Ch.21

Sleigh

The Valkyries set up camp about half a mile from the village. They didn't seem to want to associate themselves with the village folk, but it was likely for the best. They all protested the idea of having a band of ruthless warriors camping only a short walk from our homes, but they were helpless to do or say anything about it. So there was a stalemate that went on for days between the Valkyries and the townspeople. Only I ever made treks between the two.

I visited the women often to bring them food and to learn more about them. I learned that all the stories were true about them. They had encountered countless armies and overthrown dozens of kingdoms, but all in the belief that they were all evil. They entered the world only a month ago with no memory of anything and their "Odin" told them that all others who lived were evil. They never even knew of the stories and motives people had spread in their name until they heard it themselves. All they were told was to find me and my cane to rid the world of evil. It all sounded very strange but the Valkyries must be telling the truth, or else my people would be dead and the village burned to the ground.

"When we call you from your dwelling it was a test," Eir explained, "You passed, obviously. But now we have the problem of Odin. We fear he may come looking for us for failing him."

"What if we were to strike back at him. He lied to you, deceived you into believing the world was nothing more than evil. Surely he must be evil himself," I reasoned.

"But he is Odin," said another, "we don't even know how powerful he is."

"If he sent you after me instead of coming himself then surely he must believe you are stronger than he," they conversed amongst themselves, thinking over the idea of fighting against Odin. Worried looks were exchanged and I left them to think about what I had said. Two days later, they unanimously agreed that for Odin's deception, and in the names of countless lives lost, he must pay.

Sir Raleigh

It had been nearly 3 months since I had sent the Valkyries on their voyage to retrieve that cane. I began to worry. The lynx's were kidnapped from the opposite side of the planet in what is today Canada and none of them were truly related. I performed gene therapy on each of them, amplifying their abilities and individual skills greatly. Alone, they could keep an army of beasts at bay but together they were the perfect weapon. But what I couldn't control was their free thought. I could wipe their memories and implant fake ones, but with the fall of the Contessa in modern day, most of her hypnosis research was lost. So although I could erase their minds, I couldn't keep them from thinking for themselves. For this, I was especially afraid of the possibility of the Valkyries encountering someone, possibly the Cooper, and having a change of heart.

Now as the weeks rolled on, I grew especially paranoid. Turning my establishment into a small fortress. I built and activated hundreds of robots, amassing my own army with whatever I had. I thought I was ready for anything, but then the Valkyries returned.

Eir

We described the fortress from which we awoke, the rooms, the great table and the place from which we came in great detail to Slaigh. He seemed to recognize the details of the terrain. He called the place Denmark, the same place our legend originated from so many centuries ago. Armed with this information we began to formulate a plan. One of the Valkyries said that given the amount of time we spent by the village, Odin would likely be growing suspicious and we would need to prepare for a fight unlike any other. Slaigh began consulting his village elders who suggested we seek the help of the neighboring kingdoms. I doubted it would work and it was just their effort to get us away from the village but we left regardless.
We set off for all the kingdoms of Scotland and then the kingdoms of England. I could tell that even the kings respected Slaigh by how they never talked down to him. But even so, wherever we went, we were turned away. Our story as the Angels of Death had spread far and wide and no one wanted anything to do with us. They called us monsters, demons even. I suppose I couldn't blame them, after all, it's how we were made and we knew no other way. Maybe we were monsters, never once stopping for a moment to question whether what we were doing was right or wrong. We did as we were told no matter how bloody it got. We could say that we were different now, that we had changed, but it would never matter. We were on our own and for the next month we made our trek from France to Denmark.

