Eli emerged from the portal into a new realm alongside Naz, Zee, and Isla. After their post-sparring recreational activities they’d received a messenger from Ares, asking them to ‘keep the party visiting the front lines to a maximum of 4 people’, citing the fact that he ‘didn’t want the real soldiers to be distracted by protecting so many weaklings’. Refusing to let the god of war get a rise out of him, Eli calmly accepted the terms and peppered the messenger with questions before debating with his inner circle of lovers and confidants over who should go with him.
In the end he’d chosen his team for their mix of firepower, military acumen, and speed – his objective was to get in, assess the situation, then leave as soon as possible.
As his women cleared the portal behind him Eli stepped to the side before taking a moment to assess the area they’d emerged into. Even though he hadn’t spent much time around them, to Eli there was no mistaking it for anything but a military base: soldiers moved crisply between squat concrete buildings laid out in a row, flying creatures darted in and out of a nearby supply depot filled with magical weapons and armour, and a thick wall with manned guard towers encircled the encampment – one which Eli could see was inscribed with enchantments. As he continued his scan he caught sight of Ares barking orders at a terrified-looking group of soldiers before charging towards the main gate, leaping over it before it could open for him.
“Asshat.” Eli said under his breath.
Somewhat surprisingly, they didn’t look out of place in the military base either. Zee and Naz were both wearing a mix of modern body armour and medieval plate with bandoliers of potions strapped to them, and several pieces of their ensemble bore protective enchantments. Naz had an enormous axe strapped to her back, and Zee was armed with a trio of weapons: a pair of short swords and an oversized pistol with extra rounds strapped to her back. Even Isla had chosen to forgo her usual toga in favor of a pair of military-style fatigues – ones that seemed to cling desperately to her every curve.
For his part, Eli donned a specialized superhero-esque suit gifted to him by Aratessa. The black spandex-like material was stretchy enough that it would fit him even in his orcish form, and the boots were segmented in a way that they could grow and shrink with him. While it looked deceptively thin, the material was strong enough that it would hold up against glancing strikes from blades and arrows.
Not that I’d like to test the theory. Eli thought to himself before adjusting the hammer held securely to his back. But we’ve prepared for that contingency just in case.
“Royal Blood?” A voice said from nearby in perfect, almost robotic-sounding Elvish.
Eli turned to see an insectoid man approaching him. “That’s me. I’m Eli Grayson.”
He held his hand out for the man to shake, doing his best not to stare at his alien appearance. It was difficult – this was the first time he got a good look at the insectoid race up close, and to him they were equal parts fascinating and horrifying. While the man was bipedal with human-like appendages, he possessed a tough-looking green exoskeleton instead of skin. His triangular face looked like that of a preying mantis, with large black eyes on either side and a pair of antennae sprouting from his forehead between them. He wore a blue tunic with cutouts for his wings, and around his hips sat a belt – one that featured a crossbow, a short sword, and what looked like a telescope.
Acridari. Eli thought, mentally recalling the name for the race – one he’d learned from Minerva the previous night.
His mandibles clicked together softly as he extended his own hand, shaking Eli’s. “My name is Tzhexil. My squadron will be escorting you today.”
“Thank you. This is Isla, Naz, and Zee.” Eli said, nodding to each of them in turn.
“Understood.” Tzhexil replied, his tone professional and businesslike. “If you’ll come with me, we’re just getting ready to depart.”
As they followed the man away from the main gates Zee’s military training took over. “Can you give us the rundown? What are your mission parameters, what is the status of the enemy forces?”
Tzhexil looked back at her for a moment before replying. “Are you a soldier?”
“Yes.” Zee replied.
“Good. We could use more of you.” Tzhexil replied before answering her questions. “We’re about 20 minutes from the front line – an Acridari colony that’s been partially taken over by Titan forces. They caught us by surprise here when they opened the portal and took a lot of prisoners, which is why we haven’t dropped the hammer on them yet. They haven’t pressed the attack though, so we think they’re consolidating their gains and opening up more portals to summon reinforcements.”
“Shit.” Zee swore.
“Fucking right.” Tzhexil replied before looking at Eli. “My apologies for my casual tone, Royal Blood. Out here we don’t have time to stand on ceremony.”
Eli waved him off. “Not a problem for me. Continue your report.”
