Topic: The Long Road to RhyDin

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-14 19:01 EST
The Capital of Mambra al-Khish
Somewhere/when else
5 Years Ago

Khonsku ?Khon? Nijjar sat on the ruined steps of what had once been the Mage?s Parliament, and was now just another ruin. It had been shelled and blasted into little else but a pile of broken columns and a scatter of misshapen rock, sprinkled with countless shining points of glass. Khon took off his wide-brimmed oilskin hat and brushed the long dirty strands of black hair from his jade eyes to better view the ruins of Parliament. It was a happy sight.

Not far away, his comrades were cheering.

Victory, they cried. Freedom, they roared. Khon allowed himself to smile, but it faded quickly. The war was over, revenge had been meted out to the guilty on the tips of swords and at the end of gun barrels. All that remained of the Lord Magus himself was a pile of charred bones and the burnt outline of his shadow.

?Well hell, now what?? Khon muttered to himself and rubbed at the black whickers on his chin. War was what he?d been trained in, what he?d been told he was made for. And now?

Victory and Freedom.

Khon sighed and took out a silver flask from the inside pocket of his heavy leather duster. Spoils of war. The flask was embossed with Parliament?s crest, a serpent eating its own tail and flanked by a sword and staff, which Khon had scratched out. He toasted the smoking ruin behind him, made an obscene hand gesture at it, and took a long swig.

?MMRRRR,? something groaned beside him, the noise like a bear moaning from inside an empty trashcan, or a mournful whale singing to itself. Khon looked up at his field partner, the war golem Djau. He was a hill of scrap metal and gears, built like a ten foot tall gorilla with massive arms, broad shoulders, and a comparatively small lower torso. Steam escaped from the side of his face plate with a hiss, and the burning amber glow of his eyes tilted down in an expression of concern.

?What? You want some?? Khon asked and offered the flask.

?HHUURRRNNN,? Djau responded and sat down with a clank and a crack of the stone steps beneath him.

?It?s not that bad you old hen,? Khon said. Djau remained silent but for the constant clicking of internal gears. The war golem put his armored elbows on knobby, plated knees, and leaned his small helmeted head into his massive hands.

Below them, in the courtyard, everybody was dancing, smiling, spraying the noble?s champagne over each other. From their number new leadership would arise, better than the old regime. Khon knew there was no place for him there, or anywhere. He had done his part.

?C?mon Djau,? Khon said as he stood up. His revolver and long saber jostled on his hips as he got to his feet, both still humming in holster and scabbard from the recent killing. ?We should get going.?

?UUUUR?? Djau asked as he stood up with a rumble of suppressed steam and a grinding of armor plates.

?Hell, I don?t know,? Khon replied as he looked out over the decimated capital city. ?Just?somewhere else.?

Khon looked over his shoulder once more at the Mage?s Parliament, then pulled his hat down over his eyes and descended the steps. After a moment, Djau followed after him, rumbling and clanking in his footsteps.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-14 20:19 EST
The Capital of Mambra al-Khish
Somewhere/when else
5 Years Ago

?What do you mean you?re leaving?? Captain Jhuti asked. He was thin after a month spent entrenched outside the city walls and going weeks without eating, and his skin was dark brown from constantly being out under the twin suns. He was currently at the head of a table overflowing with food taken from the noble?s houses. The long table was set up outside, in the Plaza of a Thousand Fountains, and the scents of a hundred meals mingled with the warm desert night air.

Several soldiers from the People?s Army sitting near Captain Jhuti looked up from the first decent meal they?d had in years and stared at Khon.

?I?d be much obliged if you kept it down, sir,? Khon said. ?Maybe we could??? He gestured away from the table, indicating they should walk and talk. Jhuti looked reluctantly down at his meal, then sighed and stood up.

?War?s over sir. You won. My job?s finished,? Khon said when they were a fair distance away from the men.

?The fighting is finished yes, but there?s still so much to do!? Jhuti said. ?We have to rebuild, restructure everything! New positions have to be created and filled, a republic isn?t going to set itself up for us.?

?And those are jobs for ministers and politicians, not fighters,? Khon said. Jhuti frowned and said nothing. ?I?d only be a bad memory if I stuck around. Djau too.?

?NNNNRRR,? Djau groaned metallically from a short distance away.

?Where will you go?? Jhuti asked. Khon shrugged and looked past the capital?s walls, to the lush greens of the oasis, and the endless sea of sand beyond.

?I?ll know when I get there,? he said.

?All right. They?ll miss you, you know,? Jhuti said and looked at the table full of ravenous soldiers. Some were sitting on an overturned tank nearby, its insides hollowed out from a shell blast. They laughed and sang and passed a bottle of expensive booze between them.

?Maybe. They?ll get over it,? Khon said.

?This isn?t just because the others?your men, were??

?No. I?d be going anyway,? Khon said, cutting him off. ?Good-bye sir. Good luck with the new government. Don?t make the same mistakes as the old one.?

Jhuti laughed and shook Khon?s hand. ?Of course Khonsku.?

Khon gripped Jhuti?s hand tightly for a moment and stared at him. ?I mean it. Don?t give me a reason to come back.? He released Jhuti?s hand, gave him a weak smile, and then turned away. He had enough supplies in his pack to get him to the next city, and then?

?C?mon Djau,? Khon said as he walked by the idling war golem.

?UUUUUU,? Djau keened as he followed Khon toward the city gates.

?Yeah I?ll miss the other guys too. But they gotta move on, and so do we.?

Khon walked out of the capital and into the vast moonlit desert of Mambra al-Khish, keeping his attention on the distant horizon, and never once looking back at the city he had helped destroy.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-14 22:05 EST
Last Outpost of Khuruu na-Rem
Somewhere/when else
4 Years Ago

The outpost, the last bastion of civilization before the Blasted Flats, was little more than a ghost town. Rumors abounded about what had gone on in the Blasted Flats ages ago: experiments by insane mages, a demigod run amok, the first level of the infernal plane breaking into the mortal realm, or simply that it was the place reality stopped being real and gave way to nothing.

