{"sf1_id":32250,"sf2_id":"7ejw5OBm","title":"The Choice of Gods and Mortals-Chapter One","author":"Omnishar","words":2555,"posted_at":"2007-09-09T03:46:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Adventure","Bad Language","Drama","Sci-Fi","Series","Story Progression","Various Species","Violence"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/32250-the-choice-of-gods-and-mortals-chapter-one","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/7ejw5OBm","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/c2/1b/c21bbca3-0932-4660-9818-5117ebf951a6","description":"","content":"Chapter One-Of Gods and Mortals  \n  \nHis heart was racing, mouth dry, body covered in heated sweat despite the cold night air. And  \nhis eye's, so wild and frightened. How long had it been for the young otter named Clark? How  \nlong since his life-long kept secret had been found out, and his world of relative peace and  \nhappiness thrown into chaos.  \n  \nIt had not even been two days. He had a stable job; he even had been promoted with a  \npay raise. His relationship with his girlfriend of 5 years was perfect in his eyes; he had even  \nbeen going to ask her to marry him. The ring was still clenched in his left hand. He thought that  \nwhile he didn't have the best life, it was still a good life.  \n  \nThen they came, they knew everything, and now everything was gone. They even  \nrevealed it all, in front of her. At first she didn't believe. After all, such things, such people did  \nnot exist. Then they went to harsher methods. She was at gunpoint, he had no choice.  \n  \nHe never liked it. His parents never even knew about it. It felt like, some horrible  \ndisease, a curse. He could remember the day it first appeared. He had just celebrated his 13th  \nbirthday. It had been a nice birthday. He was home alone, mom and dad out with friends. He  \nwas just doing the chores, mowing the lawn. Then the local headaches for him showed up. He  \nwas their favorite punching bag. But this time they had weapons. Bats, one of them even had a  \nlead pipe. They had always gotten away with trouble, their parent's being most of the elite in  \ntheir small city. He was frightened, frightened beyond all belief at what they were going to do.  \nHe had tripped over a pile of baseball sized rocks dug out from the front lawn to make way for  \nplanting a tree and some bushes. The leader of that small gang raised the lead pipe. Then from  \nout of nowhere, one of the rocks just, flew right up from the ground, smashing against the  \nleader's face. He nearly died, and they all saw how. While their parents didn't believe the flying  \npart, they still blamed the otter and his parent's. And from then on, amongst his school peers,  \nhe was the freak boy. He didn't gain a single real friend in that city till he moved away for  \ncollege, away from those who were close to knowing.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; But they knew, the business men. At first, he tried to ignore them. But then they started  \ncalling him at home and on his cell. One of them even tried to corner him as he was leaving  \nwork one night. They didn't like being ignored. So they came to him where he couldn't run  \naway. They held her at gunpoint, and made him reveal what he was to her. He thought he could  \nsave her, he wanted to get her away. But they must have anticipated. At the last second, the  \nlarge kitchen knife meant for her captor's arm, found itself buried within her chest. They tossed  \nher down, like some poor rag doll. She was still alive, and she looked at him, and the light  \nwithin her eyes faded forever.  \n  \nSo here he was, lightly clothed body sticky with the sweat of fear and shock. Spot's of  \nher blood upon his shirt, his face. The business men, several of them, still standing before him.  \nTheir cold and calculating eyes fixated on him, the gunman who held her still armed. It was as  \nif time had frozen for a moment. Then, he spoke.  \n  \nHe recognized the voice, the one who had kept calling. He was a fairly short male. A  \nbadger, some grey in his fur, probably middle aged now. Clad in the outfit one would expect an  \noffice manager to wear. He took a step forward, and a light, casual smile came to his face as  \nhe spoke. \"Well that was quite the slip up, wouldn't you say Clark? And I thought you two had a  \ngood relationship going too.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; The otter blinked, and looked directly at the badger, sadness and hate comingling within  \nhis eyes. The badger kept his smile, \"It's like I tried to tell you Clark. You're a dangerous person.  \nBut if you come with us, perhaps we can put those abilities of yours to proper use.\" It was these  \nwords, that made the otter growl.  \n  \n\"Proper use? Look what you, and this damn curse cost me. I loved her.\" He yelled every  \nword, as if wanting to alert someone, anyone outside this apartment. \"Just what kind of use do  \nyou think I am suited for? I'll they've ever done is hurt people.