“Dear Journal,

  I think it has been a week or two since I have made an entry. I just don’t think I could bring myself to write about it. I did something unthinkable to a person who is bound by fate. She made a split-second decision to go back in for her husband; I made a similar split-second decision to stop her. I don’t blame her for elbowing me in the gut, I probably deserved it. Salmira informs me the Gates of Nifflung only open several times a year. Strife would have been at least trapped until then, if at all. Had I of not stopped her, she would be trapped in Helheim again—this time there would be no telling if she would reach her husband or not. I don’t know if I did the right thing, Dewey assures me I did.

  Lady Strife was a mess the first week. She confined herself to the front hold on the lower deck. She would lock herself in there and refuse to speak to anyone. Surprisingly, she would fetch to speak to me on occasion, giving directives to the crew. We really don’t have anyone in command, but everyone seems to follow Strife’s lead. I really don’t know what she did in that hold; she would only come out for domestic living, and that was about it. She otherwise was quiet around everyone. I could fetch a word or two with her, but she seemed withdrawn. However, by a week and a half since the incident, she is fairing much better. She now talks with me, but I can tell she disapproves of what I did.

  I don’t know what to do.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  —Sweiza”

  “Semi-Update: I finally asked Strife to tea. She obliged. As is her fashion, she dropped her mask. To put it mildly, no, she is not happy with my decision. But it was probably better this way. She will have a second chance to get her husband’s soul later. Valkyrie are quite long lived in the grand scheme of things. However, she fears Lady Hella will be waiting for her. Strife feels that Odin’s horse ‘Sleipnir’ would be able to breach the Gates of Nifflung and retrieve any wayward souls. Supposedly it happened with the legends concerning Odin’s children. I just don’t know…

  PS: I owe Dewey sugar for snapping me out of it back in Helheim. He’s a darling sometimes.”

  “Update, Day After: Salmira appeared to us. Our next task is to go to the island of Utgard. We are to find the control tower there and get it under control. However, the guardian of the tower and island, Utgard-Loki, is a trickster of the worst sort. Salmira has warned us that the tower and guardian are out of control and function by their own recognition of right from wrong. The gods Thor and Loki encountered some trouble with him some several thousand years ago. Salmira has warned us not to trust anything we see on the island—Utgard-Loki will test us, if not trick us for his amusement and then some.

  PS: Salmira has informed me that Utgard Island is actually part of the Jotunher continent. But due to one of the roots of the Yggdrasil growing within Utgard, it teleports around the ocean. Whether this is a defense mechanism, she wouldn’t say. What she did say is that this same root of the Yggdrasil is in fact the one that is known to fall into Jotunher. Who knew?”

  —-

  …ongoing to be continued…

  …ongoing to be continued…

  …ongoing to be continued…