Rigor Mortis

Birds

He yawned and opened his eyes. It had been four months since the unicorn attacked them, and Corax had had a bad time recovering from it. He did better, but it had taken him quite a time to get to this point. Corax and Dux had explained to him what unicorns were and what they did. It was a terrifying truth. They used their horns to steal souls. The soul was devoured and didn't go to Yggdrasil. It was lost forever. And it almost happened to Corax.

Deer, male, old, death by parasites.

Rigor stood up and walked to his dad. He was used to the call outs now and they became more and more part of his life.

"How are you feeling, dad?" he asked, but he saw that Corax was doing fine today.

"Better, yes. Thanks for asking. I'm not good for flying yet, but it will be fine." he smiled. Rigor gave him a happy smile and turned around to get to his call out.

When he arrived he carefully got closer. The smell of blood and parasites was strong. The fur of the deer had bald spots. He had a lot of tics, and worms were visible too.

Rigor came closer. The antlers of the deer looked so mighty, even after death. But also sad. They reminded him of an old tree, very beautiful and it deserved respect.

As Rigor sat down next to the body, the usual ritual began. Making contact, dancing to break the bond between the soul and the physical body, and last but not least: guiding him to Yggdrasil.

Rigor walked in a circle around the deer. Thinking about what to do. The body was a victim to the worms and tics. And later to the maggots. But in respect for the deer, he wanted to take something to remind him of this day, this person.

He struck his teeth in the skull, crushing a part of it. He could now take one of the antlers with him. He grabbed the right antler between his jaws and pulled it. It broke loose. Parts of the skull remained attached, but with a few gnaws they got off.

Back home he went straight for the cave. He dropped the antler and just sat next to it for a few minutes, looking at it with pride. It gave off a fine energy that relaxed him. Soon he lied down and fell asleep. Only to wake up moments later from a strange, but familair smell.

He ran out of the cave, he felt uneasy and looked around with his bared teeth. He spotted a lynx. It was just walking through, but he was aware that this was someone's land.

Rigor ran up to the feline. He was puzzled about the fact that he knew this lynx. It was the one that had attacked him a year ago, when he and Corax just met, but he was too young to remember it now.

Rigor threw the cat on his back. It hissed fierce at him. The wolf disapproved and made an angry growling noise.

"I don't know why, but I know you and it's no good. Get out of my land before I hurt you." he said in a calm voice, but with an aggressive overtone. Although the wolf and the lynx didn't speak the same language, the message was clear and the lynx crawled his way under Rigor out, stood up, and left his land. Rigor watched untill he was out of sight and then decided to go check on his dad again.

"How's your day?" he greeted his dad.

"Good. I noticed the smell of the lynx, but I knew you'd do something about that. Why did you take an antler?"

"Well, I felt like it would do good. He is on his way to Yggdrasil and he doesn't need it anymore." he stated.

"Don't worry, it's not a problem. You just looked rather silly with that thing in your mouth." Corax laughed. He sat in a tree about fifty metres from the cave so he could keep an eye on what was going on.

"Hungry?" Rigor offered him some help, but he knew Dux did a lot too.

"Nah, not yet. I'll let you know." he answered. Rigor shrugged and walked back to the cave. He stopped when he saw a black bird landing in a tree a few hundred metres away. For him it was clear that this was a Grim Reaper, but what did he or she have to do here?

As he ran to the bird he saw another one landing in a tree. And after that, a group of three Grim Reapers landed somewhere. He stopped and turned around to his cave. He howled to the birds and looked at Corax briefly. He quickly ran to his dad, not knowing what to do with the situation.

The birds that had arrived, now arrived in the tree around Corax. Rigor decided just to ask them what this was all about.

"What are you doing here? Why are you here? What do you want?"

"We heard about you. You will create a safe place." one of them said. Rigor cocked his head.

"Where did you get that idea?" he asked, but he remembered the part when Yggdrasil said that he would create a safe place. Hearing this, that would mean creating a safe place for Grim Reapers. But why? There were no problems in the past.

"The myth. It said that you will." the same bird said.

"Hold on. You KNOW what the myth said? I thought nobody could remember it?" he asked confused.

"I did hear about someone that would protect Yggdrasil, but didn't know more. We just got back from Yggdrasil, there we learned." he made clear. All the others nodded in agreement. It explained a lot.

"Why did Yggdrasil call you than?" Rigor needed more answers, but this time it was Corax that asked the question.

"I think she just wanted to tell us. I didn't need to go to her for a specific reason." the same bird went on

"Neither did I." another one agreed.

"Than that's clear. Yggdrasil is going to tell everyone in person and than they come to here." Corax concluded.

"Not everyone. We decided. The others didn't feel the need to."

"Well, thank you for explaining the whole thing, but whatever you are here for, why would you need a safe place?" It was the last thing Rigor needed to have explained.

"The unicorns. Didn't you figure that out?" a female said.

"No, I got explained a few things about what they do, but I don't know much more." he said.

"We are doing this at a very easy pace, right?" Corax said to Rigor, but for the whole group to hear. Rigor nodded. That was true. He learned with an easy pace, rushing would only cause him to stress out and he wouldn't remember what he needed to. It was also more easy to do and could be relaxing.

"You're the one that found him first?" one noticed. Corax said a quick 'yes' and asked everyone to find a place to stay, but not in the cave since that was Rigor's personal place.

The birds flew off and Rigor and Corax were left alone.

"I have to create a safe place for Grim Reapers because of unicorns. But what if they attack in big numbers?" he asked worried.

"Well, you can't be prepared for everything. But if you practice your flying better, you will have at least one advantage." Corax stated. Rigor had protected him well by diving into the creature, but it was far from flawless and even had a dangerous factor since it wasn't the way to dive. He had to learn a lot more flying skills.

Dux arrived and joined the two.

"So what did I miss with those birds?"