The Song of Nimirnella 1/4

DanMachi: The Dragon's Return

Chapter 4

The Song of the Nimirnella (1)

Part 1

Bond of Blood

…

"Haruhime, Lili, get down!" a young man shouted to a pair of girls urgently, quickly pointing the palm of his right hand at a black, lion-like creature that was twice the size of an actual lion. The girls, a blonde fox-girl and a brunette halfling, responded in kind, ducking as quickly as they could.

"FIREBOLT!" the pair of girls heard the young man cry in protective anger, launching a streak of red, searing light that struck the black lion as quickly as the word left his lips. The lion screamed in pain midair over the girls, about to complete a gruesome pounce upon them. The quick flame, thankfully, pushed the lion backwards before it hit the ground, and the monstrous cat went up in a puff of ashes and embers.

The closed his crimson eyes and sighed in relief, running a hand through his white hair before kneeling down and offering his hands to both girls to help them up.

"Are you two okay?" the boy asked with concern.

"I'm fine," the girls responded, though their voices a little shaken from how close the monster and the boy's spell came to hitting the girls, though both knew that the boy would do everything in his power to make sure he had a clean shot. Still, the boy's growing strength in such a short amount of time was immense.

"Master Bell," the brunette, brown-eyed halfling said uncertainty, "I think we should go back. The Dungeon… feels off."

"I know, Lili," Bell answered thoughtfully. "I want to agree with you, but I can't shake the feeling that turning back now will put you both in danger…."

"We haven't seen much of anything that would support the idea of the Dungeon pursuing us," Lili frowned, staring into the gaping darkness of the caves ahead of them.

"I agree with Master Bell. It almost feels as if something is watching us," the blonde, green-eyed fox girl, Haruhime, shivered.

"Or someone," Bell muttered.

Five days ago, the Hestia Familia accepted a quest from the Guild to defeat irregularly strong monsters that had started appearing in the upper floors of the Dungeon. The small group of three had been slow moving due to the strength of the monster, but they pushed forward all the same. Three days ago, however, most of the monsters that were reported by lower leveled adventurers, mysteriously disappeared. However, despite the fact that the threat to the upper floors seemed to be dealt with, Bell was unsure if the quest issued to the Hestia Familia would be completed so easily. With that doubt in mind, Bell continued to descend into the Dungeon and the middle floors, covering every possible inch of each floor to ensure the threat was gone. Still, Bell couldn't shake the feeling was being watched, the invisible glare felt evil.

"If there is something watching, wouldn't it make more sense for it to attack when we go in too deep to turn back?" Lili reasoned. "What if there are monsters spawning above us, waiting to catch us in an ambush?"

Those two very thoughts crossed Bell's mind. Worse yet, Bell sensed a trap the moment the Hestia Familia group stepped foot into the second floor of the Dungeon. Still, he had no desire to scare the girls with that feeling until he was sure there was a trap waiting above him. Bell's hope, therefore, was to push forward until the group had reached the eighteenth floor and gather information and equipment there. The young man smiled, having a slight moment of déjà vu as he thought back to the time when he, Lili, and Welf, the Familia blacksmith, went to the middle floors together. Still, unlike then, Bell's party was well prepared for the trip to the eighteenth floor.

"We push forward," Bell said conviction. "The eighteenth floor will may hold answers for us that we need. And we may be able to send a message to goddess Hestia and the Guild."

Lili glanced over at Haruhime, who mere offered Lili a small smile of trust before nodding. Lili sighed.

"Geez," the halfling groaned with annoyance before giving the boy she admired a warm smile. "You and your desire for adventure is going to get us all killed."

"I sure hope that doesn't wind up being the case," Bell chuckled nervously.

"Master Bell would make sure that would never happen!" Haruhime blushed softly. "I – we – believe in you!"

Bell smiled at the Renard and nodded. "I promise, I won't let anything happen to either of you."

It was a promise Bell felt he could easily keep. Whatever it was that was watching the party, Bell felt its eyes solely upon him, as if it was staring into his very soul. Bell took deep breath to help him relax and focus. Something was off about the Dungeon, Lili was right. It wasn't simply that the Dungeon grew quiet three days ago, even though it had, it was that Bell could feel desperation coming from its cavern walls. Bell felt fear, anger, hatred, vengeance, focused not only upon him, but on something else that was inside or near the Dungeon, but the boy could not guess as to where. There was something about Bell that the Dungeon wanted destroyed, but whatever hatred the Dungeon may have held for Bell was overridden by what ever the Dungeon was afraid of.

"Let's go," Bell said. "We have a lot of ground to cover."

…

The sun was beginning to set upon Twilight Manor, the home of the Loki Familia. The red sunlight kissed the castle walls, giving the manor the color of a bright flame in the night. Lefiya snuggled in an armchair on the manor's library, pouring over a book Riveria ordered her to read as part of the young elf's lessons on magic. Lefyia sighed, mourning the lost evening she was going to spend shopping with Aki in hopes to buy some clothes for Ais. She young elf grabbed a glass of cold water near to her on a nightstand. As the water slowly ran past her lips, she heard a howl of anger spread out through the halls of the mansion.

"YOU BASTARD!" a familiar voice shouted, Lefiya recognized as the voice of the werewolf, Bete. The elf sighed. He was probably getting angry over something not going his way, though it was nice to hear him as lively as usual.

"YOU THINK A WEAK, PATHETIC OLD MAN LIKE YOU, NOT EVEN FROM THE GUILD, CAN ASK FOR MY HELP," the wolf cried out again. That got Lefiya's attention, as she was unused to people not from the Guild coming to the Loki Familia home to issue a quest. Such unofficial requests, after all, were often considered to be scam of some kind by high-ranking Familias.

