Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"So, you're The Lady's new Champion." The being said with a strong, yet decisively feminine voice.

Drew stood there watching the Valkyrie for a moment. Armored up badass woman, spear and shield, works around a lot of death. Yeah, it was definitely a Valkyrie from the old Norse mythologies. But why would one be here... oh.

"I take it you're the 'courier'?" Drew asked with a smile.

"Yes. It's not my normal job, but The Lady asked, and I had the week off anyway."

Drew walked to meet with the divine messenger.

"Ah. Well, I'm sorry you had to come all the way out here on your time off."

"Don't be, it's rare to visit newly integrated worlds, especially one that has a Champion from The Baleful Lady."

The being took in her surroundings. The ice, the corpses, and gathered crowd.

"It seems there was a great battle here today. It is auspicious that you managed to survive, despite your low level and the lack of strength I feel from your group." She said with an appraising eye.

"Many didn't survive." Drew said with a sigh.

"Yes, I see that. Is there a reason why you have yet to fulfill your duty to help the lingering souls move on?" She said loudly enough that the group behind him could hear her words.

"I was injured, and I just woke up recently. Many of the families here... their religious beliefs, or their personal reasons have held me back from interacting with their fallen kin. I raised several as soulflames, but there's one that still lingers... I haven't had time to..."

"I see. It is your duty to help these lingering souls move on, both as The Lady's Champion, and as her Warden. I suggest you quickly comprehend your new profession's skills, before the souls turn violent, and slaughter the innocent lives here." She said.

He couldn't see past her masked helmet, but he felt like she had narrowed her eyes at him, and everyone else present.

"Come, I will teach you the Rites of Passage, and show you how to help the dead move on."

She led Drew to the elderly man that had passed, the one who had no family to claim him. The group of people followed closely behind him, clearly mystified by the being in front of him. Some were crying, others held their hands together in prayer, but most stared at the Valkyrie with wide eyes. To many of them, given their age, and where they grew up, they likely thought she was an Angel sent by God. She was... in a way, but he wasn't going to get into a religious debate with people. What they chose to believe was their own choice, and he had no desire to try and change that. He was never truly religious, even before The Descent, and even though he'd met a living goddess, he still wouldn't claim to be religious in nature.

The Lady deserved respect, sure. She was powerful beyond belief, and she went out of her way to help others, despite the cost to herself. That was worthy of praise. Even though he knew gods were real now, he didn't feel the need or desire to actively worship them. But to the people standing behind him, he could see worship in many of their eyes.

She stood before the body of the dead man.

"The Rites of Passage can be performed on an individual basis, however due to so many dying in such a short time frame, I recommend using this..."

Then she pulled an object from her inventory. It was rectangle, made of the same blackened and gray wood as Amber's bow...crap, he'd forgotten to give her the new bow! The rectangle was held on a silver metal chain, and the wood of the swaying box also had metal accents and edges. It looked a bit like an old school lan...

"Take this, it is your new lantern. With it, you will collect the souls of the dead who don't immediately pass on." She held it out to him.

He took the lantern; it had a surprising amount of weight for something so small. It was slightly longer than a foot, but not by much, and only six or eight inches in width.

"Now, your profession will have a skill called harvest souls, activate it and use the Baleful Lantern to guide the lost soul to it."

[Harvest Souls (Unique)]
Guide the lost and damned souls of the lingering dead to your Baleful Lantern. The lantern acts as a beacon to all nearby souls in the immediate vicinity, and will collect them to hold in safe storage until The Rites of Passage can be performed.

He activated the skill and saw a blue ball of light gently sprout out of the body and glide into the lantern. When it reached the lantern, the rectangle burst into a azure flame. He lifted his lantern and peered inside. A small blue flame sat in the middle of the wooden box, suspended midair, while a single, tiny blue ball of energy peacefully rotated around the tiny blaze of fire.

"Good. Let's move on to the next. Quickly." The Valkyrie said.

