The Bloodwatered Ground
1
____ Thormun’s wings ached as he landed on the platform and folded them. They remained noticeably larger than an ordinary kyrie’s and gave him a wide berth of onlookers as a result, but Thormun was old—very old. He sighed and shivered and wrapped his traveling coat tighter around himself as he left the platform and entered the castle interior. No matter how much time he’d spent in Jandar’s keep over the years, it would still always feel cold.
____ Inside the Valkyrie’s great hall a vast host of creatures were assembled: kyrie and humans and soulborgs mostly, but a number of other species as well. Not hardly all of them were soldiers; the war was old enough that some summoned now served as advisors rather than fighters. One bent old kyrie councilor, Manted, was the first to greet the guest: “You had better have good cause to assemble such an audience! Jandar’s time has the value of a hundred men on the battlefield—it shouldn’t be robbed of him lightly!”
____ “Be silent, old fool.” Sir Denrick dismissed him. The knight’s armor was ornamental now, explained by a decorative sash and a cane to lean on both. He was an advisor these days, “This is Thormun of Tealeron you’re addressing. When he has something to say even the very wise fall silent and listen attentively.”
____ Between the two sat Jandar on his great glacial throne. His large hands were folded patiently, and he nodded in agreement, “Indeed. What have you to say? We’re listening, old friend.”
____ Behind Thormun’s gray beard a frown was brewing. He appreciated how these men leapt to his defense at only the hint of hostility, but that didn’t change how he viewed himself. He knew perfectly well that he was a harbinger and a herald of woe. That wasn’t about to change, and no amount of reverence could undo the fact that he had started the troubles in Valhalla. Troubles that had only continued to thrive as all other things withered and died.
____ He lifted his head, “I come to you all to make a desperate plea. I have warned against war in the past, but we all felt that we had no other choice but to fight. Utgar had wellsprings and made it clear that he intended to only use and only respond to brute force. Even kyrie who wanted peace figured that the right thing to do was to defeat Utgar and the other warmong—” The painful words stumbled in his throat, “…the other warlike Valkyrie. Then the weapons could be laid down and the summoned armies returned to their worlds. So we have been trying to do for many years.”
____ Manted bleated with impatience, “We know this!”
____ “Then you should know the futility of this as well!” Thormun said, “I ask again for peace! I mean this more than ever. I have even called for representatives of other Generals to be here to hear my pleas, including even Utgar. His advisor Goellet has traveled here with me.”
____ Thormun gestured to the red-cloaked figure behind him, a Kyrien Mountain native who lacked the musculature of his kin. He looked as crooked as one would expect from an Utgarian diplomat, but he
had come. Jandar’s council said nothing, so Thormun continued:
____ “I ask the General, and all his advisors and tacticians gathered here: what gains have been made in these years of warfare? Which enemies of true consequence have been vanquished? You will say Utgar’s armies have been beaten back, or that small territorial expansions have been made. But summoned armies are always replaced, and gains are replaced with losses elsewhere. You have experienced this yourself, summoning fresh troops whenever you are defeated. You are pushing water.”
____ “But this is the nature of the war.” Jandar said. He shook his head grimly, “Because both sides draw their soldiers from the endless cup of time and space, it is only natural that the war has been a slow grinding affair. Only the rare breakthrough and capture of a wellspring represents true paradigm shifts, and we are working tirelessly on achieving that bit by bit. Utgar will fall eventually, once all his wellsprings are taken.”
____ Thormun sighed. The wellsprings. It had all started with his innocent discovery in the Tarn of Volsunga. He had been fowling during an yawning summer afternoon, when a passing traveler got caught in one of his catchkites. That took a certain degree of incompetence, but there was peace then and carelessness was laughed off rather than yelled at. A young fellow who called himself Haebar, out looking for the scrolls he’d dropped while flying north. The kyrie’s wing was bent from the catchkite, and so Thormun went up the mountain looking for the scrolls on the traveler’s behalf. That small favor had doomed Valhalla. Thormun returned the scrolls to Haebar, but dared not mention anything of what else he’d discovered on that innocent venture. If only that wellspring had been the only one in Valhalla…
____ Memories hurt. Thormun shook his head to rid them, “Early on wellsprings changed hands often, but the war is swelling. Progress has slowed to a crawl, and that crawl is grinding ever closer to a halt. Even your council chamber is bloated with so many people. There are species here which are new to me since I visited last only a moon ago. Valhalla will be overrun with bodies and unmade by the gods before the Alliance manages to take every single wellspring!”
____ The chamber was silent with either attentive listening or silent fuming at Thormun’s words. He’d brought no praise to Jandar’s efforts after all.
____ The old kyrie drew in a deep breath, knowing the words that were about to follow: “We will all perish of old age before the war is concluded. Our kind, the kyrie, will only endure more hell. We are not endless like the summoned are: we will be extinct before the war is ended. There is only one choice to stop all this: the wellsprings must be destroyed!”
____ Manted startled as if the words were blasphemous. Even Denrick sat up. The wellsprings were the source of nearly all of Jandar’s armies, and also the only way home for a summoned like him.
____ Jandar sighed and shook his head, “You know that is only self-destruction, my old friend. The bubble cannot be unpopped.”
____ “It is the only way! All the Generals must understand this! The visions show war and war without end! You must destroy the wellsprings!”
____ “I’m sorry. This meeting is over.” The great Valkyrie rose and dismissed his councilors.
____ Thormun sat on the rim of the platform outside, his old legs dangling over the edge as he stared at the white abyss below. He was still cold.
____ “You can’t be too surprised, sir.” His aide Peraphon told him. He was one of the few kyrie who followed Thormun even after he left Jandar’s army, helping the ever-aging sage even as pacifism failed time and again on this world. His young legs made him pace quickly behind Thormun, “The Alliance knows that Utgar would only ever exploit such a drastic move. He would never destroy his wellsprings. Isn’t that right, Goellet?”
____ Utgar’s representative folded his wiry hands together and shrugged, “It is regrettable that the Alliance would sooner see Valhalla rent apart and its native species destroyed than have it be ruled by its one true king. Surely the iron fist they so fear is preferable to mutual annihilation.”
____ “I could reverse that and throw it in Utgar’s red face! Bah!” Peraphon whirled to continue pacing, “The Generals will never agree to anything, and no matter how much time passes none of them ever experience the destruction they all bring! They’ll never help you, sir!”
