Chapter 12: Angelus of the Valkyrie

Chapter 12: Angelus of the Valkyrie

Her wings seemed larger from the shadows they cast on the ground. Had Craft never known her, he would probably be resigned to die right here.

But once upon a time, she hadn’t been anyone’s angel.

***

Every legend was once a child.

The carriage jolted. Amacus rubbed shoulders with other children. Men barked orders outside. The carriage had been covered, and it was too dark to see. She wanted things to end.

She, and the other children, had been marked with a curse. Soon, their flesh would melt away, and they would be left as a sentient pile of meat and bones taking no definite form. They would only feel pain, they’d been told, so they might as well be sacrificed for the greater good.

The carriage lurched and stopped. Men shouted and gurgled blood. Swords rang as they were drawn. Liquids splashed against the side of the carriage, and things dropped to the ground in dull thuds.

Soon, the back of the carriage opened. Amacus came face to face with women in dark bodysuits — elves, straight out of a fairy tale. “It’s alright now,” the frontmost one said.

Amacus and the children were let off the carriage. Some of them already had teeth and hair falling out, while others didn’t stop crying for their arms had turned into noodles. There was no way they could be saved, she’d thought, and that went for herself, too.

A man emerged from the shadows, however, spreading his hands forward and letting out a magical light. It felt warm, soothing, and a knot she didn’t know was in her chest was straightened out. Her curse, along with the weakness of her heartbeat, had evaporated and gone with the wind. She looked upon their savior: clad in black and an icy cold glare, he was more of an assassin than a hero. She was still a child, however, and she felt afraid of him. Despite that, he had still saved them. Who was this man?

“These people gave you the curse, lied to you, told you it was your fault for being born,” the man said. “Now, you have a choice. Run, hide, and live freely, or join us. Revenge, justice, or fun, I don’t care what your reason is. If the cult is your target, then you can become our weapon.”

Born as a Valkyrie, Amacus found her calling in that moment. It possessed her, drove her mad like her parents had warned her: because Valkyries flock to wars like moths to a flame.

Tears dripped from her eyes. She could smell the battles this man had been through. She knew following him might kill her, and if it didn’t, then a road of suffering was waiting for her.

None of that mattered. Perhaps it was a mix of joy and bittersweet relief, but whatever it was, she knew she’d found the man who would be her general and master. She decided, against her mother and father’s wishes, to walk the Valkyrie’s paradox: to be a servant who lived to die.

***

Her master had become a god. She had always believed he was a god, but it had taken a literal turn, and now that she was here, she wasn’t sure how to act around him anymore.

She stood behind him, ready to cut down the goddess on the other side of the table at the first sign of bloodlust. They were in an all-shadow space, save for herself, her master, the goddess, and the chairs and table the two forces used.

“I can’t leave Amatoria for this long,” the goddess said. “I need to go back, but once I do, I can’t return.”

Her healing and support powers had been valuable during the war, and if she’d continue to stay, it would be over in short order — about 3,000 years.

“I accept,” her master said. Huh, that easily? She knew her master to be more cunning and merciless than this. With his infinite wisdom and strength, why couldn’t he just make her an offer she couldn’t refuse?

“On one condition,” he continued. Oh, there it is. Her master was as amazing as always — “Take Amacus with you.”

She took a step back. Her hands, once crossed behind her back like a proper soldier, spread out in dismay. “Master?!”

She couldn’t understand what was happening. She had always been a proper soldier, throwing herself against the shadows they hunted in the vague hopes of exchaging her life for a victory in her master’s name. Victory upon victory she’d racked up, but no matter how hard she tried, she was just too tough to die. What a terrible pawn she made.

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Her strength, of course, couldn’t be compared to her master’s. If he was so strong…maybe he simply didn’t need her anymore. In that case…

She took a knee. “If I am so worthless, then take my life.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

She drew her sword partway, offering the hilt to him. “If I may be so bold, please do it with my favorite sword. My blood is a rust protectant, and I wish for my legacy to be enshrined in the armory of heroes.”

Her master ignored her, facing the goddess. “As you can see, she doesn’t know how to take a break. We are the shadows who hunt shadows, but I don’t run a black company, so if you can take her off my hands for a while, that’d be great.”

The goddess paused and stared at him for a second. “You do realize I have restrictions” —

“I think that’s no problem. You can appraise her right now.”

“Is that alright?”

He gestured to Amacus. “Go ahead.”

Amacus didn’t understand what was going on. All she knew was the goddess had looked at her, said ‘okay,’ and she watched her master stand, turn, and leave — not even sparing a glance towards her.

