“Open the gates! We bring the immortals with us!" Shouted Fryy as the battalion reached the gates of the Town Centre. As the gates opened, the carriages slowed down their velocity and normalized their pace. All the people of the Town Square gathered around to glimpse the devils themselves.
“Gjemme!” Exclaimed Anjir while making a swift movement with his staff. A huge semi-transparent sheath appeared in the air and fell on the carriages, covering the cages carrying immortals. “It was a spell to hide the immortals from the eyes of the public. We ought not to disturb them," Anjir told Fryy. “Brilliant move master foreseer," Fryy replied. As they arrived, they heard people gossiping. “They have done the unthinkable... Now the prophecy of Ødeleggelse will commence.” Said one man. “We have invited our doom ourselves. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy." Said another. “We could have thwarted the armies of Hel ourselves... Are the forces of Odin so weak that they have to make deal with these devils?"
“Like they know anything!" Anjir said in fury. “These immortals they resent so much, what have they done to these people? These people never met these immortals, how can they hate them so much? Our forces have been utterly trounced by those of Hel's. No matter how many of Hel's monsters we slash they keep coming back plenty! Our forces aren't too weak; Hel's are too strong!" “I understand how you feel master foreseer," Fryy told Anjir. “Now do you?" Anjir questioned.
As the carriage reached the Elder Council, it took a halt. “avsløre," cast The Elder while making an elegant and agile moment of staff, unnatural for a person of his age. “So these are the devils we have been told never to uncage..." Said Marid, who was awaiting the battalion's return with Bishirm, his messenger crow. “Bishirm, go and inform King Asjbørn that his sixth battalion has returned with the immortals without any casualties." The crow cawed obediently and took off in a glimpse. “I am surprised to are still that quick Elder," said Anjir. “Still not as quick as you, my responsible and only remaining foreseer." “Your words do humble me. But I wouldn't have been the only remaining foreseer if only we would have been decisive beforehand... If only—” “I do think that there are more pressing issues that need to be dealt with right now, young man." The Elder interrupted. “Prepare the Alter of Odin. I will unbind, bind, and rebound the immortals there. Bring me one sacrificial dagger for each immortal. Once freed from the bound of the labyrinth, kill them and let them reincarnate one by one and send them to me at the town square. I will asses each one personally myself." “As thy name will!” said the council guards as they left to execute their orders.
“What will become of those who you deem unfit to roam freely among the land of the living?" Fryy asked The Elder. “Let us pray to Odin that no such individual is found... We need every pair of hands capable of wielding a sword or throwing an axe to help us if we want the slimmest of the chance of winning this battle." The Elder told Fryy in a dreadful tone. “Elder, where will you send these immortals?" Anjir asked. “To the south, under your watchful bliss. The abandoned lands of Hiem, we will let the immortals make it their home." “Hiem? But that land bears the curse of Infertility” Anjir further inquired. “I am quite aware. Do not worry, for immortals are strong creations of nature. They naturally resist curses. The curse of Infertility won't affect them." “Pardon my intrusion Elder, but, you are not letting them stay together, right? They might conspire against us and kill us. And if they decided to join forces, we won't be able to stand one light cycle.” Fryy implored. “Yes, I am quite aware of that possibility as well. The council has decided that the immortals will not be allowed to form guilds or clans. They will only be allowed in families consisting upwards of four members each." The Elder replied. “That is insane, they would not grow strong! How do you think will they learn to coordinate in battles?" Anjir asked Elder, expressing his satisfaction with the decision. “Anjir, Fryy, Marid. Go inside the chamber hall. I have something I would like to discuss. But first I need to set the immortals free.” The Elder told them, ignoring Anjir's question. “As your will!" Said Marid and Fryy as they bowed in respect; Anjir stood there watching them bow, looked at The Elder and left for the chambers.
