107 — THE DRAGON OF THE NORTH
The Valhalla Palace that night was draped with its finest tapestries in the common room; there were even a few bards playing their lutes and harps solemnly as the high aristocracy of Asgard, who normally hid from the cold in their sumptuous houses in the High-Town, gathered in their most elegant and warmest attire for a very important reception inside the Palace.
Among the grown ups, who were enjoying the mead, three boys were running around a set table while laughing.
"Siegfried, Siegfried!"
One of the boys stopped when he heard his older brother call him out in public, causing the other two to also stop playing.
"Behave, the three of you!" said Sigmund sternly to his younger brother and also to the others. "Can't you see you're at an important reception? Stop running around and go sit down."
"I am hungry." protested Siegfried with a grimace.
"It won't help if you keep running around." said Sigmund with his eyes riveted on his younger brother. "And that goes for you two as well."
There was silence among the boys who looked at each other sadly, when the group was interrupted by one of the noble guests with a smile on his face and a golden adornment in his black hair.
"Why, Sigmund, these boys have a lot of energy. Let them spend a little and you'll find yourself having a peaceful night later at home."
"Master Andreas." Sigmund was surprised with the figure that had appeared, after all he was the master healer of Valhalla and not infrequently he needed to be called to attend to the wounds of those mischievous boys. "I understand, but today we will be meeting the Priestess and the Princess of Asgard, they should show some composure."
"All this pomp and scene are for us, grown ups, that lost our will to dream as we did when we were children." said the healer with a certain sweetness and turned to the boys.
Sigmund looked at that man crossing his authority with the children, when he noticed over his shoulder, that one of the greatest warriors in that land approached them. He was dressed in ceremonial clothing and had a huge thick mustache on his face.
"Sigmund, we need you there." he said with some urgency.
He took a deep breath and answered with another question, annoyed.
"Is it about Thor?"
"Come to the antechamber." temporized the stranger.
"You know how I feel about that, Folker, and I'm not one to hide my opinion. Thor should be here as much as we are."
"Please, Sigmund, follow me." said Folker, somewhat crossly.
Sigmund took a deep breath and looked back at Siegfried, who still seemed to be waiting for any outcome from that conversation between the so-called grown ups; the huge warrior knelt before Siegfried and placed his hands on his shoulder.
"Go outside, but come back for dinner. And I don't want to see any speck of dust on that coat of yours, Siegfried." he said, already cleaning a wool out of place.
And so Sigmund left beside Folker for an anteroom where the military minds of that Asgard of many years ago were gathered to decide on the group of warriors that would be part of the protection of the one that would be presented to the high court of Valhalla. Andreas gave the boys a sly smile and also returned to the adults' circle in what appeared to be a subdued party.
"Let's go." said Siegfried to the two, hiding from the eyes of the hall.
The boys followed little Siegfried who, in fact, was the biggest and oldest among the three; on the way out, they noticed the look of a little boy sitting and very well behaved next to his younger sister against the wall of the dining room.
"Would you like to come along, Alberich?" asked Siegfried when he noticed the little one. "Bring your sister, we'll go out on the balcony to play and look at the snow."
"We can't go outside." he replied very seriously.
"Oh, okay." the boy shrugged, and with him the other two left.
The ever-white sky of Asgard at least spared them the heavy snowfall that sometimes fell, but let some beautiful snowflakes float by; one of the boys climbed onto the ledge, acting brave, while Siegfried leaned back looking at the adults who were still inside and those two children sitting and behaved by the fireplace.
"Alberich always plays that part." he complained, annoyed.
"Leave him, Siegfried, he's taking care of his sister." commented the boy next to him, with very close-cut hair and pale skin.
"If you fall from there, my brother will kill me, Hagen." said Siegfried to the boy who was balancing on the parapet.
The boy smiled back and jumped onto the balcony to join the two.
"I wonder who these princesses are?" asked Hagen from beside them.
"I bet they're women with lots of earrings." said the boy with the close-cut.
"You're right, Sid." Siegfried agreed with a smile. "Anyway, this party is so boring and don't even think about it, Hagen, if we run away from here, my brother will kill me."
"He thinks you'll grow up to be the best warrior in Asgard, Siegfried."
"And that's what will happen."
"I don't think so." Hagen disagreed. "I'll be the strongest, you'll see."
"As if, Hagen." sneered the boy.
"You can't last ten minutes in the Southern Caverns." said Hagen.
