What Spitfire, Rainbow, Scarlet, and Vytheril discovered as they walked by Odyn, and most of them can to terms with the fact that Havi was actually the ruler of the Halls of Valor, the group passed through the massive opening that the Titanic Watcher was standing near and quickly headed up what was left of the steps that stood between them and the Halls of Valor, but as they reached the highest step they came to a stop as they discovered something interesting, there were only three spaces around them, looking like the Vaults they had been to over the course of their adventure in Stormheim, and it appeared that there was no path for them to follow. Of course, before anyone could say anything about what was going on, they felt a bit of a disturbance in the air and watched as a portal opened to the left of the top step they were standing in front of, one that seemed to radiate an identical power to what Spitfire felt from Odyn during the transformation from Havi to his true form, even if that was an illusion, to which she gestured to it for a moment and the group headed over to where it was resting, only to pass through it a few seconds later, so they could see what the Halls of Valor looked like and what else they might face as they kept an eye out for the Aegis of Aggramar. A few moments later, after passing through the portal and moving to the area it was linked to, the group opened their eyes and found that they were standing on some sort of walkway that looked like the bridge that lead to the Gates of Valor, though not a few seconds after that they discovered that they were up in the clouds, far above the surface of Azeroth based on the fact that they couldn't see any of the continents or ground right now, and resting near them was a platform that had the other side of the portal, which would allow something to travel back to Stormheim if they wanted to, though it was hard to tell how long it would remain open. After that they turned their attention to the area that was in front of them, beyond the other side of the bridge they were standing on, and found an enormous structure which rested on a number of clouds, forged in the fashion of the Titan Vaults and the other Titan structures they had seen all over Stormheim, meaning it had to be the Halls of Valor, or a fraction of it anyway, since based on everything Spitfire had seen and heard she was of the opinion that there had to be more than what they were seeing.
Despite that fact, however, Spitfire knew that this was, without a doubt, their destination and that the first of the Pillars of Creation was somewhere in this pocket dimension, because there was no way this was actually resting far above the five provinces that made up the Broken Isles, or at least that was her opinion on the matter, hence why she stepped forward a little and walked away from where the portal was located, as it was time for them to tackle the obstacles that were now between them and the Aegis, before Vytheril placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from getting too far ahead of him and the rest of the group.
"We need to take a step back and go get a healer," Vytheril stated, his tone revealing that he had noticed something about the portal that had brought them to the Halls of Valor and that he knew what that something was, which only caused both Spitfire and Rainbow to raise their eyebrows as they faced him, even though Scarlet nodded her head in agreement not even a few moments later, meaning they both knew what was going on right now, "Had I known that we would have to fight our way through a dungeon, which requires five people at a minimum to take care of in most cases, given the sheer difficulty of such a place, I would have returned to Dalaran and spent some time looking for one of the healers to come join us, to mend our wounds as we progressed through these sacred Halls."
"Well, its not like Odyn is going to allow one of us, or all of us, to leave and find a healer... but, given what we've seen since we arrived in Stormheim, we might as well ask," Rainbow remarked, as while she knew that time was of the essence right now, since they had no telling where Skovald was hiding, she did know that Odyn seemed to like them and that he might give them the opportunity to leave the Halls and recruit a healer into their group, hence why she raised her hands for a few seconds and braced herself for what she was about to do, "Lord Odyn, we have just learned that we require a healer to make an attempt on the Halls of Valor... um, is it okay if we leave and come back with one?"
"Hm, allow me to assist you." a powerful voice said, which was when the illusion of Havi appeared in front of them and he raised his hand to the left of where the group was standing at the moment, where they watched as a portal to what looked like Dalaran appeared nearby, though at the same time none of them were at all surprised by what they were seeing right now, as they suspected that Odyn's true power was contained within the Halls and that they hadn't seen his true power was like, before the illusion turned towards them once more with a smile on his face, "This will take you back to your base of operations, one of you anyway, and when you find someone to be your healer the magic of this portal will call you back to the Halls of Valor, so you can rise to my remaining trials and claim the Aegis of Aggramar... though you had best hurry, as Skovald isn't too far behind you and might breach the magic of the Halls before you reach my throne room."
Vytheril nodded his head and walked through the portal that was in front of him, disappearing from the Halls for a time as the rest of the group waited on the platform that was in front of the main portal that had brought them to this area in the first place, though as they did that Spitfire knew that Odyn was likely preventing Skovald from entering the dimension that the Halls of Valor rested in, giving them the time they needed so they could truly prove that they were worthy of the Aegis of Aggramar, making her wonder what sort of trials they would have to face, or, based on what Vytheril said, who the five of them would have to take down as they tackled the 'dungeon'. She honestly had no idea why he said it the way he did, as she and Rainbow had never heard of dungeons before and suspected that there were specific rules that they needed to follow so they could reach the end of this place with ease, but they would figure all of that out once their friend returned with whoever their healer was going to be, where she suspected that it might be a paladin, a priest, a shaman, one of the druids, or even one of the monks, since those seemed to be the four classes who could heal wounds. Not even a few minutes later she noticed that the smaller portal shimmered for a moment and focused on it as Vytheril walked through it again, though after he returned to them another figure walked through the portal, a blue skinned individual who had a slender body and was wearing a white robe of some kind that had golden inlay, where it was easy for the group to see that the she looked like an uncorrupted Eredar, meaning she was one of the draenei, and her weapon seemed to be a staff that had a rather odd crystalline object at the top of it, which looked like a Naaru based on what Spitfire recalled. It was nice to see that the Alliance and Horde were still working together, since she had listened to a blood elf and had joined his group, maybe due to the fact that she and Rainbow were part of the group Vytheril was working with, meaning Sylvanas' poison hadn't done anything to the factions, even though the Banshee Queen was being held by Genn and his forces until they returned with the Aegis, though instead of worrying about Sylvanas, and all the trouble she would have caused, Spitfire and Rainbow walked over to the draenei, who had shoulder length blue hair and a pair of horns that coiled around her pointed ears and ended in points that faced the direction she was facing.
