Rise of Myth: Heir to Valor

In the chill night sky, Muninn soared a hundred feet off the ground, surveying the surroundings near the base. About a mile or two in the distance, she observed the mist with her sharp eyes. It appeared to be creeping further into the downtown area. Muninn was not sure of the pace, but it seemed to be advancing by a foot every other hour.

Around midnight, the raven noticed something peculiar. Val was departing the barracks, unarmed and dressed only in his boots, leggings, and undershirt. Muninn swooped down to land on the fence as he strolled through the courtyard.

"Where are you going?" Muninn asked.

Val shrugged. "For a walk. I won't go far, just going to see if I can pick up drinks somewhere."

Muninn looked at him curiously. "You had a drink, several, in fact."

Val did not respond. He continued and skillfully vaulted the fence perimeter in a few motions.

Something is wrong, but I can't tell what... Muninn's gaze followed Val's departing figure. It was strange for him to go anywhere wholly unarmed, but it was also perfectly in line with his typical reckless confidence. He was considerably less cautious as his powers grew, it was a point of concern Huginn had also raised several times, but Odin had dismissed it as harmless.

Unsure of the cause for Val's behavior, Muninn followed him from the sky, scouting the path ahead of him. The Marine had a lot to drink, and Asha was still not fully recovered from fatigue. Reckless as Val tended to be, she knew clearly the extent of his power and had few concerns for his safety.


Val was walking at a casual pace, though behaving very strangely. He was talking to himself, but as if he was carrying a broken conversation with several people. 

After fifteen minutes of travel, Muninn spotted something that caused alarm. In the distance, enshrouded in fog, dozens of figures moved. It was difficult to tell what they were doing, but the scene cemented Muninn's fears— the Draug had returned. Worse yet, Val, despite his roundabout path, was approaching them. He would be upon the mist in less than ten minutes.

Muninn swooped down, landing on his shoulder. "Val! Stop! There're several dozen figures in the market, I believe they are the Draug."

Val did not even look at her. "Yeah? It's Pike Place, real popular market street."

"You... Val, look at me."

Val turned to her with a look of annoyance. "What's your deal?"

Muninn's eyes widened. Val's eyes were clouded over, like someone with severe cataracts. 

"Val, what time is it...?"

"Mm, sun's high in the sky, sometime just after noon, I figure."

"You're blinded by some sort of illusion, channel your magic, break out of it!"

"What are you talking about? I'm just going down to this shop I remember, they had some good gin, among other things."

What is this...? More than a mere illusion, his mind is clouded as well.  Muninn tried to sense the magic normally raging about Val's figure, but to her surprise, there was none. His mana was being completely suppressed by whatever spell he was under.

There's no time... I don't have my full strength yet, but it will suffice to restart his mana flow.

Muninn leaped from his shoulder. In mere moments, talons grew and extended into pale, slim legs and feet. Her torso lengthed into a fit, shapely human body, her wings extended into arms and hands with long, slender fingers. Her eyes turned into bright, indigo-violet almonds, and feathers grew into long, jet-black silky hair reaching the small of her back. She finished her transformation into human form, as her avian head was now that of a young woman, appearing in her early twenties. Many of her feathers became a black, translucent gown, exposed on the upper back with a low neckline.

Muninn stood in front of Val, half a head shorter than him, skin almost glowing in the light of the Moon. Val appeared to have no reaction to the reappearance of the woman who nursed him nearly a month ago, as he continued his pace.

"Val, forgive me for this." Muninn drew close and placed her hand on his chest, where the brand remained dormant. Her eyes brightened to an almost pale lavender color as she forcibly injected her mana into the runes. In a moment, they brightened to their fullest brilliance. They glowed so brightly it began to appear like a flame tinged with a violet color. She continued pouring nearly all of her mana as she could into the brand, withholding nothing in an attempt to overload it. 

Val grimaced and gasped with pain, reflexively grabbing her slender wrist with a crushing grip, trying to pull it away. Muninn continued for only a moment longer before it felt as if he was about to break her wrist. She pulled away, twisting her arm free, she stumbled a few steps back, panting in exhaustion as her form shrank and receded. 

In a few moments, Muninn was a raven again, exhausted of the magical power required to maintain her human form. Val, on the other hand, was doubled over in pain, steam rising off his skin near his neck. Veins protruded along his arms as he gasped for breath, shouting in pain as his body struggled to process the surge of foreign mana. Muninn had given as much as the brand could contain, till it could hold no more, allowing her to directly pour her power into his body.

As Val was managing the mana surge, a malnourished figure like a drowned man shambled up the street, investigating the noises.

Muninn observed every detail of the person, confirming its identity as one of the Draug. She had no strength left to fight off the creature herself, so she tried instead to distract it, even if for only a moment. She ascended to a roof, issuing sharp caws to draw its attention behind it and away from Val. For a moment, it worked before the figure lost interest and returned to approaching Val, hatchet in hand.

When it was but a dozen paces away, Val's magic settled, and he stood, brimming with power.

"So, the Draug are real." Val spoke with a grave tone, a chilling fury in his voice.

"Val! We must leave! There are many more down in the market!"

Val turned his fiery gaze, spotting Muninn on the roof. "Muninn?"

