First there was nothing.

Then there was something.

Sounds absolutely ridiculous I know, but you can't dispute with facts. Before the arrival of the gods, the universe was nothing more than an inert, blank mass. The world itself did not even exist. All that existed was an eternal, unchanging darkness. And so things would have remained, if not for the sudden arrival of the gods of creation. Beings of immense power, led by the greatest of their number, a being man and demon only know as Ea.

By an act of sheer will, the gods of creation summoned this world from the ether of pure nothing. But a single world by itself would lead a lonely existence. Ea took pity on the world's solitary existence and crafted the sun and moon, a pair of consorts that would provide companionship for all eternity. But even that was not enough, for the world was barren and ugly, lacking both the glorious radiance of the sun and the cold perfection of the moon. Both sun and moon soon grew disgruntled at this forced arrangement, forcing Ea to intervene once more.

To satisfy the pride of both the sun and moon, the world had to be elevated to a position greater than what they occupied. And so Ea convened with his brother and sister gods to grant the world the greatest gift they could provide.

Life.

With his own hands, Ea created the first man and placed him on the world. The other gods of creation followed suit, each gifting the world with something personally crafted by their divine might. Hundreds of gods reached out, blessing the world.

Plants. Beasts. Demons. Man. All of us owe our existence to the generosity of the gods of creation. Ea looked upon the now verdant world, teeming with life of all kinds, and was pleased by the great work that had been undertaken. Many have wondered why the gods went through all this trouble, but no one could ever find the answer. At the end of the day, the mind of a god is unfathomable to simple mortals. There was one thing that was clear though. Creating the world had cost the gods dearly.

Our ancestors were in contact with the gods, even with Ea himself. But not a single one of them deigned to answer any prayers. The gods of creation were weak from over exertion. As the wars between man and the demons raged, many of the gods slipped into a state of indifference, merely watching the battles from their thrones in the heavens. As the blood of men flowed freely and we were steadily beaten back by the demon armies, our ancestors genuinely believed that we had been abandoned by the gods.

But Ea, creator of the first man, still had some affection left in his tired heart for his creation. The demons possessed bodies stronger than any men and exotic abilities that could decimate entire armies. To even the scales, Ea granted man the ability to wield magic and the spark of inspiration needed to develop spells that could rival the dread sorceries wielded by the demons. Humanity's retreat stopped and a long grueling war continued. Rivers of blood still flowed, but now there was an equal contribution from both sides.

Man pleaded for more help, but whether out of fatigue or perhaps simply having had enough of his creation's constant mewling, Ea chose to stay silent this time. Our existence was no longer in peril, as unpleasant as it may have become, and Ea was probably justified in believing that he had already done enough for us. And things would have settled in that eternal deadlock until the arrival of a young god. The one who changed everything.

Pahlaver. The patron of man, god of heroes.

I tower over the world like one of the gods of creation, drinking in man's history playing in fast forward before my eyes. Miniature armies clash furiously and flames wash over entire continents. Suspended in the void of the cosmos, the only thing I can do is watch. Not that there is a need for me to do anything in the first place. All of this is ancient history. The end result is already ordained.

"GOD OF MAN! PATRON OF HEROES!" an insane voice warbles somewhere in the darkness.

From the dark side of the moon emerges the crazy priest I met while leaving Deshawn City, still cradling the chicken carcass in his arms. The priest's head swivels about, but his eyes, clouded by lunacy, sees nothing.

"FILL ME WITH YOUR DIVINE SPIRIT!" the priest howls to the sun and moon, orbiting around his head like a halo.

I avert my eyes as the Priest begins chowing down on the chicken carcass, feathers and all. As the sounds of chewing begin to merge with various gross squishy noises, I rub my glabella in a vain attempt at relieving some of the tension that had been building in the back of my head.

"FILL ... FILL ... FFFFIIIIIILLL ..." the priest belches, blood thoroughly staining his mouth.

An unhealthy rumble comes from the priest's stomach and he doubles over, grimacing in pain. Serves him right for eating uncooked meat. Diarrhea is going to be the least of the nutcase's problems. As the priest struggles with his rebelling guts, a trickle of drool begins to drip from his clenched teeth.

"Stop. Just stop." I sigh. This is one messed up vision.

And the priest starts to hurl all over the cosmos, a torrent of bloody puke spewing everywhere.

"That's right buddy." I nod sagaciously, "Let it all out. No more of that fill business."

"AAH. AAH." the priest moans as his jaw yawns open like a python, the puke having slowed to a trickle.

"There you go." I wave dismissively, hoping the weirdness is over.

"AAH! AAH!" moans turn to howls as a large bloodstained arm rips itself through the priest's gaping mouth, fingers groping blindly about. Before I can do anything, the arm shoots forward and -

..........

"Shit!" I shout, my eyes snapping open all of a sudden.

The sky's clear, with the sun beating down mercilessly upon me. The scent of whatever drug Mandor and Mills used to knock me out still lingers in my nostrils, causing me to wince.

The second thing which strikes me is the utter complete silence. No goblins grunting or cursing. No hum of extraction machinery pulling magic out from the Beyond. Everyone had left the camp site, leaving me by my lonesome. Just how much time has already passed? Nervously, I begin patting my body, feeling the wounds that Mandor had inflicted upon me.

And there's nothing. My body is perfectly fine.

"Please don't tell me the whole thing was a hallucination." I grumble, sitting up on the dusty ground. Its one thing to be defeated, but another to be completely humiliated in the bargain. Flopping about in the dirt, as high as a kite, would be a new low for me. There's blood all over the ground though. And the red stains have soaked deep into my clothes as well. My sword has also been discarded carelessly nearby. That confirms it, I was wounded by Mandor. Just the way I remember it.

So where are my wounds? The last I checked, there were several large, gaping ones, all over my body.

"Whatever." I grunt, picking myself up and sheathing my sword. I have bigger problems to deal with right now. Like Mills selling me out, and by extension, House Robeur. I need to get back to Deshawn City as soon as possible to let the House know. Once that's done, I can always go to the Lodge of Healers for a check up.

The camp site had been reduced to little more than the burned out wreckage of its palisade, with a mountain of corpses piled up in the center. All the extraction equipment, weapons, even the horses are gone. Mandor and Mills had cleared the place out while I was out of the fight. Looks like I've got a long walk ahead of me.

Man, I really wish Loaner was here. That stupid animal might be a total asshole, but a horse is a horse.

A horse's whinny rouses me from my musing as as I turn around, I see Loaner galloping toward me from the distance.

"Couldn't get enough of me, huh?" I snark and I swear that Loaner rolled it's eyes at that remark. Loaner comes to a stop in front of me, calmly waiting for me to mount. But I sense that same aura of dislike at humanity in general just oozing out of that animal's skin.

"Why did you come back then?" I ask.

Loaner can't answer of course, but I see the confusion in the animal's eyes. Loaner has no idea why its here either. Another mystery, but I'm not going to look an actual gift horse in the mouth.

"Gee up then." I click my tongue and mount Loaner, kicking the horse's sides.

And without any further ado, Loaner bolts for the horizon.