And getting along with her

The room Brunhilde led John into looked just as professional as the reception of the clinic did. Clean white walls, illuminated in a calming shade of yellow thrown onto the walls while the center of the room was illuminated in a neutral color. Petra Gjoskenholm sat in a chair near on the opposite wall to the door and looked up as the three of them entered the room. Her eyes got big as soon as she saw her (by now) younger daughter.

"Astrid, what happened to you? Yesterday you looked like **** incarnate, and now you... you look alive again. And what is John Newman doing here?" her questions came at a rapid pace, leaving Astrid only little time to respond to them.

"Well... I guess you can say that curiosity got the better of me. And John is here because he is the reason I feel so much better again. He used a skill of his and, poof, suddenly I'm better. We're both not sure how it happened or how it worked, but it did."

Petra was now looking intently at John, who wished for nothing more than to disappear from the room, "So, you now helped my second daughter, as well? If this keeps going at this rate, then the whole female part of our clan will be indebted to you next week."

Her slight chuckle after that made John relax a bit while he answered, "There's nothing you are indebted to me for. I helped Brun because it was the right thing to do, and I helped Astrid because I knew Brun and she looked like she could use someone outside of her family as a friend. What happened was a total coincidence that looks like it went off better than expected. So there's nothing you owe me. And you already gave me enough as it is."

Shaking her head, the mother of the former twins looked at both of her daughters while talking to him, "Your humility is admirable, but it makes you look either naive or scheming. Since I know from your own words and from your growth that you likely actually got your powers yesterday, I'm going with naive. Let me give you a piece of advice: Never do anything without expecting something in return. You will only be exploited, and people will treat you like shit. Always expect at least a little something in return to show that you actually look out for yourself."

That advice made sense to John, but he just felt like it was kind of wrong what she said. Sure, there were cases where it was true, but there were also cases where no return was exactly the point of the action in the first place... But for now, he would keep that lesson in the back of his mind.

It was then that Brunhilde interjected into the talk, "That's nice, and all, but apparently John has something that he needs your expertise in, and I'm curious what it is."

The older Valkyrie raised an eyebrow at that, "Really now? So you have something that I should look over? Can you explain to me what it is?"

Instead of answering, John just pulled out the egg from his inventory, still wrapped in the furs. A quick Observe revealed that the hatching status was still at 40%. It now dawned on John that the Egg would not hatch in his inventory since items in there are put into some kind of stasis like it was with the pizza and the panties. "So, inside an Illusion Barrier, I got this egg. I got it from a wolf that was glowing in rainbow colors, and the information I can get about this thing is that it is supposedly a Draco Lupus Fulminis. My questions are why a wolf would carry it if that name rings any bells for you and what you think I should do with it."

The doctor was by now intently looking at the egg, listening for any heartbeat and watching for any damages, "Okay, I'm going to answer you in that order: First, I have no idea why a wolf would carry an egg, even if it shares something in the name with it. Then again, you said it was a rainbow-colored wolf, so I'm going to assume that it was a magical beast, and those don't play by sane rules often. Second, if the name you just said is true, then that thing would be a 'Thunder Wolf Dragon', something I have never heard of before. And third, I honestly have no idea what you should do with it since it shouldn't even be here. Everything you just said and from everything I can see that is an egg of some kind of Abyssal creature, it shouldn't be possible to bring it into the real world... If you keep it inside a Barrier and properly raise it, whatever it is, then it might be of use to you. But I would like to keep watch over it, in case it's too dangerous. Seeing as how you're going to be with Brunhilde and Astrid a lot, as it seems, I want some updates on what happens with the egg. And what in hell are you so giddy about, Brunhilde?"

