Favors For the Fire God

"I think we'll be safe here." It was a bombed out building, I don't know what had hit it to make it bombed out, but it looked to have been done a long time before. Braidin was uneasy, but my two rescuers were in good spirits, they even shared a drink to their own success.  I was uncomfortable, the dead mens clothing I had stolen was itchy and ill fitting.

"Can we please find some clothes for me these are horrible." They were also ugly, like guards in that palace had no sense of style. Vontresa for her part smiled.

"Aren't you a tailor Mr. Lorentino? Can't you just make some new clothes?" Her tone was joking, which again was odd, because while I didn't know a lot about her, she definitely had the look of a follower of Fire, and they weren't big jokers in my day.

"Oh I'm sure Vontresa he could just magic some clothes out of thin air if magic were still around." Timov was putting some weapons and ammo aside, apparently he didn't think the building would be that safe.

"Not how magic actually works Mr. Timov." I said and he smirked as well. Braidin just sat in the corner stewing.

"You'll have to forgive Timov Trezlan he doesn't understand magic like you and I do." This was also shocking that Vontresa would admit to having magic, generally again magic was frowned upon for warriors in the followers.

"I'm so confused on so many things I need to sit down." The whole thing was confusing, how did they find me? Why did they come to help? Where is Hanlon? What the in the fires was his plan? What was I going to do now?

"Trezlan we were here to get you out because Hanlon is an asshole." Vontresa smiled was a very warm person, like even though I'd seen her murder several people already she was very nice, for a murderer. "You kept expecting a plan from him, or some kind of set up here, but he didn't have one, the only reason you're still breathing is because The Fire God owed you, and sent us to make sure you made it out alive." That made so much sense, I mean sort of. I had of course done a lot of dirty work for the fire god over the years, it was weird to actually get pay back.

"But what about Braidin how does he tie into this?" Braidin shifted uncomfortably again, I noticed Timov was keeping an eye on him.

"The traitor over there? Oh he was part of Oshujon's set up to capture you and then get you to trust him so you'd reveal where all your knowledge of necromancy was kept." At that Braidin attacked and I got knocked out. What? Look I'd been in torture getting water thrown on me for days, I wasn't ready for a big battle! Sue me!

Vontresa of The Saving Your Ass Tresa's

"Put on some clothes your naked body is distracting." My rescuer was dressed in a heavy red cloak and wering what appeared to be thick body armor underneath. She was a large woman, bigger than Marian who was one of the biggest women I'd ever seen. Seriously it looked like she worked out by lifting livestock not even joking. She also tended to favor a shotgun like Marian did, though hers was a pump action one and not the double barrel of Marian's day. She had dispatched the guards with a bomb and the shotgun without seemingly getting hurt herself. The weird thing about her, despite her size her voice was very upper class, like could have been a countess and not some weird warrior.

"I apologize if I had known I'd need to be rescued I would have better dressed for the occasion." People are always such assholes when you are in a desperate situation and not in the best state of dress, mental state, etc etc. I mean its not like I wanted to be naked, it just happened! I found some clothes that weren't too mangled from the dead and my rescuer motioned it was time to leave.

"Vontresa by the way."

"Do you have a last name?" I wanted to ask for references but figured that was pushing it.

"Yes I do, not that it matters, I'm here to get your ass out of here."

"We have to save Braidin too." I wasn't going to leave a man behind. I saw something flash in her eyes briefly that I wasn't too happy about.

"Right of course we do come with me." There were other explosions going off, so I had to wonder if Vontresa was alone (she wasn't) and I had to wonder how she even got here (I mean I had to travel in the belly of a merchant ship that smelled like bad fish, yet she comes in with a shotgun and armor and had no issue? Bullshit!). Guards were apparently all tied up with Vontresa's partner and so we had the run of the palace pretty easily (why didn't we kill Oshujon you ask? He had left prior to Vontresa's arrival, apparently tipped off to the attack, probably by whatever method she had used to arrive). We ran across Braidin all by himself in what appeared to be a fairly nice room, which seemed odd. His clothing wasn't marred or damaged, and he didn't look like he'd fought there, he instead had been waiting there (I figured at the time Oshujon didn't understand how torture worked, I was wrong).

We didn't have time to have much of a discussion, a fire had broken out in the palace and Vontresa moved us out of there fast to an awaiting all terrain vehicle driven by her partner in a crime an equally as large person named Timov who greeted me with a warm smile. Braidin was not happy though, I thought perhaps because he was sad at the state of things, but as I said earlier I was wrong, and I was about to find out how wrong I was.

Also I won my court case! All it took was holding a literal fire underneath the worms nut sack and he quickly saw things my way. Not exactly "legal" but he stole my image to sell something I disagreed with, he's lucky that was all I did to him!

