"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."
Erik
37
Theflames do little to combat this cursed cold, but I keep my hands extended, watching shadows dance across my palms. Even through layers of fur and leather, the chill seeps into my bones. It is a different kind of cold from the desert nights I once knew, more... permanent somehow.
