Chaos God, page 8
“Who were the Valkyries?” I asked.
“The most valiant shield maidens of this realm,” Elora explained with pride. “We were the greatest line of defense that Odin Allfather and his family had, and we failed them all.”
“You are one?” I asked. “I thought they had wings or something like that.”
“I am… a fledgling,” the beautiful elf admitted. “I’ve been trained to fight, but I had not progressed far enough to be blessed with my wings. I still battled beside my warrior sisters and watched as they were all of them slain by the demons.”
“That’s horrible.” I gazed into Elora’s amber-and-ruby eyes, and the shine of unshed tears behind her long silvery lashes made my heart clench in an unfamiliar way.
“I am grateful to have Wyn still in my life,” Elora said with the resilience of someone who had lost the majority of her loved ones. “He is the only family I have left.”
“Are you her father?” I asked the old elf.
“No,” Wyn chuckled. “Elora is not my blood, as much as I would be honored to claim her thusly. Her mother came to me many, many years ago in need of help and shelter, and I have been blessed by Elora’s company ever since.”
“What happened to your mother?” I asked the beautiful elf.
“My mother was lost to us during the first attacks,” Elora said with a raw sadness that pulled at my heartstrings.
“I’m so sorry,” I murmured gently. “I know that kind of pain. My mother was never around, she left when I was a baby. My father raised me, and he died ten years ago.”
“I am sorry,” Elora said, and her hand fluttered in her lap like she wanted to reach out and physically comfort me.
“I didn’t know my mother at all.” I shrugged. I was pretty used to the pity people gave me when they heard about my mom’s absence. “She ran off with some younger guy when I was a baby. My dad did his best to raise me by himself, but he worked a lot. He always made sure we had what we needed while I was growing up, though. He was a good man, he worked hard and provided for me, but it brought him to an early grave. I’ve been on my own ever since.”
“I never knew my father,” Elora sighed, and she glanced away like she was embarrassed by the fact.
“What happened to him?” I asked tentatively.
“My father was a dark elf,” the beautiful woman said cautiously, and I felt Ayen’s eyes gauging my reaction. “My mother, Fayeth, was a light elf, and he took her captive with the intention of demanding a high ransom from my mother’s wealthy parents. He did not intend on falling in love with her, but fate has her own designs.”
“Wow,” I breathed, so that was the reason for the exotic color of Elora’s eyes and skin. “What happened to them?”
“My mother was betrothed to the eldest son of a wealthy light elf family,” Elora continued. “My mother was heartbroken when her father forced her to return home and continue with the preparations of her arranged marriage, but soon discovered she was with child. It was then that my grandfather learned of her ruined virtue and honor. He claimed that she was disgraced, and he killed my father in his desire for vengeance. Then he banished my mother.”
“Damn,” I muttered. “Your grandfather sounds like a real shithead.”
“What is this word?” Elora’s silvery eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Shithead?”
“Oh,” I chuckled. “Um… he sounds like a heartless person.”
“Yes,” Elora agreed. “He was much more concerned with appearances and reputation than the happiness of his child.”
“So what did your mother do then?” I asked, and I found myself completely enthralled by Elora’s past. I hoped she would keep talking just so I could hear the melodic sound of her voice.
“Fayeth was lucky enough to find me,” Wyn answered with a nostalgic smile. “I took her in as if she were my own, I helped her raise Elora, and I could not be more proud of the fierce, intelligent, and kind woman she has become.”
Elora blushed softly under Wyn’s praise, and the connection and love between them were clear in the way they spoke about one another.
“You’re lucky to have had Wyn in your life,” I said to Elora with deep sincerity. Then I turned to the old man. “I wish I’d had someone like you in my life.”
Elora looked at me intensely, and a sweet smile slowly spread across her beautiful face. Our gazes locked for a long and lingering moment. Then Elora cleared her throat and looked away, but not before I saw a deep flush color her pale blue skin in a lovely shade of pink. I swallowed hard, and the sense of being watched drew my eyes to the stone seat on my other side.
