At what point does a man become a god?

Is it after he’s crafted the most powerful weapons the world has ever seen?

Is it after he’s destroyed or subjugated every enemy in his path?

Is it after he’s enslaved every single living soul to his cause, or taken the most superior women as his wives?

Is it after the number of women in his harem outnumbers the minutes of the year, or is it after he’s conceived thousands of offspring who honor his legacy and seek only to follow in his footsteps?

At what point does a man transcend death and live forever?

“Perhaps now,” I said to myself, but the act of speaking broke my meditation, and I opened my eyes to the elaborate expanse of my throne room.

The hall I ruled from was certainly a fitting place for a god.

My throne was crafted of petrified dragon bone that was harvested, carved, and assembled by the most highly coveted craftsmen of the dwarven race, and it had been given to me after I first came to rule over their kind. The structure rose some forty feet behind me like a massive pair of dragon wings, but they were poised mid-spread, so it looked like they might unfurl at any moment to carry my seat to the heavens.

The long stairway leading up to the dais where my throne sat was made of polished ebony soul-stone, and each stout brick held the enslaved spirits of the treacherous hellspawn who were the only remaining threat to my domain. These hideous souls were what gave a slight vermillion glow to the blackened stairway that stretched from my seat to the main floor of the throne room below.

The rest of the grand hall was lined with five gold columns on either side, and each one was inlaid with the corpses of giant elder treants. They were a gift sent from the High Coven of the Elves to signify their loyalty to my reign, and the exquisitely detailed designs had taken their artists thousands of hours to craft for me. Each of the columns still bore the screaming faces of the treants as they were caught in their death throes, but their tortured expressions were all upturned toward the stained glass roof of my hall.

The beast-people spent years blowing and inlaying the multi-colored glassworks that comprised the entire ceiling, and the final product depicted each of their races with me at the center as their king. Their master artists had crafted my likeness fully-suited in my death plate armor, and I carried a branding iron in one hand with my spear in the other. An endless drove of kneeling beast-kin surrounded me in every shade of glass imaginable, and each creature had their hands, hooves, and paws raised so I could lay my enslavement rune upon them.

The kaleidoscope of morning light that fell through the stained glass roof danced across the many tapestries lining the marble walls of the throne room, and half of the fabric artworks were made by the elusive dark elves. Very few in this world ever ventured anywhere near their kind before I took their Grand Queen as my wife, but after accepting my rule, the dark elves used the silk of their spider minions to weave one masterpiece after another to grace my halls.

The other half of my tapestries were a collection of pixie and nymph works, and while the worm-silk the nymphs exported wasn’t quite as elegant as the dark elves’ spider-silk, the pixie weavers used it to craft more colorful scenes that depicted my benevolent deeds.

One of my favorites of theirs was a piece the pixies weaved to pay homage to my wedding ceremony with their Nature Maiden, and the delicate scene portrayed our lovemaking in their Blessed Glen. I personally preferred these kinds of designs a little more than the violent conquests the dark elves chose to honor, but I could appreciate their admiration all the same.

These grimmer pieces of the dark elves showed my most grotesque battles and violent deeds, like the eradication of the bone-giants in the east. In this masterpiece, the valleys of Igradona ran red in a sea of blood against a blackened sky, and even the intestines of the dead could be seen in magnificent detail all around the border.

Now, my eyes trailed along each tapestry, both violent and elegant, while I considered how much I’d lived through up to this point. As my gaze settled on the vaulted, thirty foot tall doors at the other end of the hall, the great iron entrance opened.

Then eighty of my elite guard marched in, and my royal skald, Bragi, led the procession with an easy grin on his dark tan face. My friend was dressed in his usual black leather armor with a swath of blueish-black fur secured across one shoulder, and his brown eyes glinted with energy as he strode forward to the stairs.

For many years, Bragi and I had fought side by side, but no matter which of my armies I led, my loyal skald always wore the garb of his beloved clan in the north, and I always grinned a bit to see the familiar fur.

