A Gathering (Chapter 3)

"If you don't wish to be reduced to ash, I would suggest lowering those weapons." The figure that spoke was a woman wearing red clothes that appeared to be aflame. The figures statement though threatening did not seem to faze anyone in the bar. The words seemed to have the opposite effect on the crowd who seemed to become more enraged at the threat.

"You will all holster your weapons and return to your seats or you'll all be leaving in body bags." The speaker was an older looking man in a black suit that walked out of a back room. The man looked less threatening then then everyone in the bar and yet his voice carried great authority, enough apparent authority to quell everyone in the bar except the women in red who seem to glow blighter. The second figure a man wearing all black turned and spoke to the woman in red she seemed to calm down.

"That's the manager, not someone you want to mess with several centuries ago a few Bacants got seriously rowdy, even by Crossroads standards, they were cleaning them up from several different continents and millennia there still waiting around for several of the heads to show up." Alex says still dr inking from his glass. I honestly don't want to think about what the hell he just said. The fact that he got those bastards stand down is bloody scary in and of itself. The two figures headed straight for Alex and I, which could be the most worrisome thing I've seen today. Those two are seriously threatening they didn't seemed at all phased by anything that had happened.

"Zachariah Kartal, there are only two reasons you would be coming to see me either your finally calling in that favor or you finally took up someone's offer to kill me. Though since this place is still standing I doubt that one." Alex says.to the man in black who was leading towards us

"Alex this is my new employer, seriously try not to piss her off. You were right about one thing though I'm calling in that favor." Zachariah says handing Alex a large silver coin. When Alex grabbed the coin it disappeared in a flourish of movement.

"Ok so what is it you want me to do. You've been holding onto that favor for a while I'm actually interested." Alex says motioning for another drink. Before Zachariah responded the women in red stepped forward and began to speak.

"I'm here to acquire Sacrifice." The woman in red says. Now that she was closer I could feel the heat radiating from her clothes. The damn clothes were actually on fire the flames did nothing to damage her clothes. Any day but today I would've tried to douse the flame but today something like this seems almost normal.

"What makes you think that I have any clue where that blade is" Alex says, looking at Zachariah rather than at the women. I could hear that he was worried whatever Sacrifice is it had him terrified. Earlier today Alex was smiling fighting things that I could barely comprehend and that could kill me in an instant. Whatever this thing is I want nothing to do with it.

"Look Alex, that sword and your assistance in completing this job is what I'm here for. You are not going to like this job especially the fact we're working for a goddess." Zachariah says. He didn't seem happy about anything that was happening. As he spoke I got a chance to really look him over all of his clothes were made of some kind of black cloth he also had a sword on his belt. It was difficult to make out any details it was as the shadows were emanating from him. There's something about this guy that is seriously off, I've been on the force for a long time and this guy didn't sit right with me.

"I knew I was going to regret owing you that damn favor. That sword is worth a hell of a lot but I was only going to sell the damn thing." Alex says reaching into his pocket. A sword appears in his hand coming from the inside of his jacket.

"Where the hell did you get that sword?" I ask Alex.

"Pocket dimension really convenient little thing and don't ask how the hell it works, one I don't know and really don't care, two most of the people who make these damn things are insane." Alex responded quickly. The sword appeared to be a katana in a white sheath. The handle was black and appeared to be covered in dried blood.

"Alex, who is this? I don't like surprises especially ones that are liabilities." Zachariah says tension clear in his voice. He's got a sword and I've got a gun how am I a liability. If I wasn't a cop I would shot him to prove my point. Instead I just reach for my gun

"Ryan, don't, just don't this is not a fight you're going to win." Alex says looking at me he appeared clearly worried. He again turns to Zachariah

"Stand down, if you want my help you are going to have to deal with him at least until your friend over there can get him out of here." Alex says to Zachariah. I noticed a distinct rise in temperature.

"Your very arrogant mage. If your friend seeks my help than he too must play his part" The woman said.

"Do I get a say in any of this. No offense lady but I don't have time to deal with this I have a job to get back to. I barely believe any of this but if you can get me out of this place I guess I'll help." I say annoyed at how I'm being looked at. These people think I'm useless, there treating me like a civilian. It really annoys me but what annoys me more is I can't blame them I don't have a clue what the hell is going on here.

"I'm Gabija a goddess, and you should treat me as such, especially if you're asking for favors. Luckily for you I find you amusing so if you want my assistance it's yours at a price." Gabija says.

