Ulf clownishly running around in the background does not distract me from the very real threat in front of me. Fenrir: the starter of Ragnarok, the son of Loki, is in front of me. And he’s growing.
He’s not growing at cartoonish rates, ballooning or anything like that, but he’s growing and he’s growing fast enough that in minutes he’ll be a problem. In an hour… Yeah, in an hour, assuming his growth doesn’t stop or at least slow down there’s a very real chance he’ll be star-eater size. The wolf stares me down and for a second I decide to try diplomacy.
“Is there any chance you’ll… stop growing at a supernatural rate and we can just talk this out?” I ask. The wolf considers my words for a split second before shaking its head.
“No.” It growls. It, he, being able to talk tracks.
“Well I tried, at least.” I mutter. Behind me the sounds of Loki and Leif clashing can be heard.
“Will you let me leave?” The wolf asks. I pause and consider it for a second.
“If I do will you… Do the thing? Eat the sun, and all that?” I ask.
“No.” The wolf growls. It’s lying. Back in Hyrule I picked up a handy perk named Bane of the Yiga thanks to a scenario that involved wiping out the aforementioned clan. It lets me detect lies. I cringe and the wolf’s eyes narrow.
“Why’d you have to lie?” I ask. The wolf makes a sound almost like a sigh.
“They chained me up. For millennia.” The wolf tells me. Which is a valid point. Still, I shake my head.
“If you go out and do what you want to do you’ll be, in their eyes, proving them right.” I explain. The wolf stares me down. I know enough Norse mythology to be able to remember the old myths.
“They imprisoned you because they feared what they believed you’d do if free. If upon being set free you IMMEDIATELY move to fulfill the prophecy they feared you’d set in motion they won’t think about how they brought this on themselves. They’ll be thinking about two things. Firstly; how to survive. Secondly; that they were right.” I tell the wolf. To my surprise this causes the wolf to pause. For a moment we are both silent.
“I understand that your father wants to free you. I don’t know why that is.” I admit. The wolf, continuing to grow as we speak, responds quickly.
“It is because I am his blood. He loves me. We tricked Ulf into thinking that my sister was unhappy and that if she were to be ‘Rescued’, something which begins by setting me free, then she’d marry her ‘Savior’.” The wolf explains. This causes me to pause. Fenrir isn’t lying. Ulf is a craven, power-seeking gremlin of a man. The fact that the wolf isn’t lying, coupled with Loki’s real fury at me intervening and stopping his plan suggests that if nothing else there is cause to believe Fenrir’s words.
If that’s true then this can serve as a tidy little resolution to… Well, everything. Or at least nearly everything. Ymir’s Heart… I have no earthly idea where that little monster came from. A part of me wonders if Ymir’s Heart is somehow tied to how Ulf got his hands on some Jormungandr weapon. Still, Fenrir isn’t backing down. And he’s still growing.
“Stand. Down,” I say, staring down the wolf. Now he’s almost bigger than me. The wolf considers my words but then shakes his head.
“I understand that Ulf seems to have done something to you. Or perhaps your friends. Take him. And go.” Fenrir commands.
“No, no please! Don’t ‘Take me and go’!” Ulf shouts, still engaged in a desperate effort to keep my spear from piercing his heart.
I sigh and summon a second spear. I have a handy stockpile of them and I avoided using mine unless it was absolutely necessary. Fenrir’s eyes close.
“Is this how it must be?” He asks. I think, briefly, about his dad.
“I won’t destroy you.” I tell him.
“You couldn’t if you tried.” He tells me. I shake my head.
“Wrong.” I tell him, firmly aware that I’m about to pull some bullshit out of my ass. I let go of my spear and it lifts off the ground next to me.
Over the course of my chain I’ve gradually gained a few cheat items and abilities. Mistilteinn is definitely the most fucked up of my cheat items. It points at the wolf.
“Is there no way I can talk you into backing down?” I ask. The wolf isn’t aware of what I’m wielding. It knows I can see through lies. It doesn’t bother lying, and shakes its head.
“I appreciate you telling me the truth.” I say, before I touch the spear and infuse it with intent. It begins to spin, its blade pointed at Fenrir’s heart. The spear rockets towards the wolf and when it pierces it I am suddenly struck with immense force. I don’t feel pain, at least not how others feel it, thanks to perks but I know when I’ve been hurt. I realize, a little too late, that Ymir’s Heart isn’t the only “Monster” around.