Ayen was smirking at me in a very knowing way, and I just shrugged at him.
“So.” I cleared my throat. “I know the lava fields have trapped you from going west, and the ocean traps you on the east, but why can’t you explore further north or south?”
“Well,” Ayen said with a touch of a lingering smirk on his lips. “The Unknown Swamp lies to the south, and it is retained by the demons of decay. There has never been a safe way to traverse through the swamps since the fall of the Aesir.”
“Okay, that makes sense.” I nodded thoughtfully. “What about to the north, then? Did you say there’s someplace over there where you go to gather other kinds of food?”
“Yes, there is a small river that flows into the ocean,” Elora explained. “That is where we collect freshwater as well, unfortunately, this entire region and that area are controlled by the Demon Lord. He only allows us short excursions in the area in order for us to survive long enough for us to sacrifice ourselves to him.”
“Woah! What?” I gasped. “Sacrifices? What the fuck?”
“You use very strange words, Levi,” Elora remarked again. “The Demon Lord demands sacrifices on every full moon. There were once hundreds of us survivors banded together, but over the years our numbers have dwindled significantly. We have lost many of us to the Demon Lord’s appetites.”
“When’s the next full moon?” I asked, and I gazed off at the rapidly darkening horizon. I hadn’t realized how quickly the day had escaped us, but then again, I didn’t know how long days were on this planet.
“Three days’ time,” Ayen sighed with resignation. “Three more of us will be lost to the Demon Lord.”
A thick and mournful silence fell over the group, and my thoughts churned with rage. All I knew at that moment was I wanted to help these people. They seemed genuinely kindhearted, at least with the exception of Ryfon, and I felt a growing desire to help keep them alive.
I pondered the Demon Lord for a while in silence as most of the people wandered into their huts for the night. Maybe I could find a way to control that shifting magic I’d used against the wolf-sharks in order to take him out and free Elora and the others. Although, I didn’t think that turning into a killer whale would have much potential on land. Maybe the river they’d mentioned earlier was close enough to the Demon Lord’s castle that I could swim up the river, and we could lure him into the water.
I’d been lost in thought for a long time when Wyn’s conspicuously loud yawn caught my attention.
“I believe it is time we all get some rest,” Wyn said. Then he smirked at me, and he leaned heavily on his staff as he rose to his feet. “I am rather exhausted myself, and I am not the one who used shifting magic today. I hear that can take quite a toll on a person.”
“You talk about shifting like it’s some common thing,” I grumbled softly. I stood from my stone seat, and I rubbed the pins and needles from my butt cheeks.
“My dear boy.” Wyn blinked kindly at me. “It was never terribly common, but shifting and indeed, many other forms of magic, once ran through this land like a fine river.”
“Magic of all kinds was once abundant in Asgard,” Elora explained. “But when the realm was broken, and chaos took control, the ways were mostly lost to us. Now, even if there was a person who had the gift of magic, there is no one left in this region who could teach them how to use those powers.”
“For all we know,” Ayen added, “you are the only person in all of Asgard who has even a drop of magic in their veins.”
“Really?” I breathed, and astonishment worked in ripples through my brain as I tried to process this information.
Not only had I actually shifted into a fucking killer whale today, but I was the only person known to have any kind of magic at all. I would have assumed magic was a common and even boring thing on Asgard, but I guess not.
Wyn raised his gray eyebrows at me, and then he silently walked off and disappeared into one of the sturdier-looking huts near the fire pit. I just breathed for a moment as the confusion and surprise worked their way through me. I could tell the old man was tired, and I didn’t want to burden him with all of my questions at this exact moment. I figured there would be time later to ask him more about the history of magic on Asgard, and more about how the skills had been lost. Assuming, of course, that Wyn knew about such things. I got the feeling, however, that he was like an encyclopedia of knowledge, and one that enjoyed sharing his wisdom with those who were curious enough to ask.
“Sleep well, new friend,” Ayen said with a deep kindness in his voice. Then he patted me on the shoulder and wandered off toward the outer ring of huts and went into one.
