Elysium

 

Valhalla

 

“Damn…”

Charlie was mesmerized by the beautiful greenery and flowers that Valhalla held. Valhalla was all one big plain with many different flowers of many different colors, planted by Freya and some of the other Norse deities. Her favorite flower was lavender and that was the one seen the most.

They had rode in Freya’s chariot pulled by Bygul and Trjegul and currently were waiting for Freyr in a big field outside one of the main hubs of Valhalla.

Valhalla housed the Norse deities and what appeared to be other humans. These humans all wore the traditional Norse armor that Freya wore. They were all having a good time partying, feasting, and playing music.

“Lady Freya, why are there humans here?” Charlie asked. During their journey here they passed other deity islands. Charlie knew the humans here were an exception.

“These are my noble einherjar, souls hand-picked by me or Warden Odin to be a part of our army. They are also your allies.”

Charlie was confused even more. Allies? That’s when he saw Freya’s face sink as if she had forgotten to tell Charlie something.

“Oh… that’s right, I never told or sent this information either. Charlie… do you think you're alive right now?”

That was a strange question. Charlie didn’t feel different, he felt exactly the same as he always had.

Freya clasped her hands together and pointed them at Charlie. “Sooooo, I can’t bring people back from the dead, well not in the traditional way.”

Charlie raised his eyebrow in worry. “So when you died, I had one of my einherjar take your place. Warden Odin was really mad at me for that.” She nervously laughed.

“Someone took my placed? Lady Freya, please just tell me what happened!” Charlie said.

“I switched your position okay!? That einherjar went back into the cycle of reincarnation and death for you. And now you're here as one of my noble einherjar.”

Charlie fell to his knees. “Someone died in my place?” Charlie’s eyes started to water, he was a burden to someone he didn’t even know. “Wait so what’s going to happen to me after the Tryfing? Will I not be able to go home?”

“I mean this is your home…now.” Freya raised her arms up for emphasis. “I’m sorry, Charlie, this was all I could do. One of the commandments for the Tryfing is that the retainers need to be humans, so I couldn’t use one of the einherjar. The loophole was that you were technically still human when me and Damaris found you.”

Charlie looked up at Freya. “What about the einherjar? Will they be okay?”

Freya smiled at the young man. It surprised her that Charlie even cared about the einherjar at all. “He going to hang around the underworld and eventually go back to Earth, live a life, and then, when he dies he will return to Valhalla and be celebrated as a grand hero. I promise you.”

Charlie let out a sigh of relief; at least the soul that took his place would get something out of this horrible position it had accepted. “Can you promise me that I could at least return to Earth and say bye to my family once the Tryfing is over?”

Freya walked to Charlie and bent down, grabbing his hand. She did a common human gesture that she and Freyr taught the humans.

“I promise, Charlie.” She grabbed his pinky with her pinky. The two smiled at each and then Charlie furrowed his brow at the ancient deity.

“Can you please not leave any more details out?” Charlie scolded her like a parent would a child. It was at that moment that Charlie noticed a blue crescent moon insignia on her arm’s armor plate.

She noticed him staring at the symbol and took it as an opportunity to change the subject. “That’s the insignia of my einherjar faction, the blue moon.” She traced her finger over Charlie's shirt and the insignia appeared on his shirt where his heart was.

“You are my retainer and my de facto leader of the blue moons,” she proudly exclaimed.

Charlie again furrowed his brow at Freya. “Sounds like I’m taking a position away from someone else that deserves it more. I still haven’t learned anything yet.” Charlie sighed and then his eyes caught the two figures that had appeared while they were talking.

“That’s where I come in,” the masculine voice said. The deity looked exactly like Freya, just with shorter and spiked hair. He wore Norse armor with fur around his neck. Next to him was an angel, which was Charlie’s appointed guardian angel.

“Charlie this is my twin brother, Freyr. He’s in charge of the red sun faction and he also trains all einherjar in combat,” Freya said. She had walked to her chariot and laid down on it and closed her eye. “Okay bro, he’s all yours.” She then snapped her fingers and a half eaten bag of chips appeared out of thin air. They were called “Athena’s BBQ Crisp Chips”.

