I AM Z's Story

And so it had begun. Dark clouds hovered over Iskjerne Bay between the Weargtooth Mountains, bolts of lightning of various types and colors. First red and purple heat lightning. Then a loud white lightning bolt, followed by a green lightning web. To the vikings, it seemed like Ragnarok had arrived. To the knights, it seemed like the Apocalypse was occurring. But as the King of Iskjerne stepped shirtless out of the great hall and into the wispy cold, he had a wide grin and an evil fury in his gaze. He was just about to order an attack on the Taiyou, but just then a Christian knight came out of nowhere and tried to tackle him. This was a bad move, however, as Sigurd quickly reacted, sidestepping the knight's lunge whilst bringing his expensive sword blade up against his neck. Before he could even react, Sigurd beheaded the knight, his twitching body hitting the ground as his head fell, rolling down his shoulder and off to the side of the king's path.

Lord Bruce watched in terror as Emperor Shimizu cut down the knights before him. He kept his guard up, staring at Shimizu with unwavering eye contact. "Takao, do you know this man?" he asked calmly, gripping the hilt of his sword at shoulder level. By this time, Erling Snake had made his way past the second wall and was looking up the hill towards the ringfort. "Burn everything! Spare no one!" He shouted, walking up to one of the viking captives and impaling him with his longsword. More knights entered the breached gateway behind him, met by a wall of shields and spears as the Vikings charged at them. Sigurd Hring felt the enchanting power of the runic spells and the blood magic ritual covering him like a bearskin. His eyes twitched and flickered. His face became contorted. He would snarl, growl and huff lowly, hatefully glaring down the hill towards Erling Snake, who snickered back to him.

Suddenly, another large object could be seen approaching from the distance. From out of the great chill came what looked like an avalanche from the mountains. A huge cloudy mist started to close in on the viking settlement as a large blanket of snow started to cover the area. As it approached the viking village, suddenly a dragon's head appeared from out of the mist. Then the dragon's neck, and finally the Taiyou and the Vikings would see the whole creature. It was a dragon ship, the largest one the vikings had ever built. Hrollaug had daringly sailed it down the mountainside and towards the bay area. As the ship slid across the blanket of snow, one could make out a crew of about a hundred or more vikings. They were being led by Hrollaug, and by Gwyneth the shield-maiden, who shot a whistling arrow towards the invading knights, jumping on to the tower as soon as the large sailing vessel ploughed into Iskjerne's outer wall.

Sigurd's reinforcements had arrived..."

Slowly, the viking settlers of Iskjerne Bay would start to experience a change of luck. The arrival of the Rainstorm Dragonship struck fear into the hearts of Erling's knights. The Christians started to withdraw, fighting their way back in the direction they came. The gjallahorn blew loudly, echoing for miles, a newfound boost of morale as the vikings pushed forward, roaring sounds of victory or Valhöll, giving Sigurd Hring a chance to duel with Erling Snake more personally. The two former comrades gazed at one another with hatred, both of them walking slowly towards one another with their swords already prepared to strike. Sigurd would dodge a throwing axe as it flew past him, his eyes still focussing on the opponent in front of him.

"This ends here Snake," the king said as he approached the traitor. "Nice kingdom you have here. Took me a minute to find you!" King Erling lashed out, swinging his blade towards Sigurd's chest. The pagan king would respond by deflecting the blade with his own before trying to cut Erling's arm. Erling was fast however, and managed to evade Sigurd's steel before chuckling quietly. "You should have stayed in Iceland," Sigurd said calmly. "Aw, but don't you want to know how I got here?" Snake asked sarcastically, this time going in for an upward slash to Sigurd's chin. Sigurd would lean back, blocking the swing and redirecting it away from himself with his hand guard. Metal scraped metal, screeching with a small array of sparks from the force of their blows.

Sir Hadrid was walking around setting fire to the viking tents when suddenly an arrow whistled past his head. Looking up, he could see Gwyneth peering down at him from one of the wall towers. She quickly notched another arrow to her bow, but Sir Hadrid was undaunted. He would approach the tower as she fired arrows at him, one after another. He used his kite shield to stop one of the arrows before he tossed the lit torch into the wall tower. The wood was cold and dry, allowing the straw thatches to catch fire rather quickly. Within moments, Gwyneth would find herself trapped in a smoking tower. Sir Hadrid would gaze up at her and laugh loudly, only to be hit in the back of the head by Hrollaug's axe. There was a loud thud, followed by another as Hrollaug ripped the blade out and drove it into his spine. Sir Hadrid fell forward, dead before he could even hit the ground.

Sigurd Hring and Erling Snake continued their duel on the edge of the hill, swords clanking and clashing together with each passing swing. Meanwhile, Lord Bruce of Essex was still inside the tent with Takao and the Emperor, and confusion ensued between the Anglish Norse pagan and the Taiyou autokrator. Bruce wasn't sure what he should do, so he just kept his guard up and prepared to die mentally as he waited for the Emperor to attack him, or else state his case. Gwyneth scrambled to find a way down from the wall tower, which was slowly going up in flames. She gagged and coughed from the smoke billowing around her as she climbed to the outside of the tower and looked around. Seeing a rope attached to the warning bell, she slid her yew wooden bow over the rope, grabbing it with both hands while clenching an arrow between her teeth.

Just then, the outer wall of the viking ringfort started to crumble. Warriors pushed and shoved to get out of the way as the wall came crashing down near the entrance, a loud boom followed by a crashing wave of bricks and dust, forming a cloud which knocked Sigurd and Erling off of their feet. Sigurd's head started pounding. He felt dizzy as he sat up, being temporarily deafened by the loud crash of heavy logs and stones. As he sat up, he noticed people running around in mass hysteria. Dogs were barking. Women were panicking. There was a young child hiding under a table near one of the food tents, plugging their ears and crying in shock. There was ash and cinder, and rubble everywhere. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion as Sigurd staggered back to his feet slowly, ears still ringing. He tried to look around again for Erling Snake, but the Christian warlord had managed to slip away.

Back at the fallen gate, the vikings were holding strong. Gwyneth ziplined down the rope from the wall tower with her bow, landing gracefully on the ground as the Christian raiders continued to withdraw. By now they were retreating, and their flags waved on the wall, signalling them to fall back to the shore. At that moment, Gwyneth and Prince Hrollaug approached Sigurd and stood beside him on the edge of the hill, watching as the Christians retreated to their ship. It was one more victory for the king, but this time it would be short lived. The Soja was still orbiting up above the planet, prowling the skies like a shadowy wolf.

To make matters worse, other strange forces were now at work, and just then a viking herald rode up to the king on horseback. "My Lord Sigurd, I bring a message from the caves. The foreigners have returned. They have powerful weapons, and Jarl Evan is with them," the herald said before Sigurd nodded, waving a hand for him to go away. "Gwyneth," he mumbled. "Yes my king?" she answered. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yes," she responded. "I have a new plan. Go fetch Kraiger, bring him before me. Our guests will no doubt wish to see us in person," Sigurd commented while sheathing his sword. Gwyneth nodded and quickly turned to go carry out her orders. Hrollaug placed his hand on Sigurd's shoulder and sighed, offering him a drinking horn filled with mead. Sigurd nodded quietly and took a sip, before staring out silently over the ravaged buildings before him.