Chương 19: 18-The Prayer

Three days later, the Losers met the new Einheriar in the mess hall at breakfast time. There was no breakfast. Valhallans did not believe in breakfast; they believed in giant feasts at the end of the day, where you ate for three men and drank beer till you passed out. Life coaching was not a popular profession in Valhalla.

"Guys, you have done terrific work. All of you have hit level 40 in under three days," Jenna began, but was interrupted shortly by Doran.

"Cut the bullshit, Freewoman Jenna. We did it because you altered our quests and Freeman Bob pumped us full of experience tonic," he told her.

"We would still be level 3 otherwise."

"And you were training inside a dungeon, do not forget that," added Billy, always helpful.

"Thank you, Billy, that was inspiring," Jenna answered dryly.

"No matter how you did it, the fact remains that we can't handhold you for much longer. If we keep feeding you experience at this rate, we will cripple your ability to advance," she added.

"But things are looking good," she went on.

"Additional Valhalla dungeons will become a reality as soon as you venture out into the world and complete your quests. Vorians are a brave people. I have no doubt you will succeed."

"You are leaving us, aren't you?" Lana asked, a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"Not yet, we have something to do first," Jenna admitted.

"If we do not do something about Balance, he will just unmake everything we have built here. But, yes, this could be the last time we meet, at least for the time being."

"This is not a goodbye," Bob said, standing up.

"We are coming back. And when we do, we'll offer Voria the chance to join the Circle. All worlds with symbiotic dungeons must stand together. As soon as this Dawn problem is over, we will return with Dignity."

"You carry yourself with dignity in all you do, Freeman Bob," Berno told him naively.

"Dignity is a person, actually," Bob explained.

"The leader of the Circle. You will soon meet her." There were some hasty hugs, and Oghm the bard sang beautifully, creating a song for the occasion. Soon, the whole scene had degenerated into an impromptu feast. Bob created a waygate, and the Losers entered it, leaving the dungeon. The party went on. You do not stop a feast for such a minor detail. The Losers chose the first beacon they had planted in Voria as their destination. Once, the land had been filled with dangerous centaurs and hags.

They were no longer to be seen, but soon their slot would be filled by another type of predator. The Losers sat down and chose the next target.

"It has to be a large dungeon, rank sixth at least. It will not be believable otherwise," Bob proposed.

"And it must be inside the Reclamation, or Balance may not notice it. Not too near inhabited towns, of course- that would put them in danger," answered Billy.

"There is a clear candidate," Jenna explained.

"Raelgar and Bila razed an abandoned village, taming their last dungeon. Or rather, Orun did. It is inside the target zone, but they will have to rebuild the village before they can send settlers in. It is the safest bet." They spent the rest of the morning flying to their destination. Lana honed the edge of her daggers as she saw Berno and Vaq the hunter betting on one of their silly archery contests. Vaq was good, but Berno won more often than not now. Jenna was right, they had come a long way.

She wanted out of the castle to fulfill her quest. She would place her dungeon seed in the tamed dungeon at their farmstead and dedicate it to Bolin and Zea, her young sons, who had been taken by the centaurs. It still hurt when she thought about them, but the pain had changed. It no longer tasted like defeat and desperation. It felt like a cold hunger, ready to consume anyone who tried to make another Vorian mother endure the same hell she had gone through. She was now an Einheriar, and many more would follow.

Suddenly, one of the warriors entered the keep, shouting in alarm.

"We are surrounded. Serpentha and her troops have located us. There are thousands of them." An enormous shout of joy spontaneously came from all the revelers. This party just kept getting better.

"There it is," Bob said as they finally landed in the devastated village.

"Jesus, what did they do here? It seems as if they dropped a bomb," said Billy. There was not a single building standing around. The entry into the dungeon, a glowing hole, floating in mid-air, was the only intact feature.

"I got the story from Mr. Bilk... I got the story from Rul," explained Jenna.

"One of Orun's arrows accidentally struck one of the Runesage's spell formations and destabilized it. Only the Reclaimer's high stats protected them." Billy snorted, "accidental, my ass. Orun did that on purpose." They kept talking as they entered the rift.

"It is the most probable option," Jenna assented.