Khon stood on the warped, splintered wooden porch of a store that had long since been abandoned to the elements. He had taken what he needed: canned food, water from the nearly empty well out back, and a few other odds and ends.

There were other buildings farther ahead, but they were in the process of being consumed by the desert. Searching tendrils of sand invaded their spaces, clutching at the walls and tearing them down over decades, slowly digesting them back into the earth. The store Khon was in now was where the outpost ended, and the wastes of the Flats began.

He?d wandered for more than a year, and this was where he had wound up. The end of the world. Or his world, at least. Among the countless rumors he?d heard as he approached the Flats, many spoke of doors, gates to other places, times, and realities. He?d seen enough of this world.

?Oy, Djau. You almost ready?? Khon shouted over the howling wind into the dark confines of the store.

?NUUUU,? Djau rumbled and lurched outside, snapping the wooden floor boards and breaking the doorframe out of shape as his huge mass pushed through it. He was carrying an assortment of brushes and small rags in his arms. All the sand flying around didn?t sit well with his metallic joints.

?Yeah, good idea,? Khon said. ?It?s probably going to get worse before it gets better.?

?PUUUUU.?

Beyond the store, past the ruined buildings being swallowed by the desert sea, was nothing but emptiness. The horizon and the sky were dark brown from all the sand whirling around, blocking out the sun and turning mid-day to dusky evening. Khon lowered the brim of his hat and pulled up a black bandanna around his lower face as he stepped out into the sandstorm with Djau.

Unlike the buildings at the edge of the outpost, the Blasted Flats did not take long to swallow Khon and Djau. They were both devoured by the sandy void immediately.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-14 23:08 EST
Unknown Forest
Somewhere/when else
3 Years Ago

Khon had felt the unpleasant tingle at the back of his neck for a few days, and it had only gotten stronger as he?d continued to pass through?wherever this was.

Magic.

He?d felt it off and on again several times in the past year, ever since he and Djau had wandered into that endless sandstorm, and come out on at the top of a waterfall in the middle of a jungle.

The magic he?d felt, the mystical energies he?d been trained to sniff out like a bloodhound since childhood, it had been different than the sort of magic he?d grown accustomed to during the war. That magic had a heavy, oppressive aura. It corrupted the souls it touched.

It was a new experience, sensing the magic of other worlds. It was clean in some places, like fresh water, or full of life and energy in others, like lightning. But here, now, permeating the miserable looking trees and interlaced with the creeping fog, was the magic Khon knew too well.

?MMMRRRRR,? Djau rumbled behind him. He was covered in a huge gray cloak that had once been a tent. While Khon had seen many strange creatures since passing out of the Blasted Flats and onto?wherever, it seemed that nobody had seen anything quite like Djau. He terrified people, and had gotten them run out of town on a few memorable occasions. So the poorly fashioned cloak became a necessity.

?Yeah, you?re probably right,? Khon said. The last town they had passed through had had a problem. Signs had been posted all over for missing children. Their poorly drawn faces gaped silently out from underneath contact information and promises of rewards. That was where Khon had first picked up the trail.

?Damn mages,? he swore, and continued on. It was getting dark, and the sort of magic Khon was following always got stronger at night. He didn?t care. He hadn?t killed a mage since the end of the war, and the gun and sword on his hips had awoken at the stench of bad magic, demanding blood.

After another several hours creeping through the woods and following the curious scent of magical energy, Khon spotted the distant glow of a lantern between the narrow trees.

?Found you,? he said.

?KKKRRRR,? Djau growled, and there was the faintest metallic squeak as the war golem flexed his enormous hands.

?Just back me up. No need to show all our cards at once.?

?NUUUU.?

?Shh! Keep quiet bucket head,? Khon waved at his companion and crept closer to the light. There was a small cabin in a clearing, surrounded by trees, all of them bent away from the dwelling, as if trying to escape its foul presence. Khon winced. The aura coming off the cabin was thick and dark, the mental equivalent of an open sewer drain or a pile of meat under the sun. It had been a while since he?d sensed something this foul.

The lantern?s light spilled out from an open window onto the otherwise black clearing. A voice came from within, low and fast, speaking in a language Khon didn?t know. Chanting. Khon glanced at Djau and made a circling motion with one hand.

Go around the back, the gesture meant. Djau answered with a single hiss of steam and made his way around the clearing as quietly as he could. Khon approached the front door of the cabin, withdrawing his revolver as he did so. Through the iron and the hard grip he could feel the unmistakable, rhythmic beat of a heart. It was wide awake. Good.

Khon kicked the door open without warning and raised his gun. The inside of the cabin was small, just a single room with a bed, a wood burning stove, desk, and a large table. All along the perimeter of the room, in piles, and nailed to the wall, were dozens, maybe hundreds, of tiny pairs of shoes. Macabre trophies of past victims.

A boy, no older than ten, was strapped down to the table, bare-chested, with runes cut into his skin. A woman, or what might once have been a woman, stooped over him, dagger in one hand, some sort of powder in the other.

She had been sprinkling the powder over the boy when Khon had burst in. She looked at him, eyes full and black with dark energy.

?Roar, Harava,? Khon said as he aimed his gun at the woman?s chest. The demon inside the revolver stirred at its name, and the runes etched into the barrel and cylinder glowed gold as Khon pulled the trigger.

The bullet screamed out of the barrel, white hot, trailing infernal fire, and exploding as it blasted into the hag. She was sent flying, skin charred and smoking, half her body gone, but still horribly alive. She scrabbled around the floor, insect-like in her mad scuttling and refusal to die easy.

Surprised by her resilience, Khon didn?t have time to aim another shot before the hag spoke a word and sent him flying against the opposite wall. His teeth clicked together and his skin burned as whatever spell she had cast on him tore at his body.

The hag struggled to her feet, and began to speak again when the side of the cabin was ripped off and thrown into the forest.

?RRROOOO!? Djau roared, his eyes white, metallic head wreathed in steam. The hag cast her spell on him instead of Khon after a second of shock, but it barely budged him. Djau raised one mammoth fist, and brought it down on the hag. There was a sound like twigs snapping inside a leather bag, and the cabin was still.

Khon got up, shaking the last bit of crackling energy off and trying to ignore the lingering pain.

