Tanya Ivanova Zima was a rather odd woman who had barged into Ash’s life without any warning whatsoever. Apparently, VEA didn’t like having someone with an unstable grasp on their powers just running around. Once they had judged that the situation with Anemone had calmed down sufficiently, Ash was quickly assigned to someone more experienced with ‘Vetrblod’ than him.
Ash didn’t call her odd simply for the fact that she was the first other Vintrkind that Ash had ever met. If anything, that was one of the more minor oddities about the woman. Then again, they hadn’t even been properly introduced to one another before Ash had found himself face down on the ground with his arms pinned behind his back. It was one hell of a way to make a first impression, and also the only time Ash had actually seen her be entirely serious.
Which wasn’t to say that Ms. Zima was a Devil-May-Care kind of woman. While she spent most of her time looking vaguely smug, and wasn’t shy about cracking a joke, Ash never got the feeling that she didn’t know what she was doing. From the way she walked to how her head was always held high, Tanya Ivanova always carried herself with 100% confidence. ‘Nothing could ever touch her’ was the impression that the older Vintrkind gave. A bit odd for someone who spent her days cleaning up after others, but she never once complained about her job.
Ash wouldn’t say it out loud, but he was slightly scared of her. And that wasn’t just because she could disperse the chill in his body with just a simple touch. For one thing, despite her features and constant presence on campus, Ash had quickly learned that very few people actually knew anything about her. The only person who did was shockingly enough, Ash’s dorm manager, who only had one thing to say about her.
“Those familiar with that girl call her The Winter Witch.”
After the first lesson he had with her, the meaning of that title was clear as day.
The usual classroom that Ms. Zima had reserved was completely barren of any technology, as a safety precaution for the lesson that was about to take place here. For the safety of the technology, that is. The first time they had come here, Ash had been getting dirty looks from the staff and upperclassmen who were quickly vacating the room of anything remotely expensive. The fault was his, so he could only bow his head and remain silent but it still rankled him a bit. Some people acted like they didn’t have stuff breaking down in their presence nearly every week. Regardless, Ms. Zima liberally made use of the now mostly empty space, using ice in ways that Ash hadn’t even imagined. She didn’t even need a terminal. With just a wave of her hand she could spell out a question on the board, frost weaving together in letters and diagrams without any visible effort on her part. Liesa let out a gasp at the sight, her mind probably awhirl with speculation and theories. Ash would leave her to figure out how Ms. Zima was doing it. He had to actually focus on the lesson.
“Today’s going to be a bit of a review day!” Ms. Zima cheerfully announced as she pressed a dial on her watch. “We’re going to be starting off from the most basic, need to know, ‘if you can’t answer this you deserve whatever happens to you’ fundamentals.”
Snapping her finger, a question appeared on the board. “A Vintrkind is someone who has Vetrblod. Explain this statement.”
Ash ignored the barely disguised threat and answered. “On the very rare occasion that the human body is exposed to a Jotun’s Cloud Heart, the nanomachines inside of it can form a symbiotic relationship instead of outright killing them. Jotun Nanomachines in the body are called Vetrblod, and those who are mutated by them are called Vintrkind.”
That had been a shock to learn. On more than one occasion, Ash had been compared to a Jotun. Back then he had brushed it off as an insult, and now he wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that they were right. The thought that he had lived his whole life with unknown nanomachines inside of his body was chilling. Nanomachines were one of the most strictly regulated technologies in all of Yggdrasil; not even the Kings of Midgard could reliably get their hands on them. Ash was only aware of the ones Tir Corp used, and those died quickly and were strictly for medical purposes. They were also obscenely expensive, but that was just a given. Godlike technology was something only the elites had access to. Which meant that if Ash went looking, he was sure he could find them damn near everywhere in Valhalla. He didn’t think it would literally have been under his nose the whole time, though.
