DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN WEREWORLD OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS
Chapter 10
Thor emerged from the staircase in time to see Drew descend into the Great Hall. "Drew!" called Thor as he ran after him. When he reached the Great Hall, he saw Drew throw open the massive doors and step out into the frosty night.
Thor found Drew in the stables, saddling Bravado. "Drew, would you just stop, for one second? Please?" Thor asked.
"I have nothing to say to you," replied Drew.
"Then don't say anything, just listen. You know you're like a brother to me. I would never intentionally say those things I said back there," Thor explained. "So please, don't leave. We need your help on this thing," Thor said.
Drew studied Thor for a second, his eyes cold and full of anger. "I'll be in Highcliff. Finish getting that fucking axe without me," Drew said as he mounted Bravado and galloped off.
Thor watched him go. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Shit."
"You know, amidst all that celebrating and the fight between Thor and Drew, it never occurred to me that he still has two more trials to go through," said Hector.
Bergan nodded gravely. "Do we know how to start the second trial?" the old bear asked.
"I assume we go through that stone doorway there," Hector replied.
"Um, when did that get there?" asked Trent, suddenly wary of their current situation.
"It opened by itself when Thor woke up," Hector said matter-of-factly.
"Neat...bzzt," Maddox said.
By this time, Thor had just re-entered the cave from the staircase. The others turned to look at him, most of them with quizzical looks on their faces. "Where's Drew?" asked Mikotaj.
"He left. He said he'll be waiting for us in Highcliff," Thor replied solemnly.
"Poor guy. He may never be truly happy again," said Trent.
"Well, I completed one trial, how do we start the next one?" Thor asked.
"After you," Hector said as he motioned towards the stone doorway.
Thor grabbed his axe and strapped his armor back on, the others all doing the same, before they followed him through the doorway.
What they saw on the other side was nothing short of magnificent. It was a cavern at least ten times larger than the adjacent one they'd come from. Circling the entire border of the room, except for the door they'd come in and its opposite across the room, was a set of stone benches, almost like spectator seating. In the center of the room was another circle, this one much bigger, however, and it was bordered by two semicircular pits, separated by two small stone bridges that served as a way in and out of the circle, one on either side. As Thor approached, he could see that the bottoms of the pits had numerous deadly stalagmites pointing straight up at them. Well this doesn't bode well for me, thought Thor as he slowly backed away from the edge.
"Who dares enter my battle arena?" boomed a deep, male voice. Thor turned, and saw an extremely tall man standing on the stone bridge that lead into the circle.
Trent looked at Thor before jerking his head at the giant before them.
As Thor approached the man, he began to study him. He had a bushy, white beard, and his long, white hair was tied back into a ponytail. He was shirtless, and his torso rippled with muscles. His arms were as thick around as Thor's waist, and his legs had no shortage of muscle either. In his eyes, you could see deep sadness and guilt, the look that only comes from a true warrior.
"I am Thorbjorn Henriksson, rightful ruler of Icegarden, may I ask who you are?" said Thor. As he said this, however, he noticed something, the man was transparent. It was hard to notice, but Thor could make out the details of objects behind the massive individual.
"I am Ragnar Odinsson, Keeper of Stormedge. Why have you come here, Thorbjorn Henriksson?" the man boomed.
Everyone's eyes widened at the news. "Ragnar Odinsson? As in the Ragnar who lead the first rebellion against Aevi's empire?" asked Hector.
Ragnar grunted affirmative. "Indeed. Now, do not make me ask again, why have you come here?" he asked.
"We seek the axe Stormedge. We desire to use its power to once again defeat the Weredragon Aevi," replied Thor, doing his best not to feel intimidated.
"Ah, so you are the one who Loki was babbling on about," said Ragnar.
Thor shared confused glances with the others. "Who?" he asked.
"My brother, Loki. He was your overseer for the trial of the Mind. He was who fought you in the form of your friend. I, on the other hand, am the overseer for the trial of the Body, and my father, Odin, is the overseer for the trial of the Spirit," Ragnar explained.
