Date: Mörsugur 18th, 598. (Alt: 31st Dec, 598 AD.) Location: Götaland (Ancient Sweden.)
The sigil's restrictions involving mind and soul scanning are dissolved for this purpose, it glows a deep hue of aquamarine before flashing a single point of white.
Their memories, emotions and way of life were analysed and compounded in a single moment, everything involving their belief in oppressive dominance over others through fear and cultural dogma was displayed clinically, but not viewed directly by Heath.
He has seen enough already in his past to know of the type of people they would be. These pure algophilic narcissists forced others into the most deplorable acts for any sane mind, one could tell by the direct whitering of parts of their souls that followed Norse Religion. These four parts coalesced from the Hugr (mind / personality) towards our physical form of the Hamr and set in by the Megin and Hamingja that dictates how we view our reality through the body. (Which as you may guess, can work with the spiritual Fylgja.)
Their Hugr was solid, yet made of nothing. They had so few positive traits in themselves that they could not be visualised. A sad state for beings as powerful as them. But what mattered now was justice for so many they had killed, beyond the 17 skulls found.
With them existing through the centuries, they had amassed a death toll in the hundreds, less than would be expected of them, yet all have a 'high quality' to their method of dealing out slow, torturous methods before the victim's souls lose themselves. Because they do not just kill them, they make it so their souls would be lost, and possibly wander for eternity in a state much like purgatory. It was lucky no Haugbuar or Draugar had spawned from their terror and attacked all living creatures from the blighted anger and grief of the deceased.
"There is also child abandonment in the charges, it seems they have a short weaning cycle of a few years before leaving, like seals?" 'Makes sense why they would have trauma then, no knowledge of survival and few instincts leading to starvation, then ingrainment.'
"Is a quick death a suitable punishment?" Heath asked the sigil, which responded negatively. "Is a painful death needed?" Also a negative. "Do I allow their souls to reach their respective afterlife?" Negative, but lighter in feeling. "*?*" Heath was now confused.
He believed not putting them in contact with their deity-like Spiritual Queen after death was cruel, as their short existence in Ginnungagap would be a pain beyond realities from what Brijga has said. "Soul dissolution?" A positive response and a warm glow.
Those who were awake? They stayed silent. These were not people who chose to learn Norse, only those who were scouts and 'diplomats' did such 'menial' tasks in their eyes. Yet the tenseness was finding itself throughout them all.
While his family and friends were not watching, he brought back the 8 that had died that were still on their journey to their afterlife, all 39 first went through an incredibly quick soul purification as the first process, purging any and all traits involved with their Hugr, leading to total personality erasure. With there being no Hugr, the other parts of the soul could not function, as the Hamr would have gone into the aether around them. But before any had a chance to dissolve, Heath absorbed this leftover energy, leaving only the corpses behind.
Just as they were watching him, their eyes dulled and relaxed, and their bodies turned limp. Quick, painless and their energy has been repurposed for Heath's growing power, a major jump as well, about a 1/5th extra. Add a 5 and rounded, about 3720 / 1 of the way.
So many times stronger than his old self that a single flick of his magic could overpower himself just a few weeks ago, but the logarithmic growth he believed would occur did happen, it took a growing material cost and 39 powerful souls to increase it from 3096 / 1. If he were to do a full strength attack in comparison to knocking down 3 fully grown oak trees in a single punch with a quarter of his strength, now he can destroy a small forest of 44,460+ trees in 1 attack. Or 45 Hectares if following minimum natural oak tree population densities.
Heath tried to calculate it further, putting a major section of his mind into overdrive, mostly to avoid the continuous guilt he feels at taking lives while removing any and all chance at finding 'peace.' But he understood they never deserved it, it will take time to heal is all.
If put into lifting something? The average density of oak is (720.0000-kg / m^(3) (≈ 44.9482-lb / ft^(3.)) Following between the 20 and 40-m height, it would be ≈ 92.8190-Model m (30-m) (98.4252-ft) 1 oak tree of the European type is (250.1707-US tons) (223.3667-Long tons) on average. Now times that by the value of a minimum of 44,460, it is (11,122,587.2914-US tons) (9,930,881.5102-Long tons.) Which equals to 22(.5702) Burj Khalifas, the tallest man-made structure in the world.
HE IS STRONG NOW. Though nowhere near enough to reach Þórr's estimated strength from Chapter 20 at (917,057,769,567,420,160.0000-US tons) (818,801,579,970,910,848.0000-Long tons.) Yet Sigrid and Leif were able to almost subdue him with the cursed weapons.
Heath now realises these weapons he has made are nowhere near the quality and craftsmanship as Andvari's, while they can pierce any known material, who knows what tricks the God of Thunder may have. 'I may need a tutor to reach this level.' He felt a headache? Soul ache? Building on. Yet he liked this challenge, either way. He collected the bodies, completely emptied them of their organs (which was necessary to mummify them.) Completely desaturated and disinfected them for them to be encased in oak resin.
