The Hell of the Nine Realms: Book 1: The Mystery of the Odinsons

V: Demigod Beats God (Apparently); VI: David's Fists (And Feet) of Male Fury

Finir flew extremely fast, making the entire world looked like a blur. Lizzy and I had to hold onto Finir's large scales to avoid falling off. David, on the other hand, had a big, fat smile, looking like he was having the time of his life. We reached Japan in less than 30 minutes (according to David. To me, it felt like days). Amanda was sitting outside, thinking about something, then she saw a dragon and she screamed. David jumped off Finir's neck and landed in front of her. "Whoa." he exclaimed, "He is harmless, unless provoked. Or unless I tell him to attack."Amanda clenched her chest. "Oh, okay." she said. "How are you?"David smiled again. "Well, I got my dragon back. My sister and Raelin are progressing well. So I would say I am terrific. What about you?""Tired." Amanda replied. "You know, being the empress of Japan. But I'm still doing well. Jamie, Ashley and Dylan have been great company."David nodded."Come."Amanda walked into the palace and we followed her. David walked up to Amanda and asked her for something. Whatever it was, it made Amanda stop. "I don't think I can find this Abby since she's American."I walked up and said. "I know her."They both turned around and David made a "go on" gesture. "She goes to UW Madison and is the badass girl there."David rubbed his beard. "Well it seems to me that I am going to UW Madison.""You're gonna pay for it with the prize money from the tournament?" Lizzy asked.David shook his head. "For me it will be free.""Why would it be free for you?" Amanda asked."I still have a scholarship so it will be free." David replied.We all mouthed "ah" and David and Amanda continued walking inside the palace. Dylan, Jamie and Ashley came from one chamber in the palace. Dylan was wearing red sweatpants, a gray shirt, and white shoes. Jamie was wearing a spaghetti strapped shirt, gray jeans, a necklace, and black shoes. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail. Ashley was wearing a black skirt, a black T-shirt and black shoes. Her hair was also pulled into a ponytail. There were hugs all around, especially to David."Well, we need to leave as soon as possible." David eventually said. "So I can recruit Abby we lose her.""How do you plan to do that?" I asked."If I can find the right thing to grab her attention, it should be fairly easy." David answered. None of us were sure, but it was David. The guy had a way of making himself seem interesting. It was how I made the mistake of looking for him a few months ago. If he couldn't do it, none of us could. David told Dylan, Jamie, and Ashley that they were to continue bodyguarding Amanda (which they seemed happy about). We stayed an hour longer and then left on Finir. Amanda took us on a tour of the palace until we left. We said our goodbyes and we got to Madison at 4 am.

The very next day David left for UW Madison and came back ten hours later with a petite African American girl. She was wearing slightly ripped gray jeans, a black spaghetti strapped shirt under a red short sleeved jacket, and black shoes."This is where you live?" she asked David, walking around the house. "I expected you to live in a mansion or something."David shrugged. "This is not exactly my home. I started living here when my other house was destroyed, Abby."This is Abby, I thought. I was expecting someone who looked more... Impressive.Abby mouthed "oh" at David's comment, then she saw us. "Uh, who are they?" she asked.David slapped his forehead. "Right, right. How could I forget? Abby, this is my twin sister Lizzy. And this is my student Raelin." Abby looked at him. "'Student'?" she finally repeated. "What do you teach?""Different types of kinesis." I answered and Abby laughed."Yeah, right." she dismissed.David walked up to her and sniffed her, and she backed away, bemused. "Someone like you someone should not be so skeptical. Seer, daughter of Tyr."Abby looked like she was struggling to decide whether to be shocked or angry, as if David had just broadcasted her darkest secret in front of the whole world. "How do you know that?" she demanded."Your scent." David answered. "Like all demigods, is different than the scent of a mortal."Abby looked at him, now with curiosity and wariness. "I haven't seen you in four years." she said. "Why did you suddenly search for me?""Have you watched the news reporting strange things happening all over the world?" I asked.She nodded."That is us." David explained. "We are fighting a... War, I guess you'd call it, against the enemies of Asgard and Olympus to stop a second Ragnarok. And you would be a perfect recruit."Abby started walking around the room. "I will train you to control the elements. Some you will excel at and some you will not be able to use. But everyone has different specialties."Abby stopped walking and looked at David."Will you help us?" David asked.Abby looked at the floor for what seemed like forever and she finally said, "No.""What?" Lizzy and David said in unison."This is your problem, not mine." Abby claimed, pointing