//------------------------------// // Iron Against Stone // Story: An Iron Pawn // by Eathlome //------------------------------// An Iron Pawn Iron Against Stone "Are we there yet?" 'No.' "Are we there yet?" 'No.' "Are we there yet?" 'No.' "................How about now?" I slowly brought up a hand to my face. This conversation had been repeating for the past 10 minutes. 'No, we are not there yet. We will get there when we get there.' "OK." We continued to follow the dog's trail in silence. About 5 minutes later: "When do you think we'll get there." This was going to be a long trip. "What about now?" 'Cora.' "Maybe now?" 'Cora.' "Are w-?" 'CORA!' "What?" 'We're here.' I pointed to the cave we had arrived at. The dog's tracks lead into it. The cave wasn't very roomy, and I could barely fit into it. Hopefully it would widen out the deeper we went in. Luckily it did, once out of the narrow passage Cora and I entered a wide circular chamber. Suspiciously, there was no sign of life. Either the dogs had evacuated at the story of the two survivors or ... Clang, Ting, Ting, Crash, Clang. Several crude spears bounced harmlessly of my body. ...Or it was an ambush. Several groups of dogs were now visible, each hefting some weapon or another. 'This makes things easier.' I lower Cora down from my shoulder, so she would be out of harms way, and rushed at one of the several clusters of dogs who had revealed themselves. Now I suppose at least some of you have seen an epic fight scene in a movie. The kind where both sides slowly orbit each other, before erupting into a series of incredible attacks, blocks, and dodges. You know what kind of fight I'm talking about. This fight was nothing like that. Real fights are brutal and messy, and what I did to the dogs was brutal and messy. Now I'm not going to say that the fight was fairly one sided, and that the dogs probably wouldn't have stood a chance, that would just be lying. It would be far more truthful to say that the fight was completely one sided, and that the dogs never stood a chance. My first attack, if you can really call it an attack, involved me running into a wall. With the dogs between me and said wall. On the downside the vibrations that wracked my body were fairly irritating, on the plus side there were three less diamond dogs to kill. I quickly turned to face the remaining dog of the group and quickly dropped it with a skull shattering punch. I then moved on to the bulk of the dogs, who had congregated while I ravaged the smaller group. They were probably thinking something along the lines of safety in numbers. I was thinking something along the lines of 'Ooh, a bigger target.' The fight was mostly me flailing through the mass of dogs while they ineffectually hit me with their weapons. It was actually rather sad. I was almost considering letting some of them live, when one decided that Cora might be an easier target. I was at least halfway across the room at this point, and did the only thing I could. I threw the nearest object with lethal force. The object just happened to be another diamond dog. Cora was giggling and clapping her hands as I fought. Most people would probably think: 'Damn, that kid needs counseling.' I on the other had thought: 'Yeah... She's definitely a deity.' After the slaughter was over, at least 8 more dogs now coated the walls, and around 20 were strewn across the floor. As I grabbed one of the few remaining survivors I thought to Cora, 'Cora, are you a Blood Deity?' "What's that?" 'You gain power through a blood sacrifice.' "Hmmmm... I don't know." 'Alright,' I responded while dragging the dog over to a clear spot, 'I'll give it a try.' 'CORALIS, GREAT LADY OF THE MOLTEN CORE, KEEPER OF THE DEEP PLACES, PROVIDER OF THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE EARTH. I PLACE BEFORE YOU THIS HUMBLE OFFERING, SO YOU MAY GROW IN STRENGTH AND MAGNIFICENCE. MAY THE BLOOD OF THIS SACRIFICE IGNITE THE FLAMES OF POWER WITHIN YOU, AS YOU FEED OFF THEIR PATHETIC LIFE.' I then quickly pushed my hand through the dog's chest and ripped out it's heart, well most of it anyway. I then held the heart high in the air for a few seconds, before glancing to Cora. 'Feel anything yet?' Cora held her hands out in from of her, as if to feel her power returning to her. She then dropped her arms to her sides and gave me a shrug. "Nope, nothing." I tossed the heart over my shoulder and sat down. 'Well, there goes that idea.' "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll think of another way for me to get my full power back." 