Chapter 143 - Time Up!

A strong light was shining brightly in the middle of the Firemane mead hall. The place was in a total chaos.

*ROAR*

Strong roars of fire colored serpentine spectral beings sounded all over the hall.

"Do you even know what is that?" Amidst the chaos, two women were having a discussion in loud voices to hear each other.

"I don't know! They look like... Dragons!" Nurina was confused.

"Dragons? This is impossible!" Jenna replied.

"These are not dragons... Dragons are larger." Jonrad's voice replied to them.

Indeed it is! What was causing chaos in the middle of the Firemane mead hall were some strange dragon-like specters that caused a fire to burn the tables and the furs around the center.

If Jon saw these creatures, he would hold his head and scream saying "Fire Wyrms!"

Fire Wyrms are Dragon headed, lucid, serpentine, fire elemental creatures of magic. The only appear when someone is brutally killed by Dragon Fire. In the game, the player would have the ability to conjure them by killing people with Fire Shout.

Right now, a swarm of these creatures was swarming in a vortex in the middle of the hall.

"Jonrad, Keep these things from attacking us, DAMMIT!" Jenna was struggling to break through the vortex.

"I AM TRYING!" Jonrad was struggling to break through and protect the ones around him as his body is immune to fire, yet he was having difficulties.

"Gah! Where are all these things are coming from?" Sigurd was supporting Jonrad.

"I don't know! KEEP those kids away." Tormund was trying to take control of the chaos.

"NO! LET GO OF ME! I WANT TO GO TO JON! HE NEEDS ME!" Jullanar was screaming while being pinned down.

"Get your self together, girl! Bjorna, keep her from killing herself." Skadi who pinned Jullanar down called Bjorna.

"Mother, Alina has fainted!" Bjorna was supporting Alina who has fainted

"Leave her to me, sis." Ingrid, Skadi's second daughter, took Alina from Bjorna.

"Someone stop that black beast!" Njord who was helping Tormund shouted while pointing at a large black feline that was raging around.

"On it!" Hafthor and some other boys started chasing after Nefertiti in her beast form.

The tension in the hall couldn't be stopped but it was somehow contained. No one could manage to stop that kind of chaos anyway.

"We are through!" Jonrad shouted.

"I am goin..." Jenna was about to speak.

"No! I will be the one going in. I can calm him down." Nurina took a step ahead of Jenna.

"This is dangerous, Arch-Wizard... but I will... I will leave it to you. Please, return my children safe." Jenna hesitated and spoke in a soft voice.

"Yes, I know! Any helpful advice, please!" Nurina was impatient.

"Anytime now, ladies!" Jonrad who was keeping the gap in the vortex of Fire Wyrms open could only shout for the ladies to hurry up.

"I am not sure about it but Jonhild's mind is so strong. It overwhelmed Hilda who has a thick skull. I am not sure if this is helpful but be careful." Jenna said.

"Thank you! I am going." Nurina said and jumped through the Fire Wyrms.

At that moment, the vortex intensified and the light shone brighter and brighter.

Wulfur, who was trying to break through the vortex with his bare hands, got a lot of burns and was pushed back.

Nefertiti, who activated her beast form without Jon's permission, was held down by Hafthor and Vilkar. When the vortex shone, her blue eyes widened and her long ears flattened against her head.

Jullanar, who was being carried from her waist by Bjorna, was struggling with her arms and legs to jump into the vortex.

Alina, who fainted due to accumulated exhaustion and mental fatigue once the incident occurred, regained her consciousness and opened her eyes to see the bright glow that shone all over the hall.

Once it reached a glow equivalent to the sun and everyone started to look away, it started to die down rapidly.

Everyone noticed the change and looked at where the vortex was to see it became no more.

They all gathered to see what's going on.

In the center, a pit that seemed to have been carved in the stone floor appeared. No one really bothered with the pit as it was always since the construction of the place.

The pit was filled with snow all year and it was an enchanted snow. On it, few circles were drawn with blood. No one bothered with that too, they were always there.

However what everyone was about to go mad about was Jon, Hilda, and Nurina who all were lying unconscious in the middle of the pit.

"They... they are stable!" Jenna who checked on them announced to the people around.

"....." Silence took over and everyone's faces turned calm.

Not everyone was calm though. Jonrad was worried to madness, Sigurd was patting his shoulder, Tormund was closing his eyes trying to calm down too.

It was just silence...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Two hours ago]

"Boy, you are a thousand years too early to be a suitable fit for my Alina. Come here and don't make me angry."

"Old man, you are four years away from having a Dragonborn shouting you all over the place. Go away and don't trigger me."

"Hehehe! Jonrad's kid is even more annoying than Jonrad himself..."

"And a hundred times more handsome than both of you combined."

"Hey, Jonrad! Deal with that kid of yours." And now he is calling for Jonrad.

"Shut up! Deal with him yourself." Jonrad was laughing while he scolded Sigurd.

"Yeah! Don't go call for Jonrad when you can't deal with me. He can't deal with me himself!" Jon said.

"So that is it, huh? I don't care if you can bring out three magical Elder Scrolls or if you can breathe fire like that fool Jonrad but it will never qualify you for a single hair from Alina's head."

