8
Modern Hero Chapter 1
If you are in the city of Grand Haven, and you have a few coins to spare and a thirst for adventure and knowledge as well as a stiff drink, then you should venture to an establishment known as Wise Magic. You may not have heard of such a place, but it is always busy and my clientele are a rather peculiar bunch. You see, Wise Magic is my nightclub and the first establishment of its kind, perhaps the only one of its kind in all of the New World. I started it up to get back in touch with the Abnormal community in the 1700's. Back then it was just a tavern, one that I created made to serve the Abnormal folk. Being situated in Grand Haven, the magical capital of the New World, Wise Magic drew all sorts, from elder to new gods, from ancient heroes to vicious villains, and many more called the city home. Time stands still for a very few though, so Wise Magic's been renovated and revamped a couple of times. It started as a tavern, and became a pub, then to an opium den, speak easy, to a bar, and other things. Now it's a night club, kind of like an opium den, but with dancing, flashing lights, and music.
My name is Hector Wise, and no, before you ask it's not my real name, just another alias like the hundreds I've used before. Years ago I didn't bother, but that was before I learned about fairies, witches, and every other type of magical folk that could use my name against me, also before I made a lot of enemies.
The world was much smaller back then. Monsters still ate people and gods still meddled in mortal affairs of course, but they had the manners to stay in their own territory and not mix up each other's mythos. That changed though as mankind, or the 'Normals' as I like to call them, discovered each other, and so did their legends. At first, as one would expect, you see, there was this big bloody clash that threatened to rip the world apart. Olympians against Asgardians, Egyptian against Kami, otherworlders against fae, heroes of every age and culture living and dead rose up to do battle, and still more. Pure undistilled chaos unleashed upon the earth as the heavens burned. The fight, and truthfully a fight was all it was as there was never a battle before like that one in any war, lasted less than a day. After a few hours the wisest of each side saw that their petty squabble threatened to destroy the world they were fighting over and advocated a stop to the violence.
A truce was struck between the most powerful of each race, and the fighting ended before the world could be destroyed. The terms were simple, more guidelines than rules: stay out of our lands and we will stay out of yours, any feuds remain between the participants only no proxies regardless of outcome or circumstance, and revenge was absolutely forbidden.
For many years to the Normals, but a precious few for the Abnormals, there was peace, a few small skirmishes, but nothing close to the fight before. Then something happened that shifted the dynamic of our world. A jewel was found, untouched by the clash years before and from the destructive hands of man. The Normals would come to call it the New World and so would we. There were people in this unspoiled land, with stories of their own that came with gods and creatures not seen in the clash. Yet, the sheer amount of untouched, unclaimed land whet the appetites of the greedy and hungry who wanted to extend their influence. Those of the New World had not been a part of the treaty between the old powers, and through that loophole the denizens of the magic world flocked to claim the prize regardless of the will of the New World Gods.
It was not a battle, or a war; just as a man cannot stop the waves if he stands on the beach in a storm, the legends of the New World could not stop the coming wave of the Abnormals from the Old World from coming into their land. Not defeated or destroyed, but simply overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of trespassers, they eventually stopped resisting the inevitable change; it took centuries, but now every old power exists in the New World. Many venture trying to find a bit of land to own in this strange land, however most Abnormals in a single area chose to settle in the city of Grand Haven, which soon became the magical capital of the New World. I don't know why Abnormals chose to settle in Grand Haven. No one did, but as always, the powerful do as they wish without rhyme or reason and this city was chosen above all others.
But that is history, not a story, certainly not my story, though I don't know why I'm telling it. A thousand lifetimes ago, I was a hero, back when the word had a different meaning than it did today. I had been one of the first of Old Worlders who came to what would one day become the US of A, on one of the first ships too. Forgive me; I'm a bit proud of the fact. But I quickly moved away from the English settlement. I didn't want to bring my troubles upon them. During my years of loneliness a few things that happened, but I'll get to them later; those things led me to open the Wise Magic in the 1700's, back when Grand Haven was little more than a village, much less one of the greatest cities in this great country. Since I opened, the tavern it seemed like it had changed hands many different times, but really I just would gift it to a friend of mine who knew how to keep his or her mouth shut when I felt that wanderlust or adventurer's itch. In fact, I just recently took over again from a friend of mine named Revazal, who wanted to make something of her own and was more than happy to return it to me.
