Chapter 4: The battle goes on

The rain was dripping on his face as he watched the four warriors that were walking towards him. judging if they were dangerous, he took mental notes. Only two of them looked like they were a real threat. The first one had some sort of armour and a few weapons with him, while the other had no armour but two very large swords to compensate for the lack of armour.

Aves smiled as he grabbed his spear and shield. Since he came on this strange land, he had only encountered strange creatures. Sone of these looked like men but dead, while others were some sort of wolfmen. Only Hades knew what these were.
Now he finally saw real humans that he could battle, real humans that he could kill.
Having gathered his weapons, the Spartan lay down in the mud and waited untill the four warriors had entered the garden that he used as hideout.

As the last one entered, the spartan raced towards the group. The first thing he did was pushing a man with a very large hat away using his shield to stab his target. The man avoided the thrusting attack and before Aves knew what was happening, the innocent looking warrior with the animal jumped on top of him and forced both of them on the ground. The spartan threw the man away and jumped up while he unsheated his sword, only to look at the end of the blades of two people and some sort of stick of the man with the large hat.

'Drop your weapon' The Pharaoh spoke with a booming voice. The spartan warrior stared at him and as Ramses was about to speak again, Miyamoto suddenly spoke. 'Let him keep his sword. He attacked me and now we will duel.' 'Nooo' Ramses came again. 'We must work together.' Aves got confused, these guys were arguing among themselfs. To make matters worse, Pete started to agree with the samurai. 'let these two fight. it will be entertaining and we will take the strongest with us.' 'No!'  Ramses said, almost yelling this time. 'If we want to survive this mess and find a way home, we need every hand we can get.'
The discussion kept on going untill the last one of the party spoke. 'Ramses is right. We need to survive and fighting among ourselfs only makes us weaker. i have seen this before with my people and that is not good. The man does not know us and might have attacked out of fear. Give him the chance to choose.' the Aztec Jaguar said.
Aves knew he had to say something now and thought carefull. He had always learned to mistrust anyone not from Sparta. Such a thing was hard to ignore but walking alone with these creatures wasn't a good alternative. Finally, the born warrior spoke. 'I think that the gods have forced me to work with you. i do not want the wrath of the gods and so I would go with you.'
'Shut it Asshole' The pirate said to the strange warrior. It was the samurai who spoke last. 'It should be wise to have all able warriors with us and so i will forget this assault. But if he ever tries to attack one of us again, I will behead him personally.'
With that, the matter was settled and another warrior had joined the group. The warriors hurried themselfs off to the dry shack made of glass to escape the rain.

The werewolf growled as he kept choking the small Shaolin Monk. The friends of the monk were occupied elsewere as the templar knight Ardo was trying to reach the shore of the lake he had been thrown into and both Genghis Kahn and Spartacus were battling the other werewolf.
Shang tried to kick his hairy opponent as he unwrapped his last weapon from his left arm and tried to breath at the same time. As darkness consumed the small monk, someone jumped on the back of the beast and delivered some accurate stabs in the shoulder and neck. The werewolf released the monk, who quickly tried to regain his breath as he threw his opponent off his back and on the ground. The beast roared in pain and anger as it focused itself on the gladiator that was now on the ground. The werewolf walked towards the Roman slave but before it could attack, a rope with a hard metal ball on it hit the beast on the head. The werewolf was still watching Spartacus as the meteorhammer whipped around again ensnarled the throat of the beast. The werewolf cried in anger as it moved to oppose the monk but in that instant, Spartacus rose and lifted his dagger again. He jumped at the werewolf and stabbed it several times in the throat.
The werewolf uttered one last weak roar before falling down on the ground.