"What price?" I ask skeptically hiding my resentment towards her. Primarily because she could probably kill me in an instant. Goddess or not a flaming dress is wildly disconcerting.

"Simple you are going to help me acquire another sword."  She says her voice calm and clear. What's with these people and swords. At this point getting out of this nut house seems to be my best option and this goddess seems like she can do it. So I guess I'm looking for a sword now, seems easier than fighting those things for before.

"You've got to be kidding me Zachariah what have you gotten into that you need all three. Not to mention how the hell did you get that one back." Alex says quickly.

"Good if you are all ready to go, we have another meeting, I suggest you all arm up I highly doubt there going to be happy with my offer." Gabija says. Arm up what the hell have I got myself into.

"This is not going to be fun. If we are going after that I think we my friend here needs something with a little more fire power." Alex says. Zachariah smiles and reaches into his clothes. I almost shot him in the process but one look from Alex stopped me. He pulls out a small card.

"I don't know what the hell my employer is planning but I'm not walking into a fight with someone who doesn't have a real weapon watching my back. So here this should get you something interesting from my personal weapon dealer. Alex you lead him I have a few things to discus with our mutual employer." Zachariah says placing a sleek black card on the bar. Tentatively I pick it up there is no writing on it and its surface is almost perfectly smooth. A chill runs through my hand and up my arm.

"Good at least you are worth something, if that card had killed you. I would have left you there to rot" Zachariah says walking away with Gabija. Kill me is he serious, I really don't like this guy. Alex stands up and starts walking out.

"Come on than lets go. Looks like we're going to visit Mr.X, good choice, I guess he's a bit insane, ok more than a bit but he has a lot of weapons seriously nasty ones too. This should be fun." Alex says walking away.

"What about paying for the drinks?" I ask. I find myself feeling stupid for asking but nothing around here makes sense.

"Oh the bartender thinks we paid Ghosts are easy to fool simple probability trick there's always a chance they get mixed up."  Alex responds. I knew I shouldn't have asked. I can't even guess what is going on in this place. I've arrested some seriously insane perps in my time but none of the nonsense they spouted even came close to this kind of crap. Hell I think if I told what happened today to anyone I think I would be put in a nut house. After we left the bar the entrance still looked like and alley. I can't even begin to guess how that works. There wasn't much going on outside and I couldn't see anyone but I still felt like I was being watched. That feeling became a reality as we rounded a corner to find a horde of people holding a variety of signs in one hand and in the other almost all of them are carrying some kind of weapon. They all seem to preoccupied shouting to use them though.

"Of course we had to run into one of these, freaken zealots, every once in a while a couple of them run into each other and it usually ends in a riot. Normally I turn and run as far away as possible you never know when someone going to set off something really nasty in the name of their god or gods, but the shop we need to go to is in the middle of that street." Alex says stopping at the corner. Ahead of us the large crowd seemed to part quickly forming a small passage through the mass of signs and weapons. The shouting and arguments quieted to a whisper and that seemed to come only from the outskirts of the crowd, through this newly formed passage a young man, with black hair wearing a black shirt and cargo pants. But it was his red eyes that truly seemed to give him presence a presence that scattered the crowd. A large man carrying a even larger hammer and what looked like a bible pushed through the crowd towards the young man. The people he pushed through seem more afraid of getting closer to the young man than taking damage from the larger man and his massive hammer. The large man finally managed to push through the crowd and as he arrived at the aisle he raised his hammer over his head. I tried to set forward to try to stop this but Alex stopped me.

"Don't get involved in that, I feel sorry for the poor bastard though, either he doesn't know who that is or is to hopped up on something to care." Alex said

The hammer fell in a wide arc but and slammed straight into the ground shattering the stones underneath and knocking back a large portion of the crowd. The young man seemed un-phased and turned around slowly to face his assailant. The large man look surprised that he missed but the surprise quickly turned to rage. He raised the hammer faster that I thought was humanly possible striking again in the blink of an eye. This time the strike didn't hit the ground rather it was met by the outstretched hand of the young man. The shockwave of collision scattered all those around them.

"You really shouldn't have tried that." The young man said an aura of darkness, flames and steel started to swirl around him. The book the larger man was holding started to glow though the light seemed dimmed in the presence of the young man. A light descended from above a large being descended swathed in light with wings of flames carrying a large golden sword. I turned to Alex

"is that…" I said to Alex

"No not an angel. Its called an Archon nasty little entities they share a lot of visual similarities with the mainstream perception of angels but there more into making deal usually involving your soul or someone else's. They are seriously nasty buggers if they make enough deals they become nearly as powerful as some of the lesser gods, especially when it comes to combat." Alex replied before I could finish.