Brunhilde started to squeal and pulled out her phone at some point during Petra's explanation, frantically typing and looking for something. Once her mother was done, Brun grinned widely as looked at her mother, "You'll probably think I'm crazy, but I think I know what that thing is John found there," and she showed the group in front of her a picture of... something. It was definitely a beast of some sort, it was quadrupedal, and was probably the size of half the building they were in. It was scaled with teal and yellow scales and had a streak of white fur running along its back and its feet (paws?). From its head protruded two big horns going straight forward over a sleek and pointy muzzle. Looking at the thing gave the feeling that someone crossed a wolf and some big lizard, or even a dragon, with one another. Then, Brunhilde began to explain, "This, ladies, is called a Zinogre, or also known as a 'Thunder Wolf Wyvern'. It's capable of coursing lightning through its body, it's fast, it's nimble, and it can pack a wallop of a punch."

"And how do you know that thing? That doesn't look like anything I have ever seen," asked the older Valkyrie.

"Because it's from a game, Monster Hunter to be exact," was Brun's quick answer.

"And why are you so sure that this is actually what is in the egg? If it's from a video game, it's likely fabricated."

"Ah, but there are two reasons why it is possible that it's this beast. A, John's powers are, as he put it himself, videogame-related, so why shouldn't he be able to spawn a creature out of a video game, if lucky enough? And B, we both know how the Abyss works, it's totally possible."

"Uh, could someone explain to me HOW the Abyss works then?" interjected John, by now a bit confused.

"Well, let's resume your tutorial then, eh?" laughed Brunhilde, "the Abyss works pretty simply: if someone believes in something, it exists. Doneso."

Flicking her daughter on the forehead, Petra added a bit more explanation to it, "While in summary not untrue, that is a very rough and basic explanation of how the Abyss 'functions', if one wants to call it that. Basically, as Brunhilde has said, everything that someone thinks or fantasizes about possibly exists within the Abyss, not necessarily as strong as the fantasy. If enough people think about it and believe in it, though, it will become stronger, and it will gain more power as more people believe in it. That is also how all gods except Gaia are created, through belief and faith. And if one of those gods then wants some creature to exist, it wills the creature into existence. It'd likely be tightly bound to the power of that god, but it would start to exist. So it is possible that this... Zinogre thing would actually start to exist if one of three possibilities is given: Enough people believe in that thing, a God wanted that thing, or someone powerful enough created it through magic."

"Wait, so you're saying that the gods only started to exist because people started to have faith in them? Also, does that mean that there is some kind of Christian God? And a Jesus?" asked John.

The mother's answer was, "Correct on the first question. If some legend about some person started to circulate about a specific person or hero, then he or she will start to exist. And about Christianity: I don't know about that. It would make sense if so, but I think we would have heard about it by now if it were the case with the amount of power he would have..."

"Also, how do you know so much about all this?" was John's next question.

"That one's easy," interjected Brun, "because we talk with our gods and most of them are pretty talkative about it. No reason to hide it, I guess." The older Valkyrie nodded at that, confirming what Brunhilde just said.

"Okay, so, I have some kind of dragon egg then, that shouldn't actually exist, might be from a video game and might be dangerous... Good to know... Okay, I think I know how I can deal with this and how I can get it to hatch, for now, I'll keep it in my inventory though, there it won't progress in its hatching," concluded John.

"A wise choice. Now then, do you need anything else from me? I'm still on break and want to use it a bit more before the next patients come in. Brunhilde, you keep watch over your sister, I'll see you both tonight when I'm home. And you, John Newman, I'm pretty sure I will see you too at some point. And let me emphasize the warning I gave you yesterday. If you harm one of my girls, either intentionally or unintentionally, then I'll see to it that every bone in your body will be broken after I'm done with you, understood?"

Just as yesterday, John couldn't do much except nod a lot and make himself look as small as possible. All three women laughed at that while Astrid and Brun pushed John out of the room (after he put away his egg. of course).

"She likes you, you know?" said Astrid.

"What? How did you figure that out? I'm pretty sure she just threatened to break every bone in my body if I fuck up."

"Right," answered Brun, "she threatened to do it. If she didn't like you, she'd already have done it."

Oh god, in what kind of family had he gotten into?