Even though it was a mighty beast, falling from such height must have knocked the wind out of it as it lay sprawled out on its back. Einar knew that this daze would only last for a few seconds and decided to take his chance. He dropped down from the tree, slowing his fall by turning into a raven for a few moments. Rushing beside the bear’s head he raised his sword and swung down at its exposed throat, the two-handed sword cutting deep into its fur and sinewy flesh. Blood spurted as he cut what he believed to be an artery beside its windpipe, but he had little time to cherish his victory as the pain snapped the bear out of its daze.

It swiped its paw at the young giant and although it was a hasty and weakened attack, still sent him flying backwards. His only luck was that he managed to hold his sword’s flat side toward the incoming attack, making it take the brunt of it. Einar crashed into the tree with a bang, several claw marks marring his sword that was pressed to his chest. The bear got to its feet while spewing blood everywhere, its eyes hazed by fury as it roared and rushed toward the youth. The seeker waited until the last moment before jumping to the side, making the bear smash into the hefty tree trunk before using what little spiritual strength he still had to turn into a raven once again and fly back up to the tree.

The enraged bear kept roaring and clawing at the tree but its attacks weakened due to the steady loss of blood. Soon enough it began to sway and tumble before it collapsed on the ground. After waiting for a few more seconds to make sure that the giant bear would be too weak to move, Einar got down the tree and stepped beside the beast, summoning an ice spear which he drove through the dying animal’s earhole and brain. The bear shuddered for a few moments before going completely still and the seeker pulled out the spear, tossing it to the side. ‘You were a worthy foe. I only wish that I was strong enough to face you head-on with nothing but my blade.’ The young giant admitted inwardly, knowing that while it was a glorious fight, it was still unworthy of his foe.

He chose to fight it as a hunter and won, but he hoped that the next time he met with a beast like this, he could fight it head-on. Letting out a sigh, he held up his drinking horn, gathering the golden red mist that hung low around the carcass, distilling it into a deep red nectar. As he drank it, Einar felt the flames of power course through his body, making him groan in pain as he was forced to grow stronger. The bear’s body shrank by a tenth or so, but it was still an imposing sight. He looked at the pair of glowing symbols on its fur, yearning to take their power for himself.

Grabbing its large paw, the youth tried to pull it toward his world eater pouch, the mystical bag slowly sucking in the steadily shrinking carcass. A good minute later he was left alone with only the broken tree and the spilt blood proving there was a fight there. ‘My pouch is full.’ He thought after sensing that he couldn’t fit anything else inside his bag. The seeker made up his mind and headed back toward the shore village. On his way back, Einar noticed movement atop the small mountain that housed the second trial. Even from further away, he could recognize the familiar armours of his fellow Vikings and that of the people from the Falling Sun Empire. He could see both Arvid and Rúna amongst the small group and began to fly lower, but it was a foolish mistake.

“A winged beast!” One of the empire’s people yelled, drawing his bow to shoot at him.

The arrow flew by his left just as he was getting close to the edge of the mountaintop and pierced through his wing. The pain made him lose his balance and fall from the sky with a loud screech while the archer was blasted into ashes by a red lightning bolt that came from the clear sky. The lightning also sent the attacker’s fellows tumbling back. Einar’s bird form fell at the edge of the mountaintop, rolling down the withered stone steps for a few seconds before bursting into a black mist that revealed his true self.

“Einar!” The forgemaiden yelled in fright and surprise as she rushed up the stairs to stop the injured giant from rolling further.

“A God-marked,” one of the empire’s chosen muttered in shock. “Impossible!”

The world was still spinning around the seeker when he crashed into Rúna, looking up at her with hazy eyes.

“Wha... how in Harald’s name did you turn into... that?”

“A blessing.” The giant half-lied as the woman helped him up, looking at the large gash on his arm just above the elbow.

“Figures that Harald’s chosen could turn into a raven,” Arvid noted from the side while the rest of the Vikings kept staring at the seeker with their mouths still agape. “No wonder you can travel about so fast. Still, that idiot got you good though.”

“He ended up worse.” The giant remarked while pulling his drinking horn free for a healing brew.

“Only because you were lucky enough to reach the cliff-side,” Rúna argued. “Otherwise, you would have fallen to your death.”

“True. I...”

“You bastards dared to attack the chosen of the All-father!” An angry voice cut into their conversation as some of the Viking group drew their blade while staring menacingly at the people from the Falling Sun Empire.

“How could we know that he was a God-marked and not some wild bird of prey,” the other group argued. “Besides, the one who fired the arrow had already paid the price, barbarian.”

“He’s right,” Einar spoke as he stood up. “If you get into a fight over it, more of you might die a needless death.”

“But...”

“You heard the big guy,” Arvid waved off the naysayer. “Put that blade away. If you want vengeance, then win the trial. That’s the best way to show them who is better.”

“You are right.” The angry warrior growled while sheathing his sword.

“Still, what brought you back so soon? I thought you were going to explore further inland.” The forgemaiden brought up the issue of his return.

“I ran into a few more large beasts,” the seeker answered. “After I hunted them down, my pouch got full so I came back to drop them off.”

“Wolves?”

“And a bear.” He added.

“A bear? How big?”

“Very.” The short answer came, making Rúna grind her teeth.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“I imagine they have markings like the one from before.”

“Yes. The bear has two and the wolves have one each.”

“Lucky bastard,” Arvid cursed from the stone step he was sitting on. “Most people barely have a single rune on their equipment and you’re just picking them up they were roadside pebbles.”

“You’re welcome to go out there and hunt your own beast.”

