The Chosen One

“Let’s get you out of there.” Caisey said to Rina who made no move to get up. She simply watched, unbothered, from her seat and settled herself into a more comfortable position.

With her chin propped up on one arm against the armrest, “Oh ho hooo~,” came Rina’s sound of approval, “Try to rescue me, Mr. Hero.” She wore an amused smile on her face for some reason and Caisey flushed. He was sure that he had seemed charismatic just now, even charming! Why was he being teased?

“Try?! I’ll do more than try, M’lady,” he huffed, embarrassed, and inspected the bars blocking escape from the cave. “I’ll show you, just you watch.”

Caisey inspected the bars from top to bottom, his eyes on every sliver of iron and came to the conclusion that there were no hidden keyholes or padlocks. The bars were about the width of a human wrist and so appeared breakable to Caisey should he find something durable to knock into it.

Now, just to see how sturdy they are… Caisey thought about shaking the bars to see if he could dislodge them somehow from the cave’s rock walls. Maybe the rock was weak somewhere.

Caisey reached out to grab the bars and was blasted backwards by an extreme force that sent him flying into one of many boulders behind him. From the cave came a loud bout of laughter that was interrupted in pieces by the cries of “Oh, my— my HERO!” Wheezing followed her sarcastic comments. Caisey imagined her doubled over, clutching her stomach in pain.

“Stop laughing, Rina…” Caisey said, grimacing as he peeled himself out of the boulder and trudged back over to Rina.

“But you were so confident!” Rina laughed, “I love when you do that. That thing.”

“What thing?” Caisey asked. As far as he knew, he’d done no special ‘thing’ so far.

Rina covered her mouth as Caisey peered at her through the bars. Her blue eyes were squinted together, forming a happy crescent shape against her smile. “You know, when you forget how much of a geek you are and try to be so cool. It’s the best gift ever. Like, who do you think you are, Hercules? BaHAHAHA!”

Caisey secretly thought that was hilariously true, but he deadpanned the look on his face and said, “That’s it, I’m leaving you here,” and turned away. He laughed when he heard Rina immediately screaming “No, wait!” and “I told you that threat wasn’t funny!”

It was Caisey who was amused now. “Sorry, sorry. I won’t be mean if you stop teasing me.”

“… I’ll stop teasing you.” Rina said in a small voice and Caisey felt a tickle in his heart. He guffawed openly at the cute, defeated look on her face. He knew her promise was one hundred percent short-lived and that she’d be back to teasing him within 24 hours, so he basked in the moment.

Suddenly, an announcement given in Poseidon’s voice blared across the land. “The hourglass has nearly expended all of its sand. This challenge is just minutes from concluding.”

“Crap!” Caisey yelled, now confronted with a new challenge on a time crunch. “How am I supposed to get her out of this thing?!”

I need to win this contest even if it costs me every bone in my body. Caisey thought. Determination boiled inside him though he had no idea what to do. He was beginning to panic sweat when he heard, “Use your greatest strength to your advantage, and be quick and wise about it. You’ve nearly run out of time, boy.”

It was Sir Mimir, ever the voice of reason, popping up out of nowhere again. Caisey dealt with his sudden appearance better now and shushed his startled heart quickly this time around.

He turned to the advisor god with his troubled mind, “The problem is, I have no strengths!! When was the last time you saw me break a boulder with my own power and not by being thrown into one? Now it’s a boulder with a barrier! I’m doomed but I can’t afford to lose. I can’t afford to…”

Lose Rina, he thought. The words got stuck in his throat. That reality might be closer than he cared to admit.

Sir Mimir, always seeming so perfectly, absolutely, unbearably done with Caisey, sighed his soul out and replied, “Think back. All the way back. How was it that Lady Terpsichore came into your lives?”

Lives, Sir Mimir had said. For a moment, Caisey wasn’t sure what his meeting Rina had to do with the current situation, but when he indeed thought back—all the way back—he realized something.

That perhaps his strength lay with his passionate and unwavering spirit.

Instantly, Caisey dropped to his knees and, with one last warm look at Rina who remained calm and smiling, he bowed his head and prayed to the supreme god of the Gods’ Realm to help him save his girl. Though he wasn’t sure this would work considering he currently existed in the same realm as the very god he prayed to, he dared not raise his head until he was finished. He hoped with all his might that this would work, because if he couldn't win with his physical abilities, he would give up his body and soul.

He promised to give anything, everything, and to be forever willing. He considered how his weaknesses outweighed his strengths and promised to give those some exercise for the sake of his goddess. Before he had even finished his musings, a blinding strike of lightning preceding a deafening crack of thunder pierced the air and struck the boulder and barrier with almighty force. The boulder snapped open like a fragile eggshell and fell away from Rina who now stood tall and regal. She exposed her godly wings in a burst of wind and spiritual energy, flying upward like she owned the sky.

She glistened and glittered, a gem in Caisey’s eyes.

Caisey smiled with all he was worth. He whooped and hollered loud enough to match the sound of the bell tone signaling the end of the extended first day of The Festival of the Gods. Even Sir Mimir looked proud. He caught eyes with Caisey and said, “Guess it’s over.”

“Guess it’s over.” Caisey echoed and watched as the goddess descended from up above.

Elise was unable to free Lady Rán from her barrier, though she had been able to find her among an abnormally grown batch of trees large enough to fit a grown Viking woman and throne within. She told this to Caisey after he had approached her from behind, having spotted her standing a way's off from a large gathering of gods at the hastily set up post-festival campgrounds used to provide water and treat participants’ injuries.

She had been crying, Caisey could tell. Lines streaked down her cheeks where dirt had been. Her hazel eyes blinked rapidly at him as she bemoaned the outcome of her challenge.

“I thought I had it, y'know? Like, this challenge wasn’t so bad. The gods were even going easy on us, so I felt there was no way I could fail.”

“They did go easy on us this time, didn’t they?” Caisey said. He hadn’t even noticed, but it was definitely true. Aside from Lady Skadi who had randomly flown away after asking him some questions, Caisey also had a run in with Sir Heimdall, guardian of the gods, who narrowly “missed” spearing him through the chest with his sword, and had finally crossed paths with Sir Loki, god of mischief, who had “accidentally” revealed himself during a surprise attack that had allowed Caisey to stumble away like a chicken with weak knees.

“I wonder what all that was about,” Caisey said, and Elise shrugged before saying, “Who knows what’s going on in these gods’ minds.

“You rescued Lady Terpsichore. Way to go, Hero Boy.” She jabbed a fist against Caisey’s shoulder as she said it. Her smile faltered a bit as she said, “That means I’ll be leaving now. I’ll never see Lady Rán again. You knew the conditions, right?”

Caisey nodded. Elise continued, “She had been my best friend in a time of need. Picked up a book in the library one morning about two years ago. It was on a shelf, but the book was wet. Leaking. I don’t know what compelled me, but I checked it out. A wet book!” Elise laughed. “I read it all afternoon and into the night when I got home and finally found a page where the water seemed alive. It was a book about the Norse gods, and I’d reached Lady Rán’s page. She seemed to talk to me. I unloaded everything on her, and the rest is history.”

Elise paused, looking sad again, before she perked up and took Caisey’s hand in hers. “It was nice meeting you, Chosen One.”

Caisey laughed a little, “Chosen One, my butt… It was nice meeting you, too.”

As they dropped hands, Elise looked around for whom Caisey guessed was Lady Rán. She smiled when she spotted her in the crowd and as she turned back to Caisey, she said, “I'll head over to Lady Rán. By the way, your crazy girlfriend is coming.”

Caisey’s mouth dropped open.