The 9th Life - Nexus Bar
Scotty Bolger's Old No. 8 burned a hot trail down Raynor's throat and he sighed in pleasure. The alcohol, and his living quarters, were the only two things he'd found in the Nexus that gave a sense of home. "No place like home," he muttered sarcastically, looking around.
The different universes that beings were drawn from had some incredibly unbelievable denizens, he'd found that out very quickly. Usually The 9th Life, he found the name funny every time, was a bustling hub; a bizarre circus of aliens brought together by an apparently multi-universal desire to get drunk and have fun, or forget everything.
Tonight was different.
A nervous, tense energy thrummed over his head. Several times, he thought he was even being ignored! He'd shouted a greeting to Sgt. Hammer, the only other terran he'd seen in this crazy place so far, and the stout woman had simply bee-lined to the bar without a word or glance in his direction.
A clatter of wooden doors banging open announced another arrival- Jim didn't bother looking, he was getting lost in time. "Hail, Jim Raynor!" The familiar voice of Uther, the first man he'd met in the Nexus, boomed over his approaching heavy footsteps.
Jim looked up from his drink. "Uther, how's it goin' man?" The way the holy warrior broke eye contact right away didn't feel right, Uther was an assertive man.
Sitting across from him with a heavy thud of armor against wood, Uther let out a loud sigh and fixed him with a measuring look, "There is news."
"News?"
"There's a match coming," Uther waved off Jim's impatient huff, "I know, it's business as usual in the Nexus." He wagged an armored finger, "That isn't the special part. There has been a," he paused, uncharacteristically hesitant, "Development of sorts."
"Look Uther, I'm trapped in a never ending conflict at a meeting point between universes. There is nothing left to surprise me with."
"Alright! You are right." Uther took a long, slow breath, gathering courage, and spoke, "It's about your-" without warning, a blinding light enveloped the holy warrior and Jim too, "Oh Hells, not yet!"
"Wasn't the match supposed to be later?" Confused, Jim stood up. Worry of not being armed struck him only briefly- you always entered a Nexus battle fully armed- but these battles ran at set times, starting earlier than usual was not normal.
"It is!" Uther reached across the table and grasped Jim firmly by his shirt. "On the battlefield, you will meet-" Unable to finish his sentence, he burst into a scattering of white light and his essence was slingshot out of the bar to another location.
"What the Hell is it, Uther?!" Jim shouted in frustration before he too burst into light and his beam chased after the paladin. He didn't even know what area of the Nexus he was going to be fighting in. He hated not being prepared.
Game One
As soon as he felt the familiar weight of his gauss rifle in hand, Jim opened his eyes. Mouth falling open, his breath was stolen away by the sight that greeted him. Impossibly white and golden towers, elegant archways and a soothing blue sky with white fluffy clouds dominated the immediate landscape.
"What is this place?" He whispered, afraid to shatter the illusion.
"The Battlefield of Eternity, James Raynor!" A familiar voice boomed, rich and commanding.
"Tyreal!" Jim shouted, finally looking around at his teammates. The archangel of justice, Tyreal, was an incredible ally and Raynor deeply liked what the angel stood for, even if it was hard to accept that he was an angel; he certainly did not follow any of the visual rules established by mankind for such beings.
"Aw yeah! Looks like we're headbangin' at the doors of Hell together today bros!" E.T.C., a gigantic cowman, laughed over Raynor's head as he leaped upwards and swung his leg over the saddest horse Jim had ever seen.
Raynor paid the so-called tauren no mind. "Battlefield of Eternity... Heaven and Hell?" He was piecing things together as a siege tank rolled by, its treads somehow not damaging the pristine flooring. "Hammer," he nodded to her and received a blaring horn in response.
"Yes. Sanctuary and the realms of Heaven and Hell are bleeding further into the Nexus- a new, familiar battlefield," Tyreal supplied as Uther followed after E.T.C.
Not familiar to me, Jim thought defensively.
Tyreal's armored hand stretched out and up, pointing to the horizon, "Hell awaits."
Following the pointing finger, Jim saw it, the illusion of peace shattering. Beyond the shining walls of the citadel of Heaven the sky turned into a roiling cloud of ash and fire. "Wonderful," he said. The sky was all he could see from his current vantage point, but Tyreal had already set off on his own mount and he thought he'd best follow before they were late.