The journey took us through the burned out ruins of the kingdoms and villages we had raided. What once stood tall and full of life was now nothing more than a dead shell of its former glory. I truly appreciated Slaigh, never turning on us and demanding an explanation for the horrible things in which we had done. He spoke to us as equals, sometimes even as children. None of us minded. He spoke with compassion and kindness, a trait that was totally foreign to us before we encountered him. He told us story after story of his adventures and the world. He told us of his vast family lineage, his various quarrels and encounters with corrupt kings, even how he first met his wife and his adventures with his children. He was quite the storyteller and has had quite the long and remarkable life. Up till now he claimed to be retired, now simply a village elder. A pang of guilt struck me when he mentioned this. After all he has been through and retiring to a life he has very well deserved, we brought him from his home to stop a threat a world away. He said he didn't mind though, that it was nice to get out of the village every now and then.

We finally arrived at the dwelling in which Odin let us loose onto the world. It was the same but now had walls built up around the place. Strange guards patrolled night and day that needed neither food nor sleep. We stayed back at a distance, careful to avoid detection and tried to form a plan. Slaigh recalled a time when he had encountered a fortress similar to this one and how he had gotten past the guards by poisoning the water to cause 'extreme bowel movements'. But given the nature of the guards and how they never even drank, it didn't seem like a viable option. After 3 days of hiding and planning, we came to the conclusion that the only method of entry was through the way we had come in through.

Slaigh

The next morning we attacked. In all honesty, I went on this mission without the intention of returning. I had lived a long and happy life. I was content with what I had done and I was growing old anyways. Having my wife passed away and my children moved on and now growing their own families, I had nothing more to look forward to. Besides, I couldn't think of a better way for me to go out than on the field of battle.

I followed the Valkyries on horseback in our charge. Upon entering archery range, the guards formed a defensive wall armed with only swords. The Valkyries had shields and battle axes and I had my stone cane. Whatever they were, they could not stop us or what we had planned.

We reached their line and swords clashed with axes at full speed. An intense battle ensued that seemingly went on forever. Whenever we finished off one wave, another would arrive supplying dozens more guards to kill. We fought off wave after wave until we had pushed far enough to gain access to the door the Valkyries spoke of. Unfortunately, it was a massive metal door that was far too large for even me to lift. Then I spotted a hole in the wall 20 feet above me. I called to Eir in the heat of battle and signalled to the hole and put my hands out. She sprinted over to me and I vaulted her up just high enough to reach the entry point. Shortly later the big door opened, letting us inside.

We made our way inside while still fighting off the guards and Eir closed the door when we were clear. Soon we were submerged in pure darkness. I couldn't even see my hands. Yet there was still no peace as the silence with the banging of the guards against the doors. Soon, they would break through.

One by one, we lit the torches that we had brought with us. I walked around the room for some time, admiring the sheer size of the place. This Odin must have been a great architect to have had such a structure built. But then in looking at the ceiling, I saw an abnormality, like a see-through barrier that blocked off a smaller room that overlooked the grand doorway. Then I saw something move behind it. It must be Odin, just watching us as we made our advance.

"Eir," I called and she came over. I gestured up to the window. It was no less than 4 stories high but I could easily throw something up there. I however would not be able to follow. It's time to make a decision.

Eir

Slaigh threw his cane up to the barrier and shattered it. The cane came back to him like a boomerang and he turned back to me. One by one he launched the Valkyries up to the room. As I prepared to go up, the door began to finally give way, letting trails of light shine through the torch lit room. It wouldn't be long now before the guards had broken through and swarmed the place. I took a defensive stance to keep them at bay but Slaigh grabbed me from behind and threw me up to the ledge. I turned back just in time to see Slaigh heft his cane in his hands and turn to the now collapsing door. It was then that I understood. He had no intention of surviving.

The Valkyries helped me to my feet and before he faded out of sight, I could see Slaigh fighting, smashing leagues upon leagues of guards with his mighty cane. The last thing I saw was him lunging onto a horde of guards yelling, "Come on! What are you waiting for!" That was the last time he was ever seen alive.

We left the room and worked our way around the halls. They were very different from the room from which we awoke. Here the halls were far less grand and rather dull. There were pipes running along the walls and ceiling. When we cut some open, but there was only either air, water or oil in them. Very strange indeed.