____ Thormun said nothing, continuing to stare down at the endless winter below the castle. As usual he was gripped with dread, knowing what was coming but unable to avert it. That knowledge was a terrible burden, and no matter how often he was right still no one ever listened. What he would not give to be Haebar: dumb enough to fly right into a catchkite yet suffer no harm, and smiling and laughing. That blissful ignorance that was all kyrie before the wellsprings were found…
____ “I only know useless things like our impeding doom.” He said, “I do not know anything helpful, like what we could do to avert it…”
____ Peraphon frowned, recognizing this slump in his master well. Goellet meanwhile spread his leathery wings in preparation to depart, “I must fly south. The Alliance is free to surrender their wellsprings if they want the war to be over. Farewell.”
____ Peraphon watched him leave, grumbling, “The war in Valhalla, maybe…”
____ Jandar’s mind was rocked with visions that night, as he tossed and turned in his vast bed. He had drank from his Thaelenk wellspring with Thormun’s warnings weighing heavy on him, and the words now echoed as the Valkyrie witnessed further carnage.
____ More armies march forth from Utgar’s lands. I see the realm covered in red. Fighting, fighting on all planets across the cosmos… Jandar’s spirit reeled as it took in the visages,
I see more troops of mine. The Veloqui could be a mighty force in Valhalla. The defenses in Elswin are crumbling—I need more men…!
____ Through it all he heard Thormun’s words of warning: the wellsprings must be destroyed. Jandar saw the ground rip apart as armies fell into the void, and he saw the wellspring pool tear open and drain. In both cases all ran red, and he felt the faintest echo of a silent voice that had lay buried deep in his subconscious since the very beginning when he first drank. The voice of the wellspring itself.
____ … Hu… y…
____ Jandar awoke with a start. He was slick with sweat, and the feathers of his huge wings were ruffled and disorderly. Bedcovers were strewn chaotically. He had practically been wrestling with an invisible foe while he slept. That voice…
____ Jandar reached and pressed two fingers on the stone table beside his bed, sending magical commands through the smooth hexes that patterned the surface. With his other hand he conjured a flame and rose to light an already-smoldering fire in the hearth.
____ “Sire.” Within two minutes Denrick and Thorgrim were present. Denrick leaned hard on his cane and squinted in the lackluster firelight at his Valkyrie, quickly surmising the disheveled state, “It’s about what Thormun said?”
____ Jandar took a seat by the flames, watching them struggle to survive in this castle in the cold. He nodded slowly, “I cannot destroy the wellsprings. Utgar would have enslaved us all and invaded other worlds were it not for the waters and the troops it’s given me. Still, the old man’s words have filled me with dread.”
____ “We will defeat Utgar, sire!” Thorgrim vowed, “We need only hold Elswin long enough to make a breakthrough at Kinsland!”
____ “Only until the next army, the next setback…” Jandar muttered, “Where is Falry?”
____ “Here, sire!” In came a robed kyrie, bowing low. Of all Jandar’s advisors, this was his first and most trusted throughout the entire war. He stood upright again and walked past the two humans, “I imagine you wish to know my thoughts on the matter?”
____ Jandar looked him in the eye, “Truthfully, how is the progress going? Be honest, Falry.”
____ “If we do hold Elswin, and we do break through Kinsland…” Falry’s eyes narrowed, “We will capture a wellspring, sir.”
____ Jandar frowned. A successful defense and a successful attack both, full of risk. The promise of progress… Could they actually win this war, or would it truthfully go on forever? He rose, “Send word to Ullar requesting additional troops for the attack. We have to smash the defenses if we are to push far enough to take the wellspring before the enemy counters. And also, I want our wellspring sealed.”
____ We must be decisive. He thought,
The wellspring’s words: hu… y… hu… y… Hurry…! Yes, the longer this war goes on the harder it will be to end it. We must be decisive.
____ “S—Sir!” Falry exclaimed at the order, “Seal the wellspring? Don’t we need it? Don’t give in to Thormun’s hysteria, or if you do only do so once we’ve won!”
____ “I simply have a feeling about this, old friend. Do as I say.” Jandar faced Denrick, “Send word to Thormun if he is still in the area. I’ve changed my mind. I have a mission for him.”
____ Denrick bowed and took his leave. Jandar turned to depart as well, stopped only by Falry’s further protests: “If you’re going to seal the wellspring at least use it one final time! Elswin won’t survive without reinforcements! We need the Veloqui!”
____ Jandar stopped to ponder, “Hmm… You’re right, I suppose. One more army, for the last time I hope. It won’t please Thormun, but he doesn’t have to know.”
____ “A quest, for me?” Thormun asked, confused. He stood atop one of the southern roosts at the edge of the tundra, where messenger kyrie came and went. Only Denrick’s yelling from below as the human rode up on a horse had stopped the old kyrie’s departure. That and the amusing sight of the decorated knight hastily clambering up the wooden tower to deliver the news. It puzzled Thormun: he hadn’t been tasked with a mission in a long time, and those had been scouting and diplomacy only.
____ Denrick nodded, “Jandar’s making his move. He hopes to capture one of Utgar’s wellsprings if all goes well. But in the meantime he does take your concerns seriously. He wants you to study the wellsprings to see if there is a way to put the preverbal jinn back in the bottle, so to speak.”
____ Thormun frowned, “I’m not certain there are any secrets within the wellsprings themselves that might aid us. If there were I would have likely seen them in the visions.”
____ “You’ll let that stop you from trying?”
____ Still no answer. Peraphon put a hand on the old man’s shoulder, “Where else will we go?”
____ Thormun glanced around the roost: scouts leaving and soldiers returning. The council chamber had been swollen with summoned, while this place here wasn’t even close to its full capacity. Kyrie numbers would only continue to thin. No peace, no children. Soon only flying summoned would use this tower: hovering machines and gargoyles and the like. He frowned and relented, “Very well. I’ll return to the keep and study the wellspring there.”
____ “You can’t.” Denrick said, “It’s… Well, Jandar has sealed it already. He’s taking your advice, Thormun. But if we take the wellspring in Kinsland you can study it.”
____ “That’s too dangerous!” Peraphon protested, “We have no guarantee your army will succeed in taking it.”
____ “We can fly to Ullar’s castle and request access to his wellspring chamber.”
____ Thormun shook his head, “Wellsprings are well-guarded by even the friendliest Generals. We don’t need to fly so far for a request that could easily be turned down. I know of another wellspring we can visit, one unmolested with Valkyrie or spies. We’ll head to Tealeron.”
____ Sir Denrick looked flummoxed, “I—I thought the Tealeron wellspring was lost!”
____ Peraphon gave him a knowing glance that explained enough wordlessly, though Thormun elaborated anyway: “That was a lie. I alone know exactly where it is, and have kept it secret even from Jandar.”
