Legacy of the Valkyrie

by Archibald Bradford

  I am well, although the feeling of your arms around me makes me nostalgic for the days when I might have been able to return your embrace. But the Aegis endures, peace reigns, and I am content.

  Xalanth nodded.

  “Yes, it endures. Though so does the darkness that the Aegis continues to contend with.”

  Ever has it been so. Monster girls are not without their own foibles, but man is singularly gifted in this regard. Still, as long as those like yourself and your lady stand against it, the darkness will never win through. For our part, we should strive then to waken this Jonathan from his painful repose.

  Nameless clenched his jaw in determination.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Chapter 25:

  Broken Dreams

  Sadie brought them into a small room in a side tower that jutted off of the Bastion. It was occupied by a strange looking monster girl perched on a stool next to a bed with an unconscious man in it.

  Evadne was an enigma to Nameless, she was clearly attached to the man prone on the bed at her side, but she was utterly indifferent to him and even to Sadie. She was also unlike any monster girl he knew of; her hair was black as night and she had large bat-like wings folded at her back that were an equally dark colour. But the most striking thing about her was her tail.

  It was a massive snake.

  Nameless had a hard time not shying away from it as it gave soft rasping noises against the floor of Jonathan’s room while writhing behind her, it’s tongue flickering out to taste their scent in the air.

  “As I was saying, this is Nameless and he would like to try to help Jonathan.”

  Evadne gave him a brief glance before turning to Sadie with a placid expression.

  “This child wants to help… You can’t be serious, what could he possibly do?”

  Sadie heaved a tolerant sigh. Evidently she was accustomed to the woman’s cold attitude.

  “He is an Empath. And you would be surprised at what he can do, and has already done for that matter.”

  For the first time Evadne displayed some emotion, her eyes widening at Sadie’s words. She stood, her wings whispering as they shifted with her.

  She loomed over him, her eyes still so cold that they made him nervous. Her intense stare lasted far longer then was comfortable and he couldn’t help but squirm a bit at her look.

  At last she spoke.

  “Fine, come back in an hour.”

  “I can try to help now-”

  “In an hour.” She repeated.

  Sadie sighed again, and then nodded as she and Nameless took their leave.

  “I have to attend the council meeting. Miranda is still briefing them on your adventures and the weapons that you all found in the wastes. Will you be alright here by yourself?”

  Nameless nodded, not wanting to be a burden simply because he found the monster girl in the room unnerving.

  “I’ll be fine, Volka is here. We’ll go grab lunch or something.”

  He smiled as he felt a warm pulse from her shield, she liked that he felt safe with her. His smile faded though as he thought about Evadne.

  “Evadne… what is she?”

  Sadie tilted her head.

  “She is Chimera, very powerful.” She frowned as she continued; “In fact, she is the Chimera. Her sisters were all killed during the war. She is old, though I’ve never asked just how old. Anyways, I am going to be late, so I will see you after the meeting, and perhaps I will see Jonathan as well.”

  She spoke with hope in her eyes and Nameless was determined not to disappoint her.

  The Chimera is in pain. The grief she contends with is overwhelming. With her bond-mate in such a state and being the last of her people, she bears a terrible burden.

  Volka knew exactly what that was like.

  “Do you know what happened to them?”

  Her people were rare even before the war and all were killed when I was still a fledgling. To my knowledge it was the most devastating weapon that the Empire ever unleashed prior to the calamity. I remember the fear and grief of my elders, but little details. It is a wonder that this poor creature was spared.

  The girls were still out shopping so he wandered down to grab a bite to eat in the mess hall. Once more he received the now-familiar flirty looks from the gathered monster girls, but it seemed that word of his existing bonds had spread and so they left him in peace.

  Especially after Escrya and her girls found him again and settled onto the metal benches all around him.

  “It is difficult indeed to keep you safe Valkyrja-datta when you fly away from us so frequently.” Myrina complained.

  One of the Amazons ran her hand over the metallic surface of the table and shook her head.

  “Most of our village could fit in this one space, but there is no life in this room, where is the cook-fire? Where is the sense of community?”

  He smiled, remembering their village and the warmth of their people.

  Your protection is appreciated as always dear friends, though I believe that if there is anyplace to call safe it is as a guest of a Dragon and in the heart of the Aegis. My husband and I have a difficult task ahead of us, but your company is most welcome.

  “If there is anything we can do to aid you Lightbringer, you have but to name it.” Escrya spoke for all of the Amazons.

  Nameless opened his mouth but Volka once again surprised them all.

  Know any good jokes?

  He blew out his breath and laughed, his nerves forgotten for a moment. He spent more time pushing the food on his plate around with his fork then he did eating it.

  Even with the Amazons around him he couldn’t help the knot of anxiety in his gut at the memory of the unconscious Empath and the apathetic stare of the Chimera.

  Finally, and with the hour nearly spent, he gave up on lunch and, now accompanied by the Amazons, went back upstairs to the lonely tower to try to save the other Empath.

  Evadne opened the door before he had a chance to knock.

  “You come in, sit. The crowd behind you, sit in the hall.”

