Divine Beast Ascension

Celebrating Victory

Rathe chuckled and waved him off with his hands. “Why would I do that? This is to solidify our relationship with the stallions. Of course, Oli must drink together with their young master as well, that’s his job, right?”

“So be it,” When Hurdo began to walk away, Rathe wiped away the illusory sweat from his brow. But Hurdo’s last comment made him wince. “Since this is your plan to deepen our future roots, then you’ll be the one to report this back to Vloz and Ania when we return.”

“Come on! Don’t play me like that Hurdo!” Rathe pled. “This is necessary! And it’ll be good for the boy, there’s nothing wrong here.”

“Good, that’ll make it all the easier to explain to his mother,” Hurdo picked up an armful of bottles without giving Rathe any more attention.

It was too late now because after Hurdo picked one up, all hands reached out to grab their share. The stallions would tip over the barrels and roll them over to their many firepits. Then they would break open the tops so that everyone could enjoy some. The gorillas grabbed bottles by the armful and joined the stallions in celebration.

Hollen was the last of the stallions to approach the pile of wine but was stopped by Rathe. “Trust me, Hollen, that’s not what you want. What you want, is this.”

A large barrel of wine appeared in his hand and it hand a very extravagant logo slapped on the front. “Let’s drink together and bring the youngsters too so they can share the bond of men!”

Hollen laughed and led Rathe, Oli, and Yeter to his private firepit and lean-to. Rathe put down the barrel between himself and Hollen and broke its seal right away, clearly keeping it all to themselves. He brought out a smaller barrel with a similar logo and two goblets, placing the barrel next to Yeter and handing the smaller of the two goblets to Oli.

.....

Yeter’s eyes were fixated on the barrel. “Oli, I’m new to drinking so I can’t hold it down too well just yet. But like my grandpa says, with experience and an open mind, one can only grow!”

Suddenly, a hoof came down on Yeter’s head and Hollen yelled, “Stop treating me like some drunkard, boy. When I said that, I was talking about your training!”

“But this is a type of training, training to be a man!” Yeter was a youth wanting to grow up too fast, just like the rest. “For that reason, I must tackle it head-on. Right, Grandpappy Hol?”

Again, Hollen struck his head. “I’m your tribal chief! Don’t talk to me like that! At least wait till we’re not in front of the entire tribe.”

“I like the way you think, Yeter!” Rathe lifted his goblet in acceptance and downed it in a few gulps. “With that kind of mindset, you’ll have a lot of potential for your future.”

Yeter was glad that Rathe came to his rescue and immediately broke open his barrel. He was quick to drink a goblet’s worth of wine and smile in enjoyment. Oli chuckled to himself as he stared at the goblet, remembering how his mother was so against him drinking. He honestly didn’t care to go out of his way to drink but he would never turn it down if it was a gift. Oli dunked his goblet in the barrel and drink a few sips, making sure to enjoy the exquisite taste.

The day passed quickly while everyone enjoyed themselves and the night settled in. It was entertaining to see the drunken gorillas and stallions gather wood in the firepits and strike the rocks to light the flames.

Yeter was tipsy and almost falling over himself. Hollen had more than five bottles worth of wine while Rathe was on his tenth goblet of wine.

Oli was still taking his time and savoring the taste when Rathe started to get extra loud and yelled, “Alright! Time to show you what got me excited! Now that the atmosphere is right, I can finally show it off!”

“What are you talking about Uncle?” asked Oli.

“This is what I’m talking about brat!” a pair of silver, studded gauntlets appeared around Rathe’s hands and he held them up proudly in the light of the campfire.

“Those are…” Hollen was stupefied.

“Whoa… What are they?” Yeter was lost.

“Quiet boy!” Hollen shut up his grandson. “Master Rathe, are those what I think they are?”

“What’s with this ‘Master’ nonsense? No more formalities, especially when we’re sharing a drink. Just call me Rathe you silly pony,” the buzzed Rathe was even more outspoken.

