My dream always begins the same. I am standing before a
portal, gazing into the abyss, its depths clouding my soul. The sound of the
ravening horde approaches, except this time I am gazing out of the portal from
the Abyss!!
Looking upon a land strange yet eerily familiar, I feel the
portal tugging me through, yet also leaving me behind. My "old" self
turning in a bit of a fog and going back to its mecha and duties. Meanwhile my younger
body, my disease free body moves towards the hangar, slips into the cockpit of
my mecha.....and the slaughter ensues, as I fall upon friend and foe. An Exhilarating
feels comes over me as I crush foe after foe, destroying any that are along my
path.
After the first day, my mecha is drenched in the blood, the
gore, the ichor of these mammoth machines, and I revel in it. A few days here
in this savage world I receive a message in my mechas inbox, an invite, from a
new clan, The Blazing Aces. I accept the offer and quickly paint their symbol,
my symbol now, upon the left breast of my mecha. With my new brothers, in this
new world, we cleave a savage path through former friends and foes alike. We
barely sleep whilst in this realm, for we know our lives will be short. It is
the same feeling I had when I was diseased, in the "home" realm. Day
after bloody day I fight, to improve my skills, to grow ever more powerful, to
slake my bloodthirst, the unquenchable thirst that consumes my soul here. I
cheer at the chaos and destruction, gathering more and more mecha, niodes,
crsytal loot of all sorts. Crushing my enemies, ravaging their women, burning
their homes.
Alas, my old self keeps reigning me in, yes it says crush
your enemies, but never become that which ravages the world and the people
therein, and so, I begin to ease back, no longer seeking to be the Chaos, The
Evil that comes from the Abyss. I strive to be a Warlord, so with that in mind,
I emblazon my mechs with the symbol of my other clan upon the right leg. I want
those vanquished to know who is destroying them. Seek me here or there, one at
a time or all at once, I will not backdown from the battle.
Scars heal, Glory fades with time. As I am here in the world
I shall revel in the use of this cloned form, cloned before the kidney failure,
before the loss of an eye. In the clan war we fought, a wonderful battle, my brothers
beside me, testing or mettle against others, that in the other world, were our
brothers.
Piloting a Dread now, discovering that it works best in the
second line, it is fine. The roar of the missiles thrills me, a silver in the
clan wars, that brings us an Onyx mecha each. Wonderful, beautiful mecha,
neither of which my old self has. Ever onward I strike, attacking as often as
possible. The Gods of war decree that the top 150 pilots will receive the new
mecha, a Guardian, an enigmatic wonder, little known about it. Slowly, ever so
slowly I claw my way into the group of elite warriors, and though my skills
grow quickly, others grow with a rapidity that rivals that of the old gods.
Mars, Odin, Ares, Heracles, Arion, Soloman, Gilgamesh, Paladine, all pale in comparison
to Shapiro may his name ring through Valhalla!!!
As the time approaches to leave. I find I am not ready.
There is something nagging upon me, something I must do, something I was doing unconsciously.
I find one of the finer smiths in this new land, travelling on a journey that
will prevent me from combatting. Heaving a sigh, I set out, to the lost planet
of Vupa, seeking the master of his craft, I explain what I want, and the
purpose behind it. The old mans eyes twinkle just a bit. A gift in the old ways
eh, well lad I can do that for you.
I had claimed ferrite from each downed enemy. With these
bits of armor and innards I would have crafted a stein of remembrance. The
steins would go to my old brothers, with scenes of my new brothers battling
upon each stein. a mere niode for each stein to produce the images from their
battle roms, in holographic form upon each stein. Another niode upon the lid,
so that the wonder of technology would reproduce the finest mead to fill our
steins. 20 niodes, a small price to pay to honor my brothers, and to memorialize
the new brothers.
Upon the last day, I slip the steins into the cockpit of my
point mech. I mount up and go in search of my brothers, but the portal had
already beckoned them home. Sighing I turn and fall upon a few more foes, always
striving to earn the favor of the war god Shapiro and one of the coveted
Guardian mechas. I sense a presence behind me, long before than hand touches my
shoulder. You appear lost in thought brother Forge, Jim asks. The Jarl of my
clan, Slaughterhouse 5. Just remembering things on the other side. He laughs,
he always has a laugh and an easy smile. Brother, you should have been a Skald,
the story you told of your adventure sent the others out to their mechas in
search of glory. Aye brother, the glory was good, time well spent. I enjoyed
the young body, and the young bodies of the ladies there. There is something
yet unspoken Brother Jim, and I await its arrival through the portal. Ah, you
wait to see if you will get a Guardian, is that it? No, while it would do my
soul wonders to receive such a gift from the gods of war, I went to that realm
thinking I wouldn’t claim one. No brother, this is more important. All will be
well in two days time, my point mech shall arrive, and we shall celebrate in
the Hall. The Meadhall? Brother Forge, it only opens upon a special
circumstance!! Trust me Jim, this is one. A onetime event perhaps, but it is
needed. And so it was the Dread mecha arrived, as did my gift, nestled securely
in the cockpit. We arrived at the meadhall at 2100 hours. The Ladies within dressed,
as always, like the Valkyries of old. I slowly entered, bent my head to the
altars to the war gods, smiling at the newest one to Shapiro. Carrying my
burden to our table. Settled in the middle of the room, many of our allies were
there, the bunnies, the highlanders...many factions we had served with.
As the mead wench strolled by, I motioned for food, but no
spirits, not this night by gods, no watered-down swill for my brothers. "Brothers,
I have returned victoriously!!!" Pounding their mailed fists upon the
table, they welcomed me home. Several of the warriors from other tables
watching our commotion. "Brothers, although time and disease ravage my body,
and often I miss fighting beside you. This night I present you with a
gift" I open the chest and present each of them with their Stein, emblazoned
with our crest on the lid, their name on the handle, visions from the other
side dancing along the body of the stein. I explained the function of the
Stein, the images upon it, the technology which allowed the stein to instantly
fill with the finest mead, how each stein was keyed to their gene sequence. The
roars of approval echoed throughout the hall, a few others nearby looked on
with admiration and long thoughts. Then, my Brother Jim turned his stein over,
to read the inscription on the bottom, as he rad a tear touched his eye, it quickly
vanished when another brother doused him with mead "My brothers, easily do
I call you thus, for you have all earned my respect, my admiration, my love. I
know not when my time will fade, but until that day, I shall stand shoulder to
shoulder with thee, against any foe, even the avenging hordes of Hell"
Brother Jim approached me quietly through the throng of the
hall. "As I said before brother, you should have been a Skald" I
nodded towards my brother, then quaffed my mead down in a single swallow.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed, but always approach it with a code, and never
violate your code.
playlist (got this idea from a favorite author
lurking around here somewhere)
Led Zepplin - the battle of evermore
Iron Maiden - prowler
Kris Kristofferson - me and bobby mcgee
John Williamson - and the band played waltzing matilda
Rita Wilson - faithless love
Z Z Top - stages
Blackmores night - greensleeves
Foreigner - tooth and nail
Nightwish - 10th man down
Nightwish - endless forms most beautiful
Nightwish - last ride of the day
Nightwish - escapist
Hawkwind - damnation alley