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.