her index finger at David. "This is about your world, not mine." "This is about all Worlds!" David roared, surprising everyone, including Abby. "MIdgard will and is going to become a battleground without your help. A war will be fought that will make every war in history combined look like a piddling water balloon fight. Energy will be unleashed that will make mortal hydrogen bombs look like pleasant fireworks. Mountains will erupt, earthquakes will level the mortal world, fires will rage everywhere. The end of life as you know it."He emphasized every word, as if he thought we did not get the gist of what he was saying.Abby sighed. "Fine. What do you want from me?""We will teach you to control your natural abilities, and then use them for the impending battle." "Why not just go now?" she asked.David laughed, which made Lizzy sigh appreciatively. "Your boldness is commendable, but outside this place, we shall be in danger at all times." David said. "The wolf, the cyclops, and the furies were only the beginning."Again, Abby backed away. "What are you talking about? It's not like they can smell me or anything."Me and Lizzy all looked at each other. And for the first time ever, we agreed on the same thing. What Abby was saying was true."Yes, they can." David said, making me sigh.Why do I even bother, I wondered. All my educated guesses ended up being horribly wrong. And in this world, one wrong piece of information could get you killed. "Your scent could attract every monster in a five mile radius to you and since you are a daughter of Tyr, you shall attract more powerful monsters.""Fine." Abby growled. "I'll let you train me."David sighed the same way his sister did. Abby moved towards the kitchen. "Is there-" She stopped; Lizzy stood in her way."You feelin' lucky, bitch?" Lizzy asked, letting her hands go ablaze, causing Abby to step back in apprehension."Easy, Elizabeth." David warned."I'm just joking." Lizzy said, letting her flames disappeared. "I just wanted to show her we weren't kidding."She never seems to mind when David calls her that, but when I do she chews my head off."By the way, Abby," I began. "How'd David get you to talk to you?"Abby was about to say something, when David said. "I will just show you the flashback in your heads."He closed his eyes. Immediately, I had a vision The football team had threatened David and in retaliation he kicked their asses. Then sometime later at lunch, the principal came and yelled at David, speaking with what seemed like a French accent. "Because of people like you, I had to quit track because of a bs crash." he said. "A referee called it the worst single bodied collision he had ever seen."David smiled nervously. "I am sorry for that, sir." he said and the principal got in his face."Don't mock me, bastard." he shouted. "Get out of my school... Now!!"David stared at him murderously and the principal backed away.David said in a deeper voice, malign and ominous in tone. "Watch who you are talking to, jackass."The principal looked around like he thought he had misheard. "I bet you panicked." David continued. "Threw yourself off the track, and blamed the other team for your weakness.""I had to quit because of that." the principal protested. "Quit?" David asked, once again getting in the principal's face. "Or move out of the country in shame?"Everyone in the room said "ooooh." "He doesn't know." the principal countered "He wasn't there."Then he turned around to David. "All that may be true, but your entire life is a disappointment."David sneered. "At least I do not look like a frog.""People love frogs. You look like an owl."David half-laughed. "Owls are wise. You know what else is wise? Old shark people, like you."The principal moved his head a bit, then said, "Well at least I don't look like a poodle.""People make calendars of poodles. How many shark calendars have you seen?""Six. I collect 'em." David laughed. "They must be so valuable since they are soooo rare. Speaking of rare, when was your last date?""Yesterday. We had lobster. They looked just like you."David sighed. "You know what?""What?"David gave him a demonic look and got in the principal's face once again. "If you do not get out of my face, I will bite your arms off." The principal backed away. "Then I will punch your teeth down your throat."The principal slowly backed away and ran. Abby walked up to David and started talking to him and the vision ended. When I regained my senses, I noticed that David and Abby were gone and that Lizzy was going upstairs. I decided to do the one thing I had seen David doing the most: meditating. I sat down on the floor, crossed my hands, bumped my fists together and closed my eyes, breathing lightly. Unfortunately, I couldn't clear my head. While I was trying to meditate, I heard a hard knock on the door. I got up and opened the door. Standing there was a 8-foot man who looked to be middle-aged wearing Ancient Greek armor. He had curly black hair that covered most of his forehead and wore sunglasses over his eyes. But I had the strange feeling that if I removed those glasses I would not find eyeballs. I also was suddenly filled with