A thunderous roar erupted from the thirty foot tall behemoth, the grotesque monster rearing up onto it's hind legs to even greater heights as it clutched futilely at the gapping wound in it's upper torso of sinewy muscles and pitch black fur, splattering gallons of steaming blood onto the grassy plains between it's clawed feet, each one large enough to rend a large man in two in a single blow should they carelessly or powerlessly find itself within it's reach. As it continued to thrash about in it's death throes, a woman with flowing blonde hair stood casually in front of it as if waiting for a train to arrive, her right hand's index finger pointing towards it lazily before dropping limply to her side, her work here done.
How dull. This was the monster threatening to destroy the entire population of this planet? She felt horribly empty and without purpose now more than ever; even helping to kill such a powerful beast that had been hyped to no end bringing her no relief. Was this truly the best she was capable of? Wandering around various planets in search of a reason to apply her talents? Something worth her attention at least? So far very few had met her qualifications despite her search, and the most important of them had vanished from her sight for quite some time now. What to do, she wondered, now that this planet had shown her all it had to offer? Move on to the next one in hope of better results? There had to be better way.
In one last fit of rage, the monster snarled as it charged at the closest adventurer to it who had helped out in the battle, taking him completely off guard. Couldn't he see the warning signs beforehand? She didn't bother to mention it to him beforehand due to this being the predictable outcome, but even knowing now that he hadn't known and had no way of avoiding it in time, that was still very much his own fault and none of her concern. None of the others were of any concern to her. She just needed to stick around until she could retrieve some of her diamond from the thing's corpse. This battle had long lost all interest in her.
Suddenly that all changed when a blur plummeted downward through the sky, far above what could even be described as inhuman. No, this was superhuman ability on a whole different level than what could be found on just any random planet. With a resounding crack the monster's thick skull caved inward, forcing it's head, along with the rest of it's massive frame, to crash deep into the earth in a move that stopped it both literally and figuratively dead in it's tracks, throwing up a mass of displaced earth around it like a volcano eruption.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the newcomer as she emerged from the rubble, a girl clearly not of this world who had swooped in to take all of the glory. Or was it to help save this random guy? It was hard to say. Perhaps it was a little bit of both, but that was neither here nor there. The girl's appearance was as memorable as her entrance. On her back was a pair of green dragon wings, each one about the size of her torso spread out, making them quite small...and not the only small thing about her either; her height likely not much more than five feet, if any. A dragon tail wagged slowly behind her, and adorning her head was two stubby, white horns. Her hair was not a color found on this world; purple, and quite messily arranged at shoulder length. Besides these features she appeared human. One last thing of note at first glance...she was clothed only in an emerald green armored bikini.
This made her own ensemble; a sleek white trench coat open in front, a black under armour-like nylon bodysuit underneath, leather fingerless gloves, and knee high leather boots (not high heeled), look perfectly normal by comparison, even factoring in her supermodel good looks and long blonde hair. Indeed, it was clearly evident that both of these women were outsiders when the average level of dress on this planet is medieval hobo inspired.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" The woman questioned as she approached the newcomer, the only one in the group who kept her wits about her enough to do so while the rest continued to stand around staring. Upon closer examination, the girl was probably only in her mid teens, helping to explain her shorter stature and nearly flat chest. This was far from the case in either regard for herself. She was a whole head's taller and her proportions were quite a bit more...womanly. Plus she was 29. This wasn't really a fair contest, actually.
"I'm Evvie!" The dragon girl replied enthusiastically. "I came from..the sky?" She finished, looking up at it.
"I meant what planet," the woman said, un-amused.
"Umm..." she thought out loud before making the "I don't know" grunting sound as she shrugged her bare shoulders.
The woman let out a sigh as she brushed past her to make her way down to the beast's badly mangled remains, most of the damage done by drilling into the earth. This girl was interesting, she had to give her that, but was also somewhat infuriatingly stupid at the same time. Most important about her, however, would be if she came from, or knows about, people of importance or power on level of her own, but getting such information out of her might be far more troublesome than it had any right to be. Perhaps it was still worth her time? This "perhaps" was more of a feeling than she had felt for a long while since leaving her home world, so that perhaps was as good of a place to start as any.
"Ah...there we go," the woman muttered out loud, finding bits of diamond glittering in the gore. Un-effected by the scene which would make a normal person vomit out their lunch, she placed her hands on the pieces, which soon vanished back into her body, causing the visceral and fur coating them to slop back down with the rest of the goop.
"What's your name?" Evvie shouted down at her.
"Ruchette Vorsalus," she replied, surprising herself that she bothered answering her so naturally. "...Now that I told you that much, I deserve some better information out of you. Now tell me-"
Suddenly the two's vision was enveloped by an intense light, revealing a majestic, skeletal figure out of nowhere. Just as suddenly as he appeared, he began to speak.
“I am Skallagrim, and you are a skilled and worthy warrior, you are invited to attend the Nexus of Worlds Tournament. When you are ready merely call my name and I shall open the gate to the Nexus of Worlds.”
Ruchette stared blankly at the empty rock that the scene turned back into after one last flash of light. What was that? No seriously...what in the bloody hell was that?! Her face gained an expression of wonder and excitement as her brain had time to process this unexpected event. It felt weird to smile like that, even if it might look like a crazed, serial killer smile due to a severe lack of practice. No...this was a genuine thrill, not the feelings of some deranged psychopath. She could tell at first glance that this Skallagrim person was something special, and this tournament would surely be special too. Something big was going on, and she had to be a part of it. She would not settle for a normal life, so she had to keep moving forward, and this was what could be her lucky break. If not the tournament itself, but the people in it. Even the man she was looking for, who surely had enough power to be involved in all of this.
"Skullygram!" Evvie shouted just as Ruchette opened her mouth to speak his name. Ruchette cringed.
"Stop messing around. It's Skallagrim," she corrected, opening the portal back up and sending them both through. Well...that was an anti-climactic way of getting it done.
She didn't have the time or motivation to be angry at this, being in awe at her new surroundings. She managed to return back to her straight face now that the initial surprise had worn off. Grinning like an idiot simply wasn't her thing. Turning to face Evvie, it was no surprise who had that one covered. The dragon girl let out an excited yelp and began running around the hall, footsteps plopping along the expensive looking flooring. Meanwhile, Ruchette casually strolled forward, eyes locking onto Skallagrim sitting on his throne, before giving the other individuals all passing glances to see if anyone else of note was around. For now, at least, she didn't need to bother with Evvie again.
LeeRoy