The young man just stood there and laughed. The aura around the young man grew even larger it started to engulf the man in front of him, The crowd or at least those who could move started scattering in all directions.  The hammer fell to the ground along with a pile of bones that was blackened as if burned. The aura shrunk and disappeared and the young man turned to face the archon.

"Alzercar, you are not a fool you really should have left this idiot to die, there isn't a deal worth facing me and you know that. So I'm giving you a choice run or die. I find it to be a simple choice." The young man said.

The archon knelt before the young man and seemed to disappear in an instant. The young man moved down the sidewalk and turned into an alley disappearing into the shadows. Alex seemed to move forward towards are apparent destination.

"Well now you've met one of the superpowers in the crossroads. That young man is the self-proclaimed God of Rouges quiet possibly the strongest single fighter in the Crossroads. On his own he managed to take on a position of power which far exceeds that of organizations that span both centuries and galaxies. He doesn't have a following or at least one that he acknowledges. His role in the power struggle isn't exactly clear he acts entirely of his own accord striking against those who impede his plans whatever that is. I never really wanted to figure out what those plans are, I've seen the messes he leaves behind." Alex says as he walked to the front door of a store. The store did not look like much more a rundown toy store than anything, through the window if it could still be called that for all the dirt that covered it, showed only vague outlines of colored shapes. On one side there stood a small store offering what appeared to be meat from various animal most of which had names I could barely pronounce. On the other side was a simple brick wall with a sign that read "back in a few days". As Alex reached for the door it swung open crashing into the wall sending chips of stone flying.

"Not the worst welcome I've had" Alex said striding through the door. Inside was dark and cramped filled with a vast assortment of arms from wooden clubs to modern fire arms and a couple things that just hurt to look at though there shape if they had one was unclear.

"What business you got here humans, no time at all for nonsense not when, well it ain't your business anyway." An incredibly short old man seemed to hobble out form under a table covered in various land mines. He was wearing a rather dirty suite and a large pair of googles comprised of thousands of small pieces of metal and wood.

"Card" he said extending his hand forward. It took me a second to realize he was addressing me since his eyes flitting about everywhere. Reached into my pocket and drew the black card out. This time it seemed to sear my finger as I held it. I quickly placed the card in the his hand. He seemed to curse under his breath

"Not time at all, too old far too old or maybe not old enough, nearly lost my hand, not this time no, dinner!" he exclaimed had shooting forwards catching a small roach that had be scuttling along the blade of a particularly viscous looking great sword. For someone who looked over one hundred he was fast vry fast. He bit the roach in half the threw the other half off int o the piles to his right "not nearly as good no, damn newfangled chemicals ruin the flavor, oh yes humans, no no no no no time for that, Amelia." He paused expecting an answer.

"What do you want, you do realize I don't work here." The word seemed to orginate from nowhere but seconds later a young women appeared from thin air wearing a long black cloak wrapped around her body and a large pointed black hat. Her hair partially dyed red at the ends. She seems rather annoyed with the old man she stared at him arms crossed waiting.

"Black room black card, no no no not again, you want go yes, but no card no no no, now you go take humans yes, one thing one card, not for you but look." The old man said rubbing his hands together and walking back under the table and into the darkness. The young women no longer look annoyed more curious. She seemed to look me over than turned to Alex and immediately seemed taken aback.

"I hope you understand I really don't like you kind mage, your friend however seems rather interesting out of place certainly but not doomed, this shall be rather fun." She said turning around her cloak making a wide arc but never hitting anything.  "Well come along, then black room is this way." She said rather impatiently as she strode forward. We followed her through the maze of racks, tables. She finally stopped at a small piece of wall that unlike the others wasn't adorned with weapons. She took a plum out of the inside of her cloak and started eating it. "well come on open it." She said. I step forward and tentatively placed my hand on the wall. As I reached forward the black card shot forward from somewhere and the wall disappeared revealing a small dark room that was empty except for a small chest in the center. Sitting on the chest was the God of Rouges he stood up and waved  a bag of plums appeared in his hand.

"Plums delicious, I like plums I guess it's worth being woken up for" he said striding forward. Amelia seemed rather annoyed as her plum disappeared from her hand. With as gesture a large wolf appeared barely able to fit in the small space. The wolf took one look at the God of rouges and hid behind her.

