To keep it short. All I did was punch the bad guy then got punched by him then be saved by Tae. For that, I get a free stay for a week, which could be longer if not for the damage that I caused. The woman that I helped is the daughter of the inn owner. Also, she is one year older than me… that’s why she always calls me boy…

When she was bandaging me she noticed the tattoo. She was surprised at first and only said “It must be hard... huh?” I knew that Loki isn’t the most likable god… but is it that bad?

At least now the villagers look differently at us. And yes I kept the promise to the merchant. Now that they know us and we know where the village is we borrowed a boat.

“As I promised here you have five good swords, five silver each.”

“Pleasure doing business with you…”

“Eric! Eric Hoffman.”

“Galmar, son of Salmar.”

“By the way, I only sold my things to you but I never checked what you sell.”

“Well… You can buy many different things in my stall. But I’m known for tools and ritual items.”

“Rituals?”

“You don’t know? Where do you even come from?”

I wanted to answer that but Tae told me that people might fear me especially when I’m blessed by Loki.

“Sorry! It’s my secret!”

“Ok…”

“Then can you tell me more about the rituals?”

“Every clan and village worship different gods so rituals are different. We all worship many gods but if we need something we can only ask one god. Like praying for a good harvest to Frejr.”

“Oh… I get that.”

“Also some pray just to see a god.”

“How do you do that!”

“You need to build a shrine. It doesn’t need to be big.”

“Do you have one?!”

“Yes, I do. It's a shrine for Njord since my son is a fisherman.”

“So every shrine is for a different god?”

“Yup. We don’t worship all the gods at the same time because it might bring a disaster.”

“I’ll keep that in mind… See you later.”

I don’t like Loki but since I was blessed by him I definitely will need to talk to him sometimes… Why… everything stopped?

“Prepare” “It’s coming!” “Get ready” “Monster” “Ragnarok” “War” “Next test” “It’s dangerous” “It’s scary” “It’s strong,” Said many voices all around me but I couldn’t see anyone. The voices were getting too loud. I covered my ears but they didn’t stop. Right before I screamed there was the last thing “Wait for more signs… Eric”

I remember that voice… I’m not sure if he blessed me or cursed me… Something is coming. But what! When? Why? WHERE?

Some people were staring at me. I covered my face and left. The first place I needed to visit was the Inn. Especially Tae. I needed to inform him… or ask him?

“Tae! TAE!” I shouted as I barged into the room.

“What’s up?” Said Tae but I barely heard him because his face was in the pillow.

“I got a warning from… Uhm I got a warning!” I wanted to say that it was from Loki but that taboo… might activate.

“Ah! Warning! Wait… what warning?” Tae immediately stood up but then laid down again.

“You know… like from the games? Uhm… Like the next wave is coming in two minutes or something like that.”

“What are you talking about…”

I just pointed at my tattoo to explain it without any words. Tae was just looking at my tattoo for a minute, then it hit him!

“Oh! You mean like a test?”

“YES! But I can’t explain much because of that stupid taboo…”

“Taboo?”

“Yeah, like you can’t say something unless you want to be punished.”

“Okay. So what’s going to happen? Or you can’t tell because of the taboo”

“I don’t know yet. I was told that more signs will show up.”

“Ooh… That’s interesting.”

“So you don’t know anything about those tests?”

“Yup… I’m clueless”

And here I thought that we can prepare somehow for that… As we were talking about what might happen, someone screamed. It was coming from the port. I took my ax and came running there.

When I arrived there was an injured man on the beach… or rather shattered… I’m surprised he was able to breathe. Many people gathered around him but I didn’t have time to wait so I walked past them.

“What happened to you?” I asked before I saw that he had a missing jaw. With his last strength, he pointed to the bridge. I didn’t notice at first but there was blood on the water. I couldn’t see anything else.

Out of curiosity, I threw the rock and the place where the blood was. Something was there because the water was splashed around. It got quiet after a while but it was still there. I don’t know this world well yet but it is possible that some other species of animals might be in here.

“Anybody saw what happened?” I asked but there was no answer. Then something else catches people's attention. I couldn’t see what or who. Then from the crowd appeared a man with a cape made of white fur. When he asked what happened he immediately got the answer.

“Wilmar’s hammer fell off the bridge so he jumped into the water for it. After a moment of silence, he ran, covered in blood with many injuries.” Explained women.

One of his guards whispered something to his ear. Man only nodded and took a few steps back. The guard stood on the shore. He took something from his sack. Whispered something to it and then spread a white powder on the water. The powder started to move on the water and created a triangle by the bridge.

“It’s there!” Said, the guard.

What is there? Did he use some spell? He traced the monster! But it’s underwater. The guard was going to step into the water. Everyone felt the tension and watched in silence. Water was already touching his hips. At that moment the triangle started to move toward him.