Okay, so thanks to how this was done you might need a little recap. After the ordeal with Vidar, I got Freyr's sword and named it light-bringer since it didn't have a name. Because I promised to, for those of you that remember, I did in fact take gas masks to The Shroomlands of Vanaheim a week after that. Then I made a visit to Alfhiem a week or so later [see previous chapter]. I thought I was in the clear, now that I could make controlled jumps I didn't have to worry about being dragged around. I thought wrong. A month later I felt the pull and found myself being dragged into a new realm. This was the most disorienting jump since the first for two reasons: One, I wasn't expecting it; Two, it was daytime when I got transported, but once on the other side it looked like night.

It looked like one of those nights where it's a clear sky and a bright full moon is in the sky. Except it was cloudy and definitely not the time for a full moon considering other realms run on the same lunar cycle. I blinked a few times before I remembered something similar was the case in Helheim. It looked dark when I first got in. I just didn't think about it much because I didn't spend much time outside. I wondered if this was the case for all the worlds on the roots of Yggdrasil, that I'd find all of them had the sun blocked out in some way. I blinked, trying to figure out where among the root worlds I was. Looking around I noticed thick trees in the same spots as they would be in Alfheim. These trees didn't look scaly, but rather slimy. "This must be Svartlhiem." I thought out loud. I then walked to the tree that looked like it was covered in sap. I slowly put my hand on it, and despite barely pushing on it the bark under the slime cracked under my weight. My hand sunk in up to my elbow with a wet, gross, "schlick" sound. I made a sound of disgust before pulling my arm out and almost lost my lunch when I saw a hoard of maggots in thick slime came out with my hand, followed by a putrid smell.

Shortly after I pulled my hand out something came out of the hole. It looked like a centipede but it was as thick as a house cat and twice as long. I jumped back in surprise and let out a totally reasonable and manly yelp. Light-bringer reacted right away and cut the critter to ribbons. "Thanks Light-bringer."

The sword worbiled in response.

"Yeah, there's a chance someone heard that, so we should get moving."

I started to walk for a bit but then I heard a branch snap and stopped, looking around. Some elves dropped in from the dark. They looked kinda like wood elves, but with darker green or yellow skin that looked almost sickly. Many had tattoos or artful pain or scarring. They dressed in purple robes but it was a darker purple than what twilight elves wore. They pointed spears and bows at me and I put my hands up. "I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just need a place to rest before I can leave."

What I assumed was their leader stepped forward. A female, biologically around my age. "Who... What are you?"

"I'm a human, from Midgard. The name's Hunter."

A guy behind her then spoke up "We should just kill him, those from the other realms are the enemy."

"According to scripture it was the united forces of the branch worlds that went against our gods, Midgard had no part in it. In fact in chapter twelve paragraph eight-"

"There's been debate about the interpretation of that section."

"There's a chance Midgard could be an ally during the return, needlessly making enemies is foolish. We should be civil, at least for now."

The male elf that was arguing with her then whispered something to another elf and pointed to me. The eyes of the one he whispered to widened and drew his bow on me. "That sword, it belonged to Fryr [Unification], he's an enemy!"

After he shot an arrow others followed with arrows and spears. I focused on dodging as I unhooked Light-bringer. "Focus on defense, no lethal attacks. Understood?"

Light-bringer warbiled sadly, but obeyed anyway. Cutting down incoming spears and arrows.

The leader shouted "I didn't give the order to attack." Thankfully more than half the group chose not to engage. This gave me the freedom to focus on a small group. I moved around, weaving in and out, dodging any spears and arrows that got through, and systematically attacked the aggressors one by one. I would catch some spears and arrows, snapping the arrows and whacking people with the handle of spears before discarding them. It didn't take long before I had the last one by the throat.

"Go ahead and kill me." He managed to choke out, then he spat on my face.

I cleaned my face off and said "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already. You should have just listened to your leader." I then dropped him and dusted myself off before helping the injured and groaning elves back to their feet.

