I dispatched a couple of guards who were stationed at the entryway leading to the passage and further in.

It was somewhat easy since the guards were only level 5, and I was invisible. Which proved to be good for becoming all stealthy and ninja-like, who would have guessed.

When I got rid of the guards, Bear, and the wolves made a comeback. Staying behind the trees in the forest.

They were probably trying to help by not being spotted by the Dokkalfar, which I now understood were the original dark elves of Norse mythology. Tall, taller than me, dark blue/greyish skin, sporting sinewy muscles, strong shoulders, heavy-set foreheads, extremely high cheekbones, dark, black eyes without sclera, and pointy, almost forward-facing bat-like ears. Their heads were covered by long manes tied in dreadlocks.

All in all, they looked very menacing, and at the same time, there was a regal, proud, and ancient feel to them. It had to do with the way they carried themselves. As if respect was owed to them, not because of vanity, but because they deserved it. They commanded it.

Guards were always posted behind the legs of the Odin statues. Making it hard for me to get rid of one without alerting the other, being always in pairs, but across each other.

So I would go and create some noise to make at least one come out and see what was going on, I would then jump the one that stayed behind and rapidly approach the other one to stab him in the back.

It was treacherous and downright immoral, -as far as I saw things-, but I had decided to discard my values to save the maiden, all of my values except for one.

I would protect my family.

These proud people were in between me, and my family’s future. At that point, they had chosen death already. Their fault.

I continued my silent assault on Valhalla’s passage, inch by inch, target after target. Body after body. Life after life.

At some point, after an hour, I had to stop and vomit. Killing beasts in the forest was one thing, heartlessly disposing of the lives of people was something else. I felt nauseated, the sickening smell of warm blood had rooted deep inside my nostrils.

The groans and muffled sounds coming from their throats as I deprived them of life, of their futures, was just too much.

But then I looked up, to the sky, and saw the giant celestial body that was the moon here, only inches away from becoming full.

I had to speed up, but I could now see the end of the passage closing in on me. I ditched the approach of procedurally dispatching every Dokkalfar guard I came across and started moving faster between them, my only caution was trying to not make any noise, which was rather easy since I did not even have shoes, and figuring out if there were any Dokkalfar five levels above my own, that was the upper range of my cloak of invisibility, so that was my threshold.

After some ten minutes or so, I came to the end of the passage, and to an open clearing that looked like some kind of plaza or common area, leading to the stables, some barracks, and the actual Hall at the far end.

I had no time to check the architecture or the ornamentation, as in the middle of the plaza, -which was about half a football field-, among what I could feel were hundreds if not about a thousand Dokkalfar, was a vision of absolute beauty and reverence.

My first instinct was to kneel to her, but I fought that instinct, instead I took count of every Dokkalfar I could, finding that most of them were still on the lower levels, sitting in the level 2 to level 4 range, some level 5s and a guy that looked like a priest, or a druid? with a dark purple robe and a cloak, was level 11, a set of ten guards around him, in a semi-circle between the magician and the mob, them standing at level 8.

The magician was reciting an incantation of some sort, lines were going all over the plaza’s floor, starting below the maiden, and ending… past me.

The intricate design of the lines in the middle of the plaza, gave way to more simple lines going further out until they became single lines that merged into a big one, going directly into a statue of a crowned female Dokkalfar, …

They were trying to revive someone, possibly a Dokkalfar Queen, by trading the maiden’s life in exchange.

I had to stop the ritual, if not to set the maiden free, to at least give me more time to fight my way up to her.

Then I noticed a pair of eyes looking directly at me and my heart sank.

Had I been discovered? Would I need to fight them all, against all odds, against time, against reason?

Well no, not yet, it was her big blue eyes looking at me. A gaze so piercing that I felt my soul bare against it. I felt naked against those eyes.

She then looked back at the statue, back at me, and then at the big ley-line leading to the statue. I nodded at her in agreement, unstrapped Balmung from my cloak, and held it high, her eyes were glowing now, not in a metaphorical way, but her eyes were actually radiating blue motes of light, her face smiling in delight, happy to see the sword, then she laughed out loud, placing everyone’s attention back on her, instead of the magician, who kept reciting his incantation.

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She nodded at me this time, and I let Balmung fall onto the line of power.

I activated the Dempsey Roll skill, doubling my strength to cause the most damage to the stone floor.

I took the most basic two-handed downward strike possible, focusing entirely on the strength of the swing, forgoing any sense of skill.

The result was outstanding.

In a flash of blue light, the stone floor exploded, pieces of stone flying around in all directions, the power there gathered was violently dispersed, pushing me away. Sending me helplessly rolling backward some twenty yards away.

The Dokkalfar were confused, the magician had stopped reciting his incantation and started yelling orders, his guards assumed fighting stances and spread the defensive semi-circle a bit further out, and the mob sat down, to give the magician a clear line of sight towards the statue.

I took this chance to circle around them and approach the maiden.

As soon as I was behind her, I took Balmung and sprang the chains around her ankles, nobody was looking at us, so I used the same chains that were holding her wrists to balance myself and sprung one arm open.

Before she could swing away and crash against the other pillar, I took her arm, she immediately understood and took hold of the chain with her hand.