Truthfully, Wise Magic barely even resembled a tavern now, it was a nightclub now, but I didn't mind. Unlike a lot of Abnormals who still feel like they should be worshiped by the Normals and stubbornly stuck to the old ways, I knew that you needed to either adapt with time or get left behind. But the one thing I refused to let anyone change was the name. Sometimes people would ask me why, and I would give them a truthful, if not complete answer. 'It was named as an honor to someone important to me,' I would say when anyone asked me about the name.
Tonight started off badly only to get worse. A few of my serving staff called in sick and I know at least one of them was lying. I try to be an understanding boss, so while I could have yelled at them and told them to just come in, instead I just told them to get some rest. I would just have to cover their shifts. Most nights I normally worked as one of the bartenders. As owner I don't have to show up really, but it's good to interact with your customers and staff so they know you care. I wasn't unused to being a waiter though, so while I was out of practice I knew could handle it. Admittedly, it had never ended well for me any time before, but I tried to be an optimist and told myself that maybe tonight would be better. It was not.
At first the night went well, a few complaints from people having a bad day, but for the most part everyone seemed to be happy to see me working the floor beside my employees, especially a few of my regulars who shook my hand or clapped me on the back. But eventually I found the table that I knew was going to trouble.
I did my best to remain professional and took each person's drink orders though I wanted to literally be anywhere else at the moment. It was the last member of the party that I was the most cautious of. When I reached her at the end of the table ready to take her drink order I steeled my courage the best that I could and asked her politely, "may I take your order ma'am?" Yeah, I knew I sounded nervousness even though I tried my hardest to hide it.
I saw her sickeningly sweet smile turn into a predator's grin and I almost broke down then and there. She looked at me and I almost doubled over as if one of her bigger companions punched me in the stomach. She was so beautiful, wavy hair that seemed to change color each second, big round eyes that you could lose yourself in, and curves to die for. Not a hyperbole I have seen her boyfriend kill men who thought his warnings were just bluffs, all wrapped up in a red dress that she looked born to wear. She flipped her hair back and forth and I could swear that somehow she smelled like Valentine's Day. She gave me a once over as she did every time I talked to her, and because she was a regular at Wise Magic, it happened often.
"Oh I will have tequila and a strawberry lemonade sweetie," she said seductively and instantly I could feel fingers of pleasure and lust stab into my brain. She had been doing that for over twenty years, and it never got easier to resist, but somehow, like every time before, I found a way to resist. I forced myself to look her in the eye, every customer deserved to be treated this way, and Aphrodite was no exception, even if Medusa would be a better opponent in a staring contest.
The way she looked at me, the way she called me sweetie, I've had seen men get down on one knee and propose for less. Luckily in a past life, I saw that beautiful face of hers and that pretty smile get ugly real fast, directed at me. Just remembering that memory a little worked better than any cold shower would around the love goddess. "Why don't you sit down and have a drink with us, Hector, you're always working hard. Surely you can take a few minutes to relax with us and have some fun," Aphrodite requested as she batted her eyelashes flirtatiously at me. It was hard resist, even though I knew exactly how ugly she was just below the skin, but if the love goddess didn't make me question her offer, her company did.
At the other end of the table there was of course Ares, Aphrodite's main lover, with a young girl in his lap. Still, even though he had pleasurable company of his own, he glared at me as if a warning to stay away from his girl, as if she didn't bed five other men and women, on a slow day. I will admit that I hate the war god, at least my real face did, but Hector Wise was frightened of everyone that walked through his door, and for now I was Hector Wise, so I had to make sure I looked nervous when he stared at me. I hated how weak people thought I was, it tended to make even the most powerful of beings into bullies instead of enemies; I had far too many of both already, but the former is better than the latter so I play my part.
There was also Bacchus, the Roman counterpart to Aphrodite's cousin Dionysus, the god of wine, madness, and ecstasy; he was drinking heavily all night. Most nights Bacchus was harmless, at times even friendly, perhaps even one of the few Roman gods that I liked, but if he was wronged he could be more dangerous than the other two gods at this table.
The others also glared at me as I waited on Aphrodite. I would guess one was a werewolf from the wet dog smell, one a vampire from his the pale complexion, two rather weak fae from the translucent wings, and a trio of orcs which were easy to tell. None of them were particularly old or powerful from the looks of them, but all were angry at me for daring to encroach on their territory. I had lived during a time when women were literally property, yet the way they slobbered and preened around the love goddess disgusted me.