The leader sighed. "I'll take you to our outpost, we should hurry since night is about to fall."

I walk with the group, keeping an eye on the people that tried to attack me. The leader took this time traveling to ask questions.

"So I have to ask this but... How exactly did you get here? Has Midgard built a Bifrost?"

"Nah, I'm a bit of an unwilling Planeswalker. Some force drags me to different realms sometimes, though I can now willingly go anywhere I've been. So far other than here and Midgard I've been to Jotunheim, Vanahiem, Alfhiem, Asguard, and Helhiem."

"So I'm guessing you got the sword from Asgard."

"Yeah, King Vidar gave it to me after I won a trial by combat, saying he wanted me alive for a rematch."

"Wait.... *King* Vidar?"

"Oh, right, you've missed a few things. Odin, Thor, and Balder have been dead for at least five thousand years."

"Oh. ... I'm still trying to process the fact you were able to fight on a level close enough to Vidar to actually win a fight. Even if out of practice that's quite the feet."

I nodded. "Though I am a bit worried. With the exception of Asgard and Helhiem every realm I've seen is experiencing some kind of ecological disaster."

"So it's not just us? That's a bit of a relief."

"Not when it's possible the reason it's happening is because Midgard is basically killing itself. The people that have power on my world are literally killing the world slowly for profit, and it's possible these disasters are a ripple effect."

"Is there nothing you can do about it?"

"I mean.... Not without making things worse. I can't just kill everyone in charge and reset things. Even if I could it would simply change the problem. I could show them what they are doing is killing more than Midgard but if they don't care enough about their own world why would they care about another. If anything they would try and find a way to build a Bifrost and invade the other realms for resources. Killing the natives and strip mining the planet. Because it's not earth and the life isn't human and is outside the jurisdiction of any group that would want to protect it they could basically do anything they wanted without repercussions as there are no laws that protect the rights of sentient life from other worlds. Granted the majority of normal people would be pissed and probably revolt."

"So Midgard is run by a powerful and selfish majority while normal people who actually care are basically doormats?"

"I mean we have some amount of power in the system but it's hard to change things when the minority can't agree on what we want."

"Maybe Midgard would be better off if our god took back control of it."

"Eh? First you talk about a god I assumed wasn't part of the normal elf pantheon because the whole banishment thing, now you talk like this god once controlled Midgard. Care to explain."

"The gods we have chosen to follow make the false gods of Asgard look like bugs. They are as far above the false gods as the false gods are above Midgardians. According to legend, long ago when they came to the realms of Yggdrsil they molded Midgard and its people. Sped up the development to be biologically closer to the fake gods with changes to make them the perfect subjects. Ideal for worshipping and serving the gods from beyond. But all the fake gods of all the kingdoms Asgard, as well as Vanahiem, and even the giants of Jotunheim banded together. This alliance drew in the other tribes of elves and the dwarves to the fight. Together they pushed back the messengers of the gods from beyond. They placed a magic barrier around the realms to try and keep them out. But one day the gods from beyond will return."

"All the kingdoms of Asgard? As in there's more than one?"

"Well yeah, all the realms are the same size, it would be silly for that oversized city state to be the only kingdom of the realm."

"Do you know the names of these other kingdoms?"

"Not off hand but I remember there being like ten to twelve of them. If you named one of I'd probably recognize it though.'

I figured that would have been the case, it only made sense. Like she said there was an entire world in each realm. So I decided to test a theory. "Does the name Olympus ring any bells?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that was one of them."

I took a minute in silence to let that sink in, then my thoughts returned to these so-called gods from beyond the veil. From the sounds of what she said I'd guess they enslaved and altered early humans twenty five thousand years ago. Realizing this, that's when it hit me. The implications of what she just said sank like a one ton weight in the ocean.

Learning that the gods of other ancient pantheons existed was not simply unsurprising, but expected. This however.... I couldn't help but shake. It felt impossible, my thoughts spiraled for a while when i was snapped out of it by the elf shouting at me. "HEY! I said we should speed up, night is about to fall and that's when the critters get active. Stop spacing out and walk faster."