?MMMUUU,? Djau said, looking at him.

?Yeah yeah. Sloppy. I know. It?s been a while, okay?? Khon said, holstering Harava and unsheathing his sword as he approached the hag?s body. The sword pulsed with the same eagerness the gun had, its beat growing more rapid as Khon raised it above the hag?s broken form.

?Feast, Araru,? Khon said, and thrust the sword down into the body. The runes on the blade burned a deep scarlet, and Khon watched as the hag?s body dissolved beneath the blade, sucked into it until nothing was left.

?GGUUU.?

?Yeah it was okay I guess,? Khon said and sighed, then turned to the boy on the table, who was staring at both of them in wide-eyed horror. ?You gonna be okay kid??

Khon had just finished untying the boy when he shot up and darted out into the woods, screaming back over his shoulder in a foreign tongue. Khon caught one last look at his terrified face before he vanished into the forest, running back toward town.

?BBBRRR?? Djau asked, starting to walk after the boy.

?No, let him go. We?ll just scare him more. I?m sure he knows the way.? Khon looked back at the vaguely hag-shaped burn mark on the cabin floor. ?Besides, I didn?t do it for him.?

And he hadn?t. He hadn?t done it to save the boy. He?d done it to kill the hag. That was what he knew. That was all he knew.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-15 18:54 EST
A Harbor City
Somewhere/when else
1 Year Ago

Khon had never really seen the ocean before. Even during his travels the past four years, he?d always found himself on mainland somewhere. He sat at the top of a vast hill, and stared over the paved street and the masses of building crowded together at the huge, glimmering body of water beyond. He could smell the salt, the brine, and even the fish from the wharf up here as the cool wind carried those scents and more up from the harbor.

Khon sighed pleasantly from where he sat on the edge of the curb, munching on an apple while Djau took his turn holding the sign up.

The sign in question said ?RHYDIN? in Khon?s thick, looping handwriting.

Khon had heard the name for the first time months ago, and as he and Djau continued to walk through cities, countries, continents, and worlds, he heard it more and more. It had started out as a myth. But now, in this city, the name was common place, to the point where he had heard some delivery men down on the docks speaking about outgoing shipments to RhyDin, and news criers on street corners reporting the latest events from RhyDin?s capital city.

Perhaps most telling were the surroundings themselves. This city, wherever it was, was full of all sorts of creatures and oddities. Djau had even been able to cast the musty smelling makeshift cloak aside. Nobody seemed to mind the sight of a lumbering mechanical war golem, though Djau did get several odd looks from the passing carriages and rattling old jalopies that passed by. Djau would wave the sign and make excited grunting noises, jets of steam blowing out from his vents as he exerted himself.

?You?re gonna scare everybody off if you keep hopping around like that. And you?re breaking the sidewalk,? Khon said as he offered the apple core to a nearby squirrel that had been eyeing him hungrily. The squirrel was wearing a waistcoat and a monocle, but by this point, Khon had seen weirder. It chattered at him in what Khon hoped was thanks, then took the core and scampered off.

?MMMMRR.?

?They don?t know that you?re just being friendly. You?re ten feet of solid metal. You?d scare off anybody,? Khon said.

?PUUUU,? Djau moaned and drooped his bulky shoulders. Khon rolled his eyes and took of his hat, fanning himself with it.

?No I didn?t mean you?re scary, just that you might startle somebody who?s not used to seeing a huge war golem dancing on the street corner.?

?HHNNN.?

?I am not!?

?BUUU.?

?Yeah, you too,? Khon said and smirked. Djau let out a low chuffing sound with intermittent bursts of steam, his version of laughing.

It was another hour later and Khon was holding the sign while Djau cleaned his joints with the one rag he still had from when they had looted the last outpost at Khuruu na-Rem. Khon suspected the filthy old rag had become something of a security blanket to his partner, but didn?t mention it.

A strange vehicle, something like a large flatbed truck that propelled itself forward on stubby jointed legs instead of wheels wheezed to a stop in front of Khon. An old man with bushy white hair and a few missing teeth leaned out the driver?s side window and studied the two of them.

?RhyDin?? he asked. Khon and Djau both nodded in tandem. ?I?m not goin? there, but I?m headin? in that direction. You boys are on your own findin? whatever gate or portal folks?re using now. I hear tell it moves around a lot.?

?That?ll be fine. Much obliged, sir,? Khon said and hopped into the back of the truck. Djau climbed in carefully, and the truck?s metallic legs bent under his weight, but stayed up. Khon patted the roof of the cab to signal that they were in, and then the truck lurched forward. Khon looked down at the sign he was still holding.

RhyDin.

It sounded like as good a place as any.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-15 20:29 EST
Just Outside the City of RhyDin
RhyDin
6 Months Ago

RhyDin was not what Khon had been expecting. It was much, much more. Demons and angels sharing a bar together, Ships soaring up to the stars, all manner of talking animals, trans-dimensional creatures, vampires, and a hundred species Khon had never heard of. The city itself was a sprawling thing as diverse and bizarre as its citizens.

Khon had been in RhyDin for a week when the initial shock wore off and he noticed a problem. He was out of money. During their travels together, Khon and Djau had mostly taken what they needed from abandoned way stations, or nature itself. Now they were forced to come up with a long term solution.

?Well, I?m not going to start robbing folks,? Kohn said as he sat near the camp fire. He and Djau had set up camp in the woods just south of RhyDin for the time being.

?MMMRRR??

?No, not even if they?re very very rich,? Kohn said and smirked as he laid down on his bed roll. He leaned his head back against a log and pulled his hat down over his eyes.

?HNNNN.?

?Yeah, probably just odd jobs to start. I?ve have my fill of sleeping on the side of the road. I miss having a shower and a toilet.?

?KKUUU.?

?Well of course you don?t need a toilet,? Khon chuckled. ?Tomorrow. I?ve seen some boards around town with want ads on ?em. Folks always need help doing something or other. We just gotta?keep an open mind.?

Djau didn?t respond except for a single quiet expulsion of steam.

?Think you could get used to being here a while?? Khon asked. ?My feet are getting a mite tired.?

