The Merriment of Being A Mercenary

And so my flight began, flying the skeletal griffon named Griff. I was flying towards the neutral city of Switzland, renowned for being a city specifically designed for mercenaries and adventurers. Every year or so, The Star Crown Empire and The Fay Republic would clash together in a field not far from Switzland, and it became used so much its known world wide as "The Blood Soaked Plains". Rumors have it at night fog rises from the ground and the bodies of the deceased soldiers rise again and continue fighting once more till the dawn, when their souls find peace for a duty honorably discharged. This plain has been fertilized by the blood of millions of soldiers for centuries now, and the air itself has become charged with so much negative energy the rumor is almost believable. Every now and then Switzland hires some mercenaries to clear out the monsters and undead who lay claim to the fields while the Empire and Republic are licking their wounds. If no one was around to clear them out it would very quickly become a Catastrophe Class emergency and the Empire and Republic would have to put aside their differences to combat the hordes that would emerge. That is just how much human death and suffering have happened here. Some scholors even argue that long dead biological weapons from The Golden Age of Solus' Eternal Empire would reawaken, and if that is true, then none in the world would dare even bear the thought of reawakening those monstrosities. 

One might ask, why exactly are the Republic and Empire fighting for so long and hard? And the answer is...somewhat complex? First, lets go back thousands of years ago, when gods and devils and angels and demons yet walked the earth. There was one Empire that spanned all of Solus, led by the Immortal Emperor who's name has been lost to the ravages of time and war. The Immortal Emperor was able to strike negotiations with the Gods and Devils, who on a fundamental level were exact opposites. Gods were one fragment of the Overgod Author that symbolized Order, Law, Tradition, and things of that nature. Devils, were the balancing fragment that were the personifications of Chaos, Destruction, and Progress. As such it was thought that they could never have a peaceful conversation. Only one man in all of history was able to do that, the Immortal Emperor himself. However, one day, the masses started thinking of the Immortal Emperor as the Overgod Author himself, which gained the ire of the Author. The Author decided as punishment for these ignorant creatures, he would send them a war the likes of which have never seen. The Author took possession of a local angel who was protecting a settlement of demons, and committed an act of unthinkable consequences. He killed a young demon larva, and the demons who saw this was outraged, and ripped the angel apart limb from limb. The demons begged the Devils to go to war with the Gods, and upon hearing the circumstances, became outraged and immediately agreed. The resulting war cracked Solus itself, splitting the super continent into several different islands, suffusing the entire planets atmosphere with egregious amounts of mana, and completely changing entire climates. The icy tundras became so cold people would freeze solid in minutes, the deserts were so hot they could now melt your flesh right off the bones, the jungles became home to intelligent man sized ants called Myrmekes. Uncounted billions were killed in an instant, and millions more to follow from the resulting changes. The Eternal Empire fell apart and all the races stayed in their respective continent and formed nations consisting of their race. The Myrmekes inhabiting the jungles of the south, the Elves in the forest of the west, the Humans in the plains of the east, and the Dwarves in the mountains of the north. 

The humans initially called themselves the Star Crown Empire, named from the crown made of Xorynthium, an ore refined from the asteroid deep beneath the city of Xorynth. The Empire is a meritocracy, anyone can become nobility as long as they can be recognized by the current king, and the king is chosen not by age, but by ability. However, not all kings rule fairly, and one particular king who's name has been struck from the history books and referred to as "The Bloody King" ruled in a way befitting his name, and as such a secessionist movement was born, with backing from the Elves, and as such took the city of Nox in the north of the plains, and renamed it Fayr Nox, and called themselves "The Fay Republic" in gratitude of the elves. Even though The Bloody King was hated by all, the Empire did not take kindly to a rebellion, and as such centuries of war began, the cycle of hatred and bloodshed spinning round and round, forever. Which leads us to the current day.

As I was recalling the reason for this long and bloody war, Switzland came into sight. I ordered Griff to land and summoned Arvak, an undead horse called a Nightmare. Arvak had a black skeleton with purple flames in his eye sockets and also emanating from his body, which for some reason didn't burn me. Normally the flames are red, so I wonder if the flames are purple due to my eyes. No one every told me why my eyes were purple or why my hair was jet black, but I heard people saying it might be a curse of some kind. I rode Arvak until the city was close enough to see people in the distance so to maintain my cover I unsummoned Arvak and began walking.

About 10 minutes later I made it to the gate and walked up to the guard.

[Name, age, occupation, and reason for coming?]

[My name is Al, 16, and soon to be mercenary looking to make my name known in the next battle!]