____ Peraphon nodded, overriding Denrick’s immediate protests, “Don’t start, knight. Not even an extra wellspring would help the Alliance win the war.”
____ Denrick held up his hands, “Fine, very well. We’ll head there, then.”
____ At first Thormun didn’t like the idea of bringing anyone else, but if Jandar was serious about ending the war… even sealing his own wellspring… He was at least owed some faith in this matter. The old kyrie nodded his approval, “It isn’t a short flight, and it could be dangerous, but you are welcome to accompany us. I’d like at least one other companion as well, in case it proves to be dangerous. Tealeron was destroyed by Utgar’s forces long ago, and I am no fighter. It might not be safe.”
____ Denrick nodded in turn, “There are still some representatives at the castle. I know one of them is quite the survival and stealth expert, and trustworthy to boot. Spread your wings, old-timer: we’re headed to Tealeron.”
2
____ Faint words echoed deep within the recesses of Utgar’s mind:
“…Gry… …Gry…”
____ “Ugh…” The Valkyrie’s fingers dug deep against his temple and rubbed in circles, stirring the thoughts. Voices from deep in the abyss had called to him since the beginning, but they had been growing louder in recent times. At first he had forgotten that he had heard them at all, but now that they were increasing in volume and agency he once again recognized them. He had heard only the echo at the mouth of the cave before: now he was nearer to the speaker. But not quite there yet.
____ Angry. Utgar reckoned. The abyss was losing patience, as was he. Once again he had been foolish enough to trust in the optimism of his many lieutenants, but as always the attack was beginning to stall. He had been promised a slaughter in Elswin, but the Alliance had not yet yielded and been destroyed there. The only slaughter thus far had been in Utgar’s command tent. As usual only the Valkyrie’s own hands provided thorough results.
____ Time was running out. Utgar sat up straight on his throne, voicing a single demand thunderously: “ELETUS! Where are you?!”
____ “Here, lord.” Came the quick answer, as Utgar’s chief advisor appeared from behind one of the vast red columns of the throne room.
____ “I need advice.” Utgar demanded, “The longer it takes to capture the territories in Elswin the more exposed my flanks become. My other minions are dishonest when viewing such things at a distance—give me your appraisal of the situation.”
____ Eletus nodded and drew a vial from his robes, the sorcerer that he was. He poured the liquid but it did not reach the hot floor: landing and spreading as if upon an invisible surface. This formed a map of the region, the liquid pooling in hexes and becoming the hills and valleys that was Elswin. The advisor stroked his chin and circled the conjured battlefield.
____ “The initiative was bound to flip eventually.” He said, “When things go well but aren’t immediately resolved, your lieutenants become complacent. They are content to continue applying pressure until they eventually win, but such victories are slow and permit the enemy to retreat in order or plan their counterattacks or what have you. You’re well-aware of this already.” Eletus shook his head, “I would advise some fresh blood if you want renewed efforts. Bring forth a new Hivelord or a new type of summoned entirely, and take the enemy off-guard. That will clear a path quickly through Elswin. Your real target lies beyond anyway.”
____ The wellsprings are angry already. Utgar contemplated. His fingers drummed on his sheathed sword.
Perhaps they want their amulets returned to them. Or perhaps it is not just my commanders who have grown complacent. A relentless onslaught is owed to the Alliance. They’ve been given too much time to prepare.
____ He sat upright, “Very well. I will summon fresh surprises for my enemy. See how they weather that storm. But try not to look too pleased with yourself, Eletus. One day I may summon a lieutenant who fancies the look of your job as much as he does blood on the battlefield.”
____ “Ha ha…” The advisor took one step back, “Perhaps, but keeping my head this long is one of my greatest talents.”
____ “Attribute your survival to me, not to yourself.” Utgar rose, seeing another kyrie enter, “Who dares interrupt my council? Speak!”
____ “I, lord!” The newcomer bowed low, “Goellet. I’ve just returned from my mission.”
____ “The emissary from Thormun.” Eletus said, “What news from the north?”
____ “Thormun fears the war, though Jandar rejected his proposals to stop it.”
____ Utgar frowned, “There is very little ‘new’ in those news, Goellet.”
____ “I do have one development, sir.” Goellet said, “My spies say Thormun is headed to Tealeron to study his hidden wellspring there. He might try to find some way to seal them all to put a genuine limit on the war.”
____ “Then I should begin summoning right away.” Utgar surmised. He rose, “See if you can follow them, Goellet. My forces were unable to find the Tealeron wellspring, despite tearing the province apart. If Thormun wants the war to end so badly, perhaps he can help us make it happen.”
____ Goellet’s thin lips curled into a wicked smile.
____ Thormun squinted his good eye as he flew, surveying the land. Valhalla was a vast nation, full of so many different biomes and landscapes. But so much had been destroyed in the war. The Alliance had done what it could to preserve peace and nature within its borders, but as Thormun flew closer to the contested territories this thin curtain was lifted. He could see smoke on the horizon in several places even from here, and knew that it was not an abnormal occurrence. Even with no major offensives ongoing at that exact moment, there was always fighting somewhere. Only the lofty clouds floating above looked unmarred and careless as always. Legends once told of the kyrie living in kingdoms atop the heavens, before the first descenders lay claim to the grounds below. Thormun wondered if that was true: if his people could just hide on the clouds in peaceful sanctuary…
____ Denrick was under Thormun, carried mid-flight in the kyrie’s arms. He too could see the distant destruction, commenting: “It looks like skirmishes to the south. That’s Einar’s business. He still doesn’t share all his intelligence with us up north.”
____ “I see.” Thormun said, “I suppose all the Generals keep some secrets, even now.”
____ “Just as you kept your wellspring all to yourself.”
____ “Hm. Fair enough.” Thormun flew lower, “We’re not far from Tealeron. A few more hours of flight.”
____ Peraphon followed his master’s dive. The younger kyrie carried their fourth: one of Aquilla’s wisest scouts. A human named Brave Arrow. He could, and had in the past, survive and navigate with absolutely nothing. He said very little but was constantly thinking, silently surveying the land the group flew over. Something caught his eye in the forests below, and he shouted a single word lost on Thormun over the wind of the flight. Peraphon swerved.
____ “Below!” He shouted to Thormun, and a cluster of meteors flew upward from the trees the group passed over.
____ Thormun moved evasively, but he was too old to maintain those ancient reflexes the wellsprings had once given him. The flames struck his chest, though there was no rock within. A conjured fireball. The flames licked over Thormun’s breastplate and arms. He yelled and fell.
