Dianite sat across from two very old gods. He lifted his cold glass of whiskey that had left a white circle on the oak table. "Cheers, to a new world," he declared.

This Ianite and Mianite nodded their head at him and lifted their glasses in unison. Then they all drank.

Dianite had been working with the two gods for months now, only getting about a week break after falling through the void. When he first fell into this world on the beach, he had felt weak and drained. Now he was sitting with Ianite and Mianite and in this world they took the classics very seriously. Smiting and sacrifices hadn't outgrown them yet. Still they were much wiser than his siblings, they knew they're boundaries.

I guess they're Dianite had really gone full method and truly became the king of hell. This Dianite was not very interested in that.

Matthew Gaines had accompanied him. The doctor knew the most about quintessence which was what Dianite was lacking. He needed some from the others, and when the others heard that a replica of their troublesome younger brother had arrived, they decided they needed some rules.

Matthew Gaines walked out from the hall of Ianites castle and put the stack of papers on the table. The words were a mile long and written in a language that was life binding. It was a celestial contract in a way - a contract that stated no god would do anything damaging, and when the time came they would leave silently.

"Do I have to sign in blood or can I just use a signature?" Dianite awkwardly laughed. The other two gods sat in the same monotone place and stared at him.

They were very aloof.

He shook his head, and stared down at the dotted line. "Well then, I guess I'll start."

"Would you like to know your assets, Lord Dianite?" Matthew interrupted, and he smiled like a crazy servant. Gaines had really been embracing his acting role through the couple of months.

Dianite couldn't believe that he would have assets. "Sure."

"Our brother created lots of things," Ianite spoke. Her voice could calm a braking sea. "Some were good."

"Don't be stupid, sister. Nothing created out of jealously and greed can be good," Mianite said, and he snapped and his signature appeared.

Dianite still sat like an idiot with his pen in his hand.

Ianite rolled her eyes, which was the god equivalent of flipping her brother off. "I always enjoyed the hounds."

Dianite signed his name, amazed. He allowed it to edge his voice this once. "I got rid of my hell hounds three centuries ago."

"Good," Mianite quickly stated, and Ianite looked ready to leave.

"Misguided souls," she answered, and she stared out the window at the wind blowing through the trees. Nature could run pretty well on its own.

When Dianite looked down Ianites name was already on the page, right in the middle. Together it all made a scale - pride and humility could make confidence. It seemed peaceful, finally.

The world shook, and the little bit of whisky in his cup bounced around step by giant step. The cogs continued to move. Everything would happen as planned. He would return to a mourning kingdom, but a safe one.

"Which road do you think they will go down," Ianite asked, and she squinted her eyes out at the vast forest. Each of them could feel the trees fall with a thud, miles away.

Matthew gripped the table, trying to balance himself for what he assumed had to be an earthquake. Gods always talked in riddles, but this was more than he bargained for.

"Maybe none," Dianite found himself saying. "Maybe those ingenious idiots will make their own."

When I woke up again I suspected to be dead because I thought that's what I told the kid to do. When I handed him the dagger I wanted him to use it to protect himself when I came back to life trying to rip out his throat. I told him everything I knew for a reason, but, man, was he oblivious.

I instead found myself staring at a really bad surgery job - although he tried, bless his heart - and a completely destroyed jail cell.

"How long was I asleep," I mumbled out. When I looked up the sky it had become a black sheet, and all the stars had been burned out. Also there was a tree through the roof.

I slipped on the blood pools on the ground. A few places had actually started to dry and get crumbly, which was nice. I could possibly walk on those without the threat of slipping, if I could stand.

I heard barking in the distance like a pack of wolves were running around in the jungle somewhere, but the wolves were running around in the castle halls instead of the jungle.

I lost so much blood. So much blood. I believed that high people felt like what I did, practical in a very unpractical situation.

I lost a milk jug full of blood. I mean when I turned around, I sloshed around little sticky puddles of my own blood.

Did I mention I lost a lot of blood?

After blacking out a few - four times - I finally found myself leaning against one of the stone walls. The room spun horribly like a broken carousel with a bunch of screaming children on it, and I was all of the screaming children.

I forced my bobbing head to stay up. I couldn't find Andor anywhere, and by the way he left the poor jail he would be getting himself into trouble. Hope was going to throw a fit.

"Hello sweetheart." I looked down. Like a bug with a broken wing, Furia was staring up at me. It was strange to talk to him woken up. He was a lot less charming when I wasn't mind controlled. "You were always my favorite, you know that."

He seemed like he could barely lift his head, and his swollen lip resembled a bee hive. When I craned my head to the side his leg finally looked straight because it had been snapped in half.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"So caring, so kind," he continued, smiling like he was concussed. "So smart too."

