Raiden Wilks's Story

Allison smiled a little at Jasper. It was dark in the hole, and she managed only barely to make out the figures of the people and recognize who they were. She was left tired since the excitement had died down a little, but she was still thankful she wasn't getting beaten up like a cyclops instead.

Jasper's eyes, though, his eyes were glowing. Allison didn't say anything, just looked at him in awe. Stranger things had happened. She really was beginning to enjoy this, it was like one of her books; only this was real. And instead of reading about the amazing things the characters did, she was doing amazing things.

It appeared that most everyone was in the hole with her, which made her glad, even though she knew that by the end of their journey, not everyone would be together as a group in the same sense as they were now.

SPLASH

Raiden had landed in some horrible smelling liquid. "Damn sewer" he yelled after which the others came climbing down as well. After a minute most of the others were in and were fumbling around in the dark. Just as Raiden began to power up one of the men asked for him to create some light.

With a quick movement of his hands Raiden created another ball of light and sent it forward so that it lit up a large section of the pipe network. Raiden smiled and looked towards the others, "My name is Raiden by the way." He told them his name because it would be easier for him to respond by his name instead of the name "Light."

When Raiden spoke he listened as others introduced themselves.

"My name is Raiden by the way." The boy with curly brown hair said.

I scraped some of the liquid off my feet by scraping it on the wall.

"Stella Donville, Deity of Air, Beauty, and Weather." I said, cheery.

I flipped my hair around my neck, putting it into a sidewind again. Raiden lit up the tunnel again, and I walked down in large, what looked like a sewer. The pitch black surrounded me, almost swallowing me. With only Raiden's light, I couldn't see much.

((Sorry for the shortness, I don't know what to add. :P))

The others one by one dropped down the hole, Asper followed cautiously. He jumped through the hole landing in the most foul stench he could imagine. "My name is Raiden by the way." One of the boys said, "Stella Donville, Deity of Air, Beauty, and Weather." Another girl said cheerfully. Asper said loudly so that they could all hear him, "I am Asper Alissarian, Deity of the Cosmos and the Astral Plane." He didn't expect any of them to know of the Astral, but it would be easier to work together once they knew each others names and fields of power.

“Just call me Lucas.” He said bluntly, shuffling down the narrow corridor. “God of Time and History...apparently.” He turned to Stella “Air beauty and weather? Didn’t expect that...” Lucas shrugged “Not after you lined yourself up with the front liners up there. Thought beauty and air would be a little less willing to get her hands dirty...”

Sounds of battle could be heard above them, the sewer shook a little. Lucas eyes the place nervously. “I wonder how stable this sewer is...”

Without warning Blake dropped down the hole, he looked out of control, crazy even. All of them stepped back, all of them except for Alison, who seemed to calm Blake. Lucas watched nervously, soon silence filled the sewer once more and Blake looked normal again. The sounds of creatures above them could still be heard. The sewer rattled.

This...is going to end badly.

He stepped forward from the crowd. “Yes, yes that was amazing. Hats off to our half sized hero again” he said with a nod towards Alison. He stood next to Blake, grabbed him by the shoulder and hoisted him to his feet. “But as the God Of Time, I really must point out this is the time to get the hell out of here! We can talk about our feelings and scowl at each other when we’re not being chased by Cyclops through a sewer!” Lucas looked down at his feet “Now there is a sentence I never thought I’d say.”
“Light boy, I mean – eh – Raidon, lead the way! And let’s be quick about it!” A large rock fell from the ceiling “I have a feeling we’re running out of time.”

Allison blushed, and stepped away from Blake. "My name is Allison Stone, Goddess of Peace, Growth, and Harmony." She hesitated a second, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Let's go." Allison felt a little more sure of herself now, but she still was nervous.

She waited for the others to lead the way, thoughts running wild. How do I keep doing that?

Allison shook her head free of those thoughts, knowing that now was the time to escape, not wonder about..well, whatever it was she had done. She looked at Blake once again, relieved that he was calmer now. He had seemed scary and in so much pain earlier.

Blake went through time seeming in slow motion. either that or his mind was working ten times faster than usual, his reflexes like lighting from the storm cloud that was his mind. He thought to himself side lunge club, chop off thumb, roll between legs severe spinal cord with backslash... Deflect club with shield, sever arm, stab in chest and tear through lungs. Jump under collapsing body dodging club, roll and cut off a foot, the beast topples, slit it's throat. Then there were two left. the both charged him at the same time. Blake cursed something in ancient greek. he meant to say 'shit!' but it came out as "krit!"