“Our job is to figure out where the infiltration teams can make an entrance without being seen. We’re not expecting much resistance, but…” He trailed off with a surprisingly human shrug.
Eli nodded grimly. “But we should expect the unexpected. Got it.”
“What are your armaments like? Your communications protocols? Heavy weapons?”
“We’re armed with what we can carry.” Tzhexil responded, gesturing to his belt. “As for communications, some squads have spellcasters who can use magic to communicate over long distances. Our squad is not one of them, unfortunately.” He paused. “I’m not sure what you mean by heavy weapons.”
“Plastic explosives? Artillery? Long-range missiles?” Zee pressed.
“I don’t know what those are.” Tzhexil admitted.
“Great.” Zee said sarcastically.
“In fairness, those require supply chains.” Eli reminded her. “Ones which they probably don’t have set up.”
“I guess it’s easy to forget how behind their military technology might be, given how easily they compensate for it in other areas.” Zee admitted. “Their medicine, sanitation, housing… all of it is on par with Earth technology. Except for military applications.”
“They’ve been cut off from Earth for awhile.” Eli reasoned. “Military technology moves pretty quickly. They’ve probably missed some significant advancements.”
“At least we’ll have something we can arm them with when we establish a trade route between Olympus and Earth.” Zee nodded. “If they’ve been holding off the Titan forces with magic and steel alone, I bet we could turn the tide with modern weaponry. Or at least save some of their lives.”
“That’s assuming Athena was telling the truth.” Naz reminded both of them.
Tzhexil stopped abruptly, turning to them as a dozen other Acridari soldiers moved closer. “We’re here. Are you ready?”
“We’re not… going out the front gate?” Eli said, looking around at the open field.
“Were you not told?” Tzhexil asked as a pair of grasshopper-like wings erupted from his back. “We’re an aerial reconnaissance squad.”
“No.” Eli responded.
“Is that going to be an issue?” He asked as the rest of his squad unfurled their wings.
“No.” Isla interjected before triggering her transformation into her draconic form.
Eli, Naz, Zee, and Tzhexil each had to move backwards as she grew to her size – over 50 feet long, with the wingspan of a large airplane. Sharp grey spikes erupted from her back, and her hands and feet turned into razor-sharp talons. Her ginger hair turned flaming red before melding into scales along her neck, and the top of her head sprouted a pair of long white horns.
“Think you can carry all of us? I’d rather stick together.” He said.
She nodded slowly, lowering her head enough that the three of them could climb onto her back. They carefully clambered aboard, seating themselves between her back spikes with Zee at the front, Eli in the middle, and Naz at the back. After making sure the other two women were ready Eli gripped the spike in front of him tightly before tapping twice on Isla’s side.
“We’re ready! Take us up!” He shouted.
With an enormous flap of her wings, they were quickly airborne. They were soon joined by Tzhexil and his squad, and together they took off towards the front line. As they soared Eli looked down, getting his first real view of the battleground realm.
He almost regretted it.
From his questioning of Ares’ messenger the previous night he knew that the realm was made up of islands of rock floating above a never-ending abyss of clouds. He knew that the islands had been floating there since time immemorial, and that they weren’t at risk of falling. He knew that the fact that there were relatively few safe places to open portals in this realm was part of why it was such an important battleground for the war effort – it meant that the Titans couldn’t just swarm the Royal Bloods’ allies with superior numbers, and instead had to slowly hop from one island to another in order to conquer the realm. More than all of that, he knew that if anything went wrong he could just take his phoenix form and fly to safety.
It still made him queasy to look down, though.
Thankfully for him, Isla’s enormous wings made the flight a steady one. He leaned into the wind as best he could, glancing at other faraway floating islands as he scanned for potential threats. After a few minutes of vigilance he didn’t find any, but he was rewarded with his first glimpse of their destination.
Ahead of them was what could only be described as a floating mountain. Its diamond shape was easily two miles from one end to the other, with the center bulging outwards to form a flat ring around it. As they neared it Eli saw that there were clusters of buildings interspersed between the forests and plains that covered the island’s surface. His heart dropped when he realized that many of the buildings were actually destroyed, and small fires were burning across the mountain.
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“Look, there!” Zee shouted as she pointed.
