CH54: Lord Fenrir  

***

CH54: Lord Fenrir

"What are you doing?" Anastasia asked when I suddenly opened the cell door.

"Something is calling to me." I replied.

I didn't want to answer anymore questions so I quickly walked into the cell.

Inside the cell was a small snow-white wolf cub bound on its limbs by chains which pierced cruelly into its skin. Its fur had been dyed red by blood.

It glared menacingly at us with its rage-filled red eyes as warning growls left its throat.

Suddenly, new information appeared in my head.

Like with Lord Jormungandr, I received the life story of the Spirit known as Fenrir, the Wolf of Destruction.

***

Lord Fenrir had a special trait. His abilities and size doubled at a set interval without him having to do anything.

Due to this, there were very few worlds in the Norse corridor which were strong enough and had enough energy to withstand his presence after some time. He was forced to live on the Principal world of the Corridor, Asgard.

Unfortunately, Asgard was home to mostly humanoid Spirits . Beast-type Spirits were rare and more often than not, shunned.

Lord Fenrir tried to fit in with the Spirits there, but the despised him, either for his growing size which eventually towered over them or for his power which would eventually surpass theirs.

So, they conspired against him.

They planned to lay a trap for him, however, the trap they came up with wasn't one they could force him into. He had to enter the trap himself.

And so, these Spirits tricked a naive young Spirit to befriend Fenrir.

Oblivious to the plotters' intents, this naive, free-natured Spirit approached Fenrir, who only wanted a friend and someone to talk to, and befriended him.

Due to the young Spirit's nature, he was able to overlook Fenrir's beastly nature as well as aggressive power and find the kind soul within. The two soon became friends.

The plotting Spirits saw the first part of the plan was a success and so approached the young Spirit.

They told the young naive Spirit they too would become friends with Fenrir, however, only if he could prove his strength worthy enough to stand amongst them.

The young Spirit was elated. He thought the plotting Spirits really wanted to befriend Fenrir. Knowing his friend was powerful, he thought people would be able to looked beyond his beast form once they come to respect his strength.

After all, Asgard was supposed to be a world where strength was respected.

He naively agreed to the test the plotting Spirits set for Fenrir.

Fenrir was to be bound by the chains made from the most resilient metal known in Asgard. Fenrir would win as long as he could break free.

Fenrir was apprehensive about it at first, but his friend assured him that the plotting Spirit promised to release him if he ever lost. Plus, it wouldn't matter since he believed Fenrir would break free.

And so, Fenrir allowed himself to be chained down from head to toe on both sides till he couldn't move. Then, he was asked to break free.

The mighty Spirit struggled but couldn't break free.

He heard the Spirits jeer at him, whispering to themselves how he could never break free from the bindings. However, his friend continued to believe in him and cheered him on.

Eventually, the struggle tapped into Fenrir's potential and his power doubled again, granting him the physical strength needed to break his bounds.

The young naive Spirit cheered with Fenrir, thinking his friend would finally be accepted into the Asgardian society, however, the plotters claimed the were not convinced.

They claimed the previous bounds were merely a test because they weren't sure Fenrir was any bit strong. They said they now knew he had some measure of strength so they would bring out the real test.

Unbeknownst to Fenrir and the young Spirit, one of the plotters ran to Svartalfhelm and commission the Dwarves to forge an unbreakable chain.

Being master metalsmiths that Dwarves were, they completed the commission after some time.

Thus, once again, Fenrir was to be bound.

This time, however, Fenrir didn't want to play the plotters games anymore since he could sense their disdain for him. He felt he didn't need such people as friends, that he was happy with the true friend that he had.

However, his friend was worried about him. He didn't want Fenrir to be ostracised as a coward. He convinced Fenrir to take the test, expecting him to break free like he did before. Plus, he would be released even if he failed so there was no harm.

Fenrir eventually agreed, but he put forth a condition. One of the Asgardian Spirits had to put their hand in his mouth. If they didn't release him as promised, he would bite off the person's hand as a constant reminded that the person was a traitor... an Oath-breaker

Obviously knowing this was a plot, none of the Spirits wanted to step forward. They claimed they didn't trust that Fenrir wouldn't bite their hands off anyway. After all, he was a wolf.

Seeing the lack of trust on both sides, the young Spirit agreed to do it. He trusted Fenrir wouldn't bite him. At the same time, he believed the plotters would release Fenrir as they promised.

And so, the stage was set again.

Fenrir struggled and struggled.

No matter what he did, he couldn't break free of the Dwarven-craft. The time interval even came and his power as well as size grew, but he was still bound by the chains. Seeing that his last dependence had failed, the wolf Spirit surrendered and admitted his loss.

