ONE
I gazed out across the large empty floor.
I was standing in what was basically an oversized fighting arena. It was easily three times the size of an average boxing ring—nearly 60 feet per side. The floor was made of a solid wood that seemed to have some give to it. It appeared to be a normal floor until I noticed the subtle runes carved into the surface.
I should’ve known better than to expect normal.
There was nothing normal about this place.
I couldn’t read most of the runes, and the ones I could read all seemed to enhance inherent abilities. That could easily be a double-edged sword.
I wouldn’t mind the assist of having any abilities I used enhanced. The downside, from what I could decipher, was that it was a blanket enhancement.
My opponent would have her abilities enhanced as well.
That meant I had a fighting chance if I moved fast.
Faster than I had ever moved in my life.
The edges of the floor were cordoned off from the rest of the space with what appeared to be a thin steel cord. The cord was glowing a soft violet which led me to believe that touching it would result in something painful.
Which actually made sense.
After all, I was in the fighting hall of the Midnight Echelon Headquarters; pain was par for the course. In fact, knowing these Dark Valkyries, if pain wasn’t part of the equation—something was wrong. I stepped a little closer to the thin steel cord and felt an unusual amount of energy pulsing out from it.
It screamed definite pain.
Diagonally across from me, standing in the opposite corner was a group of Dark Valkyries. They glanced over from time to time to my corner where I stood. Nothing about their looks gave me any confidence that this was going to be a friendly fight.
Standing in the center of the group was Nan.
She towered over most of the Dark Valkyrie, her massive frame impressive in its height and width. If there was one Valkyrie I would never want to face in battle—it was Nan.
Yet here I was doing exactly that.
Her armor for this fight was pared down, probably to give her greater mobility to pound me into a memory. I noticed the upper half of her combat armor resembled a thick leather rune-covered tank top.
This stood out because it meant that she would have access to her wings. It meant she would be able to fight on the ground and, if she chose, she could take to the air and attack me from above.
This was a definite advantage for Nan, since to date, I had not been able to master self-propelled flight. All of my very short moments of being airborne were caused by outside influences that usually ended with my face getting introduced to some hard surface at velocities meant to end me.
Her weapon, Stormchaser, was a mace-axe combination that did damage no matter which end she hit you with. I was either going to get crushed with the mace, or bisected with the axe. I don’t think she had much of a preference of which end she hit me with—only that she would be able to hit me…repeatedly.
In my corner, stood Monty and beside him my amazing hellhound, Peaches. I quickly realized how lopsided this fight was going to be.
I had faced larger, stronger, faster, and determined opponents in the past. I had even faced opponents that were immune to magical energy.
The problem here was that Nan was all of these things wrapped in one lethal, unrelenting package. There was a reason why she was called the ‘tip of the spear’ of the Midnight Echelon.
I had personally experienced Nan being sent in alone into the worst of battles, not because the other Dark Valkyries feared the enemy, but because Nan disliked sharing targets.
She thrived in battle, it was where she always wanted to be. I remembered hearing her laugh as we leapt into lethal danger, all the while chastising me about improving my battle cry.
That was the opponent I was facing today.
I glanced over at my corner team.
I was surrounded by my hellhound and my bond brother Monty who was trying very hard to make it seem like he wasn’t worried, but if the amount of times he straightened his suit sleeves, followed by removing the invisible dust was any indicator, he was ultra-worried for me.
The rules as I understood it were simple. Last one standing won the fight. Simple, not easy. Nan was a powerhouse of might. Not only was she on the industrial size of Dark Valkyries—they were all oversized, except that Nan made them look almost tiny by comparison—but unless I had access to some truly off-the-charts power or weaponry, this fight was over before it began.
I glanced at Monty again who stepped close to me.
“She understands that this isn’t to the death, right?” I asked as Monty gestured and covered me in silver symbols. “You told her this wasn’t to the death?”
“I told her, Vi told her, the entire Midnight Echelon told her,” Monty said. “She knows it’s not to the death.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely certain,” he said with a brief nod and another sleeve pull. “That doesn’t mean she won’t try to hurt you.”
I gave him a wary look.
“Hurt me or kill me?”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about her killing you,” he continued, glancing across the large, empty floor. “Her weapon is formidable, but it’s not a kamikira. It will hurt, but it won’t kill you…at least not permanently. Though it may feel like she is killing you, try not to focus on the pain. Remember, pain is only weakness leaving the body. You can do this.”
I stared at him for a few seconds.
“That’s your idea of a pep talk?”
“I have every confidence that she won’t kill you,” he said with a nod. “She may break a few bones, but you heal fast. Try to keep your distance from her fists and her axe-mace, or is that mace-axe?”
“Stormchaser is a mace-axe,” I said. “I am pretty sure it has abilities of its own too.”
“Hmm, that could pose some problems,” he said, rubbing his chin. “I was going to suggest using ranged attacks, but it is quite possible her weapon could blast you. Have you seen her use it in battle?”
“It’s not pretty for whoever is on the receiving end.”
