A/N : Hey guys, before you start reading these new chapters of 'A God in Alagaësia', I have some things to tell you.
-First of all, thank you for the people who recently commented on my story and I also want to thank you for following and/or favoring it. It warm my heart to see that you are liking it.
-Secondly, I'm still wondering if I should introduce an OC character to pair with Valhir/Erik/Volibear… tell me your opinions through reviews !
-Thirdly, don't be surprised if I take time between chapters : work is a real pain in the neck… and add many personal problems in the equation.
Now that everything was said, I will leave you alone so you can read this story in peace. GOOD EVERYONE AND ENJOY THE STORY !
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As the time passed, Erik was growing more and more agitated : no matter how fast him and Brom ran (the old man was riding Snowfire of course), their pursuers seemed to gain on them instead of being outrun. From time to time, the massive White Bear would glance up at the sky to keep watch on Saphira's familiar form or shooting a glance at Brom.
Why ?
Because, despite riding a horse, the storyteller was moving slower than him… so to avoid having to deal with Urgals attacking the old man, Erik had to force himself to run at the same pace than the storyteller.
Which was pretty difficult and annoying.
Another horn soon echoed in the air, coming from not far behind, and the sound did nothing but aggravating the situation. The Urgals were faster than they thought and so Brom pushed the horses to their very limits, not once allowing them to take a break as he wanted to put as much distance as possible from their pursuers.
Erik, him, wanted nothing more than running TOWARD their enemies so he could deal with them himself.
Another horn was heard echoing behind them which caused the two fo stiffen… but then everything stopped as you could hear nothing but a total silence.
Erik knew it was a trap but Brom looked ready to stop so to prevent this, the bear turned his head to face him
"Go ! I will hold them off !" he said to the storyteller in a grave tone.
"Don't be a fool ! You can'-" Brom began to say before Erik growled at him threateningly.
"I can and I will ! Now, MOVE !" The Massive Bear roared those words in a booming tone.
His voice frightens the horses, who neigh in terror before galloping off, taking Brom with them. The storyteller released a long set of curses as he was taken away from there by frightened horses and Erik couldn't retain himself from chuckling in amusement.
But then, he froze when he heard the sound of coming footsteps echoing from behind him and he slowly turned around with a growl. It was at this moment that Urgals emerged from the bushes before facing him.
The Beasts were riding horses and were looking at the White Bear while brandishing their weapons. Erik would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't a bit disappointed to not see any Kulls among his enemies but in the end, there were still enemies for him to have fun with.
Shaking his head inwardly to regain his composure, Erik then looked at his enemies, who were growling at him in defiance, and bared his fangs menacingly, while release a deep growl. The effect was immediate : some of the Urgals backed away with looks of fright on their faces… but some growled back at him, unafraid.
'VALHIR !' Eragon's and Saphira's alarmed voices echoed in his mind.
'We are coming to help you !' the young rider began to say… before being interrupted by the White Bear who roared loudly to them (through the link of course).
'NO ! STAY WHERE YOU ARE ! THE LAST THING WE WANT IS TO HAVE YOU BOTH CAPTURED OR WORSE KILLED ! YOU CAN WATCH THE SHOW IF YOU WANT BUT STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HERE !'
He could sense their hesitation and shock at his words, but he ignored it completely and turned towards his enemies who had taken a few steps towards him before freezing when he turned towards them.
"Stay where you are, Urgals !" he roared at them sternly.
"We do not listen to you ! We only listen to our master !" one of them shouted at him but he couldn't see who it was.
"Who is your master ? Answer me !" Erik asked menacingly while baring his fangs at them.
"He is the one who dominates everything you see !"
Hearing this, our hero knew who the Urgals meant : Galbatorix.
"So you are going to stop me ?"
"YES !" the Urgals roared like one.
"So be it..."
Smiling, Erik then stood on his hind legs, towering over his enemies before striking his chest with his right fist. The sound sounded like drumbeats.
Then, he jerked his head back while opening his jaw to release a thunderous roar that echoed throughout the area. The Urgals all stiffened in fright at the roar and looked petrified for a moment, as if frozen in place by some unknown form.
And Erik happily used this momentum to attack.
Without warning, the massive White Bear charged the Urgals with a roar before crashing into his enemies, scattering creatures and weapons to all sides. Then he whirled round, with a blend of grace and power, and delivered two massive blows, one to each side, at the Urgals closest to him.
