Johan didn’t let down his guard the entire way out. He was unable to shake the feeling that they would get attacked and made sure that Signe and Note were walking slightly ahead of him.
In the end they didn’t get attacked. The deities actually let them go.
The exit turned out to be a long tunnel going through the mountain, long enough that even though they walked straight ahead, the huge room with deities completely disappeared into darkness behind them.
“I can’t believe it.” Johan muttered angrily and kicked a stone as hard as he could at the wall.
Note huffed beside him. “They are horrible.”
They were all angry, but none more than Signe. Johan eyed her where she stomped, leaving small cracks in the ground at each step.
He pinched his lips. Wrath did that.
“Vero…” Johan turned to see Signe stopped. Her face shadowed and her fists clenched white.
She let out a huffed laugh, fists releasing and all tension leaving her body-
And screamed.
Johan’s hands flew to his ears and he shared an alarmed look with Note as she curled inward, screaming at the top of her lungs before lunging at the wall, fist punching right into the rock.
“I was married for one whole day!” She screamed, trying to tug her arm free from where her forearm had disappeared into it. Her lips wobbled for a split second before anger clouded her again, stones falling as she freed her arm and stomped on past them.
Johan gritted his teeth as he and Note followed after her.
“Those damn sins.” He hissed.
“Don’t blame her.” Signe said. “That’s my job.”
“It can be both our jobs.” Johan grumbled.
“It will be all our jobs.” Note corrected. “I can’t believe she would do this. Or Frey.”
Johan felt the corners of his lips pull down at the mention of him.
-
It didn’t take too long to reach where the tunnel ended and the only thing ahead was a red door. A small red door. Perfectly dwarf-sized but to Johan it only reached his hips. He frowned at it for a long moment before glancing hesitantly back through the tunnel. There was still nobody behind them.
“Can we just open it?” Note asked, crouching down to look closer at it.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Johan has been expecting some kind of open cave exit, like the one they entered though, not a suspiciously simple door at an otherwise complete dead-end.
“Well, I’m not going back.” Johan huffed but it was Signe that opened it.
She pushed the door open and without any hesitation she stomped though, only having to bend down a little bit. Johan shared a look with Note before giving a small shrug and gesturing for him to follow after her.
Note went out with a lot more caution than she had. He looked through and made a surprised noise before crawling out and Johan took an extra moment to look back before following.
The light hit him first. Bright enough that he had to shield his eyes and let them get used to it. He got up on his feet and shoved the door shut only to see it seamlessly blend into the sterile, glossy white wall.
Surprised, he looked around the room. Because shockingly enough that’s where they had ended up. In a room. The roof was exactly the same as the walls, glossy and completely white, with stained gray wood floors and a similar wooden staircase to the left.
Johan looked around in wonder. Was this a part of the dwarfs’ workshop? He had never seen anything like it. There were no windows or lights that he could see, yet the entire room was almost blindingly bright.
“We’re here.” Note said in surprise.
“What do you mean, we’re here? Where’s here?” Johan asked, still looking around. His eyes widened. Paintings in intricate frames covered the walls and even more were stacked behind the staircase.
“Is this the gallery?!” Signe exclaimed.
“What the..?” Johan breathed.
“It…” Signe hesitated and turned to Note. “This isn’t even close to where we left the boat, is it?”
Note confirmed it with a small nod. Johan paused. How could they have gotten here if the mountain was so far away-
Johan saw red.
“Frey brought us to Heaven?” Johan’s eyes twitched. Oh, if he ever saw that guy again he would -
Note threw an arm over his shoulder and started leading the way towards the staircase. “Let’s not get angry right now. We still have to find Emil.”
Note was right of course so Johan tried to calm down. A thought crossed his mind. Did that mean the dwarfs’ workshop was in Heaven? That...surprisingly made sense. No wonder nobody ever saw them. Except, the cave that Viddi and the other giants lived in definitely wasn’t there, at least as far as Johan knew. He glanced back at where the door disappeared. Maybe it was only this workshop?
“Come on.” Note called back to Signe.
SLAM
Johan jerked around to see the door flung open and vivid orange hair coming through.
“Signe!” Wrath called out, breathing heavily. “It’s not what it looks like!”
Signe worked her jaw angrily and snarled. “Go away.”
“Please, Signe. I didn’t know any of this-” Wrath pleaded, getting back on her feet with the door wide open behind her. She tried getting closer but Signe immediately summoned her axe.
“Yeah, right!” Signe yelled and Johan and Note quickly took a step back as she readied her weapon.
“I couldn’t let you kill Frey.” Wrath yelled but she didn’t summon her spear. “That’s the only reason I put up the shield! I had no idea what he was planning!”
“Those people killed us and you helped him bring us right to them!”
Johan watched them tensely but Wrath didn’t move to attack. Not even when Signe started forward, instead she raised her arms in surrender.
Besides a quick glance over at them, the only person Wrath paid any attention to was Signe. Could she really not have known?
Johan looked at Note, who was buzzing to go help but clearly had no idea how to, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two.
“Let’s leave them alone.” Johan decided and guided them back towards the stairs. “This is their fight.”
“It will get violent.” Note muttered unhappily but didn’t disagree. Signe and Wrath kept yelling behind them. Johan grimaced.
“Yeah, let’s not be here for that.”
