“Do you promise to fulfill the goal?” asked the man who was hidden beneath the dark hood.
“Yes”
“Do you know the plan?”
“Yes”
“Then all luck to you. Never stop until you have found the weapon. Understood?”
“Yes”
And with that Arnthor woke up. It had been roughly a week since he had first met Sal and Darrel and now the three of them and Gilaon sat within a forest in the dead of night. All around them the trees were rustling loudly as a storm was oncoming and it was the only thing to have masked Arnthor's scream when he woke up each night from his dreams. The dreams were always the same thing in which he was talking to a man in a hood inside of a room as dark in the night which was as dark as the night which at current surrounded their tents. Each time he was told something about a mission but he could not tell what the mission was. All he knew was that it revolved around a weapon and as such he had deemed it better not to tell any one of his friends. Upon awaking from his dream he chose to go back to sleep.
As the sun rose the group had noticed that their camp had appeared to be ransacked. Their campfire and some stores of food were gone and while they argued about it Sal had the strangest intuition.
“Darrel, maybe instead of arguing over the food we should check the bushes”
“Why's that Sal?” asked Darrel as everyone looked at Sal in puzzlement.
“Maybe they simply took the food and dragged it someplace”.
After several long and awkward moments of silence from everyone Arnthor gave Sal a long stare and delivered what was on everyone's minds “Sal, that is terribly stupid. Why would anyone steal food only to hide it in the bushes right next to where they stole it from?”
“Fine I'll go check” and so Sal went to go check in the bushes before hearing “I found it!” before then hearing him scream and let out an “ouch! It was booby trapped!”.
Everyone ran over to where he had been standing to find that he had fallen into a pit hidden with fallen leaves and sticks. Before they could stop to wander why anyone would actually take the time to make such a pit that question was answered by a tall, intimidating person in a full suit of armor.
“Join me” the person spoke immediately.
Sal gave him a long hard look and said “Join us.”
“Mind control. Not bad. Now I really want you.”
“You mean it didn't work?”
“No he's still telling us to join him for his health” said Gilaon.
“Good sense of humor, what can you do?” said the person
“Depends on what you can do.”
“I am the lieutenant of He Who Slays the Gods. I can do more then your imagination can consider.”
“I vote we run.” said Darrel
“Who's your boss. Tell me.” Demanded Arnthor in a move which shocked everyone.
“Well you already know so I'll tell you his business line. The Almost Army wishes to bring peace and joy to the universe however the desire of the Gods to make the whole universe their playground prevents this and as such we have declared war on the Gods. So far our effort is going well and if it is of any interest we are affiliated with the Rebel Unseen Army.”
“Why us?”
“Good question. When some one walks into a lower floor of our base and then leaves all undetected it makes us curious. Now don't worry there will be no experiments only a month worth of training and fair rationing. What do you say?”
“Death, don't you need Death to exist for your success? Why did you kill him?” asked Darrel
“Not Death itself but rather the God of Death. Death is perfectly natural and will happen any ways. So what do you say, with me or against me?”
“Against you” said Darrel withdrawing his sword as he went to impale the lieutenant. He ran his sword through him however at this the lieutenant began to laugh.
“Ouch!” he laughed as he raised his hand and sent Darrel flying. He kept his hand in front of him as the sword slowly emerged from his body. When it emerged and dropped to the ground his body and armor had not a scratch on it. He slowly walked closer to where Darrel was lying unable to fight back with the clear intention of ending the battle once and for all. At this Arnthor lifted his hand as a small ball of red energy surrounded it. The ball then unexpectedly flew at the lieutenant and upon making contact their enemy was disintegrated into the air. Everyone was shocked and surprised however it did not stop them from the task at hand being to get out of there as fast as possible and to make sure everyone was healthy.
The darkness fell upon the area as Son stepped through the door. At that moment he heard a pained and disgruntled sound terrible enough to destroy the souls of the most pious of priests and he knew he had reached the correct spot.
“Hello my friend.” said Son.
“And who are you?” said the lieutenant.
“Oh so you haven't met me yet. Well then I'm Son.”
“Would you like to join-”
“Already signed up.”
“Then why don't I know you?”
“My life is not linear.”
“Then what is it that you want traveler of time?”
“Well lieutenant, you may have failed this mission but there are recruits waiting for you three days to the east.”
“Thank you but I need to ask of you to tell me why you tell this to me?”
“Simple, Schrodinger's Cat is still out there. No one has it yet and the one who gets The Cat gets the universe.”
“Correct, so why do you want The Cat? It's not to own the universe.”
“Why would I want the universe? No I want something better, existence. So if you get your recruits I will make more for you, deal?”
“Can't say I disagree”
And with that the alliance between The Almost God and Son was made. Soon the alliance which would become known as The Universal Group would be complete. It would only take a few more months how ever only Son knew this as he set out to activate powers in heroes.