Chapter 72: A Land of Opportunities
We traveled east to the nearest Motor Forge and took our first trip into the heart of the world. We rode the dark tunnel into the glowing red core where giants worked stone anvils and the Guardian of Metal, a deific being shaped as and voiced by Ozzy Osborne waited impatiently.
"About fucking time!" He shouted as we stopped in front of him, "I have been waiting for you both since you got here. Sick bike by the way."
"I wanted to collect a bunch of fire tributes before coming here." I admitted, "I hate seeing things I can't afford. Makes my hands itchy."
"And we wouldn't want that." The Guardian smirked, "The gods were very pleased by your arrival. Two maniacal ministers of Metal moving through the multiverse. People who eat, sleep, and breathe brutal, it would have been a fucking shame if you didn't come to our corner of existence."
"We're fucking stoked to be here." Jack grinned and shouted, "ALL ABOARD!"
"AYE AYE AYE!" The Guardian of Metal crowed then coughed into his hand in embarrassment, "I don't know what came over me there. Anyway, it's good that you've started the process of becoming demigods. Keep that up." He mused, "There are several more opportunities available to you should you wish it."
"Lay it on us." I grinned.
"You have within your possession several demonic artifacts that can be empowered while you are here. A certain hammer, ring, and sword."
"Neat." I said.
"Very," he agreed, "Now Malacath is a demon god the Titan's approve of, give me the hammer and it will be reforged to contain Ormagoden's flesh, blood, scream, and fire. The latter two will require a little augmenting on your end to express. As for the ring, Namira will require a bit of a specific pleasing to grow the power of her artifact. Eat the liver of Doviculus if you want the ring to power up. I have personally partaken in some nasty meals, but to eat the liver of a guy that calls himself an infection. Fucking nasty, man. And the blade…"
Ozzy looked like he didn't want to speak of it.
"We Metal Heads are fine with a lot of shit, but we are brothers and betrayal has always been a step too far." he shook his head, "The gods will have nothing to do with the blade; however, there is a sea - a lake some may call it - of black tears. Use the blade to destroy that ancient abyss of treachery and madness and it will become more powerful than it was ever intended to become."
I tossed him my hammer and he returned with the beast reforged.
"Don't mind the lack of weight in the hand, its mass has become a bit conceptual after the union. Light as a feather, but striking like an enraged dragon's tail. Better yet, the more blood shed with the hammer the stronger it becomes. I doubt you will have any qualms feeding the beast." The Guardian chuckled as he handed me my reforged hammer.
The metal of the hammer had darkened and taken on an incredible gloss. The heart of the hammer had transitioned from a blood red to a fiery liquid orange.
"Sweet work on the hammer, but what can you guys do for our wheels?" Jack asked.
"So much." Ozzy grinned and we spent our fire tributes upgrading the power of our motorcycle and its guns, as well as the quality of the tires and suspension, and picked up a sick Ace of Hades paint job.
"I'd also recommend a trip to the Spider Queen's layer." He spoke, "Get yourselves some more powerful strings and a proper job restoring that bass guitar and six string. They should be able to continue working their basic magic even across the lines of the universes. Healing and inspiring respectively."
"Thanks, Guardian of Metal." I tipped my head to the man, "We're off to take divine power for ourselves."
"Go forth and shine the glory of Ormagoden on the multiverse!" The Guardian screamed as we took off back to the surface world.
Our trip to the Motor Forge had raised our spirits considerably. So what if we weren't going on a badass adventure with a pack of good friends, we had quite a few new opportunities to hunt down, the first of which had me waiting out in front of the Spider Queen's Lair while Jack ran a stealth run on the eight legged freaks. She returned with enough strings to upgrade a dozen guitars and we set off to pick up more fire tokens via jumps and dragon statues so we could purchase some excellent power ups for our instruments.
We soon discovered what the fire of Ormagoden did for us when we freed our fortieth statue. Jack could now ignite her biotic powers, causing them to burn anyone caught in them and explode in fiery conflagrations when she detonated a combo attack. I gained the power to breathe fire. I could now murder foes with fireballs and streams from my mouth, but the more important aspect was the ability to heat up metals using my breath. Not only did my breath heat metals faster, but made the metal easier to work with, more pliable to my will. This would be a godsend for more stubborn materials like the titanium gold I used to build my power armor all those years ago, or especially the Phrik from Star Wars. That stuff really didn't want to cooperate.
While we were exploring the northern coastline, we encountered Fletus, a Road Demon of the Motor Freeks clan. The big grey bastard was standing by his car just waiting for challengers when we came up. I briefly wondered how he ate when his teeth were all smoking exhaust pipes.
"That's a sick bike, boy." he grinned, "But you won't be getting any respect in this world unless you build a car and learn to race."
"Is that so?" Jack asked with healthy skepticism.
"It is, lass." the Road Demon answered, "The clan has a garage nearby. Let's see what kind of instincts you got, boy."
The Motor Freeks garage was packed full of cars being worked on and the various demons working on them. They were a colorful and shapely bunch, and by that I mean they were all sorts of weird colors and shapes, not that I wasn't in the same boat.
"Got a new build!" Fletus shouted and the work in the huge garage stopped, "Go on, boy. Show us what you got."
With the parts available and some quick applications of my metal forging breath I put together a convertible muscle car with a turbocharged twelve cylinder engine and a pair of boost tanks on the back. They had some nice off-roading tires and suspensions that I helped myself to and a classy chrome air scoop. I engraved 'The Good Evening' on the shiny grill and called it a day.
"Wheeew!" Fletus whistled, "Damn, boy. You got talent," he admitted then shouted to the rest of the garage, "But can he race?"
"Race! Race! Race!" The demons shouted and led us out to a nearby starting line.
"Just follow the spotlight!" Fletus grinned and revved the engine of his muscle car, The Squealer.
"Blow doors down, babe." Jack ordered from the passenger seat.
We raced along the roads of the cliff strewn northern coast being guided by a magical spot light beaming down from the heavens. Either the Druid Plow is faster than my car, or the game went too easy on Eddie, cause the Road Demon dogged my rearview the entire time and I remember being able to crash my car and still beat this dude in the game.
In the end we won the race and picked up a nice fire tribute from the Titans and some street cred with the Motor Freeks. I ended up racing a few more of them with similar to far greater results, making my grin wider with each new win and the incoming love of the Metal gods.
The Road Demons threw a huge party in honor of my wins and we left the next morning with a new social circle and the location of other Motor Freek garages marked on our map.
We spent our days scouring the Brutal Lands, raising Buried Metal, hunting down the Tab Slabs, freeing the Bound Serpents, Viewing Legends and Landmarks, jumping through clouds of Lighting Plug Bugs, and winning races which became all the easier after a couple of trips to the Motor Forge turned The Good Evening into a howling beast of speed and power.
Jack and I freed the final Bound Serpent Statue deep in the jungles of the eastern Brutal Lands. I can't imagine why we would save the jungle for the end of our continent crossing journey. No, I certainly can't imagine why a giant lizard man of obscene sexual prowess would hope to have no reason to leave the jungle anytime soon.
Oh no, is that the Zaulia surrounding us.
I can't imagine how this is going to turn out for us.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JManM
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