Although Einar imagined the altar would only have three rewards, one for each minute he survived, he found five of them. The first one was a glowing ball of green mist, which he recognized immediately. He pulled out his drinking horn from his pouch and held it up, the green mist floating over to fill it with divine nectar, which he drank in one gulp. Just as before, his wounds healed in mere seconds after drinking the nectar.

His second prize was a handful of gold coins, marked with symbols he couldn’t recognise. The third gift was a pair of feathers that glowed with a faint green light. His fourth boon was a thumb-sized piece of flat obsidian with a glowing symbol on it. ‘A rune.’ Einar recognised the object from his father’s tales. Although he couldn’t recognise the symbol, he was sure that it held great power.

The last reward was an arrowhead made out of a glowing crystal. The young giant put away everything into his world eater pouch and turned toward the nearby ash trees when the barrier opened up. He had a promise to keep, and the Ash tree in front of him was perfect for it. The trunk was wide, its leaves a verdant green, its roots grasping at the rocky soil with a previously unseen tenacity. Einar barely reached the trees near the altar when the foreigners caught up to him.

“Barbarian!” One yelled, but the young giant didn’t pay attention as he kneeled down, scraping at the dirt with his hands before placing the stone urn into the small hole he made.

“What are you doing, mongrel?” Another one asks with their weapons pointed at his back.

“What does it look like?” Einar replied while covering the urn with soil. “I’m burying the remains of someone who couldn’t see this place when they were alive. May you rest in peace with the gods now.”

“You...”

“Enough,” the youth with the ornate armour silenced the others. “Whatever differences we have can wait. Honouring the dead is a sacred rite.”

“Yes, Lord Takeshi.” The woman acknowledged as they watched Einar place a small mound made of pebbles on the dirt-covered urn.

The silence lasted until the giant stood back up patting his hands together to dust them off. As he turned around he found himself staring at the five foreigners, their leader eyeing him up with a conflicted gaze.

“You stole the honour of the first challenge from our empire,” the man called Takeshi spoke. “For that, you should be killed.”

“If you wanted the first try, then you should have come here sooner. This place doesn’t have your name on it and from what I know, there are people here from five kingdoms to vie for the same glory.”

“You...” One of the strangest tried to speak but Einar cut into his words.

“And besides, that threat is pointless as none of us can kill the other while on the first island. One of your men tried to do so and got struck by lightning as a result.”

“So I’ve heard,” Takeshi nodded. “That leaves us in a bind.”

“So...”

“We will have to settle this once we reach the next Island,” the young noble claimed. “A duel to the death.”

“And if I refuse?” Einar asked surprised by the youth’s brazenness.

“Then everyone will know that you are an honour-less mongrel.”

“Fine,” the young giant relented. “But only you. I don’t want to get stopped by every man and woman from your camp, telling me that they want to challenge me for your honour or something.”

“If anyone from the empire were to challenge you,” Takeshi spoke with a firm tone. “It would be for their benefit. I will tell my people not to cross blades with any red-haired northerner giants.”

“I can’t make the same promise, since I only have a friend or two among our people.”

“Fair enough. Now leave! You have taken up enough of our time and I want my people to pass the first trial as soon as possible.”

Einar gave a nod to Takeshi before he had it back to the shore. The sun was already falling by the time he returned and he was greeted by the sight of cut-down trees and hard-working people as the ordinary and God-marked people worked together to fix up the ruined village. The young giant walked closer with measured steps, only to be stopped by a pair of older warriors.

“The mighty seeker has finally returned.” One of them remarked with a scoff.

“You ended your stroll in the forest quite fast, lad. Did you find anything of use?” The other one asked as they watched him walk into the village.

“Is it you who wants to know or the princess?” He asked back, making the two turn red from frowning.

“What does that matter to you?”

“I could ask the same thing,” Einar shrugged as he headed over to Arvid who was sitting by the same fire he left behind. “I figured Brynhildr would at least have a few scouts that were brave enough to search the area but it seems I was wrong.”

