Slaine

chapter 1: The boy who became warped

Ukko, Slaine’s dwarf sits at a writer’s table, on the table he is writing on a piece of scroll, on the piece of scroll he
writes:

“In the eternal fortress of the ever living ones, beyond the mist of time, I write.

Of the first high king of Ireland, Slaine MacRoth.

A harvester of heads…
Wielder of the axe brainbiter…
A warrior you would not be in a hurry to attack…

And it is I, who must tell it, for it is I who can. I, Ukko the dwarf, wearer of the jadh morain – the torc of truth – and Slaine’s friend and companion through all his many adventures.

It is only right you know the story from the beginning, Slaine was married to the earth from the very day he was born, his mother Igraine macroth and his father Uther macroth, he was
blessed by the goddess on the moment of his birth, she rose from down bellow to prophesize about slaines future as the warped warrior.

Slaine’s mother and father never told him of what happened that day, the day he found out was fifteen years later, on his fifteenth birthday he was given the test of the warrior by his clan.”

Slaine is sneaking through the brush, he is holding a self-made spear, its handle carved with Celtic designs and the head the red dragon of Briton carved on it. Slaine is even now at the
young age of fifteen he has the build of a strong man, his muscles are well defined. His black hair is cut short and his eyes are fixed on the beast, which he hunts. His sword is slung at his side, he cuts through the long grass silently, and the beast does not know what will hit him.

Slaine slows as he nears the great beast that has been killing his clan’s women and children. Slaine pulls back when the beast is about to attack its prey, The beast is seven feet tall, with
scaly wet skin, its eyes glow red and the horns which curl from the crown of his head are made from a solid metal substance, its jaws are powerful enough to crush a grown mans skull, its lizard like appearance is enough to frighten some to death, but not slaine. The lizard beasts  tongue flicks in and out of is mouth and it slowly skulks towards its prey, as it nears the unsuspecting animal, his keen senses pick up the scent of a human, but it is scent like no other, he senses the awesome need to kill on it, and that he may be its prey.

The lizard plans to draw the human in, by making it think he is unaware. He is a few feet from the deer he hunts, his claws extend. The lizard jumps with an enormous leap and before the
deer knew what hit him the lizard had its claws though its side. The lizard picks the dying deer up and finishes its with a powerful head-butt, crushing the deer’s skull with its metallic horns, with enormous strength the lizard rips the deer in two and feasts upon the deer’s innards. Slaine watching from a distance chooses this time as his point of attack, he leaps from the brush and throws the spear into the lizards side.

The lizard roars with pain as the spear gets lodged into its side muscles. It rips the spear from his side and blue blood drips from its wound. The beast leaves its kill and turns towards Slaine. Slaine shouts to the beast.

“Soth! What kind of beast are you?”

The lizard reply’s in a tone of snakes.

“the kind of beast that will kill you boy”

“by crom, it is you who will die lizard”

Slaine jumps at the beast pulling his sword, the beast is hit in the horns by the sword and laughs.

“your puny weapon is no match for my horns”

The lizard slashes slaines chest releasing the blood which flows through his body, slaine manages to dodge the lizards next strike, but receives and strong head-butt, which sends him crashing to the ground. Slaine picks up a heavy rock the size of the lizard’s head. With his back to the lizard he waits until the last minute. When the beast is a foot from him and about to strip the skin from Slaine’s back, he turns and slams the huge rock into the lizards face.

The lizard screams with agony and its blue blood rolls from its mouth down its cheek. The lizard wipes its cheek and growls at slaine.

“you will pay for spilling the blood of sloughs chosen, boy”

The lizard runs at slaine with its horns down and slaine is crushed against a tree, Slaines vision blurs as he slips out of consciousness, his mind wanders to a place out of time, out of reality, he sees things that are completely insane to the normal mind of reason. He feels as if he floats over the ground, he stops and sees the goddess he was brought up to worship as a child.

“G…Goddess?” he splutters

“Yes, slaine it is I” She replied

“Where am I?” Slaine asked.