Thor's mouth formed a silent O. Ragnar growled. "Wipe that idiotic look off your face, and prepare yourself for combat," he said as he turned to step into the arena.
Thor glanced back at the others. Trent gave him a thumbs up, and Maddox just shrugged. Sighing, Thor followed Ragnar to the center of the circle.
"So who am I fighting in this trial?" Thor asked.
"Me, of course," replied Ragnar irritatedly.
Thor blanched. I'm gonna die, he thought to himself. After all, this was THE Ragnar. The one who Werebears throughout every generation worshipped as a deity. It was said he was the greatest warrior the Seven Realms had ever seen.
As if on cue, a battleaxe appeared in Ragnar's hand, as if it had come out of thin air, and he began to change. As if his already eight foot tall form wasn't enough already, as he grew to accommodate the Bear, he reached well over ten feet tall.
"What are you waiting for, boy? Are you not a therian?" Ragnar asked, clearly agitated. Now he finally understood the meaning of Ragnar the Wrathful. Dreading the coming moments, Thor reluctantly let the Bear in and drew his axe.
No sooner had he completed his transformation than Ragnar charged him. He was so incredibly fast, that Thor barely had time to use the flat of his double-bladed axe to block the swing aimed for his head. The force of the blow was so overwhelming, that Thor was thrown back several feet, fairly close to the edge of the circle. When he rose, it gave him time to size up the situation. Ragnar was the biggest, strongest, fastest opponent Thor had ever faced. First, he was still dwarfed by the ancient Werebear by over three feet, as Thor stood at almost eight feet in full Bear form to Ragnar's eleven. Second, Ragnar's incredible mix of speed and strength. No wonder this guy's a legend, thought Thor.
Thor readied himself for the impending onslaught, and the ancient Bear did not disappoint. He lunged at Thor with the speed of a viper, whirling his axe around, laughing like a madman. It was all Thor could do to keep from being split in two by the powerful strikes.
Thor saw the axe descending yet again, and he raised his own to meet it. The two weapons locked together, and Thor stared up at his opponent with grim determination. Ragnar simply grinned at him. Before Thor had a chance to wonder why, he was cracked across the face by Ragnar's left paw, sending his axe spinning out of his grasp as he was sent flying from the force. He didn't even have time to regain his breath before a powerful hand picked him up and tossed him to the other side of the circle. Thor crumpled to the ground, desperately trying to get air back into his lungs. Fortunately, he'd landed next to his battleaxe, so he grabbed it, using it to push himself up from the ground.
"Thor, what the hell are you doing? You're getting your ass kicked!" he heard from the spectators' seats behind. He glanced back to see all of his friends watching the fight with great worry and interest.
"I think I can figure that out on my own," he called back.
He turned back towards Ragnar, who had clearly gone berserk. "I'm sorry, but I just can't hold back anymore! I haven't had this much fun in millennia!" he screamed in a high pitch voice, further adding to his mad persona.
"Thor, you need to go on the offensive, if you stay on the defense, he'll just wear you down and kill you," called Bergan from behind.
Thor nodded, not daring to take his eyes off Ragnar, the speed of his attacks was so great. This time, when Ragnar lunged, Thor lunged back, meeting the ancient Bear in the center of the circle, each struggling for dominance, using all of their brute strength. Ragnar was still far stronger, so Thor's feet began to slide. As he gave ground, he sidestepped, dropped his axe, and grabbed hold of Ragnar's axe before hitting the enormous Bear with a left hook to the jaw, which loosened his grip on the axe. Thor took advantage of that, and ripped it out of the giant White Bear's grasp. He then recovered his own axe as the ancient Bear staggered from Thor's punch.
"Not bad," chuckled the ancient Bear. "But it'll take a lot more than that to take me down."
