The Long Road Up

Marlo came to a stop on the other side of the biggest pair of double doors he had ever seen. As his stomach settled, he looked over his shoulder, watching them glint, the gold looking freshly polished. Hermes met his gaze and grinned. This was also with his teeth, but while Marlo’s smile back inside had been out of fear, this one was… almost hungry. Marlo shuddered and looked around.

He was on a thin strip of land, connected to the building he had woken up in. Below him was loose gravel, which stung his feet, just like the stuff below the train tracks. Up ahead were a series of booths, and tall chained-link fences, lined with barbed wire. It looked like some kind of immigration control, except no one was coming in. People were leaving though. A vast line of men, women and children, walking single file out of the building they all must have appeared in, and towards the checkpoints.

“Ooh, line looks long today.” Hermes tutted. “That’s a shame, hate to see that. All these good folks, forced to walk so far, so slowly. Luckily, you’re with me, so you don’t have to worry about any of that.”

“Yay.” Marlo murmured. His eyes trailed the line of people, out past the checkpoint, out to where the ground started to thin into a triangle, which seemed to be floating on nothing, and then up, craning his neck to follow the snaking, now tiny line all the way up the widening triangle of land which was laid against the horizon, up and up, until he was staring directly up, at a giant landscape laid against the sky. He could see cities, throbbing blue and purple with neon lights, barren deserts with sandstorms, sparse grasslands, deep black volcanic lands cracked with tiny red lines of lava, pure white frozen wastelands and even portions of what looked like a great ocean.

“Takes everyone like that for the first time.” Hermes said “Welcome to Limbo kid. Don’t worry, you don’t fall off when you get up there. We’re actually the ones upside down right now.”

In the midst of his warring confusion and fear, Marlo noticed that his hair and clothes were indeed falling upwards, though their feet remained firmly planted. He made a note not to jump.

“We’re going… there.” Hermes pointed up, to a city right in the centre of the base of the triangle which lead up to the peninsula they stood on. The line of people, from this distance harder to see than marching ants, was leading into it. A number of roads, small thin dark rivers of stone leading to other, similar cities, emerged from the far side of it. “That’s Asgard, a lovely city. I’d of course love to take me to my hometown of Olympus, but that’s way over there.” Hermes wheeled his arm further, almost behind him “and we don’t have time. It’s imperative we take you to Asgard as soon as we can.”

“Okay…” Marlo tore his eyes away from the strange sight and looked around. The ground just ended some ten or so metres to his right, but he couldn’t see what was past it. The horizon just looked dark, and red. Lightning crackled up and down it. “And why is that?”

“Oh… it’s a surprise.” Hermes noticed what he was looking at. “Oh… you want to go see what’s over there? I mean… I guess it helps.”

He stepped back, and Marlo realised this was the first time he’d let go of him since taking him outside. He rubbed the arm that had been gripped and walked over. When he got within three metres of it, he saw. The ground really did just stop. The floor simply fell away, into more of the same dark red, storm cloud filled mass, which stretched away as far as the eye could see. Carefully Marlo inched closer and looked down. More of the same. He looked left and saw the ground they were on looked impossibly thin, no thicker than a sheet of paper. Despite that, it held the weight of him, Hermes, these checkpoints, all these people, and this massive building behind him, seemingly with no strain.

If he ever thought about the afterlife, he hadn’t expected it to be normal. But this was too much. He knelt down and put his hands on the gravel. It hurt, so he wasn’t dreaming. He really was stuck here. He sighed and chucked a piece over the edge. It sailed down, out of sight, and below there was a crackle of electricity.

“Not pleasant, is it?” Hermes asked from his side. Marlo jumped, and Hermes caught him “Woah, careful. Don’t want you going over the edge. There’s things down there much worse than us.”

“Like what?”

“Well, somewhere down there is Hell.”

“Hell? Actual Hell?”

“Actual yeah. And over there,” he motioned with his head to the other edge “is Heaven. Just… don’t tell anyone. We don’t want a mass suicide.”

“What?” Marlo’s eyes widened. Hermes sighed. It wasn’t very convincing.

“This is my least favourite part to explain. The sad truth is… neither of them wanted you, so you got sent here. You can’t change that. And trying to… you just die again. Except this time, I won’t be there to welcome you. There will be nowhere to welcome you to. Just… poof. Total obliteration.”