?RRUUU,? Djau replied and nodded his head with a creak.

?Good,? Khon replied and let his hat fall back over his eyes as he closed them. It had been a long run from Mambra al-Khish. That?s what he had been doing, he realized. Running. Running from the war, the memories, the ghosts of his men, from Jhuti, the smell of the Lord Magus? skin burning away from Harava?s infernal flames, the sound of the Mage?s Parliament crumbling into ruin. He?d been escaping it.

It was still there, he hadn?t gotten away from it entirely. But it was behind him now, and he hoped that was where it would stay.

Tomorrow, he?d see what was in front of him, and go from there.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-16 00:41 EST
City of RhyDin
RhyDin
6 Months Ago

Kohn had seen the ad for a courier flapping in the cool sea breeze, stuck to a lamp post. It was the first want notice he had seen since coming into the city that morning, and he wasn?t picky. He had eaten a scrawny rabbit Djau had accidentally crushed while petting that morning, and he was longing for real food.

?UUUUUU,? Djau keened mournfully as Kohn took the notice down.

?Are you still mad at me for eating that damn rabbit? It was just going to go to waste anyhow,? Kohn said as he studied the notice. It was for a bakery in WestEnd. For the brief time Khon had been in RhyDin, he?d heard nothing but bad things about the place: gangs, murderers, a fight on every side street, a mugging in every alley, and all manner of thing that went bump in the night at every corner. His kind of place.

?Now quit moaning and let?s go,? Khon said. Djau mumbled to himself, a sound like rocks grinding together, and followed Khon into toward the worst part of town.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-16 01:01 EST
Joro Bros. Bakery, WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
6 Months Ago


Khon and Djau stood in front of the Joro Bros. Bakery a short time later, and Khon insisted Djau wait outside while he inquired about the job. The bakery was right on the edge of WestEnd, a slightly L-shaped building that was had a large room set aside for the bakery itself, and a smaller attached living area.

The Joro brothers were not quite the pair Khon was expecting, in fact, they weren?t even a pair. The brothers looked human enough, if a bit ugly, with faces like shovels, wide and pointed at the top. However, about halfway down the brothers? upper torsos, the two stopped being separate and became one. Siamese twins, or something like it, their upper body forked like a gnarled old tree and split the in two from the abdomen up.

?I?m here for the job,? Khon said and held up the flier.

?Excellent,? The brother on the right said.

?Yes, very,? the left one added then pulled out a small wooden box with a handle on top. It had the bakery?s name painted on the side.

?Deliver this to a Mr. Nomes in the Thompson apartments a few streets North of here. Bring us back a signature and we?ll pay you then,? the right brother said and handed the box to Khon he took it and nodded his understanding and left.

Djau looked at Khon as he exited the bakery and began to follow the street up toward the Thompson Apartments.

?WWRRRR?? Djau asked, gesturing at the box.

?Yeah we?re just dropping it off. Some guy named Nomes,? Khon responded, looking around. The area around the bakery had been on the border of WestEnd, and hadn?t been too dismal. Its paint only somewhat faded, the street outside only partially cracked.

As Khon and Djau waded further into the neighborhood though, the buildings became dull gray monoliths, clustered together like vultures over a corpse. The stench of the sewer wafted up from rusty grates and mingled with trash lining the streets. There was a gunshot in the distance, a scream, silence. Youths gathered together in packs of gangs stared at Khon as he passed by, wary of the newcomer on their turf.

?FFFUUU,? Djau said.

?No it isn?t glamorous work, but it gets us money. You know what that means right?? Khon asked and smirked up at his partner.

?TTRRR??

?It means no more rabbits for breakfast,? Khon said and laughed. Djau muttered to himself again and didn?t speak for a while. As they walked, Khon began to see more and more similarly dressed people appearing out of dark alleys and peering out from windows. They all wore ratty gray jackets and had dyed their hair, if they had it, red.

?NRRRR,? Djau rumbled quietly.

?Yeah, I know,? Khon said as the thugs started to follow Khon. ?Company.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-16 15:00 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
6 Months Ago

?Help you boys with something?? Khon asked when two lean, angry looking youths with faces that had been ritually cut and scarred stepped out of a side street and into his path. One of them had a gun, some sort of semi-automatic thing. Khon had seen a few of them since leaving his home world, even tried one once. They jammed too much for his liking though. The other had some sort of wand and stunk of grim magic.

?Drop the box and you and your tin man walk away,? the gun-wielder spat.

?If you boys are hungry, I?m sure there?s easier ways to get food than??

?Shut up old man!? the other one said and leveled the wand at Khon?s face. Other members of their gang were emerging. All of them had weapons.

Khon frowned at the ?old? comment. He wasn?t that old.

?And throw down your money and weapons while you?re at it,? the one with the wand said. ?Can probably get some solid crowns for those ugly ass things.?

Khon stiffened his jaw and narrowed his light green eyes. Harava and Araru snarled to life as they heard the insult. Khon had been curious why an entire gang of street thugs were so interested in a bakery delivery, but now he didn?t care. He set the box down on the ground and slowly reached into his duster. He extracted a tiny glass marble holding it out on his open palm, then looked up at Djau.

?Just the ones that smell,? Khon said and nodded at Djau, who nodded back.

?The hell are you talking about you stupid old??

Khon had heard enough, he dropped the marble and it shattered on the cobblestones. The many tiny shards froze in place as they broke apart, then shot out in all directions, glowing red. They attached themselves to a dozen or so of the thugs, each of whom Khon could tell stank of magic or wielded a weapon that did.

Djau roared and grabbed three of the magic-reeking thugs and threw them down the street with one hand, backhanding several more through a nearby window with his other arm. Magic bolts of energy bounced off his metal hide and ricocheted back at their casters. The ones who managed to duck in time to avoid the reflected blasts were instantly snatched up by Djau and thrown into brick walls, trash bins, through windows.

?Roar, Harava,? Khon said as he withdrew the demonic revolver and fired it. His quick draw hadn?t slowed down at all, and the bullet was fired before any of the thugs could react. He?d aimed it at the street , and the explosion knocked most of the rest of the gang off their feet, pelting them with stone hail and fire.