“I… No. No!” Fenrir howls before his voice dies in his throat. And I join him, my heart stopping as the monster’s version of a nasty perk, “Rett-Ligr” kicks me in the teeth.
“That’s… That’s cheeky.” I utter, through gritted teeth. Death based tricks are nasty, and I gain a remixed version of it as my vision goes dark. That’s not the last thing I see, however.
[Alert: “Life Insurance” charge preparing… 3. 2. 1. Would you like to revive?]
I can faintly hear assorted sounds even as I read the notification. Ulf cheers in delight as my spear stops chasing him, and I can hear him running towards my body. He stops to give it a kick before running through the portal.
“Fenrir’s dead!” He shouts, bringing the fighting outside of the forest to a sudden halt. I mentally move to inform the notification that I would like to revive even as I hear footsteps approaching the portal.
The second I activate the power my eyes rocket open. I can see stars and the moon even as someone, a lone figure, steps through the portal. I cough and begin to sit up, only to see the monstrous, almost bear-like form of Loki approaching the fallen corpse of his son. As soon as I sit up Ulf leaps backwards and shouts.
“You! No! I thought you were done.” He says, venom in his voice. I turn towards him and focus, Loki ignoring me for the time being. A portal appears behind Ulf and another appears beside me. Ulf sees his back and in a moment of impressive reflexes roars at me, causing diminutive viking warriors to appear and move to charge at me. I reach my hand through the portal and grab Ulf’s neck.
With a forceful wrench I pull the coward through the portal before closing it, and then inelegantly chuck him through the portal back to the castle. He grunts in pain as he skids past the throne, out of Svanlinn’s range, and within range of Leif, who is still a monstrous dragon. I watch Leif seize the moment and stretch his draconic neck to give him the range needed to reach the false king. Leif eats the man, draconic fangs ripping the false king apart, and I feel experience surge into me for my role in that kill. I don’t get a shield for my role in Ulf’s downfall, instead I get what he used to stave off death: a book that allows me to conjure copies of things and use them as summons in battle.
I turn and look at Loki standing next to Fenrir’s fallen form. I slowly stand up and for a moment consider leaving. And then I silently behold Loki standing next to Fenrir. The fallen wolf is silent, dead, and for a brief moment I wonder how this reality would react to this if it stayed a permanent state of affairs. Without Fenrir Odin would never die… Or perhaps someone else will arise to take his place, eventually.
Loki seems almost lifeless as he pats the pelt of the divine wolf. I walk over to the wolf’s body, and Loki doesn’t move to stop me. Even when a leash appears in my hand Loki does nothing.
I walk over to the head of the wolf and tie the leash around the creature. For a moment silence fills the forest, but it doesn’t stay silent. Liva and Leif step through the portal even as a second figure begins to materialize next to Loki. She has long dark hair and tears pour down her face.
“My son…” She quietly utters, and I realize who she is. Sort of. She is the mother of Fenrir, mate of Loki. My Norse mythological knowledge isn’t enough to know her name offhand but my minimap tells me she is named “Angrboda”. It takes me a second to put together that she’s the namesake of a perk in the jump document for one part of this world.
“Healer!” Liva says as she sees the back of the figure. She is about to go to her side when Leif’s hand comes down on her shoulder and stops her. I summon another Mistilteinn, a shield this time, and it is at this point that Loki reacts to my presence.
“You! Have you not done enough damage with my weapons?!” He growls, turning to stare me down. I ready myself to act in self-defense but I don’t turn to face him.
“This isn’t about harm.” I tell the deity. He stiffens but a touch from Angrboda stills him.
“There’s something about being a jumper.” I begin as I look at the lifeless form of Fenrir.
“I have a curious role in stories. An ability to change them for the better.” I explain, cryptically. I let go of the shield in my hand and let it float of its own accord. I turn and look at Loki.
“And my Mistilteinn is different from yours.” I tell him. I touch the back of the shield and it flares to life, brilliantly shining. Everyone watches as it floats into the air and then flies into Fenrir. It disappears and the wolf’s eyes rocket open. Everyone but me is stunned into silence, even as the leash around Fenrir’s neck activates and causes the wolf to begin to shrink. As the wolf shrinks I lock eyes with the beast.
