ONE SEA : MAXIMILIAN
As he felt the tender flesh give way to his sword, he looked in horror as blood started to leak out.
Maximilian let go of Gram and Victor fell backwards, coughing up blood. Victor's hoarse reply came: "You sanctimonious bastard... you beat me fair and square."
Maximilian stumbled forwards: "Victor I'm so sorry."
Extending his hand forwards, trying to heal him. However, Victor weakly swatted his hand away: "Don't... I don't want you to see... what I've done."
Maximilian heard the strain in his friend's voice, he estimated, from the excessive bleeding, Victor might not have long. Maximilian moved closer: "Victor, I promise I would never leave you no matter what I see or sense when I heal you."
Victor grunted as he seemed to convulse slightly in pain: "Fine. Heal me enough so I don't die then I'm leaving."
Reluctantly Maximilian agreed. He placed his hands softly on the wound as he felt the rune flow through his hands into Victor's tender and weakened body. In his mind he heard screaming and malicious screaming, the longer he healed Victor the sounds would intensify as the screaming got louder. Towards the tail end, visual illusions and hallucination glimpses would flash before his eyes, a small jotun cowering behind its parent they were cut through by some dark blade, houses imploding as a dragon annihilated it, a mountain covered with black flames and the ruined remains of infrastructure.
Maximilian's hand recoiled: "Victor. Tell me what you did."
Victor groaned and limped up: "I said no."
Without warning, a voice from behind him, glistening with relish, saccharine, and velvety emanated forth: "Why don't you ask me?"
Maximilian whirled around, to see Loki in a new fiery red suit with dark red, blood crimson suit pants, his double ended spear flaming in his hand and infernal horns blazing despite the torrential rain. Loki's hand shot out like a viper's tongue and seized Maximilian's arm. Maximilian struggles against the grip of the trickster god to no avail. Loki smiled with delight: "You boyfriend's been a very bad boy... let me show you."
Slowly his vision began to swim and Maximilian found himself standing on an outcrop of rock overlooking a mountain. The mountain was a gentle hump on a plains like area. On it was a quaint collection of hay and wooden houses. In the center was a stone crafted town square where a jotun with close cropped white hair stood: Utgard-Loki.
Maximilian suddenly saw a large black dragon dive down, annihilating several houses. The screaming was carried in the wind like the smell of blood. Utgard-Loki seemed to rise and cast a rune of freezing covering most of the flattened rubble with a sheet of ice and frost. The dragon, no doubt Victor, spun to avoid getting his wing trapped. He surged forwards shifting into a spot coloured hawk to become a smaller target as he ducked and weaves through Utgard-Loki's frost blasts and other assorted frost covered rubble. Utgard-Loki seemed to be sheltering a female jotun and a small jotun child. The female also seemed to have a distinct bulge in her stomach... Odin almighty... she was pregnant. Utgard-Loki shouted back at the other jotuns cowering like his family, behind him: "Go! Leave! Head for the mountains!"
The hawk shapeshifted into something else, possibly a small insect, so imperceptible Victor was functionally invisible. Utgard-Loki picked up a ruined rafter bar and it was wreathed in frost. Extremely tense, in the eye of the hurricane of carnage, the jotuns shifted tersely. The unsettling eerie silence as the rubble lay dormant and their assailant was scarce.
Utgard-Loki, the jotuns, and Maximilian waited in anticipation. Utgard-Loki whispered: "Go."
The jotuns shifted as they slowly retreated from the ruins of their home. Utgard-Loki's back was turned on his family and kinsmen temporarily. Without warning the ground rumbled and exploded, revealing the dragon Victor as he savaged and mauled several jotuns with dripping fiery fangs. The screaming erupted as fast as the ground did as the jotun fled and scattered for their lives as the ground began to run with fire and blood. In the hectic chaos, Utgard-Loki was knocked flying back and momentarily stunned as Victor cut a savage swathe through the helpless jotuns. As jotuns were disembowelled and eviscerated mercilessly, Victor crept forwards to the female jotun and her child. The child cowered fearfully behind his mother. The female raised her hands in futility as Victor shapeshifted back, his face indifferent: "This has to happen."
And they were gone.
Utgard-Loki's scream was inhuman and tortured as Victor shot a single runic firebolt at the illusionist king dissolved into smoke and left. Maximilian heard Victor mutter: "Good... run old man."
Victor turned back into a dragon and rose into the air and torched the entire village as the vision cut out.
Maximilian returned to reality.
Loki let go of his arm as Maximilian spiralled backwards. Maximilian turned to Victor. The fact that Utgard-Loki had gone to such lengths to find him was clear, the fact that he was alone was also apparent. Maximilian asked Victor: "Why?"
But Victor's eyes were glowing yet they were swimming with tears: "You said you wouldn't tell him dad."
Loki shrugged: "What's that reference you love so much? Ah right: I'm altering the deal, pray I don't alter it further."
Maximilian drew his sword and pointed it at Loki: "Why make Victor do it?"
Loki waved his hand as a single icy blue orb shimmered into existence, a single voice came from it: "Take care of him, I love you both, I'll see you on the other side."
Maximilian felt his heart sink as he realised who it was. Loki smirked as probably saw his emotion: "Yes, I promised to return her. The torture was probably unnecessary but it unlocked facets of his power to achieve what I needed. But I did not expect him to get that angry at you. I told him to rough you up a bit. Regardless, you'll find the little lapse of anger from him as a result of your blasted rune will be gone soon enough."
Maximilian's face was contorted with rage: "You tortured him?"
Loki brushed the comment off: "In all fairness, he's become quite powerful. I'd love to explain but I have more favours to extort from Victor."
Victor tried to run but Loki's spear shot forth several fiery chains that wrapped around Victor's wrists. Victor shouted at Maximilian: "I'm sorry!"
With that, Maximilian slammed his sword on the ground sending a shockwave that shattered the chains binding Victor allowing Victor to shapeshift into a dragon and smack Loki backwards with his tail before taking off and flying away.
Loki, slowly got back up: "All is in place." As he turned into smoke.
Maximilian felt the rock shift as if something huge and monstrous was stirring under it. Terrified, he cried out: "Sol!"
And he beamed away.
Beneath the waves something reptilian had shifted in its slumber.
