Inside the Ymir, Sweiza’s curiosity soon overtakes her. The first room was large and grey; but everywhere they walk now, it is a bright white or an off eggshell color. She’s never seen such a thing in her entire life. Could this be one of the metal ships she’s heard so much about? There are supposed to be some north of Valhalla. Now that she thinks about it, weren’t the Sentinels supposed to be aboard such ships? Actually, she remembers in her dreams that she was walking on such a ship. But didn’t the Ymir come from beyond the sky?

  “This ship flies?”

  Salmira stops. She eyes the girl once. She blinks; she nods. “In a manner of speaking. I would explain it, but you wouldn’t understand the science behind it.”

  Sweiza’s hands go to her hips, she lets out a puff of breath, “Try me!”

  She hurries on over to Salmira and makes it clear she wants to continue walking; less out of respect and more out of just wanting to get this errand over—this ship is a bit unnerving with the all white interior. Well, not all white, maybe a few shades of light grey here and occasional streaks of blue to keep it interesting… and is that a door? What’s behind it?

  Sweiza stiffens once and continues walking. Thankfully Salmira is nice enough not to read her distracted mind. How embarassing!

  “You are familiar with a ship’s sails?”

  Sweiza nods. Ship sails use wind to move.

  “Most people think ship sails use the direction of the wind to move—but this isn’t true. Pressure differences above the sails allow the ship to move forward in any direction it so chooses—even against the wind.”

  Sweiza feels her mood sink. She is wrong… again.

  Salmira’s eyebrows show interest in the girl; she has a feeling the girl had that widespread belief instilled in her. Silly humans!

  “Sprite use a similar, but enchanted way to fly around. They use ‘magic’ for lack of a better word, enchant their body and will themselves to move in the direction they desire. In a manner of speaking, it is similar to how a fish can rise or fall in the water. However, you still need a way to control the direction.”

  Sweiza blinks. The Sterling Blue had such a thing—a rudder. “A rudder?”

  Salmira turns over to her and nods, “Yes Miss Serif, A rudder. It is possible for a ship to do the same with its sails. Regardless, this ship uses something called a Tachyon Drive. It uses time travel, or rather fields from outside of this dimension, and uses it to pull itself forward. This ship’s engine uses an an anti-gravity gyro system to change direction or move within a planet; it works by a similar premise to the Tachyon Drive, but it isn’t as powerful.”

  Salmira waits for it. A joyful expression crosses the Goddess’s face as Sweiza is left beyond confusion. Silly humans!

  Sweiza shakes her head and continues forward.

  “Miss Serif, if I could ask you not to dart off too far ahead. Our destination is beneath us, not forward.”

  Sweiza stops, turns around and blinks in confusion.

  “We are only in the outer hull of the ship; these channel locks are meant to seal incase the ship takes damage.”

  Again the girl is left confused. She doesn’t know what a channel lock is.

  “What is a channel lock?”

  “If a ship takes damage it will seal compartments in the outer hull to prevent it from sinking. However, the Ymir does the opposite. These keep air inside and from getting out.”

  It doesn’t make sense to the girl.

  Salmira ignores the girl and takes eighteen paces forward. She stops in front of a small door on the floor. Sweiza notices just in front of Salmira a set of bars which look like a ladder; upon walking closer she sees they are bolted to the wall. Is the whole ship metal?

  Salmira taps her foot several times in front of the small door and it slides open. Salmira clasps different rungs of the ladder and sets her footing and starts climbing down the ladder. Just as her head is above the floor, she turns and looks up at Sweiza. “This will not be an easy journe. We have to go down about one hundred and fifty decks.”

  Sweiza looks up and sends a puff of air up at her hair. She looks down and sees Salmira has already descended halfway through the next deck’s ladder. She jumps onto the ladder and hears a familiar chirp and then a voice.

  “Wait for me!”

  Sprite comes charing up from the corridor they had just walked.

  “Where were you?” She looks up at him suspiciously.

  “Looking around. It’s so…. white!”

  Sweiza rolls her eyes, “Let’s go Sp… Dewey. We have a long way to go.”

  Sprite salutes with enthusiasm and follows her down the ladders. He’ll have an easier time of moving around with his ability to fly.

  She notices he seems to be having fun. At least one of them is…

  —

  Sweiza remains quiet; the only thing that echoes in the distance is their footsteps. Corridor after corridor, ladder after ladder; white walls with the occasional light blue and gray pattern, a white ceiling, and then nothing but drab grey floor. Occasionally a black and shiny window breaks up the view; the only thing even providing light appears to be coming from brighter windows in the ceiling. Sweiza has seen them in more expensive homes in Maria Village—the ones that don’t use candle light—she wishes her family used them.

