The Song of the Nimernella 3/4

DanMachi: The Dragon's Return

Hey, everyone! Thank you for the reviews! Please enjoy the next chapter!

(Today's chapter was more or less inspired by two soundtracks of the Lord of the Rings: "Osgiliath Invaded" and "Evenstar." Enjoy!)

Chapter 6

The Song of the Nimirnella

Part 3

The Fading Light of Ered Tirion (1) and the Mystery of the Seraphim (2)

…

Storm clouds were all that came from the north. Dark storm clouds filled with cruelty and malice were all to be seen from the city of Asgard, its white-gold walls glimmered in faint rays of dusk sunlight as small candle flame enveloped in darkness. And all that stood between Asgard and the far north, the Dragon Valley, were mystical, encircling Mountains of Guard. Ered Tirion, the white chain of mountains from which Asgard was built, answered the glimmering walls of Asgard with a pale glow. Silver flags caught high in the morning breeze passed reflected light to each other, strengthening their brightness together in defiance of the black clouds that threatened Asgard and as encouragement to Ered Tirion.

Lightning flashed across the northern black sky. Beyond the walls of black clouds, one could see crimson reflecting off those same dark clouds beyond the border of the mountains. The flames ever stirring in the Dragon Valley grew brighter and for more sinister, smoke aiding in the growth of the storm clouds. No light touched the valley now, only darkness and death. Lights could be seen on the southern wall of Ered Tirion from Asgard. It was a pass through the mountains that the Asgardians' called the Shadow Pass. Upon the pass was small castle, which housed a defensive corps of five hundred Asgardians, known as the (3) Valkyrie. Their numbers totaled were a thousand, but far more often were the second five hundred of the Valkyrie on patrol against possible breaks in the magic of Ered Tirion, which held the foul drakes of Dragon Valley within the mountains' borders. Upon the battlements of the castle, a young woman of curly, red hair and grey eyes stared fiercely into the encroaching of the pass. It was quiet. It was always quiet at the Shadow Pass, but not even the sound of a breeze gifted by the white mountains could be heard. It was stagnant. A foul air greeted her nostrils, the scent of sulfur almost made her gag if she wasn't used to the scent that came from beyond the pass already.

"Kára (4) Reginleif," an older voice called out to the young maiden. Kára turned to see a blonde in her mid-thirties approach her. She knelt before the blonde woman and bowed her head.

"L-lady (5) Brynhildr, I apologize. I… I know my watch has long ended," Kára stuttered, trying to keep her voice reverent.

"You have no sense of self-preservation," Brynhildr sighed. "I appreciate your desire to do your duty, but you are no good to anyone if you push yourself too hard for too long. Report to the mead hall and get yourself some damn food before you collapse!"

Kára blushed slightly in embarrassment. How Brynhildr had noticed she had not had anything to eat since the night before, Kára could not guess. "Lady Brynhildr, I must object! I feel it necessary to –"

"That's an order, Kára," the older Valkyrie said firmly. "Get some food and get some sleep, now, or I'll be forced to send you back to Asgard so you have nothing to do but rest for a month!"

Kára squirmed in disappointment, but nodded reluctantly after a moment. Slowly, quietly, the young Valkyrie moved down the battlement stairs, occasionally looking back to see Brynhildr glare at her in annoyance for Kára's stubbornness. The girl whimpered, but eventually found her way to the mead hall, all while Brynhildr's authoritative eyes were upon Kára's back.

"Stupid girl," Brynhildr sighed, holding in a slightly amused smile. She turned to another young Valkyrie on the battlements. "Helga, report."

"No sightings on the Pegasi (6) scout detachments, my lady," Helga answered, giving Brynhildr a salute. "There are also no sightings of the enemy, but…."

"But?" Brynhildr folded her arms across her chest.

"Returning foot scouts have discovered increasing amounts of sulfur along the Shadow Pass," Helga frowned.

"Hmmmm. It would be as I thought," Brynhildr muttered. "The enemy isn't going to try to go over the mountains. The Pegasi detachments would catch them."

"My lady?" Helga frowned deeper, watching Brynhildr closely.