Isla slowed her pace somewhat, allowing Eli to see what she was pointing at. It wasn’t hard to find - green and purple lights flashed from underneath the canopy of trees, with an errant spell escaping into the sky every so often. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tzhexil withdraw his small telescope, peering intently at the source of the lights.
Eli waved him over as he put the small device down, beckoning him closer so they could talk. “What do you think?”
“Hard to say.” Tzhexil replied. “Definitely a skirmish, but I can’t tell how many are involved from here.”
“Shouldn’t we help them?” Eli asked.
“Not our mission.” Tzhexil said. “We need to complete our circuit of the mountain and report back or else Ares will have my head on a stake by tomorrow.”
Eli did his best to dismiss the visual. “Wouldn’t the intel be more valuable if you knew how many people were fighting and who was winning?”
“Not if we die before we make it back.” He paused. “Why, what are you thinking?”
“I want a closer look.” Eli said, causing both Zee and Naz to look at him incredulously. “How long will your circuit of the mountain take?”
“10 minutes, maximum. But there’ll be another recon flight in 4 hours – I’ll be leading that one too, assuming I don’t die first.”
Eli chuckled darkly. “Alright. If you don’t see us on your next flight, raise the alarm and let my people know that we need support.”
“Understood, Royal Blood.” Tzhexil said before thumping his fist against his chest in a salute. “Good hunting.”
Eli watched them go before tapping Isla twice on the side. “Take us in babe. Land us at a safe distance.”
She grunted in reply, angling her wings towards the floating mountain. Wind whipped by their faces, and in less than 2 minutes they were skimming just above a field with long yellow grasses. Eli’s eyes never left the flashing lights less than 500 yards away, and as they neared he could hear the distinct sounds of battle.
When Isla flared her wings and landed with a thump, Eli quickly dismounted before being joined by Naz and Zee. They each took a moment to silently check their equipment as Isla triggered her transformation back into her human-like form. By the time she was their size again the 3 of them were ready to move.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Zee asked, locking eyes with him.
“We came to see the Titan forces first-hand.” Eli replied. “We can’t do that from the sky.”
“I understand that, just…this is a war zone.” Zee said. “I know you’ve been in fights before, but a war zone is different. It’s going to be dangerous.”
Eli considered her words. “Tell you what – you scout ahead, with your mirage up. If you decide it’s too dangerous, then we’ll fall back. Deal?”
“Deal.” She said before casting her spell.
“Qarn al-Dhilat!”
Her form disappeared entirely, replaced by a faint outline in the shape of her body. He waited a full 30 seconds before moving in after her, leading the other two forward so they were enveloped completely in the grasses. The cries of pain and shouts of incantations became louder as they neared, causing Eli’s adrenaline to spike in anticipation.
“We’ve got a situation.” Zee said quietly over the radio, causing them to stop.
“Talk to me.” Eli replied.
“I’ve found a small group of Acridari soldiers. They’re hemmed in against a stone outcropping, and they’ve got wounded. The Titan forces have them encircled, and I don’t think the survivors are going to last much longer.”
Eli gripped his hammer tightly. “Can we take them?”
“No idea.”
He rolled his shoulders before triggering a transformation into his orcish form. “Let’s go find out.”
Almost instantly, Eli added another 3 feet to his height – to the point where he could almost see over the tops of the high grasses. His skin turned green and bulged with muscle, and long tusks erupted from his bottom lip to give him a sizable underbite. Thankfully his new outfit worked as advertised, stretching to accommodate his increased mass.
He rolled his shoulders before beginning to jog towards the action, allowing Naz and Isla to keep pace. His jog turned into a full-on run when he emerged from the grasses into the forest, catching sight of the ranks of 3-foot tall, black-hooded soldiers that formed a tight ring around the few remaining Acridari who were standing. Knowing he’d only have the element of surprise for a few more moments he pumped his legs, sprinting as fast as he could.
Time for a new trick. He thought to himself as he launched himself into the air while holding his hammer high above his head.
The Titan forces turned just in time to see the muscular green blur flying towards them, but not in time to avoid it. They chittered with terror as Eli brought his hammer down on one unlucky soldier, turning them into a fine paste in milliseconds. The hammer passed through them before the second part of the enchantment could even start to work, its mass and the force Eli used being enough to kill them instantly.