Bragi’s dark brown dreadlocks fell forward over his shoulders as he bowed low at the foot of the stairs, and he began ascending the soul-stone steps to meet with me.

“Good morning, God King!” Bragi called with a light laugh and a wide smile. “I hope we have not interrupted your morning contemplation?”

“Not at all, Bragi,” I assured him. “What’s on my agenda for the day?”

“Brynhild has asked me to ensure you save time for her before your afternoon meal,” he said. “She is fertile and requests another child from you, but she also wishes to discuss the training of your eighth legion. Will you permit her some time?”

“I always have time for Brynhild,” I chuckled as my warrior wife’s devious smile sprang to my mind.

“This evening, Kára has asked if you would join her in the Ayarus Valley,” Bragi continued. “She intends to tame more pegasi and would like you to join in on her efforts.”

“Let her know I’ll be there,” I said with a nod, but I smirked a little at the idea.

Taming beasts always riled Kára up, and I knew damn well I’d be rolling through the grasses of Ayarus with her long before the moon even rose over the valley.

“Other than your morning selection, there is nothing else that demands your immediate attention,” Bragi said as he shifted his dreads back over his shoulders. “For now, at least. I expect to hear from the Necromancers’ Coven within the next few hours, so I’ve intentionally left your schedule open. I trust you’ll spend the rest of your day crafting the new weapons for your legions?”

“Most likely,” I replied, and I scruffed my black beard while I considered the more recent developments among my many armies. “I’ve been considering a new rune design, actually. I think I’ll focus on that for a while first.”

“A new rune?” My skald’s brown eyes glinted with intrigue. “What inspired this?”

“A memory,” I admitted. “A very old one from another time.”

“Ahh, yes.” Bragi’s expression sobered a little, but as always, he knew better than to speak too openly about my background with so many guards around.

Very few knew I’d come to this place from another world, and I preferred to keep it that way.

“Well, God King,” Bragi continued, and he gestured toward the iron doors. “With important studies ahead of you, perhaps we should begin your selection for the day. I have some interesting choices for you. I think you will approve.”

“Yeah, bring them in,” I chuckled, and I rose from my throne while Bragi promptly clapped his hands.

Then the vaulted doors parted again, and five white-robed women entered the long hall.

They seemed to almost float across the marble to the soul-stone steps, and once they reached the base, they knelt while I looked down from my dais. Then the five women placed their foreheads upon the polished stones, and Bragi clapped again to send them rising to their feet.

“We seek only to serve the God King,” the women announced in unison.

Bragi nodded in approval, and I descended the steps with my skald at my side.

As I approached the five women, they moved as one and untied the belts securing their thin robes, and they each let the silk garments slip from their shoulders so their naked bodies were revealed to me. The act of having the women in my domain offer their bodies to me always heated my blood a bit, and it didn’t matter that I’d selected thousands of mates before.

Each one proved to be exactly to my liking in their own ways, and ever since I’d conquered and enslaved this world, my breeding partners were hand-selected each morning. Thanks to Bragi’s strict standards, I always found something to enjoy about each of the offerings, but I still took care in making my decision.

My Valkyrie wives were undeniably superior to all others, and a place in their legion was a difficult thing to achieve, so I rarely expected so much of my offerings. I still required my breeding partners to meet my personal requirements for a mate though, because not only was I the God King, but I’d gotten worn out on mediocre lays lifetimes ago.

“The five of you have been chosen as offerings to the God King,” Bragi announced as he did every day. “The God King owns all, and all will serve the God King.”

“We seek only to serve the God King,” the women repeated as they stared at me with adoration.

“The God King will now make his selection,” Bragi announced. “You will only be chosen as a mate if you are fit to bear his offspring. Should he choose to take you, you will be expected to birth many powerful children. Those who are deemed worthy of more esteem will become Valkyrie wives, and ride with our king into battle when Ragnarok begins.”

“We seek only to serve the God King,” the women repeated again with one voice.

“Let the selection begin,” the skald finished, and he bowed his head to me.