"Spitfire, Rainbow, allow me to introduce Remeraa, a holy priest that has agreed to aid us in completing the trials that are in this dungeon," Vytheril said, beckoning to the draenei for a moment, who bowed her head as she stopped near him and the portal that they had used to get back to the Halls of Valor closed, showing them that Odyn was watching and that he knew they were now prepared to tackle everything that was thrown at them, before he glanced back at the newcomer to their group, who was staring at two members of their group, "Remeraa, I know you don't need me to introduce our allies, but I'll do so just to get it out of the way: allow me to introduce Spitfire and Rainbow, the leader and champion of our new demon hunter allies... and who stopped Sylvanas from starting a war between the factions."
"Its nice to meet the two of you, and see Rainbow again," Remeraa replied, informing Spitfire that the draenei must have seen Rainbow during the Legion's assaults on the Eastern Kingdoms, before they moved Dalaran to where it was resting at the moment so they could recover the Pillars of Creation, even though it was hard to see if Rainbow knew her or not, but she nodded anyway and that seemed to be enough to cause their new friend to ready herself as she focused on the realm that they would be fighting their way through soon, "So, whose going to be the tank of our group? You know, the one who draws the attention of our enemies and makes sure they don't crush the healer or the damage dealers, as I'm sure that you would have considered that before recruiting me to join you."
"Spitfire can do it, as I'm sure the vrykul might be interested in challenging her... or whoever is up here, guarding the Halls from the unwanted," Rainbow stated, as she had faith in Spitfire's abilities, even though she was sure that her warblades were actually designed to be a pair of weapons for someone that followed the position of a 'tank', according to what they had just been told, but Spitfire was far stronger than she was, something she wasn't even worried by since she was still the fastest of them, and that meant whatever their weapons were designed for didn't matter at this point, because based on what they had done in Stormheim she was sure that whoever served Odyn would be interested in what they had done and the power that Spitfire commanded, not to mention what she and the others were capable of, "So, are we ready to tackle whatever challenges Odyn has for us?"
"I'd say so." Spitfire replied, to which she turned and faced the path that was in front of them, where she could tell that the rest of the group and their new friend were taking up their positions behind her, Rainbow and Scarlet a few steps behind where she was standing with Vytheril and Remeraa standing further back, that way the second pair could lash out at their enemies with ranged magic, that was if the dreanei had any ranged attacks since she wasn't totally familiar with what they were capable of, before taking a deep breath as she pulled her warglaives out once more, "Odyn! We are ready to take on the challenges of the Halls of Valor!"
"Long have I waited for worthy champions to enter my realm!" a loud voice, the voice of Odyn, declared, though while that happened the group knew that the enemies of the Halls of Valor had to be getting ready for their assault as they tackled the remaining trials that stood between them and the first Pillar of Creation, hence the reason they readied their weapons and magic before even bothering to move forward, just in case the Lord of the Halls had something else to tell them, given everything that happened back in Stormheim and the trials the group had faced, "Come champions, your first trial is right in front of you: fight and defeat Hymdall to gain access to my realm!"
Spitfire nodded her head, even though she knew that it was unlikely that Odyn would have seen her movement, and then walked onto the path that was in front of where her group had been standing while Vytheril got Remeraa, though that was when they found two vrykul warriors, who were more heavily armored than most of the vrykul they had faced back during their journey through Stormheim and carried greatswords, sort of like the ones that had been resting in Valdishdall, that were standing in their way and they declared that they would be experiencing the power of the Valarjar, who had to be the greatest champions among those that called the Halls of Valor home. Spitfire, noticing that fact, engaged the pair as they rushed at her, where it was clear to the group that they were more focused on her than anything else, because when she parried one of their greatswords with one of her warglaives she blocked the other with her second blade, finding that they were definitely stronger than their normal vrykul counterparts, but that made sense when she thought about it, given the nature of this realm, though even as Vytheril blasted one of them, while Scarlet and Rainbow lashed out with their blades, she also found that the pair of Valarjar were mostly focused on her and no one else. Normally she would be weirded out by that fact, due to having no idea how to actually be a group's 'tank', but she determined that either they had seen what she had done back in Stormheim or Odyn had informed his guards as to what all of them had done, something that she couldn't focus too much on as she pushed both of her foes backwards and shifted her stance as she beckoned for them to charge at her again, which caused both of her foes to grin as they rushed into battle once more, focusing on her again as they ignored Rainbow and Scarlet's attacks, despite the fact that the latter's frost powers slowed one of them down a little, meaning they were solely focused on taking Spitfire down. After thinking about that for a moment she determined that it was just fine in the grand scheme of things, as it allowed her to dance around the attacks that were coming at her, some even coming close enough to hit her and forced her to improve her movements, before she cut a diagonal gash into the chest of one of the Valarjar, who staggered backwards for a moment and fell to one knee, where he bowed his head and showed that he acknowledged their might, something that the other one did when he was toppled a few seconds later, as Scarlet damaged his chest and caused that to happen, meaning that they must have succeeded in bringing down the first group of enemies and that they were acknowledging their might, allowing the group to move forward.