The Good Kind of Explosions

Ordinarily I'm explosive adverse. Don't take that to mean I don't enjoy a good one every now and then, but most of the time when they are going off its never a good thing. I mean death and destruction do not discriminate, so much like any of my magic you can never truly be safe when an explosion goes off. The first one to hit Oshujon's palace I could write off as an accident (these things happen, Hanlon's factory has similar things exploding all the time, then again he makes weapons, I don't think Oshujon's palace made anything except misery). The next several ones considerably less so.

The explosions were so violent they threw me off my feet and I collided with the ground fairly roughly. Which sucked as I had just regained my footing. I was gathering myself up when a large amount of guards obviously alerted by the gun fire earlier arrived. Naked and with no rounds left in my magazine I was about to assume the position (face down hands behind my head) when the source of the explosions arrived.  I say arrived, but much like her explosives, she hit like a wave of death when she got there.

And thats where I'll leave you, short entry today I'm due in court. No no I'm not about to spend time in prison, I'm suing someone for stealing my likeness for an ad campaign! For serious, I tell you modern life sucks!

Be The Architect of your own Salvation

"Hey water splasher guy could you come here a moment." He was shirtless because of course he'd be shirtless, you don't want to splash someone with water while wearing a shirt, that would just be weird. He looked at me for a moment and then did as he was told, thats the benefit of talking to slaves, they tend to follow instruction well.

"What do you want?" It didn't matter what I wanted, when he responded to my request he was already dead. Oh wait spoilers.

"My wrist hurts can you loosen it up a little bit, I'll still be retrained, but I'll not be in as much pain, you don't want me dying of an infected wrist do you?" He looked at me crossly, but complied all the same, again I love slaves, well not loves slaves... you know what you get the idea moving along!

"This doesn't seem that ti..." His words were cut off as I slipped my other hand out of the binding and got him in a choke hold. The only guard in the room came running but he was of course too late.

"Take your weapon and put it on the ground, now." I was still suspended by my feet, which made this an awkward balancing act of leaning on one guy while at the same time threatening him but I always liked to try new things (not really) and this definitely was new.

"Why would I care about one slave?" Ordinarily I'd be worried about this guys casual indifference, but thanks to paying attention I knew he was lying.

"Oh please I know how close you are, now put the gun down or I will snap his neck." I cranked the slaves neck hard and he put his hands up and lowered the weapon. "Now kick it over here to your friend." He did that as well, I was thinking my luck was going good until the slave bit my hand and I let him go, which brought me awkwardly colliding with the floor (you try losing your balance in this situation it leaves you all kinds of messed up). Thank the gods the rifle was at my feet because the slave and the guard were about to run to get other people. I do have to say it was some of my best marksmanship ever to go from colliding with the ground to shooting two people dead, but what can I say I'm amazing! I was of course still tied by my feet and let me just tell you I don't have a ton of flexibility, so untying them seemed difficult. I did have the rifle and impeccable aim so about ten shots later (being honest here!) I was free!

I would ordinarily have been a bit worried all the gunfire would have alerted someone. And I was, up until an explosion shook the palace. Than I was utterly terrified! But things worked out they normally do with me right... Except for that whole fifty year bit in prison, that didn't work out at all!

Failure to Pull The Trigger

"You can't do it can you?" I admit taunting a man with a loaded pistol pointed at my head probably not the smartest move ever. Oshujon had the barrel of his weapon not an inch away from my forehead when he failed to kill me. He looked at me intensely, even with hatred, but he couldn't shoot. Something just wasn't letting him.

"I could kill you if I wanted to, so easily." His voice was ragged. Nothing was actually preventing him from killing me, no magic, no rune, nothing. I think it was his honor, for every other murder he could highlight something that enabled the killing, for me there was nothing. I hadn't done anything wrong to him, or his country, I just refused to help him, that's not a death sentence anywhere.

"But you can't, because its wrong." He pistol whipped me instead, and then ordered his guards to drag me away. I have to say the whipping hurt, but I at least knew Oshujon for all his changes couldn't bring himself to kill me. Which didn't mean he couldn't make things unpleasant. I was stripped naked and strung up (arms and legs). It was extremely uncomfortable, and not the least because my penis was flapping in the breeze (look I have simple needs, underwear is one of them). I wasn't tortured other than the stringing up. They would occasionally come by and throw water on me. It was odd. Like in my shameful past of torture against me this one has been the most weird.

Occaisionally Oshujon would show up to talk. Mostly he just monologued at me, long boring speeches about doing the right thing. Honestly that was the torture, gods damned does that man love to talk and never ever shut up. This went on for a week AN ENTIRE WEEK! I swear its not the longest time I've had to deal with something unpleasant, but this was definitely in the top 10 of most annoying! Eventually something changed, because of course it did that's my life, things suck and then they dont!

