Wode

There was that name again: Wode. We met when he was the tatzelwurm and once more as the raven. I had heard the name mentioned a few times. He was after me; specifically, my soul. An image of the barrier tied with a red thread to two souls flashed in my mind. The first soul, bright and pure; the second, black and insatiable.

“So we meet at last,” I said with fake bravado. I raised my sword and squared myself.

“Ha! No iron sword can pierce these feathers. Sheath your sword and come with me, we have a ritual to finish.”

I put the sword away, taking my time to do so. I waited a moment to gather my strength, then reached forward and pulled Marisa back, dragging her by the hand and leading her down the stairs.

“Fool!” Wode shouted after us.

A strong gust of wind slammed into our backs, sending us tumbling down the stairs. Wode’s beak poked through the ceiling as he tried to snatch us. I stood up, took Marisa’s hand, and ran for the stairs. When we reached the floor below, the black beak shot through the narrow window into the room, crashing and shattering many mirrors. Glass shards flew everywhere.

We shielded our eyes and made for the next floor. The tower began to shake and rumble. An evil force was assaulting it from outside. A thunderous crack echoed all throughout the tower. The stone heaved and swelled and was then torn asunder. The walls which had protected us were untimely ripped away, exposing us to the maniacal cawing of the raven.

Wode landed on top of the stairs, blocking our escape. We were trapped.

“You try my patience, Ferdinand. Surrender or I will make you suffer.”

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

He lunged forward with his beak. But he wasn’t aiming for me, he was aiming for Marisa. I pushed her out of the way and punched Wode when his beak got stuck in the floorboards. My efforts would have been better spent using the sword. As Wode struggled to free his beak, Marisa and I hid among the mirrors, angling the few we could to obscure our location.

His beak free, Wode pecked at the mirrors, breaking them. The number of mirrors hiding us was dropping fast. I drew my sword. There was only one way out of this now.

“What are you doing?” Marisa said, holding my sword arm down.

“We don’t have a choice. I’ll distract him and you escape.”

“Fool! Have you learned nothing yet? Should you fall under his sway, our lands will be lost.”

“What do you suggest we do then?”

“I am unsure.”

Bam!

Another mirror broke. We didn’t have time to discuss this, but I was out of ideas. I gripped the sword tight enough to turn my knuckles white. A burning pain started to swell in my hand and soon the sword turned hot. The burning sensation intensified and once-hidden words engraved on the sword were revealed. Inspiration struck.

“Do you trust me?”

“What?”

“Do you trust me!?” I repeated.

“I... Yes!”

I ran between the mirrors, drawing Wode’s attention. He slammed his beak down, shattering many mirror but giving me the opportunity to strike his beak with my sword. He recoiled in pain as the sword struck him, shrieking and flapping his wings. I sprinted back to Marisa, grabbed her hand and ran for the front of the tower.

“Jump!”

It wasn’t a good plan but it was the only plan I had—and it’d be a miracle if it worked. With the sword still in my hand, I envisioned the winds of the sylphs carrying us down to safety. Strong winds surrounded us and slowed our descent, allowing us to land without harm. The miracle came true. I held the sword aloft in triumph coupled with the belief that the radiance surrounding it would act as a beacon and part the mist surrounding the mountain.

But our success was short lived. A dark shadow swooped through the air, severing the swords connection to the sky. Winds and gales blew all around us with unmatched fury, pinning us down. Then the world went silent and Wode crashed to the earth. The mountain trembled in his presence. It was too late to run.

“Can you do that chain thing again?” I whispered.

“What chain—? Ah, yes. Yes.”

Because of the mist blanketing the mountain and tower, I hadn’t been able to perceive the elemental nature of Grimnir the raven and Wode. With the help of the wind, the mist was cleared and my eyes were unclouded. The string that tethered Wode to Grimnir revealed itself, black and corrupted. My target was obvious and I had but one chance to sever it. That was the vision shown to me by the sword—the sword’s previous owner, Mauritius. Millennia later, he guided my hand as I ran towards Wode, towards certain death.

Like the wind, I was swift and sharp. Marisa took my run as the signal to bind Wode. Fluid chains sprung from the ground and wrapped themselves around him, tying him down. One final chain curled around his beak, slamming his head as it retreated into the ground. I ran up his beak, over his head, and straight for his back where I sliced the string that bound Wode to Grimnir. It shot back, back all the way to the barrier. The part still attached to Grimnir’s body flailed and snapped before retreating in upon itself in a tight ball of malice. It exploded, sending a violent shockwave as its matter coalesced into the shape of a being. It was a man, not an elemental being. But he was a human with no power.

I carried my body forward and with it the sword in my hand. I pointed it at the chest of the man in front of me and ran him through. The sword's divinity vaporized what semblance of physical form he had and dispersed his shadow form into nothing.

I stepped off the raven and walked around to his front. I told Marisa to loosen the chains holding his beak together because I wanted to talk with him.

“Grimnir, can you hear me?”

“Oh, oh, good heavens! What in the world happened to me?” Caw caw!

“Grimnir, do you know this name? Does it ring true in your mind?” Marisa asked.

Caw “Grimnir, yes that’s me. Who the blazes are you two? Why am I chained here? Unbind me, you rogues!”

“I think he’s back to normal, or, at least, back to his old self and not the raven we met earlier,” I said to Marisa.

“So it would seem,” she said as she removed his chains.

Grimnir got to his feet, ruffled his feathers and checked his wings. He then eyed us with suspicion.

“Explain yourselves, you dastardly rogues! Why was I bound like a lamb for slaughter?”

“Does the name Wode ring a bell?”

“What, Wode!? Where?” He spread his wings in fright.

“He’s not here anymore, but he had possessed you. Do you have any idea how that happened?”

“Oh? Not here, you say?” He furled his wings back to his sides. “Well, that puts me at ease. What!? Possessed did you say!?” Again, he spread his wings.

“We chanced upon you at the top of the Celestial Tower where you made known that Wode wished to meet us.”

“Celestial Tower?” He turned and looked behind him at the ruined tower. Caw “Oh good heavens! What happened to my beloved tower!?” Caw.

“Uh, things got out of hand when we were fighting Wode and he tore it down as he tried to capture us.”

“I see... Oh, how dreadful. How terribly dreadful. My poor tower.”

“Yes, unfortunate. Grimnir, can you explain to us how you came to be possessed?”

“Oh, possessed. Possessed? I think it best that you follow me to my home, this is no place for little ones such as you.”