"So... Let me get this straight, you met a god. You have a god inside you. You're a sort of trained... Magic swordsman? Elves, dwarves, and a dozen other fantasy races are all real. Also, we might be dealing with an ancient race of evil creatures from the sea." Kainoa tried to recap everything Val had explained, starting with the merging and continuing up through his more recent adventures. The engineer-turned-Marine was half a dozen beers deep at this point, and the sun had set a few hours before.
Val shrugged, a few drinks in himself. "More or less, yeah."
"And you've fought zombies, soldiers, visited a fortress-city of Dwarves, even won against a Nordic god of war?"
Val smiled wryly. "Well, the last part has some circumstances... No, no, I'm counting it, I won."
"Fuck me... This is real?"
"'Fraid so, bud."
"Right... So what's your plan now, exactly?"
Val lit up another cigarette. "Well, what little made up my original plan... Find you guys, confirm the cause of the disappearances, and then get the hell out of here. If we're right, it's not safe here."
"Kidnapping people is typical of Draug strategies. They rarely committed to complete slaughter, preferring to take captives to turn, and bolster their armies." Muninn explained.
"Any idea how long it would take to turn someone? Assuming the people here have been taken and haven't simply fled." Val asked.
Muninn paused a moment, organizing her thoughts. "I'm not sure. A week, two weeks, longer. It depends on the individual, from what little I remember... Willing supplicants are more prized, as they take in more of their dark masters' powers during the process. That said, their masters should be dead, so how they would do it now, I'm not sure. Those who do not submit, however, suffer terrible fates, either used for training, reproduction, or more often... Eaten."
Val felt his stomach twisting into knots. "Uh... I thought they couldn't reproduce."
Muninn had a look of disgust, but her tone held chilling anger. "Draug specifically cannot reproduce more of their own kind. There are other, sinister creatures among their ranks; however, that have very abhorrent and parasitic methods of spawning their young. There are creatures in your world that have such methods, ours does too."
Kainoa seemed to have checked out mentally, just staring off into the distance.
"Oi, Kainoa. Hui!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, just... This is a lot to process, and now I regret not forcing them to stay." The Marine had a dour expression, deep in thought over the recent events.
"You didn't know, we still don't know one hundred percent, but I'd bet money on it at this point. We're all tired from the past couple of days, we should rest, then figure this out tomorrow." Val suggested. Asha was visibly tired from the trip and the events beforehand, Val himself, felt exhaustion creeping upon him.
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep." Kainoa picked up a lantern from a hook on the low roof, carrying it with him as he led them to the barracks. One of the rooms was entirely unscathed and had a few rows of beds, there were only a few small windows, and two exits, one at each end of the long room. A handful of blankets and sheets were stacked in a corner, all folded neatly. It appeared Kainoa had not lost the habits instilled in him by his training.
Muninn decided to stay up and keep an eye on things and inspect the area, apparently feeling rested enough. Asha was quick to thank her before taking a blanket and a bed, falling asleep almost immediately. Val himself, having gotten used to sleeping in a variety of situations over the last few weeks, quickly dozed off to sleep.
. . .
Val woke groggily to bright lights shining in through tall windows. Grumpily shielding his eyes from the bright lights, he peered around. The scene that greeted him shocked him awake. A wide TV sitting on a wood console, a coffee table. Bolting upright, he realized he had been sleeping on a couch, peering around he recognized the place as Chris & Judy's apartment in Seattle.
*What the hell? A dream?*
Val looked around in bewilderment. Spotting a TV remote on the coffee table, he immediately grabbed it and hit the power button. In a moment, the TV screen lit up, showing a commercial for some cosmetic products. Further confused, Val repeatedly pushed one of the channel arrows, cycling quickly through programs, many of which he at least knew of.
"Oh shit, look who's finally awake." Kainoa strolled into the living room from a hallway connecting to the bedrooms. Val stared at him in disbelief. The Marine was in plain clothes, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, with a light jacket.
"You alright, V? Had one nightmare or what?" Kainoa looked at him curiously.
"I... I uh..." Val was at a loss for words, further confused as he dug his fingers into his leg painfully, in a vain attempt to wake himself.
"Damn, finally, thought you were gonna sleep all day, it's already eleven, man." A shorter, Asian-American man in his early twenties strolled into the kitchen, fishing around for a glass of water. He was just under six feet, with a slim figure, and short black hair. Kyle Nakasone was his name, a friend of Val and Kainoa from college. They had met during a part-time job, before learning they all attended the same university, though Kyle was in an art program focused on graphic design.
Val's wide eyes followed Kyle around the kitchen.
"Hey, get up and get dressed, Chris and Judy are already picking up the turkey. We're in charge of picking up drinks and snacks." Kyle added, before sipping from a glass.
"Uh, sure, right." Val was experiencing incredible deja vu. It was only a month ago that he swore he had experienced roughly this sequence of events. Remembering something, he looked next to the couch and found his backpack. Fishing through it, he pulled out his phone. The moment he lifted it up, the screen turned on, displaying the date as 'Friday, November 8.'
*What the fuck...? Today was our early Friendsgiving...* Val and his friends had decided to do a get-together. It was still a few weeks till actual Thanksgiving, but most of them had family obligations, and Judy had insisted they do this since they had not all met up in a couple of years.
"Yo! How are you still tired? You've slept for like ten hours, get dressed!" Kyle reminded Val, jolting him from his thoughts.
"Alright, alright!" Val grabbed his backpack and headed to the bathroom, undressing to take a quick shower. Looking in the mirror, he noticed his figure was what he remembered before the brand. There were no runic marks, no rope-like scarring from the wendigo, no physique indicating training. Lost in his thoughts, he turned on the shower faucet, steam quickly filling the small bathroom.
