Her Destiny

Chapter 5

Odin looked at Huginn. "Well, let us go to the first task. The bull is six hours away from here."

They left looking for the bull.

The way to Taurus wasn't so hard. Odin was enjoying everything he saw. He knew earth, but he had only watched it from above. Walking through the woods and seeing everything so clear, so close, was spectacular. Huginn was enjoying himself also fluttering to threes, floating on water. They arrived by the Taurus completely refreshed and excited.

They were walking on hard brown ground, between the mountains. They stood still before a cave, the home of the bull. Before his cave were skeletons of dead animals, offers given to the bull from the humans.

"Taurus, show yourself!" although Odin's godly power had no effect on earth, you could still hear the strength in his voice.

Out of the cave, there came the Taurus. He had the body of a giant but the head as a bull.

His voice was deep. His breath smelled like blood and death.

"How refreshing it's been so long since I've spoken to a God. Do my eyes betray me? Is the son of Zeus standing in front of me? It's my lucky day. An honor, if I may say. It's been so long since a proper conversation. Those humans bore me they're so weak in communication. Are you asking me, a simple bull, to test the son of Zeus? What an honor it is. Odin, a god powerful and strong, what could possibly go wrong? What you should do, dear participant of mine. Is to climb the Olympic mountain until the top. There is where I lost my only teardrop. It's exceptional as you know it can save one life. The fairy king wants to use it on his dead wife. But it's too dangerous for him to go, so many soldiers of him have failed. As a god, this must be very simple, no? I feel a storm coming. What a misfortune for you. My best wishes for you two.

The bull didn't wait for an answer and disappeared back in his cave.

"Testing us if we can take care of the Crown? No, the king is only sending us to do his dirty tasks." Huginn crowed in agreement. But what other choice did they had? They wanted the Crown, and the king was the only one who could give it back. He had to do this if he wanted it back without a war. They started to climb the mountain. The first three hours were easy. For humans, with these weather conditions, it would take a few days to reach where Odin was now. Despite being on earth, he was still tougher than any human.

Osiris was looking at her mirror.

"So he has to climb the Olympic mountain? He has it very easy hasn't he? Let's make it a little more exciting, I don't Odin the feel bored" She started to laugh so evilly that the rats in the dungeon, where she was keeping her mirror, fled away.

Osiris started to speak a spell creating a woman she called Medusa and send her to the Olympic mountain to kill Odin.

Huginn did as he was made for and was just in time to warn Odin from danger. A couple moments before Huginn flew in the sky, he had seen a flits where out a woman appeared. When Huginn passed closer, he saw that her beautiful black hair wasn't black at all but full of green and black snakes. He recognized godly power from her. She was created by one of the gods. But he was sure it wasn't a god who was on Odin's side. He looked around and saw Odin coming closer. The woman hit herself behind a rock and waited for Odin to pass by.

When he passed, she took her knife and wanted to kill him from behind. But Huginn crowed and flew against Medusa's hand. Odin turned himself around and saw the snakes on her head looking and hissing at Huginn while Medusa tried to make eye contact. Huginn flew behind a bird avoiding to look at her. The bird was surprised by Huginn's actions, looked at his attacker. That was a deadly mistake. The little bird fell to the ground and crippled in tiny pieces. Odin quickly looked away, understanding that the bird was stoned because it had looked at the strange woman. Odin started to run away. With the help of Huginn, he could dodge attacks without looking, the raven crowed every time she made an attempt to attack. This couldn't less forever. One mistake from him or Huginn could be his downfall.

While running and Dodging, Odin searched for his arrows and bows on his back. He put the arrow on the bow, took a few deep breaths, and let himself fall on his back. With closed eyes, he fired, praying his friend was right, and I would hit its target.

The arrow got stuck in the throat of the woman. Seconds later, she turned in to stone and fell dead on the ground. Odin was out of breath, it's the first time he felt tired. Being on earth was more difficult then he had thought. 