____ The clouds below and earth above spun as Thormun dropped. His mind raced, hearing Denrick yelling as he too fell.
Ah, I’m a big target. he thought, shutting his old eye tight. He had always expected to die innocuously, struck down by only a small gear of this great war machine he had brought about.
____ …But he could not let Denrick perish with him.
____ Thormun forced his eye open. He was still in the tailspin, falling in anything but a dive. He folded his great wings and faced the coming earth below, falling faster. He dove hard, catching up to Sir Denrick below him. The wind drove pain like a stake into his burnt chest, but Thormun fought through it all the same. Reaching, he caught Denrick and then again opened his wings. Air ran through his feathers, and the speed of their fall did not much decrease. Remembering his young days, Thormun then angled himself and gradually shifted the direction of their drop.
____ The great wings beat once, and the two were again flying. The ground narrowly avoided them both, and Thormun soared away horizontally. He cared only to avoid more following fireballs, staying low to the ground and dropping Denrick safely before he himself crashed into the earth. Again everything spun as the old kyrie ground to a halt.
____ Denrick sat up and spat out dirt. Above him Peraphon landed only long enough to drop off Brave Arrow. The young kyrie then drew his hammer and took off to seek retribution. The two humans hurried to Thormun’s side.
____ “Oh…!” Thormun moaned, seeing stars in the clouds above. Now that Denrick was safe the wound again took center stage, and pain stretched like roots throughout his torso. His vision blurred, coming and going as he entered and exited consciousness.
____ “He’s badly hurt.” Denrick muttered, examining the singed flesh, “I’m not a healer. We need to go back.”
____ “An injured man stays or dies in one place.” Brave Arrow said. He unslung a vial from his neck, “Aquilla gave me this. Hold him still, and pray that more enemies do not appear.”
____ Thormun felt the cool water touch his lips as the antidote was administered. Pain still hammered away at him, even as the healing drought began to combat the injury right away. His vision and mind remained clouded.
Healing. he recognized,
Death still refuses to touch me, despite all I’ve brought.
____ Denrick watched the wound begin to heal already. “Incredible.” The knight marveled, “I’d no idea Aquilla possessed such powerful healing.”
____ Behind them Peraphon returned, landing and folding his wings. There was blood on his hammer. “Cultists.” He explained as he walked over, “What are Valkrill forces doing so far from the Underdark?”
____ “Unclear.” Brave Arrow halted the young kyrie’s hand as he reached for his master, “Don’t touch. It would be unwise to move him.”
____ Peraphon frowned, “Then we are running behind this soon.” He looked fretfully at Thormun. Despite the healing the old kyrie still wore an expression of anguish and fitful sleep. Unable to help, Peraphon turned, “I’ll pitch a tent and set up a perimeter. Without Thormun, we’re dead in the water already.”
____ H… y… h… y… Thormun tossed and turned, teeth clenched. The voices… the visions! All he saw in that dream was red: crimson landscapes devoid of all life, stretched tight across Valhalla like a skin.
____ I recognize this taste. Thormun thought,
No normal potion has been given to me. What have you done?
____ He woke, or thought he did, alone in the tent. A meek flame provided the only light in the dark, and Thormun glanced around as his head still spun. The vision of his dream remained.
____ “You’re awake.” A young voice by the entrance flap drew Thormun’s gaze. A kyrie leaned at the post there, arms crossed, “It’s been a long time since you last drank wellspring water. The human warrior probably had no idea the effect it would have on you. To them it only brings healing, enhancement, enchantment…”
____ Thormun rubbed his weary brow, recognizing the voice from so long ago, “Haebar…?”
____ The young kyrie stepped forward, entering the rim of the firelight into view. He looked exactly the same as he had back then, down to the very wardrobe, “Welcome back to Tealeron, old friend! Very old nowadays, I see!”
____ Thormun shook his head, “You’re in my mind… This water is poison.”
____ “Yet you possessed quite the addiction back then. Don’t blame yourself; if only I hadn’t dropped my scrolls none of this would have happened!”
____ Thormun let himself drop back down, staring upward as the voices continued to rack him.
…H… y… Yes, if only none of this had happened. He mumbled with misery, “I do wish that… though the worst part is that someone would have discovered them sooner or later. And all this would have befallen my world eventually… If only we were indeed like the humans and other summoned. They can drink but are only healed. They see but cannot summon. They quaintly choose to dip their weapons in the waters.”
____ “Well they are not natives of this planet. The wellsprings are ours, and we alone control their true power.”
____ “That true power is death. All other effects are a sweet nectar serving only to lure. All the wellsprings bring is destruction.”
____ Haebar laughed, “Ha! Then why do they exist?”
____ Thormun continued to stare at the top of the tent above him, stricken with a profound cluelessness, “…Why do the wellsprings exist?”
____ The answer eluded him.
____ Outside and far away the tent was watched through Goellet’s spyglass. He lowered the scope and chortled to himself, “You were right to never return to Tealeron, you old fool. Of course you’d be followed.”
____ The Minion behind the advisor scowled. The meatheaded warrior lacked patience, “Why aren’t they moving? If they’re going to sit around so long we should take them now.”
____ Goellet scoffed and handed him the spyglass, “If I hardly use my muscles why can’t you hardly use your mouth? Thormun will give away the wellspring only when he thinks it’s safe to do so. Your threats wouldn’t budge someone so willing to die. We’ll wait and keep a good distance, until the time is right.”
____ There was no advantage springing their trap in advance. And besides, Goellet did not much like the look of Thormun’s younger guard. The human tracker too. Utgar had sent Goellet with only a few Minions to do battle with. They would have to plan their attack carefully…
____ Banners whipped in the dark breeze. Thorgrim led the way, teeth grit as he marched up the uneven Kinsland terrain. Not far behind was Morsbane, leaning on his glowing staff and unburdened with armor. A whole battalion of humans and elves followed: speaking only in their solemn marching steps. They knew battle would be upon them soon. They could only hope for a swift victory against a surprised enemy.
____ Enemy, what a word. Thorgrim’s teeth ground harder in his mouth. He trusted Jandar’s knights little, knowing them on Earth, and these elves even less—finding them druidic and conceited. But such things were Earthly problems. On Valhalla, there were always plenty of foes to find that outweighed any normal sleight that turned folk against each other. Marro and monsters and machines. It was grimly funny how quick that sort of thing united people: the entire Alliance itself even.