  Occasionally Sweiza looks up at Sprite; they don’t say much. Instead they follow the woman in front of them—the woman that put them into this monstrous maze to begin with. Salmira seems to know where she is going; she only stops to look back occasionally to make sure the duo behind her are following her. Eventually they arrive at a fork in their path. Salmira’s arms cross once—the first time Sweiza has seen her do it—Salmira taps her foot once and then heads to the right. Sweiza scoffs at it once, she herself is left handed and would have chosen the left path. She hears a snicker from Spite behind her, those two both know each other well enough to know what Sweiza is thinking.

  —

  After about two hundred paces, the trio finds themself at a four way intersection. Sweiza looks at the intersection and then to Salmira. A red light pulses from Salmira and flies down the three forward corridors. A red light comes flying back from straight ahead—Salmira takes that corridor without hesitation. Another thirty-five feet and Sweiza almost knocks into Salmira. The woman turns around, looks them over once and gives them little attention. Her attention is on one of the black windows mounted into the wall. Salmira’s eyes flash red and the black window suddenly comes to life. Strange shapes, lines and symbols appear on the window—some of them do not look unlike the Futhark that Sweiza had experienced with the Lukas and Vecna incidents. Several patterns change. Salmira’s eyes flash red again and the screen dims. She looks over to Sweiza.

  “We’ll need to double back to the ladders. We still have about one hundred and twenty floors to clear.”

  Sweiza looks up in disbelief. She swats the air behind her when she hears a snicker from Sprite.

  —

  Another twenty ladders later and nothing changes. Sweiza starts to feel tired.

  They find themselves at another fork in the road. This time they go left—a very good choice in Sweiza’s mind. They find themselves at another one of the black windows. Salmira performs the same procedure as before. However, this time she mentions, “We must go straight about two hundred feet and then use another ladder system.”

  They go down another thirty ladders and Sweiza suddenly charges ahead of Salmira. She halts in front of her and holds her hand up while stomping her foot. A big smile slowly creeps up on her face, “Snack!”

  Salmira backs up against the wall and her arms cradle. She eyes the spritekin and human and their ‘food’. Silly humans and their pets!

  After lunch they follow the arranged path. After two hundred feet they cross down another set of thirty five ladders. At once, Salmira stops at the ladders underneath them and walks the path. Another fork and another terminal. By now Sweiza knows the drill. By her reckoning it is about seventy-five more ladders to go. However, her body and muscles are starting to get sore; her mind is wandering. How much longer?

  “Salmira, how much longer?”

  Salmira’s eyes flash red, but suddenly dim. She steps back from the window. “I’ll be back in two hours. You two rest.”

  Suddenly Salmira turns into a bolt of lightning and charges straight for the black window. It pulses red and several strange symbols, lines and shapes appear on it. It dims just as quickly.

  Sweiza and Sprite eye each other intently—Salmira is strange and crazy! What does she have in store for them? More importantly, how many secrets is the woman hiding from others?

  “Crazy to be camping inside of a metal fortress!” Sweiza says it with some glee—Sprite simply shrugs at her.

  Her tent is pitched in an awkward fashion, but it works. Salmira didn’t say anything about nasty creatures out and about, and Sweiza doesn’t remember seeing any. Salmira is most likely nearby, so it shouldn’t matter… much…

  Sweiza’s thinks about it for a second longer, but her thoughts betray her as she creeps into darkness as the land of sleep takes her…

  —

  Sweiza finds herself in the middle of a large metal room with two floors—a lower deck and an upper platformed deck. The entire area is quite dim, save for different lights—multiple lights in fact—all over the area. Sweiza’s head moves to follow a large red light that slowly brightens and fades every ten or so seconds—it follows the entirety of the platform between the first and second decks, and then also follows the crevice between the ceiling and the second deck. The floor is lined with the same dark color of metal, but different shapes and lines have been engraved along the floor—they seem to make a pathway of sorts. What look like workers around tables are arranged around much of the first deck—there are a few on the upper platform as well. What catches Sweiza’s attention is at the front of the room—a large blue map. Her curiosity calls out for it…

  “Go ahead Miss Serif…”

  Sweiza abruptly turns around, Salmira is standing behind her. Sweiza looks from her to the map. She takes her chance and walks over with caution for the other workers in the area—the workers have a variation (in different colors) of the same uniform that Salmira typically wears—pink, red and white. At the map she sees something familiar—the Midgard and Muspell continents. Below them is a large landmass that she assumes can only be Niffleheim. Based in her experience the landmasses further west are Myrkvellir, Bothnin and Jotunher (in that order), and then further east she assumes what must be Vanir and Alfgard—however, there are several landmasses under each other and to the southeast of Midgard, that she cannot account for. What are those… and what is…