The next group of enemies that stood between them and their first trial of the Halls consisted of two Valarjar warriors and a Valarjar mystic, to which Spike jumped over to where the group was standing, after walking up the set of stairs the first group had been guarding anyway, and when she landed she made sure that all three of their foes were focused on her at the moment, by accessing her Fel energy to rush around part of the area they were fighting in and hitting all of them with her warglaives for a few seconds, sort of like a Blade Dance in a sense, though once she returned to where she had been standing moments ago she parried an incoming attack as she dealt with the warrior Valarjar. The mystic was who Vytheril focused on, as their spells clashed with each other in the space that was between them and occasionally he had to, as he put it, interrupt one of his foe's more powerful spells to keep the flow of battle moving in the right direction, though as all of that happened Remeraa tilted her head a little as she observed the fight that was going on, because it sure looked like she might not even be needed in this dungeon, but that didn't stop her from calling upon her powers to bless her allies as they faced their foes, and casting a healing spell on Spitfire every now and then, just to make sure she didn't fall while she faced the Valarjar. It didn't take them all that long to force their foes to kneel and submit, though once the trio pulled back Spitfire faced the third group of enemies who stood between them and Hymdall, a group of Valarjar that had two warriors, two mystics, and a storm drake, to which she rushed into battle and drew all of them into the same area, which was easy given that all of them wanted to test her might and opened the way for her to weaken all five of them at the same time as she unleashed another ability on them, Fel Barrage as she was going to call it since it condensed bits of her Fel energy and and they burst out of where she was standing in a rapid barrage of Fel bolts, striking the area that was around her while hitting all of her targets at the same time, allowing her to damage all of her enemies before the rest of the group caught up with her, though once she was done channeling the attack Rainbow did the same thing, as she understood what she had done and knew how to replicate it, before they lashed out at the Valarjar. The added difficulty to this fight came in the form of the storm drake, as it could breathe its lightning breath on Spitfire or the others, generally choosing to follow what Spitfire was doing before loosing it at her, meaning she had to move and direct its attack elsewhere so no one got hurt by the attack, but Remeraa found that, even if Spitfire had no idea what being a tank meant, she was skilled at protecting the rest of the group and that made things somewhat easier for her in the long run.
It only took a few more moments to bring down the group that they were fighting, to which Spitfire and her friends took a moment to watch as the defeated Valarjar paused to kneel and bow their heads, which even the storm drake did, before each of them got up and walked away from the area they had been guarding, where they stared at a tall warrior in what looked like gleaming golden armor, with a body that looked like it might have been carved from granite, who also carried a large greatsword in one hand and seemed to be guarding a golden barrier that rested between them and the rest of the Halls of Valor, meaning that this had to be Hymdall and that they had reached the first of the trials that Odyn wanted to throw at them before they claimed the Aegis from where it was resting.
"You have done well to reach this point, champions," Hymdall declared, where his tone told the group that he was pleased with what four of them had done during their time in Stormheim and that, while Remeraa was the unknown one, he also felt the same way towards her, meaning that he knew that they were all worthy to tackle everything that was beyond him, but, as Odyn commanded, they had to best him before being allowed to enter the rest of the Halls, to which he shifted his stance for a second and raised his weapon as he stared at them, where the group raised their own weapons and prepared themselves for the battle that was about to happen, "Come, I will test your worth myself!"
Spitfire obliged their foe and rushed forward without wasting any time, where she and Hymdall clashed by swinging their blades at each other and allowed them to meet in the middle of the space that rested between them, opening the way for Rainbow and Scarlet to attack him from the sides or the back as Vytheril lashed out with his spells, leaving Remeraa to heal anyone who received wounds during this fight, which became necessary when their foe revealed the first skill that he was going to use against them, by channeling his innate magic for a moment so he could toss an enchanted blade into the air and sent it over to where Vytheril was standing, though as it spun around he moved out of the way and got clipped a few times by the spinning blade. Remeraa took a moment to heal his minor wounds before he got back into the fight as both Spitfire focused on keeping Hymdall's attention on her, leaving Rainbow and Scarlet to continue what they were doing, but she did find that Hymdall's skill was impressive, as he was able to wield such a heavy weapon with one hand, sort of like how Skovald was able to wield his blade with one hand, but that didn't stop her from swinging her warglaives and parrying the incoming attacks that were heading her way, where she even parried an attack with both of blades and then used her power to push Hymdall backwards, who staggered for a moment before smiling, almost as if he was having a good time as he challenged her base powers. In that moment he lifted a horn to his mouth, which had been tied to his belt area, so he could loose a sound for the storm drakes to come in and breath lightning down upon the area that they were fighting in at the moment, though Spitfire found that it was purely to distract the rest of the group and she was more than willing to do what Hymdall wanted her to do, hence why she shifted into her demonic form and stalled the incoming attack with one of her warglaives, while she swung the second one and Hymdall parried it with his hand, but it wasn't long before her flames started to dance around her body, showing her foe that she was serious and that she wasn't going to back down, to which they charged at each other and clashed as their weapons met each other. What Spitfire found to be interesting was that it did seem like Hymdall knew that it was only a matter of time until her allies came and assisted her, so what he did next was take a moment to channel all of his magic into his blade not a few seconds later and swung down at her, to which she channeled her magical power as well and swung one of the warglaives to parry the attack, causing the air to shudder the instant both of their blades connected with each other, before she swung the other and loosed a massive wave of flames right into her foe's chest, blowing up the area that he was standing in as she knocked him backwards.