____ Without them, without Utgar, Thorgrim wondered if they’d all revert back to fighting each other. Even if only Jandar were left, petty squabbles could again rise among his different legions. Thorgrim knew a thing or two about cracking the skulls of knights and even other vikings. In that sense, perhaps a great enemy was a necessary evil.
____ “March these men over the rise.” Morsbane’s words shook the viking from his thoughts. The elf stood atop the ridge and pointed to the craggy valleys beyond, “I can see the enemy fortress from here.”
____ Darkvision. Thorgrim opened his hide bag and withdrew night-vision goggles, taking a look. He’d swiped them from a Microcorp, and this was one piece of technology he’d come to learn well, carefully turning the knobs and zooming in on the target many miles away. All was green but perfectly visible out there. Utgar’s castles were as imposing as they were unassailable, but he wasn’t one to slink away from a challenge. The viking grimly nodded, “Men, prepare for battle! We attack an hour before first light!”
____ Dawn besieged Thormun’s restless slumber. He groaned and sat up slowly. Haebar was gone, as were the other visions he’d experienced in the night. Still the wellspring echoes sounded in his mind, however faint at this point.
____ …H… …y… “Help me.”, it almost sounded like. Time continued to dwindle: time for hope that was, before the entire conflict became too swollen and would go on forever. Thormun struggled to sit upright. He could not permit age or injury to stop him.
____ “You’re up!” Peraphon greeted him as he limped out of the tent. The young kyrie moved to check the wound, but Thormun shook his head and held him off.
____ “No time.” He said, “I’ve been healed enough by your draught, Brave Arrow. We should keep moving.”
____ The human nodded solemnly, “I had not realized at the time. Did you…?”
____ “No time.” Thormun repeated. His great wings spread wide, “I have had an epiphany in the night. I should like to study the wellspring as soon as possible, so we had best get moving.”
____ That sudden initiative from him caught the attention of Denrick, who nodded and limped over quickly. Thormun took him in his arms and shot skyward into the air. The knight felt lighter, despite the old kyrie’s injuries… yes, he was again growing stronger from drinking the waters. Peraphon followed close behind while carrying Brave Arrow, and they were off. Thormun’s keen eye remained fixed to the horizon as they flew. The wellsprings, why did they exist in this wretched world? His curiosity had doomed Valhalla once before, but still… he had to know.
____ The Tarn of Volsunga was a mountain lake within the realm of Tealeron where Thormun had originally found the first wellspring. Volsunga was an unexceptional heavily-forested mountain, and had not seen much of either battle or settlement during the war after Tealeron was destroyed by Utgar’s forces. No one came or went as the small group headed for the foot of the mountain. It was a province that meant little to the humans, or indeed even to young Peraphon, but seeing it still choked Thormun with bittersweet nostalgia. He had lived here for so long in peace, and now only ruin remained.
____ “It is dangerous to fly.” He muttered to the others, “We’ll land in what was once my home, and I’ll lead the way on foot from there.”
____ Denrick nodded, “Very well. I wouldn’t want us to been seen or tracked, with so small an escort. This is a wellspring we’re talking about, after all.”
____ The two kyrie alighted and landed upon the rolling plains outside the mountain, setting their passengers down and folding their wings. Thormun’s back hunched as he was again on his feet, and he gradually led the way forward.
____ Brave Arrow breathed the open empty air deeply, but the nature air seemed to make him apprehensive if anything. “I should scout on ahead.” He said.
____ “No need.” Thormun told him, “There’s nothing here. No resources to exploit, no important neighbors to flank. Trust me, I know this place well. Follow me, my village is this way.”
____ They walked in relative silence. Every now and again the sound of a beating wing could be heard, and Peraphon or Brave Arrow would snap to attention, but it was always nothing. Thormun continued on ahead, searching for the small town that had once existed on the foot of the mountain. It would of course be nothing but ruins now, but it remained the only true home he had ever had on Valhalla. Even Jandar’s merciful boarding had only been a barracks to him.
____ He had expected destruction, but the sight that he eventually came upon stole his breath all the same. What had happened to this place? The burnt skeletons of the buildings still stood untouched, but all the ground about the village was strewn in red. Some manner of fleshy material had grown like moss and covered everything, crawling even up to the burnt beams of the former houses. Thormun stared in horrified bewilderment.
____ The others caught up and shared in the shock. Peraphon was the first to nervously advance, touching the material. “There are faces in it.” he said, “It’s like people…!”
____ “It can only be the Marro.” Denrick concluded with narrow eyes. His sword peeked out of the scabbard as he slowly drew it in preparation.
____ Brave Arrow was not so slow in taking his weapons into his hands. He leapt fearlessly into the mass, standing upon it as if it were normal ground and checking everything out in detail. His eyes beheld and observed, then turned, “Marro grow in eggs and live in swamps. I see many different snouts here.”
____ “A new trick of theirs, then.” Denrick said, “If this isn’t from the Marro then where is it from?”
____ Brave Arrow’s nostrils flared, and he looked worriedly to the treeline bordering the village, “It comes from the forest.”
____ Darkness fell quickly. Thormun kept the lantern light low and scooted close to the desk he sat at. The longhouse which had once sat at the edge of town was the most intact, and the creeping flesh had not infected all of it yet, so that is where their number stayed for the time being. This unexpected delay changed things, and so before they even dared to make for the wellspring—more likely than not also affected by the material—he wished to study its composition.
____ Darkness brought paranoia. Peraphon stayed atop the highest beam of the longhouse roof, sleeping there far above the red mass’ reach, while Denrick and Brave Arrow patrolled at a far distance from the town. Both humans were on edge, that much was plenty clear. Thormun meanwhile felt mostly an odd sense of curiosity. This event brought change: a shift. He had to find out what he could while he could.
____ Darkness brought company. Thormun heard creaking on the floorboards behind him, though he did not need to glance back to check. “You seem unshaken.” Came Haebar’s voice. The footsteps neared, “Perhaps you think it’s another delusion brought about by the water.”
____ “The others saw it too.” Thormun dismissed. He carefully examined a clump of the stuff Brave Arrow had carved out with his hatchet. The old kyrie carefully prodded the fleshy material with small thin instruments, “A thousand years of peace in my home province, without a hint of any red menace creeping out from the mountain. However unsettling, it lacks the malicious intent of the warring factions out there. I wish to know more.”
____ He peeled it gradually, watching it bleed.
____ “Knowledge is dangerous, you should know.” Haebar told him, “How any of this matter ends the war I can’t begin to guess. It’s probably another portent of doom you’re bringing about to Valhalla.”