Blake bolted for the sewer. as he did so he extended his hand and shot a fire ball at the wall of the theatre. The walls caught fire and leaped into a beautiful and scary bouquet of orange, red, and yellow. As the building began to burn Blake fell down the sewer and landed in some crappy water. Blake breathed heavily. he looked at the other gods and his lust for drawing blood was too strong. blake wanted more blood, to spread more agony. He didn't physically hurt, but he hurt because his power was out of control. He wanted to kill the only other people in the world that were like him. It burned his soul... Alison approached him and touched his forehead. As she did so his blood lust was lost.

Blake breathe heavily for a few seconds and then he got on his feet. He looked at the other gods faces. "They're dead. I lit the place up and a few were in there. They're stuck and trying to get this place down on our heads. We need to go now!" Blake raised his voice so everyone could hear. "Sorry for that little scene." Blake said. He tore off his helmet once again as if ti were a piece of cloth on his face. he did the same with his shield. He had dropped Misery when he had dived into the sewer but it reappeared in the sheath on his hip.

Blake ran forward there was one way to his left, another to his right. Blake thought of the layout of the theatre above and he ran left. Away from the Theatre.

When the knight returned he seemed to be full of energy and rage, in a scary way he seemed hostile and murderous, however it all changed once the girl, Raiden later learned was named Alison, had put him at ease. It was quite a sight to watch. The gods all shared their names, Stella, Asper, Jasper, Lucas, and Alison. The other gods have not said much and so Raiden wondered about them.

A couple moments later Lucas shouted “But as the God Of Time, I really must point out this is the time to get the hell out of here!" and off ran the knight turning down an ally way to the left. Asper then commented "That fool is going to get himself killed!" Raiden looked about and then a huge crash echoed through the tunnels and almost before Raiden could move out of the way the ceiling collapsed where they stood.

"phew," Raiden said as he washed the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, "that was close." After looking at the rubble the company began to run after the knight and continue down the pipeline. As the bunch continued to move Raiden created more light balls and placed them spread out around the tunnels so that there would be ample light for the crew.

The sewer was not as bad as Raiden may have imagined, the worst however, was probably yet to come.

“Just call me Lucas.” He said bluntly, shuffling down the narrow corridor. “God of Time and History...apparently.” He turned to Stella “Air beauty and weather? Didn’t expect that...” Lucas shrugged “Not after you lined yourself up with the front liners up there. Thought beauty and air would be a little less willing to get her hands dirty...”

I laughed.

"Well, I don't know. I'm pretty much fearless." I reply. "Always have, probably always will."

The tunnel began to rumble. The ceiling began to shake.

I looked behind me, and it caved. About 15 feet away from me, the tunnel had collapsed into a mass. A mix of bodies, stone, and rock. No way under it, around it, or on top of it.

"phew," Raiden said as he washed the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, "that was close."

I looked around the massive pile of what was a theater. I saw an eyeball of a dead cyclops, and it sent shivers up my spine. I turned around, to face the group.

"Well, there is no way back." I swallowed the words. "We have to keep going, before the rest collapses. I have a feeling it will, quite soon. Let's just keep going... and see where we go."

Blake stopped when it began to get dark. he wanted a moment alone. Blake somewhat leaned against a wall. he thought of lighting a flame in his hand to see better, but the sewer gasses would probably combust. Blake sat in the dark for about thirty seconds before everyone else came.

Blake looked at all of them. "Who was it that said I was going to get myself killed? when I made the right decision..." Blake trailed off. Then Blake laughed. "Let's get out of this place. Smells like my dad's cooking down here." Blake smirked at his last comment. His father was a terrible cook.

Blake continued on in front of everyone. He felt like he needed too just in case. He seemed to be the only one with abilities that could be used in combat. He would feel bad if one of these "helpless" saps got hurt, death out of battle was sad. blake couldn't imagine dying without a sword in his hand.

"I'm Blake Phoenix. War, fire, strategy." Blake called back to them.

“I think that door is a gateway to the Underworld, I think that door leads to Hell...” spoke Lucas from the side. The team had just tried busting open a sealed door but unfortunately the magic seal was too strong. It would only open to death. Raiden swallowed a deep gulp and leaned against the wall. It was up to Ellery now, she was the goddess of death, and she was the only one that hasn't tried to open the door yet.

Raiden was taken by surprise when she let out a high and menacing laugh. The sound sent chills up Raiden's neck. There was certainly something off about this lady, something very evil, and if Lucas was right, it was about to get much worse after they descend into the underworld.

There was nothing left to do but wait and see.

Allison looked at the door. It wasn't at all anything she'd call inviting, and she really didn't want to open it. However, they were honestly left with no choice. Ellery's laugh rang out, bouncing off the sewer walls. She shuddered.

If Lucas was right about the door, Allison most certainly was hesistant to let Ellery go open it. Ellery seemed..off, somehow, like a person who was a ticking time bomb; one moment sane, the next unpredictable.

