Somewhere in the Midwestern United States in the year 2020 CE. An artist is cleaning up all of her paints after completing her mural on a basketball court wall. The paint is still wet in some areas. Sounds of the city can be heard in the distance. People are heading home to their families. "What is it sis?" "Well, Ramona, this is an epic story of heroes fighting great evils in a land filled with chaos." "Tell me the story, Pereza! Tell me. I want to know about these heroes." "Well, first off, only some would call them heroes. Others might just call them monsters." Pereza walks her kid sister over to the left of the large 80 ft mural. "Here is where they begin." Ramona looks up on the wall to all the vibrant colors. She sees a large flying vehicle with a smoking engine below the craft. The craft is long, like a flat bed truck. On the back of the vehicle is a metal samurai with a wolf painted on its kabuki mask. Next to the samurai is a swirling bright cobalt blue dragon, that is battling another dragon. An man with elven features stands on the deck of the vehicle with hands raised and clearly radiating magical power seen through circles of color and sigils around him. He is standing over a dead dragon as the elf man burns way its flesh leaving only bones. "After decimating their dragon foes, the bold Nosmo the great stands triumphant over his two quarry, Kyrano and Lucina, while Lucryllin the elf necromancer begins to raise them to an undead state to battle in the name of Fenryr." "That's cool!" "Yeah pretty cool. That is until their craft busts a repulser engine and begins to plummet to the Earth! Fortunately, the uncanny pilot Mononoke..." "Like Princess Mononoke?" Interrupts Ramona. "Yes, yes. Like Princess Mononoke, pilots the craft, the R-Dawg safely to the ground sparing her crew." Ramona notices Mononoke a girl closely resembling herself sitting in the cock pit of the R-Dawg. "Coool!" Pereza continued, moving over in the painting. "This part of the painting with all of these spirit totems of buffalo, coyotes, antelope and jack rabbits represent the wild territory of the New Spirit West. A very exclusive society of the fierce and family driven indigenous people who wield powerful magic to protect their land." Ramona admires the detail and the green and blue colors of the spirit animals. "Fenryr after repairing their engines choose to avoid these lands. They say it was to avoid unwanted war, but in truth, they are afraid of the Spirit People and the powers they wielded. Fenryr then flies the R-Dawg to the mighty Castle Refuge, the beacon for all the land." The mural shows a futuristic castle that was both parts medieval and cybertech. On a hill behind the castle there is a large manor, with a handsome man. "Mononoke and her shadow, Mononoke Two are introduced for the first time to Rex at his manor. The shadow seems very infatuated with the Prince of Refuge, and goes off to have a romantic walk among other things ." The girls giggle at the prospect of a romantic encounter. "Meanwhile, the rest of Fenryr led by the might Nosmo go to have a meeting with the Shadow Broker in his cave lair, so that he can declare himself King of the Dragons and prove his worthiness." Pereza shows the cave in the lower part of the mural just to the right of Castle refuge where the blue dragon stands with all his loops and curls with the company of the wolf-masked samurai and a robed woman radiating a halo like light around her head. "But it was not the Shadow Broker they met! Instead, the vile Tyrania had taken the Shadow Broker's place and pronounces that she had killed him. Enraged with this news and the knowledge of the past sins of Tyrania, Fenryr lashes out upon the frost dragon. Mononoke in her giant mech robot, Moro, rushes the she-dragon with her neural mace and sword. Nosmo casts a globe of silence to ensure that Tyrania could not speak a final death curse as they aim to take off her head. But as they were about to dispatch the treacherous she-dragon her cries fall upon the beloved holy priestess, Saint Rebecca, protector of all women and decimator of the chains opposed by the Man." "I like her!" Ramona interrupts again. "Yeah, she's pretty cool. She is a blind Altara warrior who basically doesn't take crap from nobody. Think if a Canadian that has the cojones of a Mexican, and el coraje of an American freedom fighter. That would be Saint Rebecca." "Coool" Ramona saysslowly nodding her head as she tried to envision this woman warrior. "Saint Rebecca does not let them slay the she-dragon until Tyrania can say her peace. Tyrania tells them everything. She tells them about this artificer's item she had been using to create an illusion of the Shadow Broker. She tells them that the original illusionary artifact used by the Shadow Broker himself is missing. She tells them why she had given her blood to the vampire nations knowing they needed powerful magic blood. Once she is done spilling the beans, Nosmo takes one mighty chomp to her neck in a monstrous fashion. He is done with her deceit. He then takes the she-dragon's blood and like an Azteca guerrero he begins painting himself with it." "That's not what a hero would do!" "Like I said, Ramona, not everyone thought they were heroes...especially themselves." Pereza leads her sister to the final scene on the mural. On the wall it depicts Mononoke's shadow frightened standing next to Rex, while Mononoke is running through a wall towards her giant iron samurai robot outside of Rex's manor. In the bottom part of scene are two new women. One is a pale looking bald girl who is also frightened who is being held at her throat by another much taller woman with strange metal rods or cylinders sprouting from her head through her long braided blond hair. This woman is not wearing any clothes, but Pereza has painted a flowing ribbon that seems to be held up by invisible cherubs. The taller woman in her other hand has a hammer that is crackling with lightning. The rest of Fenryr is also in the manor. "Here is where all of Fenryr is united again. But all is not right. They can feel something is wrong. ThorFrid, the valkyriean hedonist warrior, returns from the local pub after a sultry afternoon at the Embrace. She holds nothing back. She must find out what is wrong. First, she accuses Mononoke's shadow of treachery. Saint Rebecca comes to the shadow's rescue and claims that Mononoke is with child. Mononoke's shadow then reveals that she is not the shadow, but the real Mononoke. But the feeling of betrayal is still there. It is at this point that ThorFrid realizes the feeling of treachery is coming from the least of the group, the young Benna. The quite Benna. She seizes the psychic vampire girl by the throat, and demands that she tell ThorFrid what she has done." "And?" Ramona asks. "What happens next?" "Next?" Pereza toys. "Yeah, what does ThorFrid do to Benna? What did Benna do wrong? Why were they feeling that strange feeling? What is going to happen in this white space?" Ramona points to the still drying white area on the right most part of the wall. "That?" Pereza says coyly. "That was one idea I had. But I decided to paint over it. It just wasn't right. 'Sides, it's getting late, Mama probably has some mole and hot chicken and rice waiting for us at home. You hurry on home while I get the rest of these supplies together. "What?! Come on, it's not even dark yet." At that point, the street lights popped on. "Now hurry on home. Let Mama know that I am on my way. And save a chicken leg for me!" "Okay." Ramon says reluctantly. And she hurries on home. Pereza puts all of her cleaned brushes in a plastic sack and paint cans in her wheelbarrow. She loads up her rollers and extenders next to the paint cans. Then, just before heading home, she turns one last time to the blank white area, now dried over. She thinks about what she would paint there tomorrow. After a few minutes of pondering, she smiles and nods her head with a satisfied idea. She picks up the handles of the wheelbarrow and heads home to enjoy her chicken and mole.