____ Thormun picked through the flesh, examining how thin the muscle seemed to be stretched. He frowned, “Everything I do brings woe. But even when I am inactive everything only seems to grow worse. I can only pray that somehow I will pluck peace out of somewhere in the din.”
____ Something in the mass caught his eye, and he picked at it and pulled it from the rest. A long single featureless quill bathed in red. Thormun held it aloft and examined it.
____ “A feather.” He said, turning in his stool and facing Haebar, “This matter is indeed no Marro. This right here used to be kyrie.”
____ Haebar laughed and shrugged, “Kyrie used to live here!”
____ “Not this kind. I know this type of quill. The kyrie of Ostriyick have longer feathers with asymmetrical barbules. This belonged to a Vydarian kyrie. The chances of such a race visiting this quaint little village in the years of peace or even during Utgar’s invasion are quite slim.” Thormun turned and jotted notes as he spoke, so his findings were not lost on this delusion standing before him, “And there is more. This bone here is not kyrie at all. It’s all mixed in together.”
____ His guest was silent.
____ Thormun set down his tools, staring warily forward. “This matter was formed by people: Valhallan and summoned alike. I do not know of any great battle that might have occurred here involving so many combatants that might have been fused together. But even if such a thing did happen… the means of it is hidden within that forest.” The old kyrie again faced his delusion.
____ Haebar’s still face flickered in and out of the wavering candlelight, saying nothing. That warm smile he always seemed to wear was gone.
____ “It can only be the wellspring.” Thormun concluded, “Somehow, things are becoming even worse.”
3
____ At last the Sentinels of Jandar won the gate, opening the castle’s great door from the inside and permitting the flightless warriors into the fortress. Thorgrim led the way, hewing his foes left and right as the fighting intensified. Orcs and wolves welcomed battle rather than feared it, and had put up a terrifying defense thus far. But the Alliance possessed the numbers to keep up the assault relentlessly. Such an overwhelming advantage was the only way to possibly capture the wellspring quickly. Thorgrim could only hope taking so many reserves from Elswin would not blow up in the Alliance’s faces.
____ “Do not stop the attack!” The viking bellowed, headbutting a wolf when his sword remained fastened in another. He wiped the blood from his nightvision goggles, “Form a spearhead straight for the keep! To the wellspring!”
____ They would have to take it and then hold it against the inevitable counterattack. Thorgrim thrust his way forward, fighting like his brother would have. A strong wedge of knights formed behind him, and they sliced and punched and bit their way up each bloody step leading to the keep at the heart of the castle.
____ Flying friends would do them no good here. “Bring up the ram!” Thorgrim shouted above the din as his number gathered about the closed doors of the inner-fortress. Bullets whizzed over their heads, and the knights lifted their shields aloft and held their ground. Their armor had been dipped in wellspring water, greatly leveling the playing field between them and Utgar’s machines, but a lucky shot could always still end any of them permanently.
____ Up came the ram, held aloft by Morsbane’s magic while he hid amongst the shields. With a wave of his staff he brought it forth, slamming into the great gate.
THUUM!!! Uninterrupted, he swung it back for a second strike.
____ “It’s working, just cover me! They can see the light of my spellcasting!” The old elf shouted above all the noise. He gave Thorgrim a weary grin, “This assault is faring better than I anticipated.”
____ “You elves are too well-groomed and clean-shaven to be smiling in the middle of this bloody fray!” Thorgrim replied, “You oughta only look at home playing instruments at your fancy dinners.”
____ “Ha! The reverse to you; I’ve seen you play at Jandar’s banquets!” Morsbane lifted his head and watched the ram thunderously rend the gate. The hinges snapped and the doors fell back, “We’re in! Forward, quickly!”
____ There could be a whole second front of enemies inside to guard the wellspring. Thorgrim immediately doffed his goggles and rushed in, lit now by the torchlight within the keep. His shield and sword remained raised both, but as he charged down the hall they soon lowered. No foes in sight.
____ He navigated the ugly brick passages with his men behind him, but no signs of any enemies ever presented themselves. Only as he delved deeper did anything appear, but it was only a filthy red mass beginning to cover all the floor and walls. Thorgrim felt his boots stepping in it and his entire face squinted with disgust, “What on earth…?”
____ “Sir.” One of his knights stooped and lifted a large axe from its resting place amongst the fleshy mass. It was one-handed though much too big for a meager human to lift as such, “A Minion’s weapon, sir. The enemies are here.”
____ “Or were.” Thorgrim said. He continued forward, stepping through more and more of the fleshy substance. Its stench intensified in the cramped halls as he pressed onward, until at last the blue glow of wellspring water lured him into the main chamber. There the clear luminescent pool remained, surrounded by the material. Thorgrim scowled, looking at it in repulsion. The vast lumps of melded bodies were cluttered around the rim of the pool, what was once the guards of this place. As for the rest, it was clearly growing from the wellspring itself.
____ Up came Morsbane, looking less comfortable here than he did in the thick of combat. His robed hand covered his pointy nose, “What’s happened here? What befell this wellspring?”
____ “I’m not sure.” Thorgrim muttered, “The outside forces were still fighting tooth and nail to defend it as if it were normal.” His eyes narrowed, “Whatever’s occurring here, you’d better hope to hell the same isn’t happening to the wellspring in your General’s castle.”
____ It was spreading. By first light the red menace was stretched far beyond the borders of Thormun’s wrecked old town. It had nearly engulfed Sir Denrick who had slept at what he assumed was a safe distance. The knight was spared only by the quick thinking of Brave Arrow’s hatchet. The tribesman did not bother to clean the ick off his weapon, “We need to put a stop to this.”
____ Thormun surveyed the ever-grimmer surroundings. The material covered much of the surrounding territory now, like red mud spilled from down the mountain. They had probably only just arrived as the spread was starting, and at this rate it would only worsen at an alarming speed. He nodded, “We’ll make for the wellspring, though any danger may grow exponentially as we get closer.”
____ “You still wish to study the wellspring?” Denrick questioned. His tone was beginning to carry the skepticism of Manted at the meeting. But Thormun agreed nonetheless.
____ “Yes. I have questions that have needed answering for some time, and now I fear the door to answer them is closing fast.”
