Note: I have to say that after reading several posts here, I'm honestly surprised how many people want to die o.O
Note 2: This episode features the lyrics of "Awesome God" by Michael Smith.
=========================================SEASON 1, EPISODE 5STONED AND JADED========================================= A loud rumble was heard.
Harp was slowly coming back to his senses. He felt that he was being dragged somewhere, but couldn't even move a muscle. His head hurt like fucking hell and his eyelids felt too heavy to open them.
He knew he wasn't at the battlefield anymore because he sensed a stone floor under his feet. He tried opening his eyes and saw that he was dragged away by two figures, although he couldn't see their faces. What he did notice was a strange metallic sound, as if unoiled gears were turning somewhere nearby.
Suddely, the figures dropped him on the floor and proceeded to go back. Harp was weak; he didn't even try to stop them. He heard that loud rumble again and everything went silent... for a while.
"Hi, Harp. I guess you've finally decided to join the party, huh?"
Harp immediately recognized that voice. He opened his eyes in an instant.
"Wh... what?"
"Although I truly hoped that you're going to make a better entrance. Say, tried to free me?"
Harp looked at the man who was chained to the wall.
"Jake! You're alive?!"
"Of course I'm alive" said Jake. "...dumbass", he added after a while.
"I have to say, I'm disappointed. I was captured almost a year ago, I thought that the rescue mission would come a lot sooner... and it will consist of more than one man. No offence, Harp"
Harp looked down for a moment.
"We didn't try to rescue you, we thought you were dead"
Jake laughed a little "Dead? Why would you think...?" He stopped after looking at Harp.
"Tell me you're joking"
"I'm not" said Harp.
Jake looked as if he was about to explode.
"I SPENT A WHOLE FUCKING YEAR THERE!"
"The entire upper floor of your house exploded, it's obvious we thought you were there!"
"Those freaks dragged me out before the explosion, you idiot"
Both men started throwing accusations towards each other.
"They tried to cover the evidence!"
"We thought that it was one of your failed experiments you conducted with Rock!"
"You could have searched the place!"
"And we did, we even found the body!"
That seemed to infuriate Jake even more.
"ARE YOU FUCKIN' INSANE?" he yelled at the top of his voice "You should've known it wasn't me!"
"The body was completely burned! How on Earth were we supposed to identify you?!" said Harp angirly.
"You should've recognized that this burned body doesn't have my Fabulously Fantasitc Fireproof Five-o'clock-shadow™©®!" screamed Jake like a madman. "Don't you know the rule '
The lower percentage of facial hair, the lower the chance of survival'?!"
"Then your chances of survival were pretty low if you ask me!" countered Harp.
"I may not have a full beard, but it STILL FUCKING COUNTS!"
The only thing that was heard for the next several seconds were heavy breaths of both Jake and Harp after their heated argument.
"I'm sorry" said Harp after a while. "I'm sorry we thought you were dead"
"Fine" responded Jake, even though he was still annoyed.
"I'm kinda glad you're chained up. I have a feeling you'd rip me to pieces right now" joked Harp.
"Oh, that's possible. That's why they did it in the first place"
Harp looked looked at Jake questioningly. "Come again?"
"You've heard me" said Jake, calm. "When they brought something to eat for me during my first day here, I jumped at one of them with the intention to snap his neck. But when I did that, I kind of... ripped his head off"
Harp looked stunned. "Ripped off the head? Just like that?"
"Just like that" said Jake. "The thing is... there was no blood. And after I got the head off, the only thing I've heard was a metallic screeching. They chained me up moments later"
Harp thought about that moment several minutes ago when he heard a gear-like sound. "That's weird" he said.
"And you know what's even weirder?" said Jake in a grim voice. "That the guy I 'supposedly' killed... came back the very next day with another meal, as if nothing had happened."
12 DAYS EARLIER"Oh, just shut up and find me a doctor, healer, whatever!" yelled Tom.
"Alright, alright!" Walter grabbed Hagen and started leading him towards one of the houses.
"I just don't get it, if it hurts so much, then why did you wait until Kat and the rest were gone?"
