Hop In Losers, We’re Going On An Expedition!

[Strazio Rockwell]

Dull pain, a dull aching sort of agony moved like slush through Strazio's body. It started in his head and pulsed into his chest and finally seeped out into his extremities. The dreary nightmares of fire, anger, and ash were nothing more than faded fever dreams in the mind of a distant madman. Walls of blanched white surrounded the prime, unassailable in their pristine ivory existence. His clothing smelled of soap and detergent, a strange turn from the usual smell of burnt copper and musky sweat. A sharp ringing assaulted his ears, constantly being an arms length from explosions had developed a severe case of tinnitus in the avatar of rage. He stretched his newly-reconstructed muscles and glanced around the mostly empty Nexus.

Back at the beginning of this bullshit.

In his mind he played through his “death” if you could even call it death here. His opponent was fierce and powerful, taking as much punishment as Strazio could and even dealing it back in equal measures. Was that what it would be like to fight Damien? More importantly could he even kill Damien if he was unable to beat Shang Tsung? It would have been easy, comforting even, to suggest that his defeat was not by the hands of the sorcerer, but by the fickle strands of pure luck and circumstance. But the tightening of his gut and quickening of his pulse said otherwise. Strazio had stood before Shang and bared his all. He had offered all of the power that his scarred flesh had and he was found wanting.

The most terrifying outcome, dreadful in its finality, was defeat.

It was during this existential panic of self-worth that Strazio noticed the absence of a familiar weight as his side. The Necronomicon was gone, but that was to be expected, no his journal was also absent from its chain. Scratched silver loops and a busted clasp hung silently at his hip. His fists clenched and sparks of furious white energy chewed into his bare flesh. Shang had stolen his journel, the sorcerer had torn it directly from the chain that held it tight against Strazio's hip. Fear melted away like fat in a fire, it was replaced by the hissing char of anger. Large bolts of furious lightning arc across his form. From geep within his gut a growling primal scream of hatred charged forth.

“FUCK” his declaration of anger echoed across the Nexus, followed by a withering burst of roiling magick to punctuate his frustration.

“There he is!” a familiar flighty voice called out, “Strazio! Oh Strazio, its Valerie!”

Still fuming that Defender of Darkshire turned around to find his teacher skipping along the white floors. Valerie's green dress-robe fluttered around him like a spring breeze. Atop his brown hair sat a crown of yellow flowers, something that he had made during the trip to the Nexus gate. His green-painted lips formed a large grin. Behind him stood a motley crew of companions, each of them stranger than the last. Strazio's eyebrow raised as he notice the girl with dog ears; ears that reminded him of the half-man half-dog Cork, perhaps they were related somehow. Next to her was a dog covered in snowy fur with a human child clinging tightly to its beautiful coat. Behind them stood a lumbering behemoth that easily dwarfed The Rock's already massive proportions. Strazio scowled and turned his attention back to the approaching whirlwind of green. Valerie collided with the fuming mage, nearly tackling him to the ground with a well-intentioned hug.

“Not in the mood Val,” Strazio growled, prying himself from his teacher's grip.

“Forgive me, but I am ever so ecstatic about your survival.”
Strazio glanced at the party of misfits behind Valerie. He cared not for their names, nor even the pleasantry of meeting them. Beneath his skin boiled a pot of seething rage, and it would not simmer until he had ripped his journal from Shang's corpse. Valerie stood nervously, wringing his hands in an anxious display. Suddenly he began to snap them together as he remembered Jade's present. Quickly he reached into his robe and removed a bright yellow sack that held the frozen amphibian. Valerie's green-tinged hands wrapped around the exceptional creature and removed it from its home.

“Look!” Valerie shouted as he pushed the ornate frog close to Strazio's face, “my new friend Jade made this for me, is it not spectacular? My other friends are quite exceptional as well, I can intro-”

Something snapped. Strazio's temper flared to untold heights and he smacked the glassy creature out of his face and subsequently Valerie's hands. The glossy paperweight tumbled through the air before clacking across the linoleum-white floor. Strazio's fingers formed into the shape of a gun and he stepped forward into Valerie. With his finger gun he jabbed Valerie's ribs and pushed the verdent mage back.

“Listen,” Strazio spoke fire and brimstone, lava leaked from his maw, “I don't give a fuck what your band of misfits got you Valerie, frankly I don't even give a shred of a fuck about them right now! My opponent took my goddamned journal so forgive me if I'm not in the fucking mood to put up with your inane garbage!”

“Oh,” Valerie recoiled and divereted his gaze to the fallen frog, “I see.”

“And its not my fault that your stupid fucking frog got knocked on the damn ground!”