Chapter 47- Gods And Their Apostles

Morpheus was intrigued, he had always wondered why Loki had sent him to Arios. Being the gullible person he is, he had always assumed it was just for entertainment. But what he knew about Loki was going to change.

‘Loki’s Apostles have been rumoured to interfere with man the most. The most mentioned encounter was from the king of Southcross a millennia ago. The infamous king Cero who was most known for experimenting with the creation of chimeras. Majority of known chimeras were made over a fifty year period during King Cero’s rule.’

Morpheus was taken aback, he carried on reading with anticipation.

‘An advisor of the king had told the other kingdoms that an Apostle of Loki had wanted to experiment on the population of Southcross. Cero agreed since he wanted to please Loki, which would have soon been his downfall. The advisor said they wanted to try and create the perfect army to take over Arios.’

‘The kingdoms knew of this and went to war with Cero. The kingdoms lied to the people, saying that Southcross were killing their people and forcing them into the army. This is actually false, the kingdoms feared the army they were going to create. After Cero was slain they made an agreement to not create any more chimeras in the threat that they had too many advantages in war.’

‘The Apostles of Loki were looked down upon and not many kings view Loki as a god, rather a being with power.’

He slammed the book closed. It seemed that he wasn’t just sent here for entertainment. He sat down against the bookshelf and ran his hand through his hair.

‘What was Loki’s plan?’ He thought.

He was glad he was sent here but Loki had still lied to him. He had always thought people exaggerated their hatred for Loki but now Morpheus was understanding why. The God of Mischief lived up to his name.

If it was indeed true, it would suggest that Morpheus was sent here as an experiment. But the question was why was he sent to Arios?.

He thought about this for a while, then he went over the conversation with Loki. The god seemed so calm and honest but the young chimera realised it was all a lie.

He pushed it all aside, from where he was right now he was happy. It was much better than his previous life. Even though Loki probably had bad intentions for him, he was here and enjoying his time.

He lit a cigarette, careful to not set fire to the whole library. Morpheus picked up the other book that he was actually here for.

‘Forgotten Gods’

He flicked to the contents and there were hundreds of them, all names he had never heard before. There was no time for him to go through the whole book, his job for the goblin extermination was coming up soon.

Morpheus looked around to see if anyone was watching. He managed to squeeze the book in his pouch, since breaking it had lost a lot of its size.

He took a deep breathe and took a final look around. Morpheus had never stolen anything in his life before and he was very nervous. He tried to walk as calmly as possible but every step he took it felt off. His heart was beating like a dysfunctional engine.

Walking past the librarian he was almost sure he was going to get caught.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” The librarian asked without looking up.

“Uhhh…. Yeah, yeah I did. Thank you for your help.” He said very nervously.

The librarian looked up, over her glasses.

“That’s good, to acquire knowledge is always favourable.” She said with a slight smile.

Morpheus awkwardly nodded in agreement and hurried outside.

“I should do that more often.” He said when he was far away from the library

Morpheus most probably wouldn’t do it again, stealing to his standard was not right. Unless it was from criminals or the rich.

He headed over to the guild to meet the group. The sun was setting and an orange glow coated the stone city.

Unfortunately the first person he saw outside the guild was the bard he punched before.

He began playing when he saw Morpheus.

“Do you not have anything better to do?” Morpheus asked.

“Absolutely not, singing is passion.” He said with another strum of guitar.

Morpheus rolled his eyes and walked into the guild. He saw around fifteen people huddled around in the centre.

He drew some people's attention but none took a second glance.

“Is this all of us?” A dwarf in the centre said.

“Yeah, hammers outside and that's the last guy who signed up.” A fat man said while nodding in Morpheus’s direction.

The dwarf in the middle clapped his hands.

“Hammer ye annoying tool! Get in here!” The dwarf shouted.

Morpheus examined him.

(Tank, Thick Skinned, Level 143)

Hammer walked in while singing and playing his guitar.

“Our we alreaddyyyyyy.” He sung.

Everyone ignored him and the dwarf in the centre motioned for everyone to sit down. The group sat and stood around a large wooden bench.

“Welcome all, ye have all signed up for the grey skinned goblin extermination. Me name is Theodore and I am the vice-guild master for those who d’know.”

“We’ll travel through the dark and attack at daybreak when they are sleeping. We hired Terra’s Children from Elusia who already scouted the area for us. They’ll be fighting with us as well.”

Morpheus glanced over to a group of female elves dressed in green armour. They had pure white skin which matched their long straight hair. One of the elves caught him staring at her and he quickly looked down.

“I’ll be leading main group Tiger, while Big Sam will be leading the secondary group Wolf n’Terra’s Children will be cutting down the stragglers.”

He glanced over at the fat man who spoke before. Big Sam was the same height as him but the same distance wide. He was absolutely covered in runes all the way up to his neck. His whole belly exposed and at the back of his head was a coil of flabby skin.

