Chapter 11

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE (AKA YFIRPRESTUR TORVALD)

Hearing his words, the murmurs immediately died down as fear and disbelief washed over the crowd. Some even assumed that it was a joke, until they saw the serious look on the Yfirprestur's face.

"I refuse!" someone shouted, pushing their out of the crowd in an attempt to escape. Their attempt to escaped jolted the crowd into action, causing others to panic as well. Wings made of various elements sprouted from the backs of some, while others simply relied on their gjöfs to escape the crowd.

Much to their horror, they found themselves suddenly unable to move as the space around them solidified. "Where do you think you're going?" Yfirprestur Torvald asked, a warm smile on his face as he pulled their immobile bodies out of the crowd and towards him.

"Please let us go" the man who first tried to escape pleaded as he desperately tried to break free. "Please! I don't want to die!" he pleaded, tears running down his face, "Please! Anything is better than her"

"Anything?" Yfirprestur Torvald asked, his smile growing even wider, taking on a more deranged appearance.

"Gods yes, anything! Just don't make me fight her!" he pleaded, hope in his eyes at the prospect of not fighting Ordria. The feeling of hope grew as his constraints vanished, allowing him to drop to the floor.

"Is there anyone else who shares his sentiments?" Yfirprestur Torvald asked, his question directed not only to those immobilized, but to the rest of the crowd. Seeing a way out from the suicide mission that they were being sent on, roughly twenty people eagerly stepped forward. More would have stepped forward or made their voice heard, but something on an instinctual level told them that something worse than death awaited them if they did.

"Let this be a lesson to you all" he announced as screams of pain filled the air, "Cowardice has but one end." The crowd watched in horror as some of those who stepped forward were slowly turned inside out as Yfirprestur Torvald slowly switched the space their internal organs and bones occupied with that of their skin, flesh and muscles. The worst part about all of this was that no matter what ended up where, his victims stayed alive, as if a higher power had denied them the sweet release of death.

"Magnus!" one of those who had stepped forward yelled as her brother was twisted and turned into unimaginable shapes and his body parts swapped with one another. Manifesting hundreds of spears made out of pure lightning, she hurled them all at Torvald, the crowd temporarily deafened by the roar of thunder the spears created as they hurtled towards Torvald at the speed of natural lightning.

"Die" she yelled at the spears slammed into Torvald's position and detonating, creating a twenty-meter dome that scorched the earth, turning the ground into a pool of lava and filling the air with smoke and dust. "Don't just stand there!" she shouted to the onlookers as she created more spears out of lightning and fired them at Yfirprestur's general location as her kjarna created pitch-black storm clouds in the sky above. "If we don't kill him here, then we all die!" she urged.

"Screw this, I ain't dying here" one of the men that stepped forward to retreat said, a ball of flames the size of his head appearing above his palm. Pouring as much kjarna as he could into the ball to serve as fuel, he compressed it as much as possible until it the ball was the size of an apple and the flames had turned blue. Using his kjarna to ensure that none of the heat escaped, he pulled his arm back for the wind up, aimed at the dome of lightning and with a grunt, threw the ball with deadly accuracy.

The projectile flew at high speeds into the barrage where it was struck by a stray bolt of lightning, detonating in a brilliant explosion which would have enveloped the entire field if not for a barrier covering the dome in time, containing the resulting explosion. "Brynja I got this" a woman said, nodding to the woman that had fired the lightning spears at Yfirprestur Torvald as beads of sweat dripped down her forehead, a testament to how hard it was to contain the explosion.

"Thanks Dagmar" she nodded while continuously pumping her kjarna into the sky, causing the lightning dancing in the clouds above to change from blue to purple. "Everyone, if you want to live, prepare to place a barrier over that spot on my command!" Brynja yelled as the purple lightning in the clouds above gathered to a single spot; above the barrier that contained Torvald. Listening to her words, those that could prepared to cast their various barriers while receiving a steady supply of kjarna from those that were unable.

"Survive this you sadistic hel spawn" Brynja yelled, her hands raised to the sky. In a roar of rage, she swung her hands down and in response to her action, several bolts of lightning fell from the sky one after the other and struck the dome that contained Yfirprestur Torvald, the first bolt shattering the dome and hitting whatever was inside with enough power to vaporize several mountains. "Sven hit him with everything you have!" she yelled at the man who had thrown the blue fireball at Yfirprestur Torvald.

Hearing her command, Sven flew up to the sky, using his kjarna to propel him through the air until he was a hundred meters above them. Holding both his arms forward, he formed a triangle with his fingers and focused, a red ball of flame barely two inches in diameter coming to life in its center. Steadying his breathing, he tuned out the lightning bolts that fell from the sky and the thunder that followed each bolt and began to feed the flame in his hands with his kjarna.