The other werewolf was still active and threw Genghis kahn on the ground again. It leaped towards the Mongolian, but before it could bite, the warrior had rolled away again and created distance. This had happened several times now and altough Genghis considered it a cowards action, he knew nothing better to do. The beast leaped towards him again and and Genghis barely managed to avoid again, with the claws of the oversized wolf hitting the bark of a tree.
Genghis used this moment to attack and his saber slashed air before it hit the beast. The beast only recieved a blow in the chest, with little blood spilling. It slammed the sword out of the hand of the Mongolian and kicked the warrior on the ground. The werewolf walked towards the kahn and slashed without much effect on the armour. Before the werewolf could bite, rescue came for Genghis.
Shang had taken possession of his staff again and used it to push the werewolf away. Spartacus followed up with a cutting attack that took the beast in the side. The beast slammed the dagger away and grabbed Spartacus. Before it could do harm, the shaolin attacked again. The monk sweeped the feet of the beast with his staff and tripped it. Both man and beast fell on the ground and as the werewolf lifted itself again, an arrow hit its throat. The wolf cried and recieved another arrow in the throat. Before a third one could hit, the werewolf fell on the ground. It moaned one last time very soft and never moved again. Genghis had managed to get his bow and arrows and had fired the two shots that finally killed the beast. 'Take that' He spoke.
A few minutes after the second werewolf had fallen, Ardo walked on the sand surrounding the lake. He was tired from swimming with armour but he was more upset that he missed the fighting.


Saladin kicked a rock that spun away and hit a tree. It had been a day since he ended up on this strange world, full of even stranger people. After the sultan had left the farm, he had been attacked by more of those agressive people and found that altough they attacked in numbers, the attacks were weak and they got killed easy as long you decapitated them.
The Muslim warrior entered a forest and watched as the birds flew high in the sky, all the problems and sorrow gone. Altough the birds sang, no other sign of life could be found in the area.
After a time of walking, Saladin found a small strange object. It spoke Coca Cola. The warrior was not shure what it was and threw it away, ignoring the thing and the rest of the garbage that he saw.
He kept walking without meeting anyone when an arrow suddenly flew past him and got stuck in the ground. Saladin turned around to see who shot the arrow but the attacker was already running away. Hating the fact that he did not have any horse here, Saladin followed the bowman.
During the pursuit, the stranger fired two more arrows but both of them missed, giving the chainmailclad warrior time to gain on his opponent.

The Muslim ran through the forest, trying to keep up with his opponent. He finally stopped when he realised that his opponent was gone and he himself lost.
Saladin stood motionless for a minute when he heard some noises coming from bushes. He quickly drew his sword and walked towards the noise. The bushes seemed clear and he could not see anythingt in the area when something hit the sultan on his helmet.
It was the Apache warrior Cochise who had stalked his opponent and led him here. He hid himself in a tree and jumped out when the timing was correct, hitting the helmet with his tomahawk.
The attack had pushed Saladin offguard and a followup attack with a knife pushed the warrior on the ground.
'Bring me back home' the Apache roared. 'I dont know who you are or where we are. I have nothing to do with you. I am lost also.' Saladin spoke quickly, not wanting to get hit by one of the two weapons the man was holding.
The Apache looked at his opponent, considering what the man had said. 'Very well. I did not who you are. i apologise', he said as he lowered his tomahawk and knife. 'Its nothing', the Turk spoke, I understand.
Cochise dropped his tomahawk and knife to sit down. Saladin followed example and the two started to chat about what had happened. They kept on talking about themselfs and their adventures untill late in the evening.

The following day, the warriors managed to get out of the forest and started walking south. Both were unshure why they walked south but it was one of the few options they had. As the evening fell, the two stopped to take some rest. They prepared the two rabbits that they had killed during the day and started eating the meat.
While they kept chatting, Cochise moved his hand to silent his new friend. He grabbed his bow and arrow and as he aimed it, a man appeared. The man had black hair, a black mustache, chainmail armour and he a curved blade on his side. In his hands was a strange object. 'Keep it cool' He said to the Apache.
The two warriors were unshure of the device in the hands of the man and simply listened to what the man said. 'You don't have to be hostile' Saladin spoke. 'Sit down and eat with us.'

Vlad Tepes kept the two warriors at gunpoint as he walked towards them. 'Eat with you?' He spoke as he gave a better look at the two. Then he suddenly saw something shocking. 'Eat with a turk?' he spoke loudly. 'A filthy stinking Turk. No way I am going to sit next to a Turk.' Both Saladin and Cochise looked confused by such a language. 'I am not shure what problems you have with me, but we must set our differences aside and work together if we want to escape this.' The sultan spoke as he and the native rose.
I prefer to be alone then to have you with me.' Vlad spoke directly to Saladin. 'I can find my way out of here alone and I do not help from anybody.' he finished. 'Then leave and let us be'  Cochise spoke, defending his new friend. Both Saladin and Cochise reached for their weapons as they observed the moves of the newly arrived man.
The prince of Wallachia considered shooting the Turk but he could fire only once and the other guy would attack him. Of that, Vlad was shure.
'I am off' Vlad spoke as he turned around to walk away. 'But you will get yourself killed. Why so stubborn? Join us and...' The American spoke, trying to convince the man to join them. The comment was to deaf ears. Vlad walked away without turning around. There was no way he would work together with a Turk. He only regretted not being able to kill the Turk on the spot.

