The god vs the symbol of decay and destruction, Nidhogg

Jalen paused, slowly sifting through Nidhogg's words. Reuniting with his sister trumped saving Laufey.

"You do not have to do this," Laufey said. "This was the risk I took coming here. I can fight my battles."

"I'm sure you can. Stand back Laufey," he said. "Assuming I stand down, Nidhogg. What are the conditions for my passage? Was combat avoidable?"

The dragon remained quiet, his pupils narrowing into vertical slits.

"That clears things up. Let us begin."

Nidhogg unleashed an earth-shattering roar and charged at Jalen, the ground quaking in his wake. The dragon slammed its forearm down, intending to squash Jalen, who easily sidestepped and soared into the sky, landing far away from the dragon. Nidhogg roared and attacked in a similar fashion, with Jalen reacting in a similar manner. He studied the dragon's movements and attack patterns. There was no need for unnecessary risks.

"Such cowardice. Stand and fight!" Nidhogg rushed him again.

"Jalen! He riles you! He is much faster than he shows!" Laufey shouted from somewhere off in the distance.

Immediately after she spoke, Nidhogg's speed tripled. The dragon swung his arm and slapped him into the air. Jalen's trajectory ended in the boiling river, but just before he fell in, his flight activated and levitated him a few inches off the water. The steam from the river surged into his body, seeping his strength from him.

"Damned Jötunn bitch," Nidhogg cursed. "How does it feel, god, to breathe in the poisonous mist from Èlivágar? Such irony isn't it that the river of creation is so toxic to life?"

Jalen's eyes shone with golden light. "Indeed, it is."

He shot like a bullet towards Nidhogg, weaving away at the last point of impact, as the dragon had tried to snatch him out of the air from his blind spot. He swung in circles around the dragon, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. There! Nidhogg's had been slow to react, exposing his spiky back to him. Jalen unleashed the cosmic beams from his eyes. The beams seared into the dragon, ripping off chunks of the spiky bone ridge on his spine; but otherwise glancing off his emerald scales with only scorch marks to show for his efforts.

Damn! What is he made of?

Upon realising Nidhogg's scales were too hard to penetrate, he switched his aim to the dragon's wings. His cosmic beams tore through the dragon's thin membrane of skin and sliced off a wing, eliciting bone-rattling screams. It seemed Nidhogg's scales didn't extend to the arm of his wings. Jalen continued to circle high in the air, well out of reach, his beams focused on Nidhogg. He was willing to test how indestructible the dragon's scales were.

In a last desperate attempt, Nidhogg lunged at Jalen, like a striking snake, and released a powerful stream of green liquid from his mouth. The pressure from the blast alone sent Jalen spiraling into the icy earth. Nidhogg closed the distance before he could collect himself and pummeled him deep into the earth. The dragon continued his onslaught, dispersing massive chunks of ice, until two beams of cosmic life force plunged into one of his eyes. Nidhogg wailed, rubbing at the eye Jalen had blinded. He emerged from the hole, battered and bloodied, and punched Nidhogg's head into the ground.

Jalen floated into the air. He tried to move his left arm, wincing at the jolt of pain that shot up his spine. His arm was broken and would be useless for the rest of the fight. Nidhogg's roar shook him alert. The dragon glared up at him, his left eye coating his face in black blood.

Nidhogg opened his massive jaw, filled with spiky teeth, each the length of Jalen. He instinctively dodged, already aware of what was coming. Where he had just been, a thunderous blast of frost tore through the air. Moments later, the icy stream exploded, filling the featureless sky with long streams of flames and black smoke.

What the fuck?

Nidhogg repositioned his head and opened his mouth again. Jalen dove below the frost stream and closed the distance. Keeping away from Nidhogg was no longer an option. The ice blast exploded as Jalen unleashed a flurry of punches along the dragon's sinuous body. He made sure to stay out of reach of Nidhogg's limbs. Finding the scales under the dragon's body much softer, Jalen focused his cosmic beams to great effect. He managed to sear deep into Nidhogg's underbelly. So successful was his attack that Nidhogg had to drop to his belly to hide his weakness.

"Concede, Nidhogg," Jalen said, nursing his broken arm, while his golden eyes peppered the harder scales of the prone dragon. His beams weren't effective here, but Nidhogg could do nothing about it, as he was protecting his underbelly. "I may be weakened, but I can laser you all day."

"I concede," Nidhogg spat out in between deep breaths. "Well fought, god."

