Shadow of Fenrir

HP: 1,000,000/1,000,000

The awareness forced itself into Jake’s head without Identifying it. A boss, maybe even a world boss. Fighting this wasn’t an option.

The beast’s nose rose. It sniffed the air. A deep rumble filled the cavern. “I smell the stench of death.”

Those glowing red eyes locked on Jake. He swallowed. It hadn’t attacked yet, and they’d come this far. He stepped forward, pulled out the rune-key, and held it behind his back as nonchalantly as possible.

“Fenrir, you honor us with your presence.” Come on, take it!

The beast pulled closer. Metal dragged across stone but the ground didn’t shake, despite the creature’s size. “Human,” it growled, “why do you smell of Death?”

It could smell that? Why not? Wouldn’t a son of Loki be a god?

Jake forced out a smile and bowed his head. Here goes nothing. “Death toys with me, binding me, as the gods are want to do.”

Cara’s slender hand brushed against his, and she took the rune-key.

Fenrir’s shadow growled and shook his head from side to side. “Do not compare your puny plight to mine, mortal! Where is the battle? Where is the fire? Where is Ragnarok?”

Ragnarok? Of course. Fenrir expected the end of the world. Jake’s blood ran cold. Did it expect to take part in the end of the world? If it attacked, there was no army of powerful Heroes to stop it.

Cara snuck around, making her way to the center. Would Fenrir’s shadow notice her? Would it care?

Jake gestured for Gramok to run and walked toward Fenrir’s other side. “Ragnarok has not yet come.”

The beast kept facing him, turning away from the center. “Then why am I free? Where is Odin?”

“I don’t know.” Jake swallowed. Fenrir was supposed to kill Odin at Ragnarok, but that exhausted his knowledge on the subject, and even that assumed the mythology was the same. “But it is not yet time for Ragnarok.”

Cara snuck up to the center of the plaza and pressed the rune-key to the ground.

Fenrir’s roar shook the cavern. “No Odin? No Ragnarok?”

Another roar. A nearby building collapsed into ruin.

An orb appeared in Cara’s hand, glowing bright blue under Discern Magic. It was powerful. It had to be the portal stone. Jake nodded, and she retreated.

Jake racked his brain. Gramok had shown them the way on the map, a passage down below the ruins. A winding tunnel through the rock. A narrow tunnel.

Those glowing red eyes sunk close to the ground. Fenrir’s huge teeth hovered before Jake, and the stench of blood hung thick in the air. “Yet Death’s pet is here. Where is Death? Why does Death not ride out?”

Jake gulped. Could even Death manifest in this world? “I cannot speak for Death.”

“Then I shall send you to him. Bring me back more than feeble excuses.”

Jake leaped back, narrowly escaping the chomp of those huge jaws. He pictured the other side of Fenrir and cast Teleport (Short Range).

The beast’s jaws opened. Jake shoved mana into the disjointed spell. Spittle filled the air.

The spell sealed. Huge teeth descended.

“Raka-fa!”

Jake’s stomach jerked, and a crumbling wall replaced gaping jaws.

A blood-curdling howl shook the air. Jake gulped. No time to stare. He pulled on his mana again. Not ideal field test conditions, but the alternative was worse.

He stole a glance over his shoulder. Glowing red eyes locked on him and bounded forward.

Jake jogged forward and dropped both unassigned Force perk points into Cast in Motion. Metal shrieked across stone behind him.

He wove the white magic in his hands, thicker and thicker. Would the spell work?

One way to find out. “Ratonaka!”

He jumped, soared into the air, and kept going. Enormous jaws clamped shut below him.

He pushed himself forward with the spell, hurtling between the buildings. Stale air rushed past his face. Levitation.

Adrenaline danced through him, forcing a grin across his lips. This almost made it all worthwhile. A shame it wouldn’t last long.

He swung around the corner and descended slowly. This would have to be enough of a head start. Now which way to the staircase? His mental map pointed left, without much certainty.

It would have to do. He made his way through the ruined buildings, staying off the streets as much as possible.

Fenrir existed here? Or at least his shadow, waiting for Ragnarok. And Odin too? Jake frowned. How much Norse mythology had this place copied?

A shiver ran down his spine. The world was almost unchanged for ten thousand years. This place was older than human history. It hadn’t copied Norse mythology, quite the reverse. How many unwilling Heroes had been kidnapped and brought here?

And then gone home. Jake shook and let out a half-laugh. Home. If Vikings had worked out how to go home and tell their tale, he could.

Another home, its front door shattered and the walls stained with blood. Two dwarf-sized skeletons were sprawled across the ground, alongside two… smaller skeletons.

Jake turned away and clenched his fists. How many dwarves had died here? And for what? Because the Heroes had gotten bored?

He moved on. Anything of value that wasn’t trapped would have been looted long ago. Not that there was time to search properly. Cara and Gramok would be waiting for him.

The Heroes of old had been something else entirely. He paused and cocked his head. Were there other Heroes in the world now? There were many more races here than just humans. Were the other races real, out there in the cosmos somewhere?

“Jake!” Cara’s voice.

Warmth flooded through him. He turned to her and smiled. “Hey.”

She beckoned. “The staircase isn’t far.”

“You made it,” Gramok said, almost sounding surprised. “Any deaths?”

Deaths. The two smaller skeletons came to mind. A cold void tugged at Jake’s heart. “Not this time.” He looked back across the city. “This place is a tomb. Let’s go.”

An all too close howl sent a shiver down Jake’s spine.

Gramok slung Cara over his back in a fireman’s lift and ran.

Time to move.

