Elysium

Outside Ra’s War room

As Ra stood in the hallway he contemplated what to say to the young warden. Osiris fidgeted in place, she couldn’t handle the silence any longer.

“Lord Ra, you have to understand I was just curious! I wanted to see if the humans could really do it! If one of the angels or a deity finds out—”

Ra put his index finger near her lips. She grew a bit red in the face from the sudden exchange. “Have you told anyone else?”

The warden shook her head from side to side. “I only told my mummies that I knew his soul,” she blurted out quickly.

Ra sighed. “Make sure they are trustworthy, and if you don’t believe they are… kill them.”

Osiris didn’t say anything in response. Ra folded his arms and kept thinking and processing the information he hadjust been given. He didn’t look angry, like he would usually, so to Osiris that was a good sign.

“Lord Ra, I… please don’t rat me out! It took a lot of work for me to get to this point after warden Anbius left Elysium with the other dissenter deities! Everyone finally trusts me!” Ra could see the frustration on Osiris’s face.

“Anbius is no warden any more. You are,” Ra said with vitriol. Osiris could feel the hatred that Ra felt for Anbius from his tone and the flames that appeared shooting out of his body.

“I won’t say anything, I’ll handle Darren,” Ra exclaimed.

Osiris eyes opened wide with surprise “Wait, you're still going to use him as your retainer? He’s unstable! His soul is completely messed up, just wait—”

“I’ll. Handle. Your. Mess.” Ra spoke this in the ancient dialect of the Egyptian deities, one that they only used to speak their true names, given by God, to one another. To speak in this dialect showed Osiris just how strong Ra's conviction was on this matter.

“Yes, my lord,” she replied in the dialect as well.

“Keep low, if anyone were to find out the truth of your little science experiment, they WILL tell a Judicator. You don’t want Metatron to come to Elysium.

That name added to her already fear-stuck face. “No… not him.” She started to sweat profusely, damping her bandages and causing them to start to unravel.

“Be safe, Osiris, for no—“

The door opened quickly and forcefully, interrupting Ra who looked incredibly annoyed at being interrupted.

Darren stood at the door with Muriel trying to hold him back. “Hey, Ra, are you done yet, you left me at the best part of the—”

He stopped speaking and stared at the feminine figure on the other side of Ra, he took two seconds before he snapped his fingers at her “I know you!”

“YOU DO?!” Osiris sweated even more as she thought about her punishment: would she lose her warden position? Would they simply just execute her?

“Yeah, you’re Osiris! Ra told me how that traitor Anbius left his position and how you bravely stepped up to fill it in. Honestly, I agree with Ra, fuck that guy.”

Darren had a crazy smile and eyes of appreciation for the warden. Osiris looked at Ra with worry in her eyes. “You told him about me and our Egyptian kin?” She looked perplexed.

Ra’s beak turned red and the flames in his body started to die out, he was becoming quite bashful again. “He wanted to learn about our history and made a good point that it could help in the Tryfing.” He coughed at the end, trying to hide the red in his face.

Osiris couldn’t believe it. Ra the legendary egotistical Egyptian deity, the one who faced Lucifer and survived, the pharaoh of all Egyptians deities, the deity that still hated humans… had taken a liking to the young human.

And not just any human, it was the human that would lead to her extinction if anyone found out what she did… what she allowed.

That’s why he said he’ll handle it, she thought. Her whole world that she had built up by working her ass off had started to crumble before her. She started to feel woozy, her body started to wobble and the bandages around her face and parts of her body started to unravel even faster with the stress.

“There’s no way this ends well for me, I should just go back to sleep,” she muttered as she fainted onto the floor.

“What did you do, Ra? Don’t tell me you tried to kiss her or something,” Darren said as he laughed at his deity.

“WHAT?! Shut up, child. Muriel please help me bring her to her office. AND STOP LAUGHING DARREN!” Ra shouted.

///

Elysium

Valhalla

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

In the corners of Charlie's eyes he could see red flashing as if something was warning him that danger was imminent.

Well, it was. Freyr had dashed towards Charlie about to one-hand swing his great sword at him. Of course danger was approaching.

Charlie stood unable to move, all he thought about was that he was going to die… again!

“CHARLIE!”