“Oh God.” Marlo paled further.

“Yeah. A hard concept to swallow, I know. Can’t be easy to be one of you humans.”

“Yeah.” They stood there for a second, in silence. Then Marlo said, “Can you… let go of me?”

“Certainly.” Hermes leant in and whispered “if you let go of that handful of gravel you’re planning to let go of while I’m carrying your sorry ass, hoping it’ll shred me and let you go. Don’t look so surprised. I’m a god you dumb little shit, you’re not outsmarting me. Now. Let. Go.” His grip tightened, and Marlo grit his teeth. There was a patter of stones falling, and Hermes nodded. “Good. Now, since I’ve stopped any notions of throwing yourself to safety, and shown you that you do have consequences here, you’re going to do what I tell you, when I tell you, or I’ll drag you face first along this gravel before I deliver you to Asgard. It won’t kill you. I’ve done it to enough people to be an expert. But you’ll never enjoy looking in a mirror again.”

“So he needs me alive.” Marlo thought. He nodded.

“Good. Now, I’m going to call an extra pair of eyes to watch you. I’m going to let go of you now but know I can catch you if you try and jump off. Walk to that first checkpoint. Quickly. I’ve waited for you long enough.”

Marlo had a lump in his throat. What the hell was he doing here? “What do you want from me?” He asked, voice shaky. Hermes snorted.

“Already said. It’s a surprise. Now, walk.”

Marlo did, thinking as he did so. One hundred. That had to be one hundred percent. He remembered his entire life. He decided to think of a random day. March twenty-fifth, 2005. To his shock, he had a crystal-clear image of playing on the floor, knocking over a tower of wooden, colourful blocks. He could count the scratches in the wood, smell the room, and hear the tumble. He’d never be able to remember that when he had been alive. But what made other people want this? Well, not people. Who in goddamn Asgard wanted anything to do with him?

He came to a stop at a fence. He looked up and saw through it a woman in a booth, a line of people walking past her as she ticked a clipboard. She was middle-aged, short and squat, with a shock of red hair, and a blue and purple uniform, stamped with DVIN. She looked at him, and he saw a criss-cross capillary network of metal running along her face from her right eye, which had been replaced with what looked like a camera lens. She stared at him in confusion. But then her gaze slid to Hermes, behind him, and she hurriedly went back to her clipboard. She didn’t want to help him. She didn’t want to go up against Hermes. Marlo couldn’t blame her. He didn’t much either. But he didn’t have a choice.

“Benkei!” Hermes yelled. Marlo winced from the shout into his ear, then widened his eyes as a huge, heavy shape behind the hut of the woman rose, and something came out. A giant of a man rose, almost the size of the building he had been behind. That wasn’t hyperbole. He was at least four metres tall and clad in a colossal black Buddhist monk robe. He parted the line easily, and walked out, standing over the pair.

He was scruffy looking, unshaven, and with long black hair that fell in dirty strands around his face as he bent down to stare at them. His skin was as wrinkled and cracked as old leather, and not far off colour-wise either. His eyes were a peculiar shade of brown, almost red. On his joints, large metallic masses protruded, glowing a deep crimson in places, with hinges to allow movement. On every centimetre of him other than them, and his face were swords. Dozens upon dozens of Japanese katanas, European broadswords, south American wooden paddles with obsidian pieces, rapiers, sabres, flamberge, great swords, bastard swords, long swords, and more.

“Yes?” he rumbled. He voice was deep and more gravelly than what his bare feet, each the size of Marlo’s torso, crunched on top of.

“We need you.” Hermes snapped. “Come with us.”

“But… you told me to guard my post. If this is a trick-”

“It’s not a trick you neanderthal! We need to talk. Privately.” Hermes glared at the line. Not a single one had reacted to this giant of a man, Benkei. Upon closer inspection, they looked… wrong. Unfinished, like a child had drawn people without all the right colours and forgotten some of their features. They seemed blurry, not in Hermes’ way, but as if they weren’t sure how to exist. Some lacked ears, others, noses. Some were too pale. Some appeared to be weeping, some muttering gibberish to themselves, but most were just silently trudging. Marlo felt a deep, tragic sense of loss emanating from them. It was eerie. He wanted to get away, right now. Luckily Hermes and this Benkei were already walking, so he followed. They walked back to the edge and Hermes whispered

“This kid got a hundred on his Compos Mentis.” Hermes whispered. Benkei nodded approvingly.

