The frost had thickened. The silence deepened.
Eiríkur stood over the coffin of Hjalgrím the Bound — its surface rippling faintly with old power, its chained runes wrapped like serpents around the frozen warrior beneath. A mask of blackened bone and rusted steel hid the face within.
Eyes that had not opened in centuries still seemed to watch.
"What happens if I take it?" Eiríkur asked quietly.
Yoshimura stood beside him, hands folded behind his back.
"You don't take it," the old man said. "You let it in."
Eiríkur's fingers flexed.
"And what does it want?"
Yoshimura's eyes glinted in the blue lantern light.
"To finish what death interrupted."
Eiríkur closed his eyes.
The wyrd twisted in his blood like a coiled storm. But he did not resist.
He placed his palm on the ice.
The runes ignited instantly — glowing a deep, pulsating blue. Frost curled up Eiríkur's arm, searing into nerves, etching new scars across flesh that had already forgotten warmth.
His heart stopped.
His breath was stolen.
And then—
He fell.
Into snow.
The Vision
A field of ash and corpses stretched into infinity.
Crows circled overhead like shadows without masters. Broken spears jutted from frost-stained earth. The wind howled in tongues older than language.
In the center of it all stood a figure carved from ruin:
Hjalgrím.
His skin was pale, cracked like dry earth. His furs were soaked with ancient blood. His helm was a hollow mask of iron, rimmed with runes no scholar could read.
"You seek my strength," the dead warrior boomed.
"But you carry mercy."
Eiríkur stepped forward through the snow.
"I carry choice," he answered.
Hjalgrím raised a sword forged from obsidian frost, a weapon too heavy for mortals.
"Then choose," he growled."Bind yourself to the old ways — or forge your own."
Eiríkur didn't answer with words.
He placed his hand over Hjalgrím's chest.
The mask cracked.
And the world shattered.
Vættir-Memory — The Ghost-KnowingEiríkur can now access the memories of ancient Draugr — through dreams, blood resonance, or moments of deep trauma. These memories reveal lost ghoul history, battle strategies, and prophetic fragments hidden in ancestral wyrd.
Side Effect: During emotional strain or physical weakness, Draugr spirits may manifest as hallucinations — sometimes as guides. Sometimes as invaders.
Elsewhere: CCG Containment Division 3
The interrogation room smelled of disinfectant and silence.
Akira sat in the center, hands cuffed behind her back, wrists raw against the restraints.
Amon stood across from her.
He wasn't angry.
He was something worse.
Betrayed.
"They found your meeting logs," he said, tone flat. "A signature near him. Emotional surges in your proximity. You didn't cover your trail."
Akira didn't answer.
Amon took a slow step forward.
"Say something. Tell me you were manipulating him. Using him. Tell me it was all protocol—"
His voice faltered.
He couldn't say the rest.
Akira looked up. Calm. Clear.
"I saved him. More than once. And yes—" she paused. "I care."
Amon's jaw tightened. "You're protecting a creature that kills to live."
She met his eyes.
"I'm protecting someone who kills less than we do when we follow orders without thinking."
He said nothing.
But the weight in the room shifted.
"You know the punishment," Amon said finally.
"I do."
She smiled faintly — tired, not defiant.
"But you won't pull the trigger."
His fists clenched. "You don't know that."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"I do."
Eiríkur woke in a cold sweat hours later — breath ragged, body trembling.
His skin shimmered faintly in the dark.
Runic scars now crossed his ribs like spectral tattoos, still glowing with the last echoes of Hjalgrím's will.
The wyrd inside him… was quiet.
But something else had taken its place.
Ascream.
Not of pain.Of calling.
He stumbled to the drawer Akira had once locked, prying it open with frozen fingers.
The burner phone she had left behind blinked softly.
No messages.
Just one audio file.
He pressed play.
Her voice.
"If they take me, don't come.That's not your place."
A pause.
Then:
"But if you do…I won't stop you."
The wyrd stirred.
And for the first time,Eiríkur didn't know whether it was guiding him forward — or holding him back.