“Or buy one from you? I mean, you can’t have two of the same runes so...”

“He isn’t wrong about that,” Rúna agreed with the warrior. “There’s an order to runes. If you found something you already have, you might as well trade it away for something you need.”

“And you think he has anything I would need?” Einar nodded toward the sitting youth.

“No, but I might and soon enough others will as well. There are only so many places you can go. Others will venture out eventually from the village and they might find materials and treasures worth trading for.”

“I guess,” the seeker hummed as he looked at his now-healed arm. “Anyway, do you want to have a look at them?”

“Right here? With everyone around?”

“We can go down the mountain if you want.”

“No,” Rúna shook her head. “It might be better to do it here. If the bear is as big as you claim it to be, it could be an excellent sacrifice to the gods. It might help strengthen your armour in ways I cannot.”

“Alright.” Einar nodded as he began to pull the first wolf carcass from his world eater pouch, its large body sprawling out on the stone steps.

By the time he pulled out the second corpse, he could already see the forgemaiden shake her head.

“This one has the same swiftness rune you already have on your boots.”

“Do you want it?” He asked, earning a nod.

“I do, as the price for my work this time.”

“Fine. The other wolf?”

“It’s a new boon for sure,” she claimed while pulling out her blank rune stones. “An uncommon one it would seem.”

A few moments later when she managed to draw the blessing into the stone piece, she let out a sigh of accomplishment.

“This one seems to have the power to... lighten your steps.”

“Lighten my steps,” the seeker looked at her puzzled. “Like sneaking?”

“It should help dampen the sound you make while walking, so... yes. I think.”

“That would come in handy for hunting.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “What about your bear?”

Einar thought for a moment before he finally decided to take it out from his pouch, everyone in the background gasping in awe as the humongous corpse appeared.

“That is one big ass bear.” Arvid said with a whistle as he walked around the carcass.

“I told you it was big.”

“But not this big,” the warrior argued. “How did you even kill this thing?”

The seeker went on to give them a short summary of his fight with the bear, earning a nod from Rúna and a scowl from Arvid. “If it hadn’t been for your bow and the whole tree-top thing,” the warrior scoffed. “It would have handed your ass to you for sure.”

“On that, we agree,” Einar sighed. “It was a mighty foe, filled with rage and power.”

“And two new boons,” Rúna added. “These two will surely be uncommon runes.”

She tried to draw out the power of the glowing lines that shone on the fur, but only one of them reacted to the presence of the granite piece.

“Wha... it can’t be,” Rúna mumbled in shock as the lines began to flow into the piece of refined obsidian in her hand. “One of them is a rare rune.”

“A rare one,” Arvid looked at the glowing black rune stone. “Already? You absolute bastard! What does it do?”

“It... it can increase the force of a swing? I don’t understand,” she said confused as her glowing eyes kept staring at the rune. “If I interpret it right, one can increase the force of a weapon’s downward swing twice-fold at the cost of spiritual power, but it feels weird.”

“The power to increase the force of my downward swing,” Einar hummed as he recalled how the bear’s swing could shatter the ground and yet even his strongest swing could barely cut through the bear’s fur and flesh when he tried to behead it. “That goes to my sword.”

“If that’s what you want,” the forgemaiden shrugged. “The other one is an uncommon durability rune. This kind of rune tends to make things harder to destroy. It can be used on anything, whether an armour or a weapon but you can only have one in each piece. I suggest you use this on your breastplate. That’s the most likely piece of armour to get damaged during a fight.”

“Right.” Einar agreed as he handed over his sword before taking off his armour and boots.

The forgemaiden put them down on the large stone steps and placed their respective runes on them before summoning her fiery hammer. A few swings later the hammer dissolved and the equipment pieces now had a new thumb-print-sized rune glowing on their surface. The people not far from them watched with awe and envy as the young giant gained three new runes, some whispering together while others tried to inch closer a bit to get a better look at the strengthened items.

“Now that I’m done,” Rúna let out a tired breath. “You should bring your armour and the bear’s corpse over to that altar and make your offering to the gods.”

“Alright,” the seeker nodded awkwardly. “But how do I do that? The sacrifice thing, I mean.”

“No one taught you?” Arvid asked surprised. “It’s pretty easy. Put everything on an altar and drag the corpse in front of it, then pray. Tell them how you’re offering this or that for them as a sacrifice and that you’re asking for their blessing.”

“And that... works?”

“It usually does,” the forgemaiden replied. “Of course, it always depends on the value of the sacrifice. Some things might get their attention while others just not worth their time.”

“I doubt you have to worry about it since that bear is huge.”

Einar put his boots back on and grabbed the bear carcass by the paw, dragging it down the large steps and across the proving ground that didn’t react to his presence at all. He had to admit that the bear was the heaviest thing he had to move so far but it was still manageable. The giant slowly dragged that toward the weathered stone altar, stopping a few steps before it. He then pulled off his armour pieces and placed them atop the altar along with his pouch and fur mantle before pushing the bear’s carcass in front of it. Arvid handed him the breastplate he hadn’t put on before and the giant placed that beside the rest of his kit.

“I pray to you Harald, All-father of the gods. I offer this mighty bear to you as a sacrifice and seek your blessing to aid me in these dangerous lands.”

For several moments nothing happened, making Einar question if he did it the right way or if the bear wasn’t worthy of Harald’s attention, but then a golden lightning descended from the clear sky, striking the carcass. Everyone stepped back as they watched the bear catch on fire, the golden flames devouring it in mere seconds. The flame then congealed into a head-sized ball that floated above the altar, splitting in two.