I snorted a little. I very much felt high. "You got beat up."

He stared up at the ceiling, and if he could he would cross his arms. Instead he smirked. "Well I didn't expect the weakest member of the b-team to come and brake my hip."

I outright laughed, and I felt a breath of wind from behind me. I couldn't tell if the cold was from the open roof or the lack of 1/3 of my blood.

"I can't blame him for wanting to help," I shrugged. Furia glared at the ceiling as I talked. "He has abandonment issues with an at least verbally abusive father, and although I think he's fine with his place in his relationship it must be really hard feeling the pressure of being a man and dating a girl who can kick someone's head off-"

Another gust of air passed by my head and went through my hair, and I knew this time it wasn't me.

"It's happening," Furia said, monotone in every way other than the fear in his eyes. "Can't you feel it?"

I could. Something was beginning to end, and I could also hear giant footsteps in the distance as the castle continued to shatter little pebble by pebble when the earth shook. We would probably be crushed by a huge lizard monster the way this day was going.

"Hey Furia?" I looked down at him again, and the hideous monster made eye contact with me. I smiled about how much I wanted to rip his evil throat out.

"Yes?" He asked politely.

In his own words 'the world seemed to be ending'. I wanted to be polite. I grabbed the dagger off of the ground from my little pool of blood.

Andor left weaponless, great.

"I'm gonna give you five minutes to run," I declared, holding up the dagger. Furia nodded his head in understanding.

"I appreciate the head start."

"Soldiers-"

"-today we do not fight for a home, we do not fight for a ruler, but we fight for you and the cause you believe in!" Faith stood in front of a thousand young faces, and none of them prayed or flinched.

"Today we will take back the sacred word that has been so disgustingly stolen from us, and used for his own needs and his own agenda. We will take back that word not just for us, but for every slave he has kidnapped by munipulating what our faith has taught for ourselves!"

The students screamed out in future victory, and even if they weren't so close to Ragnar's castle the opposing side would have heard them.

Tom raised his eyebrows at me.

"I told you no before," I hissed.

Tom still smirked. I was going to throw him.

"No," I repeated. He just wiggled his eyebrows more like the smug bastard he is.

The silence went through the crowd again, and everyone gazed up at their teacher. Tom and I would probably survive another battle just like we had the rest, but the others were a mystery. This time they were kids, so the mystery wasn't that fun this run around.

Faith addressed her students, and if it wasn't for the adrenaline running through her she probably would have broke down and cried. "I want to thank you all for being so selfless. You are better than any man who will tell you other wise."

No one cheered for that. I think it finally hit them what battle was, and how close they were to death. I hated this shit, and I kinda secretly wished Andor would've pulled through.

Faith looked back to the army, which was supposed to be spectacular. To be the only army that could face off the ruthless king. I got Liberty's stance now on the whole 'we're not made of golden blood' thing. I just saw a bunch of people who had to be spectacular or they were going to fucking die.

"I hate this too." I turned to see Wag speaking. He didn't have a piece of armor on. He didn't think he needed it. "It's wasteful."

I rolled my shoulders. I had gone with the ritual enough times to know. There's a taste in the air before the actual fight starts, and it's this mix of iron and salt. Like the wind picks up purposely just to travel the smell of blood and corpses to warn people in the distance of war.

Anyway, I get overly poetic about this shit.

"Don't do it, Thomas," Wag begged.

He raised his sword. "THIS IS SPARTA!"

He did it.

Suddenly everyone started running and screaming and cheering. We ran towards the castle and I knew I would soon hear people falling and metal crashing against each other. Then the smell would waft back and it would travel so far to tell everyone "it's started."

Although I didn't get that. We didn't get that. We got confused running and preparation. All we got was a pep talk.

The crowd stopped. Some kids accidentally knocked against each other and fell, but that was the only injury.

"Oh hell," Tom put his sword back into its place. Both confused, we pushed our way into the front of the infantry.

We found Faith, her brown hair waving in the wind. Her bruises on her cheeks yellowing from the humidity. She didn't even breath through the heat. She stood frozen in time, staring out at the kingdom.

Nothing but corpses faced us, and the soldiers our army was supposed to battle were on the ground. Ragnar's army laid dead on the grass, their brains starting to be eaten by flies.

"Looks like the Darkness did the job for you first," Wag told her.

Faith still stared with her mouth half open, staring at the already slaughtered enemy. "But how?"

The ground shook. Mini earthquakes made us lose our footing step by step. I found myself grabbing onto Tom, but we both just toppled over on top of each other.