The young Spirit comforted him, telling him that he could grow his strengths and try again later. That he'd help him get stronger.

Fenrir was comforted by this and let the loss go.

However, when the two of them asked for the chains to be released, the plotters told them they couldn't.

They finally revealed that they never intended to released Fenrir from his bounds from the onset.

They couldn't allow a mere 'dog' to continued growing to tower about them, the mighty Asgardian Spirits, and eventually surpass them in strength. So, they were going to chain Fenrir down like the 'dog' he was.

No matter the young Spirit's plea, everyone turned a deaf ear to him.

Consumed by grief, he asked Fenrir to bite down and take his hand for he was the one who caused this betrayal.

Fenrir refused saying he wasn't at fault, however, the young Spirit was adamant about it. He said it was his naivety which put Fenrir in this position. He hoped to atone somehow.

He gave Fenrir an ultimatum. Bite down and take his hand, making him live a life of an oath-breaker or watch him kill himself in that instant.

Fenrir didn't know what to do. He eventually caved in and bit down. He took his friend's hand, forever condemning him to the shameful life of an oath-breaker.

The young Spirit walked away in shame.

This was the last time Fenrir ever saw his friend again.

Why?

Because the plotters weren't done.

They spread the tales of Fenrir's 'wickedness'. Describing how he cruelly took the hand of the only friend he had. They claimed he was a beast inside as he was outside. It was only right they chained him down before he started biting everyone like the rabid dog he was.

These words reached the young Spirit's ears and he was incensed.

Not only did they plot against his friend, they also used his predicament to insult and slander him.

He couldn't stand for it and challenged the ringleader of the plotters to a duel.

The young Spirit was strong. He was amongst the strongest in Asgard. However, this was before when he had both his hands.

He was a pinnacle swordsman and his weapon of choice was a Greatsword, which explained his straight forward personality.

Unfortunately for him, his greatsword was difficult to wield with a single hand and his combat strength was effectively cut by half... if not more.

The duel ended without suspense.

The young Spirit lost.

However, something else happened which caught the Spirits off-guard.

The duel was supposed to end with a loss or win, however, the leader of the plotters didn't stop there. He directly beheaded the young Spirit in a sneak attack after he conceded defeat and let go of his weapon.

What the young Spirit didn't know was that the plotters' ringleader wasn't only afraid of Fenrir's growth trait, he was also envious of the young Spirit who was both strong and loved by everyone.

He feared the two people would usurp his position which was why he came up with a plan to get rid of them both.

While the other Spirit disdained what he did, no one stood out to challenge him. After all, the young Spirit was dead and the ringleader was the strongest Spirit around.

They didn't see the point of standing up against the strongest Spirit in Asgard for a dead man.

Unfortunately for them, this put them on the crosshairs of doom.

The events reached the ears of Fenrir.

Consumed by guilt, hate and rage, Fenrir swore an oath to kill every Spirit who plotted against him. He also made a vow to kill everyone who stood in his way. In one night, the originally snow white-furred wolf turned into an abyssal black-furred demonic wolf.

At this point, even under captivity, Fenrir's body had grown so powerful that the Asgardian Spirits couldn't deal a deathblow to him anymore. So, they resigned to leave him in captivity forever.

Unknown to them, Fenrir had discovered the source of the chains power and the reason they bound him.

The chains would regenerate and become stronger as long as the sun and moon rose and set.

So, Fenrir hatched a plan under the noses of the Asgardian Spirit to destroy the sun and moon and free himself from his captivity.

He split his soul into two unequal halves with his {Duplicity} trait... a very painful process, and kept the smaller half outside his body. He secretly nurtured the external half for years until it was strong enough to once again be split.

He used his {Duplicity} trait to split the external soul into two equal halves.

A long time passed and these souls grew into the Spirit wolves known as Skoll and Hati.

Once done, Fenrir gave the two new-born Spirits their lifelong mission before falling into a deep slumber to preserve his strength for the day he would rain his terror upon the world.

Skoll chased after the sun while Hati chased after the moon. Their job was to destroy both entities.

Like their progenitor, the two Spirit wolves also had the {Duplicity} trait and grew as time passed. From being unable to even follow the two stellar bodies, they soon grew strong enough to begin chasing them.

What started as a never-ending losing race soon became one where they began catching up. Eventually, the two Spirit wolves caught up to their target.

However, when they were about to deliver the destroying blow, Lady Sigyn of the House of Loki arrived just in time to plead with them, for the sun and the moon affected all life on Asgard and not just the Spirits who plotted against Fenrir.