"The real Reclaimers were Raelgar and Bila. Orun was a late addition; they were supposed to be training him. Now we know he was Balance's plant." They were now inside the dungeon, which looked like an underground warren of tunnels. It had been totally scoured of mobs and bosses. The Reclaimers had only left the Core alive to act as an anchor for the rest of the instance. They found her on the third floor. She was a scaly hag, the size of two men and with claws nine inches long.

All her body was covered in glowing runes, and she was paralyzed in mid-air, as if in a still photo. Bob studied the runes.

"Damn, Bila was good. She froze her between one instant and the next."

"I will do my thing," Billy announced calmly, giving the other Losers some time to put distance between them and him. Then he detonated himself, taking the Core with him Reality shuddered and reset. When things came back into focus, the three Losers were running away from the new dungeon, which had transformed into a giant metal door hanging in the midst of nothing. The Losers quickly hid among the foliage, at some distance from the door to avoid detection, and waited. They did not have to wait for long.

One hour later, three armored figures approached the door, flying on winged steeds. Their mounts gracefully glided to the ground, and the riders dismounted: an armored, huge man with two axes on his back, a youngish runewoman, and another rogue-type, armed with daggers and a bow.

"Balance's champions," Jenna whispered softly.

"He seems to favor the healer-dps-tank trinity. They have come to destroy the dungeon."

"Come on, do it," Billy whispered back.

"We are rooting for you." Suddenly, with an ear-splitting shriek, the metallic gate slowly opened. An enormous giant Norseman, easily the height of four men, stood on the other side. He was covered in rune-etched body armor, wielded a large warhammer, and emitted intense cold. Icicles hung from his beard. He roared and charged at the three champions of Balance. The tank met its charge, growing in power. He seemed to become more as the giant tried to bring him down.

"Balance must be feeding him his levels," Bob said softly. The warrior deftly blocked his much larger opponent's blows with his axes, growing larger each second. Soon, the situation turned into an impasse. The giant could not overcome the tank, but Balance's champion was built for resilience, not damage. Neither could harm the other. The runewoman and the archer kept pelting the giant with spells and arrows, but their level was so low that they could as well have been absent.

Suddenly, things changed: the warrior deflated, and the runewoman grew in power, her magic coalescing around her and making her float in the air. The giant hit the tank with a huge warhammer blow that smeared his entrails over the ground. He turned towards the Runewoman, but she had already had time to finish her rune formation. A huge flaming arrow fell from the sky, entering the giant's body and exploding inside. The Jotun screamed once and exploded into a shower of blood.

"It is done," whispered Bob.

"Let's return to Valhalla."

"He let the tank die just so that the mage had a clear shot at the Jotun," Billy said.

"Yes. Boss of the year," Jenna added acidly.

"Let's return with our friends." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I am Slitha, the voice of Serpentha," the snakewoman presented herself. She was an Essential, part of a race called the Naga. They resembled scaly humanoids from the waist up but had a snake tail for legs. Slitha presented herself as female, but it was hard to tell. The Einheriar and the Essentials had gathered in front of the castle, honoring the age-old tradition of hearing what your enemy had to say before putting him in the tomb.

"Her magnificence has reached a deal with Balance, the master of the world. All the lands to the East of the Reclamation will belong to the Naga, if we destroy your filthy castle, that so offends his tastes," Slitha went on, in a strangely clear and resonant voice, not the type one would normally associate with a snake.

"He is a reasonable man, and he is willing to offer a deal to you, too, the humans among this ragtag group," she explained, pointing at the five Einheriar who had gravitated to the front of the group.

"Einheriar are a finite resource since the system is locked. Swear fealty to him and become his champions. You and your family will live in abundance and safety if you do so," she explained.

"He requires a proof of loyalty, though: you must kill those Essentials you claim as friends. This will also serve as a measure of your true worth." Slitha smiled as she watched the Einheriar and Essential start to confer among themselves. Now came the good part.

"Three to one, the first Essential dies within one minute," she said to Saslen, the Keeper of the Fang, who was standing to his left.

"I accept your bet, Slitha. And you are going to lose it," he exclaimed delightedly.

"Behold, they are laughing."

"Can we take down that beast?" Doran asked the group. No one had considered accepting Slitha's offer, not even for one second.

"Yes, we can," Bai the Silent said, surprising them all.

"But none of us is walking away alive from here."

"Of course we are not, you big moron," Hilta said affectionately.

"We have heard the voice of Bai the Silent!" They all laughed at that. They were truly fucked, one way or the other. Norse gallows humor exploded, as it always does when faced with your own doom.

