Awakening (Redux)

Chapter 4: The Godslayer

    Dead. The word rang through my head with a profound weight to it, a flash of memories from the explosion at my parents house racing after it. I was rocked out of this momentary stupor by the cracking of knuckles across my jaw. My eyes locked with the Allfather's for a second before my body flew backwards into the ring formed by his guard. My brain was rattled as my eyes refocused onto the leaping figure aimed at my chest. My feet sidestepped as he came down, fists crackling with electricity. I felt my knees shaking as my wings ripped out of my back, I could feel my blood dripping down it slowly. They began to lift me into the air, but this soon turned out to be a mistake. The air grew warm around me, a flash of bright, searing light engulfed my vision as a deep thunderous boom sounded over me. My body began to crash to the ground, the smell of smoking feathers filling my nose. There was a singed, smoldering hole through my jet black wing. I heard the allfather laughing as he approached,

    "You're really all I've been hearing about? The great Axel Stevens, son of Jack Stevens and Elaine DuMont," I could hear the soft metal swishing of a blade sliding out of a sheathe, "The one who felled the son of Shattertooth, the greatest orcish warlord of your parents' generation."

    The cold steel of a knife pressed against my neck, the pressure slowly building before I felt my throat split, blood pouring to the ground. The Allfather grabbed my shoulder, rolling me over. My shirt was getting cold against my skin as the blade was plunged back down into my chest. I felt my lungs collapse and my vision went black. I was met with the faces of my mother and father. My mother was sobbing softly, the sound eerily faint over the raucous chanting of a name in the park. My father leaned in and rested a hand on my shoulder.

    "D-dad... I'm dying, aren't I?" I asked shakily.

    He smiled softly, shaking his head and pulling me into a hug, my mother joining in on the hug.

    "You're definitely getting your ass kicked, my boy. I know that I taught you better than this, block, then counter strike," My father laughed, his hand resting on my back, "Oh, he got you pretty decently, didn't he? Honey, could you help our boy out a little?"

    My mom wiped her tears and smiled warmly, hugging me tighter. I felt the bloody tears in my back mend together nearly instantaneously as she released the hug and gently rested her hands under my chin. A pleasant warmth radiated from her hands to my neck, the flesh of my windpipe slowly pulling back together. A few layers of the muscle laced back together but the skin and top layer of muscle were still open. Lastly, her hand rested on my chest, the feeling of my lungs filling with air and not blood causing me to cough. My dad hugged me tightly once more, whispering,

"Knock him dead, son."

    "Who is he though?" I asked in a panic, the view of my parents fading away.

    "Odin! Odin! Odin!"

    The sound of 12 voices and butt ends of spears slamming the ground around me came into earshot before my blurry vision focused onto the gloating figure of Odin. He was walking around the circle of valkyries gloating over my slumped body. He hadn't noticed the gentle rising of my chest or the flickering of my eyes. Sitting up felt like Hell, but I had to get to my feet. As I rose, the chants of the valkyries subsided. Odin's bearded face turned to face me as I reached up for the handle of the blade. The thick wood was slick with my blood as I pulled it from my chest, the crimson dripping down my chest to the grass.

    "Is... is that all you've got?" I spat, blood pooling in the corner of my mouth.

    Odin growled, taking several lumbering steps toward me. His heavy fist connected with the side of my head, knocking me back into the ring of the valkyries, whose spears jabbed into my back, leaving several deep punctures. I grabbed one of the spears, wrenching it from the Valkyries' hands and launching it toward Odin. The spear sailed past him, slicing his cheek as he sidestepped and dug itself deep into the wood of the oak tree. A faint light seeped from it as Odin grabbed the remaining fabric of my shirt, throwing me at the spear, aiming to finish me off on it. As my body slammed into the tree, my wing connected with the split in the tree. I felt a surge of energy, and heard the laughter of thousands of souls echoing through me. Static began to crackle across my arms and to my chest, the blood on my body forming long thick chains from my shoulders to my wrists. Pushing myself off the tree and feeling the wind of Odin's fist flying past me was nerve-racking. I felt my chest beginning to heal, but one or two more hits and I'd be done. I readied my feet and launched at Odin. The thick chains connected with Odin's shoulder, wrapping around his throat. The Valkyries stepped closer, but by then it was too late. I ripped Odin's body toward me, using the same knife he sliced my throat to take his head in one quick, visceral motion. The chains unwrapped from him and dropped his lifeless corpse at my feet before soaking back into my skin.