CHAPTER XII
Dust in nostrils and aches in the bones...
Haldora awoke to confusion and disorientation. Around her were no longer the flames, nor the walls, nor the men, only bars. She was in a cage. From a far she could not quiet make out what sounds were heard but she was sure she had heard them before. Her scar was aching like never before and she was not able to concentrate herself to meditate. A familiar smell strokes the air and as Haldora lifted her head to see, she again got a glimpse of the rotting flesh of legs kicking a green dress open. She was sure where she was. Hella was again before her. She sat down on a chair in front of the cage, smiling mischievously as before.
- Did you think I had forgotten you? – Hella asked.
Haldora gave no answer.
- A God never forgets, Haldora... or should I say Isabeaux? You really did not think just because you were baptised you would get rid of me, did you now? Acts mean nothing unless you believe them. – Hella proped her head on her fist – Still it was a nice gesture, after what happened in the cave. Did you think it would soften his heart if you were baptised? Or perhaps that he would recognize you if you had the same name as the other woman? I have to say you are pathetic. You endured ten years of a monastery, mouthing words you didn’t believe, for what?? Did you think he’d come to visit?
Haldora sat with her back to the wall, leaning her head to her knees, breathing through the pain and trying to concentrate.
- Do not try the tricks you learned overhere. They do not work. Up above there are places where beings like you live and all those ... things work. You are in my kingdom and I rule over all those creatures. I rule you. -, she smilled
Haldora raised her head.
- Why did you take me now? Why wait? -, she asked in rage.
- There is the insolence I was lacking. I missed this kind of entertainment.
- Why did you not just let me die?
Hella leaned front, almost rubbing her nose on the bars.
- You are already dead, my dear. If anything I rescued you from a bodiless existence. The fire would have consumed your body and you would be left with nothing but spirit, essence. How would you find your warrior then?
Haldora became angrier, her breathes were heavier and shorter.
- Maybe this time you will not go after him. He did cause your death... Twice.
Haldora lept from her spot and threw herslef towards the bars in an arrempt to break them. Upon contact she felt her skin burn; she screamed and fell on the ground. Hella’s laughter echoed throughtout the room, as she threw herself back on her chair, her voice as terrible as she.
- Had you forgotten how that felt? It’s called pain if you remember correctly. Get used to it; it will be your companion. And when you enjoy its company I’ll make it hurt more. No one escapes me. Let’s see if you can remember that this time.
Hella rouse from her chair and softly walked towards the door, behind her laid Haldora still aching. She looked at her arms scourged from the burns. Before Hella disappeared in the darkness, Haldora tried once more to break the bars by using her clothes as shield. She threw herself again, but her skin still burned under her intact clothes. Hella kept walking as Haldora cried over her exposed flesh.
Wounds never heal in the Underworld, Haldora soon discovered. With her body as an open wound, she could not find a way to rest comfortably. It seemed the entire cage was made of fire. From time to time she would swear she could hear the voice of her warrior from a distance, calling for her. She would move her eyes and in the dark, she was sure she could see him stretching his arms towards her, she would desperately try to move to meet him, but no movement from her, as aching as it was, could bring her any closer to him. As she tried as hard as she could to leave her body, so the pain would stop, she could sometimes see parts of her warrior’s many lives. She could not understand where he was, but she could see him. After a while she believed all those visions to be untrue, Haldora believed Hella was tricking her to keep her in pain and despair. Her mind began to weaken.
Haldora let out a loud scream as she tried to move again. As her scream echoed through the halls, she could hear a roar from afar; she knew this sound only to well.
- Otr. -, she called out.
A roar was heard back. Haldora smiled, not knowing exactly why.
- We’re all prisoners of something.
Haldora tried with all her strength to forget her pain and centre her thoughts She managed to leave her aching body and walk among the spirits, she still ached, but this new form of existence was an improvement from her body. As a bodiless spirit she focussed on finding one who could heal her, but none of the spirits would take an interest. She patiently waited for the energy of another to touch her, but none came. She soon felt her energy falter and as a result her spirit slowly descended towards her body. Before she could enter her body again, she felt something hold her and pull her back to the previous plain of existence. She opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by gray scaled and long white claws.
- I will not let you go. -, Otr spoke.
- You can speak? -, she asked feeling her strength upon her again.
- Most dragons can speak the mortal tongues. Although you seem to know many more from the ones I’ve learned over the years,
- You are here with me?
- Yes. Men did not learn to do this by themselves. The ancient creatures taught them.
- Heal me. -, she requested in a half cry. –I know dragons can do that.
- We can. If I do Hella will hurt you more. She will probably hurt me to.