“Come, Levi,” Elora said a moment later, and she gestured for me to follow her. “I shall show you where you may sleep.”
“Thanks,” I sighed, and I fell easily into step beside the gorgeous elf with Frida following obediently behind me.
“It is we who shall give thanks,” Elora corrected me. “You have given us a renewed feeling of hope. The wolf-sharks had made gathering food at the beach nearly impossible, and you have released us from that burden.”
“Well.” I shrugged. “I bet you and Ayen could have handled them without me.”
“Perhaps,” Elora murmured, but the darkness in her eyes made me think she wasn’t so sure about that.
The beautiful half-dark, half-light elf led me to a more worn-down hut a few away from the one Wyn had gone into. Elora held back the sheet of linen that served as a door, and she motioned for me to go inside.
“I’m not putting anyone out, am I?” I hesitated at the threshold. “I don’t want to take somebody’s home from them.”
“I would hardly call any of this home,” Elora said sadly before she caught herself, and then a calm mask fell over her features. “This hut belonged to one who is no longer with us. You are not taking anything from anyone.”
“Oh,” I sighed, and I understood that this hut had probably belonged to one of the villagers who’d been sacrificed to the Demon Lord. “I’m sorry.”
I chewed on my lip for a moment, and I looked at the beauty in front of me. She was like something straight out of my teenage dreams, back when I’d been the best Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master that my middle school had ever seen. Her silvery eyelashes were so long that they tangled together at the outer corners of her doe-like eyes, and her skin let off this dewy glow in the flickering light of the fire. I wondered if they had makeup on this planet, or if her beauty was just that intense.
The tension grew between us for what felt like a long time as we just stared at each other. Elora gazed at me like I was the most challenging jigsaw puzzle she’d ever seen in her life, and she narrowed her amber-red eyes at me as she pulled her full bottom lip between her straight white teeth. Elora sucked in a slow breath, and I thought for a moment she was going to ask me something.
“Sleep well, Levi,” the beautiful half-dark, half-light elf said.
I watched her luscious hips sway as she walked slowly away, and she paused at the doorway of her hut. Then she glanced back at me once more before she ducked inside her hut and disappeared from my sight.
I stared at her hut and debated with myself for several long moments as my pulse thumped heavily in my ears and my groin. A deep part of myself wanted to follow Elora and press her up against any surface I could find. I wanted to consume her mouth with mine until she melted in my arms and moaned my name. I’d found her gazing at me more than once around the fire pit, and I wanted to chalk it up to curiosity about the new stranger in camp who had shifting magic.
But I knew there was something more in her eyes when she looked at me.
Frida drew my attention away from the sexy elf as she whined softly at my feet, and she put one heavily-clawed paw on my thigh as she gazed up at me with the cutest black eyes.
“Come on,” I murmured to my new companion, and we walked into the hut together.
The space was decently sized considering the conditions these people were surviving in. It was about twelve feet by twelve feet, and there was a raised stone slab on one side with a thin mat laid out on top of it. On the other side of the room was a small shoddily constructed wooden shelf, and I wondered where the previous owner had scavenged the wood from.
I shoved that train of thought away before I could think too hard about who had slept here before me, and where they were now.
I walked over and inspected the shelf, and on it, I found a small assortment of trinkets. There was a tarnished silver spoon that was a bit warped at the handle, and a smooth wooden bowl that was hardly big enough for a decent serving of cereal. A single gold coin with the face of a man with a thick beard and a mean-looking eyepatch was covered in a thin layer of ash, and the final item was a small scrap of a brightly-colored tapestry. The rainbow of threads were elegant, and the weave felt strong under my fingertips. I could only guess it was a scrap of fabric from the times before Ragnarok, perhaps a piece of a woman’s dress, or a well-loved blanket.
The small array of knick-knacks and mementos made my heart clench as I thought of the one trinket I had held onto since my dad’s death almost ten years ago. My dad had been raised Catholic, and he’d always worn a small gold cross around his neck. The only time I’d ever seen it separate from him was when the paramedic had handed me the small gold chain and told me my dad was gone.
