First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 581 A Son In Snow

Thrudd looked around at her shadowy surroundings with chills creeping down her back.

Traveling in darkness like this was frightening enough on it's own, but the demonic masks lying in wait around her only added to her anxiety.

At first, she believed them to be mere decorations as she could sense absolutely nothing from them, no breath, no aura, nothing.

But their eyes dispelled this notion.

They were almost soulless, but burning with an emotion she knew all too well.

Loyalty.

For their great leader and maker, Thrudd was almost certain that there was nothing they would not do.

And even if Sif told them not to, she knew that they would kill her if she moved about irrationally.

To calm herself, she finally thought up another topic she had previously been avoiding...

"Nord loves the master!"

"S-Shut up, Camazotz! Who told you to eavesdrop on my conversation, you little imp!?"

"Camazotz is a bat!"

"T-That's not even the... J-Just forget everything that you heard, and don't say a word to him or anyone! And that goes for you too, Zheng!"

The ninja with a golden mask made a 'mouth zipped closed' gesture.

"Besides, none of you are in a place to cast judgments on me! How many of you have had improper thoughts about Abaddon!?"

The inhabitants of the shadows who had been acting with stone-like patience suddenly looked anywhere but at Sif.

"That's what the hell I thought."

Thrudd couldn't believe what she was seeing, or what she had heard.

Her mother had actually fallen in love with their greatest adversary.

And it didn't seem like any run of the mill fleeting infatuation either; like the kinds that deities of sex and beauty were known to produce in droves.

It was as if her mother was genuinely in love.

For Thrudd, who had only seen her mother behave mildly warm at her most passionate, this was a very dramatic change.

It left her with more questions about the dragon god than answers, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on her mace.

"We're here."

Suddenly, the group stopped moving within the 'bubble' of the shadows, and they were stationed somewhere bleak and snowy.

Sif turned to her daughter and smiled reassuringly.

"Aright, this should only take a moment, daughter. Please don't be frightened here and know that no one is going to harm you." Sif said gently.

"D-Do not act as if I am afraid... Just do what you need to."

Sif smirked as she passed the small bat on her head to her daughter.

*Sniff, sniff* "Nord daughter's fear smells just like her mother's!"

"The hell is that supposed to mean!?"

-

Deep within a snow covered forest, a single man could be seen tracking through the ice.

At first glance, he appeared human, and was quite large for one.

Standing at 6'4 in height, he was built like a viking, with warm brown hair tied in a single braid, and a thick beard covering his face.

He was considered to be very handsome by most who saw him; a true testament to his looks as 'physically attractive' aren't the words one typically thinks of when they envision nordic gods.

In addition to his leather armor he wore a bear's pelt across his back, and had the fresh corpse of a deer resting on his shoulders.

The only clue to how it had been killed was the wound directly in the center of it's skull; right between the eyes.

Ullr trecked for miles through the snow with seemingly no complaint.

As a god of snow, he was the most comfortable in this sort of environment, and chose to enjoy the scenery on the way home instead of teleporting there immediately.

However, he began to feel as though maybe he should have.

Because he had a visitor waiting for him when he arrived.

Standing outside of his humble wooden log house was a woman he knew painfully well.

Wearing her usual bright blue dress and a thick white coat, she was doing terribly in this weather.

This was no surprise, as she'd had issue with it ever since he'd known her.

"My Ullr... I always tell you that I wish you would move somewhere warmer. This kind of weather is unflattering for me, you know?"

Ullr showed no visible reaction to seeing his mother at first.

He cooly shook his head as he readjusted the prey on his back and continued walking.

"Even way up here, the news reaches me of what you have become. 'The concubine of The Black Dragon'... I hope you are here to tell me that those tales are unfounded."

"H-Highly!" Sif yelled.

It was hard to tell if her cheeks were red from the cold or embarrassment.

"Then where have you been, mother? Your habit of disappearing brings about inopportune times for the rest of us. Your husband has practically drowned the nine realms in rain and thunder."

Ullr started walking towards a tree and dropped his kill in the snow.

The nordic god removed a shining battle axe from his waist and proceeded to chop down the giant tree in one fell swing- at which point he began carving it up to make firewood.