"You mean to kill me?" he roared tauntingly at his enemies as he looked at them with dark pleasure.
At his words, a large Urgal charged him while raising his axe ,but our hero easily backhanded it, sending it flying away in the air before crashing hard on the ground.
"Weakling !" he snarled at his enemies who growled back at him, as if angered by his words.
Two of them charged him from behind but he suddenly turned around to face them and with a slash of his claws, the two Urgals were cut at the middle, sending blood everywhere.
"Bleed, offering !"
An Urgal, a brave or foolish one, lunged at him but Erik easily grabbed it by its throat before bringing it to his face, glaring at it the whole time. Then, the Bear tightened his hold and a cracking sound was heard : the Urgal had his neck snapped. With a snort of disgust, Erik threw the corpse toward three Urgals who were charging him.
Turning his head to look at the rest of the creatures, Erik barely had the time to blink when a large Urgal lunged at him before roaring in protest when the Beast clutched the fur on his back. With a growl, our hero used his arms to grab the beast before roaring in anger as more Urgals started to climb on him.
Erik hissed in annoyance but then delivered a sharp blow that sent a good portion of his attackers away from him before using his let arm to grab the Urgal on his back. Quickly, he clamped his jaws around its left shoulder (which caused it to release a screech of pain as his fangs pierced its skin).
As the Urgal tried to push him away, Erik then grabbed its legs and, powerfully pushed his head backward while still having his jaws clamped around the Urgal's shoulders. The Beast released a screech of agony when the Massive White Bear separated its body in two with a roar.
"Blood, hahahaha, always tastes the same !" Erik laughed darkly as he lazily threw the severed body aside.
The other Urgals staid frozen as they stared at the scene in shock. But they were not the only ones as Eragon and Saphira were looking at their companion and friend with gaping mouths, impressed by what he just did.
Suddenly, Erik struck again, charging his enemies, once again sending them everywhere before slashing, snarling and crushing his foes. No matter how much the Urgals attacked, nothing seemed to stop the Bear from killing them and their weapons looked worthless against his skins.
Moments later, Erik now stood in the middle of a mountain of corpses, his claws and jaws covered in the blood of his enemies. His fur looked also a bit ruffled by otherwise, there were no injuries or wounds of any kind. In addition, the massive White Bear looked fresh and non-exhausted as he looked at the bodies around him before saying in a grave tone.
"I roar… you bow..."
Once those words escaped his mouth, Erik's ears then twitched when two different sounds echoed from nearby. He knew what it was and barely moved as Saphira landed beside him while Brom arrived with the horses. The storyteller looked at the carnage with wide eyes of shock while the Dragoness and her rider were glancing back and forth between the dead bodies and the Bear, their mouths gaping in shock, amazement and disbelief.
Ignoring it, Erik then turned his head to look at Brom before saying simply
"Our enemies are no more..."
00/(Time Skip)/00
"That was reckless of you, Valhir !" Brom once again hissed at the massive White Bear.
The group had made their camp a few moments ago and since they left the bodies of the Urgals behind, the storyteller hadn't stopped telling our hero about how stupid he was back there to charge headfirst into a large company of Urgals. It annoyed Erik to no end, but he kept himself calm and composed as it wouldn't be good for him to maul the Old Man… despite how much he wanted to.
Saphira and Eragon had been silent the whole time, but Erik had sometimes noticed them glancing his way when they thought he wasn't looking. He could understand that they were a bit afraid of him (he would be afraid himself if he was in their shoes) but it hurt a bit to see his friends looking at him like he was about to attack them.
Well, actually it was more of Eragon's case than Saphira's.
The young Dragoness, while a bit cautious around him, had seemed impressed by his feats, which tickled his ego a bit but otherwise, she didn't looked AFRAID of him, unlike her rider.
Back to present, the moon was shining in the sky as Erik's human companions were eating their dinner (some stew) and the White Bear was deep in thought, ignoring the way Eragon and Brom chatted with one another while eating.
Internally, he was conflicted : sure he had fun killing a large group of Urgals but he knew that he had kept Eragon and Saphira from exposing themselves. Contrary to the book, the young Dragoness was not nearly killed and Eragon had not fainted from Magic.
For normal people, it wouldn't be a tragic change… but it was.
