Ch 25 — Entertainment on the ship

  “I’m just saying, if we time it well, we could totally burn the ship down,” Mark said.

  “And I’m saying you’re crazy,” Emily answered. “Why would you want to burn the ship down just before we leave the Glimpse of Valhalla?”

  “Ah… Because we can? Because it would be awesome?”

  “It would not be awesome. It would be dangerous and stupid.”

  “Normally I would agree with Emily,” said Tobias, who was playing with fire, in the most literal sense. After much training, he had developed the ability to manipulate small fires, to shape them how he wanted. He now had a little fire between his hands and was making it ripple.

  “But now that I’m the God of Fire, the Archmage of Flame, the Scorcher of Worlds…”

  “Sure, sure,” Emily interrupted, approaching him her plate of dried meat. “May the Archmage of Flame condescend to warm my plate?”

  Tobias smiled. He approached the fire and warmed it.

  “If you ask so nicely…”

  They had already spent ten days in the Glimpse of Valhalla. And this was their last night on it—Erik Bloodaxe was sure it would collapse in a few hours, with the dawn of the new day.

  Mark’s idea of burning down the ship right before they left, for the pleasure of seeing it burn, hadn’t gained any support. Not yet. But he was certain in his ability to get everybody on board.

  The atmosphere on the deck was cordial and relaxed. The Gamers and Vikings were enjoying the starry night, and the soft breeze caressing the ship.

  After ten strange days of safety and peace, everyone felt closer to one another.

  The training journey hadn’t been without problems. The fifth day, Erik Bloodaxe had fallen into an outburst of rage against one of his men, and it had taken six Vikings to stop him from killing him. Afterwards, the king, with tears in his eyes, had apologized to the man he had almost murdered.

  “You’re my brother; how could I ever hurt my brother?”

  His men hadn’t been surprised by the outburst, so it must have been something common with the king. One moment he was a kind, honorable man, and the next he became a furious maniac, losing all control.

  “Ouch!” Emily complained, taking her plate away from Tobias. “You burned me!”

  Tobias had been eyeing the Viking king, who was drinking and celebrating with his men on the other side of the ship, their shouting and lewd jokes reaching the Gamers. He took his burning hands away from Emily, and apologized:

  “Sorry. Sorry. I guess I cannot control my own power.”

  Emily rolled her eyes.

  “Try to keep the burning for the Mongols, oh ye mighty Scorcher of Dishes. We’re taking a rest for a reason, you know?”

  They had stopped sparring yesterday morning to give themselves time to rest, and time for Emily to heal everybody.

  They felt more confident about their chances to defeat the Mongols. It was hard to measure their exact progress, but the Leveling Up process had helped them become competent fighters.

  They weren’t good enough for the Vikings, who had been leveling too, and their experience and knowledge made them too strong opponents. To this moment, none of the Gamers had managed to defeat a Viking in a spar—except Mark, helped by the instincts honed by his Class, and Arthur, once, who had almost managed to defeat Bjorn before the Viking had used his newfound [Battle Roar] Skill to shake Arthur and break his attack.

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  But how would they do against people who still hadn’t leveled? That was the real question.

  They were pretty sure the Mongols hadn’t slept yet, with all the fighting and charging the undead. And even if they had, they couldn’t have leveled as much as the Gamers and Vikings.

  So maybe they had a chance to beat them.

  Maybe.

  “Let’s drink some wine,” Mark said. “I’ll go down to the storage room.”

  Hopefully the fucking Vikings won’t have already drunk it all, he thought. The Vikings had finished each day with massive drinking, sharing old stories and remembering the good old days.

  “We’re not burning down the ship,” Emily answered. “I don’t care how much we drink.”

  “It’s sad to see such paranoia in a young, beautiful woman. Who hurt you, pretty girl?”

  Emily looked at him and gave him her sweetest, most beautiful smile.

  “I don’t care how many compliments you give me, you asshole. You’re not burning the ship with me on it.”

  We’ll see what you say after a couple glasses of wine, Mark thought, smiling and raising his hands as if admitting defeat.

