Beneath The Darkness

Sword Of The Past

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I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. I was laying in a massive soft bed covered by a thick blanket. I looked down at my body. I was dressed in a thin, sleeveless silk dress. I had strange symbols, whose meaning I couldn’t hope to understand, covering my torso and arms down to my fingers. I climbed out of the bed and strode over to a thick curtain and pulled it aside, letting the early morning sunlight into the room. There was a small gasp and something glass crashing to the floor behind me. I turned around to see a young girl staring at me, eyes wide and her hand covering her mouth. When our eyes met she turned and ran out the door behind her. I quickly looked for proper clothes and a weapon. I found some basic clothing that felt familiar to me and a small knife in a chest at the foot of the bed. I hurriedly got dressed and had almost reached the door when it opened again. There stood a man in attire I didn’t recognize, his dark hair greased back.

“My love, you’ve finally awakened.” he beamed. “It has been so long since that bastard took you from me.”

“Who are you?” I shouted, drawing the knife. “Where am I? What is going on?”

“What do you mean? You’re home.” he smiled at me. “Do you not remember what that monster did to you?”

I sunk to the floor. I couldn’t remember anything prior to waking up. What happened, where I was, I couldn’t even remember my own name. I sobbed, “Who am I?”

The man scooped me into his arms. “Shh. I’ll tell you everything, my love.”

~~~~~~~~

Jenny

I had just stepped out of the shower after my pre-class walk when there was a loud knock at the dorm room door. I saw Jules and Frankie sleepily exiting their rooms to see what was going on. I reached the door first and opened it.

“The Council of Royals requires the presence of Jennifer Monroe, Juliette Black and Frankie Marquis immediately. With no exceptions.” said one of the royal guards.

All three of us changed quickly and followed the guard to a set of heavy wooden doors. He opened them and allowed us to pass into a short hallway, then closed the door without following. We followed the hallway to a curtain. On the other side we could hear voices arguing.

“I keep telling you that what you described doesn’t match any undead created using any known method of modern science or magic.” said a short haired blonde woman with an upturned nose.

“Winifred, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just stating what the witnesses saw.” replied Queen Lucinda.

The three of us made our way quietly to where Shadow and the other Sins were sitting feigning attention.

“The only other thing that seemed odd was their eyes were glowing blue-white.”

“They’re draugr.” Shadow sighed. “They’re corpses possessed by warrior spirits denied their promised afterlife. They’re created using seiðr magic, which is why none of your mages could identify or dispel the magic Winny. There’s only two ways to defeat a draugr, defeat them in combat or defeat the one that invoked the seiðr.”

“We tried to kill them to no avail.” Lucinda replied.

“No, they have to be defeated in combat with actual weapons and not cowardly weapons like guns.” Shadow snapped back.

“Okay. Well, does the sword have any connection to the caster?” Lucinda asked.

“What sword?”

“The sword that was left with a declaration of war in front of the Blue Mountains pack house. It was turned over to the dwarves for inspection.” She looked at a small man with a thick matted beard.

“After taking precautions against the curse, it was brought back to Svartálfheimr for identification.” The dwarf spoke in a gruff and agitated voice. “But it’s not dwarven forged. Although it was forged using our techniques, it wasn’t forged by any known dwarven smith. So we brought in someone that might know.” He waved his hand and a large, muscled man with long blond hair and bright blue eyes walked out from a curtain behind him, followed by another dwarf carrying a sword wrapped in cloth.

“Odinsson, still hanging around the dwarves I see.” Shadow said.

“Still hiding from your duty I see, Helsson” the man retorted. “The sword was forged from Niflheim steel using dwarven techniques, which makes it older than almost every family here. I translated the runes but it doesn’t say who it was forged for. Honestly it doesn’t give us any clue at all because it's just a common saying from the time it was forged. On Valkyries Wings-”

“We Ride To Valhalla.” Shadow finished.

“So you remember that at least, huh.” the man said.

Shadow shook his head. “At the base of the blade there’s a pair of wings etched on it.”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

Let me see it.” The sword was placed on the table and carefully unwrapped. Shadow stood and walked around the table, his eyes never leaving the sword. He picked it  up and drew it from its sheath. Red-black energy crackled across the blade, causing everyone but the Sins to back away from it. “Munnin’s Claw. She’s one of a pair of blades forged by lovers and presented to each other on their wedding day. They are the only two that can wield the blades. I know who forged this. But it’s impossible.”

“Who forged this blade, Hymir Helsson? And why is it impossible?” The man pulled Shadow around to face him. Only then did Shadow look away from the sword.

“Sigrún Huginnsdóttir.” Shadow replied.

“And it’s impossible because she rests in Asgard.” Shadow nodded his head sadly. A look of anger flashed across Shadows face. He sheaþed the sword and turned to leave.

“Where are you going? We haven’t ended this meeting.” a pale woman with long dark hair and red eyes shouted towards Shadow.

“Home.” Purple runes rose and floated around him before emitting a flash of light and he was gone.

“Whelp, that's my cue. Have fun tracking him down.” the man turned to leave.

“Thor Odinsson, by order of the Council of Royals, tell us where he went.” Queen Lucinda angrily stood.

“Lucinda Fenrirsdöttir, you don’t command the Aesir. Besides, I have no idea where he went. Ask those that are close to him.” Then in a flash of lightning he too disappeared. Queen Lucinda sat down before everyone looked towards us.

“I think I know where he went.” Misery said quietly.

“Well, out with it girl, where is he?” the dwarf said.

“He said he was going home. So I think he went back home to Norway. Where the Aesir used to live.” she replied.

“Then go bring him back.” said the pale woman.

“Well I don’t actually know where that is, just a vague idea. Plus none of us in the Sins speak Norwegian.”

“I speak Norwegian and have an idea of where Shadow may have gone.” Olivia said quietly.

“Then it’s settled. Misery, take Olivia and whoever you think you’ll need to bring Shadow back.” Queen Lucinda stated.