The War of the Wellsprings

[Darconus]

Well, it seems like a long time since I've been here for fan fiction purposes, but seeing as my group has actually started playing Heroscape again, it's brought back so many of my old ideas.

Anyway, this story is set, in a way, six hundred years after the Fall of Valhalla, although the actual story takes place thousands of years prior to any story I've written. If you read The Trials of Syvarris, you'll find a section where Syvarris tells of the first war. This is that story.
*****
PART I

The old man sat on a fallen log near the campfire. He was well over a thousand years old, or so the story said. His name was Acohlen, the father of Acohlar, the Flagbearer of Ullar. We had been camped with him for a long time, waiting on Ullar to announce that we were going to war with Utgar once more.

But the announcement was slow in coming. So we waited. And while we waited, Acohlen regailed us with stories of Valhalla’s past. The previous night he had told us the story of the Einar campaign, fought eight hundred years earlier. Einar, infused with a power given by the general Utgar, had brought war to Grímnismál, city of the Sacred Gate. Jandar had repelled the attack, with the timely assitance of Ullar.

And now as another night fell, we waited on Acohlen’s story. He had promised us a good one.

“Children,” he spoke, slow and deliberate, “gather ‘round for the story of how it all began.”

We drew in close, the crackling of the fire adding fuel to the already palpable eagerness of Acohlen’s audience.

“It all started many thousands of years ago…”

***

I was told that Valhalla sprang into being, from the mind of Odin, over seventy thousand years ago. If that is true or nay, I know not. I only know of the stories told me of that time. Then, all those murky years in the past, Valhalla was a formless plain. No hills, no rivers, only grassland as far as the eye could see in any direction.

Except for one place, where there was a grove of oak trees. Odin had blessed this one place. The first being Odin created was the giant Ymir. Ymir has long since passed into history, and if he even exists anymore he is at least twenty thousand years old. Ymir, though, was gifted with great magic. He saw this oak grove, and he crafted of those trees the Sacred Gate. The gate has a power unlike any other.

Six hundred years ago I was among a group of Ullar soldiers who arrived at Grímnismál, city of the Sacred Gate. We came in answer to a distress call, but we learned that Ullar had already taken the battle for his own. Using a warrior of Jandar, Ullar valiantly fought for control of the Sacred Gate, to keep Utgar from possessing it.

That was the only time I ever saw the Sacred Gate, and the damage it could do. The body of Concan was torn in half from head to toe. Although Concan was later resurrected by the will of Odin, the lessons learned that day… well, it was thought that they would last forever. As it so happens, lessons learned are easily forgotten.

Back to my story, though. Ymir crafted the Sacred Gate, and he placed it in the thick of that oak grove. Around it sprang the city, almost by the will of the Gate. In a great ripple, the plain of Valhalla controrted, twisted, and changed in ever-increasing ways, radiating out from the Gate. The Canyon Valholl was one of the first features to form. The Mountains of Ragnar also sprang from this great change, although this was not the first change to Valhalla.

Water broke through the surface in several places, forming the great rivers of the land, extending all the way to the great Eastern and Western Oceans. Odin saw this, and was pleased with the effort of Ymir. The over-god then called forth other creatures. Some animals, fishes, birds, they were the majesty of Ymir. But the glory of Odin was in the Kyrie race. The mostly look like us, with few exceptions, but they have great wings, and can fly. Masters with any weapons they touch, kind, benevolent, and vengeful.

From thes Kyrie Odin called forth five to be generals. Ullar, Jandar, Vydar, Einar, and Utgar. In the last five hundred years a group has emerged, claiming to be followers of the sixth general. I give them no count.
The five generals were innocent then. They were generals in name only, having no quarrel with each other. It is hard for us to imagine Jandar and Utgar at peace with each other. But in this time, over ten thousand years ago, they were at peace. They were as children, brothers, caring for each other.

Jandar’s Kyrie followers were explorers. They sought out everything they could in Valhalla. At one time Jandar’s Kyries were in all places, covering the whole face of Valhalla. As the generals aged, they grew worldly wise. Jandar saw fit to appoint several Kyries as under-generals. One was placed higher than the others. Her name was Airelin. She became Archkyrie.
Her travels were better documented than any other Kyrie ever. It was she who traveled to the north, near the land of Weston, what we now call Denrick, for his actions in the war six hundred years ago. As Airelin neared the mountains of Aubr, she spotted an pool of water in a place with no streams.

The water bubbled and churned of its own accord. Airelin stooped beside it and reached in a hand. She drew some of the water to her mouth and tasted. This water tasted like no other water ever tasted by any Kyrie. Airelin, Jandar’s Archkyrie, knew at that moment that she had to tell Jandar of her find.

[Darconus]

PART II

“What did this Ymir look like?” one of the Aubriens asked.

Acohlen smiled at the interruption to his story, “The only image I have ever seen is a statue of him located in the courtyard of the Sunken Castle. Have you seen Jotun?”

The Aubrien nodded quickly and curtly.

