The Gathering

Under the flicker of a torch, stood an old wooden table and around it was four dull chairs of the same nature. A person wearing a large, grey raincoat sat at one of the creaking chairs. Their bob style haircut flickered in hue to match the ever-changing color of the walls due to the dim lighting. Agitation could be seen on the individual’s face as they quickly tapped their foot. The person had requested aid from three vastly troublesome people, but the person did not even know if the request would be answered on such a short notice.

As the room had no indication of time except for the dying flame, the person waited. With their eyes closed, they thought of the infinite possible scenarios that the plan could devolve into. Seconds, minutes and hours had passed, there were no signs of any of the guest arriving. Luckily when the bob-haired person was about to leave, the space in the room began to twist and distort. In the center of the deformity of space, the light had become trapped, creating a void of pure darkness.

From out of the darkness a soft colored lady walked out in large strides. She wore a long white coat over a black dress that reached down to her knees, resembling the eastern style of a few worlds. Her sleek black hair was tied into countless braids which sparked with electricity every so often.

“Well, well, well,” Spoke the lady, “Who would have thought you would ask a favor from me, It?”

The bob-haired person corrected, “Its Igno, Sors.”

“Ya, ya, ya,” waved the Sors, “Anyways, It, what did you want? Considering you wanted me to sneak into this world.”

“I’ll explain when the other two get here.”

Raising an eyebrow, Sors wondered who Igno requested assistance from. Within their circle, there were many people that could do a vast variety of things. She thought about the possibility of some people but laughed it off as there was no possible way that Igno would request a favor from them. Nodding her head she sat down and placed her legs on the table, joining Igno waiting for the others to arrive. As she waited she took out a thin metallic needle and rolled up her sleeves. With the sound of a pop, a panel in Sors’ arm opened up revealing countless small gears, electrical circuits, and magical runes. Flicking her wrist a hand full of holograms showing schematics appeared in front of her. With sparks flying and the harmonious sound of clicking she quietly tinkered with the contraptions in her arm, doing some routine maintenance. Igno who had nothing to do sat in silence and watched, pondering whether or not to cause trouble.

Turning her head, Sors spoke, “Privacy please.”

Igno, with rolling eyes, turned away to stare at the dying flame. Until a sudden cold breeze blew through the room ending the torch’s life. Feeling the breeze Sors held a complicated smile before closing the panel on her arm and stashing away the needle.

“You actually called him?” Sors asked.

From within the darkness, a man’s figure gradually took shape. Taking a seat at one of the open chairs he casually threw a fireball at the dead torch, giving it life once more. With the light restored it revealed the attire of the third person. He was adorned in a leather jacket and jeans of faded blue. The man’s hair was black with a slight tint of azure, while every breath he took made produced a small cloud of frost.

“How’s it going, It?” spoke the person.

Pointing to Sors, Igno replied, “She already did that,”

Clicking his tongue he told Igno it was risky asking for another favor when there were so many that were unreturned. Looking over to Sors he said that it was a larger risk to owe her a favor since she was a very inconsistent person. Defending herself, she pointed out that at least she did not milk the other party dry. Taking it as a compliment he admitted not using the most out of everything was a waste.

“You are really despicable,” Sors spoke.

“It’s only the truth,” The man shrugged.

“Alright you two, I know you both have a grudge, but please don’t slit each other’s throats just yet. Menor, stop please, don’t provoke her.”

Menor shrugged, “What can I say; she is fate and coincidence herself. Anyone would want to at least, beat her to a pulp.”

Taking a moment to consider the fact, Igno agreed with the reasoning. The ideology of fate was something that everyone hated, but could not be denied due to the endless possibilities. Coincidences are just another story altogether. Both of them had run into multitudes of problems because of such topics, which was enough to make anyone annoyed. Slapping fate in the face would be satisfying, to say the least. Seeing the neutral party betraying her, Sors complained about how unreasonable the thought was, even if she knew grudges die hard.

After a few minutes of mature debating, the argument had become a round of very detailed name calling and gibberish. All of them had lived long enough that they would, mathematically, never run out of comebacks in the timespan of a normal argument.

“Why don’t you throw away that mechanical body for a biological-based one? Your growth is stumped due to the need for constant upgrades,” Menor teased.