"And you can't stand ten minutes with me in the arena."
"That's what we're going to see!" smiled his friend challenging Siegfried, but Sid interrupted the two.
"Stop this, look up there!"
The boys looked up and saw that on the second floor of that balcony, a little further away, a window opened and a young child came out onto the ledge of the floor, which was too close to balance. She wore a yellow dress and had curly hair blowing in the wind. Next to her came another girl, only a little older, with straight hair and a light blue dress.
The boys ran to the end of the balcony.
"What are you doing?" asked Sid, worriedly, looking up.
"Get out of here, you'll draw attention!" said one of the girls, surprised by those idiots below.
"You're going to fall out of there, you idiots." commented Hagen from the side.
"We do this all the time, be quiet, boy." answered the same girl for her sister.
And together they balanced across that second-story parapet to where it ended to join a long pillar that went down to where the boys were on the outer balcony. Slowly and patiently, the two grabbed the circular pillar, where some vines grew, and went down, cleaning their little dresses.
"You be quiet!" asked one of them with a raised finger.
"What are you doing here?" Sid asked in a low voice so he wouldn't be overheard.
"Who are you?" asked Siegfried, without letting them answer.
"I'm Hilda. And this is my sister Freia." replied the one in the pale blue dress.
"Did you come to the Princesses' reception too?" Hagen asked.
"They locked us in our room." argued Freia, the one in the yellow dress.
"Do you live here at the Palace?"
"Yes." Hilda replied.
The boys looked at each other in confusion.
"I couldn't stand being there any longer and we decided to go to our secret hideout. A place we always go when we're bored." replied Freia happily.
"A hiding place?" asked Sid, very curious.
"What's in that hiding place?" Siegfried stepped forward.
"A lot of treasure!" Hilda said, her eyes sparkling.
"It's the Corridor of Old!" Sid guessed, with Hagen at his side.
"Do you know how to get there?" asked the cave boy.
"Yes, from here to there is not a quarter of an hour. Come!" Freia invited, calling the boys with her hands.
But when they all turned to follow that pair of girls, they saw that from the double glass door that led into the party a green eye spied them making plans and, upon being discovered, shot inside the party.
"Damn it, Alberich." Freia complained. "He's going to rat us out."
"We have to go back, Freia." said Hilda, tugging at her dress.
"What a brat." complained Siegfried.
The two girls ran back to the circular pillar, while Sid could already feel some commotion stirring within the party. Siegfried and Hagen helped the two children climb the pillar back to the second floor parapet, where they finally entered the room through the window.
Just in time for Sid to see Folker and Sigmund burst onto the balcony looking worriedly at the boys. Both looked around and didn't see anyone but those three kids who didn't know how to behave.
"Come on, inside, Siegfried. You too!" ordered Sigmund.
And reluctantly they went back into the heat of the interior grimacing and cursing the boy with the bangs in his eye who had ratted out the group. The party was boring until there was a huge silence among all the guests for the big moment; Siegfried and the children moved ahead of the elders to be at the forefront of the big reveal.
Sigmund and Folker opened the double wooden portico of the hall that led to the back hall of the Palace, through which a beautiful staircase led up. And through her, respectfully descended the Voice of Odin in the figure of Durval, a huge man in a dark cloak with a hood adorned with gold covering his white hair. On either side of him came two very young children, and their appearance brought every adult in the room to their knees. Except those kids.
"This is Hilda, Odin's Priestess, and her sister, Princess Freia."
Siegfried was amazed and surprised.
That little Siegfried grew up to become the greatest of the God Warriors and on that terrible day, when many of his friends had fallen in battle, he was also the last God Warrior of Valhalla. Tall like the men of the north who descended from the giants of the region, known as the Jotun in days gone by. He wasn't as colossal as Aldebaran or Captain Kaire, who had an ancestry closer to the Giants of the World, or even like Thor, overcome by hunger, but among those who were there in the outer courtyard of the Valhalla Palace, Siegfried undoubtedly looked at them all with disapproval. His Divine Robe was dark, yet shiny.
On his head was a helmet in the shape of a dragon's skull, where two emerald eyes gave certainty of the figure that his Divine Robe represented.
His posture was stern and menacing.
"I didn't expect any Saints of Athena to be able to make it this far. Much less that you were able to take down valiant God Warriors like those that fell in your path. And that's why I recognize the value of each one of you who are now before me."