Why ? Because this incident would have caused several things such as Brom telling Saphira about who he was or Eragon dreaming about Arya !
Again, it didn't sounded really important as Erik already knew what would happen but still… now, he had to think of a way to get Eragon to see Ary thanks to him having accidentally messed up with the original script (Brom was supposed to be the one to get our rider to think about it).
"Eragon..." Erik's deep voice suddenly echoed and everyone jumped slightly in surprise before looking at him.
"Yes, Valhir ?" there was a slight quiver in Eragon's voice but our hero ignored it to speak again calmly.
"I want to thank you for not coming to assist me with the Urgals earlier… For once in your life, you decided to listen to someone..." the last part was said with a teasing smirk.
Eragon's face reddened in embarrassment while Saphira and Brom both snorted in amusement.
"Because if you hadn't, the Urgals would have known that their prey was a Dragon and its rider... and they would have warned the King who will surely send soldiers to hunt you both down !" Erik said before narrowing his eyes at the two, adding.
"And what would you have done with so many beings after you ?"
Eragon went deep in thought for a moment, thinking about an appropriate answer while Brom was giving the Bear a look of approval. What of Saphira ? She was also thinking about it. Soon enough, after a few seconds of silence, Eragon looked back at Erik before answering with confidence.
"If that had happened, I would have used Magic to knock them unconscious !"
At this answer, Brom started to splutter in protest but before he could sermon the young man, Erik raised a clawed hand to stop him. Once the storyteller got the message, the White Bear turned his head to look at Eragon dead in the eyes.
"Even if this is a valid option, you will only end up committing unintentional suicide…Remember Brom's lesson regarding the use of Magic : 'a spell costs the same equal amount of energy as it would to complete a task through mundane method'…"
Then Erik's expression turned more serious as he added to the young human before him "Now tell me Eragon : do you really think that you would be able to take down an Urgal by yourself in your current state ?"
The young Rider wanted to protest but after seeing that he had nothing to refute our hero's words, he slumped his shoulders in defeat before shaking his head.
"No..."
Erik's eyes softened a bit and opened his jaws to speak in a gentler tone "Eragon, I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad... I'm telling you this because I care about you and I don't want you to be hurt... Well, that and the fact I DON'T want to deal with a sorrowful dragon..."
Eragon chuckled softy in amusement at the last part while Saphira rolled her eyes in slight annoyance while shooting a glare toward the White Bear who smiled simply at her.
"Thank you, Valhir..." the young Ruder said to our hero with a tiny smile.
Erik nodded his head at the young human before glancing over at Brom who had a look of approval on his aged face.
"Valhir ? Can I ask you a question ?" Eragon suddenly asked our hero.
"You already did… but go on..." The Bear answered calmly even if a tiny smirk was present on his muzzle.
Ignoring the snorts and huffs of amusement coming from the others, Eragon looked up at the White Bear before opening his mouth to ask curiously.
"Why didn't you use your lightnings on them ?"
Erik went silent for a moment, thinking about a good answer to give the clearly curious rider. Nearby, Saphira and Brom looked just as curious.
"Eragon, if I had used my lightning on them, yes I would have destroyed them all quickly... but some of them would undoubtedly have escaped and would have told everything later to their leader who would then have informed the King ... And what do you think would have happened next ?"
Brom, Saphira and Eragon thought about it and soon, their eyes widened in realization.
"The King would have sent troops or the Ra'zacs to capture you !" Eragon answered loudly.
"Or he would have gone looking for you himself !" Saphira answered telepathically.
"By not using your powers, you are deceiving the king and his soldiers into believing that the Urgals were attacked by a wild animal ! Galbatorix's best trackers would think an Urzhad was responsible !" Brom said with a look of amazement and approval.
"Indeed…but there was another reason as to why I didn't annihilate those damn Urgals with my power... " Erik said with a nod and a grin.
'And what is this reason ?' Saphira asked him curiously.
"They weren't worth it..." Erik's simple answer caused everyone present to stare blankly at him for a moment before shrugging their shoulders in acceptance.
After that the rest of the night went smooth with Erik and Brom discussing about Urgals working for the King (which was apparently surprising seeing that Galbatorix's first dragon had been killed by Urgals so many years ago) before they all went to bed, happy to not have to deal with the Urgals anymore.
Tomorrow, they will start their journey toward their next destination : Dras-Leona.
(To be continue…)