'Well the only ways that I can think of now would be to stat up a new religion, and get you worshiped, find another deity willing to share some of their strength with you, or kill or dethrone a deity and steal their power base. But speaking of other deities that reminds me of something. Do you have enough strength to open up a fissure to the center of the planet?' "Oh, sure. It just won't be a very big one." 'That's no problem, now if you'll excuse me I need to write a note.' I quickly walked over to one of the many dead dogs and ripped off it's shirt. The cloth wasn't too bloody, which was good. I dipped a finger into a nearby pool of blood and quickly wrote out a message. I then folded up the cloth and headed over to the fissure that Cora had opened up. It was fairly small, but it would suit it's purpose. I gave a quick prayer, and dropped the cloth in. Cora looked at me with curiosity. "What'd you do?" 'I sent a message to an old friend. Hopefully Charon will be able to get it to her.' I turned to face Cora. 'So where did you say your sister's place was?' I was tromping through the forest with Cora riding along on my shoulder. "So?" 'So, what?' "Who is she?" 'Huh?' "Who you sent the message to. Who is she?" 'I already told you, she's an old friend.' "Were you two dating?" 'WHAT!? NO!' "Then why won't you tell me who she is?" 'Fine. She's a goddess.' "But I'm-" 'She isn't a sponsor. The only reason I know her is that her dad used to be one.' "Oh? So how did you two become friends?" 'Well...' I glanced around. It was rather bleak, the landscape that is. Smoke and fire filled the air, the only place not a wasteland was a dark river. One moment I had been in the middle of a great battle. I had been surrounded on all sides, standing on a mountain of corpses, blood pouring down from my many wounds. Then I was here, completely fine. "Well damn." I had died. Again. It's not as bad as it sounds. I've made enough bargains and pacts with death gods, reapers, and other powerful beings to keep getting me resurrected for at least a few millennium. But the waiting, the waiting was just so boring. There was absolutely no one else arou- Correction there was one other person around. She was a young woman, and had a staff in her hands. I walked up behind her. She was in deep concentration. "Hello." She let out a small gasp, and quickly turned around and swung the staff at my head. I quickly brought up my hand and deflected it away. She stared at me. "That's impossible. You couldn't have done that. How did you do that?" She was really irritated, and quite forceful. "TELL ME, BOY!" "I brought up my hand," I raised my hand in demonstration, "and deflected your staff." I could see that this wasn't the answer she was looking for. "This staff is the symbol of my divinity, there is no possible way that a mortal could simply bat it away." "Yeah... I'm not exactly what would be called mortal, per se..." "Are you a demigod then?" "No, I ... earned my 'immortality'. Speaking of which, it's time for me to go." While we were talking a boat had pulled up to the riverbank, in it was a tall cloaked figure. I hopped into the boat. "Hey Charon, how have you been?" Charon didn't answer, as I had come to expect from him. The woman called out to me as the boat pulled away. "Hey, boy! What's your name?" "It's Adam now." I shouted back, "What's your's?" "It's Skeleton Jack." We were silent for a moment. "Do your parents hate you?" Jack growled and launched a blast from her staff, but I ducked and it went over my head. "Just kidding, see you around!" I laughed. "So the first time you met, she tried to kill you?" 'I guess.' "...And you say that she's your friend?." 'Enough about her, can we please move on to something else?' "Like what?" 'Well,' I thought while vaulting over a fallen tree, 'Tell me about your sister.' "Well she's really nice, and she didn't go to sleep like I did, so she's fairly powerful." 'What's she the goddess of?' "She's in charge of plants, and nature, and the Earth in general. Well things close to the surface of the Earth. Oh, oh, and she's a tree." 'A tree, really? Well, what's her name?' "Terra." '...come again?' "Her name's Terra," Cora looked at me with a small grin, "Have you met her?" DAMN IT! A/N Well here's the next chapter of An Iron Pawn. Hope you all enjoyed it. Also I love feedback, so if you tell me what you want to see happen, I'll try to steer my story towards it. Skeleton Jack is a character of Forevermore. Terra is a character of Zombie_Lizard. Read his story here. As always I would like if you could point out any mistakes I have made, and if you have any criticism don't hesitate. ~Eathlome