Chapter 3

You woke up in your bed, 2 years later.

You've been dreaming about the same thing every single time and it was getting tiring. Watching yourself die over and over again, while you are recovering from death, is not fun. You looked at your phone, (yes, you were one of the more modern einherji, what did you expect?) and shot up in your bed. You had slept through the whole day and was now late for dinner. "I'm going to kill Halfborn," you swore, seeing as he accidentally beheaded after you lost control and shapeshifted into Eric from Floor 72. Luckily, you move fast when you need to.

You threw off your blankets and hurriedly made it to the bathroom. When you finished showering and drying yourself off, you were already 5 minutes late. That doesn't seem bad, but the elevators go extremely slow and you were on the 19th floor. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

You hurriedly put on beige skinny jeans, a light blue Queen t-shirt, and black Doc Martens. You also grabbed your jacket and your bow and arrows from the coat hanger. You only relaxed once you entered the elevator.

You wrung the remaining water from your hair as you tried to refrain yourself from destroying the speakers, which were booming out "Fly Me To The Moon" in Old Norse. You had endured it for 2 years already, but it was still infuriating. Though, you were lucky since Halfborn and T.J. experienced it for, about, 57 years. Both admitted having been responsible for destroying it once.

You were shaken out of your thoughts by the elevator doors opening. You ran to the Feast Hall and braced yourself for the embarrassing consequences of being 10 minutes late (according to your watch). Silence fell when you opened the doors. Fortunately, the introduction of the newly fallen hadn't started yet. Unfortunately, you interrupted Helgi's speech.

"Why are you late?" he demanded, glaring at you as if trying to kill you. You had no doubt he would succeed. You took a deep breath and looked at him. "Sorry," you apologized. "I recovered late since someone," you glared at Halfborn, "decided to decapitate me,"

"Hey!" he protested, standing up. "In my defense, you shape-shifted into someone else!"

"I was standing in the same spot!"

"Enough!" Helgi interrupted, earning some grumbles from people who wanted to see a fight between one of the toughest people in the Hotel and one of the scariest. The manager sighed and gestured for you to sit down. You walked towards where your hallmates were sitting and sat next to Mallory.

You gave Halfborn one more glare before turning to the front where Helgi resumed his speech. "7 new-fallen have joined us today!" he announced, cheers coming from most of the hall. You, however, just rolled your eyes and took a sip of your mead. You spotted Sam, a Valkyrie and a friend, sitting at the front with a blond-haired boy that was looking around in a mix of confusion, shock, and weariness like he already had enough.

"Poor guy," you muttered. There was something about him that connected you with him. (Not in that way). Do you know how you and your siblings or maybe a close family member feel connected? Yeah, it felt like that. It was pretty strange. You reached behind you to grab a piece of bread but found that it wasn't there. You turned around to see Halfborn and T.J. hurriedly eating slices of bread, more than what was supposed to be on your plate.

You looked at Mallory's plate and saw that her slices were gone too. "Hey!" you complained, only loud enough for them to hear. You swatted T.J.'s arm playfully as he chuckled. Halfborn laughed too, but instantly shut up when Mallory slapped him... and not in a playful way.

"Oww!" he shouted, also only loud enough for you to hear. "What was that for, woman?"

"You have your own food," she hissed at him, grabbing the remaining slices of bread from his hand. He muttered some curses while T.J. stuffed his slices hurriedly in his mouthing, giving you a goofy grin. You rolled your eyes and turned back to the screen, blushing crazily; you had always felt flustered around him and you didn't know why. There was something about him that just made your heart beat faster than normal.

Mallory, having noticed your red cheeks, nudged your shoulder and arched an eyebrow suggestively. You nudged her back and rolled your eyes, shaking your head. She also rolled her eyes, patted her chest, and tilted her head towards T.J.

You scoffed and shook your head again. She arched her eyebrow once more, this time in a questioning manner as if saying 'Are you sure?'

You slapped her arm lightly and she chuckled. Throughout this interaction, T.J. and Halfborn were looking at the both of you in confusion but they decided to shrug it off, choosing to watch the new-fallen' feats. They found that the first man, Lahrs Armstrong, was already done and the vala was already reading his faith.

"Meinfretr" Halfborn cursed, but didn't complain further (At least, until he got back to his room). The vala cast the runes onto the floor and one was projected across the room through holographs. "Thor! Thor! Thor!" cheered the einherjar, including your hallmates. Of course, that didn't mean they favored Thor; they were always the ones to start cheering for other einherjar.

The next one was a girl named Dede.

She had saved a bunch of kids at her village school when a warlord's soldiers had tried to kidnap them. She'd flirted with one of the soldiers, tricked him into letting her hold his assault rifle, then turned it on the warlord's men. She was killed, but her selfless act gave the other kids time to get away.

It was pretty violent so, of course, the Vikings love it. You, however, didn't enjoy it as much. You were never a fan of violence and just fought in self-defense. Sometimes, you fought people that actually deserved being fought, without provocation.

Both of Dede's parents were mortals, but the vala predicted a great future about her. She would become a thane within a hundred years and would fight valiantly in Ragnarok. Many 'oohed' and clapped loudly. Then it was the blond-haired boy's name.