Birger Age. (4)

"What business do you have with the Nordic Pantheon?" Aken asked me in english.

As we moved from the crossing rivers, further into Cocytus, the air grew colder. This was the river that led to the Norse Hell, Helheim. It was a frozen wasteland that was built for those who died a dishonorable death. Many were wrongly put here.

"I'm… trying to become something else. Something… more." I paused for a moment before speaking again. "Something real."

He tilted his head at me. "Real? You are real, no? I do not understand."

"I am Nothing. I am the blackness when you blink. I am the night when you fall asleep but do not dream. I've no soul."

Aken shook his head in confusion. "All things have a soul. What makes you so different?"

"All living things have a soul." I corrected him. "I can not die, because I am not alive. I simply am."

He yawned. "That sounds boring so don't tell me. I'll probably just fall asleep."

I smiled to myself at that. Some people are just different, I guess. He was closer to a god, though. He was one of 6 ferrymen that rode across the rivers in the underworld. Aken was stationed in Styx and Cocytus, Charon was stationed in Acheron and Leathe, while ferrymen known as Mahaf, Cherti, Anguta and Cherun took mast of a larger boat that led down Phlegethon.

Phlegethon was a treacherous path due to the raging waters. Well, not water, but blood. It was a difficult path when you account for the fire that was above the blood-river. Tartarus was an even more horrible place.

We rode in silence for a few hours. The cold kept getting worse until my teeth were chattering. A large, dark wooden arch stood above the river, scaling around 500 feet in the air. It had Norse ruins on it that both imprisoned and protected the souls within Helheim.

Helheim was a frozen land that had floating islands above the enormous icicles. These islands moved with the wind. The person I was looking for was on one of them, and I would have to search each one until I found him.

"This is as far as I go." Aken spoke.

I frowned. "Uh… you got something I can use to get up there?"

I pointed at the islands.

He turned to me with a blank face. "I am just a ferryman."

I sighed. "Okay. Thanks, Aken."

I hopped off the boat and started to walk away. I noticed Aken had stayed as well, but was still in the boat. I turned back and stared at him.

"How do you know of me?" He asked.

"I know of many beings who are indebted to the gods." I said in a sultry voice. "Osiris is… troublesome."

He clenched his jaw. "Yes, indeed. Until we meet again."

He pushed the boat off the land and it glided through the water. He laid back down on the boat before taking a blanket from somewhere and closing his eyes.

𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺… 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? I thought as I stared up at the floating islands.

I didn't have my amulet, so I couldn't portal up there. I guess I'll have to climb…

So there I was, the only living human in hell, scaling up an icicle that was the size of a mountain. I had to climb up to the top and hopefully an island would get close to it.

I'd probably have to jump.

It would definitely break my legs if I jumped too far.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴? 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭, 𝘩𝘦𝘭! 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭! I cursed the god of Helheim in my head.

My body was tense from the cold. My teeth were chattering and my limbs were shaking. It took more than an hour of climbing to finally reach the peak.

I wasn't worried about hypothermia. This wasn't a real body, just my consciousness which happened to be a copy of my body.

I looked across the fast tundra and saw… nothing. There were large icicles that reached the skies, a few wolves that were much larger than normal, indicating they were actually dire wolves, and snow as far as the eye could see.

After a few minutes of silence that was only broken by the chattering of teeth, a large island showed up below the peak I was sitting on. It… oh shit.

It crashed into the icicle and I was falling down.

"Oh fuck!" I shout as I feel my feet fallout from under me.

I was hurtling toward the island quickly.

"Fuckfuckshitfuck! Are you fucking ki- gyah-"

I landed on my back. The wind was knocked out of me. I could feel my back, that was good. Wiggle my toes? Also good. My neck was sore, my arms were bruised.

All in all, I came out better than I thought I would.

I heard a growl and looked up only to come face to face with a huge wolf, easily the size of a house.

It made a whistling sound as it inhaled.

"B?" It asked.

"Oh thank god…" I breathed. "I thought I would have to do that a couple more times…"

It stood up and started jumping left and right.

"B?! What are you doing here?! It's been so long!"

I laughed as I stood up and stroked his maw. "Hey, Fenrir. Did ya miss me, boy?"

Fenrir growled under its breath. "I only allow you to call me that due to our past. It is degrading, B!"

I laughed again.

Norse mythology had a lot of things that were mixed up.

Fenrir, the world eater, was a being that had the concept of 'end.'

What was a concept? It was the most powerful… thing, power, state of mind, being, and more. A good example was Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. She had the concept of beauty.

Concepts effectively made anything the being did, absolute. It wasn't a power or will or anything else. It simply was.

Fenrir having the concept of End, meant that he could end anything and everything, given enough time.

And before he was considered a divine beast, he was simply a beast.

That I raised.

In the time before gods, humans roamed the land.

Vikings.

Along with mammoths and dire wolves and other old creatures.

I had found him during the end of a larger battle that I had participated in, along with my battle-brothers. We had been fighting for territory with a foreign people. Our clan had grown too large to be stationed on the island that we had, so we were forced to fight for a larger portion of the mainland. Which is now known as Scandinavia.