"R-right, sorry." I started to pick up the pace.

The male who started shit earlier laughed. "What's the matter Midgardian, you look pale. Could it be that stories of our gods somehow prevailed over all these years? You're right to be afraid, our gods will return and take their rightful place as the rulers of the realms. The fake gods are mere insects to them, you are less significant than a speck of sand in the cosmic scale."

"Who fuckin cares, I'd rather be dead then a slave. Most of my kind would feel the same. Though Midgard may be splintered into hundreds of different lands and cultures, if we had a common foe to rally against Midgard would be a force that rivals even Asgard. If your squid faced gods think Midgard will go down easy like last time and drop on their knees and worship them as soon as they show up, they'll be mistaken. If they return trying to enslave everyone, then Midgard will quickly join the opposition."

"You are saying when it comes to war, you'll be our enemy?"

"I'm saying Midgard would be against the enslavement of our world and give it everything they have."

"Then Midgard will die screaming."

The elf woman then speaks up "Calling what the outer gods were doing as enslavement feels incorrect. They were going to bring order to the realms. An existence without war and sorrow, all our needs provided for us. A world without chaos, a world without evil."

"To quote a philosopher from my world: "If one were to remove the option of evil, then the concept of good loses all meaning." It's from a book he wrote, which talked about how the concept of perfection is fundamentally flawed among other things. The book was called "The Eden Paradox; A philosophical look at the dystopian paradise." Philosophy books always have such wordy titles. Eden is a mythical location from the book of an active faith in my world. Part of the creation story. In the creation story the monotheistic deity created a paradise garden for his creation of mankind. There was no war, strife, or hunger. All they needed was provided for, as long as they tended the garden and didn't eat the apples from one specific tree. The tree of knowledge, and eating the apple gave the humans free will. This ruined the perfection of the garden and defied the creator so the humans were banished from the garden. However in the book it's argued that despite being a paradise, the garden of Eden was a dystopia. The conclusion of the book being that life without free will would be an empty and meaningless existence. Choosing to be good only has substance when there is the temptation of evil. The writer even quotes a part of the creation story where the creator explains that they are responsible for light, darkness, good, and evil. Arguing even the story itself stated that evil exists for a reason and that the entire point of Eden in that context was a test. Funny that the writer himself wasn't even religious."

"So this philosopher believed that the concept of perfection or at least the thing many used for measuring it and the idea of paradise were themselves flawed?"

I nodded "Meny people strive for perfection or the idea of it, despite the fact it's impossible. He basically wanted to say that the idea itself is just an idea. A flawed idea. Trying to reach it only stresses you out. It's one thing to try and better oneself but one should never strive for perfection. Even if you could reach it, it would lead to stagnation, you would stop growing as a person."

"The importance of free will, learning to accept the flaws of the universe.... I guess when you are too small to change the flaws you don't really have much choice."

I grumbled "You should stop talking down to me like that. I've gone toe to toe with an Asgardian, and if I can do that then it's likely possible for an Asgardian to bring themselves up in a similar way. These outer gods may be more powerful than anything in the realms, but that does not make them actual gods. Just makes them a bigger fish, and there is always a bigger fish. It's turtles all the way down baby.”

"What?"

"It's a reference to an old Midgard myth. I'll... Explain later."

Then I heard a branch snap.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and started looking around, and that's when we saw it come out from the darkness of the night. A giant centipede-like creature that was as thick as a double decker bus and three times as long. I couldn't help but shout "holy fuckin shit, they get bigger?!"

The female elf then said "They don't stop growing till they die, and they tend not to die unless killed."

"Okay, so what are our options?"

"Uhhh... Run like crazy and try not to be the slowest. Don't have to outrun the creature, just the slowest person."

"Yeah, no. I'm not doing that." I unsheathe Light-bringer again and pull my small hatchet and machete from my backpack. "You guys get some distance, I'll take on the fugly monster."