"Careful, Jon! He dotes Alina a bit too much." said Tyr who was behind Jon.

'So it was it... A daughter-con, huh!' Jon thought to himself.

"Shut up, Tyr!"

Sigurd glared at Jon and they unleashed their Auras at the same time. Sparks was forming in the air just from the clash of Auras.

Alina who was in the middle was looking left and right not knowing what to do in this situation.

A new battle was about to begin...

"That's enough father."

...or not.

"Alina, I..."

"It's okay, father! Senior, thank you for helping me out." Alina regained her composure and the situation calmed down.

"Your welcome, Alina." I smiled and nodded. He then looked and Sigurd and smiled, "I shouldn't have offended Patriarch Sigurd... I mean father-in-law like that. I am sorry about that just now."

"... Over my dead body." Sigurd was mad.

"Thank you, Senior!" Alina turned around and took Sigurd away.

"Humph!" He snorted as if he was winning something here.

"Tch! Good grief." Jon cringed at Sigurd when he turned back.

The place returned as quiet as before again it was much easier now.

Wulfur sat beside Jon and poked him then winked... not him alone, everyone else was winking.

"Sigh!" Jon didn't know what to do so he sighed and smiled while shaking his head.

Tormund stood up and talked once again. He started saying some few words of how amazing the performance was and how mighty Alina's future will be. These words were to put some peace of mind for those who got affected by Alina's eye power.

Jon still wanted to talk to her about that be he saw her setting beside Hilda while the later was handing her a drink to calm her down.

"Now, let's see... who's next?" Tormund asked.

"Frejya! Let's finish this once and for all. Who takes less time wins." Hafthor was as competitive as ever.

"Give me a break! You'll never win." She said with a tired face.

"Old Man! I'll go first. Someone brings an hourglass." Hafthor started a competition anyway.

An hourglass was brought. Jonrad and Njord also came with two long sticks that had hocks in their ends, they then went to the wooden center of the hall and hocked the sticks to some fits in the ground and pulled. The wooden center that was shaped as a circle came up with their pull and a pit appeared under it. It was filled with snow and had a lot of runic circles drawn with blood on it.

Hafthor jumped down first and stood at the center.

"Hurry up, father! The potion."

Heimdall also followed Hafthor and gave him a flask.

This is a spirit drink mixed with the 'Ice Wraith Essence' too. Something strong that caused the mind to sway.

Hafthor and Heimdall drank it and then lied down on the snow

A few seconds later, they passed out and the wait began. Valkir was looking at the hourglass impatiently while counting the minutes.

Seventeen minutes later, Heimdall woke up an helped Hafthor to stand. He then announced, "The Wolf!"

Everyone around applauded.

"Father!" Frejya came down followed by Njord.

The same thing happened and it took Frejya fifteens minutes too finish. Njord carried her and announced, "The Hawk!"

It was another applaud. The one who was clicking his tongue was Hafthor.

Forseti and Ragnar went down and Ragnar finished even faster than Frejya. Forseti announced, "The Snake!"

Vilkar and Vali went down and Vilkar woke up in almost half an hour while coughing blood.

This was a sign of a failure. Vilkar encountered the bear and it was stronger than what he could take.

Jenna kept healing him.

It was a bit of a sad sense but it wasn't unusual. Every year it happened one or two times.

Everyone started calming down Vilkar who wanted to jump back again at the pit and beat the bear up. The problem is... beating the bear up wasn't the way to get acknowledged.

Meanwhile, someone approached Jon from the back.

"Let's go now, Jonhild." That was Hilda.

"Okay."

When Jon approached the testing pit, everyone one started to pay attention. Jonhild is the son of Jonrad after all. If another dragon appeared then the Firemane clan's strength will reach another height.

Jon felt the snow once he stood on the pit. It was bone freezing

'This snow is indeed enchanted!' He thought and started studying the magic circle with interest.

"Hurry up now and I'll tell you about it once we get out." Hilda, who followed him, said as she knows his bad habit of spacing out once he sees magic.

"Okay! The drink..." Jon extended his hand.

"Here... Cheers!"

"I am doing drugs with my mother now... well, Cheers!"

"Next time, let's try some Skooma!"

"How funny! To the center, charmer."

Jon and Hilda teased each other and took position on the circle.

"I want you to be calm and think of something happy while you are in there. Don't forget... the Mind Realm is not an easy place but it's your mind in the end. I'll be watching from the side and you may see my shade and hear my voice."

"Yes, ma!"

"Remember... something happy."

"I am seeing a lot of happy things anyway." Jon said as he was looking at Alina and Jullanar who stood beside each other on the edge of the pit.

"Hehe! See you on the other side then." Hilda laid down on the central circle.

"See you." Jon responded to her and laid down inside the circle.

He looked the sailing and felt drowsiness then it all darkened around him.

Next thing he knew was standing in a black space with a metallic sound ringing around him.

--<<Six Hours have passed! Game's Time Up!>>--

--<<Logging Out...>>--

Light shone on his eyes...

He could feel the brightness of the glowing florescent lamb on the ceiling through the transparent glass of the headgear on his head.

A voice called for him from the side.

"Rise and shine princess! Fatty brought some Pizza and Cola... and I want my damn turn." Four-Eyes was standing on the door of the room crossing his arms.