Ancient Time (AT) 12,540

Place: Borderline of Adam’s Eden.

“Neh, neh, neh, Merodach! So who’s the new guy?” The shapeshifter had taken the form of a majestic wolf. Her black fur laced with the subtle oceanic blue, her red horns adorning her head as she leaped from a close-by tree landing gracefully beside the giant man. Her snout to the air she was sniffing the area around her as she continued her line of questioning.

“I wonder what Exile’s up to coming to us for this? Thought his ravens can deal with this” She pouted once more as she contemplated earlier that day. Death had come to visit her while she was in the midst of yet another set of paperwork when he told her there was a rebellion close to Adam’s Eden that needed to be resolved. It was not their time yet so he could not just kill them. She sighed and took it as an excuse to get out of the paperwork Odin had saddled her yet again. Never understood the concept of paperwork but Odin was so meticulous in his ruling she could not help but begrudgingly agree.

They had set the day before and finally reached Adam’s Eden to see what the rebellion was, but so far she had seen nothing more than children of Adam playing with what looked like paper balls. It was confusing but Exile was not one to lie. And Merlin definitely was not that good of an illusionist to fool her. It was strange as she finally asked Merodach to approach them.

“Hello…” Merodach spoke gently as the children turned their heads toward the voice. They answered him with a frightened hello before Merodach asked if there was anything out of the ordinary. The queen realized one of the children kept looking to the side as they assured them nothing was wrong and she finally saw them.

Something she absolutely despised was using the innocent to mask the wicked. Indeed, the rebellion knew that the Ancients would interfere and were pointing their weapons toward the children. The queen watched the gentle giant as she spoke in a soft tone:

“May I talk to you?” Merodach looked back to her and with a simple motion of his hands, he placed a simple palm to his head and one on the wolf’s head. A simple metal knock and the two were now conversing mentally.

Look to the left, the rebellion has guns on these children?

I noticed that a few miles back, what do you think we should do?

It’s obviously an ambush, I’m going to leave now and try and sneak up on them, protect the children.

Should we call for reinforcement?

The wolf’s body began to rearrange itself, bones and skin rearranging as she began to elongate and turn serpentine. She hated shapeshifting due to how painful it was but it was enough for her to slither away as Merodach continued to approach the children.

“Mind if I come to play with you?”

“Yes, sir. Please do”

He would approach them, one foot in front of the other as he watched his surroundings. 10 armed rebellions, the weapons he has not seen before, they had arrows aimed at him as he continued to walk and chuckle to himself.

It was getting colder, the children’s breath was forming before them as they huddled against each other to warm each other, the ground itself around them began to freeze and icicles began to form. Merodach knew the queen was making her move as he continued advancing.

“3…2…1…. DUCK!” He shouted to the children who instinctively ducked as he swooped his hands up, pillars of ice shot from the ground encasing the children in a protective dome as the arrows hailed toward him, another ice shield protecting him as he smirked and spoke in a soft tone “Dear me, Dear me, such a sad group”

The screams were fast as one after the other was attacked by the large serpentine and as arrows were shot and missing the serpent that was quick to finish. It was quick, too quick as the serpentine began to transform again to the amazon-esque woman. She was sighing as she began to move toward the children to check on them. It was then she felt the air chill around her and a word uttered: “Brahma…”

The queen was quick on her feet. She moved to the left as pillars shot toward her from the right and began to dodge the ice attacks. She was about to turn to the one she thought was Brahma when she saw a child of Adam, or what looked like a child of Adam. His golden eyes pierced in anger and his scythe looked like it had seen its fair share of bloodshed. She could hear the weapon screaming with bloodlust as she turned to the man. His ice-white hair unkempt and he looked at the doom and then the blue light was apparent again before she saw Brahma manifesting behind the man.

“Stand down Brahma! I order thee to stand down, by the ancient’s decree you will not attack” She was authoritative but Brahma was not responding to her words. She looked at the dark figure with an elongated nose. Growling her icy gaze went to the summoner.

