Disclaimer: I don´t own Xena and Hercules or anything related to it.
Light in the Darkness
In the beginning of time only two entities, two forces, existed in the whole universe, and since the very beginning, these two were locked in an eternal war against each other.
They were the Original Gods, the embodiment of creation and destruction, the One God of Light and Darkness.
Their endless conflict formed the universe as it is known today. Everything that exists is made from the two and their presence exists and lives on in everything around us.
They had been given many names; Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, the Light and the Darkness, Ormuzd and Dahak are just a couple of their countless identities.
This two are constantly fighting each other and at the same time share the supreme rule over all creation.
In time there, other entities that came to represent certain aspects of the world made an appearance as well, other `gods´. These beings began to create their own spheres of influence and came to rule over the mortals of the planet Earth. They separated themselves in different groups and divided the world under themselves.
But not even they were able to escape the grasp of the eternal war shaking up the planets. Not only did their power paled in comparison to the two first ones, but at a certain point it began looking quite insignificant too.
Like any other living and thinking beings, they were created from light and darkness and lived under their influence.
Like any other living and breathing beings they were just pawns standing between the two forces, from that point of view irrelevant entities that lacked the power to actually decide the fate of the universe itself in any way.
By now however, most of the gods were dead, either destroyed by the Darkness, known as Dahak, killed by other immortals or in case of the groups known as the Olympians, killed by one special mortal, known as Xena the Warrior Princess.
xxxxxxx
Egypt
After Xena's death, Gabrielle had spent an entire year in the land of the Pharaohs. The Warrior bard was still in pain about her friend´s death, just as she was about the events that happened shortly afterwards, knowing that Xena's spirit had been confronted by their old enemy and she couldn't do anything to help…
Dahak had mercilessly revealed the failures, shortcomings and the self-righteousness of the two women. And Gabrielle had been forced to just watch.
Not only had she lost her soulmate, but now, she unwillingly doubted everything regarding their mutual relationship….
Still, she decided to move on with her life. So Gabrielle had spent that year mostly fighting bandits and protecting villages. She had written only two scrolls during that time. In them she had described the last events and tried to express the impact they had on her. She wasn't quite sure if she had succeeded… She lacked both the inspiration and that inner fire she needed in order to write.
What had she and Xena been to each other? She ceaselessly asked herself.
Had they been true soul-mates, friends and more? Or had she just been someone who had been naive and unthinkingly loyal enough to blindly accept everything her friend had done? Someone who had backed up even her most terrible decisions without so much of a question.
Had she been the `best thing in Xena´s life´ as she had told her or had she only been a lackey?
One year ago she would have answered this question without the slightest hesitation. Now she didn't know anymore.
During that night she couldn't think about anything else. It didn't take long before she was interrupted though..
She heard the noise from some distance. Someone or something was coming her way.
She carefully stepped away from the fire, wanting to surprise whomever was approaching the camp-site. As the being came closer, she realized that whomever it was, moved very unsteady. There were a few possible reasons for that to occur. The most obvious was that he might have been injured.
As the newcomer arrived closer to the camp-fire, she saw that it was a man and that he was indeed wounded. His clothes were full of blood. The man was wearing robes that seemed to belong to a priest, but Gabrielle couldn't tell who was the deity that he was serving. It was clear however that the man needed help.
She stepped forward. But as soon as she reached him, he broke down. She wrapped her arms around him, trying to support him, but she could see that it was too late. The man was dying. Gabrielle noticed that he was trying to speak to her.
"H...help," he said. "The scriptures, they can´t..." His head sank back. He was dead.
xxxxxxx
Somewhere in the Eastern region of Greece
It was in the wooded area that marked the border regions of the old realm of the Olympians from places like Sumeria and the Assyrian Empire.
Someone had built a town there once. It was a long time ago, nevertheless…so long that people hardly remembered the name.
At first glance, there was nothing extraordinary about the place. It was an average sized settlement of a few hundred people. The inhabitants were mostly farmers, who spent their day working on the field. Some men were also in charged with hunting for wild in the forest and there were also few traders, just like in any other regular town.
