Prologue

Part 1

Rain showered around the buildings. A small New York town, with mostly ranches and a scattering of farms and suburban streets. The rain whipped around with a slight, comfortable breeze, and the leaves shook with a gentle and pleasant swish.

Sitting on the roof of a suburb was a young man, wearing a forest green cloak but not wearing the hood. The gentle raindrops streamed down his face, but he seemed not to notice. He simply sat there, staring at nothing, deep in thought.

A light show seemed to begin on the roof across the street. The young man did not move, did not react in any way; his eyes maintained the distant look. He reacted with the experience of someone accustomed to the ongoing event. The light formed in seven orbs, hovering in the air, and rays of golden light glimmered around them and the circle that formed on the rooftop beneath them. The orbs revolved around a ray that began appearing, and with increasing speed circled into the center to meet. The circle on the rooftop exploded at that point, creating a pillar of swirling, rotating light about seven feet high. The light slowly vanished and in its place was a woman stood in its place. Her hair was wavy and golden-red, and she was in appearance in her late twenties. She wore light leather designed for battle, and at her side was a gorgeous scabbard, laced with gold and a sword hilt with gold intertwined in the guard and pommel. A unique symbol was inlaid in the pommel. Any man would admit that she was desirable, but at the same time something about her made her unapproachable.

She glanced around, silver eyes missing nothing. She took a few steps and jumped, clearing the gap over the street with ease. She landed on the rooftop of the young man and shuddered.

"Einherjar, I come for the Lady Unda. Know you her whereabouts?"

The young man finally looked up at her. His face bore an expression seemingly unfit for a woman of such magnificence; contempt, perhaps, or maybe simple lack of respect. The mocking in his voice was unmistakably hostile:

"Lady Brynhildr herself. I am indeed fortunate to be blessed by the presence of someone of such importance and beauty this day."

Brynhildr did not flinch or react in any physical way to his tone or mannerism; she remained focused, clearly there only to fulfill some purpose.

"Lady Unda has been summoned to Valhalla. She has stayed overlong in this world of living humans, and I have been assigned to returning her."

"Lady Unda does her only her job; she has done nothing against the law of Asgard and still required time here in this world."

"To what end?"

"The completion of her own assignment."

"Which is what?"

To this the young man paused. He looked back at the street, and smiled as the wind sent more rain streaming down his face.

"You seem to revel in this foul weather," said Brynhildr.

"That is because I do," replied the young man.

Brynhildr started, and for the first time glanced at the black haired youth without, "What manner of creature are you, Einherjar, not only to be unaffected but to find joy in the gloom of the darkest of days on Midgard?"

The man replied, "I apologize, lady Valkyrie. I had forgotten how much you despise the dark. For it is the darkened clouds that causes such unrest for you, or am I mistaken?"

"That would indeed be the most likely cause for my hatred of this world's foul weather patterns."

"Then take pity on me, milady. As Einherjar I am of this world, and still retain my memories of it. And the rain was a peace to me, and this drizzle and gentle breeze are so pleasant to me, and so nostalgic. I pray you do not think poorly of me," the man said this sincerely, and lacked the mocking tone from before.

Still somewhat shaken, Brynhildr turned away and said, "State your name, Einherjar."

"I am High Einherjar Pluvia, First Einherjar to Lady Unda. My service is and always shall be at the command of the Valkyries, with Lady Unda foremost of them."

Brynhildr nodded, and said, "Lady Unda has been summoned, not as punishment, but for the sake of relieving her. Lady Aduro will be her replacement."

Pluvia finally stood up, and said, "She believes to have located our target, and this day works to confirm it. Lady Aduro will only need to work on the protection of the area."

"Then let us go to her."

They both ran, and threw themselves from building to building. No one would be looking and no one would see them anyways in the darkness, so they made no effort to conceal themselves.

At last the arrived at a high school, and saw Unda standing on the roof. They approached her and she turned; her aqua green hair and pearl eyes shone with delight.

"Heya, Pluvia! Greetings, comrade!"

Pluvia walked over to her and knelt. Unda smiled and took his hand, guiding him back up. They looked at each other for a second before Unda drew him into a happy hug, jumping up and down as she said,

"I found her, I found her!"

Brynhildr smiled. "Congratulations; I know not what your mission was, but I know that your completion of it will earn you recognition as one of the top Valkyries in existence. It must be very exciting."

Unda seemed to see Brynhildr for the first time, and although she had a flash of dislike similar to her Einherjar's, she seemed unable to maintain it through her excitement. Brynhildr reflected on how young the Valkyrie was, recalling that she was still very new to the job. She was also very young as a human when she began. Brynhildr realized this unorthodox response to completing the mission was most probably a result of her immaturity. Even so, she was happy for the young Valkyrie and recognized her fast development and future potential.

"Would you like to se her, Lady Brynhildr?" asked Unda. She seemed to be directing the question towards Pluvia as well.