Sors responded, “The last time I had a biological build, my daughter fell into your hands. Do you know how awkward it was to tell her reasons not to?”

“Not my fault your daughter literally traveled halfway across the world to find me when we never met,” Menor plead, raising his hands in innocence.

“Don’t play dumb, in that world, we agreed to stay out of each other’s situation.”

“I did. It’s your fault, you wanted your daughter to find someone ‘amazing’. Not only that, why the hell was she in a hundred different countries in a single year? Back then I worked as a traveler, a TRAVELER. There should not have been a single possibility for us to meet, I made sure of it!”

“Made sure of it? Ha! You were the one who did not turn my daughter down!”

“Did you even watch her? Every single time we meet she goes on about how it was destiny or fate! Every single time she wanted my hand in marriage! Every single time I rejected her! The only reason why I had to date your stalker of a daughter was that you hushed up every single government official and police force in every damn country! There was no possible place to file a restraining order that would actually accept one!”

“Of course I watched my daughter. I made sure that she would never meet you again too. Do you think I have the power over her once she became an adult? The moment she became of age she left, she left right then and there. On the midnight of her coming of age ceremony, she packed her bags and left. The next time I saw her was when she was chasing you through Camelot!”

“Did you even try to prevent your traits from being passed down? You should at least know the consequences of having your ungodly powers being passed down!”

“I did, you imbecile! I went as far as copying another person’s genetic information to make my own body! How would I pass down traits that I do not have! You should have moved to a different galaxy if you wanted to travel! But you-”

Seeing the argument coming to an interesting topic, Igno asked, “What happened to the girl?”

“She died,” Sors muttered.

“Dead like a pig,” Menor added.

Igno became confused at the sudden twist. The offspring of such beings had easily died, it was expected that any offspring at least have a sense of self-protection. The way that Sors and Menor spoke implied that something odd had happened.

“Died? As in forgotten dead or temporarily dead?” Igno asked.

“Dead, dead, we did not care enough to track where her mind or soul went, due to the sudden twist,” Menor spoke.

“How?”

“She became a psycho-stalker, did a Romeo and Juliet.” Sors moaned, “I probably copied genes with psycho as a recessive trait.”

Looking at Menor, Igno asked, “So you died?”

“No, she gutted herself first,” Menor sighed, “It explains a lot about her mother.”

Hearing such words Sors began to retort, but before she could speak everyone detected a presence approaching them. Feeling the all too familiar presence Sors and Menor cringed. They knew who the person was and they never had a good impression of them. Grudges run deep for the long-lived in the first place. Hearing the tapping of footsteps approaching Sors and Menor glared at Igno.

Sors questioned, “You actually called HER?”

Menor followed suit, “Out of all the people, HER?”

“Well, you see,” Igno spoke, “She’s not that bad of a person.”

“BAD? All good intentions would lead to disaster!” Manor retorted.

Entering the radius of the glowing flame, a beauty that would make goddesses envious appeared. With soft flowing red hair, a charming face with a tint of blush pink, unnatural alluring skin, and a fine well-toned body reminiscent of the golden ratio, the beauty sat down at the last open seat. Well, that was what everyone remembered the last time they saw her. The clothes she wore covered most of her body, if not all. The pieces of fiber, cloth, and silk could not prevent the overwhelming allure she had. Even the veil that hid her face could not contain the disgusting amount of charm that came from her.

Desiring to puke, Menor and Sors attempted to leave. Before they could do so, Igno pleaded for them to stay. Saying that she is needed for what they would go after. Which was proven false by the fact at the level of strength and experience each of them had, they all could easily do anything. Except for one or two specialties, there was no difference between the powers each one of them held.

“I’m fine with working with Menor, even if I hate his guts,” Sors slammed the table, “But her, she’s only trouble.”

Scratching its cheek, Igno spoke, “Well-“

“Don’t make excuses,” Menor interrupted, “Your specialties cancels her’s. YOU, you have not experienced the suffering she brings…”

Menor then proceeded to explain a very detailed story of the past, while emphasizing all the things the beauty did. Falling silent Igno looked over at the newcomer in the room. With a slight nod, she confirmed the story. Shyly turning away she said it was due to her immature thoughts back then, and her obsession had just begun. She then muttered a few things about being attracted to polar opposites, only to received looks of satire. Igno decided to make sure to keep her in check if Menor and Sors stayed. Agreeing to the condition Menor and Sors sighed.