A voice screamed in his mind. It was a feminine voice he knew all too well at this point of his journey. “Lady Freya?”

“After you put the bracer on, you’re officially my retainer, we are connected and my powers are yours. Summon my weapon, say my noble name!”

Freyr’s speed was incredible to the normal person; they could have blinked and been dead before they even thought about opening their eyes. But Charlie was now a true retainer, embedded with the soul of his deity, connected as one. He just needed to believe and activate that link.

As he stared at the deity rushing towards him, he saw colors in brighter ways, in ways that humans could only dream. He was looking at the world through the eyes of a deity. No… he had the eyes of a deity now. He crossed his arms in front of face, ready to block Freyr’s attack.

“Say my noble name, summon my weapon.”

Those words rung out again, loud in his mind, he knew what the words were because of the information transfer. He just hadn’t needed to say them until now. He opened his palms just as Freyr arrived in front of him, swinging his sword with one arm.

“The noble name given to me by God!”

“AD-VEN-TO, THE LADY OF SEIDR!”

As Charlie yelled Freya's noble name, an afterimage of Freya floated behind him in the same pose he was in. This image of Freya fused with him in seconds. It didn’t change his appearance, only that he truly felt as if he was Freya, and Freya was him.

He telepathically called the name of Freya’s weapon, Twin Summer. The blades appear upside down in Charlie's hands, also forming an X-shape, just as Freyr made contact with Charlie.

The two weapons clashed together forcefully. Unfortunately for Charlie, he wasn’t completely ready for the attack and was knocked back a few meters.

He was able to get his footing immediately and slipped back to a stop. As he stood up, Twin Summer glistened in his hands. The blades were made of gold, while the hilt was of ivory with white handles. It felt like the blades belonged in his hands.

“Good job, Charlie. This is the only spell I’m giving to you right now. Show me what you can do with your back against the wall,” his deity demanded.

A new screen appeared out of the bracer; he quickly read it while he ran forward to his opponent.

Aldrnari: Place a sigil on any object, person, place, or thing. Then activate the spell with the word “blæst”, causing an explosion. The damage is based on how close you are, the size of the object. Etc.

“Got i—”

While Charlie was about to respond to Freya, Freyr had closed the distance and was mid down swing. Charlie jumped to the right dodging the attack that smashed the ground around them. Charlie bent down and kicked the ground with both feet, launching himself towards Freyr. He twirled the blade in his right hand and struck at Freyr. Charlie’s face showed anger that he had never felt before.

He zigzagged and jumped left to right and left again. He cut Freyr in his chest and face with that speed volley. Small cuts appeared, dripping deity blood.

Charlie finished his barrage and landed behind Freyr to the right of him, right behind Freyr's great sword which was currently stuck in the ground.

Charlie had no chance to reposition himself, his senses started to go wild in his mind, as Freyr swung his sword backwards towards Charlie using his right arm.

Charlie couldn’t believe how flexible Freyr was, the raw strength to hold the blade in one hand and swing backwards, without actually turning his head or his entire body! His battle sense is incredible, Charlie thought. Still even though he praised and respected Freyr, Charlie’s anger grew at the Norse deity.

“Hey, don’t praise him that much!” Freya shouted in Charlie's mind.

Charlie had no time to bicker with his deity, or to dodge the sudden attack. He could feel the speed and force of the blade from where he stood. Rocks from the ground, where Freyr’s Summer's Edge had stuck, flew all around Charlie as Freyr swung his sword backwards.

His eyes widened; a plan had formed. He twirled his right sword and used it to defend himself from the swing. He de-summoned his left sword, and at the moment of impact, he reached out his left hand with his index finger.

“Aldrnari!”

It was difficult for him to say as Freyr swung hit his guard, he was able to mutter it out and form a sigil of Freya on one of the flying rocks (well… it was more of a pebble). He just couldn’t reach out to grab it, he was in the process of being flung once again by the might of the Norse twin deity.

Instead, he reached out as far as he could, made an okay hand sign with his middle finger and thumb, and flicked the sigil pebble in the direction of Freyr. To Charlie it felt like the sword swing didn’t just hit him and sent him flying, it felt as if he was being dragged back by the force of the swing! Freyr started to get further away, ever so slightly.

