Run

“My, my, my. That was quite a fall, wasn’t it?”

“I’m surprised. Frankly, I thought that you would last a lot longer than that. I had heard from the Norns that you would play a part in grand battles, that you would lead the greatest chase the world has ever seen. And yet, here you are, inches away from my throne.”

“The best part is that I can rub this one in One-eye’s stupid face. He goes on and on about his heroes, and how they will be the saviors at Ragnarok… and yet here I have what could have been the greatest mage of them all, and he shall be in MY army.”

“Come, John Newman. Just a little bit mo-”

“Now, I don’t mean to be a party crasher, but do you think you should be doing that?”

“... I do not recall inviting you to my kingdom, Baron.”

“You did, in fact. Remember our little bash in 1945? You were so… enamored with me that you made it very clear that I had a free invitation to come back to your little spot in Helhiem and we could have our own little party, just the two of us.”

“I meant more as an invitation to fuck, not an invite when I am about to claim a wonderfully delicious soul. Can’t you see I’m working?”

“Oh, trust me, I understand. And there is nothing I like more than seeing a beautiful woman who has a passion and dedication to her work. But I am here for more than a little fun in the sun.”

“Baron… I swear…”

“I am here on behalf of Gaia.”

“...”

“Nothing to say about that one, my dear?”

“Just spit it out already.”

“Oh, but that’s no fun. What did you say to me in ‘45? Spitters are qui-”

“Baron, I swear to Gaia…”

“Fine. She wanted me to tell you that this one is not up for claiming, not yet. He’s got too much left to accomplish for his story to be cut off so quickly. Plus… You and I both know he is not close enough to be claimed.”

“But with a little push-”

“Hel, no. This boy is not yours to claim.”

“Why are you so invested? Hoping he dies on your turf?”

“... I cannot deny that having the lad attending my eternal party would be rather good for my standing amongst our colleagues. But we, more than any other gods, cannot afford to be unjust.”

“... Sigh… I suppose you are right as always, Baron.”

“Now, now, don’t be so down. C’mon, let’s let him return to the land of the living. In the meantime… I did come here on the invite I got in ‘45…”

“True… And I think you should honor that invitation, Baron Samedi…”

John gasped as air re-entered his lungs, following that up with about half a dozen coughs as he tried to expel what water was left in his throat. Talia sat next to him, her hands on his chest as he continued to cough and regain his breath. She started to tear up and mutter thanks to various gods as John tried to regain his sense of where he was.

“T.. Talia? Wh… what happ…”

She sniffed and rubbed her nose against her arm before answering, “You hit your head on the way down and landed face first in the water. I saw you sinking.” She shook her head softly. “I… I thought you were gone there for a moment.”

‘You weren’t the only one…’ John thought as he recalled his vision. Apparently the gods of **** had some vested interest in him, and at least one of them wanted him dead rather than alive. ‘I may need to be a bit more cautious. Can’t take too many risks if there is someone eager for me to pass on.’ John looked up to Talia and put on a weak smile. “I… I’m fine. But… thank you for saving-”

Talia interrupted him by quickly enveloping him in a crushing hug, and John could hear her crying into his shoulder. “You… you idiot. You almost died on me…” she softly said. John gave a soft sigh, returning her hug and patting her on the back.

“INCOMING!” a loud voice above them rang out, and John looked up just in time to see Mavis performing a dive into the pool of water, creating a decent sized splash that managed to get both him and Talia wet, or it would have if they weren’t already wet due to their own fall. John pushed his wet hair out of his eyes, spitting out a small stream as Mavis surfaced, quickly swimming over to them.

“No time for cuddling, guys! The skaven are headed straight for us, or at least they will be once they find the trapdoor.”

“We weren’t-”

“NO TIME I SAY!” She quickly grabbed both of them by the collar and pulled them to their feet. “WE GOTTA MOVE!”

Mavis then started to run down the cavern, yelling at them to get a move on. With no other options, Talia and John took one look at each other before chasing after Mavis, hoping that Beowulf would buy them what time they needed to escape.

The run out of the barrow was significantly easier than the exploration into it. Firstly, they got to skip the rooms they had gone to with Skriskrueel, as the tunnel they were in went right underneath all of them. Secondly, whenever a random monster decided to show up in front of them, such as a large spider or rat, Mavis would just chop it in two with a quick swipe before they would keep moving. Granted, the caverns were dark as shit and it would have been impossible to run through without a light source, but thankfully John had his Glow spell, turning his hand into a magical flashlight for the entire run. That, and the fact that Talia emitted a natural glow due to her light-Elf-ness meant that they had a perfect view of where they were going.

“Hey Mavis, do the skaven have night vision?” John asked as he slid down a slight slope, holding his hand aloft to see where he was going.

“No idea. They may have some form of dark vision, but usually they always brought a torch or two whenever they entered my chamber. So your guess is as good as mine.”

John remained silent for a few moments as he helped Talia gain her footing, before asking, “Do you know where this tunnel is going?”

Mavis gave a small nod. “It should lead into the Tyr room, at least if I understood the directions that Beowulf gave.”

“About that,” Talia interjected. “You didn’t mention that one of your wielders was the legendary Beowulf.”

“You never asked,” Mavis said with a cheeky grin.

“True enough. Care to tell us about any more of your wielders?” Talia asked as their run descended into a brisk walk as the two mortal party members were starting to get a bit tired.

Mavis shrugged. “Not much really to tell about a lot of them. Beowulf really overhyped my previous wielders; while they were legends, they were only legends for their specific people.”

“Well, a legend is still a legend, so we probably have heard at least something about them.”

Mavis gave her a sly smile. “Alright. A couple thousand years ago, I was the blade of Magni Dregenblade the XV.”