When the hammer hit the ground though, the second half of Eli’s enchantment triggered. The sudden change in gravity combined with the forces used was enough to expel a shockwave of force in all directions with the power equivalent to a grenade. It viciously tore apart the Titan soldiers closest to Eli, gravely injuring a dozen more and knocking three times that number off their feet.
“Holy shit.” Zee swore over the radio.
Eli grinned as he picked up the head of his hammer. “Yeah. That’ll do.”
After the moment of shock had passed, the remainder of the Titan forces fell on Eli like a wave. There were easily hundreds of them, but their relatively small frames and lack of proper weapons or armour meant that he was able to keep them at bay. Every swing of his hammer pulverized bodies, and he quickly found himself drenched in a layer of gore.
After what felt like several minutes Eli noted that Naz was off to his right, her enormous battle axe working almost as well as his hammer. Further away he saw fireballs land in the middle of the Titan ranks, announcing that Isla had joined the fray as well. He felt his mana reserves drop slightly several times as golden shields flared to life around his women, protecting them from errant attacks which slipped their guards.
But where is Zee? Eli thought for a moment before he saw a dozen Titan soldiers disappear into a swirling pool of quicksand. Oh. There she is.
Gradually, the soldiers around them started to put up a more organized resistance to the monsters in their midst. Dozens of black-clad figures carrying long spears surrounded him as he finished pulverizing yet another group of their comrades, atomizing them beyond all recognition in the blink of an eye. As they lowered their spears to form a defensive wall, ancestral orcish memories of defeating spear-wielding enemies bubbled to the surface – ones that Eli promptly ignored in favor of a different tactic.
“Ledyanaya ravnina! Ventilabis Retro!”
The pair of spells had an almost-comical effect. A field of pure ice appeared beneath Eli’s feet, expanding out in every direction and removing any sort of traction the soldiers possessed. Before they could find their footing though, the second spell – a shockwave of force – hit them, knocking them backwards onto their collective backsides.
With the threat of the spear-wall temporarily removed Eli leapt onto the group again and began hewing away with his hammer once more, his bulky frame heavy enough to break through the ice rather than slipping on it. It was far too easy for him to tear through their ranks, killing the last spearman almost by accident when he attempted to grab them by the lapel and instead punched straight through them. He instinctively pulled his hand back but that only served to bring the corpse closer, throwing back the creature’s hood and giving Eli his first good look at the enemy.
That’s… a rat. Eli thought to himself, stunned by the creature’s appearance.
Even though the creature was bipedal, its face looked almost identical to an Earthborn rat: a long snout ending in a pink nose, rodent-like ears, a mouth filled with sharp teeth, and grey fur covering its body. Its thin arms ended in paws with long fingers, and it wore no boots – leaving its clawed feet exposed to the elements. As Eli dropped the corpse he saw that it even possessed a long, whip-like tail underneath its black robes.
A flash of green light hitting him drew Eli out of his thoughts and back to the battle at hand. He grinned as several more weak spells hit him from a trio of spellcasters in the middle of the Titan’s ranks, their attempts to wound him only serving to bolster his mana reserves. As he watched them he noted that several soldiers around them were far larger than the average trooper – closer to his own, orcish height.
That’s probably whoever is leading this bunch. Eli thought to himself. Which makes them my next target.
Eager to end the engagement as quickly as possible, Eli summoned his mana again. He glanced around to make sure the enemy soldiers trying to approach him were still struggling with the ice field before deciding on his strategy. He waved his hands in a complex pattern and barked out a series of spells.
“Glacies Iaculatione! Ventilabis Retro! Glacies Iaculatione! Ventilabis Retro! Glacies Iaculatione! Ventilabis Retro!”
A trio of 4-foot long javelins made of ice appeared around Eli before darting towards their targets like a set of guided missiles. His aim was perfect, with each javelin punching a sizable hole through a spellcaster. When they fell to the ground a sudden silence settled over the enemy soldiers before they abruptly broke ranks and ran, chittering and squealing in terror as they retreated.
“I guess that means we won?” Zee said over the radio.
“Too easy.” Naz replied, also over the radio. “They didn’t even scratch my armour.”
“While they were many, they were weak.” Isla added. “No match for a dragon.”
Eli shrugged as he walked towards the Acridari soldiers. “Come on. Let’s go meet the folks we rescued.”
