“Are you hungry?” The seeker asked as he held out a piece of dried meat but the beast didn’t react at all to the treat.

  ‘Figured it wouldn’t be so easy with you.’ He mused as he changed the food to a golden coin, hoping the drake would share its larger kin’s greed for shiny things. It earned some response from the drake as it regarded the coin with suspicion before letting out a low growl.

  “You want it?” He asked as he tossed the coin toward the beast.

  It moved with surprising speed to catch it out of the air, placing it on the stone in front of it. A moment later it let out a small roar toward Einar and the brazier lit up with a blood-red flame.

  “Damn it!” The giant cursed, knowing well what the red flames meant.

  He drew his sword, ready to fight whatever horrors would crawl out of the nothingness around him. Just as he expected smoke seeped out of the cracks on the ground forming pools of darkness out of which large netherworld wretches clawed their way out. These however looked different from the ones he had fought before. These looked similar to a drake, except they were the size of a cow. Their scales were dull black, oozing with a vicious black sap that hissed as it dropped on the stone beneath their feet.

  Einar didn’t wait for them to fully emerge, using all his strength to behead the nearest one while only its upper half was out of the shadows, killing off another one before it could fully emerge. The remaining three drake-like monsters lunged at him with unbridled fury, trying their hardest to rip him apart with black claws and black fangs that were sharp enough to leave deep grooves in his armour. The seeker managed to impale one of them with his sword when it tried to jump at him with its maw open but had to let go of his sword to dodge another monster that almost managed to bite his hand.

  Summoning his frost shield and the spear made of fire, Einar stabbed the beast through its eye, killing it in a fiery attack. The last of the drakes smashed into the ice shield, trying to push him down to the ground. The young giant answered the beast’s roar with his own as his hair lit up with flames, his muscles tensing up under the influence of ‘draconic pride’ before shoving back the beast. He pushed it back, stomping it in the side just below its neck before it could turn its head back. Einar then rushed toward the dead wretch that had his sword and yanked it free, taking a swing at the approaching monster.

  His blade bit into its snout, making it lurch back for a moment, just for it to receive another swing, then another. The seeker swung his blade with rage and precision, beheading the shadowy drake that let out a mournful growl before succumbing to death. With the last of the monsters dead, he stomped his way toward the small drake that was still standing on the stumpy stone pillar.

  “What do you...” He tried to ask but his words stuck in his throat as he noticed the excited and almost reverent gaze the small drake was giving him.

  The brazier beside it lit up with golden flames that rose and formed a golden ball of fire, shooting toward the altar. ‘The little bastard wanted a show of might?’ He tried to figure out the reason behind the thing that just happened as he headed over to the altar. As usual, several items waited for him with the first being a pink cloud that floated a foot above the shrine. He used his drinking horn to gather some divine nectar from the cloud, drinking it in a single gulp. The second object of interest was the small pile of gold coins he was quite familiar with by now.

  His third reward was a granite rune that had a symbol on it that glowed with a faint pink light. His fourth and last reward was a peacock feather shaped item that was made out of different coloured glass shards, held together by a thin layer of silver. ‘A relic maybe?’ Einar thought to himself while putting it away. With the trial over it was time for him to leave so he leapt into the air and turned into his raven form to fly away. Looking down from high above the forest he could barely see the next clearing in the distance on the way toward the final mountain of the island.

  Hours went by switching between flying and walking along the overgrown path that cut through the forest, having to land on a large tree when night finally caught up to him. Using some rope and his bedroll to create a makeshift bed among the branches, the seeker turned in for the night. The next morning he broke camp and left to continue his journey, travelling for what felt like half a day before he finally found another place of interest. It wasn’t a trial ground or anything like it, but a grove with a small lake that had a tree in the middle, growing on a large chunk of mossy rock.

  ‘This is... strange.’ Einar hummed as he returned to his human form and landed on the edge of the lake. The water was crystal clear and shallow, not even reaching above his waist and was dotted with large round-ish leaves that had colourful flowers among them. Dragonflies flew by above the flowers and birds chirped on the branches of the tree in the middle of the water, making the scenery serene and dreamlike. What made the seeker excited were the faintly glowing fruits on the tree, each surrounded by a golden mist. He carefully took a step forward and began to walk toward the tree, feeling solid stone beneath his feet as he waded through the water.

  ‘This feels too easy.’ Einar remarked in his mind, his hand slowly reaching the hilt of his sword. As if to prove his suspicion, the moment his leg brushed against one of the plate-sized flat leaves with a flower on it, a creature burst out of the water, clawing and biting at his side. Its face was a mix between a human and a lizard, the top of its misshapen skull having an indent that was filled with water. The creature failed to bite him, its fangs and claws unable to leave anything besides shallow marks on his armour. Einar drew his sword and swung it downward, splitting the beast in two. It fell back into the water, causing other flowers to rise as several new creatures emerged. Looking down at them, the giant noticed that he could only see their body once it was out of the water. Beneath it, they were completely invisible.