Chapter 3: Attack!

The blade barely missed and Saladin was away before his opponent could give a good second strike. The two men eyed each other with deadly glares and before anyone could tell, Saladin was on the attack. the first blow with his curved sword was aimed at the head of his opponent but the man could block the attack easy. Saladin then used his crossguard to push the weapon of the opponent away in order to cut the chest. The opponent was quick and stepped out of range with ease, only to have the tip of the blade against his throat. 'I...Give up' the young opponent spoke as he dropped his scimitar. 'Always be prepared for a sudden movement Al-Afdal. And always keep your guard up. You will be sultan one day and you need to be the best. Show that you are powerfull and your people will obey. Show that you are cunning yet respectful, your people will treasure you. Remember that.' 'Yes Father' the young fighter spoke. He had heard this speech many times now and altough it was getting to the point that it got annoying, Al-Afdal knew his father was right. There was a reason why the sultan was favoured by his people and was both feared and respected by his enemies.
'Now go and take a refreshment' Saladin spoke to his son. 'After you are done, come here with your axe. The Turkish axe is a very important weapon to master.' The Sultan spoke why he wiped off some dust that had gotten on his chainmail armour.
As the young man left, Saladin walked into his royal tent and sat down on some cushions. He took off his helmet and noticed a servant walking towards him.
'My lord' The servant began. 'The magical stone that king Richard promised you has finally arrived. He also warns you that the stone is very dangerous and should be handled with caution.' After the servant had spoken,  Saladin took the green crystal. The crystal felt odd in his hand and he knew that this crystal was special.
The most important man of Arabia took his turkish axe from the weapon rack and said to the servant to put the helmet on again.
As Saladin moved to put the crystal away, it suddenly turned red. The muslim studied this strange occurance for a moment when a sudden light hit him.

As he woke up, Saladin noticed that he somehow had gotten into a stack of hay. The man stood up and looked around. This was not the garden of his palace, this did not even feel like Arabia.
This placed looked like a farm, but different, with strange steel machines.
The Muslim warrior checked his armour and scimitar, finding everything in order. Next to the warrior lay the turkish axe, Saladin took it from the ground and tied it to his belt. It was time for exploring.

As Saladin entered the farmhouse, he saw that the house was a mess. With tables turned, stuff on the ground and blood everywhere. 'By Allah, what has happened here' the man spoke out loud. He continued to investigate the  house and walked up the stairs. 'Hello' he yelled when he saw an old woman standing by the window. 'What happened here?' he asked.
The woman did not speak as she walked towards the muslim. She had a ripped dress, loose grey hair and an unhealthy look over her. Blood was everywhere.
Before he could speak again, Saladin jumped away as the woman tried to slash him with her nails, only hitting the helmet. Seeing that talking would not help, Saladin drew his sword and slashed the woman in the throat. To his amazement, the woman kept attacking. 'What kind of demon are you'  he asked, with the only answer being a low growl. Saladin stepped away from the woman and grabbed a chair. He threw the chair at the woman and kicked her away.
The warrior ran down the stairs to escape the demonic woman, only to encounter a man downstairs who looked the same as the woman and was holding a shovel. Saladin blocked a blow with his sword and pushed the shovel away. He then moved to decapitate the man. He knew that attacking probably would not help but this way, he might have time to escape. As the head fell off, Saladin noticed that the man stayed down. Thinking that beheading was the way to attack these things, hands grabbed him and threw him against a table. The sword fell from his hands and his axe poked him hard in the side. The woman was nearing the muslim leader again, who stood up, took his turkish axe and slashed at the hand of the woman. Cutting the hand off, Saladin moved forward to decapitate the woman, in which he succeeded. After making shure that the woman would not move again, he took his scimitar from the ground again and walked outside.