Val finished freshening up and got dressed quickly, sporting a similar attire to Kainoa. Before long, the three quickly left the condo. As they exited, Kyle made a sharp turn.
"Let's take the back way, closer to the grocery store." He suggested.
Kainoa groaned. "Eh? Locked up usually, isn't it?"
Kyle raised an eyebrow to him. "Yeah, so? Just hop the fence. Marines keeping you in shape or what?"
Val chuckled, recalling how many times Kyle's antics got them into trouble back in college. There was a back road gate to the dormitories that was always locked up, reserved only for special events or large delivery trucks. It saved nearly ten minutes to just hop the gate rather than go around it, but on the rare occasion, a security guard would come by with terrible timing.
Val was smiling, almost tearing, and slightly creeping out Kyle and Kainoa. *Something is off, but if this is a dream, let me just enjoy this... If it's real...*
Kainoa clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. "You alright, man? Been weird since morning."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just glad we went along with Judy's idea."
"Hehe, like old times, ah?"
"Ay, let's hustle, it may not be actual Thanksgiving, but it's still Friday, gotta get to the good drinks before someone else does." Kyle reminded them, hurrying them on as Kainoa and Val clambered over the gate.
Chris and Judy lived not far from downtown Seattle. Kyle was leading them towards Pike Place, insisting there was a small liquor shop that had the best local offerings. Apparently, they had a collection of usually hard to find drinks, as well, though he and Kainoa were debating how great the place really was.
Kyle looked to Val for support. "V, they have that gin you like so much, I'm sure I saw it, short blue bottle, yeah?"
Val was not paying attention to their bickering, as he was pleasantly taking in the scenery. Towering buildings, the Space Needle in the distance, slow-moving traffic, and pedestrians everywhere. When Kyle pressed the question, he raised his hands in defense. "Nope, I'm not getting caught up in this. I don't care where we go. I'm not from here, you two know best."
"Well, build an opinion soon. You still planning on moving up here in a year or two, yeah?"
Val grunted. "That's the idea, yeah. Get some experience and money in the Bay, then join all you fucks who left me for Seattle."
"Woah man, California is just too damn expensive, I don't know how you do it. Plus, up here, no state income tax!"
Kainoa relented. "Whatever, we're almost there anyway, can stop by. Just gotta make sure we get that hard kombucha crap Judy loves so much."
Val remembered this liquor store, though it was really more of a wine cellar with a section of non-wine on the side. In his memory, they had been to three places before they got everything, hauling a few cases of drinks between them. They eventually returned dead on their feet, though Val chose not to mention anything, happy enough to be reliving one of the more pleasant days in his memory.
It did not take long for things to play out as Val remembered it. They did find the gin he liked, but they were out of the hard kombucha Judy liked so much. After debating whether she would settle for wine, Kainoa pushed them on towards the second shop from Val's memory. The place was a little too unusual for the Marine anyway, not carrying any of the more typical mainstay beers he liked.
They were halfway to the second shop on their trip, walking a road along a hill overlooking Pike Place, when Val suddenly bent over in pain, dropping the bag of bottles he was carrying. The sound of shattering glass alarmed his two friends, who doubled back to him.
"Woah, Val, you alright?!" The two had startled looks on their faces. Val felt a familiar, searing sensation spreading from his chest. He felt his senses sharpen as they usually did when he activated his brand, but never had it been painful like this ever since the original trial to earn it. He crumpled to the ground, clutching at his chest as the sensation of fire spreading through his veins reduced him to struggling attempts to breathe.
"Hey, come on, man, we're almost there." Kyle said with a strange expression.
Val looked up at Kyle with smoldering flames in his eyes. "...What?"
"The shop, it's just another block, around the corner and down to the water."
Val grimaced, the pain was growing more intense as he was adjusting to it, having been through the ordeal before. "...You're not real."
"What are you talking about?"
"My eyes... Are like fire, and you are unconcerned, you are not Kyle..." Val almost spat out his words, struggling to speak.
Kyle looked at his eyes for a moment, making a confused expression. "Who cares about your eyes, man, we're friends, so you got some weird contacts. Oi, Kainoa, call 911, have them go to the shop, Val doesn't seem alright."
"Got it." Kainoa quickly pulled out his phone and started dialing.
"So this isn't just some normal dream, I see now. That's what Kainoa meant by weird. Heh, clever trick... But I've got gods watching over me." The pain began to lessen as the pieces clicked together in his head. Val stood up again, glaring with immense killing intent at the two, who started to back away from him.
Val could feel his mana again, coursing through his veins. His magic was fully active again. He closed his eyes and focused his power, commanding it to circulate quickly through every part of his body. His magic surged, bringing slightly painful, tingling sensations to his limbs. As he focused, the sound of Kyle and Kainoa's voices slowly faded, the noise of the city returned to a still quiet. When he opened his eyes, he was alone, unarmed and unarmored, standing right where he was in his dream, only now in the ruined remains of the city. White mist was blanketing the street up to a foot off the ground.
Perhaps ten meters down the shrouded street, a strange, grotesque figure stood. He looked damp all over, wearing modern clothing that was stained all over like something had swallowed him and spit him back out. Some parts of his skin were covered in what appeared to be barnacles and pale, hard material similar to coral. He was rasping something incoherently and approaching slowly with a hatchet.
Val glared imperiously at the figure, heat and magic power emanating from his figure and dispelling the mist within a couple paces.
"So, the Draug are real."