“Good for him.”

“Good for us! Good for all of us. Especially you, if you help.”

“Help… how?” Benkei didn’t seem stupid, just very careful, never saying more than he had to. He was unnerving, but part of Marlo was relieved to see another person who acted like a real human, even if he was twice his size. Still, he seemed to be on Hermes’ side. Hermes was bad enough, but now this guy?

“I need someone to stop him from acting up. I can’t discipline him without breaking him.”

“So you picked… me.” Benkei looked at his fists, each bigger than Marlo’s head.

“Yes. I just need someone to keep him still. You’re good at that, right.”

“This is dishonourable. He has done nothing to me.” Marlo’s heart rose.

Hermes sighed. “Fine. Sit in the dirt all day. I was going to talk about the new information we found of Yoshitsune’s position, but if you want to just-”

A massive hand, each finger lined with blades, gripped his shirt. “Where?” The single syllable was like a gong signalling war.

“I’ll tell you.” Hermes tried to peel the thumb off him, but it stayed tightly affixed. His brow furrowed, and he tried with both hands. It bent a little but stayed put. “Why’d we give you those damn growth augmentations…” Benkei let him go and he staggered back, brushing himself off. “I’ll tell you if you take him to Asgard with me”

Benkei rumbled in thought. Then he turned to Marlo. “Sorry.” He said. Marlo sighed. Of course.

Hermes grinned. “See, I knew you were reasonable. You samurai always are.”

“Wait… Benkei?” Marlo looked up at him “That Benkei? The hundred man one?”

“I prefer ninety-nine sword.” Benkei said, motioning to all his accoutrements.

“I thought you were just a legend! You took a hundred arrows and died standing, right?”

“So they say.”

“But that’s insane! No one can just do that!”

“Any man can get hit by an arrow. I am more impressed with tales of your modern peoples. You have no need for arrows.”

“I mean, I knew you were big but… wow.”

“These help.” Benkei pointed to the large black boxes on his elbows and knees.

“I didn’t… it didn’t occur to me I’d see dead people I actually knew. Well, had heard of.”

“See?” Hermes grinned nastily “Things aren’t so bad. I’ve seen ‘em all kid. From Egyptians to Estonians, Romans to Romanians, Greeks to Germans. I can tell you tales of anyone you want if you just co-operate.”

Marlo looked from one monster to another and remembered his situation. His brief interest fled, replaced with fear once again.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“You have precisely four.” Benkei motioned with a finger like a tree trunk to his shoulders and hips.

“Yeah, I’m coming-” As Marlo consigned himself to whatever fate was coming, returning to his ancient art of simply going with the flow and finding a solution later, a solution got bored of waiting and came. That solution was an explosion. A massive one. It happened about three layers of chained link fences away and threw him back. Hermes and Benkei were sent stumbling, and as Marlo rolled to a stop, ears ringing, he groaned. He could feel blood all over him, courtesy of the gravel he had just gone rolling in. His brain felt like it was trying to find a more comfortable spot in his head, and it was costing him dearly. His eyes hurt, but he forced them open.

He was staring straight up, and as his sight spun and shifted, he saw something descending. Four somethings. He squinted and willed his brain to stop trying to climb out of his ear. The four somethings became two, which became one. He made out a long, serpentine body, short limbs tipped with lethal claws, a giant, frilled head filled with sharp teeth and a pure black body. He watched with the bemusement of those suffering shock as a dragon made of what looked like shadow descended and wrapped itself around the guardpost of the woman who had ignored him. He just registered her screaming and trying to force open the door held shut by one of its coils before the dragon crushed it. Marlo blinked and realised he’d been screaming the whole time. Funny thing. He still was.

He scrambled to his feet, head swimming. Hermes was yelling something into that shrunken head of his, and Benkei was making his way towards him. The line to his left had all but disappeared as people surged… towards the destruction, trying to push through. Inside the fences, the people, or things that had been there were all dead, lying in pieces, in a blood lake almost a foot deep. At least, Marlo hoped they were dead. He managed to not throw up this time. His body was learning it didn’t help.