It was in that moment that the storm drakes pulled back and left the area that they were fighting in, though as the rest of the group noticed what was going on, and that Spitfire was in her demonic form, all four of them rushed over to see what was going on, though Spitfire held a hand out to stop Rainbow from transforming into her demonic form as well, because she wanted to see if Hymdall was ready to call it quits, though she suspected that if he was still willing to fight against them he would have done so already, hence why she was waiting as the smoke cleared and revealed that she had scuffed up his armor, though he was still smiling by the looks of things.
"A battle well fought!" Hymdall shouted, where Rainbow and the rest of the group raised their eyebrows for a moment, as they were surprised by what they were hearing, though Spitfire wasn't at all surprised, because this was a test that Odyn had prepared, just to make sure their might was strong enough to deal with one of his greatest champions, before he let them enter the true section of the Halls of Valor that the Aegis was resting in, to which Hymdall raised his hand for a few seconds and the barrier that was behind him disappeared, to which he returned to where he had been standing when the group approached him and kneeled towards them, "The path forward is open."
"You have done well to get this far, champions," Odyn declared, revealing that he was definitely watching them and that he had to be pleased by what he had seen, especially since Spitfire suspected Hymdall had been holding back the majority of his power, so this was a test to overwhelm a foe that was fighting in a weakened state, though after that she reverted back to her base state as the rest of the group came to a stop behind her, as they were waiting to hear what else Odyn wanted them to do before they were allowed to claim the Aegis, "but don't think you can rest just yet, as your next trial awaits you: you must defeat both Hyrja and Fenryr, the former being a great warrior while the latter is a great beast, to prove your worth to me, before I open the way to where the treasure of Stormheim rests!"
Spitfire walked forward for a moment, even though she paused as Vytheril had her stop for a few seconds as Hymdall did something she wasn't expecting, he summoned a chest in front of him and it seemed to be filled with what appeared to be gear that would assist them in the future, though for the most part it looked like there were a pair of cloth boots, a bag or two which had gold coins resting inside them, and a few trinkets that she really didn't know if they needed or not, hence the reason why she was letting Vytheril take the stuff for later, though once that was done he and the others stepped over to where she was standing and they advanced into the next part of the Halls of Valor. What they discovered was that there were two sets of stairs leading up to what appeared to be a mead hall, given that this appeared to be a vrykul afterlife, but the interesting thing was that none of the remaining Valarjar warriors or mystics, and that included the larger more giant like members of their group, wanted to engage the group, rather they bowed their heads and wished all five of them well in their quest, almost like they knew that challenging them was a bad idea after witnessing Hymdall's defeat, and one was even willing to give them directions as to where to head next. According to the mystic the area they had been in previously was known as the High Gate, due to the fact that the portal between the Halls and Stormheim was at the end of it, and the mead hall that they were heading into was called the Hearth of Revelry, where the Valarjar and those that were raised into the Halls of Valor, like the Battlelords, would drink mead, share stories from when they were alive, and sometimes spar for a time, which would then be directed to another part of the realm if they really wanted to left off some steam, before he revealed the other directions that were in front of them. Off to the left rested the Seat of Ascension, which was where Eyir rested and usually performed a ritual to allow a shieldmaiden to become one of her Val'kyr, while off to the right rested a portal that would allow them to head to the Fields of the Eternal Hunt, an outdoor area where some of the greatest beasts rested for the Valarjar to train with, by either hunting them or directly hunting them, meaning they had an idea of where to find Hyrja and Fenryr, before revealing that the path directly in front of where they were standing, which was blocked by a magical barrier of golden energy, contained Ephemeral Way, the bridge that connected the Hearth of Revelry to the Hall of Glory, the latter being Odyn's seat, where the Aegis of Aggramar was said to rest.
Once they knew where they were going Spitfire thanked the mystic and headed for the Seat of Ascension, mostly because she wanted to make sure Eyir was fine and that she truly didn't harbor any hard feelings towards the mortal races for what Sylvanas tried to do to her, where the Valarjar cheered as they walked by where they were standing or sitting, showing that they knew what the group had done and that they were overjoyed by their efforts to remain true to the trials that Skovald had tried to break, before they reached a raised section of the Halls, one that looked more like the entrance, where it was easy to find Eyir on a platform at the top, with a number of mystics waiting nearby, along with two who seemed far more important than the others and the shieldmaiden that had to be Hyrja.
"Through great deeds of courage and valor, Hyrja has earned this most sacred of rites." Eyir stated, revealing to those that didn't pay attention to what happened in Stormheim that the lone shieldmaiden had done some incredible things in the past, before she ended up here, something that made her wonder if she had stood against Skovald and had been killed by the traitorous Fel-corrupted vrykul, before focusing on the honorable vrykul that was kneeling in front of her right now, to which Spitfire noticed a smile on her face, showing how pleased she was, "She shall ascend as one of my chosen Val'kyr, and her name shall echo in these gilded halls for all eternity."
"Are you nervous, Hyrja?" one of the two male vrykul asked, as the main pair of mystics that were standing near the altar that Eyir was on seemed to be male based on the looks of their bodies, where it seemed like the one who spoke was over on the right side of the area that they were standing in, even though Spitfire could see that they were in the final stages of the ritual that they had been working on, something that would allow Hyrja to ascend to being a Val'kyr, which would be a little interesting to witness given everything they had seen so far, "It is understandable if..."