  She sees something further off in the corner contained in a sphere. It is something akin to a tree—it says Yggdrasil on it. She looks back at Salmira whom seems uphased by what is going on around them. When Sweiza turns around she sees the top of the map reads “Avalanche—SAL IV”. The map fades and a new one comes up; it show several spheres at the edges of circles; there is one large sphere labeled SAL, with the rest of the spheres labeled SAL I, SAl II, etc. The one labeled SAL IV has six smaller spheres circling it.

  Again Sweiza looks back some feet behind her at Salmira. Sweiza chances a call. “What is this?”

  “You’re in a dream aboard the bridge of the Ymir—that is a map of the planet you know as Avalan.”

  “Huh?”

  “This all happened some time ago. In fact…” Salmira ushers the girl over to observe something peculiar just off center. What looks like Salmira’s exact twin is sitting in a chair—nothing is different about her, they look exactly the same. Sweiza cocks her head at the sight. There is something rectangular to the side of Salmira; there is an old man talking on it, he has a gruff voice with some growl to it—he is dressed in what Sweiza can only describe as highly decorated bronze armor. The Salmira behind Sweiza pushes her forward—Sweiza hears a funny conversation within ear reach.

  “…and yet I walk amongst them…”

  “You walk among them because you rebelled!” The second Salmira does not sound happy.

  “Because I seek wisdom? I have hung from the tree and drank from the well; I traded my eye to know of things to come…. And I know a great deal of what is to come.” The man speaks slowly, but he is otherwise smug and haughty to the second Salmira. He stands up from his throne and taps a spear’s end to the ground.

  “Odin, you are insane, you’ve been corrupted!”

  “Am I—or do I bring clarity to the nine realms under my watchful eye?” The man again taps his spear end to the ground. “What do you do ‘Oh Goddess of Light?’—hide in the sky monitoring progress? You are not worthy of the name, ‘Goddess’.”

  “Odin, I’m not going to argue with you.” The second Salmira’s stance chances into something more controlled and firm—she will not allow Odin to get the better of her.

  “My insight tells me you will change your mind.” Odin again taps his spear to the ground below. He looks over at a woman approaching from behind him.

  The second Salmira scowls—arguing with Odin has always been pointless. Just what is he up to?

  The second Salmira’s eyes open in surprise when she sees the woman. She looks like Salmira in a similar uniform, but with an affinity for blue—blue hair, blue eyes, a blue and silver uniform similar to what Salmira wears.

  “Lyra, what is this? He’s the enemy!” The second Salmira’s shouts echo through the metal room; she has lost her composure and now stands at the rectangle image in front of her.

  Sweiza is left to watch—it dawns on her the rectangle is like a Scriving Mirror.

  “My Lord, we are ready for the transfer.” Lyra’s voice seems unnerved, while depressed. She gives Salmira no attention.

  Lyra closes her eyes while looking down. She holds a dagger and a strange notebook; she bows while kneeling down in front of Odin. She holds the two objects up for him—he takes the dagger and stabs it into the notebook and drags it across. He looks up at the second Salmira with an extremely crooked smile.

  “You will walk among us. You will see. I will see. They will all see…”

  The rectangle pulses a strange white light and then fades. The room they are in shudders and rumbles; Sweiza has a hard time keeping her footing. The workers around them do not fair much better. The second Salmira has fallen to the ground; the original Salmira remains upright.

  A panicked Sweiza looks around at what is happening. Several workers are panicking, two have run over to the second Salmira to help her up. She dusts herself off and barks something inaudible. Sweiza only hears, “…forced crash…” from one of the workers. She doesn’t have time to process this as an otherworldly force grabs hold of her and rights her to stand.

  “As you can see Miss Serif, I was betrayed and backed stabbed by the ship’s super computer, as well as my sibling.”

  Sweiza shrugs shaking her head. “Is there a point to this?”

  Salmira steps out of the way to show the blue map in the distance. It reads, “Crash Imminent, Fifteen Minutes, Trajectory—Valhalla. A picture of a long object is circled with a dashed line to a pulsing multi-circled object in the far east of Midgard—Sweiza knows that location is Valhalla. This thing is going to crash?

  She looks up nervously at Salmira. Salmira shakes her head with her eyes closed.

  The second Salmira begins barking orders. Workers around the room scatter moving from desk to desk trying to make sense of what is going on—papers fall on the ground and notebooks drop, pencils scatter and a bottle in the distance rolls from the second-story platform and smashes as it hits the ground on the floor.