The only two left standing were the ones who had originally threatened Khon. Djau grabbed the one with the wand and shook him like a rattle before pitching him down an alley with an amused hiss of steam.

?These must be some damned tasty baked goods,? Khon said and leveled Harava at the single remaining thug?s forehead. He didn?t speak.

?D-drugs,? the kid said. ?In the loaf.?

?For Mr. Nomes?? Khon asked.

?Yeah,? the kid replied. ?H-he?s been cutting into our trade, man. Took us a while to figure it out, it was all those d-damn delivery boys from the bakery.?

?The brothers are suppliers??

?G-guess so.?

?Thanks,? Khon said and pistol whipped the kid. He fell back and hit the street with a thud. Khon snapped his fingers with his left hand as he holstered Harava with his right. The shards that had been glowing on the magic-using thugs lifted up and reformed into the plain marble, which Khon returned to his pocket.

The street was a mess: the crater from Harava?s bullet, broken windows and doors from where Djau had tossed the gang members, and the gang itself, scattered about like child?s toys, the conscious ones groaning and crawling away.

?Let?s go, Djau,? Khon said and picked up the little bakery box.

?HHNNN?? Djau asked and gestured up the street.

?To the nine hells with Mr. Nomes,? Khon said and began marching back the way he had come, duster billowing behind him. ?We?re going to have a chat with the Joro brothers.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-16 22:25 EST
Joro Bros. Bakery, WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
6 Months Ago

?Eat it,? Khon said and looked down at one of the Joro brothers where he/they lay sprawled on the floor.

?Wh-what?? the one without a gun in his mouth said.

?MMRRF!? the other squealed. Khon held out the loaf of bread that had been nestled in the bakery box and offered it to the first brother.

?Eat it,? Khon repeated. Back in the main bakery area, Djau was causing an unholy ruckus. Several of the ?cooks? had run screaming from the building. The rest lay in a groaning, broken pile near the main entrance, the rifles and magical trinkets they had tried to wield twisted and broken beyond recognition.

?N-no,? the first brother replied.

?Then he eats this,? Khon said and cocked his revolver in the other Joro brother?s mouth. He made a high-pitched whining sound and looked desperately at his conjoined twin.

?It?s a month?s worth of profit?? the first Joro brother bemoaned, but eventually leaned his head up and took a bite of the bread. Khon made him eat it all. By the time he had finished, the pills that had been stuffed into the loaf had had plenty of time to enter the brothers? system. They were both hooting and screaming at thin air, shouting things about invisible colors and angels made of honey or some damn thing.

Djau and Khon sat on the curb and watched with some amusement as a patrol of the City Watch came by and hauled the brothers away. Khon gave them a statement, and held up a side of the bakery long enough for the Watch to go in and find some evidence of the drug business the brothers had been running.

Khon tipped his hat to the guards as they marched off, carrying the remaining cooks along with them in a carriage.

?HHUUU,? Djau sighed with a long, slow release of steam.

?No, they didn?t pay us,? Khon agreed, then smiled. ?So we should probably help ourselves, don?t you think so??

?GGGUUUU!? Djau agreed and walked back into the bakery, breaking the door off its hinges as he did. Khon laughed and sauntered into the empty bakery, taking a sack from behind the counter and dumping the contents of the till into it. He searched the rest of the place and found a safe in the back. Harava blasted the lock off and Khon and Djau both crowed with delight at the half dozen sacks of crowns inside.

?No sir,? Khon said as he and Djau walked out of WestEnd and toward one of the nicer Inns in downtown RhyDin. ?No more rabbits for us.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-17 13:20 EST
City of RhyDin
RhyDin
1 Month Ago

The money hadn?t lasted long. Khon had enjoyed a brief stint of eating well, living in a decent apartment in downtown RhyDin, and spending his days familiarizing himself with the strangest city in the multiverse.

Then Djau had insisted on coming into Khon?s apartment building, broke the door, the staircase, and the west side of the structure in a single afternoon. Khon had paid for the repairs. It wouldn?t have been hard to skip out of town for a bit, but Khon wanted to see if he could settle here, and that would make for bad blood with an entire building of tenets and the owner.

What little remained of the Joro brothers? stash could fit inside one of the sacks Khon had originally taken with room to spare.

?I don?t much fancy taking on a regular job,? Khon had said to Djau as they sat on the street corner and watched traffic pass them by. He couldn?t imagine settling in behind a desk or laboring under somebody who wasn?t a military officer. He?d briefly thought about joining the City Watch, but that wasn?t for him either. He worked best alone. He?d learned that the hard way.

?GGUUUHHH,? Djau said and nodded at a public posting board that had one-time jobs that needed filling.

?After what happened with the Joro twins? Hell no,? Khon said and shook his head. ?I?ll be my own boss. Make the work come to me. That?s the way to do it.?

?BRRRMMM.?

?Yeah we will need a place,? Khon said and frowned, scratching at the stubble on the side of his jaw. ?Be mighty nice if we could work and live outta the same spot.?

?PPUUU,? Djau said and let out a long sigh as he vented a cloud of steam.

?Damn right no more apartments. I shouldn?t have made you stay outside for so long. That was right insensitive of me,? Khon said and looked up at his partner.

?NNNRRR,? Djau said and shrugged his broad plated shoulders.

?Well that?s just fine of you, Djau,? Khon said and smiled. The smiled faded as he looked down at their small supply of crowns. ?And it?ll have to be someplace cheap to boot.?

?GGGRRRUUU,? Djau rumbled and pointed toward WestEnd. Khon looked in that direction, arching a thick black eyebrow as he looked at the looming gray structures, cracked and weathered from age and neglect and outright abuse. After a moment, Khon sighed and nodded, getting to his feet.

?Right. WestEnd. C?mon,? Khon said and waved at Djau as he began walking down the street. ?Let?s go see what we can see.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-17 20:03 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
1 Month Ago

Khon looked at the familiar building and scowled as he raised his wide-brimmed hat with a finger. The ?For Sale? sign that was tacked to what remained of the door rustled quietly in the foul smelling breeze that came from the center of WestEnd.

It was the ruin of the Joro Bros. Bakery.