All of this had shaken Allison's faith. Back in Oklahoma, she had attended church every Sunday, and been read to about how there was only one true God, and how hell and heaven only existed after death.

Her very existance, and the existance of the door, disproved anything she'd ever thought she'd known. It was like being born again, no direction, unsure of every step. The other gods were there to help guide her, thank goodness.

Something told her though, that no matter what was fact and what was ficiton, a door leading straight to hell was not good news.

Finally Ellery opened the door, sure it was a bit creepy but at least they could move on. Inside was a fiery pit. Hell. Blake forced away the fire so it would be safe to walk and called for everyone to move so. At this time one of the men who hasn't introduced himself yet spoke to Alison. Luckily for Raiden he overheard them talk and discovered his name was Noah.

Once inside Raiden could not detect anything with his life vision. There was nothing insight, and if there was it sure was not alive. This place gave him the creeps. After walking a bit across the stone bridge Raiden thought he saw something far off. "did anyone see that?" he asked. It was quick and black. Probably nothing.

Finally they arrived at the other side of the bridge and they could see the giant gate. Raiden admired the dark metal and stone work of the gate. Very evil looking. Hopefully nothing bad was waiting on the other side.

Blake sighed as they reached the gate. "Funny. I know some people who would die to be in my position." Blake joked. He knew he would probably get no reaction but he couldn't help but crack a joke. Keep up morale. Blake sat down with a few other people. He let his armor subside into his skin and he was in a red tee-shirt and white shorts.

Blake sat with Ellery, Jasper, Alison, and Raiden. Blake laid back. "Funny. My entire Life I thought there was only one true god, and now, I know for a fact there are many. What I've been learning since I was two was a lie. But then again it's not like all their beliefs are false." Blake said. he looked at everyone. "Any of you former Christians too?" Blake asked. Blake sighed at his question. "But who do we worship now? Ourselves? the true gods? I mean we are literally Gods. We're supposed to lead entire religions..." Blake said in awe of himself and those around him now.

Asper stood near one of the groups that began chatting, he looked up at the massive gate, thinking to himself, "So this is Hades gate huh?" It was impressive, but he never cared for Greek religion, their Gods were notoriously flawed. "Any of you former Christians too?" The question didn't surprise Asper, not breaking his stare at the door he said, "No, I was never Christian." He looked away from the door and walked towards the group. Asper explained, "I practiced Norse Shamanism all my life, and one of my domains being the Astral, made me be able to easily access the Astral at a young age."

The girl, Ellery said pessimistically, "My parents spoke only ever of science...what bull that turned out to be." He looked at her saying, "I would not discount Science so quickly, just because the Greek Gods are real does not make everything else in the Universe false." He picked up a loose piece of rock from the bridge and held it in his hand for all of them to see.
"My domains are the Cosmos and the Astral, hence my abilities have a lot to do with natural scientific processes." He concentrated on the rock, feeling the atoms inside of it bound around, Asper could understand every detail of it, it seemed so natural to him.

Then he willed the atoms to change, transforming the seemingly normal rock to gold. He held it out for the group to see, "The Astral can be seen as the primordial beginning to most things, the physical universe we see now can not exist without the Astral. It is a mirrored plane of existence made up entirely of energy that most humans can not sense." He looked up at the rocks above them, wishing he had a view of the night sky, and went on to explain, "Dark Matter is estimated to make up 84% of the universe's mass and 23% of it's mass-energy, however what scientist don't know is that Dark Matter is a form of Astral energy. Hence why my abilities tie very closely together."

Asper thought of all his journeys through the Astral, and became reminded of his two loyal friends who always accompanied him. He closed his eyes and called to them through the Astral, summoning them. He opened his eyes again, this time shutting out what they saw and only taking in what his Third Eye saw. Two black ravens 'flew' through constantly fluxuating energy, landing on his shoulders. They existed only in the Astral, so they would not appear to the others. Asper wanted to test something though, if he was the God of the Astral, perhaps he could pull things out of it. He concentrated on the two ravens who greeted him warmly, willing them to become flesh, but to still have their Astral abilities. Sure enough with enough concentration and energy manipulation that gave Asper a headache. The two birds appeared in the Physical world, sitting upon his shoulders like they had always been there.

The Ravens knew what just happened, they were not simply birds, they were Divine creatures themselves. "These are Hugin and Munin, my familiars, and I expect they have existed much longer then the two led me on too believe." He grinned at the Ravens, speaking more to them then the other Gods around him.