"They'll attack here," the older Valkyrie said. "And they will attack fast and hard. Prepare the troops and get our arrows ready. We will fight when there no daylight left in the sky."

Helga bowed before Brynhild before running quickly to the warning bell tower. She grasped at its rope and violently pulled, causing the bell to clang, its echo shrieking throughout the castle and pass. The girls that were inside their quarters or the mead hall rushed outside, bewildered, some with hands on the hilts of their swords.

"Listen up!" Brynhildr barked. "The enemy will be here by nightfall. I want each and every one you ready before then. If you have meals from the hall, take them with you to the battlements and scarf down what you can after you have readied your arms and armor. Now move!"

The girls scrambled, grabbing what they could as quickly as they could. Brynhildr eyed her troops carefully before looking southwards towards the fading light of Asgard, which was now becoming more like a flickering candle-flame the closer the night drew in. Quickly as they could, the Valkyrie rushed to the walls, bows in hand, arrows dipped in oil, ready to be placed in fire.

"Mages, cast holy light around the perimeter of the castle!" Brynhildr commanded. "I want those bastards to know that we won't let the darkness hide them!"

Around the fortifications, the mages mumbled their spells, illuminating the castle walls. Kára could see eyes reflecting the light upon the walls in the darkness: eyes of yellow, red, and orange. The eyes drew closer in marching order, giving clearer vision to whom the enemy was. Crude leather, they wore, and carried sickles and shields of black iron and steel. Their skin was shown to be scales of (7) red, blue, green, black, and white.

"Drake-spawn," Kára growled, knocking an arrow and dipping it briefly in the flame.

"Archers at the ready!" Brynhildr shouted. Th sound knocked arrows echoes across the battlements, each Valkyrie that stood upon the walls held righteous furry in her eyes. "Take aim!"

The bows drew as the drake-spawn shouted their own order to each other. Cries and hisses sounded throughout the air. Bryhildr saw crudely made ladders with the enemy and frowned. The enemy was prepared, but they had no ram. The blonde Valkyrie wondered for a moment what game the vile lizards were playing at. Surely ladders alone wouldn't be enough to breach the castle walls as long as the Valkyrie still had arrows.

"They plan on using this force as fodder," Brynhildr's muttered with eyes widened. "They don't expect to breach this wall!"

Brynhildr looked to the forces bellow the battlements. "Helga! Take the remaining ground forces and place them on the eastern, western, and southern walls!"

No sooner did Brynhildr speak that the forces of the Valkyrie order heard the banging on the gates of the southern wall. Brynhildr gritted her teeth as she looked up to see gargoyles carrying battering rams above the caste. "Archers, shoot the fiends above us!"

The Valkyrie obeyed, shooting at their aerial foes. The warriors shot down the gargoyles carrying the rams, but the drake-spawn charged forward with their ladders while a part of their force ran around towards the southern wall. Helga took her detachment and ran to the southern wall, but the ladders of the drake-spawn reached the northern wall. Behind the line of charging drake-spawn, a breathed and shot balls of fire at the Valkyrie defenders, hoping to blow a hole in the line of female defenders. The success of the drake-spawn fire-throwers shook the hearts of castle defenders, and the soon the clash of swords could be heard throughout the castle's northern and southern sides.

But Kára cried aloud to Thor and his blessings upon her, and lighting came crashing down upon the castle. Kára rose her sword in response and absorbed the lightning, before turning the power of Thor upon the drake-spawn. She hacked at the lizard men desperately, trying to take down as many as she could to help her fellow Valkyrie. All too late did she notice a sword stuck through the chest of Brynhildr from behind. The older blonde gasped, dropping her sword, and felt the forked tongue of the drake-spawn slide across her neck and cheek.

"You will die…," it rasped to Brynhildr, making sinister chuckles. "You will die slowly. You and all who follow you. But you won't mind if we… taste them first. The age of you and your gods is over. Our time has come!"