The flame eagerly lapped up the kjarna poured into it, changing from red to yellow in a matter of seconds, growing as it ate until it was roughly forty meters in diameter. Separating his arms, Sven grabbed the edges of the flaming orb and began to compress it while feeding it with his kjarna at the same time, the flames slowly turning blue color as the orb reduced in size. The color then changed from blue to violet as Sven reached his limit.

"Brynja I'm ready" he yelled, sweat pouring from his body as he struggled to contain the heat of the flaming ball in front of him which was now only a meter in diameter.

"Send him to hel!" she shouted at him as the last bolt of purple lightning fell from the sky. Grinning at her words, Sven shot the ball forward, temporarily deafened by the sonic boom his attack created.

"Barriers now!" Brynja shouted as Sven's attack landed on the same spot her lightning had been bombarding moments ago, spurring the audience into action. The barrier casters who had been supercharged by the kjarna of their allies cast every possible barrier they knew how to cast over and under the area the attack had landed, creating a thirty-meter wide and tall multicolored dome. "You can let it go" she said to Sven who was standing in the next to her; he had dropped to the ground in order to conserve his kjarna.

Cutting off the kjarna that kept his spell under control, he collapsed to the floor exhausted. Without Sven's kjarna to restrain it, the heat from the ball washed over everything inside the dome, raising the temperature to many times the heat of the sun's surface. As this happened, the orb grew in size as it consumed everything within the dome, growing in size until it pressed against the barriers that kept it contained.

"Suppress it!" Sven yelled, addressing those maintaining the barriers, "It'll burn itself out soon as long as you keep it contained!" For the next thirty minutes, the barrier casters worked tirelessly to contain the ball of flames while those who supplied then with kjarna rotated in order to ensure they had enough to maintain the barriers.

"How strong is that spell" Brynja asked Sven who was currently resting in order to recover his kjarna.

"I don't know" he responded honestly. "This is my second time using it" he said.

"The first?" she asked, sitting next to him, genuine interest written on her face.

"The lík herra incident four years ago" he answered, a guilty expression on his face.

"That was you?" she asked. Four years ago, a draugr had risen on the outskirts of Volgaart; an island of roughly eight hundred thousand. Due to it being the first of its kind on the island, the inhabitants were sorely ill-equipped to deal with it, and before they knew it, the draugr had evolved into a lík herra; a walking embodiment of death. However, before it could leave the island with its army that consisted of the resurrected inhabitants of the island, a burst of violet light swallowed the island. When the light vanished, there was nothing left where the island used to be, not even ashes. Eight hundred thousand draugr and the lík herra, gone; reduced to ashes.

"You're a hero" she said slapping Sven on the back "If it weren't for you the lík herra and the draugr would have made their way to the main land and done so much damage" she stated factually. "So why do you look so guilty?" she asked.

"It didn't get the entire island" he said quietly so that only she could hear. "When I got there, there were still people that hadn't yet been turned" he clenched his head in his hands, tears falling from his eyes. "Yfirprestur Torvald ordered me to destroy everything. He said that we couldn't take any chances" he sobbed. "After the deed was done, I went to him seeking forgiveness and do you know what he told me?" he asked between sobs.

"He told me that this was just one of those things that I'd have to live with!" he cried into his hands. Hearing the story of what actually happened, Brynja felt her hatred for Torvald grow. Before she knew what was happening, she wrapped her arms around Sven and pulled him close in order to provide him comfort.

"Its ok Sven" she said, stroking his hair as he sobbed uncontrollably in her arms. The sound of his cries attracted the stares of those around them, but a harsh stare from Brynja made them look the other way. After a few minutes of uncontrollable sobbing, Sven finally regained control of himself. Pulling away from Brynja's hold, he looked at her apologetically as he wiped the tears off his face with his sleeve.

"I'm sorry" he apologized, ashamed that he had broken down, displaying weakness in front of so many people.

"Its okay" she responded "You needed to talk to someone and I'm glad that I could help" she said, a warm smile on her face.

"Its dying down" someone shouted, interrupting their conversation. Standing up, the duo made their way over to the multicolored barrier that contained the explosion. Having exhausted the materials that served as fuel within the barrier and been denied access to more, the ball had started shrinking as it died out, leaving a gaping crater in its wake. As the last traces of the orb vanished, the barrier came down, allowing everyone to survey the damage caused by Sven's attack.

"We did it!" Brynja announced after not finding any trace of Torvald. Her announcement caused those who joined her in the instantaneous uprising to let out a chorus of cheers. "In the end you were just all talk Torvald" she mocked before turning round to face everyone. Rising to the sky with her kjarna, she hovered above the crowed and spoke in a loud voice, "A new age is upon us all," her voice drew everyone's attention to her. "The old Yfirprestur was old, senile and most importantly, weak" she said, a look of disdain on her face as she rose higher and raised her voice. "He has paid for his weakness, and a new Yfirprestur must rise to take his place. That new Yfirprestur is me" she announced, making lightning gather above them; a silent threat to any who might oppose her.