Sif checked the sky for any sort of prying eyes in the vicinity before she stepped down from the porch and drew closer to her son.

"I... understand the trouble brought by my absence but leaving wasn't exactly my choice... I was kidnapped."

"What?!" Ullr immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at his mother in bewilderment. "Who would dare to kidnap the wife of the thunder god??"

"Abaddon..." she coughed.

"Truly!? Then how are you free!?"

"It's a very... long and complicated story and one that I cannot tell you here. If I am to divulge everything to you, then I need you to go somewhere with me."

Warning signs seemed to be going off in Ullr's mind.

"Surely you jest. What story can you tell me in another location that will not sound the same here?"

"A very long and complicated one that requires a more comfortable surrounding... Please trust me, Ullr."

The nordic god went back to the process of building a fire.

"You ask a great deal from me, mother. This situation is highly unusual and you seem to be acting erratically."

Finally, Sif realized that there was a problem.

Ullr was not only a god of winter, but archery and the hunt as well.

He could build a fire in under thirty seconds.

"Son... What are you doing..?" Sif asked with bated breath.

Ullr temporarily froze before rising to his feet.

With his body out of the way, Sif could now see the way he'd arranged the sticks being used as firewood.

They were in the symbol of three interlocking triangles pointing upward; a valknut.

The divine symbol of Odin.

Sif was horrified. "H-How could you-"

"CAW!"

With tears in her eyes, Sif looked up to see two crows circling overhead.

A storm of black feathers blew past her vision and from them a familiar old man appeared within the woods.

Draped in a black robe woven with golden symbols, he wore a cloak made from the feathers of numerous large black birds.

Apparently, resurrection had done the all-father well.

He looked healthier and younger than he had in centuries, with long black hair running down his back and a short beard with splashes of his former gray.

His staff that he normally carried that was actually gungnir in disguise was missing; replaced with a substitute he'd forced some dwarves to make on short notice.

The only thing that was unchanged was his missing eye that was covered in his usual golden eyepatch.

"Well... I am grateful I heeded the summoning. I should have known that you would not call me for something insignificant, Ullr."

"Hmph." Was all Ullr had to say in response.

This was to be expected.

Ullr and Odin famously disliked each other, hence the reason why Sif never thought for a second that her son would betray her to him.

However, she forgot what was possibly the most important aspect of her son's identity.

Ullr was also a god of Nordic justice.

And justice, like snow, is unfortunately sometimes cold and harsh.

"She claims to have been kidnaped by the Black Dragon... She came here seeking to take me to another location with her." Ullr moved beside Odin in front of a trembling Sif.

"Oh..? I wonder where that might be." Odin said calmly. "Perhaps you have a way to reach the lands of our enemy..? I'd appreciate if you would share the information with the rest of the class."

Sif kept backing away until she eventually ran into another hard surface.

Unexpectedly, she had backed right into Uriel, who had appeared silently without her knowledge.

Not just her, but Michael had shown up to this venue as well.

"Do not make this difficult, Sif. This will go best for you if you comply with everything that we ask of you. You needn't get hurt."

"Please listen, mother." Ullr urged."If you have truly done nothing wrong, then there need not be retribution. Forgiveness will be swift."

Sif all but scoffed out loud.

Only two kinds of fates awaited enemies of the norse; death or slavery.

And given Lillian's vision, she didn't have to guess which she would be in for.

They were saying that they wouldn't harm her now, but one look at Odin was all that Sif needed to remember that they weren't the ones with power in these lands.

Nevertheless, Sif atleast tried to profess her innocence.

"I implore you all to hear me.I have betrayed no one and sworn no oaths to Abaddon. My sole interest is in-"

*Rumble*

Sif's blood ran cold when she heard a very familiar sound come from overhead.

A bolt of blue lightning struck the ground behind Odin, and an auburn-haired jotunn emerged from it's sparks.

Thor's eyes were puffy and red, his body coursing with lightning, and the air around him stinking of alcohol.

"Ah... There is my bride. I believe we're long overdue for a chat, aren't we? Our home life could use some mending."

All of the deities in the clearing could hear Sif's heartbeat thudding out of control, but only a select few individuals could hear her thoughts.

'Zheng... When I give the signal, please come to my aid... and no matter what, do not let my daughter out.'