by Logan Jacobs
“I’m not sure we should walk this way,” I said as my skepticism got
the better of me.
“Why not?” Kas asked, and she looked forward. “This path must lead
somewhere.”
“I’m sure it does,” I agreed. “But we don’t know where, and I can’t be
sure it’s just a coincidence this portal cropped up right here. It could be a trap
to lure travelers.”
“You’re right,” Kas agreed with a nod. “I’ll follow you.”
The world was so oddly comforting that I didn’t want to believe it
could be a trap, but I refused to let it pull me into a false sense of security, so
it was better to take extra precautions.
I looked down to where Blar stood in front of me on his leash, and he
stared straight ahead and cocked his head slightly to the right as if he were listening to something.
“What is it?” I asked him, and he looked up at me and tugged me to the
right. So, I turned to Kas and reached down to grab her hand. “Come on.”
Blar led us through the trees just off the path, and we walked for
several minutes before I saw a break ahead. I heard something strange, then,
and I realized it was probably what Blar had been hearing the whole time. It
sounded like… breathing, but like the breath of an extremely large creature.
Through the break in the trees I could see there was a cliff of sorts
where the grass ended, so I pulled Kas down, and we crawled forward.
“Be quiet,” I whispered to both of my companions. “Let’s see what
we’re dealing with here.”
We crawled on our hands and knees until we reached the edge of the
cliff. The noise had gotten louder the closer we got, and it sounded like there
was more than just one creature nearby.
I shimmied up to the edge of the cliff, and when I peered over, my
breath caught in my chest as I took in the magnificent sight in front of me.
In the valley below us was a dragon, but not just one, there were four.
One very large one, and three smaller ones about three times the size of Blar.
I figured the largest one had to be the mother, and she was incredibly
impressive to look at.
After the strange places we’d traveled to, and the trials we’d overcome,
I felt incredibly lucky to have finally found what we’d been searching for. I
was as though our adventure had Odin’s blessing, since it could have taken
years to explore just a small fraction of the worlds connected to Asgard.
The mama dragon was huge, as large as a small village back home in
Asgard, and I couldn’t stop staring at her beautiful light purple scales. They
glimmered in the sunlight as she moved and played with her babies, and she
had an incredibly long neck and a huge body with large dark purple wings
that came out the back of her. Her eyes were a dark violet color from what I
could see, and when one of her babies flew by her head in the air, she
playfully opened her mouth and chased them, which revealed her massive
teeth. They had to be as tall as I was, and they looked sharp enough to tear
through anything in her way.
It was strange to me at first that she didn’t look more like Blar. Where
his body was long and more proportionate, she was huge with a long neck
and tail. I wondered if he would grow to look like her or some other kind of
dragon breed altogether.
The babies the mother played with were nearly as large as a small hut
in Asgard, and they flew around with their small wings and playfully barked
at each other. Two of them were the same purple color as their mother, but
the third was a deep green color. They all had vibrant scales and eyes that shone in the sunlight, and for a moment, all we could do was stare
breathlessly and watch them.
I turned to look at Blar and saw he’d laid down next to me, with his
little blue eyes following the movements of the babies. I’d never thought
about it before, but if dragons were reptiles, then they probably laid more
than one egg at once. Blar probably would have had a brother or sister if he
hadn’t been stolen away from his home.
I reached my hand over and set it gently on his head, and he rubbed
against me. I could sense then that he wasn’t sad, he seemed happy to watch
them play. Something told me he wanted to join them, but I couldn’t risk that.
There was no telling whether or not mother dragons were welcoming to
outsiders, especially with their babies right there. I wouldn’t blame her one
bit for being protective of them.
The more I watched the family of reptiles, the more I realized I didn’t
want to steal baby dragons from their home, and I certainly didn’t want to
piss off a mother dragon. I had a bond with Blar, and I wanted that again, but
I didn’t want to harm any dragons in the process.
This was a perfect sight, though, it meant there were more dragons
around, and that meant we might be able to find some abandoned eggs.
“Kas,” I whispered, and the blonde tore her violet eyes away from the dragons to look at me. “It’s time to go.”
She nodded at me, and we backed up to the trees and then stood up
again.
“That was amazing,” she murmured as we walked back toward the
path we’d come from.
“It was,” I said, and I looked down at Blar. “Thanks for showing us,
little guy.”
The dragon smiled and stomped his feet happily.
“I think he was happy to see it, too,” Kas chuckled.
“I think you’re right,” I agreed with a smile.
“You know what this means, though,” Kas said, and she turned to stare
at me with serious eyes.
