The Residents of the Barrow

Soot and smog filled the air, **** the lungs of all things that still clung to life that fateful day. However, it had been thousands of years for many of them since they had breathed their last, and so the toxic air held no sway with them.

They slammed their weapons against their shields, many bellowing war cries while others began chants of battle. This was the final day, the one they had prepared for and knew they would not return from.

And yet, despite the fear that sat within their hearts, no man or woman even thought for a moment of turning tail and running. They swallowed their fear, leaving only a thirst for glory and hope that if there was a next after this day, they would carry that glory with them as a badge of pride. That perhaps the survivors of today would write sagas about them, and the Norns themselves would be impressed with their performance on the battlefield.

John somehow stood alongside these warriors, despite the fact that he knew he was not supposed to be here. “This is not my place… why am I here?” he questioned, but his fellow warriors either didn’t hear him or ignored his questions.

Ahead of them were battles that had been prophesied eons before. These were battles that had been shaped by fate and would shape fate itself. John could see the great serpent, the spawn of Loki himself, doing battle with a short bearded man that commanded the storms and struck with the **** of mankind’s greatest weapons. To the east, a one-handed swordsman cleaved his way through a dozen draugr with a single swipe, laughing with glee as his **** came closer and closer. To the north, hundreds of jotun charged off the ship of nails, with Loki laughing atop the masthead unaware of the watchman of Asgard approaching him for their final duel.

With a loud cry, the army John was a part of surged forward, breaking up quickly as each warrior began to fight their own opponents. John was left to his own devices in the center of Ragnarok.

Then, he blinked.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the same spot, but much time had passed. John was not sure how long, only that the battles of legend were over and the aftermath lay before him. The body of the serpent lay broken and fried, but only a few steps away from that lay the motionless body of Thor. Tyr sat leaning against a tree, both of his hands gone but a smile on his face. Heimdallr’s body sat not too far from John, a collection of knives and burn marks making it apparent how he had died.

Standing atop a nearby mountain was a figure familiar to John. With his body of molten rock, his laugh of a thousand eruptions, and his sword of fire, Surtr began the process of burning the land John stood on to naught but ash. As he did so, John heard a laugh and a cough beside him. He looked over, only to see Loki leaning up against the ship of nails with a sword deep in his belly but a grin on his face.

He slowly raised a finger and pointed directly at John. “Thank you.”

With that, flames covered John’s body, and before he could even scream, his dream changed again. Now he stood on the branch of a tree, covered in leaves in the color of autumn. The tree branch he was on was massive, easily as wide as an entire highway, with other branches breaking off like exit and entrance ramps.

Slowly he walked forward, when suddenly he heard an odd noise. It was akin to a groan, but the sound seemed to **** on itself. He looked around, seeing nothing but the tree and leaves. Then, he heard it again, this time clearly above him. He looked up and saw a horrific sight. A man hanging from one of the branches, a spear lodged in his side as he slowly strangled. John was filled with dread and fear and quickly looked for a way up, needing to help this man before he died. Just as he began to dash up a branch, planning on jumping from branch to branch to get high enough, he heard a strange cry that shook him to his very core. The branch beneath his feet began to rumble, nearly causing him to lose his balance. Then, he saw it emerge from the underbrush. This… thing looked like a red squirrel, only one that was about the size of a Boeing 747. It called out again, the sound like that of a squirrel’s chatter but amplified a hundredfold. Just as the strange squirrel reached the man’s body, surely to do some cruel thing such as play with the already tortured man, the man calmly reached forth and drew symbols before himself with lightning speed. The symbols glowed in all the colors of the rainbow before exploding into light, causing the man to levitate out of the nose, the spear to leave his side, and a look of fear to pass over the squirrel’s face before it ran away in terror.

“And thus,” Odin said calmly, his voice filled with magic and power, “the magic of runes is mine to command.”

John stepped back to try and get a better look, but he forgot he was standing on narrow tree branches, and when his foot found no purchase, he began to fall.

And fall

And fall

And Fall

AND FALL

AND FALL

A
N
D
F
A
L
L
L

John was jolted awake, his body covered in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. The last thing he could recall seeing in his nightmare was the impossibly huge jaws of a serpent closing around him, the scent of poison and **** still filling his nose.

He just sat there for moments on end, trying to get a hold of his breathing and return to some sort of normal. Beside him, Talia continued to sleep away completely unaware that the man who had just fucked her into exhaustion was now awake. John rubbed his face tiredly and reached for his phone. Thankfully, his phone’s battery was pretty good, so it should be able to last another day or two without needing to charge. However, he was not like his phone. He really needed to rest and recharge each night, and if last night was anything to go on, his nightmares would not let him get much sleep at all.

He looked at the phone’s screen. 2:15 am. Yep, tonight was going to be another sleepless one. He gave a small grumble, carefully removing himself from Talia’s embrace before walking over to the pool, splashing some water on his face.