“Of kin’s own pride,” spoke Menor.

“Birthed from the indecent flames,” Sors followed.

Hearing the two phrases the beauty began to groan. She knew what was going to be said and the memories that it brought were never good.

“With pinnacle of lust,”

“Fallen upon the misguided sin,”

“Under talent to envy,”

“Failing her own race’s origin,”

“Without need of vanity”

“All hidden, under unneeded cloth,”

“Who fell to greed,”

“Over incessant streets of wealth,”

“To instincts, a sloth,”

“Forever oldest of her kind,”

“Under her blood’s enteral wrath,”

“The magnum opus of succubus,”

“With the title of gluttony,”

“To whom was she named?”

“That is Desyra,” Sors and Menor spoke in sync, high-fiving each other, “The oldest succubus, still a virgin, and the failure of her kind!”

Laying her head on the table, Desyra moaned. Every time she met one of the two, they would greet her in such a manner. To say the least, she did not know how the two learned of her past, to make such a poem, but she despised them to the very essence of her core. They usually sang such a poem when they were running away, so having the poem said directly to her face was different, to say the least.

“Is… is that true?” Igno asked.

Seeing the chance to redeem herself, she denied all the claims. Only to be stopped by Sors saying denial was the first step to acceptance. Hearing such words Igno, gave Desyra a look of pity seeing how childish she was. Her pride took a hit, no matter how many reasonable excuses she gave, she lacked credibility. On one hand was, Menor who had hyperthymesia and an eidetic memory. In the other, was Sors, she could peer into the chaos of the future without a fault. Against her, who can find anything anywhere, she held no say in the matter.

Having enough of the false accusation she distorted the world next to her and flashed a large machete. As she pointed it at Sors, she was confronted with a sleek break-action shotgun aimed right back at her. Across from Sors, Menor was casually sipping a bit of water, as cyan flames flickered around him. The tension that was created between the three of them had started to affect the physical world. If they, at their current level of unrestricted power, fought there was no telling if be any innocent bystanders alive to save their species.

“STOP IT ALL OF YOU!” Igno played the middleman.

Knowing that if the train of events continued the world would evaporate. Igno, wanting to avoid such situations began to explain what would be requested. Seeing that the three had stashed away their weapons and powers, Igno released a sigh of relief.

Igno spoke with cautious words saying that all of them were gathered to look for something. Hearing the boring task, Igno’s audience began to complain. Feeling like a preschool teacher, Igno rephrased the words, saying that they were looking for something out of rumors. Hearing the less than concrete detail, everyone perked their ears.

“It’s been awhile since I went on a goose chase,” Menor spoke.

“True, we only have words from a mouth to go by,” Sors agreed, “So because we are gathered in this world there’s a chance that the item would be here, correct?”

“Yes,” Igno answered, “From my sources, this world should have the rumored item. The only description I learned of the item is that it just eats.”

“So, no riddles, no prophecies, or treasure maps?” Desyra asked, as her treasure hunter instincts kicked in.

With a nod of the head, Igno confirmed Desyra’s question. The way they would find the item would be aimlessly wandering around while investigating any history, rumor or myths. It shouldn’t be too hard to do with the current amount of unrestricted power they each had. If they wanted to they could take as much time as needed, as all of them, except Igno, was there for the fun of it.

“Do we need to consider the effects of our actions, per your request?” Sors asked.

“Well you see,” Igno hesitated, “The last world I lived in was… stressful.”

“Oh?” Menor insisted.

“Type two idiots, everywhere. Those damn know-it-alls.”

Hearing the generalization everyone let off a few sounds of understanding. They all had experienced the “know it all idiots”. No matter how much information and facts that were presented those types of idiots were the worst. Giving Igno their condolences, they got up and headed to the room’s exit.

“Just to confirm,” Desyra asked, “There is no need to care about the effects of our actions right?”

“Of course,” Igno answered.

“Sweet,”

Traveling through a dark tunnel, Menor lazily waved his hand. A small amount of energy gathered and ignited, creating a small ball of light. Illuminating the tunnel it revealed dirt, mold, a few stones, and wooden support beams. After the passing of a few minutes, a wooden door came into view, through the cracks in the door sunlight spilled in.

