Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

He ajar his eyes, trying to focus all his attention on hearing to perceive something foreign to that environment, but the only sound he could identify was that of flies and other insects buzzing around corpses to feed on their bodily fluids and meat.

From a distance, all the army was gathered in the castle and in front of its door, as if, all that time, since Dag had started fighting Hakon, the city was off-limits to them because of the enormous dangers that were looming over it.

Bloodfang continued to snort, seeing no one and believing that what was happening was actually just a staging to exalt Dag somehow.

His complaints were initially directed at Kranus, with whom he felt he had more confidence, but then changed targets, turning to Reidar and Freydis, who, being those who knew the subject most closely, briefly tried to sum up what had happened in the past and all the times the Frostsinners had tried to test Dag, slowing down his achievements or objectives.

Despite his skepticism, even the wary Thyrius shut his mouth when a strange sound from Dag's direction came to his perception.

Far above the young Master's head, the clouds illuminated by the planets orbiting around Skjold began to swirl suspiciously, although the wind was still totally absent.

In a slightly descending swirling motion, the large masses of gas joined and crumpled upon themselves, merging into a kind of large grayish disk, whose circumference continued to expand and regularize, gradually becoming an artificial geometric shape.

The clouds that formed this gaseous structure, contracting, generated lightning and thunder, and intermittent rain fell downwards.

It was as if many atmospheric phenomena were happening at the same time, without any order or logical sense.

In the center of the disc formed at thousands of meters above sea level, an elliptical gap opened, flattened, and stretched to the tips, as if it was a gash, a scratch that involved the planet's atmosphere.

At the sight of that paranormal phenomenon, everyone present retreated further, believing that a sudden apocalypse would involve each of them, while Dag stood still in the center of the square, alone. 

The wind that until then had remained silent in the highest part of the sky now fell on him, who was forced to put an arm in front of his eyes so as not to blind himself and to keep his feet still on the floor so as not to be swept away.

Within him, being a fan of Geology and Planetary Sciences, Dag knew that that strong wind was nothing more than the result of the huge sudden pressure difference that had been created between the surface and the middle part of the atmosphere, in which that abnormal cloud had been generated.

The gap in the sky continued to open and through it, it was possible to see the texture of the universe, an infinite expanse of dark matter and stars that looked like a surreal painting.

None of those present could understand what it was, having never seen a natural event of that size, including Dag, whose mind kept thinking without ever stopping at what could emerge from that passage, which had all the air of being a gap connecting two worlds.

Just as Dag was about to draw his conclusions, a huge ray of purple light struck the center of Klorr's Square, forcing the young Master to move away making a big leap back.

The people inside the castle gasped, unable even to scream because of the terror that that massive ray of dark light had unleashed in them.

The area was totally illuminated by its light and the wind continued to blow incessantly at its maximum power, in a convective trajectory towards the vertical beam of light, as if it had a very powerful intrinsic pull force.

Trying not to be swept away and without storing his weapons, aware that they could serve him at any moment, Dag leaned his feet against a boulder and managed to stand still in the same spot, covering his eyes due to the wind, which after a few seconds began to weaken.

The gap in the center of the clouds gradually began to close and when the process was complete, the gaseous disk also disintegrated, again generating the large grayish clouds that had created it by merging.

As the sky returned to its normality, the beam of purple light also began to decrease its volume, and inside, a figure with a human appearance.

The temperature continued to drop steadily, reaching almost -10°C.

Having his arms uncovered and not wearing particularly warm clothing, Dag felt the weight of that cold on his physique, whose muscles sore, making his movements slower and more clumsy.

Despite its thick stone walls, the castle was also involved in the abrupt climate change and all the soldiers inside were forced to approach each other, while their bodies trembled like leaves.

The Giants of Ymir, accustomed to weathering Krypstorm's cold temperatures from their early age, felt so cold that they remained motionless, including their commander Kranus, who rubbed his hands near his mouth, trying to use the little warm air coming out of his lungs to warm up.

In a gesture of friendship, Reidar approached Freydis, hugging her.

She reciprocated the hug, trying to share her body heat with that of her archer friend, while they both looked fearful at Dag, fearing that what was about to happen was the end of the games.

The sequence of events lasted about a minute, after which, the beam of light finally disappeared and the human shape finally revealed its identity.

A man dressed in black in elegant clothes stood in the center of the square.

A shiny tuxedo, a black shirt under the jacket, and a dark purple tie were elements that turned out to be strange at the sight of the Viking observer people, who had never seen anyone wear such futuristic clothes.

However, the most chilling aspect of that bald man was his face and head, snow-white.