Old Friends New Enemies

I was placed in an opulent room full or riches. Braidin I assumed had been tossed into a dungeon to suffer. I was in a comfy chair, I had on a pair of shackles (I guess not everyone trusts magic is completely gone) but other than that things were ok for me. A nice upgrade. The room itself was gorgeous, artwork in a variety of jewels and precious metals, clearly things had worked out better for Oshujon since I last saw him. He took a bit to arrive because apparently when you're in charge making people wait is all the rage (every time I've had to talk to someone with power they always make me wait, because they are aholes).

"My good friend!" His voice was different now, no long as gruff and down, now it was higher, he had done something to fix it, or perhaps killing his gods had corrected it as a side effect.

"I'd get up Oshujon, but I believe your guards don't want me to."

"No they really don't. My advisers tell me I should kill you, that you're far too dangerous in this situation. I mean you sunk my battleship at quite a cost to my war efforts Trezlan." His clothing too matched his voice, very rich and luxurious.

"That was Hanlon I had nothing to do with it." He smiled and pour himself a drink. He didn't offer me one.

"Right, and I'm sure you just happening to be here is just because you wanted to see an old friend." I shifted uncomfortably, I was starting to think Hanlon's plan here was not very good, like I was at the mercy of Oshujon and had no counter, not without my magic.

"Well I heard you came into money, and seeing as how that was thanks to me figured you'd help a freshly released prisoner land on his feet." He clapped his hands and laughed.

"Of course Trezlan, you aren't here to kill me, you're here to get a piece of my pie, not like you traveled on Hanlon's dollar and wound up with his operative from my organization. No, you want my money." He set the drink down and picked up a pistol that was laying on his desk, it looked ornamental with all the gold and jewels, but I was sure it would fire, "Do you take me for an idiot Trezlan?" Tone shift and he was pointing my pistol at me.

"Well you killed your gods and rid yourself of magic, so yes?" I could see in this eyes a look of hurt.

"I FREED MY PEOPLE!" This was a full on rant so I'll skip most of it, basic gist he did what he did because he's a big child who only see what he wants and not what benefits others. In a way it was a rant I would have made if I was a meglomaniacal asshole who wanted to rule the world. "And so you see you're going to help me kill your gods so the world can be free."

"And under your rule."

"And under my wing, I will usher this world into the next evolution of things or I will die trying, and you will either help me," He pointed the pistol at my head and cocked the hammer back, "Or you will die." At this point I knew Hanlon didn't have a damn plan at all.

Braidin Life Partner

"So magic can't be used here." We were in the back of another truck, I swear I spend more times trapped in trucks in the future than I ever spent in wagons. Such is my new awful life.

"Yes its almost like someone told someone else a story about how gods were dead and magic was gone in this area, almost like that person told you that on purpose." Braidin was displeased with how things turned out, I mean I think he was, you never know.

"Necromancy worked at the time."

"Yeah I'm guessing you probably had something left over from your lands, used it up for that little display of power and now you're dry." I frowned.

"So you mean I'm like one of you normals? This is insulting."

"You get used to it, I mean its not nearly as bad as dealing with you." I frowned again.

"Both of you shut up." The soldiers sent to get us were as angry and stupid as the previous ones I'd dealt with. It was enough to suspect being a dick is prerequisite for working for Oshujon. Rudeness aside the ride to Oshujon's was nice and bumpy, apparently modern movement hadn't corrected that whole road issue that plagued horse carriages before them.  When we finally go there I began to wonder exactly what was Hanlon's plan, and it turns out I had a good damned reason to be worried!

An Argument Only I Could Love

"And so I left, Oshujon sent people to catch me shortly thereafter and I've been on the run ever since." That was the end of his story I didn't like skip all the important breaking up with my boss type stuff, there wasn't any!

"So instead of attempting to change things from within or kill your boss, or really anything you just left and hoped things would work themselves out without you?" I admit I may have missed a part of this story that made it not come across as someone just throwing up their hands and giving up.

"You oversimplified what I said." We were still in the dirty rundown part of the city, which I have to admit felt as dirty and rundown as any place has ever felt.

"Yes I did, you took three hours to tell a five minute story, but it amounted to 'I didn't want to try and do something hard, so I left'" I'll admit it takes one to know one here, but you know hypocritical is what I am.

"I think you are failing to see how instrumental Oshujon's control is of the army, I mean they killed their gods and went to war with a completely different area on the strength of his charisma alone."

"I am failing to see why 'It would have been hard' was a good reason to just give up like you did." Braidin went to say something else and then just turned his back. I admit pissing off the person who was supposed to help me in this foreign land was probably not the smartest idea, but you know what I always say "Better to be right than comfortable." Its why I spend so much time in prison.

