Olympus Rising

Rai’s visions gleamed with the silvery gimmer of blood as she shifted through what used to be a rural home in the upstate New York countryside. Pulling brick from debris and trying to make sense of what she was looking at. The family of five inside were sadly unrecognizable to her, however one sight did spark a bit of interest to her. The shape of an unstained crib, the only thing in the house not coated in silver. It wasn’t crushed or covered in the shambles of the house like everything else and was still slightly warm to the touch, perhaps there was still time to salvage something of this?

Letting the glass horse slip from her fingers Grimora comes thundering into existence with the usual hellish squeal and stamping of hooves would come to expect. The horseman grabs hold of his bridle and leads him to the crib as he takes a few deep whiffs of the bedding.
“Trusting you here. Find them.”

With a hefty snort, Rai hauls herself into the saddle and drops the reins, letting the horse have it’s freedom to follow at a breakneck speed.


Xxxx

In the woods a campfire blazes with a small party of little green ghouls. Two worked on weaving what looked to be a sheet of grasses and tree bark with threads of animal gut and fiber. Another clutched a wailing baby, jostling it every so often in irritation to try to make it quiet down. They yammered back and forth in some clicking language, in what seemed like an argument.


Heavy footsteps brought a silence over the ghouls as the one gripping the baby scramble to set it upon the half-finished sheet by the fire and backing away with a nervous chatter as a huge green beast carries itself through the forests. It was a large as two men with two cloven goat hooves. It’s skin looked like that of a pallaid frog, green and oozing with a foul stench. His fat body stretched it’s skin thin and with each tear spilt the foul bile it seeped on the ground with a corrosive sizzle. It’s face was gaunt, sunken in eyes and a saber toothed maw permanently agape as if melting off it’s face and horns spiraling in an insult to the heavens. The lumbering oaf grumbles something to the ghouls as they step further back from the makeshift altar. The devil eyes it’s prey with great greed, kneeling to take it’s squealing offering.


Only moments before lazying a bubbling finger on the child did the beast find it severed from it’s arm, falling to the ground as the brown ooze spilled from the stump.It looks up in time only to see a horseman barreling at it, other scythe lowered in the perfect position to take it’s head clean off. The ghouls squeal in rage and fear, two taking off running and the third diving for the offering they worked so hard to steal, A feat which earned it a hoof through the back as Rai pulls grimmorah back to settle his weight whilst drawing her bow in the ensuing chaos. A loosed arrow staking itself down into the back of the whelp and a ghostly tether dragging it behind Rai as she gives chase to the remaining demon.

It barely made it a hundred yards before finding itself ridden down and a glowing scythe cleaving it’s way through it’s spine. Satisfied with the quick dispatch of the ghouls Rai leaps from her saddle, moving back to check on the tiny human. It’s screams growing ragged from voice loss as it writhes.

“Um. I-” Rai panics, hesitantly coddling it in her arms in a clumsy manner, not really sure about where to put her hands or where to support. Then a very real fear hits her undead mind, what if she accidentally dropped the poor thing? She sits herself on the ground rather than risk this but finds herself still at a loss. How was she supposed to stop it from making noise? It was so scared it’s soul was fluttering like a trapped rabbit. “I- It’s okay. I… I don’t know what I can do for you but…” Her accent is thick with nervousness, but the child only continues to cry. “Please don’t cry, tiny thing.” She begs, as if bargaining with it.

She was as good as they say.

Katrina wasn’t surprised, her network was always reliable, but it really didn’t do her justice. Her trained eyes, enhanced by invisible cybernetics, zeroed in on her, following her graceful movement, belaying the power and strength behind them. The grotesque creatures were slaughtered mercilessly, without quarter given, as is expected of someone who calls themselves a Reaver. While she didn’t expect a warhorse to mysteriously appear, it was well within parameters, and thus Katrina wasn’t too surprised.

The true test, though, was left in the cradle; would Rai leave the child to suffer, or would she attempt to console it? Katrina could have intervened at any point - these creatures would be no match for her, and she trailed the child since it was taken - but that wasn’t the point of this exercise. She needed to determine if Rai was a fit for the Blackguard, and this was the perfect opportunity. She watched with baited breath as the pale woman approached the child, and … Katrina’s eyes widened infinitesimally, hand tightening on the bark of the tree that served as her perch. She collapsed to the ground, wearing an expression that suggested she was panicking. Not a lot of experience with children, then. It was about time to rescue her.

