Chapter 12: The Vengeful Son
It had been foretold for as long as the oncoming Ragnarok was known. Baldur would die, Heimdall would die, Odin would die. In the settling dust of the changed world, only Vali would survive.
Odin's youngest son, Vali was the god of vengeance, and revenge was his to take. He had hidden himself away for many years now, waiting for the chance to strike, and such time was now. The usurper and his half-blood son were gone, along with that bitch of a former queen. Only some valkyrie and a few number of other warriors stood between Vali and retaking his father's kingdoms. Vali was destined to sit on the throne of the nine realms.
He strode into the mortals' village, head held high. His fur cloak swept behind him, the wind flinging his long red beard and matching locks of hair about. The trusted bow that had been gifted to him by his father clung to his back, dual daggers at each hip. Vali was a survivor, a hunter, he was put on his earth to kill. Thor was a mindless oaf who killed any that merely had the unfortunate luck of coming upon his path, or so Vali had read. Heimdall was a pompous ass kisser, following their father like a dog brought to heel, also according to the stories. Not Vali though. Vali was the living embodiment of warrior spirit. None could escape his gaze when his piercing, focused eyes set upon them. If Vali had marked you for death, death would come swiftly, and justly.
"Take heart, mortals! I am Vali! Last surviving heir to Odin, and the throne of Asgard! I have come to free you from this foreigner's tyranny, and restore these kingdoms to their proper glory. We will rebuild and become better than before Ragnarok. We are the living, the survivors, we are the strong! Follow me mortals, and we shall build a better tomorrow through my guidance!" Vali confidently shouted in the bustling city square. Townsfolk stopped for a moment to see the source of the commotion, but quickly continued on with their lives. Moving buckets of water, guiding sheep by their rope, wheeling carts of wheat or gravel or lumber.
None paid the god's words any heed. Why should they? Vali was not a name known. Odin had hidden his youngest son away, sending him to the farthest reaches of the realm to hide, and survive the coming cataclysm. The young man had hardly known his father. When he was born he remained a babe for years due to a strange spell placed on him as a newborn. On the day of Ragnarok though, he had grown from babe to man overnight. It was foretold, and so it had become. Vali spent the next five years honing his skills, practicing his archery, skill with blades, and ability to kill. From the moment the Norse god's eyes opened once becoming a man, he was filled with a lust for vengeance. It was his duty to avenge brothers and family he never knew. To claim a throne he had never even set eyes upon. It was his birthright, it was his fate. And such a fate would not be ignored.
Vali unsheathed his daggers with a solemn grimace. "If they will not love me, they will fear me. That will flush my prey from hiding."
The next hour was filled with the screams and panic as the village became a scene of horrific bloodshed. The Norse god did not wish for such pain, but the people did not listen. Mortals had a silly way of not respecting and adoring their gods as they should. Odin, Thor, and the others had to take what was due to them by force, and Vali was no different. He had only been a proper adult for five years, it was true, but he had the wisdom and soul of a far, far older being. It was not his fault the spell was placed upon him as a baby. Had he been there for the end of days, he would have successfully killed the usurper and bastard son. His father was a fool for sending him away, but it mattered not now. Vali was here to avenge his family, and set the remaining eight realms to their proper glory. He would rebuild Asgard taller and more splendorous than it had ever been before.
It had taken two hours for word to reach the shield maidens, Sif, and the rest of the assembly. Most of the valkyrie were away, taking care of struggles or business in other realms. Only Kara, Olrun, and Gondul had been present. Kara and Olrun, along with Thrud, a powerful young warrior now in her own right wielding her father's hammer, and some warriors from Vanaheim descended onto the Midgardian village. Gondul was to make for Musphelheim with haste as, unbeknown to Vali, the foreign crocodile god that had been sent to watch over the realms in Kratos and the queen's stead was still fighting there some weeks later after his arrival.
"Alright asshole, what do you want?" Vali's niece called out as she landed twenty paces from him. She was tall, nearly as tall as Vali now. Long, wild red hair flowed down to her mid back. Long, golden wings reached out over ten feet to each side of her. Her father's hammer glowed in her hands as she twirled it around between her fingers.
Vali had long since finished killing mortals. He killed a few dozen to make his point known, enough to summon what warriors remained. With the Greek god and valkyrie queen gone, the shield maidens were the most Vali would have to contend with, he figured. The Norse huntsman had been sitting on a barrel against a wall, inspecting his blades before the coming battle.
