I have been walking for about three day now. I set up camp every night after I found a suitable area; luckily I had packed plenty of supplies so I had no trouble besides the occasional animal hoping to steal some of my food. The gravel pushed against the hard skin on my feet. The wind blew through my hair while I kept up a constant jog. On my walk I pasted by a few ponies, most of them kept their distance when they saw me but a few offered to trade supplies and other things. I bought a pair of enchanted sunglasses. They are made to be one way so any magic that needs direct eye contact is ineffective, it also helps against cockatrices. I fucking look like Adam Jensen now, badass and mechanized. I continued my pace slowly approaching a fork in the road. I reach into my bag and grab my newly 'borrowed' map.

"Hmmm, let's see I followed this path here so I must be...."

A vial of liquid flew toward my face, I ducked before the glass could hit me. I turn to face my new foes only to be greeted by a net flying overhead and entrapping me. I gazed over to where it originated from. There stood about 5 diamond dogs, one of them had a large cannon with smoke bellowing from the end of it. Hmmm, Diamond dogs. Must mean there is a den nearby and where there is a den there is an Alpha. Looks like it's my lucky day. One of the taller diamond dogs approached the net. I should keep them alive to show me where the den is.

"Beta what is this ugly creature?"

"Don't matter either it work or Alpha eats. I don't think Alpha cares which."

"How do we carry it to the den? It too fat to be carried by us."

He did not just call me fat and ugly. Screw it only one of them needs to live. "Hey Mutt wanna hear something real interesting?"

"What you want ugly thing?" The dog leaned in close.

"Well you see my fist here?" The dog nods, "Well the metal around it is actually a gem around my hand, I'll give you the gem if you let me go." C'mon be a greedy bastard, be a greedy bastard!

He grabs my hand and takes a sniff of it, "Stupid thing your gem fist mine now and you work in mines!" He pulls my arm into his mouth.

"Here have treat!" My blade shoots out from the top of my arm going all the way through the dog's head, "Good boy." His head slowly drops off his body and his body drops to the ground.

I swing the blade up ward slashing the net open. The rest of the dogs looked back at me after hearing the commotion.

"You killed Ol'Yeller! We kill you and feed you to Alpha!" The bulky one in the back barked at me.

"Alright, come play yah rock suckers." I taunt them.

The first dog runs at me on all four while the beef cake at the back is preparing to throw another vial.

"Sorry fleabag, but not all dogs go to heaven. Ignis!" Heat collects into the bolt.

My finger presses against the trigger , letting the string go sending the bolt of heat streaking through the air. The bolt flies into the ear of the charging diamond dog. Its howls of pain could be heard for miles. The bolt continued its journey unhindered by the diamond dog it had just burned through. The bolt collides with the vial filled with a green substance. The force of the explosion sent the diamond dog into a tree.

The scent of burnt flesh and hair quickly spreads around the area. I turn my attention to the diamond dog groveling in pain from his new ear hole. I raise my blade up high in order to gain enough momentum to kill him quickly, before my arm was half way down, one of the other diamond dogs tackled me to the ground. We rolled around in our scuffle, the dog constantly trying to bite my face off. I bring my mecha arm up to his mouth. I grab the entire muzzle of the dog and squeeze down on it until multiple cracking noises could be heard. The dog drops off me holding its muzzle in pain. I stand up brushing off a bit of dust before I walk over to the diamond dog. I raise my foot over his head and allow my weight and gravity does the work. The body stopped moving as I moved to the last two D-dogs.

I picked up the diamond dog that was on the ground. "You are such a pussy." I grab his arm.

"Please don't break my arm." His tone showing his fear. He attempts to pull his arm out of my grip with no success.

"Hmmmmm, let me think about that, no." I crush his arm, making several him howl in pain. The skin bent inward to where the break was. I unholster my crossbow and shove it against his stomach.

"Fulgar!" Static began to build up on the crossbow releasing mini arcs of energy into the ground.

The dog looks at his broken arm, the tingling feeling of pain still overwhelming almost all of his senses. He releases high pitched squeal as lightning arced on to his stomach leaving singed marks on his body.

"That arm will hurt for the rest of your life," He looks up at me, his eyes are filled with agony, slowly tears form on the edges of his eyes, "lucky for you, your life isn't going to last much longer."