I was going to approach Braidin when I heard nothing. Which seems strange to say, but when you go from the chattering annoying poor and down trodden to no sound whateversoever, you worry. Its like being in the forest and all of a sudden you don't hear all the sounds of the forest something bad is about to happen, and here was no exception. The thud of boots and weapons being readied was the next sound I heard. Braidin put his hands up as we left the hovel I did not because I don't raise my hands for nothing.

"Don't worry I got this." I didn't see any of those magic reflection things so I decided I'd show this place why people fear Trezlan Lorentino! (no one actually fears me, which is a problem when it comes to gross displays of power!) And I came up dry, like I thought the magical power was there, I'd used necromancy earlier but I had noted it was harder, but I had nothing. The soldiers yelled at me to put my hands up and I did as I was told.

"Should I worry now?"

"Yeah please do, we're screwed."

What Breaks The Broken

"Enter." In case its not bloody obvious I'm retelling the story of how Braidin came to be a marked man. I figured I wouldn't have to write that out, but then thinking about it, you might somehow think I had become Oshujon's confidant and I don't know you might get confused. Anyway this was shortly after the marked ones had killed their gods and effectively took over the entire country, in spirit and practice. Oshujon had set up his office in the new capitol of the area, I don't know the city name he didn't explain it to me.

"My Lord." Braidin was not used to calling Oshujon his lord, despite them all following his orders he'd thought they had all been pretty equal, until they had taken over, than Oshujon became a lord.

"Braidin no need to be all formal, speak your mind." Braidin noticed other changes with Oshujon, his hand stitched leather outfit was gone, replaced with flowing silks of green, he also noticed a lot of extravagant jewelry.

"Oshujon the people are upset." That was putting it mildly, the people were almost revolting since the fall of the gods things had changed, storms had taken place where as before the weather was easier to manage, the people couldn't travel by wind like they had gotten used to, and crime had gotten worse, even with the threat of death.

"They'll adjust, they'll have to, we're going to war." He said it in a conversational tone, but it hurt Braidin like he'd shouted it. He'd feared that was what was going to happen, he'd seen the signs earlier, munitions and other weaponry was being stock piled and it seemed far more offensive weaponry than necessary.

"Why Oshujon? You got what you were after, we're in charge!" Braidin was pleading with his former mentor but the former marked one looked on at him with pity.

"Because my friend we have to free the rest of the world, free them from the tyranny of their gods." Braidin could see the desire in his old friends eyes. The arbiter of justice was gone, the ruler had returned, Oshujon was no more interested in freeing people than he was in taking over. Braidin was sure of that, even though he no longer had the sight that was a gift from the gods. He walked away from his friend, and away from the army, a broken man. He had helped create a monster and unleashed it on the world.

What Makes a Man Marked

We all make mistakes. Me I've made them my entire career is laid bare with them everywhere (including keeping a journal of my exploits!). Braidin's mistake was believing in justice. I know that seems like a weird thing for a mistake to spawn from, but I'm getting there you have to give me time.  See Marked One's as I previously talked about were a punishment. You broke the law, you either died or became one who did the killing, except Braidin didn't break the law, no he chose the order because he believed in justice. And to Oshujon that made him special, someone he could laud above all the others. The others were forced into the work, even Oshujon himself. But Braidin chose it, he didn't do it for revenge, or anything else. He believed in it.

Ordinarily I think Oshujon would have not allowed Braidin to join his order. He would have admired the man's resolve but ultimately told him its not a life you seek out and sent him on his way. But the Oshujon Braidin ran across was not the one I met. No he had changed, and it was partially my fault. I showed him a world without gods, without being slaves to their whims and follies, and he liked it. The gods allowed him to leave for a time thinking if he saw the world without them it would harden his resolve to serve them, but it did not. It hardened his resolve to destroy the gods themselves. The old general was back, his anger at being cast into servitude rejoined.

His first plan was to build an army, an army of marked ones. He imbued them with his power (granted by the gods mind you, hilariously he became the instrument of their destruction) and then instructed them in the way their world was broken. Braidin believed what he was saying because it all rang true, the gods had abandoned the people and expected their servitude to dying ideals. The people in the west had to rely on the gods for their weather patterns, and travel, but at the same time had to serve them and still people died in poverty with only a mistaken hope they would be rewarded in the next life.

Of course the marked one army did not slip the eyes of the gods. They were of course their own servants, but by the time they noticed what happened their powers were too weak. They had come to rely on Oshujon to squash rebellions, never realizing of course he could lead one against them all the same. And he did, bringing with him industry to replace their magic. It was only after all what was said and done happened that Braidin realized what had happened, and how despite doing this all for the people only certain ones actually got the benefit, and that my friends is where next entry will start.

From Marked One, To Marked Man

"We'll have to keep our heads down." He didn't mean literally of course we weren't in a conflict, but he did provide me a heavy cloak with a hood so as to disguise myself. This seemed counter to Hanlon's plan of course, but Hanlon wasn't here and plans change I guess.

