WIEDERGEBURT Act VI: Chapter 45

I left the two-story hideout early the next morning with Fray and Chloe in tow--or rather, I was the one in tow since I didn’t know my way around. Even disregarding the fact that I’d never traveled to the slums, I would not be able to find my way around Ásgarðr no matter whether we were in the slums or the merchant’s quarters. The seventh level or the first.

Ásgarðr was divided into six levels. The lowest level was known as the slums.

No matter where you go, which realm you travel to, there are always ugly aspects. Even a crown of peerless gold will have a scratch on it, a gem moved out of place. Nothing is perfect.

The slums were to Ásgarðr what a scratch was to a crown. An imperfection. A blemish.

I walked the filth-laden streets alongside Fray and Chloe, my eyes wandering to one filthy individual to the next. The stench of unwashed bodies hung in the air. I caught sight of a man in filthy rags staggering through the streets, bumping into people who shoved him out of the way. A young woman with dirt covering her face and yellow teeth smiled at young men and revealed some skin as if hoping to entice them. The men were equally dirty. One of them took the young woman on her offer, and together they walked down a dank alley.

When I said the streets were filthy, I didn’t just mean that metaphorically. Trash covered much of the roads. It was like people just dumped their garbage right on the ground without consideration for others, like there was no health regulations put in place to keep this area from being absolutely filthy.

I looked at Fray and Chloe. Like me, they were dressed in thick robes that covered their bodies from head to toe, cowls thrown over their heads to cover their faces. While I could not see their expressions, I thought I could sense the desolation they felt in the way they walked. Fray, especially, seemed dispiriated.

“It always pains me to see this,” she murmured in a voice so soft I almost missed it.

“Has it always been like this?” I asked. I’d have gestured to everything around me, but there was no need.

“Not always,” Chloe spoke up next. “The slums were a clean and lively place once. Not filled with pomp and posh, but a good place.”

“What changed?” I asked. “The war?”

“The war. Many things.” Fray’s voice was soft as we took a side street, but she continued speaking. “The war against the Sekbeist took a huge toll on us. We had lost much. The following thousand years we lost more still. Many of the surrounding lands have been taken over by the Sekbeists. I’d say maybe more than sixty percent of Gudeverdenen is in their hands. This includes many of the farmlands.”

I didn’t say anything. Really. Was there anything I could say?

Each level was accessed via a stairwell. I was a little surprised they used something so mundane. When I asked Fray and Chloe why they didn’t just use an elevator, they stared at me like I’d said something foreign, and I realized they didn’t know what an elevator was. I had to give them an explanation. By the time I was finished, both of them were shocked and wondered why none of them had thought of creating something like that.

I guessed it was perhaps due to how they saw runes. So few were actually used for convenience here on Gudeverdenen. What runes existed was used primarily for warfare.

The stairwells were guarded by a pair of soldiers, which meant we couldn’t climb that way, but Fray and Chloe knew of several secret passages that led to the higher levels. We took one that was built into a small alley. It was a secret door that led to an access shoot, a straight tunnel that led up.

“We fly from here to the top level,” Fray said as she floated off the ground and flew up.

Chloe followed close behind and I followed behind her. We ascended for what felt like a good twenty minutes, then reached a small hallway that led to another hidden door. Fray placed her hands against the door. I sensed power trickle through her fingers as her brow furrowed, and then she nodded once.

“We’re clear. Let’s hurry.”

She pushed the door open, allowed Chloe and I to exit, then pushed it closed again.

The area we had emerged into was another alley, but one much better maintained. It was about two meters wide. The walls on either side were quite tall. When I looked up, I could see bridges and archways overhead.

We were alone.

I followed Fray as she moved at a brisk pace, exiting the alley and merging into the flow of traffic.

The difference between the slums and the upper district was astounding, like night and day, heaven and earth. Well-maintained cobblestone roads carried with it all kinds of traffic, carriages and pedestrians walking on foot. Some people flew through the air. It was allowed. But most people prefer walking.

