Gods of War (War of the Gods Series)

Exiting the portal, the Old Man stepped onto the colorless grass. The place didn’t change since his last visit, or from his first. The grassy trail spanned a few feet until it merged with a forest that loomed from the shadows. With no sound emitting from the forest, all he heard was his own breathing. As he walked along the grassy trail, he fought the urge pf complacency that emitted from this place. In a place like this, being complacent could kill him.

This place was full of danger. He made the mistake of being reckless the first time he visited this place. Being much younger and foolish back then, he had wandered off the premade trail, and almost died. The Old man was walking through the forest when from the shadows something grabbed him and pulled him in. Feeling claws over his body they started tearing the flesh from his body. With the darkness surrounding him, the Old Man fought back as much as he could. Until a bright light came causing the darkness to flee leaving him sprawled out on the grassy trail.

He didn’t know what was worse, being able to die here or the excessive sweating. He almost went crazy the first time he had to deal with it and it still agitated him, his kind never sweats. That is why he only came back here when he had to, this Plane of Existence.

Why did he want to meet here? He shouldn’t have even known about this plane. That is why I hid it here.
The Old Man mused as he walked along the path. Receiving that message from his brother demanding they meet here. There was only one reason he would want to meet here.

He was too old to go through this again. His whole life he had been ruler and defended his crown from would be deposers. Then again he wasn’t really that old, being immortal. He just felt old with all that he had been through. With that experience he liked to assume he was wise, and he used that wisdom to bring peace among his people. The only problem was some of them did not want peace; all they wanted was power. And this time more of them wanted power than peace. This time was going to be different. He had prepared for this, saving his energy to fight them off and with some help; he was going to defeat them permanently. But even with all of this planning, it still was going to be close, especially since the Change.

Everyone agreed the Change had to happen. The humans were dying off because of his kind, so all of the Originals combined their powers to create the Token that prevented them from visiting earth. To keep it safe, the Old Man brought it here for safekeeping, since no one knew of this plane’s existence, or so he thought.
The Change was a good thing, it had to be done.

The Old Man knew his brother never liked the idea of the Change, he made them compromise where the Token would have to renew each Convergence. For four cycles they had renewed the treaty. But each time it got harder and harder to renew. His brother had kept winning more allies to his position.

How his brother had gathered that many supporters was beyond him. His brother never was a politician; he preferred brute force over diplomacy. Someone had to be helping him, which was the only way his could have found out about this place, but who?
I have to keep focus
t
here are more dangerous creatures than him here.

“It took you long enough, Brother. What kept you? Spending too much time with your playthings?”

The deep voice came from a man standing by the Token. The Token was a statue in the shape of all of the Originals’ seals connected to each other, with a dim red glow emitting around the Token. Usually it would be glowing much brighter than it was.

The man was taller and more built than the last time the brothers met. He wore a black chainmail that overlapped an even blacker tunic. The hair on his head was shaved off and he still kept the scar that ran across his face.

I don’t know why he keeps that scar; perhaps to remind him of his nemesis
, the Old man thought.
None of that matters. I have to keep my mind on what’s important.
My main concern has to be the Token.
When the Old Man looked at it long enough, he could actually see the red glow getting duller. The treaty was about to expire.

“Considering you are not even supposed to be here, I think I am actually early,” the Old Man replied.

He was going to kill whoever showed his brother this plane. But who could have? No one else knew of it. The only people who knew about the plane were his father and mother. And they were long gone.

“Who gave you access to this plane?”

“You know, the treaty will not be renewed this time,” the other man said ignoring the question. “My armies are standing by, waiting for the chance to spill blood. Soon we will take our proper place.”

“They have done better without us. They have fulfilled their potential, and more.” The Old Man walked up to his brother and turned him around. Looking directly in his eyes he spoke. “I
will
fight you. I still have support and we won’t let this happen. You are not the only one with an army.”

“You call the meager force you have an army?” The brother said chuckling as he removed the Old Man’s hand from him. “The treaty will first have to expire for you to fight, and then fighting me will bring destruction on your beloved people. Either way, you lose.” the man turned back to stare at the Token. “Besides, they have never been without us. You have meddled in their affairs declaring yourself their god.”

“Some will make it, but you my dear brother, will not. That I swear. I killed our father and I will kill you.”

“From what I remember, you had help defeating our dear old father. This time you won’t have any.” the brother turned to the old man and dismissed him. “You may leave now. I did this as a courtesy for the ones who don’t want to see us fight, but they agreed they will back me if it does come to war.”

I have to get started
, the Old Man thought as he opened a portal.
Time is not on my side.

The morning sun shone brightly through the curtain’s cracks causing Terry to wake up. He reached over to his left and only felt empty space. Groggily he opened his eyes and found an empty spot. Looking around he saw the women that shared his bed standing in front of a mirror getting dressed.

“Hey, what are you doing up so early?” Terry asked the red-headed woman as he laid in bed stretching.

