The King of Bones

Part 2

The warrior with white hair clawed himself free of the corpses, his fingers raw and bloody. The coppery scent of fresh blood lingered heavily in the air. He stood on the bodies of his friends and enemies, letting the cool wind wash over him.

He stood alone.

Stumbling like a newborn babe, the warrior ripped his axe free from a man's chest. This man wore the colors of blood and bone. More than half of the corpses wore this color, while the others shared the same brown tunic of the warrior with white hair.

The white-haired warrior plucked his shield from the bloodied earth. The shield was engraved with the rune representing the Helm of Terror. A rune that was meant to inspire fear in one's enemies, while protecting its user in battle.

He stepped over bodies and weapons, over countless souls crying out for vengeance. When the warrior stepped over the last body, warm blood still oozing from the gash across the throat, the warrior was greeted by the mouth of an ominous cave. This is was what the men of crimson and bone died for. This is what his kinsmen died for.

The men of crimson and bone claimed this cave served as a gateway to Helheim, the world of the dead, and thus protected it to the very end. They believed their clan was chosen by the gods to protect the entrance to Helheim. A foolish belief. The warrior's clan had their own reason for seizing the gateway for themselves. But the warrior with white hair had his own reason.

There was someone he wanted to see.

The warrior took his first step into the maw of death. Lining the walls were fresh torches, no doubt the men in colors of crimson and bone were expecting a victory party and feast. But Odin blessed the warrior with white hair this day.

He pulled his shield further up his left arm and grabbed a torch from its resting place. The more he traversed the cave the more troubled the warrior became, slowly convincing himself that this wasn't a gateway to Helheim after all.

Then came the carvings.

All along the wall were carvings, as far as he could tell, that retold the story of Hel; daughter of Loki and how she became the ruler of Helheim. The warrior was able to follow the story for a good while, but then the carvings devolved into sporadic nonsense, spelling something sinister and incomprehensible.

The warrior had trouble following the story. It appeared other unknowable beings made contact with Hel, and what followed was incoherent scribbles of madness. He stopped reading the carvings. A sense of dread filled the warrior, something didn't feel right. He had no doubt this was a gateway, but something gnawed at him. Perhaps he would not return from this voyage. But if it meant seeing the person we wished to see, then it would be worth it.

The warrior stumbled upon a dead end. And at this dead end was an effigy of stone. The stone was carved into something abhorrent, something innately evil. He had trouble processing the stone thing, a creature at the cusp of imagination and madness. There were runes carved under the effigy, runes that were perfectly legible:

"DEATHLESS EATER OF WORLDS"

The earth trembled at his feet and suddenly the warrior felt the earth leave him. He plummeted into the infinite darkness below, flailing wildly until a numbness took hold. The torchlight vanished, and the warrior couldn't remember when he lost consciousness.