Rise of Myth: Heir to Valor

Loping along through the woods, Val grit his teeth through every step, in the span of ten minutes he had made it a reasonable distance, figuring he had taken at least a few hundred steps.

"That way, where it begins to head downhill, be careful." Muninn instructed.

"Got it— Fuck, bastard caught me off guard, what the hell was that?" Val stopped for a moment, clutching his abdomen. He reckoned he had lost at least a liter of blood by the exhaustion overcoming him.

"Val??" Muninn had deep concern in her tone.

"Hold on, just, need to rest… one moment." Val leaned against a tree, doing his best to remain standing. The fear that he would not muster the strength to stand again if he sat down steadied his legs.

"It is not safe here, I do not know what kind of creature that was, but if it can see or smell the blood trail you've left, it won't take long for it to find you."

"I know, but I'm losing too much blood at this pace, a gut wound is painful, but not nearly as dangerous if I can control the blood loss."

Val thought to cast Beorc to recover himself, and Muninn seemed to know what he was thinking.

"No, we need to get you to a proper healer, you have lost a lot of blood and along with it, a sizable chunk of your mana. Stimulating your body to heal will only drain you further." Muninn sounded worried, aware of the fact they were heading away from the city, not towards it.

*Boy, the runes Odin gifted you, among them is Beorc, focus your will towards it, invoke its power, I will fuel it.* A familiar voice sounded, as if someone was speaking into his ear, but he soon realized it came from within his mind.

*Valor?? How the hell?*

*Quickly.*

Val did as he instructed, focusing his will on the brand, the very image of it appeared in his mind as he picked out the 'B' shaped rune. Unlike usual, aside from Tyr's rune in the middle, only Beorc lit up with the fiery color. As it did, Val felt cycles of intense pain, followed by relief, repeating as his tissues and organs began to stitch themselves back together.

*Christ, you don't need to pour so much power into it.*

*Bear it, time is not on our side and you have lost more blood than you think.*

In a matter of a couple minutes, much faster than when he had healed Dan, his abdomen had sealed up and his organs were mended. New skin along with subsiding pain brought relief, though the process was more brutish than he would have liked. Gingerly feeling the area where previously he had grievous wounds, he felt some rope-like scarring following two diagonal lines crawling upward.

"Thank you." Muninn simply said.

"Huh?"

"Tyr, for his assistance."

"How do you know that?" Val looked at Muninn suspiciously, though the raven simply seemed relieved and did not answer.


"We must continue, we will reach the lake before long, we can follow the water's edge back to the city. If that monstrosity is truly naught but muscle and bone, you may be able to escape into the water if he follows."

The pair continued downwards towards the lake, moving at a faster pace, though Val was plagued by dizzy spells and wished for little else than long, uninterrupted sleep.

"Have you ever seen anything like that? I took both of its arms and it seemed to recover them in only a few seconds."

"I am not sure, there are few creatures with such immense regenerative capabilities. Perhaps that is why it hunts so ravenously, such a power cannot come cheap. That said, we are not natives of this land, we came from the far North to find you here."

"You think this thing is from here? America? Could there be more?" Val asked with some alarm, worried about the possibility of more than one of those monsters.

"I am not sure, but if there were more, it would not make much sense for them to be in groups. I do not know how intelligent they are, but with their appetite even one of them can devour all prey in days."

"Great…"

A howl issued into the night, the same, man-like howl Val recognized to be the monster he had fought.

"Good, it is much further away, Alevriasha and Huginn must have led it off." Muninn remarked, making that unsettling stare into the distance as if she could see through the hills and trees.

"Are they going to be alright?"

"They will be fine, especially now that they know— at your expense, how dangerous this creature is. Do not underestimate Wind Dancers, if it is their wish to escape, few who are not of their kind can catch them under circumstances like this. Huginn will guide her to us when they have shaken their pursuer."

"Fair enough."

Another thirty minutes and they had reached Clear Lake, a sizable body of water big enough to make seeing the opposite bank difficult even during the day.

Approaching the water, Val finally plopped down onto the ground, mere steps away from the water.

"Muninn, hold up, you suggested we would be safer here, I need to just… rest for a bit."

Muninn eyed him for a moment, seemingly about to protest, but she relented, perching upon a piece of sun-bleached wood.

"Very well, but keep it down, and no bright lights this time."

Val fumbled around his pockets, thankful he had bothered to bring a couple energy bars as snacks. He was not bleeding anymore, despite being covered in his own blood, but the ordeal had exhausted him. After healing his shredded and rearranged guts he felt surprisingly hungry as he opened one of his snacks.

The cold wind flowing over the lake was especially cold, it seemed his resistance to the elements waned with his condition.

In a few minutes, he had wolfed down both energy bars, but still felt like he was close to starving. In a somewhat desperate measure and much to Muninn's visible disapproval, he fished out a cigarette, lighting it with a small flame.

"Don't give me that look, much longer and I'll soon find you appetizing, if it turns around and comes here I'll jump into the..." Val trailed off, noticing an unusual fog expanding visibly across the lake. Muninn herself turned to peer into the fog

Val reached for his sword, but then Muninn took off from her perch and alighted upon the cross guard as if to stop him, still staring into the fog. Val struggled to activate some of his power, his eyes barely illuminating, but with the thickening fog it did not matter if he could see in the dark.

