The Story of Mavis

John and Talia were sitting upon the stone table that Mavis had been resting on, waiting for Skriskrueel to return and tell them he would lead them into the skaven encampment. He wasn’t sure if the guards would have the best reaction at seeing two man-things walking with him into the camp, so he was going ahead to notify them he would be bringing in a couple prisoners and that the skavenslaves should keep their weapons ready, but no attacking would be needed. While they had waited, John had taken the time to tell Talia what occurred in his soul room as well as what he learned about his thread of life.

“So the one thing I am still confused about,” Talia said after John’s story was finished, “is where did Mavis come from? She’s a sword important enough to be given a prophecy from the Norns themselves, yet I have never heard of her in myths and legends.”

“Well, you could always ask her instead of talking like she is not even there,” Mavis said, turning back from a sword into her human form, leaning up against John’s back. “I can hear you. Just cause a sword doesn’t have ears doesn’t mean I am deaf.”

Talia gave her a deadpan stare. “Well, sorry I haven’t been kept up to date on the biological capabilities of swords. It never really came up.” She crossed her arms, giving off a slight pout. “So, how about you fill us in on your origin? Since you know about John’s through reading his soul books, you should return the favor.”

“Yeah, I can tell John. Don’t know why you should still be here then,” Mavis said with a grin.

“I’m here because I am John’s girlfriend, and because I want to be. That is reason enough.”

“Reason enough to be here? Sure. But reason enough to get to hear my tragic and exciting backstory? Nope.”

“Mavis,” John finally said, turning to look at her, “Talia is going to be fighting and traveling alongside us for a long time. If you two are going to be sharing the front lines, she should know about you too.”

Mavis glared at him. “Just because I am your weapon doesn’t mean you get to tell me what the fuck to do.” However, she gave a slight sigh and leaned back. “But I guess no real harm could come from spinning you two a yarn.”

Talia gave an eyeroll as Mavis shifted, laying back on the table while placing her hands behind her head. “Alright, so, have you guys ever heard the one about how Thor’s hammer was made?”

John raised an eyebrow. “That introduction makes it sound like you are about to tell a really funny joke.”

“Well, funny enough, that’s how the story started,” Mavis said with a grin. “It started when Loki decided it would be a really funny prank to cut off all of Sif’s hair.”

“Who?”

“Thor’s wife,” Talia interjected. “She was famed for having really beautiful hair. She was also the goddess of fertility and family.”

“Right,” Mavis cut back in. “Anyway, Thor is really pissed at Loki and says he is gonna break every bone in his body when Loki promises that he will get Sif a new head of hair, one that is even more beautiful than the last. Thor agrees this will work, and Loki heads down to the Svartalfheim, the land of the dwarves. He ended up negotiating with the sons of Ivaldi and got them to make not only new hair for Sif but also a couple other really powerful items. One of them was the boat Skidbladnir which could be folded up and put in your pocket, and the other was Gungnir, a spear that would never miss its target.”

“That last one sounds familiar…” John muttered to himself.

“It should,” Mavis said with a smile. “It’s Odin’s spear.”

“Wait, the dwarves crafted Odin’s spear?”

“And more. See, Loki decided to be a bit of a dick and taunt the dwarven brothers Brokkr and Sindri, claiming they couldn’t make anything as cool as what Ivaldi’s sons had made. Brokkr and Sindri accepted, with the wager being Loki’s head. They started working, and Loki thought he would go ahead and try to sway the competition by turning into a fly and attempting to mess with them. It didn’t work for the first two items, of which they created a living boar with golden hair called Gullinbursti. It would give off light in the dark and could run faster than any horse and could even run through water and air.”

“Wait, they saw that a dwarf crafted actual hair and their response was, “Let’s make a boar that is the fastest runner ever?”