“Ha!” the drunken Hollen was the same way. “Fine, we’ll have it your way you burly ape. Now tell me, are those what I think they are?”

“Of course that’s what they are! Other than a divine weapon, what would make the Great Rathe so excited?” Rathe pounded the gauntlets together. Everyone in the village could hear him, but most ignored it with the help of all the wine.

“Whoa! A divine weapon! I’ve only heard of those,” Yeter was easily pleased.

“Yup, what do you think? With these bad boys, I’ll be able to go toe-to-toe with high-perennials. Nothing can stop this amazing uncle of yours!” Rathe slapped them against his chest with pride, accepting them as his personal treasure.

“That’s amazing Uncle Rathe!” Oli feigned excitement but made sure not drink more than a couple of goblets’ worth. Not only was it his first-time drinking, he knew someone had to keep his crazy uncle from doing anything too stupid. His mom had shared some stories of Rathe’s drinking habits in an attempt to convince Oli not to try it himself. Though it wouldn’t convince him to never drink, it did inform him of how Rathe was known for going overboard and sometimes destroying property as a means to test his strength.

“You bet it is, brat! Check this out,” Rathe turned away from the fire and started to wind up for a couple of punches.

Oli was too busy thinking of his mom’s stories of the drunken Rathe to pay enough attention to the real thing in front of him. Rathe may have turned away from their fire, but he was now facing a group of stallions drinking together on the outskirts of the village. And sadly, Oli noticed too late for him to stop him. “Uncle Rathe, wait!”

With the power boost of the divine weapon, and the mental ‘boost’ of the alcohol, Rathe’s punch targeted to distant stallions as it whistled through the air. The shockwave began to split the topsoil and make its way to the drunken horses.

Luckily, there were a couple of them that still had some sense left in them. Those two warned the other three and even pushed them out of the way. The punch seemingly parted their group just like it did the earth, with some jumping to either side. It was such a strong shockwave that any bottle within five krin of its path shattered instantly and only after it traveled for 50 krin did it begin to lessen and dissipate into nothingness.

“Ha! Did you see that!” shouted Rathe for all to hear.

The stallions didn’t know what had happened or how to react. The gorillas just hung their heads low, pretending not to be affiliated with the man. Hollen was startled and kept his eyes glued on the stallions that dodged the blast, in case they showed any signs of injury. Yeter was hammered and looked up to Rathe like he was a powerful war god.

Oli put his hands over his mouth, trying to hide his chuckling but failed and fell over in laughter. He had always thought that she was exaggerating her stories about Rathe in order to convince him not to drink, but after witnessing this he could only laugh as he remembered the countless tales his mother shared.

Rathe joined in and even slapped Oli on the back without any control of his strength. This caused Oli to tear up, from both his laughter and the immense pain he now felt. “Train hard brat, and one day you might be just like me, your all-powerful Uncle Rathe!”

“Stop it, Uncle Rathe, you’re gonna hurt me and everyone else if you keep this up,” he struggled to talk through his pained laughs. “Hurry and take those things off. You know what my mom will say when she hears about you using weapons when you’re drunk, don’t you?”

Rathe began to calm down after imagining a livid Ania and immediately put away his new gauntlets. To cover up his actions, Rathe pulled out another large barrel of exotic wine and passed it Hollen to hide his actions behind the alcohol. “No more of that, this stuff is so good that I lost control of my swing. Might as well just sit down and let everyone else enjoy it some more.”

Hollen accepted the gift, knowing that whether he took it or not he would have to explain it to the others. At least this way he could give everyone else something to pacify them. Yeter only laughed as his grandpappy took the gift from the drunken ‘god’.

Oli played along but decided to stop drinking. He enjoyed it and was happy to have such good wine, but being with such a crazy drunk, Oli decided in his heart to never go overboard with Uncle Rathe around. If not, one day he might be the one in trouble.

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