The trio of Ramses, Pete and Thuli were walking into a deserted town now. A lot of strange houses and even more strange machines stood at the side of the road. They had encountered no new monsters and the three men had no clue on what to do. 'We have to find other people that are still alive' Ramses spoke. 'Fuck the others. We have to get out of here as soon as possible' Pete spoke his mind. The always silent Thuli spoke with a thoughtfull mind. 'We do not know where we are and we must assume that we are in danger everywhere. Finding others is the most usefull thing to do.' With two against one, Pete had to agree and the trio continued their journey. As they walked on, the evening fell and the three men heard sounds of fighting. Running towards the sounds, they saw two men fighting. One was holding a sword while the other hovered in the air and used his hands to battle. It looked like the man with the sword was losing. 'Hey, what is going on here?' The pharaoh yelled. Both of the fighters looked up and a few seconds later, the man with the sword got thrown against one of the strange machines on wheels.
The other fighter walked up to the trio and as he came near, they saw a very ugly face that could not be of a normal human being. His hands looked more like claws, with sharp nails and his clothing looked like nothing the ancient warriors had ever seen.

Pete started the fight by firing his blunderbuss, aiming at the strange man. Like with the other monsters, the weapon did nothing and the stranger grabbed the pirate to throw him against Thuli. The monster smiled, revealing some pointed hookteeth.
Ramses had his kopesh in hand and as soon as the monster attacked him, he slashed back, hitting the hand of the monster. The monster screamed angry and in pain. He flew in the air to dodge another attack and kicked Ramses against the head. The Egyptian fell on the ground, his head hurting like hell as Pete and Thuli attacked with their melee weapons. Pete tried to cut the monster with his cutlass without any effect while Thuli sneaked up from behind with his obsidian knife. The attack worked and the Aztec was able to put the tecpatl in the neck of the vampire. The angry vampire yelled out in pain, turned around and slashed the Jaguar in the chest, ripping the cotton armour. The vampire then proceeded to throw Thuli against Pete. The vampire took the the Aztec knife out of his neck with an angry look and threw it on the ground.
The trio surrounded the vampire when a fog appeared out of nowhere, making it hard for the warriors to see anything. Thuli got grabbed from behind and as he yelled and kicked backwards, he flew against a wall. Ramses was next to spot the vampire. The angry Egyptian tried to attack the vampire again but as he swung his sword, the monster grabbed his swordhand and and forced the sword out of the hand. The monster lifted Ramses up in the air and before the pharoah could be thrown on the ground. A blade slashed the vampire in the back. The monster dropped his victim in suprise and looked backwards. He saw the man that he had been beating up earlier and was holding two swords now. A long slightly curved sword and a shorter straight one.
The warrior attacked the vampire again, who grabbed the kopesh that was lying on the ground. Blocking two attacks, the monster failed to block a stab with the short sword and it hit the vampire in the stumach. The fourth warrior pulled the sword out and was suprised that the monster was able to move still, even though blood dripped out of several wounds. The vampire slashed the left arm of the warrior and kicked the warrior in the groin. The warrior fell on the ground as the vampire walked up to the Pirate captain. 'Comon mate. Can't we make a deal? I'l leave you alone, I give you a lot of gold.' Pete stuttered as the vampire came near. 'I do not need your gold' it hissed. And before Pete could attack, the vampire grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him.

The face of Pete turned red and just as it looked like the pirate would die, Thuli jumped on the back of the monster. The monster released Pete and used its elbows to force the Aztec on the ground. The pirate suddenly yelled something at the vampire and threw a black ball at him. The vampire catched it as Thuli rolled away. Seconds later, the grenado exploded in the hand of the vampire, ripping the arms off the vampire and burning him. The vampire lay on the ground now, armless and with burns everywhere. The strange warrior lifted up his long curved sword and impaled the heart of the vampire with it. The vampire did not move again and the exhausted warriors collapsed on the ground, tired and in pain.

'My name is Myamoto Musashi. I am a Ronon samurai.' The warrior spoke as they all sat on the ground in one of the houses. 'Welkom Myamoto. I am Ramses II, i am the pharaoh of Egypt. Then we have Pete, who is a pirate..' 'Captain' Pete interrupted Ramses who was introducing everyone.
'This here is Thuli. He is an Aztec Jaguar.' the Egyptian finished. As everybody was introduced, they started talking about how they came to this place.
First was Ramses, then Thuli told his story, followed by Pete and finally Myamoto began to speak. 'As with you all, it started with the strange crystal. I just had fought a duel and as i allowed my opponent to live, he gave me a green crystal. As I returned home, it turned red and I found myself here. I started searching the houses when i encountered that creature. It called itself vampire i believe.'
'Talking about that thing, what did you throw at it pete?' Came the question of Thuli. 'Grenado. gunpowder in a ball and highly effective.' Spoke the pirate.
They all talked more, untill each of them fell asleep.


