A Warlock's Ascent

Sonia was not a teacher, Hell, she was not even a good student, during high school, she used barely pass exams despite going to class regularly. She use to feel asleep in class and never did listen to her teachers. So how could she even begin to imagine that someone would listen to her?

She has a gut feeling that she would be a bad leader. And yet here she was, about to go in front of a bunch of people and give orientation about the new world that they have come to.

She doesn't even know this world well herself. This whole ordeal was becoming a big hassle for her that she wanted to avoid no matter what. But alas, it seems that there was nothing that she could do now…

Someone patted her shoulder, it startled her and brought her out of her stupor. "What are you doing here? Everyone is waiting for you. And boy, they have got a rowdy bunch out there. So be careful." Igor said.

"Are they that bad?"

"Yeah… Some people out there are shouting that they have rights. Some crazy young man is shouting that the American Army would stand aside when their citizens are in trouble. Many people there share the same views. There was this woman who was barking as though the President of France will dispatch nuclear bombs to assist her big fat ass." Igor while chuckling.

"Igor, I don't think I can do this."

"You cannot back out now, Yureka had given you a job. And if you don't do it then she will be after your ass."

"But I don't think I cannot do this. I am not a leader Igor."

"You always order me around. You can do the same to them."

"That is different."

"Well, there is nothing else that could be done right now. So let's just get this over with this and start orientation. We will think about leadership skills later." He then started gently pushing her towards the hall that held around 25 Earthians that had recently come to Midgard…

As Sonia entered the hall, she started hearing murmurs around the hall. To make them loyal to Vecrus, Yureka instructed the guards to not get very physical with the Earthians. She wanted to win them over by showing them generosity.

When Sonia walked in, some of them turned towards her while most of them ignored her. She went on the platform that had been erected for her orientation. The people that had seen her quietly started paying attention to her while the people in the back were busy amongst themselves.

It was then Igor stepped in and yelled "SILENCE!"

Hearing him everyone stopped talking and finally saw Sonia who was standing on the platform. At the moment when everyone's eyes fell on her, she started feeling strange.

She started remembering her high school days. During that time she was an active member of the Drama club. She liked acting and had always dreamt about becoming an actress when she grew up.

She didn't have any connections or money to pursue acting. It is very late in her life, she understood that the world out there is not just roses and lilies. It is a very cruel world. If she continues her current path, then she would be doomed, she has to make some smart decisions, one of them being abandoning the idea of becoming an actress.

While standing in front of all these people she started observing them one by one. Some of them were fat. While some were so weak that they couldn't even pick up a club. Observing all of them at once, she realized that she was much better than them when she came here.

It was then she remembered the words of Yureka. She was a powerful woman and one of the strongest Earthians in Midgard. So she should have a little bit of faith in herself…

"Hello everyone. My name is Sonia and I have been made in charge of you people the City Lord of the city of Vecrus, Yureka Le Torneau. Now, I will be helping you guys to settle in this city and help you start a life here." She said.

"BULLSHIT!" someone from the crowd yelled. And hearing that person yells, everyone started getting rowdy.

"How the fuck do you expect us to live here. I love my country and I will rather stay there than in this dump!" a woman from the crowd yelled.

"SILENCE!" Igor shouted again, which silenced the crowd.

"Guys, I know how you guys feel. I also have a life back on Earth, I also had a family. But the reality is that you are stuck in this world for now. And there is no way out. Believe me, me and Igor are from Russia and we had been living here for the past 6-7 months." She said while pointing at Igor who was standing down on the stage.

"Is there any way that we could go back?" a woman from the front asked.

"Not that we know of. We have been here for the past 6-7 months. And as far as we know, there is no way back. We all got the same system and messages. According to them, the only way to go back is to play this bloody game of Race to the Top. Other than that there is no way."

One of the men, couldn't take it, he started yelling. "I don't believe that! There has to be a way out! My wife is pregnant for fucks sake. And her due date was supposed to be in about 2 weeks. I had to be home by then." Hearing him everyone started yelling and screaming again.

Hearing them, Igor shouted again. But this time surprisingly no one listened to him. Soon people started getting rowdier and rowdier, even one of the women threw her sandal toward Sonia.

It was not her fault that they were here. And yet these people started getting on her nerves. She was in the same boat as them but wasn't ready to see that. Her blood started boiling with rage. And as soon as another sandal came towards her, she grabbed it instantly and roared in anger.

"ENOUGH!" she yelled with her mana leaking out. The atmosphere of the hall then calmed down again. And then Sonia started speaking again but this time she left her calm and reasonable persona behind.

"Listen here to stupid monkey brain fuckers, I am in charge of you people, not the other way around. So shut up and listen… This world is very dangerous. And I am not talking stupid disease-spreading mosquitos at every corner of the alley dangerous. I am talking dangerous as in beasts of a size of an elephant dangerous." She had got everyone's attention. So she continued..

"I have seen a turtle that is big as a double-decker truck. And that turtle can shoot 12 inches long spikes out his back. Even the small baby of that turtle is so dangerous that even with your combine, you still wouldn't be able to kill it. And if anyone got on my nerves again, I will personally see to it that the offender will be thrown in front of that creature with their arms and legs tied up. So behave while I still have patience." Sonia barked.

It was then that an Asian man came forward. "Madam, I just wanna go home. I have a family back in the Philippines. I have a newborn daughter. I just wanna go… home…" He started crying. Seeing that man cry, Sonia started remembering the time when she came here. She was all alone and powerless just like them.

"Listen, guys… We are stuck here for now. And there is nothing else that we could do about it. At least we could try to learn the ways of this new world and try to adapt. This world is very different from Earth. If you are powerful enough, then you would be able to live a happy and long life. But if you are not strong enough you will die at the corner of some alley and no one will bat an eye at your corpse."