"I don't see how that accomplishes my goal of getting Oshujon into the open." I mean I wasn't there for the atmosphere, I was there as the worst bait in the history of bad baits.

"Hanlon doesn't understand what Oshujon wants you for, he think its some kind of ransom or something else to hurt Hanlon, I know what he wants you for." I noticed Braidin also wore a a long coat with a hood to hide himself. I couldn't make out a lot of features on him, but I could see he was bald with a fairly long beard, his body was also stocky and he was very much shorter than I, almost a shorty to be honest.

"And you understand him?" I was trying to get a feeling for who Braidin was, he was trying to drag me through dirty alley after dirty alley, eventually arriving in a dirty box city populated by the underlings of any society (little communities like this are where you end up when no one has any use of you anymore, its worse than prison because when in prison you can actually feel like you are being restrained from succeeding, in a shanty town, you still have hope you can move up in life, secretly knowing you never will). He pulled back his hood and I could see the marks, he was a marked one. I pulled in my breath and he nodded.

"Yes I know Oshujon well, I was at one time one of his marked ones, and now I'm a marked man just like you are, and what he wants from you Mr. Lorentino is how to kill a god." And with that of course everything got a lot more complicated.

Never Trust A Man with Pee Problems

Things change as time goes by, streets get paved, get lights, get industry build up, build out etc etc. But there is one thing that never changes. Dirty dive bars that have more ugly people in them than anything else. These never change. Like the locations are still hole in the wall places that even rats avoid, the beer is still dangerously undrinkable (I learned my lesson from bandit town thank you very much) and the people you meet there you want to avoid. Like not in a "They might be dangerous" sort of way, more in a "they might give you a disease that rots your flesh" kind of way. I don't know where these people come from, at times I swear they move through time as some kind of scummy artifact, forever to be shown to the rest of us as an example of what not to be in life.

I was sitting at this particular dive bar looking for my contact, a man I only knew by Braidin who was either late, or not coming. I had seen several people come in look at the bartender and then take up their position in the bar to rot away their lives. At least now the bars had radios so we could listen to music played through some magic (I don't understand technology sue me). Hanlon I think was exacting some punishment on me, I mean sure scummy places are out of the way of authorities, but there's a reason for that! They suck!

"You Lorentino?" There were two of them, this was my first hint neither one was Braidin. They smelled as awful as the place looked.

"No Mr. Lorentino can not make the meeting, I'm here in his stead." They looked at each other briefly and then directed me to the back of the bar, the bartender didn't so much as look up from his paper at the exchange. Once in the back I felt a blow to the back of my neck that really hurt, like seriously thinking about how hard he hit me makes me wince to this day.

"Get in the cuffs and shut your stupid shit eating mouth." They had shackles but they didn't appear to be the anti magical kind. I was not pleased let me tell you.

"Did you idiots actually read up on who you were going after?" Magic came harder for me than I expected, like I hadn't used necromancy since I'd been away but its normally wasn't this hard to pull some power up, still did though, both of my would be attackers hit their knees in pain. "First off I'm a necromancer, which means I can do this to you idiots, and secondly I've had problems pissing as of late which means my age was catching up with me which is bad for both of you even more." I made it hurt more than I needed to, I guess because I had to exert to do it, and probably because I was just angry in general. They both died horribly and I felt better, just in time for the real Braidin to come busting through the door behind him was a bar full of bodies, I hoped the people had just been knocked out.

"Lorentino?"

"I'll skip the introduction and tell you we probably should leave."

"Good plan."

You Win Your Plans are Better Than Mine

"And so since you happened to be rescued in time for my operation I sent you out there for the perfect trap." We were back at Hanlon industries, everyone else didn't seem bothered by the fact Hanlon was there despite it seeming like he'd been gone for a while.

"I'm glad you told me about this trap." I was not in fact glad.

"Had to leave you in the dark to sell it, you're a lot nicer to the help than I would have ever figured Trezlan, I always thought you treat people badly, I mean that would explain why they don't like you, but no you treat people pretty nicely, so now I have to find fault with them, well found fault with them all of your friends are dead, except for Mordere, though he wasn't really your friend to say and though he's still very much alive despite being quite old." Oh yeah this is the way that Hanlon told me everyone I know died, see how he cushioned that blow? Yeah Nidget died falling off something (hilarious for someone short), Andre was killed in some kind of sparring incident at his church (all the reason not to belong to one) and Therod had her throat slit in an alley, she was one of the first victims of the conflict we currently are in. Also Valrym is still alive, but he wasn't my friend either.

"Well I'm just so glad I could have been of use to you." He stopped and smiled, and I knew I was in trouble.

