Mercenary’s Dream (Part 1):  Written by Exodus, Original Story by Exodus  

Evening time, in a wide hallway of the Evalon Fortress, a guard walked by with a 
flashlight, as soon as his back was turned, a shady figure dashed across in very 
few steps, and virtually no noise.  
He turned back quickly, but saw nothing, even with the light of his tool, he 
shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  
A tall acrobatic guy leaped down from above and used an electronic tool on a 
wall panel to unscrew half the bolts in record time, he lifted it up like a 
vertical door, slipped in and closed the panel behind him.  
Rob Ruwin dropped the bolts carefully, he was a perfectionist and he wouldn’t 
make stupid mistakes, this mission was too important, this would help the new 
fighting force known as The Resistors to save lives.  
Though an overconfident, womanising and vain chap, Ruwin was a skilled warrior, 
and compassionate when it came to life-depending missions.  
Ruwin crawled through the ducts carefully and quietly, he reached a point where 
he could see a large dining room, he was high up in comparison to the people 
below so they wouldn’t notice him.  
“A lot o’ beautiful gals here.” pondered Ruwin, “Too back they’re workin’ fer 
Scum City.”  
Ruwin continued onwards and was stopped by a large metal disc that filled the 
space ahead, with two curved lines that started from the top and side, and 
crossed over each other, it showed that it could be opened, but only by a 
mechanical system.  
Ruwin read the small sign pasted on the gate.  
“Damn!...  ‘Will open in emergencies only’.”  
Ruwin switched on his comm-watch, a nifty invention designed by Gear and his 
science gang, and contacted the other people that would become known as Spybase.  
“Guys, Ah’ve got a hitch, the gate won’t open unless the emergency ventilation 
is switched on.  Ah’ll need one o’ ya ta sneak in an’ let off a gas grenade or 
somethin’.”  
“Roger.” replied Nick, “But what ‘bout you?”  
“When Ah wus told the only other way into the grand hall was through the 
ventilation system, Ah came prepared, Ah have a mask here so get onto it.”  
“That may take a couple o’ hours, you’d better make yerself comfortable.” said 
Nick slyly.  
“Don’t worry...  Ah’ll keep mahself occupied...” sighed Ruwin.  
“Ya haven’t got a gal in there wit’ you, have ya?”  
“O’ course not!” said Ruwin a little loudly, he quickly quieted down, “This 
mission is too important fer jokes, get ta it, Bro’.”  
Ruwin made himself comfortable, back overhead the dining room, but lunch hour 
had already ended and the females had disappeared, Ruwin sighed.  
“Typical.  Aw well, Ah shouldn’t get so worried ‘bout a bunch o’ bad gals, whut 
else can Ah do but reminisce...”  

Ruwin thought back to his three years in the mercenary business.  
“The group wus different, yet shared so much.  We were the Shinin’ Wonders, the 
unbeatable mercenaries, we went through thick an’ thin together an’ won all 
battles, helped the innocent... fer a price.”  
It wasn’t like the Resistance, two kingdom leaders from Moragis and Aruban had 
planned for a situation like the takeover and had financed the group in order to 
help them defeat the invading empire.  
With Ruwin’s group, they had to charge people just to stay fed, healthy and 
prepared for the next task at hand...  
“Ah wus ‘Wonder’, the smooth talkin’, fast walkin’, hard kickin’, girl 
kissin’...  Ah wus jus’ me.  There wus Tyrone Tondieos or ‘T’ as Ah called him 
an’ ta the group he wus ‘Poleaxe’, mah old bud, an’ a master wit’ his large 
sword, boy we had some good times.  Next wus Aperen Draco, ‘Prodigy’, a master 
swordsman but quite wit’drawn.  Glenn Star, ‘Snatch’, a man experimented on bah 
demons, he could stretch his body far, but it would destroy him inside 
ultimately.  Carol Leaf, ‘Yggdrasil’, a strange gal, apparently the result of a 
Gaian an’ demon splicin’ test at birth, but she turned out good.  Joseph Cole, 
‘Tigerbear’, a big man wit’ all the tools fer the job, an’ finally, Megumi 
Kalis, ‘Shuriken’, a mega fast ninja apparently tryin’ ta raise awareness o’ her 
people an’ cultures...”  
Ruwin closed his eyes and remembered one of his typical missions against the 
group’s arch enemy:  Scourge.  

