Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 614: DCXIV. The Vàlaskjàlf

At the end of the thousands of steps leading from the streets to the entrance of the castle, a giant chromed door stood in front of them: next to it, two huge golden statues.

"Hey, wait" Fulla said, resting a hand on Dag's shoulder and causing him to retreat, walking in front of him.

Soon after, the two colossal golden statues by the door came to life and crossed their long spears, preventing anyone from passing without permission.

Dag, who did not expect to see two inanimate objects moving, stepped back.

"I'm Fulla and he's the mortal the Alfather talks so much about. Let us through, he is waiting for us" the girl exclaimed with a serious expression as if she was not afraid of the giant humanoid faces that were looking at her.

The two statues depicted two colossal Viking warriors, identical in every detail: heavy armor covered their bodies and helmets horned their heads.

Both spears they held were similar to Gungnir, the infallible weapon.

Without saying a word, the guardians of the Vlaskjlf raised their weapons and let the visitors through, opening the heavy silver door for them.

*boom*

A deep noise marked the opening of the majestic door, which finally showed Dag the interior of the palace: a very wide entrance hall stretched for hundreds of meters and in its center, a statue of the Alfather slightly smaller than the guardians of the door had the spear in his hands and with his eye looked towards the exit.

Along the circular walls, which took up the shape of the base of the palace, there were artifacts and relics of all kinds.

Dag, unable to resist the temptation, without asking permission, walked away from Fulla, approaching the wall, in particular a kind of glass showcase.

Inside of it, there was a thick braid of blonde hair, tied by a rope at both the top and bottom.

"To whom does this hair belong? Why are they here among all of these relics?" Dag asked, knowing Fulla was behind him.

"In this room, there are all the most important objects for the Alfather. Some of them were destroyed during the Frostsinners' assault, but most of them remained intact. What you're looking at is a braid from the hair of Bestla, Odin's mother" Fulla explained, who knew by heart every object in the entrance to the royal palace, like all the servants of the Gods.

"Bestla? Do you mean the ice giantess? Mimir's sister and..." 

"And Borr's bride, yes, I'm talking about her" the handmaid continued, who felt some satisfaction with Dag's enthusiasm.

"Amazing... the sister of the wisest of giants... it is said that it was precisely because of Mimir that the Alfather lost an eye... is it true?" Dag continued, who could not believe that such ancient legends could be real and tangible.

"It's correct. Odin traveled to the kingdom of Jotunheim to acquire the wisdom of his uncle, drinking from his water source... in return he was asked to partially give up his sight, renouncing one of his eyes. I notice once again that you know even the most hidden parts of the legends, Dag" Fulla replied, still marveling that a warrior could be so cultured.

"Shall we proceed?" he exclaimed, suddenly turning to her handmaid and explicitly asking her to continue their walk to the throne room, avoiding wasting any more time and being distracted by all those relics.

Fulla smiled and with a gentle movement of her hand invited him to follow her.

Behind the large Alfather statue, a circular staircase led to the second floor of that high tower.

Every step, every detail of the carved wall, every edge, and every corner, was made of pure silver.

Continuing to climb to the top of the tower, Dag could not help but be amazed more and more: on the second floor, other precious relics and statues slightly smaller than those of the entrance adorned its corners.

In addition to Thor and Frigg, the colossal stone works depicted Vli and V, the Alfather's two brothers.

Going from floor to floor, Dag retraced Odin's genealogy, seeing before him the statues of all those who had preceded and succeeded him, of all the Gods and Goddesses who had somehow helped maintain the balance among the nine kingdoms.

Fulla hastened the pace, knowing that the tower had more than 20 floors and that at the last of them was their destination, however, Dag lagged slightly behind, stopping to look at a statue in particular.

It was located on the 16th floor and depicted a long-bearded man, with the top of his armor torn off and an endless series of runes on his right arm.

Unlike the other statues, on which every detail was highlighted and drawn to perfection, on the face of that one, in the eyes there was no pupil, they were completely white.

The mythical warrior with short hair and a long beard held two swords in his hands, one longer in his right hand and one shorter in his left one.

His facial expression represented a battle scream and the position of his body, intent on jumping to hit a target, made the statue particularly fascinating.

Under his feet, a large marble plaque enunciated the title of the work, as well as for every statue in the Vlaskjlf.

"Primal Thunder..." Dag whispered, reading aloud the inscription engraved in marble.

"Why are you so much interested? He was a Skjold resident like you, but... his power was not comparable to the Gods you observed earlier."

After Fulla's words, the handmaid noticed that Dag continued to stare at the statue without answering as if his mind was trapped by an unquestionable spell.

The girl looked at his face and then the statue, then again his face and the stone face of the Primal Thunder.

"I must admit that there is a certain resemblance between you two. So what the Alfather hypothesized is true... you are a descendant of the Primal Thunder!" Fulla continued, drawing Dag's gaze upon herself.

The young earthly warrior thought back to the story his trusted friend Reidar told him the first time he used the powers of the Primal Thunder, the human being closest to the Gods. 

The runes on the same point of the arm, the same look, the electricity released by his weapons: the similarity between Dag and that statue was evident, despite the man depicted was much older than him.

Suddenly, as if he had just awakened from a dream, Dag shook his head and began to walk again, not wanting to waste any more time, noting that the sunlight coming in from the large windows of the palace became increasingly reddish. 

"What happened, Dag? You suddenly changed your expression... does anything upset you?" Fulla asked, climbing with him up the stairway leading to the 17th floor.

"No, I'm not upset... It's just... I do not understand how I can be a successor to that divine warrior, to the man represented in that sculpture. I don't know the true identity of my parents and... well, this thing is killing me" he confessed, looking down as hundreds of thoughts crowded his head.

"You'll find out!" Fulla exclaimed, with confidence.

Dag's hopeful gaze fell on the handmaid.

"How?" 

"I don't know how... I told you, I'm a simple handmaid, I'm not allowed to know about such important things, but... inside of me I feel it. I feel like you're going to find out who your real parents were and at that point, no one will be able to stop you anymore" she said, smiling and blushing on her cheeks, daring to go beyond compliments and trying to cheer up the morale of Dag, who had been kind to her since the first moment they met.

"I hope that so much" he replied, returning the smile and empathizing with his interlocutor, who was endowed with great sensitivity.

Continuing to chat about this and that, after about an hour and a half after Dag's awakening in the infirmary, they found themselves at the great door of the hall of Hlidskjlf, the divine throne of the Alfather. 

Dag took a deep breath, trying to dismount the tension and remember the real reason why he was in Asgard, keeping in mind all the questions he had to ask Odin when he could talk to him.

"Are you ready?" Fulla asked, noting his state of agitation and somehow sharing it with him.

Dag put his hand on the large door handle, which consisted of a silvery ring that hung from the beak of a crow's head and pushed hard, noting that with minimal effort, the gigantic door opened.

Without making any noise other than a slight creaking, the entrance door of the throne room opened completely and Dag and Fulla entered the big room.

Occupying all the space on the top floor of the silver tower, the huge room in front of them was conical in shape and its ceiling continued to the tip of the sloping roof.