“we are in the internal recesses of your mind” she replies

“so you are not the real goddess, just my imagination?”

“Slaine I am the true goddess, I have reached into your mind to awaken you birth given right”

Slaine looks at the goddess in puzzlement “what do you mean?”

“Slaine I blessed you as a child and prophesized you as the warped warrior, that was fifteen ears ago and now as you become a man I have come to awaken the power you possess”

flashes of all the painful moments of anger, sending extreme emotions to his subconscious mind, he starts feeling great anger and a force inside him he has never felt before, a strength in him he has never known, his muscles begin to intensify and strengthen, his body starts growing

before Slaine returns to consciousness he asks the goddess one more thing.

“what is happing to me?”

As he opens his eyes the Lizard is just about to finish him off his eyes open, a single phrase bounces in his anger ridden mind, it the voice of the goddess, and it is telling him some thing it
is telling slaine to warp, and warp he does. The power of the planet flows through him, he becomes the prophesized, Slaine becomes the warped warrior, his body grows to a huge 7 feet 9, and his muscular structure expands to sizes beyond comprehension. The lizard brings its razor sharp 6 inch claws down, slaine grabs the lizards arms and slowly gets up.

“I am Slaine macroth the warped warrior and now you will die”

“your body! What has happened to it?”

Slaine goes bezerker and picks his sword up he brings it down upon the horns of the lizard. The sword and horns shatter under the sheer power of the strength of the blow. The lizard yells in
pain, clutching his head. It rolls on the floor in agony. Slaine walks towards it and grabs it and picks it up. The lizard screams in one last speech of agony.

“mercy, Slaine, show some mercy!”

“did you show my clans women mercy? Did you show my clans children mercy? The answer is no, I will show no mercy”

Slaine punches the lizards rib cage, and the sound of breaking bone is heard as the lizard screams loader. He kicks the lizard to the floor. The goddess appears from the lake holding an axe.

“Slaine this Is your weapon, it is the enchanted brainbiter axe, it is six feet, the axe head is three feet across and made from unbreakable stone, whenever the weapon is taken it will return to you”

Slaine takes the axe, and feels more raw power surge through him, he lifts the axe high above his head and brings it down on the lizard. He shouts three words before the axe connects.

“kiss my axe!”

the axe cuts straight through the lizards stomach and he lifts the axe once more and brings it down upon the lizards head, cutting it clean off as he lifts the axe its is covered in blue blood and the lizard is no more, he wipes his new axe clean and slowly warps back. The goddess appears before him.

Chapter 2: the forbidden forest

Slaine kneels to the goddess, he holds the handle of the mighty brainbiter with its head resting on the ground, in the other he has the head of the dead lizard. His eyes are closed and his heart is racing. He has never felt this much excitement before, he has the bloodlust in side him. He feels ultimate enjoyment of the kill, and wants more, lots more. Slaine feels the warm blood from his chest run down his ripped stomach, he cares not for the pain.

The goddess floats over to him, she hovers above him, the beautiful naked goddess Danu of the earth, and she is pleased that her protector has won the battle. She chose slaine to be born at this time because of the Great War that will be unleashed upon the many clans of Ireland by the daemon cythwrall armies. From the beginning slaine was her chosen he was the one to unite the clans, the one who will protect her through all. He was the warped warrior the one who is sacredly married to earth. She speaks to slaine.

“Slaine, my warrior. You have done well to do what the strongest most experienced men could not. You have beaten slough fegs chosen warrior. Take his head to your clans king”

“thank you my goddess”

With that she disappears, and slaine stands tall, he walks to the nearest tree and rips a big branch off, he begins to cut it into a spike. By the time he’s finished the sky is getting red. He grabs the head and rams it on a spike, and smiles as the blue blood runs down the pole and over his hand, he makes the journey back to his clan holding the spike high, showing his kill to anything that may be hidden in the surrounding brush.