They made their way to the other areas where the dead bodies were laid upon the ground, light blankets covering their features. Drew gathered more souls as he went, with his winged co-worker following by his side. More and more people gathered, drawn to the already sizable group, interested in the happenings of the situation. People whispered and filled in the others as they joined, following behind like a small parade of awe and mourning. The light of the sky had returned to normal shortly after the armored figure had landed, by then it was starting to approach sunset.

They approached the last couple of covered bodies and Drew saw a familiar group of six people standing nearby and crying. Three adults, and three children. As they approached the group, the man looked up to see the approaching people, but his eyes settled upon Drew, and the winged figure next to him. His eyes widened upon seeing the figure that appeared to be an Angel, and went to open his mouth, but before he could say anything his female companion voiced her thoughts first.

"I already told ya! We don't want nothin' to do with your weird freaking religion crap! Stay away from them and leave us in peace!" She yelled.

Her face was stained with tears that flowed from bloodshot eyes. She was shaking, angry beyond belief and directing all of her emotions towards Drew.

"Fools! You damn your loved one's souls by preventing this man from his duty!" The Valkyrie said to them. She was pissed.

"FUCK YOU!" The lady cried out.

*SQUEELLCH!*

Drew heard and saw it before anyone else did. His attention was pulled to it, like a moth to a flame. Two translucent taloned hands pierced up through the dead man's ribs, and pulled them apart like they were made of paper. A barely visible figure of a man floated upwards from the desecrated body, before looking towards the screaming woman. His head cocked slightly to the side, before grimacing. His Jaw unhinged, and his lips pulled back from his teeth, his eyes turned red as...

"EEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIE!"

Its jaw pulled further apart, like a snake about to swallow a rat, a taloned hand shot forth, and ripped out the lady's throat as she continued trying to scream obscenities towards the Valkyrie. Meat and blood flew out from the body, as the apparition's other hand tore down through the woman's back.

"Shit!" The winged woman said.

His armored companion shot forward at the speed of a bullet, her wings flapping once pushed her with such force that the ground cracked where her feet had once been standing. The man's face was splattered in blood, as he turned to see the dead woman start to fall to the ground, and behind her, his dead brother's damned soul reaching forward to the closest child standing nearby. The man's eyes widened at the sight of his dead brother, the sight of his now, very much dead sister-in-law, and his soon to be, extremely dead niece.

A glowing silver spear pierced the phantom's chest, right below the sternum, as the armored woman then lifted the apparition, with her spear and slammed it and the translucent creature onto the ground nearby.

"EEEEEEIIIIEEEEEEEE!" It howled.

The winged figure tore the spear from its body and shredded several half visible pieces that composed its form. With one boot upon its stomach, she punched down with the spear into the phantom's head, thereby ending its unlife. The body of the creature burst into an azure flame, and the entire thing went up in barely visible smoke. Could Drew have reacted in time to save that woman? No, definitely not, but he might have made it to the creature before it killed the child. Thankfully, The Baleful Lady's courier had already been there and killing the thing by the time he was halfway there.

"This! This is why you perform The Rites of Passage! Now a woman is dead, and an innocent child almost joined her!" The winged woman said very loudly.

Drew stepped forward with his Baleful lantern and used his skill, he pulled the soul of the other dead man, and the now dead woman into it. He lowered it to the side and looked at the man who had now lost his sister-in-law. He had wide eyes, half his face was covered in blood, and he kept looking at the dead woman, his dead brother, and his still living niece, then back to Drew and the Valkyrie.

"Come." She said to Drew.

He followed next to her. The group that had been following him was shaken to the core and they parted like the Red Sea to allow the two people passage past their ranks.

"Is it always like that?" Drew asked quietly.

"A Specter forming so quickly after death? No. It's a rare thing. But it does happen. You must remain vigilant in your duty for this reason. Souls deserve their proper rest, and some can become agitated far more quickly than others. Sorrow, anger and grief transform them into what you saw. A Specter. Nasty things."

"I see. Is it similar to a banshee?"

