Chapter 12

Jack POV

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, Dwarves and Elves, Giants and Gods! It is I, the sharpest blade in the Nine Worlds, formerly known as Sumarbrander. I AM JACK!

I have been given a rare opportunity to narrate this tale of minor stupidity, humor that at the very least will make you smile, evil family, dead siblings and trustworthy friends. Sit back and enjoy as I tell this fantastical tale of the great elven runemaster, Hearth!

You'll have to imagine this the way I heard. The thing is, when I'm in Pendant form, the only thing I can see is Magnus's shirt. That's not a lot of fun. So I listen into his conversations like one would listen to the radio or I actually turn on the radio with my headphones. When I do listen into his conversations, I mostly play dumb and have him repeat his words just to be annoying.

Not that he needs to know anything.

So after we had gone through the portal, Magnus had me go into Pendant form. After running through the forest at top speed, a few minutes later, I could hear Sam screaming at Hearth to look out. Magnus wasted no time and pulled me into lethal mode.

I could see that Hearth noticed the Beast. It was a Brunmmngi, translating to the "Well pisser".

I'll give you a few minutes to roll around on the floor and die of laughter before you revive and settle down to start reading again.

Better? I'll now give you a quick bio on this weirdly named Norse creature. A Brunmmngi is a creature that looks like a bear and a wolf had a kid. This creature basically defiles wells and contaminates drinking water. And no one would drink urine unless they are really desperate. Other names for this creature are 'spring pisser', 'The one who pees in the well', and stuff that relate to a being that pees in drinking water.

Remember my Senor was about to have me attack? Well, he didn't have too. As soon as Hearth saw the beast, his eyes flashed a murderous rage. And trust me; I know murderous rage when I see it. I remember listening to Magnus, Hearth and his maid talk about how his brother died. I was a wee bit lost, but I got the main gist of things though.

The brunnmigi in front of us was probably related to the one Hearth's dad killed when Hearth was just a kid. Maybe. Or maybe it was an entirely different one altogether. You might have thought it was the same one that came back from the dead, but that's not how death works for Norse monsters. If you die, you die.

Unless you died heroically and got accepted into the army or Freya's band of … I'm not sure what I could call them. Chilled warriors? Laid back fighters? Yeah, that last one sounds better.

Now, back to Hearth. He practically turned into the Incredible Hulk. He cast a rune that I'm pretty sure was Uruz and started to go hand to hand with the beast. Hearth found an opening and sent his opponent sprawling on the ground with a punch to the jaw.

Hearth merely walked over and grabbed his opponent and started punching him mercilessly. I could almost hear him say, "This is for my brother, this is one is also for my brother, and this last and especially painful one is for messing up my life more than it already was."

Then just as the effects of the first rune were wearing off, he pulled out another one, Isa, the rune for ice. He froze the Well Pisser into an ice sculpture and didn't stop till he was completely sure its blood was frozen solid.

Then he pulled out Thurizaz and zapped his ice sculpture to bits and pieces. That last move reminded me of Alex when she was throwing a tantrum. Long story short, Magnus and I were having a simple little argument about Falafel (I recommend you never talk to Magnus about the subject unless you share mutual feelings) so we went to Alex because she was the only one who was in her room and the easiest to find at the moment. We went into find her destroying pottery pieces and screaming bloody murder. We walked out quietly as we came in.

Now I will let you guess what the rest of were doing while Hearth was in 'Relentless Killer Mode'. If you guessed cheering him on in cheerleading costumes made by Blitzen, then you can go get three jelly beans. If you thought we were relaxing by the fire in our PJs than you can go get Three jelly beans! But if you thought we just stood there speechless as Hel, then Congratulations and go get yourself a chocolate brownie with Sprinkles on top!

Hearth turned over to look at the rest of us poor schmucks who barely had to lift a finger. His face was in the same expression it always is. But his eyes were daring us to say something about his victory. The others thought it would be polite to clap for him. I too would have clapped, if I had hands, to begin with. Which, sadly I don't.

Instead, I just mouthed the sound. While everyone else was actually clapping to be polite and not die by our very pissed off elf friend, I was whistling and going 'clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.' This continued for thirty-ish seconds before we broke off.

Now, having defeated his opponent, Hearth walked up to the well to retrieve his prize. But before he could grab it though, a little boy in a white suit appeared. He looked like an eight-year-old version of Hearth in a way, only if Hearth had more than one expression than 'Poker Face'. He was probably dead because he had a bluish tinge around him. Must have come from somewhere around Helhiem, I believe.

That's when Blitz asked Magnus, "You've seen his picture. Isn't that Hearth's brother?"