Brynhildr nodded; her mission had been to find and aid the Valkyrie who had waited overlong to check in and return to Valhalla. Since everything was going well, and she had no other assignments, she found no reason to refuse the excited duo.

Unda appeared to be fading away; as she did, she began to sink into the rooftop, as if she was a ghost passing through it. Her Einherjar and the other Valkyrie followed suit, and by the time they reached the first floor of the building they were completely invisible, and floating in the air with ease (with the exception of Pluvia, he stood on the ground). Brynhildr could see shimmers in the air where her companions rested; the human teenagers in the cafeteria they had appeared in, however, could not make them out at all.

"There," said Unda; the humans couldn't hear them either. Her shape seemed to point, and Brynhildr followed her hand towards a table with a lively bunch of teenage girls.

"That one there?" asked Pluvia below them.

"Aye, the one on the end," replied Unda cheerfully.

Brynhildr inspected her with a practiced eye, and said, "Indeed, that is the one. You have done well in locating her; seems she has some latent abilities, specifically hiding her own presence from people like us."

You could almost hear Unda's smile in her voice, "Yeah, that's why it took so much time, but I did it!"

They began to float back towards the roof, passing through the ceilings of both floors (Pluvia simply jumped, Einherjar can't float but they can jump much higher than any human). They reached the top and solidified.

"Again, congratulations! You both show great promise as a team," said Brynhildr.

Unda beamed at the compliment, and even Pluvia seemed to soften toward the older Valkyrie. Then the relaxed, celebratory mood on the rooftops that day was shattered when several white-blue pillars of fire seemed to erupt from the ground beneath and around them.

The pillars vanished and in their place was a dense fog caused by the heat and rain. A strange figure approached, covered in rags and wearing an odd black mask over his face. No part of his body was visible, making it impossible to determine what manner of creature he was. He was slender but muscular; yellow eyes were glowing from behind the mask. His poise was relaxed, calm; the demeanor of someone who believed to be victorious.

But as the smoke cleared, he stiffened, and bent his legs. His hands went to the long, black Katana resting at his side.

Through the smoke, three more figures appeared; the two Valkyrie and the Einherjar, all in battle-crouches; all had hands on their weapons. Unda was the first to draw her weapon; a cutlass of great beauty, it seemed as if water ran through its aqua colored blade. It shimmered as water does when reflecting sunlight, and the sea-green hilt had ocean blue triangular gemstones inlaid in the roof of the hand guard, and hanging from the hilt was a string the soft green of seaweed, with a small clam shell hanging off it.

Pluvia drew from his cloak a flintlock pistol, which he pointed at the new arrival. It was black, but still seemed to glow with pleasant delight everywhere a raindrop landed on it.

Brynhildr kept her blade at rest in its scabbard, but her right hand never left it. Her eyes seemed to puncture through the rain and fog, boring into the man in the distance.

"Who, or rather, what are you?" She demanded.

The calm voice that reached her was unnerving, though it held no disrespect or contempt.

"I am here for answers. My master wants whatever it is that you discovered here this day. I am not privy to such important knowledge; I know only that it is a person of some importance, but that my master lacks both a name and description. To that end I have need of your assistance, and demand answers of you."

Unda was the first to reply: "What ever your master wants, he can't have it!! She cried, wild with anticipation for battle. "I have worked long and hard to find what I found this day, and no demon will take my glory from me now!"

The voice returned, and Brynhildr felt her blood freeze, "What difference does your goals and glory make to me? I give no care to your desires or accomplishments, save those which I would use to serve my master."

"What is this voice, that speaks with such melancholy?" cried Brynhildr, angry with the mysterious man for disrupting the young couple's day of triumph. "Speak, monster, and tell us your objective with one who we will someday claim as our own."

"Your own? How strange it is to find that you think you can take what is my master's."

"It is not his until he or his minions come and claim it! And as long as I, the First Valkyrie, draw breath, I guarantee that she will not be touched by you or your master. Whatever manner of creature you or your master are, as a Valkyrie under Odin I will prevent you from tainting my people's future!"

"We do not plan to taint the future of the Valkyrie. She, for I assume from your statements my target is female, will remain as she is. My master want's her only for study and personal use; I can promise you that we have no intention of corrupting her purpose, only using her abilities and purpose to fulfill my master's desires. And since I am now assuming that she is to become a Valkyrie, I would guess that my master has some use for a warrior of the light."

"And what if we say no?" demanded Brynhildr.

"I will not allow anyone to step in the path leading to my Master's dreams!"

"More importantly, what if the girl refuses to help you?" interjected Pluvia.

"Then she will perish through traditional execution that my Master sentences to all who betray him."

Pluvia ran a few steps forward, "I shall not allow you! You will not harm any Valkyrie, whether they have already been called or not!"

The melancholy voice then said, "Then you shall perish before her!"

Above the four warriors, the stormy clouds began to descend.