Eternity | T.J.

I Never Thought I'd Be So Happy To Be On A Concrete Stairwell

     You see the title of this chapter? Well, that's where we ended up, a concrete, emergency, stairwell, just below a door marked 'Floor Six'.

     Blitz looked around, taking off the pile of towels to reveal his usual choice of wardrobe." We're in Midgard. I'd know that smell anywhere."

     No one argued against this statement.

     Hearth almost fell over, making us all look in his direction and notice the red stain in his shirt.

     " Buddy!" Blitz yelled, getting up and rushing to the elf." What happened?"

     " Whoa, Hearth," Magnus said, examining the wound." Gunshot. Our friendly elfish police officers gave him a parting gift."

     Blitzen punched a hole in his had." Can we please go twenty-four hours without one of us getting mortally wounded?"

     I put away my sword as Magnus went to heal our elven friend." Not until this adventure's over, which won't happen until the wedding date has passed. We're going to have to get used to this life, at least for a little while longer."

     My brother attempted to smile once Hearth's injury had been at least slightly healed." See? All better."

     Thanks. Hearthstone signed.

     " You're weaker than I'd like. We'll rest here a minute," Magnus stated." Tonight, you'll need a good meal, lots of fluid, and sleep."

     " Dr. Chase has spoken," Blitz declared." And no more running into stray bullets, you hear me?"

     Hearth smiled. I can't hear you, I am deaf.

     " Humor, that's a good sign."

     We sat in silence for a while, just staying on the stairwell, taking in everything that we had just gone through. I took a minute to look through my bag and reorganize it to try and keep my mind from wandering too much. After a minute, I heard Manus break the silence.

     " The curse of Fafnir, can I ask...?"

     For once, I didn't think about telling my brother off for not paying attention to everything I'd told him about Norse mythology when we were younger. The curse of Fafnir was something I wished I hadn't heard of at the moment.

     " Maybe we should wait on that until he's at full strength," Blitz offered.

     A small part of my brain wanted to say 'what if we just never said it out loud?' 'what if we pretended that the cursed ring never existed, and we can just move on with our lives?'

     It's okay. Hearthstone decided. Fafnir was a dwarf. Andvari's ring drove him crazy. He murdered his father, took his gold. Guarded the treasure in a cave. Eventually, he turned into a dragon.

     " The ring can do that?"

     " The ring brings out the worst in people, kid," Blitzen explained." Maybe Mr. Alderman doesn't have that much evil inside him. Maybe he'll just... stay an unpleasant elf and win the lottery."

     Magnus decided to change the subject." We should find Sam. We're supposed to take to the god Heimdall and get directions to some place in Jotunheim-"

     " Ah, kid? I think Hearth might need a little more quiet time before we meet up with Samirah and go racing off to fight giants," Blitz pointed out," I could use some rest, too."