Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

"My old room was occupied by a new recruit and I had to sleep in this one here, where the bed was half broken..." he said, clawing his neck and walking beside Dag.

"Lately you don't have much luck in rooms! Hahahah!" he laughed, making a clear reference to the episode of Gridd a few nights earlier.

Reidar laughed at the joke and within seconds they both found themselves in the outside yard, retracing what until recently was their daily routine, even if they didn't know each other, despite having both walked down those corridors, without ever crossing their eyes.

Once outside, Egill and Dargeon were already close to their pedestal and chatting with each other.

When they saw Dag, they invited him to join them.

"I'll be waiting for you among the other warriors, Captain" Reidar said, turning back and heading toward the center of the yard, stopping as soon as Dag grabbed his arm.

"You're not going anywhere, come near us" he exclaimed, making the archer feel honored to receive that invitation. 

Without thinking twice, Reidar accompanied him to the two Masters, and all four of them waited for the courtyard to fill with warriors, while Freydis also walked out of the dorm and reached their position.

About 30 minutes after his awakening, Dag was there, standing next to the wise Egill and Dargeon, on the pedestal of official speeches, and with Freydis and Reidar next to it, watching the crowd of warriors with hope in their eyes.

The Berserkrs and Shieldmaidens of the front rows noticed that there was an air of discourse as soon as they saw Master Dag in the position he should be, once he returned from his endless travels.

Everyone stopped and arranged neatly in rows, like every day of hard training.

The sunlight lit up the heads of the Hammers Of Thor warriors as the birds began to flutter over the Temple.

Master Egill began to speak, inviting everyone to keep quiet with a gesture of his hand: "Good morning everyone. Needless to say, I'll announce that Master Dag has returned to the Temple Of Orn... you can see him with your own eyes next to me".

Some young warriors began chatting with each other, others raised their arms upwards, cheering Dag in silence, smiling as they looked at him with admiration.

"Thanks to his incredible courage and his determination, Master Dag, in a few weeks, has already managed to bring together three Clans, founding the Iron Alliance, of which he is the Warchief" Egill continued, rejoicing the warriors in front of him, who celebrated that news by raising their arms upwards and clenching their fists, albeit in an orderly silence.

"So... each of you will be able to ask the questions you want and ask Master Dag and the other members of his team about what happened in the last period, but first... he'll ask you something. Something that could change your lives forever..." Egill concluded, stepping back and leaving the word to Dag, who, thanks to the introduction of his colleague, immediately got to the bottom of it.

"After a vote that involved all the Masters of the three Clans that are part of the Iron Alliance, we decided that in a short time, we will leave for Krypstorm, the land of perennial ice" he exclaimed, looking at the faces of his former training partners.

The crowd began to murmur something, after realizing Dag's serious intentions, which from his gaze expressed determination.

"Our nation, Okstorm, was recently attacked by the Giants Of Ymir, whose warriors assaulted and destroyed villages on the coast in the form of Jotunns. We managed to drive them away, avoiding other victims, but the damage they caused remains. 16 Crows of Odin warriors, 12 Sons Of Freya and 12 Hammers Of Thor will take part in the mission, one of the most dangerous ever" Dag continued.

A Berserkr a few steps from him swallowed empty, frightened by that speech, imagining that cold inhospitable land and its dangers.

"I will avoid telling you what this journey would mean for the twelve volunteers... I'm not going to talk to you about the risks that will take place, the problems we might encounter... no, I'm sure you already know those. I will tell you about the glory, the resources, the enrichment of your knowledge! This is what you will get if you follow me, Master Egill and 3 other allied Masters, in addition to 28 other volunteer warriors... like you, but from other Clans. You'll know what's behind the Great Deep Sea, what's beyond the fog, beyond the horizon. It won't be a simple trip... this mission will change your lives forever!" Dag replied, raising his voice, leveraging his natural skills as a motivator of the masses.

As expected, his listeners began to nod their heads as they looked at him, captured by his speech.

"Living without knowing is like not living at all. Wasting your strength fighting cyclical battles that will continue to repeat themselves over time, it makes no sense, if you do not get to know the unknown, if you do not wonder about the hidden, if you do not discover what is on the other side of Skjold, on a nation twice the size of Okstorm! What are our lives, if not a mere breath of wind?"

After those words, Dag looked at Freydis, who smiled at him, realizing that her boyfriend had taken inspiration from her words of the previous evening.

"Then... Hammers Of Thor! Who will be the twelve warriors who will follow us and help us write down our history?!" Egill yelled unexpectedly, positioning himself next to Dag and addressing the crowd, which was now in full turmoil.

After the motivational speech, four front-row warriors stepped forward, looking at Dag and hitting their chest with a fist, then raising their arms towards him as a sign of loyalty.

Seeing their companions, three other warriors took courage from the back and made their way among their comrades, stopping next to the first 4 volunteers, while the rest of the crowd cheered them to applause.