"Yes, we can explain later, but we need to leave now! These monsters are not like the ghouls, they are organized, and can leverage tactics."

"We will leave in a moment. But not before I secure vengeance for the nightmares they brought upon my friends and me."

"Who are you?" Val asked the figure in a commanding tone, but the only reply was an incoherent rasping of words.

"Join... Power... Life eternal..."

Val's eyes flared with fury. "Pass." Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

"Val, this one is a mere pawn, a lesser rank of Draugr. They have been stripped of intelligence."

"Good to know, that saves me an interrogation." Without further delay, Val bounded forward, moving faster than the average person could follow. He slammed a fist into the Draugr's chest, shattering bits of coral-like material and sending him skidding several meters along the ground. 

Val frowned, having felt a significant amount of resistance like he had punched near-frozen meat. The Draugr stood shakily to its feet, injured but not severely wounded by the strike. It took up its hatchet again, before charging recklessly at Val.

"I'm afraid I have no more time for you. You really can take a punch, but how about this?" Val lifted his hand, exposing an open palm. In his hand were two runes, Thorn and Sigil. He had a suspicion about it having seen Karl achieve a curious effect with Sigil when he had first shown him. Invoking Thorn normally, he poured massive amounts of mana into Sigil, causing it to crackle with orange light. Releasing the runeword, a brilliant flash of orange lightning streaked through the street, followed by a thunderous sound only a split second later, shattering what few windows remained.

Muninn felt her feathers rise, an uncomfortable static lingering in the air. Far behind the Draugr, the area where the lightning bolt crashed lay scorched as flames burned on the asphalt. The Draugr itself was missing a sizeable chunk of its torso. Scorched from head to toe, his entire body was crumbling to ashes in real-time.

Wasting no more time, Val fled the scene, Muninn joined him on his shoulder as the two made their way back to the base.

"When did you figure that one out?" Muninn asked curiously.

"Not long after I figured out the firebolt trick, the only problem was there were few places to test it."

"Hmm, indeed. My lord would be very pleased, aside from alerting everyone within a mile to your presence, that was well cast."

"Ah, well, I needed to vent my frustration somehow. Though in hindsight, that runeword costs way too much to use often."

"Mm, yes. Thunder and lightning are favorites of Odin and his son Thor, though Tyr was always more fond of fire."

"Yeah, not sure I'm a huge fan of lightning myself, my skin still tingles and itches all over."

Moving at a running pace, the pair returned to the barracks in less than ten minutes. Asha was up and waiting in front of the barracks with crossed arms. She had a sour look on her face as she watched them approach, clearly aware of their coming.

"I'm not even going to ask whose idea it was to cast such a spell, that much is clear. But what exactly was going on through your mind when you decided to wake the entire city with tactical scale magic?" Asha asked with a tone colder than the December night air.

"Uh, in my defense, I was really pissed." Val sheepishly replied, causing Asha's lip to twitch subtly.

"As usual, the best of reasons." Asha scornfully remarked, full of sarcasm.

"Oh, hey. Also, the Draug are real, and I know what was going on with the missing people."

"Hmm?"

"They weren't simply kidnapped. They were lured."

"Explain."

Val felt slightly annoyed by her impatient scorn, but he stomached it, reminding himself he may as well have blasted an airhorn outside the barracks.

"I had a dream that was so real I couldn't wake up from it. Some kind of spell or something, apparently I had sleep-walked all the way down to Pike Place before I finally woke. I suspect that's what Kainoa meant by acting weird, they probably were all afflicted with similar dreams." Val explained, recounting the pleasant dream-turned-nightmare.

Asha looked to Muninn. "Does this line up with their capabilities in the past?"

"I'm not sure. I can confirm Val's story, but I don't recall them having powers like this. I followed him from the barracks, he told me he was just going to go pick up drinks somewhere but was unaware of his surroundings." Muninn's explanation caused Val to look at her curiously. 

"To convince anyone else that the Draug are real, we need proof."

"Before I go convincing anyone, I need to save my friends and the people who have been taken."

"Val, we are but a few, they are many. We need to rally a real army, this will not end in small skirmishes." Muninn said gently.

"That will take too long, by your explanation, at best they might have a few weeks, probably less, before being turned, tortured, or killed. I care less about war than I do about them." Val felt his anger rising again, recalling the pleasant dream that let him see his other friends for the first time since the apocalyptic events of the merging. His eyes glowed with fire as he subconsciously activated his magic.

"I need to get word of this to the Queen. When is Huginn returning?" Asha asked.

Muninn thought for a moment. "He should be meeting up with us by noon tomorrow, provided nothing out of the ordinary occurred."

"Speaking of consulting gods. I'll talk to Valor, see what he knows about this, but with or without your assistance, I'm saving those people. My dream lured me to Pike Place, I'll start there, raze everything there if I have to, in order to find them." Without waiting for a reply, Val headed off to the warehouses, wide awake and charged with a furious resolve. He began to search crates and shelves for equipment and weapons that could make the odds even a little better. 

Val tried to put worry out of mind, replacing it with fury for the taking of his friends, and resolve to free them . Hang on guys, Thanksgiving is over, but you still owe me Christmas.