Then I turned my gaze to the woman on the left as I considered her features, and I noted first thing that she was a human. Like all women presented to me, she was absolutely beautiful as well, and her long obsidian-black hair fell down to her lower back in thick, shiny waves. Her oval face framed her ice-blue eyes, pert nose, and plump red lips, and the woman’s full breasts rose high on her chest with pink nipples proudly erect. Her ribs narrowed sharply to a tiny waist before sloping out to full hips, and my eyes followed her lean thighs and long calves down to her delicate bare feet. She had a high instep like a dancer’s, and porcelain skin that practically glowed under the colored light of the stained-glass roof, but her pale cheeks began to flush red the longer I looked over her magnificent body.

“What is your name?” I asked as I met her blue eyes.

“Acona,” she managed in a breathless tone. “I pray I suit you, God King. I have dreamed of this moment all my life. Your presence is even more divine than I imagined, and I have journeyed far from the realm of Binata with hopes that you will take me as a mate so I may give you many powerful children.”

“What is your expertise?” I asked.

“I am a sorceress,” she almost whispered. “Deep root magic. I can see both above and below. I read the future in the leaves, and feel the present in the roots, and I can call both to me. I will pass these gifts on to our children if you honor me by blessing my fertile womb with your seed.”

“How long have you worn my rune?” I asked as I looked down at the mark she bore on the back of her hand.

“From the moment I was born, as all in your world do,” she quickly assured me. “I am only eighteen, God King, and I live to serve you. I… I know you can feel my adoration through the rune that binds me to you.”

“I can.” I gave her a smile. “Thank you.”

Then I turned to the next woman in line.

The second offering was an elven woman, with long hair as well, but it poured down her back like a smooth sherry-red wine from a glass. The elf’s face was diamond-shaped with pointed ears extended out a few inches more than a human’s, and her gray-green eyes were like large, piercing almonds. Her lips were full and downturned in a sultry pout, and while her skin was the color of light-green moss, her figure looked to be cut from mahogany. Every muscle on the elf’s lithe frame was edged with strength and grace, and the fine network of her veins danced prominently under her tight skin. Her breasts were mouth-sized, and her nipples were a darker shade of green than her natural skin tone, and my eyes naturally trailed down her washboard abs to her narrow waist and athletic hips.

Then I crouched down as I studied the elf’s lean legs a little closer, and they were corded with running muscles while a few lighter shades of scars flecked her outer thighs. As I studied her legs, I noticed the small lips of her pussy were wet with arousal, and I realized her body had started trembling a bit, despite the obvious power her muscles possessed.

I stood up again to study her face next, and a distant memory came into my mind like a light breeze as her gray-green eyes met mine.

“You’re a wood elf?” I checked.

“Yes, God King,” she nervously answered, but the words came out more like a whimper. “I am from the forests of Istana, nearly on the other side of this world, and I have traveled for three months to offer myself to you this morning.”

“I know you’re nervous, but there’s no need to be,” I assured her in a gentle tone. “Your body is pleasing to me, but you look familiar. Why is that?”

“You honor me with your memory, God King,” the elf murmured as she bowed her head, and her wine-red hair poured over her bare shoulder. “I was selected as an offering three years ago.”

“Ahh.” I nodded. “I didn’t choose you.”

The elf bit her plump bottom lip, and she looked down at the marble under her bare feet. “I returned to my distant home grief stricken, God King. I vowed to improve myself in case I ever got a chance to come before you again, and I have spent every day since training with my bow and spear as a huntress. I am now unmatched in my realm. When your elite guards came through my forest to gather more women to bear your offspring, I begged for them to take me to you once more. I was ashamed of my desperation at first, but once I explained how hard I’ve worked to improve myself, the elite guards must have taken pity on me, for now I am here before you a second time. I was told a chance like this almost never happens.”

“No, it does not,” I admitted. “I only have so many hours in the day, and only so much sperm to give. I can only choose the most superior women offered to me each day to impregnate.”

“I understand,” she whispered even softer than before, but then she turned her eyes up to me, and I could see the steel in them. “That is why you should choose me today, God King.”

I chuckled in admiration of her boldness. “What is your name?”