  It was more an order than a sign of courtesy as she pointed at the stool beside the bed and then closed the door in Myrina and Escrya’s protesting faces.

  He sat, Volka’s shield was strapped to his arm again but Evadne didn’t give the odd bundle a second glance as Nameless settled beside the bed.

  “I d-don’t know how long this will take, you might want to get comfortable…” His voice trailed off as he took in the Chimera.

  She was leaning against the closed door with her arms crossed.

  She said nothing, merely giving Jonathan’s prone form a suggestive glance. Nameless swallowed, he couldn’t remember ever meeting anyone so unsettling.

  But he was there for a purpose and was determined not to let anyone down. With deliberate movements he took Jonathan’s hand in his and closed his eyes.

  With monster girls it was easy, his mind was always drawn to their heartstones, but with Jonathan there was no stone to focus on. He sat in awkward silence as he strained to find the mind of the man right in front of him.

  Husband, you try too hard. You are looking for a presence when you should be seeking an absence. He is there, make no mistake. I can sense the darkness and so can you. Just relax and let your instincts guide you.

  Volka was a whisper in his mind, and the gentleness in her tone actually made his eyes tear up. He wiped away the moisture quickly and drew in a deep breath before doing as she said.

  Barely a moment passed before he understood what she meant. With the Tenebrae he had encountered it was an all-consuming darkness that had always tried to devour him, reaching out and attacking his mind when he opened himself to them.

  But Jonathan was human, and his mind worked differently. His thoughts were a dark vortex, drawing Nameless inexorably closer until he began to panic.

  It was a hole in the world that sought to suck him in and unmake him.

  Steady my love. We go together, no harm
shall befall you. I swear it.

  He imagined he could feel Volka’s arms around him as together they fell into darkness.

  It was unlike anything he had experienced before.

  Erica and Nina’s minds had been inordinately painful, racked with guilt and shame. But they were still their minds.

  Nameless and Volka swam in an ocean of chaos.

  In his life Jonathan had worked with many Tenebrae, and the memory of the tumultuous pain of each one lived on in his mind. Despite his determination, Nameless knew that he would die in this hellscape if it weren’t for Volka.

  Do not despair my love! He is here, I can sense him. You must reach out to him, in this task you are far better suited than I. While you seek I will shield you from the agony of these poor souls.

  Nameless nodded, or thought about nodding. Then just as he had with Nina, he searched.

  He didn’t have to look long.

  Jonathan was wrapped in a dense veil of shadowy figures, choking him and torturing him even as Nameless watched.

  I failed her. I failed her. I failed her.

  Again and again, the tortured mind repeated the three words.

  W-who have you failed?

  Nameless tried to reach him, but the shadows abruptly slammed into him and pushed him away from the agonizing man, despite Volka’s protection. For a moment he glimpsed what had driven the light from these girl’s heartstones.

  They tried many different ways, but each time a shadow or the fragmented memory of a tortured girl slammed into them and pushed them away. In the time he spent in Jonathan’s mind, Nameless witnessed every conceivable way that a monster girl could be exploited.

  Usually captured as children, just like Milly and Erica, the monsters whose memories lived on in Jonathan’s mind were forced into physical and sexual slavery.

  If they could fight or didn’t make good enough sex slaves then they were put into the arena, a small mercy is that very few arenas allowed fights to the death.

  Guilt.

  Survivor’s guilt, both for girls who were beaten to within an inch of their lives over and over, and for those that were forced to do the beating.

  Rape.

  Even the depravities that he knew Erica had endured paled in comparison to some of the things that evil men would pay for. Man’s darkest urges were laid bare all around him, visited upon monster girls even when they were children.

  He would have vomited if he could, he would gladly have shattered his own mind into a million pieces not to witness the things that constantly tormented the Empath before him.

  Be strong Husband! Everything you have seen here is mere memory! It can only hurt you if you let it! I swear upon the lives of my sisters, we WILL save this man and put a stop to the evil that he has faced! I will take on the burden of his memory of these poor girls. You must take on his emotions.

  Nameless rallied as golden light suffused his being once more, chasing away the pain the horrible visions had instilled in him.

  He was an Empath, bonded mate to the last Valkyrie, whose iron-will bolstered him. She and her sisters had given everything so that he could be, and even if it killed him he would earn that sacrifice.

  He looked to the light of his other anchors, to the warmth of Milly, the passion of Erica, the grace of Ophelia, and to the mountainous strength of Nina.

  He looked then upon the horrors of man and refuted them with a thunderous roar that would have made his Gigas proud.

  Who have you failed?!

  He didn’t ask this time, he demanded.

  At last the chant ended as the shadows fled from his roar, revealing a crying child that looked upon the face of the stranger in his mind with tearstained cheeks.

  Wh-what?

  The child’s voice was tiny as Nameless willed himself closer, the indomitable will of Volka Gundrsdotter holding back the shadows as Nameless seized Jonathan’s mind with his own.

  But he realized even as he did that what he held in his mind wasn’t all that Jonathan was.

