LXXXV. Hakon

After his words, the necklace vanished from his hands, crumbling into a gray powder.

Hakon's body did the same.

"Um?" said Brann, who could hardly stand up again.

"What does that mean?!"

"His body is gone!"

"For the gods, what's going on?!"

The warriors began to ask questions among them.

Brann began to cough, spitting blood.

He touched the wound on his abdomen. The cut was deep, the poison of which Hakon's weapon was drenched was already circulating in his blood.

His hand slowly loosened his grip on the axe, which fell to the ground.

In general amazement, the warriors realized that their Warchief was weakened.

"Brann!" yelled Asa, who began to run towards him.

Brann looked up at her and whispered something that Dag couldn't hear.

"Master, Asa, we must escape! I'm exhausted, I won't be able to create a second barrier! More enemy reinforcements may come!" said Egill, touching Asa's shoulder.

Brann looked down.

"Let's go away! Run! You're seriously injured!" continued Asa.

As they spoke, the dust coming from Hakon's body began to move, carried by the wind.

It assumed a swirling motion and began to solidify again.

At the center of the small vortex, a human figure began to be glimpsed.

Within seconds, Hakon's body appeared.

"Aaaagh! Watch out!" shouted one of the warriors, when the enemy threw one of the blades coming out of his wrist and killed him instantly.

The blade was shot at great speed, with a chain connecting it to the wrist. As soon as it hit the target, Hakon grabbed one end with his hand and pulled violently, rewinding the chain and returning the blade to its place.

The Allied warriors, as soon as they saw their companion die, began to run away.

Hakon summoned two copies of himself, which after materializing next to him disappeared into thin air.

Egill yanked Asa, pulling her towards him.

Asa, in a panic, grabbed Brann's axe. He was still kneeling on the ground.

Dag ran away as soon as Egill and Asa began to move, following them.

He turned behind him.

Hakon fired both of his blades with chains and hit Brann behind his back, sticking into his flesh. Then he tore it away by pulling the blades back towards him.

Brann, with his back open, crawled in the same direction as the warriors.

Hakon fired the hidden blades once again, which pierced both Of Brann's shoulders, getting stuck in the ground.

Brann couldn't move anymore.

The enemy, with the blades still standing in the same position, jumped the other way, landing in front of Brann's face.

During the jump, making a twist, he crossed the two chains connected to the blades, which twisted around Brann's neck.

He raised his head, to watch Asa one last time.

She looked back as Egill continued to drag her away.

"Aaaagh! Noooo!" screamed Asa in despair with tears streaming down her eyes.

Hakon stretched his arms and the chains tightened their grip on Brann's neck.

A "crack" sound marked the end of one of Skjold's greatest warriors, whose head was severed and rolled onto the ground.

As Dag continued to run and look behind him, he saw that as soon as Brann's head broke off from his neck, Hakon charged toward them.

Running at an impressive speed, he reached them and his two copies manifested themselves, killing other allied warriors.

Egill and Asa dodged their enemies and continued to run, trying to save themselves.

One of Hakon's copies shot a blade that pierced the head of a Shieldmaiden.

Soon after, another copy grabbed the chain of that blade and pulled it down, shattering Shieldmaiden's skull and tripping another allied warrior, who once on the ground was killed by the third Hakon.

Dag kept running.

Before his eyes, the last remaining warriors of the troops of the two Clans died one by one, overwhelmed by the fury of the mighty enemy Warchief.

Amid screams and blood spatter in the snow, Dag continued undaunted to follow Egill and Asa, breathing hard.

Suddenly, a blade hit his calf and its chain twisted around his ankle, causing him to fall to the ground.

After falling with his face in the snow, Dag turned around, while a copy of Hakon, or perhaps the real one, was dragging his body towards him, pulling the chain.

"Fuck! Fuck! Leave me!" he yelled, panicking.

The pain was real.

He grabbed the chain and tried to pull out the blade stuck in his calf, but before he could, Hakon punched him in the face, causing him to lie back on the ground.

Dag lifted his head, stunned.

Several yards away behind Hakon, he could see in a confused way a shadow keeling over Brann's dead body.

He then looked up at Hakon, who pulled the blade from his leg and wrapped the chain around his neck.

Dag turned his head towards Egill and Asa.

They both and five or six other warriors had managed to get to safety.

He tried to take the chain that kept him imprisoned, but before he could touch it, Hakon pulled towards him, breaking his neck bone.

Dag felt a strong pain, and everything in front of his eyes turned red.

...

"Aaaaaagh! Nooo!"

...

Dag waved his arm, pulling his hand out of the metal vessel and spilling the water mixed with blood on the library table.

He fell to the ground, stumbling on his own feet.

"Wh... what... am I back?" he said, touching his face and legs, trying to figure out if he was really back in the future.

Egill was still standing in front of the table.

He looked at the cut on the palm of his hand.

"Master! That was incredible! You made me travel through time!" continued Dag, rising from the ground and walking towards him.

Egill did not answer.

"The feelings I had... the cold, the pain... they were all real! How is that possible? Maybe I could have interacted differently! I could have prevented Brann from going further, saving dozens of allied warriors... what a fool I've been!" replied Dag, slamming his feet to the ground with nervousness.