“Lich! Get that machine on now!” shouted Scourge, he was a muscular black demon 
with ugly red flower attachments around his body, sharp petal shaped shoulder 
pads, and the same sort of protective leg armour, cutting red blossoms and sharp 
vines etched into his chest, legs and arms as if tattooed on.  
He had small red bulbs growing on his arms and legs, his nails were sharp and 
venomous, and on his head were several horns down the centre of the forehead, 
and pointed ones on each side.  
His eyes were like red gemstones, and his snout and fangs made him look like a 
bloodthirsty monster, which he was.  
He had deadly powers and life restoring magic, plus cutting leaf attacks and the 
ability to release different spores and pollens, he was a powerful demon whose 
diabolical plans usually spelt death to all, nowadays, he only lived for revenge 
on the mercenaries.  
“Yes Scourge...” obeyed Lich, his second in command, Lich was mysterious and his 
blackened face and fangs, along with his small glowing eyes were hidden inside a 
hood, he wore a long tattered red robe, and his black bony claws could be seen 
hanging out the old gown.  
Lich was cowardly, but a powerful sorcerer, he could control anyone, given the 
time and materials, and he was known for causing worldwide trouble on a regular 
basis.  
With a combination of machines and artifacts, a spell of beams was bounced in a 
formation of many squares before going into Scourge and enlarging him to three 
times his normal size.  
Wonder and Poleaxe weren’t scared, they saw this as another challenge.  
“Ya know whut they say...” smiled Wonder, back then his hair was much more 
spiky, and he wore a black leather coat and black jeans with silver armour 
underneath.  
“The bigger they come...” started Poleaxe, a spiky blonde in silver, blue and 
red armour armour, he spoke with a similar accent to Ruwin/ Wonder, but had a 
lower, deeper voice.  
“... The harder they fall!” finished Wonder.  
They teamed up and both used a roundhouse kick on Scourge, but he felt nothing 
and swooped both of them up in his hands.  
Snatch stretched his pale green arms towards the hand with Wonder, there were 
signs of decomposition on Snatch, and some inside muscles could be seen, 
Snatch’s body was fairly normal, but his head and arms where deformed, his arms 
were naturally long even when he wasn’t stretching, and his working eye was red 
and lizard-like, all his skin was green and his other eye had long been 
destroyed but was covered by greasy yellow hair.  
Yggdrasil was a red head that wore yellow clothing in general, she looked normal 
from a certain angle but her entire left side including part of her face was 
covered or entwined in thick plant vines.  
She could control them, and shoot them out a long distance, but she could also 
summon plants in a moment, though in comparison to other plants, she summoned 
slightly mutated plants that were subject to her every wish.  
She shot her vines towards both of Scourge’ arms and pulled them together, 
forcing him to struggle and allow Poleaxe and Wonder the chance to slip away.  
Scourge growled and shot out some razor sharp blossoms from his shoulders, 
larger than the usual size.  
Two other members stepped between the blossoms and their comrades, and cut up or 
blocked every one.  
Tigerbear was a large tanned, hairy, muscular man with tiger stripe tattoos, he 
had short auburn hair and many people questioned how he carried so many weapons.  
And Prodigy, a stern and withdrawn character but an expert swordsman, he wore 
red and silver armour and boasted fine long black hair.  
Prodigy drew his long sword and Tigerbear surprisingly produced two large axes, 
between them, all the sharp projectiles were destroyed or blocked.  
During this, Shuriken charged forward at too fast a speed for the enemy to 
register.  
She had light blue hair that covered her forehead, the rest fell down to her 
shoulders, she wore a sleeveless pink robe, a pink mask that covered her nose 
and mouth, and black boots.  
She ended up behind Scourge and thrust her two sais into the machine, Lich 
growled:  
“Persistent ninja, I’ll-”  
One of Tigerbear’s axes hit the ground just in front of Lich.  
“Goodbye!” he said simply, and faded.  
“Lich you coward! I’m shrinking down!...” groaned Scourge.  
“You think ya can take us on wit’out any enhancements?” questioned Wonder 
darkly.  
“Not now, but someday I shall.” warned Scourge, “This is not over, 
mercenaries...”  
With that, he exploded into a lot of cherry blossoms and disappeared.  
Soon after that, the mercenaries received their payment.  
“Nine thousand an’ ninety nine, an’... ten thousand calars.” counted Poleaxe, 
“Man, think o’ whut a guy could do wit’ this kinda cash.”  
“Ahem.” said many people in unison, Poleaxe turned to the group, all staring 
crossly at him.  
He divided the money and gave it to the rest of the group.  
“Barely over a thousand, four hundred an’ twenty eight...  Ah need ta go on solo 
missions, this sort o’ money ain’t gonna cut it.” moaned Poleaxe.  
“Is that all you truly care about Poleaxe?” asked Yggdrasil crossly.  
“That’s whut being a mercenary is all about! The money!” he replied.  
“You can’t mean that!”  
“Maybe...”  