Landing behind Thrud were two valkyries. One with a helm bearing four horns curved back like a ram's, and the other's had tall, golden wings to each side of it reflecting the wings on her back. "Who are you?" Thrud pressed.
Snickering, Vali leapt from the barrel and bowed. "Why, I am your lord-uncle, my niece. I am Vali! God of vengeance. How can you make peace with the man that slayed your father? Your brothers? You welcomed the usurper with open arms, it is a disgrace. I am here to take my rightful place as king of these nine realms. I will become the Allfather anew! Kneel before me, niece, I do not wish to harm you." His daggers were pointed directly at the winged trio, a confident glare on his face.
"Yeah…okay, bud," Thrud groaned as she began charging the hammer and electricity sprung forth. The trio of warrior women took flight, but the fight would not last long. They must have simply been told that someone had attacked a village and killed a group of mortals. In their idiocy, they must have assumed it had been some simple minded troll, not a cunning warrior like Vali. But it did not matter, all would fall before his prowess.
"Pathetic," the Norse hunter hissed as he stood over Olrun as she breathed deeply, clinging to life. A deep gash tore into her shoulder down to her breast. Two arrows punctured into her back, one had found its home in a lung. Kara was a stone's throw away, also motionless on the ground. Despite having never heard of Vali, he had proven to be a very formidable warrior. The horned valkyrie was face down in the bloodied mud of the street, her wing broken, as well as her arm. Her own sword pierced through her lower abdomen. Thrud, Vali had taken pity on, due to their shared blood. She lay concaved into the roof of a nearby home, unconscious. The young goddess had suffered several injuries, but none overly life threatening. Her father's hammer had been thrown into the lake gently lapping against the shore at the town front. Vali was there now, washing his arms and chest of the blood of the many mortals and warriors he had defeated.
A goddess and two of the valkyrie were dealt with. The dozen Vanir warriors sent were as easily dispatched as children. All Vali must do now is find the remaining valkyrie that had abandoned Odin and slay them. That would be most of his threats nullified. The peoples of Vanahaim, Alfheim, Svartalfheim, and the other realms would pose insignificant danger. Kratos and Freya were imbeciles for ever leaving their home undefended.
Suddenly, something in the water caught his eye. It was faint, in the distance, but growing closer. It appeared to be a small wave, heading directly for the shore he stood on. Larger waves cascaded out in its wake, as if an invisible boat was treading the lake's surface. The Norse god took a few steps back from the water's edge, and readied his bow. As the wave grew closer, the shadow of a figure beneath the surface became clearer. Three arrows shot out from Vali's golden bow, but it was impossible to tell how successful they had been in finding their mark.
Soon the wake was at the beach, and a man rose from the water. No, not a man. It was a monster. A behemoth of a human body, standing twice as tall as Vali paced up onto the shore. Its chest was broad, and its arms thicker than Vali's whole torso. It wore only a plain white loincloth about its waist, and golden bracers at each wrist. The most disgusting part of the beast was its head. No human face sat atop its neck, instead it had the long, toothed jaws of a dreki as a face.
"Away with you, hideous beast, or I will add you to my pile of corpses for the day. I am Vali! Soon to be Norse king of the nine realms!" He declared, his bow drawn, arrow aimed right for the reptilian man's heart.
"I heard you been causin' quite a stir over here. Sounded like fun, thought I'd join…You did all this?" The odd intruder gestured looking out at the town littered with bodies, bathed in blood.
Vali did not let his view drop from the arrow's length as he replied assuredly, "Yes, I am a god. These fools dared attempt to stop me from trying to take my throne! You will meet a similar fate."
The Egyptian scoffed at this, "But you're so tiny. Is that a lil' girl's headless body I see over there by the horse cart? Some lil' girl was tryin' to stop your royal ascension yur' majesty? Well, it's a good thing you were here to stoppit. Who knows what horror tha lil' girl would ave' caused."
The archer's nose twitched as his brow dropped in anger and nose began to twitch. "I will not be heckled by some monstrous freak. I am a god, you piece of shit, and you will die by my hand this day."
"Heh. What god are ya? I thought all the gods up here died," Sobek chuckled as he continued his path up from the beach.
Vali carefully took an equal amount of steps back, never letting the massive deity gain ground. "I am Vali, god of vengeance. I am here to avenge my family. Thor, Odin, Heimdall, all killed by that damned fake hero Kratos and his bastard son. When they return, I will kill them as well."