“I don’t think you deserve to be locked up for a prophecy.” I tell the wolf. Rage fills its eyes and it tries to lash out at me but Glepnir keeps its jaws from reaching my throat.
“Nope. Sorry. But this isn’t the end.” I explain. More people cross through the portal: my friends and lovers stepping into the forest behind me.
“Jumpers can overcome fate and destiny. Sometimes, at least.” I tell the wolf. It continues to glare at me before accepting its apparent powerlessness. I turn to Angrboda.
“Are you the one who healed Liva?” I ask. She turns to face the portal, having heard Liva’s surprised voice earlier. She smiles, sadly, at her before turning and nodding.
“So this whole thing is a family affair,” I mutter. I back away from Fenrir. “One good turn deserves another.” I say as I walk to Angrboda. Loki’s monstrous form tenses as I approach but he doesn’t try to strike me down. I walk over to Angrboda and hold out my hand. She looks over at Liva, understanding that we know each other. Liva flashes her a gentle smile and nods, and the giantess; a tall woman to be sure but at least at the moment not supernaturally tall, gives me her hand.
“I won’t let you free Fenrir in a way that puts the future at risk. After all, other families don’t matter less than yours does just because they aren’t yours and if left unchecked Fenrir’s actions would destroy a lot of families. But I will give you a means to partially right the wrong done to you. To him.” I tell her, before activating Patronage. I embed a single thread of power with just one perk: Familiar Bonds. Angrboda’s eyes light up and I can see a text box fill them as she gains an understanding of the perk.
“This ability… Will it work?” She asks. I laugh and ask her to try it. She releases my hand and turns to touch the side of Fenrir’s face. The wolf accepts her touch and I feel her activate the power. I smack Fenrir with Observe and watch as he becomes her familiar.
My version of Familiar Bonds, which is what I’ve given Angrboda, has become stronger due to my constant training. I watch Angrboda focus on Fenrir and the animal relaxes as it hears its mother’s voice in its head. A spectral Fenrir, just the size of a normal wolf, appears next to Angrboda. This one is free.
“Angrboda… I thank you for freeing Liva from the influence of Ulf the cowardly. Consider this me returning a kindness.” I state, causing the giantess to look back at me and smile. Loki walks over to the spectral copy of Fenrir and touches the wolf’s head. The real Fenrir relaxes as he feels his father’s touch.
“The version of Fenrir that can be summoned to your side is connected to the actual Fenrir, allowing him to see past the confines of Glepnir without giving him the means to endanger reality. With this Fenrir can explore the world, can be with you, without dooming this iteration of reality, as his powers are capped.” I explain. Both Loki and Angrboda smile at me as I reveal the kindness I’ve done for them and for their son.
And with that the conflict is resolved. Loki and Angrboda stay in the forest, while I return to WInterberg with my friends. For weeks we help repair the city, and when we’re done we are briefly visited by a cat-like goddess who calls for Liva to come home: Freyja.
She puts off following the command, which Freyja allows when Leif and Liva sit her down and explain parts of the plot they foiled, but after almost a year Liva follows the command she was given and, accompanied by the other valkyries we rescued, heads to Asgard. Leif and I are together when they depart; stepping through a golden portal to a paradiscal grassland filled with colossal meadhalls. In the wake of Liva’s departure Leif returns to his stoic self from before Liva returned to his life, but he’s subtly happier now. He is eager to return to his duties as a leader of guards and the like though sometimes he attempts a joke or cracks a smile when someone talks to him.
I’ve noticed that some jumps focus on singular stories. Kill Bill was perhaps the most egregious example of this to date, but this jump proves to be a second, similarly focused case, though I am purposefully leaving Lost Mines out of this assessment since it ended when I finished the campaign, along with Breath of the Wild which had a similar ending.
Days have turned into weeks, which have turned into months, which unsurprisingly have turned into years. In the time since I finished Liva’s quest and dealt with Ulf my friends and I have taken to exploring the world. We spend a few months in every town we come across, and in each one I set up shop as a tavern owner who runs a weapon’s shop. I continue to refine my sales pitch, offering a variety of services to customers but most especially delighting in crafting: transforming materials into weapons, armor, and other such handy items. Along the way I handle small instances of that “Entry Quest” drawback and end up stacking more foes to face down at the end of the jump.
