Chapter 36 - Rhyland #2
"And here I thought you were going to complain about the lack of sea monsters trying to eat us," Dani quips, bumping her hip against mine. "Getting soft in your old age, Viking?"
Her light ball bounces ahead of us, casting wild shadows that make the cave look alive. Christ, my mate and I have a fucked-up idea of quality time together.
I growl, pulling her closer as we navigate the darkness. "Let's find whatever ancient pain in the ass is waiting for us and get the fuck out of this frozen hellhole."
"Agreed," Dani mutters, just as her light illuminates a fork in the tunnel ahead. Three gaping mouths stretch into darkness, each howling with its own particular brand of arctic hell.
"Well, isn't this just fucking perfect." I eye the passages, my nostrils flaring as I try to catch any helpful scent through the damp, mineral-heavy air.
The left tunnel reeks of stagnant water and rot.
The middle one whistles with the wind that carries the sharp bite of ice.
The right passage... something about it raises my hackles—a stillness that feels more like a held breath than peace.
"Three tunnels," Dani's light bobs higher, casting shadows that dance like demented puppets across the frost-slicked walls. "Because, of course, there are three tunnels. That's like Evil Lair Design 101."
A loose stone skitters down one of the passages—the middle one—followed by what sounds suspiciously like a growl.
"Think Baldr could've mentioned the multiple choice portion of this test?" Dani's fingers tighten around mine, her other hand glowing with defensive power.
The growl echoes again, deeper this time, making the icy walls around us vibrate. My fangs descend on instinct, every predatory sense going into overdrive.
"Left tunnel smells like something died in it," I mutter, pulling Dani slightly behind me. "Middle one's got our growling friend and the right one..." I trail off that unnatural stillness, making my undead blood run cold.
"Oh, good. We can choose between eau de corpse, mystery monster, or creepy silence." Dani's light splits into three, sending one down each tunnel. "Is there any chance this is just some elaborate Nordic escape room?"
The middle tunnel's growl turns into a roar, sending stalactites raining around us. Through the falling ice, I catch a glimpse of something massive shifting in the darkness—something with way too many fucking legs.
"Fuck this." I grab Dani's arm, yanking her toward the right tunnel. "I'll take creepy silence over whatever the hell that is."
"Wait—" Dani starts, but the thing in the middle tunnel chooses that moment to emerge into her light's reach. Eight glowing eyes reflect at us, attached to a body that looks like someone crossed a wolf with a spider and threw in some nightmare fuel for good measure.
"Run now, science later!" I shove her ahead of me into the right tunnel, the sound of chittering mandibles spurring us faster.
We sprint through the darkness, Dani's light bouncing wildly ahead of us. The sound of clicking echoes behind us, mixing with that spider-wolf bastard's howls.
"What the actual fuck was that?" Dani pants, her feet pounding against the frozen ground. "Some kind of arachnid-canine hybrid? The genetic implications alone—"
"Less analyzing, more running!" I grab her waist as she stumbles, keeping her upright. "Save the dissertation for when we're not about to be dinner for Odin's rejected pet project!"
The tunnel suddenly drops away beneath our feet.
Dani's startled yelp cuts through the air as we slide down an ice-slicked incline, my arms locked around her waist as we hurtle through the darkness.
Her light spins wildly, showing glimpses of crystalline formations flashing past us like frozen lightning.
"Hold on!" I twist, putting my body between her and whatever's waiting at the bottom of this frozen hell-slide. Above us, the spider-wolf's frustrated howl echoes down the tunnel, growing fainter—at least the fucker's too big to follow.
The ground levels out without warning, sending us rolling across a floor that feels like polished glass. When we finally stop, Dani's sprawled on top of me, both of us breathing hard.
"Well," she pushes herself up on my chest, her light reorganizing itself above us. "That's one way to make an entrance."
The chamber we've landed in stretches into darkness, its walls lined with what looks like frozen waterfalls. But what's at the center makes my heart skip a beat—a perfectly circular pool of black water, still as death but somehow managing to look hungry.
"Of course, there's a creepy black pool," Dani mutters, climbing off me. "Because regular water would be too mainstream." Her light multiplies, sending spheres floating upward to illuminate the chamber.
"Don't even think about touching it," I growl, catching her wrist as she steps toward the pool. The surface is too fucking still, like a sheet of obsidian glass. No ripples, no movement, nothing—just an endless void pretending to be water.
"I wasn't going to—" She starts, then freezes as her lights reveal what's suspended in the frozen waterfalls around us. Bodies. Dozens of them, warriors trapped mid-battle cry in the ice, their weapons still raised. "Holy shit."
"Einherjar," I breathe, recognizing the ancient armor, the fierce expressions frozen for eternity. Some of these poor bastards probably fought alongside my grandfather.
My gut twists as I study the frozen warriors.
Each face tells a story of failure—would-be heroes turned into macabre decorations, their final moments of defiance preserved in crystalline clarity.
Some poor bastard's hand is still reaching for a weapon that's now nothing but ice, his face forever locked in a battle cry.
This isn't a chamber—it's a fucking gallery of broken dreams, with us about to audition for the next exhibit.
The black pool chooses that moment to move, a ripple starting from its center like something stirring in its depths. The temperature drops so fast that even my vampire ass feels it, frost cracking across the smooth glass floor beneath our feet.
"Uh, babe?" Dani's hand finds mine, power already crackling around her other palm. "Please tell me that's just some weird underground current."
A low laugh echoes through the chamber, coming from everywhere and nowhere. The kind of laugh that makes you think about all your life choices that led to this moment.
"Fuck." I pull her closer, watching as the black surface rises, taking shape like living darkness. "I don't think we're that lucky."
The darkness rises like oil from the pool, twisting into a form that towers over us. Two points of arctic blue light ignite where eyes should be, and that laugh echoes again, making the frozen warriors in their icy tombs rattle.
"Welcome, Lightborn. I am Vidar." the voice sounds like ice cracking over a frozen lake. "And Magni's son. How... disappointing you both appear."
"Wow," Dani's power sparks brighter around her free hand. "Rude much? I'll have you know I dressed specifically for 'confronting ancient entity in a frozen cave' today."
The thing's laugh turns sharp as icicles. "The light-bearer makes jokes while standing in a graveyard. Tell me, child—do you see your future in these walls?"
I bare my fangs, pulling Dani slightly behind me. "The only future I see is us kicking your shadowy ass back to whatever frozen hell you crawled out of."
"Ah, the vampire speaks of hell," the form ripples like dark water. "When he carries such delicious darkness within. Tell me, son of Nyx—do you taste the shadow in your own veins?"
"Actually," Dani steps forward, that dangerous edge in her voice that means she's done playing nice.
"I've got a better question—did you practice being a dramatic asshole, or is that just a side effect of marinating in evil pool juice for a few centuries?
Because I've got to tell you," her light flares brighter, making the creature flinch, "I've faced scarier things in my morning coffee, and they didn't need the whole 'creature from the black lagoon' routine to make their point. "
The creature's form solidifies, the ice cracking as it takes shape. It is a warrior made of darkness and frost, wielding a sword that looks carved from the void itself.
"Let us see if your light burns as bright as your tongue, savior."