"Starting stories. Starting stories, starting stories. The beginning is always the hardest part to weave in to a comprehensible, and enjoyable form. Once you find the correct starting point, the rest tells itself. Now, I'm no writer, nor am I a poet, but I can still tell a tale. And no Raijin, this isn't a tale I came up with while I was drunk. Mostly."
"So, I heard we are getting some new blood for today's battle."
"I wonder if they have a good taste in alcohol. . . *Hic*."
"Whuzza shonny? Mah hearing ishn't what is ushed tah be. . ."
It was a peaceful day on the radiant side of the conflict torn valley from which we resided, and as usual, that wouldn't stop us from going to battle every waking day to settle the conflict of the two ancient entities that assembled them in the first place. Some of us had reasons to accept their call. To others, it was purely by chance. Today would be one of the latter. The Radiant ancient would be siphoning up new heroes to represent it from another potential universe.
"So where are the other two? Who is on the list to be joining us for today's petty swabble?"
"I have no clue Gondar. . . Ezala. . . Ezalo- uh. . . What's your name again?"
"Whuzzat? My name? Itsh Ezalor."
Only three of us had showed up for that day's battle, so we were a little on the rigid side.
"Perhaps they are watching the newbies get summoned in or something." Gondar then grabbed his knives and holstered them on his hips, lifting himself from the boulder he was perched upon. "I guess we should head there too. We are here a tad early."
"I dunno. . ."
"Come on Mangix. There aren't any bounties for me to collect THREE HOURS before the battle. Besides, don't you need some more alcohol or something?"
"Well. . . I guess the keg is a tad on the empty side. . ."
"More reason to go then, come on." He then hopped of the rock, turning back to look at his acquaintances, before continuing along the path to the Ancient they live to protect.
"Come on Ezalor." Magnix said, before following Gondar to the Ancient.
"Wait, whuzzat? I wasn't listening." Ezalor looked from side to side, honestly unaware of where his companions were going. "W-WAIT FOR MEH!" He then nudged his horse with his staff, convincing it to move in the right direction.
"By my calculations, this shouldn't be possible."
"I wonder what magicks these newcomers will have at their whim. . . Oh, just thinking of the possibilities could make me skip with anticipation!"
The two missing members of our team were, as Gondar predicted, present at the summoning of the newbies.
"I knew I heard nonsensical ramblings of calculations and such from over here. Hello Boush."
"Ah yes, Gondar and Mangix, I was beginning to ponder on the probability of you two showing up for this event. Perhaps you know the whereabouts of the last member of our group?"
"Ahm right here!" Ezalor swiftly trotted up on his horse, narrowly missing a collision with the small group.
"Oh dear. It would be Ezalor wouldn't it. . . Anyways, the Ancient is almost ready to summon our new acquaintances! however, much to my displeasure, I have noted that the Dire are also summoning some new blood as-well. I cannot determine if it is in the same demeanor as ours, out demeanor being that we will be summoning from outside of our very universe. But comparing the energy the two ancients are drawing in it is HIGHLY probable."
"Quiet friends~! THE ANCIENT IS SUMMONING THE NEW SPELL CARRIERS SOON~!"
"Oh great. We got Mister twitchy-spell-theif on our side this round. Brilliant."
"I am no THEIF! . . I merely. . . 'Borrow'."
"Ok. Whatever you say Rubick."
At that very moment, the ground began to shake, and the two ancients shot beams of energy in the the now stormy sky. As the beams impacted the clouds, they changed in to a swirling vortex of light, a small rift taking shape in the center. Not to be out-done, the Dire Ancient began to force much more energy towards the sky than it's counterpart. This was now a challenge. The two began to put an overwhelming amount of power out of them, and directly in to the portals that were now heavily developed in the sky.
"Well. . . This doesn't look good." Mangix said, as he took a sip from his keg of beer.
The portals both reached fruition, now fully capable of pulling several entities in to their world. But something strange happened. Both the Ancients knew that their respective portals were done, yet they continued to pour energy in to the now sparking vortexes that occupied the sky.
"At this rate. . . We might be. . ."
"We might be WHAT?"
"We might be pulled in to the-"
Boush was not able to finish his last sentence before the words he failed to utter became a reality. The vortexes grew out of control, now pulling in trees, and large pieces of rubble. With the sky now pitch black, save for the red and green rimmed spirals in the sky, it began to pull the five up to it's further darkening abyss."
"WHAT THE HELL! GRAB SOMETHING QUICK! MANGIX, HELP!" Gondar rasped, as he and the others were slowly being pulled in to the anomaly.
Being the heaviest of the group, Mangix was the last to be lifted in to the air.
"Well. . . This is new."
The small team of five was pulled in to the vortex, before it became unstable, closing itself with a large shockwave, sending any debris that was currently being lifted in to it to be haphazardly thrown in to the air. As the rubble settled, the team of five was gone. And judging by the second noise heard from a mile away, the Dire Ancient's portal ended the same way.
Mangix awoke in a clearing of what appeared to be a dense forest. After slowly becoming aware of his surroundings, he realized there was something poking him in the side. He very gently started to lift himself up, and used his trusty keg to get his balance.
"Oohg. . . I feel like shit. . ." After taking a swig from his keg, he began to take in his surroundings. "Lots of bushes. . . Damp, dark soil. . . Trees. . . Small purple horse with an expression of shock. . ." The Brewmaster then stiffened up and opened his eyes. "Small. . . Purple. . . Horse!?" He then looked to sed horse in question. And then just stared.
After what felt like an eternity, the horse in question spoke up.
"Uh. . .Hello? Can you understand me. . ?"
Mangix then looked to his barrel of alcohol and then back to the horse that had just spoken to him.
"I really need to stop drinking. . ."
