“Did Brynhildr say anything about hunting it down?”

  “Not much really,” Rúna sighed. “They hope that the thing will be foolish enough to attack us head-on so that we can overwhelm it, but we all know that won’t happen. Most of the people from the other groups just want to finish the trial so that they can move on to the next island without trouble.”

  “As if that place would be any safer than this one,” Arvid remarked. “The moment we step on the shores of the next island the truce will be gone and everyone will be back at each other’s throats again.”

  “That’s exactly why nobody wants to risk weakening their group,” a feminine voice resounded from the side as Alcmene of Sitos joined the three. “They don’t want to lose more people before the inevitable battles.”

  “Alcmene,” the seeker greeted him. “I didn’t see you among your people.”

  “That’s because I wasn’t there,” she noted. “I was in one of the teams scouting on both sides of the road a few hundred feet into the forest.”

  “No sign of the Oni yet?” The forgemaiden asked, earning a slight head shake from the woman.

  “If it’s here then it knows how to hide and stalk an aware prey. I doubt it will show itself until we lower our guard.”

  “What about you, Einar,” she asked. “What brought you back to us?”

  “I came back to tell the others about the seventh and the eighth trials before making my way to the last one.”

  “Were they as challenging as the ones before?”

  “In a way.” The young giant claimed, spending some time re-telling his experiences.

  Soon they reached the clearing where the seventh trial took place, the tired God-marked letting out a sigh of relief as they began to make camp for the night. Einar decided to spend the night there as well, planning to leave the morning after that. While the other warriors were busy making small barricades and pitching tents, the seeker followed Rúna to the side. The forgemaiden took the runes along with Einar’s armour and sword, summoning her fiery hammer so that she could do her work. When she was done, Rúna let out a deep breath while swiping her forehead with her clothes.

  “We haven’t talked about it before but I have a question for you,” she said with a sombre tone. “Will you come back for us after you finish the ninth trial or will you leave for the next island as soon as possible?”

  “I don’t know yet,” he admitted as the two sat down beside the small campfire near Rúna’s tent. “Only the trial of divinity is left, which doesn’t sound like something where we’re meant to fight.”

  “Neither was the trial of the mind and yet it still poured a vat of monsters in your neck if you answered the riddles wrong.”

  “Fair enough,” the seeker relented. “Speaking of divinity, have ever tried to... pray to yourself?”

  “I did,” she claimed. “It ended up pretty badly though.”

  “Worst hangover you’ve ever had?”

  “Yes,” the forgemaiden chuckled. “It was as if father decided to smash me in the head with his hammer.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Why have it if we can’t make use of it?”

  “We can but as it turns out there’s a catch to it. One needs their divinity to be at twenty or above to do so, even though there’s no mention of it anywhere. I only know that because I spoke with one of the shamans before and she told me that only a few champions of old were able to achieve that.”

  “That would explain why I failed earlier.” He remarked as he placed his tent beside the others.

  “Will you leave in the morning?” Arvid asked while the group sat down beside the newly lit campfire.

  That is the plan. It will take at least two days to reach the mountain if not more.

  “And you want to be the first one to do it,” the man noted. “The trial of divinity. I hope they don’t expect us to successfully pray to ourselves without having a divinity of twenty.”

  “Maybe they will be expecting some kind of ritual offering for them,” Rúna added from the side. “I mean, they couldn’t expect us to do what you said, since no one amongst us would pass.”

  “We’ll find it out sooner or later,” Einar sighed as he watched the thin strips of meat Arvid hang above the fire sizzle. “Just try not to take too long to reach it or I’ll hunt down the beast of the other islands by the time you get there.”

  “Sure you will.” Arvid laughed while turning the meat skewers over the flames.

  A strange silence fell on the group, one of them knowing what to say. The seeker knew that if he left, the next time they would meet, they might do so as enemies. After having an early dinner, Einar washed down by the nearby creek and turned in to sleep, his slumber shattered by a blood-churning scream. He got out of his tent and Drew his blade, eyes turned toward the sound of the screams.

  At the far end of the camp, he could faintly see someone fighting what he believed to be a bear at first. As he ran closer, the faint lights or the nearby campfires revealed to him that it was not a bear but the Oni from the Falling Sun Empire. It swung its large mace-like weapon to crush one of the guards, a young warrior from the desert kingdom. Einar leapt toward the side of the human-shaped monster, slashing downward with his already blazing sword, the Oni managing to block it with its spiked club at the last moment.

  The burning sword cut halfway through the club, its fire spreading across the hardwood. The Oni roared at him, trying to yank away its weapon, but several golden lights flashed by Einar's face, striking the monster. The seeker watched his enemy jerk back with jagged movements as golden rectangles appeared on its body, releasing bright chains wreathed in lightning. He watched as the storm-wrought chains paralysed the Oni while he yanked his weapon free, taking another swing at it. The blade fell through the sky toward the head of the creature, but the lightning chains snapped and it managed to raise its felt arm while pushing its body backwards.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Einar’s sword still managed to reach the Oni and cut through its arm, severing it below the elbow. It roared in pain while kicking Einar away with a heavy stomp in the stomach, the seeker sliding back several feet. More of the golden lights flew toward the Oni but it dodged and turned to run, both a burning and an ordinary spear striking its back before it ran away into the forest. Einar stood there panting, his hand still shaking from the force he threw the fiery spear with while Brynhildr slowly walked closer to him.

  “Are you alright?” She asked with a slight worry.

  “I’m fine,” he said with a sigh as he looked at the corpses of the guard team that got killed by the Oni. “They’re not.”