Blood poured down Brynhildr's body, pooling onto the ground as Kára watched in horror while Brynhildr's life faded from her eyes. The monster twisted its blade, tearing Brynhildr's innards to shreds. The young Valkyrie screamed in horror, pushing forward towards the monster with her blade raised. But the drake-spawn struck Kára with the side of its sword and thrust her to the ground. Its eyes danced with murderous glee as it approached Kára

Just then, rays of light, as spears, came pouring from the sky upon the drake-spawn and the gargoyles. Kára looked up to winged, white horses, with Valkyrie upon them donning silver armor, charging down upon the enemy and sweeping them away in the whirlwind of their pegasi. As the enemy routed before the pegasi, Kára took the body of Brynhildr, the woman she had long considered her mentor, into her arms, and she wept bitterly.

…

Harumhim and Lili were weeping over the unconscious body of Bell Cranel when Michael had found the three. And, despite the girls' general distrust of Michael, they had agreed to Michael's help when they saw Ais, Lefiya, and Tiona were with him. Though Ais had offered to carry Bell while they were on their journey back up, Lefiya and Lili were completely against the idea. As such, Tiona took charge of carrying Bell while Haruhime was grouped with the young Amazon. The pair seemed to have gotten along rather well, sharing stories of heroes with each other. On occasion, they would give stories to each other about Bell. Haruhime seemed rather pleased to have someone she could relate to on her idolizing of Bell. Tiona was also pleased that she had more and more reasons to call Bell her "Argonaut." Lili and Lefiya, on the other hand, grumbled quietly to themselves as they would take occasional secret looks at Bell. Ais kept to the back of the group. Her eyes kept on Bell, but her mind laid with Michael's words from before. She thought of her parents. She thought of her newfound kinship to Tione, Tiona, and Lefiya. She thought about the fact that nothing made very much sense right now.

However, what made the least sense of all to Ais Wallenstein at that moment was the retelling of why Bell was unconscious in the first place. When they had found Bell, Michael had a mysterious smile on his face while Ais heard him mutter that "the world had found its third level seven." Ais knew by Hestia one night when she was drunk, at the Hostess of Fertility, that Bell was close to achieving level five, but never did the Sword Princess guess that Bell would completely skip two levels and surpass her. All Ais knew was that she had questions, and she was going to get answers. Ais did not get to ask those questions, however, until they were outside of the Dungeon and safely into the Hestia Familia home, Hearth Mansion. As was expected, Hestia was not pleased, and was very ready to start bawling her eyes out several times over the young man. Ais glanced over at Michael, who sat in a lonely chair next to a window, away from where everyone else was. The Titan had a pipe in his hand, and was smoking an odd, sweet-smelling plant. Occasionally, the old man would lean back and puff out shapes of smoke that would resemble ships, butterflies, or dragons. He would chuckle to himself in his activity, but before Ais could even ask Michael a single question, the small goddess of the Hestia Familia stormed over to the old man.

"Alright!" Hestia shouted. "What the hell happened?!"

"Hmm?" Michael blinked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Bell!" she growled. "What happened to Bell?"

"Ah," Michael removed the pipe from his mouth and tampered down the ashes with a small stick before placing the pipe stem back into his mouth. "Yes. I suppose I should tell you. Your Bell fought a demigod."

"Wha--" Hestia started, but Michael quickly cut her off.

"There are plenty of fallen gods in the world, Hestia," Michael said, puffing slowly on the pipe. "Enyo had awakened a fallen god and forced that god to breed with a monster. I suppose she would know how to breed gods, given her status as a Titan. What Lili, Haruhime, and Bell saw in the Dungeon was a product of whatever Enyo is crossbreeding with fallen gods. Granted, what they fought was a weak demigod, but still powerful enough that it drew the attention of a Seraph."

"A S-Seraph?" Hestia's mouth dropped.

"Yes," Michael furrowed his brow. "And that Seraph did not want Bell dead."

"Wh-what's a Seraph?" Haruhime squeaked out, unsure if she should interrupt.