The politeness surprised everyone, except Seiya, who soon responded by stepping forward:
"Does that mean you won't oppose our mission?" he asked, putting himself further ahead of everyone. "Will you let us through to seal the Relic of the Seas and leave this place in peace?"
"Or least willingly give us your Odin Sapphire so we can free Hilda from her spell?" added Ikki beside the boy.
"A spell?" asked Siegfried, his face twisted with confusion.
"That's exactly what you heard." said Ikki. "The one you call Hilda is being controlled by a spell."
"It's not a spell, but the godly effect of Odin's blessing on her. You shouldn't talk about what you don't understand."
"We believe that Hilda may be have been manipulated by someone." said Geist from behind the two.
"How dare you accuse Odin of deception?"
"Not Odin." said Geist. "But the gift of the Ring of Nibelung may have been given by another party very interested in pitting us against each other."
Seiya and the others looked at Geist, who at that point already seemed to guess certain motivations of whoever had plotted that game.
"What set us against each other was your violence, Saints of Athena, who preyed upon the God Warriors of Asgard and refused to return to your Sanctuary in peace. There was no need for anything or anyone to scheme so that we were now on opposite sides." said Siegfried, gravely. "You've done your part and I won't forgive or have any mercy for you. Even if I recognize your values, I will not spare you from my strength, no matter how injured you are."
And from the tip of his accusing finger, towards that group, a white ray drew a circle around them on the ground; an energy that was not directed towards them, as if it spared them for an instant, but circled the four of them on the stone floor as if to highlight the sinners they were for the Colossus of Odin, who watched over that courtyard.
"Behold invaders of Asgard." said Siegfried. "Gram!"
By shouting the name of that sacred sword of old, the circle where the four Athena Saints were standing simply exploded in a column of light that threw them into the air, keeping them trapped in that circular light. Ikki used her wings to get rid of that technique, but Shiryu, Seiya and Geist rose high and then fell, without control of their bodies; the ground they'd been standing on before exploded into hundreds of sharp slivers that shot up that column of light like razors to slice their bodies.
Seiya and Geist fell heavily wounded on one side and Shiryu landed with the Dragon Shield in front of her on the other; she was unharmed, but upon hearing Seiya's plaintive voice, she went to him to see if the boy and Geist were okay. They were alive, was all that could be said for them.
"Shiryu, take care of Seiya and Geist." shouted Ikki in the distance, but the girl turned to her in protest.
"I said I would fight, Ikki!"
In vain, as the Phoenix had already flown towards that Dragon of the North.
The clangs of metal clashing in the outer courtyard of the Valhalla Palace could already be heard in the deep chasm Hilda climbed through the long stairs that connected the bottom of that valley and the surface. Stairs were carved into the inner and outer face of the abyssal rift, connecting the Colossus of Odin to the Corridor of Old. Hilda, the Valkyrie of the North, protected by the star Polaris and legitimate representative of Odin on Earth, wearing her Divine Robe, carrying her ebony spear and adorned by the terrible Ring of Nibelung.
Hilda was the light that walked in the darkness.
As it was, the staircase wound its way into the mountain for a few flights, only to reappear outside to climb to the next level, as that ancient staircase zigzagged in and out of the mountain. And when Hilda again took the path through the heart of the mountain, she stopped for a moment when she felt an unexpected presence close by.
"Who is in there!?" she asked the darkness.
Few bluish torches lit her way, so that although she could see the steps she was climbing, she could see nothing else at all in the blackness of that mountain. And yet she was pretty sure someone was watching her.
She raised her gold ring-adorned hand and made it shine like a lamp in the night, spreading its golden light over most of the cavern. The light has finally touched and illuminated the owner of her distrust; in the distance, standing on a rock protruding from the cave, the light illuminated something ghostly. A figure protected by an iridescent armor that oscillated between a strong orange tone, sometimes golden, but sometimes also copper. His face was hidden under a helmet that cast shadows over his face and a cape on his back.
"Who are you?" Hilda asked.
"A messenger." replied the deep voice that did not seem to come from that figure standing on the rock, but actually from the depths of the abyss that separated them.
The voice was so disconcerting that Hilda turned her eyes away from the figure to look down into the abyss, which was who really seemed to be speaking to her.
"Messenger from where?"
"From the Deep." said the voice that trailed on the rock again.
Hilda knew where, as it couldn't have been anywhere else.