“Question!” Liesa suddenly exclaimed, her hand shooting up into the air at lightning speed. “If all one needs to do is expose oneself to a Cloud Heart, does that mean that anyone can become a Vintrkind?”
“Not quite! You need the aptitude for it.” Ms. Zima paused before chuckling. “Though ‘aptitude’ in this case refers to several factors, namely talent, timing, and luck. You need the biological compatibility with the nanites in the first place, that's the talent. Then there's the fact that the human body’s regeneration and adaptability slows down as we age. Past roughly the mid-teens at the latest, the body just can't adapt. That's the timing. Then there's luck: you need to be exposed to a Jotun's cloud heart, unshielded, without dying. Needless to say, that’s unlikely. Trying to forcefully create a Vintrkind would be completely inhumane.”
“Then what about you?” Magnolia spoke up, idly twirling a pen as she jotted down notes on a piece of paper. “The Jotunheim incident was only fifteen years ago. By that point, you should have been long past the age where you could survive exposure to a Cloud Heart.”
It was the question everything was thinking, but unfortunately Ash already knew how the white-haired woman would answer. “That’s a secret!” Ms. Zima said cheerily. “It’s rude to pry into people’s private matters, you know.”
She casually brushed the matter aside before continuing. “Ash, you’ve answered half of the question. Just what exactly is a Vintrkind? What separates us from regular humans?”
“Vetrblod not only grants us control over our own nanomachines, but it also enhances our body as well.” Easy answer. All Ash needed to do was describe himself. “Our senses are better than regular humans, and we have an increased strength as well. The Vetrblod directly affects our muscles and nervous systems, causing us to grow faster and larger than other people.”
There was a soft hum from the side as Magnolia jotted that down. “I simply thought that was due to your ravenous appetite.”
His teacher glanced at him and Ash sighed as he recited what he had learned. “It’s the other way around. My appetite is because of the Vetrblod in my body. Using it requires a lot of energy, so I need to eat more food in order to refill my stamina.”
And also Ash just liked to eat delicious food. That wasn’t anything related to him being a Vintrkind apparently. Well it did satisfy his stomach, but if all he was looking for was Vetrblod fuel then he’d have been satisfied with that gunk VEA called nutrition paste. Then again, the same could have been said about everyone. The act of eating was a fundamental part of being alive after all. He just simply enjoyed the taste of things more than others.
“So your physiology is an enhanced version of a regular humans…” The way Liesa was staring at him made Ash fidget a bit. It wasn’t her usual gaze, but rather like he was simply a puzzle that she wanted to solve. By habit he began to cool himself off, only to stop, glancing in the older Vintrkind’s direction. He could only just let himself be laid bare as the green-haired girl tried to see what made him tick. “But then what does that make the ‘Ramping up’ phenomenon that you’ve described before? If Vetrblod is already improving your body, shouldn’t that already be enough?”
“Hey, hey, you remember that I’m the one administering the test right?” Ms. Zima said, before smirking. “But sure. Ash can answer this, since it’s his speciality.”
‘Specialty’ his ass. How the hell was he supposed to put this into words? Well he couldn’t describe the sensation, but could try to describe the mechanism behind it. “‘Ramping up’ is sort of like deliberately causing the Vetrblod in my body to operate at a higher intensity than normal. The nanomachines in my body begin to increase, causing everything I do to be improved. It’s only temporary though, and the Vetrblod will slowly return to levels that my body can handle without straining itself once I stop. While I am ramping up though… I don’t think there’s an actual limit?”
“Don’t test it,” Ms. Zima’s cut in, staring at him sternly as her cheeriness vanished. “Doing so could permanently damage or even kill you. While we have an increased tolerance to the cold, uncontrolled high levels of Vetrblod will cause us to experience symptoms of hypothermia. Not to mention the side effects that occur when the Vetrblod begins to alter your genetics. If you haven’t mastered the power of Winter, then you run the risk of it consuming you.”