Benkei reached him. “Hermes demanded I defend you before granting aid. My apologies.” He clapped his hands, and as Marlo realised too late this was his chance and started to run back, yelled “One hundred swords: Cage!”

Swords flowed off his body, flying with an electronic whir towards Marlo. They shot over him, stabbing into the gravel, and then into the hilts of the ones below them. He turned, but three more walls were already being made. Above him, a fifth side, a roof was made, and even below him, swords were sliding below the gravel. In just a few seconds, he was perfectly caged. The swords were turned away, keeping him safe while perfectly deterring anyone outside who might want to help him. Not that there was anyone.

“Benkei!” Marlo yelled, “At least let me run!”

“You are not my priority. Honour died with my body. Apologies, but legends do not live up to themselves.” Benkei turned and clapped his hands “Three hundred swords: Naginata!”

Swords flowed up his right sleeve, and slotted together, making an enormous glaive. He strode forwards, and behind him marched figures, looking human, but with metallic heads, complete with huge red visors. They held strange rifles that Marlo had never seen and were moving into the mass of smoke, flame, metal and blood up ahead. Security maybe. But who were they repelling? Was someone attacking the checkpoint? Could they have heard he had a one hundred, whatever that meant, and was trying to save him? He heard a few more explosions, thankfully smaller, and further away, and saw strange thrashing in the smoke. Had he really seen a dragon, or had he been hallucinating from just being blown up?

Impossible to say. But he couldn’t stay here. Even though his whole body hurt, he fell to his knees, and frantically looked through the gravel, looking for the biggest stone he could find. The rock he settled on was little more than a pebble, a flint axe no caveman would be proud of, but nonetheless, he picked a blade and started to smack it over and over, trying to break it. He tried to aim for the weaker-looking katanas, but they seemed to just flex with the blows and not even chip.

“Come on!” He grunted “I can’t stay here. This is my chance!”

He had no idea what he would do if he escaped. He could hardly get through that war zone. Could he hide somewhere in the building? Hermes would look for him, and knew the place way better than him, but that was his best option. Eventually, he’d leave and then… he’d figure it out.

“I always do.” He grunted. He had no idea what they wanted him for, but it couldn’t be good. He had to get away somehow and then… if this DVIN company had stakes in the outside world, like that train that had hit him, then there had to be a way out. He’d find it and get back. No matter what.

“Come on!” He grunted

“That’s the wrong way to do it.” A voice noted. He froze and turned. To his right, squatting down to see what he was doing, was an absolute giant of a woman. She wasn’t quite Benkei size but squatting down she was almost as tall as the cage he stood in, and almost as wide too, with shoulders like a fine rockery. Her mass of bright blond hair fell around her face, and her skin was very dark, dappled with freckles around her face. She wore simple cotton clothes, a shirt, trousers and a jacket, and running up one side of her neck were streaks of metal that seemed to be embedded in the skin. Her right eye was blood red, while her left was a deep, chocolatey brown. “Those swords are too good to be broken with a pebble like that.”

“What?” Marlo was just stunned she was there.

“You would want something with a handle to break them, and you would want to lie them sideways, on a workbench or anvil. You are doing it all wrong.”

“Well, I don’t have a workbench, anvil, or handle in here.” Marlo gestured around the small cage.

“Oh, so you don’t.” The woman peered in. “Huh. Sucks to be you.”

She stood up and Marlo shook his head frantically “I mean… tell me more. How would you break them?”

“I would never. Look at these babies.” She ran her finger along the flat of a tanto lovingly “The craftsmanship in them. Beautiful. Not that I would need to break them. Since I could just…” She pulled her finger away, then flicked with it. The Tanto floated out from its slot in the cage and flew around her. Marlo stared.

“Magnetism?” He breathed, stunned.

“Yes!” The woman looked thrilled. “Thank you! Everyone always assumes tele- telly – telek-”

“Telekinesis?” Marlo asked, desperate to keep the conversation with what was clearly his only method of escape going.

“That is the one. Who needs it? I ate that Adamantine Angel for a reason, and this was it. I mean, at the time I did not know but… Ooh look at this hilt. A groove where the next weapon slots in. And circuitry inside. Is it possible they have a basic level of AI and are all tied to another sword, so they can flow together into shapes? Fascinating, I would love to meet the craftsman of this. What is your name?”