"Doran, do you remember that goat I owe you? I will pay it promptly, first thing tomorrow morning!" Berno said, laughing so much that he cried.

"How do you want to do this, Bai?" Lana asked, deferring to the Valhallan assassin's superior tactical expertise.

"We must approach Serpentha. Tribulations are all the same. They despise humans. That pride will be its downfall," Bai answered. They broke off their meeting and faced Serpentha, who towered above her army.

"We accept your terms," Oghm the bard shouted in his clear voice.

"We will fight to the death, but we will do so according to tradition. On the field of honor, and in individual duels." This was met with hissing cheers by the Nagas. Everyone loves a free show. They quickly cleared a field for the combatants to face each other. All the Nagas approached it, placing themselves in hierarchical order. Serpentha was, of course, the one nearer to the field, with a whole wing dedicated to her huge bulk. The combatants met at the center of the field.

"Does this meet your requirements, Bai?" Doran asked the Assassin boss.

"It does. We will not have to fight her army to reach Serpentha. We just have to strike first. The whole army will go mad when her death ends the Pull," the Assassin explained.

"We have absolutely no chance of making it out of here alive. Valhalla will fall with our deaths, but we will take one Tribulation and its armies with us."

"It is a good death," Bena said. No one argued. They all turned and watched Serpentha. She was standing no more than 200 feet away from them, impatient for the show to start.

"Lead the prayer, Lana, would you?" Doran asked her gently.

"You should do it, Doran, you are our leader," she answered.

"No, Lana. You are the one who has lost the most. Start with the first verse, and we will join you at the second," Doran told her. Lana bowed, feeling grateful. It was a great honor. She drew her dagger and held it high, horizontal. - I see my mother and my father Lana heard the sound of her companion's swords leaving their sheaths and performing the same gesture. Their voices joined at the second verse. - I see all my dead relatives, seated and waiting for me, And she could. Valhalla gave her a parting gift.

She saw her dead parents, smiling at her with pride, and her grandparents, who had been Einheriar before they were taken, and the system was denied to them. They had drawn their weapons and were reciting the same prayer. She saw the two sons she had lost. She saw her remaining daughter, not only as the child she was now, but as the brave warrior she would one day become, thanks to her sacrifice. A warrior destined to lead her people.

-I see the Gods, waiting in Paradise, and Paradise is fair and green Thor the Hammerer, Wotan, the one-eyed god with one thousand secrets, Frey, the Just, and Tyr, the Swordsman, all of them had their weapons out, all of them were praying with her, and all made the same promise: we are back, and we will never leave you now. And paradise was fair and green. It was here. It was now. Voria was paradise—they only had to take it back from these monsters. -Bring me to them.

With a piercing cry of defiance, the Essentials and the Einheriar charged as one against the unprotected form of Serpentha. Lana smiled as she detected a brief flicker of fear in Serpentha's eyes.

"No! No!" exclaimed Jenna as they saw the carnage from the back of Bob's manta form. Valhalla could not be seen anymore. That implied the attack had killed Oghm and all the bosses.

"There is a clearing in there," Billy pointed at the once-was field of honor. Bob landed, returned to human form, and the Losers spread out to do the grisly work of searching for survivors. Most of the dead were naga, but now and then you could find the armored form of one of Valhalla's mobs. The gigantic corpse of Serpentha lay covered in multiple wounds inflicted by dozens of different weapons. Jenna saw a sword piercing jutting out of the beast's right eye: it was Doran's sword.

The monster had been taken down by a concerted attack.

"I think they took her down using a sudden, vicious attack, before her troops could protect her, and the rest of the Naga army went berserk. The Naga killed everyone, including themselves," Bob told Billy.

"What is Jenna doing?" Billy asked. She was kneeling near a corpse, crying softly. When they neared her, they found it was Lana's. She was smiling peacefully at the sky, unmoving. She held her dagger in her right hand, and her left hand was closed, forming a fist. Jenna gently opened it. It held a rune, a metallic plaque engraved with a sigil.

"It is a dungeon seed," Billy announced, recognizing it for what it was.

"She completed her quest." Jenna kissed her cheek as she gently closed Lana's eyes.

"You did it, girl. You saved your family at the end." She took the rune. Thirty minutes later, they had found the corpses of their four missing friends. Each one held a similar rune in their left hand. Jenna held the five dungeon seeds in her palm, looking raptly at them.

