Uneasy Rest

Nissa withdrew the remaining part of her shattered sword from her latest kill. Wiping her brow to clear away her sweaty hair, she looked at her broken blade and knew it wouldn't be able to serve her any longer. It's dull and cracked edge betrayed the image of the mighty weapon it once was when she received it from her departed father. A blade that had accompanied her through thick and thin, through every single moment of this nightmare; it had reached its end.

"This is as far as we go, old friend.... Thank you." With reverence she placed the remainder of her sword onto the ground next to the enemy it felled. It was hard to let go of the last gift Nissa's father gave her, but much like everything else in her crumbling world; it served a purpose in combat or was left behind. Letting herself a brief moment of mourning for those who left her, Nissa then hardened her gaze and looked around; she needed a new weapon.

Stepping aside her downed opponent, Nissa picked up its weapon: a bearded axe. Nissa, fortunately, had become proficient in using their weapons as her own slowly became unusable. It wasn't her fault per se, she oiled it and sharpened it the best she could, but the last blacksmith they were able to find died over half a year ago.

"All clear!" A voice sounded to her left. The same phrase was echoed from the others who joined her in this mad quest. As the last ones confirmed the same words she calculated her losses; there were barely more than twenty left. Nissa noticed a figure in half plate stepped up to her, and waited for her to finish her thoughts.

Nissa then asked "The other officers?" His brown hair shook as he somberly answered "We're all that's left."

Her heart shook 'That means that she's... he's... Its just us now?' As Nissa's emotions began to spill onto her tired face, his hand gently landed on her shoulder and he resolutely reminder her "We all chose this, we ALL chose to follow you; to whatever end."

His encouraging words allowed Nissa to rally herself once more, and while wiping away her gathered tears she said. "Thank you Kai."

Nissa gripped his forearm, conveying her gratitude before turning to the rest of her Vanguard. As her mouth opened to give the next orders, the worst case scenario happened: the alarm sounded. Her eyes widened as she looked at Kai who morosely concluded "Its coming from the direction of Orla's group."

Gritting her teeth to stem the flow of tears from the potential loss of her last family member, Nissa stepped towards the foreboding doors that lay beyond the corpses of the latest fight. Her anger and determination suppressed her emotions as she proclaimed "We finish it here." Nearing the door, Nissa sent a final look at the deceased, to her precious friends, and further beyond her sight, to her warrior mother. Clenching her newly acquired weapon, Nissa turned back to her goal, the reason for her mad quest, and deaths of so many.

Steps sounded behind her as the rest of her tattered group faithfully followed her towards the room where the supposed Heart of their captive God was being used against their world.

On her direction, the heavy doors were pushed open and the group quickly drew inside. *Thud...Thud...Thud* The steady sound of a beating heart was heard throughout the room. With each beat, it caused everyone to shiver as the air saturated with primal magic. Although the room was adorned with faded tapestries of history to catch the eye, the true focus of everyone's gaze was the condensed blue haze that pulsed atop of a raised dais in the center of the hall.

Leaving half of her troops to guard the door, Nissa pressed forward with Kai and the rest. As they drew closer, Nissa was able to notice eerie black chains of otherworldly magic, seemingly siphoning the heart's energy with each beat. Suddenly a loud crash was heard as the doors to the chamber were harshly attacked from the outside!

The sound of the battering ram shocked her into waking up from her dream, but not before the final thought of her dream ran through her mind and heart.

Fear gripped her as she locked eyes with Kai. 'I thought we had more time.'

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Taking deep breaths, Nissa brought herself back to the present as her hands wiped away the tears of that harrowing experience. She had lost her mother, two faithful friends, and everybody else that day even Kai. Her eyes began to water as the weight of her failures of both lives pressed down heavily on her mind. Some savior she was, it seemed Nissa was destined to see everything around her be destroyed and this "second chance to save her world" was nothing more than a sick joke.

Nissa choked back a sob and before it grew into a full blown cry of hopelessness; a soft furry snout pushed its way into her arms and began to lick her face. Her reddened eyes looked at the wolf whose company was worming its way into her heart.

Fenrir stopped licking her and quietly rumbled as he helped her vent her emotions. He did not speak, he did not ask why or what, he simply was there for her in her time of need. Nissa's shaking fingers raked through his thick coat as her mind slowly calmed down. Eventually she had enough presence of mind to figure out the reason for her dreams.

It was then that Nissa's memories finally then landed on the culprit: the final moments of the council meeting of the evening.

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Wynfir had finished answering their savior's questions and there hung a fragile silence in the room that no one wished to break in hope of him saying something to dissolve their fears. Another minute passed before he acted by turning and directed me to make preparations for any survivors that he would be bringing in the coming weeks. With that said, he turned around and made to leave.

The room was stunned.

'That's it?! That's all you have to say to us? I thought he would at least give us something more like his name at least!' Stepping forward, I reached towards him while asking "Please, don't leave yet!"

Luckily he did stop and turned back to me with a raised brow. "Why?" his emotionless voice questioned. Nissa was flustered as the words spilled unbidden from her mouth.

"W-Why not? There are still a lot of questions we have for you. We don't even know the name of our mysterious Savior." She argued back.

His next words were the ones that shattered her rekindling hope. A feeling of melancholy sung from his emotions as he corrected her statement.

"My name is Halvor, and I am not your Savior."

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Her emotions didn't let the silence stay as she told Fenrir "If Halvor can't be our Savior then I wouldn't even begin to qualify." Wrapping her arms around his warm pelt, she tightly gripped him as she sobbed into his fur.

Nissa's cries began to quiet after a while. It was then when he spoke "Your not alone Nissa. Halvor and I have been looking for a mysterious savior for years."