33. Magnar

Isagged forward on my knees as the curse of immortality was ripped from my body and my heart stirred within my chest. I released my hold on my blade, pressing my palms to the floor as I doubled over, and every human sensation came flooding back to me.

My lungs inhaled deeply and exhaled again automatically. Not because I felt like doing it. But because I needed to.

My heart thumped solidly in my chest. And again.

A deep laugh fell from my lips as it kept going, falling into the familiar rhythm I’d missed so much while I was a monster.

My shirt was torn open across my chest and my gaze caught on the flesh above my heart. My laughter grew as I spotted the clean skin there where the tattoo binding me to Valentina used to reside.

A cool wind gusted around us and goosebumps raised along my skin. I ran my tongue over my teeth and no longer found the sharpened canines of a beast waiting to puncture flesh.

I looked up and found Erik beside me, his face lit with the widest smile I’d ever seen as he held a hand to his own chest, feeling his heartbeat for the first time in over a thousand years. I wondered what the hell it would feel like to have waited so long for it; the few weeks I’d spent cursed had already made me forget some of this feeling. To him it would be barely more than the distant memory of a dream and to feel it again after so long must have been more than a little baffling.

I pushed myself to my feet and gazed about at the battlefield, squinting as I adjusted to the change in my eyesight. The fine details of the world were lost to me again but I found I didn’t miss them. I could still see the glow of the setting sun and the glimmer of the first stars meeting in the unnatural sky above and both were as beautiful as they needed to be.

“They did it,” Erik said in astonishment. “They actually fucking did it!”

I stared in disbelief at the difference in his features as a human man looked back at me. His skin was flush with life though it was aching for the touch of the sun and his smile was completely altered now that his mouth was lacking fangs.

“Brother!” Julius bellowed in excitement and I looked around just in time for him to barrel into me and knock us both back into the dirt.

I laughed as I clung to him fiercely, delighting in the warmth of my own skin as his didn’t burn against me for the first time in weeks. He placed a wet kiss on my forehead and I shoved him off, tussling him to the ground and gaining my feet again.

I lifted my swords from the dirt and was surprised at how heavy they felt in my grip. I still had the gifts of the slayers but I’d clearly grown used to the immense strength that the curse had leant me during my time under its spell.

Erik was clinging to his siblings and Clarice was crying tears of relief and sorrow for the brother who never got to feel this freedom.

I turned back in the direction of the cave and strolled towards it, sheathing my blades on my back as I went.

“Callie?” I called eagerly, wondering why she hadn’t returned yet.

The curse was broken and our life was waiting for us. I intended to take her in my arms and march her straight up the aisle just as soon as we got back to some semblance of civilisation.

I crossed the battlefield at a quick pace, wiping the worst of the blood and dirt from my face with the back of my arm as I went.

Erik bellowed Montana’s name with as much longing as I felt to be reunited with her sister and ran to catch up with me.

I turned as he approached and his foot caught on a rifle left abandoned on the battlefield. I caught his arm before he could face-plant onto the ground and a deep laugh left my throat as his lips parted in surprise.

“By the gods, I don’t think I’ve had to concentrate this much on walking in...well I guess in nearly thirteen hundred years!” He laughed loudly and slapped my back by way of thanks for me saving him from falling.

I couldn’t stop smiling as I approached the cave, expecting Callie and Montana to step out at any moment.

“Callie?” I called again, wondering why she still hadn’t appeared. Surely they’d be as desperate as we were to get on with our lives now?

“Rebel?” Erik yelled and his voice echoed back from the dark space beneath the mountain.

There was no reply and I frowned, moving to cross the threshold of the cave but a deep power resonated through the air and I found myself unable to step over it.

Erik tried too and the smile fell from my face as he was also denied access to the mountain of the gods.

“Where are they?” Clarice asked as the others drew closer behind us.

I gritted my teeth and tried to force entry to the cave again but the air was like a writhing, living thing and it wouldn’t let me pass.

A thunderclap sounded in the heavens and the noise of it was so loud that I flinched as the mountain shook in reply. I turned to see what had caused it and the sky parted above us, letting through the brightest rays of light which came from neither the sun nor the moon.

Odin leapt from the crevice in the sky and landed with an earth-rattling boom in the centre of the battlefield.

I pulled my swords from my back as I turned to face the ethereal being. The last time I’d come face to face with a deity I’d killed her and earned my own death in return. I didn’t intend to let my guard down against one of the gods again.

“So,” Odin rumbled as he surveyed us through his one icily blue eye. “It is done.”

I glanced at my brother and he shifted his weight so that he stood between Clarice and the king of gods.

“Where are the twins?” Erik demanded and Odin’s gaze swivelled to him.

“They have paid the debt,” he said darkly. “You should be glad of what they’ve done for you.”

“I am,” Erik breathed. “But where-”

“How does mortality suit you?” the god asked. “The world is set to rights once again. Was it worth the price?”

“Let us into the mountain,” I snarled, taking a step towards him as my gut twisted at his words.

“Opening the door between realms is no simple thing,” Odin growled. “What would you offer me in return?”

“Haven’t we paid our price in blood with this war?” Fabian demanded. “Surely the death surrounding us is enough to sate you?”

Odin eyed the battlefield as if he was seeing it for the first time.

“If you enter Helgafell you may not like what you find,” the god warned as he dropped to one knee and pressed his hand into the blood which stained the battlefield.

“Let us in,” I demanded as my heart pounded with concern for the woman I loved. She should have come back to us by now and this deity knew more about her fate than he was letting on.

“As you wish,” Odin sighed and a wild breeze whipped around us, sending dirt and blood flying through the air. A heavy pressure washed over me and when the power of it faded and I opened my eyes, the last rays of sunlight illuminated the entrance to the cave.

Odin stepped back into the wind and we were left alone before the entrance to the mountain between planes.

I exchanged a glance with Erik and his brow was furrowed with concern as he moved toward the entrance.

With a deep breath I stepped inside, keeping my swords ready as I went. This place reeked of death and the promise of the beyond. We were about to cross into the realm of the gods themselves and I was afraid of what we might find there.