  There is a large chime and the map changes to red. Different mountain ranges appear in the continents; the ocean disappears and also reveals many mountains and underwater trenches. The second Salmira walks towards Sweiza. Sweiza freaks out when that Salmira walks right through her. Turning around to observe her movements, Sweiza watches as the second Salmira eyes the map. She points at multiple locations. She taps her foot and her hands go to her hips. She turns around with a frown.

  “This trench—right here.” She barks it to the workers. Her hand is at an area between Midgard, Muspell, Niffleheim and Myrkvellir—it is the Ginnungagup.

  The room shudders again and there is a groan.

  The second Salmira runs from the map to the center of the room and the white rectangle appears again. Sweiza sees a worker and hears gibberish. She doesn’t understand the language.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “What do you mean?” The second Salmira seems distressed.

  “I think that is enough for now Miss Serif.” The original Salmira snaps her fingers and the situation around Sweiza begins to fade. Sweiza feels weak as a strong pull surrounds her. She drops to her knees as everything fades to black.

  —

  Sweiza’s mouth groans as her eyes open. Salmira of course is staring down at her with her arms cradled. At once Sweiza’s eyes open, but she doesn’t quite get off the ground; her first instinct is to grasp for her tent to put it away—Salmira steps back at the ‘silly human’ in front of her. How can anyone love their personal possessions so much? Soon she’ll be an adult that has been through all of the nine realms!

  Salmira continues to muse as the girl puts away the tent. She gives it a few years before she is abusing her being with items—much like another certain Valkyrie that she knows. At this time Sprite suddenly rouses and slowly rises to a hover—his whole body stretches with a yawn—it comes out more as a squeak. He alerts at Salmira and dodges behind Sweiza. Salmira eyes both of them intently—again the girl has food out. Salmira shakes her head as she watches the two of them ‘deliberately ignoring her’.

  When the two of them finished, Salmira stamps her foot on the ground. Sprite jumps up and Sweiza coughs from her drink once. Sweiza stands up and clicks her heels together out of habit. Did Strife get some of her habits from Salmira?

  “Well then Miss Serif, shall we be off?” Salmira doesn’t wait for an answer and mounts the ladder some feet away. Sweiza blinks at Spriteh he shrugs—the usage of “Miss Serif” didn’t bother her thigs time.

  —

  For the remainder of their journey nothing outside of the norm happens—well, if this whole venture can be considered ‘normal’. Salmira continues with checking forks in the road, black windows and sending off a blue light. This repeats about four more times until they find themselves in front of a large set of doors in a larger corridor.

  Salmira inspects the door once. Her body pulses red, but nothing happens. She tries once more, but still nothing. She shoots out a red light that enters the seams of the door—nothing happens at first, but the light comes shooting out a few moments later. Salmira turns around to face Sweiza. Sweiza lets out an “Eep!” when Salmira becomes covered in a red glow. Salmira holds one hand outstretched and places her other hand on Sweiza’s shoulder. One of the Bothnin ‘Lightning Crystals’ appears in Salmira’s outstretched hand. Salmira is suddenly bathed in a purple light. She returns to the door and sends out a crimson light that shutters through the door. Nothing happens at first, but then the door is bathed in a purple glow and pulls upward and open. Salmira turns back at Sweiza and gives her a smirk—she does not return the lightning crystal however.

  “I need you to go inside and pull some levers. You do know what a lever is don’t you?” Salmira sounds utterly serious when she says it.

  Sweiza shakes her head; Salmira’s eyes close in disbelief. Such a backwater girl!

  Salmira’s eyes pulse crimson. Sweiza feels an unearthly force take hold of her arm and raise it—the insulated gauntlet appears on it! Salmira holds the lightning crystal out and puts it into Sweiza’s hand.

  “Walk straight in three hundred and twenty-six paces; then turn right and go thirty paces. You’ll find a glass tube. There will be three levers that are blue. Pull all three down and take the crystal and shatter it inside the glass. The ship will do the rest.

  Sweiza takes a moment to take in what is just said, but Salmira shoos her inside. Sweiza lets out a yelp when the doors close behind her with a hiss. She turns around and leans forward with her hands to her hips—she sticks her tongue out and stamps her foot—she whirls around and crosses her arms. She nods her head in satisfaction. She jumps again when Salmira’s voice comes from the other side of the door, “The reactor is harmful to me and my kind, but it will have no effect on you. You must do this on your own. I am counting on you… Sweiza.”