So, a compromise was reached.

For that day, the sun and moon didn't shine their light in Asgard.

This caused the strength of the chains binding Fenrir to reset. This allowed Loki who had just arrived back on Asgard to release his son from his bindings.

Although enraged by the Asgardian Spirits' actions, Loki decided not to interfere in his son's revenge after freeing him.

True to his words, Fenrir brought a reign of Terror on the Asgardian Spirits . He killed everyone who had a part to play in the entire ordeal.

However, he didn't stop there.

He destroyed everything down to the roots. He killed everyone related to these Spirits ... this included their family, their patrons and their worlds.

Fenrir destroyed everything!

At some point, he became able to breathe flames reminiscent to those of Muspelheim, the realm of flames, fire and destruction.

This earned Fenrir the moniker, the Wolf of Destruction.

He became a terror to all.

Only after killing and destroying everything related to his torment and his friend's death did Fenrir finally calm down.

However, he was empty.

He had lost the only true friend he ever had and, possibly, could ever have.

This is the true face of the Wolf of Destruction.

***

After going through the information in my head, I knew what I had to do. The Interface appeared in my head to confirm my suspicions.

**

[Notice: The Test for the Blessing {Destroyer} has begun.]

[Requirements: Befriend the wolf before your eyes.]

[Rewards: Depends on the strength of Bond formed.]

[Notice: Lord Fenrir is watching.]

**

'As expected.' I thought.

Although this wolf is just a cub, it and its situation looked similar to what Lord Fenrir experienced in the knowledge sent to me.

In that case, the question now is, how am I going to befriend an entity who has been schemed against, betrayed and lost its only ever friend.

I was about to walk up to it when Anastasia pulled me out of the cell by my hand.

"What are you doing? Can't you see the hatred in this beast's eyes?"

"Can you blame it? Look at it. It's just a young cub yet it's been subjected to such cruelty."

"I can see that. But what can you do now?"

"What else? I'm going to free it."

"What?! Absolutely not!"

"Then what? Should we leave it here like this? I can tell from its eyes, this cub has the heart of a survivor. Even if we leave it, it will not die. It will find a way to survive. And when it does, humanity will suffer its wrath."

"In that case, why are you freeing it?"

"That's why I'm freeing it."

Anna looked at me confused.

"The best way to diffuse this threat is to show it the good side of humanity and hope it cancels the cruelty it has seen." I explained. "That or we kill it. That will make us no different from the evil people who put it here. So, do you suggest we kill it?"

I must say, sometimes my ability to bullsh*t surprises even myself.

I weaved my words in a way to guilt trip Anastasia.

While I didn't know Anastasia that well, I knew Annabelle. Even if they were two different people, Anastasia has shared Annabelle's memories. I could see some similarities between them which caused me to believe some of Annabelle's mannerisms and thoughts had rubbed off on Anastasia.

So, I knew my words would reach her.

She wouldn't want to kill the cub, even knowing it might grow up to become a dangerous beast.

She would at least want to save it.

"You're right. We can't kill it." She said, expectedly. But then she added something I didn't see coming. "But we can't release it either. You have to make it your pet."

"Make it my pet?"

Although that was my intention from the beginning, I continued my act and acted surprise.

"Yes. You have to make it your pet. That's the only way we can be sure we won't create a latent threat for humanity." She said seriously.

I don't know why, I had this nagging urge to tease her, seeing how serious she was being.

"Make it my pet? Aren't you thinking too highly of me? Do you think it will want to be my pet considering what our fellow humans have put it through."

"I believe you can do it." She said confidently.

"You think too highly of me, milady."

Anastasia suddenly looked like she had something to say but she was hesitant to.

"What's on your mind?" I asked.

"Remember what I said about my Pangea?"

"Yes. It gives you information on anything you want within your sight."

"There's something I didn't tell you." She said with some hesitation. "I tried to pry into your information when we met, but I didn't see anything."

"I'm guessing that has never happened before."

"Never."

"The only thing I can think that makes me different from everything else is that I'm mana-inept. The information you read must come from the mana the entity exudes. Since I don't exude mana, that must be why you can't read my information." I guessed.

"It's possible. But it can also be something else." She muttered.

Then, I realised something.

"You didn't tell me this before. So, why are you telling me now?"

"Remember how you said it felt like something was calling to you."

"Yes..."

"I think I know why..." She looked at me. "Like you, I can't read this wolf's information. I believe this wolf shares with you, whatever reason why I can't read your information as well. In that case, you two are kin. That's why, I believe if you try, you can make it your pet.

"No... you're probably the only one who can."

(To be continued...)