Chapter 64: Quenched Embers

Looking at the half alive, half dead woman in front of him, Ember felt like his brain just short-circuited trying to understand how he could encounter two gods in a single day.

‘Why are both Fenrir and Hell so far away from Asgard and Midgard? How come I met them both in the same day I lost my host? Is Yggdrasil really playing games with me?’

Hel rested the live looking part of her face in the palm of her hand and smiled towards the small fire spirit. Since he could only see the dead looking part of her face, the smile ended up sending shivers down Ember’s soul.

“Goddess Hel, why are you so far away from you domain?” words blurted out of Ember’s mouth almost involuntarily, the entire situation inexplicable to him.

“Haha, ever since I met my sister I always wanted to know how living as a wolf felt like. How is it, little salamander, do you like my choice of a host?”

Ember could only nod mechanically in answer, her words flying right above his head. If he had a real body he was sure he would be sweating buckets right now.

Seeing that Ember was too terrified to even speak, Hel sighed and lifted her head from the palm of her hand. Her expression turning serious, she asked: “So, how come a high spirit is walking around in the material world offering itself to form contracts left and right? Has salamander gone crazy ever since his lover abandoned him?” she was able to see through Minx’s eyes that Ember has first entered Edward’s soul before proposing his deal to Minx so she thought he tried to make the same deal with Edward but was scared away by Fenrir.

Hearing Hel’s question, Ember didn’t dare hide anything and started rapidly telling her everything that happened ever since his mistress was attacked by the two human assassins.

“Oh? Interesting indeed…” muttered Hel as the story ended, a pensive look on her face.

“Goddess Hel, can you please let me out of this space? I promise not to bother either you or your sister again. I just want to return to my mistress side for the little time she has left in this world.”

“Don’t hurry, little salamander. What if I told you I can save your little dragon?”

Ember perked up and immediately prostrated himself on the floor as best as he could considering his form was that of a fire dragon.

“I beseech you, Goddess of Life and Death, please use your power to save my mistress.” He knew that even resurrecting her from the dead was not impossible for someone as strong as Hel and if he could gain her assistance her survival was assured.

Seeing that the fish bit the bait, Hel smiled once more and said: “Don’t be so quick to jump to a decision, little salamander. Since this is not my real body and just a small fragment of my power and will, saving your dragon will probably take all the power I have left. I don’t think it would be a good deal for me if I get nothing in return for this sacrifice.”

“Whatever you desire from me, just say it and it will be yours.” Replied Ember almost instantly. He knew that whatever price Hel would ask for won’t be low, but to save the companion he was in contract with for the last few thousand years was worth it.

“Quite eager to save your little dragon? Is she your lover or something? Well, no matter. Unfortunately, you have nothing of worth to pay me back. Since both my sister’s host and this one only use the water element, a contract with you will only be a hindrance for both of them. Your life is also worthless to me and I would never hear the end of it from Salamander if I absorbed your soul into my domain.”

Ember was starting to panic, realizing he indeed had nothing he could offer to Hel, but he knew she would not have proposed to save his mistress if she didn’t have anything in mind so he just waited for her to continue.

“That being said, while not useful to me, a dragon that has lived for thousands of years would for sure prove useful to my sister and helping Fenrir is the same as helping me…”. Hel let her words trail off at the end, but Ember already understood what she wanted.

“But I can’t make that decision for my mistress and I doubt she would ever agree to form a contract with a human after everything that has happened…”

Hel shook her head and said in a resolute tone: “Then I guess this is where out negotiation ends.” A small black rift appeared behind Ember and Hel continued: “You are free to leave then, send my regards to Salamander when you see him.”

“Please, Goddess Hel. I would find some other way to pay you back. Save my mistress, I beg of you.” Ember ignored the rift that just appeared behind him and begged Hel once more.

A bored expression appeared on Hel’s face as she replied: “Beg? I have no need for your begging. The reason I latched my fading will and this small amount of power to the wolf was to help my sister if she ever needed my support. There’s no way I will waste it on saving some random lizard just because you begged me to, not to mention that it might even stand against Fenrir in the future. Now, are you going to leave or do you prefer I send you out myself?”

Ember felt extremely frustrated, but he knew he had no way of forcing Hel to do anything she didn’t want to. Struggling for a moment, he made a decision and said with a resolute look: “I know of a way to convince her to accept the deal, but I have no way of speaking to her now since she’s unconscious. Can you please heal her first and I will make sure she keeps her end of the deal afterwards?”

“Deal. You should hurry and place my mark on the lizard’s body before it dies and I have to revive her. This will attract a world tribulation and I doubt she can live through that.” Hel smiled once again and her body turned into a circular black and white mark that hovered above Ember.