“Zetal,” the elf answered as she stood up straight and proud again. “Master Huntress of the Istana Tribes.”

“Well, Zetal, I am a hunter myself--”

“God King!” Acona suddenly gasped. “I… There… Something is coming!”

“What?” I growled as I turned toward the beautiful obsidian-haired woman beside Zetal.

“It’s…” The sorceress’ eyes were blazing bright blue now, but then they rolled back into her skull as her magical vision consumed her. “I sense a great evil below! It comes now, for you!”

A dark shadow seemed to engulf my fortress at her words, and the light coming down from the stained-glass roof turned the color of ash.

Then I saw three shimmers of red light appear in the middle of my throne room, and they steadily built into twenty-foot circles that emitted a low and ominous drone.

“The demons!” Bragi gasped.

“Guards!” I shouted, but the elite warriors around the throne room had already pulled out their swords and raised their shields.

Then I caught two of the naked women to move them behind me, and the rest sprinted to join them on the soul-stone steps at my back.

“This is the second time in a week the demons have broken through,” Bragi growled while he pulled a sword from his hip, and he steadied his stance in preparation for the fight. “Could Ragnarok have finally begun?”

“Perhaps,” I muttered, and I summoned my armor, spear, and shield into being.

Blue and gold lightning cascaded through the throne room as my death plate armor sealed itself around my form, and my tower shield appeared in my left hand while my enchanted spear materialized in my right. The spear’s blade was slender and leaf-shaped like the others my legions carried, but more runes of power were etched into this one strip of steel than any weapon I’d crafted, and each of the runes was a story of study, discovery, and acquisition.

No man in this world had embarked on the journey I had to progress from apprentice rune smith, to Master smith, and beyond, but after decades of effort, I’d become the God King.

And the culmination of all I’d accomplished in this life tied me to one destiny alone: to defend this world from the demons that promised to bring Ragnarok.

Now, those demons had finally started tearing through the divide between their dimension and my own.

The land of the demons was a realm of lava oceans and unquenchable hellfire, and the creatures who inhabited this burning dimension would stop at nothing to flood my world in an ocean of destruction. They sought to bring an end to all that existed here, but this entire world belonged to me, and I’d been preparing for this fight a long ass time.

I drew a steady breath while my warriors and I stood at the ready, and the first of the three portals had almost fully formed while its blazing red outline solidified to show the hellscape that lurked beyond. I braced myself against the heat billowing out from its depths, but my chest was blazing just as much with white-hot resolve, and I locked my gaze on a demon the size of three bulls that charged toward the flaming gates.

The horned and scaled beast hefted a four-bladed cross-axe as large as myself over its head, but before it could break through the portal gates and cleave me in two, I hurled my spear forward, and the magical weapon ripped a three foot wide hole in the center of the monster’s chest.

Then the spear tore its way out the other side, and black ichor exploded from the back of the demon as it wailed its way toward an oozing death.

With a flick of my hand, the enchanted spear reappeared in my grip again, and I chuckled with pride that my handcrafted runes proved effective beyond measure.

Especially against the hellspawn of Ragnarok.

Then I saw the shadows of more movement through the red portal, and I realized there were dozens of demons poised to charge through the fiery gates and into my throne room.

My guards were already shouting as two demons emerged from the other portals, and I threw my spear to fell the next demon ahead of me while I left the rest to my loyal warriors.

The men I’d hand-selected to guard this room were nowhere near as powerful as my Valkyrie wives, and they didn’t have my strength, but they were still some of the most skilled fighters I’d ever known, and they each bore impenetrable armor and enchanted weapons that I’d crafted solely for them.

I knew the eighty of them could handle the other two portals, and Bragi and I could damn well take care of the one nearest to my throne.

We’d been doing shit like this together for years.

“Take the one on the left!” I ordered my skald as two demons broke through the portal.

“Yes, God King!” Bragi bellowed above the snarls of the beasts, and he didn’t hesitate to barrel headlong toward his opponent with his runed cutlass raised.

The demon on the left was only a few feet shorter than the larger one on the right, but both of the monsters carried twin curved swords in each hand, and the hilts joined together with a long length of chain.