Thor was ready for Ragnar's attack this time, and set his now dual axes to work. The massive Bear was defenseless for a few seconds, as he couldn't defend himself barehanded against an onslaught of two battleaxes. Or so Thor thought. Ragnar caught one of the axe blades between his paws and ripped it from Thor's grasp, before delivering a punishing blow to Thor's shoulder, splitting his collarbone, the extremely durable Sturmish steel finding no resistance in Thor's body. He roared in agony and swung his remaining battleaxe at Ragnar's forearm, severing it at the elbow, blood spurting from the wound as well as the numerous other places on his body where Thor's axes had struck, staining the pristine white fur a dark maroon.
Thor took this brief respite to examine himself. He removed the axe from his shoulder and tossed it aside. Blood was gushing from the wound, flowing down Thor's body, like a waterfall of blood down his torso. I need to end this quick, otherwise I'll bleed to death in some cave, he thought.
His entire upper left torso was completely useless, leaving him with only one arm to fight with, the same as his opponent. As fast as his legs could carry him, which wasn't very fast at all, he rushed Ragnar, hoping for a quick end to their battle.
"Hoping to finish me quickly, are you? That's not going to happen!" Ragnar said as he knocked Thor's exhausted, clumsy swing aside before smashing him in the face with the stump of his right arm. Thor fell back yet again, dangerously close to the edge of the pit, the stalagmites below eagerly awaiting the taste of blood. Thor looked up to see Ragnar in mid-air, leaping towards him, single paw raised for the killing blow. Channeling all of the remaining strength he had left into his powerful legs, Thor caught Ragnar with his feet and used his momentum to toss him over Thor's head and into the depths below. When he heard a sickening crunch, Thor couldn't even look due to the fact that he was losing consciousness from the amount of blood he had lost, which he was now laying in a puddle of. Thor drifted off, the last thing he heard the voices of the others shouting his name.
Thor shot awake when he felt a hard smack to the face from Bergan.
"What the hell was that for?" he demanded.
The old bear chuckled. "Just to wake you up."
"Wait, wasn't I dying like a few seconds ago?" Thor asked.
"Yeah man, it was pretty gruesome, Maddox almost started crying tears of honey," replied Trent as he slapped Maddox on the back.
"I am glad you are still breathing, Master Thor...bzzt," the young shinobee said.
"So how am I alive?" inquired Thor.
"I brought you back," a voice boomed. Thor looked over Bergan's shoulder to see the enormous form of Ragnar standing, unscathed, with his arms crossed.
"What do you mean you brought me back? And didn't I-"
"Kill me? Yes and no. I'm immortal, you see. I am resurrected in this vault each time I am defeated. I also have the power to bring back my opponents from death's door, as I have never fought an opponent I did not take down with me. In any case, defeating me was the trial of the Body, you are now ready for the trial of the Spirit," the massive Bear explained. "I must say, you are the most natural-born fighter I've ever come across, besides myself, of course."
Mikotaj scoffed. "You've never fought me, old Bear."
Ragnar turned to look down at Mikotaj. "Would you like me to?"
Mikotaj paled and quickly shook his head.
Ragnar roared with laughter. "I'm only kidding, relax, young Werewolf. I may be rather ill-tempered in the heat of battle, but not all the time," he said. "In any case, you have now completed two of the three trials. One more and you shall have the weapon I once wielded." Ragnar pointed towards a large, stone archway that had appeared on the opposite side of the circle that they'd entered from.
Thor stood and examined himself before anything else. He was no longer in Bear form, and all of the blood had disappeared from the ground, and his clothes and leather breastplate had even been returned to their original states. He proceeded to retrieve his axe, placing it through the loop on his belt before leading his companions through the great archway.
The next room was completely underwhelming, to say the least. Every single one of them had been expecting a cavern even larger than the one they'd just come from, but this one was much smaller even than the first cave. It was a low ceiling, maybe ten feet high, and the room itself was fairly small. Maybe fifty feet by thirty feet, Thor guessed. At the opposite end was a very old, wooden desk with a withered old man seated behind. Though his face was obscured by the brim of his wide hat, a clearly unkempt white beard was visible, as well as his old, gnarled fingers, which were grasping the shaft of a wooden spear. He had a raven on his left shoulder, and he was studying what looked to be a set of ancient runes made from the knucklebones of a bear.
