Prelude to change 2.192

Months passed and the necklace finally regained its strength to travel to Orario in case of emergency. By this time Viggo and Rosewisse had stopped in a forest south of the Lake of the Nine Realms. The place was dark, with dense vegetation and a damp and slippery earth product of the humidity and darkness provided by the trees. Midgar was still cold, but the temperature had not continued to drop even though it was the middle of winter.

Viggo and Rosewisse had not stopped in the middle of the forest because they wanted to but were surrounded by a hundred draugrs who roamed the wastelands. Viggo was able to pull out the gold wand freely, without the worries that someone was spying on him. Here there was free movement, not like in Orario who had to hide his inventions for fear that someone unscrupulous would copy them.

-Ready?- asked Rosewisse, pointing his own silver wand, as he wanted to help with the memory stones experiment, he used a modified wand. With this he already had four in his possession. The one that his grandmother Gondul had given to his mother. The one Kain had made so she wouldn't have to risk her family's heirloom. And finally, the two that Viggo had made so that she had spare wands with the memory stones inserted into the back slot of the wand core.

-Ready- replied Viggo, pointing forward with the golden wand. He and Rosewisse looked into each other's eyes for a moment and nodded. Then they started shooting fireballs through their wands in a kind of competition. Although the wand modified with the memory stone lacked the power of a normal wand, its functionality as the faster emission of magic and the decrease in mana consumption, was undeniable. A contraption that would turn anyone into a level 4 wizard. Complete madness.

However, lacking a power adjustable to the distance, several shots that exceeded fifty meters in length were deflected or fell to the ground due to lack of force. That turned the dark forest into a sea of flames alongside the draugrs. Everything became more dangerous as Viggo and Rosewisse continued to shoot fireballs and tear the draugrs apart without any difficulty.

-Wait a minute- Rosewisse said, noticing that everything was feeling too hot. Viggo stopped shooting fireballs and also took a brief look at the surroundings. Rosewisse let out a sigh, kept the modified wand and kept it inside his soul. Then she summons the wand that Kain had made and point it towards the fire. Then formulate a magic circle on the tip of the wand with the rune of Laguz, like a "1" but with the nose facing the opposite side. Once the magic circle was complete, he released a jet of water that began to put out the fire until the forest was dark again. At the same time, they realized that there were no draugrs left.

Rosewisse stopped the mana supply and the magic circle stopped throwing water. She looked at Viggo with a frown and said -you must control of your magic-

-Excuse me?- asked Viggo with a mocking smile -Who was it that kept shooting fireballs?-

-I realized-

-Well, I was accurate in my attacks. After noticing the failure in range, do not try to attack those who were beyond fifty meters away-

-Conceited- replied Rosewisse.

Viggo raised his shoulders naturally, as if his aim was the best. However, it took several dozen more attempts to realize that the fireball thrown through the wand did not have the necessary power to exceed the distance of fifty meters. He could even assure that, in reality, the fireball reached forty-nine meters and from then on descended until it fell to the ground. However, he would never admit that in front of Rosewisse.

-We'd better move- said Viggo -it was fun to play with the draugrs, but the fire must have attracted attention. We'll be lucky if Thor doesn't find us before we reach Odin's temple, where one of your grandmother's friends must be hiding-

-I understand- said Rosewisse, they didn't want to run so as not to attract attention, but they had worsened their anonymity anyway by conducting this experiment. Although as Viggo said -it was fun to play with the draugrs-

They began to run east, towards the Jotun Mountains and after two hours they stopped under a large rock that protected them from the snowflakes that fell from the cold in the region. Viggo sat on the ground, Rosewisse removed the golden armor from his wings so that his white feathers could be seen. She took off two feathers, frowning each time and then handed them to Viggo. The latter sitting in a lotus position to maximize his concentration, took the feathers and channeled his divine power to his eyes, focused on the sensation of Rosewisse's feathers. However, he felt his vision drawn to four different places that made him feel like a bird flying in a storm and circling without knowing where he was up or down.

Viggo lowered his head and put his hand to his face.

-Are you okay?- asked Rosewisse.

-Yes, a little confused, but fine- replied Viggo. By the confused movement of his clairvoyance, he was nauseated and brought his hand to his mouth, but not vomited. However, this could be considered one of the most uncomfortable experiences, along with that time Rosewisse plunged with him down an abyss in Orario's dungeon. She did not feel nauseated but lost several years of life because of the fright of thinking about falling from such a height.

-Take a break- Rosewisse said.