____ Peraphon was with him as always, “Do what you need to, master. If there’s danger, leave it to us.”
____ Thormun faced the mountain. Those old pines looked more foreboding now than the welcoming woods he had expected from his innocent youth. The wellsprings and the destruction they brought, for what purpose none could say… perhaps this place had always been cursed. Only now was it all marred in the fitting red color that matched it. Red… the same as his vision…
____ …Hu… …y…
____ Perhaps the war was coming to an end soon, but not in the way he always thought it might. Doubt and unease stewed in the old kyrie’s taut lips, but still he nodded and silently led the way forward. The others followed, and the four marched forth and disappeared into the forest. Surrounded on all sides by the unsettling ground under their feet.
____ The mountain slope was gentle as first, but as Thormun continued the ascending hike his age began to tarry him. How often he’d come up this path in his younger days, though so much of it was now unrecognizable. The gentle greens and blues of the mountain forest were covered and uglied in the red material, coating the ground and partially up the trees. Those trunks had faces now in the flesh.
____ It was too quiet. The footsteps of the travelers were the only noise, as well as the rustling breeze running through the air. No, it was not windy. Brave Arrow perked up, and he drew his knife. “Danger!” He shouted simply.
____ Denrick turned and saw what was coming too late. The rustling was not in the wind but along the ground: a tunneling rise in the red material making its way toward the group. It split open seven feet from the knight and a reaching tendril shot out. Denrick fell and Brave Arrow pounced. Blood sprayed everywhere as he began hacking away at the lance of flesh that had sprouted.
____ “This ground is alive!” The tribesman said, “Flee!”
____ So it wasn’t just hostile to behold. A second portion of the red ground unstitched and out swung a great big sinewy bone like a club. Brave Arrow ducked to dodge but Peraphon already had his back. The kyrie’s hammer smashed into the bone and shattered it. “Go!” The young warrior shouted to his elders, and Thormun and Denrick hurried up the mountain.
____ “This is bad.” Denrick muttered as they climbed, “It’s like it waited for us to be deep within its heart before attacking. How are we to fight the ground?”
____ “For a human? Impossible.” Thormun said, “For a kyrie, perhaps manageable. Hold on!”
____ He grasped the knights’ arms and spread his wings. Flying in this thick forest was madness, but what choice did they have? Peraphon and Brave Arrow could only defend them from one side. Lifting gradually off the ground, Thormun flew up and forward. His wings were large, and his chest still ached with the echoes of injury, but he carefully navigated between the trees. Red tendrils shot at his ankles.
____ “Tell me the wellspring is close!” Denrick shouted.
____ “Very near, but I cannot penetrate this dense canopy! Just hold on a little longer!”
____ But one arrow of flesh managed to strike Thormun’s wings. He shouted and fell, trying and failing to remain aloft. The two crashed and rolled, and instantly the red menace was snaking forth like vines. Thormun shut his eye tight but heard only a quick yelp of metal being freed.
____ Denrick’s sword was drawn, and he shakily rose. He still leaned on his cane with his other hand, back bent even as he relived his courage. “Keep going!” The knight shouted, cutting down a second lunging lump of skin, “I’ll be right behind you!”
____ Thormun nodded and struggled to his feet. His old mistake lay just ahead. Close to the lake, hidden innocuously within the forest safe from prying eyes around or above. No fortress guarded it, save for the flat organic one Thormun now stood in. He hurried on ahead, following the steps he’d taken so many times sneaking back to this one place to have just a bit more water.
____ Here the red waned as he entered the heart of the wellspring: narrowing down into veins running toward and into the pool. Thormun brushed aside the many leaves leading in and stared at his old wellspring. Just as vivid and blue as ever, for now, tainted only slightly by the red surrounding it: spreading very gradually like smoke in the water. The old kyrie stooped low, staring into the mirrorlike pool. His own face reflected back.
____ “Everything started here.” Thormun muttered, “But
why were you here…?”
____ Quiet.
____ There was another face in the still water now, staring down. Red, details mostly obscured by an ugly helmet. Not a vision. Thormun turned, and there the kyrie was mid-swing with the haft of his weapon. Thormun was batted aside and sent rolling along the red ground, feeble in his age. He lifted his head weakly. The kyrie before him was simply a Minion of Utgar, but he wasn’t alone.
____ “You thought you were so clever, coming here on foot to avoid being followed.” Goellet said as he crept from the bushes. One hand of his was clutched tight to his robes, the maroon garment obscuring the injury he’d sustained following Thormun up the mountain through the red menace. He surveyed the forested surroundings, “No wonder we never found this place. No ruins, no chamber, hiding in plain sight like some random watering hole. Well, no matter.”
____ “This wellspring will do you no favors.” Thormun wheezed, “Even if it does still work, it won’t be enough for Utgar to break the stalemate. You’ll just get more war, as always.”
____ “You may be right, old fool.” Goellet stroked his chin, “But with a breakthrough in Elswin we may be up two wellsprings. I know the Alliance pulled reserves from the defenses there.” He pointed to his Minion, “This old codger has no more secrets to hide. Bring me his head.”
____ The warrior advanced, but he was blocked. Out from the bushes came Denrick, weapon still drawn. He limped with age and injury, but the fury on his face still halted the Minion. “Stay back.” He growled, “Your General’s in for a surprise, Goellet. Jandar has summoned the Veloqui, a new race, and an entire army of them is marching to Elswin as we speak. Utgar’s forces will be getting a bloodbath, not the rout they’re expecting!”
____ The advisor’s thin hands clenched into fists.
____ “So Jandar did summon even more…” Thormun muttered. He said he’d sealed the wellspring. The old kyrie shook his head, “It’ll just be more war. Wars upon wars upon wars. Can’t any of you see? Even now you’re standing on this red ruin with weapons pointed at each other!” The red. Thormun’s eye widened, “…If Jandar did not seal the wellspring as he claimed, then is what’s happening here may be happening…”
____ His heart sank even as another voice confirmed it, “…All across Valhalla. I told you it was another portent of doom.”
____ Out stepped Haebar, smiling and shrugging. Thormun sighed and lowered his head.
____ But his delusion was shared. Denrick lowered his weapon just slightly, staring in bewilderment at the newcomer, “…Falry?”
____ “Eletus? How are you here?” Goellet asked in kind, gawking. Thormun lifted his head. This Haebar was real?
____ “Jandar did as I advised him.” Haebar explained, “Though he did insist on sealing his wellspring right after. That will only slow the spread to his kingdom, though his summoning a new army will hasten the spread overall. A very meager setback for me. The growth from his other wellsprings will eventually reach Thaelenk in time.”
____ “You serve Jandar, Eletus?!” Goellet demanded. He snapped his fingers and the Minion of Utgar raised his axe. Haebar waved one hand dismissively, and the fleshy red vines hooked the Minion by the boots. The warrior fell on his face and was instantly yanked into the dense foliage out of sight. Denrick stared in shock.
