Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

"What happened to him? How many bandits did you find there?" she asked, as she touched the superficial wounds on Karl's face.

"About twenty. But Dag still managed to kill them all. His strength is incredible, he is a formidable warrior" Karl, proud of his captain, continued.

"You two love each other, don't you?" replied Agnes, smiling at Karl as she stroked his cheek.

"We are like brothers. We've known each other since we were kids... I never thought he'd become my Captain one day. I'd like him and Freydis to meet again, he truly deserves it" Karl said, looking at Dag admiringly as he laughed and joked with the peasants.

When the evening arrived, the preparations for the banquet were ready and the long table inside the hut was set with all kinds of dishes.

Before sitting down at the table, Dag and his companions walked away to the horses to have some privacy and be able to heal their wounds.

Reidar and Dag were the most wounded.

Karl pulled everything he needed for the medication out of his leather box.

"It's unbelievable" Dag said, touching his arm.

"What's unbelievable?" asked Karl, as he smeared an ointment on one of Reidar's wounds.

"I was sure one of those bandits had hit me on the arm with the spear. I had a cut right here, I saw it with my own eyes" Dag continued, continuing to look at his arm.

There wasn't even a sign of a scar.

His skin in that point was normal as if nothing had happened.

Karl finished medicating Reidar and went to Dag's, to check on his arm.

"It just seems that there is nothing. Does it hurt if I press this point?" he asked, applying pressure on where the spear wound should have been.

"No. I don't feel anything" Dag answered.

"If it's true that you've been hit, that means only one thing... magenta blood, in addition to giving you extraordinary strength, greatly increases the regeneration capacity of your cells" Karl continued, as he looked at Dag's other arms.

Then he looked at his face, moving it with his hand.

"There's no scratch" he said.

"Cells? How do you know this word?" asked Dag, as his cheeks were in Karl's hands, who was looking at him as if he was an artifact to study.

"The almanac. It's the most comprehensive and detailed book I've ever read... Egill must be a really cultured man" Karl replied.

When they finished cleaning their wounds and cooling off with well water, the three friends finally made their way to the hut.

"Ah! Wait! I almost forgot..." Karl said, blocking his companions before they could enter.

"Come with me!" he continued, heading to another hut.

All entered, following Karl, who approached an old wooden closet.

He opened it: there was a medium-sized chest inside.

He took it and laid it on a table.

"As I promised you before we left, I asked Agnes to secure the blood infusion" Karl said, opening the chest.

Dag looked closely, hoping that Karl's reaction would have had the desired effect.

Karl pulled out a small bowl of iron from the chest and looked intently inside of it.

"Dag" he said, looking at his friend.

Dag looked him in the eye, fearing Karl would have bad news.

"I think it worked! Look at this!" replied Karl enthusiastically, showing Dag and Reidar the result of his experiment.

"As the almanac said, the seeds of the Crimson Tooth isolated the energy portion of the falcon's blood" he continued, pointing to the contents of the bowl with his finger.

A dense and transparent liquid covered the bottom of its container, while another liquid, of lower volume and density, floated on it.

The lighter liquid was of very intense color: after the reaction, the magenta had turned purple.

Karl quickly opened one of his bags, looking forward to continuing the experiment.

Dag was speechless.

If Karl had been right, his powers would have increased permanently and he could have repeated the process: he would have just collected more magenta blood and joined it with the seeds of the flowers they had harvested in abundance in the swamp.

After Karl picked up the only purple part, putting it in a vial, the three friends walked out of the hut, heading to the other villagers, who were surely waiting for them.

"I still can't believe it. If you did it, you're a genius! Fuck yes!" said Dag, who after a few minutes fully realized the potential of Karl's possible discovery.

"Hahaha! It's too early to claim victory. Tomorrow morning I will pick up your blood and proceed with phase 2 of the experiment" Karl replied, pleased to see Dag so happy.

When they reached the hut, they sat at the table with everyone else and ate profusely, celebrating victory against the bandits.

During the meal, being the mead abundant, they did not hesitate to exaggerate with a few more glasses, ending up getting drunk.

Drunk and happy, they managed to reach one of the huts and with the help of Agnes and her mother, they put themselves to bed, falling asleep like children.

The next day, when Dag opened his eyes, the Sun was already high in the sky.

After making a deep yawn, he rose from the straw bed and looked at his companions: both were still in the dream world, snoring.

He chuckled as he saw the scene and then walked towards them.

"Wake up, slackers! At this rate, we will arrive in Tyven in a few years! Hahaha!"

Reidar opened his eyes and looked at Dag with a confused expression, typical of the hangover.

Together they also called Karl, who if no one woke him up, would probably continue to sleep until sunset.

After about half an hour they recovered from the effect of alcohol of the night before.

By the time they left the hut, the village farmers were already busy with their chores.

Some of them were lowered to the ground, looking after the seeds planted just before, others were busy rebuilding the destroyed huts.