KotLC: Eclipse (KotLC X Magnus Chase)

Chapter 9 part 2

(A/N. 2nd part of the previous chapter)
(A/N 2. The original Chapter 9 part 1 was removed to be rewritten- 18th Feb 2025)

Recap:
Deke redhall was killed after saving someone from arsonists. He died after punching one of the arsonists and then being pushed into the flames. The crowd in the Feast Hall cheered after this happened because the crowd thought that Deke was worthy for Valhalla.

Sophie's POV

The eleven men sitting at the table conferred. I heard one person asking if a chair would count as a weapon.

"Why does it matter if fists count as a weapon or not?" I asked Sam.
"The only way a warrior can get into Valhalla is if they died with a weapon in hand, assuming that they also died a heroic death."

I glanced at the thanes' table. They were still discussing the chair.

"What happens if the thanes deem that fists aren't weapons?" I asked.

"Then the death is deemed unworthy, and the valkyrie gets punished for bringing the person here." She replied. I suddenly understood why all three valkyries looked a little on edge, although Sam looked less stressed than the other two.

"What happens to the einherji?" I questioned. "Do they go back to being alive again?"

"No, they stay here. You can't go back to being alive after dying. However, you will likely not be treated as well as others. You would probably have a hard time earning respect from other einherjar and be landed with worse jobs." She seemed pretty done with this topic from the way her teeth grinded against each other so loudly I could hear them.

"Sooo..." I started, not sure what topic to change to. "How many others have you brought to Valhalla? You don't seem as nervous as the other valkyries on this table, as if you've been through this several times before."

"I've brought about three other people here. And two of them currently live on Floor Nineteen. You met Alex," She adjusted her headscarf, "and you saw Magnus. They got together after we stopped ragnarök a few months ago." She glanced across the Hall. "Anyway, wha-"
she was interrupted by the scraping of a chair from the thanes' table, announcing that one of them had stood.

Helgi's voice boomed throughout the Hall of the Slain. "We have taken a vote to decide whether or not Deke's death was worthy," he adjusted his tie, "and we deem him worthy of staying in Valhalla. Because, were it not for him, that person may not have escaped with their life." At this, the crowd roared in appreciation.
"Now, tell us, Deke Redhall. Do you know your parentage?" Deke looked up and nervously said:

"I-I never kn-knew my father." Helgi didn't seem surprised at all with this revelation.
"That is not uncommon among the einherjar. We will seek wisdom from the runes, unless a Higher Being wishes to intercede?"
The entire Hall turned to look at the empty throne, where two ravens squawked and hopped back and forth. Everyone then turned to the base of the massive tree, then to the lake. When nothing happened, Helgi's shoulders slumped, and he gave a small sigh. He then motioned to the fire pit. From a small cluster of chefs and servers, a woman wearing a green robe shuffled towards the table. The robe covered her face, but I could tell she was old from the way she was hunched forward.

"Who's she?" I asked.

"She's the Valla, a seer. She can use runes to do spells, predict the future, and... other things." The Vala approached the table and stood in front of Deke. She pulled a leather pouch out of her robe and poured a set of runestones into the palm of her hand.
"The runes are practically the genetic code of the universe. With them, seers can change reality. The most powerful, like Odin, dont need the runestones. They can just speak the name of the rune.
There are very few things that can resist or not be affected by the runes, and they are all dark and evil beings that even the gods fear."

Before I could answer, the Vala muttered something under her breath and threw the runestones to the ground, some faced up, some faced down. There was one rune that seemed to get everyone's attention. The rune was broadcast onto all the holographic screens around the tree.

ᚨ

Once again, my polyglot ability helped me translate it to 'ancestor' or 'god'. Around the hall, there were sounds of murmuring. Sam leaned towards me.
"There have been very few children of Odin these past few years because Odin was absent from Asgard a while back. We still take any sign that he moves among mortals as a good thing."

The Vala raised her bony, gnarled hand. "Deke Redhall, son of Odin. Rejoice! You will fight well at Ragnarök! Tomorrow at your first combat, you will fight valiantly and be dismembered by the dragons!" Deke turned very pale at that, which made the army in the Hall laugh as if this happened every day.

The Vala retreated while Deke's valkyrie helped him into his seat, and the ceremony continued.
Up next was a small girl who had saved everyone in a village after a group of fighter jets started shooting at the plane she was in by taking the place of the pilot and co-pilot and crashing the commercial jet into the f-12s. She would have managed to get out with her life, had the turbines not blown up exactly when she was  about to jump out of the plane.

The strangest thing, though, was the fact that stood on the wing just before the explosion, there stood the shadowy figure from Deke's Valkyrie Vision. They were grinning widely, red eyes glinting in delight. Once again, when the camera focused on them, it started glitching crazily. When it cleared, the figure was gone just as quickly as they came.

Luckily, the small girl had been holding on to a piece of metal that had been ripped from the plane, leading to the thanes declaring her worthy. A check made by the Vala proved that she was borne from two humans.

I hadn't been watching the valkyrie vision at the beginning, I was too busy trying not to watch the violent scene playing out on screen. When I caught sight of the figure, though, I started to watch him. He seemed to be carrying a strange staff and didn't appear to be feeling the air pushing against him from flying so fast in the air.

This seemed strange to me.
Why was this new villain, as they seemed to be, so hell-bent on getting more people into Valhalla‽ why did he want to kill so many people?.

This musing meant that when I heard that it was my turn on the Valkyrie Vision, I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Sophie Elizabeth Foster!" I heard Helgi's voice booming through the Feast Hall. "Rise and impress us with your courage!"

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1184 words

Sorry it took this long, I was trying to figure out the prophecy for the next chapter. But it's done now 🥳 🎉

As always, if you find any SPaG mistakes, please comment where they are and what's wrong.

Any guesses on who the villain is inspired by?

I have planned the next 10 or so chapters, so it should be smooth sailing for a bit.

I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.

Bye 👋
-ManiMohawk