Test Chapters

The Prodigal Son

A scream cut through the air.

"AAAAAAAH!" came the loud cry from inside the cave. Flames ravaged the surrounding environment, burning everything except the people nearby into crisps. Reality itself seemed to warp for a second, distorting harshly before resetting like nothing ever happened. Oddly, these distortions corresponded to the screams.

A dark skinned man paced impatiently outside the cave. He was bare chested, showing off impressive musculature. It was further enhanced by the blue paint along the lines and ridges of his body. He wore orange pants underneath, and various necklaces and bracelets made from beads all over his body. The upper half of his face was covered with an orange mask with bug-like eyes, along with a feathered headdress.

Next to him, keeping her companion calm, was a woman, dark skinned and muscular, who wore a panther's head as a cowl.

"Calm, Anansi," she soothed her friend.

"How can I be calm, Bast?" Anansi snapped, turning around in full fury. "My wife is having our child, and that infernal woman helping her has demanded, demanded, that I stand outside! What if something happens to her? What if she passes? What if my child dies? What if-"

"You cannot think such things, my friend," Bast chided gently. "Fan knows what she is doing. If she asks something of you, perhaps you should believe it is with the best intentions."

Before Anansi could retort, a final, piercing cry cut through the night sky, which quickly dimmed. It was replaced by the sharp wail of an infant.

Anansi rushed into the cave, and came upon a beautiful sight. His wife, Firehair, the host of the mighty Phoenix Force, was laying on a stone bed, drenched in sweat. Her famed red hair was strewn about in all directions, and her clothes were torn and rumpled, but Anansi didn't think he'd ever seen her look so beautiful.

Next to her stood Fan Fei, the Iron Fist. In her hands was a screaming, red faced mass of flesh. Anansi was completely spellbound, and walked dazedly towards his teammate, who gently deposited the child in his arms. The red-haired woman smiled at the love and devotion emitting from every pore of Anansi's body.

"What shall we name him, my love?" she asked softly.

Anansi was silent for a long while, before speaking up with a choked voice.

"Petros," he declared. "May the world know, that Petros, son of Kwaku Anansi and Firehair, host of Phal'kon, has arrived on the planet. And he will shake the multiverse with his power."

(:_H_F_W_:)

Petros used his hand as a spring to summersault over the ground and land on his feet. He grinned in anticipation, before grabbing his spear hard and lunging at his opponent.

Anansi merely laughed and swatted the spear away, before launching blisteringly fast stabs with his spear towards his son, who put up his shield and blocked them. He spun around, kicking one of his legs out, trying to put his father on his back. Anansi, ever nimble, jumped over the spinning foot elegantly, before thrusting his spear right in between Petros's arm and shield. The shield cluttered to the ground. Petros desperately tried to attack his father with his spear, but soon enough, it found its way to the ground as well, and Anansi's spear rested at his throat.

Petros groaned at the sixty seventh subsequent defeat.

"Worry not, my son," Anansi guided. "You're improving faster than anyone I've ever met. Truly, I have never seen one so gifted in combat as you."