FactionGuerrilla
I'll do what I can.
A side story set in The Chronology Series.
Ancient Greece, 422 B.C.
“My mater (mother) once told me I was sent by the gods to protect this world. I gave her my word. And now, I give my word to you.”
The Keeper of the Staff, Kassandra, respectfully bowed towards Alethia, the Isu who inhabited her potent Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, before walking out of Atlantis’ throne room. It was her job to guard this staff and her world until another woman- whom apparently she would recognize as a “Heir of Memories”- came along to take it from her hands. And her promise- misthios (mercenary) or not- was something she always upheld.
Little did she know that her promise would be tested in just a few moments.
Honestly, Kassandra was still tired from the simulations Alethia had put her through. They were supposed to make her and the Heir of Memories more in control of the Staff, which felt sort of true. The only problem was that the simulations felt too damn real. Even with her Spear of Leonidas having been restored to its former glory, the various “Enhancements” she had gained from the experience, and her Hephaestus Armor from the Blood Gulch incident, she’d been left feeling extremely tired after having her combat and intellect pushed to their limits. All her senses were practically weary, screaming from being scrutinized by the three trials Alethia had put her through.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of the intruder in Atlantis the moment she stepped out of the throne room, though.
ARTHUR MORGAN FELT DUMBER THAN EVER, JUST STANDING IN THE HALL WITH AN ANCIENT HELMET ON HIS HEAD.
An old gunslinger like him, standing about in the middle of Atlantis. God damn Atlantis; it was something you’d read about in a fancy schmancy history book about rumors and mythology. Except here it was, as real as he was and absolutely jaw-dropping. Sure, the hall itself had deteriorated quite a bit, but it was still much more grandiose than what he'd seen back in New Hanover. Needless to say, Arthur and his Viking helmet stuck out like a sore thumb. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to stay in this place for too long; it was honestly giving him the creeps even though it certainly looked beautiful.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait any more; his target wearily walked out of a hallway off to the side, her hazel eyes dulled down by whatever she’d just been through. That said, she seemed to tense up the moment her eyes laid upon Arthur, pulling a spearhead out from behind her advanced red armor before pointing it at him.
“You’d better state your business, foreigner, or I’m going to have to kill you here!” She barked at Morgan, warranting him to raise his hands up in a non-hostile manner. Well, we’re already off to a great start...
“Calm down, Miss Kassandra! I ain’t none of those… Cult of Cosmics people you hate, nor am I a part of that Persian Cult either.”
“First of all, it’s the Cult of Kosmos and the Order of the Ancients. And secondly, you didn’t exactly answer my question.” The Spartan snapped, drawing closer to Arthur. It seemed to him that only a couple seconds passed just before she was poking her spear against his chest, though his grim facial expression didn’t change whatsoever despite the fact he knew she could probably rip his throat out in the blink of an eye.
“Does the place ‘Blood Gulch’ ring any bells to you?” The gunslinger replied, causing his target’s eyes to widen slightly. As a frown crossed Kassandra’s face, the intruder slowly but surely lowered his hand before pushing her spear down and away from his heart. She didn’t seem to mind.
“Yeah, that’s right. I know that’s where you got that there armor, too. You Greeks have your magic fire and poison blades, but there’s definitely nothing magic about your special suit.” He had her attention, and he was definitely going to keep it that way. Catch her hook, line, and sinker.
“Who sent you? The Freelancers? Come to make sure I wouldn’t say anything about their mishaps?” Perhaps Arthur had spilled too much information; she now seemed just as suspicious of him as she had the second she spotted him, and he definitely needed to backtrack. Now was the best time to explain why he was there.
“After what you and your friends did in that world? No, I don’t think they’re exactly in the shape to make a good recovery any time soon. Especially not when the government ain’t too happy their project broke quite a few laws.” Morgan grimaced under his helmet at the thought; he’d read up a little on the Project Freelancers in his spare time, and it was some really heavy stuff.