The son of Frey nodded. "That's Andiron, back from the dead."

Hearth POV

After using the runes, I was feeling extremely exhausted. Fighting the one who pees in the well had taken a lot out of my energy. I was on the verge of collapsing. But I had made up my mind that I would faint after I had retrieved my Othala runestone and safely tuck it away in what Alex constantly referred to as my pouch of magical, law deifying rocks.

But just as I was about to reach it, I noticed it wasn't there and a little boy appeared. The same boy who died at the hands of a beast, similar to the one I had just defeated. The same boy I had given the runestone to when I was about to run away from home. The boy my parents treasured so much. It was my dear little brother, Andiron.

Now you might think I was always jealous of my brother because he was physically the perfect son every elf in Alfheim wanted. But, that was never the case between us. We would always play together and Andiron always looked up to me. He was really the only person I would ever play with. The other elf children would stay away as if being deaf was infectious.

By the age of five, Andiron was asking me to teach him to sign language. "Can you teach me? I want to talk to you too!" he had been very enthusiastic about it all. I had taught myself ASL from videos and books. My father never really approved of the 'Handwaving' so he had me write everything out on a small chalkboard. Of course, I later found out that he understood ASL perfectly and was just trying to deny its existence altogether. But it was just as well since half the population doesn't know what ASL stands for.

When Andiron had been killed, I repeatedly blamed myself for everything. And my parents were eager to agree with me, even if I had never told them anything in the first place, to begin with. Have you ever been to a funeral and had every, single, damn elf staring at you and whispering behind your back? Of course, you haven't.

Everyone thought I couldn't hear anything, but by then I could read lips more or less correctly. I was blamed for his death. As if it was my fault I could not hear his dying screams. What happened after that was worse. My father made me skin the beast and turn it into a rug.

From then on, everything and anything I did had a price to it. Eating, playing and even sleeping was charged. At times I thought it would have been kinder of my father to have just made me work a servant (Read: Slave) in his house for the next twenty years.

After suffering a decade of all the torment, I ran away. But before I ran away for what I thought would be forever, I decided to go to the well where Andiron had died at. I rearranged the stones to look like a memorial while I was skinning the one who pees in the well. Now, I decided to give my brother the Othala runestone. So I left it atop his memorial.

Back to the present: Andiron was standing next to the well. "Hello brother," He signed to me. I simply stared at him with a blank look in my eyes. After looking after Magnus for two years in Midgard, I sometimes had to remind myself that people go to different afterlives once they died in the Nine Worlds. I am quite sure after reading about the adventures I've had with Magnus and Blitz, you know we don't believe in ghosts.

But the general rule after you die is that you must never let people you know see you after you die. That works very well because of four reasons:

Valhalla will set you to kitchen duty if you get caught

Hel doesn't let you leave because she will make you her servant

Ran will have you swirling in her skirts for eternity

And Freya treats her warriors so well; you won't want to leave unless the goddess has a task for you.

"I came to visit you." Andiron signed again. I shook my head and smiled while signing, "I can see that. How have you been?"

"I have been doing well. I even learned how to sign properly!"Andiron signed excitedly.

You would probably think I would be in tears and start crying. Well, I didn't. It was just nice to see my brother. Crying would not do anything. Also, I had promised myself I would never cry again. I had shed enough tears for the next twenty or so years.

"Sif thought it might be hard for you to take back your rune stone because you gave it to me," Andiron said. "So she decided to take me to the well this morning where she told I must wait for you to arrive. And seeing Father's condition of mind, I decided to hold on to your othala runestone for safe keeping."

With that, I bent over and gave him a hug. "Thank you." I signed after I had let him go. Then he turned to my friends and walked over. "Hey," Magnus said awkwardly. I suppose it would be weird to meet your friend's dead relatives. "Hi, Heath's little brother." Alex greeted. Blitz and Samirah just waved.

Andiron returned the greeting with a cheerful smile and replied. "Hello. My name is Andiron. I just wanted to thank you for taking care of my older brother." Blitz responded, "No problem. Someone's got to do it."

"That is true," Andi replied. "You might want to hurry up and get back to your friends. I have a feeling like they'll need your help." Magnus swore under his breath. "I forgot about the others." Turning to me he signed, "If you want you can stay a bit longer." I shook my head. I was pretty sure Andiron must return to wherever he was spending his afterlife.

As if reading my mind, my little brother gave me a tight hug. "Goodbye brother. I love you."

"I love you too, Andi."

Done! I am so sorry everyone. I said I would post this is soon, but a week or so later is NOT Soon. Don't hurt me. Enjoy.