As he approaches the end of the long grassy brush, he comes to a forest. The forest is huge and dark, will tall blackened trees, they reach so high you cannot see the tops of them. As a child Slaine and all the other children were forbidden from playing in or even near the dark forest. From the first time his clan located here, every time the strongest of warriors ventured inside they never returned. But today slaine was feeling cocky, he had beaten the great lizard beast, and had his head on a spike to show for it.

Slaine stopped at the edge of the forest he could take the long way around the forest which was the way he tracked the creature or he could attempt to go through the forest ignoring every warning he was ever given. Slaine pondered his option while another man would have none. Slaine decided to take the risk, at this moment he thought he was invincible.

Slaine tied the pole to his back so the head of the monster was on the pole above his own, he starts walking through the trees and most of the light starts the disappear. Slaine looks up and sees the faint light but the trees are to many and it’s only just enough to see a few feet ahead of himself, but he still ventures further in. He hears footsteps run past him to the left, and he turns to see nothing but darkness. The further in he moves the more he hears and the less he can see. He takes a moment to let his eyes adjust, and when they do he sees a few dozen creatures better left unseen.

He looks around and wonders how many of them there could be, at eight feet they were huge, they had light blue skin and were built better than the strongest of the clans warriors. They had humanoid features apart from the plate like bone sticking out of their foreheads. They had veins popping out of there entire muscular torsos, then he noticed the hundreds of smaller creatures it seemed the same type, but about a foot tall and skinny. The creatures seemed to be like ants with one queen who he saw slumped on a great fallen tree. He stood while the creatures stared at him, he estimated 28 around plus hundreds of little ones. He stepped forward and heard a crunch, he looked down and realized he stepped on one of the small creatures. The creatures all look at down at slaines right foot and the dead creature under it, it seems a sort of anger spreads across their faces.

Slaine looks at the queen, and looks around him he is surrounded, the queen in a high pitched gargling sound screams and two of the biggest warriors step towards him, he unties the spike from his back and looks at the head. He smirks and slams it in the ground and through another small creature. He looks down and realizes coming into the forest wasn’t stupid, it was insane. The queen screams louder and slaine has to cover his ears, the two huge blue creatures run towards him.

Slaine readies himself pulling his axe brainbiter to hand, he runs at the two creatures, and yells his battle cry. He shouts a single sentence before meeting the first creature.

“kiss my axe!”

he brings the axe into the first creatures stomach and it tears through it and comes out the back of its dense structure but as he pulls the axe out of the first dead the second comes towards him and kicks him away from his weapon, he injuries weakening him from the earlier battle he winces as he hits a tree. The creature bounds towards him and picks him up above his head with surprising ease, the creature is just about to slam slaine down onto a fallen tree and end his life when, a small dwarf appears. Its is also lost in the forest and stumbles upon them, the dwarfs is 3 feet tall and wears brown clothing with a green cloak.

“crom!, what have I stumbled upon?, uh ill just leave now”

Slaine was bought the few precious seconds he needed, he manages to reach his sword slung at his side and pulls it out of the scabbard, he brings the point down through its head. The creature drops slaine and falls backwards with blood pouring from its skull. He struggles to his feet and he runs to pull his axe from the dead creatures body, he rips it out as four more approach him they surround him, and start to pummel his injured body, the dwarf looks on nervously not daring to move.

Suddenly the four are hit backwards and as the dust settles slaine has warped, due to the extreme pain emotion his whole body has warped, and this time it has warped further he has become faster and stronger more durable than the first warp, and he has less control. Slaine is attacked by all the 16 or so left blue warrior creatures, slaine cut, sliced and battered each one of them with his axe, he smashed bones and mangled the bodies, he crushed most of the small creatures and turns to the biggest creature, and the strongest. The queen stands and she is 9 foot tall and very strong.

She starts to run and jump at slaine, her skull beak is more prominent than the others, it’s stronger and she looks as if she would use it to her advantage. She head-butts slaine and his cuts from his earlier battle are cut open and his blood dribbles down the front of his face. Seeing his own blood seems to intensify his warp spasm and he clenches his huge fist and punches the queen and she flies back and hits a tree, he walks over and brings his axe down splitting her body until it reached the ribs. With them all dead the only two living beings to stand are slaine and the dwarf. The dwarf exclaims.