“No. I’ve got a better proposal, but I need to know I have to trust you. Misthios-” Arthur mispronounced the Greek word for mercenary as 'miss-toes'- “promise and whatnot, since I know how important upholding one of those means to you.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to trust you, then? For all I know, you could try stabbing me in the back like one Cultist malaka (asshole) did.” At Kassandra’s skepticism, Arthur didn’t move an inch. The second she blinked, though, a gun was pointed directly at her. A millisecond later it was pointed up in the air and a loud “BANG” echoed through Atlantis’ halls. With that, Arthur holstered his weapon, his green eyes trying to read her frown as he quickly explained herself.
“If I was here to kill you, I don’t think your magic spear could protect an instantly-fatal bullet to the brain. You should probably wear the helmet that came with that suit, by the way.”
“I don’t need the helmet, but thanks for the suggestion.” She drily responded before folding her arms nonchalantly. A long, somewhat tense silence hung between the two before the Greek exhaled between her teeth and nodded.
“Fine. As long as you don’t actually end up being a mercenary tracking me down for one of my bounties, I’m willing to listen.”
“Good. Because the M.P.F- I mean, Multiverse Protection Foundation- can use all the help it can get in these trying days.” This warranted a raised eyebrow from the soon-to-be-recruit, tilting her own head just like Arthur had just moments ago.
“Multiverse Protection Foundation? Sorry, but I can’t be a full-time member of your Foundation. I’ve already got a life as a misthios, and I sort of have to keep guard of this place-”
“Atlantis, you mean.”
“Yeah, Atlantis. That's enough of a handful without having to deal with other worlds, especially if they're anything like Blood Gulch.” She wanted to ask Arthur how he knew about Atlantis, but figured she had more important things that needed answering. Besides, she’d probably get her answer with her next question.
“How exactly did you track me down after that ‘Freelancer’ mess in the other world? It’s been such a long time since that happened. Years, even.” At this, Arthur Morgan merely shrugged.
“Well, there was this new recruit- Aloy-” inadvertently pronounced as ‘Alloy’- “who told us about what happened. Didn’t take us long before we pieced everything together, including a certain Greek with an eagle at her side who turned the tides with her friends and had promised to Aloy they’d see each other again.” He glanced upwards to see Ikaros circling around the duo, warranting a genuine smile from him.
“Y’know, I always heard legends about an ‘Eagle Bearer’ whenever I was riding around Greece, but never knew she so happened to have her own interdimensional adventure. That, and that I would be the one tracking her down after reading what the MPF had on her.” Kassandra lifted her arms up in gesture, though left her right arm up so her Golden Eagle could land on the metal plating- which Ikaros happily did so, though cawed at Arthur once as if he was unsure if the gunslinger could be entirely trusted.
“Well, here I am in all my glory. I still can’t follow you back to whatever world you came from, though; besides, I’ve got people to take care of. I don’t know what my family or Barnabas would do if I just went up and disappeared.”
“No, I understand that. I know just how important families are.” To Kassandra, the recruiter’s eyes seemed to water up slightly at the thought of a family, something she noticed behind that silly helmet he was wearing, though her attention was drawn away from his eyes by the contraption he pulled out.
“Here. A pager courtesy of Rick Sanchez…” Arthur nodded, pulling out a small, sleek device before offering it to her. She took it, turning it around a couple times to examine it whilst he explained its purpose.
“Button on the left-” He pointed to the respective part of the pager- “is to activate a teleporter to our M.P.F. base, The Cape. Don’t ask why we named it that, by the way.” This promptly shut the Spartan’s mouth before she could even utter a word.
“The middle one’s to create a comms channel between you and us. Maybe if you’re lucky, your friend Aloy will pick up. And you can use the right bit to send us an emergency number. I’ll probably be the one to come to your aid- Been travelling your world for a while now- but someone else might help if I’m busy.”
“And if your group gets in trouble?” Kassandra inquired. The man’s eyes seemed to give away his thoughts- He’d considered this before, and it seemed to her that he didn’t want to answer that question.
