《Pacifist Run》 Prolog: Dead on arrival Finally; finally all the b*stards responsible for the death of his family were dead. Who cares if it made him the most wanted man in the world. He was finally free of the shadows that had haunted him for so long. Now he could proceed with the next step. He¡¯d turned the men and women with their families into the same cz-soldiers (Cyborg-zombie) they¡¯d turned so many into. Now he¡¯d go after those who¡¯d allowed it! In 12 hours the world would feel his rage, with every sycophant and sniveling sop weeping in the pain so many have felt. The world would burn and he had already lit the fuse. Now all he had to do was wait. Suddenly there was a sharp pain, then darkness... What the H*ll!!! Looking around he saw that everything had changed. Where was he? He thought... the last thing he remembered was standing in the woods reveling in what was to come, then a sharp pain, then nothing. F*ck! He¡¯d died. Looking around he saw a line of people moving towards a gate along a path lined with armed guards. Confused, he walked towards them and asked what was going on? The guard looked at him and said they were heading to judgment and rebirth. Following more out of curiosity than anything else, he soon arrived at a palatial entrance, where a long line stretched as far as the eye could see. Despite the length of the line, the pace of the people walking never changed and soon the people he was following arrived at the entrance.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Upon stepping through the gate there was a brief moment of disorientation as the scene in front of him changed and he found himself in a courtyard in front of an official looking person garbed in somber and formal clothes. His first impulse was to immediately dislike the man as he appeared just like those corrupt judges from when he was alive. However, as a cautious man, he decided to see if this one was just like the others. Sitting at a podium, the judge looked down on him. Turning to his left he says, who¡¯s on today¡¯s docket? A heavily armed guard approaches with a sheaf of paper. After looking through it the judge looks at him and says, ¡°So before I pass judgment, do you have anything to say David?¡± Before he could open his mouth for a caustic comment, the doors at the back of the room suddenly slammed open. Ch. 1 War and Peace A beautiful man charged into the room. Locking onto David he runs forward and throws a punch with what seemed like the force to level mountains. Seeing such an obviously telegraphed punch, David decides to dodge. ¡°Why can¡¯t I move? Shit, just grit your teeth and bear it. If I survive this I swear to God I¡¯m going to get even¡± David says. The fist grows larger and larger and as it approaches, David notices a ring engraved with a peace sign on the man¡¯s middle finger. ¡°Oh shit, this is going to leave a mark¡± David thinks. When the fist finally arrives the ring hits him right in the center of the forehead. As his consciousness starts to fade, he thinks ¡°what happens if I die before reincarnation?¡± Everything goes black again. David¡¯s first thought as he woke up was to see if he could find the operator of the truck that just hit him. Then to beat him with something; or several something¡¯s repeatedly. After finally opening his eyes he sees the beautiful man standing there with his arms crossed and his nose in the air surrounded by several heavily armed guards and a rather handsome woman in what can only be described as the epitome of battle gear, armor that could take any blow be it from gun, blade, or farfetched super-gadget. Also, she was ARMED. Not just armed, but to the point she could take on several dozen armies single handedly and still have bullets, blades, and whatever those strange looking contraptions mounted on her bracers were. More to the point she was glaring angrily at the beautiful man which automatically earned her points in David¡¯s book. Then she open her mouth and her words were every battlefield though out time, filled with the sound of the thunder of cannons, the rumbling of charging Calvary, the clanking of tanks. ¡°WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING HITTING WITH THE RING OF PEACE!!!