“I see. In any case, do your best to utilize a guerrilla warfare strategy, there’s a good chance you can wear her out and she will forfeit from exhaustion.”
“Guerrilla warfare?”
“You are familiar with the concept of a smaller force attack on a greater force?” he asked. “Asymmetric warfare? You do know the concept?”
“Of course I know the concept,” I snapped, looking across the floor at Nan. “How am I supposed to use guerrilla warfare against her? Do I have an environment I can use? Is there a way for me to ambush her or use hit and run tactics? You’re a battlemage, is that the best you’ve got—‘use guerrilla warfare’?”
“Battlemages usually have more tools to work with,” he said. “Fortunately this is a battle to the last one standing—perhaps you can trip her and ensure she remains on the ground somehow?”
“Did your fighting strategy actually work in combat?”
“Yes,” he said. “But this is not combat,. If you don’t avoid her, this will be a rather lopsided pounding. However, she is rather large, sustaining all that mass in a protracted battle will be taxing. There is a good chance you can outlast her.”
I glared at him.
“One hit and I’m done.”
“Which is why I suggested avoiding her,” he pointed out. “Are you listening?”
Monty usually defaulted to the facts when he was overly concerned. I knew he was doing his best to paint the best possible picture of this situation; the truth was that there was no angle I could look at in this fight that would give me the best possible picture.
Every angle only showed me a catastrophic, agonizing outcome. With me on the receiving end of the agony.
“Nan doesn’t get tired,” I said, looking across the floor again at the large woman wielding an industrial-sized mace-axe. “She lives for moments like this. She’ll stop right after she pounds me into the floor several times…maybe.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic,” he said, he brushing off some non-existent dust from his sleeve. “The thing to remember is that you’re faster than she is, unless she uses her wings, then she can be quite fast and catch you. But you do have inherent strength, though she can probably crush you with one hand. The key is—”
“Stop,” I said, holding up a hand. “You’ve helped me enough, thanks, really. I’m feeling extra encouraged right now.”
“Right,” he said with another nod. “Glad I could be of assistance. I’ll be over here in your corner. Remember this isn’t to the death. You can utilize any weapon at your disposal, though I don’t know if Ebonsoul will be effective. She does have the advantage of reach with her weapon. If I were you, I would aim to knock her out as soon as possible.” He glanced over at Nan. “That mace-axe does look painful.”
“Go. Now,” I said. “Thank you.”
He walked off and left me to my thoughts.
I could use any weapon at my disposal.
I had a chance.
It was slim, so slim it was almost non-existent, but there was a chance greater than zero of being able to pull it off.
It all came down to timing, misdirection, and a little luck.
I ended up in this situation when I had mistakenly removed Nan from a battle I thought would kill her. As a Dark Valkyrie, I should’ve known she lived for the moments when her life hung in the balance and she was pushed to the edge.
She was fighting a monster that dwelled in the space between portal dimensions, a monster that looked like it was going to obliterate her.
I thought I was saving her by pushing her through a portal; it turned out I insulted her honor and she felt I owed her a fight to the death.
I am cursed alive, yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t die. It just means I don’t stay dead. If I faced Nan in mortal combat, it would only be a matter of how many times would she kill me before she became bored.
That sounded like a world of pain for me.
It was a world I wanted to avoid.
Vi, the leader of the Dark Valkyries, stepped into the middle of the empty floor. The Midnight Echelon’s Headquarters didn’t exactly exist in any one place. It allowed the Dark Valkyries to respond to events wherever they were needed.
The fighting hall we stood in was an interstitial location existing in-between several locations at once. It was created to provide the Midnight Echelon easy access to several planes.
In that regard, it acted like a staging hub using portals to send the Echelon wherever they may be needed at a moment’s notice.
Since it took Monty several teleports to get us here, I knew I was no longer on my own plane. That, and the violet sky with constellations I had never seen in my life were good indicators that I wasn’t home.
The building the fighting hall was located in resembled an enormous castle of dark stone, which was nestled in-between the peaks of treacherous-looking mountains.
It wasn’t the kind of place that would get stormed or invaded by anything short of an army of insanely powerful creatures, wielding power I couldn’t begin to imagine.
Even then, the Dark Valkyries would probably laugh at an attempted invasion as they prepared to meet whatever enemy was deranged enough to attempt to face them in battle.
Normally a fight like this couldn’t take place, but since I was an honorary member of the Midnight Echelon, Vi sanctioned the fight as long as it wasn’t to the death.
She motioned for both of us to step to the center.
Nan approached the center with a huge grin on her face as she hefted her massive, oversized mace-axe over one shoulder. I looked down at Ebonsoul, and not for the first time felt major weapon envy.
Vi looked at me, then looked at Nan.
“You are here to settle a disputed battle claim,” Vi said, looking at me then at Nan again. Her voice carried across the floor. “Nan claims you deprived her of mortal combat. What say you, Deathless?”
Nan stared down at me.
She towered over me and gave me a hard look, with a smile that never quite reached her eyes. Her stance was wide and she looked ready to swing Stormchaser at me at the drop of a hat.