“Well, let’s sure-” pronounced ‘shoar’- “hope that doesn’t happen. But if it does, you’ll see a message for help on that little screen. It’ll probably vibrate, too, or something like that. I honestly don’t know all the details of these fancy gizmos.” Morgan shrugged. With all he wanted to explain out of the way, he turned and pulled out his own pager before pressing the button to summon his way back to The Cape. A green portal appeared, ready to take him back, but before he could Kassandra stopped him.
“Hey, wait! I never caught your name!” At this, Morgan turned around to face the demigoddess one more time, visibly contemplating what he wanted to tell her. At last, he decided he could try to make some company in Ancient Greece; sure, he wasn’t supposed to interact with anyone except potential targets lest he screwed up time and space itself, but it didn’t count of Kassandra already knew him, right?
“Name’s Arthur. Arthur Morgan. And if we’re around each other, I think that pager should let both of us know. Maybe we can go horse racing or fishing together.” He tried throwing out a couple activities that didn’t require him to kill someone, warranting a smile from Kassandra.
“Maybe so. Oh, and next time you visit this place? Ditch that helmet. It looks kind of stupid on you.”
“Oh, so mercenaries with tamed bears and lions and poison blades are completely fine, but a guy wearing a helmet isn’t? C’mon, partner.” He rolled his eyes, though he did take the helmet off to reveal his full face. Once the deed was done, he nodded at her once.
“Hope to see you around, Miss Kassandra. And welcome to the M.P.F.” And with that, he backpedalled into the portal, both disappearing one after the other, leaving Kassandra with the strange pager and the sense that she would see Aloy fairly soon.
Looks like I’ll be making good on that promise, my friend. All she needed was a moment to go to The Cape, find Aloy. She’d make time for that one day.
For now, though? She was tired after Atlantis’ trials. Too tired to bother thinking about going to another new world. Instead, she was going back to her home away from home: the Adrestria. Back to her family and Barnabas. She’ll reunite with Aloy, Corvo, and Price soon enough, but today wasn’t that day…
...For now, she would focus on protecting her world. She would uphold her promise as Keeper to Alethia, but if push came to shove, she’d protect any other world that came in danger.
If only mater knew there are so many other worlds...
Ancient Greece, 422 B.C.
“My mater (mother) once told me I was sent by the gods to protect this world. I gave her my word. And now, I give my word to you.”
The Keeper of the Staff, Kassandra, respectfully bowed towards Alethia, the Isu who inhabited her potent Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, before walking out of Atlantis’ throne room. It was her job to guard this staff and her world until another woman- whom apparently she would recognize as a “Heir of Memories”- came along to take it from her hands. And her promise- misthios (mercenary) or not- was something she always upheld.
Little did she know that her promise would be tested in just a few moments.
Honestly, Kassandra was still tired from the simulations Alethia had put her through. They were supposed to make her and the Heir of Memories more in control of the Staff, which felt sort of true. The only problem was that the simulations felt too damn real. Even with her Spear of Leonidas having been restored to its former glory, the various “Enhancements” she had gained from the experience, and her Hephaestus Armor from the Blood Gulch incident, she’d been left feeling extremely tired after having her combat and intellect pushed to their limits. All her senses were practically weary, screaming from being scrutinized by the three trials Alethia had put her through.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of the intruder in Atlantis the moment she stepped out of the throne room, though.
ARTHUR MORGAN FELT DUMBER THAN EVER, JUST STANDING IN THE HALL WITH AN ANCIENT HELMET ON HIS HEAD.
An old gunslinger like him, standing about in the middle of Atlantis. God damn Atlantis; it was something you’d read about in a fancy schmancy history book about rumors and mythology. Except here it was, as real as he was and absolutely jaw-dropping. Sure, the hall itself had deteriorated quite a bit, but it was still much more grandiose than what he'd seen back in New Hanover. Needless to say, Arthur and his Viking helmet stuck out like a sore thumb. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to stay in this place for too long; it was honestly giving him the creeps even though it certainly looked beautiful.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait any more; his target wearily walked out of a hallway off to the side, her hazel eyes dulled down by whatever she’d just been through. That said, she seemed to tense up the moment her eyes laid upon Arthur, pulling a spearhead out from behind her advanced red armor before pointing it at him.
