A story and a barbie

After finally vanquishing the boss, a haggard John and Cynthia made their way back through the small cave that brought them to the boss room, John supporting Cynthia on his shoulder as they spend over 20 minutes on the path they had walked in a mere 5 on the way there.

When they finally saw the light of day again, there was a very fat and happy wombat waiting for them. “Thanks a ton fellas, I sensed the **** of that bastard all the way over here,” Sir Wombaton the third said with a small bow of his head. His eyes scanned over the wounded hunters and gestured for them to sit down on the nearby boulders. “Have a seat, you two. It’s time for me to grace you cunts with some ‘Strayan hospitality.”

A cleansing light spread from the wombat’s monocle, targeting both of them, wiping away the grime and sweat from the fight. Finishing that, the wombat flipped two sausages into buns and handed them to the teenagers.

Bunnings Snag on a Bun
A national treasure in Australia, these sausages prepared by the spirit of the outback restore 50% of health over 2 minutes.

John looked flabbergasted, these sausages were overpowered to high hell!

“Why are you looking like that, Johnyboy?” Cynthia asked curiously.

“Well, let's say that eating these will have a very positive effect on your wounds,” John said with a sigh, bowing slightly at the wombat who just waved him off.

“Least I could do,” Sir Wombaton said with a shrug, putting a few more sausages on the barbeque and taking a sip from his beer a second later.

“So, John, I promised you a reward for taking care of that big ol’ swooping bastard of a birdy. Where Gaia is more adapt at giving out items, I’ll give you something way more valuable; A perk of being as old as I am… I know a lot of good stories.You scratched my back so I’ll return the favour and tell you one that I think will be of use to you; if not today, then in the future.”

John took a bite from the sausage, noticing just how juicy and spicy it was, and nodded slightly at the words; while he was a bit disappointed that he did not get an extra item out of it, he knew that he was lacking information, a lot of information, so anything the wombat could tell him would be welcome.

“Look, John, the story I’ll tell you is one of the more painful memories for the goddess you serve. I want you to know this in advance just so you don’t wind up like Prometheus or Tantalus.”

The wombat then cleared his throat. “Back in 18th century France, one man was ruling over a large patch of Europe from the Abyss, Louis the fourteenth. Many call him the Sun King to this day, even the non-Abyss people know him by this name. But what not many people know, Abyssian or otherwise, is that there was a reason that he was called that. Louis, like you, John, was a late bloomer, given powers by Gaia herself. However, unlike you, he was given his powers by the age of nine. He had the power of the royal household behind him, so he had the money and space to grow without bounds. And as with many a king, the more powerful he got, the more envious he got of those that were above him, wanting nothing more than to drag them down and take their place in the heavens. You see, Louis had developed a grudge against the gods; he thought it was unfair that they held the power over so many mortals while he, one of the most powerful figures of his time, was just a ‘mere’ king. In his eyes they did not deserve their position, they did not have the right to be in power, but he did.”

The wombat took another sip of his beer. “He was a madman, John, fucking cooked, but a powerful cunt nonetheless. In his time he was one of the three great powers, and alongside the pope and the british king, he ruled the Abyss in Europe.”

Wombatton then shrugged. “Alright, back to the story.”

“It was the year 1702 when old Louis invited Helios, the Greek god of the sun, to his palace to have a chat, Helios being one of the few gods that he was on friendly terms with. The two of them drank, celebrated and made merry, until eventually night fell and Helios’ powers waned. It was at this moment that Louis struck, gathering all his mana in one gigantic attack, obliterating poor Helios in one strike; the god had no inclination to think his friend would turn on him, and he paid for it with his life. Louis took Helios’ divinity; he ripped it from his deceased body and started calling himself the Sun King. To great anger from the rest of the Greek pantheon, he had betrayed one of their own and wore the stolen divinity as a gruesome trophy of his deed…”

Wombaton looked from John to Cynthia and back. “Do you know what they did for the next 50 years?”

Both of them shook their heads.

“Nothing, they did nothing. Until eventually they had gathered their powers, and the entire Greek pantheon, from Artemis to Zeus, attacked Louis; their followers inciting the people of France outside of the Abyss into a mad frenzy, which would eventually become the French Revolution. The gods themselves stepped out of their barriers to corner the old king in his palace in Versailles, declaring the **** of both him and his rotten legacy. They struck him down, chopped his body into countless pieces. Yet they left his head intact, locked his soul inside of it, forcing him to watch the end of his grandson’s life at the hands of the guillotine, and showed him how everything he held dear, his country and his legacy was swallowed up by the angry mob and their revolution. After torturing him like that for years until the old king was begging for ****, the gods simply scoffed. I heard say that, to this day, there is a severed head somewhere in the halls of Hades’ palace, **** to watch the guillotine take his grandson’s life again, and again, and again. By the end of it all, Apollo had taken back Helios’ divinity, cherishing it and taking care of it in memory of his fallen brother.”

John swallowed hard as he listened to the tale, his face white as a sheet as he envisioned the brutality of the gods. To be made to watch your most painful memories over and over again, that was more than cruel, it was inhumane, no matter what crime you commited.

“You see, John, the reason I am telling you all of this… No one can win on his own, allies are needed by anyone that wants to stay on top. The only person able to go head to head with entire pantheons… Well, you know her quite well already. Your benefactor, Gaia. I hope that you will keep the story of old Louis in mind; don’t make enemies you can’t beat. And don’t count yourself invincible just because you have more potential for growth or are more powerful than others; both Helios and Louis thought themselves to be all powerful and immortal, and look where they wound up. Lastly, don’t think that just because you are not getting punished for an evil deed that you have gotten away with it; gods are patient creatures, they will wait till it’s their time to strike, and when they do, they will sweep through you and leave nothing in their wake. As some sci-fi show said: ‘**** is a dish best served cold’.”