Rather than the stench of filth and decay, my nose picked up the scent of freshly baked bread, and I looked over to that we had exited the alley next to a bakery. A sign in the window said they were open. I peered through the glass and stared at the many different types of baked goods on display--from pastries to honeyed bread--and I wondered how much of that would be thrown away by the end of today.

How much of that would feed the people starving in the slums.

With a shake of my head and a sigh, I dispelled those thoughts. No good would come from such thinking. I could not help anyone as I was now, and I already had too many things on my plate. I needed to help Tor rest back his power from Tyr, needed to get stronger, needed to find a way back home, and needed to figure out what I should do with everything I had learned about the Sekbeist.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“The Warp Gates,” said Fray. “We won’t be able to get close, but I would like to see them--even if it’s from a distance.”

The Warp Gates were located inside of a large building with a multi-layered roof that featured decorations on its peeks, large columns near the entrance, and could only be reached via a stone path. The structure was impressive, like most of Ásgarðr. Right now that building had several dozen guards standing by the entrance, patrolling the perimeter, and there were probably even more inside.

We were standing on a building nearly a hundred meters away. I had enhanced my eyesight with the lightning element, allowing me to look at what was happening as if I was right there. Sadly, I still could not see what was inside of those massive double doors barring entrance.

“I don’t think we’re going to find out if the Warp Gates were destroyed or not,” I said with a sigh. “I can’t see them from here and security is way too tight…”

“Can you not use the earth element to sneak inside?” asked Fray.

Tilting my head for a moment, I slowly shook it. “Maybe, but that would mean releasing Spiritual Power. If there is someone down there who can use Spiritual Perception or a similar Spiritual Technique to senses Spiritual Power, I would be caught.”

“That does not sound good,” Chloe muttered.

Fray sighed. “We cannot afford to be spotted right now. Tyr does not know we are here, and I would like to keep it that way until it’s time to reveal ourselves.”

“Do you really think Tyr would destroy the Warp Gates?” I asked.

“I believe so,” Fray said. “The other realms are our allies, but that is because many of the leaders are sworn brothers and sisters of either myself, Tor, or Sif. If the other races learn of what happened to my brother and I, I am certain they will sever diplomatic relations and perhaps even launch an attack.”

“Hmmm…”

“Tyr is a great warrior, but a horrible diplomat--not that Tor is much better, but his amiable personality endears him to others more readily than Tyr’s calculated machinations,” Fray said.

“So Tyr waited until you were in another realm, closed the Warp Gate so we couldn’t return to help Tor, but also so the other races wouldn’t know about what happened,” I theorized.

“That sounds about right,” Fray said.

I thought about that for a moment, then nodded. It sounded like something someone would do if they wanted to weaken our forces.

“What now?” I asked.

Fray puzzled my question over. Her eyes flickered uncertainly. It was at this moment that Chloe stepped forward with a proposal.

“I believe we should head to the Valkyries barracks. I am sure many of them have been confined, and there might even be guards, but we will need their help if our goals are to succeed. We cannot accomplish anything with just the eight of us.”

“You are right,” Fray said at length. “Let us see how my Valkyries are doing.”

The Valkyries barracks was located somewhat close to the palace. They were Fray’s personal group, an all-female group of warriors who could not be moved to act on anyone’s order but hers.

Their Valkyries’s barracks was fenced off by a high wall that I could not see passed from where I hid with Fray and Chloe behind an archway. I was shocked to see two groups practically glaring each other down. Women adorned with impressive battle raiments glared from atop the crenulations of their rampart, while men dressed in silver and gold armor stood outside. I had the feeling they weren’t trying to keep people out so much as keep these women in.

“It looks like the Valkyries suspect something happened when you didn’t return,” I said to Fray.

“It certainly seems that way.” Fray smiled despite herself. “Every member of the Valkyries was hand picked by me because of their cunning and strength. I’m sure they realized Tyr did something to ensure I couldn’t return home, but they have been keeping quiet since they do not know what.”

