2700 BCE, mid-summer, just before the annual flooding of the Euphrates River.

  The city of Uruk, near the banks of the Euphrates River, present-day Iraq.

  “You just had to poke your nose into Anzu breeding grounds, didn’t you, Gilga?”

  Enkidu said, ducking and weaving through dense vegetation, running for his life. Occasionally, he would stop, when his skills came off cooldown, then taunt and engage the nearest Anzu birds, allowing Gilgamesh to strike with decisive blows that either crippled or killed them on the spot.

  After days of relentless fighting, both were bloodied and bruised; only their exceptionally high stats, rapid regeneration, and the teamwork forged in countless battles gave them any hope of surviving.

  For each Anzu bird they defeated, it seemed two more took its place. Yet, glancing back, Enkidu noticed their numbers had thinned compared to the blackened sky that greeted them when they first entered the territory.

  As if trespassing weren’t enough to provoke the territorial Anzu birds, Gilgamesh had also stolen—and then accidentally broken—one of their eggs because he was hungry.

  Sometimes Enkidu wondered if he should have just killed Gilgamesh as he was first ordered to, instead of getting to know him and forming a bond stronger than brotherhood. His life would have been a lot less stressful.

  “I have already apologized countless times, lets get out of this mess and Ill have a feast prepared for us with wine, the best roast and women, as soon as we get back home.” Gilgamesh said, clenching his teeth in the middle of the sentence as he got cut on his arm by a stray windblade.

  “Those fucking chicken are going to regret this!” he shouted, his determination ignited.

  “We are close to an old irrigation channel.” Gilgamesh noted “Last time I saw it it was around 4m deep, the river has eroded it over the decades, do you think we could take a stand there?”

  He asked while dodging a claw from one of the birds who just dove at him. He managed to land a quick strike with his Sword of the Wild Bull, cutting deep into the attackers flank, not enough to outright cripple it, but enough to have the highly intelligent beast think twice before diving again.

  “Yes, that could work, let me check my status for a second, but I feel ready”

  “My health looks good, and I have more than enough Zyphron capacity left. Wish you were innocent; I could have 25% higher stats…” Ekindu noted with a hint of humor in his voice.

  “Yeah, brother, fuck you too. Follow me; the ravine is not far. There are around 20 of those chickens left. I think we can take them if we don’t get flanked from the sides—only from in front, behind, and above.”

  Gilgamesh responded with a snicker in his voice

  “Once there I will activate my Bloodlust, please just dont let me get surrounded when that happens, you know that I can't really think during that skill.”

  “As if you could think further than your next fight, meal or fuck even without it”

  Ekindu shot back, rolling his eyes with a grin.

  “Here goes nothing brother - Bloodlust!” Shouted Gilgamesh just as they entered the ravine.

  Ekindu took position in front of him, letting his Savage Roar echo of the walls of the ravine, suddenly more than twenty pairs of eyes were focusing on him, while behind him Gilgamesh used his own War Cry to take the edge of the flurry of wind blades and claw and beak attacks coming their way.

  While Ekindu focused on grabbing the aggro, and surviving while doing so, with conservative use of his Counterstrike in moments in which he was sure not to lose his head while countering, Gilgamesh was a flurry of motion, jumping from one Anzu Bird to another, maiming or outright killing them left and right.

  The damage on both of them started to pile up though, one lucky claw managed to hit Ekindus eye moments before he activated Natural Shield, now half blinded, more and more attacks were coming through and the blood loss started to make him light headed.

  Gilgamesh fared little better; his chest was torn, and cuts marred his arms and legs. His armor lay in tatters, rendered ineffective against the Anzu beasts, who excelled in armor penetration.

  Just when Ekindu thought the fight was lost and they will find their eternal rest in an irrigation channel forgotten by the city, he saw Gilgamesh jumping on the back of the half lion - half bird. With a fierce roar he rammed his sword through its skull.

  All three of them toppled in a mass of limbs and feathers to the ground and continued laying on the floor, surrounded by dead and dying Anzu birds.

  They took the time it took for their wounds to close and their stamina to regenerate without saying a thing, panting and the cries of dying Anzu birds the only sounds breaking through the silence.

  Raindrops started to fall, washing away the blood and gore from the bodies, and leaving a burning sensation where the wounds were to deep to be healed yet.

  They survived.

  Gilgamesh propped himself up and looked around, exhaustion clearly marked on his face.

  “So much chicken for the feast” he said through a snicker.

  Without the strength to respond, Ekindu simply scooped up a fistful of mud and tossed it at Gilgamesh's face, a smile slowly forming on his lips as he lay there, the weight of their victory settling in.