Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

The architect of this sudden change in his life, which lasted just under a year, was only Dag, his Captain.

Wiping away the tears that were beginning to crack his face due to the strong cold, which despite being stinging, had taken second place, Reidar stepped forward, past the Generals of Kranus, and screamed:

"I owe you everything, Captain, you can't give up! Use all your powers, push your limits! You're the Primal Thunder! You can't be defeated! Think of your father Stein, think of your mother Asa! Think about your real parents! The Xis took everything away from you, destroy them! Aaaargh!" 

Reidar's scream emanated such a strong energy that the goosebumps came to the men behind him, who after those words felt invigorated and began to scream Dag's name in unison, urging him not to give up.

...

"Can you hear this... stupid alien...?" Dag said as his rib cage was compressed and words barely came out of his mouth.

"Mh?" the Xis answer, moving his head sideways.

"You can kill me, you can... you do with me... and with other human beings... as you will, but... you can never take this... away from us... you will never know... how it feels... to receive courage from other... people... you're just a... stupid alien..." Dag continued, while the effect of Call of the Berserkr slowly began to fade and his body imposed less and less resistance to the squeeze, being almost at the exhaustion of forces.

"Courage? Don't be silly, 813666. 'Courage' is a parameter that cannot be transmitted between two individuals, it is strictly personal, intrinsic. My visit to the planet Skjold lasted too long, I urgently need to return to Earth and report what happened to the scientific team. I will describe in detail the transformation that your mortal body has undergone today and scientists will use my story to define new parameters useful for the study of your species" the Xis commented, who once again could not understand the real feelings that Dag was feeling and merely told him that somehow, even against his will, had been useful for scientific research.

As Dag's body returned to his normal size and his muscles deflated due to Call of the Berserkr's exhaustion, he stopped wriggling, as if he was slowly accepting his fate.

Within him, the inner conflict with his power had also subsided: the dark matter, although it still helped grow Dag's physical strength during the transformation, was there, stationary in a remote corner of his subconscious, as if it too had just realized that it had no power against the true dark power of the Xis.

Dag's right hand, which until then had held the Giantbane tight between its fingers, weakened the grip and let the axe go, which fell to the ground, in front of the young warrior, who could no longer move even a muscle of his body and knew that the more he wriggled, the more the pain in his bones and musculature became strong, causing him permanent damage.

Reidar, who until a few moments earlier had cried with all the air in his lungs, trying to spur Dag to give his best, knelt down, losing all hope and merely looking at the end of his Captain, now trapped and with no possibility of escape.

"I made a mistake before, 813666. I tried to annihilate you with the same procedure I use for everyone, without thinking that maybe your power could counter my attack. Despite this, now here you are, helpless, like the larva of a small helpless insect, attached to your life by a thin and fragile thread. Before I finish you... I would like to ask you another question" the Xis continued, putting both hands in his pockets, as when he had just arrived in the square.

Dag turned his angry gaze towards him, hating him with every cell of his body.

"How does your wretched human body resist our dark matter? What I mean is... how can such a weak container handle such great power and even live with it, merging the two parts into a single living being?" the Frostsinner asked, who seemed really curious about the answer.

"Your dark matter?" Dag asked, who tried to endure the pain again and continued to speak, while the bones of his left arm creaked particularly loudly as if his arm was about to break in half.

The Xis said nothing, continuing to look at his interlocutor.

"The Dark Matter does not belong... to you. We humans... we are part of your own universe... my power does not belong to anyone else... if not to me. You have no idea what I had to deal with... what has happened in my body in the past... even though you've been spying on me all these years... using Hakon and deceiving him to receive an award for his loyalty... however, you will never know how intense the internal struggle into my body was... the processes that led me to this day... the effort I experienced not to lose control and... don't risk hurting the people I love..." Dag replied, speaking as if he was uttering his last words, sure that Freydis and Reidar, the two direct interested in this speech, were listening.

"Mh... this is not a very good answer, 813666. Looks like you're not aware of how you evolved. Well, at this point, I need to get out of this dilapidated place. Your life experience ends here, you have not been able to complete the mission and retrace the steps of your Ancestors. Now you will be eliminated" the Xis concluded, who pulled his right hand out of the pocket of his pants unharmed, despite the jacket being all wrinkled and half ripped and pointed at the young Earthly warrior.

Dag, caught with the adrenaline-pumping energy of survival, tried in every way to push his muscles outwards in order to weaken the cocoon squeeze and slide away but soon noticed that the more force he used to push, the more force the dark matter envelope returned to him, becoming tighter and tighter.