I release the bolt and it shoots straight into his body. He begins to shake violently from all electrical energy frying his insides and burning his brain to a crisp. After a short while he stopped moving and fell to the ground dead and smelling like burnt dog. The last dog growls as me as I approach him. I grab his fur and lift him up to eye level.

"You know there is a certain sport I excel at." I grab the back of his neck making him gulp.

"What sport that be?"

" Oh you know," I wind up my arm with him still in it, "competitive bitch toss!"

I throw my arm forward releasing the diamond dog into the air, he goes soaring through the clouds and quickly only a speck of him could be seen. His screams still linger in the air a little while after he is gone. This dog better not be dead. I walk over to the one dog that had been blown away by the explosion. As I draw closer his body twitches a little and his chest is expanding and deflating. I grabbed him by the fur on his back and lifted him to my face. I brought my hand back then forth and slapped him. The shock woke him up and I dropping him made sure he stayed up.

"What's your name mutt?"

"I am B-b-b-beta." He looked behind me to see his allies slaughtered.

"Well B-b-b-beta you are going to take me to your Alpha. If you set an ambush for me you will know it feels like to become a living bomb. Understood?"

He shakes his head furiously. He crosses his legs and puts his hands on them.

"You pissed yourself didn't you?" He nods, "Well I don't give a shit. Move your furry ass to the damn Alpha."

Beta begins to walk into a small forest just a little ways away from where I met him. He leads me to a small cave. The entrance was illuminated by torches using the skulls of various creatures. I look at Beta.

"Alpha's idea."

He brings me deep into the cave, on our way down we passed many slaves that varied from griffin to pony. A gray tint covered all of the captives. Their skin firmly outlined by their bones making them look more like zombies. The feeling of gloom and despair is enhanced by the skulls of what I could only assume were the skulls of previous slaves. The griffin slaves seem to have been hit the hardest by the lack of food and water. Most griffins had little to no plumage left, leaving only a skeleton of their once graceful wings. Beta lead me further into the cave, slowly the amount of slaves dwindled and the amount of diamond dogs increased the close we got to the core.

We reached to an opening to a cavern being illuminated by torches along the walls. Craters and rubble from fallen stalactites littered the area. Must be tremors or something to cause them to fall. I look forward to see a large door. The metal that made up the door could most likely be described as rusted iron. A single scene was depicted on the doors. A single massive wolf was fighting against several humanoids. In the jaws of the wolf was a hand.

"What is this place?"

"We dig into cavern week ago, many metal monster lived here but we diamond dogs crushed them." We walked half way to the door before Beta turned around.

"Alpha up ahead please don't make me come in with you."

"Why? Are you scared?" I taunt the dog in an extremely annoying tone.

The dog looks downward in shame, "Yes..."

"Fine, but if I find out you went to get help. I will come from the depths of hell and break you." The dog backs away quickly running on four legs into one of the tunnels.

I march toward the iron door, my heavy breathing echoing around the chamber. As I neared the door I noticed quite a few things. The door only opens outward due to the hinges being visible from this side of the doorway. The door is divided into two similar to those large doors you find on mansions; griffins, diamond dogs, ponies and zebra skeletons were spread all around the door all. Among the skeletons were a few mechanical devices that vaguely resembled one of the golden golems from Hellboy 2 but the pieces were trashed and gnawed. These must be the metal monsters Beta was talking about. The diamond dogs must have found an old inventors workshop that sunk or something. The doors were slightly ajar just enough for me to slip in.

My footstep bound off the walls so that the sound came from all sides, creating a feeling of something surrounding me. The smell of rotten flesh fills my nostrils, when I passed the threshold of the doors. I was standing in a large circular room. The roof was dome shaped and at the center it easily reached 25 feet. The start of where the roof began to curve was rigged and held up by 8 pillars. In the ridge of the dome fire burned giving light to the room. Each pillar held a torch that faced the wall casting shadows of the pillar toward the stone like the shadow of death looming over his next soul to reap. I walk behind the large marble pillars, taking note of the ancient runes giving off a slight red glow as I passed them giving me the impression that each one was cursing me and my family for invading its home.  I trek between the pillars in and out of the shadows that surrounded me on all sides.

