Chapter 53 – Flight of the Valkyries
[Hannah]
Hannah stared at the draugr woman for a long moment. She let her bow hang in the air beside her as she charged up an arrow that was aimed at the draugr.
“What’s going on here…” Hannah asked, throwing nervous glances at the chained-up women, Valkyries, apparently.
“Run…” came a plea from the same Valkyrie who had asked Hannah for help moments before
“You should really listen to her.” Came the draugr woman’s strained voice. She flashed a smile full of rotten dead teeth and held her hand up to her side. Dark shadowy mana coalesced in her palm, forming into a pitch-black orb.
“Release your mana or I’m going to take your fucking head off.” Hannah shouted at the woman.
The draugr cackled out at her and slammed the orb into the ground.
The world went dark.
Hannah released her charged shot, and it simply disappeared into the darkness. She didn’t hear the explosion, but she felt the rumble in the cave of the impact as it collided with something.
Hannah looked around but could see nothing. The cave black and caught and cut off any sound that hoped to escape. The draugr had her perfectly enveloped in the darkness of her spell.
She stumbled around in the darkness. The only clue she was even still in the cave was the dirty stone floors she could feel beneath her feet.
She stilled her panicked breathing and tuned her ears to the darkness of the world around her. She could barely hear anything.
Clink.
The noise was so subtle she couldn’t be sure if she was imagining it or not.
Clink.
Is that the rattling of chains? She wondered, thinking back to the Valkyries chained to the wall.
Goosebumps ran down her back, and her hair stood on end, interrupting her train of thought. She braced for impact from a direction she couldn’t be sure of.
Something slammed into her back, and she felt claws digging across her shoulder blades. Hannah rolled across the ground, biting back a pained scream as the claw marks on her back burned with a fiery rage. The darkness entrapping her blocked her connection to her bow. She sensed for it but felt nothing through her [Bow-Link] connection.
Hannah leveled her arm in the direction she thought her attacker fled. A bright arrow materialized on top of her bracer as the wings of a bow spread out from the sides. She launched three quick shots into the darkness and waited.
Nothing.
Her body screamed as it sensed something before she did, and Hannah tensed up again. This time, a claw tore through the side of her body. She absorbed it with her arm and blood ran freely from several new gashes. Hannah grit her teeth in pain, reaching down into her void sack and pulling out a health potion.
Her attacker returned, swiping the potion out from her grasp.
“Now now now… That’s cheating.” Came a voice from all around her. An ominous cackling rang out through the darkness, and Hannah toppled over to the ground as something punched her in the stomach.
Hannah laid there in pain, refusing to let this bitch see her suffering. She squeezed her eyes shut as she strained her ears again, trying to sense anything through the darkness.
Hannah had close to thirty points in her Focus stat. Not only did it let her see far and pierce the darkness of the night, but it also let her feel so much more. It was like her senses were on fire with information of her surroundings.
Clink.
Hannah thought she heard it again as her ears trained in on the noise. It was definitely the chains. Hannah slowly pushed herself off the ground.
Her senses screamed at her, but still didn’t give her any hint as to the direction, so she just picked a direction and jumped.
She felt the wind blow past her as dangerous claws swiped out past her. Hannah fired two more shots of her arrows.
The draugr let out another cackle and Hannah fell deeper into her focus.
A game of cat and mouse began to take place. Hannah, deep in a trance, pushing her senses to their extremes. Her only warning was her body screaming at her to move anytime the draugr came in for another attack.
Hannah would roll out of the way and fire two more shots, missing every single time. The draugr let out a taunting cackle each time Hannah missed. Hannah sent out several more shots into the darkness in response.
Her senses didn’t respond to the next attack. Something moving at impossible, undetectable speeds slammed into the front of her, launching her back into a stone wall. Her head bounced off the concrete and Hannah couldn’t be sure if she was blacking out or not.
She sat there propped against the wall, body bruised and broken, blood leaking from her mouth. Her hands twitched towards her void sack for another potion, but her body wasn’t responding to the signals she was giving it.
The draugr materialized before her in the darkness. Her wiry black hair hung from her head like an old straw broom. She took slow, plodding steps closer and closer to Hannah, her smile growing bigger as she leaned down, grabbing Hannah by the throat and picking her up.
Hannah gasped in pain as her broken body fell apart in the woman’s grasp. Hannah bit down hard, meeting the dreadful gaze of the draugr as she stared back in defiance.
“Ho ho.” The woman laughed. “Such a confident look from someone who couldn’t hit me with a single one of her arrows.”