”Rai, from Dis. I am glad to see the rumors did you justice.”

The voice came from the shadows as Katrina dropped as lightly as a feather, even the crinkling leaves betraying nothing from her petite frame. Picking her way amongst the clearing like an animated shadow, she came to a stop in front of the pale reaver, eyes like glistening sapphires above black mask and an outfit maximized for mobility. For a second, she said nothing more, merely reached down and pulled the child from her grasp, shushing it as she bounced it in her arms. From within one of the pockets of the utility belt at her hip, on which hung multiple weapons, she pulled an fully-made bottle, still warm to the touch, and slipped it between the lips of the infant.

”I have associates ready to take this child to a home. A lovely couple in downtown New York. She shall never want for anything. And then, Rai from Dis, we shall talk.”

As if on cue, figures merged out of the shadows, cloaked head to toe in camouflage, and took the child from her arms before disappearing again into the surrounding shadows. Katrina, now free of the weight in her arms, pulled her mask down from around her face, her pretty features at odds with the steel and severity of her stare. There was no emotion on her face, a china doll animated by invisible strings.

”First, proper introductions. I am Katrina Russel. I lead Olympus. And what is your name? Your proper name? I do not abide by nicknames.”

Rai was far too preoccupied to even notice the approach of human souls moving around her. She was too busy bargaining with a terrified baby and holding it in the most incorrect manner one could think of. This was the first interaction she’d ever had with a baby and so far… it was not going over well. She’d about jumped out of her skin at the sound of approach, reaching for a scythe with one hand before she’d realized it wasn’t round two.

She slinks back, quickly changing from the definition of aggressive to complete docility, handing the child over as quickly as she humanly could. Rai couldn’t help but sigh in relief when the crying did finally stop. “There were rumors?” The reaver asks, stress causing her accent to grow stronger to the point it almost didn’t even sound like english.

She watches as Katrina hands the kid over to another human and they head off, but even as they go stealth, her eyes still follow their movements until they are very much gone from the area. “I am Sa’Rai Osggho’l.” Rai states bluntly as Katrina did ask for a full name. “Humans call me Rai because it is easier to pronounce in human tongue.”

Her mind was working the best it could but she couldn’t not ask. “What is Ah-limp-as.” She asks, accent breaking the unfamiliar word up.

Though her face didn’t betray any surprise at the complexity of her name, there was a slight tightness in her eyes as she struggled to remember it; it wasn’t an easy one, even for someone with the almost-savant tendency to remember names and details of everyone she meets, odd syllables rarely, if ever, used in a human tongue. Still, Katrina was determined to remember it, if only out of sheer stubbornness; if she could speak to literal hags and demons by their first name, this girl wasn’t going to defeat her.

”There are always rumors.”

Her voice was soft and melodic, quite unlike the dangerous-looking attire she wore, and a far sight from when she had spoken mere moments before, announcing her presence. It was more relaxed, a sign that she was willing to trust Rai, though her sparkling blue eyes never once left her. She didn’t even seem to blink.

”Especially when it concerns those of us with powers beyond mortal ken.”

Out of curiosity, Katrina crossed to the altar, examining it; to her untrained eye, it didn’t have any particular signs of malovenance, but she knew Alexander would want to take a look. Writing a mental note, she turned back towards Rai. It seems Katrina wasn’t the only one struggling with pronunciation; apparently, Olympus was an unfamiliar word in Rai’s vocabulary. Watching her sound it out was, quite frankly, adorable; hell, if Katrina were ten years younger, she would even describe it as attractive. Hiding her amusement, Katrina slowly nodded, once.

Before she spoke, she slowly pulled down the black mask covering the lower half of her face. The mask bundled on her neck, letting Rai see her face for the first time, illuminated by a single beam of moonlight piercing through the branches. Her lips wore a sardonic pout, a quite familiar expression on her face. As if in answer to her question, she spread her arms in front of her, palms facing the ground. Wisps of white energy spiraled around her wrists, and then like clouds on a sunny day, shot up her arm and coalesced around her head, forming long, wispy structures that would look similar to the ears of a rabbit.

