35. Magnar

Ilay in darkness expecting the horns of Valhalla to call me to the great hall. But in place of music and cheering, I was met with a kiss.

“Not yet, my warrior,”Idun sighed, her breath washing over my lips.

A hand pressed against my chest and power flooded into me beneath her palm. It tingled between the layers of my flesh, soaking down into my bones.

Heat built in my injuries and my lungs expanded, filling with the air I so desperately needed. The shard of broken rib was forced out of my lung and the pain was swept away on a tide of power so sweet that I ached for its return.

A harsh snap sounded as my ribs realigned, the bones fusing back together.

The outside world found me as I rose towards consciousness, and I could hear people fighting, screaming, crying while I tried to remember why.

My eyes snapped open and the stars shone above me between a swirl of storm clouds, watching over the game we were being forced to play.

Idun’s power continued to infuse me and my muscles swelled with the strength of the gods.

I pushed myself to my feet, feeling as fresh as if I’d woken from a deep and untroubled sleep. My eyes fell towards the cage as everything came flooding back to me and my fear for Callie returned.

I found her then. The reason I’d come back from the brink of beyond. The one pure thing I had in this foul world. She ran towards me with a relieved smile on her face and bright red blood coating her white dress. She was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. A vision of the truest, most desperate desires of my heart.

I noticed Fabian’s decapitated body beyond her with a surge of pride. I took a step in her direction, intending to take her in my arms and hold her close for the rest of my years.

A huge crash sounded and Julius cried out in pain behind me. I turned sharply to seek him out, forgetting all else in my need to help him.

Erik had him pinned to the wall beneath the statue, his teeth lodged in my brother’s throat as he drank deeply from his veins. Julius fought to free himself but his efforts went unnoticed as the demon continued feasting.

I bellowed a challenge as I raced to Julius’s aid, leaving Callie behind as my commands from earlier that afternoon stopped her from following. She couldn’t intervene in our battle. My will bound her and I knew it would keep her safe.

I turned my mind from her as I charged forward at an incredible speed, the goddess lending me more power than I’d ever known.

Erik’s head snapped around as he heard me coming and he released his hold on Julius. My brother slumped to the ground, pressing a hand to the wound on his neck as the blood loss stole his strength from him.

I slammed into Erik with the force of Thor’s hammer and the sound of our collision shook the foundations of the island we stood upon.

He absorbed the blow with a snarl of rage and I locked eyes with him, peering straight into the black depths of his soul. His pupils were two dark, round disks and I could feel the foul tang of Andvari’s power flowing through his body.

The gods had picked their sides. It was time to find out which one of them had bet correctly.

Erik’s fist slammed into my face and I whipped my head back as I absorbed the impact.

He lunged, his fangs aimed at my neck as his thirst drove him to act upon his basest desires.

His teeth met with my knuckles instead and I growled in defiance as his venom burned through my skin before he was thrown away from me.

I leapt at him but he spun aside with impossible speed. Landing on my feet, I skidded on the broken rubble which had been a solid footpath before our battle had begun.

Erik snarled as he grabbed my arm, his vice-like grip almost breaking the bone as he swung me away from him. He was stronger than he’d been before; Andvari’s dark magic fuelled him just as Idun powered me. I flew through the air, slamming into the tilting statue with an echoing bang which vibrated the whole structure.

A scream from above met my ears as I tumbled to the ground, but I had no time to investigate it as Erik crashed into me again.

His teeth found my flesh before we hit the dirt; fire burning through my shoulder as his fingernails gouged into my chest.

We smashed onto the ground, carving another crater into existence beneath us as soil and rubble exploded around our bodies.

I threw all of my strength into my next punch, hitting the side of his skull so hard that I heard his neck snap as he was thrown off of me.

Erik rolled away, quickly regaining his feet as he glared at me with his head hanging at an unnatural angle.

He bared his teeth as he realigned his spine and his bones fused back together.

I roared in defiance as I charged towards him again.

He was the most unnatural of creatures. And before this night was done, I would rid the earth of his existence at long last.