The side bakery was still a mess, the roof collapsed and walls broken down, from where Djau had smashed everything apart. The man selling the place, a rodent-like little man who had several dilapidated properties in WestEnd, had said it was the only place in Khon?s price range. He could see why.

The price was cheap, little more than a song, but if it was going to be at all livable, Khon would have to pay more for building supplies to repair the thing. After scratching out a list in the dirt of an empty lot, Khon figured he would have just enough to buy the dump, buy enough materials to repair, and eat for exactly one week before he was flat broke. After that?

?BBRRR,? Djau said as Khon added up the figures in his head once more.

?Yeah, the robbery option is starting to look mighty appealing,? Khon said. ?But what say we give this a shot first, eh? We can always rob folks tomorrow if it comes down to it.?

?GGUUU,? Djau nodded.

?I?ll go pay the man. You stay here and make sure nobody wrecks the place anymore than we already did,? Khon said with a smirk. ?This is our home now.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-17 21:09 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
3 Weeks Ago

Djau and the other war golems hadn?t just been built for smashing and destroying, though that had been a primary focus of interest during the tech-priests? original design phase. The golems had been built for every aspect of war, including construction of entrenched positions and fortifying field head quarters. They could lift many times more than even the strongest man, build faster than an entire crew of skilled construction workers, and do it all without tiring.

The problem was, Djau was an earlier model and not very good at the process or repairing a building. Too often he would accidentally snap some 2 X 4s under foot, or hold a bag of cement mix too tightly and wind up popping the bag and spilling its contents down the nearby gutter.

But Khon had anticipated this. He?d budgeted for Djau?s little mishaps, and after a week of solid working, the former Joro Bros. Bakery was once again recognizable as a building.

Khon and Djau rested that night in what had been the main bakery area, a large, mostly empty room where large ovens had once stood alongside rows of counters, and whatever else one needed to make baked goods and drugs. The formal living space, a much smaller area, was still in need of some mending.

?Thinking we can put in a forge over there,? Khon said as he lied on his bedroll and pointed to a corner. ?For when You need something worked on or I gotta make more bullets or work on Araru. Maybe winding up tinkering with stuff for other folk for a fee.?

?HHUUU,? Djau said and waved his arms around the rest of the empty space.

?Hell, I don?t know. It is a lot of space?but you?ll need all you can get.?

?DDRRR??

?No you can?t stay in the regular living area. You?d smash it all up,? Khon said. ?Part of the reason I bought this palce was so you?d have enough room to move around and not crush everything you??

Khon stopped mid-sentence and looked toward the heavy loading doors at the far end of the room.

Magic. It hadn?t snuck up on the place, he would have felt it before. It had just appeared outside. It reeked too, the rotten coppery scent of old blood in the sun and rotten fruit. Cloyingly sweet and repellent at the same time. Djau looked at Khon, cocking his head to the side at the sudden silence.

?HHUUU?? Djau asked.

?Yeah something?s wrong. Get ready,? Khon sat and jumped to his feet, withdrawing Harava from its holster. Djau looked from Khon to the loading doors where he was staring, curious.

Then the doors exploded.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-17 22:06 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
3 Weeks Ago

Khon was blown back by the fore of the explosion, sent skidding across the smooth concrete floor and slamming against the far wall. He winced and felt the air rush out of him in a whoosh and gasped. Djau was roaring and standing still, looking between the ruined loading doors and Khon, uncertain whether to attack or defend.

Men ran in through the smoke and the fire, all dressed in utilitarian black uniforms and masks that hid their faces. Some held large automatic rifles, and other wielded heavy blasting rods and staffs. They fanned out at the far end of the room, leveling their weapons at Khon and Djau. They were silent, organized. Soldiers. Khon got to his feet, wincing and brushing off his jeans.

The room was silent as Khon and Djau stared at the dozen or so heavily-armed men. Khon could smell magic on the ones with the staffs and rods, but that big scent, the ugly smell, wasn?t coming from any one of them.

Khon tried to focus his gaze through the dissipating smoke as he heard footsteps clicking on the ruined concrete by the door. A pale man, bald as a light bulb, in a sharply pressed red suit stepped out of the murk and into view. He was smiling, and as he did, even from across the expanse of the room, Khon could see the firelight gleam of a pair of elongated fangs.

?Damn,? he muttered. ?Vampire.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-18 21:20 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
3 Weeks Ago

?The hell you want bloodsucker?? Khon asked.

?You don?t know who I am?? the vampire asked. Khon said nothing, just keeping his arms loose at his sides. ?Does the name ?Nomes? ring a bell??

Khon furrowed his brow and frowned. It had been a while, but he remembered the name. Mr. Nomes was who he had been supposed to deliver the Joro brothers? drugs to.

?Good, I see you recall who I am,? Nomes said. ?I lost a lot of money on that delivery you were supposed to make, Mr. Nijjar. Oh don?t look so surprised,? Nomes said when Khon arched an eyebrow at his last name. ?The man that sold you this place was only too willing to tell me everything I wanted to know about you.?

?Uh-huh,? Khon said. ?He tell you I don?t take kindly to bloodsuckers who blow down the door I spent half a week fixing??

?Well I ?don?t take kindly? to people who waste my property,? Nomes said. ?And I?d kill you on the spot right now?but you also took care of the gang that had been causing me so much trouble. So, I?ve come to make you a deal instead.?

?No,? Khon said.

?You haven?t even heard what it is yet,? Nomes said.

?Don?t much care.?

Nomes and Khon glared at each other across the room and Nomes curled his thin upper lip in a sneer, exposing one of his sharp fangs.

?Fine then. Kill him,? Nomes said, and his men opened fire.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-20 19:08 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
3 Weeks Ago

Khon ducked behind Djau as bullets and magical energy shot through the air, blowing holes in the newly repaired building and ricocheting off Djau?s thick metal hide. He roared as the small arms and magical blasts slammed into his bulk, and charge forward.

Khon leapt out from behind Djau as he charged, Harava drawn, the hammer cocked, he whispered, ?Roar, Harava,? and fired. The flames that trailed behind the white hot bullet took on the shape of a roaring beast?s mouth for an instant before the bullet hit one of Nomes? men in the chest and exploded. The other men near their former comrade were blown back by the concussive blast, their clothes ablaze.