“State your name, child of Adam, or I will take this as…” She could not continue as the man ordered the being to attack again. She placed a hand before her as she spoke in a soft tone: “You leave me no choice…Your weapon screams of blood and I will not allow such a disrespect to the queen go unpunished” She continued as she was dodging the attack. Merodach was moving quietly toward the dome to secure a safe passage for the children to escape.

The queen was dodging and bringing him further away from the children. Once she made sure Merodach has secured the children and was gone she turned to the man who varnished his weapon at her. Sighing she began to shapeshift once more. The man for a second began to look at her confused as the queen morphed into a gigantic wolf and ripping a tree nearby she was using it was a weapon in her mouth. Her horns adorning a glistening of red as she growled at the man.

He was good, she gave him that as she hauled the tree toward him. Again with Brahma freezing the tree and him shattering it with his scythe she launched at him quickly aiming to disarm his scythe by biting into it. Her surprise was evident when the man unlocked the mechanism on the weapon to make it split.

Merodach, I need stats on this child as soon as possible. This child has fought our kind before. And Brahma is not responding at all.

A knock, this was something strange as the queen allowed for the person to enter her mind.

Because he’s not a child of Adam, Your majesty, He’s the child of Philemon

Exile…is that the new addition!

Yes…And neither of you are meant to die now, so I would appreciate it if you cease this senseless violence, Grand Wolf.

Fiiiiiiiiiine, but I’ll let go a little more and test him. Tease the poor soul a bit more before I end it.

Your majesty, I urge you to stop toying with poor souls at my expense. I will not use my authority.

Fine, stop calling me your majesty and just call me Wolf, I like that. You hate it when people call you Death or Grim Reaper.

You are a hopeless case, Wolf. Fine.

She smirked mentally and Merodach knew he was in for a treat. This man had been holding up against the queen’s might and was starting to sweat but he was summoning what children of Adam called a “god”. Brahma truly was formidable but she knew his weakness. She finally decided it was enough as she spoke:

“Child of Philemon…why are you fighting me? Have I offended you?”

He stopped as he was breathing hard: “You know me? I’m the Roomkeeper. You were going to kill the…” he looked at the empty dome as he continued “children” He was avoiding looking at her as he continued: “Do you mind covering up?” The queen looked confused before she finally shapeshifted into a wolf again “You are beautiful; I have not caught your name?”

“I’m Queen of the Ancients, young summoner. You have kept your battle with me going. I’m impressed”

“And she doesn’t get impressed easily. A pleasure to eat- I mean – meet you” Merodach had been sneaking behind the man to see his reflexes as he pointed to the children: “We try our best no innocent is harmed. Worry not, Protector of the children of Adam. I’m Merodach”

“The cannibalistic warlord?”

“Yes him”

The queen sighed before she brought her paw on top of the giant in a smacking motion. The man chuckled as he continued: “The queen doesn’t like me toying with youngsters. Please join us later on, young one. We need to talk about your recent expeditions. Philemon and Nyarthelop have been raving about you. The queen herself wanted to meet you”

Another blush from the man as the queen sighed before she looked at Merodach. “It is our custom to enter the minds of each other but we do knock, may you allow us to enter your mind young one?”

“I…I rather not…but…if the queen asks the queen shall receive” He would attempt to bow but the paw was quick to correct and the wolf merely shook its grand head. He felt power entering his mind gently and a knock as he nodded to the queen.

Roomkeeper, we do not have a hierarchy as the children of Adam do. We are equal, I am impressed by your ability to summon Brahma and to hold your own like that, you will have to tell me one day how you do it. But only when you are comfortable with our ways. If at any point and time you no longer wish for this, you may tell us and we will be more than happy to accommodate. Being an Ancient comes with its responsibilities but you may be around us and once you choose to become one of us, we will welcome you. But take your time. I heard you are quite the resilient being. Protector of what your species calls human. Please feel free to join us later on. Also…think before you attack. We could have easily killed each other if it wasn’t for Death’s interference. He notified me of who you are. Welcome Roomkeeper, I look forward to meeting you again.