Chapter 18: CONFLICT

A man sits alone within his Great Hall. Sitting in shadow with extraordinarily little light. Lord Varg Drake’s face had more frown lines than he ever had in his whole life.

Since the moment that he left Rum Island. The only person he was thinking about was the one causing him to rethink his life. He would never have believed that he would ever face the moment. That he would have to change a lot for a person. Not until his wife had entered his life, riding on a flash of lightning.

Just as he had thought about how his wife had gotten into his life. A fresh bolt of lightning had come. Followed by a big, massive God coming towards Varg, with the angriest glare upon his face.

'I'm not ready for this,' thought Varg.

The lord of the village had never once noticed. That his Father’s God was more menacing than what was ever told about the God. It was one of the first times that Varg had wondered if he was going to keep breathing after an encounter. The look alone said that death was upon him shortly.

'I hope my wife can find it in her heart to bury me somewhere nice.'

“VARG,” bellowed the wielder of energy. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!” The Thunder God held fire within his eyes. Enough for his voice to echo such force; one should wonder if others upon the land could hear him.

“You spoke with her?” asked an emotionless man. 'Death could not come any closer.'

“No.” This caused the ruling man to look at the God with a question within his eyes. “I talked to a creature that looks like a Hest with a horn on its head.”

“Oh,” stated Varg with a thoughtful glance within his eyes. “That would be an enhörning,” answered the defeated warrior. He was looking around the room for a moment before turning back towards Thor with heat behind his own eyes. “Why didn’t you tell ME that she was a follower to the ONE GOD?”

Thor took a moment to think about the issue at hand for a moment. “I had thought that you would be a man enough to love her, no matter what she believes in.” He gave his son-in-law the look that would have brought all son-in-law’s down to their knees. “I guess I was wrong, and I had picked the wrong man for her to marry.”

The ruling man gave the God of Legend his own glare. “That’s not the ISSUE, Thor, and you know IT.” Varg had gotten up from his seat and started walking towards the man before him. “Why did YOU keep something like THAT from ME? How does it FEEL that your OWN daughter doesn’t even believe that you’re a GOD?” Varg was in front of Thor’s face. “HER GOD!”

Thor huffed before walking back and forth in the Great Hall.

‘He is acting like a bear, ready for the charge and kill,’ thought Varg.

The Thunder God was getting very agitated with the situation. He knew that his son-in-law was speaking the truth, but it was also hard for him to keep his own father out of his head. ‘You don’t need this week of a man to tell you what to do son, he would only try to take your God ability and rule all.’

He also knew from his own experiences that lies have done nothing but hurt those that were involved. ‘Loki,' his own brother was a cause from most of those misunderstanding, and he had not liked any of it. So, he knew where Varg was coming from, and Thor also recognized that he was in the wrong.

“Listen, Varg,” Thor said once he was calm enough to face the warrior. “You can be mad about the whole thing on me.” He raised his hands and touched his chest to indicate towards himself. “But don’t take it out on Lyra. She can fight her own battles, but she won’t kill anyone, and I don’t want her to.”

The warrior groaned loudly, rubbing his hands into his face. “I really messed things up with Lyra, haven’t I?”

Thor smirked evilly. “Yeah, you did, but you’ll work like Helvete to get her to keep you after this ordeal.”

“How can I do that?”

“In Lyra’s book from her God,” stated Thor, “there is a saying that goes like this:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

“How does that help me?” The Wolf-Dragon form wanted to come out and take the Norse God in a fight like no other.

Thor thought about it for a moment. “If we let others know how we feel and that we are sorry about the things that we have done. Or it said that the one who is faithful to the One God will be forgiven.” He took a deep breath as he tried to get Varg to understand. “And the one who will be set aside from the ones that don’t believe in the One God or His followers will find despair.”

After those words were spoken, neither one of the two alpha males wanted to talk, not after a near miss of wanting to hit one another. Thor, being the better man, turned away from Varg and walked out of the Great Hall. Allowing Varg to have a moment to think things through on his own. Because Varg would be the one to work things through with his wife. That is if he wanted her back in his life.

The Thunder God went for a walk down by the loch that nearly took Lyra away from them. Along what little of the edge there was.

‘If only Lyra was here.’

He saw through his mind’s eye that she would have been running towards the shore, trying to drag him away from the water, but he was not thinking about the beast that was lurking within. Thor only had one thing on his mind, and that it was his daughter as she slept on a faraway island, far away from where he stood.

As the Norse God was in deep thought, a big splash sounded not far from where he stood. He was not paying attention. He was walking from side to side of the water’s edge while the water made more sounds as something was moving its way closer to the man on shore.

A head popped out of the darken water as dark as the sky above, watching the man with its eyes. The eyes moved from left to right and right to left as they moved along with the man’s movements. The dark mass waited for a time. Seeing that the man paid him no attention, it started moving ever so slowly towards shore.

Thor had known that something has been watching him. He also heard the sound as something was making its way to him. He growled out, which was heard through the water, “MAKE your PRESENCE known, CREATURE.”

Thor turned towards the water just as a long neck looking serpent came towards the man. Neither one of them took their eyes off one another. The strong man could see why Lyra had been in shock as he was seeing the creature much closer than he had before. He did not like what he was seeing.

The face became a long neck; then, after, the neck became a huge body of leather, causing Thor to tilt his head up. It ended up being in a sharp angle for him to see the creature’s eyes better, and he saw the rage and hunger.

Thor, not paying attention to the danger that he may be in, asked, “You’re the one who tried to take my daughter?”

A deep, unearthly sound of voice answered, “And you were the one that helped the thing that took the woman away from me.”