  Mark walked toward the door that led into the ship. He stepped carefully over the two cannons they had hauled to the deck, preparing to take them when the Glimpse of Valhalla collapsed. Both cannons were loaded and ready to fire.

  Would they be able to take the cannons with them? Their survival depended on the answer to that question.

  He walked down the narrow staircase, towards the insides of the ship. He caressed a wooden knot in the walls. It was strange, but the ship had become some sort of home for him. Temporary, but real. Mark knew he was going to miss it.

  It would be so awesome to see it going down in flames…

  In the storage room, Mark found Harald pillaging six bottles of wine—the last six bottles of wine—smiling as he cradled them like a mother holding her newborn.

  The old Viking had the decency of looking slightly ashamed—and gave him a couple of the bottles. They started to walk up onto the deck together.

  “Is it true? One of my comrades has heard you want to burn down the ship before we leave the Glimpse of Valhalla. Why would anybody want to do such a thing?”

  Mark laughed.

  “Because it would be awesome?”

  “There are the cannons on board, Mark! How could you do such a thing?”

  The Vikings had never seen cannons before. But after shooting them a couple of times toward the ocean, they were extremely careful around them.

  “Ah… YOLO?”

  “What?”

  "It's a saying from my time: It means 'You Only Live Once.'"

  The Viking seemed confused—and he made a gesture that encompassed them and everything around them.

  “That’s… obviously false.”

  “Touché, my Viking friend, touché. It’s just a saying. In any case, the burning down thing is mostly a joke.”

  Clearly I’m surrounded by too many boring people to do anything truly awesome,he added to himself.

  They arrived at the deck. Harald was going to join his Viking comrades, but a song lured him towards the rest of the Gamers.

  Emily was singing softly a song about somebody finally arriving home after a very long journey, and finding it completely different from what it had been. She had a very pretty singing voice, and the emotions she managed to express stirred something within Mark. It was painful, but beautiful.

  Harald was crying openly. The Viking had lived a fascinating life. He had already told the gamers about the adventures he had experienced, the hardships he had endured… As Erik Bloodaxe had explained, Harald had managed to live to eighty years old, seeing everybody die around him, until they were nothing more than a distant memory.

  He was extremely protective of Emily, saying that she reminded him of his daughter, who had passed away at a young age while giving birth to her first child.

  When Emily finished her song, the Viking sat down with the Gamers, deciding to share with them a couple of drinks.

  Mark noted that the old Viking didn’t open one of his four bottles of wine, instead taking a cup from the Gamers' two bottles.

  I see their reputation as pillagers was totally deserved…

  They filled everybody’s cup and toasted.

  “For providing a worthy spectacle to the gods who brought us here,” Harald said.

  “For the honor of Johan, proud lover of furries,” Mark said.

  “Unless he was a frontend developer,” Tobias said. Jackson’s weird obsession had become an inside joke.

  “Unless he was a frontend developer,” Mark confirmed. “If he was a frontend developer, may he die with much suffering and cruelty.”

  “Hear, hear,” Emily said.

  “Hear, hear!” Harald said, laughing and not understanding what the hell the Gamers were talking about.

  Arthur took it a little more seriously. He looked each of them in the face and said:

  “For the ones who have fallen.”

  Emily smiled and raised her cup.

  “And for the friends we made on the way.”

  Mark thought a few seconds and eventually added:

  “For the greatest adventure of our lives.”

  Gustav, who was a few yards away, talking with Liam and Wyatt, had heard and smiled at Mark. They had their own cups and raised them to toast with everybody else.

  Then Mark smiled, he exhaled deeply, and looked at the starry sky. He thought that this might be the last time he would ever see it.

  Only a few hours more and we’ll be fighting for our lives…

  He would have liked to spend a longer time in that little bubble of peace. Get to know everybody better. Enjoy even more deeply the gift of a second chance he had received.

  But the Mongols were waiting.

  Destiny was waiting.

  In any case, thank you so much to the three of you who rated positively the novel!! It really means a lot and helps a lot!!