He dodged an electrical blast from one of the casters, and fired another two rounds into Nomes? men. He was aiming for another when a round from an automatic rifle rammed him in the shoulder and threw his aim off. Harava?s bullet shot upwards, into the ceiling and through it, making a large hole and sending flames raining down. Khon grunted in pain and fired the last two rounds from Harava into the crowd of assailants and then ducked behind a pillar.

Djau reached the line of remaining men, and slammed his body into them, sending them flying out the ruined door. He grabbed one man with a large blasting rod, the man shooting at Djau at close range as the war golem held him, then tightened his grip. There was the audible snap of breaking bones and the man?s high-pitched scream before he died, and then Djau let the broken, limp body drop.

Nomes had backed up, his chalky face twisted in anger. He raised his hand and spat out a word that hurt Khon?s ears to hear. His hand became gloved in crackling black and purple energy, then released a wide beam of dark magic at Djau. It exploded against him with a sound like a hurricane and sent him flying, crashing hard to the ground. Dark violet flames licked at his armor plating, and squirmed around like living things seeking something to consume. Djau lay still, a long hiss of steam escaping from his vents, and from newly formed tears in his armor.

?You wind up toy is dead, gun fighter,? Nomes said. His remaining men were all wounded in some form or another, if they were fortunate enough to still be alive. They backed away from their boss, crawling, limping. ?And you have cost me even more by damaging my men.?

?Probably shouldn?t have brought them then,? Khon said from behind the pillar. The bullet that had lodged in his shoulder was worse than he thought. He was bleeding a lot, and his gun hand was shaking.

?Come out Nijjar. You can?t beat me. You might as well let me end this quickly.?

Khon sighed and looked over at Djau where he lay still on the concrete floor. He holstered his gun, not trusting his aim with it.

?Okay,? he said, and stepped out from behind the pillar. Nomes grinned at him, flashing all of his teeth. His hand still crackled with black energy, and he spoke the painful word again. The foul magic exploded from his hand, and raced toward Khon?s heart.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-21 16:14 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
3 Weeks Ago

?Feast, Araru,? Khon said as he pulled the wide-bladed saber from its scabbard at his side. The runes on the sword glowed hungrily and then flared as Nomes? blast hit the sword, and vanished into it. Araru devoured the spell, sucking it out of existence and into itself.

The sadistic grin Nomes had had plastered across his face froze, then faltered and dropped. He stared at Araru as it hummed and glowed with the new energy it had gorged itself on. Khon pointed the sword at Nomes and let out a long, slow breath, glaring at the undead creature.

?You hurt my partner,? he said. Nomes glared at him and raised a hand to cast another spell. Khon rushed Nomes, holding the sword in front of him as another spell hit it. Araru sucked most of it up, by a few stray currents of magical energy slipped past his blade, burning Khon on the arms and sides where they touched him. Araru was getting full, and its ability to absorb spells was lessening.

Khon yelled when the next spell hit Araru, the sword nearly full, and most of the force was left over to tear at his body and burn his skin. Nomes backed up, trying to get away from Khon?s relentless charge. He looked behind him for support from his wounded men, firing off another blast. Khon dodged to the side, rolled, and leapt forward, under Nomes? arm.

Nomes looked down at Khon, surprise and fear in his bloodshot eyes. Khon smiled and brought Araru up in a smooth, swift arc. The blade sliced through Nomes? outstretched arm. Khon felt the demon-possessed sword pulse excitedly as it bit through cold vampiric flesh and hard bone, then came out the other side. Nomes screamed, his long serpentine tongue flapping as he fell back, clutching at his stump.

?Now,? Khon said as he stood over Nomes. He thrust Araru down into the vampire?s shoulder, and through until it hit the concrete underneath him. ?Let?s talk.?

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-21 16:15 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
3 Weeks Ago

?To hell with you stin?AAAGGH!? Nomes shouted as Khon released some of Araru?s stored energy into him, the black magic sizzling into his white flesh and burning it away.

?Let?s talk about why I?m not going to kill you,? Khon said and squatted down next to Nomes? head, still keeping Araru in the vampire?s shoulder. ?I?m going to let you live because if I killed you, the other thugs and low life dealers would think I was one of them. They?d think I was making some big push to take over WestEnd, maybe RhyDin, and there?d be no end of trouble for me and mine after that.

?So I?m going to let you live to keep the thugs off my back and on yours where they belong. And, I?m also going to let you live because you?ve learned a valuable lesson today. You?ve learned to let me be, haven?t you vampire??

Nomes snarled at him and Khon let Araru release more black fire into Nomes? body. The vampire screamed again and writhed on the floor.

?Araru here, he?s a good partner,? Khon said and watched impassively as he continued to let the demonic blade sear Nomes? skin. ?Hungry though, always hungry. He?s got a particular taste for folks like you. Magical things. If I lt him, he?ll swallow you up.?

Nomes looked up at the sword, his eyes wide and glassy.

?That ain?t the bad part though,? Khon said, his voice quiet, intimate. ?The bad part comes after. Takes a while to digest the essence of a magical creature. And you?ll be living through it all.?

Nomes was still and silent. Khon waited to see if the vampire would try anything else and then smiled a little.

?So, what have you learned vampire?? Khon asked.

?To leave you alone,? Nomes whispered.

?Good. That?s real good,? Khon said and with a slight twist that made Nomes hiss, withdrew Araru. ?Now g?on. Don?t let me catch you ?round here again.?

Khon turned his back to Nomes and waited. When he turned around again a full minute later, the vampire and what remained of his men, dead or alive, were gone. The only thing that remained was Nomes? severed arm, the hand of which was frozen into an obscene gesture.

Khon smirked and thrust Araru into the arm, and the demon blade devoured it until it was gone.