"Hmm?" Michael stroked his beard. "There several ranks of celestial beings. The first and most powerful are the Seraphim…. There were thirteen, in their beginning, and now there are twelve. They rarely act on anything unless they are ordered by the High God. The second order is the Titans. I suppose you could say the Seraphim are the greater Titans, and I am the lesser. After that, are the greater gods, who serve as the high lords of their respective pantheons. Zeus, Odin, Shiva, and the like would be amongst their ranks, most of whom are still in Celestia. Last, but not least, would be the lesser gods, many of whom are in the Lower World. Of course, then there are the Forgotten Ones…. Nameless gods and Titans, led by Enyo, who was influenced by the first Seraph. They are the reason monsters exist, though the Xenos are proof that monsters can break free of the corruption of the Forgotten Ones."

"Michael, you're not suggesting…." Hestia started, her eyes filling with more fear.

"I would imagine that I am," Michael nodded. "A war that will change the world as we know it. A war that may very well end the suffering of the gods, and bring peace to mortals. I told you the other day it will begin with Asgard. I have the champion of your mortals, Hestia, to drive a dagger into the hearts of the Black Dragon and Enyo herself!"

Hestia sank to her knees, tears forming in her eyes as she clung desperately to Michael's grey robes. "No…. No, you promised! You said you wouldn't take them!"

"I said I wouldn't direct them to Asgard," Michael arose and placed a hand on Hestia's head. "I never said I wouldn't ask them to fight for the good of the world. Fear not, and have faith in your Bell."

Michael broke free of Hestia's grasp and walked over towards Bell's bedside. He looked at Lefiya and smiled at her. "I have a job for you, young fairy. You are going to awaken a hero."

…

1. "Ered Tirion" comes from two Elven words in the Tolkien mythology. The meaning is literally "The Mountains of Guard." It can also mean "The Mountains of the Watch" or "The Watch-Tower Mountains." "Tirion" is also considered a city of the Elves in Aman, a blessed realm that is considered Tolkien's equivalent of the mythical island of Avalon, home of the fairies.

2. The word "Seraphim" is a plural work in the Hebrew language a certain order of angels there were considered very few in number. The Seraphim, also called "the burning ones," according the Judeo-Christian text, are the guardians of God's throne. Supposedly, they are considered to be the highest order of angels, with the order of the Archangels, mainly considered to be "war masters," right under the order of the Seraphim. Their appearance in Judeo-Christian text is rare, as they are primarily seen either with God or surrounding the Ark of the Covenant. The Garden of Eden also supposedly had a Seraph guarding it with a sword of fire. Satan/Lucifer is also considered to be a fallen Seraph.

3. The Valkyrie, in Norse Mythology, were afterlife equivalent of the Amazons of Greek myth. Their fealty was to the Norse gods Odin, Thor, and Freya, and they were considered warriors without equal, preparing in earnest for the day of Ragnarök. Their taste in men, given their warrior's alignment, was also strongly resembled to the Amazons, only taking on heroes as lovers.

4. "Kára Reginleif" is taken from two Valkyrie names. Kára means "wild (either in character or in hair,) or storm." Reginleif, on the other hand, literally means "daughter of the gods."

5. "Brynhildr" is another Valkyrie name meaning "bright battle." Given the exact meaning of the name, "Brynhildr" can also mean "glorious deeds."

6. "Pegasi" is the plural for the word "Pegasus." The Pegasus is a winged horse of Greek mythology. Some versions of the myth have the Pegasus more closely related to that of a Unicorn. It could even be said, considering that the Greek Pegasus holds divine status, that a Unicorn could become a Pegasus depending on its overall deeds. (Think of a Unicorn turning into a Pegasus as some kind of Pokémon evolution.) Somewhere along the line of popular culture, the Pegasus also became associated with the myth of the Valkyrie. While the Valkyrie do ride flying horses, the original myth held that said horses were aided by the ravens of Odin. It is also entirely possible that the horses of the Valkyrie came to be by Odin's use of magic, thus making said horses wingless. If that is the case, then Norse mythology would be where modern culture got the idea of Santa Claus' flying reindeer.

7. In the tabletop RPG, Dungeons and Dragons, there are a number of distinct races of dragons. The two most famous races at the Metallic Dragons, who are of good alignment, and the Chromatic Dragons, who of an evil alignment. Chromatic Dragons are colored red, blue, green, white, and black. These five wield the powers of fire, lightning, poison gas, ice, and acid respectively.