‘The power of the gods themselves at my fingertips, the chosen mage of Gaia herself, and yet I can’t have a good night’s sleep ‘cause of some stupid nightmares.’ He looked down at his reflection, grumbling as his own tired face greeted him back. He turned away from the reflective pool before walking back over to the camp. He sat down in front of what was left of the fire, the embers still giving off a warm glow. Thankfully, he would not be dealing with the rest of the day as a tired sad sack.

He reached down to his pack, into the back pocket, and slowly pulled out a small bottle of energy pills. ‘Down the hatch once again.’

Just as he swallowed the small tablet and felt an energy course through his body, pushing the worries of relying so much on these pills and of not being able to sleep to the back of his head in favor of thoughts of productivity. With that done, he reached down and pulled his glossary from his side, opening it to a random page before taking his time to read it and memorize the information.

Why? He wasn’t really sure. After all, his magic ensured that he already knew the important things and there was no reason to memorize the lore or exact effect language, but he supposed that his brain just needed something to do. Jerking off was out of the question, as his dick was still a touch sensitive after his and Talia’s fuck session. However, that fuck session had yielded in another completed quest, which he had noticed after they finally stopped fucking and actually washed off.

…AND IT'S A HOMERUN! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, JOHN NEWMAN HAS BATTED A HOME RUN!!!
John Newman, you have finally achieved the ultimate achievement that most teens yearn for; Having sex with someone. Congratulations are in order that it did not go to waste, as Clotho herself was not sure whether it would or not.
+2 Endurance
+2 Libido
+2 Strength
+2 Inches to Dick Size
Fucking Mastery Unlocked

New Skill Unlocked: Fucking Mastery Lvl 1
When fucking someone, the magic of the universe makes it that you fucking them is more pleasureable than if it were someone else fucking them.
+5% Pleasure to your Partner

It was nice clearing out the quest, and the bonus stats were also a nice reward for managing to lose his virginity. But as mentioned, his dick was still sensitive and thus he was probably not going to try out these skills for a while. With anything sexual out of the picture in terms of occupying himself, and the lack of a book or homework or games to entertain him, he was a little bored.

‘I should really put a book in my inventory.’

Just as he was about to turn the page and look to the newest rune, he heard a soft scuttling ahead of him. He looked forward, at first seeing nothing until a pair of eyes met his. The eyes approached and revealed the body they were attached to, and John quickly went on alert.

The figure was at the most 4 feet tall with a slight hunch forward. It wore a large black cloak that reached down to its ankles, with a hood over its head that stopped just short of where its eyes were. It walked forward cautiously, its hands carefully holding the cloak closed, and a clear air of nervousness surrounded its approach.

Oh, and the figure was a rat.

More specific than that, the figure was a skaven. John could tell from his hours of playing Total War: Warhammer. This figure had the familiar hunch; long snout covered in fur (brown to be specific); sharp teeth; pink, hairless tail; and red eyes that seemed to glow in the low lighting. John raised his hands up, ready to write a rune and call a warning to Talia. The figure then raised its own hands, but instead of a position of attack or spellcasting, the hands were up in the universal symbol for surrender.

“No attack me Man-thing! I am here for helping, yes yes.”

John did not waver, keeping his hands at the ready. “Tell me exactly why you’re here and maybe I won’t attack.”

The figure smiled, displaying more sharp yellow teeth with its unnerving grin. “You are cautious. Smart. Like me.” It slowly pulled the hood back, its pointed ears coming into view. John could see they had several piercings. In addition, John could see the armor the skaven was wearing, which was a combination of leather and metal with spikes along the hunched back.

“How about you start with a name, skaven?” John said, never taking his eyes off the warrior before him.

The skaven nodded. “You know of my kind. Good. My name is Skriskrueel, smartest of skaven and chosen by the Venerated Horned One. Who are you, man-thing?”

“... John.”

“Good to meet-greet you, John.” Skriskrueel gestured to an empty spot by the fire. “Might I have seat?”

John cocked his head to the side, silently casting Observe on Skriskrueel.

Skriskrueel
Lvl 10, Clanrat Spear
8 Years Old
Hp: 130/130
Mp: 30/30
Mood: Worried, Scared, Hopeful

John raised his eyebrow at the note that he was only 8 years old, but then remembered that for a rat that was probably almost half of his life expectancy. His mood seemed to show that he was not going to attack John, but he could be setting John up for an ambush, worrying that John would figure out early.

He nodded to Skriskrueel, allowing him to sit but keeping a close eye on him. “Before you sit, I want you to drop any weapons you have on you.”

Skriskrueel nodded. “A fair point, yes.” He reached behind himself and pulled out a couple knives, dropping them to the ground. “Left spear in other cavern. Figured it would worry man-thin- John.” He then took a seat, warming his clawed hands in front of the fire.