"Are you insane? There's no way you can take that thing on alone."

"I'll be fine. You just run ahead and I'll catch up when I'm done here."

"But-"

"I said go!" The Elves started running and I faced the monster. "Come on fugly, let's go."

The monster chittered as it rushed at me but I managed to sidestep it. As I did I swung both my weapons at its side and dragged them along the length of its body. Unfortunately I barely left a scratch on its carapace. Even Light-bringer was only able to make shallow cuts, despite using its energy to launch magic light sword stashes from a distance. This wasn't going to be easy. Once it had passed me the lumbering behemoth turned its way around and charged at me once more. This time I stepped to the other side and tried again but still barely scratched it. This time it swung its tail around. I didn't have enough time to dodge so I moved to block the stingers on its tail. My blades went between the two spikes and hit it right in the back end, causing the spikes to get a shallow stab on me. I grunted in pain as I grabbed the spike with one hand and hacked at it with the other cutting one off before the monster started pulling away. I did my best to hold on tight and the spike I held came out as it whipped its tail up causing me to fly up into the air.

As I flew in the air I couldn't help but curse since I couldn't exactly dodge in midair. As I fell it moved its mouth pincers up and grabbed me out of the air and slammed me to the ground a few times. On the third time it pinned me to the ground and opened its mouth looking to take a bite out of me. That's when I noticed one of the broken spears left by the Elves I fought earlier stabbed into the ground next to me. I grabbed it and shoved it deep into one of the monster's many eyes. It let out a howl as it backed off, giving me time to get back up and get ready for more.

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This time I charged at it, jumping onto its head and grabbing the splintered spear shaft with one hand and smacking my hatchet to its face repeatedly. Eventually it bucked me off and I went flying through a rotted out tree. Covered in gunk I got up and cut down three small critters that came out of the tree grabbing the stingers of one and trying to stab the big hy with them. I managed to get one hit in before it tail whipped me across the floor. Light-bringer managed to get a hit on its underbelly, a much deeper cut than the others. Its belly is softer than the top by a lot. This time when it charged at me it went for a pincer attack. I managed to keep them from crushing me, then I grabbed them, held tightly, and twisted its head so part of its belly was exposed. "Go for it!" I yelled and Light-bringer made three sword slashes. The first two cut off two legs and the mast one nearly decapitated it. I then chopped at the gash with my machete and hatchet till it was headless. In the struggle I snapped off one of its mandibles or pincers. I decided to keep it and put it in my bag. I then walked to the elven outpost. I knew exactly where to look because it was in the same relative position as the village in Alfhiem. I walked up to the outer door and knocked 'Shave and a haircut' on the door.

A little slider on the door opens "h-hello?" A small mouse-like voice quietly speaks.

I hold up the pincer and say "I lived bitch, take me to your leader." I was breathing heavily and I still felt warm even though it took a bit to get to the settlement. In fact I probably felt warmer than when the fight ended. The person on the other end opens the door and leads me to a building in the same relative spot as the counsel building in the Alfhiem village. Outside the woman leader is conversing with a group of villagers about what she experienced on her patrol.

She looked at me, saw I was covered in crap and in tattered clothes and tilted her head. "You... Actually survived? Holy shit, you actually survived!"

I chuckled "I didn't let Vidar execute me, I'm not about to let an overgrown grub eat my ass."

"You're looking a bit pale... I think. It's hard to tell since you already were so pale. You okay?"

"It got a couple good hits on me, but I've had worse."

"Well as long as it didn't sting you, you should be fine."

I let out a groan slash sigh. "It's venomous, isn't it"

"Very much so."

"...Fuck me"

"Ex...cuse me?"

I pulled up my shirt to see the two puncture wounds were discolored and that discoloration had started to spread. "it barely got me with those things." I set my bag on the floor and grabbed out some bottled water and did my best to wash the gunk off my torso. I then pulled out a multipurpose medicinal cream. "Want to help me out with this? Just rub it into an open wounds. I'm not sure if it'll work on venom, but it's better than nothing."

