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The dark void of my death was ripped away from me like a blindfold. I was too woozy just to even scream at the disintegrating face of a bloody zombie.

Two armored zombies stood at my side, guarding me. In the vision, I was tied to a chair, like those torture scenes in thriller movies.

Just instead, there were no big hallways, or dark rooms with a single lamp. We were outside. Large metal shipping crates designed for forklifts, workers shouting in Dutch and French. The air had a seaway breeze as seagulls sealed above.

"What do you think Magnus Chase?" Asked a voice behind me. The cold presence, the zombie guards: Hel was paying me a visit. The goddess of death had an artistic appearance. Half her form was a young beautiful woman with healthy pale skin and long black flowing hair. Then there was the other half the took the resemblance of her zombie minions.

She walked around my chair to stand in front of me, making a tsk noise with her tongue. "You know, I love how fate plays with you einherjar; you can never get the happy moment. The feeling that your struggles are over and you can live in peace."

I let out an annoyed groan. I couldn't speak in the dream, but I knew I would spew a couple of words that would make Alex proud. Just another villainous speech the antagonist gives to the stupid healer.

She could see my lack of attention and care to her words, so she decided to drop a bombshell.

"Loki's not done. He was never done. Even though he's locked away in his secure prison, who's to say it can't be..." she swiped something behind her and revealed it to me. "Taken?"

In her hand was Loki's prison; a walnut. Given to Mallory by her mother, Frigg. After a rather explosive and emotional flyting from me, we were able to stuff the god of mischief inside and give it to the gods for security.

From my horrified expression, Hel laughed "Loki's not the only one who can be mischievous. After all, I am his daughter."

The pieces started to come together, but it still left a large gap of confusion. I couldn't ask questions, so Hel continued.

"And since none of his other children refuse to see reality, I guess I have to be the one to keep fate flowing."

She walked towards me, and leaned forward "Your little friends of Loki can't continue. Their fates are bound with the god, weather they like it, or are even aware of it, or not."

My blood boiled. From times before, Sam and Alex have shared their hatred towards their father/mother, and how the god of mischief was ruined their lives. Samirah Al-abbas had to deal with the backlash of distrust, manipulation, lies, and even being forced under her fathers will. It took her months of training to resist, and redemption, taught by the champion of resisting Loki, Alex Fierro.

Unlike Sam, Loki was Alex's mother. Loki had turned into an apparent mistress for Alex's father. Nine months later, Alex came into the picture. The mortal parents, Alex's dad and step-mother blamed the mythology world for their child's strange ways and presentation, after being opened to the Norse gods by force.

Both children of Loki have fought with their dying breaths to resist him. And that wasn't going to change.

Hel swiftly face away from me, snapping her fingers as an order to her zombie guards.

"More secrets of this retched world are about to be revealed Vanir-spawn, pray you can keep your sanity."

Keep my sanity? Pray I can keep my head. One of the undead guards hefted his chipped axe and swung forward, cutting me off.

The dream shifted to another sight. A long hallway of thick ice, like a cave tunnel, the walls lit with lamps.

My feet would not move as I tried to peer down the hallway. At the end, a large slab of metal was propped up against the wall, chains connecting so something large in the center.

It was a humanoid being, wrapped in chains and metal by the limbs as if deadly if out of containment. I couldn't get a lot of details from the creature, except for a muzzle masking it's face and tuffs of pure white, silky hair.

The ice tunnel began to shake, as the creature's voice roared down the interior with such force, it made me whimper and my legs go weak. "SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!"

I bolted up from my bed. Shooting into a sitting position so fast, I head butted Alex Fierro.

She— change that— he stumbled back wildly, clutching the front of his face.

"Odin's eye Damn!Good evening to you too." He groaned, putting pressure on the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry, didn't know you were in my room." I sputtered. Alex waved away the apology and scrunched his face in pain.

