Noah was being escorted through the halls of a very clean building. Compared to the previous location he was in this was literally Spotless. Noah fiddled around with the strange chain wrapping his hand and Loki had taken to falling asleep after everything. Noah was carrying Loki piggyback style and daring was waiting in the infirmary for the leader of the mercenaries to wake up. Loki was muttering something in his sleep and he rested his head on Noahโs shoulder. Noah wondered how old Loki was. 10? 13? He hadnโt had a clue.
Noah had passed a few statues of griffins in many different positions, some holding spears, some stood atop a creature, some with heads held high and others low. An almost illegible description and name written on each one.
โlines and squiggles...wait.โ
It was actually very fine cursive writing instead of some strange alien language. A few statues down there were much older statues. It was obvious that an effort to keep the stone from succumbing to time was made. The statues got smaller and smaller as Noah went along and eventually it lead to a small griffin almost the size of Loki with a massive slab of reading material. It read:
๐๐ธ๐ท๐ผ ๐ช๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ซ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ถ๐น๐ต๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ฝ๐พ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ผ๐พ๐ป๐ฎ. ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐พ๐ท๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฝ๐พ๐ป๐ท ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐น๐ป๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป๐ฝ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ถ๐น๐ช๐ท๐. ๐๐ท๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ. ๐๐พ๐ป ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ช ๐ถ๐ช๐ผ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ช๐ผ๐ฎ. ๐ข๐ธ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ถ๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฝ. ๐๐ท ๐ธ๐ป๐ญ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ถ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ผ๐พ๐ป๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ท๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ช ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ต๐พ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ป๐ป๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ซ๐ต๐ธ๐ธ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ป๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ช๐ซ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฎ. ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ญ ๐พ๐น ๐ช๐ต๐ธ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฌ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ฝ๐พ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ช๐น๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ผ. ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฝ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ธ๐ป๐ต๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ต๐ต๐ธ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ โ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎโ
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐พ๐ท๐ญ๐๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ต ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ฎ๐ ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ,
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฑ๐พ๐ถ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ช ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ช๐น๐น๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ช๐ท๐ ๐ถ๐ธ๐ธ๐ญ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ถ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฎ๐ญ,
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ป๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ผ๐น๐ช๐ฒ๐ป ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ญ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ,
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ต๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ช๐ซ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ผ. ๐๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ต. ๐๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ท.
๐๐ท๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ธ๐น๐ฎ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ช๐ซ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ๐. ๐ค๐ท๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป๐ฝ๐พ๐ท๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ท๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ผ ๐น๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ช๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ. ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ป๐ธ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ฑ๐พ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ผ. ๐๐พ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ท๐ช๐ฝ๐พ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ซ๐ธ๐ญ๐โ๐ผ ๐๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ต๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ท๐ธ ๐๐ช๐ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฐ๐ป๐ธ๐.
๐๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ช ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ต๐ผ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ. ๐ค๐ท๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ต ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ๐ต๐ ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ท๐พ๐ถ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ญ๐๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ๐ต๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ท ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ-
Noah couldnโt decipher the rest of the text presented before him. He looked back and squinting as hard as he could made out the word โhumansโ it seemed like they had tried to recreate cursive but forgot to connect the letters. It was choppy but enthusiastic as well.
โwell we donโt have all day war-mindโ
โIโm hardly a fighter thor. There is little honour in how I fight and I am disappointed to say that I honestly have little battle experienceโ
โand what experience do you have?โ
Thor tilted his head in an adorably curious expression.
โwell up until recently I could...uh actually I have no ideaโ
โerm what about recently?โ
โwell I...decapitated my clone after throwing him through a mirror by repeatedly stomping his head.โ
Noah grimaced as he recalled the event.
Thor looked impressed
โand this was your first time yes?โ
โfirst time?โ
Noah didnโt like to think there would be a next time
โwell you look like your holding up great for a...civilian who committed such an actโ
Noah was consistently internally screaming over what he had done
โIโll make a fine fighter of you yet rogueโ
Noah sighed and wondered exactly why he was being held in such high regard. He also didnโt like being called a rogue. It was the same as โslutty knightโ
Thor led Noah through the halls once more except things began growing in size as they progressed instead of shrinking down to the statue they had stopped at. Statues were in poor condition at this point and most had massive cracks or were missing legs and on one occasion a head. One group of statues stood out among the ruined ones as they were polished and untarnished. It looked as if it was made about a month ago. The statue depicted a bearded man with a soft cheerful expression...standing atop a massive body and holding a severed lions head. The next statue depicted the same man atop a massive cannon carrying a mare with a lazy eye. The next statue showed the man hunched over in grief looking longingly at three gravestones, the mare from earlier was comforting him. The final statue looked like a memorial. The man stood atop a raggid ship pointing a gun at a very bony man. The script read:
This memorial is dedicated to Alexander the Great. Who had succumbed to a curse while searching for some close friends.
โ...Alex.โ
โah you seem familiar with the legend of the flying Dutch man.โ
โ...โ
โare you ok?โ
โwhat was Alexโs curse.โ
โAlex? Oh Alexander. Well he was basically cursed to roam the seas for all eternity until he can find the object he had most desired while he was-โ
Noah increased his pace and looked absolutely livid. He stormed his way through the hall and turned to the left Noah entered an armoury by mistake instead of the throne room. Noah left but not before grabbing what appeared to be a fist-full of sand from a forge in the back that seemed to be for making glass.
โhey what was that about?โ
Noah held his angry expression but it now had a tinge of embarrassment to it
โwrong doorโ
โ...โ
โ(sigh) just take me to the throne roomโ
They took a right down the hall of statues and entered an extremely large room with two large tables full of food and a fire pit in the middle of the room this lead to the red steps going up to the throne. And of course the throne itself was surprisingly barren for a seat of power. Atop the throne was a griffin with a Snow White lower body and white upper. His crown looked more protective than regal and honestly a flair of ferocity emitted from The being was waiting with a cocky smile that said โcheckmateโ
โHOW DARE YOU! WHERE IS ODEN!โ
Wait that wasnโt oden?
โTELL ME!โ
The usurper gave a malicious chuckle and Noah hid under one of the massive tables before setting Loki down gently
โoh you foolish weak children. Did you really think that a simple cage would stop me? I was right under your beaks this whole time! Plotting, scheming and planning my revenge.โ
The usurper pointed to a one eyed griffin chained and hanging from the ceiling by his talons. His wings were bound to his sides by the chain and a trail of blood was flowing from his wounds
During this time oden opened his one eye and spotted Noah and Loki under the table. A look of awe was present on his face as Noah did something unexpected. He was moving during a monologue.
โ-and thatโs how I fooled the warden into believing that-ACK!โ
โPOCKET SAND!โ
After throwing the sand into the usurperโs eyes Noah punched him in the throat before wrapping the chain around his arm around his fist and hitting as hard as he could in the back of the usurperโs head. He dropped to the floor and the force of Noahโs momentum had caused him to trip and land arse first on the throne.
โ...uh ok thenโ
โhow did you do that?โ
โwell I grabbed a fist full of sand-โ
โI hate to ruin the mood but could someone please help me down from here?โ
โwhy am I under a table?โ