Journey of an Einherji - The Sword of Summer

My Friend Makes a Statement

I don't even know why it hurt me.

I didn't like Gunilla at all.

But seeing her lifeless body, her blood covering her chest, and Surt standing over her in triumph, it was enough for me to falter.

Gunilla was dead. Her lieutenants were dead. I didn't even know their names, but they had sacrificied their lives to buy time for us. Halfborn was dying or dead. The other einherjar were not much better off. Sam, Blitz, Hearth and I were in no shape to fight. Magnus was the only one.

Surt was still on his feet, as strong as ever, his burning sword ready. Two of his fire giants were also still alive and armed.

After all we had been through, the fire lord could kill us all, take Jack and cut the Wolf free.

And it had all been my fault.

If I had only helped the Valkyries and the einherjar, if I had left the others to bind Fenris, I could have been able to stop Surt. It's not like I helped a lot with binding the Wolf, all I did was get tired and get wounded.

We had no chance.

Judging from the smile on his face, Surt was thinking the same.

"I am impressed." - he admitted - "The Wolf told me you had potential, Magnus Chase. I don't think even Fenris expected you to do this well."

The Wolf trashed in his new magic bonds.

A few meters from the fire lord, T.J. crouched, his bayonet ready. He glanced at me, waiting for a sign. I knew he was ready to charge one last time, distract the giants if it would help Magnus to escape. Clara was waiting close to T.J. The fire giant she was facing lay dead, but she was battered, using a rock as support.

I had made a promise to myself; my friends were going to live, no one else was going to die.

The words of the Norns resonated in my head: <<Winter must cool the fire, before it burns with rage>>.

Magnus's eyes and mine met. He probably saw in my eyes the idiotic plan. He shook his head vehemently.

"Go now." - he told Surt - "Go back to Muspellheim."

The fire lord threw back his head and laughed.

"Brave to the end! I think not, Magnus Chase. I think you will burn."

He thrust out his hand. A column of fire shot towards my friend.

I jumped in front of the flames.

All this time I had been using my powers out of pain, sadness, anguish, anger. I had used all those emotiones to fuel the rage. I had see them as ways to attack, to trap. I had thought like a fighter. But now, I had seen a power used for a good thing. I had seen it this entire quest.

I remembered my parents. Not as they were now, but as I remembered them. Their laughs, their joys, their smiles. Our moments spend together; every night and every day.

I had been lying to myself all this time, thinking that there was still a chance for me to talk to them. There wasn't back then, and now, with their deaths it was even clearer. I wasn't giving up on them. I was going to find them.

It hurt to accept the reality. Yet once I did, I felt serene. 

Agarrado al piso (Anchored to the ground), as my fencing teacher said each class.

I raised my hand and a wall of ice sprouted out from the ground. 

Surt's flames collided with the barrier. The ice started to melt, but I willed it to be stronger, thicker. Each piece of ice that became water froze immediately, reforcing the defensive wall.