Lefiya quickly put her book down and left the tender warmth of her chair, heading to the balcony that overlooked the main hall. At the door was an old man, dressed all in grey, bearing simple wooden staff, though that staff was crowned with the image of a star. Riveria, the High Elven princess, and strongest mage in Orario, leaned on her own staff near Finn, the halfling Familia captain, and Gareth, a dwarf who was third in command of the Familia after Riveria. Nearby to the old man, stood Loki, who looked more increasingly nervous the angrier Bete.

"B-Bete…," Loki stuttered, swear pouring down her face like rain, "maybe you should stop…."

"EH?!" Bete growled with rage. "Why hell should I listen to anything this old coot has to say?!"

"Bete, you fool!" Riveria sternly warned. "Read the atmosphere and apologize, he is clearly Loki's guest!"

"Shut up, old hag!" Bete roared. "I will not listen to some request of a stupid old man just because our useless goddess lost money to him!"

The old man lifted his eyes towards Lefiya, who was joined by Ais and Tiona, in that moment, smiling warmly at the three before returning his attention to the furious wolf.

"I can assure you," the old man said calmly, "your goddess does not owe me money. And if I were you, I would hold more respect for those who are in authority over you."

"You can shut up, too!" Bete barked. "If you want my help, you can kiss my boots! A weak old man like you doesn't deserve my help for anything less!"

"Oh?" the old man chuckled, though Lefiya saw rising anger the old man's eyes that chilled her to her very soul. "I can guarantee you, I do not need your help. And even if I did, I would not be asking, I would command it. Now… be a good dog and stay silent!"

Bete opened his mouth to laugh, but no noise escaped him. The werewolf's eyes widened in bewildered confusion and he tried to call out to Loki, or even Riveria for help, but there was no sound from him. The old man smiled and turned to Riveria.

"I do believe your dog is asking you to let him speak," he spoke warmly. "Please, try your magic to heal him. He shall soon find that I have not used some cheap trick!"

Riveria looked to Loki, deeply worried about who it was that the goddess had brought to Twilight Manor. Loki merely nodded, silently commanding Riveria to try to heal Bete's voice, but to no avail. Bete's confusion turned to anger, and he then tried to rush the old man, but the old man was quicker, sidestepping the werewolf before using the end of his staff to trip Bete, who fell on his face and was knocked out cold.

"Fool of a mutt!" the old man muttered. "Loki, have him put in his doghouse for now. In the meantime, he shall remain silent until the sunset three days from now."

"S-sure, Michael," Loki gulped, and had Raul drag the wolf to his room.

"Loki, who is this?" Finn stared at his goddess. "I don't know very many who can take out a level six adventurer, what level is he and what is his Familia?"

"He's not with any Familia," Loki muttered. "He's… like a god, but he's more powerful. Michael is his name."

"I apologize for Bete's behavior, lord Michael," Finn said humbly and knelt on the floor before Michael.

"Please, don't kneel," the old man laughed warmly. "I am merely a servant, as you are."

"A… servant?" Finn echoed with confusion.

"I… don't think my kids need to know what you're talking about, Michael…." Loki muttered.

"Is that so?" Michael raised an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose it would take an age to explain to them. Time is not on our side, I fear. I did come here for three of your children, after all, and they are all watching from your balcony!"

Lefiya looked on both her sides at Ais, the blonde, golden-eyed beauty who was declared as Orario's strongest swordswoman, and Tiona, one of twin tan, dark haired and eyed Amazon beauties.

"Eh?" Loki scratched her head. "I can understand why you want to take Tiona and Ais to Asgard, but why Lefiya? Actually, I'm unsure why you would even want members of shrimp Hestia's Familia."

"I have my reasons," Michael chuckled. "Ais, still looks the same, even if she has grown up, and Lefiya and Tiona bear a rather striking resemblance to their forebearers."

"Forebearers?" Tiona and Lefiya muttered.

"Yes, the High Elf queen, Celdia, and the Amazon Empress, Evelda, in lines unbroken," Michael smiled. "Both of them were secret lovers of Albert Waldstein, which makes you both kin from afar to Ais, Albert's daughter. The High God has called upon you three to help finish what Albert started."

…

1. "Nimirnella" comes from two words used from J.R.R. Tolkien's mythos. The first word, "nimir," is of the tongue of the Andûnac, an extremely well-developed and long-lived branch of the human race, is used to describe the Elves of the West, and meant to give a sound of hope to the word. The word literally translates to fairies, or, more accurately, "the shining ones." The second word, "nella," which is a Noldorian (High Elvish; the Noldor taught humans language) word, means "ringing of bells." Truthfully, when I thought of the title for this chapter, my hope was to find a word that meant a ring for the fingers to represent a form of unity. However, I stumbled upon "nella" quite by accident. "Nella" can also be read as "nelladel," but "nelladel" gives a more masculine leaning to the word, supposing a warning for war. "Nella," on the other hand, creates a meaning that would read "to the sound of bells," giving more feminine approach to the word and suggesting wedding bells. Therefore, the "nimirnella" can read of one of two ways: "the ringing of hope," which is definitely a nod to Bell and his Argonaut ability, or, and this seems more plausible, "the shining brides," "the brides of starlight," or, "the brides of hope."

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I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please leave your reviews! Also, if there are any mythologies you would like me to try my hand incorporating into the story, or if you have any questions on backstory/reference information I can give, please let me know! Have a great day, and happy New Year, everyone!