Jim sat on the comfortable leathery textured seat of his vulture, one of the other little gifts the Nexus had waiting for him. Revving the engine and allowing himself a small smile, he rolled up smoothly beside the heavily armored Heavenly steed Tyreal was seated upon and looked up at the angel, "Well, I figure you know this place better than anyone. Where are we goin'?
"I believe we should join Uther and E.T.C. in the north," Tyreal stated without inflection, his horse charging off a moment later.
He followed, watching Heavenly architecture roll by and thinking. Sgt. Hammer was by herself, was that wise? He worried for that old girl sometimes, even if death never lasted in this place. Still, the angel did know his stuff. Maybe I can ask Uther what he was trying to tell me.
The two companions arrived at the first defensive fortress of Heaven, and it was a heck of a place. E.T.C. and Uther were waiting by the towering gates, even the massive guitar-axe wielding tauren was quiet and thoughtful looking.
"What the heck is the matter with everyone?" Jim finally blurted, hopping off his vulture. "So we're fighting the forces of Hell, I'm sure they look pretty. What is the malfunction?"
"Whoa bros, you left that little lady rockin' in the south by herself?" E.T.C. questioned, pointedly looking at Tyrael and not Jim.
"Sgt. Hammer is capable. With the fortress of Heaven on her side, she will defend the point while we press ahead together," Tyreal explained patiently while Uther approached Jim.
"Jim, I know you want to know what's going on," The old paladin looked tired, "It's like this, with the Nattlefield of Eternity came new heroes."
New heroes did usually appear from the universes clashing with the Nexus and creating new battlegrounds, as Jim understood it. "And?" He pressed, trying to keep patient. Uther was a slow and steady kind of man, and his speech reflected it.
Tyreal and E.T.C. were arguing about the merits of the angel's plan in the background while Uther drummed his fingers on his massive two-handed hammer. "There's someone you know here," he said, locking eyes with Jim.
"Who? That's great news!" Jim smiled brightly, he wondered who it could be? It sure would be great to see Matt, Swann or even Stetmann again. Uther's silence and stern look dimmed his joy quickly.
"It's-" Uther was cut off once again, letting out an audible and not very paladin-like curse as the massive locks and bars holding the gate in place rumbled and roared, lifted by an invisible force and signalling the beginning of the battle. "Hells, you'll find out yourself!" Uther urging his horse on, he chased after E.T.C. and Tyreal, no doubt the two warriors would need his talents.
Annoyed, Jim lit up a cigarette and followed at a more cautious pace. He learned to use his advanced weaponry to his advantage, keeping well back and taking safe shots at the enemy. Yeah, it would suck that he was about to meet his friend and fight him, but all that was just temporary anyway. He'd even fought some of his current team members a few times. What's the big deal?
As soon as he stepped out of the fortress, he found himself gaping again. Beyond the half way point, now visible to him, the earth was jagged molten rock, fleshy protrusions and in the distance, Hellish fortresses of twisted metal with an active volcano looming above and beyond.
Unlike Tyreal, Hell seemed to reassure you that it was very much what every mortal thought it was.
"Here they come!" E.T.C. bellowed with his far-carrying voice, firing a quick riff off his guitar, the thing was as big as Jim in his entirety, he was sure of it, "I'm about to shred!"
Like the tauren said, the gates to the Hell fortress shrieked and howled as they rose, and Jim felt for certain it was more damned souls crying out than gears needing greasing. He gritted his teeth and tried to calm the clenching of his guts as the enemy team was revealed.
A carpet of frost coated the lich king's path and cascaded outwards as Arthas stepped forwards, silently sizing up Jim and his team. A step behind him was a massive armored skeleton with a mace that made Uther's look puny. Jim had to do a double-take and reaffirm that yes, that was a skeleton with a broken crown atop his head. King Leoric laughed hollowly.
"Ohhhhh James Raaaaynor!" A high pitched voice called out and the multicolored faerie dragon, Brightwing, flapped out from behind the two large bodies in front of her, "I can't wait to eat your guts!" The little creature, gifted with magical healing, was rather psychotic in Jim's honest opinion. Despite appearances, she fit right in over there.