Hannah dropped her challenging façade, replacing it with a smile. She began to laugh, choking on her own blood as she did so.
“What’s so funny?” The draugr said, her own smile disappearing as she tilted her head in confusion.
“Who says I was aiming for you?”
Hannah watched a fist sail through the air, catching the draugr in the side of the head, sending her flying.
White wings materialized behind the fist that belonged to one of the Valkyries.
The woman looked renewed as a golden radiance hung off her body. She flapped her wings. Powerful gusts of winds filled the cavern and blew away the darkness, revealing several more freed Valkyrie.
Hannah was never trying to hit the draugr, she had no hope of catching the woman. She suspected she was facing off against some sort of boss level mob, so any fighting would have been pointless on her point. She needed help.
The constant clinking of rattling chains was the only thing she could make out in the darkness, so she aimed her shots at that instead, hoping it would be enough to break the chains. It was.
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Hannah stared up at the four now freed Valkyries. They had powerful forms and sharp, angry looks on their faces as they stared down at the draugr woman, who bared her teeth and hissed angrily at them.
One of the Valkyrie bent down, placing a warm hand on Hannah’s cheek.
“Thank you, sister.” She said, a warm smile on her face. Golden energy poured off of her, covering Hannah’s body, mending bone and knitting flesh.
Hannah let out a gasp of relief as she stood to join the Valkyrie. She spotted her bow on the ground and recast [Bow-Link]. Sending it into the air and charging it with a shot.
The Valkyrie turned to the draugr.
“The queen will hear of this, Halldis.” said one of the Valkyrie, staring down at the draugr.
A brief look of panic flashed across her face before her evil smile returned.
“It matters not. So much of your strength already belongs to me.” She hissed, standing back up in defiance.
There was a tense standoff before one of the Valkyries let loose a war cry, flapping her wings and launching herself at Halldis. She slammed her into a wall and the two turned into a flurry of fists and claws as they battled it out, disappearing in a chaos of blows through the crevice that led into the room.
Hannah looked at the Valkyrie, confused. The one who had healed her stepped up to her.
“Sister, we must leave now.”
“What about your friend?” Hannah asked, confused. “Aren’t we going to chase after her and finish that bitch off?”
The Valkyrie scoffed at her. “We are far too weak to challenge that witch of shadows and lies. We must not let our sister’s sacrifice go on in vain. She will hold her off while we escape. Tell me, do you know where the one they call Onem is?”
“Who? Haven’t heard of him. My friend is outside creating a distraction for us, so if this Onem guy is around, he’s probably trying to deal with Jack.” Hannah said. “We aren’t going to abandon him like you did your friend over there-“
“Do not dishonor her sacrifice by calling it an abandonment, little sister.” The Valkyrie said with a voice full of chastisement, eyes going hard as she bent down and leveled her gaze at Hannah.
“I am thankful for your arrival, but you are a fool to come here without an army at your back. The evil here is powerful and we must make our escape before Onem traps us in his web of darkness.” The Valkyrie urged.
“Lead the way then.” Hannah said, motioning towards the crevice.
Hannah and the trio of Valkyries stepped through the crevice and into the cave. Hannah watched with curiosity as the Valkyries whispered into the ears of any chained up draugr they passed, whispering something in their ears and breaking them free of their chains.
Their faded glowing blue eyes flared to life as the valkyries released them, each returning a deep bow to the Valkyrie before turning and running out of the cave.
“What are you doing?” Hannah asked as they moved out of the cave.
“Giving these cursed warriors a chance to die an honorable death.” She said, voice tinged with sadness. The group made their way outside of the cave and Hannah gasped.
The world was on fire. The camp looked as though a herd of elephants had run through it. Draugr corpses lined the ground everywhere. The sound of battle rang through the air and Hannah watched as the released draugr threw themselves into the fight, launching their own small assault on groups of unsuspecting red eyes draugr who all seemed to be spectating something.
“Onem…” One of the Valkyrie hissed. Hannah followed her gaze. There was a large muscular draugr standing there. He pulled his silver hair back into a tight braid. Dark shadows clung to his body and an enormous club-like staff rested on his shoulder. He had an amused look on his face.
Across from him was Jack.
His daggers hung limply at his side, and he was breathing so hard that Hannah could hear the sound of his lungs pumping air from across the battlefield. Jack stood there. Blood covered him from head to toe. He had a sword stuck in his shoulder.
He was smiling.
Shit.