“Can we meet them like this?” I eyed the men surrounding the compound. “It looks like there’s at least a couple hundred guards.”

“Not to worry,” Chloe said with a gleam in her eyes. “We Valkyries have long been prepared for situations like this. Mistress Fray had installed secret passages to enter and exit the compound without anyone being the wiser.”

I was beginning to realize there were a lot of secret passages throughout Ásgarðr, which I supposed made a kind of sense in this sprawling city. It was such a large city, with so many buildings that had been built on top of other buildings and multiple levels. It was personally hard for me to fathom how such a city worked.

Chloe led us to a small store. A bell chimed when we entered. I was hit by a dozen wonderful fragrances the moment I stepped inside, and I found myself staring at a number of women who stared right back at us. The inside of this building was brightly lit. The wood floors gave way to stone walls. At the back of the room was a counter, and behind it was shelf upon shelf of bottles--perfume bottles.

“Excuse me,” said a woman who stepped around the counter to greet us. “Can I help you three?”

She was a slight woman with reddish-brown hair. A slight burgundy color. Her skin was several shades darker than my pale flesh. A white dress wrapped around her body in multiple layers, presenting the image of a peerless and pure beauty who had not yet been touched by a man.

“Perhaps you can,” said Chloe. “I wish to look upon your extensive collection of personal perfumes. May I?”

The woman’s eyes widened just slightly, but she mastered her expression and, under the watchful eyes of numerous women, smiled.

“It is true that we have an extensive collection of perfumes that are more extravagant than what we sell to the masses… but those can only be shown to esteemed personages of our establishment.”

“Then perhaps this will due to authenticate our identities,” said Chloe, pulled an object from within the sleeves of her robe. I was sure this was something she’d stashed in a dimensional space.

The object resting on her palm was an emblem. Crafted from silver--or a material like it--the engraved upon its surface was the image of a woman’s head, adorned in a helmet with wings jutting from either side. It did not look like much, but I thought I sensed something coming from it. There was a strange power inside of it.

“Yes, that is indeed an emblem for one of our esteemed guests,” the woman said, her smile widening. “Follow me to the back please. I will allow you to view our more… expensive selection of perfumes.”

We followed her to the back. I sighed in relief as the door shut behind us, sealing us away from the eyes of the other women. I was sure they’d been staring at me.

Once the door was sealed shut behind us, Fray and Chloe pulled back their hoods. I did as well after a moment.

“By the nine realms! Lady Fray! Captain Chloe!” The woman who had been looking at us with suspicion before quickly took a knee and bowed her head. “You have no idea how relieved I am to see you. When we learned that you had not returned from Vindenket, we feared the worst.”

“As you can see, we are quite well. Hearty and hale,” Fray said with a smile. “Please rise. We cannot talk with you bowed on the ground.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

The woman stood up.

“I’m guessing she works for you?” I said at last.

Chloe smirked at me. “Jezebel is a member of the Valkyries. She works as a member of our Intelligence Squadron. Her job is to gather information on anything and everything that happens within Gudeverdenen and Ásgarðr in particular. Her perfume shop is also connected to the Valkyries compound via a secret passage.”

“So I see,” I muttered for lack of anything better to say.

“Is there anything unusual happening within the city?” asked Fray.

“You mean aside from a few people who protested Tyr’s rise to power? Not really.” Jezebel shrugged. “There was a bit of a panic at first, but everything has calmed down and gone mostly back to normal. The only real difference is there are a lot more soldiers patrolling the streets and key locations.”

“We did notice that,” Fray said. “Do you know where Tyr spends most of his time?”

“He spends most of it in the palace,” Jezebel said. “He took up residence after claiming he defeated Lord Tor in single combat.”

“I’m surprised he would lie about that,” I muttered.

“He probably didn’t have a choice.” Chloe glanced in my direction. “I will bet anything that his original plan was to kill Lord Tor, then return and claim it had been done by the Sekbeists. Since Lord Tor escaped, he knows he cannot make up a lie. All Lord Tor would have to do is show himself and claim Tyr lied.”

