Chapter 18: Chapter 17
I'm cold. I'm tired. And I'm about to risk my life because of a preteen's daddy issues.
"Oh Poe," The readers say, "Isn't being in another world awesome?" I'd strangle you all, if I could.
I let out a short huff, which fills the air once more with a white cloud like steam from a boiling pot. Forgive the hostility readers, I'm not in the greatest of moods to be fighting an ancient guardian of a cursed blade. Actually, in all fairness, I don't think there is a good mood to be in when fighting an ancient guardian of a cursed blade.
We've finally entered the part of the trail which has been snowed over, the thick sludge giving way under our shoes but leaving the imprint of our steps.
In contrast to my poor mood, Lilith seems cheery, and Yuki seems resolute. She breaks the silence between us, as we march further upwards. "Should we have a plan for this battle?"
A good question. Lilith turns to me with expectant eyes. I raise an eyebrow at the sudden burden of being the planner, but it's what I've been doing throughout the duration of our trip anyways. "I don't know. I don't have half of enough information for a decent plan. I know what we're fighting is immune to Yuki's frost attacks, and it's a spirit made from the echoes of fire, ice, and hail."
"Snow." Yuki corrects me, and I sigh.
"Pretty much all the same. I'd expect a brutal fight against something with power similar to Yuki's frost stuff."
"The Frost family bloodline magic, Absolute-"
"Yeah, the ice stuff."
She glares at me, but I don't have the energy to fight with her anymore than this. "I'd say it's probably best to separate, so that it can't hit all of us at once, have Lilith in the frontline to deal damage, you in the back to support or interrupt it with ice, and I'll be in the middle to draw attention and support Lilith."
Yuki's eyes widened. "That's…actually rather reasonable."
I do have a whole 18 year advantage on all of them. I've also played my fair share of video games.
There is one worry I have, and that's that we have no way of hurting this thing. If Lilith's fists can't get through, and Yuki's ice is useless, well, I only have one way of attacking. [Black Fire]. I still don't fully understand what it means to burn up my soul while using it, but, I don't particularly want to find out if I'm being honest.
I'd save it for a last resort.
Not that I even know how to do it, but, you know, what's the point of being in a book if I can't even get midfight powerups? Hell, maybe I'll have a flashback and everything.
Wishful thinking, but, I've got little else I can do at this point besides wish.
The trail we've been following opens up ahead, as the steadily increasing steepness of our climb evens out for a small portion. Falling off the trail now might not mean death, but it would mean a very fast and very hard fall down, one which would likely end with one's ribcage or spine wrapped around a tree trunk.
Luckily, the trail's fairly wide, and all three of us can stand shoulder to shoulder without much issue.
There's a rumbling ahead of us, and the clear sky starts to fill with white specks of snow. The figure is standing in the clearing ahead of us, still obscured slightly by the flurry of snow, but I can see what looks like thick leather boots, spots of glittering metal, and a horn.
All three of us tense, and Yuki's eyes narrow intensely. She forms a blade of ice from the air, Lilith extends her hands outwards, her claws shining in the dulled sun. I awkwardly pull my hands in front of my face in a guard. I should probably get my hands on a weapon of some kind soon.
A loud voice shouts out to us, seeming to shake snow off of the ridges of the rocky mountain with the vibrations it emits. "Child of accursed Frost!" The snow around the figure slowly begins to calm, revealing more of its features. "You whose forefathers conquered my home!" The glistening metal was chainmail, peeking out underneath heavy leather armor. "You, whose soul devoid empire coveted my lands!" The red eyes peek out from underneath a metal helmet, seeming like an iron hand which grips the figure's skull from above, its fingers running down and protectively covering the neck as well. Only the red eyes are revealed from the figure's face. "You, who takes the blade despite being the gender of the protector and of the nurturer!" The horn was actually attached to the helmet, two of them on both sides of its healmed head. It raised a large, blue sheened two handed greatsword into the air, and slammed it down into the ground in front of it. "Come! Come and face your judgment! Come and face the final echo of a civilization slain by your hands! Come and feel the pain of a people forgotten!"
I…really wasn't expecting a viking to be the guardian beast. Though, the horn thing bothered me. Real vikings didn't have that, so, this guy was something like, a character based on an interpretation of a viking. But, he never appeared in the book, which raised a few questions. Was he influenced by the author, even without being included? Was he something like a discarded idea, now resurrected by my interference? Or, maybe he was a planned future encounter, which I provoked too early. That would be the absolute worst case scenario, because our party wasn't anywhere near as strong as the hero's party from the novel. If this guy was meant to be an enemy they faced later, that we were facing now, we didn't stand a chance.