“We called each other bah codename back then.” thought Ruwin, “So that none o’ 
our enemies could get ta the ones we loved.  We were invincible, we were the 
best...  But it all changed.  We depended on the money too much, an’ we slowly 
lost sight o’ whut we were fightin’ for.  As fer me, Ah let a girl get too 
close...”  

On the last day of Wonder’s part in the group, the seven reached a village.  
“Kesa village, is it?” pondered Prodigy.  
“That’s so familiar...” thought Wonder, “Hey, one o’ mah childhood friends said 
she’d be movin’ here.”  
“Ya mean Amy?” asked Poleaxe.  
“No.” said Wonder suddenly, “You really don’t listen ta me when Ah tell o’ mah 
past, do ya?”  
Poleaxe shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  
Amy was one of Ruwin’s closest childhood friends, though they had a strange 
relationship, they both came from different villages and they never told their 
fathers, especially hers since he was overprotective, but he had a good reason 
to be.  
She was a daredevil, and that attracted Ruwin to her, the two played in 
dangerous places and she took a fall in an abandoned quarry, and died soon 
after.  
That was around the time Ruwin became a troublemaker and even more so after his 
mother passed away, but as his father predicted, having a younger brother look 
up to him slowly changed Ruwin, and he ended up becoming a mercenary.  
He had only told of this to Tyrone, but he didn’t judge others by their past and 
never really talked about it.  
The friend Ruwin had talked of today was a slightly closer friend, he had known 
Amy when he was very young, with the girl that lived here, he was thirteen 
through to fifteen during their time together.  
“Ah’ve gotta see her.” smiled Wonder.  
“Her?...” asked Shuriken, giving an obvious suspicious smile even though she 
wore a mask over her mouth.  
“We were always friends, nothin’ more.”  
“Point taken, ‘Mr Ladies’ Man’.” she replied.  
“Who are you?” asked a male villager, “Not demons I hope.”  
“No, don’t you worry.” comforted Snatch, though coming from a green skinned man 
with overly long decaying arms, it wasn’t too convincing.  
“Who Are you then?”  
“We’re mercenaries, do you have any troubles that need sorting?” asked Shuriken.  
“Well, yes actually, our minister is in trouble.  There were demons storming 
into his house and no one’s returned.”  
“It’ll cost ya...” muttered Poleaxe.  
“Poleaxe!” shouted Yggdrasil, “Now’s not the time, we’ll discuss payment 
afterwards.”  
“Ya think these country hicks will make good on a promise?” grumbled Poleaxe.  
“Maybe the minister will help After we save him, now are you coming or not?!” 
yelled Yggdrasil solely at Poleaxe, who stood there without changing his 
expression, “Fine! Those who have a heart, follow me.” she said, and stormed 
off.  
Wonder stared at Poleaxe, then turned to Yggdrasil, then to Poleaxe again, “... 
Sorry man but you’re in the wrong on this one...”  
Everyone else quickly hurried towards the mansion, Poleaxe sighed and slowly 
followed.  

