Narcis, Muhammad and Daniel finally caught up with Talus. Talus once
again had his signature spiky white hair instead of the shiny blue form he had just
one moment ago. The three were about to ask Talus why he killed those people but
the announcers alerted the contestants that the first day of the tournament was over and that it was time to go to the mess hall. So Talus silently turned around and
headed to the mess hall along with everyone else. In the mess hall Narcis was
approached by three Jain monks. The three monks had yellow robes, brown skin
and all three had shaved heads; they had all died in southern India some time
during the 11th century AD. The monks noted that Narcis was clearly a high
ranking monk and assumed he was a Jain and not a Buddhist. One of them stated
once he learned that Narcis was a Buddhist. "The Buddha was right about certain
things," said one of the monks. He was right that the Universe was never created
and therefore always existed. As far as we can tell he was an Atheist and believed
that God did not exist. Our master 'Mahavira,' believed that God was a fiction
and that there was no god. However, there is an afterlife, there is a heaven and a
hell, there is karma and there is reincarnation with human souls. But Buddha
strayed from Mahavira and the Jains in that he was a nihilist. Whether he was
agnostic or an atheist like us he believed life has no purpose. And this was his
greatest error," said the Jain monk. Narcis took a deep breath as he sat on the floor
with the three Jain monks and said; "The Buddha never preached nihilism. He
preached that life in this realm was suffering until one reaches Nirvana
'enlightenment.' this is what he [the Buddha] taught, not nihilism," said Narcis.
Narcis and the three Jain monks continued to sit on the floor and eat their
vegetarian meals as they discussed Samsara, Nirvana and the finer points of Buddhism and Jainism. There were aliens everywhere of every kind. Talus began
to shove food in his mouth without ceasing and he began to slurp noodles into his
mouth while making an exquisite grin. Creatures with green skin, many of the
Taoist slug people were everywhere, red skinned creatures, blue skinned creatures,
every type of creature you can think Meanwhile Daniel and the Jinn Muhammad
walked up to a brown man with a thick white beard, a white turban reading a copy
of the Quran in classical Arabic [the holy book of the Muslims]. Muhammad asked
him, 'sir, are you a Fakir?' The man looked up and said: 'Indeed I am, I am clearly
a human, are you boy one of the believers who are Jinn.' Muhamamd nodded his
head. 'I am a Jinn from India, my name is Muhammad, I am a Sunni, what is your
Shaykh, and are you Sunni or Shia?,' said Muhammad. The Shaykh closed his
Arabic Quran and said: 'my name is Ahmad ibn Muhammad [Ahmad son of
Muhammad] I am a Sunni and obviously not unlike you a believer [a Muslim] and
a Shaykh, I am a member of the Shafi'i school and I am learned in Shafi'i fiqh. I
like to think at least that I'm well versed in Quranic and Hadith studies. I am from
India and I died in the year 902 AH or [1496 CE] during the month of Ramadan in
Delhi, India. Upon my death, I died reading the Quran in the local Masjid. I woke
up here. I knew this was not Jannah [Paradise] and this is some other Dunya,' said
Shaykh Ahmad. Daniel introduced himself and stated he was not a believer and
began to listen to Ahmad and Muhammad discuss their faith. But they were joined by a young boy that said he had died in Osaka, Japan in 1998 CE named David
Tanaka who was a convert to Christianity he showed them his cross necklace he
was wearing and the Japanese Bible he read everyday.
David was also confused
about why he was here and often would pray to Jesus and read his Bible for
comfort. Meanwhile Ungar and Sarai were sitting next to Ungar while several
blue aliens were praying to strange idols of a strange blue goddess that seemed to
be made of water. It turned out that these beings were called the 'Araqiwites.' The
Araqiqwites were a race of aliens who were blue in appearance who were highly
pious and worshiped a blue water goddess named Aquarius. They met a Araqiwite
woman named, "Lobova, " who was quite interested in Ungar's appearance and to
what race he belonged. As everyone was chatting a large thud was heard and the
door into the mess hall slammed open. It was a beast named "Haruna."
Haruna
was a terrible demon that wore nothing but a loincloth looking similar to a troll
with large fang like teeth and three giant horns and three eyes. The creature walked
up to the monks, "boy three good devoted monks, I can't wait to tear you limb
from limb, hehehe," said Haruna. The three Jain monks stood up along with Narics
and one of them said; "vile creatures do not trespass here, we will end your
existence though we wish not to," said one of the monks. The creature smiled, and
then Talus spoke it. "Well, well, well, if it's not Haruna. "Why not leave the monks
alone and give your attention to the one who will end your miserable life," said Talus. Haruna walked away from the monks who were at ease and began to cackle
as he walked towards Talus. "Well, well, Talus the traitor to the demon clan. I can't
wait to destroy you," said Haruna. "Hehehehe, I'd like to see you try," said Talus
with a grin. After this Haruna began to howl with laughter until a voice was heard.