“You’d better state your business, foreigner, or I’m going to have to kill you here!” She barked at Morgan, warranting him to raise his hands up in a non-hostile manner. Well, we’re already off to a great start...
“Calm down, Miss Kassandra! I ain’t none of those… Cult of Cosmics people you hate, nor am I a part of that Persian Cult either.”
“First of all, it’s the Cult of Kosmos and the Order of the Ancients. And secondly, you didn’t exactly answer my question.” The Spartan snapped, drawing closer to Arthur. It seemed to him that only a couple seconds passed just before she was poking her spear against his chest, though his grim facial expression didn’t change whatsoever despite the fact he knew she could probably rip his throat out in the blink of an eye.
“Does the place ‘Blood Gulch’ ring any bells to you?” The gunslinger replied, causing his target’s eyes to widen slightly. As a frown crossed Kassandra’s face, the intruder slowly but surely lowered his hand before pushing her spear down and away from his heart. She didn’t seem to mind.
“Yeah, that’s right. I know that’s where you got that there armor, too. You Greeks have your magic fire and poison blades, but there’s definitely nothing magic about your special suit.” He had her attention, and he was definitely going to keep it that way. Catch her hook, line, and sinker.
“Who sent you? The Freelancers? Come to make sure I wouldn’t say anything about their mishaps?” Perhaps Arthur had spilled too much information; she now seemed just as suspicious of him as she had the second she spotted him, and he definitely needed to backtrack. Now was the best time to explain why he was there.
“After what you and your friends did in that world? No, I don’t think they’re exactly in the shape to make a good recovery any time soon. Especially not when the government ain’t too happy their project broke quite a few laws.” Morgan grimaced under his helmet at the thought; he’d read up a little on the Project Freelancers in his spare time, and it was some really heavy stuff.
“No. I’ve got a better proposal, but I need to know I have to trust you. Misthios-” Arthur mispronounced the Greek word for mercenary as 'miss-toes'- “promise and whatnot, since I know how important upholding one of those means to you.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to trust you, then? For all I know, you could try stabbing me in the back like one Cultist malaka (asshole) did.” At Kassandra’s skepticism, Arthur didn’t move an inch. The second she blinked, though, a gun was pointed directly at her. A millisecond later it was pointed up in the air and a loud “BANG” echoed through Atlantis’ halls. With that, Arthur holstered his weapon, his green eyes trying to read her frown as he quickly explained herself.
“If I was here to kill you, I don’t think your magic spear could protect an instantly-fatal bullet to the brain. You should probably wear the helmet that came with that suit, by the way.”
“I don’t need the helmet, but thanks for the suggestion.” She drily responded before folding her arms nonchalantly. A long, somewhat tense silence hung between the two before the Greek exhaled between her teeth and nodded.
“Fine. As long as you don’t actually end up being a mercenary tracking me down for one of my bounties, I’m willing to listen.”
“Good. Because the M.P.F- I mean, Multiverse Protection Foundation- can use all the help it can get in these trying days.” This warranted a raised eyebrow from the soon-to-be-recruit, tilting her own head just like Arthur had just moments ago.
“Multiverse Protection Foundation? Sorry, but I can’t be a full-time member of your Foundation. I’ve already got a life as a misthios, and I sort of have to keep guard of this place-”
“Atlantis, you mean.”
“Yeah, Atlantis. That's enough of a handful without having to deal with other worlds, especially if they're anything like Blood Gulch.” She wanted to ask Arthur how he knew about Atlantis, but figured she had more important things that needed answering. Besides, she’d probably get her answer with her next question.
“How exactly did you track me down after that ‘Freelancer’ mess in the other world? It’s been such a long time since that happened. Years, even.” At this, Arthur Morgan merely shrugged.
“Well, there was this new recruit- Aloy-” inadvertently pronounced as ‘Alloy’- “who told us about what happened. Didn’t take us long before we pieced everything together, including a certain Greek with an eagle at her side who turned the tides with her friends and had promised to Aloy they’d see each other again.” He glanced upwards to see Ikaros circling around the duo, warranting a genuine smile from him.