  ‘I knew it was too good to be true.’ He growled as the beasts began to rush toward him. As his enemies encircled him, the young giant had an idea and took a deep breath. ‘Frozen wastes.’ He thought as he exhaled sharply, a ring of frozen air pushing outwards from him, freezing the water and the monsters in it. They were momentarily stuck, giving him an easy target to swing his blade at.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Soon enough the previously crystal clear water turned red with slashed apart corpses floating in it. Einar stood there with faint scratch marks on his armour and skin, heaving as he took a better look at his defeated opponents. They were small in size, roughly the same size as his little brother, but their skin was that of a lizard with a turtleshell-like thing protecting their body. The seeker’s thoughts were interrupted as he felt ripples across the lake. Looking toward the small island with the tree, he noticed that it was moving, slowly rising from the water.

  ‘What in Harald’s name is that?’ Einar mumbled he watched a giant turtle raise its head out of the water, its shell being covered in stone on which the mystical tree grew. Its face was marred with many scars, but its eyes felt... gentle. The young giant was both curious and wary of the creature so he slowly backed away as the turtle began to move toward him. Much to his surprise, the giant beast stopped near the first corpse, lowering its head to chomp down on the bloody remains. The sickening sound of bones crunching and flesh tearing made Einar shudder as he circled the turtle, keeping his eyes on it in case it decided to look for a larger snack.

  When he became sure that the beast had no interest in him, the seeker waded closer to its rear, climbing up onto its massive shell to reach the tree. He looked at the crown of the tree, its fruits bright amber-coloured with a tinge of red, their size similar to that of a plum. A faint glow could be seen beneath their smooth skin and a shimmering mist swirled around them. Einar reached up to pluck one of the fruits, eating it in two bites that only left him with a long bony seed. He felt a soothing warmth spread across his body that filled him with strength and vigour.

  When he tried to pluck another one, he found that he couldn’t make it move even a little bit. ‘It looks like I can only take one.’ He mused as he turned around to leave, jumping into the air and turning into his raven form to continue his journey. Nightfall found him travelling along the ancient path, forcing him to seek shelter on top of a giant tree. Hidden by the thick branches and large leaves, Einar chose to enter his inner world to see the changes that occurred to him. When he opened his eyes had found himself sitting in front of the primitive altar with the large stone slab behind it, the young giant couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

  The floating tapestry beside it grew longer, showing the events of the recent past, his encounter with the giant turtle ending the story. He walked closer to the altar and found the strange peacock feather lying on it. The seeker picked it up and stuck it onto the new indent that appeared on the edge of the stone slab behind the altar, a new set of glowing words appearing on the wall.

  {Undeniable presence}

  {Those bearing the gift of an undeniable presence are meant for greatness, be it as a merchant, a leader, or a performer. Your presence will draw attention, your words will find agreeing nods, and your goal will find followers. But beware, for sometimes, a strong presence will warrant unwanted attention as well.}

  ‘Well, that wasn’t cryptic at all.’ Einar sighed as he looked at the blessing granted to him by the feather, not knowing what its true power really was. He turned his attention toward the stone figurines on the altar, touching the first one so that he could see his heraldry.

  {Name: Einar Arnessen}

  {Title: none}

  {Ancestry: dragon/human/giant}

  {Age: 18}

  {Valour: 5800}

  {Calling: Seeker}

  {Renown: known by a few}

  {Attributes}

  ? Charm:17

  ? Deftness: 25

  ? Divinity: 15

  ? Grit: 22

  ? Heart; 38

  ? Luck: 15

  ? Might: 38

  ? Mind: 22

  ? Soul: 27

  Vigour/Spirit/Fortitude

  135/175/150

  The changes were quite noticeable compared to the last time he checked and not only due to the giant ancestry or the success in his last trial. It seemed that eating that divine fruit further increased his heart, luck and might attributes by one. It also further strengthened his fortitude and vigour by a small amount. ‘If I keep growing like this, I might become a demigod in a few days.’ He thought to himself as he recalled that he would become one upon one of his attributes reaching fifty.

  Most of his skills and spells also rose by a small amount, his raven form reaching a new rank of mastery which earned a smile of satisfaction along with a single point’s worth of increase in his grit and soul attributes. Looking at the large number of valour he earned, the seeker began to think about which of his star drawings should he fill out since his ancestral ones were already bought.

  In the end, he chose the scroll of the shaman, a new set of golden stars appearing in the vast darkness above him as his divinity attribute rose by three. Recalling the true purpose of his divinity attribute, Einar realised that he never actually used it for what it was intended for. Nor did he understand how it was meant to be used. ‘Should I... pray to myself?’ He mused, knowing that doing so would change some of his valour into divine essence. Whatever that was.

  ‘Alright, let’s try it.’ The seeker thought as he silently began to chant the old prayer both he and everyone else in the village were taught when they were young. Only this time it was directed at himself. For a moment he could feel it working but then it stumped as it hit an unseen wall, earning him a backlash that threw him out of his inner world. ‘Wha... what just happened?’ Einar mumbled as he reeled back, leaning back into his rope-bound bedroll.

  The world was spinning around him and his head was pounding with the worst headache he ever felt while his chest squeezed like someone struck him with a giant hammer. Not wanting to risk another failure and the pain it brought along, the giant decided to stop trying for now, hoping that maybe Rúna or Brynhildr would have an answer to what happened. He turned in for a night, having a fitful sleep that ended when the first rays of the morning sun reached him.

  After a meagre breakfast and breaking camp, he leapt off from the tree, turning into a raven to fly along the old path toward the last mountain. Half a day later he reached another set of ruins but found nothing of interest there besides old bones and rotten tools. The end of the day found him in what he recognised to be an overgrown proving ground.