She turned her head to him as they continued to walk.

"Yes. Have you dealt with one of those already?"

"No. They're well known in our myths and legends, much like you are."

"I am well known? Doubtful."

"Well, I don't know about you specifically, but your people are. Some people will view you as an Angel, others, like myself will view you as a Valkyrie."

"Interesting. I am a Valkyrie. I assume the Records of my people bled through to this world. What do you know of my people?"

"Only what the stories tell us. You're warrior women, you descend from the sky to collect and claim the souls of the brave who died fighting. In the stories, you take the souls of the brave to a place called Valhalla, where they drink, fight, and make merry under a Norse god's rulership."

"Fascinating. My people are employed by multiple gods, but Valhalla and its god are very much real. It's one of the more famous places in the multiverse. I, and many others like me do a similar service for The Baleful Lady. Although, at times we also perform other tasks as well."

"Like bringing me my lantern?" He said with a smile.

She chuckled.

"Yes, like that. I have more equipment for you, but that can wait until we perform The Rites of Passage."

"I see. Oh, I never asked for your name, I'm sorry. My name is Drew Wright."

"Well met Drew Wright, I am Sindra Geirskogul." She clasped his arm in greeting.

They soon stood within a small clearing on the property. She slammed the blunt end of her spear upon the ground, and gray stone grew from the earth in a twenty-foot diameter around them. The stone created a circular dais, and in the center a small pedestal rose from the stone. Attached to the pedestal was a two-foot curved branch with a hook upon its end.

"Attach The Baleful Lantern to the post using the chain."

Drew did as instructed. The group had finally caught up with them, and were eyeing the new construction, and watching Sindra with great admiration.

"You have a skill for this, The Rites of Passage. Activate it."

[The Rites of Passage (Unique)]
Perform the rites to help lost and damned souls transition from life into death.

Drew activated the skill and felt both hands stretch out to lay upon each other, held in place above the lantern. His mouth opened and he spoke the Rites,

"Lo, there do you see your kin
Lo, there do they call to you
Lo, there do they bid you welcome
Lo, there The Baleful Lady beckons
Join her, join them
For you may choose duty, another chance,
Or paradise and peace
Within The Halls of Reflection"

A silver column of light shot forth from the pedestal, climbing far into the sky, until the top pierced the clouds and illuminated the darkened sky of sunset. The blue floating balls of energy, the souls, poured from the lantern, and slowly began their ascent in the pillar of light that led to the heavens. As the wisps of azure light hit the pillar, figures formed from the souls, translucent bodies of the deceased.

A man in a flannel shirt and jeans, overweight, and with a cowboy hat upon his head. A woman, with medium length curly hair, the same woman whose throat was just ripped out. Another man, in joggers and a zip up sweatshirt. A young man, just in his prime with a ninja turtles t-shirt on his chest, and shorts on his hips. Many figures appeared. The crowd of people behind Drew erupted in voices.

"Jacob! I love you!"

"Melissa, I'm so sorry!"

"Billy, wait for me sweetie!"

"Bubba, come back to me!"

"Brandy, I'll take care of little Miles!"

"I love you, Darrell!"

The people behind him shouted to their loved ones, begging for closure, for love from the departing souls. The spirits turned silently towards the gathered group, and smiled at them, waved their translucent hands. Their lips wordlessly said 'I love you too' as their spiritual bodies lifted well into the sky.

Eventually the voices quieted down as the pillar of light evaporated. The sun departed the horizon, and the darkness of night finally descended upon the Earth. Sindra turned to Drew and place her gauntleted hand upon his shoulder.

"You gave these people closure. You gave them a chance to truly say goodbye to their loved ones. You did your duty, and I'm proud of you, Drew Wright." She said warmly.

He nodded his head and turned to her, wiping the tears from his glowing blue and red eyes.

"I feel...good. Sad... very sad... but... good."

"You're a good man. Now, come, let us leave these people. It's time that I hand over your new equipment."

He nodded his head.