Everyone gasped out behind us. No one screamed, but their was a chorus of little surprised noises and murmurs.

The shaking continued. Faith somehow still stood, staring head to head with the real enemy in front of us. What Sonja had really sent us to slaughter.

"Giant vegetable doll," she whispered out, and Faith's paling hand dropped her knife.

A huge cabbage patch doll was released through the right wing of the castle. It had to move a tree out of the way with its cloth arms. It's eyes were stark black, like the coals of a snowman.

I realized then, as it stepped towards us shaking the ground, that I should've let Tom bring that bazooka.

Hope pushed away from the mounds of dead bodies and ran off. It seemed like hours ago, but knowing me and my worrying it was probably actually days ago. Of course when I peered through any window I could see in the castle the sky was still horrifying pitch black forever night, so maybe I was being overdramatic.

"Kay cool. Still walking through a scary castle alone." My voice echoed off the walls and bounced back to my ears. Other noises came with it. I stopped talking afterwards.

Silently I walked through the castle, keeping my ears peaked for any crash and gunshot that would most likely be her.

When I first saw the bodies laying on the ground, I thought that we should wait for a moment and decide otherwise. Then Hope noticed the tree through the jail, and that ended that.

Now if I could find my way to jail. Than we would be set.

I didn't like walking through his castle. Before I had become a sort of fearless. I knew everything I could face. I had studied every monster and creature. Even the humans were easy to defend myself against, but at that moment the sky was pitch black and some random woman was killing people.

I tensed up every time I heard something. I couldn't tell what the little noises were anymore. Deep howling, strange voices, and the little earthquakes that went through the ground like a scene in Jurassic Park. I hadn't thought that one of us could die in a long time, but now I felt like something horrible was about to happen.

The world stopped following the rules I memorized.

"JORDAN!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!!??" I screamed out, holding my sword in front of me. Every hair in my body was standing on edge, and I was almost proud for not pissing myself.

I lowered my sword. "Sonja?"

She shivered, and her leg, wrapped in gauze and dried blood, could barely hold her up. She shoved her matted hair behind her ear. "When did you guys show up?" She whispered.

"I followed Hope, who was following Andor," I stated. I stood frozen staring at her. Sonja kept herself pristine, or at least graceful in some strange way all the time. It seemed surreal that something could brake her down to that.

"Oh, I've seen him." She wrapped her arms around herself, and I realized she didn't whispered because of the fear of talking. She was just too weak.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She shook her head no. "We're all screwed."

I took my bag off my back and made her sit down. I sat down beside her, and I started to look through my bag for any medicine I could find.

"Okay, hang on, what happened to you?"

She stared at the ground, her eyes glassy. She never cried, but she was miserable enough for me to know. "So much is going on." Every word was its own breath.

"You gotta tell me what happened so I can fix your leg," I explained.

Her eyes darted to me. The green reminded me like rain soaked jungle leaves, but her face stayed straight. "I'm not sure how deep Andor cut. I might have that - whatever you call it - is it tennis?"

"Tetanus Sonja, it's called - wait, Andor did what?"

"Well I thought I made it clear that I needed him to kill me-" she flinched when I took the bandage off. "- but instead he just cut it out. I should have been more clear, but I guess he saved me."

The gash laid into her leg pretty far, but only skin. Although if the parasite had been deeper she would have died, because Andor would have hit a vein. The knife work seemed pretty sloppy.

"Well he's a pacifist, so that was your first mistake," I said.

She smiled a bit. "Jordan, your the only one who knows what that word means."

I continued to pay attention to the wound. I would have to quick give it stitches, and then get new bandage. I couldn't tell if it was infected yet.

"You want something to bite on?" I asked.

She shook her head no. "It's kinda gone numb."

She probably had tetanus.

"Well that's not good." I shrugged it off for the moment and grabbed the supplies.

I started off, and she stared at the ceiling now. I couldn't tell why the architecture interested her so much.

"You know Jordan I think I figured out why you remember earth and we don't."

I continued to stitch her up. The skin was irritated, but she still seemed fine. "What's that?"

"So you could save us all by doing things like this," she said.

I would've stopped sewing to argue, but I was almost done at this point. "I think I've got you all in trouble a lot more."

I grabbed the dagger Sonja had and broke the rest of the floss. I wrapped her leg up.

"I'll prove it to you," she stated, and her confidence still outshone whatever infection she was fighting. "You save people, Jordan."

"How's that?"

I stared at her now, straight in the eyes. I think we both knew we were the straightforward ones. The ones that broke up the fights and ended the battles, so I believed every word when she said -.

"One of those cabbage patch kids are now the size of a jungle tree, and we have to kill Furia to end it."

She didn't even blink.