  Sweiza self doubts herself and feels that Salmira is crazy for putting her on an errand like this—surely Strife would be a better pick!

  Throughout this strange room there is very little light; the overhead lights are too dim and most of them are flickering. She whistles for Sprite and lets out a click. He knows the drill. His body illuminates a blue glow and he starts zipping around. Sweiza sees sees weird hooks and overhead wires. Many of them are damaged—there is some exposed wiring here and there and the occasional spark of electricity from them. Thankfully there is a water wheel in Maria Village and she knows what this kind of stuff is used for. She assumes it is like a blacksmith’s shop combined with a flour mill—only something of a nature she doesn’t understand. But the equipment can be used to move larger objects if need be. She’ll need to make it a point of learning this stuff if she ever makes it to Valhalla; surely they have one of the best libraries around? Or was it Alfgard that has such a thing? She dismisses the idea and counts actual paces and not feelt—surely Salmira did not mean actual feet as a measurement—Sweiza counts her paces accordingly. Once she counts three hundred and twenty-six paces, she stops; she lets out a whistle at Sprite. He stops dead in his flight and beelines back to Sweiza’s left. Sweiza faces right and again counts thirty paces.

  This part of the room is extremely dark. She lets out a click and Sprite jumps in front of her. She sees what she assumes are levers—they are several multicolored handles sticking out of a machine of some sort—three of them are blue, but they are scattered among red and yellow and green handles also. All the handles are pointing up. She puts her free hand on the lever. Sprite suddenly flies up into her face. “Your sure about this?”

  Sweiza lets out an enthusiastic nod. She pulls the lever down.

  Nothing happens.

  She puts her free hand on the next blue lever and pulls it. Nothing happens.

  She tilts her head, Sprite lets out a squawk in disappointment. Sweiza’s frowns at him, “Oh whatever. Go ahead and pull it then!”

  Sprite jumps in place and hovers over to the lever. He attempts to pull it, but nothing happens. He goes from behind it and then pushes and shoves it. He pushes with all of his might on the lever without effect. Sweiza is about to put her free hand onto it, but Sprite lets out a very angry squawk. “Okay, okay!” is all she says. She pulls her free hand back as Sprite flies several feet from the lever. He summons his might, but then stops. He flies backwards several more feet. Once about ten feet away he illuminates a very bright blue and charges as a streak of light at the lever. He crashes into it and the lever lets out a groan as it shifts downward. “Nice work Sp… Dewey!” She lets out an enthusiastic glee; the Spritekin jumps in place and hovers out of the way.

  Sweiza holds up the insulated gauntlet and opens her hand—the lightning crystal slowly strobes a purple color—dim and then brighter. She rolls her eyes when she realizes she could have used the crystal to light the way. Perhaps she can will it to brighten? She holds it up and tries to imagine the room getting brighter. As if on command, the crystal brightens and she can see a glass tube just behind the levers. She shrugs and takes the crystal and smashes it into the tube. The tube breaks with the sound of glass and electricity sparks and arcs all around her. It spirals around her with her body as the center—it climbs into the tube and arcs upward with the sound of thunder. The whole tube illuminates a very dark purple and strobes in unison with the lightning crystal.

  The lightning suddenly stops just as it began. Sweiza looks down as the last of the purple lightning arcs one last time. The area around her begins to dim with the glass tube. Suddenly the crystal begins to dim and turns to a dull gray. The room finally darkens again. The only light visible is from Sprite and from overhead lights in the distance. Sweiza crunches her face together and stamps her foot. That Salmira, how dare she send her on a useless errand! What was the p…

  Sweiza suddenly sees the hair on Sprite stand on end. That usually means something b…

  Sweiza feels the hair on her neck stand on end; suddenly she feels a pull on the back of her scalp. Is all of her hair standing on end? Suddenly there is a dull whine that sounds something akin to a chime or musical instrument’s note gradually increasing; the noise simmers down and then there is a continual hum coming from the tube in front of her. She can’t see it, but she can tell something is happening. Suddenly, several several overhead lights in the distance stop flickering. Then, several lights brighten into view. Some do it in sequence, others simply turn ‘on’. The room begins to illuminate. Suddenly the humming in the tube behind her gets louder and turns into an odd cycling, but rotating noise. It sounds dim, but not unlike a water wheel. The tube suddenly lights to life with lightning jumping all around in it. The tube starts out as a dim black, but brightens to a light purple. Several tubes in the area also start out as a dim black and then brighten to a light purple. What are these? Is that water flowing in them?

  She suddenly hears a rumble behind her.