"James Raynor?" A voice, loud and as deep as a siege tank in low gear, barked. A hand gripped Jim's heart in a vice as Tychus Findlay came leaping out of the gateway to get a look. It was indeed his old friend, but he looked so different.
In one hand, he was holding what appeared to be a turret, thick bolts hanging off bent metal and all; in the other, a lit stogey. "I'll be damned," Tychus said.
"You are damned," Arthas whispered as minions streamed past, soon to engage in their own endless smaller-sized battle with the ones coming up behind Jim and his teammates.
"Yeah, whatever," This Tychus was a blonde haired devil with bright red eyes and a myriad of swirling tattoos all over his muscular torso and arms. Grinning broadly, he rolled his cigar between thumb and forefinger before popping it back between his lips, "Hello Jimmy."
Tactics, teamwork, even the idea of winning faded into a backdrop as Jim stared.
"Raynor!" Uther called, warning.
Tychus took a drag and gave a quick jerk of his head to the side, indicating the sprawling mix of Hell and Heaven landscape that stood between them and the southern trails where Hammer and her adversary were no doubt facing off. Jim wordlessly called up his vulture and revved it hard. Tychus grinned hugely and jumped upwards, neatly landing on a Hellish smokey phantom of a horse.
"Jim, he is not your ally!" Tyreal boomed as his sword tangled with Arthas', the two magical blades sparking fiercely.
"I know," Jim revved the engine once, eyes on Tychus, "I killed him." If anyone objected, they were drowned out by the roar of his vulture as he gunned it and hauled ass into the unknown.
The glassy smooth, clean surfaces of Heaven fell away to the unforgiving rock of Hell as Jim veered into enemy territory, the two starkly contrasting skies meeting overhead and swirling together chaotically. He could hear the hooves and Hellish shrieks of Tychus' mount not far away, just out of sight. Swerving around a sharp corner, he came upon a large clearing- at a glance almost perfectly circular with three other entrances.
Good a place as any, Jim thought, gliding to a smooth stop over the cracked earth and looking around. Tychus had not shown himself, but he could hear the hoof beats and stomping.
"You know, I ain't seen you since the day I tied you in that suit, partner," Tychus' voice called out, echoing through the clearing; the big man was keeping hidden.
A timeline where he left Tychus to rot, or maybe he died himself, who knew. Jim's guts twisted at the thought, this Tychus might not have betrayed him.
"I been here a while now," Tychus paused, Jim could imagine him taking a drag of the finger-thick cigar between his lips, "Reckon I've been here longer than you."
"Heck of a place," Jim's voice wavered, catching a glimpse of shadow to the left.
Tychus' form quickly shifted from silhouette to very real, stepping into the clearing and giving his gun a heft. "When you arrived, I wanted to come. But they told me Jimmy, told me you killed me," His voice grew dark, eyes gleaming.
"You betrayed me, you son of a bitch!" Jim cried, clenching and shaking his fist. The two men approached one another warily, both glancing upwards as a shower of sparks cascaded down from the sky to fall around their feet- a massive angel and demon, locked in combat overhead.
Drawing from his cigar, Tychus blew a cloud of smoke towards Jim in a huff, "You coulda saved me. Too busy saving your alien girlfriend though. How'd that turn out, by the way?"
Jim threw his rifle down with a clatter. The auto turret crunched into the earth a moment later.
Raynor's brain buzzed with fury, but still he wondered: how did Tychus know?
"You ever think about where you were gonna go when you died, Jimmy?" Tychus questioned, settling into a deceptively relaxed pose, a smile at the corner of his lips.
Hell, Jim thought to himself, but he couldn't say it, not like this."You know," he said.
"You think so? We're just men, Jimmy." Findlay gave his stomach a scratch as he chuckled. "There's gods and demons and who-knows-what crap here, though. Seems like some cosmic setup, don't it? You rollin' up with the good guys, and me over here with the bad?"
Uther not allowed to tell me who was waiting... Jim decided not to think too hard on it. There were forces at work that could pluck angels, demons and gods from their own universes. He took a swing.
Findlay's head snapped to the side, eyebrows raised in surprise. Reaching up, he gave his square jaw a rub, banishing the sting. "I met some interesting... people... down here Jimmy." Without warning, he snapped forwards and leveled a blow to Jim's gut that sent him to the ground and gasping for air.