For such a large person, she moved at speeds that staggered the mind. There was no way this fight was even remotely fair or balanced.
As a Dark Valkyrie, Nan lived for battle. She was trained in violence from the moment she could walk and hold a weapon. Not only that, she and the rest of the Dark Valkyrie were ancient. They had survived countless battlefields with Nan being the one leading most of those battles.
I, on the other hand, was not ancient, nor a veteran of thousands of battles.
I tried one last time to explain the situation.
“I thought I was saving her,” I said, using my best tact voice. “She was getting crushed by that monster.”
“I have never needed saving…ever,” Nan said, crossing her massive arms and glaring down at me. “In fact, if I recall correctly, I have saved you on several occasions.”
I nodded silently.
She was right.
She had saved me several times.
I honestly thought she was going to get killed and thought that if I could prevent that, I should.
“You’re right, you have,” I said. “I thought you were going to die.”
“No one in the Midnight Echelon fears death,” Nan said, still staring at me. “Do you fear death, Deathless?”
“No,” I said. “I have faced death several times and each time I faced it with my head held high and looked it in the face without wavering.”
“As is proper for a member of the Midnight Echelon,” Vi said with a curt nod. “What say you to the claim, Deathless? Did you deprive Nan, the Tip of the Spear, the fiercest among the Midnight Echelon, the wielder of Stormchaser, who rends the sky and earth, the opportunity to face death in combat?”
I stared at Vi for a few moments.
Now that was how you prepped a fighter for a fight. I was stuck with the morale-crushing mage—Monty the Morose.
I took a deep breath and faced Nan, looking up at her face and smiled. If I was going to take a beating, I was going to give as good as I got.
“Yes,” I said, setting my jaw. “And I would do it again if faced with the same circumstances. I saw a friend, someone I cared for in danger, and I removed her from that danger.”
“While admirable, that is not how we show concern in the Midnight Echelon,” Vi said, looking at me. “You acted contrary to our teachings, our principles, our rules, and our beliefs.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Ignorance of the rules excuses no one,” Vi said. “Much less a member of the Midnight Echelon—even an honorary one. We are all held to the highest standard.”
Vi turned to Nan.
“What say you, Nan?”
“I say we add a proviso,” Nan answered as the smile returned to her lips. “Let the last one standing determine the outcome.”
“Clarify,” Vi asked. “Explain this proviso you propose.”
Nan nodded.
“If I am the last one standing, his life is forfeit and rests in my hands to do with as I see fit,” Nan said. “If Deathless is the last one standing, he will hold my life in his hands to do with as he pleases.”
Vi narrowed her gaze at Nan.
“This fight is not to the death, Nan,” Vi warned. “It is a battle to the pain. However, you do pose an interesting option.” Vi turned to me. “Deathless, what say you to this proviso? Do you accept Nan’s terms? You are free to refuse, if you so wish.”
If I refused, there was a good chance Nan would do her best to flatten me with her mace. If I agreed, there was a good chance Nan would do her best to slice through me with her axe.
This was lose-lose for me, no matter how I faced it.
As a member of the Midnight Echelon, honorary or not, I needed to show them that I hadn’t acted solely out of fear for Nan’s safety, even though a small part of me had. I needed to demonstrate to her that fear alone didn’t determine my actions.
That meant accepting this new proviso.
“Let it be witnessed by blade and blood,” I said, drawing Ebonsoul across my palm and opening a shallow wound that started healing almost immediately as my body flushed hot. “The last one standing will determine the outcome of this fight. The life of the vanquished will rest in the hands of the victor.”
Vi raised an eyebrow at my words, nodded, and looked at Nan who grinned for real this time as she ran her axe across her hand and grasped mine, dwarfing my hand in her massive palm.
“Are you certain of this?” Vi asked, looking at me with an expression of concern. “You cannot reverse or undo this decree once blade and blood have been shared.”
“I’m certain,” I said, extending Ebonsoul toward Nan who met my weapon with her axe. I stared into her eyes. “You could always say no, Nan.”
Nan laughed.
“By blade and blood,” Nan said, raising her voice and her hand, nearly lifting me off the floor. “It is sealed.”
“Somehow I knew that would be your answer.”
“Now we will see what you are made of, Deathless,” she said, leaning in close and lowering her voice. “I hope you have worked on your battlecry.”
“Return to your corners,” Vi said. “On my command, you will face each other and do battle until only one of you stands. May you each prove your worth.”
Before I turned, I glanced at Vi again.
“Any weapon, conventional or magical, available to me is allowed?” I asked, glancing at Nan who stood arms crossed still looking down at me. I could tell she was actually happy she was going to get to pound on me. There was something seriously wrong with these Valkyrie. “I want to make sure I understand the rules.”
“Any weapon available to you is allowed,” Vi said. “Conventional or magical does not matter. If you can wield it, it is allowed in this combat. Do you require clarification on anything else?”
“Nothing else, thank you.”
I nodded and turned, glancing once more at Nan’s corner.
The energy in the arena shifted subtly and I knew Nan had tapped into her enhanced energy.
“This is going to suck.”
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