"Dammit Fenrir not again. Bloody God of Rouges if I wasn't in the middle of something rather important, I would tear you apart." She shouted. The wolf disappeared into thin air without a sound.

"Well then I'll hold on to these take them back if you can mademoiselle." He replied smiling as he walked away. As he disappeared Amelia barged into the dark room and started looking around. I had no idea what she was looking at the room looked empty to me. The black card was once again in my hand and seemed to be drawing me towards the chest. It was a small wooded chest with no hinges or lock on it. As I approached the lid popped open of its own accord seeming to ignore the fact that there was nothing holding it to the rest of the box it simple floated in the air as if there were hinges. Inside the chest lay a large black semi-automatic, there seemed nothing special about it other than its size. I picked it up and began to examine it, as I did the chest snapped shut.

"Interesting I believe that's a.." Alex began but was interrupted as a rain of bullets crashed into the space the wall had been.

"Now as much as I appreciate the demonstration of the effectiveness of these wards, the gunfire is rather bothersome." Amelia shouted over the cacophony of gunshots. She walked forward through the opening and as she did the bullets stopped. There was dead silence in the air. I could see past her a single rather large man in military gear holding a ridiculously large gun looking quite surprised. She snapped her fingers and pointed at the man who was drawing another weapon from inside his vest. The red color drained from her hair and what appeared to be blood pooled at her feet. From the puddle of blood rose small red spiders that began moving towards the man. Upon reaching him the spiders climbed up the man's legs, though they were obscured by his clothes there progress was obvious by the blood that seeped into his clothes. As they climbed a thousand tiny legs left a tiny thousand cuts. The man tried to step forward, screaming in pain still raising his weapon, a pistol which was dwarfed by his giant hand, as he did his clothes were shredded by a thousand razor wires revealing an intricate web of crystalline fibers. The fibers were drenched in blood an a few small red spider darted through them weaving an ever growing web from the blood itself. I couldn't take it I've seen people die but never like this never in this much agony. I raised the black gun and fired though my hands were shaking it shot true a tiny hole, completely disproportionate to the size of the barrel, opened in the man's forehead and he fell to silently to the ground. However the death of their victim did not seem to deter the spider who continued to crawl over the body spinning there bloody crystal webs. Amelia raised her arm and beckon towards the swarm. The spider all ceased there spinning and quickly covered the distance between her and the corpse. She stood there smiling as the small spider crawled over her cloak without leaving a mark. They disappeared into her hair and the red color returned.

"Lovely creatures blood spinners, they make such nice pets. Well as interesting as this has been I have some things to get done, though I do hope we meet again" Amelia said. With a clap she faded away and was gone.

"Bloody witch, of course she leaves us to clean up her mess. From what is left of him I hazard a guess he was a member of one of the more militant inquisitions probably came in here to get away from the riot outside or to get a bigger gun." Alex said in disgust as he stepped out of the dark room. I just stood there the black gun in my hands was surprisingly light.

This was not the first time I have shot someone but there was something different about this gun as I held it I felt memories coming to the surface. It was my first year on the job I wasn't a detective yet, My partner and I were patrolling we got a call for a disturbance bordering on a bad neighborhood. It turned out to be a group of kids running an underground fight club. Are car was unmarked so we called in for back up. As we waited for backup we saw a fight end the loser was on his knees covered in blood. The winner seemed to try to walk out of the ring but all the people watching were shouting. I watched as someone handed the winner a gun and pointed to the loser. My partner got out of the car before I could do anything. Though the winner froze and dropped the gun. I watched as one of the people in the crowd drew a gun as they leveled the gun on my partner, I acted without a though. I drew my gun and fired from my seat shattering the windshield. I watched as the gunman fell his shot hitting a wall to the left of my partner. The memory faded as the scene descended into chaos. In my hand the black gun seemed to squirm its form became uncertain it shape changed as I held it. When it finally stopped I found myself holding what appeared to be a snub nose .38 a black version of the gun I carried as an officer.

"If you're done admiring your new piece I suggest we get moving" Alex said hurrying me towards the exit. As we left there was no sign of the owner of the store but there was a rather distressing crash from the back which served as bigger motivation to leave then anything Alex said, as we left the door slowly closed behind us. We were left alone as the door slowly faded away as if it never existed. "Don't question it it never ends well" Alex says walking to the deserted road  "now if I can remember exactly how this works"