"And you still can be, see I know the real Oshujon is looking for you, but he's not on this continent clearly even though I'd heard he was." Hanlon stopped talking for a moment as if searching for a thought that had alluded him, "As far as I can tell anyway, which tells me he's sitting at home, building his power base, and I need you to go there and deal with him for me, consider it payment for me busting you out of prison." I didn't bring up the fact I was only in prison because Hanlon's schemes put me there, because I didn't want to get on his bad side.

"Sure this seems like a great plan, go to a place where your enemy is strongest because he's looking for me specifically, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Exactly Trezlan that's the spirit!" Hanlon didn't let me even sarcastically comment properly! And that's how I ended up hiding in a disguised Hanlon vessel on the way to the west, because I make bad decisions and let Hanlon talk me into dangerous situations. I'm an idiot.

Good Bye Not Oshujon

Guards are in rooms for a reason, guards tend to not like when prisoners suddenly become completely other people and free themselves from shackles. Guards normally react to that with gunfire, which is what they did here. They unloaded on him. Or I should say they tried to, its not so much the bullets didn't find their mark, they didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Are you done?" Hanlon was not so much displeased as annoyed. The guards were but small insects trying to bother a greater being. They looked at each, looked at their empty weapons and then fled the room, it was the smarter move of course.

"Who are you?" Not Oshujon was like a trapped rat, whatever line he'd been fed on why he was in power had fled down his leg.

"Hanlon." Hanlon of course would identify himself by last name alone not worrying about anyone asking which one. Not Oshujon ran up to strike, I guess overcoming his fear he went to the next response of fight, it was not a smart move either. Hanlon blocked the strike and snatched not Oshujon up by his throat. "Oh don't struggle your boss sent you to me to be killed it why he didn't come himself." I heard a snap and the body hit the floor with a slump, I once again was reminded Hanlon is not a person.

"Trezlan my dear boy you look well, I couldn't comment before of course keeping up the appearances you understand?" It was like we were meeting for tea instead of over a dead body on his gigantic destroyer.

"A little locked down Hanlon."

"Oh of course my bad." Another snap and I was free, again it wasn't magic, it was just force. He simply willed it into being and it was done.

"What now?"

"Now we escape Mr. Lorentino, the real Mr. Slats and his squad will have planted explosives on the hull of the ship and it will be exploding shortly, I'd recommend we not be here when that happens." And so we left, I mean sure I watched as Hanlon stalked his way to the deck of the ship and murdered a bunch of people with the wave of a hand, but I don't feel the need to go through all of that. We got on a ship with the real Slats and left just as the ship exploded in the harbor.

It didn't end the conflict, gods no, but it did signal the end of it for me. Well on this side of the world. More on that in the next entry!

You are Not Who You Say You Are

"I sank a ship like this once." Slats and I were being marched down a metal hallway having to duck through doorways every once in a while, I'm sure they were some kind of ship construction, all I knew was they were annoying.

"Really how did you do that?"

"With a lot of fire." Slats laughed and the guard behind me hit me with the butt of his rifle to move us forward. I didn't think we were delaying but you know how dicks with authority are every little thing to show you who's in charge. Eventually we came into a large room with a bunch of maps and a man dressed like Oshujon stood in front of the maps.

"Sit them down please." There were a couple chairs with arm restraints bolted to the deck, our captors placed us roughly into them. Now it had been a while since I'd last seen Oshujon, but I could already tell from voice and body language this guy was not him.

"I'll be with you both in a moment, leading a war is very difficult you understand." His voice was of a higher class than the guttural way of speaking Oshujon in the past had used, he was also of a slighter build which could just mean maybe he spent time in prison like me!

"I don't think this guy is who he claims to be." I was talking to Slats who looked at me funny.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah its been a while but there are far too many differences here to be the same guy." Not Oshujon finished what he was doing and turned around he definately was not the Oshujon I remembered, no scar, lighter skin, different eyes, completely wrong guy.

"Are you Trezlan Lorentino?" He seemed almost excited to ask, and I had to admit it was nice to be wanted.

"You don't know old friend?" I could see the look on his face change with the realization that I knew he was not the real deal.

"Of course Trezlan of course, I've been looking for you!" It didn't surprise me he'd be looking for me, well it did, but I had to not look surprised fake Oshujon was looking for me. I was about to question why when Slat started laughing, a lot. Like uncomfortably so, I could tell his laughter unnerved the fake Oshujon, and I'll be honest it unnerved me as well.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!" The fake Oshujon was clearly furious.

"Because I've wasted my time and this amuses me." Slats voice had changed, and I knew the voice it had become. He snapped his fingers and the chair he was in was erased, his boyd also changed going from muscular and tatted transformed to thin and wearing a suit.

"Hanlon." I said in a hushed tone.

"At your service Mr. Lorentino." And then all kinds of issues just broke loose.

I Don't Feel Lucky!

"You both are very lucky, we normally execute prisoners." It would make sense of course that if they were being lead by Oshujon he would use his former methods of dealing with law breakers for dealing with prisoners. The truck driver thought it would be helpful to mention this to us as some kind of cheering up after being detained.