“Yeah, Brokkr and Sindri were the textbook examples of “go big or go home.” Anyway, the second creation was a ring called Draupnir, which every eighth night would produce nine golden rings of equal weight.” Mavis looked off in the distance with a face of contemplation. “Or was it every ninth night it would produce eight rings? Whatever, doesn’t matter.”

“Finally, they crafted a hammer that would never miss its mark and that would return to the hand when thrown. Loki managed to sting Brokkr in the eye, causing him to mess up on the handle and waste a lot of metal, but he still made a stupidly overpowered hammer. They called the hammer “Mjolnir”, or Lightning. They took all 6 of the treasures to the other gods, giving to Thor Sif’s new hair and Mjolnir, Odin the ring and Gugnir, and Freyr got the boat and boar. They were happy with all the items, but everyone agreed that the brothers made better items and that Loki owed them payment.”

“I would say so. I mean, a new hairdo versus the most powerful hammer in the universe?” Talia said with a chuckle. “Obviously they would choose the brother’s items.”

“Right, but Loki had a trick. He said that while he wagered his head, he did not wager his neck so the payment couldn’t be truly collected.”

“Isn’t that from the merchant of venice? “You can have a pound of my flesh but not my blood?”

Mavis nodded in agreement to John. “Yeah. Shakespear loved the classics, I guess. Anyway, they decided that a suitable payment would be sewing Loki’s mouth shut instead and called it a day. However, after making these really powerful weapons and stuff, Brokkr and Sindri decided they wanted to make a whole new kind of sword, one that would also be a warrior in itself. Reusing the ruined part of Mjolnir by melting it down and reforging it, along with a lot of new metal, they began the really long process of forging this sword. They used the blood of the greatest Einherjar to cool it and had Odin himself enchant the blade with runes to give it the gift of life and power.” She then held her hands up before pointing at herself with her thumbs. “And thus, a few thousand years ago, I got made.”

Talia and John both stayed silent for a few moments, looking at the goth with expressions of wonder. “Are… are you saying that you are partially Mjolnier?”

“Pfft, not just partially. Through weaponry logic, Mjolnier is essentially my twin brother, as weird as that sounds.”

Talia’s eyes went about as wide as dinner plates as her head whipped around to stare at John. “What. The. Actual. Fuck.”

John gave her a sheepish look, softly asking, “Yes?”

“You not only have bullshit powers and somehow revived a dead branch of magic, but you managed to get a weapon akin to THOR’S HAMMER?! HOW?!”

Both he and Mavis shrugged simultaneously. John then turned to Mavis. “That reminds me, will you still have your super high stats as my weapon?”

Mavis shook her head. “No. My strength is tied to my wielder that I am soulbound to. I can be stronger than them still, as is my position being a sword of legends, but I will not be god tier unless my wielder is.”

John’s brow furrowed. “In layman’s terms, please?”

“Ugh, moron. Look, in terms of your powers, I will only be at your level. My stats will still be strong, but I will be stuck at whatever level you are. When you level up, I will level up with you.”

John nodded at that. “Makes sense, I suppose.” He was about to ask her another question, when just at that moment Mavis jumped up to her feet. “Right. Both of you, go stand over there and get ready to fight.”

Neither Talia nor John moved, just staring at Mavis blankly. “Uh… what?”

She sighed. “I wanna see how good the two of you are at fighting. As I understand it, one of the two of you will be fighting the Rat King in a few, so we gotta decide who is gonna do it. So go stand over there, get into position, and let me evaluate you two.”

Talia looked to John, who looked right back at her. “Evaluate?” Talia asked.

“Yeah, evaluate. Seriously, did you two lose your hearing or something?” Mavis shook her head in disappointment. “I’ve been wielded by many warriors in the past, and have seen more battles than you can possibly imagine, so I am gonna see how good you two are at fighting.”

John decided to humor her, standing up and walking over to where she was gesturing before turning to face her and raising his hands up in a “ready to cast a rune” sort of stance. Talia soon followed him, drawing Firebite and standing next to him.