John gave Mavis a blank stare for a few moments before slowly leaning over to whisper to Talia, “Do you know who that is?”

Talia whispered back, “No, but at the same time I don’t wanna admit that and give her the satisfaction of being right. Imma bluff.” She then stood up straight and gave her a smile. “Oh wow, Magni Dregenblade? I’ve heard a lot about him!”

“Oh really? Do tell, what do you think was his greatest accomplishment?”

“Uh...” Talia looked over to John who gave her a shrug “I… would have to say managing to wield the blade of souls in his lifetime!”

“Well, obviously,” Mavis said, crossing her arms. “But how about aside from that.”

“Um… well… when he led the… dwarves… to… victory at… OH WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, THE WAY OUT!” Talia exclaimed, quickly running over to a ladder leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. Quickly she began to ascend the ladder, all the while Mavis just chuckled to herself standing next to John.

John turned to her. “So, who was Magni Dregenblade the XV?”

Mavis shook her head. “Made him up. I did get wielded by a dwarf known as Morik the Grand, but I figured I would shoot Talia a small test to see if she could swallow her pride.”

John looked over to Talia, getting a fantastic view of her ass as she climbed up the ladder. “Well, to be fair she did have a point. We both would like to know about some of your wielders.”

Mavis looked to him, worry etched into her features. “John… look, if you wanna know that badly, you could order me to tell you. But I am not ready to tell you about some of those people. A sword is not always on the side of justice, and I am not eager to remember some of the people I was used to slaughter.”

“I… I thought you had to see into someone’s soul to be able to be wielded by them. Wouldn’t you know if they were going to turn out bad because of that?”

“No.” Mavis sighed and shivered slightly. “When I bond with someone, I get a look at their soul at the time, and can choose to bond with them or not. After that, as long as they live, the bond cannot be severed and I am their sword. If they choose to do evil after that, I have little choice in how I am used.”

John stayed quiet for a moment or two, walking alongside Mavis to the ladder. Then, right before either of them would climb up it, John wrapped Mavis in a hug. “I… I guess I’ll just have to make sure I stay on the straight and narrow then.”

Mavis leaned back into him and sighed. “Yeah, you will. Or else I’ll have to kick some morality into you.” She gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Now, let’s head up. I bet you wanna go last, so you have something sexy to look at,” she said with a wink, slowly making her way up the ladder. John chuckled, following her and keeping his eyes pointed straight at her ass.

Just as he got about halfway up, he suddenly heard the sound of skittering claws and angry screams. “Shit” he and Mavis said at the same time.

“CLIMB!” Mavis called out, moving quickly up the ladder. John tried to follow at the same speed. He could hear the sounds growing louder and louder, the echoes of swords and claws and shields against the stone becoming almost deafening as he got higher and higher.

John reached about 3/4s the way up before he heard a skaven yell out, “THERE! THE LADDER!” followed by various war cries of dozens of skavens.

John tried to climb faster, taking multiple rungs at once while trying not to put too much weight on the weak looking wooden rungs, afraid one would break beneath him. He could feel the old wood digging into his hands, and then started to feel the ladder shake as the skaven grew closer. Mavis made it through the trapdoor, turning around and offering him a hand. He reached up, but his arm was not quite long enough. He kept climbing, but could feel the thud of feet as skaven had reached the ladder and were now climbing up to catch him. He took another couple rungs, reached up and just barely touched Mavis’ hand. He moved to climb again, but the rungs beneath his feet cracked, and he fell a couple feet to the rungs beneath him.

“JOHN! JUMP!” Mavis cried out, leaning down further. John swore he could feel the hot breath of the skaven on his heels, and could smell the stench of their fur and bloodlust. He tried to swallow his fear down, counted to three, and with an insane amount of fear, lept from the ladder.

He got closer.

And closer.

And closer.

And further.

He missed.

John’s eyes went wide as he just barely missed her hand, and he slowly began to fall down to the skaven below. ‘Guess that **** goddess was right. I was gonna die soon.’

Then, just as he thought he would fall, a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed his. He looked up to see Mavis holding his hands tightly, and holding Mavis’ legs were Frida and Talia.

“PULL!” Mavis screamed, and without a second to react, Mavis and John shot up through the trapdoor and out of the claws of the skaven.

“John… John… you’re okay. Open your eyes, John…”

Mavis softly stroked John’s head, his face between her breasts and his arms curled around her as he shook like a leaf. She knew this was because of the scare on the ladder, and could admit that for a few moments after that she was shaking just as much as John. When she saw him starting to fall, she reacted without a second thought, jumping forward and hoping that, together, they would have survived. At least if he fell all the way, she would be able to be at his side and help him fight.

However… she also knew the shaking was from something else. She had peered into his soul and memories, she knew that he was being plagued by nightmares. She knew he hadn’t slept in days, not properly. He was living off energy pills, and despite his weird powers, Mavis knew he would not last on those things.

She sighed and stroked his hair again before looking up at the two who pulled them out of danger. Talia sat by her adoptive mother’s side, sword in hand and watching John with a careful eye. Next to her, a woman that Mavis thought she would never see again was busy using fire spells to toast what was left of that rotten bridge and any skaven that got too close. Frida looked good for her age, and hadn’t aged a day since Mavis last saw her nearly a hundred years ago.

‘But why do you look like Arvida?’ Mavis thought to herself, recalling the last time she saw the revolution leader. Granted, Frida still had a lot of features that defined her as her, not Arvida, such as the huge tits and the glasses, but the blonde hair and some of the structure of her face looked a lot more like Arvida than what Mavis was comfortable with.

She then looked over to Talia, and a realization hit her. ‘Wait.. oh, I see… I see… I knew that kid had to have ended up somewhere… but to think that Frida adopted her…’ She chuckled to herself and petted John one more time, before thinking to herself,