“What?” I asked, but I knew what she would say. She was so excited,
though, I didn’t want to take away her moment.
“We found dragons,” the blonde said with a grin. “We’re probably the
first Aesir in centuries to see a real-life dragon so close.”
Blar let out a little bark, then, and I looked down to see him glaring up
at Kas.
“Oops,” the sorceress backpedaled. “You know what I mean.”
“I understand,” I chuckled. “This is a great place to look for some
eggs.”
Kas and I started through the woods, and we checked for signs of
dragon nests as we went, though neither of us were incredibly sure of what to
look for. Kas had put the same tracer spell on us she had the past two times
so we could easily find our way home, and after a few minutes of walking, I
decided to give Blar a bit of freedom.
So, I leaned down and undid the rope that served as his leash.
“Just don’t get too far ahead,” I told him, and he nodded happily. I
scratched under his chin, and then he took off toward a nearby tree.
We walked for a while more, and I admired the beautiful scenery
around us. After Midgard and the world of fire, I’d started to believe Asgard
had to be the most beautiful of the realms, but this world was simply
spectacular. The trees were white, and they curled around us in spirals and
twists that led up to yellow, purple, and white flowers. When I reached out to
touch their trunks, they were soft and velvety. The air smelled sweet, like a
cake in the oven, and it almost made
my stomach growl with hunger when I
focused on it too much. The whole world was like a wonderful dream I never
wanted to wake up from.
“I think Blar found something,” Kas announced suddenly, which
brought me back to reality.
I looked to see the small dragon stood before a clump of trees, and
when he caught my eye, he turned around and walked through them.
“Let’s go,” I said, and I grabbed Kas’ hand and hurried after Blar. I
trusted the little dragon wouldn’t go running right into danger, but I also
wasn’t sure if he would consider other dragons as dangerous or not.
When we got to the clump of trees, I put my hand on my axe, ready for
anything, and slowly peeked through.
And there was a nest.
It was as big around as my home, but I didn’t see any dragons around.
The nest was made from tree branches and leaves, and Blar hopped inside as
I watched.
I pulled Kas through the trees, and it was then I spotted the tops of the
eggs in the nest. They were a strange yellowish color, and unlike Blar’s egg,
there were no spots on them, but still, I couldn’t imagine what other kind of
creature would need a nest this large. And Blar had led us here just like he’d
led us to the dragons earlier, so I had to believe he was able to smell others of
his kind.
My heart began to pound the closer I got, but then I realized the shells
were cracked and in pieces. The top halves were intact, which were the parts
I’d see from afar, but these eggs had already hatched, and the dragons were long gone.
“I’m sorry,” Kas said as she came up behind me and put her hand on
my shoulder.
“It’s okay.” I shrugged, looked up, and smiled at her. “That just means
there are more dragons in this world. We are getting closer to our goal.”
Kas smiled at me, but then something caught her eye, and she dropped
to her knee and began to push leaves out of the way until she revealed a huge,
lime green scale.
“Whoa,” she breathed as she lifted the thing up to examine it. It was
double the size of the red ones she had, and probably much more powerful
considering how newly it had been shed.
“Look for more,” I told her. “I’ll stand guard.”
Kas didn’t hesitate, and she started to scrounge around the nest in
search of more scales while I walked over to the opening where she and I had
come through. I kept an eye on Kas and Blar as they nosed around, Kas
digging, Blar sniffing, but mostly I looked outward to make sure the owner of
this nest didn’t return.
I didn’t think they’d come back, but I didn’t know where dragons lived
or if they stayed in their nests after the babies were hatched, and I didn’t want
to take any chances.
Suddenly, a scream pierced through the air, and I turned and caught
Kas’ eye as my heart started to pound in my chest. We both stood frozen for a
second, but then a second scream sounded.
It definitely wasn’t an animal, it was Aesir or something like us, and it
sounded female. We were either in the land of Vanir Gods or the world of the
light elves, but either way, we had to help whoever was in distress.
“Blar, shoulder!” I commanded, and the little blue dragon sprinted
toward me and jumped up onto my arm before he scurried onto his perch.
Kas was right next to me, then, and we took off running as another
scream sounded.
I could tell we were headed back toward the road we’d come out onto,
so I pushed forward harder and faster, ready for the break in the trees at any
minute.
Another scream split the air just as Kas and I broke through the tree
line, and I felt Blar’s body tense on my shoulder as we both caught sight of
what was going on.
A creature stood a few feet away from us, and it was nastier than what
I was prepared for. It obviously used to be a man, but its clothes were
tattered, and its skin was gray and half falling from its face. Skeletal teeth
showed through where its mouth would be, and the eyes that sat back in its skull were cloudy and forever open.