Suddenly a strange sound came from within the fog, akin to a dog, as if it were laughing or snickering. Val's eyes widened as the bow of a decoratively patterned, single-hulled canoe began to leave the fog. Even more shocking was the 'person' pushing the boat along with what looked like a rough, wooden walking stick. The sight was enough for Val to stare, mouth agape, as his cigarette fell to the sandy ground.

"Hmm? A boy and a bird sits on the bank, one full of wisdom, the other blessed by ignorance." A strange, anthropomorphic coyote, judging by its light brown and gray fur all over its body, and almost fox-like snout and ears, spoke in a bizarre voice, as if speaking in human language was difficult. The coyote-person was clad in loose garments of tanned leather, decorated colorfully with geometric patterns, beads, even a few large feathers.

"Who are you?" Val asked cautiously.

The coyote chuckled, drawing a long-stemmed smoking pipe from his sleeve. He took his time filling the chamber with some mixture of what smelled like tobacco and other herbs he could not identify. Eventually, to Val's surprise, he simply drew in smoke from the bit, the mixture seeming to softly ignite on its own. The coyote looked relaxed, his bushy tail swaying about behind him as he exhaled rings of smoke.

"Who am I? Depends, I am many things." The coyote began chuckling again, the strange animalistic sound began to grate on Val's exhausted mood.

"Okay, what is your name?"

"The blessed one begs a name, offering none as payment?"

Val responded with a surly tone. "My name is Val."

"Hmm, you are called that, perhaps, but it is not your name."

Val groaned. "Fine, my name is Valtyr."

"Heehee, the blessed one approaches passable payment. I, am Coyote, benefactor and guardian of these lands, pattern-maker of stars in the night sky." He leveled a pair of yellow eyes to Val, now studying him carefully.

"Hmm, grievously injured, hastily healed, the blessed one enjoys dangerous games." Coyote remarked with amusement.

"I'm glad *someone* thinks my injury is amusing."

"Ooh, blessed one is prickly one as well."

"Just… call me Val." He replied with exasperation. Muninn was not saying a word, regarding Coyote carefully as if taking apart every uttered word for its meanings.

"Such a boorish abuse of a good name, though not as good as mine."

"What do you want?" Val was growing mildly irritated as Coyote lounged in his canoe, blowing smoke and belittling him.

"I am not here for what I want, I am here for what you want. There are many who would so recklessly hunt the wendigo without adequate preparation, few who would live to remember it."

Val froze. "The what? Wendigo? You know what that monster is?"

"Hmm, a monster, perhaps, but once a man. A desperate, starving man, cursed with hunger, tortured by his very existence. Warmth will always flee him, and nothing will end his hunger save for a death that will not embrace him."

"How do I kill it??"

"Kill him? Hmm, why do you wish to kill him?"

"He's killed many people, and is slaughtering everything he can eat."

"Reason enough for some, not for me." Coyote began to hum some sort of tune, enjoying his pipe.

"If he is left alone, he will kill more people, and eventually people I care about will die. If you tell me how to kill him… I'll pay you, there's a considerable bounty on him."

Coyote began to laugh loudly, panicking Val as the noise carried off into the night.

"Blessed by ignorance indeed, you wish to barter with me in coin?"

*Why do I keep running into loons who don't care about money…* Val grumbled to himself, as Coyote continued to laugh.

"Since you wish to barter, there is a price I will accept." Coyote suddenly took a more serious tone.

"What is it?"

"Bring its heart to me." Coyote answered simply.

"What? Why the heart?" Val looked at Coyote suspiciously.

"Hmm, no, I do not want to eat it. There's only one way to properly slay a wendigo, the heart must be burned in fire, thawing it, and finally cremating it. I will bury the ashes so it might finally find rest, and return to the earth, as is proper."

"How am I supposed to remove the heart if it regenerates so quickly?"

Coyote made a strange, toothy smile. "Ignorant indeed, remove the head, you will need it I presume, and without its head, despite its ability to heal, it will not be able to do so properly for some time. Otherwise, draw it somewhere so you may safely use fire, but failing that, your sword, it would appear the wise raven has not revealed to you its nature."

"My sword? What do you know about it?"

"That blade is ancient, powerful magic lingers about it. The blade was crafted to slay gods, you know. Few beings, even those of divinity struggled to recover from its bite."

"That power is no more, it is a curse in the hands of mortals." Muninn finally spoke up, interjecting with an uncharacteristically cold tone.

"This one is no mere mortal by my eyes. Hmm, yes, a broken god, and a great wolf, what fascinatingly reckless things you have burdened him with." Val looked at Coyote with confusion. He knew he had been kept in the dark about some details but previously did not think he had a reason to be concerned.

"It was not my choice, and I am around to ensure he can bear it."

Coyote laughed again, replying with some derision in his words. "His power will grow, the two realms are one, and more magic than ever is now in this world."
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Coyote returned his gaze to Val. "Cursed power is fit for slaying cursed beings, no? I suggest you restore the blade, even if just a little, it will be enough to succeed in your task."