“But Lord Tor can still do that,” I said. “If he shows himself and claims Tyr lied about beating him in single combat, then he can reclaim his position.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy,” Fray said with a bitter smile. “Tyr can claim Tor is just being a sore loser who refuses to accept the facts. This might not mean much if he was anyone else, but Tyr is not only Tor’s sworn brother, he is also in charge of the Four Cardinal Divisions and it seems he has all of them under his thumb. He’s got the military force to back up his words.”

“So we need to bring the validity of his claim into question, and then force him to confront Tor in a true battle,” I said. “One that everyone can see so there is no disputing who the strongest is.”

“Exactly,” Fray said.

***

Kari was sitting in the living room with the control modules in front of her, eyes narrowed as she manipulated the runes to activate. Spiritual Power caused the runes covering the sphere in front of her to light up. The glow did not do anything, however. There didn’t seem to be any other effect--at least, not one that could be discerned with eyes alone.

Lines of power soon lit up around the sphere, which began hovering in the air as more runes activated. The glow followed a curving line that led toward a small rune array with a single small piece of wood lying in its center. When the rune array surrounding the wood lit up, the object disappeared.

“I see,” Kari mumbled as she began jotting down notes in her heavy, leatherbound book. “So I can connect this control module--no, this power core? Well, whatever. I can connect this to another array via lines of power. I guess the more complicated the array, the more lines of power I’ll need. A simple array like this is easy, but if I wanted to make something like this building disappear, I’d need to cover the whole thing in an array.”

Kari was already figuring out all the things she could use these control modules for. Her first idea was creating a massive barrier that would prevent people from attacking cities like Midgard. If Nevaria had this type of barrier when the Sekbeist Overlord attacked, it would not have suffered so much damage.

As she stopped feeding the control module Spiritual Power, loud voices emerged from one of the other rooms.

“Why do I have to sit here like a lump, while my sister gets to go out and do something useful?”

“Because you are too distinctive and prone to speaking loudly. Everyone would recognize you, and then we’d have soldiers breathing down our necks. Just wait patiently for Fray to return.”

“I hate waiting.”

Kari wanted to roll her eyes at the sound of Tor’s petulant words, but most of her attention was still taken up by the control modules.

At that moment, Tora entered the room, looked around, then spotted what she was doing. The woman walked over and sat at a couch nearly a meter away. She crossed her arms, looked down, and asked, “The fuck are you doing?”

“I am rewriting the runes on these control modules so they will respond to my Spiritual Power,” Kari muttered as she traced her glowing fingers over one of the control modules. “I am also removing the trap runes since they serve no purpose to me. I plan on adding another rune away that will help me fine tune each control module for a specific use.”

Tora said nothing at first and merely watched her. Kari did not let the other woman’s presence bother her as she continued to work, rewriting the runes on one control module before moving onto another. Like this, nearly half an hour passed.

“Hey,” Tora said. “Can you… tell me about Eryk’s other wives?”

Kari finally paused to look up at what she was doing. She eyed the woman for a moment.

“I am surprised you did ask me to ‘fucking’ tell you about Eryk’s other wives,” she said at last.

“Fuck you. I’m trying my fucking best to be police here.”

“That’s better. I almost thought you were an imposter.”

“Un-fucking-believable.”

Kari giggled as she went back to her work, but as she continued rewriting runes with the Rune Writing skill, she talked. “Fay is the person who has known Eryk the longest after me. She is very strong and beautiful, but she suffers from an inferiority complex. It’s not so bad now. However, when we were younger, she would always compare herself to myself and Lin. Even now, as a much stronger woman, she gets embarrassed easily.”

Tora said nothing as Kari spoke, allowing her to continue.

“Lin is kind of arrogant, but she’s so sweet that her personality comes across as endearing instead of annoying. She likes referring to herself as ‘this princess.’ After marrying Eryk, she became his second-in-command and helps him manage our sect back on Miðgarðr.”