Somewhere else, three different warriors walked down a long road. These warriors consisted of the Mongolian ruler Genghis kahn, The Templar Knight named Ardo and the Shaolin monk who went by the name of Shang. They had been walking all day and had not been able to find anyone living in these parts.
The night had fallen for a few hours now and the compagnions were lost, well as far as you can call it lost when you don't even know where you are travel goes.
Suddenly, a light appeared and when the light dissolved, a man lay on the ground.
The man had a light skin, brown hair and a small beard. He was wearing some cloth around his waist and upper legs and he wore armour that protected his right arm and shouler. Next to the man lay a small shield and a very curved sword.
'My head' the man complained as he opened his eyes. 'Who are you, where am I, where is the battle?' The man asked after he saw the trio standing in front of him. 'Are you okay?' the always polite monk asked him. 'Yeah, what is happening?' the returnquestion came. It was again the Shaolin who answered the question: 'We are not that shure what is happening. For what we can gather, we are all stranded in this strange world by means of a magical crystal. This world is home to a strange humanlike creature that cannot be killed by any of our weapons.' 'The crystal' the man moaned. He reached for a small pack and took the green crystal out. 'We were fighting those Roman assholes when i picked up that thing from a dead Roman. Next thing I know, I'm here. 'And who are you' Genghis asked.
'You can call me Spartacus' the man spoke with a soft smile. 'How about you guys?'
The others introduced themselfs and they started to talk with each other.

The morning thereafter, the small group of four made its way to small lake that Shang had spotted. Finally arriving at the lake, each man started to drink some water, not knowing that something lurked in the shadows. after each man had drunk the filthy water, each man started doing something for himself.
Shang began practising kata's, while Ardo stuck his sword in the ground, kneeled before it and started praying.
Genghis took a small nap and the newcomer Spartacus trained his body like he was used to. Even though the group was stranded on an unknown world, it was time to relax.
A loud growl could be heard and the amazed warriors saw how two strange wolves were running towards them.
The wolves were much bigger then normal wolves would be, the size of a human being. The wolves had dangerous claws, big teeth and a great speed. The warriors waited in confusion, untill Genghis took the lead. 'Attack!' he yelled as he loosened an arrow from his bow. The arrow missed the fast monster and a rock hit the other monster in the chest without much effect. Spartacus was reloading his sling already to throw another one. He and Genghis fired their projectiles again with the arrow being lodged in the arm of one of the wolves and the stone hit the same wolf in the face, knocking him back.
The other wolf was almost on top of the two warriors as Ardo intercepted him and used his sword and shield to attack this menace. The werewolf was not easily pushed away and jumped on the templar, forcing him backwards and making him lose his sword. The creature clawed at the knight and before it could get an opening, a staff hit the monster on the back of the head. The werewolf looked up and saw another opponent in front of him. His primitive brain said to attack the one who attacked him last and it jumped at the Shaolin. Shang managed to avoid a collision with the beast and grabbed the twin hooks that he had carried with him the whole time. Ardo too raised up and grabbed the flail that he had been carrying with him.

The other werewolf was fighting both Genghis kahn and Spartacus. Genghis had his Mongolian sabre while spartacus used a combination of Sica sword and the parmanta shield. Genghis attacked with a slash, only for the beast to avoid it. Spartacus came in from behind and managed to slash the monster across the back, leaving a bloody trail from the right shoulder to the left leg. the beast got angry and tried to bite the Thracian.
It was Genghis this time that managed to hit the beast in the leg but was kicked in the side with the same leg soon after. The beast cried in pain because of the wounded leg and pushed the gladiator away with a simple push to jump on Genghis.

On the other side was Shang in a destructive duel with the other werewolf. Shang had his two hookswords to counter the claws of the opponent. Ardo had been thrown into the lake moments before and tried to get out of it to aid the monk in the battle. One of the hookswords got lost on the ground while the other hit the werewolf on the shoulder. The monster moved away and grabbed the Shaolin by the throat. The free hand of Shang moved to his last and concealed weapon.