"I feel lucky, don't you feel lucky Slats?"

"Extremely lucky." We were seated in the back of a truck that ordinarily probably carried troops, on either side of us were armed guards.

"Whatever you idiots, when we rule this land you'll come to appreciate this kindness."

"You've been stuck on this beach how long? I'm just saying if you guys are going to be ruling anything it'll be a pock marked beach full of your own dead." It seemed like a fair assessment of the situation as best I knew it. Which of course prompted the guard on my right to hit me in the eye, people love being reminded of their failures, ask my non existent girlfriends.

"I thought that was a fair assessment Trezlan." Slats offered his condolences, when they popped him in the eye he didn't appear hurt, I remember at the time writing it off that he was just a tough guy, I was of course wrong.

"You easterners are all the same, stupid and childish."

"Don't forget good looking." That also got me a pop in the eye, I started to not feel so lucky (and started to have issues seeing). Thankfully we arrived at the docks and then were unceremoniously dumped on a boat. The driver who called us lucky stayed behind, the man who had hit me in the eye of course kept going back to whatever he was doing.

"What an entirely unpleasant person." Slats summed up my feelings well.

"Yeah I tell you soldiers for the enemy are kind of dicks." And so we moved on from our small boat to a gigantic steel behemoth in the middle of the harbor. It was rather impressive in a terrifying way. Even Slats thought so. Me I just figured somehow I was going to have to blow it up, thankfully I was wrong, well I didn't end up having to blow it up. Yeah just think about that one for a bit!

Oshuwho?

"Caught these two behind the lines, they were obviously part of the larger force that dropped in." I've skipped past the capture as it was all about my bravery and sacrificing myself to try and save Slats and we end up getting captured, and not the two of us literally falling into a group of soldiers. Totally. I was shackled though I saw enough of those magical eating devices around to make that not entirely necessary.

"Do we know who sent them?" The commanding officer had a variety of facial tattoos, which was mildly odd looking for someone in charge (yes I judge people with facial tattoos DEAL WITH IT!).

"Hanlon, I recognize the larger one as a merc known for working with them, I'm going to guess Lorentino is directly interfering now instead of just shipping her weapons as she had been doing." We were in a hastily dug bunker, concrete dirt and smell held it all together.

"And the other one?"

"Magical from the look of him, we caught word an outpost got wiped out, and another group ran across two people who fit this description, one of them used magic I'd guess the non merc." It was so polite to be discussed so openly. The commanding officer looked me over and then shrugged.

"Well if he's magic I'm sure Oshujon will want to see him he's been looking for someone as of late." My ears perked up at Oshujon's name, I figured it couldn't possibly have been the marked one I knew oh how wrong I was.

"What do I do with the merc?"

"Send him with the bald one, he might prove useful for some kind of tactical knowledge." We were taken from the bunker and loaded up on a truck. Slats was at least a bit more pleased with this development, because and I would come to learn this later this was all part of the other Lorentino's plan. Yes Shadelia is a lot better at this kind of thing than I am. I'm man enough to admit that now that I'm not about to be executed or sitting in a prison cell for years on end.

To Be Fair This is Not Entirely My Fault Like Most Things

"Halt!" Why do people tell you to halt? This is a question that has arisen many times since I've been back in circulation. I mean I guess with the rise of ranged weaponry telling people to stop moving is a smarter move so you can better shoot them, but why would they want to do that for you? "Oh hey yeah I'll stop moving I hate to be a bother for all the shooting." Slats to my dismay followed orders. I tell you its like most of these young people don't understand the concept of resistance to authority! I turned to face our accusers and tried to blow them up as I had done before. Slats attempted to stop me, but since magic is basically me causing something to happen stopping it is impossible. Well or so I thought, because instead of my enemies bullets exploding nothing happened at first, and then a huge gout of flame exploded back towards me and Slats.

I guess in my time out magic while diminishing had also been contained as of sorts, there were devices used now that can "swallow" magic and then release it in highly destructive ways. They aren't really directed devices, more like a mirror, so its not exactly a weapon you can utilize directly, but in my case it did almost roast my silly ass. I really need to start paying attention to those command briefings, though to be fair to me (as I always am) this wasn't covered in the command briefing.  At least the fire gout allowed slats and I to evade our halting overlords.

"What in the gods was that?" I was not particularly happy about being almost roasted.

"Magic reflector, I haven't worked with someone magical before didn't even think to mention it."

"Thanks Slats you're a pal." He frowned at me, it wasn't his fault, even if he worked with magical people normally they'd have been more aware of the device. Which did raise the question of how lucky I got that the group we landed in originally apparently didn't have their own magic reflector, probably because we landed in a base and not a patrol, still happy to be alive as usual even if it was by dumb luck (my preferred way of doing things).