At first, I considered hurling my spear at the beast I faced, but he kept shifting farther from the portal, and without a burning abyss at his back, I couldn’t risk striking one of my own warriors.

Which meant I’d just have to handle this one the old fashioned way.

Through muscle and mettle.

I darted toward the demon right as he raised both of his swords and screamed a garbled curse, but he was a good nine feet taller than me, so I twisted my tower shield sideways and ducked under it just as he brought his blades down toward my head.

Both of the swords struck my shield with a thunderous blow, but I knew they’d never break through it, no matter how strong my opponent was. My tower shield was as runed as my death plate armor and spear, but this huge bastard never expected this, so I took advantage of the demon’s confusion. I shoved my shield up and forced his swords aside, and then I swiftly thrust my spear forward. The perilous tip tore straight through the leg of the demon right at his knee joint.

The monster bellowed a grating growl as it collapsed to one side, but it still attempted to swing both its swords to try and topple me, and I raised my shield once more.

The blades collided with the metal without making a dent, but this time, the demon was furious, and he continued thrashing the shield while the impact sent shockwaves down my arms that I could feel all the way to my boots.

Still, I held firm against the thundering onslaught because I was more than strong enough to withstand the strength of a demon these days.

I was practically a god.

But when I made to shove the shield aside and go for another strike, the demon anticipated the maneuver, and he halted his hammering just long enough to flip his sword chain under the lip of the metal to stall my effort.

I smirked because it was an interesting tactic, but he obviously didn’t know who he was really fighting.

I was the God King, and I’d fought hundreds of battles in my days. A cop-out strategy like this would never be enough to best the All-Father, even on a bad day, but more importantly, I’d been two steps ahead of this bastard, and now I knew without a doubt that I’d come out the victor against his disgusting kind today.

Then I’d keep on fighting until every last demon was beaten down and piled at my feet.

I let the snarling demon yank his swords away and pull my shield free from my grip like I figured he would, and the wide, wrenching movement left his lower body completely exposed as I swiftly clamped both of my hands around my spear.

I watched his demon eyes bulge wide as he realized his mistake too late, but I was right in position to take this fucker down, and once I shoved the spear up into his groin, I forced it deeper to impale him lengthwise like a skewer through a cooking sausage.

The shriek the dying demon let out as my runed weapon scrambled his insides shook the walls of the great hall, but while its black ichor gushed from its gaping wound, my gaze caught a quick movement directly to my left.

Then Bragi belted out to me.

“God King!” the skald warned as he attempted to keep his demon from reaching me.

I’d already flicked my hand to summon my shield back to me, and I blocked the demon’s powerful swing just in time to spare my skull. The strike rang out above the screams that were ricocheting around my throne room, but the impact still didn’t break my shield, and the moment I blocked the demon’s blow, Bragi leapt at the opportunity.

His cutlass streaked through the air in a flash of silver, and the blade sliced through the monster’s inner thigh while it staggered between the two of us. This was only one of many gaping wounds Bragi had delivered with his runed blade so far, but now, his opponent’s leg twisted under it, and as black sludge oozed from the gash, the demon’s bone snapped and broke through the torn flesh.

The hellish beast roared toward the glass ceiling as it finally crumbled forward like a rotted tree, and I summoned my spear back to my hand to deliver a death blow straight through the demon’s mottled skull.

Sweat poured down my face from the searing heat of the fiery demons, but another monstrous giant was already preparing to charge the gates of its portal, and as Bragi readied himself for the next attack, I did a quick survey of the throne room.

Red blood and black ichor coated the floors, tapestries, and columns around me, but my guards were feverishly fighting the last three demons that had emerged from their two portals. It was impossible for me to get an accurate headcount on my warriors from just a quick glance, but it looked like around five or so had fallen to the demons.

Then I heard a sound emanating from the portal in front of me that I never expected to hear, and I whipped back around as the emerging demon locked its fiery yellow eyes with mine.

“Aaronnnn,” he snarled in a rattling, low pitch, and I froze where I stood.

