Valkyrie's Last Warrior

Chapter 13

When they finally reached the rear entrance to his mansion and they were greeted by one of his household staff who had come to open the door for them. Almost immediately after stepping across the threshold and into the enormous kitchen, she could feel the warmth wrap itself around her. Valkyrie loved a warm and humid kitchen. She had very fond memories of being in a cozy kitchen and watching Master Park and his wife making supper together. She truly enjoyed those evenings, especially when the weather became as chilly as it was tonight.

Lost in her reverie she didn't realize Agust had asked her a question. Valkyrie turned her head to look at him and muttered, "I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?"

"Would you like something warm to drink? I can have someone bring up something to warm you up."

"Sorry. No, I'm okay. But thank you."

Agust addressed the housekeeper and said, "I think we'll be okay from here. Thank you. Good night."

The woman nodded and replied, "Of course. Good night," and walked out of the kitchen.

As Agust began to walk towards the kitchen door, Valkyrie said, "Hold on. You can put me down now. Your floor seems comfortable enough for me to walk on my bare feet."

Agust gazed down at her with disappointment written all over his face. Then he added, "There you go again, pulling away from me. Did I do or say something wrong?"

Suddenly feeling guilty, she said, "Oh no. Not at all. I just didn't want you to have to carry me around everywhere. I've been told that I'm made up of denser material than most women."

"I'm sorry. Did you say, 'denser material?'"

"Yes. Someone once told me that I was deceptively heavy and proceeded to compare my physical density to the one of a dying star."

Agust resumed his steps and laughed. He said, "Good grief... I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult."

"I took it as a compliment. It's not every day that a girl gets compared to a black hole."

As they walked through corridors that she had spent hours watching through her monitor screens, he said, "It seems you had no problems pulling me into your gravitational field, so maybe the black hole analogy wasn't that far off."

Chuckling through her nose, Valkyrie replied, "If that's the case, I suggest you turn and make your way back to whence you came, before you get too close. Because if you inadvertently cross my event horizon, there'll be no turning back for you."

"But what if that's what I want?"

"What? You mean, you want to get sucked into the unforgiving vastness, where even the light cannot escape? All on purpose?"

Now, it was his turn to laugh. Agust turned a corner into a small nook, walked up to well-disguised panels on the wall, and asked, "Can you press that button for me? My hands are currently occupied."

Valkyrie did as she asked and almost immediately, the two panels slid apart, revealing the interior of an elevator. It wasn't luxurious like the other parts of the house, but more utilitarian. As they stepped inside, she figured it was the service elevators for the household staff's use.

When the doors began to slide close, he walked up to the panel of buttons and asked, "Now, can you press the one that's labeled, three?"

Valkyrie complied and as soon as she did, she felt the elevator car ascend. Walking back to the center of the elevator, Agust looked straight forward and said quietly, "I want to fall into your center, your 'unforgiving vastness' as it were, and never surface again. That's what I want."