She hesitantly helped slather the cream on me then I put a wrap over it. I then went to change and wipe down the rest of my body before coming back out.

"That feels better. What do you think?"

"You look fine, I mean clean. You look clean."

"I'm going to crash on a bed. I'm assuming the guest area is that building over there."

"Yeah, go ahead and sleep it off."

I went to do just that in the guest area.

I had trouble sleeping that night because I felt like I was burning up. However, compared to what the apple put me through this was nothing. When my body finally allowed me to dream, I had a nightmare. The same one I've had since the apple. An event I didn't go into full detail for a number of reasons.

The nightmare puts me back in the only black liquid, goopy forms resembling people or part of them grabbing onto me and trying to drag me down. Whispering things, murmuring things. They tell me to give up, to give in. They tell me I don't deserve to live, in fact the world would be better off without me in it. As it gets more intense I start to relive every experience that's ever made me want to unalive myself. Bullied as a child at school, mistreated by my brother, every moment I felt unloved by my parents.

It eventually moved on to the regrets of my adulthood. The things that happened when I was in the service... The things I did while on duty. I'm back at the crappy run down base, sweating in the desert heat. Even inside operating the drones the heat was unbearable. I'd sometimes need an extra hand to free my body from the chair I was in, my sweat gluing me to it. The job was simple, scout out the nearby area and report anything that stood out. We were in the middle of nowhere, using an abandoned village that I don't think even the locals remembered existed.

One day, in the middle of the night while most of the people were asleep, I was awoken to gunshots.

They were muffled, but I was always a light sleeper. I woke up the others and orange to action. However we were outnumbered and the enemy took the base. I didn't take time to think about how they knew where our base was, all I thought about was making sure I got out of this. They took a number of survivors hostage but I managed to get outside and avoid detection.

I waited a bit before trying to go back in. I moved stealthily around grabbing enemy insurgents from behind, cupping their mouths, slitting their throats, and moving them out of sight. I slowly moved my way back into the base slaughtering everyone in my path. When I finally got to the room where my fellow soldiers were being held I had no way in without being spotted. So, I simply abandoned stealth and walked right in with my gun out.

"Stop right there American pig, or we kill your friends." One of them spoke in a thick accent.

"Sorry, I don't negotiate with terrorists." And then I started blasting. They killed three of the hostages and I shot another of my own men in the shoulder. I made sure to leave one enemy alive, simply disarming him and tossing him to the ground. His hood fell off and he looked up at me. When I saw his face I froze up a bit, and my hands began to shake.

I recognized them, they weren't an enemy insurgent, they were one of the villagers from the neighbouring village. He was just a kid, barely thirteen. "W-why?"

"You make pretend at being savior, but in reality you ruin everything you touch. You claim to fight in name of freedom, but are just new face of oppression. Even if you as a person mean well, your government will not care about resources. In the end, you're nothing but American dog following orders."

"I wish I could tell you that you were wrong, but my natural bluntness makes it difficult to lie. Unfortunately, if I let you live, the insurgents will hear of it. They'll attack, maybe with armed kids, trying to get us to hesitate or back down." I closed in and put my gun to the kids forehead, I put both hands on the gun to steady my shaking and steadied my breathing. "Nothing personal kid." Then I painted the floor with his brains.

The nightmare in the dream ends there and that's when I wake up with a start but unfortunately for me that is not where my personal hell ended. After the incident that is now part of the nightmares that haunt me the survivors were taken in for psychological evaluation. I was given a mental health discharge , or rather a suspension. I was taken off of active duty and on mandatory therapy for a time, once completed I can choose to be reinstated if I wished. When I killed that kid, what I did was technically a war crime. Since I disarmed him first he was no longer a combatant.

Not only was that fact completely ignored and treated as if it didn't exist, I was issued a medal of honor and given a promotion for going above and beyond in the act of duty. I blew a kid's brains out, and they gave me a damned metal.

