I found myself standing at the foot of a gigantic Mountain. It’s all inspiring presence seemed to engulf everything here. Bushes with huge thorns the size of a baby’s arm circled it. Naked men and women would appear and try to get through them. The thorns would leave long cuts on their flesh as they made their way through. Bloodied, they would continue on. There were multiple paths after the thorns that they could choose from. Each path had different colored rocks scattered along them. No matter where they came out there were always several paths the people could choose from. As the naked people walked along them, the bloody footprints were left from their jagged edges, but no matter how much blood was spilt, it never covered their brilliant colors.

They continued climbing up even as more people appeared at the base of the mountain. Three emaciated women kept running back and forth along on the mountain trails. They would inspect those that collapsed and if they didn’t move, would reach down to touch them. Those touched, would shift into a ball of light which then would be put into sacks they had slung across their shoulders. But no matter how fast they moved, they could not keep up with the rate of appearing people. The mountain looked like an ant hill somebody disturbed. There were so many people on the lower sections of it, that it made it harder for it harder for anybody else to climb upward.

The odd thing was that there was an old dried up river bed that ran up the mountain. Even though it looked to be the easiest way to go up, nobody tried to use it. Mort just floated above, observing it all. He seemed frustrated. That was until he saw me and then a smile bloomed on his face as he flew over. Once he reached me he gently said, “You shouldn’t be here yet. It’s not safe.”

“Not safe? Where am I and why is it not safe?” I kept my reply short. I had a million more questions like ‘Why is everybody naked except for you and those three ladies?,’ ‘How did I get here?’, and ‘How do I leave?’ but if it was dangerous it was probably better to figure out why first.

“The other God’s don’t like change. If they find you here they’ll move against you openly. Have you noticed that you haven’t gotten any quests in a while? They don’t want you to get any stronger before they decide on how to deal with you. You need to get stronger and you need to do it fast. As to how...” He stopped and looked around as if started and before I could figure out what was wrong I felt myself being pushed into a portal by one of his wings.

***

I fell into the blackness. When I could see again it was as if I was looking through a thin curtain. The room I was looking into was barren except for an elaborate table. It shifted before my eyes. It looked long then short. Then tall, short, fancy with intricate carvings, plain looking drift wood. Staring at it gave me a headache. The people around it also came in all shapes and sizes. The giant I saw on the battlefield was yelling about killing somebody while a guy in full plate armor was calmly denying his suggestion. A lady in white looked right at me and gave me a ‘shh’ gesture and then turned back to the argument.

More joined the guy arguing for that person’s death. A short man that stood in the shadows suggested killing ‘the girl’ before she got any tougher but, unlike the giant, suggested hiring assassins or poisoning her. The busty girl I saw whispering into the writers ear in my dreams, liked his idea and plastered herself onto him. Wedging his arm in between her breasts with a coquettish, “Maybe I can inspire you tonight”. A hunched old man disagreed with killing her while a very pregnant woman sided with the others. Out of all of them she seemed to be the most angry. She ranted about her stealing some of her domains and wasn’t happy about it. I wasn’t sure how long I was there before blackness engulfed me once me.

***

I woke up in pain. It felt like somebody was clawing into my back and as I tensed up, more pain came from my stomach. I must have made some type of manly noise, I refuse to say I whimpered, when an old wrinkled hand touched my head. “Shhh, it’s ok. You’re safe.” her voice was rough with age but it didn’t mask the kindness in it.

“Where is Amy? Is she ok?” I asked and I let my aura out slowly and began to condense it to take away my pain and amplify any healing spells I was about to cast. I did it slowly. I didn’t want to shock the old lady but she didn’t seem to care so I continued to heal myself, waiting for her to answer.

“Don’t fret, dear. She is in the next room and you can heal her after you can stand properly. My Name is Marge. My husband, Smelt, is calming the townsfolk. It was quite a stir you caused. To think, I have been worrying that I would miss you for the last twenty years. I wish my Goddess was a bit more forthcoming with this type of information.” She continued to prattle on as I cast enough healing to get me mobile. I was going to have to regenerate some of the muscles that demon ripped off of me. The thought of how helpless I was scared me.

I went to see Amy as soon as I could move without falling. I needed to see for myself if she was ok; although it did help to hear Marge’s reassurance. She had wooden boards holding her limbs into place. She was also covered in bandages and a thick medical smell permeated the air. But she was alive! Relief washed over me when I saw her.

I hobbled over to her bed side and began to put her back together. I did my best to make it as painless as possible but mending bones was painful no matter how much I didn’t want it to be. Her cries of pain broke my heart. I needed to be stronger. Strong enough to protect my friends and if the Gods didn’t want to give me quests to help, I would do it on my own.