He solidified and recreated the structure to become a perfected amber solution. Then, he placed copper beams at the four corners of this cuboid to run runes, with the intention of keeping it ever-repairing. With both being orange-coloured, it worked thematically.[1]
He also uses a major portion of his magic to create the soul-mimics from he talked about in Chapter 23, sending them in as replacements for the souls that have been brought back, so none of the Pantheon that reside over life and death recognise it. It took only a few moments as luckily it was few that were stopped midway from their travel, he sends them through quickly in case the Spiritual Queen was a keen one, then absorbs leftover copper to replenish what he has lost to not appear he has used much magic to the others.
"It looks too lifelike, the way that I have made them permanently maintained." Heath mutters to himself, worried that these bodies that look like they are only sleeping would scare the others. But he pushed it down and would deal with it once the time comes.
Their bodies were now perfectly preserved, unable to rot or wither away while under the preview of every person to see this once great enemy of mennskr. With no one else around to have seen his work, he walks out and returns to his gaggle that is still by the 4 recovering people. "They have been dealt with." Heath responds in great macabre. "How did you?" Gorm asks, almost murmuring. "By destroying their souls, never giving them a chance at the afterlife." Heath's explanation was met with stares, between understanding and awe in look.
"You are powerful enough to destroy the immortal soul?" Leif asks, remembering the time they faced their spears at him the first moment they met. "I would not do it to those that are innocent, this was an absolute necessity, sadly." Heath puts his head down, self-scrutinising.
They sat there in silence, watching as the breath of those they saved rise and fall. At the same time, Egill notices that the Auto Heath had asked to bring in soup and drink come around. "That is good, we will wake them soon. It would be better hot than cold for their recovery." Heath passes and places it upon the nightstand in post of the luxurious bed. "We will do the same for the 3 other connected rooms, they have not reported back, so I assume they are alright." Heath walks out to do as said, but is stopped by Hervor grabbing his arm.
"What is wrong?" Heath questions without turning back. "Thank you. Heath, thank you." Hervor says in partial choking. He turns around now, giving a compassionate stare before hugging her, then nods ahead to Gorm, Leif and Sigrid. "It would be best for me to go."
He lets go now and repeats this process per individual room. He then stands in the hallway, and uses his voice in a tone that could be heard in all rooms at once without waking any of them up. "They would be scared seeing unknown faces, it is best for each of you to give them the news of what has happened over the past few months. I will be seeing if the deers' accommodations have been well." He and Valyria walk off together towards the floor above, where they are situated in a comfortable space in the middle of the structure.
It seems they sleep in the rooms surrounding the central portal chamber, almost congregating like a small neighbourhood. Heath and Valyria ambled through to meet the 269 deer, who as soon as they saw them walk through, immediately swarmed them.
They acted like iron filings to a magnet, piling on for what felt like dear life to them. For their creator was here! They spoke over each other so badly that it sounded like the droning of a video game amusement park's ambient noise. "QUIET!" The Doe's mate commanded, and all listened to him as he was higher on the totem pole of their community than most. The Doe, her mate, her mother and her sister all walk ahead now and then stop. Their heads were about to droop in respect before they stopped themselves, straightening up again.
"It is nice to see you again, Saviour. Have you come to follow your promise?" The Doe's tail wags extremely, her voice overly excited. "Yes, I have come to give you all names." Many in the background SCREAM in delight before a hand is raised by The Doe's mate.
"Before that, how have you all been? And had you enjoyed your stay at your new abodes?" Heath asks them, and all look between each other. "We wish to stay here." Hearing this, Heath clenched his jaw slightly. "Of course, though, does it mean there are things you wish to be better as well to make your stay more comfortable?" He sounded like a hotel manager at this point. "Everything here, from the accommodations to the servicing is perfect. There are no changes needed." All their tails were wagging, and they were holding their bleating.
"Then let us begin with the naming! You." Heath points at the Doe. "Will start first in line." They quickly do so, following his instructions to a T. And all are named according to modern Italian and Greek conventions, having strong meanings and representations to character.
The Doe's name? Sophia, meaning wisdom and intelligence, the father? Arcangelo, the mate? Agostino, not using Augustus when the Byzantine Empire still exists. The mother? Phoebe, meaning bright and radiant, the sister? Eleanor, meaning shining light. The females are Greek. The males are Italian, and a list of 200 individual names per gender will be listed on a board and their meanings for their use in the future. He also gave them middle names through random character strings that produce tonable conjugations of 1 to 5 syllables.
Except for Sophia's line, her family was named after his mother's maiden name, Nitya. "Good, that took a few hours, but it was worth it." Heath held out his hands in closed palms, Phoebe and Eleanor did not understand at first. "Hold your hands below them." He guided.
