With another roar, the dragon crashed through the barrier and landed right in front of Rurik. His thoughts halted completely. Before him was a mass of power and muscle that destroyed his sense of reality.
With it is fifty-foot (15.24 metres) length, it was truly a massive creature. Crimson scales glimmered menacingly across its body, and it is large yellow, slitted eyes stared at Rurik with clear curiosity and intelligence.
But Rurik felt neither curious, nor intelligent. Fear gripped his heart. Terror filled his being. His strength was useless, his experience pointless. In front of this creature, he was nothing but a pile of soon-to-be-ash—something he realized on an instinctual level.
Slowly, the dragon's maw creeped closer to him, and all he could do was stand there, frozen. His thoughts still, as if prepared for death. The dragon sniffed him, but then a voice sounded. "Down, Eldnár. We need to know where his companions went."
Slowly, a trembling Rurik felt compelled to look up, but it turned out to be a mistake. On top of that dragon sat a woman dressed in golden armour. She stood tall, with arms crossed, refusing to take a seat even during flight. Power thrummed around her, making the very air itself take notice of her presence as it bowed down in reverence.
Rurik immediately knew this woman was even more powerful than the dragon. 'Useless… helpless… weak…' these words resounded in his very soul, and he hated them. His powerful will fought back against those feelings, but it was like trying to break through a steel door with naked fists.
Still, his discipline hammer was powerful. Slowly, some defiance began to show in his eyes. His thoughts started working again. The woman looked at his changing expression with curiosity. But then, about to jump down from her mount, she halted as her face contorted.
Suddenly, she roared and rushed forward… but was a microsecond too late. Another puddle appeared just behind Rurik, a hand grabbed his collar… and then he was gone.
* * *
"Curses…!" the golden-armoured woman snarled when she came to a stop right at the place her target had just been. Her face distorted in frustration. "They're gone…"
On top of the dragon, a second person revealed himself. This similarly dressed man jumped down with a frown. "What in the name of the Gods just happened?! How did she break through our suppression?"
The woman looked at the spot Rurik had just been sombrely. "Power, Hjalmar. Power, and skill. Whoever she was, her ability to manipulate Seidr is on a level beyond even mine."
Hjalmar took a step back in shock. "That… Was… was she a god?! Why didn't she stay and fight?!"
The woman sighed and shook her head. "I don't know if she was a god or not… but I know why she didn't stay to fight. That woman's body was as weak as a mortal's, and she was only possessing it. Her ability to manipulate and use Seidr may be a level far beyond mine, but in an actual battle she wouldn't last long. Not without her own body, anyway."
Enlightenment appeared in Hjalmar's eyes. "So that's why the Wyrdweaver detected three rebellious fates here, despite us only finding two people… One was possessing another!"
The woman snorted, turning to shoot him a disdainful look. "Obviously… What, did you think the Wyrdweave would have made a mistake?"
Hjalmar quickly shrank back a little, his eyebrows twitching. "N— No, Lady Eldar… of course not. Just a slip of the tongue. S— Should we still do a sweep, to make sure there aren't any rebellious fates left behind?"
Lady Eldar intimidated him with her stare for a moment longer, but then nodded solemnly, before summoning a strange, rectangle device made of gold and jewels. A light instantly shone from the device, covering a large area of at least a hundred meters in diameter.
The two dragon riders waited… one second… two seconds… Then, the light retreated. Sighing, the woman shook her head. "No rebellious fates in our vicinity…"
"Trollspit!" the man cursed and spat angrily on the ground, his earlier meekness replaced by anger and frustration. "Not only do we get our first rebellious fate in a century, but we get three, and now they're all gone, just like that?! I cannot imagine the damage they will do to our world!"
"It won't be that bad…" the woman frowned and shook her head. She didn't seem to share the level of his concern, but she was still worried. "The Wyrdweaver determined their rebellious fates were very closely intertwined, to the point they may as well just be one thread."
The man didn't look convinced. "Oh, great," he scoffed sarcastically. "So, rather than three weak errant threads rampaging through Midgard, we'll have a single supercharged one, fantastic!"
The woman narrowed her eyes at him. Her voice took on a cold, authoritative tone. "Calm down, Hjalmar. You forget yourself. I, too, understand the severity of the situation, but we need to focus on finding them, not cursing uselessly."
"I—" Hjalmar began, but he quickly withered under the woman's icy stare and deflated. "Y— Yes, Lady Eldar… you're right, of course."
"Good," she nodded and panned her gaze across the beach, taking in the corpses and unconscious warriors who came here with Rurik.
"But finding them will be tricky," she mumbled thoughtfully. "I only got a good look at the man, but the woman's face was constantly shrouded... Plus, her skill with Seidr, and we don't even know how they managed to cross over from the seventh world, which should have been sealed off…"
Hjalmar frowned and scratched his hair in thought. "Maybe someone got stuck there after Ragnarök? We keep close records of Seidr users, even from before the sundering, perhaps we can find out who we're dealing with that way?"
Shrugging, he continued, "They used the Seidr in its pure form, so we know they can either hide their aspect, or don't have one at all. That, her power level, and her connection to the seventh world, should help in our search."
The woman sighed and nodded. "That seems to be our best shot right now…"
She looked around at the beach again. "We'll also have our Seers keep an eye on these people, hopefully the rebellious fates will make contact again." She looked back at Hjalmar, frowning. "In the meantime, all we can do it wait and hope our monitors pick something up…"
Hjalmar nodded sombrely, and the woman looked down at the dragon under her feet. "Eldnár, please take us back."
The mighty dragon's head bobbed up and down, before leaping into the air once again. With a mighty roar, they disappeared into the distance.