Raynor rolled to his hands and knees, trying to get up quickly. A massive bare foot kicked against his side and knocked him back on his back before planting on his chest. Looking up at Tychus, he bared his teeth.
"Got a long reeeeal good with some of 'em," Tychus could have been discussing the weather for all the effort he was putting into fighting with the emotional Jim. Bastard knew all the right buttons to press, even from a different timeline. Jim struggled to breath as the big con applied weight to his foot, trying to swat the tree-trunk thick leg away with his hands with no success.
Sparks trickled down like rain, stinging bare skin and burning out on the dead ground as a shape loomed up behind Tychus. Terrible laughter echoed and Findlay joined in, familiar sparkles cascading down around Tychus as Brightwing came to join the party.
"Why, you could say I was meant to meet the Lord of Sin," Tychus said.
Azmodan, Brightwing and Tychus all looked down at Jim and laughed. "I'll be seein' you around, Jimmy boy."
Darkness pulled in at the corners of his eyes and Jim slapped at the leg one more time with dead hands.
"Do it." Azmodan whispered in a purr. Two old friends killing each other, a special kind of sin.
Roaring, Tychus stomped down with all his might and grinned at the sound and feel of the smaller man's rib cage giving way. This was but the first of many deaths planned for James Raynor, the real betrayer.
"Yay! Snack time!" Brightwing chirped.
After the match - The 9th Life
"I told you Jim, as best I could."
Jim nursed his drink, the sting of defeat still fresh, "I know Uther."
"I just wish you would have maintained your composure," Uther chuckled and topped off Jim's drink, the white froth spilling over Jim's fingers.
"Hell with the match," Jim flicked the froth off his fingers, eyeing the contents of his drink, golden and chilling in his hand. He shared countless of these with Tychus. He pushed it away, sick to his stomach. "How come I ain't seen Tychus yet, and he said he'd been here longer than me?"
Uther's expression darkened, "The same reason you don't see heroes like Diablo in this bar, or anywhere for that matter." There was a certain level of disdain put into the word heroes that could not be overlooked.
"I guess now that you mention it, I never have seen him and others outside a match," Jim scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"They have their own place, as we have ours."
"Hell?" Jim's stomach tightened at the idea of his old friend going there while he himself did not.
"Not exactly," Uther frowned then, "Best not dig too deep Jim, I don't think you'd like it there."
"I need to see him Uther, figure out what the hell is goin' on. Who this Tychus really is," a desperation was welling inside Jim, and he looked up from his drink to his new friend.
Uther shifted uncomfortably under that desperate gaze, all too aware. "Their realm runs parallel to ours, separated thinly by a veil," he took a long drink of his own mead, collecting his thoughts in the pause. "As I was chosen to be the neutral party who greets everyone who enters the Nexus, I am allowed to pass between this unseen wall," he said.
"This is gettin' a bit wordy," Jim said, "Can you get me through this veil or whatever it is you're talkin' about or not?"
"No," Uther said, ignoring the visibly dashed hopes of his friend, "But I think you'll find it's right here, if you really want to get there."
Jim sighed and looked away from the paladin, too disappointed to respond so soon. Some of the members of his party were there, nursing their own misgivings and hurts. E.T.C. sat at the bar, looming over the other patrons and exchanging a glare with him.
As he blinked and meant to move his gaze on, his surroundings warped.
The sound of cheerful music was snatched away, replaced by painful cries and pleading. The patrons remained in their places, but became twisted shadows with glowing eyes, all glaring at him. In place of E.T.C. was another large figure, but not quite filling the space the tauren did. When gleaming red eyes made contact with his own, Jim blinked.
The 9th Life bar came rushing back within the blink, like a vacuum that had been sealed. He stared in terrified wonder at nothing, processing what happened in that tiny span of time.
Taking a tired breath, Uther stood up and adjusted his garb, casting a knowing look to Jim as he walked by, giving his shoulder a strong pat, "Don'tgo looking for what you aren't ready to find."
This story has been given a makeover after the recent review of Hawki, thanks for that! Including some lengthening and polishing, I hope you'll enjoy this revamped version as much or more than the old.