Thankfully, things with the dragon turned out better than I could have hoped. I also found out that my burgeoning power over Death was even greater than I thought. It was discovered during an act of desperation, really. I just suddenly got this feeling that if I could attune my senses to Death, I could force my will through it in the same way. It’s…difficult to explain. But I was able to get Rigvar’s skull to tell me how he’d dealt with the dragon without getting eaten. Well, how he used to before I killed him at least.
The answer was, basically, feed it someone. Which meant there were a whole bunch of us who were prepared to throw Haarkson to Graback if we had to. Needless to say, Lexi wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea. But her suggestion was to try speaking with Graback first, which I wanted to do anyway. So that worked out.
Andrew was actually the one to speak to Graback first; he went out while the rest of us were still discussing things. He’d asked about my connection with the dragon first. So I told him that I was the son of Hel, which would hopefully make Graback think twice about eating me given who his father is. That’s what Andrew introduced me as; her son, seeking an audience.
And as it turned out, Graback didn’t bear any hostility towards us at all. He even said he owed me a boon when I told him that I’d slain Rigvar, who’d used Utgard-Loki’s essence to help chain Graback in the cave. The thought of freeing him came to mind immediately. Given Niddhog’s prominence in Helheim and my heritage it seems wise to foster good relations with his son.
Opinions in the group seemed a bit mixed at that, but once I got a closer look at those chains I thought it would be a moot point. I wouldn’t be able to break them. I was planning to research how to break them with Andrew. Then Cindy, well, decided just to forge on ahead and whacked the chains with one of the shards of Utgard-Loki we had. And I’d have never expected it, but it actually worked. The shard disappeared, and suddenly the chains were just chains. Then Graback and I were able to shatter them.
After that we left for the surface, most of us. Graback stayed down in the cave for a while to regain his strength. Before we left he did say that he’d bear word of my deeds to Hel, for which I was grateful. He also seemed to have known Ken’s sister, Calleigh, and mentioned a time when she bested Niddhog in single combat so that she could visit Hel. Ken seemed like she wanted desperately to know more, but of the opinion that now was not the time to ask. So I told her that when I have a chance to speak with my Mother, and someday I will, that I would ask about Calleigh’s journey.
Once we left the cave nothing more happened that is worthy of note, we returned to M.I.S.T. HQ without further incident. Which was an intense relief, given all that had happened. And now there is time to reflect upon what has happened, what I learned, how the ichor in my veins seemed to evolve throughout that entire desperate day. But that will have to come later. For now…even I could use the rest.
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