They were both badly injured. Nidhogg had lost a wing and spotted deep cauterized wounds under his body. The dragon's scales were impressive, fending off most of his cosmic rays. For Jalen, his smaller body was worse for wear. Broken bones, deep gashes, and still he was ready to go a few more rounds. His arm was healing.

The dragon dove into the expansive river and emerged later, with all his wounds healed. Even his massive wing had fully regrown. Jalen flew over to Laufey, most of his bruises gone now.

"You owe me," Jalen said.

"Yes, I do. A debt I will repay fully," Laufey said, gazing at Nidhogg who inspected his body by the river. "My daughter, Býleistr… She lives on Earth. Subjugate and protect her, and I will reward you handsomely."

"Subjugate? This is your daughter we are talking about, right?"

"Yes. Býleistr never sees reason. She is as stubborn as a ram butting heads with a boulder."

Jalen floated into the air once more. "This count as your boon?"

"Absolutely not. It was merely a suggestion with an accompanying reward."

Laufey extended her open palm to Jalen. In her hand was a green elliptical seed that was much heavier than it seemed in Jalen's hand.

"What is it for?" Jalen asked.

"The seed of a great pine tree. Plant it when you reach Earth. It will allow me to contact you when I want my boon."

"You know what happens if you try to tri—"

"There are no tricks, I assure you, Jalen. It is exactly as I've told you. Farewell."

Nidhogg's great wings flapped, propelling the massive dragon into the air. Jalen and Nidhogg flew across Èlivágar, the boiling river of creation, and above Hvergelmir, the roaring well, where the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, grew. Nidhogg descended, his wings spread wide, landing softly. The dragon still ended up kicking tons of dirt in his descent.

"Ratatoskr, I know you hide," Nidhogg said, scanning the vast sprawling roots of Yggdrasil. "Meddling in my business to spread your rumors. Reveal yourself. I have a job for you."

"Oh, great Nidhogg," a black squirrel scurried down the tree. "Tormentor of the doomed. Guardian of the World Tree. It pains me so, when you speak ill of me."

The ground reverberated at the force of Nidhogg's growl. "I only speak the truth." Then he whipped his head, an emerald eye mere feet from Jalen. "You god, for which your name Jalen elicits mockery rather than the fear and dread of a powerful name; I, Nidhogg, Guardian of Yggdrasil, shall proclaim you, Erebus, god of might. Ratatoskr, lead the god to Midgard. Then return with whatever news you possess of that wretched eagle."

Ratatoskr regarded Jalen, its pitch-black eyes hiding any tells of its thoughts. "Come, come Erebus. For Nidhogg to bring you personally, you must be something. Why don't you tell me the tales leading to ya epic duel, hehe?"

"I will pass," Jalen replied. Currently, he floated slowly along the tree's trunk, following the squirrel, who expertly climbed it.

"Come on! I could spread epic tales about the great Erebus besting Nidhogg himself in single combat. Swarms of maidens would sing ya high praises. Ya name would be immortalized. What do ya say? Good, yes?"

Jalen burst into laughter, clutching his stomach. "It does sound good."

"Then y—"

"The answer is still no. Take me home."

"Ugh… you joy bane. I won't show ya the places I stash ma nuts."

The squirrel and the god ascended up the tree. Soon, the scenery around the tree shifted to a vast, lush valley filled with trees and a thriving ecosystem of animal life below. It was as if they had just ascended one floor, with the World Tree serving as the most elaborate elevator. Jalen thought they had arrived, but Ratatoskr carried on climbing. The scenery shifted once again. This time, they were in the vacuum of space surrounded by distant stars. No other celestial bodies were in sight.

"This is as far as I go," Ratatoskr said. "I have a messaging business to attend to, after all. Follow along that branch and it'll take you to Midgard. Farewell, Erebus. Hopefully, next time you'll tell me your epic tales."

Following the squirrel's instructions, Jalen flew with the branch as his compass. It was a long, monotonous journey; the backdrop of space reminding how bright everything was. Compared to the void, regular space felt as bright as daylight.

At one point, he thought the squirrel had played a trick on him for withholding his epic tale. Then, he saw a faint ball of light and he sped up. The branch took him towards the sun, past the ice giants, Neptune and Uranus. Jupiter soon whipped by, revealing a faint blue dot in the distance. Jalen grinned.