Opening the door, Menor spoke, “Here you go, It.”

Rolling his eyes Igno took the first steps out of the cave. Outside the door was a lush forest that was swaying in the gentle breeze. The sun had reached its zenith notifying all that the time was near noon. Behind Igno everyone else walked out, taking breaths of fresh air. Through the air, the sound of rustling plants and the whistle of the wind rushed by.

“Excluding Desyra, should we avoid using our detection abilities?” Sors asked, “You know, for the fun of it?”

“Well, we don’t really have to,” Menor answered, “But it would indeed become more enjoyable if we did so. Also, Desyra should be able to lead us in the general direction. If not we will head to the first town or something.”

Thinking about the notion for a bit, everyone agreed. By not using any of their detection abilities their trip would become interesting. They all could still rely on their instincts, honed over eras, to detect any threats. Their experience would also allow them to easily manipulate things, with small suggestions, to go their way.

“Did anyone of you recently developed a tendency for wildlife protection?” Menor asked, “Because I’m up for some wolf.”

As on cue, out from the bushes, a pack of green wolves appeared. Each wolf was the size of an average cattle animal. Around at least a dozen of them appeared, and from the rustling of the bushes, it could be inferred that there were more hidden. Each of the beasts looked at the group as if they were prey, growling to show their dominance.

“Wolf sounds a bit nice,” Desyra spoke, “There’s too few of them, unfortunately.”

“Technically speaking, this amount of meat should, at least, feed a small village for weeks,” Sors commented.

With rolling eyes, Igno spoke, “Less talking more killing.”

“Pity points to the one who kills the least,” Menor spoke running at the wolves.

With glints of weapons and explosions of guns, the pack of wolves was slain in less than a minute. They killed the wolves so efficiently that wolves had died to one bullet or slash each. Not a single drop of blood had touched the ground, as all the corpses were being levitated into the air. There were 27 wolves in total; with an odd number of targets, not everyone could receive the highest kill count. Because of the inclusion of pity points, the person in second place lost.

“Haha, you lose,” Menor taunted.

“Piss off,” Sors spoke.

“8,7,6,6,” Desyra counted, “If you include the pity points then Sors lost.”

Being annoyed that she miscounted, Sors was tasked with bloodletting and dissecting the wolves. Whenever she finished processing some meat, she threw it to whoever was closest. As the meat flew the air it was shot down by a fireball, becoming perfectly cooked. Whenever a piece of meat was cooked someone would grab and eat it. Unlike everyone else Igno gobbled down the most wolf meat, due to Igno’s genus, chewing was not necessary.

After walking a while, they came across a few more sources of meat. As they were not affected by things such as calories or fat, they did not really care how much they ate. Water can be easily created by collecting the water particles in the air, for a fresh drink. Though even if they had no need to consume anything, the luxury of eating was something that was grown into a habit.

As time passed and their food stockpile grew, the silent forest was broken by screams of agony and the clashing of swords. Hearing such sounds the group stopped for a second. They all felt nostalgia, from the horrific sounds. Standing in the same spot they waited.

“Aren’t we going to do something?” Desyra asked, “I’m fine with ignoring it.”

“I have to tend to the meat so…” Sors spoke.

“Following the line of events, it would become a bit cumbersome.” Menor pointed out.

“Whatever,” said Igno, “Let’s just go in that direction then, a road should be there anyway.”

Agreeing with the suggestion, Sors, Menor, and Desyra pointed in a different direction. All of them did not point towards the source of the sound, so it seemed that they wanted to avoid it at all costs. Seeing such actions, Igno could only sigh. Dragging the interestless people, they moved through the forest at a leisurely pace they made a bet guessing the situation.

Menor said, “It’s gonna be bandits and merchants.”

“No, no, no,” Sors corrected, “Knights dressed as bandits and royalty.”

“It’s going to be beasts and slave traders.” Igno guessed.

“No, it’s… um… a female bandit gang trying to abduct slaves.” Desyra spoke.

Looking at Desyra in disappointment, everyone could only shake their heads. It’s a shame; it would be difficult for her to be wrong. She gave too many details and knowing how the world works she was probably right. For the reward of the bet, they all made small pouches and placed something inside. No one knew what items were placed in the bags, but with the nature of each participant, only disaster waited for the winner.