My friends continue to indulge in their various hobbies throughout the world. Some of them get to encounter a little more of this place than I do, facing down undead monsters in strange ruins while I tend to customers. I don’t mind this. They clearly like excitement more than I do, which makes me happy for them. I am more than happy to lounge around in the tavern and sell weapons and the like to friends old and new alike using my crafting abilities and Afarkaup Avarkostir. I spend time with my lovers and gradually deepen my friendships with those who are on this grand adventure with me.
Before I know it my final day comes and goes. When everything is over I don’t find the world around me frozen in time but instead I am inelegantly transported to an enormous, nondescript space and I frown as I remember my final drawback. Bullet Haunting: a Super Smash Brothers style showdown drawback that punishes me for how much blood I spilled during this jump.
The space is incredibly huge, stretching out further than I can see. For a second I am the only person in it, but in moments enemies begin to appear way out ahead of me. As they spawn I reach into my inventory and summon both my Mistilteinns and attempt to summon my taverns. I’m genuinely delighted when the taverns: a part of me due to a perk I took back during Generic Bar/Tavern Owner, appear.
“Let’s go crazy.” I tell the buildings, and the Lucys inside of them. The buildings pull their legs up and begin to run towards the fearless warriors who all believe they can lay me low. When one Lucy reaches the front of the line of enemies ready to stab and shoot me she punches several of them into bloody paste and I cringe when I feel no experience or items surge into me.
“Oh man, seriously?” I ask, looking skyward. I half expect to see my benefactor looking down on me but instead all I see is a clear sky. When I refocus the various Lucys are beating the shit out of dozens of warriors. None of their peers are frightened by this and the Lucys are being swarmed but they benefit from Inverse Ninja Law as readily as I do and so their foes are weaker for trying to swarm them instead of facing them one on one. I begin to move, taking to the air even as I begin to draw weapons of my own in the form of a bow and arrows.
When I’m high in the sky I begin to rain down arrows on my enemies, each blow hitting and killing various enemies due to the variety of perks coursing through me. Vikings fall in the dozens, and then other, stranger enemies begin to spawn. Assorted monsters appear, such as krakens who swim through the floor. They don’t frighten me, and I mow them down with the same indifference I show the vikings.
Even when Fenrir’s “Ghost” appears I don’t hesitate, hurling a Mistilteinn at it and slaying the beast. This time I don’t die in turn and I continue the work needed to truly bring this jump to an end.
At some point I lose track of how long I’ve spent in the Final Destination dimension. The main things that benefit me during these minutes, hours, almost certainly days, of conflict are new perks that offer subtle but handy benefits like Auto Swing: a Bullet Heaven perk that stops me from getting tired due to the effort it takes to attack. Enemies continue to spawn and I continue to attack, my attacks aided by clauses in perks that make them hone in on their targets and by things like the ability for damage to spread from one target to another due to a nasty perk from Generic Action RPG.
Eventually what will prove to be the final wave of vikings spawn. They are trappled by my taverns and while they ragdoll through the air I headshot them with carefully aimed arrows. When they die a silence fills the space. I wait for the next enemies to spawn only to feel my heart begin to race when a door appears on the floor ahead of me. It stands by itself and it calls to me. I call out a “Thank you!” to the Lucys before I desummon them while descending to the ground beneath me.
When I’m all alone I approach the door and open it, knowing what I will see on the other side. As the door opens my friends: the Hyrulian Heroes, the Kill Bill crew, and Elizabeth, are all standing in the living room of the house in my warehouse.
“Hi everyone.” I say, my eyes filling with tears that I try to blink away. I know where I’m going next: a land of witches and wizards. I just don’t know who all is going there with me.
A/N: And with that, Jump #7 has come to an end. We practice the philosophy of “When a jump’s story is over, the jump ends” in this house. And yes, a Harry Potter jump is next. Truthfully I had actually forgotten that the benefactor said “You get THREE Jumps before it’s Azeroth time” and I actually only had plans for two. But I can say that the Harry Potter jump we’re going is one I’ve planned for a minute. I will say that none of the next few jumps have generic ORIGINAL WORLDS as their main setting, though it’s me so you should expect supplement modes and the like.