I moved to the other column and cracked the last chain open. but this time the maiden unfurled previously unseen wings and gracefully came down and stood next to me, I knelt over one knee, and presented her with Balmung with my two hands, to which she smiled, proud eyes looking at me, I could only face down at the floor, taken aback by the maiden’s beautiful smile.

I was feeling sheepish around her, even after living all of my life with three drop-dead knockout beauties. Man, I needed to put myself together or I would end up embarrassed, becoming an idiotic simp around her.

I took a deep breath as I heard a clunk noise on the floor in front of me, I could see the butt of an ornated spear against it. Then I felt her hand on my head, a gentle touch as if asking me to raise, my face was beet red now… it’s a work in progress ok? I am not simping!

I rose next to her, and she again unfurled her wings and shone brightly.

“Your time has come, vile Dokkal men.” her voice booming, like a seasoned war general.

“I bring ye Doom and Reckoning unseen in ages,” she raised her voice even higher, going a bit archaic with her ‘ye’ and everything, I was absolutely NOT geeking out, no sir.

“I bring ye my Einherjar,” ah, so that’s what it was, wait… what?

She brought me out of my cloaking, and a blue light flashed all over me, my feet wore greaves made of leather and steel, my hands had ornated vambraces of silvery metal, and my chest was covered by a blue vest, with circular plates, two on each side of my chest and belly.

Not only the armor, but I felt rejuvenated, my HP and Stamina full. I took Balmung and raised it above my head.

“Who dares stand before the sword of the Dragonslayer,” she added laughing loudly, like a mad woman.

Feeling exhilarated, abandoning reason, in a trance, I dashed forward, sword in hand, yelling like a madman, my voice resounding in the Halls of Odin.

The head of the magician fell to the floor, followed by those of his guardsmen, unable to present any resistance in the chaos that my stunt with the statue and the Valkyrie’s outcries had produced.

But that only lasted for so long, more soldiers were coming out of the barracks, and from inside the great Halls.

The Valkyrie stood next to me, spear in hand, disposing of Dokkalfar as if they were children, all the while laughing in merriment. Her wings were no longer visible.

“Forward William, to war, to battle, to toil and die again, to toil never-ending,” she said to me, and I was sure that to me alone.

So I did, with renewed vigor I gave myself to the task at hand. My strength and Balmung’s edge proved too much for the Dokkalfar, but for each one that fell, two would take their place.

It was a losing battle, She was right, this was not a rescue mission, it never was, I realized as my own blood was starting to cover my eyes and the grip of my sword.

I kept at it, there was only one thing to do, to go out in flames, to bring it all out, to burn the brightest I had ever burned, again, for it was the same as back on the farm against the two giants. I was not fighting for myself, not even for the Valkyrie, she could escape now any time she wanted, she just had to up and go away, fly to fight again, to fulfill her destiny and bring others, as long as she was alive, Earth would have a future.

No, I was fighting for that future, but deep down I knew, I was fighting for Dad, for Raulin, for Joe and Gramps, for Maeve, and for Matt and Zoey.

I kept at it, while the Valkyrie at my back dispatched foes in droves, a swing of her spear brought down as many heads as she could reach, she was poetry made action. A consummate master of battle.

I kept at it until my resources started to run low, my HP dwindling and my stamina running on empty.

The loudest pair of howls I have ever heard shook the air from the top of the walls protecting Valhalla, thousands of Dokkalfar stopped as the earth itself trembled, the ageless halls that saw gods and heroes, rumbling in response.

“HAHAHA,” the Valkyrie was laughing again.

“Heed my call Freki” her voice once again resounding above everything.

“Heed my call Geri” she added, while I kept fighting for dear life, against the Dokkalfar closer to me, the ones that had not stopped cold in their tracks.

“The shieldmaidens have returned to Valhalla, or are you so old that your eyes cannot recognize Sigrun?”

“So lazy that you cannot stand above your own belly?” she finished, how was she able to talk to them like that? Was she crazy?

As if on command, Bear and dozens upon dozens of wolves darted into the plaza, savaging the Dokkalfar, the fight was now even. The wolves going feral on our enemies.

Bear ran until he got to plant himself in front of me and the shieldmaiden.

Ravaging anyone who dares to come close.

I could see my escorts now, protecting our backs, Sigrun and I could rest for a bit, before going back at it.

“HA, HA, HA, HA,” laughed Freki. who was now standing atop the walls of Valhalla, and I saw the magnificent beast for the first time, a massive white wolf with glistening red eyes, he was bigger than Bear, standing next to one of Odin’s statues.

“No need for jests, fiery maiden,” said another voice, this one female, as another wolf, just as big as Freki, but with dark fur, black as night and piercing cold blue eyes, appeared standing next to another statue of Odin, on the other side of the passage, she must be Geri then.

“We remember you, lady Sigrun, and how you used to play with Hodr’s beard, always none the wiser ha, ha, ha,” Freki added.

They both came down into the plaza and where they were, no one else stood, frozen remains behind Geri, ash and fire behind Freki.

The fight was not even anymore, in fact, it was no longer a fight.

As the mighty Valkyrie took flight, not wanting to be outdone by the wolf couple, she shone like the stars, and rained death down the Dokkalfar.