It had been a long time since anyone but my wives called me by my real name.

And never once had my most brutal enemies ever known what it was.

“Aaroooonnnnn!” the demon growled again, and he raised a long fire whip that had to have been as thick as an anchor’s chain. “We are coming for youuuu!”

My chest billowed with heat at the words as I sized up the fiery bastard, and even with half his body still within the portal, I could tell he was bigger than any of the others I’d fought so far. His scales were thicker with a sheen of greenish-black staining the jagged ridges too, and his shoulders had spiked bones jutting out of them with molten lava still dripping from the tips.

I readied my shield as a smirk came to my face. This had to be the ringleader of the vanguard band that stormed my fortress, and soon, he would become my most gruesome victim.

“About time,” I said with a slightly greedy grin, but right as the demon fully emerged and made to strike his flaming whip down on me, the light in his gleaming yellow gaze was swallowed in darkness.

“Allataricaaa!” I heard a woman shriek from the soul-stone steps, and I recognized the voice as Acona’s.

Then a black swarm of maggoty roots began spilling from the demon’s eyes, and in a matter of seconds, his face started sinking inward wherever the nest of roots spread. The demon was shrieking and stumbling blindly, and while Bragi and I lunged out of range of his flailing whip, the last of my warriors shouted to one another in their attempts to save each other.

That’s when I realized the porcelain sorceress behind me had hexed my enemy’s eyes, and he was locked in a shroud of maggoty darkness.

Which was just fine by me.

“Take his right leg!” I ordered Bragi as we both darted apart to block in our confused opponent.

The lead monster’s scaled armor was much tougher than his followers’ had been, and it would take more than any standard, mortal blade to penetrate it, but my skald and I were always armed with my own designs, and we exchanged deadly grins as we both raised our runed weapons.

I thrust my spear forward just as Bragi swiped hard with his cutlass, and our steel cleaved through the jagged scales like butter as I felt the creature’s bone sunder from the force of my blow.

Then the lead demon let out a deafening screech that sounded like metal on glass, and my gaze shot upward just in time to see the wide swing of his fiery whip. It was coursing around the whole throne room and ready to strike Bragi, and at the same moment I summoned my spear, three arrows pierced the creature’s shoulder right where its scales met its spiked bones.

This was enough to send its blind attack off course by a few feet, and the heat of the flames whipped right over our heads in a flash of red.

“Finish him!” I bellowed to Bragi, and we both raised our runed weapons once more.

This time, neither of us paused our strikes for a moment, and we impaled the demon’s torso with one unrelenting blow after another as we coordinated our attacks as seamlessly as we always did.

The demon stumbled back in pain while we tore through his scales until my muscles burned, and another volley of arrows buried themselves in the demon’s mottled neck at the same moment my spear struck its shrieking maw.

That’s when the billowing red portals slammed shut, and the snarling of the lead demon reached an ear-splitting pitch as the beast writhed in pain.

My warriors scattered toward the outer walls while the demon crashed backward, and the whole hall shook from the weight of him hitting the throne room floor.

I didn’t waste any time lunging forward and climbing straight up and over its oozing chest, and just as I raised my spear for the final strike, the maggoty blindness faded from the demon’s burning eyes.

“You ugly fucks are gonna have to try a lot harder than that,” I growled as I looked him straight in the eyes.

Then I drove the perilous tip of my spear through his skull and let the runes scramble his brains while his massive body jolted violently in response. It was only another minute before he laid lifeless under my boots, and I nodded to myself while I swiped the sweat from my brow and summoned my spear to my hand one last time.

“Shit…” Bragi panted as he climbed up to stand on the beast’s chest beside me. “Tough bastard, wasn’t he?”

“Not tough enough,” I muttered, and I looked away from the oozing corpse to survey the throne room.

The rest of the demons were dead, and my warriors were moving into position around me so they could address any other threats. The runes I used to preserve my fortress proved strong enough to survive the fire whip and the crushing weight of the demons’ forms, and a quick count of bodies on the bloody floor told me we’d killed a total of eight demons. We lost six warriors though, and while my heart ached to lose my people, I was relieved we’d been able to hold out on our own with no warning.