incredible rage and anger. I just wanted to kick someone's ass and I didn't care who."Ares." I guessed.The Greek god of war smiled cruelly, showing some broken teeth. "Where is the bastard you call 'David', bitch?" I clenched my fists and grinded my teeth. No one calls me a "bitch" and gets away with it, not even David, but I knew it was his nature that was controlling me and I tried to remain calm. "He's not here at the moment," I answered. "What does the petty war god want with my friend?"Ares smiled again, this time looking a bit amused, like he had made a very interesting bet. "I had some issues I wanted to settle with him," he answered. "But, whore, it looks like you just volunteered."He moved his hands into the air and two large axes materialized in his hands. He spun around then swung them at my head. I ducked and rolled away and then went out the door. He ran after me and I got into my Hung Gar stance. Ares skillfully swung his axes at me and I dodged almost every strike. Ares hit me with a low strike to my left leg and I fell to the ground. I grunted and looked up and him as he prepared to strike a finishing blow. Instinctively, I thrusted my hand towards him, a boom was heard and he was sent flying and hit the ground with a thud. He moaned, disorientated. I quickly began healing my wound. I had to think of a strategy while Ares was down. He may be stupid, reckless, and uncoordinated, but he was still the Greek God of War and had much more battle experience than I did. My wound finally completely closed and I got to my feet. I began thinking of a strategy when I heard groaning. I looked at Ares who was getting up and rubbing his head. When he stopped groaning, he got to his feet and picked up his axes. He looked at me, smirking. "That was a nice trick, girlie." he commented, cracking his neck. "But that just means you're gonna die slower." He slammed the tips of his axes together, thunder roared loudly, and a blinding light was made. I averted my eyes, thinking he was turning into his true form. When the light vanished, I looked again. Ares had changed somewhat. He now was dressed in heavy Ancient Greek armor. His black hair was now swept back and he had a wavy beard. The sunglasses were still there but now he looked like he was in his forties. Another thing that had changed was that his axes were gone. They had been replaced by a large double-bladed spear. The spear was coated with blood of different colors: green, blue, red, black, and yellow. He looked a bit frightening. Nevertheless I stood my ground. Ares charged and I prepared to unsheath Dainsleif when the ground suddenly erupted, sweeping me off my feet. I flew through the air and I landed hard on my back. I couldn't see anything because the area was filled with smoke. But I could hear someone singing in Norwegian and when the smoke cleared I saw David and Abby. Abby's eyes were closed and she was clutching onto David's back like her life depended on it. Her clothes were a little ripped and you could see most of her legs and arms. The upper half of David's blue shirt was completely ripped revealing his white T-shirt. I could still hear Norwegian singing (and now rhythmic clapping) and I realized it was David who was singing. He sounded like a choir was mixed with the Muses and they were all in harmony.He stopped singing when he noticed Ares."Abby," he said in English. "You can let go now."She opened her eyes, realized that they were on the ground and she let go of him."You...!" Ares said, smiling eagerly. "I'll skin you alive!""So it is you again, Ares." David said apathetically."Abby, go by Raelin." David said and she didn't argue and ran straight towards me. David looked at Ares, smiling politely. "I will give you one chance to leave, Lord Ares." he warned and I thought he was crazy. I was about to say, You can't fight him, but I decided against it. There was something about David's tone that said that he and Ares had already fought... And Ares had lost that fight.Ares' answer was swinging his spear around and pointing it at David.David sighed heavily, as if wishing Ares would have accepted his offer. "So be it." David gave Ares the "come on" gesture and Ares charged. Ares thrusted his spear, David grabbed the tip with his bare hand and surprisingly it didn't even scratch David's hand. David picked up Ares using the spear and threw him away and Ares landed on his head. Ares shook his head and got to his feet and David charged. But, without warning, David suddenly vanished. We looked around for him but couldn't see him."Psst, hey. Over here." David's voice whispered and we all turned to our rights.There David was with his nightmare black sword Dromi behind him in his reversed grip, still smiling. David threw his sword, which spun around towards Ares, who dodged it easily. But David suddenly appeared behind Ares. He grabbed his still-spinning sword in mid-air by the handle and prepared to strike."Sorry." he said, as Ares turned around. David striked, making a huge gash in Ares' left side and golden ichor - the blood of the gods - flowed from the wound."You are like a punching bag." Ares growled