?Hell of a night,? Khon sighed and surveyed the destruction. It would take a while to rebuild again, and he?d have to spend some of that recovering. His body ached and bled, and stung from magical burns. With a soft grunt, he sheathed Araru, and limped over to where Djau was finally stirring back to life.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-21 20:01 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
2 Weeks Ago

Khon was dreaming. He knew right away because he was facing the incarnations of Harava and Araru. The former looked something like a huge winged snake, or a dragon, its skin oily black, except for a large, translucent pouch under it neck that pulsed and inflated, glowing red with inner fire. The latter resembled a wiry, skinless dog, but its legs had too many joints, and its mouth was too big and too full of teeth.

You see, Khonsku? It is the same here. You fight, because that is what you were made to do, Harava whispered into his mind, sharp hooks catching in his brain and digging in.

Karma is a wheel, and yours will always turn to the same place again and again, Khonsku, Araru said and let out a low, hissing laugh between his needle fangs.

You can no more discard us than you can yourself, Sannyasin.

You have renounced your life.

We are all that is left.

Embrace us.

As your friend did. As other Sannyasins have.

Embrace.

Khon woke up as the demons engulfed him in fire and teeth, sweating and panting. He was just in his jeans, lying on the bedroll he had set up in the corner or the mostly repaired building. Harava and Araru were still in their holster and scabbard, within easy reach of Khon?s bed. Djau was sitting next to the wall near Khon?s bed, his eye sockets dark, quiet except for the soft, regular expulsion of steam as he ?slept.?

Outside an open window, Khon heard the night sound of Rhydin and WestEnd: the distant blare of a foghorn, bustle of street traffic, the siren of some Watchman?s patrol vehicle.

Khon grabbed Harava and threw it out the window. He looked up and out at the moon, the dark sky, then down at the gun holster.

Harava was back in it, as if it had never left.

Khon cursed and frowned at his weapons. Djau?s eye sockets slowly began to glow with life as he awoke to Khon?s quiet swearing. The golem looked at Khon, then at Harava and Araru.

?HHHUUUUU?? Djau asked and pointed between Khon and his weapons.

?Naw, Djau,? Kohn said and shook his head as he lied back on his cot. ?I?m okay. I?m still me.?

But Khon wondered as he began to sleep again. He turned his back on his weapons and shut his eyes.

Embrace.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-22 02:27 EST
WestEnd, City of RhyDin
RhyDin
1 Week Ago

It was done. Khon and Djau had rebuilt and improved upon the former Joro Bros. Bakery. The former bakery area, what Khon now thought of as the warehouse, had been outfitted with a forge, workbench, large assortment of tools, and even a lift for work on cars or other forms of automated transport.

There was plenty of spare room left over in case he ever decided he needed to stock some form of inventory for any reason, or expand upon what he already had. Khon had also kept one of the ovens from the bakery?s original layout, just because he liked the way the brick and black iron construction looked, and it would be nice to have if he ever wanted to cook something big.

The front room, where Khon had first met the Joro Bros. and where they had accepted customers was now a simple reception area with a counter, desk, and phone. When Khon had been out buying things, someone had tried to sell him an odd machine, something with a screen and a plastic board covered in letters. He had no idea what it was for or how to use it though, so he had declined.

The living quarters had been the most difficult to furnish for Khon. He?d never had so much space to himself, or lived anywhere permanently since his days as a Sannyasin initiate. For the past twenty years his life had been trenches, hastily assembled base camps, and desert sands.

Khon walked through the living area, past the kitchen, the tiny sitting room, bathroom, and into the bedroom. He stared at the bed. It was a plain single bed, just a narrow mattress on an iron frame with a blanket and pillow thrown on top. It was the first bed Khon had ever owned.

He sat on it and tried to get used to the idea, then stood up again and walked out.

Djau was in the warehouse, lumbering around and looking at everything. He glanced up when Khon entered through the door leading back into the living area and walked over, his feet clanking on the solid concrete floor. The house was too small for Djau to enter it without breaking things apart, but he was content to stay in the warehouse. Khon smiled as he noticed a corner where Djau had arranged several old tarps into a kind of sleeping area.

?NNNRRRR,? Djau rumbled and waved a mammoth hand around the warehouse. Khon nodded.

?Yeah, it is a big change for us,? Khon agreed.

?HHUUUU??

?Do? Whatever people need us to, I guess. Bodyguard, courier, blacksmith, handyman?? Khon hesitated for a moment then sighed. ?Gun for hire. I?m sure there?s no end to trouble here in RhyDin, ?specially in WestEnd. I?m sure we?ll find something for us to fill our days with ?sides sitting ?round getting old.?

?GUUUUU.?

?Yeah we?ll need to get the word out we?re open for business, Khon said as he walked out the loading bay doors with Djau and stood across the street, studying the building. His home. Home. The word felt odd in his mind, unfamiliar and alien.

Karma is a wheel, and yours will always turn to the same place again and again, Araru?s voice echoed in his head. Khon looked down at his left hip and the demon sword hanging there.

?We?ll see what turns up next, partner,? he muttered to the sword.

Khonsku Nijjar

Date: 2008-07-22 03:21 EST
City of RhyDin
RhyDin
Now

The word had spread from the edge of WestEnd, through downtown Rhydin, across the marketplace, and further. There was a man that traveled with a huge metal machine, and he?d do just about any sort of job for you.

He?d helped the Watch catch an arsonist that had been holed up near the Blood Holding docks about a week ago. Some had heard he?d taken out a gang of thugs and a pair of drug suppliers in WestEnd a few weeks before that. He?d carried a package to some monks near Mount Yasuo in record time, especially considering the bandits that lurked in the forests beyond the city proper.

The huge machine had been seen multiple times near the docks, hauling equipment and cargo around. There had been some commotion at the RhyDin Orphanage when the man had apparently exorcised a demon that had been haunting a broom closet. Several folks had seen man and machine fighting a dragon skeleton that had decided to break out of the natural history display and run amok at the RhyDin museum.

There were fliers scattered around the city; stapled to posts, taped to street lamps.

Khonsku Nijjar
Bodyguard, repairman, exorcist, courier, mechanic, gunsmith, blacksmith, tracker, magical expert, etc. etc. for hire
No Job Too Big, Too Tough, or Too Weird
WestEnd, RhyDin
#348-001-1502



****************


And the wheel keeps turning.