The one thing that made the place unusual though was the fact that it was located in the area were the spheres of influence of three countries met. Consequently, the people living here were partly of Greek and partly of Sumerian or Assyrian heritage.
Despite this, they were living together peacefully, without great differences.
And while most of them had been following the religion of the Olympians- until the warrior Xena had killed them that is- a few were still worshiping the Gods of their old homelands.
Now however, with the Olympians gone, many more had turned to the gods of their fellow citizens. Others had converted to Eli´s religion while a handful of people were following other versions of the One God´s teachings. Despite this change, the life in the town continued like it had always had.
Variety was a common notion that had been tightly embraced by the inhabitants of this small town, without the slightest problem.
Now however the town didn't exist anymore….The army responsible for it's destruction was watching the smoking ruins.
In between the ruins, the impaled or crucified bodies of some of the locals were hanging high. The heads of some of a couple of men who had dared fight back were being stuck on pikes at the entrance of the devastated settlement.
It was a scene of horror.
xxx
At the first ray of light they had attacked without warning. It was a large number of fighters. All of them were clad in dark colored armor. While most of them were riding, in between were a few who were supposed to attack on foot.
In the center of the crowd of warriors however, four different riders stood out from the others. They were wearing black cloaks over their battle armor and had the hoods drawn over their faces. While the others were starting to raid the town, this four only stood back and watched.
The attack came as a complete surprise. An unexpected blow, for sure.
Many people were still sleeping when the noise of the fighting woke them up.
Only a few of the men who were trained to fight actually had the state of mind to bring out their weapons and put up a defense. Many were killed before they even had the chance to reach them. The few who did though, were quickly overwhelmed by their skilled opponents.
One after another the people of the town were brutally slaughtered by the invading fighters.
None of them was spared, neither man, nor woman or child. Nobody knew the reason of the attack or even their motivation. What was known was the swiftness and sheer brutality of the assault. It was a massacre.
After less than an hour all life in town had been wiped out. Everybody who had the bad luck to be there, was dead; all of them, with three exceptions: two men and a woman were being dragged before the four dark figures who were obviously in charge of the other attackers. All three of them were under the few who had been fighting back against the invaders.
"Master," one of the warriors reported, "we have found nothing. These three were captured while they were fighting us in front of an Assyrian shrine."
The rider who was standing the closest to them dismounted. He removed the hood from his head. They saw that he was a man with shoulder long dark hair. He appeared to be in his mid thirties.
"I see," he said without visible emotion. He let his eyes wander over them.
"You," he asked one of them, "you are a follower of the Assyrian Gods?"
"Yes," the man replied defiantly.
The leader of the invaders said nothing, but he kept looking at him.
The native had a bizarre feeling. He couldn´t help it, but he felt as if this stranger was watching his very soul.
"He doesn't know anything," the dark man finally said. He turned around to his three comrades, than back to the prisoners.
"You three are warriors," he stated. "Your duty was to protect your home-town."
"Yes," it was the woman who answered.
"As you see you have failed. We were able to surprise you and kill all of your folk. And it wasn´t even any challenge in doing that. I am however willing to give you three a chance to redeem yourselves."
He stuck his own sword into the ground before them and stepped forward.
"Give these three their weapons," he said to his men. "Now," he ordered as he saw that they were hesitating. "If one of you is able to touch me," he said to the captives, "I will let you go."
The three natives looked at each other. They didn't get it: they had their weapons back and standing before the leader of the force who had destroyed their town. And he was facing all three of them unarmed….. Still, the stranger was radiating confidence.
What was the catch?
The Assyrian man and the woman moved at the same time. Both of them tried to ram their swords through him. But the woman was hit by a well placed kick that sent her backwards. A split second later, her partner could only watch how their opponent caught his sword-arm in the move, wrestled his weapon out of his hands and stabbed his own blade through his chest.
All this happened in the matter of moments. The third native didn't even get a chance to react. By the time he drew the dagger he was carrying and threw it, it was too late.
His opponent caught it in mid air, with an effortless, precise move….