"I've just arrived here!" hissed Tom. "I don't want to look like a wimp!"
"Then why did you drop the disguise with me around?"
Even though Walter was still helping him walk, Tom grabbed the dagger from his belt and pointed it at Walter. "Tell me, do you plan on telling anyone about this?"
Walter gulped, but tried to sound confident. "You're not going to kill another member of the Order"
"Try me" Tom hissed through gritted teeth.
"Alright, alright!" Tom put the dagger away. Walter stopped in front of the door to one one of the houses. "We're here"
Walter let go of Tom and knocked on the door. Hagen observed the house - he saw through the window that the lights inside were constantly flashing.
"Are you sure this is the one..."
He didn't finish the sentence - Walter was not with him. He turned around and saw him walking away.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
Walter looked embarassed. "I can't go with you."
"Why is that?" asked Tom, confused.
"Our local healer, Rock... or sorcerer, to be precise..." started Walter slowly "He's... a bit weird, you know?"
"Crackman-like weird?" pressed Tom.
"No, no, it's not that. It's..." Walter inhaled deeply. "Although he's the Knight to the Order, he has blasphemous beliefs. About our Codex. The Book of The Walking Dead, to be precise"
Tom looked stunned. "And the House of Wellington didn't punish him for that, because...?"
"We can't! Although he tried to pass some of his magical abilities to Kat and Jake, he's the only skilled sorcerer we have, for all we know!" Walter tried to defend himself. "Jake tried to learn a bit on his own and look what happened to him!"
Before Tom had a chance to respond to that, the door opened, revealing a tall man wearing silk, blue robes and carrying a silver staff.
"
Namaste" he said in a calm, dreamy-like voice.
Tom turned around, but Walter was nowhere to be seen.
"Uh... hello?" he answered.
"
Welcome, stranger." Rock continued. "
Or should I say... Tom Hagen? Welcome. My name is Rock"
Tom just stood there, dumbfounded. "How do you know my name?"
"
The First Hunter told me" said Rock, as if it was something completely normal.
"Okay..." said Tom, unsure of that.
"
And I know why you're here. Let me help you" and with that, Rock snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Tom didn't feel any more pain.
"How did you do that?" he asked, bewildered.
"
Ah," sighed Rock, smiling. After a while, he added in his dreamy-like voice, "
Science, bitch".
Tom stared at him with wide eyes. This whole encounter was completely uncomprehensible to him.
"
Well, it's not exactly science" said Rock solemnly. "
The First Hunter guides me"
Blasphemous beliefes, huh? - thought Tom.
"If I may ask..." asked Tom, carefully. "But... who's The First Hunter? Any of the Codex books does not use that term--"
"Codex is
WRONG!" hollered Rock, angry out of sudden. "The Book of The Walking Dead is
WRONG! The First Hunter is alive and watches over us!" he pointed his staff at Hagen.
Tom took several steps back. "I get it, I get it! Calm down!"
"His name was long forgotten by almost everyone!" continued Rock in a raised voice. "The powers that be deemed him unimportant! But he IS important! He guides every warrior who shoots a bow or draws a sword!" Rock threw his hands in the air. "You want to know his name?! He is The First Hunter! He's PETE!"
Rock looked at Tom again. "Do you even know who he is, or did you forget about him, just like almost everyone in here?!"
Tom stood silent for a while. He gave a slight smile. "Pete was actually my favourite character from The Book of The Walking Dead", he said quietly.
Rock lowered his hands. "Your what?"
"To be honest, I was mad when I found out that he d--"
"
He's not dead. He's among us. He's everywhere. He's here" Rock put a hand on his chest. "
In our hearts. Forever"
Tom didn't know why, but he said, "Yes. He is"
"
Brother..." said Rock, moved.
Well, that was quick - thought Tom.
"
You should become The Follower of Pete. Do you think you can handle that?"
Once again, Tom didn't know what pushed him towards the answer. "Yes, I can".
"
Then let's not waste any more time!"