Kari paused again, finished her work, then set the sphere aside and looked at Tora.

“To be honest, I do not think you will have a problem getting their approval. The only thing you’ll need to do is prove to them that Eryk is the most important person in the world to you.”

“The most important person in the world, huh?” Tora mumbled.

“That’s right.” Kari stood up and stretched her arms above her head. “Eryk is more than just our husband. He means everything to us because we mean everything to him. If your feelings for him are as strong as ours, then I’m sure they will accept you.”

Tora did not say anything, instead entering a state of contemplation. Kari decided not to bother the woman.

It was at this moment that Eryk and Fray returned from their reconnaissance mission. Better yet, they had brought food. Kari could smell the scent of warm and freshly baked bread almost the moment they entered the house, which caused her stomach to growl and remind her that she hadn’t eaten anything since this morning.

Kari cleaned up her work as their group convened in the living room. Kari and Siv sat on either side of Eryk as they took up one of the couches. Fray and Tora took up another couch, while Sif and Tor took the last one.

The food they had brought was not merely baked bread but meatbuns--soft bread surrounding juicy meat and peppers. They had bought a lot. Most of it went to Siv.

As they ate, Fray and Eryk told them about what they had learned so far, which wasn’t much different from what they already knew. There was only a little bit more information than they already had. It was like they had one more piece to a puzzle. When they finished, Tor pounded his left fist into the open palm of his right hand.

“So all I need to do is defeat Tyr in combat? Should be simple enough.”

Fray shook her head. “I am afraid it won’t be that simple. First, we must cast doubt upon Tyr’s claim that he already defeated you. Chloe is already inside of the Valkyrie compound. She plans on rallying the Valkyries and using them to help spread the word that Tyr used foul means to usurp your position. We will have to spread the rumors fast before Tyr can quell them. Once te knowledge of his foul methods have spread across Ásgarðr, we can force him to duel against you.”

“Hmm…” Tor scarved down a meatbun in a single bite, crossed his arms, and frowned. “I dislike all this subterfuge.” His exclamation made Fray open her mouth, but he forestalled her with a raised hand. “But I understand its necessity. Very well. We will do things your way.”

The decision had been made, and their plan was sound, but Kari still had a few concerns. Despite being in the presence of the famous God Race, she still spoke without hesitation.

“Even if we manage to force Tyr to duel against Tor, there is no telling what he might do. You said the Four Cardinal Divisions are on his side. That means they were aware of and helped plot against Tor. Even if Tor wins the duel, they might not be willing to accept him as their leader.”

Eryk looked at me with a questioning gaze, but I merely smiled at him. He didn’t say anything and instead turned to look at Fray, Tor, and Sif. I felt a small thrill run through me at his trust.

“Then what do you recommend?” asked Fray.

Kari reached out for a cup and took a sip of the ale inside, licked her lips, then said, “I think before we force Tyr to accept a duel against Tor, we should isolate him. I have the perfect way of doing that, but we will need to find allies within the Four Cardinal Divisions. There must be some people who were against usurping Tor’s position. If we can find them and get them to work with us, then I can create a space-time barrier using the control modules that will prevent anyone trapped inside from leaving… at least long enough that Tyr will not be able to call upon them when Tor issues his challenge.”

“I like it!” Tor said with a bark of laughter. “Yes! Let us do as Kari suggests!”

“I agree,” Sif said softly. She smiled at Kari. “It’s a good idea.”

Fray nodded after a moment. “It seems Eryk has quite the capable wife. I think this is also a good idea. I will contact Chloe and let her know of our plan. The Valkyries has an information network spread across Ásgarðr that we can use to find people from the Four Cardinal Divisions who will be willing to help us.”

Their meeting came to a close. Kari never imagined she’d find a use for these control modules so soon, but she couldn’t stop the thrill of excitement from traveling through her. She would help her husband and his family and at the same time be able to test her newfound runic knowledge. It was perfect.