“You...” The older of the warriors growled but Arvid’s laughter made him stop himself from saying what he wanted.

“Don’t be too hard on them Einar,” the young warrior said while tossing a branch into the fire. “The princess is nothing if not ambitious. She pretty much took over the entire expedition while you were away. Now everyone but a few serves her, the chosen of Svanhildr.”

“What about you?” He asked as he slumped down by the fire, watching the guards leave toward the only building that was mostly repaired already.

“I’m too much of a free spirit to serve that pompous wench. But enough about that. Tell me, did you find anything in the forest? Some of the other God-marked tried to venture out but came back a few minutes later, speaking about giant wolves and the like. Then there was a thunderclap and we saw red lightning appear in the distance from out of nowhere.”

“That was me,” the giant claimed. “Or rather, it happened because of me.”

“What happened?” Arvid’s leisurely attitude changed in an instant as he looked at him.

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“I found the location of the first trial,” Einar began to explain. “However, there were already people there.”

“From which kingdom?”

“They claimed to be hailing from the Falling Sun Empire.”

“Oh, those people,” the warrior hummed. “I’ve met with a few of them before. They seem to be obsessed with calling us barbarians for some reason. Although they don’t seem to be much more cultured than us with the way they attack our people on sight.”

“They acted the same way with me. The moment I got there, three of them tried to stop me and when I didn’t leave as they told me, one of them shot an arrow at me. When the arrow cut my face, that red lightning appeared and struck him dead. The other two ran away once they could get up from the ground and then a bunch of them showed up while I was doing to trial.”

“You already did the first trial,” Arvid caught the important detail. “That was fast. However, that also tells us that the other four kingdoms’ people are closer than we thought.”

“They can’t kill us so it doesn’t matter.” Einar shrugged.

“Of course, it matters,” the warrior argued. “They might not be able to kill us but they can hinder us from conquering the first trial. There’s also the matter of the other trial grounds. Were you not taught any battle tactics?”

“My father taught me some but, those were about what to do when a hunt goes awry or for sea raids and large battles, not things like these.”

“The trial grounds are like small strongholds with a precious resource in them,” Arvid sighed. “Everyone wants to seize them and prevent the other kingdoms from getting their hands on the valuables inside. They will want their people to go through the trials first while stopping as many folks from the other kingdoms as they can.”

“Less competition for later.” Einar deduced.

“Exactly. You’ve said that the people from the Falling Sun Empire took hold of it after you left. That means everyone will have to go through them if they want to try their luck with the trial.”

“The sooner we find the other trial grounds the better.”

“Easier said than done,” the young warrior shook his head. “So far you were the only one who dared to go out alone and came back with results. Even your cousins didn’t dare to go out, or rather, they couldn’t agree on who would lead and who would follow.”

“The other God-marked can’t kill us yet,” Einar pointed out as he stared into the flames. “And the only threat I’ve seen so far where the wolves. They’re big, but we have weapons and numbers on our side. If Brynhildr would order a group to head out, I’m sure they could find the other trial grounds and they might even hunt something on the way.”

“Right now I think she has her hands with solidifying her reign. After all, she has Harald’s chosen to contend with.”

“I’m a seeker, not a ruler.” The young giant remarked, a slight chuckle drifting in from the side as Rúna Fireforge walked toward them with a wide smile on her face.

“It’s not about what you think,” she shrugged. “It’s about what you represent. You’re a chosen just like her. Plus, you’re big and tough as a block of pig iron.”

“Almost as dense too.” Arvid remarked, earning a rueful look from Einar.

“Why are you here?” The giant asked as Rúna got closer.

“I’ve heard you came back from your little stroll in the forest and I wanted to know if you found anything good out there.”

“Is it you want to know or...”

“I want to know,” the forgemaiden stopped him immediately. “I’m not going to bend my knee for Brynhildr. Nor for you.”