"You are not welcome here, messenger. Tell your master there's no reason to send your minions to Odin's Land. The Relic of the Sea is safely guarded and out of harm's way. Go back to the abyss you came from."
The ring's glow faltered for an instant, and in the next second Hilda noticed that the figure was no longer on the rock. Only a voice answered him, again as if it were the mountain's guttural.
"Do not forget your mission, Polaris Hilda."
She would never forget and trudged up the stairs to take her people to the land of the Sun.
Siegfried dodged the onslaught of the Phoenix and both carried out a battle of epic proportions in that outer courtyard of the Valhalla Palace. If before Ikki had fought Hagen in a cloistered cave and then against Bud in the inner hall of that Palace, the fact that now they fought in the open air gave her a special advantage to use her speed with her wings to literally fly across the arena seeking to find a breach in the defense of the God Warrior.
But if Phoenix had its wings at its disposal, that Dragon of the North had immense fortitude, so that Ikki's furious lunges, no matter where they came from, seemed to hit a wall of the oldest marble in the world. The Phoenix Bird shouted its maximum technique making it fly through the white sky of Asgard, but nothing seemed to shake Siegfried's posture.
For Ikki got tired for nothing and when Siegfried decided to hunt the Phoenix bird in that courtyard, the fierce girl found herself in trouble; if Phoenix believed that speed was only on her side, she was completely mistaken, as Siegfried was as fast as she was. And at that point in the battle even more, because while Ikki suffered the hells in the southern caves and in the clutches of a white tigress, Siegfried was just waiting for his moment to fight in a battle that he didn't even imagine being able to reach him.
But it did.
And Siegfried was entitled to the protection of his Divine Robe, which symbolized an ancient and cursed Dragon of Asgard, known for its ferocity in protecting the treasures that were sacred to him; it was time for the Phoenix Bird to be attacked at the courtyard of the Valhalla Palace.
"Now it's my turn!" announced Siegfried, burning his seidr around his body.
The trail of destruction that the two left behind was impressive, as Siegfried advanced and Ikki dodged; she jumped on top of columns that, in the next second, collapsed with the strength of Siegfried at her back. The Phoenix flew, leaping across domes from the top of Valhalla Palace, around columns, under walkways, but always pursued by the indomitable Dragon.
And tiredness seemed to reach Ikki's feathers, so that she finally wasn't able to dodge Siegfried's terrible attacks. Her back was caught by the man's fist and she slammed into the outer wall of a tower that rose at the end of a stone bridge at the side of the courtyard.
And Siegfried didn't stop, because he knew that Ikki wasn't just any opponent to let her get up, after all, she had been able to defeat Hagen, his old friend in battle and even face Sid's Shadow, who was said to be even stronger than Mizar's God Warrior. Siegfried's flying, however, did not find the Phoenix, as it dodged on the ground, while the bridge was destroyed with Siegfried's strength; each stood on one side of the bridge with a chasm between them.
There was in their eyes the enormous respect for the other's skill; this was no ordinary battle at all.
However, while Siegfried maintained his haughty posture with his Divine Robe intact, Ikki seemed out of breath from so many battles, although she also kept her guard up; she was not a Saint who would give up. She knew, inside herself, that she wouldn't have any chance if she didn't reach the Seventh Sense, because Siegfried was an opponent exactly up to the fearsome Gold Saints. But if in the Twelve Temples the Gold Saints had underestimated their capabilities leaving open the possibility of miracles when they touched the Essence of the Cosmos, that God Warrior did not seem to doubt their strengths. So just a glimpse of the Seventh Sense might not be enough.
She burned her cosmos, igniting the fire within the limits of the universe that burned within her. On the other side, however, Siegfried changed his stance, squeezing both fists and bringing them closer to his waist and heart; his seidr glowed and his voice reverberated across the white sky along with Ikki's.
"Fly Phoenix!
"Dragon Bravest Blizzard!"
The huge Dragon of the North crossed the sky against the wonderful Phoenix Bird, in a mythological and powerful clash. The impact was felt even by Shiryu, Seiya and Geist, who were on the ground watching with astonishment that duel in the sky. Siegfried was the first to leave the clouds and landed gracefully in front of them, while Ikki crashed against the rock on the floor of the Palace, opening a crater.
At the mouth of an active volcano, a girl jumped to her feet, clutching a red feather she had received as a gift in her hand. Her trembling eyes stared at the top of the mountain, where dark smoke was spewing from the mouth of the volcano.