Jessica was the best girlfriend Terry ever had. She was smart, beautiful, and working for a respectable law firm. She really did look amazing in that skirt, especially being topless, with her locket hanging between her breasts. She never let that necklace leave her body. Her real parents left her that trinket when she was put into the system. Luckily she was adopted by a great family, or she may not have turned out so great herself.

“I have to get to work early. Being a junior lawyer is no picnic. Especially since our paralegal is out pregnant and I am doing her work as well,” she stated as she finished getting dressed.

“I know,” the Terry replied. “We should go away sometime, just you and I. It will be my treat.”

“I can’t. You remember Frank, my boss. He believes this case won’t settle and it’s going to be a messy one. I told you this.” She looked around to make sure she had everything. “Well, I am out of here. Hope you have a great day, with whatever it is you’re going to be doing.”

That sounded colder than usual. I hope I have not been getting on her bad side
, Terry thought still lying in bed.
I really can’t afford to screw this up with her.

Rolling out of bed, Terry went to look for something to do. The problem was nothing kept his attention for too long. Every day was long for Terry, especially since nothing motivated him. Ever since Terry won money in the lottery, he lost interest in everything except Jessica.

Even before the lottery, he didn’t have much interest in anything. He worked at a temp agency so he could pay his bills. He could put up with that place because every day was different. No matter what he did, Terry would score top marks. Because everything came so easy to him, Terry would then lose interest because of no challenge. He didn’t even serve half of his contract in the military before he started going crazy. He was grateful the military gave him a choice to leave when he became a multimillionaire overnight.

To fight his boredom, Terry packed a bag and traveled the world. He mastered multiple martial arts, cooking classes, and even several trade skills. Nothing kept his attention long enough to be able to do it for the rest of his life. Even girls he had dated before didn’t last long with him, Jessica was the only exception. She was the first woman he had been with that he actually loved. But when everything in life is so easy, life becomes dull. Money didn’t help reduce the boredom either.

I guess I should go out for a run
, Terry thought looking in the mirror.
Maybe I can come up with something interesting to do.

Putting on some running shorts, Terry was about to grab his shoes when he heard his phone ring. Looking at the caller ID, he noticed it was an unknown number. Hesitantly Terry answered the phone, finding out that it was Jake—his best friend—calling from Afghanistan.

“Hey Jake, how are you doing? I met a new girl and she is great. Your wife will love her,”

“That is good to hear man. Things are the same as usual over here. Too much politics and not enough action, the new rules of engagement are worthless. We practically have to video tape them firing at us before we can even fire back. I still can’t believe you stayed in North Carolina. Especially since you complained non-stop every day about being in the Marines.”

After a few minutes more of catching up, Jake brought something personal up to Terry.

“I was wondering if you can do a favor for me. I think my wife is cheating on me. I am wondering if you can follow her around. I just got off the phone with her and she said she won’t be home at all today. Said she would be running errands. Something just didn’t sound right.”

“Yeah, I will do it,” said Terry. He was looking outside of the window and noticed an old man looking right at him. After blinking, the old man was gone. “One quick question. You remember that old man we saw in Iraq. Do you remember what he looks like? You know the one that was out of place?”

“Yeah, I do,” Jake replied. “The guy who looked like he was an American, right outside of Baghdad? Old man, white hair, white beard, body looked like it belongs on a twenty year old. Why do you ask?”

“Every now and then I will be walking around and I swear I see him looking at me. Just barely out of the window I saw him again. Maybe I am going crazy.”

“We all are. And thanks for doing this. I hope you have a good day. I really hope you don’t see anything,” Jake added. “Maybe I am just going crazy thinking about this stuff and being here.”

“At least it’s keeping you alive. That’s all that matters now. Remember, don’t be a hero. Besides I bet she isn’t doing anything bad. She is probably just setting up a surprise party for you.”

“Well why hasn’t she brought it to you, unless you’re not telling me anything?”

“I don’t know what’s going on. You know she hates me. She thinks I am a bad influence or something.”

“Well I wonder why when…”

“Hey that wasn’t my fault. Besides, we were young and dumb. And if that incident hadn’t happened, you would have never have met her,” Terry said defensively. “If I remember correctly those squids deserved it.”

“That is true,” Jake said, his voice smiling. “Well my time is about up. Hope your living the life.”

After saying goodbye, Terry changed his clothes again and hopped in his car.

At least I am out of the house today,
he thought.
Perhaps I can find out what I want to do with my life. That will please Jessica, especially if it gets me out of this rut
.

General Amadi Oleke, four star general of the People’s Republic of Congo. If it wasn’t one warlord fighting to take over the country it was another. Now it was his turn, but just long enough that he could milk the country of its money and retire in paradise.

Too bad I will have to stop my war then
, he thought

The only downside of winning: you run out of people to fight. He hoped these government soldiers will put up a better fight this time.
Seriously, how could this group have taken over
? Amadi asked himself.
They are some of the lousiest fighters I have ever come against.