"Wait, why are you in my room?" I asked. I became frighteningly aware at how messy my place was. I had clothes littered on the ground, trash on furniture. It wasn't exactly the best looking place for the riveting and neat einherji.

"I came in to see if you were up yet, Saar's feast is about to begin." He sounded a bit annoyed at the idea of the dinner.

"You don't like her," I noted.

"Well for starters," he began, sitting on my bed. "She trashed our floor, shot Halfborn in the head, which I don't blame her for really, and killed you when you were trying to help. And those powers..." he shuttered "I've never seen anything like that before. At least, not in someone who shares mortal blood."

"Yeah, I can understand that. But she kind of reminds me when you showed up. You also trashed the hallways and were apprehensive." I reminded him.

Alex rolled his eyes "Yeah, but I didn't kill anyone on my first day like she did to you."

"You cut my head off." I added.

"For good reason," he deadpanned, but was smiling. I mirrored his emotions, pulling my shirt up to wipe away the sweat. Alex suddenly gave a sharp inhale, which caught me off guard. I looked up from my shirt.

"What?" I demanded. Alex had the same horrified face he had when he saw Saar's abilities, as if the blood was drawn from his face and he just discovered a new creature.

I looked down and tried not to scream. A long, pale, spiky looking scar slashed down from the beginning of my rib cage, to my mid stomach. Just where I was impaled by Saar.

Suddenly, Alex was only a few inches next to me, attentively running two fingers along the scar, almost trance like. Usually, human contact made me a bit uncomfortable. But with Alex, it was less of the fact that I was uncomfortable, and more so that I didn't want to die so the moment would continue.

"This isn't possible," he muttered angrily. Apparently, Saar's crystal of darkness that kebabed me must have done damage to my lungs, because my breathing became erratic on the inside. The green haired einherji's touch sent sparks through my system, making it hard to think.

Alex's hands started to trace back upward, towards my chest. When his index and middle finger nearly met the edge, he stopped and glanced up at me, my face ablaze.

For a split moment, we were locked onto each other. But Alex recovered first, giving me a shove on the chest that made me collapse back onto my mattress. He climbed off my bed and fidgeted with his outfit; wearing a light green long sleeve dress shirt and a dark pink vest. His pants black with forest green diamonds.

"Get ready," he snarled, I couldn't tell if he was mad at me, Saar, or something else. "We gotta go to female Tony Montana's feasts."

He was about to dart out when I instinctively called out "Wait!" He froze in my doorway, waiting for me to speak.

"Umm... He/Him, right now?" I asked cautiously. I was emitting a lot of bravery today: laying my hand of Alex's shoulder, trying to heal her in battle, guess his pronouns. I guess whatever norse god of luck out there liked me today, because Alex smiled.

"Yep, another point for your perceptiveness." And then, he was gone.

~~

I am once again shocked to the bone at the European gunslinger. That's another thing; it's rare to find someone out of the U.S. that isn't civilized like Saar.

Tiki torches illuminated the feast tables. Everyone was wearing at least one lei on to match the theme. TJ got a hold of a bunch and had a whole rainbow piled around his neck.

My friends and I sat side by side, analyzing the stage in front of us. New warriors were a common thing; they would stick with their Valkyrie as she showed them around, explained their new afterlife. But that is what had me worried; Out of every Valkyrie in all of Valhalla, Sam was the most persistent with her job. Even though she retired, and didn't really claim souls anymore, she still kept honor to the code.

So why wasn't she here with Saar and us? And why did she claim the warrior in the first place?

"Soldiers of Odin!" Cried Helgi, our manager. His bearded was tamed, cleaned up after the permanent mess Saar had done to it. But it was shorter than ever, and he hated it.

"Today, we measure the deeds of Saar Corbain, our recent new member of floor nineteen!" The manager motioned for the black haired shooter to rise. Saar stumbled her way to the stage as other Eriksons put in the camera footage from Sam. How they got it, I have no idea.

