Midgar and the Temple of Tyr 2.275

After passing through the great portal that ended the bridge of the temple of Tyr and initiated the curse land of Niflheim, Rosewisse threw herself into the heavens and flew over the labyrinth ahead. Viggo stayed on what appeared to be the top of a hill. The greenish mist was thick, and he could barely see what was beneath his feet. On the other hand, beyond this point the earth continued to descend until it entered a labyrinth with great walls.

Five meters ahead of Viggo was a totem pole with the face of a bald, bearded old man, most likely in the image and likeness of Ivaldi himself or his son. Under the dwarf's face was a flat section where was written a warning for anyone who wanted to enter these lands.

Viggo stood, folded his arms, and looked up at the sky to watch the beautiful Valkyrie in her golden armor soar through the skies with her huge wings.

From here Viggo could not see what was at the level of the floor of the labyrinth, but he could see that, in the distance, what seemed to be the center, there were three huge statues twenty meters high each. They were strange statues to put it simply, since the upper torso was like that of an old man with a hunched back holding a kind of lantern, but from the waist down he had no feet, instead there were four tentacles that supported him. The three statues had the same construction and from the lamp of the three, the deadly fog emerged.

Rosewisse was in a bad mood, she was someone relatively easy to disturb, but the previous attitude was due to fog. Brok, the blue-skinned dwarf had warned them. The fog of Niflheim was deadly, because if you could tolerate the effects of the fog, you became an irrational animal or else you died. In addition, he pointed out that the labyrinth had all kinds of traps and creatures, these more dangerous than any in any other kingdom, since the fog made them volatile and powerful.

Quickly the Valkyrie Rosewisse returned to where Viggo was and descended, but immediately put her hands to her face and walked dizzy until Viggo caught her.

—I, I feel bad— Rosewisse said, hugging Viggo. The latter took her to the side of the road, stroked her back between her wings and she vomited. It wasn't like Rosewisse was pregnant or anything like that. It was simply one of the effects caused by fog in people, the softest thanks to a protective amulet that Brok provided.

—Ok— Rosewisse said in a tired voice once she finished vomiting. Viggo moved her away from the slope gaining height, where the fog was not so thick, and you could see what was on the ground. Everywhere grew a red undergrowth with star-shaped leaves. It was everywhere, either on the walls, between the stones and the floor.

Viggo helped Rosewisse into space under the huge portal that marked the beginning of the cursed land, and she sat on the ground while he put behind her, between her wings, and functioned as a backup. Thanks to her wings, Rosewisse could not stand on any surface, or she would crush her wings.

—Do you have any estus? I feel horrible— Rosewisse said in a tired voice.

—Yes, I have the last bottle estus— replied Viggo —just a little, ok? We can't run out of them—

—Yes, whatever you say, but be nice and give me the damn bottle, please—

—You have it, do you remember?—

—Damn, where's my damn head?— asked Rosewisse, putting her hand to her face for a moment. Then she takes her hands to the bag that was tied to her waist and pass it to Viggo —look for it, at the moment my head is a mess—

—Sure— Viggo replied and took the bag. A few seconds later he takes out the bottle, open it and pass it to her.

Rosewisse looked at the emerald bottle of estus as if it were her salvation. She took it with both hands as if it were the most precious thing and gave it a long sip.

—This is great— Rosewisse replied, breathing a sigh of relief —Viggo, we need to make more estus, we need to have a cellar full of wooden vats with estus—

—Yes, I know, Rosewisse— replied Viggo —Do you feel better?—

—A hundred times better, holy heaven, what the fuck does this damn air have?— asked Rosewisse annoyed, but now that she was better, she realized her attitude and murmured —I had never cursed so much—

Viggo chuckled, Rosewisse passed him the bottle of estus, and he put it away. Then he helped Rosewisse to her feet and they both stared into each other's eyes. Viggo put his hand to her face, looked at her skin, eyes and dark circles. She had the appearance of someone waking up after a hangover. Viggo chuckled, and Rosewisse patted him on the chest.

—What are you laughing at, damn?— asked Rosewisse half-jokingly.

—You have a bad hangover— Viggo replied.

—Well, I feel like I have one—

—Tell me— said Viggo, becoming serious —Did you see anything important?—

—Well, apart from those strange creatures and the workshop in the center of the labyrinth on what appears to be a hill, nothing more. The labyrinth stretches for miles, shaped like a diamond and several wide square spaces, as if it were a meeting place or something—

—I see, Ivaldi was playing with strange forces that frightened Odin. From this force were born the armor, weapons, and the gauntlet—

Rosewisse smiled slyly and asked —You really want the gauntlet, don't you?—

—Yes, I can't lie to you— Viggo replied seriously —but I don't intend to occupy it unless necessary. If the gauntlet is all that Odin describes, I don't understand why I don't let Ivaldi finish it and then take it off, it's strange—

—True, very strange— Rosewisse replied, losing her smile. If anything could scare the AllFather it wasn't a joke —let's go back to the workshop, in the center of the labyrinth?—

—Yes, go ahead— replied Viggo.