I figured then it must be a draugr. I’d never seen one in real life, I’d
only heard tales of them. There hadn’t been one seen in Asgard for a long
time, at least not one able to roam about and terrorize anyone. If it was
suspected someone might become one after they died, then a warrior was
assigned to watch them and take out the resulting reanimated corpse.
I quickly grabbed my axe from my hip and charged at the creature as
the woman it was attacking fell to the ground. I pushed myself between the
two of them as the draugr pitched forward, and I used my axe to shove the
undead thing back.
Whoever it was must have been a decent fighter in their previous life,
because they recovered quickly and charged me again, and when I swung my
axe in an attempt to decapitate them, they backed out of the way. I’d heard
the dead creatures still possessed some of the skills from their previous lives,
but I never truly believed it until I saw it with my own eyes.
“Kas!” I called out when I felt the woman still on the ground behind
me try to stand up. “Get her out of here!”
Kas ran forward and grabbed the woman just as the draugr charged
again, but the woman screamed and struggled against Kas. After a second,
the woman broke free, but then I saw a flash of bright light, and huge, white wings burst out from Kas’ back.
In a split second, they were there, and they were majestic and
beautiful. The feathers were as long as my forearm and looked as white and
fluffy as snow. Kas flapped the new appendages a few times, and then she
flew over to the woman and picked her up from the ground. The woman
struggled and kicked in the air a few times, but with a few pumps of Kas’
wings, the two women rose higher into the air and angled away from me.
I’d never seen Kas’ wings before, and I was caught up in their beauty
for a second before I remembered the task at hand and turned my attention
back to the draugr.
The strange creature had a sword in its right hand, and it came at me
with a vengeance. I wasn’t sure it actually could think any longer, but it could
definitely feel, and it was clearly angry.
The draugr raised the sword above its head and attempted to land a
blow on my shoulder, but I quickly raised my axe and caught the blade with
it. I shoved my axe upward, and the creature fell backward, but it wasn’t done
yet. The thing brought the hilt of its sword to its side, charged me, and tried
to spear me in the stomach.
I stepped to the side just in time to avoid contact, and then I swung my
axe at the back of its knee. If the thing had been alive, that would have been a serious blow, but since it couldn’t feel pain anymore, it just wobbled forward,
spun around, and raised its blade toward me again.
“Oh, come on,” I muttered. This bastard just wouldn’t give up, no
matter how dilapidated it was. The skin on its face was practically falling off,
and its knee where I’d made contact was barely attached anymore, but this
didn’t seem to faze the draugr w
hatsoever.
The creature charged again and tried to swing the sword in a wide arc
at me, but I stepped back and waited until the swing went through. Then I
stepped forward and grabbed the draugr’s hand to hold it in place.
“Fire!” I commanded Blar, and the little dragon stepped forward on my
shoulder and breathed out a large blue flame that enveloped the top half of
the undead creature in front of us.
I took the opportunity to swing my axe and separate its head from its
body. I wouldn’t trust killing a creature like that in any other way.
As the head was flung to the left, the thing’s body fell to the right, with
its tattered clothes still aglow with bright blue flame. The body was still, but I
walked over to the head to see the eyes were still moving.
I grimaced as I watched the monster’s tongue flop out of its jaw, and
then it tried to use the dried, shriveled appendage to crawl away. I shook my
head and reared my foot back to stomp on the thing. The bone was brittle, so it cracked easily under my weight, and gooey pink and gray brain matter
splattered out and enveloped my foot.
“Ugh,” I groaned, and I wiped my boot off on the longer grass a few
feet away.
After I’d finished cleaning off my boot, I walked over to Kas and the
woman I’d saved. At first, I couldn’t see her because Kas was squatted in
front of her, and her wings were still out.
“Nice wings,” I said as I walked over. I couldn’t help but run my
fingers over the fine feathers, and I discovered they were as soft as I’d
imagined them to be. “They’re beautiful. Why haven’t I seen them before?”
“I haven’t needed them until now,” Kas muttered with a shrug, and
then her feathered appendages disappeared with another flash of white light.
Then she turned to look at the woman on the ground. “This one was quite the
handful, though.”
I tore my eyes away from the Valkyrie and glanced down to see one of
the most beautiful women I’d ever laid my eyes on.
We must have been in the world of light elves, because the woman
who sat on the ground had long, pointed ears that jutted out of her vibrant
white hair. Her skin was paler than any I’d ever seen in Asgard, but her lips
were bright pink, and her eyes were the color of sunshine. She wore a long light green dress with long sleeves, and she had a small coin purse in one