"Will you be quiet," said a voice a being next to Talus stood it up it was a monkey.
"Who are you?" said Haruna. "My name is Hanuman, I am the Hindi monkey
prince and I have no patience with a welp like you," said the monkey deity
Hanuman. "WHY YOU! HOW DARE YOU! I'll make sure to kill you slowly,"
said Haruna. "In any event I don't have time for you. I need to deal with this traitor
on the battlefield tomorrow, " said Haruna. Talus snickered, "What a joy it is to
speak with you Haruna. But I must say that the pleasure of killing you won't be
mine. The little monkey will have that distinguished honor," said Talus. After he
said this Talus began to slowly lick his lips. The beast Haruna gasped and turned
around noticing the little monkey with the giant club walking back to his sleeping
quarters, with a huff the monster Haruna returned to his. Talus turned around and
began to gorge himself; it wasn't that long before someone asked if the demon
could knock it off. Talus turned his head with noodles, crab cakes, race and morsels
of flesh all stuffed in his cheeks. He then went on to swallow all the food with a big
gulp, "what was that boy?" said Talus without a hint of anger in his voice. "You
don't have to shove so much food in your body," said the young man.
Talus began to laugh, "At Least I only but objects in one end of my body," said Talus, after he
said that the boy who was in a cloak took out a sword and pointed it right at Talus's
neck. Sir Rhyme jumped in the middle of it, the boy gasped; "Sir Rhyme, you're
Sir Rhyme." Sir Rhyme simply said, "yes, it is I." The boy who introduced himself
as Kavir put down his sword and bowed his head as he did this everyone came
before him. Everyone introduced himself to the boy, Ungar, Sarai, Zaiyal, etc. the
boy being relieved actually apologized to Talus without even expecting an apology
in return, "I'm sorry my friend, it was wrong for me to interrupt your meal," said
Kavir. Talus simply said, "Tsh, it's fine. Don't worry about it," and continued to
eat. After a long conversation with everyone in the group Kavir simply asked; "If
you are not aware Day 2 of the tournament is when everyone must join teams in
the arena, if it is not too much trouble I would love to join your team," said the
boy. "The more the merrier we'd love to have you," said Daniel. Kavir bowed his
head, and simply stated; "I will turn in for the night, but thank you, I will see you
all in the morning." After saying this Kavir left and the others decided it might be
good to pack up for the night. Not before Daniel could ask Talus a question. "Hey
Talus I have a question?" Talus turned around; "What is it boy?" said Talus. "What
did you mean by your comment to Kivar, why did he get so angry when you asked
such a thing," said Daniel. Talus began to snicker, "I forget with the exception of
the wizard none of you but myself have the ability to read minds and people's pasts.
Well here it is... our new friend was sexually abused as a child." Everyone
gasped with the exception of Ungar and Narcis and Sir Rhyme who retained a calm
composure. "His parents died when he was very young and the boy was picked up
by sex slavers while he wandered in the wilderness of his home planet. He has
been abused hundreds of times often by men gang raping him from the ages of 6
years to 12 years old when he reached his teenage he became a male prostitute
where he worked in a brothel for years as a whore. He recently spent 3 years
purchasing his way off that planet and honing himself as a warrior recently arrived
here... Hehehe... I guess I must have struck a nerve," said Talus. There was a loud
visible growl that could be heard it was Sarai, "you fucking monster!! Would you
torment someone with something like that when you knew very well the horrors of
their past," said Sarai. "What can I say, he was interrupting my meal," said Talus.
"YOU MONSTER! You are a true demon!!" said Sarai. "Like this one," said Talus.
As he said this he turned into Lord Nyarlathotep and began at first as the form of
the black pharaoh and then becoming Tep's true form with the disgusting tentacle
appendage coming from his head, "Like this kind of monster," said Talus. "Or thod
kind," as he said this he turned into Sarai with blood all over his armor and the paw
of a young alien he slaughtered from Sarai's past.
Sarai could no longer hold back
his anger; "YOU BASTARD!!" but before he could strike him with his fist Ungar
caught his arm, "You need to stop now, you're acting like a damn fool," said Ungar. Sarai tried to plead his case but Ungar with a stare frightened him into
stopping. Sarai left in a huff and everyone else went to sleep. Meanwhile Qivar in
his room began to cry. What Talus had told him at dinner reminded him of all the
terrible abuse he experienced as a child and it became too much to bear. He cried
himself to sleep deep into the night.