Mavis shook her head and quickly dashed to their sides. “John, your stance isn’t wide enough. You’re open to being tripped up and sent sprawling. In addition, if you need to run you will be wasting precious seconds trying to adjust your stance into a quick spring.” She then turned her attention to Talia. “Girlie, who the fuck taught you how to hold a blade?”

Talia’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. “No one. I taught myself ‘cause I am not allowed to learn to use swords.”

Mavis let out a rude noise. “Well, that’s fucking bullshit. Some of my favorite wielders were women, and I have personally met at least 75 valkyries in Odin’s service. Bunch of baddasses, them women.” She reached over and grabbed Talia’s arms, shifting her body around slightly. “Here, this will help you deflect blows a lot better. You are standing in a position to dodge hits, not parry them. While that would be good with a thinner and lighter blade, this is a blade of power. You gotta parry the hit and strike back.” She then pressed her hands against Talia’s back, pushing on her spine. “Also, square your shoulders. Your posture is horrible.”

Before she could react, Mavis turned back to John. She cocked her head and sighed. “Look, I get that I’m your sword and am currently not in your sweaty hands, but could you humor me and use one of the swords in here to show me how you are going to try to be holding me?”

John’s face turned as red as Talia’s as he quickly dashed away to pick one of the swords off the dead skaven. After a few moments of searching, which Mavis spent instructing Talia some more, he managed to find one that was not chewed on or corroded to the point of destruction and jogged to rejoin them.

Mavis scrunched her nose in disgust when she saw the blade John was carrying. “Really? That’s what you’re gonna use to represent me?”

“Well, considering the others looked more like scrap chewed on by their wielders, yes.”

“Hmpf, fair enough.” She turned back to Talia. “Now, remember what I told you. This sword is an extension of your arm, to be used as such. You and the sword are one, fight like it.” She then turned to John. “Okay dipshit, show me what you got.”

John sighed before raising the blade and a hand. Mavis walked around him a couple times, making a tsk noise while she did so.

“Sad. You have the beginning of a proper stance, but only a beginning. It’s like you looked at a book on swordsmanship, saw the first picture, and decided to do that. Your weight is off, you look very inexperienced, and frankly, it seems like you are afraid the sword is going to bite you.”

“Well, not all of us have been sitting in a cave for a thousand years after being alive long enough to learn all the secret sword techniques,” John spat out.

“Well, well, well, someone has a backbone. Maybe try using it in a fight rather than yelling at a sword of legend.” She reached out and, with an oddly soft touch, raised John’s arm slightly. “You are a sword mage. While I can see the skill and comfort you have in the spell hand, I cannot see that with the sword arm,” she softly said, her head right next to John’s. She smelled like a forge, like heat, metal and oil, an oddly pleasant scent to John. “You must remember when wielding a blade like this that it is just as useful if not more so than your spells. You need to trust in it just as much as your spells.” She backed away from John, leaving him with a small longing to have her near him again.

“Now,” she said, walking away from them before picking up two long sticks off the body of a dead priest, “use these like your blades and start dueling.”

“Wait, what?” Talia said, her blade drooping as she looked to Mavis.

“Seriously, again with the hearing. I said use these sticks and fight each other.”

John looked over to Mavis, dropping his deteriorated blade into the dirt. “Um… you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I only ever have good ideas, so yes, I am sure,” she said, tossing them the sticks. John fumbled slightly with his while Talia caught hers perfectly. “No spells, John, but I want you two to fight. To simulate the spells, John, I want you to yell out “Zap” when you would cast one.”

John looked to Talia, who had already sheathed Firebite and stood in a ready stance, looking at John. “Practice does make perfect,” Talia said with a grin. This set John a bit more at ease, knowing that Talia would not hurt him and this was just practice for them both. He held his stick in front of himself and pretended to ready a spell.

Mavis smiled at the two of them, finding them both quite adorable.