"These are a new beginning for Voria, and they made it possible," she whispered.

"I will be having those, please," a new voice asked behind them. They turned round. Mr. Bilkings was there, accompanied by a band of twenty adventurers. They all looked rugged and capable.

"What should I call you now?" asked Jenna, already knowing the answer.

"Not Rul, anymore, I guess."

"You may call me Balance," the newcomer said.

"Of course, Balance had to be an accountant," Bob said acidly.

"You tricked me, didn't you?" asked Jenna.

"Those reclamation badges you gave our friends as a gift were bugged. You used them to learn Valhalla's location."

"I could feel you reading my facial micro-expressions, trying to ascertain if I was saying the truth," Balance answered coldly.

"You have learned something valuable today. Never place too much faith in your own high stats; your enemy may have them too." Balance continued talking, his tone strangely gentle.

"Do you think I enjoy playing the villain? Should I twirl my mustache? Cackle evilly?"

"I am doing this to keep Voria alive, you idiots! The compendium does not allow human victory, but it tolerates struggle," he screamed.

"Each day I maintain the status quo is a day my world gets to live!"

"Do you really call this life?" Jenna asked.

"Do you think this is what Vorians want? Because I have seen a small group of farmers choose to die with a sword in their hands."

"It is always the same, isn't it?" Balance said bitterly.

"I pay the price you are not willing to pay—I dirty my hands to keep as many alive as I can, but somehow, you are the hero, not me."

"No, Rul, not me," Jenna answered.

"And certainly not you. Lana and her sons were."

"A footnote in your ledger. A minor price for your numbers to check."

"It is an academic point, now, isn't it?" countered Balance.

"You are joining your friends here and now. The Chosen of Balance are with me. They cover all the classes, all the talents, and any possible combination. I can enhance any of them to level 100 with a thought. Your attempt to create a new symbiotic dungeon has failed. With you and those seeds gone, everything will return to normal."

"Valhalla dungeons were designed to break the balance in favor of humanity. You got that part right," Jenna told him.

"Just a question, before you put us all to the sword. These are the first seeds produced by Valhalla. How did we use one in the tamed dungeon your people just destroyed?" Balance remained silent, considering the question.

"The answer is we did not," Jenna told him.

"Billy used that dungeon to create a new tag, Jotunheim. That is the reason he had to train in Valhalla. We needed the achievement points."

"The dungeon your boys destroyed had three tags: Reproductive, Jotunheim, and Hatchery."

"Do you know what the Jotunheim tag does, Rul?" Jenna asked sweetly, calling him by his true name.

"It creates giants. Giants that detect Valhalla dungeons and feel compelled to seek them and destroy them. Each Valhalla they destroy creates a new Jotunheim, and the cycle continues. The dungeon was designed to act as a counter to Valhalla. An agent of balance."

"You mean if I had not ordered that giant killed, it would have done my job for me?" asked Balance, his face dismayed as he finally understood the implications of what he had done.

"You have tilted the scales, Rul," she smiled sweetly at him.

"You have broken balance."

"Breach of Form much?" Reality suddenly took notice as Jenna said those words: a hole appeared at the feet of Balance. He screamed in horror as the tentacles dragged him into Limbo.

"You killed the Master!" one of the Chosen said incredulously.

"We must avenge him!"

"What are you talking about? We are only level 10. We are nothing without him," another answered.

"We are Einheriar!" the leader said. Then he drew his sword and pointed with it at Jenna. - I see my mother and my father… Suddenly, Bob's voice interrupted him. -You see the flamethrower OF THE FUCKING SKILLMASTER Bob threw huge sheets of fire with both hands, enveloping the group in flames. They ran in all directions, screaming, and turned into balls of fire. Then, they fell down and moved no more. Jenna and Billy looked at Bob, open-mouthed.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry. I should not have done that," the math professor said, clearly ashamed. He sat down on the floor, looking at the ground.

"It was Charlie, wasn't it?" Billy asked. Bob nodded, "he practically screamed the one-liner in my ear." Jenna sat down at his side.

"Bob," Jenna began, sounding uncomfortable, "you know I once did psychic surgery on myself. If Charlie becomes a problem…"

"No," Bob cut her off.

"Not that. Never that." He looked at the ground.

"He was kind to me, once." They all sat down, watching the sun set on the new world they had helped to create.