"My first act as your new Yfirprestur will be to pardon all those that either stood aside and did nothing, or stood on the side of Torvald" she glanced at Guðrun, Sky and Skye who stared back at her with calm looks on their faces, like they hadn't just witnessed the death of Torvald. Their expressions pissed her off to no end; she was the new Yfirprestur, they should be cowering at her feet or awed by her power and greatness. 'I'll deal with them later' she thought before continuing her speech.

"My second act will be…" her next words were cut off as her mouth erupted with blood, drenching those gathered beneath her in her precious life fluid. With a guttural scream she fell to the ground as blood flowed freely out of her mouth.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" Torvald's voice said, permeating through the crowd and silencing them all. "A small thing like this was able to incite you all to rebel" everyone turned their attention to where the voice was coming from; the crater. They all watched in dread as Torvald floated out, a warm smile on his face, his clothes and skin unscorched and more importantly, Brynja's tongue in his hand. Throwing it aside, he lightly dropped to the floor, placed his hands behind his back and smiled. "Now that you've all thrown your childish tantrums" he said in a calm voice as he walked forward towards Brynja who was kneeling on the floor backing him, "I expect you all to behave properly." As he spoke, the smell of burnt flesh filled the air along with a buzzing sound.

"Thro duh!" she yelled once he was directly behind her, smoke and bits of burnt flesh spewing from her mouth as she thrust a lightning coated hand at Torvald at blinding speeds, only for the speeding appendage to suddenly halt, the arcs of lightning that danced on her hand frozen in place.

"It truly is a shame that you insist on being put down like a rabid dog" Yfirprestur Torvald sighed, staring at the immobile Brynja and Sven with gray eyes that betrayed no emotion. "And you" he turned to look at Sven who was frozen in place, a sword in his hand and hatred in his eyes. "There are no words to describe how pathetic you are" he walked over and plucked the sword from his hand, examining its razor-sharp blade. "Death is too good for you" he slowly ran two fingers along the edges and tip of the steel sword, sparks flying as he slowly ground them down until the sword became extremely dull. Examining the weapon, he repeatedly flicked the edges and flat of the sword with his finger, breaking off finger sized chunks of the edge with each flick and creating uneven until he was holding a serrated sword in his hand. Flicking his finger upwards, the broken chunks of the sword rose from the ground and surrounded Sven's immobile body.

"Behold! The fate of those who defy the will of the gods and more importantly, my will" he announced to not only the individuals he had brought here, but also the newcomers who had rushed to the field after witnessing the lightning and explosions. He placed the blunt tip of the sword on Sven's stomach and applied force, the grandfatherly smile never leaving his face as the uneven serrated blade was slowly pushed into Sven's stomach, whimpers of pain escaping his lips as Yfirprestur Torvald deliberately manipulated the blade to avoid any organs that would bring about instant death, instead opting to use the jagged edge to slowly saw Sven's stomach open, releasing the acid inside to his body to slowly eat at his organs.

"Don't look away!" Yfirprestur Torvald snapped at the onlookers, an unseen force turning the heads of those who had averted their gaze or were throwing up in disgust and pulling their eyelids open. "I have been too lenient and now you all believe that you can trod on me. Today I will remind you that why those who have the title Yfirprestur are to be feared." They all watched as he continued, the blood and acid spilling from Sven stained the floor yet for some reason, Yfirprestur Torvald's attire remained unstained.

Letting go of the sword, he flicked his finger, causing some the floating sword fragments to spin slowly while the remainder spun quickly before moving forward and bury themselves in various parts of Sven's body, slowly digging into his body and twisting his flesh free from bone, spilling blood everywhere. Once they had dug into his flesh and carved holes in his bones, the fragments pulled themselves out and moved to different locations, repeating the act of drilling into Sven's body.

Just as Sven was about to be embraced by the sweet release of death, Yfirprestur Torvald stepped forward and placed his hand on his forehead before releasing whatever restraint that kept Sven from talking. Pulling his hand back to reveal a symbol that had been etched on Sven's forehead, he walked lightly slapped Sven's cheek to bring him back from the verge of unconsciousness.

"Why can't I feel my kjarna?!" he asked in a raw voice, tears of pain streaking down his cheeks as the holes in his body were slowly healed, the symbol on his head glowing a dull purple color. "W.w.what did you do?" he suddenly shouted, panic temporarily overwhelming the pain as he tried and failed to feel much less use his kjarna. "What did you do!!" he howled, sending chills down the spines of the onlookers.

