “I need something to report before I go.”

“I guess to go kill some guys,” Aunder said.

“Really? Can I really tell them the games have begun?”

“I’m just fucking with you shorty—I’m going to get laid.”

“Oh come on!” Mortem said. “You’re the most feared man on your homeworld. The Soul Taker, they call you. And now given the chance to kill at will, you don’t?”

“You misunderstand the killings of my home world,” Aunder said. “Typical ignorance of an outsider. I’m from a warrior race. A warrior race of Espers on a planet of horrors. Coming here is a tiny vacation. Yet…” He glared at Mortem intensely as if seeing right through him. A look that made the entity freeze. “Do not test me, bat boy. Unlike you, I will be no one’s puppet.” He turned to walk the streets, black cloak fluttering in the wind. “Refusing to give direction—very well. It’s time I went on a journey. Every clue I sense, I’ll follow. And those three others, I’ll kill them too and their guides.”

Mortem’s eyes widened.

“You’re unbelievable—you arrogant.” He paused. “Clyde, if you sense this one too early, I can only hope you’re smart enough to run. You’ll need to become more than just the Stone. You’ll need to become equals in the eyes of the Soul Taker.”

This has been volume one of The Stone vs. The Viper. The episodes will remain in order.

The next story arc is underway. Part one of episode 11 was just a taste of it.

Clyde’s story, his character development, his background, his fears and dislikes—you’ll learn them. Same applies to the friends he attracted….

Fate is a mysterious string.