  It was but a single fractured piece, a memory of a boy looking into the dead eyes of his mother.

  Volka gasped in realization.

  It isn’t just his memories that are scattered! His very mind was broken by his ordeals! To save him, we must make him whole. Husband, do you have the strength for this? You will need to hold all of the pieces of him together even as we wade through the darkness here. I cannot aid you with such a task.

  Nameless considered the shuddering, piteous creature in his grasp: an innocent child grieving for his dead mother.

  He pulled him into his arms.

  I am strong enough, I have to be.

  With his proclamation they burst out of the circling shadows. Though now the memories of the girls chased them, grasping at his mind with thoughts made of broken glass, slowing them down as they tried to reclaim the boy from his grasp.

  Even bolstered by Volka, It was slow, agonizing work.

  Many times Nameless faltered, but each time he considered the boy in his arms, the terror and pain of a child who had witnessed his mother’s violent death.

  He pulled his anchors closer, mentally hugging his many loves and drawing on their strengths.

  It wasn’t Nameless the Empath that held the child now; it was Ophelia the nurturing Flutterby, or rather, his memory of her.

  Not long after, they found another assailed memory, the child’s father giving him his first knife. He had been so proud, right up until he had cut his hand. The look of disappointment on his father’s face when he had taken the knife away was hammering the poor boy with shame.

  Milly’s milk soothed the cut, and the shame along with it.

  Nameless pulled him close too, holding two children now, though they didn’t seem aware of each other.

  Each fragmented piece needed to be made well, and he had to hold them all together with nothing but his will.

  The first girl that rejected a teenaged Jonathan’s offer of flowers met Erica’s wrath, the memory of the Katje losing her temper on Cordelia the baker’s daughter was more than a match for the haughty girl that part of Jonathan’s mind still dwelt on so many years later.

  Nameless didn’t get a complete picture of the other Empath, just the most painful parts, but this still continued for an age, or a moment, Nameless wasn’t sure as they scoured the hellish field of endless pain while searching for the broken psyche of Jonathan Pym.

  Huh, his last name is Pym.

  Nameless’s mind was foggy and his grip on his many charges was slipping.

  There had been so many memories to find, so many varying emotions, none of them good, and it felt like his own mind was cracking from the strain.

  Focus Husband, we cannot keep this up forever. But I think we are nearly done.

  Volka’s voice was the glue that held him together, her voice and the memory of the other girls whose anchors were always with him.

  Right, focus.

  The next memory was by far the strongest, and therefore the most tormented: another adult Jonathan, a poor bunny-girl in his arms, her mind going darker by the second.

  No, no, no! Dammit I failed again!

  Nameless and Volka had reached him; once again Volka was fending off the dark shadows while Nameless reached out to the other Empath.

  Let her go, you can’t help her anymore.

  Fuck you! You understand nothing!

  Surprised at his vitriol in his response Nameless tried again.

  I understand the pain you feel, please let me help you be free of it. You did everything you could, and now it is time to wake up.

  The angry Jonathan looked at the mass of other Jonathans that Nameless held all around him.

  What the hell are those?

  They’re you, parts of you that were lost. I found them and now I want to put them back together.

  Fear replaced the anger on the face of the older man.

  Not him. I don’t want him.

  Jonathan was pointing at the first chi
ld, the one who had watched his mother die and was crying still.

  Nameless was straining to hold everything together, including himself, so he was out of patience.

  Tough shit! He is part of you, and as far as I can tell, you can only leave this place if you’re whole and you can’t be whole without him!

  Jonathan was shaking his head, though his fear had wavered in the face of Nameless’s intense response.

  Look, I’ve been through hell and back trying to save you, I don’t remember half the shit I’ve seen in here but this much I know. This poor kid is part of what makes you the man you are today. You have to take him back or it will all have been for nothing, and if I did all this for nothing then I’m going to kick you in the balls when I get out of here!

  Nina’s light was shining brightly around him.

  Easy, my love. Go easy.

  But Nameless was out of time.

  Volka I can’t, if he doesn’t take them back I’m going to lose them. And I can feel it, they’ve, urgh… they’ve latched onto me. If they go then so do I, they’ll tear me apart!

  The formerly angry Jonathan, now free of the shadows around him, released the bunny girl from his arms and she drifted away into nothingness.

  What’s your name?

  Nameless mentally shook his head.

  Nope, not doing it. That joke is played out. Now take them!

  Jonathan reached one indistinct hand towards him, uncertain. But his certainty became irrelevant as the child suddenly released Nameless and slammed into the other Empath, he stumbled back in fear and pain as the memory of his mother’s death rejoined his mind.

  One after another Nameless’s burden eased as the various bits and pieces of Jonathan freed themselves from his grasp and followed the first one.

  Each one hit him like a blow, but with each blow he became stronger as his mind reassembled itself.

  Soon Nameless was crying tears of relief as the strain of the last piece left him.

  We have done it!

  The Valkyrie’s voice was triumphant.

  Nameless looked to Volka, and saw the last of the shadows dissipating around her glowing form.

  A voice spoke behind him.

  Yes you have. And now I know who you are.