“Are you talking to me?” Marlo asked, struggling to keep up.

“Of course, there is no one else here, is there?” The woman spoke strangely, using a formal accent and way of speech but with more slang than Marlo would expect.

“I’m Marlo. Marlo White.” He waited.

“That is nice.” The woman kept peering inside the hilt of the tanto.

“I… think I’m the one you’re here for?”

The woman furrowed her brow. “But… you are not a checkpoint we are supposed to run an attack on to stop smooth exchange and services. Are you?”

“No!”

“You sure?” the woman balled her fists. Not only was she massive, but she was also one of the most muscular people Marlo had ever seen. He had no doubt one punch from her would kill him.

“No! Listen I am… Actually the owner of all of these swords.”

“You are?” The woman’s eyes lit up.

“I am. And you can have all hundred of them if you just let me out and take me out of here.”

“You do not know where I am going.”

“Where could be worse than here?” Marlo gestured around. The woman chewed it over for an agonising few seconds and then nodded.

“Alright. Do not move.”

She stepped back, extended her arms towards the cage, and made a clawing motion. The swords all around Marlo moved, flying apart and towards her, lifting off from above his head, and shifting out of the gravel below his feet. He grinned, and stepped out, dropping the useless piece of gravel. The sword’s flowed to the woman, and clustered around her arm, creating an enormous limb made of blades. When she flexed the fingers, points raised inside them, creating a hand big enough to crush a car that would impale anything in its grip. Marlo could have lucked into worse allies.

“Hey, what’s your name?” He asked. The woman turned from admiring her new arm.

“Fellsmith. Nessa Fellsmith.”

“Well, a pleasure to meet you. How do we get out of here?”

“I have got it covered.” Nessa clicked her fingers. The chain links of a fallen fence nearby separated from the posts they were anchored to, and knotted over and over, creating a platform she hopped onto. She held out an arm to him, and despite his situation, he coloured.

“Can’t you make one a little bigger?”

“What is the problem? By minimising the surface area of this, I can focus more on my arm.”

“Yes but…” Marlo sighed and stepped on, making sure to turn around so he wasn’t face first in Nessa’s chest.

“Looks like the others are finishing up.” Nessa said. Marlo, who couldn’t see anything in the mass, took her word for it. The circular disk below his feet lifted off, and he wheeled his arms to keep his balance, almost cutting his hand off on the sword arm to his right. An arm as thick as him wrapped around him.

“Don’t worry.” Nessa said, “I won’t let a friend of mine fall.”

“A friend?” Marlo said, surprised.

“Yes. You gave me one hundred swords. You currently hold the sword record of all my friends, making you my best friend.”

“Sure, why not? Let’s just-”

A bellow cut through the clamour ahead of them. “Nine hundred and ninety-nine swords, Hizuchi!”

“Ah shit.” Marlo said, before all the swords on his right began to move. Above him, Nessa’s face frowned, and the metal platform beneath them rocked. Marlo heard a deep, rhythmic throbbing come from her hand, and the swords, which had started to flow away, stopped. The platform stabilised and then began to rise. Marlo breathed a sigh of relief.

“Quickly, before-”

The smoke parted. Benkei was there, striding towards them, with a face like thunder. In his hands was a mostly formed hammer, made of hundreds of blades

“Marlo!” He bellowed.

“He knows my name.” Marlo muttered “Why does he know my name? Who told this goliath my name?”

“A friend of yours?” Nessa asked.

“No he’s-”

“Return my blades!” The thunderous voice roared.

Marlo did the only thing he could in the situation. He pointed right at Benkei and yelled “The man who keeps interrupting me and trying to steal my swords!”

“Your swords?” Drool fell onto Marlo, as Nessa’s eyes got as wide as the platform they stood on “So if I beat him, I get all of those?”

“I mean, I’m not too attached to those ones, so I’d just go-”

Nessa leapt, clean over him, from a standing start, and brought that enormous arm down, fist first, into the rising hammer of Benkei. Both weapons exploded, and the two giants stared at each other, one furious, the other ready to kill for a thousand pieces of oversized cutlery, as behind her, Marlo scrambled to stay on top of the platform, which was deforming due to her excitement, running in place like a circus performer.

“Or we could fight the mythical warrior.” He concluded. “How could this possibly go wrong?”