After the battle, I had found a pup who was on the outskirts of the cities walls. It was a smaller than average dire wolf. He had been hiding in a bush, scared of the fire that surrounded it. I picked him up and named him Fenrir.

It was an old Norse word. Fen was a type of peat-accumulating wetland, while rir meant 'dweller.'

A simple name, for a simple beast.

I picked him up from the marsh and tucked him into my shirt and the rest is history. He grew large and fought many battles alongside us.

Odin came much later. Around 20 years later, actually.

He was mortal, but the Viking beliefs were strong. Over time they revered Odin along with his son, Thor. Eventually, they ascended into godhood from the beliefs of the warriors. I've never met Loki, but I'd heard that he was Thor's brother.

Fenrir came later, when he had taken a city by himself. Even as a mortal dire wolf, he was smart. Smart enough to use the shadows and understand that his black fur blended within them. The Warriors had believed him to be a evil creature. They cast him out years later and begged Odin to slay the beast. Odin recognized Fenrir and he sent him to Helheim to be chained for eternity.

Because Ragnarok was real. Very real. He didn't kill Fenrir out because he knew I would be… sad. Disappointed, in him. All Fenrir had to do was breakout and the world would be his for the taking!

But I knew my pup. I knew he was a kind soul. He would always run up to me after battle with his maw covered in blood while wagging his tail.

I brushed a hand across his nose softly. "You got big, eh buddy?"

Fenrir nodded. "I suppose."

"Are you with the moon goddess?" I asked him softly.

He nodded. "Yes. She visits me. We do love each other very much."

Fenrir and the Moon Goddess. Both wolves. Both gods. Both married.

"Can you… call her?" I asked him softly. "I would speak to her."

"Aye, Dregnr." Fenrir said. 𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳

"Fen?" He turned to me. "I come as a mortal. Not as a friend, or anything else."

He squinted his eyes at me and huffed. It made his jowls flap and hot air blew into my face.

"Selene." He said.

His voice echoed into Helheim. The island we stood on shook and icicles fell from their peaks. Soon, a woman stood in front of him. Her hair was a pure silver that flowed down to her knees. She wore a simple linen, just to cover her bare body. Her eyes sparkled like amethyst.

"Fenny~" she cooed as she leaned down and hugged his nose.

I spit out a laugh and quickly hid it. I could swear I saw Fenrir blush from underneath his fur. Selene turned to look at me. Her gaze sharpened.

"Mortal. I know of you. Birger Age. The Unknown Blood. Right hand of the Æsir." She spoke in a tone less voice.

I bent down slightly. "Greetings, Selene. Moon Goddess and Mother of Were."

Three names each. Thus, the law of three. A power fell upon us that almost brought me to my knees. Selene stayed standing without a change.

She nodded sullenly. She turned to Fenrir in question, who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

Fenrir spoke first. "Do you wish me to leave, B?"

I shook my head and stood up while bearing the weight of a gods will as a mortal. "No. I said I come as mortal, not friend. She is your mate. You will treat me as any other mortal."

Fenrir tilted his head at me in confusion while Selene grinned in satisfaction. "Good man. I would be… dissatisfied, if you were any less."

I grunted at her truth. She was much stronger than me. My will was extremely strong. For a human. It couldn't compare to that of a god! The pressure of her truth almost brought me to my knees, but I persevered.

"Moon goddess…" I took a deep breath. "I come to ask for the gift."

She squinted her eyes at me. "Why? From what I understand, you are immortal. Fenny has talked about you often."

Fenrir groaned. "Love, can you not call me that in front of Birger?"

My knees buckled as I felt the compulsion to answer her. It was a compulsion that came from the big G himself.

"I… am going insane." I frowned out through my tensed jaw. "The human mind… cannot… handle thousands of years… of memories. Even erased."

She nodded and cast Fenrir a glance before turning back to me. "That is true. I'm surprised your still speaking, honestly. I've seen humans take the Elixer of Life, and only live to 300 years. Their minds corroded.

I nodded and pointed to my red eye. "This helped. If not for this I would have lasted until maybe the 9th century. I've also had a friend for a few thousands of years that erased my memories periodically, to lessen the strain on my mind. I didn't need to remember what I ate the morning of June 14th, 645AD."

She chuckled and tilted her head. "But why become Were? You will need a soul, first off. Secondly, you will need a wolf that matches you, which is almost impossible. And lastly… you could just become a god."

I laughed at the last part. She tilted her head in question.

"Because… I'm tired." I nodded to myself. "I want to live like… something. As I am now, I am simply me. I wish to be a part of the universe. For the first part…"

I looked up into the skies. "Hey, G? Wanna accept me as a creation? I don't exactly know what it would do but… I would…"

Tears fell down my face and I looked down. "I would like that… very much…"

The snow that fell, turned to rain. The clouds that darkened Helheim opened up to show a beautiful red sun. The air grew warmer and I stopped shivering. I felt a hand touch my head and felt something enter me. Suddenly, I felt a warm embrace.

"For you, My Other Half, My Opposite, And My Friend."

I didn't see anyone, but felt them. I hugged them back as I finally felt… my soul.