"I am not nervous. Only... excited." the female warrior in front of Eyir answered, her tone revealing that she was excited by what was going on, basically confirming what she had just said, though she remained in her kneeling stance as she, along with both of the mystics for that matter, ignored the fact that the group was standing nearby, which was fine with Spitfire since she really didn't want to interrupt what was going on and potentially give Eyir a reason to be annoyed with them, as that would counter what happened earlier, before the warrior spoke up again, no doubt to say one more thing before the ritual got started, "All my life has led to this one glorious moment."
"Spoken like a true Val'kyr." the second male vrykul stated, his tone revealing that he was also pleased with what Hyrja had said and that they were eager to have her join the ranks of Eyir's Val'kyr, something that was clearly a tremendous honor for the vrykul that called Skold-Ashil home, or those that followed the teachings of Eyir, since Spitfire had no idea what sort of criteria led to such an event happening in the first place, though it was in that moment that he noticed that they weren't alone anymore, due to the group standing nearby.
"Mortal champions approach!" the first mystic declared, where it was clear that he and the other mystic were interested in what might happen next, especially after no doubt hearing about or seeing their deeds in Stormheim, though at the same time it drew Eyir and Hyrja's attention away from the ritual as they stared at the group for a few seconds as well, where it was easy to see that the former was pleased to see Spitfire and her companions while the latter wasn't too happy to have her big day interrupted in this manner, but Hyrja said nothing as she waited for something to happen.
"I witnessed their deeds in Stormheim, when they came to my Vault." Eyir said, though her tone made it easy for Spitfire to tell that she was definitely pleased with them and what they had done, meaning that she wasn't annoyed by the fact that they were here, no doubt also due to being told by Odyn that they would be challenging Hyrja and she might have had a chance to argue with the decision before eventually agreeing, before she beckoned to the group and drew the attention to them once more, which Spitfire knew had to be her and not the others, "One of them has a level of honor and virtue that I have not seen in the mortal realm for some time... Hyrja, I believe Odyn was right to have you challenge them when they arrived, however, the ritual is not complete. Champions, do you mind waiting for a few moments so Hyrja can ascend and become one of my Val'kyr?"
Spitfire nodded her head for a moment and patiently waited for Eyir and her mystics to finish what they were doing, which caused the rest of her group to do the same thing as the pair of mystics resumed their chanting or channeling the power that was necessary for Hyrja to ascend, while Eyir seemed to be doing roughly the same thing on her end, before a pillar of light enveloped the vrykul for a moment and then peeled away, revealing that Hyrja was now a much taller warrior with all of the attire of a holy Val'kyr, complete with the golden wings that all of Eyir's chosen seemed to have, before she stood up and jumped down into the area they were standing in, causing the mystics to remove themselves to give the group some room for their battle. Once more Spitfire found that she was who their foe wanted to focus on, where she felt that this had to be more like they were challenging her to witness her strength in battle and less due to the fact that she was the 'tank' of this group, but if that was the case she really didn't mind all that much, as it allowed her to focus on parrying the attacks that were coming at her, due to the fact that Hyrja thrust her spear at her while using her shield to block Spitfire's own attack, meaning they were basically exchanging blows before they separated from each other and landed with a small bit of distance between them, leaving the observers watching as Rainbow and the rest of her group remained off to the side, as even they knew this seemed more like a personal challenge at this point. Not even a few seconds later they rushed over to the middle of the area that was between them and clashed once more, their blades hitting each other as they parried any attacks that happened to bypass their guards, showing that they might be of equal power in their base states, as all of the Valarjar and the shieldmaidens knew of Spitfire's true power and Spitfire suspected that the chosen of Eyir was much stronger than she was letting on, so much so that when they separated from each other again Hyrja called upon the power she had been granted, the power of lightning and the Light as she took to the air, where Spitfire summoned her wings and her Fel energies as she transformed back into her demonic form and followed after her foe, where they took the battle to the skies above this section of the Halls of Valor. From there the two of them clashed with each other a number of times as they flew through the air, where Spitfire lashed out with her Fel and found that it was counted by the power of Hyrja's own Light based skills, but, at the same time, there was a distinct difference between their skills as Spitfire was above to take down and overcome all of the Light based attacks that were sent her way, as it appeared that Hyrja had no control over all of the lightning powers she had been bestowed, if she had any in the first place, and it wasn't long before she struck Hyrja right in the back and sent her down towards the Seat of Ascension.
Another thing that set them apart was that Spitfire had more knowledge and experience with her wings than Hyrja did, as they were brand new to the newly awakened Val'kyr and it appeared that ascending didn't come with instant knowledge on how to do something, and the battle ended with Hyrja landing with her back on the floor, where Spitfire landed on top of her and pointed her right warglaive down at her throat, like she would have if Hyrja had been a real enemy, while the left warglaive rested near her leg, ready to move in case her foe tried to attack her while she was doing this, since it was a viable option when she thought about it.
"I... I surrender." Hyrja said, her tone revealing that she might have been too eager for battle and that her desire to tackle Spitfire before she had a grasp of her new abilities, such as her lightning powers, had brought about her downfall, though that was followed by Spitfire dismissing her weapons as she removed herself from where she was standing, where she did extend a hand towards the Val'kyr, who smiled for a moment as she grasped it and took Spitfire's help in rising to her feet once more, something that was followed by her kneeling towards Eyir as she bowed her head, "Eyir, I am sorry that you were disgraced by my performance..."