The crocodile god laughed loudly with a roar, "HAH! Aye, will ya? Thor was nothing but a shitty bully. And you, you ain't no god. Yur' just a lil' piss sack. You ever seen war before? How many fights you been in lil' god?"
An arrow flew, directed straight for Sobek's chest. It did not penetrate deeply, but caused a small trickle of blood to slither down the Egyptian's bare chest.
"You will not speak ill of my brother again, monster."
Sobek's eyed gleamed with a dangerous light. "Heh, alright your majesty. Here." Sobek stood tall now, at his full four meter height. He bore his chest wide, his arms open at his sides. "I'll give ya one more, make it a bit more interestin'."
Vali blinked in quick succession in confusion. "What?"
"You can take those little bread knives you got there on your belt n' gimme a good slash. You get one, can't say I didn't give you a fair shot," the Egyptian boasted. A wide grin cracked his toothy, crocodile lips.
The Norseman didn't hesitate at his opponent's apparent, utter stupidity. He ran forward, unleashing both daggers in a wide "X" across the foreign god's human chest. What he was met with though, was unexpected. The blades barely cut into the flesh. It looked like Vali had wounded him with no more than sharpened sticks, not Asgardian steel.
Before he could react, Sobek's strong hands clutched each of Vali's wrists firmly. He was trapped helplessly under the Egyptian god's imposing figure. Sobek stared down at the little ginger haired man, who felt even smaller in the foreigner's massive shadow.
"Heh, that it? All this big talk and you barely break my skin? Don't beat yourself up too hard kiddo, you ain't even a shade the warrior ur' brother was. Oh yeah, I've fought Thor. Century ago, Odin got it in his head ta try sending your fat bully brother to other lands, muscle up some money, information, whatever. You see, I'm the reason he left my home the fuck alone. I'm what happens, when a bully in a little pond, tries swimming in a big sea. Ya know, it's funny," the crocodile god taunted as his grip on the smaller god's arm tightened. Pain shot up Vali's wrists as he gritted his teeth and nervously looked up to his captor. "You waited til' they were gon' to attack, like a piss smellin' little coward. But Kratos seems like one of the good ones. If you came when he was 'ere, without killin' his folk. He prob'ly woulda spared ya, sought peace… But, you waited, and now you're stuck dealing wit' me."
"P-please, spare me.." Vali suddenly whispered in defeat, begging for his life. His entire body was quivering, the reality of his situation washing over him in waves of dread.
Sobek snickered, "Now, now. I thought your kind was all 'bout dying a glorious death to ascend to Valhalla? Or some shit like that. Though I guess Kratos kinda fucked tha' plan up, huh? Dropping the place from the sky. Ah well, guess we'll find out where you go."
The Norse god's eyes were wide white with terror as he stared up at the colossi of a god looming over him. Five years of Vali living as an adult. Five years he had trained, hunted, survived off nothing but the thirst for glory and vengeance from sun up to sun down. Five years the Norseman had never known fear, until this moment.
Before the trapped god could say anything, Sobek's massive jaws slammed down shut on his body. Jaws as strong as the world serpent's themself tore into the flesh and blood body of the so called "god of vengeance." With a quick jerk of his neck, Sobek ripped the upper half of Vali's body from its waist. An arm went flying off thirty paces down the beach, and the rest of the newly fresh corpse collapsed to the sand. Blood poured everywhere, as intestines and other innards dangled from between the Egyptian god's smirking lips and sharp teeth. The crocodile head tilted back, and with a few more chomps, what remained of Vali's upper body disappeared down its gullet.
"Heh, pathetic. And, ughck, tastes like shit too." Lifting the remainder of the body, a torso-less waist and legs, Sobek tossed it out into the lake to be devoured by fish and other lake denizens. As quickly as Vali had made himself known in this world, so too would he be erased from it.
With the back of his arm he wiped what he could reach of his jaws clean, and headed up into the village to see what could be done. The two winged warrior women were up now, barely, assisting the girl with Thor's hammer to her feet on some roof. Everywhere through the streets were corpses of slain mortals. The Egyptian god had a quick way to rid the town of its bodies, and further sate his own hunger, but he had a feeling the Norse warriors would not be of a supportive spirit. He spent the rest of that afternoon cleaning bodies and lifting felled walls and buildings. If Kratos were to fight him when he returned home, it would probably help the spartan's mood some if he did not arrive to the remnants of a massacre.