“You have killed hundreds!”

“I did not think it to many” he replied

“I am Ukko the dwarf and I am in your service” Ukko said

“fine then we get out of here and hen we find out what you really want back at the clans village”

Slaine uses his axe to beat his way through the rest of the forest, he cuts trees and holds the head of the lizard monster on a spike and Ukko carried the split head of the queen, they moved silently through the forest and they were not bothered, some light returned to them. It was as if the forest knew what he had done and was scared of him. They cut through until they reached the end of the forest on the short road to his clans village.

As he nears the clans village a huge feeling of pride surges through him, for in his absence to kill the lizard beast he had an uncountable score of kills and two heads to prove it, but as he gets closer to his home he senses something is terribly wrong…

Chapter 3: Niamh

Slaine rushes as fast as he can to the village, with the dwarf following behind he is weighed down by the trophies of his two victories but still manages to reach a high speed. He does not understand the feeling inside him, although he has assured himself that his village is in danger, he reaches the great wooden outer wall of his village, but hears no screams of terror or anything of the such, but music. Soothing Celtic music. Slaine is puzzled why his mind keeps telling him something is wrong or out of place, he walks towards the huge reinforced wooden gates which he would need to pass through, usually heavily guarded but today there is one warrior alone up top. He looks up to see it is the clans most celebrated warrior. When the warrior sees Slaine he gives a hand movement and the gates slowly open as the gatekeepers drag them, and as the crack in the gates widens Slaine sees his clan rejoicing in a celebration, they are dancing and singing. All the women and children running in excitement. In the center of the crowd there is a raised table and at it sits Slaines clan chief, his two most loyal subjects and a new woman, slaine is caught by her he senses something in her, something magical and he is drawn towards her.

Slaine walks towards the central table with his new axe in one hand and the poled head in the other his new dwarf holds the split head of plated headed queen, the music stops as all eyes fall on him the look shocked at the dry blood which had seeped from his red stinging wounds, but he still stood tall. Some young training warriors looked upon him and his kills and they look in admiration of him. Some woman started feeling sick from the sight and a few men too, he had cracking dry blood all over his face, and a look that would frighten young children on his face, he walks to the crowd and they part and he walks up to the table and throws the head of lizard beast onto the table, which shocks the crowd, and he and his dwarf climb up to the table, Ukko presents the chief with the queens head.

“Slaine, you have returned, and I see with more than you were supposed to return with.” The chief said.

“Aye, and what a story it was” Slaine replied

“I see you did not just kill the lizard, you have brought us the split head of a...”

“they call them Plate-heads, and Slaine didn’t just kill them he wiped them out, there were hundreds of them huge, and Slaine killed them all” Ukko interjected

“ah i see and who are you?” the chief replied

“I am Ukko the dwarf, well now I am Slaines dwarf” Ukko replied

“That is enough dwarf, I have also been honored by the earth goddess Danu with this magical axe, brainbiter” Slaine showed the chief

“it is an honor indeed for a boy, or now a man” the chief replies as he rises from his seat.
“Today it seems is day of double celebration, I have found a lovely wife, Niamh and Slaine has become a man, he has proven without doubt he is the best amongst us, come let us feast to your victory Slaine.”

Two more places are set at the raised table and Slaine and Ukko sit, the Queen of the plate-heads head is taken to be sewn together and raised up to the top of the wall that surrounds village and the lizards head is fastened above the great gate. While the rest of the clan celebrate, the clans former greatest warrior sits atop the wall and grumbles at Slaine.

As Slaine sits at the table all he can do is stare into the eyes of the lovely Niamh, for her beauty entrances him. She stares back at him for a second and smiles a great big smile but continues to talk to the chief, but slaine knows she harbors feelings for him and soon enough the two shall be together. It may take a year but by the time he is sixteen he vows he will bed her.

That is all for the story of Slaine Becoming a man, becoming the great warrior he known as, the future high King of Ireland, But as I write this you must know the story does not end here, here is where the story begins.