They do so, keeping out an outstretched hand, and Heath made appear where it was hidden in his sleeves two necklaces. Both made of silver and having the emblazoned N upon it in gold, as that was the surname they had wanted to when he was thinking of them. He moved on and gave them to Sophia, Agostino and Arcangelo as well. They stared at it with no expression on their face at all, untellable by mennskr, yet their souls told the story of how over the moon they were. *'A present, from the Saviour?!'* Was the general gist of it.
"Put it on, please." They followed Heath's instruction, and it fit upon their necks perfectly, not snagging upon any of their fur while also appearing stylish. "Click the letter on the emblem." He points towards them, they do so and a sudden development of armour was created!
Just the same as the other runic plate mail, (except made with the CrCoNi alloy and hidden copper.) Heath, Valyria and Yufren set off to a task on creating them from the dimensions he remembered, and it seems they were a perfect fit. The joints worked as intended, and the extended armet helmet allowed for a great deflection of blows when they came to pass. More of the hilts have not been made yet, but they are in the works. All of them look at their arms in wonder as they see themselves covered in a masterpiece of design and engineering.[2]
"No, no, no-" Sophia kept on telling herself. "This is too muuh~h-." She sounded so happy th- and she passed out. Like Asdos, Heath caught her in time and set her down gently in his arms. "It is twice now I see friends do that." Heath quipped to help the rest destress.
That had the opposite intended effect, however. "We are so, so sorry for that, Saviour!" Agostino comments on deferral and self-punishment, he kneeled when asked not to, which Heath stops him mid-way. "It is okay! No need to wallow when I know this is expected. Just wait for her to reawaken, then we will do the rest, eh?" Heath falls back into old speech habits now that he feels more comfortable and less stressed with the threats of the Dökkálfar dealt with. Yet he still has that niggle in his mind about the Æsir.
They walk along until they reach his and Sophia's room, she is put upon the bed gently and tucked in after her armour is retracted by pressing the front yet again. "I wish to have people to be by my side, as with my growing power, my apotheosis would be lonely." He exclaims.
"So act normal, I ask you." Heath rubbed his shoulders until he felt his tenseness start to go down, he looks back towards the rest of the group and saw them still in reaction. "Do you remember how the Villagers treated me in my tale. With their trust and veneration?" He asks. They nod, as they watched how they worshipped him beyond reason, which he in the story reacted negatively towards them as shown in a third-person perspective. However, they did not have enough self-awareness or body language understanding. Yet, Heath continued.
"Treat me closer to the Völsung. Respectful, but not overbearing, no Godlike being likes continuous praise unless it is tradition, or has a large, yet fragile ego. Is that not right, kid?" Heath looks towards Valyria. "Seems about right, Papa." She nods.
Yet he forgot that they also saw how the Völsung clan were planning marriage and gift prospects, even joining in many of their conversations during the show of the battle how they would praise his every move in clear gloating of "See what our ally and new family can do!" Which pushed Heath's point to dangerous territory. "Call for help if needed, provide help when wanted." Heath persists. "'You watch my back, I watch yours.' Is a phrase that best suits me, I made your backs and arms for equal measure." He scritches the head he holds.
Agostino perceived it as him trying to clean him, which had this same mentality subconsciously spread throughout the entirety of the now-swarming mass. A final nail in the coffin is put in by his next sentence.
"You are all as close to family as any other, and I saw so much potential in all of you. A capability that only needed a little nudge in the right direction." Heath sees some of their souls react in a confused manner. "Have we reached it?" Arcangelo asks, his ears flat against his head, yet still hearing his every word. "You have exceeded it by such a large margin that my original goal feels trivial." Heath gave a grandiose commendation to them, which he felt was entirely true. Their tails stop swishing, and Heath worries they felt that he was lying.
"Is everything alright?" Heath asks them, but they give such piercing eyes while facing their heads forward that he checked them with his magic, their hearts were beating faster, and their muscles were activating en masse. 'Oh no.' "Kid." Heath mouths to Valyria.
"Run." They jogged back into the room. *STAMPEDING NOISE* All the deer ran to them at a dashing speed that would have drowned out any and all other noise in the vicinity. Heath and Valyria go through the portal to reach the portal connected to the south of the Cavern. From corridor to rooms, to random locations to the campsite, they ran as if their innocence depended on it, Heath could tell from their souls it involved something purely loving, yet he felt their vitriol was something that should be toned down with the way they ran.
It obviously had not, the deer continued chasing, some of the younger ones seeing it almost as a game that they enjoyed partaking in, almost like tag, except the prize was a tongue scrubbing for Heath and Valyria that the chasers would enjoy gifting.
