The smell was nearly unbearable.

Ermac was embedded in a metal box loaded with rotting food, moldy cardboard, and rusted metal. He landed in a dumpster.

Once he found out which way was up, he floated upwards and out of the garbage. When he rose from the dumpster, he was covered with slime of mysterious origins, and his hood had come off. In its place was half of a watermelon. Ermac's decaying body had a weak sense of smell and little disgusted him, but nevertheless, he wished to be clean.

Finding little other option he threw off the cloak made especially for him by one of the emperor's personal tailors, and threw it in the disgusting dumpster. Ermac now stood clad only in a pair of now-stained black pants, his skinny upper half wrapped thoroughly and expertly in bandages: his ancient eyes, mouth, and nose the only skin seeing the light of day...

Or night, because as far as he could tell, he was in a dark alley at night. There was light pouring from one end of the alley and darkness on the other. The soul keeping mummy walked warily towards the lighted side and peered into the area beyond. What he saw didn't frighten him as much as wearied him.

His view consisted of bright lights everywhere; buildings covered in lights, signs glowing with yellow, blue, and green letters, moving pictures on screens made of light. On some signs he saw a language he did not read, others held pictures of women with black eyes and similarly colored hair in various stages of dress. He saw plenty of obviously drawn women with unrealistically big eyes and strangely shaped hair. And everywhere he looked there were people. Some were casually dressed in bright, loud colors, some were formally dressed in suits and ties, and some were even wearing animal ears and tails.

"Where," Ermac murmured to himself, "in the name of all that is holy and demonic are we?"

Ermac stepped away from the alley's entrance to grab his bearings. He was in Earthrealm, he had no doubts. The soul keeper could tell by the residents' souls, but he dared not look into their minds. These people seemed weird.

He was pondering how to get back to Outworld when he heard voices coming from the dark end of the alley. One was male and speaking violently, the other female and laced with fear. Ermac contained many souls and spoke all of their languages, but he seemed to not have this language in his collection. Regardless, he knew nothing good was going on between the two. He went to investigate.

The view that greeted him as he turned the corner confirmed his suspicions. There stood a black-haired man holding a brown-haired woman to the alley wall. He was kissing her neck as he pulled on her skirt. The woman was struggling with all her might and babbling with disapproval in her language. Ermac knew at once was going on.

He stomped toward the rapist and grabbed him by the back of the neck. He twisted the scum's head to look him in the eye. Ermac noticed that he was not the same race as the woman; his skin was olive colored and he had brown eyes. The man's brown eyes filled with fear at the sight in front of him and sprung back.

"You are wise to fear us," Ermac growled at the terrified man, "Leave now or perish."

The man's look of fear changed to anger. He took a pocket knife out of his coat and shouted at Ermac with a language that the soul keeper spoke little better. Ermac thought he picked up multiple curses including "shithead" in there. The man ran at him.

"Very well," Ermac said calmly. He outstretched his hand and a green aura surrounded the rapist. He picked him high and slammed him on the ground. He then picked him up and slammed him into both walls of the alley. The man was barely conscious by now.

Ermac levitated the scum close to his face and stared deep into his eyes. "Die," he whispered and closed his hand into a fist. The man sputtered blood from his lips, choked, and went limp in Ermac's hold.

The soul keeper unceremoniously dropped the dead man on the ground and noticed the woman was still there. She was crying loudly on the ground in the fetal position. Ermac walked a little closer to her and asked, "Did he harm you?" She didn't answer, just continued crying. "We could help you," he insisted. The lady was still weeping, her hands clutched tightly to her chest.

Ermac had no idea what to do. He had seen rape victims before--ones who had been fully defiled--but it was usually up to D'Vorah or the nurses to comfort them. Erron would help every now and then, but Ermac will die before he used that approach.

He considered just leaving, but for some reason, he thought that would be wrong. He wanted to help but the woman was unresponsive.