"Come on, little girl!" called someone behind her.
She didn't pay attention until she was taken by the arm by a young man.
"Let's go back to the village. It's dangerous here." he said.
The girl let herself be taken, still a little confused, back to the village where she lived; she was welcomed by her grandfather at the door of their house in the center of the village. He was very worried and she was still very lost in distant thoughts.
"Thank you, Saints." he thanked the duo that had brought the little girl back.
"Stay inside until the tremors are gone." asked the one who seemed to be the more responsible of the two.
"I know, I know." said the grandfather, but soon had his attention awakened by the girl.
"Grandpa, I think the Phoenix girl is in danger." she said.
"Don't worry about it, Helena." said the grandfather.
"Phoenix?" interjected one of the Bronze Saints. "Hey Jab! Come hear what this little girl has to say."
The boy, who was already walking away, returned when he saw his friend's call.
"What do you mean about the Phoenix girl?" the Bronze boy asked her.
"She was here a while ago, to heal her wounds." she replied.
"Before the fight in the Twelve Temples, I remember now." commented Jab upon hearing the story.
"And she left me this feather as a gift." she showed the Bronze Saints the red feather that pulsed with a faint glow. "Ever since, I feel like I could be with her on her adventures. But today when the volcano started spitting fire, I felt like the feather was wavering, getting weaker and weaker."
The Bronze Saints looked at each other, worried, but before his friend could say any nonsense, Jab knelt down next to little Helena and closed her hands over the Phoenix Feather.
"Listen, Helena. That's your name, isn't it?" he asked. "The Phoenix girl you met is actually called Ikki and is one of the most powerful and courageous Saints in the Sanctuary of Athena. It's true that she may be fighting an incredible battle right now, but I can assure you that she's going to be fine. She can always come back from the ashes like the Phoenix of this feather. And as long as it pulses like that, it means that Ikki is fighting with all her might."
The grandfather also placed his hand on the girl's shoulders.
"Remember when you thought she disappeared into the volcano and she came back to see us again, Helena?" The girl smiled as she said yes.
"Trust Ikki." Jabu asked her. "I do."
She looked more relieved and, together with her grandfather, went into the house, leaving Jab and the strange friend outside, making sure that no one else was outside that small square.
"Asgard." said Jab, thinking aloud.
"The last Relic." added the other. "Those idiots are taking too long, I bet those tremors are Poseidon's doing."
"You're right, Ichi, just like the Caribbean islands, the seas around here are also rougher than usual."
"Seiya and the others must be in danger in Asgard and we are here escorting these people away from the volcano."
"Why, Ichi, if even Ikki is having trouble in Asgard, what makes you think we could be of any help?"
"What do you mean by that, Jab?" the boy protested.
"Exactly what you heard." said Jab. "I would never admit it in front of those idiots, but we are in no position to help them in these battles between life and death. We still need to train a lot to get there."
"Damn it." protested Ichi, kicking a rock away. "How come Ban and the others are at Sanctuary?"
"They'll be fine when we get back. Shaina left them in charge of guarding the Sanctuary entrance in her absence. Soon we will be back too."
A louder roar from the top of the mountain drew both of their attention, for it was as if the volcano had choked and become more lively for an instant.
"Will Poseidon really wake up, Jab?"
"I hope not, Ichi." replied Jab, looking into the distance. "Damn it, Seiya, seal this Relic at once."
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: The battle against Siegfried begins and the first to face the Dragon is Ikki. The fight between the two in the Anime is wonderful and I tried to give this fantastic idea of the two facing each other to the limits. And also to give an idea of how strong Siegfried is, who already started taking down the Phoenix. The scenes outside of battle are to start connecting some situations; like Jab on Canon Island resolving where they were until then. The scene of Hilda returning alone and being questioned by the one who, as we all know, is the cause of all this. But the scene I like the most and sometimes feel like it should be bigger is the flashback to the beginning showing the child god warriors on the day Hilda and Freia are introduced; I would love to be able to expand more on the politics of the warriors of the past, with Sigmund, Folker and Thor. I also liked adding the detail of Alberich sitting next to his sister, to show how he really cared for her. =)
NEXT CHAPTER: THE CORRIDOR OF OLD
June makes her way to Surtr's Cave while the Rozan and Northern Dragons battle before the Colossus of Odin.