Her words were magic, everyone was paying attention to her now. "I can understand that you guys are scared. And it is okay. I was also scared when I came here. At that time I had no one that shows me the ropes. But you guys have me. And believe it or not, I am here to help you guys. And we will get through all of this. Together." Sonia said with confidence.

And it was then Sonia noticed that blue color boxes started appearing in front of her….

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of The Destroyer of Worlds.

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of The All-Knowing Father.

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of Fat Fighting King.

...........................

The Mistress of an Owl is interested in you.

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of The Wine Maker.

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of Jackal Face.

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of Falcon head.

...........................

You have attracted the gaze of Monster Huntress.

...........................

Looking at the notification, Sonia looked confused. She had never seen notifications like these before.

'Who… What the fuck is this? Falcon head, destroyer of the world? Who are these people? And what does all of this mean?' Sonia inwardly thought.

****

It was a very big room hall, there were monitors on every wall of the room. And they all were showing a bunch of green color codes and symbols, these symbols didn't make sense nor did they have an order to them.

The speed at which the code was flowing on the screens made it very hard to even read it properly. Yet the people who worked in this room didn't have any problem understanding what was happening on the screens.

Currently, there were 4 old men in the room. Three of them were sitting around a round table and playing cards. While the fourth old man was sitting on a chair on the other side of the room and was sleeping without a worry about the world.

The three old men playing cards were identical to each other, they were triplets. All of them had long grey-white beards and all of them were in their boxers and simple white vests.

"AHA! I WIN!" yelled the old man in weird-sounding language.

"You cheated." The second brother yelled.

"Yeah you are a cheater!" the third brother joined in. Hearing their yells, the old man sitting on the chair abruptly woke and started glaring at the three brothers.

"You fucking wankers! Keep it down. I am trying to sleep over here!" the old man in the chair yelled.

The old man seated on the chair had big long goat-like horns coming out of his forehead. Like the other three, he was also in boxers and a vest and had a long white beard.

"Shut it! All of you! I am the winner and that is final!" yelled the brother who won the game.

"No, you cheated!." Yelled the other two brothers.

"Oh for fucks sake! SHUT UP!" yelled the old man with horns. But the triplets ignored the old man with horns altogether. And then they just started bickering with each other like children.

Seeing that everyone was ignoring him, the horned old man's blood started boiling with rage. He then got up and conjured a miniature sun in his hand, From the presence of the miniature sun, the atmosphere got heavy.

Sensing the magic of the old man, the triplets all got up in unison and started cracking their knuckles. All of them were bickering just a few moments ago and now they all became each other closest allies.

"BRING IT ON YOU OLD GEEZER!" all three of them said in unison.

One of the brothers then conjured a gauntlet made of brown beads in his hands. The other brother conjured a book in front of him. The book was pure white and looked as old as the universe itself. While the third brother conjured energy in his hands which looked like a pink color lotus.

Everyone present in the room was ready to pounce at each other. And none of them were looking like they will back down. And when it looked like the fight was about to break out at any second, the door of the room was opened and two beings walked in.

The beings that walked in were both wearing two-piece suits and looked professional. But these beings were not entirely human. One of them had the face of the Ibis bird with a normal human body. While the other being looked normal like a human, but he was wearing a headpiece that had a big milky white crystal ball attached to it.

The being with the bird was discussing something with the other one. "And this my dear brother is where the magic…. What the fuck are you guys doing?"

"They started it!" the old man with horns yelled while pointing at the triplets.

"We didn't. We were just playing when the old man conjured a sun. This old man is nuts we tell you." The triplets spoke in unison.

"Can you guys please just behave like adults for a minute? Brahma, you are an elder god for fucks sake. What are you doing picking a fight with someone so younger than you?" The bird man spoke.

"Well, he started it." The triplets said slowly.

"And Mimir, they had been annoying since they came around. Try to ignore them please." The bird man spoke.

"But they are so fucking annoying," Mimir yelled.

"Oh please, they have gotten better. They were far much worse when their fourth brother was alive." The bird man spoke.

"Hmph!" Mimir and the triplets grunted and then turned around and went back to their original seats.

"Wow!!" the man with the crystal ball said sarcastically when he saw how they behave.

"I know. Try working with them." The bird man said.

"So this is where from where it is controlled?" the man with the crystal ball asked.

"Yup. This is the control center of The Race to the Top. What you see here is the brainchild of me, Mimir, and Brahma triplets." The bird man said.

"That is very amazing Thoth. So you can control everything from here? Like everything?" the crystal ball man asked.

"Yup," Thoth said proudly.

"So I was thinking… What is going to happen next? I know that you have something big planned. Come tell me, brother." The man with the crystal ball exclaimed.

"Can't help you Khonshu. You know the rules. I cannot give away any information about the game to any of the Gods."

"Oh come on, I am your brother."

"Yeah… no means no."

"You are no fun," Khonshu yelled.

It was then that one of the monitors in the room started displaying red color codes. Seeing this Brahma triplet, Mimir and Thoth's eyes started sparkling.

"Finally, it is time for cataclysm," Mimir said while getting up.

"What is cataclysm?" Khonshu asked.

"We gave you a screen. Go and find out yourselves." Brahma triplet said in unison while getting up.

"Alright boys, it is action time. Start the phase-5 of cataclysm" Thoth said.

"Wait, are we not gonna use Phase-1 to Phase-4? You want us to directly jump at Phase-5?" Mimir asked.

"Yeah about that… I was thinking fuck the rest of the phases. I want to show our audience some actions and show some entertainment. So let's give them something that they will never forget." Thoth said. Hearing this everyone started smiling while Khonshu started running back to his domain to see what would happen now.