With Earth in sight now, he could finally think about Yggdrasil. How was it possible for a tree to exist in multiple realms? Did it exist in actual space, or was it purely conceptual? The fact that he saw and felt its roots lay credence to the former. Still, it led him across space, transcending realms. Perhaps it was both.

Upon reaching Earth, he attempted to detach from the branch but failed and bounced back. Whatever magic powering the world tree refused to let him go. So he elected to follow along the branch to see where it led. The rich blue atmosphere of Earth gave way to its vast continents and oceans. The Yggdrasil gave him more control now and Jalen snatched it.

He flew over the expansive forests of Canada into the United States. Then over some lakes, and across New York to Hermosville, New Jersey. Oddly enough, he could not perceive smell or hear any sounds. Hermosville was just as he had left it with its violent riddled rundown areas, busy Chinatown, sprawling metropolis, and prominent dockyards. It didn't take long for him to locate his neighborhood and, consequently, his home apartment.

Jalen turned into his human form and landed on the balcony of his apartment. The moment his feet touched the floor, he slipped through. He floated up, reached for the door handle, but fell through.

"What the fuck is going on, man?" Jalen floated up again. "It's like I'm a ghost or something?"

He glanced around his living room, finding everything unfamiliar. The furniture, rugs, TV, and appliances were all different. Passing through the walls to inspect the rooms, he found some furniture that matched his memories. Though, he admitted that after a million years, his memories might be dodgy.

Jalen felt his heartbeat rising and his hands shaking. There were no signs of Ella still living here. In the master bedroom—what used to be his mother's—a middle-aged couple were sleeping. They used Ella's room for storage. His room belonged to a teenage girl. Jalen floated outside the house to think. Clearly, a lot of time had passed.

I need to find out how much.

He stared into the dark night sky and willed Yggdrasil to release its hold on him. Suddenly, something jerked him into the sky and threw him across a vast distance. His world went black as he fell through a purple-walled portal.

"Not again!" He screamed.

Luckily, this portal ride was brief. It exited on the altar of a church. His tangibility returned full force, pushing everything around his levitating body outward. Tables were uprooted, along with any items set upon them. The old windows rattled on their loose joints in erratic patterns. Every candle in his presence blared alive at the same time. The golden light of his cosmic life force shone through his eyes. Only then was Jalen aware enough to look upon the jaw slacken expressions on the nuns' faces.

"I apologize for dropping in like this," Jalen said as his naked feet found the cold wooden floor. "I assure you all. This wasn't my intention."

An elderly nun rushed to her feet, her eyes wide as saucers. "Oh, Jesus! Bless my soul. Y-young man… are you an angel?"

Most of the nuns had joined the elderly nun on the steps leading to the altar.

"Umm, no. I'm just human. Now—"

"But you emerged from the altar with no clothes," a nun said.

"With eyes shining with the light of god."

"Floating in the air, no less. Oh yes! Are you a messenger from god? What prophecies do you bring?"

"What? ladies… or sisters, that was purely coincidental," Jalen said, waving the frenzied nuns down. "See? I'm human. Not an angel."

"Then why are your eyes golden, huh?" The elderly nun asked.

"Woah, sisters, calm down. Leave the naked man alone please," a young nun stepped in between Jalen and the approaching nuns. "The man is clearly a superhuman with malfunctioning powers. Sister Beatrice please?"

The elderly nun regarded Jalen and the nun shielding him, snapping out of her trance. "Sisters. Let us behave ourselves."

With that, the nuns returned to their seats, still stealing glances at Jalen. The young nun ripped a tablecloth from an overturned altar table and handed it to Jalen.

"Sister Abigail!" a round nun bellowed. "You will not debase the place of god by soiling—"

"Jesus willingly gave up his life on the cross," sister Abigail said. "As a sacrifice for the redemption of humanity's sins. The least I can do is cloth the needy. Don't you think so, sister Ruth?"

"Don't quote the scripture on me you—"

"Sister Ruth," sister Beatrice said, her voice loud and stern. "Let us have our dinner in peace. Come, young man, and partake in this humble meal together. We never got your name, by the way."

"It's Jalen," he answered, the white tablecloth wrapped around his waist. He took a seat beside sister Abigail at the long wooden table.

A modest assortment of foods filled the table; brown beans porridge, broccoli, and potatoes. The spicy aroma of the porridge reeled Jalen in. He grabbed a big serving. The curious gazes of the nuns watched him with apt interest as he ate.

"Looks like you haven't eaten in ages, Jalen?" sister Beatrice remarked. "Go on, eat up. We have plenty to go around."