Ragnar, now in human form, still over eight feet tall, shuffled past them and approached the old man. "Father Odin, I present Thorbjorn Henriksson, who has passed the first two trials, and his travelling companions."
Slowly, almost as if he were the embodiment of a tortoise, Odin raised his head, revealing his long, flowing white beard, and one silver eye that shone with wisdom, the other only an empty socket. Suddenly, Thor felt compelled to bow, so he did so, just as the others seemed to as well.
"Loki, show yourself," rasped Odin.
In a ripple of purple magical power, a tall, mischievous looking man, who was clean shaven, unlike his brother and father. He was dressed in lots of purple, had jet-black hair, and a grin on his face that seemed to say I'm evil, but you don't know it.
"Yes, father?" he replied.
"Is it true that this man passed your test?" asked Odin.
Loki sighed rather theatrically. "Regrettably, yes. He definitely has the willpower to wield the axe."
"And you, Ragnar? Is it true that this man bested you in single combat?" Odin asked once more.
Ragnar hesitated. "Well...technically, he defeated me, but he died trying. I took him down with me like I did with that one other so long ago."
Hearing this, Odin trained his one silver eye upon Thor and seemed to study his very soul. "Indeed? So his mind and body are worthy. Now we must see if his spirit is as well."
He motioned with his left hand for Thor to approach. "Sit," Odin commanded.
Thor sat in the simple wooden chair opposite the elderly man, who, Thor noticed, was also slightly transparent, like his sons. "If I may, how have you become immortal?" he asked.
Odin chuckled, a bemused twinkle in his left eye. "We were tasked by Brenn over a thousand years ago to protect the legendary weapon Stormedge until there came a time when it would be needed again."
"And how is this trial of the Spirit supposed to go? Because I almost died in the first one, and I did die in the second one," Thor asked, clearly uneasy.
Thor heard a grunt behind him as Bergan stepped forward. "Excuse me, my lords, my name is-"
"We know who you are, Bergan of Brackenholme," said Odin, effectively cutting him off. "And i know why you speak. You wish to know if any further harm will come to the boy. Fear not, for if his soul is pure, he will not be damaged."
Odin extended a gnarled hand towards Thor. "Grasp me by the forearm and look me in the eye Thorbjorn Henriksson." Thor complied, and the instant he looked into Odin's silver eye, he felt as if he had left the ground. He looked around, and surrounding him was his entire life's memories all being played back before his eyes. As each memory sped past him, he felt every emotion as if he was experiencing them all over again. He saw his early life, running around the corridors of Icegarden. He saw the war camp of his father, the day that Lucas' Wyld Wolves had been set upon them. He replayed the entire duel between his father and Onyx, and the rage that beset him after he watched Henrik be beheaded was so intense that he almost let the Bear in. He saw every memory, the painful ones, the joyous ones, he saw him laughing with his friends, he saw the shedding of numerous tears, and all in all, he saw his life. When he'd reached the present, he felt a falling sensation, as if someone had dropped him out of the sky.
Thor opened his eyes at the sound of Odin's voice. "Interesting."
"What the hell was that?" asked Thor, uneasy.
"I went through your every memory alongside you, and felt every emotion you did," Odin replied.
"What in Brenn's name for?" Thor demanded.
"To try your spirit. To learn who you are and what emotions govern your actions. You are a very unique case, Thorbjorn Henriksson. You have experienced great loss, and it has caused you to be partially governed by anger. Yet, on the other hand, above all else, you desire to protect those that you care about, which is how you harness your rage."
"So, did I pass?"
Odin paused. "Yes. There are only two others besides yourself that have been worthy to wield Stormedge. First, my son Ragnar, here, who Brenn bestowed with it personally. Second, was a peculiar man who only had the desire to protect his people with it. Yet, there was darkness in his heart that was somehow hidden from my eye."
"What are you saying?" asked Trent from behind Thor.
"I'm saying that what you have come here seeking is no longer here. The man I speak of took it with him some decades ago. In his memories, I saw images of a voyage Westward, across the White Sea. His name was Razor, and he was a Raptorlord."