"Nonsense, you fought well against Spitfire, even if it was too early for such a thing, and Odyn will be pleased with the brief fight you two had," Eyir replied, showing everything that she was pleased with Hyrja's performance and that she wasn't at all disappointed in her new Val'kyr, rather she believed that Hyrja did well when she considered just how strong Spitfire was when she channeled all of her power into a fight, something that made her wonder about Rainbow's power for a few moments, before she beckoned for Hyrja to rise as she faced the group that was standing nearby, "You have passed the trial that Odyn set for you, but Fenryr still stands between you and the Hall of Glory... good luck tracking down and beating him, as he is a true master of the wilds and you'll need all the luck you can get."
Spitfire nodded her head and wished both Eyir and Hyrja well, while at the same time reverting back to her base form as she and the others started to retrace their steps and head back to the Hearth of Revelry, where they found a number of the Valarjar toasting to them, apparently pleased with what they had done in Eyir's section of the Halls, before they passed by the golden barrier that would allow them to reach the Hall of Glory and headed over to an area that looked like it had a forest, a incredibly small one, growing around the circular area the path brought them to, which had a portal inside it that would take them to their next destination. It didn't take them long to use the portal and appear on the other side of it, as it moved everyone in the group over to the section of the Halls that had to be the Fields of the Eternal Hunt, where Spitfire could see that the name was correct due to the large amount of trees and vegetation that seemed to be scattered all over the place, where it appeared that they had been teleported to the side of a small hunting camp due to some traps and a few guns that had been left behind by the Valarjar that were in this part of the Halls, meaning the hunters had to be out in this area, looking for the prey they were hunting. From what Spitfire could tell there were deer grazing, a few storm drakes that actually flew down and tore into a deer that they had captured, where she and the others suspected that all of the food that was in the Halls never ran out, which had to extend to the animals that called this place home, and there were a few other animals, like some bulls and some wolf-like creatures that Vytheril revealed were worgs, but for the most part it almost looked like the Valarjar that were hunting in the Fields weren't interested in the other animals right now, leading her to believe that they were hunting Fenryr as well. While that would normally mean they would be in a competition with the Valarjar for the powerful worg, since she was sure that was what Odyn wanted them to do, she decided to take a few moments and find the group of Valarjar that were near them, mostly so she could take to them and see if they were more like the rest of the warriors that called the Halls home, as in she wanted to see if they might come to an agreement on the hunt that she and her friends would be interrupting so all of them could hunt Fenryr down, to share the glory and show the Lord of the Halls of Valor that they were ready to claim the Aegis.
As it turned out the Valarjar who were in the Fields, who happened to be off to the right of the main path that allowed the group to leave the camp they had appeared by, were more than willing to partner up with Spitfire and her friends, again most likely due to her nature and the fact that the Valarjar knew about her, even if she wasn't ruling out the fact that they knew of all their powers, before they heard a whine as a nearby trap went off, directly in the middle of the second camp the Valarjar hunters had set up, to which they beckoned for the group to follow them. What they discovered was that the creature they were here to hunt down and beat was a large worg that looked like it was incredibly powerful, with golden runes on his legs and possibly a scar over his right eye, with two or three spears sticking out of his back, meaning that he had either been hurt during one of the previous hunts and had healed in this manner or this was recent damage and it was caused by whatever traps the Valarjar hunters had set up for him, though the instant Fenryr spotted the group he growled and shuddered for a moment as he fought the restraints that came with the trap that his front right paw was stuck in at the moment. Not a few seconds later he broke out of the trap and rushed at them, where the Valarjar hunters took a moment to scatter and started loosing arrows at the beast, while at the same time Scarlet parried the incoming attack, as she used the Blades of the Fallen Prince to stall Fenryr in his tracks for a moment, allowing the rest of the group to take up their positions before lashing out at the mighty beast that they were here to fight, even though this time around it didn't look like Spitfire was the main target, which she was fine with. Once she pushed the worg backwards Scarlet and Fenryr rushed at each other and lashed out at their foe, blades meeting claws as the two pushed against each other, where it did look like the beast was ignoring everyone else that was around him as Vytheril blasted his sides and the hunters struck him with their arrows, something that was proven wrong a few moments later as Fenryr jumped around the area for a few moments and targeted them at random, causing them to dodge so they didn't get bitten by the beast, though the speed of which Fenryr moved was rather interesting, despite the fact that he wasn't as fast as Rainbow was when she used her full power against her enemies.
After a minute or two of fighting a losing battle, as it appeared that Fenryr realized that after a time, he howled and leapt out of the area that they were currently fighting in, though that only prompted the Valarjar hunters to follow him to a cave that seemed to be his home, where it looked like he was licking his wounds, before the enlarged group tackled the worg once more and drew him out of the cave he had rushed over to, only for him to howl and call forth a decent sized pack of worg that were nearby, basically him calling allies to fight the group once more, so he could focus on who he wanted to take down first. Spitfire and Rainbow did the smart thing as that happened and loosed their Eye Beams at the group that was rushing towards them, where they tackled the worg first and weakened them to the point where they ran off and left Fenryr to the fight that was going on, though once that happened the pair remained on their guard in case their foe tried the same thing again, leaving the rest of the group to tackle the mighty worg, mostly because it didn't look like neither of them were really needed at this point, so both of them remained on the defensive and kept an eye out for any allies that might be summoned to aid Fenryr. As it turned out the only skill Fenryr had left to use against them was to jump out of the area that he had been fighting in and rushed towards one of the group members, like he was fixated on knocking his target to the ground or something, though for the most part that failed as well when Scarlet got in the way and blocked his attack with her own, allowing the cold power that slumbered inside her to slow down the worg so Remeraa could back off and put some distance between her and Fenryr, something that also gave the Valarjar hunters a chance to close in on the beast and attack it with their melee weapons, be they swords, axes, or spears. In the end it didn't take them long to bring down Fenryr, who fell to the ground and whined in defeat, which caused the mighty warriors that had been hunting him to stop what they were doing, showing that they weren't here to actually kill the beast, even if he might just reappear after a day or two, before Scarlet and the others stepped down as well and sheathed their weapons for the moment, as it looked like they had succeeded in their mission to take down Fenryr and that meant, according to what Odyn told them, that they should be able to enter the Hall of Glory and claim the Aegis of Aggramar.