“Y’know, I always heard legends about an ‘Eagle Bearer’ whenever I was riding around Greece, but never knew she so happened to have her own interdimensional adventure. That, and that I would be the one tracking her down after reading what the MPF had on her.” Kassandra lifted her arms up in gesture, though left her right arm up so her Golden Eagle could land on the metal plating- which Ikaros happily did so, though cawed at Arthur once as if he was unsure if the gunslinger could be entirely trusted.
“Well, here I am in all my glory. I still can’t follow you back to whatever world you came from, though; besides, I’ve got people to take care of. I don’t know what my family or Barnabas would do if I just went up and disappeared.”
“No, I understand that. I know just how important families are.” To Kassandra, the recruiter’s eyes seemed to water up slightly at the thought of a family, something she noticed behind that silly helmet he was wearing, though her attention was drawn away from his eyes by the contraption he pulled out.
“Here. A pager courtesy of Rick Sanchez…” Arthur nodded, pulling out a small, sleek device before offering it to her. She took it, turning it around a couple times to examine it whilst he explained its purpose.
“Button on the left-” He pointed to the respective part of the pager- “is to activate a teleporter to our M.P.F. base, The Cape. Don’t ask why we named it that, by the way.” This promptly shut the Spartan’s mouth before she could even utter a word.
“The middle one’s to create a comms channel between you and us. Maybe if you’re lucky, your friend Aloy will pick up. And you can use the right bit to send us an emergency number. I’ll probably be the one to come to your aid- Been travelling your world for a while now- but someone else might help if I’m busy.”
“And if your group gets in trouble?” Kassandra inquired. The man’s eyes seemed to give away his thoughts- He’d considered this before, and it seemed to her that he didn’t want to answer that question.
“Well, let’s sure-” pronounced ‘shoar’- “hope that doesn’t happen. But if it does, you’ll see a message for help on that little screen. It’ll probably vibrate, too, or something like that. I honestly don’t know all the details of these fancy gizmos.” Morgan shrugged. With all he wanted to explain out of the way, he turned and pulled out his own pager before pressing the button to summon his way back to The Cape. A green portal appeared, ready to take him back, but before he could Kassandra stopped him.
“Hey, wait! I never caught your name!” At this, Morgan turned around to face the demigoddess one more time, visibly contemplating what he wanted to tell her. At last, he decided he could try to make some company in Ancient Greece; sure, he wasn’t supposed to interact with anyone except potential targets lest he screwed up time and space itself, but it didn’t count of Kassandra already knew him, right?
“Name’s Arthur. Arthur Morgan. And if we’re around each other, I think that pager should let both of us know. Maybe we can go horse racing or fishing together.” He tried throwing out a couple activities that didn’t require him to kill someone, warranting a smile from Kassandra.
“Maybe so. Oh, and next time you visit this place? Ditch that helmet. It looks kind of stupid on you.”
“Oh, so mercenaries with tamed bears and lions and poison blades are completely fine, but a guy wearing a helmet isn’t? C’mon, partner.” He rolled his eyes, though he did take the helmet off to reveal his full face. Once the deed was done, he nodded at her once.
“Hope to see you around, Miss Kassandra. And welcome to the M.P.F.” And with that, he backpedalled into the portal, both disappearing one after the other, leaving Kassandra with the strange pager and the sense that she would see Aloy fairly soon.
Looks like I’ll be making good on that promise, my friend. All she needed was a moment to go to The Cape, find Aloy. She’d make time for that one day.
For now, though? She was tired after Atlantis’ trials. Too tired to bother thinking about going to another new world. Instead, she was going back to her home away from home: the Adrestria. Back to her family and Barnabas. She’ll reunite with Aloy, Corvo, and Price soon enough, but today wasn’t that day…
...For now, she would focus on protecting her world. She would uphold her promise as Keeper to Alethia, but if push came to shove, she’d protect any other world that came in danger.
If only mater knew there are so many other worlds...
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