¡± she yelled at the man. ¡°AND YOU HIT HIM RIGHT AT THE YINTANG YOU FOOL! THE DIVINE LORD WILL PUNISH YOU SEVEARLY YOU MORON!¡± David felt a niggling sensation of dread. While he had no idea what a Yintang was, he felt it had something to do with being hit in the head with that crazy fist. Looking around he manage to catch the attention of a guard who was apparently both quick on the uptake and prepared for some very strange things as he took a small mirror out of his belt pouch. When he looked at himself, David saw a vividly defined peace symbol embedded into his forehead. What the!! The outline of the symbol looked to be etched deeply in his forehead, incredibly vivid and fresh in appearance. Looking at the guard David asks ¡°How long do you think it¡¯ll last?¡± The guard gives him a pitying look and replies in a serious tone, ¡°David, may I call you David? This is a very serious matter. That man over there is the ¡®new¡¯ god of peace. The ring he¡¯s wearing is the symbol of his office and authority. Anyone hit or sealed by that ring will be subject to the ¡®blessing of peace¡¯ until the mark fades. Usually the ring is pressed gently to someone to give them peace or deeply branded on criminals to force them to behave peacefully. That as*hrmp... cough, man hit you as hard as he could with as much godly power as he could muster. Unless you manage to become a god with greater power or authority then him, the mark will remain on your soul for a very, very, very long time. I¡¯m sorry, David, you¡¯re up the creak as they say.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Ch. 2: Some pertinent information David looked at the guard in horror. ¡°What the H*ll did I ever do to him to deserve this? I¡¯ve never met that b*sterd before so why¡¯d he punch me?¡± The guard looked at the quarrelling duo and replied, ¡°As to why he hit you it was probably because you made him loose the bet. Thanks for that by the way. Several of us collected handsomely from that, me included. The hrmp...cough...hrmp gentleman you see before you is the former god of war, Mars a.k.a. Ares the god of war. The lady cursing him out is his wife Pax a.k.a. Eirene the goddess of peace. Rather I should say he now bears the title Pax and she now holds the title Mars until the next bet. The reason he hit you is probably the fact you lost him the bet and he¡¯s transitioning to Pax¡¯s behavior at the moment but he¡¯s still got some of the aggression from being a war god.¡± David quickly interjects ¡°I know it¡¯s a little off topic, but Ares is married? I thought he had a thing for Aphrodite. Also, what were you all betting on and how the h*ll was I involved? Also, do you have a name? It¡¯s getting a little inconvenient not having something to call you.¡± The guard chuckled at the barrage of questions. ¡°I¡¯ll start with the easiest question: you may call me Anubus. To answer the questions you just thought of, you are in Duat, and the reason I¡¯m a guard is it¡¯s my turn to be a guard. Maybe sometime soon I¡¯ll be The Judge, but right now Hades and several others have that distinction. Your current Judge is Osiris. The betting is because even if you change your job over the course of countless eons, you get bored, and because we¡¯re forbidden to directly interfere with mortal worlds without distinct permission, we bet to keep ourselves amused. Finally, about Ares: when he was visiting your previous world, he and Pax were having a fight and separated for a while. He was lonely and Aphrodite is a goddess of beauty and a good distraction but he had really bad timing since she fell in love with Hephaestus. You know how rumors are; the whole thing got blown way out of proportion, doubtlessly because of a couple of jealous suitors. It was all very embarrassing and don¡¯t ever bring it up in front of him because whether he¡¯s holding the title of Pax he¡¯ll kick your ass.