Yuki let out a long, angry breath, and pulled the ice blade to her chest. I let out a huff of air, and called out to it. "We mean no trouble, guardian! We just want to free a child, whose hands are blood free, from a curse unjustly affecting a person uninvolved in your civilizations' fall!"
Yuki's eyes flicked to me, wide and half confused. What? If he can talk I'm going to at least try diplomacy. This is like walking into a high level zone and stumbling on a secret boss in a game. No way am I not going to at least try to weasel out of this.
The guardian's eyes similarly widened, and he lifted his blade up, resting it on his shoulder. "Uninvolved? Every grain of wheat she ate, every ounce of meat, were farmed from my peoples lands, hunted from our woods. How can you claim she is uninvolved!"
"Did her infant hands claim your lands? Did her, or her unborn father, or his unborn father? Were any of those people responsible?"
"They all grew fat on our pillaged valuables, they all feasted on their ancestors' conquest, should they not suffer in turn as well!?"
"To what end? What benefit is brought to the world through a young girl's suffering?"
"Remembrance of my people! Punishment for cruelty! To quell the undying anger of the spirits, laid low by mens steel!"
"And this is how you seek for your people to be remembered? As a curse, a blight? You insult her for not embracing the role of a mother or nurturer, but how could she? She can't feel warmth, yet you expect her to provide it? You've stolen an innocent being's sensations, and mock her for trying to reclaim them."
My throat was getting dry with all of the yelling, did he have to be dramatically far away for this whole exchange? He visibly huffed, his posture slightly relaxing almost, as the tension temporarily left, and he apparently settled in for a lengthy debate. You know, I was expecting him to just go, shut up and die, I wasn't actually prepared for this. My temper and poor mood gets the better of me, and I snap a little. "For the love of-! Can we at least do this in a cave or something?!"
He paused, before his eyes seemed to glitter with amusement. "Very well young Makar!" He turned his back to us. "Come." He began walking off.
Yuki grabbed my arm and spoke in a hush, through grit teeth. "What are you doing!?"
"Trying not to die cold and alone." I shake her arm off of me, and take a few deep breaths as I feel my hands shaking. Either from the cold or nerves, considering I was apparently about to have a debate with a viking to free a dukeual heir from a bloodline curse. I pause for a moment as I reflect on the utter absurdity of that thought. "Look, best case, I somehow convince him and we don't have to fight. Worse case, we fight, which was the plan already. We aren't losing anything by doing this."
Lilith hummed. "He could be leading us into a trap?"
"He's stronger than all of us, he wouldn't need to."
She shrugged. "It's really boring?"
"I'd rather be bored than dead. Now c'mon."
I shake Yuki's arm off, and start trudging after the viking, who is not waiting for us to catch up. Yuki makes a small noise. "You-! Oh for the love of-!" She trudged along after me and Lilith.
We walked for several minutes through the ice, until we finally found an entrance to a cave of some kind, which, on entering, was instantly a lot warmer. The hulking viking sat down on the stone floor. There was a flickering flame in a small stone circle in the middle, and he nodded his head at the opposite end of the fire.
I let out a sigh of relief at the fire, and sit down opposed to him. Yuki looks deeply conflicted as her opponent is in a vulnerable position, but either her sense of honor or her common sense overwhelm her impulses, and she sits down next to me. Lilith likewise sits on the other side of me, her hands in the fire, as it can't actually hurt her, and is the warmest that way.
The viking nods his head at her. "A draugr, or Gjenganger?"
"Er, [Vampiran]."
He lays his blade on his lap, and picks up a whetstone, sharpening the weapon as he hums. "I'm unfamiliar. It matters not. Introduce yourself. I shall not engage in argument without knowing whom I shall tell to fuck themselves."
I press my lips into a thin line at the comment, before sighing. "Poe. And, I assume you have a name guardian?"
"Aye. You speak to Ørnulf Hodne, The Fallen. You have challenged the ruling of the past Thing. Thus, a new Thing must be enacted."
"A…Thing?"
"You are unfamiliar. A Thing…it is…like your trials I suppose." He nods his head towards Yuki. "She stands accused, I the accuser. You are to defend her, I to further my accusations. In the prime of my civilization, a counsel would decide her guilt and punishment. However, lacking any others, I alone am both accuser and judge."
"Conflict of interest there no?"
He huffs again. "You forget this trial is an indulgence as is. Be thankful I have not simply slain you on the spot."
"Fair enough, what are your terms?"
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