“Isn’t that what these lessons are for?” Ash asked as he glanced towards his palm. “You said that Vetrblod was similar to working a muscle right? The more I use it, the more I grow. As long as I maintain a good pace and gradually increase the amount I can control, the better I will be at using my powers.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
That required a bit of a shift in mindset though. Before these lessons, Ash could only go off of what he could feel inside of himself. There wasn’t much information on how to be a Vintrkind after all. Slowly, he had grown to think of using his powers as one would a machine. All he needed to do was turn it on and command the blizzard inside of him to start and it would follow his orders. He had never considered just how it interacted with his body, only that it was a part of him.
“Yes, but for now you should keep your Valkyrie Gear on whenever you ramp up.” A sigh escaped the woman as she crossed her arms. “Think of it like a safety net. By transforming into a Valkyrie, you’ll suppress the Vetrblod in your body and prevent it from doing any lasting damage.”
“I have another question!” Because of course Liesa did. Although this time her eyes were completely obscured by the fligherking lights on the lenses of her SMART Glasses. “Does this mean that Vetrblod is the reason that Ash can use Valkyrie Gear despite being male?”
“It’s not that being a woman is the condition to use a Valkryie Gear. It’s just that only women have been able to fill the condition until me.” Ash replied, quoting what Odin had told him after he had first transformed. “No idea what that actually means though. All I know is that the more I master Vetrblod, the faster I’ll be able to transform.”
And that was the main reason he was so eagerly sticking with these lessons. Right now, his biggest handicap was the fact that he had to actually spend time warming up before he could transform, whereas everyone else could do it from the word ‘go’. That had been fine when he first arrived at VEA, but he got the feeling it wouldn’t fly once midterms started. If he could just gain enough control to reach the transformation threshold at will, Ash would be able to actually keep up with the rest of the Valkyrie Trainees.
“It definitely has something to do with it, but even I’m not sure on the exact specifics.” Shrugging her shoulders, the school janitor shook her head. “Smarter people than me have spent centuries trying to understand the tech Odin gave us.”
“The Great Mystery…” Liesa breathed out almost religiously. “The grand goal that all researchers strive for. Three centuries worth of research, and we’ve only just started scratching the surface of the Bifrost...”
She trailed off, Liesa’s eyes glazing over as her mind began to vacate her body. Magnolia sighed before reaching over to poke at the girl sitting besides her. “Focus Stark. Did you attend this session so you could let it all go in one ear and out the other?”
“Ah! I’m so sorry!” Liesa suddenly exclaimed as she jolted right up. “It’s just that The Great Mystery never fails to captivate my thought process! So sometimes I get a little distracted and-”
“It’s fine.” With a wave of her hand, Ms. Zima interrupted Liesa. “You’re from Alfheim. Frankly I just assume all the residents of that realm have an obsession in one form or another. Always striving to seek progress, for better or for worse.”
There was a frigid edge to that last part of that statement. Not that Ash really understood what it meant. Quite frankly, he knew very little about what Alfheim was actually like as a realm other than it’s reputation for science and knowledge. Still whatever implication there was there, it seemed to still Liesa as she silently sat back down in her seat.
“Well, I think that just about covers everything.” As if they had never been there, the words on the board faded away. “Now we can finally move on to the next phase of your training.”
Ash raised an eyebrow. “What now?”
The older woman chuckled, before walking over to pat Ash on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’ll be easy enough. There’s just one more thing we have to cover before that. What do you think is the main thing that’s hindering your Vetrblod control right now?”
“...Practice?” he guessed, only to get a shake of her head in response. “Stamina?”
“Not even close,” Ms. Zima said. “What’s hindering you the most is your lack of awareness Ash. That is to say, you are the very thing that’s hindering yourself.”
Usually, such a line would be an insult or the start to a cheesy motivational video, but the Winter Witch said it with such certainty that it could only be a fact. “You’ve lived your entire life as a Vintrkind, Ash. You have no idea what it’s like to live as a normal human, your powers are just something that’s a part of you, like an extra limb. Background noise that’s been so constant you can’t even pick it out properly when you try. Your bad habit of using your Vetrblod to suppress your body’s physical reactions when stressed also doesn’t help.”