"Champions, you have done well in completing my trials and have earned my blessing." Odyn declared, showing them that he was pleased with what they had accomplished since arriving in the Halls of Valor, even though he had to be far more impressed by everything Spitfire and the others had done during their time in Stormheim, though the group remained as silent as they could be while they listened to the Ruler of the Halls, just in case there was another trial for them to tackle before being allowed to claim the Aegis and secure it before Skovald came looking for it, "I look forward to meeting all of you in the Hall of Glory, where your well earned prize awaits your arrival."
In that moment the group wished the Valarjar hunters well and headed back towards the portal that had brought them to this part of the Halls of Valor, where it took them a few seconds to teleport over to the main section of the Halls and found something interesting, the golden barrier was no longer in their way, to which they stepped forward and passed by a pair of tall Valarjar who also cheered for the group for a moment as a magical bridge formed between the edge of the area that they were now standing in and the entrance of the Hall of Glory, something that they walked on without delay, as the Aegis was close and they were eager to bring an end to this stage of their quest. Walking on the bridge transformed them into small balls of light energy that rushed towards their destination, where the spheres floated just above the bridge as they moved, though even as Spitfire noticed that she spotted a number of statues that rested to the right and left of the golden energy bridge, statues that looked like they were the heads of dragons, making her wonder what sort of importance it had for Odyn and those who lived in the Halls of Valor, besides being a reminder of the Thorignir of course, before she turned her attention to the large structure that they were heading towards, which had an opening that was both tall enough and wide enough for Odyn to walk through without any problems. Once they reached the end of the bridge the spheres faded away and the group was allowed to walk forward on their own again, to which they walked through the opening that was in front of where they ended up and entered the Hall of Glory, where they found that it was a decent sized area which did look like it might be an arena of some kind, in addition to a throne room given that Odyn was sitting on his throne, which was directly opposite of where the entrance was located, and resting near the Titan Watcher stood four vrykul, who might be some of the ancient kings, though none of them seemed ready for combat, meaning it was possible that Odyn knew that channeling them with another trial would be a waste of time and that they deserved to claim the artifact that he had been guarding since the day the Titans left it with him. With the Aegis in hand Spitfire and her friends would be able to return to Dalaran at long last, store the Pillar of Creation in a place that Khadgar would have likely prepared for them, and then see how the rest of the heroes were doing, even if Spitfire would be dealing with Sylvanas' madness before doing anything else or facing any additional foes, hence why she braced herself when she came to a stop near the throne and her friends did the same thing, as there was no telling what Odyn would say to them now that they had correctly passed the trials that he had placed in Stormheim and overcame the challenges that rested in the Halls of Valor.
"Normally I would make a challenger, or in this case a group of challengers, face four ancient vrykul kings in one last battle, to show off their skills, before calling an end to the trials... but, given everything I have seen, I only have this to say to all of you: to the victor go the spoils." Odyn said, where he sounded amused and pleased by what he had witnessed during their time in both Stormheim and the Halls of Valor, no doubt coming to the decision that he didn't need to test them anymore, though at the same time he raised his hand and magically deposited something on the floor in front of him, a shield that was clearly of Titan make and stood as stall as a human did, though it radiated power that made the group stop and stare for at it, even though they knew what this was and were pleased to have reached the end of the first leg of their quest to bring an end to the Legion's invasion, even though there was more they had to do to stop Sargeras and the rest of his foul army of demons, "The Aegis of Aggramar is yours for the taking, champions."
"Noooo!" a desperate voice stated, where the group turned around and glanced at the opening that allowed them to enter the Hall of Glory, though it wasn't long before they found Skovald, of all individuals, in the middle of charging up the magic path that connected this area to the rest of the Halls of Valor, no doubt so he could speak with Odyn and 'plead' his case to the Titan Watcher that had been guarding the Aegis since the day it was left by the Titans, something that didn't stop them from taking the artifact, before he eventually came to a stop in front of Odyn and faced the Watcher, even though he also glared at Spitfire's group for a few seconds as he focused on who he had come to talk to, "I, too, have proven my worth by completing the trials, Odyn. I am God-King Skovald! These mortal defilers are too cowardly to challenge my claim to the Aegis, so they seek to steal it from me in the most dishonorable way possible, and I would have what is rightfully mine returned to me!"
"The vanquishers have already taken possession of it, Skovald, as was their right." Odyn replied, though the group glanced at each other for a moment and knew that he had set this up to prevent the Fel-corrupted vrykul from getting his hands on the Aegis, that Odyn must have done something to make it so that the God-King was unable to enter the Halls of Valor for a time, until they had cleared his trials or something, while at the same time Spitfire determined that 'vanquishers' meant those that bested the trials, which made sense when she thought about it, but she said nothing since she figured Odyn had everything under control, "Your protest comes too late."