\" He then opened his left paw,  \nand stared sadly at the ring that he could never give away now. \"I'm not letting them, myself,  \nhurt anyone ever again. I'll be damned if I let you.\"  \n  \nAnd with a blink of their eyes, the gun flew from the one individual's hand. Clark caught,  \nheld it up to the side of his head. They rushed forward, tried to stop him. But with a simple  \nsqueeze, it all went dark, forever.  \n  \nThe badger sighed, as the body fell to the ground in a heap. He walked over to the fresh  \ncorpse, kneeled down and shook his head in annoyance. A voice of one of the other's in the  \nroom spoke up in a casual, yet obviously respectful tone, \"Course of action, sir?\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; The badger stood, took a cigarette from his pocket along with a match as he responded,  \n\"Get the cleanup crews. Get a sample of his DNA, but leave the body. Bullet took out a good  \nchunk of the brain so the rest is all useless. We make it look like he killed the girlfriend then  \ncommitted suicide, no one will be any the wiser. The stupid bastard,\" he said, glancing back at  \nthe dead otter, looking into those life-less eyes. \"Some folks are just too stupid to see a good  \nthing when it knocks on their door.\" Taking a small puff on the cigarette, the badger turned,  \nand began to leave, leaving his subordinates to the rest. The next assignment was most likely  \nalready on his desk.  \n  \nWhere am I? That was the question plaguing the young male bat. All around him, was  \nwhat he could only describe as a swirling darkness. He felt cold and hot at the same time, his  \nbody was naked and shaking. As if he could feel something, bad coming closer and closer. All of  \na sudden, he felt as though his entire body was being pulled by some intense force. And in a  \nheartbeat, all had changed. He was looking upon a mountain, a great mountain. It looked like it  \nstretched up into heaven itself. It took him a second, but then he recognized, from pictures in  \nhis old geography classes. This place, this mountain, it was Mount Olympus. As he came to  \ngrasp this, the same force seemed to take him again, but this time, he flew up, straight up.  \nAbove him, the darkest storm clouds he had ever laid eyes upon were rushing to meet him. He  \nclosed his eyes as he flew through, and above them. But when he opened his eyes, he wished he  \nhad remained in those clouds. He was staring at the mountains peak. But what had his full  \nattention, was the enormous structure, floating above the peak. It resembled the ancient  \nstructure known as the Parthenon, but it was, evil looking. The columns had carved into them,  \nhorrific images of terrifying serpents. Littered about the entrance, were dead and decaying  \nbodies in twisted heaps.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; He wanted to scream, but then something else caught his attention, something moving  \ntowards him from within the structure. At first glance, the male thought it to be the spitting  \nimage of the ancient Greek god, Zeus. A wise yet mighty lion of great power, yet what emerged  \nwas horrifying. It was a lion, massive form seemed to spark with the signature bolts of  \nlightning. But it's face was twisted into an evil smile, it's muzzle and teeth dripping with fresh  \nblood. It's eye's were even the color of blood, pupil less. In one paw, it carried a bolt of black  \nlightning. In the other, the living body of a young female, a very frightened reptile. The bat was  \ntransfixed in horror, as the lion god lifted her, the female pleading for mercy, crying. The lion  \njust growled with that twisted smile, and in a flash, it's teeth had literally ripped open her neck,  \nblood spurting all over the evil god. Now, the bat did scream in horror. When he did, it was as if  \nthe lion finally noticed him. And when he did, he laughed. The black lightning was raised, and  \nwith another laugh from the god, was hurled with mighty force. The bat raised his arms in a  \nfutile attempt to defend.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; And then nothing happened, not even a sound. When he opened his eyes, a very new  \nsight greeted the young male. He was standing in a desert, the sun shining high overhead. And  \nbefore him, was a very familiar object. Rising high above him, was one of the great pyramids of  \nEgypt. How did he get here, he wondered. But suddenly, new events happened. Everything  \nsuddenly became, shaded. At first he thought it was a passing cloud, but when he looked  \nupwards, the answer was vastly different than what he had guessed. It was an eclipse, a total  \neclipse of the sun. Before he could process this, the ground began to shake violently, like an  \nearthquake. The pyramid before him, began to crumble at the top, cracks appearing in its  \nframe. Suddenly, the very top of the structure seemed to explode from the inside, and  \nsomething emerged. Slowly, as if it could go no faster, a great figure emerged. Blinded for a  \nmoment by swirling sand, the giant figure seemed to resemble, a falcon. He only knew of one  \nbeing in Egyptian culture associated with the falcon, the god named Ra. But to his horror, as  \nbefore, the god before him did not resemble the ones in the pictures and stories. Instead, it's  \neyes too were pupil less and blood red. It's feathers disheveled upon it's body, which was  \nthinner than the last ones, yet seemed to be just as powerful. It's beak too was covered in  \nblood, so too was its feathered hands. It suddenly gave a piercing call, so loud the earth shook.  \nThe bat covered his ears, his yells of pain drowned out, it felt like his head was going to  \nexplode. It stopped, the bat still feeling a powerful, migraine like pain in his head. When he  \nlooked up, the eye's of this, nightmare were upon him. It too, smiled a twisted smile, and  \nbefore he could speak to it, its beak opened, and from it shot forth a sort of swirling stream of  \nfire. The heat was already intense, and the fire was quickly descending upon the bat. Another  \nscream left him, his throat hurt a little, and his eyes clenched shut.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Again, nothing happened. And again, when his eyes opened, the scenery had changed  \ndrastically. Where before there was desert, now there was forest. A small clearing he stood  \nwithin, and all around were mighty, ancient look tree's. And all around, was snow. Pure white  \nsnow, covered the trees and ground, falling lightly in the air. In the distance were snow covered  \nmountains. He wondered, was it over? As this question emerged, he felt the ground shake, then  \nstop. Another shake, then another. Then his ears processed the sound and his mind the shaking,  \nthey were footsteps, gigantic footsteps. Then he heard them, trees falling heavily behind him.  \nWhen he turned, as a part of him expected, a horrific figure met his eyes. He knew this one too,  \nOdin, lord of the Norse gods. A gigantic bear, brown fur covered titanic muscled body. Yet there  \nwas horror. The same blood red eyes, sharp teeth shined with blood. One paw carried an evil  \nlooking weapon. A gigantic club, the bashing end of it covered in protruding jagged spikes. In  \nthe other, a large goblet, and dripping from it, gallons upon gallons of fresh blood. The bear  \nsaw the frightened bat, that had fallen onto his knees in the snow. With a mocking laugh, the  \nbear gulped down the contents of the goblet, then smiled that same smile it's, brethren had. It  \nbegan to raise the club. The bat didn't care, this was maddening. He just wanted this to stop.  \nAnd as the club came swinging down, he did not look away.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; A gasp escaped as he suddenly sat up, his half naked body covered in a cold sweat. He  \nquickly looked around. He was lying on his bed, in his bedroom on the second story of the house  \nhe and his family lived in. Lying open on his lap, was a book entitled, \"God's of the Ancient  \nWorld.\" He sighed heavily, it had all been a horrible dream. At least, he prayed it was just that.  \nIt had felt, so real to him. He jumped suddenly as a knock came to his door, his mother's voice  \nsounding through it. \"Gabriel, dinner time. Are you awake sweetie?\"  \n  \nHe let out a silent sigh as he responded, \"Yeah mom, be down in a minute.\" As he heard  \nthe footsteps echoing away, he sighed again. Just a dream brought upon by too much studying  \nand all nighters for his classes. He closed the book, setting it down. \"Mid-terms cannot end soon  \nenough.\" He said, as he put on a shirt, heading downstairs to join his family.  \n  \nAt a location known only to a select few, in a darkened room, the only light being soft  \nlamps here and there, three shadowed figures gathered around a circular sort of table. The  \nright most figure spoke first, \"Best make this quick gentlemen, I've a meeting with the primary  \nshare holder's at four and I don't want to hear them complain about me being late.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"You always were the impatient one,\" responded the left most figure. \"I felt you needed  \ninforming that while we unfortunately lost the telekinetic in upstate Washington, we have found  \nanother currently residing within Las Vegas. You may also be interested in knowing, we have  \nstrong reason to believe we are on the verge of finding a new elemental.\"  \n  \n\"Interesting,\" said the right most again, \"It's been a long time since one of those popped  \nup. Make sure to keep the men on the ready with this one.  \n  \nIt was at this moment, the middle figure of the three finally spoke. \"All right gentlemen,  \nnow that that is taken care of. On to other matters. It appears our, old friends, in the  \nunderground have started stirring up trouble again. Recruiting more to their side. If our plans  \nare to succeed, we must find them, and kill every last one of them.\" At these words, the other  \ntwo nodded slowly. Outside, the night sky was blocked by dark clouds that had been gathering  \nall day, and the storm was ready to begin.  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n\n"}