The woman used this as a chance for another strike but was blocked by the sword he had taken from her partner. Both of the remaining natives were attacking together now. One strike of the second man actually grazed his side. But one moment later he disarmed him and beheaded the woman with a single move.
It was over. Around fifteen seconds.
It had taken longer than he expected….
He looked at his side. The one strike of the surviving native had left a small cut in his clothes.
"As I promised you," he said to the man, "I will let you go."
He turned around from him.
"You let me go?" the man asked angrily. "You have destroyed my home, killed my family. Tell me why? Why?" he shouted.
The leader of the dark warriors turned back to him.
"I could give you my reasons. I could explain our motives for choosing this town to you.
But unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to understand most of them. Ultimately, the truth is, it is what I do," he replied.
"I swear one day you will be destroyed," the man shouted. "One day someone will kill you and I hope I will get to be the one to do it!"
Instead of getting an answer in words, he suddenly felt how he was lifted off the ground by and invisible force. Then he felt to his horror how the same force seemed to be constricting around his throat and strangling the life out of him.
After a few seconds he felt the invisible grip stop and he was dropped back to the ground.
"You don´t know what you are dealing with," the dark man told him before he joined his retreating troops and left him behind, alone in front of the ruins of the devastated town.
xxxxxxx
Egypt
Gabrielle was still following the trace of the dying man back after she had burried him. What she found both fascinated and surprised her.
She was standing in front of the entrance of a cave. Inside she could make out what seemed to be a large temple complex. Instead of being built in the usual way, this one seemed to had been carved into the already existing rock-formation.
What she could also make out however was the smoke that was coming from the inside. Was it the sign of an attack? It was obvious that the man had come from here.
xxxxxxx
The coast of Ireland
The God of War had just arrived on this island. It was the furthest edge of the Olympian territory and it had cost him nearly all his power to transport himself here.
It was only with the arrival of the Romans in this area some years ago that he and his family got access to this place at all. But this was technically spoken still the realm of another pantheon, the Gods of the Celts, and he could quite poignantly feel just how weak his powers were here.
The demi- gods were the only ones who could move freely in between pantheons without any type of problem…Demi-gods just like the one he came looking for…And yes, there was only one reason for which he had bothered setting foot on this place at all- to find his mongrel brother, Hercules.
Ares heard that he had settled there after he had left Greece some 27 years ago together with his companion Iolaus. It was shortly after he had killed Zeus-sometimes he still wished he had done that himself.
But on Hercules it seemed to have had a stronger impact.
Later he seemed to have decided to leave the country and start anew somewhere else. And as Ares had been told, he chose this island for it. As far as he knew, Hercules had visited this place before on the occasion of one of his journeys and decided to return here for good.
For the most part he was quite happy that his troublesome half-brother was no longer around. But now, even he had to admit, he needed him and any other help he could get.
About an hour later, he arrived at some village close to the coast.
"Hey you," he called out as he spotted a mortal. "I am Ares, the God of War from Greece. I am looking for Hercules. Tell him I am here for him."
He saw that they all were looking at him strangely. No great surprise. His appearance was quite unusual for this area and it was not every day that you met a God.
However he didn't have to wait long. Only after a few minutes a figure appeared he knew only all too well. Hercules was looking nearly exactly like he did 30 years before. The only difference was that he was now wearing green colored clothes instead of the ones he had in Greece. Ares recognized that the half-god had not visibly aged a single year since then.
Next to him stood the red haired woman he knew as Morrigan. She had as well not aged too much. Probably a half-god as well, he thought.
"Ares," Hercules greeted him. "This is really a surprise. What do you want?"
"I am here because I've missed you so much," he replied sarcastically. "What do you think? There's a problem in Greece and I need your….assistance…."
Side note: For the ones who don´t know it. Morrigan is a character from the fifth season of Hercules. Like him she is a half-god and based on a mythological being. In the beginning she had been a antagonist before she was influenced by Hercules to change. (The character has many parallels with the early Xena.) The two had a short relationship and she had been one of his companions in the fight against Dahak (The others being Nebula, Jason, Zarathustra.)