"If these false champions will not yield the Aegis by choice, then they will surrender it in death!" Skovald stated, though it was easy for everyone to tell that he was pissed, not that Spitfire, Rainbow, Scarlet, and Vytheril cared, since each of them knew what the vrykul had done and none of them were happy with him, with Remeraa being the only one that had no idea what was going on between them and their foe, to which he turned around and faced the group, which was when he took a moment to focus on Spitfire, who just so happened to be the one that was holding the Aegis right now, before raising his weapon once more, "Give up the Aegis, outsiders, or die where you stand!"
"Yeah, you aren't getting the Aegis." Spitfire remarked, though at the same time she shifted her stance and made sure that the Pillar of Creation was resting on her back, no doubt secured in that area due to some sort of magic and due to the fact that she had no experience with real shields while she was fighting enemies, so using both of her warglaives was the smart move for her to make at the moment, but in that moment Rainbow stepped forward and held her right hand out so it was right in front of Spitfire for a few seconds, who focused on her friend for a very brief moment before nodding her head as she took a step back and made sure that Vytheril, Scarlet, and Remeraa stood back as well, who were confused by what they were seeing at the moment and seemed to be waiting for her to explain what was going on.
Not a few seconds later Rainbow burst into the space between her and Skovald as she swung one of her warblades, which was to parry the incoming attack that was coming her way and stop her foe's greatsword in its tracks, something she had expected from the Aldrachi Warblades and what she knew of their history, before she pushed her foe backwards for a few seconds and spun around so she could use the second warblade to cut into the armor the Fel-corrupted vrykul happened to be wearing, though even as that happened Rainbow could see that Skovald must have ran off to Gul'dan or something, as his own Fel energy was much stronger than it had been when Spitfire fought him. Normally someone would be rather concerned by such a thing, that Skovald had more Fel energy inside him and that he was far stronger than he had been earlier, but Rainbow, much like Spitfire, had been trained to fight those who wielded the power of the Legion, especially those who were either demons or took on too much of the Fel energy and became demons themselves, and right now it was looking like Skovald might be half and half, as in half vrykul and half demon, though he had done a good job keeping all of the more serious transformations at bay and was still stuck with his horns and the Fel spikes on his left hand, but she knew that if he absorbed even more power he'd lose that battle and start shifting into a true demon, but she wasn't afraid of what she was seeing at the moment. Even though she knocked him backwards, and put some distance between them, Skovald didn't seem to understand what was going on and rushed at her with a bunch of Fel flames following him, though the flames meant nothing to Rainbow as she shifted into her lightning based demonic form and rushed forward to meet her foe in the middle of the space that was between them, though she did punch him in the chest and the power of what she had done knocked him even further backwards, turning his own momentum against him, even though he stabbed his greatsword into the floor to stop himself from losing too much ground, but once he stopped he glared at Rainbow as he readied himself for what he was going to do next. Once he was ready Skovald called forth a powerful storm of Fel fireballs that he called 'Ragnarok', an attack that seemed to be a total last ditch effort to take them all down, meaning he must have been concerned for his chances after witnessing Spitfire's power and now that Rainbow was just as strong as Spitfire was, well, it pushed him over the edge and cased him to go mental as he used all of his Fel power in that single attack, though as it happened Odyn used his own power to create a barrier around him and the rest of the observers, leaving Rainbow to deal with her foe as she used her lightning to blow up all the fireballs that were in the air.
Skovald, caught off guard by what she had done, stood there for a moment as Rainbow flashed through the air and swung her warblades once more, this time taking Skovald's head clean off and let it hit the ground not a few seconds after she did the same thing, where the vrykul's body hit the ground not a moment later and she waved her warblades at it, where the group watched as Skovald's Fel-corrupted soul was absorbed by her weapons, just like all of the other demonic and Fel-corrupted souls she and Spitfire had absorbed so far, and Skovald's Fel energy was added to her own, making her stronger than she had been before the battle started, even if Spitfire was still stronger than she was.
"Most impressive, Rainbow Dash!" Odyn said, revealing that he was quite pleased with Skovald's punishment, one that he felt was rather fitting given all of the crimes that the Fel-corrupted vrykul had committed since before the heroes came to the province of Stormheim, though at the same time he was clearly looking at the group that was standing before him, like he might be wanting something else from them, before he shook his head for a second, "All five of you are strong in your own ways, with some of you possessing a level of strength that I was not expecting to see from someone that isn't one of the Valarjar, not counting the three Battlelords that I have recruited for the war with the Legion, and after witnessing you in battle I have determined that I might seek you out for glorious battle at one point in the future, but for now I will return you to the city that you call Dalaran, to safeguard the Aegis of Aggramar... and, more importantly, to punish the one that sought to subjugate Eyir and her powers."
Spitfire smiled for a moment, because it seemed that Odyn agreed that Sylvanas was a danger to the world and that, after everything that he had seen during their brief time in Stormheim, he also agreed that she needed to be punished for what she had tried to do, and might have succeeded with her plans had Spitfire not arrived with the others when she did, hence why she was more than willing to head through the portal when Odyn opened it, as it was time to tell Khadgar the good news and then issue the challenge to Sylvanas, to expose her to the rest of the world and punish her accordingly, before turning their attention back to the Legion and its foul master.