"You didn't deserve it" Yfirprestur Torvald commented casually, watching as the sword pulled itself out of Sven's stomach, cutting open the recently healed stomach and spilling his stomach acid over his intestines again while the shards repeated the drilling process. "Besides, didn't you say that you'd do anything than fight Ordria?" he chuckled as he looped the space around Sven, causing the sword to sheath itself back in his stomach and the shards to drill through his flesh and bones, the motions set to repeat themselves. Hundreds of years from now, when people came to this field, they would be greeted by the cries and pleas of the still tortured Sven.

Turning away from the screaming disappointment to look at Brynja who had watched the whole thing unable to move, Yfirprestur Torvald spoke; "I have something special planned for you." He then teleported her to an unknown location with a wave of his hand. Looking at the scared faces of those gathered, he gave them all a warm smile. "I'll meet you all here eight days from now at first light, don't be late" he then turned to Guðrun and her teammates who had been watching from a safe distance.

"Lítill risi walk with me," he motioned for her to follow him, placing his hands behind his back as he walked towards the collection of buildings that served as the housing of those that served the temple. Instructing her teammates to get some food, Guðrun caught up with Yfirprestur Torvald.

"Lítill risi what do you think about Sven and Brynja" he suddenly asked, catching her off guard. Forming a fist with her hands, she answered in a small voice as dread formed in her.

"Thet were strong. Stronger than I could ever hope to be"

"True, they're strong. Stronger than you are right now" Yfirprestur Torvald agreed, a soft expression on his face.

"You're going to replace me, aren't you?" the question came out of nowhere causing him to pause. Turning round, he looked at Guðrun who was currently rooted to the spot. "You've always said that you have no need for the weak" tears formed in her eyes as her body shivered in fear.

"Lítill risi" he started

"No!" she shouted drowning his voice with her own "I've been with you since I was a child and watched you dispose of people like me; the weak and useless" she then drew the two-pronged blade that hung by her side and stared at its blade. "When you gave me this sword, I told you that there would be a day I'd return it because I wouldn't need its power" tears fell from her eyes as she let the sword fall to the ground before dropping to her knees, "Yet I always end up relying on it" she cried "I'm sorry I couldn't keep that promise. I won't resist, just promise me that you'll look after Tryggr" she pleaded, her head lowered to the ground and eyes shut as she waited for death.

"Just because they're stronger than you now doesn't mean you can't surpass them lítill risi" she heard Yfirprestur Torvald say as his arms wrapped themselves around her, the comforting presence she always felt when she was with him slowly driving away her tears. "When your mother left you and Tryggr at my door all those years ago, I promised to take care of you" he started, stroking her hair in the special way that made her feel safe "When you told me that you wanted to become a Yfirprestur like me, I told you that I would make you the strongest Yfirprestur the world ever saw." She felt his body tremble as tears fell from his eyes shocking her. In the thirty-two years she had known him, she had never seen Yfirprestur Torvald; her father in all but blood, cry.

"You didn't fail me lítill risi, I'm the one that failed you. In my attempt to keep you safe, I made you dependent on your weapon and it nearly killed you and your brother. Can you ever forgive me?" he asked sincerely.

"You don't need to ask me for that" she answered immediately, part of her shocked by his actions and the other part relieved that she wasn't going to die.

"Thank you lítill risi" he wiped his tears away before reaching into his robes and puling out a small leather-bound book and placing it in her hands. "I wanted to wait till later to give you this, but I don't think it can wait any longer" he said, watching Guðrun's face pale in shock as she flipped through the book's pages.

"This is..." she hesitated before handing it back to him. "I can't take this, its too valuable" she tried to push the book into his hands only for him to refuse.

"Lítill risi you have to" he insisted, pressing the book into her palm. "Ordria isn't to be taken likely. You'll need all the power you can get"

"But she can't be the same one, can she?" Guðrun asked. "It's not possible for someone to be alive after so long"

"Lítill risi if half the stories of what you've read or heard about her are true, then it's not impossible"

"I. I understand" she hesitantly responded, taking the book from him and placing it in her waistband, securing it.

Satisfied that she had taken the book, Yfirprestur Torvald let out a tired smile. With this book in her possession, he was sure that his Lítill risi would be able to at least protect herself from Ordria.

As the image of that woman entered his mind, Yfirprestur Torvald frowned internally as he thought back to last night when he attempted to divine her origin as well as what would happen when the subjugation team attacked. He had projected his consciousness into the stream of time as he had done time and time again, planning to watch and study Ordria in an attempt to find out exactly how she was still alive after all these years, and more importantly how strong she had become.

He had spent the entire night searching through the past, present and future, even going as far as to check the alternate streams in the ever expanding and diverging river of time. Yet no matter how hard or thoroughly he checked, he couldn't find her, and this was what caused him to worry. An opponent that wasn't even recognized by the time of this realm could spell trouble.