Slats and I were doing decently, making good time outside of that one patrol, of course in the light of the early morning we found out how wrong we were.  Apparently our drop had gone disastrously off course and not only were we far away from the rally point, we were in the middle of the entire enemy army. Because my life sucks and apparently airship pilots are idiots.

Really Should Pay Attention To Those Briefings

Battlefields in the modern era were a lot more terrifying than battlefields of my day (which day? all of them). I mean sure back in the day there were huge beasts, or magical traps or something like that, but these pock marked explosion fests were a lot worse! If only because it felt like at anytime something could and would explode on me just for standing in the area! Which is a nice way of saying I spent the night with Slats running from one ruined crater to the next.

It was actually a nice use of my legs which had previous only been running in places in my prison cell (have to keep healthy while incarcerated!). I would have been accelerated if I wasn't so afraid of being exploded.  Slats for all his muscles sadly seemed out of shape by a lot. I don't know the exact reason for it, but I made sure to tell him he really needs more cardio in his work outs (he made an obscene gesture towards me at that suggestion). I could see some other men fighting as we went, but Slats informed me that we weren't there to just fight in the random and we should make our way to the rally point. Something I had no idea about!

It became clear to me how badly informed I was currently. Like I'd assumed I could just pick up the conflict on the fly as I had always done (which is sad to admit) but it was clear I was way out of my element. Between the whole new idea of people wearing outfits that don't announce what side they are on, and the modern weaponry the battle was gigantic showing that I was very old and all of my old way of doing things was completely lost.

All the more highlighted when we ran across something that can eat magic. Oh yeah that happened... next entry obviously because I'm a jerk and the ribbon just broke on my typewriter (I upgraded recently from hand writing, I'm sure you noticed!).

Yes This is Why I was Invited

The hardest part about this more modern combat situation is its difficult to tell what side you are on! Back when I used to fight in wars between idiots both sides would wear garish outfits that easily defined who was fighting who (or one side would use horrific magic incantations and the other regular weaponry, again people were defined!). So when Slats and I landed among a group of men, I almost thought they were our own camp (I mean we were supposed to be dropping in, I had no idea we were part of an invasion force that had already failed to take this area, I guess if I paid attention to the commander of this outfit I'd have known that, but that would require me to pay attention and we all know how that won't happen!) Slats somehow could determine we were in the wrong group though because he raised his weapon.

"Well shit." His weapon raising was greeted by the westerners raising theirs, "You going to do something old man?"

"Oh these aren't our guys?"

"No, no they are not." I could see they too like Slats wore bullets on their bodies out in the open, children I believe I have mentioned this is dangerous around someone like myself before.

"Duck." And I did and Slats to his credit did as well. I ignited the powder in the bullets. Terrified soldiers were killed by their weapons, and their friends as suddenly inert ammunition became deadly projectiles. Slats looked at me with a weird sort of awe. When it was all said and done there was a nice blast radius of dead people.

"Good gods, what are you?" I dusted myself off as I am want to do.

"Late for a meeting with your fellows Slats I figure." I didn't want to go into it, I would come to find out in my absence magic had steadily decreased in the world (I knew why and it was something awful, but I'll get to that), and because of that it was weird for someone to use an open display of it. But I didn't care because under the usual Lorentino plan of "Do anything to survive." I was out to do exactly that.

Unpleasant Method Of Travel

Ok I lied I wasn't entirely asleep when I was thrown roughly from the airship. You can't sleep through flak (canisters loaded in artillery fired into the air to explode flying aircraft, its kind of like duck hunting except you know with people in airships). The banging and rattling alone would wake anyone up. Well that and the fire and the screaming. Yeah apparently airships are not super mobile, or impossible to hit with flack. When all of a sudden the ship I was on went from flying to crashing I figured out right quick what that backpack I'd put on really was.

Slats was yelling at me as the cabin was on fire and parts of people who were people moments before they exploded were coating us. I couldn't exactly make out what he was saying but when he threw me through the flames and into the open air I thought for a brief moment I had finally been killed in a way that I could not in any way shape or form stop (I mean I can steal the life out of someone, I can burn the world, but I can't stop myself from falling to my death). Thankfully slats who had some how caught up to me yelled at me to pull the little cord across my chest.  I did so and the backpack expanded into a cloth drag (also known as a parachute, no I have no idea why) it did let me see the world as a very pretty place that was exploding all around me with other people in parachutes falling in the night sky (did I mention it was night? it was night, bam mentioned!). While I was watching the carnage around me I noticed that flak guns had another purpose outside of anti aircraft as one can imagine (here's a hint it began raining that night and it wasn't water).

Terrified of becoming splattered I was really happy when Slats and I hit the ground safely.  Until I realized we landed in the middle of an enemy encampment. Because of course we did.