***

The staircase spiraled down, only just wide and tall enough for Gramok. Every step was level, its corners as crisp as the day they were cut. No doubt the effect of the magical runes inscribed every few steps.

A howl echoed down from above. At least it was too narrow for Fenrir’s shadow. Hopefully, anyway. There wasn’t any evidence yet that it could shift form. Getting out again would be a problem for later.

They stopped again for Cara to catch her breath. She sipped from her canteen. “What was it like? Flying?”

A tingling warmth filled Jake just thinking about it. “Amazing.” He smiled. The look on her face when she got to try it would be even better. “Just wait and see.”

Her face lit up, and then dulled. “It won’t be the same, will it? You’ll be in control.”

“I could try teaching you.”

She raised her eyebrow. “We don’t all have your skills.”

He scratched his head. The spell did two things—lifted and pushed. Theoretically, they could be split out. “I’ve got an idea for that.”

Gramok grinned. “What about me? Do I get to fly?”

How heavy was Gramok? Jake looked him up and down. Even without the armor, he’d had to weigh a ton. “Might need a couple of extra casters for you, buddy.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

Cara giggled. “That you’re the most muscular of all of us.”

His chest puffed up. “Took a lot of ‘wasted’ effort in my youth. Glad someone appreciates it.”

Should he say anything? Jake bit his lip. Would Gramok have held back? “That, and you’re carrying by far the most food.”

A pause. Had he put his foot in it?

Gramok broke into thunderous laughter and clapped Jake very carefully on his back. “Good one, skinny boy. I guess that means you won’t want—” He reached into his pack and pulled out yet another pristine sandwich, stuffed with succulent meat. “—one of these.”

Jake’s mouth watered. He snatched for it, grasping only thin air. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh, I know.” Gramok smirked and took a bite. “You can have one, if you ask nicely.”

A boulder formed in Jake’s chest. He looked away. “I’ve got supplies.”

“Suit yourself.”

***

The bottom of the staircase did, in fact, exist. And what was there, after trekking all that way? Wonders? Ancient knowledge? Powerful loot?

No. A ten foot by ten foot stone room, as drab and boring as could be imagined, with a single narrow tunnel coming off it. Jake looked back up the center of the stairs, his eyes getting lost in the endless spiral upwards. How deep were they?

Gramok crouched and headed down the tunnel, sword in one hand and his lantern in another. The rebounding light danced across the dragon emblazoned on the huge shield slung over his back. At least if there was danger, it would have to go through him.

Cara went next, safely in the middle, or safe as anything was down here. Jake took up the rear.

How old was this tunnel? Runes glowed periodically along it, but fewer in number and variety than the stairs. Functional, but barebones.

Bright light shone through what gaps it could find between Gramok and the dwarf-sized tunnel. Multicolored light flickered beyond him at the end of the tunnel.

No, not the end. It curved around. They followed the curve, and the light grew brighter.

Gramok stepped out of the tunnel and gasped. “Wow.”

An array of light assaulted Jake’s eyes. He blinked rapidly, lifting his hand to provide cover. “Wow.”

The tunnel gave way to a large room. Shining crystals lined the walls, stretching from floor to ceiling. White, blue, teal, purple, silver, red, orange, brown, pink, and dozens of shades in between.

Interlocking pitch-black hexagonal stones made up the floor and ceiling. At the far end, a golden door slid open, revealing a long room beyond with a polished floor and murals on the walls.

Jake’s heart raced. He turned to the others. “Thank you for coming this far. You can wait here, if you’d rather.”

Cara rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’d rather live one lifetime than exist for a thousand.”

Gramok clapped her on the shoulder. “We’ll make a proper orc out of you yet!” His face beamed. “I didn’t come this far to miss out on Zelnari ruins.”

“You two…” It was like they were determined to get themselves killed. “Alright, but I go first.”

Cara pulled herself to attention and grinned. “Whatever you say, Jeremy.”

He sighed. What was he going to do with them? “Let’s go.”

His boots clicked against the polished stone floor of the next room. Murals took up the left and right walls, each woven with magic and depicting a story across five different scenes.

At the far end was a sealed door with five lights above it. Before the door stood a strange desk covered in unmarked buttons, magic running through it.

In the first scene on the left, bald humanoid creatures with no mouths fought off wolves. Zelnari, perhaps? Then, they learned magic. They used that magic against other races. They built immense cities with—or maybe out of—magic. Finally, a creature destroyed everything.

In the first scene on the right, a mana vortex ripped multiple Zelnari apart. Jake snorted. At least he wasn’t the only one to blow himself up, and he hadn’t taken anyone else with him.

The Zelarni learned, though, and wrote down what they learned. They experimented with magic, learning new, more powerful magic. They built a vast library of magic.

The last section depicted a single, glowing figure floating above the city, a staff in one hand and a sword in the other. A ring of purple hung in the air beside him. A chill ran down Jake’s spine. The colors close to the ring were warped and dark.

“Their history?” Gramok said. His jaw hung open as he surveyed the room again. He gestured to the desk. “No idea what this is.”

Jake approached it and frowned. It was laden with magic, and looked a lot like a control panel. Almost like a keyboard, but none of the buttons had any kind of symbols on them. Unless… “They’re buttons, marked with magic.”

Cara bounced toward it. “What does it say?”

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s in Zelnari.” He looked up above the door. Five lights, and a smaller mural. A figure pressing a button on the console, repeated five times.

The sixth and seventh sections were split. Above, the door opened, and the figure walked through. Below, a metallic creature appeared and impaled the figure on a spear.

An icy chill gripped Jake’s heart. “It’s a test. Get it right, proceed. Get it wrong, die.”