You have leveled up!

 

Current stats are:

Name: Blake Olson

Class: Einherjar

Level: 26

XP: 1/2600

[HP]: 270/270

[Odr (Mana)]: 32/84

[Strength]: 24

[Agility]: 18

[Intelligence]: 18

[Reaction time]: 18

 

What Blake saw once he stepped into Loki’s lair made him fall to his knees in shock. But... no... He could still feel her bond. She was still there, he could swear. Was it an illusion? It had to be. That couldn’t be real.

“Allfather in heaven!” Brynhilde hissed, Blake feeling rage pulsating through her.

She must be alive... She must be…

“You’re late,” Loki said with a filthy grin, eyes sparkling. Hrymr stood behind him, grasping his ax, shock showing through his face.

“Quiet with your illusions.”

“You’re so deluded you don’t think your girl can die.”

“She can’t,” Brynhilde said through her teeth, eyes bloodshot, holding Mjölnir. “But you will!” she let out a shrill scream, Mjölnir in hand, and sped up toward Loki like a ballistic missile.

Blake infused [Odr] into [God-killer] and rushed toward Hrymr, gritting his teeth sharply.

He expected Mjölnir to throw Loki toward the wall, but Loki disappeared from view and reappeared right next to Bryn. His magic wand had turned into a curved sword, and he cut right into Brynhilde’s torso, golden blood splashing on the walls.

Alruna was getting an arrow ready... pointing it straight at Loki and losing it.

It flew like a bullet, but mid-flight, it turned around and returned toward her, Blake tried to reach it with his enhanced speed, but it sank right into Alruna’s abdomen and exploded.

Blake gasped.

“We’ll deal with him,” Bryn said through her teeth, taking a sip of [Mead of Renewal]. “You get Hrymr!”

Blake nodded, speeding up before Hrymr flew through the staircase.

Blake was an instant from reaching Hrymr, spear forward, at the ready. Then, in the blink of an eye, he didn’t see Hrymr, but Loki, standing in front of him. Blake braced, leaning backward, just as he felt a cut through his stomach.

[HP: -134]

[HP: 136]

Blinking once again, Loki was standing in front of him. Blake felt [God-killer] shift and move itself, becoming soft in his hand. Turning around, Blake found a rattlesnake in his hand instead; he dropped it, just as it attacked. Blake tried to dodge, but felt another stab through his back. Who had done it? Looking around, he wasn’t in that compound in Iceland anymore.

Another blade pierced through his back.

Brynhilde’s scream echoed next to him.

“Do you honestly believe you can defeat me?” said Loki’s voice.

Blake turned, and to his shock, Alruna was also on her knees. A slash had cut through his stomach, and blood poured out wildly.

“No!” Blake shouted, infusing [Odr] into Hresvelgr’s belt. Once again, time slowed down to a minimum, the room around him became as still as a painting, Brynhilde shouting and charging, Mjölnir in her hand, a current of electrical energy freezing in time.

“Don’t make me laugh,” said a voice that sent a chill down his spine. Blake turned, seeing Loki step toward him, but only he moved while the world around Blake had stopped.

 

***

 

Eir felt a million hands grab hold of her, invisible hands like voices echoing around her during a fever dream.

“Eir!” Baldur’s voice.

“I’m coming, my brother,” she cried to the four winds, her eyes gazing over a vast white sea that seemed like tiny seeds encapsuled in liquid. Everything around him was pale, like a fading moon: gray sky and white... grass, or something that spread from below. Sometimes it called to her. She fell to her knees, finding herself naked, turning around, searching for her brother.

“Eir, go back! Get out of here. You shouldn’t be here!” her brother’s words rang clear in her mind.

“Blake,” she said to herself, in shock. She looked up, toward where she had just been. Instead of the sun, there was... something, a black... light, an anti-sun, that swallowed all other light within it. She had to go back there. The urgency in Baldur’s voice was clear. In an instant, she became aware of the danger that she faced. Yes, the awareness that linked her to Midgard was fading with every passing second. If she didn’t return, she’d die and be trapped in that realm forever.

“Eir,” said his voice, and she turned around, her heart skipping a beat when she saw his face: eyes as blue as sapphire, a face as white as marble, and hair like wool.

“Baldur,” she said, tears stinging the edges of her eyes. “Brother!” she cried with joy and pain.

“Eir, we have to get out of here!” he answered, grabbing her hand. “Only you can do it. I’m a prisoner here. But you can...”

“Brother,” Eir said, tears now streaming down her face like a waterfall. She’d never thought she’d meet him again after so long. He was like an angel, like life itself coming back. Hope coming back. She nodded, reaching for his hand and gliding upward.

And then, another voice, one from her nightmares, a childish, female voice that gave her goosebumps.

“It’s peaceful in here, isn’t it?” Hel said.

The sea of souls churned, raising up toward her. A shock of discomfort echoed in her as the heavens above took shape, coalescing into a single figure with long dark hair, wide hips wrapped in white linen.

She rose above Eir, in the flesh, pale skin and red pupils, stretching forth her hand and holding her. Eir noticed a red jewel burning in her chest, like fiery amber in a dark night. Before, it had looked like a blank spot in the middle of her shadow.

“Stay here,” Hel said, holding Eir’s arms together. “Stay here and live with me.”

“Let me go,” Eir replied, pulling her hands free. Baldur stood behind her.

“My prince,” Hel addressed Baldur. “Don’t let her go. Tell her the truth. Tell her that all of the world will come here. And they will be at peace. Show her how peaceful it is.”

“No!” Eir said.

“Hel,” Baldur said to her. “Let us go. I’ve been here for too long, and you promised I could leave.”