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The attentive guard suddenly closed his mouth with a wry smile as he looked over at the couple to see the woman marching aggressively over. As she walked up she smiled and said in a loud voice, ¡°THANKS FOR THE WIN DAVID. I¡¯M SORRY MY HUSBAND HIT YOU, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, AS ANUBIS HAS UNDOUBTEDLY BEEN DELIGHTED TO TELL YOU, YOU¡¯VE BEEN MARKED BY THE SIGN OF PEACE. THERE¡¯S NOTHING ANY OF US HERE CAN DO AND WHILE A REPORT HAS BEEN SENT UP THE LADDER, WE PROBABLY WON¡¯T HEAR ANYTHING BACK FOR A SEVERAL DOZEN YEARS. REGRETEABLY, THE RULES OF THIS PLACE REQUIRE THAT ONCE YOU STAND BEFORE A JUDGE, YOU MUST RECIEVE JUDGEMENT. HOWEVER, TO TRY AND HELP BALLANCE OUT SOME OF THE PROBLEMS YOU WILL INEVETABLY FACE, WOULD YOU ACCEPT MY BLESSING? WOULD YOU BE BLESSED BY WAR?¡± Ch.3: The blessing and a bet David wiggled his pinkie in his ear in an attempt to clear the ringing sounds from War¡¯s booming voice. He gazed at War with an unimpressed gaze. ¡°So, your husband curses me for an unimaginably long time and I get your blessing? What¡¯s that entail? War¡¯s blessing seems like something revolving around fighting and Anubis just said that I¡¯m cursed by peace, though I note he conveniently forgot to mention just what that means.¡± War laughed. ¡°MY BLESSING IN THIS CASE IS A BOON NOT A BURDEN. MY BLESSING WILL HELP YOU SURVIVE MY HUSBANDS MARK, AS TO WHAT THE BURDEN HE¡¯S MARKED YOU WILL AND THE BLESSING I WISH TO GIVE YOU, WE ARE BOUND BY A HIGHER LAW NOT TO SAY.¡± David immediately responded ¡°cut the carp, who has the authority to prevent a god from even saying what a blessing entails? What the hell¡¯s going on?¡± David looks at Anubis and demands ¡°Tell me, who can tell a god what they can¡¯t do? The myths and legends have a hierarchy but nothing about an authority that can actively prevent, and from the implications, punish a god.¡± Anubis¡¯ eyes flickered up, then he clears his throat, ¡°The multiverse is more complicated than you can imagine. Ask yourself this; why have so many different gods from what you call pantheons appeared in the same place? Also, why aren¡¯t we fighting each other to rule? These questions are the only way I¡¯m able to answer your question. I know it¡¯s unfair, but assume we¡¯re not making the rules.¡± David turns back to war gave her an assessing look. Seeing the distrust in his eyes War make a somewhat complicated hand gesture and says ¡°I GIVE AN UTMOST VOW TO THE HIGH HEAVEN AND THE GREAT RULER OF ALL THAT THE BLESSING I WISH TO BESTOW IS OF NO ILL INTENT AND AN ATTEMPT TO RECTIFY MY HUSBAND¡¯S ACTIONS. MAY I BE STRUCK DOWN BY THE HEAVENLY LAW IF I¡¯M LYING.¡± Somewhat confused, David turns to Anubis only to see a shocked expression. ¡°What¡¯s she doing? What does her oath mean?¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Anubis looks at David and in a grave voice says ¡°This is the highest oath a God can make, the consequences for violating this oath are more horrific than you can imagine. Only one God ever had the arrogance to break this oath, and anyone who saw what happened would never risk violating that oath. Ever.¡± Anubis shudders at the memory. ¡°She¡¯s serious about helping you David. With this oath you can be assured that she has no malicious intentions and that her blessing will help you survive your next life.¡± David mulls the information over for a little bit. He looks at War for a few moments, then shrugs. ¡°If you¡¯re trying to con me, then congratulations, you¡¯ve succeeded. I accept your blessing.¡± War starts to smile joyously. It quickly becomes blinding and David turns away to protect his eyes from the light coming from War¡¯s face. Anubis quickly turns a chuckle into a cough. ¡°War, turn down the Divinity. You¡¯re blinding the poor mortal.¡± The light started to dim and while David was still clearing his eyes, War commanded him, ¡°FREEZE.¡± Finding he was unable to move, David began to rethink his decision to allow War to bless him. Just as he was about to tell her to stop, David felt a hand hold his shoulder. War said in a quiet voice, ¡°This will hurt; a lot. Try not to scream, it¡¯ll only make it harder for me to make sure I hit your Zhongting point.¡± Then David felt something metallic around his sternum. The last think he was conscious of for a long time was pain. All he felt was mind breaking, soul rending pain. His world turned white for a long, long time.