- What does she want with me?
- I am the spirit of a dragon her father killed long ago. She as never allowed me to forget who I was and how powerful I was. Now I’m her pet.
- I’m her entertainment.
- The Underworld was a place where one would come to be condemned for a crime they would never remember. One soon realizes Hella is doomed to the same fate. Haldora, Hella needs someone to rule over. When you died our time was already ending. You became our salvation. You remember us.
- What?
- The creatures of old are being forgotten. Those who believe in them are persecuted. You remain. -, Otr explained.
- Hella wasn’t rescuing me. She was rescuing herself.
- Forgetfulness is our biggest fear. She will keep you here forever. While you remember we live. Your resistance is so great you will last eternities. And what she fails to grasp I understand. As the new god has a second coming, so can we.
- Otr. Are you saying the new God has beaten the old Gods? How?
- It is not a question of battle or war. It’s a question of belief. The new God is easier to believe. One by one we are forgotten.
- I can’t believe that.
- I know you can’t. Your mind is as it was eras ago when you died. I’ll show you.
Otr flapped his long gray wings and mists appeared from the movement, it clouded all the other spirits and left them alone. Haldora sat on his paw and looked in between the claws to find they were flying. The journey was one that Haldora remembered very well. They were going to Valhalla. Haldora envisioned herself jumping from the same place Loki had thrown her to escape the Underworld.
The doors were still there, but they were not the same, the brightness was gone. Otr opened the doors to relieve a empty room, dark, dingy, with the odor of rotting food. Haldora could scarce believe this had once been a golden room, where warriors waited for Odin’s command. There was no one there, just shadows.
- Odin’s war is over. He doesn’t need his warrior’s any more. -, Haldora attempted to convince herself.
- People don’t come here anymore. They take another path. They call it Heaven. -, Otr explained.
- Why won’t they come here? This is where they belong.
- People just stopped believing. The truth is Hella hasn’t had many visitors since you left.
Otr let her down from his hand and wonder the grand hall.
- None of it is real. -, Otr explained. – It’s all on the mind. Focuss strong enough and you will see it as it was. The Underworld is hanging by a thread.
She quickly searched the Hall of lives to find it empty. The strings were on the floor, the waters were dry. The dust embraced all things, stealing brightness and color. Haldora fell to her knees. A shaped appeared before her. A mortal hand led her chin up. Haldora was in the presence of her warrior. Instead of feeling joy for his shape, she could feel nothing but anger.
- Your curse is your blessing. -, Otr’s voice spoke through this body. - You have the memory of times. Learn new things and let go of the past. Open your mind. Remember this lesson, remember what you saw today. Remember illusions. Remember belief. Remember forgetfulness. Remember me.
- Are you scared of being gone?
- Forgetfulness is worse then death, but I am the last of my kind and my reason for being is… gone. Hella was the only thing keeping me here.
- Hella. We are all her prisoners.
- We are all prisoners of something; it’s up to us to break the cage.
Otr took her face between his hands and let her to his lips. Haldora fought the act, pressing her lips. He embraced her and his illusion was so great, that for a second in time she forgot Otr was standing before her instead of this figure. She allowed him to kiss her and as she returned his embrace, the two were engulfed by a red smoke that seemed to enter Haldora through her mouth. She could feel a strange taste in her mouth, but before she could react to it she heard a loud scream. Her eyes opened and she was again in her cage.
Hella stormed in the room, grabbing the bars in the cage and ripping them like paper. Haldora rouse from the ground quickly. Hella knew immediately she was well again. Hella grabbed her by her arms and held her up from the ground as a child.
- What did you do to him? -, Hella asked in the most terrifying voice Haldora had ever heard.
- I did nothing.
- Otr is dead. What did you do? What trick did you use?
- Otr was already dead. -, Haldora slowly announced, - So am I. So are you.
- You will live the rest of eternity in pain. I will tore your flesh out and make you grow another. I will inflect wounds and cure them, to make them come again.
Hella threw Haldora in the air. Haldora landed on the other side on the room, surprisingly unarmed. She got up and looked Hella right in the eyes.
- I don’t believe you anymore.
- No! -, Hella realized what Otr had done before his death.
- I forget you.
- No! -, Hella knelt down.
- I forget you. -, Haldora raised her voice.
- No! -, Hella shouted.
- I forget you! -, Haldora shouted.
The whole of the room seemed to break as glass and as Haldora fell trough the ground, all she could remember was the solitary tear that ran through Hella’s face as all of her spirits deserted her and all of her illusions faded.
Rain for days on end… Touch returning…