I made a full circle around the room and then I stared toward the middle of the large room. A little ways away the marble floor halted allowing rocks and dirt  to fill the empty space in between all of the pillars. Not far away from me is a large scar in the ground. As if something dug into the dirt and stone with their claws to get away from something. In the middle of the large courtyard stands a rock that touches the ceiling above. A crimson silk band surrounds the rock tightly, large indents most likely from pulling on the band are clearly visible from the door. I begin to walk toward the rock where each of the pillars shadows rested on. As I drew closer I noticed several bite marks and scratches similar to the ones dug into the ground on the rock. The closer I came to the rock the more the shadows released its grasp on what was in them. Soon I could see the entire rock, the lower half still shrouded in darkness while the fires in the ridge illuminated the top portion creating the illusion of the rock being an elder looking down on the lesser beings beneath it.

"Who enters my home? Is it another mutt that wishes to fight me?" Boomed a voice from the shadows.

"I do, and I am no mutt. Now show yourself."

"No you do not seem like a mutt, overconfident and too proud to see the knife at his neck. I will show myself to you whelp," slowly a large gray wolf stalked out of the shadows.

"Why have you entered my domain whelp and why do you smell of my father?"

"Your father?"

"Yes, I am Fenrir and my father is Loki god of mischief and chaos."

I take a short moment to put two and two together. "Well your father, brought me here and gave me this arm."

He lowers himself downward and sniffs my arm. "Ah, yes that arm is the source of his stench on you. That arm also has the scent of uru, is that correct?"

"Yah my arm is made of uru why?"

"Do you see the rope that binds me that rock?" I look at his neck to see a red ribbon wrapped around his neck and leading to the rock, "It is rope the gods made to be almost indestructible. Everything has a weakness, the ribbon's weakness was blades crafted of uru. A simple slash and the rope would break while everything else you could imagine would have no effect on it."

"I don't see how this has to do with me."

"I would like to make a contract with you. If you cut the blasted rope that has binded me to this spot for the last several millennia I will offer you my services on whatever journey you may have." Have a god as traveling buddy that would be interesting.

"What would those services be?"

"I will aid you in any manner I can unless it violates your or my honor. I will also become your 'mount' for the journey, to carry any burdens you cannot." The wolf seemed slightly reluctant to say the word mount.

"What about the diamond dogs? They won't exactly allow me to leave with their Alpha and some gems without argument."

"I have no love for the whelps, their former Alpha challenged me to a fight in order to prove his supremacy. He failed horribly and I feasted on his body," There goes getting the Alpha teeth from here., "they chose me as a new Alpha even though I did not care for their pathetic pack. If any of them hinder our progress, I will feast upon them as well."

I walk up to Fenrir and look at him the eye. "You have yourself a deal Fenrir."

I extended my right arm and he extended his left foreleg and shook on our deal, finishing all the negotiating. I walked back toward the stone, feeling its rough surface in my left palm. I walked toward the red ribbon and sheathed my blade. I raised my arm upwards toward the sky and swung down with force severing the ribbon in two. I walked back over to Fenrir and grabbed the length of rope still attached to him and cut it off as well. All that was left of the robe was a small collar made of the ribbon around Fenrir's neck. I grabbed the remains of the red ribbon rope and put in my bag. Never know when it may come in handy.

Fenrir and I began to walk back into the large cave system, slaughtering any diamond dogs in our way and breaking any slaves free. Fenrir enjoyed slaying every diamond dog, the look of joy and triumph glittered in his eyes while he sunk his teeth into another pup. The songs of birds echoed down the tunnel the closer we got to the surface. A large blinding light appeared in front of us and we moved through it. We wind blew through my hair. I took a large breath sucking in every last bit of fresh air I could, letting the sweet feeling fill my lungs. I look over to Fenrir, his features much more visible in the light. He stood about 15 feet tall towering over most of the slaves that slowly began to flow out of the mines saying their thanks. His fur was dark gray that slowly grew darker the closer to the head you looked until you reached a dim gray. Slight hints of red highlighted his fur. His eyes were a hazel nut brown, a small tooth stuck out a little from his mouth. I strap my infinity bag on his back, checking to see if he can handle the weight. Soon I jump up on to the mighty wolf and point him in the direction of the crossroad that this little adventure started at. He walked along the forest taking in all the sights he was deprived of for so long in that cave. We made it to the sign much quicker than the time it took me to walk to the cave. Soon we headed off toward Stalliongard.

Next Chapter: Eye of the Mealstrom (15) Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 33 Minutes