He hadn’t been the most sentimental of men, or even the most affectionate, but he’d been the only family I’d ever known. I’d loved him like I’d never loved anyone else, and despite his many faults, I missed him.
“Fuck,” I sighed as the heavy memories washed over me and bled the last scraps of energy I had left from my body.
I sat down on the side of the mat on the stone bed, and I slowly untied my boots and kicked them to the side. Then I laid back and tried to make myself comfortable on the hard surface. Lucky for me, I had always been able to sleep almost anywhere if I was tired enough, and I was definitely tired enough tonight.
Frida whined at me from the dirt floor, and I popped an eye open to look down at her. She put both of her front paws up on the stone bed and begged me with her black eyes to come up and cuddle.
“Get your cute little ass up here,” I chuckled lightly at the affectionate little predator.
Frida’s slobbery tongue lolled over her jagged teeth, and she hopped right up next to me. Then she proceeded to try and make herself comfortable, and I grunted when she stepped on my stomach.
“Alright, settle down,” I sighed, and I patted Frida’s back until she curled up next to my hip. “Good girl.”
Frida nuzzled her rounded snout into my side, and the warm rush of her breath through my t-shirt was oddly comforting. I closed my eyes and sighed heavily as the exhaustion of the day’s events settled deeply in my muscles. Despite the hard surface of my bed and the gritty, sweaty state of myself, it didn’t take me long to slip into a deep sleep.
Elora rose first in my dreams that night, and she came to me wrapped in a sheer dress of white silk that draped seductively over her curvaceous body. Her dark blue and lavender nipples teased me through the sheen of fabric as she coaxed me forward with sensual words that dripped from her lips. I tried to follow her, but the sexy elf kept dancing just out of my reach. Then she would turn back to me and giggle playfully. I knew she was enjoying the chase, and I was determined to reach her.
I paid little attention to our surroundings, and my eyes were focused solely on the delicious curves of Elora’s hips and breasts as she padded lightly backward on bare feet. Her silvery hair hung loosely around her shoulders, and it only served to tease me more as it brushed over the tips of her full breasts. Elora giggled at me again, and then she raced off and disappeared into a white mist.
Then an enormous king-sized four-poster bed that was carved from a heavy dark wood rose up in the middle of my dream. It was made up with satiny sheets, and there was a deep pile of pillows at the headboard that were decorated with fine gold thread. Elaborate Norse knotwork curved around a large L that was carved perfectly into the gleaming wood of the headboard.
The room around the bed faded into place. The floor was a shining expanse of white marble edged in gold, and huge stone columns rose up in a wide circle around the room. Flowing white curtains fluttered in the gentle breeze that blew in through the wide-open windows, and out beyond the stone balconies I could see the sun glistening on the clear blue waters on the horizon. The place was like a beautiful palace overlooking some exotic tropical beach, and I could almost taste the saltwater on the breeze.
Then the gorgeous and seductive elf reappeared at the edge of the bed. Elora’s silvery eyelashes lowered as her amber-and-ruby eyes filled with passionate arousal, and she leaned back on the foot of the thick mattress. Then the woman braced her palms on the satiny sheets and scooted her shapely ass back so she sat squarely in the middle of the huge bed. Elora winked, and she crooked a single finger at me in invitation. Then she laid back on the bed, and she spread her arms out wide as she sighed with built-up desire.
My blood was hot, and my body was hungry to taste every bit of pale blue skin that she offered me. I managed to take a single step forward before the rumbling and crashing sounds began and the room started to shake violently.
I tried to cry out to Elora, but my voice was stuck in my throat, and all I could do was watch in horror as the grand marbled floor split open wide beneath the bed. My heart clenched hard as the cavernous hole in the floor swallowed the bed and Elora with it. The room continued to tremble and quake, and the columns broke loose and started to tilt at disastrous angles. My survival instincts kicked in, and I turned and tried to flee from the room as the huge stone pillars fell and crashed on the marble floor behind me.