After resting for a while, Odin went further to the top. The bull was right about the nearing storm, and soon the weather changed. It started to snow really hard. The temperature got lower and lower. Odin couldn't see a thing, and Huginn couldn't fly anymore. The wind was too strong. Huginn nestled himself in Odin's backpack, sheltering himself from the storm. Odin finally saw a little cave to shelter in. It was only big enough for one person. But when Odin got closer, it was already taken by another man, a human. The man had gone crazy because of his tiredness and the cold. When he saw Odin, he feared that he would take away his shelter place and attacked Odin with his sword. Odin was still tired from the fight with Medusa and his trip through the cold and the wind. He had problems defending himself. While somebody was standing close while blindly attacking with his sword, aiming an arrow wasn't easy. But Odin noticed that the man's attacks weren't strong or technical at all. In fact, it looked like it was the first time he was holding a sword. The man got tired while swinging around with the massive thing, and sink to his knees. Odin took the sword of the man.

"Please sir, don't kill me, I am so sorry I only want to get to the top."

"Odin understood the situation and let him live.

"Go back in your shelter. When the storm is over, I'll take you with me" In the eyes of the men, Odin could so how grateful he was. He got back to his hiding place, terrified that Odin would change his mind.

"Would you be so kind as to let me your sword? "The man hesitated a little but decided it was better to give it to Odin. The man figured that if Odin would've wanted to kill him, he could with or without the sword. But Odin had no desire to kill him. He used the sword to build an igloo of snow. He even placed his igloo in front of the cave so the wind couldn't bother the poor man anymore. While he was waiting for the storm to be over, he decided to rest a bit. It had been a long and challenging day for a god on earth. 

When the storm was over, Odin was surprised to see he was almost on the top.

"Do you want to come with me to the top, or do you want to wait here until I get you to come back down?"

"I wanted to climb this mountain one more time, so I could die on the top enjoying the view. The most beautiful moments I've ever had were made on this top. I've met my wife there, and I married her there. When she died, I had nothing left but the memories on that top. Please take me with you."

Odin looked at the old man. He was indeed about to die soon. But there was something odd about him. How could simple humans visit the top, even more than once? And why haven't they taken the teardrop? Nevertheless, Odin couldn't just let him behind.

"I am afraid I can't walk anymore. Could you be so kind the help me ?" He offered his arm so he could lean on Odin, but what Odin did surprised him. Odin took the man up and set him on his back. It was hard, but after a while, they finally reached the top together.

There floating in the air was a beautiful purple flower. On the flower was one drop, the one teardrop of the bull. Around the flower, there lay several dead bodies on the ground. Odin recognized some armors around the bodies from the fairy King's men. "So they could reach the top but died here anyway, how curious," muttered Odin to no one in particular.

"Where do you want me to put you down? "

"A little to the left" Odin went to the left, and was about to take the man off his back he changed his mind. "No I think the right was better" Odin went to the right but, the man changed his mind again. "On the left was where I met my beautiful Rosanna, please take me to the left." When they arrive on the spot, the man again wanted to change "We got married on the right. I am sorry, can you please take me to the right?" Odin followed his orders. He was short on time, but he understood the troubles the man was facing. Love was highly respected by the Gods. So he patiently kept moving from right to left.

When he put the man down, Odin felt a little sad. "Is there something else I can do for you?"

"No me, dear boy, you've done enough, take the teardrop, and let me die in peace. "

"I don't think you can take it that easily" Odin was referring the dead bodies around the flowers.

"oh, but it's that easy, you can take it" The man smiled at Odin.

"How do you know?" Odin felt like this was a list.

"Because I am the gardener of the flower. To be able to take it, you had to show compassion. Even though I started to fight you, you let me alive, gave me the shelter, and walked from left to right as much as I wanted to. Those dead men were not worthy. To be able to take the flower, you had to pass the compassion test to." The old man turned to him with a smile and disappeared.

Odin walked to the flower and grabbed it softly. The moment he thought it, he stood back in front of Taurus's cave with the teardrop in his hand.

He didn't want to wait and went straight to the fairies kingdom. 

On his way home, Huginn started to behave strangely. He was pulling on his clothes, trying to let him follow. Odin followed Huginn behind a bush. Odin followed the direction Huginn was looking at and saw a beautiful white wolf trapped in a wolf trap. Probably done by hunters. The wolf looked like it had completely given up life.

"Huginn, I know it's sad, but we don't mingle ourselves in nature. That wolf is taken by a hunter. That's life, where the stronger survive. We can't save them all. "Odinn was about to leave again, he felt sad leaving the wolf, such a beautiful exemplar behind to be killed, but gods didn't bother with the affairs with life on earth.

Huginn however, wasn't planning on letting it go. It wasn't a normal wolf. She was special. He knew it.