I've gotten sidetracked, so I'll get back to what happened next in Svartlhiem. When I awoke from my recurring nightmare with a start and drenched with sweat the first thing I saw was that elven woman sitting next to my bed, watching over me.

It took my brain a while to process things so I stared blankly for a bit before making a bad joke "You know normally I'd at least get a woman's name before I share a bedroom with her."

She practically jumped out of her chair "y-you're awake. You startled me."

"Sorry about that."

"I'm surprised you survived. Are you really a Midgardian?"

"I was born and raised on Midgard, human at birth. But now.... I'm not exactly sure I'm all human anymore."

She chuckled dryly. "Maybe you are becoming a God. There's an ancient pre separation text that reads "by what metric does one measure a God? If they have power beyond your understanding and have conquered mortality, is that not enough for you?" Although.... Now that I think about it, that text is often seen as being critical of that line of thought considering how elves feel about the false gods of Asgard."

"To quote a poet of Midgard "What meaning hath joy, when not measured by sorrow? What meaning hath love, when not measured against its loss? I hereby declare to thee, as fact, that there can be no comedy without tragedy. I now ask of thee, old friend, now that fact has been stated; what meaning would life have if death wasn't just around the corner, like a stalker in the night, waiting for an opportunity to take it from us?" I honestly feel much like perfection achieving immortality is something that should always be out of reach. Though for different reasons. It's easy to take one's own life for granted, when one never has to fear death."

She looked at the floor in silence for a bit before speaking again. "My name's [Archeri] by the way."

I tilted my head at the translation of her name, but decided to worry about that later. "I'm Hunter Ericson. Though the elves I spent time with in Alfheim call me [Steel-Bone]"

"You have a [name of honor]? No outsider has been given one since the unifier Freyr. Though that false God abandoned us after helping gain peace to chase a giantess. Let a fragile peace fall apart simply because we wanted to chase tail."

I chuckled "I know that story, used his sword as dowry to win her hand. It somehow ended up in Odin's armory and thanks to that is now in my hands. Honestly better off with me, I'd never give up such a legendary weapon for a piece of ass. Especially knowing I'd hurt its feelings."

She chuckled "Say, out of curiosity, what moon were you born under?"

I was a bit confused "You mean what phase of the moon?"

"I'm talking about the Elven lunar calendar. Are you familiar with it? You wouldn't happen to be an Obsidian Moon would you?"

"Ah, right. I think that was in the book I got from Alfheim. Twelve moons, adding a thirteenth "Obsidian" moon every so often to account for extra days. Every six years but swapping to five every fourth or fifth rotation. Assuming your lunar New Year was at the same time as the Midgardian one that would put me under the sixth moon, with that night being the new moon."

"Ah, first day of the Pearl Moon, how lucky. New moons are considered lucky and the Pearl Moon is around the summer solstice so it was considered very good by light elves."

"That's interesting. So elves had a sort of lunar horoscope? I guess it makes more sense then going by the zodiac since the moon actually has visible effects on the world. You wouldn't happen to know if it was an Obsidian Moon year twenty four years ago?"

"No, it was the year just before. Wait.... Don't tell me you're only twenty four." She went a bit pale.

"Humans don't live as long as elves, we age ten times faster. I know it's a bit of a shock, but you don't need to lose all color because of it."

"Your short lifespan isn't why I went pale, though that is a surprise. It's more the fact that twenty four years since the first moon of Pearl was a Blood Moon."

"eh? Oh, right. Lunar eclipse. Yeah, there was one that night. Many cultures on Midgard would see it as a bad omen as well, but it's just another day. The fact that such things happen once in a blue moon doesn't really make it special outside the rarity."

"Did you just say "once in a blue moon"? A moon can't be blue naturally, I'd have seen a blue moon by now if it existed."

"On Midgard we use a twelve month calendar that doesn't follow the moon cycle. Every so often you can get two full moons in a month. When that happens it's called a blue moon."

"Was there a blue moon the month you were born?"