He tried another idea. He sneaked a little closer and placed his hand on her shoulder. Her breath hitched and she froze. Ermac didn't know if this was a good sign. He decided to keep going. He patted her arm and said, "There... There..." He felt like a fool. The woman, however, had stopped crying, so he guessed he was doing something right. The woman was now looking at him with a confused look.

Ermac's souls were shouting for him to stop this folly, to leave her, some were even saying to kill her. Ermac closed his eyes, took control, and silently ordered them to silence themselves. He turned his attention back to the woman. He asked again, "Are you harmed?" She didn't seem to understand him.

Ermac realized what he had to do to communicate with her. He used one hand to cover her eyes and turned to the dead man. Ermac murmured a short incantation and the corpse twitched. A green orb flew from its chest and into Ermac's outstretched hand. The soul keeper absorbed the man's soul and his knowledge with it. He learned from the soul that he was in a land called Nihon and the language here was called Nihongo.

He turned to the woman, took his hand off her eyes, and said once again in Nihongo, "Are you harmed?" The lady looked surprised, but she shook her head. "That is good. Now, where do you live?" D'Vorah usually escorted the women that came to the Kahn home. He figured he should do the same.

The woman thought for a little while and finally responded, "I-I live i-in the Ku-Ku-Kumano sh-shrine... Th-That way," she pointed.

Ermac stood up and held out his hand. "We shall escort you," he stated. The woman very hesitantly took his hand and allowed him to help her up. She actively avoided looking at the dead rapist. Once standing, Ermac told her, "Show us the way." As she allowed herself to walked to the alley's opening, a thought crossed her mind.

She spun around and confronted the soul keeper, "U-u-um... Y-you c-can't go into th-the street."

"Why ever not?" Ermac responded, confused.

"Y-you," the terrified woman began, "l-l-look... Uhh?" She was stuttering fiercely, but Ermac took her meaning.

"Ah, yes. We understand." This was a new problem. In Outworld, his appearance was nothing new, but the Earthrealmers would undoubtedly fear him. In fact, it was a big shock that the woman was not fleeing from him.

An idea finally came to him, but it was drastic. However, drastic times call for drastic measures; as the Earthrealmers say.

"Do not watch this," Ermac commanded to the woman, "no matter what you hear." She nodded fearfully and turned around.

Ermac turned toward the dead body once again. He wasn't Nihongo, apparently, but he would stand out less than Ermac's mummified appearance.

"Foh-teh zhi-meks coh-tahl!" He shouted. All at once, all of Ermac's ten-thousand souls flew out of his body and into the corpse's. Nothing happened at first, but after a few moments, the once-dead body returned to life; as Ermac's new vessel.

The body rose and tested it's movements. Ermac was pleased; the body's musculature and flexibility were greater than that of his previous body, which was now disintegrating into dust without the souls to keep it together. He tried walking and found the legs to be stronger than his older ones, and his skin was smooth again, a feeling he had not had in centuries. However, his eyes still glowed green. He hoped that would not be too much of a hindrance.

He announced to the woman, "We will look... different. Do not fear us, though. We will not harm you. Do you understand us?"

After a pause, "Yes," the woman responded softly.

"Then turn around."

The woman slowly peeked behind her and jumped. She squeezed her eyes shut and fearfully asked, "I-Is that still you, M-Mister?"

"It is," Ermac answered, "Do not be afraid.

"Okay," she said and opened her eyes. "Okay." She forced herself to look at Ermac. "Okay."

"Good," Ermac said with the smallest of comforting smiles, "Shall we be going then?"

"Mhm..." She answered. For a while it looked like she was trying to work up the courage to say something. Then, "Thank you." She bowed.

The soul keeper grinned slightly, "You are welcome." Ermac bowed back and the two set off for the shrine.

Another chapter another character. Done and done!

It's a lot of fun doing Ermac. He's always been one of my favorites with his "we" and "us." Plus he's super badass.

Next chapter *drumroll please* the moment you've all been waiting for: Kotal Kahn!

Laturz