Edward had a bittersweet feeling rising in his chest but he knew that there was no going back on this deal or there will be hell to pay. He consoled himself with the thought that, at least, his mistress would survive this ordeal.

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Not willing to lose any more time, Ember flew right into the vortex behind him. As he appeared back inside the real world, he continued flying directly towards the south where Flastrdra’s body laid, covered in ashes. Hel’s mark continued hovering above Ember’s head like it had a mind of it’s own.

Passing through the layer of ash that covered the dragon’s body, Ember let out a sigh of relief at the fact that Flastrdra was still alive. Placing Hel’s mark on one of her wings, Ember watched as a layer of white light escaped the mark and started covering the dragon’s entire body.

Looking down at his barely corporeal body, Ember realized he would probably be sent to the spirit world before he had the chance to even tell Flastrdra about the deal he has made in her name. Terrified of what Hel would do if Flastrdra didn’t keep her part of the deal, he immediately started burning out his own soul to buy more time.

What Ember didn’t really expect was that, since Hel didn’t even have a fraction of her power left, the healing process took a very long time. As the white light covering Flastrdra’s body finally receded a few hours later, Ember was surprised to notice that her giant dragon body has now shrunk down to just under ten feet tall.

Flastrdra looked around confused for a while, she herself not understanding what was happening, when her eyes landed on a small flame that was hovering above her. Recognizing it was Ember instantly, she tried asking him what was going on only to realize she was not able to use her mana to project her words anymore. Trying to use the connection formed by their contract to communicate with him, she grew even more confused as she couldn’t feel their contract anymore.

“Mistress, I don’t have much time so please listen to what I have to say…” Ember proceeded in explaining what happened after he used her life force to attack the two humans. He explained everything that happened with Undine, Fenrir, Edward and at the end, the deal he has made with Hel for her to live.

A furious expression appeared in the dragon’s eyes, but Ember has already expected this reaction from her and continued: “I know I had no right to make this deal in your name, but would you really be alright to leave your child to fall in unknown hands? If he was not safe inside the dragon kingdom, how do you think he would fare once he falls into some human’s hands. This way, you will be able to at least continue watching over him.”

Seeing the fury in Flastrdra’s eyes slowly fading away, Ember continued: “This is very important. No matter what, please fulfill the end of the deal. Hel’s revenge is not something that would end with one’s death. Please promise me that you will keep the deal no matter what.”

The dragon looked reluctantly at the floating flame before eventually nodding in resignation. She didn’t know who the black wolf he had to make a contract with was, but she has heard old stories about Hel and knew she was the ruler of the realm of death.

“Thank you, mistress. You see, to make sure I could stay in this world to tell you the deal I have made, I’ve been burning my soul for hours and.. my time is reaching it’s end. There are many things I planned on telling you once you came back, but none of them seem to matter anymore. Please take care of yourself and your children.”

Flastrdra’s eyes clouded over and she moved closed to the small flame. She understood what burning your own soul meant especially for an immortal elemental spirit like Ember. He was basically trading his life for hers.

The mix of happiness at being alive to watch over her child and grief at losing her lifelong companion hit her at the same time and tears started leaving her pure red eyes.

“Goodbye, Flastrdra. I…” Ember’s words stopped there and the small flame disappeared into thin air.

Flastrdra fell to the ground powerless, wishing nothing more than to accompany Ember in the afterlife, but as her eyes fell on the egg to the side, she knew that was not really an option for her.

Running away from her home, risking her life in that final attack against the human assassins, everything she did up to now, she did it for her child. Ember as well, gave his life so that she could continue being with her child.

Raising her body slowly from the ground, she moved closed to her egg and started rubbing her head against it with tears falling endlessly from her eyes. Ember was now gone and this egg was all she had left. Now willing to think about the deal Ember has made right away and wanting to take some time to calm down, Flastrdra laid down next to her egg and continued silently crying her sorrows away.

—————

“She’s gone.” Exclaimed Fenrir with a sigh, a trace of melancholy deep inside her voice.

“I don’t understand, how did Hel ended up all the way here? The last time we saw her was near the village of Narva.” asked Edward. The moment Hel took Ember inside Minx’s soul space, Fenrir was able to feel her presence and let the others know about it.

“She must have remained dormant inside Minx’s soul ever since the revival. That idiot…”

“But why did she appear now?”

“I felt her using her power before disappearing again. If I had to guess, she must have helped that fire spirit in resurrecting it’s master. What I don’t understand is how did that fire spirit convince Hel to listen to him. Even if it was not the real Hel, I can hardly imagine even a small fragment of her will would do something that didn’t serve her interests..”

“We can only wait until the wolf recovers to find out…” said Edward with a sigh before returning to work on a new spell with Azure.

“I guess so..”

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