-No, Rosewisse- said Viggo, take a deep breath and raised his face to look at her -I'm fine, I must get used to it. The sooner you master this, the more useful it will be for us and our future pursuits-

-I understand, but if you feel bad, we stop and look for a place to hide. I don't want to find Thor before I get a clue as to where the rest of the Valkyries are-

-I understand- said Viggo -leave it to me-

Viggo sitting in a lotus position, again concentrated on the sensation of Rosewisse's feathers in his hands. Then he channeled his divine energy into his eyes and his pupils took on a golden glow. Then he directed his clairvoyance towards the mountain of the Jotun because it was the closest place, and his vision flew as if it were the sight of a bird. Viggo saw a path through the mountains sinking between two earthen walls. After a hundred meters the road became wide and divided into two roads.

The path on the left led him to a cave that then ascended a precipice to what appeared to be an ancient crumbling temple. Only the five-meter-high walls remained, but there was no roof, no furniture. There was even a huge sinkhole in the earth that covered the length of the temple and ten meters deep.

On the other hand, the path on the right took you to a cave that went into a mountain to a diamond-shaped stone door in the center that prevented entry. Viggo's vision stopped and opened his eyes.

-We have a problem- he said with a frown -the door is the same one I found in the temple where my teacher and his family lived. Emerald color, robust and with dwarf engravings. However, this is closed with a kind of stone seal with a diamond shape-

Rosewisse took a deep breath, nodded several times, and began to recall what she knew about seals. If his memory did not fail him, he had to engrave a rune on the stone seal for it to break, otherwise it was totally impossible to enter where the seal was.

Viggo stood up and began to look around. He occupied his clairvoyance to look a hundred meters around and found blinders consumed by Seidr magic coming in his direction. All of them wild, bald, with four horns at each corner of the head and golden skin. Some carried swords and shields. Others with huge maces almost as big as them. Some without any weapons and muttering some things in hidden language.

-We have a problem, no, a chance- said Viggo -pull out your wand with the memory stone with the ice spell. That will cause fewer problems than fire-firing-

-I understand- said Rosewisse, stretched out his right hand and made the other wand that Viggo had prepared appear.

-And let you say it- replied Viggo.

Both advanced to meet the blinders consumed by Seidr magic. Those people had been warriors and plunderers in another era, but by using so much seidr magic and seeking to strengthen themselves to survive in such a merciless land, they succumbed to magic and transformed into creatures that now only live to hunt the living and eat their flesh.

Viggo in the distance saw how the heads of the blinders, bald, with four horns and golden skin, appeared. In a dark forest it stood out too much, but they were more than a hundred meters away. So, Rosewisse and Viggo had to get closer. When they all reached the distance of fifty meters, Rosewisse and Viggo pointed their wands while the blinders ran to meet them. It was a group of twenty, with two shamans in the rear, two with battle maces and the rest with swords and shields.

Viggo and Rosewisse funneled mana into the wands and created large fist-sized chunks of ice and laced them against the blinders. Those who went with the battle maces were pierced and destroyed with ease. However, those who were shielded withstood three attacks until their shields broke and the ice hit them, throwing them to the ground.

By then, the blinders had come very close and Rosewisse and Viggo had to back off as they released their ice magics. Some of the blinders left further behind got up with huge wounds and cuts on their bodies. They raised their hands to the sky and somehow their golden skin began to glow as their veins popped out a phosphorescent green color. They recovered in a few seconds, something that was problematic, but since they were the few, it was not so hard for Rosewisse and Viggo.

Half an hour later, Viggo and Rosewisse were breathing heavily, as they had to use more mana than expected. It was the strength of the blinders who had been consumed by the Seidr, they could regenerate and also make their shields more resistant through a runic blessing.

-It was a bad decision- Rosewisse said, sighing wearily -we should have done it the other way around. Occupied the ice against the dragurs and occupied the fire against the blinders-

-Yes, it's true- Viggo replied with a trickle of sweat running down his forehead -but this only increases the number of modifications we must make to wands, memory stones and runic magic-

-Mmmmm- said Rosewisse with emotion -on the one hand, I like it, but on the other hand I find it annoying. It will be better to improve the magic, power, and range-

-With a little inspiration- Viggo said with a knowing smile.

-With a little inspiration- replied Rosewisse, replying with the same smile. Both approached and high-fived, producing applause.

-Ok, that's solved- said Viggo, referring to the reapers -let's see the famous cave. It is about halfway up the mountain of the Jotun, where there are still trees and grass. It's not that terrible-

-Yes, let's take a look, we might find some clues-