John continued to stand, rolling his shoulders as he watched Skriskrueel. “What do you want?”

The skaven gave a small sigh, looking into John’s eyes. Now that he was in the light, his eyes had no red hue, instead displaying a mixture of brown and black. “Tell me, do you pray to your god?”

John was taken aback. He had to admit, he was not expecting a religious talk with a skaven. “Um… I mean, not really? A few days ago, I didn’t even know whether gods existed or not. I’m still thinking about that question.”

Skriskrueel nodded. “Understandable. You young for man-thing. We skaven, we worship our god, the Great Horned One. He is powerful, inspiring fear in our enemies and blessing us in battle. He is the wisest of all, and knows many things far before we know of them. He has helped the Under Empire many times, and we worship him.” He sighed, dipping his head. “Or rather, we should.”

“Long ago, skaven were at war with elf-things above. We hated them, would make their breeders into slaves and eat their strongest warriors. But… time for war passed. The elf-things grew too strong and we knew time was to scuttle. We made peace, and just living in undercity of Hellpit was enough. We grew larger and stronger, and warlords began looking elsewhere for conquest. However, one day slaves were digging new warren when they found strange cavern. Inside was largest lizard-thing we ever see, easily a dozen warriors tall and a hundred tail-lengths long. Lizard-Thing was powerful as well, spitting fire and flying out of reach of slingers. Before we knew what was happening, Lizard-Thing screamed how we were thieves coming for his treasure, and began to attack Hellpit. Before we could mobilize even a single clanrat for war, the Lizard-thing burnt down our city and **** what few of us were left to scuttle away.”

Skriskrueel gestured to the cavern around them. “After long-time, we found these caverns. Our leader, Thrueetch, claimed them as new clan home, and called it Putrid Stump.”

“What a charming name,” John said dryly.

Skriskrueel smiled, unaware of John’s sarcasm. “It is very good name. Anyway, this was all fine. Thrueetch led us to life and made sure we had new home and warren for breeders. However, he denounced the Great Horned One. He claimed that our god abandoned us to the strange Lizard-Thing who called himself Fafnir, and that if our god no help us, we no worship him.” A small growl escaped Skriskrueel’s throat before he spat onto the ground. “Thrueetch is fool. No god promises no tragedy, but worship must continue through the bad times as well as the good. He has forgotten the blessing that the Great Horned One gives clan, and now forbids worship in clan.”

John gave a small nod. “I see. And you wish to see him change his mind, or in the absence of that, want to see him removed?”

Skriskrueel gave John an unnerving smile. “You catch on quick, Man-Thing John.”

“And I am going to guess that since you came to me, you want me to help you remove him?”

Skriskrueel nodded. “I saw you and your breeder-mate elf-thing defeat the living-dead man-things in other room. You two are very strong, and could easily kill fool of clan leader.”

John rubbed his chin in thought, no longer that worried that the skaven was going to attack him. “I thought your people were known for treachery and willingness to stab each other in the back if it meant a better position for yourself. Why not kill him yourself?”

“Ah, while Skriskrueel is strong enough to kill Thrueetch, Skriskrueel would not have clan on his side if he did so. Thrueetch is still liked for helping clan escape Lizard-Thing Fafnir. Skriskrueel is liked, but not as much as Thrueetch. They would not like Skriskrueel if he killed clan leader, and would probably rebel and kill Skriskrueel. But if outsiders killed Thrueetch, then Skriskrueel could become leader no problem.”

“I take it you have a plan on how to do this, oh smart skaven? Because I and my girlfriend don’t really wanna try invading a skaven clan just to kill your leader. Fighting him as well as any guarding clanrats would either end with us dead or a lot of dead clanmates.”

“Ah, but that is brilliant part of strategy. You see, Thrueetch loves single combat. Back in Hellpit, skaven built large coliseum to watch slaves fight in, and Thrueetch loved fighting in there himself. If you challenge him, he will certainly fight to **** and you can kill him.”

John tapped his foot, thinking over Skriskrueel’s idea. “How do we get inside the clan?”

“I will lead you there. Thrueetch ordered Skriskrueel, who he thinks is very loyal clanrat, to watch you and your breeder-mate. Easily I can bring you into clan as slaves, and if you challenge Thrueetch for freedom, you can leave once you kill him.”

“Okay…” John looked over to Talia. “But I don’t think that he will let us fight two on one. Especially if he loves single combat as much as you claim. And I don’t think either of us are ready to take him on solo.”

“Ah, but this is part of deal. You see, I know these caverns and tunnels better than any clanrat. I know where to find best treasure, find dead man-things that were buried in caverns, and where mystical sword of great power is.” He spread his arms wide and smiled at John. “You agree to help Skriskrueel, and I will lead you to any of these caverns as well as this sword.” Skriskrueel gestured to Firebite sitting next to Talia. “It looks like Man-Thing John needs a new sword.”