As we pushed on we encountered small troops of guards. We dealt with them without much problem and pushed on over their scattered pieces. Deeper and deeper we went into the odd structure. There were rooms but only filled with the scattered pieces of the guards, as though they were being built there. We pushed on and on until we encountered a larger door with grand designs and a deep red finish. 'This must be where Odin resides' I thought to myself. Four of us began to chisel away at the hinges and locks with their axes and the rest of us formed a shield wall for whatever lied beyond. We waited for what felt like an eternity. It felt like an hour before they returned to the wall. Now it was loose enough so that a single blow of any kind would send the door crashing down. All the Valkyries lined up before the door and charged with a mighty battle cry ready for whatever lied ahead.

But when we burst through the door, all we found was a lone frog in shaking in his chair. The chair stood before a desk and a wall showing images of the halls through which we went through. All this time he had been watching us but never lifted a finger to face us himself. But then I remembered his face. It was Odin, but this pathetic creature was no god. I broke formation and grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him out of the chair above the room.

"Who are you?" I demanded bitterly.

"I… I am Odin, your father," the frog was desperately trying to keep up the act. I slammed him on the desk and cut off one of his legs with my axe. He howled in pain and I hoisted him up again.

"Answer me damn you!"he was starting to cry now. After all the pain and suffering that he had caused the world, was he really going to beg for mercy? What a disgrace.

"I… am… Sir Raleigh, and I come from the future…" he started to go limp and pass out so I dropped him so he could catch his breath. Then I called to a few of the Valkyries to cut some of the oil lines from the hall. I wanted the bastard to be awake for this.

We destroyed everything in the room until all that was left was the shattered pieces of equipment lying in heaps on the floor. Then we doused it all in oil and set it on fire with the torch. Then we dragged Sir Raleigh through the halls from which we came, all while setting fire to all that we passed. Finally we arrived at the door that led to the ledge that overlooked the great room. Before we went through though, we cut another pipe and doused Sir Raleigh in oil. We took some rope that we had brought with us, tied it around his fat neck and took him to the ledge. He begged us for mercy, to spare his life with tears in his eyes. I took a torch from another Valkyrie and stepped forward.

"I don't care who you are or from where you've come. You will burn for what you've done," I threw the torch at his feet and we watched as he went up in flames. His screams filled the room as the flames grew. Before he could fall off the ledge himself, I kicked him off as hard as I could so he went flying. Then the rope ran out of slack and you could hear the neck of the frog snap. The Valkyries looked over the edge into the great room to see the frogs flaming, lifeless body swaying beneath us. Odin, Sir Raleigh was dead.

We left Sir Raleigh's body there to hang as a warning to anyone else who may call themselves a god, to prevent this kind of bloodshed from ever happening again. After much effort, we found Slaigh's body out under the doorway of the great room. He died honorably in battle, taking countless guards with him. We carried his body back to his village in Scotland where he was buried next to his wife. We stayed for the entirety of the funeral and afterwards, left in peace.

By then the legend of the 39 Valkyries had spread far and wide. Every kingdom and village as far as Russia had heard of us. So to keep ourselves safe, we split up and went our separate ways, never to see eachother again. What we had was a rare opportunity to start a new life. We had no past and nothing to hold us back, so we could say we were whatever we wanted to be.

The former Valkyries spread all over the world. They settled down and had families. All the while, the gene therapy done on them had a permanent effect on their descendants. The gene would be active in females but dormant in males, so only the females would receive the abilities of the original Valkyries.

Over the centuries the Valkyrie family trees grew and faded, but eventually a young Scientist by the name of Dr. M would discover the Valkyrie gene in the DNA of certain individuals that possessed extraordinary traits, particularly in females. When he created his Kaine island fortress, he tried to replicate the gene in numerous experiments in his monsters, which largely failed. When the fortress fell, Dr. M's research was lost in the destruction. However, a covert research department under the UN had been hacking into Dr. M's data bases and had a full backup of his research. Since then, their research has come forth with numerous breakthroughs in gene therapy and biological warfare. The research department belonged to a blacklisted department known as the FoV, or the Fangs of the Vipers.