“I’m sorry,” Magnolia interrupted, her eyes narrowing. “Can you repeat that last bit? I feel like you said something very important just now about my charge, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“Did you not realize?” Ms. Zima asked. “The reason for the drastic change in attitude whenever Ash transforms is because he reflexively uses Vetrblod to tamp down on his reactions and maintain his composure. When he transforms he suddenly loses that crutch, and he has no practice dealing with his emotions and impulses without it.” Ash didn’t recall transforming in front of her, so how… Right, Ms. Zima must’ve seen footage of him from somewhere. “It’s like he has an on-demand cold shower button that he hammers the second something threatens to fluster him. His body reacts but he immediately does all that he can to suppress it. Luckily, that’s also the key to this exercise.”
With a confident stride the older woman strolled over to the girls in the back, before leaning in to whisper in their ears. Their eyes widened and a series of ‘Oh my’s and ‘How bold’s escaped them as they both gasped. Needless to say, Ash was suddenly very worried. Unfortunately he had no say in whatever plot his teacher had cooked up as she turned back to him with the smile of an angel. “The purpose of this next exercise will be to live as a regular human, in order to gain more awareness of your Vetrblod. And unless you want me constantly monitoring you at all hours of the day, there’s only one way to do that!”
Only one way to do that? The only time Ash could remember that he lived without his powers affecting his body was when he was transformed-
Oh.
Odin please no.
He’d prefer death to having to do that. In fact, that was already a death sentence! If not to his mental health, then to his social life!
“That’s right.” The Winter Witch knew that he had figured it out yet she still drew sadistic pleasure in drawing it out. Watching Ash squirm before finally saying what was on both of their minds. “One week. You’ll spend one week in your Valkyrie form, going through your life as usual. You’re not to use your Vetrblod in any way. After that, we’ll reconvene and see your progress.”
Ash glanced towards the others in the classroom for help. Unfortunately for him, his blonde handler was already beginning to show signs of a teasing grin while Liesa innocently whistled, struggling to suppress the twitching of her lips. The absolute traitors. He should never have trusted them if he was going to be backstabbed like this in his hour of need. With a sharp hiss, he turned back to Ms. Zima. “Do we have to?”
“Yes,” the women in the room said at once. He’d almost think they had planned this out beforehand, if he hadn’t directly witnessed the traitors turn on him in front of his eyes. Ash’s face turned white as snow and Ms. Zima laughed. “Don’t worry! Think of it as a learning experience! This is a chance many get to have at your age, you know? Besides, I talked to management about it, and they’re willing to give you points if you successfully complete it.”
“Is this a bribe?”
“Nope! You’re going to be doing it anyway, so it’s more of a consolation prize.”
Well he certainly wasn’t feeling any better about the upcoming ordeal. But… With an already exhausted sigh, Ash slumped back into his chair letting his energy leave his body. “...Fine.”
There was no point in fighting it. He knew a losing battle when he saw one and this was far from worth it. Or at least that’s what he tried to convince himself as Magnolia and Liesa broke down into a fit of giggles.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure this goes as, hah, smoothly as possible,” The asgardian tried to reassure him, though the look in her eyes didn’t reassure him at all. “It’s my responsibility as your handler after all… pfft.”
“I think this is a wonderful thing!” Liesa’s lips quivered. “Multiple viewpoints does make for a more open mind after all!”
If this was their reaction, then the young man didn’t want to know what Kyouko’s would be. Actually he could probably hear her busting a gut as clear as day.
“Now that’s settled, it’s time for my third favorite thing in the world!” Ms. Zima clapped her hands together with a devilish smile as Ash sunk into his chair. “Shopping!”
And like that, the longest week in Ash’s life began.