Inside, a man with spiky black hair, moustache and beard was slumped on the 
floor with a gaping hole through his chest to his back.  
“Minister!” shouted Yggdrasil, and tried to heal him.  
Wonder gasped, “Oh mah god, Mister Charm?...” said Wonder sadly.  
“... Ruwin...  Save my daughter, save-  Uggghh...”  
Yggdrasil closed her eyes, her ability to heal was limited.  
The minister died pointing to the central room, they followed, and pushed the 
double doors open.  
Inside were large reptilian demons around a young woman in a trance, and one 
familiar demon.  
“Lich!” screamed Snatch, pointing a vengeful-looking finger.  
“You Again!” groaned Lich, “Can’t I be rid of you?! Drop the girl and kill these 
annoying mercenaries!” he ordered the demons, before flying towards the group 
and fading out of existence, the large demons attacked.  
Wonder kicked one back, and then using his feet, broke its neck, but it pushed 
Wonder away and stood up, head twisted round, and continued to fight.  
Out of the group, Poleaxe, Prodigy and Tigerbear were the only ones killing the 
demons, causing them to fall and dissipate totally.  
“Whut are they doin’ that Ah’m not?” asked Wonder, “O’ course! Guys! They can 
only be killed bah sharp metal objects!” Wonder shouted to his group.  
Prodigy, Tigerbear and Poleaxe defended the ones without the right weaponry.  
Shuriken flipped over a demon’s punch and hurled a line of shurikens at it, one 
hit, the second drove the first further in, and so forth.  
Snatch tangled a demon in one hand and picked up an old axe on display using his 
other arm’s long range, he then decapitated the demon and kept the axe for the 
duration of the battle.  
Yggdrasil ducked and enveloped herself in a strange blooming flower of her own 
creation as two sharp claws swooped by from the sides.  
As it bloomed, she was sprung up into the air and held out two large leaves to 
glide towards the chandelier, she then created two sharp leaf blades on her 
hands and cut through a segment of the chandelier, and came down with a sharp 
piece of metal upon the demons.  
Wonder punched and punched until he forced a demon into the wall, he quickly 
picked up and hurled a two bladed spear on display at the demon, impaling it.  
A second demon grabbed Wonder from behind, and he flung it over his shoulder, 
and into the other blade of the spear.  
The battle was over and Wonder ran towards the girl, with the demons gone, the 
trance had stopped, she was no longer frozen in an upright stance, and fell 
freely, but Wonder caught her.  
“Gina!” he shouted.  
“You okay?” asked Yggdrasil.  
She had short black spiky hair that parted to the sides, a golden tiara with a 
red heart-shaped gem above her head, and a pink and yellow dress with white 
boots.  
“Ruwin...” she said weakly, “I was so afraid...  So... so... afraid, I don’t 
want to be alone, please stay with me!”  
She held onto Wonder tightly and he held her back.  
“Ah won’t leave yer side, Ah promise.”  
“Ruwin can’t say no ta a pretty face.” commented Poleaxe.  
“’T’! Ah told ya before, we’re jus’ friends!”  

They stepped outside, and were shocked to find the village was in a mess, dead 
bodies littered the floor and a message was written on the wall in blood:  

“Shining Wonders, it is about time we settle things here and now.  The tower.  
Only one team shall survive...”  

Back in the present, and Ruwin came back to reality.  
“An’ that’s when things got ugly...”  

To be continued...  

Back to “Let Loose”
Part 2
Back to “Past Heroes and New Beginnings”
Back to the Library