“Don’t you leave me!” Hel shouted, suddenly exploding in anger. “My father gave me to you to rule this world. Understand, once and for all, my love, that you are here to become part of me.”

“You are not my love, Hel. Now I warn you, we’re leaving. We’ll leave this realm to you, so don’t stop us.”

She grabbed Eir’s hand and flew upward, avoiding Hel’s massive shape.

“What’s all that?” Eir said, looking down at the sea, how every drop seemed to be divided.”

“Then see,” Hel said, appearing again, holding on to Eir’s neck. “These are souls. Men, women, beasts, gods. After their time on Midgard, their souls inevitably come here, to the sea of souls. They become one with the sea.”

“So... they just forget who they were?”

“Almost, they swim with the sea, and they stay here. You will all come here one day. My father promised. And I will make a beautiful place. See their memories... They’re away from the sea, they’re preserved for us to look at, but the souls don’t have access to them. I want to join them all together! All memories, all souls!”

“What’s this place?” Eir asked, raising her voice. “There’s nothing here! There’s no peace, no war, it’s just... Nothing. How can one live like this.”

“Don’t you hear them? Don’t you hear them call? They just are, without pain, without sorrow... Without joy that fades away. But once, we will share it all, you and Baldur can change it, he can make us all become the sea, and then... We will share all our dreams, all our desires. You can finally melt us together. Then we will all be together... We will never be lonely again.”

“So then, there will be no you, no me...”

“But we can see them, we can know their dreams, we can know their lives. How do you think we spend our time here? They let Baldur keep his memories, keep a memory of who he was. But one day, he too will let go, he will merge with the sea, and be just one ocean of consciousness. All in perfect... nothingness, all in perfect all. All of us, one continuous dream.”

“You’re crazy. Baldur, come on, we must go.”

Hel’s eyes immediately shifted, turning like burning flames emerging from her eye sockets.

“No! You came all the way here! Help me! Odin gave you the power to change things, to heal... Heal this world.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I have things to do. Come on.”

Baldur held her hand. “Hel, my time has come. This is my duty.”

“But all the time we spent, Baldur, talking about humanity, dreaming what they dreamed...”

“I have always made it clear that I don’t agree with you. I’ve tried to change the way you see things.” He looked at Eir. “Let’s go.”

Her brother wanted to be free. He desperately yearned to return.

“Eir, you have the power of Odin, to take life, to create. If we flee, I can take form again.”

“Really?” She said, a wide smile on her lips.

”I carry memories and Odin’s authority on Earth would still return to me! With your power and mine, I can incarnate too.”

She nodded, then felt for the fading connection that linked her to Midgard.

She flew upward, as in a lucid dream, she and her brother ascending toward a black light that engulfed everything.

“So this is the fate of souls who die?”

“In a way” Baldur replied. “There are ways... There are magics that help souls be freed from the sea, return, and take bodies again. When warriors die, you took their souls before they came here, you repaired their bodies, perfected them, and bound them together... Maybe it’s too late for these. But... they can be born again.”

“Odin’s spear... It carved reality, it made the rules.”

“And some magics can be done to make these people be born again. Reincarnate.”

And she had a feeling, a suspicion.

“So... Gods, a god has been freed from the river of Hel and taken a human body.”

“A body that was prepared for him.”

Baldur nodded.

“Blake,” Eir said. She tried not to feel the shock. This knowledge seemed overwhelming. What could he do if humanity were to perish in Ragnarok? She had a source of souls that could never die, but no memories. Could a cycle of reincarnation just continue forever?

Or was there a way for Odin to change the rules again, to make them all resurrect?

“Where are their memories?”

Baldur revealed the content of his other hand. Eir noticed a white blade of grass.

“This is Thor’s memories. It’s for your husband.”

“You know it all?”

“Hel tells me everything.”

“Fine,” said Hel, in their ears. “You have chosen your fate.”

Eir looked back.

“Goodbye, Hel,” Baldur said.

And then, Eir felt a hand grasping her ankle. She looked down, noticing Hel’s eerie figure, her red eyes, and her smile.

“Oh, no,” Baldur said reaching down to kick her hand away. “Hel, don’t do that.”

“I’ll come with you, then, you won’t stop me,” she replied.

“Get out of here, Hel. For your friendship with me, you can’t do that!”

The glow in her chest seemed to grow even greater.

“Why are you even carrying that?”

“Then, it is fate that you, my darling, my sweet sister-in-law, will be the one who will fill my kingdom.”

Baldur threw himself down, holding on to Hel and pulling her hand from Eir, both dropping into the abyss.

“Baldur!” Eir shouted, going down, reaching for him.

“You cannot let her into our world!” Baldur shouted, Hel’s arms multiplying, like a spider, holding on to him and flying toward Eir. He pulled each of her arms away.

“But I need you,” Eir said, expanding her mind and grabbing Baldur again, reaching up, while he fought to keep her away. Baldur headbutted Hel.

“My love! Why do you do this to me!” Hel screamed in utter agony.

“I’m not your love!” Baldur shouted, finally free of her. Eir reached for his hand and pulled him up. She had to bring him back. The prophecy had to be fulfilled. And her brother would be with her again!

“I’m almost reaching!” Eir said, feeling her connection to Midgard become stronger, like the moments between sleep and wakefulness.

Hel was down below.

“Watch her!” Baldur said. “Don’t let her come to Midgard. If she pierces the realms, it’ll be too late...”

“Why?” Eir asked.

“She carries a doorway on her chest.”

“Huh?”

Eir felt the reality of Midgard coalesce in front of her.

“If I see her, I’ll push her away...” Eir said gently.

And then, Eir felt Hel’s cold breath behind her ear.

“I’m here.”

Eir opened her eyes slowly, facing a bright overhead light and the sound of battle.