defiantly.David moved quickly. He sliced Ares' right side, sliced his chest, jumped into the air, pushed Ares into ground and then thrusted his sword into Ares' chest, then back away as Ares coughed more golden ichor. Ares then slowly staggered to his feet.David swung his sword twice, not even touching Ares, then he twirled his sword skillfully and put it behind him quickly. A boom was heard and Ares was literally swept off his feet and flew into the air, spinning horizontally.Ares landed hard on the ground, which cracked under him. Still Ares got to his feet, as if he desperately needed to defeat David."Just stay down." David told Ares, his tone sad and regretful, as if he was rueing this entire fight. "You lost""I will crush you." Ares defiantly roared."Big talk, boy." Abby said.David moaned in annoyance. "Hvis du insisterer, I will show you your mistake," he sheathed his sword, then looked at Ares coolly, the way a lion looks at its prey before they kill it. "Then, I will break you."Ares charged David, and threw punches blindly at David."David wins." Abby whispered, as if she was predicting it instead of guessing it.David dodged each of Ares' attacks and soon wasn't even trying to avoid them. Still Ares attacked David doggedly until David started fighting back. David parried one of Ares' strikes and with his free hand he punched Ares in the stomach and Ares coughed up more blood. Ares yelled and swung his left arm. David ducked, grabbed Ares' arm and punched Ares' left elbow and the sickening sound of bone cracking echoed in the air. Ares screamed in pain, but swung his right arm at David, who ducked again. Ares tried to kick David in the chest, but David grabbed Ares' leg, flipped him and kicked him away. "Destroy...you." Ares said, in a stupor.David walked towards Ares, who was now trying to crawl to his feet.Ares swung his arm. David grabbed it and twisted it into an odd direction, making Ares howl and fall to his knees. David grabbed Ares by his back and lifted Ares above him. He slammed Ares' back against his knee and we could all hear Ares' spine cracking against David's knee. Ares howled in pain and fell to the ground."This was your fault, God of War." David said, walking away. "I tried to get you to stop. You have only yourself to blame."Ares continued to scream, golden ichor began to flow onto the ground from his body and he began to glow. I averted my eyes and made sure Abby did the same. A blinding flash of light was made and then suddenly vanished. When we looked again Ares was gone. Abby and I stared at David in disbelief as he walked towards us. He had just made one of the Olympians his own punching bag like it was nothing."That...Was cool." Abby said, trying to stay on her feet. "Yeah." I agreed, helping her stay up. "Ok, Abby." David said. "Get fresh clothes. We'll be training for nineteen days nonstop."Abby shook her head, breathing hard as if it was taking everything she had to even move. "I-I-I can b-barely sta...nd.""Death does not wait for you to be ready." David dismissed and he kicked her leg and she fell. I looked at him, not believing what I just saw.."Death is not considerate or fair." David continued and kicked her again. "Y no se equivoquen. You will face death."David tried to kick her again, but this time Abby caught his leg and pushed it away. She got up and David attempted to hit her again and she defended herself. "Tiger." David said and Abby threw her fist at him, which he knocked away. "Panther." David continued and knocked Abby's next fist in such a way that he almost broke her wrist. "Jiujitsu." David said and grabbed Abby's arm and twisted her joint into a lock, using his weight to make it more painful and she yelled. "Aikido."Abby made him let go and she threw two punches at David and he caught both of them."You are skilled," David said, looking an angry Abby in the eye. "But this is not a dance."He did a leg sweep and she fell to the ground. "Now pack. After nineteen days we will go to the tournament." "What tournament?" I asked.Abby explained that the first recreation of the "Dragon Ball Z" tournament was so successful that they decided to make another one in the US capital. It was in twenty days and registration began at 2:55 pm. Also since David was the champion last time it was mandatory that he participate."Oh." I said, when Abby finished. "How about you sign up again, Raelin?" David asked.I signed. "Sure, why not?" Abby was about to say something but David told her to start packing and not to waste any time. She looked at me once, then went into the house. I told Lizzy about what happened and she yelled at me as if I had stolen her boyfriend."You woke me up for that?!" she shouted and wind-blasted me out of the room and locked the door. I went outside and did some practicing of my own. David told me he has the ability to make gravity and everything else (including the air and atmosphere) vanish completely in a 50 mile radius, but never tried to teach me how to do it. I gathered some rocks and meditated for about an hour. Then I imagined the rocks floating in the air. When I imagined the rocks on the ground, I heard a few thuds.