I had to think for a bit. "Maybe? I'd have to check a calendar to be sure. Why?"

"An old prophecy the Nornir made mentions a blue moon and I never understood it. I thought maybe some magic event would cause the moon to look blue."

I sat there for a bit in silence thinking over the implications of someone thousands of years ago making reference to something from Midgard that wouldn't be a thing for thousands of years. "I'd ask for details but I'm not sure if I have the energy."

"I'll give you the short version. Basically the prophecy talks of a "Crownless King". The arrival being marked by the Blood Moon followed by a blue moon. This figure would have the choice of being given happiness at the expense of the misery of the people of the realms or a life of suffering so that the people can be happy. This decision would determine if the cycle continues or finally breaks."

"I see. Well I'm going to eat then walk to a place I can shift to Midgard without causing issues."

"Would... Would you like to share morning meal with me? We can eat at the temple together during morning worship."

"If you think that taking me to church is enough to convert me you are wasting time."

"That's just my routine, and it'll keep you from getting mugged while you eat before you leave."

"Sure then, I'm curious to see your culture a bit more anyway."

I then follow her to the temple where we grab food and sit. The temple layout was not too different from a church. Lines of benches in front of an altar where a priest leads ceremonies. The stained glass depicting strange and possibly horrific events. The priest was donned in what looked like a hooded yellow rain poncho with a jagged crown with a jeweled eye on the front of it placed atop the hood.

"What's with the outfit? It's definitely a lot different from what I'm used to."

"The priest invokes the image of who we think of as the leader of the Outer Gods. The master of our liberators, he who freed us from the dominance of the light elves. Bringer of decay, Lord of entropy, the one who would sooner end the universe then see it fall to Chaos. Our [Sovereign] [he who dons] [Yellow]." [She says a name in elven that doesn't translate, but on earth this figure has another name. Hastur, the King in Yellow.]

"Sovereign wearing Yellow?" I sit there thinking it over for a bit before it hits me that the translation was doing its best and could be translated another way. "You worship the King in Yellow?!" I practically blert out.

"You... Know of him?"

"Yeah, it's a bit of an odd story but I'm familiar with him. I mean I was starting to suspect these outer gods were familiar but I didn't expect you to outright name drop the King in Yellow like that." I groan "This is starting to get messy, last thing I need right now is to have to deal with freaking Cthulhu monsters. I'm really hoping I don't have to deal with them in my lifetime. They can stay behind the veil until I'm dust in the wind."

He sat in silence for a while before talking again. "They... don't paint them in a positive light on Midgard I'm guessing."

"No, every story involves them either enslaving or driving people insane. Just being nearby is said to be enough to destroy entire civilizations as the citizens go crazy. They can manipulate minds, and even if you worship them it's no guarantee they won't ruin you too. They don't even see us as lifeforms let alone people."

"But our sovereign freedom is from the light elves."

"Liberated, more like under new management. Sacrifice is when one chooses to risk giving their life, when that is forced upon them, it's just murder."

She was thinking about everything I said, clearly weighing her options with everything she's heard.

"I think it's time for me to go, but keep in mind, the universe was born from chaos. Life sprang forth from chaos. Without chaos there could not have been existence." I stood up, placed my now empty plate on a pile, and left the building. I left the village and began walking to a safe area to teleport back home from, keeping in mind the fact that locations were relative.

While walking I got a strange feeling, so I stopped and looked around. At first I thought I was being paranoid until I heard a branch snap. "You might as well come out, I know you're there."

Out of the darkness from behind and on top of trees came out an army of five hundred shroom elves, led by the guy that started things when I first got here. "I don't care what [Archeri] says, you are an enemy of our god. I will not suffer, my enemy to live. This time I have an army, strong and skilled as you are there is no way you can take all of us at once. Then, when you are dead, we'll go back to the settlement with our battle wounds and tell [Archeri] you attacked our hunting party unprovoked. Her leadership will be in question and we can finally have a man in charge, one who won't go soft on pale skinned outsiders. Then when I'm in charge, [Archeri] will have no choice but to become my bride." The elf then took on a face that could only be described as perverse or depraved. "She'll have no choice but to submit to my every whim, no matter how embarrassing~"

"You're really starting to make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry."