As Freyr turned his head to see Charlie, the pebble tapped Freyr on his temple. He gave a confused look and then saw Charlie extend his left palm out to him. “Blæst!” At the same moment Charlie shouted the command, he made a fist and rotated that fist to face the sky. Freyr only saw the sigil light up at the last moment; his face looked annoyed as the pebble exploded and pushed him to one knee.

For the third time in this battle Charlie slid on to the ground, tumbling a few times before being able to get on his knees. His left arm had broken and started to bleed; it hurt like hell. He had never broken an arm before in his life and this wasn’t a normal break. The break was caused by a celestial being. As he bit his lip to hold in the pain, tears fell down his face. In this moment he felt like a true warrior.

The whole fight he didn’t understand why he was mad at Freyr. At first, he thought it was because he attacked him out of nowhere. As the battle kept going he slowly started to understand where his anger was coming from; his einherjer warrior soul told him exactly why, and the voice of static he had heard before roared in his mind to cement that reason.

“Y…ou can’t…be happy…with this! He’s… going… easy…on...you!”

As Freyr poured his ather into his blade, a light red aura resonated around the golden blade. He made another mad dash towards Charlie, who was still on his knees. He noticed that his body was slowly healing itself. But the healing wouldn't be finished in time once Freyr appeared.

He made sigils on the rocks around him and started to throw them at Freyr using his newly high STR stat and Assassin role abilities he was able to precisely pinpoint Freyr from far away. As Freyr ran, he slashed two of the first rocks thrown before Charlie could yell the command. “Blæst!” The third rock exploded in front of Freyr’s face, who just tanked the explosion.

It slowed him down for two seconds before he ran even faster. With the last two rocks, Freyr did the unthinkable. He let go of his sword, grabbed the rocks with his right hand, and twirled his body, as if he was pitching a low baseball ball or throwing a bowling ball.

All of this within seconds as Charlie mouthed the words to activate the spell. “Blæs—” He tried to stop himself by covering his mouth with his good arm but it was already too late. Freyr had thrown the rocks with such strength and speed that they hit Charlie in his chest at the same moment the spell would explode.

As the dust and smoke started to clear around Charlie, the lone young man tried his best to get up. He was battered by the explosion, parts of his clothes were torn, and whatever healing that his broken arm had was reset back to zero.

“No more… this is too much.” He tried to yell out but his voice didn’t let him. The pain caused him to whimper and whisper. He was finally able to place his left foot on the ground and tried to use it to push himself up, as he tried to do that his deity yelled in his mind.

“CHARLIE GET OUT OF THERE!”

As the smoke cleared a monstrous god of war ascended from the smoke in front of Charlie, his eyes had red streaks of ather radiating off of them. He was mid-swing and in mid-motion, about to strike down at Charlie for the last time.

Charlie was never going to win, he knew that. It had nothing to do with confidence or believing in himself. This was his first real fight, his first real time accepting Freya’s power, yet… he was still angry for some reason. As he looked up to see Freyr, his eyes darted to the deity's right hand, as he held the sword with that one hand.

“How can you… expect…to… be… stronger… if… he’s… going… easy on you?”

Again the static voice rang in his mind, and the cause of his anger had finally dawned on him. He used his remaining strength and grabbed his left broken arm and pushed it up, as if he had an invisible shield. He screamed a blood curdling scream at Freyr, one that surprised every soul in Valhalla… one that was felt by every soul in Valhalla.

“HOW CAN I MAKE FREYA’S GOALS COME TRUE IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO GO EASY ON ME!!!!!!”

Freya was worried the entire time, she was scared that this battle would demoralize her retainer who already had a weak spirit. But in this moment, she knew that the words Charlie had said to her and Achilles were true. He wanted to change and be better, to be a retainer that she deserved.

But she didn’t know what he was going to do, he wasn’t telling her his plan, he wasn’t even thinking about anything when he screamed just now. As Freyr heard those words, a small smirk ran across his face. He moved his left hand and grabbed the handle of his great sword.

Using his entire body he two handed the red ather swirling blade and swung down with all his might.

“FREYR, NO!!!!!” Freya yelled as the impact of her brother's blade struck her retainer.

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.

23:30:04