“Well,” Acohlen continued, “if the scale of the statue was correct, Ymir was roughly five or six times bigger than Jotun. Jotun is over thirteen feet tall, as the Americans count measurement. Ymir likely stood close to sixty-five feet tall. He wasn’t like Jotun. He carried no weapons, according to the legends…”

****

Airelin, Jandar’s Archkyrie, flew faster than she’d ever flown to reach Jandar’s stronghold. Her General would want to know of her find. From the moment that she had tasted the water, the words wellspring had echoed through her mind. She didn’t know where this word came from, but it called to her. A clarion call across time and space. No other word meant anything to her anymore. The power of the wellspring’s water had already infused her with a newfound speed. She had gained another power, as well.

While standing beside the pool, she had seen a glowing stone in the water. For the moment, her fear of the water’s power kept her from going in after it. She had already tasted the water. She could feel its power. She stretched out her hand to reach for the glowing stone. The stone wiggled for a moment, then lifted out of its place in the mud and floated to her hand.

She currently had the stone inside her armor, pressed against her belly. It was cold and hot at the same time. As she was flying, she saw it. The branch of an oak tree, perfectly shaped to hold the glowing stone. Stretching forth her hand once more, she summoned the branch to her. It shot skyward, landing firmly in her hand. She pulled the stone from within her armor and sat it in the top of the branch. Her sceptre complete, she continued her journey to Jandar.

After only a few more minutes flight, she saw Jandar’s citadel, a large, open city where thousands of Kyrie lived in peace. She could see a group of Kyries playing a sport of some kind. But her destination was the bell tower in the center. That’s where Jandar waited.

She swooped in through the upper window, settling on the floor just in front of Jandar, “My General.”

He acknowledged her.

“I have found a wellspring.”

Jandar put a hand on her shoulder, “Explain, Airelin.”

She sat down on a long wooden bench, still clutching the sceptre, “I was in the far north when I found a pool of water. It had no streams flowing to or from, and yet it churned violently. I touched it at first, then drank of it. I felt a great power flow into my body. I was able to summon this stone and this sceptre.”

Jandar, sitting opposite her, leaned back, “So this wellspring, as you call it, gave you this power?”

She nodded slowly, “I can only guess so.”

Jandar stood and walked to the window, “I must share this with my brothers. Odin has blessed us.”

[Kutless]

That was really good.I'll be looking forward to more.

['Scaper94]

I liked it! One of the few stories I've read in this section. Very nice!

[Dragon4201976]

Like you I'm Back on-line and making posts myself. I like the Story Good Job.... Can't wait for Part III

[Darconus]

Part IV

Acholen leaned back on the log he was sitting on, “I have forgotten much in my time here, lads. But I will not forget.” He choked up for a moment, “I will never forget watching the fields of battle. Some of you here will taste battle for the first time on this side. Remember what battle was on the other side, when men counted you as living. When you muttered a prayer to whatever god you lived by. When you could feel the chill in the air, the tingle of nerve on your skin, the shock of war.”

Those closest to the campfire offered tiny gasps, feeling the excitement the Acholen was explaining.

“That feeling, children, pales in comparison to what Jandar felt as he first dipped his hand into the wellspring…”

***

Jandar had not gone to his brothers at first. You might say this was the first sin, albeit a sin of omission. He followed Airelin to the wellspring. As he knelt and dipped his hand into the churning water, that was when he first felt the power.

Then he drank of it. The power that Airelin could gain, as a mere Kyrie and not a General, was nothing compared to that which Jandar gained. In one instance he became greater than all his brothers. He became nearly equal to Odin himself. In fact, had Odin not saw fit to limit the physical body, Jandar would’ve surpassed him.

But the will of Odin in strong in these lands. Jandar stood up from the wellspring and turned to Airelin. He laughed for a moment, “We are now great, Airelin. Greater than any other.” This was the second sin, the hubris of Jandar.

Airelin laughed also, “That we are, my General.” There they consummated the first war, if you take my meaning. Their physical desires, amplified by the wellspring water… I won’t say anymore on it.

They stood and surveyed the land, seeing more than ever before, their sense heightened. Airelin took flight and moved faster than any Kyrie had ever moved, until Jandar took flight. Airelin could not even see him move, he was so fast. He landed and drew in a deep breath, “We must go back.”

Before they could leave, Jandar heard a rumbling behind him. He turned and saw a roiling cloud on the horizon. It flashed through with lightning, and voice proceeded from it, the voice of Odin, “Mark well what you have done, Jandar. Mark well. You have brought ruin on Valhalla. Your Archkyrie is not to blame here, she merely did what she saw best in the eyes of her General.”

Jandar didn’t even blink. He stood his ground, which angered Odin.

“Your love for this power that she has shown you has doomed Valhalla to never-ending war. Go to your citadel and see what I mean, General Jandar. See that my word is true.”

They returned to the citadel of Jandar stronger than ever. This is the meeting that sparks it all. Because standing at the gate of Jandar’s Citadel is Utgar.

[bumper15]

What happened to part III?!?

Excellent story by the way. Keep it up!