  “How could this happen?” the leader of the Eastern Alliance asked, fuming with anger. “There are supposed to be more guards patrolling around the camp.”

  “There were,” Takeshi said from the side. “They just switched guards half an hour ago. The Oni must have waited until this side of the camp only had a few people guarding it.”

  “It’s getting smarter,” Hanako remarked while joining the group. “Katashi must have been feeding on beasts with high wisdom in the past days if he's gaining back so much of his clarity.”

  “That just makes him more of a danger to us,” the leader of the desert kingdoms’ God-marked said while looking at Einar. “And you. You are supposed to be the best of your ilk. The strongest warrior of the Vikings. How could you fail to kill that thing when it was down on its knees before you, bound like an animal?”

  “It broke the bindings too fast,” Hanako stopped the man with her words. “It shouldn’t have been able to do that unless its divinity and willpower were at least fifteen or higher.”

  “So you’re saying it’s your fault, fox.”

  “Watch your words, sand-crawler.” The woman’s protector said with a low but forceful tone.

  “Rokuro,” she called out to him. “That’s enough. It’s no one’s fault. None of us could have known that the Oni would grow so strong so fast.”

  “It’s wounded,” Brynhildr remarked as she pointed toward the severed arm lying on the ground beside the damaged wooden club. “Do you think it can regrow a lost limb?”

  “No,” the fox-eared woman shook her head. “Not yet at least. Elder Oni are capable of doing it, but Katashi is far too young and weak to do it.”

  “So, it got weakened by a large amount.”

  “Prepare to hunt,” Brynhildr yelled to her people. “This had gone on long enough.”

  “Are you planning on hunting it in the dark?” The leader of the Eastern Alliance asked baffled.

  “We can’t let it escape, or it will come for us again when we least expect it.”

  “Don’t be foolish,” Takeshi stopped Brynhildr in her steps. “Hunting a wounded and desperate beast during the night is suicide. If you want to hunt it down, then wait for the sun to rise.”

  “But…”

  “He’s right,” the leader of the desert kingdom’s people remarked. “Hunting in a thick forest at night is foolish. That… thing doesn’t heal fast and now that is so heavily wounded, it will further weaken due to losing blood.”

  “We’ll head after it once the sun rises.” Takeshi stated as he turned toward his group and left.

  Einar cleaned his weapon while listening to their talks, letting out a sigh as he turned to head back to his tent.

  “Are you hurt?” Hanako asked from the side but he just shook his head.

  “Nothing that won’t heal with some rest.”

  “Then rest,” she said with a relieved sigh while turning toward her protector. “There’s still a few scarce hours till sunrise and I believe we could all use some sleep.”

  The seeker lay back down on his bedroll and soon drifted off to sleep. A kick into his boots waking him sometime later. Looking up, he saw Arvid standing in front of his tent.

  “The sun is about to rise,” he said. “If you want to go, you better do it now while the people are busy with other things.”

  Einar groaned in agreement and got out of his tent, packing it up before taking some food supplies offered by his friend.

  “Take care of yourself out there,” Arvid noted. “I’ve already gone ahead and conquered the seventh trial an hour ago. As soon as Rúna gets up, I’ll make sure she does the same.”

  “Are you not joining the others on the hunt for the Oni?” The seeker asked, earning a slight head shake.

  “I’m not keen on hunting that thing even if it lost an arm,” he admitted. “I’ll wait for Rúna and a couple of other people to finish conquering the trial then we'll head out toward the next one. Hopefully, by the time you reach and conquer the final challenge, we’ll be on our way to it as well.”

  “Good luck then.” Einar said as the two clasped hands for a shake before the seeker leapt into the air, turning into his raven form to fly away.

  Days passed by with the seeker travelling along the ancient path before he finally reached the foot of the last mountain of the island. Unlike the previous two, the last mountain had a clear path leading up to its summit that moved in a serpent-like way on the steep rocks. Einar used his Raven form to fly as high as he could before landing on the path to continue on foot.

  By the time he reached the top, the sun was already falling. The seeker imagined many possible things he would have to face in the last trial but what he found up there made him stop in his tracks. The top of the mountain held a small valley of sorts with three figures waiting by the altar in the middle. Einar hesitated for a moment but as he walked closer he recognized one of the three.

  “Harald?” He asked baffled, the white-haired man giving him a nod as he waved him closer.

  “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Come. There’s nothing to fear.”

  The seeker slowly walked closer, finding that the other two beside Harald were a beautiful woman and a warrior who was as tall as Einar and was covered in many tattoos.

  “Welcome, child,” the woman said with a soft and reassuring tone as she smiled at him. “No need to worry, we’re only here to talk with you. I’m sure you have many questions for my husband but I hope you will first listen to what we have to say.”

  “Lady Svanhildr.” Einar bowed slightly as he realized that he was staring at the queen of the gods herself.

  “A well-mannered lad,” the warrior from the side nodded. “Not like the other one that is still lurking in the shadows. Show yourself, boy! You are not in danger and whatever we are to tell Einar is meant for you as well.”

  “It is meant for all of them.” Svanhildr remarked as she reached up toward the sky, a nearby bird freezing in the air amidst panicked screeches as an unseen force dragged it down to the ground.

  It was surrounded by a puff of black smoke that when dissipated, revealed a terrified youth with a familiar face.

  “Arvid?” The young giant asked with a clear surprise as he stared at his friend who was as white as fresh snow.

  “There is no need to worry, little one,” Svanhildr said with a gentle smile. “We are not going to harm you, even though you were meant to harm us.”