Several hours passed by without any message from the elder. “I still think that the treatment we are giving the immortals is unjust. They are our beacons of hope, we need their help them why do they have to suffer and be restricted?" Said Anjir. “That is because an immortal is not on unnatural, it is also frightening. If a single immortal, the weakest one even, decided that he will destroy the world, there would be nothing we can do to prevent it. He will slash us and we will die, we will slash him but he will be back again slashing at us.” Fryy argued. ”Letting fear make decisions, let me ask you, is it not possible that you tomorrow decide to kill your entire battalion so you poison their food? If that is a possibility, why do you still lead them?" “That is because they trust me." “And why do they trust you?" “Because they know me. They know I care for them. They know I won't harm them." “Exactly. And the reason why they know you is that you spent time with them. Your actions told them you cared. Your words told them you cared. But immortals were never given a chance to interact, why do you think they will be evil?" “Because immortality is unnatural!" “So are we! I am too powerful for someone at my age and you are too powerful from the perspective of normal folks!" The two continued arguing while Marid sat there waiting for his loyal familiar crow to return. Several more arguments later, the guards suddenly came in. The two guards took a stance over both sides of the door.
Subsequently, eight men came in and sat around the table in the hall. The Elder followed and joined them shortly. “I see we are missing two. They will be joining us shortly though. We will start then," The Elder announced. “Pardon thy name, but your messenger Marid has a request if your will," Marid stood up and told. He continued “Bishirm has not returned from Asjbørn yet. He never takes this long. Something must have happened, I must leave to find him." He finished. “My dear messenger Marid, you need not worry about Bishimr, for he is in safe hands." As the Elder finished his sentence, the guards opened the doors and a huge figure entered the hall. He was wearing the plate armour covered with shining gold plates, the legendary armour of Gidolff upon it. It was Aloisa, the leader of the army of Asjbørn, Aloisa Asjbørn. Everybody stood up in a rush and bowed in his presence. Bishimr followed soon after. “Asjbørn my friend. I am grateful to you for coming here.” Asjbørn kneeled and said, “As your will thy name,” and took a chair for himself. “I wasn't knowing commander Asjbørn was coming... Who is protecting the towns of Bringnur now?" Fryy whispered in the ears of Anjir. “I don't know... Do you recognize these people?" Anjir replied. “I know that person, the one with red hair and red cape. He is Sigurd, one of the best swordsmen and archers. He was always with the duke of Napalm," Fryy told Anjir while pointing at a slim, tall fellow.
“Our last guest won't be coming for a while as it seems. We have no time. The first of the freed immortal will be arriving here shortly. I have dire news, hence I beckoned all of you here today. Our worst fears have manifested themselves in the world of the living... We have indeed confirmed that Hel's army is having the capability of infinite engendering... No matter how many of these dammed monsters we kill, more of them will come. The only reason we are not overrun yet is, I presume, because the army of Hel hasn't yet successfully manifested itself in the world of the living yet. But when that happens, we all will die for sure. We need to prevent Hel before that happens." Everyone in the hall exchanged nervous looks and chatter with each other. “But there is still hope. Infinite generation can be tackled with infinite reincarnation. Truth to be told, we are nothing in comparison to these enormous forces of nature. We have no power over them and completely utterly rely on their mercy. If immortals refuse to help us or turn against us, we are doomed. Our survival depends upon us letting the immortals help us. I called you all here to aid me in this battle to win immortals. If we fail here, we die. If we don't, we might not. I know most of you here are novices who lost their master and had to replace them with incomplete and improper training, but you all will have to take responsibility for the sake of all things living.”
The men that were sitting at the table were all apprentices or ranks lower than kings and dukes, but all kings and dukes died while fighting or running from the forces of Hel. Anjir and Fryy, unaware that the destruction was this widespread, were struck with lightning upon this revelation. “Bri, novtra, bllal... Are all dead?" Fryy thought with teary eyes.
The briefing went on for several more hours. The previous day became the next day. As the new dawn dawned and the briefing ended, the first of the immortal of was pierced using the sacrificial dagger and reincarnated back to his senses. Only time will tell whether an aberration was liberated or the aberration itself was liberated...