The shroom elf looks around at his troops. "What are you lot waiting for? Kill this outsider already. My loins ache to ravish [Acheri] from behind like the bitch she is, I can't wait to give that brat some correction."

I then spoke in proper elvish, my training paying off as I felt energy build up in my body, blue and purple flames emanating off my body. "You disgust me, to no end do I find your vileness repulsive. I've explained to [Archeri] and others that I feel destiny and fate are written by the choices we make. I'm telling you now you have two choices, two fates that await you. You can turn back now and live, or you can stay and die." *My voice deepened* "I'll start by ripping out that vile tongue and throat from your mouth so I don't have to hear another word out of it, then, I'll disembowel every last one of you!" I felt a burning sensation throughout my entire body, and a nearly unbearable pain that brought me to my knees and had me nearly pass out. My vision became red and blurry and I heard and felt every bone in my body snap, adjust and reset themselves. Everything became a bit of a blur after that, but I'll do my best to convey what happened next.

My voice came out in its deepened state as I looked to Light-bringer. "No one escapes, leave no survivors." The sword warbiled and flew to the back line of the enemy. One elf fired an arrow at me and it snapped on impact with my shoulder only leaving a shallow cut as if left by paper. "So you have chosen, death " I then rushed at the leader at a speed that was far beyond what a human should be capable of. I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground with one hand. I had to reach down to get to his neck, which seemed odd because he wasn't that much shorter than me before. I felt like an observer in my own body, except even my body didn't exactly feel like my own. I noticed my hands looked more clawed and the ground was farther down than before.

The male shroom elf rebel leader let out a choking sound, clearly trying to talk. "K-k-k-k-k"

"Are you trying to get in some brave last words?" I asked him in elvish. "*I'm afraid you've already spoken them*" I gripped tighter destroying his throat leaving a gapping hole in his neck then left him on the floor to choke and drown in his own blood. I then looked to the next closest rebel shroom elf. "Don't bother running, you are already dead."

I weaved and dodged spears and arrows taking the occasional hit but hardly noticed. I went from elf to elf, clawing into them, smashing in skulls, snapping necks, ripping them to peaces. This wasn't a warzone, this was a slaughterhouse. I collected a number of noticable wounds from spears and swords but didn't seem to care. I continued to break and tare limbs as I weaved through the army. Eventually I stopped to look around, everyone around me was dead or to close to it to save. Only one elf with a broken left arm and shattered right leg was still alive enough to try and escape. I slowly walked over to him and stood over him. As I towered over the broken man he trembled before me.

"Y-you're a monster! Stay away from me you fiend!"

"I'm a monster? That's rich coming from someone that swore loyalty to a man who openly admitted he planned on forcing himself on an unwilling woman."

"Please, have mercy, I swear I'll just tell them a creature killed all those men."

I thought about it, but knew I couldn't trust his word. Besides, when I looked down on the broken mess of a man I didn't feel pity. Only hatred and disgust. "Sorry, all out of mercy." I then stomped on his head and smashed it like a melon.

My vision cleared and I looked down at my clawed and mosterus hands trembling. "I am a monster aren't I? Inside and out. I then walked to find a place to rest and recover my energy again before shifting home. While I walked I noticed my head's weight and balance was off and moved a hand to the top of my head. I had two long slightly curved horns coming out of my head, I must have looked like a demon. I couldn't see the color of my own skin under the filth and viscera that covered my body. I improvised a shelter and found myself falling asleep easier than expected.

When I woke I was back to my normal body but my clothes were torn and I was covered in all manner of nastiness. I walked to the relative area my house would be at and teleported straight there. I tossed my runes outfit in the stash and took a shower, and despite still being a bit shaky, I went about my day.