Oddly enough, Noah woke up next to a still-sleeping Allison. It was hot, and it took a minute to remember where he was. Oh yeah, Hell's gates. Lava surrounded them, giving off an uncomfortable amount of heat and just enough light. An ornate black gate towered over him. It seemed as if even the shadows were moving.
He saw other gods and goddesses starting to wake, and he decided it'd be best to get Allison up. He whispered, shaking her shoulder, "Liebchen, get up. It's 6 in the morning." Allison woke up, and Noah backed away, not wanting to seem as creepy as he actually was acting.
He went over to the others, and yawned. For him, this was sleeping in. "What's for breakfast?"

I wake up, a sleepy haze surrounding me. I was surrounded around red and orange lava. The lava bubbled, up and down. I watched it carefully, and it almost hypnotized me.
I blink it away, then get up. I didn't have to worry about blankets, the heat seemed to do the job. I looked around, and saw everyone eating apple slices. They all were laughing together, chatting about random things that I couldn't really make out from my distance.

"Hey, what about me? I need to eat too." I chuckled slightly.

Lately I feel like the gods and goddesses have been ignoring me. I just kind of followed behind them when they walked, not really bothering to make any conversation because I felt I was slightly ignored. I'm not sure if they are trying to or not, or maybe it's not because I'm talking, I honestly don't know. I have never really been this quiet before, to be honest with you. I just- don't feel like I fit in. I'm not trying to complain, but no one has really talked to me very much besides Lucas, who just kind of poked at me. I sighed, then walked to the edge of the lava/land barrier. There was a 10 foot drop into the lava off the land, so I dangled my feet off the cliff, just hovering over the hot liquid. I sighed, then gazed down back into the bubbles.

Allison woke up to the sound of Noah's voice telling her to get up and that it was six a.m. She pushed some of her copper hair out of her eyes, sighing a little. The ground was warm from the heat rising off of the lava, and she lay in the shadow of an ominous looking gate. She stood up, a little unsteady from drowsiness. She walked to the gate and leaned against it, admiring the lava. It moved and bubbled rather like a living thing, and gave off a soft glowing light. It made her feel safer, oddly enough, to know that she'd never be in the dark here.

Allison was really wishing that she could shower. She felt grimy from the sewer water and sweat that had built up so quickly in the past few hours. It was hot, but luckily not humid. Noah was inquiring about breakfast a few feet away, and Blake was making conversation with Ellery while Stella dangled her legs over the lava. She wasn't hungry, the thought of eating at this point made her sick. There were too many questions, too much to worry about, and far too much of the past barging in. Do cellphones work in hell?

It wouldn't matter, regardless, she hadn't brought her phone. She stared at Noah's back instead, noting how he had put on even more muscle and somehow grown again since last year. Liebchen. She had missed him, she'd admit that much. She turned her gaze quickly away from him, instead walking over to where she had slept, sinking down to the floor again, tired.

Allison smiled a little. Her mother had always told her to count her blessings, and she was sure that she had more blessings at this point than curses.

Raiden got as much sleep as was possible in such a place. A couple hours of painfully hot and back breaking sleep. However one good thing came of his sleep; dreams. Raiden had dreamed about himself, and learned of other powers he had, other things he could do, and lastly, his purpose. With all this new information Raiden awoke quite overwhelmed but his pain was eased when he heard the sound of angles singing beyond the gate. Raiden looked around to see if anyone was creating the noise but it was so faint, perhaps he was hearing things. NO one else seemed to be overtly aware of the voices.

The others were about eating breakfast, but like him, Stella was just waking. "Hey, what about me? I need to eat too."

Raiden was about to say the same but then he remembered some food he had with him. "Hey Stella, I have some eggs if you want?" Raiden made a gesture towards her and unwrapped his food. Maybe she would come over and partake of it, perhaps she wouldn't, nonetheless the offer was there.

"Hey Stella, I have some eggs if you want?" Raiden said, looking at me.

"Sure," I said solemnly. "I'll only take a bit, so you can give some to someone else."

I raised up, the lava lighting up my skin. I walked over to Raiden, taking the container of eggs from his hands.

"Thanks!" I say. "I'm starving."

I smile, then return to my spot off the cliff, away from everything else. I take the the spoon taped to the styrofoam container and begin to eat. The food feels good sliding down my throat. I zone out into the lava, and continue to eat. I feel my stomach begin to fill. The container feels light on one side, and I look down and see half the eggs are gone. I slip the container behind my back, and lose my thoughts.

After a bit, I feel slightly bored. I still hear the other gods and goddesses behind me, chatting away. Then, I get an idea.
I concentrate hard on the lava, watching the bubbles. I see a small whirlpool beginning to form in the lava. It grows and grows, until it is a massive gaping hole. I continue to redirect the air around me down to the circle that sticks in my mind. It becomes a 12 foot deep swirling pool, and it continues to grow and grow. I quickly close it, then begin another.