Reincarnation? Ok.
There remained a certain strength found in those who can walk away. Quitting was easy. Perseverance was hard. But apathy, indifference? That was a skill honed over centuries.
Coming here, far from his base of power, in the proverbial belly of the beast, Cao Cao sought out the crown jewel to his cause, a figure even the original Perseus and Heracles deemed a myth. He found it in a throne room.
It was not a grand place. Columns littered the ground in piles of rubble. The tapestries that hung from the walls were so faded he couldn't make out the tales they wove. And the sconces held nothing but air. A great shadow hung over the hall, and in its wake, on a throne of riches, sat a man.
The man was beautiful. His hair was the color of the sun, and he had a crown that looked like two blue horns. He donned impressive golden armor, and golden earrings dangled on each ear. His head rested on his right fist, and though his eyes were close, a devilish smile tugged at his lips.
"So, this is what has become of you," Cao Cao said. "The one who slew his own gods."
Cao Cao had met gods, and spirits, and angels. But there was something otherworldly about the man before him. Was it smugness? Pride? It set him on edge
"It is not be an easy sight," the man said. "Seeing your better."
Cao Cao raised an eyebrow. The tomes had spoken of the man's arrogance, but he had reportedly mellowed out after the death of his best friend. Perhaps they were not as correct as he'd thought.
"I'd heard you were the greatest, and so I desired to meet you," Cao Cao said. He summoned forth the Lance of Longinus. "You know this spear?"
The man opened eyes as red as Lucifer himself.
"The whole world knows the legend of that spear."
Cao Cao smiled. "I doubt you hear much of the world at large," Cao Cao said. He placed the butt of the spear on the ground and walked closer to the man. "The realms arm themselves for war—Angels, Devils, Fallen, Norse, Greek—and they threaten humanity."
The man nodded. "Then the end of man nears."
"It doesn't have to," Cao Cao said. "I lead a group who will destroy these beings." Cao Cao paused, looking for any sign of reaction. "A group of heroes."
"And you think that interests me?"
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes. He knew of the trouble his target represents. Man made god, or god made man? He was perfection and pity. He was humanity's greatest and worst. But he was the first, their precursor. Symbolic and real. And at the end, was it not right for them to return to their roots, to find that old truth? Cao Cao thought so. It was that thinking that lead him here.
"Others have joined us: Heracles, Perseus, Siegfried. They've allowed their spirits to live on, to fight for humanity. They've joined me, my cause."
The man raised his head off where it rested on his fist. Red eyes narrowed on him, and Cao Cao fought against the need to shrink like a child. His fingers wrapped tighter around his spear.
"I am selfish, and I am wicked," the man said. "And I am truth, and I am power. All that you are, can, and will ever be I have been once before. It is you who sought after me, hero. It is you who claws at the vestiges of my legend. Who are you to ask for my allegiance?"
"I am Cao Cao," he said. "This spear has slain the Son of God, and it shall slay greater beings than yourself. I came here to allow you the opportunity to expand your legend, to be more than a dead king, to allow your spirit to find someone with the conviction of a true hero. If you will not do so willingly, I shall help you. Who are you to deny progress?
The man stood. His face scrunched in a scowl.
"You may call yourself a hero, boy, but I am eternal. You asked me who I am to deny your progress, and I shall tell you:
"I am the slayer of Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven," the man said. "I am he who sought immortality, and he who jilted the goddess of love. I am the son of Lugalbanda and the August Cow. I am the eternal spirit of Uruk and the shepherd of mankind. I am he who carved passes into mountains and cut wells from desert. My reign blazed in glory so great and terrible the gods themselves conspired against me. I've befriended my assassins and judged men at the gates of the Underworld. I've scaled mountains yet unnamed and traversed oceans unseen. I've trespassed into the Cedar Forest and escaped with my life. I am the wise one, the enlightened, humanity's jewel."
Magic golden circles materialized behind him the man, and blades began to poke out of the center.
"You asked for my name, and I shall carve it into your soul. My name, boy, is Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, and I am your undoing."