____ “I serve the ground, ensuring its feeding for years.” Haebar corrected, “And so I simply advised Jandar (and Utgar as well) to continue bringing more and more summoned to Valhalla. There remained just a bit more watering left to do, but the coming slaughter at Elswin should do the trick.” He faced Thormun, “You know the voices cry out for it endlessly.”
____ They grew louder by the second.
…H… y… …Hu… ry… …Hu… gry…!
____ …Hungry…! It echoed in Thormun’s mind. He paled, “What is this, Haebar?”
____ “The natural state of this world. I asked you to ponder the purpose of the wellsprings.” Haebar held his arms aloft, “Tell me, have you ever considered the possibility that this world is in fact a life form? Such an organism would require an enormous amount of matter to thrive, and thus the wellsprings exist as conduits to keep it fed. It was like this before once, and now it’s waking up again.”
____ “…Fed, you say?!”
____ “Yes, by bloodshed. Battle, destruction… a constant Ragnarok, Thormun.” Haebar smiled, and his form seemed to melt as he did so, “I am one of the keepers of this natural order, thrown into disarray eons ago by rebellious angels who longed for peace on the ground. They sealed and tried to bury the wellsprings, and only they could unearth them again. I am no true kyrie, but as you recall I managed to find one to help me begin the process again.”
____ There was no pang of regret that Thormun had not felt already. He sighed hard, “So you are an agent of this evil earth, tricking me into destroying every last hint of peace of Valhalla.”
____ “The conduits had to take on a more alluring presence if its own jailers were to free it again.” Haebar’s molding form said, “But peace was never the natural order of this planet. Dreadful quiet is an act of rebellion! Your own hearts are proof enough of that, save for anomalies like yourself, Thormun!”
____ Half of that form sunk into the red ground, and all at once more tendrils came rushing in. Instantly Goellet took off skyward, fleeing into the air. Thormun however remained hunched on the ground, unable to retreat so quickly. With only more destruction coming, he nearly accepted it.
____ But Denrick would not. He lunged and cut every reaching arm of red, protecting the old kyrie even as he himself was assailed. Flesh entangled the knight’s legs, but he kept defending Thormun all the same.
____ “Get up!” Denrick shouted, “Thormun!”
____ “Forgive me.” Thormun murmured, “It seems you were doomed the moment you were summoned. Only meat for the grinder.”
____ “Fly, Thormun!” Denrick grit his teeth tightly, feeling his own bloodloss as the red matter gradually overwhelmed and enveloped him, “There’s still a fight to be had! Not warmongering, but a righteous fight! I would have died anyway on Earth; Jandar saved me because he cared! And you care! There is still good in you folk. You got your vile answer for why the wellsprings exist, well I ask this: if the ground on this planet is evil then why do the kyrie have wings?!”
____ Thormun lifted his head. Perhaps…
____ He spread his wings, and even as the red lunged Denrick still cut them back with the last ounce of strength he still possessed. Thormun took off skyward, looking back at the knight below. Like all other things, he could not help. But Denrick hewed and fought to the bitter end anyway as the red slowly enveloped him, and even as it overtook him he still managed a glance skyward, and a wink.
____ “You can’t leave!” Haebar’s voice bellowed after Thormun, and his form arched and bent into a vast spike of flesh lancing out after the fleeing kyrie. But this too was thwarted, as something fell from the sky and crashed onto the inhuman shape. Thormun glanced back. It was Brave Arrow, his weapons sunk into the vast spear of meat. He had been dropped by a very injured Peraphon, who now dove down and swooped past to catch the tribesman. The two had survived!
____ Haebar’s voice screamed in fury and shot forth again, aiming for the younger kyrie and the human he carried. Peraphon dodged through the air, evading as he ascended to a safer height. He caught up to Thormun and remained level with him as the two soared, flying far from the mountain.
____ Thormun stared at the ground below as he flew. All was spreading red down there, inching further by the hour. Such an infection could overtake all the land in weeks if not sooner. Further beyond on the unblighted horizon the old kyrie could see smoke and other signs of war. A great battle in Elswin, far from any of the wellsprings or their creeping presence, armies slaughtering armies and in so doing continuing to feed the ground. Feeding and feeding for years unknowingly, until the dam broke and all the ruin was unleashed at once. It was too late to stop now, and exactly as Haebar desired.
____ Thormun sighed and shook his head. He would not despair. He had done enough of that already, up until the very last sacrifice. Denrick had not perished in order to prolong despair. There was still a silver lining.
____ “It’s all spreading, master.” Peraphon told him as they flew, “Where can we possibly go?”
____ “First the war spreads, now this Ragnarok.” Thormun muttered, “As with the war, Jandar’s keep seems the best bet.”
____ Peraphon nodded, and the two turned north and flew. Heading toward the distant white north, while all else ran red below.
From the journal of Thormun of Tealeron,
____ Much of Valhalla is fallen or falling. From each wellspring the red menace grows and spreads all across the land, overtaking everything bit by bit. No armies stand a chance against the very ground they stand upon. The most any of us can do is flee to thus unaffected areas, for the time being. To this end Jandar’s northernmost territory is the safest, as his castle’s wellspring is sealed. Nowhere else is safe, and we have taken in countless refugees including the great Utgar himself. None of the Valkyrie are in great spirits, all sharing the burden of responsibility for bringing about this apocalypse.
____ But there is hope. Even if this Armageddon is the natural state of Valhalla, the kyrie of ancient times long past survived it before, and so we’ll endure it again. The very tallest places seem to be the last to be covered by the creeping evil, and Jandar’s castle is very high indeed, so we have some time still.
____ We plan to send the summoned across the Bitter Sea. They cannot escape the ground but do not deserve to perish, for without the summoned I and many other kyrie would not be here today. I owe Denrick my life, and I do not wish to damn Brave Arrow—who saved me also—to an ugly and unavoidable end. I do not know if the red can cross the ocean, but if it cannot then Haukeland may be their only sanctuary.
____ As for us kyrie, perhaps the tales are not so tall and the clouds are our true homes after all. The ground cannot reach there, nor can the summoned we used to fight our wars before, so perhaps in a strange sort of way I can still achieve the peace I have for so long desired. Jandar and Peraphon and others like them will study the means by which the wellsprings were defeated and sealed in the ancient past, in order to take back Valhalla for the kyrie. I am a scientist, and may be of great use in that pursuit. But at the same time… perhaps for now I can settle with just… a forced, bittersweet peace.
-Thormun