Freyr shook his head in embarrassment and disappointment. “Lazy bum, can you at least put up the time field around Valhalla?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she muttered in between bites. She whispered out a few magically incantations and moved her fingers at the same time, then she snapped her fingers twice. A dome of energy came around Valhalla, this was a time dome much like what the deities had been doing on Earth.

Instead of freezing time, this dome slowed it down. Jopheil the angel floated towards Charlie, holding a small chest that he presented to Charlie.

“This.. this is your retainer bracer! Wear this at all times. It will be invisible to everyone else until the starting year of the Tryfing,” Jopheil explained nervously. “You can set the primary color you want once you have it on. I don’t think the other retainers have gotten their bracelets yet, the other angels just finished them an hour ago…So we made sure you got it first, so you can call dibs on any color you want.”

Charlie grabbed the bracer from the small chest and thanked the angel. Jopheil's face turned red. ''Yo… You're welcome! Charlie,” he shouted and then quickly floated away. Charlie stood in confusion, something that had been a common occurrence since he entered Elysium.

Watching the whole exchange unfold, Freya erupted into a laughing fit in her chariot. Freyr was trying his best to be a professional and respectful deity but was also holding in a laugh that wanted to burst out, which it did after he heard his twin sister laughing uncontrollably.

Charlie was not amused and looked annoyed at the twins. “It feels like I've only been bullied and kept out of the loop the whole time I've been here.” The two were still laughing, Freya was even wiping tears from her eyes. “Sorry, Charlie, it’s just some of the angels and deities told us how cute they think you are and started a fan club to support you,” Freya said.

“Yeah, Jopheil is one of them and he was being shy about talking to you and giving you the bracer. He asked me to give it to you but I forced him to do it instead,” Freyr chimed in, grinning devilishly at the embarrassed angel.

“HEY!” Jophiel screamed from a tree far away from the group. Charlie looked at the three divine beings arguing and laughing with each other, he was used to being called cute at this point and it didn’t bother him anymore like in his youth.

It did surprise him though that divine beings like deities and angels had taste for feminine looking men like him. Charlie had been feeling out of place for a while, not just in Elysium but even back on Earth. Hearing that he had his own fan club that wanted him to win (despite the fact that he secretly was trying to not win) and cheer him on, eased his soul.

“The old Charlie was the person who felt like he wasn't good enough,” he thought. “I already made the first step, now it’s time to be the Charlie I want to be!” Charlie felt his soul throb throughout his body, it was a strange sensation. Did he feel that because he was in Elysium? Or because he was an einherjar now?

Either way, he’d just ask Freya about it later. He decided to look at the hiding angel and give him a warm smile. “Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it. I'll do my best, for you and the other members of the fan club.”

Jopheil’s heart popped and his eyes turned white. As he fell to the floor, an angelic choir started to sing around him in remorse as his soul started to leave his body and started to slowly ascend into the eternal oblivion. The twins stopped laughing and both panicked

“HOLY SHIT!” they simultaneously shouted. “FREYR DO SOMETHING!” Freya screamed out. She jumped out of her chariot but her foot tripped over a part of it and her face landed onto the ground. Her body stopped moving after that.

Freyr wanted to help his sister but Jopheil's soul was quickly vanishing. He chose to save Jopheil and dashed as fast as he could. Charlie couldn’t believe how fast he dashed to the tree Jopheil was at.

Grabbing the soul of the angel he placed it back into the angel's chest and it looked like he was performing CPR as he pushed the soul back into the body with each chest compression he gave.

“DON'T YOU DIE ON ME JOPHEIL!” Freyr shouted.

“Mmrghh, Freeyrr wheeerre are youuu? I.. neeeed.. help.” Freya, who was still face planted near her chariot, murmured out.

“I…didn’t think I was that cute.” Charlie stood dumbfounded at the strange events happening around him.

 

3rd Tryfing

 

Official judge: Heroic Greek deity, Achilles.

Support judge: Angel, Damaris.

 

Chosen deities:

Ra: Demi-God: Darren Donaldson

Lugh: Knight: Ariel Morales

Zhong Kui: Exorcist: Audrey Rhodes

Inari: Polymath: Kento Sanosuke

Freya: Assassin: Charlie Wilson

Nuada: Conqueror: João Machado

Minerva: Tactician ???

Team Arc-Angel: Hero Luther Satenly

Fantasia world: The world known as Helioan

Starting year: not yet decided.

24:42:56