  “Miss Serif…” Salmira’s voice makes Sweiza jump. The voice continues, “If you will pull down the first two red levers, and then the farthest yellow lever…”

  She looks around, but does not see Salmira. Didn’t she (Salmira) say that the “reactor” (whatever that is…” is harmful to her and her kind? Is the reactor in front of her? What is it reacting to? Water? Her eyes widen. Salmira is either talking around her or in her head. “Dewey, can you hear her?”

  Sprite looks at her and lets out a click. He can definitely hear her. Sweiza shrugs and pulls down the two closest red levers and then a yellow handled one. The tubes in front of her let out a low rumble—not unlike that of distant thunder—and the room begins to rumble. Salmira’s voice sounds around them again, “Please wait about five minutes… that is unless you want to retrace your paces and meet me outside…”

  Sweiza looks over at Sprite. Does he want to stay here any longer? Sprite lets out a chirp. Sweiza understands and starts following her paces—thirty backwards, and then three hundred and twenty-six to her left. Once at the overhead door to the room she is left dumbfounded. How does one open this door?

  Salmira’s voice rings just outside the door, “Miss Serif, it is motion sensitive. Step closer.”

  Sweiza does as instructed and the door pulls upward. Salmira is standing directly in front of the doorway.

  “Well done Sweiza. With main power back on this ship, I can send you on the next leg of your journey.”

  By ‘leg’, does this witch mean that her journey is a giant undertaking? Sweiza cocks a funny look at Salmira. She hears a snicker from Sprite. He may not understand what is being said, but any frustration from Sweiza is more than enough. She makes it a note to withhold any sweet treats the next time he begs. Sweiza stamps her foot and clicks her heels together. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “As you wish Miss Serif…”

  Salmira suddenly fades from view. Sweiza suddenly feels something grab hold of her. She feels nothing under her as her body begins to rise. The room blurs from view as it moves downard. It is blurry at first, but she sees clouds drop into place—the rising sensation suddenly slows and she comes to a halt, hovering in the air. Her person slowly descends to the ocean underneath her. She begins to panic, but stops when her feet touch something solid. They are back on the top of the ship! She walks forward with several splashes. Where is Salmira at?

  “How would you like to summon the Bifrost Bridge?”

  “What?” Sweiza’s head tilts and her eyes blink. What does Salmira mean?

  “Ymir’s power is back online; it’s possible to summon Bifrost within five thousand miles of any monument. What would you like to do to summon the Bifrost Bridge?”

  Sweiza again cocks her head at the voice of the woman—she could at least be nice enough to appear in front of her. Sweiza calls out to her. “What do you mean?”

  Sweiza hears hears an invisible “Hmph!” from the woman that is seemingly nowhere.

  “Miss Serif, summon the lightning sword with the insulated gauntlet. Hold it high.”

  Sweiza looks at Sprite once. She raises her hand towards the sky. The sky is a reddish color—the sun must be setting. She looks up at her hand and summons the lightning sword. It glitters a strange silver and white. It happens quickly—a faint hum that suddenly becomes a whine. She feels her hair stand on end as a bolt of lightning jumps down to the sword in her hand. She jumps back. She falls over and the sword disappears from her hand.

  The vortex around her suddenly suddenly stops and begins to reverse direction. As the sun overhead begins to rapidly set, a rainbow of colors fills the clouds in the vortex. They suddenly turn white as wisps of fog surround her. The colors illuminate and become brighter. She suddenly sees the rainbow of colors fade as Sprite flies up to her. A blinding white light surrounds her and even Sprite’s bright blue fades with the white light. She takes a deep breath. Where is Salmira transporting her now?

  —

  When the white light dims, it takes shape as multi-colored clouds. As they the colors sparkle and wink at her, they rotate around her seemingly as a cylinder—the rainbow corridor. She crosses her arms as the cylinder of clouds fades from view. She is treated to an otherworldly sight. A large expanse of glowing blue water with long paths of glowing green hills. Is that grass? The hills that are here and there appear to be narrow. A few of them circle out of the water and there is a large hole between them. In the distance the grassed hill appears to climb upward; it is wide, and tapers off into dark sky. When her gaze shifts to the side of the path she notes there are stars out—they are the constellations she is familiar with. However, she sees something odd—strange colored wisps of clouds in the extreme distance—they are however, unlike any cloud she has seen before. There appears to be a meteor shower as light streaks across the sky. Her eyes go back to the glowing radiance of the path in front of her. She again follows it upward—she can see the sky is slowly shifting behind the path. With the movement of the night sky, she can see something is blocking out the stars and strange clouds. At the extreme end of the path she can see multiple narrow paths branching out. She swears she can see leaves rustling in front of one of the strange clouds. She hears a chirp.