[They keep getting younger nowadays, what is wrong with these people? Alright kid, I'm sure you probably stole that equipment from your local smithy and ran away from home right? Looking to go into battle to get some honor and glory and make your sweetheart back home swoon with undying love right? Just get out of here and i promise I will pretend like i didnt see anything.]

[Well you see mister, Pops died in the last battle and Ma cant afford to feed both herself and me, and since the smith was good friend with Pops he gave me some throwaway armor. Please mister, I can't go home and the only thing I know how to do is fight since thats all Pops taught me]

[What kinda smith makes that kind of creepy mask? and your weapon are some meat cleavers? kid I cant let  you go in good conscience here, you'd die the moment you step foot in the battlefield. If you really need a job come be a guard, its boring, but it's peaceful and you get paid decently. Don't throw your life away so young.]

[Mister, if i beat you in a fist fight will you let me in? I have my heart set on this and you wont be able to change my mind. If I cant beat you i'll just come back later or i'll sneak in. Please don't make me do that.]

[Alright, fine, whatever. I give up. Go on in, the Mercenary's Company is the massive stone building next to the market place and giant training yard. can't miss it.]

[Thanks mister! Have a good day, I'll treat you to a drink with my friends after the battle to prove I can fight! See ya!]

I hear him mutter as I walk away 

[Dear Author, please don't let this poor child find death.]

Little does he know the Author himself is guiding this child.

I hate acting, it takes so much effort to maintain a character so flawlessly, but man am I glad i paid attention to how the commoners interact. Makes my story telling skills that much better. I make my way towards the Mercenary's Company and walk inside. Inside I see lots of battle scarred veterans, some rich kids with fancy armor, and a couple of loners throughout the bar. I walk up to the receptionist, who is not some pretty girl, but is instead a hulking mass of muscle and hatred. He glares at me and takes a couple seconds sizing me up. I hear a couple of patrons start chuckling and murmuring amongst themselves. 

[Oi brat, this is a mercs comp. not a bakery, fuck off back your mommy you little shit.]

New character created and loaded.

[Who the fuck you think you calling a little shit?! I'll take my boots and shove them so far up your ass you'll be tasting the leather you muscle taut freak!]

The bar erupts in laughter but is immediately shut down from a glare from Mr. Skinhead here.

[You've got some massive fucking balls I'll give you that, but you don't have much in the way of brains do ya?]

[you're the last person i wanna hear talking about having brains! look at you! what did you do? Ask a Bio-Transmuter to change your brain mass into extra muscles so you could jack off that much harder? You certainly can't even pull any bitches with that freakish look.]

[I bet the only way you get any women is from those broken down beast girl brothels!]

Using a certain skill i take a peek into this guys soul to really fuck with this guys head.

[I most certainly do get females, in fact I visited your mother earlier, her name is Rebecca right? After I gave you another sibling in 9 months she started talking about her disappointment of a son who works at the Mercs Comp but all he does is sit on his ass and look mean to scare away children]

Everyone lost their collective shit. Beer was spilling, tears were falling, and laughter was heard all the way outside. Mr. Skinhead also lost his shit and tried punching me in the face but forgot there was a counter in the way and fucked up royally. When he let his fist fly he let his momentum take control and tripped and landed face first into the adjacent wall, he crumpled and hit the floor. This only caused everyone to start laughing even harder. It seems I have utterly destroyed this mans social life for the next several months if not years. I saw him picking himself back up and saw the broken nose he now sported. I couldn't help but start cracking the fuck up now. This only enraged the man further so he lept over the counter and tried to kick me in the face while doing so. Key word tried. I saw the kick coming from a mile away and when his foot came close enough to my face i caught it by the ankle with my right hand and used my left to form a 90 degree angle with my elbow and dropped it on this poor mans kneecap. A howl was heard as bone could be heard crunching under my entire weight plus a couple dozen pounds from body enhancement. I dropped his foot and he hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. He immediately tried to get up but when he raised his head I headbutted him with the force of a thousand sons. His peanut sized brain couldnt take the impact and he immediately became unconscious. 

Seeing that, the laughter started subsiding. Everyone looked around kind of nervously. Apparently most people tended to cower in front of this man and no one had any idea what to do now that he is knocked out cold on the floor. As for me, Even though I have the skull mask on, the mask doesn't cover the mouth, so my creepy smile is very visible to everyone. This was one of the most fun things to happen like ever. This was my first fight, and I wanted more. Whatever I'm feeling now is an addictive feeling, that is for sure. If i feel this in the battle, I don't know if i can hold back. This was just so much fun. As I was pondering this a door in the upstairs foyer was heard being very forcibly opened. Out of it came a man who was just finally starting to sprout grey hair with a very visible vein popping up on his forehead.

[What the everlasting FUCK is going on out there?!?!]