Rosewisse walked up to stand behind him and hugged him, but noticing that Viggo's back covered her range of vision, she frowned and said —holy heaven, you are too big and obstruct my vision—

—Don't be a crybaby— said Viggo —you already said that, it's at the beginning, isn't it?—

—Yes, but the principle is important. If I make a bad jump and collide with something it will be dangerous—

—Well, that would be bad— replied Viggo —I'm sorry, but you'll have to put up with it until we develop another mode of travel—

—Whatever, here we go— Rosewisse replied in a casual tone of voice. She took a huge leap, soared and flapping her wings to gradually gain height. She quickly reached twenty meters above the fog level and flew towards the center of the maze. On the other hand, Viggo from this height could see down and make a mental map of the labyrinth. However, as they progressed, he notices certain igneous glows and bestial roars; Draugrs, he thought.

—Well— Viggo muttered —people must have lived in this place before Ivaldi filled this whole region with fog—

Rosewisse quickly reached the center of the labyrinth where rose a hill two hundred meters in diameter surrounded by huge walls, closed with a powerful fence in front and with a space of fifty meters in diameter at its top. Apparently, the deadly fog did not reach the top of the hill, which made it a safer place, even than the same bridge of the temple of Tyr where the deadly fog covered the ground.

Rosewisse descended several meters to reach five meters in height and release Viggo as they always did. Viggo fell on soft ground covered with grass and undergrowth with red star-shaped leaves. Rosewisse descended a couple of meters further and stared at the place. It was empty, it was just a flat earth with a round shape and totems with the shape of dwarves on the edges. However, in the center of the space were dimensional cracks like fist-sized dots that moved like water that wants to expand but can't.

—Viggo— said Rosewisse, looking at the cracks in the center, levitating at the height of one meter.

—Don't touch them— Viggo replied in a serious tone of voice —once I found one and several draugrs and witches seidr came out. If Ivaldi was such a good blacksmith and mastered magic, there must be great prizes inside the cracks, but equal level of dangers—

—I understand—

—Look at the outer walls, they are so thick that there may be some passage, be careful—

Rosewisse looked at Viggo and nodded. She walked to the right, Viggo to the left.

As she approached the wall, Rosewisse got a closer look at a huge dwarf totem. This totem was shaped like an old beard man with a cane in his right hand and his left hand on his chest.

Rosewisse closely examined the totem pole and circled it but could not pass behind it as the space between the totem and the wall was reduced. She went back to the front of the statue and stared at it. Her sight traveled from the old man's face, down what appeared to be the clothes to the base, and she saw a metal base. It had a metal ring, so Rosewisse bent down and pulled it. A kind of drawer was opened with a pile of metal nuggets of what appeared to be a greenish metal. Rosewisse stretched out her hand to touch it but saw that these metal nuggets emitted a green mist, like the one that was all over Niflheim. Rosewisse put her hand away, raised her face and looked at the statue. She was going to call Viggo, but the latter called her first.

Rosewisse stood up, looked down at the bottom of the ground. Viggo was standing in front of a rock wall, under a sculpture with the face of an old man. Rosewisse looked at the totem next to her, the box with green metallic nuggets, she wanted to take them, but gave up and walked to where Viggo was. She passed very close to one of the fist-sized dimensional cracks. They looked like small spheres of dark water that were looking to expand. The fact that there might be great treasures inside caught her attention, but Viggo's words of warning were a great deterrent. She was fine, but she had been vomiting, so she thought she was at fifty percent capacity. Simply put, very bad for challenging combat.

Rosewisse came before Viggo and looked at what was on the wall. A door carved from solid rock.

—Prepare your wand— said Viggo, Rosewisse stepped back and Viggo brought his hands to the crevices on his right side. Viggo made force and the rock released a rub, moved little by little until Viggo began to place more force in his hands, released a scream and tore off the door in a single pull generating a dust.

Rosewisse pointed with her silver wand, ready to burn everything that could come out of the opening, but nothing happened. The dust dissipated and Viggo approached the opening. Rosewisse also walked over and looked down the right edge. There was a corridor two meters high by two meters wide with several lintels on the sides that led to bedrooms. At the end you could see some stairs, but also everything went dark.

Viggo was going to take a step into the corridor, he had to bend down a little, but he stopped when he heard a terrible bestial roar —draugrs— murmured. He looked at Rosewisse, she nodded, and Viggo responded in kind.