After some had connection moments with static, the tape played. Sam flew high above a city street. Buildings stacked next to each other tightly. The scene seemed normal; teens messing around, children being hefted up by their parents, small talk in other languages lifted into the air.

Down below, Saar Corbain strode along, looking calm. The Saar I saw on the screen looked nothing like the one I knew. This one had healthy black hair that was combed over the side and curled, a playful happy look in her eyes, smiling at children being simple minded.

But for all of us, nothing lasts.

A shot rang out among the street, causing a young man to collapse, a small bloody hole on the side of his head.

The peaceful vibe was shattered, screams and terror bleeding in. More shots rang out as more people collapsed. A little boy was hiding behind the dead body of his mother, a teen coving under a bench.

Saar's instincts kicked in as she looked around the roofs of the buildings. Finally, the killer was found hiding in the clock tower. The video was wounded forward during her ascension to the top.

Finally there, Saar took cover behind a wall, guns in hand and loaded. She shouted into the room in Dutch, her tone tight. Another voice barked back in the same language. Saar then dove to another corner to cover as the enemy blasted a hole in the first.

This went on for a while, Saar and the other would argue in Dutch and then shoot each other.

The enemy seemed to have the final word, solemnly announcing a single sentence as he charged from his hiding place.

The shoot off between the two soon became a hands on fight. The targeted still had the gun in his hands, but was instead trying to knock Saar out.

Punches were shared, both shoved to the ground. But Saar finally decided to finish him off by shoving him out of the open window of the tower. The fall killed him, but not before he got one last good shot in.

His gun rang out as Saar collapsed to the old wooden floor, clutching her gruesome throat. With that, Samirah glided down and ripped the golden soul of Saar Corbain with her.

The video cut off, not revealing any answers to our question as to what happened to our Valkyrie. I glanced over where Alex was sitting, and could see the concern glowing off his face.

Meanwhile, onstage, Saar seemed to take her heroic video as a punch to the gut. She had her hands on her hips as she stared up at the ceiling.

Everyone was silent at the video, until Helgi cleared his throat. "Well then, ladies and gentlemen. That sure was deemed a worthy death. Let us welcome Saar Corbain to our afterlife; Daughter of Hodur!"

A plate smashed to bits on our table. Halfborn had returned with his fourth plate of food as he heard the news, the plate shattering as it hit the ground. His face looked as if his axe was snapped in half, then shoved down another guys throat.

Helgi continued his announcements of other warriors, until he was summoned off stage. Saar returned to us, her face sick with grief. She went and sat down almost across from me, finding a sad interest in her plate. As much as I was displeased by her, it still pained me to see her sad.

I opened my mouth, whether to praise Saar for her death, or ask who Hodur was. But she stopped me "Don't say a word." She snarled. I decided to go with the orders, the rest of the feast silent with worry and fear.

~~

By the end of the dinner, I was beat. Nothing makes you more tired than learning more about your sadistic neighbor.

Sadly, I had a visitor. Hunding, our beloved bellhop, was waiting by my door; I had to resist a moan in tiredness. Hunding was an amazing guy, despite the fact that he was abused by his boss Helgi. It's not that I didn't want to see him, just that I was so tired and that I didn't want any more issues. And by the look on his face, it didn't look good.

"The others need you in Helgi's office," he reported "he says it's important."

I didn't even bother with any form of understanding. I simply turned on my heels and marched back down the hallway to the office.

Once in, my friends had all already been notified, relaxing either on a wall or in a seat as they waited for me.

Helgi sat at his end of the desk, looking at me sternly. "Have a seat boy."

You know when you are in school, and the principal calls you up to the office because of something you did? And once you're in his office, you see you family sitting there as if awaiting trial? Now multiply that by five.

I sat down in a cushioned seat on the wall as Helgi began. "Loki's at risk of starting Ragnorok again." Straight to the point without a second to sugar coat. The best way to handle einherjar.

"Recently, his prison, the walnut that you guys bravely secured months ago, was stolen. We don't know by who, or what, but it's gone."