He had never seen his race before and Morpheus examined him.

(Tank, Skin of the Dagi, Level 124)

“Now, ye all better be ready for this. If any of ye die I’ll come down to Hel and kill ye again. Ye hear me?”

“I.” the group said.

“Lower levels with Big Sam, scouts and mages with Terra’s children. Hammer the sly fuck, can sit at back.”

“Excuse me Theodore but I am a very valuable member of the team.” Hammer said sarcastically.

“If ye weren’t a masochist I’d be beatin ye head in!” Theodore shouted.

Morpheus’s eyes bulged, that was why he was antagonising him.

Hammer grabbed both his shoulders and pulled himself up to whisper in Morpheus’s ear. “That’s right.”

Hammer pulled away and smacked the young chimera’s ass.

“Wow that’s toned.” Hammer said.

The elf that he was staring at giggled very cutely but soon cleared her throat after.

“Ye didn’t hit him did ye?” Theodore asked Morpheus as if it was the worst possible thing to do. The whole group stared at him.

“I couldn’t help it.” Morpheus honestly responded.

Theodore put a hand on his forehead. “Just don’t get close to the bastard.”

Morpheus nodded, the bard terrified him.

“Right let us be off. Mary ye old hag, close up for me.” Theo shouted to the counter.

The old lady raised her middle finger without looking up.

The extermination group soon took off, the sun was far behind the mountain at this point. He was put into Big Sam’s group along with Hammer.

As they were walking down the bridge Morpheus looked down the never ending drop.

“You ain’t around here are ya?” Big Sam asked Morpheus.

“No.” He bluntly replied.

“Well, anyway me names Big Sam. Sam’s me name but I’m big.” He said with a chuckle.

“Jack.” Morpheus said.

“Well Jack, where ya from?” He asked.

“Why so many questions?” Morpheus rudely asked back.

“Well you’re in me team.” Big Sam responded.

Hammer skipped past them and began to play his guitar while walking backwards.

“The Chimera of the Bording”

“Oh how the Ditorians were snoring”

“He ran down the hill”

“Aiming for a kill.”

“And he slashed them all till morning”

Morpheus was shocked at what the bard just sang but didn’t show it.

“Not bad Hammer.” Big Sam said with enthusiasm.

“Thank you, oh large one.” Hammer said with a small bow.

Sam chuckled. “This is Jack by the way, you two met?” He asked.

Morpheus ignored both of them.

“We had a little fun a few hours ago.” Hammer said with a wink.

Sam laughed again, he was quite a jolly man. “It’s better to have heard of Hammer before you meet him.”

“Amazing point fat man.” Hammer said.

Now Morpheus could take a better look at Hammer now, he was a rather handsome yet extremely eccentric man. Short black hair with a clean shaved face and wore purple boots with a crimson suit.

“Why are you coming?” Morpheus asked Hammer.

“Singing is passion! Adventuring is my job!” Hammer answered in song.

Morpheus rolled his eyes, he found the man extremely annoying.

Sam broke the awkwardness. “What ya doing in Kronos’s Keep then? You’re a new face.” He asked.

“Travelling.” He answered.

“Oh the boring one has become even more boring. What a shock!” Hammer exclaimed.

Morpheus glanced at Big Sam because he saw something protruding from his belly. It was a tentacle from his belly made from flesh. He picked up the singing bard and placed him behind the whole group.

“Sorry about Hammer, his ma dropped him when he was young.”

“It’s fine.” Morpheus said with a slight smile.

“So where ya travelling from?” Big Sam asked.

“I came through the forest from Citite.”

“You must of passed through Elusia.” Big Sam said trying to keep up the conversation.

“No. Is it a city?”

Big Sam seemed surprised Morpheus didn’t know. “Only the home of the high elves.”

“Must of missed it.”

“Hard to miss. The female elves especially.” Big Sam said as he stared at the backside of one of the elves.

Morpheus just shrugged. He didn’t feel like talking to much to people, just in case they were a Scarecrow.

The group walked over the long stone bridge and set off at a snail's pace through the trees.

“Why are we going so slow?” He asked Big Sam.

Sam glanced down to his enormous tune covered stomach.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t be Jack, I can run faster than everyone here but only for a few minutes.” He said with a chuckle.

“What race are you? If you don’t mind me asking.” He asked.

“I take no offence I'm proud of my race. I’m a Dagian, my people are called the Dagi.”

“Where are you from?” Morpheus asked.

“Me people are scattered all over, my kind comes from the Lost Lands.”

“The island?” Morpheus questioned.

Big Sam nodded. “Scary place the Lost Lands. Me mam use to tell me it's where forgotten gods go when they lost all their followers.”

“Why is it called the Lost Lands then?”

“Kingdoms won’t send anyone there. They couldn’t kill a single monster.”

“So it’s overrun?” Morpheus asked.

Sam nodded again, his chin going into his second one.