Just like that, the faithful Valkyrie was ‘abandoned’ by her master. It wasn’t the case, but it didn’t matter if she didn’t understand it herself.

***

The two of them were left alone in the shadow realm. Silence has its way, but only for so long. The goddess greeted her: “Nice to make your acquaintance.”

Amacus appraised her. There wasn’t even a speck of danger about her; she was a pacifist, a softie, and fatally vulnerable to even the enemy’s plight. Nothing about her made her a respectable leader — the complete opposite of Amacus’ former master.

Nevertheless, she had nowhere left to go. If she just pretended to be a hitchhiker tagging along with some random goddess heading in the same direction, perhaps life after abandonment would still be bearable.

She followed the goddess through a portal, emerging to an all-white space. It was so different from the shadow realm that Amacus thought the goddess had revealed her talons and attacked with a flashbang.

A mere flashbang wouldn’t get past her defenses, however. She planted her feet and prepared for the attack. Astute and unwavering, cool and collected — she wondered why the flashbang lasted over a minute.

It wasn’t until the portal closed and the goddess dropped to her knees that she lowered her guard. Her eyes adjusted, and she found cracks in the sky and the ground: proof that the agents of the God of Despair had reached even until here. When the goddess pulled up images of her world in a panic, she found all three realms a shadow of their former selves.

Amacus’ former master often complimented the ‘chill atmosphere’ of the goddess’s world — whatever his odd and wise words meant — but they were now anything but. Regardless of how weak this goddess was, Amacus was no stranger to the feeling of having something precious be torn away.

The goddess fell to her arms. She started to sob and hit the floor with her fist. “Not again!” The cracks in the floor widened with her every tantrum. “Going through this! Again and again! What’s the point!”

Amacus had also heard about prior invasions, and that was exactly why her former master had forged a defense pact with this goddess, whose world was better-equipped to hide than to fight. What’s the use of hiding if you know you’ll be found anyway? Her former master’s fondness for the goddess made even less sense now, but whatever the case, they couldn’t expect any help. With the war still raging, her former master wouldn’t be able to send any sort of reinforcement.

Wait. What if I’m the reinforcement? Things started to (incorrectly) fall into place for her. That’s…that’s right! I must have been disavowed so I could undertake this special operation without any restraint! I wasn’t abandoned after all!

Her entire life’s outlook had changed in the blink of an eye. She hadn’t been thrown away, but given a wonderful opportunity to grow — to become not just a soldier who would take orders and die, but to become a true warrior who would stand alone and decide for which cause and faith she would wield her strength.

Suffice to say, her interpretations were absolutely wrong…but the intentions were roughly aligned, so it should be fine.

She looked upon the goddess weeping on the ground. What a pitiful sight. So weak, so frail, all Amacus saw of this lump of divinity…was a child: just like what Amacus had been, just like all those others she had been crammed into a carriage with, this goddess-child was weak, confused, and quick to give up.

“No, no, I can do this,” the goddess muttered to herself and began to get up. Maybe not quick to give up, then — but it still hurt Amacus to stand by and watch. She had taken up the sword for her master, wielding justice in his name, and just like how he had given mere children the strength to fight, what more could she do right now for a goddess who only needed courage and force of arms?

She approached the goddess, laying a hand on her shoulder. Divine energies thrummed through the contact between Amacus’ hand and the goddess’s skin, reminding her that this was still a being of few equals: a true goddess whose title was no lie.

But that goddess turned around and looked at her with pleading eyes, wiping away the tears to appear alright.

It was too late to cover up any lies like “I’m okay”; Amacus had already seen those tears.

“Goddess,” she said. “Entrust the defense of your world to me.”

The goddess’s eyes widened, but she snapped out of it and nodded shyly. “Please.”

Such a tiny whisper awoke something new in Amacus. Had this been what her master had also seen? In the palm of her hand was such a tiny existence, so small that she felt like she could crush it, and yet, she found herself wanting to see it grow. Every child — no matter if it was an actual child or an ancient being who knew little of the world — had the potential to sprout and become a wonder.

Perhaps that was why her master could not abandon her. In his eyes, she was still just a child, and it was his will to see her grow, even if it meant forcing her to leave the nest. You can be much more, she imagined her master telling her. It was delusional, but it was positive, and at least to her, it was real.

For herself to grow, she ought to make others grow as well, and the first order of business was to give this goddess — this problem child — her missing courage.

“Goddess, I implore you to summon a few choice heroes,” she advised her. “As long as we do not fight alone, everything is far easier.”

***

Now, Amacus stood on the summoning platform, facing down her latest problem child: a man who knew a lot, but also not enough.