Next to me, TJ's grip on his riffle tightened, his knuckles tense. But our manager wasn't going to give us a moment of rage.

"And, as these attacks increase, that leads to another incident." He glanced at Alex, who was sitting in a chair similar to mine. His legs spread as he miserably pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers, his arms being pushed up by his knees.

"Our retired Valkyrie, Samirah Al-Abbas, has been kidnapped."

The room seemed to explode. Halfborn roared with ferocity, Mallory reflectively swiped out her dagger and projected it across the room, the blade stuck in the wall above Helgi's head. TJ groaned his busted his fist against his forehead repeatedly and Alex stood up and kicked over Helgi's desk.

But for me, I just sat there. Somewhere, deep, deep, deep inside of me that had a little bit of intelligence knew that Sam disappearing was wrong and that something bad happened. And I know by who.

"You seriously don't know who stole the walnut? Whoever has stolen Loki, also knows about Sam." Alex exclaimed. He looked Helgi dead in the eyes "How can you not know?"

"I do," I said quietly, so quietly my friends almost didn't hear me. Alex was about to shout mote obscureness when he stopped.

"What?" He asked softy.

"I know who stole Loki's prison," I said again slowly "and who kidnapped Sam."

Everyone looked at me expectantly. But the look in Alex's eyes would be forever burned in my memory. His two toned eyes each had a different description of alive. His darker eye like night sky above a fireplace with embers floating up. His lighter eye had a golden intensity, bearing into me like a beacon for any kind of information. I had no doubt in my mind those eyes could kill me.

With I sigh, I began to retell my meeting with death. "After the siege, Hel sent me a vision during my revival process..."

~~

In the end, I was praised, made fun of, and worried for.

Mallory tried some sarcasm, but we all knew it was to hide her worry for me.

"Look at that," she had said "Magnus was able to solve a mystery. Our boy is growing up."

Halfborn and TJ mainly stayed silent to hear what I had to say, only giving me a pat on the back for putting up with it. Halfborn laughed at the part where I broke Alex's nose.

Alex however had never been more involved in a conversation. He had an eager look on his face, always motioning me to keep going whenever I stopped to breath, demanding me to elaborate on every detail. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he loved his sister. Finally though, Helgi spoke up.

"It does seem pertinent to take action, but it would take time for planning and—"

"Oh no there buster," Alex warned "That's my sister, and my sociopathic mother. We're leaving."

The manager scratched the back of his head that exploded with hair and huffed. "Well... in that case," he stood up sharply. "HUNDING! HERE, NOW!"

Less than five seconds later, the bellhop burst through the door. "Yes sir?"

"Get these warriors ready for their mission. They leave tomorrow morning." He ordered. Hunding nodded and rushed out again.

Helgi met the eyes of each of us. "Prepare yourselves for tomorrow. And you're bringing Saar with you."

That made my stomach drop a bit. I was a little excited to have another big mission with my friends, but with the new sadist who hated my existence, I wasn't so sure.

Apparently, neither were the others.

"I don't think that's the brightest idea air," Halfborn advised.

"Why?"

"Well," Halfborn glanced at me nervously "as we know from much experience, Magnus is the embodiment of sunshine, light, summer etc. since he is the son of Frey. But Saar is the daughter of Hodur: god of darkness, winter and war. Having the two in the same room alone is dangerous. You witnessed what happened on the battlefield."

His argument made since, why Saar and I hated each other so much, why I had a scar in a world that doesn't leave physical marks. We were the polar opposites of each other, the others kryptonite.

But Helgi wasn't going to have it "You are taking Saar with you. She is part of the floor now."

"He's right," Mallory admitted "even though the situation isn't the best, we have to bring Saar. Besides, those powers of hers may be helpful."

I wanted to argue, do anything to keep the gunslinger out of this, but there wouldn't be any use to it.

"Then it's settled. Pack your bags, your quest begins tomorrow."