Rock waved his staff and the room disappeared. Tom looked around - Rock was still standing in front of him, but it seemed like they were inside some sort of a temple. There wasn't anything outside - they were beyond time and space. A mist started to appear out of nowhere.
Rock waved his staff again and a sheat of light covered Tom.
"
Do you believe in Pete?" said Rock in a deep voice.
"I do"
The mist started forming a shape of several snakes that started to creep around the pillars of the temple.
"
Do you believe in his unlimited power?" Rock raised his voice.
"I do" said Pete absentmindedly. He felt as if he was on high.
"
Do you believe in his REIGN OVER US?" shouted Rock.
"I do"
"
Then so be it!" Rock started waving his staff and laughing like a maniac. Tom noticed that every wave caused a pillar to explode.
The entire temple started to shake with every blast, while Rock started singing out loud:
Our god, he's an awesome god
He reigns from the forests above
with wisdom and power of a rifle
Our god, he's an awesome god...!Tom felt that floor started to crumble. He fell into the darkness...
SEVERAL HOURS LATEREverybody gathered inside the castle.
"So, I hope you had a chance to get to know several of us?" asked NFTS politely.
"Yeah, I did" said Tom, distraught. He looked over at the people standing in the circle - Bro, Kat, Zyphon, Harp, Walter, Rock, as well as few oters - they were all here.
"I am sure you know now that they can be trusted, am I right?"
Trust is not the same as sanity - thought Tom. He didn't get to know Crackman, and he certainly wasn't sure whether he liked or feared Rock.
"Yes, they are trustworthy" answered Tom, even though he still wasn't convinced.
"So... can you please disclose your proposition on how should we deal with our current situation?"
Tom took a deep breath. "Well, if it's true that House Kenneth is going to rebel against Wellington because of the addition of The Book of Borderlands and The Book of Thrones to our Codex, then the war will be inevitable. However, declaring the Lord of House Kenneth, TKA, a public enemy will cause a fallout. He has many followers and he might be successfull at staging a coup d'état. We don't want that, sir" said Tom.
NFTS nodded his head. "Keep going"
"We can't declare a war so openly. A surprise attack is what we need. And..." Tom trailer off.
People exchanged looks. This is not going to end well.
"What is it?" asked NFTS.
"We need The Knight God. We need Carlos"
Zyphon looked at NFTS.
"I kind of expected this answer" he looked troubled. "But my wife will oppose to that. She doesn't want me to be connected to that horrific creature"
"Pardon me saying this, sir, but you have to think about the Order first, not your wife, [illegible]" said Tom.
Everybody looked dumbfounded.
"Who?" asked Kat.
"Nobody told me her name, alright?" protested Tom.
"Dude, are you retarded? Call her Jake Sis, for fuck's sake" said Harp, a bit amused by the scene in front of him.
"Okay, everybody calm down!" ordered NFTS.
"If it's the only way, then the selected course of action is... Action 68" said NFTS in a stern voice. "Or, to be precise, we're going to violate it"
"But m'lord!" said Walter "Action 68 clearly states that after the creation of the OTWDF Order, The Knight God's eternal slumber cannot be interrupted by any means!"
"Waking him up may push him over the edge!" added Brotato. "You know Carlos better than any of us. He'll kill anyone who'll try to do that!"
"WE know that" said NFTS. "But TKA doesn't"
All the protests died down.
"On second thought" said Brotato, "if TKA was to cross the entrance of Howe's graveyard... Carlos may unconsciously join our forces and get rid of him"
"It could turn the tide in our favour when fighting against TKA's men" continued Tom.
"Fantastically crafted strategy, sir" added Zyphon.
NFTS had a smug smile on his face.
"Indeed" he said. "Indeed"
***
Next time on TFTWL:
In the flash-forward, Crackman kills (mostly) everyone. In the present, Brotato reminisces about his unexpected visit at the headquarters of the Order's continental rite. Later, NFTS and Zyphon prepare the plan of a surprise attack on their enemy in an all-new Tales from the Wellingtonlands episode, "FACE IT ON YOUR OWN".