My guards and I also managed to take care of the onslaught without disturbing the peace outside my fortress, but after seeing one of the lead demons for myself today, I knew it wouldn’t be long until that peace ended entirely.

I rifled my sweaty hair from my eyes as Bragi’s sober look assured me he was thinking the same thing, but then I glanced back at the stairs where I’d shuttled the five naked women to.

Acona stood straight and proud with her black hair billowing down her bare back as she waited for me, and the wood elf, Zetal, held a metal bow in her hand that I recognized from my own guards.

I realized the young woman must have grabbed it from one of the fallen warriors in time to assist my efforts, but the other three naked women cowered together further up the steps, and two of them were weeping over the carnage that had unfolded before their eyes.

Before I could address any of the naked beauties, the door to my throne room burst open with a thundering boom, and I whipped back around to see my eldest son storming in with forty warriors marching behind him.

“Father!” he cried out in a deep timber, and sparks of lightning tumbled from his eyes and mouth as he heaved his hammer up into the air.

“I’m fine!” I shouted back, and I jumped down from the dead demon’s oozing chest.

Then I quickly dismissed my armor, shield, and spear with a subtle turn of my hand, and I closed the gap between myself and the muscular man across the room before I locked him in a firm embrace.

“I’m fine,” I assured my son once more. “Calm yourself.”

He nodded a few times as I released him, and I smirked a bit while I watched the lightning slowly fade from his features, but his tense expression stayed in place.

“We came as soon as we heard the attack,” my son told me. “We should have gotten here sooner, father.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” I countered. “As you can see, the threat has been managed.”

My son scratched at his blond hair as he considered the bloody pools on the floor. “The Valkyries are heading here en masse. The alert’s been sent out only minutes ago, and I’m sure mother will be especially anxious about--”

“Eir is fine,” I chuckled. “I can already sense her. Your mother’s more anxious about missing out on a slaughter than she is about my safety. She knows better than to worry about me so much as yourself. The Valkyries will arrive any second, though. Go meet them at the door and tell them I’ll debrief them later tonight. Right now, you and I have much to discuss. Dismiss your men and return to me once the Valkyries are settled.”

“Yes, father,” my son agreed with a stern nod, and he promptly made for the door of the throne room with long, purposeful strides.

The marching of my son’s armored soldiers faded away as I beckoned for Bragi to follow me back to the soul-stone steps, and the three cowering women had mostly composed themselves.

It didn’t matter to me what they did now. I only had eyes for Acona and Zetal.

“You both have proven yourselves exceptional and worthy of being my mates,” I announced as I joined the two naked beauties. “Bragi will show you to the baths so you can cleanse yourselves for me. I’ll take both of you tonight and fill your wombs with my seed, and you will continue to bear me children for as long as your bodies are fertile.”

“Thank you, God King,” Acona gasped as she bowed her head. “I… I am overcome with joy. You honor me entirely, and I will bear you wise and gifted children who you can be proud of.”

“I’m sure you will,” I agreed, and the porcelain sorceress blushed with pride as I openly admired her form. Then I took another look at the sultry wood elf beside her. “I want you both to know that I’m already pleased with what I’ve seen of you, but if you continue to impress me with your skills, you stand a good chance of becoming more than my mates. I’d like to see you join the legion of the Valkyries one of these days, but only your actions can prove whether you’re fit to be my wives.”

“My deepest hopes have been fulfilled,” Zetal choked out, and she fell to her knees before me in gratitude. “I will wait in anticipation for this night, God King, for I have dreamed of accepting your blessed seed into my eager body for many years. I swear to bear powerful half-elf children for you, God King, and they will serve you as proud and skillful warriors for all of their days.”

I nodded in approval while I stooped to offer the elf my hand, and she looked at me with worshipping eyes as she rose again with taut nipples and trembling lips.

“What of the other three offerings?” Bragi asked as his voice echoed around the bloody hall.