  She looks over at her friend. He flies into view and bobs up and down. He lets out a click at the impressive sight.

  “You’re eyes are big!”

  Sweiza shakes her head at the comment and wrinkles her head at Sprite. “Where are we?”

  He shrugs and lets out another click.

  Without Salmira in sight, Sweiza intends to explore this area. As she takes several steps forward she notes the path in front of her dips down. She is going to have fun with this! She runs forward and with great excitement as the hill makes her descent quite fast. The dip in the hill never quite seems to disappear as she runs along the path. When she looks behind her she sees the area she was at, but it appears higher than what she is expecting. What is going on here? She looks again in front of her and sees the area she was walking towards, is indeed closer to her. She thinks to herself, “I don’t want to go that way.” She turns around and runs in the opposite direction she had originally chosen. She breaks into a great run, especially considering she is going uphill. She suddenly stops when she sees different paths in front of her—there is water everywhere. There are tree roots flowing in and out of the water.

  The bright water and green grass illuminates with the glow of an aura the further she moves in this direction. She has to the lower part of her eyes from the glow. The green grass under her finally ends and she finds herself on a giant root. The root is huge at almost thirty feet on either side of her. Sprite clicks in surprise when she says, “What the hell?” She wonders just where she is?

  She looks around at the end of the tree root. She walks into the shallow area of water surrounding it. She’s thirsty. She is about to summon a cup when Salmira appears. Sweiza falls back from the surprise appearance.

  “Miss Serif, you will go insane from the waters of Mimir’s Well. Do not drink. Do I make myself clear?” Salmira’s tone is quite sharp and serious. Sweiza lets out a nod. When all seems clear, she pulls herself up to her feet.

  “Just where am I?” Sweiza’s arms cradle for once. She is quite confused by this place. The narrow path behind her? It looks like a giant tree.

  “A giant tree?” Sweiza mouths the words silently at Salmira.

  “It goes by many names—great ash, world tree… Yggdrasil…” Salmira trails off at it the word ‘Yggdrasil’; she seems quite impressed by the sight in front of her.

  That Yggdrasil? The one known as the world tree that binds the nine realms together? She thought it was only supposed to be a legend that exists in the realm of dreams. Still, some villagers of Maria swear that in the clearest skies of winter it can be seen towards the south-east between Midgard and Niffleheim. However, the legend also states it is far from accessible by the legs of mere mortals as it is high in the sky in the celestial realm. Perhaps the Bifrost Bridge is needed to reach it… or something… Sweiza’s thoughts continue to wander. Salmira interrupts them.

  “I believe that letter mentioned using Yggdrasil to find your Valkyrie companion in Alfgard.” Salmira’s voice seems uncertain. Can she not read letters very well? Does she need to communicate through living creatures?

  “It did.” Sweiza nods in affirmation. Her attention is less on Salmira and the shimmer of the water in front of her. What she wouldn’t give for a drink. She could have the same wisdom as Odin!

  “Miss Serif, I can see by that look on your face you perchance want a sip of Mimir’s Well. Do not drink from it. It has been polluted with the corruption of Loki and Odin’s treachery. You will go insane if you drink from it. I won’t repeat myself.”

  Sweiza nods once at Salmira. The witch has a sharp gaze towards the girl. “Miss Serif, I sense a flask as part of Bothin’s booty. Gather the water, but do not drink—it needs to be purified.”

  Sweiza nods with enthusiasm. The flask appears in her open hand. She walks further into the shallow of the water in front of her—it shimmers at her—she stoops over when she hears flittering wings near her. It is Sprite, he seems nervous. “Okay, okay, I won’t drink it!” She tries to assure him. He seems to understand and nods at her. He watches the flask dip into the water and then seal with a cap. Sweiza looks at it with intent.

  “Miss Serif, while you are here, do not be greedy—but gather specimens of grass, root, bark, sap, leaves and all. When you are done further up the tree, look back towards the roots below and head towards your left. Do not be long, your sailing companions in Niffleheim need you.” Her voice sounds of some caution, but Salmira has made her point and disappears. Sweiza can be trusted to listen to her warning—its why she chose her for this mission.

  Sweiza eyes Sprite and then the flask. She is tempted to drink, but stows the desire and the flask away for a later time. She walks up the root and stops and summons her machete. Blades of grass, check. Pieces of the root? Check. She begins walking down towards the hill; Sprite follows quickly at her side. He becomes worried about her, she seems to be in a trance. He is about to alert towards her, but he notices her break into a run after the machete in her hand disappears. She doesn’t know why, but she feels some kind of tireless energy as she runs with all of her might—faster and faster she goes. The ground seemingly moves faster and faster under her. She can her the wings of Sprite flapping for extra speed to keep up with her. Just how fast are they going? It doesn’t matter. She feels something weird as the path in front of her begins to slowly fade and lose its glow with each step she takes. Despite this, she feels completely safe with the exhilarating rush of each step.