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[Jack]
Jack was lost in the sauce. He vaguely remembered he was supposed to be doing something. Or maybe there was something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He couldn’t remember because any tangible thought floated away as he threw himself deeper into his fight against Onem.
The draugr was good.
Every time Jack lunged in to attack the man would disappear like a shadow, erupting from the darkness behind him with a devastating counterattack of his own.
Jack was faster, but not by much. On top of that, Onem radiated experienced warrior. He had a taunting smile on his face that matched Jack's own as the two battled it out.
Jack's assault was under constant interruption by the lesser draugr that surrounded the battle. Each trying and failing to take him out. They only served to slow him down and Onem would watch with an amused look as the battle would pause while Jack fought a pack of the lesser draugr, dispatching them with ruthless efficiency and throwing himself back at the man.
This went on for Jack didn’t know how long.
Jack was getting slower each time he had to break off to kill a pack of intervening warriors. His breathing was growing hard, and he would come away from each fight sporting a new cut, a new wound.
Despite that, his focus had never been stronger. The thrill of battle rang out through his body with each beat of his pounding heart. His eyes stayed locked on Onem as he cleaved his way through another pack of draugr, a cut across his forehead bleeding into his eyes.
He had to end this soon.
Jack released the two drops of mana in his core, watching as they bounced around. He charged Onem again. Five shockwaves, that was all he had to finish this.
Onem’s eyes went wide as Jack's daggers flashed out with unprecedented speed and power, cutting through his stomach as he matched his strikes with the powerful shockwaves of lightning that resonated throughout his body.
Jack fell deep into his storm stance and followed up with four additional strikes, biting into his arm, cutting his leg, slicing at his throat, and slamming the daggers into Onem's heart.
Jack pulled back, breathing heavily, his body screaming in a pain that only served to push him even harder.
He bore down on the two drops of mana, bringing them back under his control as he stared at the bleeding out Onem. The man wore a stunned look on his face.
Then he smiled.
Shadows crawled up off the ground, filling his wounds and closing them as though they never happened.
“Don’t tell me that was your final attack?” he asked, disappointment dripping from the words.
Jack stared at the draugr, his heart pounding. He felt something burning on his back and looked down to see a sword erupt out the front of his right shoulder.
Jack fell to his knees and let loose a howl of pain.
Onem, for his part, look pissed at the sudden interruption. He raised his arm leveling it at the draugr that had snuck up behind Jack and sent a shadowy blast that disintegrated the attacker.
“No more interruptions.” Onem ordered. The draugr surrounding Jack all stopped, going still as statues.
Jack pushed himself up off the ground, shaking in pain. He gritted his teeth and clenched his dagger in his left hand. His right hand barely responded, threatening to drop his dagger any second.
Jack stilled his mind, blocking out the pain that was rampaging throughout his body.
He was going to die.
He had never felt more alive.
He looked up at Onem, smiling from ear to ear.
“I see you still have more fight left in you.” Onem said, cocking a curious eyebrow at Jack.
Jack took one step forward and then stopped. There was an annoying screaming that cut through his stilled mind. What the hell was that? He wondered, taking another step forward.
The screaming grew louder.
Jack tried to ignore it, tried to push it down, but with each step he took closer to Onem, closer to his battle, it grew louder and louder threatening to break his trance.
“WHAT!?” Jack roared, anger burning in his eyes as he turned to look at the person who was ruining his fight.
Hannah stared at him, eyes a mixture of sadness and rage.
What the hell is Hannah doing here? Jack wondered, confused by the turn of events. Even more curious were the Angels that stood behind her, all with angry looks in their eyes as they stared down Onem.
Huh, If I’m seeing angels, I guess I really am dying, came delirious musings.
Then thoughts came flooding back to Jack. He suddenly remembered what the hell he was doing here.
He wasn’t supposed to be fighting. He was just supposed to be a distraction.
No life-or-death battles.
He had broken his promise to her.
“I’m sorry-“ Jack started to say, before Onem’s staff slammed into the side of him, hurling him across the camp.
The pain Jack had been suppressing flared back to life with a vengeance and Jack let out another pained scream as he slammed into the ground. His head fell to the side, and he spotted Hannah. She wasn’t coming to save him.
One of the angels had grabbed her. She was kicking and screaming and scratching and biting at the angels. Jack felt a smile on his face. Did she just call an angel a winged bitch?
He watched as the angel carrying Hannah flapped its wings and took off into the skies, fading into tiny stars that disappeared into the darkness of the night.
He heard the sound of slow plodding footsteps walking towards him. His eyes wandered in their direction.
Onem was coming to finish him off.