I spared half a glance toward the sniveling women. “You know I have no use for weak women, Bragi. Send them back to their homes. I am pleased with the new mates I’ve selected.”

“Certainly, God King.” Bragi bowed his head to me before he summoned the servants to do my bidding, and I gestured for Acona and Zetal to follow my skald and be on their way.

Then I turned around to see my eldest son just returning from the outer hall, and his bulky muscles were still tensed while his stern brow stayed firmly knitted.

“I promised your wives you’d discuss things later tonight,” he assured me. “They weren’t happy, father. They say…”

I raised an eyebrow as I imagined the affronted looks my wives must have given my son.

“What did the Valkyries have to say?” I asked.

The blond young man glanced over at the warriors who were cutting up the remains of the demons to haul them away, and he lowered his voice as he leaned in closer to me.

“They say it has started,” he muttered. “They say the End Times are drawing near. Is it true?”

“Perhaps,” I sighed as I scruffed my beard. “That’s why I’m here, though. We knew this day would come, and I’ve been preparing for it longer than you’ve walked this land. Ever since I began my life here.”

My son’s blond eyebrows finally unbunched at the words, and I recognized his boyish intrigue. He’d grown into a chiseled warrior years ago, and proven time and time again the sheer strength and fortitude he harbored as a man, but while he looked at me closely now, I saw the same curious boy I’d raised close to my side from the moment he was born.

My eldest son was my likeness in build and drive with his mother’s power and striking blond hair, but while he was more than equipped to follow me into any battle I’d waged so far, the ones ahead of us would be different.

I knew it, and he knew it as well.

But there were still some things I’d never shared with him, and I could sense the questions burning in his mind now.

The mark he bore on his hand bound him to me like all the rest in this world, and he was silently asking the same questions he’d been hanging onto for years and years, but even more than this curiosity, I could sense his unrest.

This was what I couldn’t abide by.

I knew too well what confusion like this felt like. I’d been plagued by the same grappling for truth from the moment I left my last world and entered into this one, and with the threat of Ragnarok looming directly ahead of us, I knew it was time my son learned the truth of my past.

“Come, walk with me,” I sighed as I clapped him on his broad shoulder. “I can sense what you want to know.”

“Truly, father?” my son instantly asked. “You will tell me at last?”

“Yes, it’s time,” I said, and I gestured for him to follow me to the rear entrance of the throne room. “We should find your brother, too. I want you both to hear this.”

“I can find him for you, if you--”

“I know where he is,” I chuckled, and my son smirked with some embarrassment. “Do you think I’ve suddenly lost my connection with my own rune?”

“No, father,” he laughed. “But, can I ask… will you be telling us about your studies as a rune smith, or…”

I cocked an eyebrow in his direction while my servants opened the door for us, but before I responded, I exited the fortress and headed into the overgrown wilderness for a ways.

“Go on, say it,” I muttered. “You’ve been dying to ask me outright for years.”

“Did you truly come here from another world?” my son blurted out all at once. “I know you’d rather not speak of your oldest past, and that you always say the present is the only time to live in, but no one else ever answers my questions, not even mother and the Valkyries. I respect your wishes, of course, father, but I feel I must know all if I’m to enter into this unholy war with clear intentions, and I do not see how I can comprehend your reign fully, or understand how it is you’ve come to stand at the head of this fight, if I don’t know where you began, or what--”

“Yes,” I calmly cut in. “The answer is yes, I came here from another world.”

I could feel my eldest son’s green eyes burning into the side of my face now, and I smirked a little as I sensed his heart racing in anticipation. Then I carried on strolling into the rugged valley of my fortress grounds, and I kept half my attention on tracking the presence of my other son up ahead while I continued.

“My first world was called Earth,” I explained, “and my homeland there was a northern wilderness called Alaska. To be more specific, my home was in a small town called Talkeetna, but let’s find your brother before I continue. I don’t want to tell this story twice, since it’s a very, very long one. But you are correct. If you’re to fight beside me to the end of Ragnarok, you should know how it is that I came to enslave every living creature in this world. But more importantly, you should understand why.”