  Sprite lets out an alert at her, but she doesn’t hear it. He charges ahead of her with all of his might—glowing a radiant blue in the process. He turns around with his back at the sky and lets out an extremely loud squawk. He matches her speed as she slows down.

  “What?” She doesn’t seem aware of the danger as Sprite points downward.

  Sweiza jumps upward with one foot when she sees the night sky below her. The tree has disappeared, but she is still on solid ground. When her foot lands, a radiant surge of bright blue surges from the point of contact. It illuminates in the pattern of a leaf. Sweiza’s eyes widen. Is she that high already? Is she out on a limb? Sweiza’s eyes widen further. She avoids using the word ‘neat!’ as it sounds quite nerdy for her. Whatever! Down to business!

  Sweiza stoops downard to one knee and her machete appears. She takes several whacks at the ground below her, blue light pulsing with each strike. She pulls up a section of whatever is invisible below her. It feels like a leaf, albeit it is a section of an extremely large one. Just how big are the leaves of Yggdrasil? She looks back in the direction she had been running from. If she continues to run forward, will she fall off the tree? She thinks wisely of it and proceeds to walk in the opposite direction. She refrains from running this time. This time the ground begins to illuminate with each footstep. She suddenly stops—as she does so Sprite flies past her. He halts midair and turns around. He lets out several clicks.

  “We need the bark silly!” Again she stoops down and takes several whacks with her machete. She’s heard the legend of the bark—it can be used in many healing medicines—especially salves and cures! Oh, and maybe a love potion or two… and then possibly a… thin… that thing that reverses aging… wait, no, that’s the sap.

  Her thoughts spin wildly at eternal youth… or does that remain as she is a Valkyrie? Didn’t Strife become a Valkyrie at a younger age? She seems to become exited with different thoughts betraying her again. Oh, right, the sap! She stamps her foot and snaps herself out of it. She whacks as much of the tree bark away as she can—for whatever reason, she can feel that same contented safety about her. Is this place that surreal? Is she in the celestial realm? Oh, right, the sap! She takes one more whack at the deep gouge in the tree and suddenly sap begins flowing out—albeit slowly. A big smile crosses her face as she snaps her fingers. Sprite flies in front of her in anticipation. She pulls out a vial from her Delphis and Alcyon booty. She collects the sap with her machete and drops it into the vial. She’ll save this for later. Wait, didn’t Strife say she had studied science and alchemy? What about magic? She would know what to do with this haul from Yggdrasil.

  “Oh, right!” She stands back up and the machete and vial disappear. She eyes Sprite. “Ready?”

  Sprite clicks once. “For what?”

  “We’re heading towards Niffleheim!” There is excitement in her voice as runs down to the right of the path. The root of legend is not far off—the one that leads to the land of the dead. She isn’t afraid—she feels completely safe here. Sprite seems hesitant.

  “You’re not scared are you?” She smiles with confidence.

  Sprite nods, “Scary!”

  “I’ll go to the ends of the nine realms with you Dewey!”

  Sprite clicks in approval with his friend.

  “Let’s go Dewey… I’ll race you!”

  Sprite’s eyes widen as she takes off without him. He lets out a chirp before she gets too far. She skids to a halt and looks back at him. Her hands go down to her hips. She shouts back at him, “Hurry up!”

  Sprite lets out a chirp of surprise and flies to her—she taps her foot in impatience at him. When he catches up to her she cradles her arms. She looks away from him with one eye closed. Both eyes open as she looks at him. “Ready?”

  He looks at her with uncertainty.

  “3…”

  Sprite bobs up once at her voice.

  “2…”

  Sprite’s wings flutter at her counting down.

  “1…”

  He lets out a chirp.

  “GO!”

  He jolts at her word and charges after her as she breaks out into a run. Thoughts of her life up until now flood her mind as she runs forward with excitement. Her thoughts wane and fall towards the path in front of them. Niffleheim… Strife is supposed to be there. Something must have happened—she was supposed to meet them in Alfgard. Are they really going to Niffleheim? The mythical land of frost giants where the dead haunt frosty fields and snowy mountains? The exhilaration is too much. It must be the effects of Yggdrasil, she doesn’t care! She’ll get there soon enough with Dewey at her side. At this point in time, she feels as if she can do anything!