"OUTTA THE WAY!" He ordered in English, which caused the people to react by running to the sides of where Heath was facing. They spilt out like a colosseum's vomitorium and rushed towards them at a fanatical frenzy. "I NEVER MADE THEM THIS WAY, WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS?!" Heath said, as he could not hear his thoughts with the wind blowing in his face at how fast he is sprinting. They do so for a few Model minutes until they notice the deer starting to tire out. 'Having infinite endurance is a blessing.' They switch to a jogging pace.
3 more minutes, and the deer have finally stopped running, but are instead at a crawling step. Heath and Valyria pause before walking back towards them. This caused them all to then collapse in exhaustion, but they were still awake to talk.
"I felt your emotions and how reactive you were, but did any of you need to mob us?" Heath questioned Eleanor in Norse again, who was at the head of the stampede due to her greater agility and athleticism. "I wanted to*HUFF*groom you.*Breath in*My guess is the same for all." Heath squinted his left eye. "Think of consent and ask, then? WE WERE IN A PART OF THE BUILDING THAT HAD NO ROOM!" He yelled, which caused the deer to lower their heads in apology, yet they all still had their reverie from the compliment Heath gave.
"Can we?" The Eirikr-like deer, now named Faustino, asks. "Yes. See? That was not so hard." Heath went to them to speak in a more normal voice. "But not here. I would rather do it somewhere more private, like at the top of the right tower, opposite to the one we were in."
Heath thus waited for all of them to reach a normal state. "Follow me, and we will do it there. Will that help all of you calm down?" He saw all of them nod at about the same severity. They each get up and follow him in a crowd to the top, in an entirely isolated room, where it would be alright for them to start this cleaning and bonding session. He then sat down, the closest of them, which was Elissa, one of the stronger does who had helped build the original wall of their hoof-made home, came and lays flat upon the hard, smooth yet warm concrete flooring.
"I understand all of you show your love through cleaning family and friends you care for, but nothing below my waistline." He slid the tunic off, showing his well-developed, hyper-wide-shouldered strongman build. He folded it into a neat, creaseless development.
"And keep it neat, please. If you break this trust, no more grooming!" He raised a pointed finger at them as a show of how serious his boundaries were. Heath saw it as awkward and incredibly humiliating, but it was not their fault, the deer were only doing what was asked and how their original instincts beckoned them. He simply tried to picture it in a different frame of mind, like how the Japanese would have their sansuke and yuna, but instead with. . . Tongues. 'I should have never asked them to act normal.'
He did not put it into his face or soul, but internally he felt vindicated. She started cleaning him just as she would originally with her lover Clodoveo, starting by using her hands gently to partition the beard off of his neck and starting to lick close to the jugular area.
That is until she notices a notched scar by the base of the neck that runs up to the third occipital nerve, barely noticeable by most people of normal height, while hidden under clothing or armour. "How did you get this?" Elissa queries, both curious yet worried. Heath had not told anyone of this part of his past to anyone here yet. It appeared in reds and pinks, as if it were still in the healing process. Frozen in a state that was much like how one would have a permanent tattoo. But the only thing the deer recognised was a fresh wound.
"I would rather not." Heath stated, not wishing to share the history just yet of why he put the scar there in the first place to match his home realm's original marking. "And Valyria." Heath sees her standing around awkwardly while being gazed upon by all the other deer.
"While this is purely friendly, you do not need cleaning. How about you meet Uncle Agnarr and Aunt Hervor? They should be by Loyís' bedroom." Heath says about the right direction, and with her trust in the deer Heath created as they are now, she leaves to meet them. 'This will take a while.' Heath internally muttered while Elissa began cleaning him again, making sure to provide greater care for the area she saw as vulnerable. Some deer comment in the background, for what sort of battle Heath may have been in for him to have gotten it?
At this point, it did not truly matter as it was only symbolic, but it was based on one from his brother, when he saw him at the hospital. He pushed that memory away, not fully ready to face it. He turns his head to the side for an easier angle of cleaning, feeling the licks across.
Every other deer waited their turn and watched as she cleaned. *'I can do better than that.'* Many of them had such thoughts.
[1] ᛟ (Heritage / Estate Rune,) ᚾ (Need / Hardship Rune,) ᛃ (Year / Harvest / Earth Rune) and ᚷ (Generosity / Gift / Spear Rune.) To self-replicate and repair if damage is done, and for no coalition of soul magic to effectively alter any part in it.
[2] ᛉ (Protection / Shield / Elk,) ᛇ (Yggdrasil / Yew Tree / Dream Rune,) ᚱ (Horse / Ride / Journey / Thor Rune,) ᛟ (Heritage / Estate Rune,) ᚾ (Need / Hardship Rune,) ᛗ (Man / Human / Self Rune,) ᚠ (Cattle / Livestock / Wealth Rune,) ᛖ (Horse / Twin Forces Rune,) and ᚨ (Odin / Inspiration / Wisdom Rune.)