Almost as soon as the ears formed, Katrina clenched her fist, and the ground immediately around was suddenly smooth, as if squashed flat by the hand of a giant. Then, as if controlled by the minute movements of her delicate fingers, it began to warp, forming the busts of six individuals, hers amongst them. Around them, like watching a simulation of a battle, warriors faced demons and monsters, vanquishing creature after creature. It was a story of impossible odds, humans pitted against beings from the darkest nightmares, but it was one in which the humans prevailed.

”Olympus is the last hope of humanity, Sa’rai.” Though her accent was thick, she pronounced her full name in a passable imitation of how she was introduced, or so Katrina thought; one could never be sure, however, and would have to judge her reaction before trying again. But she couldn’t worried about this right now; Katrina sensed they were at a vital point.

If she didn’t sell Rai on Olympus now, she’d be lost to them forever.

”We stand for the light against the darkness, a bulwark between the things that crawl in the dark. Peace and humanity are our only goals, and preserving both is done, no matter the cost.”

Though overly simplified, that was her mission statement; to ensure peace is sown in this world, no matter who has to die for it to be achieved. As she spoke, her fingers moved again, and the busts of the six and the simulated armies faded, replaced by a symbol taller than either of them, of a five pointed star behind a black shield. It was the symbol for Olympus.

Seemed as though Katrina’s facial expressions fell lost upon the reaver as she didn’t so much as acknowledge the social cues going on. Her attention instead turned to the altar made of scraped mud and stone all topped off with evergreen needles. A crude thing really. “Its a MithBez’.” She states flatly, the words falling off the tongue with a bit of a vengeful drip. “Ghouls make it to try and call in a larger demon to serve. Looks like this one earned them a Hezrou. Dangerous demon to acquire servants.” Hezrous were pretty rare in Dis, they weren’t anything super strong considering Dis’s standards. More often than not they kept to themselves as not to compete with bigger and meaner devils. However in this world they were a bit more abundant and could become a bit of a problem if allowed to continue on multiplying. She chalked this up to just lack of predation by reavers.


Rai didn’t even seem to catch the face reveal, rather her eyes going right to the wisps of energy wrapping around her, however as it expanded into pictures a halo around Rai refused to form. It pushed away from her, resulting in just static in a three foot loop. Meanwhile, she could still see the manufactured carnage, recognizing what she was trying to portray. “Humans are in danger in this world too, then?” It seemed almost like complete news to her. The chaos and destruction of constant hell was nowhere near as constant as it was in Dis. It almost seemed like the demons were much more covert on this plane.

“And you think I can help with this?” She asks incredulously, not seeing what such a noble organization would want with just one little reaver. Reavers weren’t really seen as valuable until there were at least fifty or so of them or if they earned their white cloak. “If demons are the problem, I can help. However, I am not useful for much else.” She shifts, the edge of the emblem shattering away from her as the oppressive energy a reaver gave off shoves it away like a wraith.

”Humans are weak. The vast majority lack the ability to even see the monsters that lurk in the dark, but that does not prevent their deaths. That is part of the job I wish to do; protect humanity from the threats they do not know exist.”

She had relaxed a bit as she spoke, leaning against a fallen tree. Being the billionaire leader of an extranational organization left very few opportunities to relax and enjoy herself, which is perhaps why she found herself taking her time on these scouting missions. As much as The Summit would like to argue with her, she was the only one who could complete these duties, as only she knew what they were looking for. The others would fail at finding the right people for the task, they wouldn’t see what she sees, like the lost Reaper from a world on the brink of destruction that needs guidance and a friend.

She felt as the magic lost its form around Rai; an unexpected, but not altogether unwelcome, effect. Must be some effect of whatever magic she possessed. Katrina wasn’t bothered; it appeared that Rai understood the message she attempted to convey, though her incredulousness led Katrina to a slight chuckle.

”You slay demons that would stimmy the efforts of accomplished heroes and chase after a baby in the night with caution thrown so far to the wind, it may as well not even exist, and yet you do not think you are worthy? Sa’Rai-” She did not struggle with the pronunciation, Katrina was no stranger to foreign words, magical or otherwise. “You are quite possibly the most worthy individual I have yet to meet. All you see is darkness, and yet you still strive to fight for the light. A lesser individual would fall, but you not only stand, you act as a pillar for others threatening to be consumed by shadow. You do not think you are worthy? I think you are nothing but.”

Her little speech was spoken with eloquence and grace, an energy of authority and pure conviction radiating off the slight woman. There was no shadow of doubt that she believed every word she said.

“And there is never a shortage of demons.”