I tried not to show my disgust. Instead however, I just gave Aphrodite a quick bow and gave the other members of her party one as well, before declining, "I'm afraid I must decline milady, we are understaffed tonight as it is and if their boss was setting a bad example by drinking with his customers then nothing would get done." I hoped that it would be enough to dissuade Aphrodite, if not it tonight would end terribly for me.
"Oh poo," Aphrodite pouted with her bottom lip quivering like she was about to cry and again I hesitated even though I knew better, "but I suppose it can't be helped, go about your business and place our drink order. Be quick about it," she snapped.
That was a bad sign, whatever happened next was going to be very bad for me, I knew it the moment her lips opened with that look in her eyes. But I was a trembling servant now and I had to play my part, so I returned to the bar to fetch their drinks and returned as quickly as I could. I didn't want to go back, but the more time I took, the worse it would get. I knew that I was walking to my own execution, but I didn't stop, I'm an idiot, I know. I passed out the drinks to the right person and made sure to bow and scrape as the bile rose in my throat keeping a professional smile on my face. Surprisingly enough, Aphrodite didn't even seem to notice me, even when I placed her tequila and strawberry lemonade before her. I thought I had been blessed by Tyche herself, I'm willing admit with unashamed that I tried to run away as fast as I could.
"You know Hector," damn the goddesses love and luck both, "I can count on two hands the number of men who turned me down when I asked them to have a drink with me the first time," Aphrodite started, I wonder if she spoke that way thinking that she looked menacing or smart. "But I can't even remember five men who turned me down a second time. However, we've known each other for a few years now; I've been coming here since before you took over the bar from Revazal 20, 30 years ago. And I've invited you to sit down at my table and enjoy some of your delicious liquor every time I'm here. Yet you still turn me down each and every time," and that was when Aphrodite's eyes turned that nasty, and familiar shade of ugly that I knew so well. "So do you not like me? Am I not pretty enough for you? Obviously that's not true, but still, what is wrong with me, that you don't want to spend any time with me." Personally, I thought she was laying on the wounded kitten act pretty thick, but I seemed to be the only one who thought so. Everyone else at the table moved to either comfort her or glare at me.
It wasn't fair; the mask I wore made me look as plain as a man could, I specifically commissioned it to work this way just so I could be forgettable. Aphrodite didn't even care about me the person, she only cared about her wounded pride so I would be punished for my rejection.
Her very large and powerful 'friends' stood up and started to encroach on me and I swallowed hard expecting the worst, but they didn't get their chance to rough me up. To be honest I was pretty good in a scrap or a war, I'm very good at war, but I had been keeping a low profile for hundreds of years and this isn't the first time something like this happened, not even the first time this week. So, I chose to take the beating to keep my identity a secret.
The group beating never came surprisingly enough, "Yeah party," I heard Bacchus say to the right of me and as I turned to see what he was talking about he slammed his thyrsus into my temple. That blow sent me flying into one of the walls like a cartoon character, except where they get flattened and the wall crack, for me, my head was cracked open and I was bleeding everywhere.
Demons below, I've had had worse done to me over the years, but no matter what you've been through, if you aren't invincible, getting your head smashed open and slammed into a wall it will sting a little.
I was actually fine, if a bit dazed, but there was no reason that anyone else had to know that. Olaf Bloodfang, a former Viking now one of my servers and Debbie, who was just Debbie the other bartender, carried my 'unconscious' body upstairs to my office, while everyone quietly watched. A few of my friends seemed like they wanted to lend a hand or get revenge on the goddesses' party, but even if revenge was allowed by the treaty, no one present had enough weight to throw around to stand up to three Olympians, at least not for me. I wouldn't have wanted them to anyway, this way would be less trouble; Aphrodite's party would eventually leave thinking they had won a great debate and everyone present thought I was just another push over, business as usual.
I know that it's better for me in the long run and after all these years I should be used to being treated like this. Still, I hated having to bow and scrape for these overgrown brats. Seven hundred years I would have put anyone who treated me this way in their place, but that was a long time ago. Instead of thinking of revenge I thought about my old life more than three thousand years ago, when I was a different man who wouldn't take the tantrums of immortal children for even a second. Back when as a mortal man and one of the greatest warriors who ever lived, but that had been before I accepted one of life's rarest gifts and became a god and everything changed.