Thor had chills running down his spine but hid it well, roaring out in anger, “WHO ARE YOU?” His angered voice echoed a great distance, bouncing off the surrounding hills.

The creature laughed darkly. “I’m Loki’s son, Jormungand.” This caused Thor to take a step away from the massive being in front of him, who did not notice. “I was to take her away from you and the thing that became her husband.”

“BY WHOSE ORDERS?” thundered the man with such power. “I want to know who sent you.” He was going to be taking some heads, and he valued that he was not going to stop until the enemy was taken care of.

‘Who do you think?’

Jormungand sneered, reminding Thor of his brother. “My Father, your Brother, had sent me to kill your daughter.” It saw that Thor was listening with a glare that would have brought most of his enemies to their knees but continued. “But I wanted her for myself to make you sweat with worry so that you would have to give me your blessing.”

The serpent-like creature moved away from the shoreline to a good distance for him to get a good look at his uncle. “I would have protected your daughter from my Father and Grandfather. They wouldn't have known where to find her. She would have been happy.”

“You DON'T know Lyra. She would NOT have been happy.” With a great jump, Thor was in the air, hovering over the land and water. He looked into Jormungand’s eyes. “She is NOT like MOST women. She would WANT to be where there was FREE air.” He took a breath, for he was warming up for louder words to be spoken. “She needs a WARM place to LIVE and a GOOD MAN to take CARE of her, a WARRIOR, who cares about HONOR and FAMILY.” The long serpent creature looked annoyed by Thor’s words. Jormungand’s tail started splashing.

Splash…Splash…

Thor knew that he had gotten his attention, “She believes in the ONE God. She wouldn't be happy with a MYTH like YOU. You are NOTHING but a MYTH to her.”

A deep sounding growl answered, “You LIE. My Father says that you ARE nothing but LIES.”

Thor gave his newly known nephew his undetermined attention. ‘What has Loki been saying to his son?’

“YOU would take Grandfather's LOVE away from my Father. YOU would jump into any WAR that has to be dealt with. YOU would never say that my Father had helped you.”

‘I may be guilty on that one.’

“WHAT KIND OF MAN do you take me for?” With raised eyebrows, Thor could not find in himself to answer the man part with the creature before him. Thor opened his dried lips to answer his nephew. “My Brother was full of tricks and stories. No one took him to heart. It was mainly because of many people didn't want to deal with him, not unless it was the last resort.”

Jormungand glanced around. “Where is your daughter?” He stopped somewhere behind Thor. “I see that the Thing is all alone. Did she grow a brain and leave him, or did he hide her away from the human male that talked about her? While the Villagers made their way to war?”

Thor knew who Jormungand was talking about. Varg was moving his people towards the north, moving them far away from the loch as possible. It was not his place to say anything.

A dark flying mass made its way towards the two beings that were near the lakeshore. The mass flew next to Thor and hovered as its wings flapped to stay in the air. This caused a wicked grin to form on Thor’s lips; he knew who was next to him.

“What’s going on?”

Thor kept his eyes on the creature that he had been talking to while his voice carried to the one next to him. “This is Jormungand.” Thor paused for a moment to see if Varg was paying attention. “The one who tried to take Lyra away from us.” Thor took a chance to glance at the Wolf-Dragon. “Before your wedding day.”

“So, Lyra was right.” He turned his head towards the Norse God. “He is Loki’s son.” This caused a fury of anger to reach his eyes before facing the water creature, growling, “Why was he after Lyra?”

“Loki had sent him to kill MY daughter.” The words caused Varg’s growl to become deeper, hungry-like. “But Jormungand wanted Lyra for himself by taking her away to protect her from you.”

Varg Drake had even more of a fire within his eyes. He was sizing up the serpent before him. Varg was planning for the kill.

“I would have gotten away with it if that Thing wasn't more than human.”

Varg saw red. His anger had been building. He was ready to do more than just talking to the one who nearly ended his future with his wife.

‘My wife,’ Varg paused for a moment. ‘I’m going to have to deal with that later.’

He glanced towards Thor. The Thunder God gave him a small but settled nod. Varg let go of what restraint that he had for himself and flew with speed towards the one known as Jormungand. Varg’s sharp claws were sticking out, ready for the impact of flesh.

When Varg was close enough, his sharp, spear-like claws became embedded into the flesh of leather, bringing the scent of blood, fish, and salt to invade his nose. A roar of a scream insulted his ears, as it echoed throughout the land.

GRRRROOOOLLLL…SNARL…RRRRIIIIPPPPP…

Jormungand moved his body violently. He was trying to get Varg off him, causing the water serpent to become dizzy from the loss of blood.

SPLASH…SPLASH…

RRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR…

AAAAAAHHHH…

RROOAARR…

“OOOOFFFFFFF!”

Without knowing that the serpent’s movements, Varg ended up closer to his throat. Four sharp points punctured through his tender neck. The sounds of teeth ripping, roars, snarls, and even more rips followed. It was a battle fit for nightmares.

“NNNNNOOOOOO!”

A voice came into Thor’s head. ‘I guess you were right. Varg Drake is worthy of our family.’

‘I told you, Father.’ When he had not heard his father, he thought, ‘Will you leave my daughter and her husband alone?’

Odin sighed. ‘I’ll do my best…’

When Thor saw the lifeless form of Jormungand, he smirked, for it made him proud to see such a sight. He knew from that moment that Jormungand appeared that Varg would be fighting to get his wife back. There was a small part of Thor that felt sad for his suffering at his son-in-law’s hands. Varg had not killed Jormungand, only weakened him enough that it would take a long time to heal. Thor knew that none had the power to kill a son of a Norse God.

‘Not even I can kill him. Not without having a curse to live with for all of my days.’