“Good,” Einar hummed. “And yes, I did find the first trial’s location a good hour from here. You can’t miss it if you follow the path leading inland.”

“The first trial,” Rúna murmured. “Was it difficult to pass it?”

“It’s the trial of deftness,” he explained. “You enter a clearing with these stone pillars around it and a ball of green light appears atop the columns. They will shoot small arrows of lights at you and you have to stay alive by dodging or blocking the attacks.”

“Doesn’t sound that bad.” Arvid noted.

“You’ll have to survive for three minutes if you want the best prize and by that time you’ll have to dodge eight bolts at the same time.”

“Eight bolts? Not just one?” The warrior asked back surprised.

“It wouldn’t be much of a challenge if you only had to block one arrow at a time.” Rúna looked at him as if he was an idiot.

“Fair enough. Anyway, what did you get from conquering the trial?” Arvid switched the subject,

“Some divine nectar,” Einar admitted. “As well as a few gold coins and some other stuff I think should be used for crafting or something.”

“Can you show me the materials you gained?” Rúna asked and the young giant was all too happy to pull out the arrowhead, feather and the rune.

“A rune,” the forgemaiden muttered as she gingerly took the flat piece of obsidian in her hands. “I haven’t seen this symbol before but I can understand its purpose through my gift.”

“What is it for?” Einar asked, the young woman flashing a wide smile at him.

“It’s an armour rune of swiftness.”

“Figures,” Arvid rolled his eyes as the other two looked at him with a questioning look. “What? He earned it from the trial of deftness so it was bound to be a rune related to speed or something like that.”

“And what can this rune do?”

“It’s meant to be fused with your boots,” Rúna explained. “It will allow you to move somewhat faster. One-tenth faster to be precise if I understand it right.”

“That should come in handy while travelling,” the giant nodded. “Could you...”

“Meld it into your boots? Sure. I only need a flat surface and my summoned hammer to do it.”

Einar got up from the wide log he was sitting on and pulled off his boots, putting them on the log. Rúna stepped closer and laid the boots down on each other, her left hand channelling fire into the thumb-sized obsidian while her right hand summoned her flaming hammer. She placed the brightly glowing rune on the boots and swung her hammer down on it twice, the third strike ending in a flash of greenish light. When she pulled back the hammer, they could see a tiny green symbol glowing on the ankle part of the boots.

“There you go.” She said as she dismissed her hammer and sat back down.

“Thank you. What about the other two? Did you figure out what they’re for?” Einar inquired while pulling his boots back on.

“The feather I can identify with my gift but the arrowhead eludes me.” She admitted with a sigh as she accepted the fish skewer Arvid offered her.

“And...” the warrior asked excitedly. “Can those feathers make him fly or something?”

“No,” the forgemaiden shook her head. “They are meant to make ranged weapons faster and quieter.”

“I got a bow from Lady Hrefna back in Wolfhold,” Einar stated as he summoned his bow. “That should work, right?”

“Sure, just give me a moment.” She nodded between two bites of roasted fish.

After finishing her food, the forgemaiden grabbed the bow with her left hand, holding the pair of glowing feathers in her right as she drew the bowstring back. Pale amber flames seeped out from her fingers which spread across the bowstring before covering the entire bow. When the fire receded, the originally greyish bowstring now had a streak of green along its length.

“There,” Rúna handed back the weapon. “May it serve you well.”

“Thank you,” Einar nodded. “About your...”

“No need to pay me this time,” she argued. “You already did when you told me about the first trial.”

“I would have told you about it anyway.”

“I know,” she smiled. “That’s why you’re better than Brynhildr. At least, good enough to earn my services as a forgemaiden. The next time you will have to pay for my work unless you have valuable information to share again.”

“We’ll see,” the young giant hummed as he dismissed his bow. “Arvid, could you watch over me for a minute or two? I have an idea what the arrowhead might be for.”

“Fine,” the warrior agreed. “Just don’t make a habit out of it.”