A Valkyrie's Apprentice: Book Two

- Epilogue -

The god walked through the soul rivers unaffected by the pull of endless souls.

Smoke and shadow, closer to the darkness than Hades ever danced. The blue glow painted but edges of the spectre as Odin closed in on the limitless maze of the Underworld. None ever delved as deep. None new it as well. None hid such things so far from view.

The final contingency for a future that now had more potential than ever before.

A curious fate that Tayah Ashrive had been thrust into. One that was not just power but reincarnated power. An unexpected inheritance from a god that once stood before Odin. One that fought with the others to maintain a realm with multiple powers.

One that was clear had now changed the fates. Many futures were weaving ahead unsure and untested. Many of them caused the deaths of many and the destruction of immortals. The originals were set to wipe themselves out. To remove the threat posed to the gods. Stormbringer would have concluded that fate. Then something as unpredictable as love intervened.

Another curious fate. 

It had all aligned. All until that. Now the fates were to be realigned once more.

The wide obsidian doorways drew wide like gaping teeth of a titan. Such doors had not been opened since the god wars. Since the Valkyries fell and Odin's own rose. Since memories were extinguished and few remained.

Since Hades original was kept in the dark for so long.

The doors fell back and a darkness within remained. The power sealing shut and concealing for so long now finally released.

"Your time has come at last." The many voiced god thundered through the Underworld. Shaking the very souls around. "Are you ready to serve?"

An armoured hand clutched the door and rose froward on legs that had not moved in hundreds of years. No matter for immortality. For an original with a suit of armour fused from relics. For the one with more power than the combined strength of them all. No memory to recall. Nothing to cloud the senses. Only death and destruction was the language of the one now risen.

The fully armoured obsidian original dropped to a knee wordlessly and bowed an armoured head. More machine than human form. Little resemblance to the woman it once held. The armoured emanated power between each crevice. Each movement.

Odin drew cloaked arms together and warped a portal to the mortal realm.

"Two originals remain on the mortal realm. Find them. Put an end to them." The god spoke as simply as the many voices murmured through the Underworld.

A singular nod of acknowledgement. A fluid movement to confirm the changing of fate. No weapons adorned the body. The original needed none. The original was the weapon. Centuries ago perhaps this body had a name, a purpose, preferences, loves and vices. But that was reserved for those who still held themselves in their memories. This woman had none and therefore was no one but a waiting object of destruction in the darkness for the vastness of time.

Unless a god would open those doors in the depths of the Underworld and unleash what a relentless being was capable of. Without hesitation or limitation. Nothing was further from humanity or more powerful.

Hades original stepped through the portal without thought and began the decent to begin god's work on the mortal realm.